The party had entered the Hall of Seven Pillars. We paid our “tax” to security. We were free to move about the cabin/cavern. We were also filthy, stinking, exhausted, bloody, and wounded.

Osgoth Map Key#

Note to players: this is a map of the ‘known world’. The major regions are denoted by numbers, with descriptions of each set forth below. Each region is summarized in terms of political situations, rulers, gods, terrain and some description of note to adventurers. It is all ‘common knowledge’ a resident of Osgoth such as yourselves would know. Only major cities are noted (and described below) - no cities are named on the map, because an 8x12 piece of paper didn’t allow room. Major geographical features (large mountain ranges, hilled areas, forests (temperate and pine), large lakes, huge swamps, major deserts/steppes, significant islands and the largest rivers) are noted. This is not to say that ‘clear’ areas on the map do not include smaller forests, mountain/hill regions, lakes, ponds, smaller rivers, swamps or other terrain. Only the major areas are noted. Further, countless smaller keeps, cities, towns and villages exist throughout the continent, and none are noted on this map.

During the first night of the party’s second stay at the Hall of Seven Pillars ^[1], Thoth granted Menka a vision in dreams.

Menka was at the top level of Guldar Heel’s tower, standing before the huge mirror the party used to teleport to the desert south. In the room with him, oddly, was a larger-than-human-sized Ibis ^[2]. The bird towered over Menka, yet Menka felt only a sense of wisdom and awe in the presence of the creature. It nodded toward the mirror, and, seemingly with its mind, placed the blocks used to operate the magical mirror in the slots in matching holes at its base. The mirror crackled, and a familiar, desolate desert scene appeared in the mirror. The Ibis nodded toward the mirror and Menka and the ibis stepped in.

Preamble#

The game will be AD&D 1st edition. We’ll be able to hit the ground running if everyone can roll characters up on their own pre-game. I’m happy to sit in and roll up the character with you if we can meet up, but since it is a busy pre-holiday week as I write, and we all have jobs, families and lives, it is fine if you roll up the character on your own. Just get it done before 12/29.

Upon entering Farthis and checking the environs, the party visited the local gin mill looking for, of course, information. Working on this information the party visited The Kleb for an entertaining dinner party. After our interview with The Kleb, Kyril and Flint hopped the wall at the Kleen’s complex in an attempt to reconnoiter the hops gardens with explosive consequences, ending with the party taking shelter inside the Kleen’s house. While hiding the party found a trap door and a hatch among the hops bines and headed below ground. Currently the party is exploring the complex beneath Farthis.

Having dispatched the troll, Arkadios poured a flask of oil on the troll’s body and the party destroyed it in purifying flame. While the chamber filled with the reek of burning troll the party noticed a writhing form tied up in a corner.

“He will help us if we help him”, quoth the creature.

Menka returned from his interview with the demon wench at (9) unscathed. Apparently demonic, the woman was a creature of surpassing beauty. She stated quite clearly that if we could get Guldar Heel to free her she would aid the party in its quest to find Melios and the brooch and would be willing to hand over “Hraelock’s” treasure.

Standing outside the door to Guldar Heel’s tower, the party gazed out across a bridge over a moat filled with a liquid which emitted a dull, red glow (similar to the pools in the basement of the tower?) in the late afternoon light. As they scanned the bridge a gate in the curtain wall on the far side creaked open. The party crossed the bridge and this external door closed securely behind them. Even the repeated application of Gonchar’s skull could not cause it to shatter or re-open.

The adventure at Arm continues; it is morning. The Arm is actually more of a keep than an inn, but I digress.

Upon entering the party encountered a huge central staircase “up” flanked by two smaller staircases going down. Flint observed that the 3rd floor (where the party currently maintains its bivouac) is significantly younger than the rest of the building - probably less than 30 years old. The servants on the first floor of the Inn are mainly gnomish females, with a few human women in the mix.

As the panicked party members returned to their senses, they also returned to the manor house. Gonchar and Kyril had remained behind and once light returned and the darkness was dispelled they realized the woman lying in bed had been dead for at least a day. Somehow the woman was made to look alive when we entered; the murder we heard in the dark was an illusion. Why?