Mike Gandalf Human Sorcerer
Warren Scathe Elf Ranger
Stuart Jed Mate Human Psionic (Monk) / Die Aego Elf Druid
Dave Brent Elf Fighter
Derek Malaki Elf Rogue/Cleric

Watch order
Malaki
Malaki/Scathe
Brent/Scathe
Brent

The group originates from a village called Ardee

Day 1 Spring – Thaw time

The group heard there was some ‘action’ in the village of Druce and decided to go there. They stopped in a hamlet overnight and stayed at the local shop/inn.

Day 2

The group was approached by Graagh, a young human girl, and asked if they could help her brother Togwell. He is currently in prison, apparently wrongly accused and convicted by the local lords representative. She wants the group to take an appeal to Lord Doo. The party got a ride into Druce on a merchants wagon. They delivered the letter to lord Doo, and booked rooms in the Blue Boar inn. The party saw a job advertised on the village notice board. Cordell wants six people to accompany him on a journey to deliver goods to a customer in the wilderness, and is offering 600gp for the six people. The party spoke to Cordell and got the job for 100gp each. The journey would be 2 days and they would set out tomorrow. The party went back to the inn, where they received a summons from Lord Doo. He wished to know more about Togwell. The party told him they were just delivering the letter and knew nothing of the circumstances.

Day 3-4

The party set out with Cordell, travelling for two days before arriving at a hill with a cave. Some cages containing animals (familiars) were carried inside. The cave appeared occupied as it had tables and a bed inside.

Day 5

Everyone stayed outside overnight. In the morning Cordell had disappeared from his tent. The party went into the cave. The cages were found to be empty and two had been knocked onto the floor. Malaki caught a weasel and a snake in his blanket and put them back in their cages. In the next room Malaki caught a bat while Scathe caught a cat. Cordell was found dead on the floor. He seemed to have been bitten on his hand by a snake. 80pp was found on his body. Malaki caught the last animal, an owl. The party then set out back to Druce, taking the body of Cordell with them.

Day 6

The party arrived back in Druce in the evening and reported the incident to Lord Doo, and told the story to investigator Gerald.

Day 7

The party stayed in the jumping pixie overnight. Gerald ruled that Cordell did indeed die of a snake bite. In the evening Gerald was drinking in the jumping pixie. He told Brent that we had accused him of doing bad work.

Day 8

In the morning the party went to the village notice board. Lord Doo was advertising for people to take food and supplies to the prison. The party applied for the job. It was offered at 10gp per day but negotiated to 25gp per day. The party received the same hassle from Gerald in the evening. He was under the impression the party had made a complaint about him, but it was explained that they had only delivered the letter. He told them that Togwell had committed a murder of a stranger in his village. The murdered person had been found in Togwells outbuilding with their head crushed. It was his opinion that Togwell was the only person strong enough to have done it. He had been told that Togwell had argued with the stranger over the best way of planting vegetables. No murder weapon had been found, and no other strangers had been seen in the village that night.

Day 9

The party collected the cart of supplies and headed towards Graaghs hamlet, which was on the way to the prison (North of Druce). There the party spoke to the barmaid, who said there were no strangers in the hamlet on the night of the murder. Graagh said that there had been strangers booked into the inn but were away hinting on the night of the murder. The party decided to stay in the hamlet overnight.

Day 10

The prison was located in the middle of a swamp. On the way to the prison the party saw a skeleton wandering on the path. Malaki turned and destroyed it. It was wearing a necklace with PG on it, as well as leather armour with a full face plate. The party arrived at the prison, which was a ship stuck in the swamp. The guards there were wearing the same armour as the skeleton. Buckleton, the head guard, accepted delivery of the cart. He also agreed to let the party speak to Togwell, and was told about the skeleton. He said six guards had disappeared in the last month while patrolling, though no prisoners had disappeared. The party spoke to Togwell. He did not remember anything about the night of the murder. The dead guy was called Mordhelm, and had been heading towards Druce, and was possibly meeting someone there. He had come from the south, as had the hunters. The party headed back to Graaghs hamlet and stayed there overnight.

Day 11

The party headed back to Druce, and collected payment. They also told him about the problem with the missing guards at the prison. He offered the party a job of discovering what had happened to the guards, which they accepted.

Day 12

The party headed back to the prison. When they arrived they told Buckleton about their assignment. He said no other guards had gone missing in the last few days. He remembered one of the prisoners bodies had been dug up after being buried however. The prison ship had four decks. The top deck was mainly uncovered, with the chief wardens cabin at the front, and kitchen, armoury and storeroom at the rear. The main deck had rooms for the guards, as well as prisoners in the central area. The lower deck was entirely for prisoners. The bilge deck was reserved for the worst prisoners. The party opted to sleep on the top deck of the ship.

Day 13

The party went to look at the disturbed gravesite. There was a large number of graves. The disturbed one looked as though the occupant had dug himself out. The warder was asked about the missing dead prisoner, and he sent the party to speak to the head jailer Gideon. Gideon had an office on the main deck. There was 50-100 prisoners on the main deck. Gideon said the missing prisoner was called Damion. He was in prison for 3 murders, and had been in the jail for 3 ½ months. He had died of ‘natural causes’. He had been imprisoned on the bilge deck because of his crimes. He had come from the south. The party was told the average life expectancy of a prisoner was 6-9 months and they rarely lived more than a couple of years.

The party was escorted to the bilge deck. The lower deck had 75-150 prisoners, and no attempt had been made to keep the deck clean. The bilge deck stank and the conditions were disgusting. Prisoners were chained to anything solid. There was one clean walkway down the centre. The bilge deck could hold 10-40 prisoners. One of the guards there was asked about Damion. He said 3 ½ months was probably a survival record for the bilge deck. The party then went to the storeroom and asked about Damions personal effects. The only unusual item was a black spoon given to the cook. Malaki got the spoon from the cook and sensed it had a magical aura, so he asked the cook to let him keep it for a while. While chatting to the guards the party found out that one had found 2gp at the bottom of the ladder after the second guard had disappeared.

Day 14

The party chatted to guards. They found out one of the prisoners was found dead last time the bilge deck was washed out.

Day 15

During the night, on Jeds watch, he saw through his psi crystal one of the guards acting strangely. The guard climbed down the ladder off the ship. Malaki followed him, but slipped and fell off the ladder. He continued following and the rest of the party caught up. A small furry creature came out of the swamp and attacked the guard, so the party killed it. Further on the party was attacked by a large crocodile, which they also killed. The guard continued into the swamp. He went into deep water and drowned before the party could stop him. Malaki and Brent searched under the water and found the well preserved body of another guard as well as some gold coins. The bodies were left on a nearby island before the party went back to the boat and brought Buckleton to see the bodies. He wanted them buried on the island so as not to alarm the remaining guards. A detect magic spell revealed the coins from the swamp, and some of the gold coins found on the bodies were magical. A further search of the area revealed 17 more magic coins and four more bodies. With the original wandering skeleton, this accounted for all the missing guards. When the party went back to the ship, Brent gave some of the guards the magic coins ‘to keep quiet’ for some strange reason.

Day 16

The prison ship was searched with detect magic spells for the magic coins. Two were found on the main deck, four in one of the guards quarters, and six in the other. 21 sources were detected in the armoury. They were found mixed in a box of approximately 40 gold coins. Gideon was asked about the box. He said it had belonged to Damion and contained 75gp. More coins were detected in Gideons room. Buckletons help was obtained in summoning Gideon so Malaki would have time to swap out the coins.

Day 17

The party continued to search for the magical coins. Two were detected on guards on the lower deck. Five were detected in the bilge deck, two on each of two prisoners, and another on a guard. The guards were encouraged to search the prisoners. The coins were then swapped out after the guards had stashed them in their quarters. In the evening Brent played cards with the prisoners. He lost some money but in doing so recovered twelve magic coins from the guards.

Day 18-19

The search for more coins continued, but no more were found.

Day 20

In the night some splashing was heard in the swamp. The party investigated and found a crocodile with a body. It was killed. The body was one of the prisoners. The party followed the crocodiles trail. 100ft away a tree was found floating in the swamp. Brent swam over to investigate a pole sticking out of the water near the tree. Malaki cast detect magic and identified a source by the pole, and eight on the tree in the crook of a branch. The pole was smooth and dark coloured. When he swam down he found it was the top of a ships mast. The magic auras on the tree were traced to eight potion vials. They were all auras of transmutation, four were faint and four were moderate.

On a hunch, Malaki took a sip of one of the moderate strength potions, then tried breathing under the water. He found that he could. Brent cut himself and sipped one of the faint strength potions. The wound was healed. Malaki, Jed, Scathe and Gandalf drank the water breathing potions and swam down. Brent stayed on the floating log and lowered ropes down into the water.

Upon reaching the deck of the boat it was found there was an area of magical darkness which extinguished the parties light spells. Jed used his psi crystal to see a skeleton standing on a trapdoor in the darkness surrounded by a pentagram. Malaki cast detect undead and sensed another skeleton further along the ship. Malaki tried to turn them but it seemed to have no affect. The party then went to the far end of the ship. Jed saw some skeletons at the cabin door, so Malaki turned and destroyed them all. More skeletons came from inside the cabin and Malaki turned and destroyed them as well. The party went into the galley and Malaki got a feeling of evil. Both Malaki and Jed heard a strange voice from the captains cabin. In the corridor outside were four skeletons which the party attacked and destroyed.

Malaki opened the door to the captains cabin and went in. Inside was four giant skeletons and a human looking figure. Malaki attacked the skeleton nearest him. Scathe fired his bow and Gandalf cast magic missile. The combined damage destroyed the first skeleton. after a long fight the skeletons and human were all defeated. Malaki was unconscious, Gandalf and Jed were seriously injured, and Scathe had fled in terror. Malaki was brought round with a healing potion, and he then healed the others. The captains cabin was searched. A collection of magic items were found in the table draws and on the body of the human. Next door in the kitchen six pouches of magic gold nougats and 5 of non magical ones were found. The party heard lots of sound from below decks. It was guessed that over 100 skeletons were trapped below.

The party then returned to the prison ship and told Buckleton what they had done. They also cut off the head of the human who was suspected to be a necromancer. The party then returned to Druce. Lord Doo gave them half the payment and would give the rest when the submerged ship was completely dealt with. He also promised to get hold of some water breathing potions to allow the party to complete their task.

Day 21-22

The magic coins were melted down in the village forge. The items found by the party were examined. There was a piece of parchment in a scroll case. it had a wizards mark. It talked about a plan which included taking all the prison guards. The party was also mentioned as being new guards. There was a piece of paper, which was an invoice for candles bought in a village called Merview, located three days to the South. A third piece of paper appeared to be a map.

There was a spell book containing wizard spells. This book was traded for 1,500gp and an identify spell for the remaining items. One ring was a wizard seal, the other of a necromancer cult. The final item was a pair of bracers, which gave a +1 armour protection.

Day 23

Lord Doo had managed to acquire some water breathing scrolls, so the party returned to the swamp. When they approached the prison ship it appeared deserted. On board there were lots of signs of fighting, but there were no bodies on the top deck. A survivor in the armoury said there had been a rumour about undead and the prisoners rioted. The party found bodies below deck, and estimated that 75% of the prisoners and 50% of the guards were missing. Togwell, Buckleton, Gideon, and the guards Weasel, Big Ron and Black foot were all missing.

The party used some of the water breathing scrolls and descended to the ship. They surrounded one of the trap doors and opened it. The party destroyed approximately 75 skeletons that tried to escape. Some of them had magical effects, such as hot or cold attacks. The party then went below deck and encountered a black skeleton. They fought it but it caused fear within the group. Although the rest of the group had fled, Malaki stayed long enough to heal Jed, returning him from unconsciousness and saving his life. When the party returned to the ship the black skeleton had vanished. The ship was searched and a load of treasure was recovered.

Day 24

The party returned to Druce and told Lord Doo what had happened.

Day 25-28

The party travelled to the city of Chittagatcy.

Day 29-30

The treasure was sold. The party got a job from Isimin Gassan to find Clarenday Power, a merchant that had been missing for 20 days. The party looked round his house with his business partner Galavar Winding. Malaki managed to leave the rest of the party and gained access to a locked room off the library. The door to the room was trapped. In the room was a magic circle with a shimmering centre, which could have been a portal. He also found the ripped corner of a piece of parchment. The party was told that one of Clarandays guards, called Tage, was also missing. The party was told that one of the local blacksmiths had problems with things he had made shattering unexpectedly. The party went to see him. Most of what he made was fine but occasionally he would find something in the morning that had shattered overnight. A broken blade was examined. The broken edge appeared crystallised. The problems started about 12 days ago, and had last occurred 3 days ago.

The party got Clarandays description from Isimin. He was a male half elf, tall with a full figured build, short red hair, greyish skin, light brown eyes, middle aged and foppish. She also showed the party round the parts of Clarandays house they had not seen earlier. Paperwork was discovered about his trade deals. His address book was also found, and it contained a hate list. His journals last entry was about a new book called elemental demonology he had just received. Isimin admitted to not having been able to get into the locked room by the library, but Malaki opened the door with ease. Detect magic on the circle inside revealed it to have a faint aura of conjuration magic. It could be a portal.

The party went to a priest of Helm called Jarizar who knew about demonology. He knew of the elemental demonology book and said it contained spells to summon demons. A common mistake would be for a novice would be to cast the spells in the wrong order and the demon to drag the caster back with it to where it had come from. He suggested the best way to find out whether a portal was one or two way was to poke a stick through it and see if it could be pulled back out. He said that protection circles would only be broken if an intelligent creature crossed them. The party got a description of Tage from Isimin. She said she had arranged for someone to come and close the suspected portal. It was the priest of Helm who was to shut the portal. The party arranged with him to investigate what was on the other side before it was closed. A stick was poked in to prove it was a two way portal. The party went through the portal. The other side was in a dark cavern. The air had a musty smell. There were a few coins in the dust on the floor. There was one corridor leading out of the cavern.

The party went down the corridor and came to a crossroads. The party went right but a little way down the corridor Scathe set off a rock fall blocking the corridor. The party went back to the crossroads and took the straight ahead corridor. At the end of the corridor was a giant mushroom, which let out a loud screech whenever light fell on it. The noise attracted two creatures that came up behind the party. Brent charged them, but when he hit it with his sword it disintegrated. He punched it but his armour disintegrated as well. The creatures, which turned out to be rust monsters, were killed, but in the process most of the groups metal objects, including coins, were destroyed. The party went down the remaining corridor but it was blocked by another large rock fall. There was a small gap at the base of the rock fall that the rust monsters had made their den. The party then dug through the rock fall they had caused. It took ten hours to dig through. On the other side of the rock fall they found the unconscious bodies of Clarenday and Tage. The corridor was found to end at another portal. Jed tried putting his quarterstaff through it and found it was a one way portal. The party then returned to Chittagatcy taking Clarenday and Tage with them.

Day 31-34

The party stayed in Chittagatcy and replaced their equipment. A servant of Isimin approached the party. She said her mistress was in trouble as her business partner Galavar had died. The party’s presence was requested as a matter of urgency.

The party went to Isimins house. It was under guard by the city militia. The party spoke to Isimin. She was being held under house arrest under suspicion of murdering her business partner Galavar. Se requested the party to help prove her innocence. She was willing to give the party a house in the city if they were successful. She was questioned. Galavar had been killed with one of her ceremonial daggers. She suspected Clarenday might have done it. Clarenday still had not had the portal closed and had been warned not to dabble in demonology. Galavar had an interest in archaeology. He and Clarenday had argued since Clarendays return. Galavars body was found in his house. There had been a party there earlier that evening which both Isimin and Clarenday had attended. The body was found by one of Galavars servants some time after the party had ended. Isimins ceremonial dagger was still on the wall of her own house the previous evening. Each of the merchants had bought a guard to the party. Some members of the ministry of logistics and procurement also attended the party.

Isimins guards reported that the only person who entered her house on the evening of the party was another of her guards who was off duty. When questioned, the guard denied going to her house that evening. The party spoke to Galavars head guard. He said he did not believe Isimin was responsible. He said several caterers and one of the merchants guards went into Galavars house during the party. The room in which Isimin had the dagger mounted on the wall was searched. One of the hooks holding the dagger to the wall had been pulled out and replaced.

The murder scene was searched. Galavar was taken completely by surprise from behind. The window was probably the entrance and exit. The blade appeared to have been poisoned. Malaki observed the poison had a smell similar to the realm beyond the portal. Outside the window was a heel print made by a soft leather boot. The party would have ended when Galavar retired for the night. Clarenday, Tage and one of the ministry officials were the last to leave. Tage had left the group for a few minutes before they left. All the guards wore hard soled boots, but would have put on soft soled boots inside. Clarenday had been avoiding most people he did not get on with, as well as most of his trade contacts. He had been telling them he had not fully recovered. He had also been speaking to Jarizar on a daily basis as the cleric wanted the portal to be closed, and he wanted it kept open.

The poison was analysed by an alchemist. He determined that it contained black specks that were demonic in nature. The party told the town militia what they had discovered. The guard seen leaving Isimins house had an alibi so it is possible he had been impersonated. The rogues guild were asked but they denied any involvement.

Day 35

Notherby Celeron was found dead in her bed. She was on Clarendays hate list. There were no signs of false entry to her house. She was also rumoured to be Clarendays lover. Rimin Skyner had also been found dead in a dark side street. He had also been known as ‘the bully’ and was also on Clarendays hate list. The party spoke to Jarizar. He said that Clarenday had claimed the portal was safe. He was shown the poison and identified the black flecks as coming from rocks in a demon plane. The party was informed that Notherby had been poisoned. Clarendays house was observed. He seemed to have fallen out with most of his old guards. He was seen to go out with his guards in the evening. A member of the rogues guild was hired to follow Clarenday for a couple of days.

Day 36

The party went to Clarendays house with the town militia and Jarizar. Jarizar determined that Clarenday was not possessed. Malaki sensed no evil in him. Jarigar and the militia then left. Malaki got the feeling some sort of spell was trying to affect him. The party went back through the portal but found nothing new. The mushroom had moved however.

When the party came back through the portal, Clarenday, Tage and eight other guards were waiting and challenged the party to lay down their weapons. The party refused so Clarenday ordered his guards to attack. Six of the guards were killed, as well as Clarenday and Tage. However when they died, the bodies of Clarenday and Tage turned into strange looking creatures. The town guard and Jarizar were called back. Jarizar identified the creatures as doppelgangers. The town guard agreed they would have been responsible for the murders. Malaki found a piece of paper on one of the bodies which looked like a map.

Day 37

The party rested

Day 38

The party got an item from the church of helm that would allow them to return from anywhere to the church of Helm. The party then went through the one way portal they had found inside the original portal to try and find the real Clarenday and Tage. A map was found scraped on the floor similar to the one on the piece of paper. It showed a route to 'safety'. A gargoyle was found in the large cavern. The party avoided it and it did not attack. They reached the 'safe' area and found bones. The party then started exploring down some side tunnels. They found about a dozen demons which when killed disappeared in a puff of smoke. The party explored further and found a cavern with a green dragon inside. The backtracked quickly. They continued exploring and saw a fire elemental round the corner of a corridor. Jed made his psi crystal grow legs and sent it to sneak past. Further on it found a cavern with four more of the same creatures inside. The party returned to the room with the gargoyle, and explored the other side passage. Malaki found an earth elemental which approached and spoke an unknown language. When the party backed off it did not follow.

Another corridor had about 10 small light coloured humanoids with sharp teeth in a side corridor and a naked humanoid female further down. Down another corridor Malaki found a strange octopus like creature clinging from the roof, a second was spotted later. The party then backtracked and explored the last area where another earth elemental was spotted.

The party then went back to the octopus creature and Makaki shot it with an arrow, killing it. The party killed another two before arriving back at the earth elemental area.

The party then went and attacked the sharp toothed humanoids, killing them. During the fight the naked female approached and Jed started chatting her up. She claimed to know of Clarenday and said the nearby earth elementals were her minions. She then cast some sort of sugestion spell on Brent and asked him to kill the dragon. She then offered to take the party to Clarenday if they killed the dragon.

The party went back to the gargoyle room. After a discussion the woman got 4 earth elementals to help the party attack the dragon. She also spoke to the gargoyle which followed everyone to the dragons cave. As the dragon saw everyone approaching it called for the assistance of the fire elementals and summoned some giant zombies. The earth and fire elementals paired off and the gargoyle attacked the zombies. Brent then turned and attacked the female, and the dragon attacked her as well. A long fight ensued with all the minions being killed. During the fight Malaki sneaked into the dragons lair and stole a magic longsword and dwarven bastard sword.

While the dragon and female were fighting the party snuck back to the females lair, where they found Claranday. Malaki and Jed went back to see what was happening at the dragon while the others recalled to the church. The dragon had killed the female and when it saw Malaki and Jed it accused them of stealing from its hoard. They both recalled to the church as it tried to breathe on them.

Day 39-40

The party went shopping and bought some new equipment. The dwarven sword was identified as having a command word “Rugnog” which means Stone Love in Dwarven. This name could be used to activate its powers. The sword was owned by Scalor, who had been a leader of a dwarven community to the south of Chitagatsy. Jarazer introduced the party to one of his friends, a dwarf priest called Mordden.

Day 41 – 47

The party asked after Scalor. They learned it is a family name that goes back at least 6 generations. One of the family disappeared about 270 years ago. The dwarves vacated an above ground dwelling at about the same time. The dwarven sword was identified as being “Grunshar”, and had been missing for 270 years.

Day 48

The party travelled to the dwarven town in the south. Two dwarves followed the party and then joined them. They had been sent by Mordden to ensure they were unharmed during their journey. The party passed Storlok, the dwarven stronghold that had been deserted for the last 270 years. They met the current dwarven king and gave him the sword. He was very happy and offered a longsword of elven manufacture in exchange.

Day 49

On their way back to Chitagatsy, the party stopped at the deserted dwarven stronghold. Malaki found a mirror, and disappeared when he looked into it. The rest of the party then looked into it and vanished as well. The party found themselves on a large platform. There was mirrored surfaces everywhere. Seven portals were visible nearby. Through the centre portal the inside of the dwarven strobnghold could still be seen. The other six portals were blank. There were lots of guards on the platform and they ordered the party to surrender. A short balding guy came through the portal, and made a speech about welcoming the party to his domain and showing them to their accommodation for their stay. The guards escorted the party into a building and then stripped them of their equipment before throwing them into a cell. Brent resisted and was beaten unconscious.

Later a large human through slops into the cell and said it was dinner. The party was able to speak to the occupant of the adjacent cell through a peephole. His name was Ashgarth and was from a village called Lumm. He said the man in power was called Skarda. He had about 4000 prisoners who were forced to mine a black rock. There were also about 500 guards.

Day 50

Ashgarth passed a lockpick through the peephole, and Malaki used it to unlock the door to the cell, then crept to Ashgarths cell and unlocked that as well. Some guards came and took a woman from a cell. Later another guard came and Brent knocked him out.

Malaki let a dwarf free from his cell. The dwarf said his name was Scalor, and the party became suspicious he was the missing dwarven king. The party then attacked and overran the guard room. There they found all their equipment, plus some extra stuff. Malaki then snuck out of the guard room and killed two guards hidden in secret sniper holes. Malaki and Jed then snuck up the corridor and killed the two guards by the door out of the building. The party then burst out of the door and killed the guards outside.

Ashgarth then led the party to the slave compound. The party organised the slaves into a revolt and led an attack on the gates leading out of the slave area. They fought a running battle along the wall and were finally halted by a magical invisible barrier. The party then led an attack on the guard barracks. They overran the guards there, though many slaves were killed, and someone cast fireballs into the crowd of slaves. The elite guard fled the barracks. The party and a crowd of slaves outflanked and attacked them. The fight was won, and 8 prisoners taken, though Jed was killed outright by one of several lightning bolts that were cast. The mage casting the spells somehow managed to maintain invisibility and escaped. The prisoners agreed to show the party how to escape in exchange for their freedom, though Malaki had to heal their leader after Brent attacked him for refusing to surrender his weapons and armour. The command word Vomiska was used to open one of the portals. The party left with all the slaves. They appeared in the grounds of the palace in Chitagatsy. Malaki found a mirror which he took to the church of Helm for safekeeping.

Day 51-77

The party spent a month in Chitagatsy recuperating. They got given donations by some of the ex slaves who were grateful for being rescued. It was discovered that time had passed at ½ speed on the other side of the gateway. During the month the party met a druid called Di. Rumours started about an upcoming war, and an ancient evil. Noone seemed to know what the ancient evil actually was. The lord of Chitagatsy is Lord Reskin. He worshiped the god Siamorphe.

Day 78

The party travelled to the dwarven town. They were shipping large quantities of iron to Chitagatsy. The mirror which had been in the dwarven stronghold had gone. The elder and younger dwarven kings were now ruling jointly.

Day 79

The party travelled back to Chitigatsy. They found the city had been put under marshal law. When they got back to their house they found the door had been broken in and the house ransacked. They went to the thieves guild to discuss why the ‘insurance’ had failed. They were told the house had been broken into by members of the city guard in disguise.

The party went to the church of Helm. They met with Jarazar and the high priest Istob. They believed Lord Reskin was behind the break in at the parties house. The party stayed in the church overnight.

Day 80

A contact from the thieves guild showed up. He said the servants in the palace were not very helpful as they had no contact with Lord Reskin. There had been a disturbance in the palace shortly before the party had returned through the portal. Several dozen guards in platemail had been seen in the courtyard at one point. The aristocrats in Chitagatsy were unhappy with the situation and several bodies had been found shortly before the party had come back through the portal.

The party decided to investigate the palace. They made their way there avoiding the patrolling guards. Malaki climbed up to a window on the 3rd floor and lowered a rope for the rest of the party. The room was a dormitory for the servants. There was stairs leading down to the kitchen and a door out into the corridor. There were guards in the corridor guarding the top of the main stairs.

The party hid in a cupboard by the stairs until the servants went to bed, then Di manipulated the stone wall to make a hole through to the kitchen stairs. The party crept down the stairs and explored the ground floor. They found a guard praying in a small room. He was not instantly hostile and was easily convinced that Lord Reskin was under some form of influence. He recruited another guard to help. He said all the guards on the top floors were Skardas. The party crept back to the top floor and attacked the guards. After a fight the party rescued lord Reskin. He went to the ground floor to gather his troops while the party attacked the middle floor.

The fight was long, and at one point looking very dire as Skarda had trapped everyone in a mass of magic tentacles. However he became overconfident and Brent was able to push through his guards and strike him directly. Malaki then tumbled acrobatically past his guards and was able to strike him a nearly mortal blow from behind. He teleported to a back room then vanished. Malaki finally found him ploymorphed into a mouse and killed him. Lord Reskin was grateful for the parties help and rewarded them well.

Day 81-94

The party stayed in Chitagatsy and socialised.

Day 94-97

The party travelled back to their home village.

Day 98 – 100

The party stayed in their home village. Brent took a test and became a swordmaster. Malaki spread tales of the parties heroics.

Day 101

The village council asked the party to collect the crystal leaf for a ceremony to renew the forest which takes place once a decade. The leaf comes from a magical tree which grows to the North up in the mountains. Snow is expected there. Speaking to the local Cleric who collected the previous leaf, they were told that there were wolves and giants in the mountains, and he suspected some sort of invisible creature also lived there. The route would involve climbing the crystal falls. The crystal tree was found at the base of Githcars mount, which could be seen from the top of the crystal falls. The total round trip journey was expected to take under a month.

Day 102 – 111

The party travelled north.

Day 112 – 114

The party passed the last settlement and continued into the snow covered wilderness.

Day 115

As the party rested for the night a pack of six dire wolves attacked. Die summoned five dire wolves of his own and the attackers were quickly attacked.

Day 116

The party arrived at the crystal falls. Malaki quickly climbed up the surrounding rocks. Die then teleported the rest of the group to the top. There the party found a lake from where the waterfall flowed. Die then communed with nature and discovered there were 3 packs of dire wolves in the area, some hill giants, a malevolent spirit in the lake and a powerful supernatural creature on the mountain where the tree was believed to be. It was observed that the same mountain appeared to be warmer (less snow, etc) than the others in the area.

The party climbed the mountain and when they reached the summit it became obvious it was in fact a volcano. The tree could be seen in the centre of the crater. The party descended into the mist which covered the floor of the crater and walked until they found the base of the tree. The area around the tree was colder than the rest of the volcano. Malaki climbed the tree and picked a leaf. Brent then broke it so Malaki had to climb back up the tree and picked a couple more so they had a spare, after breaking a few. The party then headed back to their village. During the night objects were seen to be flying out from the volcano.

Day 117 – 131

The party travelled back to their village.

Day 132

The party handed over one of the leaves, though Malaki broke the other that had been carried back. There was some concern as to whether taking six leaves from the tree would have effected the balance of nature in the area. Malaki was recalled to continue his clerical studies as it was felt he had been neglecting them. The party recruited a scout called Bartlby to replace him.

Day 133-135

The party travelled to a local lord and paid him 150gp each for use of his portal network. They used a portal to travel.

Day 136 - 142

The party travelled further and visited the most powerful druid Die knew. He suggested Die go back and talk to the tree.

Day 143 –144

Travelled back towards the volcano, using another portal. A group of hobgoblins approached the party. When they did not clear off after being warned to, Die summoned lightning bolts from the sky and the survivors fled.

Day 145 – 146

The party arrived at the base of the crystal falls. They walked to the top of the volcano and then descended into the mist and found the base of the crystal tree. Di cast a spell and asked the tree a number of questions. The tree said it was unwell due to the loss of a large number of trees and that something had pulled entire branches off. It was determined that the creature was probably some form of giant.

Scathe found some tracks which the group followed. They lead to a giant that was digging at the rock with a pickaxe. The giant was a cloud giant named Gradrig. He was mining for some type of rock, and though he denied damaging the tree he did not sound convincing. He promised not to damage the tree however he was not sure he could convince his friends to do the same. He was expecting to be mining in the area for a few more weeks. He also said the spirit in the lake was a Feshneeael which Di thought was some type of large worm. The party walked back down to the lake.