Chronicle

Sun 23 Apr 1590 : 11 Apr

A Rustbulj calls the senior Party members in from their lands and excitedly tells them that using the map (whose approximate age is - very old) he has worked out some of the diary of the construction of the tower at Gran Fordir. An obscured name on the map is the Hulon name for Red Palace, which translates as Ner Eminchar, mentioned in the diary. This seems to have been on the site that is now Chaltim Beryl. So Brashik stood where the old mountain town of Falmira also stood. So the Forknin is now the Nystel Stormwash, therefore Ronsin must be near the point where the Stormwash runs in to the sea. The Party should try to find the tower at Ronsin as this is where Riasc and Nyal fought Gamlich and destroyed Bael.

B Isiil Oômé announces his engagement to Pallea.

Tue 25 Apr 1590

A Taran returns to his temple.

Thur 4 May 1590

A Rustbulj is uncertain about the effect of Taran’s new path on the success of the Quest, but he feels that Taran has chosen his true path. It would seem that Willan was merely the first ‘friend in need’.

A Willan, Calhassan, Nalin, Jarrys, Isiil Oômé, H’Spir Salit, Ralpere, Temlin, as remaining senior Party members meet together to set up a trip to the tower at Ronsin.

B Rustbulj calls them together and introduces Whyrvan, a small sea elf. Whyrvan explains that about six months ago he found a demon contained by a pentagram under the middle docks in Salsorme. There was some digging that looked like it was the work of Sahaugin nearby. He journeyed to tell Oceanus who suggested that he inform Farlas.

B The pentagram enclosing the demon had the signs of ‘The Five’ at the corners. Nalin says that it looks as if the demon is bound there to protect something. Temlin points out that there was a similar arrangement under the castle at Yen where Quivon was recovered. Whyrvan’s description of the demon is worryingly similar to the demon Slothstosth under Yen.

B As he is currently the only one who can breathe under water, via the Ioun Stone, Nalin is volunteered to go with Whyrvan to scout the demon cavern. It is apparently about fifty yards back from the dock, under Salsorme. If Nalin goes down to the cavern he should be able to sense which building in Salsorme it is under and how far down. Nalin passes the Ansachat items to Isiil Oômé for protection. Willan reports that he was mumbling to himself about how useless it was to have a bloody great sword if you can’t use it under water when Coffchomi thrust his ring of ‘free action’ in to his hand. Now all he needs is a way to breathe.

Sat 6 May 1590

A The scouting party will be Nalin, Whyrvan, Willan and Giganticus (because of his under water dagger wielding skills). A warehouse area is secured through the offices of Willan, Narlon, Whyrvan and Horan. It’s not very good, but it will do. H’Spir Salit, Ralpere, Horan, Guerin, Vesquer and Jarrys are the warehouse crew.

A Whyrvan, Giganticus and, surprisingly, Nalin sneak down to the rivers edge, with Willan trundling loudly behind. Giganticus and Willan are able to ‘Breathe Water’ courtesy of H’Spir Salit. It takes about half an hour for Giganticus to reach the tunnel entrance, and another fifteen minutes to get down the tunnel. At this point Giganticus needs to return so Whyrvan takes him back.

A Nalin and Willan see the demon. There is a circular chamber with a roof that cannot be seen. In the centre is a pentagram containing a demon like Slothstosth. The other side of the chamber is obscure. Whyrvan returns. Willan gesticulates that Whyrvan should swim up to the roof but should stay close to the wall. Willan and Nalin move around to look for inscriptions at ground level.

A On his way up Whyrvan strays too far from the wall and gets gunked. As he swims down his foot gets grabbed by the demon. Willan and Nalin simultaneously attack the demon. Willan severs the grasping tentacle and Whyrvan is pulled clear. Attempts are made to scrape the gunk from his leg; these are put on hold when Whyrvan unintentionally stabs himself in the leg. Everyone leaves as fast as they can. Whyrvan goes on ahead. He surfaces and attacks the gunk and eventually gets it off, it just misses Willan as it sinks. Although they have to come up on to the docks at a different spot, the group make it back to the brazier and warm up. Whyrvan is healed by Jarrys.

A Nalin squelches off to see what is over the cavern, Ralpere goes with him as he can detect evil. Nalin identifies a warehouse near the docks, it seems unobtrusive but Ralpere detects that it is nasty and full of evil.

Sun 7 May 1590

A Willan, in his capacity as Wailward of Salurtef, can gain access to property records of the rest of the town. He finds out that M’ill mac Tyll owns the evil warehouse and several other properties in various parts of the town. His main residence is confirmed as in the western part of town. Isiil Oômé goes to see Hoho Hairfoot, who is chronicling the adventures of the Party and is also the League librarian. Hoho asks him to come back the next day. Nalin goes to see Fallon whilst Willan and Isiil Oômé go to see Caspar. Whyrvan goes to case M’ill’s house and Horan keeps an eye on the warehouse. ‘Arry undertakes areal surveillance whilst Lucius embarks on active surveillance of the warehouse.

A Whyrvan spots and follows a likely looking person, however he eventually realises that he is following M’ill’s steward, luckily this is now someone who Whyrvan could accurately impersonate. Polvyr magically cases the inside of M’ill’s warehouse.

A Apart from Lucius finding out that the door to the warehouse is glyphed, there seems to be nothing unusual about M’ill or his warehouse lock up. Horan thinks that the glyph is an unusually high level of security for an unexceptional warehouse.

B It is decided to break in to the warehouse under cover of a delivery of goods. Whyrvan will disguise himself as M’ills steward, Coffchomi will come to Dispel Magic, with Calhassan as back up and healing power if the raid goes wrong. Vesquer will provide magic support, Willan, Ralpere, Nalin and Isiil Oômé will travel inside the delivery cart to provide violence on tap, Horan will travel up front with the hired driver (hired from suitably disreputable reputable organisation), to explain the delivery to curious passers by. Lucius will be hanging around nearby if required to open the door. Giganticus and Rez will keep lookout outside, Polvyr’s raven will keep an eye on the warehouse with Polvyr, Guerin, Jarrys and H’Spir Salit in a nearby bar.

B The wagon draws up at the warehouse. Coffchomi dispels the glyph but Whyrvan and Lucius struggle to make any headway with the lock. After over an hour too much casual attention is being attracted so the wagon rolls away as the group go to find someone who can cast ‘Knock’, as the plan did not account for this particular attribute!

B Giganticus notices that after a while a burly ‘dock worker’, who is probably an under cover soldier, wanders past and checks that the lock is still secure. Giganticus follows him to a nearby bar where he meets a couple of other guys and engages in a long conversation.

B The group pick up Temlin, who can ‘Knock’, and go back to the warehouse. Coffchomi ‘Detects’ no magic from the door or lock, but there is magic inside the warehouse. Temlin ‘Knocks’ the lock open … on the fourth attempt. The door is pushed open by Willan who steps inside holding a barrel in front of him. It does not seem instantly threatening (the inside of the warehouse, not the barrel, which, by coincidence, does not seem instantly threatening either) so the rest of the barrels are brought in. As the group move inside the warehouse Calhassan bumps in to a box and screams. He realises that touching the box set off a ‘Cause wounds’ glyph. Ralpere detects a concentration of evil in a pile in the middle of the warehouse, and there are several other areas of evil around the warehouse.

B Coffchomi detects magic all over the place, guardian and necromantic. The box that attacked Calhassan is no longer magic. Lucius opens it but it contains nothing but cheap pottery. Willan chucks a piece of pottery at the pile in the centre, nothing happens, except that the pottery breaks.

B Willan gets Ralpere to identify an area of minor magic, he strolls over and smites it with righteous vengeance. Just before he does so a mummy leaps out. Whyrvan and Vesquer cower, terrified. Willan moves in to attack but the mummy suddenly cowers. Willan is embarrassed that his righteous mighty smite does not kill the mummy. A couple more mummys hove in to view. As these are about to be polished off, three more appear. Isiil Oômé is far more effective at saying “be gone in the name of the Lady of Essini” than he ever was with a sword. By the time all of the mummys are killed the warehouse is suffering from a plague of locusts, a plague of spiders, and Lucius is blind. Calhassan takes Lucius to the wagon, as the door is opened nearly all of the locusts escape. This causes quite a stir outside, but a quick thinking Horan makes an announcement about the need to keep back due to the work of the bug exterminators within.

B Ralpere can now detect evil only from the big pile in the middle. So Willan decides to smite it mightily. Coffchomi knocks a spider off of his leg. Just as he is about to hit the pile of boxes Willan realises that they are an illusion and that there is actually a room in the middle of the warehouse. There is a metal banded leather curtain over an entrance. When Willan pushes it aside with Tarsober he feels much weaker, and Tarsober lets him know that there is a wraith behind the door. As Willan imparts this to his colleagues the wraith makes its appearance on this side of the curtain. It goes for Isiil Oômé. Unfortunately it hits Isiil Oômé. Willan smites it mightily (with righteous vengeance) and dispels it with one blow.

B Nalin searches for secret doors, he doesn’t find one, but he does find a poison needle trap and a trap door, both of which he avoids. The trap door is intentionally set off with a large object and Nalin sees a chute underneath. A splash can be heard before the trapdoor closes.

B Coffchomi confirms that the curtain is no longer magical. Nalin pushes through to find a narrow space containing four barrels and a crate, with a leather curtain to the right. The curtain is suspended from a beam across the room at a height of about ten feet. Coffchomi detects no magic in the barrel strip but that there is magic behind the curtain. Ralpere confirms that the area emanates evil. Nalin checks the first barrel, it is full of water. Vesquer ‘Spider climbs’ the wall and sees that the area on the far side is divided by curtains. There are a number of supporting columns, also there is a creature trying to keep out of sight of Vesquer at the far end of the curtain area.

B The remaining barrels contain varying amounts of liquid, alcoholic and otherwise, and the last one contains what appears to be low value loot. Willan sneaks down and grabs the creature, which turns out to be a reanimated zombie dog… with the head of a boar. It gores him. Willan turns the boardog towards Nalin who slaughters it.

B There is a desk and a chair in the room. Nalin searches the desk which is covered with books and scrolls. Ralpere searches the curtains but identifies nothing. Whyrvan takes a handful of books and scrolls back to the cart for Temlin to look at.

B Nalin presses on into a two level area. Below is storage and above is a bed. Nalin edges up the stairs and looks over the top of the curtains. The biggest area in the middle looks like an alchemist’s workshop. A small area at the end looks empty, but there are shackles on the wall. Vesquer climbs higher up the wall at the entrance end and can see that there is a table with an apparently dead body strapped to it. Nalin searches the bed area and finds a clothes chest. On the wall is a parchment sandwiched between two sheets of glass. Vesquer climbs round the wall to look at the parchment. It is written in a language that Vesquer cannot read. Nalin takes the parchment from the wall and hears a low chanting. Nalin says that everyone should get out because the noise is getting louder. No one else can hear the noise and Nalin cannot hear anyone else. As Vesquer scuttles around the wall he is attacked by something out of thin air.

C Nalin tries to get down the stairs and is becoming disturbing. Nalin smashes the glass surrounding the parchment, the smash sounds to him like someone screaming. Everyone gets back to the main warehouse area. Nalin is clearly distressed, he has his hands over his ears and the noise is so loud that Nalin cannot hear what anyone says, even though they themselves can hear nothing. Nalin bursts out in to the street clutching at his ears and thrusts the parchment at Temlin.

C Temlin is rooting through the books that Whyrvan delivered and takes the parchment from Nalin. Temlin sees that the parchment is very old and has been damaged. Nalin is acting even more strangely than usual and shouts very loudly “I can’t hear you!”. Temlin sends Whyrvan to fetch Coffchomi and starts to try to take off Nalin’s armour. It looks as if Nalin may be about to take offence at this. Polvyr manages to make telepathic connection with Nalin who is clearly totally confused and distressed.

B In the Warehouse Willan detects the thing that attacked Vesquer all around them. Whyrvan runs in and shouts “Temlin wants Coffchomi”.

D A couple of the lookouts see a man armed with a spear approach the front of the wagon. Horan sees that this guy seemed to appear out of thin air and seems to be about to plunge his spear in to the driver. Horan lunges to try to deflect the spear but does not make contact and the driver is kebabed. The spear man disappears under the wagon, this exchange appears somewhat etherial to Horan.

D Horan leaps off of the wagon to see if he can intercept the man, and Guerin arrives to help. They look under the wagon and see…each other! Horan says that he must have gone back from where he came. Temlin feels something cold touch him, he feels much weaker. Temlin shouts that he has been hit.

D The people in the warehouse file out behind Coffchomi. Coffchomi asks Temlin what wants, Temlin is saying “I’ve been hit, I’ve been hit”. Polvyr says that Temlin had said to cast ‘Dispel Magic’ on Nalin. Coffchomi sees a strange shadowy figure in the wagon behind Temlin. Coffchomi directs Willan and Ralpere to the wagon and mentions the shadowy figure and then asks if anyone can cast ‘Dispel Magic’. Calhassan moves towards Nalin, but points out that Fenris is magic.

D Guerin hears Temlin and says that he thinks that there is an enemy in the wagon. Whilst attempting to enter the wagon Calhassan sees a figure that he does not recognise materialise at the front of the wagon. Whyrvan sees a man with a spear burst out of the front of the wagon and run off as if to go around the corner of the warehouse. Calhassan calls out that the spearman keeps appearing and disappearing. Whyrvan shouts “Look, there he goes!”

C Calhassan approaches Nalin and tries to remove the Fenris. Temlin removes as many magic items as he can identify. Temlin can’t find Nalin’s ‘Ioun Stone’ and Calhassan tells him to hurry up.

D Guerin chases after the spearman, but stops at the edge of the warehouse. Giganticus sees some town guards trying to look inconspicuous and not get involved. Ralpere and Willan move towards the wagon and Coffchomi fills them in on what has happened. Ralpere sees Guerin and Vesquer peering round the corner of the warehouse and tells them to wait (which they obviously are doing!). Ralpere and Willan move over to the corner of the warehouse.

C Temlin cannot find the ‘Ioun stone’ but they decide that there is no more time to waste and that the spell must be cast. Calhassan casts his best ‘Dispel Magic’ but there seems to be to no effect on Nalin. Calhassan tries ‘Remove Curse’ instead. Polvyr says that Nalin’s rings should be put back on as one is ‘Regenerate’. All of Nalin’s magic items are replaced, just as he falls unconscious. Temlin suggests that Calhassan and Jarrys combine their ‘Remove Curse’ effect. It’s too late as they have both launched a ‘Remove Curse’ as Nalin fell unconscious. Calhassan checks Nalin out and reports that the spells seem to have had some effect.

E Temlin reports that the scroll has gone, together with one of the other items. ‘Continual Light Pebbles’ are gathered and Willan and Guerin, and Vesquer with his pebble, head down the side of the warehouse whilst Ralpere guards the entrance. Willan and Guerin skirt the warehouse and return to Ralpere. Willan and Ralpere and their spiritual advisors Jarrys and H’Spir Salit, along with Guerin and Calhassan and Vesquer prepare to re-enter the warehouse.

F At this point three town guards arrive and ask what is going on. Willan explains that they have cornered a thief in the warehouse. In answer to questions about why Willan is involved, Willan says that the thief has stolen the ownership papers to Mills warehouse, but Willan is somewhat blasé about why he is involved, as it is outside of his area of jurisdiction.

F The guard captain, Halenarfen Dorth, sends one of the men to get help and says that he will accompany the group in to the warehouse.

G Coffchomi ‘Dispels Magic’ on Lucius’s blindness, but to no effect. The injured are piled in to the back of the wagon, Isiil Oômé waves a large coin at the crowd and a new driver is obtained, and the wagon rolls off to Questors. Isiil Oômé nips off to get Rustbulj to go to Questors to do healing.

H Willan’s group re-enter the warehouse, and move in to the ‘pile of rubbish’. Willan moves in a manly way, through the curtain near the entrance, even though his wimpish colleagues are trying to pfaff. Behind the curtain is the room with the dead body, there is a pentagram drawn in blood on the wall. Calhassan estimates that the person has drowned within the last three or four days. The body has been cut.

H Willan wets a cloth in the barrel of water and scrubs the pentagram off. Curtains are checked and then yanked down. An ‘alchemists workshop’ covered in a jumble of stuff is revealed. Whyrvan and Giganticus are called in. Willan searches the accessible floor area. He sees a large table on the far side, it looks like a well used butchers table replete with an half cut up falcon nailed to it. There is large barrel in the corner, which is filled with a variety of detritus. There is a small trapdoor, about a foot square, in the middle of the area. It is possibly a feeding hole for the sea demon below.

H Whyrvan checks another curtain and gives it the all clear. The curtain is removed and the shackles room is revealed. It is empty, except for the remnants of what shackled people leave behind.

H All of the remaining curtains are searched and removed. Willan confirms that the scroll has not been replaced, and he searches the sleeping area, but finds nothing. Whyrvan is tasked to search the wall areas that might be within the points of a pentacle, but he finds nothing either.

H At Ralpere’s suggestion, Whyrvan searches a point of the pentacle and is affected [I though that that was obvious from the moment that he joined the Party. - Ed]. Ralpere searches the same area but finds nothing. Willan prizes up a floorboard over the line between the pillars in the ‘pile of rubbish’ there is nothing underneath except a muddy floor. Whyrvan checks the trapdoor, but finds nothing, so Willan draws the bolt and opens the trapdoor. There is a fully functioning pentagram on the underside of the trapdoor, so Willan slams it down and pushes back the bolt.

H A spear comes flying out from under the table under the curtains and hits Jarrys. It looks as if the body on the table is animating. Jarrys and H’Spir Salit ‘Cessate’ it a few moments before Willan comes flying through the air, impaling the now still body through eight layers of leather curtain. Willan argues with H’Spir Salit about decapitating the reanimating corpse. Halonafen Dorth excuses himself, saying that he has pressing business elsewhere. Willan suggests that it would be best if he resisted the temptation to return mob handed. Guerin shows him the way out as Willan hacks off the head of the corpse. Then he cuts his arms off. [No, off of the corpse - stupid. Ed]

I Willan throws the bolt and opens the trapdoor; Guerin sees a movement in the shadows and leaps towards it. Willan confirms that there is water about five feet below the trapdoor and he also notes the arrangement of the symbols.

I It is decided that it is time to deal with the demon, Willan and Ralpere will fight it. Willan has a ‘Ring of Free Action’, but Ralpere needs the one that Nalin had. Guerin, Jarrys and Giganticus go to Questors to get the ring and to see if anyone there has useful skills.

I At Questors, Rustbulj has ‘Cured’ Lucius. Temlin has established that the inhabitant of the warehouse has been watching The Party for some time. Guerin and Co. return to the warehouse with the ‘Ring of Free Action’ and Lucius.

I Willan is lowered in to the trap chute in order to confirm that it goes where we think that it goes. He is sure that it comes out in the cavern. The head dunking achieves nothing so the decapitated torso is chucked down the chute. Ralpere can see disturbance in the water so he ‘Akrakra’s’ and Willan and Lucius dive down with their ropes appropriately attached.

I Willan snags on the rope and cuts it, he sees the demon coming up at him so he shoves Tarsober and his shield out in front of him and biffs the demon. Lucius follows Willan but when he snags he does not cut his rope. Lucius gets biffed by the demon. The demon continues up and Ralpere and Vesquer dive out of the way. A wave of water erupts through the trapdoor. The demon recomposes itself and attacks Ralpere. Vesquer ‘Magic Missiles’ the demon. Giganticus, H’Spir Salit and Guerin start to pull Lucius back up.

I Vesquer ‘Magic Missiles’ the demon again. The demon spits at Vesquer who is covered with slime, which hurts. Guerin and Calhassan swap places on the rope just as the demon seems to dissolve in to the floorboards. Guerin pours some alkali on the slime, but is seems to have no effect, as the slime is alive, Vesquer ‘Magic Missile’ it (even though it is attached to him!). Calhassan, Giganticus and H’Spir Salit have trouble pulling up Lucius, as he slips back down.

I Jarrys is trying to scrape off the slime with a piece of wood. Vesquer is in a bad way, in desperation he ‘Magic Missiles’ the slime for a second time and falls unconscious to the ground. Jarrys drops the wood and tries to ‘Cure’ Vesquer, who regains consciousness…briefly, as he falls unconscious firing off another ‘Magic Missile’. Guerin and Jarrys are both trying to scrape off the slime.

I Whyrvan gets to the cavern and sees Willan frantically gesticulating that he needs help up. Completely ignoring what he was told, Whyrvan comes inside the pentagram and helps pull Willan upwards.

I Screaming can be heard outside of the warehouse. Polvyr and Rez can see that a fountain of water has materialized as a creature and is attacking the bystanders. Ralpere has spotted a shadow and attacks it.

J Under the water, with Whyrvan’s help Willan grabs the rope… which starts cascading down in his hands! Fortunately this quickly stops as Giganticus grabs the flailing end at the top.

J Whyrvan swims up and follows Lucius up the pipe. Giganticus is just managing to hold Willan, but no more. Ralpere hits the shadow and parries the return blow. The sea demon is scything its way through the crowd. H’Spir Salit gives up on the rope, which turns out to be a help as the combined effort of Calhassan, Lucius and Whyrvan (from behind) get Lucius out of the pipe straight away. Lucius sets off out of the warehouse as Polvyr has shouted that the demon is outside.

J Calhassan and Whyrvan join Giganticus on the Willan rope and he suddenly shoots upwards. Ralpere smashes the shadow, which dissipates. Outside of the warehouse Guerin and Lucius move to attack the sea demon, however they both find themselves unable to see properly. Calhassan lets go of the rope to go and see if he can help Vesquer. Rez runs up the street and helps the peasant who is covered with slime. Injured peasants and soldiers leg it in a variety of awayward directions.

J Ralpere runs outside and sees the man with the spear, he shouts, but not quickly enough to alert Giganticus that he is in the process of being hit. Giganticus is stabbed by the spear. Calhassan confirms that Vesquer is stable, even though he is unconscious.

J Willan emerges from the pipe and heads for the warehouse door at full tilt. He emerges in to the street and shouts “Hero, get out of the way!” as he lunges in to the area of darkness. Tarsober draws Willan right through the darkness to where the sea demon is sludging up the street beyond. Polvyr turns in to a hawk and flies off.

J In the warehouse Giganticus unexpectedly manages to hit the man with the spear just as it starts to dissipate. As a result Giganticus is thoroughly skewered although, unexpectedly, he survives, however his left leg is in a bad way. Ralpere takes the opportunity to move in but cannot hit the man with the spear, as Whyrvan leaves the warehouse. Giganticus tries to hit the man with the spear again but missed and gets hit himself. Ralpere hits the man with the spear. Willan hits the sea demon and gets clobbered himself. Whyrvan sets off to Questors.

J Giganticus keeps the combat against the man with the spear going, but Ralpere is not helping. Outside Willan, Lucius and Guerin engage the sea demon, with varying degrees of success.

J Polyvr flies to the Farah temple and frantically tries to get some priestesses to come to the docks to deal with the demon.

J Willan kills the demon.

J Inside the warehouse the combat continues. Ralpere is still no help. Willan legs it back towards the warehouse, but Lucius soon passes him. Ralpere sees the shadow dissolve and disappear through the floor. Calhassan ministers to the injured peasants.

J Lucius and Willan rush in to the warehouse only to find that the man with the spear has gone. Willan takes the opportunity to bind the bleeding wound on his leg. Ralpere laid his hands on Giganticus to stem his bleeding wound.

K When Whyrvan arrives at Questors, Temlin is able him that the document was written by a man called Bryn who is a follower of the Necromancer Naslam. Bryn used the warehouse to conduct experiments; he also was observing the activities of The Party (who are disparagingly referred to as ‘The Chalan’) some of which are recorded in great detail (we remember encountering the word Chalan before in the book from G’thron’s tomb in Azilhar, which was a discontinuous diary of the activities of the temple written by the high priests. The death of Nachmanmerch involved one or more people called chalan, who the writer of the account hated). There is no indication of where the information on the Party has come from, or whether it has been passed on. It focuses on the activities of the Party in Salsorme and the local area, but does include information from further afield. It looks as if Bryn has been operating for a couple of years. He entrapped the demon himself, as a power source for his activities.

J Gilla arrives with Polvyr at Questors to talk to Rustbulj.

J The town administrators have no record of a Halonfen called Dorth!

K Temlin remembers that a second document was stolen with the parchment, but he can’t remember what was in it.

C Rustbulj and Gilla establish that the unconscious Nalin is in no immediate danger but is unlikely to recover quickly.

L The Archon Epsi (Police Chief), Porter, is informed of events and the presence of a demon, now deceased, and that the demonist is at large. It is confirmed that the incident will be discussed at the Riparleff. Party sympathisers are suitably genned up.

L Caspar and Porter have a discussion and Willan is retrospectively sworn in as a secret service agent. Willan, in a rare moment of insight, thinks that Caspar pressured Porter, who is honest and upstanding, in to doing this.

L Willan, a guard official and Vesquer later question M’ill’s steward about renting out of the warehouse. The steward is totally cooperative and is able to describe the person who hired the warehouse, who was named Ren MacSerron, as the spear carrying guy. He sounded as if he came from Salsorme. The proper name of the Necromancer is Bryn. The person who regularly paid the rent was called Vent MacEssil, and did not look like anyone we recognise. The steward expects M’ill to return from his trading trip to the Fehermes by the end of May.

L Vesquer is deputised to question the neighbours.

M Temlin does some research on the remaining papers. There is a fairly detailed record of the Party’s general activities in Salsorme. Nothing though that would indicate a traitor in our midst.

There is a journal of Bryn’s activities in Salsorme, including notes of his gruesome activities. He seems to have extensive abilities including Necromantic abilities, some of which the Party has never come across before. There are two ‘Animate dead’ spells and a ‘Protection from undead’. There is a scroll containing two druidic spells, ‘Animate Rock’ and ‘Change Staff’. Temlin reads out a couple of specific passages from the journal, the handwriting is a little difficult to follow in places, so Temlin cannot be certain of every word.

23^rd October 1589 [the very day that the Party last encountered Trosahn]

The pin is found! It is found. [at Talvaran, after the Party Dispelled the magic at the tower!?] Amok [An evil half-orc who features in legends all over the known world] and his cronies have triumphed again. By the spear of my master [that would be Naslam then], these Chalan [The Party] are blind fools. The witch [Trosahn?] is long gone. Though I yearn to fetch it [the pin] and hold it in my hand, we must let it remain obscure until the time is right. [Is it still at Talvaran then?]

ZKs [Zarl Kruger] piece is safe at Granfordir. The Chalan have not discovered the ceremony to unlock and even if they do, I doubt they would have the stomach to use it.

The diamond is lost in the desert land [Azilhar] beyond the wit of the Chalan to recover. [Mid July 1589 - Rustbulj however possesses the ‘Moon of Kohe’ which is presumably a (the) ‘key’ to obtain the diamond of NahamMerch, as the ‘Orb of Torlich’ was the ‘key’ to obtain Bael’s Staff (see below - don’t we want Bael’s ring?)] The moon cult can be led to retrieve it when the time is nigh but that will be the work of another servant. The others [the two remaining pieces of the Star - Bael and Chor Fel] are west and beyond the veil. West will be harder. [Presumably, the Party is about to go ‘beyond the veil in an attempt to locate and recover Beal’s Staff]

2^nd May 1590

I believe the Chalan, curse them, are near to finding Torlich. Too bad they destroyed the Orb, that will make things difficult for them. What idiots they are. By my reckoning it has been 7 weeks [nothing of significance happened to the Party 7 weeks ago], barely time to grow a decent beard. I can only wonder what they will find, coming and going! [In to, and out of Torlich?] It will be vital to follow them - intolerable if they obtain Bael’s staff as well. Another job for the kith-killer [Amok] I think.

L It is suggested to Whyrvan that the cave be offered to the sea elves. Whyrvan says that he will pass this on to Oceanus, but it will require a journey to the Fehermes. In the meantime the Party Extraction Team of mostly clerics is sent in to clean up the warehouse and seal the point of egress between the cave and the warehouse.

L Horan tries to find out the imminent shipping departures and if anyone has booked passage. In the meantime Temlin checks out some of the larger ships with ‘Locate Objects’.

Mon 8 May 1590

A There is an animated debate in the Riparleff, which ranges over many law and order related issues. Willan is clearly still a big hero, and was, it is mentioned on a number of occasions, acting under the directive of the Archon Epsi. Willan makes a rousing but unsophisticated speech. After most of a day of oratory, nothing much is concluded.

Sun 14 May 1590

A A week of investigation has revealed nothing of the actions or whereabouts of the Necromancer Bryn.