The Monestary of Sepinus

Iceday the 21st of Polvius, 2044

Wanda spends the day studying the Spiderclimb scroll she found into her spellbook.

The party sell most of their loot and buy several sets of masterwork weapons and armour. Thorhall heads to the library to copy some maps and for whatever reason the party tag along. A man enters the library and speaks with Seleen at the front desk. He asks to speak with Frathon the head librarian. She fetches him from upstairs and the two men enter Frathon's private study to discuss something. The party is curious. Uther asks Seleen to help him find a book on some obscure religious topic and Milo sneaks quietly into the room. He overhears the conversation but is confused. The two men are discussing a rather obscure inventory list. Bat guano, cats fur, statuettes, something about a Sphere of somethingorother. The two men conclude and leave. Milo hides and avoids detection as Frathon heads back to his room upstairs and the other man steps out onto the street. Tundill asks about local flora and fauna, Seleen is once more distracted, and Milo emerges from the back room. By the time anyone gets onto the street the second man had disappeared into the crowd. That leaves only one lead.

They return to Wanda and tell her of the conversation. She recognises some of the words mentioned as spell components. How interesting...

Godsday the 22nd of Polvius, 2044

Having grasped the mindbending complexity of the spiderclimb spell Wanda spends the day scribing it into her spellbook.

The rest of the party hit the taverns in search of rumors of great quests, mercenary work, and other sources of XP.(I realised at this point I need to prepare some sort of a list of plot hooks, because I came up with nothing that deviated from what I'd planned.) They learned that strange robed people had been visiting the public library at night, and and Milo spent a night awake to investigate.

Sure enough just as the clock strikes witching hour several robed figures appear from the darkness, knock on the library door and enter. Milo scales onto the roof and manages to unlatch a window on the top floor. He hears discussions coming from Frathon's study and sneaks down the staircase to hear better, but stumbles onto a particularly squeaky step. Milo freezes. The voices stop and the study door opens, casting a pale glow across the room. The shadow in the doorway peers into the darkness and spots Milo who bolts, leaving a Milo-shaped dust cloud hanging in the air for a moment. He hears a some strange incantation in the room below but doesn't stick around to find out what it is. He dives through the top story window, rolls elegantly across the roof, leaps, and faceplants into the street below. Ouch. The library door opens and someone steps out. Milo is already half way across town, running at top speed.

The party return to their rooms and conclude there is definitely a witch circle operating from the library. It's just a few blocks to the Knights Lonusso. Problem solved. Just as they stand to leave Wanda emerges from her room. 'Where are you going?' Oops.

Earthday the 23rd of Polvius, 2044

Wanda stands before the Belm public library. 'Ipsa scientia protestas est' is inscribed above the door in old Divine script. She passes under the inscription and enters. Wanda approaches Seleen at the front desk and asks to see Frathon. Seleen fetches him and they enter Frathon's private study.

After a certain amount of innuendos and beating around the bush Frathon tells Wanda 'to be very specific' in a tone that indicates he may be meaning business. Wanda gulps, and asks if he knows where to find arcane magic.

Frathon opens a drawer, removes a scroll case and places it before Wanda. 'A test.' Wanda fumbles the scrollcase open, unrolls the scroll, identifies it as the spell Dancing Lights and casts it. Little lights appear in the room and glow faintly. Frathon is convinced, and basically tells Wanda she's been initiated to the circle. He offers spellcasting supplies and resources, but makes one proviso: The secret spellcasting guild support only the philanthropic, beneficial uses and study of magic. Oh, and the guild has to remain a secret okay? On pain of death.

Airday the 24th of Polvius, 2044
Finally my homebrew material wanes and draws slowly to a close - for the moment. I have achieved my goal in bringing the party to 3rd level, so now it's time to do a *real* quest. Besides, Airday is the first workday of the week. Get to work you lazy ******s...

The party are standing idly in the cathedral when Weracy (they young priest who gets picked on a lot) arrives with Dalan, who is in tears. Dalan was delivering supplies to the Monestary of Sepinus when his daughter Karry disappeared. He hasn't found her. A young girl appears and Weracy turns a whiter shade of pale and rushes over to escort her out. Turns out it's his girlfriend who he can't marry because it'd interfere with his progression in the church. It's also why he gets picked on.

Weracy leaves and the party talk to Dalan. They go out to check the cart if Karry's hiding in it and find the fruit all full of maggots. Maggots in apples? Only one thing causes that. This cart's been inside an Ulcer.

'Holy Angenus! Someone's stolen the relic!' Cardinal Gleam makes an appearance and sure enough the holy relic, a diamond splinter from God's throne, has been stolen. Glean starts rounding up the usual suspects. Weracy's the only person not accounted for. It seems likely that Weracy also spotted the cart and stole the relic to try and deal with the ulcer at the Sepinus monestary.

Cardinal Gleam is concerned for Weracy's well being. If he ventures into an ulcer he could get stuck in Hell. If he makes it back the church will sadly have to burn him for violating the treaty with the monks of Sepinus. Just as it seems like Weracy's in for one hullova bad day, Gleam suggests that he might be able to cover for him and turn a blind eye to the party's investigation. 'nuf said. The party commandeer horses and ride like mad northwards.

Everyone the party meet says they saw Weracy. They take a four-to-five round break and slaughter some hobbos attacking an old fighter. Turns out he saw Weracy too.

They arrive at the Sepinus monestary. They see monks tending the orchard and spot Weracy's horse. Milo catches the tail end of Weracy sneaking in through a door. The monks spot the party and come over to shoo them away, only to find that they are unshooable. Then someone spots that the monks are all hobgoblins, and it's battle fever all round. Hobgoblins come out of the orchard. Hobgoblins come from the kitchen. Some even come in dribs and drabs from the far building. They all go to the same place, however: Back to hell.

GM's notes:

• Encounters Overcome:
  6 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 18 Hobgoblins (CR½: 2700XP) /5 = 540XP each
  To date, the party has killed 35 hobgoblins. Freakin' Hobbocidal maniacs.
  
  Milo, Uther and Wanda: 3127XP + 540XP = 3667XP (22% to level 4)
  Tungdill: 3177XP + 540XP = 3717XP (24% to level 4)
  Thorhal: 2140XP + 540XP + 50XP (initiative) = 2730XP (87% to level 3)
  
  
• I've prepared two side-quest documents. I'm completely finished with the Hobgoblin's Lair so I've made it public. There's a link to it on this page (under Links).
  
  
• A list was requested of all of the NPCs that we've interacted with. The reasons were genuine so I've acquiesced.
  - Cathon: The guy you first met on the donkey and saved from the hobgoblins.
  - Cardinal Glean: Cathon's superior.
  - Weracy: Young monk with the girlfriend.
  - Dalan: Young father who lost his daughter.
  - Karry: Dalan's daughter.
  - Seleen: Librarian who sits at the front desk.
  - Frathon: Head librarian (leader of magicians guild).
  - 1st Commander Krian: Guy from city watch that arrested you.
  - Keelan: Honest merchant that Sooty was trying to put out of business.
  - Elmond: Proprietor of 'Oyster Cartography'
  - Old Sol: Elmond's father, retired cartographer.
  - Helette Aldar: The woman you got the painting back for.