A summary of what happened during the game sessions:

August 31, 2001 - Session 14

Ezhno searched for tracks while healing was passed around. He didn't have to go far before he noticed something odd. Human-sized footprints, right nearby, practically next to, where the bugbear leader-type had been. And no one had noticed any humans with the group at all.

When Ezhno pointed out the tracks to the others, Jon, who had taken charge, decided to let the group search the bodies of the bugbears, hopefully for further clues.

The "grunt" bugbears only had a little coin on them, and a few gems. But the others had items, coin, and gems that were most peculiar. The ones that radiated magic were a silver raven statue and two potions. There were also two other potions that were not magical and labelled antitoxin. Not wanting to trust the bugbears, Margaret was asked to, and identified, the items as antitoxin. The gems found varied from rare stones (a star sapphire and a fire opal) to the more mundane (hematite and freshwater pearls).

Then, with no further delay, the party headed toward the settlement. They decided to approach from further south, along the river, to get a better look at the settlement and just to approach from another direction than the one expected. Nothing bothered them as the moved forward, and no one appeared to have spotted them. The group began to move more stealthily, with those who had instinctively drawn bows for protection held further back from the rest of the group (on Jon's order), to provide cover.

They approached the first building, which has been all closed up, and nothing accosted them. While planning the move to the next building, Sana opened the shutters (locked from the inside, so she used a blade to open the lock), and after tossing a lighted stone inside, saw it was filled with foodstuffs.

They moved to the next building, slowly approaching the burned-out remnants of the firebombed (or would that be fireballed?) structure, which had totally collapsed. The next building was also shuttered and locked, and Jack this time opened the lock and Sana again tossed in a lit stone. This building had all manner of farming and herding equipment and tools. It also held the very few weapons of the settlement's people, a battered sword and a few scythes.

With no sign of Hildegaarde as of yet, the burned-out building was next, and amongst the rubble there was a hole in the ground that had obviously been cleared out It was about 5 feet wide and 10 feet long. Not long enough for Ezhno to get into without some more excavation. There were crude stairs going down. Winter entered first, and noted that it must have at one time been an attempt by the people who had lived here to make a root cellar, but being too close to the river, the ground was too damp and it was abandoned. Winter also discovered a hole at the far corner of the unfinished cellar, and went over to investigate. Sana placed herself at the foot of the stairs, and Jon was at the top of the stairs. The opening went down about 30 feet into darkness, and then opened out. Winter was able to tell this from his darkvision, there was no source of light save what came in from outside.

The group decided that they would all proceed down into the cellar and then through the hole, but it posed a difficulty in getting Ezhno down into the cellar. Jack went and retrieved some shovels from the boarded up house with the faming equipment, and the group began digging to enlarge the stair area to fit the centaur.

While they were working on the whole, Jon asked Ezhno to scout out the area, looking for tracks, but he found nothing new, just the bugbear tracks from earlier in the day.

In short order, the hole was widened enough to allow Ezhno entrance. The group proceeded into the cellar and then further into the passage, after everyone was given a lighted object by Sana so they could see. The dug-out passage, for that is what it appeared to be, ended into a room that was square, perhaps 20 feet by 20 feet, with the entry passage dumping the group out mid-way up one of the walls. A corridor continued north, and after everyone had entered, the proceeded to the corridor.

Straight ahead, the corridor ended in a T shape, with passages east and west, and a window directly in front of them. Yes, a window, which looked out onto stone. The stone ended about an inch away from the window, so the view was nothing to write home about. It was also a picture window, not one designed to be opened at all. This being odd enough, Margaret cast a Detect Magic and was blinded for a moment by the amount of magic in the structure iself. Margaret and Sana, at the back of the group, also noted they were leaving no tracks, nor were there tracks from the bugbears. Sana headed back to the entry hole, and pulled some loose dirt in and dropped it on the floor. Within a few seconds after landing on the floor, the dirt vanished.

The group decided to head right, and was rewarded with a locked door. Jack checked it for traps, but found none, and proceeded to work on the lock. In no time, he discovered its secrets and the door was opened.

This room was obviously someone's study. The furniture was all in place and in immaculate condition, with a fireplace (with no fire) and another window that looked out onto stone. There were also floor to ceiling bookshelves, but they were empty. Jack searched the desk, and found a quill with some fresh ink still on it, but nothing else of interest, so the group proceeded on to the other door.

This lock was the same as the other, and Jack had it open in no time (after checking for traps, of course). This room was the most unusual (out of all the strangeness)...it had floor to ceiling windows on one side, with a porch beyond them. And beyond that, the stone of the mountain.

While the others checked out the living room (for from its furniture that is what it appeared to be), Jack wandered out onto the porch. The stone was cut perfectly smooth, just a tiny bit beyond the porch's railing. It curved up over the roof of the house, enclosing it in a stone cocoon. While looking strange wonder, Jack heard the sound of pebbles falling, and an eagle climbed awkwardly down through the small gaps above the house.

It landed, and a moment later shimmered and shifted into Hildegaarde, who greeted the group. She explained that she had stayed to watch, and followed the bugbears in, staying hidden. The stone, she informed them, was not pleased that the house was here, and wanted to be rid of it. And she did not find any other entrance or exit from the house above, where she had been.

The group continued on through the only other door from the room, this time finding themselves in the front hallway. A grand staircase decended into the further depths of the stone, while the corridor continued ahead with another door on the right, and a set of double-doors on the left that looked like the entrance doors. They were quickly opened and proved to be correct, with the small stone porch being surrounded by the stone of the mountain, where once had been the front lawn, no doubt.

The other door was tried next, and this lead to a kitchen/dining-area. The only things of note were the sink and its spigot, the latter from which water burbled continuously; the aroma of fresh-baked bread from the empty cabinets (leading them to think the bugbears had unfortunately gotten there before them); and a small (perhaps 2 feet high) cube that when opened, chill air poured out.

The proceeded down the stairs, and found a balcony in reverse. This house was odd enough, but to an onlooker, these stairs should have gone up instead of down. But down they did go, and around the perimeter of the balcony were doors. Two on each end and one on each side. Winter heard some movement in one of the dark corners and headed toward it, while on the near side, Jack saw the door close on one of the side doors, and began to move toward that, Sana and Jon with him, while Margaret, Ezhno, Rylan were with or near Winter.

No quote of the evening was recorded.