- FAIRHILL
Nothing else had happened but we were still haunted by painful memories of the farmhouse encounter with Vortigern. At last we approached Fairhill, climbing slightly as we did so. Even then we were ambushed by a group of orcs as we approached the village!
On entering the village we were stopped by the Captain of the Guard, Baran – not exactly an overly friendly welcome. Continued into the village centre, passing the interestingly-named Drunken Cockatrice Inn, and found a small market in progress. No-one seemed to have any particularly useful information for us, so we looked around further. On a small rising sat a temple dedicated to Freya, the Goddess of Fertility, where a ceremony was being carried out. Having talked to Shandrel the Elf Priestess for a while, we decided to look for somewhere to rest as darkness had fallen. Glarian, the owner of the Cockatrice, welcomed us to her Inn, but I couldn’t help thinking more might be gleaned at the rather more decrepit-looking Cask and Flagon, so I headed off there. Finally I found something about the Tower we were seeking – it lay in the woods to the north-east, but supposedly was the haunt of a vampire …
Meanwhile a friendly Halfling got talking to the others at the Cockatrice. He told us the tragic tale of Fendrin – drunk at the bar – who had witnessed his family being carried off by a manticore, shot at it … and succeeded only in hitting and killing his own wife. Doh! We had also been told about the Magistrate, Arlen, apparently a former adventurer and member of the elite Lyresguard at Archenbridge, and various other village tales of no doubt varying veracity …
We were settled in for the night when disaster struck; agonising screams alerted us to a major confrontation outside – orcs were attacking and had set fire to the Shrine. Worse still for the villagers, they had stolen the Crucible – the most sacred possession of the Temple – and we were begged for help by Shandrel. Lia was particularly keen to aid her kin and pledged to retrieve the relic, and in return Shandrel insisted she borrow a finely-etched magical sword called Valkyria. As she gripped it an image of Freya herself was summoned in her mind. Three guards were sent to accompany us, Loriel, Jerenor and Hathel, and we were given horses too. A complete kit!
Lia was able to track the orcs across the river and up towards the woods, but then lost the trail – yet remained confident she had the right path. The path narrowed and we had to send Jerenor back with the horses; Loriel moaned (something he was much given to doing) but had little choice but to follow. Sure enough, though, we had closed right in upon our quarry, and we joined battle. Lia and Tobias circled round in front of them and attacked from the other side too. They were no match for the seven of us, and we defeated them (binding one and taking him with us) and recaptured the Crucible. Corian wanted to push on the Tower but we insisted on keeping our word and returning the item first. They were delighted to see it back in the village.
2 Thawian-monath
- THE KEEP IN THE WOODS
After grabbing a few hours sleep we set off back to the Tower once again – the villagers were convinced it was the orcs’ lair. Lia led us back along the same path and to the stronghold itself. Evidently it had once been rather more than a tower – it was a small castle complex deep in the woods, but much of it ruined and now indeed home to a group of orcs. We crept in unseen and sent Lia to explore a little. And how! – she took out four orcs single-handedly with her bow before they even had time to react. By then, of course, our cover was definitely blown, and as what seemed to be hordes of orcs, an ogre – and an evil cleric – began arriving in from all sides, we began to wonder just what we had taken on.
In the event, the battle swung our way little by little, and we cornered the cleric in a desecrated chapel to St. Cuthbert. ‘You have ruined my plans!’, he shouted as we closed in … and so we proceeded to ruin them some more. As he died his body mysteriously vanished. Upstairs in the chapel we found Vortigern himself, protected by another two orcs. Toric and, finally, Lia finished him off. Not before, however, Vortigern’s familiar returned one more time – and felled poor old Corian. So were surrounded by dead bodies and bits and pieces of treasure; the amulet, of course, various gems and weapons, and a map of a dungeon labelled Rappan Athuk. Interesting … Before we explored the rest of the castle, we blew out a black candle on the defiled altar table, and at once the sense of evil pervading the chapel dissipated.
The north-east Tower held ruined tapestries and rubble … and two giant spiders. The rest of the castle was largely in ruins (though our thoughts had long since turned towards making the place inhabitable and moving in … ), but we still had a nagging feeling that all was not solved. For one thing we had the letter from Eralian prophesising that he would reside here in immortality. Having searched very thoroughly again we found a trapdoor in the floor of the south-west tower and warily descended into a room with another trapdoor in a similar position. This one was sealed and inscribed with the same runes as the amulet. Thought better of going down immediately and instead we set about clearing the castle and burning the bodies.
Having tidied up, we cautiously opened the trapdoor and dangled a lantern on a rope down to illuminate the ruined floor below. Torik lowered me down first and the others followed – Torik himself rather more rapidly than intended, having slipped and fell! The room was empty, but in the floor was a further trapdoor – ominously sealed shut with silver nails. There we rested until morning.
3 Thawian-monath
- ERALIAN’S LAIR
Eventually, having removed the nails, Lia deduced that the way to open the next door was to wave the amulet above it, and so we descended into the next chamber. Sadly there was a welcoming committee of what appeared to be six living statues. Lia, Tobias and I jumped down as best we could, but, as I climbed to my feet, so I realised they were in fact zombies – and one Turn later they were all gone.
We had one more chamber to descend into – and in here lay our final foe, Surrounded by a further six sarcophagi was a central one on a raised dais, evidently the last resting place of Eralian. Here we met him in his final tragic form – a shade which attacked us and seemed to leach our very being, leaving us drained and weak with a single hit. It flitted in and out of the shadows and, the more we tried our best to damage it, the more clearly we realised that only Lia was inflicting any real damage with Valkyria. Of course, this meant that Eralian focussed his vengeance on Lia in return, and soon she sunk to the ground, physically drained to the point where she was almost unable to move. Torik took up the blade and finished him once and for all.
Desperately exhausted, we waited until sunrise when I could begin casting my Restoration spell and at least begin to ease our suffering.
5 Thawian-monath
- FAIRHLL KEEP
At last made our way back into daylight and, suitably refreshed, headed back for Fairhill. They were, to say the least, thrilled to see us and to hear of our success in the castle, and Lia was equally thrilled to find that Shandrel wanted her to keep the sword as a reward. Arlen warmly welcomed us back too, and promptly threw a feast in our honour. We had made friends for life in Fairhill; and, thankfully, they were equally happy for us to use the Keep as an informal base in the future. To this end, we spent the best part of the next week working on the castle, with the help of a couple of lads from the village who we employed on clearing and cleaning duty.
Lia also spent some time exploring, communing with nature, and was able to attune her animal empathy skills to a most impressive level. Indeed, during this break she formed a bond I must confess I do not quite understand with a small cat, which seems able to do her bidding. In fact, she even appears to be able to communicate with it! I am astonished by her skills in this regard. The cat, which she has named Pookie, now accompanies us wherever we go. Other than that, back in the land of normality, the only event of note was that, while trekking from Fairhill to the Keep one day, we spotted some figures in the forest. Lia followed silently for a while but concluded they were nothing more dangerous than simple brigands, and that the sight of us had scared them off anyway. By the evening of the 8th we had completed our basic repairs – and had persuaded the village Guard to include the Keep in their watch circuit (for a small fee, of course). 
That night we were also very concerned to hear that, emulating us, a few of the villagers had decided to try out some of this adventuring lark (oh, foolish youngsters!) and had not been heard of since … They had set off north-east into the Stoneheart Hills and along them was Evorral the blacksmith’s daughter, a sweet girl called Arialle. I was very keen indeed to get back to White Ford and retrieve the Chest, but we felt honour-bound to help investigate (plus the fact that the blacksmith promised Torik a suit of plate if we were successful).
9 Thawian-monath
- RESCUING ARIALLE
And so we set off after them, a full day’s march bringing us to the Stoneheart foothills. On the following day we were set upon by a manticore, but we saw it off with some ease (Torik is becoming a really quite fearsome warrior!). As it began to go dark we came across a small ruined tower – and alongside was a girl, chained to a rock, singing and being accompanied (badly!) by a two-headed creature playing a harp. Bizarre! We closed in at once on her monstrous captor – except Lia who, with prescience as it transpired, held back with her bow. Perhaps recent success had gone to our heads, for the creature was immensely powerful and soon knocked Toby out. Torik and I thus concocted a desperate plan to feint unconsciousness as well, Lia’s arrow fire then serving to draw him away from our prone forms. The hasty plan worked a treat, luckily enough! We were able to release the girl, rouse Toby, and flee for safety while it fruitlessly pursued Lia.
We thus separately picked our way back to Fairhill, happy and relieved. The sad note to our return was that the others in Arialle’s party had been killed by the beast; as an apprentice bard, the plucky girl had then been able to Fascinate it – hence the singing and harp-playing business. The blacksmith was naturally thrilled to see his daughter come home safe and well. The plate armour he had promised Torik would be perhaps three months in the making, so this afforded us a good chance to work on the castle – and, before that, to see to some other pressing affairs.
12 Thawain-monath
We set off back for White Ford and arrived after an uneventful journey on the 19th. Once in the town we were able to sell the various wares recently acquired and confirm the identity of some useful new magic items; Tobias took a pair of magical bracers, Lia a Ring of Deflection, and I kept Eralian’s staff. More pressing for me, however, was to return the Chest to its rightful home, and I was delighted to find the Church of Pelor had taken good care of it in our absence. We then readied ourselves to take it on to Hallow Creek as we had originally intended.
20 Thawain-monath
- TO HALLOW CREEK
By lucky chance a caravan bound for Hallow Creek was leaving the next day, and thus we were able to leave White Ford as we had arrived some six weeks earlier, by acting as a guard to traders. Ten days of travelling brought us close to the Creek, and there we realised in disappointment that we had just missed the 100th Festival of Fire. This famous event commemorated the defeat of a pair of green dragons by a wizard called Orestian. Every five years, so the story went, he would also send his apprentice to the Festival to select a new trainee – but, to everyone’s astonishment, he had failed to make his expected appearance this year.
We arrived in the town late on the 29th. Much to my great excitement I soon found the church – well, um, more of a small chapel in fact – of St. Bethesda, complete with its one remaining elderly priest and one young acolyte. They were of course absolutely delighted, and we shared a great many stories of our beliefs – and a great sorrow at how depleted Bethesda’s followers now seem. And yet her life has so much to teach us!
I continued to enjoy the hospitality of the church while the others went to stay the night at the Green Dragon inn. There they were approached by the local Baron’s representative seeking help over the mysterious non-appearance of the mage. Adventurers were being sought to investigate: his fortress apparently lay three days journey into the hills, to where he had retreated some 70 years ago to continue his studies into the elements and had only rarely been seen since. His most recent apprentice was called Radinnal Kar’lian … and that was about all we had to go on.
30 Thawain-monath
Nevertheless, being the fearlessly intrepid types that we were, we set off into the hills to the south-west of Hallow Creek. On the 31st we met a pack of wolves who seemed to be almost watching us; Lia used her empathy skills to calm them and we pushed on.
