The World of Telvar

Well, since I HAVE to write this, I’ll start with the beginning. The party decided that we just had to nail those lousy bandits on the other side of Bald Hill. Apparently they were using fungus beetle caves as a hideout or something. Well, we decided to fool them. Although the party made me tuck my holy symbol under my armor, I agreed to the plan. My miserable 8 years as caravan guard came in handy, though the old and new cleric Cassian as well as Felix were able to help out with teamster skills. The bandits have been attacking caravans with Sleep spells and stealing all their stuff, rather than killing them outright.

We scouted out the caves, and Quentin discovered that there were around a dozen bandits hiding out there. Fungus beetles are apparently quite talkative and with all this new thanks to the nature lovers in the party, we were able to find out some information from them. (Note to self: remind Morgan that beetles are bugs) Beetles are stupid, but apparently they have this collective or something. Anyway, the nearer you are to the nest, the smarter they are.

I hate rambling.

Winter sucks.

Well, anyway, we watched the bandits until they left, then set out with our own little fake caravan. We downgraded our apparent equipment and assumed new roles. I was the dashing guard captain in banded mail. Felix was the driver of the cart, Alduin played the merchant, Cassian and Kodo were guards, and Morgan got to be a drover.

I know you think I’m stupid—hey, aren’t there 10 Defenders? Yeah, well, shut up.

Quentin, Kain, Donald, and Nakumanu were invisible behind the bandits as they carefully set up their blind. It was a pretty good one—might have been a reasonably dangerous ambush had they even had a chance.

Their wizard threw a Sleep at us, which of course only affected the mules. This would have tipped the moron off, if he hadn’t been blasted by Entangle, Web, Hold Person, and Command in rapid succession. With all four spellcasters contributing, and us fighters feeling useless, we forced them all to surrender.

The trick was that two of those fungus beetles had been charmed by their wizard, and we had a heck of a time freeing them. The spellcasters blew three separate 3 Dispel Magics, and only managed to fix one of them and “return it to the collective.”

It was almost ugly for a second when the uncharmed one grabbed and tried to drag away the Held armored guy, but Quentin convinced it to drop him and return to the collective. The other was dispelled a spell-shift later. The main bandit in armor was grumbling a lot, so I told him to shut his trap and…

Anyway, we dumped them in Restenford. The Baron was really pleased. I thought it sucked. A quick trip to the cave revealed that it was empty of bandits, and so we cleaned out the treasure.

There was 500 gp worth of money and gems, plus a spellbook (highlights were Mending, Passive Reduce, Charm Beetle). Also there was a philter of love, which raises comeliness for a few moments. There was a Potion of Polymorph. And a really cool ring that heals 10 hp and a wound once per 24 hours (unlimited use).

We took the potion of Polymorph and the ring, gave one of the spellbooks and the philter, and kept most of the cash. Donald learned some spells.

Next up, we heard about a trio of young grotto beasts that had escaped the devastation wreaked upon their parents by our old buddy Martin the ranger (the amazing tracker). Well, it was pretty boring—we found them clustered around a grotto (duh) about two days travel from Restenford and Quentin blew two of them to smithereens with a Call Lightning from crow form, no less. Donald Slowed the other one, Felix and Morgan slew it with shots from Alduin and Kain.

Ok, so they move faster than me. Big deal.

Finally, we cleared out a family of stirges in a tree in the orchards of Restenford. Donald slept all but five, and then we had fun shooting the rest as they tried to escape. Nakumanu was nearly injured by one. In the end no one had been hurt at all during the entire adventure.

(XP ranged from 250 for Nakumanu up to 1600 for Quentin—no levels yet)

Also there was 800 gp in gems near the grotto beasts. Quentin trained in spear in Barnacus, while Kodo looked for more buyers for his plate mail+1 but was unsuccessful.

It rained a whole lot. Cassian gave up trying to show Spittle the goodness of Phaulkon and barred him from lanthalasa-te. Money was donated to some gods (not a penny for Nevron). Not that I’m bitter.

I spent my 20 gp on drinks.

Some house repairs were made. The level 3 chair was Raised and gained 1000 XP and so became level 4. The goal is for it to reach level 6 (on the comfort scale) and be able to train Morgan’s new comfy chair to 1st.

By Nevron, I hate life. Let’s kill something.

Joel/Balinor

“A glimpse into the mind of darkness have I experienced, and it was an unpleasant one. But acid was not involved, so I feel few regrets.” --Rangorn, philosopher, poet