This session, we will pursue Jacob's quest, formerly the quest of the late Kek. It is presumed to be a DL 6 class quest.

Before we being, the party must roll their monthly disease and parasite rolls and pay their upkeeps, if they can. Fandillas managed to contract a severe acute respiratory disease but it will go away on its own.

This week we have a party of 12 adventurers, a giant goat and 1 hippogriff.

We discuss the goal of the Jacob's quest which will take us to a location in the forests of The Hollow called Forest Tower Crown. We discuss some of the nearby locations and the route we will take and learn that Boldbrow Castle is a Berserker stronghold. It is visible from the sky because its very tall and rises above the forest canopy. Our mission is to escort an engineer architect to the tower to inspect it because the benefactor wants to build a tower in the same style.

They want us to check for enchantments laid upon the place to give it architectural stability that is has. The employer is an unnamed high level character but we do know that the person who is hiring us is a Fighter. A book that discusses a particular fighting style is said to be in the tower, for the book he will provide us an extra reward.

Architect must analyze it for 24 hours without being disturbed.

Our cast of characters this evening was:

• Iona
• Jacob, upkeep for hippogriff mount.
• Josalyn, 1 set of rolls and upkeep.
• Briiz, 1 set of rolls and upkeep.
• Thorgard, 1 set of rolls and upkeep.
• Tatrin
• Orlando, Human Fighter (Bard), wears banded armor and owes 1 set of rolls.
• Fandillas, 3 sets of rolls and 2,900 gp upkeep 1 set of rolls and upkeep 2,900 gp.
• Baldingo, Gnome Thief, owes 1 set of rolls and upkeep.
• Honji of the Hollow, Retainer of Fandillas, Human Magic-User, AC 10/10, Abilities: 11,16,8,10,8,17, hp 3, AL N, worships Geos.
• Arisun of the Wind, Retainer of Fandillas, Human Cleric, AC 2/3, Abilities: 13,13,16,15,11,11, hp 6, AL CN, worships Foresi.
• Delemir

Our group has gathered in Mombafra, where we will look for available mercenaries to hire in the city. Once we are ready, the group will depart for Criss Antha, taking the roads south and stopping in each community we find to gather additional forces.

The available Mercenaries here are:

• 1 light horsemen, failed to recruit, due to bad reaction roll.
• 3 pikemen.
• 10 light footmen and a sergeant, Jacob attempts to hire but must make a reaction roll because of how many hirelings that have been killed in our employ. We lose the rolls and they will not come.

We head out, going south toward Criss Antha. It is raining…heavy rain. However, there is no movement penalty for being on the road. We make it to Riknettle, a small community on the road.

On Day 1, our travel along the south road is uneventful. In the evening, it is still raining hard. On the morning of next day, it is still raining.

Day 2, we are traveling to Qarn from Riknettle this day. By the time we reach Qarn, the rain has stopped.

These are the Mercenary rolls for Qarn:

• 5 heavy hobillars, Jacob wants to hire them and pays up front for 10 days.
• 10 heavy footmen with officers.

By the next morning, it is raining once again but we shall press onward toward Criss Antha.

Day 3, The journey to Criss Antha is uneventful but it is raining even harder once we arrive in the city.

The available Mercenaries in Criss Antha:

• 6 light crossbowmen, they cost 2 gp a day and are hired by Briiz after 120 gp is paid by Iona to cover 10 days.
• 4 heavy horsemen, hired for 9 days by Jacob.
• 5 slingers.

The next morning it is not raining and decide that from Criss Antha we will head to Kawlny to check for mercenaries.

Day 4, the next day it is raining again, with a heavy downpour.

The available Mercs in Kawlny, which is a village:

• 2 heavy hobbilars, hired by Jacob for 10 days (for a total of 60 gp spent).

We will continue on to Elsewater before the day is over. By that evening it has stopped raining and there are no issues on the way.

However, Delemir wishes to use his Speak With Animals spell to speak with some birds. He manages to find some crows and casts his spell, Speak With Animals. While the spell is active he asks the crows about the roads up ahead. The bird says that the roads are clear and normal with occasional patrols from Elsewater. We continue with our questioning and ask it about the Gloom to the south, but it is left unsaid and unknown to prevent a game paradox.

By the evening, it has become cloudy.

The available Elsewater Mercenaries are:

• 15 pikemen and a sergeant.
• 1 medium horseman, Jacob hires for 7 days, 4 gp per day (28 gp total).
• 3 light horsemen, available for 9 gp a day, hired by Jacob for 7 days.

The next day we will travel along the lake road toward Dince, a fishing village on the other side of the lake.

By the morning it remains cloudy but at least there is no rain.

On the way to Dince, Jacob and Delemir decide to start wrestling and Jacob wins the match.

We are almost to the village of Dince when…

Jacob is scouting from his hippogriff in the air when he spots it them: 5 travelers wearing big cloaks. He immediately flies down to warn us of the group as he thinks they are suspicious. We ignore them initially and the group of 5 cloaked figures turn off the road and head north into the forest.

The party is 30 miles out from Dince at this time and continue on our way but Fandillas's familiar flies out to spy on the figures. Eventually it reports back to him that the group of 5 went into the light woods and were just hanging around the area.

We have made it to Dince, a fishing village that lies opposite the lake from the city of Elsewater.

Delemir asks some commoners if they have heard of our group. They acknowledge that they have heard about us over the last few years. Their perception of our adventuring group is favorable. They say that we are the ones associated with the Gloom in the badlands.

He continues his inquiry about the 5 cloaked figures that we saw on the road. They know what he is referring to.

“Those are strange women, the ones that you saw on the road. They are often seen traveling on the road to or from Iway. When they come here, they stay in the tavern, keeping to themselves. They never have any other companions with them. They always seem to brave the roads alone and are only lightly armed and never wear armor. Most people are terrified because they where no armor. They do bring in a lot of money to the village though. They have become regular fixtures in town by now. They usually only come to town for a few days.”

Some of the locals say that the cloaked figures look like native humans from the Hinterlands but Delemir finds someone who is suspicious of the women, they say that they act a bit more shady than normal. The rumor is that they are spies because they are always asking questions. Some people have seen them around with members of the Thieves guild.

With that news, Baldingo checks in town for a Thieves Guild and he manages to rile up a connection in the village. He must make a Reaction check to find out any information and makes a successful reaction of 103! Baldingo finds a Gnome in town that is branch of the Elsewater Thieves Guild. The Gnome conveys some information, that the women are actually Weretigers that are associates of the guild.

“They have a deal with the higher ups, as spies, or with moving items. They are not to be trifled with.”

Baldingo asks about a Fence in town and the Gnome says he can go through his own connections. “Do you know anything about the tower?” Baldingo inquired.

“Word is that the tower has been held by Kobolds. They were at war with the Orcs and the Berserkers of Boldbrow. Its weird, I have no idea how this can be.”

Baldingo hates Kobolds since he is also a Gnome. The guild contact explains that Kobolds have held the tower against the Orcs and he heard this from former prisoners of the Orc tribes. He does not know the numbers but believes that there can't be too many, or there could be a lot since they were able to beat the Orcs.

Available Mercenaries in Dince:

• 5 Light Crossbowmen - 10 gp a day, 70 gp total Hired by Fandillas

In the evening it starts raining again.

Arusun casts Portent on Fandillas and he rolls a 1d6…now he must take a -2 penalty for the next 12 rolls!

Today, we head to the community called Iway located on the far south east end of the road from Elsewater. Travel on the next morning is cloudy and the journey is uneventful.

We arrive in Iway. The party has not been out here before and it is a fairly self sufficient town that lies at the end of the Elsewater road, at the edge of the region. The town is fairly big and it used to be twice the size of Gren until the last few years which have seen Gren's population grow quickly. There are about 4,000 people in this town.

We can see more Plains in both of the hexes that lie beyond Iway. The people of this town do not swear allegiance to Elsewater or any other community, they are independent.

Our group goes around to ask some questions of the locals, who say that the Wistari Elves do not interact with them often although they do trade about once a year. On the other hand, Iway does trade with the Boldbrow Berserkers often. They are ferocious but they keep a good connection due to the security provided by the Berserkers.

Jacob, Iona and Honji split up in town and go out to get some news about the tower and other rumors from the region.

Jacob hears that the Elves in the Wistari Village are familiar with the Forest Tower and they hate the place. The Elves believe the tower is cursed and wreathed in evil. The evil power that dwells there controls the minds of the creatures of the forest and the Elves stay away from it and have kept their forest allies away for the last couple years.

Iona hears that the Boldbrow Berserkers routed the Orc tribe in the area about a year ago and this largely put an end to the conflict of the Orcs and the Kobolds. Some of the Orcs went east and some went west. The Kobolds control the area right now. The Orc tribe that we had previously encountered in the forest was the Gloomscab tribe. Although the locals do not know which tribe was split up, they know that half of them went to the Gloomscab tribe. She also hears that the Berserkers know about the Kobolds but seem uninterested in pressing the tower, only defending their land.

Honji meets someone that has a Gryphon and is from another adventuring party. He hears some rumors form those guys that they saw a creature on top of the Forest Tower that looked like a young dragon. He gets some vague numbers of about 100 Kobolds residing in the forest. They also tell him that they heard this a couple months ago. The interesting thing about the creature on the tower was that they saw that the dragon was airborne when seen from the air but when it landed it disappeared.

Delemir asks around Iway for any word about the cloaked women (the Weretigers, presumably) however only a couple of people have seen them and no one has anything to say. We do know that Weretigers are Neutral aligned.

The weather clears up by the evening.

By the next day, the weather is clear for travel.

The available Mercenaries in Iway were:

• 2 medium horsemen - hired by Jacob for 7 days.
• 1 sergeant.

Our Total Count of Mercenaries is now:

• 3 Light Horsemen.
• 7 Heavy Hobillar.
• 11 Light Crossbowmen.
• 3 Medium Horsemen.
• 4 Heavy Horsemen

As a reminder, Iona the Monk must add her class damage bonus to all attacks!

We head out from Iway without a map so we have to see if we get lost however, since Jacob and Fandillas's Hawk are flying above scouting the way, the landmarks of Boldbrow Castle and the Forest Tower Crown will prevent us from being lost.

The party heads into the forest and travel is uneventful on the way. Eventually, we can see the tower in the distance.

It is clear today so the Kobolds will be taking a -1 to their attacks for the daylight. We are in a Medium forest so the disadvantage will not actually be applied because it must be full bright light however, this might apply at the base of the tower where there is no canopy of trees overhead.

We gain a complete Surprise on the Kobolds as we cautiously move up to them through the forest. The kobolds are 8“ away from us.

Using the new Initiative system, it is noted that a second volley from shooting a bow comes 2 segments after the first. We have surprised the Kobolds and have come from the south.

When we look upon the Forest Tower, we can see that is has a square base of about 100'. The tower has some stairs leading up toward the west and south side walls that we can see but there are also indications of stairs on the east and north sides. There are double doors located at the top of each stair, leading into the tower base.

There are over 100 Kobolds and their Leaders gathered in formation on the west side of the tower. We can see 1 Wild Boar and a Giant Weasel within their number as well. We caught them at dinner time so they were unaware of our approach.

The surrounding trees are dense and stand about 80' to 100' tall.

Fandillas will cast Sleep. Arusun will cast Protection From Evil on himself. Iona rides Xarnos toward the base of a larger tree nearby and climbs up after jumping off from her goat.

Arrows and bolts are fired and there are 9 killed so far, by the Light Crossbowmen. There damage output was 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 4, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1 damage per bolt.

Orlando killed one during the Surprise round with 3 arrow shots fired since he was in the back with the archers and crossbowmen.

Up front, the rest of the group fires bows and crossbows. Thorgard killed 2 kobolds with 2 arrows. Briiz did 4, 2, 5, and 3 damage and Jacob did 6 and 3 damage.

The Kobolds have AC 7 normally but since they are Surprised, we must hit AC 8/8.

Fandillas's Sleep spell goes off and 5 Kobolds fall asleep. Protection From Evil will be cast on segment 4 with this system.

Iona is climbing up to a branch about 15-20' off the ground. While Fandilas casts Mirror Image which will finish on segment 1 of regular (not surprise) combat.

Thorgard hit one for 3 damage and Delimir hits for 5 damage. Orlando fires his bow and hits 2 for 5 damage each. The Crossbowmen fire, doing 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3, and 2 damage per shot and they killed 10 of them! Briiz did 1 and 2 damage while Jacob's ranged attack did 6 and 2. This kills 3 more.

We are now at the end of the Surprise segments and Fandilas's Mirror Image spell completes. We now have 5 segments to move before we start shooting. We can get both shots with bows at our normal rate of fire, or 1 with a crossbow.

Iona, sniping Kobold from the upper branch of the tree, fires her crossbow and hits for 3 damage. Thorgard and Delemir each kill one as Iona also kills the one she struck. Orlando misses both shots. The Crossbowmen fire their volley but only three hit for 3, 4, and 4 damage. Briiz hits one for 1 damage while Jacob hits for 2 damage against the Boar. The Boar has an AC 7.

Tatrin's spell finishes giving him Protection From Evil which will last for 15 rounds.

On segment 6 will be a required Morale Check for the Kobolds due to their heavy losses from our surprise! So far, they have lost 42 of their number and there is a 10% chance for morale failure. They roll a 96!

These remaining Kobolds are so terrified that they drop to the ground, covering their heads. However, the Boar does not have fear and the Giant Weasel is a vicious, wild creature so this will not apply to them. Of all the enemy troops, the only one brave enough to engage us is the Boar! It is 4 legged so it gets a full 1.5 movement on a charge.

Fandillas prepares for the charge as the Boar charges into him. Fandillas must hit an AC 8 and he hits, despite the -2 from the previously cast Portent spell! It is a medium sized creature but he does 7 damage.

The Boar must hit AC 0 on Fandillas and it's charge connects, which connects with one of the Mirror Images. Fandilas has a total of 4 Mirror Images and one of the images is destroyed rather than causing damage to Fandillas directly.

Iona starts picking off the cowering kobolds from her position on the tree branch. There is a tied initiative this time!

Thorgard hits for 4, 7, 4, 7, 6 as he sweeps his blade through many Kobolds at once! Meanwhile, Jacob is attempting to round them up.

Fandilas strikes the Boar again and does a hefty 8 points of damage but the wounded animal misses with its bite and is killed.

The Horsemen and those in melee observe that the Kobolds are all surrendering. The Giant Weasel is controlled by the Kobolds so it remains restrained for now. The two groups in the back are trying to make a run for it.

Thorgard starts barking orders at the Kobolds to drop their weapons, to give us all their treasure and to tell us what is in the tower. Meanwhile, Iona climbs back down the large tree and mounts up on Xarnos her goat to rejoin the rest of the party.

We round up all the rest of the Kobolds and disarm them!

Combat is over.

Thorgard asks about the one of the Kobolds about the dragon that was rumored to perch atop the tower and asks about what can be found in the tower. Who is commanding them?

The Kobold's respond and Thorgard is able to learn from them that they are from an old tribe. Their tribe got broken up and then they fell in with another tribe that lives in a cave. Their benefactor is a Kobold Chief that resides in the cave and is about 5 miles away. Inside the tower is a another Kobold leader named SNIKCH.

They talk about him with honorific terms that Kobolds use for their shamans. He is not part of their warband but is more like a special leader of theirs. The Kobolds say that he has some power or dominion over them. He was given tower as part of a special mission and has in his possession a secret rock that lets him control the creatures of the forest.

The also say that the Dragon we described can read their thoughts as they keep looking up at the sky. Furthermore, the Kobolds say Snikch has used the rock to control a bunch of beasts and they are doing work for him like getting him food or going out with the beasts to attack wandering humans in the forest. The Kobolds tell us that Snikch is always strong so he will kill a bunch of their allies. They believe that they are all going to die out here and Snikch will not give them their promised money.

Delemir holds up his magic scroll containing the Quest spell and scolds the Kobold, “TELL ME ABOUT THE DRAGON YOU FOOL!”

The Kobold says that the Dragon can disappear but Snikch orders it around. It has not breathed on anyone but it does eat them.

The name is SNIKCH in case we misspell it.

“Would he be willing to get the treasures back?” we ask the Kobolds.

Some of them are interested in helping, some are not, some are angry at their situation but they can't agree. Some of the Kobolds are interested in getting back at Snikch, but they are afraid of the tower. Delemir runs his finger across his neck and points to Thorgard and then at a Kobold.

Unfortunately, he wont let any Kobolds inside the tower and they tell us that there is a long Goblin with claws that climb all over the tower. They have seen a couple of Owlbears around and a sparkly lady inside, like an evil faerie. Snikch makes them do what he wants.

Snikch cant control the Kobolds as it can control other things. Our hirelings (mercenaries) also do not want to go into the tower, just like the Kobolds.

The roof of the tower has a part where the stone is coming up but there is wooden paneling coming off of it, like wooden landings. There are 4 of these wooden landings.

The level below that has 4 more landings with doors leading into the tower and another level below that one also has doors and outside landings. Each level has a 20' height difference with the level at top being the 6th story which rises just above the treetops

Our party discusses what we will do next and decide that we can sell the Kobolds in Iway as mineworkers or other laborers, that way they will not re-form their band attack people.

The Engineer that is the focus of our quest is with us right now and will accompany us until he can complete his task.

We loot each of the bodies and will head back to Iway. The party defeated 106 Kobolds.

2,686 sp was recovered.

Fandilas casts Sleep on the Giant Weasel and we kill it since it is a hostile vicious creature that will attack us when it can. Afterward, we find that Thorgard is a Hunter as well as a Tailor and Briiz is also a Hunter which will be useful in preparing the Giant Weasel pelt to sell, since they are quite valuable!

This is a 3,000 gp Giant Weasel pelt.

We take all of our prisoners (the Kobolds) and decide to head back to Iway. We have to make encounter checks as we travel at night.

There are no incidents along the way are now back in Iway, with the Kobolds and our loot! Looking into the old Campaign Guide of Arneson, we check to see what the Kobolds are worth. Arneson says a war pelt is worth 1 sp, in regards to the pelt of a boar.

The Kobolds let us know that they would rather not be murdered than sold when given the choice.

The local market is good for Kobolds and we get 1d4 gp per kobold. We killed 52 kobolds total leaving 54 x 1d4 gp so we end up with a total of 134 gp.

The Henchmen shares:

• 184 gp, 158 sp.
• 106 xp.

The Player's shares:

• 368 gp, 316 sp.
• 404 xp.

We are ending on Blade Moon the 10th but there will be no date advancement so we will be starting on the 10th next session.

Some players are donating treasure (xp) to Orlando. The people giving up their share are able to get him the 31 xp he needed.