03.0 Kidnapped, almost.

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Carlton Blacks Mercenaries
Company members:-
Krachtig (Vervalsing Voorwerp de Meesten Krachtig) – Gnome Illusionist/Thief
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.
Derek Summers – Squire to Taran.
Lanneus Tuard – Paladin of Manannan Mac Lir

Kidnapped – Almost

The individual company members have been looking over their parcels of land granted to them by Lord Arlos and start making plans for the buildings, a burrow for the gnome and Taran thinks of a stone built farmhouse.
They all receive an invite from the Barnold the Landowner who they rescued from the Slaver Town, one of his hired hands had landed a massive Halibut and he wants to celebrate the new moon and thank us with a feast, with the mention of a keg of winter ale we all respond affirmatively.
A grand time is had and much food is consumed, we entertain ourselves with some music and dancing.  By midnight we drift away back to our respective abodes.  Taran and Galvish are making their way to the stables on horseback when a bald man wearing leather armor and carrying a sword steps into the path and calls us out by name.  He knows we were in the company of a Gnome at the Slaver town, he claims he is not after us just the gnome and request where he would be found, he also offers to break our leg and leave us with a bag of gold if we co-operate.  Not liking to have our legs broken the pair attempt to flee on their horses, we then realize that this man did not come alone as archers hidden in bushes release a barrage of poisoned arrows.  Galvish is hit multiple times and dies while Taran is hit once, just before he gallops out of range another couple of arrows knock him unconscious.  He comes to bound up and being asked the same question, where is the Gnome, fearing for his own life he says to look at the Smithy.
Cut to the Smithy.
Krachtig and Barrigan are approaching the Smith when Krachtig pulls up saying he heard something in the bushes, Barrigan say probably a dog or raccoon. Just then the bald man steps out and calls for Krachtig to surrender, Barrigan can go on his way.  The people at the slavers town really want a quiet word with him.  The dwarf is spoiling for a fight and rushes at the man with axes swinging, he nearly cuts the man in half with one massive blow and drops him in a second, just then bushes where the archers are waiting erupt with arrows and a couple hit Barrigan but not enough to fell him, Krachtig also picks up a wound but not enough to put him down even with his delicate health.  The dwarf then charges into the bushes and starts cutting at the archers, the gnome turns invisible and starts casting spells.  Barrigan is hit multiple times and drops to the ground lifeless.  Krachtig moves into the bushes to start cutting at the foes with his daggers and is successful in finishing off a couple that the dwarf had smote, before they retreat, finding it impossible to hit the invisible gnome.  By now Taran had managed to free his bonds and after some quick curing puts his cousins limp body over his mount and make his way to the smithy having seen bright flashes of light there.  It takes him a few minutes to reach his destination and sees the prone body of the dwarf and Krachtig keeping a watch over him.  With a quick appraisal of the situation Taran rides to the manor house to make sure Carinne got home safely and rouse her to find the remaining people who perpetrated this raid.  It is with some concern that Corinne is not back at her digs, Taran implores the guards to go to the barracks to let Kalan Ghent know what is going on and then rides to the inn as Carinne was last seen in the company of Gillian the barmaid.  No news there and Taran starts to get worried as to where these two might have gone, fearing they have been captured by the raiders he gallops back to the Smithy where a few more people have turned up including the Elven priest of Sandy Moonbow who we extracted from the Slaving town.  With Tarans assistance he attempts to restore life to Galvish and is unsuccessful, but with Barrigan we notice a faint flicker of movement and find a weak heartbeat, with quick use of healing magic we get the dwarf back on his feet and with the presence of one of the towns finest trackers start to hunt down these rogues.
We follow their trail to the coast where about half a mile away we see a sailboat moving steadily away from us, just then Carinne and Gillian ride up to us and a third horse transmogrifies into Sharin Cal our friendly Druid.  It would appear that Gillian has been studying to become a druidic mage under both Carinnes and Sharin Cals tutelage, with this night being a full moon it was perfect timing for an induction ceremony to be performed.
With little options to prevent the complete escape of the marauders we journey back to the Smiths and Sharin Cal raises Galvish back from the dead, we look over the belongings of the dead man and through the use of a spell learn his name is Solomon and he was one of the main slavers.  We summon the bard to sketch his likeness and dispatch this and his head to the capital in hope of a reward.
Even though we have had to sacrifice magic items to Sharin Cals Diety in order to raise Galvish she also asks that we undertake a quest for her.  After checking with our CO we have nothing on our immediate schedule and agree to be transported to the middle of the island to see what has become of a gnomish temple which guards the Stone of Ghul, a mighty evil artifact which controls weather and temperature.
We tool up and depart and are met with a stifling heat which makes Barrigan begin to roast in his heavy metal armor, the area around us is like a tropical jungle and we begin to make our way to the head of the valley, a journey which will take several days.  We make camp the first night and it is not long before we are awoken by a massive dinosaur looking at us hungrily, we leap up and attack the mighty beast, it score some fearful wounds on us but we manage to take it down.  We settle down to rest again and are soon disturbed by more dinosaurs which wander in to the edge of the camp, Barrigan fearing another assault decides to charge them and we are soon thick in combat, we find that these beasts have a good sense of smell and are just as happy attacking invisible party members as visible ones.  This is a tougher battle as there are many of these creatures but once again we emerge without any loss of life to our party.  The next dinosaur to wander into our camp is treated more circumspectly and is allowed to pass by without any aggressive moves.  A short while later while most of the party are sleeping a stick insect figure causes our Paladin to relax and tries to get the Gnome to do the same but he is made of sterner stuff even when attacked by the creature, a dialogue is started and we learn that these creatures hunt the dinosaurs but prefer the soft skins taste (us), also other people have come this way and caused much harm to these creatures.  We agree not to attack them and are advised by this being that travelling by the river in the center of the valley will give us protection, as creatures all use this area to drink and is considered safe.
We move on down to the river and witness several dinosaurs drinking there, we make our way up to the head of the valley with no more encounters, apart from some easily vanquished flying dinosaurs.
As we reach the upper end we come across a huge lake fed from a waterfall, remembering the advice that the Gnome temple is underground we start to look for an entrance into the cliff face, we spy an opening and move towards it.  As we approach a number of missiles are fired at us from the darkness of the cave mouth, we charge in and best the men there in hand to hand combat except for one who affects an escape.
Not knowing the cave layout we cautiously advance inwards and it isn’t long before we are set upon by ogres, the most notable thing about this combat is our paladin receiving a nasty stomach wound from a spear and Taran being too flamboyant in his swordplay and nearly cutting his own head off.  With the spear removed and an ear bandaged we continue on, with Krachtig scouting ahead, he soon reports back that more ogres await us in a large cavern.  With some care we advance on these creatures giving them no chance to ambush us, they are soon dispatched and more arrive from another part of the cavern together with a lightning hurling shaman, we put down another half dozen of these monsters before they draw back and start pointing at our gnome.  Through Barrigans translation we find that the gnomes here are held in a certain amount of awe and we find that other people have gone before us (with a holy gnome) maybe about 10 days since.
We decide to press on….