Date: 5/31/98

Players: Kathi, JC, Thomas, Jeff, Kris, David, Davy, Bryan

Characters: DM, Rio & Glow, Giblet, Saunder, A'Tora, Vorn, Caland, Erin

Pick up in Aithe keep. When Rio and Glow finally get a chance to be alone they come to the agreement that adventuring has become too dangerous for a pregnant woman (the close call in the big battle REALLY shook the both of them up) and decide that Glow will stay in Aithe keep. She will set about making the arrangements for Arial (and her parents if they will) to come to the Moonshaes where the two will make their family home. Rio and Glow also exchange leather armors (giving Rio the enchanted set) and Rio, at Glow's insistance, also accepts the Ring of Fire Resistance from her. He will not accept the final Acorn of Sylvanis saying that it is hers as a wedding present and he'll not hear of taking it back.

When the two rejoin the others to let them know of their decision they discover that Bo has received a message and will be leaving the group. Both Rio and Glow are saddened at the news but neither try to disuade the dwarf from taking his own course. Rio shakes the stout dwarfs hand firmly saying that his strentgh and balance shall surely be missed. Glow also offers her hand and is delighted when Bo kisses it rather than shaking it. Glow holds the rough dwarvish hand in hers a moment and studies Bo's face looking deeply into his eyes. Pausing only a moment she smiles and says that he'll be easy to contact should the need ever arise.

After Bo departs (and A'Tora and Giblet express their interest injoinging the group) we meet the crew of the ship that is taking us to Gwynneth where our help against the Banites is needed. The captain is an elf (Aguillar) and his first mate is a halfling (Brodo Frum). The others are humans (2nd mates) Godfrey and Tam McLadden. The ship itself is a small schooner with tiny cabins and Rio intends to make the journey as a falcon in the rigging.

Today is the 11th of Murtal and we are to leave at midnight. Rio hugs his wife tightly and kisses her deeply rejoicing in her love and the light feathery psionic touch she leaves in his mind. He PROMISES to return to her in time for the birth of their children and at every opportunity beforehand. Then, as the group boards the ship, Rio waves and then becomes the falcon for the journey.

The first few hours of the journey are uneventful and it's a nice clear night. Rio stays awake for several hours peering off into the distance and then tucks his bill under a wing and sleeps.

The night passes uneventfully. Shortly after daybreak Rio notices that our destination island is in view and he leaps into the sky to investigate. He is gone perhaps an hour and on his way back to the ship he spots a young bronzish-gold dragon flying ahead of the ship. The druid alters his flightpath to investigate and enjoys 10 or 15 minutes of flying with the dragon who acknowledges his presence with a wink, making no hostile moves toward him. He returns to the ship for a miday meal (somebody sets some fish stew out for him) and then takes flight again in the evening but sees nothing unusual. He returns to the ship before it gets dark and once again settles in the rigging.

The next morning Erin climbs up into the rigging and conveys what he describes as a strange dream or vision that involves an arch of stones, a set of horned antlers above it, and a message from his deceased parents that the sword found within is OK for him to have and use. Rio, not knowing quite what to make of the story or Erin's insistance that it seemed so real, can only listen in his falcons form but files the information away in memory as it is often worthwhile to investigate the meaning of such things.

We arrive at the small port by midmorning and upon docking there is a small lad who is impatiently waiting for the man known as Rio. He leads us to a small inn and is met by a large woman who identifies herself as the Lord of Cair'Vu, Karen Sykes. She says that her druid was found 4 days ago, beaten and bloodied, at the edge of town and is very near death. Rio is lead to a small bedroom where a very old man lays near death. Rio casts Detect Magic and Vorn, who came along to see if he could help, casts Detect Poison..

Sensing that magic is being focused on him the old man awakes and grabs Rio's wrist. He whispers with his dying breath that the Great Druid, the MoonWells and the EarthMother herself are in danger from the Baneites. He pleads for Rio to save them and then, his mission accomplished, dies. Rio is greatly saddened and finds out that the man has a granddaughter here in town. He goes to see her, telling her the news of her grandfathers bravery and death and offers any aid he can give. She declines saying that her grandfather left very specific instructions to be followed at his death.

The rest of the group has been having lunch at the inn. Giblet and Erin and entertain the crowd and perform quite well if the truth be told. Whe Rio returns he has lunch with the rest, enjoying the comfortable surroundings until it is time to depart.

We set off on foot, following a cart trail and proceed toward Dultan. The afternoon passes uneventfully and we find a good place to camp for the evening. Vorn casts Log of Everburning on a good sized log so tending the fire will not be necessary.

During 2nd watch, as Rio and Saunder are wandering quietly about being sure to keep their vision away from the fire, coming in from the west are three horseback riders that appear to be glowing elven maids. They are clad in plate-mail weilding lances and appear to have no eyes. Saunder, although he sees them coming, is still taken by surprise because of there incredible speed. Rio, because the horses make no noise whatsoever, does not see them coming and is cought completely unawares. Somehow the creature misses him but it swings the horse around and comes at him again.

MELEE

Rio immediatly casts Entangle which, because of their quickness, is dispelled by the creatures next, successful attack. The wound, while deep and painful, also drains him in some undescribeable manner. Just a fraction of a moment later one of the other party members (which he later learns to be Vorn) strikes one of them causing it to shimmer and disappear. As it fades from view it wails and Rio (and three others) crumple to the ground dead from the sound.

Sometime later Rio awakens with a start to horrible visions of ice and chaos. He is laying flat on his back looking up at the stars. He tries to sit up but finds himself extremely weak. Resting a moment to asses the damage to his body (which consists of the loss of a strength point and loss of a constitution point) he takes a deep breath and changes form to that of a large lizard (regaining hit points) and then returns to human form (regaining yet more hit points) before collapsing into a deep sleep.

The third watch passes uneventfully except that Vorn wakes everyone up at 6:00 am screaming in terror and frustration. Rio, still exhausted, takes the form of a Falcon and removes himself from the group landing in a tree some 1000 yards away and falls back to sleep until almost lunch time. When he does wake up he finds the group has already gone so he sets off in pursuit. He has almost caught up to them when he is confronted by a larger falcon in an obvious case of airspace dispute. Rio is in no mood nor condition for a confrontation of ANY sort and he yields to the larger bird out of respect for the natural order of things.

It is late afternoon before he is able to return to the others and he lands on Erin's shoulder. By early evening we get to the small town of Dultan where we find a nice tavern for dinner and drink. We are met by the innkeeper who is very impressed with the queen's seal but urges us to not display it and be quiet about our affiliation as he says there is a spy in town.

After only a few moments the place starts to fill up as people come in for dinner. Rio allows Erin to feed him and then flies up into the rafters to listen to bits and pieces of the various conversations at the other tables.

After dinner one of the townspeople breaks out a lute and he and Erin provide the music as A'Tora and Giblet dance.

As the music dies down Rio hears an interesting conversation several people are having regarding the possibility that we are here to help them defeat the evil that has been plaging the town. Still in Falcon form, the druid flies down to the their table to listen more intently. He makes a big show of eating a crust of bread and listens to the rest of their conversation. After they leave, Rio flys out of the inn and lands out of sight in front of them where he returns to human form. He stops them as they are traveling home and apologizes for his falcon. He learns that "The Horns" was once a holy place that seems to have been perverted to evil within the past several months and the the ruins of a tower off to the west seem have been responsible for many disappearances.

About this time the town storekeep and his assistants (identified as evil by Saunder and Caland which led to them breaking into the general store for some stealthy investigation) comes charging back into the inn accusing us, as the new group, of stealing his money, adventuring booty and family heirloom swords. They demand to search our rooms, which are of course empty of anything incriminating, and then leave with the threat that such thefts will not go unpunished or unavenged.

After the storekeep and his assistants have left the group gathers in one of the private rooms where Caland and Saunder reveal that they discoved, and took, a glove identical to one that one of the evil priests was wearing in the battle of a few days ago. Rio tells what he learned from the towsfolk he talked to as do Vorn and Erin who also had conversations with citizens. Upon the realization that the trouble the town (and the region) has been having is probably related to the storekeep and his evil assistants, Rio changes form to that of a black panther and goes to keep an eye on the store/living quarters of the three men. He quickly determines that that they are not within and sets his nose to the task of tracking them. After only a moment he picks up their trail which leads to the stables and then, on horseback, heads out of town to the west. He follows for several hours and at last spots them heading into the ruins of an old fort some 10-12 miles out of town.

Warily circling the fort without getting closer than 100 yards or so, the sharp cats eyes are able to discern no light coming from the ruins. He pauses at many occasions on his circuit straining to hear any activity from within but the place remains dark and quiet. He settles down to watch from a shadowed location confident that the sketchy moonlight and his black fur will keep him hidden from sight should anybody be looking.

At dawn a large contingent of heavily armed footman following the three evil townsmen (who are again on horseback) emerges from the castle and begins a march to the east, towards his hiding place, and appear to be headed back to town. Making sure that he is unseen Rio shifts from panther form back to that of a falcon and returns to Dultan to warn the others and the townsfolk.

When he gets back to town he finds some of the group at the inn having breakfast and the others getting ready to head off toward "The Horns". While the townspeople are spreading the alarm and raising the town militia Rio casts Call Animal and sets one of the local avians to the task of finding the approacing enemy group and returning immediatly so that he may judge, based on the birds flight speed, how much time until the armed group arrives. When the bird returns Rio casts Speak with Animals and learns that the enemy group have stopped some four hours distant and "nested in the trees" as the bird says. This leaves the druid scratching his head a little bit until it occurs to him that they have probably set up an ambush and are hoping that we pursue them and fall into it. Casting another Call Animal he sets another bird to the same task.

During the time it takes this second bird to perform the task given we decide that since "The Horns" is only 15-20 minutes away that we will go investigate. It's a short uneventful journey and "The Horns" turns out to be a simple stone altar that was originally used for sacrifices to the Beast God whose cult and followers are long since gone. The alter itself has the antlers from a stag or some similar creature fused into it and does not radiate evil (as per Saunders spell) but the recent blood stains on it do, indicating that has been used recently for foul purposes.

The horns stick out immediatly as being straight out of the vision Erin experienced and described to Rio back on the ship. Worried that there might be some hidden place nearby from which we might be attacked the group searches the altar and the surrounding area for any possible concealed area. We find none but A'Tora, after examinig the altar itself, announces that it does have some kind of hidden passageway or compartment associated with it.

Meanwhile Erin, has reverently been examining the antlers fused into the altar and when he touches them they move slightly. Encouraged by this and A'Toras report, he grasps them firmly and attempts to move them. They rotate revealing a hidden compartment in which a LARGE two-handed sword and a yellowed bone scroll case are resting. This also seems to be straight from Erins vision and he picks up the sword immediatly sensing it's beauty and balance. Vorn immediatly casts Detect Evil but neither the sword nor scrollcase are.

Since there doesn't appear to be anything else of interest here we return to the town to await the next birds report.

END SESSION