Downtime Montage (3rd of First Stores, Rose: 47 - 5th of Second Stores, Rose: 47)

Downtime and Training Montage

(Queue A-Team Music Soundtrack)

Arrival in Sphant

• The party is greeted by the massive colossus' of Isthmeira, Gaia, Dhyane, and Ohnuava.
  
• The Sea Wyvern docks in the harbor of Sphant.
  
• Slip fees are 5 Crowns/Day.
  
• Upon arriving, that evening, on the 3rd of First Stores, the party gathers on the deck of the Sea Wyvern, each of them lights candles and stare into the stars. Llew strung up his lute. Tolman made a comforting tea and baked sweets. Elan passed around goodberries and sat with her dog - now fully grown. The dwarves hummed old dwarven durge songs (which sound a lot like drinking songs only performed less sober and with less enthusiasm - only Vongur remembered all of the words). Siegride refused to give last rites but, instead, they each told stories of Ma'yah and how they remembered her, with pictures of fondness and kindness. That said, they then all mutually agreed to throw the weird body part stuff (like the preserved, ghoulish, gouged-out basilisk eyeballs) overboard.
  
• Rumors abound that the black ships are prowling the Shattered Isles, are willfully attacking small Abbeys and Shyn's, and killing defenseless Sisters and citizens. The black ships are from a far away foreign land. The Queen - otherwise preoccupied with Rhackdalia - can't spare the time or attention to Sphant, and this angers the populous. It makes them fearful. The Midnight Sanctuaries have armed themselves and begun patrolling their areas of Sphant, giving rise to the fear of senseless violence among the religious factions.
  
• There are also rumors that a young Sister of Isthmeira, accompanied by a militia of Dwarves (who've traveled far from their home in the Kingdoms to once again save humans, how poetic!), having discovered atrocities committed against Sunrock Abbey, leads the charge in repelling these invaders. They say the young Sister was even spotted in Shyn-Bhokerdown feeding the hungry and tending to the sick and diseased. Among monarchy loyalists, they say she and her Dwarven militia has been secretly commissioned by the Queen Herself (through the ordination of Sphant's Magistrate) to take whatever actions are necessary to protect the people. This affords just a small bit of hope to many. However, by the 10th of First Stores, the rumors explode into such fantastical tales that can hardly be believed (nonsense like water-walking, wrestling sharks, and even defending a colony of lizard people from an onslaught carried out by the black ships) ... certainly stories so large, so outrageous, they couldn't possibly be true. Just the fact that the Queen has dispatched such a capable group of heroes only goes to show that She hasn't forgotten about the lowly Shattered Isles, way out here, in the Fathoms....

Return of the Books

• The party returned the cache of books recovered The Gentle Current to the College of Lore in Seminary received the books you returned.
  
• The Headmaster of Seminary - Audry of House Cyna - promises that the books will be looked after, studied, and protected.
  
• Audry of House Cyna extends a boon to Llewellyn. She asks him to give a guest oration on the 6th of Second Stores in front of a select audience of instructors, sisters of various abbeys, renown thinkers, and academic staff, regarding the recovery of these texts. Naturally, all of his fellow adventurers would be more than welcome at this gathering.

Advising the Magistrate

• The party has the option to advise the Magistrate - Lwynn, Sister of Dhyane, a Paladin - of tactical details concerning the black ships. She would, of course, honor the bounty of 1,000 Crowns should the party divulge what they know about the ships.
  
• Rumors abound about the black ships among the fishermen and sailors of Sphant - fast, two-masted ships that are rarely seen during daylight hours, racing in the shallow waters of the Shattered Isles, hugging the coastlines like creepy shadows ... although by the 8th of First Stores, no new sightings of the dread ships haven't been reported to the Magistrate.
  
• I'll leave it to the party to decide how/what/if they want to inform the Magistrate on their findings.

Rhackdalia

• Rumors circulate that the southern portion of the island has been left relatively unharmed by the marauding giant horde. Shyn-Levenson and Shyn-Bhokerdown have established themselves as the only functioning human cities on the island, and are achieving a point of equilibrium (their resources balancing out with the fleeing exodus of people).
  
• Both Shyn's have sent representatives to Sphant and to Floreth to plead for resources, money, food, engineers, Sisters, and guards (to aid in the construction of infrastructure, tend to healing, and a defense capability). They feel they can hold their own against the giants, perhaps even reach some level of appeasement or accord with them.
  
• Politically, nobody is taking the Shyn's with any seriousness and this creates a great deal of contention among the Houses, refuges, and society's thinkers. Although most feign sympathy, most would discretely suggest that support for the remaining Shyn's on Rhackdalia would be a fool's effort, and not a single Crown should be wasted on buffeting what is foreseen to be a certainty: the island must be abandoned for all will be undone by the giants when they continue their march south in the winter months ahead.
  
• Meanwhile, Rhackdalia-city has become somewhat of a black hole. The Queen has issued an official edict to confiscate the property of House Mhorovia and their associates (Houses Morley, Witherdew, and M'lahn) throughout Her Reign; relatives and relations of those Houses have been rounded up in the capitol city; the Queen has taken no action militarily against Rhackdalia. Meanwhile, those brave souls who attempt to go there never return; those who sail too close to its harbor are never seen again; there aren't even qualified rumors about the place, just speculation. Most speculate that the city is in ruins and its people enslaved. Nobody knows for sure.

Training

• The player characters train to 7th Level.
  
• On the 6th of First Stores, three days after arriving at Sphant, Dru the pseudo dragon spent a great deal of time with Elan, resting in to her, snuggling, trying to find solace for the ache it felt with Ma'yah's absence. It's bottom lip even quivered. It made little whining noises and endured fitful sleep. And on the fourth day, Dru was nowhere to be found. Dru hasn't been seen nor heard from since.
  
• Annel of Isthmeira learns that Siegride has returned to Sphant and wishes to eagerly speak with her, mostly concerning the importance of returning to a lost temple to recover artifacts before the snows set in, and the frost giants most assuredly descend into the southern part of the isle.
  
• The Rangers of Pathfinder Abbey are overjoyed to find Elan alive; for some reason, they figured Elan for dead after the Massacre at Sunrock Abbey, like, somebody slit her throat after the incident to keep her from talking. Assuring them that she was, in fact, alive, Elan could reveal what she learned on her travels. If so, the rangers would take a particular interest the pirates. They suggest that the pirates must be mercenaries picked up in the Shattered Isles, in less reputable Shyns to the south. Armies of brigands could be had for the right price. But the description of the ships ... are unlike anything they'd ever heard of or seen.
  
• Gorbash and Tamroohk are greeted with an abundance of kindness, enthusiasm, and gratitude as they walk among the citizens of Sphant. Many of them stop, turn, and clutch the dirt the dwarves walked in, holding fast to it and brought tenderly to the chest, in a gesture to suggest that the very earth they've walked on is special and appreciated. The Dwarves have returned to save Rhackdalia, and here they are, in living proof. By around the eighth day of this, Vongur becomes visibly agitated. "Stand up, ye' weebly git!", he yells, and the poor people look painfully hurt at Gorbash who raises his hands, "Wait! Wait! I didn't say that! Oh come on!". And Tamroohk feels a little more conspicuous for all the attention. There seems to be a mounting expectation, she feels, as more and more people encounter her, that she's here to do something - about the homeless, the refuges, the giants, the pirates - and that makes her feel uncomfortable.
  
• Llewellyn learns something of The Sagean Coast in old maps, logs, and journals he researched in Seminary.
  
• The Sagean Coast is to the south east of the Shattered Isles. It would take nine or eleven cycles just to reach it by vessel, stopping along the way for water and provisions.
  
• It is an arid landscape and desert terrain; its coast faces the Ibrus Sound.
  
• All accounts speculate that there isn't a bastion of organized society or rule; simply nomadic tribes of primitive people vying for scarce resources, organized under tribal warlords called Emir's. Their Emirates war against each other in a blistering hot wasteland. There is no notable sovereign from which relations have ever been constructed with Floreth. No shipping. No trade. No commerce. No viable markets. Thus, Floreth never maintained any interest in the area - it was never deemed a threat or an ally to the Monarchy. It's been largely ignored. Expeditions to the Sagean Coast have always (each and every time) been undone by savage attacks of pirates. It's uncertain if those expeditions ever made land-fall. There is no record of any expedition into the deserts beyond the coastline.
  
• The Door sits silent. It doesn't ever open.
  
• The Book of Names rests with Siegride.

R

Defending the Lizard Colony III (1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

There was a big, big battle.

It was so large, so confusing, took so many sessions ... that I really can't describe it all to you, my fair reader, in all of its glorious detail other than to say it was ... epic.

In the midst of their battle, the party had to hold-up in the Temple of Gzz't - the lizard-woman-goddess temple built into the side of a mountain - in order to rest and recuperate. During that time, the party watched on in horror as the evil Clerics of Tahkesis committed their atrocities.

• The clerics instructed their pirate mercenaries to move four massive eggs that lay at the feet of a large statue of Gzz't, the Lizard Goddess. These eggs weighed over 800 pounds each and took many men to dislodge them from their sticking points and relocate them to the beach. There were four eggs made of platinum, gold, silver, and gemstone.
  
• The clerics rounded up priestesses of Gzz't - innocent lizard women who didn't do a thing to protect themselves. They were mercilessly murdered with blows suffered by mace strikes to their skulls, and, their eye lids were cut off and mouths sewn together, as so they could witness the truth in the afterlife and tell no lies.
  
• Tolman did note that - after the slaughter - perhaps Gzz't was a false goddess after all since the lizard women did not bother or couldn't bother to exercise divine intervention to save themselves. "Maybe the eggs really do belong to Mother Takhesis?"

In a clever bending of the rules, three player characters were enveloped by Siegride's Cloak of Starlight; time dilated and what was hours within the cloak were only minutes in the outside world. These three PC's gained a Full Rest (8 hours) when they emerged from the pocket dimension ... just a wee bit more afraid of the dark than what they were before they entered.

It was then - after resting and witnessing the theft of the eggs and the Cleric's atrocities - that the party committed themselves to wiping this scourge from Shae Tahrane! They thrust themselves into battle once more until they alone remained victorious.

At the end of the battle, the PC's were alive but we couldn't say the same for the 59 Pirates, 37 Berserkers, and 3 Clerics of Tahkesis. Their bodies littered the lizard colony. Huts were still on fire and large columns of smoke raised to the sky. Those lizard folk who survived came out to mourn their dead; the militia was rapidly trying to re-assemble and create a repelling force, believing that more pirates would be attacking shortly; the Queen of the Lizard Folk knelt in humble prostate before the state of Gzz't, in silence, perhaps praying for guidance, or, begging for mercy and atonement for her loss.

At the end of the pitched battle, Siegride cast a ritual to heal the party, while Tolman and Ma'yah cast their own rituals to Comprehend Languages to help them communicate with the Lizard Folk. After that, Siegride started into the nasty work of investigating the bodies of the clerics and taking their armor, weapons, and possessions; Tolman, Llew, and Elan scouted out to the beaches.

Along the horizon some 1,200 feet out from the shoreline were three black ships. One ship had raised-anchor and was adrift and being taken by the current while a skeleton crew onboard attempted (unsuccessfully) to raise its black sails. The other two ships were still trying to load their stolen eggs; dingys surrounded those vessels as the pirates managed ropes and chains to hoist the contraband. They were having a slow go of it.

The party boarded an abandoned landing boat left by the pirates and started rowing for the first ship that appeared to be close to getting away. As they approached, they noticed only four pirates onboard the vessel that were being commanded by a very eager and earnest Pirate Captain who insisted that they flee at once. Elan took pot-shots at the pirates and struck the captain, who fell backwards behind the railing after being hit by one of her deadly arrows. Still alive, he attempted to command his crew to continue and pointed commandingly at his crew from a prone position, which exposed his hand above the railing, which could be seen by Elan, who tried to shoot at the Captain's hand and rolled a natural 20, causing the Captain's hand to explode into a burst of crimson and bone.

And so it went: the party boarded each of the three vessels until dispatching numerous pirates and berserkers. They took one Pirate Captain and 3 Pirates hostage after their surrender; two Pirate Captains escaped into the water; the last of the Cleric's of Tahkesis - the green cleric - killed herself with a steely dagger to the throat. The battle won, the enemy vessels were anchored and Tolman sent his owl to the Sea Wyvern to notify their crew to bring the ship to their current location. Eventually, they would off-load all of the cargo and booty on to their own ship and run-aground the pirate's vessels on the beach of the Lizard Folk, who both appreciated the return of their blessed Eggs, and, the extra sturdy wood for rebuilding their colony. The Queen - apparently in a fog of grief - was elated at the return of her Eggs, and, promised the party that they were always welcome in their colony.

There was a lot of loot onboard each of the ships (adding them all up here):

• 2,400 Copper Coins (odd minting, very thin, small coins; just pictures of desert landscapes)
• 16,000 Silver Coins (similar minting, thin, desert landscapes, numbers that could be dates)
• 4,400 Gold Coins (ditto)
• 390 Platinum Coins (thicker coins, seemed to be minted with the head of a dragon)
• 9 Amethysts (~100 Crowns EA)
• 6 Yellow Topaz (~500 Crowns EA)
• 2 Ceremonial Robes (one linen, one silk, both embroidered with dragons, ~250 Crowns EA)

There were mundane items...

• A soapstone harp with decorative inlay
• A cloth of gold embroidered handkerchief
• A feather-embroidered handkerchief
• An exotic wood pitcher and wood goblet
• A soapstone figurine of a dancing woman (closer inspection: a dancing Cleric of Tahkesis - you can see the fine craft resembling tattoos)
• An ivory locket
• A glass statuette with gold and silver inlays

... and not so mundane that seemed to radiate magic when Detect Magic was used (and Identify was cast):

• A Scroll of Fire Shield
• A Luckstone (Stone of Good Luck) - weightless stone, in a pouch
• A Wand of the War Mage +2 
• A Cloak of Protection +1
• A Glyph of Purification (a humble article, a sheet of waxed paper with a glyph on it, that appears to separate elements into component parts)
• A Blindfold ... perhaps used in training others for blind fighting? Uncertain
• A Set of Juggler's Balls. No ordinary balls - should they attempt to be juggled, they simply never miss the juggler's hand, and they never seem to drop.
• 3 Potions of Superior Healing
• A Driftglobe (a glass sphere with a silver seal with three magic command words written into the seal)
• A Spellbook that read: "The Book of Names" in a foreign script, but, could be interpreted using Comprehend Languages
• A Door

"The Door" in this case was a large, ornately-crafted single-door that opens inward but is locked with a very formidable and impressive lock (Tolman said so). The Door would appear (to you or I) as Arabic in design and origin. Behind The Door is empty space; it appears to lead nowhere. The Door was bolted to the floorboard of the captain's quarter's of the third ship. The Door is locked. As the party found a large brass key on the Blue Cleric, they currently presume this key fits into the Door's lock and it seems that's the case, but they didn't unlock or go through the door. Identify gave mixed results (it's a door, and a portal, but a door is a portal, just to what's behind it, and it likely works with a similar door/portal on its opposing side, so long as that door/portal continued to exist - so that if they destroyed this Door, the corresponding door on the other side wouldn't open to it), but it was definitely reeking of Conjuration School of Magic.

The party decided to leave The Door be for now and set sail for Sphant for training, re-supply, and thinking about their next move.

DM's NOTE: 

What happens next occurred when most of the players left the game table - there were three players remaining - Camille, Melissa, and Allen - when Melissa wanted to understand what was in the spellbook that was recovered from this adventure. I said that I wanted to RP (Role-Play) that discovery and it could wait until the next session; I didn't feel comfortable doing it over email. Melissa wanted to understand the book now for it could relate to the spells she'd take when revising her character sheet to 7th Level over the next two weeks. I said, well, okay, sure - grab a 20-sided dice.

On the return voyage to Sphant, in the late hours of the evening, Ma'yah was up trying to make sense of the Book of Names. It wasn't a hefty tomb but did have several hundred parchment pages. She had cast Comprehend Languages and Detect Magic as a ritual to understand it and to make sense of it.

[DM's NOTE: At this point I reminded Melissa of what happened the last time Ma'yah just tried to open up a spellbook in my universe - it blew up in her face and she took damage. Ma'yah knows that spellbooks can be trapped or bewitched to protect their secrets - just as chests, coffers, and crypts in the natural world, they are guarded to protect what lies within. Books don't give up their secrets easily. She still pressed forward. I also informed Melissa in my 2015.06.15 email/D&D Follow Up on how to defuse a spellbook that could be potentially trapped ... that process wasn't followed ... please keep this in mind.]

Ma'yah cracked open the book to see lists and lists of names. These names were of individuals; they were translated from the weird Common (that looks like Arabic script) the party encountered, and, the names were a little bizarre, but included their name, physical description, and what they did in life. 

On the first page, the ink on the page, Ma'yah noted, seemed to reorganize itself, and it asked a question:

"What is Your Name?"

[DM's NOTE: At this point, I had Ma'yah role a check on Arcana and she rolled a 12.  She failed this DC check. Names in magic are like IP Addresses ... knowing a name is like knowing the specific address of where to go on a network, or, in this case ... surrendering your name is like handing somebody a piece of a key. It's one of the most potent forms of vulnerabilities in magic...]

Ma'yah, alone in the dark, thought about it for a moment, and was at first going to write it, but then she said it out loud. "Ma'yah of House Syln'dakar". 

The book then provided the script and letters in the odd Arabic-like language which was then re-interpreted by her Comprehend Language spell as "This Book Belongs To..." and then her name. The book felt warm to the touch.

As she began reading through it, Ma'yah started to feel the book getting warmer, and her limbs were going numb. Siegride was praying near by and saw that something was amiss at Ma'yah's table. To Siegride, Ma'yah's body was dimming, becoming fuzzy, lines and stripes were cascading down from her head; to Ma'yah, she could see letters and words and scripts in the air around her, and her hands were covered in lettering and ink! Words on the page began to meld and mesh together. Ma'yah's eyes opened wide, she gasped ... her thoughts panicked, she tried to remember her counterspell -

There was a crack of light and a split second where Siegride could cry out Ma'yah's name, before suddenly, with a flash, Ma'yah's body was gone, the book slammed shut and fell back to the table.  Ma'yah was gone.

"Ma'yah!", Siegride yelled, and jumped up and rushed to the table. All that remained was the Book of Names. Gingerly, Siegride picked it up, started thumbing through the list of a hundred or more names, and came across a listing. "Ma'yah of House Syln'dakar" - a physical description of Ma'yah, and, her accomplishments in life. Meanwhile, as she looked at the front of the book, the first page's lettering reorganized to appear in Arabic script (that Siegride couldn't read but I told Camille): 

"What is Your Name?"

Siegride immediately then put down the book.

Dru, the pseudodragon, who had been napping happily on a stack of silver below decks, came rushing up to the room where Ma'yah had been. He started sniffing around the table, looking about confused, as his psychic link with Ma'yah had been severed. Dru whimpered, and curled up on the table, next to the book, looking at it with longing eyes ...

R

Defending the Lizard Colony II (1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

Gorbash and Tamroohk battled hard with the dark stranger made of ill-will and shadow. With one powerful lunge, it drove its two dark rapiers deep into Tamroohk's soul thus striking her down. She collapsed and with her unconsciousness the Spirit Guardian bears evaporated into nothingness.

The shadow-man leered over Tamroohk's body as Gorbash rushed up to defend her. It pointed one of its dark blades at Gorbash. "Leave her! Retreat now. Pray that I do not take your life as well."

Gorbash popped the cork on his last remaining healing potion and forced it down Tamroohk's throat. She sputtered and returned to consciousness, weak and dazed, and he started dragging her body away from the menacing shadow-thing that threatened their very existence. Cursing under his breath, Gorbash made a desperate plea: "Hey, Berronar. Berronar Truesilver. Hey. Are you listening? We need a way out of this. Uh, we're going to get killed. Are you listening?"

Almost as if in response, the blue shadow of another female dwarf returned to surround and encompass Tamroohk's body. Tamroohk was barely conscious and weak. In a fit of rage and pain, the blue shadow - the image of Berronar Truesilver - squinted, opened her mouth wide, and began to scream in a rousing battle cry, and just then, Tamroohk's body stiffened, her eyes shot open, and she also began to yell a battle cry at the top of her lungs as she was infused with divine energy!

[DM's Note: Tamroohk received +24 HP from a Cure Wounds].

In response, the mysterious dark aggressor immediately assumed a defensive position with his rapiers and burst into a hundred ravens, soared into the sky, and reformed on top of a large boulder near both Gorbash and Tamroohk. It menacingly pointed its rapiers towards the two Dwarves. "You meddling cunt - I will take both of their lives!" [A little bit of editorial license here - this wasn't said at the gaming table but that's what the entity would have said if the DM were allowed to be a bit more crude...]

Gorbash lunged at the creature with his axes, swiping it ineffectively at its ankles, and Tamroohk cast another Spiritual Guardian spell causing radiant bears to attack the entity. "Argh!", it exclaimed, trying to defend itself from the ethereal creatures, then it burst again into ravens and flew off into the sky.

"Victory!", Vongur proclaimed as Gorbash reached out to Tamroohk's arm to help her to her feet! All three of the dwarves (Vongur included) cheered as a magic circle of blue energy formed around them. There was a blinding blue light and both Gorbash and Tamroohk covered their eyes ...

* * *

"Don't worry about me," Tolman said, his 3'-tall frame fending off five or six sword-swinging pirates just as Siegride, Ma'yah, and Llewellyn witnessed a whole new wave of fleeing lizard folk and marauding pirates rush into the yard.

Panic was everywhere and the pirates were taking down innocent lizard people! Tolman took some good licks from his attackers but managed to feint some of the damage, but he was starting to get low in hit points. Elan, who was being chased down by some pirates, attempted to side-step their attacks so she could get some clear shots in, evoked two attacks of opportunity - both of which rolled a natural 20 - taking her down and tossing her body into the earth.

Seizing her opportunity, the green Cleric of Takhesis cast Silence over the area where Ma'yah, Llewellyn, and Siegride were fighting their way through berserkers and pirates, and suddenly all three of them suffered a severe inability to cast spells! Ma'yah drew her dagger backed herself into a nook in the lizard folks' dwellings, and Llewellyn dashed into a residence. Llew, inside a mud hut with a door made out of wood and reeds could still see into the yard and witness the carnage taking place.

Just then, the red Cleric of Tahkesis burst out of a hut door in a battle cry and sprinted across the yard with her flaming mace! And just then, a new Cleric of Tahkesis - a half-plated, blond woman with a white dragon tattoo that ran up and down her whole body - began sprinting across the mezzanine towards the fray! The party's spirits began to sink.

Suddenly, there was an arcing blue wave of energy that crashed at the end of the yard and both Gorbash and Tamroohk materialized facing the wrong direction, toward the living quarters of the lizard colony. Because Silence was cast earlier by the green cleric, the entire battle created no noise what so ever. Disoriented, they started looking around. It was a pleasant day. Smelled like smoke though. They wondered where they were and who made these mud hovels - Oh! Tamroohk thought, We must have been taken to the lizard colony, completely unaware of her friends' plight until she turned in the right direction to see the melee with half-a-dozen brigands, the sound of their battle completely muted. Then the dwarves, returned to the field of battle, lurched into action!

Llew saw an opportunity in the sudden appearance of the dwarves. Standing inside one of the mud residences, he was outside of the range of the Silence spell and could sing! He cast a minor illusion that created another armed dwarf in the middle of the marauding pirates. Some actually fell for it and started swinging at the illusion instead of at Siegride.

Meanwhile, having dispatched his own set of pirate groupies, Tolman went old-school Rogue and Climbed Walls to get onto the mezzanine level of the yard. With that vantage point, he could see the flaming red-haired Cleric of Tahkesis rushing across the yard, long-jumping over some wading pools, to rush into battle with Siegride.

Tolman, fast thinking as he is, thought of just the right spell. Concentrating, his mind focused on the area in the yard near Siegride. That area began to glow with a faint light and was magically endowed - the friction removed from the surface of the earth. He cast Grease causing several pirates and the red cleric to (most un-triumphantly) slip and fall to their asses when attempting to rush Siegride!

Still, that didn't seem to deter the newly-arrived white Cleric of Tahkesis who long-jumped down from the mezzanine right into the pitch of battle to take Siegride on! The cultist prepared her mace which extruded this cold, icy substance along the grip and ball of the mace, as her Goddesses' divinity infused the weapon with wicked cold energy! Gleefully, the white Cleric stepped menacingly into battle with the Tempest Cleric of Isthmeira!

But ... just before the white Cleric could start delivering her Goddesses' wrath and punishment ... there was a small matter of Ma'yah. Ma'yah, you see, was backed up in an alcove under the mezzanine. The white cleric leaped right over Ma'yah's head and landed just in front of her, exposing the white Cleric's back entirely to Ma'yah. Ma'yah ... contemplated. She stared at her gleaming dagger, a magical dwarven dagger she obtained back in the Mines. Then she thought of a spell. Magic Missile would work. But that would mean burning through another spell slot. Then she thought of the dagger. Why not use the dagger, she thought? I could stab the white cleric in the back! I'm not a thief but maybe I should have been but maybe I could be, too, I could stab the cleric in the back, I could ...!

Spell. Dagger. Spell. Dagger. Hmmm. What to do? Well, at the gaming table, Allen and Camille reminded Melissa that the dagger was a finesse weapon and her Dexterity modifier could be used in her attack bonus. Gleefully, that only settled it for Melissa. "I'll stab the Cleric!", Melissa exclaimed and started rolling the die while the DM chortled cockily thinking, Pththt Yeah whatever, the white Cleric's AC is 19 and there's no way in Hell that roll will ... "HIT!", Melissa exclaimed ... "Crap," said the DM, erasing hit points ...

... and a magical dagger thrust into the unsuspecting white Cleric's backside! The White Cleric fell to one knee and (albeit she wasn't terribly injured) dramatically screamed in surprise. But, you see, she was in the middle of a Silence spell, so her scream really did nothing, falling on deaf ears, so she mouthed a lot of swearing curse words that would probably not be appropriate for her order ... and continued on her march towards Siegride!

After her attack, Ma'yah thought some more. "I could be a thief, sure, yeah, I could be a thief!" and she successfully Climbed Walls up on to the mezzanine [DM's Note: It just takes a DC 10 Ability Check, folks. Look it up. Jesh.] "Look at me!", she thought, rushing for a door of one of the huts. She burst in to find a weaponless lizard woman freaking out in the back of the hut, and Ma'yah turned and slammed the door behind her.

Meanwhile, Gorbash attempted to help Elan. Frisking her body, Gropebash ... oh, pardon me, Gorbash ... retrieved a vile containing a Elan's healing potion and forced her to drink it, reviving her, just as they were rushed by a crowd of berserkers and pirates!

The red Cleric, trying to get up from the greasy earth, slipped again, and fell to her ass. Tolman watched from above, and in his hand, the dagger he claimed in the spooky White Stands, Silverscale, was vibrating angrily at the red Cleric, alerting Tolman to the fact that this adversary had magical weapons and armor. But he couldn't think about it too long. There was another pirate up on the mezzanine with him firing arrows down on his friends. As a Rogue and not wanting to be outdone by the Magic User, he did a thiefy-backstab against the fellow and took him down.

Just then, the red Cleric - planting her legs firmly into the ground - managed to get up and attack Siegride! The war cleric managed to get one hit in of a multiple-attack, and smacked some avenging fire-goddess wrath into Siegride! Her mace exploded into fire upon the strike and magical flames briefly engulfed Siegride's armor!

As for Siegride, she was trained to brush off such damage with her Heavy Armor Mastery and took less damage than what the red war cleric was intending. Pouty Red Cleric. And then - quite suddenly - the Cleric of Tahkesis got to taste a wee bit of Tempest Cleric wrathiness of Siegride's own, as lightning erupted from the earth and electrocuted her. More Pouty Red Cleric.

Then things started taking a turn for the worse. Casting Chromatic Orb from his hidden vantage position, Llew was able to strike some hard magical damage into the white Cleric engaging Siegride. But that didn't stop her. The white Cleric swung at Siegride, and at first seemed unbalanced and unlikely to hit her, until the War Cleric expended her special ability to add +10 to any weapon strike, sending her own mace square into Siegride's body which then was smacked with ice! Siegride was hit! Hard! And she collapsed to the ground!

On the mezzanine, a berserker rushed up to the door that Ma'yah was hiding behind and ripped it off of its hinges. Ma'yah screamed and stabbed at him with his dagger. "Ah-HA!", she exclaimed, causing a wee scratch. Simply made angry, the berserker (who gets to roll at Advantage) attempted to hit the nearly defenseless Mage trapped in a mud hut and MISSED. He looked confused. Then Ma'yah cut him again. "Ah-HA!", she shouted again, his blood dripping on the floor and running down her hand. "I really like my dagger!" And then the Berserker went wild and attempted to hit her, and, missed, again. Then Ma'yah stabbed him again, and backed out of the mud living quarters to be on the mezzanine.

Ma'yah shouted out to Tolman who was just thirty feet away. Wide-eyed and a little suspiciously-crazy looking, she held it up, dripping gore and ooze down her magician's sleeve. "Look at my dagger!" Tolman frowned and mentally resumed to recalculate the amount of time that it takes magic users to descend into insanity ... and then he saw a potential opening in the fight in the yard below. He leaped from his position!

On the field, the red cleric and white cleric regrouped, backing themselves against each other. They looked magnificent: expert fighters, armored, their shields defending each other, and their maces glistening with divine energy! The sun shown down from the morning sky - an epic silence and slow-motion camera pan - white blinding light glinting off of their armor, helms, and shields! Their wicked dragon tattoos writhed on their flesh! Like two heads of the same dragon, the holy clerics of War prepared to take on more of their adversaries!

The red-haired Cleric of Tahkesis was badly wounded with her battle with Siegride and neither Cleric could cast a Cure Wounds in the zone of Silence that they found themselves in; meanwhile, the blond-haired Cleric of Tahkesis popped a vile and consumed a Potion of Healing of her own, just as Tamroohk rushed up to heal Siegride.

Siegride was coming to her senses as the White Cleric and Red Cleric took turns smacking on Tamroohk, rendering her almost unconscious - but Tamroohk was clever and was trying to pretend to be unconscious! But the Red War Cleric was badly injured from the fight and one of Elan's arrows had just hit her. She was still in the Silence spell and incapable of saving her own life - she was trying to speak, putting her hand up to her throat, trying to get out the words that could heal herself! And it was during this engagement that Tolman rushed up from behind and backstabbed the Red Cleric! The Cleric of Tahkesis fell.

The White Cleric was trying to avoid the slippery Grease spell's area of effect and get out of the silence so that she could cast some spells of her own. Faking unconsciousness, Tamroohk attempted to provide more healing-feeling for Siegride, who was trying to stand to defend against the White Cleric! Another arrow - WHACK! - and Elan dealt some serious damage to the Cleric before she could cast any spells. Siegride re-cast Spirit Guardians and the ethereal, unearthly eels came back into being, eating away at the White Cleric, just as the Green Cleric (who'd tried to make a run for it across the yard was smacked bad by one of Elan's arrows) cast Dispel Magic to get rid of them again.

Gorbash was in a grand melee with a bunch of pirates and berserkers that were surrounding him, and Tolman rushed in to try and assist, but he was all alone. Llew saw this, and, then, saw another opportunity. There were maybe nine or ten lizardmen guards who'd coalesced near Llew, and they saw that he had a lute. The lizardmen guards anxiously pointed at the lute and - in lizard tongue - were urging the bard to either play or give them his instrument.  They kept pointing at the Green Cleric, apparently having figured out who their real enemies were, and then looked back to Llew for guidance and inspiration! Llew removed his lute! The lizard guards cheered! They readied their weapons and prepared for a battle that would go down deep in lizard folk history! They would be heroes, champions, lead by the Charismatic Llewellyn the Bard ...! And Llew knew this was his moment ... his moment to command his own little Lizard Army! To convince them, lead them on, to run across the yard and attack the Green Cleric, and Llew recalled the lines to his battle poems and rolled ...

... a 1 on a Charisma check.

The lizard guards stopped cheering. They dropped their arms. Two even dropped their weapons entirely. They looked about the yard, confused. They weren't quite sure what the human bard was trying to say. Something about tuna and sandwiches and green algae ...

Then, at the gaming table, David threw down a poker chip! A poker chip representing an inspiration point, that would allow him to re-roll! Burning a re-roll, he rolled another Charisma check... a 2. Nuts.

Yep. Still something about green tuna/algae sandwiches. The confused lizard folk guards muddled around, looking at each other, trying to understand the strange tones and sounds coming out of Llew's mouth. Some of the lizard guards looked at each other, shrugged, and pointed at the green cleric, and waved Llewellyn to follow them. They cheered, grabbing their weapons, and as a mass fighting team started across the yard. Llew felt like he finally got through to them and cheered them on from the rear!

Meanwhile, the battle continued for Gorbash who was standing on his own but needed help. Elan whipped out two more arrows. One at the Green Cleric who took too much damage and died, and then at the White Cleric, who suffered a natural 20. Upon impact with the arrow, the White Cleric's body exploded in a mess of blood and gore. The Silence spell snapped out of existence.

Llewellyn's Lizard Army was rabble-rousing across the field, noticed that the Green Cleric had perished, and then started making for the crowd of pirates and berserkers that had surrounded Gorbash. Llew urged them on! Some pirates broke off and tried to take on the Lizards.

... whew! And that's where we stopped! More next week!

R