A summary of what happened during the game sessions:

February 16, 2001 - Session 3

[Due to Anne's inability to make the session because of a car accident on the way to it, this entire session was improvised.]

Margaret said that she had to speak to Lentan's elders, and Jon insisted on accompanying her, not wanting her to be alone/unprotected, in a town that had been ready to kill her. However, Winter said he would accompany her, with the hope that his presence as a paladin of The High Lord's Right Arm might help convince the elders that she was, in fact, a priestess of The Lady.

After speaking with them, Margaret insisted on going to speak with the goblins, so Winter also accompanied her, to keep her safe.

While the two of them were about the business of clearing Margaret's good name, the others decided, at Sana's request/insistence, to try to track down Josiah or more hopefully, his body. With Ezhno leading the way, the group began to track him.

They saw when the spell he was using to speed up his retreat wore off, but even after a few hours they realized they were not making any headway. Josiah had too much of a headstart, and he was still heading toward the coast. As the group remembered that it had taken them more than a day to get to the coast, they decided it was best if they head back to the village.

The rest of the day passed with preparations for a party that evening. Instead of it being a celebration of Margaret's death, it was her life and the triumph over the real evil. Margaret and Winter had not yet returned, but the goblins were definitely not evident.

Ezhno found himself a target of attraction by a number of young boys, one of whom was prompted to go up and ask what manner of creature he was. Mishearing him, the boy called him a zhentaur, which Ezhno confirmed as being the proper name, mishearing the boy. From that point on, the boy and his friends began to pepper Ezhno with questions about the weapons on his back and where he was from, etc. It wasn't long before the boys, ranging in age from 9-13, were seen bristling with all manner of weapons, just like their zhentaur friend.

Jack found himself the target of attentions from a pretty young girl of about 16, with the name of Melanie. They spent a lot of time preparing for the big bonfire that the village was going to have on the center green, burning the former gallows and other wood.

Sana was asked by a young girl of about 6 years old if she was an angel. Sana played with her a bit, asking what prompted the girl to ask that, and when the girl pointed at her wings, she looked behind her, etc., up until the girl took hold of the tip of her wing and gave it a rather firm yank. When she confirmed that she was not a full angel, but her mother was, the girl giggled and ran away, satisfied.

Jon approached the village elders, Frederick Stonecutter, Colm O'Shane, and Freya Nilsdottir, and talked to them about what had happened. Frederick spoke for the three of them, and had little to tell them. Gartus had come to the village before Margaret, and had convinced them, with magics according to Margaret and confirmed by Jon, that Margaret was evil and needed to be destroyed. But he told them little about what was going on. He spent a lot of time in the jailhouse with Margaret, alone, but what they talked about was unknown to everyone. Gartus had left the village before the group arrived, but had left Josiah and Nerissa in charge. (woman's name) went off to speak to Josiah's mother, and the group learned that Josiah was from Lentan, though he had not been in residence when Sana was last through the village.

The group was also told that they had all the rooms at the inn available to them, though if they all wanted separate rooms, arrangements had been made with some of the locals to stay in their houses. Most of the group agreed to use the inn, if only to refresh themselves and store their stuff.

As Margaret and Winter still had not returned by the time the partying started, the group took part in the festivities. Sana joined the band and began to play, Jack danced with Melanie, Rylan took part in the dancing, Jon stayed near the food tables, and Ezhno, with his entourage, hung back well outside of the ring of people, near the edge of the firelight.

And of course, just when all seemed to be going so well, the sound of howling echoed through the village, causing some of the villagers to cover their ears, trying to stop the sound, but the group was unaffected. Which was good, as a group of four large dog-like beasts, with huge pointed spines on their back charged out of the dark and at the group.

The villagers began to flee in panic, but the creatures were uninterested in them, targeting instead the party. Two of them came at Sana, one came at Jack, and the fourth came at Rylan.

The creatures were quick, and attacked the trio before they could react. Sana fell first, while Rylan and Jack had a few bites taken out of them. Jon moved into attack, and Ezhno moved forward, the boys with him readying arrows and slings. Rylan let loose with a fireball that managed to singe some of them, but none were taken out. Jack fought them off with two daggers, as none of the group had their weapons handy.

After the one attack however, the creatures retreated down the street, howling all the while. Aid was given to Sana to keep her from dying by the means of a potion of healing. Rylan, with his low light vision, cast a web as the creatures fled down the dark street to try and trap the beasts as they retreated, and managed to catch two. Ezhno tried to burn the web, but his thrown firebrand fell short of the mark.

One of the boys with Ezhno went to Melanie and took her off Jack's hands, so he wouldn't have to spend time trying to protect her. She had hid behind him while the creatures attacked, and didn't flee.

Sana, having recovered enough to stand, began to sing an encouraging song, The Battle of Aidan's Charge.

Joey, the boy with the sling (he missed) swaggering next to Ezhno, asked if they should pursue them, but was met with no response.

Rylan ran to fetch his equipment from the inn, and all of a sudden the two creatures who had escaped were back, this time from down another side street. Jon and Jack quickly engaged them, and with a few scratches (Jack taking most of the attack), they defeated them. The two in the web were dealt with in short order, and before the bodies could be dealt with in any other manner, they disappeared.

Rylan knew enough of spellcraft to warn the group that this was not a spell lightly cast - it was quite difficult and required an experienced mage to cast. It also didn't have unlimited range or duration, meaning it was cast from somewhere close by.

As the group was in poor shape, and beginning to lick their wounds, Margaret and Winter showed back up, and healed everyone before even asking any questions. Jon attempted to chastise Ezhno for letting children become involved in the fight, but it did not appear to bother Ezhno in the least, and Jack realized he might have an ally in this new group.

Just as the questions were about to come out, the session ended.

Quote of the evening - "So, should we go after 'em?" 9-year old Joey to Ezhno.