GAME RECAP: PLEASE READ

[Gelatinous Q]

Your party:
Bran Grimload, D, F1/C1
Gordon Gradon, ½ E R1/C1
Ulfronde Vlissingen, Gn I1/T1
Iomhar Mac Lyr, human A1
Savik Greenlander, E F1/Mu1/T1
Glognius “Glogs” Epithlet, human F1
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CHAPTER ONE: It all starts, oddly enough, in a tavern...
While cooling your heels in the frontier garrison city of Ratikhill on the last day of Brewfest CY 576, you’re approached in a tavern (The Marble Harpy) by Zaillo Ollenstask, captain of the guard for a landed lady of means seeking to commission an expeditionary force to retrieve an item of value to her. Ollenstask himself is unclear as to the nature of this item, but he does know that she will pay 500 gold pieces for its safe return. Hard up for funds and a little bored, you agree to ride with Ollenstask and his men the next morning for an audience with his employer. Ollenstask and his men retire for the evening, but not before a local bard belts out a bawdy tune that seems to be a pointed insult of their patroness. A fight is narrowly averted.

You meet the Captain the next morning at the city gate, where he reveals that he serves Alcastra, a Baklunish wizardess who was recently granted a fiefdom by the Baron as reward for her assistance in last year’s campaign against the humanoids of Bone March — a figure of considerable controversy. He gives you the option to renege if you so choose, but you press on. Around mid-morning you spot a lone rider astride a huge black warhorse surveying you from a ridge some distance away, but he disappears as suddenly as he showed up. The rest of the ride is uneventful and you reach Alcastra’s tower by late afternoon.

In your audience with the wizardess, she explains that the Great Library of Delleb in Rel Mord has recently been rocked by scandal — one of its most prized holdings, The Illhiedrin Book, has been proven a forgery. Alcastra has made a lifelong study of this book, which she describes as “an academic curiosity,” and the uproar in Rel Mord has only confirmed what she long suspected. In fact, she believes that the genuine Illhiedrin Book can be found somewhere within the borders of Ratik, hidden in the tower of its last known owner, the long-dead mage Charrellsfane. Problem is, no one seems to know exactly where this tower is located, and Alcastra herself, owing to the management of her newly acquired fiefdom and various internecine disputes with other petty Ratikan lords, can not afford to appear too aggressive in her searches. She wants to hire you to find the mage’s tower, retrieve the book and return it to her in a fortnight’s time. She also suggests that you start your search in the farming village where Charrellsfane was born, Tassin’s Wood, XX leagues away; the priest at the village temple may know something of the tower’s location, though he has been uncooperative with the wizardess in the past.

You successfully negotiate your fee from 500 gp up to 600 — or 100 gp per head. Alcastra also offers the use of mounts and three magic items: a +1 long sword, a wand of secret door and trap detection (11 charges) and a MU scroll containing the spells sleep and magic missile. The magic items are yours to keep if you retrieve The Illhiedrin Book under the terms Alcastra has set.

The next morning you leave for Tassin’s Wood in the company of Sergeant Shadwraith, who is bound there on furlough. Once more, you see the figure on the large black warhorse trailing you at a distance, and once again he disappears before you have a chance to investigate.

CHAPTER TWO: In Tassin's Wood
After securing stabling and lodgings at the Scarlet Moon Inn in Tassin’s Wood, the party breaks into two groups. Bran, Gordon and Glogs head to the temple to chat with the high priest, Lassering Thay, who, they learn, is just about to depart on a relief mission to the famine-stricken village of Optwall. The priest doesn’t know where Charrellsfane’s Tower is, but he knows of someone who does: Charrellsfane himself! The temple clerics also serve as custodians of the mage’s tomb, some two days’ ride away in the far reaches of the Grimmleaf Forest. He might supply the party with a scroll that will enable them to question the dead wizard directly, if it weren’t for news of a detachment of orcs very recently sacking the tomb. Thay fears that this may be a ruse to draw out the village’s defenses, leaving it vulnerable to attack by a larger force sweeping out of the Blacktooth Ridge to the west. In exchange for their vow to rout the orcs, he gives the party a clerical scroll with the spell speak with dead. He also allows them to copy a map of the Loegrimm Valley from the temple library, and offers them the services of an acolyte, Stregghi, who can serve as guide and healer, though he is forbidden to engage in combat in the tomb itself.

Meanwhile, in the Scarlet Moon, Iomhar, Savik and Ulf chat up the locals and patrons for info. These include:
• Kreagold Natripper, proprietor.
• Iano and Alcrecia Natripper, serving wenches.
• Matthelemew Natripper, stable boy. Savik pays the boy several s.p. to be on the lookout for strange newcomers.
• Smoot & Groot, yokels. Father and son, drinking buddies with Sergeant Shadwraith.
• Sergeant Shadwraith, with whom the party is already familiar. A stumblebum drunk, Ulf and Savik eventually have to carry him back to his room, where Savik attempts to rifle through his desk drawer, breaking the lock in the process.
• A knight militant from the Theocracy of the Pale hunting a man named Ruas wanted for murder, arson and horse thieving in the Palish village of Frostang.
• Kaystar Saru, a friendly sort of fellow, just passing thru. When he questions the group as to what brings them to Tassin’s Wood, Iomhar devises a story about a horse trading venture across the mountains. Saru’s bound that way himself and offers to guide them. Rides a beautiful black warhorse.
• Tristan, an elf with an unfortunate hairstyle.
• Grainger, a priest from the Temple of Delleb in Ratikhill, who seems to know a lot about Charellsfane. An abrasive personality, he is suspicious of your group and your motives. He and Iomhar exchange insults and he eventually leaves in a huff.

The party briefly reunites and swaps info, then Gordon, Iomhar and Bran depart to provision the group for their journey. At the village smithy, they buy iron spikes and a grappling hook, and Bran places a down payment on a pair of custom-made throwing hammers. At Tassin’s Woods Sundries they purchase a 50’ coil of rope and a block and tackle assembly.

Further developments at the Scarlet Moon that evening:
• A group of seven mercenaries arrives. They turn out to be the high priest’s escort to Optwall.
• Gordon approaches the knight militant about joining the expedition against the orcs. He declines, citing his mission to bring his man to justice. When Kaystar Saru’s name is brought up, the knight grows agitated, but he admits that he has no evidence to tie Saru to the crime. He also suggests that Saru has friends in high places in Rauxes and Blemu Castle.
• A group of five elves enters the tavern. It is remarked upon repeatedly that the village has never seen this much elvenkind at one time. They are standoffish and seem fairly indifferent to the other elves present.
• Tristan returns and, overhearing your plans to take on the orcs, offers his services. When he requests a full share, Gordon dismisses him out of hand.
• Grainger returns and the war of words with Iomhar picks up where it left off. Savik engages the cleric in a private discussion — in elvish — and he demonstrates a pretty accurate understanding of what your goal is and for whom you’re working. He too seeks The Illhiedrin Book in the name of the order of Delleb. The book, he says, contains “terrible mysteries not to be trifled with by charlatans.” He suggests that if the party will not make common cause with him, he will recruit his own force to retrieve it.

CHAPTER THREE: What the dead mage said
The next morning you take your leave of the Scarlet Moon. Kreagold gives Savik a note from Grainger. On the way out of town you pick up Stregghi in front of the temple.

Around mid-morning, you spot a group of six orcs working their way up a ravine that runs roughly parallel to the forest path you’re on. The orcs take up positions behind partial cover and a firefight ensues.

Combat Round 1: initiative goes to party
• Bran and Glogs hop into the ravine and begin to charge into melee range
• Gordon and Savik provide cover fire; one orc is killed
• Iomhar ties up his horse, hops into the ravine and takes cover behind a rock
• Ulf takes up rear guard position on the trail and attempts to hide in shadows
• Stregghi ties up horses and hops into ravine
• In the orcs’ half of the round, they concentrate fire against Bran and Glogs, missing on all shots


Combat Round 2: initiative goes to orcs
• Gordon begins casting entangle
• Orcs fire a volley at Bran, Glogs, Iomhar, Stregghi and Gordon; Stregghi is hit for 4 points of damage
• Glogs and Bran get off killing blows in melee; two more orcs down
• Iomhar and Stregghi charge into melee range
• Gordon’s spell goes off on segment 7, entangling everyone, orc and otherwise, in the ravine. (The orc leader makes his save, but his movement rate is halved).
• Savik starts to move into range to cast charm person on the orc leader in the next round.

The game will resume at the beginning of round 3, Gordon and Savik gaining automatic initiative vs. the entangled orcs.

[Gelatinous Q]

I reconstructed this narrative from our in-game posts and private messages. As such, I think it's fairly comprehensive, but if there's anything you're fuzzy on, or anything of importance you feel that I've left out, feel free to add to the discussion here.