Summary of Alpha-Z Adventure #3: "Thunder Hill"
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This adventure is an original one authored by Stephen D'Angelo.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #1--12/24/97

The Mission Briefing: (Dec 17)
    Our four characters met outside the briefing room at 10:30 am as
ordered.  They filed in to listen to the Officer of the Watch describe
their mission.
    "The Lord Rict has hired Alpha-Z to solve a series of murders in the
town of Thunder Hill.  As this is more of a social/political mission
than a combat one, the team has been selected based on their problem
solving skills.  Of course, the team is still well rounded with clerical,
magic, and combat support in case things get ugly."
    "This is apparently a sensitive and time-critical mission.  The Baron
is paying for a teleport and has offered a bonus for completing the 
mission prior to the Winter Festival on December 21st.  That leaves you
four days to wrap things up."
    The group then asked a series of questions about the mission.  They
found out that Lord Rict rules over the Seven Hills, one of which is
Thunder Hill.  He currently has no heir to his line.  He also has chosen
to give Alpha-Z little information.  He wants to speak directly to the
team members when they arrive.  Inzil is to be the team leader for this
mission.

Waiting for Transport: (Dec 17)
    After the briefing, the team mades its way to the telepad, where
teleportation is normally arranged.  At this time, let's take a minute to
aquaint ourselves with the team.
    Inzil Havenshu is an Elven Fighter(5)/Thief(6).  He started his career
as a sailor, and although he has been known to sail with privateers, he 
mostly has stuck to lawful activities.  He is very skilled with weapons
and is quite adept at moving silently.  He also makes use of his Gauntlets
of Swimming and Climbing to get places many others cannot.
    Nikki Pellertenn is a Gnome Mage(5)/Thief(6).  She is one of Alpha-Z's
specialists in tricks and traps.  Her magic using abilities focus on the
use of illusions.  She is something of a trickster, but has worked out
well in previous Alpha-Z teams.
    Grisha Kano is a Dwarf Fighter(6).  She wields a magic battle axe named
Foe Seeker which makes her deadly in combat situations.  She is otherwise
quiet and thoughtful but prone to outbursts.
    Kiwar is a Half-Elven Cleric(5)/Thief(6).  As a follower of Corellon,
she has a penchant for books, learning and information.  She has an
excellent memory, and a way of finding things out by sneaking around.
Many people feel uncomfortable around her. 
    They arrived at the telepad in time to hear the five chimes of an 
arriving teleport.  Once the other troubleshooting team cleared the pad, 
our group moved in along with a company mage.
    *poof*.  They were gone.

The Red Baron: (Dec 17)
    They arrived in the Baron's castle just outside of the town of
Nameth Hill.  A clerk met them and escorted them to the Baron's chamber.
    Lord Rict was a tall man in his late thirties, who dressed in fine
red clothing, and surrounded himself with fine things.  He was definitely
one of the more wealthy and powerful Barons.
    The Baron explained that he has a nasty problem he wants solved
quickly.  Normally, he would handle something like this personally, but
his wife Carol is expected to give birth to his first child any day and
he feels he should be here rather than in the streets of Thunder Hill.
    The problem is a series of murders.  The first two were somewhat
routine issues, so he let the town council and military deal with them.
When they were not solved quickly, however, he set his spy network to
looking for information.
    Every agent assigned to dig into the murders either disappeared or
became another murder victim.  Three disappeared and one was killed.  In
all, there have been five murders in the past 8 days.
    He suspects that the spy network and possibly some powerful people in
town have been compromised.  The sensitivity of the mission is primarily 
due to the fear of an outside influence taking control in one of his 
towns.
    At this point the group asked the Baron questions.  They found out
that the Baron's half-brother Daryl would gain the throne if the Baron 
did not have an heir when he died.  Daryl currently is in charge of South 
Hill.  Lord Rict did not suspect Daryl but seems dead-set on making sure 
Daryl does not get a chance at the Barony.  
    With so many leaks of information to the enemy, the Baron felt there
were few people they can really trust.  Dale Knight could be trusted, but
all others were suspect.
    Finally, he gave the group a metal falcon.  It was made of a metal
alloy they were not familiar with.  The Baron explained that it was the
Baron's Token and with it, they acted with all his power.  They should
use it only in great need, but with it they would get the full
cooperation of anyone still loyal to him.  His final advice was "trust 
the Falcon's messages".
    
On the Road to Thunder Hill: (Dec 17)
    When the questioning was done, the team was introduced to Captain
McKinney of the Baron's guard.  The Captain rode with them for the
three hour ride from Nameth Hill to Thunder Hill.
    Along the way, they questioned him about the town and the murders.
They found out that Thunder Hill is a town of about 30,000 people.  Most
are human, but there are quite a few Dwarves and some Gnomes as well.  
The town is along a river, and makes its living off the rich tin and 
iron mines nearby.  The town supports a diverse people who do everything 
from Griffin training to fine jewelry.
    The Captain also told them that 50 years ago there was another series
of strange occurances including some murders and thefts.
    

ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #2--12/26/97

Meeting the Council: (Dec 17)
    When the team arrived in Thunder Hill, they were brought directly to
the Council Hall.  There, the Council members were arriving.  The Baron 
had sent a runner ahead to call the council together.
    Inzil introduced the team as members of Alpha-Z (plug the firm!),
and explained that they had been assigned by the Baron himself to solve
the series of murders.  The Council was surprised and questioned them
some before sitting back to answer the group's questions.
    The Council consisted of five members.  Lisa Talbot was the Council
leader.  She was a "matter of fact" kind of woman with a strong charisma.
She led just about all of the discussions.  Brad Cartman was a fat 
merchant, who represented the business interests in town.  He spoke up
rarely, and only when there was an impact on business.  Dale Knight was 
the leader of the town guard and represented the military/police on the 
Council.  Thorin Underhill was a Dwarf who represented the mining 
interests.  He came across as gruff and direct most of the time.  Ren 
Cable was a town spokesperson who represented the "common man" in town.
He came across as a conniving politician.
    There were five murders and four disapperances.  They got a 
description of the five murder cases:

  1. Oliver Rade, a merchant, who was killed by poison injected into the
     arm.  He was found by his family in his den in his night clothes.
     There was no sign of forced entry.  Apparently, he let someone in 
     during the night, and was killed by that person.  This was 8 nights 
     ago.
  2. Ben Rosen, a miner, who was mutilated by an Insect Swarm of spiders.
     He was tied up in his home.  He lived alone.  This was 7 nights ago.
  3. Alan Sedjwick, a clerk on the docks, who was killed by having his
     body hacked in half.  It was not done with a sword.  He was found
     only 10 minutes after the crime in an alley.  This was 5 nights ago.
     (They later confirmed that this was the Baron's spy.)
  4. Emily Jacobs, a streetwalker who was found on the street with a two 
     inch hole burned through her chest.  She was found shortly after
     her death on a street not far from her home. This was 4 nights ago.
  5. Carl Bleckenheimer, a political spokesperson, who was eaten from the
     inside out by a giant spider.  He was found yesterday in a hotel 
     room that he rented to do business in the day before.  

When it was clear that the Council did not have all the details, the
team left for their lodging at the Leaning Tower Inn, and then began
their own investigations.  They spent some time talking with Dale Knight
getting official details on the murders (which have been added above to
simplify things).
    
Seeking Answers: (Dec 17)
    With each person they met, they introduced themselves "We're Alpha-Z,
we're here to help" (plug the firm!).
    They went to the hotel where Carl was killed and got the maid who 
found the body to show them around.  Carl was tied to a chair and gagged.  
Apparently, a giant spider hatched and ate him from the inside out.  She 
found a newly hatched giant spider making a web in the corner of the room
and had someone kill it.  It's icor still stained the wall.  After some
questioning, they found out that Carl went out for food the night before 
and brought it back to the room.  Two meals were set out.  Also, Carl had 
a tatoo of a circle around an  upside-down 'T'.  Grisha thought it looked 
more like a hammer.
    It turns out that Carl's briefcase with his calendar and notes about
current projects was stolen.  Carl's assistant did not know any details
since Carl kept them in his briefcase.  She did say that he had recently
joined a social club called the Order of the Hammer.
    They heard on the street that Ren Cable was taking credit for hiring
them to solve the murders and make the town a better place.
    They tried talking to people at the Order of the Hammer" and were not 
admitted to the building.  A spokesperson came out and said he knew 
nothing of the tattoo.  He also would not give out the list of applicants
or members to the team.
    At this point they split up to dig up information...
    Inzil went to find the Thieves' Guild.  He located a contact in an
unnamed tavern.  There, he found out that the Guild did not know what was
going on either, but that it was bad for "business".  He also asked about
the Council members but dug up nothing particularly interesting.
    Nikki contacted the Mages' Guild and confirmed that no one knew of a 
spell that could cause the hole found in the streetwalker.
    Grisha contacted the town tattoo artist to ask about the tattoo.  The
artist claimed to have no knowledge of the red tattoo found on Carl, and
also said there were no other tattoo artists that he knew of in town.
    Kiwar contacted the temple of Corollon, where a single priest resided.
He was not very helpful since Corollon's temple was relatively new.  She
was trying to dig up information about the problems 50 years ago, but the
priest was not much help.  She then asked for a storyteller in town and 
was referred to the woman Billie Blass on the other side of town.
    The whole group went together to talk to Billie.  She told them about 
the other set of unsolved murders about 50 years ago.  People died in odd 
ways (including a hole in the chest just like the streetwalker), and many 
things were stolen--mostly magical items and such.  She also told them 
a few other strange things...
    First, she told the legend of how the first baron, Nameth Rict, 
overthrew the oppressive masters at that time called "Skywalkers" and 
founded the new Barony about 200 years ago.  Next, she told how Thunder 
Hill is never struck by lightning.  Instead it all strikes in the Lost 
Valley (to the east) and the town only suffers from the thunder.  And 
finally, she told them that the Lost Valley has been off-limits and is 
said to be haunted by the dead.
    
A Murder in the Night: (Dec 17)
    With their questions not bringing them closer to real answers, the
team went to the morgue to study the bodies.  Nikki noted that all of
the deaths (except the streetwalker) had a spider theme.  It was about 
10:00 pm.
    While there, a guard came running in and told them that another murder
victim had just been found!  They raced to the crime scene.
    Kenneth Smith was found dead in his one-bedroom home.  There were 
signs of a battle between him and some green-blooded creature.  Blood was
everywhere.  He had written in his own blood: "Falcon" and "(T) Nero".
The falcon's message?  [The (T) is a 'T' in a circle like the tattoo.]
    A ranger was dispatched to track the wounded enemy.  The ranger 
returned saying that the tracks of a giant spider left town and headed
toward the Lost Valley.  The tracks could not be followed any further
until morning.

Questions of the Dead: (Dec 17)
    The team decided that it was time to try something desperate and so
Kiwar used her three Speak with Dead spells on the victims.
    Carl was asked "What is the full name of the leader of the group
that gave you the tattoo?" and answered "Nero".  He was then asked "Who
killed you?" and answered "A close associate".
    Kenneth was asked "Who was your dying message for?" and he answered
"The Baron".  He was then asked "Who attacked you right before you died?" 
and he answered "Spider Man".
    Alan was asked "How do we locate Nero?" and answeed "via the Inner
Circle".  "Why were you killed?" and answered "Because I was too close".  
    The team muddled over this for a while and then went to bed.

A New Mission: (Dec 18)
    In the morning, they were called to the Council to tell what they had
learned.  The group kept their mouths shut on the details and tried to
reassure the Council that they were on top of things.  Ren was more 
subdued than usual.
    Lisa Talbot introduced Analin, a priest of Zivilyn, who had met her
on the way to the council meeting.  Analin explained that the team must
go to the Lost Valley and retreive a box or all would be lost.  The box
is 18" by 12" by 8" and would be made of a light metal alloy with some
symbols on the lid.  He also handed them a small ceramic (but not quite
cold enough for ceramic) plate, which he said would be important in
solving the mission.
    The party took the plate and then questioned Analin some.  Analin
explained that he did not know the details but was merely a conduit of
Zivilyn's wisdom.
    They also talked briefly with Ren, who had an injured arm.  He said
he got mugged the night before but was okay.  He wished them luck.
    With a clear path ahead of them, they set off.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #3--12/27/97

The Lost Valley: (Dec 18)
    The party headed off with the ranger Rick McGreggor tracking the
murderer.  16 armed men from the town guard accompanied them.  The tracks
were from a spider creature about 3 to 4 feet in diameter and led 
directly towards the Lost Valley.  Rick also noted that they came directly
along the same path into town as well.
    The soldiers became increasingly nervous as the party approached the
Valley, and when the tracks actually crested the hill, the whole group
came to a halt.
    The Lost Valley was a roughly circular desolate valley.  It appeared 
to have been burnt out and very little grew there.  Down in the center of 
the valley, rising above the mist was a hilltop.  Rick explained that it 
was this hilltop where all the lightning struck, and from which came the 
rolling thunder that gave his town its name.
    The tracks led onto a stone road into the valley, and Rick could
not track them any further.  The tracks came out of and went back into 
the valley, but that is all he was sure of.
    While the party camped and ate lunch, Rick did some more searching
around.  He found some human tracks.  They went from the road to a large 
tree a short distance away, then back to the tree.  In the tree he found 
indications that something or someone was in the tree.  And he found a 
large feather.  The adventurers were told of all this, and Kiwar argued 
that they should go back to town to investigate the feather and possible 
relationship of someone in town to this spider-thing they were tracking.  
Perhaps someone flew out here on one of the Griffins they heard about 
earlier?
    Inzil, however, felt they should go forward and complete their quest.
When he informed the soldiers of this, however, the soldiers said they
would not go.  The land was forbidden and dangerous.
    Grisha got angry and gave a moving speech compelling the men to face
up to superstitious fears and go forward to catch the murderer.  She added
that they would be reported to the Baron for dereliction of duty if they 
did not come.  Inzil picked up on this line as well and added his emphasis.
In the end, Rick and 8 soldiers came with them, 4 simply left, and 4 more
decided to set up a guard post at the edge of the Valley.

The Dead City: (Dec 18)
    The party headed down the road into the valley.  It was quiet and 
spooky.  A half-hour in, they were surprised by a group of 15 Zombies.  
The battle was swift.  Nikki used Magic Missles to kill three, Grisha 
killed one with Foe Seeker, Inzil and Rick each killed one with their
swords, the guards killed 3, and Kiwar turned the other 6.  Unfortunately,
one of the guards died, and two others were injured.  Grisha healed the 
seriously injured one with one of her healing potions.  They sent the 
wounded guards back out of the valley with the dead man's body.
    Kiwar was unhappy with her effect on the undead in that battle, but
with her renewed vigilance to undead, she was able to completely turn
two other bands of Zombies along the road.
    As they got closer to the center of the valley, the road began to
branch off to the left and right in addition to going foward, directly
toward the center of the valley.  Nikki noticed that the pattern of roads
was vaguely set up like a stylized spider web.  This added to the party's
belief of spiders being involved and gave them a heightened sense of
forboding.
    They soon found themselves walking into an abandoned city.  The past 
200 years were not friendly to it, and so it was weathered and eerie.

Death on the Streets: (Dec 18)
    A pack of three Dead Dogs came around a corner up ahead and then 
rushed toward the group.  The dogs each had two heads and barked loudly.
Nikki got rid of them with a Scare spell.  The dogs ran into an alley and
the party began to follow.
    Grisha was watching their back and spotted something flying along the 
street to toward them and pointed it out to the others.  It looked like 
the size of a book and moved with a slight high-pitched hum.  The four 
adventurers stopped their pursuit of the dogs and moved forward to check 
this out.  It appeared to be watching them.
    Suddenly, another pack of three Death Dogs came running out of an 
alley behind them.  The dogs fought visciously with the guards.  Inzil, 
Nikki and Kiwar all ran to the guards' aid and helped kill the creatures.
Still, three guards died.  Grisha kept her eyes on the floating thing, 
which moved around like it was watching them.  It hovered like a 
hummingbird.
    When all the dogs were dead, Inzil checked them out and noted that 
they had a metal plate over one of their four eyes, and a glass eye was 
set into the plate.  He dug the metal out of one body and found more 
pieces of metal and colored strands of wire inside.  Kiwar took time to 
study the dog.  It was certainly weird!
    At this point the group decided the flying thing was not friendly
and discussed what to do about it.  Inzil made up his mind and used his
Gauntlets of Swimming and Climbing to climb up a wall and make a leap at
the flying thing.  He caught it in mid air and was hanging from it as
it wobbled in the air.  A powerful jab from his dagger into its eye 
killed the creature and they dropped to the ground.  Sparks flew from the
dying creature and energy crackled from it for a few seconds.
    The creature was a golem, entirely made of metal.  More of the colored
wires were inside it.

Into the Back Streets: (Dec 18)
    The party moved into the backstreets to make themselves harder to 
find and holed up in a large building.   Kiwar used her anthropology skills
to determine that it was a form of barracks housing.  But it must have 
held families... probably of slaves.  Nearby they found an ore processing 
factory, where they buried the bodies of the three dead guards under 
unprocessed ore.
    Sounds of barking dogs appeared to be getting closer, so they moved 
through the backstreets of the town heading toward the center.  In
one alley they were ambushed by a pack of undead--4 Ghasts and 12 Ghouls.
    The fight started out poorly with a fumble by Nikki causing an
exploding dart to go off in the middle of the party.  Kiwar made an 
exceptionally poor attempt at turning, however in the end Kiwar turned 
four of the Ghouls.  She also used Remove Paralysis on both Inzil
and Nikki, who were paralyzed by the touch of the Ghasts.  Inzil killed 
two Ghouls.  Grisha killed two Ghasts.  Nikki killed five Ghouls and a 
Ghast using Magic Missiles and another exploding dart.  And Rick killed 
one Ghoul and a Ghast.  The last two of the guards died in the battle.
    All of them were feeling pretty beat up, but they decided to move
quickly.  They did not want to be found.  Once they found a quiet spot, 
they stopped to heal some.  Then they moved on to the center of the city.
Nikki used an Audible Glammer spell to mislead a pack of Ghouls that got
a bit too close to them once.

Temple of the Skywalkers: (Dec 18)
    In the center of the city was a mound 80 feet tall.  On top of the
mound was a pyramidal temple.  Around the mound was a deep, dry moat.
It was 30 feet deep on the outside edge and 50 feet deep on the inside
edge, and 30 feet wide.  There was also 50 feet of cleared, paved area
with no cover between the nearest buildings and the moat.  Patrolling
this area were three packs of the dogs.  They never found out what lurked
in the moat.
    They timed the dogs' route and they moved slowly around through the
buildings around the city center to position themselves across from the 
only bridge over the moat.  Then they waited for sunset.
    When darkness had nearly fallen, Kiwar came up with a plan to distract
the dogs.  Nikki used a Dancing Lights combined with Audible Glammer to
cause the distraction.  The dogs predictably moved away after the images 
of torches and sounds of talking men.  The group quickly ran across the 
bridge to the front of the temple, through the huge double doors and 
inside.
    They found themselves in a huge throne room, decorated with paintings
on all the walls.  While the others scoped out the room for threats, Kiwar
studied the paintings.  They depicted what she felt was a history of the
Skywalkers.  Initially there was a fire in the sky and a larger fire on
the ground.  Then the god-like beings, which were shown as white humanoids
with large heads and black eyes lorded over mankind.  In between were
some spider creatures, who acted as overlords.  Mankind was in slavery.
    Inzil noted that the main throne had slots cut in the side (which they
later connected to be for spider legs).  He also found a secret door 
behind the throne.  Nikki checked it for traps and determined that if it
was not opened properly, a deadfall trap would crush them, so they left
the door alone.
    They went though a door into a meeting room, and through another door
into the main hallway in the temple.  Everyone was doing their best to
sneak around silently, and all were prepared for trouble.  Inzil took
the lead and found a partly open door with sounds coming from inside.
He went up to peek and another pair of eyes looked back at him.  He struck
quickly and killed the small monkey-like creature, but not before it
squealed.  He then threw the door open and dodged out of the way.  Nikki 
then shot a huge Fireball into the small room.
    The backblast hurt them all somewhat, but they hoped it would also 
destroy any enemies lurking inside.  After a short pause, however, a 
6 to 8 foot diameter spider creature, called an Arakin, came out firing 
2 inch diameter lightning out of a large metal wand.  It also spit webs 
to immobilize Kiwar and Nikki.  Inzil was lurking to the side and with a 
massive blow cut off the creature's arm which held the wand, and thereby 
drew the creature's wrath upon himself while the others broke free from 
the webs with Rick's help.  Grisha rushed to Inzil's aid and delivered 
vicious blows to the creature.  She also took a nasty bite, but managed to
resist the poison.  During the battle, Rick fired a number of arrows, but 
finding this ineffective, he focussed on helping others get out of webs
or by handing out healing potions.  The battle was long and bloody, but 
the Arakin finally fell to their combined efforts.  Once it was dead they
notices that a large red marking of a hammer in a circle was on its
belly!
    In the room they found the bodies of 12 monkey-like creatures and a
metal desk and framework of metal which apparently was filled with glass
and had all kinds of complicated workings which were destroyed by the
fireball.  Inzil pulled a large travel bag from nowhere and put the 
Arakin's large wand inside.  He then put the bag "away" (it disappeared).
    They searched the rest of the temple floor, finding unused rooms for
human priests, a kitchen, two meeting rooms, and a way out to an
observation deck.  They also found a door with a stairway leading down
to a room with a metal floor and a hatchway also made of metal.

Metal Caves: (Dec 18)
    They carefully opened the hatch to discover a ladder down.  The tunnel
and the well-lit room below were all lined with metal.  They went down
to find themselves in a metal corridor with five doors and a ladder.
Behind one door they found an room which apparently held two nests... now
both vacant.  Behind another door they found a room with two nests that
were apparently still in use by a pair of Arakin.  From this room they
scavenged some items of worth.  They took several works of art made of
strange metal alloys and gemstones (total value 3600 gp), six metal
balls with pins in them (later experimentation showed these items to act
like non-magical fireballs for 4d6 damage, so they only have 5 left), 
and a small box that when the red button is pressed makes the air shimmer
around the person carrying it (acts like a non-magical protection from
normal missiles and +1 AC for 10 minutes, usable one per day).  Kiwar 
also took some notes on the lifestyles of the Arakin.  Samples of Arakin
writings were also taken and given to the Corellon temple.
    They then moved through a prominant hatch and into a new corridor.
Suddenly, a voice spoke out of the air itself saying "I know you are here
you destructive creatures.  T'Nero'dinar's evil knows no bounds.  But I
will not let you have what she desires!"  The voice then cut out, the 
lights turned a bit more red, and a new voice spoke up reguarly in a 
language they did not recognize.  They did not know what it meant, but
it did not sound good.
    The group hurried down a ladder.  They had to find the box they were
looking for and get out of there.  On the next level  down they found a
door to a room filled with metal boxes with glowing glass on them.  
Another Arakin was there.  They surprised it and Nikki dropped a Fireball 
in the room and closed the door.  When the Arakin came out, they nailed it
hard.  Nikki used a Magic Missile, Kiwar used her entire Fire Breath 
potion, and Rick and Inzil fired arrows.  They killed it in one round of 
combat.
    Then they moved on down another level and found some special rooms
that did not open as normal.  They found that the strange plate the priest
of Zivilyn gave them opened the door, however.  Inside they found a box
that matched the description they were given.  Kiwar put the box into her
Bag of Holding.
    At this time, they noted that the periodic voice was speaking with 
more urgency, so they raced out of the tunnels, into the temple, and then 
out into the night.  They didn't stop until they crossed the open area and 
ran into the nearest block of buildings.
    As they ran, the ground began to shake and then the whole hilltop
exploded as if a volcano had gone off inside.  Rock, ash, and molten
metal rained down upon the buildings as they hid themselves from the 
deadly rain.

The Road Back: (Dec 18)
    When the debris stopped falling, they made their way quickly out of
the city.  They saw dogs, but the dogs were disoriented and did not
pursue the group.  The undead showed themselves several times, but Kiwar
managed to turn them each time without any combat being engaged.
    It was about midnight when the five of them reached the edge of the
valley and met up with the four soldiers who remained behind.  They 
quickly made camp and slept through the night.  The soldiers were freaked
out about the mushroom-shaped explosion in the valley, and were in awe
of people who could cause that and survive it.
    In the morning, they talked about what to do.  Nikki used her trap
skills and magic skills to study the wand.  She was fairly certain that
one end is where the energy came out and that the red button would 
activate it.  They also talked about the feather, and about what they
should do with the box.
    They never saw any sign of a 3 to 4 foot spider creature, just the
6 to 8 foot Arakins.  So who left the tracks here?  The Arakin they 
killed seemed to be an enemy of Nero.  And Nero appeared to be part of 
this all.  Was there a clash between enemies happening in Thunder Hill?
    They had no certain answers, so they marched into town first thing
the next morning.  Upon arriving, they were informed that the Council 
wanted to meet with them right away.  They said they'd be there after
cleaning up in their hotel room.

The Council Meets Again: (Dec 19)
    In the hotel room Kiwar cast an Augury to determine if they should 
give the box to the council.  The result was "If you do, nothing good will
come of it".  This unnerved them.  Still, they went to meet with the 
council.
    Inzil did all of the talking.  He informed them that the murders were
all spider-related, and that they were close to solving the case.  When 
asked about the box, he said that they had it "in a safe place" and would 
give it up only to the Baron himself.  The priest Analin tried to convince
him that without the box, that the town would suffer, but Inzil held firm.
    The council members were not pleased.  Lisa led the objections.  Ren
was close to being freaked out.  The safety of the entire city was at
stake and they played games!  Arrangements were made to travel to the 
Baron later that day.

Griffin Research: (Dec 19)
    They decided to use the time to follow up on the feather.  Rick found
out that it was a Griffin feather, so they went to the only Griffin keeper
in town, Marty Croft.  They found him with his Griffins and two stable
boys.
    They questioned Marty about Griffin rentals and found out that no 
Griffins had been out recently (his log books backed this up).  He said
few people knew how to fly them, but that training was available.
They noticed that Ren Cable was on the list of people who had rented a
Griffin before.  No other name was familiar.
    During this time, Rick asked the stable boys about the feather and 
found out that it belonged to one of the Griffins.  The boys said that the
Griffin in question was also out the night Kenny was killed.  They knew
this since it was dirty and tired out in the morning when they came to 
work.
    The group left and talked this through together.  Marty was hiding
something.  So they went back, sent the boys home, and cornered Marty
to question him harshly.  Inzil even smacked Marty around a bit.
    They accused him of being a member of the Inner Circle.  He denied
this and said he didn't understand what they were talking about.  They
had him remove his shirt and found the red circle and hammer symbol
tatooed on his upper arm!  Then they asked him about the Order of the
Hammer and Marty cracked.  He said that he did not know much.  He was
just hired to look the other way every now and then when a Griffin went
out.  Ren Cable did indeed take a Griffin out on the night Kenny was
killed.
    They took Marty off to the garrison and had him put in prison until
they could deal with him later.  They then sent word out for Ren Cable
to meet them by their hotel.

Talk in the Backstreets: (Dec 19)
    Ren showed up to meet them.  They moved into a wide, dead-end alley
to talk with him.   Every other time they talked to him, he was a bit 
nervous and a bit slimy.  This time he was stronger.  This made Grisha 
nervous.
    Ren came straight out and offered to take the fall for the murders if
the group would hand over the box to the Zivilyn priests as asked.  He
feels that the town's future is more important that any little scheme he
might be involved in.  They asked if he really did do them, and he said
it hardly mattered.  They were hired to find a killer and Ren would take
the blame and they would get credit for finding the murderer.  With the
box in Zivilyn's hands, the town would be safe.
    The group did not trust him, and so they tried presuring him, but
he would not crack.  Grisha put him in a lock hold so they could get
serious.  Nikki then cast a Spectral Force of an Arakin coming up the
alley behind the party toward Ren.  Inzil said, "you better speak up now
about what you know, or you'll be in a lot more trouble than you can
handle".  Upon seeing the Arakin Ren smiled and said "no, I think you're
the ones that are in a lot of trouble".
    After hearing that, Nikki turned and blasted a bolt of energy from
her hand to destroy the Arakin.  (A clever addition to the illusion, but
not resembling any known magic spell.)  Ren freaked, and then he changed!
His form shifted from a man into a half man, half spider form with a 
base of 3 to 4 feet in diameter.  Grisha lost her grip on him and he 
rushed up the wall of the building to escape.  Kiwar tried a Hold Person
spell, but it failed.
    Inzil followed using his Gauntlets of Climbing, but was only fast
enough to see Ren making his way over the rooftops toward the Order of
the Hammer.
    Inzil went back down and rushed with Grisha and Nikki toward the 
Order.  Kiwar and Rick went to the garrison to get help.  When they got
there they found out that Marty had been poisoned and was dead.  They
got all the soldiers on hand to follow them to the Order.

Raid on the Order: (Dec 19)
    With the five of them and 20 guards on hand, they began the raid on
the Order of the Hammer.  Inside were many patrons, who were evacuated in
an orderly manner.  The front rooms were cleared rather quickly, so Grisha,
Kiwar and Nikki moved upstairs.  Up there they encountered a mage who
blasted Grisha with a Magic Missle, but he was quickly dispatched after
Kiwar used a Hold Person on him.  They searched the floor and found only 
one room they could not get into.  Nikki picked the lock and inside they 
found supplies, a hatch to the roof, and a hatch in the floor.  Nikki 
found a nasty Glyph on the hatch, and Kiwar used a Dispel Magic on it.  
The hatch showed a tunnel leading down (no ladder) to below the ground 
floor.  They covered the hatch with heavy barrels.
    Inzil stayed on the ground floor directing people around.  He found a
secret door in the manager's office and behind it a stairway down.  He
decided to wait for the others before going down, then changed his mind
and sent a group of three guards down to check things out.  The guards
died in an electical trap (probably another Glyph), then Inzil closed the
door.
    About this time he noticed that someone was giving orders in the front
room and came out to find councilwoman Lisa Talbot ordering the guards out
of the building.  The guards were doing as they were told until Inzil
challenged her.  She said that the party had gone way overboard in 
assaulting a place of business in town and would answer for it.  They had
no authority to do this.  Inzil pulled out the Falcon that the Baron gave
him and said that he did indeed have the authority.  The authority of the
Baron himself!
    At this, Lisa _changed_!  She also became a Spider-Were and lept onto
Inzil.  Rick lept to Inzil's aid and attack Lisa.  Grisha, Nikki, and 
Kiwar also rushed to his aid.  The battle was nasty, but Lisa was killed.
When she died, her body reverted to human form.
    Before the dust had settled, a scream was heard in the hallway as
several guards died.  Another Spider-Were lept out, this one looked like
the priest Analin.  It fired a wand just like the one they saw earlier
and blasted Nikki over a table to lie on the floor unconscious.  Kiwar 
helped Nikki out with some Healing.  Grisha realized they were in trouble
and blew her Horn of Morale.  This summoned all the guards from outside 
to their aid.  
    Many guards died trying to take Analin down.  Once Nikki was feeling
better, Inzil threw the "wand" they found to Kiwar.  She caught it and 
after one test firing she engaged Analin in combat.  Analin retreated
into the back room where it was harder to get a shot at him.
    Inzil and Grisha went around with four guards and began to hack a way
through a wall to get behind Analin.  Kiwar used a Sanctuary spell to
advance on Analin down the narrow hallway as more guards died to Analin's
weapon.  She managed to get real close to him just as Inzil and Grisha
opened a hole in the wall and Nikki used a Magic Missile.
    Analin went to fire back, but he did something wrong and his weapon
began screaming out a very high-pitched whine instead.  The whine climbed
to an unbearable pitch and just when everyone thought their ear drums
would rupture, the wand exploded!  Kiwar was blown threw the back wall of
the building and into the street.  Rick, Nikki, and Inzil were also hurt.

Discovering the Truth: (Dec 20)
    After the explosion, the resistance of the Order was no more.  They
cleared out the building and then carefully explored the basement area.
They found a meeting area where the Inner Circle planned its activities.
They found a nest like the one in the metal caves used by Arakin.  They
found a hatchery for giant spiders.  And they found Ren Cable's body.
    Ren's body was found.  Kiwar did a Speak with Dead and found out that
Nero had killed him and escaped.  Apparently Red was killed as he bowed 
before his Arakin leader.  A message was left behind saying "I may have 
lost this little battle, but true victory will be much harder for you 
all.  You killed my only rivals... fools whoo did not understand the
power of Magic -- Nero".  They found that Nero escaped through a tunnel 
which led directly to the Griffin place, and that one Griffin was missing.
The two stable boys were webbed up.  
    Finally, they found some of the items stolen 50 years ago.  Nero was
involved in those crimes as well.
    The case was closed, but the leader of the conspiracy had escaped.

Cleanup: (Dec 21)
    With the urgency gone, the group took time to study the evidence.  In 
amongst the notes kept by the Order, they found that there were four 
members of the Inner Circle, but none were named.  Presumably, Lisa, Ren 
and Analin were members.  One member was said to not be in town, but they
did not know who.  The club was being used to generate profits and find
likely members to add to the conspiracy.  Another dozen people were found
to have been given tattoos as a sign of rank in the Order.  These people
were arrested and questioned.
    Some research on Analin uncovered that he was an assassin for hire
from a neighboring Barony.  He was not a priest of Zivilyn.
    Both Rick and Dale Knight were offered invites to join Alpha-Z.  Rick
was extremely honored but did not feel that he could leave his town at
this time.  Perhaps in the future.  Dale thanked them, but said his duty
was to the Baron he served.
    The town returned to normal, and the group returned to Nameth Hill
to meet with the Baron.  Baron Vaughn Rict was pleased to hear that they
solved the case prior to the Solstice Festival as requested, but told
them he would be filing an official protest about the loss of life 
incurred by the guard.  He expected better from Alpha-Z.
    They returned the box to him for safe keeping, and he had it placed
in his private collection.  Inzil also returned the Falcon seal to him.
   The Baron's child was born on the day of the festival.  The Rict family
now had an heir... Candice Rict.  She was the second female heir in the
Rict family's history.  The entire barony was celebrating the winter
festival and the good fortune of their Baron.

Prologue:
    Each member of the group earned 3,500 gp in pay for the job.
    They later learned that Tarent Dean, a knight in the Baron's guard, 
turned traitor.  He stole the box and disappeared into the night.  He
was not caught.


Quotes:
    "We're Alpha-Z.  We're here to help.  (Plug the firm!)"
    "____ into the wind"
    "We are so zooping"