Chapter One - A Contract at Fareach

Day 100

In the morning, the town bells ring, and the town crier calls out the news. "Oye! Terrible news! Terrible news!". There was a temple attack in the night, and  the Temple of Lathander has been sacked, with few survivors. Tosscobble sneaks out and ties the laces of the town crier's boots together, tripping him. He shouts at the halfling, unties himself and continues on his way.

The Arrows head to the temple, hoping that Japas is unharmed. Outside the temple is the Town Watch. We approach them, but they tell us the temple is closed. Tosscobble and Sindri flash their badges, and the party is allowed inside. Firstly we ask what happened; it was a massacre. They do not know if it was an individual or a group who did it, and it happened sometime in the morning. There were only three survivors, two novices called Darvin, Arveene and a cleric called Japas. The victims were brutally stabbed with a knife. We ask if they suspect the serial killer from the Burrows, and they say that they do, and that this is his first group attack, and also his first attack outside the Burrows.

We enter the temple, and meet Japas. We ask if he is alright, and comfort him. He is distraught, and is comforting the equally upset novices. He laments that the temple's ability to heal the town has been crippled with this attack. We deduce that the serial killer is probably linked to the plague's cause. Japas says he was just sleeping in his dorm, like everyone else, and he doesn't know why he managed to survive. There are twenty-three dead clerics, and the thirty patients being treated for the plague were also killed.

The female novice Arveene was on the first watch, and noticed nothing, so the attack must have occurred sometime during the second or third watch. Japas offers to lead some of the Arrows around the building; Tharivol, Tosscobble, Ri, Sindri and Dimble will go with him to inspect the scene. Gazadriel, Skagaros, Knifey, Erak and Jøhn will stay with the two novices. Tharry fails to detect poison on the novices.

Japas leads part of the Arrows around the temple. There are bodies everywhere, covered in sheets. We see the dorm area, the prayer rooms, and the patient chambers. He leads us to the eating hall and the kitchen, and Tharry casts Detects Poison on the water from the cistern. He finds some trace materials, but Japas points to some bottles on the walls and explains that the chemicals are used in their healing practices. Japas also leads us to the Reliquary, which appears intact. Tosscobble searches around, but can't find anyone hiding in the room. Japas watches him carefully, so the halfling doesn't steal anything.

We are led to the temple proper. It is a grand room, with golden banners decorating the many pillars, and the symbol of Lathander adorning the walls, ceiling and floor; a rising sun made of rose, yellow, red and green gems. There are dead bodies here too, and the party cannot find anyone hiding. We ask Japas who found the bodies. He tells us that it was a guard on his patrols who sounded the alarm at about five in the morning. We return to the others, and Japas informs us that a secret safehouse has been prepared for the three clerics by the thief-takers.

We escort the three clerics to the Thief-takers. Gazadriel extracts a promise from one of them, Ander Urth, that they will keep the healers safe. Jøhn offers to accompany Japas, and they head out with the Thief-takers. Dimble decides to go as well. Tharry and Knifey head to the Alchemist's, after drinking their remaining two potions. The rest of the Arrows stay at the Thief-takers, intending to work out a trap to capture the murderer. They discuss a plan with the Man Upstairs.

The plan is as follows: Ri will be disguised as a cleric, and will be accompanied by a troop of ten guards; actually thief-takers, including Tosscobble, in disguise. There will be an established route, and we will move at four in the morning. The Man Upstairs can spare twelve extra men to follow the escort in the streets. He also organises the information leak, and ensures that it will make its way into the Burrows.

As they finalise the plans, at around six in the evening, the Arrows hear some frantic bell-ringing, and they head upstairs to see what is happening. Close to the gates of the upper city, they can see that a fire has started. Tosscobble realises that it is where the Quiver is located...


At the alchemist's shop, the owner has managed to improve the potion. He and Tharry manage to craft fourteen potions, two of which the alchemist keeps.  Tharry and Knifey leave the shop at about quarter to six in the evening, and head back to the Quiver. Knifey opens the door, and across the room sees a scribbly rune of concentric circles on the opposite wall. As soon as Knifey sees it, Tharry senses a magical discharge, and the rune explodes, blasting the two Arrows. Knifey jumps for cover, and shields Tharry. They both get singed. They pick themselves up off the ground, amidst smoke and ash. The entire second storey has been blasted away, and the first storey is a blackened husk of burned walls and furniture. All of our possession appear to have been burned to crisps. The two neighbouring houses have caught fire.

The town bells start ringing, and people start appearing from their houses. Knifey checks the house on the right, charging in and grabbing the inhabitants. The left building is now burning very badly, but many people are filing out of the bottom floor. There is still someone upstairs, so Knifey rushes in and brings them outside. The Xeph is on fire, but he manages to roll and put it out. Tharry is passing around water from his water flask. People have arrived with buckets, and some wizards are casting water spells. As the fire dies down, Knifey and Tharry tell the Watch that there was an Explosive Rune inside. We then leave to go to the Thief-takers Guild.


The Arrows decide to head to the Quiver to see what has happened. Gazadriel charges forth on his horse, which Ri has cast Haste on, and comes across Tharivol and Knifey. They return to the Quiver together, and investigate the ruins of their house. The basement is still on fire, and they manage to put it out with the help of some Wizards casting Quench. Gazadriel heals Tharry and Knifey. We return to the Thief-takers, and ask if we can stay for the night, before the ambush. There is a Thief-taker who is taking food to the safehouse, and we give him a message for Jøhn, bringing the news that the Quiver is no more. Tharry informs the group of the improved potions he helped make. Sindri, acting strangely as usual, voices his paranoid suspicions that Japas is secretly the serial killer. We rest during the night.

Day 101

At four in the morning, the troop leaves the Thief-takers' headquarters, following the planned route. Ri and Tosscobble are accompanied by nine guards. The Arrows and the twelve spare men follow in the alleys, out of sight. Tharivol and Knifey are invisible. Gazadriel is not being very conspicuous, but no-one is near enough to tell him.

Unfortunately, no-one arrives to take the bait, and the group reaches the safehouse without event. It's four twenty-one;  inside, the thief-takers are upset that their best chance failed. We all return to the headquarters via a secret tunnel, which takes us about forty minutes to travel  back through. We are greeted by chaos; people are running around at the headquarters; apparently the council chambers have been levelled, and all the city records have been destroyed. The councillors have been relocated to the Citadel. Erak heads outside the city to see how the dwarves are going, and to tell them of the disturbing events in the city. Knifey and Tharry sneak to the safehouse using the tunnel system, and find Jøhn, Dimble and Japas, who are playing cards. They ask if they've seen anything, but they haven't. The novices are upstairs praying.

Knifey and Tharivol return to the others, and after drinking our resistance potions, we all head out to the site of the council chambers. It is obvious it was not a normal fire, but rather a magical event. The building is almost completely gone. The sun is rising behind the ruins. We search the site, but find nothing in the devastation. Sindri determines that the spell was likely an Evocation spell. We then go to the Citadel. Sindri intimidates a bird in the sky, and it gets so scared it poos on his face. He then runs around the courtyard, frantically asking people if there is a big conspiracy. Ri stays outside to keep Sindri in check, while everyone else enters. Ri casts Silence on him.

We are led to General Tullius, who greets us. Knifey asks what he knows about the Council attack. They do not know much, but we tell them that they are correct in thinking that it was destroyed by magic. They do know that it happened a bit before five in the morning.

In the dwarven camp, Erak inspects the troops; they appear healthy. He talks to the greybeard council as well, and advises them to strengthen their defences, due to the large-scale attacks on the city. He decides to stay with the dwarves, and sends a message to the Arrows via chicken.


Tharry and Knifey return to the Alchemist's. When we arrive, the shop is still dark. We enter, and the owner is lying on the floor, breathing heavily. He looks up at us, and thrusts a leather-bound book towards Tharry, who takes. He takes a last ragged breath, and then dies. Inside the book is the sum total of the elf's life's work. On the last page, however, is something more recent; "This should help" is written in the margins, and the page details the recipe for an improved potion. The front of the book has a forward which explains that if for some reason this book is given to someone, that person should not share its contents. Considering that the alchemist hated the Wizards' Tower, Tharry and Knifey decide not to take the recipe to the Wizards' Tower. Tharry and Knifey drag him outside, and say some words. We then douse the body in Alchemical Fire, and the body alights.

We re-enter the shop, and examine its contents. There is a wide variety of potions. Tharivol finds the key to the door, and locks it. Knifey collects some potions from the shelves, including one of each of Spider Climb, Dark Vision, Owl's Wisdom, Remove Curse, Gaseous Form, Bearskin, Jump, and nine Cure Moderate Wounds and fourteen Cure Light Wounds. Tharivol insists we don't take everything yet, as we have not discovered a will yet to let us know who inherits the shop and its contents.  Tharivol then proceeds to brew the improved potion, Knifey standing guard.


The party returns to the Thief-takers again, and ask if there have been more kills since the massacres, but there have been no reported deaths since the attack on the temple. Gazadriel and Skagaros venture down the tunnel to the safehouse, as Gazadriel has a nagging suspicion regarding Ander Urth and his promise of safety.

Tosscobble, Sindri and Ri head to the Burrows, via the sewers again, at about midday. Tosscobble and Ri both feel sick in the sewers. Ri casts Invisibility on the other two, and casts Disguise Self, appearing as a thin human female, tough-looking and wearing a dark tunic and boots, and her black cloak. The group leaves the sewers and returns to the cobblestone where they left the message for the boy, but find nothing there, meaning he got Knifey's message of comfort. Sindri, having the best sense of direction, leads the way. They wander for hours, but they do not come across the serial killer, and decide to go back to the sewer entrance, as it gets late, and clouds gather in the sky.

As the sun is setting, Sindri, while the others aren't looking, hides behind some barrels in an alley. Tosscobble and Ri quickly lose sight of him, and turn back, trying to find where he went. As the other two move away from him, he looks to his left and then his right. When he look back to his left, he sees a figure in a black hood at the entrance of an alley, across an abandoned market square. The figure starts moving slowly towards him. Sindri reveals himself, and calls out to the figure, emotionally asking: "What is the point of all these senseless murders?" The figure, despite being some distance away, audibly replies in a deep, husky voice: "Now, you die!".

With preternatural speed, the hooded man crosses the market square and draws two gleaming daggers as he lunges at Sindri. With just a small slash from one of the knives, Sindri begins bleeding profusely from his side. Sindri swings with his mace of screaming demon heads, but the killer dodges and slashes back at him. Sindri swings his mace again, but misses again. A thunderclap sounds above; at that moment, Tosscobble and Ri wheel around the corner, and stop in their tracks, startled. The murderer slashes Sindri again, and he crumples, screaming, as he sees wispy tendrils slither out of the cobblestones and start to pull him into the Far. The voices in his head are deafening.

Ri casts Inevitable Defeat, but she fails to touch the killer. Tosscobble, standing back, fires his crossbow, hitting. Sindri struggles against the tendrils in his mind. The killer rolls past Ri, and charges at Tosscobble, who swings, but he tumbles through the halfling's defence, slicing his body. Tosscobble begins to bleed copiously. More thunder rumbles in the darkened sky. Ri tries to cast Hold Person, but the spell gets resisted. Nigel leaps in and snaps at the killer, but misses. Tosscobble draws his two rapiers, landing a hit with one. The killer slashes the halfling again. Ri fails Hold Person again. Tosscobble drops one of his swords, but manages to slash the killer across his torso, from right shoulder to his belly. Ri hears something metallic hitting the ground. Sindri screams louder with horror, clawing at his own skull and body.

The cloaked figure does a backflip, and then runs away. Tosscobble clambers towards Sindri, who is still screaming and moaning on the ground, his cries echoing through the narrow alleyways. Ri retrieves a Wand of Cure Light Wounds from Sindri's pack, and manages to heal Sindri, barely. She slaps the befuddled Sindri for leaving them and almost getting all three of them killed. Ri then turns back  around, and sees a small golden object on the ground where the killer was fighting. She picks it up; it is a medallion, with a broken chain. A holy symbol.

The rose-and-gold sunrise of Lathander.

The clouds part, and it begins to rain...

Day 101 Continued...

Ri, shocked, stands in silence for a few moments. She beckons to Tosscobble, and shows him what she has found. He is equally surprised, as he deeply trusted Japas, and literally gave him a key to the Quiver. Behind them, Sindri is coughing and spluttering, and feeling very weak. He reacts to the news with "I told you so!" before falling back into a coughing fit. The three decide to return to the Thief-taker's Guild, in order to investigate the safehouse.



At the safehouse, Jøhn is playing a card game - Three-Dragon Ante - with Japas, as Dimble plays his flute in the corner.



At the Ridwan's store, Tharivol and Knifey leave the store, having brewed ten of the improved mixture. Thunder has started rumbling in the sky, and the pair decide to head back to the Thief-taker's Guild to meet with the rest of the Arrows.



Ri, Sindri and Tosscobble make their way back through the sewers. When they arrive at the Guild, they are greeted by one of the Thief-takers. He tells them the news: most of the merchants in the city have been murdered, including the Antique-seller, the Menagerie owner, and the Alchemist, whose body was found burning on the streets. Tharivol and Knifey turn up soon after, and are briefed on the news.

Ri and Tosscobble bring Tharivol and Knifey aside, and tell them the bad tidings about the medallion they found. Knifey takes the medallion in his hand, and falls eerily silent, his face as still as stone as he comprehends the situation.



In the Dwarf camp, the Dwarves have been making trenches. A sentry enters the command tent and informs Erak that Faughlien has fallen. The refugees from the city have made it to the camp, including General Cheronet. The General and his troops have headed to the Citadel to speak with the Fareach military. Erak rushes off to tell the Arrows about this, after telling the guards to double their efforts to fortify their encampment, and sending a guard to the Citadel to find out the details of the attack on Faughlien.

He reaches the Guild building, and kicks down the door, shouting "Faughlien has fallen!". Overwhelmed with bad news, the party discusses what to do about the situation. Tosscobble tells the Man Upstairs about the party's suspicions. Tosscobble and Sindri want to run into the safehouse and stab Japas, assuming he is some sort of intangible illusion. The sensible members of the party quickly quell this suggestion.

The plan develops as follows: the party will travel up the secret tunnel to the safehouse. Knifey and Erak will enter through the trapdoor, to relieve Skagaros and Dimble. Tharivol, Ri, Sindri and Tosscobble will remain hidden in the tunnel. The message will be passed to Skagaros, who will re-enter and inform Gazadriel with sign language. Once everyone in the party knows the information, they will try and find evidence that Japas is the killer.

Knifey reaches the trapdoor, and knocks. The trapdoor is opened, and Knifey and Erak enter and see Gazadriel, Skagaros, Dimble, Jøhn and Japas playing cards in the dining room. Two thief-taker guards stand by the trapdoor, and another by the door opposite. Knifey tells Skagaros and Dimble to leave, and then they sit down and talk with the party in the room. Knifey heads upstairs to make sure the other two guards are there, and they are. He also checks in on the two novice clerics, and finds them safe; Darvin is writing in a book, Arveene is sleeping. Knifey cannot detect if they are illusions.

In the tunnel, Tosscobble decides to run to the door and knock on it, but Erak is standing on top of it, and thankfully Japas does not hear. Sindri intimidates Tosscobble to stop him. Tharivol tells Skagaros and Dimble about the events in the Burrows, and the party's suspicions. Skagaros re-enters, and communicates the news to Gazadriel with sign language. Knifey returns downstairs, and tells Japas that the cleric has been good to the novices, as they seem to be well. He pats the cleric on the shoulder. Knifey starts scribbling a note to Jøhn, with a drawing of a dog on it:

Jøhn, the Sun Arrow, is the murderer. Be subtle, reply to this by saying "this drawing of Tibs is so bad I should rip it up!"

Jøhn reads the note, and comments: "What is this? This sketch is rubbish, rip it up!". He rips the paper up, and then suggests to Japas that he forget the town and take up adventuring again. Japas replies that his faith to Lathander and to the people of Fareach is too important. Gazadriel asks about the symbol of Lathander, and Japas's own medallion. Japas replies that he unfortunately lost his medallion on the night of the temple massacre. Jøhn detects that he is human.

Gazadriel asks what a mass-murderer would want with a Lathander symbol, and Japas claims he doesn't know the mind of a murderer, but suggests it would be an attractive lump of gold for a thief with no devotion to Lathander. He is a little bit suspicious by this point. Gazadriel proceeds to tell Japas the truth, that he is suspicious of him. He explains that for the good of the city, it would be best to be cautious, and reduce some of Japas's powers. Japas asks how he would like it if the same happened to Gazadriel. Knifey exclaims that this has already happened to Gazadriel, and Japas is astounded that Gazadriel has fallen, asking for proof the he is still a paladin. Gazadriel summons his horse, and Japas accepts this proof. Gazadriel asks if Japas would like his symbol back, and the cleric says he would, if they had it.

Gazadriel calls the rest of the party up into the room. We decide to leave Gazadriel, Dimble and Knifey to guard Japas, and the rest of the party will go back out into the streets. Before we leave, we hand the symbol back to Japas, and ask him to cast "Circle of Protection From Evil", to determine if he is Good (only a Good person could cast a spell with a Good medallion). Before he casts the spell, everyone but Knifey, Erak, Gazadriel leave. The cleric casts the spell, and the symbol glows with a soft white luminescence. Tharry re-enters, and can confirm the spell comes from the Abjuration class. Gazadriel heals Sindri's wounds, and then everyone else leaves to go and investigate on the streets again, telling Japas that we are going to investigate around the Citadel. It's about eight in the evening by this point.

We leave the safehouse through the tunnel, and Sindri immediately tries to sneak away when we reach the thief-takers' building. Skagaros manages to grapple him to prevent him from escaping. At this point, a Dwarf sent to talk to Cheronet by Erak meets the party at the Thief-takers', and explains that Faughlien was destroyed by a combined force of goblins and spiders.

Jøhn leaves the building, and it is now raining quite heavily outside. He climbs onto his bat, Balthazar, and flies over the city into the Burrows, as the rest of the Arrows, including Tiberius, Nigel and Tharry's automaton, travel into the sewers through the entrance in the guild building. Skagaros feels queasy, but Sindri is extremely sick, throwing up amid coughing fits. Jøhn sees the party resurface on the streets, and descends to rejoin them. The Arrows return to the Market Square, where Sindri was attacked just hours before. Jøhn flies up again to scout the area. Ri casts Invisibility Sphere, surrounding herself, Tharry and Tosscobble.

As Jøhn flies over the Burrows, he sees a huge explosion. Down below, Tharivol can hear a rumbling sound in the distance, barely distinguishable from the thunderstorm, but different nonetheless. Jøhn swoops down and tells the party what he saw: the Mage Tower has exploded, and is completely gone. Sindri however, has disappeared by this point. Jøhn climbs off his bat and proceeds to track Sindri with help from Tiberius.



Sindri slinks away from the group without them noticing. He wanders the streets, hopelessly lost, for about half an hour. He continues to walk around, and turns a corner, where he is immediately stabbed three times in his side. Sindri reacts quickly, throwing the attacker to the floor, gripping his arms. The killer tries to stab with his knives again, but misses Sindri, who tries to pin him to the floor. The killer continues to struggle, until Sindri successfully pins him. The killer soon breaks out of it, but Sindri pins him again., and starts screaming: "I've got him! Over here! Follow my voice!". Sindri takes hold of the killer's right-hand dagger, removing it from his grasp. Tiefling blood is mingling with the water on the ground. Using the dagger, Sindri, still shouting, flicks the other dagger out of the killer's hand, and it bounces across the cobblestones. The killer struggles against the demon-slayer, unsuccessfully trying to break his hold. Sindri tries to remove the attacker's hood with his left hand, but the killer moves his head out of the way and tries unsuccessfully to get the dagger back.

Sindri manages to remove the hood this time, but all he can see is a magical distortion; a face of shifting colours and features, clearly under some sort of spell. Sindri keeps a tight grasp, and stabs with the dagger in his right hand. The killer silently twists the dagger back towards Sindri, cutting his hand. The pair struggle to stab each other as they roll around in the soaking alleyway. After two more tries, Sindri hits again with the dagger, twice. He plunges the dagger into the man's neck, and blood sprays everywhere as the killer takes a last, gurgling breath. Sindri rolls off the body, succumbing to his wounds. He can see the tendrils of the Far reaching towards him as a red haze appears over his eyes...



Back with the party, Tharivol can hear distant shouting: "Follow my voice! I've got him pinned!". The group starts running through the rain towards the sound. Jøhn leaps on Balthazar and flies towards the source. The screaming suddenly stops, and the Burrows fall eerily silent, aside from the pattering of the rain. Skagaros skids around a corner, and sees two bodies. Sindri is lying on the ground, bleeding from his sides, next to the cloaked body of a man with a ravaged neck, blood pouring everywhere. Skagaros immediately leaps on top of the killer's corpse, holding it to the ground. Jøhn arrives seconds later, landing near Sindri, who he starts to heal. Sindri takes a deep breath as he is revived, and Tosscobble barrels around the corner. The halfling approaches the corpse, and looks upon its blue-eyed face. The murderer of Fareach is none other than Japas Jaundice.



Back at the safehouse, Gazadriel, Dimble and Knifey are playing cards with Japas. Suddenly, Japas's body starts jerking and writhing violently in all directions, until it fades into nothingness. Gazadriel, Knifey and Dimble, realising that they have been fooled, check on the novices, and then leave the safehouse. The thief-taker guards return to tell the Man Upstairs.



Tharivol, Ri and Erak reach the others. Sindri is lying down, spluttering from his cough, but able to talk. Jøhn and Tharry are upset that Japas has turned out to be the killer. Tosscobble searches the corpse and finds a wide variety of potions and scrolls, and three wands, which he hands to Tharry for identification. The elf collects the stray dagger as well, and identifies it as being a +2 Dagger of Wounding, and one of the wands as being a Wand of Major Image. He hands the dagger back to the halfling. Ri helps to identify another wand as a Wand of {TBC}. Sindri tries to identify the other one, and it discharges, but they can't tell what effect is was. The scrolls are mostly illusion spells. The potions are of a mixed variety, including Cat's Grace, Freedom of Movement, Glibness and Expeditious Retreat.

Gazadriel, Dimble and Knifey arrive. Knifey runs over, and falls silent as he stares solemnly at Japas's familiar face. He asks if anyone know why Japas betrayed the Arrows, but the party is silent. The rain continues to fall on the Arrows and Japas's body. Knifey bends down, and removes a small object from around Japas's red neck: a key, arrow-shaped and golden. Jøhn moves to comfort Knifey as the Xeph peers down at the key. Skagaros steps forward, and closes the eyes of their old friend.  Gazadriel pulls out the medallion, and is surprised to see an iron symbol: a white, jawless skull on a black-purple sunburst. He identifies it as the symbol of Cyric, the god of lies, trickery and illusions.

The paladin picks up the body, and the party heads back towards the sewers. Tosscobble and Tharivol are very sick in the sewers; Ri and Sindri just feel queasy. Jøhn flies overhead again, and the party makes it safely back to the thief-taker's.

Day 101 Continued...

The Arrows enter into the guild building at about ten in the evening, carrying the body of Japas. Sindri immediately shouts at the thief-takers, "I told you so!", amidst coughing. They greet us with bad news: the necromancer's army is visible in the East. Erak decides to go to visit Cheronet, and discuss battle plans. First, he tells the thief-takers to start burning all the corpses littered around the city. Jøhn heals Sindri and Tosscobble with his Belt of Healing. Before leaving, Knifey suggests we perform a funeral for Japas, and burn his body at the site of the Quiver.

We all head to the ruins of our old home. Using discarded timber from the explosion, and a vial of Alchemist's Fire, we light a pyre for Japas, who is wrapped in cloth. The crackling flames lick eagerly at the body of their friend, vibrant against the endless blackness of the night sky. The party stands silently for several moments, until Knifey speaks, in a voice barely louder than a whisper, but audible nonetheless:

"Among the Xeph there is a ritual, a funeral rite. The Seeah at Mana... The deceased's loved ones would gather together and create a 'soul light': a psionic wisp. Coloured so as to reflect the fallen's spirit, it rises into the night sky and slowly fades among the stars, a last goodbye for those who remain, to the soul that journeys on. It can be performed by many, or by a single indiviual. There is even the tale of a Xeph called Nasim who performed the rite for an entire village. And I would perform it here, if I could...

The Xeph's scarred face was hard and grim, but without even a single tear, in the firelight. He continues, louder and more emotional this time.

"But I cannot... I have not the tools, Japas, and more importantly, the truth! If I could, I would call forth the vibrant gold of your soul as I knew it, bright as the rising sun! I would call forth the colours of the the healer, the helper, protector of life. But how can I when I am no longer certain that was real? Did you succumb to some spell, were you tricked and led astray? Was it your choice? Was it the truth of you, all this time? This evil? I do not know, but I will. I must.

"Until that time I will carry this. The Sun Arrow, a symbol of our friendship. I will know why you did this Japas, for all our sakes. But most of all, for you. The man I knew deserved nothing less than the truth, and if that man was a lie, then we deserve to know it.

"Lathander guide you Japas. Your body turns to ash among all other ashes here; let us hope your soul, however, burns bright still. Let it rise with the sun, my friend, and not sink into shadow."

After a few more moments spent standing by the fire, with no sound but the crackling of the flames, the Arrow leave the ashes of their house and friend, and return to the guild again.

Once at the guild, the Arrows make their way to the Citadel, except for Jøhn, Tosscobble and Sindri, who stay at the thief-takers to sleep and recover. We meet Cheronet, Tullius, the Man Upstairs and the Greybeards in the command chamber. Erak communicates his ideas to the command council. He wants to arm any capable civilians with weapons, and evacuate all other healthy but  civilians, to a safe location outside of the city; use furniture to create makeshift barricades in the streets and to reinforce the gate. The council observes that the Citadel is completely sealed and defensible. Erak suggests some oil traps at the gate and the walls. Tharivol asks if there are any mages left, but they apparently couldn't find anyone at the destroyed Mage Tower.

We finalise a plan to try and hold the city, while evacuating the civilians. The dwarven camp in front of the gate will have four lines of defence: two deep trenches with wooden spikes, a third shallow one with pitch in the bottom, and the fourth one will be a redoubt. The reinforced gate will have a boiling oil trap. There will be several ambushes along the main road of the lower city, including the use of one of the dwarven cannons, and archers on the upper storeys of buildings. The defending force will retreat through the wall if they get overwhelmed, following the escapees (after blasting the walls open with our remaining cannons). The cannons will need to be protected more than anything. At about midnight, after working out the details, the party returns to the thief-takers' to sleep for the rest of the night.

Day 102

The day is cloudy. Jøhn continues to care for Sindri and Tosscobble. The rest of the party returns to the citadel to put their plans in place. Knifey lends his Ring of Invisibility to the halfling, for the battle. Gazadriel collects a longbow from the armoury. As evening approaches, with the army at its heels, the dwarves assemble between the trenches outside the city. Knifey, Skagaros and Erak go with the dwarves. Tharivol, Gazadriel, Dimble, Ri, Sindri and Tosscobble (on a box) stand on the outer walls, above the gate, with one hundred elven archers. Jøhn flies over the area on Balthazar.

The army arrives as the sun sets, and assembles. From the walls, it appears as a writhing black mass covering the entirety of the plains, almost five times the area that Fareach covers. There is a foul stench upon the wind. A green dragon flies overhead, circling the masses of undead. An hour after the sun sets, the battle begins. Clouds obscure the moon in the sky.

Hordes and hordes of zombies and skeletons lumber reach the first trench. Hundreds fall inside and are skewered on the stakes, filling the pit. The rest of the undead just climb over the corpses, and continue advancing on the city. As the first wave of undead reaches the top of the mound outside the city, Sindri casts a Brimstone Blast from the walls, lighting the pitch trench, cutting the first wave off from the rest of the army, and burning hundreds still clambering towards the city. Dimble buffs the Arrows on the wall with his music. Tosscobble fires a crossbow bolt, hitting a skeleton, killing one. Knifey kills two zombies with Psychic Strike. Sindri kills a skeleton with Brimstone Blast. Erak hits a zombie with his Urgrosh, but it survives. Tharivol hits a zombie with his bow, but it doesn't fall. Gazadriel misses a skeleton. Skagaros attempts to rip the spine from a skeleton, but fails. Jøhn, hovering above the wall, fires three arrows from the sky, killing two skeletons. The Elven archers fire a volley, killing many enemies.

Flaming undead climb out of the pitch trench. The dwarves steadfastly hold back the advancing line of undead. The Necromancer, on his green dragon, soars over the walls, and then leaps off into the city, landing somewhere between the ramshackle buildings. Tosscobble disappears, putting on his ring and running down the stairways into the city, to investigate. Knifey tells Ri to follow him, in case something happens to him. Knifey kills two zombies. Sindri kills a skeleton. Erak kills a skeleton and two zombies. Tharivol fires another arrow, but doesn't kill the skeleton. Gazadriel kills a skeleton, Skagaros fails to kill a zombie.

Jøhn soars upwards, reaching about 110ft above the ground. He swerves, moving in the Necromancer's direction. He sees him in the slums. Black, smoky tendrils reach out from his hands, surrounding the corpses in the streets and raising them from the dead. There are freshly-dead plague victims, charred black skeletons and rotting zombies.

On the eastern wall, the zombies are charging at the wall and falling against it, piling up to form a sort of ramp which the army starts to climb up. The dwarves outside are still holding the hordes off, but the green dragon has landed on the wall, further away from the gate, and is clawing and swiping at the Elven archers, ripping through the defences. The zombie ramp is almost halfway up the wall by now. Dimble buffs the party. Knifey misses, distracted by the dragon. Sindri kills a zombie. The fire pit is almost out by now, having been smothered by undead. Erak cleaves three skeletons, and then announces that they are withdrawing into the city. Tharivol hits another skeleton, but doesn't kill it. Skagaros tears the spine from a skeleton, and hits another with it, but the second doesn't die. Gazadriel misses with his bow again. Jøhn flies back towards the wall, and tells the party that the Necromancer is raising the dead in the slums, and Tharivol shouts this news to Erak, just below the wall, at the gate. The Elven archers are firing at the dragon on the wall now.

To the left of the gate, the Arrows on the wall can see a wave of zombies clambering over the wall, tearing apart the archers. Balthazar swoops down and picks up Dimble in his claws, and Jøhn flies off again, dropping Dimble at the next checkpoint. Tharry and Gazadriel retreat downstairs with the elves, while Sindri stays behind to activate the oil trap once all the dwarves are through. Knifey kills a zombie, Erak kills a skeleton. Skagaros punches a zombie in the face, but it doesn't die. Sindri shoots a Brimstone Blast at the dragon, tearing into its wings. A fresh wave of zombies from the slums hits the dwarves as they enter the gate. The dwarves can see that some of the corpses nearby are starting to stir. They all manage to get inside the gates, but the forces atop the wall are being massacred. Sindri is being clawed at by an overwhelming wave of undead. He tries to throw the lever to pour the oil, but doesn't manage to pull it. He pushes harder, and the barrel tips, dousing the horde in boiling oil.

Jøhn drop Dimble at the checkpoint, and he flies to the keep, and tells the command council to burn the Burrows. He then flies to check on the evacuation. Flaming barrels are catapulted and rolled over the walls of the upper city, onto the thatched roofs of the Burrows. In the slums, Ri and Tosscobble (on Nigel), run through the streets to reach the manhole into the sewers that they have been using. They enter the sewers, and Ri feels unwell.

Erak kills a skeleton, and orders some dwarves to tell the militia to get ready. He notices that the Burrows are on fire. Skagaros knocks a zombies' jaw off, but it survives. Tharivol fires another arrow as he runs up the street with Gazadriel, but doesn't kill the skeleton he hits. Gazadriel summons his horse Justice, and both he and Tharry climb on and ride away faster. Sindri is still being attacked by zombies. He Spider Climbs along the inner side of the wall, and reaches the wall where the dwarves are. He waves at Erak.

On the streets below, there is a burst of magical energy, coming from behind the enemy lines. It pulses through the undead, healing them, and strikes the elves, Tharry and Gazadriel, hurting them. There are only twelve elves left now. Ri and Tosscobble emerge at the thief-takers', soaking, and they reach the checkpoint soon after. Jøhn is still flying in the air. Almost one hundred of Erak's forces have been killed, leaving about one-hundred and fifty dwarf warriors. They arrive at the first checkpoint, Tharry and Gazadriel arriving at the same time. The civilian militia are already prepared, having seen the fire in the Burrows. As the undead come around the corner, Erak and his force fire the first cannon, mowing down the first wave. Ri casts Solid Fog, however, the green dragon, with the Necromancer riding it, swoops down and smashes the cannon. Knifey kills a zombie, Tosscobble shoots the dragon, Tharry kills thirteen undead, seven skeletons and six zombies, with a fireball. Erak kills three skeletons. Sindri fires Brimstone Blast at the dragon. The Necromancer casts another black pulse, healing his minions and his dragon.

Erak orders a full retreat.  Gazadriel keeps his horse steady as Tharivol casts Ice Storm; a cylinder of swirling white ice is summoned, encasing the Necromancer and his dragon, and killing a skeleton and four zombies. As the defending forces retreat, they hear a loud explosion; the wall has been blasted away. The defending forces leave through the gap in the wall. The Necromancer pursues them on his dragon, picking off random soldiers here and there, before losing interest and returning to his new city. The fire is spreading, and Fareach burns, gigantic plumes of smoke rising from its broken walls.

The city's forces reach the evacuated civilians, who can tell that something bad has happened. The population decides to seek new fortunes in the south, where the Fenerous Dwarves are going. Dimble points out that he has rights to lands in the south, and that we could go and reclaim those...

Day 144

After about one hundred of thirty-five days of travel, we reach the land of Tethyr, which is roiling in civil war. We pass through several villages on the way, which have all been hit hard by the way. We soon enter the fiefdom of Chives, which is the old home of Dimble, currently occupied by the rebels who usurped him. The castle is situated in a savannah, by the Sulduskoon River to the south, and the Starspire Mountains in the distance to the north. After sending an envoy in, who is killed by the resident noble family, Dimble convinces us and the Dwarves and Elves to help him take back the castle for him. The kingdom is currently being assaulted by the Empire of Sulnar, whom we plan to ally with later.

Day 145

On the tenth day of siege, Tharivol, Samuol Nailo and Alster Fennensteen, who survived the battle, work together to craft an explosive device, which Sindri and Skagaros volunteer to run in and plant in a vulnerable section of the wall. They run in, Sindri manacled to Skagaros so he doesn't escape while invisible. Under heavy arrow fire, they place the bomb and run back out, as Sindri turns around and Brimstone Blasts the bomb. Dimble is in a horse, leading the charge through the hole in the war, accompanied by Gazadriel, Knifey and Erak, who kill many of the defenders. The elite force of Dwarves and Elves fight their way through the courtyard, Knifey sending out a massive tornado of shattered mind shards, shredding many of the guards. Dimble is playing his tin flute the whole time. The party enters the keep, where Erak attacks the captain of the guards, who has a large, plumed helmet. The dwarves follow them in. Gazadriel kills three guards inside, and Knifey kills the remaining seven guards with another burst of shards. The assault force disperses through the rest of the castle, as the party approaches the captain to help Erak. With a final blast of psionic power, Knifey kills the captain. The party hears a shout, as a guard charges down the stairs, but before he can reach the group, he stops in his tracks, a short blade protruding from his chest. He drops to the floor dead, revealing Tosscobble standing behind him, looking smug. He explains that he infiltrated the castle the previous day.

Back at the camp, Sindri is very eager to enter the fray, and is trying to convince Ri and Tharivol to free him from Skagaros. He is causing chaos, writhing in his chains and lashing out at the others, and Ri just stops paying attention, until Tharivol gets so scared for their lives that he allows Sindri to run off.

The group enters the throne room, and encounters the baron, surrounded by officials and guards. Dimble and the baron talk to each other, and then Dimble draws his pistol and fires, but it explodes instead. The party then engages the baron. Knifey and Erak kill a guard, and then one of the robed officials lobs a fireball at them, singeing them. Tosscobble and Nigel kill a guard. One of the guards pulls out some bagpipes. A halfling jumps out, and stabs Erak in the back. The wizard sends out a burst of lightning, killing a few guards, and zapping Gazadriel, Knifey and Erak. Tosscobble engages the wizard. A stained glass window smashes open behind the group, and Jøhn rides through on Balthazar, bow drawn. He drops his bow however. Dimble is still duelling the baron. Knifey tumbles across the room and gives a health potion to Erak. A second wizard launches a fireball at Jøhn in the air, and he leaps of his bat, but not before the fireball hits, sending both Jøhn and Balthazar to the flagstones. Jøhn manages to land safely, but Balthazar crumples to the ground, unconscious. The enemy bard continues to play his bagpipes. Jøhn scrambles over to his bat, and heals him with his belt. Tosscobble continues to fight the fire wizard, and kills him. The lightning wizard sends a Magic Missile at Tosscobble, screaming in despair for his brother. The enemy rogue stabs Gazadriel in the butt, as he is healing Erak. Dimble finally stabs the baron through the heart. Erak impales the rogue with his Urgrosh. The bagpiper plays more desperately, and Jøhn shoots and kills the wizard. Tosscobble stabs the bard through his bagpipes, killing him. The rest of the dwarf army finishes off the remaining guards.

Sindri rushes in just as the remaining guards are dealt with. We then head upstairs to raise the Arrows flag, which Gazadriel does. We then sit down and decide to choose a new name for the fiefdom and the castle. We decide on Quivain Fief, with its capital Liberation Keep. We also decide how to run the place. Jøhn suggests a council led by Dimble (or his appointed representative), as well as an assembly of representatives from the surrounding villages and the new residents. As we debate over these matters, Sindri discreetly climbs up to the ceiling. We decide to go with Jøhn's suggestion: Dimble will appoint half the council, and the rest will be elected. He appoints Arveene, the Man Upstairs, Georg, Alster Fennensteen, Nasar Smith (Cheronet's successor), Tullius, and Dorn Fenerousshield. The Arrows will also be honourary members. The fiefdom is about 20,700 hectares.

Sindri escapes, and walks three hours. He sees a keep in the distance, and can smell the aroma of feasting, but it turns out he has returned to Liberation Keep, and Knifey brings him back in. With the government of Quivain sorted out, we decide we must contact the Empire of Sulnar from the land of Calimshan to the south. We decide we will go and talk to the Empire personally, as envoys.

Day 145 Continued...

Arveene heals the party, and we have a feast. There is a loyalist force approaching, five days away, so we have a time limit to speak with this empire. We decide to seek out one of the imperial outposts in the surrounding region. Dimble and Tosscobble will stay behind at the castle, to maintain control.

Day 146

We borrow some horses from the stables, and head south, after consulting the locals for directions. Skagaros doesn't take a horse, he runs alongside the party. We receive a map, showing several villages and some roads heading south. We decide to follow the roads to the villages. At about midday, we come across a wagon train crossing the plains. We approach the head of the train, and see a wizened old man sitting at the head of the first wagon. Gazadriel greets the man, and asks where they are heading. The man says they are fleeing the invading empire, and heading west towards the capital of Tethyr, as their keep in their fiefdom has fallen. We ask them what they know of the empire. They aren't happy with them, as they are ruining the traditions held by the Tethyrians for a thousand years.

We arrive at a small village in the evening, named Khajiit. The village sits on a river. We search around for an inn. The village seems quite prosperous, probably receiving a lot of trade. There is an inn by the docks called the Salty Sands, and one towards the centre of town, called the Red Adder. We approach the Salty Sands, a mud-brick building sitting on the muddy river. It has a sign depicting a pile of white sand. Sindri rushes in immediately, without consulting anyone, and everyone else waits outside to see what happens. The inn is filled with raucous laughter and tobacco smoke. There are three burly rowers at the bar, and the barkeeper has an eyepatch.

Sindri strides up to the bar, and asks for their most flammable ale. The barkeeper pulls out a jar of some sort of whiskey. Sindri asks about the latest news about the imperials, as he lights his drink on fire. The rower next to him says trade has been a bit bad since the war started. His speech is a bit slurred, he has clearly drank a few drinks tonight. The barkeeper, overhearing, says that a new power has taken over the fiefdom, but it might not be for long as a Tethyrian force is coming from the west. Sindri asks about his eyepatch. He says, when he was younger, he was adventuring with some friends. They encountered some Owlbears one time, which killed one of his companions and took his eye. Sindri asks where we can find an imperial outpost, but the barkeeper says they don't really keep outposts, and roam around mostly in their armies. You'd have to go pretty deep into Calimshan to find proper outposts. Sindri also inquires about rooms, and the barkeeper replies that he has five left, each with one bed, costing a silver each. Sindri also asks about the Red Adder, and learns that a lot of the merchants stay there.

Outside, the party searches for a clean window, but cannot find one to look through. Instead, Jøhn peers through the keyhole, and sees Sindri carousing at the bar with the other men, and a flaming ale. We decide not to run in and intervene, as the Tiefling seems to be behaving.

Sindri is a little tipsy as he finishes his drink and gets up and returns outside, even though it's been about three minutes. He tells the rest of the party that he has booked some rooms, and then we all head to the Red Adder. There is a security guard standing out the front, who stops Sindri and says "We don't serve your kind here". Sindri asks "What do you mean, my kind?", and the man replies "Your demon kind." Sindri is fuming, and he tries to be threatening, but is too drunk for that, and is pushed aside by the guard, who puts his hand on his sword and says  "You don't want to cause a scene here."

Sindri moves in closer, drawing his knife, but the guard easily disarms him. Jøhn steps forwards attempting to grapple Sindri to restrain him, but gets pushed aside. Erak then tackles Sindri, who tries to cast a spell, but fails. The guard pulls out some manacles and chains Sindri's hands, and then blows a whistle. Tharivol swings his staff at Sindri's head to knock him out, but misses. Gazadriel approaches the guard, and asks what happened, but the guard dismisses the incident as another ruffian causing trouble. Two guards run around the corner, and they take Sindri away to prison, as he screams insanely of racism and revenge and murder.

The rest of the party apologises to the guard, and is allowed entry. There are a few guests wearing fine garments, and people from all over the nearby nations, including Tethyr, Amn, and even Calimshan. Gazadriel sits down at a table three merchants. They have come from Teziirr on the Dragon Coast, and are heading home to the city of Calimport, as they have sealed a lucrative spice-trading deal at the Dragon Coast. They have been caravanning down the riverside, and will be heading to Calimshan in the morning after hiring a wagon. They said they encountered a Sulnari force six days ago, in their travels, by the river, which were heading north. They also know of a major base twenty days south, by the River Ith. Gazadriel wishes them a good night and thanks them for their information. Gazadriel then approaches the barkeeper, and asks for a water. The man tells him that one day to the west an imperial force was seen crossing the river, two days ago. He doesn't know which way they were heading. We decide to try and intercept this force.

The party heads back to the Salty Sands, but we realise the barkeeper never saw us with Sindri. We tell him that Sindri booked the rooms for us, and remind him of the flaming ale and the conversation that took place, and he gives us the keys for the rooms upstairs (being used to ship captains hiring rooms for their crew and then sleeping at the Red Adder). We decide to sleep until midnight, when we will leave early to track the empire. Ri, Erak and Tharivol all take a room for themselves, Gazadriel and Skagaros share, and Knifey and Jøhn share a room.

Day 147

At midnight, the party wakes and leaves the inn, asking the barkeeper, who is still awake, for directions to the prison. The Arrows move through the town on their horses, heading towards the prison to talk to Sindri before leaving. They can smell smoke on the air. As we approach, there are guards running around, and we step into the courtyard, to see smoke billowing from the back of the prison building. We ask a guard what happened, and he says the Tiefling escaped, using some sort diversion with fire. We tell them that we have to leave town, but we will help them search for the Tiefling if we can. Jøhn launches into the air on Balthazar, and quickly spots Sindri, who is too busy putting the rest of his armour on to notice Jøhn, standing on the roof of the prison building. By this time, however, a guard spots Sindri too, and shouts to the others: "He's up on the roof!". The other guards draw their bows and fire a stream of arrows, but thankfully none hit Sindri. Jøhn returns to the ground and points Sindri out to Tharivol, who thinks, decides on a spell, and concentrates hard, raising his hands to direct his spell at Sindri...



At about midnight at the town prison, Sindri wakes to find he has just a small headache, but he can't remember why he's in prison. He remembers drinking flaming ale, getting in a fight with someone, and then getting thrown in here. All his belongings have been confiscated. He attempts an escape, trying to pick the lock, but he doesn't know how to pick locks. He casts an Eldritch Blast at the prison bars, but the prison seems to be immune to the fire. However, the straw on the floor catches alight, so Sindri starts shouting for help from the guards. He hears some footsteps, rattling keys and the sloshing of water. He looks out and sees three guards running down  the hall, carrying buckets. The first one opens Sindri's cell, shouting "Quick, quick!" to the other guards as they form a bucket chain. They start throwing water on the fire. In the commotion, Sindri manages to slip out of the hallway by climbing up onto the ceiling.

In the entrance room, he sees a locked metal chest, which appears to be bolted to the ground. There are seven guards in total, hastily carrying buckets into the hallway. Sindri looks for keys, and sees several sets on the guards. He drops down, and grabs a guard as he comes through the door. Sindri orders him to hand over the keys, conjuring some threatening flames in his fist. The guard, scared, chucks the keys and goes to grab another bucket. Sindri drops the keys, failing to catch them. He then opens the chest, and grabs all his stuff, stuffing it in his backpack which was also in the chest. The fire is out by now, and the guards charge back into the entrance room. Sindri is hiding on the ceiling, and the guards fail to see him and rush out in pursuit. Sindri drops from the ceiling and searches the room, but there is nothing of value.

Sindri climbs back onto the ceiling, and crawls towards the front door. The guards are outside, running around the courtyard. He climbs out the doorway onto the roof. As he tries to don his armour, he hears a cry from below: "He's up on the roof!". A volley of arrows hits the stone tiles on the roof, narrowly missing Sindri. Sindri spins around to look down into the courtyard, and sees a flash of green light across the cobblestones, behind the guards. Suddenly, he can feel himself shrinking; his clothing and the armour he just put on are getting bigger and looser. A great black shape swoops out of the night sky above, claws wrapping around his body as he feels his physical form shifting...


With a burst of green energy, Tharry's Baleful Polymorph spell hurtles towards Sindri, striking his dark shape, which immediately begins to twist and shrink. In response, Jøhn swoops back upwards towards the roof, Balthazar picking up a dark bundle of cloth and metal. The guards, who cannot see the bat in the darkness of the night, are shocked by Sindri's sudden disappearance, and stop firing arrows. Jøhn flies off discreetly, and the rest of the party acts shocked just like the guards. We tell them we have to go now, so we head out of the city, planning to meet Jøhn somewhere out in the plains, leaving the guards very confused.

We leave the city, it's about one in the morning when Jøhn finds us. We stop for a short break outside the city, recovering from the altercation with the guards. Jøhn dismounts his bat, and from the bundle of clothing and armour at Balthazar's feet, retrieves a small animal: a tortoise. It is mottled red and black, with a somewhat spiky shell, and an intimidating glare in its jet black eyes. The Arrows discuss what to do with the newly-docile Sindri, and we decide that we won't Dispel the spell just yet, we can wait until it suits us. We gather Sindri's armour and stuff it back into his backpack, and then we nestle Sindri-Tortoise into a spare rucksack with his clothes, which Knifey volunteers to carry with him safely.

After this, we continue to head west, Jøhn navigating from Balthazar for us. In the north-west, Jøhn spots some lights, and we decide to cautiously head in that direction. Dawn arrives before we reach them, and we keep going. We finally reach the lights at about seven in the morning, and find a large abandoned campsite, with no identifiable evidence of whom it belonged to. The army appears to have been heading north-east from the south-west. It is probably an army of at least five thousand, plus horses. We decide to follow the army, as they can only be a few hours ahead of us.

Jøhn flies ahead to scout. After about an hour, he spies the army ahead, and can see red banners with golden eagles on them. Jøhn can recall that the banner for Tethyr is purple, with a white dragon, and concludes the army is probably Sulnari. Jøhn flies back to the rest of the party in about twenty minutes, and tells them what he has seen. We hasten our speed, and catch up to the army in twenty-five minutes. There are ranks upon ranks of marching men, as well as some cavalry. It is about nine in the morning by this point. As we draw close, a party of about twenty-seven horsemen leaves the ranks and gallops back towards us. We come to a slow stop, keeping our weapons low and non-threatening, as the horsemen move forward and envelop the Arrows...

Day 247 Continued...

Surrounded by the horsemen, a captain approaches the groups. He asks what business such a motley band has in the lands of Tethyr. Tharivol speaks up, and says we seek the Sulnari. The half-elf captain replies that he has found them, and asks why. Tharivol says we want to ally with the Sulnari; we have just liberated the fiefdom of Chives. The captain says Chives would be a strategic location. We also tell him that our keep will be under attack soon, and the captain decides their army will be able to intercept the army before they reach the keep, and that our party should stay at Liberation Keep and protect the fortress. The army is about three days west. We ask the captain's name, and he says he is Captain Gweniir. He says that if they are to help us, and we want to remain in the new Sulnari Empire, we must agree to the laws of the Empire, and we say that our lord Dimble will be open to negotations. The army agrees to this, and continues its march.

Satisfied with our negotiations, we head back towards Quivain. At about two thirty in the afternoon, we reach a village which has been burnt to the ground. Our maps indicate the village was once Caedun. We step through the ruins and ashes, searching for survivors or anything of value. Ri and Jøhn find two sets of wagon tracks leading into and out of the village. Jøhn cannot determine their direction. There are many dead peasants, most of them clearly killed by weapons, not the fire. There are no dead military men. We can't find any signs of survivors. The east-west road runs through Caedun, so we must decide if we take the east road, or go across the countryside. We decide we want to know who massacred the village, so we go across the countryside, but keep the road in sight.

At about six in the evening, we pass through a shrubbed area. Out of some shrubs, five shabby-looking men appear, carrying spears. They are clearly desperate, and shaken. They say "Your money or your lives!". Erak draws his Urgrosh, but Knifey interrupts, and says to the men that they shouldn't fight, that we could help them out instead. The brigands lower their spears, and admit they are desperate. Their village, Caedun, was sacked by a wagon train. The village thought they were harmless refugees, but when they entered the village and found out the Caedun was happy to support the Sulnari, they turned on their hosts and sacked the village. We realise that this must have been the wagon train we encountered on the road. We can see in the distance that Liberation Keep is not far away.

We push on, arriving at the Keep at about eight in the evening. The keep has been fully-repaired, the dwarves have worked hard. A tent city has formed around the keep as well. There is a spiked trench around our area. To the north, not far way, another tent city has erupted, which also has a trench surrounding it. We cross a bridge over the trench, and Tosscobble greets us at the gates, and notices that Sindri is not with us. He asks what happened, worried. Tharivol explains that Sindri was out of control, and that we had to change him, chuckling. Knifey pulls out the tortoise, and shows the halfling. We ask where Dimble is, and Tosscobble says he is currently meeting with the new council. We decide to go to the council chambers to tell them the news.

We push open the double doors, to find a long granite table attended by Dimble and several other officials. Dimble inquires about our mission, and we tell him that we met with a Sulnari force, and informed them of the situation. The army is now on its way to confront the Tethyrian counter-force. We also tell him of the bad news, that a village in Quivain has been sacked. Dimble tells us the council was aware of this, but didn't know the cause. He says he has sent out riders to all the nearby settlements of Quivain, to tell them what has happened. Dorn Fenerousshield speaks up, saying we need to speak about settling the nearby mountains, but Dimble firmly says that the dwarves can settle once his own fiefdom is under control and at peace. There is clearly some tension between the dwarves and everyone else. Dimble calls the meeting to a close, and the council leaves the chamber. We approach Dimble once the room has cleared, and ask him about the separation of the tent cities. He explains that the northern tents belong to the dwarves, who are getting anxious to leave. However, we require their construction expertise to complete the building of the new city of Liberation, around the keep.

Before we retire for the night, we discuss what to do with Sindri. Knifey is uncomfortable with allowing Sindri to become a mere tortoise, so we decide we will change him back before midnight. We find our chambers, and pick one for Sindri without a window for him to escape from, in the dungeon level. We take the tortoise down to Sindri's new room, and put him in the middle with his clothing and armour. Tharivol and Knifey enter together, and Tharry prepares to cast Remove Curse. The rest of the party waits outside. Tharry touches the tortoise, and then bolts out of the room, with Knifey quick on his heels. We slam the door and lock it, and inside we can hear the Tiefling babbling maniacally. Knifey slips a drawing under the door, depicting the Arrows as friends and staying "We're sorry!".

Before we sleep, Dimble shows us a map of the fiefdom. He notes it is larger than when he was previously in charge, encompassing about two equivalent fiefdoms by this point. We then head off to our individual chambers.

Day 248

We wake to a sunny day, and the smells of campfires from outside. The first thing we do is go and check on Sindri. He has scribbled a strange language all over the walls. We offer him breakfast, and he mutters something unintelligible before setting the food alight and consuming it on fire. His eyes are filled with a haunted look, the spectres of his time as a tortoise. We leave him there after attempting to explain that we had to transform him for his own good. We spend the rest of the day helping out around the campsite and the keep.

Day 249

We once again help out with the construction of the infrastructure at the keep. In the evening, the Sulnari army approaches Liberation Keep. We meet the army at the gates,  and Gweniir and a Calimshan human captain, Turian, are invited inside with two scribes to the council chambers. The scribes reveal "The Charter". Entry into the Sulnari Empire has few conditions, but they must be respected regardless. Dimble will be required to pay tax if he wants to remain a lord in the new Empire, but not until after the first year. He must also contribute a tithe of people for the Sulnari army once his fiefdom has been properly established. Dimble must also construct a church at Liberation, to the God Sulnar, the benefactor of the empire. He need not be worshipped, but his followers must be provided with a place of worship. Dimble must also agree to allow the stationing of imperial troops in Quivain. The Empire will also provide advisors, whom Dimble says will be offered seats on his ruling council. Quivain will also adopt the currency of the Sulnari, the donari. Dimble and the council discuss these terms, and they accept the conditions. Dimble pledges his loyalty to the Sulnari Empire, signing the Charter.

The army will be staying here for a while, using Liberation Keep as a base of operations, and thus they will be able to help in the construction of some facilities here. The captains express their joy at their victory, and we give them a tour of the keep. They also send for some military architects to survey the area. The architects, humans, admire the dwarven craftsmanship, but say the keep is too small at the moment, and the architects propose a new design for the keep, which Dimble approves. They begin extension works immediately.

We then go and speak to Dorn Fenerousshield, and say we are willing to escort a team of dwarves to investigate the mountains for the possibility of settlement, now that Liberation is no longer under threat. It would be about a two hour journey north.

Day 250

We head off on our horses in the morning, at about eight. Dimble stays behind to rule, but we take Sindri to keep an eye on him. Dorn has two sons, Barrudar and Joyin, who will accompany us. Sindri slinks at the back of the party, muttering to himself, and looking very sullen. Joyin is very talkative, talking about the ideal mine they want to establish in the mountains. We reach the foothills at about ten. There are no obvious caves, so Barrudar suggests we head either east or west. We decide to go east, since there were Tethyrians in the west. At about two in the afternoon, we can smell the scent of woodsmoke on the air. Jøhn decides to fly up on Balthazar and see if he can see the source of the smoke. He also puts on his Ring of Invisibility. He cannot see an obvious source of smoke, but he did see a few caves. Joyin and Barrudar are very eager to investigate, so we head towards them. There are a number of entrances in the sides of the mountains. The dwarves speculate they are part of a large system, and suggest entering the nearest door. They are quite excited, as multiple entrances could indicate a large cavern system. We climb up the hills and enter the nearest cave.

The dwarves examine the cave walls, observing that they are natural, not hewn. They sniff the air, and can tell the caves are quite deep. We activate our Dancing Light, and head down the tunnel. Gazadriel and Skagaros stay with the horses and the mules, and we leave Sindri with them as well. Despite the cave's depth, we can't find evidence of any animal inhabitants, which is quite unusual. Barrudar approaches a wall partway down, and digs at it with a small pick. He hears a metallic ringing, and dislodges a piece of rock, raising it up and exclaiming that it is a vein of iron ore. Both dwarves are visibly excited. The metal clanging echoes down into the depths of the cave system.

As we move deeper, Balthazar starts getting restless, and the party stops. Jøhn tries to calm down Balthazar, but the bat is extremely anxious. Suddenly, Erak and Tharivol feel extremely weak, as if the life has been drained from them. Knifey spots a spectre floating away from Tharivol, through a wall, and Knifey shouts out to the Arrows. Jøhn yells to give the Rings of Invisibility to the two dwarves. Tosscobble chucks his magical rapier to Erak to use. Two spectral hands reach through the floor and try to grab Knifey by the ankles, but he quickly jumps out of the way. Jøhn however is grabbed, and suddenly feels weak. Tharivol casts a Magic Missile, but the spectre appears unaffected, so he runs back up the tunnel, Jøhn on Balthazar following swiftly behind with Erak as well. Ri runs off, bringing the dwarves, and Knifey stays behind a bit to use a psychic strike. A pair of hands start swiping blindly at Knifey from the wall, and Knifey casts his psychic strike, but misses, as the strike slides straight through the spectre. A second spectre grabs Knifey, draining him. Knifey swings a second time, hitting this time. Another spectre drains Knifey once more. Knifey then turns and runs.

Jøhn and Tharivol burst from the cave entrance, into the sunlight. Erak, Ri, the dwarves soon follow, and Knifey runs out a minute later. The spectres reach the entrance, but shy away from the entrance, afraid of the sunlight. The dwarves give back the rings. Gazadriel gets up, and asks what happened. We explain the spectres, and then Gazadriel casts Detect Evil on the cave, sensing two evil presences. We decide to head back to Liberation, in order to avoid being pursued by the spectres. We arrive just before nightfall, and consult with Arveene about the damage done to us, but unfortunately she can't fix it immediately, and we will have to recover our strength by resting for a few days.

Day 251

Jøhn and Erak are better by the first morning, but Knifey and Tharivol are still unwell. The construction of the city around the keep has begun, and the party helps the dwarves out where they can.

Day 253

Tharry has recovered fully by this point, but Knifey, who was worse affected by the spectres, is still unwell. The construction works continue. Erak consults Samuol Nailo, the elven blacksmith, about buying an enchanted weapon to use against incorporeal enemies. The smith only has one on offer at the moment, his prized +2 Enchanted Longsword, called Galanodel (Elvish for "Moon-Whisper"), which he is offering for 8000g. Tharivol enters the room of the human wizard who lived at the castle previously, and finds his spellbook. In the spellbook, Tharry finds and learns many new spells.

Day 255

The Arrows take some money out of the bank, and Erak purchases Nailo's Enchanted Longsword. It has a moonstone in the pommel.

Day 271

Knifey finally recovers from the energy drain. We prepare to return to the spectre cave; Arveene prepares some holy water for us to take with us for use against the spectres. We leave in the morning, reaching the caves by about midday. Tosscobble, Skagaros and Sindri wait outside, while Ri gives everyone Mage Armour. Gazadriel casts Detect Evil, and gives Tharry's automaton a Magic Weapon. Knifey sends his wasp in to hopefully lure out the spectres. We follow the wasp, and can hear desperate buzzing noises as we get deeper into the cave. Ri casts haste on the party, as the wasp falls silent. Gazadriel can sense two spectres in the tunnel. Tharry sends his automaton in, and Ri turns the elf invisible. Ri now casts Greater Invisibility on Knifey. The spectres fly out of the walls towards the party, and attack. Ri casts Greater Mirror Image, and seven Ris appear. A spectre attacks one of the Ris, and it disappears. Erak swings with his new sword, and hits one. The other spectre flies in and hits him back, draining him.

Tharivol's automaton rolls in, and hits the spectre once, misses once, and on the third hit its spinning blades pass right through the spectre. Tharivol casts a Magic Missile on the same spectre, and it utters a bloodcurdling shriek as it fades from existence. Jøhn fires four arrows; two pass straight through, the other two hits with ethereal "thwacks". Knifey uses his mindblade but the spectre doesn't die yet. Erak swings three times with his sword, and the spectre cries out, dissipating into a cloud of ectoplasmic gas.

Day 271 Continued…

We call Sindri, Tosscobble and Skagaros into the cave, and walk a bit further. Jøhn spots two skeletal bodies on the cave floor up ahead. Skagaros whips out his 20ft pole and pokes the bodies. Jøhn and Knifey, moving ahead to inspect the corpses, hear a crackling sound, and they jump aside as they narrowly avoid a streak of black lightning headed straight for them, coming from the ceiling. The lightning disappears, and Tosscobble searches for traps, identifying some dangerous runes lining the ceiling. Ri determines that the runes have a strong necrotic aura. Gazadriel can vaguely recall that spectres are made by having the life force drained from the victim, so posits that the corpses may have been the sources of the spectres.

Tosscobble attempts to disable the rune trap. He disables the first rune, and continues. When he reaches the final one, he fumbles, and gets zapped by some black lightning. The rest of the party follow him down when he calls that it is safe. The Halfling loots the corpses, finding an assortment of gems and gold, +2 full plate, +1 heavy shield, +1 longsword, +1 composite longbow, while the other has bracers armour +2, ring of protection +1, masterwork’s short sword, masterwork’s crossbow. They have 14,000gp between the two. Tosscobble finds a map, and notes that nearby is a location called the “Drake’s Lair”.

Jøhn navigates towards the Lair, and we reach the location in about half an hour, Tosscobble searching for traps along the way. Ri casts invisibility on Tosscobble and Skagaros, and they enter with Knifey, who is wearing the ring. Inside, Knifey can see a huge mountain of gold and treasure. There are gems, armour, weapons, and coins, everywhere. Knifey throws one of his coppers, and it bounces off some other treasure, until slowly a steady flow of coins begins flowing down the slope, causing an avalanche of gold to flow off a rising shape in the middle of the mountain. A huge red dragon rises from the gold, and roars, as the Halfling, Xeph and Orc are frozen in terror on the floor.

The dragon peers around for a bit, looking somewhat dazed, until he settles its gaze directly on Skagaros. Its eyes are golden-yellow, with a penetrating glare. It swipes at Skagaros, but misses. Erak sighs, and charges in to rescue the others. Tharivol amplifies his voice, and attempts to flatter and negotiate with the dragon, but it is not interested, and breathes a plume of fire towards the doorway. Jøhn fires an arrow but it bounces off its thick hide. Skagaros attempts to grapple the beast’s jaw, to hold it shut, but is batted away easily. Ri casts Haste on everyone in the party, and then Tosscobble fires two crossbow bolts, one of which penetrates the dragon’s neck, causing it to roar in pain. Knifey hits the dragon with two gleaming purple blades of psychic energy. Gazadriel charges in as well, and stabs the dragon with his longsword.

Erak reaches the dragon and swings with his Urgrosh, and hits. The dragon retaliates by breathing an enormous orange flame, scorching the room and burning everyone. Tharry is hit hard, and falls unconscious from serious burns. Jøhn moves into the room and hides behind a pillar, shooting but missing. Ri follow Jøhn, and hides behind another pillar and casts Greater Mirror Image, summoning eight Ris. She then turns Erak invisible. Tosscobble activates the ring again and hides. Knifey runs ahead and shouts “For Tharry!” and hitting with a flurry of Psychic Strikes. Gazadriel heals Tharivol, who returns to consciousness, his burns healed.
Erak hits with his Urgrosh again, and the dragon snaps at him. Tharivol, in a fury, casts Ice Storm. Jøhn hits with two arrows, and then Skagaros leaps up onto the dragon’s neck. Ri turns Knifey invisible, and Tosscobble is watching for a chance to attack. Knifey hits with three Psychic Strikes. Gazadriel swings and misses, and then swings again, but his sword flies out of his hand as it rebounds off a scale.

Erak swings with his Urgrosh, and the dragon attacks Knifey. Tharry casts another Ice Storm, and then Jøhn hits with three more arrows. Skagaros, around the dragon’s neck, hitting it in the face. Ri casts Glitterdust, but the dragon isn’t affected. Tosscobble takes his chance, lines up his shot, and fires a crossbow bolt straight through the dragon’s eye. It drops to the floor, dead, shaking the whole room and causing another landslide of coins and gems.

“Hello! Thanks for saving me!” a voice calls out, coming from the top of the mountain. The Arrows can’t see anyone up there, so Knifey climbs the pile of gold. “You’re standing on me!” the voice cries. Knifey looks down, and sees that he is standing on a sword. Knifey picks the sword up, and takes it down the pile to the others. “My name is Eldon! I was forged in ancient fires by skilled Elven blacksmiths in Thalmer, and then enchanted by a powerful wizard. From that enchantment my sentience was born. I’ve been held captive by this dragon for a long time, he wasn’t very good company, he didn’t like talking much.”

Tosscobble recalls a similar talking sword from Amn history, which served good but not necessarily lawful groups. Tharivol notes that talking items are very powerful, but one has to be cautious, as if you go against the sword’s will, it can enforce its will upon you. Knifey decides to hold it, and the party will take it back to Liberation Keep to find out more.

The Arrows loot the room, and find a large diamond, and an emerald-encrusted goblet, as well as a strange kettle-like container, with several spouts filled with different coloured corks. They find a block of stone with ore in it, and a ring with a half-faded panther on it. They also find a Bag of Holding, with a clear spindle-stone and a small metallic urn, with a billowing cloud on the side.

Knifey and Tosscobble decide to test the strange kettle instrument. Knifey pours out of the purple spout into his helmet, revealing a sour, pungent purple liquid with a slight fruity tang. Tosscobble believes it is Balsamic Vinegar. The magenta one pours out Red Wine. Out of the red one comes a thick, clear liquid, which Tosscobble tastes. He spits it out immediately, as it turns out to be lantern oil. He rinses his mouth with the wine. The dark green one pours out extremely slowly, and Tosscobble recognises it immediately as poison, warning everybody not to drink it.

The jet black one pours out sulfuric acid. The amber one pours out a warm-coloured liquid, ale. The bright yellow spout reveals honey. The deep blue one pours out water at such a velocity that it pushes the helmet to the floor and washes Tosscobble down the room. It is salt water. The light blue spout lets out fresh water at a more manageable rate. The final spout, brown, reveals coffee, much to Ri’s glee.

Day 271 Continued…

Jøhn and Knifey go to fetch the mules and Sindri from the cave entrance, so we can carry more treasure. Jøhn suggests a variety of things we can do with the dragon’s corpse. The party decides we can skin it, so Jøhn proceeds to harvest its hide, managing to finish it in four hours. The hide weighs 50lbs. Tharivol identifies the organ he believes is the source of the dragon’s flame. Jøhn botches the job cutting it out though, and it ends up in pieces all over the floor. Tharivol explains the mechanics of the organ to Erak, who wants to make mechanical ones for his Dwarven army.

Scraping through the piles of treasure, we find about 10,000g worth of gemstones, weighing only 50lbs. We pick up all we can carry, and reach the cave entrance. We then make the journey back to Liberation, pushing through the night, arriving at eleven at night. Dimble welcomes us warmly in the throne room, and takes us to the dining hall to partake in some sparkling peach juice. We present him with the dragon’s head, which some gnome attendants take away for taxidermy. The Arrows go off to their rooms to rest, while Knifey and Erak take their map of the caves to the Dwarven camp to present to them. The Dwarves are going to send a prospecting team to the caves. Knifey hands them a rod of prospecting we found in the cave.

Day 272

In the morning, Dorn Fenerousshield is found arguing with Dimble. The Dwarves want to start building their Dwarven town, but Dimble wants them to hold up their end of the bargain and build the town of Liberation first. Dorn doesn’t think all of his Dwarves are needed at Liberation, and wants to send some to start building in the Starspire Mountains, and gathering resources for both towns from the mountains. Dimble suggests allowing a quarter of the Dwarf population to go and establish a supply depot at the mountains, where they can start building. Dorn isn’t too happy with this small number, but agrees to these terms, as Dimble promises that more Dwarves will be allowed to go as Liberation gets closer to completion.

Skagaros approaches Knifey and signs that he wants to learn some Psionics, and Knifey agrees to help his friend out. Tosscobble is still ill from his encounter with the lightning bolt in the cave, so needs to refrain from strenuous activity. He heads out with Dimble and Sindri to buy a plot of land to establish a brewery, for bringing in revenue.

Knifey and Skagaros practice meditation, while Gazadriel attends the Temple of Tyr in the camp. Tharivol asks Dimble about establishing a library for the town, and Dimble agrees to have one built. Tharivol then spends some time upgrading his automaton.

Day 273

Dimble announces that he wants to make the ten-day journey to Calimport, the capital of Sulnar, to pay his obligatory respects to the emperor. The Arrows make preparations to accompany him, along with a royal escort of fifty Dwarven troops. We also arrange a gift for the emperor. Being a new and small barony, we are not expected to provide a lavish gift, but we should provide respectful and interesting. Dimble suggests the 5000g Diamond we brought back from the dragon’s lair. It is uncut, and the size of two-closed fists. Tharivol suggests having it cut into the shape of a small dragon, but there are no jewellers in Liberation.

Day 274

The party continues resting and organising for the trip. Tharivol and Knifey visit Aegon the Librarian to show him the sword Eldon. After conversing with the sword for a while, Aegon admits he doesn’t know much about it, nor does he recognise either the sword’s name or the name of its place of origin, a place called Thalmer. We leave Aegon, and Knifey asks Eldon if it wants to come on our adventure, and Eldon is very excited to be outside, having spent so long inside the dragon’s cave. The sword doesn’t have a sheath, but it can magically blunt itself while being carried.

Day 275

After eating breakfast, we leave Liberation at about eight in the morning.

Days 276 to 280

We travel across the flat plains of the new Sulnari Empire without event.

Day 281

Sindri, getting restless, attempts to run off and cause chaos. We tie him to a horse to prevent his escape, but he later manages to loosen his bonds, and then falls off the horse and injures himself.

Days 282 to 286

We continue travelling without event.

Day 287

We arrive at Calimport. The city is surrounded by many camps, with banners and liveries of all sorts visible. We approach the gates, where there is a large number of guards attending. The court official at the gate rifles through his book to see if he can recognise the two banners our party is carrying. He greets Erak, officially welcoming him as Lord under the Fenerous Halls. He doesn’t recognise Dimble’s banner, however, and asks who he is and where he is from. Dimble explains that he is Baron Dimble of Quivain, who is here to pay his respects to the emperor. The official searches through a new book, and finds Quivain, saying “Ah yes, one of the new acquisitions! Welcome to Calimport. I will arrange an audience with the emperor for you, follow me!”

Erak brings five guards with him, and directs the forty-five other Dwarves to camp outside the city. We follow the official into the city. Calimport is a large, bustling city of explosive commerce and trade. A lot of building work is also going on, with statues of the new emperor being erected all over the city. The buildings are made of brown and yellow stones, and are very open with many pillars and balcony. The official brings us to the palace, an imposing but beautiful building. Dimble and Erak are provided with luxurious quarters with wardrobes and expensive carpets. The rest of the Arrows are provided with rooms as well, although less lavish, in the same area of the palace. Tosscobble checks the rooms for traps and secret passages, but finds nothing. Erak’s five guards are also accommodated.

The court official leaves us to get comfortable in our rooms, and returns within the hour. He informs us that we have an audience with the emperor at three in the afternoon, and says he will send an escort to show us the way. Due to the unique nature of Dimble’s entourage, he will also allow the rest of the Arrows to accompany the gnome. It is about midday, so the official sends in a meal for us to eat in the shared courtyard between the rooms.

After lunch, Erak and Dimble discuss the upcoming audience. Tosscobble, Ri, Sindri goes on a tavern crawl with Gazadriel to keep an eye on him. Tharivol, Knifey, Jøhn and Skagaros go to explore the palace. The large palace contains an ancient library, and a large shrine devoted to the imperial deity, Sulnar. It also has many lavish gardens, watered by magical springs, featuring plants which are in bloom despite being out of season. There is also a large hall that serves as an art gallery which contains a large statue of the Glorious Emperor. He looks like a Heartlands human with long wavy hair, with a majestic face. He is wearing full-plate armour, but his sword and shield are stowed away. Instead, the statue depicts him helping a ragged-looking elf to his feet. The art gallery features many different example of artworks from all over Faerûn, and Knifey excitedly identifies an artwork from the Great Rift.

Sindri, Gazadriel, Tosscobble and Ri find a tavern called “The Eagle and the Child”. They enter, and it is very busy. Sindri approaches a man up at the bar. He is red-faced and teetering on his stool as he pontificates dramatically to the man next to him. He sounds like he is discussing philosophy. Sindri asks his opinion about the new empire. The man replies that the old regime was corrupt, and he is all for the emperor. Sindri asks which drink at the bar is the best, and also challenging him to a drinking competition. He also asks his name. The man says his name is Charin Korwille, and he recommends the absinthe at the bar. He says he is a historian and philosopher works at the Leaves of Learning in Silverymoon. Ten years ago he moved to Calimshan to oversee some historical excavations here. He was imprisoned for a short period of time due to some difficulties with the previous government, but was freed when the emperor came to power.

Tosscobble samples some of the ales at the bar. Gazadriel keeps an eye on Sindri the whole time, and Ri has a small amount to drink. Sindri learns that the emperor has been in power for less than a year now, and no-one knows who he was before he appeared to save Calimshan. Satisfied with the information he has received, Sindri pays the bartender 10g. The man gets out a large vessel and pours out twenty shot glasses. Gazadriel steps in to tell Sindri that he should reschedule this competition, but the tiefling ignores him. Charin and Sindri proceed to engage in a drinking competition. After quite a few drinks in the game, Gazadriel is fed up, and attempts to drag the tiefling out. Sindri sticks out his hand and concedes to Charin, who compliments his ability to hold liquor and slaps his new friend on the back, causing Sindri to almost fall off his stool. Sindri is struggling to walk, so Gazadriel helps him outside. Ri and Tosscobble follow soon after, and the party heads back to their quarters.

The whole party regroups at their quarters in time to be escorted to the antechamber before the audience hall. Sindri’s vision is dazzled by green sparks that only he can see. The court official from before enters the room and instructs us on the appropriate customs, before leading the Arrows inside. “My liege, Chosen of Sulnar and Governor of His Empire, I present to you King Erak Ironheim, Lord under the Fenerous Halls, and Baron Dimble of the fiefdom Quivain.” He bows, and the Arrows do so as well. Dimble steps forward, and speaks.

Day 287 Continued…

“Your imperial eminence! We come from the newly established fiefdom of Quivain, and have come to pay our respects to you and your new reign, which we hope will bring prosperity and favour to our peoples.
“We have a gift for you – a precious jewel, once coveted and hoarded by a dragon, whom we defeated to bring this treasure to you. We hope that it will make a satisfactory addition to the royal treasury.”
The Emperor replies, speaking for the first time. He thanks Dimble for his visit, and for the jewel. The court official takes the jewel away on a silk cushion. The Emperor says we are welcome to enjoy his hospitality for as long as we wish, and encourages us to explore the city if we get the chance.

Dimble then introduces Erak, who steps forward and greets the king. He then introduces the rest of the Arrows, and explains a bit of our story. The Emperor sighs, and mutters “So much chaos in the North”, clearly perturbed by the events outside his empire. He seems like a very humble, down-to-earth ruler.
The Arrows are led out of the room, and taken back to their quarters. The court official tells us we are all officially invited to the King’s banquet that evening.

Dimble decides to head to a gnome gunsmith’s to see their wares, and Tosscobble and Erak go with him. Dimble inspects the products. He buys a gun, as well as some kegs to take home. He gets into a conversation with the merchant, who he finds out is a travelling merchant, who travels extensively around the Shining Sea to places such as Lantern, the Sea of Steam, and of course Calimport, where he mostly sells his cargo. The three head back to the quarters, to find that Sindri has left. Sometime later, a Tethyrian man knocks at the door. Tosscobble, dressed in dirty adventuring gear, opens the door, and the man asks to speak to his master, mistaking the halfling for a servant. Tosscobble is mildly annoyed, and asks his business. He says his name is Evandur of the House Tallstag, and says he is baron of a fiefdom neighbouring Quivain. Tosscobble calls to Dimble: “Dimble, do you have pants on, someone called Evador what’s-his-face is here to talk to you?” Evandur is quite confused, but Dimble calls out that he is ready to receive.

Tosscobble leads the noble inside to talk to Dimble. “Lord Ture, I assume? Pleased to meet you, I am Evandur of House Tallstag. My fiefdom is directly east of your new fiefdom. The baron before you was a cruel man, imposing many unfair trade tariffs on our fiefdom. I was hoping that you would be a better man than your predecessor.” Dimble asks about his lands and resources. Evandur rules over …, and produces mainly lumber and wood products, an important commodity in the arid savannahs of Calimshan. However, Dimble’s predecessor had made sea trade very difficult for his fiefdom due to heavy taxes. Dimble understands, and says that he will communicate with his council when he returns to Quivain. Evandur thanks Dimble, and leaves, giving an awkward bow to Tosscobble (assuming some sort of romantic involvement with Dimble), who gives a curt nod and a sly smile.

Meanwhile, Sindri, in his room, vomits profusely due to the large amount of alcohol he had drunk. Feeling slightly better, he stumbles outside and heads back to “The Eagle and the Child”. He meets Charin again, who is still there. They talk for a bit over some more drinks. Sindri tells a tale of his adventures, and Charin is fascinated. He laments that he is tired of this city, and wants to go adventuring somewhere else. Sindri mentions the pub being set up at Liberation, and Charin joyfully exclaims that he himself will run the pub for Sindri, if he is allowed to accompany the Arrows back to Quivain. Sindri agrees. Charin mentions that he needs to leave to get ready for a feast at the palace that night, and suggests that if Sindri is in that area, they should meet up again.

Jøhn and Gazadriel visit the Sulnar temple. The first thing they notice is the lack of statues inside the temple. They see priests strolling around the temple, wearing white robes with gold bands. Their tabards have red eagles on them.  Similar eagle iconography decorates the walls and ceilings as well. The two Arrows approach a priest and Gazadriel asks about Sulnar and their temple. Sulnar’s doctrine dictates that all races should live in safety. Sulnar wants to bring peace and prosperity to everyone. Sulnar wasn’t really worshipped before the Empire was established, but the Empire at the same time owes a lot of its success to the worship of Sulnar. Jøhn asks about the Emperor’s name, and the priest explains that no-one knows the Emperor’s true name, as he gave up his identity when he ascended to the throne. Gazadriel asks what they priests might know about Japas’ situation, but all they receive is a cautionary tale about the dangers of dark possession. The two Arrows thank the priests and decide to leave the temple and head back to their quarters.

Meanwhile, Tharivol and Ri visit the library. They look for information pertaining to Cyric, the god Japas was sworn to. They can’t find anything, about neither Cyric nor anything that could have led to Japas’ turn to evil. Tharry finds some mildly interesting magical tomes, but nothing too significant. They notice that there seems to be an absence of texts on dark magic or dark gods in this library.

Tharivol asks the librarian about the mages in Calimport. He learns that mages have an important presence in the city, so much so that half the guard is required to be a magic user. Tharry is directed to a wizard named Almyr Mormeril, in a nearby district. We head there: the building is a five-storey domed building, with obvious access for flying carpets. The door is open, so we enter. An apprentice greets us, and asks us our business. We explain that we are here to see Almyr, and the apprentice says that so does everyone. Tharivol explains he is a wizard, to which the apprentice replies “Everyone in this city is a wizard…” After some more pushing, and when Tharry explains that they would like to ask Almyr about a friend of theirs who was possessed, the apprentice agrees to let them meet with the wizard. He asks them to remain in the foyer to wait.

After about ninety minutes, finally Tharivol and Ri are invited upstairs, and are greeted by Almyr. We explain our investigation about Japas, and Almyr says there are many possible causes for this sort of possession, including dark spirits or simple mind control. We decide he doesn’t have much for us, so we say goodbye and head downstairs. The apprentice informs us that we must pay a consultation fee of 30g. Tharry pays it and the two leave, and head to “The Eagle and the Child”, anticipating Sindri’s return there. They meet him as the tiefling leaves the building, and together they head back to their quarters.

The Arrows, now gathered back at the palace, prepare to attend the emperor’s banquet. Tosscobble insists on concealing weapons on everyone’s persons. Jøhn decides not to attend, but will wait outside with all his weapons, invisible and riding Balthazar. Ri casts a Telepathic Bond on the Arrows as well, so Jøhn can communicate with the rest of the party. When the court official arrives to escort us to the banquet hall, Knifey asks if we can bring Eldon, the sword. He is hesitant, clearly confused by a talking sword, says that the sword must be on its best behaviour. They arrive at the hall. There isn’t a main meal, but rather many different nibbly foods around the room.

Tharivol decides to amuse himself, and other guests, by performing some simple tricks with his magic. Knifey samples some of all the different foods. Tosscobble swaggers up to a pretty-looking noble lady, and starts to charm her. Evandur, the nobleman from before, spots the halfling, and wanders over, confused at Tosscobble’s interactions with the noblewoman. He asks the halfing’s name, and Tosscobble introduces himself as “Milo Tosscobble, but you may call me Nesquik.” Evandur inquires of Tosscobble’s exact relationship with Dimble (at which the noblewoman leaves in a huff), and Tosscobble reveals that they are merely adventuring companions, who like to bewilder each other at any opportunity.

Sindri finds Charin, and they sit down to play cards together, and Ri joins in. Dimble surveys the crowd, recognising a few nobles. He notices that everyone seems to be from regions within the empire, not elsewhere. By this point, Knifey has joined in the dancing, and demonstrates the traditional Xeph Tumbling Dance, to the pleasure of the crowd now surrounding him. Skagaros soon joins in.

Erak sees some dwarves participating in a traditional dwarven drinking relay called “the Longboat”, and he decides to join them. Gazadriel interacts with some of the courtiers, while keeping an eye on the rest of the Arrows, surprised but relieved that nothing has gone wrong yet. The party continues in this way for about half an hour, until a fanfare announces the emperor’s arrival. He enters the hall to rounds of applause, wearing white robes and a simple gold crown embedded with rubies. Guests all around the chamber flock to the emperor, surrounding him and clamouring to touch his robes. Knifey and Skagaros continue dancing, until Knifey calls out jovially “is there no-one else who will join us?”

A booming voice answers, “I will join you!” It is the emperor himself. He approaches the dance floor and performs some impressive tumbles, flips and dance moves. He soon finishes, leaving Knifey starstruck. He shakes the Xeph’s hand and returns to the crowd. Elsewhere, Charin pulls out a snuffbox, sniffs some, and offers some to Sindri and Ri. Sindri, after just a moment of hesitation, takes some. Ri just takes a little.
Erak, finishing another round of Longboat, hears over the ruckus of the crowd, “COS!” A stout dwarf approaches him and gives him a rib-cracking hug. This is Joyin Ironheim. He asks how Erak has been, and Erak explains that he is now a King of a population of northern dwarves. Several dwarves in their vicinity are very impressed by his stories.

Tosscobble and Tharry make a bet of 2g that Tosscobble will not be able to seduce another woman before the night ends. Knifey will adjudicate. Tosscobble approaches a pretty human girl. As he approaches, she exclaims “Aww, what a cute little boy”, ruffles his hair, and walks off. Knifey and Tharry, watching from a distance, both burst out laughing. Tosscobble follows the girl, and boasts that he is a dragon-slayer, not a mere boy. She is unimpressed. Tosscobble continues to try to charm her, but she flat out tells him that he is not her type, and marches off. Tosscobble walks back to Tharry, dejectedly, and flips him 2g, much to Tharry’s smug satisfaction.

The halfling decides to join in the dancing. He approaches Skagaros and Knifey, who has returned to the dancefloor, and loudly proclaims that he will now perform the Halfling Hop. The halfling then proceeds to jump up and down on the spot. The rest of the evening progresses normally, and the party ends at about eleven in the evening.

Day 288

Soon after midnight, Gazadriel receives a Sending from Arveene, which says simply “Please come back, something’s happened. It’s… Japas.” The party sees this and decides to return as soon as possible. We sleep for the night, and then leave at about seven in the morning to go talk to our escort. If we travel with the escort, it will be another twelve days; if we travel by horseback, it will be six days. If we ride through the night, we can make it back in three days. We decide to move as quickly as possible, packing what we can from the mules into our new Bag of Holding, and then leaving the mules with the escort. We ensure that someone will fetch Charin Korwille before the escort leaves. After that, we leave as soon as we can, at about nine in the morning.

Day 289 – Day 290

The Arrows ride for two days without rest.

Day 291

We arrive at Liberation Keep in the early evening. The keep looks fine, progress has clearly been made on the construction. A guard at the gates says “You’ll find the cleric girl inside the keep!” The party hurries inside, and are directed to Arveene’s quarters. Knifey rushes inside, to see a distraught Arveene sitting on a wooden chair in the room. Next to her, on another chair, and surrounded by a ring of silver powder on the floor, is a translucent and glowing blue figure of Japas Jaundice. The pair look up as Knifey barges in, clearly looking relieved. Knifey skids to a halt, and stares, shocked.

Day 291 Continued…

Knifey* hurries ahead of the group, sprinting down the corridors until he reaches the room where
Arveene waits. He staggers in, skidding to a halt. Much as he had on that rainy night in Fareach, he
stops at the sight of Japas. He catches Arveene's words but his eyes are on Japas.  Her words assuage
his immediate concerns that the cleric had come back to cause further destruction, but do little to
ease his other emotions.
He lets the door fall shut behind him.
"Japas," he says. His tone manages to convey both joy and pain. Hope and caution. "Well, you look
better than when I last saw you." His face falls, however, and his tone shifts to convey the
seriousness of the situation . "Forgive me, we've little time before the others arrive - before Sindri
arrives. He won't listen, he may attempt to hurt you and Arveene. He'll make it harder to talk so I
need to know now. What happened before, and why are you here? What you deem most important
first."
It was not exactly what Knifey wanted to say. 'The last time I saw you, you were dead and a
murderer. I've wondered since then. Who were you, Japas? The sun stolen by shadow or fallen of its
own accord? Or just a will'o'wisp playing a game since the beginning?'
'And why are you here now?' He clutches the small arrow key in his pocket, yellow as the sun.
'I missed you. You were my friend. Please give me an answer.' He would rather know he'd been
played the fool than never know at all.
The spirit responded "My friend, I am deeply sorry for all the pain I'm sure I have inflicted upon you,
but I assure that I hurt more. He called himself the Lord of Chaos, and he filled my mind with his
thoughts, his desires... I was powerless to stop him...."
The spirit pauses for a second before he began to wail "I have seen my own hands bring pain and
suffering, I have killed those I knew well, I was forced to turn away from the light. Now I cannot rest
until the man who wrought these terrible things has been brought to justice..."
Arveen advices Knifey that the spirit is trapped within the circle, she advices not to let him free, the
horrors of what occurred in the temple clear on her face. Knifey nods to Arveene, acknowledging her words. Still he approaches Japas's spirit, stopping just an arm's length from the ring.
"Japas. I know something of your suffering. You are just as much a victim as all the others, your will
stolen, your body a puppet." (Briefly, Knifey recalls a dungeon, words spilling, a massacre. He dispels
it. That time is gone.) "But you have been given your will again, a chance to find peace, to protect
people. Take that chance. Tell me the name of this man, tell me how to stop him, and perhaps we
can prevent this from happening again. You can help bring about justice, Japas, but you must speak
to me."

His words are gently spoken, honest in their empathy. He would seek the truth himself, but if Japas
spoke true, if Japas was truly himself, no longer manipulated, then it would be a stepping stone. And
perhaps a weight of his mind. 'And a chance to-'
It is at this stage the Monk enters the room, his silent stare assess the scene.

The ghost responds "I know not his name, only what he chooses to call himself 'The Lord of Chaos'..." Japas cringed at those words. "There are always three servants, when he first took my mind there was the necromancer and the dragon, but the dragon fell and a new servant was bound, a furious ball of madness that began to corrupt even the Lord himself." Japas squirms as if his skin writhes with invisible insects.

At this stage the ranger arrived but he was not given time to speak "I know not the appearance of
the others, nor his true form, but the Lord would always appear as a shadowy figure wearing a
hooded cloak.

At this point the rest of the party arrives. Just as the others enter the room, Knifey holds up his hand. He notices the spirit's writhing "Japas, stop. Do not hurt yourself any longer. You have given us a start. It will be our job to see it through. Thank you." Then he turns to face the group, careful and poised in case Sindri or any of the others attempt anything strange.

The rest of the Arrows finally arrive at the top of the stairs, and enter the room. Knifey quickly shoves Sindri out again and slams the door. Japas and Knifey together explain the situation, and the group speculates on the identity of the mysterious figure manipulating all these events. Japas reveals that all he knows of the hooded man’s intentions are that he wanted to bring chaos to the North, and the reason he specifically targeted Fareach was to obtain a mysterious tome located in the Mage Tower there, inside the library dimension. Japas says he may be able to teleport us there, as he has retained all his original powers now that he has died. Tharivol inquires why he only may be able to do it, because of the nature of the dimension being within a plane, not its own plane. If he fails, we will be stuck in our own pocket dimension. Japas says he rose soon after his death, in the place his body was left, and then travelled the 1200 miles to Liberation, following the tales of our passings, for twenty-three days.

We discuss taking Japas’ options, and decide that there’s probably no way of finding out more about this “Lord of Chaos” without trusting him. Knifey volunteers to go to the dimension, and we decide to sleep on it. The party returns heads to the dining hall for a quick meal, and then they return to their chambers, tired from their arduous journey.

Day 292

In the morning Jøhn decides to identify the poison from the spout-device we found in the dragon’s lair. He finds that it is the venom of a scorpion from … (other continent) …. He then asks Tharivol if the elf can disenchant his longsword and then enchant Jøhn’s heirloom rapier. Tharivol, who has been experimenting with his spells, thinks he can do it, and searches through his packs for some supplies he bought in Calimport. He believes he has the necessary supplies, and starts working on the ranger’s weapons.

Day 293 to Day 298

The party tests all their magical items, and prepares for the trip into the library dimension. They identify a Ring of Blinking, which Tharivol claims, and an Ever-Smoking Bottle, which Jøhn takes. Tharry also identifies the clear spindle stone as an Ioun Stone, which he takes.

Day 299

The Arrows’ escort to Calimport returns to Liberation, and with them, Charin Korwille. The scholar immediately inspects the construction site of Tosscobble, Dimble and Sindri’s new brewery, which they have decided will be called “The Shaft”. The Dwarves have started building the pub, and have made significant progress. Charin is very enthused, and starts to organise to have his own barrels set up in preparation for the building’s completion.

Day 300

The Arrows continue their preparations.

Day 301

Tharry returns to Jøhn after days of labour, and presents to him his newly enchanted rapier. The Arrows, ready to enter the library dimension, return to Arveene’s chambers and greet Japas, who is still sitting there. Skagaros will be staying behind to mind Sindri for the first day at least, as Japas’ spell can only send seven people. Japas suggests he could possess an eighth person and thus send eight people over. Knifey volunteers, and steps into Arveene’s silver circle. Japas’ form merges into Knifey’s, and now possessing a corporeal form, steps out of the circle, and casts his spell. After a blinding flash of light, the Arrows materialise into a very dark room. Gazadriel, Knifey and Erak can see, and they immediately grab onto something nearby. They see that the room, including the floor, is twisted and malformed. The normal laws of geometry don’t seem to apply here… The walls are stone bricks; the floor chequered marble.

Japas, inside Knifey’s body, casts a spell, and his body becomes illuminated. He then sits down on the floor and appears to meditate, saying “This must be the place, it has to be!” He passes out of Knifey, and explains that the room should look like a normal library. Japas then casts Light on everyone else, and everyone can now see around the room. Tharry recognises it as the Mage Tower library, but completely twisted. Jøhn suggests this might have occurred due to the destruction of the gate, and Tharivol recalls that pocket dimensions become incredibly unstable when disconnected from their gate. He also says that if the gate was rebuilt, the library would return to its original state... probably. Jøhn points out that this means the Necromancer has not yet rebuilt the gate yet, and can’t just walk in and get the tome he is after.

Tosscobble checks the area for traps. The room we are in has a staircase leading upwards to the floor beneath us, the left hand wall becomes the floor, and there is a door above and a door straight ahead. There are no shelves in this room, but the party can see books through the balconies and windows into the other rooms. Tables and chairs are scattered at random around the room, and a Klein hourglass on a time, which Gazadriel tips upwards. We decide to head up… or down, the staircase, to where we can see some books. Knifey attempts to walk up the wall on the left, and feels a lurching sensation, until he is standing on the floor with the rest of the Arrows behind him standing on the wall. Jøhn follows, and they stand on the ceiling near one of the doors. We discuss our options, including finding a librarian or catalogue, or detecting magic or evil, or just physically searching, until Tharry collapses to the floor. Knifey returns to the floor and attempts to wake the elf, and then Tosscobble gives him a wet willy, waking him up. Tharry remembers that there are no forbidden tomes in this library, but he did hear rumours of hidden, secret sections somewhere, restricted areas of sorts.

Tosscobble checks the door on the ceiling, and deems it safe. When Jøhn and Knifey open the door, it appears to open into empty space, a depthless inky blackness. Knifey chucks a coin in, but it just floats away. The three move off the ceiling and check the other door. Inside this door, we are on the ceiling; above us is an upside-down library, with shelves of polished, dark oak. We chuck one end of a rope in, and it moves downwards from our perspective towards the library shelves, and then curves back upwards to our door, where Knifey catches it. It appears the gravity pulls things towards this library room’s ceiling. Tosscobble casts Feather Fall on Knifey, who leaps through the door, and lands safely on the floor of the library. Above him, he can see the rest of the party peering through a trapdoor in the ceiling.

Tosscobble ties some rope to himself, and ties the other end to a bracket on the wall inside our room. He jumps inwards, but doesn’t seem to go far enough, and falls back towards the library’s ceiling. He then walks around the walls and joins Knifey on the library floor. The rope now runs from the ceiling trapdoor to the library floor. Tosscobble unties himself and then walks around the walls to leave through the trapdoor. He checks the stairs in the original room, and finds nothing. Knifey follows, and ventures up the stairs, but soon finds that he can’t see the Arrows behind him. Looking forward, he can see a dark gap over a landing, and an archway which leads into a grand staircase. Looking back, the staircase he came down is now gone. Knifey sees a staircase upwards and downwards, and heads upwards. He reaches a door, and enters into a very large room filled with books. Knifey can’t see a ceiling, there is just empty blackness. Behind him, there is no longer a door. Rather, he now seems to be in the middle of the library.

Back in the first room, Jøhn spots a light walk out of a wall on the far side of the room. The figure seems to peer around, and Jøhn shouts out to the figure, believing it to be Knifey. The figure walks left, fading into the distance, until it reappears on the right hand side of the room, walking back to the centre of the wall where it started.

Back in the library room, Knifey hears nothing. He heads forwards, walking for some time, until finally he sees a wall with a door in it. On the other side of the door is a grand staircase, but this time it is upside-down. He enters, and moves down the stairs. Partway down, at a landing, he peers over the banister, and sees an archway. The xeph grabs the banister and flips over it, stopping on the underside of the landing. He enters the archway and is in the rope library again. He sees the door in the ceiling, walks up the walls to it, and finds a very surprised party of Arrows. He relates his perspective of the events.

The Klein hourglass Gazadriel flipped is unreadable, and Tharivol recalls that time moved slower in the library when it was in use, but that may or may not be true now, in fact the wizard believes time is probably just as inconsistent here as space is.

Knifey, Jøhn and Tharivol enter the room with the rope, and Jøhn picks up a book. It is in Draconic, which Tharry can read, and it says “On the Truths of Extra-Planar Travel”. The author’s name is faded and covered in dust, and thus illegible. Knifey explores the room, and finds three doors. He pushes the first door, but it doesn’t move, so he pulls it inwards; there is a blank stone wall on the other side. The second door opens into another eerie black space, and Knifey shuts it quickly. The third door opens into the floor of another library. He steps through this one, feels another lurch, and is standing on the floor of the library. He can’t see any ceiling or walls. He realises he should give the Box of Field Provisions to someone else in the party, but when he looks back at the door it has gone.

Knifey walks for a while, what seems like several hours. He peruses the books on the shelves every so often, but at one point finds a book he has already seen. He starts counting steps, and finds that at roughly every thousand steps, he reaches the same intersection. After returning to this location several times, he takes a left instead of going straight, but eventually reaches the book again. He looks at the book, but it is written in Illuskan. He turns backwards this time and walks for a while, until he reaches a door. Inside is a grand staircase, and he once again encounters the archway beneath the landing. He flips down underneath, walks through into the rope room, and then re-enters the first room. The Arrows ask what happened, saying he was gone for forty minutes. Knifey is clearly very tired, and says he feels like he walked for a day.

Knifey gives the Box of Field Provisions to Gazadriel, and then the party all move into the room with the rope. Aside from the three doors, there is an archway which leads to a downwards stairwell. Knifey enters, and Tharry goes with him. They move downwards, and look back. The archway is gone, replaced by a door, and is now further away than it should be. Knifey continues forward, and Tharivol decides to move back to the door.

Tharivol reaches the new door, and finds himself on the ceiling of a library on the other side. In the distant darkness, he can see the tops of bookshelves. He walks forwards, for ages, and finds himself really tired, with no sight of the door he entered through. He keeps walking, seemingly for days. He rests at points, but doesn’t fall asleep.

Knifey walks for half an hour, but the stairs don’t stop. Every time he looks behind, the door is the same distance behind. He walks back, and calls Tharry’s name. He can hear a quiet muttering in the distance, and walks in to find Tharivol talking to himself and walking erratically. Knifey can barely make out the room’s floor above them. The pair decide they need to reach the floor, and Knifey hands Tharry one end of a rope, and then jumps upwards. He jumps and jumps, but can’t reach the floor. Knifey decides to use his Flying Potion. He feels weightless, and can now fly. He picks up Tharry and then they fly to the floor, where they both feel an even stronger lurching feeling as they touch down.

Knifey can no longer see the ceiling they were standing on, and realises he is in the same expansive library room he spent a day in before. They walk for a while, leaving a trail of books knocked to the floor. Knifey apologises to Tharry for such blatant disregard to the books, but the elf is too disoriented to care.

Back in the rope room, Gazadriel realises that Japas is solid and recalls that spirits are more existent in different planar realms, thus he can’t walk through walls here. The party searches for books, but they find nothing of interest. They call out for staff, but no-one answers. They scour the shelves for hours, and decide that none of them are the tome they are looking for. They light a bonfire with some of the discarded books to keep warm. Tharry and Knifey don’t return. The party finally decides to follow the pair through the arch, onto the endless stair. They realise it leads nowhere, so turn back, only to find a door not an arch. They enter, and find themselves on the ceiling of the large library room. They find the door behind them gone, and contemplate how to reach the floor. Tosscobble ties a rope to Erak, which Jøhn declares to be the best knot he’s ever seen. Jøhn then ties the other end of the rope to his grappling hook, and fires it at the floor above them. He skilfully hooks the rope around the base of a bookshelf, and tugs at it. It is solid, so Ri casts Spider Climb on Jøhn, Gazadriel, Dimble and herself. The party begins to climb down the rope, and they reach the floor, which is strewn with random books everywhere. The Arrows look upwards, and it looks like the rope just continues into darkness, with Erak nowhere to be seen.

Tosscobble decides to climb back up to see if he can find the ceiling again. Partway up, he feels the lurch again, but is surprised by it, and slips off the rope. He immediately finds himself floating in a void; he can’t see the rope. He calls out, but no-one hears.

Ri climbs up as well, after Tosscobble doesn’t return, and the same thing happens, except that she holds tight to the rope. She sees nothing but the rope, with blackness all around. She moves back down the rope, and the floor appears again, to the surprise of the rest of the party, who saw her do a spin and disappear. She climbs into the void area, and attempts to head upwards, but it just keeps going. As soon as she moves downwards however, she reappears in the library room.

On the ceiling, Erak sees the party disappear, and after waiting for a few minutes, decides to climb the rope as well. When he reaches halfway up, the rope suddenly becomes loose, and he crashes down to ceiling, just seconds after Ri had climbed off the rope, narrowly missing the Arrows, who are extremely shocked.

Knifey and Tharry finally find the door Knifey left through before. They enter the grand staircase, go downwards, flip over the banister and enter the rope room again. They find books lying everywhere, including an abandoned bonfire. They have a look around, and then hear a high-pitched scream and a thud against the second door in the room. Knifey wrenches it open, and Tosscobble tumbles into the room. He immediately requests some ale from the kettle instrument Knifey is carrying.

Two hours later, the rest of the Arrows find the door out of the library, and enter the grand staircase room. Remembering Knifey’s directions, they move down the stairs, flip over the banister, and enter the rope room. There, they find Knifey, Tharry and Tosscobble, lying together fast asleep.

Day 301 Continued…

Knifey, Tharry and Tosscobble all wake soon after the Arrows find them. The party rests for another two hours or so, and they discuss returning to our own dimension to bring Sindri and Skagaros across, as we had planned. Having seen how messed up time is in this pocket dimension, Tharry realises that leaving and returning to the dimension could have disastrous results. We decide that we have no choice but to leave them outside.

We discuss our options. We have not ventured into the void door in the hourglass room, or tried the wall door in the rope room. Knifey decides to press on the wall behind the door. It feels sturdy, and doesn’t give way. Gazadriel wants to try hitting it with his sword, but Knifey decides to use his mindblade instead. The wall seems impervious to attack, so we decide to go and check out the void door in the hourglass room.

Knifey volunteers to enter the void, and leaves us some of his more valuable possessions. We tie a rope to Knifey and attach it to a banister in the room. Knifey does a run up, does some very impressive acrobatics, and leaps through the void, disappearing. We can see the rope, but it apparently extends to infinity. After about three minutes, we tug back at the rope.

Knifey cartwheels down a corridor on the other side of the door. Behind him and ahead, the corridor continues endlessly. The rope behind him extends beyond sight too. Knifey walks backwards, following the rope for ten minutes, but doesn’t get anywhere. Knifey turns around and walks for another twenty minutes, searching the corridor for other doors. Suddenly, he feels a tug of the rope, and tumbles back into the hourglass room.

Knifey steps back into the door, this time with Tosscobble, but they immediately find themselves in a void, and they clutch each other so as to not float away. They try to climb back with the rope, but it doesn’t lead anywhere. Knifey realises that this time they stepped forwards through the door, but the first time he leapt backwards through the door due to his acrobatics. The pair float there for two days.

After six minutes, the Arrows decide to pull the pair back. Out of the door falls a very dishevelled looking Knifey and Tosscobble. The halfling is also famished. Knifey uses his Autohypnosis to ignore his need to sleep. He reveals his realisation about the different entry methods. This time, Tharivol walks backwards through the door with the xeph, after grabbing some rations and telling the party to pull them back after three minutes. The pair try to walk sideways first, but nothing interesting happens. Knifey jumps and touches the ceiling, but nothing happens. We then walk forwards for about twenty-five minutes, and get yanked back into the hourglass room.

We re-enter, this time the party will wait fifteen minutes. Tosscobble ties a rope around Tharry too, something we’d forgotten to do. We decide to walk in opposite directions, but after turning around, we realise we haven’t moved apart at all. Knifey realises that he has only ever been pulled out while facing forwards, so we both decide to walk towards the rope, but facing forward. We re-appear in the hourglass room, to the party’s surprise. Ri and Jøhn stay with the rope while the rest of the party goes to try the wall-door.

Knifey and Tharivol enter again. Tharry suggests walking away from but facing the rope, and we do that, finding ourselves in a circular antechamber with four corridors leading in different directions. There is a couch with a table and a lamp, which is on. We try walking backwards into the corridor we just left, which we label South, and end up back in the hourglass room. We walk backwards into the void door again, and keep walking backwards without turning around, until we realise we aren’t reaching the antechamber. We turn around, and then turn backwards again, finding ourselves in the circle room. We decide to try walking forwards into the South corridor, and find ourselves walking forward out of the East corridor, into the circle room. Knifey’s rope has broken, Tharry’s has just fallen off due to a poor knot job by Tosscobble.

Jøhn and Ri receive the frayed other end of Knifey’s rope as it falls back through the door only a few seconds after they entered. Tharry’s drops to the floor, loose. They call back the rest of the party, and decide to wait a few minutes and see if the pair returns, and if not they will send someone in after them.

Knifey and Tharry turn around and walk forward into the East corridor, and end up walking out of the West corridor. We walk backwards through West, and come out of North. We walk backwards through East, and come out of North again. We walk forwards through West, and find ourselves coming out of West again. We walk forwards into North, finding a door. We turn around and walk forwards back to the circle room. We walk backwards down North and find another door. After walking backwards down that corridor, we also find a door, not the circle room.

We enter this door, and find ourselves in the rope room, leaving the wall-door. We return to the hourglass room, surprising the party. Tosscobble goes to the rope room to sleep, while Jøhn and Ri stay behind again. This time, Erak, Gazadriel, Dimble and Japas will come with us.

We return to the circle room, and walk forwards into the North corridor. We open the door at the end, and find ourselves leaving the wall-door again. We go back and try walking backwards into the North corridor again, and we attempt to open that door. It is locked. Knifey knocks on the door, and no-one answers. He then tries using force, but just bounces off. Erak attempts breaking it in too, but it doesn’t smash. Knifey decides to fetch Ri.

Knifey leaves the wall-door, and sees Tosscobble sitting up, looking refreshed and drinking coffee. He says that a whole night has passed. Knifey takes Tosscobble and goes to get Jøhn and Ri, and they all meet the others at the locked door. Tosscobble checks for traps, and then Ri tries to cast Knock. The spell fails to cast, so she resorts to picking the lock. As soon as she tries, the lock sends a jolt of electricity up her arm, shocking her. Her pick also melts. On closer inspection, there is a small shocking-rune trap located on the lock.

Tharivol tries to cast Dispel Magic, but it also fails. Dimble suggests heading back to the circle room to search the furniture. Tosscobble walks forwards back down the corridor. He reaches a new circular room, this one filled with hundreds of flying, winged keys. He scans the room; each of the keys looks identical, apart from a different rune engraved on each. As he looks around, one of the keys explodes, clearly inscribed with an Explosive Rune. Tosscobble dodges successfully.

The rest of the party sees Tosscobble slowly vanish as he walks back towards the circle antechamber. We follow him, Jøhn and Ri waiting by the door. We reach the circle key room. It has a vaulted ceiling, and an embroidered rug on the floor. Dimble starts playing some music, and the keys fly slightly slower. Tosscobble licks the rug, and observes that it tastes like old, dusty carpet. He steps onto it, and then sits, legs and arms crossed, as if he expects to fly. He calls out to ask if anyone speaks Alzhedo, but no-one does. He wracks his brain, and recalls the Calimshan word for “up”. He calls it, and the carpet rises above the floor, much to the party’s surprise. Tosscobble says he can carry another passenger, so Knifey excitedly hops on.

Erak puts his shield up and stands in front of Tharry and Dimble, so they aren’t harmed by any potentially dangerous keys. Knifey asks what sort of rune they might be looking for, and Tharry explains that it might not necessarily be a shocking rune, and there could be hundreds of different runes among the keys.

Gazadriel walks forward out of the room, and finds himself in the circle antechamber again, walking out of the East. He searches the couch and furniture for keys or clues. Behind the cushions on the couch, he finds a copper coin. He finds no sign of a key however. Gazadriel picks up the book on the table, and sees that it is in Shaaran, and keeps it for Knifey. After getting a bit lost, he finds the way back to Ri and Jøhn, and then returns to the key room.

Tharivol spots the rune they are looking for, and he points it out to Knifey immediately. They swoop towards the key as it flies around, and Knifey lunges for it. He grabs it, and stuffs it in his belt pouch before it can shock him too much. They swoop through the doorway, followed by the others, arriving in the antechamber. They navigate back to Jøhn, Ri and Gazadriel, saying they have the key. Knifey shoves the key into the door, but it instantly vaporises. Clearly our strategy should not be matching lightning with lightning. Gazadriel hands Knifey the book he found, and he accepts it gratefully.

The party returns to the key room, and Dimble starts to play music again. Tharivol explains that lightning spells don’t have a counterpart. He looks around the room, noticing a lot of fire and explosive runes. He occasionally sees less aggressive runes flying around, such as Feather-Flying of Cure-Light-Wound runes. He suggests looking for a Knock rune. He scans the keys for quite a while, until he finally spots a lone Knock key flying high above. He directs Tosscobble and Knifey to it, and they start chasing. It is unusually fast, and as soon as they start to pursue it, the other keys swoop towards them. Dimble changes his tune to something magically-inspiring.

Knifey and Tosscobble swerve and spin in the air. They dodge most of the keys, but a few make impact, hurting them. Knifey grabs the key and then they swoop out of the room to the door. Knifey puts the key in, and unlocks the door.

Inside is a 50ft wide room, which Tosscobble checks for traps. We can see four concentric circles on the floor, 5ft apart. The grooves are filled with an inky darkness, which seems to flow like a liquid; when Knifey approaches it, the liquid appears to be drawn to his presence. On the other side of the room, around the circles, is a door. But in the centre of the four circles is a lever. Tosscobble and Knifey hop back on the carpet and fly up to the ceiling to try and fly over the circles, but the darkness rises up like tendrils in front of them.

Back on the ground, Tharry notices that there does appear to be a finite amount of the substance, as he can see the bottom of the grooves in the ground. Tharry doesn’t recognise the substance at all. Knifey and Tosscobble return to the ground, and Knifey chucks in a copper coin. As it touches the substance, it immediately withers and becomes warped, disintegrating. We pour some water in, but the same thing happens.

Gazadriel stands at the “South” end of the circle, and observes that the substance does shift a small amount towards him, leaving less of it at the North end. Dimble chucks a coin over the outer circle, between the first two. We decide to arrange ourselves around the circle, like a clock. Everyone but Knifey stands around the outer circle from the three o’clock to nine o’clock positions, opposite twelve. Ri casts Haste on Knifey, who then sprints across the circles. As he crosses the first two circles, the sound of a candle being blown out is heard. As Knifey crosses the third one, an immense pain shoots through his body, and he disintegrates into inky blackness.

*Insert Mournful dialogue here*

The Arrows are shocked, screaming out in horror. The substance has disappeared from the first two circles. Ri casts Haste on Gazadriel this time, who runs over the third line. As he does, the black substance reaches up and consumes him as well, as he screams a scream of intense agony.

* * *

Far away, in the primary dimension, Skagaros feels a great pain in his soul, and screams out a visceral, beastly growl of despair.

* * *

Tharivol suggests trying a bridge, and lays his old quarterstaff across the third circle. It immediately disintegrates, and with it Tharry’s suggestion. Jøhn hands his boots of teleportation to Erak, who tests them first by teleporting 20ft across, and arriving safely. Erak then prepares to teleport to the centre, but as he does, the black substance rises up like a massive black flame, reaching to the ceiling, and he can’t get through it.

Ri casts Haste on Tosscobble this time, the halfling being the one of the most dextrous of our party. He leaps over the third circle successfully, and the substance extinguishes itself. He keeps going and makes it safely to the centre. He turns around and raises his arms in triumph, and then pulls on the lever. As soon as he does, an immense jolt of pain passes through his body, sending him to the ground writhing. Dimble immediately steps up to help, and after three incredibly agonising tugs of the lever, pulls it into place. On the other side of the room, the lock on the door clicks.

We enter the next room, another 50ft chamber. In the centre is a stone basin filled with liquid, with a silver chalice perched on top. There is a door opposite. We approach the basin cautiously, and see that inside is a murky black liquid. We decide that someone must clearly drink the liquid, and that Erak, being the sturdiest, should be the one to do it. As he approaches closer, a ring of green fire springs up around him, with a 5ft radius.

He tries to pour some of the liquid on the floor first, but it refuses to leave the chalice, as if held by an invisible force. He takes a drink, and the liquid flows freely into his mouth. It tastes absolutely terrible. He doubles over from a pain in his stomach, and depressing thoughts fill his head. He takes another drink, and the pain and depression increases. He drinks three more, until there’s only enough for one more chalice. After the final one, the green flames disappear, and Japas runs in to heal him immediately. The door across the room unlocks, and we head towards it.

Day 301 Continued…

As we approach the door, we hear a clanking sound from behind us, in the other room. It sounds like someone large is approaching in armour. We turn around and prepare our weapons, but bolting through the door comes a very exuberant xeph, followed by a stoic aasimar paladin. The Arrows are shocked, and ask what happened to the pair. Knifey explains that after a great deal of pain, he fell through a void for a few days, until he came across a very wet door (because we’d poured water into the liquid darkness). The door led him to the very start of the library, and Gazadriel has appeared very soon after.

The next room is large, and filled with pedestals. On top of each of them is a glass case, some with a book inside them. In the centre is a much larger pedestal, with a very large book hovering on top, and slightly glowing blue. There are pages sticking out at weird angles. There are fourteen in total. Tosscobble checks the room for traps. Tharivol immediately recognises the large book – it is the heart of the library. It is a catalogue of all the other books in the library, and contains the very essence of the library itself; without the book, the library doesn’t exist. The ritual the Wizard’s Tower mages use to open and close the library portal is actually a ritual to open and close the book. Tharivol realises that if we take the book with when we leave, we could probably start a new portal, but it’d take a month or two of magic to complete construction.

The books in the cases are:

Bronze tome, bronze decorative sundial inset with an opal gem, latched. (Tharry)

Black leather, poor condition, tongue nailed to the front. (Sack)

Small, blue-grey felt cover, silver inlay. (Tharry)

Six other books are thick and have strange pictures of bull, bear, cat, owl, fox, eagle.

Wizard’s spellbook, holy symbol of Mistra, very ornate. (Sack)

Chains around extra-thick glass, with a thin layer of transparent lead. Book inside is a Book of Vile Darkness. It contains ancient law and spells and rituals, with the potential to destroy all of Faerûn. It has an overwhelming evil and harmful aura which will hurt anyone who interacts with it who is Good. Tharivol knows it isn’t a force to be trifled with, and it’s probably the book the Necromancer is after, and Japas agrees.

Nondescript notebook, like a field diary. (Knifey)

The final case is empty.

Tharry touches the Heart of the Library, and can feel a surge of power rush through him. He can feel as if he is touching raw knowledge. Tosscobble tries to move the chains off the glass case containing the Book of Vile Darkness. Gazadriel approaches the book and pushes the chains off the top, opens the case, and then swings his sword down onto the book, but it doesn’t do anything at all. He then picks the book up before anyone else can stop him. It causes him great pain and he drops it immediately, much to Knifey’s distress. Ri then tries to pick it up, and does so with some minor discomfort, but manages to without being hurt by the aura.

Gazadriel expresses concern that we are pillaging this library, but Tharry reassures him that as the only remaining member of the

Knifey has a look at the field diary. Inside, the text is in some sort of cipher, but there are disturbing, grisly diagrams of anatomy and dissections, mutations and burnings of people. Knifey recognises some xeph and Shaaran characters.

Tosscobble looks at the cat book, which seems to be a guide on improving dexterity. Tharivol realises that the six animal books are inscribed with auras which will allow the reader to improve a particular trait. They take two days to read, and the spell only works once. Tosscobble claims the cat one, and Tharivol the fox one.

Gazadriel examines the tongue book; it appears to be filled with arcane knowledge. He also looks at the Mistra book. When he opens it, it opens to a random page, even if he tries to open the first page. The book opens to a different page every time he tries. On each page is a spell scroll.

Knifey looks at the bronze tome. The writing is dense and dry, and he can’t understand it. Ri can’t read it, but Tharry can; it is written in Dwemeri, and appears to be a spellbook of a Dwemeri wizard. It is clearly written by a very powerful wizard.

Tharivol takes a look at the small book with silver inlay. It is small enough to fit in a pocket. It is a pocket encyclopaedia. It leads the reader straight to what they want.

Tharivol opens the final case, the empty one. But there is simply nothing in it.

Ri puts the book back in the case. And then Knifey picks the case up, without getting hurt, albeit feeling uncomfortable and a bit queasy.

We discuss how to remove the massive tome. We decide to simply carry it. Tharry guides the book of the pedestal, as it floats. But it gets heavy when it leaves and falls on his foot. Knifey helps him lift it off, and then Erak, Jøhn and Gazadriel help him carry it. Japas asks if we are ready, and we teleport out. However we can sense that something goes wrong, and we appear in the middle of the countryside. Tosscobble notes that it’s not Amn, but has a similar climate. Knifey asks Japas what happened, and he says that teleportation magic is unpredictable. Jøhn guesses that we are still in the fiefdom of Quivain, probably a day east of Liberation.

The party is physically exhausted, so we set up camp and Jøhn and Ri take the first watch. Gazadriel falls sleep almost instantly. Judging from the stars, Jøhn estimates that we have returned on the day we left, not very long after our departure.

Day 302

In the morning, we decide to put the Heart of the Library on the flying carpet, and head off under Jøhn’s direction. At about ten in the morning, in the distance, we spot a patrol of some sort. Knifey thinks it looks like twenty mounted riders, fully-plated. One of the riders has black armour, and there are six horses without riders. A tall, grey-green figure is running beside the patrol, somehow keeping up; Skagaros. Trailing at the back is a figure in white robes.

The patrol reaches us, and we see that the black rider is Sindri, leading a group of twenty imperial soldiers. Arveene is with them too. After a pause, Tosscobble says “Well, you speak first”. Sindri exclaims “What have you guys done! First you disappear, and then we detect an evil presence out in the plains, and then we get reports of a demon army heading towards the keep!”

“Where are these reports from?” asks Tharry.
“From villages in the North! They’d be there by now, besieging it! Tullius made me come find you instead of letting me eat all the demon souls!”

Arveene sees the case in Knifey’s hands, and realises what the book is, to her horror. She points out that the demon army is probably after the book, and will probably be heading our way, not towards Liberation. We decide we must get the book far away from them. Knifey and Tosscobble will take the book on the flying carpet and fly it to capital, and after some hasty but heartfelt goodbyes, they leave with a “WHOOSH!” Due to the speed of the carpet, they should reach the capital by the end of the day.

The rest of the Arrows decide to return to Quivain, hoping the demon army won’t be there. We reach Quivain and find that it is not under siege. Gazadriel goes with Skagaros to shave the orc. Tharivol goes with Dimble to the council meeting, after asking if they can install the portal. Dimble suggests a vacant watchtower in the keep, and after sitting through various other boring council matters. His proposal is passed, and he also manages to get the tower reserved as the Mage Tower of Liberation Keep, and have his quarters moved there. Erak goes to overseer his population’s construction efforts. Jøhn goes to check on Tiberius and Balthazar. Ri follows Sindri to keep an eye on him, who goes to hang out with Charin.



Knifey and Tosscobble approach the capital, flying extremely fast, nervous that they might encounter aerial guards. As they get closer, they are confronted by two mages on flying carpets, wearing navy robes with yellow stars. The pair is immediately ordered to land. They comply, landing just outside the city walls. Knifey tells the mages that they need an audience with the Emperor, as they are carrying a dangerous artefact, and are pursued by a demon army. One of the mages is sceptical, but casts Detect Magic and realises they are telling the truth. The pair are escorted to the roof of the palace, at a priority landing spot. They are led to the antechamber, and are told to wait for just a moment. The mages return with the palace official from our last visit, and he leads us straight to the Emperor.

The palace official slips outside when he sees Knifey’s hesitancy to speak. The pair explain the situation, and the Emperor’s face turns grave. He says “This is bad news. We must see that the book is kept safe.” He suggests sending it to the Leaves of Learning in Silverymoon, but doesn’t want to do that before knowing the true nature of the demon threat. The pair insists that they stay with the book, and the Emperor offers accommodation for their stay. He has a room which can suppress the book’s magic, but it happens to be a dungeon. He will outfit it as comfortably as he can, and also arrange for some scribes to write a message back to the Arrow in Quivain. Knifey and Tosscobble dictate their message, divulging their plan to stay in the capital, and the message is sent with a courier to Quivain.

The pair are escorted by the Emperor himself to the anti-magic dungeon, which is having beds and furniture and books put inside already. Both are given a key to the room, and special “Guests of the Palace” tokens which they can use around the city for special benefits. The Emperor also allows them to hand-pick two sets of five soldiers and a mage to guard the door; they don’t have keys. They leave Eldon the sword with a guard, as it can’t be brought into the dungeon, for risk of being destroyed. The ring of sustenance and box of field provisions don’t work in this room, so the Emperor arranges for a meal to be sent to them. They have arranged some traditional xeph delicacies for Knifey. Tosscobble checks for poisons, and gets worried when he detects some in a xeph fried scorpion, but Knifey assures him that this is fine. They enjoy a meal together. Tosscobble then heads out to gather some information at local taverns, while Knifey stays with the book.

Tosscobble does hear of an announcement of a potential hostile force heading for the capital, but hears no talk about the book or the specifics of the demon army, even in the lowliest parts of town.



Day 303 – Day 306

The Arrows continue their activities at Liberation. Arveene and Japas have started setting up a Church of Lathander in Liberation.

Day 307

A party of priests, escorted by imperial soldiers, arrive at Liberation at about midday. They ask to talk to Lord Dimble, King Erak, and the rest of the Arrows. They are a detachment of the Imperial Cult, here to establish their religion in this new city. They also hand us the letter from Knifey and Tosscobble, and we confirm that the letter is legitimate, due to Knifey’s art and Tosscobble’s scrawled note asking how Nigel is.

We discuss what to do. We decide that all the Arrows except Dimble and Tharivol will head towards Calimport. Tharivol will oversee the portal construction. They leave in the mid-afternoon, Erak bringing some of his army with him. Charin also comes on the trip, to distract Sindri when he needs to be distracted.

Day 317

The Arrows arrive at the capital, unmolested, and are greeted by the palace official. He tells them that Knifey is at the art gallery, and Tosscobble is minding the book. Gazadriel and Skagaros go to visit Knifey, Sindri and Charin go to a tavern, and the rest of the party visit Tosscobble in the dungeons. When they arrive, they see Eldon telling a winding tale to an uncomfortable-looking guard. They call to Tosscobble, and he slides across an opening in the door, and his face lights up. He opens the door and Nigel leaps at him, licking his face.

Tosscobble tells us that we are waiting for the return of the emissary the Emperor sent to Silverymoon to inquire of the Leaves of Learning if they want to take a second Book of Vile Darkness. He sent them on flying carpets, so it should only take a few more days. We also find out that the demon army was confronted in the plains by the Emperor’s army, but by that point they had lost the scent and scattered, mostly returning to their own plane.

After Gazadriel gets emotional seeing some of the art in the library, he Skagaros and Knifey go and talk to some flying carpet-salesmen, including Alan Din, and his wife, Yasmina. But they decide another carpet is too expensive for them.

Day 320

The Emperor requests an audience with the party in the dungeon, and he comes with the emissaries he sent. He informs us that the Leaves of Learning are willing to take the book off our hands. We decide that Knifey and Tosscobble will continue to take care of the book, accompanied by two mages flying a two-person carpet each, allowing them to take Erak and Ri as well, Jøhn will be able to keep up on Balthezar. They prepare to leave and take the book to Silverymoon, while the rest of the Arrows prepare to return to Quivain.