Silk+vs.+All

When we stopped for the break, here is where we were. You all had scouted out the Silk Islands for a while and discovered the truth about where silk comes from. You also discovered the “crime” of enslaving orcs and perhaps others, and some poison/alchemy/potion making areas that certainly appeared to be suspicious, though none of you knew enough about poisons to be sure that the substances you found are truly “poisons” and nothing else. You decided that the druidic Duke of the Endless Isles would be both a good sneak and know more about poisons, you talked to him and he agreed to check it out, and he also agreed to take it all before the High Council. In the meantime he gave you guys permission to investigate the Silk Dukes dealings. You followed some deliveries to the capital city of Safe Harbor. You ended up invading the home of the Kennedys, killing only a few guards and capturing some evidence of fake bookkeeping, secret dealings, and semi-confessions from the Kennedys, who acknowledged something was going on, but they too were kept in the dark. A warehouse (thieves guild) was burned by its occupants to avoid its evidence from being found. Usage of gangs of street kids was found and quickly verified that it was going on in most other cities also. At this point, you found a message asking to Kennedys to investigate the ruins at the Temple of Marog. You found an evil growing there, found a part of the temple that hadn’t been cleansed long ago, and finished cleansing it and found the scroll of Seker, which is now housed in the main temple in Safe Harbor, since you can’t carry it onto any major island other than Homb. It is yours to carry or house there as you will. Winter was pretty well set by that time, so you quit for the winter. During the winter, stories were spreading about both the locating of the Scroll, but also about the crimes of the Duke of Silk. Most cities started investigations into the people who were known to deal regularly with the Duke and into the child gangs. Some investigations had gotten further than others when the Silk Duke launched WAR against his own people. It became clear afterwards that the attacks on the cities were scheduled to occur simultaneously. Poisons were dumped into wells, barrels of ale at local inns, among loads of fresh fish at markets, etc. Some attacks were more successful that others (see info below). Some poisoners refused, turned themselves in, and told all they knew, clearly willing to steal, but not to kill for their jobs under the Duke. Some poisoners were stopped by those under them, as lower members of less zeal also refused their orders. In other cities the poisonings were carried out as ordered. A few were captured in the act. The next day, the dragon Ancalagon once again began strafing and burning all ships not flying the Duke’s flag. It isn’t known if he is in league with the Duke or simply taking the opportunity to add to the chaos and to some extent evening the odds in the civil war that was clearly breaking out. At this time, the Duke seems to have a parity of sea forces with the rest of the Dukedoms combined (remember how many were lost in the Hobgoblin war, while the Duke’s merchants suffered far fewer losses, and the Duke always had the most shipping.) Of course, wherever Ancalagon appears, opposing ships flee. The Duke of the Endless Isles and his two underlings that went to investigate the Silk Islands have not been seen since. Magical means to contact them have failed, and they are presumed dead.
 * __ Previous History __**
 * __ Winter Events __**

At this point, open war has been declared, and each Duke is once again raising forces from among a war-weary population. This will probably take some time. You are free to join forces with others, waiting for official military action, or launch out on your own. The Duchess of Maple Hills, now being of age, has met with you. She state that due to the duchy’s recent expansion, large losses due to poison, and other chaos, Maple Hills will not send any organized forces to the war. Volunteers are free to go, of course, but she suspects few will. The new colonists need to plant their first year’s crops; roads, houses, and other buildings and facilities are still being built, and Maple Hills was hardest hit by the poisoners of all the duchies. Maple Hills is already stretched thin. The official declaration of war is against the Duke and any of his people guilty of the crimes of slavery, murder, smuggling, thievery, piracy, and treason…. Many blame the Duke himself, saying he has been secretive and greedy for years, others believe he is but a figurehead for an organization out of control. The Duke himself, always a somewhat mysterious figure, is known to be very old; most estimates put him around 85-90 years old at this point, and he hasn’t been seen in Safe Harbor in years. Wandering minstrels and merchants who deal with him claim to have seen him, though, and pronounce him alive, though old and frail. How much of his wits he is yet in possession of is a matter of debate. __Duchies hit by poison__ Maple Hills: 500 dead, locals stopped but outsiders did thorough job of it. Fertile Valley: 10 dead, most locals refused. Granite Knoll: suspicious humans caught and hanged. Aspen Heights: locals refused and turned selves in. Safe Harbor: 300 dead, locals not caught Gentle Hills: 300 dead, most at the Temple of Ilmatar Vaulted Caverns: 250 dead, poisoners escaped. Sunrise Shore: locals fled with no attempt to poison Grolo’s Grotto: 500 dead. Locals escaped. Sylvan Glade: Locals fled beforehand. Victory Heights: Locals arrested beforehand. Oak Glen: Locals caught in the act.

__**Party Options for Silk** **Island** **campaign**__

-Assault on Silk Duke and the leadership Drawback is going head on with Silk Island heavy hitters when we have little knowledge of abilities. High risk/High reward

-Recon the islands to prep invasion

-Raid and disruption we do this well, post the flyers about the pending other Dukes invasion and cause concern among populace.

-Instigate an orc/slave rebellion Arm the orcs, get them free. Drawback is a lot of townies who may be mostly innocent could get killed, and resentment to new "Duke" if he was one who played a role.

-Do nothing and wait for invasion, be part of crowd and yet be part of target for Ancalagon

__**Silk** **Island** **campaign - Party on Recon**__ Jun-20

Group commandeers our previously captured Silk Island fishing sloop to do a night run to islet with underground complex. We decide to fly the Silk Duke flag to get through. Good thing as part way across, Ancalagon buzzes us about a mile away and then veers away. We sail past main harbor and see the mini watch tower islands now completely encased in stone work, like a mini fortress. We check out one such island to find them garrisoned by former thief guild members who escaped from the main Islands. They are bored and lax, did I mention BORED. Finally make it to target island, use our canoes to paddle in while the getaway sloop sails off to a safe distance. Kojak uses Shape Stone spell to open the hidden rock door to the tunnel entrance. Group avoids two separated traps heading down.

Come to a large room and as scope it out, a Yuan-ti pops out another door and is engaged. Kojak opens up another door and sets off a trap. Down this hall is a humanoid who is also engaged. Flame balls do not injure this humanoid, and he does not bleed. After many rounds, and surrounded by 4 good guys, it drops dead and the body wastes away to dust. Meanwhile the Yuan-ti is pushed back to another room and is killed. One of the party saw a flash of something at end of room. Upon checking it out, notices a small pipe leading out, so one got away. This room looks to be a bedroom area. Party now regrouping to charge down the other corridor. One of the other doors in main room look to be diety related and we speculate a temple room behind them.

__**Were Orc** **campaign**__ Oct-30

After previous session of ambushing two understrength villages and wiping out the population, headed to main orc village, scouted it out and saw a high evolved Yuan-Ti doing inspections. We also saw something odd from normal orc village, an external entrance outside the walls. we decided to set up eagle ambush for high Yuan-Ti next time he comes out.

Attack on the Dragon (narrative from Acog) We had no one die in the party, extremely lucky! We were hiding in the trees as eagles spread out around the main wearorc village of like 600 strong with like 300 in two small forts around the main village. Had no idea the dragon was there and we were about to attack the orcs. The dragon, Angalogon, came out of a big cave just to the right of the main village. He came out in human form then changed into dragon, came back with a deer. We were all in shock! Before we were able to process everything he went back into the cave. Ed's fighter gave the charged call and we all go flying in as eagles change and the battle was on. To keep the orcs off our ass we had a combination of stinky cloud, spike stones, and wall of fire kept them all at bay! Did a round of hands on with the dragon when Doug's mage cased some confusion spell on the dragon. DM missed the save which should of been easy save and then Doug made a great role to penetrate spell resistance. Dragon confused for 10 rounds or so. Plenty of time to kill him his 2 peeps and gtfo! Now his lair is wide open!

Attack on the Dragon (narrative from Humulus, parading up and down streets of Laredo) WE KICKED ITS ASS. See this big effing dragon head, that's Ancalagon, and yeah that was me and couple of sidekicks, Hell Yeah. BOO-YEAAAAAAA! Give me another drink.

Attack on the Dragon (narrative from Noluck) Reading the journal lifted from the dragon rider, Ma dragon is DEAD?!?!?!?!?!?! WTF, gotta get the team together and get to the lair pronto. Crud, stupid Humulus trumpeting up Ancalagon been zapped. He don't know the lair is not defended by dragon. LOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT!

__**Raid on Ancalagon's Lair T minus 18 days and counting**__ Nov 7

The festivities from the battle were still underway. We teleported to town and the Dwarves started a parade and drinking. Other people joined and split off to do their own things. Glen, Bob, and Noluck were reading the journal from the dragon rider when we hit on that the ancient mother was actually dead and what we saw in the lair was we assumed an illusion. Bob and Noluck immediately realized that this means whatever horde is there could be ours and ran out to try and quietly regroup everyone for a raid. This took a few hours but by around 4:00 we had teleported to the area where we had previously camped at the base of Ancalagon's mountain. Remove poisons and heals got the dwarves back to consciousness although unhappy about being torn from the festival. [Note: our rapid disappearance is probably causing some questions back home]

We found an excellent recess in a valley wall and set up camp. The plan was to rest up then charge the village in the morning when all our spells returned (this was still the same day as the dragon fight so most of the casters were spent). Ewell once again volunteered to act as scout and venture into the lair. We buffed the heck out of him and he flew in as an invisible eagle. The caldera ogre camp seemed normal with no activity outside the norm from our last visit. In the dragon's cave everything was the same as well with orcs and ogres coming and going. Ewell made it to where he could see the mom and tried to convince himself that what he was seeing was an illusionary image but couldn't. He isn't sure if what the dragon rider's journal said was correct or not. A new group of orc acolytes showed up and were allowed to venture into Ancalagon's cavern. They were told that the ancient one will not "cross the line" so they walked around being careful not to test her limits. Again, it appears that she is still there.

Ewell tried to also enter Ancalagon's cavern and this is where things went sour. There must have been a glyph on the entrance set to go off if an invisible eagle walking with it's wings out back hugging the wall crossed over the entrance because as soon as he entered alarms started going off. The young orcs all started crapping their loincloths thinking they did something wrong but an adult emerged from a side entrance who knew what the alarm meant. Ewell started beating feet out of there when the orc started chanting and waving his arms to cast a spell. While he was flying down the hall he heard the orc yell "there's something moving that way". Ewell picked up the pace and launched his invisible arse high into the sky above the village as orcs and ogres started scurrying about trying to figure out what was happening. He flew in circles above them for a while and eventually they settled down so he returned to camp. We made plans to attack in the morning so set up watches and tucked in.

__3rd watch__ For an explanation of what happened see this: oots explains all Around 4am-ish the watch heard a group of things trying to move quietly around us but not being completely successful. After a couple listens we guessed it was a number of large humanoids so they kicked the group awake and formed up an unarmored line. We guessed a scouting party from the village had stumbled onto us and we didn't want them to get away. When the sneakers realized we were awake they charged in. This was no scouting party. We had missed some spots/listens earlier when the actual scouts found us and went back for reinforcements. This was the whole farkin village of beefed up orcs and ogre fighters against our unarmored and low on spells group and we were on the edge of a total party kill. It was a bee hive mess of surrounded groups fighting in the dark. Area spells were dropping all over hitting us and them. It was a bloody mess but we eventually turned the tide although taking mega amounts of damage to several party members. A final entangle slowed them enough to that none escaped except the one that Andrew had mentally dominated. That one, pretty hurt, we allowed to return to the village to report on the battle with instructions to relay to us everything that he hears.

He confirmed a few things: 1) They don't know Ancalagon is dead. He said many of them will be eaten in anger when he returns and sees the mess. 2) Virtually all of the fighters in the village were sent on this raid. Only the females and young ogres remain and a handful of orc casters of modest level. 3) All of the "leadership" that remains is terrified and debating what to do next.

The session ended with us scattered about the camp littered with orc and ogre carcasses. We dumped the last of our spells in healing so the group is healthy but devoid of magic. It's and hour or so until dawn. If we can wait that long the divine casters can do their dancing and regain spells but the arcane casters are shot. A few people are doing a quick search of the bodies. Glen has a detect magic up and is walking around like an old man in black socks sweeping a metal detector on the beach. Mostly we're waiting for the orc leadership to make a decision. How we act will depend on what they decide.

We still don't know if Mama Dragon is real or illusor, but the actions of her minions may reveal the truth in short order!

(Side Note: we "recruited" some more help, a paladin, sorcy(Jeff new chars) that we rescued from the Revenant and wizo(Tom new char), a bored Artificier who wanted in on the action, have joined the group.)

(Side Note #2: in real time we stopped just after 1AM in the morning, been a while up this late. Then I went to 7am church. LOL)

Nov 14 Hey, PCs, you just killed a dragon and all his minons? What are you going to do next? We're going to suck at rolling treasure! Taking off from where we departed last time we got intel from the dominated Orc that the decision from the remaining leadership was to bug out immediately. Flits of orders included "you get 'IT' and leave immediately after we buff you". It was clear that "IT" was the island scroll. Hearing that the dwarven airforce and Kojak took off flying straight there withhopes of cutting this orc off while the rest of the group came running behind as quickly as they could. The incoming sorte was spotted and clouds of fog started appearing about the lip of the caldera. Lupie hid by the path while Humulus and Kojak split up to circle the area. The orcs started making a break for it in every direction. Mostly kids with some adults carrying backpacks. We started picking them off while the rest of the group began catching up and joining the fight. Kojak got into a duel with some orc popping lightning bolts out from a cloud and NoLuk tumbled through guards and into the fray. It was a scattered mess and we killed as many as we could but the majority fled. After the skirmish we scouted out the emptied cave system not finding too much of interest and saving mommie dragon's cul de sac for last.
 * Dragon Lewt!!**

After some mucking around we were confident the image of the dragon was an illusion but there was some kind of force preventing us from approaching it. After trying to move the stone to get around it we found a small inscription that said "speak the name of Ankalagon's father to enter". Bob shouted "Promethius" and walked right through. We all followed behind him and beheld the glory of the dragon horde. The back side of the image was off, like looking at a move from the back side of the screen.

The the DM uttered those horrible words, "get out your dice to roll for treasure." The dragon horde consisted of: 11,700 gold Potions: Swimming, Jump, Invisibility (x2), Alter Self, Enlarge, Bull Strength Scrolls: Dispel magic, Summon Monster II, Bull strength, Speak with Animals Composite Long Bow (standard) Plate Mail (Masterwork) Breastplate (standard) A Harp (standard music instrument) Staff (standard) Battle Axe (standard) Kite shield (masterwork) Short sword +2 Bag of Dust of Appearance Bag of Holding Bastard Sword +3 (went to Kevin) Plate Mail +1 Spell Book from level 7 mage Spell Book from level 5 mage

We had 33 rolls on charts that had better than a 40% chance of magic. We couldn't roll above a 30. We ended gathering up the hoard and wondering where to next. It's been a busy day.

[end]

__**Raid on Ancalagon's Lair - final drama - desecrate the temple**__ 06-Dec-2015

The final action to take in the lair, is to destroy the temple. Party checked the temple doors but no glyph or trap. Humulus led the way in followed by Juggernaut and Shepherd, our new party paladin. The temple was big, 100 x 80 and has six diety pillars: Loviatar, Hiisi up by the main area, a hydra dragon pillar and Grumsh on right side, Surma and ogre hero pillar on the right. Party figured the Loviatar and Hiisi pillars would be casting the bigger magic and need to group by them to destroy. As per usual, attempt to destroy a altar caused a huge stinking fog cloud and darkness. Glen had already cast a daylight and canceled the darkness. Glen also had a circle of "Protection vs Evil" up. Kojak and Glenlivet both attempted twice to dispel the fog, but failed badly with low rolls. During those 2 rounds, a few fire elementals and some shadows attacked the group. Also, the party was getting hit with cones of fire and cold damage, assumed source the hydra dragon pillar. Kojak finally casts "Control Winds" high level spell and gets the fog pushed up and away for party to see. The Grumsh pilar had animated along with the ogre hero pillar and moved to engage the group. Shadows were dealt with some members losing a bit of strength, before Glenlivet dusted them as undead, only to see the Loviatar pillar birth another shadow. Humulus was taking a beating from multiple fire elementals but Kojak was able to cast 2 healing spells to keep him on front lines. Glen cast "Orders Wrath" on new fire elementals and Surma pillar, nearly killing Mardove in its blast as it affects non-lawful types.

Meanwhile, the animated pillars were attacking and Juggernaut, Bob, Fubar, and Shepherd starting chipping away at them as NoLuck sped off to attack Loviatar pillar. The hydra dragon pillar kept blasting away, and Tanetta attempted to suppress it with 2 lightning bolts, only to get caught and blown up by counter strike. Things looked a bit grim when the two animated pillars dropped, got back up and then where dropped a final time. The Hiisi pillar and Loviatar pillar broke too pieces from combined magical attacks and some melee attacks. When Hiisi pillar broke, the strength of attacks and size of fire elementals was cut in half. The battle tide turned and mopped up the resistance. Alas for Tanetta, she was down permanently. With remaining spells, healed up, put Gentle Repose on Tanetta for attempt at Resurrection. Found 14000 gold in gems and precious items as "LEWT".

Group rested up as its been a whirlwind 24 hours in story timeline, having ambushed Ancalagon the previous "Day", survived an assault by the dragon lair guard force and successfully breached the lair and taken possession. At some point, the few awake on watch heard voices asking "Hey are you the good guys", and a party from Oak Glen had come to investigate given the rumor that Ancalagon had been killed on another island and then the Poem of the Scroll was mentally erased.

They agreed to stand guard while most everyone rested, while a couple gave them the highlights. The Oak Glen duke wanted to us to report and off we went to get the latest news. A second sea battle had taken place and was a draw, with main concern among good guys is the uncanny accuracy of the Silk Duke ships catapults in targeting the primary mast of the invasion fleet. So right now things are at impasse. Also, while there Tanentta is resurrected for free but group still gives 10 sets of MW ogre chain as gratuity. Humulus is leading a parade with Juggs as sidekick.

Group decides to jump to Star Island to get reaction from Prometheus of these events, since we killed his son Ancalagon. Also, thought maybe this would end the geas on us to stay out of the Silk Duke war, but Prometheus said the bargain still holds. We then report to the King Duke of events and get a deal that our requests for magic item creation will be given greater priority.

So we still have some 2 plus weeks for geas to end, thoughts are to head back to were-orcs and eliminate them as much we can.

__**Raid on WereOrcs**__ 19-Dec-2015 Group: Bob, Noluck, Fubar, Kojak, Humulus, Glen, Lupulus, Otavio, Tanetta, Shepherd

Group put in magic item orders at Oak Glen, R.O.P +1 are immediately available, rest are being made/boosted by 2 casters assigned to prioritize our shopping list. The next stop was to Maple Hills where Humulus presented the dwarven-mead-smelling, oozing, dripping carcass head of Ancalagon to young Duchess. She politically graciously accepted and had acolytes take it away for "refurbishing", and she thanked us for our efforts. Humulus is the leading headline on the sports page as the DragonSlayer, Otavio even created a banner(Doug has a replica pasted on the wall of the gaming room, I kid you not!)

Thoughts for next mission was back to wereorcs and stopping them from growing their power base. We headed to Nittany Lions orc village as closest one, just north of Fertile Valley and thus a threat. We plan our attack, slap down spike stones, a wall of fire and clean the place out, killing about 80% of the 400 orcs. We were able to capture the orc war leader to get some intell and he was glad to talk if we promised him to die with a weapon in his hands. He was very upset and spat at the name of the Rattlesnakes and was pleased to find out Ancalagon was dead.

The dragon and top WereOrcs of Rattlesnakes showed up and gave ultimatum to the Nittany Leadership, be part of wereorcs or die. So the leaders were converted first, about a third of village were gone when we attacked. Per our prisoner orc, the RattleSnake leaders are becoming more unstable over the years of being werewolves, they are more barbaric, prize ferocity and brute force, and have few casters of any type. The expansion of the new lands west and north of Maple Hills, the re-capture of Granite Knoll, and the search-n-destroy raids of orc tribes by us and others, caused them to think of expanding own power base. Found out the field of posts and shackles at Rattlesnakes is for new wereorc "converts" before the full moon and control them during the transformation.

In hoping to keep baddies offbalance, we flip to far west side of island to orc village Timber Wolves, then still had not been taken over. We wipe out another 80%, capture some regular orc fighter and find out they had been visited by the dragon and told they were going to join the wereorcs. We asked about the multiple silver weapons among them and told it helped them be able to hurt the wereorcs. The silver came from orc tribe to the north, the Bisons, but they been taken over by the Rattlesnakes. We headed there next.

The Bisons village was down a third population, was able to track they had left a few days ago going to RattleSnakes and given the month date, a new crop of "Volunteers" for full moon conversion. The group went in at dawn to see if could wipe out leadership and most of warriors. Spikestones and Wall of Fire popped as crowd control. However, even though we zapped 60+ wereorcs and couple leaders, group was in danger of being swarmed over by another 50-100 wereorcs. Group had to escape via various methods:

Otavio - teleported 4 lightest members out. Mis-teleported but was away safely. Fubar - used a fly spell from Otavio Humulus/Lupulus - took off on Humulus shield but not before taking a Fireball and Hold Person as they flew away. Kojak - wildshape to bird and flew off Noluck - with Pass Without Trace from Kojak, tumbled and jumped to a wall and took off.

Dealing with wereorcs, need a new plan. Just tooo strong and too many of them.

__ **If At First You Don’t Succeed…** __ 2-Jan-2016 Chagrined but undeterred by the limited succeed of their last foray into were-orc territory, the party decided that there was nothing for it but to keep at it. Once again, elaborate plans were planned, and dreams were dreamed:

“We need to come up with a plan…” “Murdering a few yuanti along the way would increase the time taken to rebuild…” “Sneak in way out of the way spot and then scout to select targets to pick off…” “It might take a few sessions to smash enough of them to declare victory…” “I want to keep them from escaping…”

After making a couple of stops, the birded party once again headed to the Rattlesnakes encampment, only to find all our hopes and plans shot to He-Double-Toothpicks. The birds were spotted almost immediately by redoubled patrols who were obviously on the lookout for such things, and a group of at least 30 came our way - one of many such groups patrolling the camp - pinning the majority of the group to the trees while the rest scattered and ran… er… strategically retreated.

But the main part of the plan was to have Kojack and Otavio fly in, invisible, and blast the staked were-orcs with spike stones and walls of fire. That part actually worked, and worked well. But from out of their hidy-hole came the yuan-ti who took their shot at Noluck, and there was no support to take them on, so they remain unscathed.

Chastened once again, we returned to the small cave by the coast to lick our wounds and provide succor to our bruised egos, and plot our next move. While there was a lot of disappointment, the basics of the plan was sound. Blasting the staked were-orcs was too good not to try again. The next night, Kojack and Otavio headed to the Wolverines and Gophers, invisible and flying, blasting the staked initiates in a double hit and run, then returning to base.

The party might not have what it takes to be the Cure, but we can do what we must to enforce a Quarantine.

__** Vorpal Squirrels, Bunnies and Oh My! **__

summary update from Jan-16, Jan-30

After the Rattlensnake raid on way back hidey cave, it was mentioned a crazed seagull attacked a member who was eagle but "nothing to see here, nothing odd about that".

Party received update from a Pixie who saw our attack, gave us update that Governor Sphinx thought good idea to keep an eye on the orcs and were-orcs towns. Told him that most all are were-orc villages now. When he took off near the water, a fish jumped out of water and attacked him. Kojak captured the fish when it tried same on him. The fish was lycan cursed, Glen "healed" the pixie and told him to spread word to watch out for "rabid" animals.

Group decided that maybe those Golden Eye/Silk Duke ships doing something and tracked one down. Mardove flew in and saw another bird just ravage a second bird. Followed the ship to a temporary dock on Sprand. We investigated and figured it supply depot to assist Silk Duke, group attacks and wipes out defenders, pick up some key documents that detail plan by Silk Duke to drop off lycan rats on Homb Island, the ship had left a few days earlier. Also discovered that got rats from someplace north of Tobian. Otavio and Glen teleported to Homb and informed the authorities.

Mardove and Kojak head out on a long range scoutn and find a set of small islands. Bring party back next day as eagles. Kojak cast sense nature spell for lycan rats, and gets about 8000 hits. Meanwhile a mad squirrel attacks and is shown to be lycan. Head upstream of the main island to a stream forc and at the V-junction find old temple and compound wall/trench but the wall/trench was to keep something inside rather than out. One of the casters was able to determine some magic source farther upstream. Group finds this cave as then hear a wolf howl and answered by a pack that are on the groups trail.

From the cave was a glowing green light, those in direct line of sight had to make a save or have confusion spell on them. Several missed but worst case was Humulus and Lupulus who started to fight each other. Otavio and Glen cast spells to try and free them. Juggernaut ran to assist and also was confused. Meanwhile, Acog, Kojak and Fubar get ready for the lycan wolves to attack, the wolves were foiled for a few rounds by spike growth and entangles before working around the edges. Noluck was able to resist the emerald glow and go into cave to find a stone giving off the light, and proceeds to start bashing it for several rounds until he breaks it. This also breaks the spell on Humulus and Lupus but they are badly hurt and Glen has to spend rounds healing them. One set of 4 wolves attacks Fubar and Acog, Otavio fries them while Acog and Fubar finish them off. Kojak and Tim try to hold off the 2nd set of 4 but Kojak is almost ripped apart, dropping to 7hp. Only the charge of Bob and Noluck allow Kojak chance to crawl from fight and heal himself. This was key as Kojak has one feathers spell to get group off the island. The second set of 4 lycan wolves were mopped up with help from Lupe and Humulus.

Group gets the heck off the island and back to our cave base. End Summary.

__ **T-Minus 10 days** __ Summary for Fed 13, 2016

After spending some time healing up, the party receives word from the Pixies who have been checking up on the Were-Orcs. The Rattlesnakes have fled, and in their wake is chaos. There seems to have been an orc uprising against the Yuan-ti dominion, and as the last full moon rose, there was another lycanthropy outbreak in spite of the diminished power of the curse. Traveling back to the Were Island, the party checked the temple again. The pedestal turned out to be an Infernal Curse Of Loviatar, not surprising since he is the God of the Yuan-ti. As expected, all of the magic is gone except for a dim residue of the evil that had been there.

Deeper into the complex the party found birthing chambers for were-orcs and a large temple coated with blood and gore, but no power. Heading back to Tobian, the party learns that the Silk Duke’s fleet has been destroyed and that the invasion has begun! The party can only wait and prepare until…

__ **T minus Zero: The Geas Ends - Time To Join The War!** __ Summary for Feb 27, 2016

The month of May has come, the geas has ended, and the party immediately heads o the middle island to check out the crypt. Inside, there are desiccants awaiting the return of Touanetar. There is also an inscription from Prometheus saying “For the sake of posterity, Do Not Desecrate This Temple!”. Another message says “Worship As You Wish But Do Not Disturb My Gifts”. Fine. We’ll leave it. Sigh. When we leave, all of the doors close by themselves as we leave.

Heading toward the Silk Duke’s keep, we see the other dragon flying around! This is a problem! The party decides that the best thing would be to take on the dragon before the battle! We make noise and shout and move toward the keep. The drain sees us and starts to fly our way and we raise the DRAGON SLAYER BANNER and taunt the evil beast! Much to our surprise, the dragon takes one look, AND FLEES!! This was a great thing, but somewhat a letdown. “We’ll get you later, b1tch!!!!”

After celebrating and planning, the party decides to head into the castle via a secret entrance under the water line. Spying found that the entrance leads to a door in the basement that doesn’t seems to be heavily guarded. While the army attacks above, we will attack below! Swimming into the entrance, the party heads down a long corridor (no way anyone is going to lightning bolt us, right?) and get to a door. We weren’t exactly stealthy, and there is a little eyehole that allows whoever is on the other side of the door to see us. Oh well, it appears time to smash down the door and bull rush in as fast as we can. It turn out that this was the escape route for the Silk Duke Himself, as HE IS HERE! the battle is joined, and after much blood is spilled, the Silk Duke himself is killed!

__ **The Duke Is Dead - Long Live The Duke** __ After grabbing all of the loot that can be carried, the party rushes up stairs to join the battle. The party splits up. One group heads down a corridor to free some of the prisoners chained. Among the prisoners was the old Druid Duke, dead in his cell. The other group heads upstairs and lends a had at the mop up operations, as the main army spills into the grounds and takes the main tower. Everyone learns of the death of the duke, and victory is ours!

There were many secrets in the tower, with assassin training grounds, many burned documents, and unburned informations about prisoners and the spy network.Now the job begins to clean up, and to hold an election to decide who is to become the new duke of Silk Islands. After much politicking and discussion the party votes:

(I can't find my notes about the vote total. I remember it was very close)

Glenn 5 Acog 4 Noluk 4