September 20, 2008.

The party continues their exploration of the carrion crawler tunnel. Cinoi thinks all the creepy tunnels are equally distasteful. Osrik is having a good time. Cinoi rolls eyes at the crazy dwarf, hardly for the first time. [Classic!]

The party comes across a tunnel path that is blocked by netting. Cinoi mutters something about goblins having weird taste in interior decorating... Alecsa unhooks it, and they go around, discovering the nets block off two more openings. The large chamber has a ceiling they can see. Osrik goes in, looking at the floor and ceiling. There are three red creatures in the room. Cinoi starts the battle by blasting one of them. {He felt bad not talking to them first, really!} The first one responds by snatching Osrik's belt pouch and flies off. Osrik later redeems himself by killing the creature and retrieving his precious 2 sp. It takes hits by Cinoi, Alecsa, and Chaedi to finish off the last one. The third creature grabs something unknown [i.e. the DM thinks it's funny to steal party equipment but is too lazy to bother figuring out what] {If he doesn't know, did we lose anything? It's like the tree falling in the forest...} and escapes through a crack in the ceiling.

They deduce the netting may have been in place to keep the creatures limited to this one chamber. So, they reattach the netting when they leave. First, though, Cinoi tries smoking out the creature, but a draft of fresh air tells him it's fruitless. [No, Nate, the air does not talk!] Gloriana believes the creatures to be drakes of some kind. [Fire drakes, for the record.] They look like miniature dragons. Cinoi decides to tentatively skin the creatures [meaning it was a half-assed attempt] but decides they are too big and gives up. [I am assuming he thought the skins might be worth something...] {He heard tales of dragonskin armor and they looked like dragons to him in the dim lighting...} [Silly warlock!]

Leaving the netted chamber, they follow a passage that leads to a widened area [not a room from what I recall] with some rocks lying around, which had fallen from the ceiling. Fresh on the heels of the spire drake attack, the now-paranoid party looks to the ceiling as one. Cinoi is especially skeptical about ceilings now. [He said so.] The party worries that maybe the goblins had done something to collapse the ceiling, but Osrik is of the opinion that it is natural. [Everyone believes him because, hey!, he's a dwarf.] Cinoi hurries the group along after he fails to find anything in the rubble to pique his interest. {He has ADD.;) }

The party returns to the anvil chamber to explore a tunnel they had previously bypassed. They come to a cavern that has some sort of arcane markings drawn in the sandy floor, part of which has been disturbed or purposefully erased at an unknown point in time. Chaedi thinks the markings were part of some ritual {Cinoi agreed}, but she can't determine any more than that or if the goblins had been through there at all.

They return upstairs to retrieve Cinoi's rope and Alecsa's pitons. [See, told you.] Alecsa brings up the idea of a couple of them running back to Tisloch [Oh... That's where the Golden Carp is!] to sell the gems for cash so they can split the treasure. Cinoi vetoes it, and the others fall in line. [Damn high charisma! So much for that idea.] Cinoi suggests they go back to the caravan and get dinner.

XP 260 so far. (50 XP for first game) [Look, Tod actually gave us XP!]

Returning to the village where the caravan is ... encamped [?], Osrik immediately runs and tells Silthond of his daring deeds against goblins, with a little help from his friends. [Sorry, Beatles moment] Cinoi is obviously in a somewhat snitty mood because he's purposefully ignoring the villagers. [Nate claims it was "...because he was pissed at them for sending him off on a wild-goblin-chase;) which, of course, he had no desire to go on in the first place."] Silthond is of the opinion that the party shouldn't run around in the woods looking for goblins to fight. As if they were going to... [Makes me wonder what the hell Osrik was suggesting they do] He does note that the village is fairly defensible. Cinoi's mortal enemy Sir Dannic [Cinoi's choice, not mine] is still annoying. [Like that was going to change!] Alecsa, after a crappy day of fighting goblins and now having armor to repair, reminds Cinoi that he owes her a nap. Cinoi [the nitpicker that he is] says he doesn't know about the "owing" thing but is certainly up for the nap. [Hm. The way that came out reminds me of the whole wand issue in the next village...] {Yes, the wording was intentional.} [Actually, that's my wording. You said: but he doesn't complain too much about passing the night that way.] So, the party spends the night wherever they find spots.

[Gillian bails on us at this point. Explains why the whole nap thing went right past her.]

The next morning, after morning prayers and getting a pampered rich guy ready to face the day, the caravan gets moving again. Silthond tells them there is another village up ahead, and the plan is to get there by nightfall. Dannic insists his caravan go in the front of the train. Cinoi hopes some goblin archer shoots him. [He's so sweet.]

As they travel, they have passed "goblin manor." The river runs along the left side of the road. To the right is a dense forest with large trees. Silthond tells them the forest is called Tlin-A-Ylilliki, and Yilliki, the tree worshipers, are "kind of like druids." They can see where a side road that goes off into the woods. Silthond goes on to say there are priests of Yilliki and a stone circle, and he's not sure what else. {Probably "stuff."} He knows it is an ancient circle of standing stone that is still used by the Yilliki. In any case, the caravan isn't going that way, and they continue on. [Why the hell did he bring it up then?!]

However, Cinoi seems intrigued by the idea of the stones still being in use, telling Alecsa there would most likely be nifty things to find in there. {What he meant is that if the stones were still in use, the priests were probably packing all the toys away instead of dying there and leaving treasure around! That's why he didn't want to go.} [Didn't come out that way] Then, he disappoints her by saying he's too creeped out by the forest. [And the sneaky DM backs up that idea.] When Alecsa tells him he's awfully wishy-washy, he comments about her not being of that opinion the previous evening. She pokes him in the ribs.

After that character-building display, the wagons continue on. And on. After a "bit" [DM word, not mine], the road starts leading more into the forest for about three miles, where the DM again tells you how it's a creepy forest and it makes you kind of nervous, even swearing that the party can see leaves move when there is no breeze. Cinoi studies the trees carefully, worried about something creepy happening. Yeah. Alecsa really cares. Damn trees.

After a two-hour creepy forest ride, Cinoi bravely states that a druid circle sounds dull. Alecsa finds it a curious statement and asks if he's met any druids. Silthond starts telling people to move along, since they need to get moving. [I don't know who he was talking to; I'm sure Cinoi and Alecsa were riding in someone's wagon having this scary oak tree non-conversation. Well, we'll blame Silthond's pissiness on Dannic and move along] Silthond, again, says the caravan needs to get to the village before nightfall, prompting Cinoi's irresistible urge to get Osrik's goat: "Besides, I'm sure Osrik is in a hurry to be protecting that village." [Too funny. I had to add it.]

As they near the village, they notice it is surrounded by a palisade. Alecsa and Cinoi continue their rudely interrupted conversation. [Pushy DM] Alecsa tells Cinoi it's rather mean to bring up a possible chance at treasure and then just say never mind. After declaring he has no death wish [death by tree is rather scary, after all], he promises Alecsa they'll get her some treasure. She's rather puzzled about how he's going to deliver on that one...

As they near the village, Cinoi becomes rather ... concerned as to why the place is so heavily guarded. [Not in a caring kind of concern for the wellbeing of other people - as if! - but in the dog with a bone kind of way. It's at this point the trouble really starts if you think about it.] {He probably gave the DM ideas. :P} [Thanks so much] Dannic rides up like he's Mr. It-O- A-Stick but is stopped by the guards, who treat him as rudely as he does the rest of the caravan. One guard takes a shine to Gloriana and doesn't like his chicks in armor apparently, either. [Guess his new name, Nate!] Really, what jerk hits on a priestess?! One of the guards makes a comment about how nice Silthond's bow is, but not in a nice way. That stirs up Cinoi's innate blend of curiosity and paranoia even more. He gives the guard his best [+9] intimidating stare as he passes. When the guards finally get finished pilferin- I mean searching the wagons, they let everyone into the village.

Cinoi and Alecsa [because who the hell knows where Chaedi and Osrik got off to. Gloriana is hiding among the people, trying not to feel so ... dirty.] overhear Gate Guy [I don't recall Tod giving him a name] tell a scrawny guard to let Sir Garnhelm know another caravan has arrived.

Cinoi discovers there is only one inn, and with Dannic already there, he and Alecsa opt to find travelers willing to share a meal with them. People give Gloriana food.

After a nice meal, Cinoi and Alecsa begin Cinoi's quest of finding out why the village is so heavily guarded and whether he can find some dirt on his favorite gate guard. They come across an old guy named Elder Potrass. Talking with him, they learn the gate guy is a lieutenant who most likely got his position from killing his superior. Supposedly, he's a hero from the Moonblade goblin clan fights "last fall." Right. The elder considers him a no-good, lying bastard. [He actually said that.] He directs them to the inn, the Piebald Mare, to talk to his cousin Relim, who runs the place.

Despite Dannic's presence in the place, Cinoi and Alecsa head to the inn, where they find said Dannic making an ass of himself {When is he not?} by pretending he knows the difference between wine and swill. They find Relim, who incidentally was being railed at by Dannic, and offer to buy the wine and have conversation. Relim is more than happy with that idea.

Relim tells them that, much as Elder Potrass implied, "Lieutenant" Sodrass [Oh, that's him name!] and his whole family are ne'er-do-wells made up of drunkards for the most part. He also says Sodrass is trouble and to watch out for him. Rumor has it that Sodrass got his position at the death of the former guard leader and not for heroism. [Somehow, I'm not shocked.] The old captain had been afraid of him, and he was promoted two weeks after that captain conveniently died in a goblin ambush. There seems to have been no witnesses, other than Sodrass himself. This took place just a couple of months ago, and the captain's death was followed by the duke sending Garnhelm to the village. It's Garnhelm who ordered 6 guards on the gate, to protect the village from goblins, etc. Relim reveals that the goblins called Moonblade carry a flag with a sickle on it, hence their name. [Yeah, the party was soooo observant in "goblin manor" that they didn't even bother noticing if there were any flags. Then again, what goblin carries a flag?!]

Cinoi pays Relim for the wine and for a room for the night, one that Relim didn't inform Dannic was available, and he and Alecsa finish the wine before going to bed. [Yeah, Gillian, they were just sleeping. That's all. You know, napping.] Oh, and Cinoi advises Alecsa to always treat innkeepers and bartenders well, so they won't try to kill you if you have to come across them again. At least that's the way she took it. {Crazy rogue. Cinoi meant that they'll treat you well, save rooms for you, and so on instead of give them to snooty nobles.;)} [She comes at this from a different perspective.]

When Alecsa and Cinoi wake up in the morning, they find their money missing. Damn insulting. [I still can't see how either of them weren't woken, even if the DM says so.] {Damn weird, that.} (DM Note: The DM has special dice that always roll one's for party perception rolls...) Alecsa finds where someone jimmied opened the previously locked window. She's rather pissed a thief dared rob her! Luckily, the treasure hadn't been split. Alecsa has sneakily squirreled it away in a secret location only known to her. ...Well, maybe Cinoi knows, too...

Alecsa, all for bolstering Cinoi's dislike of Dannic, suggests that the pompous ass might not really be as rich as he portrays. She knows she's really reaching there, but it's serving to vent frustration ... and pick on Dannic. Always a bonus. Cinoi decides they weren't drugged, but he can't rule out being put deeply under by sleep magic. [That sounds odd, doesn't it...] {Well, how else can someone climbing the damn wall and picking a window open go unnoticed??} [No, I meant the phrase "sleep magic." That could get kind of hinky.] Alecsa is also of the opinion that Osrik's tale of daring deeds may have been overheard by someone thinking they had more money than they did. He needs his lips sewn together. +Osrik resents this; he didn't "blab to all and sundry"; he reported to his commanding officer on the actions and the party's success therein. And he gave everyone FULL CREDIT. So there!+

They decide to go see if anyone else was robbed, to see if they were specifically targeted, etc. On the way downstairs, they discuss seeing the scrawny guy from the day before at the gate talking to some woman. There's a possibility she was a thief. [Here we edit out the DM's rather sexist remarks so he doesn't lose face ... too much.]

They find Relim and ask him if he knows of any break-ins during the night, or if there was such a history with that particular room. He tells them some of the other patrons have claimed to have lost things, and there is some big commotion outside. {Of that room, or the inn? I was unclear on that.} [I took it as of the inn.]

Gleefully hoping Dannic was robbed, too, Cinoi leads Alecsa outside. There, they find Silthond, Dannic, Osrik, and Chaedi standing around. They learn Silthond's bow is missing, and Dannic claims to be missing a wand, causing Cinoi to choke as his dirty mind kicks into gear for some needling. Cinoi tells the others that he and Alecsa were also robbed. Dannic makes some lame comment, insinuating that Alecsa, and most likely Cinoi as well, had done the thefts. Cinoi tries to get Dannic to flat out say so, in order to start something I guess, but Silthond "helpfully" tries to steer the conversation to blame the guards.

At Silthond's questioning, Cinoi tells what he and Alecsa learned of Sodrass. Sir Dannic decides to hunt up Sir Garnhelm and demands ... probably something rather stupid. Just then, Sodrass and his cronies appear. He stupidly suggests all the missing items were "mislaid." This prompts a Dannic-and-his-wand joke from Cinoi. Alecsa pokes him in the ribs. Dannic again leaves out in a huff to go find Garnhelm.

Elder Potrass comes along, and Cinoi asks him if he's mislaid his cane. Potrass warns them to be careful of "them Sodrass'." Sodrass tries to get the old guy to back off, but Potrass has none of it. When a guard tries to grab him, he whacks the guard upside the head with his cane. [I like this guy!] There's a rather momentary, somewhat lewd interlude involving possible games between Alecsa and Cinoi that won't be included in detail here.

When Sodrass tries to hint that they should all get back on the road, Cinoi gives him a [+9] glare and shuts him up. Fancy armor shows up; his name is Sir Garnhelm. [The DM called him Fancy Guy. Fancy Guy. I love that name!] Sodrass tells Garnhelm his men are gathering up some random suspects. Sodrass insinuates that Cinoi and Alecsa look amazingly like the sorts he's rounding up. [Whoa! What a coincidence!] Sodrass snottily dismisses them.

Alecsa and Cinoi decide to try to find the real culprit before the jerk and his cronies decide to arrest them. They watch a discussion between Dannic and Garnhelm, in which Garnhelm proves he's a useless bastard and most likely in on the whole thing. Or maybe is too lazy to care. Whatever. Dannic tries to intimidate him into doing something useful. Yeah. Like that worked. However, Dannic does manage to piss Garnhelm into suggesting a duel over the "honor" of his guard unit. {Dannic backs down, of course, when he realizes his skin is at risk.} [True, and we were going to see if Osrik was going to champion him. There went that entertainment.] +Fat chance Osrik would have had anything to do with defending that TWIT. He didn't hire us, and Osrik has no respect for him at all.+

+Osrik and Chaedi at this point go off on their adventure, which will be narrated below. Until now, they've just been trying to track the thieves who stole Silthond's bow. They have tracked them to "a particular house".+

Cinoi looks around and catches sight of two of Sodrass' men going into a house (+the "particular house" mentioned above+) and exiting a minute later with the woman from before. And Silthond, as if they needed his advice, hints that Alecsa and Cinoi should set a trap to catch the thief in the act.

They follow her to the inn. Alecsa waits under their window for the thief to try to escape, and Cinoi confronts her inside the room, surprising her in the act of ... planting stuff in the room. She immediately hits him with a thrown dagger. The stupid woman tries to kill him, despite Cinoi using his [+9] charisma in a non-intimidating way. So, he {reluctantly, I swear!} warlock-curses her, then hits her with dread star. While the spell holds her in place, he hits her again with an eldritch blast. When the woman gets free, she throws another knife at Cinoi but misses him. {She called him a pretty boy in there somewhere!} [Yeah... I'm not really sure if that was from +9 or she was being a sarcastic bitch, though. Cinoi's ego won't accept the latter. Personally, I think she was being a sarcastic bitch.]

In the meantime, Alecsa is lying in wait outside the window. Since Cinoi hasn't indicated that he really needs her, she stays put until she hears a commotion and decides that she can climb to the room and maybe get in a lucky backstab if the woman's back is near the window. However, while she's climbing, she sees the woman tumble out the window, going past her. As Alecsa's dropping down to get her, Cinoi leans out the window and hits the thief with another eldritch blast, which kills her. [So proud of him!] Disgusted that she missed out on all the fun, Alecsa kicks the body, very hard. Cinoi tells Alecsa to stay put while he comes down, so Alecsa goes through the woman's pockets, finding a lock pick and 64 gp. She takes half the gold and puts the rest back. [I'm not sure if this 32 gps is new treasure or just our own money...]

Scanning the room, Cinoi sees gold pieces and a wand on the bed. He goes downstairs, shouting for Relim. He takes Relim upstairs and shows him what happened, not touching anything. Relim is a bit on the shocked side. Sodrass shows up rather quickly, and several guards go to the back of the building where Alecsa and the dead woman are. Both are wondering how the hell the guards got there so fast. {It didn't seem like the commotion was THAT loud.} [I didn't think so.] When Alecsa slips away from the guards and returns upstairs to the room, she hears Sodrass refer to the room as "their room." She wonders how he could know whose room it was and who had used it, as does Cinoi.

Since Sodrass is such an upright guy and the stolen goods happen to be in their room, he (of course) discounts the signs of a fight, decides Cinoi and Alecsa are the thieves, and arrests them. Trying to talk to those idiots was totally futile. And, the bastards won't even tell them who that woman was!

Silthond tries to help out, {Pfft. Barely!} [I was trying to be fair. Screw it. He was about as helpful as the corpse outside the window.] eventually refusing to leave the crime scene until Garnhelm arrives, since Cinoi points out that if no one watches the room, Dannic's wand might be mislaid again. Alecsa pokes him. [Kind of a knee-jerk reaction at this point, no?] The guards try to make Silthond leave, but he won't. He and Relim stay in the room.

On top of this being-arrested thing, Alecsa is peeved that they think she's a common thief. With her bloodline? Not hardly! Not that she actually says that. Too many follow-up questions, and it's none of their business. Cinoi says the dead thief had a nice smile, and it was a shame to have to kill her. Alecsa says she had no taste, trying to kill a perfectly good Starboy like that. Then, Elder Potrass shows up, waving his stick. He declares the village elders have the right to hold "high justice" in Lys. Cinoi tells Alecsa, "This will be interesting."

Overall, they really dread the thought of Chaedi trying to "help" them.

SessionFive

SessionSeven