Nightal 3
Nightal 3, 1369:
High = 40, Low = 20
No precipitation
Wind gusting to 8 mph from the sea.
Cloudy.
Steve cast Identify (7) with the following results:
o The cloak recovered on the 1st was a Cloak of
Elvenkind - it was assigned to Steve as a party item
o The potion in a metal cage from the Hall of Mirrors was
a Potion of Extra-Healing - it was assigned to Darius as a
party item
o He failed (again) to identify one of the
potions from the Fanny Pack of Holding
o The other one was a Potion of Skeleton (Undead) Control -
assigned to Cassie as a party item
o The following things were learned about the "Sproing" Ring:
- an air envelope travels with the object thrown so that,
for example, a thrown candle arrives lit
- the wearer can cast Jump, as the spell, on himself
or a person touched, by speeking the command word
("Sproing")
- the ring is inactive for 1 round after the Jump ability
is used.
The Bracers of Initiative, d8 were assigned to Narthan as a party
item. The "Sproing" Ring was assigned to Henkles as a party item.
The party decided that the minotaurs were a little too challenging
and that some men-at-arms ("hit points on the hoof", "red shirts",
etc.) would be just the thing. They headed off to Virgin's Square
in the late afternoon to start recruiting.
In Virgin's Square, the party met Blazidon One-Eye, a grizzled
ex-adventurer who acted as a kind of matchmaker in the square,
connecting employers with job seekers for a small fee. He
apparently knew Darius and acted surprised that Darius was allowed
in Waterdeep again. He also assumed that Darius was looking for
employment and was mildly surprised but also mildly pleased to
learn that Darius was hiring. He was less pleased to learn that
the job was Undermountain, but said he would get as many
men-at-arms candidates as he could. Commenting that for
Undermountain, the candidates wouldn't be cheap.
Dexter cast know alignment while they waited.
It was late, so AFAL only met four people that night, all human:
Yanreric Ogrefriend (LN) and Denkker Derask (CG), a pair of
unskilled fighters with a magic morning star and short bow
respectively, Gorkis Minmarria (LG), a minimally skilled heavy
crossbow specialist, and Etiste Birdstalker (CG), a somewhat
skilled (by Henkles standards) generalist who fought with scimitar
or warhammer. Despite her brusk manner, the party hired Etiste,
as she was the most skilled of the candidates available. She
originally asked for 10gp/day and a 1/2-share of any profits. The
party negotiated her down to 8gp/day, reimbursement or replacement
for damaged equipment (nonmagical only, she had a +1 sling) and a
1/4-share of any treasure found on the foray into the dungeon.
They advanced her 1gp because she was broke and asked her to show
up at Fair Winds on the morning of the 5th.
Yanreric and Denkker where broke but cute, so Ursula decided to
get them to "help her study" for her Elegant Order entrance exams,
in exchange for polishing her boots. She took them off to some
hotel, so as not to keep the rest of the party awake all night.
Blazidon told them to return the next day at 10 when he would have
more candidates lined up.
A while after they got home, Elvis started howling and looking
upstairs. Dexter scanned the area for undead and detected two on
the second floor and one out front near the carriage house. Steve
ran for the watch, Henkles rushed upstairs and Dexter and Narthan
hurried to the front door to look for the undead in the yard.
Moments after Henkles got upstairs, the party was suddenly unable
to hear him. Everyone immediately deduced that a Silence
spell was in use. Jan, Darius and Maanamere headed up after
Henkles. Henkles saw nothing when he got to the upstairs hallway,
but found himself facing a hornless minotoxen skeleton moments
later when its first attack dispelled the invisibility spell that
was concealing it. The skeleton was an iron reinforced one with
climbing claws grafted onto its hands and feet, similar to the
ones that attacked Steve and Stewart on Eleasias 16th.
Henkles backed into his bedroom, which was nearby, so that he
would have room to use his spiked ball and chain. This meant that
when Jan reached the top of the stairs, he was momentarilly alone
when the second hornless minotox skeleton became visible and
attacked him.
Meanwhile, outside Dexter and Narthan were trying to get a look at
the creature outside who appeared to be hiding in the shadows by
the corner of the carriage house. He shouted a warning to Steve,
who was going past the front of the carriage house on his way down
the road. This caused a shadowy figure in a cloak to emerge from
the shadows and head towards Dexter. Dexter ducked back inside
and the creature returned to the shadows, but then Dexter had
second thoughts and headed back out to cast faerie fire on the
creature. He did so just in time to see that the creature was
casting a spell of his own, then he and Narthan lost interest in
the creature and wandered inside.
Everyone made their way to the fight upstairs in the following few
rounds. The skeleton in the hall was giving Jan a pounding and no
one with blunt weapons was close enough to hit it. Narthan
Faerie Fired it, Darius hit it with 12 Magic
Missiles, Cassie tried Ray of Enfeeblement, and any number of
sword and arrow blows hit it. Eventually it went down, but not
until it had taken over 100 points of damage (actual damage, after
halving edged weapon damage)! More people turned their attention
to the first skeleton, which had badly wounded Henkles and vice
versa. They managed to finish it quickly.
In the mean time, Darius, Dexter and Cassie rushed outside to deal
with the creature by the carriage house, who's Sanctuary
spell had worn off. He cast a second Sanctuary spell, but
not before Darius managed to catch it with a Maximillian's
Stony Grasp, which had a greater duration, someone got off a
few arrows and learned that it couldn't be hit with normal
weapons, and an old man from the New Olamn Bard's College came
down the road to complain about Elvis's continued howling. The
creature cast Protection from Good and presumably began
preparing for when the Santuary would wear off when Dexter,
who had cast Speak with Animals on his way out, sent his
bear over. The cave bear was unaffected by the Sanctuary
and attacked. When the creature struck back, draining 1 level
from the bear, the Sanctuary effect was dispelled and
everyone who could (since the fight upstairs had ended by then
everyone was downstairs) started shooting magic arrows. The
creature died and collapsed into dust after draining the bear a
second time. The only remains were a robe, a cloak, some thin
leather gloves and a strange amulet that later proved to be
magical.
7000xp to everyone except Ursula for two skeletons and a 4th
level cleric
The watch, summoned by both Steve and the old man arrived on the
scene a minute or two later and took everyones statements. Dexter
had Elvis follow the scent of the creatures and found that it led
right back to the sea wall. There were no ships moored in the
area, but there was a rowboat tied up at the base of the cliff
below them. Darius jumped down (Feather Fall) to
investigate the boat and found it empty except for the oars. The
name of the ship it came from had been scraped off of the rowboat.
The Watch officers confiscated it as evidence but agreed that it
would be returned to the party when the investigation concluded.
After that, everyone went to bed.
