Episode 13 - A New Face
Deals with the arrival of Colin's new character, and the teleport trip to Han Shar. For the sake of brevity, we should include all that has happened up to the next session in this entry. That will bring us up to date and keep all of the initial journal entries together.

Episode 12 - Revenge: A Dish with Bitter Herbs
Deals with the efforts of Exim to sabotage the island's defences, the rescue efforts of the party, the dragons' attack, Exim's revelations and ultimate execution.

Episode 11 - To the Farthest Reaches of ...Somewhere
This session deals with the trip to the Island of the Red Robes and the search for information there. It ends, if I recall correctly, before the party returns and the nastiness occurs.

Episode 10 - Death Takes a City
The session begins with efforts on the part of Sir Kasmir to bring some kind of peace between Rev. Dunbar and the erstwhile halfling spy, Lady Arianna. The discussion had both high and low points and eventually became a general attempt to finally hammer out some ground rules about party members providing some sort of inpout into each other's actions, at least as those actions impinge upon the mission.

Much spiraled around the need for Visconte Nicolo to have assurances that if the group determined to take an action that Kasmir or Dundar found to be mnorally repugnant, but was required for the mission, that the holies would not turn the rest of the party into the authorities or otherwise hamper operations. It took a long while to get that fully worked out.

With that out of the way, the party bedded down for the night, working towards a trip south to enter the lands of the dragons in order to find out more of what was going on there. Those plans went for naught when the party saw that Tel Kooris was attacked by dragons during the night. They saw the fires on the horizon and decided to return to the city to find out what happened and to offer their assistance.

Upon return to the city, the party split up in order to offer the greatest amount of help and to find out the most info. They learned that the dragon had assulted the wall, killing many tropps. It had buried the tinderbox houses in the poorer section of town before specifically targetting three noble compoiunds in the upper city, compounds beloning to royal loyalists. The dragon had been driven away, though not seriously harmed, as it tried to attack the main citadel.

Episode 9 - In the Darkness Softly Creeping
It all started out innocently enough. Or did it? While the rest of the party were engaged in gathering and clarifying information, Lady Arianna got a little bored. She decided that what things really needed was a little pot-stirring. And what better way to get info, and dirt, and to ferret out the loyalties of people than to start a big stink.

She bought some information about the interior layout of her former employer's compound and prepared to send the occupants off to dreamland with some late-night poisoning. She expe3cted to get some info from papers she would take while at the same time framing the other side in the conflict for the act. She surmised that the resultant uproar would cover her tracks and maybe flush out some more players.

The end result was not nearly so effective. Sold down the river by the servant she bought to plans from, she was trapped just inside the main door to the house. Her invisibility eliminated by magic, she faced three guards in a suddenly well-lit hallway. Attacked by magic (ineffectively) and by steel (very effectively),she was forced to flee. Her first stop was the roof where she contemplated still entering the house. She then saw that the guard were coming quickly and decided that she should make herself quite scarce.

Elsewhere, the rest of the party were rounded up by the city watch and held in a room of the main citadel. Tempers were running high as most suspected that the cause of their incarceration was the absent halfling. Rev. Loadstone wa especially upset, a situation that was not at all improved when High Magus Exim chose that moment to reveal that he felt that the party should leave town immediately in order to avoid an impending dragon attack. Accusations of draconic complicity were followed by rage and spittle. Dunbar was restrained by Sir Kasmir and Master Giobel, who were forced to tie the cleric up for everyone's safety.

The commander of local military forces arrived and made it plain that she was unhappy that a member of this group had tried to break into a noble compound with nefarious purpose. After Visconte Nicolo ratted Arianna out completely,the captain decided that the best course of action wa to tell the party to get out of town.

Once back in the street, Giobel decided to return to the boudoir from which he had been taken, in order to make his final farewells. The rest of the party were still fuming about the halfling when Exim opened his mouth to say something. Dunbar assumed an impending defense of Arianna and went mad again. Only quick magic separated the two by vertical distance and allowed things to cool off.

The party left town the following morning and, with Arianna's empty horse in tow (and decorated with a note of Kasmir's creation, they made their way south. They were soon (invisibly) joined by Arianna, a situation that Kasmir had expected, his note being a pledge to protect her upon her return. This ultimately did not go well with Dunbar, leading to yelling, accusations, threats and eventually drawn steel and a Harm spell. Life is sweet.

Episode 8 - Dark Night, Big City
As part of the discussions of the previous session, the party determined to make their way further north, to the city of Tel Kooris. They wished to see if the dragon attacks had gone that far to the north as well as to determine if the military based at the city, the provincial capitol, would be of any help. They also wanted a secure base of operations from which to do some "downtime" spell casting.

Upon arrival the party spread out to find information from the various strata of society. Visconte Nicolo went into the upper class circles to find out what the people of means knew about the current situation. Lady Arianna went to the seamy side of town to gather info. Sir Kasmir worked the religious and common folk angles while Exim tried to contact Red Robes contacts.

Master Giobel and Rev. Dunbar ,made use of Legend Lore magic to try to determine more about some of the known or suspected players in this drama. Giobel tried to find out more about Lord Ezelan, but after a week he came up empty. Master Giobel then decided that the younger daughters of wealthy families might be full of useful information, and set about pumping them.

For his part, Reverend Dunbar was more successful with his magic. He found out that the Red Robe magus Shylon was legendary for her efforts, some successful others not, to retrieve lost artifacts from the time of the great wars. She was reputed to have been coming to this area in search of something called the Shardstone. The time frame would coincide with the beginning of the serious dragon attacks.

Exim found that he was not getting anywhere with information gathering. People would not even look at his, let alone speak to him. He eventually discovered that a pair of red robed wizards had run amok a few weeks earlier, killing a popular guard captain along the way. Exim changed his appearance and tried, with limited success, to find out more. He did find that the two mysterious mages were thought to have come from the area of the royal capitol prior to coming here.

Nicolo was learning that the nation of Kanlon was more unstable than was being let on. The current Queen has no living offspring and the succession might be up for grabs when she is obligated to retire if a few decades. With the Prince Consort out of the country so much, chances of any new scions are slim. Nicolo found that several noble families might be moving to shore up their position to take a run at the crown.

What was also interesting was that the members of some of those families, especially that family to which Lord Ezelan belongs, were in town and feuding with loyalists. this information spurred Arianna to put out feelers to take part in some of the shady nighttime operations of tit-for-tat going on between the feuding houses. She was hired to help a brute squad gain access to a rival's compound so that a few servants could be beaten sense;less as a message to their masters.

Episode 7 - Let's Get This All Out in the Open
When we last left High Magus Exim, he was in quite a stew, or at least feared that he would be. The elder dragon, joined by its son, had placed Exim in a magic-proofed cage while it thought about the mage's offer to help the draconic cause against the machinations of the Red Robes. Exim was beginning to become concerned that he might be in the pot, when he was let go to return to the party.

Said party was making its way to the scheduled rendezvous location. By the time they arrived, Exim was already there, sat by his campfire, reading a tome. The party approached and greeted their erstwhile companion.

Exim told of his meeting with a contact who had informed him of several things concerning the dragon attacks. He said that there was some sort of collusion between the dragons and the army leader. He also said other things that I cannot remember and will have to find out from the participants.

The party wished to meet the contact, Exim refused. From there a wide-ranging discussion began concerning the many and various individual agendas that are rife in the party. These were of particular concern to Rev. Dunbar and Sir Kasmir. They attempted to wrest some sort of straight answers out of the shadier party members as to what was going on and who was responsible for what.

During the "discussions", Lady Arianna revealed that she had information about troop movements from Dunbar's nation of Kraig Odan heading north. She wanted to know what Dunbar knew about that. The answer was, nothing.

By the end of the session, it had been generally agreed that there would have to be more cooperation, at least in the broad strokes, if the mission was to succeed. The various party members vowed to share as much information as possible, at least so as to avoid putting the party and/or the mission into unnecessary danger.

Episode 6 - Soldiers & castles & dragons, Oh My!!
With prisoners in hand, it was time to find out what they knew, and who they were. There was quite a bit of discussion about what was the best way to do this. Some of the suggestions were quite, graphic. In the end a combination of intimidation and some mind altering magic were used to find out the truth of things.

The party learned that the men who had attacked them were soldiers, sent out from the nearby Fort Serris, after the men from the day before had returned. These men were told to find and kill the party, but were not given any real reason for it except that Lord Ezelan, their commander, said it was necessary.

The party also learned what was in the papers that Lady Arianna had liberated from the soldiers the day before. They were orders for military units near the mountains. They were to begin something of a shell game of movement, trooping from place to place without actually accomplishing much in the process. Most of the units would end up right back where they started after a few days of marching and billets.

During the discussions, High Magus Exim was called outside by a contact and when he returned, he announced that there was a man that he would meet with, alone, who could shed more light on what was going on. This sparked a rollicking discussion on the propriety of him taking off alone and the whole issue of personal agendas. In the end, Exim left to meet his contact, with a decision that all would meet again at a designated place in a set number of days.

In the morning, the party took the two captives in tow and headed to the castle of Fort Serris. They intended to see what would happen when they came with these "brigands" who had attacked them in the night.

They were challenged at the gate and the guards immediately recognized the officer and senior NCO that the party had. They were ordered to remain in place while higher ranking fold were sought from inside the walls. The officer that came out was adamant that the party release their prisoners while the party was just as adamant that they wanted to speak to Lord ezelan about why these men had set upon them in the night, not in uniform and asking no questions. A stand off ensued. Lady Arianna used this time to infiltrate the fort.

Eventually, Lord Ezelan appeared and the party and he repaired to a distance from the walls. He was furious and ordered that the party release the prisoners. Visconte Nicolo produced papers as to the esteemed nature of the party and tried to make hay while the sun shone. The sun quickly set as Ezelan was in no mood to be pushed around.

He countered that if they let the captives go, he would forget about things that the party had done. Reverend Dunbar was becoming more and more upset at the way things were going and at the insinuation that the party had done some crime. Ezelan made it plain that he knew that the party had poisoned the soldiers the day before and that he had sent out troops to deal with these dangerous people.

At about this time, the party (except Dunbar) packed it in, realizing that he had as much on them as they had on him. They released the captives and went on their way. The reverend fumed all the way along.

In the meanwhile, Exim had reached his actual objective, the Dragon's aerie in the mountains. He was quickly found by the dragon and he began offering information to the creature about the machinations of the Red Robes and offered to help the dragons counter these actions. The dragon determined to marinate the matter and ensconced Exim in an anti-magicked cage whose previous wizardly occupant had left naught but bones to be remembered by. And there we left him.

Episode 5 - Fight Night
As the party settled in for the night, there was no inkling of the fun that would follow. As they were in hostile territory, they set up a Leomund's Secure Shelter and settled in to the normal watch schedule. That schedule was broken in the middle of the night when the sentries realized that there were people in the forest.

The party moved to discover who those people were, and the sentries called out to the shadows of the night. Their reply came in the form of a hail of arrows. The fight was on!

The unknown attackers moved towards the party as all but Reverend Dunbar and Master Wu Sun made ready for the fight. The arrows continued to come, causing some injury but failing to blunt the fellowship's enthusiasm for the coming battle. Sir Kasmir was particularly ready for combat, moving out to quickly meet the opponents as they came towards the party.

In the heat of combat it was difficult to determine exactly how many foemen there were, however there were clearly more than a dozen, and perhaps twice that number. They were, as they came into view, seen to be dressed in the manner of brigands and were equipped with similar weapons.

The fight became a fluid affair, with all taking part as their natures permitted. Sir Kasmir waded into the foe, offering them the chance to avoid death by surrendering. They failed to do so and died at his hand. Hid Grace made good use of his weapons as well, while the mage Exim made efforts with magic. Most surprising to all was the speed and efficiency with which Lady Arianna dispatched no less than four of her opponents.

As the fight wound down, several of the enemy made their escape from the filed of battle, leaving one that had been poisoned to sleep by Lady Arianna while the other was "suggested" to surrender by High Magus Exim with an Obey spell. The fight thus ended, the group began to interrogate the prisoners.

Episode 4 - All This and Shakles Too!
En route to temple, Dunbar determined that he was being followed. He did not like this much and decided to do something about it. Upon his arrival at the temple and his confirmation that Arianna was on his tail, he told the local priest that he feared for his life from a halfling assassin that had followed him into the temple. He then went about his prayers.

Lady Arianna stayed about an hour in temple, then left to check out some things. As she exited the temple, she was arrested by several town guards who declined to tell her why she was being detained. She was taken to the garrison gaol.

Meanwhile Dunbar had rejoined the rest of the party and told them that Arianna had been arrested on his orders. The rest of the party were nonplussed. What followed was an extensive "discussion " on the topics of trust, party cohesion and the like. The details are best left untold. In the end, Dunbar agreed to go to the gaol and get Arianna released. Visconte Nicolo went along, as did one or two others. The rest retired to a restaurant where Exim announced that he would buy meals for all.

Upon their arrival at the garrison gaol, Dunbar and company were (somewhat) surprised to see that Arianna had already been released. The gaol commandant was being very obsequious and assured Arianna that he would see to it that nothing more was said and asked that she do the same. He then apologized to Rev. Lodestone, saying that there was "insufficient evidence" to hold her and that the charges were dropped. He retreated quickly.

Arianna, Dunbar, et al. joined the rest of the party at the restaurant. There occurred a reconciliation of sorts. Lady Arianna first questioned Rev. Lodestone about what he might know about troop movements from Kraig Odan into northern mountains. After she had satisfied herself that he knew nothing of them, she revealed that she was an agent of the Mercandian Secret Security Regiment and a personal agent of its leader, Procurator Nergaz. All agreed to be a bit more open in future.

After asking questions around town during the evening, the party concluded that there was a definite military problem here. The leadership had no real desire to do anything about the dragon attacks and the lower ranking officers were angry, but not yet mutinous, about it. They all feared the political clout of the regional military commander, Lord Ezelan, at Fort Serris. It also came to light that the increase in attacks had started almost two years ago, hundreds of miles further north and had just gotten to this area some months ago. These facts had not been reported even to the local people with any regularity.

The party decided to leave Res Ossal and head straight to Fort Serris, a day's ride away. During the journey they felt that they were being shadowed. They eventually faked a rest stop in order to determine who they were. Between magic and lenses, it was determined that they were a group of four soldiers. While Lady Arianna moved in under invisibility, Rev. Lodestone rode right up to the soldiers and invited them to join the party on the road.

The soldiers approached cautiously. Arianna determined to check into the belongings of one of the soldiers and covered her actions by pricking him with a dose of paralytic poison. She rifled a saddlebag and got out of sight to regain visibility. She then burst forward and claimed to have seen an insect attack the soldier, who had slumped from the saddle.

Sir Kasmir moved to aid the stricken man, using a Neutralize Poison to bring him round. Exim,meanwhile, used magic to fake an insect in the area. The soldiers were disturbed, and they decided to keep on going towards the fort after the party determined to make camp.

Episode 3 - In the Ashes
Setting out from the ruins of the recently destroyed mining village, the party headed in the direction of another village. They arrived near nightfall. There was some disagreement on how to approach the town at night. There were no signs of life and as the party approached it became obvious that the place was in a bad way. Some wanted to camp outside while others went in. Lady Arianna and Giobel went into the village while Visconte Nicolo and Sir Kasmir made their way around the outside. The rest settled in to eat outside the village.

Those that went into town discovered that it had been destroyed some time before. Nicolo found that of the three mines at the end of the vale, one was ablaze and had been for some time while the others, though obviously connected, were not yet burning.

The party held a discussion as to whether or not to camp within the mine shafts or outside. They eventually did a bit of both and spent the night in relative discomfort in the ruins of the town.

The next day, Rev. Lodestone decided to use the dragon claw as a connection to scry out the location of the dragon. The dragon was found but it sensed the scrying and did not lead the party directly to its lair. It did, however, allow the party to find out that it was living near to a volcano.

The party determined to travel to a nearby community that was thought to be a supply town for the mining villages. When they arrived, they found that it was trying to fortify itself, though it was obvious that their efforts would not amount to much against dragon. The party determined to send a group into the village in an effort to speak with the leadership and find out more bout what had transpired in the region.

Dunbar, Arianna and Kasmir presented themselves at the gate and were eventually met by a senior towns person and merchant named Audrian, a human no less. He told the group that the village elder, Cassianae, was asleep from overseeing works all night but would likely see them when she awoke in the afternoon. Kasmir was allowed to examine the defenses and make suggestions while the others looked about. Giobel came to town and put on a performance while Rev. Lodestone held a service for the locals.

When Cassianae awoke, she met with the party. She was very cordial and the group was treated to herbal teas and such. She explained that while there had been dragon attacks for a very long time, they had become frequent here only in the last few months. The town, Thelan, was a supply hub for dozens of mines and prospectors working in this part of the the Varsk Mountains.

Cassianae explained that they had lost contact with many of the villages over the past while and that there were many prospectors and prospecting families that had not come to get supplies in quite some time. She said that the army was doing nothing much about it. There had been a patrol that came through town six weeks earlier but it had not even strayed from the high road when it passed through. She had sent people to Res Ossal and to Fort Serris, where the local military commander is located. Neither had any useful response.

Meanwhile, Rev, Lodestone, though means he has yet to reveal to the party, determined that the dragon was en route to Thelan and that all should evacuate. A general alarm was raised and the townsfolk fled while the party went on their way back towards the high road. Dunbar was very keen to be far separated from the town when the dragon arrived in a few hours. The dragon was seen flying low over the trees parallel to the road, heading towards town. It was later seen that it also destroyed another village along its route of advance.

The party arrived at Res Ossal and made entry. They were informed that they would have to hand over their weapons, as was done for all non-locals in these times of trouble. There was much grumbling and a few discussed attempts at circumventing the search, however all weapons were tuned over.

Visconte Nicolo and some others, not including Rev. Lodestone and Lady Arianna, made their way to see the Captain of the Guard, Melandra Nazan. She proved to be an uptight high elf, and explained to the party that there was a pressing need to maintain order. She was possessed of limited resources and therefore the ban on weapons was something of a force multiplier for her troops. She also explained that there was great expense involved in providing security to a town of this size.

His Grace quickly understood the latter, and arranged a payment of 200 talents worth of gems to help defer costs. In exchange for this generosity, Capt. Nazan arranged to allow the party to regain their weapons. Sir Kasmir was appalled. The party then headed back to the gatehouse to recover their stuff.

While this was happening, Rev. Loadstone was going to the local temple, with Lady Arianna following along...

Episode 2 - A Long and Cindered Road
The planning ended ended with the decision to travel to Kanlon, site of a number of recent dragon attacks, timed curiously near the time of the visions. Thoughts then turned to transport and similar arrangements.

The party selected sea travel from the Albu Archipelago to the port of Dar Nizzet in Volpetar, at the mouth of the River Imris. This, like so much else, lead to a measure of heated discussion. Some members of the group, chief among them being Visconte Nicolo and Master Giobel, expressed great concern over traveling near the Theocracy of H'Aravar. His Grace expressed a dislike for those too concerned with religion while Giobel's concerns were less articulated, but probably stemmed from the state of relations between his nation and H'Aravar. In the end it was determined to travel along the river route with stops being made only on the Volpetaran side of the river.

Travel by sea was uneventful. The group arrived at Dar Nizzet and some made arrangement to send information to their respective organizations, advising of the plans. The ship then continued upriver. Religious festivals in progress on the north bank, coupled with the movement of harvests down river, made for some slow going, but the ship eventually arrived at Lake Relam, the last point where the ocean-going ship could safely travel.

Lady Arianna had made arrangements to have word sent to the Mercandian government to supply river transport from Lake Relam, down the River Tov, to the trade town of Chanra, on the Mercandian shore of the Tov. The Mercandian Navy supplied a river warship and crew to take the party down river. At Chanra, the party were met by Mercandian representatives who supplied horses and other provisions for the trip across Kanlon. Lady Arianna picked up rumours that there were far more dragon attacks going on in Kanlon than the government was reporting. The party spent the night in Chanra, listening to the sounds of the wild beasts and monsters in the haunted woods of southern Kanlon.

In the morning, the party embarked upon the rope ferry to take them to the town of Yvain on the Kanlon side of the river. There they were met by four soldiers of the Kanlon Royal Borderers who would provide a guide and escort until the interior was reached.

The party traveled for several days across land to reach the area where the dragon attacks had been reported. It did not take long to locate a village that had been destroyed. The buildings were burned and the population destroyed. There was ample evidence that it was a dragon attack, including the cracked-off claw of the beast and claw marks on the entrance to the village mine.

The party traveled to the next location where a village was to be expected, finding it to be in ruins as well. The attack here was much more recent as the buildings were still smoldering. The mine entrance here was barred and an attempt was made to enter, resulting in a back draft of flame from the still-burning mine.

Bodies were found in the mine that were useful for casting a Speak With Dead spell upon. Various questions were asked of the dead, confirming that there was a red dragon making the attacks, and that the attacks were happening at mid-morning.

Episode 1 - A Chequered Meeting
And so it began. In the room known as the Tower Hall in Castle Kenzer, the first full meeting of the party was held. Around a vast oak table, a band of seven stalwarts gathered to begin laying strategy for the task that lies ahead. They are an interesting lot, and they are likely to get even more interesting as time goes by.

In no particular order, the group consists of Viscount Nicolo (Bernie), a grey elf from Adineer; Master Giobel of Caladon (Dale), an elfblood; Lady Arianna Quickfoot (Eva), halfling from Mercandia; Revered Dunbar Lodestone of Kraig Odan (Mark), a dwarf; Initiate Sirtis Andar of the Red Robes, an elfblood; Sir Kasmir Firestone (Rod), another dwarf; and Master Wu-Sun (John), a human from Chusun.

Also in the room is the mysterious gnomish representative from the secretive nation of K'Nedr, one Lord Azan Rassa. He will figure most prominently in a moment.

Just as the meeting began to get underway, with a review of the information already in hand, the assemblage became aware of a figure that had quietly entered the room. Dressed in the same sort of robes as Initiate Sirtis, this fellow was of some higher rank within their order, as evidenced by Sirtis' obvious discomfiture.

The new arrival beckoned Sirtis to him and sent him off on some errand or another, obviously of great importance to someone as it was preceded by folderol about allowing him to do something more in line with his abilities. Sirtus read he new orders, paled visibly, and fled.

The new arrival introduced himself as High Magus Exim (Colin) of the Red Robes, who was to be that organization's actual representative on the expedition. He apologized for the delay of his arrival and for the unorthodox nature of his entrance. There were murmurs in the group, but attention was soon focused on Azan, who had been observing wordlessly all along.

There arose a "discussion" about what to do with the gnome representative. It was obvious that he was not going to be taking part in the mission, however it seemed as though he was not going to leave. Some members of the party felt that if he was not going to come along, he should not be privy to the planning stages. Others were less concerned, feeling that there are so many dangers ahead that the problems posed by the gnome were not that important.

The situation with the gnome became something of an interrogation, with Dunbar using his Helm of Telepathy to look at the little fellow's surface thoughts while he was asked about his presence. In the end, the questioning led to his departure from the room. The fun then turned to an examination of whether or not Exim was the true representative of the Red Robes, seeing as he replaced the "official" representative whose name appeared on the roster. In the end, it was determined to accept Exim's presence, at least for the time being, and to begin the actual planning for the trip.

The party had been informed of the texts of the Visions, as well as some of the odd events that had occurred or begun at around that same time. These events included:

• Dragon attacks in unusual numbers and in unusual places.
• An unexpected and unprecedented uprising among the humans in the southern nation of Halashan.
• A number of nations failed to send either word or representatives to the Council meeting. There was much discussion as to the reasons for their absence, some speculating that there might be collusion among some of those countries and whatever evil might be gathering.