Nightal 4

Nightal 4, 1369: (nearly full moon)
    High = 40, Low = 20
    No precipitation
    Wind gusting to 8 mph from the prevailing direction.
    Cloudy.

    At high tide that morning (7:32am), on the beach north of
    Waterdeep, Syllaria of Istithia performed a memorial service for
    Dedre, of the Band of the Blue Shield, a former comrade of
    Denyae's who was killed by minotaurs in Undermountain.  In
    attendance were Darius, Denyae, Henkles, Dexter, Steve, Narthan,
    Jan.

    At 10am the party arrived at Virgin's Square and interviewed
    18 more candidates for men-at-arms.  Seven candidates were
    rejected immediately for alignment reasons, although one of them
    (Siliro) was a dwarven woman who Narthan was very attracted to.
    After that, they started talking to the ones who seemed to have
    the most interesting magic items first.  Of the first three they
    talked to, they hired Holmain, Nephew of Harso Valtac for 27gp, a
    bottle of zzar and a 1 bottle or flagon beer per day, beer to be
    collected before entering the dungeon, and Altilitac Mithar for
    17gp per day plus expenses and a ¼-share.  The rest of the
    men-at-arms they dismissed as they felt they had enough.

    Blazidon also had 7 other people whom he wanted the party to speak
    with because the party was going into Undermountain.  Of these,
    they took an interest in Marcae Trapper, a "Battle Mage", and
    Stalker Jarvis, a "Ranger" who proved stronger than Henkles
    and almost as quick.  They invited both of them to dinner for
    further discussions.  They also were interested in hiring a thief
    and invited three others, Five-fingers Randybuck, Dusty Donnybrook
    and Silian Sinirion back to Fair Winds to demonstrate their thief
    abilities.  They were told that dinner would be provided for them
    as well.

    Steve cast Identify (7) and learned the following:
        o The amulet taken from the undead creature the night before
          was an Amulet of Turning Resistance, which makes the wearer
          turn as a creature on the next line down on the turning
          chart.
        o The Sproing Ring was once eaten by a troll, along with it's
          wearer.
        o There was nothing else to learn about the Sproing Ring.

    When the thief candidates, Stalker included on his own initiative,
    arrived at Fair Winds, the party tested them.  They had each
    person climb an interior wall, then try to open Narthan's puzzle
    box, which had paralyzation poison on its poison needle trap, as
    well as the front and back doors of the building and the windows.
    Silian went first and did quite well, using Knock to open
    the one lock he missed, but was extremely superrior about the
    whole thing and put everybody off.  When he was done he went off
    to the Bard's College, rather than wait around.  Dusty went next,
    but Five-fingers and Stalker had time to go before the
    paralyzation poison wore off when Dusty set off the trap.
    Five-fingers proved very competent, even replacing the poison in
    the trap from her own stock after she detected it (for 45gp of
    course).  Stalker was also quite competent, if unremarkable.  When
    he recovered, Dusty continued to do so poorly that he eventually
    left out of embarassment.

    When they were done, Five-fingers was asked to stay for dinner
    along with Marcae and Stalker.  Cassie went off to New Olamn to
    give Silian a gold piece to buy himself dinner.  After a pleasant
    dinner and many drinks, Marcae and Stalker were both asked to join
    the party.  Marcae agreed to join for at least the current foray
    for a full share with a guaranteed minimum of 85gp and a 3/8-share
    in the reward.  Stalker agreed to join for a full share and a
    ¼-share of the reward.  Five-fingers was told that the
    party didn't have room for her at this time, but every effort was
    made to establish a friendly relationship between the party and
    her.  The possibility of hiring her as a security consultant was
    discussed.  Narthan went out with her for drinks after dinner.
    She started the evening by taking him for a float in the Moon
    Sphere and drinks in the Jade Dancer.  They spent a pleasant
    evening/night together.
        600xp to Mike (given to Marcae, mostly earned with Silian and
            Five-fingers), 250xp to Cassie, Narthan and Jan, 100xp to
            Henkles and Dexter for roleplaying the hiring process.

    The Deck of Wondrous Transformations was explained to the new
    party members.  Cassie, with Darius's assistance, drew the Devil,
    which gave her the disadvantages extreme cowardice, deep sleeper
    and crowd phobia and the thief abilities defense bonus, escape
    bonds, and hide in shadows.  Marcae, also with Darius's help, drew
    the 10 of Cups, which gave him the ability to cast priest spells
    from the Healing sphere but reduced his hit dice to a d3.