- Beeel:
- "So the party is the lawful good kensai posing as an evil mage, the elvish shaman posing as an orc shaman, the elvish archer posing as an orc grunt, an invisible unicorn, an invisible centaur, an invisible elvish brick, and a horse posing as a horse. SNAFU"
(And just for the record, the elvish clan subleader was posing as an orc subleader, the kenku and the real evil mage were posing as more orc grunts, and the centaur was actually shrunk to 1/20th normal size by the Red Mage's faerie dust. The joke about Girl Scout Cookies comes to mind here...)
The party teleported into the Pit uneventfully, and Jenx successfully broke the party out of the inn. (The Red Mage may claim to own it, but it's not like he actually has the key or anything.) The party saw some orcish urchins, but they fled. They met some random orcs (including one named FourBiceps, which must require some interesting anatomy) who used a raised and clenched fist for greeting, thought Beeel was ugly, and told Ganeth (a.k.a. JointCrusher, which is apparently a very noble name in these circles) about a wrestling competition to be held that evening; the winner is supposed to get some major blessings from the shamans, and "strength shall be his forever." They also saw a huge throng of orcs gathering. When Jenx went closer to investigate, he saw some orcs at the center trying to break a behir's legs; there were also some humans in black robes around. Then they met ThighCrusher, one of Baghtur's Biceps, who thought Beeel was ugly, expected to win the competition, was worried about Ilneval followers showing up to sully the ceremony, and was upset that the party wasn't taking part (some sort of communal magic going on?) until Ganeth convinced him that they were too wimpy to compete so they were providing security against Ilneval infiltrators instead. Finally, on their way out of town they ran across a bound and gagged priest of Luthic, who had a vision about Baghtru being fooled and wanted to be freed so she could stop the ceremony:
- Luthic priest:
- "I order you to free me now in the name of Luthic. If you do not, you will be cursed by her and suffer wracking pain that no male before has felt!"
- Ganeth:
- "Not until I understand the situation. And my genitalia has been mauled in combat more times than I care to think about already."
- Luthic priest:
- "You are brave...but stupid."
The priest said that the orcs were trying to summon Baghtru, but they had been deceived and everything would end in carnage (or so her vision indicated). The ceremony apparently relates back to a legend where Baghtru fought a lizard demon and broke its legs; the priest thinks that Baghtru may come when the thighs are broken, "when he figures out how." She also noted that Gruumsh was going to punish him for not listening to his parents. (With ESP, Jenx was able to verify that the priest really believed that Silverton was going to host an epic battle in the very near future.)
- Jenx: [to Ganeth]
- "Ask her when the avatar is coming."
- Red Mage:
- "Why? So we can precast?"
Since it appeared that poor male Ganeth wasn't going to get any more information and Silvana doesn't speak orcish (and the priest knew that the party wasn't composed of orcs by this point anyway), Ganeth freed the priest (mostly to throw a new random factor into whatever was going on) and the party left Silverton. (And she didn't even mention Beeel's looks.)
Theories about what's happening in Silverton abound. Maybe Rakni tricked Baghtru into siding with her so she'd have a way to fight the tree without bringing out any of her pet projects. Maybe Rakni tricked the orcs into starting a summoning but she plans to suck up all the energy they generate before it's finished. Maybe an anti-Rakni force such as the Pentat brought the orcs in to force Rakni to expend some of her strength before they start the next phase of whatever they're planning -- not that this precludes Rakni managing to suck up the energy anyway. (During this part of the conversation, a little something about Jenx and the Red Mage being involved with the Pentat slipped out, but they seem to be out of the loop on this one.) Jenx wants to go in and stop the summoning, figuring it has to hose somebody, while the Red Mage wants to wait and see what develops. Silvana finds the situation too chaotic to predict but figures a pile of elves barging in isn't likely to help matters; her advice is to find someplace safe to camp and see if any sponsors try to make contact. And Ganeth mostly hopes he won't wake up with more injuries than he went to sleep with.
As the party headed for Sunrise, they saw a fire in the distance; Jenx and Thorongil went to investigate and found a caravan being attacked by a band of forty-three goblins and fourteen worgs (including a leader, a subleader, and a shaman). The bad guys were dispatched in about four rounds (except for the shaman, who was held and captured), despite about half the party being blinded by some pyrotechnics from the caravan folk. (Beeel also mentioned a 1 hp lizard that happened to be in the way of G's lightning bolt and thus became extremely dead.)
The caravan was a basic Silverton-style caravan, with a few people riding, a few men-at-arms guarding, and lots of people walking. The main people of note were a priest referred to as Brother Blasphemy, who used to be an evil member of the Hawks, an Eastern adventuring team, but now serves good and doesn't believe in coincidence, and a bard calling herself Eclipse, who recognized the name Delrina when Frankel dropped it (though her Delrina turned out to be a bard, not a death priest), was disappointed to learn that Pepper already had a rider, and passed on healing because Brother Blasphemy needed it more. The caravan was transporting a druidic artifact, an antlered helmet meant for use by a fighter (possibly a ranger...or a hunter), to Sunrise. The item, which this group obtained from some Western bandits who they met near Silverton, induces a berserk blood lust in its wearer and may allow summoning of similarly minded creatures (at least according to Plant Dude); the Mayor of Sunrise (a 7th-level bard whom Eclipse thinks of as an "adopted older sister") hopes that the item will be useful in the coming battle with Rakni's forces. (Brother Blasphemy noted that Sunrise's strongest fighter and likely champion is not good but will fight on Silverton's behalf.) Brother Blasphemy believed that the goblins were after the artifact, which the worgs were somehow able to sense. (He also sent out a distress call shortly before the party arrived, though nothing seems to have come of it.) Sometime before encountering the goblins, the caravan rescued some hybsils from a pair of ogres.
Frankel (who gave the alias Benji) continued gathering information about Tiger; Eclipse knows of an Eastern knife-wielding pitfighter by that name who is currently in Sunrise. Ganeth (who brought his old Silverton alias, Fletch, out of retirement) caught the connection between Eclipse's moniker and Zzukiss, and the pair went off for a quiet chat; Frankel and Pepper followed and overheard at least part of the conversation. Silvana noted that the helmet was not evil (which makes sense for a druidic item). And Frankel and Brother Blasphemy got into a discussion of coincidence and causation...
- Brother Blasphemy:
- "I understand now that you are here to test my faith."
- Silvana:
- "He's just here to test your patience."
The captured shaman turned out to have a basic, if unidiomatic, command of gnomish, so Ganeth questioned him and learned that the "horny thing" came from Khimar and the Lord of Worgs (probably a fairly high-level human druid...high enough level for shapechange to multiple forms, anyway) is rather anxious to get it back. And yes, worgs can indeed smell the helmet. (Silvana thinks this druid might be the one who declined her challenge two years ago.) And that's all he had to say.
- Shaman-of-worg:
- "Now kill me and let me return to worg. Humiliating to sit here talking like prisoner."
- Ganeth:
- "Well, you are a prisoner. Go figure."
- Shaman-of-worg:
- "No--not prisoner yet. My spirit never prisoner."
Jenx and the Red Mage were anxious to press on to Sunrise; Eclipse and Brother Blasphemy were equally anxious (to the extent that BB gets anxious about anything) to have the party stay the night with them in case of another attack. The second viewpoint won.
Storm clouds gathered through the night. Ganeth and Eclipse continued their conversation during a guard shift; during this talk, Ganeth noticed that Eclipse wears a Haj-style silver bracelet. And eventually, the party was attacked by a swarm of stirges, a probable wereworg, and a druid (maybe the 7th-level druid the caravan folks had heard about). During the fight, the Red Mage demonstrated an ability to tune his fireballs (since he could throw both 6 die and 12 die varieties) and shoot single-target fire lances; one point per die of this stuff penetrates a prot fire (at least on a failed save). Beeel got pretty chewed up by the wereworg and contracted lycanthropy, but the cure disease from Silvana's phylactery gave a him second, successful save.
- Eclipse:
- "Being a werewolf wouldn't be that bad, I suspect."
- Ganeth:
- "Apart from tearing your friends to shreds, turning evil, and being hunted by various ranger-types, I'm sure it's a blast."
- Eclipse:
- "When you put it that way..."
In the morning, Froot Loop came by tell the party that they absolutely, positively, and unequivocally could not go to Sunrise, which "is full of spies and informants and generally bad stuff." (Incidentally, Froot Loop refers to Thayo as "the Servant.") The tree is ready to go, and the Axebeak Lord (Partner in Crime IV, apparently) is looking to munch on all that ripe orcish fodder, so the assault has been set for tonight, ready or not. Rumors are that Baghtru is coming down in avatar form (as orchestrated by a half-orc pretending to be a Baghtru priest whose employer is unknown), but the druids have some plan to cancel him out by bringing down an Ilneval avatar to fight him. (Apparently the druids and Ilneval are both against Rakni; Baghtru probably doesn't even know what side he's on, and since he's being manipulated by a mortal, neither does anyone else.) Silvana talked Froot Loop into waiting to see what all the orcish factions are up to before tossing in the tree and the axebeaks; in the meantime, Flambeau is going to watch Silverton (nothing like having a pathological liar for an informant) and the party is going to hide out in the Brass Mansion, hoping that Jenx is able to keep the anchor fire going, that the spiders don't find the ethereal connection and cut it, and that the locals are, if not friendly, at least not powerful, homicidal, and nursing their grudges.