Eberron Adventure Journal: Voyage of the Golden Dragon

Aryth 27 - Aryth 28, YK 998

Part One - Dragon's Fall:
As dusk fell on an unusually clear day in Sharn on Aryth 27, the Wandering Wolves, decked out in finer clothes than their usual adventuring gear, made their way to the docking towers of Lyrandar Tower to attend the christening gala for the Golden Dragon, the largest airship ever built.

As they started to see the crowds of people, they got their first glimpse of the impressive airship. Floating 200 feet off the ground alongside the tower, it was near 200 feet long and 60 feet across at its thickest. Enormous enough to require two elemental rings, one of them was burning with flame while the other was dormant and dark. The Wolves made their way up the gangplank, ascending to the front deck and marveling at the immense and elaborately crafted ship.

The crowd was fairly large; Lysander estimated just over 50 guests, including themselves but not including the House Medani sentries that stood watch or the crew, who were mostly mingling with the crowds themselves. Amongst the crowd, Pel and Lysander spotted Kessler the famous gnome bard, Ravvan Mollac the maitre 'd of the fine Azure Gateway restaurant, a half-dozen of Sharn's city councilors and even the lord mayor himself.

The food onboard the ship was exquisite, prepared by Golden Dragon chef Jaeden Kovane, and the wine and spirits were provided by the fine restaurant Sannid's. Waiters from Sannid's and several other restaurants, moonlighting as the Golden Dragon's service staff, walked amidst the crowds making sure everyone had their fill of fine food and drink. From belowdecks, the singing of talented female bards could be heard, and the starry sky provided a breathtaking view for the open deck, especially for those who stood at the stern of the ship and took advantage of its observation deck.

While they mingled, the Wolves were greeted by a jovial half-orc named Velgram Linntorm, who introduced himself as the ship's bosun. He gave them a quick tour of the ship, showing them the locked area that served as the bridge as well as telling them that there was an artificer's laboratory onboard. As he showed them, the Wolves watched Manten Dramgin, the dwarvish ship's artificer, arguing with a halfling until both stalked into the lab. Velgram explained that the halfling, Torren Blackfingers, was currently renting the luxury suite and was an artificer who had been granted access to the laboratory as a result, which didn't sit well with Manten.

Velgram continued the tour by taking them down to the second level so they could see the staterooms, the dining area and the House of Chance. The House of Chance was the source of the music they had heard, and they could also hear the shouts of excitement and disappointment from patrons engaging in games of Three Dragon Ante, dragonwheel and other games of fortune. As they entered the House of Chance, Lysander saw that the three women singing were elves, sisters who were former members of House Phiarlan named Tarla, Desrida and Nicolette. Lyrander had encountered the sisters some thirty years previous, and had enjoyed a brief romantic relationship with Tarla. A halfling came around from behind the bar and introduced himself as Kalibar Jenks, owner of the casino. He tried to invite the Wolves to play some Three Dragon Ante, but they begged off and, minding the earlier words of Velgram, watched their purses when Kalibar was around.

After that, the Wolves split up to mingle and enjoy the party for a few hours. Pel sought out Sava Kharisa, the councilor for Lower Central Sharn, and engaged her in conversation about the corruption of the Watch, the dangers of the Boromar clan and other such matters. Sava's idealistic and fiery rhetoric struck Pel as something that might be of use later. Luggoth, meanwhile, mostly kept to himself and glared at the others, until he was approached by Josilian Kan d'Tiarlan, a gnome who worked for House Sivis in Clifftop. Josilian introduced himself as the finest barrister in Sharn and explained that his enclave specialized in helping adventurers in legal trouble and translating text and other materials from Xen'drik. He gave Luggoth his card, believing due to the Wolves' reputation that they might have need of one or both services in the future.

Tworock was amazed by all of the spectacle, as he had never seen anything like it in Xen'drik. He spent a great deal of time in the reception hall, talking to everyone he could and enjoying a great deal of Jaeden Kovane's food. Lysander made a point of speaking to the captain, an elf named Alastair d'Lyrander, who seemed nervous, but presented a brave face. His nervousness made Lysander suspicious, and he resolved to keep an eye on the captain.

Just after midnight, as the party was peaking and about to start winding down, Tworock was witness to the beginning of a hijacking. The hobgoblin work crews emerged from the steam room and began eating from the servant's meal table. One of the hobgoblins threw a thunderstone against the wall to get everyone's attention. The other hobgoblins drew weapons and grabbed the few other people remaining belowdecks, then moved with them up to the top deck. Tworock was too big for them to risk trying to take him hostage, but they threatened the hostages to get him to move above decks with them. Three minotaurs rushed out of the steam room, sealed it behind them and followed up onto the deck.

The lead hobgoblin announced himself as Brakkar and revealed his hostages, as a pair of harpies flew in and provided air cover. He announced that there was a bomb capable of destroying the ship onboard, and demanded a ransom of 200,000 gold. "For people such as yourselves, this is a minor issue! I'll need it in untraceable gold bars."

The Wolves kept an eye on what was going on, waiting for an opportunity. Pel and Luggoth both noticed Brakkar speaking into a circle of sound, seemingly agitated with whoever was on the other end of the line. Lysander, who had swallowed a potion of invisibility at the first sign of trouble, slipped down the stairs to see if he could find the bomb. He found the sealed steam room, and heard someone working inside, but couldn't easily get in, and so he made his way back up onto the deck before his potion wore off.

The Medani sentries and private security encouraged everyone to remain calm, and seemed predisposed towards paying the ransom rather than getting anyone killed. The dignitaries arranged messages to be sent out to get them the money quietly, and while the situation was tense, it didn't seem particularly dangerous.

Until a half hour had passed, and a desperate looking hobgoblin ran up and started talking to Brakkar. Pel's trained senses and Luggoth's bestial hearing picked up on what was being said, which was "He don't care about no ransom. Says you'll be spendin' it in Dolurrh."

The hobgoblins released their hostages to go up to the observation deck with the rest of the crew and attending dignitaries, clearly in preparation for heading to the escape skiffs, and this was all the Wolves needed to spring into action. Tworock manifested his force screen and charged down the stairs toward the first group of hobgoblins and the minotaur with them.

Luggoth shifted, leaped down and killed one of the hobgoblins with his sword. Lysander summoned his bow from his glove of storing and began firing arrows at the hobgoblins and minotaurs, as Pel moved in front of Kava to protect her and opened fire with his crossbow.

Brakkar cast mage armor on himself and lit the noxious smokesticks wound into his beard to give himself a cloud of choking smoke, as his minotaurs and hobgoblins moved in to engage and his harpies began flying down, trying to strike the Wolves. The Medani sentries pulled out their crossbows and began firing at the harpies as well.

The hobgoblins were pretty much ineffective except as nuisances, and Luggoth would kill them casually on his way to attacking the minotaurs. The minotaurs were another story, swinging their deadly axes at the Wolves' two front-line fighters, Luggoth and Tworock. In fact, Tworock went down early in the fight, almost mortally wounded by an axe strike, although his psionic discipline allowed him to stabilize himself.

Luggoth killed one of the minotaurs attacking him and then focused on the other, which landed an axe blow of its own. Lysander continued to provide crossbow support, firing at the minotaur, Brakkar and the hobgoblins, and Pel provided back-up in the form of a Bless spell and a Command spell, which caused one of the minotaurs to temporarily retreat.

As Brakkar gave up on spellcasting and went into a rage, swinging his adamantine warhammer, a somewhat foppish looking man appeared from the stairs with a young woman in tow. "You see, dear, I told you that wasn't just you screaming!" He announced himself as Diarmand d'Deneith, challenged the hobgoblins and then sprung forward and attacked Brakkar with a rapier before moving deftly to another position.

The harpies continued to fly by and attack, exchanging attacks with the Medani sentries, Diarmand engaged in melee with Brakkar. Luggoth killed the minotaur he was facing, just in time for the other minotaur to shake off Pel's command and come charging back.

Luggoth moved in to help Diarmand with Brakkar, and the minotaur went up onto the deck after Pel, killing the sentry standing nearest him. Lysander moved over to the captain and got the key for the steam chamber, and the harpies, wounded, withdrew to the side of the ship and began screeching out their song, hypnotizing most of the crew, guest and even the remaining hobgoblins.

Diarmand was also under the spell of the harpies, and he walked off the side of the ship and began plummeting. The hobgoblins, Brakkar, Luggoth and the remaining minotaur likewise walked toward the edge. Pel killed the screeching harpy with his crossbow as he ran towards the bridge, but the other one immediately began screeching, causing two of the hobgoblins to fling themselves to their doom.

Free of the screeching, Diarmand saved himself by casting a feather fall spell and began drifting the long 200 feet down towards the ground. Luggoth, seeing an opportunity with Brakkar so near the railing, tried to bull rush him off the side, but Brakkar resisted and swung an unsuccessful attack at Luggoth in return. After Lysander sang to stop the harpy's screeching effect and Pel fired another bolt into it, the creature realized the battle was lost and flew away at top speed.

Unhappy with his lot but realizing it was time to engage, Lysander fired his bow at the remaining minotaur. Pel tried to draw off its attention by firing his wand of magic missiles, but the minotaur went for the closer target. Fortunately, Lysander was able to protect himself with mirror image long enough for Brakkar to fall out of his rage and succumb to the wounds Luggoth had inflicted. This freed Luggoth up to run up and engage the minotaur, as Pel moved to Tworock and healed him, waking him up. The half-giant took his revenge, charging the minotaur that had nearly killed him and running it through with his large greatsword.

Lysander, still worried that the captain was in on it somehow, asked Luggoth to stay up and keep an eye on him while the rest of the Wolves went downstairs to find the bomb. When they got downstairs and got to the steam room, they found a minotaur in the corridor guarding it. They yelled for Luggoth and took up positions, and Luggoth came down the other stairs to flank the beast.

Tworock, still wounded, drank his potion of cure serious wounds and then psionically enlarged himself, growing even larger than the minotaur as a result. However, after Luggoth charged in, the minotaur turned and attacked him, burying his horns in Luggoth's side. Luggoth responded by stabbing the minotaur with his greatsword, and Tworock charged in and attacked with his greatsword as well. The beast was reeling, and Luggoth finished it off with another deadly sword stroke.

Lysander used the key he had gotten from the captain and opened the door to the steam room. Though the pipes and mesh blocked a clear view, he could see that there were several hobgoblins in there, and he cast a sleep spell to deal with most of them. Pel moved in and saw a scarred, whip-thin human along with two more hobgoblins, standing near a mithril disk that he identified as the bomb.

The human drank a potion and turned into a mist, fleeing along the pipes, and the Wolves had no trouble killing the remaining hobgobllins. However, they were still faced with the bomb, a mithril disk with multicolored gemstones counting down in a spiral pattern. Pel, using his trapmaking and disarming skills, managed to slow the countdown to give them a little over a minute, and Tworock, based on his knowledge of arcana and psionic effects, realized that if they moved the bomb, it would detonate sooner, perhaps as soon as six second later. Lysander reasoned that if they moved the bomb to the elemental water chamber in the room, the bomb would be absorbed rather than destroying the elemental ring and causing the ship to plummet.

Nervous about their chances but not seeing any other choice, Pel moved the bomb over to the chamber. There was a flash of white light, and then superheated steam began pouring out of the pipes, which creaked and groaned ominously. The Wolves rushed out of the chamber to avoid being further burned and held their breath, but the ship didn't tumble out of the sky.

Back atop the ship, Captain Alastair thanked the Wolves for saving the ship. When prodded by Lysander, he admitted that his nervousness had been due to previous accidents in his career. The Golden Dragon, he explained, was his last chance at a big commission, and the Wolves had just saved it. "The Wandering Wolves will always be welcome on the Golden Dragon, as long as I'm captain."

The first mate, an elven woman named Mazzia, ran up to the captain and told him that one of the skiffs had disembarked. Pel wasn't surprised, saying "It was probably the human we chased out of the steam chamber." Captain Alastair grinned and explained that the human was in for a surprise... they could recall the lifeboats using a control on the bridge. The Wolves went down to the lifeboat bay to prepare for the return of the would-be saboteur, resolving to take him alive if they could so they could interrogate him. While they waited, Tworock prepared by engaging most of his psionic powers.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one preparing for the combat. The human was not alone in the skiff, he was accompanied by Kray, a warforged with a wicked battleclaw for one hand. And the human was an artificer, so he provided a few enhancements for the warforged before they landed. When they arrived back in the Golden Dragon's belly, the battle was joined.

Lysander tried to charm the human, who resisted, and Tworock and Luggoth both moved in to battle Kray, who snapped his battleclaw and slashed at Tworock, trying to grab him in the process but failing to hold on.

Lysander and Pel both tried using spells on the human, trying to wrap him in animated rope or stop him with hold person, but he resisted, and both noted that he was moving at supernatural speed as a result of a haste spell. He also infused his crossbow with flaming bolts, revealing his artificer abilities wihtout a doubt. Tworock landed a blow against Kray, but Kray responded with another wicked slash of his battleclaw, and this time he was successful in grabbing the half-giant and lifting him about a foot off the floor, revealing the level of enhanced strength he currently had.

Luggoth flew into a barbarian rage as Lysander drew his longsword and began a battle song. Pel jumped onto the skiff behind the human and slashed him with his scimitar, scoring a flesh wound on the villain's arm. Tworock continued to struggle, keeping Kray from crushing him but failing to break the grip until Luggoth scored a hit on the warforged, distracting him long enough for Tworock to break free.

Dropping his crossbow, the human drew his rapier and stabbed at Pel, who dodged and said "I suggest you surrender." The human sneered and growled "I'll die first." Pel responded with "Very well" and stabbed with his rapier, but the human parried him, and the two were joined in battle.

Pel needled the human verbally, wanting to know who he was "before he died," but the human would not give up his identity. "You'll die not knowing" he snarled.

Seeing his human master in trouble, Kray rushed over and snapped twice with the battleclaw, cutting across Pel's chest and face. Luggoth followed the warforged and continued attacking, as did Tworock, who was landing several punishing blows on the warforged. As Pel moved into position with Lysander to flank the human, Kray tried to withdraw to drink a potion, but Tworock slashed again with his greatsword and the warforged fell, his potion of repair spilling out onto the floor.

Luggoth, well and truly angry by now, tried to bite the human, who dodged thanks to his supernatural speed, but it was clear that his speed was wearing off. Lysander moved in, and now the human was surrounded by the Wandering Wolves, and suffered several wounds. Then he abandoned his defensive posture and rushed through their line, causing all of the Wolves to strike with full force. They killed him easily, but as their battle lust faded, they realized that the human had tricked them into killing him rather than capturing him.

On his person, they found some silver spheres, and when they cast detect magic to examine everything that their opponents had, they determined that they had an arcane mark on them. Unfortunately, even with the wealth of knowledge among them, they weren't sure what the marks meant.

As they recovered from their injuries and the battle, they were approached by Manten Dramgrin, chief artificer of the Golden Dragon. He expressed his thanks for their actions, commended them for their bravery and said that his professional opinion is that their actions in the steam room without a doubt saved the ship from doom. He then told them that he feared that due to the sophistication of the attack, it had to have been an inside job. His suspicion was that Torren Blackfingers, the halfling artificer, was the one involved, but he didn't have any proof. He asked if the Wolves would be willing to accompany the Golden Dragon on its maiden voyage to Xen'drik and help ferret out the traitor. He wouldn't tell anyone else why they were there, save the captain, because he wasn't sure who he could trust.

Manten could only promise 1,000 gold, the extent of his savings, as payment, but when he went and talked to the captain, Alastair said that Lyrandar could do better than that. In addition to giving them free staterooms for the journey, he said that he would pay them 1,000 gold each. Not ones to turn down money or adventure, the Wolves agreed.

XP: 2975 (EL 7)/4163 (EL 5)

Eberron Character: Tworock

Name: Tworock
Race: Half-Giant
Class: Psychic Warrior/Warmind
Level: 6/1
Experience: 25,188
Alignment: Neutral Good
Religion: The Dragon Above
Homeland: Xen'drik
Age: 33 Height: 7'10" Weight: 382 lbs.

Statistics: STR 20, DEX 13, CON 22, INT 15, WIS 18, CHA 14, BAB +5, Fort +7 (+13), Ref +4 (+5), Will +2 (+6), Init +1 (+1), AC 16/20 w/Force Screen (+5 armor, +1 Dex), HP 82

Skills: Autohypnosis +8 (+14), Concentration +10 (+14), Craft: Armorsmithing +1 (+3), Craft: Weaponsmithing +1 (+3), Knowledge: History +2 (+4), Knowledge: Psionics +10 (+14), Psicraft +3 (+7), Ride +1 (+2), Swim +1 (+2)

Psionic Power Points: 27

Psionic Powers: 1 - Biofeedback, Expansion, Force Screen, Grip of Iron, Mind Thrust; 2 - Animal Affinity, Body Adjustment, Levitate (Psionic)

Racial Abilities: +2 on saving throws vs. Fire, +2, Immune to "person" spells, Low-light Vision, Powerful Build (Treat as Large when beneficial), Naturally psionic, Stomp 1/day

Class Abilities: Bonus Feats, Chain of Personal Superiority +2

Weapons/Attacks: +11 (3d6+8, Large Greatsword +1), +10 (2d8+7 Large Heavy Flail), Masterwork Adamantine Warhammer +11 (1d8 +7), +6 (1d8+4, Composite Longbow: STR +4 w/20 arrows)

Equipment:

(1) Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Dorje of Skate (49 charges), Bag of Holding II, Amulet of Health +4, Large Greatsword +1, Chain Shirt +1, Psionic Tattoo (Expansion: 1st), Psionic Tattoo (Force Screen: 1st), Psionic Tattoo (Mind Thrust: 2d10/2nd), (2) Feather Fall Talisman, Composite Longbow (+4 Str), 20 arrows, Large heavy flail, Masterwork Adamantine Warhammer, Large Dagger, Flint & steel, Fishhook and line, (2) Belt pouch, (2) Days trail rations, Waterskin, (2) Sunrod, Traveler's outfit, 0 CP, 9 SP, 26 GP, 2 PP

Feats: Psionic Meditation, Rapid Metabolism, Speed of Thought, Up the Walls, Scribe Tattoo, Expanded Knowledge (Mind Thrust)

Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, all armor, all shields (except tower shields)

Languages: Common, Giant, Draconic

History: Tworock's mother, Allista d'Tharashk, was a skilled monk and esteemed bounty hunter. During the Last War, Allista pursued a dangerous fugitive deep into the heart of Xen'drik. Allista followed a false trail leading her right into the hands of a ruthless tribe of Fire Giants. As was their tradition, every male in the clan raped Allista so that none would know her child's true father. Allista died in childbirth, providing the tribe with a new Half-Giant slave. Though Tworock was raised a slave, he never failed to question his masters. In the scant hours between his backbreaking chores and brief opportunities to sleep, Tworock would learn everything he could from his fellow slaves. As the years went by, Tworock's frequent attempts to escape earned him many beatings. However, Tworock learned that if he focused his rage inward, the beatings didn't hurt quite as much as they had before. One of the other slaves, a Duergar slave known as Fireforge who was kept as a smith for the giants, took notice of this fact. Fireforge was a psychic warrior/warmind who becamae a slave to the giants in exchange for the freedom of his daughter. Fireforge began training Tworock to focus his psionic abilities. During this time, Fireforge was secretly creating a greatsword for Tworock to use to gain his freedom. Fireforge cleverly inscribed the secrets of the Talariic Texts into each fold of the metal as he forged Tworock's sword so that as Tworock's self awarness and power grew, he would be able to "see" within the blade's layers and learn the secrets of the Warmind. As his powers grew, Tworock continued inciting rebellion and attempting escape. Many believe that his name comes from the time he brained a fire giant guard with two rocks, but the truth is that he earned it because the other slaves said he had two stones between his legs where other men have only flesh.

After many years of striving for freedom, Tworock's chance came when Traega d'Orien was taken captive by the giants. Tworock nursed Traega back to health, enjoying the world traveller's stories of a faraway land across the sea. It was not long before Tworock learned that Traega had magical powers of transport that made his jail cell laughable. Traega had been impressed by Tworock's kindness, insistence on doing the right thing and above all, his thirst for freedom. Determined to free Tworock and all of the slaves from the cruel giants, Traega allied himself with Tworock and forged a plan. With the help of Fireforge and the other slaves, Traega and Tworock slew several of the giants and then led the rest of them into a series of traps Traega had laid in the jungle thanks to his teleportation abilities. Finally free after a lifetime of slavery, Tworock followed Traega to the shore nearby, laying his eyes upon the ocean for the first time in his nearly half a century of life. For three days, Tworock stood silently on a reef, ankle deep in the surf on sharp coral. He stared out at the ocean and swore to himself that one day he would travel across it to see the wide world Traega had described to him. In the meantime, however, he vowed to stay in Xen'drik with Traega, protecting from harm the man who gave him his freedom.

Personality:
Tworock is the calm at the center of a storm. In his studies, he has learned to focus all of his rage and emotion inward, ready to burst free as psionic energy. As a result, Tworock is wise and serene, unruffled by dangerous events and harrowing situations. However, when he enters into battle Tworock releases all of his pent up emotion in brief moments of pure rage that can give him bull-like strength, blast the mind of an enemy, or even cause him to break free of his body's limitations and grow larger in size. He longs to travel the world and see all of the things denied to him as a slave.

Also, Tworock has a strongly developed sense of right and wrong. He cares little about the laws of men, though he respects their usefulness when the laws are just. For Tworock, it is easy to see what is the right thing to do and though the right path is usually a difficult one, it would be a disrespect to the gift of a free life for him to follow any other road. That said, he does take special pleasure in destroying Fire Giant males whenever possibile, always wondering if the one he is slaying participated in his mother's rape and hoping that this one might be his true father.

Eberron Adventure Journal: Return to Sharn

Aryth 11 - Aryth 18, YK 998

Part One - Big News:
After Pel's return to life, he and Lysander went back to the Chapter House to gather up Kanatash and Luggoth and head back out to the Sea Dart. When they arrived, however, they were met by a new face. A half-giant, almost eight feel tall and wearing a rune-carved greatsword on his back, walked over to them and handed them a letter, with a wax seal bearing the mark of the Wandering Wolves.

Breaking the seal, Lysander saw that the letter was from Brand. It read:

Since I know you all to be a paranoid lot (not without justification, obviously, or we would not be in Xen’drik in the first place), let me begin by convincing you that this letter does in fact come from a member of the pack. First, you’ll notice that this letter is sealed with the mark of my signet ring and a twist of Whitehearth’s hair in the wax. Secondly, I remind you that a dragonmark of the House Orien can be especially useful when facing wall crawling vampires and is equally effective in the gullet of a giant shark. And third, if the above is not yet proof enough that I am indeed your friend, I will warn you to ‘ware ensorcelled gnomes. They are easily underestimated and can lead to the loss of dear companions.

I am certain that you can guess the identity of my savior. He has powerful friends capable of curing even the devastating rotting disease carried by mummies, such as the one we faced so recently together. Through these friends I know that you have achieved our goal and I applaud you. I shall be staying here in Xen’drik for a time, exploring my roots as it were. In my stead, please accept my savior’s friend Tworock into the pack. His sword is tolerably long and he is well acquainted with its use. Ask him where his name comes from (but not in mixed company).

I remain a wolf at heart and hope to see you all soon.

Good journeys,
Brand

Tworock then handed them another gift from Brand, the fully charged wand of cure light wounds that he had inadvertantly taken from them when his father had teleported them away. When Pel asked, Tworock briefly explained his history to the Wolves, how he had been a slave to a tribe of fire giants until Brand's father had saved him, and how he had joined Brand's father after that, but had always wished to see more of the lands that this new stranger told him about. Brand's arrival gave him the opportunity to do just that, and so he sought out the Wolves at Brand's behest, but also so that he could find adventure and excitement across the seas he had never crossed. The Wolves also greatly enjoyed hearing the origins of his name.

With their new large friend in tow, the Wolves walked back down the shore and boarded the Sea Dart for a five day journey back to Sharn. Tworock spent much of his time in the observation dome, marveling at the first of many wonders he would see in his journeys away from Xen'drik.

Part Two - Conclusions and Transitions:
On Aryth 16, the Wolves arrived back in Sharn. They went immediately to Lady Elaydren's home to give her the creation pattern. Elaydren was delighted to see them and the creation pattern. She expressed worry at Brand's absence, but was relieved to hear that he was alive, at the least. She gave each of them their reward of 2,500 gold in gems.

As dictated by the Wandering Wolves charter, Tworock took half of the gems for Brand's mother, and left the other half for the Wolves' party treasure. He explained that Brand had bid him to please take Whitehearth back to the Eldeen Reaches, and asked how he could get there. Luggoth, who had traveled with Brand before, offered to take him back. In the meantime, they arranged for Tworock to stay at the Clifftop Adventurers Guild Hall.

While in the vicinity of the Hall, they wandered over to the Drunken Dragon to get a drink and relax briefly. The bartender, Mira d'Ghallanda, told them that several members of the guild had expressed interest in joining the Wolves, and that their reputation was growing. She then began asking them how the tryouts went, and making other enigmatic comments, until they confronted her and asked her what she was talking about.

As it turned out, a pair of young warriors, not even Clifftop members, had come into the Dragon about a week ago and had said they had some sort of "audition" for the Wolves in Dura. Mira had found this odd, and she hadn't seen the warriors since, so she assumed they had failed the test and left town.

Kanatash chose this time of rest to announce that he was going to retire from his time with the Wolves and take up more permanent residence at the temple of il-Yannah. He expressed that traveling with the Wolves had been "interesting" and told them that he hoped their paths would cross again in the future.

After Kanatash left and Tworock had headed up to his room, a House Orien courier approached the table. The Wolves were cautious, especially when he came with another summons to see Lady Elaydren, whom they had just seen mere hours before, but they soon realized he was on the level. When they returned to Elaydren's home, she admitted that she had forgotten something, and handed them four invitations to the Aryth 27 christening party for the Golden Dragon, the world's largest airship.

Elaydren explained that she and her betrothed were going to be in Thrane attending a party in their honor at the Cannith Enclave, and she wished to offer these passes as thanks to the Wolves for all the work they had done for her. The food and drink should be excellent, she said, as Chef Jaeden Kovane, the cook for the Golden Dragon, used to be one of King Boranel's cooks and she had enjoyed his food before.

After dealing with various errands relating to their last adventure, the Wolves decided to travel to Gareth's Gear to deal with the various magical items and weapons they had accrued in their journey. Pel and Lysander decided to tell Luggoth the true nature of "Gareth" and bring him fully into partnership in owning the store. When they arrived, they found Tock and Jalis ir'Mroranon hard at work. Jalis reported that the store was still doing well, and handed "Gareth" another 50 gold for the month of Sypheros.

The treasure they had gained in Xen'drik was rich indeed, and the highest priced item was the Cloak of Minor Displacement, which carried a price-tag of 18,000 gold. Realizing that this item could earn a reputation for the shop as well as attracting burglars, the group invested in a new vault, one guarded by House Kundarak runes and built with a sturdy hidden lock.

With this money, each of the adventurers found something they wished to buy, and they also expended some of their personal money on equipment. Pel made his stop in at the Cracked Mirror to check in with Xain, and while the changeling was acting shifty, Pel couldn't determine exactly what had happened. He suspected that Xain was involved in the theft of the creation pattern, but he wasn't entirely sure. Xain passed along information that Zan, a spy inside Cord Lanner's inner circle for Pel's father Vadis, had vanished. Vadis believed that Zan had been discovered and had run away as a result.

After their conversation had ended, a frantic half-elf rushed over to their table and discreetly flashed them the sign that he was with the Tyrants before rushing back out the door. Xain and Pel left separately, adopted different guises, and met up with the half-elf outside. He revealed himself as Fortunel, a changeling in service to Vadis. He explained that he had been with Vadis when he went to a Six Stones match in the Dura Cogs to try and broker a peace with Moloch and the Daask.

Unfortunately, while they were there, The Watch broke up the event, and the cockatrices from the event got away. Moloch blamed Vadis for tipping off the Watch, and Fortunel was barely able to escape, hoping to come and find Xain or Pel. Fortunel handed Pel a hastily scrawled map back to the Six Stones arena and then left.

Pel left and went back to Luggoth and Lysander, both at the Drunken Dragon, to tell them of what had occurred. They did some thinking about who could be behind it, considering not just Cord Lanner but also the Boromar Crime Family, who also had conflicts with the Daask as well as influence with The Watch enough to get them to break up a Six Stones event. Lysander agreed to use his contacts to try and get more information, including looking for who had tipped off the Watch.

Meanwhile, Luggoth and Pel needed to hire a wizard who could help them with Stone to Flesh scrolls in case they ran afoul of the cockatrices while they were attempting to deal with them. They purchased the scrolls from The Dragon's Hoard, and then returned to the Drunken Dragon to hire someone to cast them. They found Elias Volan, a young wizard who agreed to come along, in a noncombat capacity, in exchange for pre-payment of his 275 gold tuition for the semester to Morgrave University.

Part Three - To Catch A Cockatrice:
While Luggoth accompanied Lysander on an information-gathering journey into the city for about four hours, seeking out everything they could find out about the Six Stones, a missing cocktrice or two and who might have tipped off The Watch, Pel and Elias went down to meet with Moloch.

After getting past the gnoll security, Pel went to meet with Moloch, a surprisingly intelligent and well-spoken ogre. Moloch laid out what he (and Renchar, the ogre organizer of the Six Stones event) wanted: A return of the two highly-trained cockatrices, alive, with a minimum of information getting out about their escape or about the Six Stones events. If this were to happen, Vadis would be released unharmed. If it weren't, he would be killed.

Pel attempted to sweeten the deal, offering to find out who tipped off the Watch, and Moloch agreed that if Pel could pull this off, he might be open to future negotiations at some point. He even offered up four potions of Bear's Endurance to help ward off the effects of the cockatrice if one of the Wolves was bitten.

Luggoth and Lysander arrived, and Luggoth was able to find, even after hours of rain, a set of tracks leading one of the cockatrices deeper into the Cogs. After following them for a short while, they found a tenement building in the Khyber's Gate district. Pel investigated and found goblins within, turned to stone, and realized he was in the right place. He turned a corner towards an open door and was met by an angry cockatrice, which had clearly heard him come in.

Luggoth downed his potion and discovered that it had been laced with the addictive drug Dreamlily, but was unable to warn Pel before he drank his. Pel warned the others, in a somewhat stoned manner, that the potions were poisoned, and was bitten by the cockatrice, but he managed to shake off the paralytic effects of its beak.

Lysander's sleep spell had no effect on the beast, but Luggoth managed to slam down one of the crates that the Wolves had purchased on top of it, and they had captured the beast. After checking the rest of the house, they found that the other cockatrice wasn't there.

On their way back to Renchar's arena to pick up another trace, they were stopped by a goblin who claimed to have seen the other cockatrice. They followed the goblin down into the sewers, and soon found themselves in a familiar setting: The sewers beneath Dorasharn Tower, and the valve cluster where they had been ambushed by shifters on their first adventure together.

Another ambush awaited, as well as another reminder from their first adventure. As they walked in, the valves shut, closing Elias outside and the rest of the Wolves in. The voice of William d'Deneith emerged from a cloud of mist, and he formed, revealing himself to be a vampire in service to The Emerald Claw. Two other misty forms revealed themselves as well, vampire spawn who had clearly been the "recruits" mentioned by Mira earlier.

After William accused the Wolves of leaving his body to be desecrated by the Claw and it was clear that there would be no talking, Lysander pulled out his bow and fired, but missed the supernaturally-enhanced William. Luggoth shifted and charged into combat with William, as Pel opened fire with his newest wand of magic missiles and three missiles streaked out and struck the vampire.

William and his spawn tried to dominate some of the Wolves, but they failed, and the combat continued. Pel continued to pepper William with magic missiles as Luggoth engaged him in melee, and the vampire spawn continued trying to dominate the others.

With their domination abilities failing, William and the spawn turned to physical attacks. He drained life energy from Luggoth as the spawn tried to grab at Pel and prevent him from firing any more missiles. Luggoth changed targets and quickly reduced one of the vampire spawn to gaseous form. As he flew off, William and the other spawn also took gaseous form and fled. As they did so, however, the valves opened. The angry clucking of a cockatrice heralded the arrival of the other bird, and William called back "I'll see you again another time."

After defeating two vampires, it was little trouble for the Wolves to cage one more Cockatrice. After Pel put a crossbow bolt into the treacherous goblin that had lured them into the sewers, the Wolves emerged from the sewers with both cockatrices successfully captured.

The Wolves returned their captives to Moloch, and true to his word, the ogre released Vadis. After a brief, somewhat unemotional reunion between Vadis and his son, the Tyrant leader and the Wolves went their separate ways. Both Luggoth and Pel had to spend two days getting rid of their potential addiction to Dreamlily, but they succeeded without needing another dose of the drug.

XP: 1300 XP (EL 6)/1000 XP (EL 7)

Handy Haversacks, Kundarak & Bags of Holding

As discussed in the last session, the Wolves have converted most of their liquid cash (or at least their gold) into a House Kundarak bank account. If you opened it with the cash you had left, the 1% fee to open the account came to 198 gp, and you've now got a balance of 19,600 gp. We can figure the exact amount later after you buy whatever else you want to buy in Sharn. You can choose to have letters of credit (authorized with arcane marks) from Kundarak in any amount, and carry that with you, where you can trade it for cash at any Kundarak enclave (most cities have them) or use it to purchase from most civilized shops. I'd suggest that each member of the Wolves gets a letter worth 4,000 gp, which at your current membership of four (if you give Tworock a letter) leaves 3,600 gp in the Sharn bank for later.

Also and more importantly... I finally checked on the weight capabilities of the Haversack. It holds 20 lbs. in each side pocket (there are 2), and 80 lbs. in the main pocket. Or 120 lbs. total. You currently have 166 lbs. worth of gear in there, minus the masquerade costumes and Emerald Claw disguises, which aren't going to fit. My suggestion would be to look into a bag of holding. The smallest one holds 250 lbs, and the disadvantage is that it takes a full-round action to get anything out of it, unlike the Haversack. It would cost you 2500 gp. Or you can go 500 lbs. (5000 gp), 1000 lbs. (7400 gp) or 1500 lbs. (10000 gp).

No, you cannot put the bag of holding *into* the Haversack. Unless you and everyone within 10 feet would like an instant trip to the Astral Plane, with the destruction of both bags as a side effect.

I would also remind you that you are lacking a restock on healing potions (or scrolls), restoration scrolls, etc.

Eberron Adventure Journal: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (3)

Aryth 3 - Aryth 10, YK 998

Part Six - Xulo:
Shaken from the sudden loss of their companion, the remaining Wolves reasoned that Brand's father must have been the one who rescued him, and clearly, he wasn't coming back any time soon. Realizing that they didn't have much time, and goaded gently by Muroni's insistence on the Prophecy, they decided to move on, despite being battered, tired and down a man.

All except one. Whitehearth refused to leave the site of his master's disappearance, and managed to convey to Luggoth that he wanted to stay there. Luggoth carried Whitehearth up to the level that held the globe of invulnerability and reluctantly, the Wolves left Whitehearth behind, secure behind the powerful spell.

Following the theory that they should be heading up, the Wolves passed through dusty rooms that had obviously once been quarters for drow slaves and the chamber of the slaves' overseer, full of chains and manacles and stained with blood. They emerged into a hallway and saw that there were exits to the ledges outside. Pel peered outside and saw that they were about 150 feet up, roughly halfway to the top. Had he remained a minute longer, he would have seen some of the dire apes walking along the ledges, guarding the temple that they had made their home.

As it happened, the Wolves did encounter the dire apes when the next door they opened turned out to be the apes' lair, holding their leader, a Girallon. The Girallon immediately bellowed with rage and attacked, smashing Pel with one of its fists. Kanatash opened fire with rays of cold from his dorje as Pel moved out into the hallway to draw the Girallon out. When it emerged, Luggoth and Pel both moved in to engage while Kanatash and Lysander fired dorje rays and arrows at it.

After the Girallon grabbed Luggoth with all four arms and nearly tore him in two, Lysander dropped his bow and moved into combat with his sword, but Pel cut the Girallon down with his scimitar before Lysander could really engage. Muroni began using her wand to cure Luggoth even as he downed a potion.

However, the fight was not as finished as the Wolves thought. Lysander, walking over to pick up his bow, saw two dire apes charging down the hallway, having come in from outside when they heard the cries of their leader. He began firing arrows at the charging dire apes, and Luggoth joined him to throw an axe and kill one of the apes. The other leaped at Luggoth, claws swinging, but Luggoth ducked the blow and came up with greatsword in hand, stabbing through the beast's shoulder. The ape swung a vicious claw into Lysander, but it was the last attack it would make, as Lysander struck back with his sword and Kanatash finished the beast off with two more rays of cold.

As the last bars of Lysander's song faded, the noise was replaced with the howls of two more dire apes! Lysander and Kanatash once again opened fire with their ranged weapons, Pel joining in with his crossbow, and Luggoth killed another with his throwing axe. He then climbed on top of the dead dire ape and attacked the other one, which already bore the scars of a cold ray, an arrow and a crossbow bolt. Enraged, the ape managed to sink its claws into Luggoth's right shoulder and left thigh and shake him, nearly tearing him apart, but Kanatash blasted the creature to death with another ray of cold before it could finish Luggoth off.

Moving down the hallway, healing Luggoth as best they could with the few remaining spells and charges of cure light wands, the Wolves found an empty room, closed the door and took a few moments to rest.

Realizing that they didn't have time to fully rest, the Wolves emerged and checked a few doors until they found a staircase leading up. They went up and found a room filled with crates of recent supplies, and quickly realized that the Emerald Claw must have already gone this way. Their suspicions were confirmed when they opened the door and found themselves facing four Emerald Claw soldiers standing guard outside the supply room. Despite their depleted magic and wounds, the Wolves managed to make quick work of the Emerald Claw, with only Luggoth suffering one minor hit from a flail in return.

The next obvious door contained a powerful glyph of warding, which Pel discovered and decided not to disturb. The Wolves then found a staircase in a room full of webbing, and they set torches to the webs, burning out the spiders who had been living there. A quick jaunt up the stairs discovered drow-sized attics, long abandoned and undisturbed, so the Wolves reasoned that the Claw had not been up there yet.

Moving down the hall to another door, several of the Wolves heard voices talking from the corridor in front of them. Pel and Lysander silently led the way, as Luggoth, Kanatash and Muroni followed from a distance. Eventually, they came out into a large room which was not the source of the voices, but which did contain something vitally important.

The room had walls extending up over a hundred feet high, with gauzy webs at the height of about sixty feet shielding it from the sunlight above. At the center of the room was a mammoth throne of stone and metal sitting on an inscribed disk of unblemished iron. Around the periphery of this disk were wooden crates, a few barrels and a wooden table strewn with a clutter of paper, pens, measuring devices and other items. A rotund female in work clothes worked around the inscribed disk, and didn't seem to notice Lysander and Pel as they came in.

The two moved out into the chamber, and the female worker turned around. "Oh, thank the Sovereign Host!" she said. "The Emerald Claw has been forcing me to decipher these runes!" Her ruse quickly faded, however, as she moved back around the throne and then yelled, in a masculine and familiar voice, "Guards! They're here! Take them!" before drinking a potion and vanishing.

From another nearby entryway, the Wolves saw the warforged Scimitar and eight Emerald Claw soldiers charge in, and the battle was joined. Lysander began an inspiring song as Scimitar engaged Pel in combat and Muroni, Luggoth and Kanatash ran toward the room to join in.

Lysander began firing his bow, killing one of the soldiers, as Luggoth joined the battle between Scimitar and Pel. Muroni rushed to engage the Emerald Claw soldiers, supported by Lysander's bow from a short distance away. Kanatash used the last of his psychic reserve to unleash a fiery energy missile on Scimitar and four of the Emerald Claw soldiers, killing all but one of them and severely wounding Scimitar as well.

While Lysander picked off two more of the Emerald Claw soldiers, Luggoth and Pel slashed away at Scimitar, rendering him inert. From there, it was easy for the Wolves to dispatch the remaining Emerald Claw soldiers.

As the battle wound down, Pel looked and noticed that a pattern of lights had emerged on the throne, one that had definitely not been there before the fight. The Wolves pondered what this might mean, trying to find clues in the notes on the worktable and recognizing the names "Scorpion's Eye" and "Garyx's Eye" as the names the giants had for stars. Then Muroni stepped up to the throne, trying to get a closer look, and vanished.

The Wolves realized that she had been either teleported or destroyed, and after some small discussion, Lysander led the way by jumping onto the throne. They were then transported to a chamber deep below the earth. They found themselves standing atop a giant-sized set of steps, fifty feet high and descending into a great vault filled with hulking, dimly glowing pillars of stone. They could see cords extending from each pillar, some made of metal, some of more organic material, all leading to great draperies covering something massive at the other side of the chamber.

At the foot of the stairs, they saw the figure of the rotund woman writhing and twisting in pain. As they watched, she twisted and took on other forms: Rarwog, the half-elf captain of the Jade Fury. Then, the pale and scarred form of Garrow, the vampire they had faced in the Mournland. "Fine!" he screamed. "Take it and be gone from my mind!" And with that, he flung the creation pattern in his hand deep into the chamber.

The Wolves wasted no time engaging their enemy, as Lysander fired his bow and Kanatash unleashed a fiery energy missile. Pel cast Protection from Evil on Luggoth, who began leaping down the massive, 10 foot stairs. Garrow, realizing he was no longer alone, called out to the Blood of Vol and healed himself as Kanatash, Pel and Lysander continued firing at him.

Garrow called out to the Blood of Vol once more and became infused with divine power, withstanding another blast of fire from Kanatash and an arrow fired from Lysander as Luggoth quaffed a potion of bull's strength and continued moving in.

Garrow drank a potion to heal himself further and moved toward the nearest stair, cutting off line of sight from the Wolves. Lysander, believing the vampire to be an immense danger, produced a scroll of haste and cast it on the party, which gave Luggoth the burst of speed he needed to jump down and begin attacking Garrow in earnest, slashing a wickedly powerful rent in his flesh with his greatsword.

Garrow responded by reaching out and touching Luggoth with the power of the Blood of Vol, draining some of his life but not killing him. Luggoth responded with another powerful sword blow and killed Garrow. Even as the Wolves were reaching for their stakes, they realized that Garrow was not what he had seemed. He didn't become gaseous upon death, but instead took on a pale white sexless form. Garrow had never been a vampire... he had been a changeling.

Lysander walked back into the draperies and cords and found both the creation pattern and the fourth schema, the only part not currently plugged in. Before he could do anything, he felt a strong compulsion to complete the pattern, which he resisted.

Now wary of the pattern, the Wolves began to look around. They saw that what was hidden beneath the draperies, and connected to the cords, was an enormous, primitive warforged, about thirty feet high.

The Wolves argued back and forth about what to do with the creation pattern. Natural curiosity and a potentially great story was compelling Lysander, but the compulsion he had felt made him nervous about putting the pattern together. Luggoth was indifferent, but leaned towards leaving it incomplete. Pel felt that the Traveler's will would have been to put it together, but he was also nervous about its potential for evil. Muroni stayed out of the argument, but her presence reminded the Wolves that this event was clearly meant to be, in some way, a playing out of the Prophecy. If they didn't complete the pattern, maybe they were failing to continue along the path destiny had provided for them, and they could prevent some good thing from happening to the world.

Finally, Lysander offered up "Can it be any worse than falling out of the sky on an airship?" Pel agreed, and he put together the fourth schema and the creation pattern.

The pattern rose into the sky of its own accord, levitating up to the massive warforged and melding into its chest. A terrible voice filled the minds of all present, speaking at once no language and every language. "I... am... complete! Xulo... is... whole! And now, Xulo has a body!"

With that, the warforged began moving, and its intentions were clearly hostile. Pel, Luggoth and Lysander began hacking away at the cords, hoping to shut down the power to the warforged, which was unleashing not only physical might but some sort of psychic attacks of despair and confusion. Luggoth fell prey to one of these, trying to escape but being prevented by Xulo's elimination of the teleportation effect that had brought them here.

Xulo smashed Kanatash into the ground, and Kanatash decided to feign death to avoid future attacks. The other Wolves quickly realized that there were too many cords to effectively sever before they were all killed, and then Kanatash hit upon the idea of firing his dorje at the creation pattern itself, which seemed to work.

Xulo brought both of the warforged's mighty fists down on Pel, breaking the changeling's body and leaving him dead on the floor of the chamber. Desperately, Kanatash and Lysander fired at the creation pattern, and finally Kanatash managed to shut it down. The creation pattern clattered to the floor, undamaged but temporarily intert, and Lysander quickly separated the parts out to the different Wolves, dropping the creation pattern itself into the Heward's Handy Haversack.

Lysander picked up Pel's body, and he walked with Kanatash, Luggoth and Muroni up to the throne, which was working once more. They quickly and quietly backtracked, stopping to pick up Whitehearth, who after several hours had decided that his master was not returning here. They emerged from the giant temple and found Chinxero waiting for them.

The travel by riverboat took five more days, depositing them in Stormreach on Aryth 8. Lysander knew that he had only a few more days to find someone to bring Pel back to life before his soul would be gone beyond the reach of most priests, and so he called upon Muroni to use her local contacts to help him. Together, they found two things: One was that there was a Cleric of the Sovereign Host who could help, but he was out in the jungles of Xen'drik for at least three more days. The other was that there was another priest who could help, but he was definitely of a... darker religion.

The priest didn't identify himself by name as he met with Lysander in one of Stormreach's alleys. He said only that he worshipped the same pantheon as the Traveler. Lysander, desperate to get his friend revived but worried about consequences, managed to convince the priest to reveal that he was a worshipper of the Keeper, the god of death. He agreed to revive Pel in exchange for a favor owed by the Wandering Wolves at some point in the future. "If you refuse this favor, my god will take back the gift he is about to imbue your friend with. And punish the rest of you as well."

Reluctantly, Lysander made the deal on the behalf of the Wolves. After two days of preparation, they gathered in a private ceremony and watched as the priest called upon The Dark Six to raise Pel from the dead. The priest smiled as he left the makeshift temple he had created. "Feel free to stay here for a while, it's quite safe. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon."

XP: 4575 (EL 6)/3763 (EL 7)

Upcoming Schedule - September/October

Matt is planning on running Call of Cthulhu, but probably more late October, so I've got some more Eberron scheduled before then. Here's the schedule as I see it, please chime in if you aren't available for a given week.

September 15th - Poker Game
September 22nd - Eberron: Sharn City Life (buying/selling, city adventure, building backup characters)
September 29th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 1

October 6th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 2
October 13th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon Part 3
October 20th - Poker Game
October 27th - Gaming off (Halloween parties, etc.)

Ugh! Out again (probably)

The girlfriend has decided that my Friday night would be better spent repairing various bits of damage her dogs have done to our duplex. So, unless I can make the kitchen floor spotless and patch the chips in the concrete so we can put down new linoleum Saturday (dog # 2 ate the old linoleum) by seven or so, I won't be at gaming.

I'm gonna kill those fuckin' dogs...

Eberron Character: Diarmand d'Deneith

Name: Diarmand d'Deneith
Race: Dragonmarked Human (Sentinel)
Class: Rogue 1/Sorcerer 1, Fighter 4
Experience: 16,066
Alignment: Neutral Good
Religion: Soveregn Host (Olladra)
Homeland: Karrnath
Age: 17 Height: 5'9" Weight: 153 lbs.

Statistics: STR 15, DEX 18, CON 14, INT 15, WIS 13, CHA 13, BAB +4, Fort +4 (+6), Ref +3 (+7), Will +3 (+4), Init +0 (+4), AC 15/16 (+1 natural armor, +4 Dex/+1 Dodge), 19/20 (Mage Armor), 23/24 (Mage Armor + Shield), Speed: 30' (Expeditious Retreat: 60'), HP 44

Skills: Bluff +4 (+5), Climb +3 (+5), Concentration +6 (+8), Diplomacy +4 (+6), Disguise +1 (+2), Escape Artist +4 (+8), Jump +9 (+13), Knowledge: Local +4 (+6), Knowledge: Nobility +1 (+3), Listen +0 (+3), Open Lock +4 (+8), Perform: Dance +3 (+4), Ride +1 (+5), Sense Motive +4 (+5), Sleight of Hand +4 (+8), Spot +0 (+3, +6 in bright light), Tumble +9 (+15)

Weapons/Attacks: +9 (1d6+2, +1d6 Sneak Attack), Rapier +1), +8 (1d4+2, +1d6 Sneak Attack, Dagger)

Equipment:
Amulet of Natural Armor +1, Rapier +1, Dagger, Wand of Magic Missiles (50 charges), Scroll: Feather Fall (1st level), Scroll: True Strike (1st level), Glamerweave Noble's Outfit, Belt Pouch (2), Waterskin, Signet Ring (House Deneith), Trail Rations (1 day), Small Steel Mirror, Flint & Steel, Whetstone, Thieves Tools, 54 GP, 5 SP

Feats: Alertness (Familiar), Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Favored in House (Deneith), Least Dragonmark (Mage Armor: 2/Day, Caster Level 6, 1 Hour/Level), Lesser Dragonmark (Protection From Energy: 1/Day, Caster Level 6, 10 Minutes/Level or Until Discharged, 12 HP/Caster Level = 72 HP), Weapon Finesse

Spells: 0 (Cantrips) - 5/Day: Flare, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, 1st - 4/Day: Expeditious Retreat, Shield

Class Abilities: Trapfinding, Sneak Attack +1d6, Familiar
Proficiencies: All Simple & Martial Weapons, All Armor & Shields
Languages: Common, Elven, Halfling

Name:
Race: Hawk Familiar
Statistics: STR 6, DEX 17, CON 10, INT 6, WIS 14, CHA 6, Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +1, Init +3, AC 18 (Touch 15, Flat Footed 14), Speed: Fly 60', Walk 10', HP 19

Skills: Listen +4, Spot +16
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Finesse
Special Abilities: Low Light Vision, Alertness, Improved Evasion, Empathic Link, Share Spells
Weapons/Attacks: +6 (1d4-2, Talons)

History: Little is known of Diarmand d'Deneith. He met the Wandering Wolves on board the Golden Dragon on her ill-fated maiden voyage.

I'm sure Randy feels this way...

Poker Report

We had five for poker this time out: Me, Charles, Dave, Nick, Rob Osborne. Rob went out first when he tried to bluff me off my trip nines. Nick went out second on a bluff, I believe against Dave. Dave was short stacked for a lot of the game, but after a couple of big hands against me (one suckout on the river when he nailed two-pair, A-J against my pair, which I don't remember, and one where I had trip Kings thanks to a pocket K and K-K board and he had pocket aces and an ace on the board) he was chip leader and I was short stack.

Dave, Charles and I went all in against each other on the final hand. I had flopped a straight, and Dave had two pair, 8s and 9s, while Charles had a single pair. The river card came, a third 8, giving Dave a full house and busting out the last two players at once. I walked off with my $5 back, for second place, and Dave took home the big twenty dollah and bragging rights for the night.

Fun game, thanks to everybody for coming.

Brand New Player Character

Greetings, Wolves!

I just wanted to take a moment to announce to you the birth of one Gideon Thomas Jones. The young warrior was born into the Jones Clan at 11:20 a.m. on the 14th day of August. Mother, child and useless father are all fine. Congratulations are acceptable as are large sums of cash!

Yours,

Lysander

Eberron Adventure Journal: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (2)

Sypheros 26 - Aryth 3, YK 998

Part Three - Stormreach:
As instructed, the Wandering Wolves slipped unobtrusively into Stormreach by means of the docks, and then split up to do some recon work. Luggoth and Whitehearth wandered around the outskirts of town, looking for any physical evidence of the Claw. Pel and Lysander spent about five hours hitting up dockworkers, tavern-goers and other likely suspects to see if they had seen Scimitar, the Emerald Claw or their vampiric leader, but they came up empty. Brand spent the same amount of time asking around about his father, Traega d'Orien, but also didn't have any luck.

Kanatash, however, had a most unexpected sort of luck. When he approached House Tharask to hire an inquisitive, an elf woman named Muroni, dressed in full plate and bearing the holy symbol of Aureon, stopped him. "You won't find the answers you're seeking in there. Your destiny lies in the jungles."

Muroni explained that she was a follower of the great silver dragon Vuulaytherus of the Chamber, and that his interpretation of the Prophecy had driven her here to seek out the Wolves. She had seen that great events surrounding a group of adventurers connected to House Cannith would take place in Xen'drik around this time, and had been sent to witness them. She offered up details that no one could possibly have known without being either a member of the Wolves, a top-notch spy or someone who truly had access to prophecy, and expressed a desire to accompany the adventurers and witness the events. She promised in exchange to aid in any way she could.

When the rest of the group found Kanatash, he engaged his mind link so they could discuss Muroni privately. They all agreed that given what she knew, they might as well trust her, as she was either an ally or an enemy so well-connected that they were all screwed anyway. The group went to The Chapterhouse, a joint House Phiarlan/House Ghallanda performance space and tavern, to talk and eat.

While there, Lysander asked around with the other musicians and found out that someone had seen Scimitar (or a warforged who looked a great deal like her) about two days ago, and that she had come aboard an airship. After asking questions about the deep jungle, they got in their airship and took off into the jungles of Xen'drik. Lysander also heard rumors that they had spoken to the Provost of the Morgrave Expedition.

As a result, Pel went over and caroused with a handful of students from the Morgrave Expedition, getting them drunk and working them for information. He found out that the name of the Expedition leader was Provost Baris Kaven, and that the expedition was based out of a boarding house not far from where their ship was docked.

Assuming the form of the student he had left passed out drunk in the Chapterhouse, Pel went to meet with Provost Kaven. He acted out the part of the drunken student, and managed to discover that Kaven had spoken with Scimitar and a Captain Rarwog, who were looking for advice on the lay of the land. Kaven had told them to follow the river.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Wolves went to the House Cannith enclave to get their travel arrangements taken care of. They were told to find Chinxero, captain of the elemental riverboat The Marlow, at the docks by the Rachi River.

After a night of sleep at the Chapterhouse, the Wolves went down to find Chinxero, who turned out to be something of a surly human. He groused at them when he saw their travel papers. "Too far. Too far and too dangerous. Besides, I have other runs to make, schedules to keep. Find another charter."

The Wolves were understandably unhappy about this turn of events, but they tried to argue with him. He relented slightly, telling them that a diversion into the jungle might get him killed, and would certainly cost him. If they were willing to essentially bribe him with 6000 gold, he would go along.

Muroni took Kanatash aside and explained that she had 4000 gold, which she was willing to part with if it would help. The Wolves argued with Chinxero, telling him that they had a paid travel voucher from Cannith and that what they had to accomplish was important, and finally they managed to talk him down to 4000 gold, put as a deposit on his boat. If the boat and his crew survived the journey completely intact, he'd return the deposit. This was deemed agreeable by the Wolves, although Kanatash did demand a receipt for the gold. So it was that on Sypheros 28, the Wandering Wolves boarded The Marlow for a trip down the Rachi River.

Part Four - Riding the Marlow:
The Marlow was a small elemental-powered riverboat, with a crew of 10 and not much room to get around. The Wolves had to share a small auxiliary cargo hold as their quarters, and so they spent most of their time on the deck of the boat, even sleeping out under the stars.

The first day of travel along the river seemed relatively civilized, as they saw small villages dotting the jungle along the river banks. By the second day, any villages were gone, and the Wolves were deep into the uncivilized jungles of Xen'drik. The Marlow would travel by day, then drop anchor at night, for safety reasons.

On the third day, as the Marlow was travelling, a band of Lizardfolk began throwing javelins at the boat. The Wolves dove for cover, except for Kanatash, who unleashed an electrical energy missile that killed four of the Lizardfolk on one side of the river and took a javelin in the shoulder as a result.

Pel, Luggoth and Lysander fired arrows at the Lizardfolk, and Lysander killed one of them with an expert shot. Muroni cured Kanatash's wound as Kanatash fired at the rest of the Lizardfolk with another energy missile, eliminating the threat.

The rest of the day and night passed uneventfully, but on the fourth night, while everyone but Brand and Whitehearth was sleeping, Brand saw a pair of large green hands grab the prow of the boat and begin to pull. He drew his swords and moved forward, just in time to slash his shortsword into a troll that pulled itself up onto the boat. As Whitehearth joined him in attacking the beast, another troll pulled itself aboard at the rear of the ship. Brand looked back quickly to see the other troll, and the momentary distraction allowed the troll he was battling to claw him across the chest.

Brand responded with a flurry of attacks, slashing the troll several times, but it began to regenerate and swung another claw at Brand, tearing a small chunk out of his shoulder. The other troll moved over to Luggoth, who was stirring but not yet up and awake, but it's claws glanced off his armor. Kanatash discharged a fire energy missile at both trolls, causing them to shriek in pain. Pel and Lysander tumbled to their feet, and Lysander cast a mirror image spell while Pel tried to cast hold person, which the troll shrugged off.

Luggoth stood, drawing an attack from the troll next to him, but he struck back with a glancing blow off the troll's neck.

Brand swung another flurry of attacks at his opponent, but landed only one successful nick across the troll's upper leg, which was quickly regenerated. The other troll, nearer to Kanatash and furious with the fire attack, swung his claws and tore the psion nearly in two. Fortunately, Muroni was there to cast a healing spell, and Kanatash channeled some of his own life energy into another missile, this one destroying the troll at the front of the boat and severly wounding the one next to him.

It was still strong enough to attack again, though, and once again nearly killed Kanatash by clawing and biting at him. The psion resisted the pain and used another fiery energy missile to kill the troll, leaving the Wolves to heal up and rest after a devastating and nearly fatal attack.

The next day (Aryth 3), as they reached a turn on the Rachi River, Pel spotted a pair of giant hands of stone reaching up toward the sky, the marker they had been told to watch for by Lady Elaydren. Behind the hands, in the distance, they could see a massive ruined temple. Next to the hands, they saw an air-skiff floating about 20 feet in the air, a rope ladder hanging down to the ground and a line spiked into the ground to keep the skiff steady.

As they disembarked, the Wolves realized that there were two Emerald Claw soldiers aboard the air skiff. The soldiers were waving their arms and yelling out that they surrendered, which seemed odd to the Wolves. However, the soldiers seemed sincere, climbing down the ladder and allowing themselves to be bound.

Lysander used his magics and bardic ability to help Pel interrogate the soldiers. They learned that their leader's name was Garrow, and that they soldiers claimed he was a great and powerful vampire, but both Pel and Lysander sensed that the soldiers were lying about that last part. They were also told that there were fifty soldiers in Garrow's force, which was investigating the temple. The soldiers were brusque and aggressive, and this caused Brand to try physically threatening them, stabbing one of them in the shoulder with his rapier.

This upset Kanatash, who saw the attack as torture, and he created a defensive energy wall around the prisoners. The Wolves got into a minor squabble, until Muroni pointed out this seemed like a distraction, and that they needed to get into the temple before Garrow found what he was looking for. This clicked with the Wolves, and they realized why the soldiers had been so eager to surrender... they were stalling in the name of their leader.

With that decided, the Wolves headed for the ruin, intent on stopping Garrow from acquiring the last schema.

Part Five - The Ruin:
As the Wolves approached the ruin, they couldn't help but be impressed by its scale. It was over 300 feet tall, and composed of solid stone that didn't seem to be any worse for wear despite its age, a sure sign of magical reinforcement. The obvious point of egress was a set of giant stairs, each one 10 feet high. Fortunately, there was a slave staircase built right next to it sized for elves, and the Wolves began ascending that staircase.

As soon as they were all on the stairs, however, they were met by a trap. A giant boulder rolled down the stairs, and the Wolves tried to scramble back out to avoid being rolled over. Pel and Whitehearth managed to avoid it entirely, but the others were caught to some degree by the boulder trap.

Following behind the boulder they had released was a small group of about a half-dozen drow, who didn't seem amenable to Kanatash's attempt to negotiate a truce.

Brand and Luggoth moved up and blocked the drow from coming any further down the stairs as Kanatash, Lysander and Pel fired ranged attacks from the bottom. They were attacked in kind by the drow throwing javelins, and they ducked behind cover to avoid the attacks.

Brand engaged the leader of the drow in combat, exchanging shortsword and rapier strikes with the drow's shortspear, both men taking severe damage in the exchanges. Luggoth swung his greatsword and finished the drow leader off.

Two more drow charged in, and Brand killed each of them in turn, assisted by arrows from Lysander and Pel and Luggoth's greatsword. Kanatash fired an electrical energy missile that killed three of the others, and Luggoth charged forward and killed the last drow standing with his greatsword.

The drow leader had been wearing magical leather armor, which Brand quickly changed into, moving his masterwork leather into the Heward's Haversack.

Drawing on their experience in the ziggurat in Thrane, the Wolves decided to move upward as quickly as possible, finding another staircase that led up to an enormous pair of stone doors, cracked open about five feet with light spilling out. Brand snuck up to check it out and saw a ziggurat inside the massive room, generating some sort of light sphere on top. Standing inside that light sphere was a mummy who was studying the runes on the ziggurat and a heavily-armed warrior of the Emerald Claw.

On the level just below the top, ten feet below, there were six Emerald Claw soldiers bearing crossbows and aiming at the door. Brand dimension leaped behind the mummy and his troops onto the second level of the ziggurat and sent back information through the mind link.

The Wolves moved quietly up to the door and prepared their plan, using the mind link to work it out silently. Brand was unable to see that the leader of the Emerald Claw troops had picked up on an impending attack and moved down toward the door, drawing his sword, but Lysander heard some chainmail clanking around, so he knew someone was moving.

Lysander cast invisibility on Kanatash and then mirror image on himself, and then moved throw the door, drawing the soldiers' crossbow fire. His mirror images held up, however, and he suffered no attacks himself. With the soldiers reloading their crossbows, Kanatash stepped in and fired off an electrical energy missile that killed five of them.

The rest of the Wolves charged in, and resisted the mummy's fear effect except for Luggoth, who was paralyzed for a few moments. Brand came around the ziggurat and attacked the last remaining Emerald Claw soldier, missing with his surprise attack but succeeding with a flurry of sword strikes seconds after to kill him.

Pel engaged in melee with the Emerald Claw leader as Whitehearth provided support while Kanatash and Lysander engaged the mummy. The mummy had begun firing magic missiles down at them, but when Kanatash tried to fire back with an energy missile, he found that the white sphere the mummy was in was in fact a globe of lesser invulnerability, rendering him immune to spell and psionic effects. Lysander guessed that the globe was being generated by ancient giant magics from the ziggurat itself.

Lysander began firing his bow at the mummy as Brand pulled himself up to the top of the ziggurat to engage him in melee combat. The mummy moved over and backhanded Brand with a powerful blow, and Brand felt a rotting sensation which he managed to shake off. But he realized that the legends Lysander had just imparted to them were true, and that a mummy could infect others by touch with a rotting disease.

Sure that his bow was having little to no effect, Lysander dropped it and pulled his sword, starting up a rousing battle song as he did. Kanatash moved in with his quarterstaff to aid Pel, but Luggoth also recovered his wits and moved in, finishing the Emerald Claw leader off with a powerful slash of his greatsword.

Brand slashed at the mummy, cutting into him for some minor damage, but the mummy struck back, this time infecting Brand with mummy rot. He knew that he now had at best minutes to live. Kanatash, using the tactic he had developed against the dire shark, cast time hop to give Brand more time.

The Wolves began struggling to the top of the ziggurat, jumping at the 10-foot levels and trying to reach the mummy as the mummy rained magic missiles down upon them. Finally, when Lysander, Pel and Luggoth had all reached the top, the mummy drank a potion, which had no immediate effect inside the globe effect.

Seconds later, the mummy leaped out of the globe and vanished in midair. Lysander jumped after him, swinging at empty air, as Kanatash used his psionics to dispel magic in the area, rendering the mummy visible right next to Lysander. Luggoth jumped down, flying into a rage and swinging his sword into the mummy, cutting off a chunk of his bandages and spilling black embalming fluid onto the ziggurat. Pel, meanwhile, jumped down and cast a cure spell, dealing positive energy damage to the mummy.

Enraged, the mummy struck Pel, who resisted the mummy rot and prepared to cast another spell. As he did, Kanatash blasted away with his dorje, hitting the mummy with a gout of flame, and Lysander cast a cure spell of his own, hitting the mummy with more positive energy. Pel called out to the Traveler and laid his hands on the mummy once more, and the foul undead creature disintegrated, leaving only a pile of rotting bandages.

With the mummy defeated and adrenaline wearing off, the Wolves turned to their doomed companion Brand, who appeared from his time hop. Almost simultaneously, a dimension door opened next to him, and a man who looked a great deal like him except older emerged.

"It's good to have oracles, boy," he said, and then spirited Brand away with a dimension door. Clearly, Brand's father was in Xen'drik, and through some magic, had been expecting his son.

XP: 3120

I'm out on the 4th

Just been informed that I'm expected to be at Shawna's cousin's rehearsal dinner, in addition to her wedding. Well, I make it sound worse than it is. There's free fajitas involved, and I go where the food is. Guess I'll see everybody in September.

Randy, have a blast in Florida!

Eberron Adventure Journal: Grasp of the Emerald Claw

Sypheros 19 - Sypheros 26, YK 998

Part One - Lady in Distress:
Thanks to a suggestion from Lysander, the Wandering Wolves had moved their regular tavern from the Broken Anvil over to the The Drunken Dragon, which also happened to be the regular bar for the Clifftop Adventurers' Guild. Kanatash and Luggoth also joined the charter of the Wandering Wolves with the guild, and later, at the Drunken Dragon, Kanatash suggested formalizing the structure of the Wolves even further.

So it was that on Sypheros 19, the Wandering Wolves had an official charter composed by Kanatash and signed by all of the members, including Tock but obviously excluding William. Luggoth and Kanatash were made aware of the group's benefits in regards to Gareth's Gear, but not the true nature of its ownership. The treasure split was agreed to be an equal share for all members, and if someone is killed, their share of the treasure goes to their beneficiaries named in the charter. Someone killed without a beneficiary donates their share to the Wolves. Kanatash named his beneficiary as Havakhad, spiritual leader of the Shrine of il-Yannah in Upper Dura's Overlook district. Luggoth named the community of the Wolf's Paw in the Eldeen Reaches. Pel wanted 50% of his share to go to the Church of the Traveler, and Brand 50% to his mother Sheryn, with the other 50% going to the Wolves. Brand also stipulated that if he died, Whitehearth was to be taken to join Rorsa's pack in the Eldeen Reaches. Lysander named no beneficiary as of yet, other than the Wolves.

On the 22nd day of Sypheros, shortly after the rain had begun falling in Sharn again, Pel looked into the Heward's Handy Haversack for the copy of the schema and the creation pattern that the Wolves had recovered, only to find them missing. The only times he could remember being away from the Haversack, excepting when he was sleeping with it in the same room, was when he was meeting with Xain and had to leave it with him for a few minutes and when he was briefly knocked unconscious by the Daask half-ogres.

Pel gathered with the Wolves at the Drunken Dragon to discuss what should be done. As they quickly worked out that this was likely a deliberate theft, and thus not likely to be the fault of the Daask, but more the fault of the previously trusted Xain, a House Vadalis gargoyle entered the establishment looking for them.

"The Lady has need of you," the gargoyle offered, depositing a sealed envelope onto the table and departing. Inside the envelope was a letter from "Lady E." asking the Wolves to meet her at her Parlan Tower town house in Middle Central at the sound of the second evening chime, which sounded shortly thereafter.

The Wolves made their way to Lady Elaydren's town house, but found that the door was open and the windows smashed, and an attack was clearly winding down. They rushed in and found Elaydren wounded, her magic spent, defending herself weakly against four Karrnathi zombies. All around them were Elaydren's personal guards and servants, as well as a few other zombies and a couple of Emerald Claw soldiers who had clearly fallen in the attack.

The zombies were doing their best to kill Elaydren before the Wolves could interfere, but Kanatash fired off an electricity missile that killed one and nearly destroyed the others. Pel called upon the Traveler and used positive energy to kill another, Brand finished one off with a lightning quick flurry of rapier thrusts and shortsword slashes and Kanatash ended the other one with another electrical missile.

Lady Elaydren composed herself and said "Once again I am in your debt. The zombies were only part of a larger force that attacked my guards and household staff. There were armored warriors wearing the symbol of the Emerald Claw and a warforged fighter wielding a wickedly curved scimitar. The worst of these, however, was their leader. He appeared first as a smiling merchant, rotund and jolly, who used so innocent a form to gain entry to my town house. Then his form seemed to melt and flow, and he appeared as a tall, emaciated man with white skin, red eyes and sharp fangs."

"They killed my guards, my servants... they smashed my pre-Galifar memory urn... and they took the schemas. By the Great Forge, the Emerald Claw has the schemas! Their leader indicated that they had also recovered another schema and the creation pattern, and that they knew of the location of the fourth schema as well! There is still time to retrieve the schemas and keep the Order of the Emerald Claw from gaining whatever power the completed creation pattern may possess. Time is of the essence, and there isn't a moment to waste!"

The Wolves didn't hesitate in accepting this duty from Lady Elaydren, especially after she offered them 5,000 gp each to undertake it, half now and half upon completion. She expressed a desire for discretion, as the schemas, as well as notes from her ancestor Kedran d'Cannith, were entrusted to her, and losing them could hurt her standing in the House. Fortunately, Kedran's notes hinted at a location for the fourth schema, on the lost continent of Xen'drik. Elaydren handed them a letter of credit for 5,000 gold and told them to take two hours to equip themselves with potions and scrolls for the journey, and then return to her town house.

The Wolves returned to their usual stomping grounds in Upper Dura to purchase equipment for the journey. They purchased scrolls of waterbreathing, daylight and magic fang at the Dragon's Hoard, potions of cure light wounds from Good Spirits and a wand of cure light wounds from Wise Wood. Lysander and Pel went and purchased a magical bow, as well as a variety of survival and travel gear, in the Bazaar in Middle Dura.

In addition, Pel paid one year worth of rent on his new apartment, and Lysander arranged for Tock to pay his rent if he was out of town for more than a month.

Part Two - From Here to There:
Upon their return to Elaydren's town house, Brand spotted that Elaydren had hired common laborers, rather than House-affiliated magewrights, and realized just how much she wanted to keep the news of the theft quiet.

"I have secured you passage on a new form of transportation recently developed by House Cannith. It is called an undersea ship, for it travels secretly beneath the seas. Three such vehicles have been constructed. We built them for various intelligence agencies, but only one such group has had the vision to purchase one of the ships now that the Last War has ended. The other two remain in Cannith hands. Take this letter of passage to Byam, in the Grayflood district. He can be found in the vicinity of the Stone Docks. He will make sure you get safely to Stormreach and back again."

Given their luck with previous travel, the Wolves expressed more than a little concern about being on a ship traveling underwater, but they accepted this as the fastest and best method of getting to Stormreach relatively undetected.

"You might be able to pick up the Emerald Claw's trail in or around Stormreach. If that doesn't seem to be working, you can head directly to the ruins. Kedran's notes place the ancient site about four hundred miles up the Rachi River. At the turn in the Rachi River, where the land rises and the hands of stone reach for the sky, look toward the giant's left hand for guidance to the schema's resting place."

With that, Elaydren gave each character a pouch of gems. "Collect the four schemas and the creation pattern, return them to me, and an equal amount will be yours on your return. Good luck, and may the fortunes of the Houses and the Nations smile upon you."

Brand compared his map of Xen'drik to the clues provided by Kedran and satisfied himself that there was no match. He resolved to show the map to Lysander when they had more time to examine it. Then the Wolves headed down to the Grayflood district to find Captain Byam.

As it turned out, Byam was fairly easy to find, a dark-haired gnome engaged in a game of dice with other sailors. After collecting his winnings, he nodded in response to the letter of passage from Lady Elaydren and showed the Wolves into a warehouse set back from the docks. There, they first glimpsed their vessel, which looked like a thin, elongated airship that had fallen into the water. Rather than air or fire, however, the elemental binding ring was that of violently spinning water. Several gnomes were busy carrying crates into the craft through the hatch in the top.

"This is the Sea Dart, my friends, and I am its captain, Byam of the ocean depths!"

Byam showed the Wolves down into the submarine and took them up to the observation blister, which featured a magical window allowing him to see anywhere around the ship. He then showed them to the two cabins, each capable of supporting four people (albeit not comfortably). Brand, Luggoth and Whitehearth claimed one cabin, while Kanatash, Lysander and Pel took the other. Byam informed them that he was taking a shortcut through Shargon's Teeth that should get them to Stormreach in three and a half days, almost as fast as an airship could manage.

On the second day of travel, Byam called the Wolves up to the observation blister to witness Shargon's Teeth, the stone and coral columns surrounding Xen'drik, from a different point of view. From this perspective, Byam found them quite beautiful. However, their beauty belied a certain danger, as the Wolves and crew found out moments later when something struck the ship, causing them all to go flying across the observation deck, slamming into walls and floor. All except Luggoth, whose shifter reflexes allowed him to keep his feet, falling prey only to a falling bit of debris that bounced off his head.

Looking out, the Wolves and Byam could see a massive, almost thirty foot long shark with bony ridges gliding away into the water. A gnomish crewman cried out that the binding ring had been damaged, and a small leak in the cargo compartment gave no one any comfort.

"Blast that overgrown sardine's mishapen fin! Get us to the surface before the elemental gets free and we're stuck in these cursed waters! Rise, rise!"

Byam assured the Wolves that once they reached the surface, repairs would only take a couple of hours, but another complication arose as the Sea Dart was caught from above in huge nets strung across Shargon's Teeth. "All right, crew! We're going to have to take a swim and cut the Sea Dart free!"

Byam turned to the adventurers. "Any help you can provide would be much appreciated."

Two gnome crewmembers drank potions of waterbreathing, grabbed water crossbows from the armory and exited the airlock, tethered to the ship by 50' long tethers. As the Wolves drank potions of their own and grabbed the two available medium water crossbows, they were also fitted for tethers.

Brand and Luggoth were first out of the airlock, and Brand summoned an octopus to help. Pel meanwhile cast bless, and Lysander began singing for inspiration as he and Kanatash exited the airlock and stepped out onto the submarine's hull.

As the Wolves began moving to cut the nets, the dire shark appeared again and bit down on Luggoth. Kanatash responded with thrusts of mental energy, but the shark's primitive brain resisted any effect, and the Wolves watched in horror as the shark tossed back its head, swallowing Luggoth whole. Luggoth swung a mighty blow at the shark's digestive tract, trying to escape, but was unable to cut himself free in one shot. He readied for another blow, even as the digestive acids and crushing muscles of the shark's stomach threatened to knock him unconscious.

Brand teleported over, losing his tether and diving into the shark's mouth after Luggoth. Unfortunately, in his rush to rescue Luggoth, he hadn't worked out the plan through the mind link, and thus he arrived in the shark's gullet just in time for Kanatash to hop Luggoth in time, freeing him from the shark. Brand used his dragonmark to teleport out again, as Lysander and Pel fired their crossbows at the massive beast.

Lysander attempted to distract the shark with an image of a smaller shark, but it seemed to be under the direction of something smarter than its own primitive brain. Kanatash and Pel unleashed magical and psionic energies at the shark, doing minor damage, as the shark moved in and swallowed one of the gnomes.

Brand chopped one section of the net free as the shark grabbed the other gnome in its jaws. Kanatash created an energy wall around the gnome which destroyed the front section of the net and drove the shark away, freeing the gnome.

Pel wrapped his tether around Brand and cast cure moderate wounds to restore some of the damage Brand had taken inside the shark, and Brand teleported with Pel to his old tether and an uncut section of the nets.

The shark turned its attention toward Lysander, grabbing him in its powerful jaws, and Kanatash unleashed a time hop to spare him from being swallowed, as Pel chopped at another section of the net.

Kanatash blasted the last remaining section of the net with a fiery energy missile, freeing the ship, which began to rise. The Wolves followed their tethers inside, as did the surviving gnome, and the shark fled. Lysander and Luggoth emerged from their time hops inside the ship, and the Sea Dart rose to the surface with a relative minimum of casualties.

Once they were above the water, the gnomes began making repairs, and the Wolves took up guard positions, suspicious that sahuagin might have been behind the attack. Indeed, Brand spotted a group of them moving quietly through the rocky shore of the islet that the Sea Dart was parked next to, and Kanatash summoned a fire wall to hold them back.

The sahuagin dove into the water to come around and up onto the Sea Dart, but were met with harsh resistance, including an electrical missile from Kanatash that killed two of their number, forcing the others into an underwater retreat. The rest of the repairs were uneventful, and after about two hours, the Sea Dart was underway once more.

Another day and a half later, on the evening of Sypheros 26, the Sea Dart deposited the Wolves about a half mile down the shore from Stormreach, in order to conceal how they arrived. Byam expressed a willingness to wait for them for 30 days, then handed them travel papers and a letter of credit.

"Slip into Stormreach by means of the docks. The travel papers indicate that you arrived aboard the House Lyrandar galleon Strong Wind and that you're part of an expedition from Morgrave University. Just don't reveal any of this where anyone from the expedition can hear you - they probably won't go along with your story, since they don't know you from the King of Q'barra. The letter of credit can be used to acquire transportation into the jungle... it can be used at the House Cannith enclave, and only at the enclave, and only for transport. Good luck!"

XP: 1920

Upcoming Schedule - August/September

With Paul's character vanished, we can go ahead and play Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw through to its finish in September.

August 4th - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Everyone in?)
August 11th - Gaming off (Randy in Miami, Nate out of town)
August 18th - Texas Hold'Em Game (regular gaming off)
August 25th - Gaming off (Dragon's Lair 20th anniversary, Randy working)

September 1st - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (If Jason is available)
September 8th - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Paul out)
September 15th - Texas Hold'Em Game (Regular gaming off)
September 22nd - Eberron: Grasp of the Emerald Claw (Paul out)
September 29th - Eberron: Voyage of the Golden Dragon (All in?)

Two Weeks Have Passed...

Sypheros 8 - Sypheros 19, YK 998

Since your arrival back in Sharn on 8 Sypheros (an autumn month equivalent to October), about two weeks have passed. Miraculously, in the rain-soaked city of Sharn, the last five days have been sunny, although storm clouds gathered once more a day or two ago, and the rain will almost certainly return soon.

Viorr hired a House Tharashk half-orcish inquisitive named Rar'ashak Duanda to locate and return William's body. After two weeks, Viorr has discontinued his service, as Duanda was unable to find the body. His final report to you indicated that members of the Emerald Claw had been seen by passers-by taking the body away mere minutes after it hit the ground, killing two members of the guard in the process. Duanda tracked down the specific band of the Claw that had snatched the body in Korranberg, just as they attempted to cross the border into Darguun, but they managed to battle him off long enough to sacrifice their own lives rather than giving up further information. He tried to engage a cleric friend in the area to speak with dead, but they had been protected from such intrusions by powerful necromantic magic. He tried to use his dragonmark ability to locate the body, and it was protected by magic as well. Duanda and Viorr express their condolences, but they believe your friend's body to be in the hands of the Emerald Claw.

To add insult to this particular injury, roughly three days after you got back to Sharn, you recieved a summons from Sharri d'Deneith, one that came with several Deneith blademarks should you decide it was a summons to refuse. When you met with Sharri (either willingly or after taking a beating from the trained soldiers), she expressed that she held you responsible for William's death, dragging him into a life of combat that she had expressly forbidden him to engage in. It wasn't a debate, and she shut down all of your arguments that William had willingly, perhaps even a bit overzealously, sought out that adventure. She warned you not to expect friendship from House Deneith, and that the Wandering Wolves would be subject to scrutiny from her house. If she can find a way in the future to hurt you without exposing herself politically, by providing support to your enemies or revealing any illegal activities you're engaged in, rest assured that she will.

Your shop, Gareth's Gear, managed pretty well in its first month of operation. Under the daily management of Jalis ir'Mroranon, a female dwarf with ties to the Mroranon mining clan (whose father is an ambassador in Sharn), you broke even in the very first month and made a tidy sum selling your adventuring spoils. With Tock taking up full-time duties at Gareth's as in-house artificer and crafter of potions, scrolls and wondrous items, the reputation of the shop can only grow.

You have all been forced to curtail your daily duties with Morgrave University thanks to increase roles in adventuring and duties to your Houses, guilds or the shop. Each of you remains on the list for future endeavors in Xen'drik, but your teaching or assisting duties have been severely scaled back in favor of less nomadic help. Figure about one day of each week is now spent at your Morgrave jobs. For Brand, one day organizing and redrawing maps. For Pel, one day in the library sorting books and providing assistance. For Lysander, a weekly music and storytelling class. Luggoth and Kanatash, of course, are not currently gainfully employed.

This also means it was time to move house, out of the dorms of Morgrave. The most logical thing to do would be to either stay at the Guildhouse (5 sp/day each, basically 7 gp for the duration of your stay in Sharn this time) or, if you want a more permanent home, you could rent an average residence for 1d4x10 gp/month or an upscale residence for 2d8x10 gp/month. You could go cheaper, but you're very likely to be robbed or killed in such a neighborhood, given your apparent wealth and despite your formidable skills. You'll each need to let me know your thoughts on where your character is living.

Tock is immune to these changes, of course. Retiring from adventuring, even with his increased work at the shop, leaves him plenty of time to apprentice and teach at Morgrave and he'll continue to live there. However, on 12 Sypheros, four days after returning, he is attacked by a group of students at Morgrave, who seem to be under the influence of someone or something else and don't remember their actions after the attack is stopped by Tock and Morgrave guards. When Tock checks back in on his quarters, he finds them ransacked, although a quick overview indicated that nothing was taken.

During your time in Sharn, the celebration of Wildnight (18-19 Sypheros) will take place. This is a festival during which the Fury, Sovereign of Passions and Madness, reaches the height of her power, and the streets fill with raucous revelry and wild celebrations that last well into the night. Being minor celebrities, each of you has the opportunity to attend several parties as well as just enjoy yourselves on the streets of Sharn. Think of it as Mardi Gras for Eberron, with the same downsides of riots, brawls and crimes of passion mixed in with the hedonistic fun.

Brand - No further contact from your father, although you did exchange general pleasantries and catching up messages on a weekly basis with your mother via Sivis message stations. You found a fair bit in common with Luggoth, given his devotion to the wild, and I imagine you would have helped him find a place to live in Sharn.

Beyond deciding where to live and working two days out of the fourteen, Brand has a pretty free schedule, probably the most open of the entire group. Let me know what you want to do. If you want to take a trip out to the Eldeen Reaches during this time, you can, and that'll take up about seven or eight of your days (two or three of them spent in the Reaches). It's up to you and Luggoth as to whether or not he'd come with you to see the area, which seems suited to his sensibilities as well.

Kanatash - I really need you to write up some background on this character so I have some sense of what he's doing between adventures and what kind of subplots I should be coming up with for him. In the meantime, he needs to decide where to stay and what he wants to do with his downtime in Sharn. There is a Riedran Embassy in the city, and the ambassador often speaks at Morgrave University, where he is well-liked (and well-guarded, before you get any ideas). There are about 1,600 Kalashtar in Sharn (out of roughly 200,000 total population), most of whom live in Overlook, an apartment district in Upper Dura. There, you'll find tailors and restaurants catering to Adaran styles, average or poor residences (Kanatash is one of the few exceptions who could live poor, because he's among a racially friendly populace) and two shrines, The Gathering Light (martial arts/meditation) and The Shrine of il-Yannah (run by a powerful psion named Havakhad and devoted to worship of the Path of Light).

It's up to you whether you live in this area or whether you want to stick closer to your new friends.

Lysander - If he so wishes, Lysander can see Arenydee up to three times during these two weeks. Each time, she will suggest a cautious exchange of information that doesn't endanger either of you too much, along with a meal, then a play, then... well, it would be the third date, if you get my meaning.

As I emailed you privately, your House had one wish for you to engage in these two weeks, you can email me if you don't remember.

Given his adventuring duties, Lysander has not been able to take any long-term gigs in town. However, he has been quite popular nightly at various night spots, as much for his tales of adventure in many lands as for his skillful music. By taking 10 on his performances, Lysander can easily make anywhere from 3-30 sp per day. Given that he probably has about 10 performances during this time, figure that he can easily cover the cost of staying at the guild hall and your dates with Arenydee, or pay for an average residence and burn about 5-10 of your personal gold for those dates. If you want to actually roll the performances or roll the money made, we can certainly do that before the game starts and you can know exactly what you've made and what you've had to spend on lodgings. In fact, I'm willing to trust you if you want to make 10 performance rolls and post them in comments, or let me know if you'd rather take 10 on each performance and I can roll up the gold you earn and post that in the comments.

Lysander has an encounter on 14 Sypheros when he detects that he is being followed. When he takes a detour to try and trap his pursuer, the pursuit vanishes.

Luggoth - As with Kanatash, I really need some background ASAP so I can know what to work with as far as subplots go. As far as basics, though, shifters don't have neighborhoods of their own in Sharn, but most of them are concentrated in Lower Northedge, Middle Tavick's Landing and the Depths. There are only about 6,500 in the city total.

So let me know what you decide about where to live (and deciding to live outside the city is possible, but would make you hard to reach as part of the group, so it's probably not a good idea) and if you want to seek out any kind of work while you're living in Sharn.

Pel - Given the war between The Tyrants and the Daask, not to mention your own shaky standing in the Tyrants, it's probably a good idea to keep a low profile and maintain a cover identity or two while in Sharn. Your monthly contact with Xain at the Cracked Mirror is uneventful, as you pass on information gathered during the Whisper of the Vampire's Blade (including information on Viorr, Lucan, Arenydee and the Soul Blade, I presume) and he warns you that your name, along with the name of the Wandering Wolves, has been mentioned more than once in connection with the Emerald Claw in the city.

In fact, you have a run-in with a pair of well-armed and combat-trained half-orcs during Wildnight who provide you with several bruises before you run them off. You're not sure if this is related to the Tyrants, the Daask, the Emerald Claw or something else.

That's it. You also are free to buy items (both magic and mundane) and do whatever else you want. Use the comments below to let me know anything you want to do in your downtime and to answer any questions raised above, especially where you decide to live and what (in general) you decide to do.

Speaking of Hold'Em

For those that are curious, here's how the game broke down:

Randy - Sixth Place (first out, pair of Aces against Nate's trip 7s)
Nick - Fifth Place
Debbie - Fourth Place
Chris - Third Place
Nate - Second Place
Charles - First Place

I'd write what other hands folks busted out on, but I don't remember. :)

Enjoyed the Hold'em...

...despite the fact that I did not win. When are you leaving for SD, Randy? Perhaps we should get another practice round in before you go. Work on our "faking out" skills.

Also, Barnes said that if/when you do the supervillian one shot, he is totally there.