| Session Date | September 11, 2021 |
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| Base XP Gained | 1150 |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
Returning to Far Andor, the party entered in the late afternoon, noting a good deal of work being done on the town walls; sentries manned them as well, something they'd not seen previously (they inquired and the locals were concerned about being attacked now that Manston had fallen, though most assumed nothing would happen until spring). They made their way to the Inn of the Fortunate Son, where the party settled in for a much needed night of rest. Iban took the time to use the Dwarf communication device to report to Nali the destruction of the Lich Silver and other enemy activities. Burt, the man they'd rescued, offered to join the party, though he was reticent with details on his background. Their halfling companion, Beldon, announced that he was leaving the party, as well.
The next morning, they sought out the local temple of Maladominus to see if they could have Knar raised from the dead. The local Decian (chief priest) said he did not have the power for that. However, by chance, the high priest of Maladominus from Manston, Homfrith, happened to be there at the moment (he'd raised dead for them several times). He came in and seemed pleased to see the party. He had, it seemed, angered the new governor of Manston, Lord Alcibard when he tried to invoke the wrath of the god on his head by invoking a malediction against him for betraying Manston. Rather than be arrested, the priest had fled the city and made his way to this place of exile. He was working on continuing the struggle against Alcibard and the Giant King but he needed resources...because of that, he was obliged to charge the party ten thousand silver to bring back their fallen companion. This they paid and soon Knar was back on his feet. Homfrith thanked them and asked that they stay in touch as they had similar goals.
While resting that day once more, the party mentioned to some of the locals the man they'd rescued, Leptos of the Dry Tree from Silver. The locals became most agitated about this, declaring the folk of the Dry Tree to be brigands or worse -- the party should've hung him rather than rescue him! Because of this, they directed the party to some men-at-arms that had arrived the night before, now currently observing a few wagons of goods being prepared near the docks. These were soldiers of Lord Yerac, they learned, Lord of Sarkum to the north, here to escort wagons of salted cod and other goods back to their town. Their leader introduced himself as Devizes with his chief lieutenant, a woman named Larella. They were a bit prickly when the topic of the Dry Tree came up and were adamant that this Leptos should've been slain outright. However, they admitted that the party were not locals and seemingly did not know about the evils of the Dry Tree. After further talk, they grew more friendly. The party asked if their lord knew how to find the Wizards Gold or Copper, but Larella told them that they'd be better off consulting the monks of the Abbey of Great Meadows which lay nearby. The folk of Sarkum considered the Giant King to be a danger and an enemy - there was no love lost there. Eventually, Devizes said that if the party visited Sarkum in the near future he would ensure they received an audience with Lord Yerac. The party considered following them but decided they needed a few more days to recover from their wounds They parted from the soldiers in friendly fashion and returned to their inn.
That evening, Iban scried for Leptos, finding him in the midst of a great throng feasting in a castle hall. The folk there seemed like stout warriors and were engaged in a clearly boisterous meal. While lingering in the common room that night, ZZ overheard some locals talking of the Dry Tree, saying that they served a foul witch of some sort. Bel, meanwhile, overheard rumors about wood elves prowling the Wood Debatable not far from the town, who killed any humans they ran across. The party lingered another full day in Far Andor, during which time Iban scried Leptos once again, this time employing clairaudience. The scene was much as before, but the snatches of conversation he did catch gave him the impression these folk of the Dry Tree were no friends to the Giant King, either. He also caught a brief glimpse of a beautiful woman in white sitting as the head table atop a low dais, with grim and older fighters to either side of her.
Finally feeling better the party inquired about the Abbey of Great Meadows, learning that it was not far away but that the monks valued their privacy; they soon hired a local hunter as a guide (Knar remained behind to recover further). Crossing the Caron River, the hunter led them northeast through the wood as light snow fell around them (it's mid November and unseasonably cold). After a few hours they emerged into a large open area; two miles or so north they could see a wooden stockade atop a low hill at the far end of the meadow. The hunter pointed that as the monastery and departed. The party approached it openly, noting a few unmanned watch towers. The gate was shut but a rope hung out form the walls which the party pulled, ringing a bell. An old man soon appeared through a small port and inquired as to their purpose; he eventually admitted the party to a small enclosure with a great hall in the center. He led them into this edifice which proved to be of very well-made construction despite the rustic location. Soon the party were admitted into the presence of Wisdom Aethrageir ("wisdom" being his title). The Abbot was clearly not thrilled to have visitors but was friendly enough. He spoke with a rather odd accent and was clearly a foreigner to this area and not a Lormyrrian. The party told him they sought information to help locate the Wizards Copper or Gold. When they informed the Abbot that they'd destroyed Silver, he grew much friendlier, going so far as to break out a bottle of some fine liquor to drink a toast to that feat. He did, indeed, have word of how to find Gold though he would need to research it a bit for specifics. As for Copper, he reported that no one knew where he dwelt, though rumor said further to the north. He answered a number of questions the party had, including telling them that Gold was the senior-most of the three wizards while Copper was the least of them, though he was unclear what that meant in a practical sense. However, as a priest of the god Elsirion (god of time, infinity, order, etc) such info must be paid for. As to that, he suggested a short task for the party -- dwelling nearby was a chaotic priestess that his order found most vexatious to their orderly ways. If the party could drive her away, he would happily give them what they sought. She dwelt in a simple cottage perhaps five miles to the southeast in the woods. The party accepted and soon departed.
They followed the edge of the nearby hills until they reentered the forest and soon came to a pretty glade where a beautiful whitewashed cottage of good construction lay. Two immense white wolves howled as the party approached; they were chained to either side of the cottage's door and there seemed to be no reaction to the howling. Beside the cottage was a pleasant garden and behind, in a hillside was a small cave from which a good deal of smoke issue, filling the glade with a pleasant aroma of smoking meats. Although ZZ had reservations trusting the Abbot that the priestess dwelling here was evil, Iban tried hailing the cottage inhabitants without response He then proceeded to fireball the front of it and the two huge wolves! Those survived and broke their chains to charge the party, blasting them with an icy breath. The wolves were soon dispatched, however. Much to the party's chagrin, their beautiful white pelts were scorched beyond any value. Iban now cast ESP and did a perimeter around the cottage, but sensed nothing. The party now moved over to the cave and peered in, seeing a very smoky fire and what appeared to be hanging meats. Rather than enter, Burt cast pyrotechnics on the fire, causing it to flash brightly. Suddenly from the cave poured dozens of now-blinded giant rats and huge bats. These the party managed to easily deal with outside in the open air. Peering in again, there seemed nought of interest within so the party returned to the cottage.
Here ZZ cast detect traps and found found a magic one on the front door. Avoiding it, Iban began to use an axe to widen a narrow window sufficiently to crawl inside the cottage. The interior seemed most pleasant with a fragrant fire burning, simple but nice furnishings, and the like. The back wall had a large tapestry depicting a simply woodland scene. Bel entered and instantly sensed the tapestry hid a passage to the rest of the cottage. This interior portion was very different. The floor was flagged with tombstones and there was a shelf of ten books, each of which ZZ sensed to be magically trapped. Bel sensed one of the tombstones hid a secret compartment, which was found to contain some various items. Meanwhile, Burt summoned an unseen servant and directed it to pick up a book; it did and there was a bright blue flash of electricity and the book fell to the ground, no longer trapped, but the unseen servant was destroyed. The book proved to be a scholarly treatise on undead of some value, albeit not all that much. Chests in the front room were plundered now, revealing only simple women's clothes and basic housewares but nothing of value.
The party now exited, somewhat unsure of what to do since they'd not seen the so-called evil priestess. ZZ now cast augury to see if burning down the cabin would be beneficial and the answer was yes. So, that's what they did, using a good deal of oil. As the cabin began to burn and the party watched, Iban began writing a note for the inhabitant to leave the area forever. It was getting dark by this time (being late in the year, after all) when a sudden silence enveloped the party. They scattered in every direction, instantly noting a rather angry but beautiful woman in white standing at the mouth of the cave. She next threw a hold person at them, without effect. ZZ charged her but she suddenly lifted into the air without any apparent effort and cast a spell; as he neared her, a whirling area of flying blades appeared and the dwarf was unable to stop his charge into them. He was cut to ribbons and fell to the ground dying. Iban returned fire with a fireball, air bursting it around her. She did not seem to like that and tried to cast additional spells, but a combination of further fireballs and arrows from the party disrupted her from further spellcasting. The arrows of Bel and Jarrik seemed to have no effect so they switched to magic arrows, while Mordecai ran to aid ZZ. From all around the party, wolves began to howl and soon fifteen more white wolves arrived from every direction to attack the party. Iban simply levitated straight up while Bel drew her frostbrand and stepped into the burning remnants of the cottage; Iban dropped his fire resistance ring to Burt to do the same, though this left Jarrik temporarily alone, back to the fire. Mordecai was able to help ZZ who then used a scroll of heal to restore his ability to fight. The wolves proved to be very tough and entered melee with further blasts of intense cold from their muzzles, and the party rallied at the edge of the burning cottage, as the wolves clearly shunned it. Mordecai, now flying, managed to hit the flying woman with a silence spell, ending her further attempts at spellcasting for good; she instead began to fly at Iban, arms outstretched. Without weapons, she sought to grasp, eventually doing so with a horrid grip of intense cold that slew Iban outright (and drained two levels) dropping him to the ground below. She then turned and began flying at Mordecai at high speed as the party fought off a constricting half-circle of white wolves. Fearing the party was in the most dire of straits, Mordecai drew out his prayer bead of summoning and invoked his god. There was sudden blind light from above that bathed the entire glade in brighter than sunlight. The evil priestess bared her vampire fangs as she was struck by the light and consumed as if by the hottest of fires, dying in moments with only ashes left to fall to the ground. The wolves howled and scattered in fear, no longer a threat as they ran wildly into the woods. A beam of softer light them bathed Iban's body and he sprung back to life, fully refreshed (albeit short two levels).
Numbed from the unexpected turns of events, the party made their way back to the monastery to report their rather qualified success. The Abbot dutifully informed them that Castle Gold lay in a range of hills to the north; they could find it by following the Enchanted River to its source, a river to the east that bounded the lands of the wood elves (and thus perilous). The next day, the party returned to Far Andor to consider their next actions. Iban, much drained still, announced that he intended to seek for restoration, which would necessitate a long journey to the west to a larger city where he might hope to find a cleric of sufficient power to do so. The rest of the party would continue on to Castle Gold to confront that wizard.