Campaign Log

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Chapter 3: The Legend of Iriandell

 
06/04/2003 10/26/1373 DR - 11/10/1373 DR

The party returned to Silverymoon on the evening of the 26th of Marpenoth.  The following morning, the group reported in to the Knights in SIlver, informing them on the fate of Tadus and his brother.  After the meeting, the party split up to take care of their own individual business in town.

After a couple of days, the steward for the Lady Alustriel contacted the group.  He offered the party members a reward from the city in recognition of their actions in recovering Mikhail and the ransom and apprehending the kidnappers.  Each party member was given a favor for discounts on one of the following spells at the Temple of Helm: break enchantment, healing circle, raise dead, or restoration.  In addition each received 500 gp and an opportunity to get 300 gp worth of scrolls or potions from the city.  The party spent most of the rest of the week deciding what potions to get and provisioning themselves for future missions.

On the 30th of Marpenoth, Dominique contacted the party about a potential party member who had been recommended to her.  The group agreed to meet the prospect for breakfast at Helmer's Wall.

After they had all gathered, a lovely, strikingly-dressed, young human woman with shoulder-length curly black hair and snapping black eyes stepped out of a nearby booth and introduced herself as Daria Alathar.  She informed them that she had trained as a bard, was a member of the Knights in Silver, and had grown up in Silverymoon.  Much conversation ensued as the group got to know Dari, as she liked to be called.

Dominique informed the group that Daria came recommended from Daria's former commander and Dominique's brother, Tremayne.  She explained Tremayne's recommendation as he likes to get to know pretty ladies, especially bards.

After breakfast, Dominique excused herself, saying that she still had much work to do studying spells.  Before she left, she commented that she was again meeting her brother, Tremayne, for dinner in two days.  He had made an enigmatic comment that he might know of an "easier" mission for the group since they had so much trouble with their last.

Following Dominique's departure, the group decided that it wanted to see Daria in action with her greatsword on the practice grounds.  Daria started with a few practice swings followed by a duel with Eltarin using practice swords.  After finally defeating Eltarin, Daria was challenged by Kartoffl. After a few rounds, Kartoffl brought Daria to her knees.  Now accepting Daria, the group spent the rest of the day drinking and recovering from the duels.

On the morning of  the 8th of Uktar, the party once again met for breakfast at Helmer's Wall at Dominique's request.  She informed them that she had met with her brother, Tremayne, again last night.  He first asked her if she had heard of Iriandell, but was only slightly disappointed when she did not.  He told her to consult with Daria about it.  He then had suggested that the group visit a halfing farmer named Jimi who lived in High Hold.

Daria recalled some of the old, elven legend of Iriandell, however, she felt that many details were lacking.  She then spent the better part of the
day researching the legend of Iriandell.  With the help of a kind librarian, she was able to piece together the tale.

The next morning following learning the complete legend (9th of Uktar), the party set out on horseback for High Hold.  They arrived in High Hold on the 10th of Uktar.  The village is a small farming and trading community surrounded by an earthen and wooden wall on the Rauvin River between the Moonwood and the Evermoors.

They first stopped at the Laughing Deer Inn to warm up and try to locate Jimi.  Daria found out from the waitress that Jimi is a regular customer,
and he lives just west of town.  Yassel talked to the bartender/owner of the inn, and discovered that Jimi supplies the barley for the inn's ale and got directions to his farm.

After Yassel bought a small keg of ale to bring along, the party set out for Jimi's farm.  Knocking on the door, they were greeted by a  middle-aged halfing male who promptly ushered them inside and fed them "early lunch."

When the party questioned him about a horse that he had found, Jimi stopped and looked at the group.  He told them that a nice fellow visited
him about a week ago and said that they (the party) would be visiting him also.  After that he recounted the story of how he found the gray horse he now calls Treetop, or more precisely how the horse found him when he was lost in a hailstorm.  The horse found him after his cart had broken a wheel and his pony had run off.  Treetop led him back safely to his farm, and has been his guest ever since.

Jimi then took the group out to the barn where Treetop is staying. Treetop is an old but still muscular, gray stallion with a white spot on its
forehead between its eyes.

Dari and Eltarin first tried to talking to the horse in Common without much effect.  (Eltarin brought an apple for Treetop and fed it to him.)  Eltarin then spoke to the horse in Elven, and then Sylvan, and Eltairin and Thistle noticed a definite reaction.  After Eltairin spent a few minutes speaking Sylvan to Treetop, Kartoffl decided that it was time to cast his speak with animals spell.
 
 
06/11/2003 11/10/1373 DR - 11/14/1373 DR

Kartoffl cast his speak with animals spell on the horse, Treetop.  The group posed several questions to the horse:

Are you Iriandell?
 I was, but I have not been called that for many years.
Do you know where the Tamarch's mound is?
No, I have never been there.
Do you know where the battle between Turiew and Tamarch was fought?
In the Trollmoors by the stone snake.
Would you be able to lead us there?
No, I am too old to make such a journey.
What is the stone snake?
It's a winding stone outcropping.
How do we get to the stone snake?
It is not more than 3 to 4 days journey south of this human settlement.
Where have you been spending time since the day of the dual?
(Question was never answered.)
Is it time for the re-uniting?
If the gods be willing, it is.
How is the re-uniting to be accomplished?
I believe that contacting the horn will be enough.
Will you remain here?
I will as long as it is safe for me to do so.
Do you have anything else to add?
I have not been into the moors for many years, but I know that it is still a very dangerous place.
Following the termination of the spell, the group spoke briefly to Jimi. He agreed that Treetop could stay as long as he wanted.  It was Jimi's way of repaying the horse for rescuing him whne he was lost.  When the group asked if they could buy any of his barley that he had left, Jimi told him that dwarves came down from their hall in the mountains about a month ago and bought out most of his remaining barley for a feast they were having.

The group discussed what they knew of the Trollmoors.  Daria recalled that it was an old name for the area now called the Evermoors.  Supposedly, it was once populated by trolls until giants drove them further south.  She did not know what inhabits the moors now.  She stated that she had heard that the moors supposedly were haunted, but never really believed that. Dominique recalled that the Evermoors were actually a wind-swept plateau region full of rolling hills, stone outcroppings, and ravines.  It is supposed to be a grassy area with occasional stumpy trees.

Since it was only about noon, the group decided to set out as soon as possible that day,  They returned to High Hold and bought  provisions for the trip.  They then set out south toward the Evermoors.  After about four hours, they started their climb into the moors.  By early evening they had reached the top of the wind-swept plateau.

Before they had stopped for the night, Yassel, Kartoffl, and Thistle spotted two ogres coming their direction.  After a short battle, the party easily dispatched them.      They traveled a half hour more before camping for the night.  The party found as sheltered a spot as possible, overturning Yassel's cart for extra protection from the frigid temperature and winds of the Evermoor's nights.  They chose not to have a campfire except briefly for cooking the evening meal.

The group traveled without incident the next day (11/11).  Early the next morning at third watch, a pack of 6 wolves invaded their campsite.  After a brief battle, the intruders were dispatched.  A lone wolf survivor was allowed to run off into the darkness.

At dusk of the next day (11/12), the group was passing a small, frozen pond. Suddenly, everyone, except Kartoffl, saw a strange, unsettling reflection on the pond's ice.  They saw the reflection of many warriors.  Their shields bore the coat-of -arms of a blue horse running over a cloud.  The warriors stood immobile and looked with their lifeless eyes at the party.  When the warriors raised their right arms, the party noticed that every right hand had been chopped off.  The image then vanished before Kartoffl could figure out what the party had seen.

Traveling another half-hour, the party found a campsite for the night. They climbing neighboring hills and scanned south.  In the distance, they could make out a sinuous rock formation.  Felina, Dominique's familiar, reported that from the air it did indeed look like a snake.

In the morning (11/13), the group traveled to the stone snake, only about an hour away.  They then spread out and tried to spot Tamarch's mound in the distance.  Several members of the party spotted an "unnatural" hill on an otherwise open plain in the distance.  This hill was flat on top unlike all of the other rounded, wind-swept hill that they had grown accustomed to seeing.  After marking the way back north, they set out for this unnatural hill.

While traveling to the hill, a 13-foot tall, two-headed giant, carrying two greatclubs (tree trunks really), attacked the group.  After several
rounds of combat, the giant was slain, and the group could continue their journey to the hill they had seen in the distance.

After several hours of travel, the party reached the unnatural hill. They then began to search for a way in.  Kartoffl sugested that the entrance to the barrow might be aligned with one of the four compass directions.  Following this suggestion, Yassel found the upper corner of a stone lintel exposed on the western side of the hill.  The groups spent the rest of the day digging out a 6' x 8' stone slab that sealed the entranceway.  By agreement, the party waited until morning before trying to remove the slab to allow spellcasters time to readjust their spells.

When morning (11/14) came Kartoffl tried to pry the stone out of the entrance aided by Thistle, Daria, and Eltairin.  Their first attempt budged the slab only slightly.  They then made a second attempt, were able to slide the stone block away from the opening.  They pushed it out of the way and knocked it over.
 
06/18/2003 11/14/1373 DR

The party looked into the barrow, and saw two curved passageways in the interior: one going left and the other right.  Both were about 10 ft. high but only wide enough to go single file.  The walls were made of sod and larger stones placed into the wall.  Kartoffel concluded that these passages were built up on top of the ground and not hollowed out from a pre-existing hill.  The interior smelled of dampness and must, but at least it was warmer than outside.

After a short discussion, the group chose first to travel to the left. With Yassel in the lead, they circled around to about a quarter way around the mound.  The passageway then turned to the left and ramped upwards at about a 30-degree angle.  This traveled about 40 ft. and then leveled off into some sort of chamber.

Yassel carefully ventured first while checking for traps.  His vigilance paid off when he discovered a trap in the last 20 ft. of the passage.  It seemed to pivot somehow around the center of that section of hall.  Despite attempts to discern more about the trap, little more information was forth coming.  Kartoffel did note, however, that if the block did pivot upwards, it would strike the ceiling and perhaps bring down some of it upon the heads of the party.

Yassel and Dominique's familiar then tried to discover if the chamber beyond was worth investigating further.  Felina flew into it and found only an empty room.  Yassel then crept into it, and confirmed that it was empty and without an other exits.  Believing the chamber to be a dead-end, the party decided to turn around and check out the right-hand passage back at the entrance.

The party followed the right passage almost a quarter way around the barrow.  It then branched to the left with another ramped passageway, identical to the trapped one that they had previously investigated.

Straight ahead, the party saw several cylindrical stones that stood about 4 ft. tall and about a foot in diameter in the center of the passageway.  Each had rounded, hemispherical tops.  When Yassel looked more closely, he saw a runic mark on the first couple for stones.  (He did not check any of the others to see if the runes continued on the further stones or how far the stones themselves continued.)

He got a rubbing of the first stone's rune.  Thistle was able to identify it as Orcish in origin or at least using the Orcish language.  It seemed to be clan symbols, and the party believed them to be burial markers of some sort from the time when humans first appeared in this region.  The party turned left up the ramp rather than continuing straight ahead.

At the top of the ramp, they found a short side passage leading to an oval chamber with walls made from smooth, seamless rock.  Four crudely sculpted frescoes protruded from the walls.    Countless bones were piled along the walls.

When Yassel entered the room, he caught the glint of something from inside one of the skulls.  He used his short sword to try to remove the item, but must have triggered some sort of magical trap.  A large portion of the rock ceiling changed into mud, and plummeted down on his head, completely burying him!  The four frescoes changed into earth elementals and attacked the party.

A short battle ensued.  Kartoffel managed to rebuke the elementals, keeping them away from the party.  Thistle then entered the chamber and fished Yassel out of the mud, laying his stunned body behind him.  The party then worked to dispatch the creatures.

Yassel, when he finally regained his senses, realized that he was missing both his short sword and the item that he had seen glisten.  He promptly dove back into the mud in search of them.  His short sword was easily found; however, the item was hopelessly lost.  Disappointed, Yassel had nothing left to do but clean himself off.

The party continued down the corridor to a roughly circular chamber. Inside they saw only a large statue of an ogrillion, an orc-ogre crossbreed. When Yassel entered with his light source, he spotted 4 shadows that immediately attacked him.  He climbed the statue to escape the shadows, causing a blobblish, multi-eyed, multi-mouthed creature to awaken from inside the statue and eat its way out, sending Yassel  tumbling to the ground.

A short battle ensued.  Daria fronted several shadows while the rest of the group attacked the blobbish creature from a distance; several hits by Thistle and Eltarin dispatched the creature.  Yassel was blinded and confused.  Daria was confused and lost several strength points to the shadows.  Thankfully, Kartoffel turned the shadows allowing the party to deal with them without fear of further strength losses.  Interestingly enough once the shadows were slain, Daria's strength returned.

After deciding to continue, they party went down the hall to another roughly oval room.  This one had several, badly-damaged axes, swords, and shields laying about the perimeter of the room.  A dozen lances in good order leaned against the wall.  The ragged remains of a blue standard and rusty gauntlets hung from the lances.

The party decided to detect magic before entering this room.  They located a single shortspear that radiated magic.  When Yassel entered the room to recover this item, severed mummified hands crawled out of the gauntlets to attack the party.  After a short battle, the hands were destroyed.  Kartoffel asked for and was granted use of the magical shortspear.
 
07/02/2003 11/13/1373 DR - 11/15/1373 DR

The party continued to search the room where they had fought the crawling hands.  they uncovered an old rotted chest that contained 8 silver torcs.  Yassel assessed their value to be in the 20-25 gp range.  After some discussions on their possible uses,  the group divided these up between them and continued on.

They came to a large hall that was once part of a wooden building.  It contained two large stone tables running the entire length of the room , a rectangular fire pit between the tables, and a large stone throne at the other end of the room.  The ceiling was held up by pillars of stone carved with skeletal images.

Sitting on stools around the table were 14 clay statues depicting Nya-Negan warriors.  An old longsword rested beside each stool.  The statues were headless, but someone had placed real orc skulls on their clay shoulders.  A dim red light flickered inside the eye sockets of each skull.

Having already run into several traps, the party proceeded with caution. Eltairin cast detect magic and examined the room.  He found moderate to strong abjuration magic in each of the skulls.  Figuring that this was a trap of some sort, Dominique tried to dispel it, but unfortunately failed. The group decided to rest for the night before tackling the hall further.

After some discussion, the group chose to go outside, retrieve their mounts, bring them inside with them, and sleep in the room where they had fought the shadows.  Fortunately, they were able to find their mounts with minimal effort, and they were able to spend a peaceful night in the barrow.

The next morning, the 15th of Uktar, the group went back to the large hall.  Kartoffl examined the ceiling with Yassel's help, and found it to be sound;he could not find any structural traps.  Yassel checked for traps and found none.  With no better alternative at the moment, Yassel and Daria stepped into the hall.

After they entered, the longswords around the table animated, and began to attack them.  To make matters worse, their own swords also animated, pulled themselves out of their hands, and began to attack them.   Yassel tumbled out of the room via the far hallway, and thankfully the swords did not pursue, especially his own short sword who seemed to have it out for him.  Daria also tried to tumble away from attacking weapons, but had far less success than Yassel did.

Eltairin ran into the room to help only to have his rapier animate. Holding onto his rapier, he left the room to discover that the rapier was not animate outside the room.  This gave the group the idea to try to remove the swords from the  room.  Thistle, Kartoffl, Eltairin, and Daria teamed up to remove each of the swords from the hall.  Eventually all of the swords were removed and the party was able to cross the hall safely.

Yassel  checked out the stone throne and found that it could slide. Kartoffl with help from Daria, Eltairin, and Thistle pushed it aside to reveal four potion bottles.  They were labeled in orcish as bull's strength, lesser restoration, nuetralize poison, and darkvision.

The party opened the stone door at the end of the hall to find a circular room with a circular stone plug with the face of a female orc
carved on it in the middle of the floor.  Kartoffl detected magic on it to discover weak, illusionary magic on it.

Kartoffl with help from Daria, Thistle, and Eltairin removed the stone plug.  Immediately, the female orc carving uttered the name "Tamarch" and a gust of wind blew out of the hole after the plug was removed.  This was followed by four ghostly, skeletal figures ascending from the pit below.  A wave of fear washed over the party, but each were able to resist the effect.  Shortly afterwards, the skeletal figures vanished.

The party then descended into the pit, finding a small, empty, circular room below them with a 10 ft. wide corridor leading off.  Kartoffl immediately noticed that the walls were all carved stone, indicating that the party was now underground.

They followed the corridor until they came to another circular room.  A thin, unnatural mist filled the chamber.  Through the misty veil, they could see a large granite pillar sculpted to resemble four entwined skeletal serpents, each facing one of four passages leading away from the chamber. The pillar supports a 20 ft. high ceiling.

Carved into the far left wall was a 9 ft. tall bas-relief representing a powerful-looking warrior in a solemn and rigid pose.  The warrior's features appeared orcish.

Yassel started to climb the walls to investigate the three other passages from this room.  He used a potion of spider climbing to aid his investigations.  Meanwhile, the rest of the party decided to heal themselves.

Yassel examined each passage starting on the right away from the bas-relief.  The first one turned out to be nothing but an unfinished, dead-end tunnel.  The second led to a room that Yassel chose not to investigate by himself.  Yassel then went down the final corridor to find another stone door.  He then returned to the group.

As Yassel began to investigate the final passage, the party heard the measured impact of two heavy boots on the rocky floor and the clinking of metal armor.  The imposing figure of an ancient warrior steps out of the darkness of the far corridor.  He wore furs, a breastplate, and an open-faced helmet shaped like a dragon's claw clenching the wearer's head. The party could not make out any of his features besides the chilling gleam of two ghostly eyes.  He stopped and began as if he wanted to cast a spell upon the party.

At that the battle was joined.  Kartoffl attempted to turn the warrior but to no avail.  After a couple of missed arrow shots, Thistle struck the first hit on the warrior, and he completely vanished!  Dominique thought about the warrior's disappearance, and proclaimed that they had been duped by an illusion.

As they were still discussing what had happened, the party saw three grotesque women dressed in rag appear out of the same corridor that the warrior had.  They had wild, frantic eyes burning with malevolence.  Their leathery, desiccated flesh was drawn tight across their bones.  Their teeth were sharp, jagged needles.

The battle was once again joined.  Daria advanced to engage the creatures while other party members resorted to arrows and spells. Kartoffl successfully turned the creature in the rear as well as a fourth that the party had not seen until Daria advanced.  One of the two remaining creatures struck Daria, and she felt a chilling,draining feeling come over her; she did not feel quite as capable as she once did.  Finally, the party dispatched the two remaining wights.

Quickly chasing the two turned wights down the far corridor, the party came to another chamber -- the one that Yassel had seen but not entered before.  It contained four stone beds in a row atop a stone bier at the far end of the room.  Mangy furs and bits of clothing lay atop of the slab.  The wights had fled down another passage leading out of the room.

The rest of the party continued their chase while Yassel chose to stay and investigate the room.  Yassel spotted several items that held his interest, including: several pieces of jewelry, a silver comb, a matching silver mirror, a palm box made of mother-of-pearl, and a heavy silver bowl.

The party hustled down the corridor to see the creatures inside a rectangular chamber.  Inside this chamber, the party saw the skeletal remains of a once great warrior laying atop a sculpted stone slab between two large pillars along the left side of the room.  A longsword sheathed in a rusty scabbard lies at the foot of the slab.  Four rusty iron braziers stand along the back wall.  The wights no longer appeared to be turned!
 
 
07/09/2003 11/15/1373 DR - 12/08/1373 DR

The battle is joined.  The party immediately attacks the two remaining wights with arrows, scoring hits.  The wights run up to engage both Daria and Kartoffl in combat.  Yassel spider climbs around the battle so that he can flank the wights.  Several more hits are scored.  Both Kartoffl and Daria suffer the effects of negative levels.

A couple of rounds into the combat, a silent ghostly figure wearing transparent armor floats out from the wall behind the party and engages Thistle.  Thistle, his longsword made magical thanks to a spell from Dominique, stands toe-to-toe with the figure while arrows and spells fly in both directions.  Eventually, the party slays the wights and can turn their whole attention to the figure that Thistle has engaged.  In the end, the figure is defeated but not before both Thistle and Eltairin have suffered Constitution loss.

The group then turns their attention to the room before them.  Yassel first searches it for traps, and finds none.  Thistle then searches the
chamber for the warlord's name, and is able to determine that this is indeed the tomb of Tamarch.

In the meantime, Yassel continues down the far passage, and discovers what he thinks is a treasure room.  He resists the temptation to search the room, and returns to the party instead.

The group then decides to put off searching the rest of the tomb for the rest of the day, and rest until tomorrow.  They chose the room containing the four slabs as it is close by and has two exits.  Thankfully, the party's rest is not disturbed.  In the morning, both Daria and Kartoffl are able shake off the effects of the negative levels, and feel much better.

While the party was resting, Daria decided to detect magic on both the tomb chamber and the treasure room that Yassel found.  She finds that both the longsword and the bones are magical in the tomb.  In the treasure room, she finds a long object that is magical in addition to several items inside an old wooden chest.  The item outside the chest radiates strong magic, leading Daria to believe that this is the spear the party has been searching for.

Inside the chamber where the party rested, they found a silver comb (worth 15 gp), a matching silver mirror (worth 25 gp), a palm box made from mother-of-pearl (worth 150 gp) six pieces of jewelry (worth a total of 600 gp), and a silver bowl that weighed 50 lbs (worth 500 gp).  The bowl caused much discussion since it weighed so much.  The party eventually decided to take it however.

The next morning, the 16th of Uktar, the party has a discussion on whether to take the longsword or not.  Yassel examines the longsword,
without touching it, more closely and finds no signs of orcish markings as far as he can tell.  Eventually, the party decides that removing the items they find is acceptable.

Yassel checks the treasure room for traps.  He searches the inside of the great stone door blocking the entrance from circular room with the bas-relief, and finds a trap on it.  To his surprise and relief, he is able to successfully disable the trap, and remove a sealed bottle filled with a sickly yellow liquid.  Dominique immediately recognized the liquid inside the bottle as something she had seen several times in her father's alchemical lab.  It was a very noxious, volatile poison that would have contaminated the entire room and beyond if the bottle were broken or opened. To be thorough, Yassel checked the other side of the door and did not find any more traps.

The party then tried several times to open the stone door sealing one entrance to the treasure vault.  After four attempts and several different combinations of PCs pushing and aiding, they gave up on trying to open it.

The group searched the treasure room.  They found a silver-tipped shortspear buried under much debris, and immediately recognize it as
Turview's lost spear, the transformed horn of Iriandell.  In addition, they find two golden stirrups from a rotten leather saddle (worth 25 gp each), a set of golden studs from a ruined small shield (worth a total of 40 gp), a cup made from a rare conch shell rimmed with gold and silver (worth 120 gp), and a golden dagger sheath encrusted with semi-precious stones (worth 270 gp).

The party then turned their attention to the chest.  Yassel searched for traps and found none.  He then opened the chest to find an obsidian
spearhead (worth 10 gp), a small ragged sack (containing 165 gp), an old saddlebag (containing 380 sp), a darkwood shield (a large, lightweight shield that imposes no armor check penalty, worth 257 gp), a warhammer, a flask containing a potion, four ceramic tablets with odd writing on them, and a brown ceramic dish painted with highly stylized running ogres with stag antlers.  Daria redetected magic and found the tablets, the warhammer, and the potion to be magical.  Kartoffl hefted the warhammer, and found that, despite its size, it was throwable!  Daria was able to identify the writing on the tablets as magical writing; Dominique agreed that they had arcane writing and were similar to scrolls or spellbooks.

Finally, the party returned to Tamarch's tomb chamber.  Dominique attempted to dispel the magic upon the bones, and to her and the party's relief, she was successful.  Yassel immediately took the longsword, and the party left the chamber not chancing their luck any further.

The party climbed out of the lower level, and headed for the entrance to the barrow.  Outside, they found a blizzard.  Realizing that they could not hope to travel under these white-out conditions, they moved a little further in and build a fire.

The group divide up the magic weapons that they now had.  Thistle took the longsword as that was the melee weapon he used.  Karotffl took the warhammer of throwing as it was the weapon favored by his deity.  Eltairin took the shortspear.  Daria carefully wrapped the silver-tipped shortspear and stored it away.

The next day, the 17th of Uktar, was still untravelable as the blizzard continued.  The party remained holed up in the barrow with their mounts. Kartoffl practiced with the warhammer and got used to its abilities.  Yassel marked the pivoting floor trap so that no one would stumble into it. Kartoffl also spent time trying to locate the stone slab that used to seal the barrow entrance as it was now buried in snow; he was able to find it after searching for only a short time.  Dominique read magic on the tablets and found endure elements, summon monster II, haste, and dimension door spells, one on each tablet.

Dominique took the opportunity to identify the various magic items the party had.  The warhammer was a +1 as was the shortspear that Eltairin carried.  The longsword was +2.  The potion was a potion of resistance to elements (fire).  The silver-tipped shortspear was +3!

The next day, the 18th of Uktar, the weather conditions finally cleared enough for the party to travel.  The party was briefly confused as to which way to go since most of the landmarks that they had used were hopelessly buried in snow.  Fortunately, Dominique recalled that the barrow entrance was on western side of the barrow.  The group was able to orient themselves properly using the entrance as a guide.  They sealed the barrow,and were on their way.

The four-day journey back to High Hold passed quickly.  Eltairin was especially anxious to get back to Silverymoon and get restored, so he was thankful that the weather held out and nothing attacked the group.  They were able to cross the Ravin River without much problem as it was frozen solid.  The party headed directly to Jimi's farm where Treetop/Iriandell was staying.  As they got within a few miles of the farm, the silver-tipped shortspear that Daria carried began to vibrate, increasing in intensity as they got closer.

Yassel knocked on Jimi's door.  Within a few moments, Jimi answered, immediately recognized the PCs, and invited them in to warm themselves. Yassel explained that they had recovered the spear/horn and wanted to restore Treetop/Iriandell immediately.  Jimi agreed, and accompanied the party to his barn.

Daria unwrapped the spear,and touched it to Treetop's forehead.  The spear and horse began to transform.  Within a few moments, a much younger, white unicorn stood before them!

Iriandell, now speaking in Common, thanked the group for all their efforts.  He promised them his eternal friendship,and promised his protection if they ever travel within the Moonwood.  Before he left, he allowed Daria to stroke his head and mane as she had requested to do. Iriandell left the farm, traveling north back to his Moonwood.  The party and Jimi watched him until he went out of sight.

Jimi then invited the group in for a hot dinner of barley soup, roast venison, warm scones, hot tea, and plenty of barley beer.  They stayed the night with Jimi, and were treated to a fine breakfast in the morning.  As a gift, the party gave Jimi the ceramic bowl with the antlered ogres painted on it.  They also gave him 100 gp, which he would only accept as advance payment for a couple barrels of next year's barley beer.

The party made the five-day journey back to Silverymoon, arriving on the 28th of Uktar.  As they entered the city, it began to snow once more.  They immediately went to the Temple of Helm and got restorations cast on both Eltairin and Thistle, both redeeming their favors.

Over the next week, took care of various tasks about town.  The party sold many of items they found in the barrow, and distributed some of it to party members.  Dominique found that the spells on the tablets did not disappear as they would on scrolls; the party sold all but the one with dimension door on it after she finished copying the rest into her book. The total distribution was 400gp per person, though Dominique, Yassel, Kartoffl, Daria, and Eltairin each contributed 94gp to the purchase of magical arrows.

The date is now the 8th of Nightal.
 

Next chapter.

© Copyright Maryrita Steinhour, 2002, 2003.