Date: Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
Players: Andrew, Craig, David, Henk, Hertzog, Rich
Level: 9+

Late on the day before this mission started, the first reports started trickling in of an orcish incursion into the north of the River Kingdoms. Occasional skirmishes are not unheard of in history, but the orc tribes have been preoccupied with the Horselords for many moons, and this attack was unexpected. During the course of the night, it became apparent that the River Kingdoms were under serious attack, and plans drawn up under the Calderway Treaty were enacted. Lockenport and the towns of the mainland were mobilised to provide support to the River Kingdoms. Irregulars were woken by alarm bells, and rapidly assigned to a number of missions to the mainland.

The group lead by Zarra was assigned to the village of Loont. Tavius explained that this tiny village was notable for three reasons. First, it is the western-most settlement in the River Kingdoms, and closest to the lands where Vedroth's Citadel of the Dead lies. Second, Loont exists only to support the Eye of Ioun, constructed nearby. The Eye is an observatory and library, access to which is prized by academics and magical researchers alike. Third, a group of Irregulars went to Loont five days ago on an escort mission, and have not yet returned. It was an open mission without a specific return date, so there is no specific reason to worry yet, they may simply still be in Loont.

As the Irregulars scurried along the corridors of the Guildhall to reach the portal chamber, they ran into a smart, formally dressed gentleman. He introduced himself as Ollen Task of the Forcaster's Guild, at which Tavius scoffed “You!” and stormed off. Task explained that Lady Terfia Skallows travelled to the Eye of Ioun five days ago. Before she left, she gave him instructions to bring this envelope to this guild at this time and give it to a group of six people about to go to the village of Loont.

Case number: 210/02/012H

Irregulars participating: Clunk (4671), Dawn (719), Sha'kar (321), Stoella (1069), Xavorin (5764), Zarra (9191)

Leader: Zarra

Summary: The group's mission was to persuade the inhabitants of Loont to retreat to Torgenham. Their secondary mission was to make contact with mission 210/01/139. Unfortunately, Vedroth's forces reached Loont before this mission did, so the group was unable to accomplish either of their mission goals. They did, however, manage to rescue Lady Terfia Skallows and foil an attempt by one of Vedroth's allies to ally with the stone giants. Tavius insisted that I make a note here that neither of these was one of the official mission goals, and how dare that Forcaster's Guild cheat by leeching off other missions just like they always do and some other rather rude comments about that particular Guild.

Fatalities: All the Irregulars involved in mission 210/01/139 were confirmed as dead (Tiny, Revig, Hawton, the Foral Twins and Nissa Starborn). Lady Skallows requested that they be asked to make contact with her if they are ever successfully returned from the dead. (With what? No body parts and entry-level guild contracts?) Also everyone living in Loont has been wiped out, including good, old Doagen and his family. I'll miss that guy.

Notes:

• When Tavius told the group to make contact with Doagen the caretaker, he didn't mean that they should actually hit him with stuff. To be fair, he was already dead, and the tortured remnants of him and his family provided a rather poor welcome to Loont.
• For some reason, on their way to the observatory, the group stopped to pick flowers in a graveyard. There were moving graves which they ran away from. Clearly this is a group that gets easily distracted.
• The Eye of Ioun was described as “paper and bodies everywhere” by the group. They rescued Lady Skallows from captivity in the observatory, and fought some iced zombies and some other powerful ice creatures.
• Accord to the post-mission interview, Lady Skallows mentioned several strange visions she had had while held captive. Something about Vedroth being unable to enter Lockenport. Something about attacking the elves of the Great Forest first. Something about a pact with stone giants. Something about the moons being a sign for Lockenport's future. Why are mystics always so vague?
• Lady Skallows actually wasn't so vague about the pact with the giants. The ally of Vedroth who had been holding her captive was Clenderi, an exiled elf know for his affinity to ice. This morning, Lady Skallows had told him that today was the day the stone giants would make a pact.
• She explained to the group that she didn't specify who they'd make a pact with, so it wasn't too late for them to interfere with Clenderi's negotiations. Apparently, this group did exactly that, and gave the Eye of Ioun (!) to the emissary of the stone giants, a giant named Laerthar. They weren't clear on exactly what the stone giants gave them in return for ownership of the entire observatory.
• After sabotaging Clenderi's negotiations with the giants, this group evacuated to Torgenham, and met up with mission 210/02/012A.

Declarations: They didn't declare anything, but were suspiciously vague on that agreement with the giants. They weren't carrying anything obviously giant sized and valuable through.

Commendations: That Ollen Task guy brought a flowery thank you note from Lady Skallows, thanking the participants in this mission, the late participants of mission 210/01/139 and the participants of mission 210/06/002. That last one hasn't been commissioned yet, which will upset Tavius a lot.

Leadership: There were blank looks when I asked them for thoughts on their leader. Either Zarra is the type to lead quietly from behind or they were all just too exhausted to comment.

Further investigations:

• How much damage was done to the library? Possible mission to recover any worthwhile research materials..
• What exactly did this group agree to with the giants? Have they somehow made the Guild liable for any debts?

Accounting notes:

• See Calderway Treaty Accounting memo.

/===========================================================\
| XP notes                                                  |
|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| Shattergloom Skeletons (4 x 350)              =  1,400 XP |
| Forsaken Shell (4 x 250)                      =  1,000 XP |
| Poltergiest Children (2 x 250)                =    500 XP |
| Corpse of Despair (2 x 250)                   =    500 XP |
| Ice Archon (2 x 800)                          =  1,600 XP |
| Chillborn Zombies (7 x 250)                   =  1,750 XP |
| Quest: Collecting a Cyani Flower              =  1,000 XP |
| Quest: Rescue Lady Terfia Skallows            =  2,000 XP |
| Quest: Negotiations with the Stone Giants     =  2,000 XP |
|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| Total                                         = 11,750 XP |
| Per person                                ÷ 6 =  1,958 XP |
\===========================================================/