Fallcrest Day 3, Kobold Hall day 1
(Sept 18, 08)

Apparently Shadowsoul didn't sleep much last night, but he looked none the worse for wear.  Don't know what he did in that time.  I didn't bother asking, the answer would most likely be a lie or a "None of your business," at best.  After a brief breakfast we set headed out of town.  What would have been a long boring walk with a tense silence between several strangers became almost pleasant thanks to my new halfling ally Callie.  Her voice was as welcome as the songs of spring birds in this lonely land.  She spoke of the long history of Fallcrest and the surrounding areas, the blessings of Sehanin, the wisdom and generosity of her High Priest, and other such diversions that had little to do with our mission.  Shadowsoul and the his new halfling rogue rival Pokem discussed which of them could out-drink the other.  I'd tell them to do us all a favor and go drown themselves, but I bet they'd say something idiotic like "Drown in ale?  Heaven!"  I'm liking the silence of the other two, though I still don't know what to make of them.

When we arrived at Kobold Hall a few hours after our mid day meal.  Footprints and savage banners clearly marked the entrance to the kobold's underground lair: a trap door at the foot of a guard tower.  I stepped forward to open it but Pokem warned me it could be booby-trapped.  He found none so we entered and walked down the stairs.  Inside was a chamber with a deep pit in the center full of some foul green slime.  The rogue scouted ahead and was hit by a kobold's sling attack for his trouble.  The kobold shouted "intruders!" and retreated.  I didn't think much of it.  At the time all I was focused on was ripping it's tongue out to silence it.  No telling how many kobolds were lurking deeper inside.

When I charged in I discovered that I had fallen for it's trap.  At the sound of a nearby portcullis slamming shut I was surrounded by several kobolds with little hope of retreat.  My new allies sprung into action like they'd done this sort of thing a hundred times before, attacking the kobolds from behind me with steel-cold resolve.  Keldan took command of the situation pointing out tactics with calm, decisive, efficient commands.  By the time I had managed to shove one of my attackers into the pit he and the rogue had dispatched 2 kobolds and were on their way to aid me.  The other three made my hair stand on end with their dread magics, but that's nothing to what the kobolds suffered from them.  The battle was soon over.  Lucky for me.  I had suffered several deep spear wounds even with the help of my allies.  No way I would have survived without them.  We rested, bound up wounds, and decided to press on....
This message was last edited by the player at 01:53, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

Encounter 2:
(9/25/08)

While the bodies of the kobolds were being looted, 3 people stepped into the room from the stairway we had entered by.  They introduced themselves explaining they were here to kill kobolds in the name of the Lord Warden of Fallcrest.  One was a dragonborn fighter named Zack , another an Elf ranger named Bob, and the third was an Eldarin wizard named Em.  Em hit it off with Shadowsoul right away.  He joked things like, "Cloth armor is so worthless I was tempted to wear nothing and hang my sword in front.  One guess what my implement is...  WAND!"  "Yeah?" answered Shadowsoul, "Mine's a QUARTERSTAFF!"

It was decided that we'd join forces with the newcomers.  Once Pokem opened the portcullis and we proceeded through the hall single file with Pokem taking the lead again.  He peeked into the next room and described it to us.  4 stone coffins in the center and an altar at the far end.  While I was distracted with frustrations that dead kobolds can't explain why they've been attacking merchants, people entered the room and combat started without me!  The team poured into the room in crescent formation.  Someone glued one of the kobolds inside with a kobold glue pot!  What sweet irony!  Whisper stood atop one of the coffins and began cursing every foe in sight.  Callie and Shadowsoul took position near Whisper.  Keldan, Pokem, and Zack flanked a kobold to my left, and a kobold attacked Em to my right.

Wasn't hard to choose which ally to defend - the one with cloth armor who was getting speared.  I charged in and raised my blade for a sweeping strike, but slipped and fell.  I'd say all that was hurt was my pride, but Em was taking severe damage while I scrambled to my feet.  Em fought back with his magic and Bob unleashed a flurry of arrows into it.  On top of all this chaos, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a booby-trap firing on my allies and the glued kobold breaking free!  But the tide turned in our favor.  When the sticky kobold saw the flanked kobold collapse in a bloody heap it began to flee for it's life.

Their resolve was breaking!  "Surrender!" I shouted at my foe as I swung the back of my blade at it's head, hoping either I'd knock it out for later interrogation or if I missed it would wave the white flag.  The swing connected and the kobold fell unconscious.  Callie managed to knock out the runner before the others could kill it.  Another victory!  Interrogation goes so much better when you have two prisoners.

While we rested and discussed what our next move should be, Shadowsoul found a stash of 60 gold under the altar to Bahamut Tiamat.  "It's bad luck to take gold from an altar," it was suggested.  "Like my luck could get any worse," he answered, counting the coins, "I didn't hit a single enemy that whole fight!"

Keldan casually hacked the head of the dead kobold.  "Looks like you all have things pretty well under control here," he said, "and I'm beginning to feel a little cramped down here.  I'll not take any gold.  Instead I'll take this and return to town with news of your success."

"Callie," he continued with a smirk, "it's up to you to lead this group now."

What?  Were the past 2 encounters boring for him?!  I guess he really is as battle-hardened as he looks...

When Callie woke the kobolds, they were much more cooperative than I expected, in a sense.  "Foolss!" they snapped, "You have no idea the terror that waitss within!  The terror that made the Sskullkickerss massterss of this land!  BigIceDragon is hiss name and he shall freeze you to the bone!  Hiss teeth are like sswordss!  Hiss clawss sspearss!  His wingss a hurricane!  And his breath..."

When their boasting became more tiresome than useful we returned them to unconsciousness.  It was decided that we would press on and investigate their claims.  I wasn't too sure about going deeper into a dragon's lair, but we've passed through enough narrow tunnels that if we did wind up facing a dragon we'd have a way to escape.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:53, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

Encounter 3:
(10/2/08)

(Insert reason for Zack not showing up, like maybe he's on a late schedule and wanted to take a nap?  Maybe he wanted to talk to the warlord?  Maybe he's having second thoughts about fighting a dragon, and wanted to take the prisoners to town for proof we needed re-enforcements?)

(Note to reader: Kitau is nervous around magic and calls everyone who uses non-martial powers "mage" without making distinctions between wizard, warlock, or even cleric.)

Pokem snuck ahead and told us what he saw in the next room: a pit in the center surrounded by skull covered coffins, at the far side two 10' ledges with 2 kobolds on top of each divided by a double door.  One of the kobolds was holding a large stone that was secured to the ceiling above the pit by a rope.  They were arguing with each other about something in their draconic tongue.  Too bad Zack wasn't around to translate, but it was clear enough that what for them must be some kind of game of bowling-for-skulls sounded like it could quickly become a game of bowling-for-gnomes.

"Step aside," Em said with a confident smirk on his face, "I have an idea."  He teleported ahead, hidden behind one of the coffins, summoned some creepy disembodied floating hand, then signaled for the others to enter.  Didn't have time to discuss my thoughts of "we should try climbing the closest wall rather than get flanked at the door," before the others entered the room and began firing away.

I charged for the nearest ledge, but one of the kobolds glued me to the floor.  The rock passed over my head for how close I was to the ledge when it was released, but Callie wasn't so lucky.  I heard her cry out, but when I looked she'd been caught and set on her feet by Shadowsoul.  Not only that, but Em's flying hand had caught the rock's tether and brought it to a halt over the pit, preventing the kobolds from using that trick again.

By the time I managed to break free from the glue and scale the wall, one of the two kobolds on top was already half dead.  I was soon joined by Pokem, but the ledge to my right and now visible stairway to my left made flanking difficult.  He and I were the only ones toe-to-toe with the enemy while the others were attacking from behind the pit.  Then, with an amazing feat of agility, Bob leaped for the rope hanging over the pit, swung across, landed on the other side, fired two arrows, but he missed.

"Swing and a miss!" joked Pokem with a grin.  It's good to work with people who can joke in life threatening situations.  Bob scaled the wall and helped me flank the remaining kobold.  When the team felled the last of the kobolds, they began battering the double door with magic, but before they could knock it down two guard drakes ran up the stairway and attacked Pokem!  I tried to distract them, but couldn't keep them both occupied.  Pokem fell lifeless to the ground from the assault.

With another remarkable feat of agility, Bob retreated across the top of the double door behind himself to the opposite ledge and fired at the drakes.  Callie managed to wake Pokem with her magic.  One of the two drakes was soon dead, and the other would have soon followed, but then the most unexpected thing happened: Shadowsoul attacked Bob!

"You'll pay for that with your life, traitor!" Bob shouted as he retaliated.

"What are you doing?!" the others shouted at them, "Why'd you attack him, Shadowsoul?!"

"I don't need a reason," is all he'd say.

"Is he being controlled by some evil kobold curse?" I wondered to myself as I tried to finish off the drake, "Or is this the result of taking money from Tiamat?"

"I can't cure everyone at once!" Callie cried out in a panic.

"Cure me!" Bob insisted, "Kill him!  He's a traitor!"

Em used his flying hand to hold a sword at Shadowsoul's throat.  "End your feud you two," he demanded, "or I'll end you both!"

But Bob didn't heed the warning and shot an arrow through Shadowsoul's thigh.  Must have hit the femoral artery for all the blood that gushed from the wound.  Amazingly, the mage stayed on his feet without so much as an "ouch!"

"You had your chance to stop fighting," Callie said angrily, and she chose to cure Pokem instead of Bob.

"Let 'em fight!" Pokem insisted when the Drake fell dead, "I got your back, Shadowsoul!"

A questionable promise coming from someone who specializes in backstabbing.  Whisper just laughed and watched the duel.  Was the madness spreading?!  How long before my own senses would leave me?

I figured if I could just wrestle one of them to the ground the fight would end because the other wouldn't risk hitting me, so I ran full force toward Shadowsoul but he was enveloped in some murky black cloud and managed to evade me even with only one good leg.  One of Bob's arrows zipped past my ear.  So much for my plan.  Seemed Bob didn't care that I could get killed in the crossfire.  A ball of magical energy flew from Shadowsoul's hand and it exploded behind me where Bob was standing.  I heard the thud of Bob falling unconscious to the ground.  The fight was over.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:54, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

Encounter 4:
(10/9/08)

As promised, Em's blade slashed Shadowsoul's throat, and he dropped to the ground.  While Callie tended to Bob I did my best to patch up Shadowsoul, but the wound in his leg wouldn't stop bleeding.

"Little help here?" I asked the others.

"You do NOT attack allies and get away with it!" Em answered, arms folded.

"I don't know the first thing about that medic stuff," Pokem explained, "I start the bleeding, not stop it."

Whisper just shrugged with a grin.  Callie managed to help Bob regain consciousness and came over to try and help with Shadowsoul.  She shook her head gravely.

"Only thing left now is to use gentle repose," She said, he's dead.

"Don't bother," the officer from earlier said as he stepped into the room along side Zack and an unfamiliar human who was carrying a huge bow, "I can take him back to town for His Worship Ressilmae Starlight to raise.  What exactly happened here?  The Kobolds get the better of your friend?"

After we explained that Shadowsould had started a death match with Bob for no apparent reason, the human with the bow interjected.

"Sounds like something he'd do," he said.

"You knew this man?" the officer asked.

"Not personally, no," he answered as he began casually looting the corpse, "I was sent by the Mighty Tavage to execute him and return with his belongings."

"So you'll be wanting to take him prisoner after he's raised back to life?"

"Nah," answered the human, "and don't waste your time or money raising him either.  He'd likely just curse at you for bringing him back then kill himself."

"I'll relay what you've said to my Lord.  Off I go then.  Stay out of trouble, Zack."

The officer shouldered the corpse and left.  The human with the big bow introduced himself as Cross, and offered to join us on our quest.  Em noticed me taking notes and corrected my spelling.  Apparently his name is spelled 'M.'  Who knew?

Once Bob recovered I asked the group if they knew any tips on slaying ice dragons.  No such luck.  We decided to press on and perhaps learn by experience.  The next room had a 10' wall encircling the center that had a double door on the right side.  Was probably used for storage at one point.  When we approached the entrance of the room we heard a loud crashing sound to the right.  We had sprung a trap set by the Kobolds!

A huge round boulder began rolling around the room in a way that suggested it was under the influence of magic.  Two Kobold slingers came into view standing on top of the wall, and attacked the group.  They barely had a chance to fire a single volley before the strikers killed them, but two more slingers appeared.  Cross targeted the one on the left and put an arrow in each of it's eyes.  The one on the right fell just as quickly to Bob's bow.  Pokem, Bob, and Zack ran forward to the wall and climbed it, but they were attacked by two flying drakes.

"What are those?" it was asked, "Mini dragons?"

"Probably the boss kobold's pets."

"Then kill the boss first," Callie said, "So he doesn't have to see his pets die."

Once again Cross's bow struck true and felled the drake that had attacked Pokem while Zack split the other flying drake open.

"What was that about not killing them?" Cross asked, amused.

"Kobold boss priest things ahead," Pokem announced as a poorly aimed ball of ice zipped past him.

Whisper rushed in to the left side of the room.  I charged ahead to cover Whisper followed by Callie, and M.  Cross scaled the wall and began sniping from his new vantage point.  Apparently Bob wanted a closer look at them and decided to glide across the door-tops with his elfish agility like he did earlier.  M began cursing his poor accuracy as his spells flew harmlessly past our foes, but that wasn't quite as remarkable as when Zack tried to use his dragon breath and only managed to muster a puff of smoke.

Ahead I could see four kobold dragonshields, and two Kobold mages.  One of the dragonshields attacked Whisper, but she evaded.  I closed in but couldn't flank it.  Pokem hopped off the wall and completed the flanking maneuver.  While Zack kept the foes busy Bob decided to show off some more and leaped upon the rolling boulder!

"This is fun!" he said while firing arrows from atop his new mobile platform, "I wonder if this boulder can be tamed.  I'd love to have a pet rock!"

But the rock wouldn't be tamed and inevitably Bob took a painful fall.  Two of Cross's arrows buried themselves deep into the the Kobold boss, but much to my surprise it retaliated against me, Whisper, Pokem, and it's own ally with a massive blast of frigid magic!  I shrugged it off thanks to magical enhancements gained in battle from Callie earlier.  Whisper looked none the worse for wear, Pokem looked badly injured, but he was much better off than the dragonshield caught in the blast who fell dead.

After Bob finished off one of the two priests, a dragonshield attacked me.  I noticed the boulder coming my way and in a split second, a strategy presented itself.  I planned to attack the dragonshield then back off out of the path of the rock.  If the kobold retaliated against me, it would likely get run over.

I saw an opening in the enemy's defenses, ducked down and thrust upward at it's center of mass.  Both swords struck deep, drenching my fists in cold blood.  I could feel the blades shudder as the tips struck the spine of my foe with such force it was thrown back into the path of the rock.

It felt like time stood still for a moment as the team gawked at the strike.

"Way to go, Kitau!" they cheered, "Wow!  You don't see an attack like that every day!"

Sure enough, the boulder rolled over the helpless kobold.  Cross stepped to the edge of the wall and finished it off.  Callie cured Pokem then charged forward.  With a savage swing of her sword, she sliced open the throat of the kobold who'd blasted us.  The last of our foes fell dead.

We found some money, a magic staff, and a key.  I suggested we try the key on the doors to the central storage area, but they didn't have a lock on them.  Why would there be a key if there was nothing to unlock?  We must have missed a hidden treasure chest.  I searched the area again and found a secret locked door.  We tried the key on it and it opened!  I got the feeling our toughest trial was yet to come.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:54, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

Encounter 5 (10/9/08)

We moved deeper into the winding passage from the kobold chief's room by the light of the M's spell.  Eventually the stone tunnels gave way to a natural path.  There were kobold tracks in the mud that suggested we were on the right track.  The journey gave me plenty of time to consider my strategy should we encounter the dragon.  We reached a dimly lit cavern with bitter cold air.  In the center of the room was a pool of dark ice.  We glanced at each other, knowing that this must be the dragon's lair.

"Ok here's the plan, Pokem," I whispered, "Pokem?"

The team looked around.  He was nowhere to be found.  Neither was Zack.  Whether they'd snuck off to avoid facing a dragon or had gotten lost in the labyrinth was anyone's guess, but we hadn't heard any calls for help so it was unlikely they were in any danger.  We couldn't risk raising our voices and everyone was itching to be done with our quest once and for all so no attempt was made to search for them.

"OK any ideas for a strategy?" I asked, "Mine's shot."

"I saw something move," M answered as he stepped forward, "I say we blast it!"

He let fly a magical bolt over the ice to the far side of the room.  I heard an angry hiss.  The others sprung into action.  Cross and Bob moved in and let fly a barrage of arrows while Whisper raced deep into a cavern and hid behind a stone pillar.  Before Callie and I could react, the dragon swooped in from where it was hiding and retaliated against it's three attackers with a blast of ice and a deafening roar.

As I charged in and tried to distract the foe I noticed my allies had a look of horror on their faces.  Understandably so.  Before me towered a mountain of muscle, claw, and fang.  Callie turned the corner and attacked with one of her spells.  Whisper let fly a spell from where she was hiding, far behind the dragon, but the other three were frozen in place.

"D-D-D-Damn C-C-C-Cold," Bob chattered, "C-C-Can't M-Move!"

The dragon reared back and unleashed another frigid blast.  Damn cold is right!  It was difficult just to stay standing let alone move.  I answered with two swings, but for all my shivering only one connected.  Callie confidently walked among us, holding high the symbol of her faith.

"By Sehanin's love we shall prevail!" she pronounced.

A supernatural flash of moonlight like nothing I've ever seen engulfed the group in a healing warmth.  With renewed hope we renewed our offensive.  M teleported to my left, and summoned a blazing ball of fire behind the beast.  The two rangers stepped back firing arrow after arrow.  The dragon must have remembered my sword slicing it's toe.  It reared back and came down on me with an avalanche of razor sharp talons that easily pierced my hide armor.  Then in a flash it's jaws came at me with blistering speed.  I fell to the ground unconscious.

Callie's voice called me back from the darkness.

"LIVE!"

With that one word not only was I back in the fight, but all my wounds were gone!   I could scarcely believe I felt so healthy after knocking on death's door just moments ago.

"Die!" she shouted at the dragon as she followed up with an attack.  The dragon answered with claws aimed at us both, but the attacks from the rest of the team were distracting enough that it missed me.  Then in a flash, a memory surfaced that might be just the tactic I was looking for.

"There's a powerful fighter's battlecry," my father taught me, not long before he was murdered, "It's a word that can only be used once a day against one foe.  After that, it loses it's power till you've had a good long rest."

"What does it do?" I asked him.

"Once mastered, it's a word that tortures the mind of your foe so severely that it's defenses are shattered against your attacks.  Even more effective if spoken with a solid weapon strike."

"With one word?!  What word could possibly be so terrible?!"

I'm not fond of magic, but as quickly as I went down the next claw attack could kill Callie!  I needed to force the dragon to face away from my allies.  One chance at this.  I let the pain I had suffered earlier trigger the magic I was born with and vanished from the dragon's sight.  I was free to move quickly around the dragon without it retaliating against my lowered defenses.  I scrambled to my feet and rounded it's right foot.  From there I ran forward, jumped over the edge of the ice, used my swords as ice picks to keep from sliding too far, spun around, and as I hacked at the dragon's rear foot I let fly the word of torment my father had taught me!

"SUDOWOODO!"

The dragon bellowed in pain.  Callie blasted it and her magic engulfed me, making me feel even more powerful than before.  In a rage the dragon spewed ice at her, but I took the opportunity to remind it with my blade that it's dangerous to ignore a fighter's challenge.  It turned to face me.  I could see in it's eyes that my battlecry was echoing in it's mind.  It towered above me, breathing deep as if bracing itself for it's revenge.

"Burn, baby, burn!" Whisper giggled as she gestured above the dragon.

With a horrific rending sound, the air ripped open and liquid fire poured down on the dragon.

"You said it!" M agreed, as he motioned for his fireball to continue it's assault.

"Turn your back on me, will you?" Cross called from the far side of the room, "Big mistake!"

A well aimed arrow struck the dragon's leg with enough force to go straight through.  Arterial blood gushed from the wound and with a hiss mingled with the ice melting beneath M's fireball.  Two more arrows followed in quick succession, striking vital points in the dragon's neck and back.  It shrieked in pain, slipped on it's own blood, and collapsed dead.

After a quick rest we searched the room and found a locked chest.  Too bad the rogue and his lock-picking set weren't around.  I tried to pry it open but failed.  Cross tried to open it with an arrowhead but it wouldn't budge.  Bob tried the same trick and the lock opened.  Inside was a gem, some gold, and a letter written in an illegible scratchy script.

"It's draconic," Cross said, snatching the letter from the dumbfounded team, "Someone by the name of Irontooth wants to unite the local monsters against Fallcrest.  Offering an alliance with the dragon I just killed."

"We just killed," Callie corrected.

"Whatever," he answered with a shrug, tossing the note over his shoulder, "Means nothing to me.  I'll just take the gold and you all can have the rest."

"We split it all evenly when we return to town," Callie replied, "That's what the team agreed to before you arrived.  Be grateful you get a share at all."

We gathered up the spoils and headed for town.  Something tells me this Cross fellow is about as trustworthy as the dead man he replaced.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:49, Tue 21 Oct 2008.

Road to Windfall (10/23)

First order of business when we returned to Fallcrest wasn't sleep, even as late as it was.  By then the same thing was on everyone's mind: gold.  Pokem was sitting outside Nentir Inn doing what he does best - drinking ale.

"What happened to you and Zack?!" I asked, "You disappeared just before we fought the dragon!"

"I had a ale emergency!" he said with a grin, raising his mug, "I had to get a refill!  Can't speak for the winged lizard-man.  Haven't seen him since the chief's room."

Ale emergency my nose!  More like you ran out on the big fight!  He chugged the rest of his drink and stood up.

"Time to go see the big man then?"

"I'll pass on the 'big man,'" said Whisper, "I joined this team for some giggles, and boy did I get my giggles!  But fancy-pants meetings isn't my cup of tea.  I've got more important business to attend to - sleep!  Then tomorrow I'll be leaving town.  It's been ice snowing ya!"

She entered the inn with a loud yawn.  Guess I was wrong about gold being on her mind, she made no mention of getting a share of the spoils.  Pokem joined the group and Callie led the way straight to Moonstone Keep's courtroom.  Zack was escorted into the room by a medic while we waited.

"All rise for Lord Warden Faren Markelhay," the guard announced, "Lady Allande Markelhay, and High Septarch Nimozaran the Green."

Markelhay entered the room with his lovely wife and the creepy old wizard.

"Good to see you returned safely," Markelhay began when he took his seat, "Please make yourselves comfortable.  I hear you had quite the adventure!  Callie, tell me the short version.  No pun intended."

Callie relayed a very concise summary and presented the chief's skull mask, one of the dragon's claws, and the draconic letter as proof of our deeds.

"Very impressive!" he answered with a smile, "You all exceed my expectations!  Well done!"

He motioned to a guard who presented her with two sacks of gold.

"Your Excellency," Callie said, presenting the gems we found, "We found treasure in the Kobold's lair that probably belongs to the merchants that have been plundered recently."

The team practically jumped out of their seats, furious with her!  The guards readied their weapons.  I was about ready to burst out laughing!

"Probably," Markelhay answered calmly, folding his arms, "It's a shame there'd be no way to to know who the rightful owners are.  Consider them an additional reward donated by the merchants for justly punishing their attackers.  You've more than earned it.  Have the treasurer exchange them for an equal value of gold so you can divide the spoils more easily."

The room relaxed a bit.  I was relieved and disappointed at the same time.  It would have been interesting to see how that showdown would have gone.

"Speaking of dividing spoils," Callie said, turning to Cross, "There's the matter of the gold you took from the dead warlock.  It belongs to the team.  As does the gold you vanished with, Pokem."

"The hell it does!" Cross objected, "That guy was my mark!  Everything that was his is mine!"

"I'm a rogue," Pokem said, balancing his dagger on the tip of his finger, "I keeps what I loots!"

"Your Excellency?" Callie asked Markelhay.

"We split evenly!" I interrupted, "Or we split company!"

"Hey I was just kiddin!" Pokem answered with a smile, handing Callie a bag of gold.

Cross wasn't smiling, but he handed over the gold.  I was surprised he chose to stay rather than return to his 'Lord Tavage' - if such a person even exists.  I suppose this mercenary is at least wise enough to know more giggles, and more gold, is in the team's future.

Markelhay invited us to stay as his guests in the keep, and we accepted.  While the gold was divided among us, Zack explained he had a dizzy spell after the fight with the Kobold Chief and had to rest.  Callie was concerned for his health and asked him if there were any other symptoms.

"It's just something that happens sometimes after a tough battle," he said, looking away, "I don't want to talk about it."

The next morning, Markelhay treated us to breakfast and asked us to return for lunch.  The team went to the smithy to collect the reward for the dragon hide.

"Teldorthan Goldcap at your service!" he greeted us.

"Didn't you tell us your name was Ironhews?" Pokem asked.

"Never mind that.  Any news of the dragon hide?"

Callie laid the hide on his counter.

"News enough?" Bob asked.

The dwarf was overjoyed - after inspecting it for damage.

"By Moradin's Hammer!" he exclaimed, "If not for my responsibilities here I'd have flattened those nasty lizards myself!  Well done, my friends!  Your reward as promised!"

He handed over the gold which we divided.  The team parted ways to enjoy the morning before returning to the Keep.  Pokem and I stayed at the smithy to shop for gear.  If I learned anything yesterday it's that hide armor doesn't stop dragon claws.

"Can I interest ya in a good hammer?" Teldorthan asked, "If you can drive a nail you can kill an orc.  You can drive a nail, can't you?"

Pokem instead asked to see the dwarf's selection of swords.   Pokem and I both agreed - the sharper the better.  Teldorthan was generous enough to let me trade in my old hide armor for full value toward the purchase of a brand new suit of chain mail.

When we returned to the Keep for lunch, the team shared that they had picked up some quests, both of which were in the direction of Winterhaven - a two day journey to the west by way of King's Road.  Our host introduced us to a paladin who offered to help us on our quests.  Markelhay then bid us safe a journey and we headed out of town.  Along the way we were stopped by a woman.

"You're the heroes that slew the kobold chief, are you not?" she asked desperately, "I beg you!  Please find my missing husband!  His name is Douven Staul.  A few weeks ago he discovered a map to a dragon's tomb near Winterhaven and set out to find it.  I haven't heard from him since!  I don't have much to offer as a reward..."

She held out a few silver and began to weep.  Callie comforted her and told her to keep the money.

"Not even one gold?" Bob asked, "No thanks, lady."

"Don't be foolish!" M chided him, "Didn't you hear what she said?!  Dragon's tomb?  As in, could also have a dragon's hoard?!"

We promised her we'd do our best to find him and she thanked us profusely.  It was a long journey, but again Callie made it bearable.  We made good time and by sunset arrived at the crossroads of King's Road and the road to the ruins of Gardmore Abbey, well within the border of the Gardbury Downs.  The next morning we figured we should arrive in Winterhaven by dinner time and set off again.

As we rounded the last bend in the road before Winterhaven, Callie stopped us.

"Look!" she said, pointing at the road in front of us.

There we saw the familiar footprints of Kobolds in the road.  They looked fresh.  Pokem sneaked forward while the rest of the team just walked on down the middle of the road in plain view like there was no reason for caution.  Bob was the quickest of the group, and discovered that that's not always a good thing.  Several kobolds rushed out from behind the boulders and attacked him!

The 5 minions threw javelins at him, only one of which missed.  The dragonshields hung back waiting for the rest of our team to get in range.  The slinger hurled a smoking pot which exploded in a fireball when it landed near Bob.  M teleported on top of one of the boulders and held out his hands to incinerate our foes in a massive fireball... but all he conjured was a few embers.

"Magical fire is more reliable than flint, ya know," Cross taunted, "You should try it."

With a word, Callie healed most of Bob's many wounds.  The paladin charged forward and challenged one of the minions swarming Bob as Pokem ran forward to position himself between him and the minion.  The minion apparently didn't realize the danger and charged at the paladin.  Pokem held his dagger to the minion's throat who's own momentum carried him forward - the razor sharp blade opening a fatal gash in his throat.

The minions near Bob jabbed at him with their spears he dodged them all.  One threw a javelin up at M but it deflected off the boulder and came back down - right through another minion's skull!  M fired back and missed.  Zack charged a minion and hacked it's head off with a single swing of his axe.  Callie healed the rest of Bob's wounds who stepped back and fired an arrow into a kobold minion's heart.

The slinger hurled a glue pot at Zack that stuck him to the ground.  The two dragonshields charged in, attacking Zack and Pokem.  Cross answered with an arrow through the throat of one of the dragonshields.  I saw an opportunity and took advantage.  I flashed my left sword at the dragonshield and cut down a minion with the other.  The plot worked!  The dragonshield focused it's attention on me!

"Pokem!" I shouted, "Flank!  It's distracted."

The rogue took my advice and slipped behind the enemy lines, flanking both dragonshields!  Bob rushed in and fired two arrows at the slinger who answered with a fire pot!  M zapped at the slinger and missed.  The paladin struck a heavy blow on a dragonshield while Pokem finished off the other with a deadly double attack.  Cross fired another arrow, and the dragonshield staggered.  Zack finished it off with a massive blast of his fire breath.

All that was left was the slinger.  I charged in and sliced both low and high, deeply wounding it.  M fired at it and missed.  Bob, still on fire, fired another 2 arrows at the slinger, killing it.  Bob dropped to the ground rolling around to put out the flames.

"Cleric!"

Callie cured him and we rested before heading off again.  As predicted, we arrived at Winterhaven in time for dinner.  Here's hoping the team learns to be more careful about ambushes.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Fri 31 Oct 2008.

The Road to the Dragon Grave (10/30/08)

Winterhaven was a tiny fort set on top of a hill.  I was tired, irritable, and ready for bed, but the team wanted to eat and collect info on our quests first.  Well... except for the paladin, Cross, and Pokem who only cared about drinking all evening long.

To ask for info relating to our quests, I broke the ice with the locals by mentioning the kobold ambush.  It seemed to work well.  A farmer knew the location of the dragon grave where the woman's husband disappeared.  The local lord offered a bounty for taking out the kobolds and marked the location of their hideout on our map.  He speculated some about how dangerous the keep was, but like everyone else in town he thought the idea of a death cult in the area to be silly.

Everyone, that is, except an elf woman at the bar.  She wasn't very cooperative, but Bob pestered her until she finally said she saw some cultists at the kobold's lair.  I went next door to the blacksmith and commissioned a spiked shield.

The next morning the three drunks were too sick to be of any use, so we just left them behind.  I wanted to get revenge on the kobolds, but Callie insisted that we try and find the missing husband.

"He's probably already dead," I pointed out.

"And maybe he's not," Callie retorted, "and even if he is, if we get to him soon enough there's a chance I can still save him."

I couldn't argue and relented.  Along the way I made it a point to warn Bob to stay behind the armored defenders, especially Zack - his armor's better than mine.  I wanted to take point, but my heavy armor makes it impossible to keep up.  In spite of my warning, Bob shot ahead and climbed up a boulder, making himself the most obvious of targets for any lurking foes ahead.  Zack ran ahead, then did a double-take and a zigzag.

"AMBUSH!" he warned, but it was too late.

Two dragonshields teamed up against Zack while a wyrmpriest and his guard attacked Bob.  I charged in and flanked one of the dragonshields surrounding Zack.  Callie used a healing word on Zack while M stepped forward and caught the rest of our foes in an blast of fire!  The air was full of the smell of burning kobold and the sounds of their shrieks of pain.  M took cover behind some trees while they were distracted.

"That wormpriest is gunna pay!" Bob said, readying his bow.

"Kill the dragonshield first," me and Callie insisted, "Before it can climb your rock!"

He took the advice and finished off the roasted dragonshield with a pair of arrows.  Zack's cleaving swing deflected of the kobolds' shields, and my swords didn't do any better.

Callie moved in and confronted the skirmisher behind me but hesitated.  She looked like she couldn't make up her mind what to do.

"Do something!" I commanded, "Heal!  Blast!  Swing that sword if nothing else!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:23, Fri 07 Nov 2008.

(11/6/08) The Dragon Grave

Callie snapped out of her daze, backed up, and fired a ray of light at the skirmisher.  I dealt a fatal wound to the dragonshield in front of me.  The wyvernpriest sent a massive blast at Bob who yelled in pain, reeling from the attack.  Callie healed Bob who then challenged the priest.

"Go ahead!" he hollered, "Attack me again, priest! I DARE you!"  It took him up on his offer, but he was ready and ducked under the blast.  Out of nowhere, Cross appeared from the north road, fired a twin strike, and killed the priest!

"Hey!" Bob objected, "That was my quarry!"

"Toof sslow," Cross slurred, looking like he was still quite sick from the night before.

"Eat bastard sword!" Zack yelled at the remaining dragonshield before following up with a bull rush that sent his foe staggering back toward Callie.

"Aww," M joked, "Poor bastard sword doesn't know who it's parents are."

He got a few chuckles.

"I'm comffussed," Cross said.

"Common state for you isn't it?"

"Huh?"

That one got a good laugh out of the team.  The drogonshield retaliated against Zack.

"Move back!" I commanded Callie as I slashed at the dragonshield, "I got ya covered!"

"Well I'm gunna loot that dumb wyrmpriest," Bob said, "Looks like you got those others covered."

"What the hell!?" me and the others objected, "No looting till the fight is over!"

"Aw... Alright."

Bob sighed and fired two arrows into the dragonshield, killing it.  The skirmisher knew it had no chance and tried to make a run for it.  Cross nearly finished it off and looked annoyed.

"I got a smecial arrow jumst fer you!" he said, knocking an expensive looking third arrow with lightning speed.  He fired and killed the kobold, but the arrow was ruined.

"What a waste!" I objected, "The rest of us could have finished it off.  You shoulda saved that thing for a tougher fight!"

"I got 2 kills tomday," he answered, "It was worf it!"

Before long, bickering broke out over loot.  A strange looking talisman was found on the wyvernpriest.

"Whatever it is I want it," Bob insisted.

"My kill my loot!" Cross asserted.

"I'm taking it anyway."

"Go ahead and see what happens.  I'm on a roll today."

"It's a symbol of Orcus," M explained after getting a better look at it, "Demon god of the undead.  Good luck getting anyone to buy it.  It's worthless."

"Mine!" Bob demanded.

"Fine," Cross relented after hearing M's appraisal, "I don't want it."

"Undead you say?" Callie and I noticed, "This suggests what that elf woman said is true...  The kobolds are in league with the death cult.  We should hurry on."

---

At about mid morning we arrived at the burial site.  I was expecting a cave, but it was just a crater.  Apparently, the place had become popular because there were several people already there excavating the site.  Their party consisted of a halfling on the far side, a gnome man dressed in black armor, 4 human bodyguards and two guard drakes.  Most of them looked nervous by our approach.  Understandably so, we're all armed and except for Callie we don't exactly look like heroes.

"Welcome, visitors!" the Gnome called out to us cheerfully, "I'm Agrid.  You can't fully appreciate what we've uncovered from up there.  Come on down toward the dragon bones and see for yourselves what we've discovered!"

I was just about to take him up on his offer when M interrupted.

"It's a trap!" he shouted, "And they have a prisoner!"

"Kill them!" Agrid ordered.

The human rabble loosed their pet drakes.  M let fly a fireball that hit them both.  Zack ran forward to intercept them, but he was knocked down and knocked out by their vicious assault.  Cross and Bob moved along the east rim of the site and fired at the humans.  Agrid aimed his crossbow and shot Cross.

I charged forward and slashed the closest drake across it's face.  The human rabble moved forward a little, but did nothing more than cheer on the drakes.  Callie revived Zack with a healing word and blasted my drake with a spell.  M landed another fireball against the drake.  It looked like it wasn't going to last long.

"Let's see you try that again!" Cross challenged as he returned fire against Agrid but the gnome vanished the moment the arrow hit.

"Don't worry," I told the team, "I'm familiar with that Gnome trick.  It only lasts a few seconds.  Just stay sharp!"

Zack hopped back onto his feet and unleashed his dragonborn fire at the drakes.  They fought back, but Zack deflected one with his shield and I dodged the other.  Bob fired a pair of arrows, killing a human with each shot.  I shifted left and slashed at my drake with both swords, but only connected with one.

"Attack this one, Callie!" I yelled, "It's almost dead!"

She blasted it good, knocking it out cold.  M took out two guards with another flaming burst.  Cross fired at the remaining drake but missed.  Just then our old acquaintance Keldan arrived on the scene!

"Hey everyone," he said with a confident smile, "Miss me?"

He immediately moved for the front lines charging at the drake!  Things weren't looking good for our enemy.  Zack followed up and finished it off with a strike from his sword.  I had forgotten about the slinger across the way, but it gave me a painful reminder with a well aimed stone.  At the same time, Agrid reappeared and began to run away.

"Oh no you don't!" I shouted as I ran straight for him, "You're not getting away with your crimes!"

There was a 10' drop between me and him.  I decided to risk the climb and surprised myself with how quickly I made it down.  I charged Agrid, forcing him to either end his flight or risk a sword in his back.  M's fired a spell at him but it missed.  Callie stayed behind to cure Cross while Zack tried to catch up taking the safer rout down while dodging the slinger's attack.  Keldan followed my gambit but slipped down the slope.  Fortunately he got right back up, apparently none the worse for wear.  Any thoughts of escape Agrid may have had were ended when Bob finished him off with a twin strike.

All that was left was the slinger.  It looked so far away, especially with another 10' climb in the way, but I took the direct rout anyway.  Again I surprised myself with how well I scaled the side of the ditch, again blocking any easy escape for the slinger.  Callie's blast missed the slinger, and when M fired, it hit me in the back!

"HEY!" I shouted angrily, "What the hell'd you do THAT for?!  You trying to pull another Shadowsoul?!"

"Poor aim is all it was!" he insisted, "Sorry."

He sounded sincere enough.  No matter.  Cross finished off the last enemy with a barrage of four arrows!  I'm beginning to wonder if this guy is really human or a cheetah in disguise.  The prisoner was right below me so I climbed down to help Callie tend to his injuries.  He introduced himself and it turns out he's the very man who'd gone missing.  He thanked us for the rescue and offered us a magic necklace as reward.  He would have left for home on his own, but Callie insisted he stay with the group because the kobolds had made traveling the roads alone very dangerous.

Zack and Bob of course staked their claim to the necklace while Cross re-iterated his "my kill my loot" creed.  Me, Callie, and M of course pointed out that his philosophy was unfair and could even wind up unfair to him if he did most of the damage in a fight, but by chance didn't get any killing shots.  I pointed out that it made sense for a defender to wear the magic necklace for it's defensive properties, and voted Zack be the chosen defender since he's faster and more reckless than me.  The team agreed and we headed off for the kobold stronghold to end their ambushes once and for all.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:26, Sat 22 Nov 2008.

(11/20/08) Kobold stronghold

Before long we could hear the roar of a waterfall up ahead.  I reminded the team that this was likely the kobold lair, and that we should be as cautious as possible.  As we approached the waterfall, the team noticed several kobolds through the trees, though apparently they didn't notice us.  So sweet to catch THEM by surprise for once!  M stepped forward and used burning hands, killing a minion.  I followed up with a crushing surge against the dragonshield who was standing in a magic circle nearby.  I sensed something strange about the circle as I entered.

"Anyone standing within the circle shall be more accurate," M explained, apparently reading the runes.

"Works for me," Keldan answered as he charged at the dragonshield.  Bob took cover in the treeline and killed a minion.  Cross also took cover in the trees, killed minion, and shot a slinger.  Zack tried to push the dragonshield out of the magic circle with a tide of iron attack, but it held it's ground.  Callie attacked the dragonshield with sacred flame, transferring some of it's health to me.  M blasted a minion with another fire spell.  I skirted around the dragonshield, flanking it, and followed up with a crushing surge.

Next thing I knew I was surrounded and flanked by 3 minions, but thanks to Callie's magic they barely scratched me.  Three others charged M.  The dragonshield answered my challenge with it's sword, but I managed to duck under it's swing.

"I'll make an opening for you!" Keldan said with a furious smash against the dragonshield.

A skirmisher charged Zack from behind, but with a swing of his arm, Zack was able to shield himself from the attack.  Bob moved downstream and killed one of the minions that were attacking M.  Cross continued his assault on the slinger who retaliated with a glue pot, but Cross snatched it right out of the sky and put it in his pack!

With a wide arc of his bastard sword, Zack cleaved through dragonshield and into the skirmisher behind him!  Wish I had reach like that.  I didn't want to give up my flanking position against the dragonshield, but I had to do something to escape the minions that had me flanked.  I tried a distracting attack and missed, even with Keldan's providing an opening.  Luckily, a second chance presented itself, and this time I managed to take the opening!  Much to my surprise, the dragonshield fell dead!

I shifted away from the minions, but they surrounded me again.  This time I wasn't shielded by Callie's magic, so the attack hurt.  The other minions retaliated against Bob and M.  Keldan killed one of the minions flanking me.  The skirmisher attack Zack again, this time hitting it's mark.  With a pair of arrows, Bob killed the minion in front of him and the one in front of M.  Cross fired a shot at the skirmisher and the slinger.  The slinger answered with a stink pot which hit Cross, covering him in slime.

Zack ran around the minions near me, evading the opportunity attacks, then killed them both with one swing of his sword!  Callie moved into the circle, healed M, and fired another sacred flame at the skirmisher.  M hurled a magic missile at the slinger, killing it instantly.  I closed in on the slinger and hacked at it with both swords.  Keldan followed up with another sound hit.

"Iron tooth must be warned!" the skirmisher yelled as it turned to run, but I took the opportunity to finished it off.

We rested to heal our wounds while Cross bathed in the ice-cold river to get rid of the smell.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:18, Sat 22 Nov 2008.

Irontooth (12/4/08)

"Well," Cross said after retrieving what arrows he could from the battlefield, "I'm bored.  See y'all later."

"I need a break too," M said, "I'll be headed back to town."

I didn't say anything.  I figured we'd be fine taking on Irontooth with just the 5 that were left.  But not long after they disappeared from sight, a huge dragon swooped down and snatched Zack into the air, roaring something incomprehensible.

"Are you insane, woman?!" Zack objected to the dragon, "I am NOT your hatchling!  I'm not even a dragon!  Put me down!"

But his objections went unheeded and they were long gone before any of us could do anything.  Bob just rolled on the floor laughing.  I wasn't quite as merry.  We were down to four.  Me, Callie, Bob, and Keldan.

"Should we risk it?" Callie asked.

"I say we press on," I answered, "We've got all we need between us four.  Me and Keldan can keep their attention while Bob picks them off and you keep us alive with your magic."

"Divine blessings of Sehenin," Callie corrected, "Not magic.  There's a huge difference."

"I stand corrected.  Even so, it's all the same to me if Irontooth winds up dead in the end.  Let's go."

We carefully searched the area and found a cave entrance to the south.  We carefully approached and as soon as our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we saw some kobold minions guarding the entrance.  Callie fired a sacred flame but missed.  Keldan charge forward and killed a minion.  Bob kill the 2nd forward minion and fired a shot at another group to the right but missed.

"Hope I'm not too late for the main event!" a dwarf called out from behind us, "Delgar's the name!  I'll let my weapon explain why I'm here!"  Without any further introductions or explanation, he rushed past us toward the minions to the right.

The minions charged at him and surrounded him.  A skirmisher moved into view from ahead and attacked Keldan.  Without much time to consider who to aid, I decided on the ally I knew.  I charged at the skirmisher attacking Keldan then snuck past it to flank it.  Callie decided to aid the dwarf and fired another sacred flame at the minions surrounding him.

"Your aid is appreciated, stranger," Keldan called out to the dwarf before narrowing his eyes at the skirmisher, "As for you, lizard, you should surrender now.  Kord has granted us an ally, and honorable warriors never fall!"

The skirmisher shrieked in pain as Keldan's mighty attack landed a resounding blow.  My blood raced with renewed determination, and judging from the looks on their faces, Bob and Callie were just as encouraged by his attack!  Bob let fly a pair of arrows that felled 2 minions.  Delgar cleaved 2 more with a single swing before pressing further in.

"Kobold skum!" he challenged with a spit.

A skirmisher and 3 minions all moved in and attacked Delgar but none of them managed to wound him with their attacks.  I swung both my swords at the skirmisher me and Keldan had flanked then followed up with a thrust from both, killing it.

"Ye shall make fine sacrifices to Orcus!" a voice from behind me called.

A goblin with a large tooth protruding from his mouth appeared from the shadows and charged me.  This was obviously the dreaded Irontooth.  Callie fired a lance of faith at him but he ducked just in time.  Keldan tried a furious smash on Irontooth but the attack glanced harmlessly off the goblin's armor.  Bob fired a barbed arrow that pierced Irontooth's calf then followed up with a pair of arrows that both failed to harm the tough-as-nails boss goblin.

Two dragonshield appeared from the darkness and charged me and Keldan but we managed to avoid any serious harm.  Then a wyrmpriest appeared and hit Keldan with a fireball, but Keldan looked like he was about to laugh!  Then I realized what was so funny: Tieflings resist fire!  Delgar cleaved one of the skirmishers, killing a minion with the follow through.  One skirmisher attacked Delgar missed but the other one that was flanking me hit me with it's spear.  The minions all attack Delgar and this time one of them connected.

"Ow," Delgar said sarcastically, "Wee pansy attack!  My niece hits harder with a pillow... and she's a baby!"

I focused my attention on Irontooth.  I tore into him with the Villain's Menace technique my father taught me, and it hit hard.  He retaliated against me and Keldan but missed us both.  Callie used her incredible Beacon of Hope power that healed the team while weakening the dragonshields and a skirmisher.  Keldan struck Irontooth with an attack that shielded me from the goblin's next attack.  Bob followed up with a twin strike that sent Irontooth into a blood craze.

A dragonshield's attack was deflected off Keldan's armor, but being surrounded I was unable to evade the second dragonshield's attack.  I decided to take the opportunity to improve my position so I allowed the pain to fade me away, invisible.  The wyrmpriest apparently had learned not to bother attacking Keldan and instead hit Callie with another fireball.

"Oh dear," Callie sighed sarcastically, apparently unharmed, "A fireball hit me.  Whatever shall I do?"

I smiled at her confidence.  Delgar's cleave missed this time and the skirmisher took the opportunity to strike him with it's spear, but again the minions failed to harm him.  I flanked Irontooth and hit him hard with a twin strike.  Irontooth retaliated against me and Keldan, hitting us both just as hard.  But the pain was short lived because Callie immediately healed me to better health than before Irontooth's last attack!

Keldan and Bob continued their assault on Irontooth.  The dragonshield wounded me again, trying to pry my attention away from it's badly injured boss, but I refused to waver.  Delgar's next cleave killed a skirmisher and a minion.  The last skirmisher went after Keldan who evaded the attack.  One of the remaining minions hit Delgar.

"Thanks!" the dwarf answered tauntingly, "You just chipped a piece of dry sap that's been stuck to my armor!  Saves me the effort!"

Again my twin strike hit Irontooth hard and again he retaliated against me and Keldan with a howl of rage but this time we managed to dodge his attack.  Keldan and Bob then finished him off.

"Kalarel!" he screamed, "Lord Orcus!  Prepare my way!"

Hungry for revenge, the dragonshields slashed me and Keldan with their short swords.  A minion then hit Delgar.

"I'm hurt!" Delgar said, "Hurt that you didn't save me a piece of Irontooth!"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:56, Tue 16 Dec 2008.

12/11/08 The Note Discovered.

The dragonshields attacked and one hit Keldan as did a skirmisher.  Delgar tried another cleave but the enemy evaded his axe and a minion hit him with it's spear. "Fudgenudduck!" he cursed, then hacked both their heads off with one swing!  Never heard that one before.  I went after one of the dragonshields and one of my swords managed to penetrate it's defenses.  Cali healed Keldan, who then focused on healing me back to top fighting condition.  Bob opened fire on the Wyrmpriest and hit it with both arrows.

The dragonshields had me flanked and focused their attacks on me.  One wounded me especially badly.  Good thing Keldan had healed me just moments before or I'd have bit the dust.  Keldan broke their position with an opening shove on one of the dragonshields, and I hacked at it.  The dragonshields retaliated but this time I evaded them.  The wyrmpriest hit Bob with a powerful spell.

"Big woop," Bob said with a shrug.

"It's about time we start getting hit," Callie said to Bob, "Now I feel alive."

Apparently Callie had been hurt while I wasn't looking.  I scored a critical hit against the dragonshield and followed up with another successful attack.  Keldan sidestepped from the fray then charged right back in.  Bob landed another arrow into the Wyrmpriest who hit him back.  Delgar landed a resounding brute strike against the skirmisher, wounding it to within an inch of it's life.

"Darn!" he said, "I wanted to kill it in one swing!  Oh well."

The skirmisher fought back and landed a blow against Delgar.  With another twin strike, I managed to finish off the dragonshield.  Callie finished off Delgar's skirmisher with a sacred flame while Bob killed the wyrmpriest with an arrow that struck right between it's eyes.  The last foe standing was the other dragonshield.  It hit Keldan but Delgar charged it and finished it off.

In the room we found a treasure chest.  We searched Irontooth and found a silver key and a letter indicating there's a spy in Winterhaven.  The shifty elf, Ninaran instantly came to mind.  It also hinted at a more deadly foe who was about to open some rift to Orcus' realm.

About then Zack returned, aparently having escaped the dragon that snatched him away.  I took out my hammer and a piton from my climber's kit and dislodged his one good tusk to take to Winterhaven as proof of our deed.  Zack hacked Irontooth's toe off.  I gave him a curious look.

"What?" he said, "I wanted a piece of him too!"

"I want to pick the lock," Bob said.

"But we just found the key," he was answered, "And you could break the lock."

"Then I want the silver key," Bob continued, "Could be valuable."

We opened the chest with the key and found 420 pieces of gold and a suit of dwarven chain mail.

"I want that!" Bob and Zack chimed.

"But you're not trained in chain armor combat, Bob," I objected, "It's no use to you.  And Zack; your scale armor is tougher than chain."

"So?" Bob answered, "I could sell it."

"I thought we already discussed this.  We split gold evenly and valuable arms go to the one who can get the most use out of them.  In this case, that would be me or Keldan."

"You take it, Kitau," Keldan said, "I'm expecting to have to part ways with this group soon to deal with another matter."

"Thanks,"

"I'll be taking my leave now," Delgar said, "I was only passing through lookin' for an adventure.  Well met, brave warriors!"

I tried to talk him into at least returning to Winterhaven with us but his mind was made up.  We rested and parted ways.  Just outside town we were told of an kobold ambush in progress to the south.  We hurried down the south road and came upon some overturned carts.  By now we were very familiar with the kobold love affair with ambushes so we approached cautiously.

Zack spotted them and attacked with his fire breath, killing three minions.  Callie lanced a pikeman and Bob killed two minions.  Keldan and I charged in and I took out a minion.  Zack pushed the pikeman back with a tide of iron, but the pikeman pushed him back with his spear.  Bob fired a two fang attack at the slyblade, dealing a great deal of damage.  Keldan flanked the slyblade and wounded it, but it struck back and wounded Keldan.

Zack again pushed the pikeman back, but this time Callie finished it off with a lance of faith before it could retaliate.  Bob finished off the slyblade with an arrow through it's heart then followed up with another well aimed arrow through the slinger's chest.  I charged in and finished off the slinger.  We again stood victorious.

"I want to raid the carts," Zack proclaimed.

"Do that and you're no better than the bandits we just fought!  We came out here to help not to plunder."

We discovered there was nothing of value to recover from the carts anyway.  The merchants were nowhere to be found, but we found large footprints pointed north indicating they'd been carried away by something much bigger than kobolds.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Thu 08 Jan 2009.

1/1/09 A Dark Door Opened

"My errand lies south," Keldan told us, "So I must part ways.  As Delgar said, 'Well met, brave fighters.'  I'll return as soon as possible.  Hopefully before you defeat the one behind all this."

He smirked and continued with a wink to Zack, "As a wise man once said, 'I want a piece of him too.'"

He must have a lot of confidence in us.  Granted, we're undefeated so far.  Even against a dragon.  We took a short rest and returned to Winterhaven.  When we arrived we noticed the people were behaving nervously.  After asking around we surmised that they were feeling the effects of the opening rift to the undead realm of Orcus.

"A door has opened and it's dark behind that door!" as the old farmer Eilian put it.

Valthrun the Prescient was at the inn.  He confirmed our conclusions and told us that he'd discovered that Shadowfell Keep was built on the ancient rift to keep it from being opened.  Ninaran was there as well.  She commended us, sounding surprised that we survived.  When Lord Padraig arrived we relayed what we'd learned.  He promised us an impressive reward should we choose to take on the task of closing the rift and returning the missing merchants should we be so lucky as to find them alive.

"As for that spy," I said in a low tone, "I suspect the Elf, Ninaran."

"Be careful about making accusations without proof," Padraig chastised.

"She was the only one who knew where Irontooth was hiding," I insisted, "Hey!  Where'd she disappear to?"

Apparently she'd slipped away while we were distracted.  Callie and Bob offered to search for her.  I wound up discussing battle tactics and confessed that I was unwilling to go into battle again without the spiked shield I'd commissioned.  Padraig took me to the smithy and convinced Thair Coalstriker to let me assist him and his apprentice in making the shield for the urgent quest ahead.  It felt good to have a hammer in my hand again.  We worked well together, but I eventually gave in to exhaustion and passed out at the forge with the rhythmic ring of the hammer resounding in my dreams.

The next morning I woke to a dwarven boot kicking my ribs.

"Wake up, lazy bones," Thair teased, "Your friends are waiting for you at the inn."

"How long before it's done?" I asked.

"Lucky for you I figured you for the impatient type.  The shield is almost ready."

Apparently he'd been up all night working on it!  I was thrilled and commended his workmanship before heading to the inn.  Padraig was there chatting with my friends.  I learned that Callie and Bob had been unable to track down Ninaran last night.  He then introduced us to the only one in town who had volunteered to join us.  Leo the Tiefling, twin-flail wielding ranger.  He was eager to see combat and I was happy to tell him to expect plenty.

By the time we were ready to head out of town, Thair approached with the finished shield.  I thanked him for his hard work and traded him the chain shirt I bought from Teldorthan since I was now using the one found at Irontooth's lair.  The people of Winterhaven praised us as we left.  Somehow the lingering heat from the forge on my shield was warmer than their fearful accolades.

Not far from town we rounded a bend where we heard the sound of weeping coming from behind some trees.  Me and Bob went to investigate and the team was ambushed by several goblins!  Three minions attack me while a pair of minions flanked Zack.  I parried one with my sword and another with my shield, but the third got through my defenses.  A twin strike from my sword and shield killed one of the minions surrounding me and I shifted back to help flank one that was behind Zack.

Bob fired twice but both shots only hit enemy armor.  Leo put his two flails to good use, killing both of the minions that had Zack surrounded.  Zack leaped forward and cleaved two hobgoblin soldiers.  Callie hit one of Zack's targets with a lance of faith.  The enemy sub commander charged Zack but the attack was deflected off his shield.  The soldiers moved in and surrounded Zack, penetrating his defenses like the minions had done me.  The archer attacked Callie but the arrow bounced harmlessly off her chain shirt.  Meanwhile the remaining two minions charged me but I managed to defect both their attacks.

"Kill these two for me please, Bob," I requested, "So I can go help Zack."

"What if I don't?" he teased.

He killed them anyway.  One arrow each and they went down.  I charged the same soldier Callie hit and dared it to retaliate.  Leo missed attacked and hit the soldier in front of me.  Zack then cleaved both soldiers.  My target looked like it was about to collapse.  Callie retaliated against the archer with a sacred flame.  The sub commander hit with a ringing blow, leaving Zack bloody.  The soldier I challenged answered with it's weapon, but I deflected it's attack with my trusty new shield.  Meanwhile the other soldier attacked Zack and the archer went after Callie but both failed to connect.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Thu 08 Jan 2009.

I slashed my soldier with my sword as slipped around it's right flank to get closer to the center of the action.  I heard a familiar voice calling out from down the road we came from.

"At it again?" Delgar said, racing into the fray, axe at the ready, "Every time I see you, you're in the middle of a battle.  We really mustn't stop meeting this way."

The subcommander stepped forward and struck a blow against me, leaving me open for follow-up attacks from his allies.  They took the cue, flanked me, but I was able to recover and duck under both attacks just in the nick of time.  The archer fired at Delgar, but it's arrow bounced harmlessly off his armor.  I tried a double attack on the soldier as I pressed through the enemy ranks, but it parried both.  Callie tried a spell on it, but it dodged her too.  Bob followed up with a pair of arrows, and at last the soldier was felled.

"Nice shot!" I said.

"I'm sure you guys can handle the other meat-heads," he answered, "Leave the archer to me."

"Flank 'em, Delgar!" I requested with a nod at the remaining soldier to my right.

"Aye!" he said as he stepped in to hack it with a reaping strike, "Face me, goblin!"

Callie fired another spell at the subcommander.  It ignored her and instead flanked me and landed another staggering blow.  Delgar's foe retaliated against him while shifting away from me to break the pin, but Delgar parried.  The archer apparently understood Bob's plan and fired at him, but missed.  Bob answered with two arrows and both hit their mark.  I decided against retaliating against the subcommander and instead slipped behind the soldier and hit it in the back with a crushing surge.

Delgar swung at both the enemies within his reach, but the subcommander ducked and yanked his ally away from the axe's path just in time.  It wasn't quite enough for the soldier to evade Callie's spell, though.  I slashed the soldier who was clearly looked about ready to drop dead.  The archer returned fire against Bob and inflicted a critical wound.  Bob answered with a fatal shot.  The archer fell forward off it's rocky perch and landed on it's head with a muffled bone-snapping sound.

The subcommander went after Delgar this time, and hit with it's staggering technique, but Delgar managed to evade the solder's follow-up anyway.  He responded with his own follow-up, cleaving them both with one swing.  One of Bob's twin arrows hit the subcommander.  The soldier glanced and wound up with Callies spells right in it's face.  It shrieked and fell unconcious.  The subcommander panicked and tried to make a run for it.

"Ya ain't gettin' away from me!" Delgar shouted as he used the momentum of his previous attack to bury his axe deep in the subcommander's back, killing it instantly.

While we caught our breath, we searched and found the source of the sound we heard earlier - the captured merchants!  They thanked us repeatedly and urged us to return to town with them.  Callie explained the urgency of our quest, so they returned to town without us.

"What about the reward we were promised?" Bob objected.

"We'll collect after we've eliminated the threat of an impending zombie hoard attack.  Collect now and the town may not live long enough to pay you again."

After a short rest we resumed our journey to the Shadowfell Keep.

---

2/5/09 Goblin Guard Room

The keep was in ruins, but there was plenty of evidence of underground occupants.  We followed the clues to what looked like the only way in and snuck down the stairs.  The air was unnaturally cold and within a few steps we could see our breath in the frigid air.  We came upon a room lit by torches that stank of unwashed goblins.  Across the way was a bored looking goblin warrior that apparently hadn't noticed our approach.  Callie counted from 3 on her fingers and we sprung into action.

Bob's first arrow inflicted a critical wound and the second was enough to leave our foe staggering.  Callie fired a spell and Delgar rush in, only to and fall into a hidden pitfall in the middle of the room.  I heard the angry squeaks of several rats attacking Delgar immediately followed by the final squeaks of pain from those he hacked to pieces.

I skirted around the trap and charged at the warrior.  It retaliated but I deflected it's weapon with my shield.  Just then a pair of goblin sharpshooters steped into view.  One hit callie, and the other fired at me but the arrow was deflected by my armor.  Bob landed another arrow in the warrior and Callie finished it off with a spell.  The remaining rats bit Delgar but he killed all but 2 rats with his second attack.  Since it looked like he was doing fine I rushed the nearest sharpshooter, but it dodged my swing.  I tried to hit an opening it left when it shifted away from me, but I was off balance and missed.

Another warror charged me from the left, but I blocked the attack by raising my shield.  The sharpshooters took full advantage of the opening and both buried arrows into me, leaving me quite bloodied.  Bob shot one of the sharpshooters and Callie healed me.   Delgar finished off the rats, climbed out of the pit, and charged the warrior.  I tried a crushing surge on it, but it dodged and countered with a blow that glanced harmlessly off my armor.

Bob's sharpshooter fired back at him but missed.  The other hits Delgar, knocking him unconcious.  I didn't realize the rats had hurt him so badly.  Bob's next 2 arrows were enough to bloody it.  Callie healed Delgar back to conciousness and followed up with a spell that killed the sharpshooter.  With surprising energy, Delgar flipped onto his feet and used the momentum to knock the warrior flat on it's back!  I followed up with a crushing surge, but it rolled to the side just in time to avoid the attack.

It scrambled to it's feet and attacked me but I dodged.  The unharmed sharpshooter fired at Bob and hit.  Bob answered with a barrage of four arrows, but only one connected.  Callie let fly a pair of spells at the warrior.  It ducked under the first, but the second connected.  Following the team's trend, Delgar shifted forward and attacked the sharpshooter that felled him with a double cleave, but both attacks failed to hit.  I chose to stick to just one attack, and my crushing surge hit the warrior.

It thrusted back at me, but I parried the attack.  The sharpshooter attempted to back away from Delgar but he took the opportunity to bloody it.  It answered his attack with a point blank shot that landed deep into Delgar.  Bob's next arrow finished off the sharpshooter.

"Ye won't be offended if I steal your kill will ye, lass?" Delgar asked me rhetorically as he finished off the last remaining foe with a reaping strike.

"So long as the enemy is defeated I'm happy," I answered.

We took a short rest to bind our wounds and decided to follow the hallway that led west of the entrance.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:28, Thu 12 Feb 2009.

2/12/09
torture chamber

As we were nearing the staircase that we entered by, we heard voices from outside.  We soon discovered that it was a pair of new adventurers who had come to aid our quest.  One was a Eladrin wielding 2 sickles named Basil Wrathbone III.  The other was a Human boy named Eli, young even by their standards.

"You're much too young to be going on dangerous quests such as this," me and Callie agreed.

"It would be much too dangerous for me NOT to deal with this threat," he answered emphatically, "Not only for the people who live here, but also myself.  My age will not matter to the undead hoards who will overwhelm this entire region if this rift to the Shadowfell reopens.  Mine is a well known noble family and we have a vested interest in the safety of this region.  I've sent for help, but I doubt my father's forces will arrive in time to be of any help.  I'm the only willing wizard in the area with enough skill to close the rift if it should open."

To prove his point, he painted runes of light in the air with his finger.

"Fine," I answered, "Just keep quiet and stay out of sight until your magic is needed.  What's your story, Basil?  Why are you here?"

"Just a humble adventurer," he said with a charming smile, "I employ my blades in the service of others.  I was passing through Fallcrest looking if anyone needed help.  Buzz of the town was that a team of dragon-slayer heroes had gone to Winterhaven in search of a missing person.  Figured I might be of assistance.  By the time I arrived I learned you'd already rescued the poor man and were already off to save the world from some terrible threat up here.  So here I am, at your service."

He gave an elaborate bow.  Even as trustworthy as they seemed, I decided to lay down the law for the newcomers.

"I've found it necessary to spell it out up front that ALL rewards are divided EQUALLY among the group.  Nonsense like 'my kill, my loot' or 'I found it, it's mine' won't be tolerated.  If you don't like those terms, you can leave."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Basil answered without batting an eye.

"Me neither," Eli answered.

We snuck down the hall to the west which ended with a door to three sides.  There was blood on the floor between the north door and the west door.  Bob checked the west door and found a room full of provisions.

"Let's burn it!" he suggested, "Starve the enemy!"

"By the time they would have starved, the rift will be wide open!" Callie pointed out.

There wasn't anything of interest beyond the door to the east, but Basil heard goblin voices in the room beyond the north door.  We had Bob carefully open the door a crack in hopes we could get the drop on the enemy.  Through the crack we could see that the north room was a torture chamber occupied by a hobgoblin torturer, and two goblin sharpshooters.  They spotted Bob.  The torturer grabbed hot pokers from a fire pit and shifted to one side.  Then a sharpshooter hit Bob with a bolt from his crossbow.

Eli immediately cast a spell that covered the ground under the torturer and a sharpshooter with ice.  They slipped on the ice and fell over!  A floating blue hand appeared in the room and began taunting the prone sharpshooter.  I ran in and hit the standing sharpshooter with a crushing surge.  Bob entered the room and with a powerful thundertusk boar strike knocked the sharpshooter back into the fire pit, killing it.

"That's payback for shooting me!" Bob shouted after the sharpshooter shrieked it's last.

"There's two others in here!" I warned the others not yet in the room, pointing out their locations, "A warrior and a sharpshooter."

Callie entered the room and shot the warrior to my right with a spell.  Basil entered and attacked the warrior with his sickles.  The warrior countered against Basil and hit.  The sharpshooter got back up and attacked me but his bolt bounced off my ready shield.  The sharpshooter at the far end of the room fired from between the bars of the prison cell he was standing in but Bob dodged the bolt.

Eli blasted the sharpshooter with another spell and the blue hand resumed it's taunts.  Basil and the warrior continued to exchange blows while Bob hit the torturer with one of his twin arrows.  I pressed the sharpshooter, but was unable to land a blow.  Callie hit the warrior with a spell that created an opening for Basil.  The the torturer charged me but I ducked under his thrust.  The sharpshooter tried to back up but I interrupted with a jab from my sword.  It swung back with it's sword but I parried.

Eli cast another spell that made the ground below the sharpshooter erupt into flame, killing it.  The torturer then became the target of the floating blue hand's taunts.  Basil wounded the warrior deeply, skillfully spilling it's blood with a flourish from his sickle.  It swung back, but Basil parried with his second sickle.  I went after the torturer with a crushing surge, drawing it's attention.  It answered by stabbing me with it's hot poker dealing a painful burning wound.  Bob again hit the torturer with one of his twin arrows while Callie healed Basil.  The last remaining sharpshooter hit Bob.

Eli hit the torturer with a magic bolt and the blue hand followed up with a slap to it's masked face.  I hit the torturer with a distracting spate, and Bob finished it off.  The warrior evaded Basil's next attack, but Callie charged in with her bastard sword, dropping it to the floor lifeless.

The sharpshooter moved to the north side of the room and shot me.  Eli hit the sharpshooter with a magic bolt.  Basil charged after the sharpshooter but it sidestepped and shoved him to the torture table nearby.  I moved in and attacked with both sword and shield but the sharpshooter parried and dodged both.  It even dodged Callie's next spell, but Bob moved in and his second arrow nearly killed it.

"Payback for shooting me!" he barked, "Everyone go for a knockout!  I wunna shove it into the iron maiden!"

The sharpshooter tried to duck under the table behind it but I finished it off with an opportunity attack.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:18, Thu 19 Feb 2009.

2/26/09
Balgron the Fat

About the secret passage being the escape rout.  "Rogues do it from behind."  "with his pants down as they say"  callie "what were you saying about do it from behind?"  "i'll poke his concious should he get out of line."

bob: "we'll trust you if you put your friends in the iron maiden.  i'll train him and make him my faithful companion."

bob grabs food and puts it right out of reach.  callie kicks it to him.  basil says "bob, you're just looking for excuses to torture him.  you're alright!"

When we reached the bottom of the east staircase, we heard what sounded like Goblins arguing in the room where they were digging for treasure.  I failed to be stealthy enough, and Balgron woke up.  Bob fired a pair of arrows, then Eli cast a sleep spell.  Callie fired a lance of faith.  A warrior who was apparently standing guard behind the curtain opened the curtain and attacked Bob, but Bob evaded.  I hit the Warrior with a crushing surge,  Basil bloodied him with a sly flourish.  Both Bob's attacks miss.  Eli's spell missed.  Callies lance of faith missed.  Warrior retaliated against me, but I parried.  I missed my twin strike, Basil missed his sly flourish.  Bob fired a boar strike at Balgron, bloodying him.  Eli shifted back and hit Balgron with an illusary ambush.  Callie attacked the warrior with lance of faith but missed.  The warrior slashed my shoulder with it's spear, dealing a grievous wound.  Balgron fired back at Bob but missed then moved off his bed.  I finished off the Warrior and moved next to Balgron.  Bob shifted back and finished off Balgron with a twin strike.

Balgron begged for mercy.

Bob "Give us some info and we'll let you live."  Bob failed to kick it open.  We found gold and a magic wand.  Interrogated Balgron.  He begged for his life.

Kitau: "You don't even realize what you're dealing with, do you?"

Basil."The average goblin could be out-witted by a cup of tea."
balgron revealed there's ochre jellies in places the hobgoblins won't dare go.
"Quick!  break out the bread and peanut butter and let's have lunch!"
"shadow seeks shadow.  and life fails in the dark."

discussed how to use Balgron.