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Yes, the group has turned out to be an interesting one, although the spellcasters need helping out from time to time. I went through the bard spell list with Rusty's player before we began givng the advantage and disadvantages of each spell so that he could decide what to choose and he has ended up with an interesting if slightly unothodox list. I also created Zero's character (as his player was not there when the others created their's) and I may have Max/Minned him a bit too much. He has STR 18 and a +1 greatsword with Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, so his attack is +11 2d6+9 which is a hefty punch for a Ftr5. He also has Cleave and so even with DR the dretches were sometimes going down two a round.

Still they did well to take out all 6 dretches in 4 rounds and save both Kelvin and Mert (even if they were lucky with Kelvin). The above is play from 4 sessions and we have played 2 more since which I'm in the middle of writing up. We try to play once a week, on a thusday evening, but there is the odd week that we miss.

The party ordered food and drink and sat and listened to Rasputin playing ballads in the corner. As they were eating a gaunt, balding man in flashy but cheap clothing entered and walked to the bar. A group of fairly rough and dirty looking men shouted out to him from the table where they were sitting. Danver, come over and join us we've not seen you in days! I can't stop lads. I'm entertaining and am just getting supplies. He waved the bottle of wine he had just bought at them. They begged him to stay for just one and he relented, bought himself a goblet of wine and joined them at their table. They joked with him, teasing him about drinking wine rather than ale and asked him who the lucky lady was.

At that moment Rasputin started up a lively song about a miller who thought himself a catch and was always trying his luck with the farmers' wives and daughters. They were having none of it and he always ended up in some tavern drinking ale. Then one day his luck suddenly changed and he seemed to get a different woman every night. He was happy but one large rather plain farmer's daughter was disappointed as she would would quite liked to be a miller's wife. Rasputin ended the comic song with a flourish and bowed while Danver's friends were nudging him and laughing at him. The miller took the song in good humour, finished his wine and left.

Sera slipped out for a while, telling no one, as she planned on meeting an old flame for some sport but just as she was entering the lower city a long howl came from somewhere in front of her and she decided that it was too risky and returned to the inn.

Rusty asked if he could join Rasputin in some songs and they played together for the rest of the evening, to some acclaim and he was given treats all night [a good perform check earned him 1gp in food and drink]. The others went to bed earlier but Mostovoi returned after his two hours sleep (he has a Ring of Sustenance) and sat by the fire in the common room even after the landlord had shut up shop and gone to bed. [So at the time of the guild attack the situation was this Mostovoi was sitting by the fire in a pool of light as he has Continual Flame cast upon his staff. Sera was in her room sleeping, but she had her mithral chain shirt on over her night clothes, Zoro and Rusty both had taken private rooms now that they had some cash, Zoro always slept in his armour, but Rusty was just in night clothes and with all his possessions except for a loaded crossbow in his Heward's Handy Haversack.]

[I had planned for them all being in separate rooms but not for Mostovoi to be in the common room. With a bit of quick thinking I made the thieves enter through the cellar door and added a door from the tap room directly into the kitchen. So that the first sound that was heard was still Fitch being knocked out in his room. I had randomly rolled to see which rooms the nets would burst into (Zoro's and Rusty's) and given two pair of thugs light rams and randomly rolled which doors they would break down first (Zoro's and Mostovoi's). I will go through the fight by character.]

Mostovoi heard the crash coming from the kitchen but did nothing but stand up to start with. He then heard movement in the darkness of the room, both going towards the stairs and coming towards him. He readied a Sleep spell and as two Knives came into the light he cast it at them taking one down. The other struck at him with a dagger but missed. The mage moved away and cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter at the remaining thief and put him to the floor laughing. Hearing more movement on the stairs he pulled a scroll of Sleep and aimed it at the top of the stairs. As he was casting a ball and chain whistled over his head but missed. The Sleep spell went off but there was no one in it's area of effect. Mostovoi turned to see a half-orc behind him and dodged away firing Magic Missiles at him. The half-orc advanced and struck the mage a glancing blow only to be nailed again by another set of Magic Missiles. Enraged the half-orc delivered a punishing blow almost sending Mostovoi to his knees. Desperately he swung his staff at the fighter/rogue and did some damage. From the balcony above flew an arrow piercing the half-orc who weakened, attacked the mage with a blow that was easily parried. Mostovoi stuck again with his staff and another arrow struck the half-orc who was barely standing. Just then a shrill whistle went out and the retreat was called. The half-orc rushed to the front door and was pulling it open as the mage came up behind him and clubbed him to the ground. Standing in the doorway, Mostovoi tried to prevent the attackers from fleeing. A couple slipped past him including one that he took to be a leader and a third badly injured followed. The mage stepped out into the night swung a blow at him but missed, before a crossbow bolt hit him from behind. He collapsed and knew no more ...

Zoro didn't wake until the ram smashed into his door, but the door didn't give way on the first swing and by the time it broke open and the first two thugs stepped into the room he was ready for them. Silhouetted in the doorway they made reasonable targets and he stepped forward, felled the first one and with a backhand cleave took down the second. Moving out onto the landing he saw the door to Mostovoi's room smashed and a group gathered round the bard's door with a second ram. One of the thugs turned towards him and attacked, doing minor damage and a rogue that has been standing in the shadows behind him flanked him and tried to sneak attack but missed. Zoro downed the thug in front of him and cleaved the thief behind, also taking him down. The thugs in front of him had burst into the bard's room followed by at least one other. He hurried to help but then spotted a much tougher looking man angling forward to attack. Zoro dodged the blow and answered with a massive strike doing major damage. Each thrust at the other, both missing and then suddenly he was covered in a net. Zoro lashed out again at the man in front of him but missed him in the half light. The thief behind him closed in to flank him pulling a dagger but the blade slipped off his armour. A thug ran from the bard's room looking for for a place to strike, but Zoro took him down with a quick blow [AoO]. The leader seeing the body count whistled and called the retreat, but not before making one final lunge at Zoro, missing. As the man backed down the stairs two thugs left the bard's room and followed. Zoro turned and cut down the rogue that had thrown the net at him before pursuing the retreating gang. The net tangled round him and slowed him so that he was forced to stop and cut himself free. By the time that was done all the foes were down or had fled.

Sera was quickly awakened by the sounds on the ground floor. She grabbed her weapons and waited close to the door but hearing no one close quietly unlocked and opened it. Looking out she saw no enemies close by, just Zoro hacking away at someone in front of him. She spotted light coming up from the floor below and moved away from the fight to have a look over the balcony. In the common room she saw Mostovoi fighting hand to hand with a fierce looking half-orc. She quickly readied her bow and started to shoot. She got two solid hits before the retreat was sounded and the half-orc began to run, Mostovoi in hot pursuit. As Mostovoi stood in the doorway light spilled up the stairs lighting the fleeing attackers. She got two good hits on foes, taking down one and putting an arrow into what seemed to be the leader. Others escaped her through the front door but one in the middle of the room stopped laughing from the spell cast on him and shook his counterpart awake. The first made a run for it through the door but the sleepy one was slower and in the dim light Sera managed to put an arrow into him and take him down. All was quiet and by the time that the others had returned to the scene of the fight Sera was picking over the bodies.

Rusty was the heaviest sleeper and was still shaking off the effects of being roused early as the a ram battered into his door. Luckily the door didn't give way on the first hit and by the time the first two thugs entered his room he was sitting up in bed crossbow in hand aiming it at the door. The thug that he hit didn't go down though and as he was about to reload a third thug came into the room, striking at him with a sword but missing. There followed a loud crash as the window was broken and a thief with a net swung in on a rope. Seeing himself surrounded, Rusty grabbed his bag, taking a minor wound in doing so [AoO] and jumped out the window. He landed lightly, with only bruises [I made the height of the drop 20' and he make an excellent Jump check and took only 1 point of temp damage] which was just as well as the thief with the net landed beside him and threw the net Rusty only just dodged it. Quickly, Rusty loaded his crossbow and fired it at his foe taking him down. He moved to the fallen thief and ended his life with a bolt in the neck [coup de grace]. Rusty cast Expeditious Retreat and dashed round the corner of the inn just in time to see two attackers fleeing from the front door. With careful aim he loaded and fired at the one that looked to be the leader. The bolt struck true and the leader went down. The other disappeared into the night. Suddenly, another thug ran from the tavern followed but Mostovoi. Rusty saw the mage swing at the thief and miss. He leveled his crossbow and fired, but in the confusion the bolt hit Mostovoi and he collapsed. Rusty rushed to the mage's side as the thief was swallowed in the mist and darkness. He had just finished healing the mage when another thief ran past. Still lying on the ground Mostovoi managed to pull a scroll from his spell case and cast it at the running thief. The thief went down in a blaze of Magic Missiles [I gave a massive Concentration DC for him to pull that one off but he made it with ease <grumble>].

Picking themselves up they reentered the inn and went over the attackers to see which could be saved for questioning. Only two thieves [Knives] and the half-orc had lived. They were in the process of this when the mistwatch arrived. They had taken down the whole gang only two thugs had escaped.

Sera was unhurt, Rusty and Zoro took minor damage and Mostovoi should have been killed. Unfortunately Mostovoi's player always has to try to do everything hence battling with what I described as a strong looking half-orc with just a staff, then chasing him down when he fled and trying to stop others escaping. Ok part of it was that he's not played a mage before. He had Mage Armour learnt and there were two rounds before he was attacked when he knew something was wrong so he had time to cast it. He still went head to head with Thurf who missed twice which was very lucky considering Mostovoi's AC is only 11. Also he was standing in a pool of light and he couldn't see into the shadows. If the thieves has had proper ranged weapons (I don't really count daggers) then he would have been a pin cushion. I was more than a little annoyed with him and Sera's player privately also expressed dissatisfaction as well. <OK rant over>.

As for Rusty's bolt Mostovoi didn't know who had hit him and Rusty hid the fact that it was him. Sera's player has suggested that it was the Crimson Mantle that ordered the hit, but that hasn't come out in game yet. It was getting late when we finished the fight and so I just did the important bits like finding out which of the attackers had lived before calling it a night, so they have all the role play for after the fight to come. It's also given me time to make a list of the loot, price it up and divide it into piles that I think they will want to sell and that they will keep. All but Kubris' MW rapier is cheap arms and armour so there gains won't be much, but hopeful I can put a number of mysteries their way to help them in their investigations. They have don't very little in that direction so far and I don't want to spoon feed them the information.

A mistwatch patrol arrived and the sergeant asked what was going on. Sera replied sarcastically that they had obviously been attacked in their beds by a bunch of thugs and thieves. Sera went over the attackers and recognized the half-orc as Thurf a mason that was kicked out of the guild for a brawl that ended in him killing someone and who had recently been involved in a small scale protection racket with Kubris who was the dead leader outside. Sera took Kubris' well made rapier. She also spotted other small time thugs and crooks that she knew among the dead, but the rest of the faces were unknown to her.

Patrons of the inn started to poke their heads out of their rooms now that the fighting seemed to be over. The sergeant asked where the bar staff and owner were and sent a corporal to look in the back. The corporal shouted that he had found something and lead Fitch and Agatha from the kitchen both looking the worse for wear. Agatha went back to the kitchen to see that all was well. Fitch said that he had been surprised in his bed and had barely time to shout out before been clubbed unconscious. He looked round the room and then upstairs at the broken doors and asked who was going to pay for that damage. A scream came from the back room and Mostovoi made to dart off and look but Sera put a restraining hand on him telling him that he was almost out of spells and badly wounded [he was on 8hp] and should let Zoro go first and have a look. Zoro went into the kitchen saw the door open into the tap room [I added that extra door] and descended the ladder into the cellar, where he noticed that the door to the outside was a jar. Hearing another scream he made for the loft and saw Agatha standing at the open door to Molly's room. She turned to Zoro and cried out They've killed her!. Zoro saw Molly lying on her bed with her throat cut. Sera was not far behind and shouted out to touch nothing. Looking into the room Sera took in the simple, bare room and the dead girl on the bed and marched back to the common room with anger and determination on her face.

Sera kicked the half-orc and shouted to him to wake up, until she was told that it would be several hours before he would wake without magical healing. Mostovoi obliged by casting False Life and Thurf came round. Instantly Sera had the rapier pointed at his eye and started threatening him. It doesn't bother me that you tried to kill me. It doesn't bother me that you tried to kill my friends, but what does bother me is that you killed an innocent girl in her bed for no reason! I want information. Who killed her and why? The half-orc looked back up at her and just said I didn't kill her. and that was his reply to all the questions that she put. Zoro asked Sera what they should cut off first a finger or a foot. Meanwhile the sergeant became more and more irate, telling Sera that torture was banned in the city and the law should take it's proper course. He whistled and a second mistwatch patrol entered this one included a mage. Then he sent a runner to the citadel for more support. Sera was having none of it, telling the sergeant that the mistwatch was useless always arriving too late to be any help. Fitch stepped in telling her that the law was the law and it was to be upheld and she ripped into him as well for being knocked out so easily, allowing the party to be attacked in their beds. The runner returned from the keep saying that the Lord Angus was not pleased to be roused from his bed at such an hour but commanded that the prisoners be taken at once to the keep. Things looked difficult for a while and then Rasputin came down the stairs surveying the damage and body count.

Shaking his head he looked around and commented, I told you, the thieves have got organized and that has caused me no end of problems. Sera went over to him and asked for a quiet word. Rasputin agreed and they went off into a corner. Sera asked him how he could help her sort out this mess as she felt personally responsible for Molly's death she had obviously been killed because she had been seen talking to Sera and she couldn't live with that on her conscience. He replied that for a start she shouldn't antagonize the mistwatch, for as irritating as they were they did represent the power in the city. He was very sorry for Molly's death too as she had been friendly and worked fairly hard. He went on to say that from those he knew amongst the dead they were all small time crooks and didn't have the brains to organize into something bigger not even for this raid. Sera said she had worked that out for herself. Rasputin sighed and added, I don't know much more, but strange things are happening in the city I don't just mean the demons, but these odd burglaries and a number of people have started to act strangely. You heard my song about the miller last night? Sera said that she had forgotten the details, so Rasputin spelled out on plain words about how the miller had always been a dirty old man but recently he had started to have luck with a different woman every night. After their conversation, Sera told the rest of the group privately that she didn't trust Rasputin. Either he was working with the gang of thieves or was too scared to be forthcoming with information. She was sure that he was holding things back.

Sera had calmed down a bit and allowed the mistwatch to take away the bodies and the prisoners. Mostovoi gave a warning that the half-orc might die as he had used the spell False Life on him, The mistwatch mage grimaced at that, saying it wasn't a spell that he would use but he knew of it and said that Thurf would remain well [I had decided that necromancy wasn't banned, but discouraged within the city]. Zoro moved his mattress into Sera's room, (the only one not damaged) and they took turns resting two at a time for the rest of the night.

In the morning Sera and Zoro had breakfast in the common room and sat around until midday until the magic users appeared [I had allowed the magic users to regain all their spells if they rested for eight more hours]. While in the common room, Fitch came over and said that he hoped that Sera understood why he had backed the mistwatch after the fight he had a business to run and so needed the authorities on his side and besides, the law was there to be kept or the city would fall apart. He felt keenly Molly's death and did want to act but didn't see how, but if the party needed his help in bring her killers to justice then he would help. When Mostovoi arrived he talked to Fitch offering him 20 gp to pay for a good coffin and funeral for Molly and another 3 gp to get the door fixed on his room.

At noon the party set off for the keep. On arrival the sergeant at the gate said they were expected and shortly Arb Angus himself arrived. He had a worried, preoccupied look on his face but agreed to accompany the group to the dungeons to question the captives. He led them through the barracks, down some stairs, past a guard room and a first corridor of cells and into a second line of cells. Only three cells were occupied by the three captives from the fight at the inn [I'm using the recently released maps of the keep and dungeons here]. Sera seemed only interested in questioning Thurf. Rusty prepared to cast. Sera saw him doing this and asked him what he was doing. Rusty said he was casting Detect Thoughts so Sera took Arb to one side and explained what the bard was doing so that there would be no misunderstandings. The bard cast and concentrated on his spell while Sera asked the questions. The half-orc remained silent throughout [as he was told to do if caught] and Sera had no idea what sort of answers Rusty was picking up. The questions went something like this [Thurf's thoughts are between *s]

Who is your leader? * Devlin *
Where do you come from? * underground *
Where is your hideout? * in the ancient city *
How do you get here? * passed old masonry *
Who killed Molly? * Kubris *
Why was she killed? * She was an informant *
Who is Gethrax? * (Image of a shadowy figure in some sort of room and a feeling of extreme fear) *
Do you know this sigil? (the dark sigil they have been asking about) * Thurf has not seen it *

The last two questions came from Mostovoi and at the mention of Gethrax Sera spotted Thurf's fear. She ended the interview there and said to Lord Angus that she thought they would get nothing from the half-orc, before indicating that they should find a private room and talk. Arb lead them to a room near the gatehouse and Rusty told them what he had learned. Arb said that he didn't know Devlin or Gethrax but when his ancestors had built the city it had been on the ruins of an older city. Rusty suggested that the thieves might have recruited Thurf because of his knowledge of stonework to gain entrance to this old city and maybe to find secret doors [a good thought it's a shame that Thurf really doesn't have much skill in that direction]. When Sera expressed how wrong it was that an innocent girl like Molly should be murdered in her bed, Arb said that it was a great pity Molly had been well liked but in a city the size of Dun Eamon such deaths were not uncommon. Sera asked if there were any maps of the sewers, to which Arb replied that they have been built a long time ago and there were no maps. He had sent men to map them but they had not got very far or had never returned. Understandably the mappers had been reluctant to return. As they were talking, there was a knock at the door and a sergeant entered. He said that Lord Angus should see this and lead the way to the market square.

In the square there was a mass of cheering people with the Band of the Crimson Mantle in the middle of it. Arb arrived at the same time as his brothers and Sera made sure that the party was flanking him being seen as close to the ruling brothers. Pratchett was obviously irritated by this but it didn't stop his rousing speech about how he and his group was going to free the city from the curse of the demons, before descending into the sewers. Sera turned to Arb and asked him how the Crimson Mantle knew about the thieves being underground. Arb said that it had been a long night the night before and he had forgotten to tell the party that Pratchett and his gang had caught a couple of demons coming out of the sewers and had decided that that was the source of the problem. When Sera asked if he thought that they would be successful Arb's answer was cautious. He said there was no harm in letting the try, besides it was good for the moral of the people. He waved at the cheering crowds.

As she was watching the crowds, Sera noticed a gnome stood with his hands in his pockets. He wasn't cheering and as the Crimson Mantle made their way into the sewers, shook his head and started to walk away. Intrigued, Sera followed him and caught up with him to have a chat. She asked him why he had behaved the way that he did and he replied that he thought that Pratchett's group were in way over their heads. She prompted him further and he told her that although he had not been into the sewers himself, as he was retired, he had talked to those who had and survived and judged from his professional experience that they were very dangerous even more so with all the strange things that had been happening lately. He went on to defend Elinda stoutly, saying that there was no truth in the rumours that she was summoning the demons. Sera said that she was sure that he was right about that and the gnome softened a little. He told her that he had raised Elinda after her father had died and was very fond of her. He was worried about her. When Sera asked for his name, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and said he was called Stump. When she saw the missing hand Sera implied that he had lost it for thieving. He bristled at that and said a dragon had taken it. Then he marched off.

The party returned to the inn where Mostovoi decided to rest for the afternoon chatting with Fitch and drinking brandy. Sera and Zoro decided to go to the baths, share a private room for the afternoon and get to know each other better [there was some jokes at this. Sera's player asked me if I wanted them to role play the sex (I said there was no need) and others asked what sort of Fort. DC Zoro should make and how much it should go up each hour. I did think about introducing Tabitha, but it was getting late and also I wasn't sure that I could quickly rework that encounter on the fly without making a mess of it, so I left her out for now].

Rusty spent the afternoon using bardic knowledge to try to get answers to some of the party's questions. He concentrated on learning about any building work that had been done recently, particularly in the sewers and any information about the underground, the ancient city or the history of Dun Eamon. The results that he got were as follows: While there had been some building work in various places in the city none had been done in the sewers for years. There were rumours that there was an old city built by an unknown race filled with treasure and traps below the current city. There was also rumours that whole new lifeforms had grown up in the spaces below the mill and finally that years ago there had been a great war and an Angus ancestor, who was a renowned Paladin, fought and was killed in that battle.

Rusty then went to the finesmith as he wanted to know if he could get a blade added to the front of his crossbow so he could use it for a melee attacks as well. The finesmith said he might be able to come up with a design but that it would be costly. He went on to say that he had recalled something else of relevance about the robbery that Elinda had bought powdered silver shortly before she had vanished [I had forgotten to give them that detail when they first investigated]. He also blamed her for the demons saying she had always been odd, but that wasn't surprising considering she had been brought up but that crazy old gnome. As they were talking, there was a knock at the door and a large man came in. He asked Crenshaw about his rent but didn't push him for it, saying the end of the week was fine. When he had gone, the finesmith shook his head and said how oddly his landlord had been behaving that normally he wanted the rent as soon as possible and didn't give an inch. Crenshaw went on to say that his landlord had even offered someone a loan which was unheard of! [The fat man wasn't named and Rusty didn't ask so the party doesn't know that it's Mendon.]

Rusty was returning across the market square in the falling dusk when he saw movement on the upper floor of one of the better looking houses. He saw 6 or 7 human shaped figures climb down the side of the building and cross the market place and disappear round the far corner of the inn. Rusty set out to follow and watched them go down the ramp and into the lower city. He followed them through the lower city, keeping to the shadows, although there seemed to be fewer of them than he had first thought. Finally he watched them enter a large, stone building with chimneys. He was trying to decide what to do next when Sera and Zoro walked round from behind the building as they returned from the baths, both looking washed and pleased with themselves.

The group is slowly going in the right direction, but I need to keep nudging them. They now have the name of the leader of the thieves, but it does't mean anything to them. They also know that they must look underground. I'm not sure why Sera's player only decided to question Thurf. With Int 7 I've ruled that he would be hazy on details and would have to be guided to and from the thieves' stronghold. All that he noticed about the route is "old masonry" because of his work with stone. The Knives that were caught are Int 9 and so would have a better idea. They also would have known more about Devlin and where the strange group came from.

Sera leads the group (her player is the most forceful) and the rest tend to fall in line. She feels Elinda's tower is too tough for her until she has gained more skill (she is about 750xp away from level 6 so hopefully they will try again soon). The group feel that the Crimson mantle are somehow involved, but don't know how. Zoro and Sera don't really have a relationship - to me it seems like Sera is using Zoro more than anything, but i think that Zoro is quite happy to be used Mostovoi could be doing more maybe he will in time. It was Sera's idea to flank Arb and be seen with the rulers of the city. In all Sera did most of the work this session and got a lot more xp than the others.

They are still slow to pick up hints though. They have had plenty about the miller and Mendon and I think they are finally going to investigate the mill soon. The have had a fair bit of information on Elinda too, but they've not tried to discover what she is like, what she was last working on and who she worked and spent time with. We will see how they get on.

Although they are not making much progress on the myteries they are having fun - which is the main thing. We played the encounter at the iron works last Thusday, but I've yet to write it up. They did pretty well. I will try to get it up in the next couple of days. As to what they think about being attacked all the time, they asked to spend the night after this last fight in the keep, because there were so worried about further attacks and were fairly weak.

Well, I'm just about to post last weeks journal and you will see that they didn't have time to investigate the ironworks. As to being hot of the heals of the Crimson Mantle. I know the figher wants to follow, but the others still feel there is more to be learnt in the city [there is, they've not really uncovered much yet].

As to the male/female mix of our group. We are all male and the player playing Zoro can be very crude at times. The other players play on that for fun and hence the 'sex' scenes.

All the party should be trying to find out more about Elinda and the work that she does - but then that's easy to say when you have the book open in front of you.

The fact that they are staying in keep overnight gives me, the DM, a chance to add an unexpected opportunity to add a twist at the parties expense. If it all goes to plan it will be a classic.