Episode 2.1

Tony, Greg, Ernie, Bob

The party decided to spend at least a few days at stonekeep to rest and recuperate. They learned several things while they were there:

Bob had finally gotten over his long illness.

• Ceodoc told them that the people in the valley had built a new house for them to live in.
• A pack of wolves has been spotted watching the valley.
• Someone broke into the warehouse and stole some donva.
• The halfling barbarian, Edic, is apparently an accomplished hunter. He has brought back a few deer since arriving. He will not live in a house, prefers to be alone and sleeps outside.
• Donway, the leader of the guard, asked Tony if he could help train some of the men in how to use dwarven axes. Tony agreed.

Their visitations were interrupted by an alarm whistle. They ran to investigate and found that two ogres had scattered both the sheep and the shepherds, but were now busy battling Edic, who, despite his small stature, had charged at them with his club. Bob enlarged Tony, who charged into them with his axe. Ernie stayed back, ready to heal anyone who needed it. Bob fired off some magic missiles. The ogres were all but defeated by the time Greg arrived, having been in a different location than the rest of the party. After killing the ogres, Ernie healed everyone, including a reluctant Edic.

That night, Ceodoc posted a guard at the warehouse. The next morning, the warehouse had been broken into and the guard was missing. Only his spear remained. Tony volunteered himself and the fighters that he was training to guard tonight.

They talked to Gwiend. She said that Gwibaen was still not back to normal. He will not go into a building, sleeps outside and will let no one but Gwiend get near him.

Two different people approached the party at different times. Each told them that they had seen a “big triangle” in the caves and when they heard the party had inquired about one, they came to tell them about it. The first was one of the captives rescued from the troglodytes. He said he saw one in a large cave not too far from the troglodyte lair but he had no idea how to get to it. The second was a man who had lived in the valley for several years and was known to have periods of emotional instability. He said he saw what must have been a big triangle but that it was long ago broken.

Another alarm whistle sounded and the party ran to investigate. Two large flying creatures had attacked the sheep. They killed one and flew off with it before the party got there. They saw them land on a mountain-top not to far distant and decided to hunt them down. Edic and Torcyn, the other Halfling, insisted on going along.

They hiked for about two hours before they reached the mountain itself and began to ascend. While climbing up a rocky slope, two monstrous spiders popped out from the rocks and attacked Bob. The two spiders were killed but not before Bob was injured.

When they nearly reached the top, they got to another cliff about thirty feet high. They recognized the area as the place where the creatures had landed so they tried to get up the cliff as stealthily as possible. Bob enlarged Tony and made him invisible. Tony did his best to climb the cliff as quietly as he could. When he reached the top, he found a large covered shelf. The flying creatures were here. One was curled up against the back wall but the other must have heard something because it was right in front of Tony and heading towards the cliff. Not wanting the creature to get loose to attack his friends, Tony seized his advantage and attacked. Everyone else tried to get up the cliff as best they could. Edic scrambled up the cliff. Torcyn began to levitate upwards. Greg and Bob began to climb. Ernie stayed back in case someone needed healing. In the meantime, Tony did his worst against the two creatures, severly injuring one of them, but in the end they proved to be too powerful. Everyone who was climbing reached the top just in time to see Tony fall to the ground. His body rolled back off the cliff and landed at Ernie’s feet. Greg and Edic killed one creature. Torcyn hit the other with balls of fire. Bob glitterdusted it, leaving it blind. The blind creature tried to escape by taking to the air, but before it could get very far, Torcyn incinerated it with a raging cone of flame. Searching the shelf, they found a scroll and some coins. One section of the walls was covered with dwarven symbols, but they could not read them.

Meanwhile, Ernie tried to help Tony but it was clear that he was dead. The party climbed down from the shelf then carried the body of their dead hero back to Stonekeep.