After taking the two orphans to meet with Freka, the clan heads to Arness via the feather spell. Soldiers look suspiciously at the party as they walk through the gates; Smoth immediately hides his scabbard. A mace-wielding soldier asks the group’s business in being there in a very rude fashion. Eventually, he lets the party pass and they head to the temple of Boccob.

Gregory the acolyte, welcomes them and Finn suggests that they buy a house in the area or do something to help. As Gregory leaves to get his boss, Jervais pops his head out and says, “I don’t imagine you’ve come to destroy this temple too….” Somehow, he had managed to survive the destruction of the temple of Heironius in Nent.

Promptly, Jervais apologizes for the passive aggressive remark, and muses about Arness. Jervais feels that Duke Harcourt should not be forgiven, and that there have been scuffles, uprisings, and refusals to conscript.

A priest called Merth enters and inquires about Finn’s initial proposal to buy a house. The group then decides to donate 250 gold to the temple, which almost brings the priest tears.

The Priest then says: “ After Count Taris was murdered, his wife stepped in. Shortly after, Kyle Devereaux appeared with a letter giving him full military authority over the forces of Arness. He essentially became judge, jury, and executioner, and started to conscripting people into his army. However, the captain of the guard, Corwin stood against him, at which point, Devereaux stripped him off his power and sent him to the mines.”

The party, upon hearing this, decided to set out for the iron mines to recover Corwin. Several barges with iron ore are seen being sent down the river. Four well-armed guards are strolling about and barking orders. A big chain is near the exit and is surrounded by dire wolves. Finn sends Freddy(his snake) in to the woods to wait. As the party surrounds the camp and begins approaching, they are spotted, and a soldier barks out, “Crap! One of them escaped!” Apparently, they had been mistaken for fleeing miners.

Smoth moves forward and fires at a guard with a crossbow. Shun misses as both his arrows fly off into the distance. Finn summons a dire bear who attacks the dire wolves. Meanwhile, two guards are caught in a flame strike blast. One of the guards staggers back, reads from a scroll, and disappears through a dimension door. Keldon runs and hits a dire wolf with a searing light spell. Freddy then constricts a dire wolf, while the bear claws the other wolf to death. Finn (in dire cheetah form) then pounces onto a dire wolf, just as one of the soldiers shapeshifts and reveals himself to be a lycanthrope.

The wolf that Finn grabbed on to, attempts to bite him, but misses. Smoth tosses the scorching ray at the werewolf, as the caster summons tentacles out of the floor. The werewolf fails at his attack attempt and the dire Bear immediately cuts into him. Keldon’s spiritual rapier stabs the soldier, and Smoth finally destroys the werewolf with his scorching ray. Shun then drops his bow and smashes into a soldier’s head with his halberd and Keldon’s spiritual weapon finishes the job.

Experience

Defeated werewolf mine guards and dire wolves – CR 9.5

9	3350
10	2500
11	1925

Donated money to build a house for orphans – story award – 300xp each

xp/person:

9	1137
10	925
11	781

Had idea to donate money – story award – 150xp for Findail