Episode 5.5

Brad, Kathy, Ernie, Greg

When they returned to the mines, they found another note from JG that said “I thought I would lend a hand.” Hearing the sound of a battle ahead, they cautiously crept forward and found two groups of gnolls battle each other. One group was being directed by a leader that was holding back from the fight. Brad, invisible, rushed to the leader to attack but unfortunately fumbled his attempt. The fight shifted as first one group and then the other decided to attack the party instead of the opposing gnolls. The party won the battle, but the leader escaped.

They continued forward, with Brad in the lead, when he suddenly turned about and tried to snatch Ernie's holy symbol. The rest of the party quickly realized that Brad must have been affected by some type of charm and tried to stop him. Ernie, Greg and Kathy each took turns grappling with Brad. The holy symbol changed ownership numerous times as it was snatched, dropped and knocked out of other people's hands. Greg eventually used far hand to return the symbol to Ernie, who finally cast a spell to make himself larger and stronger. Intent on beating the monk into unconsciousness Ernie attacked the monk, but Brad grabbed the symbol away from him and tried to flee with it. The monk could not have known that Kathy blocked his escape with an invisible wall of force and ran into it at full speed, stunning him. Trapped between the wall of force and the party, the monk was nearly beaten to death when the compulsion ended. Brad told the party that when he had rounded the corner, he had seen the gnoll leader they were chasing and that it had charmed him somehow. The group again returned to rest.