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The Reverend Mother
Mara Pardaro
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30th of the Fall t o the
1st of the Hearth
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June 30th, 2002
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Maia
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+1,218
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33,793
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Parvati
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+1,260
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38,095
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Weasel
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+1,230
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36,283
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Toryx
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+1,260
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34,970
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Evan
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+784
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28,290
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Lucill
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+1,060
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28,660
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+530 for the adventure
+530 for journals
+200 bonus experience points for including Fast-forwards in the adventure journals
-42 for Maia (Item Creation)
-30 for Weasel (Item Creation)
-476 for Evan (Item Creation)
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After several days in Atwood, the party reconvened on the 30th of the Fall
(DM Note: October) at The Double Bolt Inn. While Maia, Weasel, Toryx, and Evan were eating breakfast,
prepared by the inn’s new owner, the blacksmith Gorgar, and mercifully
made edible by Maia’s cooking talents, Dusan entered the inn and informed
the party that a group of twenty or so knights had arrived late last night. The breathless Dusan provided little details
except that Knight-Marshal Reaf would send for the party this morning.
As he spoke, Lucill entered from the stables, wet from the constant drizzle outside and covered in mud. Parvati and Gray
entered through the front door just a moment later and the party began to bring each other up to speed about the separate
ways over the last few days. Dusan departed to continue his duties. Lucill mentioned that he had been in the manor house,
where the Reliquis visitors were staying, and that there were around twenty dwarven knights, a half-elf man, and a human
woman. He added that they did not seem “friendly” toward the party and went as far as suggesting they leave town immediately,
but Lucill’s narration was naturally scattered, leaving more questions unanswered than resolved.
Maia handed out "Town Protector" sigils on cloak clasps, the effort of herself, Gorgar, and Toryx
to give the group a unifying emblem. She retained a badge for both Methrian and Jasko as fallen comrades but did
not give one to the disappointed Lucill, who had yet to officially join the group as a defender of Cutter's Gap.
Weasel’s owl familiar Jonathan watched the street from outside and reported that dwarven knights were leaving the manor
house in pairs, using a strange ladder-saddle contraption to get on their horses, and patrolling the area with the local
guard. A short time later a lone dwarf, in heavy armor, approached the inn, pausing outside for a moment until Weasel
opened the door and greeted him, surprising him from concentrating on the inn. The dwarf introduced himself as Knight-Marshal
Reaf of “The Order of Kothrim’s Flame” and explained that he and “his boys” had escorted “the Rev” to Atwood, taking on
as many of the local Gnolls as possible on the way. Refugees rescued from Eagleton were being escorted by elves from the
north to Kingscrossing, but the local Gnolls with some help from the orc Seers were causing problems. The knights of the
order, all dwarves, were to spend a few days in Atwood before lending their assistance to securing the roadway and generally
causing mischief and mayhem against the Gnolls.
After a short discussion, he led the party to the burnt out remains of the church and introduced them to the
Reverend Mother Mara Pardaro, whom the party had met earlier in a
sense: they had found her corpse in Trelawny Keep (Adventure 33), giving it to Reeve
Hammit to be returned to the church in Kingscrossing. She
was typical looking in many ways aside from her eyes, which reflected with a silvery tint, and thanked the Seven for directing
the party to recovering her body, explaining that she and the knights that accompanied her had been ambushed on the way
to Atwood by assassins of the Cult of the Gray One. Mara was also aware of who the party was from communications with
the Reverend Mother Vidieya Prym of Cutter’s Gap and conversations with Meroa Talbert: she had also learned of the death
of their former companion Jasko and offered a prayer to “ease the suffering of his spirit as he undoubtedly now resides
in the Pit” as he was one of the godless elves.
Mara was aware of the trade note situation and had used her miracles to clear Meroa Talbert of the forgery charges against her: Meroa and
Kelsey Veroy were investigating the trade note situation on their
own. She added that if the party was willing to assist in clearing the main road from the north to Kingscrossing for the
refugees, she would travel with them to help, although Mara would not be ready to leave until the next day as she had
to revive one of the deceased dwarven knights and finish her investigation of the manor house. Mara also asked the party
to attend the prayer service on stage with Father Thoms, the new Reliquis priest for Atwood, to help support him in rebuilding
the shattered faith of the town. The party agreed and also offered to show the Reverend Mother the workings of the printing
press in the manor house. In the manor house, Evan demonstrated the device to Mara and Reaf. He used it to print a copy
of her name: Mara signaled to Reaf who immediately burned the paper by generating a flame apparently at will from his
hand. She declared the machine to be destroyed, prompting a debate from Evan on the good it could do to disseminate knowledge,
but Pardaro was unconvinced. She and Reaf did explain they had tracked the construction of two of the devices in Dovington:
they had been shipped in a round about way through the old duchy capital, Avis, to Kingscrossing, but the church was uncertain
what to look for exactly or how they functioned. The location of the second printing press was unknown, but copies of
“The Feast of Ferron” were becoming available in Kingscrossing at an alarming rate.
The party returned to the inn briefly before joining the crowd of Atwood citizens in the old town hall, temporarily
converted to serving as the new church. Lord Zoran Nemanya greeted
the party and they joined the stage with a nervous looking Sharva, Captain Arga, Reaf, Mara Pardaro, and the half-elven
Father Thoms, who cast a disapproving eye over the party. Mara made
a very brief introduction and then Thoms was into his speech-and speech it was: several hours of chastising the townspeople
for accepting the “easy” path away from the true faith and warning them of the damnation of the pit. Thoms eventually
called for the party, whom he described as “those with the sickening elvish taint”, the “heretic Rona-Kor fornicators”,
and “spawn of the witch”, yet tempered each description with how the party, despite their terrible origins, was guided
by the Seven. He then asked those on stage to testify how the Seven had guided them in their trials against the vile Fellowship:
Lucill eagerly agreed and stepped up, offered a description of events in what can only be described as “Lucill Style NarrationTM”,
augmented with loud proclamations by Thoms.
Evan followed shortly thereafter and upstaged Father Thoms: he walked among the townsfolk, and urged the people of
Atwood to come together under Thoms, although he was interrupted by Lieutenant Senris. Senris, a half-elf constable in Atwood recently promoted to Lieutenant under Arga, nominated Evan as the new
spiritual leader of Atwood. It became evident that Senris was a newcomer to the Septarian faith, guided to the faith by
Evan and Toryx, and was hoping that Evan would stay in the town and show Atwood a better path. Evan deftly sidestepped
the nomination and urged the support of Thoms, impressing the townspeople of Atwood with his eloquence, and finishing
by handing to Father Thoms the books they recovered from the church, including Father Janin’s journal. Weasel followed
shortly after, building upon Evan’s message and further urging the townspeople to work with Thoms to rebuild Atwood and
working the crowd into a pro-Reliquian frenzy. Father Thoms did not let the momentum go to waste, announcing the townspeople
would come together the next day to rebuild the church, Gorgar’s shop (which he burned when Ghasts emerged from his basement),
and any other buildings that needed repair; furthermore, the church would not allow anyone to starve over the winter and
would provide food and provisions as needed.
With the prayers concluded around mid-afternoon, the townspeople began to depart. Father Thoms thanked the party, particularly
Evan and Weasel, for their help, although it was obvious he was very uncomfortable around the heretics. Afterwards, the
party along with Mara and Zoran went to the inn where Zoran presented the party with a letter to convey to Baron Gulnyr
of Kingscrossing. Maia read the letter on his behalf before he
sealed it and thanked the party again for their assistance. Zoran departed, Mara visited with the rescued Eagleton Militia
and spoke with Captain Harton, who explained everything he had seen
since his capture in Eagleton. Mara felt the group of guards would be better protected with the knights than with the
party; furthermore, as the soldiers had shown lackluster fighting abilities since the loss of their thumbs, odds were they
would only slow the party down in a fight. After meeting with the militia, she returned to the church with Maia, Weasel,
Evan, and Parvati to further clean up the building with particular attention given to cleaning and repairing the statues
and holy symbols. Toryx and Lucill sought out Knight-Marshal Reaf and sparred with him and his men while talking a bit
about his order, which was dedicated to Kothrim, a “short stout human” (wink, wink). The order was an elite fighting force
trained in mounted combat as well as toe-to-toe melee, although Lucill found his quickness was effective in sparring with
the rather slow, heavily armored knights.
The party met back up in the evening at the inn after a brief trip to the manor stables so Evan could inspect the unique
saddle design of the knights for possible reproduction for Toryx in Kingscrossing or elsewhere. The evening and night
passed uneventfully and in the morning the party met with Mara Pardaro. She granted each of the party an Indulgence, allowing
them to utilize methods normally not approved by the church for the greater good, except for Maia (who was already under
one from the Reverend Mother Vidieya). The group departed down, their horses heavily laden with the thousands of gold
coins from Zursula’s lair and the trade bars from Lord Zoran. Around mid day they reached Trelawny Keep: while Gray scouted,
Mara used several miracles of the Seven on the party, enhancing their strength and agility. Gray reported a Manticore
within the walls of the keep but no other activity inside or around it. The party formed a plan and quietly advanced to
the western wall of the keep under the cover of the forest before splitting in two groups: Evan, Weasel, Lucill, and Parvati
would climb or fly over the back wall while Toryx, Maia, and Pardaro would circle around and enter through the front.
Evan flew over the keep with Lucill on his back: both with an Invisibility spell running. Inside they saw the roof
of the keep was caved in and four Manticores were nearby: three on the roof and one in the courtyard. Evan spotted two
more in a ruined tower before he used a Wall of Fire to wound several of the Manticores and signal the start of
the attack: Weasel followed with a Web, catching the two in the ruined tower. He went to work on them quickly using
his quick speed and maneuverability to attack the trapped creatures relentlessly. The Manticores took to the air to fight,
flying clumsily but keeping out of reach of party’s melee weapons. Another pair of small Manticores arrived along with
a pair of much larger, full sized adults, bringing the total to eight young and two adults.
Half the young Manticores flew over Toryx, Maia and Pardaro in front of the keep, raining spikes down upon them to
little effect before finally landing and closing with their more dangerous claws and bite: unfortunately for the Manticores,
this played into the trio’s strength and the party wasted no time to kill them. Toryx benefited from a Haste cast
upon him by Mara Pardaro and cut through the creatures with particularly devastating effectiveness. Meanwhile, above the
keep, Evan quickly became the target of the two adults who rushed him, although they suffered through several of Evan’s
artillery spells in order to do so. A combination of Evan’s magic, Parvati’s arrows, and even a few of Lucill’s daggers
dropped the two adults and remaining young Manticores while Weasel finished off one as it emerged from the Web.
The party quickly helped him with the last surviving creature, finishing all ten of the Manticores.
A search of the keep revealed little of interest other than it was evidently a nest for the beasts, filled with a gruesome
carnage of bones and remains. There were recent booted and dog tracks in the area, indicating that most likely the Gnolls
(and perhaps Seers) had been in and around the keep recently, but nothing else of interest to the party aside from the
Manticore spikes, which Maia and Toryx eagerly collected. After a few minor healing spells were handed out, the party continued
to the east, reaching within view of the main road in the late afternoon. They spotted some movement by the road: Gray
and Jonathan scouted the area and spotted around a dozen gnolls concealed around the road as well as a caravan a few hundred
feet away, slowly approaching.
Parvati used her newly learned Wild Shape ability to transform to an eagle and reach the caravan quickly. She
met Second Sword Milee, a young elf woman who had previously
helped guard Cutter’s Gap, in charge of a group of a dozen elves guarding five wagons and about twenty refugees. While
Milee spoke little of the Common tongue, Parvati was able to convey that the group was in danger of an ambush ahead and
to hold position. She returned to the party and a plan was quickly formed: several illusions later, a fake caravan was
slowly rolling down the road with the party, except Weasel and Gray, guarding it. Weasel remained hidden off in the brush
to the north while Gray did the same to the south.
The Gnolls eagerly took the bait and rushed the caravan as the party cast a number of preparatory spells. Weasel caught
several Gnolls in a Web before adjusting his position to direct his illusions on the battlefield. A part of the
caravan winked out of existence as Evan ceased concentration, causing some confusion among the Gnolls: however, it was
of little concern to the reinforcements that emerged from the southwest. A Hill Giant with three trolls on chain leashes
crested the hill, along with additional Gnolls and a pure-blood orc Toryx recognized as Gunnel-Thul. The Reverend Mother
was quick to use Haste on both Toryx and herself: as the giant and the trolls approached, she quickly hit them
with a pair of Flame Strikes, outright killing two of the trolls and wounding the third and the giant. Toryx rushed
the hill, killing several Gnolls who foolishly stepped in his way, and engaged the giant and Gunnel. A bizarre shambling
apparition rose from the earth and distracted the giant for much of the battle: the creature was an illusion cast by Weasel
and served to effectively squander the Hill Giant’s strength for much of the battle. Another orc appeared and like Gunnel,
fought in an unarmed martial style. The second orc, who the party later learned was named Ballok, appeared next
to Maia and struck her several times, although she quickly wounded him badly and forced him to retreat, seeking the illusionary
caravan for cover: it then disappeared, leaving him exposed. Evan strolled into battle in the form of an Ettin courtesy
of his recently learned Polymorph Self spell and fought well, although he and Mara Pardaro were both wounded by
the remaining Troll before they, along with Parvati and a Flaming Sphere, were able to kill it.
The fight was going poorly for the enemy and they called in their reserves: four orcs mounted on horseback with lances
who thundered down the road toward the party. Parvati broke their charge with a Briar Web, although a few managed
to get free but did not survive for long as the party continued to push the attack. Toryx avoided nearly every blow by
Gunnel, the Giant, and later Ballok due to a combination of Shield of Faith, Haste, and his own dwarven skills against
giants: finally Gunnel called for a retreat and fled with Ballok. A departing Magic Missile from Evan dropped Ballok,
but Gunnel was able to easily carry him and maintain his running speed, which was at least as fast as a quick horse, and
escape. The remaining orcs and gnolls were killed except for one of the orc riders, who was no fool: seeing the carnage
around him and knowing that Toryx had released Seer prisoners (such as Harll-Thul in
Adventure 15) in the past, he was eager to surrender. The party questioned the orc, named Marn, and learned that he
was one of six sent to evaluate if the Gnolls could be used against the duchy as well as harass the caravans on the roadway.
The caravan eventually moved up to join the party and Second Sword Milee thanked the party as did Lady Denna Laren, the granddaughter of
Baron Laren of Eagleton. Denna explained she had traveled to Eagleton
for the funeral of her grandfather but was captured by the Seers, then liberated by the elves. Milee mentioned that around
three or four hundred refugees capable of fighting had been sent north to Cutter’s Gap while the rest were being sent
to Kingscrossing: when the party suggested they travel together south, both Milee and Denna were eager to follow the suggestion
as was Mara Pardaro, who was concerned about the well being of the refugees but found them in good condition aside from
lacking in supplies. Toryx moved the dead orcs off the road but the party left the rest of the bodies where they fell
before riding south along side the caravan.
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