Lani joins us, and then teleports us without error to Soderfjord, from where we'll travel by foot to Vestland. I purchase a light warhorse, to speed up the travel.

The day passes uneventfully. We settle down for the evening, at which point we realise that the horse may end up slowing us down - after all, we don't need to rest. Safranna supplies us with a cow by way of food for the night.

We encounter a herdsman, leading, you guessed it, a herd of cows. He's a chirpy fellow, and says there's no danger he's aware of on the road ahead.

Not long after, we arrive in Backwater, a bustling centre of trade. We arrange a stay in an inn, but unfortunately, the inn keeper's son is getting married. We're compelled to join the pleasantries. There is much dancing, singing, and happiness. Lani sings on into the night. I'm propositioned by several young women, attractive ones at that, but I refuse their advances, and shortly thereafter retire to my room. Lani sings on well into the night, tirelessly. All in all, the party was far better than I thought it would be. After all, no stood up and shouted: "Undead, slay them all!" Mind you, their not having caught on probably helped.

Instead of crossing the river in Backwater using the bridge, we head downstream a ways, and choose to teleport to the other side. I have no intention of going near running water if I can help it. Shortly after, before we get to the road, we encounter a group of Elk, being hunted by some locals. We assist the hunters in taking down an Elk. Safranna, in the guise of a wolf, has a bit of a surreptitious feed in the process.

Later, we hunt an Elk for food, as it is not only Safranna who needs sustenance.

The remainder of the day's travel passes uneventfully.

We encounter a Skuld, one Grumblebelly. We relate some tales, and enquire of Jotans. He has heard of the mighty Jotans, but knows little more than we already knew, although he did relate that they are both quick to anger, and just as quick to make friends. Sounds like berserkers to me.

Later in the day we come across a standalone gate in the road, near a small stone tower - a tole gate. The tole is meagre, and we also give the fellow a tip.

We crossed the border today. The border consisted of two sets of towers, and two sets of gates, and, likewise, two sets of guards, who just happened to be playing cards with each other. We paid another tole, and tipped both sides a silver.

We meet a man on a wagon, who warns of unnatural wolves ahead on the road. Clearly in a rush, he wastes no time in rushing on.

That night, we hear the cries of the wolves he mentioned, and Safranna confirms their unnaturalness. Lani howls back, which causes a brief pause in the howling of the wolves.

We make preparations in defence.

In the early morning, we are attacked by large wolves, about six of them. We blast them to bits. They were winter wolves, a fairly unpleasant, intelligent breed of wolf, which this party has encountered in the past. Funnily enough they have some treasure, perhaps 80 gold worth. I'll cross that off as random expenses.

Similarly, Lani observes that the spell negative energy burst has the ability to heal our wounds.

An uneventful day. The number of travellers on the road has been steadily decreasing. No doubt we're entering more dangerous areas.

Today we met an adventuring group, entirely made up of young women. Aspiring Valkyries, as it were. Their most talkative member (and thus the default leader) is Thorsa, a chain-clad sword and bow-wielding warrior, who is a little loose-mouthed. Thorsa is accompanied by Catarina, or just Cat for short, who is similarly heavily armed and armoured. A third companion is a leather-clad Skuld named Gunhilde. Their final companion is a somewhat nervous mage, trained in Norvick, who names herself Thora, as does the Thora we know. In addition, they have a Pegasi mount, named Arrowwing, so named since Cat found it with an arrow in its wing, and nursed it back to health. The Pegasus has remained with her ever since.

After some chatting, we come to the conclusion they aren't really saying much about what their going to do, but that they have a fifth companion, who's not with them at this time, who does know the area, and would certainly know of the giants we seek (they themselves are unfamiliar with the area, and tend just to go hopping from place to place randomly).

It seems that travelling with them will be necessary, despite my misgivings on the subject. Lani and Safranna, however, suggest some very good lies: smome of us have no shadows since our souls has been stolen (and we seek the Jotan to assist us in this matter), and we require neither food nor water nor rest, since we all have rings of sustenance.

Safranna and I will take to "patrolling" the area of an evening, in order to find our true sustenance.

Hmm, I wonder if a ring of sustenance would work for the likes of us?

[At around this stage, we began IRC'ing, so Dave could make the occasional comment. I've edited the IRC log somewhat (to remove fluff, etc), and would like opinions on how it reads, thanks - I haven't removed all of Dave's random comments. You guys can tell me whether I should have or not, and I'll make changes accordingly next time. At the time, Dave was playing some RPG game. As a first attempt, it reads pretty immaturely. I'll try better next time. It has also taken a while to edit. For some reason, it seems more verbose than usual. Probably because I was trying to give Dave a fair amount of detail.]

<Tessarael> (Rodin studied at the college in Norvick)

<Grey> Their mage can cast 6th level spells.

<Grey> We agree to travel with them - at Safranna's suggestion, we'll just say we have rings of sustenance. <Tessarael> (and pretend to breath)
<Grey> With respect to our not having shadows - we'll just claim they've been "stolen" from us. Perhaps by the Jotan. Or perhaps we just believe the Jotan will help us get them back? Whichever. Probably the latter. <Grey> I'm not convinced we'll pull it off, but we'll just have to give it a go.

<Tessarael> (the Jotan being the giants - or the Great Giant clan in particular?)
<Grey> (Jotan being the Great Giant Clan specifically)

<Grey> Lani will mention the shadow thing to the person she shares a watch with (Thora), whilst the rest of us rest, so we don't get swamped by amny questions at the same time.

<Tessarael> (funky just got the dragon sword - better than the magic sword :)
<Grey> (we rest)

<Grey> During the night, Lani spins the shadow tale to Thora: She swallows the lie without a second thought, as do the rest upon hearing the tale in the morning. After all: a shadow is tied to the soul. Without the soul, no shadow. Bollocks really, IMHO, but hey.

<Tessarael> does Lani, being a lich, cast a shadow? <Lani> Yes

<Grey> The day passes uneventfully.

<Tessarael> vampires not having a shadow because they've lost their soul is almost believable :) <Grey> In the evening, we practice swordplay <Grey> Grey is better than them.
<Grey> Thorsa takes the practice very seriously. <Grey> Cat is pretty laid back, and Gunhilde is just having a bit of a whack.

<Grey> At this stage, the women inform us that we're heading to Vesa, the village where their companion is. We're expected to arrive tomorrow.
<Grey> Safranna and I have some rabbits by way of an evening snack. Safranna then butchers the rabbits, and brings them back for the women to eat.

<Grey> We arrive in Vesa. The locals are armed, which is highly unusual.
<Tessarael> (it's a town bordering wilderness, or is it unusual for Vesa itself?)
<Grey> There has been a murder. Someone let a wild animal in to kill a local. Mila. This is the adventurer we were expecting to meet.
<Grey> Apparently there's also been some strange stock disappearances. Mila was investigating, but unfortunately has been buried. The locals don't seem thrilled at the notion of raise deads and the like.
<Grey> Mila was the aspirant Valkyries' tracker.

<Grey> Everone has had cattle go missing. Apparently their tracks did go somewhere, since this was what Mila was following.
<Grey> We split up, to find out what we can. <Grey> Info: The locals do get raids by dogmen, who do occasionally ride big wolves. The disappearances have been split very evenly amongst the different farms. <Grey> Safranna finds some tracks, where the most recent cow disappeared.
<Tessarael> (sounds very intentional: minimize overall impact on the village - not just random, not targeting an individual)

<Grey> Some small footprints are identified by Safranna where the last cow disappeared.
<Grey> Safranna follows the tracks, and about 3 miles out of town finds a number of slaughtered cows. <Grey> They seem to have been killed by creatures, both large and small. Large parts of them have been eaten. <Grey> Safranna finds the tracks of a very large animal, which is accompanied by smaller animals. This big animal would be far bigger than Safranna, whatever it is. <Grey> Safranna finds the tracks of cats in a tree.

<Grey> Parhaps a weretiger?
* Tessarael nods, my thought exactly
* Tessarael thinks . o O ( this could be interesting )

<Tessarael> (Emerald Sword by Rhapsody - awesome heavy metal/classical band with roleplaying music) <Tessarael> For the king for the land for the mountains <Tessarael> For the green valleys where dragons fly <Tessarael> For the glory the power to win the black lord <Tessarael> I will search for the emerald sword <Tessarael> Only a warrior with a clear heart <Tessarael> Could have the honour to be kissed by the sun <Tessarael> Yes, I'm that warrior I followed my way <Tessarael> Led by the force of cosmic soul I can reach the sword
<Tessarael> One the way the glory I'll honour my sword <Tessarael> To serve right ideals and justice for all (sounds like Roland :)
* Tessarael grins
<Tessarael> (repeat chorus, rinse once, go and find sword) * Tessarael completes level 6 of Zelda, time to do a tax return perhaps

<Grey> We regroup at the cow slaughter location, and follow the cat tracks.
<Grey> After several miles, Safranna finds some humanoid tracks, humanoids who've tried to hide their tracks. * Tessarael hmmms, definitely sounds like lycanthropes <Grey> The humanoid tracks have met up with the cat tracks.

<Grey> We find a clearing, in the center of which is a tree stump.
<Grey> (not that high - not enough info to make a certain check on really)
<Grey> There are many small tracks here, possibly dogmen. <Grey> There're also many small bits and pieces lying around.
<Grey> Safranna observes that someone stood in the center of the clearing for quite a while.

<Grey> Lani and Grey examine the bits and pieces (ritual components).
* Tessarael thinks . o 0 ( danger Will Robinson - group spellcasters )

<Grey> It appears to be a sort of fiendish ritual, perhaps a summoning, or perhaps some sort of conversion. <Grey> The tracks are two days old.
<Grey> Actually, with the Thora of Norvick helping, we determine that the ritual appeared to be one of binding, rather than summoning.

<Grey> There are cat markings on the tree stump. <Grey> Safranna finds tracks that lead here, but no tracks leaving here.
<Grey> Detect magic revealed nothing, and the stump is natural.
<Grey> We search, but all we find is some humanoid pooh. <Grey> Safranna also found Mila's tracks a while ago (a larger humanoids tracks).

<Grey> Cat now mentions that Mila's throat was ripped out in a closed room. A room too small for that large creature Safranna tracked.

<Grey> We head back. Six farms have not been hit a second time. We post people at those farms at night, and wait for something interesting to happen.

<Grey> Thorsa asks us in into the alehouse, to tell us something.
<Grey> They were going to retrieve an item. It was Mila who knew all of this information. This may be connected. <Grey> She found the information in an old cabin in the wilderness.

<Grey> We arrange to watch the buildings. <Grey> We can split up into five groups. <Grey> Two of the groups will be of size one: Grey, and Safranna.

<Grey> In the middle of the night, one of the women spots a cow being led away. We converge.
<Grey> They are Kobolds.
<Grey> They seem to be heading towards the place where the other cows were taken.
<Grey> There's a small torch where the other cows were slaughtered.
<Grey> Lani keeps us updated, by flying overhead, invisible.

<Grey> The Kobolds arrive in the clearing. They let the cow go, and pull back.
<Grey> Something comes out of the forest, small animals. Some catlike, some badger-like, and various other forest animals.
<Grey> The cow brays nervously.
<Grey> The forest animals stop, and then all simultaneously dig in.
<Grey> The cow dies miserably.

<Tessarael> are any of the forest animals herbivores? or is it natural for all of them to eat meat? <Grey> Yes, some of the animals are squirrels. <Tessarael> bizarre behaviour

<Grey> It's then left, mostly uneaten.
<Grey> A big creature then comes out. Some kind of tiger. Perhaps 20 feet long, maybe bigger.
<Grey> Its eyes gleam unnaturally.
<Grey> It may be a dire tiger, although the gleaming eyes part seems abnormal, more fiendish.
<Grey> The Kobolds engage in worshipful behaviour of the tiger.

<Grey> Alas, the kobolds notice me, and hit me with an arrow (I flew up to have a look as well). All goes quiet. <Grey> They seem to have fled.
<Grey> Safranna starts tracking.

<Grey> Safranna finds the tiger tracks with ease, and we follow.
<Grey> The tiger seems to be getting away... But later it seems to have slowed down, and started to circle around. <Grey> We become wary of an attack from the side or back. <Grey> Thorsa steps into a trap, and is pulled up into a tree, and then shot by arrows. I get her down.

<Grey> The arrows are from a longbow. Not a kobold arrows. <Grey> We hear a gutteral growl from our left. <Grey> We start casting spells.

<Tessarael> your preparations are?
<Grey> (Rih casts shield on Grey, I cast tongues, and start trying to talk)
<Grey> (Vestland Thora casts shield, Lani summons an Avoral Guardinal)

<Grey> The Avoral Guardinal finds the tiger. It pursues it, at Lani's command.
<Grey> It dimension doors up to the tiger (which is about 100ft away, through the trees). We give chase. <Grey> The avoral guardinal enters combat.

<Tessarael> (tiger says hello lunch I expect) <Grey> (probably)
<Grey> The Avoral Guardinal disappears. We're left to trying to find the tiger normally again, since we were unable to catch up.
<Grey> Thora got hit by various arrows. <Grey> I summon another Avoral Guardinel to try and hunt the tiger.

<Grey> Unfortunately, in our random pursuit, Thora was paralysed by the arrows.

<Grey> My Avoral Guardinel runs out.
<Tessarael> was the tiger harmed by the last one? <Grey> (probably)
* Tessarael nods
<Grey> The rest go back. Lani remains, looking for trouble. I also remain, worrying about Lani. <Grey> A little over an hour later, Lani sees the big tiger walking past. She doesn't hear it, despite seeing it very close by.
<Grey> The big tiger creeps past Lani.
<Grey> Lani follows it.
<Grey> It stops, and slinks into the bushes. It hides well for such a large creature.
<Grey> Lani sees a medium size humanoid move over to where the tiger is.
<Grey> The tiger then moves off again.

<Grey> Lani casts polymorph other on the tiger, and then flies up.
<Grey> The tiger growls. We decide to head off, seeing nothing else to be gained this night.

<Grey> On the way back, I feed on a Pony Lani found for me. It staggers off unhealed, since Safranna wasn't around, but it should be fine.
<Grey> We get back late at night.
<Grey> The humans have gone back to sleep, leaving the dead to discuss the next days actions.
<Grey> Session ending!
<Grey> Seeya dave!
Session Close: Sun Apr 14 21:46:52 2002