The adventure at Arm continues; it is morning. The Arm is actually more of a keep than an inn, but I digress.

Upon entering the party encountered a huge central staircase “up” flanked by two smaller staircases going down. Flint observed that the 3rd floor (where the party currently maintains its bivouac) is significantly younger than the rest of the building - probably less than 30 years old. The servants on the first floor of the Inn are mainly gnomish females, with a few human women in the mix.

Kyril and Menka left their 3rd floor lodgings and wandered downstairs to the main room. Behind the bar stands a human male with close-cropped hair and a toothsome wench. They are joined by a dwarf bringing a keg up from the cellar and entering behind the bar. At the eastern end of the room is the kitchen. Note: we are keeping no real map of The Friendly Arm Inn.

Looking for Melios, the pair head down the stairs to the right of the main staircase. These stairs lead to a bar for dwarven folk. The room, dimly lit by a glowing globe attached to the ceiling, is built low and slopes down to dwarven height over the bar. Dwarven art covers the walls. Melios, however, is not present.

Finding nothing of apparent interest Menka and Kyril head back up the stairs, across the foot of the main staircase and down the stairs to the left which lead to the goblin bar. The notes contain no details about this brief visit to the goblin bar and instead picks up in the party’s rented room (next morning?).

Back at the ranch, Lycovyne has been recuperating from many hours of spellcasting identify spells. Flint and Gonchar are present. A knock on the door and into the room walks Arkadios, right on time. All present exchange pleasantries and Lycovyne brings Arkadios up to speed on the story so far.

(No mention of Menka or Kyril being present in the rented room but then) Flint, Menka and Kyril head down to the goblin bar to find no goblins present, only a few, scattered dwarves and gnomes. A huge goblin skull hangs over the bar. There are 2 sets of stairs in the room. A single set of very narrow stairs leads down to a brightly lit room and a second set in the south wall which descend into inky darkness.

The half-orc steward is also present and Menka inquired after Melios’ whereabouts. The steward mentioned that Melios could be either in the “bottom feeder” or in the dark room down the stairs. Menka, Kyril and Flint walk towards the brightly lit stairs and just before they leave the room Null Keyz enters via the main staircase. He walks up to the trio and announces:

“Guldar Heel requests your presence at dinner at the Bottom Feeder (El Que Come Abajo) at sundown.”

Before the trio could reply he turned on a heel and walked back up the stairs. Null Keyz would next drop by the party’s rented room and invite Lycovyne as well, telling him dinner is at sundown at The Bottom Feeder, down two levels from the first floor and “go left.”

We Found Your Mom!#

Having time to kill before dinner Menka, Kyril and Flint continued on their way down the set of stairs leading to the well-lit room. The only creatures present are several gnomish women and a disco version of Bentley Mirrorshade. Flint offered him some high-quality wine in exchange for an Arms ale. Gonchar magically appeared out of nowhere and he and Flint drink some ale.

Back at the ranch, Arkadios asks Lycovyne to ID some equipment for him. With the use of another pearl, Lycovyne ID’d:

• Gauntlets of Dexterity
• Bracers of Defense AC 6

Party is down to 13 pearls.

By this time Lycovyne’s constitution has been reduced to 5 due to all the spellcasting. He is down and out for 24 continuous hours. Arkadios heads down to the main room.

Meanwhile in the bright disco below the goblin’s room Gonchar and Flint are drinking at the bar. Kyril and Menka head back to the goblin bar and then descend the other set of stairs into darkness. These stairs end in an alcove with 2 wall sconces, only of one of which is lit. On a bench lies a piss-drunk goblin with his pack and pockets open – robbed, drunk and stupid. Stairs lead down to the north and east and in the western wall are 2 doors with unreadable runes. Upon inspection, these prove to be bathrooms.

Menka and Kyril head down the southern stairs. The staircase winds in a seemingly endless spiral into darkness, finally ending in a large, unlit room occupied by dark dwarves and drow. No Melios. Kyril, while describing the pitch-black scene to Menka, hears, in broken elvish, “cousin come in and sit down.” A humanoid waitress carrying a tray bumped into Kyril – she’s made of solid stone!

Gonchar, Flint and Arkadios are, as it turns out, just a few moments behind Menka and Kyril. On their way through the alcove a drunken orc stumbles out of the WC.

Menka and Kyril attempt to “pass through” the drow bar to the rough slope/stairs in the east wall. One of the drow tries to force a confrontation with Kyril and while Kyril does not rise to the occasion, Menka begins casting bless. A crossbow bolt thunked into a chair hard by Kyril. The bartender, a humanoid with very large eyes, yells at the drow to “get out!” and then at Kyril for " bringing a human into this place!".

Gonchar and Flint enter the drow bar and Arkadios heads back to the main room. The two dwarves order an ale from the same barkeep – a 4’ tall humanoid with large, pale eyes. An enormous fauchard hangs on the wall over the bar.

Menka and Kyril head down the slope/stairs at the far eastern end of the room. These stairs end in a large dark chamber – 40’ long, mostly empty but for inconsequential-looking debris, lit by flickering torches. There are stairs “down” in the eastern wall and a slopeway/stairs “up” in the western wall. There are also stairs “up” in the northern wall. 5 hobgoblins stumble down the stairs in the northern wall, bark obscenities and pass by on their way west, up to the drow bar. While the bartender breaks up (or otherwise prevents) a brawl between the hobgoblins and Gonchar and Flint, Menka and Kyril head down the stairs in the western wall.

Kyril and Menka seem to have found their way down to “The Deep Bar.” Two 7’ tall humanoids stand guard at a large set of iron gates on the far side of the room, eastern wall. They expect payment to pass through the gates (the amount/type is not mentioned in the notes). There’s a set of stairs " up" in the northern wall. There is also a low bar in the southeastern corner, manned by some very hard-looking dwarves. The duo decided to head back up the stairs and attempt to regroup.

Menka, Kyril, Flint and Gonchar regroup at the alcove above the large, empty chamber to the west of The Deep Bar. Gonchar carries the piss-drunk goblin into the dark bar, drops it on the floor and yells “we found your mom!” but is unable to elicit a response. Dissatisfied, he rejoined the party at the top of the stairs. They proceed to the alcove (where there are signs on each wall) and then east to The Bottom Feeder.

El Que Come Abajo#

The party (minus Arkadios and Lycovyne) enter a room through a western door. This is a very large room and a portcullis leads to the kitchen. The same hard-as-rock, ironclad serving wench is on duty. While the party waits for Guldar Heel to arrive Arkadios and Lycovyne walk in.

After introducing himself and taking it “around the table” Guldar Heel engaged the party in discussion for quite a long time. Arkadios carried a message for Guldar Heel to the table and shared it with all present (see above).

Guldar Heel and his old party of adventurers are all in danger – drow and dark dwarves are out for revenge for previous offenses. Guldar Heel, Bentley Mirrorshade, Jameson Baylor and Kelmiore were all part of this party, and included in a large picture in the Bottom Feeder. (also in the picture in the dining room in Guldar Heel’s tower?)

Guldar Heel requested our help in seeking out his old friend, Lord Jameson Baylor. Guldar Heel is an old enemy of Set and Lord Baylor has joined forces with him in the past. Guldar Heel asked us to seek out Lord Baylor and his wife and son, one Maxtor, as he believes them to be in trouble due to Arkadios’ message and other a priori information.

Apparently Lord Baylor is in possession of a unique flail, one that Menka would be very interested in. If we do not find Lord Baylor we should find this flail. To find Lord Baylor we will need to join a caravan from Farthis to Byrny, then travel from Byrny to Safehearth by horse. At this point in our meeting Mr. Mirrorshade walked in. He and Guldar are old friends.

• On the topic of Alu Alethra Guldar Heel suggested we “let time pass” before engaging her in battle i.e. level up.
• He did, indeed, know Patriarch Kelmiore, in response to a question from Menka. Guldar Heel is also a man (priest?) of Thoth.
• Arkadios returned the decanter (stolen from Heel’s storage closet) to Guldar Heel at the table. He glowered knowingly…

Around this time Melios joined the party at Guldar Heel’s table. He remembers Arkadios well. He also confirms that Alu Alethra has the brooch we seek. The general consensus is that we should fulfill Guldar Heel’s request and then return to the underworld to take the demon wench out. After quaffing a few rounds of after dinner drinks we made our farewells and made ready for the caravan. Guldar Heel supplied us with horses and a map of Byrny (at the end of this document).

However, before leaving, Menka and Kyril conceived of a going-away gift for the drow scum several floors down. The two walked down to the drow bar and Menka (with the door still closed) cast continual light on a copper piece. They opened the door and hurled the copper piece into the room. All hell broke loose and right before Kyril and Menka could close the door someone caught Menka with a poisoned crossbow bolt (probably the bartender) but he made his save vs. poison (praise Thoth!) and only sustained 2 points of damage before slamming the door. The two adventurers then exited the Arms post haste…

Byrny and Beyond#

The caravan journeyed to Byrny without incident and the party arrived in two days’ travel. Presently, we set out to find lodging and refreshment and found 2 inns and a pub in town. The Inn of the Golden Chimera, The War Wagon Inn, and The Tavern of the Four Winds. Finding the War Wagon too flashy and expensive the party relocated to the Chimera, renting a room from one Telish for the sum of 25 cp per night.

At the Chimera’s bar the party overheard some interesting tidbits of local gossip:

• someone wandered into town with a huge sack and a bloodied dragon horn
• there’s a large keep on a hill in the center of town (see map of Byrny, end)

As the party settled in to rest for the evening, Kyril felt the need to spend most of the night in the woods with his animal friends, drinking fermented squirrel milk and shouting out repeated choruses from Saxon’s Ride Like The Wind.

Safehearth#

The caravan conveyed the party to Byrny and no farther. The following morning the party set out on horseback seeking the village of Safehearth. After several days of uneventful travel the party crested a hill and heard shouts echoing up from a crowd in the center of a village on the other side. This could very well be Safehearth so the party entered town.

Riding into town, the dwarves in the party endured epithets and abuse from the angry mob. Vorkan, the mayor of the town, informed us that there has just been trouble at the Lord’s manor. Indeed, Lord Baylor’s manor house. Most servants were slain but one survivor present, Gunthar, says the manor was attacked by a band of dwarves the night before. In reality, he saw nothing as he was cowering somewhere dark, though he did in fact see a “grubby” dwarf ride by and then everything went pitch black.

Pushing through the crowd on horseback in haste, the dwarves more brutally, the party hurried up the hill to Baylor Manor. Approaching the manor house, we saw that it was lit only from the inside. An ornate arch served as an entrance to the manor grounds. Dead horses abound, likely a cavalry attack. The manor house is a single-story structure. Knocking on the door only increased the still silence of death.

The party entered the manor house through the open front doors. Among the mess inside we found a banner depicting an owl and a spear. A picture over the mantle in the library depicts a family with 2 sons. The body of an elderly gentleman lies behind the desk in the library. This is definitely the older man in the picture on the mantle – Lord Baylor is dead! The party found a dagger on Jameson Baylor’s body.

Searching through the house, the party entered the master bedroom. A middle-aged woman was lying on the bed. She turned her gaze to us and we saw the unmistakable look of fear in her eyes. Two smaller humanoids ran into the room and instantly everything went pitch black. In the darkness we heard a struggle, the sickening sounds of someone being murdered, then all went silent.

In the pitch blackness Menka, Lycovyne, Arkadios and Flint all failed their save vs. death magic and fled the manor house in panic.

Oh, and one more thing for your cliffhanger shit sandwich: “knobgoblin”.