Gaming Session 6 (Jan. 1, 2005) (Total XP 1,428)

18th Alda/3rd Emerald: The party sets out on the Goblin highway, westward toward Delium. After an uneventful day of travel, they camp in a dry cave vault that is filled with spar. Due to the wretched condition of the air under the mountain, a number of party members succumb to a debilitating cough (though all but D'Mitrius eventually get over it). (12 miles.)

4th Emerald: The party continues westward, and camps along the edge of the highway. During his watch, Orton hears the sound of tiny footsteps. He wakes the party, but nothing happens. They continue on the highway, and encounter a trap (Anax and Gwil fail their saves and are grappled by a net). The party is then ambushed by tiny rat-like humanoid creatures, mounted on dire rats. The party kills four of the creatures (including the leader, a shaman) and all four dire rats, and the remainder flee. Cuauhtemoc is bitten by one of the dire rats, and fails his save against filth fever. The shaman has 5 PP and an unusual golden mask with emeralds for eyes strapped to his back, giving off a faint magical aura. XP reward per player: 571. (12 miles.)

5th Emerald: The party continues westward for 6 miles, and arrives at a place where the road is submerged by a river about 100 ft. across. Battle with a Minotaur. XP reward per player: 171. The party crosses the river with the assistance of celestial porpoises summoned by Orton. By the end of the day, the party arrives at an intersection where the highway branches northwest and southwest. Elias uses his bardic knowledge and D'Mitrius uses his decipher script ability to attempt to interpret the map. They believe Delium gate is to the northwest, so they continue in that direction. (12 miles .)

6th Emerald (12 miles .)

7th Emerald: After traveling about 6 miles, the tunnel passes through a natural vault with stone steps, at the top of which are small caves. Elias investigates. The party is attacked by three swarms of spiders. After taking some damage, the party flees. With the assistance of Orton's healing skills, Cuauhtemoc is cured of the filth fever. (12 miles .)

8th Emerald: The party reaches a wide cavern, with clear black stone showing in sections of the walls that have eroded. Battle with a carrion crawler. Elias searches for its lair, and finds it. Battle with 3 more carrion crawlers. XP reward per player: 686. They find 2 rotted corpses and 10 GP in the lair. The party decides to remain in the cave and recuperate. (6 miles).

Gaming Session 7 (Feb. 5, 2005) (Total XP 635)

9th Emerald: The party continues northwest for 3 miles, and they arrive at a section of tunnel where the floor, cieling and walls are covered with runes for about 20 feet. Elias reads magic and discerns that they are runes of protection. There are ruins there as well, a wall that has collapsed. One of the fallen bricks is inscribed with the word "living" in Karmarthian. The party searches the ruins and finds several other bricks inscribed with the words: "Mustjala"; "Beware!"; "bane"; "dominion"; "Lich"; and "dread" and "lord". They procede for another mile until they reach an archway, where they see four gargoyles, apparently stone. They pass through the archway into a seemingly vast cavern which is pitch dark (unilluminated by the usual violet mold). When they approach some stone buildings, they are attacked by animated Goblin cadavers and skeletons that were huddled together there in the shadows. Battle with dozens of undead and four gargoyles. Orton destroys 11 zombies and 8 skeletons. The party flees. The gargoyles stop pursuit after they pass out the archway; a couple dozen undead follow them as far as the runes, but seem unable to pass beyond them. XP reward per player: 350. The party concludes that they must have taken the wrong fork in the road 30 miles back. They trace their steps back until they have gone 4 miles past the Carrion Crawler cave. D'Mitrius finally makes his save against the Karmarthian cough. (12 miles.)

10th Emerald: The party travels uneventfully, until they are 2 miles past the Spider Swarm cavern. (12 miles.)

11th Emerald: (12 miles.)

12th Emerald: After traveling 2 miles, the party reaches the fork. This time, they try the southwest fork. They travel 7 miles until they reach a gorge where they encounter 4 rat swarms blocking their way forward. XP reward per player: 285. After vanquishing the rats, they travel another 3 miles. The reach another fork, where a 20-foot-wide tunnel continues due west and a 10-foot-wide tunnel forks south east. They decide to continue due west. (12 miles.)

13th - 14th Emerald: (24 miles.)

15th Emerald: The party travels 6 miles and arrives at the outskirts of the Stoixeioumevos Docks (where they can see the lighthouse shining ahead, and where Elias detects the thoughts of four Goblins playing a game of chance in a nearby stone building). (6 miles.)

Gaming Session 8 (Feb. 19, 2005) (Total XP 1,250)

15th Emerald: The party finds a tavern at the docks, where they question the Black Goblin bar tender about transport across the lake. From him they learn about the dangers of crossing the lake, due to the Aboleth Lords and their armies of Skum slaves under the lake, and due to the Black Goblin Dominion's occupation of the north shore of the lake. He urges them to speak to the Keeper of the Docks.

The Keeper of the Docks informs the party about the different modes of transport across the lake. An animated galley (the Heart of Flame) will be returning to the docks in 5 days; a regular galley (the Black Lotus) will be returning in 9. The safest forms of transport are too expensive for them to afford, but the master of the docks offers free transport or remuneration if the party can help him deal with some local problems that neither Grand Duke Sebastian nor the Lord of Delium can spare the troops to deal with: Minotaurs to the southwest, Hook Horrors to the northeast, AWOL Ogres to the southeast, and deep beneath the catacombs below the docks, some horror that the Lord Diviner of Delium saw burrowing upward in a dream.

The party goes in search of the Hook Horrors. On the way, as they travel a road that follows the curve of the shore of Lake Stoixeioumevos, they are attacked by 5 Skum who come up out of the lake. XP reward per player, for defeating the Skum: 357.

Dmitrius spots monstrous foot prints at the entrance to the northeastern catacombs, and they follow them to the lair. In the battle that ensues at the entrance of the Hook Horrors' lair, Sebastian is killed, and the party is forced to flee for their lives. They return to the Docks, where they rent a common room at the tavern.

16th Emerald: The party rests and recuperates at Stoixeioumevos Docks. Orton casts a "gentle repose" spell on Sebastian. They formulate a plan to go back and destroy the Hook Horrors.

17th Emerald: Armed with a plan, they return to the Hook Horrors' lair. Using a silence spell, they are able to get past the narrow entrance of the lair and get the entire party into the Hook Horrors' cave without the creatures noticing them. Orton summons a Celestial Owl who distracts one of the Hook Horrors, while they all converge on the other. Gwil effectively blinds one of the Hook Horrors by deafening it with a thunder stone. Members of the party sustain terrible injuries, but they manage to kill the first Hook Horror. Though Anax is killed during the fight with the second Hook Horror, they manage to kill it too, with the help of a Celestial Bear summoned by Orton. XP reward per player, for defeating the Hook Horrors: 643. Treasure found in the Hook Horrors' lair: 700 GP, a deep blue spinel, a star ruby, an intricate gold music box, an adamantine dagger.

The party returns to Stoixeioumevos Docks with a second dead companion. XP reward per player, for accomplishing the mission they accepted from the Keeper of the Docks and earning passage on the Galley Black Lotus: 250.

Gaming Session 9 (Mar. 5, 2005) (Total XP 1,310 for D'Mitrius, Elias, Gwil, Heracles, Orton, Xu; 643 for Cuauhtemoc)

17th Emerald: After the party's return to the Docks, they present the heads of the Hook Horrors to the Keeper of the Docks, who, in accordance with his promise, provides them tokens guaranteeing passage across Lake Stoixeioumevos on the Black Lotus. He seems particularly moved by the sacrifice of Anax, whose people, he informs the party, have a long history of faithful service to the Goblin Dominions. He agrees to restore Anax's remains to his people, for the proper rites of passage into the next world. The party are then granted an audience with the Lord Stefanos, chief of the Lighthouse.

At the Docks tavern, they meet two travellers who have already purchased passage on the Black Lotus and who, like the party, are debating whether to attempt to travel to Pharsalus, or to head south for Knossos. They are Du Xu Ren the Dwarf, and Heracles the White Goblin. After becoming acquainted, the party invites the two to travel with them, at least temporarily, as their strength has been severely diminished with the deaths of Sebastian and Anax.

Lord Stefanos willingly answers the party's questions about the current Goblin Civil War, explaining that Agamemnon is not the first Lord High Defender to rise up against the Grand Goblin. He also examines the strange black creature the party has promised to present to the Grand Goblin, if possible, and identifies a strange scar near its tailbone as the mark of Vorax, a sinister figure in the Quincunx pantheon whom he describes as a sort of Devil. As a token of gratitude for their efforts in defense of the docks, Lord Stefanos sells a couple of scrolls and a pearl to Elias, and gives the party an obsidian token which he asks them to present to Lord Diviner Oedipus of Delium, in exchange for which the Lord Diviner will grant any one favor they ask.

Lord Stephanos identified the mask the party obtained from the Jinxkin shaman as a magical item capable of turning its wearer into a Goblin (and only susceptible to being removed through a remove curse spell). Elias uses the pearl to magically identify the amulet obtained from the rebel leader Sebastian as an amulet of mighty fists (+2 to hit, +2 to damage for natural or unarmed attacks). Elias also casts a detect thoughts spell on the black creature, and though unable to read specific thoughts, detects a sense of apprehension, a fear of being hunted.

18th Emerald: The party decides to attempt one more mission on behalf of the docks. The Keeper of the Docks offers a reward of 5,000 GP if the party can address the threat posed by a mysterious creature burrowing upward from below, seen only in a dream by the Lord Diviner of Delium. With the support of their new companions, they follow the mile-long winding staircase below the lighthouse, to a small cavern where they see a large tunnel that appears to have been recently burrowed by some creature of monstrous size. They follow the burrowed tunnel until they reach the creature's lair. In that battle that ensues Cuauhtemoc is killed. XP reward per player, for defeating the Umber Hulk: 643. Treasure found in the Umber Hulk's lair: 900 GP, a deep blue spinel, a malachite, a blue diamond, a peculiar black bead, and two potions.

The party receives an iron token from the Keeper of the Docks, which can be redeemed in Delium for 5,000 GP. Mourning the death of their friend Cuauhtemoc, they decide to remain in Stoixeioumevos Docks until their galley departs for Delium Docks.

20th Emerald: A Goblin Guard consisting of 36 Goblins, 2 Ogres, and a Goblin commander arrive at the Docks, en route to Delium. Late that night, the Black Lotus arrives at the docks.

21st Emerald: The party leaves on the Black Lotus.

22nd Emerald: The galley is attacked by a large raiding party of Skum. Xu mows down 3 Skum in one round with his "great cleave." XP reward per player, for defeating 8 Skum: 667.

23rd Emerald: The galley arrives in Delium Docks.

24th Emerald: The Goblin Guard departs for Delium, accompanied by the party. Travel is uneventful.

28th Emerald: The party arrives at Delium. By presenting the obsidian token they received from Lord Stefanos, they obtain an audience with the Lord Diviner Oedipus. Oedipus receives the token, and in exchange offers to use a scroll of true resurrection to revive one of their comrades. He also agrees to use another scroll of true resurrection to raise their other fallen comrade, if they will reimburse him for at least a portion of the cost of the scroll. He asks for 10,000 GP, which they pay by giving him the blue diamond and the 5,000 GP iron token.

Chapter 3