Saturday Afternoon Game

This page is for the Saturday afternoon Players, but it includes a running commentary on what has happened so far.

Earthstone is now finished as a campaign however there is one freeform still to come.

Players name	Characters name	Class
Mark Philp	Earl Tyberius of the Mistypeaks	Noble
Greg Pratchett	Sunfire	Wizard
Dean Shannon	Leela	Ranger
Elizabeth Vinton	Ambrosia Fraser	Ranger/Wizard
Stephen Soymonoff	Nastin of the Mistypeaks	Scrounger
Kim Frooshenger	Kiaretta	Fighter
Robin Frooshenger	Morgan	Fighter
Chris Moor	Max	Fighter
Drew Pass	Borther Morbius	Cleric

While there is a great deal which has already happened over the running of this campaign, the running story has not been kept upto date all the time. What I have written below is what has happened so far this year. The rest of the back story will be added in once I have gotten it up to date. However the comic is also following the same story line, so if you want to see how it all started you can have a look there.

While this was the final session of the campaign game, I'm withholding the final events because some of them have a direct baring on the plots of the final freeform, which will be played at Conquest 2007. After that I will make a final posting to finish the story line off.

The party returned to the High Queen Julie to confer information and consider their next move. After a little debate and Nastin’f inability to contact the Shun-dar via telepathy, they decided to go look at the location of the first missing person, and as that took them past several others, they agreed to look in on them as well.
The first of these turned out to be a small fishing boat with a missing crew of four. As the boat was for sail to raise funds for the widows they brought the boat and took it in toe behind the High Queen Julie.
When they arrives at the location of the first missing persons report, they set about trying to big up any information they could find. This being Falsberg Island and home of a large fleet of “Not Griffin Navy” ships it was a little hard to find out much of anything, until Sir Max was able to locate a drinking mate of the missing gentleman. A few ales latter he had found out about some strange lights off the east coast of Falsberg Island.
Nastin then remembered the small island located by the Shun-dar and reminded the group. As the few facts they had pointed that way, they decided to go look. Ambrosia went to speak to Admiral Tawn and he set six “Not Griffin Navy” war ships with them.
After two days sail they came to a strange tiny island with a fortress built onto it. However the island was also the subject of some very strange erosion. The ground at sea level was cut away until the top of the island was supported by a trunk, much like a giant mushroom. The towers of the fortress and its outer wall had become the edge of the island. Also the towers were armed with siege engines and undead crews.
The “Not Griffin Navy” fleet moved in and attacked to draw the fire of the towers so that the team using the small fishing boat could slip in under the edge of the island and try and find a way up.
This turned out to be the remains of a well, which Sunfire took a rope up into so the rest could follow.
In the fight that followed, only two of the towers were completely destroyed by the fleet, even though they lost 4 of their number. Max and Kiaretta got into another tower, which Sunfire blasted at the Balister crews and covered their exit. Morgan and Adrian attacked some skeletons in the court yard until getting into another tower, while Leela entered the keep.
On the ground floor the keep was just stairs going up to the towers and a central stair well, which she climbed. The second floor was a room for holding people until they could be turned into undead. The third floor seems to have been the vampire’s lair as such. Well furnished and comfortable with no windows. Being careful to make sure she had disturbed the two people she could hear talking above she set about collecting the soil from the sarcophagus she had found.
With the battle still raging time was against the players so to be continued……

Having very little leads to follow in regards to hunting down the Vampire Count Laver, the group decided that their best beat was to set off to the east coast to look into the missing persons reports.
So they booked passage on a barge taking them to Ardesi, with a request the have their old ship the “High Queen Julie” meet them there.
On arrival at the docks in Ardesi, they found out the latest missing persons report was from Marinagor, so they sailed up the eastern coast and docked at the nearest village to the report. From there they traveled about half an hour inland to a farm, where a family of six and their 12 staff had vanished.
The team broke into four groups. Searching inside the farm house, outside the farm house, the support buildings and Ambrosia went into town to question the local guard and Mayor.
Inside the house the only thing missing was a “sword” from above the fire place, which would likely be useless in a fight anyway. The support buildings revealed nothing, as did the questions in town. However Leela, Sir Max, and Nastin found a faint trail in the grass, which they followed to an area not far from the house.
It seems the 18 people walked that way.
At the end of the trail there were 6 squares “foot prints”. The 18 people seemed to have walked up to this point and climbed aboard something, which then vanished.
Nastin thought is might be either a form of Shun-dar transport, or a Warpspawn. However there was some debate as to why either might want to kidnap people. Because there seemed no reason for the Shun-dar to do it, and the Warpspawn only wanted people to produce more Spawn, and that facility was destroyed.
To be continued…..

With Leela having been arrested for treason, the party traveled to Earthstone city, where the trial would be held.
It being a trial for treason, and being against a member of Overwatch, the trial was judged by the High Queen herself.
The case was prosecuted by the Seneschal and Leela defended herself.
The case opened with the Seneschal reminding the court of Leela’s past actions in regards to the defense of the realm, and as such was suing for a life sentence and not the death penalty.
As her first witness Leela called General Beardsmoore to the sand and questioned him abut information he had received and what hypothetical actions h would have taken if information had been given to him. The Seneschal declined to question the General.
Next Leela called Testimony from the High Queen, who the seneschal also declined to question.
Then Leela called Ambrosia to the stand and questioned her motives in an attempt for a double bluff of the action which had placed her on trial.
The Seneschal questioned Ambrosia in order to confirm she had been shot by Leela, and that taken and hidden the Source of Magic.
Leela was then questioned to find out where the Source had been taken, and it was then revealed that the Shun-dar had removed or suppressed the memory, and that it would only be revealed in the event of disaster or threat to the population of the realm.
A short recess was then called.
When court resumed the High Queen found Leela guilty, and that she was to be placed under a form of house arrest. In that she was free to go where she wants, but that a Griffin guard was assigned to watch over her. Thus Sir Max a Griffin Guard has joined the party.
After the trial the group retired back to the Inn where they always stay in Earthstone, to discuss their next actions.
As the Earl was still hunting Count Laver, they looked at the current group and realized they had neither cleric nor Blue Rose Knight, so the Earl went to the Church of Irushi to ask for help.
As he convinced them he was neither insane nor joking a Cleric has joined the party to keep them safe.
They had already found out from the Blue Rose that people were going missing from the eastern coast so they decided to head for Ardesi and start their search from there.
Nastin receive a telepathic message from the shun-dar alerting him to a small Island far off the east coast which didn’t seem to be on any maps at Earthstone.
To be continued next year……

Because the plan called for first strike to occur at the Enemy Stronghold at midnight, the part headed training in the VR until it was time to wear the armor for real and head to gate at 10am. This meant it would be 10pm at the gate on Central Island, giving them 2 hours to get into place ready for the strike.
Four Shun-dar Marrin warriors in their bio-armor along with 4 of their border “Guardians” (large multi-limbed robots.) and 6 cyber-armored heroes entered the gate and were sent to Central Island, for the biggest fight in the history of the realm.
On arrival at Central Island there headed out to the mountains to the north. Along the way finding no animal life around them. Because of their armor the characters could run at around 40km so cover the distance to the stronghold within the time allowed for. The Marrin and Guardians kept up without any signs of being tired. Here the rested however and waited for the first strike to take place. The Marrin told them that when the signal was given they should run straight at the stronghold and find a way in as soon as possible because first strike only gave then a ten minute window to get inside.
First strike turned out to be a 50 Megaton ICBM, lunched from the Shun-dar base directly at the Warppawn stronghold. However while it would do a lot of damage to the stronghold and kill any Garnresh in the area, it effects on the enemy themselves was not know. Neither did they know what it would do to Warpspawn.
They had to wait out the flash and shock wave from the blast before running into hell on earth.
As they got closer the Guardians broke off to search the surface area. They located 3 possible entrances. So they broke into smaller groups and entered all three.
Kiaretta, Nastin and 1 Marrin entered the first passageway.
Boberalle, Morgan, Ambrosia and 1 Marrin entered passageway 2.
While Leela, Earl Tyberius, and 2 Marrin entered the third passageway.
The story of passageway 1:
Going a few hundred meters into the strongholds passageway they encountered a slightly damaged blue Crysalid, which is one of their warriors. It was carrying several warpstone shards from Spawn which had lost their bio-transports in the blast. They all fired their sonic weapons at the warrior’s tail and shattered it, so the creature dropped the sharps and turned to attack them.
Kiaretta and the Marrin closed with sonic blades, while Nastin kept using the sonic guns and they slowly blasted away first one claw then the other. Then they were able to shatter the face and expose the brain case. And although in the end the beast had done very little damage to Kiaretta’s armor they had destroyed it.
Behind and above them the sounds of fall out had begun.
They then slowly progressed deeper into the stronghold until they could hear sounds of battle ahead of them….
Meanwhile in the story of Passageway 2:
After going into the passageway for some distance they were faced with a fork in the tunnel. At the fork was a Warpspawn, which was having trouble getting it’s biomass to function in the ultra high Radiation from First strike. They battled the beast and shattered its shard which left the biomass to cook in the passageway.
The group decided to stick together and went left. Outside fall out had begun. Only a very short distance into this new passageway, they found it opened into a large chamber, where 16 red Crysalids were working and climbing on a strange machine. At one end of the machine was a large “pool” sized tank built into the ground. The tank was full of the biomass the Garnresh had supplied the Crysalids. The tank fed into the machine as well as a few other chemicals and materials. At the other end was a slow moving conveyor belt with Warp stone shards on them.
In short the machine was building more Warpspawn.
The group fired a few shots at the machine and did a little damage but not much so Bob fired his rocket launcher at it. At this point Amborsia was struck with a sudden wave of illness almost losing consciousness for no apparent reason.
Just as Bob did so 3 red Crysalids ran from the room, but the rest where caught in the blast as the machine smashed and the roof caved in. The group followed the 3 Crysalids who seemed to be heading deeper into the mountain as if responding to some call….
Meanwhile in the story of Passageway 3:
A short distance in they found their passage was blocked by a cave in, which they set about clearing. Not long after they got enough clear space to get through and started deeper into the mountain fall out began behind them a filled the passageway up again trapping them in.
Moving slowly and using the battlenet to work out their best route, they moved deeper and deeper into the mountain. Ahead they were able to close in on the sounds of Crysalids talking, even though they didn’t understand the language.
Just as they were getting close to the enemy a warpspawn rounded the corner ahead of them, but the group fired as one delivering a vast amount of damage with the combined attack and blew a hole right through the spawn killing it in an instant.
From there they entered a two level chamber, with themselves on a balcony level, looking down at 3 yellow Crysalids huddled in a group and 5 blue Crysalids guarding them. One of the yellow Crysalids was holding a strange cube in its small feeding claws. Leela and the dar fired on this creatures face, causing it to drop the cube which broke into 6 parts.
The 5 blue Crysalids turned and moved to attack the group. The two yellow Crysalids moved to steady they wounded fellow.
Leela fired her rocket at the 3 yellow Crysalids, while the Earl fired his at one of the blue warriors and the dar used their sonic guns on a second warrior.
Leela’s missile killed the 3 yellow Crysalids, although they ad already called for reds to come fix them. The Earl’s missile blasted a warrior and damaged a second slightly. These wounds were made worse by the two dar, but not fatal.
Kiaretta, Nastin and a Marrin found the chamber because of the sounds f battle and entered on the balcony from the other side of the room. So Kiaretta and Nastin fired their rockets at two more of the warriors, although one of the damage one’s crashed into a Shun-dar pining him to the wall and crushing his armor and spine in the process.
When Boberalle, Morgan, Ambrosia and the other Marrin entered at ground level following the 3 red Crysalids they were able to fire their rockets at another warrior and the workers killing them all, leaving a damaged warrior to be finished off with the combined firepower of all the sonic weapons in the room.
Having killed the yellow leaders, the group broke up and searched the area, while the earl gathered the parts of the cube.
Leela located a chamber which seemed to be where the Crysalids were stored while dormant. They were space for 3 yellow, 5 red, and 12 blue Crysalids. This meant they at least some blue ones had not been accounted for. Although they might have been destroyed by first strike, depending on were in the stronghold they were at the time.
The team found a way out and returned to the surface, were they regrouped with 2 of the guardians. 2 having been destroyed in battles with a Crysalid warrior.
They ran back to gateway to rest and work out their next move.
When they got there they found that not only was the gateway itself not working, neither were the scrying pools, and the 2 clerics and the wizard stationed at the base where all deathly ill.
All magic planet wide was off line!
By putting the cube back together, they found they could restore magic but then the group debated where to take the cube and who to give it to. In a sudden act, Leela shot Ambrosia in the hand holding the cube picked it up and vanished into the gateway.
Ambrosia ordered Leela to be arrested and all but Nastin gated back to Bearandass. Leela returned to Central Island a few moments later and was arrested when she climbed out of the Shun-dar armor. So she, Nastin, the armor and several guards gated back to Bearandass.
To be continued….

Booking passage on a river barge going north the party made their way back toward Bearandass and Gateway Fortress. As they got closer to the fortress a group of 4 Shun-dar A-grav transports passed them one night. Each about the size of a large car.
Meanwhile at Gateway Fortress, Morgan and Kiaretta were touring the small but diverse shopping district that has begun to grow out away from the main keep since the opening of transport between the north and southern realms. It was here that they first learnt that Lord Anom was hiring people for a special mission, so they went to see him.
He hired them with very little fuss and gave them even less information about the mission. Only explaining that the rest of the people going on the mission would be arriving shortly.
The rest of the party arrived the next day just at sundown. While Leela reported their arrival to Lord Anom, the rest went and helped the Shun-dar unload their transports, before they departed. A few hours latter 4 more transports arrived and started to unload.
Morgan and Kiaretta where introduced to the rest of the group and late that night, the Shun-dar explained their plan at least in part to the party.
They were shown the new armor that the Shun-dar had built for them. It is a combination of their technology and advanced human designs from the future. Standing around 7 foot tall, with elongated arms and a tail, their new Power armor is armed with twin sonic swords with extend from the forearms, twin sonic gun mounts, and a shoulder mounted single shot missile launcher.
The armor will protect them from extreme pressure, temperatures, radiation, and a large amount of physical impact. It is smart enough not to target other power suits, or Shun-dar, use its tail to defend its own back, and has a limited “leap” function, which can cover 10 meters. It has sensors which detect both visually and audibly to a range equal to the Shun-dar themselves. If it becomes too damaged the pilot can eject and the armor will continue to target and fight within reason. If a pilot is knocked out the suit can be remotely piloted by any of the other pilots. In short it is a walking one man army. However, and there is always a however.
The suit also prevents the pilot from using the “weapon of the enemy” (Magic) and it interferes with the natural psychic powers of the Shun-dar, although the suits do have a link into the Shun-dar Battlenet system
The pilots also need to be given an implant to allow them to link into the suit and control it.
After the part underwent the surgery the Shun-dar created a VR training ground for them to use their suits for a few hours, to get used to them.
Now all that remains is to gate to Central island, get close to the Warpspawn’s stronghold, wait for “First strike” to take place and then charge.
To be continued…….

The party were allowed to stay the night in the Shun-dar building, where they discovered it went several floors below ground. In the morning they planned to set off with the morning tide. However they were delayed slightly while Nastin received some mental surgery which might prove useful in their mission.
While waiting the characters saw the Shun-dar using a bobcat like machine to clear a flat area of ground near the shoreline. In the middle of this a 10m scaffold was built, like a giant tent pole. Then the ground was covered in a fast setting concrete like material.
Setting sail they made their way to the docks where they had hired their boat, retrieved their bond and set off for Reanna. When they arrived Sunfire and Ambrosia went and asked to see General Beardsmoore. They informed him of the problem and he in turn went to inform the High Queen.
To the parties surprise their mission was stopped short because the High Council had decided that any attack on Central Island could prove dangerous to Earthstone, and at the moment the event on the island only proved to be reducing Garnresh populations.
The party tried speaking with Gean Svartster, and found he also didn’t think it a good idea to attack the island. However during the conversation, the old wizard mentioned information about the source of magic which the party had not told him about yet.
Meanwhile Nastin discovered he was having problems with his sight. The world seemed to be out of focus a bit.
Sunfire and Ambrosia went to the high Council themselves to discuss the mission and again faced a brick wall.
Nastin forced his mind to focus and found himself standing on the deck of the boat, with his friends standing about with him. A Shun-dar was trying to talk to him, and explained they were being attacked with the enemies weapon. To break the spell they would all have to focus and try and break the illusion together. While he went about talking to the rest of his friends, Sunfire cast a detect magic spell and found everything around him glowed, even the ground.
The party gathered and tried to focus their wills. The spell broke and they found themselves on the ships deck with several of the Fey, who took flight as soon as the spell failed.
Sunfire and Leela shot and killed two of them as they flead.
This time when the party brought the news to the High Court, it was agreed they should travel to gateway and launch some form of mission to stop the Warpspawn’s masters.
To be Continued…..

Having gotten the Wand of Life, the party returned to the two people at the crashed Argo shuttle. While the human engineer Li contunied to retrieve parts and swear inside the craft, the Marrin was packing their gear into the saddlebags on their grav-bikes.
After a litte discussion it was desided the most sutble way of getting them to the Shun-dar swamps was via the river barge running north/south through Iruchsenci to the coast and Gaile clan’s territory. There they could hire a boat and sail along the coast to the swamps. This would also give the party a chance to stop at a scrying pond and report in.
On the barge, they found out rumors that the High Queen and a small army of personal guard where coming south, along with the newly appointed seneschal of Rianna. Baron Borealis, having cleared his name had been given the job.
This was also confirmed when they reported in at Giale, using the scrying pond and talking to General Beardsmoore. He also confirmed that the High Queen would be attending a ground breaking ceremony at Rianna, for the new Palace which was to be built there. Although not a large or grand as the High Palace, is will still become a seat of local government and represent the High Court, when the Queen visits in the future.
They found out that Wizard Lang, had in fact arrived at Earthstone as expected along with a knight and adventurer, but they didn’t stay long. They were going north, so the party asked if they could be tracked, “just in case.”
After hiring a boat, for far to much money and in very poor shape they set sail toward the swamps. Along the way Bob and Sunfire made repairs and cleaned the boat to make it safer.
They arrived at the run down dock felt by the Garnresh, and walked up to the Shun-dar camp. When they got there they found the Shun-dar had built a round building, 4m tall, and about 200m across out of some form of metal. This turned out to be a ringed building as the middle area while roofed seemed to be open space and dirt.
In a meeting room the met 2 other Marrin and a child Pagrin, which looked about 6 years old. As the leader of her people she informed them that they had detected a probe in orbit, which was part of the Argo. Using the gear recovered from the shuttle they would be able to access it and use it to scan the enemy.
When that happened they found very bad news. The probe was able to scan the Ganresh “Central Island”, it was also able to take a close up image of the enemy strong hold.
Although they knew a lot of Garnresh were being shipped to the island, its population seemed to be very low. However there was a very high energy reading with the same signature as chaos magic. The photo was the worst news of all. It was a close up image of the enemy stronghold mountain. On a balcony overlooking a large area, was a large blue crystalline scorpion like creature. This is one of the enemy. The creatures that control the Warpspawn. According to the Shun-dar this creature should not have been there, and was not expected for another 2495 years.
If it is alone, it’s not much of a threat to the people of the planet as such. However if it’s one of several, there is a major problem, which could mean the end of carbon based life on the planet. Given the number of Garnresh going to the island and the low population it seems the second option is more likely.
The Shun-dar advised the party to return to the government and advise them about this discovery. However any large scale armed assault would be unlikely to work. Because the amount of Chaos magic on the island indicated the presence of several Warpspawn, also an Earthstone based army lakes any weapons which might be affective against a Crysalid warrior.
However they would consider what assistants they could offer and help equipment a strike team for this mission
To be continued……

The session started with the party gathering together to confer information and pack ready for the ride to Bakaltis. While doing so they got a message that a diplomat of the city was there to see them. So some of the party went to talk to him, only to find he was the assistant to the Mayor. (In fact an assistant to the assistant but they didn’t discover that.) He was there to deliver a letter of thanks for their helping Castagear in his valiant fight to defend the city from the undead hordes. He also told them that Castagear was being invited to have dinner with the Mayor, but that the government knows that the party had helped him and therefore should be given some reward. Thus a letter of thanks, signed by the Mayor himself.
Nastin took the letter because after all it was an example of the Mayor signature, and therefore might come in handy.
Leaving the city there followed the bearing from Sunfire’s location spell for the locks to fit the keys. Which lead them first through Istavan’s Forest. While going through the forest they found a loggers camp, which seemed to have been abandoned. They stayed the night but as dawn broke the next day, Nastin, who was on watch started to hear sounds from just within the tree line. This turned out to be some form of Ent, which they found out was not happy about the logging. However when they explained they only meant to pass through the Ents left and the clearing became twice as big as it was the night before.
So on the party went, right across Irushenci and toward the Bakaltis border, where they came to the sight of the crashed Shuttle. As they got closer they found someone had set a tent next to the Shuttle, so Fitzroy snuck up to have a look.
It turned out to be a Shun-dar and the Argo’s Engineering officer Li. The Shun-dar requested they assist them in their return trip so as to prevent upsetting the local population. The Party said that if their mission allowed for it they would be happy to help, but that they must find the Wand of Life first.
So the headed off and found a ruin not long after entering Bakaltis’s desert. The floor of the ruin turned out to be a puzzle which Nastin solved. This released a panel in the floor with started to descend, then broke off and crashed to the floor below.
The party used ropes to get to the chamber under the ruin and found 3 stone doors and a couple of mummified bodies. The bodies crumbled to dust when they touched them and Adrian explained that they was more than he would have expected even for bodies dead a very long time.
Aphreal and Fitzroy forced door number 1, and followed the long sloping passageway around to the left.
Nastin and Bob forced door number 3 and followed the long sloping passageway around to the right.
Sunfire and Ambrosia forced door number 2, which collapsed down the shaft beyond it. The shaft however had ladder rungs built into the far side so they went down that way.
Door 1 lead to a closed portcullis and a room beyond were several mummified bodies lay. So Aphreal used her sonic sword to start cutting the metal bars out of the way to give them access.
Meanwhile at door 3, Nastin and Bob found a room with several stone boxes full of dirt, dust and tiny bits of leaf matter. There was also a partly collapsed passageway, which they tried to climb through.
At the bottom of the shaft for door 2 Sunfire and Ambrosia found a room with the trap door in the middle and 12 small ducts opening at the edge of the roof line. Each duct had a small pile of dust and sand below it.
As the metal grate fell into the room touching the floor, Aphreal noticed that the metal was rusting and crumbling before her eyes where it touched the ground.
The party decided to use the trap door in the round room as Nastin had dug his way thought the collapsed passageway and found another entrance to the room full of bodies and another metal grate. However when Sunfire pulled on the trapdoor handle the door didn’t move but the handle pulled up showing a pull cord attached. Sand started pouring in through the ducts and although no one was trapped in the room it soon filled with sand.
When they went back down through door 1 the far wall of the chamber of dead people had moved revealing the wand of life stuck in the stone handle first and surrounded by small chaos stone chips. Fitzroy tried with his telekinesis to get the wand but found it was held tight.
The party remembered the keys and Sunfire and Aphreal charged up the four that still needed a charge. Then they and Ambrosia could all sense that the locks for the keys where nearby. Under the room of sand. A great deal of work latter they had removed the sand from the room enough to reveal the edge of a concealed door. This lead to a chamber with 7 statues, each one needed a key to complete it. Having done that the wand unlocked and Fitzroy was able to retrieve it with his TK.
Although they are not sure the party now suspect they might have broken the curse holding Bakaltis, but only time will tell.
To be continued….

Having found out about the catacombs, Sunfire went to visit Master Wizard Gean Swartster Zendarie, and found out there are two ways into them. The first is a well at the edge of the city, which the poor folk who can’t afford a burial use, but this was not recommended. The second was to go see the Blue Rose Knights who have a chapter house here, but who do not formally have or ever will have an entrance into any catacombs if and when they might exist.
Taking the hint the part went to see the local chapter house leader, and after signing an agreement that they had never met or discussed any catacombs the knight agreed to let them use (Or not as the case may be) their entrance as long as an Squire in training could go with them. After all training is training.
The squire in question turned out to be Adrian, Sir Morgan’s squire although Sir Morgan was away in Serbrund.
They entered the catacombs and after a little searching they found the remains of Fritz Lang Zendarie. They also found 7 items in a bowl, which seem to be the magical keys he spoke of in his diaries. They also found a great many skeletons wandering about, but they were able to hold them off with only a few minor wounds to Bob.
After the battle with the skeletons they withdraw from the catacombs and returned to their rooms at the Inn, to study the keys. After some spell casting and a little research they worked out that each key needs to be charged with magical energy. With Sunfire and Sir Aphreal’s magical skills they would be able to charge 4 of the keys, and the Chaos key seemed to still have some charge in it, which left 2 others to be charged. Water and Wind. Earl Tyberius took them to get them charged and has taken charge of protecting them. He also brought a water skin and transferred the water key into it, refilling the bottle with a fake key, just in case.
Ambrosia returned to Mr Lang’s house to thank him for his help and let him know they no longer needed to get into the catacombs only to discover he had left on business but a few minutes ahead of her.
Part 2
While the rest of the team was getting ready to leave town, Fitzroy and Nastin were sitting in a bar so Fiztroy could get some local information and maybe make a sale or to, when they over heard part of a conversation. Someone behind them was passing information onto another about a distraction, and them meeting up on the border after the job was done.
When the two people left the tavern, Fiztroy followed one and Nastin the other.
Fitzroy’s target made its way to another inn, which was mildly high class and then went up stairs to the private rooms, while Fiztroy remained downstairs and waited for their return.
Nastin’s target went to the middle of town, when there was a great crash as a building collapsed through a hole in the ground down into the catacombs. This meant that after the dust settled and people stopped running about, a new reason for panic spread as skeletons started coming up out of the hole, and attacking people.
The rest of the team having heard the crash went to see what was going on and help out. Mastin tried to keep his eye on his target but after some time lost him in the crowd.
Meanwhile back at the Inn where Fitzroy was waiting, Castagear appeared and declared he would save the town. Fitzroy just tried not to be noticed.
The party battled the skeletons, with magic and swords, and indeed Ambrosia cast her first spell and held an undead. During the battle Sunfire who was close to the edge of the hole could see a mummy in the shadows below directing the undead. He throw a couple of spells at it until Aphreal cast Banish pawn of darkness and sent it away. They were then able to push rubble into the hole and seal it up.
During all this fighting Castagear had indeed arrived and having smashed a few skeletons with his ask, the crowd declared him their savior and he returned to his Inn, with a almost no modesty and a couple of women to swoon at him.
Leela went to see what Fiztroy was doing, and decided to take a room at the inn, and use Fiztroy as her “Date for the night” to get them both upstairs. Once night fell Fitzroy picked a few locks to see who was in what room but the last he had to do by climbing over the room and getting in via the window.
This last room turned out to be rented to a wizard who wore black cloaks, might like the guy Fitzroy had followed. He stole a small everyday tool from his gear so Sunfire could track him, and returned to his own room.
In the morning they found out the wizard was leaving town so Leela hide a fletch from one of her arrows in the harness of his horse, again to be used for tracking him.
To be continued……

The Earl told the rest of the team that he was to be the defense attorney for a Zendarie man He saw arrested in town, and they in turn explained why the man was arrested, so that the Earl was now aware of the situation he has placed himself in.
If he losses the case (Which would his first.) he would be seen in a bad light at the High Court. But if he wins the case then the Seneschal would not be proven innocent.
Because of the people involved in the case and its ramifications, the normal people were unable to handle the judgment. The High Queen couldn’t because she was the intended victim of the assassin. Seneschal Freat couldn’t because he was under arrest and the outcome of the case directly reflected on his case. Acting Seneschal Borealis couldn’t because he had the most to gain from Freat’s arrest. General Beardsmoore couldn’t do it, because he is the head of the “police”, and not the “Legal system”. Bishop Gials couldn’t, because the defendant was not of his faith and it could be seen as bias.
So in the end the problem was solved by the Bloodknights. Sir Hector put himself forward as judge for trial, and Sir Kay was appointed the task of Prosecution attorney.
Earl Tyberius went to see his client and got his side of the story. He told the Earl he was involved with a slowly failing business and that he had spoken to the Seneschal about the dagger 2 days ago. During the meeting he in fact had owned the dagger for a short time, only to return it to the Seneschal and was awaiting a signed letter from the Seneschal to say he owned a dagger from this mans company, which would be a help in sales.
The trial began and the Earl started by questioning the bias of the court with a Bloodknight sitting in Judgment and Prosecution. This was settled by the people viewing the trial. The Earl then tried the tactic of questioning the arresting guards’ methods, because they had shot the Zendarie man with a crossbow to stop him from running. However no one believed this idea, including the Zendarie man, who said they were in fact very fast to have his leg tended to after that had arrested him. Then the trial got down to the matter at hand. Several people where called to give testimony, including Seneschal Freat, the House Zendarie wizardry Ambassador, the arresting Griffin Guard, and the Defendant. During the course of the trial it became slowly clearer and clearer that the defendant was in fact a wizard. In the end he confessed to having switched the dagger for a wooden letter opener, which had an illusion cast on it to look like the Seneschal’s dagger.
This was the proof needed to have Seneschal Freat released from custody and re-instated.
However at the end of the trial the defendant also confessed he had been hired by Baron Borealis, which has prompted other investigations. (The results of which will become know in the fullness of time.)
The trial over and party finally resumed their trip to Melnia to look in the writings of Fritz Lang Zendarie, and there by find the Wand of Life.
They arrived in Melnia and set about looking up as much as they could. Leela found out the current address of the Lang family and went to see them. Here she met a 30 something Zendarie wizard who was happy to help her in her research, because she was “A bit of a looker.” He gave her a few pages of notes written by Fritz which were in a code no one was able to translate.
When the party got back together, Leela showed the notes to everyone and Ambrosia was able to translate them, because of her special understanding of language. From the notes they learnt a few things. Firstly that they would need 7 keys, which would need to be charged. They also learnt that the wand is somewhere in Bakaltis, although exactly where is still a mystery.
By returning to the Lang household they found out the Fritz was buried in the Catacombs under the city, and that some of his personal effects where buried with him. However the catacombs were sealed around 200 years ago because stray magical energies would leak into them from the city above, which is home to the largest population of wizards in the realm. This meant that from time to time people didn’t always stay buried. Now when people pass away they are cremated, thus stopping the problem.
To be continued…..

While still at Earthstone capital, the party found themselves in the middle of a diplomatic incident. The young Earl Tyberius attended open court partly to see what the High Court looked like but also to make a few requests of the Luin Ambassador, which would need to be passed on to General Beardsmoore and Master Wizard Dimitri Blackstar Zendarie. The first was to get a pass for the quest he was undertaking, the second request was for access to the libraries of the High Court. Both were granted, largely because of the other people the Earl is with.
Elsewhere in the city Fiztroy and Nastin were looking for a few contacts in order to sell off some of Fiztroy’s stock. In doing so they overheard a man taking about the assassination job he had just been hired to do. Because of what Fiztroy had already learnt about there not being any assassin work in the city at the moment he took the time to study the man. They learnt that this was his first job and it was that night, even though he was drinking enough to be slightly sloshed.
They followed the man to his job only to find out it was the Palace, and the intended target was the High Queen.
The assassination attempt failed and the assassin was killed. However the Seneschal was arrested because of a frame up implying the assassination was requested by him. This has thrown the High Court into turmoil.
The next day Paladin to be Aphreal attended a ceremony at the Draida embassy, to formally be granted the title of Paladin. This is a first for any of the Northern Houses, who have until now used a different form of military structure. A high priest from the Arachkidis Temple performed the ceremony, but it was interrupted half way through by someone from the warrior caste of House Draida. They have a problem with the title of Paladin, and that Aphreal is a member of the religious caste and not the warrior caste. The High Priest settled the matter for the time being, but Aphreal suspects the warrior caste will not just walk away from this.
While Leela, Sunfire and Nastin were looking in on the body of the assassin, it was worked out that the dagger, which was the main source of evidence against the Seneschal, was stolen before the attempt and then worked out where this thief was.
About the same time the Earl was having lunch in the city, when several Griffin guard forcibly arrested a Zendarie man (The thief of the dagger). In order to find out what was going on, the Earl put himself forward as the Zendarie’s defense attorney.
To be continued…..

The current session was a mixture of the last session recapped for the players who missed out and new scenes. So he goes with the update.
The young Earl, having discovered the fate of his estate and family attempted to bargain with the Luin Government, at first this gained him a little more money for his quest to defeat the Vampire Count Laver. However these funds were spent hiring a “Servant” from his estate. Nastin.
Nastin then joined the group as they made plans to head to Melnia. After considering the options, the party traveled through the Greetas collective to the southern edge of Bearandass. While in Bearandass, Sunfire wore his own Wizard cuffs, but because Ambrosia’s training was at such an early stage, she was able to pass the border without being noticed.
The party left Bearandass and entered Earthstone where they went to the capital to see the sites, make reports and in one case talk to their church.
While at the capital. Amborisa had a meeting with Sunfire and the Seneschal in which she was promoted to becoming a King’s mage. Aphreal spoke to her church and has been granted permission to become a Paladin for their faith. Fiztroy was told that there is a shortage of second story men around so he has altered his training to suit. He was also told that while the brother of his last contract is not hunting him, he is however about to be made the seneschal of Rianna, and that might prove a problem in the future.
To be continued…..

The team returned to the beach the next morning, and waited for the rescue ship to arrive. Taking the time to study or practice their varied skills. Finally late that day a fishing ship appeared and anchored a short distance off shore, before sending a long boat to collect them all.
Wasting no time the captain of the ship set sail for Bakaltis’s coastal ports, while he still had a tide to work with. So by late morning the next day they arrived in the coastal village, and set about reporting to the people they each needed to talk to. Bob filled out paperwork. Ambrosia spoke to the local Griffin Captain, etc. They found out there was going to be a party in the town in two days time, because it seems the King of Bakaltis, may have found a cure for the plague, this being displayed by green healthy grass growing in several small patches around the base of his hall.
However the party decided to head toward Luin, and a scrying pool so they could report about the appearance of the Vampire Count Laver, returning the young Earl home in the process.
So recovering their horses and loading them and their gear onto a river barge, they again set sail up river toward Luin’s capital. Two weeks latter they arrive in Luin City and scryed the Seneschal in Earthstone, as well as Blasted Island. From Blasted Island they found out there was once a “Wand of Life” which could counter the effects of Laver’s dagger, but it has not been seen in 1000 years, and was only know about by a very few even then.
Leela also informed the Blue Rose Knights about Count Laver. While they are not happy at the though of facing off against him again, they will not shy away from the fight when it comes either.
The party dropped the young Earl at his home, only to find the locals shunning him as they got nearer. When they arrived, they found the estate had been seized by the government, and that the family was in so much disgrace, that the Earl’s father had hung himself. By talking to the Wizard’s council, they found out the Earl’s father was only hiding Laver’s dagger under their guidance, and by handing it over, he has put everyone at risk. Thus the young Earl is duty bound to find a way to retrieve the dagger in order to save face and reclaim his title.
The party decided they needed to find the Wand of Life, but their only lead on it was the book from 1000 years ago, which was written by a Zendarie Wizard called Fritz Lang Zendarie who lived in the city of Melnia.
While all this was going on Sunfire, also learnt that Ambrosia has to potential to become a wizard and that she was mentioned in a prophecy about the “War of Deceit” written by Lady Susan. So he has agreed to start teaching her magic.
To be continued….

The story started with a flash back scene, showing the young Earl Tyberius locked in a room, starting a fire with the use of some pages from a book some wine, and a candle. Standing beside the door the room started filling with smoke. Soon the sound of slow footsteps could be heard outside. The door opening in the now smoke filled room and a figure entered heading toward the fire.
The Earl swung the heavy book by way of an attack and dashed from the room, failing to notice that the book had gone un-noticed by the person entering. Outside the Earl closed and locked the door before grabbing a candle stick and racing down stairs in search of a way out.
Half way down the stairs he was stopped by the man holding him hostage. The man took him to see a group of recently dead adventurers who were hanging by their ankles from rafters. They had been shot will small darts, until they had bled to death. His capture explained that the Earl’s father had sent them to rescue him, but as they had failed he was now sending the demanded ransom. He then transformed in from of the Earl causing him to faint.
Some time latter, after the failed hostage exchange, the Earl awoke in the tower ruins along with the rest of the party and they introduced themselves to each other.
After sleeping the night in the tower, the party returned to the beach to await the ship. Once there they decided to go and bury the dead troops and look at the box, which contained the dagger, so most of the party set off to do so, while Aphreal and Fitzroy stayed at the beach, to pray and guard as the case may be.
When the got to the place where the vampire had slaughtered the guards the collected the remains and set them on fire. While Sunfire set about making a head stone for them. While they were watching the fire the zombie arrived and attack one of the Griffin sailors. A rock and spear to the head latter and they zombie was also added to the fire. The Earl identified the box as one that he remembers his father keeping locked away, but he had no idea what was inside it.
As it had gotten to late to return to either the beach or the tower before nightfall, they decided to load up a big fire and stay the night.
To be continued………

The bulk of the party along with a Griffin Sailor called Bob, decide to follow the remains of a road, now very over grown, which lead south away from the ruins of the watchtower. Because they thought they would have to wait a week until a rescue ship arrived, it gave them 6 days to explore the area.
However about an hour after dark of the first night during their trip along the road, a Green glowing mist drifted through the camp, scaring the willies out of Fiztroy when he noticed the mist carrying what looked like a body. The mist was also going north against the wind. Wakening the party and letting them know what he’d seen, they decide to return to the ruined tower and see what they could now find.
So they traveled all night and well into the next day to arrive at the ruined tower a little after noon.
When they arrived they found the body of a young man laid out in state in the tower. And after some time and a little spell casting realized he was in a coma. He also had no identification on him. They decided to wait until dark.
Just after night fall. They became to hear the approach of a number of people from the north, making their way through the woods. Sunfire and Leela went the current top of the tower and watched the lanterns drawing closer. Fitzroy and Ambrosia hid in order to get behind them. Aphreal stood guard over the boy, with Cy. Bob wandered about the ruins looking for a place to hide and failed.
When the men arrived, the leader, who was carrying a box, saw Sunfire and Leela and holding the box up so they could see it, sent ten of his men toward the tower. Sunfire ordered them to back off and cast a flamelance in front of the guards to reinforce his remark.
After some discussion between the Leader, and Leela, the Leader realized they were not the people he should be dealing with and warned them to leave the area. The party didn’t back down, mistaking the leaders remarks for a threat.
The Leader recalled him men and they left the area, going back the way they had come, with Fitzroy sneaking along behind them listening to them.
The party gathering in the room with the boy to discuss things, and Aphreal told them that she thought they were doing a deal of some sort. That the Box was payment for the return of the boy. In the process she happened to look at her holy water. It has begun to glow blue. As the light from the vial was growing stronger, Ambrosia used her holy water to make a circle around the edge of the room. Leela sat with her back to a wall, ready with her sonic gun. By the time the green mist entered the room, the light from Aphreal’s holy water was almost as bright as daylight. When the mist crossed the tiny stream of holy water in front of the hole in the way. A bright flame erupted and the mist screamed with rage and pain. It flowed around the room causing fear to grip the party. Bob, and Leela, stood firm, Aphreal cast iron will, to stop from feeing, Ambrosia passed out with a little sanity loss. And Sunfire fled the room.
The mist drained about a third of Aphreal’s Life force as it passed her, so in desperation, she cast Banish Pawn of darkness. This was enough to force the mist out of the room, across the holy water a second time.
Now more than a little angered, the mist headed north. It passed Fitzory a few moments latter freezing him in his tracks. The mist attacked the men with the box, slaughtering them all bar the leader. It took the box from him and opened it. Inside was a dagger, made of bone. The tip of the dagger touched the man on the forehead, and instantly drained the life from him. The mist left taking the dagger and leaving the leader, who had become a zombie to wander the area. Fitzory headed back to the tower.
To be continued…..

Date; 11/02/2005
Having been ship wrecked off the coast of Beshara at the northern most point, the party along with twelve surviving members of the ships crew set about trying to find a way back to the coastal city of Bakaltis.
The Warpspawn that had crushed the stern of their ship had returned to the sea and left the area.
Aphreal used a telepathy spell to alert the Griffin captain in Bakaltis to their problem and was told it would take a week for a ship to come get them. So Leela and Fitzroy went slightly inland to climb a tree and see what was about.
Leela spotted a ruin some distance further inland so the party and 6 of the Griffin sailors went to go have a look, while the rest of the sailors set about fishing and making a camp.
They arrive at the ruin they find it to be a 2000 year old watch tower, or rather the remains of one. Looking about the site, the find inside and out sets of human tracks which seem to just start and stop. Aphreal set about asking for “Divine Guidance” when they hear a scream from the woods. Rushing back they find a Freaker has attacked three of the Griffin sailors. They drive off the beast, but the 3 sailors are dead.
Meanwhile Earl Tyberius sits down to a meal with his captor. While the meal is of quality he talks to the man who is holding him prisoner. And learns that he is being used to gain some form of ransom. Wanting to speed things along a little and trying to find out why he is being held, he offers to write a letter proving he is alive and that the demands should be met. After which time he asks about being able to visit the library and perhaps do a little reading while he waits. This request is granted. So taking some wine and a book from the library he goes to his room. Paper, plus alcohol, plus candle flame equals fire and distraction.
To be continued…..