Rise of a Regent Campaign Thread

Game Master Illydth

Will post soon been crazy busy

You did not forget to check the two bodies, nor "strip" the priest of the prisoners of their valuables as well, I forgot to give you the "loot" from them in the process, my bad, I'll get that rolled up into an XP award and Loot post sometime in the near future.

I promise not to drag the conversation along too much more. Very soon there's going to be a "rest" period where you guys will get to cool your heals for a day giving you time to examine your loot, handle repairs or replacements, sales, and whatnot to get things in order. We'll be there very shortly.

I will warn everyone that once that happens it's going to take me a day or so to gather everything together, get the XP awarded, get all the character sheets updated, get the information out that needs to get out, and get us all started on the next part of the adventure, I'll post more about this shortly but there will soon be a small break in the action.

I'll wait for a small post from Lash and probably be able to finish the conversation up.

Kaerin, the Baron and the Chain clad leader of the soldiers in the house all stop and look at Selena.

Kaerin speaks first, obviously somewhat disturbed by the information. "What 'organization in competition with the thieves guild'?"

Reading the note that was left for you in the final hallway of the Laboratory, Kaerin hands it to the Baron and looks at you.

"This is disturbing, very disturbing. I wondered if there was more to these prisoners than being mere thugs." Turning to look at the Baron Kaerin says "I wonder how much more to this there really is."

Selena remains still for a moment, wondering if she could speak out again. "I have my suspicions, and dreams. But nothing that would stand to the trials of reason."

Staring off into space Lash frowns, her mind racing.

"He told the truth. They're Oceansend theives' guild, I can tell from the mark. The others weren't though. Assassins. Not just assasins but the assasins.

The taunting note, everything he said, it kinda makes sense now. When the realized we were here he needed to set a trap to see if we were who he thought we were.

That means not only have they been watching us but they're using the theives guild as expendable cannon fodder to throw at anybody in their way.

Damn. This is only gonna get nastier."

Selena perses her lips.

"Of course, this information answers none of our questions. It only presents more. I could already tell that we were not facing thieves. We found treasures untouched in other rooms. They were there for a... darker purpose. Either the tiara or information in Kavorqian's journal."

Selena perses her lips.

"Of course, this information answers none of our questions. It only presents more. I could already tell that we were not facing thieves. We found treasures untouched in other rooms. They were there for a... darker purpose. Either the tiara or information in Kavorqian's journal."

"The journal. That and to see how easy it would be to kill us. Next time, they'll be better equpped and beterr prepared."

"This is all just very strange"

Mird will try to find tracks left by Cyric

"Perheaps if we follow his tracks we can have more information about his plans, like, how he scaped and to where he is heading"

Tracking at 1/2 speed: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Mird:

You find absolutely nothing of help. The soldiers have been tramping all over the yard, paths, and inside the house, utterly obliterating any possibility of tracking Cyric. Even an investigation in the surrounding woods shows very few signs you could attribute to Cyric that you couldn't attribute to some of the other servants of the house. From what little you can tell, the Assassin is making his way north.

All:

Kaerin and the Baron both look at bit lost at the conversation.

Turning to you Kaerin says to Lash, "You can confirm these two," and with that Kaerin swings his hand wide to point at the two prisoners, "are Oceansend Thieves guild? But you said the others weren't? Specifically the one that came through here, killed my men and escaped?"

The Baron looks thoughtful a moment. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'the' assassins, but I have been hearing rumors for some small time that the thieves guild was bowing to a new master. I assumed it was a larger group from outside the region that decided to take an interest in the largest thugs guild in the area, but an assassins guild, particularly one you seem to give this much credit to, would make some sense...and that note certainly seems to speak a disdain for the thieves guild which would make some sense among the more deadly of guilds."

"You mentioned a Journal kept by Kavorquian? May I see it? There could be clues in there."

Armand quickly steps forward, stifling any replies any of you might make with a raise of his hand.

"Baron Sherlane, while I am certain you are as anxious as we are to find out what's going on with the area, please understand that my companions and I have just spent the better part of the last 13 hours down in that dungeon, as you can also see we are hurt and in need of some rest before we partake farther down the path toward determining what is going on with the region."

"Further," Armand continues, "while I have no intention of keeping anything back from you regarding this region I have championed for many years as acting commander of Kiren's Keep, I must deny your request for the Journal at this point. I will remind Lord Kaerin here that the Journal was part of our 'reward' for delivering the items as promised. I ask that this agreement be honored."

"With all due respect Kilenthar, that was before we knew that something new was afoot...as a Noble of the region I must require..."

Kaerin raises his hand, cutting off conversation. "Baron, I will not renege on my deal with the commander. The exploits of him and Kiren's keep for the region are unquestionable. I am sure that if something important is in that Journal we'll be the first to know. Now if you will both excuse me, I have an investigation for the house to run, and you, Baron, I am sure have other duties to attend to. We'll know more after tomorrow night, I suggest that we all meet again tomorrow evening and continue the discussion after Kilenthar and his friends have had a chance to examine their rightful property."

Bowing low to all of you Kaerin says "I thank each of you for the effort you've put in for me for these items. You will each find a bag of coin in your room totaling the sum we agreed upon for the delivery within time. You have the use of my house as your own for the mean time and may come and go as you please. I will ask that you do not re-enter Kavorquian's Laboratory nor disturb my investigation of the acts within the house. I would ask that since you do have the Journal, that you make it a priority to examine it for evidence of what's happening in the region, and must insist that you be here tomorrow evening to fill myself and the Baron in on your findings. What happens after that is of course your own choice. Rest, relax, and if you find the need to restock your supplies, you may take your horses to the village down the hill (On the outskirts of Penhaligon) where you will find merchants and business owners of all sorts to fill your needs."

With that the Baron moves off to direct the soldiers in their searches while Kaerin moves off to another part of the house.

The seven of you migrate to the upper floor of the mansion where your rooms await you.

It is late in the evening and you're all understandably VERY tired. You have pretty much the entire next day to do whatever it is you would like. I'll leave it fairly open ended as to what you can do, if there's something specific let me know and I'll let you know whether you have that kind of time or not. The meeting will not happen till later in the evening (8-9pm time frame) so you have plenty of time to do what you need.

At this point I'll try to respond to questions or actions but I'll need a couple days here to get all of the various pieces parts together. Things I owe you guys:

* Loot List for the Captured and Killed NPCs from the last battle.
* XP Awards for the Dungeon.
* Journal Entries and information you find (Warning: this will likely be fairly long.)
* I will also try to total up your XP awards to give you a current "final" total as I have it. I trust you guys more than I do my own calculations however, so if what I come up with is off from your standings let me know.

If you have questions or something your characters would like to accomplish, let me know. Otherwise, I'll try to get everything together by Thursday. If anyone has anything to add to the list above please let me know that as well.

I just want to know if I got enough xp to reach level 3. lol. That, and of course see what I can find out about the wand I managed to find with detect magic

Wow. So I just did a quick look, I haven't awarded XP since page 8 of the thread...*shudder*. This means I've got 12+ pages of campaign to parse through to determine appropriate XP awards.

I suspect that with all we've done, each of you will make L3, Though admittedly each of you are still around 2K xp to make that level...I think you've all gotten there. I'm working on final XP totals now but it's going to take several hours for me to get that together.

For the start, lets verify XP totals right now. In spoiler below I have what I *THINK* are current XP totals, not including any XP that you've gotten from the point where you entered Kavorquian's House to the point you've finished his Dungeon. If you see a large discrepancy (I don't remember handing out that much XP so far in the dungeon area) with the number posted below please don't hesitate to ask about it.

If that total is completely off from what you have please let me know and I'll start re-looking. Please use Spoiler text.

Even I get a bit confused sometimes. In going back through the story, I seem to have forgotten that the original letter you brought to Kaerin spelled out the Brotherhood as a group of assassins. The Baron still has not heard of them but it's likely that in the conversation above Kaerin would have at least told the Baron that he knew what you were talking about and would fill him in later. Apologies for that miss.

DM: Dirks numbers look low, I assume they all are. Check pages 12 and 16 for XP awards that may make the difference.

Yep, I JUST caught that I'd done a mid - adventure XP calculation on page 12, I hadn't gotten to 16 yet so I'll check there. Maybe I don't have to go through 20 pages of text. :)

I"ll make another update once I get myself sorted away.

PHEW! Ok THAT was an administrative Nightmare. Below are your new final totals. I am including chapter totals so that if there are discrepancies in calculations you can let me know.

This should account for ALL of the XP given in the Campaign to date, so the numbers I post should be final totals across the board. As I said if you have objections to the numbers or find I haven't calculated correctly, please let me know.

Chapter Totals are through the following posts by me on the given date/time in the thread:

The final bolded total should be your final XP total up to this point. I should remind everyone that we are using the "medium progression" XP Chart, Chapter 4, Second page of "classes", page 13 in the beta PDF. Third level begins at 5K XP and you all have well more than reached that, so congratulations on everyone reaching Level 3. More about that at the end of the post.

Chapter 1 Total: Sep 16, 2009, 5:39 PM
Chapter 2 Total: Sep 29, 2009, 2:33 PM
Chapter 3 Total: Apr 28, 2010, 6:45 PM (Thereabouts)

If everyone could go ahead and update their character sheets and send me new ones for Level 3, I would appreciate it. You can send updated sheets to douglasw at wagnerweb dot org.

I'm still having trouble with the file. But I've attempted to keep all of my information on my character profile. I'll update it now.

1d6 ⇒ 4 for new hitpoints.

Selena walks up the stairs to the private room(s) that have been provided for them, but not before she turns to Lasciel, speaking in celestial.

"Laentes milarthel, nimueh. Inratia. Al emin, enuia."

Has anyone kept track of our monetary wealth? Most of the time it hasn't been that important to me... lol

Level 3 Hit Point Roll: 1d10 ⇒ 9

Yay! Makes up for that 4 on level 2.

DM: I'll try to get my updated sheet to you by this weekend.

Lash looks back at Selena and smiles warmly, an expression that makes her seem younger. "Chwsg bydew anwylyd hun , adnabod a whatever beryglon wynebwn , Safa chennych."

Celestial

Wow, you picked up the Azata dialect.

After a night of feverish nightmares, through which her body heals itself and burns the memories of thought and flesh into her brain, Selena awakens to the sound of a bluejay perched on the windowsill.

She allowed herself a few moments to collect her thoughts, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the heel of her palm as she remembers the dreams from the previous night. Her connection with celestial beings had grown stronger. Her body felt lighter and full of vibrant life, but the weight of the universe weighed down on her shoulders. The Heavens pressed onto her, reminding her of the contract she was now an unassuming party of. It was a heavy burden for her, though she tried not to show it to others.

The celestial sorceress pushed the covers away as she slowly sat up and finally stood on the firm floor beneath her, though her surprising lightness of being disoriented her at first. Still, in the early hours of the morning when everyone else should be sleeping, Selena found herself being pulled in a strange direction.

"Lash-" Selena was startled as the voice that emerged from her lips was not entirely her own. It was layered with a voice that seemed purely magical in nature. A voice she had often heard in her dreams but never attempted to completely understand. She clapped her hand over her mouth in surprise until she had calmed herself. "Lash?"

This time the voice sounded more firmly like her own, despite the sparkles of warmth that rose in her throat as she spoke.

Years of training and needing to react to any change gifted Lasciel with the skill of waking almost instantly. In most cases her body went almost instantly into action, before her mind had even registered what was occurring. This time a smile crept unbidden across her lips before her eyes had even opened.

Her name...uttered with a warmth that seemed to strike a chord, a resonance that was almost....magic.

Opening her eyes she sat up on the bed slowly, the early morning light streaming in the window. Selena was standing, looking over at her, the morning light making her look almost...angelic.

The changes that had occurred in the sorceress since their journey started were amazing to say the least, her connection to something greater was inspiring.

"Lena? I'm here. Are you all right?"

Selena was relieved by her friend's compassionate voice.

"Such odd dreams. I.... We must awaken the others. But first, I have a question to pose to you. You seem more savvy in understanding the material nature of this world than I am, though Desna knows my parents tried. But I would like to ask you something in regards to this specialized knowledge you possess. As an acquisitions specialist, do you think that perhaps our limited financial resources might go further if we were to pool them into one lump sum, and then make individual requests to the group (or withdrawals, if you will) when one of us requires some funds? I admit that so long as I have had food in my belly and a warm place to sleep, I have not been concerned so much with the lack of money. But I thought it might be easier, for some reason, to let someone with inner knowledge of monetary procedure take care of the entire amount."

The sorceress pauses after such a long explanation. "Each of us has a unique ability, some reason why we are here, now, in this place. You have ties to merchants and bankers in Kethlenica, and perhaps will find yourself among their number (if not their leadership) a short time from now. It seems likely that placing our wealth under your care would see gains over time."

Selena pinches her forehead in confusion, uncertain where half the words she had used had come from. "Does that make any sense, or am I addled? Perhaps I should ask the regent what he thinks...?"

I know I've disappeared. I am really sorry. Death in the family (nothing close, an Uncle in Indiana) followed by the death of my car (engine lockup, complete loss, had to buy a new one), and a 15 hour drive to Colorado in 2 days (Thursday) as well as a few major projects at work and my life has become impossible at the moment. I am "out" at least till Thursday Night/Friday Morning. Feel free to RP amongst yourselves if you wish to, definately get your character sheets updated to L3 and be ready to go. Starting Friday I'll get the second part of this adventure kicked off and probably be able to post AT LEAST once a day if not a couple times while on Vacation. I believe I still owe you all a list of equipment/items/cash from the Adventure so far.

"The Regent? You mean Armand? This stillbtakes some getting used to," Lash says sitting up fully.

She is quiet for a moment, her face a blank mask betraying little of her thoughts. After a moment she sighs.

"I've spent all this time trying to get away from my family and now I could end up in the family business anyway. Funny how things work out."

She smiles at Selina, "Acquisitions specialist huh? Never been called that before, I kinda like it. No you're not addled at all Lena, I think you have really good ideas. You see things differently to everyone else. Gods know you make me want to be a better person."

She goes silent as if surprised that she voiced that last thought.

Selena seems relieved to hear that she is not entirely insane.

"Sometimes I do see things differently. It's not always in accord with the physical nature that most people are used to."

She looks around the room, wondering if anyone else from their troupe had woken up yet.

"I dreamed that I should go to the town. The enchanted armor. The one that was too small for any of us to wear. I think it was intended for someone in the town, and I think it's possible that this person had some connections to the wizard or his butler and might know something of his intentions. I also would like to ask around and see if our new 'friends' purchased supplies for their expedition."

After a momentary pause, she continues. "Regardless of who the wizard intended the armor for, its very possible that the Gods have found another hero to champion with such a reward. If that is the case, we should make haste to bring it to him...." Selena's voice trails off, as she hesitates at the interpretation of what had been shown to her.

Managed to get a Loot List together today. Given the house "occupants" there will be a few wizards among the group along with Thantos. I'm giving you the "identified" item lists as I expect you'd have had time to get all the items identified.

That said, I'm also docking 100 gp in 'materials' and casting cost to get everything identified.

Emptying your pockets and searching through your belongings you pull out all of your unidentified items. Asking the help of a couple of the wizards attached to the soldier/investigative group going through the house at the moment, you get the items you are unsure of identified.

Coins
---------------
* 100 GP Misc Kavorquian Room
* 600 PP (Bags of Coin)
* 25 PP / Party Member Bounty for Completing Quest (175 PP Total)

Misc Items
---------------
* Alchemical materials and tools (400gp) You need to determine whether you want to try to sell this or keep it for alchemical materials for later.

1 x Crystal Bird Ornament
1 x Sandalwood Box - Mother of Pearl Inlay
6 x Silver Goblet
1 x Crystal Decanter
6 x Place Settings
1 x Crystal Bowl
1 x Silver Sugar Bowl
1 x Small Mahogany Box
6 x Incense
1 x Gold Bracelet

Magical Misc
---------------
1 x Elven Boots (Blue)
1 x Wand of Magic Detection (10 Charges)

Spellbook:
Floating Disk
Light
Continual Light
Invisibility
Magic Missile
Protection from Evil
Knock
Mirror Image

Weapons
---------------
Strength Long Bow (15)
Mace +1
1 x Sling +1
1 x Long Sword +1, +2 vs Spellcasters
Crossbow +1
Masterwork Battleaxe (Barbarian Make)

Armor / Equipment
------------------
Dwarven Sized Full Plate Mail +1
Shield +1
Ring of Protection +1

Someone (or more) will need to volunteer to go down to the local shopkeepers to sell any of the Misc. Items you want to sell.

Whoever is doing this will need to make an appraise roll.

Since Selena wants to go down to the local shopkeepers to see what they have (and to try to find information about the butler or his black leathered friend), she will volunteer to sell anything the party does not need. Unless someone wants to try to use the wand, I think we can sell it. It's a charged item of a cantrip, (An at will ability).

Lash would be curious about the elven boots, and probably want the ring unless Selena or Thantos needed it.

She'd also likely go along if only to make sure they got a fair deal. She doesn't really trust merchant types knowing them as well as she does.

So I have Selena and Lash heading to the merchants to sell whatever parts of the items you'd like. Anyone else want to go along? If not, Selena/Lash please make me an appraise roll.

Do the rest of you want to do anything during these two days? Armand will be studying the Journal and will get together with the rest of you to talk about the entries prior to the meeting tomorrow night so that's already covered, anything miscelanious you'd like to handle?

I'll give it today to get posts in and move us forward this evening/late this afternoon. I also want to know what of the list above you're interested in selling.

So I have Selena and Lash heading to the merchants to sell whatever parts of the items you'd like. Anyone else want to go along? If not, Selena/Lash please make me an appraise roll.

Do the rest of you want to do anything during these two days? Armand will be studying the Journal and will get together with the rest of you to talk about the entries prior to the meeting tomorrow night so that's already covered, anything miscelanious you'd like to handle?

I'll give it today to get posts in and move us forward this evening/late this afternoon. I also want to know what of the list above you're interested in selling.

Fyird doesn't have Appraise, as diplomacy is usually the skill used for trading, so I'm not sure he'd be much good. Illydth, could you email me at screen name at earthlink dot net.

Selena will trade out rings if the other one is less crude in appearance. (For some reason, wearing an orc's ring is a little unsettling for her.)

Appraise 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Diplomacy 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 +1 if attracted

Wow... okay.

Before we head out to 'sell' the treasure we obviously don't need, can I ask our host if he happens to know who the dwarven sized armor is intended for?

Aid another Appraise1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
Aid another Diplomacy1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Actually, thanks VERY much for the information Fyird, you're right on that.

I'll need deplomacy skill checks as well. Would you like to go with them?

FYI: Email sent.

Hell yes! 27 (28 total)

Wanted to quickly ask you all to check the Rise of a Regent Discussion Thread (do a search for "Rise of a Regent" on the main paizo page's search box and select the discussion thread). To quickly update each of you, I'm giving you all the option to personally change your character over to the production rule set if you wish. Please read the last post in the discussion thread for more information.

Linked for convenience

Could we have used the Appraise check to value the items before selling them? (To make sure we were getting the best deal.) Or can an Appraise check only be used on one item at a time?

The way I'm working this is the appraise check is to value the items pre-sales. Based upon how well you appraise the items over difficulty I'll give you the value of the item...typically within a percentage based upon the appraise roll. Then, 'knowing' the value of the items you can go in and try to sell them. Just because an item is worth 500g however doesn't mean you'll GET 500g from it. THIS is where the deplomacy skill will come in handy.

Same thing applies for Deplomacy as Appraise, I will start the vendor (based again upon some hiden values) at a certain percentage of actual worth. Based upon your Deplomacy skill roll and the difficulty I set the vendor will offer up to a certain percentage of the acutal worth of the item. Again, as usual, any role play you want to put into this may or may not affect the underlaying difficulty.

This is more "mathamatical" than I'd generally care for during a campaign, since basically two rolls will determine the price you'll get for the items you have. That said, RPing the sales of items could take a week in an e-campaign and in the grand scheme of things tends to be less useful to the party than pushing forward on the play, so while I ALWAYS encourage a bit of conversation with your vendors, we won't be "bartering" items across the thread.

I will also give you a hint that certain party members may have a "better" difficulty roll than others given certain circumstances in the campaign, and not always will the same person have the best difficulty.

1 x Crystal Bird Ornament (70gp)
1 x Sandalwood Box - Mother of Pearl Inlay (70gp)
6 x Silver Goblet (20gp Each)
1 x Crystal Decanter (45gp)
6 x Place Settings (20gp Each)
1 x Crystal Bowl (65gp)
1 x Silver Sugar Bowl (45gp)
1 x Small Mahogany Box (5gp)
6 x Incense (20gp each)
1 x Gold Bracelet (55gp)

The vendor you're talking to has offered the above prices to you. Let me know what you'd like to sell of the above and I'll calculate a final GP Value.

If you'd like to sell anything else please let me know what and I'll give you a final price on that as well.

Selena looks over the things on the counter, trying to decide if the offer made was a good one. She turns to Lash. "Well, what do you think? Do you want to keep any of this stuff? I might keep some of the incense, and the box I've grown attached to."

"The bracelet's kind of cute but I guess there'll be more than enough time for fun stuff after this is all over."

Warning in advance, this will be a long post. The contents herein are what you would see by reading Kavorquian's Journal. There's some explanations in here as well as more information. Browse it at least but for those who are too ADD to read all this, the major highlights will come out in the conversation upcoming.

The diary you find is old, some of the pages having fallen out, others have turned to dust. Like everything else in the dungeon, the diary seems to be falling to pieces very quickly. The leather binding is brittle but still serviceable and the book does in fact look salvageable if a bit weathered, so long as you use care in reading the diary.

Carefully opening the Diary produces a bit different story however. Much of the wording and writing, even on the pages that seem better preserved, has faded to the point of unreadability. There are, however, at least a few pages that seem whole and untouched by the ravages of whatever seems to be happening to the diary.

The first entry, almost at the very beginning of the book, is dated in the year 564PH (Just over 60 years before campaign start). The entry is faded and much of the text is gone but what little is left seems to identify the diary as that of Kavorquian, a smudge next to the name indicates that the last name was erased or otherwise blotted out. This particular entry and several others after it, seem to piece together a story of Kavorquian's magical training and apprenticeship, this first entry seems to be written just after his apprenticeship ended.

Most of the following entries, particularly the early ones, detail magical experiments, research, projects, and other items of an arcane nature. Some of the later entries detail quests and efforts undertaken, obviously, to obtain and acquire the magical creatures in the laboratory you passed through, and the alchemical components in the alchemy lab earlier in the complex.

Thantos: There is a custom spell identified within the diary that you could study to produce a "permanent" flame. The spell is above your ability at this point, but is available to you once you reach the third level of spells. I'll provide details to you of the spell and it's affects in the near future.

Almost two years worth of diary entries describe the purchase of Kavorquian's manor and the building of the laboratory/complex you just passed through.

Several entries catch your eye and are legible enough to get a full picture of the story the entry is about. Almost all of the most legible writings are near the end of the 60 year history of the mage and seem to occur within the last 30 years or so of the old Mage's life.
-----------------------------------
June, 12th, 603PH

Jeffries, that pompous ass, finally crossed the line today. The old man challenged my research regarding necromantic reanimation in council. 15 of my most esteemed peers in the room and that senile old cantrip flubber denounces my use of nightshade to preserve the longevity of the reanimated corpse! I swear I will find a way to humiliate his rotting old bones...

Rotting old bones...that gives me an idea...
-----------------------------------

Several pages later in the journal, between magical experiments and much complaining about magely life, you find this entry...

-----------------------------------
October 15th, 605PH

My joy today knows no bounds. Jeffries, that hack of a spell caster, got caught in the woods by a pack of orcs...may Nethys forevermore bar his incompetent hide from the weave and may maggots feast on his eyes. To further my revenge, I have raised his corpse to serve me in my kitchen...and as an added touch, used nightshade in the reanimation process. To the victors go the spoils, and to the clever goes the last laugh. Maybe I'll bring his corpse with me to the next council meeting, that should produce a good chuckle.
------------------------------------

Other entries identify two other rivals that shared the same fate as Jeffries, which explains the undead you faced off against earlier this morning.

It is the later entries in the Journal, however, that are most interesting to you.

=====================================

December 20th, 627PH
I was contacted today by someone identifying themselves as Cyric from "the brotherhood", whatever in the 666 layers of the abyss that is, asking me to use my talents to find a certain man thought to be in the region. I told him that was neigh impossible as Cyric knew not where the man was, nor what he looked like. He was obviously not happy with the answer and practically threatened me on his way out. I must learn more about this Cyric and what he wants.

December 22ond, 627PH
My scrying has paid off. Cyric is involved with some kind of assassination cult based in the northern part of this land. By his actions and mannerisms he is a local, however, and so must be part of a local sect of this group. The man they are looking for is someone of import from the northern part of this land. Who, though, they have not said, and I cannot seem to pierce the veil of secrecy they keep surrounding this man. One thing is sure: if this brotherhood wants this man, they shall not have him.

January 15th, 628PH
Another contact by the brotherhood. This time they assured me that I would assist them in their cause or they would kill me. As I pen this entry two of them lay dead in my laboratory, a third was polymorphed into a fly and is now trapped in a jar on my desk. Perhaps one of the carnivorous plants in my lab would like a little snack...perhaps the one that digests it's prey over the course of several weeks...

My defenses, however, obviously need a little spicing up around this complex. I will have to dig into my magical ability and set some interesting surprises for the next group of cowards who slink into my lair. Perhaps I can use the corpses of the other two to perfect my creation of animated statues for my protection...

February 10th, 628PH
Ye gods above preserve us, there is a King abound! I was visited again a few days ago by this assassin brotherhood. Instead of killing them, I played off the demise of their other band members as that of the fate of those who threaten me and invade my home. They seemed to accept this and proceeded to cajole me into joining their cause. They wouldn't give me any more information than I already had about who they were looking for so I decided to take a little risk. I gave one of them a trinket of mine to take back as a sign of good faith that I was considering their offer.

Of course, this was no ordinary trinket, it was ensorceled to allow me to break past their scrying boundaries. And break past them I did.

The conversation I listened in on was long and involved and cannot here be recorded for fear of too many innocents being killed if it were to become general knowledge. The gist of the conversation however is that this brotherhood has tracked a deposed king from some northern realm, powerful northern realm, to the vicinity. While I gleaned very little more information than this, it is obvious to me that a whole sect of the larger assassin band has been sent to setup in our corner of Norwold, flush the man out, and kill him. I must learn more about who leads this group.

February 25th, 628PH
My defenses are prepared. I have yet to be contacted again by the brotherhood, I suspect I have been found out. It is only a matter of time, I believe, before they will come after me in force. My laboratory has been prepared for intruders and my house above is being cared for by my Butler. Between my magical barriers and his watchful eye, I can be at peace again.

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The entries after this get harder and harder to read. The script gets shakier, the strokes of the letters less sure and much rougher. Something has obviously affected the old man.

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March 10th, 628PH
The ravages of time have finally caught up with me. Of recent, I have an ache in my bones I have yet to experience. Moving around is getting harder, and casting spells is becoming too much of a drain on me, even the most simple of castings leaves me breathless. My ability to wander through these halls and tend to my lab experiments is waning.

I fear for my halls. Already the magical bindings that have kept the place solid for years are starting to break down. Some of the doors are starting to crack and splinter, the air is becoming damper and more "dungeon-like", and my guardians are becoming harder to control.

I do not know if I'll have the energy to properly shut down all of the experiments I have going. I fear for the safety within the Alchemy lab but there is nothing I can do about it now. I must find a way to release the creatures in the lab without destroying them however...

March 17th, 628PH
No time...

My condition has deteriorated, I am barely able to move, even writing this is an effort. My laboratory will have to be managed by someone else. I have been weakened somehow, food, drink, I do not know, but something has gone wrong.

This will likely be my last entry, I must get back to my room before my butler discovers I am gone, I suspect he is in league with these assassins and that I have been deceived for many years. But the information I have found must be recorded for someone to find, else the region is lost...this King is not our only concern.

In a last ditch effort, with the growing concern for the surrounding area I have attempted to gather as much information as I could. Haradraith's Keep seems to be the base of operations for the brotherhood. They are gathering an army of orcs and seem to be ready to unleash them on the region to flush out their prey. The leader is a self-styled warrior queen and has an evil spellcaster with her. It seems she is mad, but is cunning enough to raise this rabble and prepare for--what?

It may be that Arturus's first-born is this "queen." She was always an evil bandit, and she may have joined with this brotherhood to further her goals. It is interesting the way fate has twined this King from the north with this region. I suspect that this "queen" may have an objective besides killing this man they are searching for, she may be trying to take by force what she considers is her birthright. Even if she cannot take Penhaligon--and I do not know how long she will wait, how great her force will grow--she may be able to destroy Kiren's Keep and wreak havoc along the Duke's Road. She MUST be stopped. If only Kaerin were here--I must get word to him, somehow...

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That is the last entry in the journal, over 3 weeks old now.

"The bracelet's kind of cute but I guess there'll be more than enough time for fun stuff after this is all over."

"You're right. I'll keep the small mahogany box and the incense then. Everything else can go."

DM, can you put the journal entries up on the website?

Kavorquian's Journal is up on the Website.

The next two days are a dichotomy to you. Kaerin's house is busier than ever, with soldiers and administrators constantly coming in and going out, investigating the deaths of his servants, questioning almost everyone else they come across about the happenings. Several teams of soldiers have entered the complex below and come back up, some minorly injured, one unconscious who had to be lifted up the back shaft by rope.

The seven of you quickly learn not to make an appearance on the lower levels as you are almost immediately accosted by some administrative type or soldier asking questions about the labyrinth below and the prisoners that were, shortly after your exit from the dungeon, whisked off to Penhaligon proper to be interrogated, incarcerated and tried for murder, larceny and other crimes.

The Baron seems to have disappeared entirely, likely back to Penhaligon to continue to assist the city government and manage his land holding.

At one point Lash and Selena take off toward the city to sell the various trinkets and baubles you managed to pick up on your sweep through the dungeon and are back soon after, having garnered somewhat more attention to themselves than they would have liked otherwise. Seems word of your heroics has already reached the local townspeople and Kavorquian's Dungeons, being somewhat of a legend to the surrounding populous. Having been interrogated harder and more uncomfortably by the local merchants and gossip mongers in town than by any soldier or administrator in Kaerin's house, the two return rather quickly with the party gold from their sales.

Since retiring to the upper floors, Armand has become reticent and reclusive, locking himself within his room for long periods of time with Kavorquian's Journal. While his health is obviously improving and his wounds are obviously healing well, he seems a man obsessed with every little bit of information he can glean. For the rest of the first night and the next morning, Armand all but refuses to speak of the information he's found in the journal, protesting that he's not had enough time to study the writing to ensure the information within is valid. Other than casting a few healing spells to further recuperate himself and the party's health, you see very little of him till around Noon the day after you exited the dungeons, attempts to gain entrance to his room are politely but firmly denied.

Around noon of the day of your meeting with Kaerin you each filter down to the dining room of the house for your usual afternoon meal, Lash and Selena having just gotten back to the house from their excursion into town.

Sitting at the head of the table is Armand looking both refreshed and invigorated.

"Good afternoon everyone."

Armand eyes each of you in turn as you are seated and start in on your afternoon meal.

"As you know, I've been locked away for many hours in my room. I apologize for my reclusion but there were some things I needed to work through myself."

"We should all sit down and talk before we meet with Kaerin tonight...we have some equipment that we need to divvy up and figure out what direction we're going now that this is all over."

Armand looks directly at Lash as he says:

"By the way, I think we're making the soliders around here a little nervous walking around here in our battle gear. I suggest that we take a short time after lunch to divest ourselves of all our equipment and trinkets in our rooms to fit in a bit more around the house."

"Lets save our questions till we can be more comfortable. Everyone take some time after Lunch here to freshen up and meet at my room in about an hour to discuss how we split all the loot from our adventure through the Dungeon."

With that, Armand goes back to eating his Lunch.

As he finishes (quicker than most of you since he was eating when you all came down) he smiles at each of you and heads up the stairs toward his room.

Pausing here to see if anyone has anything they want to do before I continue on.

Was I able to find anything about the butler or the man in black in the town? Had they stopped for provisions or anything before heading north?

Selena watches carefully as Armand retreats from the table. Her eyes hold no small amount of worry. She turns to the others.

"It seems our list of enemies is growing, even from amongst familiar faces."

Selena lowers her voice so that she is not overheard by any of the soldiers standing nearby.

Ok, so lets have everyone give me a short description of what you're doing from the point in time that you finish the noontime meal to the point you show up at Armand's door.

I do need everyone to post something here.

Lash makes a point of taking a relaxing bath and changing her clothing, switching to a form fitting pair of breeches and a silk blouse, making sure to conceal her khukri on her person, before leaving her room.