Sunday, Feb 13th, 2011 aka 619/2/5

[David]

The heroes -- Cliffy Swiftfoot 6th/7th elven mage/thief), Dion (8th lvl cleric of Apollo), Mikhail (6th lvl druid...and psi), Dajamira (6th/6th half-dryad ranger/mage), Helga (6th/7th dwarven fighter/cleric), Bob (6th lvl ox-er-fighter), Jay (4th lvl fighter) with Drake, Minasti (4th lvl riddlemaster), and Anwar (4th lvl holy slayer of Haku...and psi) -- were joined by River (6th lvl half-elven archer-ranger) on their assault on the orcish fortress. The heroes rested two days in between battles to recover from their wounds, thus the orcish foes and their allies also had a chance to regroup and bolster their strength. The heroes returned to the blood-soaked ground of their previous battle to again win access to the underground bunker/lair...

The heroes lead off with a fireball from Cliffy and attempted to charge through the gap in the various walls of brambles, still there from Mikhail, Moonlight, and Dion's spells of the previous fight. Unfortunately, the orcs were ready for this. Bob, Helga, and Jay's charge ran into a horde of recently-animated skeletons, stopping the heroes in their tracks. Meanwhile, although Mikhail and Daj tried to sneak through the brambles, shadows awaited them inside...

River began to pick off orcish missile users but soon found himself battling a gargoyle. A nabasu demon also flew over the walls of brambles, but a backstab from Anwar sent the fiend teleporting for safety. Beyond the choke point, a fortress formed from nothing and soon a powerful evil priest of Iuz started tossing hold person spells into the party. Before this, though, a half-elven mage unleashed a lighting bolt into the charging heroes, nearly killing Minosti and Drake.

The battle raged on for several minutes, with Dion using repeated turns to vaporize the skeletons and send the shadows fleeing. The cleric of Apollo also managed to remove the paralysis afflicting several of the heroes. Finally, with Mikhail helping her, a badly strength-drained Daj read a scroll of ice storm that shifted the tide of battle. Bob and Helga took out three ogres, a hill giant, and a troll while Cliffy's fireball incinerated the cleric on the battlement. Another cleric tried to flee into the fortress, but the heroes slaughtered him.

After about ten minutes of fighting and ten more minutes collecting loot and tending to their wounds, the party's status is:
Dion: 38 of 53, cast CLWx4 / sun / remove px2 / mental
Helga: 24 of 63, -2 STR, cast CLWx3 / str, find
Bob: 45 of 80 and still grousing about needing a hand
Minosti: 8 of 23, cast MMx2, SHOULD be asking for more healing...
River: 22 of 57
Jay: 18 of 51, -1 STR
Drake: 3 of 10 and sent back to be with Piotr by Mikhail
Mikhail: 32 of 43, -2 STR, cast d magic, FF / CLWx4
Anwar: 12 of 33, -1 STR
Cliffy: 18 of 45, STONESKIN BACK, cast MMx4 / immx3 / / stone
Daj: 23 of 46, -5 STR (ouch!), cast MM / / slow

The forces of Furyondy have moved into to cover the heroes' flank as they enter the orcish lair...

Current Eeps are 32,805xps TOTAL...who will leave to claim 'em?

[Ghost of Bob]

(He meant "live to claim them")

The treasure shares were as follows for those of you who failed to take note:
Platinum: 13ea
Gold: 555ea
Silver: 449ea
Copper: 126ea

That said, each person is still limited to David's 500-coin carrying rule, so unless you already had platinum, each player nets 13pp and 487gp total. The rest is lost unless we talk Mikhail into tossing it into his bag-o-holding for later sorting.

Loot was as follows:
Dion got a portable fortress but does not know the activation word, a scroll of neutralize poison/resist cold, and a potion of healing
Jay got a magic plate gauntlet and a clerical staff (Keiji's Last Name)
River got a gold ring set with a pearl (2k gp) and magical nunchaku (Sea Devil)
Bob got a magic silver shortsword (Latin)
Helga got a magic copper bracelet (without a reference word - David??)
Anwar got a magic crown of thorns which bloomed roses
Mikhail got a magic crystal ball
Cliffy got Spellbook #1 and a MU staff (Strom)
Minasti got Spellbook #2
Daj got a scroll of fear/vocalize and a scroll of slumber/haste/confusion/ice storm and further took a normal saber from the battle field

There we go!

[Ghost of Bob]

Anwar is 5th after leveling, Bob is 7th.

[David]

Characters CAN carry more than 500 coins, but they need to have the equipment to do so. That usually means large and small sacks, large and small belt pouches, additional backpacks, saddle bags, mules,deep pockets, bags of holding, portable hole, etc. At 25lbs of metal added to already-loaded adventuring backpacks, well, I think I'm already being somewhat generous...

Mikhail points out that he COULD fill up his bag, but then, well, don't expect any Hail Marys from him...the bag is actually how he was able to get most of the PCs he knows across the thousand or so miles Furyondy is from Klarr, Greyhawk, Portown, etc.

[Ghost of Bob]

("Also he DOES have a habit of not returning all the items he 'stores' for others," says Bob about Tina's broom.)

[David]

The CHARACTERS don't know about Matoya. Tina left the broom behind. Mikhail went back and claimed it, then left it at his mom's bar. Conceivably Moonlight and possibly Dion might be aware of it, but neither would have any reason to say a word -- on the contrary, they'd have every reason NOT to say anything.

As for the Rod of Balance, well, yes, and only Bob and Moonlight would be aware of that event....

[Ghost of Bob]

That is not how it went down at all. Tina and Matoya got in a fight in the room the party was sheltering in after running into the last big group of draconians and drugar. Matoya started yelling her fool head off and Bob tried to break the broom and blew his bend bars roll. The broom was drawing monsters when Tina tried muffling the Matoya by wrapping it in a bedroll to no real avail when Mikhail grabbed it and tossed it in his bag.

This was done in front of the party. Tina had every intention of reclaiming the broom outside, but then Mikhail ported out with the Rod of Balance. Tina has not laid eyes on him since, but wants the item back.

[David]

I seem to recall the heroes leaving the room and the broom "hating" Tina after the threats of burning, but okay. As soon as Tina and Mikhail meet up again, we can have that role-play...and no, he certainly isn't avoiding anyone. Au contraire...wait until he gets a chance to garner the eeps we just gained....

[Ghost of Bob]

Tina would see it differently. The last she saw him he had taken her item and the quest goal and vanished. It's been months and she certainly hasn't noticed him making an effort to keep in touch.