Session Notes for 2005-04-03

July 22nd

We reconvene the next day at the Lord's manor. We're escorted into the same waiting room.

Sitting on the desk is an old, leather-bound book. The others examine the book. They can read only a few words on the first page: "one of many" and "power."

After a few minutes we're lead to a dining room. Lord Nuntio is waiting with a beautiful woman. The Lord is seated at the head of the table. Four chairs await us. We sit down and are served an exceptional meal. As we dine, Lord Nuntio and the mysterious woman chat about local events, largely ignoring us. He makes a token gesture to include us occasionally, but no one in the group is familiar with the people he is discussing. Based on their conversation, it seems Nuntio is bringing the woman up to speed. Perhaps she is from out of town.

Finally Nuntio thanks us for coming. He says he has further rewards for us and wished to see us again. He thanks us for our patience while he caught up with his "friend." Odd, he never mentions her name or introduces us. The entire time the woman studies us, almost staring. Perhaps she is trying to fix our faces in her mind.

At the end of the meal Lord Nuntio pulls a bag out of a chest of drawers. It clinks. He hands it to Dorian.

Lord Nuntio offers us another task. An artifact has been stolen from him by kobolds. The artifact, a gold statue, was stolen from one of his storehouses. There were eight kobolds involved in the theft.

The statue is gold and about a foot tall. It is of a woman wearing a crown and holding flowers.

Lord Nuntio believes that they have the statue in a cave two days away. One of his men followed them there. The cave is on the other side of a mountain by the city. The mountain is Mount Stormwind. There may be more kobolds in the cave; it may be their home.

We agree to fetch the statue. We purchase some supplies for the trip and head off to rest for the night.

July 23rd

We regroup before dawn and head out.

About mid-day, we see a carriage turned onto its side. Two orcs are poking at it. Morningglory shouts at them. A third head pops out of the door's window on the side. There are noises from someone else around the back.

Lyle speaks to the orcs. He learns that they attacked and took the carriage. The riders fled back to the city. The orcs want us to leave. They view the carriage as theirs. This clearly irritates Morningglory. She slays one of the orcs with a crossbow bolt and a general fight begins. Dorian and her dog slay the nearest one. I rush one to the side and knock him out with my staff. Dorian slays the last one.

The carriage has several boxes holding men's clothes.

Searching the orcs, there are sets of battered leather armor, a few javelins, a few falchions, and some gold.

We drag the orc bodies to the side. Morningglory collects some wood and we burn the bodies. Morningglory takes some paperwork found in the carriage.

The day ends uneventfully.

During my watch, it feels like something is watching us. I'm unable to pinpoint it and it doesn't seem malevolent. I let it pass.

July 24th

While preparing to set off, Morningglory mentions that she also felt something watching her during the night. Interesting.

The day goes by quickly. Near dusk we approach a cave. It might be the kobold cave. Lyle thinks we should stay there for the night. When Morningglory suggests that it might be the kobold cave, Lyle suggests we clear it out first.

Lyle scouts ahead. A warg is circling the area. We sneak up and fire upon the warg. Two quick volleys finish it off before it can start barking.

Lyle scouts a bit into the cave. He reports that there is something not too far in.

We're going to need light. Morningglorry offers to summon magical light. The plan is to sneak in, then attack when Morningglory summons the light.

Things work tolerably well. When the light appears we see ourselves facing four kobolds. Lyle shoots one, slaying it. They advance on us and a general melee begins. We quickly slay them, but not before I'm stabbed. They have leather armor, a few spears, and a few slings.

Having a moment to look around, the passages are smooth. This isn't a natural cave. Ahead the passage widens into an intersection. One passage curves off left. A narrow passage heads roughly forward. We head straight in.

The passage curves around to the left before opening up to a medium sized room. Four kobolds are there. We make quick work of them. Again, I take some damage. There is more leather armor and some spears.

I've taken several wounds. Morningglory helpfully invokes her god's blessing to heal me.

The passage snakes further back. Lyle notices what he thinks is a secret door in the wall. Morningglory marks it with chalk so that we can return later to find it.

Further ahead, another chamber, this time with five kobolds. The kobolds rush up to us, pinning us in the narrow corridor. Morningglory shoots down the first one, freeing me to move into the room. We slay them with only Dorian taking a minor wound. We find some more leather armor and spears.

Deeper in the room is some gold, silver, and copper. The gold statue of a woman we've been looking for is also here.

The rest of the group is interested in searching the remainder of the complex. I'd rater leave, but the rest of the group seems set on it.

The secret door leads to a small room. Inside are three boxes. One contains a small greatsword. One contains a large pile of silver pieces. The third pouch contains a velvet pouch. The pouch contains a grey rock with a hole in the middle.

We check the branch we passed earlier. We notice some holes in the wall. Lyle examines them but doesn't think he can do much about them.

Lyle rolls a pouch of silver down the hall. Darts shoot out of the holes. Interesting. We crawl through the passage. The passage twists around and ends in a stone door.

Thinking about it, all these passages have been sized for creatures larger than kobolds. The kobolds cannot be the original owners.

I grasp the doorknob. The knob is sticky with something and I'm paralyzed. Morningglory examines me and determines that I'll recover in several minutes. Lyle rinses the handle with water. I recover and we press on.

Beyond the door is a library. The walls are lined the shelves. The shelves hold decaying books. The language in the books is unfamiliar. Lyle finds a book is tolerably good shape. While none in the group can read it, it has several illustrations. One illustration is a map of the local area. There are several pictures of doorways with writing around them. Finally, there is a grid with symbols in some of the squares. We take the book.

Lyle examines the statue. He guesses the gold is worth perhaps 1,500 gold pieces.

The statue is of a beautiful woman with extremely long hair. She has flowers in her hair and dress. She wears a full length gown. Her ears are more pointed than elven ears.

We camp in the library.

July 25th

We hit the road. Nothing of note happens and we camp along the road. Nothing of note happens during the night.

July 26th

I wrap the statue up in my blanket so it is less obvious.

Around mid-morning we find the carriage. The boxes are still there. We take the boxes.

Dorian and Lyle get the sense we're being watched. Very odd.

We arrive back in town unassaulted. We head to the manor. We're escorted to the waiting room. Morningglory notices that the book is still present, but is now on a shelf. Lord Nuntio eventually arrives through his secret door in an elaborate dressing gown. He pays us and asks us to return tomorrow for another task. We receive another bag of gold.

Morningglory suggests that we go to a high class establishment and purchase dinner. We divide the gold. We've been paid 1,500 gold. I have a great deal of money. I wonder what I should do with it.

We sell some of the things we found and split up our other loot. I receive several hundred more gold.

Morningglory casts a magic and determines that the small greatsword is magical. The rock isn't.

Looking over the paperwork, the name "Marius" is common to them. They are all shipping related.

750 4 orcs, 13 kobolds