Griznuq Gaming

Commander Bob is Coris's right hand. He is average in height and build. His hair, which hangs above his shoulders, is black, but greying at the temples. His eyes are brown.
He typically wears his chain armor about the Keep at all times, and carries a Masterwork longsword and matching dagger.
Commander Bob is a competent lieutenant and manages the garrison's daily rosters, training, and infrastructure.

Coris is the Captain at the Forest Keep.
He is tall and lean, almost wirey.
His hair is long, salt-and-pepper, and pulled back through a leather ring at the back of his head to flow down past his shoulders in a tidy tail.
He is well dressed and carries a masterwork longsword at his belt, although he has neveer been seen in armor.
His blue eyes are clear and intelligent; he is a born leader and exudes confidence. Around his neck is a gold chain from which something clearly depends, but whatever it is, it is secreted beneath his tunic.
Coris is well liked by the constabulary at the keep. PCs that have spent any significant time at the keep note that the garrison there will follow whatever orders he gives.

Brescht is an unusually large griznuq soldier. He stands a full head taller than any griznuq thus far met in the forest (he's pushing 7 feet tall), and is quite massive.

Despite this, his face is boyish and has only sparse stubble; he does not yet have to shave regularly. His hair is close-cropped reddish brown, his eyes are brown.

He wears well-kept chain armor, wields a large double-bladed sword (one blade on either end) and carries two trowing axes as well.

Brescht is kind, and seems rather dull in conversation, but appears to have an aptitude for military leadership, tactical thinking, and general soldiering.

Max depth exceeded

Mel is a 3'3" tall black hobbit. His skin in the winter is mocha-colored and deepens to a rich brown in the summer.

He is lean and wiry, weighing in under 40 pounds. His eyes are deep brown (bordering on black). He shaves his head fairly often, but when he lets his hair grow in it is afro-like, at it's longest falling is thinck dreads down the back that he would keep in a tube-like leather wrap. Mel's ready smile reveals perfect white teeth.

Mel dresses in a fairly utilitarian manner, wearing tight earth-tone britches and a slightly baggy gray or darkly colored shirt (to hide stuff in) because it's cooler. He wears a sash about his waist (useful in quick get-a-ways for sliding along an out-stretched rope) that he uses for tying together loads that he might have to bear or for other utility. His boots, wehn he wears them, are tall soft black leather with a soft sole for feeling things before he breaks them. He will at times also wear a doo-rag or a bandana around the head. In either case it would be a dark color.

Mel's current employer is the IBEW - the Intra-Borough Entrepreneurial Worker's guild, which is a guild that operates in Dullstrand providing assistance in a wide variety of ways; our members include shippers, bankers, couriers, mercenaries, train drivers...multitudes of aptitudes, as we say.
 
He has been assigned this opportunity because of his experience with shipping, having worked on and off in that industry over the last few years; attention to detail, ability to tie a tight knot, and manning the booms all of which lend to this journey. Because of this, as well as his frequent tardiness, irascible personality, and penchant for mumbling to himself frequently, his employer has sent him far, far away.  :)  Additionally, Halflings make pretty good scouts, which will likely be highly regarded on "the other side".
 
He bring with him good cheer in the name of a reasonably good recorder and stories to awe and inspire. Or at least make you laugh. This, along with a short sword can go a long way...
 
Mel has been living in Dullstrand for almost four seasons; before that he had lived his life in the villages and thorps in the surrounding countryside, doing - er - nothing...nothing at all. J

[color=blue:0d48f60952]Things that you would have learned about Mel during the voyage here:[/color]

He?s a story teller and a musician (recorder, although he claims to play the pennywhistle as well)
Hard to tell if his stories are true or not, although he usually precedes them with an appropriate disclaimer; perhaps he exaggerates. He will at times reiterate a ?classic? that you?ve all heard before.
He?s short (3-Foot 3-Inches)
He?s worked in a variety of industries over the last 2 or 3 seasons that he?s been in Dullstrand, and he currently works for an agency that is tantamount to a temp agency (that?s the IBEW)
He was born to a weed farmer (pipe smoking weed) in the countryside; he talks about several brothers and sisters and it often seems like he?s not sure how many he has, or he has an endless supply of them
He has spent a fair amount of time in the vast territories surrounding Dullstrand, as far as the Rieuwood and everywhere in between
He has a broad range of discussion topics, having evidenced interests in archery, woodlands, astronomy, astrology, philosophy, and a seemingly endless supply of fields, some of which he knows better than others, all of which he seems to know less than the person to whom he?s speaking
Good listener
He?ll talk to just about anybody about just about anything
He mumbles ? a lot. Often when he?s composing a new story and trying to fit musical accompaniment for sound effects, but also when he?s just sitting quietly, when he?s working, eating, bathing, drinking, hacking up a lung?
He is not a drinker, although sometimes he?ll have one or two
He?ll eat just about anything
He is buoyant and optimistic
His living quarters are a mess (even if it?s just his bunk). Not *dirty*, but disorganized.
You?ve seen him carrying: Light Crossbow, Dagger (which he claims is a tool), Short sword, and a number of darts (4, if you care to count)
He shaves his head every so often; probably done twice on the boat
He?s tried to grow a beard, but while you haven?t seen him shave, he hasn?t gotten any facial hair either (or chest hair, or leg hair?)
Given to the occasional practical joke
Flirts
Not exactly a candidate for Mr. Universe

Need Content.

Essentially, after kobold attack, we find that this did not actually happen. Befriend a single kobold.

Find an orc party killing a wolf.

Kill the orcs.

Find a baby wolf.

Meet a big, ugly, stunted, hairy, fellow.

Need Content

Essentially, awaken in the morning, Melzak shows up with an apparent bodyguard.

Talk, talk, talk.

"Let's go Northeast!"

3 days pass until the Kobold fight.

Content Needed

Essentially, fight a bunch of zombies while still in Dannobar's quarters.

Escape, leave tunnels and chasm, head north a wee bit.

In the AM, Brescht & Coris are spotted. Give them a day to rest.

Brescht & Coris attack in the night - they are shapeshifters!

"Coris" escapes.

Move west so as not to sleep with a dead shapeshifter.

Eleventh Session: June 5th, 2004
Sap/delvers moon +18 continued...

Himo is not far from the entrance, but he has had time to look around a bit. He reports that he saw Orcs, Gnolls, Goblins, Ogres, and ONE elf.

The group decides that they should go up and check out one of these caves up on the wall, and they pick the closest one to them. Entering the cave, it forks right away. Belwar starts to have second thoughts, and he expresses them. His concern is that if they find something from which they have they have to run, it would be nice to know the layout of the camp first. That way, they don't all run right into a larger problem. BUT, since they are already up in this cave, they decided to check it out first.


This cave is a natural one, having no worked walls of floors. The company explores only a short distance before the group begins to hear a slow, rhythmic rumbling; as of a fair sized group of things sleeping and snoring. The group withdraws.

Back out of the caves, the group talks. They say that Dannobar is most definitely in a cave somewhere, not down in the masses around the fires. What they decide to do is talk to one of the drunk humans, and see if we can get some information as to where Danobar's quarters are.

The first human approached by Valen gives the group the general direction. They go that way, and ask another barely coherent human, who points them to the correct cave.

They enter the cave. This cave is worked. It is not up to Dwarven stone masons quality, but it differs from the other one in that *someone* has put some time into squaring the corridors.

Before long, they find a room that seems to be someone's bedroom. There's a very large book on the table, which Belwar takes. They leave the room.

The next room that they come upon has got Gnolls chained to the wall. The room after that appears to be a torture room. In this room, there is a man hanging in a gibbet who identifies himself as Kohr. He is frantically trying to get us to let him out of his cage. He said that he was put there for saying things about the ?boss?. When asked where the keys for the cage were, he said that "Urgoth has them"
 
Belwar smashes the cage, and Kohr comes out. Valen ties Kohr's hands together, and leads him out, as he said that he can take us to Danobar's room. Kohr said that he REALLY just wants to leave. If they find him, they will kill him anyway, so he's got no loyalties to Danobar. The group tells him that as soon as they find Danobar's room, he can go. He asks for something to defend himself with, and he would be happy with just a torch.

The group gets to Danobar's room, and Kohr said that BOTH doors along the wall lead into Danobar's room. Belwar, Valen, and Kohr stay at the first door, Zurn and Himo go to the second.

When ready, Belwar throws open door whilest at the same time Zurn throws open his.

Right away he notices that Danobar is sitting at a table with Melzak. Belwar throws an axe that heads straight for Danobar, but the evil cleric moves. The axe buries itself in the chair.

Valen, from behind the stodgy dwarf, hurls a magical sling stone at the cleric, but also misses. Zurn and Himo rush into the room. Himo is able to loose a crossbow bolt at the cleric and hits him in the shoulder.

At the beginning of this next round, Belwar hacks Danobar, downing him. Melzak casts a color spray at Valen and Korh, knocking both unconscious, then the gnome flees the room. GM ignores Zurn's initiative and gives it to Himo instead, who chases Melzak into the corridor and manages to shoot him with another crossbow bolt. GM apologizes to Zurn.

Danobar is dispatched easily, but Melzak escapes after casting a color spray. Himo gives chase, and manages to catch up enough to shoot an arrow that his Melzak in the shoulder. Melzak turns around and casts a spell Himo's way. Himo is suddenly very uneasy about chasing anymore, so he comes back to the room.

The group quickly rummages through the room, and finds a small bag of gold, an old scroll, full plate armor, and a large mace. Looking around the room, there is a shrine of some sort, with the circle of squares on it, and a painted circle on the floor in front of it. The bed is small. All in all, the room is very Spartan.

Suddenly, the doors slam shut. Sounds can be heard from beyond. Belwar smashes the door, and most of it goes away. Through the big hole that was left, the group can see dark figures? Zurn recognizes them as zombies.

The battle begins.

Tenth Session: April 24th, 2004
Sap/delvers moon +15 continued...

The group stood at the hole wondering what they should do. Belwar got tired of the talking, so he volunteered to go down the hole.

Himo was sent to get some rope. On his way, he ran into Brescht, and together they looked over the bodies of the ogres, and found three medallions. There were two medallions on one of the ogres; he was wearing them as bracelets.

A deep crimson medallion made of an unknown material that is flexible and warm to the touch. The chain is also an unknown material that stretches slightly. This medallion is ovate about a foot wide (shoulder-to shoulder) and a hand tall (chest to abdomen).

A wooden pendant carved from cedar. A crude wolf's head is carved into one side and a Joshua tree is carved into the other (identified by Valen). Valen also submitted that the wolf is often used as a symbol for perseverance and will while the Joshua tree is often a symbol for tenacity and will. Both symbols are routinely used by sorcerers. The necklace is interwoven vine-like tendrils that behave like a Chinese finger puzzle, accommodating the wearer's neck comfortably (one size fits all). This pendant is three inches in diameter.

Himo came back after a "Family Circus" type of errand with the rope.

The group lowers Belwar down. The hole goes down about 150 feet. At the bottom there is a pile of dead stuff: there is the Gnoll that Zurn knocked down the hole, and two dead ogres. On the Gnoll and ogres, there are two more circle of squares. There are also other creature skeletons down there. Belwar thinks that they might have been food for the group of Gnolls.

The rest of the way seems clear, so Belwar tugs the rope and gets pulled back up to report.

Being that it was so late at this point, the group decides to get some sleep before climbing down the hole in the morning.

Sap/delvers moon +16

The group gets up, has some food and goes down the hole.

Travel uneventful for a day. Belwar and Zurn notice that the tunnel is a little strange. It's most definitely not natural. It's about four feet wide, and about 8 feet tall. There is no variation in the pitch of the floor, it just goes straight. The dwarves of the group know what kind of engineering that it takes to do something like this. It's clearly Dwarven engineering, but FAR from Dwarven quality. The group decides that it must have been ogres who did the actual work.

Sap/delvers moon +18

After two days, the group comes upon a room (larger open area than the rest of the tunnel) which was apparently used as a rest area. There's a pile of hay in the corner. It smells really badly here.

The group travels about half an additional day when all of a sudden crossbow bolts came out of what seemed to be nowhere.

The bolt struck Belwar square in the chest and splintered, doing no damage but rocking the dwarf slightly.

The group approaches the source of the arrows, and sees that it is 6 Orcs, In three rows of two (two across the corridor, three deep)

The two in the front are kneeling, and the rest are standing. They all have crossbows and the front two lines are firing. As crossbows are fired, fully loaded ones are handed up from behind

Before long the front two Orcs die at the hands of the group.

As the Orcs in front fall, the ones behind push them out of the way, and kneel themselves and the two in the back take over so that there are always at least 4 of them firing.

The Orcs quickly fall and the group is on their way again.

Himo was sent up to creep along the corridor and scout out what was going on (move silently -  which he failed at) he finds himself face to chest with four Orcs, who are apparently standing guard at the end of the tunnel. Himo greets them and they greet him with barely concealed contempt. They do not bar his way out of the tunnel, however.

The Orcs step out of his way, probably due to the strange pendant that he wears.

Zurn, Valen, and Belwar are left behind in the corridor, and decide that they should make it look like Valen is their prisoner, because the players saw how easy it was for Himo to get through the Orcs at the end of the tunnel, but they realized that it must have been because of the circle of squares, which they only had 2 of now. The dwarves put on the pendants.

They get up to the Orcs, Belwar leading the way. The Orcs look indifferently upon the group. Belwar realizes suddenly that no one left in the group speaks Orcish, so he tries to get the Orcs to move with hand gestures (nice ones, not obscene).

The Orcs don't seem to care too much for moving. Frustrated, Belwar decides to fall back on more traditional anti-Orc methods.

Belwar drops the end of Valen's rope, and brings down his axe on one of the guards. The guard crumples, as Belwar turns to attack another, but misses. The Orcs are easily dispatched by the group.

Looking around, there seems to be many small groups of goblins, humans, Orcs, half Orcs and Gnolls sitting around camp fires, eating, getting drunk, and getting rowdy. They are no longer underground, but in what seems to be a valley. The walls of the valley sloped up at a fairly steep angle. There are cave entrances all over the walls at different heights and locations. The funny thing is that no one seems to have noticed that we just carved our way in.

Need content, please.

Ninth Session: March 13th, 2004
Sap/delvers moon +15 continued...

Belwar wonders what the heck to do now... Danobar coming along screws everything up.

The column is a full day away already. The column is stopped and resting now; Belwar takes Himo and Brescht aside to get a plan together.

Belwar takes Himo and Brescht to "scout ahead" nudge, nudge, wink, wink, along the road. There is no moon, so Brescht cannot see anything.

Brescht makes a point: The fact that the only people here that can see is Belwar and Himo. If there were to be an attack on the column by creatures that aren't human, as it has been... Tonight would be the night to do it, because no one else can see. Luckily, the soldiers have made 2 good sized fires and torches around the perimeter. Luckily? Now we can't see past them into the darkness!!

Belwar and Himo decide to scout outside of the fire light... but which way to go? They could come at the group from any direction. This was a great place for an ambush.

The two decide that they will scout further down the road in the dark about 40' away from the road. Belwar wants to stay within sight of the fires.

Belwar FAILS a spot check DC15!!!
Himo succeeds!

Himo becomes aware of someone wandering through the forest (His cat tipped him off) He tells Belwar about it. Belwar tells Himo to lead the way...

Belwar Stalks... (clank clank clank)

Rolling a move silently - DC15
Belwar succeeds! (Miraculously)
Himo Succeeds!

The man that is walking about is Dreblar!! The man with the circle of squares! We follow. He turns south... and the east... and then north again... dumb griznuq can't see!

Belwar snaps a stick. Dreblar stops. Starts walking away from the sound of the snapping stick. Belwar decides to go after him. He runs away, and falls.

Belwar grabs Dreblar by the throat. Dreblar pulls out the circle of squares saying Danobar said you wouldn't hurt me!. Belwar takes the symbol.

Belwar interrogates him, but doesn't get anything of use. Belwar gets sick of the man's whimpering and hits him. WHAM.

Himo blows their cover!! He says, "Calm down, it's Himo and Belwar"

Dreblar gets all happy knowing that it's Himo and Belwar. He's blabbing and yapping. He wants to keep Himo and Belwar out in the woods, away from the camp!

Belwar wants to know where Danobar is. Now that Dreblar knows who we are, he is pretending to not know anything, and that he was wandering in the forest to "use the Privy" and got lost.

Belwar drops the sniveling wretch and starts to walk back to the camp. Himo wants to keep this guy alive... Belwar would just as soon leave him in the woods. Himo helps Dreblar along, leading him because he can't see and walks him into a tree! Belwar suggests dragging him.

They start to see fires.

Dreblar wants to stay behind. Himo was leading the man with a dagger to the back. Belwar is beginning to hate this guy. Belwar hits Himo's Elbow pushing the dagger into Dreblar back.

Belwar: You really ought to be more careful with those." Keeps walking toward the camp.

Himo stops and bandages and HEALS!!! This guy!

Belwar has to Roll Spots... DC 12
... 1 Fail
Rolling Spot DC10
...8 Fail
DC8
8 YAY!
As Belwar gets closer, he hears screams from camp, sounding like a battle.

Himo drags Dreblar, and Dreblar pushes him away, and gets agitated. Himo decides to leave him alone finally, and heads to the camp.

Belwar sees a lot of Orcan mayhem. Belwar takes out the Circle Of Squares, and keeps it in his left hand. In his right hand is a throwing axe (great axe is too big to be useful in one hand. Belwar is looking for Dannobar.

Spot DC16
16!

Belwar sees Dannobar tending a wounded soldier.

Belwar finds the nearest fight and joins.

Belwar shows an orc the Circle Of Squares and he snarls and Runs. Belwar attacks !! rolls 3...

Belwar sees Danobar healing a soldier, but the soldier dies... Looks like Danobar is helping people DIE!

Belwar sees Brescht amongst a HUGE number of orcs and soldiers. Brescht seems like he can handle himself for a few minutes.

Belwar: "couldn't save him, huh?"
Danobar: "Oh, NO! I couldn't! Where have you been???"
Danobar insists that Belwar go fight someone. He kneels down to "Help" someone else, and Belwar goes and yanks off the Circle of Squares. It disrupts the spell. Danobar turns his attention on Belwar, and suddenly Belwar cannot move!!

Himo Joins the fray, and begins attacking things. Himo Fires his crossbow at a charging orc.

Himo rolls a 16. that hits! for 5 damage. Suddenly a bunch more orcs come to fight Himo.

Dannobar takes his symbol from Belwar, as well as the other from Dreblar. Belwar STILL can't move! He then contemplates what to do with Belwar...

Himo has 5 orcs closing in on him, but Himo's got the initiative. Himo casts a Color-Spray. Himo drops a whole ONE orc...

All 4 remaining orcs attack and MISS Himo!

Danobar disappears behind Belwar, who still can't move.

Himo casts another color spray, downing 2. The remaining 2 attack and miss!

There are a number of orcs closing on Belwar while he stands there.

Himo downs the last 2 and 3 others that happened to be looking!

Belwar is getting attacked by 3 orks. they clang at Belwar's armor... no damage though. Suddenly, he can move!! AND can attack. Belwar kills one!

Himo gets missed once, twice, thrice.

Belwar gets attacked, one miss, one hit (2 points) miss, hit(3) hit(6)

Belwar attacks: and misses

Himo attacks with his master work long sword. Orc dies! he then gets hit and takes 8 points of damage. The other 2 orcs missed.

Belwar gets missed 5 times, but then got hit for 12 freaking points!!

Belwar attacks and kills one! attacks again! kills another!

Himo tries to flee, and is hit. The soldiers engage the orcs that had attacked him. Himo heads out into the woods.

DM rolls some dice... hate that...

One orc drops his weapon and runs from Belwar! Another hits Belwar, bringing Belwar to the ground!!! <-1 hit points>

Himo readies his crossbow.
Rolls a spot dc18, he makes it, and sees Belwar being overcome. Himo attacks and hits an orc around Belwar! They are both surprised to see a crossbow bolt come out of nowhere. They look in Himo's direction, but they are engaged by some soldiers.

Himo reloads and shoots again at a new target.
Rolls a spot DC 19, and fails with a 2.

Himo looks for some fighting that he can use his crossbow in. finds an orc, and shoots. He misses!! He does hit a tree though!

Things get quiet as the orcs all die. Not much to be heard but the groaning of the wounded.

Himo goes over to Belwar, who is badly hurt! He attempts to heal Belwar. Doesn't work though.

Danobar comes over to "Heal" Belwar... not good... Himo says ok... Oy.

Himo tells Danobar about Dreblar, who again pretends to not know him. Danobar says that he can't cast any more "healing spells" today ... good... Tomorrow would be a different story, however...

Brescht surveys the camp. There are only 3 soldiers left. Belwar is moved to a cleaner part of the camp. 2 soldiers make a cot to take Belwar... the group cannot stay there for the night.

Eighth Session: 2004
Sap/Delvers moon +14 (Continued)

Deliberations:

Belwar can't decide what his next course of action should be. I can't decide what my next course of action should be! If he is to go with the column out of the keep, he wouldn't be there to help defend the city. If he stays in the city, he wouldn't be there to help defend the column.

The column is to leave in the morning. What Belwar wants to do is take the column out and into the trees, to return when whatever is supposed to happen, does happen. Problem is though, that if there are others in the group who are in on the ambush, they may blow our cover. In the best case, they might just run away.

Coris wants to take Dreblar into custody tonight and try to get him to talk. Belwar likes the idea. Belwar says it would be nice if there were some way to search him without him knowing. Coris likes the idea, and says that what should be done is everyone should be searched, so we would know if there are any others with the symbol.

Sap/Delvers moon +14/+15

Belwar wakes in the night hearing a tapping, so faint that he questions whether or not he hears it. He gets up and inspects it. He realizes that there is a rhythm to the tapping; A pattern. Belwar leaves the inn and follows the noise. Belwar follows it to Danobar's door. The tapping stops. Belwar then hears a bird call, but can't tell which direction it came from. Belwar does not know what he should do. Peeks into the window and sees no movement, but a light coming from the room with the round rug, which goes out abruptly.

Belwar decides that he is going to talk to Brescht. He explains what he witnessed, and why it's significant.

Belwar and Brescht talk, and they decide that there's nothing to do about it but get more sleep. Belwar heads back to the inn, and on his way, hears a door close from Danobar's apartment's direction and a VULTURE flies by!!! Vultures are not nocturnal. Then again, neither are Dwarves and here we are...

Belwar peeks through a window into Danobar's apartment, and sees nothing... He decides to just go to bed.

Belwar gets in bed, and someone knocks on the door... ugh. – Who was it?

The group goes down and there's breakfast waiting. Eat and head to the inner bailey. Much is going on. 30 folks are in line with horses, additional 20 soldiers standing around with swords and spears. Captain Coris is there, Commander Bob is not.

Belwar decides to not explain to Coris what happed at night.

Coris asks how we should do this, just search Dreblar first? Belwar says maybe not. Search a few others first so as not to arouse suspicion.

Two or three people get searched, and have nothing in particular. Next is Dreblar. He's got all the same things, AND a pendant of polygonal shapes, and a VULTURE in the middle!!! AH-HAH! The Circle of Squares!

Belwar tells Coris about the happenings of the night. Coris says that he would think that that pendant would be the one in question, but we should not take it yet, and we should search everyone to see if there are any others. There were not. Dreblar held the only one.

Brescht seems to have a cough... And a head tick that goes in the direction of Danobar's apartment... Strange...

Belwar sees Danobar walking in wearing full metal plate and comes clunking over to Belwar and Coris. He's got a mace and a symbol of the crow over the field of barley, that he had given Belwar. Danobar wants to join the column...

Belwar Casts a glare at Coris as if to say WHAT THE...?

Coris sends Danobar off with a soldier to find a horse for Danobar to ride

Belwar wants to go look in Danobar's quarters. Coris puts Brescht in charge while we're gone. Himo is asked to come along. The group goes to Danobar's, and Belwar bashes in the door again. Nothing is amiss in any of his rooms. Belwar knocks on the slab with the butt of his axe. Knock, Knock! Nothing happens.

Group leaves the place, but doesn't lock the door... If Danobar is leaving town, the next thing to happen would be that some things are going to come out from under the slab. Coris wants a wood right to put a post in top of the slab up to the ceiling to keep the slab from coming up.

It's beginning to look like the column is going to have to just go...

The column leaves. Brescht and Belwar walk.

Brescht seems to be leading the column.

Nothing unusual happens that day. The column stops at the rest area off the side of the road.

Seventh Session: October 24th, 2003
Sap/delvers moon +14

Himo does bag himself a deer... but he gets lost. [An elf lost in a forest. Can you imagine???.] Himo knows that there are things in forests that can smell dead animals, like owlbears for instance, and decides that he may be better off leaving the dead dear while he searches for the road. That way the scavengers would not be attracted to him. Eventually, he does find his was bay to the road, and thus, back to the keep.

Belwar gets up early and helps the inn keeper set up.

Commander Bob comes by the inn, followed shortly by Danobar. Commander Bob asks Belwar to help the cause by either going with the contingent or staying at the keep to help defend in case there was an attack.

Belwar tells Danobar that he should be with the contingent. Danobar shies away from the idea, saying that his services are more needed in the keep, as Belwar had expected. Belwar says that he had heard the soldiers saying that they were nervous, and would feel much better with a spiritual leader like Danobar. Danobar decides that he would make a speech to the troops in the outer bailey. Belwar tells Commander Bob that the group would have to confer before he could agree to anything, but something could most likely be worked out. Commander Bob and Danobar leave.

Danobar asks for help from Belwar to move a podium into the bailey. They go to Danobar's quarter. In the middle of the room with the podium, there is a large circular rug, with a brazier on it. The Brazier needs to be moved for the podium to be carried out. Danobar moves the brazier, and moves the edge of the rug a little bit with a leg of the brazier. Belwar notices there's no mortar between the stones under the rug. Danobar quickly covers and moves Belwar along.

Belwar leaves to go look for Himo.. POOF - there he is.

Brescht is on the wall again talking to guards... almost giving orders.

Belwar wants to talk to Brescht, but decides to  send Himo instead. The wall is too high and stuff... Belwar likes the ground.

Himo climbs the wall and talks to Brescht. Brescht and Himo come down and Belwar explains what Commander Bob had asked Belwar that morning. Belwar says that maybe we should all go with the contingent and try to get the troops to insist that Danobar go. Brescht suggests that maybe we clue Captain Coris, and Commander Bob in.

The group goes to "Brescht's apartment"

Belwar explains the situation.

Belwar elects Brescht to go find Commander Bob

The two come back and Belwar explains to Commander Bob, who is very skeptical of the story, but agrees to search the room while Danobar is giving his speech.

Doors are locked and the only windows are in the wall facing the speech. Belwar breaks the door down.

They go to the rug, and move it. The section of the floor beneath the rug is a large 5' diameter slab, with no handles, or anything else to move it. Its way too large for any of this group to move it. Belwar knows the slab would need to be moved for anything to come out. They also notice that there are no scrape marks on the floor, which means that it was lifted up from underneath, and also lowered back into place for underneath.

Belwar asks Himo if he knows any sort of spell, which he does, but the slab is way too heavy. Belwar Shows that the different tones when the stone is tapped in different spots can show that it is hollow underneath. Commander Bob is amazed. Belwar bets that this is how the ogres came in this way and there may be more beneath.

Commander Bob says we need to talk to Captain Coris about this. The group makes things look good again, and leave. Himo offers his mending abilities to fix the door... looks good! Offers to fix Belwar's chain armor... Belwar declines. The group finds Captain Coris in the keep fortress... building 24. The group has a long conversation with captain Coris. Much deliberation occurs.

Sixth Session: October 17th, 2003
Sap/ Delver's Moon +11 (continued)
After the fighting, Himo has requested a long sword; he is given one of the recovered masterwork weapons.

Danobar has entered the Inner Bailey to assist with the wounded. Among some of the guards that he is tending he also heals Brescht a bit.

The companions prepare to turn in, but Himo wants to take a closer look at the entrance to the Inner Bailey. Upon nearing that building, Himo hears some harsh whispering nearby. He cannot make out what is being said, and he returns to the inn to retrieve Belwar. By the time both men return, there is no one nearby.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +12

Rest. Danobar visits Brescht again and heals him some more. The Captain of the Guard (Commander Bob) enters the inn in the morning; he looks terrible. He wordlessly goes to the innkeeper and orders a beer.

Belwar speaks with him and learns that he and Coris have been talking all night. Coris wants to send half the men out from the Keep towards the city of Gorna beyond the eastern fringe of the forest. They are concerned as this will leave the already flagging Garrison with only a handful of men for at least two weeks, if the contingent can get through at all. Bob resignedly leaves and heads out of the inn (presumably for his quarters for some rest).

The companions spend some time investigating the perimeter of the wall. Brescht actually mounts the walls to tour them from above. Himo accompanies him, while Belwar is left below.

Wandering about, Belwar notices that one of the private apartments has its door ajar. This is one of the apartments that Belwar knows is vacant. He edges closer and hears a conversation from within. One voice is familiar.

Unfamiliar Voice: "I just don't want to be caught up and killed with the rest of them."

Familiar Voice: "Don't worry, as long as you keep this symbol with you they won't kill you. Just head off and don't return."
UV: "I hope that Dreblar can make this work."
FV: "We have it all well in hand. You will be rewarded. Just keep the Circle of Squares close at hand."

Belwar then hears footsteps headed towards the entrance to the apartment (the folks inside appear to be leaving) He acts nonchalantly, an pretends to be surprised when Danobar and one of the Keep guards exist from the apartment. The Guard is named Dreblar, and Belwar is only vaguely familiar with him. – Question for Johan. Is this correct? Why would Dreblar have said "I hope Dreblar can make this work"?

Belwar strikes up a conversation with Danobar, expressing his concerns about how things are going. Danobar offers to lend spiritual guidance to Belwar, and they agree to meet at Danobar's apartments the next morning. [Not such a bad thing, even if untrue!]

Sap/ Delver's Moon +13
Himo accompanies Belwar to Danobar's apartments. They are both welcomed in and Danobar presents Belwar with a symbol to help in the dwarf's spiritual journey. The symbol is that of a raven awing over a field of barley. His god is apparently the god of agriculture and spirits (beer). The two visitors sit patiently while Danobar talks about his religion.

Night finds B&H just leaving Danobar's residence. Himo decides to leave the Keep and go hunting, and Belwar heads for the inn, where he finds Brescht eating and tending his weapons. Belwar tells Brescht of the conversation that he heard between Danobar and Dreblar. Brescht can't believe it! Danobar is such a nice fellow!

Fifth Session
Sap/ Delver's Moon +4
Sleep late. In the night, the rain has turned to freezing rain and Belwar awakens to find his beard frozen solid and his helm ice-covered. Brescht is still badly hurt and they make a stretcher to carry him. Walk through the night, not stopping until they arrive at the Keep in the wee hours.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +5
Sleep through the day, wake at dinner time. Eat, meet with Coris and fill him in on the details of the expedition; learn that Ensign Smith never returned to the Keep.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +6
Rest, have armor repaired. Upon returning to the inn, B&H find that Brescht is up and about, and he is sitting having an animated conversation with Danobar,  the Keep's resident cleric. A follow-up conversation with Coris hatches a plan to take ~20 men and horses and go to recover the wagons, which were left in the forest.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +7
Leave Keep, arrive at wagons towards night with the contingent.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +8
Belwar, Himo, and Brescht accompany a segment of Keep guards to the site where the brigands were camped. After a cursory inspection, they return to the wagons, which have now been hitched to the horses that were brought, and they begin their trip back to the Keep.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +9
Days are getting warmer, nights are still cold, sky is clear. Travel through the forest with the wagons is painfully slow.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +10
Arrive at road.

Sap/ Delver's Moon +11

Arrive at Keep about mid-day. There is a great cheer rising form the Keep and Coris meets them at the front gate. A congratulatory party is planned in the inner bailey for that night to celebrate.

Several fires are alight in the inner bailey for cooking deer and boar. There is no music or entertainment per se, being that there are no thespians resident in the Keep.
Sometime prior to midnight a cry is heard an one of the guards is thrown into one of the fires. Looking about, it seems that an ogre has found his way into the inner bailey! A fight ensues (surprisingly enough), during which a total of four ogres and five gnolls enter the inner bailey. Brescht is at the forefront of the fighting and gets badly hurt, but his position makes it difficult for the invaders to enter the inner bailey all at once, thus containing them and minimizing the damages due to the lack of maneuverability of the invaders (what a guy).

After the fighting, several guards are dead. Belwar and Himo accompany Coris into the outer Bailey to the main gate of the Keep. All is quiet. The Guard at the front gate says that he had heard the commotion, but thought that it was nothing more than the celebration. There has been no action at the front gate.

Fourth Session: May 30, 2003
Travel through the forest (no track, with wagons) is painfully slow. By the end of the first day, the company finds itself still well within the forest, not yet back at the road that leads to the Keep. That night, a cold rain sets in.

Sap / Delver's Moon +2
Rain continues, making travel even slower than the previous day. They again set camp in the forest.

Sap / Delver's Moon +3
Wake up to find that the wagons are mired in the mud created by the rain. There is no progress today. The company talks and decides that Ensign Smith should return to the Keep and bring back aid to assist in moving all the stuff back to the Keep. ES leaves.

That night, the horses get nervous; rain is still coming down and there is the occasional lighting and thunder strike. One of the horses screams and our heroes find that an Owlbear has come to feed. It is eating one of the horses near the front of the train. After a brief but fierce fight, the Owlbear is defeated. Given the conditions, many (something like 15) of the horses have fled.
Belwar makes 2nd level.
Rain continues to fall.

Third Session: May 23, 2003
The companions settle down for the night, using the camp that the brigands had been using. The tent and the stone structure are too foul to use.

During Himo's watch, a stranger approaches the camp. He appears to be human, dressed mostly in hides, and carries a spear. His features are hidden deep in the hood of his apparently home-made cloak. He warns Himo that Tersuk and the other brigands are planning to attack the companions at dawn. Then the man simply, silently, turns and leaves.

Sap / Delver's Moon +1
Himo awakens the others and there is much discussion about what to do. Belwar is interested in this man, but can find no sign that anyone was ever even there. The companions decide to put Himo, with a couple of crossbows (and ammo, of course) in a tree at the edge of the camp. Hopefully, he will not be spotted by the approaching assailants, and can help to mow them down from a point of safety.

Ensign Smith is to be station in the stone building with another crossbow (and ammo, of course). They also fortify their position by arranging the wagons in a semi-circle around the camp (tipped up on their sides) so that Belwar and Brescht can take shelter behind them.

All is quiet as the companions wait for the brigands. Their arrival is heralded by a crossbow bolt that barley misses Himo (just after dawn). Combat goes well for the companions as they find out that the brigands have only one crossbow among them. Belwar and Tersuk clash much to Tersuk's chagrin as Belwar practically cuts the half-orc in two with but one strike.

Himo takes great delight in finishing off the brigands that Belwar is fighting; this pisses Belwar off. Belwar hits Himo in the forehead with a rock. Several crossbow bolts, a few colorsparys, and a bunch of grunting later, all of the brigands lay dead, with the exception of one, who fled just after the first colorspray. Only Belwar is hurt, having suffered a lucky shot from the crossbow-wielding brigand.

After a brief rest, the companions gather up four wagons (the ones with the loot in them) and all the horses and head back to the keep. Belwar sleeps the entire day, riding in one of the wagons.

Second Session: May 16, 2003Max depth exceeded

Session 4
August 5th, Year 591 (continued)

Dave and Decal (known by non-Mel cronies as Dhaige and Dakahl) escort the companions one-by-one across crossfire alley.

Editor?s note: I would think that it would be enough for only one dwarf to escort folks across the hall, and further, I wonder what would happen if one dwarf escorted a host of folks across the hall. A test for next session, perhaps?

As the companions make their way across the hall, Mel requests to keep the torch, being that he is the only member of the group who cannot see in the darkness. He decides to have a look around. Behind the now-open door there is a stairway that descends down into the darkness. As noted, the air carries an acrid smoky scent on an otherwise fresh breeze. Assuming that the acrid smoky scent is due to an ages-old BBQ, Mel inspects the stairs for signs of soot ? there are none.

Mel grabs his protractor, pen, paper, and abacus and determines that the stairs descend at a 30-degree, 14-minute, 12-second slope. Knowing that the inhabitants of this space were paranoid schizophrenics, Mel proceeds with caution: examining every individual stair for signs of traps, and every bit of wall and ceiling for signs of falling debris. There appears to be none.

At the bottom, the stair opens into a large room that was clearly an armory of sorts. Three large fire pits are adjacent to the southern wall, all now lie dormant. Near each pit lie shards of decayed wood that could have been tables or workbenches long ago. A heavy looking large iron anvil also lies next to each. The eastern wall is lined with barrels of various shapes, sizes and physical condition. Some are so badly rotted that there contents have spilled onto the floor. Some appear to still contain materials that had once been used for smithing. There is a 10 foot wide arch in the eastern wall, and another opposite in the western wall. A wall sconce that at one time held a torch is placed in 10 foot increments around the room.

The air down here carries the unmistakable scent of currently burning wood: someone is cooking. Nearby. Mel?s stomach growls noisily.

Mel putters around enough to determine that the smoke is entering the armory via the westerly arch. There is a faint capering light coming from that hallway.

Mel weighs the situation: he could wander down the corridor to investigate; he would go with or without a torch. With a torch, he would be obvious to the cooks; without one, he wouldn?t be able to see the traps in the tunnel. He ponders the dilemma as the others arrive.

T?Riad decides to go stealthily down the westerly corridor (move silently, hide in shadows?the whole bit).

After a short corridor, T enters a room from its northeast corner, it appears to be about the same size as the one you just left. In places about the floor of this large room there appears again to be the remains of what could have been wooden furniture. In the southeast corner is a large pile of blue rags. In the center of the western wall is an archway exiting the room. In the center of the room appears to be a small campfire, the small fire is emitting a small stream of smoke that is slowly traveling along the ceiling and out a southern archway.

After a few moments, Mel and El creep up to look down the passage that T disappeared down.

Still curious about the far pinpoint of light, T pokes about a moment and decides to investigate the pile of blue rags. The cloth is rather negligently piled in the corner, and the only sense that he has that lends suspicion to the situation is the arrow that is now sticking out of his back.

T is beset by 4 hobgoblins, who, apparently were waiting down a north passage! GGGAHHHH! It would seem that they have a hankering for monkey meat (perhaps that should be ?monkish meat?? NAHHH.

The hobgoblins rush at T across the room, affording Mel and El a (poor) shot each as they cross his view.

The battle does and does not go well (depending upon what you like to see in a battle). T is badly wounded early on and goes down. Mel is magnificent (he downs 2 with a single bolt each?they will sing songs about the hobbit?s battle prowess, mostly because Mel will create them and sing them at beachstock). At length, and without any dwarven back-up, the battle is won. Amy heals T.

Back to business: the blue cloth is old and torn but bears embroidered helms, shields, and gems.
Mel checks the hobgoblins and finds 40 (or so) platinum pieces, all of which bear the tree on one side and the eye-in-the-ellipse on the other. This mintage has been dubbed the ?Isle of Brennan? coinage. The group has accepted this term since the DM had thus coined it, and what the DM wants, the DM gets. (Note from DM: Mel is correct, as always.)

As an oddity, the group takes note that these hobgoblins wear chain mail, and carry long swords and short bows. The strange thing is that the armor and weapons are all well cared-for, contrary to the hobgoblins that the companions are familiar with. Hmmm?

All said and done, the companions continue down the westerly corridor. Toward the light aforementioned. The corridor intersects with a grand hall that spans a mere 20 feet distance north, but stretches more than a hundred of feet to the south. The grand hall is 20 feet wide east to west and is over 60 feet tall. The smaller corridor continues on the other side of the hall via an archway that mirror the one you stand under. 10 feet beyond it you see and iron door.

Columns of fine black and white marble are inset in tight alcoves within the wall. They rise and curve with the arched ceiling to form part of the elaborate, overhead beam structure, which is similar to the concrete beam structure found in the throne room. Each pair of columns is in 20 foot increments down the southern hallway. Centered between each, a large iron wall sconce, that has a fire plate three feet in diameter and is mounted a human mans? height off the floor. Infrequently down the hall, some of these are ablaze, enough to illuminate the hall.

The walls from floor to the arched ceiling are covered with engravings, carved reliefs, runes and symbols similar to the throne room. The same deep blue gems are scattered about the engravings, but many holes appear where gems have been pried out over the years.

A decayed tattered carpet 15 feet in width, runs down the center of the Hall. A faint pattern of gems, shields and helms can be seen upon it. In the 20 foot alcove to the north stands a statue of Moradin. At 20? tall it is larger than the one viewed in the entry to the throne room and made of a solid piece of stone, this grand sculpture is no less impressive in its? fine detail.

A slight breeze is coming from the south and past you, as you stand at the intersection of this small corridor and the grand hall.

Dave and Decal must be getting really tired, because this room sends the two dwarves once again into ecstasy.

The companions take a moment to stare out through the fissure in the southern wall. You can see that the southern end of the Hall is abruptly interrupted by a ravine. The floor, ceiling and walls open to a large chasm. As you step closer to the edge you see the ravine stretch for hundreds of feet to the east and west and descends about 200 feet from where you stand. The forest floor above you on this cliff face is 150 feet above you.

On the opposite side you see a carved opening 40 feet wide and 100 feet tall. Its? floor is 90 feet above the floor you stand on, and slightly ajar to your left. From here it appears the sliced room is only 20 feet deep before meeting a wall. It appears there are two huge iron doors in the center of that wall. The forest floor on that side appears to be an equal distance higher, 90 feet, than the forest above you.

T?riad wants credit for an exceedingly obvious connection that the chasm we are standing in at this point is the chasm that we can barely see standing on the flatland at the base of the mount. We?ll give it to him. I?m not sure what we mean by ?flatland at the base of the mount?, but?

A collective question ensues: how did the hobgoblins gain entry to this facility? Speculate; perhaps an answer will become obvious as we continue our search; it does not appear as though they climbed either up or down to gain entry via the chasm. Across the chasm we can see that a hole is in the opposite wall. Despite that this hole is a good 90 feet above where we are, the companions conclude that this must have been a continuous tunnel, but the chasm was opened up in some cataclysmic happening, and either this side fell or the other side rose (or both).

A giant eagle soars overhead, heading south-ward and screeching to the mid-day sky. The companions decide that now would be a good time to have lunch and talk about next steps: do we open the locked door? Shall we go back to the east?

Heading back east through the campfire-dead-hobgoblin room and then the armory, the room to the east of the armory is somewhat familiar to the companions.

The short corridor brings them into a strangely familiar large room with same non-descript walls that run to a ceiling 60 feet above. The room runs 70 feet east to west and 30 feet north to south. There is a 30 foot wide brick wall centered on the northern wall to your west.

Adjacent to the mason brick wall is a large steel staging platform that would allow a demi-human to stand approximately at chest-level height with the bottom of each pair of rows and again at eye-level height with the top of each pair. Each platform, made of what appears to be deteriorating wood, is 8 feet higher than the other. At the each end of the platform is a column of steel rungs spaced every 12 inches vertically forming a steel ladder.

At the eastern and western walls closest to the northern wall is a 10 foot wide archway leading to corridors beyond. On the southern wall is a iron door that is slightly ajar.

In the northeast corner of this room are seven barrels, the wood siding split, cracked and in some places gone. Only the steel straps hold together the barrels that seem to have been here for quite some time.

The southern door, which sits ajar, turns out to be a sauna. Before exploring the bowels of the steam room, the company explores the other parts of the labyrinth. Mel climbs the murder wall, Amy goes with him to carry a torch by which Mel might see (There was much discussion about Mel taking the torch: he could hold it in his mouth while he climbed, but ultimately he could not stop his mouth from moving for long enough to make the climb, so?). Beyond the murder wall, is a northern 30 foot wide immense hallway with a ceiling 60 feet above the floor. Except for the fine lines between each large mason brick and the noted size of this corridor, the passage is otherwise non-descript. It expands north, out of the field of vision.

Making our way north, we soon saw that the hall, after approximately 100 feet from the mason brick defense wall, reduces to a 10 foot by 10 foot corridor, as the previously explored defensive halls had. However, unlike the other halls, this particular corridor turned right (east) after 10 feet.

Scribe?s note: does this seem rather odd to anybody other than me? Why would dwarves build a murder wall only to also build a passage around it? And what would they have been defending against? There?s no way out (and therefore in this massive hallway) that we observed from the other side of the wall; is this just a big dog house for fido the grick? Hmmm?this warrants a closer look, gents.

As we near the north end of this room, and are about to enter the passage there, Mel hears a breathing sound from around the corner; he begins a methodic, controlled, backward retreat, alerting the others to the sound. El, Amy, Dave, and Decal back up along with the Hobbit, but the Monk does not. T valiantly places himself on the menu so that the rest of us have a ready exit.

M: ?Guys, I hear some breathing from around that corner?, begins walking backward.
T: ?Breathing? What could be breathing down here? There are no trees, nor the sun? Life doesn?t exist down here.?
[A massive creature (DM describes a Grick, name discovered later) appears around the corner] M: ?Then what?s that??
T: ?EEEEEKKKK! Good thing I haven?t any armor to clean up later.?

None of the companions are familiar with this beast, and we all retreat (except for the dwarves ? fodder that they are). Mel, being the cowardly strategist that he is, runs back to the other side of the murder wall, crossbow in hand. El follows, Amy follows, and T follows.

Suddenly a loud bang-type noise is heard from the armory. ?Blast we?re surrounded.? Mel keeps an eye in that direction, but nothing emerges. He divides his attention between the fight in front and the shadow enemy behind (on later investigation, this bang appears to be from an old barrel that spontaneously collapsed).

The companions do well, not that it helps. The monster appears to be immune to physical attack (even Mel?s critical hit does no damage, as does El?s beautiful shot at the critter?s mouth ? all blows simply bounce off of the monster). Amy?s bow and the dwarves? attacks all meet with similar results.

Suddenly, someone thinks of the hammer (Mel is going to take credit for this, whether it is his or not). T races back up the stairs where it was left and retrieves it. The rest of the company holds the beast at bay. Dave goes down as the tentacles on the beast grab the stodgy dwarf?s face and wrench his head (lacerations galore); El searches this room and the armory for anything that might help in this fight.

T returns with a hammer and gives it to Decal, who strikes with great success at the enemy, knocking the beast?s lower beak off. Collectively the group (or at least Mel, who else really matters anyway?) realizes that the beast must be susceptible to magical weapons only. Fire might also do the job, so Mel runs into the room to help distract the monster while we think of other plans.

T gets the spectacular idea to feed the damned thing a hobgoblin, which we just happen to have in abundance just behind us. He goes to fetch one. Before he can return, however, the dwarf finishes the beast with another mighty whelm of the hammer.

Amy heals Dave, and is now out of spells for the day.

Out of ammo, spells and energy they decide to return to the beach front to report. The companions find out that the monster the fought was a ?Grick?, and that they are relatively common. ?Great!? Also more good news, in light of the fact that a claustrophobic half-orc is of limited use to the spelunkering group, we lose the ?services? of Grush.

beachstock...

August 6th, Year 591

The next morning, it is raining. Mel, sporting his nice broad-rimmed rain hat, asks for a couple of tangle-foot bags (these are bags of glue) and a couple of alchemist?s fire vials from the quartermaster; if he?s going to meet up with invulnerable beasts, then they might either burn, or he?ll try sticking them to the ground.

The company returns to the grick chamber and explores beyond, carefully circumnavigating the great big gobs of greasy, grimy, grickey guts. The north tunnel (which actually heads east) proceeds to a dead-end. There is a hobgoblin corpse there, but nothing else.

Back west-ward to open the door that was in the great hall. Mel curses himself for not asking if someone at the camp could replicate the key that we have to open all these doors.

Until next time...[/u]