The party returns to enjoy the remaining days of the Spring Festival where Rumblebelly picks up an Elixir of Healing in the festival market. Darvin, Vanir, and Rumblebelly track down Sir Rolan’s squire to get information regarding the location of the dragon. He describes the fall of Sir Rolan who died during his initial charge and provides a map to the general location of the dragon. Also, Polin uses his contacts at the White Tower to gather information about what they might encounter.

After enjoying the rest of the Spring Festival, the party heads back to the valley to hunt the dragon.

After the two days of travel to the valley and two more days of searching, the party sees fire elementals, but are able to hide in a magical hut. Another day of searching and the party finds a possible portal to the plane of fire. On the sixth day, they find the dragon and it does not go well…

Several party members are severely injured, but so is they dragon… both the dragon and party go back to lick their wounds

The Spring Festival has arrived and the party has meet in Orton (Zebest, Darvin, Polin, and Vanir). Rumblebelly did not arrive due to unknown reasons. Wyn was last seen at the Winter Festival when most of the party met in Tolbrook to hunt through the markets for magic items.

The month of March is arriving in a few days, the god of war guides his worshipers to begin their journey to battle. While some go to war, some go off to adventure. The city of Orton is starting to fill with adventurers due to the news of recent successes have spread like wildfire. However, news that the dragon killed Sir Rolan (a knight of the phoenix) has cooled the adventurous spirit of the new arrivals

At the beginning of the festival, the party took this time to track down the old tomb that they had discovered last year to be sure these newcomers did not discover their find. Two days travel to the tombs and the party gains entrance to the tomb.

Unlike most tombs the party had seen so far, this tomb was finely crafted and had many traps. The party fought some sort of new zombie that seemed intelligent. In another room, the party fought a construct. Among the other magic found, the party found three wondrous items.

After the adventure, the party travels back to Orton to enjoy the rest of the Spring Festival (beginning with Day 4).

The party splits up in different ways and prepares to get settled in for winter

Calendar and Time

The party makes plans to meet up during the spring festival in 1213i, but in which town?

OOC – be sure to calculate your expenses over the break

The party recovers from the battles of the previous day and go investigate the mine in the morning.

Garth helps guide the party through the beginnings of the mine (while Piff the Elf and one of Sil’s lieutenants stays behind to guard the horse and supplies).

The party triggers a magical trap early on, a thunderwave spell blows up with a loud boom and flings them against the walls. Around the bend, there is a large natural water source where Wyn found a magical stick and two platinum rings by searching in about 10 feet of water.

As they continue on with their investigation, the party gets split when Darvin and Sil cross a poisonous fungi laden room. While they crossed the room, the rest of the party was attacked as they tried to circle around by backtracking through another fork in the cavern.

Zebest charged in to attack the Red Cloaks that were drawn by the loud echoing boom created by the trap that was triggered earlier. He was quickly surrounded by 6 enemies and fell unconscious from many wounds.

As he was dragged away by the enemy, the rest of the party regrouped and chased them down into a room that appears to be a temple to an unknown demi-god.

Havok the Imperial War Wizard is in the room with the unconscious Zebest, seven of the old townsguards that serve him along with 3 skeletons apparently under his control.

The battle rages on with charm spells and fire spells and the various melee attacks until about half the enemy are down and Wyn uses a magical arrow to imprison Havok!

After investigating the temple (and unable to remove the obvious fake emeralds in the eyes of the demigod), the party investigates the room and it appears that it was built during the time when the mine was under operation. In old dominion, the label on the 9ft statue is “Daredark”.

Using maps discovered in the temple, the party heads deeper into the tunnels and run into a smelter cavern which includes a brazier with a magical azure flame. It is inscribed with the pact that created it in old dominion, “The humans create the idea, the elves shape the idea, the halflings create the detail”.

The party fights a dryder and a phase spider after trying to bluff their way into its confidence. The dryder protects itself with a spell after exchanging blows with the party and runs away to the dark depths of the cavern.

Two incomplete battles, but the wizard has been captured and the immediate threat to the caverns has run away…

When the party returns to town, they secure their rewards and split up to go on their winter travels. They hear that a contingent of troops will help guard the Rock Brothers Mine while its mining operations get started, but the party is told they would be welcome back to help investigate the deeper parts of the mine in the future.

For helping save the Rock brothers and fighting to help recover the mine, the Rock brothers give the party 5% ownership and will set aside 5% of the profits each year that the mine produces to be paid during the winter festival each year.

The party spent the next few hours combing through the white marble manor for treasure, tending the wounds of the recently released prisoners and interrogating the hobgoblin prisoners. Zebest recruited an underling from the freed prisoners to train as a bard, Moon Riva.

When the Imperial army and allied forces returned, Sil tells the party that the goblin units used delaying tactics to let Warlord Karth’s main force to get away. The goblin units were defeated and the remnants dispersed into the hills and forest.

The party relates the information they found out from the prisoners (among the prisoners the party found the Rock brothers). Sil tells the party that both the mine and chasing down the rogue wizard are equally important to the empire.

Sil sends the legion, the mercenaries, and the town levies back to Prospector Town. He also makes a proclamation that the town will be referred to the old historical name “Timberwalk”. He orders the imperial auxiliaries to stay at the White Marble Manor with the elven archers. Their orders are to patrol and track down the location of Karth’s remaining forces. The position should allow them to help protect the elven community in the forest and prevent a sneak attack on Timberwalk.

Sil tells Commander Brian to see to the defense of Timberwalk (train the locals, finish the fortifications and walls).

Sil joins the party and the next day they head up into the mountains with Garth Rock as a guide. Along the way the party runs into some powerful monsters: Shambling Mound, Bullette, and a Troll.

The party finds the entrance and discovers that the Rock brother that was left behind to guard the cave entrance is dead. The party pulls back to set up camp and plan an investigation of the cave the next day.

After the events at the old mansion on the hill wind down with the town administrators reviewing the contents stored in the cellars, Sil the Legionnaire declares the region to be under temporary military law stripping the town council of its powers. He announces to the town that due to the enemy activity in the area that palisades and fortified ditches will be created around the town. He also calls up the local levy.

Various party members go to the manor to pick out some choice material and store some of their excess possessions at the Blue Lion warehouse. The party prepares to head out on the trail to find the hobgoblin “castle”.

During the previous night the goblin dies in mysterious circumstances while in the town center jail (no physical trauma). With so much going on there is not much of an investigation…

Jed the miner has offered to help guide the party up the old road through the Deerwood and imparted some of his knowledge about the mines of the region.

While traveling the party is ambushed on two different occasions dispatching almost 15 goblins. Some captured goblins were interrogated and they told the group that they would be facing “over 100” hobgoblins at the main castle and also learned about other traps to look for on the road. As they traveled further up the road, they discovered a full blooded elf, named Piff, in a 20 ft pit trap.

Upon rescuing the elf, Piff described that he and his partner (Zandar) were investigating disturbances in the area. He is quite embarrassed about falling into a pit and it appears that his partner was taken captive while he was unconcious in the pit.

After extensive discussions, Piff and the party agreed that it might be too dangerous to conduct a stealth operation to rescue prisoners. So they both agree on a location where they plan to meet up in two days after taking news of the danger to their respective towns to see if they can rally the troops.

Back in Prospector Town, the group discovers a lot of activity going on. In addition to the Prospector Town Levy, there were alot more! The following are the list of human forces:

Prospector Town Levy
Scapper Levy
Egan’s Obligato’s (a mercenary company hired by Lord Scape)
621st Imperial Legion
Imperial Auxiliaries

These march into the Deerwood and meetup with the elven forces:
Deerwood Elf Scouts
Deerwood Elf Archers

The party embeds with one of the units to enhance the unit’s power.

These forces faced off against the following in wood terrain:
Warband of Karth (Karth the Hobgoblin Warlord)
Hobgoblin Infantry (2 units)
Goblin Guards
Goblin Archers
Goblin Skirmishers
Undead Legion

The battle raged on for 2-3 hours, at which point Karth’s forces withdrew from the battlefield after suffering major loses:

• Undead Legion, Hobgoblin Infantry, and Goblin Skirmishers were destroyed.
• The other Hobgoblin Infantry unit suffered significant losses and surrendered after being surrounded
• Karth’s Warband, the Goblin Guards, and Goblin Archers all took minor damage before fleeing the battle.

Only minor losses were suffered by the Imperial Auxiliaries, the rest of the units appeared to be intact.

While various units harassed fleeing units and rounded up prisoners, the party stormed the white marble manor where it was believed the prisoners were kept. The party beat down several very strong hobgoblins, and the rest of the forces in the manor surrendered.

The party free the prisoners…

After getting the request from Sil the Legionnaire to investigate the old manor on the hill, Zebest goes on a scouting mission using his ability to make himself invisible.

Over the period of a half day he did not see anyone approach the ruined manor, but did come across some old muddy footprints that lead to the cellar.

The rest of the group spread out around town collecting rumors and clues.

Meeting up with the rest of the group, they decide to go investigate the manor first thing in the morning.

Rumblebelly rolls into town that afternoon with some news that as he was working on his training in Creekside he was asked to go on a secret mission to deliver a message from Sil. Rumblebelly finished up his training in the town of Scapper after delivering Sil’s message to Lord Nigel Scape. He witnessed as Lord Nigel instructed his staff to send the message to the nearest imperial fort down by Fishton.

The group investigates the manor and finds several of the town’s guards appear to have stashed supplies and kidnapped citizens. After dispatching the guards that they could find (and a few skeletons) and rescuing Mirna and her children (and an unconscious man), the group reports what they found to Sil.

Sil is shocked at what the group found and he asks them to finish their investigation, while he works on town issues. He deputizes the group and warns them against any abuse of power, but sends them out with the power to act in his name in regards to the town’s troubles (especially the corrupted guard situation).

The group goes back to manor after a short rest and collecting some healing potions. The manor now appears to be deserted except for a lone goblin who faints deadaway when they enter his room. Polin gets lost in his investigation of the wizards books and alchemy equipment. The rest of the group investigates the wizards room and collects all of the scrolls, treasure and notes that they could find.

They report to Sil that the manor appears to be clear of issues at this point and turn over the goblin, and he tells them to feel free to go back and take first pick of anything they want to take and then the town will seize the remaining provisions and equipment in preparation for the coming winter and any battles to come.

Ocia 8th, 1212i

The group heads back to Creekside to recover and train from the recent battles. During the travel and as the group settles back into town, Zebest makes a connection with the peasant woman that was rescued. The goblins are used to pull the cart into the outer edges of the village and the group has a discussion about what to do with the “goblin” problem. Silaar requests some time to interrogate the goblins privately and offers to put them out of their misery.

During their time in town the group helps train some of the local youth in the village. After some time passes , the group heads out to Prospector Town. Rumblebelly said he would have to catch up with the team later.

A couple of miles before the group is planning to setup camp for the night, Zebest spotted an ambush. After scouting the enemy, the group coordinates their attacks and make short work of a group of hobgoblins. Or at least it would have been short work, near the end of combat a bulette (also known as a landshark) interrupted the combat by completely swallowing one of the hobgoblins and the hobgoblin’s leader got away.

Silaar recommended that the group run, and the group started retreating, but the bulette leaped into contact with Darvin who used his new morningstar to cause serious damage to the monster.

The bulette was beaten down, but managed to get away before dying. The party continued on to camp relatively unharmed.

The next day the party arrives in Prospector Town, a council led empire town. They meetup with a rep from the Bluelion Trading Company, Linnan. The party receives a large reward and the offer of 10% discount on normal adventuring gear along with an IOU that can be used at any Bluelion trade post.

After settling into the local inn, the next day they meet the town master who informs the group of various rewards that are on offer. They also meet Silaar Darius, who has settled into a town center office. He provides the party with a large reward for his rescue.

Silaar finally lets the party in on his mission. He is tracking an imperial red wizard who has gone awol from his legion/cabal during war time. He asks you to investigate an abandoned building that the wizard is known to have visited before leaving town, while he continues tracking down other leads.

Polin starts the recovery process and begins training (along with Darvin and Rumblebelly), while at the Scape Manor house. The wounds to Polin were extensive and he is still visibly weak when starting his training. Wyn disappears for a couple of weeks.

Zebest played the taverns to gather rumors about the type of threats that are plaguing the region (humanoids with weird wavy limbs kidnapping peasants, and gangs of monstrous bearmen waylaying travelers). Lord Scape’s man-at-arms confirms those rumors and he reports news from local traders that a legionnaire and an imperial war wizard were spotted in the marsh and that a very fast large monster destroyed a caravan near Prospector Town.

In response to a message from Polin to the White Tower, a shieldman named Harold arrives to help with the quest. He is ancient by adventurer standards, but he is quite professional about his duties in protecting his charge.

The travel to Creekside (a small village near the marsh to the east of Scapper), is uneventful. After interviewing the locals and spending the night, the group heads off to see if they can track down the kidnapped peasant family that were taking away in the night a week or two ago.

Along the way the group spots a trap, and is ambushed by a group of bearmen and wolves. The group dismantles the ambush with minimal difficulty, but one of the bearmen escapes. The group follows the trail of the bearman back to its hideout (after Rumblebelly skins the wolves). Polin uses his owl familiar to scout ahead and it was killed by guards outside the hideout.

As the group pushes its way from room to room in the cavern system, the adventurers would kill most of the monsters and others would fall back to the next room. Until finally the group faces off against the leader and the remaining forces. They attempt to setup a surprise attack, but take too long to execute the plan and the bearmen attack them while they are bottled up in the hallway.

During the battle there were many magical misfires and a couple of lucky strikes. Unfortunately Darvin was knocked out and wounded severely, Wyn was knocked out but quickly stabilized by Rumblebelly, and finally Harold the Old was knocked out but quickly stabilized since it happened at the end of the fight.

After the final battle, the group backtracks through the tunnels to find Silaar, the legionnaire chained to the wall barely alive. A mother and her two children were also chained up, but in better condition, and they confirmed that the bearmen and goblins have been beating Silaar down every day.

The group now has 4 goblin prisoners and a pile of stuff to transport. A treasure chest was found hidden among ten boxes of provisions (stamped with the blue lion). Which way will the group go?

Sepit 4th, 1212i
The group heads back to Orton. Wyn and Darvin begin their training. On the weekend the group has been invited to the ball at the Seawin estate. They are able to meet all the nobles from the area and were able to make some good contacts. Sir Rolan, Knight of the Phoenix, was also in attendance.

As training wraps up for Wyn and Darvin, Rumblebelly gets an early release out of jail just in time for the festival. The fall festival doubles the population of the town bringing traveling merchants with unusual wares. Zebest was able to trade his bottle of rare elven wine for a magic short sword. There was also an arrow catching shield on the market.

During the past couple of weeks while the training and festival were going on, Polin had been in communication with the White Tower. Last month, Polin and Darvin had stopped by the White Tower on their way back from Tolbrook. While there Polin was interviewed and made arrangements to discuss possibly taking on a quest on behalf of the tower.

Recently, they have offered him a choice of quests. After discussing the options with the group, he chose the quest that takes the group to Scapper. While the festival winds down, the group makes arrangements with a caravel with a crew of 14 called the Bluewind, captained by Brance.

The travel went smoothly until they were almost in sight of the port of Scapper. The Great Harbor is known as a well patroled “safe” water way. Unbelievably, two water elementals have attacked the ship. The crew fight valiantly along with the group. During combat 8 sailors die, along with Polin and Rumblebelly being enveloped by one of the water elementals.

Rumblebelly was able to escape the clutches of the water elemental. Wyn manages to cast a scorching ray that does a great deal of damage and a few minutes later (with help from the rest of the group), the unconscious body of Polin falls to the deck. Not long after, the Bluewind pulls into the docks.

Polin is revived and is able to stagger to the Scape family manor house. The group meets the master at arms and upon seeing the writ of the White Tower, the hospitality is offered to the adventurers.