Noah's Game: February 21st

Featuring

• Tanya as Lulabelle, a half-elven sorceress with an owl, and she's not afraid to use it.
• John as Kikow !!(pronounced 'click-click'), a gnomish barbarian. Long on passion, short on range.
• Jake as Böbō, the dwarven barbarian and only returning character. Might berserk from afar.
• Emmy as Droso, a (male) gnome cleric. Rides a dog well.
• Triften as Hands, a human rogue. Occasionally has the feeling that others in the party are out to get him.
• Sean as Vindo, a half-orc monk. Enjoys insulting Kikow in Orcish.

Also With

• Lt. Horowitz, the Unfortunates dispatcher. He's got a no-nonsense haircut. Whatever that means.
• Bella, Lulabelle's trusted familiar. Quite fond of mice, rats, and other vermin.
• Charles Van der Schmidt and Iggy Rodriguez, a pair of Monstrous Scorpions on the run, and with nothing left to lose. Or so they thought.

Summary
Pregame: The party were all recruited into the Unfortunates, and arrived in the city less than a week ago, except for Böbō. The date is Grunfast, Grune 16th, Year of the Evil, Evil Monkey.

Horowitz summons the party to tell them that bounty season has begun. Starting today, there is a two thousand gold bounty on scorpion tails (of 6 feet or longer). The bounty is offered regularly by the Alchemists guild, presumably for ingredients. Horowitz doesn't have a posting for the party, but advises them to take advantage of the bounty while it lasts. Bounty season also marks the end of the trial period for all new Unfortunates, meaning that combat rates will be going up, but that the party will no longer be getting special rates on healing from Rothgab's temples.

The party decides to go after some bounty cash, and heads for the Unfortunates' gate. There is a cluster of merchants by the gate. Vindo buys a long pole from one of them.

The party exits the city through the Unfortunates' gate into the desert, Böbō upon his pony, Kikow upon his attack pig, and Droso on his riding dog. There are tracks of other hunters heading in various directions, the majority going south. The party heads south as well. After a little while, Lulabelle sends Bella ahead to scout for scorpions. Bella leads the party south-southwest, where they come upon a pair of monstrous scorpions sunning themselves on a rock.

Kikow leads the charge, jumping off his pig, and running full pell down the dune. Vindo and Hands follow behind, but hold their distance. Lula, Böbō, and Droso set up a position on top of the dune, and

Böbō shoots Hands in the back by accident. The scorpions jump off the rock. One attacks Kikow, but is unable to hit him. Lulabelle shoots a succession of magic missles into the scorpions, weakening them severely, and Droso casts "Heat Metal" on Böbō's arrows to increase their potency. The other scorpion overwhelms Vindo while Hands flanks the first and attacks it.

Böbō continues shooting into the melee, while Droso rides her dog down to the fight, and does a ride-by healing on Vindo, bringing him back to the brink of consciousness. Kikow, in his beserker rage, misses the scorpion at first, and attacks Hands. Hands pulls back. The party manages to kill the scorpions, and Droso finishes reviving Vindo.

The party chops off the scorpions' tails and other bits, and drags them back to Rothgab, where they collect their bounty of four thousand gold, which they split evenly. Vindo and Hands buy healing from Droso at half the market rate, and the party disperses.

Noah's Game: January 24th

Featuring

* John as Rathnor, a half-orc paladin. Grumbles a lot.
* Tanya as Gadfly, a (male) human wizard. Fashionable, yet assumes all creatures have golden hearts.
* Triften as Arden, a human paladin of law. Only one who has no way of seeing in the dark.
* Jake as Böbō, a dwarven barbarian. Takes care of his pony.

Also With

* Lt. Horowitz, the as-yet undescribed Unfortunates dispatcher. Thoroughly bored.
* Mak-Tak, aka Mak. A kobold trader from Rothgab. A little bossy and callous, with a weird scratchy voice.
* Chief Biren, a kobold chieften. Has a history with Mak.

Summary

Pregame: The party were all recruited into the Unfortunates, and arrived in the city less than a week ago. The date is Throgsday, Grune 14th, Year of the Evil, Evil Monkey.

The party is summoned to see Lt. Horowitz. He tells them they'll be escorting Mak. They meet Mak, and head out of the city, exiting into a mountainous area. The gate vanishes behind them into rock. They escort Mak (& his 20 or so ponies) down to the valley floor, where Mak points out the entrance to the mine they'll be going into. He leads them away from the entrance, saying it's not safe, and into the mines through a crack in the mountain a little ways away. He blindfolds his ponies first, so they don't panic. Böbō is forced to leave his pony outside.

Once inside, everyone can see fine, except for Arden, who can't see anything. Gadfly uses his familiar, a bat, to see for him. At one point, they are attacked by a dire bat, which the party quickly kills. One of the ponies is injured, but is able to continue.

Eventually, Mak leads them to the more developed part of the mine, where there are chambers. He yells at a door in Draconic (which only Gadfly understands, of the PCs), and argues for a while with a voice on the other side. After ~15 minutes, the party is let in, and escorts Mak & his ponies through a crowd of ~50 kobolds to a large chamber, where Chief Biren is waiting for them.

Biren and Mak bicker about the price of the coal Mak has come to buy, and the crowd clears out. After they agree on a price, the chief and his guard clear out, and the party is left alone in the room with the coal and the ponies. Arden helps Mak (actually, Arden does all the work) load the ponies panniers with coal, while the rest of the party waits for the chief's betrayal. Mak tells them that the chief tries to kill him every year. Suddenly, Böbō and Gadfly hear something moving near the sacks, and rush to attack it. It's a grick, which the two of them quickly finish off. The rest of the coal is quickly loaded and the party heads out. After a few rooms, they hear cries of sorrow behind them, presumably for the grick.

The kobolds are nowhere to be found, but the passage that the party took in has been blocked. Mak leads the party out through the front entrance to the mine, where Rathnor is ambushed by an ogre. The ogre manages to knock Arden out, and shrugs off Gadfly's attempts to beat it with his staff. Rathnor manages to kill it, and then revives Arden. The ogre seemed to have nothing of value, so Böbō retrieves his pony, and the party escorts Mak back up to the hidden gate and into the city. Mak parts ways with them, and does not tip. Horowitz gives them each a 1gp bonus for combat duty. Arden goes to a temple for healing.