Castles and Crusades (Session 8, Dec 8, 09)

Players - PCs
Ed - Roog (1/2 ogre fighter)
Ray - Lassirial (Elf assassin)
Wes - Brother Thabitor Fisk (Human Cleric)
Jeff - Fast Fingers Freddy the Filcher (1/2-ling thief)

NPCs
Thiala - (Human Female Paladin)
Elmo - (Human Ranger)
Spugnoire - (Human Merchant / Wizard)
Drizzle Spatchcock - (Human Wizard)

We had another game of Castles and Crusade the other night. I'm going to try something a bit different this time, instead of a play-by-play format I'll give a shot at writing out a bullet list of events. Experience and treasure will come at the end.

• PCs wake up after a late night "welcome home" dinner at the Inn of the Welcome Wench.
• Dwarves have stopped in for breakfast on their way north. Fisk asks about news from the road and hears about reavers on the southern coast. The dwarves also supply a map to the Broken Stones.
• Lassirial visits Burne to find out what the bone bowl does. On the way he sees a group of people gathered in the workers camp...around one specific tent. Looks like they're investigating last night's murder. The bowl acts like a crystal ball when filled with human blood. Burne offers to destroy it.
• Freddy digs up his treasure (4 potions) and buries a bit more.
• Roog visits Manni, the smith and asks to have his armor "fitted". It'll take a few days.
• The party stocks up, and hits the road at mid-day, with 2 mules, Elmo, Spugnoire, and Drizzle.
• Elmo leads till dark. He loses his way and they camp.
• Morning breaks with a leaden sky. It starts to lightly rain as breakfast is served and picks up in intensity as they break camp.
• Elmo finds his way back to the trail. (It's very hard to see.)
• They make their way to the Broken Stones. It's a long ways out.
• Situated on a low rise, there are all sorts of tumbled stones, but it hardly resembles any kind of a city at all. It's very large though, covers many square acres.
• Search for a few hours and find an abandoned fire, along w/ a choked passage down.
• Clearing it, they all descend into a system of natural caverns.
• Exploring the rooms they run across 8 legged opossums, a bubbling spring of black water that stinks and tastes foul, yet leaves a pleasant tingle in the mouth and throat when drops are consumed.
• Lassirial examines an elven skeleton and finds a ruby clutched in its hand.
• A slime-covered frog is battled on the shores of a lake that flows "UP" a water...uh...waterfall?
• Freddy is used as an under water spelunker. Tied to 3 ropes he swims out and is caught in the current and swept up the falls into a worked tunnel. At the end of the rope he's pulled back. He spies a chest lying on the bottom of the lake and can't reach it.
• Roog carries a rock out, swaps it for the chest and returns to the shore.
• It's full of silver and an Elven necklace w/ a ruby. There's another setting for a second ruby but it's missing. Lassirial places the second ruby in the setting and Spugnoire detects that it's slightly magic.
• Halflings, ragged and unkempt slink out of the tunnel and threaten Lassirial for the necklace. He runs, they and 3 more of their fellows follow.
• Battle is joined. Two halflings fall immediately but three bring Lassirial to the ground and take the necklace.
• Fisk heals Lassirial. Lassirial back stabs halflilng with necklace, kills him and takes back necklace.
• A voice calls out "Get 'em boys!" and 20 more halflings pour out of a northern cave entrance.
• The unseen voice and Fisk bargain for surrender. Unseen voice belongs to leprechaun.
• Deal is made: Halflings will back off, and for necklace leprechaun will return children and any other survivors. He knows where they are, they're NOT in his possession.
• The 20 halflings disappear (illusion) and the others retreat with necklace. (Lassirial pulls the 2nd ruby out previous to handing it over. Leprechaun does not see this.)
• Freddy stealthily follows leprechaun and finds out that they were not going to return children "right away": No time limit was set.
• Freddy fights leprechaun and puts him into chest that he viewed him digging up and placing necklace into. Retrieves necklace and small "toy" chest.
• Freddy returns to party wearing leprechaun's hat, with necklace in hand.
• Party goes back digs up chest. Fisk again bargains for return of children, now with leprechauns life / freedom in balance.
• Leprechaun leaves to return children as soon as possible. Has necklace to trade with "Prince" for the children. The "Prince" is the son of Ylfritt, some type of Queen who wants the necklace for some unknown reason.

Treasure:

1. 2000 pieces of "Elven" silver (Strange, ancient, octagonal coins.)
2. Gold and Ruby Necklace (Now with Leprechaun)
3. Extra ruby

Experience: 336 / ea.