Author Archives: Rick

Thassilonian Leftovers – Jigu’s stories

Wealday, 6 Sarenith

Well, yes, as luck would have it, there were a couple of more guards … and a strange dwarf named Dolland who was more of a leader than a guard.  He was tougher to subdue and came within a whisker of  being killed, but ended up surrendering just in time.  From him and the 1 dead guard and 3 guard prisoners we retrieved

[1374] Studded leather armor +1
[1375] 3 vials acid
[1376] 2 vials antitoxin
[1377] 3 vials blue whinnis
[1378] 2 vials Terinav root
[1379] MW Shortsword
[1380] book of recipes – Alchemical
[1381] MW thieves tools
[1382] med bag of holding
[1383] bejewelled holy symbol w/peacock feathers

[1361] potion of barkskin
[1362] potion of bulls’ strength
[1364] potion of cat’s grace
[1365] potion of dark vision
[1366] potion of invisibility
[1367] potion of protection from arrows
[1368] potion of reduce person
[1369] splint armor +1
[1370] scroll of protection from evil
[1371] MW cestus

Still badly injured, Dolland turned out to be a font of information.  He had been tasked with opening the mysterious locked door inn the room we fought in, but had been unsuccessful.  More immediately he claimed his assistant had died here from a trap and became a ‘mechanical ghost’.  She continues to install traps in the conference room, for reasons only she knows.  Fixers, we are, all of us and so we felt we needed to put this right.

Dolland also mentioned that there are – or rather, had been – three main leaders for the RoadKeepers: he himself, Lullaby, and Mother NightThrush.  That left only Lullaby unaccounted for – and she, he said, has a reputation for holding a grudge.

He also revealed that Cristella, of the Peacock house, owned a rapier with an invisible blade … as we’d suspected.

He told us there was probably a couple dozen students at the Peacock House.

We decided to disarm any traps and then proceed to find the body of his dead assistance.  That went pretty well, except the ghost came and found us and proceeded to toss Dolland against the wall and start throwing rocks at the rest of us.  We defeated the haunt but felt like we could have done better.

Didn’t take too long to discover Sharlise’s body,  We also found 44gp and

[1372] ring of feather fall
[1373[ boots of elvenkind

We returned to the room with the puzzling door.  We had  secret weapon – we had a sihedron pattern from the back of one of Sir Roderic’s maps that looked a lot like an insignia on the door.  While Dolland went on and on about how the door was impenetrably sealed, and secure, and incredibly hard to force open, it was Droste, I think, who walked over to the sihedron, adjusted a few symbols, and opened the door.

Dolland is a dwarf so his jaw didn’t have far to drop but it was still rewarding to watch it happen.

Inside was at least one smooth white marble wall but also an impenetrable fog.  We tied a rope to Droste and he walked in.  We heard nothing from him until he returned, claiming that inside, the fog was gone and vision was clear.  He found a pair of [1384] gauntlets which radiated/shone/blinded us with strong magic, and there were Thassilonian symbols on them.  We remembered Sir Roderic’s admonition that we needed the gauntlets.  Whatever they could do, we at least now had possession of them.

Droste remarked that the evidence inside the chamber suggested there had been a powerful fire trap there but it had been triggered and thus rendered harmless.  And while inside, he’d been completely isolated from the outside world – no sound, no light, no indication of anything happening.  Curious.

Nearby there was another room which seemed to be another teleport room.  Dolland emotionlessly told us it went to a ‘meeting room’. So … since it sounded harmless, Yanor, Droste, and Vlad tried it out.  And they did end up in a room with a force wall separating one side from the other.  There were two goblins – one, a very hungry goblin and one dead – and a dead goblin dog on the other side of the force wall.  First thing the goblin asked for was food.  His name was Murkel. Droste said he’d bring him food.  But since reaching his teleport platform likely would involve a longish journey around to the goblin lair again, they expedited the rescue by destroying the force wall and pulling him across.  Sigh.

We decided to spend the night here and head back in the morning.

Oathday, 7 Sarenith

Things were uneventful, up until the point we reached the ferry.  There, three RoadKeepers tried to insist on a toll.  However, we surrounded them, and told them if they came quietly, nobody would get hurt.  One of them tried to run, and Shimsa cut him well.  The others hesitated but when Dolland suggested it would be in their best interests, they conceded.  Three more prisoners.  We collected their short swords, daggers, and potions of CLW.

And headed into town to turn everybody over to the guards.

We then visited Audrahni and brought her up to date, including news about the gauntlets.

We decided to rest or shop the rest of the day, and head out to Roderic’s Wreck on Fireday to see if he was feeling more restful now.

Fireday, 8 Sarenith

Well, the visit was largely uneventful.  Roderic was, I’d say, pleased with our progress but to call him restful would be a travesty.  We cleaned the Wreck of a poltergeist and some spiders, but other than that we made little progress.  Yanor, however, was apparently more bored than the rest of us, and so simply put on the gauntlets to see what they might do.

He became instantly aware that while wearing them, he could be shielded from the influence of a single intelligent artifact.

Like, maybe, a rapier with an invisible blade?

Thassilonian Leftovers – Jigu’s stories

Toilday, 5 Sarenith

Yes!  We sold some of the things we found and I now have enough to restock a little … and also buy that haversack.  Now I need not be penalized for being a bit less bulky than the tall ones.  A few extra sling stones need not have me bent over with back pain any longer.

We had barely returned from our shopping trip when we heard Kynae screaming down near the river.  We quickly rushed to his side and he seemed unharmed … whoa, uninjured perhaps.  He was, however, covered in what seemed to be bile or vomit.  Yet he was peering angrily up into the trees and seemed otherwise unharmed.

Following his gaze, we quickly spotted a fairly ugly looking man even smaller than me, looking down from the tree with a somewhat smug and satisfied look on his face.  He identified himself as Retch.   Since Shura and I were the closest we called up to the creature in a not unfriendly manner, “Hey! Wait up!”

We tried to get him to come down, but it wasn’t until we mentioned drinks that his eyes widened, his ears pricked up, and he came down.  While Shura went to the nearby pub, I tried talking more with him — and got vomited upon for my trouble.  This was apparently uproariously funny to him, but trying to keep things light I slapped him on the back and chuckled halfheartedly.

Sasha used prestidigitation to clean me, but shortly, I started feeling itchy for my troubles.  I ended up retiring quickly to go rinse off in the river.  Merely touching him seemed to also carry a penalty, and my humor was fading fast.

Meanwhile, the bottle of cheap wine didn’t last long, and for that matter didn’t stay inside him long either.  I think it might have been Yanor that suggested hard liquor (I was still scrubbing bugs or fleas or something off me own in the water.  But that sure did the trick.  Oh yeah, he drank it all down, but this time at least he passed out.  We examined his belongings and found

[1105] one of 3 talismans he had – this for the beneficial winds.  If he ever fell, this would automatically cast feather fall
[1106] second talisman – freedom – if he is made motionless, this gives him freedom of movement for 3 rounds
[1107] warrior’s courage – if he feels frightened or panicked, he is shaken instead

[1108] belt pouch, containing
[1109] MW thieves tools
[1110] sack of rocks

There was a discussion, but we decided in the end that Retch had not been so egregious that we should take his things.  But we did clean up Retch (prestidigitation; nobody dared touch him again) and turn him over to the town guard.  They were surprised, pleased, and unhappy all at the same time.  “He’s been annoying quite a few folks, how, uh, lucky of you to catch him.  I, uh, guess that makes him our responsibility now.  Yeah.”

Droste and Vlad made a trip back to the ferry but learned little new.  Some chap came thru looking for the “pool of seeing your future.”

Droste and myself went back to Peacock House, mostly to annoy them but ostensibly to ask for progress on the origins of the strange corpse we’d given them.  As expected, they had nothing, but it was more fun for me than getting retched on.  Sure, okay, low bar to clear but I’m not lying.

That seemed enough adventure for one day.

Wealday, 6 Sarenith

Shura felt a compelling need to try to redeem Retch, I guess, so she and Sasha gave it a go.  He was unrepentant and tried to vomit on them both.  Bad move, but they were apparently accepting of his decision.

It was 9am when we reached the ferry.  Today was the day we hoped to find and search the Stone House that the map told us wasn’t far from the goblin’s lair we’d cleaned out.  We got to the gobln place and scouted from there.

Didn’t take long to find a small stone house with 3 humans sitting around an apparent campfire.  There were 4 wagons surrounding the area, and the three did not appear to be alert, as though on guard duty.  Consequently, after watching for a few minutes, we thought that simply asking to see the house might be sufficient.

It was not; they took offense. Treju, Dimitirin, and Sandorio all died surprisingly quickly.

As we were finishing that off, an old woman emerged from the house.  She had a strange, shimmering cloud or field about her that strongly suggested not an ordinary old woman.  But we continued playing nice, ignoring the bloodshed on the grass in front of us, and to our surprise she invited us in.

Shimsa came away with the odd and unsubstantiated feeling that it was smaller on the inside than one might think.  Based on that and, I guess, gut instinct, she attacked the old woman.  Who, as it turns out, was much less of a pushover.  She cast a color spray on Sasha and Shura, and with a sigh, the rest of us joined in. I mean, really, is it too much to ask that we wait for them to attack us first?  Rather puts on the right side of the law, I should think.

While they beat up on an old woman, I started searching for a secret door … and found one!  Droste gave it the once over for traps and then it opened right up.

A stairway led down into the darkness … but then again there was a convenient lantern right here at the top of the stairs.

Well, before heading down, we did quickly search the bodies and the area.  We found

[1329] wand of CLW [29]
[1330] chain mail
[1331] MW cold iron dagger
[1332] amulet of natural armor +1
[1333] spell components
60 platinum plus 6 gold

We also found

[1334] silver candlestick
[1335] 3 books: Varisian Fables, Plants, and Erotica

[1542] 3 short swords
[1543] 3 daggers

I took custody of the short swords and daggers and amulet.  First two went into the haversack and the amulet went around my neck.  Might as well stay a melee kind of guy for now …

Then, inspecting the wagons, we found a lot of loot.  These guys must have been taking in a fair amount of tribute at their roadside robbery stand!

[1316] 900gp of misc stuff
[1317] carved wooden box with 24 pearls
[1318] gold statue
[1320] vial of magic weapon
[1321] scroll of comprehend languages
[1322] wand of glitterdust [9]  <– I grabbed this one too

Finally ready to go down the stairs.  At the bottom there was a boarded up door along with a

[1323] silver feeding bowl  <— I picked this up
[1324] lantern

We continued thru a couple of rooms and down a couple more staircases, before we came across a few coins and a deck of cards – non magical.  While we puzzled over that we heard voices, so we put everything back and arranged ourselves in the chamber above.  Trudging up from the stairs below came six guards … and it took only a few seconds for us to gain six more short swords [1328] and six more daggers [1344].

Going down the stairs we found more guards, but the hard way this time (they nearly surprised us.)  But five more short swords [1545] and five more daggers [1546].

We keep running into more guards and while it hasn’t troubled us too badly, I’m slowly using up my spells.  Might be more morningstar in it for me if this continues.

Thassilonian Leftovers – Jigu’s stories

As interesting as I found the whole Thassilonian saga that unfolded in the last decade or so, as fascinated as I was by the history and the language itself, and as much as I might imagine the adventures the Sandpoint heroes had .. I never thought I’d be even remotely involved in anything Thassilonian. And yet … here I am. We apparently have found ourselves looking for some sort of Thassilonian artifact which has been described, but never actually found.

Moonday, 4 Sarenith

We returned from Roderic’s Wreck with a some vivid memories, a few valuable items, and a healthy respect for how many things out here could kill us. I found my interest in the Runelords strangely sharpened, but also dimmed when confronted by real effects in present day.

While making my usual Moonday delivery rounds, I chanced to pass through the doors of the weapon vendor Lindwin, while he was in fairly subdued discussion with a pair of dwarves. It started to rise in volume and, being me, I stepped up and asked if there wasn’t something I could do to help? They both looked briefly embarrassed but then Lindwin explained that the dwarves were having trouble delivering product to him. A dwarf quickly interrupted and proclaimed the REAL problem was, literally, highway robbery.

Their wagon apparently has to pass through the Churlwood. This has never proven particularly hazardous before, but just two days ago their driver and an assistant had been taken. They’s managed to keep the wagon, but their companions had been kidnapped. By goblns, no less! They said it was the Bramble-something .. I didn’t catch the name … some tribe of goblins which have been mostly harmless until now. I considered all that was going on and carefully said, “I am familiar with some people who may be able to help. Let me get back to you.” The dwarves looked at me – a halfling – like I was insane but Lindwin held up his hand before they could say anything. “We would be pleased if you know of people who can help. Churlwood being outside the city, the guard is less than interested in this.” I nodded and went to find the rest of the group.

I returned to the group and together we chatted with the leader of the guard. Turns out, this wasn’t the first the guard had heard of these Churlwood issues, and while the kidnapping was new news, he’d already sent two members of the guard off to investigate.

Two members that never returned.

It would not be understating the case to say he was interested in having us look into the situation. But before we could get very far into that discussion, we were interrupted by a partially coherent resident.

“The … things .. they, the mouths! They’re melted! They … they …”

When we calmed him down, we were able to learn that some sort of figures, or monsters, or .. creatures had come out of the woods not too far away and attacked him. He was shaken enough that that was about all we got out of him, but we offered to the leader of the guard to go deal with this new and pressing issue.  He was happy to accept the help, since, well, he was already short two deputies …

Two misshapen creatures were quickly discovered, and almost as quickly dispatched. My participation was minimal, because I’d pretty much used up all my magic missiles and force missiles and, try as i might, my skills with my quarterstaff yield as much damage as a harsh look would.   I was, however, an excellent lookout.

But since nobody had seen them before now,, and nobody knew how they’d come into existence … it would be hard to say this area was now “safe”. Shura was able to read their tracks, however, and learned they did not come from the woods.  The last place they’d been, before here, was town.   If we’d been looking to reassure residents, this was not the way to do it.

We theorized, perhaps, this was a result of some goings-on at the Peacock House.  They were strange, and pompous, and full of themselves – exactly the sort of people who might create misshapen creatures with sharp teeth.  Well, okay, it made more sense at the time.  We decided upon the ‘ruse’ of taking a body to them and asking for their opinion on its origins, then carefully gauging their reaction.  Our plan yielded nothing but a quick glance of the inside of their house, as they asked Vlad to place the body in a small outbuilding.  Quickly, they said.  Don’t leave the door open too long, they said.  And Vlad did as asked, but swore he saw some largish, bony, spiderish, skitterish creature dash out from under a bed just as he was closing the door.  They’d do some analysis and get back to us later, they said.

i doubt it, though.

Several in the group felt an inexplicable urgency to follow up on the dwarven kidnapping, so even though I warned them I needed to rest and study my spells, the group headed to the ferry.  I rolled my eyes and went along; even without magic,  I was still one of the better armored members.   (The delivery business can be tough 🙂 )  Perhaps I could serve as a distraction if I couldn’t be a wizard or a warrior!

Well, we’d no more than crossed the ferry and there were five Roadkeepers there demanding a toll for safe passage.  To be honest, they were there waiting even before we boarded the ferry.  We tried discussing the situation rationally with them, but rationally is not a word they know how to spell.  “Lullaby” was their leader,  but she learned when all of us concentrate on one target, we can make that target bleed pretty fast.  I feared we were in for a full battle, but the sight of their companion getting beat up took all the fight out of them.  “Must have been some mistake,” said Lullaby before she and the others picked up their companion and ran off.

We continued on the path, and – well, okay, when I say “the path” I’m pushing things a bit.  The path from the ferry was neither clear nor well maintained, but Shura again was able to track the most-travelled path to take us in the direction we felt the kidnapping might have occurred.

It didn’t take too long before we reached an unusual clearing.  It was unusual in the sense that while the path had been rough and unmaintained, this clearing seemed much more orderly.  There was a dead oak tree in the middle, with a clear path all the way around it.  And another thing that made it unusual was the three apparently dead bodies near the tree, in guard uniforms.

There was also a shiny amulet hanging from a limb of the tree.  I could see it was radiating magic.

The more we looked at it, the more it looked like a trap, and the shiny thing a lure.  But a lure for what?

Then as we cautiously circled the clearing, a shambling figure emerged from behind the tree.  After a moment, somebody yelled it was a “trailgaunt” and not to cross the path.  I needed no more warning than that – again, I was largely without magic at this point.  But while the trailgaunt may have been forbidden to cross the trail, it apparently was not restricted from digging under the trail.  We yelled to each other when it tried that trick, and we were able to keep awat from it.  In the end we were finally able to kill it, but it took a while.

The shiny thing, we found was a holy symbol of Desna which afforded its wearer greater protection against mind control spells.  We resolved to come back and recover the bodies, but for now we continued to press on in search of the goblins and kidnapped dwarves.

Proceeding cautiously, we finally came upon an entrrance to a cave, outside of which were three goblins attempting to guard it.  We dispatched them fairly quickly, but then were left facing a tunnel.  With goblins inside.  Who knew we were there.

And the bad luck for everyone but me, was that the tunnel was goblin-sized … or halfling-sized.  Everyone but me would be restricted in their movements.  And I .. I would be restricted in my sight because I’m no dwarf and can’t see in the dark.

Despite those impediments, we came up with a plan that took out the 5 goblins waiting under cover in the first chamber, and when most of those were down or preoccupied, I was able to use a rock with light cast upon it to advance quickly past them and make sure there were no reinforcements coming.  However, our next challenge would be that beyond this point, the tunnel got even narrower, such that it would be tight for me and the big people would probably have to crawl.

And as if that weren’t enough, a quick scout through that tunnel revealed another chamber, with even more goblins in it.  Maybe now people will want to rest and regain strength and spells.  Maybe.

Thassilonia Revisited

Starday, 2 Sarenith, 4718

I sipped my ale and looked around the room. Being a halfling, my view is typically blocked by, well, everybody. So long as I don’t sit in the corner of the room, there are usually seats from which I could see what was happening. Actually, when the opportunity presented itself, sitting near the corner, but listening closely, works best for finding out what is happening in town.

Today, that strategy had worked extraordinarily well.  It was not unusual, these days, for the Hornfangs and the Roadkeepers to be loudly posturing in the pub, but usually it ended with, “yeah, and your MOTHER too!”.  But recently, some Hornfangs had been found dead in the middle of town, and that had turned everything up a notch. It was still unsolved, and the guard was keeping details to themselves.  And that gave license to everyone in the pub to create their own details.

Today,, a bunch of Hornfangs seemed even more agitated than usual.  Not without good reason, mind you, given the recent deaths, but these guys decided to take it out to the market.  I quickly finished my ale and scurried outside.   Ale-fueled discussions often were the most interesting.

So, I was out in the market when it all started.  The Hornfangs were already making noises about how “somebody” ought to do “something” but “nobody” seemed to be doing “anything.”  It might have stayed at the usual level of complaining if a group of Roadkeepers hadn’t approached from the next street over.  My thinking was that this would be even more subdued since all of the market was around us and there was plenty of room to avoid one another.

But that wasn’t really the goal today, apparently.  When one of the Hornfangs bluntly told the Roadkeepers to leave, one Roadkeeper just as bluntly announced “We were here first.”   Weapons were drawn, and the market became a dangerous place.  I saw several of my usual pub mates take on a serious look, and Shura and Vlad both stepped in between the Hornfangs and Roadkeepers.  Shura glared at one of the Roadkeepers and looked pretty intimidating, but he seemed unruffled.  Sigh. I was ready to step up too, at least to defend my drinkmates, but it was right then that it happened.

Sir Roderic, the founder of Roderic’s Cove, put in an appearance.  A pale, but distinct, ghostly figure appeared right there in the marketplace,  and with a slow turn that encompassed the entire market, shouted “No! Not! In! My! Cove!”

Most of the marketplace scattered.  I guess Vlad held his ground, but once I was sure the ghost was gone, I came back.  So did several others and we talked among ourselves about what had just happened.  i’ve been here for several months and never had anything like that happen, but according to some of the old timers, Sir Rod has been known to put in appearances before.   And then, finally, the guard came.  Sheesh, talk about timing.

We explained what had happened and he nodded solemnly.  He took a few notes, asked a few more questions, and then found ourselves being interrogated by Audrahni.  When she realized there was actually more than a half dozen of us interested in the ghost, and the Roadkeepers, and Hornfangs, she suggested we continue our conversation over dinner at the Creekside that evening.  We all eagerly agreed.

It was Droste who suggested we try taking some time before dinner to track the Roadkeepers who’d run off.  He’s pretty good at this, I guess, and easily tracked them to a ferry over the river not too far out of town.  Tracking further on the other side seemed pointless, since as we got farther from town, the more likely we were to actually find our targets.

Over dinner that night, Audrahni told us a bit more history of Roderic’s Cove, and how things have been escalating lately.  There were a few details about the recent murders that she knew of but weren’t entirely public – like one body was stabbed in the throat, but the other five bodies had not a mark on them.  The expression on their face looked like they’d died from fright.  (She prepares the bodies for burial, so she knows this stuff.)

We asked if the locals, the Hornfangs, have a meeting place.  She replied she was pretty sure they did, but it was not, unfortunately, common knowledge.  She looked us over and asked, pointblank, if we’d be interested in doing a little investigating.

A bit surprised, I looked around the table.  Droste, Yanor, Sasha and Shura, Vlad, Shimsa, and myself.   I guess that would be a nicely sized investigative team.  Our mission would be to find out more about this rivalry, and perhaps also learn more about why Roderic’s ghost continues to hang around.  Ghosts, after all, usually have a reason for sticking around.

Sunday, 3 Sarenith

We learned from a guard that a Jana Guildersleeves is the apparent leader of the Hornfangs – though of course she seems to have disappeared of late.   She is the daughter of the former governor who, ten years past, was run out of town on charges of corruption.  The guards also mentioned a strange fact – the Roadkeepers seemed to refer to their leader as “Mother”.

Vlad came back with even more disturbing news … when he went to his job at the mill, he discovered several absences.  Millworkers aren’t always know for their loyalty to the clock but it was noteworthy that all of those missing were confirmed or suspected Hornfang members.

We split up to follow up on these several different leads.  For my part, even though it was Sunday and many business were often closed, i made the usual rounds to see if any deliveries needed to be made.  One of my usual customers, Ladia Killstrop, revealed to me that she was out the night of the killings.  While she didn’t hear or see anything, she did believe somebody did.  The son of the town drunk finds it convenient to not be home most of the time and she found him running, very scared, and very closemouthed.

I was able to locate him at a local sweet shop, and we hit it off well due to our common affinity for the pastries.  He revealed he’d been doing some night fishing when he heard loud voices.  Drawn to the source, he kept hidden, but heard bits of the conversation.  One lady was real mad.

“You have no right!”
“It is not yours!”
“You aprobing the ruined cymbal!”

Wait.  That last again?

“You’re a pro pre 8 ing it!”

Appropriating. The …

The Rune Symbol.

Oh.  Oh no.

“She drew a broken sword and stabbed a man without touching hm.  Then the ghosts and monsters went after the others.”

I took this information back to the others.   We quickly realized that the “Hornfang” very much resembled the symbol for Wrath.  This nearness to the Runelords was both exciting and dangerous.  But hadn’t they been defeated?

When the group learned of this, we decided we needed to understand more of Roderic’s story.  Were the Runelords somehow  still impacting this region?  Did they contribute to his death?  We planned a trip to Roderic’s old estate (“Roderic’s Wreck”) to see if anything could be learned there.

Audrahni said to be careful, and mentioned if we could help Roderic find his peace, she’d consider it a personal favor.  To assist us she gave us

[1200] six vials of holy water, and
[1201] a wand of cure light wounds [13].

Moonday, 4 Sarenith

Well, Rod’s place sure was a wreck.  Place really needs some work.  Lots of bugs.

First we were attacked by stirges.  The others managed to take care of them before any got to me, but circumstances found me throwing force missiles at the cockroaches that came after us next.  And the swarms of spiders.

Droste managed to find a map, of sorts, taped to a desk drawer.  It had the traditional X marked on it, as well as “ST.HS”.  It was only a partial map, which made it hard to tell us what it was really describing.

In what appeared to be the dining room, we found

[1250] silver service

And Droste claimed to have seen Roderic and his family in the family room.  At least, that’s what he seemed to be screaming when he ran from ther room.  🙂  By the time we looked, there was nothing there though.

Then in the kitchen, a blob of .. whatever.  More force missiles.

However, going to the master bedroom was the real win.  There, we discovered a ghost, but not a frightening one.  Roderic’s ghost had a long disjointed message for us …  “The Cove”, “The Stone House in the Woods”, “Save them”, “The Gauntlet”, “My key”, “My Map”. There was also, here,

[12B0] box, lead-lined,  pair of keys stuck inside it, and it was in the shape of a sword.

The name Baraket was engraved on the box, which is the sword of the Runelord of Pride, and s known to have an invisible blade.

Oh good – Roderic and Runelords all mixed together.  Were they mixed at the time of his death?

Next room over we found the – yes – giant undead cockroaches.  This is why you don’t leave poisonous food lying around.  The food will attract cockroaches, the poison will kill them, and then their poor attitudes will bring them back as angry undead cockroaches.

A scream came from the lounge and Droste exited quickly, shaking his head and muttering “nope, nope, nope, nope” as he headed outside.  He’d apparently found another frightening figure, but when we looked in there something just threw things at us so we shut the door and left it alone.

On to a sewing room which seemed to be afflicted with flying sharp objects.  We left the room and allowed the painful objects to embed themselves in walls and furniture, then reentered.   But a little searching found a box with a false bottom and

[12G0] 9 gold bars (~200gp each)
[12G1] 1 pair scissors

We moved on to what seemed to be a cartography room, and Roderic again appeared to encourage us.

“My map! They took my map!  Holds the key to the vault! Baraket will control them! It will control you! You must endure where I cannot! In the vault! Save my Cove! They took it!  To town!  Gauntlets are your hope!”

Then into what appeared to be a child’s bedroom.  There was a sound of soft crying or whimpering but of course it was not that simple.  We found a skeletal child who stole Shura’s voice.  She took the opportunity to strike at it, and we all joined in.  It died.  But it still took a little while for Shura’s voice to come back.

Lastly there was a closed closet door that sounded like water was running.  When we carefully opened it, well, yes, a bunch of water did come out, along with a few objects.  A notable one was a soggy

[1260] magic slippers – 1/day for 10 min ignore difficult terrain (“feather step slippers”)

We searched around the grounds a little but didn’t find anything interesting.  I think we’d had enough excitement for one day and sure didn’t want to spend the night there, so we headed back to the Cove.

Jigu Bardcreek, halfling Arcanist

Jigu Bardcreek sipped his ale, sat in the pub, eyed the usual patrons, and waited for something to happen.

There was no guarantee, of course, that anything would, and often when it did, “something” was only vaguely amusing.  But if one was patient, and one had had enough ale, sometimes “something” was worth waiting for.

To be honest, “something” had a pretty low bar to clear.  Roderic’s Cove was not exactly a center for, well, anything.  There wasn’t much crime.  There wasn’t much culture.  There was a fair amount of  commerce, thanks to the docks and the fact that Roderic’s Cove was the closest seaport for anybody living upstream on the Chavali River. It was that same commerce that had kept Jigu employed for several months now.  Deliveries, on an irregular but relatively frequent basis, had been sufficient to eke out a living. It wasn’t a guarantee of elevenses every day, but it made it possible more often than not.

He had been in Roderic’s Cove for several months now, even though he’d originally considered his stay “temporary”.  He was a favored courier, because he had a reputation for honesty and trustworthiness.   His keen ability to appraise items on the spot, had more than once saved an employer from being cheated.

He was pretty sure that nobody in town knew he had also studied spells and wizardry.  It was not particularly a secret, but it just didn’t come up in conversation, and he didn’t really know enough to consider it a profession.  It’s not like he was some sort of bar magician, sawing people in half.  His spells tended to be utilitarian—for a courier, like dancing lantern or, in a pinch, vanish.

Jigu was most recently from Korvosa, nominal home of the Sihedron Hero Trask Feltherup.  Trask’s father has a home and business there, but Trask himself has yet to truly settle down.  Jigu had some theories about how sorcerers and wizards are more similar than many think, and his investigations and research have led him to conversations with Trask himself on a couple of occasions.  In fact, Jigu had managed to work magic in a way, according to Trask, that few if any have done before.   He found Trask impulsive and less…disciplined than Jigu likes his world, but  he was still a source of both inspiration and information.  In fact,  it was Jigu’s consultations with Trask that led to Jigu’s  fascination with things Thassilonian.  The tsunami wave at Magnimar’s shores a few years ago convinced him that the Thassilonian past was still a clear and present danger.

He believed he could learn more about Thassilonia and Thassilonian lore by visiting Magnimar and visiting with other experts.  Travel takes money, though, and he’d paused here in Roderic’s Cove longer than he’d expected.  A one-way job with a delivery caravan had brought him here, certainly off the beaten path if one were going to Magnimar, but…it’s the kind of place, he mused, he wished he’d grown up in.  He’d kind of got stuck here, but really, he didn’t mind it so much.  It wasn’t a bad place to be stuck. Plenty of time yet to head south through Sandpoint—an interesting Thassilonian place in its own right.

But not tonight.  Not just yet.

He ordered another pint of ale, because his observation was,  the more ale that was flowing, the more likely something interesting would happen. And there were no deliveries tonight or tomorrow that would make it a bad idea.  So Jigu Bardcreek sipped his ale, sat in the pub, eyed the usual patrons, and waited for something to happen.

The Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Sunday, 23 Sarenith

Maemi, it turns out, was up on a 40′ high ledge, back away from the edge. It is unfortunate for her that she underestimated the damage we might do. She sent a few more erinyes after us, and these seemed overly fond of unholy blight. One sickened me for a bit, but I was able to maintain my focus enough to make it pay for that with its life.

Black tentacles sprang up to hinder our path to Maemi, but airwalk made that no hinderance at all.

The main instrument of destruction were “the usual suspects”; that is to say, Ivan’s arrows, my and Radella’s swords, Dasi’s songs, Kali’s spells (I swear she learns a new one every hour of the day!) and I wouldn’t want to overlook (heh) Zos’s equally impressive list of thrown bombs. We took out three erinyes just as Maemi summoned three more. Kali, that practical joker, had thrown up a very practical invisible wall of force in front of Maemi, and she was forced to suddenly place her summoned creatures at her elbow 🙂 The look on her face was priceless as she realized for the first time she might be outmatched.

15 seconds later Radella and I battled to deliver the killing blow, at Maemi’s expense. Radella took the honors, but Maemi took all the damage. We cleaned up the remaining erinyes, and gathered up loot.

There was not much. Being demons, they had little use for worldly possessions. We did collect, however, 7 more of

[760] longsword
[761] composite longbow (+5 str), flaming
[762] rope
[763] 7×20=140 arrows

and

[765] major crown of blasting
[766] jewelry and fine clothing worth 1000’s of gp

After a quick discussion, we decided to return to Sokai ceremonially, but then after marching up to him with Maemi’s corpse as requested, and then simply strike him down as well. A bit bold, perhaps, but we couldn’t think of another way to use the ruse to any better advantage.

His hezrou assistant was there when Zos’s tengus walked in carrying the body with us just in front announcing “it’s done” even as we attacked. Sokai had looked a little unusual like there was some sort of spell cast on him that made him or parts of him appear indistinct. That ended immediately as he became much larger with a decidedly non-human body. Fine. Easier to hit. 10 seconds later he was dead.

The hezrou took longer, but only because we focused on Sokai first. It fell quickly too, once attention turned to him. This level, so far as we knew, was clear of evil. We recovered

Soka
[767] robe of blending
[768] obsidian steed figurine of wondrous power
[769] ornate gold and jade ring (not magic)

I have taken custody of the figurine, at least until we return to town and sell it.

We took a moment to heal wounds, mostly with the wand of healing, and then … we will descend THIS waterfall and see what else awaits us.

The Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Sunday, 23 Sarenith

So the plan was to use control water to stop the flow into the well, but that was abandoned when Koya was confronted by the ghost of Onoka and chastised. Turns out that the holy water of the pond flowing into the well was the only thing stopping the whole well from instantly putrefying and going foul. So .. no, gotta deal with the noise and visual distraction of the waterfall.

However, knowing better now what were up against, we went prepared with a few different buffs. Haste and protection from acid were the two prime considerations. We got the haste, but didn’t have time for the acid protection. Kali conjured up a huge water elemental and with the extra speed, the extra attacker, and the fact that some had already been killed, it took surprisingly little time to finish off the rest of the omoxes. A new combatant appeared – a hezrou, which Kali said is another kind of demon or devil – but it was also dispatched, thanks to Ivan.

So the pool was cleared But there were shorelines on either sides of the pool, as well as a hole/cave up on the shelf. Zos and Dasi crept quietly into that hole and overheard a fragment of conversation:

“Thank you my friend. Keep me apprised of Meme’s actions.”

Sneaking a bit further in, they glimpsed an opulent throne room. Across from it was another room with swirling mists. They returned and reported this.

We concluded that we’d stumbled into a demonic turf war. The pool was likely something of a neutral zone.

Kali had the crazy idea that we walk into the throne room like we belonged there, and demand an alliance against the other. Then if/when we killed this rival, we’d have a “friend” down here.

Crazy .. but just crazy enough to work. Don’t ask me why, but it made sense at the time.

So Radella and I marched in there, and our audacity and brashness worked. He even gave us 3 hezrou to take with us. We had no doubts, of course, that if we succeeded in our mission we’d be killed, but forewarned is forearmed, right? We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

So it was that we and our three new “allies” headed over there. We’d been told that Meme had a wicked-good assassin as her BFF, and no visit like this would be complete without more demons/devils. We went invisible, at least to start, and with fly/air walk running if needed. As we silently scouted the room, one of the hezrou performed their first act of heroism by being the assassin’s first victim (having been sliced in two in one apparent blow.) Ah yes, assassin, that’s right.

The room had about 10 erines scattered about, and somewhere there was an apparently invisible assassin. I could probably make her appear, but not without dispelling the invisibilty that in our party were still using to good effect.

We were trying a new tactic with Suishen this time. Since he has inherent telepathy, he was going to act as a switchboard for our silent directions to each other. That’ wouldn’t work very well for an extended conversation, but for short, positioning statements (“Olmas will take the one on the left” we thought it might work.

Some of the erines had tangling ropes. The hezrou seemed amazingly ineffective against the erines, but we had some success at hitting and killing them. And when the assassin appeared again, this time to attack another hezrou, Kali was ready with a glitterdust. That made her no longer invisible, and not too long after that, not being invisible made her dead at the points of Ivan’s arrows.

in the end, all the hezrou died, but we ourselves weren’t too bad off. And around the corner lies the ruler of this northern beach …

The Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Starday, 22 Sarenith

Well, the greeting for the bridge was not very pleasant. The bridge itself was kind of beautiful, being of some sort of translucent material. But the sign …. the sign said

Only those close to death may visit the spirits of the past emperors.

So what – we had to be on death’s door? We had to know Death? We had to be a relative of Death? Really good friend?

Not that it mattered, really, because we WERE going …

With extraordinary caution, alert for traps and wards, Suishen ablaze, we gingerly crossed the bridge.

Before us stood a gazebo populated by four instruments carefully placed into poses they might assume during intermission: a drum, a flute, a mandolin, and a samisen. All appeared to be of fine, perhaps masterwork quality. We stared for a moment, perhaps waiting for them to magically reform into some sort of monster that would attack us.

But they just sat there.

Dasi remarked these instruments might make a fine orchestra for a dirge.

Kali cautiously approached them and inspected them. Finally, she stood. “With the right command word, yes, these will provide appropriately somber music. Unseen servants will take them up and play them.” She turned back to them, mumbled something, and sure enough – the instruments were picked up by invisible hands and began to provide soft but sad music.

Off to the north, there was a building that looked like it might be a crematorium, and several other small building were both north and south of us. Zos and Dasi entered the apparent crematorium. In response, a large humanoid figure with a fiery abdomen stood up and approached them. Zos quietly but quickly exited the room but Dasi upped the ante by casting displacement and starting a hearty song of courage. And retreating some.

The rest of us started running towards the commotion, just in time for Radella and Dasi to get hit by a bolt – a wall? a line? – of fire emitted by the creature. Dasi and Radella tried to withdraw, but Radella didn’t go far enough and it grabbed her and tried to stuff her in the furnace that was its abdomen. I challenged it, and struck it a solid blow, but it was not easy to kill. Eventually, it took a cluster of arrows from Ivan to dispatch it.

We had a brief discussion about the wisdom of splitting the group, with many solemn nods.

Some of the smaller buildings were either shrines or, in a couple of cases, small vaults. We found one that seemed to house the body of Empress Amatatsu Onoko. Ameiko entered and briefly offered a prayer, with no apparent reaction.

But it was when we entered the main mausoleum that things got interesting. This appeared to have five chambers, one for each of the five royal families. It didn’t take long to encounter the cantankerous soul of Emperor Shigure. His body, he claims, was thrown down a well which he now labels “The Well of Demons”. He demands its retrieval and a proper burial before he’ll offer a blessing to Ameiko (or anyone, for that matter).

No news what the well was named, or IF it was named, before it was befouled by dead bodies and evil demons. It has been a long day, even though it is but 4pm. Tonight we will strategize, and we will rest, and tomorrow we will take on demons. Supposedly.

The Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Starday, 22 Sarenith

Musician he, collected blood,
And spent some time inspecting
“Inquisitor!” he shouted out
Truly, what we were expecting.

The wizard, then invoked her spell
And made the dead one speak
All raptly watched and listened close
to hear the oni freak.

“Okay!” she said, rubbing her hands
The sea of watchers parted.
“We only have the questions four
and ought not stop once started.”

“The first,” she said and stared it down
“is where are nobles kept?”
The dead one squirmed and wriggled
I swear, his eyes – they wept.

“The place, you know, the quiet place
The place of meditation.”
His face contorted in a snarl
A common affectation.

The second question, hard and fast
With little pomp or show.
“That place of meditation …
Among you – who would know?”

The face again, that ugly face
Squinted, leered and cried.
“Commanders all would know that place
Until such day they died.”

With pity none, the wiz went on.
“When captured, prisoners new,
They’re taken where?  End up where?
The place now! Tell me, true!”

The oni would have struck the wiz
And tried to spit right at us.
“The new ones – AARGH – the place they go
Depends upon their status.”

Both looked exhausted now but yet
One question still remained.
“Hey Minion – now? You must reveal
Your true commander’s name!”

If looks could kill then all would die
But that’s not how this works.
“SOKA” it gasped, its face contorted –
Then silent.  At last, a perk.

Four questions asked and answered,
In one exhausting session.
Beware the day she says to you
“Got time for a quick question?”

I guess I’d never really watched a speak with dead that closely.  Or maybe this oni was particularly reluctant.  But I’d never noticed the (pointless, in the end) resistance that the subject still puts up.  Even if it cannot win, the victim still clearly resists answering the questions.  It kind of made me look at Kali in a new light … it seemed every bit as much a battle as any I’ve fought.

Dasi’s blood bio didn’t surprise us, but we were a little surprised by the answers from the dead oni.  They were surprisingly helpful, despite its obvious reluctance.

We talked a bit away from Ameiko.  Who should go to the island?  Ameiko, obviously.  And we theorized that if Ameiko went, Shalelu would too.  But what about Koya?  She might prove a valuable healer …   but she was also relatively frail and vulnerable.  She could easily swing from healer to victim should anything attack us.

And let’s face it – if the visit to the island was required to take the throne, then the Jade Regent would know that too.  If would be foolish NOT to assume there would be obstacles awaiting us.

Koya offered to do a commune spell which would allow us to learn more about the Jade Regent’s world.  Kali wanted to know more of the lineage of the Jade Regent and hoped these questions would provide her that – nut we were limited to yes/no questions this time.

Is Meida pregnant?  (Yes)
Is it the JR’s child? (Yes)
Is she keeping this a secret (Yes)
Is the JR’s mother still alive (No)
Did Anamurumon have her killed? (Yes)
Is the JR’s father still alive? (No)
Did Anamurumon have him killed? (Yes)
Is the JR a descendant of Anamurumon? (Yes)
Does JR know this (No)

So if I understand correctly, this has several implications.  The JR does not know his heritage, and there are some who find that to their advantage.  We know this because Meida is pregnant with the JR’s child, yet she is keeping this secret.  Why would this not be a joyous moment for the proud parents?  Because the physical appearance of the child may reveal more to the JR (or the court) of his true heritage.  That is, the child likely will not be human.

Kali believes that this information will be invaluable in the hands of the Emerald Branch and will lay the groundwork for a more legitimate heir.  Should one appear, for example.

She will see if she and the Branch can stir the pot.

Meanwhile, we also learned more about the island.  It allegedly is surrounded by five gates, which must be traversed in a particular order – both Suishen and Dasi suggest clockwise – while presenting the orb.  So much for secrecy – presenting the orb is the equivalent of blowing a horn for the Five Storms and painting a target on our back.  But I guess we’re pretty much at that point, aren’t we?

There were discussions about who would be captain, and what kind or size of boat to get, and what prep (spells) we should have in effect as we approach the island.

And finally, around noon, we left.

We arrived and passed through the gates with little problem, circling the island and reappearing at the nondescript pier we first saw.  However, now there appeared to be an outbuilding just beyond the dock, and a path from the dock.

We disembarked without incident, but upon entering the building discovered shrines to Pharasma and Takeo.  Further within we discovered two sisters who has been sent to deter us.  These lovely ladies, it turns out, had 20′ long necks and a poison bite … not exactly a perfect date.  They apparently could produce an aura of silence and darkness easily, but Suishen cast Daylight, which at least negated the darkness.

From the conversation we overheard as we quietly approached, it seems they were here precisely to prevent the quest we are on.  Unfortunately for them, they failed.

A blood bio on their bodies didn’t reveal anything we hadn’t already figured out in combat.

We did a pile of “treasure” but an inspection left us feeling this was either grave-robbing or altar-robbing, and we made a note to keep an eye open for plundered gravesites.  Ameiko felt it might be okay for us to borrow items that were not consumable and did not leave the island. To that end …

[751] light steel shield +3
[752] magic feather (treefeather token)
[753] strand of prayer beads (lesser)

We passed through another gate (did not seem to require the seal) and entered a graveyard.  There was a kiosk at the entrance with various incense.  Dasi took some, suggesting as well that those carrying ancestral weapons may wish to also take some.  Olmas and Kali did.

But we hadn’t gotten too far into the graveyard before we found ourselves surrounded by 9 shadows.   Literally surrounded – this did not seem to be a chance encounter.  Kali came up with a brilliant idea to protect us all from deadly strength drains.  She created an anti-magic field around her, which extended to protect our party.  As an artifact, Suishen was unaffected by the anti-magic field, which meant he could attack any shadows within the field.  Not being particularly smart, they did enter the field … and that meant that their draining effect had no effect.  Although other magic such as belts and cloaks were also disabled, that proved to be little impediment.  The shadows, eventually, were dispatched.

Shadows aren’t known for carrying a bunch of belongings around with them, so no treasure.  Doubtful that they have many victims on this island, either.  I suppose it is possible these are shades of the dead here, but it seems more likely to be another Jade Regent laid trap.

It occurred to me, as well, that perhaps without the seal being out we were really triggering defenses of the tomb.  I thought if we ran into another obstacle, perhaps we should identify ourselves.

I had a chance to test that theory just scant seconds later.  As we approached the end of the graveyard and a small bridge over a creek, some of the gravestones and debris around them all gathered together, taking a monstrous vaguely bipedal form which blocked our paths.  I took a couple of respectful steps back and announced “Please make way for the rightful heir to throne, the Amatatsu heir.  We come only to honor those rulers who came before us.”

And then it attacked. Sigh.

But before I could close with it again, Ivan shot it full of arrows, Kali zapped it with a disintegration ray and Zos had some sort of controlled panic reaction which looked like five or six bombs went off all at once.  It died.

We healed the group, and looked ahead to the bridge.  What else was awaiting us?  It has been a busy day.

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia himself.

Wealday, 19 Sarenith

Upon Ameiko deciding that feeding the city was at the top of our todo list, and that the best way to do that was break into the city granary, we decided that first scouting the granary was of utmost importance.  After sunset, around 9pm, Ivan and Radella sneakily made their way to the granary and gave it a good once-over, noting what guards were where.  They watched for a while to see if things changed much and were a little surprised to find they did not.  There were guards scattered throughout the streets in a pattern similar to elsewhere in the city, but there were no apparent guards at the granary itself.  At least, until Ivan noticed that 4 impressive marble statues of large cats (like leopards or tigers) outside the granary radiated magic.  It seemed likely those were the guards. Kali commented they were a form of golem.

While they were discovering this, we were discussing with Isao how best to distribute a granary full of rice.  It was doubtful we’d be able to move all of it – we weren’t even sure if it were bagged or loose – but even moving a substantial part of it would require some significant support. Isao suggested ordinary utility wagons would adequately serve if only they could be protected from attack and/or retribution as they disappeared into the city.  That, we thought, might be where the Emerald Branch might be of some use.  Would it be possible to put all these pieces together?

Isao thought we could, although with the night already spent it could not happen until, at earliest, Oathsday night.  That would give us all Oathsday to spread the word, and he assured us that would be sufficient time.

And these marble guardians would prove troublesome.  Suishen is quite the formidable weapon against oni, but I had to break the news to him that against marble he’d be significantly less effective.   I would need adamantine to make substantial damage to marble.  Suishen was somewhat miffed when I told him I’d start with whatever adamantine blade we could purchase tomorrow, but seemed a bit soothed when I told him I’d pull him out as soon as I could.

Isao thought he could sell some of the family belongings to raise money for adamantine weapons for both Radella and I, and have them by Oathsday evening.

As if this all wasn’t enough, Dasi spent some time with the samisen to learn a bit more about the history here.  According to Dasi and Kali, there is a seer in the palace who predicted an heir to the Amatatsu line would possess the family seal.  That was enough to start drawing attention to Ameiko and the seal.  This seer, named Meida, descends from some other troublemakers in Minkai history.  Kali says that when you read the diary we got from the House of Withered Blossoms and start comparing dates, things start to connect and add up.

This will be a notable 24 hours, I think.

Oathday, 20 Sarineth

We’ve decided to do this in the darkest of the night, two hours after midnight.  Technically, that means 21 Sarineth will go down in history, not 20 Sarineth.  Shrug.

Isao was able to obtain two admamantium katanas, which matches nicely with my katana skill already in place for Suishen.  It will be mildly awkward for Radella, since she generally uses an elven blade, but it will do.  When it comes to the stone kitties, we will be the primary weapon.  Kali promises she’ll have other tricks up her sleeves too.

The Emerald Branch has agreed to assist, but only in the peripheral action, not the main attack on the granary.

In going over the plan, Kali raised the question of who (important) was in the palace, and we were mildly surprised to hear of the Raven Prince.  It sounded vaguely familiar, like I’d heard it before but forgotten it.  (When your primary task is to kill oni, names really fall down the list in importance.)  Apparently he is the Royal Assassin (why did he hire a surrogate then to come after us??).  Kali thinks we can make use of this.

Actually Kali has lately been full of ideas to get inside people’s heads, so much that I wonder about her.  I mean, I remember her showing off the encrypted notes she’d send to her parents but this is taking things to a whole new level.  She wants to send a note to the Raven Prince suggesting he join us, and she’s doing all this lineage work with the Amatatsus and Anamurumon, and Meida and she’s trying to get inside their heads, wanting to send them messages both overt and subtle.  It all sounds very complicated and unnecessary to me, but then my forte is battle strategy, not confusion and misdirection.

Hatsui has volunteered to manage the (eventual) wagon train.  Dasi will leave a little early to see if he can detect any thoughts from inside the granary (that is, are there more guards inside?)

Fireday, 21 Sarineth

Wow, that was exhilirating and scary and awesome all at once.  But that’s because we were (essentially) completely successful; there were several points where things could have turned ugly quickly.

First, Kali cast a spell called “greater magical weapon” on the admantium katana Radella and I had, and this made them powerful magical weapons for a relatively short period of time.  This was a big advantage because prior to that all they were were masterwork.  We gained dark vision, and haste, and blessing of fervor.  I asked Suishen for protection from cold.  Ivan Enlarged me to make me a bit more formidable against the stone kitties. And lastly, I drank a potion of displacement to make myself a bit harder to attack.

Dasi started singing.  Kal summoned an earth elemental.  Zos deployed his tengu constructs.  We’d done everything we could think of to improve our chances.

Myself? Walked up to a stone statue and hit it with my adamantine katana, taking a large chunk out of it.  it proceeded to pick up the enlarged me in its mouth and try to crush me.

A spell from Kali, and a flurry of arrows from Ivan, freed me.  Dropped to the ground by the dead construct, I picked myself up and moved towards another.

Radella destroyed a second, and out popped one of Zos’s tengus.  Apparently it had been engulfed when I wasn’t looking.  One moved towards me, giving me a free attack, but then bit me and held me in its mouth like my previous opponent.

Kali shot, I think a disintegration ray at the kitty mauling me and it disappeared into dust.  Although the displacement potion didn’t seem to be helping me as much as I thought it would, i was successfully occupying the kitty’s attentions to make them easy targets for others.  About this time I could have sworn I heard a voice say, “halt! you are out after curfew!”  Really?

A squad of guards/oni had shown up to order us back home.  Mindful of my promise to him, I pulled Suishen and went to work.  To Suishen’s delight (if it is possible for him to be delighted) every guard was an oni! Turns out there were a couple more inside.  Yawn.

Suddenly Ivan said something with alarm in his voice and Kali moved near him and they both disappeared.  What?

Perhaps 30 seconds later they returned with an injured Hatsue and some stranger.  Ivan did some healing on all of us, including them, and Zos (or was it Dasi?) fired off the fireworks which were our signal.

The wagons appeared and the rice flowed.  Ten minutes into the distribution there were flying magic mouths or something advising the population to return to their homes.  These were summarily ignored.

We collected the spoils of the battle.

[747] agate (+1 luckstone)
[748] naginata +2
[749] +3 do-maru
[750] 8 +2 steel lamilar

There was also a collection of 8 MW longbows, 8 MW katanas, and 8 MW wakashazi.

I don’t recall if the granary was emptied but it was at least noticeably diminished.  It had been a productive night.