Summary of Alpha-Z Adventure #4: "Thunder Hill"
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This adventure is an original one authored by Stephen D'Angelo.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #1--01/23/98

The Mission Briefing: (Dec 17)
    Our four characters met outside the briefing room at 10:30 am as
ordered.  Varcus showed off a bit by Levitating up to the briefing room,
while the others filed in to listen to Dakken, 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.  Force should not be necessary.  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.  Marco is to be the team leader for this
mission.
    After the briefing, the team made its way to the telepad, where
teleportation is normally arranged.  They arrived 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 Word of the Falcon".
    
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.  He led them out of the castle and down
to the stables.  McKinney showed himself to be a bit of a blabbermouth
by mentioning somewhat sensitive stuff in the halls on the way down. 
    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.  Thunder Hill is the
oldest of the seven towns, and was founded by the original Baron, Nameth
Rict.
    Varcus told the Captain stories of various Alpha-Z adventures as well,
playing up the experience and skill of the party.
    
Meeting the Council: (Dec 17)
    When the team arrived in Thunder Hill, they made a showy entrance.
Varcus summoned up an Unseen Servant to follow them, while they threw
copper pieces to the children as their procession moved through town.
They made their way directly to the Council Hall.  There, the Council 
members were arriving.  The Baron had sent a runner ahead to call the 
council together.
    Marcos introduced the team as members of Alpha-Z, 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.  Brad Cartman was 
particularly offended at the outsiders stepping in.
    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.  They noticed that
the Inn did not have a leaning tower, in fact it didn't even have a tower.
So they asked around and found out that the original inn had burned down
50 years ago, and this is a new building on the same location.
    The group got a pair of adjoining rooms.

Seeking Answers: (Dec 17)
    They spent some time talking with Dale Knight getting official details
on the murders (which have been added above to simplify things) and then 
they went to see the bodies.
    On Oliver Rade, they discovered what looked like teeth marks on his
arm where the poison was presumably injected.  The hole in Emily Jacobs
was utterly unique and even Varcus' Spellcraft skills were unable to
identify a magical way to cause such a hole.  The key piece of 
information, however, was the fact that Carl Bleckenheimer had a red
tattoo of a hammer (or a 'T') inside a circle.
    Varcus used a Detect Magic on the bodies, but the only magic he saw
was some residue of old magic on Ben Rosen.
    There was a small argument as Varcus attempted to take the bodies
with him using his magical cage.  Dale Knight objected and Varcus backed
down.
    Marco asked about the town of Thunder Hill itself.  It's on the border
of the Wilds, with the Lost Valley to the east and Wilds to the north.
The Lost Valley is off limits and is said to be infested with undead.
Thunder Hill was founded 200 years ago.
    At this point they split up to dig up more information...
    Varcus contacted the Mages' Guild and confirmed that no one knew of a 
spell that could cause the hole found in the streetwalker.  So he took 
some time to dig into the mages' records to find out more about the 
situation 50 years ago.  He got the name, Guyrinth Gax, of a mage who was
alive at that time which he could contact.
    Lillylotta contacted the temple of Forseti to look for information.
She was unable to dig up much in the way of useful clues on the case.  She
did learn that the weirdness 50 years ago ended when the hotel burned down,
and that the new hotel was built on its foundations.  She also found out 
that Ren Cable frequented the temple and that people in the temple already
knew she was in town as part of Alpha-Z because Ren had come by to tell 
them.  She left a 100 gp donation.
    Marco contacted the temple of Corollon to see what he could learn
about the situation 50 years ago.  He found that the priest was not very
much help.  He was a single priest who was completely fact-bound, and the
temple had not been here 50 years ago so no real records existed.  All
Marco learned was that there were 4 murders and 4 thefts at the time.  He
reluctantly suggested Marco visit Billie Blass if he cared for "tales and
unsupported information" about that time.  He left a 10 gp donation.
The priest did say that Ren Cable was taking credit for hiring them to 
solve the murders and make the town a better place.
    Danarho contacted the temple of Louhi.  There he learned little, but
he befriended the priests and left a 1000 gp donation.
    Varcus then went to talk to the old mage.  He learned that there were
indeed 4 murders 50 years ago.  Two were by poison, one had an odd hole
burned through his body, and another was killed by magic.  And there were
some thefts which were odd because no money was taken... just magic 
items.  The mage had seen the tattoo's design before, but could not 
remember where.

Looking Under Every Stone: (Dec 18)
    The group was learning a lot about what happened 50 years, and now
they decided to dig up what they could on their own hotel.  Varcus looked
up the owner of the hotel at the time of the fire and found out that he
died in the fire.
    Danarho questioned the manager about the hotel's history.
    Lillylotta and Varcus searched the basement for possible clues.  Lilly
noted that parts of the basement stonework were from the original hotel.
She found a likely stone and worked her Speak with Stone magic.  The stone
told her that there was a time of big change, where many figures came 
dressed in similar garb, and then one day another figure which had not been
seen before or since arrived.  Shortly thereafter, a great fire arose.  Then
there was sun, moving air, and moss started growing on the stone.
    The group deduced that this was when the place was burned down and
speculated that a fire elemental or some other magical fire was involved
in taking down a previous cult of people.  Unfortunately, they could
think of no other leads to tie this dead cult to the present situation.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #2--02/06/98
    
Spreading the Word:
    The group settled into their two connected hotel rooms.  Danarho did 
an Everburning Log spell for the fireplace.  Danarho also drank a Potion 
of Vitality (so he would not need to sleep or eat for the next week).
    Varcus then had one of the rooms cleared of furniture and set about
memorizing the location for a possible teleport location.
    While he was doing this, the others went downstairs to the tavern to
eat, drink, and talk.  They felt that they were not getting leads and
so they devised a plan.  They would leak information that they were close
to finding the murderer and try to lure the bad guys into acting too soon.
They felt that once the murderer was flushed out, that their superior
combat abilities would win the day.
    Then they remembered the good Captain McKinney and had him summoned.
McKinney had been going from bar to bar telling some of the stories
Varcus had told him earlier.  This time Danarho and Varcus told him more 
about the case.  They told how they had found the tattoo and some more 
about the various murders.  They avoided mentioning the ties to 50 years 
ago.
    Once McKinney had the story and promised not to spill it, they set
him loose on the town.  Marco followed McKinney to find out who he 
talked to and how those people reacted.  Marco was also there to protect
McKinney, whose life might be in danger if the murderer paid too much
attention to him.

A Murder in the Night: (Dec 17)
    Lilly was in the lobby and Danarho was in the pub at 10:00 pm when a 
guard came running into the hotel and told them that another murder victim 
had just been found!  Lilly rounded up Varcus and Danarho.  Danarho left
a note with the Manager to give to Marco and then 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 "Nero (T)".
The falcon's message?  [The (T) is a 'T' in a circle like the tattoo.]
A person who was passing through this deserted wherehouse district had
heard the fight and arrived to find the body.
    There were 15 guardsmen present, but Dale Knight kept them out of the 
room until the party had a chance to investigate.
    A ranger was dispatched to track the wounded enemy along with 5 of
the guardsmen.  Danarho quickly caught up with this group and accompanied
them to the edge of town.  The tracks of a giant spider left town and 
headed east toward the Lost Valley.  The tracks could not be followed any 
further until morning, so the group turned back to town.  Danarho decided
to stay at the edge of town and stand vigil during the night (he didn't
need to sleep) in case the creature came back.
    Varcus investigated the body and the fight scene.  Kenny was killed by
what appeared to be a sword or other bladed weapon.  The enemy had green
blood and left 1" diameter prints that looked like someone put paint on
the bottom of chair legs and stomped the chair around (spider-leg prints).
Kenny did not have a tattoo, and he was not one of the missing people.
    During this time, Lillylotta searched the room.  She found that Kenny
had no real personal items and no indication of much of a life.  She also
found a secret compartment with some notebooks in them.  The notes were 
written in some kind of code.  She took the notebooks and hid them.
    Varcus had sent a soldier to find Captain McKinney and bring him here.
Marco followed McKinney to the site, and then tried to sneak past the
guards into the room.  Unfortunately, Marco tripped and ended up tackling
one of the guards instead of sneaking by him.  This caused a chain reaction
of falling guards and weapons being drawn.  When the guards got ready
to attack, Varcus called them off and then used a Forget spell to make
them not remember the embarassment to Alpha-Z that Marco had just done.
   Before they left the scene, Varcus had Dale Knight arrange a meeting
for the party with one of the Baron's spies.

A New Mission: (Dec 18)
    Before sleeping, the party speculated a lot on what could have done
the murder.  Their ideas included a Drider, a mind-controlled giant spider
with blades on its legs, and a small humanoid riding a giant spider as
a mount.
    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.
    With the meeting basically over, Thorin approached Varcus to ask 
about the workmanship in his amulet.  Varcus got very defensive and curt
with Thorin at this time.  As his fellows know, the Amulet is part of
some seriously powerful Magic and Varcus is never without it.  Thorin
did not press and politely left once rebuffed.  They asked a bit about
Thorin and learned that he was a long-time resident of the town.  He'd
lived here about 50 years.
    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.  Danarho had a long private conversation with Analin,
in which he described the tattoo and what was learned about the situation
50 years ago.  Analin confirmed that the information was correct and that
it was probably important.
    The group 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.  
The party insisted that all the council members get assigned guards which
would be with them at all times.  (This was so they could keep tabs on 
the council.)  The council members agreed, although in practice they 
often did dismiss the guards for periods of time.

A Few Words: (Dec 18)
    Before meeting their hunting party, the group met up with one of the
Baron's spies in an empty tavern.  The woman did not give her name but
answered their questions as best she could.  She told them that most of
the spies were pulled out of town and that she was also leaving today.
    They showed her Kenny's notebooks and she relayed information out
of the books.  Kenny's notes indicated that he was following someone and
he had clues leading toward the "Inner Circle".  He felt he was getting
close, but there was little else that was directly useful.  They asked her
about Nero, but she said there was no one in town by that name.
    She refused to give them back the notebooks.  She said they were the
Baron's property and she must return them.  In the end, Marco had to use
the metal Falcon to convince her to give them back to the party.

The Lost Valley: (Dec 18)
    With more questions than answers, the party headed out of town.  The
ranger Rick McGreggor was tracking the murderer with help from Danarho.  
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
Lost Valley.  The plant life also became more sparse and stunted as
they approached.  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.  The group speculated on
how such a valley could form.  Varcus noted that it was very much like 
a crater.  Rick said that it may indeed be one, as the local legends 
mentioned the time of the falling star.
    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 and Danarho 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 road.  In the tree
they found indications that something or someone was in the tree.  And 
they found a large feather.  Perhaps someone flew out here on one of the 
Griffins they heard about earlier?  They talked about going back to town 
to investigate the feather and possible relationship of someone in town 
to this spider-thing they were tracking, but decided to first go forward.  
    The group decided to leave Rick and the guardsmen (who refused to go
into the Valley) here at the edge of the Valley.  

The Dead City: (Dec 18)
    The party headed down the road into the Valley on horseback.  It was 
quiet and spooky.  A half-hour in, they were surprised by a group of 
12 Ghouls and 6 Ghasts.  The battle was swift.  Lillylotta turned 8 Ghouls
and 4 Ghasts while Varcus used Hold Undead on two of the Ghouls.  Danarho 
hacked up one of the Ghouls and one Ghast, while Marco hacked up two Ghouls
and a Ghast.  During the battle, however, Lillylotta and Varcus were 
Paralyzed and one of the horses was killed and partially eaten.
    Once the paralyzation wore off, Lillylotta healed one of the two
surviving horses, and they continued on with Danarho and Varcus on one
horse and Marco and Lillylotta on the other.  Varcus was frustrated by
the battle and cast Stoneskin on himself.
    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.  Danarho noticed that the pattern of 
roads was vaguely set up like a stylized spider web.  This 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)
    Marco heard something behind the group and turned to see a pack of five
Death Dogs come around a corner behind them.  The dogs rushed toward the 
group, barking loudly.  They each had two heads and 3 red glowing eyes.  
Varcus neutralized three of them with a Web spell.  After Lilly used a
Prayer spell, Danarho and Marco engaged and killed the other two dogs,
but not before Marco's horse was wounded.  Lilly healed the horse.
    Lillylotta was watching their backs and spotted something flying along
the street to toward them.  She pointed it out to the others.  It looked 
like an 18" diameter metal disk, and it moved with a slight high-pitched hum.
It appeared to be watching them with its single glass eye.
    Danarho went out and killed the three webbed up dogs as they watched
the floating object.  Danarho noted that each of the dogs had a metal plate
over one eye with a glass eye inserted in it.  He cut out the metal from 
one dog and kept it.
    They got nervous about the floating object, and Lilly used a Heat
Metal spell on it.  The object tried to move away then smoked and 
nose-dived onto the roof of a building.  The group investigated and found
that the disk was made of an odd metal alloy, and it smelled similar to
air after a lightning strike.

The Race Is On: (Dec 18)
    As they talked about what was going on, they heard some more dogs
approaching their position.  They decided that they had been discovered
and secrecy was no longer of any value, so they mounted up and made full
speed toward the center of town.
    As they raced down the street, two packs of 5 dogs came out and began
chasing them.  Then they saw a pack... then a second one... then a third
one come into the street in front of them!
    Varcus acted quickly and cast a Fly spell on himself from horseback.
Once in the air, he used a series of three Fireball spells to clear the 
dogs out of the party's way.
    In the center of the city was a large plaza with a mound 80 feet tall
in the center of it.  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.  The plaza was  
50 feet of cleared, paved area with no cover between the nearest buildings
and the moat.  
    The group raced around and across the bridge over the moat to reach
the temple.  As they climbed the stairs, a dozen Death Dogs raced up 
behind them.  Lilly used a Wall of Fire to block the dogs' way and then
the group (including their horses) moved quickly inside the temple.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #3--02/13/98

Temple of the Skywalkers: (Dec 18)
    They found themselves in a huge, dimly lit throne room.  Lilly pulled
out a Continual Light stone and saw that the walls were decorated with 
paintings.  Danarho used some silk rope to tie the doors shut.  Varcus put 
the two horses into his magic cage and had the cage follow on a Tenser's 
Floating Disk.  Lilly studied the paintings.  They depicted some sort of 
ritual history.  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.  Men, as well as some 
Dwarves, were in slavery.
    Marco noted that the main throne had slots cut in the side (which they
guessed were for spider legs).  He also found a secret door behind the 
throne.  Danarho moved forward and opened the secret door to discover a
round tunnel 10' long leading to the top half of a room, whose floor
was 15 feet below them.  The floor was made of metal and had a wheel 
mounted on a mound in the center
    The others moved in to study this.  Lilly dropped a pebble to test for
traps, and in response a small metal object fell into the hallway with 
them and exploded sending metal shrapnel into them.  They fell back and
tried to figure out the trigger for the trap or the source of the grenade,
but could not.
    Varcus moved forward and used his Fly spell to get to the floor below.
Another grenade was rolled from the room's exit and exploded.  Varcus used 
a Web to seal the exit.  Then another grenaded dropped from the ceiling so 
he used another Web on the ceiling.  At this point he called for the others
to hurry down.

Caves of Steel: (Dec 18)
    Danarho 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.
Four of the doors were unmarked, but had a plate set in the wall next to
them.  These doors opened by touching the plate.  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.  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), 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).
    As they were searching, the large hatch at the end of the hallway
opened up and a huge 8-foot diameter spider creature was revealed holding
two large metal objects.  These objects spit forth 2-inch diameter beams
of lightning that nailed Lilly and Marco.  Lilly used a Prayer spell.
At this point Marco and Danarho advanced and the battle was joined.  They 
noted that the Arakin had a red circle with a 'T' in it as a red marking 
on its belly.  Varcus fell back and Lilly used a Heat Metal on one of the 
large wands.
    Varcus was surprised when four small 6-legged monkeys popped out of
a ladder down and tossed grenades at him.  He took some damage, but 
managed to take them down with a pair of Sleep spells.  Three of them
were killed by a grenade Varcus tossed down the ladder after their
sleeping bodies, but he captured one of them alive and sleeping.  He also
acquired two belts of 3 grenades each.
    About this time, one of the large wands began to smoke and generate
a loud whine.  Danarho and Marco lept back through the hatchway and used
all their strength to slam it shut as fast as they could.  They did not
quite close it before a huge explosion happened on the other side of the
door.  Marco and Danarho were thrown back and noxious smoke filled the
corridor.  The Arakin was dead.

Lost and Found: (Dec 18)
    They then began to search the metal caves more completely.  They found
a number of rooms with metal objects whose function was not clear, and
they struggled to deal with the alien nature of this Arakin's lair.
    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.  Varcus used a Comprehend Languages and determined
that this was a countdown!
    The group hurried to one of the few doors they had not opened and into
some even stranger rooms.  They found a door to a room filled with metal 
boxes with glowing glass on them.  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.  
They also found a strange metal suit (sized for an elf with an oversized 
head) which they took (the suit gives immunity to gas effects).  Marco 
grabbed the box and the suit.
    The walls of this room has a moving mural, which depicted a pinkish
desert with a purple-skinned creature that Varcus thought he recognized.
    At this time, they noted that the periodic voice was speaking with 
more urgency, so they raced out of the tunnels and up towards the temple.

Killing Ground: (Dec 18)
    In the final hallway before the exit, they were confronted by a second
Arakin.  This one nailed Varcus hard, and so he fell down and faked being
dead.  Lilly used a Prayer spell while Danarho and Marco charged down the 
hallway, each taking a horrible hit before engaging in hand-to-hand 
combat.  The Arakin was desperate to make sure they didn't get out, while
they were even more desperate to get past it.  It bit, scratched, and
fired, but it lost out to their superior abilities in close combat.
    Danarho grabbed one of the large metal wands.
    They then climbed up the ladder, through the hatch, and into the 
temple to be confronted by more monkeys with grenades!  The group took a
beating but then went on the offensive.  Danarho and Marco killed several
monkeys and took their grenades to use against the other monkeys.
    Lilly followed suit and chased one monkey down the hall and into a
room that appeared to be occupied.  She opened the door and tossed a 
grenade through before closing it again.  She heard a chain-reaction of
grenades going off and when she looked inside she found about a dozen
dead monkeys along with a metal framework and a lot of broken glass.
    The others were finally out, and the group raced toward the front
doors.  Danarho noted that there was a door near them which was barred on
this side.  He guessed that it would be an exit, and was correct.  He
opened it and the group moved out onto a platform overlooking the city.
    Without taking much time to look around, Varcus cast a Fly spell on
Danarho and one on Marco, then they took to the air.  They flew as fast
as they could away from the mound as the ground began to shake and
rumble behind them.  Looking down, they noted that the dogs were in a
confused panic and no longer seemed organized.
    They were racing along about 10' above the rooftops when the hill
exploded.  First they saw a bright flash of light, followed shortly by
a shockwave which knocked them out of the air and crashed them into
the buildings.  Varcus used a Feather Fall to lessen Lilly's fall, but
they were all badly hurt.  Next, a rain of fire, metal and rock debris
began to fall from the sky.  They holed up in a ruined building as the
debris fell.

The Road Back: (Dec 18)
    When the debris stopped falling, they continued their flight out
of the Valley.  The spell wore out as they made it to the edge of the
valley and landed before the amazed guardsmen.
    Rick and 8 guardsmen were waiting for them.  The guardsmen were 
impressed that the party made it out of that hellhole alive!  The other 
8 guards had fled when the Valley exploded.  The group was exhausted and 
immediately fell to sleep... except Danarho who just rested and kept watch.
    In the morning, they talked a bit and then Varcus brought their
horses out of his magic cage and they headed back to town.  On the way 
back, Rick asked about finding the 3 to 4 foot diameter spiders, and the
party said they took care of the spider problem... but they also noted
that the ones they killed were 8 feet in diameter.
    They also noted that the box was made of the same metal as the Baron's
Falcon.  Lilly noted that falcons were not in any part of the mural
mythology.
    Upon arriving in town, they were informed that the Council wanted to 
meet with them right away.  The group said they'd be there after cleaning 
up in their hotel room.

The Council Meets Again: (Dec 19)
    Marco briefed the council on their trip to the valley, but when the
questioning got hot Varcus took over.  He informed them that the murders 
were all spider-related, and that they were close to solving the case.  An
evil temple of spiders in the Lost Valley was destroyed by them last
night and now they were off to locate the in-town accomplice.
    When Analin asked about the box, Marco produced it and Danarho handed
it over to the very appreciative priest.  They asked if the priest needed
protection and he said he didn't.  All of the council members also
showed happiness at fulfulling the quest, and so the party left with
things looking pretty positive.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #4--02/15/98

Griffin Research: (Dec 19)
    As they moved out of the council chamber, they noticed that Analin
was already gone.  Varcus started to get worried that they had made a
mistake.  Some things were just too easy and some things didn't make 
sense.
    They had tracked a 3 to 4 foot diameter spider but only found and
fought 8 foot diameter spiders.  And the fact that the Zivilyn priest had
the exact item needed to open a door in a strange metal cave was really
suspicious.  Varcus began to feel as if the group had been set up, and
he relayed his dread to the others.
    Not knowing what else to do at this point, they decided to follow up 
on the feather.  Rick thought 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 at Croft's Griffin Emporium.
    They questioned Marty about Griffin rentals and found out that no 
Griffins had been out recently.  He said few people (maybe 30 in town)
knew how to fly them, but that training was available.  Varcus then started
asking about training and got himself signed up.  He then led Marty outside 
to talk.
    Marco and Danarho searched Marty's office.  The log books backed up
Marty's claim that there were no rentals.  They also noticed that Ren 
Cable was on the list of people who had rented a Griffin before.  No 
other name was familiar.
    Lilly spent her time talking with the stable boys.  She tried feeding an
apple to one of the Griffins, but they warned he that it might eat her hand
as well.
    Danarho tried to match the feather to the Griffins but was unable to
do so.  He was also unable to charm the animals with his Ranger ability.
With nothing else to ask, the group left.

The Murder Sites: (Dec 19)
    At this time the group decided to research the various murder sites.
    They talked to Oliver Rade's wife and saw the place where he was
killed (by poison).  He apparently let in someone he knew to have a
conversation in his sleepwear.  The wife was upstairs and came down later
to find him dead.  The only other clue was that he had recently spent a
lot of money to apply to a social club called The Forum.
    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.
    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 Forum.
    The group then together to talk to Billie Blass, the storyteller.  
She gave them more confirming information about the other set of unsolved 
murders about 50 years ago. She also told them a bit of history...
    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 right here in Thunder Hill.  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.

Feather Talk: (Dec 19)
    Danarho got the idea that maybe the feather could be matched to a
Griffin by one of the stable hands.  He got the boys talking and one of
them, Jason, confirmed that it was indeed a feather from the Griffin "Jake".
The boys also 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 boys has also been sent home
early from work that night.
    Using this evidence, they sent Dale Knight and some guards to arrest
Marty Croft while they did some more digging into the case.
    They tried talking to people at The Forum 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.
    So they went back to question Marty.  He had pat answers to all of
their accusations, and they got a bit frustrated.  Finally, they decided to
throw caution to the wind and they ripped off his sleeve to discover 
another (T) tattoo, but he claimed it was an old tattoo design.  They tried
questioning him more, but they could not get him to admit anything.
    Lilly came up with the idea of using her Emotion Control spell to
make Marty feel hopeless.  She them bombarded him with questions and
he admitted to working for a secret organization known as the Order of
the Hammer.  It's run by the Inner Circle, but he does not know the
names of any member.  He doesn't really do anything.  He gets paid
occasionally to look the other way about Griffin rentals, but that is all.
He did say that Ren sometimes came to him with word from the Inner
Circle.
    The group then hid Marty away and spread the rumor that Marty was
killed during questioning.  (This little ruse likely saved Marty from
being killed by other members of the Order!)

Talk in the Backstreets: (Dec 19)
    They sent word out for Ren Cable to meet them by their hotel at dusk.
Then they had some paint applied to their arms as temporary tattoos just 
like the other (T) ones they'd seen.
    Ren showed up to meet them.  Varcus moved into a wide, dead-end alley 
to talk with him.   Every other time they talked to Ren, he was a bit 
nervous and a bit slimy.  This time he was stronger and appeared pleased
to meet them.
    Varcus took the lead and after casting a Friends spell he showed his 
fake tattoo to Ren.  "They got to Marty," he explained, "so I had to kill 
Marty before he spilled too much."  When Ren stared back in amazement, 
Varcus continued "We're part of another cell you idiot, you think She 
only has one group of us?!  Quickly, we need to get word to her so we can 
accelerate the time schedule."
    Ren was awfully confused by all this and lost his cool.  He babbled
back about the Winter Solstice being the important time, and that could
not be hurried.  Varcus continued fast talking and said that word had to
be given, so get going!
    Ren raced down the street, and Marco trailed him sneakily from the
shadows.  Ren ran into an alley and Marco arrived in time to see a 
half-man half-spider creature climb the wall and onto the rooftops!
Ren was a were-spider!
    Thinking quickly, Marco used his Potion of Gaseous Form and flew into
the air to follow Ren.  Ren raced across the rooftops to The Forum and
then went through a hatch in the roof.  Marco watched for a while then
went back to meet the rest of the party.

Raid on the Forum: (Dec 19)
    The group had the street cleared and placed a dozen archers on
rooftops across the street to kill anything that tries to get away.  They
sent McKinney away to warn Dale that things were getting bad.  The
doorman/bouncer was led away.  Then the four of them approached the front
door and went inside.
    Inside were many patrons, who were evacuated in an orderly manner
after Lilly used an Entrall to get them all to listen to her.  The manager,
Eddie, was not enthralled and picked a fight with Danarho.  He lost and
Marco tied and gagged Eddie.  After that, the front rooms were cleared 
rather quickly, so Danarho and Marco went upstairs.  Up there they 
encountered a pair of patrons who realized they were outmatched and went 
downstairs with Danarho and Marco.
    About this time councilwoman Lisa Talbot showed up with 6 guards.
She ordered the party out of the building.  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.  The guards moved 
forward a bit and Varcus covered them all with a Web spell.
    At this, Lisa _changed_!  She also became a Spider-Were and lept onto
Varcus, giving him a nasty poison bite.  Varcus tried a Magic Missile,
but a strange field around her absorbed them.  Lilly came to Varcus' aid 
and held Lisa off until Danarho and Marco showed up to finish her off.  
Varcus used a Neutralize Poison potion on himself.  When Lisa died, her 
body reverted to human form.  They were glad the guards witnessed this,
because it would be hard to prove anything without witnesses.  
    During the fight Marco had left the two patrons in the manager's 
office.  Suddenly, another spider-were showed up from that direction with
a large metal wand and began firing on the group.  Varcus used a Magic
Missile on this one (which was Analin!), and the missiles were absorbed 
by a field around him.  Marco and Varcus then used a series of grenades
to soften Analin up before Danarho charged into harm's way for the kill.
    As Analin was dying, however, his wand misfired and began to make a
high-pitched hum!
    The party scrambled to clear the building of civilians.  Marco freed
the six guardsmen from the web and got them outside.  Lilly ran outside
and cleared people who were loitering near the front of the building.
Danarho picked up the wand and ran into a closed room, where he put it
under a pool table and then rushed out slamming the door behind him.
    The exploding wand took out a huge chunk of the building, but the
only person in the blast area was Danarho, who got beat up badly but
survived.  The silence following the explosion was as deafening as the
explosion itself.

Visions: (Dec 19)
    They searched the second floor and found a man and a woman leaving
one of the private rooms ("you really made the earth move for me, baby").
They found only one room they could not get into.  Danarho busted the door
open and inside they found supplies, a hatch to the roof, and a hatch in 
the floor.  The one on the roof was the one that Marco saw Ren enter 
earlier.  The one on the floor led into a shaft down to the basement.  
The shaft was blown open by the explosion, however, so the hatch wasn't 
really needed.
    Then they searched the manager's office and found a secret door with
a stairway down.  Marco and Danarho were zapped by a nasty electrical
Glyph on the stairs.
    In the basement, they found a furnished room with all the club's
records but nothing else.  A search for secret doors resulted in a much
more cleverly concealed one being discovered.  Behind this one was a mass
of webs, which they promptly burned.
    Down the corridor, they discovered a room with several exits and a
large, red (T) engraved in the floor.  In the center of this was Ren
kneeling before them.  Marco reacted instantly and tossed a grenade at
Ren only to discover that Ren was already dead.
    At this time a see-through image of an Arakin appeared before them.
"I see that you have taken down my little organization here.  You may
even think that victory is yours, but you are wrong.  I got from you
exactly what I needed and these pawns would have been disposed of before
long anyway.  I must thank you for destroying the only two who could
properly oppose me.  They were fools who did not realize the value of 
magic, and the power you get when mixing it with true technology.  We 
will meet again, however, and next time victory will clearly be mine."
    The image disappeared.
    They searched the secret rooms and found paperwork, a spider hatchery,
a magical lab, an Arakin nest, and... a secret tunnel which led to Marty's
Griffin place.  One of the Griffins was gone.  Finally, they found some 
of the items stolen 50 years ago, proving that 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 priest of
Zydel.  He was not a priest of Zivilyn.
    They questioned Thorin and found out that he knew little about the
situation.  His questioning of Varcus about his amulet was something that
Ren had suggested to him.
    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.  They 
returned the spy notebooks and the metal Falcon
   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.

Epilogue:
    Each member of the group earned 7,500 gp in pay for the job.
    They later learned that Tarent Dean, a knight in the Baron's guard, 
turned traitor, killed some of his fellows, and was never seen again.
    A few days later, the Griffin returned, but by then the trail was cold.


Quotes:
    "A Forseti priest with wings is a Stone Temple Pilot."
    "Saving dragons.  Killing maidens.  You know, the usual."
    "The evil lair is never on the ground floor."