Day 11 - Ichidi (First Day of the Second Tenday of Haya-Akirune)

The next morning the party head North, passing refugee farmers and their families, running from the oncoming threat.

They finally reach Northfarm.

On reaching Northfarm the party, carefully, scouted around the West side of the farm trying to get a bead on what the enemy numbers were like. They saw a number of Goblins and Orcs patrolling around the farm. They also heard muffled crying coming from the Southmost farm building as they scouted around. Unfortunately Oskar alerted one of the goblin guards with by tripping over his own feet, but quickly cast the spell 'Command - Forget' and was able to get himself into cover, the goblin forgot about seeing him for a short time then came back to investigate but he turned out to be less than interested and returned to his post at the front of the farm building. The party then sneaked up to the the North-East corner of the farm where Lanvor slid over the wall and killed a goblin who was innocently skipping-stones in the small pond. Lanvor was able to do this risky action very fast and luckily made no sound. As it got later in the evening they all witnessed the Goblins and Orcs getting a bit drunk and arguing about what they should do with the prisoners.

Then darkness fully fell...

Both Oskar and Thradal have darksight so they had to lead Lanvor down to the covered wagon on the East field for safety, then the two of them headed out on a recce to investigate the Southern farm building.

During the recce they again alerted the Goblin on guard duty who had been asleep at the front door, but luckily he went back to sleep.
Sneaking around to the back door they find it to be locked but they hear the sounds of children whispering and weeping inside. This angered them both, especially Oskar the paladin.

They then sneaked around the East side of the building, planning to head back to the wagon and await daylight, but they make a huge amount of noise thus rousting the Goblin from his sleep again, he then came barrelling around the corner muttering Goblin nastiness. Oskar strode forward and with a perfect swing of his axe he fully beheaded the Goblin in complete silence.

They find keys on the Goblin, kick his body (and head) into the undergrowth and open the door getting the three children out (Erik, Frais and Sheenah) out.

They then silently led them to the wagon, but when they were nearly there they heard a bellow from the farm as a patrolling Orc finds the barn door open and the children gone (and possibly smelt the Goblin blood on the path).

"RAIDERS" it shouted rousing the entire camp.

"RAIDERS", the Orc scream tore the night apart "RAAAAAAIIIDEEEEEEERRSSSSSS"

Day 12 - Nidi 

Midnight
The party fight and defeat two Orcs and two Goblins at night and try to find a safe place for the children, the children offer advice that they know of a clearing in the woods where they play often, to the North, so the party take them there.

Before they go the teenagers also mention a 'Granny Pottery' who lives in the woods who may help, she keeps to herself they say, but is most helpful when it comes to healing toothache and helping with farm accidents.

Here they meet an individual who introduces himself as Biarn the Wanderer. a tall wiry figure who takes the children under his care.

The group then go on fight and defeat the rest of the enemy in the morning when they are getting ready to take their human prisoners north, all except the Orc Leader - Gorrum and the Goblin Leader - Skitch, who both escape to the North East

The party free the prisoners and re-unite then with the three teenagers in the clearing. The farmers all recognise Biarn with joy, and happily thank the party and head to the South and safety.

Biarn the Wanderer then brings out the body of the goblin Snaggletooth and lays him down with surprising gentleness, brushing a hand across the goblin’s brow before turning to you with a faint, tired smile.
“Found him north of here. Said your names before he slipped under again.”
He nods at the fading mark on the goblin’s chest — a crude burn of a dagger, a crown, and an eye.
“He’s been touched by something foul. You’ve stirred the deep mud, friends.”
The goblin stirs, eyes fluttering open. A weak laugh rattles from his chest.

“Ha… I knew...I knew I’d see ya again.”
He coughs wetly, eyes darting from face to face.
“You saved me from the sand and the sea and the gulls and I haven’t forgotten that kindness. Dib saw that in me, had me caught, but I ran when they chased… but his hand reached out over miles and poisoned my heart. Maybe you can stop him, maybe not.
It’ll take an army. They’ve been waiting you see, the real people, waiting and ready for a king to lead them. Now they have that. Don’t let him… don’t let him finish what the One-Eye started.”

"Next OldSun, the war will begin. Cruden will return and the Orin will be as of yesterdays ashes."

He exhales, the sound thin as paper. The faint smell of ash drifts on the morning wind, and for a moment you could swear you hear a whisper:

“The crown… and the dagger…”

Biarn explains that he will take the body and bury it somewhere safe, he continues to explain that not all creatures of the green skin are necessarily evil, as not all creatures in human skin are good, or truthful.

"Look beyond the laws of the Orin, they look good to the bean-counters and the politicians on paper, but this is the real world, and things are not often what they seem."

He then hands each of the party a small stone with tiny glinting coloured shards of gems girdled around the stones' equator.

"Keep these safe." he says then slinging the goblins body over his shoulder he disappears into the trees.

The party rest and stay in the farm that night.

Day 13 - Sandi 

A day of travelling where the party decide to head on the NE trail.

After noon they see smoke from a hollow in the distance and investigate.

They find and battle with some bandits in the hollow, from this encounter they get a small granite slab on which is written some Dwarvish runes and a map to a cave system close by.

They stay the night at the bandit camp.

Day 14 - Yondi 

The next morning the party continue on the path and found a the standing stone at a crossroads out of which the granite slab had map had been removed. They spent a while trying to put the map-slab back into the standing stone, but time, handling and weather meant it was a poor fit. They then worked their way to the bottom of the hill with the cave and spend a (as it turns out) quiet night.

Day 15 - Godi 

This morning they approach the entrance to the cave and see a figure lurking at the entrance. This turns out to be a half-elf called Talisin Surana who had recently escaped from the a Goblin and Orc-led prisoner chain. They were attacked by some creatures int eh night and Talisin escaped his chains, but lost all his gear. He tracked the attackers to this cave and elects to join the party if they will help him get his stuff back.

They all enter the cave.

They pass various puzzles and learn that the cave most recently was inhabited by someone called 'Zoorl' and that he was a magic-user or scientist of some kind, and that the cave system, in some ways, has been worked by Dwarven stonemasons.

During the cave investigation they find Giant spiders, slimy skeletons, Creatures called Thouls (a magical crossbreed of hobgoblin, troll, and ghoul), trolls, all of which are defeated and Talisin gets his gear back.

Oskar also finds a Box of Documents with the Dathaway seal on them.

They spend the night at the Thouls camp in the troll cave.

Day 16 - Rokdi 

The next day they continue upward in the cave system an find a bridge going over the main cavern some 60 feet below. They are attacked by more giant spiders and Lanvor is poisons and paralysed. They retreat until this wears of, regroup and try again, this time with more success and they kill the giant spiders.

Working their way further in they find there way to what looks like an Alchemists workroom. in here they find an unusual kind of journal - A Metal Notebook - metal plates with words written in acid ink:

The party adventure on to the top most cavern in the cave system, here they find a cave filled with old tree roots, each training into shallow basins hollowed out of the floor - each of the six basins is partially filled with different coloured sand or powder.

A metal grate falls locking them in the cave when they all enter and it appears solidly locked in place, when this happens a creature - A Rootbound Observer , awakens and attacks from the north side of the cavern.

They defeat the creature - which looks like something half dwarf and half tree, as it fails and dies it whispers the following:

“…still sealed… still pretending…”
“I saw Him… beneath the stone…”
“The Pale God waits… His roots run deeper than ours…”
“…they buried it… buried us… but it grew…”

and finally on death:

“The Orin lands are hollow… power sleeps… power remembers…”

They solve the puzzle to release the gate and exit the cave, taking with them some of the mysterious powers.

The party then head down to the lower levels of the cave system and encounter a cavern full of Fungus. Rather than wading thought the choking and giant fungi they followed the cave north and found a Y-junction, the Northmost passage seemed to lead to a large cave but was filled with the smell of old fur and rot so they decided to go south and found the east end of the mushroom room. On investigation they awakened a Violet Fungus and by using a spell they discovered and fought a total of 4 of these creatures. The noise they made brough down the wrath of two Albino Apes from the North which they fought, killing one and the other ran away. The party then looted the mouldy boxes and found 2 vials of cloudy liquid, and went down a hole (Lanvor first then the dwarves as the apes were returning ) to a chute into a giant cavern with loads of stalactites

Due to Thradal showing incredible Dwarvish perception he was able to discern that there were creatures called Piercers hiding in the stalactites. They were able to avoid being attacked by these creatures and are now at the top of a passage way leading even further down into the depths.

They carefully walk down to the lower depths of the cavern, the first small turning to the South was a dead end but as Thradal approached the second turning south he was suddenly attacked by a Carrion Crawler, and there was a second one behind it.

Fighting ensued and Thradal was hit in the back of the head 'accidentally' by Lanvor with two firebolts. He fired his webcast trapping the first Carrion Crawler in web whilst the one at he back ran back down the corridor. Oskar set the webs on fire and as the crawler burned it escaped into the main corridor and was hit by Magic Missiles from Thradal. 2 out of the 3 Magic Missiles hit the creature but one found its way to Lanvor.

The creature tried to run North East along the main corridor but was webbed and then burned to death. Lanvor investigated where the other went and discovered it cowering around something at the end of the corridor, Oskar prevented him from attacking the creature as he felt it was protecting its young, Lanvor and Thradal eventually agreed to leave it be.

They discover there is an odd almost super-natural feeling in the air, some form of force, not magical, but not not magical either...

They worked their way along the main corridor which changed from caverns to finely built walls and flooring exactly like that of a keep or castle, strange to see such things underground but it was undoubtedly dwarven work.

They found their way to a bunkroom and secured it against attack, a broken pickaxe lay upon the table with the words 'Deceitful Employer' written on the haft in Dwarvish runes.

Here they stay the night.

Day 17 – Nadi 

After a good nights rest they discover they have awoken feeling more powerful than they were the night before, they leave the bunkhouse and make their way north where they discover a alchemical store room (door marked danger) they find empty and old bottles and jars of alchemical supplies, rendered useless with age. Although Lanvor did find a jar of gold dust.

The barrels in the room were filled with a Substance called "Thermokalite", this is a white power used much like Baking Powder. They all took a jar of this stuff with them and continued North.

Lanvor opened the next door to the East, an Alchemical workroom, stained and blackened by some experiment gone wrong.

On entering the room he is attacked by a giant Alchemical Pudding, realising this is a creature that attacks with acid he pulls out his Thermokalite and uses it as a weapon, but ultimately is rendered unconscious by its attacks.

Oskar and Thradal join the battle with Thermokalite and Oskar lays his hands upon Lanvor to save his life.

Ultimately they kill the creature, but have to vacate the room due to the overpowering stench of the dying thing. Lanvor has run off and filled a further 5 bottles of Thermokalite which he shares with the group.

The group continue to search out the various rooms of the complex, first by entering what looked like a bedchamber, with a bed, a writing desk, and a wardrobe.

On the floor was a burned and bedraggled human skeleton, with it's bony arm reaching inside the wardrobe.

Om searching this room the group find a series of bottles in a small secret casket in the wardrobe and a notebook in a chest under the bed. Talisin took the bottles and Lanvor took the notebook

See: Zoorl's Notebook

There is nothing else to be found here so they move on, eventually looking at the large door on the western corridor, which is slightly ajar. They can see that behind this door many lights can be seen glowing and there, in the air is a definite pressure like that of static electricity.

They decide to move away and search further.,

Moving north they follow the small western passageway which then turns north and they find a great door with no visible means of opening. On the door are 4 square holes and four sets of symbols.

Finding no way to open the door, the group continues North into the caverns, whereupon they are attacked by 6 evil Skeletal warriors. Using axe, sword, webs and spells, they defeat 4 of the creatures and cause 2 more to run away.

Lanvor decides to test his strength against the web and pushes through to the other side, whereupon he is immediately attacked by the remaining two skeletal warriors, who stab him repeatedly while he does some damage to them himself. Thradal burns the web and the rest of the group engage in battle, quickly removing the skeletal threat; Oskar heals Lanvor a bit.

They approach the large cave and feel the true and awesome power of the primordial spring. So much so that Oskar is overcome by the power and might and cannot enter the cave. Lanvor and Thradal are able to enter the cave and they then attempt to manipulate the metal lensing apparatus which is built over the spring.

They are able to do so with a combined effort of strength and find that the apparatus concentrates the might of the spring into two coherent beans of light and power, pointing West from the apparatus. These beams appear to be angled so they rise from the ground and are at about 5 feet high 15 feet from the spring, rising further to hit the back wall of the cave at around 14 feet high.

Oskar tries again to enter the cave but is unable to do so.

Lanvor is injured while trying to place the white stone in the path of a beam.

Then from the cave mouth Oskar reminded the other group members that they have not yet investigated the entire cave system and that there may well be pieces of this puzzle, mentioned in the notebook, that they might need to find.

Agreeing with this the group then head back to the sleeping quarters and take a well-earned rest.

Day 18 - Hachidi

After a good rest the group then head back up to the cave of stalactites and, remembering Thradal's warning about some kind of critters hiding in the roof, they carefully and successfully make their way to the North cave mouth.

Heading further north they start to smell the wet fur smell again and are quickly attacked by two large Albino Apes. They manage to set one on fire, by Thradal throwing a jar of oil and Lanvor igniting it, and eventually kill it, this causes the other Ape to run away.

They pursued the apes, Talisin, hiding behind the flea-ridden bedding of the Apes, scored an expert arrow-shot removing one of the hostiles.

Oskar, chanting to his axe, made it light up with some kind of holy light whist Lanvor and Thradal created fireballs to weaken the enemy.

With an expert crotch attack Oskar eviscerated the ape and it fell to it doom.

They explored further and discovered a pool of clean water with a huge stalagmite rising up from the water. A small door was found on the rear of this, and was quickly jimmied open by Oskar and Talisin. Inside they found the small block shaped keys to Zorrl's locked door.

They opened the vault door with no mishaps and found 50 bars of lead ingots, a chest with treasure and two spell scrolls and most importantly, 2 Limning rods:

Now with all the tools in their possession the group proceeded to the cave of the primordial spring to work out what Zoorl was actually trying to do.

Thradal positioned Zoorl's white rock at the edge of the parapet and all three group members returned to the cavern. Suffering from double exhaustion Talisin retreated to the cave system to rest.

Returning to the Cavern the three remaining members of the group tried various combinations of abilities to perform the ritual, even damaging one of the limning rods in the process; eventually settling on Thradal operating the Iris lever adn supplying the necessary magic power, Oskar holding the rods in the beams of light and Lanvor incanting the spell.

Success! As the primordial forces incorporated themselves into the stone there was a flash of brilliant light and then all went dark. The group were mentally transferred to another time and place and the following vision unfolded:

The group awaken in the cavern much as things were, the light is much reduced from the well and they are all afflicted by a bone-weary exhaustion. They find that all their magical ability has now been blunted.

Walking slowly from the cavern the group find 4 glowing crystals on the parapet where the stone once was.

The group wearily make their way to the the bunk room and spend a restful night before exiting the cave system the next morning.

Day 19 - Kudi

It is a beautiful Autumnal morning as the group survey the surrounding countryside from the said of the mountain. The need to drive North is ever present but they discuss where they shoudl go next.

OSKAR - " I do not know about you fellows but I, for one, could do with a hot bath, a cold ale, and a comfy bed. What say you?"

They see a small group of building 10 miles in the distance on the West side of the Lake, and what looks like a fishing village a 2-day walk on the North side of the lake.

There appears to be a plume of smoke or fog rising thickly and steadily at the very centre of the lake. A magical occurrence or a natural phenomena? This is a question for another time.

The a party make their way down to the standing stone, where they have lunch and decide to head down to the small group of buildings near the waters edge on the West side of the lake.

This turns out to be the township of Smokehold, pretty though it is, something is not right.

Three dead bodies are found in front of the steps leading to the single fishing boat moored there. Their skin has been torn apart and they have all been afflicted by some kind of rot, they are corpulent and rotten. All three have hammers close to their dead cold hands.

There are patches of dried yellow slime and not so dry green slime in the courtyard and on the step. Lanvor sees what effect his fireball spell can do, but apart from drying up the greener slime, it does nothing very much. A detect magic spell gleans no information, although Oskar's Divine senses tell him that there is something evil in the place, but can not tell whatever it may be.

Thradal decides to investigate the bunkhouse at the North side of the courtyard, while Oskar investigates what turns out to be the main smokery/fish preparation building at the south east side. The group realise that this is a smokery for the fisherfolk from the fishing village on the North shore of the lake.

Thradal finds a bunkhouse in good order, and eventually finds a log book and diary detailing catch numbers and how much fish have been sent to 'D' and how much have been sent to 'FR', the diary also includes the following two entries.

These were the last items written in the log.

Oskar finds the smokehouse to be full of rotten odours and stomach churning vapours. There are mounds of rotten fish and fish lying in barrels of brine, btu still affected by a rot which almost overwhelms the sturdy dwarf. Lanvor joins him and is also almost overcome by the stench but is able to withstand the noxious gasses.

There are signs of a struggle on the floor with broken tables and chairs and what looks like slime and dried blood on the floor. This all leads to a rather large barrel which appears to haev been nailed shut with large iron nails and planks of wood. The barrel is covered with slime and black rot. From inside the barrel comes an insistent TAP TAP TAP noise.

Lanvor - "There is something alive in there."

Oskar (Coming close to the barrel) "There is something in there that should not BE"

Lanvor tosses a fireball at the barrel but does the damp and slimy container very little damage.

TAP TAP TAP, continues the noise, TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP…

As darkness is now falling they decide to regroup in the bunkhouse for a meal and some rest. Barricading the bunkhouse door against whatever may (or may not) come in the night.

Apart from some scraping noises from outside the bunkhouse, nothing much happened until Thradal was on watch. At around 03:00 a banging noise could be heard from outside then the howl and moans of some creature. The doors to the bunkhouse were attacked and forced open by two of the dead fishermen, horribly changed and disfigured with tentacles and other horrors.

Oskar started to hack an escape route through the back wall of the bunhouse.

They were eventually driven back by Magic, Arrows and finally Oskar's holy words turning them to flee.

Lanvor's Thunderous clap spell destroys the contents of the room.

Shortly after a much larger, bloated and corpulent creature of the same ilk charged into the bunkhouse, along side it were the two original turned creatures and behind them all, half seen, was a creature of slime and tentacles and teeth and horror.

The three seaweed zombies were eventually destroyed which led the giant tentacled monstrosity to flee to the water. Thradal chasing after cast a blindness and deafness spell upon it, but it submerged before and effect was established.

The group investigated on of the buildings in the township and spent the remainder of the night in a well barricaded cabin.

Come the next morning they take to the remaining fishing boat and started to row around the lake toward the town of FIshers Rest. Lanvor noticed that something seemed to be following them under the water.

The group landed on the North-West corner of the lake and made camp on a very pretty sandy shore.

All was quiet, but it was noticed by the group how amazingly mirror like the lake was, and after watching for some time they noticed an oddity, in that the reflection in the lake seemed to lag behind what was being reflected by a few seconds.

Later, during his watch Lanvor spied some wolves over the bluff, but they did not seem aggressive or willing to approach, further through the night, during Thradal's watch more wolves approached the water but still stayed a fair distance of about 20 feet from the edge.

Thradal noticed that the wolves were acting edgy, as though they were keen to get to the water but frightened to do so. At this point Thradal awoke the rest of the group.

One of the wolves approached closer, and a giant tentacle arose from the depths and grabbed the leading wolf by a hooked claw and started to drag it toward the water.

The wolves went crazy at this and the lead wolf, injured though it was, managed to break free and limped to join it's pack. Th giant tenacle then withdrew back to the murky depths.

Th wolf pack ran as fast as they could, and witnessing all of this the adventurers broke camp, with alacrity, and moved beyond the bluff about a mile inland.

Nothing else occurred that night and after breakfast they decided to leave the boat and walked toward the fishing village

Day 20 - Judi (The Orin day of rest)

Fishers rest

The group approached the fishing village of Fishers Rest to find it both quiet and pleasant. They are first approached by a woman drawing water from the well who introduces herself as Petra Hollis.

She welcomes them to Fishers Rest and suggests that before they go to the inn (The Silver Net) that they introduce themselves to the Alders of the village - Rainier Alder and Mildred Alder.

They do so and are welcomed well.

the Alders ask them to go to the inn for a hearty Judi - day Meal and that they will join with them soon.

After the meal the Alders join them and are saddened to hear of the happenings at Smokehold and the demise of at least three of the villagers.

As they are discussing Mistcutter Island and scream rings out from the village, they exit the inn to discover four giant tentacles arising from the water menacing the villagers, one of which has grabbed one of the villagers.

A rousing battle then ensued, with fireballs, arrows and battle-axes. The tentacles were driven back, and one of which got chopped up by Talisin's trusty steel. He then pinned it to the ground and drew a vial of the purple oily venom that lived in the things suckers. The Effects of the venom as as of yet unknown...

After the battle they retired to The Silver Net for some ale, and had a long discussion with the Alders, who were grateful for the groups help.

During the conversation, the Alders described the effects of the IyeMaj and IyeHum laws on the population of the towns and villages of the Orin, and how relived they were that these laws, especially the IyeMaj law, were being relaxed. Trusting the group further Mildred Alder mentioned that 'Their daughter may finally be able to come home'.

When questioned on this comment she told the group that under the law of IyeMaj any child showing signs of magical ability were taken from their families and killed, if the magic ability did not appear until later childhood or teenage years then many families trained their children to mask their abilities, but if the magic shone through when the child was very small families would send their children away to a hidden gnomish village (itself dangerous because of the law of IyeHum) where the kindly gnomes would keep them as safe as they could.

This hidden pathway had been operating for dozens of years, as children had been born with magic since the great returning (and she alluded to the fact that the magic never fully went away after the great silence.)

Sazzaine Alderdaer, is the Alders' daughter and she has been hidden in the gnomish village for 15 years. The tight-knit villagers are all aware of her existence.

The group agree to investigate the mystery of Mistcutter isle and see if they can remove the present danger and get the three missing fishermen back before it is too late.

Day 21 - Ichidi