Here is the second part of the eighth edition of the D&D Game Summary.
Please refer to the earlier editions for character backgrounds and other
exploits.  


Summary of "NorCal Campaign" Part 8B
------------------------------------

This adventure was written entire by the game master and is titled
"Revenge of an Old Enemy".


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #30--07/03/94

This adventure begins partway through this game session.  The party had
just finished destroying the Raider camp and made its way to Strafferberg.

We Did What?: (July 2, 697)
    The group split up and entered the city of Strafferberg in different
ways at different times in order to avoid being noticed.  They all found
places to spend the night on their own and agreed to meet at the Hastenzi
temple the next morning.
    Strafferberg is a town that does a lot of trading with Untala, Hildan
and Talnor.  It is fairly cosmopolitan, and the city is driven by its
code of laws.  These laws are very neutrally aligned, in that they seek
justice and not good over evil.  In this environment merchants do well
because a contract is binding even if unfair, and a strong grey market
exists because only unjust acts are punished by law.  Strangely enough
the government has survived without becoming a beaurocracy.
    Furnes went to stay at the Hastenzi temple but got a rude surprise.
The high level clerics of the temple took him into custody and questioned
him about the crime that was committed in Talnor.  A group of adventurers
with a member fitting Furnes' description was seen killing a woman and
several childing in broad daylight in Talnor.  The murders were brutal,
bloody, and nasty.  Several witnesses came forth with stories.
    The temple was _very_ unhappy with this and wanted answers.  Furnes
claimed that it was a setup, and that they were framed by the Wolf's
Head Raiders because they had just destroyed the Raider camp.  He continued
to tell them the whole story of most of the past month.
    Knowing that the priests simply would not believe his story, he offered
to go to the temple of Corellon to verify it was true.  The Hastenzi 
priests, however, did not need to resort to Corellon's truth detection
means.  They had their own ready (a must-have for a chaotic neutral temple!), 
and they used their scrolls on Furnes.  He answered a series of questions 
and proved that he was telling the truth.  The priests let him  go.  They 
also said that they would fight this blemish to Hastenzi, but could not 
protect him against others who might not believe the truth.

Mother and Magic: (July 3, 697)
    The group got together the next morning at the temple and began their
quests.  Galen touched bases with a member of his order in Strafferberg
and began arrangements for a trip to the Library where he was to deliver
the box.  He also got permission to take along other members of the group.
    Rhodan went and talked to Armalos the head priest at the Louhi temple.
He found out that his mother Areli was going by the name Reli and lived
on the east side of town.  Unfortunately, she disappeared on June 26th.
She was a very skittish woman and was hard to keep an eye on because she
was so easily spooked.  She was working as a seemstress doing odd jobs
for various clients.  Rhodan got directions to Reli's home.  He also paid
the first half of the 1000 gp he promised to donate to the temple of Louhi
for information leading to the recovery of his mother.

Splitting Up: (July 3, 697)
    Galen wanted to get the box delivered before anything else could go
wrong.  Furnes, Spike and Melody decided to accompany him.  They all got
horses and set off to the south toward the Library.  This group will be
referred to as Group #1 throughout the rest of this summary.
    Rhodan wanted to continue the search for his mother, so he stayed.
Studedly decided to stay as well.  This group will be referred to as
Group #2 throughout the rest of this summary.
    They agreed that any messages should be left for "Gloin" and that the
temple staff would make sure they get to Furnes.

The Library (Group #1): (July 4, 697)
    They arrived at the Library after a day's travel.  Galen was allowed 
into the Library itself.  The other party members were given lodging in a 
smaller area of the Library which was open for general use.
    Galen delivered the box as he was requested and spent time reporting
on what had happened in the previous month.  He also turned over the
documents he took from the Mystics while beyond the gate in adventure #7.
Galen was kept fairly busy during his stay.
    The others were left on their own but with a large number of books.
Melody spent the time studying songs and epic poems.  Furnes was 
single-mindedly looking for information on the Rings of Power.  He was
unable to find anything which his previous research in Foxboro did not
turn up, so he asked Galen to do some looking in the main Library.  
    Spike did research on mithril and on Calibar's rise to power.  Mithril
is a special kind of silver which has only been discovered in the great
dwarven mines under Mount Crystol.  Those mines have been closed since
before the Great War (which started the year system back at zero).  Most
humans consider mithril simply a myth because none of it has been seen
in many lifetimes.  The dwarves know more about it, but mostly as a very
valuable metal because it is so rare.  Mithril is said to have incredible
strength and metalworking properties that make it ideal for weapons and
armor as well as for fine jewelry.
    Very little is known about Calibar before his rise to power.  He is
a known mage and traveled with a group of adventurers for a while on the
far side of the desert before returning.  He was born in Stoutwall and
when the tragic accident happened which claimed the lives of the royal
family, he claimed the throne.  It was not an easy claim.  Many groups
did not agree with Calibar's right to rule, but he managed to win over
the public with generous actions and the support of the desert populations
and of several of the important guilds.  The people were also pleased
with the way that bandit and orc attacks on the city and its trade
caravans decreased when he took power from what they were like during the
final year of King Stonewith.

An Empty Home and a Friend (Group #2): (July 3, 697)
    Shortly after the others left for the Library, Rhodan and Studedly made
their way to Reli's place.  They found a small apartment in an alley in a
poor part of town.  The apartment itself looked as if it had been searched
by someone, and they found a note which said "To whomever reads this, it
was time I moved on.  Sell my belongings to pay any back rent. -- Reli".
    The neighbor across the street, named Anna, introduced herself when
she saw the other two looking around.  She was suspicious at first but
warmed up when Rhodan introduced himself as Reli's son.  Anna could see the
resemblence and went on to say that she was worried about Reli because she
disappeard a little over a week ago.  That was very unlike Reli, who simply
would not leave without telling her best friend.  Studedly introduced 
himself under the assumed name "Kaplow".  They specifically omitted any
mention of friends or companions.
    Anna went on to identify the writing as being Reli's, but said that is
must be some sort of trick.  Perhaps by that vile silk merchant Banner
that she was working for the past month or so.
    Anna vollunteered to find out more about Banner and to meet them at
Rudy's place for dinner.  They agreed.

If at First You Don't Succeed... (Group #2): (July 3, 697)
    They found Rudy's and met Anna there.  She told them where Banner's
place was.  Rhodan and Studedly wanted her to stay behind, but she insisted
that if they could be useful, so could she.  And besides, this is her best
friend and she wants to help, even if it means just watching their backs.
Anna was outfitted in leather armor with a short sword at her side.
    They finally agreed and she led them to Banner's place.  Banner owned
a large house with a walled lot facing onto Jerrard Street.  The first
plan was to confront Banner directly, but under a guise.  Rhodan and
Studedly would go in dressed in black and ask after Reli.  If they did
not get any answers, they would reveal their true purpose as bounty hunters 
looking for the wench and hint at a reward which they'd be willing to split.
    Unfortunately, the plan did not get going because the man who answered
the door said that Banner was not home and would not be for some time, so
go away!  The man was dressed in black fighter's outfit like others they 
had seen before and carried a long sword.

Try... (Group #2): (July 3, 697)
    When that failed, they decided to sneak in and check the place out.
Studedly climbed the wall and opened the servant's entrance in the wall for
them.  He then picked the outside lock and went into the kitchens alone.  
From there he found a stairway down into the wine cellar, where he picked
the lock on a metal door.
    He went down the stairs alone and got into a fight with two more 
similarly dressed fighters.  He then went through the only door in the
room and into the hallway.  Studedly fell down a pit trap into a room with
two panther-like creatures with tentacles on their shoulders.  The fall hurt
him and one of the creatures managed to hit him before his Climb Walls 
ability got him out of there.  At this point he decided to turn back and go
meet Rhodan and Anna.
    They decided to go buy some healing potions from the temple of Louhi
because although "healing potions are expensive, funerals are even more
expensive".  They bought a whole bunch and then went back.

Try Again (Group #2): (July 3, 697)
    This time all three of them went through the kitchens and down to the
room with the two dead guards.  They then went through the only door in the
room and into the hallway.  This time, they went around the edge of the
pit.  When Studedly reached the other side, he triggered the next trap.
It shot dozens of darts from the far wall at them.  And finally, Studedly 
triggered a porticulis that closed behind them.  After all of that, the 
hallway turned out to be a dead end, so Rhodan had to use his strength to 
lift the gate up and let the other two out.
    This time they searched and found two secret doors.  Behind one was a
stairway up into the house, so they left it.  Instead, they went down the
stairs and past some rooms which appeared to be bedchambers with black robes
hanging on hooks in them.  They put on the robes hoping to sneak in.  They
also found the door to the Displacer Beast room with a large metal bar
holding the door shut.
    They searched everything and then they came to the final door.

All Hell Breaks Loose (Group #2): (July 3, 697)
    Beyond the door, they found a large room with three other doors.
Studedly went in and was nearly killed by a Glyph of Lightning which was
on the floor.  Two more healing potions down.
    He tried again and made it to the first door.  He went to open it, but
someone on the other side was waiting for him and threw the door open and
tackled him.  Studedly and the fighter in black fell back onto a second
Glyph of Lightning.  The fighter died and Studedly was badly hurt again.
Rhodan quickly braced the door shut while Studedly regained his feet.
    Rhodan let the door open and threw the first fighter through onto where
the third Glyph should be only to find out that it did not go off.
Apparently, the inhabitants do not trigger the Glyphs.
    As Rhodan waded into the fighters, a second door opened up and a group
of black-robed clerics came in and they began to lose the fight badly.
Rhodan got a good hit in with his Javelin of Lightning, but it did not get
rid of enough clerics.
    Rhodan took Studedly out into the hallway as they backed away from their
attackers toward where Anna was waiting safely away from the fighting.
They did not make it far, however, before one of the clerics took Studedly
out and just as Rhodan was about to return to battle, Anna (who was lurking
in one of the rooms) stopped him and said -Sleep-.  And he did.

All is Revealed: (July 3, 697)
    When they came to, they were tied up in the battle room among the
bodies of 4 dead clerics and 10 dead fighters.  Anna was nowhere to be
seen.  They had no clue why she did that.  Perhaps she was making sure he
didn't get killed and making a cover for her own escape to get help?
    In any case, they were dragged through the third door and into a temple.
    Hadonis was there.  Laughing at them.
    At this point they realized that the black outfits were just like the
ones the Dark Brotherhood wore the last time they fought Hadonis.
    The far wall of the room was covered with an alter and carving to Marut.
On their left was a scrying pool.  This is how Hadonis knew of their
movements and planned this trap.  Rhodan even detected this scrying once
in the previous adventure.  On their right was a cage with a elven woman in 
it.  There was also a second cage with 3 giant rats in it.  A small, blocked 
tunnel led between the cages so that the rats could be loosed on the woman 
if desired.
    Hadonis laughed and told them that he'd been waiting for this for a
long time.  The oh-so-great adventurers will fall to the might of his god!
He then sent them off to some jail cells he had set aside for them, and
they were stripped of all their belongings and left with just simple black
robes.


ADVENTURE NOTES--Day #31--07/17/94

Something About this Stinks (Group #1): (July 6, 697)
    The crew in the Library were getting pretty restless, so they set off
back for Strafferberg.  When they were half a day out of town, the road
in front of them suddenly sprouted first one Stinking Cloud and then
another.  
    The horses were taken down with sickeness as were Melody and Galen.
The ambush continued as 8 bow-men began firing on the retching characters
and 3 others approached on foot.  Furnes and his mount stayed up and so he
made trouble for the bow-men and defended Galen.  Spike attacked the 
fighters and defended Melody.
    The sickness quickly wore off and Melody used a Sleep spell to take out
some of the bow-men.  Galen used some Magic Missles and then made himself
invisible.  After a short while, the entire band was either dead or tied up.  
They tied up the leader away from the other 4 bandits.  Galen continued his
search for the missing mage that must have cast the Stinking Clouds and 
did not find her.
    Furnes questioned the bandit, who introduced himself as Jake Elmond.
Jake told them that the attack wasn't personal.  They were just looking
to claim the reward that the "Dogs" are offering.  Some guy who called 
himself Banner said that there was a 500 gp reward for you guys and told
me that you'd be on this road sometime in the next few days.  So they
waited for the group.  Should have known that anybody the Dogs offer a
reward for ain't gonna be easy pickin's.
    The group was a bit uneasy about things because they did not find a
mage among the bodies.  So who threw the Stinking Clouds?  Jake said they
had a mage, but that she tends to run away if things go bad.
    They took the bandit's weapons and horses and left them all tied up.
Before they left, Spike broke Jake's right hand out of bitterness and to
make sure he could not escape.
    Galen, who was still invisible, stayed behind to watch things.  He 
heard Jake talking to someone who was also Invisible and saw the rope fall 
off Jake's arms.  Then he watched Jake go and help untie the others.  When 
he was sure they were all in one place, he cast a Fireball and blew them 
all away.
    The rest of the group returned and burned the rest of the bodies as
well.  Then they made it the rest of the way to Strafferberg and entered
seperately over the course of a couple of hours.  They met at the Hastenzi
temple in late afternoon.

A Question of Trust (Group #1): (July 6, 697)
    When they got back, they found a note left for Furnes saying "Your
friends are in touble and need help fast.  Whenever you get this, meet
me at Rudy's on the east side around dinnertime.  Ask for Anna."  
(Everyone missed the slip up that the message was left for Furnes and not
for Gloin as agreed.)
    They had no trouble believing that Rhodan and Studedly were in trouble,
but they were suspicious, so they trickled into Rudy's one at a time and
all kept watch.  Rudy's is in a bad part of town.  Furnes' purse pouch was
stolen, but shortly thereafter a _boom_ was heard outside as the Fire Trap
on the purse went off.
    Galen approached the bar and found out that the small black haired woman 
in the corner booth was Anna.  He signaled Melody and she went to question
the girl.
    Anna asked where the others were.  They were gonna need all the strength
they could muster to save Studedly and Rhodan.  (Remember that Anna was 
never told Studedly's name or the fact that there were other members to 
their group!)  Melody assured her that they were ready but wanted more info.  
Anna said that some evil silk merchant named Banner had captured the other 
two.  She volunteered to take them there and lead them through the tunnels.
    Once Melody felt she had the story, she led Anna out and the group
re-convened at the temple of Hastenzi.  Anna was not very happy about 
things, but the group wanted to ask more questions and plan.  She described
to Furnes how to get through the dungeon tunnels but he kept interrupting
her and missed part of the instructions.
    The group argued over plans and decided to go in on the following 
morning when Galen would have more mana.  Anna wanted to leave and meet them
the following day, but Furnes did not trust her and Stone Shaped the door
to the room she was in after leaving her with food and water.  The rest of
the group was split on this one.  Some felt Anna would be useful, others
just did not trust her.  Furnes won out on this one.

Tripping Up on Going Down (Group #1): (July 7, 697)
    Everything began early in the morning.
    They prepared for the invasion of Banner's place by having Galen turn 
all four of them invisible and then having Furnes cast Silence on himself.
They led each other around by holding onto the person in front of you.
Melody climed the rear wall and let them in through the servant's gate.
They advanced to the kitchen only to find that the door was locked and they
had no one who could pick locks.  Galen improvised by dragging Furnes (and
thereby the region of Silence) over to the small window in the back.  Then 
he broke it.  Melody climbed through and opened the door to let them in.
    The next room was the kitchen.  When the door was opened, a curious
guard in black approached to see what was up (since he saw and heard 
nothing).  When he got close, Spike clobbered him (ending his invisibility).
They snuck through and down into the cellars.
    In the cellar, they went through the metal door and down to what appeared
to be a guard room.  Melody snuck in invisibly and attacked the lone guard
with surprise.  To her surprise, two other guards materialized (they were
invisible, too) and attacked her!  The others helped out and the guards were
quickly disposed of.
    They went through the lone door, much as Group #2 did.  This time it
was Galen that fell into the pit trap.  He was quick on his feet and cast
a Levitate to get himself out of there pronto!  He made it out, but not 
before the Displacer Beasts scored a hit.  Galen also set off the darts, 
and then caused the porticulis to drop, trapping them all in the dead-end 
hallway.  Furnes wasted a Stone Shape trying to get around the locked 
metal door at the end which was merely a facade.
    After several attempts, Spike and Furnes could not bend or lift the gate.
Then, with an enormous heave, Galen (the magic user!?!) bent the bars enough
for the diminuative Melody to squeeze through.
    A quick search located a secret door and behind it she found a lever to
release the porticulis.  They all filed out and down the stairs.  They 
looked in the bedchambers and then moved down to the door at the end of
the hall.

Fighting For Their Lives (Group #1): (July 7, 697)
    They entered the room with four doors much as the previous group did.
Melody was hit with a Glyph of Lightning shortly after entering.  Furnes
healed her a bit, then she went and opened the same door that Studedly
had opened.  Melody was a bit quicker on her feet, however, and managed
to dodge away from the fighter that tried to tackle her.
    At this point the room began to fill with fighters and clerics all 
wearing black.  Galen used a Web spell to buy some time.  Melody used a
Sleep, a Flaming Sphere, and even a Stinking Cloud.  The evil clerics were 
using Command spells and Silence to neutralize the spellcasters.
    They killed a lot of bad guys and fought things to a standstill when
Hadonis himself showed up.  His first act was to cast Feeblemind (from a
scroll) on Galen and thereby neutralize the mage.  This was only marginally
useful since Galen only had one mana left at that point anyway.  It
did demoralize the group and they dragged Galen as they backed up the
hallway to make for freedom.
    Around the corner they found another porticulis blocking their path.
Spike was unable to move it, so they retreated into one of the bedchambers.
Melody (under Furnes' suggestion) grabbed Galen's Wand of Fire and placed
a huge Wall of Fire all the way down the corridor and through their enemies.

Escape! (Group #2): (July 7, 697)
    Studedly and Rhodan were not completely idle during their stay in the
prison.  They planned many escapes but were foiled by the presense of two
clerics on constant guard duty.
    They were watched carefully, but Studedly did manage to steal the tine
off of one of the meal forks (the forks were counted but the tine was not
missed).  Rhodan managed to work the bars a little in order to make them
easier to bend when the time came.
    After close to 4 days in prison, they were exicited to hear the sounds
of battle in the other rooms.  When things got really hot out there, 
Studedly used his Ventriloquism skill (and knowledge of the acoustics 
gained from 4 days in the cell) to say "All guards to the battle, now!".
The guards were already anxious, and they left their posts to go join the
battle to kill the vile player characters.
    Studedly immediately picked the lock to his cell and Rhodan bent the
bars.  They padded forward just in time to see several clerics die as a
huge wall of flames errupted across the main temple chamber.

Regrouping: (July 7, 697)
    Furnes placed a Protection from Fire on Spike but Spike was still
unable to bend the bars of the porticulis.  Escape was not an option.
Instead, he put Protection from Fire on himself and raced through the
Wall of Fire.  He used oil (which quickly flamed as it left his protection)
to burn fighters trapped in the rooms.  He saw how the Wall had devastated
the opposing forces.  And still he ran.  Looking for his arch-enemy.  
Hadonis!
    Studedly quickly accessed the situation and decided that he and 
Rhodan needed their equipment back.  Making a good guess as to where such
items might be stored, he dove through the Wall of Fire to make it to the
proper room.  He was lucky enough to find them very quickly, and threw
Rhodan's sword back through the Wall of Fire to him.  Then Studedly went
about re-equiping himself.
    During this time, Rhodan tried to open the cage that contained the
elven woman.  He was unable to bend the bars or to break the cage door open.
The woman appeared drugged or possibly just poorly nourished.  
    About this time, the sword came sliding through the Wall of Fire.  
Rhodan picked up the sword and then took up a defensive position near the 
room's only entrance not covered by the Wall of Fire.  When the door flew 
open, he hacked at the person who came through, Hadonis.  Hadonis reacted 
quickly and used a Hold Person spell to immobilize Rhodan.
    That's when the Wall of Fire sputtered and died.

Revenge on an Old Enemy: (July 7, 697)
    Hadonis ran quickly to release the giant rats into the cage with the
elven woman.  Studedly ran to intercept him and a short battle ensued.
Studedly managed to hold him off until Furnes came racing in with battle
lust in his eyes.  One of the remaining clerics had cast a Silence spell on 
Furnes, as he ran through the previous room, to make sure Furnes could not 
use spells, but Furnes used this to his advantage by going into hand-to-hand
combat with Hadonis and thereby negating his spells as well.  The battle was 
intense.  Furnes' first action was to bend the cage tunnel between the giant 
rats and the woman so the rats could not get to her.
    Melody and Spike began moving as soon as the Wall of Fire went out and
arrived in time to see Furnes go down.  Studedly was faltering as Spike
joined the fray and Melody tossed a couple of Magic Missiles into the mix.
    In the end Hadonis fell, and the group cheered.

To the Victor Goes the Spoils: (July 7, 697)
    After giving Furnes a couple of healing potions, the group set about
collecting their stuff and looting Hadonis' chambers.  Studedly got hurt
badly when he triggered the glyph on Hadonis' treasure room door and Furnes
had to _push_ two cure light wounds spells for him.  
    In all, they acquired 6560 gp, 55 pp, 6800 sp, 32 gems (100 gp each), 
a +1 Mace, a +1 Longsword, 8 Healing potions, a potion of Fire Resistance, 
2 blocks of Incense of Meditation, and two Amulets of Summoning (break it 
to teleport bearer to a set location).
    Rhodan managed to get the elven woman, his mother, from the cage.  He
managed to find out that she did know Anna.
    The scrying pool was spoiled and the temple was partially defiled.
Furnes cut Hadonis' heart out, cooked it, and ate it right there.  Then,
he fed the rest of the body to the giant rats.  The rest of the party
watched these actions in disgust.
    The group made its way out of the underground areas.  Rhodan did away 
with the small force of fighters still in the house above, and they used 
"Banner's" horses and carraige to haul the treasure and themselves to 
Hastenzi's temple.

Cleaning Up the Mess: (July 8, 696)
    Furnes took great pride in relating to the Hastenzi priests how a Marut
temple had been destroyed.  He also told them to release the prisoner Anna,
although he forgot to have them bring her to the group.  Anna disappeared
into the night and was not seen again.
    The priests made an outing of defiling the Marut temple and used it as
a training ground to teach some of the younger preists how such destruction
is properly done.
    Some research showed that Banner had a will and that the property could
not be claimed because Banner had a "family" to which it would go.  They
did manage to have the city courts fill the temple areas in with dirt to
erase such an evil thing from the city.
    Furnes donated 275 gp to his temple and prayed for forgiveness for
pushing his spells during the adventure.
    Furnes had the giant rats killed, and then claimed Hadonis' skull from 
the remains.  He had the rest of Hadonis' bones fed to the Displacer Beasts.
He then took the skull to the Corellon temple and spent 400 gp to have a 
Speak with Dead cast on it.  His first question was "Did the woman who came
to us calling herself Anna work for you?"  To which Hadonis' gleefully said 
"Yes".  And his second question was more of a taunt, "So do you like what 
you get for selling your soul to evil!?".  This question did not get 
answered.
    Furnes kept the skull, and did not tell any of the rest of the group
that he had it.  This is partly because Rhodan has a great fear that 
Hadonis' remains could be turned into a powerful and evil magic item.  
Rhodan thinks that the remains were destroyed.  Furnes plans to gold-plate
the skull and have it turned into a beer stein.
    Rhodan took some time to pay the second half of the 1000 gp he promised
the temple of Louhi for information leading to the recovery of his mother.

Exit Stage East: (July 10, 697)
    The group managed to make a lot of enemies across the land to the
north and west, so they decided to head east.  Strafferberg was just too
close to both the Wolf's Head Raiders and to Calibar.  They opted to
go to Hildan instead.
    Hildan is a fairly large city with a social structure built around
titles and royalty.  There is a lot of fanfare, a lot of flash, and
politics is all done over dinner and dancing.  The Council members run
the town and the Duke heads the council.  There are many castes in 
Hildan society, and people are mobile through them... both up and down.

Training: (July 25, 697)
    Everyone found time to train in Hildan.  Galen, Rhodan, Spike, and 
Furnes trained to 6th level.  Melody and Studedly trained to 7th level.
Galen picked up proficiency in the throwing star as a weapon and if holding
his non-weapon slot open for now.  Rhodan took the "short blades" 
proficiency as a weapon and Horseback Riding as a non-weapon.  Spike took 
Axe Specialization as a weapon and Carpentry as a non-weapon.  And Furnes 
finished off his Engineering non-weapon proficiency training.
    Rhodan's mother's health improved rapidly under Furnes' care but she 
was not very talkative.  She seemed a bit daunted and scared.  Rhodan  
spent a lot of time with her.

FUTURE: (Aug 30, 697)
    With training completed, the group needs to decide what to do next.
A lot has happened to the group in the past months, but more options are
still open.
    Things may look option poor at the moment, but that is an artifact of
the way the game master has dropped a lot of information out in the last
few sessions.  Since it will probably be a couple of months before things
warm up again, he wanted to leave things relatively clean and start 
fresh next time.  He also wants to move the game in a new direction to
involve more magical creatures and high fantasy over dirtier politics and
such.