Shadows And Dark Secrets [Solo] : S1 E0.3

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And We Get To Ascend! (Season 1, Episode 0.3)

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Lextrin Qualit at a quiet spot out of the limelight

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It looks like the data from Kuron has some interesting parts. Seems like the client, this Marine Major, seems to think it might be a human trafficking situation because, as the pics show, a very beautiful young lady. That's possible, but that wouldn't explain why Kuron was dragging a heavy tail.

Was that fact related to the missing daughter or is it related to something else Kuron got herself into? And who ordered the surveillance - government? agents? mafia? someone else?

Lots of questions. Let's dig more into the socials and other online info I got from Ayisha. For a 17 year old, the Major's daughter is fairly savvy at information security - the stuff she's got up is mostly some of her friends and stuff of no particular notice. One of her friends recently asked her if she had a new boyfriend. She said 'One of the choices around here? Hardly!'.

Is there a boyfriend? If so, she's been pretty good about hiding it. No pics, but I'll need to go image by image to see what I can pull out from small details and to see where the pics were taken. No sign of the boyfriend - if he exists.

On the other hand, what do we find out of locations where the daughter took pictures? No luck there either, but I did see one image with a bit of background clutter which turned about to be a transit ticket for some sort of ship. A quick poke around and I got the name of the ship and where it is docked: The Celestial Elegance at the Omid Nassirian High Port, docking bay Aleph Three. Even better, I found out the filed time of departure: 0400, 4.5 hours now.

The daughter might be running away. She might be with some sort of alleged boyfriend. She could have been picked up by some bad actors, but with having a ticket, I'd have to assume they'd take her off the ship or try to take the ship.

I looked up what was known about The Celestial Elegance - A fast, luxury vessel with a lot of automation. Crew won't be too large, but the security could be really ugly. Doesn't say if she'd be armed, but to be honest, the folks who can afford 500 ton luxury vessels for a single client or a small group... I'd bet on some sort of armament. Probably not something I can easily go after myself.

Let's so who I can call up. First call, Ayisha. She answers and I explain I think there might be a hostage situation or even something more sinister and I need a good cracker to handle the security systems and comms jamming and the like. She seems skeptical - she likes breathing. I reply that she shouldn't 'feel embarrased just because it is too much of a challenge for you' and then she gives me a really icy look... but said she'd come along just to prove the point. Which is exactly what I had hoped.

I'd need a few more for the team. None of my underworld folks were answering - sometimes they can't and other times they just don't want to. One of the people I met through the Consulate, however short I was there, was a cop named Selenium Optatus ('Sel') who followed cases related to smuggling. He was home, and we talked. He told me there have been some human trafficking rings kicking around, tied in with organized crime and the 'Pirate King' (self-styled, of course). He wanted in, but a man had to survive so there was a gratuity for his help. Fine.

One more call... a former Navy medic now working as a medic in civilian work. I talked to Eko Belardo. He still kept himself in good shape and he'd got another kid coming. I told him I needed a trailer in case things go astray and some injuries incur. He indicated he would travel armed. He figured if these folks are kidnappers, being unarmed wasn't a survival tactic.

Time to grab gear and head for the High Port. I called the Consul Phlandem Catricou.... well, now he's something even more elevated, but when I told him I was trying to catch a missing daughter on a ship that may be imminently leaving from the High Port, he arranged with flight control for a priority launch and a no-fuss entry (no customs). That's some kinda clout. Good thing he liked me when we worked together.

Lextrin, Eko, Ayisha, & Sel debarking onto the High Port

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Sel had a few words with the Officer of the Port who met us on debarking. I don't know what he said, but the Officer got him access to the cameras for the docking bay for The Celestial Elegance and otherwise an absence of official attention. We got some VIP passes. We got one warning: If we make too much of fuss on the Port, there would be a severe response.

Normally, I'd call letting a bunch of randos into your station poor security, but that's the kind of thing that happens in a system where you are rich or almost nothing and where corruption rots everywhere. At least this time, it is useful for us.

Lextrin, Eko, Ayisha, & Sel in a room not far from the docking bay Aleph 3

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We'd tap into system comms with The Celestial Elegance so Ayisha could see what she could do.

Meanwhile, we cleaned and prepped our gear. I checked my Boersma 6.5mm Short Carbine, my Bradley 10mm Snub Semi-Auto, a hand stunner, and I make sure my plate-over-ballistic weave armour wasn't chaffing and that gear is easily to hand. I watched Sel settle his Heller 10mm and then he hauls out a Craymore Submachine Gun - same rounds as his pistol and, in a jam, he could snap the pistol mags into the Heller. But he might not have any need to reload; His current mag is a dual rotating feed system thatd holds 74 rounds.

I watched Eko - he checked out his med kit, his armour, and a bog-standard 8.5mm P1 service pistol and a jam stunner. I never liked the P1, but when you go into danger, average gear that you are well trained with is better than great gear you haven't trained with. Hopefully he won't need to do any shooting. Maybe nobody will.

Name	Selenium Opstat (SEL-en-ium OP-stat)		Nationality	Prismatan
Nicknames & Aliases		?
Career(s)	Law Enforcer (Detective, in 4th Term)
Biometrics
Species	Human	Gender	Male	Age	31
Skin	Black, buzz cut small beard	Eyes	Brown	Size & Weight	1.9 m, 74 kg
Attributes
Muscles	+1	Hardiness	0	Agility	0
Intellect	+1	Knowledge	0	Gravitas	+1
Contacts Target Values
Legal	5	Criminal	5	Family	3
Talents	Reader (+1 on any interaction task)		Burdens	Seen Too Much (Must save Intellect -1 facing horrible things/people)
Skills
Small Blade 2 Streetwise 2 Tech(Electronics) 1 Medical(Forensics) 1 Sidearm(Kinetic) 1 Covert(Intrusion) 1 Interaction(Interrogation) 1 Tactics(Ground) 1 Tech(Sensor Ops) 1 Investigation 1 Tech(Computers) 0 Vehicle(Wheeled) 0 Weapon(Carbine, SMG & PDW/Kinetic) 1 Brawling 0

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Notes

This gets us part way to the attempt to breach The Celestial Elegance. If Ayisha can get some interiors, that would give us a better situational appreciation. Of course, if the dive into the ship's systems leads to an alarm, the situation could become dire... stand in for episode 4...

Also of note: None of the dice rolls kicked out anything that was going to shake things up. I guess the dice are waiting until we'll get in the soup and then they'll start ratcheting things up every turn....

Shadows and Dark Secrets [Solo] : S1 E0.2

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The Lay Of The Land (Season 1, Episode 0.2)

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Lextrin Qualit in transit on the slide-train

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I headed out to Hydrodome 17. If you'd never been to Prismata - and who would want to? - you'd realize quickly the limitations on water due to a very dry planet. The planet has tens of billion of people on the planet and water is a highly valued commodity. The Hydrodomes are combinations of massive reservoirs, water purfication systems, and some water structures that the well-behaved, professional class get to enjoy. The really rich have their own pools it is said, but if you aren't one, you'll never know.

Meeting at a Hydrodome probably reduces the odds of overt violence and might get me some useful intel from Kuron so I can figure out if I can get the work done and get paid. And not getting killed is another nice to have feature.

Lextrin Qualit at Hydrodome 17

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I've arrived at Hydrodome 17 and am ambling around the arboretum. I see Kuron sitting on a bench about 15 meters away. She looks agitated or ready for something to break out. I'm not armed - the Peacekeepers would take a lethally dangerous view of any such thing. I think I spot as many as three folk interested in Kuron. I know she's seen me. She gets up and walks to the wet field. I follow as if I have no interest other than the lovely grass and simulated blue sky - another oddity... why blue? Our sky is never blue.

Kuron finishes her lunch and dumps it into a garbage can. She then takes off her coat and heads into the wet field (a big field with sprinklers). She looks like she's having fun to the average person, but the fast-snap reactions we all learned shows if you know what to look for.

I see one of the tails is lagging... probably checking out the bench and the garbage receptacle. He'll be busy for a while. One of the others has reluctantly went onto the wet field, but at the farthest side. I suppose that is supposed to make her noticeable... well, it doesn't work. The last one, another man, is reading a paper and looking out over the aquaduct.

I knew Kuron would hit the comfort stations - not because she needs to, just to make another one of them go diving. She'll gather up her stuff, shake off, then go for a bit of a run. Not a sprint, just enough to force the trails to decide if they fired up. Kuron has athletic shoes, they don't. She'd have a bug in her coat now, but she'd sanitize it when she got back to work.

When Kuron jogs by, she stops for a drink at the citrus juice bar. Then she goes to sit on the railing overlooking the aquaduct. She'll lounge there and look all around. The tails probably aren't going to close up to her. When she is finished, she'll call a trans-urb zipcar. That'll get her back to work. And they'll never notice the high tech earbud she picked up. I set it down in a napkin just before she picked up her order.

She'd be calling me with a crypted comm when she gets to work. I'll get what she has for me and I'll ask her if she needs an extraction. I owe her one. But she won't. These three clowns? She could have taken all three of them without perspiration.

And that's what went down, just like expected. The things I didn't get were the things she dropped on me on the secure comm.

Lextrin Qualit at and about

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I got the call. Kuron told me the mission was a high value extraction and the target is a young female. I poked to find out the client... Kuron was cagey which probably meant she wasn't 100% sure the comms' crypto were dependable. I asked about where the target was last seen. She sent some images. Kuron doesn't have a current location, just one 4 weeks ago when this all started. So far this looks about as lousy as one can expect. I told her to not work to hard and stop worrying. She knew that meant stay sharp and don't let your guard down. I let her know that if there was any worries, she could call me and I'd cheer her up. That really meant I'd initiate a hostile extraction to pull her out.

I figured I might not get the info I needed and I don't like working for unknown clients, even if they are vouched for by those I trust implicitly. I did spent those years on the wrong side of the law. Those folks have ears everywhere. Time to shake some of my contacts to see what comes out.

I started with with Ayisha. Not many know that name, her real one. She runs under many pseudonyms and usually is in disguise and her net diving gear is heavily protected and anonymized. She's was a military black hat cyber sleuth with counterstrike capability. She just didn't like other humans too close.

She meets me and we talk. She does some background hacks. She runs some of the weakly defended parts of the undernet. She pokes into some organized crime data havens. She has a deft hand and doesn't set off the cyber watchdogs.

So, the guy I'm doing this for is a decorated Marine Major and it's his daughter that is the one that has disappeared. Some deeper diving in the underworld data havens showed there had been some money offered for some 'package pickup' but it wasn't clear if anyone took the work; It may still be unfulfilled. The cyber watchdogs were snuffing around so Ayisha bailed because we don't want to tip off anyone this early.

Ayisha gave me some info from the target's socials and some stuff other stuff that wasn't well protected. Then she bowed out and vanished to lay down a defensive path back home, wherever she was living now. She'll be watching her backtrail.

Next step: review the data and figure out where the first transit will need to head. It'll also give me how big of a team I need and then figure out if I can pursuade them.

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Name	Ayisha (AYE-ee-shah) (insert varied last names)		Nationality	Prismatan
Nicknames & Aliases		Slice, Ring Zero King, Gibson
Career(s)	Rogue/Hacker at the end of a 4th term now
Biometrics
Species	Human	Gender	Male	Age	31
Skin	Black, medium loose	Eyes	Hazel	Size & Weight	1.87 m, 90 kg
Attributes
Muscles	0	Hardiness	+1	Agility	+1
Intellect	+2	Knowledge	+1	Gravitas	0
Contacts Target Values
Hackers	4	Criminal	4	Family (?)	8
Talents	Gestalt(Computers, +2 on any electonics or computers tasks or the like)		Burdens	Cannot Abide People Getting Close (roll Intellect -2 if anyone gets really close to her)
Skills
Tech(Computers) 3 Criminal(Streetwise) 2 Small Blade 2 Covert(Intrusion) 1 Brawling (Dirty Fighting) 1 Tech(Electronics) 1 Criminal(Forgery) 1 Tech(Sensor Ops) 1 Medical(Trauma Aid) 1 Criminal(Escape) 1 Sidearm(Kinetic) 0 Professional(Legal) 0

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Notes

I have realized that I will, at least for now, write the chronicle from Lextrin's perspective. In case I want to have other prespectives at some point, as I may want to, I will put some information in the narrative as to which character is doing the thinking or talking.

The surprising parts as I gamed through this was: The contact (Kuron) was scared from the outset. And she was holding back information. The unwillingness to divulge the client was a twist. When we got Ayisha involved, I figured she'd get stonewalled, but the double sixes said otherwise. A lot of data to be sifted and hopefully enough to travel to the last known location and gather more info.

Shadows and Dark Secrets [Solo] : S1 E0.1

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A Call From An Old Comrade (Season 1, Episode 0.1)

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Lextrin Qualit

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I've been trying to get off this arid, steaming, corrupt hornet's nest of humanity for my entire life. I swore I'd get off of this dirtball no matter what it takes.

When Kuron commed me about a high-value recovery for an unnamed client, she said that the work could go off-planet. She said we should meet at Hyrdodome 17 at break hour.

If Kuron was sending this my way, it's something outside of military or police channels and it needs my skill set. The other important fact is the money's running short and I like to eat and manage my medical bills. Kuron was being cagey, but she won't leave me out to dry or send me into an ambush.

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Name	Lextrin Qualit (LEX-trin KWA-lit)		Nationality	Prismatan
Nicknames & Aliases		'Hugh'(huge), 'Stoney', 'Cover', Trinit Lex
Past Career(s)	Marines(Captain, medical discharge), Rogue(medical discharge), Diplomat(Assistant Consul, medical discharge)
Biometrics
Species	Human	Gender	Male	Age	34
Skin	Brown, curly, shoulders, beard	Eyes	Blue	Size & Weight	1.95 m, 118 kg
Attributes
Muscles	+2	Hardiness	0	Agility	+1
Intellect	+1	Knowledge	+1	Gravitas	0
Contacts Target Values
Military	5	Criminal	6	Diplomatic	6
Family(severed)	3	Romantic	4	Other	5
Talents	The Knack(no penalties for not having a skill), Tough(-1 for injury or illness tests)		Burdens	Limp (Damaged Leg), Limited Movement (Broken Shoulder)
Skills
Brawling(Tak Lat, Hard MA) 2 Criminal(Information Gathering) 2 Interaction(Liaison) 2 Ranged Weapon(Sidearm/Kinetic) 2 Blades(Small) 1 Criminal(Forgery) 1 Interaction(Deception) 1 Medical(Trauma Aid) 1 Spacesuit 1 Tactics(Ground) 1 Vehicle(Grav) 1 Weapon(Assault Weapon/Kinetic) 1 Weapon(Assault Weapon/Energy) 1 Weapon(Carbine, SMG & PDW/Kinetic) 1 Weapon(Sidearm/Energy) 1 Investigation 0 Tech(Computer) 0 Vehicle(Wheeled) 0 Environment(Desert) 0

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Name	Kuron Silis (KOO-ron SIL-iss)		Nationality	Prismatan
Nicknames & Aliases
Past Career(s)	Marine(Major, 4 terms, Cavalry then Commandos, decorated twice)
Biometrics
Species	Human	Gender	Female	Age	35
Hair	Black long, straight	Skin	Bronzed	Eyes	Brown
Size & Weight	1.95 m, 118 kg	Marks or Scars	Knife scare on jawline	Decoration	None
Attributes
Muscles	-1	Hardiness	0	Agility	0
Intellect	+1	Knowledge	+2	Gravitas	-1
Contacts Target Values
Military	3	Special Forces	8	Family	7
Talents	Spots Ambushes(+1 to any social, combat, or other trap or ambush)		Burdens	Afraid of the Rich and Powerful(-1 to any attempt to risk the ire of the powerful people)
Skills
Covert(Reconnaisance) 2 Heavy Weapons(Kinetic, Heavy Support) 2 Tech(Computers) 2 Administration 1 Ranged Weapon(Sidearm/Kinetic) 1 Heavy Weapons(Tactical Missile) 1 Vehicle(Lifter) 1 Medical(Trauma Aid) 1 Spacesuit 1 Tactics(Ground) 1 Vehicle(Tracked) 1 Tech(Mechanical) 1 Covert(Intrusion) Criminal(Information Gathering) 1 Forward Observer 1 Brawling 1 Assault Weapons(Kinetic) 1 Explosives 1 Covert(Stealth) 0 Vehicle(Wheeled) 0 Medical(Trauma Aid) 0

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Notes

The Contacts' Target Value is used when Lextrin want to get in contact with that sort of contact as needed. The lower the value, the more able to succeed in finding a contact or a particular contact; The value will likely vary as things happen.

Lextrin was taken out from all 3 of his careers with injuries. The first was a shattered leg (reinforcement in the left leg, limps), the second was a projectile wound in the right shoulder (scarred, -1 to mobility that requires that shoulder), and the third was a vehicle incident while trying to protect the Consulate (concussion, healed).

Lextrin tried to get off Prismata by appying for the Star Navy, but he was not excepted. He drafted into the Prismatan Marines. He was comissioned as a 2nd Lieutant then promoted to 1st Lieutenant. His second led to a promotion to Captain early (a fast riser) but he got discovered some shady dealings by some higher ups and he investigated. That put him in the middle of a firefight and had his leg smashed. It was never clear if that was a trap and his dismissal may have been orchestrated by the dirty senior officers.

When Lextrin got out, he was in a bad head space and money got short and he hooked up with a crew that took scores from the criminal underworld, mostly carefully and quickly. He rose to being the planner for the crew. In his second term, a score went bad and he tried to pull a few of the trapped crew members and he took a serious wound and the crew scattered. He never had a criminal record. He got cleared up with some help from old military friends.

He got a job in the Prismastan Consulate as a Consular Security Officer, but his competence took him to Assistant Consul. Happening on to several terrorists trying to infiltrate the Consulate and he took them on with makeshift weapons. In the fight, which included firearms and a bomb, he was concussed. He was thanked for saving the Consul and most of the Consular staff, but there were those who may again have put their hand in his fate as he was given a honourable discharge from the Consulate. The excuse was that he did not attempt diplomacy with the intruders and he gained and used several weapons inside the Consulate (not that he had a choice).

Session Report: [Wardens of the Selarin Forest] - The Journey To Blackstangate Castle

Preamble

For many decades, the men of Ninnegal had been seeking ways to secure their lands from the depredations of Goblins, Orcs, Hobgoblins, Trolls, Ogres and Giants from the Blackstone Mountains running along their Eastward border. The Ninnegalese had every intention of driving these creatures back, deeper into the Blackstone range, to preclude the regular raids and incursions these creatures staged upon the eastern farmlands of the Duchy of Nordland.

The men of Ninegal also felt a kinship with the Freeholders of Shanador for some of them had originally come as political refugees from a civil conflict in Ninnegal. There were thus some blood ties with the Freeholders albeit a few generations removed. The Freeholders had made some of the valleys in the Blackstone range theirs, forming small Freeholds - independent, hardy and militant by necessity. The Freeholds unfortunately were pressed on all sides by threatening raiders of the same nature as those that threatened the Duchy of Nordlund in Ninnegal.

Ninnegalese merchants also recognized the great value that secure trade routes through the mountains, connecting Nordlund to the Kingdom of Larboma by way of the Freeholds of Shanador, would create for all parties. This would also help ensure Shanador could import badly needed military aid to help push back the raiders and thus to shore up their economy.

To this end, the Ninnegalese of the Duchy of Nordlund had dedicated themselves to the notion of creating such a route, from the eastern farmlands of Nordlund through the Blackstone ranges and the Freeholds of Shanador to Larboma close to the important population center at Axer and giving access to the trade traveling on the large body of water known as Crystal Lake.

For the past two decades, the forces of Ninnegal had been contesting with their foes in the foothills of the Blackstone mountains to establish a foothold. This involved survey, temporary military encampments, engineering work, and eventually protecting miners and stonemasons during the construction of a castle (of the keep and bailey design) on a significant rock rise on a hillside. The valley was the one through which the river known to the Selarin Elves as Induin-rhunen (the Western Heart River) flowed on its way to the the sea and through which a small road wove from the farmlands to the of eastern Nordlund deeper into the Blackstone ranges.

The entire effort took 20 years, but the castle has finally been completed and now is ready to extend its garrison and increase its population of tradesmen, merchants, soldiers and clergy.  The castle was named Blackstangate as it is indeed the gateway to the Blackstone mountains. The keep stands on the borderlands between the goodly folk and the raiding marauders of the Blackstone ranges.

Recently, the Eorl of Blodstanshire, His Lordship Emeric Griffin, sent forth notices far and wide seeking traders, scouts, engineers, smiths, merchants, men-at-arms, archers, landless knights, yeomen, caravaners, surveyors, healers, and 'a special few independent souls willing to risk danger for the good of the realm'.  The Eorl was sure to include carefully diplomatic messages to the dwellers in the Selarin forest, the Dwarven communties and Gnomish communities to their West, and to the various non-human races who might be willing to lend a hand.

Chapter 1: The Journey to Blackstangate Castle

The Senior Warden of the South-Eastern Extents, Celebril Caranmir (uncle of Merril Caranmir) received a request from Eorl of Blodstanshire requesting politely any possible assistance the Wardens of the Selarin Forest could to the new Castellan of Blackstangate Castle, Lord Gerrart Kendrick. As the Eorl had been a good neighour and ally to the forest dwellers, as had his father and his father's father before him, and as the Eastern Extents were not under excessive pressure at the present, it was decided that a small unit of Wardens would be sent to the aid of the Castellan of Blackstangate.

And thus, on the 1st day of the 4th month, 4 Wardens set out from the Eastern Extents bound for Blackstangate. The company was led by Merril Caranmir, a Selarin Elf ranger trained by Celebril himself. With her would come a Forest Gnome Druid named Aspen Asperia with her badger "Scratch", a Tallfellow Halfling rogue of the Tallbows known by the name Rowan Thistlefoot, and a visiting Searethan Elf Wizard known as Telephinion Iouristan or "Finn" to his friends. The Searethan was participating in an exchange program, learning more about his forest brethren while one of them spent some time in the City-State of Seareth's academies.

4th Month Day 1

The weather was sunny and cool when the venturers set out. The first day and night passed without event - pleasant travelling with easygoing companions. The Wardens shared their knowledge of the forest and the outside world with one another and talked of family lives. Foraging was good.

4th Month Day 2

The second day brought an encounter with Merril's keen Elven vision spotting some approaching Centaurs. The Wardens elected to conceal themselves and observe, both to avoid detection and to take a better estimation of the Centaurs nature and purpose. As the Centaurs appeared to be harmless and respectable travelers, the Wardens let them pass unaware they were ever observed.

4th Month Day 3

The third day brought moderate rain as they traversed a mix of forest, fen and forested hills. The rain was intermittent to start with and travelling was not onerous, just damp. Not as much wildlife was seen and the temperatures were cooler.  As night approached, the rain intensified and the group sought a decent place to spend the night and make camp. A small rise in amidst the scrub served to locate their bivouac above the puddles forming in the lower areas. A small fire, sheltered from the rains, was built and the team turned in, with the Elves taking turns on watch.

Night Encounter: Goblin Raiders

In the wee hours of the morning, in full darkness, a hapless band of Goblins - likely a small raiding party - happened upon the campsite of the Wardens. As Telephinion was on watch and does not have the most well-tuned woods senses, and with rain beating down, nobody saw the Goblins approaching. The rain works both ways as the Goblins similarly did not see the encampment until they were almost on top of it.

The six Goblins spotted Telephinion about the time he spotted them. His cry awoke Merril who had been in Reverie, dreaming about the bright white flowers of the ancient silverwood trees. Rowan and Aspen roused, but both were unarmoured and had to grab up their weapons. In the meanwhile, Finn and Merril elected to try to hold off the Goblins.

The Goblin party outnumbered the Wardens, being six in number with two archers in their number. The archers moved to firing positions and engaged the Wardens and Finn and Merril returned fire. The return fire was very effective, felling quickly two Goblins. The Goblins, being somewhat callous and inured to the misfortunes of others, continued their attack.

A Goblin archer grazed Merril and a charging Goblin's blade slashed Rowan after he failed to down another Goblin with his bow, instead wounding him. The melee-armed Goblins pressed in while the archers manouvered for clear lines of fire. Aspen took up a position from which she could move to aid the injured as needed and provide missile support with her sling, scoring a wound upon another Goblin, as did Merril with her bow.

The Goblins pressed hard and Finn re-positioned to help cover the unarmoured Rowan and Aspen. Merril continued to down Goblins with her well placed arrows, missing only once during the entire fight. Rowan shifted to using his short sword and Finn switched to his magic, blowing a Goblin's chest open with a magical force projectile. Aspen healed Rowan as a precaution using one of her weaker healing spells.

In short order, only one Goblin remained and he had no longer the stomach for the fight. Merril made the call to attempt to slay the last Goblin as he fled, feeling their was no intelligence to be gained from an interrogation and wanting to rid the forest of such foul little menaces. A volley of fire from the Wardens, no doubt impeded by distance, darkness, and heavy rain, only succeeding in winging the last fleeing Goblin before he escaped into the brush back the way he came.

Aspen healed Merril and the team settled back for the remainder of the night.

4th Month Day 4

The rain continued the next day as the company made its approach to Blackstangate Castle down the North Eastern Trade Road (Provisional). The valley containing the castle was sided by large hills with thick stands of forest, centered by the Induin-rhunen (Western Heart river) and some marshy sections, and traversed by the trade road. Blackstangate stood on a treeless rock outcropping, carefully selected to be very difficult to assail by the creatures of the mountains without great effort.

From the dead Goblins, who had obviously been the recent end of some wealthy traveller, a purse containing 20 golden Lions (Larboman coins) and a vial containing a strange glowing light blue liquid. The vial appears to cast light equivalent to moonlight when shaken. This item would require further investigation after reaching Blackstangate Castle!

The journey ended as the the company ended its fourth day, having faced its first, albeit only moderately hazardous, combat encounter. This was the first time most of the party members had actually had to take the life of a living being in pursuit of their duties. A solemn and thoughtful company arrived to the gate of the Castle, joining a short line of people seeking admittance before the gates closed for the night.

Notes for Journey To Blackstangate Castle

Special Note: This was Catherine's first D&D session, her first visit to the World of Kaladorn, and her first role-playing session ever. She did very well for someone picking up the nature of the game and the decision making as well as dealing with encounters. Next time, hopefully she'll get to interact with some townsfolk. Sometimes soon, I hope to move her from solo play, once she is comfortable, to group play with some other folks in Ottawa. 

Experience Awards: Merril Caranmir - 225 xp, Aspen Asperia - 170 xp, Telephinion Iouristan - 160 xp, Rowan Thistlefoot - 150 xp

Treasure: 20 Larboman Gold Lions, 1 potion to be identified

Next : Chapter 2 - Blackstangate Castle (meet the Castellan, explore the outer bailey, meet local personalities, then maybe begin work)

Session Report: Jambo and Factory Manager

Had a chance to play Jambo Monday night. It's a two player card game involving buying and selling wares for $. There are also a variety of cards that help you build and engine to get and sell the wares you need to make a profit - some allow spelunking the deck for demand cards, others cycle cards, others trade cards for wares or vice versa, some trade wares for wares of another type, some trade money for wares, and so on. Your objective is to have the most money.

You need to play a game to see the cards to get a feel for what is possible. The game ends when someone has $60, but the other guy gets a turn and may snatch victory from the person ending the game. I got to $52, then had a bit of very bad luck with a card auction (I drew three cards, the package of which would constitute a possible net gain of about $41 minus purchase price to my foe and which did virtually nothing for me.... but once they were out there, it was necessary to bid high to prevent him getting them).

So, some cards can be pretty swingy under the right/wrong circumstances, but if I hadn't played the offending card and drawn demand cards my opponent was most ready to fill, I think I'd have won, even with a smaller market stand (he drew most of the auxilliary market add-on cards).

Worth another play anyway. More depth than Lost Cities, longer to play, maybe more fun or maybe not.

Then we played Factory Manager, from the Power Grid folks. This is a game about growing your factory's capabilities (more units of output, more and better automation, energy and manpower management) through purchases of better robots, better machines, power management systems, control rooms, and additional warehouse space. Meanwhile, the prices of energy rise and your turn-by-turn income will tend to as well (as you increase warehouse and industrial output).

It is interesting because the energy rate of increase is a bit hard to predict, some of the most expensive systems you can buy late in the game may not pay themselves off (Lorry actually had a final turn where the best action for him was to operate as-is with no further changes), and your income is determined by the lesser of your warehousing and your industrial output (so managing this balance is key).

You also have manpower management, to install new machines, to remove old ones, to operate machines (but not robots, power systems, or control rooms), and the available labour pool (unallocated) controls the number of new machines/systems that come available in the progressing market turn-to-turn.

So you have to manage in such a way as to coordinate your output, your power requirements, your manpower usage, the need to keep men free for equipment buying/installing, and do all of this with an eye to profit optimization.

I managed to handily beat the daylights out of my foe as he tried to snatch up all the cheap warehousing. That did mean I had to buy the expensive warehousing, but it has high capacity and doesn't eat up much of your factory space. In the end, the fact he had inefficient systems he needed to demolish (consuming actions) was the death of him.

I do not believe this is a game (in two player, 5 player has a different dynamic) where running the market on a particular type of system ends up being wise. This game is all about dynamic balance and building your own best engine. Don't worry much about the other guy, except for keeping an eye on the systems he puts into the market for purchase.

The other dimension is initiative is bid upon with available labour from the pool. First initiative buys first from the market. Later initiatives may get cost discounts when shopping. So figuring out where you want to go (especially in multi-player) is an interesting dilemna.

It seems to be a well thought out game capable of being played in about 90 minutes (the 60 minutes they claim is optimistic). It probably takes 15 minutes to setup though.

GZG ECC XIII: Rough Men

At Ground Zero Games East Coast Convention XIII this year, in Owego, NY, I ran an event titled "SG-21: Rough Men" which was a Stargate Universe-themed skirmish action between members of the Canadian SGC Team SG-21 (and some Russian Covert Ops Team members) against a bunch of Jaffa and Goa'uld in an Ancient ruin on a desert planet. 

Team SG-21 moves down the riverbed as it approaches the Ancient Ruins, searching for the missing Russian covert operations team and trying to avoid immediate contact with Goa'uld or Jaffa presumed to be in the area. The team entered the board through a stargate located behind the butte visible on the right side of the top image.

In the second image, a Russian team member tries to link up with SG-21 in the river bed while everyone tries to avoid the attention of a Jaffa patrol.

This linkup was successful and the Russian indicated there were other Russian team members somewhere around and that they had been watching the Goa'uld digging around the area and doing something in the big Pyramid structure....

The team kept spotting more and more Jaffa and realized that to thwart whatever the Goa'uld were doing on the planet, they'd have to engage the Goa'uld and the Jaffa. They setup along the river's edge with their team's sniper to the rear and with Darren McPhail covering the flank from the river from a stand of trees.

Major Allen, the team leader, gave the word and volleys of gunfire and grenades ensued, with Jaffa going down, more Jaffa appearing, and then more Jaffa joining the first waves lying dead or seriously wounded on the sand or in the riverbank. This is reflected in the third picture.

As the battle rages, the Russians reveal themselves in the ruin and begin engaging the Jaffa up in the ruins with the intention of planting a demolition charge in the pyramid.

SG-21, meanwhile, engages all the Jaffa from the front section of the ruin plus those moving in from nearby patrols. They find themselves attacked by a swarm of Jaffa accompanying a Goa'uld (fourth picture). At this time, things look a little tight for SG-21 with team members narrowly avoiding staff blasts, using up their luck, and being faced by the arrival of a staff cannon on a tripod.

The battle continues to rage, the Russians manage to mow down a bunch of Jaffa in the ruins and gain access to the Pyramid, planting a bomb and having their Demolitionist launched bodily from the Pyramid by a Goa'uld Hand Device. Fortunately, he had layed the charges and they started to extract towards SG-21 and the Stargate.

Meanwhile, at the riverbed, SG-21 had found some of its mojo, downing most of the Jaffa in the riverbed with some very accurate fire (some of it from the lone Russian with the team). The Goa'uld sent one of his last Jaffa to activate the Stargate so he could leave and he followed more sedately in the wake of the Jaffa after stopping dead a lethal volley of bullets from the Russian operator with his personal shield.

The Russian suffered a bit of a fit when his fine shooting was ineffective, cursing profusely in Russian and hauling out his vodka flask, which he promptly drained, interspersed with more cursing in Russian. The air was positively blue...

Recognizing the threat posed by being cutoff by a Goa'uld dial-out, Captain Hunter legged it back towards the gate in time to do some good, shooting the last of the Goa'uld's escort Jaffa in mid-dial, with his body falling cinematically onto the partially-dialed DHD. See the fifth image of this article.

That left the Goa'uld to deal with and he moved to take shelter from Captain Hunter's fire behind the DHD. What he did not reckon with, nor honestly did any of the SG-21 team members expect, was the Russian operator they had linked up with to enter some form of blind rage, partly spurred by the power of Vodka and partly spurred by his great anger at the unexpected presence of a Personal Shield on the Goa'uld.

The angry Russian slapped his bayonet on his AK-74, reasoning that if bullets moved to fast and were stopped by the Goa'uld's Personal Shield, then perhaps a simply spearing would prove sufficient! Motivated by rage and well-endowed with liquid courage, the Russian sprinted right up to the Goa'uld and engaged him in melee, jamming his bayonet into the neck of the Goa'uld and putting his whole substantive body weight behind it to see it lodged there. The Goa'uld's host was instantly killed, despite the powerful healing powers of the Goa'uld symbiote. See the sixth image for the shot of this climactic melee.

With the Goa'uld down, everyone flees for the Stargate, with the Pyramid blowing up behind the fleeing Russians and then the alien device inside imploding in a way that suggests perhaps a small singularity is about to form. This encourages everyone to flee quickly.

The Russian Colonel remains heroically behind to seal the gate, ordering his demolitions expert to get back to the SGC. In doing so, he ensures his own demise and the safety of the SGC. Posthumously, he was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation.

What went unnoticed in all the adrenal rush of the escape was the fate of the Drunken Russian operator. The Goa'uld host was killed by the bayonet, but the symbiote was not. While celebrating his success, the Russian Sergeant-Major was taken by the Goa'uld symbiote as a host and returned through the gate to the SGC....

Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] - Felling The Evil Treant

Rootshaker's friends raced into the evil chapel and were immediately challenged by huge, angry wolverines! The evil Treant Nockmorton was nowhere to be seen!

Sturv, Hagis and Reagan clanked up the corridor, trying to catch up to the Treants and Cortahl the Elven Warmage. Cort peered into the chapel, using the doorframe as cover and let fly with his first spell at one of the dire wolverines.

The wolverines tore into Rootshaker's friends, but soon Rootshaker joined them, dealing punishing strikes to the wolverines with massive wooden limbs.

The rear wall of the chapel contained a bas-relief scultp of a giant tree taking over the world. In front of this was a raised dias with an 8' high altar. Obviously some large-size evil here!

Reagan and Hagis paused so that Reagan could prepare them for battle by laying the magical strength of a bull upon them! This choice would prove pivotal in later parts of the encounter.

As the fight with the wolverines continued, Nockmorton his presence felt by opening a door in the bas relief and heading over to an un-noticed floor trapdoor. Cortahl, who had been focused on the wolverines, moved to attack the evil Treant, but a fireball came streaking from behind the bas-relief to strike Nockmorton, Rootshaker, and the dire wolverines. This fireball also burnt Cort slightly as he rolled to the ground to avoid the worst of it.

Cort changed his plan and fired back at the arcane caster behind the bas relief. Reagan moved into the room, taking up a position to fire into the room behind the bas-relief to also engage the sorceress.

The fireball had weakened some of the good Treants and the wolverines. Soon, there was but three of the good Treants and no wolverines and Cort urged Rootshaker and company to engage Nockmorton before he escaped.

Hagis moved to engage the evil Treant and Sturv moved up to and healed Cort. Reagan, displaying pinpoint marksmanship, scored a critical strike with his crossbow that blew right through the creatures Protection from Normal Missiles spell.

Nockmorton realized that he could not escape the grappling hands of 3 Treants. He took out his huge sickle and began laying about him, slaying one of the Treants immediately.

Reagan dropped his crossbow, ran the length of the room, up the dais, and then chraged down the corridor at the arcane caster, drawing his glowing magic longsword! Hagis, encumbered by his armour choices, lumbered after Reagan. Cort tried varieties of spells against the enemy arcane caster, finding several ineffective.

Meanwhile, Rootshaker lost another Treant friend, but eventually Nockmorton was downed. Sturv went to hammer upon the downed Nockmorton to convince himself that there was no stratagem of evil being employed here.

Reagan's charge took him into a room at the end of a short corridor behind the bas-relief, but a stone door swung closed behind him, plunging the room into darkness except for Reagan's blade's green glow. The green glow revealed a creature of legend - a Naga! His sword lashed out, scoring the creature, who in turn tried to command him and then to use unseen forces to unsuccessfully push him into her deep pit.

Reagan swung with a vengeance, slashing open the creature with a viscious swing, a critical strike! This drove the creature down and out of sight into her pit, allowing Reagan time to fall back to the door, shouting for help and putting his shoulder into trying to open the door.

Hagis, having lumbered down the Corridor, and Cort having nimbly raced past, both heard Reagan calling for aid. Cort and Reagan helped as Hagis bunched his magically-enhanced muscles and, with a ferocious shout and a huge effort, the three managed to push back the locked, wizard-held stone door! This huge effort, only possible because of the Bull's Strength earlier allows Cort and Hagis to join the fight with the ferocious snake!

Is Nockmorton dead?

Can Rootshaker survive another hit?

Is the Naga in her pit fortifying herself for another clash?

Can Reagan, Hagis and Cort handle the Naga, even if Sturv arrives to help?

These questions will be answered in the next installment....

Session Report: Doug is in town!

Doug came up to Ottawa so we could attend the Ottawa Woodworking Show (Nov 27th, 2009). I can happily say we both saw a lot of cool stuff, including some stuff made by one of the instructor-assistants at Rosewood Studios where we took a good course in hand tools in September. We also managed to escape without purchasing any equipment beyond the budget, although it was a close-run thing at times. I did really like the look of the 68" long, 115/230V, 6" Jointer from Steel City ($800) and their 13" helical cutter planer ($770).

This led into a night of gaming at bitHeads with my friends there. This time it was Lorry. There was no Shane, no Chris W, no Ax, and no Slobo, Dan, Louis or Richard. For some reason, I think Slobodan might have showed up, but I'm vague on that (they say the memory goes when you get old). Lorry was pretty exhausted due to some crazy work on debit/credit stuff on Canada Post's new Point-of-Sale system.

It ended up that we played games with Lorry and hung out until about 2 am chatting. Again, the memory fails me as to the games, but I seem to recall Lorry particularly sucking. We showed Doug a new game he'd never played and he owned us, then we played something else and I was in good form.

Session Report: Busy Weekend Of Gaming, Gary Turns 44

This weekend was a busy weekend of gaming.

Game 1: Ticket To Ride Europe with Dice (Doug, Lorry, Tom - Winner Doug by 1 pt. over Tom)

Game 2: Pandemic (Doug, Lorry, Tomb - Virulent Disease/5 diseases): Human win, Field Operative curing two diseases.

Game 3: Pandemic (Doug, Lorry, Tomb - Mutation/5 diseases): Human loss - very fast and nasty combination of outbreaks, little mobility of characters or cards, fast mutation.

Game 4: Pandemic (Doug, Lorry, Tomb - Mutation/5 diseases): Human win - retask of epidemiologist to medic part way through helped a lot in containment of serious situation. (Note: Intersection of sets of 'Players who have seen epidemiologist card' and 'Players who have said boy is she ugly!' = 100% overlap)

Game 5: Mystery of the Abbey (Gary, Doug, Shelly, Tomb - Victory was for Tomb): Find out who killed Brother Adelmo by visiting crypts, libraries, scriptorum, chapel, the Abbot, interrogating other players, visiting confession and attending Mass regularly.

Try to glean more info about other people's eliminated suspects, from a list of 24, while keeping your own information close to the chest. Suspects have 5-factor identification (Beard/Clean Shaven, Hood/No Hood, Fat/Thin, Order (Benedictine, Franciscan, Templar), and Rank (Father, Brother, Novice)).

Go to the Abbot to make revelations about one of the factors or make an accusation, but being wrong is minus points.

Each Mass, cards change hands. Scriptorum visits produce cards that can allow filching from other players. Crypt cards (from the crypt) allow extra moves. When you run into other monks, you can query them and they you, but you can plead a vow of silence if queried (making the finger to lips motion).

Build up an intelligence picture on the perpetrator, but note that you can ask two other players the same question and think you've gotten two bits of data, but due to card thefts and passing, you might be obtaining data about the same target from both due to the interval in between (think submarine warfare and 'contacts').

Like Clue, only a bit more engaging. Good for wives and non-hardcore gamers.

Game 6: Lost Cities (Doug, Tomb) - Victor Tomb on the strength of a good final hand and screwing Doug in a colour he'd laid down two multipliers on.

Game 7: Galaxy Trucker (Doug, Tomb) - Doug won, but he had not been held to construction timings and I had helped him build his ship optimally (his first time). Next time, the gloves are off.

Session Report:: [Olostin's Hold] Bugbears and Body Bags

 

The party stood before the stone door to the bugbear lair. The mage was tired and a bit mentally fuzzy; Being up all night takes a toll.

The warriors Dhallon, Hagis and Reagan put their shoulders into the surprisingly well-crafted stone door, but to no avail despite their best efforts. This led to a discussion and a search for other entrances, while Hagis and Dhallon went back to the building with the tools to acquire some pick-axes.

Just as the two warriors arrived back, distracting everyone, a Bugbear opened the door and stuck its head out. Hagis raced up to jam the door with Dhallon right with him. Jastra and Reagan moved up behind but could do nothing with the Bugbear in the way.

The Bugbear tried to flee, and Jastra chased him down and skewered him, striking deep into the major artery in his leg and finishing him off as he tried to get through a door to a room full of his cohorts.

The fight was on! Three Bugbears hurled Javelins, swung morningstars, and grappled with Hagis, Dhallon and Jastra, with Murklane adding fire support. Reagan watched the party's rear with Sturv, only to find himself being overrun by another four Bugbears!

Sturv and Reagan fought a holding action against the four Bugbears, while Dhallon, Hagis and Jastra finished off those in the sitting room. Hagis joined the fight in the hallway, wrestling with the last of the Bugbears until it was put down by a bolt from Reagan's crossbow.

Exploring further, the party found various small bits of treasure including a nice table with a map of the Calling Horns area upon it as well as some small amounts of loot found on the individual foes.

Pushing on, the party discovered a cloak room with a few odds and ends and another passage, leading to a room with a Hill Giant!

Hagis talked his way past the Hill Giant, convincing him to let Hagis pass through to the secret door. When Dhallon went to follow, the Giant started to wind up for a swing and Jastra leapt upon him, blades flashing and slashing. The Giant howled and the fight was on.

A brutal battle was joined in the small space, with Reagan sinking multiple bolts into the angry Giant, and Hagis, Dhallon, and Jastra all swinging and dodging, trying to avoid the wrath of the lumbering creature. Soon, the giant was bloodied, but he would not go down quietly!

With one big swing, he connected solidly with Dhallon. Moments later, the backswing smashed Dhallon's ribs, cracking obsidian armour plate and knocking the warrior into the far wall of the room, lifeless - slain by the massive blunt trauma!

Hagis, in a fit of rage, hacked down the badly wounded Giant to avenge his comrade.

The party looked to aid their comrade, but quickly realized Dhallon was beyond any aid, slain outright. The party endured a period of shock and grief, then sought out a way to transport Dhallon's body for a twilight burial outside under the auspices of Lathander as soon as this was feasible. A wheelbarrow was fetched to help bear the body.

A somber group contemplated their next step - leave the current locale with the intent of burying Dhallon and returning or press on and finish cleaning out this den of brigands and monsters. The feeling was that Dhallon would have wanted the group to press on, to carry the fight to the foe, and to win a victory in his name.

Pushing on one room further, a huge store of high-quality spoils were found, although little of the collection easily portable - statues, saddles, armoires, carpets, and such like. A suit of magical full plate was discovered, complete with a skeleton. Magical everburning torches were discovered, handy if they don't start fires! And another door to a side passage was discovered...

Down the side passage, two more doors were found, one replete with sound of Bugbears chatting animatedly, the other as silent as death. The Hagis, Jastra and Murlane, healed by Sturv, prepare to take the Bugbears unaware, with Regan in support and Sturv holding the rear.

Jastra spent the moments following the tragedy by beginning working on an epic poem about the life and death of Dhallon Thores. Dhallon had been a good and true companion, if with a somewhat flexible idea of equitable division of spoils. Jastra had enjoyed Dhallon's pragmatic sensibilities and lovely knitted goods as well. Dhallon would be missed....

Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] The Leafy Strangler

 

Jastra's Journal (Supplemental, Hagis recording)

The elf-chick G-string likes to keep a journal, so I'm reading it and helping her out. I like to doodle on the pages, flightless bids are my favorite, but I like drawing trolls too. The elf-chick won't mind; She's unconcious.


We let the tree-chick go. She merged with her evil tree. We didn't get any loot. It was boring. We went to find our Dry Cleaner and the Knitter. They were digging a whole together - I assumed they were pre-planning a grave.

The hole was boring too. We headed back to the little shack and I kicked the door in. We poked around the place and the next thing I know, the elf-chick is busy getting eaten by some sort of plant-thing. We beat it off her, but it messed her up pretty bad - I can see her ribs poking out. The Ranger might be able to do something, the rest of us slept through first-aid training in the militia.

We're trying to figure out what to do now. The elf chick is kinda cute and her singing helps us in fights, so maybe we shouldn't let her croak. I'm watching Dhallon to make sure if there's any move to divy up her stuff, I'm in on it.

Dry Cleaner tells us the new dagger is magical, which is handy. Have to make sure Dhallon doesn't scoff it.

Where's our Cleric? Oh right, they left him behind. I'm surrounded by idjits.

Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] Around The Cavern and into The Grove

 

Jastra's Journal:


We helped Hagis down and Murklane climbed down himself. After getting Hagis down to the cavern floor, we noticed that the root system we climbed down had been rigged with various forms of noisemaking devices. One supposes a form of primitive alarm, but with no one seemingly paying attention to the noise.


The group moved off to investigate the strange grove, gardens, and building. First up was the building, being the most obvious sign of inhabitation. It proved to be an odd structure, with no windows and padlocked doors. Dhallon tried to force the lock and then Hagis and Dhallon tried the door, but to no avail. Lacking a locksmith, the group was stymied.


As we approached some of the gardens around the grove, we were challenged by an elemental of the earth. It obviously wanted some particular voice command to let us pass, but we had no idea what that might be. It quickly moved to engage Dhallon and battle was joined. Jastra's rapier did little to it, due to its lack of vulnerable points. Hagis and Dhallon did some damage, but both took a goodly pounding. Murklane fired some arrows and contributed some damage to the battle. Reagan, using his full barrage of Magic Missile spells which bypassed the things resistance to physical attacks ended up being the key to the destruction of this gaurdian.


Next up was the grove. It seemed to have a number of trees of huge proportion. From the largest hung several who appeared to be mercenaries. Jastra thought to climb up and let them down to examine them more closely, but this proved unwise. The evil tree sucked the life out of her, using a dessicating or enervating effect which drained her of vitality and life-sustaining water. She drank down her entire waterskin in an attempt to rehydrate. Selecting a different approach, using rope, she fetched down the two corpses.


After examining the corpses, the remaining investigtion seemed to be investigating the various odd gardens. Cacti, giant ruddy sunflowers, pines covered with a sick looking moss, a series of trees that looked like dead treants, and some plants which looked like ragweed. Unfortunately, our group is singularly unversed in the lore of plants and animals, so little was to be discovered, other than another corpse, this one with an interesting dagger with a jewelled scabbard and a belt full of money. Myrklane felt it necessary to point out that the money was community property, which seemed a strangely obvious thing to say.


Further investigation revealed a locked crate concealed in one of the gardens, padlocked. It contained a female creature, of perhaps elfin appearance, who seemed reticent to answer questions. Perhaps not the brightest of creatures, the suspicion was she was a wood spirit. She herself confirmed this and indicated the bugbears had locked her in this crate. This, however, was not the whole story as there is no way that bugbears turned everyone in Olostin's Hold into shrubberies and trees. Jastra pressed her further and discovered that she was, in fact, the victim of an Evil Treant. Treants are powerful creatures, so perhaps its magics could explain some of the corruption we are seeing.


The thing most perplexing is what could corrupt such a goodly forest-warden? Time? Human predation upon woodlands? Bitterness at not having an ent-wife? Perhaps our investigation would reveal the cause, assuming we can locate the Evil Treant.

We elected to free the forest-spirit, so that she could attempt to cleanse the grove of its evil and perhaps so she could provide us with further information if we must fight Bugbears and Treants.


We are low in magic, quite a few of us are injured. Something tells me recharging our magical batteries and perhaps retreating to our cleric to have him heal us may be the order of the day, before meeting a powerful creature like a Treant or a tribe of Bugbears....


 

Session Report: [Olostin's Hold] Villagers Take Root at Calling Horn

Jastra's Journal:

We repaired the wagons after the ambush by the brigands. They were savvy enough to build swinging log traps to disable our wagons but not smart enough to recognize we weren't people to be trifled with. One nasty fight later, the road between Olostin's Hold and Calling Horn was safer.

Then, with newly repaired wagons, we proceeded to Calling Horn. Of course, even the most jaded among us was a bit surprised to find everyone in the village turned into a tree or a shrubbery... even inside buildings.

We found a couple of actual bodies in the Blacksmith's place and happened upon a heavily armoured Troll who seemed game for a go round. He was a tough foe, but we've dealt with Trolls before. Our heaviest fighters, Dhallon and Hagis, kept it busy while the real damage was done by Murklane the Troll Hunter, Reagan of the Sorching Ray, and your fine scribe, singing a ballad about hunting trolls on the moors as my most excellent keen magic rapier slashed off random facial features.

Eventually we put the foul beast down, though it did inflict some horrible wounds on Murklane and I. Nothing the power of Lathander, Morninglord and enemy of evil, couldn't resolve, by way of his servant Sturv Amblecrown.

The interrogation of the troll was short. They're not the brightest creatures. Sturv seemed to think we had to let the troll go. Murklane, a follower of Gwareon Windstorm, really had a serious problem with letting the troll go, but Sturv was adamant. He seemed to think that he was honour bound to let the creature go if it answered our questions.

That moment of tension was passed as Murklane reluctantly relented, threatening the troll with a slow and fiery death if he was ever see around human lands again. This outcome satisfied Sturv, but left Murklane rather put out.

We continued our search of the village, in the hopes of locating a clue to the oddity of a village full of greenery instead of people. At one house, Dhallon found a Dog. As is their wont, the Dog seemed to want to lead us to someone after we fed and watered it and freed it. Knowing Dogs know better than most, we elected to follow the Dog.

Off down to the woods, leaving Hendric and Sturv behind with the merchants, the remainder of our party travelled following the Dog's nose. Hagis, Dhallon, Murklane, myself and Reagan figured we could handle whatever the Dog was headed towards.

In the base of a tree, we discovered a strange passage to the underworld. We entered into a large underground cavern, complete with its own grove and at least one building. Now, despite being well travelled and educated, I had never heard of such a thing. Reagan too professed ignorance of any similar thing. A true wonder, but one tinged with the feel of the sinister.

We began to climb down, with Dhallon and I climbing down first to secure a safe zone so they others less talented at climbing could let themselves down. The building we could see seemed blocky and lacking in windows, which was odd and hinted at the need for a sturdy, defensible structure or at least at the mindset of the builders. The grove would, for the moment, remain a mystery.