Just a Song at Penstoke

 

Present: Myrtle [Andrew], Bear [Ian], Debbie [Steven], Dexter [Jamie], Oliver [Jeff], Ouzo [Darryl], Scuttle [Chris], Tu [Shane], and Gillard [Kevin]. Full house.

Myrtle's Diary

We had safely arrived in the big town Gazebo. Those of us who needed it, trained. There was actually a proper Wizards' Guild here; not a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, or a suspicious corner of a pub where "they get a bit handsy", so Oliver could train.

Gazebo had armourers here too, so both Tu and Bear checked-in their stolen suits of splint mail, to get them refitted for their own bodies. This would take 14 days. So, we left the Malechais to rot over that time. I am not sure if this is a good idea. Well, as the elves say "C'est la vie. J'agite mes parties intimes vers tes tantes."

Since Oliver now had the Identify spell, after his training, he set to work on bunch of sundry stolen magical gear:

• 

  Glasses of the Magi

  Glasses of the Magi - allows the wearer to read Elvish, Dwarf, and Gnome. Scuttle claimed this.
• Blue sword - this long-sword glows near undead and evil. It is +1 OV vs undead, but counts as "magic" for other cases. Tu got this.
• Heavy Crossbow of Speed -  Normal 3d4 damage, but with a faster load (one shot every 2nd round). Bear claimed this.
• Magic Shield - +1 DV. Dexter got this.
• Bag of Holding - Capacity is 100kg or 1 cubic metre (whichever is lesser). Oliver claimed this.
• Hairclip of Beauty - APP+1. I claimed this.
• Ring of Protection - +1 on saves. Scuttle claimed this.

Candles of Fear

We had some magical consumables too:

• 3 Candles of Fear - The one who lights the candle is immune but all others need to save vs magic or flee in terror
• Invisible powder: nine doses. Each dose lasts (6+D6*10 ) minutes divided by 3, or 20-40 mins.

Also, during the 14 days:

• Ouzo was hauled off to the Thieves' Guild for a courtesy call. When he returned, he told us that they had pointed-out to him our Wanted Posters. There was a bunch of magical posters going around that magically cycled through the portraits of each member of our group. The "dead or alive" reward figure was increasing almost daily. It was now over 10,000 gp. This was put out by Hayley Price, the Malechai witch from Penstoke. 
• While Ouzo was there, he got us a more secure dwelling - an apartment in a quiet part of the town.
• Not that this "secure dwelling" prevented the local REAL agent, High Priestess Katey Haslip, from contacting me. I accompanied her guards to the REAL temple. She was pleased to tell me that using my report to the REALs (from Panma), a REAL Tactical team had been dispatched from (the High Priest in) Toluene to the Saucy Crater. And they cleansed it. No need for us to return there now!

When Gazebo time was completed, Bear and Tu went to collect their new suits of split mail. This was a bit of a gamble; Bear's armourer completed his task, but the dullard that Tu had chosen stuffed up. No refunds!  Good bye 1000gp.

So, now we needed to decide where to next. The only loose end was Hayley Price's farm cottage in Penstoke, so we headed off toward there - three day's trip.

First day's travel in drizzle was uneventful. We spent that night in a barn.

The next day, someone spotted a cloud of ravens. So we all hid behind a hedge row and hoped they hadn't spotted us.

Cloud of Ravens

That night was spent in another barn. Throughout that day, Dexter was behaving more and more cat like. He vanished early on that night, and went off to explore - with other cats! I guess this proved his internal feline was finally emerging. A were-cat he, indeed.

While Dexter was away, during Second watch (Myrtle, Oliver, Scuttle), five ghouls, obviously attracted by Oliver's foul Boline knife, arrived in skulking splendour. Everyone was awoken in time.

Oliver did manage to command them with his Boline knife, but it was too late by then. We had all already engaged with them (and fighting breaks that command-link). 

Dexter returns from a night
with his feline friends

Bear got hit and was frozen by ghoul venom. Gillard and I got hit and we were both dropped (just hp). Luckily, someone had a healing potion which brought me up.

Dexter returned from his cat friends after the fight, in human form, but coughing up fur-balls. He still had bits of extra fur on his neck.

We arrived at the outskirts of Penstoke the next day, just before dark and staked out Hayley Price's farm with the magic telescope.

Hayley Price's farm

After dark, I sent Scuttle in to do some hidden reconnaissance. There were three stocky farm hands staying in the outer farm buildings, and in the cottage itself was Hayley's husband Gregory and Gregory's butt-boy lick-spittle. They also had two war-horses, and three war dogs.

We had a good secluded hidey-hole. So rather than go in that night, the plan was to spend an entire day just observing the farm. The telescope was ideal for this job.

Not much happened during the day. The "farm-hands" took the warhorses out to the fields. And let the three war-dogs run around. (These dogs were not out during the night.)

Price Dogs

This night, we plan to go in: 

1. Ouzo and Scuttle will reconnoitre invisible (using the Invisibility powder).
2. If they can get inside, they will open the curtains. I will cast the Silence 15' radius spell, and I need line-of-sight. It is cast on an area (120m range, and lasts 6 rounds).
3. The Noisy fighters will then go in. Splint mail is particularly noisy.
4. Fight the farm-hands.
5. If all goes well, we can then concentrate on the farm-house proper and take on Gregory and his sycophant.

There is another option. In theory, we do not need to break in. If we can provide proof of a Malechai shrine, the Toluene REALs can cleanse the place.

Myrtle Rust