Story so far: chronology of adventure.

[Straither]

Here is the Story so far,

a rough chronological account of how the party has got on and what individual characters have done.

It may help you with understanding your progress and I will try to note any ongoing conditions that characters have:

Fawkes Half-orc cleric/thief
Goran Halfling thief
Olleg Dwarven fighter
Brick Half-orc fighter
Vennar Human cleric
Galadria Human cleric
Durrant Human magic-user
Edel Elven magic-user, (with Pallas his owl Familiar)
Mortar Gnome illusionist.


4.00am: Eight bells. Team descend into dinghy from sloop anchored in Highport Bay to row to jetty.

4.10am: tie off at jetty, scouts check out crate wall as others don armour and gear.

4.20am: Edel sends Pallas to scout ahead. Mortar casts Invisibility upon himself and investigates towards the City Gates.

4.30am: Team ignore Cathedral Ruin, opting to sneak up alleyways.

4.40am: Encounter Hobgoblin Hovel

4.50am: Kill Hobgoblins in hovel. Rescue Esther

5.00am: Move through alleyways and observe Weasel ratcatchers

5.10am: move through the Artisan alleyway

5.20am Ambush Kobolds and wagon. Reunite with Mortar.

Mortar: 4.20am treks to Lighthouse Watchtower.

4.30am: Observes City Gate and exterior shanty town.

4.40am. Sneaks to Derelict Watchtower.

4.50am. Observes Gruumsh ritual, is observed by Jacupo, a shackled captive. One of three, they are being decapitated as an offering in the dedication of the derelict tower's reconstruction.

5.00am. Casts Illusions to mesmerize guards, disturbs ritual by Phantasmal force illusion of Gruumsh face. The effect distracts priests and guards.

5.10am. Hijacks prison wagon and escapes with Jacupo & Rogger

5.20am. Ambushed by Kobolds as he drives through city. In turn these Kobolds are simultaneously ambushed by main party.

Party

5.30am. Sneak through wasteland graveyard to locate Temple Ruin.

5.40am. Pallas flies over Ruin, Mortar, still invisible, walks around perimeter.

5.50am. Locate and enter secret passage, behind Saint statue in exterior wall alcove. Brick dusted with 'dust of disappearance' (3hrs invisibility).

6.00am. check out interior passages and 'Basil' room.

6.10am. Encounter Ghouls and Ghast 'Ogre', former Icon hero turned into Undead.

6.20am. Turn ghouls and search lair.

6.30am. Cross treacherous beam room. Fawkes causes ledge collapse which brings wall down, exposing interior courtyard. The thief goes to explore.

6.40am. Barrel alcoves and Sundew room.

6.50 am. Defeat Sundew and Bone-claw.

7.00am. discuss trove, reunite with Fawkes, Turn Skeletons who have followed Fawkes from the courtyard into the rooms.

Fawkes 6.30am. explores courtyard.
6.40am. Detects Evil in the courtyard cairn.
6.50am. Fakes being a gardener, joins Skeleton Crew.
7.00am. Tries to flit unseen back into Temple, failing his skill check causes the Skeletons to follow but they get Turned.

7.10am: Fawkes and invisible Brick Listen at doors to Stable.

7.20am. Weasel Guards spot Fawkes, assume he is a cleric on Temple business and escort him to Toolshed guards who are in need of prayer and exorcism. Goran sneaks after him. Mortar goes and spies on Kennels where Giant Weasels are housed.

7.30am. Brick treated for Ear-Seekers, Fawkes preaches to scared Orcs. Goran interrupts preaching, the Orcs believe he is the personification of the cemetery Haunt.

7.40am. Alarm sounds as Fawkes & Goran are driven into Memorial Garden Cemetery. Other party members shelter in Sundew room as guards rally.

Fawkes & Goran:

7.50am. Encounter Graveyard Scarecrow. Fog covers cemetery.

8.00am. Locate Cemetery Crypt and grave of Icon Phanstern. The vengeful spirit of the Memorial Cemetery has been using Phanstern's known spells to wreak havoc in the gardens.

8.10am. Interrogate paralysed guard.

8.20am. Move coffer to reveal stairs, descend into tunnels.

8.30am. Spy on Sewer Vault. Observe traitorous Icon Blodgett and Slave Lord Steward .

8.40am. Listen in on their conversation. Watch Blodgett leave. Continue spying.

9.00am. Steward leaves, guards target practice on turd floating around moat.

9.10am. attempted heist upon steward's desk fails. Goran fakes being Blodgett and befriends Orcs after being spotted. (Using Friends spell from magic ring).

9.20am. Fawkes kills two Orcs patrolling in tunnel.

9.30am. Friendship wanes, Goran attempts escape leading to combat with Sewer Guards.

9.40am. Steward, weasels and Blodgett return. Fawkes & Goran retreat through tunnels.

9.45am. Minor distraction causes giant weasels to choose wrong direction in passage, allowing them to avoid melee for a couple of rounds.

9.50am. Fawkes & Goran locate Slave Market, failed sneak-by uncovered, guards and weasels close in.

9.55am. Combat by Rotating secret door, Fawkes & Goran escape combat and dive for cover into sewer channel.

10.00am. Fawkes & Goran swim to tunnel collapse, hide in sewage and climb up rubble to shelter on thatch of flotsam in rubble dammed sewer tunnel.

11.00am. While sewer channel is patrolled by Orcs, Fawkes & Goran hide in the tunnel niche.

11.10am. Fawkes & Goran explore Sewer Network, checking out rubble in side channel.

11.20am. They discover a camouflaged door but several Orc guards come through and conflict happens. Fawkes engages in melee whilst Goran falls into the Sewer channel. He is swept downstream, avoiding feasting crocodiles and being sucked into the sewer drain whirlpool.

11.30am: Fawkes slays several Orcs but Goran unfortunately loses his life in a duel and his decapitated body is swept into the sewer drain, his head taken to prove that 'The Blodgett Imposter' has been located and slain.

Fawkes continues to lurk in the sewer network.

12.00pm: Fawkes hides in the tunnel niche away from patrolling Orcs. Until a definitive interruption occurs (guards locating him, wandering creature encounter or party members enter the sewer network), he chooses to remain hidden away until the next day.

to be continued ...

Main Party:

7.40am. Alarm sounded and Stable grooms and Kennel guards rally.

7.50am. Sneak by undercover of Silence spell and descend into tunnels.

8.00am. Explore passage. Encounter Aspis Cave and Trapdoor Cave.

8.10am. Mortar fights off Giant Ants. Team try to parlay with Orcs and Ogre.

8.20am. Edel & Durrant charm Orcs who agree to 'slave inspection' with conditions.

8.30am. Party split into Team Alpha and Bravo.

8.40am. Team Alpha return to Ladder Cave. Brick has ten more minutes of invisibility and half a day of partial deafness. Aspis drone is slain after its drunkenness from imbibing Olleg's mead turns to violence. Esther is killed. Both bodies covered in the pits.

8.50am. Team go to look for others, meeting Galadria by the slippery staircase.

9.00am. The Ogre is hypnotised and put to sleep by Mortar. Before he is killed by Brick & Olleg, the Ogre sleepwalks and recounts his dreams. The Ogre's body is dragged along and squashed into a pit in the Ladder Cave

9.10am. The two teams reunite in the passage, the two charmed Orcs are subject to a Hold Person spell.


8.30am. Team Bravo access Aspis Cave, a guard point secured by several Aspis busy at crafting mundane items. Several exits lead off, some are giant ant tunnels, others lead to sewers, Slave Markets and an access to the Temple in the ruin above.

8.40a. Vennar & Galadria are offered to trade shields with an Aspis but they initially declined and with some misunderstanding of the team plan's, the pair are dismissed with the Ogre to be escorted back to the ground floor Slave Merchant Reception area.

8.50am. Vennar relents and bribes the Ogre to take them back to trade with Aspis.
Galadria following behind, meets with Team Alpha by slippery staircase.

8.40am. Edel & Durrant learn more about the Temple access point where a high priestess conducts rituals. They are escorted by their charmed Orc guards and an Aspis warrior through to the next cave which appears used as an Aspis store-kitchen area,

8.50am. Fried Grubs are shared and the pair recognise that the drying skin stretched across the cane frame is actually that of hero Icon Elwita who been flayed and skinned alive, her skin (torso and face!) expertly taken off and hung to dry before being crafted into a ceremonial drum. Her body has been cast onto a pile of skinned carcasses and upon inspections, the Orc guards discover that she still lives, asking for a merciful death.

9.00am. Edel trades a magic trinket for the 'walking corpse' of Elwita. He and Durrant decide to 'end the inspection' and return to find the others.

9.10am. both Teams reunite in passage.

9.20am. Teams discuss options in passage. Mortar & Brick sneak upstairs to get the Sundew Carcass to trade with the Aspis. They encounter a patrol of Weasel Guards but deal with them before returning below, the gnome carries one of the weasel kits which he wants to train himself.

Elwita is prayed over and armed, still grievously wounded in her mind.

9.30am. Team reunite, still at the foot of the slippery staircase. One charmed Orc is slain, the other interrogated further. The drumbeat signalling an Aspis ritual is heard echoing from the Ladder Cave side passage. Elwita shares her knowledge of the Aspis hatching endoparasitic larvae from dwarven captives. She wants to enact vengeance upon them, something she tried to do before suffering horrendously by being skinned alive when she was captured.

9.40am. The team decide to use the Sundew carcass to negotiate passage through Aspis territory.

9.50am. Encounter Orcs and Weasels in the passage beyond the Aspis Cave. Combat ensues, the party slaying the Orcs and webbing up the passage to delay reinforcements. Charmed Orc Chagg tries to escape the group, enticing Edel to follow up a side passage but the charmed Orc is slain by Blodgett.

9.55am, Blodgett tries to aid the group, telling them to abandon the mission and flee the Temple complex via the cemetery crypt access. Brick & Elwita secure the rearguard by delaying the Orc reinforcements with suppressive crossbow fire.

10.00am. Brick, Elwita & Vennar defend the tunnels against the Orcs & Ogre.

Blodgett withdraws back towards the Sewer Vault.

Edel, Mortar, Durrant, Galadria & Olleg secure the Crypt.

Once the conflict in the tunnels is resolved, the team all retreat inside the Crypt, Wizard Locking the coffer over the entrance.

A safe haven (?), the group decide to rest and shelter inside the Crypt ...

By mid-morning; 10.15am, the 'story so far' finds that Goran has been slain, Fawkes hides in the dammed tunnel niche and the Party shelter in the Crypt.



to be continued.