Pelath and Terrance found Desmona (Herkel's Halfelven Daughter.) She relayed the tale that the Merchant Herkel seemed to be possessed. She later went down into his labratory, and found many chopped up body parts. Something scared her out and into the Black Woods. There she was enslaved, but then set free by Terrance and Pelath.

The Party had been snowed in for a couple of weeks in the now cleansed Temple of Thor or "Thor Beer Factory." The party made sure to catch up on thier Thor Beer Drinking. They finally left and went into Underdark. The company all got thier Dragonscale items. Tharn got his Halfplate-Dragonscale blend that counts as half-plate mail for AC, but only as breastplate for the negatives. Tobias got his Dragon-Scale Gloves. Jenn Trades got her Dragon-Scale Boots. Tharn held Marcomir's Belt until he returned from conecting with his familiar.

Underdarks city streets seemed less full after the prince was not going to be coronated. And then the heavy snowfall came, up to 3' in places. The party traveled in the deep snow for 1 week with nothing to report except some traveled miles and some grumbling from Tharn.

The second week however was different. On the traveling road to the east they came upon a burned and raided village. The company figured out that it must have been orcs from the Kingdom of Jort, although raids such as these hadn't happened since the Jort Ice War years before. The company, took some time away from thier travels to find Herkel, to save some of the prioners who the orks were keeping alive. Tobias added that the ice orks kept prisoners alive so that they wouldn't have to carry "the meat."

Pelath, Tadios, Tobias, and Tharn tied onto the back of Tobias's horse, went to scout out the area and left the rest of the company behind. They seen a small camp of orks but had a feeling more were a short distance off. The Plan was for Pelath to lead the orks off in one direction, while the party attacked it from the other side. Terrance cast Invisibility and Bull Strength on Tharn, and he was supposed to take out the leader.

Pelath did get thier attention and then found himself being chased by 20 orks. Tharn dispatched the leader with a horrible sledge hit to the face, bringing him down unexpectantly. Then the rest of the orks seen a Dwarf all bloodied and thier leader slain...they weren't happy.

After they had killed all of the orks, which seemed to take longer than the party thought it should, 2 Ice Trolls emerged from the forest to the despair of all. Tharn resoned that he is supposed to take down Giants so Killing trolls would probably make Thor happy as well. He charged off to slay the Trolls, little did he know that they would be almost impossible to kill.

"Master-Blaster" aka Jenn Trades and Kayleb the Gnome, fought as a team. Kayleb was the healing leech attached to Jenn's leg as she moved backward and kept stabbing the troll with her polearm. That team took down the 1st Ice Troll.

Tharn used all of his "SonicBlasts" from his Warhammer and just barely killed the Troll. Tharn was thanking himself for coming up with the idea of the Blue DragonScale armor he had just bought himself. The claws of the Troll had a difficult time of getting under the scales.

The party was weary and helped 2 of the prisoners stay alive, all the others perished. Tharn gave them some Thor beer and they passed out but healed. The company rested for alittle while and then were about to decide what to do next...go after the Ice Orks, or continue on the road to find Herkel and find out if he really is possessed.

On the way to Devon where Herkel lives, Desmona fell under a magical sleep after she touched a hankerchief with Herkel's emblem on it. Tharn decided to take turns carrying her with Pelath's horse.

They aren't allowed in Devon after dark so they stayed at The Copper Pot Inn outside of Devon. The bartender talked of a Crazy Old Woman who might help. The party decided to ignore the drunk loud people in the bar and headed off to sleep to get up early and see if the Crazy Old Woman could help them with Desmona's magical sleep.

After an uneventful night, they decided to leave but on the way out they met Joff, a very "Chade-like" character. He said he knew where the Old Woman and Herkel lived and took them there for one of Tharn's "shiny daggers."

The Old Lady tells Tharn he has "The Fate of the World in his Hand", as he gave her 8 of his Dire Bear claws for the healing of the girl. She healed Desmona's sleep, although it took 2-3 days for her to wake up.

They went off to Herkel's under Joff's lead. They seen the dark woods behind Herkel's where Desmona was captured. They entered and seen everything under dust and cobwebs.

They heard a loud screech from the basement. Tharn tried to run through the double door in the basement and crushed his arm and fell to the floor in pain. Marcomir opened the magical door with a Mage Hand spell. Tharn entered first and saw a laboratory where Herkel dabbled in Necromancy, and then the Evil Dead Chick zapped him and turned his skin black on his chest. Tharn decided to let the others "Deal with the Spell-Stuff." Kerross tended to the injury done to Tharn.

Joff went into the room after the treasure chests and got blinded in the process. Marcomir shot some acid orbs into the Evil Chick. She got pissed and raised 3 zombies and what looked like Herkel's dead body. Marcomir killed a zombie, and Tadios killed another, and Tharn splattered Herkel's Undead Remains with his warhammer. Tharn Slamed his warhammer into the Evil Dead Chick repeatedly while Desmona screamed something about her mother. Tadios's monkey and Marcomir's psuedodragon kept Desmona busy while Tharn tried to kill the Evil Dead Chick aka Desmona's mother Nypystra.

Desmona's Mother soul tranfered with Desmona. Desmona fell to the floor as Tharn splattered her mother into gooey peices. Joff with his mighty skill managed to throw his sword accross the room and Tharn's shiny dagger came in handy. He killed the last zombie.

They held Desmona down as she said "I'm Desmona....I can't hold on for long.." Then she woke up again and didn't remember anything. She lost all of her abilities and has amnesia.

Marcomir and Tadios read the notes of Herkel. They learned of the Dark Mages of the Savage Land and learn they traded knowledge of raising Herkel's wife for Prince Aldric who was kidnapped by Herkel. Meanwhile Kerross is real smooth about telling Desmona that her parents are both dead and that her father was half eaten by her mother.

Tadios and Marcomir also found out that Herkel has been dabbling with some very powerful magic. He worked with dopplegangers, golems, and alot of illusionary stuff, among all the stuff about raising the dead.

Also they learned that Prince Aldric banished Herkel out of Devon, but he wasn't around so he imprisoned Herkel's wife and Desmona till he could be told. Herkel's wife died tragicly and Desmona was set free. So when Herkel gave up Prince Aldric for knowledge of raising his wife he recieved his vengeance.

Pelath thinks that the person who came in recently was the same that picked up the paper about a magical suit of armor in a castle in the mountains of Fanghorn. Joff informs the company that Chade has been in town and probably is the one that is going to the Castle.

The company thinks that the Dark Mages have Prince Aldric in the Savage Lands, but Chade might also have him, and be on the way to this Castle to find this suit of Armor. Chade might be working for the Dark Mages also, since Tharn and the Company know he will work for the highest bidder. Since they noticed that Herkel has a large puncture wound in his neck they think either Chade or the Dark Mages killed him.

While all of this is going on...Joff managed to open what seemed like an unopenable chest. He patted himself on the back. Tharn got out from hiding under Herkel's Bed and went into the other room, since he knew the last two chests blew up. Marcomir followed Tharn's lead and went and stood with Pelath and Desmona in the other room.

Joff opened the chest and it was a floating egg that glowed and had heat coming from it. In Kerros's immortal words..."it might not be wise to take it out of there." But then he helped Joff take it out anyway. The egg weighed a ton and they couldn't hold it. It fell to the floor and exploded, napalming the entire room in a fireball. Tharn and Marcomir sighed a breath of relief for leaving the room but watched thier friends get torched.

What looked like a fire elemental stood up where the chest was and spoke a language that only Tadios understood. Tharn, Marcomir, Pelath and Desmona fled outside of Herkel's place in fear of the Firery creature. After it talked with Tadios it broke through the cieling and flew off in the direction of the island of the Gods. Joff, Kerros, and Tadios barely made it out of the house before it collapsed and burned to cinders.

Kerros doesn't trust Tadios and seen if he was holding something back, it seemed like he was. Tadios told Kerros that he told the creature, "Sorry for waking you." But Kerros thought they were talking a bit too long for him to have just said that.

The party after some difficulties deciding went in search of this castle and Chade, hoping that Prince Aldric wass there with them. They also didn't want to deal with "The Dark Mages from the Savage Land."

Kerros the large smooth-talking cleric dissapeared in the night and left no note as to where he was going. It doesn't appear that he will ever return. The party was without a Cleric and healing.

The party learned that the Ice Giant Jort was the motivating force behind the last war of the Ice Kingdom. He was slain and the orks returned to thier icy existance in solitude. But it seems that someone or something is motivating them to make raids on the Northern Kingdom.

The party of Desmona/Nyphistra, Joff, Pelath, Marcomir, Tadios, Tobias, and Tharn decided to go after Chade and hopefully Prince Aldric. Tobias recomended getting some mountain ponies to help carry stuff and quicken the pace. Tharn has always been against the idea of horses, but for some reason didn't feel anything against ponies. The party traveled south back to Devon and went in this time. They discovered that the city was guarded well and very lawful inside the walls. Once inside the walls the party split up.

Tobias and Tharn went in search of ponies. Tharn muttered something about a war-pony. With the masterful bartering skills of Tobias the party got 5 mountain ponies, one of them being Betty the only pony that seemed to take to Tharn. Tharn seemed to grow fond of the little pony, and Betty seemed to almost keep the bumbling dwarf in his saddle.

Tadios went and bought a magical homing pigeon and sent and recieved a message. He seems to be very secretive these days.

Joff went off and "found" some gold coins and a ring that changed in color from white to black. He also found out some information about the coin that he recieved from Chade. Joff comes clean and tells the party that he was paid by Chade to watch the party. Chade seemed to have angered Joff in some way and now he is helping the party chase after him.

After another refreshing evening in The Copper Pot with Tobias toasting every possible god known to man, Marcomir decided to get his fist-sized emerald appraised and maybe sell it off. Marcomir found a gnome gemsmith and jeweler named Bordash to appraise the gem. While the deal was being made Tobias had a sudden wave of insults that he threw at the gnome. Marcomir didn't know what to do or say as the gnome went from being a possible future buyer of gems to hostile and asked Tobias to leave. Marcomir did sell his gem for 80 platimum peices (800gp) and again calmed down the gemsmith gnome. Marcomir believes that he has found someone who will buy future gems if he does stumble upon them.

Joff decided to ask a wisewoman about a certain "chady" coin. The coin itself is supposed to be evil. It had a large snake on it. "The Dark Eyes are watching..." said a wise-woman. She also gives Joff the name of the "Dark Eyes." Joff tried to show the name to all those in the party with the wise woman's words hanging in the air, "It is not wise to speak this name aloud and bring the Dark Eyes upon you."

No one new what the name meant. When the note got around to Tharn he read the name Jormundar (shhhh don't say it aloud). At his eyes touching the name, the sky grew cloudy and a storm appeared out of no where. Pelath was shocked by the sudden storm and the lightning in the heavens. Tharn seemed to remember reading something in his Book of Asguard. He read that Jormundar or Jor(shhhh don't say it out loud) is Thor's arch-rival. Thor has tried to kill the giant serpent in the past and has come close many times, but the Snake keeps coming back. Tharn throws the coin and name back at Joff and tells him, "Get this away from me!" He also feels the wrath that his god feels.

The Fanghorn mountains that they had been travelling towards are known to have been an ancient dwarven realm, but no dwarf lives there now. Tharn's blood seems to sence a great evil and Pelath notices there is no life, no bird or beast in the area. The party decided to make camp at the base of the mountains and get some rest. They all dedided on an order for watching in the night.

During Tharn's watch he decided it would be good to practice his Read Runes skill and read more of the Book of Asgard. He wanted to find out as much as he could while he still had eyes in his head, and life in his body. He learned much of the Pantheon that night and vows to himsefl to read alittle in the book each day so that he might try to understand the gods of Asguard.

During Joff's and Marcomir's watch, some Ice-Orks stumbled upon the sleeping party. Marcomir and Tadios almost died at the hands of the orks, Tobias and Tharn were late to wake and found a swearing ork at the side of thier beds. Without the protection of armor (since they were sleeping) Tobias and Tharn joined the fight. Tharn wearing only his "Thor Rules" undershirt slayed one of the orks unscathed, and Tobias dispatched the other one. Magical energy seemed to just destroy both of the orks that Marcomir and Tadios where fighting. Tharn noticed that Desmona didn't seem to be herself and had destroyed both of the orks. Tharn went up to her and then she seemed to come to herself. Tharn voiced his question of whether it was Desmona or Nyphistra (Herkel's Wife) that had destroyed the orks. Tobias patted himself on the back for deciding to keep Desmona with the party.

At a closer examination the one ork seemed to be halfsnake or reptillian something or other. The orks don't have anything but religious symbols of a snake and Jor tatooed on thier arms. Marcomir and Todios split up Desmona's scrolls, while Tharn took 4 healing potionsand 4 unkown potions.

The company of adventurers travelled up a path that was supposed to lead to the place that had the evil suit of power that Chade was supposed to be after. Tharn had questions of whether or not they should be doing this. "Hey guys you sure we should keep going?" Tobias laconically says "It's probably too late to think."

The party escavated a small part of the cave so thier mounts could be safe from the elements. Tharn gave Betty a pat on the head and some grain and oats before he went with the party. The party decided to go left instead of right. Joff went first with a Spear that had the Daylight Spell on it curtusy of Tadios. Joff rounded a bend and seen a scaly evil looking female thing in a pool of water. Tharn slid past him and charged the Siren. He forgot about how Sonic Blast affected his comrads and blasted the siren in the chest. Marcomir's ears were ringing, as Joff tried to stab the creature over Tharn's head. Dust seemed to be falling the next time Tharn used his sonic blast Thor Warhammer. The Siren wailed and the party thought that thier ears were going to rip out of thier heads. The ceiling started to collapse and the party ran for its life. Tharn wished his legs were longer as he tried to get away from the siren. It hit him as he turned and the wound did not seem so bad, but it burned very badly under his armor. The cave collapsed and buried the siren below the Fanghorn mountains and sealed off the tunnel.

They turned left and found themselves in a room with a chest in the middle. The chest had a slot on the top and it said "Greed Need Charity." Paco the monkey got a nice little zap when it tried to pry the gems off the side of it. Tharn at first did not trust the box and warned everyone to stay away from it. Joff decided to take some money and put it in the box. His weapon glows after a beam of white light envelopes him. Joff gets hurt when he tried to open the lock and failed. It seemed the box got more angry every time someone got greedy. "Come on guys, lets go get Chade..."

Tharn gets pissed off cause he can't figure out what to do with the stone door, and Joff couldn't open it because he jammed his lock pick in the lock. So he went and thought maybe if he puts all of his platinum and gold into the box and thinks of his need it will work. Nothing happened and Tharn was more pissed and depressed. He decided to take out his agression on the stone door. Using all of his might and the 3 soundblasts he managed to break a small 2' x 2' hole in the thick door. Looking inside with his dwarf-vision he seen an epic battle of demons and dwarves carved in stone and many pillars. He broke more of the door so the party could get through.

They pulled a lever and the huge Iron Gate was raised up so they could go lower towards the sound of water. Once downstairs they seen a room full of statues with Odin in the center and all of the Asgard gods surrounding it. There is water pouring from the ceiling and building up on the floor. There is a hatch under the water but they couldn't manage to pry it up. Tharn pried up another box and found a plug. He pulled it and water started to drain out. They all pryed at the Hatch and it didn't move but a torrent of water rushed down and flooded the lower level.

Since no one else could swim, even though he hated water, Tharn took off his armor and swims down albeit very poorly. He opened a large door and the water rushed into it taking tharn with it. Joff, Marcomir, and Tadios decided to go down since the water lowered to find a wet Tharn soaking in his "Thor Rules" undershirt.

They open the first door and seen a grave of an outcast dwarf. The decided it would be fun to defile it. They opened it up and it started moving. Tharn poured his holy beer into the small opening and black smoke poured out of the coffin. They dispatched the undead dwarf without a problem. They killed the last 3 of the dwarves and seen an opening to Hel. And 4 caskets of women, who looked like they may be sorcerors. Just then Desmona screamed and the party went back up to see what was going on. Something about Dobindor and the protectors of it was written on the foot of a statue with 4 dwarven warriors.

They popped their heads out of the hatch to see a dead black demon slain at the feet of Prince Aldric who looked possessed and ragid, and Chade. At seeing the party the prince fled and Chade charged. Joff and Tharn managed to grapple him to the ground and he was knocked unconscious by every ones blows. Joff's eyes gleamed at the thoughts of torturing him and finding out what he knew. Tharn also was interested as he looked at his old companion and wondered where it all went wrong. The party divided up Chade's spoils. Marcomir got a ring and a mithral chain shirt. Tadios got a flaming whip. Joff got a bag of caltrops, a crossbow, and a signet ring of the Church of Pelatonk. Tharn got back his Thor Soup Spoon in the hopes of returning it to the Temple and hopes of raising an army to stop the northern orks and the big snake god Jormundur. Tharn (now bereft of funds) decided to split the rest between himself, Tadios and Tobias to be fair.

The party captured Chade and is trying to figure out what to do with him. Some questions should be answered.

While searching around for other tracks of human kind, Marcomir's psuedodragon familiar seen an orkish scouting party coming right for them. They debated about what to do, and they decided to rid the world of more orks. Tharn and the others picked a good mountain area to ambush the unwary party in. The plan was to lead them in, set off traps of rolling stones and trees to block their escape and then Marcomir would bathe them with flames from his Fireball scroll that he had aquired earlier. That was the plan.

They set up a fire in the center of the ambush area and Tharn said to make snowmen in front of it to look like it was them. Marcomir went off to lead them in with his Ghost Sound spell. Half of the scouting party didn't believe the sounds but the leader did, so they went after the noises.

Tharn had placed himself 40 feet away from the rock trap (the trees would have taken too long) and waited. Marcomir came racing into the area they would ambush and ran up the opposite side of the valley. Just for added realism, Tharn started swearing in Dwarvish and Joff started saying his Orc swearwords. Needless to say the orcs ran in. They ravaged the snowmen and decapitated them. Just as the Lizard looking thing came under the Rock Trap Tharn set it off with his sound burst spell. The rocks came down and buried the lizard and snapping the chain that the handler had on its neck. Pelath just couldn't seem to get his trigger freed (probably looking at Desmona too much.) Marcomir cast Fireball and torched many of the orcs, and then he cast a fog upon them which confused them more. The Lizard freed itself and had a snack on its handler, devouring him almost whole. The orcs started fleeing away from the lizard and into the barrage of arrows and crossbow bolts of the party. Tharn ran with his dwarf legs over the other Rock Trap (because Pelath and Desmona still couldn't set it off.) He knocked the rocks down but 2 orcs escaped. Marcomir's Magic Missles leveled many of the orcs as they were running around in a chaotic manner. Joff plinked many of them. The Lizard after eating its handler started ripping the intestines out of another unlucky ork.

The Lizard decided it was going to flee and turned away, but an ork made an incredible dive and grabbed the 6' broken chain on the lizards neck. It stopped dead in its tracks. That ork was then the target of everyone's ranged attacks. Even Tharn remembered he had a Heavy Crossbow and shot into the orc holding the chain. He fell down dead and then the Ice Lizard made for Tharn. He readied himself holding his warhammer and screaming Thor's name. The Lizard just about bit him in half. With the teeth of the lizard holding him, and gnawing on him, Tharn swung his Warhammer and used his last two Sound Blasts. The Creatures face exploded into a thousand shards, and its body fell. Tharn standing over the beast didn't notice what everyone else had. There was a massive amount of snow seemingly rolling down the mountainside towards them. AVALANCHE!! "Whoops." Said Tharn.

Tharn and Pelath managed to stay above the snow and dug everyone out. Marcomir and Joff looked worse for the wear, but the remaining healing potions from Desmona made them look alittle less closer to death.

Tharn dug up the bodies of the Leader and the Beast Keeper and drug them over to Marcomir to look at the next day. The company made camp. They weren't worried about the 2 orcs that got away, because they were buried in the avalanche. As an afterthought the party realized that in all of the chaos the party forgot about Chade being tied up. Apparently he had died of suffication under the snow. Joff dug him up to make sure that he was dead. "I wanted to torture him, but this works." said Joff.

The next day a weary and beat up Marcomir detected magic and found the chain and a holy symbol to the Snake God were magical. Tharn asked to see the Snake God Symbol and smashed it to pieces. The party not knowing where Prince Aldric went (except for maybe Underdark) decided to go to Devon and try to get healed, since they were without any clerics. The party avoided many other ork parties and finally got to Devon.

And the party stayed in that most excellent place, The Copper Pot. They noticed the walls heavily guarded and the town talking about all of the ork raids in the out lying towns and villages. With the help of the beutiful Desmona the party got past the guards into the very lawful-good City of Devon. Marcomir lead them into the city, against Joff's wishes, and to the Temple of Pelor the Sun God. With a "small" donation they were all healed of thier injuries. The Cleric was very curious about alot of things. He asked about the orcs of the north. And asked where they were staying. Tharn did not tell him, except that it was outside the walls.

Joff wanted to sell his gem, so Marcomir lead him and Tharn to Bordash the Gemsmith gnome. He mentioned that Henry would be able to help them with buying the mithral pants that Marcomir couldn't use. Joff didn't like the Gnome's appraisal and kept his gem.

Next they went to Henry the Smith. Henry turned out to be a southern Dwarf of the Dwar clan, the clan most known as the ruling clan in the capital and main producer of mithral in the Dwarf Kingdom. Tharn managed to get 600 gold crowns off of the dwarf with a Masterwork shield and a Masterwork spearhead thrown in. Henry knew of Tharn's father. Tharn told him he died a good dwarven death defending his clan.

Joff decided to steal from a paladin, and ended up being chased all over Devon. After hiding in some garbage and waiting for nightfall the master-thief returned to the Copper Pot. Joff is now wanted in Devon. He looked at a couple thieves but they ignored him, and he listened to a Bard that seemed to be new to the Copper Pot.

Tharn and Marcomir sat down at the bar. Tharn seemed to still be in habit of buying Marcomir food. The bard seemed interested in Tharn and made his way over to the party. The bard managed to get rooms for the party. Tharn kept telling Marcomir, "He wants something." It seemed he only wanted to write an epic song about Tharn's exploits and spread the word of Thor throughout the land. Sedriss played a song about Tharn's Grandfather. A tear struck his eye and he was won over by the Bard. Tharn liked the idea of an epic song although he thought its weird to have a song written about him. Sedriss is the Bard's name and it seems he is now numbered with our adventurers.

The night was a night of revelry and entertainment. Tharn, Joff, and Marcomir fell asleep on the bar but the Bartender didn't mind. Desmona was happy because she got to stay in a room, although there was some "skittering noises."

The next day they found an ironwood dealer, which is a rare wood only grown in the remotest parts of the elven kingdom, and not allowed to be exported out of it. Also Marcomir smiled as he discovers that his mysterious ring is a +4 AC ring. Tharn stayed outside and talked to Sedriss about some of his exploits, some of which shocked the bard. "Heroes weren't supposed to act like this."

Joff seems to have sneaked off again. Marcomir, Sedriss and Tharn went back again to Henry so he could attach the masterwork spearhead to the ironwood shaft. "We gave Henry the shaft." Tharn isn't so sure about the bard anymore, he seems to be talkitive and asks alot of questions. He also has a way of making Tharn out to be a hero or something, which bothers the Dwarf's sense of humility. "I am just an outcast."

Joff returned with a gleam in his eyes. He said he needs help with something. He says, with a little coaxing from the party, that he went to the Crazy Lady of Devon. And he needs to return something the Governer of Devon stole from her. It is in his basement in the city walls and there is something "scary" that the party needs to help kill to get this Red Box with a Heron on it that once belonged to the Crazy Lady. Tharn makes Joff make up with Sedriss, by blackmailing him into it. And those two planned the attack on the basement.

Marcomir went to see Bordash the Gemsmith Gnome. The gnome says he likes doing business inside the walls of Devon, because there is virtually no crime, albeit the taxes are high. He said there are public hangings when nessesary. Henry the smith is visited again by Tharn who tells him basically the same stuff. Marcomir and Tharn don't like the idea of hangings and make sure Joff hears about it.

Joff seems to have a new Blinking Ring. Marcomir and Tharn returned to The Copper Pot and discovered that the Bard and the Rogue had come up with a plan. Joff goes off to look at the sewers to find a way into the basement of the governer's house. Tharn overhears some farmers complaining about the orks and how no one is doing anything. Tharn seems angry and went to talk to them. He went to Ferny the bartender and asked how much a table cost. The bartender answered with an unsure face. Tharn then abruptly pushed himself into the discussion, breaking the table in half with a large swing and yell, and picked on a large farmer named Durnhelm. He asked him if he could split the face of an Ork with an axe. The farmer agreed that he could and almost went out to do just that. He tells them to return tomorrow with those who want to do something.

Joff found an entrance to Haver Havermath's (governer of Devon), into the basement through the sewers. Tharn got a letter from the church of Pelor telling him if he continues going the way he is they will thwart him. He doesn't show this letter around until later.

The next day the farmer's showed up, Tharn seems to have forgotten that he told them to meet him in the morning. His speech this morning wasn't as grand as the one last night, but they do not care. 16 farmers showed up. The beginnings of an army. Tharn makes them kneel and he touches the holy symbol to thier heads one by one and names them all "Foot Soldiers of Thor." A loud thunderclap is heard in the cloudless skies. Sedriss notices the 16th member slinking out of the Copper Pot and tells Joff to follow. Joff can't seem to follow him and comes back empty handed. Tharn tells the Foot Soldiers of Thor to come back later and he will have weapons for them. Tharn shows Sedriss and Marcomir his letter from Pelor. Sedriss goes outside of the temple of Pelor and tries find out some information. It seems the temple is gathering knights and soldiers to fight the orks.

Tharn tries to convince Henry to lead his army while he is away, but he doesn't react to the speech like the Foot Soldiers did. He asks the Armorer to make 15 WarHammers for him, and then at hearing the price, asks if lesser quality ones can be made. Henry brings his apprentice Todd up and appoints him to do it. The cost is 100 platinum pieces. Tharn hands over 60pp and tells them he will give them 40 later. Henry tells him nothing will be handed over until the last 40 is paid but he trusts him because he is a brother from the south. The Hammers will be finished in 2 weeks. Tharn leaves feeling stupid and naive. "Who am I to lead an army? What am I going to tell the Foot Soldiers?"

The party decided to sneak into the sewers during the daylight hours. In the basement Joff leads them to a hallway with 3 doors. The middle one seems to be the one they want, but Marcomir can't discover what type of magic it is that is around the door. They find some magic wine from the same province in the Elven Kingdom as the Iron Wood. Sedriss is impressed. They also find a room filled with dry goods. The bard says that he can open the doors, and Tharn looks puzzled. "I thought you played songs?" The bards impressive notes opened the door and all of the party heard the word "Food." The door opened and it was filled with magical darkness. Tharn doesn't like darkness HE can't see through. With nothing left do to, Tharn with much bravery, or stupidity runs screaming "THOR!" into the darkness swinging his Heavy War Hammer at the darkness. Joff took Tharn's lead and screamed "LOKI!" and another god of Asgard popped into the universe.

In the darkness Sedriss's tune of courage stirred them on and motivated them. "We have a soundtrack." says Tharn. Tentacles attacked the two and seemed to hold on to Joff more. Tharns swings seemed to aim true and the creature in the dark for the first time in its life felt pain. Joff's calling on Loki seemed to improve the luck of the Rogue. The creature started to scream in loud wall shaking cries. Tharn throwing caution to the wind used his favorite weapon's ability and thunder clapped the creature in the darkness. The creature focused on Tharn since most of the pain was coming from him. Tharn splattered the creature all over the walls and the light returned into the room. A huge tentacled thing lay spralled in the room and Tharn and Joff were covered in black blood. The Red Box with the Heron on it was on a small table behind the splattered creature. Feet could be heard coming from upstairs now. Joff grabbed the box and they made sure to bar the far door with some of the dry goods boxes. They ran out into the sewers and then out into the city. They had a crowd around them in broad daylight as they burst out into the streets covered in sewage and black blood, NOT what Devon was used to seeing inside the walls.

The party throwing caution to the wind ran at full speed through the streets to the docks with the soldiers hot on thier heels. A surprised fisherman got thrown some platinum peices for his boat and his objections turned into, "Sure it's all yours." The clumsy thieves got some help from the Gods and got away.

Will they ever be allowed back in Devon? What about the hammers? What about the Foot Soldiers of Thor? Will they ever again hear the wonderous music played in the Copper Pot?

Thanks Dan, see you all Saturday August 10th.

When they did get the boat to the other side of the river they were 2 miles downstream. They got out of the boat. Sedriss could not stand the Sewage and dirt on him anymore and needed to bathe. So all 4 decided to clean off in the river. Tharn was feeling some movement inside of his armor, as Joff mentioned that he had maggots in his beard. Tharn shugged and tried to think when the last time he took a bath was. They decided to make for a close farm and clean off some more of the sewage that they couldn't get off in the cold water.

They talked to the voice of an old woman behind a door who let them stay in the barn for a modest price. With the help of Sedriss they got some soap and got all of the maggots off of them with the remaining sewage.

Joff wanted to stay and rest but Tharn needed to get back to his foot soldiers, so they started to leave the barn, when they were attacked by a bunch of assasins of "The Squad." Sedriss jumped into the foot-to-head-combat and lost and fell down almost unconscious in the hayloft of the barn. Joff snuck outside and then was chased back into the barn by the remaining assasins. Joff and Tharn dispatched all of the assasins but one. Tharn chased after the last one but his dwarf legs were too short.

Back at the Copperpot...Tobias wandered his way in and met up with Desmona, Pelath, and Tadios. Tobias upon entering the packed tavern heard alot of jibberish about Thor and hammers and realized he was in the right place. They decided to leave and try to find a "better" tavern and get some food. Pelath turned up the notch alittle and started hitting on Desmona even more so than he has in the past. Desmona put up with it since Sedriss didn't seem to notice her.

Tobias, Pelath and Desmona found out from a hooker in the streets of Devon that Tharn, Joff, Marcomir and Sedriss had escaped the city by boat and were heading downstream. She also told them of the "Squad" who were the Governer's ultimate agents when he needed something done. Tobias kept giving the hooker money till she decided to help them find the others. They also seen the formation of a Militia to go out and find Tharn, Joff, Sedriss, and Marcomir. They headed out downstream to find what they could.

Tobias's group seen the boat of Tharn's group and made thier way accross the river. They broke up the boat and hid the remains, as they seen the Militia row down the stream, and started heading to where the boat was located. Tobias and the others realized they had better find the others first before the Milita got accross the River.

Tobias and the others followed the tracks to the farm where they were staying. They heard a loud thump of a dwarf falling from the roof of the Barn and started running. They found the dwarf running in the dark saying something about an assasin running ahead, but Tobias convinced the dwarf that they could not follow the assasin in the dark, and fight the Militia at the same time.

Tharn stopped running and came back to the Farm. The party healed themselves up alittle. The debate became what to do about the Milita. Tharn just wanted to get away, he had enough of leadership and let Tobias and the others decide. He was starting to feel depressed and disillusioned about leading an army. He did not feel like the "Hero" that Sedriss always talked about in the epic song he was writing. He decided to go feed Betty and think about what his life had become since he was exiled. He thought of his slain family and all that he had thrown away with one night of aggression in his youth. All these thoughts went through his head as the party debated and he petted Betty's matted hair.

Tharn returned to find they still hadn't made up thier mind. So he started upstream with Betty thinking they might follow him. They did all except Tadios.

They eventually found a barge that crossed the river and made thier way, (avoiding all of the guards) back to the Copperpot. Who would expect the perpetrators to return? Tharn found his footsoldiers outside of the Copperpot so he invited them in. Ferny the Bartender of the Copperpot had kicked them out earlier only to find them all packed in the Tavern again. Ferny shook his head and sighed, at least he had been selling alot of Ale since this dwarf had made his way into his tavern.

Tharn let the footsoldiers down easily about the hammers, but made sure to tell Durnhelm (the farmer who seemed to be the best at leadership) that in 2 weeks time to find Todd the Apprentice under Henry the smith, and pay for the hammers. He also told Durnhelm to try to recruit Todd into helping train and lead the growing Militia of Thor since he was already strong and knew how to use a hammer and maybe if Todd is helping them they can get some cheaper warhammers and armor in the future. Tharn wrote a long letter in Southern Dwarvish for Henry so he knew that it was Tharn that was fullfilling the deal.

Tharn had the Militia leave the outskirts of the city and found thier way into a field where General Tobias taught them some basic formations needed in battle and Tharn told them how to swing a hammer at some trees. General Tobias also told them alot about the Northern Orcs and how to defeat them. Tharn initiated the now 23 Men that were in the Militia with his holy symbol of Thor and blessed some Ale in Thor's Name and passed it out to the men as a parting symbol of his approval in them and that he would return. He told them his ideas of how the Militia should be formed and run, and what each of them should do in devotion to Thor. He kept it simple and told them to set a place for Thor at the head of thier table whenever they ate, and to toast Thor whenever they Drank. He told them to practice whenever they could because there is a day coming when the Orc-Hoards will decend upon the city. Tharn asked them to help out whatever new recruits they could find, and to try to find funds for more warhammers in the future for the new recruits. Tharn told them when he gets more money he will give them some for more arms, and that they had to use what they had now to practice. As a parting gift he named Durnhelm a Captain of Thor and of the Militia and gave him a +1 Warhammer he had recieved in the Temple of Thor, and also a +1 suit of Chainmail armor. Durnhelm weighed down with the heavy items thanked Tharn and smiled at his approval. "I will return, practice, the Day is coming."

Sedriss played in the copperpot and took mental notes of all that was happening. Joff delivered the box to the Crazy Lady and she healed him of the poison that he had been given by the assasins. For this small favor, she gave Joff a letter to be delivered to someone "on the way" to Underdark. Joff accepted.

Sedriss found out that the Governer Havor Havermath had been slain along with all of his family from people talkin in the streets. The council also found that the Governer wasn't the most honest of people. He had alot of dark items and artifacts as well as a dungeon in his house. The council of merchants were now running the city. Sedriss got images of Tharn the Just running the city, but Tharn hates politics so he refused. Sedriss also learned that the guard to the city walls were no longer being paid. Tobias found this information very disturbing and tried to bend the guards to his sway but they wanted to find out what the council would say the next day. Tobias fears that the Squad is actually running the city behind the face of the council of merchants.

Back at the farm, the guards that was looking for the group were lead into a trap by Tadios and burned alive. The other half of the Militia were killed by the celestial badgers that he had summoned. Tadios made his way to the Copperpot with an evil grin on his face.

Joff ran into alot of people who needed some help with some of thier heavy baggage, so Joff took it from them to lighten the load. He managed to steal 600 gold peices from 3 merchants in a bar with Joff's help. Joff also managed to run into that annoying Paladin again and he was chased around for awhile. Joff also managed to find (in a merchants pocket) and pink stone that floated around his head, and Sedriss thinks he heard something about it in the past, some sort of defence against certain spells.

The party bought some more horses with the 600 gold that Joff pilfered, and left Devon in chaos to fend for itself and decided to make towards Underdark to see what King Fredrick wants to do about the situation there.

They started off towards the location on the map that Joff had recieved from the Crazy Lady with the message in Joff's tunic.

This was a difficult task given the parties previous encounters with Ice Orcs. When the party realized the �beast� in front of them was only a half ork and seemed to know things about Tharn and Thor that only divine guidance would provide. They decided to follow.

When organizing their party they realized that the Bard Sedriss was also missing. It seems to the party that many people come and go without leaving word. Pelath did an extensive search of the grounds but found neither the bard's, the dwarf's, nor their captor�s footprints. The party decided to put their faith in Gnarr and hope that he would lead them to their friends and not some horrible trap.

After spending three days backtracking through the mountains Pelath finally found some tracks that gave some creedence to Gnarr's story. On the fourth day they found the abandoned keep that Gnarr described in his dream. Gnarr's dream did not provided any details to the interior or forces held up in the fortress. Marcomir sent his familiar to scout out the keep. He came back saying that two invisible beings guarded the only entrance. The Familiar also said there was something odd about their invisibility but could not describe it with his limited vocabulary.

The party worked up an elaborate plan to ambush the guards. Gnarr, aided with invisibility, stealthed his way up behind one of the guards. At the same time Tadios cast a spell to reveal their invisible foes. The party launched an attack as one of the guards was revealed. As the attacks struck the party realized the guards had halos and wings and quickly realized that the guards they where attacking where holy and good. Gnarr realization came a turn to late and pressed his attack. The wounds he took from the angel�s blades were very nearly fatal.

The party quickly dropped weapons and tried to talk to the guards. The Angels informed the party that they where summoned by a holy man and given a holy task to not allow any they saw pass through the door. After extensive debate the party convinced the Angels to call forth the man who summoned them to their holy task. Bondar the high priest from Devon meet them at the entrance. He informed them that Tharn and the Bard were being held until Tharn would sware to stop following Thor. Bondar said that Tharns worship of Thor brought unbalance to the heavenly plane and Jormundur (the ice orks new god) was created to correct that balance.

Gnarr and the party tried to convince Bondar to release Tharn and Sedriss but he would not hear of it. He did agree to release the bard after his wounds had been tended to. He said that Sedriss was an unfortunate victim when they where extracting Tharn. Bondar left the party. Still frustrated with the problem of the Angel guards the party regrouped to come up with a plan. They decided to try and distract the guards with some summoned dire badgers. The trick worked in getting one of the guards to chase the badgers into the keep but the other angel remained on his post. In a brilliant fit of inspiration Gnarr questioned the remaining guard about what he was going to do to the angle who chased the badger into the hold. The remaining angel realizing he failed in his quest and blinked out of existence.

The party quickly entered the keep and found 5 priests of Pelor including Bondar; the priest refused to fight and freely gave up Tharn and Sedriss vowing that this did not end here. Battered and bruised the party decided to hold up for a few days in the keep. After a day of rest the healthier party members took to exploring the keep. They found that the building was built by dwarves and must be one of the lost clans. They continued to explore the lower levels, which opened, into massive shafts (several miles deep) dug into the floor. With some exploring they found out this must have been a mitheril mine at one time. Deep in one of the shafts they came upon a massively deformed dwarf\lizard\dragon thing actually eating raw mitheril from the cave walls.

Sensing the mithril the party carried it attacked. After several hard fought rounds the thing was killed. Where the party will venture now still needs to be decided.

As the party traveled north they noticed that although they were going north and it should be getting colder, it was getting warmer. Pretty soon everyone had taken off all of thier winter clothes and were down to just armor. Gnarr the Half-orc Priest of Odin noticed that some of the party member's skin was turning red and inflamed. Gnarr noticed that it looked very much like frostbite. Slowly but surely everyone noticed that the heat was an illusion, even though it took about 5 snowballs to Tharn's head for him to realize it.

They seen a Huge Ice-Ork army massing north of the city of Underdark. They decided to hurry up and deliver the message and get to underdark. They thought that they had about 3-4 days to get to Underdark and maybe they would beat the army there.

They approached a large castle that appeared to be floating on an abyss of nothingness. A large standard of a Copper Dragon waved in the air and about 25 archers were posted on the top of the castle. The party elected Joff to lead them to the edge of the pit of nothingness to announce that he had a note for "Someone from the Crazy Lady." With a very vauge description of the lady and not knowing who he was supposed to deliver it to, the drawbridge lowered and let them in.

The party being led through the "Vast" castle that seemed very small on the outside. They noticed that there were not many people inside the large structure. They were led to a man sitting on a throne who introduced himself as Fonkin. "So mother has sent me a message has she?" They learn that this man is very powerful, but not as powerful as the Crazy Lady of Devon. They also learn that Haver Havermath the late Governer of Devon was the Crazy Lady's husband, and Fonkin's father. Just as the Crazy lady was very mystic and vauge with the things she said so was Fonkin (must run in the family). Tharn used to this kind of personality asked some questions not really expecting any answers. "Hey he's got great food and Ale, who cares?" Fonkin asked if Tharn had any real goals for himself, Tharn said no. "Hey Thor is a good god, he lets me drink alot, break stuff with a hammer, and tells me what to do with my life, that's enough for me."

Fonkin kept trying to get the party to wait a few days because he really didn't want to open the letter, because his mother always makes him do stuff. He really didn't want to do anything.

After a night of partying and merry-making, and Pelath and Desmona getting better aquainted, they woke up in a cave with a tree over a deep chasm, it seemed Fonkin's castle was just another illusion, but a good one that left them all with hangovers.

The party had sent out a magical carrier pigeon to Underdark to Tobias's business partner at the Dirty Fighter and he sent it back saying to stay out of Underdark. King Fredrick had died and they had a price on thier heads. The party thinks that Prince Aldric has ascended the thrown. They decide they might want to go to Safehurst or Safehaven, but on the way they are ambushed by a bunch of Sith Tor elves. Joff cursing the whole time blaming every evil on gaspworld on the Sith Tor Elves. The ground erupted with entangling vines that stopped most of them in thier tracks. Arrows flew into them while undead creatures focused on Tharn. When the party started to get the upper hand a fog filled the area and the Sith Tor Elves managed to get away. Gnarr managed to heal most of the party that was inflicted with the elves poison. They couldn't manage to save Desmona, and Tobias said that was probably best. Tharn said what the heck and poured a silver potion down her throat, it seemed to do the trick.

The party set out for one of the smaller village of Safehurst.

They found a more defended Safehurst, one with a wall around it seemingly built from the help of the nearby dwarves of Keep. They seen that Herkel's was the target of the last attack. A dark black smoke plume rose into the air, and they seen a breach in the wall that was being fixed. When they got into town they seen dwarves and a human monk by the name of Je-Em who seemed to be running things. Je-Em told them that about 40 orks and a troll attacked and raided Herkel's. Nyphystra told them that a Vessel with her soul in it was taken, and if it wasn't returned before she is born to Desmona, that the world would be covered in a second darkness. This motivated the party to try to both rid the town of the ork problem, and find the soul before it is too late and the Evil Lich Baby entered the world. Je-Em told them that the orks came from the Sunless Citidal's direction that was outside of Safehurst aka Safehurst Castle.

Tabias got the Mayor to give them aid in the form of two powerhouse lumberjack dwarves named Gimlit and Omlit and some land that is "the king's." Je-Em also decided to aid the party. After a half days journey they arrived and led by Joff looking for traps and started to descend into the ground. Joff found a trap and bungled the disarm attempt and lost his kit, because if he took his tools back the stairs would collapse.

Je-Em and Joff lead the way, as a clanking Tharn, Tabias, and Gnarr followed behind. They bumped into a group of 3 orks and efficiently killed them thanks to the help of a blink ring, back stabbing, Gnarr's intelligence, and a warhammer of Thor. They continued along and found most of the rooms already cleaned out. Gnarr told the party that the orks they were fighting were the ones that kept him in slavery for so many years.

Tharn has always wanted to search one of the corridors in the Sunless Citidal but is always overruled by time constraints or the other party members. He sighed and followed along. Gnarr did a wonderful job of acting like Dob the ork and set up an ambush of a bunch of orks and thier pet dragon "Whitey" that Tharn remembers. The trap was set and chaos ensued. Whitey sprayed many with his cone of cold, and close-lined others with the chain that was held by an ork. After a few of the orks fell Tharn cut a hand off of the ork that was holding the chain, but couldn't grasp the chain like he wanted to and Whitey fled. The Lumberjack Dwarves nicknamed "The Brothers of Thunder" by Tharn went insane on the orks and wreaked a critical havoc on the them. Fumbles were everywhere...fumble...fumble.. (fumble times 13)... Gnarr fell down unconsious and was revived by a healing potion from Tharn. The Boss fled when he was the last ork and the party followed. Tabias with a masters skill put down the Boss with a barrage of heavy crossbow bolts.

They entered a pit and found themselves in a cave system. They traveled for many hours almost lost in the caves. They found that it looked like the Sith-Tor elves and the Orks of Jort are allied together. An elvish looking portal was gaurded by two ork guards. Tharn prayed to Thor and asked if they should enter the portal. He got two visions; one he jumps and he sees sunlight and life, the other not jumping and darkness and death. So after killing the guards with Gnarr's trickery again, they all did a little jumping into the portal.

Much to the party's grumbling they found themselves on top of a large Sith-Tor structure in the middle of a swamp. There were 4 portals upon the top of the structure and they chose to jump into the one that the tracks seemed to use the most, and found themselves instead of in a hot swamp, in a freezing blizzard in Jort.

They ran after the Boss down the ice steps. Gnarr realized that they were close to his home town. In the chaos Tharn fell down the steps and almost plummeted to his death, but ended up taking the Boss down and grappling him until everyone else caught up. The party took care of the boss. Gnarr tells them of the town and they get a closer look.

They found that there were some slaves and about 60 orks. They planed to free the "walking meat" and attack the orks. Gnarr tried to trick the orks but it didn't work this time. The orks attacked. Many almost lost thier lives in the attack but they fought with honor (well kind of.) The slaves got freed but the humans were too weak to do any good. The half orks helped in the battle. Gnarr fell, Tobias fell, and Gimlit died to Omlit's and Tharn's dismay. But they ended up healing each other and winning the battle. Gnarr and Tharn were all about torching the village before other orks arrived. Gnarr left a scrawled message in orkish delivering his vengence upon them. They fled up the ice stairs and through the portal. Tharn wanted to destroy the portal to stop the influx of orks and elves into the northern kingdom, but no one supported him and run into the next portal. Tharn smashed the first portal leading to Jort with ferocity, and then jumped into the portal leading back to the northern kingdom. He then smashed that one and the portal ceased to be, but not before a dismembered arm and leg of a chasing Sith-Tor elf fell to the floor from the portal closing.

The party layed on the cavern floor beat and abused and tried to recover and split the winnings. They wondered what the Prince has to do with all of this, if anything, as they layed on the stone floor.

Thanks again to Dan for having a great storyline and running a great game. Thanks to the other players for coming as well, for we wouldn't be able to game without them. See you all again the second saturday of January, the 11th.

The party sat and argued for awhile as how to organize the troops and what to do with them when they got here. Tharn let Tobias make most of the plans, since he was such a brilliant strategist. Tharn realized that he wasn't that great at leading an army afterall.

They sent Marcomir's Psuedodragon Galen ahead of them to scout out Underdark. It appeared that the army had cleared the forest back from the walls, to about 300' so that any would be attack would be seen long before it actually attacked. Galen seen Skulls on pikes and many Sith Tor elves watching the walls with poison tipped arrows. The walls were 20' tall and 6' thick. The Castle has been fortified since the party last seen it.

Tadios offered to share his magical carrier pidgeon and let Tobias use it to send a message to Finni the owner of The Dirty Fighter. So Tobias sent the pidgeon ahead of them to let Finni and the Underground know that they were coming.

As they got closer to the Gate they seen a magical pidgeon sitting on the head of what could have been Finni the owner of The Dirty Fighter. Tobias started worrying about his establishment. They managed to get inside the gate and looked around. All of the temples had been burned and many many guards where posted around the city.

They seen that the Dirty Fighter had been burned to the ground along with the temples. They decided to check out the bar scene and try to gather some information. They then looked for a bar that had alot of city guards, and found one. One of them told Joff to "Keep his orc on a leash." He was referring to Gnarr. They hire some more militia.

Joff learns that the Underground for the most part has disbanded and is meeting in smaller groups and afraid for thier lives. The prince has not been very nice to those he has found. Joff learns that there is a map to King Fredrick inside The Dirty Fighter but it is being watched by the Dark Elves.

The party fought some dark elves as thier "plan" seemed to fall apart. Gnarr had a horrendous fall and the elves poored into the streets. The battle was quick and deadly for the elves. The party fled away from the Dirty fighter with the information and map they needed, and returned to the Underground to do some more planning for the rescue of King Fredrick.

They seen many orcs and a Shaman with what looked to be an Ice Dragon with a chain around its neck attached to the Shaman's wrist. They also seen a dark elf that seemed to be giving directions to the orcs. Joff also seen orc sentries in the trees. Gnarr made himself Silent and Invisible since he couldn't compete with Joff's skills in being quiet. Joff set an elaborate trap using wolf traps and caltrops laced with dark elf poison for when they came back. They went back to report to the rest of the party what they found.

The party learns from the Underground that the King in the past slayed a Black Dragon and its fortune and carcass were supposed to be somewhere in the castle.

It is a Day and a Half to the Cave entrance where they think the King is hidden.

The armies of Tharn in the form of the hammermen, Fonkin's army, the lumberjack dwarves with thier siege engines, and the militia of Tobias made thier way to Underdark to fight for the freedom of the Northern Kingdom.

Back at the Underground, Tharn tried once again to please Thor with his expertise in brewing beer. Tharn made some excellent homebrewed dwarven beer in a large bathtub. He then tried again, as he had so many times in the past, to bless the beer to see if he could duplicate the holy beer of Thor in the Temple to the north. Thor smiled on the frustrated dwarf and blessed the beer in the bathtub. Omlit was sent by Tobias and Tharn to find any good armor and some healing potions, and some strength potions, giving him most of the party's wealth. Omlit's face wasn't on any wanted posters so the party chose him to do this task. Tobias using his old contacts from the Dirty Fighter recruited 2 pit fighters (Axle & Vertus) and 2 bowmen (Clavus & Selena) from the walls with the help of some currency.

Joff and Gnarr returned to the Underground and they party, after buying any last minute supplies and items, set off with an uneasy feeling in thier stomachs. Tharn and many others felt that a climax was coming. When they would learn of all the atrocities that the Prince had commited in his hunger for power and the kingdom. They worried that maybe the King was dead and this all was for nothing. They hoped to rescue the King and turn some of the Prince's army against him when they heard what had happened to the King at the Prince's own hands.

The party split sending Joff ahead and the rest waiting farther behind. Joff laced his knife with elf poison. Joff managed to sneak and then Blink with his ring and stab the Shaman holding the Dragon in the back with his poison laced weapon. Joff Blinked away and then ran like hell as the Shaman and the Dragon took to the skies.

Tharn chugged a potion of Bull Strength and gave one to Omlit to do likewise. The party took out thier ranged weapons and set up to shoot the orc sentries and guards as they approached. The orcs were very dependable in doing this. As the missle weapons flung thier bolts of death at the orcs, the Ice Dragon sprayed icy shards at those in the party. After taking the cold stabbing shards Tharn cast Endure Elements Cold on himself and Omlit using all of his massive spell casting ability.

Tobias gave the call to charge, and Omlit and Vertus and Axel and Tharn all charged into the fray.

The Dragon slammed into Gnarr with its claws and sent him flying. Vertus fell under the stabs of the orcs and his sight went dark... Joff was knocked unconscious by the Dragon slamming into him. Tharn leaves Tobias and Omlit to deal with the pocket of orcs they were dealing with, and helped out the dying pit fighters and Gnarr. Tharn splatters orcs everywhere, Tobias criticals, Omlit killed an orc! Axel also fell away into darkness from an orc blade.

With all the orcs dead Tobias noticed that the shaman on the Dragon finally succumbed to the poison on Joff's blade. Its body hung limply being dangled from the Dragon's neck, as the Dragon decided it was finished being controlled by another being and flew off to what the party assumed was its home.

Joff was brought back to life from Gnarr's healing and the party seen that some elves are coming. Joff thought that their numbers were greatly reduced from his trap and smiled. Tharn stubbornly stands in the cave entrance telling all the party to get behind him and go and rescue the King. Tharn had a grand vision in his head of falling under the poison blows of many elves as he destroyed them one by one. He thought that it would be a fit death for a warrior, a valiant one that served a purpose. No one would let him die a valiant death though and refused, pissing off Tharn. The elves approached and were deadly but the party defeated them. Tharn wanted greatly for the plan to fail and for them to have to retreat behind him, but it didn't happen that way.

After the elves fell into nothingness, the party wandered down the cave that was supposed to look natural but actually wasn't. They came upon a door that at one time was destroyed and fixed again with cement. Tharn looking at the door thought it would be fun to destroy it and slammed into it with his warhammer. The party being no fun, told him to be quiet. Gnarr quietly pryed apart the door with the cement chunk in it. He reached his arm into the hole and lifted up the bar holding the door shut. Tharn told Omlit to put the wooden bar back in place after they had went though and told him to use some pitons and nail the door shut in case any more elves came down the cave entrance.

Joff decided to go left and follow the crude map to find the king. They reached a door and they could hear moaning and sounds of torture on the other side. When they opened the door they were faced with ocs and 2 wizards torturing some captives. After killing some orcs the wizards let off a huge fireball that sent many to fall to the floor. Tharn and Selena were the only two left standing. Tharn chased after the wizards dispatching them along the way. Tharn took the keys off of the 2nd wizard and returned to the party forcing Thor Blessed Dwarven Beer down thier throats even though he knew that Gnarr had some healing potions. Gnarr heals most of the party and they release the rest of the captives in the torture chambers. They went the way the wizards went and found a ruined crumpled man in the corner who looked like he might have once been a king. His eyes were ripped from his sockets by the Prince.

The King takes charge of the party. They lead him blind through the tunnels and he takes them to a room full of treasure that was once belonged to the Black Dragon. The King tells them to look for a mace. They find 2. Joff find the right one and Tobias finds a, "very nice looking one, oh its so pretty, I love this weapon", kind of mace. Tharn noticing Tobias's twinkling eyes and rambled speech said "Not again." and knocked it out of his hands. Tobias was turning into stone, but when it was knocked out of his hands he started to return to his normal self.

The King also told them to look for a brown bag, they found it and inside was a suit of Black Dragon Scale Armor. They also found a Black Dragon Shield that Gnarr takes. Tobias grabbed a shield also. The mace was The Mace of St. Cuthbert and it did a Searing Light attack, it was very powerful. Tharn gave his gnome helmet of Thak to Omlit and randomly grabbed a helmet in the pile and put it on. A dent in the helmet fixed it self with a pop.

Joff held onto the mace. Tharn felt sorry for the Blind King and put his "Thor Rules" T-shirt on him to keep him warm. Hey what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. They worked thier way up into the castle through the kitchens. Anyone who seen the ruined king coming with such a random assortment of people made way and wished him well not thwarting him in any way.

The King led them into the King's Royal Thrownroom. Prince Alric siting on his thrown chuckled and looked bored. Tobias, Gnarr, the King, and the two surviving mercenaries went in the front door. Tharn, Omlit, and Joff went in the side entrance. Tobias announced rather loudly, proudly, and with great elegance that the TRUE King had RETURNED to take his RIGHTFUL place.

They seen the Prince but also his Demon Horde. The party new that the Prince had been to Hel and apparently had brought with him these demons to defend himself. There were 4 demons. Joff with his mace missed a couple of times but he could tell even Prince Alric feared the mace. Tharn killed the first demon spraying black blood everywhere. Gnarr and Tobias were just trying to stay alive against the more powerful demons that they were attacking. Tharn again left Omlit and Joff to fight the last demon they had to deal with and charged to help Tobias. Tharn killed another demon with his sound burst resounding in the great hall. Omlit is left alone fighting the demon as Joff blinks behind Alric and puts the mace to his back and lets the Prince have all of the mighty blast. To Joff's surprise Prince Alric still alive turned around and destroyed him. Joff seen images of wealth and a thieves respect vanish before his eyes, he looked down at his chest and seen the damage and fell into Loki's arms. Tharn would swear to his dying day that he heard chuckling when Joff fell. The mace fell at Tharn's feet.

The two bowmen in front of the King, by Tobias's request, were disintergrated by the Prince. Their bodies no longer existing at all.

Omlit Slayed his first Demon with a cheer around the room.

Tharn charged and attacked the Prince but it seemed that he couldn't hit him no matter how hard he swung his warhammer. He swung his hammer so hard that he sent it flying accross the room. Prince Aldric punished the Dwarf with blows and slices but Tharn despised this man and with all of his stubborn strength fought on. He reached down and grabbed the mace as Aldric kept punishing his body. Bleeding and almost lifeless Tharn thrust the Mace of Cuthbert into the Evil Prince's chest and released the Searing Light. Alric's body finally fell to the floor. The demon that Tobias was defending against faded and returned to its natural abode. Tharn decided that he and Joff were friends in life, so he would take all of his stuff. He could almost hear the Thief cursing in the heavens.

Tobias leading the king by the shoulder, asked the King if he wanted to once again sit on the thrown of his forefather's. The King sat down.

Outside the walls. Upon hearing that the Great King had returned, most of the army turned sides and fought against the approaching orc hordes that were coming from the north. The Dwarves, the Hammermen, Fonkin's men, and the Mercenaries from Tamenend added to the numbers against the orcs and pushed them back and out of the northern kingdom, destroying many of them as they fled northward.

The city rejoiced. Tharn was given the land and money to build a Temple of Thor/Brewery in Underdark. Gnarr was given the Temple of Odin in the north and the land around it, and some money to fix it up as well as a promise to work on improving the Black Dragon Armor. Tobias was given money for the damage caused to the Dirty Fighter, and resurrected Joff. Tharn decided to give Joff back his stuff.

Epilogue

It is sad for me to say that we have to say goodbye to these characters and let them live out the rest of thier lives in the way that they see fit. No longer will they be controlled by our puppetmaster hands and wishes. I think they will do well for themselves and find a place to call thier own. After all look at all that they have done in the last 2 years. We may visit in on them in time, but for now they are on thier own.

To all the Players and to Dan, one of the best DM's I have ever had the pleasure of gaming with, I thank you for all you have done and for the joy you have given me every second saturday for 2 years. I think I will leave off with this...

"Oh no, not the Thor Warhammer again. Didn't you think about the snow and the possiblity of an avalance?"
"Nope." Tharn Defender of Thor

"This is where I miss and fumble my weapon..." Tobias of Tamenend

"I can't believe Tharn took my stuff after I was dead!" Joff

"I slayed a Demon, I slayed a Demon!!" Omlit

"My Monkey is invincible." Tadios

"Come on baby, come on Desmona, I love you." Pelath

"I told you I would return." Gnarr

"Its not that cold Galen, go scout for us." Marcomir

"I'm a healing leech." Kayleb

"This isn't how Heroes in tales are supposed to act!" Sedriss the Bard

Take Care everyone

and Thanks Again.

Tim Harper

After chopping up some undead embalmers that themselves didn't want to die, and grabbing all of thier shiny daggers, Tharn laid himself down on the altar and hoped he himself wouldn't die. He was lowered into a vat of water and tried to get free, loosing part of his half plate in the process. He seen 3 "fuzzy" guys cause he was under water, and they said his time is not yet up. He left with a cloak of valhalla from one of the dead embalmers, and 7 +1 sharp daggers. Also he got a necklace of "Immune to bad smells" and a ring against disease and dying of natural death. (not to shabby eh for a stumbling dwarf)

when he was cleaning himself of the dust between his half plate he found a book in his backpack in a language he shouldn't be able to read, but was able to read it. It spoke of the god Thor, and Valhalla, and Asguard. SO this was the big fuzzy guy...Thor.

Upon reaching underdark, chade took off, and the company had to explain to the officials what they were doing with stolen horses. 300gold shut them up. the party made some donations to some local temples, and then found a good inn, The Green Ale Inn. There they stayed till they split up. Jen and Marcomir went to try to sell the newly gotten Dire-bear cub to the gypsies but they didn't believe him, they said they needed proof. Marcomir had all of his stuff stolen. Tharn took Marcomir under his wing and fed him and gave him some stuff including a shiny dagger.

Meanwhile Tharn and Tobias bartered with the Direbear fur, got the heads taxidermied, and ordered a suit of armor of the dragonscales for Tharn, a dragonbelt for marcomir, dragon boots for Jen, hehe and Dragon-gloves for Tobias.

Tharn kept having the dreams and visions of an old temple of Thor, of how it fell into disuse and was taken over by an Air Elemental. He got the company to agree to come with him, the dragon items and food for marcomir seemed to make up there minds to go with him. After all how else is he going to get gold seeking adventures to risk thier life for a dead religion?

The sorcerors, Marcomir and Tadios, ventured into the sorceror district of Underdark. They found the The Rusty Nail and talked to a sorceror in the place. Tadios evesdropped on the conversation, but the unnamed sorceror noticed. Marcomir found out that he should look for his familiar, and that it was waiting for him.

Tobias of Tamerand went off to his bouncer job at The Dirty Fighter tavern. He was ambushed by 4 thieves. Chade came to Tobias's rescue and won the temperary forgiveness of Tobias. Chade rejoined the company. When the two got to the tavern, Tobias gambled on Chade to win a fight with Bruno. They lost. They seen a half-dwarf slave tied for a future fight. In the second fight at 20/1 odds with hands tied behind Chade's back they one by a critical kick to Bruno's groin. The winnings were so great that the owner of the Tavern approached the two and offered 5% each of the business and a propossal for a future buyout. Tobias finally has a goal.

The company set out after the huge snow storm. They figured it would take 2 days travel north. They made a makeshift shelter in a snowdrift. Tharn took the first watch, Tobias the second, and Chade the third. During Chade's watch Marcomir wandered out into the cold wilderness with the voice of a creature reverberating in his head. Chade shrugged if off and figured he knew what he was doing. Marcomir stumbled into a dry cave and seen two yellow eyes looking at him. "Cold, waiting, waiting so long, cold..." Marcomir discovers that a Psuedo-Dragon is meant to be his familiar. Later he rebukes his company members..."It is not a pet, but a partner."

The company set off the next day and seen the Temple of Thor with a swirling storm at its pinacle. The company tied each other to a long rope and wondered slowly up the winding path looking over the sheer face of the path. At the top they found a minor air elemental mosh-pit. They were trapped inside a structure of 8 toothlike spikes. They tried to pass the structure, but many of the company stared at them with facination and were paralyzed. The other company members kept hitting them to knock them out of it. For some reason Marcomir was helplessly attracted to them, and Tharn had to literally jump on him to keep him from running into the air elemental mosh-pit.

They then came to the risky Ice-Bridge. Chade tried to get accross first tied with a rope while Tharn and Tobias held the other end. An Ice Moffit knocked Chade off of the ice bridge and the two fighters dragged Chade up from the Icy fall. He was unconsious and not looking so good. Tharn decided he must go since it was his quest. He used 2 of his +1 valhalla daggers in the ice bridge and crawled accross. Marcomir came accross next and Magic Missled the Ice Moffit killing it, making it his first kill in the defense of the company. Tadios cast a tenser's floating disk to get the rest across.

Tharn led the way into the Temple first finding some Dwarves who didn't like pesky Dwarves trying to drink thier Thor's Beer. The party dispatched the thick boned dwarf skeletons and drunk themselves into oblivion as Tadios watched. The beer had healing qualities. Chade found a magic spoon in the old kitched that made stew of regular water. Into the back they traveled killing 3 Hardcore Dwarves with lit eyes and wielding powerful Warhammers. Tharn almost died to a critical from one of them. Each thanked Thor for thier release when they were killed, and the company found some cool stuff in the back with the help of Chade taking a dart to the face from a trapped trunk. (what a shame) The company got obliterated again in the beer room...to heal up, yeah thats it. In the temple of Thor they found 2 kneeling skeletons and Tharn picked up a holy symbol of Thor and the Warhammer of Thor that he had dreamed of. The company admired the Beer making facilities and traveled to the top of the tower.

The air elemental was pissed at Tharn, cause he was a Dwarf who worshipped Thor, cause the old temple goers were corrupt. The company was told that to free him they had to get the mouthpeice of a large horn on top and blow it. They travled down again, and Tharn tried to enter into the mosh pit but almost flew to his death. He then told the rest to take cover as he used his new warhammer with soundburst to shatter one of the 8 pillars. Many air elementals assailed him and he called for help. The blast and the air elementals were too much for Tharn and all faded to black. The rest of the party dispatched of the minor air elementals, although Tobias and Marcomir also fell to the ground. Tadios returned the mouthpeice to the horn and blew it. The air elemental went off to another plane without a thanks, and the clouds of the storm closed in. 3 lightning bolts struck the 3 almost dead characters. They all returned to consciosness. Tharn recieved the mark of Thor and alot of characters leveled.