Date: Sunday, May 27th, 2012
Players: Andrew, Craig, David, Henk, Hertzog, Rich
Level: 8+

This morning, for the first time in twenty-three years, a team of Irregulars was permitted to enter the Pit. The Pit is a wide, seemingly bottomless hole, leading to depths beneath the city. The entrance lies inside the shuttered and abandoned prison in Lockenport's Old Town, long sealed by public degree.

As the first such mission in a long time, this morning's assignment gathered substantial interested from guild members, and there was a waiting list for guild members interested in follow-up missions. Although the first team has not yet returned, Irregulars have been assembled for a second mission to a slightly more remote part of the Pit. Like this morning's assignment, this one comes with a “significant chance of death” warning.

The primary goal of this mission is to descend to a place in the Pit known as the Jaws, and look for any signs of Queen Isathrain's Staff. This staff was previously in the possession of the Guild, but had been loaned out to a team of Irregulars busy with a mission into the Pit. By the time the prison was sealed, they were already classified as missing, but the staff may now be needed for the battle against Vedroth's legions.

The purse for this mission is 1000 gp per Irregular participating in an initial visit to the Jaws, a bonus of 1000 gp per person if the group returns with any concrete news of the staff's whereabouts, and a further 2000 gp per person, if the staff itself is recovered.

A secondary goal of this mission is to look out of any sign of what happened to the Irregulars who entered the Pit this morning. In the case that the news is not good, body parts would be appreciated.

Case number: 210/01/148

Irregulars participating: Angus (1918), Eckhardt (127), Frost (2510), Ignus (8282), Sha'kar (321), Xavorin (5764)

Leader: Eckhardt

Summary: This mission included three stages – an initial reconnaissance trip down the Pit to the Jaws, an attempt to find concrete news about the whereabouts of Queen Isathrain's Staff, and finally the recovery of the staff, if possible. The group was successful in the first two stages, establishing that the staff has been thrown deeper still into the Pit than the Jaws. They did not encounter the participants in mission 210/01/147, but also found no evidence that they had run into trouble.

Fatalities: Despite the “significant chance of death” warning attached to this mission, all of the participants returned safely to the surface.

Notes:

• They reported stirges nesting in the Pit, as well as some “very large” spiders. They fought and killed some of the spiders and still had some bits of web stuck to them during debriefing.
• Some girls growls, oh… tentacle-brain grells! were doing a water freezing ritual with some devices, but stopped when they were attacked.
• It was established that something intelligent with tentacles and some mutated goblins as friends threw the staff deeper into the Pit.
• The group did not attempt to move deeper into the Pit, saying that they ran out of rope. Instead they pillaged the tombs on their way back up.
• There was an undead soul eating creature in the tombs, where the group most certainly did not discover the mummified body of a member of an unauthorized mission into the Pit.
• The attached map should be return to the files. This group was permitted to keep a slightly edited version.
• No remains of mission 210/01/147 were found, so they are assumed to still be alive.

Declarations: They found the stones assigned to the ring team, and I let them keep them. Better than having the evidence lying around. Also some gold. And a very nice amulet; they were offered the amulet instead of the mission purse, but declined.

Commendations: Brother Eckhardt was complemented on his brilliant leadership.

Leadership: See above commendation, and notes for 209/11/053. I must speak to Tarn about Eckhardt's future with the Guild.

Further investigations:

• Where is Queen Isathrain's Staff now? Is it worth the risk of sending another team down?
• What were the grell doing with those devices? Should the devices be retrieved?
• We need to deal with that dwarf's body.

Accounting notes:

• 6,000 gp award for this mission for reaching the Jaws [source: Congress of Guild Leaders]
• 6,000 gp award for returning with news of the staff [source: Congress of Guild Leaders]

/=========================================================\
| XP notes                                                |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
| Blade Spiders (2 x 500)                     =  1,000 XP |
| Tomb Spider                                 =  1,200 XP |
| Grell Philosopher                           =  1,200 XP |
| Horrid Grell (3 x 800)                      =  2,400 XP |
| Spirit Devourer                             =  1,200 XP |
| Quest: Reach the Jaws                       =  1,050 XP |
| Quest: Find News of the Queen's Staff       =  1,050 XP |
| Quest: Recover the Staff                    =      0 XP |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
| Total                                       =  9,100 XP |
| Per person                              ÷ 6 =  1,517 XP |
\=========================================================/