The party awoke in the ancient magical academy and spent the rest of the day exploring the tower further. Anders was sure that the mosaic room held some sort of puzzle, but he could not discern what it was. Cynthia crawled up the stairs to the rooftop, naked, and was pleased that the tower did not even waver. All she found up there was a stone seat, and it was cold up there in the wind. Ben told her to hit Hadlof with a coin, so she retrieved a copper and chucked it at Hadlof, who barely avoided it. She descended and dressed.
Anders then brought a large stone to the cage door on the second floor, placing it under the portcullis so he could safely enter the cage and search. He found nothing.
Hadlof spent two days trying to unenchant the fire elemental in the stove, but had insufficient Shakti to do so.
They experimented with the strange lens they had found earlier (the Lens Darkly) and discovered that they could see further in the past with it as they expended more Endurance in the effort. They did not, however, continue that experimentation.
Instead, they decided to leave the hamlet and headed southwest along the river, expecting to return to it in the future, as it made a good base. The land rose and became a ridge high over the river. At the other side they spotted a ruined hamlet (Aril), but could not cross because of the ridge and the speed of the river at that point.
Stumbling into an Aykrian Tiger and its three cubs, they tried to flee. No one was very good at riding but all succeeding in staying mounted except for Cynthia, who was thrown off. She prepared for battle but the tiger went for her mount instead, landing on its back and biting its neck several times. The horse managed to throw the cat off and ran pell mell to the southwest, pursued by Sunnhild on her mount. Anders ran to the attack with his flaming longsword, while Hadlof tried to Fear it away and Cynthia tried to Sleep it. Both failed. Then Hadlof cast a fiery Sire into its body and Cynthia launched a flaming oil which regrettably did not come close to its target. Ben stood and watched the whole affair.
Eventually Ben joined Anders in his attack, and took a tiger paw to his head for his efforts. Fortunately, his helmet protected him from the big cat’s claws. In the next moment, Anders scored a major wound to the tiger’s head. While the others debated what to do, Cynthia stepped forward and put the beast out of its misery.
That left three tiger cubs without a mama, so Anders, Sunnhild, and Ben each adopted one. From time to time, Hadlof tried to lure Ben’s away by controlling its emotions, but never for long.
Descending from the ridge after an unsuccessful hunting expedition, they found a ford across the river and a ruined walled town (Saindak) on the other side. They approached gladly but were stopped by a wee tiny man, one Trotter Lively by name. A member of the Glorious Guard Auxiliary, he recruited the party to rescue three Pixie Scouts who had been captured by the goblins. The goblins, it seemed, controlled the walled town to which they had so blithely approached.
A variety of plans were hatched, all of them exceptionally cunning (see below). Ultimately, Cynthia disguised Anders as a Geraede goblin and the ranger entered the town to reconnoiter. Anders failed his Sneak both coming and going, but was only spotted by a lone drunk goblin taking a whiz off the backporch of the Headless Woman tavern. The goblin did not care and returned to his drinking while Anders continued his skulking, and then climbed on the roof of the tavern where he cast Detect Life and discovered over 30 inhabitants inside. He withdrew from the town whereupon he found Hadlof arguing with the Curr the Clerk, a Muskrat Pouka he had summoned. Hadlof told the pouka that there was a city of goblins on the other side of the wall, and the pouka went very quiet indeed. Hadlof had failed to Banish him, so the mage broke the protective circle, grabbed the helpless creature, and all retreated to the woods. The pouka escaped in the night.
The next day, Hadlof summoned another creature, hoping to summon something that would help them defeat the goblins. Instead, he summoned a hag who cast Control Person on him. Anders began firing arrows at the thing, while Ben and Sunnhild got ready to attack and Cynthia fled. Hadlof wrestled Ben unsuccessfully while the crone tried unsuccessfully to cast Sleep on all of them. She just barely failed. Sunnhild pierced her leg with a spear and Anders put an arrow through her brain. Ben held Hadlof’s face in the mud a bit longer than necessary and then released him. Next week, I’m sure there will be many more cunning plans. The date is now Aquae 10.
Below are the nine cunning plans hatched this evening:
To make your own cunning plans, see https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/83925117/Cunning-plan
lostdelights 