Episode 1.10

Ernie, Tony, Brad, Kathy, Greg

Ernie felt himself drawn to one particular prisoner and felt compelled to heal him. The person turned out to be a cleric. He then showed Ernie other prisoners who he knew had useful talents. Together, they healed four other people, two humans a half-orc and a gnome.

Meanwhile, Tony, Brad and Greg shored up the door so the party could rest and recuperate. It was determined that the group had enough rations to feed everyone (themselves plus the five additional NPC's plus twenty or so commoners) for about four days. The group decided to rest overnight and then break out in the morning.

The next day, Tony, with the assistance of two bull's strengths an enlarge and Brad, took his hammer and tried to break down the door. Before he could succeed, the door opened and several troglodyte skeletons attacked them. Immediately behind them was a huge five headed reptile. After a round or two, Ernie's cleric friend obliterated the skeletons leaving the path clear for the party to face the hydra.

The hydra proved to be a dangerous opponent, sending both Tony and Brad running back the cleric for healing. Tony took off one head, only to have the it grow two more in it's place. Damage being done to the body seemed to be healing at an alarming rate. However, a series of spells by Kathy, Gwiand and the gnome along with continuous beatings by Tony, Greg, Brad and every other fighter who could get in reach, eventually killed the beast.

With the hydra down, the group decided to make a dash for the exit, led by the still enlarged Tony. Tony rounded a corner and ran into opposition in the form of nine troglodytes. With his giant sized spike chain, double bull's strength and great cleave feat, he killed four troglodytes almost as soon as he saw them. But, the group was now strung out inside a long corridor with doors on each side and that was when the troglodytes sprung the trap. Doors opened and troglodytes flooded the hallway.

What followed was an intense, chaotic and lethal melee. Tony killed four more troglodytes and then he and Brad took turns missing their captain. In the center of the group, Kathy and Greg, who was gravely wounded by the hydra, and several NPC's fought the troglodytes as they entered the hallway. One of the PC’s ended up going down. At the back of the group, Gwiand tried to hold off a group of nine troglodytes with her spells and wand of Fire Orb as the 20 or so commoners tried to get into the hall. She killed several but could not stop them all and eventually went down. Ernie and his clerical companion each moved about the battle, healing and attacking as best they could, with the new cleric casting Knife Spray into a crowd of Troglodytes trying to help Gwiand before she went down. The two healed Gwiand, only to have her immediately go back down. They healed her again and she survived the battle.

Tony eventually killed the captain and moved back into the middle of the melee, tumbling past friend and foe alike. Swinging his giant spiked chain like a mad fiend, he quickly took out several more troglodytes, including the second captain. In the meantime, Greg killed the third captain, while Brad and the some of the remaining NPC’s took out the rest of the regular troglodytes. The way to the exit was now clear, but at the back of the group, double doors opened to reveal a few dozen more troglodytes ready for battle. Deciding that escaping to fight another day was the best course of action, the party, low on hit points and out of spells, limped out of the Troglodyte complex with the still giant-sized Tony guarding their escape.

Episode 1.9

Greg, Tony, Brad, Ernie, Wendell (at Wendell's House)

With Gwiand coming along, the group went back to the cave entrance to search for Gwibaen. When they got there, Tony remembered that Gwibaen went east when they seperated, instead of west, back to Stonekeep. Heading east, they followed the ravine, which became a ledge as the mountain to the north ended. They found a stream that crossed the ledge and fell into the canyon below. This, they realised, is where the fought the apes at the original test cave entrance (back in episode 1.1). A bit farther on, they found three dead orcs down in the canyon, all shot by arrows and, a bit farther on, a place where someone slid down the side of the canyon. Climbing down, they examined the site, finding several pieces of short, cut rope. The group concluded that Gwibaen must have come this way, found the orcs, killed them and released the human prisoners the orcs must have captured. They found a trail leading east that led to an area where several people climbed up the north side of the canyon and then headed back to the west. This would take them towards Stonekeep, but on the wrong side of the ravine.

The next thing they found was a campsite where a battle had taken place between the humans and some grimlocks. There were several dead bodies of each side. They also found Gwibaen’s broken shortsword. Grimlock tracks headed to the west with a few human tracks mixed in. The group followed.

Not long after, they were attacked by a large creature that looked like an emaciated cat with two long tentacles growing out of its shoulders. It proved difficult to hit, being always displaced. Greg, Tony and Brad eventually hacked it to pieces. It injured Tony and the party decided to rest. Giwand identified the creature as a Displacer Beast.

The next morning, they continued on the path and came to a cave. Several paths from different directions ended at the cave. Inside the cave they found the dead bodied of both Grimlocks and Troglodytes. It looked as if a large battle had been fought here a few days before. Feasting on the dead bodies were two large caterpillar-like creatures with tentacles growing out from their heads. They moved to attack the party but between Tony, Greg, Brad and Gwiand’s Magic Missile they did not last long.

A piece of torn cloth led them along one of the passages that exited the back of the cave. Following it, they found another large cavern inhabited by eight Troglodyte guards. After a brief conversation with the guards, they learned that the troglodytes had Gwibaen and several other humans who were injured. The party asked to see them and the troglodytes led them into their lair – a Dwarven built complex that looked old and in disrepair. They were led through several doors and into a large cavern with a pit on the far end. Wendell went down the ladder and confirmed that Gwibaen was there along with several other prisoners including some humans, orcs and grimlocks. The leader of the troglodytes said he was going to confer with his master and left the party in the room with eight troglodyte guards. However, when he left, he closed and barred the door. The troglodytes attacked with their long spears but they were no match for Tony, Brad and Greg and were quickly dispatched. The group was then locked in the room and began what they were going to do next.

Epsiode 1.8

Brad, Kathy, Wendell, Tony, Greg

The group's rest was interrupted by distant crashing noises. It seems someone else was exploring Haven, coming from the outside entrance. The group got ready and waited for the inevitable attack, with Tony guarding the main door, Brad guarding the secret door and Kathy holding her enlarge spell for Tony. Orcs burst in the main door, with the now super-sized Tony cutting down the first one before he set foot into the room and then the second one with attack of opportunity. Three more orcs and a kobold made their way in. One orc appeared to be common foot soldiers, like the ones Tony already killed. One orc was obviously their leader and wielded a spiked chain. The final orc was a cleric. The kobold turned out to be a sorcerer. Tony battled the three orcs while Brad made his way to the front line. Greg tried to attain his psionic focus, but it took a few rounds. The kobold shot some type of ray at Tony and sapped some of his strength. The cleric also cast a spell at Tony. He threw off most of the effect, but it left him shaken. Kathy shot Magic Missiles at the Kobold only to see the orc cleric heal him. Wendell moved forward and shot arrows at the kobold. Brad and Tony each took a pounding from the Orc soldier and the captain, but managed to take out the soldier.

Greg finally made it to the battle and took out the kobold with a toss of his blade. Wendell moved in and made a sneak attack against the cleric. But it was not enough. Tony went down and Brad was forced to flee in order to quaff a potion. The cleric retreated down the tunnel, the captain gaurding their escape. Greg pursued, nimbly dodged an attack of opportunity, and took out the captain. Brad, feeling somewhat better, returned and finished off the badly injured cleric.

There was a mad rush to bind Tony's wounds as there were no more healing potions and Ernie was not available. After few tense rounds, Greg managed to stop the bleeding. They were forced to rest for two more days. Ernie's cleric cast all her heal spells. They gathered what weapons they could, built something to drag them in, and began hauling them back to Stonekeep.

Before they reached the surface, they were approached by a troglodyte and his large retinue of other troglodytes, troglodyte skeletons and grimlock zombies. He said he was looking for grimlocks because they had killed two troglodyte patrols. The party claimed to have seen and killed some grimlocks but did not volunteer that they had also killed troglodytes. The troglodyte leader asked them where they were going and when they said they were heading towards the surface, he allowed them to pass, but followed for a while at a safe distance.

Before reaching the surface, the group encountered some grimlocks who were looking for the troglodytes they claim killed one of their patrols. The party told them that they had just seen a group of troglodytes and that there were grimlock zombies with them. The grimlocks took the bait and went in hot pursuit of the troglodytes.

When the party finally returned to Stonekeep, they were informed that Gwibaen had never returned from their previous trip. They decided to rest and then go look for him. Gwiend said she was going with them. Ceodoc objected, but she stopped him with a stern look.

Episode 1.7

Greg, Tony, Ernie, Brad, Kathy

The group spent few days in Stonekeep, mostly resting and relaxing. Kathy swapped a few spells with Gwiand. The group traded in some of their goods for coins. Tony talked a bit with Ceodoc, warning him that humanoids may show up at any moment. Ceodoc told him that he has been expecting that to happen since he built the wall.

The group set out to explore the caves. Gwibaen agreed to escort them to the entrance, but said he would not enter the caves because he felt uncomfortable in closed in spaces. Along the way, they were attacked by a group of four wolves, one of whom seemed far tougher than the rest. The group killed two wolves and drove the other two away, though not without sustaining some damage. Tony assumed that the tough wolf was the goblin-creature they had encountered before, only in another form. He proceeded to call it names as it fled. Gwibaen commented that it was very unusual for a group of wolves to attack a group of people in broad daylight, especially without superior numbers.

The group found the cave entrance and went to Haven to rest. The next day, the began to explore, starting first with the cave of the spirit of the mountain. He was not home. Inside his cave, they found the remains of hill giant that looked as if he had been squashed like some huge bug. Rats were making short work of the corpse.

Traveling into the tunnels beyond the cave, the group ran into a series of battles. The first group they ran into was a foursome of Troglodytes, who introduced themselves by throwing their javelins at Tony from out of the darkness. Their stench made the battle more difficult, but it didn’t take long for the group to defeat them. Continuing on, they encountered a large side tunnel and decided to follow it.

Their next encounter started with a few players hearing a noise off in the darkness. When they stopped to discuss what to do, a group of four grimlocks charged into the light and attacked. While they did not possess the missile weapons that the Troglodytes had, they were much more deadly in hand-to-hand combat, wielding their battleaxes with considerable skill. It took a deadly first attack from Greg and an enlarged Tony (via Kathy’s spell) to defeat the Grimlocks. Brad held his own during the battle as Ernie used his healing magic. Running low on spells and hit points, the group decided to go back and rest.

Unfortunately. They ran into trouble as another group of troglodytes attacked them from the darkness. However, having learned from the previous encounter, they formed a defensive line and waited for the troglodytes to charge. The troglodytes did as expected and charged into the waiting weapons of Tony, Greg and Brad. This gave the party an upper hand, and even with the stench of troglodytes, they defeated this group more easily. One tried to run away, but was chased by Tony and Greg and overtaken by the now speedier Brad. The group limped back to Haven and rested.

Episode 1.6

Greg, Brad, Kathy, Tony, Ernie

The rest of the party was concerned about the vanishing goblin, but the decision was made to start back to Stonekeep. They took the equipment and supplies of the humanoids they had killed, which included a map.

After traveling for a few hours, the party then ran into two apes that dropped from the trees and acted in a threatening manner, but did not attack. Gwibaen, who was leading the group, stood his ground and faced them down. Meanwhile, Tony, guarding the rear, was attacked by a fiendish wolf-like creature, who caused significant damage before fleeing after only around or so. The apes fled at the same time.

That night, they were attacked by six troglodytes in two groups of three. Brad charged into one group and held them off with the help of two of the escapees until Tony arrived. Gwibaen held off the other three with the help of two other escapees until Greg showed up to assist him. In the meantime, Kathy tried to hold some of them off with her bow while Ernie moved in to heal Brad. Ernie eventually got into melee for the first time, taking down one of the attackers. Once everyone got involved in the melee, both groups of troglodytes were defeated.

That afternoon, they found a dead human who looked as if he had hung himself in a tree. Gwibaen recognized him as a man named Elioton, an escapee that lived in Stonekeep. Oddly, he appeared to have signs of donva withdrawl. The group speculated that he killed himself before the curse had a chance to kill him, but why he was still effected by the curse was a mystery.

That night, Ernie had a dream. In his dream, he saw an unfamiliar group of adventurers, mostly humans, with an at least one elf but also a goblin. One of the group, who appeared to be a cleric, picked up an unfamiliar object and used it to cast a bless spell. Ernie could see the effect of the spell spread outward far beyond it’s normal range, seemingly for miles upon miles. As it passed through most humans and other slaves, he could see the curse leaving them. However, when it passed through those humans that were cooperating with the humanoids, it left them alone. Ernie took this to mean that the curse was only lifted on those who were not collaborating with the humanoid slavers.

Later that evening, the group was again attacked by the fiendish wolf creature. This time, it displayed some magical abilities. At first, it cast some type of spell at the group, by they threw off its effects. Secondly, it was blinking, which made it much more difficult to hit. This time, it attacked alone, but was much more destructive than it had been the previous day. It caused serious damage before it turned and fled.

The next day, they reached stonekeep. Ceodoc was furious with Gwibaen, but seemed to cool off afterwards. They showed the map to the dwarf and he pointed put that there was nothing on it to indicate the location of stonekeep. They discussed what they had seen there, including the forest troll. Ceodoc also told them that they were free to come and go as they pleased and could carry their weapons with them. He told them that several years ago, when Gwibaen had gone off to rescue his half-sister Gwiand, the dwarf had said that anyone who could go off, rescue a slave and bring them back here was welcome to come as go as they liked. He had made this statement in anger at the time, but since it was a promise, he was bound to keep it. The party asked him to come with them to see the spirit of the mountain, but he said he had a project that he needed to finish and it would take a week or more. After that, he would consider their offer. After some debate, the party decided to go and explore the caves near the spirit of the mountain.