Flirt - As I understand it, the 'witch' drove you away. And calling for the woods to be burnt etc. is a little odd given that Vanima sacrificed a human in order for the dryad to be summoned.

...I'd keep that bit quiet around the humans if I were you.

well because SHE took the main part in summoning it, she wants to destroy it.

How many people aside from us are in the coster party heading north? and do they have standard food and fare suplies? (or hould I memorize goodberries)

You should memorize the berries anyway lol why? BECAUSE I SAID SO!! lmao

My internet is being really tricky with me right now, I cannot use the intenet on two of the three computers in my house, and the one that has it I'm not sure if I"m going to be able to use it. I'll get back to you later on if I will be able to show up tommorrow.

Truth be told, I hadn’t really decided how many NPCs the trade coster would be sending up with you.

Now seems as good a time as an other to decide though, so…

There will be six NPCs accompanying you: a (junior) representative from the coster themselves, a driver and four guards.

The caravan will already be amply provisioned for the trip so there’s no need to prepare Goodberries unless your characters prefer them over real food (salted beef, small beer and hard-baked bread in this case) or unless you think you’re likely to get snowed in…

no problemo Jozan

Sleep now..
Dreams of Drow and knights and Glades and moonlight.... erm.. nevermind...

Spells when I awaken!

Tonight’s adventure is pretty much sorted. I still haven’t quite decided whether to send y’all up against the tarrasque or just a couple of pit fiends, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Jozan1’s told me that he won’t be able to make it, so it’ll just be the five of you. Emmerus, you’ve just gained a henchman!

Oh, and if anyone would like to get back to me with their spell lists then that would be great as well! (Come to think of it, would it be easier for you each to just give me a default spell list for your characters and let me know if you’re making any alterations each week?)

I'm not positive if I can make it tonight, haven't seen my boyfriend in over a week. He asked if perhaps I go there tonight and spend the night. *shrugs* There is a possibility I won't make it tonight. There is also a possibility that I'm here all night.

Hey all,

I'm working tonight, as I said before, so I won't make it to the virtual table tonight.

That said, I've also had a death in the family. While I'll likely only be gone until mid week sometime, I may not have time to play next Friday either as I'll likely be catching up with work and caring for family.

This means I may not be in the game for a very long time (tonight, next week, the week after that, etc), so I think it may be best if I drop out of the game... at least until things slow down a bit.

Ayrn

Ayrn, I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I understand that this was already a busy time for you, so please feel free take as much time as you need. I’ll keep a space open for whenever you might be able to make it back.

I was just about to open up tonight’s game, so I’ll be heading into chat. Hope to see some of you in there shortly.

First off, I just got back to uni last night and will now have access to all of my books and CDs again…

So, if you don’t have access to a copy of the Players’ Handbook and would like one then I can email it on to you. It’s in a text file (just under 2 MB total) which came with one of the CDs that TSR put out about 10 years ago. Alternatively I could just send people copies of their spell lists. (If anyone’s interested, I’ve also got copies of the Dungeon Masters’ Guide, the Monstrous Manual, the Skills & Powers Books, the Arms and Equipment Guide and the Tome of Magic).

I’ve checked over the CD and it doesn’t look like TSR put any restrictions on how any of these books could be distributed. Therefore this should all be legal. That said, if any of the moderators would prefer me to take this post down then I will.

Secondly, I’m going to be starting my finals next Wednesday and will be in exam mode until pretty much the end of May. This doesn’t automatically mean that we won’t be able to game, but it will cut down drastically on my free time. Please don’t feel offended if I need to cancel a game or two or if we have to end an hour or so early every once in a while. Either way, I’ll try to let you all know well in advance.

The epilogue’s going up now. I’m not really all that happy with the way it’s written… but with exams coming up I don’t really have all that much time on my hands.

If you’d like to have asked the gnoll any more questions during last week’s adventure then just let me know.

Your exciting choices for this week's adventure will be either heading off into the woods to do some scouting or heading back to Bridhvale to claim your reward money. Anton won't leave without you so there isn't really much pressure either way.

Fighting clear of the ambush in the woods, blades still slick with the black blood of your orcish assailants, the party finally clear the last leg of the journey to the dwarven mining village- Caer Hwarnsvalon. Four rugged walls rise from the hilltop, and as you soon discover, a maze of tunnels and mines extend deep into the earth beneath them.

The dwarves seem reserved, though by no means uncourteous, hosts. The supplies brought by your caravan are gratefully received, and soon exchanged for a wagonload of iron ore. It appears that the surrounding tribes have been restless of late, and come nightfall the woods beneath you echo with the resounding howls of prowling orcs and goblinoids. Fires blaze and flicker in the distance, though the orcs themselves surely see better in full darkness than in the light of day, and screams are to be heard as dusk takes the land- possibly those of the caravan guard carried off by your ambushers.

The mage you rescued follows your instructions blindly, settling down to sleep when the chain is removed. His attention seems drawn to the orcish shouts and screams which echo through the trees below, though he is all but oblivious to your current surroundings. Anton seems anxious to depart before the situation worsens and you’re cut off altogether, though perhaps it could be prudent to investigate a little further first.

***

Somewhere in the mountains high above Caer Hwarnsvalon, in the bowels of a deep cavern that plunged into the darkness far below the rock of the mountainside, an army was gathering.

In the eerie, flickering half-light of the chamber’s fire pit’s a great, swarming, ant-like mass of orcs and other goblinoids drank and gorged and danced and howled with laughter to the demented, screeching chorus of an orchestra of goblin-pipes. Blind to the tendrils of black, noxious smoke that rose from the flames, twisting and clawing up the walls with one urgent unity of purpose, to the frightful visages of distorted, bulge-eyed faces, heads thrown back in either screams of fright or laughter, which formed and dissolved in the smoke-cloud overhead, the horde appeared happily lost in the act of sating their bestial appetites. There were barrels of fish-head beer and murky spirits, distilled from the hallucinogenic mushrooms they harvested from the tunnels below, to be quaffed from battered tankards. There was red meat from the forests above, raw and bloody, to be gnawed messily from the bone, along with the grey, slimy flesh of the sightless, black-scaled fish drawn from their underground lake. There were tales to be heard, boasts to be retold and the promise of great things in the making and with that much the milling, drunken horde -heads thrown back in raucous laughter, brawls already developing in earnest over the last bites of meat, over the dregs of the ale-barrels- were content. Come morning some would be dead, knifed or pounded into oblivion as the fighting developed in earnest- ready to be slung out with the morning’s night soil or served up with tomorrow’s feast- but it mattered little, the tribes were gathering and many more flocked to the mountaintop citadel week on week. Soon, they would have strength enough to act and the world would shake with their passing.

Aloof from the crowds a huge and bloated orc- standing head, shoulders and swollen belly above the tallest of his fellows- lay sprawled across a battered iron throne in a drunken stupor on a raised dais to one side of the chamber. King Thalgrim’s bloodshot, piggy eyes appeared drawn to the pit below where two muscular cave-orcs, stripped to the waist and with fangs filed away to sharp points, grappled and tore at each other for their chieftain’s entertainment. Thalgrim, however, was not so easily distracted: one beady, watery eye wandered periodically from the fight below to scan his subjects, watching with an acute interest as brawls developed on the cave-floor about him. Someday, the great orc knew, with an abysmal certainty sharpened by the passage of near forty winters- when his great strength failed at last- he too would be cast down and eaten by one of the young warriors who squatted drinking and feasting on the cavern floor about him. The orc-king’s huge paws ran idly over the food and wine-stains with which his clothing- fine cloth looted from the cold bodies of travellers and other intruders into his mountain-top domain, now stretched taut across his considerable bulk- in search of a jewelled goblet where it lay overturned atop his paunch as he monitored the competition. None dared meet Thalgrim’s savage gaze, fearful of the strength- immortalised in a score and more legends told and retold for their chieftain’s amusement- which had broken the back of the last chieftain’s spine over his knee like dry kindling, that had once wrestled a troll to a stand-still, which had driven the sharp blade of an orcish war-hatchet through an inch of dwarven steel and split the skull of the stout champion beneath it.

Unseen, unheard, a darker figure still loomed in the smoky air above the old orc’s head, a thing of flame and shadow and scorched, burning flesh. With a thousand babbling, chittering voices the thing screamed with an unsuppressable, mirthless laughter. Soon, so very soon, its time would come once more and the world would be reborn in its image.