This is the campaign journal for what may be the last game I run locally. I graduate in August, and unless the local semiconductor company starts hiring entry-level EEs again, I will be off for other pastures . . .
    I am not going to do a full spread on all the characters like I did previous games. For one reason, people aren't settled on the characters that they are going to play on the long term. For another, I am currently working on the prophecy that was unveiled last session, my Martial Arts and Chi Mastery rules for the campaign, developing the Guild Space background for my Starfarer game, as well as taking a philosophy class from a professor that assigns papers ever other day. . .
    Instead, I'll just do a quick rundown on the characters that take part in each session before the description of that session. The following are abbreviations used for the players:
 

Abbreviation	Player
GS	Greg Satula
KW	Ken Wilson
CH	Chuck Heisler
RP	Robert Parker
RV	Bob Vialpondo
EK	Elizabeth Kelley
JB	John Beck

Index:

• Session 1: The Cutting of Teeth
• Session 2: Something Afoot on the Frontier
• Session 3: Horde!
• Session 4: Lair of the Sleeping Mage
• Session 5: On the Trail of the Riddlemaster
• Session 6: Lair of the Riddlemaster
• Teaser for session 7.

Character	Player	Race	Class	Kit (if any)
Bladedancer	GS	Viscosian	Fighter	Swashbuckler
Gil-galiel Quickblade	CH	Elf (Sun)	Fighter / Mage	War Wizard
Sir Adrian	RP	Human (Aborian)	Paladin (Ariel)	Cavalier
Fileep	JB	Human (Aborian)	Priest (of Alyshia, goddess of  trickery and intrigue)	--
Thorin Heartshooter	KW	Dwarf (Hill)	Fighter	Sharpshooter

Beginning 1179 RR (Aborian Reckoning)
Year of the Armsman's Slumber (Avelan Return)

    Early events in this year include the continuance of the Drakkaran civil war. Fyre, the heir apparent who forsook the worship of Idan, the God of the Empire of Drakkar, successfully broke away from the parent empire, forming the Magocracy of Drakkar. With him, he drew the support of most of the magical talent of the Empire.
    Drakkar proper still held a majority of the regular troops of the Empire. They moved to retake the land of the Magocracy, but since the Magocracy controlled most of the alchemists, they also controlled most of the smoke powder. Since this meant that the Magocracy held superiority in terms of firearms, the Empire forces were repulsed.

Beginning Month of Marat (the Ship) 1179 RR
    Our unwitting heroes begin there adventuring careers in a human frontier town on the east end of the League of Free Cities. For one reason or another, they find themselves unemployed here. They are approached by a boatman stating he needs their services to help escort his boat up the river.
    Their journey takes them down river to a coast. In the marshes near the coast, they are ambushed on the river by a primitive tribe of orcs. These orcs managed to string a chain across the river that impedes the boats progress, and attacked by canoe. By superior skill of arms, the party repulses the attack.
    The party finds a captive of the orcs tied up in the bushes, a dwarf by the name of Thorin Heartshooter.
    After overcoming the orcs and picking up their cargo on the coast, the boat travels upstream. Along the way, Sir Adrian senses a faint evil coming from one of the cargo boxes, but is persuaded by Gil-galiel that it is none of their concern.
    The boat stops at a river front inn far upriver, near the border between Deshelain (the Sun Elf nation) and the land of the Dragonlords. While there, Gil-galiel spotted an unusual exchange: the boatman had met with some individuals, trading strange wickedly barbed daggers.
    Fileep, through means of stealth and magic, uncovers the identity of the group the boatman met with: an adventuring company calling themselves the "Blood Moon Company," who report to a strange elderly man named Thantos.

Month of Odis (the 9 Candles) 1179 RR
    Looking for more work, the party asks around about some possible sites that might be worth their investigation. They hear about a ruined elven city on the border between the elven nation of Deshelain and the gnoll lands to the west. This city has traded hands several times, and is now considered to be cursed both by the Sun Elves and the Gnolls.
    The party takes a river boat to the other fork of the Knightsblood river, and set off overland with a party of elven retainers.
    As the party approaches the ruins, they are pursued by gnoll raiding parties. However, as soon as the party enters a burnt-out ring in the immediate vicinity of the ruined city, the gnolls do not follow.
    The party enters the city and finds very few buildings standing. Among them is a temple in what must have once been the human quarter of the city. The temple was apparently dedicated to Selna, the Aborian goddess of the moons and prophecy.
    Upon exploring the temple, the party found statues within that are caked with old ashes. One at the end of the temple depicted the goddess Selna. One of the other statues was of Ariel, the hero-goddess that Adrian revered. The other statue was unfamiliar to the party, a huge, muscular man wearing a scaled cloak and holding a staff.
    On cleaning the ashes off of the unidentified statue, it was found that the staff was not part of the statue, but a real staff, one which proved to be magical. Another magical amulet was found in the skeletons in the courtyard. Upon examination by Gil-galiel, the staff was found to have healing power, and the amulet the power to protect against shape-shifting creatures of legend.
    One of the skeletons in the courtyard of the temple complex was slumped up against the edge of a well in the yard. The party investigated the well, and found that in the dust at the bottom of the well was an old book, most of the pages rotted through, and in a tongue untranslatable even by magic.
    Bladedancer stared into a font of water in the courtyard and saw not a reflection of himself, but that of a ghostly woman in the image of the starry constellations reflected in the sky. But after a fleeting moment, it was gone.

Unanswered Questions:
    Who was the male statue with the staff depicting?
    Why is there an amulet of protection from lycanthropes when such creatures don't even exist on Trinalia.

Character	Player	Race	Class	Kit (if any)
Drake	RV	Half-Elf	Ranger / Druid	--
Lariana	EK	Elf (Sea)	Mage	Diplomat
Scout	RP	Elf (Sun)	Mage / Thief	Scout
Greb	JB	Half-Ogre	Fighter	Gladiator
Thorin Heartshooter	KW	Dwarf (Hill)	Fighter	Sharpshooter

    The party in the city decides to send Thorin off with two of the elven retainers (Lariana and Scout, who are hiding out from a mutual enemy) to get the book evaluated while the rest of the party continues exploring the ruins. While riding back into Deshelain, the party joins forces with some mercenaries on border patrol duty in order to spread the word that the gnoll hordes are encroaching on the western border of Deshelain.
    The party puts in for the night in Tethlain, a village on the border. But something is amiss. Everyone in the town seems intimidated by the party. Out in the fields, several elves are skewered on pikes. After some careful questioning of some of the town's inhabitants, it is revealed that a group of adventurers, mercenaries, and mysterious monks is using the town as a base of operations for forays into the gnoll lands. Currently most of the monks and adventurers are out of town on some mysterious errand.
    The party decides, being the good Samaritans that they are, to do something about the situation. They close in on the barn and home on the south end of town where this group is hiding out. They overcome some crossbow armed men-at-arms and discover the barn is filled with casks full of food and provisions. The party surmises that this group of individuals is somehow supporting the gnolls.
    In the bottom of one cask, the party finds a secret door leading to an underground lair. In this lair are 5 monks, masters of martial arts. It is a gripping fight, but one that ends in victory for the party.
    Some searching turns up a letter from a "Jhaelrynna" and the symbol of a snowflake-like figure on it, along with instructions for the monks to proceed with their plans regarding various gnoll tribes.

    Back in the ruined elven city, the other party spots a huge dust cloud moving east. It turns out to be a huge Gnoll horde. To give the elves of Deshelain advanced warning the party sends Bladedancer of on their fastest horse to carry the news.
    Bladedancer arrives in Tethlain and hooks up with the current party. Soon after, a group of 40 raiders -- mostly monks -- rides into town. Seeing that their lair has been sacked, they lay into the townspeople with a vengeance.
    The party started to skirmish with these monks. One of their leaders, one monk with an aura of cold power about him, took on the half ogre at a distance and called on inexplicable abilities to attack at a distance and call on superhuman strength to hold his own. Both the monks and the party sound a retreat when the Gnolls come barreling over the hill.
    The party made their way back to elven civilization. Once there, they start asking about the monks and the symbols that they bore. It is found that they are a little heard of cult of a deity known deity named Samoti, also called the "Lost God" or the "Forgotten God," a deity of the ancient Qamatri culture to the south.
    In order to earn money, the party hires out to the elven nation, Deshelain. Elves frequently employ human mercenaries, since their low birth rate means that they cannot, in the long term, afford to engage in a war of attrition -- especially against the vastly numerically superior gnolls. "Better to pay the price in human blood -- it's worth less," some of the more cynical elves might say.
    Along the way, Lariana started asking around about hiring a ranger who can help guide the party in the wilderness. She meets a ranger by the name of Aradus, who seems, she thinks, a bit too eager to sign on. She abandons her attempts to hire a ranger, out of paranoia.
    As it turns out, well-justified paranoia. On the second night out, the party is attacked by an invisible menace tossing disruptive magical bolts. Lariana is wounded and Scout is slain, but none of the other party members are targeted by this assassin. The invisible assassin apparently flees when Greb resolves to smoke the assassin out of the trees by setting the forest on fire!
    Drake, being a druid, is none too happy with this activity. He quickly turns his attention to putting out the fire and stopping Greb. Fortunately for the party, he is successful.
    The party hires a new scout, Thisalan. One their next foray, they run into some outriding elements of the encroaching gnoll horde. After eliminating one of these parties, they withdraw to the elven battle-lines.
    The party immediately hears news that the elven battle lines have been compromised by elite assassins squads that slip behind the lines and take out key groups of soldiers. Who the assassins are is unknown, but it is suspected that the monks of the Forgotten God are involved in some fashion.
    The party starts looking for signs of gnoll and monk incursions, and finds a sacked elven village that is being used as a base. They make an attempt to sneak up on and take out the sentries, but the ruse goes awry and the party is captures by a group of archers with sleep poison tipped arrows.
    The party awakens to find themselves in a slave wagon heading off to regions unknown. Greb, with his great strength, manages to get most of the party loose from their shackles . . . and bashes the door open with a log that some elves (Thisalin included!) are still chained too!
    The party takes some damage from the guards of the caravan . . . including a drow woman who seems to be leading the pack. However, Drake immobilizes the bulk of the guards with an entangle spell, and the rest of the party makes short work of the one remaining guard.
    Their escape successful, the party heads back to civilization.

Character	Player	Race	Class	Kit (if any)
Bladedancer	GS	Viscosian	Fighter	Swashbuckler
Lariana	EK	Elf (Sea)	Mage	Diplomat
Thisalan	RP	Elf (Sun)	Thief	--
Thorin Heartshooter	KW	Dwarf (Hill)	Fighter	Sharpshooter

    The party spends the winter hiring out to elven concerns protecting the elven cities from gnolls. They acquire a charter as an adventuring company, the Company of the White Star.

Month of Kelan (the Eagle) Year 1180RR (Aborian reckoning)
Year of the Dragon's Flight (Avelan reckoning)

    The Company of the White Star has settled for the winter in Hasgalain, a sizable elven town. Lariana consults the sage Eldriranel concerning the copy of the Tome of the Ages, who endeavors to get it translated.
    Since the Gnoll and Elf lines are pretty firmly stabilized at the south branch of the Knightsblood river, there is little in the way of jobs for them. They are approached by a tall, bronze-skinned, serpentine eyed individual, most likely a half-dragon. He introduces himself as Darzal, ward of Antadrek. He says that he is from the land of the dragonlords to the north. He tells a tale of how his lord and others have fallen under the sway of the Sorceress Queen of Cymbria, and how he must try to free his liege.
    Toward this end, he hires the party to find the "Tomb of the Sleeping Mage," and awaken the sleeping mage Rathik, such that he may act on their behalf. He hopes that Rathik can help free his liege from the grip of the Sorceress Queen.
    They follow the map that Darzal gave them leading into the gnoll-occupied lands. They are harassed by gnoll bow fire and flind skirmishers, but charge their way past.
    At the site indicated on the map, the find a mound of rock shaped like a dragon's head. They find a hidden lever and use it to open the concealed passage. Upon entering they find some traps set up to raise the alarm for whoever set them. Thisalan finds the traps, but flubs up upon removing them. Several blind, gibbering humanoids leap to the attack, but are repulsed by the White Star's superior swordplay.
    They descend into the lair proper, and find five burial sites . . . four occupied and one empty. By the writing on the tombstones, they find that they belong to Parin, Alendra, Flave, and Toric, apparently members of old adventuring company called the Company of Distant Thunder. On Parin's body, a glimmering sword is found, which Thisalan relieves the poor dead sap of.
    The party finds some statuettes in one of the rooms, which they eventually identify as depicting various Aborian deities. In the central chamber, there is a pedestal with a 5 pointed star tipped with circular depressions that exactly fit the bases of the statuettes. They try various combinations, but with 26 statues, there are literally millions of possible combinations. To unlock this combination, the White Stars have one clue: written on the pedestal is the inscription: The Foeholders Shall Pave the Way.
    This means nothing to the party until they uncover and search through a library in the lair. They find a book detailing various Aborian deities. They find that 4 of the depicted deities are described as "foes" of something as part of their portfolio: Eric Greyhawk (foe of fiends), Evonn (foe of dark necromancy), Xanathar (foe of the undead), and Salaya (foe of slavery).
    They cannot think of what of the other deity that has a foe is, but have it narrowed down pretty well. They place the 4 that they know of in the slots and the fifth depression glows faintly. They try each of the following statues in the remaining slot in turn. When the statue of Selna is placed in the remaining slot, the pedestal slides back revealing a passageway down to a huge cavern. Selna, it turns out, is foe of lycanthropy . . . but this isn't too easy, since she succeeded in vanquishing her foe from the world: there are no lycanthopes in Trinalia (actually, there are some now, something which irks her in the extreme.) While descending the stairs, the party notices the inscription "this puzzle was brought to you by Terasha.
    Descending into the cavern, they find a huge statue of a dragon flanked by gargoyles. Within the dragon's grasp is a pedestal with gems loosely strewn atop it. The party steps foreword to investigate, but the gargoyles (of course) animate and attack. Fortunately, three people in the party have magical weapons. With the fire support of the mage, the gargoyles are slain.
    After contemplating for some time what to do, Thorin comes up with some plan that involves disturbing the gems. All of a sudden, the dragon that was formerly stone becomes flesh . . . and real. A very real green dragon is now standing before them.
    It turns out that the sleeping mage, Rathik, is a green Dragonmage.
    The dragon announces that the party freed him, so he will let them live. He tosses them a bag of magical stones in payment and calmly demands their departure. (DM note: Rathik's calm, cold, hard edged demeanor is about that of Longshanks in Braveheart or Sher Khan in The Jungle Book.)
    The party flees promptly back to Hasgalain, noticing that the rock formation they entered had now grown into a tall pillar of rock. The White Stars sneak into town, hopefully unnoticed.
    Soon there is great turmoil in the city. Something is routing the gnolls. Something is upsetting them. And it doesn't take long to figure out what.
    Town council meetings are called, and the party is invited . . . It turns out that more than a few guards remember the party setting off into gnoll-held lands just before this happened.
    At the head of this council stands Galcoral, one of the greatest and eldest living Sun Elf mage. The party lies through their teeth about their involvement with the situation . . . Only to have Thisalan's sword, Dragonbane (which he got out of Parin's grave) suddenly dominate Thisalan and make him raise Dragonbane high so that he can proclaim the true story. If that weren't enough, Galcoral recognized the sword as that of his former companion. The party got caught red handed in a lie . . . those who tried to sneak off at this juncture found themselves captured in Galcoral's telekinetic spheres.
    "Oh, THAT dragon," muttered the dwarf. To which most of the elves in the council chamber muttered something disdainful about how they were right all along about dwarves . . .
    As Galcoral started extracting the truth from the party, a white and green robed individual with green-on-green eyes stepped in. Interrupting Galcoral, the being that was obviously a polymorphed Rathik delivered his ultimatum to the elves: the elves are to stay east of the river, Rathik claiming all land between the west banks of the river and the edge of the forest. Rathik then departed.
    Galcoral is furious by this time, and lays upon the party a new responsibility. Since they unleashed the evil Dragonmage Rathik, they must find and awaken the good Dragonmage Grom. And one being knows where Grom is: Terasha, the Riddlemaster. Gee, that name sounds familiar.

Character	Player	Race	Class	Kit (if any)
Bladedancer	GS	Viscosian	Fighter	Swashbuckler
Lariana	EK	Elf (Sea)	Mage	Diplomat
Lady Arieon	EK	Human (Aborian)	Paladin (Koriander)	Weapon Master
Sir Adrian	RP	Human (Aborian)	Paladin (Ariel)	Cavalier
Thisalan	RP	Elf (Sun)	Thief	--

Month of Mielkan (the Nature Goddess), 1180RR

    Terasha is said to be somewhere in the mountains of the Young Baronies, so the Company heads back that direction.
    The remaining members of the Company of the White Star have made it back to the Village of Arian (where we started session one) in the west end of the free cities. Sir Adrian has rejoined the company and brought with him his comrade in arms, Lady Arieon.
    The party quizzes various townsfolk about the goings on locally. Thisalan, in talking to some trappers, learns that there have been sightings within the Magocracy of Drakkar of rebuilding of an ancient tower on the old bluffs. Anyone who tried to get a closer look has not been heard of since.
    Lariana spends the rest of her time in town fruitlessly trying to talk with the local druid. Bladedancer and Thisalan get drunk while the knights look on scornfully. The next day, they set out for Mintar West.

Month of Laren (the Sword Bearer), 1180 RR

    Once they arrive, they seek out the Temple of Selna. There, they speak with the high priestess of Selna who reveals to them a variety of interesting facts:

• She helps them decipher their copy of the prophecy from the Tome of Ages (which I will post soon.)
• She tells them of the fact that lycanthropes still exist in Trinalia in 2 forms: the Wendigo, powerful werewolves brought forth by the curse of a powerful necromancer; and the Wurdalak, undead vampire-werebeasts whose curse was so powerful that they resisted the goddess's banishment.
• Tells them that the man depicted in the temple of Selna in the frontier village was the Hero-King Arion.
Month of Elgat (the Stag), 1180 RR

    The Company boards a coaster bound for Hawk's Cove, the chief port and largest city of the Young Baronies. Lariana is afraid that whoever did her family in and was after her may be close at hand, so she takes care to disguise herself.
    After a brief period of further imbibement by the non-paladins in the party, they head north to the fortress city of Krondar, where they seek out the sage Valdemar. On their way into town, the spot a great training grounds for knights, priests, and Bloodguard in the martial arts. They learn of the Knights of the Azure Cloak, an order of ascetic knights devoted to Orion.
    Upon consulting with Valdemar, an eccentric mage that lives in a tower covered in charred patches, they find he is in conference with a strange looking aquamarine skinned elf who they later find to be the legendary aquatic elf mage Coral. Amidst conversation with Coral, Valdemar erratically addresses the Companies questions regarding dragonkind.
    He points out that Terasha is a sapphire dragon that lives in the depths of an abandoned dwarven stronghold. Terasha, known as the "Riddlemaster," has a penchant for puzzles and riddles.
    The stronghold was originally a mining establishment. One day, the dark elves broke through one of these lower halls and raided the stronghold. The dark elves held this stronghold against the dwarves for some time. Then Terasha took up lair there, eventually eliminating a majority of the dark elves in the hold.
    Recently, after the Young Baronies scattered the Cult of the Scaled (a dark elf fringe group revering dragons) arrived to pay homage to the legendary dragon. Very recently, any sign of that group's existence has faded and the Dwarves have started to move back into the mines . . . with trepidation.

Character	Player	Race	Class	Kit (if any)
Bladedancer	GS	Viscosian	Fighter	Swashbuckler
Lariana (imprisoned)	EK	Elf (Sea)	Mage	Diplomat
Lady Arieon	EK	Human (Aborian)	Paladin (Koriander)	Weapon Master
Sir Adrian (dies)	RP	Human (Aborian)	Paladin (Ariel)	Cavalier
Thisalan	RP	Elf (Sun)	Thief	--
Greb (leaves party)	JB	Half-Ogre	Fighter	Gladiator
Teng Lao (replaces Greb)	JB	Half-Dragon	Fighter / Mage	Dragon Knight

 Month of Halan (the Harper), 1180 RR

    The company bears into the mountains to the north to seek the Riddlemaster Terasha. They encounter a dwarven caravan leaving the supposedly abandoned stronghold. Upon quizzing the caravan leader, they discover that the mines in the old stronghold have been reopened by a dwarven family. They get the dwarves to send a guide named Grodak with them down into the mine where the Dark Elf cultists were last believed to be.
    The party finds are corpses of goblins, freshly slain. There is definitely something alive down here, but the passages are way too small to accommodate a sapphire dragon.
    Lariana notices something darting across the passage in the distance. The company pursues this flitting image. They pry the creature out of a hiding hole in the distance. It turns out to be a half-dragon, half-dark elf, formerly of the cult of the scaled.
    The half dragon speaks in a cryptic religious cant. After a while, the party manages to get from him that he is the last survivor of the Cult of the Scaled, a dark elf fringe cult revering dragons who came to this region to revere Terasha, the legendary dragon. However, the cult was attacked by a vampire queen and her clutch. The cult was slain save two members: this half-dragon (who escaped) and a dark elf necromancer by the name of Elkantar (who was abducted). Along with this necromancer, the vampires stole all of the cult's religious and magical texts regarding their rituals and rites.
    The half-dragon agrees to guide the company to Terasha's lair if they destroy the vampire now dwelling here, a vampire that was once the half-dragon's brother. The party bravely faces the vampire. Bravest of all is Greb, who attempts to wrestle the vampire down. The vampire is finally destroyed when Adrian gets an incredibly lucky shot with a stake.
    The half-dragon leads the party to an underground lake, and shows the company of an island on which Terasha resides and the cult once offered sacrifices to Terasha. Blade-dancer, Lariana, Arieon, and Adrian board the rickety boat and cross.
    Once across, Terasha comes. When Lariana asks for his aid, Terasha says that he has no concerns with the petty squabbles between "good" and "evil." He does mention, however, that there is a greater threat than the dominated Dragon Lords, gnoll hordes, or Empire of Drakkar. He says that ancient beings called the void lords pose a true threat to the world that overrides all these concerns.
    Terasha agrees to help them with their quest to find Grom, the Silver Dragonmage, if they can answer three riddles. The answer to the third will be the locale where Grom is to be found.

    The first riddle is:
 

Two horses, swiftest traveling,
Harnessed in a pair
Grazing ever in places
Distant from them.
   After considerable brain-wracking, the company answers the riddle: eyes. (Funny thing is, John figured this out immediately, but his character wasn't there, and even if he had been, he was playing a fairly dim-witted character.)

    The second riddle is:
 

My life can be measured in hours,
I serve by being devoured.
Thin, I am quick.
Fast, I am slow.
Wind is my foe.
    After what seemed like an eternity even for a dragon, the company comes up with the second answer: a candle.

    The third riddle is:
 

Lighter than what
I am made of,
More of me is hidden
Than is seen.
   Adrian quickly states: an iceberg. Grom lies on an iceberg? Which one?
    Terasha wasn't divulging any more. However, he did offer up something that had the potential of helping or hindering the party: a deck of many things.
    Well, it turned out to hurt more than helped. Bladedancer got 4 wishes and a powerful enemy. For one of the wishes, he wished to learn where Grom actually lay. It was revealed to him that Grom lay in the legendary ice castle that lay in the frozen bay to the north.
    Adrian gained proficiency and magical gauntlets that enhance his strength. But a minor death appeared and carted him off to Hades.
    Lariana was next. She draws the donjon. She is whisked off to some far off prison. And the deck disappears.
    The company headed back to the surface and made preparations to head across the plains to the northern bay where the mysterious ice castle floats. Thisalan found a deck of cards in his pack, labeled with the message: the fates have given you a second chance. This time, the fates were much kinder to the party, granting a variety of benefits to the party.
    The party meets an invoker and a Dragon Knight who have heard of their quest and ask to sign on. Greb leaves the company to search for Lariana.