• Iona - MNK4
• Randimir
• Fandillas
• Kaskas - Halfling THF1, AC 8/8, MV 12“, Doors 1-2, Listen 1-3, 13, 12, 13, 14, 14, 7, 5 hp, AL LN, Venha, Age 44
• Lazathu (Henchman) - AC 10/10, 12”, Doors 1-2, Listen 1-2, 10, 18, 12, 14, 6, 15.
• Elias

In the last session, we barely made it out alive from the Lair of the Pariahs. These are a pair of Red Dragons. They pursued us out of their cavern lair in the mountains to the north west of Great Hill. Currently, we are running from a Red Dragon that they attempted to subdue. There are 6 of our Horsemen still alive!

It took us five days to get out of the mountains.

On Day 1, there are no events on the first day and night of travel. The weather in the mountains is cold and cloudy and it is Spring. Fandillas is fully healed.

On Day 2, we continue our travels through the mountains. There are no encounters and we find nothing of note. The weather remains cold and cloudy.

On Day 3, we are traveling through a mountain pass and Fandillas's Hawk Familiar is flying overhead. He notices something in the distance and Fandillas senses emotions of curiosity from the bird.

As we move past the next mountain, we decide to check it out. Kaskas and Iona find a reasonable peak to climb up in order to check out what caught the attention of the Hawk. We climb up to the peak after 20 minutes and see that past the next mountain is a small hamlet, nestled in tiny mountain valley.

We arrive at the hamlet close to the end of the day and are greeted by some militia. The community does have some defenses but there are no roads coming to this place. For the most part, this is an isolated community.

TENIR PASS is the name of the hamlet and it is a protected community. They warn us that they are under the domain of no one.

We ask them, “What kind of problems is this community having in this remote place? Maybe we could be of some help.”

They respond, “Tenir Pass has all the help we need. We are under the protection of a Great Dragon. The people pay a tribute to the Dragon in exchange for its protections.”

He further advises us that there is a tavern with a couple of rooms available. They also mention that they are beholden to the Dragon that defends them from other things, like an Orcish Fortress, that was mostly destroyed a decade ago.

The name of their Dragon protector is called “THE PARIAH”.

This Dragon is descended from the Ancient Dragon that rules much of this range, though it is isolated from the other dragons. We are allowed to stay but warn us to not go out “adventuring”. If we do, they will assume we are up to no good if they find us elsewhere besides within Tenir Pass.

We ask them, “Does “THE PARIAH” have a mate?”

“In all of remembered history, that cave has been taboo by all the Dragons in these mountains. That pair has lived there since before the Hamlet existed and most of the other Dragons are far to the north.”

“Where is the Orc Fortress?”

“It might be a few miles to the south. The people in this town only travel to the north, and never go south. Hot Spring is a few miles to the north.”

After gaining their permission, our Horses can graze here for a day. Lazathu copies a spell from his spellbook while we stay at the Inn. Randimir casts Cure Disease and Cure Light Wounds on the populace, to bring a better view of us, strangers in their community.

Elias goes searching for an Assassin…and he finds one. BET-WILL, a Dwarf. He says he has been out here for about a year, looking for an opportunity. The people here are considered good folk. After some discussion, Bet-Will says he knows of no other settlements either north of south. He has scouted to the south and found no prospects. Bet-Will confirms, he found the Orc lair and knows of some marsh and barrens. The Orc lair was too dangerous for him to take on alone.

BET-WILL says that the people of the hamlet are agreeable but have a habit of framing to themselves that they are oppressed. They have asked for him to be friendly with the Dragons. Elias asks him about what the dragon wants, “Does it want sacrifices?”.

He does not think the dragons want Human sacrifices, they just want gold. There are some valuable herbs that grow here and some merchants that pass through drop money for this.

“Who is in charge?”

“There is no Cleric. The leader is named POAE. He is a formidable Fighter that has a magic sword. Through winning the sword, he came to be in command of the hamlet. There is a castle to the south east that is ruled by the lord, who came into possession of this magic sword. It is the most valuable thing in the hamlet. Poae is well liked among the people of Tenir Pass.”

Fandillas goes to the apothecary and finds some of the magic herbs that are seasonal and very rare. They are enchanted but are only available for denizens. They would sell us a dose for 500 gp. We will wait until the next day to obtain some Slow Poison spells. They decide to reduce the price down to 300 gp.

We hear that off to the west is a Giant Spider lair, of the variety of Spiders that have poison. There are two tall pillars seen along the path, that is how you will know that you are approaching their lair. We plan to head into the mountains and it is about 3 miles away.

We eventually find the pillars. These are broken pillars about 100' off to the right of the path. They are nestled where multiple mountain sides overlap. We cannot see what lies beyond them.

Kaskas sneaks up on the mountain side and arrives at the left most pillar. There is a thick layer of webbing stretched between the mountain sides. The path could get through but there are also some Great Spiders, 6 of them outside.

Kaskas fires his sling. The Spiders have a +4 to their AC due to shooting through the webs. We are at a distance of 6“, at least Kaskas is, so he has a -2 for Medium Range.

Lazathu casts dancing lights near the Halfling as Iona climbs up 1.7”. She can see multiple layers of webs, big webs, about 40' long. Kaskas ran into the webbing to engage the Spiders. He can see that the area opens up into a bay in the back, like a depression in the mountains.

The 6 Giant Spiders that move to engage in melee. There is a 30' diameter pit that leads downwards in the middle of the area but it does not go straight down. Someone could feasibly navigate down the pit.

4 of the Giant Spiders surround the Halfling Thief as he starts scaling up the mountains. Iona is currently concealed behind the pillar. At this point, the Spiders go after the Horses.

Iona goes toward the pillar as the Thief is attacked by the 4 Spiders. 3 of them hit Kaskas for 7 damage. KASKAS IS DEAD!

One Horse dies to the poison of the Giant Spiders and one of our Horsemen is dismounted. After casting a Sleep spell, we find that it does not work. These creatures are too powerful for the spell. Lazathu summons Dancing Lights and Fandillas now has 3 Mirror Images. Elias takes a clear shot at the Spiders as the Horsemen attack. They do 6 damage all together.

All of the Horsemen are being attacked. Iona lights up a torch as fire is frightening to the Giant Spiders. It does not hit the Mirror Image on Fandillas. Randimir blocks an attack but 1 Mirror Image is destroyed, 1 Horse is killed. 2 more Horsemen are dismounted.

There are 4 Horse attacks and 6 Horseman attacks. The Horses attack from the Horsemen and do 20 damage combined.

However, no Spiders are destroyed yet. Iona throws the torch into the webbing and so does Elias. The Horsemen attack and did a combined 11 damage.

They have AC 8 for the Spiders. In the next round, the Horses did 12 damage and Randimir does 2 damage. Randimir's horse hits for 4 damage.

We have slain 2 Spiders and the others have taken numerous wounds each. 2 more Horses are slain and there is a final attack on Randimir.

In the next round, there is a Morale failure of 22 and the Spiders begin to disengage. Iona kills a Spider after dealing 6 damage.

The webs behind are burning heavily and the Spiders begin their attempts to scale the pillar.

At this we kill ALL the Spiders!

The fire behind quickly burns the webs away. Elias harvests poison from the dead Spiders. He gets 19 doses of poison. The rest of us see the following: an 80' deep pit.

We go to the edge and Iona drops a torch down which brightly illuminates 2 more Giant Spiders. They are startled by the surprise and then leap over and start to climb up the wall.

There are no webs across the pit but the Spiders have some wall strands to ascend upwards. At 1.5“, Iona moves 18” away from the spiders that are 6.5“ away.

The Spiders charge up the wall and begin coming over the edge of the pit, they leap up. At this moment, a Sleep spell would go off but it fails once again. The Blink spell goes off and Fandillas now blinks on a 6. The Spiders attack and bot Fandillas and Lazathu are hit.

Fandillas is hit for 5 damage but he survives the poison. Lazathu is killed by the Spider's bite…NVM Lazathu saves! Iona is hit and takes 5 damage. SHE MAKES HER SAVE!

Iona attacks in retaliation and does 9 damage! Fandillas must hit AC 8 to unleash the Shocking Grasp. Meanwhile, Fandillas and Randimir are being attacked. Randimir is struck and takes 3 damage.

The Horsemen charge and there are 3 hits for a total of 5 damage. Iona hits for 3 damage and then again for another 9 damage. THIS KILLS ONE! The Horsemen do 10 damage to the other Spider.

This kills all of the Spiders.

The pit goes down about 80' and we begin to climb down. The place smells of death and Iona lights another torch.

Randimir's spell of FIND TRAPS sees some thin strands stretched across, clearly set to catch small prey for the Spiders. The webs in the back of each cubby also glow and we notice the husks of many things that have been eaten.

The torch illuminates many webs on the walls but we find no Halfling shaped husks. The Giant Spiders are clever enough to hoard away their treasure. We sense movement behind us and can hear something climbing up the pit.

We get to the bottom of the pit and Randimir moves 9” while Iona moves 18“. We see something scuttling toward the pit.

We engage the Spider.

Iona attacks with her spear as the others also attack. We all miss but the Spider is fleeing.

In the next round, Iona does 7 damage and the others hit as well. Together, we all did 21 damage! THIS KILLS IT!

We kill 8 Giant Spiders total.

The middle cubby has the corpse of the Thief!

We have to roll for treasure.

• No Copper.
• No Silver.
• No Electrum.
• YES GEMS! There are 2 gems.
• No Jewelry.
• No magic items.

Night passes without incident and we make it back to Tenir Pass.

JOHZAL, a level 1 Magic-User joins us. He has AC 9/10, MV 12”, Doors 1-2, Listen 1-2.

Elias returns to the Dwarf Assassin who offers to buy the Giant Spider poisons from him. Bet-Will plans to assassinate the Leader of the Hamlet but will have Elias do it. He has a 60% base chance to assassinate up to 80% potentially. Bet-Will assists him and he is a 3rd level assassin. He has a 55% chance to help him but he does not come through. Elias has a 70% chance to assassinate the Leader of the Hamlet.

ELIAS ASSASSINATES POAE!

Death comes instantly for him and his companions. There is not even a scream as Giant Spider poison kills them all. Elias Steals Poae's glowing sword and extra gold.

• 2900 sp
• 900 ep
• Magic Longsword

Elias hides it outside of town for later and we get together in the early morning to set out. On the way out, Elias picks up his stash while, secretly, Iona follows Elias.

She agrees to help Elias but as we try to hide the sword, Fandilas's Hawk has spied on us and he knows we are up to something. The sword has a striking symbol on it, a Dwarven sigil, which appears to be of fine make overall. The sword is glowing.

We travel for one day and one night. At one point we spot some Ogres that were moving north.

We are moving on foot, traveling 10 miles a day. The group travels through the marshes successfully and we get a good view of the surrounding countryside. There are mountains to the north, badlands, forest with hills, scrubland surrounding us in other directions.

It will take us one more day to get back to Great Hill. As we are traveling back, we made it back on Day 11 of the expedition.

We will be ending in Great Hill on Seed Moon (3) the 4th, 496.

Kaskas died on Blade Moon the 26th.

IONA PAYS UPKEEP of 400 GP.

• 10 gp gem
• 10 gp gem

• 225 ep
• 725 sp

• 148 gp each
• 595 gp total

There is a share that comes with gems or we can take 615 gp total.

• We get 153 gp each.

Fandillas draws the sword and takes 10 damage as he senses EVIL and wants to slaughter GIANTS! The magic sword does not shock ELIAS but it introduces itself to Elias. Everyone else is scared of the sword.

The sword is called SPIREFALL the GIANT SLAYER and it is in pursuit of Blood!

In Great Hill, the Druids among the tribe are seen waving a wooden thing around and saying to put away this evil blade. Elias tells them, “Fear not I will control its evil!”

• +2 Longsword with more bonuses against giants, +3 versus giants, ogres, ogres mages, and titans. It does double damage against TRUE GIANTS.

Elias is NE and so is the sword. Elias will have to prove himself to Spirefall.

• 136 gp each.

• XP 450 each.

• Lazathu gets 214 (107 total).
• Elias gets 1307 xp.

• 10777 total xp for Iona now.

• 4 gp
• 200 ep
• 644 sp

• The 5th person gets 2 gp.
• 100 ep
• 322 sp