SESSIONS 13, 14, 15 & 16 - HALLOWED BE THY GAME

[all illustrations & captions provided by Leif, Elf Ranger]

Djarel, cleric of Dawnbringer, had to be carried out of the Smoking Leprechaun after drinking half of a green-tinted beer - on their way back to the Spooky, Old Tree the party noticed some strange dirt mounds & investigating, found 4 dead groundhogmen who had some items on them - back @ the tree the party pulled together for a work party & tidied the place up & Djarel started on an altar to Dawnbringer in the spider lair - the heart of the session surrounded the party's experiment w/ the words issued from the expired spider's wounds, about knocking in the hall w/ statues - they made their way to the hall w/ the crawfishmen armor, & sure enough, after tapping one of the statues in the proper fashion, were met by an owl oracle of sorts - a Q&A transpired & the party learned much about what Eric Talbot was up to as well as other various info about the tree & surrounding area - some hallowed hash was smoked by the party back @ Djarel's altar to Dawnbringer - then they capped the night off outside the tree as Amadi did what his book told him to do (do snow angels in grass staring at the moon) - he suddenly felt rather wise, he told others to do it, & they became wiser as well - soon after, the silhouette of zombies was seen on the horizon, headed toward the wise & jolly party...

 "I am not a teacher. I am a teller," said the owl.

In response to the approaching zombies, the party, though mechanically slowed by the effects of the hallowed hash, decided to move to the winding staircase @ the back of the Old, Spooky Tree to gain elevation; w/ the two gnolls in back, the party made it a ways up the stair before engaging w/ the undead. The hallowed hash aided in their fight against the zombies, & some impressive fighting (Amadi w/ some choice knife throws were of note) was seen; however, the gnolls were ultimately destroyed by the nine zombies - finally doing away w/ the last, the party took some time out to bury the gnolls. It was then decided that the party would bed down for the night & in the morning leave for Talbot, & ultimately back into Crackenmore.

 RIP Gnollan & Mellon, 17th of the Hummingbird

So the next morning, 18th day of the Hummingbird, the party, w/ Magus this time, traveled west & south back down to Talbot. One their way, they came across an old, capsized wagon w/ weeds grown all up & around. A good search reveals a large barrel of some liquid, a beer of some sort, still in fine condition if not in better for the aging. The party decides to transport the barrels back to the tree. This takes most of the morning. Heading back, they make it to Talbot in the afternoon & gathering supplies at the General Outfitter, come into a bit of an altercation w/ one, Bronze Cooter, & his sidekick, Nasty Dog. They are told they need to leave town. The party manages to leave Bronze & nasty w/o any fighting. They make their way to the Talbot Curosity shop where they meet Stetling Conian, a quiet type. They buy numerous things, & looking more Hallowed Hash, find none, though they do score a nice stash of Nugs of Nobility. They do however manage to trade one smoke of Amadi's Flying Cloud for what Stetling says is a magic shield. Stetling seems amazed to see anyone w/ the Flying Cloud & tells them that it is an item sought out by many & he will have no trouble selling it, though he doesnt exactly know its benefits/effects. Asking about magic-users in town, Stetling tells the party they may wish to consult w/ Miss Crumbleberry, the fortuneteller, who is just next door. Information from Miss Crumbleberry seems to be a bit slight, though they do learn that a powerful magic-user named Halius lives in the Moorhouse SW of Talbot. Likewise Leif or Djarel's fortune is read (I cant remember which) where Miss C sees them inside a room of a cave where there is a cave entrance far up above them & wearing magic shoes of some sort they jump up to the entrance. Lastly, the party visits the scholar in town, Gondo Kelp, who they find is working on a book, commissioned by Furthermoor City in regard to the Cult of the Black Dog, & the Black Dog phenom in general. Gondo about falls on his face when Djarel presents him w/ the Cult of the Black Dog book found in Crackenmore. Of course Gondo had heard of the volume, though has never been able to find a copy. Djarel allows him to borrow the book for a trade. The party pick up a few books surrounding Illusion, Goblin Religion & one about a God of Healing.

 "you are in a dark place. you see an entryway. high above the ground there is a small passage in the wall near the ceiling. you are wearing air jordans."

Finally, the party retires to the Green Lantern Inn where they rent a room to store their belongings (most importantly the armor Djarel found that he wants to have resized - so far unable to locate an armorer) & the rest of the party stays in the common room.

Upon waking the next day, the 19th of the Hummingbird, the party finally makes their way toward Crackenmore, through the cemetery. After a brief skirmish w/ some strange Wolf Bats, the party rigs the statue & enters down into Crackenmore. This time, Leif notices a secret door in the second pair of alcoves. This corresponds w/ the gnoll's map. Passing through the secret door, the party finds a new section of Crackenmore; however, they also find that the gnoll map still just brings them confusion. When they wrap down around a long hallway they come upon a pack of 6 Kobolds trying to enter a door on a north wall. Surprising the Kobolds, the party has little trouble in dispensing of them, a few running down the corridor further east & disappearing through a door further down the corridor. The party decides to focus on mapping these corridors, leaving smash marks in the obsidian walls w/ a hammer. They decide not to enter any doors. Backtracking, they come upon a solo Kobold who gets a fierce stab into Telal, before the K is killed. Moving on, the party maps a number of hallways wrapping around, finding many doors, a secret door included. Things are going well w/ mapping, until something strange happens. Out front, Leif & Telal turning a passage, toward a door, soon find the floor below them turn into a short slide & they fall 40' below into a cold, cavernous pool. The trap snaps back above them.

"tellel and amadi had just hit the ground. i knew what was coming next. she appeared as a small dot in the distance. suddenly she was upon me. now she lies still."

Soon, they can see the trap open back up, & easing down, on a rope in Magus the Dwarf. As Magus slowly descends, suddenly, those left above smell a horrible stench & then see two large lizard-like creatures turning toward them from back down the corridor - a split decision is made & the rest of the party jumps onto the trap, falling through it, & all into a pile into the cold water. Telal is lucky to make it to the shore w/ his life intact after it had flashed suddenly before his eyes; the fate of Rown, cleric of the Great Church, is still not known, however. At death's door, she needs magical healing. The party regroups on the shore of the pool, now down in a cavern, shivering, wandering what further adventures this return to Crackenmore will bring...

1:20 PM, 19th of the Hummingbird, Crackenmore, Furthermoor

Note to players: feel free to leave comments regarding add'l/more detailed info you learned in game etc. May be a handy place to leave that stuff for future reference if you find yrself ever referring back to these posts

SESSION 12 - ONE STIRGE, ONE CLERIC & ONE PEDDLER

In that the party battles the Stirges - becomes cordial w/ a Lady of the Faith - Mends a bridge & kills a Spider for ancient coin - Reads about Eric Talbot - Wanders north & into an outgoing peddler - Onward into the hamlet of Avalon...

PARTY CAST:
Leif, elf ranger - LE
Djarel, cleric of Dawnbringer - RM
Telal, thief - JT
Amadi, magic-user - MN
Rowan, cleric -JB
Gnolan, charmed gnoll - NPC
Mellon, freed gnoll - NPC
Magus, dwarf - MIA

ENCOUNTERED NON-PARTY NPCs:
Stagger Lee - traveling salesman

So around 7:20 PM, on the 15th of Hummingbird, the party is attacked by 3 STIRGES as they try to re-enter the tree... Battle ensues & though Melon Gnoll takes some stirge sucking, the party offs them fairly easily, locating a number of gems in place of the stirge eyes, 3 gems in all: 2 avg sized yellow diamonds & 1 large, chipped, ruby.

The party funnels back into the tree as darkness totally descends & finds a female cleric bedding down, but amiable. She introduces herself as Rowan, & is apparently following up on leads regarding Eric Talbot, a legend of faith in some parts. The party quickly briefs Rowan on their intentions & before long Leif is locating the secret door to lead them back into the tree, they then head back up the staircase over the water, & after an elaborate plan, are able to cross to the other side, over the 2, now awake alligators. On the other side they move up the unsearched staircase to the NW & Leif takes a mad hit from a wrecking ball swinging down after sprung from the stair.  But Telal notices a HUGER SPIDER as they begin to notice the webs, scrolling up, not used to company lately, it is somewhat surprised, the party goes & goes until it spins around & drops & Djarel races up w/ Kumiss & finishes the spider off. The party finds mad coin spread about the edges of the room, deep through webbing & dust...  1100 cp, 3000 sp, 7000 gp, 2000 ep... The party camps out in the room for the night & Amadi reads Eric Talbot's journal aloud. The beginnings tell of Eric's turn into a were-crawfish, & the struggle & his finally leaving Talbot altogether; it then mentions this stronghold he found & as well an old town just north, near where a battle took place between the Crawfishmen & the Groundhogmen called Avalon. The remainder of the book details different battles & it ends in a cut-off way, vs. any resolution or breather entry.

The next morning the party leaves the tree & heads back to the road, leaving the 2 gnolls w/ Magus, Amadi instructing Gnolan to guard the place, etc. They started heading north toward this place called Avalon until they came across a roving peddler w/ mule & buggy, heading south. Goes by the name, Stagger Lee. After propositioning his adventure wares, he flashed a few strains of weed @ the travelers, some Flying Cloud & some Lizard's Lunch. Amadi was interested in the Flying Cloud, but the price was too high. Amadi was able to haggle Stagger down to 400 gp for 2 smokes. Stagger kept sayin, "You may only see this once in a lifetime." Off to Avalon they went, entering the hamlet around 8:45 AM, a boarded up place to the left, a place w/ a swinging door to the right, some noise coming from it, The Smoking Leprechaun.

9 AM, 16th day of the month of the Hummingbird, Avalon, Furthermoor

SESSION 11 - SLEEPY OWLBEAR, SLEEPY ALLIGATOR

We had three playas back into the norm game tonight:  LE w/ Leif the elf ranger, MN w/ Amadi the m-u & RM w/ Djarel the half-orc cleric - extras were the gnolls, Gnolan (charmed) & Melon (freed), as well as two MIAs this week, Telal the thief & Magus the dwarf... ANYWAY, the quick & dirty:

3:40 PM, there's a door down the hallway, looks carved into the inside of the tree here, Telal takes a good while to check it out & eventually gets something to pop in the moldy keyhole & then nudge the door open.  The party finds a groggy & confused owlbear inside, the room is about 30' x 30' circle, 12' high ceilings, they notice a ladder going up into a hole in the ceiling across the room.  Leif casts Speak w/ Animals & starts trying to parley w/ the owlbear.  The owlbear isnt having it however & becomes hostile, but doesnt attack.  After much talk, Leif presents an offer that they could bring the owlbear an alligator to eat if he'd let them pass.  The owlbear agrees to the offer, reluctantly, & begins dozing a bit as the party goes about making this happen.  The gnolls & Djarel are sent to retrieve one of the alligators, & luckily, they are all still asleep.  They manage to secure one w/ ropes & drag it to the owlbear's lair in about 45-60 minutes...  While the owlbear dozed, the party waited @ the door & looking around the layer noticed what looked to be a throne carved into the wood on the wall across the circular room/// when the alligator finally makes it, the owlbear attacks it w/ gusto, hacking, hugging it to death, then beaking out large chunks of meat; the party moves around the room toward the throne where Melon spots his two bags of silver, they grab them, then examine the throne where below, in a hole behind cobwebs, they find a small chest, they then grab a statue of a paladin from a table nearby & then book it up the ladder, all while the owlbear still worked on his dinner...  Atop the ladder they come to a room where a hole leads down into dark, or a window to a staircase they can see; first trying the hole, they go down a bit w/ a rope, but then come back & exit the window & down the staircase, out of the tree & into the plain.  There in the grass they inspect their findings, busting open the chest, they find two books:  one a journal of some sort, quick glance shows Eric Talbot's name on the front page, then the other is a larger tome that seems concerned w/ understanding the universe, also, in a corner, is a tuft of Spanish moss.  It is 6:40, the sun setting, so the party decides to enter back in the hollow branch they entered the tree in earlier; however, as they reach the branch, & Telal goes in w/ rope, plus the two gnolls, 3 stirges appear from nowhere, perhaps in top of tree, or somewhere else, swooping down on them...

7:20 PM, Friday, 15th day of the month of the Hummingbird, Talbot, Furthermoor

SESSIONS 9 & 10 - THESE AREN'T THE GNOLLS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR

In which the party untraps zombies from a cell - Djarel gets rushed to the Church of the White Widow - The party tries to convince Goody that thieves killed Shadow - A day of rest is in order - Unrest in & outside Talbot Outfitters - Gnoll Too leads the party into the rolling fields north of Talbot - Inside an old tree Leif senses a secret door & the party investigates...

PARTY CAST:
Leif, elf ranger - LE
Djarel, cleric of Dawnbringer - RM
Telal, thief - JT
Amadi, magic-user - MN
Gnolan, charmed gnoll - NPC
Mellon, freed gnoll - NPC
Magus, dwarf - MIA

ENCOUNTERED NON-PARTY NPCs:
Chill Deeter - holy man @ Church of the White Widow
Goody Threeshoe - barkeep @ the Green Lantern Inn
Dashdalian - traveling bard
Leonard Loonberry - hobbit owner of Talbot Outfitters
Farmer John & 4 of his friends - 2 w/ shovels, 2 w/ spears, FJ w/ sword

Before heading up out of the jail below the Gambling Hall, the party weighs their options & decide to try one more of the remaining jail cell doors... One of the gnolls beats down the door & four zombies move about. Djarel forces entry, brandishing the symbol of Dawnbringer, but the zombies keep on toward the door. They start clawing into the two gnolls who end up crunched over in a corner outside the door, a zombie on top of them & before the party can get the best of the 4 zombies, Djarel takes a serious blow that puts him @ Death's Door. Once the zombies are bested, they lift Djarel, rush out of the Gambling Hall & move west to the Church of the White Widow. It is late at night by this time, & inside the church, where they see a massive, sparkling spider @ back upon a dais, sits a man, quietly. He offers his services for a contribution of 20 gold. Leif is quick to hand over the $. The holy man, Chill Deeter, casts a spell upon Djarel who begins to groan & flounder a bit. Everyone is happy to see he hasnt kicked the bucket. They return him to a bed in the common room @ the Green Lantern & go in & speak w/ Goody who is cleaning up. Though they speak of Shadow dead down in the bottom of the Gambling Hall, killed by thieves, Goody doesnt quite seem to buy it & asks them why exactly he should believe them. They retire for sleep & in doing so, cause a bit of a controversy as a few others there, like a bard named Dashdalian, are not so psyched on their gnoll friends. The next day the party stays the entire day @ the inn, resting. The inn seems oddly quiet all day, which is fine w/ them. On the following morning, they leave the inn & go next door to Talbot Outfitters so that Leif can purchase items to replace those he lost when captured. Like the inn, the town seems rather dead except for a handful of men standing down the strip, in the road, watching the party as they enter the Outfitters. The owner/clerk, Leonard Loonberry, refuses to do business w/ them & after a while agrees to sell the items if the gnolls leave the store. He tells them that word around town is that they killed Shadow & rescued this other gnoll. Leonard tells them this gnoll they rescued robbed his shop @ one time. The party calms him down w/ their purchases & assures him they are trying to do the right thing & are actually trying to get to the bottom of who killed Shadow, saying they are being wrongly accused. Though Leonard doesnt seem to totally buy their story, he gives them enough slack to get what they want & get out of there...

As they exit the shop, they find that the men from down the strip are now just outside the shop, in a semi-circle surrounding the gnolls. The two on the outside have spears, the two closer in have shovels & the guy in the middle has a sword. He's the one that starts taunting the party, waving his sword. Farmer John says they better get the hell outta town & never come back. They are convinced the party killed Shadow & they dont like these gnolls they're runnin' w/. After a bit of a stand-off, the party simply walks through their line, calling their bluff. Farmer John & his lackeys dont do anything, but Farmer John keeps telling them they better not come back to Talbot, or else.

By mid-morning the party is north of Talbot walking through the fields - they are being led by Mellon (gnoll 2), who finally noticing a few dips in the plain, inside a slight valley, brings them to an old, gnarly tree. The tree is extremely massive @ its base, though not that tall; a bit stunted it seems & dying. About five feet up, there is a broken, hollow branch that looks to lead into the tree. Gnoll Too says this is where he hid the bags of silver. The party tells him to go in & get it & Telal lends him his rope. After about 5 or 10 mins in the tree, the gnoll shows his head out the hole & is irritated. He tells the other gnoll & Leif that the bags are gone & says he knows this is the place b/c he specifically disarmed a pit trap the last time. The party decides to enter the tree to check it out. Telal lights up a torch. Sure enough they see the pit trap & spikes & a skeleton down there. But as Leif looks about the hollowed out room, which is about 10 feet high & 10 feet in diameter, he senses something about the north wall. He goes over & lays his hands about, & sure enough, feels the crease of something there. Telal comes over & helps investigate & before long they are opening a secret door which once opened, reveals a stair that suspends up into darkness... They can hear the slow slosh of water somewhere. In order, the party climbs the creaky stair, reaching a dirt landing of sorts, but as Djarel, who was last, gets close to the landing, the stair wobbles & snaps & Djarel falls...  hitting something rubbery he pops off & into the water which is not very deep but next something whips around, what he landed on & an alligator is swinging it's jaws @ him, missing, two other alligators can then be heard splashing from each side, further away... Telal shines his torch down there & then tries pushing Mellon over ledge, but it backfires when Mellon simply grabs his hand & tosses him off, his torch landing beside the water, but not in it... Telal takes 1 damage from the fall...& everyone can hear Amadi chanting something, he's reading from a scroll & then suddenly the alligators are asleep, snoring, hacking up water...It takes a bit but the party heals the rift between Telal & Mellon & Telal & Djarel are hauled back up to the landing using the rope.

Another torch is lit & the party moves forward down a corridor, away from the stairs & the snoring alligators. They come to a 10 x 10 ft. clearing where another stair leads off upwards to their left, a passage also leads straight ahead, they head down the passage & enter into a 15 foot wide, 25 foot long room w/ webs about & as they move in they notice a large, golden key sticking down into the floor. After some talk, they turn the key. When doing so, a section of the north wall spins & opens. They pass through the opening in the north wall & come out into a 30 foot long hallway that smells of mold, about 10 feet wide, armor statues stand to each side, six in all... The armor is a funny cast as it looks to be armor for a crawfish-shaped man, long arms of armor opened for pincers, etc. Telal gets out front & searches for traps, scanning the armor, notices that the 2nd on the left has a pole arm attached to a trip wire. He is able to disarm it. They move in further & Magus slowly examines the armor, telling everyone that the second set on the right seems made of especially fine metals. The party takes time to bag up the suit of armor... They then notice a large collection of gray/black mushrooms growing up from the red rug running down the hall, 12 total, @ the center point of the room, they collect them all... They look down the hall to the other side & the doorway there, about 10 feet in front of them... They get back into a marching order, ready to move on...

3:40 PM, Friday, 15th day of the month of the Hummingbird, Talbot, Furthermoor

SESSION 8 - TALBOT GAMBLING HOUSE

So the consensus within the party was that Leif needed to be rescued. Goody Threeshoe said that most likely Leif was taken by some militia & was underneath the Gambling Hall. They all took a break. Amadi was tempted to begin work on copying his sleep scroll to his spell book, but knowing it would take some time, retired w/ Gnolan & decided to peruse his new found book on Mathematics & got about 1/3 through; Djarel read a bit of his book about Cult of the Black Dog; Magus & Telal both took a load off & caught a few Zzz's... The five eventually regrouped in the bar area & discussed their plan for rescuing Leif...

They got to the Talbot Gambling Hall around 5 PM & were surprised to find Goody Threeshoe inside @ the only table being used, in the center of the hall, where a roulette table was. Also @ the table was Delly Hammonds, the stonecarver, they first met when Magus was looking for work, & also they are introduced to Sam Gugs, the master brewer @ Mineral's Brewery. Surprised that the party already knows these fellows is the MC of the gambling hall, Shadow Jask, a buffed out brother, who is anxious to make his presence known. Other than those four are six other folks around the table: three farmer lookin' men & three shady lookin' mates w/ hoods, all eyeing the party suspiciously. Though everyone seems a bit questionable about Gnolan, they realize that Amadi is in control of him, the way he follows him, & they start in w/ Shadow about seeing Leif & letting him go free. Shadow restates the crime Leif is suspected of: accosting & robbing Lyla Dimmings (the Baron's daughter) of valuable jewelry while on her way to a formal gathering. Shadow asks if they have an alibi for Leif for a day & a half ago. They all speak @ once, saying they were in Crackenmore. Leif was w/ them. Everyone's jaw drops. Shadow says, "Crackenmore?! Are you kidding me? What were you doing in Crackenmore & how do we know you were really there?" Djarel steps up w/ Kinchen's shield & brandishes it proudly, pointing to the inscription reading Kinchen Forever. "Found in Crackenmore, my friends," he says. Those around the table are quite impressed. "But how do we know that the elf was w/ you?" asks Shadow. "Hey," says Goody, "can you spin the wheel already? & then we can deal w/ this." Rattled, Shadow asks if any of them want to place a bit before he spins & gambling addict Magus reaches deep & places the 18 gp he gained from Crackenmore on black. Shadow rolls. RED 7. Oh well, no one ends up winning. Shadow scrapes up the coins & pockets them. "By the way," says Shadow, "you all will need to deposit any weaponry you are carrying into the bank." There is a bit of resistance, but as the three fellows w/ hoods stand & circle the party, after noticing Telal trying to sneak closer the door on the north wall, things get more serious & Shadow presses that they must deposit any weapons they have in the gambling hall. He leads them to a door in the SW corner of the hall & then they watch as he takes their weapons one-by-one as they hand them to him. "Now can we get Leif out?" asks Amadi. "You may have that shield, but nothing proves that the elf was in Crackenmore. The bail is 650 gold," says Shadow. Gulps can be heard around the room. The party presses Shadow about going down to @ least see Leif, but is shot down. "Can ya'll go down?" he asks the 3 hooded folks & they promptly exit the door on the north wall. As everyone is back around the roulette table, Shadow included, Djarel & Magus get into a verbal fight of some sort, about gambling Magus' money away when they need it for bail, & Amadi grabs Shadow for discussion, bringing him over to the side; in the moment, Shadow lets it slip, "I have no call in all of this, the thieves guild are the ones w/ the control," then before Shadow knows it Amadi is subtly casting Charm Person on him & as the argument dies down, Shadow is now asking what he can do for Amadi & the party. "How much money do you have, Shadow?" asks Amadi. "I think about 1200 gold," says Shadow. "I would like to use your 1200 gold to free the elf," says Amadi. Shadow heads toward the bank door & then comes out lugging two large bags of coin. "What the hell?" says Goody. "I been gamblin' here how long? You never loaned me nothin' like that." He looks to the others still there, who also look a bit confused. "Can you take one of those bags & get Leif?" says Amadi. "Sure," says Shadow, "that shouldnt be a problem." Shadow heads out the door on the north wall, where the hooded fellows had disappeared to. The party then moves toward the bank room where they realize Shadow left the door ajar. Goody, Delly, Sam & the three yokels decide to gather their stuff & follow the party to the door where everyone grabs their weapons, them included, & then the party moves back to the center of the hall as the others leave the establishment. They wait. Shadow has not returned after 30 minutes. They decide to go through the door, w/ Magus leading. They pass through the door & go down a stair. They come to  room lit by torches in wall, a table in the middle w/ cards & some coin atop as well as a number of doors about. The party notices a body laying to the NE of the room, in front of a door. It's Shadow & he's dead. The sack of gold is nowhere to be found. Telal tries to unlock the door but is unable. Amadi then steps up, twirls & kicks it open. Inside they find Leif sitting on a dirt floor w/ his hands tied behind his back in a nasty knot, wearing only his simple clothes, all of his major belongings taken. Telal cuts him free & searches the room, but finds nothing; the party regroups in the room, & swipes the coinage from the table, eyeing the other doors about. They decide to try to door north of where they are.

Amadi tries to kick it open but fails. Telal then steps up, pulls out his tools & quickly has the door unlocked. They ease in & see that the room is split into to different openings...dirt floors like Leif's cell...as they get further in they first notice a figure hunched in the NW wing - nearing the figure they see that it is a gnoll w/ hands tied behind back. He begins speaking w/ Gnolan & Leif translates for the party. The gnoll was captured up north near the Enchanted Waste & he says that if they free him, he knows where as stash of 2000 silver is that he can pay them. The party frees the gnoll. They move to the other wing of the room where they evade a bear trap of some sort & against the wall find two coffers w/ 15 platinum pieces each. The party moves back into the main room & discusses their options. There they stand, 550 gp & 30 pp richer, now a party of seven individuals: a magic-user, a thief, an elven ranger, a half-orc cleric, a dwarf & two gnolls. Shadow's dead body crunched in the corner of the room. Amidst the discussions of whether to stay or go, & what to do about Leif's possessions, the freed gnoll adds that somewhere down here, supposedly, under the gambling house, is an entryway into what many gnolls refer to simply as the Old Tunnels.

7:00 PM

SESSION 7 - CRACKENMORE

So the two gnomes seem extremely interested in Gnolan, & Magus begins speaking w/ them, first asking if they know Common. They do not, as they come from an area far from those that speak Common. They go on to explain that they teleported here from their home, not "here" but nearby, to a place they cannot devulge; they explain that they heard of this rock from others that have ventured here & returned w/ great powers & treasures. They have been examining the rock now for 3 days, but have yet to figure it out. The party begins focusing on the glowing rock, & Leif begins rubbing it a bit, slowly, feeling a bit of tension in a small area, he breaks off a chip. The party debates about what to do w/ the chip until they have Gnolan put it in his mouth. Everyone watches as Gnolan just shrugs a bit, but then speaking to Leif, Leif notices that Gnolan's voice is slightly different slower, sloppier... A great debate arises about what to do, whether they should simply leave the rock alone, etc. The gnomes, however, who agree to guide the to an exit they know of, say they will not leave until they figure the rock out. So more chips are chipped & passed around. One by one, they decide whether to put it in their mouth or not, but ultimately all succumb to the temptation & realize how the magical rock affects them: Magus will eventually realize his CHA has lowered by 1, Amadi feels a surge that would heal all his HP, but he is already @ full, so just feels good all around, Leif eventually realizes he is stronger than before, +1 STR, Telal notices no effect whatsoever, & then Djarel is suddenly blind. The gnomes on the other hand, as far what the party can tell visually, one of them shows them a beautiful pearl gem that suddenly appeared in their hand once they put the stone in their mouth. Magus can tell it is of some value, @ least 500 gp. The gnome is extremely excited & seems fulfilled in his mission. The gnomes agree to guide the party out of the dungeon, mentioned that though they did notice some Troglodytes, they should be able to get past them. The party is eager to get back to Talbot. They follow the gnomes & within an hour & a half they are inching out of of a crevice into a field that is directly north of the Talbot Cemetery.

As the party collects themselves, they turn to find the gnomes gone. They talk about returning to town, but Djarel, still blinded, begins speaking of his warhammer left in the statue. The party agrees to guide him there to retrieve it. They move west & then down to the cemetery gates where they enter & move to where the statue of Dagwood Talbot rests. There in his left hand, he is gripping Djarel's warhammer. Someone guides Djarel's hand & when he grips it & pulls, it comes free, & a creaking can be heard from behind the statue where the door to Crackenmore is closing, rock rubbing rock. Subsequently, as the party heads back out of the cemetery, Djarel begins to perceive from his eyes, until he can fully see once back into Talbot proper. The party moves to the Green Lantern. It's 5 AM. Full of excitement, the party doesnt really wish to go right to sleep. Djarel retires to a room to worship for a while, refreshed w/ Detect Magic, he steps out & finds the others already into heavy conversation & cups w/ Goody Threeshoe. Djarel has them pile up all of their booty & casts Detect Magic on the pile. As it turns out, the shield that Djarel found, Kinchen's shield, is a magic shield (+1). Amadi, inspired & excited to study the scroll he found, insists on buying for everyone, round after round... It is quite a scene, the party slowly blitzed around the table now around 7 AM. Leif decides to venture out for a toke on some Hallowed Hash, comes back in, more drinks are had by everyone... But then, heading back out, Leif is accosted by about five men, & in his state, doesnt really catch it all, until he cant really fight back... Next thing he knows, he is in a cell of some kind & he can hear the men down a hall speaking of catching the person that robbed Lyla Dimmings. Apparently she told people it was an elvish type, that carried a bow. Otherwise, back @ the Green Lantern Inn, Djarel has a strange dream: he sees Dawnbringer, the Great Tulip, silver & yellow, wide open in the sun, & from out of it, orcs clad in black leather. He is standing behind a stone, & watching sees that they have a prisoner they are bringing out, a human prisoner, who is not moving, but whose eyes are wide. The prisoner is wearing a red vest & also has something in front of his eyes, on his nose that Djarel has never seen. As the prisoner is finally taken out, Djarel watches as he is set down & a number of orcs circle him. He reaches into a tube & pulls out a scroll of some sort & begins to unroll it... It is @ this moment that Djarel is awaken by Telal, "Djarel, get up, get up, did you hear about Leif?"

3 PM

SESSION 6 - CRACKENMORE

Magus is now back to the land of the moving & in that time also the party notices some mechanism on the north wall, w/ a lever.  After examining the lever, giddy & daring w/ his new, shiny shield, Djarel decides to pull it w/o any real discussion w/ the others.  A few seconds later they hear a massive crashing on the other side of the door.  They decide to leave the room & check it out.  Magus tries the door but fails.  Amadi steps up, twirls & gives the door a well-placed kick, opening it up...  They file into the E-W corridor, noticing a portcullis that is now to their direct east, blocking the dead end.  Also, they notice someone running their way from the W, a human, & behind the human, turning the corner, three Orcs.  Leif bolts to the northside of the corridor & whistles off an arrow @ one of the orcs, hitting it in the jugular, dropping it...  The other orcs approach after the thief nearing the others, swinging their clubs, one misses while the other strikes Gnolan in the ribs; then Magus, bumbling through like a tail back, plants his battle axe through the skull of one.  The last orc is now between them all, overwhelmed.  Having now composed himself from his flight, Telal the Thief (who the orcs had been chasing), circles around & jabs his dagger through the last orc's midsection.  The orc falls.  The party rests & Talel tells them of his previous party's demise, in some other twisted part of the dungeon.  They were lost & ambushed by orcs.  Telal was the only one to survive.  He thanks the party & joins them.

Viewing their map, they weigh their options.  They decide to head back to the secret door Leif located previously.  Leif opens the secret door & they find a relatively empty room save a 2" pile of rubble in the NW corner, chalky, white rubble, compared to the black, smooth obsidian walls.  The party spends some time searching the rubble & end up finding, @ the very bottom, a golden ring.  They put it in a bag w/ their other finds.

They exit the room & S, coming to an E-W passage.  They go W, then S, then E, S, W, until they come upon another S passage & a door on the north wall. Amadi steps up, circling, kicking; but his attempt fails; next thing Magus is barreling forward, crashing into the door, budging it open...   They enter the door & find the room quite familiar: an outcropping of cyrstalline rock shining from the NW corner.  The door shuts behind them & suddenly, Leif notices the water he had put on the floor previously appears, though not quite as much of it.  The party rolls out of the room, & once more disoriented, finds themselves in a N-S passage.  They go N, cut W, S, E, S, W, then S...  They go for a good while S, then cut E & S, coming to a door, they decide to skip the door & continue W where they pass another door, go S, then E, ultimately coming to a dead end & a door on the north wall of the corridor.  Amadi spins & kicks the door open.  The party moves into a 20' x 20' room w/ a stack of large, wood logs in the NE corner, a hole in the floor to the SE & a door in the NW wall.  Also of note is a large, iron ring protruding from the south wall, near the 3" wide hole.  After searching over the pile of wood & finding nothing, Amadi hangs his lantern down the hole a bit, but from what he can see it is just dark space, then, suddenly his lantern burns out.  Telal lights a torch & they decide to send Magus down the hole.  Using a 50' rope, they lower Magus down & after 40' he hits bottom, seeing that he is in a small room of a rough cavern w/ an opening to his NE.  One-by-one, the remainder of the party safely make their descent, leaving the rope hanging, tied to the iron ring in the wall above.  They travel NE out of the room, then S, then SW, slow through the cave, much more rugged & rocky than the corridors above.  They turn E & come to a junction where to the north they can see the cave open into an ante-chamber, & there is a glowing object on the north wall...  As they near, entering the room, they see that the glow is coming from a large, chunk of rock which appears to be mica.  It radiates magic strongly.  Suddenly, standing in the shadows just out of the glow of the radiating stone, the party notices two Gnomes standing there.  They appear to be just as surprised to suddenly find the party standing in the room.  Magus greets them in gnomish, "Howdy there, fellas."

9:30 PM

SESSION 5 - CRACKENMORE

Still within the room w/ the crystal outcropping, the party talks through what they have just experienced, not sure if this is the same room or not.  Leif takes out his waterskin & pours a bit of noticeable water on the ground.  At the same time, Amadi holds the gnoll map up to the crystal while shining his lantern at it, but nothing happens.  The party files out into the corridor around 2:20 PM, & once again find themselves disoriented.  They could have sworn that they entered this room northward from an E-W passage, but now, as the door closes behind them, they find themselves standing @ the south end of a N-S passage w/ a slight dead end to the east.  Their immediate reaction, while once more consulting their map, is that the room must be turning.  They decide to wander a bit through the corridors, taking careful notes, trying to trace back to something recognizable on their map.  This proves to be more difficult than they first thought as things just seem too different the further they get...  Moving northward, they soon enter a corridor leading to a turn eastward.  As they enter this short corridor, Leif senses something off about the western wall of the corridor.  The party halts as he searches the wall further, ultimately locating a secret door, the ridges well hidden within the smooth, black rock.  The party notes the door on their map, but choose to continue on w/ the task @ hand:  getting back to something noticeable.

They cut eastward for a good 100' before it turns south.  They follow the corridor, ultimately turning west once more which wraps them around inwardly until they funnel into another E-W passage.  The passage dead ends to the west.  The party decides to examine the dead end & go about throroughly searching it.  They locate nothing.  As they get ready to move on, turning eastward, they  notice 2 Orcs, one w/ a morning star, the other w/ a club, headed their way.  Though the Orcs dont look necessarily hostile, once they see the party bracing for battle, they ready themselves as well.

First out of the gate is Djarel, as a sudden hate for his orcish side seems to be surfacing, despising the chaotic strain of his blood, he swings his hammer w/ wild abandon @ the Orc w/ the club, getting a solid hit in there, but for only 1 damage...  At the same moment, the other Orc plants his morning star w/ a nasty thud into Magus' chest, knocking him back for a brutal 6 damage, he's just hangin on, tries to swing his battle axe in reply but misses dreadfully.  Leif then skirts around for position & feeling he has the shot, flings off an arrow @ the Orc w/ club, but things dont go as planned, & the arrow actually comes close to both Magus & Djarel but hits the rock  & splinters out.  Amadi then runs @ the Orc w/ the morning star, swirling his staff in a cyclone motion, landing a killer blow to the orc's head; it crumbles dead...  Gnollan, seeming a bit confused, rushes to Amadi's side.  The remaining Orc then swings his club @ Djarel, but misses.  Leif then having moved a bit further over, looses off another arrow, but again, this one misses, crashing into the rock wall, breaking.  Djarel has now regained his steady hand, but his rage is apparent in his face as he once again focuses his hammer on Orc flesh, this time w/ a disgustingly righteous hit the hammer folds into the Orc's face, so that when he yanks it out, the Orc's face pulls off & stuff goes everywhere, it is nasty, but effective.  They search the bodies surprised to find quite a bit of gold among them (35 gp), as well as a yellowish liquid in a vial.  Leif, still down a number of hits from the gnoll battle the day previous, grabs for the vial, remembering Magus quick drain of the last.  He smells it, the soft scent of daffodil, & then sips it, feels invigorated, then nothing.  He then drinks half of the potion, which is indeed a potion of healing, & he gains back 3 (or was it 4?) HP.  Djarel then nears Magus & begins humming & saying words no one can understand, moving his hands around, he touches Magus & suddenly Magus feels a good bit healthier, gaining back 4 HP from the Cure Light Wounds spell.

Collecting their things, the party continues east down to corridor to a door they noticed when entering the passage.  Amadi kicks the door open & they file in.  What they find is an Implement Room of sorts, everything from large iron vises, ropes, chains, mallets, unfinished arrows, wooden pegs & hacksaws, the party glances about, taking it all in.  They discuss items they may wish the leave w/.  Magus wonders over to the SW corner of the room, searching a bit deeper, where he sees a shiny shield behind some long iron bars, leaning over, reaching for the shield, he pulls it up, & while lifting it, also unrevealed is the tentacled face of a Carrion Crawler that is hidden along the base of the room behind stacks of empty barrels...  Leif gets a jump just as the Carrion Crawler slithers up, rearing up from it's prone position & pokes it in its body w/ his knife for 1 damage...  But this does not keep the Carrion Crawler's 8 tentacles from swarming & slapping Magus' dwarf figure numerous times, though he drops the shield, he is frozen otherwise, paralyzed...  But then, it's...  Gnollan! swinging his sword, missing [I cant remember if it was Leif or Gnollan that first hit the CC.  Do yall remember?] & also Amadi, sliding up, brandishing his staff once again & planting it solidly into the back of the Carrion Crawler's "head" knocking it out, dead, w/ impressive damage.  Leif congratulates Gnollan in gnollish for his efforts.  The party inspects the shield closer, noticing its exquisite craftsmanship, & also, in Common, toward the bottom, an inscription that reads, "Kinchen Forever".  The party decides to rest a bit, & so they take a load off, inspecting the items in the room, packing some of them, while watching for any change in Magus' condition.  It is about an hour later, @ 4:30 PM, when Magus begins to slowly move once more, grumbling something in Dwarvish, not happy in the slightest...

SESSION 4 - CRACKENMORE

So the party acquaints themselves w/ their new party member, the charmed gnoll & Amadi christens him, Gnolan.  They spread out & search the room, but find nothing of interest except for the other features of the room: a dais on the north wall, & lots of tables, the ones in the south of the room mainly turned over, where the battle against the gnolls took place.  The party decides to rest in the north section of the room, far from the door, w/ discussion of staying the night so that in the morning, both Amadi & Djinnger can refresh their spell abilities.  Also, there is concern for Magus' & Leif's wounds.  Discussion brews regarding the murky potion vial they found on one of the dead gnolls & Leif decides to smell it.  It smells of roses.  Magus asks to see it & takes a small sip from the vial.  He feels invigorated for a moment, but it quickly wears off.  Next thing they know, he turns the vial up & drains it.  Magically, his wounds heal up & he feels full HP once more.  Leif seems a bit irritated that he downed the entire thing, but talk turns back to whether to stay the night or not.  Djinnger in the meantime has secluded himself to the NW corner to meditate on the the Great Tulip, Dawnbringer.  Amadi on the other hand is bothering Leif to teach him some gnollish so he can start ordering Gnolan around, but Leif on the other hand is busy studying the map they found on one of the gnolls.  Leif ignores Amadi & asks Gnolan what he can tell him about the map.  Gnolan, quite simply, tells Leif that they actually just found the map in this room.  Magus & Leif then brew over the map a bit, until it is decided they will stay the night here in Crackenmore & take their chances w/ whatever lurks in the night.  They spread out & nibble @ their rations in the north part of the room & then plan a nightwatch...  But they hear something @ the door, @ the SE corner of the room, & watch as an Orc busts through, carrying a shield & a morning star.  Immediately, Djinnger, in orcish, asks, "Who goes there?"  The orc stops mid-room, grunts & then says, "What are you doing here?"  Djinnger begins threatening the orc.  Finally taking in the entire party sitting around, the orc seems confused.  Djinnger continues his threats, telling the orc if he doesnt leave now, he is in for it.  The orc backs up a bit & darts for the door.  In an impressive chain of events, Leif suddenly has his bow @ hand & almost flicks off two arrows @ the orc.  The first misses, but the second is quite a blunder, his hand slipping & the arrow not even making it off the string.  The orc gets away unscathed.  Djinnger moves to the south part of the room & spends some time barricading the door w/ a few of the overturned tables.  The party goes into sleep mode & rotate watch.  First it's Magus, then Gnolan, then Amadi, then Djinnger, & lastly, Leif, who wakes the party @ 6 AM.  For the next hour, after slight rations, Djinnger prays to Dawnbringer for Cure Light Wounds while Amadi studies his spell book for Charm Person once more.  The party collects their belongings & moves back through the SE door & into the corridor.  It is around 7:30 AM.  As they are doing this, Djinnger informs the party that he will no longer go by the name Djinnger, a nickname he never liked.  He will now go by his real name, Djarel.

The next FOUR & ONE HALF hours prove to be quite frustrating for the party.  As they exit the room, go south, & then west, coming to a south door, Leif begins using the gnoll map, but what they are seeing doesnt seem to jive w/ what is on it.  They keep on west until they spiral a bit & come upon a door, they open the door, spike it & pass through to the west, & for the next few hours, find themselves passing this spiked door, either from the east or west side, passing back through it, until @ one point they come upon a dead end...  Amazingly, they encounter no wandering monsters during this entire time, or during the remainder of their current delve...  After the dead end, they try to back track but keep getting confused by the door & @ this point arent sure which map is correct: theirs or the gnoll map, or possibly both are wrong?  The party begins to question Amadi's judgement @ this point, as he had been the keeper of their own map.  They then decide to shift the duties to Djarel, who also frustrated ["I feel like I'm playing Zork.  I have no fuckin' idea what's goin on!"], decides to pass the door versus going through it.

This eventually finds them @ another closed door on the south wall.  Leif busts it open, they spike it, & then move west until it turns north & they find themselves traveling north for quite a bit, whether it's NW, NE, a curvature, etc, they keep north wrapping around to the NE & down until they come to more doors.  Amadi busts one open they pass through, to more corridor, so they pass back through the spiked door to a pair of ornately carved oaken doors on the north wall of the corridor.  Again, Amadi busts the door open & Djarel spikes the door.  They walk into a room.  The floor is covered w/ dust, but as they tread up some of the dust they can see that the floor is of shiny substance, polished red granite.  The stone is inlaid in large blocks & extends uniformly to within a foot of each of the walls.  In the very center of the room within the floor surface are blocks of white granite within the red stone, & these form the letters K & Z w/ an ampersand between...  There is a strange reddish glow to north wall of the room when the party enter, what Amadi finds to come from some fire beetles moving around within cases that are inset in the wall.  He cannot figure out how to open them.  From the rest of the items in the room: relaxing chairs, tables, books, etc. they can deduce that this was a Library.  The party searches the room, going through the books, & also through a rack of deteriorating scrolls on the east wall.  Leif comes away w/ a book about Cosmetics.  Amadi a book on Mathematics, as well as a scroll w/ magical writing from the rack.  Magus locates a book on Weapons & Tactics, written in his native language, dwarvish, & lastly, after some deep digging, Djarel locates a curious volume titled, the Cult of the Black Dog.

Next, the party moves back south through the doors & then to the west, through an already spiked door, further west & to the north.  Here, they enter a door after Magus busts it open.  It's a room about 20' x 30'.  They file inside & Amadi's lantern sparkles off of something in the NE corner of the room.  Inspecting it, they find an outcropping of crystalline rock.  They touch it, but nothing happens that they notice off hand.  Amadi then pulls out his scroll & holds it up to the sparkle, but nothing happens.  The party then files back out of the door, but when they come out, they are confused by what they see.  Instead of what they are expecting, they are now in corridor headed N w/ a short 10' bit to the east into a dead end.  Also, as they reorient themselves, it seems the door they just left is actually to their west.  They decide to head north & then to the west & south, wrapping around more to the south until they come to a door on the north wall.  Amadi kicks the door in & they enter.  As he gets into the room & his lantern illuminates it, & the rest of party files in, they notice a sparkling in the NE corner that seems eerily familiar, like deja vu, & sure enough, they find an outcropping of crystalline rock, just like the previous room, or is this the same room?

It is 2:20 PM

SESSION 3 - CRACKENMORE

[I cant do this everytime, but since we were having a bit of mapping transition, here ya go]

The star is where ya'll are @.  ANYWAY, somewhat here's what happened previously:

The party, now w/ Djinnger, made a beeline for the cemetery in search of the statue of Dagwood Talbot where in a tangled convo @ the bar Magus had heard Crackenmore could be located, if lucky...  The party moved in, still early day, glancing around, they notice some fog has moved in, they pass Sloppy Jims' grave & move across to where Leif randomly scans D. Mineral's grave...  As there is nothing odd the party moves on, noticing a statue in the distance in front a grove of trees.  However, on their way, they notice a random grave that appears much like Sloppy Jims', a newish pile of dirt w/ older dates...  Magus takes a whiff of the dirt & concludes that it is not dirt normally found in these parts, like the other dirt, the amount of minerals is only reasonable in the southern part of Furthermoor...  B/c of this the party decides to dig below the pile where they locate a wooden crate holding another midget freak, this one wearing a habit & donning a necklace w/ a spiral/tempest charm around its neck.  Amadi grabs the necklace as the others decide to toss the box back & move on their way.  The statue is indeed Dagwood Talbot's & there is an inscription that reads, "My eyes are closed only for a little while" - he seems to have once held a lantern w/ his left hand but the lantern has long been broken off & w/ his right, he is gesturing outward, as if orating, as his mouth & face match, a leader in his best moments perhaps...  The party looks around but notices nothing & heads to the grove of trees...  On the way they pass the mausoleum of Gabriel Solar which they search only to inspect the interesting engravings on two sides, one of Gabriel doing carpentry w/ large finished constructions behind him, the other, him performing on a stringed instrument of some kind, a crowd appreciative & a circle dancing behind him...  The party spends some time searching the mausoleum but find nothing peculiar.  Next, they move into the woods to find dead trees & nothing particular, stepping back on the path, a lychgate around the plot across the way to the NW...  After some discussion, the party decides to return to the statue b/c of Magus' hazy lead recollection.

On returning to the statue of Dagwood Talbot, Amadi goes to lengths of resecuring the eyeball from his pouch after cutting it out, climbing a bit on the statue to poke the eyeball @ the statue.  Nothing happens.  Amadi retreats, nods, then returns the eyeball to his pouch where it slides back into the stitching.  In the meantime, Djinnger has been studying the left hand of Talbot's statue, where it appears a lantern may have once hung.  Djinnger notices a nice gap that goes through the hand & decides to place Kumiss, his Great, Great, Grandfather's War Hammer into the hole to see what happens.  The hand of the statue grips the war hammer & the party hears a scraping noise in back.  They walk to find a passage now open @ back of the statue leading down a stone staircase.

As they move from the staircase into the passage, the first thing they notice is a splash of healthy vegetation, abnormal since the cemetery, outside of that plant monster & a strain of particular vine throughout, seems to be dead...  Secondly, they notice the black rock that the corridor is cut into...  it smooths out into something quite impressive, something none of them have ever seen...  The party moves down the corridor & coming to a heavy, wooden door, move through it, as Magus realizes it has been hacked open previously, chips falling away where a lock used to be...  Passing another alcove station, the party comes to another & suddenly from the sides come magic mouths from the walls:  "Who dares enter this place & intrude upon the sanctuary of its inhabitants?" says the east mouth, then the west mouth, "Only a group of  foolhardy explorers doomed to certain death!", then both mouths together, "Woe to any who pass  this place - the wrath of Zimbo & Kinchen will be upon them!"  The mouth then erupt in mocking laughter & then fade from view w/ no trace as suddenly as they appeared.  A short set of stairs is before them, & a number of dead bodies are sprawled about:  4 humans & a dwarf - a little coinage is had searching the bodies (7 gp & a pouch of garlic buds), & Djinnger - after catching a Detect Evil spell & sensing something off - feels tghe pull of evil to the NW...  Also, Djinnger equips himself w/ a war hammer from the dead dwarf & returns Amadi's staff.  The party moves up the stairs & looks around...  Noticing paths north, east, west, doors to the NW & NE, direct east & west passages...

They go west & follow the passage south for some time, eventually landing on a thick, wooden door.  Again, Djinnger sensing evil, this time directly to the west of the party.  Once the door is knocked in, the party moves through & Djinnger decides to wedge it w/ a spike.  The party moves south a bit then turns west until coming upon another door they enter to north, rattling it, they then move east & north until they come to the door of a Meeting, or Situation Room, it would seem.  The party busts through the door & 4 Gnolls are waiting, crouching behind tables.  Somehow, either b/c of Djinnger, or Knolls confused, the gnolls stand w/o attacking...  Djinnger begins a conversation w/ them, speaking in orc, but while @ first it seems they understand, it becomes obvious they dont.  They spread a bit examining the party.  That's when Amadi starts humming & casting off his Charm spell toward the larger of the gnolls, to the far left.  The other three gnolls then attack in a frenzy, the party moves to the south part of the room to defend.  Battle ensues, & though Leif & Magus take considerable hits/damage, no one dies.  The charmed gnoll does not join in the battle, but looks on w/ confusion.  Afterward, the party searches the dead gnolls & first off, Amadi locates a map of some kind, rolled behind the belt of one... It is crumpled a bit, but the image intact...  The others, after a deep search locate a few items & some lose gold: a bone pendant in shape of cloisonne elongated dog for 9 cp + 2 sp, an armband of silver for 6 gp & a medal ring of substantial electrum for 18 gp, also, among the pockets 23 gp is collected & finally, a potion vial of some sort is found containing a brown liquid...The charmed gnoll still seems confused, seeing the others dead, but stays nearby Amadi.

SESSION 2 - TALBOT CEMETERY

Magus sits on the dirt, slowly nodding off what just happened, while Leif & Amadi look on, concerned; Magus looks up & sees something approaching from the darkness, about 8' tall, a green monster of sorts, a plant w/ a head like a Venus Flytrap, fuzz covering & long pincers, opened mouth...  Amadi somehow sensing it, turns & swings his staff, planting a massive hit on its lower lip, the lip tears a bit, green & red & water dripping, hanging...  But it keeps on & plants its upper mouth into Magus' side...  Magus resiliently hops up & takes a swing w/ axe but misses the plants head as it recoils...   A number of misses go about as Leif tries arrows, Amadi takes another swing...  Then it heats up as everyone misses in a tangle...  Eventually Amadi strokes the Green Monster again in the stem area, below it's "head", it misses whirling around, then finally, after missing Magus, Magus plants his axe in the mouth of the plant, pinning it to the ground.  It writhes for a bit & then gives up, lifeless.  The party examines the Giant Plant & notices a green sack that bulges out from the stem just above ground level.  They cut it open & find it full of spinning eyeballs.  Magus stomps his boot into the eyeballs & pulling away finds that 3 of the eyeballs are now lodged into the bottom of his shoe, they are spinning around, looking.  He takes the edge of his axe & plucks out each, one by one.  Amadi then stabs one of the eyeballs w/ his dagger & they leave, heading back out of the cemetery, while taking a cursory look for D. Mineral's gravestone.  They find nothing, leave the cemetery, & head back into Talbot.  @ this time it's around 1:40 AM.  Around 2, as they turn in the fork of the road south of the Black Dog Tavern, Amadi's lantern goes out.  Being in town, they have no problem getting back to the Green Lantern Inn & as they get back, around 2:10 AM, Goody is cleaning up.  They tell him about the cemetery & b/c of their choice of location, he asks if they were there searching for Crackenmore.  They ask about Crackenmore & he tells them a short tale about Dagwood Talbot's two sons.  Dagwood Talbot was the knight that planted himself in what was once referred to as Talbot's Fee.  He had two sons - among other children - that took a hankering for adventuring.  One, into magic, became known as Zimbo the Unknown.  He was the shy one.  No one in town ever "knew" him.  The other was Kinchen the Freebooter.  Quite the opposite, Kinchen was known by everyone, & generally loved, but as he got older, he became wilder & eventually ransacked a small village near Talbot's Fee, thus earning his title.  He would go on to much greater exploits, but the brothers @ one point became "questionable" throughout town.  The fact that they chose adventuring was not admirable, given their upbringing.  Therefore they decided to move their operations to an unnoticable locale north of town & underground.  There was a bit about them commanding orc slaves & such to construct the space, etc.  Though the town of Talbot knew what was going on, they did nothing, & when they were considering doing so, a surprise Barbarian attack came from the East.  Having bypassed Furthermoor, the Barbarians came straight to Talbot for a stronghold, which they would have easily won, if it were not for Zimbo, Kinchen & their minions.  This is when rumors circulated about their massive underground lair, Crackenmore.  After savingTalbot, the two of them were never bothered again, & as far as anyone knows, rumors & otherwise, they left for travel to the north, but never came back...  The party shows Goody numerous spoils (pincer, toe, etc.), but he finds none of it worth much, saying, "many adventurers come through here..." - lastly they ask Goody where D. Mineral's grave site is & are told it occupies the same plot as the statue of Dagwood Talbot.

The party decides to get some rest in their room.  Crack of dawn, they're up, head across the street to the stonecarver's, who is already hard @ work.  He is an older gent, unfazed by entrance, or the stabbed eye that Amadi is brandishing.  They eventually strike up convo which basically informs them that Delly is 1) looking for delivery help (to outlying areas), 2) telling them that he doesnt work on cemetery stuff normally, that'd be Denarius, 3) informing them that the Black Dog may be a good place for hirelings & the Chapel of the White Widow may be a good place for healing & 4) though he doesnt believe in the
"Black Dog" per se there have been some odd killings of livestock lately w/ a strange, yellowish substance present.  The party decides to move it to the Chapel of the White Widow where they find Bingo, a young adept who intercedes on their behalf, takes them into the chapel where they see a large fake white spider hanging over a lectern & not only does he grant Magus w/ a healing potion (he says it is for free this time), which Magus drinks ASAP, but once Magus hands over a gp in thanks, Bingo gifts Magus a vial of holy water.  While exiting, Amadi asks where he can find some lantern oil & is directed to the Outfitter @ the head of town.  The party heads there & Amadi stocks up on oil.  They then head to the Black Dog Tavern.

It's early, though the Black Dog is surprisingly populated.  After trying to chat up the bartenderess, but getting nowhere, the party moves to a large table where some locals are sitting.  There's Chain the Mason, Denarius the Stonecarver, Jane the Vet & Coppy the Bowyer.  Denarius is asked about the cemetery, but he tells them that he makes the stones, but never goes there.  Like everyone in town, he knows it as an insane place.  The party asks for hirelings & the table basically directs them toward the half-orc sitting across the room @ a table (there are other tables & folks here but the party did notice the half-orc when they came in, though Leif was extremely wary).  Amadi ends up going to talk to the half-orc & buying him a drink.  Ends up the half-orc w/ red hair, who's name is Djinnger, is from Debthaven & is here b/c he's never been to Talbot & decided to journey here to see where his Great Great Grandfather slaved away for someone.  When Amadi hears this he naturally mentions Crackenmore & his party's current standing.  Amadi signals Leif over who soon has the half-orc convinced of joining their party.  As Leif questions him, he reveals to the party an eldritch war hammer, the cratfsmanship like nothing theyve seen.  Djinnger also has a sling for certain situations.  Amadi & Leif surmise that he must be a cleric of some sort.  Djinnger professes his belief in the Great Tulip & feels he has been directed to the party in some way.  It's 10:30 AM as they consult w/ their new hireling about the terms, etc. w/ conversation mainly leading toward Crackenmore...

SESSION 1 - TALBOT

Amadi, Leif & Magus meet up @ the Green Lantern Inn in Talbot & even though Amadi is a bit under the weather, by evening are all enjoying brews together in the bar where they chat up the barkeep, Goody Threeshoe.  Goody tells them about the new undertaker, & how something just doesnt seem right about him, how he saw him @ twilight a few weeks ago hangin' from a tree by his legs...  He also warns them about speaking of the actual Black Dog in public...  lastly, before leaving, possibly to test their reaction, he mentions a rumor he'd heard about a group of Talbot thieves that were masterminding an assassination of Lord Dimmings.  The party learns that though Goody doesnt care much for Lord Dimmings, Lyla Dimmings, the daughter, is a sight to behold.  Other things @ the Green Lantern:  Magus inquired about finding work in town & Goody suggested Delly, the stonecarver, across the street.  A table of townsfolk agreed w/ this, & also told Magus that while a lot of folks think the Black Dog attacks livestock, there are also rumors that  a family of werewolves lives in the Enchanted Waste & has been feeding off Talbot livestock.  After discussing the new undertaker w/ Goody a bit more, the party decides to head to the morgue @ the north edge of town near the cemetery.  But first, Amadi goes upstairs to study his spell book for Enlargement.

Nearing the white morgue, the party notices how the trees nearer the cemetery gates (about 100 yards north) are in worse shape, dying...  They lurk around a grove of trees near the house until Leif spots a possum hanging from a tree limb by its tail.  He casts his SPEAK TO ANIMALS spell & has a conversation w/ the possum about the undertaker & the cemetery.  The possum used to live in the cemetery but due to the death there, has moved out.  He also speaks of the undertaker as someone he likes to watch, & that the undertaker sometimes also has smaller people w/ him @ night...  coming & going...  he speaks of him as being tall w/ white hair.

Leif approaches the large, metal door of the morgue, & knocks.  There is no answer.  Magus lurks around the house & locates a few curtained windows, as well as a wooden door in back that is locked by inner chain.  After discussing their options out front, the party decides to enter the cemetery to the north.  With Amadi's lantern bright, they search the SE & E sides of the cemetery a bit, glancing tombstones for death dates around when the Black Dog killed D. Mineral.  They finally locate a grave that matches the dates, 40 years ago, to one Sloppy Jims, "best known barkeep & fisher"; however, what is odd, is that the dirt on the grave appears to have only recently been placed there, i.e. a loose mound sits atop.  Magus decides to start digging into the dirt w/ his axe.  It is then that the party notices 4 zombies approaching from the west.  After a brief battle, they conquer the zombies, search them to no avail & Magus continues his digging of the grave, finally locating a wooden crate which he ends up smashing up w/ the axe.  Inside the crate is a human-like creature w/ a sticky, yellow substance (mucousy mustard) all about...  It could be a midget, but it is hard to tell due to the axe slicings...  but clearly it is not of normal human size & the face looks aged.  Next, Magus tries to dig further w/ axe but locates nothing.  Amadi then stabs around w/ his staff & eventually hits on something hard...  Magus reaches his arm down there & grabs onto it, trying to pull it up...  As he grabs it, something attaches his hand to it quickly.  It is a root, or stem of some kind...  Magus pulls it up & they see how his hand is tightly tied to the bright green stem that trails back into the dirt in two different places.  Leif tries to rub the stem but gets his hand stuck as well, but then is able to free it w/ a precise knife cut.  Magus on the other hand is still stuck.  Amadi tries hacking into the root but only pisses it off, it begins rumbling & shaking, moving Magus w/ it...  Leif tries to free Magus' hand but just pisses the thing off worse...  Finally, Amadi pours a vial of oil around the two areas where the stem trails back into the dirt & then lights it...  The flames cause the root/stem to retreat back into the ground, first pulling Magus down into the dirt, pulling his arm...  but then releasing him & disappearing.  Magus sits up, catching a scent from the dirt, crammed in his nostrils & beard, remembering that scent from down south around Moloch, the soil there...  A smell that generally doesnt permeate the soil in these parts...