The party decides that they need to solidify Etine Tarris’s power and find a location for the school.

Our story begins back in the jail cells in Arness castle. We decide to keep Harcourt under wraps so that mob justice does not take him out. They decide to disguise him as a wounded soldier, take him to Etine, try to convince her to let him come with him. The troops around the castle cheer on the group as they head to Etine, and thank them. When asked why they are there, Smoth hints they were hired by a ‘lost son’ of Arness.

Once we meet with Etine, we unveiled Harcourt. Harcourt renounced his rulership and his claim for the throne, saying that he was not worthy of that rank, but also that he no longer wanted it. He and Etine had a heartfelt but standoffish reunion. He gave her his armor and sword, and asked her for plain soldier’s garb, saying that he wanted to start over as a plain wandering swordsman. Smoth mentioned to Etine that he would like to ask that she let him come with them, in order to find Derrick Harkshire, saying that he worked for Smoth. She iced over at this, reminding him that Derrick was the one who killed her husband, but stated that she would not bar his way.

Once they were out of the castle, the group pondered how to move on their way, and what was coming next, now that Arness was back in the hands of its rightful rulers, or at least an accepted ruler. Smoth warned Harcourt that he would have to get used to them using magic, since they use it quite a bit, and that got into a discussion about whether the magic of wizards could actually be used for good, or whether it could only be used for destruction. So, Smoth decided to take his tree token to the old Harkshire manor, and use it to grow a tree there, which he told them could serve as a memorial to the loss of the Harkshire family, as well as the losses they inflicted. Harcourt grudgingly agreed that it was not destructive, but was a drop in the bucket in comparison. Smoth said that it was at least a start.

Shun and Harcourt also had discussions on how Harcourt could best atone for his actions, as Harcourt has respect for St. Cuthbert, and felt that he could relate. Shun warned him that Cuthbert judges people based on their actions instead of their words, and that he might be testing him from time to time.

Smoth also asked him about the brand he used on the wizards, and if he knew how it worked. He said that he knew it was related to the amulet his <dude> wore. They discussed possible ways to destroy it.

They traveled up to Cranford, said Hi to Asheurok and headed out to investigate the tower location for their school. The headed out to the stone tower, and found that there were several drow on guard there, as well as several signs of renovation there.

The landed on top of the tower, and heard conversation, but were unable to understand their speech. Smoth was very confused and intrigued by Drow renovating the tower, so he decided to spy on them a bit first. They headed a ways off from the tower, and Smoth cast comprehend languages and clairvoyance. He heard them talking about hating being above ground, and wanting to get on with the raiding. Some of them had come there from underground, but others had come from above ground. Apparently there was some kind of door to the underdark here, but it was originally sealed from the top. They also seemed to be looking for a ‘false prophet’.

Smoth whined about wanting to spy on them more, but everyone else wanted to take them out, and besides he didn’t have a good method of spying on them. So, they went back to Cranford to rest up, then came back on a mission. They snuck back up onto the roof and tried to come through the hatch on top, but it was locked, and Smoth was unable to disable the hinges, since the lock was not accessible from the roof. So, they used the silence wand to create a zone of silence, while Shun and Harcourt smashed through the door. They crept down into the storeroom below, and attempted to sneak up on whoever was in the next room. However, their presence was noticed by a drow, so they had to quickly bust their way into the room. They burst in on two male and one female drow, who were all sitting around a table reading books. They were taken almost completely by surprise as Smoth planted an arrow in one of them, Shun smashed another with a halberd, and Keldon blasted them with searing light.

quote of the night from Jordan – “Now I have the image of Panthro sucking off Drizz’t etched into my mind”.

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Experience

Killed some Drow – CR 9

10	2000
11	1650
12	1200

Good Roleplaying all around – Story Award 300xp each

Total / person

10	800
11	712
12	600