Tanador's journal

For a short time, I tried to record the events of the campaign as if my character was writing them in a journal. This ended up taking more time than I had, so it sort of degenerated into a collection of notes for each session. Some days, I was better at taking notes than others, so this is not the most complete of records.

Shasta

September 6, 1994

I shall never forget the Iron Stave. Much more than met the eye, this bar was special. And not just because it hid a huge system of tunnels underneath Shasta used by the Shadow Guild, of which I was attempting just then to become a member. No, the bar was unique for other reasons. The patrons, for example, seemed either keen on not being seen, or keen on being seen by the patrons wishing to remain unseen. It was a place for hired hands, that was certain.

I even met some of them. Three men came to discuss business with me, and generally just chat. Or I may have sat with them, I don't remember. I do remember buying them beer. I also hinted that we might want to hire them, which at the time (and other times, well after the rejection of the idea) seemed like a good idea. Lorn, the leader, did most of the talking. I'm not sure what they thought of me, be I think if I needed hired help, I could look for Lorn and he would be agreeable to it.

No sooner had Lorn and company left than I was scooted into a side door. From here began a journey I hesitate to remember, recount, or understand that took me winding well below the city of Shasta. I was led mostly by Javes, who I assume acted as a sponsor of sorts for me.

On the way, we met a man of hulking stature and jovial manners calling himself Baron Mandorellen. He opened the biggest (and, from experience, the heaviest) door in the world, leading me to a somehow moonlit well, notable for its complete lack of mustiness of any kind. There I was introduced to "Him."

"Him", apparently is the pseudonym of the hooded man in the well, with intricate, painting-likes tattoos on his hands, even his palms. Calling himself a friend of Ramone Peypoch and Dylan Vlad, he informed me that I was to find what was hidden by the door unlocked by the key Kheizget and Fenris found. He was kind enough to outline my travel agenda:

• Go to the River Bastara, and take the southern branch feeding into it.
• Seek a young lad wearing an amulet with a tattoo on his hand thus:
• Say, confidently and loudly, that we were "sent by Old Wolf".
• The boy will guide us to Mount Haralkken
• Take the north side
• Pass between two rocks resembling a dwarf and a large troll in setting sun
• Take the east face, and expect heavy winds
• On the highest peak, a thorny bush disguises a tunnel (the "troll's way")
• Beware of the many pits.
• Kingdom of Dwarves.
• Bring the boy, telling him "answers to his questions lie therein".

Old Wolf, the aforementioned "Him", managed to spook me greatly during this whole discourse. He said we would be followed. I know this to be true, for later, when Lamner attacked us… well, all in good time. The wolf said "what you find, you may keep. You will know what I require of from you." He ended out meeting by giving me several magic items that should prove useful: two quivers of magic arrows, racks with elixirs which heal the body if ingested, and three spells on parchment, which I intend to copy into my spell book.

Earl Grey and Austuria

October 30, 1994

Tired.

I'm so tired. Ever since that cracking sage in Grey's castle made me stay up all night copying my spells, I haven't slept, even through the "kidnapping" of Lady Narita.

I'm so tired, I'm still not sure weather I really replaced my eye with the Bard Stone. I must have, because I can't find it anywhere, and I'm way to tired to be dreaming.

---

With Captain Tortuga gone, we needed a new cover to get though Asturia. We decided to pose as monks -- a suggestion of Filippe, made with unintentional irony, I'm sure.

We were set to pursue this disguise when I had something nagging at me. Also, two hundred members of the Red Army camped near a keep we were passing. This was inconvenient, as we had to go through them. Agachack and Antovel were there as well. This was all stressful, but I went to sleep anyway.

---

Then Magista showed up. In dragon form. She torched what I thought was Grey's castle, but it turned out that it was Narita's. She came out from the keep nearby as a human and saw Kheizget, even though he was using some of that marvelous orange paste that makes you invisible. She went to the Red Guard camp and floored Donnes Krell and his horse just by looking at them. She started speaking to Agachack, and then sent Brimbrax after Kheizget.

As I tried to teleport onto Brimbrax's horse, I realized what had been nagging at me since we left Grey's castle: the sage didn't tell me how the Bard Stone worked. That fucker. He broke a deal. He owes me big. (Which is good, since I need to train with him.)

Anyway, after Brimbrax nearly killed Kheizget with one blow of his flail, it started snowing. In early September. In Austuria. In the heat of battle, this ramifications of this fact momentarily escaped me, but the Elementide got the point, and were rightfully scared. So was Magista, which scared me. The snow ended up saving Kheizget, as Brimbrax ran like hell to the keep. My mind was a bit blown by this whole scene, so when we found shelter, I stepped out into the snow alone and whispered "Thanks, Necron."

He laughed.

---

We slept in the entrance to the underground river leading to Grey's Castle, tapped out after the events at the keep. (Who's keep it was, I'm not sure). The next day we made good time through the forest, though we were on foot. We camped and I transcribed some spells, including the identify spell I got from the sage. I'm glad I got that copied, as it cost dearly. I still can't believe I let the sage cheat me like that.

I've been thinking of a new song called the Price, which strikes me might have something to do with the sage, but when I first conceived of it, I meant it to be about Kheizget. He was bragging about how he got a good hit in on Brimbrax. The price, I thought at the time, was the slamming Brimbrax gave him.

November 13, 1994

We were attacked by half a dozen bugbears just before we slept. I got pretty cut up, though we routed them. Then they blew a horn, presumably to summon their friends. I downed yet another healing elixir meant to protect us from the denizens of Mount Haralkken.

The bugbear's comrades, who seemed every bit as surly and odious as the initial pack, came in force. From all around us came the sounds of horns blowing, enemies moving, and bugbears grunting in a way that I'm fairly certain was not intended to be endearing. Playing a strategy that seemed brilliant -- even in hindsight for once -- we ran as if… well, the only metaphor appropriate is "as if we were surrounded by bugbears", but it is a pity to use metaphors literally.

In any case, we ran. After a time, Kheizget stopped to ambush the trailing beasts. Being heros, however, my stalwart companions and I stopped to help. This caused a minor argument (most un-heroic, really) which ended with the beasts shooting at us from the trees. This caused another battle, in which, among other things, Kheizget was felled by a hamstrung bugbear who collapsed on top of him and another bugbear quaffed his own potion, apparently with the intention of making himself explode, which is what it did.

We managed to get one of these potions, and two other potions. I believe these to be healing potions, because one of the bugbears was trying to drink it after being very wounded. I will have to identify these later.

We managed to avoid the rest of the bugbears, and camped in the woods for the night.

---

Come morning, we arose to the sound of chopping wood. I went ahead to talk to the woodsman, and he rather oddly hustled us to us village as fast as he could, apparently fearing attack by some beast or another.

Once in the village, we were taken to the home of a dull but honest villager named Durnik. He told us that a giant -- referred to mostly as "the firbolg" -- lived in the woods and ate men whole and so forth. We also met Durnik's son or nephew, the man in charge of hunting the firlbog. We disliked him almost immediately, and I needed to stop the exchange of blows before they started more than once.

We asked if we might get some horses and so on that we desperately need for our travels. After beating around the bush, Durnik asked us to kill the firblog in exchange. This seemed equitable to me, especially since I think K wanted to hunt it down anyway. (He possesses an oddness that way.) So we agreed. Durnik set us up in a very nice barn, where we ate well might finally get some good sleep.

This affords me the perfect opportunity to finally relearn the spells I need as well as identify the abilities of these magic baubles which have come to be in our possession, or, in fact, if they are magic baubles at all.

Leucrotta

November 20, 1994

Come morning, a large herd of villagers flocked about Durnik's house. Crowds being one of my many areas of expertise, I went to see what was amiss. A hunting party had just returned, with one member very dead: killed by the firbolg, or so we thought. They were also going on about what was to be done, and so forth. After we all sorted out who was who, what was what and how we were going to help them, K, Fenris and I examined the body.

K and Fenris were rather confused by it, because it looked gnawed upon, as it by a bear; the bones on its arms were chewed through, rather than ripped from the socket as I might consume the leg of a fowl. There were also peculiar scratch markings that were too fine to be claws, yet to corse to be metal. K said that it looked more like stone. As a result, I began to think we might be hunting two predators rather than three.

At this point, we began asking in earnest for information about the firbolg. We learned that various people had seen it, and Durnik's nephew took us, without saying where we were going, to a watering hole nearly four hours journey away. None of us had real weapons, a foolish move on our part.

We searched the watering hole, finding very little, save cow droppings. Just as we were about to leave, Fenris finds a large sack of rotting cattle bones. The cattle, we were told earlier, had been left out by the villagers to appease the firbolg, and the marks on the bones seemed consistent with the firbolg consuming them. I think I saw the firbolg moving through the trees in the distance, but it might have been wind.

At this point, we were losing light, and we really didn't want to be in the forest at night without weapons, so we hurried back to the village. Our guides, however, were in much more of a hurry than us. Not being of a mind to find paths through the forest, I followed Fenris as best I could. If not for the guides shouting back to us to hurry up, I for one would have been lost.

Then we heard a high keening, like the sound of impending doom. I instantly realized that this was not the firbolg, for the sound of such a large creature would have been much deeper. I could not warn my companions of this, however, as silence seemed tantamount to safety. The impression was correct, for soon the shouting of Durnik's nephew and our other guide turned to screams as some beast set upon and slaughtered them.

Then it came for us.

From nowhere, it leaped on Phillipe and nearly savaged him instantly. The beast was like a large dog, only it had some sauroid characteristics. As I moved to attack, the ground rumbled in brief periodic spurts. Only after I buried one knife into the flank of the beast and felt another well placed blow surprisingly glance off did I realize that the rumbling was the foot falls of a giant.

The firbolg entered the wood clearing and, without preamble, proceeded to boot the beast across the clearing. With a yelp, the beast ran very quickly into the forest. I gave chase, as did the firbolg. As I'm running, and clearly not keeping pace with it, I hear what can only be the giant say "I did get a good hit on it, though."

At this I stopped and went looking for the giant. He was nowhere to be found. In his stead was a strange man who very politely introduced himself as McBride. He was very out of place, though likable. We talked on where the giant might have gone until I remembered that Philippe was down and very badly hurt.

Running to the clearing to give him a healing potion, I got there and realized that I left them back in the village with my bow. We were in a conundrum. Philippe would die in less than a quarter of an hour unless we got him to the village, but the village was two hours away. As we debated what to do, McBride said that he could get us there quickly, but that we had to trust him. Since he didn't say, "but then you'll owe me", I agreed.

He came back with the firbolg, who he introduced as Glodeth. Glodeth picked us up and stowed us in the pocket of his shirt. (Where he got a shirt that large is better left unknown.) He then moved extremely quickly to the village. As we moved, I looked in wonder at the forest passing; however, K had other thoughts. He told the giant that if he brought us into the village, he might have to kill a lot of attacking villagers. He replied, sounding slightly aghast, "I would never kill anyone."

Finding this quite remarkable and difficult to believe, I asked "Why not, exactly?"

The giant kept moving and, sounding a bit confused and totally honest said "Well, what's the point?"

---

Glodeth dropped us off at the edge of the forest, and said he was moving on to greener pastures. I thanked him for my friend's life, apologized for planning his demise, and told him I owed him one. K had gone to get a potion and was back by now, reviving Philippe. I went immediately to Durnik's house to inform him of his nephew's fate. He took it pretty well, all things considered. I also told him the truth of the giant and the real killer. I'm fairly certain he believes me.

That done, I spent the rest of the evening filling my head with mystical formulae. As I was memorizing the spell the sage gave me, I discovered that he had planted a message in the scroll. It said (and I could even hear him talking) that sometimes it takes more than one identify spell to determine the command words for some items, such as my eye. He even apologized for not finding everything.

---

After determining what of our stock was magically, I spent the next two days identifying objects. The process was very intriguing, but words fail me for a description of it. Perhaps I will write more on it when I gain more experience with it.

As a test case, I examined a ring, the one with the brightest magical signature. I determined that it would let the wearer become invisible. What's more, he can attack while invisible. Fenris said that all the invisibility magics he's heard of required the wearer to become visible to attack. If this is fact, this ring is most powerful. I could not think of someone who would have more use for being invisible than Kheizget, so I gave it to him, once I had uncovered the command words.

Next I tried my eye, which nearly overwhelmed me. Had I not known already what the stone did, I would have been totally lost. How the sage discovered its workings, I know not. Eventually, I determined the command words for the stone, which greatly enhances my chances for survival.

Next I tried another ring, which turned out to be a slight defensive magic, so I put it on.

Next I tried to see identify K's bow, to see if it had any strange abilities, but he wouldn't let me and forced me to go to sleep. No accounting for some people.

November 27, 1994

We began to prepare for hunting the beast when K disappeared. He had the hunting map, and he left a note saying he needed to hunt the dog himself to prove he had a penis or something. In any case, we decided to follow him, with Fenris tracking him.

In the woods, we found tracks that looked to be made by a much bigger animal than the one that attacked us earlier. Our assumption is now that there are at least two of these beasts, and that the beast may be able to function in the day.

In the woods we heard the howl of the beast, and we wait in ambush for it, as it seemed to come closer. Nearer and nearer it came, until we knew it was just out of sight. But what then walked into view was a man on horseback. Clad entirely in black, he had a strangely tattooed face. He also carried a large, oddly shaped battle axe. I'd heard rumors of men like this. They called themselves Lorinslaads, rangers who used black magic to control animals. We dropped from the trees to make contact with him.

He says almost nothing, passing us on his way to the village. We decide to meet him there and I teleported ahead. He eventually made it to the village and began to demand food and drink from the locals. Thinking strategically, I spied on him from a distance. He began to accost Durnik in a way that was most unfriendly. As the stranger became more and more agitated, Durnik getting killed grew closer and closer to reality. It came to me to stall the Lorinslaad until the rest of the group could come to save us.

Using typically brilliant banter, mostly insulting is manhood and manners. He gets more and more frustrated and eventually attacks. The battle was a bit of a blur, I'm afraid, but I remember him getting very fast at one point. Thinking he might be controlling his horse, I reasoned that if I killed his horse, he might get hurt as well. While the horse did me the courtesy of dying when hit with several of the olives I hurled at it, the Lorinslaad seemed not to notice. Well, at least at first. He did come back to his horse and thunk some sort of dart into it before running off.

After the ranger ran away, I dug the dart from the horse. The dart was filled with poison, and carried the symbol of the silver spider.

December 3, 1994

McBride and I had a strange talk about Dylan Vlad today. It seemed strange that he had heard of him; perhaps there is more to him than I thought. He mentioned a drivel poem called Thirteen. It seemed senseless, but oddly compelling. He didn't know the exact poem, but remembered it containing lines like "there are 13 inches in this feet, there are 13 months in this year, there are 13 hours in this clock" and so on. We also talked about Alassibon and Magista a bit.

This exchange was interrupted by K coming to inform us of strange man. We went out to greet the strange man. Tall and gaunt, he hid in a hooded cloak, holding a staff. Later I saw that he had a delicate chain belt around his waist. It seemed like he would have been handsome, but he didn't take very good care of himself. He was moving very slowly, as if weary of the world. With a shock, McBride recognizes him from university days, calling him "Cypher". Cypher does not care to remember the university, but says he is looking for his brother, the Lorinslaad Cyrus.

At one point, he cast some spells at us to unknown effect. I believe he was probing our minds for information about his brother. He turned to leave, when Zem unleashed the following story:

When Baso Daishi was out walking with Hyakujo, he saw a wild duck fly past.
Daishi said "What is it?"
Hyakujo said "It is a wild duck."
Daishi said "Where is?"
Hyakujo said "It has flown away."
Daishi at last gave Hyakuo's nose a sharp pinch. Hyakujo cried out with pain. Daishi said "How can it fly away?"

This caused much consternation in all but Cypher.

As Cypher continued on, Filippe's new girlfriend Elzbeth asks us all to lunch. Having spent the morning tramping through the woods, I was just happy to be inside in a chair again.

During the meal, we get into a lively discussion about Democracy, mostly from McBride. The locals seemed to think that it was far too much trouble. Oddly enough, and I take no credit at all for this, conversation turned to potatoes. This came mostly from Elzbeth's father with K as the target audience. Though unimpressed with democracy, local knowledge of potatoes bordered on the supernatural. We began drinking some fantastic local vodka, a tribute to the village. As I wandered in and out of the conversation in a haze, I remember only K, sitting in rapt attention as K absorbed some subtle nuance of spud farming.

In a way I'll never recall, we started a festival.

---

Going into the woods to hunt beast the next morning, we discussed how we might get the beasts to stop harming villagers without killing them. The encounter with Glodeth made us all look deeper than the surface for complexity.

On the way determined that there were three of the beasts, based mostly on tracks. Zem could apparently understand the cries in a vague way. Then we heard Elzbeth calling to Filippe for help. Zem said "It is using the fear". I think he meant that the beasts were causing the voice somehow. Not taking chances of this, many of us climbed up into the trees and waited.

They came then, four of them, looking like hell incarnate. The had odd bodies, almost horse-like, with long necks. One look at them told you three things: the were smart, they were evil, and they wanted to kill you. These creatures looked to me to kill for sport as much as food. I tried to charm them with my voice, and it seemed to freeze one of them. McBride tried to rip its throat with a grappling hook, but the attack broke my hold and it started to thrash McBride. I'm almost sure the beast was not under my control, but using itself as bait to get us out of the trees. For some reason, I was the only one that kept with the plan, which was to shoot the beasts from the trees. It was a sensible plan, as we knew they could not climb, not with those feet. K of course, leapt into battle, as did Filippe when hearing is love's voice. I saw the beast use her voice and riddled him with arrows.

While my companions engaged the beasts below, getting sliced and trampled, I managed to kill three of the beasts with my bow. I'm not sure if that made me a hero or not.

December 11, 1994

Glodeth returned after the battle. He seems to have a healing power, which he used on all of us. Though I was not wounded fighting the beasts, which Fenris calls "leucrotta", I had wounds from before. It was good to see Glodeth again. For some reason, he instills of sense of goodness into the world. Interestingly, his power did not have full effect on K, yet another instance of magic not working fully on him.

Fenris tracked down the lair of the beasts, a cave connected to the river. The lair reeked of the dead, and there were a number of bodies strewn about the lair. I caught a glimpse of silver and picked it up. Upon doing so, I heard an unearthly moan. It was quite dark, and our torches blinded us to what was further into the cave. We feared that another leucrotta might be lurking inside, perhaps a wounded one or a child. (I wonder what one calls a baby leucrotta?) I cast dancing lights and sent them deeper into the cave. The soft, pretty, glowing orbs seemed a morbid contrast to the groups of moving corpses they illuminated. At first it was unclear if they were actually corpses, or near dead victims of the beasts. We called out to them, to no avail. As they grew nearer, the sight of them rotting and the stench confirmed that these were indeed corpses, animated be hideous magic, or violent death.

Their foulness was fortunately matched by an apparent discomfort with moving faster than a shuffling gait. As I looted the tomb of these poor wretches, they got close, and I kicked the kneecap out of one. We all went a bit crazy when killing the dead. The leucrotta were, in retrospect, more of a danger, but fighting the dead brought a fear to me unmatched by any before. And not just fear. You could not but help notice resemblances to people you knew as you hacked and burned the corpses. We all had to get out of the cave for a time before continuing our investigation of the lair.

Once we worked up the courage to return, I picked out pieces from the rubble by casting detect magic at rotating. We managed to find quite a few magical items, including a sword that talked. For unknown reasons, we dubbed it "[[Many Things Specific]]". It has a bit of an attitude problem, but when McBride asked to keep it, I could think of no blade more suited to him.

One of the strongest magic glimmers came from the pool of water in the cave. This turned out to be a body with several magic items on it. Zem parted the water to allow us to get the body. As we ventured out, a large serpent or leech or something had the audacity to attack us. We dispatched it, but fighting in the pool was more difficult that I'd have thought.

---

Dancing lights
Get silver
Kneecapped Zombie
Detect Magic
Get staff and axe

Named MTS
Washed off disease
Pointed out Phillipe's role

December 18, 1994

Our sleep was interrupted by Many Things Specific, who can whistle. Later McBride gets ambushed by a bunch of lit'l'uns who tie him up and carry him away. Zem opens the rock to let us through. We go in to find McBride and get rained on by darts. Large nose, big ears, baggy skin (grey brown and warty). Armed. K grabs one and tries to reason with it, but it throws a spear at his head. They swept by and stole my pyrotechnics scroll, cutting open my bag. The next time they came out, I slept a whole bunch. We got out of the cave with a prisoner. This was much sound and fury.

We sealed the cave. I composed a song for the undead, and gave a pseudo-prayer.

Back at the village, I identified a ring of water breathing. Fillipe asks for magic items. We give him a ruby ring for an engagement ring. He weds next morning and asked me to be best man. Wedding actually went pretty well. But after, an enraged father came out, demanding that McBride wed his daughter Clara. Evidently McBride had "corrupted" her. I managed to diffuse the situation by raising my glass in praise of this would be union and suggesting that if it wasn't the perfect match, then "may the gods strike me down". I then let go of the glass and teleported out of sight. I'm told that as the glass clattered to the ground, quite a rucus broke out.

Went into Rosgoe, disguised as merchants. I went in darker skinned, dark hair, gaudy jewelry. Name = Wallice Alacan.

Met guide.

---

Reacted to keening as leucrotta
Stopped talking and went into hole
laugh at McBride
oull out McBride
Sleep spell.
Noticed theft
Prayer for the dead
Cothes and chatter before wedding
Dance

Wedding teleport
Merchant plan
Identify staff
Merchant "Money-to-burn"
Amulet key

Rosgoe and prison

January 2, 1995

Found black and green stone in the box that we got from the old wolf. Identify K's armor. I start shaking in the middle of it. I was in a swirl of color. It was as if something was preventing me from continuing.

An invisible K tells us of two men (one thin and one jowly) who were discussing "them" and that there are bad times here. Story of old prospector Brinkley, found dead on mount Fenwood (remote prospecting mountain) with a silver spider in his cheek.

As we left breakfast, being a loutish merchant, I asked loudly after Brinkley. I learn he's dead and get ignored by people in barn. One of the guys is the jowly person. K starts giving advice as to the jowly man's origin and the tastes of Brinkley which K heard. I continue in this vein making the people ignore me more. K says "Do you wish to make it four cities Tanador" and I almost started laughing. To cover, I start crying. Jowly takes me out and hold knife to neck. We talk as K, invisible, holds axes to the guy. Then the red army shows up. Brimbrax and Antovel. Jowley and I exit back into the kitchen. K shoots Antovel in the head. We run. We run into Agachack and a company of Reds. I refuse to break character.

We get motioned to seats.

Brimbrax called Agachack "my lord", respectfully, but not necessarily with deference. "You've led me on a merry chase." Brill walks in. Lamner appears. "His Lordship" Donnes Krell walks in. Agachack is a commander in the Red Army. Antavel (sp is correct). Lamner = Malachi. Agachack lets us off with imprisonment. I cast sleep. Hell breaks loose. I cast web, but get clocked by Brimbrax before it goes off.

K's bow referred to as "Mordechi's bow".

---

Secret door in box
Identify experience

Giggle to crying
Silver spider
Merchant acting
Refusal to break character
Talk with Agachack
Start fight
Spells
Wisely surrendered to Brimbrax

January 8, 1995

K. wrapped and taken away. I offer to help, but am refuse. I wasn't even going to try a trick. Lamner (sp correct) dissents to Brimbrax, I believe about why we have been allowed to live, but I'm escorted out before I really hear too much.

Miran Cadax. Agachack does follow Set. He uses poison. We talked about how Brill may be a lackey for the Nyssians. He also mentioned that the Nyssians wishes were in opposition to his (did he mean Red Army or Elementide?). He wanted to know about my new companions, but I only confirmed things he already knew. He wanted to know why Magista was interested in Dylan, and I offered him the info for a price, but he changed the subject.

He poisons me to tell the truth (and kills a bird and guard in demonstration). He hates birds. He was curious about Wolf, how I got to him and who I saw down there. He was curious to know that I saw Lamner and very interested (and perhaps afraid that Mandorellen was there). He gives me an antidote, which tastes horrid and puts me to sleep.

I wake up in prison. The wolf's guide is named Bron MacLyn. Bron says that Wolf is an elf.

See character sheet.

We get sprung by Alaunoboto and taken to the woods.

---

Offer to help K w/o subterfuge
Conversation w/ Agachack "unimportant"

Let experience overcome good sense w/ poison
I lied only twice "hallucinating"
Silver spider
Deal w/ Efrem
"Foreshadowing" Brimbrax duel
Mention Efrem isn't with us
Hit on woman
Sharing info

January 15, 1995

Jowls is Efrem. He is basically an information broker. He helped Christen us "Thorn" Works for Alison, an adventurer looking for information about the Silver Spider, Elementide and us. She is also looking for info about the what's happening in the Harkken Mountains. 50 year old guardian's messenger. The Prophesy of the Guardian says that if a steward Twelve signs. I make a deal with Efrem that if he acts as fixer for us, I'll tell him something about what's going on in the Harkken Mountains. Brimbrax's flail is named Tunderok.

Alanobato. "Brotherhood" Caius Valarius. Tall black man, with goatee and braids. Red scarf and silver top knot. Scimitar and scale. Nyissian. Leader.

Artos. Large bear of a man. Battle axes. Bearded. Sticks close to mage.

Rowena. Woman. Ring mail, short and long sword. Fierce, challenging.

Bors. Stocky, shifty man, mischievous and giggly. Black reinforced leather and short swords. From Krell.

Dinas Emrys. Tall, sardonic man in scale and with two maces and an odd dagger. Green eye. Bast cleric.

Vortigern. Proud man in robes. Mage. Rescued and taken to camp in forest. When the amulet leaves the skin, Wolf knows I'm in trouble. Everyone knows [[Lady Silvia]]. Stones: Sedonius in Bamphf. Vortigern identifies Figurines Mocat - dog figure. Guardian. 12 hours. Lorad - sparrow figure. Messenger. Until message is delivered. Visdat - spy. 1 mile. Only visual. 1 to 4 hours. Lots more stuff. In the morning, we divvy up the treasure. Vortigern teleports us to Elzgard.

Elzgard is a professor that sounds like John Housman. Temple to south of Shasta. Nyissans may want alliance (Nyissan priests worship Issa). Being built by Red Army.

---

Defend Vortigern's handling
ID'd bow
Backward riding joke
uh-oh
Effect on spells.

January 22, 1995

Record lost to history.

---

Comment to Vortigern
Learned spells
Tried to avoid making path
Moved to defend donkeys
Sparrow reaction
Cast shield
Burning hands
Cover for McBride
Let burning bugbears go
Cocky comment
Told McBride to let bugbears leave
Charmed bugbears
Song for the dead
Morning antics / Fuzzy leaves
Sword fighting
Test teleport while bound

"Most wounded" idea
Waited 'til Cyrus attacked before casting

January 29, 1995

The big guy is Halifax, a Myrmidon. He has dealt with Efrem, who he calls honorable. He feels that Efrem is on our side. He "had some shadier professions in the past". We let Cyrus go after pretending that Halifax is member of Thorn.

We discussed strategy for once.

While K is scouting, we hit Mount Haralkken. It's enormous. We had been force marching to get some distance before the storm hit. As the snow picks up, we hear the sound of a dragon howling. I listen for Necron but don't hear him.

Alison. I sing for her. She gives me poem.

---

Thorn jokes
Thorn initiation ritual
Sparrow to Fenris
Invisible shift of key
Listened for Necron
Talked to Necron
Ring move
Pepe

Mount H'drad

February 5, 1995

The poem reads: The title "Carmarthen" refers to an old legend. A thousand years ago, the Empire of Orrim was vast and ruled by Aladane. Near the outpost of Carmarthen, the Glaneventa came out of the forest and presented Aladane with a gift: a chess service made of rich material and a stunning work to behold. The Emperor made a bet (totally out of character) and both players (Nordem) seemed possessed. Shalidar (the set). Sar (the sword, revenge). "With the blood wager over the Shalidar, the Shalidar becomes Sar". The set was red gold and white gold. The moves made no sense.

Pillars were jade, obsidian, redwood, ivory. The legend reminded me of the old religious poem:

Alison got the poem from a merchant. She has heard that the board contains a secret of great power. Orrim - Greek pantheon Dalenden - Egypt pantheon.

We find the rocks and the ledge. We get in the tunnel. Zem goes back to check for wind. He gets attacked by white furry beasts. Many Things Specific cries "Oh yes!" and lights on fire. The fire seemed to slaughter them.

We sleep in the tunnel and then move on. Zem tries to connect the key with the door. While he is meditating to try, K, Fenris and McBride checked the south corridor for traps. They get caught in this huge pivoting floor trap. Zem, Alison and I start to look for them after Zem does not find a connection. Zem opens a hole in the trap and tries to look down the hole and triggers the pit other way. Alison and I manage to tie ropes and get to the other side of the floor but the trap does not go off. I go back to get the other end of the rope and trigger the floor. I try to shoot arrows to cut the rope, thus falling the rest of the way.

We fall about 70 feet, then slide down an incline about a thousand feet. We end up in a large room, lit by glowing moss. The wall says:

And lo, there shall be wagered upon the game of manly kings a wont of power, yea influence on persuasion, drawn hence from the fabric of creation, bid only by the whim of knightly hubris in struggle with divine impudence and contempt. Yea, he who winneth and he who is lost shall both shake the foundations of the rocks below and determine by their sport the fate of all.

---

"Good stories keep you warm."
Lantern idea
Move the rocks idea
Warning to save me last
"Feel like those trees"
Flamed a beast
Logic test to Alison
Suggestion of "right answer"
"Mmmmmmm"
Hit by olives
Arrow at the rope
"Ye-haaaa!"

February 12, 1995

I was going to teleport to save Alison, when McBride pointed out that Bron (who's blindness he had just abated with MTS) had the flying ring, so we sent him after Alison. He didn't find her, but the trap had been reset. Later he tells us that there is a burnt out torch near the hole Zem made. From this, we assume that Alison walked out the way we came.

As we decide to move on, we realize that the key is gone. We figure that Alison took it. After much discussion, we decide to ignore Alison, and try to find the door that fits the key.

We take the right corridor, but it terminates in a diagonal door. After a long discussion with the door, Zem indicates that we should take the middle passage. We do.

In doing so, we cleverly manage to get trapped. The trap is full of water and a critter made of water. We kill it and get some magic armor and gold, and find a secret door. We get through the door and manage to make it back in the original room.

I get attacked by centipedes and get hit by my own party. K gets a centipede and gets poisoned. We use some potions to heal him.

We get into a large room that starts spinning. The tables and chairs that were in here start flying about. I use olives on the spindle. I cast a web, which the torches we just started using promptly ignited. Eventually, we got out thanks to Zem, who did some sort of stone thing. I fall unconscious without much help from my comrades, for once.

---

???

February 19, 1995

We check the other corridor. It is much the same, but seems less trapped and infested. We find a torture chamber, complete with two deformed giants and a human being pulled on the rack. The human looks like Cyrus. We start fighting the giants and K manages to hit me with yet another arrow.

We search through the iron maiden and find Cyrus' belongings. I identify some of them as magical. Then the lights go out and we all become deaf. I immediately teleport into the kitchen.

Bron gives me list of names. K's name means "valor." He tells an outline of (Addo@) Snow Dwarf and the Seven Wights. How do I get a bow to add to damage magically?

---

Pointed out possibility of trap in hall
Shield
Give giants opportunity to surrender
Hits on giant
detect magic
Teleport during Cyrus and Cyphers attack.
Mirror image
Undead check
door close
aim sucks
Secret door

"Oh great, a toady"
Id'd ingredients
Ignored Zem's illusion
Most direct path theory.

March 5, 1995

I lost this entry. This detailed the minataur fight, the dance, the statues, the forge, the throne room and the finale.

The notes in the last room, I detailed like this:
\ - 20' low e red (20' dim)-
- 40' low f orange (30' dim)
\ - 60' low g yellow (40' dim)
| - 80' mid a green (50' dim)

/ - 100' mid b blue (60' dim)
/ - 120' mid c indigo (80' dim)
\ - 140' mid d violet (100' dim)
- white low e (160')

---

Music/Octave
Now is the time we dance
Invite Zem in
Indirect fire
Burning hands
Web
Dig at Zem
Put out fires
Secret doors

Didn't open spell book in room with worms
Detect magic in den
Dispel on statue idea
Black Orchid symbol on petrified guys

---

Strategy pointless
decoy plan
stake doors shut
two watchers
rules of music speech
spike door shut
"You're letting patterns influence your thinking"
Prep before ambush

No wax to hear better
"Sar"
Speechless from music
Talk about religious belief
Swap stories w/ Bron
Totally incorrect
Shake Zem awake and fall to sleep
Prayer

Rosgoe to Earl Grey's

March 12, 1995

Bought clothes. Talked to Elzgard. Blood has a dragon as a member. Elzgard knows Ramone Peypoch. He hung with him in a bar called the Crows Nest (a beatnick beer house). Fox is often an amulet of non-detection. Ascomoid -- the big yellow spore ball.

Carmarthan Service: Ask Garvin, Ramone Peypoch, and Doward (in Anden). Quest for the Service will lead to Nyssia. Acteon may have been searching for the service during his invasions. Holds a secret of great power, perhaps the secret of the knights tour-a pattern of motion of the knight when the knight never visits the same square-Mecklenburg (a Granger) thought. Creation myths with God creating first the word, then light. Ramone thought the word is music, and that the secret of the service is music and mathematical. Mecklenburg, Kretsinger, Barth, Ebernan (air has weight), Benoit (light refraction), Dylan Vlad, [[Issac Tidicult]] (Nyssian memiors) are all Grangers. It is a fraternity of learned men; poets, sculptors, and so on.

We go to the Inn of the Old Wolf. Assumed names: Bron = Maclyn
Me = Marcos
K = Atho
McBride = Walter
Zem = Konstantinos

We see a short man with sliver capping the tops of his ears, and the bridge of his nose. Average eyes, but the left one is white. Bald, thin-lipped and intimidating. Oily black plate mail, fashioned after an animal. Axes, bastard sword, throwing wedges. Everyone is trying not to stare at him. Thrang! He also had a monkey bag.

---

Ask about Grangers
Plan for cover
Spent money on clothes
Into Elzgards
"Ruining dramatic effect"
Description of Music
"Let's go, shall we"
Pillow to K's head
Tried to check for other stone
Tried to help woman
I don't like this guy

Insanity speech
Bread to head.

March 19, 1995

Baron Eperney - Baron of lands containing Rosgoe. Four priests on horseback track us. They wanted the pice. I told them Magista had stole it from us. He threatened me if I was lying he'd be back. I met his gaze and told him "I don't lie". K and I discuss what happened in a barn type town hall, where we get overheard by Brill. He starts using a blowgun so I fog up the room. Eventually we overcome him with the help of Zem. We steal his stuff. He had Hdraden gold and a gator bag. We left him alive, with a thorn mark on his face.

---

Talk to barkeep
Retreat due to Red Guard
Deffered tactics to Kai.
Didn't expose my position

Hasty retreat w/seater
"I don't lie"
Alter image
Wall of fog
Mirror image
Careful about getting spells interrupted
resisted gold
leave Brill alone
moral argument
get a map
disguise lecture
stated goals
neutral good speech
spy metaphor
military metaphor
code conversation

March 26 1995

I identify the cloak Bron usurped from Cyrus. It seems allow the user to change shape into two animal forms. One is large, with fur and claws. The other is hooved, fast and has tusks. The command word for the large alteration is toska, and that change seems to last longer for male wearers. The hooved beast change is willed by the word trelef, and lasts longer for female wearers. It seems that most wearers can make a change once every two days, for about an hour. One user could use it once per day, however, a user which might have been Cyrus, which would be consistent with his beastmaster training.

The next day, I stayed in the room to identify more magic items while my compatriots went into the city to pick up our goods. I worked with K's armor, which no longer had a guardian. I saw it being forged, and felt one user fall a great distance and get killed by a leucrotta.

I then identified McBride's shield. Assumedly, this shield was not very complex, so my attempt intended to accelerate the process. This proved successful, and I managed to identify Brill's cloak as well. Both items are enchanted to protect their user. Meanwhile, Bron and McBride went to the weaver, and made a stop and the Scarlet Stout. McBride paid a woman to expose Bron to the more savory aspects of the feminine nature. He whined a bit, it is my most deep faith that he enjoyed it.

The next day I spent identifying McBride's armor and the vest. In the meantime, K and Bron spent the morning talking to a crazed herbalist named Urban, who thought they were from the maker of Mad Martigen's Tonic, so espoused much knowledge about herbs to Bron. Earl Grey's symbol is a downward pointed sword with a circle around.

---

Ident
Ident
K info
Unschooled in knocking
Accelerated identification of armor and shield
Random story
Joke telling

April 2, 1995

Earl Grey wishes to buy an iron mine owned by Baron Epperney. The baron will not sell, confident that he had his realm under control in spite of it being occupied by Reds. I watch McBride play chess. Grey is guarded by only twelve men. I get hassled by the guard, and have to spin a story about worshipping Shuushuush. I also do a little dance. Earl pays respects to Duke Torver.

[Last time in castle: I see the staircase is illusionary. Also, Narita is technically Grey's prisoner.] Austurians are protective of their space.

Acteon means eight in ancient Austurian (the dialect of the hill people).

We hear coyotes in the night. They come closer, and eventually we see eyes come slightly out of the darkness. The eyes seem to take a man-like shape. A raven comes out of the night and looks at us. I look at K to confirm that I should shoot an explosive arrows at the eye shape. He gets a bit nauseous, and says its up to me. I shoot and the raven flies into the path of the shot. It falls to the ground, cawing. Bron takes the arrow out and it turns to a bundle of sticks. K says this is a sign of the god of death. I go apologize in the forest. While I do, Bron asks for a sign from Shuushuush, and a large white owl comes out of the forest. It regards us. A map blows out of the hands of the guards (who later deny seeing the owl or the raven) and the owl lands on it, putting a foot on Shasta and Nyissa. The owl claws at Shasta and pecks Anden. Holes in the maps left by the owl around Shasta grows honeysuckle and barley. Out of Anden grows a Strawberry, that lands on Anden and rolls over to Nyissa.

We continue the next day, and the axles of the wagons get infested with termites and shatter. We loose a half hour while the guards build a palanquin. Once underway, we get attacked by what appear to be ogres.

---

"Your grace" reprimand
Wager remark
Rude comment
Questioning nobility comment
Explained situation
Moon argument
Moon dance
Moon apology
Ride next to Narita
"Eight" out of Narita
Song to speed programs
Warned the captain of Cyrus
Woke up others
Ask K. For tactical evaluation
Talked to gods alone

Irritation to Narita
Attack warning
Illusion warning
Tried to track illusion
Call out to Cypher
Thought to ask for illusion of big lizard

April 9, 1995

[Bring in Tick comics for Jeff. Get Eva copy of God things.] Cypher appears and warns us to get out. McBride tries to boot his head, but misses. Cypher says for use to get away "before the forest comes to reclaim him. Through you." We run (though McBride tried to steal Cyrus and got paralyzed for their pains). There is a loud scream. After the sound dies down, we go back, but there is nothing to find, save traces of a very powerful spell.

By nightfall, we reach Grey's keep. Weary I am, so I sleep.

The earl is going to force Narita to wed him, which will cause civil war. His mage is called Borlain. "To an Austurian, the games of chess is second nature."

Deadthorn Car was the name for the stronghold build to hold the [[Carmathen Service]] in Austuria (possibly, it is unclear if this legend applies to Nordom or not). The lord's servants started practicing black rituals. The lord went mad and buried his servants alive in the basements.

Grey knows very much about chess. He also knows many legends about chess. He tells us this after we have a brief yet fruitless conversation with Borlain. After which, I manage to make Grey very mad at Borlain. Eventually, Grey informs us that he needs to sire a child by Narita, but fears that her age will make it dangerous without a good physician. We promise to help him if he can help get us to Shasta. He does by making a deal with Tortuga of all people. We accept the deal and give him two healing potions for a stopgap measure.

I make the mistake of reading Narita's mind. The next day, Grey asks for war manuals.

---

Remembered to get daggers
"You are going to make me miss this."

Argument to wait for animals
Maneuvered Borlain into disfavor
Didn't ask for the orb when Grey was in my debt
Leave healing potion suggestion
ESP on Narita
"Why would I make a fool out of myself."
Used many Narita behaviors
Wake up McBride
Wake up McBride again
Write war manuals for Earl Grey

Tortuga and the Second Strike

April 16, 1995

Masha - best seamstress in Brukenbroad.

Leto Duan is short, with round spectacle and a brown mustache. Tortuga is illiterate. White swans on red flags on the boats that Tortuga totally decimated.

We see Agachack, Brimbrax, Donnes Krell and Antovel. McBride moons them, and Antovel plants three quarrels into his butt, which I laugh at. I tell Brimbrax that we need to talk.

I id the arrow of slaying.

The colors of Shasta are red and white. We go to the Scurvy, the place with Frannie. Shia is a sect of Issa = Nyissan Preists. There are some priests of Issa are not Shia. Shia translates to Black Orchid.

---

Morale writing
Stayed writing music during run aground
Squirrel ate a pigeon
Prepared spells for naval warfare
Watched men die
Laughed at McBride
Tried to compose song
Mirror image on ship
Told Brimbrax we need to talk
Express concern about death of opponents
Made butt comments to McBride
Id arrow of slaying
Pessimism comment

April 23, 1995

K breaks black arrow. He gets dizzy. I sell my chain for 20gp. I buy a woven paisley red vest fro 6gp from Brook's wools.

Actaeon met often with Nyissan leaders during the invasion. He was "larger than life" so probably wasn't effected by spells (Actanax). Beginning senators were hand picked.

No Reds have entered Kralld. Kralld worship Norse gods.

Chain of the stones (according to Garven): Bard, Rogue, Warrior, Priest, Paladin, Monk, Vampire, Dragon. Sufficient will can use the extra powers, and bonding certainly can. Only death can separate a bonded user from the stone. Concentrate on the powers, at night, close to the earth (cave, basement, cellar), shove the eye close to the brain. Bonding gives full power, include their accuracy and frequency. Garven did not wish to tell me why the stones were created, out of fear of coercion.

Mid wives, west end, near livery. Order of the Black Orchid has been known as such for 300 years. We ask for leniency for Sal'm and Brimbrax says that the Red Guard should pursue the perps rather than Sal'm. He gives us a ten minute lead. Then Malachi shows up and all hell breaks loose. I run to the hotel and start gathering stuff. The box with the body is very heavy. I ask for a cart, then realize that a horse could carry it better. We find midwives and the [[Second Strike]].

---

Message to Brimbrax
Bought clothes
Knights tour to Garvin
Answers for Bard's stone
Message to Anden
Conbo w/ Brimbrax
Book out of bar
get stuff
"Bellman!"
"Free booze at the Brass Knob."
Drunk comments to K.
Go to Scurvy for ship

May 7, 1995

Tortuga gets harassed by the purple and gold of Prancebody's navy. The Second Strike has a cloaking device (from Don Ally); they never see us but it was tense. I manage to con the captain out of four scrolls for 40 silver. We go ashore to create magical background count. We get attacked by flying guys, a screaming dude and a flying hoop. A sphere comes up around the Nyissan priestess, and I try to teleport inside. I get cooked. After a very long attempt, managed to stab the priest with the arrow of slaying. During my attempt, K's hand gets cut off. After the priest dies, I fall and narrowly avoid death. The priestess of Issa calls down fire and blades to smite our opponents.

---

Blood oath
Scroll deal
Conned captain
Argued for defense plan
Teleport into sphere
Finally killed mage

May 14, 1995

Questions for Allegra: What the hell was that blue sphere and the duel inside? Who can control K with the arrow? Why do you care about Dylan Vlad? Allegra is the name of the priestess of Issa.

Dragon attack, w/ K running. Dragon retreats to east. Allegra revives Zem. She also gives me an arrow that contains some of K's spirit. She tells me not to use the arrow or it will release K's spirit in a bad way. It can also be used to control K. A rather bizarre service is performed by Allegra. I sing at the party. Malkith = dragon? Rule 1: "Never admit that you do not know what you are doing." Bruckenbrod is like NYC, Anden is like L.A. I ask K to scout Annabelle Silven. We make a bet to see who will first find out what's in the chest.

---

Moral obligation speech
"You made him invisible"
"Not bad, for an aesthetic"
Latern joke
Detect magic
Toss back stuff to disguise trail
Wege door shut
Comment to Zem about circuitous routes
Teleport memorization
"It stung me."

"Oh my God" to K and others
Olives
Web the room.

---

Tried to search bodies
Get Dowell's sword
"No problem."
Wall of Fog.
Pepe.
Sing for morale
Sing for rowing
Made a point not to be there at night
Refuse payment
Chips connection

Hired K as scout
Hired pirate as weapon instructor
The bet.

June 18, 1995

Had a talk with Allegra. I was going to offer to kill her, assuming she'd refuse and see that she was moping for no reason. Instead she said that she wanted to go home and die, and that she can only die at home. I asked her if she had faith in Issa, and she said she did not know. I was then quickly escorted out and Dowell berated me.

Sent note to Allegra and gave McBride a note to give to .

Bamphf

May 21, 1995

McBride and I go on fruit errands. We hear a rumor about a mage called Livermorth or something. We go into the Red and Black to gamble and recruit for the Second Strike. Some Reds show up and pick a fight. Two of them grab me. I teleport with them and they drop dead. I web half of the room and run to the back. By then K had killed most of them, and I retrieved an obviously magical sword from the dead captain. Iadra had made sure that McBride didn't die, then took him to the ship. K and I went north, but after talking to Zem via the bird, we return to the ship. I identify the sword as a sword that causes wounds that cannot heal. It was created by a man who looked Nyissan but not really.

---

Kissed McBride
Disguised Iadra
Kept rolling dice
Web
Got sword
Got dog
Heard torches
Picked up cash

Held action to take guards out of fight
Identified sword

July 3, 1995

We get pick pocketed in the market, and Iadra vanishes. We visit an apothecary.

Three men in armor:
Red: Red hair, large mace, no beard. Forrest.
Blue: (left) Two short swords, black hair, no mustache. Large helmet.
Orange: Two-handed sword, blonde.

They are the Flowered Fist. Armor holds power (possibly artifacts). The powers of the armor are somewhat indicated by the embellishments on it. The suits were made by Necron, and the Fist were his troubleshooters.

July 9, 1995

The big fight. Cannons fire. Iadra uses the staff. Thinking red was earth, I heal red (who is really fire) by casting burning hands on him. As a last resort, I start to attack. Red loses his mace over the side. He casts a hold person on me. Zem has the deck fling him off the ship, making the mast fall over. He helps the crew right the mast. Red climbs back on board just in time to get blasted by a cannon fired by Zem.

Orange slips under the deck, and ransacks Dowell's cabin. Iadra enthralls him and keeps him entertained.

The Royal Navy

August 13, 1995

Blamed the man's fear on demonic possession. We plan that we will fire cannon at other ships, blame it on the demons and have the clerics visibly exorcise them. Allegra and her guard took out a large portion of the officers. Allegra used a sleep spell as well, which was odd for someone who has lost her powers. I killed a man first time with the rapier. I web the guards. I lit the web and set off six cannon. One exploded and two hit the opposing ship. I fire a cannon at a group of guards. We get a cannon fired at us. I attack a guard, but during it, ten men swing on ropes through the open cannon ports. I put the dagger in my teeth and jump for a rope. I grab it, sheath the sword and climb up.

As I run to help Alegra on deck, the ship starts to sink, and I get a horrible pain in my head. Vortigern is on board, and he slaughters huge numbers of the crew. K kills loads of people with arrows. Iadra casts hold person on the Admiral shortly after K kills a captain on another ship.

Vortigern takes us to the new ship via some odd fog place. We manage to get the other ship to surrender, but only after Allegra flame strikes the remaining ship.

The ships log mentioned four large black ships leaving via the Simbury River. The ships we attacked were dispatched to destroy them.

On the captains body I find: two rings, a silvery vest, nice decorations, long sword.

August 20, 1995

K and I have fun opening chest. K finds a trap when it poisons him. I open the lock after K fails. The chest holds: White king, two red pawns.

From the Admiral: Headband, cloak, big belt, short sword, 2 rings, gauntlets, bastard sword. A choker that won't come off (lantern symbol), boots. While he searches, the captain breaks free.

The Royal Navy uses Inquisitors and tattoos to track sailors. A black ship on the horizon appears again.

Captains Log: Reservations the captain was taking to long trying to get to the bore. Semi-obsessed with the pieces. One entry mentions that the pieces are evil possibly. Gained pieces from the captain's chambers of a smuggler ship before they met the Iron Maiden. Crew of the smuggler ship, captained by Rothchild, is being detained in Walabarow (which is en route to Dervisher), in Dalenden. Dowel says that Rothchild smuggled for Elzbad Corday, nephew of senator Corday. We also get the captains seals. The royal captain wrote a book on navigation authored, oddly, by Bartholomew C. Dowel.

K and I open a secret compartment in the captain's quarters.

Talk with Vortigern. He tells me Korlach (aka Cassinay) is hunting Zem. Cassinay worked and loved Malak-kith (the dragon). After being removed from the earth, she was so disfigured that Malakith spurned her. Malak-kith is extremely vain.

I have a discussion with the bat sword in a strange nowhereland. It's name is Tesharna. It went like this:

Tes: Greetings Tanador.
Tan: You know my name. What is yours?
Tes: Tesharna.
Tan: A perfect name for such a beautiful and lethal instrument.
Tes: It is well that you complement me, for I am now bonded to you.
Tan: Is that good?
Tes: What is good?
Tan: I'm not sure I know.
Tes: Are you a warrior, Tanador?
Tan: On occasion.
Tes: On occasion I can be lethal.
Tan: On occasion, so can I. Can you describe your lethality?
Tes: Where I am employed, I bring death?
Tan: Death to whom?
Tes: To my enemies?
Tan: Who are your enemies?
Tes: Those my wielder wishes to vanquish.
Tan: What make you a better weapon than any other pice of steel?
Tes: The more I drink, the more powerful I become.

September 4, 1995

Bruckenbrod thieves guild has an object that Vortigern wants. This guild is the largest in the land. They have many artifacts. They feel that their possession of them keeps the technology curve in check, keeping stability they like. Vort wants a talisman called "the dream stone". "You'll know it." Guild and wit to get it. Get past the counter-measures using deception. He will train me for information about it. If I retrieve it, I will be more handsomely rewarded. He wants to know: how is it guarded? What is the nature of it?

The stone is an amplifier. People keep it close. Stories are of the order of: "The possessor of the stone went up the hill with the stone. When he came down things

If you know to much about it, it won't permit you to do certain things. Created by Gushella (K's god of knowledge and mysteries).

I confound Vortigern while he's training me.

The ship is having bad luck. McBride takes Iadra to task, going so far as threaten to toss her chest overboard.

Iadra does a quick blessing for a crewman, saying "Now you're blessed goodbye."

We have some trouble getting through the bore. I can't talk about it. I think Iadra had some sort of breakdown or something.

We find a secret door in the mast while searching for breaches of hull integrity. Zem gets it open, and Hdraden gold flows out.

While looking for K, I find a book on the mast, in Middle Orrite, about with the word Luck in the title. I tumble down the mast in time to see Allegra come from below with a bag. She hurls it overboard, just as Dowell comes up and screams "No!".

Earl Grey tea.

Iadra's box contained shoes!

I give the silver spider pin to Iadra, who mentions needing to find "tears of a silver spider".

Vortigern has hideous problems trying to teach me. I want to think like a bard. He wants me to think like a wizard.

September 13, 1995

The Brig. We leave Zem and McBride hanging. I sleep, eat and get some practice with illusions. I train more with Vortigern, who is as surly as ever.

The Black Orchid's purpose is to find the service. I ask Vortigern about a whole bunch of spells and stuff. He manages to teach me to cast third level spells.

Dowell is a member of the Bruckenbrod guild. He suggests that a good way to get on the inside is to pull a heist without their permission, then when they say they're going to kill me, offer them the item.

Vampires

September 17, 1995

An inquisitor dreadnought. We get stuff and pieces. As I put on the silver vest, it makes odd noises for a moment. Vortigern fireballs the ship, but it does not catch fire. The crew of the ship wears grey hoods and is very good, their cannon. Dowell orders us after Allegra, who gets into a dingy. I try to dispel the magic on the ship, but I don't know if it works. I flip into the dingy. Vortigern calls a slew of tentacles. Zem moves water. Allegra dies. The death is fake, to prevent the Shia from locating her.

The village is paranoid, because there is undead about. I fall asleep on guard. The little girl we let in is a vampire.

September 27, 1995

We have a discussion about vampire legends and the draining of life force from Zem and McBride. I stand watch. A bat flies in, and the animals act skittish, but not as much as they did when the girl entered. The acolyte thought that this meant that the vampire has more control, and thus more powerful. He also found it odd that the vampire would show itself. I have a discussion about religion with Iadra and the acolyte.

October 2, 1995

Man on black horse, grey beard, grey cloak. Black. Tobias Morivick. Expensive silver jewry, sword. Austiurian name, he comes from near the redland moors 30 miles south of Ravens Crag car. He hunts undead.

We spend most of the time trying to determine if he is a vampire.

If I use Tesharna on a vampire that has not fed, I will

October 25, 1995

Iadra's ring is a/was scrying device. Luther has an amulet of proof against magical detection. Iadra turns a vampire. I go get the heads, whistling. The acolytes make food. Allegra wakes up. Luther wants to get his horse, by I sing and distract him. We eat and sleep well for the first time in a while. Luther speaks in his sleep, saying "The numbers, the numbers. 16. Alcep." Thorn lets me sleep all night.

Allegra provides a feast for village. Bron finds tracks of vampire that Iadra turned. He had been held down in the sun, assumedly by the main vampire.

Melneth or Melnech or Necklyn or something is on the Vampire's calling card, a velvet book (burgundy). The note says that we will meet again in a different venue. Then the Shi'a come. We get housed, but we get saved by elves! Allegra is dead. The white acolyte blames himself.

November 15, 1995

Party for dead and getting ready to go.

December 5, 1995

Quimby and gnarly the goat.

Adacus gave Zem a coin with a castle on one side and a tree on the other. Allegra thinks the castle is an Orrite keep.

The Shi'a come for Allegra. She decides to leave.

We experiment with a bag of holding.

We find Hdradan gold.

I look for a box from wolf. There are 6 healing potions and a book. The book says it will bring me to the next level of power. It seems not to matter at which level I start reading this book. It may be wise to save this book.

Bron and I see elves on watch. They say some strange words. I recognize "chamat" and "sar" (from when I pulled a sword on him). He says "Children of the White?" We say yes. "It is good."

The Elementide show up.

Imprisoned

December 12, 1995

Having been captured by the Elementide, we wait for Rob to get home to play. We talk a lot in the wagons. Brion of Bruckenbrod is in Vacher's house. Vacher has really expensive Acteon artwork. Ship models, boats, landscapes.

December 19, 1995

Antovel fucks up killing Senator Sussex.

Crazy guy: Shroud in Lassidinia, some pieces are fake. Book of nursery rhymes. "The elves did it to us." The lullabye. Go to ravine beyond the forbidden city. The equation is there. He dies.

Rock cave.

January 9, 1996

We find Dowel in a torture chamber. Brimbrax promises to buy Iadra shoes.

January 16, 1996

I memorize the single cell prison room as a teleport location.

Dowell mentions a poem, informally called "The Librarian" which described or tagged or pointed to the source of information. Grangers used to say "this is my verified source".

The Earth and Sky (radical ideas)

The heart and mind

The man with rhyme/The child's rhyme/The toddler's rhyme/The nursery rhyme (?)

Does this mean Novak? (Green eye/Blue eye)

What color were Novak's father's eyes?

We talk about selling prison route to Thieves Guild.

The tunnel starts to collapse and we have to force out. The tunnel is now a comedy of errors. Dowell and Brimbrax fall into everyone else.

As we get out, Caius from Alanobato drops a fishing hook.

January 23, 1996

Caius starts a fight, giving us a distraction and we get up on the dock.

McBride and Brimbrax charge admission to the fight. We go get clothes.

Iadra looks at McBride and my unit while we change.

We go to the Crow's Nest. He hear that people our moving to Anden. Red ships are importing men, and their ships hold a surprising number of men. People are turning up dead in alleys, very pale. We think this might be vampire attacks, bit they are being blamed on the Reds.

We walk to the temple of Tyche. We buy bandanas. We get into the temple and Iadra hands the book to her superior. We find out (by eavesdropping) that the books bring extremely bad luck. They were a bit upset that one of the books is missing.

McBride admits to acolytes, point blank, that we are Thorn. We regroup. We show the pieces and find that one red pawn and one white bishop are fake. The fake pieces were made by apprentices who did not know the secret. The pieces have symbols on the bottom, and the fakes don't match. Not as detailed, either.

We disguise me and change around bag contents. Brimbrax and I steal out to mug a Red. Corporal Gerard is the name of my superior. I am Bertold Meyers. We go to the Gilded Turnip (sort of a Ground Round).

Brukenbrod

January 30, 1996

We all sleep. Unbeknownst to us McBride goes exploring and manages to rip a page of the Book of Bad Luck (the Libram of Melificious Mystees). The page fragment says "…and the ship shall be rent and set upon by black tentacles and some of the crew…". Iadra finds McBride here, but he does not tell her about the ripped page and goes to sleep (where his cot immediately breaks). Iadra discovers the page, and the pin-the-tail-on the-donkey statue begins to peek. It then pins the tail on Iadra and gains a shit-eating grin. All the acolytes and the reverend mother begin to kneel and supplicate to Iadra. Iadra gives a speech about being confused.

I feel like a moron, as I'm in front of the statue during the speech. I flip a coin to decide when to leave. I get heads and leave.

Zem puts a dice cup in the now empty hands of the statue.

"In the black swamps…", Iadra reads in the Libram and "…sands…". Iadra puts the pice of the page back in the book. She closes the book and a deep rumbling begins. She tries to open the book again, but cannot. She uses the tail to ask be allowed to open the book. She opens the book, and the page is whole again.

McBride is musing to Tyche. Just as he says "Now that I think about it, I'm probably one of your best followers", he gets smacked in the head by a door, as Iadra comes outside.

In the morning, Zem tries to pick my pocket but fails. He flips my bed to make me get up and I pick lint out of Zem's pouch.

February 7, 1996

University: Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Fine Arts. Each school has its own library, plus the main one. Each school has about 150ppl per class. Uniforms. Pass needed to get into library. Student's time is well tracked.

Winter Solstice celebrated in Dalenden. Gift-giving time. City is decorated (but this year the decorations are lack-luster).

Bron starts hurling after tattooing himself.

The Orange Flowered Fist (Brassard) is now a follower of Tyche. Zepharus, Bursengorn are other flowered fists. He says the his share of the bounty on us was 5000gp.

Bron's tattoo attacks McBride. I cast a magic missile. McBride starts cutting with MTS. Unsheathing the sword in a temple is extremely unlucky. Iadra tries to use the talisman to help get the sword out of the ground. MTS starts repeating "Hey, how's it goin'" faster and faster. McBride finally frees the sword and goes outside. It pulses. He unsheathes it and it crackles with orange and black flames. Hail starts falling. Inside I apologize to Tyche and the hail stops. MTS is silent.

We see a crooked form in black, possibly following us.

February 14, 1996

Corlok.

I run into Alison. He intimates that she is Allissibon. She warns of large magic bringing trouble. I tell her about vampires. She says odd people are replacing the people who are leaving. She seemed to say that the wolf sent her.

A note gets nailed to the front door of the church. It says "Greetings friends. Know that you are watched." It is in the vampire's handwriting. The Mother Superior says the name is "Moravitch", which is a Moorish name that has business connotations, but some holy ones as well. It means "drinker of life". There once was a trade route between Mooria and Oorim. One of the goods was body parts, used for potions, etc. Over a thousand years old.

The mother gets mad at us bringing the vampire to them. She really chews out Iadra.

Notes to the Madison-Clancy.

We give the two-handed sword to Brassard. He says it does:

• Fireball
• Detect Invisibility
• Fear
• Hold person
• Heat metal

Hat drop to thieves guild.

February 27, 1996

I disguise Zem in way colorful clothes. We nearly lose Iadra, as Brassard starts screaming her name to the heavens practically.

Ramone: wavy, silver hair. Somewhat tasteful. "Bard to the senators."

8pm Bourbon and LaMartin.

All the Suns
650 G.Y.
Alchemy book. Base metals to gold.
Living in the forest green
Skin that glows, like bark it gleams
Crafting work of magic wonder
Tear the mantle all asunder
Pilgrim then to lands beyond
Friends made fast but now begone
Now join eight hands around the board
to Reunite the brothers four

We'll feel the heat of alchemy
Till all the suns we'll ever see

Comments:
About Nyissan alchemists.
Four Nyissan tribes? Four male heirs?
Begone speaks of banishment, perhaps.

March 5, 1996

I look at the book with the poem and see odd patterns.

It seems to be because of the Bard Stone that I can see this. When the book is tilted just right, certain letters seem to have a specific colors in them. The first eight lines seem to be preceded by a swirling greyish, labeled a though h. After I see them, they are gone.

Like so:

A Living in the forest green
B Skin that glows, like bark it gleams
C Crafting work of magic wonder
D Tear the mantle all asunder
E Pilgrim then to lands beyond
F Friends made fast but now begone
G Now join eight hands around the board
H to Reunite the brothers four

We'll feel the heat of alchemy
Till all the suns we'll ever see

We try to find Nobadin-wan, but see only his cat. His neighbor is not all that helpful.

The layout of the board? Yes. [Fix the m in pilgrim to be next letter].

The pieces have glyphs from the language that is the root of Nyissan and Orrite languages.

White pieces all of the same eight glyphs, in order, but rotated from the front differently. Red is the same, but with different glyphs.

White: the glyph order is "?", "?", "?", "Fixation", ?, "digestion", "?", "evaporation".

Red: "?", "Separation", "?", "?", "?", "?", "Propagation", "Projection"

Finale

March 12, 1996

We manage to break out of the carriage and kill a dozen or so guards. Three of the guards offer to join us. They are Butch, Cassidy and Cad. Peypoch escapes us dressed as a Kralld. The markings at the Thieves meeting place is blown, though it was to meet at a bar called the Cauldren.

The thieves were just stalling us. At least a faction of them were.

Sussex had interrogated Novak, and let us get information from Novak for him. He also let us get to the university to get what he couldn't.

Efrem is in the Cauldren. He helps us. We give him cash. He gives me a mirror, saying I'm in his debt. He hides us in a wagon.

March 19, 1996

The casks get knocked on and some concern is raised, quickly dispelled by cash. The land shark is within a quarter mile of the city. Ephrem did not knock. I bluff past the guards. Then we let everyone out of the casks. We finally secure lodging from some farmers.

March 26, 1996

The goat turns into Vortigern. He knows who Luther Adacus is. He talked about bonding with the stone. Morivick may be at least 1200 years old. Vortigern tells me that having me as his student would give him some prestige. He says that my behavior now reflects on him. I tell him "yes, but that also means that my behavior reflects on you."

Turako is the name of the monk who is now retained by the Red Army.

Gnarley the goat might have been a mage. Vortigern says that it is a common form.

Adacus is a dragon. Zem asked, Vortigern answered. He seems to be on an about 50 year cycle of being out in the world.

Vortigern gives me back the infinity book in lieu of learning. He says I owe him big time and can help pay him back by looking into a secret military base. He wants the lion's share of my treasure.

April 9, 1996

Four objects in the eye (pea-sized). Each contains a liquid. Take out the eye, take out the vials and drink them. Must be drunk in the correct order. Psychoactive effects. Put back in head and bond.

Vortigern gives spells: Blink, Dispel Magic, Haste, Wraithform, Evard's Black Tentacle, Fire Shield.

One third of the snow is sparkling to my eye. I don't get why.

We see people that have the same symbol as Bron, but on the other palm. Bron has a discussion with them. They, the elves, will escort us to the citadel. The shroud is on Lassidinia. Its location is marked in some way. Elves are forbidden to go to Lassidinia. The elves are shocked that Shuushuush was interfering.

Base: 9K. RP: Z, B, T. I: Z, B, M

April 16, 1996

Necron gives us a red bishop, a white pawn, a white knight, and a red knight.

We touch the panel.

April 26, 1996

A Nyissan is searching in McBride's pack. The Nyissan is Mirimax.
4 gp, 16 sp.

We get the shroud. Purple, embroidered with gold thread. Uncut, unpolished gems. Symbols of the zodiac and elements. Two snakes swallow each others tails, a figure eight. A river of Al Chem has black silt. Those who sailed from that river knew the art. Nyissans call red gold Nyissan's tears.

Karnarax thinks the Shia was formed solely to get the service. They think they created it. Practiced Talme'ssra (the Ascension): everything they do is the orders of Issa. The Nyiss'sheen (drug assassins) joined later.

The secret brings about the end of all kings, and Acteon became an initiate of the Shia.

12K +2 +2.
35K +3 +3

April 27, 1996

Bron stays behind. We recommend that he be called Esquirax. We are given seven more pieces from Honifax and Karnarax.

The captain of the ship gives me 200gp for no reason. 50 each to McBride, Zem and Iadra.
43

The other half of the glyphs are on the board.

70. 40. 30.

April 28, 1996

Luther Adicus is a dragon. He cultivates azailias.-

12 gp. -4gp.

Allisibon is a silver dragon.

I meet my parents as I, the woman.

A dragon starts to attack.

We discover the secret of the service: it can make potions that make the drinker immortal. McBride, thinking the secret would be a more impressive weapon, leaves in disgust. Tanador, Iadra and Zem left arguing about what to do with the secret. With no end to the argument in sight, the campaign fades to black…