Re-entering the manor house is a mix of trepidation and excitement. Half the key is in hand and it seems likely (hopefully) that they’ve battled and defeated the worst of the occupants…except maybe the ghost in the gate towers – but they’re pretty sure they don’t need anything from over there. So they return to the tower top where they spied the hellhounds. Now that the dog-loving goat-demon or whatever it was is dead, they set about committing caninicide. Further investigation results in them slaying the skeleton crew that nearly ended their adventuring career on the first visit, slaying a g ..read more

Since the gates of Oldtown close at dusk, the totally inconspicuous party decides to hide out near the fortified manor house, Luckily, it is on a lot that has not been tended to in years, so the weeds are quite tall and provide ample cover from casual passers-by. They spend the evening hunkered down, hoping no one calls the guard to investigate why a bunch of murder hobos are lurking in the darkest of the hillside thickets. Finally it is dark enough and the group approaches the structure and does a quick once ’round to see if there is an obvious back door to exploit. It seems the house was bu ..read more

The party lounges about a bit and considers options. It looks like they’ve been put into play on the chessboard, but for whom and to what end…none can speculate. Well, they all can speculate, but choose to avoid that line of conversation. By and by – as they pass another evening in the tavern next to their flophouse – they are contacted by the armorer’s apprentice. It seems he is upset and wants to piss off the lover that jilted him. Saif lover is involved in a fencing and smuggling operation, and the blacksmith’s buddy tips off the group as to a chest being moved through the sewers by ogres ..read more

Hope springs eternal, but the initial surveys of the jail cells reveal nothing but skeletal remains and a room that apparently doubles as the bottom of a pit trap – so it doesn’t seem like Fingers is present. Sadface. Oh well, does that mean we only split the treasure by five now? Perhaps…perhaps. The intrepid group is running out of food, so they cannot stay any longer without risking starvation and/or cannibalism, so off they go. They eventually reach the surface and find themselves embroiled in a bit of a diplomatic row with some elven druids that take offense at their desecration of the m ..read more

The careful exploration continues. The bulk of the investigations reveal a deserted structure, but there are the occasional meetings with undead to spice up the monotony. At one point, a trapdoor deposits one of the adventuring team into a water filled pit – which can be dangerous for the vertically challenged – but the ghoul lurking within is probably a larger threat. Luckily for the group, the clerics seem adept at driving off the undead so the rest of the party can unload missiles at them. This tactic seems to be working – though the supply of arrows and sling stones is dwindling. They ma ..read more

The ship they take unloads them via longboat into the elven settlement of Sariuish, where they buy a couple of donkeys, load them up with food and wander off into the wilderness. Along the way they find a sacked wagon train, the merchants and guards are dead and there seems to be a missing wagon. The tracks are followed and the group surprises a small band of goblins and the extremely drunk ogre they’re allied with. The bandits are slain and the group gets to redistribute loot in a way they like. They abandon the wagon with a wistful look, but traveling through the wilderness is much harder w ..read more

Arriving by various means, and finding themselves on the docks of the teeming city, our unlikely group of adventurers answers a shady ‘help wanted’ sign. Shady because the patron seems most interested in their recent arrival and complete anonymity within the city proper. It turns out that a certain person of interest needs to be escorted back to their benefactor. Currently, this person is being escorted by soldiers, and thus the party’s first paying job is landed. They are hustled back on board another ship and sail on the evening tide. Two days later, they are dropped ashore near the mouth o ..read more

The group has a few more minor dithery bits to iron out and at one point they teleport back to the Tormite Mound to gather up Kormier, First of Torm. He is eager to participate in the assault that will end the longest-running existential threat to his new homeland. Plans are laid, examined, discussed, dithered and scrapped. New plans are formulated and variants are examined. In the end, it will cost Malchor a few years of life, but he will get to play with his new toys, so that will be fun. The group windwalks at high speeds through the cyclops-filled corridors, causing much consternation in ..read more

Eventually Malchor makes contact with the dreamstalker. It says it is Lady Megerin Punchthroat – and adds a bunch of titles. The upshot is that she is pissed at Coburg for abandoning the alliance to overthrow Unklar, the Horned God. She is happy to back the party’s bid to slay/banish a devil that is carrying on the expansion and enslavement that characterizes Coburg’s empire. The Lord of Souls must be defeated to remove the threat to Cormyr and the Western lands. There are some questions within the group as to the possibility of being played, but Elulyn points out that pretty much everyone th ..read more

A ..read more