In Gren.

• The forces of Macetor have defeated the werewolf-driven war machines of the elder races, scattering the Lycan survivors and their allied brigands across the Sea of Grass. This victory was accomplished thanks to the excellence of the Circle of Annihilation, an adventuring group from the south who captured the Werewolf-Brigand lair behind enemy lines. The Circle has laid claim to the ancient stone forge below that lair, seeming birthplace of the War Machines, which the Lycanthropes seem to have stumbled upon purely by accident of mining.

• A notice has appeared in The Haunt and The Otherside promising MONUMENTAL knowledge (and wealth besides!) to any adventuring party who will undertake a quest of discovery. Inquire with Morlan of Lebon in Criss Antha.

• Adventuring parties have arrived in Gren over the winter, eyes set on the Green Dragon of the Marble Keep and other nearby ruins. Many have arrived in town from nearby settlements, hoping to match the success of others this past year. There is talk too of expeditions to the wilderlands north of these border cities, come spring.

• The East Lake froze over this week, and some took the road to Nob to enjoy some time off skating about and throwing snowballs. Despite the successes of adventurers in the haunted ruins this year, the oft-frozen West Lake remained free of revelry.

• Zenobia heard of a tower with a fire drake in it. Maybe the party that explored it is now dead?

• Dan is talking to Morlan of Lebon about the Quest of Discovery. It will take days of overland travel to find this location.

Maervahr and other members of the adventuring group each receive the following from MORRIC'S WILL:

• 34 PP
• 945 GP

The fight with the Ghouls (from last session) happened on the 13th of Old Moon.

Vras left on the 13th and shared the info with the party on the 14th.

We are returning to Delbo to recover what we can from the bodies of our companions.

Checking the layout of the graveyard, there are stone sarcophagi, a mausoleum, a shrine to Riswa. On one of the stone sarcophagi is a carving with leaf depicted on it.

We realize that only humans can become Ghouls, so Morric and Ithimyr at least are safe.

Vras Skag is not going on this expedition because his chance of success is low.

We are joined by a Druid named Sonolin who wears leather armor and wields a club. He can help us as he says that he can Entangle the Ghouls and use Faerie Fire. The animals can also be charmed and he can Pass Without Trace. Sonolin's Career start is Old Moon (11) the 14th, 494.

THE LINEUP:

• Sonolin - Druid 1 AC 7, Speed 12“, Doors 1-2, Hear Noise 1-2
• Heinrich Lothar - Cleric 1 AC 3/3, 9”, Doors 1-2, Hear Noise 1-2
• Maervahr - Magic-User 5
• Sarkas Trisnala - Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1 AC 4/4, 9“, Doors 1-2, Hear Noise 1-2
• Rhinock - Half Orc Fighter 5 AC -1, Doors 1-3

The weather is not strange and Rhinock is not mounted.

We head to Delbo for a rescue and recovery.

There is a keep just north of the graveyard. In the back corner of the graveyard, an unnatural mist covers the graveyard. There are tombstones, some as large as a sarcophagi. There are not a lot of places to hide. We can crouch down behind the tombstones.

There are 25' high walls and about halfway between the shed and the mausoleum is the graveyard, which is about 1/3 the width of Delbo.

We are going over open fields between Gren and Delbo and are 2 hexes north west of Qarn. Various patrols from Qarn cover the area. It is one days travel to get to the ruins. We will have to camp but remain unmolested for the duration of the journey. From here we can see Delbo in the hills. We have to make camp so we try to conceal ourselves.

We camp across the fields on the way to Delbo and the travel is uneventful. As we prepare our camp, about 100 yards away, is a large group of soldiers bearing the colors of Qarn. It is a regular patrol in the area but they are not moving toward us. Suddenly, they dispatch a group of riders ride toward us.

These are guardsmen and militia men. They write their things on a piece of parchment and state that there are no patrols that go within a couple miles of Delbo, other patrols reported Giant activity in the season. They say that they have seen both Giants and Ettins pressing down from the north. They try to push back on the men of Qarn, the Giants are pushing back but are unable to succeed.

Sonolin knows about the Druids, especially the high level druid, that dwell in the grove north of Gren. He may end up training with them.

Nothing happens to us in the night.

Maervahr scales the wall with a Levitation spell. He sees the mist shrouded graveyard and, grouped up around a 20' diameter, are 4 shapes. Maervahr ties off the rope and drops two ropes down the wall. It takes about 4 minutes for us all to get up there. During that time, the shapes may have shifted.

The Magic-User / Psion move forward and sees that the shapes are actually Ghouls. There are 4 of them feeding on a dead corpse. Maervahr decides to cast Lightning Bolt down on the group of Ghouls. As Maervahr gets close, he see that these Ghouls are faces he has seen before: they are the 3 Porters and the Link Boy hired by Dan some time ago. There is no sign of the weapons or armor that belonged to fallen of the group. While hovering over the graveyard, Maervahr pierces through the fog except for the far east.

The shed is a 30' x 30' wooden building with a big door that has been partially eaten by time. Maervahr lights his lantern which sheds light upon a bunch of tools. They appear to be entirely turned to rust. There is also a big heap of earth about 4' tall and 3' wide. The heap looks moist and fresh. Beside the earth pile are scraps of brown cloth of rough scratchy cloak material. It is curled with age.

Our Druid, Sonolin, does not see any movement. The group does find a few loose gold pieces in the grass.

• 6 gp.

We head back to the shrine and there is no signs of movement. Rhinock pushes open the door to the shrine and we come into the room with the hemp-woven, brown cloaks. There is a stone basin in the south and an earthy cavernous smell. We find a small panel and some scraps of flesh on the ground. There is no undead in the room.

We try to pop the other door and it fails at first. Maervahr then uses Clairaudience to try and hear down into the cavern. He hears a muffled far away sound, like that of a beast in anguish and sorrow. The sound echoes against the walls. It did not sound like something natural, more like a beast howling or moaning.

Sarkis, Rhinock and the Cleric (Heinrich) open the door. As the door is opened, we come face to face with 5 waiting Ghouls!

We get a surprise adjustment.

Everyone is in melee. Rhinock, Sarkis, etc.

Maervahr is Psionically Invisible.

One Ghoul is attacking the Druid who has AC 7. Sonolin takes 3 damage and becomes paralyzed.

There are 2 attacks on Heinrich and Sarkis is hit and must save vs paralysis as he takes 2 damage. It will take a 17 to hit Rhinock and he takes 2 damage. There is a Protection From Evil around Sarkis so it is impossible for the Ghouls to touch him.

Maervahr casts Shield.

Sarkis is entirely safe so they are all going for Rhinock. The Ghouls pile on top of the Half-Orc. Rhinock takes 1 damage then 3 damage but Rhinock has saved again! He takes 3 damage this time and saved again! Finally, he takes 1 damage and then failed his save. Rhinock is paralyzed.

Heinrich does not finish his spell before they can attack them. He takes 6 damage.

Maervahr tries to open the door and fails but he will try again.

Meanwhile the Ghast attack Heinrich and is hit twice. There are 2 saves for Heinrich as he takes 3 damage, Sarkis is also paralyzed. Maervahr tries to rise up to the ceiling as he still has his Levitation. He goes up and they cannot follow him.

Ghouls move to the paralyzed victims but Maervahr casts Web and all the Ghouls fail their save. They are webbed. Maervahr levitates down and opens the door. He heads to the north door and finds that it is chained shut.

Maervahr drinks a potion of Gaseous Form.

It lasts for 7 turns. During this time, he finds nothing else is around. The north door has been chained shut with a big padlock that is looped around the door. One ghoul and Heinrich die from suffocation.

Sonolin the Druid dies and then Rhinock is unparalyzed, Sarkis is still paralyzed. Two more of the Ghouls die from suffocation.

Rhinock manages to break through the Web. Meanwhile we find the Coffer Corpses we destroyed and the decayed corpse of a Wight.

Sarkis is now also freed but our other allies are dead.

As the spell comes to an end, the final Ghoul still lives. It climbs over the bodies of our compatriots. Rhinock and Maervahr are ready for it as a single Ghoul comes out of the Web. Rhinock sprays holy water at the Ghoul's face. It's skull becomes enveloped in holy water smoke as it does 3 damage.

The Ghoul bite hits Rhinock for 3 damage and, once again, he becomes paralyzed. Sarkis hits for 4 damage and takes 1 damage, 3 damage, then 6 damage. Sarkis is down!

Maervahr casts Burning Hands on the Ghoul and it falls down on top of Sarkis, who is at -2 hp.

Low to the ground is a ring of many corpses and the dead bodies of Ithimyr, Morric, and Gruhl. They are entirely eaten.

The survivors have gathered sufficient remains from the bodies, enough for a Resurrection or Reincarnation spell. We find Gruhl's head and his armor.

We get the rings and the blue green gem. The Porters' chests are missing. They were previously filled with electrum.

We are also missing Ithimyr's magic sword and Morric's magic spear.

Maervahr wanders out to the graveyard to find the site of the battle along with the sarcophagus with leaf indentation. Sure enough, he finds the sword and spear but no movement of undead. Nobody is paralyzed.

We decide to head out and return back to the city with the recovered remains and some of us still alive.

We make it back to Qarn.

We determine that there were two rings Gruhl was wearing and one ring is magic. However, we do not know the school. We will get full experience for the magic items.

This includes:

• Ithimyr's items.
• Gruhl has misc gear and a spear +1.
• Morric's Spear +2 (6500 gp).
• Ithimyr's Longsword +2.
• A Medium Shield +2 (5000 gp).
• Dwarf-sized Plate +2.
• A Shield +1.
• A fool's gold ring for 10 gp.
• A gem for 800 gp.
• The recovered silver chain with the green lance gem.
• Some of the chests scattered across the courtyard.

We keep the magic ring and the green lance gem on the silver chain. We also keep Cyril's brooch from the Order of the Midnight Sun.

We are selling the Spear +1 and the Dwarf Plate +2.

We get 3000 gp for the Spear +1, 10,500 gp for the Dwarf Plate +2, 2,500 gp for the Shield +1.

Magic Ring has a power that we do not know but we will keep it not sell it. Maervahr puts it on and “wishes that I know what this ring does”. Nothing happens.

Spear +2 (id 10), Shield +2 (id 4), longsword +2 (id 2),longsword +1 (id 9), and a magic scroll (id 19).

• 1165 pp,
• 2 cp.

Total treasure: 6005 xp

• Maervahr 6322 xp.
• Rhinock 6900 xp.
• Sarkis 10,622 xp.

Maervahr is available again on the 18th.

Sarkis is at 5311 for FTR 3 and 5842 for CLR 2, 18 hp.

Training for 1 month. We will be fully trained 12-18-494.

Kek has 26 hp and will be on 12-3-494.

We do track 1/2 hitpoints from multiclass characters.

Next session:

• Marble Keep (dragon?)
• Delbo
• Maervahr's Necklace (pointing north east)
• Criss Antha (Quest of Discovery) (MORLAN OF LEBON)