PWG Sessions 4&5

After a their battle with the cryohydra our heroes are feeling pretty invincible. Progress had been moving until day nine when the party began hearing voices from upstream. Shortly thereafter the river seemed to stop. The water's progress had simply halted altogether. The rafts floated forward into an invisible barrier giving away the trick just as arrows begin to hit the party from archers on the bank. Soon a small sailing ship comes in behind and the trap is set. Our heroes are not simple merchants though. The pirates on the ship are quickly dispatched by Krell's prismatic spray and Mordecai's demon fire. The archers on the shore and their wizard leader proved most difficult to reach but Alica's speedy crossbow work made the battle quick. The only real problem came when smooth pebble fell into the river and demonstrated her near-complete inability to swim. Luckily being near General Mai'el has more than just social benefits. She found she could breathe underwater and with Mordecai's help pulled herself out of the drink. While down there she spotted a sword which Mordecai retrieved after the death of the wizard. XP-500

Having taken the pirate ship for themselves (and one of the pirates for a figurehead) the party made good time that evening. As the day passed into night a glowing unicorn came from the woods begging the heroes to save its master. It seems the unicorn's master had been taken by evil wizards who would sacrifice him in a five minute ceremony.
The heroes decided to help and followed the unicorn to a nearby hamlet and a building near the square. Upon entry they were immediately faced with a wizard and a small army of animate skeletons the skeletons slowed progress of everyone save Brelynn who bolted for the stairs. The wizard took the first opportunity presented to blast away the bottom half or the wrought iron spiral staircase to the second floor. He was quickly dispatched and the party made short work of jumping to the remains of the stair and pulling themselves to the second floor from there. Most of the party went this route. Alica elected to climb up the chimney insisting that it was normal for a dwarf. Mordecai opted for going outside, jumping level with the second floor and smashing his way in through sheer brute strength. It takes all sorts.
The second floor held a small army of initiate wizards in low quality robes who mostly cast a smoke screen to annoy the heroes. Before Alica even made it out of the fireplace the room was clear and the party moved up to the next level. This floor housed the library. Bookshelves forced the party to fight in a serpentine path. The wizards here seemed slightly more talented the their compatriots below. They must have been studying. Nonetheless the room was soon empty of them and the party moved onward and upward. At long last they found themselves in a room with two wizards performing a dark ritual. A stone sacrificial table dominated one end of the room. An unconscious man was tied to it.
The party focused on the wizards of course trying to stop them finishing their ritual and once the protective wizard was dispatched the one trying to complete what he had begun was easily defeated. xp- 1929
The party carried the man back downstairs to the unicorn who used its tears to revive him. Brelynn also took this opportunity to collect some of the tears for later. Once he was conscious again the man (Willard, not that anyone asked) seemed not to know where he was or why he was without his armour. The party had come across the armour while looting the building and gave it back to him. The sword from the river also turned out to have belonged to him. The Paladin gave 400gp to the party as a thank you/ ransom. He also informed them all that he was mayor of the town and advised them on the best places to visit.
As it turns out this building was the school of the Imperial Magi. Three local Magi were appointed to give the rudiments of wizardry to adept locals as a sort of outreach program. apparently the wizards had suffered from the elemental armistice and turned to necromancy taking their pupils with them. The Paladin insisted that it was no business of his what the Imperial Magi do. Gesturing toward an imposing tower on the outskirts of town he suggested that it was the empire's purview. This was an ironic reminder as the party, by killing these imperial magi have activated their amulets of insurance which magically places an image of the killer's face in the hall of vengeance in Dalim City. Essentially, for the killing of these wizards our party (Regis, Smooth Pebble and Alica specifically) are marked for assassination.

Seeing as Krell was educated at the Imperial Academy of Magics he constituted the closest they might hope to come to an Imperial mage. as such he took headmastership of the school to keep the library out of the hands of inexperienced locals who might misuse them. He appointed local (non-imperial) wizard, Closter as deputy Headmaster of the newly formed Krell's School O' Magic in Chester upon Ouse. 20 xp to Krell.

Loot A pile of unidentified magic items
- 4 pairs of bracers
- 5 Rings
- a dagger
- 2 swords
- an amulet
- 3 amulets of insurance
GP
Pirates- 10000
Wizards- 20000
xp
-2429 (Smooth Pebble, Brelynn, Mordecai, Gargoyle, Alica and Regis)
-2449 (Krell)