Campaign Date:  12th to the 16th of the Tomb (December), 862
Mundane World Date:  March 8th, 2002
Experience Points:  +1,325 per character
In Character Journals (Optional, worth 200 EP):  +200 Brass' Journal, +200 Cupric's Journal
Summary to be provided by Solera

Experience Points Allele'a +1,325 22,612 Brass +1,525 23,112 Brendan +1,325 22,612 Cupric +1,525 24,312 Solera +2.325 23,612 Wyn +1,325 19,325

Nicolan Regilis

Sir Kalerecent

The day began with the news that Sir Perianor could not be raised and would remain a casualty of the Banewarrens. Even as the group mourned his loss, a new “observer”, Reeve Wyn Helden, joined the party. Father Heth asked the party to review their progress thus far so that Wyn could be brought up to speed.

The party was informed that the Dark Elves they had encountered were doubtless from Shal Theran, and had used Magics to transform themselves. Such dark magic has an adverse affect on the people around them. This explained the behavior of the townspeople during the group’s first outing.

The party was further informed that the doors of the Banewarrens might only be accessible by way of the severed hand of Reverend Father Danar Rotansin. The hand may be in the possession of House Vlaadam. The Father’s body was desecrated when he died. Fathers Thisk and Heth believe this may be the “key” to the Banewarrens. The hand may have taken a different form by now. They advised against alerting the House of the inquiry. Also, Nevana, the daughter of the Baron, may be occupying the house.

Together, the party went by the house and then split up. They had no luck finding anything of note. Cupric, Brass, and Father Brendan then attempted to gather information at the nearby taverns.

The next morning, the party learned that the hand was rumored to have been stolen from the first generation of House Vlaadam; the house is very powerful in Falconmoor and other duchies. In fact, demi-human blood exists in this line and the head of the house, Baron Iristul, is probably an Arcanist, and not necessarily human.

There was a brief discussion of whether this generation has possibly forgotten the hand-do they even know it exists?

Thisk and Heth entered the room and the discussion continued:

When House Vlaadam was formed 700 years ago, they may have been connected to an order called the Sirat Mori, which is Imperial for “Killer of God” or “Godkillers”. They were dark-skinned enemies of the church who spoke their own language and were dedicated to disproving all religious faiths. They used their language as a weapon. Such power was wound into the words that the mere use of speech could cause harm to those who did not understand it. The Sirat Mori were believed destroyed by the Order of Thorenheld’s Acumen, who barely survived the battle.

The party discussed how to go about retrieving the hand and decided that it would be most advantageous to make inquiries into whether House Vlaadam had any “artifacts” that they might be persuaded to donate to the church. Such a donation would potentially be in the interest of maintaining their “good” reputation. A list of items would be complied and circulated to other houses in order to avoid the impression that Vlaadam was being targeted. Party members would pose as archivists, guards, and porters.

Nicolan Regilis, one of the Knights of the Chord was then introduced to the party. A mercenary who worked for house Vlaadam 10 years ago with her sister, Lana (who mysteriously disappeared), Nicolan could potentially provide the party with vital information on the inner workings on the House.

Wyn and Brass took a particular interest in her.

Nicolan informed the party that although the Baron “seems normal”, he practices arcane magic. He has 2-3 dozen properties in the city and a holding vault in the basement of the main house. The group speculated that the vault would be an ideal storage location for the hand.

That evening, Jevicca returned to report that a phase troll had been showing up and attacking seemingly random solitary people. She agreed to be responsible for compiling the list of items that the church would claim interest in, in order to facilitate the search for the hand.

The next morning, Thisk and Heth report that House Vlaadam had been robbed of the hand, among other things! The party immediately began to suspect Nicalon, the only “outsider” with knowledge of their search.

Alarmed by the news, the party decided to check on the entrance to the Banewarrens. When they arrived, they saw a number of tracks, both human and animal, so they decided to enter after Father Brendan ran to tell the guards that there had been yet another breech. Allele’a went in first and found still more tracks.

About 30 minutes in, the party was back among the dead bodies of those they had killed during their last foray. Once they entered the largest of the immediate rooms, they spotted Sir Kalerecent lying on the floor, looking very dead. Suddenly, an arrow shot out from the dark and the battle began.

Solera sent an arrow flying into the darkness and hit something (not a party member). The party discovered a gnoll and a gorilla behind the strangely marked door that had been tightly closed during their last visit. Wyn rushed forward and was stopped by the gorilla that threw Wyn over its shoulder. Brass threw in a fireball and then Allele’a ran forward to attempt to do some damage to one or both of the creatures.

Cupric hasted Solera and she shot the gnoll after yelling, “duck!” to Allele’a. Another well-thrown fireball from Brass did the gorilla in. When both gorilla and gnoll were subdued, the party went into the room to investigate.

Cupric found a bone ring on the gnoll, similar to the one worn by the Minotaur who attacked Sir Perianor. Solera noticed the knoll’s fallen masterwork bow and took a fascinated interest in it, strapping it to her back.

Cupric made an important connection that he relayed to the party. These beasts seemed likely part of an organization called the Pactlords of the Quaan. He also seemed fairly certain that the troll they encountered earlier in the week likely inhabits a demiplane.

Father Brendan ran out to check on the fallen Kalrecent , followed by Solera. He discovered that Kalrecent was killed by sharp claws, not by either the gorilla or the gnoll. Allele’a summoned a wolverine and sent it to the entrance of the Banewarrens with a message. It isn’t clear as to whether the wolverine made it out.

Cupric then brought up the point that the party needed to find out whether the door would close or remain open. What would they do if locked in? What would they do if locked out? After some debate, the party agreed to test the door. They stepped out and closed the door. It opened right back up.

The party walked back through the door and into a room with a broken blue mosaic of tiles covering the floor in the remains of what looked like a naval ocean scene. The walls were abundant with some sort of art. They made their way along the leftmost stairway and Allele’a sent another wolverine to investigate. The creature did not find anything of note, so the party made their way along the right stairway, to the edge of a room with suspicious floor plates. Allele’a was able to determine that the area was trapped and disabled the plates so that the party could traverse into the next passageway. Before moving on, Allele’a re-enabled the trap.

In the next room they encountered, Allele’a skillfully tumbled through and triggered trap that send arrows shooting form the walls. The party made it past the arrows by using various strategies including creatively jumping, running, and tumbling. In the next room, Allele’a ran into a bear that was successfully defeated by the joint efforts of Father Brendan and Wyn.

After the encounter with the bear, the party decided to return to either investigate other rooms or make their way back to the entrance. Navigating back through the room with the arrow triggers provided an interesting and somewhat amusing challenge to the party’s creativity. Father Brendan was badly wounded by several shots.

On their way back, the party discovered that the room with the floor plate trap had been disabled, suggesting that someone else had been through very recently. Uncertain what to do next, the party returned to the door where they had left the gorilla and the gnoll.

When they arrived the door, they discovered both bodies missing. There was much debate about whether to investigate further or return to The Silver Rings and report back. The party voted to investigate further, but as Allele’a scouted ahead, she was caught in a trap that left her frozen. After determining that her condition was beyond Father Brendan’s healing capabilities, the party quickly headed back to The Silver Rings. They made it back to Thisk, who was able to get Allele’a defrosted as they debriefed him on what they had discovered below. As the party settled in for the evening, Thisk promised to gather supplies in order to help prepare everyone for the next morning.