24th Session 10 October 2020

 Campaign Reboot due to real world relocation.

Bea Miglin - 1st Level Female Halfling Fighter - NPC

Dalor Grumblemine - 1st Level Male Dwarf Cleric

Razzi Hawkes - 1st Level Male Human Alchemist

Valeron Amakiir - 1st Level Male Half Elf Ranger

11 June 981, Saturday

Drigbolton

A few clouds and warm

Valeron, a half elf who looks like a woodsman (green cloak, bow), arrives at the King Deer and joins with Percy and Felix, laborers/body guards for Miss Zelda Spinewith.  They came with her after her dad died and she became the local Miss.  They are filling the crater where the Temple used to be.  They were not here, but the locals tell them that some thing fell on it from the sky, there was an explosion, and fire.  The Temple was a total ruin, the priest rose as some sort of burning thing, and out of the church yard skeletons and zombies rose.  Some out of towners were able to beat off the horrors and protect the hamlet.  One of them was Valdell, the elf that Valeron is asking after.  He and his friends left a couple of days ago for Helix on the Miss's business.

Razzi arrives and joins Bea Miglin at the bar.  Bea has been day drinking.  She laments that she used to be a hunter, but ever since the big Green Sphere fell in the near by woods, Nobs Spinney, the animals there can speak.  She can hardly kill things that speak now can she?!  And the animals rat out their non-speaking brethren.  Where is the challenge in that?!  She has nothing useful to do any more, which is why she spent the morning getting drunk.  She did join the folks who came the night the Temple exploded.  There was Dolin, the dwarf priest of Apollo; Akadum, the dwarf who wore funny armor; Valdell, the shifty elf who looks a lot like that guy there; and Kethry, the magic user who wore lots of black and quoted angsty poetry.  Once we all defeated the undead we began to worry about the Laird up at his manor.  We went there and found it had been attacked by the meat in his pantry that had joined together and come alive plus some sort of bone monster.  They had killed the Laird and he had risen as some sort of screaming zombie thing.  We had to kill it.  Then Godfred read a letter from the Laird saying that he had three daughters and Zelda was the new Miss.  The villages asked those folks to go to the Two Goblins and escort Zelda back here to take up her Miss-ship.

The Dwarf Priest of Hephaestus Dalor Grumblemine arrives.  He also joins Razzi and Bea at the bar.  He asks after Dolin, and Bea goes on to say that the Two Goblins is an Inn between Tealford and Stattleford where two rivers come together.  There is an ancient metal bridge with a statue of two goblins on the top.  The inn is where you go on your honeymoon or to gamble.  When they, including Dolin, came back with Zelda they went to the Clooney Caves, and a few days ago they headed west to Helix.  She is now thinking she should have gone with them.  She thinks they were going to the Barromaze on the Miss's business.  They should go see the Miss and join the others in exploring the Barrowmaze, she proclaims loudly to the whole tavern.  Valeron tells them he is looking to find Valdell and will join them too, if they do not mind.  Also he is curious about talking animals.

Razzi says he is not so interested in the Barrowmaze, but heard that Zelda had some unusual alchemical items and is investigating that.  Come along, Bea, invites him loudly.  The new Miss is really nice, not like the old Laird who only showed up for festivals and such; she says that anyone is welcome to come visit her.  She comes down regularly to check on her garden, and her guys Percy and Felix are preparing the ground for a new Temple she is going to have built.  When we walk up to the Manor the fox will probably be there.  He likes to insult people.  The Miss's garden, is just south of the hamlet at the Shrine of Demeter.  The same night the Temple exploded, this Green Sphere fell in Nobs Spinney.  Bea says she helped them gather it and bring it near the Shrine.

After they finish eating their goat stew, which is actually quite good, served by Freya King, the woman who runs the King Deer along with her laconic husband and two teenage sons, they head up to the Spinewith Manor.  Along the way they are insulted from the brush.  It is the talking fox and he tells them that while he could always talk to other foxes, when the thing fell from the sky he could suddenly talk to the rabbits, mice, deer and even the big bear.  Where the big green ball fell, the bushes went crazy and the trees got really tall.  Bea agrees, it was like what she thinks a jungle must be.

What is the fox supposed to do now?  He can't eat things that talk.  The animals made an agreement with the villagers to not eat the crops, the goats, or the chickens in return for the villagers not coming into the woods and killing their children.  And now he can talk to you two legged things.  That one there, indicating Bea, tried to kill me lots of time.  He knows all this disruption has been caused by you two legs things.  It is all your fault that he has to travel farther to get something to eat.  Birds and fish do not talk and Razzi offers the fox some complex advice on how to catch birds, which only seems to infuriate the fox who storms off with a final insult.

They continue on to the Spinewith manor.  Godfred, a wizened man, leads them to Zelda's sitting room.  They note a small woman of around 30 whose dress is rather revealing and colored a bold red.  She hears their story and confirms what she knows.  Dolin and Valdell and the others came to her at the Two Goblins with the news of her father's death.  She was about to take up a position at the University of Mora.  She would have been training mages for the Imperial Army fighting Emperor Devit's war to Make Mora Great Again.  She is much happier doing this.  Drigbolton may not look like much, but Bea's father is a master at goat husbandry and they provide many goats for the Imperial Outpost at Ironguard Motte, a half day to the west.  Not only does it make lots of money, but they are able to buy out any Imperial Army service obligation for the hamlet.  Someone needs to keep that organized.  Her father did it and she is now happy to continue the family's duty to the people of this little valley.

Indeed Dolin, Valdell and the others did head off to Helix to explore the Barrowmaze.  The Dwarf Akadum, and she knows this sounds crazy, claimed he was a survivor from a Dwarven space ship.  The space ship was in some battle with a fiery thing near the Moon.  The Dwarves lost and he escaped in an "escape pod" which landed near Drigbolton.  The Temple was destroyed by one of the engines of the space ship and the Green Sphere was a thing they used to grow plants in the space ship to keep the air good.  They never could find his "escape pod", but there were pieces of metal, the local smith could not soften chunks for working, scattered around the village.

Razzi asks after this stuff and Zelda tells her that Percy and Felix found some small bits and she would be happy to let him have a few.  The big chunks got taken away by the Smith's Guild, apparently the local smith told them, to the Dwarf underground town known as The Wreak/Karnak which is just south of Tealford.  Apparently chunks the previous party had gathered were going to be turned into helms and weapons.  The Bog Witch Griya also gathered some.  At the mention of Griya, Zelda's normally smiling face falls into a frown.

While the "Space Dwarf" story sounds crazy her father, who has a far seer at the top of the manor, observed a cloud next to the Moon in the days before the event, and expected something to happen the night the Temple exploded.  Apparently both Dolin and Valdell had also been sent by a Professor at Mora U and a Dwarf mystic respectively who also observed the "moon cloud" and expected something to land near Drigbolton.  Razzi had also noted the strange cloud about a month ago, but did not think any thing of it after if faded after a few days.

They went off to the Barrowmaze as they all noticed together that horrible things that happened in the last month, undead rising in Drigbolton, undead attacks in the mines of Tealford, some sort of ghost thing at the village of Weston Netherly were all in a line, and that line continues on to the Barrowmaze.  That is an ancient Moran Necropolis in the swamp, known as the Barrowmoor, south of Helix.

Razzi asks after the strange potions she had sent to Professor Ashkott at the White College in Leechfeld.  She tells them that when she got here with the party they decided to explore the cavern in the mountains just north of Drigbolton called the Clooney Caves.  Her father's notes spoke of goblins and some sort of skeletal snakeman who occasionally came out to sell things.  The goblins had been harassing travelers on the road between Tealford and Helix and stealing the occasional goat.  She asked them to investigate.

The goblins actually tried to ambush her and the party when she first arrived in Drigbolton.  She gathered some samples and found the goblins, which look like animated potatos, are actually some sort of fungus.  In the caves they found a Fungal Goblin spawning ground, which they burned out, and the skeletal snakeman.  He claimed to be the creator of the Fungal Goblins and to have perfected a method of potion creation by placing living things in vats of solvents, salts, acids, etc. and extracting their essence to power up the potions.  They party apparently raided his store room on the way out and liberated a bunch of potions, including the two that went to the White College which she could not identify.  She has some small samples, but the party took the potions with them to Helix as they thought they could be useful in their explorations.

The samples she has are 1) Acid Resistance (blue, constantly moving and shifting) 2) Courage (light blue, bubbles) 3) Speed (blue and clear, seperated, shake to use) 4) Undead Stench (metallic, swirling and shifting) 5) Regeneration (green half full and steaming) 6) Dead Ringer (pale green, glowing feintly) 7) Growth (green with brown chunks) 8) Mighty Blow (dull gold, swirling and shifting) and 9) Healing (yellow with a shadowy face).  All except the last they "liberated" from a store room.  The last one they got when Kethry traded her bird familiar to the creature.

Razzi tells her that the two potions sent to Professor Ashkott which Razzi eventually examined, were spoiled and no longer active.  The base solvent were some sort of fungal secretion, which seems to match what the previous party reported in the Clooney Caves.  They both note that is is not likely to be a good idea to return to the Clooney Caves.  The snakeman creature seems to be thousands of years old, likely is very powerful, and now is probably very angry by the damage and property stolen by the party.  She notes that since the party's explorations there have been no sightings of the Fungal Goblins along the road.  She will monitor what happens when the next Goblin market is scheduled to take place, full moon which is in a little over a week.  According to her father's notes the snake creature only comes above ground when the full moon and equinox fall on the same day.  That will not happen again for a few years.

Zelda calls for tea, and Godfred and her other servant Iux, a goblin from Two Goblins, who seems civilized, begin preparing.  She and Razzi go to a closet, open a trap door in the floor, and climb down to the basement.  There is a modestly equipped alchemical lab.  Zelda tells Razzi that she is not an alchemist, she is evasive about what exactly her arcane powers are, and this was built by her father.  She gives him a couple of small stone chunks of the Dwarf Space Metal.  Razzi does some simple tests and concludes it is a metal which is very hard and dense.  She also gives him a Potion of Flesh to Stone, wipe on to work, which she extracted from some Blue mushrooms the previous party had found in the Clooney Caves.  This was found in some sort of mushroom garden and the magic user recognized these mushrooms.  She is certain this potion will work, magic test, but does not think she extracted it very efficiently.  She is badly out of practice.  They also killed a basilisk and extracted one of its eyes and some of its blood.  They sold that stuff in Tealford.  The Fungal Goblins attacked with a mushroom they threw and when it landed it released a cloud of spores that caused brief confusion.  She has a couple of these, and gives one to Razzi.  Her father mentions the Fungal Goblins would sell special mushrooms at their monthly market:

Type, Appearance: Usage

Resta, Tan pale, puffball: When crushed releases a cloud of spores that causes blindness for a few 10's of seconds

Este, Tiny, skull pattern: When consumed makes one more puissant for 8 hours, but at the cost of the ability to heal and recover. Fall into a stupor after

Meniart, White, red dots: Mild poison

Lyiart, Black puffball: When disturbed explodes and makes a large cloud that if breathed causes confusion for a few 10's of seconds

Oneit, Ochre: Highly poisonous, can be pounded into a paste and coated on weapons

Tsyche, Small toad stool, dark dots: Attunes users of magic to the magic field, aids spellcasting for hours

Retid, Slimy, brown, leafy: Deadly until dried, then when heated acts to heal wounds and physical damage

There are none of these here, but she mentions according to her father the Goblins traded with Griya, the Bog Witch here in Drigbolton; Muzzahs the Magnificent in Helix; Obediah Hawkes in Brignorth; and Pye, the "Mad" Wizard of the Cairn Chase Forest.

After tea, the party heads to see the Green Sphere, which is next to a Shrine to the Goddess of Agriculture, Demeter.  Bea leads them back through the village, over a bridge over a small stream down a path about a quarter of a mile south of the hamlet.  The shrine is a marble statue of the Goddess about four feet high.  It is very well made, very life like, and gives the impression of being very old.  A wooden hut has been built around it which is open to one side but otherwise protects the statue from the elements.  In front of the statue sort of half buried in the ground is the Green Sphere.  As it is near the end of the day, they can see the sphere glowing faintly.  To one side there is natural vegetation and it is clearly doing better when it is 10 feet or so from the Green Sphere.  To the other side is a garden of mostly vegetable and some ornamental flowering plants.  The same pattern is clearly visible.

Bea tells them that the Miss had Percy and Felix plant the garden.  Besides being a resort, the Two Goblins is also a farm taking advantage of the rich land at the junction of the two rivers.  It produces lots of food stuffs that is sold to the Imperial Army and Two Goblin canned goods can be found all over the Midlands.  Many say that Zelda has been important in making the Two Goblins Farm a success. She certainly seems to know what she is talking about when she talks with the farmers and her master goat herding father here in Drigbolton.

Razzi looks and notes no valuable herbs.  Dalor preys for guidance and gets the impression the Goddess is watching over the Shrine and the Green Sphere.

They make their way back to the King Deer as night falls.  Just arrived from Helix are Gern Barrelgut, son of the local Dwarf Smith, and Curran Rhahan, a young Constable.  Apparently the party including Dolin and Valdell met some unhappy fate in the Barrowmoor.  Their torch bearer, a halfing called Jon Fairbrain, appeared out of the swamp early this morning.  He said the party started to explore the Barrowmaze the day before, but were ambushed on their way back to Helix.  He thinks all the others are dead except Valdell, who was captured.  The attackers were a mixed group of cloaked humans, goblins, and skeletons.  A web was followed by a hail of arrows.  He managed to remain unseen, followed the attackers to a ruined tower on the edge of the swamp.  He waited the night, he was lost, and when the morning came made his way to Helix.  They have letters for Zelda, the Miss of Drigbolton and Master Morvran, High Priest of Hephaestus, at the Wreak/Karnak.

Dalor and Valeron begin composing letters.

Twenty Third Session, 2 July 2020

Valldel Amakiir - 4th Level Male Elven Rogue

Akadum Ironbeard - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Fighter

Dolin Stoneflare - 4th Level Male Dwarf Light Cleric

Kethry - 3rd Level Female Human Wizard

9 June 981, Thursday continued

Cool and partly cloudy

Akadum goes to the Foul Pheasant looking for a hand mirror.  The place looks like a casino with gambling tables and scantily clad women prancing about.  He is met by Perni Ticklebottom, a buxom halfling.  She is happy to sell him a hand mirror and asks if he would like some Pipeweed, perhaps some harder stuff, or maybe he would like some female company.  Akadum is interested in Pipeweed and wonders if one of the girls can style his hair and beard.  A very beautiful woman named Veronica da Vinci, who has an impressive hairdo, is happy to service Akadum for her usual fee.  They go up to her room where she begins working on his hair and beard.  Amidst the small talk Akadum tells her, he is an adventurer and is planning to explore the Barrowmaze.  She tells him there used to regularly be adventurers here in town, but they stopped appearing when the war started.  They told her the Barrowmaze is a ruin and a band of bandits uses it as a hideout.

She tries hard to convince Akadum to do something more with her, but he resists her charms.  She does charge him the usual fee for her time, and tells him to come back after he visits the Barrowmaze.  He drops 50 GP for a hand mirror, a couple of doses of Pipeweed, and an hour of her time.  She has done a terrible job on his hair and beard which she says is because his hair is so coarse and dry.  Come back again for a bath, conditioner for his hair, styling, and perhaps a happy ending.

Back at the Last Stop at the end of the evening the party finds that Myra Overstay is here.  She is going under the name of Branwenna.  She tells them she came here from Drigbolton as she did not completely trust Zelda, the Miss.  Here she can more easily hide out.  Apparently some of the locals know her and she sings some of her old folk songs to much acclaim from the locals.

10 June 981, Friday

Rain

Day 2 of Marriage games - Cart Pull Race

The party is up early and meet with two of Professor Illkin's graduate students, Nekron and Fitzwalter, and the two mercenaries, Sturix (Spear and Shield) and Fardic (Light Crossbow and Dagger).

They see the preparations for the Marriage Games which this day is the Cart Pull races.  Akadum visits Nathaniel and encourages him towards victory.

They head off into the Barrowmoor heading towards the Barrowmaze.  They realize how difficult the journey is.  The swamp trails are twisty and seem to be ever changing.  It is not so bad in the day as they can keep the mountains of the Moon Peaks on their left as they head south.  It takes them about 4 hours to make the 5 mile or so journey to the Barrowmaze.  They see it as a series of hills rising out of the swamp interspersed with some standing stones some of which are leaning crazily.  The dwarves note the hills do not really fit in with surrounding swamp terrain.  One of the larger hills has an opening leading beneath it with a stone door smashed into pieces on the ground in front.

They make their way towards the opening and pass right next to one of the smaller hills.  Kethry uses a Mage Hand to probe around the hill and finds an intact stone door covered with dirt and plants.  Using their weapons as tools they clear the door.  Kethry suggests using heat and then water to crack the door.  They build a fire against the door, help out with a Fire Bolt from Kethry, and then throw cold water on the hot stone.  This works well cracking the door and revealing a steep stairway leading down.  Akadum leads the way down with a torch and probing ahead with a 10-foot pole.  He gets down to the last step and can see four stone sarcophagi in a round room.  He throws the torch within, and Valdell enters checking for traps.

Dropping from the ceiling are giant centipedes which bite at Valdell and Akadum.  Akdum dispatches one with his hammer, Fardic from the up the stairs kills one with his crossbow, and Kethry has a magical misfire.  Valdell, using his magical Kris, strikes one of the horrors.  There is a bright flash destroying three of the centipedes, but Valdell collapses.  The remaining bites Akadum's leg, but Kethry finishes it off with a Fire Bolt, while Dolin cures Valdell.

Valdell had the feeling of being sucked into his sword when it struck and vows not to use it again.  He is still badly depleted and they decide he should drink their last remaining healing potion, the sketchy one they got from Xiximanter.  It works normally and they decide to continue exploring.  Valdell pushes the covers off the sarcophagi.  Within they find corpses rotted to dust and bone fragments, some jewelry and a bone handled dagger.  All note the decoration style is ancient Moran.

They head towards a large standing stone.  It is very worn but Kethry recognizes the script as being sacred to Hades and necromancers.  There is also a skull symbol which is typical for Hades and often seen in ancient Moran necropoli.  There is nothing to read except random letters and a few words as it so worn, but Kethry does recognize the exultation "death is a new beginning."

They see another mound and clear away its door and crack it open.  Within they find a surface level chamber with a wooden coffin on a raised dais.  Carefully they probe around finding nothing, and when Valdell pokes at the coffin it collapses in a heap again revealing nothing within except dust and bone fragments.  Lining the walls are 8 niches with amphorae.  The graduate students note the old amphorae are fairly rare as they are delicate and easily broken.  These are clearly ancient Moran.  Jon Fairbrain is distressed as taking these will consume all their carrying capacity as they need to be handled so carefully.

After some debate they decide to head back to Helix.  It is mid-afternoon and they do not want to be in the Barrowmoor after dark.  They have another 4 hour journey back, and note  whatever path they took back, it was almost certainly not the path they took there.

22nd Session, 18 June 2020

Valldel Amakiir - 3rd Level Male Elven Rogue

Akadum Ironbeard - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Fighter

Dolin Stoneflare - 4th Level Male Dwarf Light Cleric

Kethry - 3rd Level Female Human Wizard

9 June 981, Thursday continued

Cool and partly cloudy

Akadum questions the obviousness of the identification of the Squire as the murderer.  He questions the Paladin Tiberous who responds by thanking the party for saving the servants of Ares from making a terrible mistake and bringin embarassment to the god.  He offers them whatever service he and his chaplain can perform for them.  The party thinks on this.

They go over to the Constabulary, release the Shud-folk, and imprison the Squire.  He continues to babble about the injustice being done and how the Bumblebee Bandit will right the wrong being done here.  The constables seem quite relieved by the story told by the party and the Paladin; they were not looking forward to taking care of burning of the Shud-folk, including three small children.

The matriarch of the Shud-folk clan, Vorzana, thanks the party and says she and her family owe them a debt.  They will be leaving the area as soon as they can, as they do not feel welcome after recent events.  Dolin suggests the Paladin should go with them as a way to pay off his debt to both the party and the family.  After some discussion all think that is a fabulous idea.  Vorzana will write the party, including a snake token Akadum gives her, to let them know if all goes well.

Dolin, Tiberous and Catronia shake on this deal and part.

Valdell shows up at Beatrix the Bog Witch's place to have his cursed ring removed.  She notes what a great service he and his friends have done for the Shud-folk and Ares the God.  To remove his curse she gives him a woven necklace holding a leather bag.  It smells very bad.  He should wear this for three days and return.  Then he will have to bathe in Swamp Essence.  Then she can safely remove the ring.  Do not take the necklace off until he returns.  Best of luck in the Barrowmoor.

Akadum goes to Turgen's Trade Goods and purchases a ten foot pole, torches, and lamp oil.  The oil is three times the regular price.  Akadum wants a small hand held metal mirrors, but there are none for sale.  Billworth Turgen suggests he can perhaps find some hand mirrors at the Foul Pheasant; all the girls there certainly have them and will happily do just about anything for enough money.

The party heads back to the Last Stop and run into Professor Illkin.  He seems confused and disappointed that he missed the excitement yesterday, but now he wants to focus on observing the progress of justice while one of his graduate students, Blix, will monitor the Marriage games.  The other two, Nekron and Fitzwalter, and the two mercenaries, Sturix and Fardic, will head out tomorrow to make an initial mapping of the Barrowmaze on the surface.  Do they have any worries about undead?  Do not be silly.  That is simply a story the locals tell outsiders to keep them away from their ancient burial sites.  They agree to meet early tomorrow morning and make a joint expedition.

The party goes to see the opening day of the Marriage Games.  There is a speech by the Headman, Impert Laverick, who talks about what a wonderful and important tradition this is and how the whole town owes a debt and utmost honor to all the participants.  Their sacrifice helps to maintain the tranquility and prosperity of the town.  There is a moment of silence for the dead Jessica Reuter, and the party is noted as having been key in bringing her murderer to justice.  They note she will be burned tomorrow; all the dead in Helix are burned to make sure they do not come back.

Day 1, today, will be wrestling, day 2 will be cart pulling, day 3 will be lotus root gathering, day 4 will be stone throwing, day 5 will be hanging fights (there is a great deal of cheering at this), day 6 will be the fire ant challenge, and day 7, if a winner is not already clear, will be poison chalice roulette.  The winning bride to be will then do her service for the town.  He then introduces six couples who will be competing.

The wrestling begins, and the party notes the men clearly do not know what they are doing.  Akadum shouts encouragement and advice to the burliest looking, one Nathanial Gainsborough, whose prospective bride is Prudence Nelthorpe.  He emerges as the winner of the day, and thanks Akadum for his help.

Dolin talks with the Headman and asks about the nature of the "sacrifice" the winning bride has to make.  The headman is evasive and suggests Dolin should talk to the clergy gesturing towards the Priest of Zeus, Priestess of Hera, and Priest of Demeter.  Dolin does not do this, but is uneasy.

Twenty First Session, 4 June 2020

Valldel Amakiir - 3rd Level Male Elven Rogue

Akadum Ironbeard - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Fighter

Dolin Stoneflare - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Light Cleric

Kethry - 3rd Level Female Human Wizard

8 June 981, Wednesday Continued

Hot and sticky

Valldel asks after the Lamp Oil Shop and Urgritte tells him that it is locallyfamous as the proprietor has figured out some way to produce lamp oil locally rather than having to import it.  It is quite cheap, but for some odd reason he will only sell a pint at time to any one person or group.

Dolin is intrigued by the Ship which Valdell saw out behind the Bog Witches shack.  He goes there and sees a ship way too large for the swamp.  It is still a skeleton and there is middle aged man working on it.  He is Tom Grayson, a retired carpenter.  He says that he has had a vision that there will be a great flood.  The people of Helix can be saved by this ship.  Dolin looks at the ship and can see some obvious flaws, and the plans make no sense.  Dolin takes his leave.

Valldel goes to see the Bowyer, an elf called Valeron.  He has nicely made bows and arrows and things he claims made from Giant Spider Silk found in the Thornwild Forest.  Valldel pays a bunch for a cloak of Giant Spider Silk.  Valldel tells him of his plans to explore the Barrowmaze.  Valeron warns him to stay out of the Barrowmoor at night; undead prowl the swamp.  Also he has heard the maze harbors a degenerate race that captures adventurers and sells them for slaves.

Kethry, Jon Fairbrain, and Akadum go to the Last Stop Inn and Tavern.  There they encounter Professor Illkin.  He is very excited.  He tells them there is a betrothal party going on here.  This is the first step in the local Solstice Festival which the locals call the Marriage Games.  Apparently all the couples who have pledged their troth in the last year compete in some physical and mental contests, with the winners doing some sort of great service for the town.  He is not clear what this might be.  He asks Kethry to pledge her troth with one of his gradaute students so they could compete in the Marriage Games.  It would make a great book describing the life ways of the primitive Shud Folk.  He would happily acknowledge Kethry in the forward.

Kethry is disgusted and hits Illkin with a Charm Person.  She tells him to go upstairs to his room and do some reading.  His gradaute students should join him.  Plus she hopes he never speaks to her again.  He does so dragging his students away from the growing party.

Kethry spends time copying the spell Blur into her spell book.

The others arrive and the party is in full swing.  Dolin seeks out the clergy.  He avoids the local head of the Temple, a priest of Zeus, but finds one Catronia a preistess of Ares.  She is here with a paladin of Ares who is on a final quest before he goes off to join the war effort.  The Paladin is a monster in combat with his heavy armor and two handed sword, but she can still take him with quickness and cunning in unarmed combat.  They came her on the advice of the Paladin's Squire, who is really a jerk, as he is a big fan of the Bumblebee Bandit series of novels and came here to try to get an early copy of the latest novel, The Battle of the Bumblebee Bandit.  She cannot understand how any one can waste any time on such useless drivel that borders on pornography.  She notes the betrothed woman is Jessica Reuter, who is of the family of the printers making the Bumblebee Bandit book.  She is not a local and does not really know what the point of the Marriage Games is, and hopes the Paladin will move on to find a worthy quest, but that jerk Squire is the reason they are here.

The party is very nice with an extended family of Shud Folk providing entertainment.  There is an old woman who tells fortunes with Tarot cards, there is a pair of brothers who perform Shud Folk ballads, notably Ain't No Grave:

There ain't no grave can hold my body down

There ain't no grave can hold my body down

When I hear that trumpet sound I'm gonna rise right out of the ground

Ain't no grave can hold my body down

Well, look way down the river, what do you think I see?

I see a band of angels and they're coming after me

Ain't no grave can hold my body down

There ain't no grave can hold my body down

Well, look down yonder Triton put your feet on the land and sea

But Triton don't you blow your trumpet 'til you hear it from me

There ain't no grave can hold my body down

Ain't no grave can hold my body down

Well, meet me, Hades, meet me, meet me in the middle of the air

And if these wings don't fail me I will meet you anywhere

Ain't no grave can hold my body down

There ain't no grave can hold my body down

Kethry quite likes the song.  There is a very well done puppet show featuring puppets that look like the betrothed couple.

The exhuberence is interrupted when one of the Shud Folk musical brothers apparently propositions the bride to be.  A scuffle broke out with the girl kicking her would be suitor and the girls father slugging him.  The Shud man, who is quite drunk, vows that all will learn what "Shud pride" means and how Shud men behave when “bitch gaje” reject them.  The father of the bride was screaming about not paying for the show and wanting the whole crew of Shud-folk locked up.  The old Shud woman curses the new couple with bad fortune.

The party breaks up abruptly, and the party turns in to their rooms at the Last Stop.

9 June 981, Thursday

Cool and partly cloudy

There is a great deal of commotion early in the morning and the party awakens to discover the betrothed girl, Jessica Reuter is dead.  She was found in the courtyard of the Reuter Printers and Bindery with a knife wound in the back and slashed throat.  The local constables, three inexperienced youths as the local sheriff is fighting on the Northern Front and the Paladin of Ares followed a trail of bloody footprints to the wagons of the Shud Folk.  There they found a pig slaughtered ritualistically, the puppet of the bride hacked to pieces, and the Shud Man who caused all the trouble last night covered in blood.  They decided to gather up all the Shud Folk (old woman, two brother musicians, puppeteer family (husband, wife, three small children)) and throw them in the local lock up, and prepare a burning for them since they are obviously guilty and demon worshippers.

The party is unconvinced.  Kethry suggests finding all the other potential brides as obviously this is how to win the Marriage Games.  Investigating the bloody foot prints, Dolin notes how precise and even the trail is between the Book Bindery and Shud Folk wagon camp.  He also notes the foot print blood seems to be pig's blood even though the foot prints lead from the Bindery to the wagon camp.  Talking with the one young constable who is guarding the wagon camp they learn the pig was simply sitting in the middle of the camp where there is not a large pool of blood.  Looking in the wagons for further clues, such as the murder weapon, they find a blood stained yellow and black cloak which seems out of place among the Shud Folk clothing which tends towads dark and ornate.  It matches the signature clothing of the Bumblebee Bandit.

They go to the Constablary where they find the Shud Folk in cells with the crying children separated from their parents.  Speaking to the old woman, in whose wagon they found the blood stained cloak, she tells them she has never seen such a hideous garment, and her nephew was just drunk, acting stupid, and afterwards passed out.  There is no way he could have committed the murder.

They head over to the Book Bindery where to their surprise they find the family hard at work.  They speak with Kurt Reuter, father of the dead woman.  He tells them the Bumblebee Bandit book, the worst sort of mind rotting junk, is a big deal for the family, they are on a tight deadline, and work distracts them from their grief.  It is what Jessica would have wanted them to do.  They ask if any one showed interest in the new Bumblebee Bandit novel.  He mentions that the Paladin's Squire turned up a few days ago trying to get an advanced copy.  They told him to go away; they would be in breach of their contract if any advance copies got out.  He made a pest of himself.

Dolin asks if any copies are missing.  Kurt tells him no, the printed copies are carefully packed and no one has messed with them.  There were galley proofs which they printed some time ago to check if all was OK and they have one in their safe.  Dolin suggests they check and upon opening the safe they find the book missing.  Kurt is beside himself.  Did his daughter really loose her life over a stupid Bumblebee Bandit novel?  Who would do such a horrible thing?

Dolin formulates a plan with Kethry and Valdell.  They will go to the Temple.  He and Kethry will approach Catronia, distract the Squire, and Valdell will go to the Squire's room and look for evidence.  Kethry suggests she could raise the pig or girl and ask them who killed them.  Dolin and the others think this is likely to be a very bad idea.  Kethry is disgusted, but goes along with Dolin's plan.

At the Temple they find the Paladin and Squire are in a courtyard practicing with wooden swords and padded armor.  Catronia greets Dolin warmly and he tells her of their suspiscions.  They show her the blood stained yellow and black cloak.  She says the Squire, who is named Fastonius, has a Bumblebee Bandit costume which he wears to party's and such.  Are they really telling her that he killed some young woman to get his hands on a trashy novel?  She leads them up to his room.  There is a chest which Valdell is able to open.  It is filled with Bumblee Bandit novels and there is a galley of The Battle of Bumblee Bandit.  They gather it and return below to confront the Squire.

The Squire and Paladin are finished sparring, and the party and Catronia accuse Fastonous of the terrible crime displaying the blood stained cloak and the galley of the new novel.  This seems to unhinge him, and he declaims, "No evil doers can capture the Bumblebee Bandit!" as he runs toward an impossibly tall wall with the clear intent to leap over it.  Dolin hits him with a Hold Person.  The Paladin, Tiberious, is at first incredulous, but when Dolin and Catronia tell him of their evidence he admits the merit of their case.  He picks up the limp Squire and tells them they should head to the Constablary to free the Shud Folk and see this wretch gets his just punishment.

20th Session, 20 May 2020

Valldel Amakiir - 3rd Level Male Elven Rogue

Akadum Ironbeard - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Fighter

Dolin Stoneflare - 3rd Level Male Dwarf Light Cleric

Kethry - 3rd Level Female Human Wizard

5 June 981, Sunday, Continued

Partly cloudy and warm

Kethry tells Jon Fairbrain to gather provisions for their journey to Helix.  He notes to them there is little here in Drigbolton and Helix is bigger and a better spot for provisions.

7 June 981, Tuesday

Cool and cloudy

They meet with Zelda.  She has identified the kris, which is actually long enough to be a short sword as a +1 magical weapon plus with something else that she cannot figure out.  It is a not curse, but something strange.  Valdell takes it for use.

The snake statue is magical, but she cannot figure out what it does.  Maybe it is part of a larger thing?

The Purple Mushrooms are as Kethry thought of the sort used to make stone to flesh.  She offers them 1000 GP for them, but they suggest 500 GP plus half of the produced potions.  She agrees with that.

The strange potion from Xiximanter does indeed seem to be an ordinary healing potion despite its strange appearance.  Jon Fairbrain takes it and puts it with the bunch of potions they got from treasure room in the Clooney Caves.

They begin their journey to Helix climbing out of the Drigbolton valley and up into the Moon Peaks.  Around lunch time they pass the Ironguard Motte which is a castle surrounded by a Moran Army training camp.  Along the road are many establishments; bars and female entertainment.  They elect not to stop, Valdell is worried he might be recognized, and they press on.  They begin descending and can see the Barrowmoor to the south and the Thornwild Forest, pines, to the north.  Beyond they can see the rough, broken country known as the Shud Lands.

As night falls they get to the cut off road that leads to Bogton.  Here there is a road house called the Marching Tankard.

They see a large man come out and shake some large lanterns lighting the entrance way to the Inn.  He greets them as Gunther Grohl and tells them if they want to press on to Helix is is a few miles along the main road.  They decide to stay and enter the inn.  The fare is fish, crayfish, and game gathered from the Barrowmoor.  Also present is a vaguely middle-eastern looking man with three young men who are very differential to him, and two other rougher looking sorts.  Overhearing their conversation the man is Professor Tevrat Ilkin and he wants to explore the Barrowmaze to study the burial customs of the Shud Folk.

They talk directly and Ilkin tells them he is a Professor at the White College and this is a summer field study.  The Shud Folk are thought to be pre-Moran.  He has with him three graduate students and has hired two mercenaries for protection against the swamp beasts and carry any artifacts they might find.  He notes this Inn is rife with Shud Folk  influence.  The inn keeper is clearly a Moran, but the serving girls and stable boys clearly have the Shud Folk look.  Look at the vermin they serve and eat!  It belies their simple folk ways which are so fascinating.

His plan is to head to Helix tomorrow morning and visit the The Last Stop Inn and Tavern.  It is well known as a gathering place for the Shud Folk.  Also in a week is the Solstice Fest in Helix which is some sort of pre-marriage ritual, the Marriage Games, which he cannot wait to study.

The party tells them that they are too are heading to Helix and planning to explore the Barrowmaze.  Perhaps they can arrange to work together.  Privately Akadum tells them Ilkin and his party are likely doomed if they do not get help.  They agree to watch out for Ilkin and company.  On the other hand they find Ilkin's overbearing ways and superior attitude to the Shud Folk to be highly annoying.

They also ask after the lamps, and the waitress, who is one of Grohl's daughters tells them they are full of Barrowmoor fire flys.  They need to be regularly fed, fruit or honey, and then shaken and they will produce light, dull greenish glow, for a few hours.  They can buy hand held ones tomorrow.

8 June 981, Wednesday

Hot and sticky

Helix, traditional start of the Great Games by couples pledging.  Start the Dead Bride with a party celebrating at The Last Stop.

They purchase some Fire Fly lanterns and make the short way to Helix with Professor Illkin, his three students, and two mercenaries who at least look well armed.  One of the students Fitzwalter tells them how excited he is to be going to Helix.  His favorite book series starring the Bumblebee Bandit has a new entry coming out, The Battle of the Bumblebee Bandit.  It is printed in Helix and he hopes to get a copy.  He shares with them a drawing of the Bumblebee Bandit and a pre-release page of text:

...unfortunately the struggle had caused her

corset to come undone. “Oh, my modesty!”

cried Lady Labreque, attempting gather her

torn gown over her lady dumplings...

...“Oh, yes, Bumblebee Bandit!” The Lady

Labreque was overcome with thoughts so

unlike a lady but so like a woman. “I will...

The party is horrified, but Fitzwalter continues to talk about the various plots of the Bumblebee Bandit novels and asks if they have read "50 Shades of Ulfire"?

As they arrive in the town, it is mid-morning, they make arrangements to meet with Professor Illkin and company for dinner at the Last Stop.  The party plans to meet at the Temple and decide where to go for lunch.

Akadum goes to the Tobacco Shop.  There he sees they are selling tobacco and carved pipes from the Shud Wilds.  He notes the art is raw but effective.  He buys a bear shapped pipe, and some Shud Wilds tobacco.

Kethry goes to the Wizards Tower.  The tower is three stories tall and seems ill kept with moss growing up the sides and it might be leaning.  There is an impressive observing dome on the top.  A sign on the outside says "Do Not Disturb" but she knocks any way.  A hunched man in blue wizard robes and a pointed wizard hat, which is bent half way up, and are covered with small metal trinkets with chime musically as he moves, appears and asks what she wants and if she can read?  Kethry says she can read and is instersted in trading knowledge.  He introduces himself as Muzzahs and invites her in.  The inside seems bigger than the outside, and it is quite nice and cozy.  He prepares a cup of tea and they an elliptical talk eventually agreeing to trade spells with Kethry getting Blur and Muzzahs getting Spectral Stilletto.  Kethry does not mentions her interest in the Barrowmaze or her connection with Zelda.

Dolin goes to The Axe and Anvil which is a smithery run by a dwarf named Karg Barrelgut.  They strike a bargain for a set of half plate that will be ready in about a week for a very good price.  Karg tells Dolin that there regularly used to be adventurers going to the Barrowmaze, but since the war started there have been fewer.  Adventurers are in danger of getting swept up by Imperial Army press gangs from the Ironguard Motte.  Dolin is the first person this season heading to the Maze.  Karg says it is infested with undead and Dolin should go to the Brazen Strumpet where Bollo knows much more about the Barrowmaze.  The Last Stop is indeed patronized by the Shud Folk and go there for music.  The Foul Pheasant is the place to go for gambling, and female entertainment.  He does not know much about the maze, but he has heard that all its entrances are trapped.

Valdell goes to the little shack at the south end of town, almost in the Barrowmoor, with Fortunes and Readings sign.  Within is a women named Beatrix who looks like Griya and claims to be her sister.  Beatrix reads Valdell's tea leaves, the tea is strange tasting, and gets a vague foreshadowing of an unpleasant future.  She notes his cursed ring and says she can fix that for him.  No charge, she just wants the ring and in return gives him a dried frog, which she tells him is a luck token.  Come back tomorrow and she will be ready to remove his curse.

The party meets and heads to the Brazen Strumpet on Dolin's recommendation.  There is a warhammer and shield hanging over the bar.  It is quiet and they are waited on by Urgritte, who is a tall handsome woman with blonde braided hair.  She seems to like Dolin.  They speak with Bollo who is tending bar.  He tells them he was an adventurer until he took an arrow in the knee.  He has been to the Barrowmaze.

He draws a rectangle on a napkin.  The northern third he covers with dots.  These are small crypts some of which have been looted, some which have not and may contain treasure.  There are minor undead.  Some of crypts have tunnels that lead to the maze below.  He draws lines in a complicated pattern that extends into the southern two thirds of the diagram.  This is maze itself which is undeground.  It is easy to get lost.  There are tablets with rune writing on them.  Some are cursed but some contain valuable information.  There are stranger more powerful things down there and magical treasures.  They mention Professor Illkin's theory that it is a burial place for the ancient Shud Folk.  He just laughs and retrives a gold coin.  It is an ancient Moran coin, hundreds maybe a thousand years old which he retrieved from the Maze.  The Maze is an ancient Moran necropolis.  He has no idea why the old Morans buried their dead so far from the coast, but old Moran stuff is what is found in the crypts and in the Barrowmaze.

Akadum notices a dirty bad smelling man seated in a dark corner.  The waitress brings some soup and tells them the man is called Alaster and Bollo tells the staff to be nice to him and give him whatever he might want.  Akadum talks to Alaster.  He is not coherent babbling about the walking dead, the darkness, traps, and being lost.  Urgritte tells them he has been around for at least three years.  Bollo tells them Alaster was an adventurer, a thief so be careful, and his fellow party members were killed and Alaster was lost in the Maze for days.  The Elf, Valeron, who is the Bowyer and Fletcher found Alaster in the Moor and brought him back might be able to tell them more.

They have time to see more of the town before heading to the Last Stop for dinner.