Players:

  1. Battista, Level 1 Elf, in pact with The Fates, Lawful (Mark)
  2. Marcellus, Level 1 Archontean Cleric of Atashak, Chaotic God of Fire and Battle (NPC)
  3. Pif Feldman, Level 1 Thorcin Cleric of Demma, Lawful Goddess of the Harvest (Jake)
  4. Spine Thundergruff, Level 1 Dwarf, Lawful (Bill)
  5. Waldorf, Level 1 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
  6. Everet, Level 1 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)

Note taker/map maker: Bill Caller: Brad Treasurer: Earl

The party began the session by better organizing their carried items and inventories. Marcellus put away his shield to take the lantern from the one-armed Pif, and Battista took a torch from Waldorf to allow the Halfling to utilize his dual-wielding abilities. Spine put five torches in a bag and hid them in the room with the fallen zombie to free up some space.

The group traveled west down a hallway and entered a room covered in a carpet of bones. Scattered amongst the skeletons, the Fingers found two beryls worth 25gp each, a pouch holding 88sp, and an iron spear inscribed with a word in the ancient tongue of Mithric. Even with his above-average strength, Spine could barely lift the spear, and judged it to be too unwieldy to be much use in combat.

Moving further west down the hallway, they found a room with five ancient Thothian mosaics and a stone altar. Pif attempted to channel the power of his Goddess to detect if the altar was magical, but Demma had begun to look upon his constant beseeching with mild disfavor. He spent ten minutes uttering chants and intonations to obtain his deity’s forgiveness as the rest of the group made a fruitless search of the room. Because the group believed the final door on their current floor contained the stone gargoyles they fled from earlier, they made the decision to return to the surface. As the group could carry virtually nothing else without taking movement penalties, the Fingers then began their return to Gosterwick.

On the way back, right before dusk, the party encountered a group of freshly-risen zombies in the road. They were able to defeat the undead, but not before Spine was struck down by a savage blow. Pif’s Lay on Hands to heal him was successful, and he made his DC 15 FORT save to avoid taking a lingering injury. However, because he was brought to zero HP, his Stamina score was permanently reduced by one.

Battista was also wounded in the skirmish, and Pif attempted to heal him before the group made camp. However, Demma reacted to this attempt with disfavor, and decreed that he must make a pilgrimage to a holy site six days’ travel away to be forgiven.

After resting overnight off the road, the group encountered a large group of stirges who were swiftly put down. Later, only an hour outside the city, the Fingers heard some rustling coming from the side of the road. Six kobolds emerged to converse with the group. Their leader Tringlewix immediately asked Battista where the previously-promised gold was. Batista explained that they hadn’t rescued the priestess yet, so they didn’t have the gold, but promised that the group would bring rations, slings, and sling stones to the kobolds on their next expedition to the Halls. This pleased the kobolds.

The two groups conversed some more, and the party learned that the Kobolds viewed the dragon Craastonistorex as their leader, and that he visited them in their tower about once a week. Tringlewix also revealed that he saw the Children of Dieno sell the priestess to a group he called the “slavers of the snake god.” Furthermore, he warned the group of the slavers’ duplicitous nature, and that they commonly wore red armor. Finally, Tringlewix said that, on account of Dieno’s refusal to pay Craastonistorex’s tax, the kobolds had gone to war with the Children, and asked for assistance against them. As a gesture of goodwill, the Fingers gave the kobolds a sling and about 10 sling stones, after which the kobolds departed.

In town, Pif resupplied and left to go on his pilgrimage. He planned to return in 12 days. Meanwhile, Spine worked on his blacksmith skills, Marcellus interviewed a potential hireling, and Waldorf unsuccessfully searched for historical information about the Halls. Battista paid the mage’s guild to identify their magic items, and they successfully identified five scrolls (spider climb, detect invisibility, neutralize poison, detect evil, and remove curse), the bronze rod (a +1 mace), and the spear. The spear was revealed to be called “Nightwind,” the very word inscribed on its haft in Mithric. After saying its name, the spear became perfectly balanced, gaining a +1 magical bonus in general combat, and a +3 magical bonus against humanoids.

The party gained 325xp each as a result of their return to town with about 2,000gp worth of treasure total. This put all but Everet about halfway to level 2. To increase their overall carrying capacity, the group resolved to bring more hirelings along to their next expedition.

End time: 2993 AEP, Tasday (5th day of the week), the 6th day of Basilembrios, the 10th month, 7:00am.