Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in balrog62's LiveJournal:

Saturday, August 20th, 2005
7:24 pm	Explanation Okay, the two posts below were games we played almost 8 months ago now. We've had 3 other sessions since then but I've not had the time to write them up. One of the players is an English teacher and he's quite a good writer. I've tried to talk him into writing these up but his character is the Fighter/Rogue and he's not sure if he can write up what happens from his character's perspective and not spill the beans about the hidden agendas he has. So, here's the last 3 games in a nutshell. They fought and killed the Captain's crew except for the Bosun. The Captain now works for the group. They managed to gain two very important items and visit a temple with more stuff than a new temple should have. One of the items is a diary of a mage who's been involved with the cult for a while. The second is a relgious tome which gives the ritual for summoning Yogg. They had copies made and used those as bargaining chips to find out who's involved in the Yogg cult. Last night's game showed them that they're running with the Big Dogs and a mistake could be very fatal. They've been contacted by the Black Lotus, fought a vampire carrying a soul gem of a demon lord, and learned that politics is a very dangerous game. The next game is Friday and I'm still not sure which way they're going to leap. If you want more info, post a comment or email me. I'll do my best to be more specific. (Comment on this)
7:20 pm	Further Update CSIO 4th session Cutter, Darius, Epiphany, Koshiro and Arnie gathered their adventuring gear and headed downstairs to the main room of the inn. Upon searching for and finding Durdar, he led them to the secret entrance to the sewers. “Follow the tunnel to an intersection and turn right. Follow that tunnel until it ends at the sewers.” “Where does the left turn lead?”, Cutter asked. “Ummmm, a friend’s place”, Durdar answered. The group carefully went down the tunnel, following Durdar’s instructions. Entering the sewers prime, the group followed the crude map copied by Koshiro from an old surveyor’s report. The report was over 50 years old. It was originally commissioned by the previous Overlord to prevent the sewers from being used by an invading army. However, because the loss of life amongst the mapmakers was so high because of attacks from monsters and undead, the Overlord dropped the project and assumed anyone entering the place would be severely reduced in strength by the time they were able to get to ground level. Thus, using the map and the information obtained by the Temple of Oden when it questioned the cult followers captured at the old temple, the group soon found the path to the “new” temple. However, one of the tunnels had collapsed sometime in the past and someone had started to dig it out. And they were still there. Cutter snuck up to observe who would put in all the work necessary to dig out 40 feet of rock and dirt to discover 6 goblins and an orc working away. As he observed them, they broke through the last few inches of material into the other end of the tunnel. The orc then pushed the goblins through the hole. “It should be down around the next corner”, the orc growled. Cutter went back to the group and told them what he had observed. Quickly, they sketched out a plan to follow the creatures down the tunnel. Cutter went ahead of the group to scout. The orc and goblins followed the tunnel to an intersection, turned left and then turned left into a smaller tunnel. The orc then ordered one of the goblins up a ladder to a trapdoor. The goblin began trying to pick the door’s lock. “Yes!”, he exclaimed just before a green cloud erupted from the door lock. The goblin coughed, grasped its throat and fell down with a limp thud. “Go on! Get up there and open that door!”, the orc hissed to the goblins. The goblins looked up at the green cloud, then at each other. “Not until that cloud’s gone”, they hissed back. “Grrrr, give me a torch”, the orc demanded. He waved the torch through the cloud which caused the torch to hiss and the flame to flutter and change colors multiple times. “Now, go on!” Carefully, one of the goblins climbed up the ladder and pushed the door open. Sticking his head up the hole and looking around, he waved the others up as he went in. The orc followed along last after a glance back down the tunnels. A few minutes later, the orc reappeared carrying a small chest. He ordered the goblins down first and handed the chest to them. But this time, only four goblins came down the ladder. “We shouldn’t leave Rezblak back there like that”, one of the goblins whispered loudly to his friend. “Shush and take this chest before I drop it on your thick skulls!”, the orc ordered. “I told him he should be careful. If there’s one trap, there’s more.” As the goblins took hold of the chest and the orc started down the ladder, Cutter attacked the first goblin. Arnie fired magic missiles at the orc. Koshiro hit two of the goblins with energy bolts. The goblins dropped like rocks. The orc charged Cutter and the two began to swing wildly at each other. Seeing that his falchion was useless in the crampy quarters, Cutter dropped it and pulled his kukri as Koshiro hit the creature with an ice bolt. Cutter then finished him off with a quick slash from the wicked blade. The last goblin looked around and saw he was all that were left alive. He quickly dropped his weapon and began to grovel. Cutter grabbed him by the collar. “Have you ever seen that orc before?” he growled. “Well, yeah. We just robbed-” SMACK! Cutter’s hand slapped the goblin hard. “Have you ever seen that orc before?”, Cutter growled again. “I was just telling you! Yes, we just-” SMACK! Cutter hit him again. “Have you ever seen that orc before?” Cutter growled more deeply and followed with a slow wink. “Yes….Wait, No, NO! I’ve never seen that orc before!” “Have you ever been in the sewers before?” “Well, yeah….Uh….No, no, I’ve never been in the sewers before nor will I ever again!” “Good. Now, go back to the reservation”, Cutter said. “You’re just going to let him go?!!” Darius almost shouted. “Sure, he won’t tell anybody about us and I don’t like killing things out of hand if they don’t need killing” Cutter responded. “Besides, who’s he going to tell that would believe him? If he does talk, he’ll have to admit to the break-in. Now, let’s get this chest back to the inn and see what’s in it.” Picking up the chest, the group headed back to the inn. Along the way, they were stopped by a large group of the City Guard. After being questioned about a group of Amazons allegedly planning on breaking into the Overlord’s mansion to assassinate him, the group was reluctantly released to go about their business. Entering the inn, the group went to Arnie’s room to open the chest. Inside they found a nice amount of gold and silver and a few pieces of jewelry. Carefully counting their haul and estimating the value of the jewelry took most of the time they had allotted to searching for the new temple, so they decided to rest up and make a go the next day. The next morning they tried again to get to the temple. Entering the tunnels, Cutter said, “I’ve got to know who this friend is.” He followed the tunnel to the end, a dancer’s home. Grinning, he returned to the group. “Durdar’s still got a little ‘oomph’ left it seems.” The sewers were empty again, which made the group apprehensive. However, they were able to get to the temple entrance easily. The only thing they saw along the way was a large centipede like creature enjoying the meal of orc and goblin in a little tunnel off to the side. The bad thing about the location of the new temple was that it was uncomfortably close to the Overlord’s citadel. The secret door was right where Kristoff had said in his letter and opened as he said it would. The door opened onto a rough tunnel heading off toward the cemetery. However, he failed to mention the pit traps along the way. Darius found the first the hard way. The other two traps were found easily enough by Cutter. The tunnel ended in a large room dimly lit by a purplish glow that seemed to come from everywhere. The walls were frescoed with murals depicting Yogg in various forms defeating paladins, consorting with demons, and performing various other unspeakable acts. Opposite to where the tunnel was a set of large brass doors. They were unlocked and untrapped, and they swung in noiselessly. The corridor that opened up behind the doors was ten feet wide and lit every twenty feet by glass globes about two feet across and filled with a glowing purple mist. The globes sat in iron rings about a foot in diameter and eight feet off the ground. Forty feet down the corridor and on a pedestal stood a ten foot tall statue of an old emaciated woman leaning on a staff. As the party neared the statue, it appeared to turn and say, "Bashdora ton quent intrepers, tor enclumbet don laf demins ro Zagaroth, gens ro Yog-Sothoth ex lerd ro harth." The group came to a halt. Cutter was looking at one of the globes when the statue spoke. Epiphany was looking at another. Koshiro had approached the statue, and jumped back when it appeared to move. They all readied weapons but nothing else happened. Since the statue sat at the center of a “+” of the passages, each running along a compass direction. The group headed past the statue down the long corridor ahead of them. After about 100 feet, they found a little alcove with another statue in it. This statue was of a man pinning another down with a spear through its chest. The standing man is grinning evilly, like he was enjoying the death throes of his victim. The unnerving statue subdued the group even more than the light and atmosphere had. Going back to the intersection, the group turned left and went down to the first door. Trying the handle, the door easily swung inward. A five foot wide passageway led thirty feet into a twenty foot by twenty foot room with another statue in the center. This statue was of a strikingly beautiful but cruel looking woman whose smile exposed two fangs. Unlike the previous two statues, this one was made of black marble with red veins running in it. An odd sense of compulsion flowed over all who looked at it. Epiphany had to be literally pulled away from its presence by Koshiro. Heading back to the main hallway, Cutter said, “We need to get out of here.” The others quickly nodded and they all headed back toward the inn. Before leaving, Cutter grabbed a globe from a ring and stashed it in his backpack. Along the way, they began to discuss what it could all mean. “This changes things,” Cutter mulled aloud. “These guys are more organized and more powerful than I anticipated….than anyone anticipated. The level of work in the temple and the level of magic represents some major money and power. We’re not ready to face that. I hope that the Temple of Oden or the Temple of Seker will be willing to help us with this.” And the game paused until the next session. (Comment on this)
6:57 pm	Update on the CSIO Game Okay, I had hoped to use this place as a way for the players to input their perspectives about the games I ran....but I'm afraid not. So, for the few who have found this lj and are curious, here's a current synopsis of the game so far. CSIO Third Session The third session opened with the group deciding that they needed to return to the old Yoggite temple and finish taking any loot. Kristoff decided to stay at the Temple of Oden to investigate the materials that had been brought up in the first investigation. Cutter felt that more muscle was needed so he headed off to the Rent-a-Slave and rented 4 slaves to carry a large crate. While the transaction was taking place, Arnie was attacked and almost taken in a press gang but Cutter and Koshiro beat the gang back. While this was all going on, Darius had followed the group out of the old Yoggite temple significantly behind the group. She made her way to the temple of Seker and pledged to its order as an initiate. A quick trip back to the Yoggite temple resulted in only a little more loot and a few more manuscripts. It also yielded an awareness that the group was being observed by a couple of beggars. When he returned the slaves to their master, he carefully noted the beggar who was following him. As evening approached, Cutter doubled back in the gathering gloom and subdued the old man. He took the old beggar back to Arnie’s room to interrogate him. The interrogation consisted of tying the beggar over a table with a small jar of lard near his head. Cutter began asking the old man about why the beggar was following them and who had authorized it. The beggar was initially reluctant to talk, until Cutter lifted the beggar’s tunic and applied some lard to the beggar’s backside. In a tremulous voice, the beggar asked why this was occurring. The big half-orc only grinned. In a shaky voice, the beggar told that he and three of his associates were to watch the group and report in to a man in a blue cloak what all they had done and where they all had gone. The splitting of the group was troublesome but they managed to keep all their quarries in sight. Cutter worked out a deal with the beggar to determine who it was that had given the orders so that the group could ambush them. rather non-descript shorter man wandered down the street and dropped a few coins The beggar readily agreed if he would be allowed to regain his dignity, glancing toward his lower regions. So, Cutter, Arnie, Koshiro and Epiphany laid in wait for the signal from the beggar that the person who hired them had arrived. Late in the evening, a into the beggar’s lap. He then squatted down to talk with the old man and that’s when the signal was given. Arnie cast Sleep which made the kidnapping easy. Cutter placed the individual in the same position in the room as the beggar had been. Upon being revived, the man looked about and then demanded to be untied. Cutter put on his mean face and said that the group would be making the demands and asking the questions. In the street, Arnie had not recognized him but in the room Arnie realized he was one of the supervisors of the Plus Deux brewery. The fellow then asked to be released again or “you won’t like what’ll happen.” Cutter responded with a laugh and asked again why they were being followed and who he was. The man answered, “Release me and we’ll discuss it like civilized folk.” Cutter responded that he wasn’t civilized and proceeded to lift the cloak and drop the trousers of the abductee, who responded with “you’ve been warned.” As Cutter reached into the jar for a handful of lard, the man began to shrink and get hairy. Immediately, Arnie and Koshiro let loose with spells which fried the guy. The group dumped the body in the sewers beneath the city after taking a few items of interest. From the items, they learned that the Plus Deux brewery had plans on taking over the goblins in the Goblin Reservation. A search through the materials from the old Yoggite temple informed the group about the basic goals of the temple and who some of the older members were when the temple was destroyed. Interrogations of the prisoners at the Temple of Oden revealed that the new Temple of Yog was hidden somewhere in the Redoubt of the Dead. Lastly, the group decided that they needed to get their primary weapons silvered and that the needed some other supplies for dealing with lycanthropes. At this point, the game closed down for a while until I can finish working out the details of the next series of adventures. Things are about to come to a head…… (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 5th, 2004
2:24 pm	CSIO Second Session The second session began with the addition of one new player and two new characters. Mike chose to let Theone wander off and he introduced Koshiro (a human psion). Brandon stepped in as a new "pinch hitter" member of the group. His ability to game is in flux so he’ll come and go. He was playing Kristoff (human cleric of Odin/Oden). In the story, Theone announced that she was going to do something about the issue of slavery in the City State. When pressed further, she was interested only in freeing any amazon slaves held in the Plaza of Profuse Pleasures. She wandered off to plan her attack. Shortly after this, Koshiro and Kristoff showed up to help the group, each being sent by the School of Ancient Knowledge and the Temple of Oden respectively. Koshiro had a pretty good idea about how to get into the old temple and proceeded to lead the group to the stable that had been built on the Temple of Yog’s foundation. Cutter started chatting up the owner of the place, a human named Coster Pinworm. Coster told Cutter about the strange fellow who joined a poker game during a caravan trip that Coster had been hired to help guard. The fellow lost three hands out of four that night, and ended up offering the deed to the stable in the last hand. The fellow lost (he had two pair) and he left. Coster had won but didn’t know what to do with a stable. His right hand man is Fuzzy Beljek who runs the day to day operations of the inn. Fuzzy, however, was not inclined to talk to Cutter. Coster did mention that a group of oddly dressed men wandered around the stable a few days previous but did not stable any animals. Coster could almost swear that fewer men left than entered but he wasn’t sure. He let Cutter and Koshiro investigate the back stall which the hands claimed was haunted or evil because no animal would stay in it. A search of the stall revealed a hidden trap door which opened onto an old spiral stone staircase. Upon receiving the okay from Coster, the group headed down into the darkness. At the bottom of the steps, the group was met with five skeletons armed with longswords. A short battle ensued in which no one received any serious injury. The main room had four doors; two in front of the stairs, one on either side. The rightmost door opened into a large cloakroom filled with dusk and having a door on the left. The leftmost door led into a larger cloakroom with a door on the right. The middle right door led into what can only be assumed to be an offering room. A large stone urn rested upon a stone pedestal. The urn had a large solid lock holding the lid on and a slot roughly an inch wide and three inches long. The middle left door led into a small votive room in which a small statue of Yog resided. Kristoff and Darius decided to dump the statue over. Cutter tried everything he could to open the urn and finally took a mace to the lock until it was destroyed. The urn’s insides were conical with material easily sliding down a one foot wide hole in the center. Cutter made it his duty to find the place where the hole led. Breaking with typical search procedures, the group followed the left hand path as much as possible. Entering the left cloakroom, the group moved through the right door and into a large sitting area. Destroyed tables and chairs littered the floor. A door was opposite the roughly 20’ x 30’ room. This door led into a badly damaged alchemist lab. A thorough search finally turned up some relatively pure copper sulfate, a vial of fire beetle paste, and some sneezing powder as well as some standard dried herbs. Another door in this room lead into a storeroom that had been ransacked so thoroughly that none of the debris was recognizable. A third door in this room led into a large room which was dominated by a 15’ tall statue of Yog. The room was "guarded" by half a dozen amazon zombies. Kristoff managed to turn most of them so that they could be attacked individually and destroyed. Opposite of the door that the group used to enter the temple was a door that led into the temple’s library. While most of the books had been damaged, few were actually destroyed. A number of interesting books were discovered in the wreckage including a partial roster of members of the temple and a book on the anatomy of beholders. After more than an hour of searching, Darius and Epiphany made a fire and started burning the books while Kristoff and Koshiro tried to stuff as many interesting ones as possible into their backpacks. Cutter had wandered off to investigate the rest of the facility, specifically looking for stairs down. He found a series of rooms which were the bedrooms of the main acolytes of the temple and two spiral staircases down. Taking one of the two staircases down, the group came into the temple area proper, a large bean shaped room with the stairs at one end, a large pillar nearby covered with symbols and carvings depicting various aspects and such of Yog, and at the other end of the room a raised dias with a large altar and a bas relief image of Yog projecting from the back wall. Shortly upon entering the room, another group of skeletons attacked the group and began to inflict heavy damage. Kristoff managed to turn a few of them which helped turn the tide of the battle. However, those skeletons soon returned with four acolytes urging them forward. At this point, Arnie made himself most useful by casting Web on the group of skeletons and acolytes. Judicious use of range weapons softened up the resistance of the acolytes to surrendering as well as aiding the destruction of the remaining skeletons. The apparent leader of the group was an Antillan who refused to surrender his armor to Darius because she was "just a woman who was out of her proper place." Darius was greatly angered by this and challenged the "useless male" to a battle. A few blows dropped Darius at which point the Antillan dropped his sword and claimed Darius as his "woman" by right of combat. Kristoff stepped forward and healed Darius, who immediately got up and smacked the acolyte upside the head with her mace. This infuriated Arnie who cast Sleep on her and then bound the wounds of the acolyte. Tying up the prisoners, the group awakened Darius and made plans to return to the surface. A heated argument ensued with Darius angry and upset that the acolyte had not been stripped of his armor as the others had been. After a few minutes, Darius walked over to the altar and sat down to sulk while the rest of the group started to head toward the stairs. Cutter immediately made a plea to search for the offering room’s results. He proceeded to search the walls of the temple until he found a secret door that led down a narrow hallway. Carefully searching for traps along the way, and finding two (one the hard way), Cutter finally entered the treasury. The area had been ransacked but must have held so much loot that the previous looters left behind all the copper and some of the silver. (I can’t remember exactly how much they got, but it was a reasonable haul for a group of second level characters.) Returning to the surface and the city, the prisoners were taken to the Temple of Oden for interrogation and punishment. Kristoff stayed behind to gather information. Koshiro returned to the School of Ancient Knowledge to sell the books he salvaged and to do further research on the cult. Cutter, Arnie, and Epiphany headed back to the inn. And the second session ended. The group gained enough XP to go up a level in this adventure, because I’m using a variation of the experience table in the Player’s Handbook. Instead of reading the experience table as each value is the total the character needs to be at that level (for example, a character with 3500 XP is a third level character), each level value is the amount of experience to be gained at that level to go to the next. So for a 3rd level character to become 4th, the character needs (1000 + 3000 + 6000) XP or 10,000 XP. This slows down the progression so that challenging monsters are still challenging for multiple sessions. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
2:18 pm	CSIO First Session The first session opened with the characters standing in the main square of the City State of the Invincible Overlord. After talking with some of the locals, they decided to stay at the First Born Inn located in the Seafront Quarter. The party consisted of Cutter (half orc fighter/rogue), Darius (Amazon warrior), Theone (Amazon warrior), and Epiphany (plane-touched bard). Once the party settled into the inn, they began discussing what they should do to make sure they could afford to stay at the inn. Asking around town, the discovered two separate incidents in which young women had disappeared. Investigating one of the disappearances led them to the Noble Quarter where a minor noble’s daughter had disappeared. The nobleman soon acquired the nickname "Sir Light Loafers" because of his speech and mannerisms. A search of the house gave the group an impression that the home was haphazardly built. However, Sir Light Loafers informed the group that his young daughter had been the sole architect of the structure. The nobleman had pampered his daughter since the day his wife died, in an effort to deal with his grief. Further questioning of the staff gave the group the idea that the girl may have run away of her own volition. Initially, they were under the impression that she was in her early teens but soon learned that she was in her mid-twenties. At that point, Theone heard a faint sound, like someone calling from a great distance. Trying to pinpoint the source of the sound, she discovered the walls were abnormally thick. Cutter decided that Sir Light Loafers needed to be more open in his answers, so he brought the nobleman into the study where the voice was the loudest. Then, by sharpening his kukri he began to question Sir LL about his daughter. Soon, the nobleman broke down and admitted he had locked his daughter away because "she was too young to leave home and get married". The group opened a secret door within the study to reveal a hidden passageway and the young woman. They then escorted her down to her fiancee’s home and earned a reward from the grateful young man. Returning to the inn, the group sat down to a hearty meal and a moment of relaxation. However, a drunk older man decided to attack them by casting spells at the amazons and accusing them in the death of his wife. Epiphany ducked under the table. Theone backed away. Darius charged while Cutter tried to calm everyone down. A minor battle ensued in which the sorcerer was knocked unconscious and then turned over to the city guard. A search of the man’s room turned up an alchemy kit, some papers about a new drink being produced in the City State which may be highly addictive, and an odd holy symbol. Putting all this aside for future study, the group went to investigate the next disappearance. Here, Captain Vahuzim was offering 250 gp for the return of his daughter who had been kidnapped off his ship as it sat in port a few nights before. A note had been left behind thanking the captain for his "generosity". He feared for his daughter’s safety and implored the group to find his daughter soon. Taking the note to the School of Ancient Knowledge and to the Temple of Oden, the group learned that the watermark on the note matched that of a cult that had been destroyed over 50 years ago. The cult consisted of sorcerors and wizards who searched for ancient knowledge and control of planar beings. They mainly worshipped an entity called Yog who is presumed to have predated the Dragon Kings and the War between the Philosophers and the Prophets. An important aspect of that worship was the sacrifice of young women at certain times based upon the location of the moons and the constellations. One such juncture was due in a few days. At this time, Cutter and Theone made a connection between the old man who attacked them at the inn and the cult. Further questioning of their innkeeper informed them that the old man had arrived a few days before they had and that he had another younger man with him and a young woman. The woman’s description matched that of the captain’s daughter. So, Cutter and Theone went to bail the old guy out of the jail while Darius and Epiphany went to learn more about the location of the cult’s old temple and any other pertinent information. The old guy was named Arnie and he had lost his wife to the cult about 20 years before when a group of amazons had raided the caravan they were riding with. He assumed the amazons were connected with the cult and had been trying to infiltrate it for years. He had only recently made contact and was slowly working his way in when he was slipped a mickey and left behind at the inn. He gladly threw himself into helping the group. The Temple of Oden offered to send clerical aid and the School of Ancient Knowledge pinpointed the old temple’s location at the stable just a few blocks away from the inn. Armed with this knowledge, the group made plans to invade the old temple to find the girl. And the first session ended. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 1st, 2004
10:45 pm	City State of the Invincible Overlord - 1st Session The first session opened with the characters standing in the main square of the City State of the Invincible Overlord. After talking with some of the locals, they decided to stay at the First Born Inn located in the Seafront Quarter. The party consisted of Cutter (half orc fighter/rogue), Darius (Amazon warrior), Theone (Amazon warrior), and Epiphany (plane-touched bard). Once the party settled into the inn, they began discussing what they should do to make sure they could afford to stay at the inn. Asking around town, the discovered two separate incidents in which young women had disappeared. Investigating one of the disappearances led them to the Noble Quarter where a minor noble’s daughter had disappeared. The nobleman soon acquired the nickname “Sir Light Loafers” because of his speech and mannerisms. A search of the house gave the group an impression that the home was haphazardly built. However, Sir Light Loafers informed the group that his young daughter had been the sole architect of the structure. The nobleman had pampered his daughter since the day his wife died, in an effort to deal with his grief. Further questioning of the staff gave the group the idea that the girl may have run away of her own volition. Initially, they were under the impression that she was in her early teens but soon learned that she was in her mid-twenties. At that point, Theone heard a faint sound, like someone calling from a great distance. Trying to pinpoint the source of the sound, she discovered the walls were abnormally thick. Cutter decided that Sir Light Loafers needed to be more open in his answers, so he brought the nobleman into the study where the voice was the loudest. Then, by sharpening his kukri he began to question Sir LL about his daughter. Soon, the nobleman broke down and admitted he had locked his daughter away because “she was too young to leave home and get married”. The group opened a secret door within the study to reveal a hidden passageway and the young woman. They then escorted her down to her fiancee’s home and earned a reward from the grateful young man. Returning to the inn, the group sat down to a hearty meal and a moment of relaxation. However, a drunk older man decided to attack them by casting spells at the amazons and accusing them in the death of his wife. Epiphany ducked under the table. Theone backed away. Darius charged while Cutter tried to calm everyone down. A minor battle ensued in which the sorcerer was knocked unconscious and then turned over to the city guard. A search of the man’s room turned up an alchemy kit, some papers about a new drink being produced in the City State which may be highly addictive, and an odd holy symbol. Putting all this aside for future study, the group went to investigate the next disappearance. Here, Captain Vahuzim was offering 250 gp for the return of his daughter who had been kidnapped off his ship as it sat in port a few nights before. A note had been left behind thanking the captain for his “generosity”. He feared for his daughter’s safety and implored the group to find his daughter soon. Taking the note to the School of Ancient Knowledge and to the Temple of Oden, the group learned that the watermark on the note matched that of a cult that had been destroyed over 50 years ago. The cult consisted of sorcerors and wizards who searched for ancient knowledge and control of planar beings. They mainly worshipped an entity called Yog who is presumed to have predated the Dragon Kings and the War between the Philosophers and the Prophets. An important aspect of that worship was the sacrifice of young women at certain times based upon the location of the moons and the constellations. One such juncture was due in a few days. At this time, Cutter and Theone made a connection between the old man who attacked them at the inn and the cult. Further questioning of their innkeeper informed them that the old man had arrived a few days before they had and that he had another younger man with him and a young woman. The woman’s description matched that of the captain’s daughter. So, Cutter and Theone went to bail the old guy out of the jail while Darius and Epiphany went to learn more about the location of the cult’s old temple and any other pertinent information. The old guy was named Arnie and he had lost his wife to the cult about 20 years before when a group of amazons had raided the caravan they were riding with. He assumed the amazons were connected with the cult and had been trying to infiltrate it for years. He had only recently made contact and was slowly working his way in when he was slipped a mickey and left behind at the inn. He gladly threw himself into helping the group. The Temple of Oden offered to send clerical aid and the School of Ancient Knowledge pinpointed the old temple’s location at the stable just a few blocks away from the inn. Armed with this knowledge, the group made plans to invade the old temple to find the girl. And the first session ended. (Comment on this)