Session 88: The many riches of Osric and Breena

As she peered into the sarcophagi, Lhoss found herself simultaneously dazzled by the mountain of coins and wondering how on earth the group would transport it all. Luckily, Gnorica and Arnd appeared, swelling the party's ranks. Between Calbach, Tatania, Lhoss, Gnorcia, Arnd, Armatzi, Niki, Feno, and Hilja, all of the platinum and gold and much of the silver was packed up to cart back to Orlane. 

As the group exited the barrow maze, they encountered a bunch of skeletons. Between Hilja casting an entangle spell and Armatzi turning the undead, the evil creatures were quickly slaughtered. The rest of the journey was uneventful. The adventurers cleaned off the dust and rain from their travels and ate dinner at the inn, ending day 11 of Wealsun.

The riches were divided among the group and Armatzi, Hilja, and Niki were able to train to level up. The items gathered from Osric and Breena (armor, sword, shield, ring, bracers, crown) along with the red leather cloak were tested and all found to be magical. Ramne was able to determine the magical properties of each item (for a price). Many in the party found themselves so loaded down with coin, they bought valuable gems and jewelry as an investment and in an effort to lighten their loads. 

Side Quest: Gnorcia and Arnd in the Barrowmaze (Day 4 of Wealsun)

 

While my friends were busy in Orlane, learning skills and eating and drinking, I determined to venture back to the Barrowmaze. It seemed thoughtless to spend such a long time in town and leave treasure where it might be discovered, notwithstanding the lovely camouflage tarp we used to hide it. Surely some infidels of the Black Hand sort would be crawling the halls of the Barrowmaze and we would all return to find it missing. That tarp is certainly more valuable than the coin it covered. I suggested to Arnd that if he went back to the Barrowmaze with me he could likely repay his debts to the other party members, and he quickly agreed to accompany me.

We managed to return to the place of our most recent adventuring, the hallways and rooms outside the lair of King Osric, easily dispatching some skeletons that approached. Back in the room where we had hidden the last of the treasure, Arnd and I loaded up our packs with everything there, then returned to Orlane. Safely back at the inn, we divided up the silver and set aside the amounts that our companions had left from their own packs as they made room for the platinum and gold from the treasure horde. These silver pieces—along with the grappling hook left by Feno—I carefully returned to their packs, slipping in and out of their rooms unnoticed at dinnertime. The camouflage tarp I stowed at the bottom of my backpack, and both Arnd and I carefully placed the remaining treasure in the locked chest inside my locked room, planning to repay our debts as soon as possible.

Session 87. Day 3 - 11 Wealsun: Mysterious appearing and disappearing treasure

The group (Feno, Armatzi, Lhoss, Hilja, Tatania, and Niki) awakened and ate breakfast. The spent time examining treasure, making some exchanged, and purchasing gems. Lhoss and Tatania were surprised to find a significant amount of silver in their packs, and Feno had what appeared to be his grappling hook and rope in his bag. There seemed to be no explanation. Some of the characters did some training for the week. 

Day 10 of Wealsun had a tremendous storm, dropping the temperature, and beating the village with rain and wind. The group decided to stay indoors that day. Day 11 was also raining, but not as bad, just a seasonal rain, with some spots of light rain. The group made sure that they all had good cloaks. Tatania made a trade with Chiki for a red leather cloak that he had found, knitting a small chicken sized cloak for Chick-chick. 

The group arrived back at the Barrowmarsh, eating lunch in the soggy and misty area, and then entering the Barrowmaze. They retraced their steps, but as they came up to the pit where they had dumped dead bodies, it gave off a tremendous stench. After some discussion, they decided to use a green slime vial to clear out the pit. After a bit of observation, they returned to the chambers where they had left the remainder of their treasure horde. A single sapphire skeleton was guarding the area, and it was quickly dispatched. The group was shocked to find that all of the treasure was gone, including the camouflage cover. 

After some debate and such, the group avoided opening the secret door to the boat, fearing to enter the room. They examined the other two doors that they hadn't opened. One revealed skeletal remains, the other revealed two corpses that, after examination, were found to be wearing copper rings. These rings were acquired, and are quite beautiful. 

Tatania then checked her magic compass, and found that it was pointing towards the south-west. The group decided to brave the boat room after all. After opening the secret door, they were astounded to find that the whole boat and everything on it (including the mysterious King Osric) were gone. There was no trace of the green slime either, and the floor was polished clean where the boat had been. 

The group followed the compass, and found a secret door behind the statue in the corner. This was opened to reveal a suspicious small passageway, ending in a dead end. The group searched that wall, and even though two elves were searching (Feno and Lhoss), it was Tatania that found the latch. The door was opened, revealing a chamber, with two sarcophagi. 

Two figures appeared in a burst of magical blue energy. These large figures advanced on the party and attacked. Despite giving two fearsome blows to Armatzi, they were defeated by the party, leaving a pile of six runic tablets. The rest of the group stood astonished as Armatzi and Tatania quickly grabbed and read the tablets, to a mixture of weal and woe. Armatzi narrowly fought off an enfeeblement spell, had a burst of energy that raised his charisma, and also obtained knowledge to the history of Nerull. Tatania was struck by a burst of flame that knocked her unconcious, and destroyed her boots. Fortunately, Armatzi was right there and was able to heal her. She also received a boon of making her next saving throw, and also knowledge of the tablet of Chaos. Both tablets that had the knowledge (Nerull and Chaos) crumbled, so Tatania and Armatzi scribed up what they had learned on parchment that Tatania convieniently had. 

Then the party turned their attention to the sarcophagi. The one on the right had old common runes of "King Osric" and the one on the right "Queen Breena". After carefully examining them, Feno (by far the strongest) tried to open them, but was completely unable. The group decided they must be magically fastened, so Tatania cast a knock spell on them, opening them and revealing gleaming treasure. 

Feno claimed a suit of plate mail and long sword (named Icingdeath on its scabbard). Lhoss grabbed the bracers that the queen was wearing. Tatania chose a crown that the queen was wearing, and Niki chose a beautiful golden ring set with a clear crystal. Armatzi chose a shield with a red lion on it, that the king had. Also, there were three coffers in each sarcophagi. These were opened, revealing many silver, gold, and platinum pieces. The group spent a fair amount of time counting up these, finally tallying 10,000 silver, 6000 gold, and 100 platinum. 

Session 86: Loaded with Coin from the Barrowmaze (through day 10 of Wealsun)

Gnorcia here again. Burdened with treasure and leaving more behind, we decided to slowly make our way back to Orlane. We dragged our way out of the Barrowmaze and across the marsh, noting the thick air of the marsh. As we ascended from the marsh, we heard the distant howl of a creature that sounded unnatural. The others continued forward a bit but as I turned back to look behind us, I found myself paralyzed with fear. There was another howl, closer this time. A horrible chill passed through us all. Feno came back and smacked me on the back of the head and I was suddenly able to move and screamed loudly in horror. We all quickly began moving down the path, despite the weight we were carrying, and hurried back to Orlane without stopping.

We were thrilled to be back in time for a dinner or fried fig pastries and blanche perret. None of us were sure what that was, but it sounded fancy and we were absolutely exhausted from our hurried march with all that treasure. Turns out it was small birds boiled in a pot of onions with leeks and cloves. It was tasty. Armaziti suddenly appeared with us and dispelled some of the fear that was hanging over us. He also ordered a rich dinner that turned out to be a pair of partridges. It looked good but I was too tired and went straight to bed. The others stayed up late celebrating our safe return.

In the morning we went to the jeweler and he gave us 440gp for the statuette of a penguin and 64gp each (256gp) for the gold circlets. We had then a total of 4128sp, 3696gp, and 100pp. Feno, Armaziti, Niki, and Lhoss purchased some gems from the jeweler. Tatania trained in magic, and Lhoss trained as a thief.

Session 85: An encounter with King Osric

 As the group (Feno, Armatzi, Gnorcia, Lhoss, Tatania, and a new adventurer Niki) wandered the barrowmaze, each of the party tried to interact with Niki's cat, Jack. He was indifferent to Armatzi but disliked all the others. Lhoss tried to win Jack over with a scrap from her rations, but Jack became irritated and swiped her with his claws. Ouch!

In the hallway, ocean murals and mythic scenes were observed painted on the walls. The party came upon two doors, one on either side of the hall. Lhoss and Gnorcia gathered at the first door and noticed that it was covered with spider webs. Using their thief skills, they attempted to check it for traps, but felt uncertain if there were any. Armatzi (with no particular skill) also attempted to look for traps, but not knowing what to look for, he came away with the certain knowledge that there was a door in front of him. The pair turned around and checked the other door for traps. Again, nothing was apparent, but the pair were not convinced that the door was safe to open so the group moved down the hall. 

The next door was checked and Lhoss felt pretty sure it was safe to open, even though she proved too weak to do it herself. Feno, however, opened it easily and found himself facing three ghouls. Moving quickly, Tatania offed one with a magic missile and the other two attacked Feno. Using her signature move, Gnorcia vaulted into position and slew one with a vicious backstab. Lhoss used a new spell (continuous light) to blind the third ghoul and Armatzi turned it with his holy power. In it's discombobulated state, Gnorcia finished the last one easily. Scanning the room, the team noticed rotting tapestries depicting ocean scenes and a shining bowl filled with metal. Gnorcia inspected it closer and deemed it safe; the group then split the 315 silver pieces among themselves. Gnorcia swiped a sample of the tapestry.

Behind the next door, four shadow creatures with baleful red eyes loomed menacingly. Armatzi again successfully turned all the foes and as they fled and cowered in the room, the party easily dispatched with them. Feno was the first to discover there were four corpses draped in burial shrouds; Armatzi informed the group that these we the corporeal forms of the shadow creatures. Feno removed one of the shrouds and found a desiccated corpse with a golden circlet perched atop its skull. Niki used the spell detect magic and determined it was not magical. The group gathered up the other three circlets and moved out of the room.

As she was walking out, Lhoss noticed a concealed switch on the wall. There was more inspecting for traps and discussion of whether or not to try the switch. Lhoss felt the switch might be a trap... maybe? But Gnorcia felt it was safe. Trusting in the skills of Gnorcia, Lhoss threw the switch to reveal a large room and, inexplicably, a Norse ship. A deep voice boomed out and asked the group to identify themselves then chastised them for their disruptive presence. The heroes perceived a figure in a yellow robe with red eyes peering out. He identified himself as King Osric. Osric seemed perturbed yet aloof and again demanded answers from the team. Unsatisfied with the responses given, the being cast a spell and Tatania, Feno, and Armatzi disappeared.

In shock, Gnorcia, Lhoss, and Niki retreated to discuss what to do. Niki was terrified and Gnorcia hid in the shadows. Lhoss approached and addressed King Osric who had moved up to the ship. Lhoss asked where her friends were to which Osric responded that they had been sent to the bowels of Hades. Lhoss tried to stoke the king's ego and ask for their return, but he was unresponsive. With each new attempt to parlay, the king remained silent with a haughty smirk. Lhoss shifted tactics and threatened to destroy the ship if her friends weren't returned. The king was unmoved and unimpressed. Lhoss reached into the bag of holding and withdrew a glass jar filled with devouring green slime. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a basket filled with coins. She lifted it above her head in a threatening manner, released it, and *poof* she also disappeared at the hand of the king.

Lhoss blinked and found herself... just outside the barrowmaze with Tatania, Feno, and Armatzi. The four decided that they should return to their compatriots and defeat the king. Running as fast as they could, they made their way back and found Niki and Gnorcia surprised and grateful to see them all. Gnorcia and Lhoss made a plan to sneak back in and try and relieve the king of as much treasure as they could carry. The pair was skillful in their sneaking, but they were still observed by Osric. It didn't seem to matter though, as he made no move to stop them. Gnorcia tried to lift a basket, but it was quite heavy. Thinking it would slide easily down the gangplank, she gave it a nudge, spilling coins everywhere. Lhoss beckoned to Feno and handed a basket down to him. All along, the green slime was doing its work devouring the wooden deck of the ship. Either ambivalent or unknowing of his fate, the king remained seated on his throne, watching but not engaging. 

Moving quickly, with the additional help of Tatania, all of the treasure was unloaded from the ship and the spilled coins were gathered together in the room where the ghouls had been defeated. Feno and Gnorcia explored the ship room, finding four sailors in the corners of the room and little else. Feno flipped the switch and closed the door behind them as they left, leaving the king to his fate as he sat unmoved on the slowly-engulfed vessel.

All together there was a smattering of platinum, 500 pounds of silver and 300 pounds of gold. The group loaded themselves down with as much as they could carry and left the rest beneath a camouflaged tarp. Feeling rich and lucky, they lumbered back toward Orlane. 

Session 84 Wealsun 1

It is the evening of the first day of Wealsun when we first met our newest adventuring companion.  She is a wood elf named Niki, trained as a druid/ranger, with a cat familiar named Jack.  Being middle rung-lower class, she fits in rather well with the rest of the group, although there is an almost immediate rivalry between Niki and Armaziti. I don't know if this is because of Cleric/Druid incompatibility or because Armatzi is upper class and a bit snobby with it.  Regardless, we made sure they were pretty much as far apart in the marching order as possible, with Armatzi in the front and Niki in the back with me (Tatania).  We are ready for dinner, so we head back to Orlane as soon as Armatzi heals Feno.  

We don't make it far into the barrow marsh before being set upon by four strange zombies emerging from the north. The ever-present fog in the marsh here makes it difficult to judge distances, and it shows during our battle. One zombie tries to claw Feno as he's in the lead, but it misses.  Gnorcia tries to take advantage of its distraction to backstab it, but also misses.  Two additional zombies also strike out at Feno and unfortunately both hit him.  I shoot one with my magic missiles, doing serious damage but not defeating it.  Meanwhile, Armatzi is attacked by the final zombie, and it missed as well.  Niki attacked the same zombie as I had hit, and she did a bit more damage to it.  Armatzi attempted to "Turn Undead" but his spell is not successful.  Feno bashes one of the zombies that are attacking him, although not the one that Niki and I damaged, and sends it reeling.  Lhoss uses Magic Missile to splatter the head of the zombie that Niki and I had beat on, leaving us down to three opponents.  The zombie that Feno had hit struck back at him, knocking Feno unconscious.  Gnorcia immediately moves to cover our fallen friend.  Lhoss uses a Magic Missile to attack the zombie that got Feno, leaving it in poor shape.  Armatzi moves to heal Feno and is attacked by the zombie that had missed him previously, so I fire my second Magic Missile at it and drive it back.  Niki backstabs the zombie that had taken down Feno, demolishing it completely.  Since I am out of Magic Missiles, I pull my magic silver dagger and slice at the zombie I'd blasted, almost killing it. Armatzi comes in with Melissa and pounds that zombie into paste.  Gnorcia goes after the final zombie with her short sword, Vengeance, and the feisty Niki is right there attacking as well.  It is Feno, still feeling woozy after being healed, that gets the final hit in on that last zombie, and his hit is so powerful that all of us (except for Lhoss, somehow) get splattered with zombie juices. It's gross and stinky! Feno notices that Lhoss is still mostly clean, so he flicks some of the ooze at her.  Niki heals Feno the rest of the way while Armatzi heals himself.  Then, our exhausted group trudges down the path through the dim forest and on to Orlane.  So as not to offend our hosts at the Foaming Mug, we all bathe before dinner.  The dinner is delicious, chicken pasties with steamed greens, although Armatzi spends extra so that he can have rotisserie chicken.  There's that snobbery I mentioned before.  I appreciated the dinner so much that I went and gave the cook an additional silver coin as a gratuity.  I think she appreciated it.

As a sign of just how tired everyone was, we all slept late and almost missed breakfast completely.  Fortunately, we just made it down in time to get food and got ready for the day.  Several of us had a bit of shopping to do before we set off again, with Armaizi buying holy water, Gnorcia buying an armor repair kit and some incense, and Lhoss and Feno also deciding to get repair kits.  As we travel through the dim forest, it becomes apparent that something has changed.  The feeling is very eerie with strange noises and unnatural sensations surrounding us.  Entering the barrow marsh is no better.  There, we encounter a large group of members of the Band of the Black Hand who threaten us. I can hear Lhoss growling even as Gnorcia casts Hypnotic Pattern, which can paralyze anyone it affects.  Of the 12 band members, four are ensnared.  I quickly hit one of the paralyzed men with a Magic Missile, killing him instantly.  Lhoss is attacked by two enemies but they both miss.  An additional two members attack me, but they also miss.  Lhoss uses her Magic Missiles to kill two more paralyzed members of the Black Hand. Two who are not ensorcelled try to hurt Feno, but they miss pitifully.  Then, Niki is also missed.  All these missed attacks have shaken up the Black Hand members and it is made much worse for them when all of our attacks are successful and deadly.  Armatzi bashes in one guy's head with Melissa and Feno decapitates another with his long sword.  One of the apparently smarter bandits turns and runs away as Niki kills one of his unfortunate comrades.  The remaining bandits blanch and want to flee but are headed off by further attacks.  I kill one and damage another with Magic Missile.  Lhoss kills the runner and Feno kills two more in an attack of opportunity.  Niki and Feno both fire their short bows but Niki misses (probably because of the annoying fog) while one of Feno's arrows hits and the second falls short. The last living member of this group of the Band of the Black Hand manages to escape because Armatzi doesn't want to run after him.  We loot the corpses and find 79 gold. This is surprising, considering how pathetically they fought against us, but we split up the money and move on.

Entering the Barrow Maze secondary entrance proves that the uncomfortable atmospheric changes we've been feeling since entering the dim forest are evident here too.  There is a distinct feeling of something watching us.  Armatzi spots something strange that he identifies as a "Wizard Eye", an advanced type of scrying spell.  The "eye" quickly retreats and is soon gone.  As we are walking past the stinking charnel pit, I remember that we have a foul chain and skull amulet in our bag of holding that nobody wants, so I toss it into the pit to be rid of it.  We go down the stairs to the area we'd been exploring yesterday and ate lunch in one of the cleared rooms followed by re-memorization of spells.  Armaziti is goofing off when he notices claw marks in the stone wall.  Niki immediately determines that the marks were not made by a natural creature and after some discussion, Lhoss and I conclude it was likely a Demonic Shambler that is causing the bad aura in the maze.  None of us has any desire to encounter a Demonic Shambler!  We check the closed door across the hall from us, looking for traps, but find nothing unusual.  Armaziti casts a blessing before Feno opens the door.  There are human-sized skeletons lying unmoving on the floor of the new room.  The walls are all decorated with frescos detailing myths of sea-going adventures.  Just to be sure, since the feeling of wrongness is still hanging heavy in the air, Armaziti breaks apart one of the ancient-looking skeletons with Melissa.  Nothing happens and nothing of interest is visible.  Suddenly, there is a sound of stone grinding against stone, but it is impossible to tell where the noise is coming from.  After only around 11 seconds, the sound stops, and the eerie silence returns to the barrow maze.

Session 83: Evening of Day 1 Wealsun - CY 576 In Person Session

As the group went down the staircase into darkness, Feno, Armatzi, Chalkboi, Myrtle Dixon, Lhoss, Gnorcia, Tatania, and Chiki gathered together, some by the uncanny magic of the world, where one moment someone is present, and another moment they pop into existence with the party. 

The group found themselves in a corridor stretching out into the west and darkness. There were frescos on both the southern and northern walls of various seaside myths, legends, and generals scenes. They were very well done, but old, and the remaining paint was flaking badly. 

There were two doors, one to the north, and another to the south. The group chose to examine the southern door, and then open it after it was deemed safe by Gnorica. Chiki opened the door successfully, revealing seven fearsome figures with baleful red eyes that turned their ire upon the party immediately. Chalkboi proved most useful, wielding Caliburn, which seemed to burn with fury as it fell into the undead bodies and brought them back to their dead status. 

After the group dispatched this nasty group, they spent sometime fruitlessly searching the room, resting, and some memorizing/praying for spells. Also, the group started eating. Chiki was behaving very strangely, and decided to go out of the room, and close the door, and examine the hallway, and then have a meal in there. This attracted several very hungry beetles, which quickly overcame Chiki. Fortunately for the willy gnome, the rest of the party heard the noise and came to the rescue. The beetles proved to be fire beetles, and mostly interested in the contents of Chiki's backpack (who always carries plenty of provisions). They devoured plenty before being sated but not in time to flee, and the party destroyed them, claiming their glowing stalks for light sources. 

Session 82: Paying our due, or not

We moved up into the room where the flies were and Myrtle Dixon noticed something written on the wall: “Not finished come back later” near a hidden latch. I checked for traps and opened it, finding a goblin picking his nose. Clearly he needs a new, heavy labor assignment.

We moved in further and opened a door up to the left. The door itself was kind of sticky gross, and when we opened it two blood spiders rushed at us. One immediately latched on to me and as soon as i started bleeding the other attacked me as well, but the group cut them down quite quickly. Tatiana explained to us that the blood spiders apparently aren’t poisonous but act more like spider sharks. Whatever that means.

We entered the spider room, following Arnd, who slashed through the webs toward a bricked-up wall/doorway to the west. As we got there, suddenly Lhoss appeared and got stuck in some webs for a moment. Arnd, Kyro, Armaziti, and I started bashing the brick wall and pretty soon had it broken down. Inside we could see an ornate fountain of blue water, with some words written on it. Lhoss and I snuck around the room checking the floors and walls.

The words on the fountain said “Pay your due”. A few of us threw in some coins and suddenly two enormous and angry-looking water elementals appeared. Maybe they should have been more specific about what the due was. They were very difficult to hit and appeared quite formidable. Arnd and I attacked but then I chose to back up, allowing Lhoss to get behind it and attack, finally doing some damage. Armaziti cast his “command” spell and said “Retreat!” and the one in front of him turned to retreat! Arnd smacked it just before I cast Mesmerize and they were both mesmerized, allowing Armaziti to blast through them both, destroying them and washing the floor as they fell. As we left the room, Tatania wrote “Band of the Black Hand, toss coins in the fountain” on the wall. It could work. They seem pretty dumb.

We moved back out and down to the room below. Pausing there and closing the doors, Tatania, Lhoss, Armziti, and I memorized spells. We then opened the door to the west and discovered a room full of burial alcoves, with a portcullis closed down on the north wall and a hallway behind it that we couldn’t see clearly in the dark. We searched the room and found a bunch of gold coins and a golden statuette. Then, working together, we lifted the portcullis and entered the hallway behind it, opening the first door we found on the right. Inside we found burial boxes which we searched and found a lot of electrum.

Back in the hallway, Armaziti discovered yet another hidden latch on the wall and used it to open a doorway with stairs behind it, going down. We all moved forward and down the stairs where we found ourselves in another hallway.

Session 81: An Education in Potions, Day 1 of Wealsun

The morning of the first day of Berrytime was warm and sunny. Feno, Aramaziti, Chalkboi, Gnorcia, Lhoss, and Tatania began their day in Orlane doing errands. Feno and Lhoss went to the shop and sold off some weapons (a throwing axe for Feno and a spiked long sword for Lhoss). Feno then bought a morningstar as to have a blunt weapon to use against skeletons (cue foreshadowing music). Wishing to replenish their poison antidote supplies, the group headed to the temple of Merikka.

At the temple, the team met up with Browning (a lesser acolyte). They were informed that he would be conducting all future commercial temple dealings. Browning listed the prices for healing potions and poison cures. The group decided to buy one poison antidote and place it in the bag of holding. Additionally, Feno and Gnorcia purchased a dose each to keep in their personal packs. Browning then told us that if we could obtain the valuable components of the potions (ogre mage blood or troll blood for healing potions and poison glands from spiders or scorpions for heal poison potions) we could receive a discount to purchase them. At this, Gnorcia's ears perked up. She produced several poison sacs that she had skillfully extracted from defeated spiders and was able to sell them for a hefty treasure. Looking at the vials for sale, Lhoss pulled out a few unidentified vials from the bag of holding. With a small gasp, Browning identified two as healing potions, with one being a super healing potion containing three doses. What a discovery! The group, stocked up, headed out toward the barrow marsh.

Even though this has become a well-trod path for our heroes, they were still struck by the business of the area with new builds and a few travelers passed on the way. Other than these merry sights, the journey was uneventful. As the party descended into the gloom of the barrow marsh, they were set upon by that familiar enemy: skeletons! (Repetition of foreshadowing music, now in a major key).

The undead monsters were quickly dispatched with and left in piles of burnt and broken bones. Lhoss turned to Tatania and said "Tatania, wanna see a new entrance?" and pointed out the new door that the party had discovered the previous day. It presented a significant shortcut to the part of the barrowmaze the group had been exploring. Being a quiet and relatively secured area, the party ate lunch and rememorized spells.

Moving on, the heroes found themselves in a familiar spot where they had encountered a melee between the cultists of Orcus and Set. Feno noticed a switch on the wall and, with encouragement from Lhoss, threw it. The wall disappeared to reveal several carnivorous flies. Disgusting as they were, the warriors slew them all quickly and skillfully.

Session 80: Cleaning up and going home Day 23 - 28 Flocktime and Day 1 Wealsun

Armatzi, Gnorcia, Arnd, Lhoss, Hilja, and Feno gathered together after the battle with the fearsome spiders in their den, and Armatzi healed a few groups with the chant of "Smile and wave boys". Lhoss and Armatzi went  into the previous area and memorized and prayed for new spells. 

The group then focused on where to go next, and there was renewed interest in the walled off end of the stairway. Armatzi and Feno used their strength, skills, and tools to make shortwork of the wall, revealing a tomb, with six alcoves, each containing a skeletal warrior in old chainmail, with shields and spears. They surrounded an altar with a brilliantly glinting broadsword there. 

Gnoria stealthily entered the room, looking for traps on the floor, and carefully examining the skeletons. The skeletons proved to be quite aged, with chain mail coifs and armor that were rusting, old metal shields, and dusty spears that were nevertheless sturdy. Another door on the opposite end was also walled in. There was some supposition that a greater treasure lay in the room beyond (discussions of legends of great treasures that were kept hidden by lesser treasures that were more apparent). 

Armatzi, Arnd, Feno, and Lhoss all worked on that wall and quickly took it down, revealing the evening light and the mists of the Barrowmarsh. This was apparently another entry to the Barrowmaze that they had discovered! The group then decicded to go back in and examine the sword. Lhoss went up to the sword, and found that it was brilliantly bejeweled with a rainbow of colors. There was some guess that a previously found jeweled scabbard was the match, but then it was recalled that the scabbard was only blue and green gems. Lhoss grabbed the sword, which caused the six skeletons to quickly animate and attack the party. Fortunately, despite being surprised, the group was able to handle the skeletons, particularly with the aid of St. Cuthbert directed by Armatzi. Lhoss claimed the sword, and found that it had some magical properties, and decided to keep it. 

The group then decided to head back to Orlane, but were ambushed by four more skeletons. The same result happened though, with the clerical power from Armatzi proving to be very useful. The group proceeded out of the Barrowmarsh (they found that the new entrance was to the north and west of the previously discovered entrance). 

As the group moved through the Dim Forest, a group of zombies attacked the group. However, Armatzi continued to prove his worth, and the zombies were routed. 

The group returned late to The Foaming Mug, and found a tasty dinner of chicken pasties, fried greens, and spring wine awaiting them (fortunately for them that The Foaming Mug keeps a late kitchen). 

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, the group sold their wares. Lhoss asked about the value of the sword, and was offered 1800 gold pieces for it, but she decided to retain the sword. Gnorcia and Arnd then borrowed some wealth and went about training for the next week, becoming strong in their illusionist, thief, and fighter occupations. 

Session 79: Afternoon of Day 22 of Flocktime

The group moved north again up the hallway to where there were some stairs and a closed door. Lhoss, Feno, and Armaziti went up the stairs and found a wall at the top, which appeared to be well-made masonry. Thinking that there was either something really worth hiding behind it, or something really worth blocking off, Lhoss said she wanted to get through it at some point. I (Gnorcia) suggested that with our small numbers we shouldn’t be making a lot of noise and should consider the unopened door instead. Everyone agreed and after Lhoss, Feno, and I all checked the door for traps and found none, Lhoss opened the door.

Behind the door we discovered seven skeletons rattling toward us. The room had water dripping down the walls and it seemed to have calcified their bones, making them tougher. Feno and I ran in and attacked the first skeleton but both failed to hit it. Lhoss hit it with a magic missile, and then Hilja and Arnd both attacked another, damaging it. The other skeletons closed in on us and Feno took quite a bit of damage, and another hit Hilja. I managed to destroy the first one and Lhoss incinerated another with magic missiles, but one of the skeletons hit Hilja again and she fell. Lhoss bandaged her and Feno finished off another. We battled back and forth some more and eventually Arnd took out another one, though he and I both took some damage. We all then managed to get in some good hits on the remaining skeletons and they all finally fell.

Armaziti healed poor Hilja, who had to eat a double-portion of rations to get her strength and color back. He also partially healed Arnd, Feno, and I. Lhoss and Armaziti then prayed for spells while two of us guarded and the other two searched through the many alcoves in the walls all around the room. In the search we found a diamond ring and 58 gold pieces. Hilja was quietly disappointed that Ronan wasn't with us.

Armaziti healed Feno again and then Feno led the group into a small room behind some rubble. Armaziti then re-memorized his spells while the rest of us searched the room and carefully examined all the walls (though we found nothing of interest.

We then gathered outside another door and it opened to reveal three horrid blood spiders racing at us! One attacked Feno and another attacked Arnd. I ran and got behind one of them, backstabbing and pinning it to the ground. Hilja ran into the back of the room and attacked the third spider. Lhoss then hit that one with magic missiles, nearly killing it. The spider attacking Feno managed to do some damage and then seemed to go mad at either the sight or smell of blood, latching on to him! Lhoss and Hilja attacked the one in the back again, taking it out, and then Lhoss finished off the last one as well.

Session 78 Day 22 of Flocktime: More chaos, but also a strong burst of law

Feno, Armaziti, Gnorcia, Dwerom, Kryo, Arnd and I (Tatania) were in the Barrow Maze, on day 22 of Flocktime, after playing around with the magic pools we'd found. Mixing and drinking unknown potions is a very bad idea. You never know what might happen. Nevertheless, after Gnorcia had drunk a potion with a positive result, the lure of increased stats was too strong for me to resist, so I'd done so as well. It was after my intelligence increased to super-human levels that I noted that the "correct" combination of Red-Black-Purple depleted the pools more than would be expected for how much fluid was removed, even though the other combinations seemed to have no effect on the levels. Definitely mystical forces at work there. That should have clued me in enough to prevent Hilja from being pressured into drinking the combination that proved poisonous. I'll probably feel guilty about that for quite a while. What good is being intelligent if you don't have the wisdom to use said intelligence? I'm determined to find a way to increase my wisdom so I can hopefully prevent such tragic events in the future.

So, we were standing around and noticed that even though we'd emptied the pools completely, they were slowly refilling. In a completely unexpected move, Feno mentioned an interest in drinking a potion. Considering how Kyro had been physically prevented from drinking a vial (although not by Feno), I was surprised. I didn't think that anyone else would want to try. Still, I mixed up the correct combination and handed it over. Again, my lack of wisdom kept me from thinking things through completely, and Feno's lawful alignment reacted poorly with the chaotic potion. I should have known that would happen! I'm supposed to be smart! Fortunately, Feno's convulsions from the interaction only resulted in some bruising and nothing permanent. I hurried over to check him as best I'm able. When he declared that he'd be fine, I foolishly offered to give the potion to anyone else who wanted to try it. What was I thinking? I think I was still affected by the euphoria of having my intelligence increased like that. It was quite a rush!

After a bit of discussion, we figured that the ones who benefitted from the potion were of either chaotic or neutral alignment. Armaziti decided he wanted to try the potion but since he is lawful (just like Feno), I felt it wasn't a very good idea. He was wiser than I in that he mixed Holy Water in with the potion before he drank it. It turned a golden yellow and granted him a huge increase in his hit points as well as a bit to his wisdom. I admit I'm rather jealous of his now-level 18 wisdom and I could have really used some additional hit points.

Feno expressed a desire to break down a brick wall at the end of the passage, and Kyro volunteered to help. Together they used the sledge hammers to bring it down. Gnorcia pulled out some crackers from her rations and nibbled on them while she watched the destruction. Since there was so much noise, I kept an eye on the approaches, to guard against intruders. Gnorcia and Dwerom joined me in guard duty, although Gnorcia also continued to eat. Armaziti and Arnd plopped themselves onto the floor and ate lunch with admirable dedication, considering how unappetizing the rations are compared with the great food we've been having at the Foaming Mug.

Kyro entered into the passageway found behind the brick wall and carefully walked to the north. There was a skeleton in a decayed shroud, holding a small gold box. Kyro nudged the box with his sword and it fell from the skeleton's hand. There was an arrow attached to the top of the box that was wildly spinning. I determined that since it was spinning it was either clockwork in nature, or magical. Considering how long it had apparently been there, clockwork would have long ago wound down, so magic was most likely. Feno suggested that someone should cast "detect magic" and Dwerom said he could do so. Unfortunately, "detect magic" doesn't identify what kind of magic, or what its effects are. Still, his spell affirmed what I'd supposed. Dwerom does have an "identify" spell, but didn't have the necessary components to cast it.

I entered the new passageway and noted that there was a statue to the south. It didn't seem important enough to investigate immediately, but I heard Lhoss behind me. I like Lhoss, and was glad that she was with us. I was curious about the box Kyro had discovered, so I went up to see it. I picked it up, the arrow immediately stopped spinning, and pointed to the north-east. I placed the box in my pouch while I went over and inspected the wall it was pointing at. It was just a boring wall with nothing unusual I could spot, so I decided to eat my lunch right there.

Meanwhile, Feno and Lhoss went south to inspect the statue. Feno mentioned that Arnd liked to wander a bit, and someone compared Arnd to Hodour and how much more the dwarf was easily distracted. I commented that maybe explained Hodour's affinity to squirrels. Dwerom took time to examine the skeleton, hoping to find anything of note. All he discovered is that it was a standard human. Armaziti still seemed a bit dazed by his stat increase and was looking at the wall in the corner. The sword was a large granite likeness of a knight, holding a double-handed sword. Feno bowed in respect to the depicted warrior, while Kyro saluted it with his sword and pronounced, "Well met, fellow Warrior." I figure it must be some warrior thing, so whatever. The statue remained unmoving, just a statue.

Armaziti continued to inspect the walls, without finding anything of note. After I finished my lunch, I went over to the stone slab that the skeleton had been lying on. It's plain and quite normal, so I decided to arrange the skeleton's bones respectfully on it. Kyro decided to eat his lunch then and I pulled out the gold box again and walked down toward the statue, looking to see if the arrow changed at all. Somewhere on my journey, the arrow did a 180 turn and started pointing south south-west. I didn't really see where it changed, but had an idea. I concentrated on the box and tried to mentally instruct it to point me toward treasure. It doesn't respond at all. Since everyone else seemed busy eating or inspecting the wall, I verbally ask the box, "What are you pointing at, Box?" It continued to ignore me (assuming it has any sentience) and didn't change its direction again. I decided to retrace my steps back up to where I picked the box up originally, but the arrow stubbornly continued to point SSW. I don't know what caused it to change, and it's rather frustrating to me.

The walls continued to be unexceptional despite how many of the others were looking for anything interesting. Eventually, we grew bored with that and I thought that maybe it would be a good idea for Feno to take the holy water-enhanced potion. I assumed that the pools would have filled at the rate they had been, and I was shown to be accurate in that assumption. I made the correct blend and took it to Armaziti, wanting to minimize the variables in how the golden potion was made. Dwerom offered a vial of holy water that Armaziti mixed with the potion, resulting in the same golden potion he'd made before. Armaziti passed it over to Feno, who drank it and gained supernatural strength of 19 and +1 dexterity. Feno said that Dwerom ought to have some of the golden potion as well, since it had such a good effect on him. I wanted the wisdom boost, but feared that the holy water addition would be unlikely to help me, especially since I have no particular affiliation with any diety.

We discussed alignment for a while, and how the potion pulled people toward chaos if they weren't already so aligned. I am very much chaotic aligned, so it had pretty much no effect on me that way, and I understand that the same applies to Gnorcia. Lhoss was truly neutral before taking her potion, and now leans slightly chaotic without being actually chaotic. It was a bit confusing, but we worked toward a general understanding. Dwerom debated taking the potion himself, and eventually decided to try it. I mixed the potion for him but he mixed the holy water in himself, not waiting for Armaziti to do it for him, and luckily got the same result. He drank it down and had his strength and intelligence increase by a point each. Arnd followed with his own holy water-enhanced potion, gaining 4 hit points and a point of strength. Caught up in the excitement, I foolishly made me another potion and (eschewing the holy water add-in) chugged it. I wanted the wisdom increase so much, it made me incautious. Unfortunately, I didn't get it. I didn't get any increase with the second dose. I just began running in circles and ended up passing out, exhausted. When I came to after a few moments, I internally cursed myself and agreed with the others that we were done with the pools. At least I didn't do myself any permanent damage.

After a moment, we decided to see if we could follow the arrow on the box I still had. There was a passageway a bit to the east that went south that we took and at the end of it was a standard dungeon door. Lhoss graciously relinquished her door-opening duties to Feno. Feno easily opened it and found a room with a raised portcullis in it. There was a passageway beyond where the portcullis would drop that had a couple doors off of it. Feno and Armaziti went down to the first door and Gnorcia got worried that opening the second door might trigger the portcullis to drop. She felt a bit familiarity about the area but couldn't explain what or why. The box continued to point south-west, so Kyro and I joined Feno and Armaziti by the unopened door. Everyone else moved down past the portcullis area before Feno attempted to open that door. Once we were closer, we could see there were several doors and the sense of de ja vu grew stronger with the older members of the party. The first door opened to a room that had been recently explored, including footprints that match Gnorcia's, giving credence to the thought that at least some of us had been here before. Lhoss noted that there are footprints that match hers as well, assured that this is not a new area for her. Each of the rooms are opened in turn, proving empty and showing more of the tell-tale prints. It was rather anticlimactic.

Finally, the passageway turned toward the west, and the arrow on my box obligingly turned to point down that way. We gathered at a door that somehow is too tough for Feno or Armaziti to open. Lhoss gave it a try but was also unable to open the door. I gave it my all and amazingly the door opened for me. Inside were three huge green scorpions. EEEEWWWW! I hate scorpions. Fortunately, I hadn't relaxed enough for them to be a surprise but, unfortunately, I was up front and in range to be attacked. 

The scorpions were extremely fast and took advantage of that speed to attack both myself and Feno. Feno was hit by the stinger of one of the scorpions and fell, gagging from the poison. The one that attacked me hit me with a claw but didn't hit me with its stinger. Gnorcia did an amazing vault over Feno to be able to attack from behind, but her sword just skittered off the carapace of the scorpion. My magic missiles slammed into the face of the scorpion that was attacking me, doing some damage but not quite enough to kill it. Lhoss threw her own magic missiles at the foe attacking Feno and singed it. Feno was shaking from the effects of the poison and was unable to do anything in his own defense. Armaziti dug a "cure poison" vial from the bag of holding for Feno to take while the third scorpion crept up on Gnorcia and attacked. It hit her with its claw and also its stinger, poisoning her too. Dwerom advanced with his sword since firing his bow into the scrum would be too hazardous to the rest of us. Dwerom hit the scorpion, dropping it down to a single hit point. His attack gave Feno the clearance to escape from the foe and take the potion from Armaziti which he quickly drank. Kyro tried to hit the scorpion that had attacked me but his sword bounced off harmlessly. Let me say again, I HATE SCORPIONS!

The nasty thing attacked me again, knocking me unconscious but not poisoning me. Gnorcia was flailing from the poison and a scorpion managed to knock her unconscious as well. Lhoss hits that scorpion with her magic missiles, leaving all three scorpions near death but still extremely dangerous. Feno, having recovered from his poisoning, smashed into a scorpion with his sword, obliterating it completely. Gore splattered everywhere. Kyro used Big Stabby to flail about uselessly, unable to hit anything. Arnd attacked the weakest of the two remaining scorpions, splitting it lengthwise with ease. Armaziti poured the second "cure poison" potion down Gnorcia's throat and she immediately began to breathe easier and her color improved greatly.

Dwerom went after the final scorpion with his broadsword, dealing it some damage but not quite killing it. It struck back at Dwerom, hitting him repeatedly with its claws but missing with its stinger. Feno hit the scorpion viciously, turning it into paste. Lhoss came over and bandaged me up while Armaziti healed Gnorcia, although she ended up with a weakened left arm. Fortunately, she is right-handed, so her fighting shouldn't be affected. Armaziti then came over and healed me with no lasting effects. 

Back behind the dead scorpions there were three corpses of members of the Band of the Black Hand as well as a large pile of coins. Lhoss scurried over to the corpses to desecrate them as best she could, shredding their Black Hand badges and grinning wildly.  She REALLY dislikes the Band of the Black Hand, you know.  Kyro and I count up the treasure and divide it up amongst the group, making us all a lot richer.  We also find three unidentified potions (a dark grey with white speckles, a bright translucent green, and a dark opaque green) and two pearls. The potions went into the bag of holding along with the slightly smaller pearl, while Dwerom took the pearl that was slightly larger in the hopes that it will be adequate for his "Identify" spell. I wish him luck in getting that spell to work.  Also, I made a note that we need to be sure to buy more "cure poison" vials as soon as possible.  Without those, we would have been in a huge amount of trouble today.

Session 77: Chaos Reigns

On the morning of Day 15 of Flocktime, Lhoss and Feno counted up their gold pieces (and borrowed a few from team members) and found they had enough to train to become a Conjurer and Swordsman, respectively. The rest of the party spent a pleasant week in Orlane, with some living large and extravagantly and others living frugally, according to their tastes. Kyro finished his duties at the temple and was free to rejoin the group.

Day 22 of Flocktime dawned beautiful and clear. Lhoss, Feno, Tatania, Armaziti, Hilja, Kyro, Gnorcia, and Arnd ate an early breakfast and got a jump start to the Barrow Maze. Upon arrival, the group encountered a zombie. It was quickly dispatched by a magic missile from Tatania and a blow from Gnorcia's sword, Vengeance.

The heroes pushed further into the underground tunnels, trying to find more unexplored territory. Lhoss came upon a closed door and immediately tried to open it, to no avail. One by one, each of the party tried to open the door but it was stuck fast. At last, the strongest of us (Feno) gave a mighty yank and the door creaked open. Inside was a room that was familiar to some in the party, but a new curiosity to our newer members.

The group beheld three circular pools that were approximately 3 feet in diameter and fed by faces carved into the walls. One was deep purple, another red, and the third pitch black. Feno was keen to experiment and noticed some bones in the room. He tossed an arm bone into the red pool, where it was enveloped with a gurgle but nothing else appeared to happen. With a splash, another bone disappeared into the purple pool with seemingly no result. The same experiment was repeated in the black pool with the same outcome. The group seemed to be at somewhat of a loss about what to do next until Gnorcia's eyes lit up with a spark of inspiration: she felt strongly that the liquids should be mixed.

Lhoss wasted no time in asking around the party for an empty glass vial. Tatania produced one which Lhoss filled in equal parts first with black liquid, then purple liquid, then red liquid. It produced a drab green fluid. As Lhoss eyed it skeptically, Gnorcia volunteered to test it. She said she would try just a sip, but to the group's horror, she downed the entire contents. Gnorcia gagged slightly and mentioned that it tasted like dirty water. Armaziti and Feno expressed that they were not on board with this endeavor, but did not intervene. Ever the scientist, Lhoss mixed black, red, then purple from the pools. A slightly different shade of green tempted Gnorcia, but again it tasted like dirty water. The mixture of red, purple, then black produced a violent orange that Gnorcia proclaimed to be the worst yet. When mixed in the order of red, black, then purple, a bubbling blackish liquid with tints of red and purple was produced. Gnorcia declared this one to be disgusting but drinkable. At first she looked ill, but it became apparent that the potion had increased Gnorcia's dexterity and intelligence! Lhoss immediately recreated the concoction and downed it in one. It was disgusting, but she fought off the flood of discomfort and found that likewise she had improved dexterity and intelligence.

For some unknown reason, Lhoss decided to see what would result from another combo. Feno was not impressed and walked out, not wanting any part of the proceedings and commented that "drugs are bad". Lhoss mixed purple, black, and red then offered it to Hilja in a somewhat chaotic disregard for her wellbeing. She drank it down and it was soon clear that she had been poisoned. Luckily, there was a poison antidote in the bag of holding; Hilja was saved but unconscious. Tatania prepared and drank the red-black-purple potion, and immediately vomited blood. She recovered quickly but was slightly disappointed to find she had only improved her intelligence. Feno called from just beyond the door "vomiting blood? Not good." At this point, Armaziti was vehemently opposed to what was going on and tried to persuade everyone to leave. Tatania prepared a dose of r-b-p and attempted to give it to Kyro, but Armaziti slapped it to the ground and shattered the bottle. It was evident that there was only enough liquid for one more potion. Tatania prepared another dose and Arnd moved to drink it, but Tatania gave it to Kyro who drank it down quickly. Immediately, Kyro spun 360 degrees and dropped unconscious, but nevertheless gained strength, intelligence, and wisdom. 

The pools empty, Armaziti and Feno looked on as Gnorcia, Lhoss, and Tatania moved erratically, jumping, spinning and rocking. The trio also spoke in gibberish with moments of lucidity when they uttered profound truths. Armaziti carried out Hilja and Feno ushered the women and a dizzy but alert Kyro out of the room, sensing an increase of chaos among the potion-drinkers. As a plus, Armaziti found a copper piece on the ground. Lucky!

Session 76 Day 14 & 15 of Flocktime

Participants - Feno the wood elf fighter / thief, Armatzi the human cleric, Gnorcia the gnomish illusionist / thief, Dwerom the high elf fighter / magic-user,  Tatania the human magic-user, and Arnd the dwarvish fighter

The group remained in the chamber with the statue of Merikka. After a little discussion, Gnorcia offered up a prayer to Merikka. As soon as she said the name "Merikka", a conversation echoed through the chamber of four different voices. The group quickly deduced that they were the past voices of the four dead adventurers in the room. Apparently the group fought some "demon bats" just after the conversation and were presumably defeated by them. 

The group then went into the other chamber, and Feno began to pry out gems, retrieving a malachite in about 2 minutes work. The group did a quick estimation - they could quickly remove all the gemstones, decreasing their value, or they could remove them all carefully, but spending more time and making just as much noise. The group decided on the second option, however something was alerted, and Gnorcia could see something around the corner from the pit before it disappeared. 

Gnorcia snuck silently along the edge of the pit and peaked around, but she was expected, grabbed, and quickly bound and gagged. She got out a quick scream before this occurred. Most of the group cautiously crossed the pit, but Arnd was enraged, and charged across, holding onto the rope. The party was dismayed to find that they again faced off against the dastardly band of the black hand. However, the group was able to defeat them, in large part to the impressive prowess of Feno. Three members fled successfully, and the group only half-heartedly attempted a pursuit. 

The remaining gems were removed, a total of 40 gems. The group then moved west through the previously discovered secret door, and found what looked like an obvious trap: a small pile of gold pieces and a rock. After examining the area, Feno prodded with the ten foot pole. This triggered a plate, which dropped a heavy portcullis, shattering the pole. The grid of the portcullis was 3 inches wide, keeping even tiny Gnorcia from squeezing through. 

There were some burial alcoves observed behind it, and the group was eager to plunder those, so most of the group tried lifting the portcullis, to no avail. Finally, Gnorcia lent her help, which proved the last bit needed, and the portcullis was pushed back up into the ceiling. 

After searching the alcoves, the group found 25 platinum pieces (as well as the 5 decoy gold pieces) and 3 pearls. The group then decided that was enough, and headed back to Orlane. The trip went without event, and they enjoyed another excellent meal at the Foaming Mug (a delicious meal of letelorye (a kind of custard), seasonal fruit, and beer). 

The group then had a well earned rest, and the next morning after breakfast, sold all the items recently acquired, with henchmen gaining about 191 gold, and the main party members 382 (Lhoss was voted a share despite not being in attendance, do to her efforts to gain the bulk of the treasure). 

Session 75: In the Barrowmaze, Day 14 of Flocktime

Arnd and Hilja suddenly appeared, and Arnd’s growling stomach brought the topic of lunch to our attention. We stopped and spent a few minutes chewing on some dry rations, which have been tasting worse every day since we’re getting used to eating the good food in Orlane. Lhoss suggested we open a door farther east down the hall but as Feno approached the door he discovered a glum-looking goblin limply holding a sign that read, “Go away. Come back later.”

Instead, we headed west, carefully avoiding a pit in the hall, and peeked into an empty room with some rubble all over it. Feno poked at the rubble a little but decided it wasn’t interesting enough to explore further. We approached the doorway at the west end of the hall and Lhoss attempted to open it, but couldn’t quite manage. Feno stepped in and quickly had it open, revealing a large room with some sort of rubble in the corner. We all agreed we had been here before but we weren’t quite sure when or what happened. We decided to continue down the hall and around to the area near the scrying pool.

As we moved through a few rooms in that direction, we heard a skittering sound and noticed a reddish light moving in our direction. Suddenly four fast-moving beetles appeared and ran toward us down the hall! They appeared ravenously hungry and immediately attacked Arnd, Armaziti, and Feno. One of them managed to get its pincers into Feno, who was instantly very angry and completely smashed the creature into the ground. Despite some hits that glanced off the creatures' hard carapaces and a nasty bite right through Armaziti's armor, we eventually destroyed them all. I (Gnorcia) pinned the last beetle to the floor where it twitched a few times and finally lay still. Hilja, Lhoss, Arnd, Feno, and I all picked through the antennae and gathered up the few that weren’t totally smashed by Feno. They make great lightsources in this dark place.

We continued down the hall to the east, toward the hidden door there. As Feno and Armaziti went through the door, they sensed that there was something nearby. They then noticed a pile of rags on the floor and Feno reached out at it with his sword. Suddenly the rags rose up in the shape of a creature that appeared to be several different types of creatures stitched together. The strange-looking thing cried out, “Don’t hurt me! Don’t turn me over to the necromancers!” Lhoss stepped up and attempted to comfort him, and in the process somehow named him Grumblecakes. She offered him a ration, which he eventually agreed to take. He then retreated, crying, to a corner, as she questioned him about the necromancers, collapsed in a heap, and soon began snoring. He was amazingly difficult to see while asleep like that. We left him there and moved through the next two rooms into the hallway where we had previously done battle with a group of skeletons.

As Feno and Armziti entered the hallway, they were surprised by four zombies lurking there. One attacked me and managed to hit me. I tried to hit it back and completely missed in my anger. Feno swung his sword and unsurprisingly obliterated the zombie in front of him. That guy can smash stuff! After a bunch more swings and misses and a vial of oil that went awry, we managed to destroy them all in a rather disgusting manner with heads bouncing and smooshing and one zombie exploding. The area suddenly smelled even worse than it had before.

We then noticed a glint of something shiny and discovered four goblets encrusted with diamonds, which the zombies seemed to have been carrying around. We collected them in the bag of holding.

Turning to the door next to us, Lhoss inspected it for traps and attempted to open it. Feno then stepped up, rolling his eyes a bit at her apparent ineptitude, and discovered he couldn’t open it either. Armaziti then tried and got it open, revealing burial alcoves covered in dust and cobwebs. Feno barged in and immediately began rummaging through. We searched through burial alcoves and memorized spells, eventually counting up 150 silver pieces and a tooled buckle that Arnd had found.

 

Lhoss announced she wanted to open the door across the hall and Armaziti pre-emptively cast a blessing, expecting the worst. Lhoss’ attempt to open the door failed again and literally everyone else—including Feno—failed as well. Finally, Tatania used her knock spell and the door swung open, revealing a hallway. As Armaziti and Feno led the group down the hall, Armaziti stepped into a trap! He fell through and the floor closed again behind him! The rest of us could barely hear him shouting.

Feno then spotted something strange on the wall to the west, and went to investigate. It was a lever, but he decided not to pull it. Instead he went back and investigated the floor where he saw Armaziti fall. The rest of us had been too far back and didn’t see what happened, and couldn’t see anything unusual about the floor where Feno said Armaziti disappeared. Eventually Lhoss and Feno managed to find a fine line marking a trap door opening. I suggested the lever might have something to do with the floor so Feno pulled it, but instead of the floor opening, a hidden door opened in the wall, revealing a large room. Ignoring that discovery, we went back to helping Armaziti.

Lhoss and Feno used a pole from the bag of holding and probed the area, soon revealing Armaziti standing sheepishly about 10 feet down in a pit. Hilja used a rope and pulled him out of the pit, and it closed again. Feno then decided to try to get to the door on the other side of the pit, but failed at crossing along the edge and fell in. He did manage to jump up and hang from the mechanism to open the trapdoor, popping the doors open and we were able to pull him out with the rope.

The party then discussed how we might create some sort of rope bridge across the pit. Armaziti tied one end of the rope to the door pull handle, I tied another rope to make it longer, and then tied it to the pull handle of the door we had just come through. Lhoss then tried the rope crossing and was able to do it easily, so the rest of us crossed as well. Feno opened the door and a large gust of wind burst out at us. Fortunately, we were using the beetle antennae instead of torches.

We discovered a room with a low, 6-foot ceiling with gems embedded in it. Turning the corner in the room, we also noticed a broken-down door with a room behind it. There were two sarcophagi, four shriveled corpses on the ground, and a large statue of Merikka. I stood on Arnd’s shoulders and along with Lhoss ad Tatania began to investigate the gems for possible traps, finding none and noticing that our comrades had moved into the next room, we began to investigate the bodies there. They were well-equipped but obviously dead adventurers, and we inventoried their belongings and distributed most of them between us all. They were:

An elven thief, female, wearing leather armor, dagger and scabbard, and a backpack. She was carrying 8 candles, a crowbar, a grappling hook, a mallet, 1 iron spike, some well-wrapped dry rations, a large sack, a small lens, a tinderbox, a waterskin, and a whetstone, plus a belt pouch with some coins.

A human female magic user with a dagger and scabbard, and a backpack with a bottle of writing ink and quill, 5 parchment, 2 scroll cases, a spellbook, a hand mirror, 1 week of rations, 6 torches, a tinderbox, an empty glass vial with a cork stopper, and a belt pouch containing more coins.

A human male wearing chain mail with a shield and a bastard sword in a scabbard, and carrying a backpack with chalk, a grappling hook, hemp rope (2x50ft), a hooded lantern, 3 flasks oil, a small 1-man tent, and a belt pouch with coins.

A male dwarf wearing scale mail and carrying a battle axe and backpack with the same items as the human male, along with yet another belt pouch with coins.

Tatania looked at the spellbook and found it contained the speels ventriloquism, light, jump, message, and read magic. Arnd claimed the scale mail, Hilja claimed a dagger and scabbard, and Tatania took a scabbard for her dagger. Feno took the last dagger.

Session 74: Return to the Barrowmaze Day 14 Flocktime CY 576

The group woke up to a beautiful summer day, and had a tasty breakfast (which is becoming something to look forward to), at the Foaming Mug Inn. The group stopped by at the Temple to talk to Misha, but she had little new information. 

The group then proceeded to The Barrowmaze, encountering a group of zombies on the pathway to the main entrance (or the only entrance). The zombies were easily dealt with, as Armatzi turned them and they fled out of sight. 

Before entering the barrows, Feno expressed interest in a barrow close by. After knocking out the cover with a sledgehammer, and cautiously exploring, the group found some gold and apparently valuable (but fragile) amphorae. 

The group then entered the barrow and found that 3 zombies were waiting for the. These were easily dispatched, and a jeweled scabbard was found in the area. It has beautiful green and blue jewels, and the group had some debate what to do with it. 

Exploring through previously explored area, Armatzi was ambushed by a zombie, but that proved to be little more than an annoyance. The group continued to explore, entering a new area, and found a partially opened door. Opening the door reveled two disgusting flies that were consuming bodies on the ground. The flies quickly engaged the party, and although they gave a nasty bite, they were dispatched quickly. The group gathered in the room, searched the area, and recovered spells. Platinum, gold, a jewel, and a potion were found. Dwerom foolishly tried out the potion, and was fortunate to find that it was a mindreading (ESP) potion. 

Session 73: Hunting for Froglings

It was the afternoon of Day 13 of Flocktime, common year 576. With insufficient time for the group to make a day trip to the barrowmaze, and the village sufficiently explored, we all discussed what would be the best use of our remaining hours of daylight. Hochoch and Hookhill were deemed too far a distance to travel as we only wanted to occupy ourselves for one afternoon and prepare for the barrow marshes tomorrow. We all kept coming back to the bounty that had been placed on the froglings that have been causing trouble for the farmers to the north. The group (Armaziti, Gnorcia, Tatania, Feno, Lhoss, Hilja, Arnd, and Myrtle) checked in with constable Grover for more information and direction. He told us about two farms that had been having troublesome incursions. So, we set off to visit Frank Stone and Leighton Black. 

Farmer Stone had a cairn topped with a carved bear marking the pathway to his homestead. The farm looked quite prosperous with cows, chickens, and crops being tended to by field workers. The workers did not look up or acknowledge us, so we went to the handsome house (made of brick with a thatched roof) and knocked on the door. A loud voice called out and we were greeted with an air of suspicion by a large woman called Matilda. We assured her that we were here under direction of the constable so she nodded and went to fetch her husband. Frank Stone came to greet us and when he learned we were here to deal with the froglings, he was happy to share whatever useful information he could. Apparently, the attacks had been uncoordinated and largely unsuccessful. When the froglings breeched the fence line, the chickens had alerted the household to the danger and Frank and his sons had been able to scare off the invaders with a volley of arrows. It had been at least a week since the last attack and they had never seen more than five froglings  at once. We thanked the Stone family and left them to their duties as we continued on down the road.

The way to the Black farm was marked with two large oak trees. We followed a hedged path through a grain field to a clearing where geese, chickens, and hogs were penned. We could see a slightly dilapidated log farmhouse with a garden behind it and a rickety barn. Feno noticed a figure disappear into the shadowy barn, hopped a fence, and tried to sneak up to investigate. But since the yard was wide open, he was easily spotted and farmer Black yelled angrily at us, inquiring what we were doing on his property. We tried to smooth things over by explaining we had been sent by the constable, but Leighton remained irritable. He begrudgingly shared his experiences loosing chickens to the froglings. It had been only two days since his last attack, and by the frog spore and footprints, Leighton had identified the culprits and complained to the constable. Farmer Black seemed cautiously optimistic at the prospect of our adventuring band resolving his frogling issues. The constable had better be doing something, that's what he's paid to do after all!

We decided to track the froglings back through the brush the way we figured they had come. Armed with machetes, Feno and Myrtle bushwhacked through the wild shrubs. As we walked, our druid Hilja educated us on froglings, particularly where they are likely to be found. Then she mentioned that she knows a spell (locate animals) that could be particularly helpful in this situation. At the edge of a swamp, Hilja memorized and then cast the finding spell and indicated that they were burrowed in a small mud hut with a two by two foot opening. The party positioned themselves around the opening in an attempt to slaughter the creatures as they emerged. But how to make them come out? Lhoss suggested smoking them out. Gnorcia made a valiant effort at building a fire, but it sputtered and died out quickly. Then Lhoss remembered how the ants had poured out of their anthill and shot a magic missile into the opening...

Three froglings sprung out so quickly that nobody could react fast enough to hit them. Armed with crude clubs, one struck Armaziti and another hit Gnorcia. In retaliation, Armaziti swung mighty Melissa and struck the amphibian down in one blow. Myrtle split another down its spine, killing it and splattering Gnorcia in gore as she stabbed the third. Just as Tatania finished the last creature with a magic missile, three new monsters emerged. One managed to bite Gnorcia while the other two missed their attacks. After several misses from the team, Feno demolished one frogling leaving very little behind but a greasy smear. Lhoss and Arnd destroyed another with a one-two attack of magic missile and Bonesplitter. Tatania damaged the third with a magic missile and three additional froglings emerged. Lhoss shouted "we're gonna get so rich!" One of the emerging amphibians lashed out with its tongue and bit Myrtle, to which she exclaimed "I've been slimed!" Armaziti again squished one to death with Melissa and with a cry of "vengeance!" Gnorcia slaughtered another. Lhoss and Hilja did some minor damage to the last two who inexplicably began to do a little "hammer dance". Their audacious amphibious moves were not matched with prowess and they failed on their attacks on Hilja an Arnd. Myrtle and Arnd ended the battle by beheading and slaughtering the last two froglings.

In order to collect the bounty, the party discussed what they should bring back as proof of their work. Heads seemed too big; eyes, limbs, or digits meant they would have to collect all from each frogling which seemed like too much bulk to carry. It was decided that each creature had only one tongue, long and slimy though they may be, and it would be simple enough to slog them back to Orlane. Lhoss took it upon herself to cut out the nine tongues and loop them through her belt. The trip back to Orlane was quite quick and the group presented their trophies to Grover for the bounty, which was happily paid. Feeling like they had gotten in a good day's work, the group cleaned up for a bountiful dinner at the Foaming Mug Inn.

Session 72: The day we meet a lot of people and some don't want to talk with us

Continuing our investigations into the buildings and residents of Orlane on a sunny early-summer day in Flocktime, we headed next to the mill on the edge of the lake behind the Slumbering Serpent Inn. It was a large mill and the areas outside were scattered with children’s toys and farm implements. A couple of children playing in the yard looked up at us, stared a moment, then gave a friendly wave. Lhoss waved back and asked if their parents were there, and we then found Kenton, the miller, making some adjustments to the wheel. He grunted and inquired with a friendly, “Yes?” Lhoss told him we were checking in on the residents of Orlane and thanked him for the wonderful flour to make the bread we have been enjoying in the town. She asked if he has any interaction with visitors and he said that he only works with residents, farmers, and businesses, and doesn't have the capacity to serve anyone outside the town. We wished him well and next decided to stop by Ramne’s house, but found it closed up and silent, with no sign of Whiskers. Concerned, Lhoss peeked in the window and was comforted that everything looked tidy and cleaned up, and there was still a faint glow of coals in the hearth.

Stopping by the Slumbering Serpent, we spoke with Owen, who apologized yet again for not having any rooms. We asked about the swarthy group of adventurers dressed in grey who had apparently stayed in Orlane and seem to be adventuring in the Barrowmaze, but the busy tavern owner was distracted and simply said he would keep an eye out for them, then hurried off. The barmaids all also appeared too busy to chat so we headed out and went across to greet Alan Clayborn and his wife, who were headed out to lunch. From their farm we could hear work being done on a building to the northwest so we headed over there. We found a group of men taking out two walls of that farmhouse, as if preparing to expand the building. When we approached they looked at us suspiciously and as we greeted them they said, “Who are you?” and rudely stated that their master would not want anything to do with adventurers, and would only greet us at a time of his choosing. We left, determined to find out who they were working for. We also noted some land staked out farther north, as if additional farm buildings were being planned.

Heading east of the Clayborns, just north of the lake, we found more staked-out land, where it appears there will be some building in the near future. East of there we visited another little farmhouse, which has a large barn full of grains and produce. We could see a wisp of smoke from the chimney and knocked on the door. A man named Brutus answered and said they were preparing for lunch. We could see his wife and children inside and quickly asked if he had any troubles with frogmen. He said they had not, and that he said he would let us know if he met any. We left there and headed southeast down the road past Vilma’s house. At the next farmhouse we found a young boy out amongst the hogs, along with some hens and a rooster. He hailed us and said his parents were preparing lunch. Determined not to bother anyone else at their lunch, we decided to move on and visit the Foaming Mug for our own meal.

At the inn we ordered stew and sandwiches and noted a few of the townsfolk we had met previously were also there: the smith glowering over a bowl of stew, and the carpenter and his family eating a meal. Lhoss and Tatania seemed to quickly forget their vow not to bother people during lunch and decided to strike up a conversation with some others there that we didn't know. Tatania took me with her to sit near a man and woman we didn’t recognize, and she asked if they were from Orlane or if they were travelers. They said they were Marco & Nyla Dixon from Hookhill and were looking at building a farm in Orlane. We ate together without a lot of chit-chat but had a pleasant goodbye and said we hoped to meet again. In the meantime, Lhoss took Armaziti along with her and greeted a group of three men and a woman dressed in workers clothing. She introduced herself pleasantly, but they only gave sideways glances and proceeded to ignore them. Rebuffed, she sat Armaziti down at the next table and they noted that the group quickly and quietly finished eating and left.

On our way out we asked the barmaid Jillian about the group that had ignored Lhoss and Armaziti. She said they were workers renovating a building to the southeast, but that they had not been unfriendly to her. We asked about the people who were working on the building northwest of the Clayborns but she didn’t know anything specifically about them, and said that most workers are not local and are likely from Hochoch. She also made an observation that caught our attention, saying that the growth in the town seemed to be happening surprisingly fast.

We left the inn and walked east across the street where we found a prosperous-looking farm with weed-choked gardens. Some young men were working outside and looked up as we approached. They asked gruffly if they could help us and seemed a little unfriendly in their responses. They said they were the sons of the woman who owns the home and sure enough just then a stout woman appeared from the house. She wasn’t the friendliest with us either, but shared that her name was Mandy, her husband had passed away, her sons were working on the farm, and that they probably didn’t need any help from adventurers. We wished them well and headed south, noting lots of work being done on the farmhouse east of the carpenter’s shop where the silent group from the inn were indeed working away. The next building south also appeared to have some unfinished work being done on it.

We headed over to the carpenter’s shop. He appeared busy with much work, but was friendly enough to answer our questions when we asked about the farm northwest of the Clayborns. He said the master is a rich merchant but the man pays his taxes and the group just seems a bit aloof. Wishing him well also, we decided to head west again and check in on the mayor, Zacharius. He greeted us warmly and commented on the rapid growth in the area. He corroborated the carpenter's story that the rich merchant renovating the buildings near the Clayborns is a man named Marley, from Hochoch, who is looking to start a grain shipping business from Orlane. Overall the mayor seemed pleased with the recent growth of the area and impressed by the fact that Marley was willing to pay his taxes up front.

Zacharius couldn’t remember exactly who is renovating the other buildings near the carpenter, but said that workers like that are usually hired by wealthy people from out of town. He also commented that he hoped the town could attract a bower and a baker, and said that since the land is prime for farming most of the growth has been farmers coming to the area, and most of the new immigrants appear to have come from Hochoch. He noted that the growth has meant the constable could hire a few hands, and mentioned that we should talk to him about the bounty on froglings to the north. He also mentioned in passing that the growth overall seems a little unnatural and wondered aloud how the news of Orlane has spread so quickly and how so many people have arrived so speedily after the town was saved from the cult. He suggested we keep an eye out for any information about how that might be happening, and commented that another priest was also arriving at the temple within the week, and they will be building a shrine to St. Cuthbert—apparently with Chalkboi's support.

Session 71: Morning of Day 13 Flocktime - Some investigation in Orlane

The group (Ronan, Armatzi, Calbach, Gnorcia, Tatania, Yldarb, Lhoss, and Feno) meet in the morning to discuss. Feno, being new to the group, introduces himself. He is a reserved Wood Elf, with an obvious affinity with Lhoss and Yldarb, not so much the rest of the group. He is a fighter/thief looking for adventure, and gladly joins the group. 

Gnorica started the morning by collecting 2 eggs from the farmer (Hewitt Twaine) who has been taking care of her chickens in return for 50% of the output. She talked to him a bit about his knowledge of the area. The rest of the group talked to the Graven family north of the Twaine's. They were graciously offered another breakfast, which was eagerly received, especially by Lhoss. More information about the surrounding area, and the ancientness of the Barrowmaze was obtained. 

The group then went to the Golden Grain Inn and talked to Bertram, the proprietor. The group has had a mixed relationship with Brertram, but it has gotten better since the destruction of the reptile cult. He gave the group information about a tight lipped group of presumed adventures that he (and others) had heard snippets of conversation from, discussing cursed tablets from the Barrowmaze - presumably these are competing with the self proclaimed Saviors of Orlane for the treasures of the deep. He directed the group to the constable Grover Rusadal. 

Grover greeted them with the aforementioned title, to the great delight of Lhoss. He gave more background on the Barrowmaze, that it is 100's of years old, and that there may be records in some of the larger temples in Hochoch. He also discussed Nanor and his reputation, and that there have been some inquiries from the law up in Hookhill. The group also found that the Temple of Merikka in town is only about 50 years old. He also offered a bounty of 10 GP for each frogling that has been eliminated. 

Lastly, the group visited the weaver Nora, and his beautiful bride. They are newly married, and live in chaos - bundles of cloth, wool, string, and yarn abound in his workshop and living space. Tatania ordered a 2' x 3' linen towel, and they promised it in 2 days. 

Session 70: Caliburn recovered!

We arrive in the marsh surrounding the Barrowmaze, ready to excavate the buried barrow that Armaziti has identified as potentially the resting place of Caliburn, the sword that we were charged with finding. It's midday on day 12 of Flocktime, and is a muggy, overcast day. The possibility of rain hangs heavy in the air. Arnd and Armaziti take the lead in crossing the marsh, followed by Gnorcia and Myrtle Dixon, Tatania and Hilja, and finally Lhoss and Chiki in the rear. There is an eerie mist over the area, and Chiki calls out a reminder to stay vigilant and not forget the dangers of the area. He specifically mentions the giant ants that nearly overwhelmed us previously and everyone is looking around alertly. The mist makes the area seem unusually still and quiet, most noise being absorbed before it can travel far.

We arrive at the mound that we'd previously spent time working on, Arnd quickly reminding us that he had done most of the work since we'd only a single shovel last we were here, and see that things appear to be undisturbed from when we left, although it is noted that the next nearest barrow to the north is completely collapsed.  Our tools are pulled out from the bag of holding and work commences as soon as possible.  While everyone else is digging, Lhoss and Chiki walk a guard route around the barrow mound, carefully watching and listening for any trouble that might approach.  Past experience tells us that we are bound to be attacked, potentially by something extremely strong and deadly, so nobody thinks it's a good idea to not have guards, even though Chiki's digging expertise would be valuable for the excavation duties.  He reassures everyone that he will take a turn when some of the rest of us have worn ourselves out with digging.  The top layers are grass, heavy dirt and small rocks, but after an hour and a half that has been removed, and we we reach a layer that is mostly larger stones.  This is extremely hard work, especially for the humans that have little experience with such duties, but we persevere.  

As we work, Lhoss tells Myrtle about our encounters with members of the Band of The Black Hand and how she has vowed personal vengeance upon them.  Myrtle seems impressed with Lhoss's bloodthirsty attitude toward the bandits and murderers and is encouraged to give her magical sword a fitting name.  After some consideration, she dubs the +1 sword "Dawnbreaker" to much approval from the rest of the group.  

We have been working for several hours uninterrupted and everyone is somewhat on edge.  Lhoss and Chiki make the decision to swap out with Gnorcia and Hilja so that they can bring fresher bodies to the job.  Not long after this switch, Gnorcia notes movement to the north.  Tools are dropped in exchange for weapons as a group of skeletons emerges from the swirling mists.  Hilja prepares to cast "Entangle" but before she can, Armaziti is attacked and injured.  Arnd is also hit but his injury is significantly lighter.  Armaziti reacts to the skeletons by casting "Turn Undead" successfully and the bony creatures immediately all turn and begin to run away.  Arnd quickly slashes with Bonesplitter, nearly destroying the skeleton that had injured him, but because of the sudden retreat Myrtle's sword swing misses her target.  Gnorcia tries to use her speed to dart around and catch another foe but miscalculates and also misses her target.  Lhoss and Hilja use their staffs and rattle the bones of the two previously missed undead, doing a lot of damage.  Tatania, realizing that she really doesn't have any other true options, fires a Magic Missile at the middlemost skeleton, causing a bit of damage.  Hilja misses on her follow-up swing but Gnorcia steps up and hits true on her second attempt, obliterating the skeleton in front of them.  Arnd uses Bonesplitter to reduce his enemy to shards and dust.  Melissa is swung hard by Armaziti, shattering his opponent and ironically also crushes the skull that Myrtle sliced off another skeleton as it flies by.  There is a final skeleton and Lhoss batters it with her staff followed by Tatania using her second Magic Missile spell to attempt to finish it off.  It staggers away with a single hit point left.  Armaziti is anxious to destroy it but slips on the piles of bone shards like they were gravel, leaving it to Toffee Sword in the hands of Chiki to finish the battle.  Surveying the scene, Myrtle selects an intact finger bone as a trophy of the fight, an action that Gnorcia approves of.

We returned to our digging and after only another 40 minutes or so, the cover stone is revealed.  There are five glyphs in the middle of the large stone and an arch of runic text around the edge. Tatania wants to try to decipher the text, possibly by using her magic glasses, but is interrupted by Armaziti seeming to enter a trance.  He eventually comes around enough to give some instructions although he remains rather uncommunicative beyond saying that the glyphs need to be touched in the proper order to open the tomb and that we only have 30 "touches" total to achieve our goal before the tomb would be permanently closed to us.  We debate strategy for a bit, trying and failing to get any further input from Armaziti.  Lhoss urges caution, but Myrtle is feeling adventurous and touches the sword glyph.  It begins to glow with a warm, white light.  Lhoss, not to be left out, follows and touches the sun glyph.  This one too begins to glow.  Gnorcia begins to reach for the star glyph but hesitates until with Lhoss's encouragement instead touches the moon glyph.  This turns out to be an error as Gnorcia is immediately shocked severely and all the lights go out again.

Undeterred, Myrtle again reaches out and touches the sword glyph, and it resumes glowing.  Lhoss reignites the sun glyph, followed by Tatania lighting the star glyph and Hilja touching the moon glyph.  Considering that the shock caused Gnorcia actual damage, she naturally refuses to attempt touching any further glyphs so Arnd then touches the final untouched glyph, the skull.  Disappointingly, this causes the lights to again extinguish themselves.  We are all frustrated since it seemed that we had been on the right path, and Armaziti (who has remained mute) shows great distress on his face.  Taking a deep breath, we try once again with Myrtle, Lhoss and Tatania touching the same glyphs in the same order and this time Arnd touches the moon.  A grin appears on Armaziti's face when Myrtle begins the sequence and it only grows wider with each successful lighting but he still doesn't say anything that might help us.  Gnorcia is quite tense by this time and wonders aloud if perhaps our personal alignment might have a correlation to our success since she is the only one to be shocked and is chaotic neutral, not good or lawful.  Lhoss and Tatania don't believe that alignment has anything to do with it and it is only the order of the glyphs that matters but our discussion of the issue goes on for a while with no real conclusions reached.  Chiki speaks up and says that we should hurry because he is getting hungry, but nobody can agree on which glyph to touch next or who should do the touching.  Chiki refuses to do it himself since he doesn't want to risk being shocked and besides, he is only getting half share of any treasure anyway.  Finally, Myrtle just steps back up and touches the sword glyph again.  

With a grinding sound, the doors to the tomb open, showing a dark space beyond.  Tatania quickly lights a torch to see what's inside.  There is a statue that appears to be a knight holding something metal that is probably a sword.  Armaziti approaches without a word and sees that it is definitely a sword, and is in fact Caliburn.  As he stands looking at it, Tatania remembers that Caliburn is an Intelligent sword and tells Armaziti that she should announce his intent to pick up the sword and ask if it will allow itself to be returned to the Temple of Merrikka.  Apparently, Armaziti is communicating with the sword nonverbally since he picks up the sword, cradling it in his arms, and announces that he has permission to take the sword back to the Temple.  Myrtle looks around the remainder of the tomb, discovering that the stones of the walls are extremely tightly dressed marble with no gaps, making it very strong but that there's nothing else of interest within.

Due to Chiki's complaints of hunger, joined by Arnd's stomach rumbling, we stop for a few moments to each a meal.  Lhoss explains to Myrtle that our trips out here to the Barrowmaze and environs are only day-trips since we have been sufficiently shown (as well as warned by people in town) that it is too dangerous to be here at night.  Myrtle agrees that sounds like a good plan.  As we walk back to the entrance to the barrows, Hilja picks some of the long grasses that grow in the marsh and weaves them into a memorial token.  Tatania sees some lovely flowers growing around and creates a posy of them.  The two of them then leave their little gifts at the tomb where poor Adelbertus was buried.  Armaziti is unusually quiet on the return trip to Orlane but nothing else of note happens.

Upon approaching the Foaming Mug, a delicious smell fills the air.  Everyone gladly pays for a filling meal of what sounds to me like "Blanch Perae" and is proven in fact to be a delightful thick stew of small game birds with leeks and onions, accompanied by a mug of mead.  We are grateful to have guaranteed rooms and quickly retire for the night.  The next morning, following a breakfast of the usual high quality, we go to the Temple of Merrikka, arriving at around 9 in the morning.  We are greeted by Mischa, who is thrilled to see that we have brought Caliburn with us.  She takes the sword and turns toward the temple doors as if waiting for someone.  Chalkboi, who unbeknownst to us has been staying at the temple, steps out and stands by Mischa.  She solemnly presents him with Caliburn, telling him that he is entrusted with the sacred sword in his righteous quest to rid the world of the undead.  Caliburn signals that the partnership is one it approves of, and Chalkboi informs the group that he and Mischa both desire to create a shrine to St. Cuthbert here in Orlane.