Synopsis:

Session begins early on the morning of November 4th.  It is very cold and a light breeze is blowing from the east.  There is heavy cloud cover so the moon and stars are not visible.  A thin crust of snow covers the ground.  The party has successfully captured two sidhe interlopers who approached the camp.  They are named Reither and Falathras.

Kieren has successfully recovered the final shard of the Dragon Amulet and assembled it with the other two pieces to complete the amulet.  Joseph Kerr possesses 'Wyrm-Smiter',  which was Cameron Gunn's dragon-slaying sword.

The party is having a heated discussion about how to proceed from their current circumstances.  Rutlett and Joseph wish to retrieve their missing henchmen/companions, while Kieren and Rhyawdd are strongly inclined to return Achintee to continue Kieren's quest for his kidnapped daughter.

A compromise of sorts is struck.  Rutlett releases the sidhe Falathras after he promises to recover  Rolf's body.  As insurance Rutlett holds Reither hostage.  The party decides to leave the forest and camp further west in Glen Mullardoch in the grassy plain next to the loch.  Rhyawdd and Kieren express their strong desire to avoid any further dealings with the sidhe and decide to make a second camp up in the mountain pass to the west.  Liana and Cedric decide to go with them. While in camp Mem casts 3 faith arrow spells.

Around daybreak, Dermid and his companions decide to spy out the firbolg enclave in the woods to see if Lord Ross may have been taken by the giants.  They travel to the enclave without difficulty and Holgrim uses his magic to enter the Firbolg village unseen Holgrim searches the village and learns that there are no prisoners about.  He also learns that the Firbolg are having problems with marauding hobgoblins from the north who are stealing their cattle.  The leader of the giants displays a bejeweled eating dagger that he recovered from a dead hobgoblin raider.

Dermid and company return to Rutlett's camp without incident and relate what they found to Rutlett and Joseph.  Joseph  listens to the description of the bejeweled dagger and recognizes it as lord Ross's.  The party concludes that Lord Ross must have run afoul of the raiding hobgoblins and been killed or taken prisoner.

Falathras shows up at Rutlett's camp after dawn with Rolf's body and exchanges it for the captive sidhe Reither.  The exchange goes smoothly, although Falathras does issue a thinly veiled threat to Rutlett  in his parting words…

Rutlett and the group in camp decide to make a hasty departure and head west for Kieren's camp near the mountain pass.  They arrive there by mid-day without incident.  Kieren casts detect magic and scans the area to verify that Rutlett's party has not been followed by any invisible sidhe.  Kieren and Mem  heal the party and Kieren uses the dragon amulet to raise Rolf from the dead.  Rolf is resurrected, however in the process Kieren loses a point of constitution.

The party discusses their course of action and decides to track down the hobgoblin raiders to the north and rescue Lord Ross if possible.   Because Rolf is recently back from the dead the party decides to wait until the following day before heading north.  The night passes without incident other than a visit from "Paulie" the talking owl. The owl tells the party that there is a hobgoblin enclave that is less than a days flight to the north.

November 5, it is a cold morning with a  moderate wind blowing from the northwest. There is a light snow falling.  The party breaks camp and heads north through a mountain pass.   Kieren casts a comfort spell on the other party members to shield them from the elements.  Kieren also uses the dragon amulet to heal Rolf's injuries and bring him back to health. Mem casts 2 faith arrows.

The party travels north along a well worn path through the mountains.  They descend into Glen Monar and come upon a trail travelling east-west along a stream.  There are footprints on the snow-covered trail that indicate a band of 8-12 humanoids have passed by within the past few hours.   The footprints indicate that the group is travelling from east to west.  The rangers in the party concur that the tracks were probably made by a hobgoblin hunting party, so they decide that the party should follow the tracks to their origin, which is presumably the hobs lair.

The party follows the tracks all afternoon.  The lead east along the southern shore of Loch Monar and then south along a stream flowing from the mountains.  Evening is approaching so the party decides to make camp nearby and wait until morning before venturing into the hobgoblin lair.  The party remembers passing another stream & valley about an hour to the west.  They make for the stream and camp within the shelter of a grove of conifers.  The night is mostly uneventful although a skunk does wander into camp on two different occasions.

November 6,  the temperature has continued to drop and it is in the low 20’s.  A breeze from the north carries a dusting of snow that has covered the party’s tracks from the previous day.  As the day progresses the snowfall increases in intensity.  Mem casts 2 faith arrow spells.

The party breaks camp and heads toward the hobgoblin lair.  There are no fresh tracks so the party assumes that no hobgoblin patrols are around.  They follow the stream south into a mountainous ravine.  The ravine winds back into the mountains for about a mile and narrows until it is no more than 200 yards across.

As the party rounds a bend in the ravine the see a wooden palisade crossing the ravine ahead.  The scouts advance and check it further.  They notice a wooden palisade fronted by a water filled ditch.  The right hand side of the palisade ends in a drawbridge that is bracketed by the palisade on one side and a 25 foot high rock promontory on the other side.  The promontory is topped by another wooden fortification that appears to be manned by hobgoblins.

The party discusses what to do, and they decide to let Dermid and his men scout out the encampment from the cliff-side that forms the ravine.  Rhyawdd and Kieren agree to go along.

Joseph decides to set off on his own and asks Liana to cast invisibility on him so that he won't be seen.  Liana casts invisibility on Joseph.   Joseph casts levitate on himself and levitates 100 feet into air.  There is a strong breeze blowing into the ravine which slowly pushes him forward toward the hobgoblin palisade.

Holgrim and Kieren cast levitate spells on themselves to assist in climbing along the walls of the ravine above the hobgoblin camp.  Holgrim, Dermid and the others traverse the ravine wall until they are directly above the fortification on the rock promontory.  Five hobgoblin guards are visible.    Holgrim casts invisibility on himself and slowly levitates down to the hobs.  He casts sleep  and affects all of them.  Holgrim then dispatches the sleeping hobs while the others on the ravine wall descend to the fortification.,

Holgrim uses magic to scry the area around the hobgoblin camp.  He detects two entrances: one (single-door) adjacent to the fortification and another (double-door) a short distance away that he says is guarded from within by 4 hobs.  Holgrim ensorcels the double-door to prevent the hobs from using it.

Meanwhile, Joseph drifts beyond the palisade and is able to see his fellow party members and the dead hobgoblin guards.  He descends to the ground and examines the winch mechanism that is used to raise and lower the drawbridge in the palisade.  Joseph begins to lower the drawbridge, but the party members inside the palisade tell him to stop, which he does for the moment.

Dermid and the scout team discuss what to do, and they decide to enter the hobgoblin lair via the single door adjacent to the fortification.  The door is unlocked and un-trapped. Kieren casts sound bubble on himself so that the party can quietly approach the hobs.  The scouting party enters the rough-hewn tunnel beyond the door and follows the downward sloping tunnel for ~100 feet before coming to a sturdy wooden door set in the right wall of the tunnel. The door shows no obvious handle, lock, or hinges.  Rhyawdd examines the door and concludes it is a one-way door and the party is on the wrong side of it.

Kieren uses the treasure seeking ability of the dragon amulet and determines that a considerable treasure exists ~200 feet beyond the one way door.  Holgrim uses magical to scry the area beyond the door and finds that it leads to a second one-way door and the hobgoblin chiefs lair with a chest.  The lair is occupied by several hobs.  The tunnel the party is in continues on to a large chamber that houses at least 2 dozen hobgoblins.

The party decides to travel to the chief's chamber beyond the one way door.  Kieren casts reduce on the door and is able to shrink it enough so that it can be removed from its hinges .  The party proceeds cautiously along the tunnel beyond the door.  They move slowly and search for traps but find none.

Meanwhile, Joseph grows impatient waiting for the scouting party, and he decides to take matters into his own hands.  He opens the drawbridge in the palisade so that the remainder of the party: Rutlett, Mem, Rolf, Homer, Cedric, and Liana can enter the hobgoblin lair.  The remainder of the party enters the hob compound and ascends to the rock promontory.  They proceed through the door and tunnel to the one-way door that Kieren reduced in size to open.

Holgrim uses magic to scry the chief's chamber on the other side of the barred, one-way door.  He also checks the surrounding area and notes the chief's bodyguard's quarters, the kitchens, a guard room, and the dungeon.  Holgrim notes that the dungeon contains a number  of orcs and one human.  Holgrim relates this information to the party and tells them that he intends to use his magic to access the dungeon to see if the human captive is in fact Lord Ross.  He  returns to the scouting party a short while later and tells them that the human captive is not Lord Ross.

Kieren formulates a plan to use rope trick to bypass the barred one-way door between the escape tunnel and the chief's lair.    Kieren casts rope trick directly above the door and has the party climb up into the extra-dimensional space. Holgrim ensorcels both Sean and Dermid and they disappear from sight..

Kieren casts silence 15 foot radius on a coin and slides it under the door into the chiefs chamber.  With the chamber effectively silenced, the scouting party enters the chief's lair from above the door.  The hobs in the room are taken by surprise and the chief is quickly dispatched by Rhyawdd and Kieren, who decapitate him.  The other hobs cower in fear and beg for mercy.

While Kieren and Rhyawdd battle the chief hobgoblin, the chest opens by itself and various bags are moved about and disappear from view.  Kieren and Rhyawdd take note of the strange goings on near the chest but assume that it is their fellow party members. Holgrim opens the barred door and is met by the remainder of the party entering from the hallway beyond.  Holgrim motions for the party to enter the room so the hallway is cleared.

Four hobgoblins charge forth from the adjacent chamber to engage Kieren and Rhyawdd.  Liana and Rutlett join the fight while the other party members search the fallen hobgoblins and guard the captive ones.

Liothien's  saga:

On the morning of November 5 Lio leaves the Manticore's aerie.  He takes the 900+ gp, 8 gems, 2 scrolls, and a magic broad sword with him.  Lio has no rope to descend from the lair so he employs an audacious plan to leap from lair and teleport into his warp marble before impacting the ground.  The warp marble is first wrapped in cloth and padding to cushion it against the impact. Lio's escape from the manticore lair is successfully accomplished.

Once on the ground, Liothien heads north to descend out of  the mountains.  He follows a small stream that flow north into a small river that heads west.  Lio decides to follow the trail west along the river's edge.

At mid-afternoon, Liothien is startled to hear heavy breathing nearby.  He looks around to discover the source and comes face to face with a large copper dragon.  Thinking quickly, Liothien begins to flatter master Furnius, the copper dragon.  Fortunately, Furnius has eaten recently and decides to spare Liothien.  He challenges Lio to a riddle contest; if Lio can answer Furnius' riddle then Furnius will answer any question that Lio would pose.  Lio successfully answers Furnius riddle and asks the dragon  how to get to the nearest town.  Furnius indicates that Lio need only follow the trail west to arrive in Killilan.

Session ends.
  
Experience point awards and character status:

Liana Ashwood - Fighter/M-U
Total EP’s                   400
Spell point total:      30 / 32
Hit point total:         38 / 38

Kieren Urquhart – Ranger
Total EP’s                 1200
Spell point total:      4  / 12
Hit point total:         40 / 40

Rhyawdd MacPherson – Rogue
Total EP's               200
Hit  point total:     74 / 74

Liothien Snowhawk – Fighter
Total EP’s              4400
Hit point total:       75 / 75

Joseph Kerr – Invoker
Total EP’s               400
Hit Point total:      32 / 32
Spell point total:   22 / 24

Rutlett Trollcrusher – Fighter
Total EP’s               200
Hit Point total:      73 / 73

Mem Hammerworker - Priest of Loki
Total EP’s              1200
Spell point total:    11 / 13
Hit point total:       29 / 29

Cedric – Fighter
no  EP's
Hit Point total:      41/46

Homer Goodmead – Rogue
No  EP's
Hit Point total:      13/13

Rolf Trollsbane - Fighter
No  EP's
Hit Point total:      22 /30