"Never say die!"

@Edwin Voskamp's AD&D Game: Freehold 2000-05-07

The party:

• Zooo, a Dwarven Fighter.
• Lothar, King of the Hill People, a Human Fighter.
• Angus, a Human Fighter.
• Banba, a Human Fighter.
• Claire, an Elven Cleric of Labelas Enoreth.
• Rynna, a Halfelven Mage.
• Thalen, a Halfelven Ranger-Cleric of Solonor Thalandira.

Delivering the Children

The next day we travel along the foothills to the mountains and when they become mere hills we keep these to our back and stay out of the fields. We avoid all contact with the farmers in the area and in the evening set up camp.

The next day we get up and travel on. We set up camp, figuring we are maybe half a day's march from Flagstaff. During my watch, the second watch, Sinann gives signal and points. I look towards the hills but even my keen nightvision does not reveal anything, though I can hear stealthy movement off in the hills. I creep around and wake the fighters, then Rynna and Claire. We line up in our standard formation and I cast Light behind the movement. A group of fifteen humans scramble for cover. They are uniformly dressed and equipped, look and move like, professional soldiers. They do not wear Tara's colors, so I guess they are from Flagstaff. They talk in code and seem to work on a flanking manoeuvre. I shout "Greetings!" and the movement stops. I wait a second and explain a bit more: "We are taking a group of refugee children to Flagstaff." A head pops up and I step forward into the clear, lit by our guard fire. The man comes out and approaches us carefully. He is Sergeant Edward Jones, leading a patrol of Flagstaff's military. We explain we have information about the Orc invasion into Tara for his Lord. He decides to escort us to Flagstaff and directs his men to guard us. They set up in two shifts, though they are polite enough to pretend not to notice that we keep our own guard shifts.

The next morning we get up and march to Flagstaff, guarded by the 14 soldiers in a skirmish line. Sergeant Edward Jones walks with us and chats with us amiably. We make it to Flagstaff on the middle of the day and the Sergeant details his men to escort Banba and Rynna to take the children to the Temple of Dagda, while he takes us to his commander.

We talk to the commander and he wants us to give him the information, until I inform him we told Lord Tara we would bring this information to Lord Flagstaff directly. He tells us he will consider this and gives us a note to stay in the Prancing Goat.

Rynna and Banba catch up with us at the Prancing Goat, brought there by the soldiers. They have dropped off the children with the Temple of Dagda, which looked like a farm, but with glass! The priests were working the fields and quite amiable to taking in the children, especially after Rynna mentioned the 50 gold pieces I gave her and Banba mentions that they are farm children, in response to the priest's question if the children can help work. They have left the priest with written information on the children, their names, family and where they came from. If no one has come to claim the children in a month, the priests are to send a messenger to Banba's family farm for information.

We set up in the Prancing Goat, clean up, in wait for our summons by Lord Flagstaff, and have something to eat and an ale. The ale is awesome, which, unfortunately, leads to excess: after hearing a song from a bard about the King's daughter, Angus draws Lothar into a drinking contest for the princess' hand! Angus outdrinks Lothar on the second drink, then they decide just to drink. Angus paces himself a bit further down, but Lothar keeps going strong, on drinks from the locals, who seem amused and flattered by Angus and Lothar's like for their King's daughter.

I arrange with the barkeep for new, fresh food for a week, freshly prepared and well packed and six kegs of the fine ale. I also find out there is a local merchant who controls the trading caravans: he'll be in tomorrow. I leave the barkeep with a gold piece to put the merchant in touch with us.

In the meantime, Angus and Claire have drawn out the bard and Claire has been busy sketching a map and noting the local history and lore. We get told about the towns Tir Na Nog, Xanth and Castle Xanth and the Ruins of Cork.

Lothar is getting really drunk, so Zooo and I follow him to the men's room and I Command him to Puke! (fortunately he never found out it was I). Rynna knocks on the door and tells us there is a messenger, summoning us to the King! I ask Angus to get a large bucket of water and, when Lothar finishes puking, Angus dunks Lothar's head. Unfortunately, when we get out, Lothar is still way to drunk for an audience with the King. We have Zooo take him to bed and leave Clair with him, to care for the "wounded". I also have Sinann and Sanenn stay behind, for three War Dogs are a bit much for an audience!

We go see the King and, determined to do better than on our last audience, I bring of my part without flaw, even with grace. Angus continues to embarass us, but the King seems impressed by our "mission" from Lord Tara. We convey all the information on the Orcs, their terrains and so on. The King grants us free food and lodging, and, upon my nudge, throws in the food we have arranged for with the barkeep of the Prancing Goat.

Caravan to Castle Xanth

The next day we are in the Prancing Goat as a merchant with two bodyguards walks in. The bodyguards are hard-eyed warrior types, but they look upon us with respect. We talk and he states he trades as far as Lasthold, several days beyond which are the Forest in which Elves dwell! We ask for the next caravan and he tells us the next caravan leaves the next day to Castle Xanth. We agree to help guard it, in return for free transport, food and lodging there. I ask him for a recommendation to a map maker and he directs us to a map maker who pulls out an enormous, detailed map. We haggle a while and, after I notice his information on Freehold is at least 150 years old, trade our detailed information of Freehold, the forests south of Tara, especially with the Orc roads, reinforcements and newly built town, for a detailed map of all the terrain up to and including Lasthold. We also stock up: I buy two bow staves, to craft bows that will take Lothar's and Zooo's strength. Rynna buys a beautifully made quarterstaff: with its decorative endpieces and rune carvings it looks like a mage's staff. And well it should, for ten gold pieces!

While on the road, Rynna haggles with the merchant and gets him to sell his spare compass to us for only seventy-five gold pieces! Six days later we arrive in Castle Xanth, having passed through Tir Na Nog, a very small town (a population of about five thousand), and City Xanth, a town a bit larger than Flagstaff (Xanth and the cities in it numer perhaps twenty-five thousand people).

Into the Ruins of Cork

We talk a while and decide to go the Ruins of Cork. Banba goes to the local Temple of Dagda and they tell her that Cork was built upon, or discovered, a cavern system underneath it. Something happened and Cork, and a five mile circle around it got blasted. Several people have gone there adventuring, but none have returned.

Since it is about two-and-a-half day travel, we decide to take another week of food, and set off in the morning. We set up camp that night and go on.

The next day's travel brings us to near the blasted area and when we look for a place to set up camp we find the perfect spot. We weren't the only ones to have thought this the perfect spot: there is a cooking ring of stones and upwind from it there is a lean to, large enough to sleep five. An old, frayed guide roop allows for hobbled animals to be tied up. We set up camp and stand our usual guard schedule. During the night we see strange lights in the Ruins, like aurea borealis or Faerie Fire.

The next morning (April 23) we go into the ruins, donkeys and all. Cork seems to have been a nice, walled city, though the walls now are piles of rubble, up to six feet high. The Temple still stands: it is clearly visible, in the South Eastern Quadrant. We go there and find that the roof is ripped off, blown outwards, Zooo tells us, but the rest is eerily undamaged, down to the stained glass windows! The heavy door has been ripped off its hinges, as if it was slashed out from the inside with an enormously hot, large poker. The inside of the temple is destroyed rubble, the pews destroyed, the altar desecrated. We go inside and check it out: Zooo claims that the building is 500 years old, the rubble 130. Banba finds a flat metal box, buried under rubble. It is completely sealed in wax, by a High Priest of Dagda. I cast Detect Evil and it seems no more evil than its surroundings. Banba chips off the wax and underneath it is a lock. We lament the lack of a "Thief" in the party, but decide to leave the box unharmed. In the back, behind the altar, are steps, dug into the dirt, supported by stonework on the side. Zooo tells us something has come through there, forcibly enlarging the opening: there are marks of claws and of fire! On the descrated altar I see markings I can't quite place, but I am certain, from my studies of Religion, that they are from something Evil!

We go down the stairs and find a 40'x40' room with a secondary altar, also desecrated. Hallways lead in all three directions. I have Rynna check the compass works and it does. Zooo tells us the marks came from the left. I have him measure out and describe the marks and deduce it is a large, two-legged animal, larger than a bear, walking ducked, in the 10' high tunnel. The tunnel to the left is 80' long, with 5' sleeping nickes along both sides. It leads to a 40'x60' Dining Room, with destroyed tables and benches, two hallways to the left, two to the right. To the far end a closed, to rotted wooden door. Lothar tries to bust it open, but siphoning off one of the barrels of ale on the trip to Castle Xanth must have sapped his strength and he fails. Banba easily pushes it in. Beyond it is a kitchen and as she searches it, Banba finds a very nice dagger that shines with the pale light of magic (as do our other magical weapons). Each of the four tunnels has sleeping niches along both sides, as far as we can see. Zooo points us to the second tunnel to the right and it leads to a 40'x60' small Library, "besides" the Dining Room. It seems to have been a small study room: now empty book shelves lining the wall, but not even a storage place for the rarer works. To the left are stairs leading down ...

The stairs lead down a bit, then are hewn out through bedrock and then they open up to the beginning of a large cavern, bigger than we can see by the light of our lanterns.

We stand there and think about what to do next ...

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