April 25, 2003

The group started in Weston, having a goodbye party for Holten.  Only they had the party after Holten had already left!  A dwarf, Devrik Aggerring, one of the Aggerring Dwarves that the group had helped in Smaragholt came to the manor house looking for Haggar with a gift.  Devrik  was informed that Haggar no longer was active in the adventuring lifestyle and may be found somewhere on the edge of town with his wolves.  After staying at the party and getting along well with Wyatt, Sunche, Xavia & Artimus, Devrik  was asked if he wanted to accompany the newly named Weston’s Warriors to Greyhawk.  The group had heard that a general call for adventurers had gone out from Jallarzi Sallavarian, one of the Circle of Eight. 

 Weston’s Warriors set out the next morning for the trip to the City of Greyhawk.  About halfway through the trip, they were attacked by an old manticore and six lions.  The manticore very nearly killed Xavia.  Sunche was also seriously hurt during the battle, but that has become expected.  The manticore’s lair was searched and the group found some coin, a Lion’s Shield and a potion of Ghoul Touch.  After defeating the manticore & lions, the group finally arrived in Greyhawk.  Artimus went to the Guild House of the Arcane Order to see if he could find out where to find Jallarzi.  The Guild Magistrate told him to look in the Laughing Stag Inn for representatives of Jallarzi Sallavarian.  When he was walking out he was approached by Lantar Kaland, a new member of the Order.  It seems that he had received a letter from his family in Hommlet.  His family reported that there had been increased problems of late.  Unfortunately for Kaland, everyone he talked to had dismissed any problems in Hommlet, knowing that the threat of evil there had been disposed of a long time ago.   

The group went to the Laughing Stag, where Wyatt & Devrik  immediately began to sing a series of dwarven war songs, much to the displeasure of most of the patrons.  Finally, after many songs and ales, Janel Thrumbright came over to the table where Artimus and the group were seated.  Thrumbright told them that the call for adventurers was old, and was for a request of adventuring companies to perform reconnaissance missions into the lands controlled by Iuz.  Thrumbright told the group that perhaps if they were willing to wait a while, perhaps days, maybe weeks, she was sure that another group of adventurers would be needed.  Most of the group at this point were ready to go to Hommlet just to see what was happening and not being stuck in Greyhawk for weeks on end.

 Also, Artimus has gained the nickname/title “The Archmage of Weston”.

 

May 2, 2003

So that Artimus was not the only one with a nickname, Sunche gained the nickname “the Parakeet”.  Also, Wyatt disclosed that he named his weasel familiar “Holten”.  The rest of the party isn’t sure if he actually turned Holten into his weasel.

 The group left Greyhawk and began their journey to Hommlet to see what Lantar Kaland’s father wrote Lantar about.  On their way they were attacked by two brown bears which they easily dispatched.  Also on the road to Verbobonc, at a roadside rest called “The Wandering Tree”, the group’s breakfast was poisoned after which they were attacked by the Illithid from Brindinford, Garleth Axom.  Based on Axom’s journal they found in his room after Weston’s Warriors killed him & one of his henchman and captured the other, Axom has been looking for a way to get back at the group of hero’s since they thwarted his nearly successful takeover attempt in Brindinford.  He had been waiting at the Wandering Tree for some more people he could convert into followers would come along when into the inn walked the very people he despised and wanted so badly to kill and feed on their brains.  Alas for Garleth, that was not to be his fate.  After a tense time in the early battle where Wyatt and Sunche succumbed to the knock-out poison in their breakfast and Xavia was hit with a mind blast early in the fight that stunned her until the fight was over, the party ultimately defeated the aggressors.  Axom was killed before he had a chance to plane shift away. 

The party reached Hommlet about two weeks after leaving Greyhawk and proceeded to Kaland’s family home.  Kaland’s mother was somewhat surprised that someone actually responded to her husband’s letter to their son.  Her husband, Laurash Kaland, appears to be a somewhat addled gardener who, as his wife likes to put it, “talks to rocks”.  He explained that he wrote the letter to his son because things feel “wrong” in the area.  A general unease has set in.  Without any solid evidence or any leads to follow, the group went first to a local scrollmaker to repurchase his wares and then on to the Inn of the Welcome Wench.

 

May 9, 2003

At the Inn of the Welcome Wench, Devrik & Wyatt met up with the local (not-so talented) bard, Redithidoor Halfmoon and sang some dwarven war songs to Redithdoor’s accompaniment on the recorder.  As happens from time to time, Sunche went off to find a quiet spot for some long meditative silence.  After repeated pleas by Xavia to stop, and a period of time where Wyatt sang like a chipmunk (courtesy of some magics by Artimus), Devrik & Wyatt sat down to eat with Artimus & Xavia.  Devrik ordered “the left side of the menu” which was 9 complete dinners, while Wyatt & Xavia each ordered one of the Inn’s specials.  Artimus was still annoyed by the knock-out poison from their encounter with Garleth Axom at The Wandering Tree, especially since his magic ring of sustenance doesn’t require him to eat.  He decided not to partake in any of the delicious looking & smelling food.  As the party bickered with each other over what a waste of time this trip was, and what they should do next, a half-elf from the next table introduced himself as Kayunc.  He told them that he could not help but overhearing their discussion (since he was eavesdropping) and began to (in his mind) regale the group with tales of his own adventuring days.  It seems this Kayunc was one of the adventuring company that cleared out and closed down the Temple of Elemental Evil the second time.  He said that he was intimately familiar with the Moathouse and the Temple and if they were going that way, would be interested in accompanying them. 

Kayunc, a self-described tracker and trap-finder, had settled in Homlett after the Temple’s threat had been countered, becoming a carpenter & woodworker.  He knows Laurash Kaland, and agreed that he can be a bit befuddled, but was basically a good man.  Kayunc wasn’t aware of any trouble in town, but had been getting restless lately and had been considering for some time if the settled life was for him.  He eagerly offered to help the group in their investigations, even forgetting to request some compensation for acting as a guide.   They stopped at Spugnoir’s potion shop for some supplies and learned from Renne, Spugnoir’s 10 year old daughter that Spugnoir hadn’t been home for a number of days.  Knowing that the dwarf Haunor normally keeps an eye on Renne when Spugnoir is out gathering alchemical supplies for his potions, Kayunc and the rest of the group sought him out to find out about Spugnoir.  They learned that he has been missing for three days, and hadn’t left word that he would be gone even overnight.  When the group told Haunor that they were heading to the remains of the Moathouse, he let Kayunc know that Spugnior often went there to search the ruins.  Haunor asked Kayunc to find Spugnoir and bring him back.

On the way to the Moathouse, which stands about 10 miles from Hommlet, the group ran in to ol’ Del, a trapper who occasionally sells his pelts in Hommlet. Recognizing Kayunc, he warned them about a dragon he saw at the Moathouse a couple of days back.  Artimus used the arcane energy provided by his polymorph magics to transform himself into a large gold dragon, which startled ol’ Del.  Del said it was smaller, and blue not gold.  Wyatt dug a book out of his sack and proceeded to give a lesson in dragon lore to Del and the rest of the group.  As the rest of the group heard of the presence of a dragon in the ruins, they prepared themselves with enchantments to increase their strength, protection and endurance.

20 minutes later, they reached the ruins of the Moathouse.  Artimus “went Filo”, becoming invisible and flew above the ruins, scouting.  Kayunc was almost immediately attacked by a giant frog that was easily dispatched by the party.  Shortly after entering the courtyard of the Moathouse, the group was attacked by a young blue dragon who hovered above the courtyard, blowing up dirt & debris, effectively blinding the adventurers.  All except for Artimus, who was flying above the dustcloud.  The party was challenged by the concealment granted the dragon by the dust, and Xavia & Devrik took a full blast of the dragon’s lightning breath weapon, but ultimately prevailed.  Once the dust settled Artimus, Devrik, Wyatt & Kayunc pounced on the corpse of the young dragon and proceeded to separate its horns, scales, wing-flesh and even its heart and other internal organs from the corpse.  The group found two corpses in the room that had become the dragon’s lair, one dressed like a rogue with black studded leather armor, and the other had priestly robes over his chainmail and was wearing a lilac-colored stone mask.  The priest had a magical mace and the thief a magic shortbow.  Searching the rest of the main level of the ruins, the adventurers found the stairwell down, and in one large room in the southeast corner of the ruins, Kayunc disturbed a gray ooze.  The group made short work of the jelly, but not before it dissolved Kayunc’s magical longsword.  As Kayunc attacked and hit with both his longsword and shortsword, he was horrified when he couldn’t get the ooze off of his weapon.  He succeeded to remove it from his magic shortsword, but by the time he could fling it from his longsword the weapon had been completely eaten away as if by acid.  Aggravated by the loss of his favorite weapon, Kayunc took up the magic mace found earlier as a temporary replacement and the group prepared to descend down the steps to the dungeon under the Moathouse.

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