Arandish Campaign 2010 - Session 8

I was out of town all last week, so this is a belated report on last week's session.  Last night's session report will soon follow.

Last week, the party -- consisting of Hazel (Ftr-1), Innominus (Clr-2), and Uncle Junkal (Bard-1) -- began in the Free City of Kaladar.  They chose to lodge at the Orc's Balls Inn, a somewhat seedy establishment near Kaladar's South Gate that is owned and operated by Fred, an old friend and street contact of Uncle Junkal's. The dawn following their first night in town, a ghoul attacked Innominus and No-name (Innominus' follower) in their room at the Orc's Balls Inn, killing No-name.  Fred insisted that this was a highly unusual incident and claimed he had rarely seen a ghoul inside the city limits before.

After lamenting the passing of No-name, Innominus and the party decided to avail themselves of the services of Sawith the Scribe of Kaladar in order to learn more about the origins and possible purpose of the ivory tile they found in the wight's office beneath the orc complex.  For a somewhat hefty fee, Sawith told them that the tile might be one of two things, or some combination of both:  (1) a coffin marker from an ancient Noffellian civilization, and/or (2) an artifact relating to some legendary (but never proven to exist) underground planar nodes, where (according to legend) one may use the tile in conjunction with some kind of powerful inter-planar gate.  But even the great Sawith himself could offer little more information than that.

In the course of inquiring with Fred about the ghoul and doing their business with Sawith, the group learned several rumors about local adventuring opportunities.  The only one they concretely followed up on was a rumored meeting of a clandestine organization called the Society of the Cheetah Mask, set for midnight at the Greedy Lion.  The PCs attended, and met five representatives of the SCM, who were all wearing cheetah masks.  The PCs ended up hiring themselves out to the Society of the Cheetah Mask, which the representatives explained is an organization working to end the territorial disputes between Delzar and Mizar.  The members of the SCM believe that the true threat to Ara lies to the south, where vicious and super-numerous troll hordes are rumored to exist.  Increased trollish raids in southern Mizarian villages have caused the SCM to mobilize, hiring mercs out of Kaladar to head south and gather intelligence about the troll hordes and their plans.

So, accompanied by a ranger and SCM member named Dalgoop, plus old hireling Snikrop and new hireling Meathook (a 1st level Fighter with a flail), the party set off south through Minoch, eventually headed to the Mizarian frontier to (hopefully) spy on some trolls.

To be continued. . . .