Characters:
Kathy - Vochma
Micah - Cardhu
Mark - Corlis
Ben - Drew
Liz - Quera
Joe - Moth
Josh - Thunder
The party was in Cardhu's, resting, and debating their course of action for the next few days. Several things remained on the group's plate, including Gar, The Temple of Lopnel, Walwyn, the Caldera, and heading south. As the group debated, an old, heavy-set man entered the bar, passed the table, and crossed over to an empty booth in the corner. A moment later, Cardhu excused himself from the group and went over to speak with the man, Quera joined them after a few moments. Corlis and the rest of the group watched for a few minutes, wondering what was going on, then turned back to their own conversation.
Shortly thereafter, Moth, Thunder, Drew, and Vochma went to the shrine to see how Walwyn was today. Unfortunately he was not well. Apparently he was attempting to cure someone of lycanthropy using chocolate pudding. Moth and the others intervene, and convince the poor werewolf's friends to take him someplace safe (later we discovered that Slarth had killed a werewolf near town - guess they didn't listen).
Meanwhile, back at Cardhu's, a group of three halflings approached Corlis and asked if they could 'join him'. He questioned them, and they identified themselves as 'expert treasure collectors'. Corlis had some doubts, but put the trio up in one of the rooms at the inn until Cardhu and Quera had a chance to talk to them. Let the stealthy ones deal with the stealthy ones - Corlis wanted to go to the Temple of Lopnel!
As night falls Corlis and Thunder paid a visit to Lady Sernelia's tower, hoping to get word of what exactly is up with Walwyn. They could not get her attention, so they left a pair of notes for her, and paid a visit to the shrine to see what was happening with Walwyn and the others.
They arrived just in time to hear the acolyte start screaming about thieves and robbery. Apparently someone had stolen several relics from the shrine. Corlis had a good idea who, so he returned to the in with the others and filled them in on the halflings. The party made its way up to check out their rooms, and discovered the door had been trapped. Quera and Cardhu made short work of the trap and opened the door to be greeted by a crossbow wielding halfling. They spoke for a moment, the Corlis grew tired of messing with the half-pint, and stormed the room. The halfling immediately surrendered.
The group tied up the halfling and stowed him in another room, while Quera and Vochma took up position in the halfling's room. Shortly thereafter another of the halflings returned to the inn and was detained by Moth and Thunder. Later still, the third halfling popped his head into the window, saw something he didn't like, and took off into the darkness. Vochma and Quera set off in pursuit, while others remain to guard the tied up halflings and secure the inn.
Cardhu took off to take care of something, and returned with the old man he encountered earlier in the tow. They took a corner table and started discussing something, while the remainder of the group waited for Vochma and Quera. A short time later, the old man concluded his business with Cardhu and left, just as Vochma and Quera returned with the third halfling in tow. They said the halfling was in league with the old man and they had recovered all the stolen church articles (and many other items as well). Hearing this the old man (Kainus) took off into the night. We pursued, but quickly lost him in the darkness.
We ended the evening by recovering all the stolen goods and turning over the thieves and the booty to the constable (who was most impressed).
Once again the morning finds us in Cardhu's discussing plans. Moth lets it be known that he is going to tell the Duke that he and Walwyn went to the shadow plane against the Duke's orders, and goes to find the Duke's page so he can leave a message. He returns with the unhappy news that Walwyn left town last night in answer to a summons from the Duke to deal with some undead down south. Uh oh.
Since the matter was (for the moment) out of the party's hands, we decided to head northward and do some scouting around the Temple of Lopnel. In theory it is a very dangerous place, so we thought the trip worth while. Slarth agreed to accompany us, and we set off about mid-day.
That night a group of leprechauns entered camp and demanded taxes be paid to them for passing through 'their' territory. Corlis was very grumpy at being awakened, and told them to 'piss off'. They were displeased, and the leader challenged Corlis to a fight, but after some grumbling back and forth they left. Shortly thereafter we discovered they had made off with a couple of valuables, including Misha's holy food, and Vochma's bag of holding, which contained… THE EYE!
About the only thing worse than the party having the eye would be a bunch of leprechauns having the eye. Needless to say we set off in pursuit. Luckily Drew was able to contact the leprechaun king and fill him in on the situation. He caught up with us and together we headed toward the leprechaun warren.
When we reached the place we were greeted by a white worm. Already the evil of the Eye was at work! After some careful planning we launched an attack. We advance up the narrow trail toward the entrance, while the Eye wielding leprechaun hurled evil magic at us. When Corlis and Drew reached the top, Drew made a lucky grab and managed to rip the eye from the leprechaun things hand as Corlis stabbed it through the heart. Unfortunately the Eye possessed Drew, and Corlis was forced to cut his hand off to prevent further mayhem. Once the evil was purged from the warren, the leprechaun king restored Drew's missing hand, and restored him to his normal human form. He then took his leave, and we continued towards the temple.
That night as the first watch was settling into its routine, the camp is pelted with arrows, and all three sentries fall. Luckily several others awake as the campsite is attacked by a handful of the tusked creatures we had seen previously organizing the goblins and kobolds in the Needles. We fought off a fierce assault, and slew all the creatures. We still have no idea exactly what these things are. Among their possessions we discovered a number of squishy white tokens inscribed with runes of power.
We reach the temple and spend several days resting to recover from recent events.
The party has (not including items distributed):
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