Session 64 (9/12/14)

*Where Crane Flies Dare*

Varony, Verget the 11th, 838 ID
 
After arousing suspicion from several groups of Last Eidolorn soldiers for his strange armaments, the explorer Wendel Eumatic Tork III is led to the Fiery Rat Tavern in Floivin Keep, where he is treated to a meal by the curious Flake Falloway. Flake determines that the wandering rogue's unique skill set might be aligned with the needs of Captain Banghorn's men (the PCs), and offers to put Tork up for a night at the Seven Floods Inn if he's willing to speak with them. Afterwards, Wendel goes to reserve his room with the offered coin and then jaunt over to the Cathedral of Blades in search of curative elixirs should he end up with some dangerous employment.

While they wait for Badger to finish selling items, and to connect with this wandering rogue they've heard about, Gruulsh and Baro decide to discipline Privates Chara and Laisso in the Armory Square. Solveig cannot wait to get out of the city and move into the next chapter of her life, since the locals at Floivin Keep do not seem very comfortable around her pet bear Hrufgar. Lord Ballyhoo decides to head over to the Seven Flood Inn once he is informed through Flake that Wendel would be headed there. The rogue does arrive, after being unsuccessful at procuring potions, but had a nice chat with some of the acolytes of Eleste. Meanwhile, Badger goes to the Dirty Dagger Alehouse, making the barkeep and clientele nervous, after what happened the last time. He tells them his brother is dead and none of them seem to upset. He also notes Monch Gnarlbottom entering to meet up with his chosen bodyguard, Baxter the Mighty, who none of the current PCs have met but their predecessors once traveled with for a spell. Badger introduces himself and tells them they'd best gather up with the rest of the PCs shortly.

After having discovered that Swyft the Tailor is weaving a platinum outfit for the Yellow Hen (to surpass even his own gold outfit), and commissioning a truly expensive gem-studded outfit of his own, he decides to magically disguise himself as the other minstrel and mess around with the tailor. Swyft falls for the ruse, partly distracted by a new customer (Wendel, whom the Lord has brought along to freshen up), and manages to make Swyft brainstorm an outfit imbued with magic and or magical items, the one thing that might surpass Ballyhoo's projected jewel-clothing. After this, most of the PCs gather up to ride off towards Littlewolf and Ettenhead and get their mission to the Crowslode going. Captain Krennyk has stocked a wagon full of rations, torches, casks of water and a few of ale (a gift he hid in there).

Gruulsh and Baro had already teleported to Littlewolf earlier to talk some business with Silas about the missing relics and possibly acquiring them later. They confront a few of the snotty house guards and also meet Grail 'Whistleblade', a former citizen of Littlewolf who is back in the village briefly. Gruulsh does not convince him to come along for the Crowslode quest, and in fact the elfin duelist tries to discourage them from journeying anywhere near the Underdark, but he does agree to help patrol the Ettenhead for a stiff fee, since the Lt. and Sgt. fear that the 'talent level' of the present defenders might not be enough to turn away any retaliation from the giants in thrall to the Titan of the Glen. After this, they too head out to Ettenhead, and by late night, all the PCs have gathered once more. Monch is happy to see his cousin Scuff, and Wendel shows off his inventions to the dwarf engineers and laborers who are inevitably impressed. Mistlethroe shows up.

Verne, Verget the 12th, 838 ID

After organizing marching orders, gathering their last minute supplies and eating a delicious, massive breakfast courtesy of Odd Jon Stuckle, the expedition sets forth, westward along the Vernal Wall. En route, they get to know the new folks. Baxter speaks highly of the late Mudgol and all the other old PCs he knew, and eventually they arrive at the Pinewater, but are forced south to ford the river with some rowboats at the abandoned Cedarway. Evening has fallen so they decide to set up camp here, testing their watch rotation. In the middle of the night, a bunch of giant stag beetles enter the camp area, foraging for plants and smashing up whatever gets in their way, but they do not seem highly interested in the party, and there is no confrontation.

Essel, Verget the 13th, 838 ID

After a breakfast of rations and departing Cedarway, the expedition turns back northward and rejoins the Vernal Wall west. Gruulsh realizes this is Blood Eagle territory, his former kin, and that survivors have been known to ascend to the heights (reported by Doorjamb and Ginkwrench among others). The foothills become spotted with nooks and small caverns, so they must be near the old hazardous mine. Monch eventually leads them to a half-circle copse of trees which conceals the Crowslode entrance. There are signs of recent firepits, probably set up by daring prospectors or humanoids from the Skunk Ridge, and the mouth of the mine itself is barricaded by a wall of timbers, support posts, overturned mining carts and tree trunks over which a kudzu has begun to creep. There are other signs of damage, like evidence of an avalanche or two flanking the entrance. Baro detects magic and learns that the entire place beyond the barricade seems to radiate abjuration...

Wendel puts himself to work immediately, discovering that one of the old mine carts is actually a swinging door set up to allow access to the 'Lode proper, and he disarms an old wire/dynamite trap well enough to permit passage to the PCs. Unfortunately, Hrufgar won't fit, and Solveig decides that the bear would not enjoy the subterranean spaces beyond, so sets him to hunt in the area and stay out of trouble in her absence. The PCs enter to discover the opening area has been blasted out by some sort of explosive from within, perhaps an unsuccessful attempt to seal it off forever. Despite some rumbling in the walls and ceilings of the place, meaning it could be unstable, they press forward, finding an old netted off pit containing heaps of copper ore. They also come across a horrific site...a dwarf dowsed in melted and hardened copper, stuck to the top of an overturned mine cart. Badger shoots an arrow into the unfortunate's eye to make sure it's not alive, and then he overturns the cart...revealing a sack...

And in that sack, they find a familiar looking humanoid skull....that of an illithid, obviously stashed her as a warning, perhaps by the copper-dowsed victim himself...this does not bode well for the depths of the Crowslode.

PCs: Badger, Ballyhoo, Baro, Gruulsh, Solveig, Wendell

NPCs

Private Chara (human male): A nervous, pale, scrawny new recruit to the Last Eidolorn who has the misfortune of being paired up with Private 'Party' Laisso. Known to wet himself when the pressure of his position becomes too much.

Private Laisso (human male): Likes to par-tee. Par-tee. Where's the par-tee at? A fresh young recruit with wild hair and a one-track mind. Also enjoys dice games and not so subtly mocking anyone who doesn't like to party. According to Baro and Gruulsh, his name is now Pvt. 'Lacey' until he earns his own name back after a thoroughly brutal reprimand from the bugbear lieutenant.

Online Session 63 (8/16/14)

*Mergers & Acquisitions*

In the flesh. Tabletop regulars were permitted to attend for a bonus experience session.

Evelais, Verget the 8th, 838 ID

Six Shite and Tharb make their way to the village of Littlewolf, where they are met with little but derision save for the elf maids trying to sell them candies, flowers and baubles. Tharb, relieved that the place hasn't been touched by the Kindness curse, decides to introduce the northerner to his uncle Visyo Reddenbalm, who snottily agrees to an audience. The elf patriarch attempts to convince Six Shite to retrieve a cache of heirlooms that was purportedly lost to a 'lake fairy', with which he might be able to embarrass his rival Silas Roodeye and his clan. Reluctantly, in need of cash, the ranger agrees, and a sum is settled upon, part of which is that the Reddenbalm clan ceases to insult Tharb over his hefty appearance.  On the way out, they run across Shayla the Swineherd, who asks Six Shite to return to her barn, where he meets another Wintersbreath refugee, Solveig, a druid who has sought Shayla's assistance. Solveig has arrived with her polar bear companion, Hrufgar, partly to find out why the Empire hasn't officially responded to her province's plight, as well as bear a warning about some massive footprints and other signs of passage she found leading into Floivin Province. The two agree to assist one another.

Meanwhile, in the Keep, Baro receives a message in the form of a shadowy crow from Shayla, telling him there are curious events unraveling with some strangers in Littlewolf. He summons forth his trusty phantom steed (Black Unicorn!) once more and rides off abruptly. Baro has gone off to get the treasure haul from the Haunted Horrn battle identified, and Gruulsh has a proposition to make at the Cathedral of Blades. Badger, mourning his fallen brother Ox, decides to neglect protocol and make a brief return to Nobbish where the half-orc could be properly buried. He pays for round trip teleportation via Teven the Worm, who takes him almost instantly to the city of Durmoral where he pays off a local soldier to transport Ox to their home village for burial. He pays the guard so much, in fact, that the soldier up and quits the Third Eidolorn instantly, realizing he has just made more than he will in decades of service...after that, Teven transports Badger back to his new 'home'. Gruulsh has inquired with Bishop Coniff if he might speak with dead, so they could ask the Score's late cleric leader Gremek a few questions. Conniff agrees, they will arrange the ritual once Commander Hoary can attend to hear the answers.

Ballyhoo arrives in a few hours to Littlewolf, where he is fawned over by the local female elven populace, before riding off to speak with Shayla. She tells him this is all business, but the lecherous bard still slips in some innuendos before he goes off to meet these unusual northerners. While he is being introduced to them, he discovers that Six Shite has almost gotten in a brawl with Lomi, the elf the PCs had sent to accompany the fisherman/brigand Bastaro on his task. Lomi is drunk and barely able to stand, so the bard dominates him to go relax in the shade somewhere, after hearing his explanation of how he lost the blind fisherman. Ballyhoo rides ahead to assist Six Shite, Tharb and Solveig in finding the Roodeye heirlooms, reaching the Everness Isle first, where he is tempted by a strange female creature in the lake-water. She manages to lure him to the depths and attempts to drain his very essence! Ballyhoo manages a slick escape once he breaks her grasp and reaches the service, and rides back to the other three on the boat, still approaching. They decide it's a bust, but Lord Ballyhoo vows to return for the shirt that was commissioned for him by Neddyn, which he had stripped off due to the lake being's seduction!

After severely pissing off Visyo Reddenbalm, Ballyhoo summons a phantom steed for Tharb so the fat elf can proudly show off in front of his people. The bard decides to race back to Floivin Keep and rejoin the other PCs, while Six Shite and his two companions head off to join the forces at Ettenhead and see what work Banghorn can arrange for them. Their journey is uneventful, and when Ballyhoo returns to the capital he finds that Gruulsh and Badger have been insulted out of the Seven Floods once more. The three go off to the Fiery Rat, where Flake gives them drink and meal on the house, sharing in the news and rueful at the loss of Mudgol. Badger drinks the memories of his brother Ox under the table, and then before long the three race off towards Ettenhead, arriving even ahead of the newcomers, who have set up camp nearby rather than approach the unsuspecting garrison at the old giant ruins.

Aric, Verget the 9th, 838 ID

In the morning, the newcomers do at last arrive. Tharb and Gruulsh greet one another warmly, having met during the quest to crack open the Sunken Forge on Greataxe Isle. Scuff the dwarf and nearly a score of his workers are already at work on the ruined castle, and some of the North wall has already been completed, while cheap shelters have been built for the camp to protect the garrison from the elements until more permanent structures are finished. Badger finds to his dismay that Bernice the Golden Hen was devoured by some of the hungry dwarf workers, Odd Jon unable to stop them. Jon himself morns the loss of Ox and (possibly) Mudgol, while the archer goes off to his broken tower perch to mourn (and hopefully not fall off this time).

Learning that the Haunted Horrn hideout for the Score has been eradicated, along with some of the villains there, Banghorn urges the PCs to begin their mission to infiltrate the dreaded Crowslode mines, and the subterranean sprawl beneath. They are to assemble a team of three competent companions and seek out the Southerner Wendel Eumatic Tork III, who supposedly is seeking to test his mettle against the fabled, deadly caverns. They first convince Solveig that her interests lie in helping the heroes, and then decide upon Mistlethroe and Monch Gnarlbottom to join them, in addition to a personal guard hired on to protect the dwarf nobleman directly. Banghorn then decides it is time to promote Badger and Ballyhoo, so that he may also promote the newly recruited Six Shite to Lieutenant so he can start his own branch responsible for scouting out the Vandrakki fortifications and numbers to the north, and possibly pull off some assassinations. Six Shite chooses the loyal Tharb, and sergeant Grenjar Gnarlbottom to work with him, and so Ballyhoo and Gruulsh race off on phantom steeds to retrieve him.

After acquiring the dwarf, they stop back at Littlewolf, first accosting Lomi who has somehow been freed of his spell. Gruulsh is enraged, physically abusing the House Guard, who is now inhaling opiates in a wagon, and rolling him before Silas Roodeye, who is deeply offended, but offers a 'refund' by sending another soldier to work the Ettenhead later. The PCs and Grenjar go back to Evernesse Isle to find Ballyhoo's shirt, which is now gone. They do, however, find the corpse of Bastaro, drained of its blood, on the isle itself, with a last note scrawled out in his blood, as best a blind ma might: 'TO MY WIFE. FUCK YE! I DIED HAPPY IN THE ARMS OF A YOUNG BEAUTY. - B' They do not find the Roodeye heirlooms, and instead embark to Ettenhead once more. Grenjar is surprised that he has been called upon by Six Shite, worried that his unfortunate 'curse' might have embarrassed him, but the barbarian greets him warmly and thinks his 'skill' might be of some use ahead. The heroes rest, to depart for Floivin Keep the following morning.

Tault, Verget the 10th, 838 ID

The PCS, along with Grenjar and Tharb, all roll in to Floivin Keep, where they retrieve Baro and the items he had studied. They divvy up the goods, and fetch Commander Hoary for the death-speaking ritual, which Conniff conducts beneath the Cathedral. They learn that the Score was definitely hired by the Seven Lords of Syn, servants of King Tomas the Unspared of Vhorinyr, the being responsible for attempting to repair and resurrect the Death Titan Ulan Vhor. They also learn that Syriux is most definitely some sort of living construct, and that the Score not only had hideouts at the Skull Collar Hideaway (conquered) and Haunted Horrn (conquered), but in the Free-Mest and every town in Sothos Karr, whether it's a full-fledged safehouse or a cache of supplies or a sympathizer. That is all the pertinent information Gremek's corpse can provide them, since he seemed not to know too much.

Hoary ensures the PCs that a few squads of hardened Last Eidolorn soldiers will crack the Hud Horrn, now that the majority of the dangerous Blooded Lash captains and their employers have been taken out. There has been no news of the Kindness curse...the Cathedral has been freeing what citizens the clergy can from Castle Floivin, a few each day, but the surviving mob that fled towards Hobfast has not been encountered, nor have the halflings been heard from. Gruulsh and Ballyhoo have an audience with Monch, who is delighted to join them on their quest into the Crowslode, almost like he was planning on being asked...Badger takes a bunch of the PCs excess treasure haul to be sold and/or stored in their vault, and the group gets ready to seek out the southern adventurer Wendel while Monch arranges for the last member of their next expedition. Captain Krennyk begins to arrange a supply wagon for them.

PCs: Badger, Ballyhoo, Gruulsh, Six Shite, Solveig

Session 63 (8/1/14)

*Raining Half Blood II...*

Ivric, Verget the 7th, 838 ID

Furious at the loss of their friend Mudgol, the PCs press on hopelessly against the turning tide of the battle...while being peppered by the newfound air superiority of the Score. Baro begins to target the Red Wizard Melek-Tha exclusively while being harried by his imp familiar and various other trolls and sundry who realize the threat he presents with his evocation. Ox and Gruulsh contend with the remaining bugbear and goblin troops not caught up in the reverse gravity, while Gremek the priest begins to cast hindrances upon them, for instance blinding Ox. Realizing that they will need further support or repositioning, Lord Ballyhoo deftly dimension doors the bugbear and half-orc to relatively safety on the rooftop where Badger had fallen, and they begin to revive the archer, needing his help against the flying opposition...despite a color spray being splashed upon them by the invisible illusionist Parodee, they heal Badger and quickly dispense with a troll that climbed the rubble to stop them!

Meanwhile Baro is in a full court press, being harried and damaged by a Blooded Lash troll but still managing to take down the Red Wizard at last! Gremek, realizing the danger, uses several dispel magics to release Warlord Ultroon and a handful of other fighters from the reverse gravity. The bugbear chieftain raises in challenge, storming off into the ruined Horrn to deal with the surviving PCs...Gruulsh, Ox and Ballyhoo transport to face off with him so he can't get to Baro, who has his own problems, and there is a last confrontation where the Warlord manages to deal the blind Ox a fatal blow...sending yet ANOTHER half-orc to his early grave (well, some would argue Mudgol's was a 'late grave'). Gremek throws some last minute hexes and curses upon the PCs, including a nasty one at the bugbear Gruulsh, before he is and the Warlord are taken down by a hail of magic, arrows, and sling stones. But not before the cleric promised that Klasp will replace the lost Score and the Empire will never be safe for their 'fatal negligence' (presumably their giving up on the slaves of Sothos Karr which formed the organization).

The troll captain Blukk is then defeated by Baro's magic before the rest of the reverse gravity fails, and most of the other humanoids in the field perish after falling (a few goblins and trolls have escaped southward to the Hud Horrn), and then the long process of mourning and wealth accumulation begins anew...Baro uses a few teleports the following morning to bring the survivors back to Floivin Keep. Some...well, not many are dismayed at the loss of Mudgol, but few seemed to even have known of Ox, the brother of Badger, from distant Nobbish. Our heroes begin to appraise their takings from the Score before planning the next operation...

PCs:  Badger, Ballyhoo, Baro, Gruulsh, Ox, Wendel (attended but not introduced yet)

Online Session 62 (7/22/14)

Here is the link to the transcript for online session 62. We're now messing around with the Roll20 web browser gaming interface, so I've saved this one as a Word .doc for the time being.

PC: Six Shite

Online Session 61 (7/15/14)

Here is the link to the transcript for online session 61. We're now messing around with the Roll20 web browser gaming interface, so I've saved this one as a Word .doc for the time being.

PC: Six Shite

Session 62 (7/11/14)

*Raining Half Blood*

Verne, Verget the 5th, 838 ID

Unable to finish removing the insidious damage done to Ox's person, the PCs decide to stay overnight at the Flabbergast Manor and renew their attack on the Score and the Blooded Lash at the Haunted Horrn the following morning. Gruulsh acquires some consumable magic items after the group pays Mistlethroe a donation for some of his healing magics. Mudgol scrys the plain robed man Gremek and discovers that the party's intrusion was indeed noticed, and that the enemy has made some plans to defend against the PCs' next strike.

Essel, Verget the 6th, 838 ID

The group decides to teleport back into the corridors beneath the Horrn, and pick up where they left off. Gruulsh scouts ahead, revealing a spike trap on one of the landings leading up into the cavern stronghold above, and notices that there are some shadowy bugbears guarding the ramp into the dwarves' enclosed village, and a coppery scaled dragon! They navigate through the trap and arrange themselves to assault the guards, but when they finally emerge they trigger another trap...as explosives are set off, and the Haunted Horrn collapses nearly on top of their heads, they must think fast to escape! Baro has a flashback to a time when a mountain pass was detonated and crushed many of the Toul Tabor reinforcements during the War for Floivin Province! The Score had apparently not run out of whatever devices were sold to them in Toul Tabor by that creepy wizard in Wattlewinch. Luckily, they are able to spell themselves away to Floivin Keep just in time while the cavern fell around them, destroying the ruins and possibly the dungeon level beneath...

 
Ivric, Verget the 7th, 838 ID

Once back at the Keep, the PCs decide they will need to refresh and renew their attack once again, and so this time they plan to appear right in the midst of the Blooded Lash enemies and wreak some havok, while Baro and Badger teleport to a safe ranged vantage point...as if there is going to be a safe, ranged vantage point. They scry the location of Warlord Ultroon, and decide to center the attack there. There is some hesitation, and Ballyhoo tries to purchase a teleport off Teven to spare the group a spell slot, but ultimately they do it themselves. Not before Mudgol receives a magical taunt from his Score counterpart, and finally receives confirmation that 'if you stare into the abyss long enough, it will stare back'. Having had enough, the PCs, primed for battle, launch themselves into full on battle, six men against the Blooded Lash's elite warriors and their Score benefactors.

The main group appears right around Ultroon's scryed location, and a devastating melee begins. The dragon they saw earlier seems to have been another mysterious illusion, but the bugbear and goblin troops the PCs face seem more hardened and dangerous than most they've dealt with before; and on top of that they have perhaps the strongest chief of all the Floivin Province tribes, who dishes out large amounts of damage to Gruulsh right away to make a point. However, the PCs also make some blows, with both Ox and Gruulsh cleaving and slaying large numbers of the tribal warriors in the first round of actual confrontation! Mudgol uses his overland flight to escape the melee, but realizes he is not alone up in the air when he is attacked by an invisible hippogriff rider! Baro and Badger arrive and acquire a vantage point to rain down destruction, but the Red Wizard Melek Tha of the Score decides to harass them with Evard's Black Tentacles, which briefly trap Baro until he can use his other teleport to move.

Ballyhoo manages to dimension door Ox and Gruulsh out of the eye of a major brawl to surround the enemy cleric Gremek, who is then forced to withdraw defensively and not utter a spell. And then the stakes are raised when Mudgol casts reverse gravity on roughly half the enemy force, including their bugbear and troll leaders, changing the tide of the battle?!? Not for long...as the heroic half-orc diviner is taken down by a lethal combination of attacks...a thrown javelin, an imp familiar, and the telling blow...a phantasmal killer shaped like some horrific woman, presumably created by Parodee, the Score illusionist who is providing air support. Mudgol tries to resist but his mediocre saving throws seal his doom, and not only does the spell stop his heart with fear, but he then plummets the 210' to the battle below...the rest of the party screams and renews its attack, but now some of the enemies with flight options have adjusted themselves and prepare another counter. Badger and Baro send lethal projectiles (arrows and chain lightning) at the Red Wizard, wounding but not finishing him, and the cleric Gremek decides to respond with a flame strike on the Nobbish archer, who is then sent into unconsciousness. Gruulsh and Ox manage to finish off the ground troops nearby with the support of Lord Ballyhoo, but things look grim as they might be forced to face the air superiority of the three Score casters...and who knows if Ultroon might survive the reverse gravity once it ends?

Things seem dire for our heroes...again.

PCs: Badger, Ballyhoo, Baro, Gruulsh, Mudgol, Ox

NPCs

Blukk (troll male): A gnarled old, grey-skinned giant with a stinking, greased mane who seems to hold some officer status over the trolls that serve the Blooded Lash. Fights with a great axe up close, but seems more effective at range, sending nasty, large javelins at foes (including at least one with magical capabilities).


Captain Frackas (goblin male): A backstabbing goblinoid scoundrel who also serves as that races' superior officer within the Blooded Lash. He is the fanciest dressed of the tribe, with fine leather armor adorned in narrow, colorful cloth bands, and flits through the battlefield weaving and poking and taking advantage of his peers' stronger fighting techniques.

Warlord Ultroon (bugbear male): A large, fearsome bugbear chief who lords over the Blooded Lash tribe, covered in slash and scar marks and armor bristling with spikes and spines. He fights with an unusual arcane greatsword made of razor edged stone, and seems capable of meting out a level of single-minded pain which rivals the half-orc Ox!

Session 61 (6/6/14)

Varony, Verget the 4th, 838 ID

Before the night is out, the PCs decide to teleport a scouting group to the mines beneath the Hud Horrn and scope out the situation there with the Blooded Lash occupants. They find that the place is relatively empty, so Mudgol uses a clairvoyance to check the walled town above. Unfortunately, it's a little too dark to make out exact details, but there are easily several dozen guards including trolls, bugbears and goblins, not to mention the hippogryph aerial vanguards. Back in Floivin Keep, the brothers Ox and Badger head to the Seven Floods Inn with Lord Ballyhoo, since it has now once again opens its doors to the public after the 'King is Kind' scare. They are let in with some suspicion by Brand the server, and the bard decides to perform some tunes, while Ox tries his hand at dancing and Badger buys whatever expensive booze the Inn still stocks (the nobility purchased most of its during the epidemic).

The scouting party returns to the Floivin Penitentiary, from which they are currently operating in the Keep. Ox, Badger and Ballyhoo retire to their the minstrel's nearly permanent rooms at the Inn.

Verne, Verget the 5th, 838 ID

After getting breakfast at the Seven Floods, the PCs pay a brief visit to the Cathedral of Blades, Ballyhoo wanting to 'thank' Bishop Conniff for curing him during the outbreak. While there, Badger tries his hand at a Bally-ism and cries wolf about some damage that he'd very much like a female acolyte to 'attend to', but he is caught in the act by Conniff, who casts a hold person on the archer and then once again exiles them from the church. They meet with the rest of the PCs at the penitentiary and determine that it's time to take on the Blooded Lash and their Score affiliates before they can make further progress on their primary mission to retrieve the Axe of Dwarven Lords. Once more, teleportation is used to transport the party in its entirety to the mines beneath Hud Horrn, and then the PCs try and recall what lore they can of the place. There is supposedly a hidden treasure of a Mad Myko somewhere in the tunnels, but none of the current party remembers precisely how to traverse the underground passage from the Hud Horrn towards the Haunted Horrn...

They discover a trapped, rubble strewn passage in which Mudgol's familiar the Professor is nearly killed, and eventually an almost infinite, 5-hour long side trek which takes them out of the mines to the west slopes of the Vernal Wall, where they can see such regions as the Rat Strand, Fox Knolls and Castle Roy off in the distance. Through his spyglass, Baro spies a group of refugees rowing and poling down the Midge Creek towards the independent dwarven stronghold, and he thinks he recognizes the craft as belonging to the village of Tarndim. The PCs decide to turn around and head all the way back, and on the way encounter a sniveling goblin named Shnoggo, who is secreting a stash of fat rats he likes to take for meals in the area. He is Blooded Lash, so the PCs press him for information, with Ballyhoo charming the creature and offering him gold for his assistance. Sadly, they couldn't get much from the pathetic thing, and Badger decides to put an arrow through its face, ending the goblin's potential usefulness...

Eventually, they find the tunnel that leads Northwest towards the Haunted Horrn, and come across the old rickety bridge crossing a subterranean chasm where the PCs once fled from the dwarf barbarian Dondrys Buld of the Score. Pressing on further, they come across a pair of troll sentries guarding the depths, but when they charge them to attack, they discover they are mere illusions, which set off a pair of massive, painful ringing alarms that seem to resonate all the way towards the Haunted Horrn! They discuss fleeing the caverns and taking another approach, now that their vector has likely been discovered by the Blooded Lash and the Score, but instead they press forward, seeking to combat anything that arrives to stop them. At long last, they arrive at a trapped steel portcullis which shocks Ox...beyond that, a chamber full of stone sarcophagi which apparently must have belonged to the dwarves...

After somehow managing to breach the gate into the room, it turns out the tombs are occupied not by dwarves, but by undead, mummified bugbear ancestors of the Blooded Lash! A grueling contest breaks out, with the PCs victorious, but Ballyhoo and Ox are infected and they must use their remove curse scrolls to free them, only the affliction is so strong that one of the scrolls doesn't even work! The PCs thus teleport to Flabbergast Manor where, after several attempts, Schnoo is finally able to destroy the curse on Ox, but not before he's taken hideous damage to his health and...already lacking charisma...

PCs: Badger, Ballyhoo, Baro, Gruulsh, Mudgol, Ox

NPCs:

Shnoggo (goblin male): A filthy, nervous, pathetic goblinoid who was encountered by the PCs as they were exploring the old mining tunnels beneath the Hud Horrn. Claims he is often bullied by the other Blooded Lash members, so sought to escape and devour his rat prey hours west of his station. Lord Ballyhoo charmed the creature to use him for information, but soon after Badger put an arrow through his face. The bard left him with gold coins in his eyes.