The Eye of the Serpent

This continues the tale of half of the Pre-Fosweld party.

The Eye of the Serpent (UK5) by Graeme Morris.

Spoiler Alert! Do not read if you intend to play this adventure.

A note about the four NPCs: they can be found at the back of the module and their characters and abilities developed as the story advanced. A deity for each was chosen based on the descriptions of the colours they were wearing.

Route taken by the party: 1 - R1 - 3 - R2 - 5 - R4 - R5 - 7 - R8 - 10 - 13 - R15 (closed) - R14 - 15 - R12 - 9 - R9 - R7 - 6 - R6 - R4 - 8 - R9 - R10 - 12 - R11 - 18 - 17 - 16 - R16 - 14 - 15 (displaced) - 13 - 14 - R16 - 16 - 17 - 19 - 21 - R21 (closed and swapped with 21) - 20 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 28 - 30 - 31 - 30 - 32 - 33 - 34 - end.

The huge birds deposited the party in a massive nest on a high peak in the mountains. Once the two rocs were satisfied that their captives were secure in the nest, they flew off.

This was when the party realised they were not alone! There were four humans already in the nest - Ovlov, Ollopso, Scobby and Catoink. What now? Here begins The Eye of the Serpent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_the_Serpent).

Chapter 1 (14.04.2024) - Escape from the Nest

25.04.1259: The four NPCs already in the nest were not best pleased at the arrival of the six new people in the nest. After a bit of arguing, during which time Ollopso blamed Catoink for everybody's plight and Scobby complained quite a lot, the party - now ten of them - introduced themselves to each other.

Scobby complained more, Catoink seemed nervous, Ollopso told everyone they were doing everything wrong and Ovlov sneered. However, the whole party started searching the nest to see what they could find and looted it of useful items, as well as the copper sheet that was the note to Ji from Arne.

Xymiton read the note to the others and everybody pondered its meaning. Ollopso told him how he could have read it better. Also during the search of the nest, Scobby put her hand in something disgusting and wanted to wash it off, but Ollopso told her not to waste water and wipe it off on Catoink's cloak.

Catoink didn't like this idea very much, and Pinimpy kindly offered the use of her cloak instead. Both Scobby and Catoink were grateful for this. When Tikarada found and started emptying the sour wine from its skin, Ollopso again told him that was the wrong thing to do, so he kept half of it.

Scobby now complained about a headache and a splinter and wanted some of the healing potion that had been found in the nest, but she wasn't given any. Tunaxicon kept it safe for everyone. Especially himself.

The party begin their escape from the nest.

Retty had taken out his 75' long rope and when they found a ledge that was only 40 feet or so down, he and Pinimpy started lowering everyone down onto it, before the rocs came back. Tikarada went first, then Xymiton, the two dwarves and the four NPCs.

Retty then lowered Pinimpy down and used the rope they found in the backpack to tie securely so he could keep his longer rope. He managed to climb down and the party set off down the steep, rocky, icy path, Pinimpy and Retty at the front.

Shortly after they encountered a pair of hungry wolves who attacked. Retty scored the first hit, Pinimpy missed, and Scobby, who was in the second row, pushed her way between the dwarves who were behind her to get out the way of the fight.

Razadar's mighty blow didn't just finish the wolf, it was sent flying off the mountain. Tunaxicon picked up the other defeated wolf and threw that one after it. Ollopso told him how he could have thrown it better.

Tunaxicon and Scobby had a bit of an argument about Scobby pushing backwards and not fighting, but nothing came of it. The party changed their marching order so that the two dwarves were now in the second row, Scobby and Xymiton in the middle, then Ovlov and Ollopso, with Tikarada and Catoink guarding the rear.

Chapter 2 (15.04.2024) - Plop!

25.04.1259: The party were on the move again after the wolf encounter and soon had to make a choice - follow the snowy, rocky trail or climb down an alarming but not too treacherous series of ledges to the ice lake area below. The party chose to climb down.

Once everybody was safely down, the party continued and were soon set upon by a snow leopard that they had disturbed. Retty scored a hit with his sword and then Razadar finished it off with another almighty blow from his axe.

Ovlov said the pelt was valuable, but Razadar took out his 10 foot pole and prodded the dead cat across the ice until it plopped into the lake. Ovlov was very disappointed at the unnecessary loss of the valuable pelt, but the dwarves giggled and the party continued on nevertheless.

Xymiton attempted to carefully cross the ice using a lot of lengths of rope, but the ice sheet was about a mile wide and the party did not have a mile of rope. After a bit of dithering and confufulation, everybody made it across the icy wasteland by walking carefully.

As they circled clockwise around the ice lake, everyone managed to jump over the stream that led up the valley where the herd of musk oxen live. Pinimpy used a luck point to avoid falling into the icy water. The party did not go further up the valley and continued across the ice sheet at the south end of the lake.

When the lacedon burst through the ice from where it had been hiding, Pinimpy managed to one-shot it with a single decisive hit from her longsword, having avoided a bite with more Luck Points. The party looted the lacedon's gold bracelets and saw a dagger in its jewelled sheath resting at the bottom of the lake in the clear waters below.

There then followed a discussion about how to retrieve the items on the bed of the lake. They were only about five feet down, but somebody would have to dive in. Xymiton tried hooking the dagger out with the crooked end of his staff, but that just caused the scabbard to disintegrate.

Ollopso was all in favour of Catoink jumping in, and Ovlov too. Catoink didn't fancy it much and a few of the others took his side. Eventually Tikarada dived down to retrieve the gems and the dagger. Tunaxicon ended up keeping the dagger and the party were ready to move on again.

Chapter 3 (31.08.2024) - Mirth in the Mist

25.04.1259: Meanwhile, the party making their way down the mountain were on the move again. Eventually climbing down from the ice lake to the geyser lake without exporing the mysteries of the western side, they wondered whether it might be better to cross the ice bridge or remain on the same side of the river.

When they reached the ice bridge, a huge single natural arch of ice, there was some debate about who should cross first. Pinimpy, being the lightest member of the group was suggested, and then Ollopso said that the heaviest should go first, as if the arch withstood their weight everyone else would be fine.

That meant Ovlov would lead. He wanted danger money for this, but eventually accepted an extra day of iron rations as payment, which Tikarada carried. The party had enough rope to rope everyone together for about a quarter of the crossing, which was clearly not enough.

All the same, they roped themselves together and set off in a line, with Retty and Tikarada following the portly cleric and the two dwarves bringing up the rear.

All the same, they roped themselves together and set off in a line, with Retty and Tikarada following the portly cleric and the two dwarves bringing up the rear. When Ovlov was across, but before the others were, an ice troll emerged from beneath and demanded payment for use of the bridge.

A fight started. Ovlov Commanded the ice troll to dive into the river, but it didn't. More started appearing and Retty ran up and disembowelled the second one with a massive critical to the stomach. Tikarada also scored a 20 to hit on flying charging kick, and a third ice troll was badly wounded.

The following round the troll on Ovlov scored a pair of hits and floored him, but the three remaining ice trolls didn't last long. Pinimpy killed one on her own and finished another, Scobby threw a couple of accurate daggers and Tunaxicon's crossbow found its mark as well.

The final ice troll refused to surrender and once it was down and Ovlov was healed, the party searched the disgusting stinky ice troll lair beneath the end of the bridge while Razadar busied himself with throwing the trolls off the side of the mountain. Everone else found a stash of silver pieces in four separate sacks but nothing else. Then they were off once again, with Ovlov mysteriously back to full health.

The group became hesitant when the distant geyser they were approaching first erupted, but gradually they drew closer, noting its further eruptions. A steam mephit was waiting for their arrival and was not best pleased to see the party at all. He hissed and cursed them in the mephit tongue, which nobody understood, then explained about the egg it wanted to destroy, speaking in the NE alignment tongue.

Both Tunaxicon and Ovlov caught a few words of this between them, namely egg, ice, steam and ice cave, and the delaying tactic worked for the mephit. The party backed away about 15 feet before the geyser spouted, but that was nowhere near enough.

How the mephit laughed and laughed as the party writhed in pain and yelled from the scalding waters! Everyone took damage and four members of the party fell unconscious. Retty gave a healing prof to Pinimpy and cast a CLW on Ovlov.

Ovlov was reluctant to use his last CLW on Xymiton or Razadar in case he needed it for himself. Retty pointed out rather sharply that he had used his final healing spell to revive Ovlov, and Ovlov told Retty that he had better hope he didn't receive another injury!

The party hurried off, carrying their two unconscious comrades, until they were out of range of the geyser. Pinimpy carried Xymiton, and Tunaxicon and Catoink carried Razadar between them as the mephit continued to hoot with laughter at their retreat.

After a confufulation of uncertainty, it was decided everyone would go all the way back to the ice troll hovel and sleep there to regain their strength. Scobby didn't want to go because of the horrible smell, but in the end she agreed and said she would do the first watch.

Ovlov finally healed Razadar with his last CLW before going to sleep and charged him for it. Razadar, who was uncomfortable about lying, told the cleric how much gold he had - 29gp. Ovlov demanded 20 gp and the dwarf relectantly handed over the coins.

26.04.1259: In the morning, Retty healed Xymiton. With everybody back on their feet and Scobby complaining about the smell, pimples, and anything else she could think of, the party discussed a plan for how to get past the steam mephit and the scalding water from the geyser. There was quite a bit of confufulation and conversation, and the usual bullying of Catoink from the other three NPCs.

Some of the party wanted to kill the mephit, but Catoink talked them out of it, arguing that the creature would not attack if it was sleeping. As they approached, Ximiton reckoned the geyser erupted about every ten minutes and his Sleep spell would last for five minutes, so everyone would have plenty of time to sneak by.

The mephit pointed and laughed at them again as the party drew close, timing their arrival just after an eruption had finished. Xymiton disguied his spellcasting by pretending to laugh along with the mephit, who suddenly succumbed to the wizard's magic and rolled over to float, comfortably asleep in the hot water.

When everyone was passing by, Xymiton, who wanted to feel the creature's wings, reached out and touched a wing - and was instantly stunned and scalded. Pinimpy grabbed him and started carrying him away. Once Xymiton had recovered from the stun, he asked Pinimpy to put him down.

Xymiton told the others that the creature was wearing a platinum necklace, hard to see against its grey skin unless close up. He and Tikarada decided to go back to loot the creature before it awoke from the Sleep spell.

Tikarada dived into the water, which was like a bath that was a little too hot and a bit uncomfortable, and swam to the bottom, where he found ten small gems, one for each party member. Meanwhile, Xymiton had taken off his cloak and wrapped it around his hand. With a DEX roll of 1 he calmly and coolly lifted the platinum necklace easily off the mephit.

Just as Tikarada surfaced with the gems, the mephit began to awaken from the Sleep spell. Tikarada and Xymiton sprinted back to the rest of the party, who were still waiting for them in the same spot. The monk gave out the gems and the magic user stashed the necklace with the party treasure.

Continuing on down the mountain, the party climbed down by a smaller waterfall where a watery woman emerged from the cascades and invited them to stop and answer a riddle. Xymiton answered the riddle almost immediately and the woman seemed pleased. She dissolved back into the water, allowing the party to continue along their way.

Chapter 4 (02.01.2025) - Bickering and Burning

26.04.1259: Meanwhile, how were the other party shaping up? Well, there was still quite a lot of bickering and arguing going on, and bullying of Catoink, and eventually the marching order was changed to reduce the amount of confufulation.

Ovlov and Ollopso, the main bullies, were at the back, with Scobby and Catoink in the second row, in front of the two dwarves, and with Retty and Tikarada leading. Pinimpy and Xymiton were in the fourth row. The group were approaching a crossroads and some kind of lizard creatures were spotted, lurking in the misty gloom near a big old tree.

Two of the creatures immediately squirted muddy water into the eyes of Retty and Tikarada at the front of the party, blinding them. Ollopso cast Sleep and the whole group fell under his spell. The two dwarves finished the creatures off, either by axe or by stamping. Catoink thought it was grizzly and wondered if Tunaxicon was breaking a law, but Tunaxicon doubted there was any law against stamping on lizard creatures where they were on this mountain.

Ollopso, pleased with his work, told everyone, especially Xymiton, that that was exactly how a Sleep spell should be cast. He also advised Catoink how to walk, and Retty and Tikarada to crawl on their hands and knees and feel their way if they could not see.

As the two of them got down onto all fours, Ovlov insulted Ollopso and told him that he would make anybody do anything if he could. They argued for a while and Ollopso told Xymiton she should check out the lair.

Xymiton crept carefully into the marshes to look at where the creatures, muckdwellers by name, had been lurking by a tree. Just behind it she saw a two foot tall wooden statue of a lizardman. There was also a hole low down in the trunk of the tree and she reluctantly stuck in her hand. Therein she found a few treasures - a bit of money, a broken bracelet, some silver wire which Scobby could use to repair the bracelet, and a mysterious copper sheet, not unlike the one they found in the rocs' nest. This one had a picture of a snake and the name 'Eli Sweetgrass' scratched into it.

A crossroads - but which way to go?

With everyone back on the path again, they decided to continue straight on, the way they were previously heading, at the crossroads where they were now stood. They managed to travel some way in that direction, but found that the path simply fizzled out into the surrounding marshes and there was no way to go on. They turned back to the crossroads and then took the path to the right, watching out for dangers.

After a while the path ended, and so did the marshes. Ahead was an area of grasses, around eight feet tall with thick stems, growing close together. It was no longer marshy here but the way ahead was difficult. They would have to hack their way through the grass, which would be tiring and slow. There were a lot of beetles and mosquitos which made progress more uncomfortable. Scobby didn't like it and Ovlov said that a few more pimples from mosquito bites wouldn't make much difference as she was always complaining about her pimples.

As if that were not enough, before they had gone far through the difficult terrain, a large spider wandered towards the group and fancied an attack. Tikarada punched it, Razadar accidently hit Ollopso with his axe for nine damage and caused him a terrible wound, putting him on the floor, and Tunaxicon's axe finished the spider off. Retty used a Healing Proficiency and then his last Cure Light Wounds on the fallen wizard, who tottered shakily to his feet, on one hit point, explaining how he would have hit him with an axe and how to cast a healing spell more effectively.

A few people wanted to try to milk the spider for its poison, but couldn't decide what to put the liquid in, or if they even had an appropiate container.

Then there was even more debate. At this point, several people wanted to try the final path at the crossroads in case it was easier, but others didn't. After some disagreements and discussions back and forth, the party turned around and headed back to the crossroads. There they walked straight across, in the opposite direction. As Ollopso was not in the best condition, the marching order was changed so that he was in the middle of the party and better protected.

Razadar, unconcerned about the trouble he had already caused, started bothering Scobby by flicking her backside. She turned around and slapped Tunaxicon, who was right behind her, thinking it was he who had done it. The bothersome dwarf chuckled and continued his flickings. Scobby stopped and said she wanted to swap places with him so that he would be in front of her, not behind.

Alerted by the sound of the party's bickerings and squabblings, another large spider attacked the party. Tunaxicon cleaved it in two with one mighty hit.

Continuing on, they found their way blocked again by more of the tall grass, like a corn maze. They decided that hacking their way through was necessary after all.

Tikarada had the idea of using lamp oil to burn the plants away and help clear a path. It would make the cutting easier, everyone would have less to carry and empty flasks would also make a containers for spider poison! Everyone who had lots of lamp oil in their backpacks contributed flasks and several people with blades and axes hacked away at the stalks, making a path as they did so. It was sweaty work but progress was made.

Suddenly somebody noticed one of the dreaded rocs circling high overhead! The party stopped hacking and burning and ran back along the path they had cut to the edge of the grass area, where it met the marshes. There they lay down, making themselves as small and as hard to see as possible, and waited a time. Eventually the roc flew off. Realising they were hungry as well as tired and sweaty from hacking the weeds, they decided to have lunch from their rations. Altogether they had used 30 flasks of lamp oil.

Chapter 5 (06.01.2025) - Ovlov Plans to Get Rich

26.04.1259: The party continued to hack and burn their way through the tall grasses until nobody had more than two flasks of oil left. They felt they should keep that for any challenges that lay ahead. From that point onwards, and with lighter backpacks, they only hacked at the plants, without burning. It was late evening by the time they had hacked their way through to a climb up some ledges, which led to a higher cliff path, where they planned to camp for the night, away from the biting mosquitos.

Just before the climb there was a fight with some giant bats, during which Xymiton walloped one with his staff, twice, killing it, before anybody else had managed to hit. The fighters then finished the rest of them off.

During the climb, Scobby thought she could see, in the distance in the fading light, a small cave. It was a couple of miles further along the mountain path. Everyone agreed they would investigate the next day. They found a place where it seemed reasonable to make camp.

Before they slept, Ovlov gained another 10gp gem for casting his last Cure Light Wounds. Several party members tried to remonstrate with Ovlov, saying that he was not kind to demand payment for healing. Ovlov said that he didn't come adventuring to make friends or be kind to anyone, he came to make some money. If his companions kept injuring themselves, he would make quite a lot.

Retty cast his final Cure Light Wounds as well and thus was the first member of the group to achieve level two, as a cleric.

Tikarada, Pinimpy and Catoink were the watchers. They were not disturbed during the night and everybody set off the next morning after breakfast, towards the cave Scobby had spotted in the distance.

27.04.1259: They marched for a while without any major incidents. They discovered that directly below the ledges up to the path to the cave, there was a pile of small bones. While the party were investigating it, a quartet of bloodhawks flew down from above and attacked! Pinimpy and Catoink defeated one each, with Retty sharing one with Razadar, and Tunaxicon sharing the other with Tikarada.

The pool in the ice cave. Over on the far side of the pool there crouched a winged figure, probably a statue.

Another climb up some ledges lay before the party, before they could access the narrow winding path that led to the cave. It was an easy enough climb. At the entrance to the cave, Scobby lit a lantern and they proceeded forwards, carefully, until the cavern opened out into a wider area, which contained a large, almost circular pool. From within the pool came a faint pulsing blue glow and the sun, shining faintly through the thick ice of the cave, lit the whole place gently with a dim blue light. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Over on the far side of the pool there crouched a winged figure, probably a statue.

As the party reached the pool and started to fan out to see what was making the blue pulses of light, the statue of the strange creature leapt into the air and flew towards them at speed! As it came, it breathed a jet of cold, which froze Retty, Scobby and Xymiton to where they stood. Ollopso tried to hide behind the frozen Xymiton, and Ovlov behind the frozen Scobby, while Razadar and Tikarada each managed to score hits against the flying fiend.

The next round, the creature breathed again, this time freezing Razadar and Pinimpy. With half the party frozen and unable to take any actions, Catoink scored a hit with his longbow, and then Tunaxicon finished their winged assailant off with a critical hit from his crossbow. This was an ice mephit, and an enemy of the steam mephit that the party had encountered a day or two before.

Half of the party were still frozen, so Tikarada dived to the bottom of the pool to investigate the source of the pulsing blue glow. Resting on a collection of gems was a large egg. This was evidently the source of the mysterious light. It felt curiously warm and very smooth. Tikarada took it and swam to the surface with it. The egg's pulsing seemed to grow stronger and brighter when it was out of the water. Ovlov wanted Tikarada to return and fetch up the gems, so the monk swam back. Tunaxicon held the egg just under the surface of the water.

Tikarada swam back up again, with the twenty 10gp blue quartz gems in his hands. When he had climbed out, he lifted the egg out of the water again with Tunaxicon. This was the third or fourth time it had been fully exposed to the air. As everyone was looking at the thing, it started to crack, split open, and a very nasty creature appeared forth from the shell and immediately attacked!

Tikarada and Tunaxicon tried to threaten the freshly hatched creature with the sharp points of their weapons, but the creature fought and bit Tikarada who was trying in vain to hold it still. As it wriggled from the monk's grasp, Catoink shot it with an arrow and Tunaxicon ended the nasty thing with his daggers. Catoink's arrow smouldered briefly, then burst into flames.

It was a baby remorhaz they had defeated. Ollopso told the others what he knew about these creatures. Just then the freeze that had affected half of the party started to wear off. Xymiton was angry with Ollopso for hiding behind him after he had been frozen and there were a few arguments. When everyone had organised themselves once more and had received two of the blue quartz each, they set off, past the pool, to see what was at the back of the cave.

There they found another tunnel sloping slowly upwards. Scobby lit her lantern again and eventually everybody came out of the other end of the cave, onto the snowy plateau by the ice lake, where they had been a day or two before. However, now they were on the other side of the lake. Everyone started making their way back down the mountain once again. It was cold but sunny and the high elevation allowed for a wonderful view.

Whilst following a path along a narrow ledge beside the ice lake, it suddenly tilted violently sideways, dumping several of the party into the freezing cold water. Near where they had plopped into the pool, hiding below the surface was an exiled koalinth, which attacked the people who had fallen in. It had gold-ringed armbands and a fancy spear of bone with mother-of-pearl inlays. It was a foolish move by the koalinth to attack and it didn't last long against Tikarada, Razadar and Retty.

After the fight, the party stopped and built a fire to dry off and warm up, and went through the creature's treasure. Whilst they had their lunch, Xymiton tried on the armbands, which were Bracers of Defense AC 8. Razadar put on the ring, which was a Ring of Warmth. Tikarada liked the spear of bone and mother of pearl, which turned out to be a +1 Spear. Scobby took the snake amulet, having said that she could fashion a necklace for it from the silver wire they had found the previous day in the tree by the muckdwellers. Xymiton, Razadar, Tikarada and Tunaxicon (as a thief) all levelled up from their recent battles and treasures.

Lunch completed, bodies warmed and clothes dried, they continued down the path, down past the waterfall, and after some time, down past where they had climbed up into the tunnel that led to the cave with the lake. They climbed down further, to where they had fought the bloodhawks, and then marched onwards, past the climb down into the thick grass where they had burned and hacked their own path the day before.

That was when a pair of wolves charged at the party along the path. Tikarada, who was at the front, set his new spear to recieve the charge and one of the wolves impaled itself. The other was hit first by Retty, then by Razadar, who amused himself by tidying up, flinging the two dead bodies off the path down somewhere into the thick grass far below.

A mile or so further along and the party came to a narrow gorge which was littered with many bones. Among them were human, dwarf and elven remains. This seemed suspicious so everybody stopped to see what there was. Scobby noticed a gemstone peeping out from below a skull. Then, blam! Suddenly a gambado jumped (the Bwabber jumped too!) out of its hole some way off, sailed several yards through the air and attacked Retty, knocking him down. The horrid thing took a few hits, including a Magic Missile from Xymiton, but it was vanquished eventually.

During the fight, Retty was injured and fell unconscious. Ovlov pulled him out of the combat and tried a Healing Proficiency, but that failed. Ollopso told him how he could do it better and Ovlov, displeased at his tall companion's remarks, sneered "Shut up, wizard!"

Next, Ovlov cast a Cure Light Wounds on Retty. When he regained consciousness, his first sight was of the fat cleric leaning over him, his face inches away from Retty's, and poor Retty suffered the full force of Ovlov's horrible breath. Looking pleased with himself, Ovlov snarled "I've just healed you. How much are you going to pay me?"

Retty was not best pleased, but reluctantly gave him a 10gp gem nonetheless, one of his blue quartz. Ovlov seemed satisfied. Nobody noticed that during the fight Ovlov had sneaked the gem Scobby discovered on the ground among the bones into his pocket.

Scobby and Xymiton went to search the hole that the gambado had leapt from and found a bit of treasure, which they added to the party's stash. Everybody continued on past the bones and found that the path led to a climb down into some woodlands below. It was a fairly easy climb and nothing bad happened to anybody.

After just a couple of minutes in the woodland, a slightly wounded deer fled past, stopping briefly as it came upon the party, then bounded off into the forest again. Somewhere nearby a horn sounded and then a pack of dogs with three hobgoblins appeared. For a moment both groups hesitated, surprised to have encountered each other, then the party challenged the hunting hobgoblins and their dogs attacked.

The battle ended very quickly! After Razadar, Tikarada and Tunaxicon felled one of the hounds each, Ollopso cast a Sleep spell and all of the rest of the enemies were affected and fell into a slumber! Tunaxicon went around slitting the throats of all of the slumbering enemies, and then the party searched the bodies. Ollopso again bragged about how good his Sleep spell was as the party continued through the conifers and hardwoods, keeping the cliff face they had descended to their right.

Making their way between the trees, they eventually came to a pond, which was fed by a small waterfall from the cliff above. As they were passing around it, a pair of giant frogs leapt towards them. Pinimpy and Catoink defeated one, while Razadar annihilated the other with a massive blow from his axe. There was no treasure to be found, but from where they stood it seemed there was a tower on a peak of the mountain ridge a few miles away to the east. The party decided to head for that.

The next hazard the group faced was a river that needed to be crossed. Tikarada went across first, taking a rope to help the others across. Everybody made it without too much trouble and Razadar brought the other end of the rope with him.

It was starting to get late. As they made their way eastwards towards the setting sun, they came to the foot of the steep mountain ridge and found some steps cut into the rock. It was clearly dwarven workmanship. The first fifty or so steps led up to a tunnel, which looked as if it led up to the tower they had seen from far off. There were many more steps in the tunnel and it was a tiring climb, but they reached the top and found themselves on a high, bare windy platform. The low red setting sun was ahead to the east and to the left stood a pair of double doors at the base of the tower, which, like the stairs and the tunnel, was cut into the rock of the mountain.

That was not all they found. There were some territorial crows watching the party as they appeared from the stairs. Once a few of them had arrived, several of the crows swooped down for an attack. Most of them were quickly killed in melee, so the others left the party alone. This is the scene you can see on the front cover of the module.

The party prepare to enter the tower.

Although the double doors to the tower were not trapped, they were locked and Scobby picked the lock. Tunaxicon started ordering everyone about, saying that he was the only one who could get them to Fosweld as he was the only one with Direction Sense, but most of the others refused to jump at the commands of the bossy dwarf. Ollopso was particularly sceptical, arguing that east didn't really count as very specific directions.

The doors were opened and a dust cloud billowed upwards to obscure everyone's view. After a few moments, the dust settled somewhat and everyone could see that there was a thick layer of the dust which covered everything in the room. It seemed that nobody had been in here for years. There were five dust-covered boxes and a dwarven skeleton slumped over one of them. Tunaxicon ordered Catoink into the room...

Chapter 6 (07.01.2025) - In the Abandoned Dwarf Tower

27.04.1259: Catoink refused to enter the room, asking why the thieves could not go in first, as was normal. There was quite a lot of arguing, mostly between Tunaxicon, who was trying to boss everyone around, and a number of the others, such as Catoink, Ollopso, Ovlov, Xymiton and Scobby, who all had different points to make. Tunaxicon believed it was obviously dangerous in the room with the skeleton there, so Catoink should go first as nobody cared about him and it didn't matter what happened to him. Xymiton said that wasn't true, and he at least cared what happened to Catoink.

Scobby grew bored of the arguments and left everyone to it. She started to explore the room, following the wall around to her left, and then most of the others followed her closely. Not Ollopso though, who went the other way to prod the skeleton of the dwarf with the end of his staff. There seemed to be a pair of daggers buried between its ribs.

The room seemed to be fairly safe, if rather dusty. Tunaxicon ordered a few people to check out the five wooden boxes "...at once!", which all turned out to be empty. Then there were even more arguments - again, between Tunaxicon and several of the others. Ollopso told him he was doing it all wrong, Xymiton told him not to be so nasty, especially to Catoink, and Ovlov told him he was just wasting time they could be using to make money. Ovlov was accused of being greedy and he smiled and said in an oily voice, "Yes."

In a protest against the others for not jumping at once to follow his orders, Tunaxicon took a dump into one of the boxes in front of the whole party, making the room stink and causing shock and outrage among most of the others. This earned Tunaxicon an alignment point breach as it was too chaotic an act for a lawful character. Ollopso asked if Tunaxicon had just broken a law, but Tunaxicon doubted there was any such law against doing a number two in a wooden box in this place.

Everyone started to search the floor under the dust. It was quite a messy business, and Tikarada found a square crack in the floor that could be a trapdoor. Searching the walls as well, Tunaxicon found a small secret compartment, about a foot square. He felt suitably smug for being the one who found it.

Checking for traps, the thieves were rather suspicous of the square crack in the floor and the square crack directly above it on the wall, at about eye level for a dwarf. Nobody was able to find or disarm any trap - the only thief who could see the secret door was Tunaxicon. Some discussion followed as to the best way forward. Eventually, Razadar, by far the strongest member of the group, managed to hold Tunaxicon at arm's length for long enough for him to open the compartment.

It was a good job for the party that they had been so cautious. As Tunaxicon opened the secret compartment, the trapdoor over which Razadar was holding him opened as well! At the bottom of the pit that had opened up was the remains of another dwarven skeleton. In the secret compartment that Tunaxicon had opened was a box, which almost reached the top. The compartment was surprisingly deep.

Xymiton's staff had something like a shepherd's crook at one end, and using this he was able to hook the top of the box and slide it out some way. Retty was then able to reach up and grab the end of the box as it protruded from the hole, and slide it the rest of the way out. He put it down on the floor, carefully.

Next, Tikarada and Pinimpy climbed down into the pit to see what they could find down there. The skeleton was wearing leather armor and had a shortsword in a manky old scabbard. There were various picks and tools scattered around as well, and these were gathered up and put into a pouch containing others that they found among the bones. The dead dwarf's other pouch was taken too.

The long box was not locked and inside the party found a beautiful tapestry wrapped around a valuable silver mirror. The tapestry depicted the mountain they were on and stream which flowed to the island that looked like a serpent's eye. Scobby thought it might be worth 500gp, but it was very cumbersome. Ovlov wanted to take the tapestry and was willing to carry it, so Ollopso helped him.

However, they didn't carry it very far as the other door, when it was unlocked, led to some stone steps that spiralled upwards. It seemed that it would be easier to leave the thing down here - for now at least. Tunaxicon wanted to rest and Ovlov suggested checking the top of the tower first and perhaps sleeping up there. Most of the others agreed that they should make sure the tower was secure.

However, Tunaxicon refused to try to open the door. He wanted to rest and made a big show of lying down in the dust and pretending to go to sleep. The others ignored him. Once Scobby had the door open, they started up the stairs, Razadar at the back of the group carrying Tunaxicon, who was still pretending to be asleep.

When the party arrived at the top of the stairs, they found another door. This one was not locked, but it was stuck. Tikarada was at the front and he tried to kung fu punch it open, but failed. They were going to summon Razadar, but Retty, who was also at the front, managed to open the door quite easily.

Ahead of them was a ruined lookout room atop the tower. There were remains of a few bits of broken furniture, holes where the windows would have once been, and more crows which tried to attack. The party were aware of the crows' tendency to peck the eyes out, but they never had a chance. Retty slashed one with his longsword, Scobby another with her shortsword and dagger, and Pinimpy the last one with her longsword.

The room was secure. Tunaxicon had 'woken up' by now and then the night's watches were agreed. Tunaxicon said he didn't want the spellcasters to be watching, which seemed reasonable, especially to the spellcasters. Scobby refused to watch and complained about her assortment of ailments, so Catoink, Tikarada and Pinimpy would be the watchers.

Pinimpy couldn't sleep and she stayed awake with Catoink at the top of the tower.

Several of the group were still injured. Retty used his last two Cure Light Wounds spells, but still needed one himself, which Ovlov had. Being Ovlov, he was simply not prepared to cast it unless he recieved some sort of satisfactory payment. There was then a lot of arguing between Ovlov, Retty, Tunaxicon, Ollopso and several others. When Tunaxicon argued that Retty should be healed for the sake of the whole party, Ovlov accused Tunaxicon of being a "half orc lover", which seemed to Ovlov a very strange position to take for a dwarf.

Finally the argument was resolved by Tunaxicon giving Ovlov one of his 10gp blue quartz gems. It was for the good of the party after all. With a grim satisfaction, Ovlov gave Retty his final Cure Light Wounds, for eight points of healing, and everyone settled down to sleep.

Not Pinimpy though. She was too troubled to sleep and told Catoink, the first watch, that her father had died and her mother was having all sorts of troubles as well. Catoink listened patiently and eventually they got what rest they could.

Chapter 7 (17.01.2025) - Razadar Falls In (A Few Times)

28.04.1259: The 29th session of play on the way to Fosweld began with the party waking on a rather chilly and clear morning in the lookout tower. Nothing had disturbed them during the night and they had all had to cuddle up all together to keep warm.

Pinimpy was curious if Catoink had ever been married and wanted to know if he liked cake, because if they were married, Pinimpy would make a lot of it for him! Catoink was very pleased, and flattered.

Looking out from the tower the party could see the weed lake and its island some way away, as well as a lot of the lands before them. Although the two dwarves were up for some difficult and dangerous mountaineering and Xymiton wanted to just head on down the mountain, the rest of the party were in favour of investigating the island first.

The majority prevailed and everyone descended the other stone steps through the tunnel, similar to the entrance they had used to reach the lookout tower. Tikarada almost tripped and fell, but in the end everyone reached the tall grasses below in safety.

These grasses were not as thick as the ones the party had previously encountered. Tunaxicon again organised the party and they picked their way between the stalks, almost in single file, eventually arriving at the plank bridge that led to the island on the weed lake.

Tunaxicon wanted everyone to walk across like soldiers, but that was never going to happen. He and Razadar led the group in single file across the bridge with an exaggerated walk like a Mortimer Mouse cartoon. Tunaxicon's foot stamped right through a rotten plank. He could not move, nor could he escape easily.

Razadar assessed the situation and reached for his battleaxe. His first strike narrowly avoided causing a severe wound to Tunaxicon's trapped leg. With his second strike however, Razadar managed to chop him free with a highly precise cut from his battleaxe. Tunaxicon didn't even lose his shoe.

As Tunaxicon led everybody forwards, taking more care to avoid further rotten plank incidents, the rest of the party looked up. There on the battlements of the old run-down building on the small island marched a strange figure - a rather creepy and frightening figure to behold! Everyone had to make a saving throw versus spell and several people failed.

Pinimpy, Catoink, Retty and Xymiton all fled into the grasses. Ovlov tried to flee but slipped and plopped into the water. With his heavy gear and lack of ability to swim, he started to sink and drown. Razadar also tried to flee. He managed to avoid Scobby, almost pushing her into the weed lake as he barged past, but tripped over Ollopso and fell in. Razadar was wearing some heavy gear as well, but his swimming non-weapon proficiency allowed him to grab the side of the bridge.

Meanwhile, the four who had fled into the stalks came face to face with four giant ants. A fight began, breaking the Fear. Xymiton cast Enlarge Reversed on one of the ants, which reduced the amount of damage it would do on a hit. A few of the group were wounded. Retty had managed to pull one of the ants from Pinimpy onto himself, and once he had defeated this one, he gave Xymiton a Cure Light Wounds. The quartet prevailed and the giant ants were defeated, with everyone sharing the experience of the battle, which lasted six rounds. After voicing a certain unwillingness to do so, they began to make their way back to the others on the bridge.

Whilst that was happening, Tikarada had seen Ovlov sink and dived into the water after him, following the bubbles. With his swimming proficiency, Tikarada was able to bring the fat curmudgeonly cleric to the surface, where he spluttered and thrashed in panic, claiming that he couldn't swim. Tikarada told him it was going to be ok and calmed him down. Ovlov held on to the side like Razadar and calmed down a little.

"Don't just stand there gawking, help me to climb out!" Ovlov gasped, but Tunaxicon refused and said that he seemed to be doing just fine, then turned away so the others couldn't see him laughing. Tikarada did a cool kung fu somersault from the water up onto the bridge and began to help. Scobby, complaining about a tummy ache, and Ollopso, started helping Ovlov onto the planking as well.

Eventually Ovlov lay on the bridge, exhausted and soaked, his panic draining away and being replaced by relief, and feeling rather grumpy. Tunaxicon went over and put his hands on Ovlov's chest, allegedly to help drain the water from his lungs, but Ovlov didn't like this and found it weird. He used his Command spell to make Tunaxicon dive into the lake and laughed as the dwarf jumped in. Razadar was able to grab Tunaxicon and haul him to the surface.

While Ollopso told everyone how to pull the dwarves out of the water, and Tunaxicon shouted "Shut up, wizard!" at him, Razadar squirted a mouthful of the water at Ollopso, but it wasn't a great shot and only made his shoes a bit wet. Scobby complained that she was wet as well after she had helped the ones who had fallen in. Tunaxicon took the mickey out of her, calling her 'whiney'.

It was about at this time that the four who had fled into the tall grasses reluctantly returned, having been happy to have escaped the "annoying dwarf" and the "irritating cleric" for a while. They arrived to find Tunaxicon threatening Ovlov with his axe and hammer crossed before him.

That was when Tunaxicon noticed something moving against his leg. Tunaxicon found a fish, still alive and flapping, in his pocket! He took it out and told Scobby to kill it and make it into their lunch, so she took the fish from him and tossed it back into the water. At first Tunaxicon was angry, and Scobby told him that he would have to jump into the lake and fish it up again if he wanted it so badly. Ollopso pointed out that one fish wouldn't make a very good meal for ten people and things moved on.

The party seemed as if they wanted to split into two factions - Tunaxicon, Razadar, Ovlov and Ollopso, with Tikarada as well, who felt it was unfair to have a group of six and a group of four, and the other half being Scobby, Ximiton, Pinimpy, Retty and Catoink. During their exchanges, Pinimpy (who Ovlov called 'Pimpley') admitted she hated that name and also being called 'Lip'.

It was Scobby who suggested that the entire party should stay together to have the best chance of reaching civilisation, and then they could all go whichever separate ways they wanted to and need not see each other ever again. Everybody reluctantly agreed.

With the bridge finally crossed, the group found themselves in the garrison courtyard on the small island. The gates had fallen off their hinges, but somebody must still be there as a pair of fresh scaly pelts hung from a hook by the door to the building at the top of some stairs. Muckdweller pelts, the party later discovered.

Nobody noticed the pit trap in front of the stairs despite Tunaxicon's search. Razadar and Tunaxicon were at the front and both fell in. They were helped out by Tikarada.

Everyone decided to cross the pit at the corners onto the stairs. Nearly everybody managed just fine, but Ovlov somehow fell in. Razadar also fell in, again, landing on the cleric and only taking a point of damage. Ovlov gave himself a Healing Proficiency and Razadar refused his expensive Cure Light Wounds spell.

Tunaxicon then did something rather cunning. He offered to haul Razadar out of the pit for nothing, but said he would only pull Ovlov up for 10 gp. Ovlov was annoyed, but finally agreed as this seemed to make some sort of sense to him. Tunaxicon told him it was only fair as that was how Ovlov had been operating, after all. Ovlov was the heaviest member of the group and too heavy for Tunaxicon to haul up on his own, so Razadar helped and Ovlov grumpily gave Tunaxicon one of his blue quartz stones.

Everybody was crowded onto the stairs beyond the pit by now. Tunaxicon ordered Scobby and Tikarada to check for traps, which they did. Tikarada thought there was something highly suspicious about the door but was unable to determine what it was. He was fairly sure it wasn't an illusion.

Ovlov suggested that Catoink should open the door if it was dangerous. Everyone stood back to let the fighter open the door, but he couldn't because it was locked. As Scobby picked the lock, the four at the back teetered on the edge, holding hands for support, and Razadar fell in - again! As he started to fall, Ovlov and Ollopso let go of his hands, so they didn't fall in with him.

It is not often that somebody falls into the same pit three times in just a few minutes, but Razadar had managed it. He refused Ovlov's offer of healing again, and Catoink opened the door. The moment he did, a heavy crossbow, which was primed inside the hall beyond, shot its bolt and hit Catoink in the shoulder. Retty tried a Healing Proficiency, but failed, so used a Cure Light Wounds.

Tikarada and Scobby look at the ladder in the corner of the room full of dried fish, while Tunaxicon stands in the doorway. Note that the tracing paper map at the bottom of the picture should be turned 90 degrees clockwise to have the same orientation as the floorplans.

Tunaxicon set about removing the heavy crossbow from the floor. He wanted to keep it for himself. The rest of the party spilled into the hall. Razadar was hauled out of the pit once more and Tunaxicon told Scobby and Tikarada to check the first door in the corridor "... at once!". Scobby didn't find anything noteworthy but Tikarada said there was a fishy smell coming through the keyhole.

As soon as the door was opened, a strong smell of fish wafted over the entire group. In the room beyond were racks and racks of dried fish! Tunaxicon ordered Scobby and Tikarada into the room to check for traps "...at once!"

Scobby asked Tunaxicon why he didn't want to do it as she thought he was a rogue as well, but his answer was rather vague and enigmatic. Scobby shrugged and entered the fishy room with Tikarada.

In one corner there was a ladder. Tikarada was quite suspicious of it but it seemed safe enough. He climbed up to a trapdoor in the ceiling and opened it just a crack and saw a pair of grey feet walk past. Tikarada kept as still and as quiet as he possibly could...

Chapter 8 (13.02.2025) - Razadar Falls Again, but Only Once (The Other Time He Jumped)

28.04.1259: When Tikarada thought it was safe to do so, he closed the trap door as quietly as possible and climbed back down the ladder. Scobby had found a locker on the bottom shelf of dried fish and between them they opened it. Inside were some crossbows and bolts. Scobby suggested that Tunaxicon looked at them "at once", and he did.

Whilst the surly young dwarf was investigating the crossbows and bolts, Tikarada started searching the actual fish, and counting them. There turned out to be 1863 in the end. Tikarada was quite stinky.

Whilst this was ongoing, the rest of party entered the room. A few people went up the ladder and opened the trapdoor a crack and also saw the grey feet walking past, but nobody actually did anything. There was an argument back by the stairs between Ovlov, and Razadar and Retty, and eventually the fat cleric was allowed entry and everyone was in the room.

Scobby started complaining about the smell and said she didn't want to stink of fish. She swapped places with Pinimpy, who had been outside the room guarding the corridor, in case anyone came. Scobby hid in the shadows at the far end of the corridor to continue guarding.

Ollopso suggested that a dwarf should go up the ladder as Tikarada believed the grey feet to be dwarven. Razadar took the task upon himself, climbed up, opened the trapdoor and said "Hello!" He immediately saw that it was the phantom that had scared the party earlier and made several of them run away in terror. Razadar was scared again, so he leapt off the ladder into the party at the bottom.

Fortunately for him, Tikarada managed to grab him, and Catoink as well. Tikarada surprisingly managed to win a contested STR roll against Razadar, so the dwarf was held fast with Catoink's help and eventually calmed.

Razadar decided to go up again. He decided that this time he should be blindfolded, so he wouldn't see anything that made him scared, and use his Blind Fighting non-weapon proficiency to defeat the being that was causing everybody to be afraid.

This plan of Razadar's seemed to work very well indeed! He climbed back up, blindfolded, and once he was up on the battlemented roof, he began flailing and thrashing about with his axe in one hand and shield in the other. Unknown to him as he could not see, he hit the phantom and dispersed it. He carried on trying to blindfight until eventually he found the open trapdoor with a foot. He fell, again, quite heavily, and sustained another six points of damage.

Nobody was sure exactly what had happened on the roof. Eventually Ovlov grew impatient with everyone's discussions and stamped up the ladder to see what was going on. Of course, with the phantom dispersed, there was nobody up there. He accused everyone of inventing a story about a phantom as there was nothing unusual to be seen, and told the others to come up. As they hesitated, he stamped back down the ladder once again.

Everybody else climbed up the ladder to see what was up there, even Scobby who had been still hiding in shadows in the corridor. Somebody noticed that there was an old abandoned wagon with two wheels sticking into the water, leaning over like a troubled ship, with the front out of sight in the grasses at the edge of the shore some way away. Somebody wanted Ovlov to look at it as well, and he stamped angrily up the ladder, saw the wagon and stamped back down again.

Once he was down, Ovlov took the ladder away and demanded 10 GP to bring it back. Retty let Razadar down on his rope and Razadar, exasperated, exclaimed to Ovlov "Why do you have to be so unhelpful!" Ovlov could see that his latest plan to extract money from his companions was not going to work, so he begrudgingly returned the ladder and everyone climbed down. There was a little more confufulation and then it was time to try the other door.

Once the lock was picked and the door opened, the party could see some stairs leading down to another door on the right. Nobody found any traps and the door, which was not locked, was opened.

Inside the room beyond were many wooden statues of various creatures and a rowboat, which was parked in a small watery alcove that led to the outside. The party were curious about the statues, which were rather wonderfully crafted, and entered to look around. Pinimpy, who was standing over by the boat, noticed something moving in the water underneath it. At first she was momentarily afraid, and then a lizardman whooshed up to the surface and jumped onto the landing by the rowboat.

"They agreed to fetch it for him and set off."

As nobody was trying to harm him, or any of the statues he had created, and Pinimpy even complimented him on his craftsmanship, the lizardman seemed to relax a little. He even offered the party a gem if they could return his missing statue. After conferring for a few moments, the party remembered seeing such a thing - by the muckdwellers! They agreed to fetch it for him and set off.

Everybody managed to cross the pit in the courtyard at the bottom of the stairs without falling in. Pinimpy and Retty helped everyone across with a rope. Even the clumsy Razadar managed it. Pinimpy levelled up to level 2 from her successful negotiations with the lizardman. Setting off along the shore towards where they had defeated the muckdwellers and towards the old wagon, the group were set upon by a pair of giant killer frogs.

During the fight the party managed to roll a surprisingly large amount of natural 2s, but eventually the battle was won and the party were able to continue along the shore towards the old wagon, and from whence onwards, to where they had fought the muckdwellers.

Chapter 9 (10.03.2025) - Snake Surprise

28.04.1259: Soon the party were close enough to the wagon to see that it was in very poor condition. Much of the wood was rotting. The wheels hadn't just sunk into the mud, they had collapsed completely. On the bed of the wagon lay on old wooden chest and a few sacks. Pinimpy climbed up and asked Scobby to join her and she did so, although the rogue was not too keen on the idea.

Scobby took a look at the lock and could see that it was rusted solid. There was no way of opening that, not without breaking it completely. Pinimpy lifted the chest and discovered that the bottom had rotted. The chest's contents spilled out everywhere, along with five snake eggs and the mother, who was not best pleased at having her home disturbed. She snapped at Pinimpy and missed.

Pinimpy was shocked to see a snake and instinctively threw the top part of the chest behind her before taking out her sword. The snake was large, but was unable to bite either of the adventurers who had upset the its home. Instead, Pinimpy scored a hit with her longsword and then Scobby fumbled, stabbing Pinimpy with her shortsword for six points of damage. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" she said.

Fortunately her other attack was much better directed and she stabbed the snake a mighty blow. The snake retaliated by biting Scobby back and injecting her with poison, which did extra damage but nothing else. All the same, Scobby collapsed in a heap. Pinimpy slashed at the snake again and her sword sliced it clean in two. The threat vanquished, she immediately bound Scobby's wounds.

While this fight was going on, a few people had started arguing, mostly with Ovlov. Ovlov wanted to know what had been in the chest before Pinimpy had flung all of the top part of it away in alarm. Retty gave Scobby a Healing Profiency, which seemed to stabilise her, but she was still unconscious. Ovlov was told by Retty that he had to heal Scobby and Ovlov wanted to know how much it was worth. This angered a few members of the party and there were more arguments, mostly about money and carpets.

When Tunaxicon and Ovlov got into a shoving match, Razadar stepped between them and put a hand on each of their tummies, stopping it. "Eugh, get off me! What is it with dwarves wanting to touch me all of a sudden?!" exclaimed Ovlov.

Ovlov agreed to heal Scobby once Retty had suggested that Scobby could pay for the healing herself. He slapped a Cure Light Wounds on her and it was a good one. Scobby was now at full health again and slowly got to her feet, complaining about being bitten by the snake.

Ovlov started demanding payment and Retty grabbed him from behind and pulled him away so he was out of range of Scobby. Scobby was going to give Ovlov a gem, but the others told her not to. The arguments continued, even when Ovlov reminded everyone that they were wasting time and there was money to be looted from the wagon. Most people were more interested in the snake eggs and carefully wrapped them up to keep them warm before turning to the treasure.

Tunaxicon had climbed onto the wagon as he was not interested in trying to keep a snake egg. The party's slow return to the treasure enabled Tunaxicon to stash away some coins for himself when nobody was looking. Unfortunately, the second time he tried to do it, he accidentally spilled them all back into the heap from his hand. Xymiton saw what he was doing and the rest of the treasure was added to the treasure list, to be shared between the whole party.

Also among the goodies was a small rotten bag containing four rings. Three of them were silver and Scobby appraised their value, but the fourth was gold and she suspected far more valuable than the others. Tunaxicon had put it on and tried a few things like becoming invisible, flying (Ollopso told him how to do it better and Tunaxicon yelled "Shut up, wizard!"), and other such things, but all he succeeded in doing was a belly flop into the mud at the back of the wagon which made everyone laugh. The dwarf was rather plastered in mud and Ovlov again reminded everyone that they were wasting time. At last all of the treasures from the chest had been stored away safely.

Making their way through the grasses to the marshes, the grasses became very thick once more. It took about an hour and a half of cutting, but finally the party reached the edge of the marshes and found the path that led to the crossroads where they had fought the muckdwellers. Just as they arrived, they saw that a pack of wolves were eating the dead muckdwellers. It was quite a grizzly scene. When the party arrived, the wolves were already looking up. Fresh meat would be much tastier!

Chapter 10 (11.03.2025) - The Joy of Swilbosh

28.04.1259: This session of play was notable for a proliferation of N20s, all of them from the party.

The fight with the wolves began "at once!" with Tunaxicon and Catoink at the front of the party. They had both been chopping the long grasses, which had allowed them to reach this place again without a very, very long walk. Catoink scored a N20 and splatted a wolf in the first round.

Several others came to join the fight and it was quickly over. During the combat, Tunaxicon came to realise that the ring he was wearing was probably +1 Protection. He said nothing to the others and kept the ring on his finger.

The battle done, there behind the tree was the statue, exactly where they had last seen it. Tunaxicon carried it, because various of the other characters had their hands busy carrying the delicate snake eggs, and keeping them warm too.

As they made their way back through the long grasses towards the home of Swilbosh the Lizardman, the party were set upon by a small flock of bloodhawks. There were six of them and several characters were attacked from the air as they swooped down. Pinimpy was wounded and fell. Xymiton ran away to avoid damaging his delicate egg when neither Ollopso not Ovlov would take it from him.

Tikarada scored a massive open-hand hit that stunned one of the birds. Scobby and Razadar both rolled N20s and destroyed theirs in clouds of feathers. Despite the party taking some damage at the start of the fight, the birds were unable to attack again as the party won initiative and finished off the remainder. Even Ollopso managed to smack one with his staff at one point.

"Heal her!" demanded Retty of Ovlov, indicating the fallen Pinimpy. Catoink had already bound her wounds once he had dealt with his bloodhawk. When Ovlov wanted to know what he would be paid, he was told that Pinimpy would pay him. Ovlov complained that had happened last time and he still hadn't been paid.

Instead, Scobby had an idea. "I'll pay for you to heal her," she said and gave Ovlov a 10gp gem.

Ovlov was surprised and pleased and attempted a Healing Proficiency, which didn't work. He gave her a Cure Light Wounds for 8 hit points and she hauled herself to her feet. "You owe her money," growled Ovlov at Pinimpy, indicating Scobby.

Pinimpy was confused, but a couple of the others had noticed Scobby picking Ovlov's pocket while he was busy tending to Pinimpy's wounds. He hadn't noticed. When Pinimpy asked Scobby as an aside what that was all about, she said not to worry about it with a wink. Pinimpy understood. Nobody said anything to the miserly cleric and the party continued on.

It was just after sunset when the party arrived back at Swilbosh's place. Everyone managed to cross the pit, even Razadar, and Tunaxicon knocked on the door to the room of statues. He held up the missing wooden statue that Swilbosh had lost in front of himself.

When Swilbosh answered the door he saw it straight away. Swilbosh was delighted! He gave the party an emerald worth 1000gp, made them all supper of dried fish with fish paste, and invited the party to stay the night. The party were very glad to accept his invitation.

Scobby, Ovlov and Tunaxicon all levelled up, Tunaxicon in both of his classes. The party were glad to have a roof over their heads and slept peacefully without a watch.

29.04.1259: Swilbosh had already gone fishing by the time the party awoke the next morning. Loudly thanking Swilbosh again for his hospitality, in case he could hear, the party left. They traveleld all the way back the way they had come. Up the mountain stairs in the tunnel to the dwarven observation platform where they had spent the previous night. Then down more stairs in the long dwarven tunnel from the other side of the platform. They were back in the forest and had already formed a plan of where to go next.

Returning to the river and following it downstream seemed like a good idea. Everyone marched through the forest, until suddenly they were surprised by a needleman. He either ignored the party's greetings, or failed to understand them.

The needleman attacked Tunaxicon with a spray of pine needles, against which the dwarf saved, and a swiping hand. Tunaxicon fought back and failed to connect, but Razadar stepped forward and hit with a massive chop of his axe. The wounded needleman decided to retreat as fast as possible. He seemed to merge into the trees as he quickly slipped away. The party didn't shoot or persue him as he scarpered.

Everybody regrouped and made their way along the border of where the tall grasses turned to forest. By and by the sound of moving water reached their ears. Just ahead was the river and when they reached it, they saw a little way off there was an old rope bridge. It had ivy growing on it in places. Perhaps it would allow the party to cross.

Being the heaviest, Ovlov was selected to go first, but he was suspicious and flat refused. "I'll go second," he growled.

Razadar decided that he would go first. He uncoiled a rope as he went and crossed safely. So did Ovlov, holding the rope.

In the end the bridge proved to be perfectly usable. Everyone made it across safely. In the trees a short way from the other end of the bridge they saw a ramshackle shelter, which was leaning against a gnarly old oak.

As they approached the construction, a rather large, bizarre, angry bush writhed into action. It struck several members of the party with brambles it unfurled. The ones who were struck were held fast and had to sever the tendrils before they could attack the main body of the vicious plant.

Pinimpy was not one of them however, and she scored a massive critical which shredded the bush into matchsticks. It was her new hardest kill and she had made it seem so easy!

With the horrible bloodthorn bush defeated, they decided to check out the shelter. There was not much to see inside apart from a bed of pine needles. Tikarada thought the shelter might belong to the needleman. Pinimpy suggested that the bed of pine needles might actually be the needleman!

To make sure it wasn't, she poked it. First with a stick that lay nearby, then with her finger. Nothing happened, so she sat at the foot of the bed and felt a prickly sensation from the needles. Then she searched the whole of the bed and found at the head end a hard object under the needles. Pulling it out, she saw she was holding a beautiful golden rod with a silver snake entwined around it. The snake had rubies for eyes.

Pinipy started to say all the words she could think of that began with a C, K or Q. Ollopso wondered what she was doing so she said that she thought it might be a wand and was hoping to find the command word. She carried on saying such words, until Ovlov complained that they were wasting time they could be using to make money. When somebody told him that he was greedy for only thinking of money all the time, he said that he might start fining people for being rude to him.

Pinimpy passed the serpent rod to Scobby who thought it might be worth about 600gp, although she wasn't sure on a failed Appraising proficiency.

Razadar and Tikarada both levelled up, to level three.

Then once again they all set off, intent on following the river further downstream. They marched in single file along the riverbank through the forest, then through the long grasses when they found more of those, to see if they could get down the mountain that way.

Chapter 11 (13.03.2025) - A Melted Axeblade

29.04.1259: The session began with a bit of healing, including Tunaxicon discretely persuading Ovlov to give him a Cure Light Wounds for free. The grim cleric cast the spell for the dwarf secretly. Then some logistics of exactly how the snake eggs were going to be transported were enacted. This involved several people cutting a few inches off the bottoms of their cloaks to wrap the eggs up, and then they were put into large sacks, wrapped up again, and stored in backpacks. Tikarada didn't have a cloak, so he cut a few inches off the bottoms of his trouser legs.

Then everybody continued downstream until they could continue that way no further. The river became fast and rocky and full of rapids as it cut its way between two steep cliffs. Walking along the bank was no longer an option and swimming looked far too dangerous. They stayed by the base of the tall cliff and wandered away from the river.

Somewhere in the distance, a plume of grey smoke seemed to be rising from the rocky cliff. As the party journeyed on, so the grasses became less tall and more meadow-like. Soon they noticed stone steps leading up to door in the side of the cliff, as well as a bank of slag that led to a hole, which was clearly a mine.

Tunaxicon led the party up the steps and he, along with Tikarada and Scobby, checked out the door. It seemed to be locked. Scobby picked the lock and then Tunaxicon asked Catoink to stand at the front of the party. Retty would be just behind in case anything bad happened and Catoink needed to be healed. Catoink agreed and opened the door.

The moment the door was open, some of the party saw a smoky room and a group of goblins working on some tools at a forge by a hearth. With a yell, the goblins ran to attack but the party were even faster. Tikarada one-shotted the first goblin with a N20 and Catoink did the same to another. Retty defeated a third one and the fight was truly on.

Two of the goblins each grabbed a shovel and hurled a spray of burning coals from the fire at the party. Catoink was hit and took a little damage and another goblin ran in to attack with a shortsword. The two goblins with shovels ran into combat, using the tools as melee weapons.

Although the party lost reaction, they managed to finish the goblins the next round. They searched the bodies and took the goblins' belt pouches, as they might prove useful for storing the snake eggs. They also took the gold, the whetstone, a couple of pickaxes and a shovel.

There was an old chest of dwarven construction in the room. Inside they found a collection of bottles. Five of the bottles were empty, three contained white wine and one a fine brandy. The last bottle was stoppered with a cork and sealed with wax. It appeared to contain a tightly rolled piece of parchment.

There was some debate about how to open this bottle. Eventually it was Ovlov who scraped all of the wax off. Tunaxicon carefully cracked the glass by striking a measured blow with the end of the handle of his pickaxe. As luck would have it, the bottle separated into two.

Inside was a scroll and Ovlov looked at it. It was a scroll of Neutralise Poison. He didn't say what it was, and told the others he ought to keep it safe. Unknown to him at the time, this waould later come back to bite him on the bobo. Then they all made their way through the other door in the room, and onwards down a mining tunnel, which sloped gradually downwards.

When they reached a Y-junction in the passage, they opted for the left side. This tunnel was oddly circular and meandering and led them to a curious maze. The party explored and found some onyx gems on the floor as well as a weird oozy rock creature that the party found spooky. Tunaxicon had prodded it a few times with his new pickaxe and it had slithered higher and higher up the wall until it was on the ceiling.

At this point Tunaxicon decided that he had had enough of the weird thing. The party turned back and went around a corner, the weird denzelian following them. They wandered about the maze until they found another stoney slime creature. This was a grey ooze. Razadar smashed it with his battleaxe.

Unfortunately for him, the ooze's body and fluids reacted with the metal of Razadar's axe. It started to melt and distort and bubble. Razadar tried scraping it against the wall and the floor, and kicking it around the floor, but all that happened was the handle came away from the blade, which continued to bubble and fizz and melt. Eventually, all that was left of Razadar's axe was the handle.

Razadar was annoyed by this and went looking for another grey ooze, but there were no more. Eventually the party found the denzelian when it dropped from the ceiling on top of Razadar, who had been taunting it. It covered him like a giant pancake and Tikarada, who was just behind, punched it with his open hand and finished it off.

After that, the party found the one exit from the maze into the mine tunnels once more. They walked on for a time but then found the passage ended in a cave-in. Razadar tried to use his pickaxe to clear some of the fallen rock, but just caused more to fall on him, causing four points of damage.

Everyone started back to the Y-junction, and there they took the other fork. This led through the mining tunnels for some way until they could see light in the distance, growing brighter, and then they were in a cavern. A lot of bats were there too and several flew towards the party for an attack. The party used their missile weapons as the bats approached and eight of them were killed. Not a single bat managed to land an attack on the party, and the others left them well alone.

A search in the bats' debris followed and Xymiton found a small golden amulet shaped like a writhing serpent. Scobby was unable to appraise it. She thought it was probably valuable, but was not certain what it might be worth. The party reformed themselves and then moved out of the cave into the meadow and the evening sunshine.

Chapter 12 (14.04.2025) - Advice from a Pair of Priests, and Two Grizzlesome Deaths

29.04.1259: The end of the valley where the party stood as they exited the caves was quite narrow between the tall cliffs. Before them lay the skeleton of some huge beast, a mammoth perhaps, and just behind it webs stretched from one cliff to the other. Razadar stepped forward and attempted to clear some of the webs with his pickaxe, and at once a pair of large spiders emerged from under the huge skeleton and attacked. One was impaled on a prong of Razadar's pickaxe, it's legs wiggling, and the other was cleaved by Tunaxicon.

Upon searching the lair of the two spiders, the party found the skeleton of the warrior who had slain the great beast, but was then killed when it fell on top of him. Amongst the bones the party found a few odd items of treasure. These were stored and then everybody moved on, taking down the web barrier and venturing forth.

Tikarada wanted to cross the river as soon as he could, but right where the party had reached the river, the current was rather dangerous. Tikarada unfortunately got a foot stuck in a crack in a rock. He couldn't be pulled out without breaking some foot bones. Razadar was planning to take off his armor and jump in, but Xymiton saved him the trouble as he wasn't wearing armor and he was concerned that Tikarada might drown.

Diving into the water, Xymiton found a way to release Tikarada's trapped foot and they climbed out onto the bank once again. They felt it might be better to cross the river where the current was calmer.

A little further along the noticed a few yellowy rabbitoid creatures with spiked horns on their heads, like unicorns, were enjoying a late evening silflay. As the party approached, they sat up, high-nose, to regard them. Tikarada swam across the river and all eight of the rabbitoids charged to attack immediately!

Scobby hurled a pair of her daggers, wounding two different animals, then jumped into the water and started to swim across. Tikarada was fighting the creatures with his spear and a hail of missile fire of varying sorts hit rabbitoids either side of him.

Finally, the creatures - al-mi'raj - were all defeated. Scobby arrived too late to melee them and collected her daggers. Then everybody crossed the river using Tikarada's rope, which Razadar held the other end of.

There was a burial mound that had caught the party's eye and they made their way towards it. The entry tunnel was only four feet high and didn't seem especially safe. Xymiton noticed a smaller tunnel inside that the rabbit creatures had made, but it was far too small for any of them to explore. The entry tunnel seemed to end at a blank stone wall.

Eventually Tunaxicon noticed that the blank wall was in fact a concealed door, craftily hinged to the left. Several characters tried pushing it open, but nobody could. When Retty tried, he managed it, but unfortunately set off an explosive ward that damaged himself and Tunaxicon a little. The walls and ceiling didn't collapse in, trapping the party, so a few people lit their lanterns and then the party entered the small room beyond.

Inside there was a stone sarcophagus. The lid had been removed and lay on the floor. There were various smashed earthenware pots, and two still remained whole. The party were concerned that a skeleton may have escaped, and were concerned that the cremated bone fragments from the earthen phylacteries may somehow reform, but they didn't.

Searching the two phylacteries that were still whole revealed a little treasure, and they found more small items of jewelry in the rubbish that littered the floor. Tunaxicon was still searching about the place and he found that the bottom of the sarcophagus lifted out. With Retty's help they discovered that beneath the sarcophagus there was a vertical shaft, about six feet round, which descended straight down into darkness below.

As soon as the portal to the shaft was opened, the atmosphere grew uneasy. Tikarada especially felt it. The air in the tomb grew cold and suddenly pieces of pottery started flying about and hitting people. Everyone seemed to be confused. A piece of pottery hit Ollopso critically, caving in some of his ribs, and the wizard fell to the floor, quite dead.

This sudden and horrible shock confused the party even more. Despite there being several wounded party members, Retty seemed more intent on dragging the dead body of Ollopso out of the crypt, helped by Razadar. Nobody seemed willing to investigate the cause of the flying pieces of pottery and the way out was now blocked by Retty and the dead wizard.

Scobby took over trying to shove the corpse up the tunnel from Razadar as more people were hit and wounded. Tunaxicon fell unconscious due to being hit by flying pottery and still confusion reigned. Razadar tried to attack the place where some pottery had flown from and he felt there was something there, but his pickaxe seemed to pass straight through whatever it was.

Suddenly, Tikarada seemed to come to his senses amongst all the confusion. He realised that he had a magical weapon, and might be the only one who could hit the creature. As Retty and Scobby continued trying to manhandle the dead body of the wizard up the tunnel, Tikarada launched some attacks with his spear. Finally he hit something non-corporeal and the room started to become still and quiet. The atmosphere lifted once again and Retty was able to finish dragging Ollopso out of the tomb.

Tunaxicon was unconscious and Ovlov gave him a Cure Light Wounds. When he came to, Ovlov said with a smirk, "That's another favour you me, dwarf." Tunaxicon agreed that he did.

It was quite a blow to the party's morale to the lose the obnoxious wizard, even though he was very annoying and hadn't done anything much of use since they first met him, other than offer unwanted and questionable advice on how to do absolutely everything. The last thing anybody had said to him was, "Shut up, wizard!"

Whilst everyone was deciding what they should do next, Tunaxicon decided to climb down the shaft from the sarcophagus to see what was there. Razadar held the rope to lower him down, and Tikarada went with him.

At the bottom they found a damp cavern of bare rock. There was a grinning skull and a skeleton but nothing else. Hidden inside the skull they found a pouch with three bloodstone gems, each worth 50gp. Tunaxicon wanted to keep them all for himself, but Tikarada argued with him and after a while he agreed to share. Razadar pulled the dwarf up first, then, after Tunaxicon threatned to leave Tikarada down there, Razadar dropped the rope down for the monk as well.

The party were sadder to miss Ollopso than had been expected. Ovlov bound the dead wizard's wounds, so he didn't leak too much, and Razadar put him in a sack and carried him as the party moved along. It was dark by now and the party were tired and out of spells. They made their way across the meadow and camped for the night. Nothing disturbed their rest and the next day they carried on, Razadar again carrying the dead body of Ollopso.

30.04.1259: Ollopso was starting to smell rather ghastly by now. The party decided to cross the river, which they did in the usual way - Tunaxicon swimming across first and taking a rope, then the others using the rope to help them cross, and finally Razadar bringing up the rear being hauled through the water by the others. It was a system the party had practised often and they were pretty good at it by now.

They decided that rather than taking the ledge that cut back under the waterfall, they would pass through the caves they could see that lay further away. Nothing hindered their passage and within the caves they discovered a dwarven spiral staircase. It seemed to go down and down forever, until eventually, at the bottom, there was an exit and a short passage to one side, from the end of which came a profuse amount of squeaking.

Just as they passed the side corridor, at the far end of which could be seen a door that was just ajar, a number of rats came scurrying forth. Tikarada used his new Speak With Animals ability and the rats begged for food as they were so hungry. Tikarada put down three days worth of his iron rations for them and the rats were very grateful, although Ovlov was not happy that they were wasting time that could be better spent making money.

Out in the open once more, the ground was soft and boggy and mists rose up all around, obscuring the party's view somewhat. By sticking to the path they hoped to avoid drowning in the swamp, so everyone was very careful where they trod.

When they were next to a rather unpleasant looking pond, a pair of bulbous eyes rose to the surface. The party and the eyes stared at each other for a time, then suddenly a giant frog leaped right over everyone and started to attack the far flank of the party. Retty soon skewered the creature with his sword and above where it had landed was some treasure hanging in a tree. Xymiton attempted to hook his staff through the leather thong from which the treasure was hanging but couldn't do it, and then Pinimpy managed to bring the item to safety.

Moving on once more, the party came to a place where there was a large lizard trapped in a cage of branches crudely lashed together with creepers. Suddenly, a pair of bullywugs leaped out from behind the cage and opened it, releasing the lizard. The great reptile immediately attacked the bullywugs, which was clearly not a part of their plan. One was swallowed whole and the other was killed by Tunaxicon. The lizard leapt into the swamp and disappeared. How strange.

After another trek through the misty swamp, the ground became firmer and started to rise upwards gradually, until a stone tower loomed out of the mist. A warning arrow flew from the top of the tower and landed just in front of the party. From the battlements, a voice cried "Go away! Leave us alone!" Tunaxicon took offence and shot his crossbow. He scored a N20 to hit and wounded somthing in the tower. At once, a volley of arrows reigned down on him. Two hit and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Tikarada was trying to negotiate allowing the party to pass, or leave, and in the end they retreated back the way they had come. They carried Tikarada's body and Retty gave Tikarada a Cure Light Wounds as he was being carried. The dwarf regained consciousness.

When they arrived back at the junction of various paths where they had met the hapless lizard keepers, the party chose a different direction and found themselves approaching a gnarly old tree. The mist seemed to be growing thicker, rather quickly, and within a few moments, vision was so restricted that the party could only see the people who were stood right next to them.

This was an encounter with a mist mephit, which caused just as much confusion as the poltergeist had previously. Most of the party turned around and started to wander slowly back to the crossways, being careful not to fall into the swamp. Meanwhile, Tunaxicon, Retty and Tikarada all succumbed to the mephit's breath weapon and were unable to see at all. Retty and Tikarada both fell unconscious and Tunaxicon turned his back on the tree and the mephit and was hit a few times from the rear. He tried bending over his two fallen companions, but just ended up taking more blows.

Finally, when he only had two hit points remaining, Tunaxicon decided to try to fight whatever it was that was assaulting him. He turned around and started thrashing about blindly, hoping to score a hit. Razadar, who was now at the rear of the rest of the party that Ovlov was leading back along the foggy path, realised that there were a few people missing. There was a sound a bit like fighting coming from behind him. He ordered everyone to turn around again and go back to where they were.

All the time, Tunaxicon was trying to hit the mephit. The worst of the effects of the breath weapon were starting to wear off. Retty and Tikarada were both on 0 hit points so were unconscious but stable, and had not lost more health. Tunaxicon managed to score a hit and then, when Razadar arrived to help, Tunaxicon rolled a N1. The handle of his axe slipped through his hand as he tried to score a blow. The axe sailed in a pretty parabolic curve upwards through the air, plopping some distance away into the swamp deep within the mist, never to be seen again. Tunaxicon cursed and reach for his warhammer. Razadar also cursed the loss of another good axe he could have used, and using his pickaxe, finished off the mephit with two hefty blows. Once it was dead, the mist began to clear.

Ovlov realised that as Retty was down, he would be able to profit from healing the other cleric. After a little arguing, Pinimpy gave Ovlov a 10gp gem and the Cure Light Wounds was cast. Retty managed to get everyone back to their feet with healing spells and then the party continued. Many people were wounded and spells were already low, despite it still being only around mid-day.

When everyone reached an overhang near a waterfall that dropped to a forest far below, they searched for a safe way down. There was a series of ledges that would lead all the way down to the bottom of the great cliff. Soon they had found the way and as they walked along one narrow ledge, a rough voice from inside a nearby cave yelled something in a strange language. Six frightened unarmed kobold appeared. The party attempted to parley, but another yell from the gruff voice urged them on and the kobolds, evidently more afraid of the owner of the voice than they were of the party, attacked.

Soon all of the kobolds had been defeated. One had been hit so hard by Retty that it had been sent flying from the ledge into the forest far below. Razadar and Tunzxicon both approved. Everyone decided to investigate the cave, to see who or what was ordering the kobolds to attack.

From somewhere at the back of the cave something started shooting arrows at the group. Scobby disappeared into the shadows and several people tried to defeat the creature, which turned out to be a particularly large gnoll. Xymiton's Magic Missile was a guaranteed hit in the gloom, and a few others wounded the aggressive humanoid. Razadar rolled a N1 to hit and struck poor Tikarada with a fearful wound that would have killed him had he not used two Luck Points to reduce the damage. He fell to the ground on -9 hit points. Retty ran to him to bind his wounds and give him a Healing Proficiency, then two Cure Light Wounds.

Scobby finished off the gnoll with her backstab. Razadar, with some relief, took the gnoll's battleaxe. It felt good to have a proper weapon in his hands again. A few people had been further wounded by the gnoll's arrows during the fight.

A search revealed some small treasures belonging to the gnoll. The cave seemed to be fairly secure. The party decided to spend the rest of the day recovering their depleted health. They stayed in the cave overnight to allow Retty to administer care in the form of Healing and Herbalism proficiencies to six injured people. It seemed like a good idea and as the sun set, they could see the firelight glow from the Eye of the Serpent coming from the island in the distance.

01.05.1259: The next day, with a full compliment of spells and many of their wounds and injuries healed, the party were in much better shape to continue. They set off in good spirits, down the ledges to the forest floor below. Razadar was carrying the corpse of Ollopso once again. As they all made their way towards the island, about ten miles away, they stumbled upon a pair of leopards who had killed a young boar. The leopards wanted to protect their prize and attacked the party, but once the first leopard was vanquished, the other fled and the party were able to carry on.

Crossing the meadowland from the edge of the forest to the island was relatively straightforward and the party arrived at about 1pm. As they were looking with distaste at the human skulls hanging from the trees and contemplating a place to stop for some lunch, a strange ragged man wearing snakeskin robes leapt in view, yelling curses and abuse at the party, telling them to go away and not to set foot on his sacred holy island.

Pinimpy gave Xymiton the copper sheet they had found back in the roc's nest at the top of the mountain. Xymiton read this message to the strange figure, and told him he may not like what had been added, and read that as well. The stranger was somewhat taken aback, and calmed down a little. He asked the party what it was that they actually wanted on his island.

When Pinimpy told him that they didn't want anything from his island and they were trying to travel to Fosweld, he considered their request for a moment, then gave directions. Xymiton gave him the copper sheet they had found in the rocs' nest, thanked him, and then everyone continued on their way without setting foot on the island at all.

Arn Flowmane, the guardian of the island and high priest of the Kharg tribe, had given them good directions. The party continued on to the forest as he had indicated, then walked due south, Tunaxicon steering them by the sun. They had been told to turn right at the road and continue through the village on to Fosweld Castle.

Suddenly, as they made their way through the forest, disaster struck. A pair of giant spiders dropped down from their webs and surprised the party! The two dwarves were bitten. Razadar made his saving throw only by using Luck Points, and Tunaxicon made it without needing any. Scobby scored a huge backstab on one of the spiders and Tunaxicon kept hitting the other with his hammer, gradually making it flatter with each round.

But when a spider bit Ovlov, he was not so lucky, and died almost at once from the strong venom. Everyone was very shocked and Retty was especially concerned because he was now the only member of the group with any healing skills.

It was Razadar who finished off both of the spiders. He had been carrying the corpse of Ollopso, who was smelling horrible by now. It was decided that Catoink would take over carrying the dead wizard, being the strongest member of the group after Razadar. Razadar would now carry the dead cleric, who was somewhat heavier than the dead wizard. Nobody other than Razadar would have been able to carry Ovlov without help.

With two members of the party encumbered by deceased companions, progress was slower. Nobody had wanted to investigate the webs in the trees in case it attracted more spiders to attack, although the party had not realised that there were no more. Eventually they reached the road and turned right, as Flowmane had instructed, and sure enough, came to a small village after about another thirty minutes walk.

By now it was mid-afternoon. As they approached the village, a man with a large sack over his shoulder could be seen leaving the village and coming towards them along the road. "Afternoon," he said in a gruff but cheerful voice as he passed.

"We're going to Fosweld!" said Tikarada.

"Oh, are you now? There's been all sorts of trouble there," said the man with the sack.

"Yes, we know. That's why we're going there, to try to sort the trouble out," said Tikarada.

"Oh, alright then. Good luck," replied the man with an air of indifference.

"What have you got in your sack?" asked Razadar.

"Got some turnips," he said. "What about you?"

"I've got a dead cleric in my sack," said Razadar.

"What are you carrying one of those about for?!" said the man with the turnips. "Right bunch of weirdos, you lot are," and he said no more and continued on his way.

The village of Pellamay has a few houses, an inn, a combined blacksmith and jewelers shop, a general store, at least one temple, at least one inn, an apothecary and herbalist in one, and no guards anywhere to be seen. The party first went to the temple. The large, heavy oaken doors were both closed and marked with the symbol of an arrow pointing upward, inlaid with amber. Nobody knew what this meant.

Retty knocked and after a few moments a tall thin man wearing amber and white robes answered, saying "Is that you with the sausages... oh, I thought you were going to be the butcher. How can I help?"

When the party started to explain what they were doing and their current situation, the priest looked rather serious. He took them inside and led them down to the crypt, where the bodies of Ovlov and Ollopso were laid upon stone slabs. The priest assured them that they would be safe here until the party returned.

The priest explained to them that it would cost between 5000 - 10000gp to cast Raise Dead on each them. He could sense that Ovlov was not long dead, and was perhaps a difficult person to get along with at times. Tikarada agreed.

Scobby persuaded the priest that she should take the personal items of their two dead companions back to their families, and thusly took their valuables. She gave Xymiton asked Scobby if she actually knew the families of Ovlov and Ollopso, but she just hissed "Don't ask stupid questions!" as she passed him Ollopso's spellbook, "for safe keeping" because holding it "reminded her of her dead friend and made her feel sad".

Then priest explained in some detail what had been going on at Fosweld, how the party would need to rescue Lord Tystaff, and that they might find the court magician, Kallin, somewhere within. He also gave them some background regarding King Charvik of Eldaril, Sye the Slayer, the High Priest of all Eldaril, who ruled the domain of serpents, and Vish, the evil warrior who carried out Charvik's biddings personally. The party listened with interest and took some notes.

Next, the rest of the party visited the other shops in the village to sell the various treasure or superfluous items they had found, and to replenish or upgrade their equipment. Razadar, Retty and Pinimpy all bought suits of plate mail, the dwarven suit being the most expensive. They were the only three such suits available. Tunaxicon bought himself a new battleaxe. Several people bought more oil flasks as well.

The gold that the party had earned from their adventures was shared out, with the remainders given to the charity box in the temple that was housing the bodies of their fallen companions. By and by, everything was done and the party left the village of Pellamay towards Fosweld.

Without two corpses to carry, progress was somewhat quicker and after an hour or so of following the road, the forest either side ended abruptly. There before them was a large roughly circular area of meadowland, sloping down on all sides to a castle surrounded by a moat at the bottom in the very centre. The road they had been following led to a bridge that crossed the moat to the castle courtyard. Patrolling the circular expanse of meadowland near the treeline were three pairs of goblins, walking in a clockwise direction. The party slinked between the trees unnoticed, waiting to attack...

The party were now as follows: Xymiton MU3, Pinimpy F3, Razadar F3, Tunaxicon F2/T3, Tikarada M3, Retty F2/C3, and the NPCs: Scobby T3, Catoink F2.

The NPCs Ovlov C3 and Ollopso MU2 both died before the party reached Fosweld. Their bodies remain in the mortuary at the Temple of Donblas the Justice Maker in Pellamay, near Fosweld Castle.

This concludes this part of the story. It continues with The Fosweld Somnolence (Tessa).