The party spent 2 weeks resting and recreating (read: leveling up) at the Arm. It was market time at the Inn. All manner of creatures were present, including humans which were taller than dwarves but shorter than elves or western humans - Orientals!

Arkadios, Flint and Kyril decided to take a ride on the carpet of flying. They flew over a great deal of the local area. Along the way they flew to the lake we had visited previously, in search of pearls. Once there, Kyril cast water breathing and joined his fishy brethren under the surface, finding 8 pearls.

Upon returning to the surface, Kyril was approached by a group of centaurs. They were quite unfriendly, though hostilities did not erupt. Kyril treated them with respect and they buggered off.

Continuing on, Arkadios, Flint and Kyril reached Farthis upon the carpet of flying. Several buildings were on fire, including the guard station, and a huge bacchanalia was in progress. Someone was being burned at the stake. A huge cauldron in the middle of the hops gardens was boiling away, brewing beer. It seemed to be situated over the hatch leading to the underground complex. Notably, the Kleb’s building was completely unaffected by the chaotic scene, as was Guldar Heel’s tower.

Returning to the Inn from the carpet ride the trio found that Father Melios had been ejected and had fled to Farthis, almost certainly creating the bacchanalia they had seen from the air.

While they were away, Lycovyne was busy casting identify spells. The results are listed in the loot list at the end of St10, above, page 52.

A Meeting at the Inn#

Bentley approached the party in their rooms and informed us that “there are some merchants in the latest caravan looking for you.” The merchants wished to speak with us or a representative. Bentley told us that, typically, merchant caravans would dicker with him for the price of trading “in the yard” but this group made no effort to lower the price and paid in good coin. Foreigners, a group from the very far east, though the party included one man from Port Town and another westerner, both in Oriental garb. They would be staying at the Inn for a week.

It was decided that Lycovyne, Kyril and Menka would meet with the merchants. After the meeting, Lycovyne will continue with the identify spells.

The merchants (or a sub-party thereof) were seated at a table in a private, 20’x60 foot room on a lower floor of the Inn. An older oriental man with a bald pate, one Kai-So (Kayso?), stood up and bowed as the trio approached the table. A woman on roller blades with swords strapped to her back circled the room, eyeing us cautiously. A Port Town official was also present - Johann Hadrigan, brother of Melios. Apparently Johann is here to check on the status of our mission to return the Hadrigan Brooch.

Johann Hadrigan told us that his family considers us to be dilatory and that we should have obtained the Brooch by now. We explained to him that we believe we know its location and we were putting together a foray that very moment to retrieve it. He remained dismayed, but agreed to meet us 24 hours later to discuss the matter. Johann then left the room to rejoin his party in the caravan (yes?).

Kai-So then addressed the party, very formally. He stated that his master, who would be joining us shortly, was very interested in finding Father Melios, and that his master and Melios were old friends. Many in their far-off land had become interested in Melios’ religion and the merchants liked the idea as they would be able to sell large quantities of alcohol in their homeland.

At that moment a hulking Western barbarian, clothed in Eastern garb and armed with both Eastern and Western steel, entered the room. Kai-So introduced him as Aiken, the master of the Oriental team of merchants present.

Aiken held forth at length (while quaffing large amounts of the Inn’s best ale), regaling the trio with stories of the chaos wrought by himself and Melios in the East. He said it was time to bring that chaos back to the fore and that he wished to find Melios and “get the Orientals going again.” His stated intentions dovetailed nicely with those of his Oriental underlings, and they were all of one mind in the matter.

After a quick huddle, the trio told Aiken that “we would try”. Indeed, this may be a way to get Melios to accompany us back to the Inn, say, on the carpet of flying, without having to fight him. We needed to discuss the matter with the rest of the party. We took our leave of Aiken, Kai-So and the others present and returned to our rooms above.

Lycovyne began identifying items again. The results of this activity are described in the loot section at the end of St10, page 52. Upon returning from the meeting with the Oriental merchants, the trio was regaled with the extremely lurid tale of Gonchar’s public sex scene with the Oriental weapon master. The details of this interlude have, thankfully, been stricken from the record. Also, the Flail (in Menka’s possession) seems to be fully charged now that the Circlet has been destroyed, praise Thoth!

Anu Sekar being no longer present, the High Priest Thornos is now the representative of Thoth at The Friendly Arm Inn. Menka suggested that Arkadios accompany him to meet Thornos and attempt to get his missing energies restored. Due in large part to our services to the sect of Thoth Thornos offered to cast the requisite restoration spell for the cost of 10,000 pieces of gold and the conversion of Arkadios to the faith of Thoth. A princely sum but by all accounts, a steal for such a high level spell.

Arkadios refused both the price and the conversion and so did not get his levels restored.

Farthis Bound, Again#

It would be impossible for the party to pursue Melios, in Farthis, and the Hadrigan brooch, under Guldar Heel’s tower, in the possession of the demon Alu Alethra. Leaning toward seeking out and finally dealing with Alu Alethra, the party decided to seek an audience with Guldar Heel and travel to her lair via the basement in his tower.

Traveling to Guldar’s tower the party found the outer wall gate locked, as usual. Flint did not climb the wall as blades and sharp wire crowned the the top. “Kyril’s pseudo-plan having failed, we continued on.”??

Stuck at the curtain wall gate the party decided to use the carpet of flying, 3 at a time, to fly over the wall and gather at the door to the tower, inside the wall. Knocking at the door, the ever- vexatious Null Keys answered, informing the party that his master, still recovering from grievous wounds, had forbidden him to let anyone else enter the tower.

Rebuffed, and unwilling to make a formal assault on the tower, the party decided to head to the conflagration of Farthis, to enter the underground complex via the hatch used previously. First we needed to talk to Johann Hadrigan and ask him for more time. Having done just that, we sought out the group of oriental merchants and suggested they keep Aiken drunk til we got back. “No problem,” they said. The uppity, dangerous looking broad on roller blades just smiled at the party the whole time.

The party approached Farthis on foot. Nearing the town, we became more and more engulfed in smoke. The town was ablaze, still. Arkadios, Flint and Kyril climbed on the carpet of flying and reconnoiter ahead. Specifically, they want to see if the cauldron filled with boiling wort was still covering the hatch to the underground complex. That hatch seemed to be uncovered, but quite charred.

There are humanoids scattered all around the hops garden and its environs. Quite a few but less than 10. Determined to enter without being noticed (and having to fight all the scattered humanoids) the party, using the lingering smoke as cover, made their way over the compound wall 2 or 3 at a time on the carpet. Once everyone was deposited within range, they approached the charred hatch.

A huge man approached the party, brandishing frothing containers of the brew which we’d seen boiling in the cauldron. ‘Drink some of this - boom boom!", he said. The party demurred, wary of the effects of the chaotic brew, and feigned drinking and drunkenness. Well, Gonchar wasn’t feigning. Continuing the charade, the parade was able to make it to the hatch, open it, setup a rope and climb back down (with Gonchar going first with infravision?).

The Underground Complex#

Descending into the all-to-familiar darkness, the party found a dead maenad by the central well, torn to pieces. Expecting battle, Menka cast bless. Arakdios, armed with the arrow of clay golem slaying and aided by Menka’s bless approached the room where we had previously encountered the golem. Seeing the golem, he attacked, hit it (15 attack roll) and killed it instantly, thanks to the arrow obtained from the Kleb in Farthis.

Menka forgot to memorize locate object and needed to rest for 6 hours (3rd level spell9). Putz. While resting, the party was attacked by ghouls and spiders. Of course.

• Gonchar hits for 14, kills a ghoul
• Arkadios hits for 4
• Kyril attacks, hits for 4
• Arkadios gets attacked but is missed by a ghoul
• initiative win
• Gonchar hits for 16, kills
• Kyril misses, with charisma
• Lycovyne hits for 7 points, kills
• 3 ghouls: 10, 12, 14 hp

The party successfully fought off the ghouls while Menka rested, killing them all. Alive, rested and with the spell memorized, Menka cast locate object, seeking the Hadrigan brooch. The object was located, and was approximately “behind and above us” (see map St3). Recalling the path, the party began the journey to find Alu Alethra.

Reaching the door at location (2), again, it is locked, again. Lycovyne will need to study for knock for 2 hours (this is incorrect - actually 4 hours’ rest plus 30 minutes’ study - see footnote 9). While resting, the party is attacked by spiders. Of course.

• Arkadios rolls, hits, kills
• Gonchar rolls, hits, kills
• Remaining spiders miss
• initiative win
• someone hits and kills the last spider
• 3 spiders: 6, 6, 7 hp

Having successfully rested through the arachnid melee, Lycovyne cast knock on the door, again. Once again, we make it through and, once again, it swings shut behind us. Didn’t we just leave this party? Menka suggests that if we manage to survive to re-enter Guldar Heel’s tower via the basement we should cast knock on Null Keyz’ head.

Flint checked the door at (7) for traps and, finding none, picked the locked and opened it. Kaboom! (apparently, he missed a trap but the notes contain no details about an injury). The last time the party was in this room we engaged in a heated, nearly disastrous battle with orcs and bugbears and the room was destroyed (St3, Bugbear Battle). The room had been completely rebuilt. New couches, tables, a desk and a 72" 4k ultra.

A single bugbear was resident in the room.

• Lycovyne hit the bugbear for 6 points
• Flint hit it for 2 points
• Menka hit it for 5 points
• Arkadios hit it for 3
• Flint hits again (second shot), kills
• 1 bugbear: 22 hp

The party headed toward the stairs in the western wall with Gonchar out front. Gonchar climbed the stairs and saw an empty wine bottle standing by one of the columns. Since he survived the initial steps, the party followed him up the stairs and found themselves in a room with doors to the left and right (no map?). Bugbears and orcs appeared from behind the pillars in the room. The party clambered back. Flint climbed walls. Menka cast sanctuary, wanders back into the room and somehow gets hit for 4 points of damage by an orcish arrow (did some lucky orc roll well enough to overcome the sanctuary?).

• Bugbear swings at Menka but misses
• Another bugbear hits Menka for 6 points
• Gonchar swings, kills a bugbear
• Lycovyne hits an orc (?) for 14 points, spraying its tiny brains asunder
• Gonchar hits for 16 (second attack), kills
• Flint hits an orc for 5 points, then hits again for 3, killing it
• Arkadios and Menka both miss
• initiative win? (note: from here on the notes are spotty…)
• Lycovyne hits for 6 points
• Gonchar hits for 10 points, kills
• Flint attacks twice (again?), kills
• initiative loss
• all the beasties botch their attacks
• Arkadios hits for 5
• Lycovyne hits for 4
• Menka hits for 9
• Flint hits, kills
• Flint hits for 1, then gets hit for 5
• Flint hits for 5, then 8 (dex bonus? what?)
• Lycovyne magic missiles one bugbear for 11 points, then another for 10, praise Thoth!
• Body pile:
• orcs: 8, 8, 7, 6
• bugbears: 22, 18, 16, 16

The room, now filled with bodies and blood, contained 2 pillars and doors in the north and south walls. Looting the orc bodies, the party found 45 arrows, 45 gp, 3 long swords and a halberd. Among the bugbear bodies we found 86 gp and a large gem.

(I think right about here we took a break for some 11% Belgian Quadruppel ale)

The party entered the northern door, circled around and found a hallway with three doors in it. One in the Southern wall, one on the northern wall, one at the end of the hall (west). We entered through the west door. The room appeared to be a large dining hall. There was a large table in the center of the room, backed by a large aquarium which held 4 volts within. Around the table sat 4 bugbears.

As soon as we entered the room, one of the bugbears smashed the aquarium, releasing the volts, and then all 8 enemies attacked us.

• Flint shouted kerfuffle and deployed the net of snaring, trapping 2 of the bugbears.
• Gonchar killed a volt (in the aquarium?)
• Menka missed something (a bugbear I think)
• Flint hit one of the snared bugbears for 11 points
• Menka hit the same something for 11 points, praise Thoth!
• Gonchar hit a snared bugbear for 9 points
• Lycovyne hit a snared bugbear for 7 points
• Flint hit something
• Lycovyne got hit for 7 points (volt? bugbear?)
• Menka got hit for 6 points (volt? bugbear?)
• Gonchar hit the bugbear again, killing it
• Flint missed, then Arkadios hit the same bugbear, killing it
• Flint killed a bugbear
• A bugbear shouted to Lycovyne “kill that beast!!”
• Lycovyne missed
• Gonchar got hit for 5 points and hit it back for 2, killing it
• 3 bugbears: 25, 23, 23
• 4 volts: 19, 19, 17, 17
• something about Menka, Gonchar, Lycovyne getting +3??

The last bugbear, down to a small number of hit points, surrendered. Lycovyne questioned the bugbear, finding out that Melios had been down here with Alu Alethra. She’s angry with him. He is in jail somewhere beyond the southern door (the bugbear pointed)…

The bugbear provided no more information, so Lycovyne let him go. As the bugbear left Arkadios shot him in the back with an arrow. Looting the bugbear corpses, we found 123 gp praise Thoth!