Wyld Times with Zinnia Ballana

[Daos]

Alright, here we go:

Meeting Norada - 25 XP
Finding letter to Bella - 25 XP
Defeating Large Scorpion - 8 XP
Defeating Osquip - 25 XP
Helping Varni find a tutor - 25 XP
Learning the truth of how the guild disbanded - 25 XP
Learning the haunted house is just magic - 25 XP
Defeating Nine-Finger John - 33 XP
Exposing Nine-Finger John as a thief - 50 XP
Finding the hidden magic sword - 125 XP

TOTAL:  366 XP

That puts her at 516 XP total, meaning she needs another 384 to reach level 3.

[Matt4]

Good job, Horizons!

[Daos]

Is it Thursday yet?  It is?  Well, here's Days 4 and 5!

Day 04 - It Looks Like a Dragon...
For the first time she she arrived in Northbank, Zinnia woke up fully refreshed that morning.  Varni did not toss and turn at all, so Zinnia slept soundly throughout the night.  She and Varni got breakfast downstairs, and the entire inn was buzzing about some strange animal sightings.  Apparently someone saw a tiger stalking around in Old Northbank.  Another person claimed to have seen a dragon of some kind in the hills to the north.  Curious, Zinnia actually spent time searching for any more rumors, something she hasn't done since Day 01.  She learned two more, before her rolls crapped out on her.  One rumor stated that there's a nutty old wizard living as a hermit up in the hills.  The other is that Vel Marka (the owner of the component shop) used to be the wizard's guildmaster.  Zinnia was intrigued by the first one, and assumed the second one was false (based on what Dar told her).

Gathering up Darrin, Aldair and even Varni this time, Zinnia decided to go visit the alchemist, Norada, who lived a couple of hours away.  She found Norada's house easily enough; it was a nice little cottage with two gardens (one herb, one vegetable).  Zinnia wanted to check on her because of rumors from Day 03 that she 'fought a ghost.'  Norada assured her that wasn't true, and invited the party in for lunch (and talk their ears off), but Zinnia politely declined.  She briefly considered buying some potions, but decided not to and took the party back to town.

Next, they headed up to Old Northbank to investigate this sighting of a tiger.  On a natural 20, she found the woman who first started the rumor, an old fishwife named Glenda.  Glenda explains she was coming home from the market late last night, and spotted a tiger stealthily leaping from rooftop to rooftop, heading north--out of town.  The party went in that direction to try and trace the tiger's path; but Zinnia rolled poorly and lost its trail.  Since they were in the area anyway, Zinnia decided to try and track down this dragon, too.  They spend several hours looking, but actually do manage to stumble upon it.  Thanks to some nice rolls, Zinnia realizes something is amiss about it.  It appears to be a small black dragon, but for some reason it was acting more like a mundane badger.  Zinnia deduced that someone had polymorphed it.  She didn't have the means to undo it, and felt the party wasn't strong enough to take it on, so she led the group back to town for some help.

It was evening by then, and Zinnia spoke to Kitta about it.  The mage offered her a scroll of Dispel Magic to try and change it back into a badger.  The party then headed back into the hills and had to spend a few more hours finding it again.  It was nightfall by that point.  Zinnia flubbed her roll, though, and the spell failed.  The dragon/badger attacked, but the party managed to put it down by the time it reached melee range.

Upon death, the dragon turned back into a badger, as Zinnia suspected.  But what she couldn't figure out was who had done this, and why.  With no real answers, the party headed back to town.  It was quite late, around 1 AM, so she had to wake up the innkeeper to let them in.  He wasn't terribly pleased by that.

Notes
No real improvisation this time; this is all stuff from the module.  The 'dragon' was fairly tame after I translated it; only CR 1.  It didn't have its breath weapon, or any spells or intelligence.  Just increased HP, attack, damage and some really good AC (17).  This made it really hard to hit, but Zinnia's Magic Missiles always hit.  She didn't get a wild surge on any of her spells this session.  Still, I'm surprised HorizonsDream didn't use her Inspiration to redo that scroll reading check.  But it all worked out in the end; nobody even took a hit.

Day 05 - The Hermit's Home
Zinnia woke up late that day, almost noon, because she went to bed so late and Varni was back to tossing and turning all night.  The pair got breakfast, and today the tavern was abuzz about Han.  Apparently he was acting weird, going around town yesterday asking everyone about life after death, immortality and the nature of the afterlife.

With great reluctance, Zinnia gathered up Darrin, Aldair and Varni again and headed over to Han's place.  Han seemed oddly sober, but far more introspective and philosophical than the last time she met him.  He invited them inside, and the place was a mess.  Han shoved some junk off the sofa so Varni and Zinnia could have a seat, while Darrin and Aldair opted to stand guard at the door instead.  Han's familiar, Shadow, kept a close eye on them all.

Han asked Zinnia the same questions he had asked others; about her thoughts on the afterlife, immortality, and so forth.  Zinnia isn't the philosophical type, so could only offer vague platitudes about the gods and the outer planes.  She asked Han why he was asking, and he gave a vague answer about having a vision about a world where he was immortal.  Sensing he was hiding something, she discretely sent Aldair to search his room (under the pretense of him looking for a bathroom).  Shadow followed the Swashbuckler up.

Probing him further, Zinnia got Han to admit that he was visited by a ghost two nights prior, who looked exactly like the old hermit who lived up in the hills.  The ghost offered him a deal; to help him build an army, and in return, he would grant Han immortality.  Han told the ghost he would think it over, but the ghost said he only had three days to decide.  Zinnia asked him more about this hermit.  Han didn't know much; he never even got his name.  But he would visit town now and again for supplies--or did, until he stopped showing up a few months ago.  Han reckoned that if that was his ghost, he must be dead now.  Intrigued, Zinnia told Han to seriously consider not taking the ghost's offer.  Upstairs, there was a ruckus, and Aldair returned, covered in cat scratches, looking annoyed.  Zinnia quickly bid Han farewell, and departed with her group.  Aldair admitted he didn't find anything, but the familiar didn't seem to like him poking around.  He got a peck on the cheek from Zinnia for his troubles, at least.

Zinnia led the group back to Vel Marka's place, and asked him if he knew anything about a hermit in the hills.  "Oh, you mean old Surrisk?" he asked.  Zinnia, excited to learn that Surrisk was the hermit, asked Vel for directions to his place.  It turns out it's quite far--about 18 miles to the north, deep in the hills.  It's a six hour trek on foot, but Zinnia was eager to make it.  But first, they stopped by the smithy and met Klandar the dwarf, and she bought some leather armor for Varni.  She also loaned the girl her crossbow, so she has something other than just her dagger to fight with.

The party arrived at the cave that evening, just as the sun is going down.  Zinnia noticed a large pile of dirt outside the cave entrance, hinting that someone had done quite a lot of excavating in the area (the first hint there were secret rooms in the cave).  The cave itself seemed normal enough.  It consisted of several chambers.  One was set up as a kitchen, but a black bear was dwelling inside of it.  Zinnia wisely decided to leave it alone, and the bear seemed content to leave the party alone as long as they stayed out of the kitchen.  Another chamber was set up as a crude bedroom, with hides on the ground for a bed.  The final chamber held a couple of hot springs; one was rather stinky, but the other was clear.

Zinnia checked the hallway carefully, and found a secret door.  It led to three chambers that were much nicer and far more artificial.  They were illuminated by rods that were enchanted with Continual Light.  One room was a bedroom, one was a library and one was a laboratory.

The bedroom was far nicer than the decoy one in the caves; it had a nice bed, some chests, and a desk.  Two of the chests held some nice clothes, including a pair of magic boots that Zinnia snagged.  The third chest was full of gross old hides; the clothes of a hermit.  Zinnia pieced together that Surrisk was living a double-life; pretending to be a hermit, with fake clothes and a fake bedroom to throw people off his scent.

She also read a letter on the desk, which went:  "Surrisk, my old friend.  Long have I waited to see you again.  Come to me in three days.  Kyristan, Guildmaster."

Within the library, Zinnia discovered a number of notes on necromancy, and a necromantic spell called Undead Familiar.  It was 5th level--above her ability for now--but the basic gist is it lets you turn a zombie or skeleton into a familiar.  Something that Zinnia found quite disturbing.  But she took the spell anyway.

The lab had a magic staff in it, which she took.  It also had a number of items that might be worth something to someone--an unenchanted wand, a pair of rubies, some fresh scroll paper and some expensive ink.  She took all of that, too.

With all that said and done, Zinnia pondered staying there for the night.  But there was some concern among the party that the bear may not stay in the kitchen...and even more concern Surrisk might return while they slept.  So the party set out, another six hours, and returned to town sometime around 2 AM.  They had to wake the innkeeper again, who mumbled something about raising his prices in annoyance if this keeps up.  They all then went up to their rooms.

Notes
The mystery deepens!  Unfortunately, I had not converted any of this dungeon at all yet, as I did not expect her to stumble upon it so soon.  Consequently, I didn't have the black bear statted up (fortunately, it didn't matter, because she didn't fight it), nor either of the magical items she found, but I can do that before next session if she pays to get them identified.

Also, I guess Continual Light doesn't exist anymore in 5E?  Well, for the sake of this game, let's pretend it does.

It's fun to play Han.  I've only got to use him twice so far this game, but I basically play him as Jeff Fischer from American Dad!

[Matt4]

Continual Light doesn't exist but Continual Flame does, maybe that could work as a substitute?

[GravityEmblem]

It wasn't until an IRL session about a week ago that I realized Magic Missile always hit. We had just been rolling every time, and thinking "Wow, this spell is not very good." Embarassing!

[Daos]

Aug 6, 2021 1:46:45 GMT -8 Matt4 said:

Continual Light doesn't exist but Continual Flame does, maybe that could work as a substitute?

Funny story, but that was what I was originally going to do.  But when I described the effect to Horizon and told her she sensed Evocation magic from the item, she became concerned it was going to explode or something.  So I just retconned it back to Continual Light, meaning it was Alteration magic.

Aug 6, 2021 6:05:05 GMT -8 GravityEmblem said:

It wasn't until an IRL session about a week ago that I realized Magic Missile always hit. We had just been rolling every time, and thinking "Wow, this spell is not very good." Embarassing!

I suppose to be fair, the 5E PHB doesn't explicitly spell it out.  It says "Each dart hits a creature of your choice that you can see within range."  One could read that to mean each dart hits automatically, but it would be easy to misunderstand and think you need to roll spell attacks instead.  Compare this to the 2E version, which reads, "Use of the magic missile spell creates up to five missiles of magical energy that dart forth from the wizard's fingertip and unerringly strike their target.  This includes enemy creatures in a melee."  That's far clearer; not only do they use the word 'unerringly' but add in that even if the creature is in melee, the missiles swerve around the other combatants to still hit them (in core 2E rules, firing into melee has a chance of accidentally hitting allies.)

Alright, time for XP:

Realizing the truth of the dragon - 25 XP
Defeating the badger/dragon - 50 XP
Learning the truth about Han's vision - 25 XP
Discovering the old hermit was actually Surrisk - 25 XP
Finding Surrisk's secret rooms - 25 XP
Leaving the bear alone - 25 XP

TOTAL:  175 XP

That puts Zinnia at 691 XP total, meaning she needs another 209 to reach level 3.  Don't forget to update your character sheet accordingly, HorizonsDream.

[Daos]

This was a fairly short session, due to the massive heat wave hitting the area.  We just didn't have the energy to play very long, so we only made it through Day 6.  No combat, but heavy on the investigation.

Day 06 - I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost
Zinnia woke up after a restless night of sleep (as Varni was tossing, turning and snoring again).  The common room was, once again, abuzz with gossip.  But this time, it was all about Norada the alchemist.  Apparently, someone went by her place yesterday (only a day after Zinnia visited her), and found the place a mess and Norada missing.  Rumors were running wild, everything from her being kidnapped to killed.  Zinnia also received a letter from the mayor, asking her to dinner to discuss something important that evening.

Gathering up her party (Darrin, Aldair and Varni), Zinnia decided to return to Norada's cottage.  On the way out of town, though, she spotted the priest, Normand, and the paladin, Lura.  Normand was whipping up a crowd in a frenzy, claiming to have seen a ghost himself and demanding the mayor do something about all of the madness of late.  Zinnia urged him to calm down and went to the temple to investigate, but came up with nothing.

It took two hours to reach Norada's place, but this time nobody greeted her at the door.  Stepping inside the living room, she found a jar of what appeared to be jelly beans (magical ones, at that).  She also saw a puddle of green liquid on the floor.  When she went to investigate, a green slime on the ceiling dropped toward her.  She just barely made her DEX save and jumped out of the way in time.

She searched the entire house and did not find Norada, or any footsteps leading away.  But she did find the following:

In her bedroom were some old personal letters from Kyristan; he was a terrible poet and had a flair for the melodramatic.

In the library there was evidence of a fire; or rather, it seemed like someone had discharged a minor fire spell.

There was evidence of a struggle in the kitchen; beakers holding ink had been knocked off the table and splattered on the floor.  She did find one intact ink vial, though.

Out in the garden, there was a trail through the cornstalks leading north and west; but the odd thing was, the trail was only half-way through the cornstalks.  As if someone had levitated through them, breaking them down half-way but not all the way to the ground.

Zinnia flubbed a few rolls and didn't find anything further, so the party headed back to town.  There was still time before dinner, so she did some shopping.  She sold some of the stuff she had collected, like the rubies, the paper, ink and blank spellbook.  She also had the jelly beans identified, which were a new item from this module:

Ooze, Slime, and Jelly Beans
When these beans are thrown against a solid surface, they change into one of the amorphous lifeforms often found in dungeons. A green bean transforms into green slime, yellow into a gelatinous cube, white into crystal ooze, gray into gray ooze, and orange into an ochre jelly.  The beans are generally carried in metal containers.  A character who falls with a bean in his pocket risks activating the bean (a Dex check is applicable). If a container holding a bean misses a saving throw vs. crushing blow or falling, the bean activates.

A PC who eats a bean will discover that these beans taste horrible. If the PC spits it out before swallowing, he suffers no ill effect. If the PC swallows a bean, he must roll a saving throw vs. poison for each bean swallowed. Success indicates he suffers the effects in parentheses below.  An ingested ooze, slime, and jelly bean causes a character to suffer flu-like symptoms for 2d4 (ld4) days as the bean activates, the resulting lifeform dies, and the body attempts to purge it. Symptoms include extreme nausea and vomiting, distended stomach, diarrhea, and body aches. Such a character could be transported in a wagon, but would not be strong enough to ride a horse. The character suffers a -4 (-2) penalty to all attack rolls and his Strength and Constitution scores are reduced by 3 (2) points for the duration of the illness.  Effects are cumulative with each bean swallowed, and if any attribute drops to 0, the character dies. A cure disease spell administered any time during the illness removes all effects.

The above is the original 2E version, I had to update it to 5E.  Anyway, Zinnia deduced that the green slime in Norada's house must have been created by one of these beans.

Zinnia also met Kendrick, the local jeweler, who claimed to have known her mother.  He said she did odd-jobs around town, including at one point working for him for one summer at keeping his books.  He never heard of her working for the mayor or at the brothel, though.

Zinnia bought a new dress and headed to the mayor's to have dinner with Oswald and his wife.  Oswald cut to the chase, asking for her help.  The town has no militia or town guard, because in the past, the Mage Guild always protected them.  Zinnia had developed something of a reputation lately of helping out, so he offered her any resources she needed to help investigate what was going on in town.  She agreed, but didn't ask for anything yet.  They shared information on what they each knew about this ghost, about Surrisk living in the hills as a hermit, and Norada's strange disappearance.

Zinnia concluded her only real lead was Han, whom she was reluctant to speak to, but didn't see another choice.  She decided she would see him tomorrow, but for now, she retired to bed for the night.

Notes
As I said, no combat in this one.  Only one spell cast, Detect Magic, and she didn't get a wild surge on it.  HorizonsDream could have used her Inspiration or her Tide of Chaos ability on some of those flubbed checks, but I think she forgot about those again.

The jelly beans are actually fairly potent; and kind of dangerous.  As I said to her, she doesn't have control over the oozes and slimes she can create, so she has to be careful with them.  They are also one-of-a-kind, so once they are gone, they are gone for good.  They only exist in this module, as far as I know.

Next week, things really hit the fan.  It should be cooler (I hope), so maybe we'll get more done then.

[GravityEmblem]

There's also a big heat wave out in Massachusetts. My sympathies are with you, Daos...

[Daos]

Well, on the bright side, all of the smoke in the air from forest fires has helped block some of the intense sunlight so...yay? 

[Daos]

Alright, time for XP:

Finding Kyristan's letters - 25 XP
Finding all the clues at Norada's house - 25 XP
Learning more about her mother from Kendrick - 25 XP
Agreeing to the mayor's request - 25 XP

TOTAL:  100 XP

That puts Zinnia at 791 XP total, meaning she needs another 109 to reach level 3.  Don't forget to update your character sheet accordingly, HorizonsDream .

[Daos]

We had a session tonight, and got through Days 7 and 8.  Lots of intense stuff; it really hit the fan.  And Zinnia may have leveled up.  But it's too late for me to sit here and type up the recap, so I'll do that tomorrow.  Just posting this here to remind me when I get off work.

[Daos]

Things really hit the fan this session, just like I promised!

Day 07 - That Escalated Quickly
Zinnia woke up on the morning of the seventh day, and she and Varni headed down to the common room for breakfast--but never actually got any.  This is because the entire room was filled with a fearful, mournful energy.  Asking around, Zinnia learned why--Han Malson was dead!  His body was found just outside the front door of his house.

Gathering up her party (Darrin, Aldair and Varni), Zinnia went straight to Han's place.  She found Dar examining the body.  There were no visible wounds, but there were some burn holes in Han's robes, in the chest area.  Zinnia speculated these were caused by Magic Missile.  Dar left quickly, citing he needed to consult his books, stoic as ever.  Zinnia decided to search Han's place for clues.  She attempted to detect magic, and for the first time got a wild surge.  Fortunately, it wasn't too bad; she just couldn't speak for a minute--pink bubbles would emerge from her mouth when she tried.

She found several magical items, all belongings of Han.  These included some of his spellbooks, a wand, a ring, a pouch and a gem.  There was no sign of struggle or breaking in.  The door was open, as if Han opened it himself and then died right there.

The party headed to Kitta's, and found her rather morose.  Zinnia asked Kitta to return with her to Han's place to identify the magical items she found there.  Specifically, the items that radiated Divination magic (the books, the wand and the gem), as she believed they might be useful in learning more about what happened.  Kitta agreed, and it turned out the books were spellbooks (Han was a Diviner, so most of his spells were Divination), the wand was a Wand of Magical Detection, and the gem was a Gem of Seeing.

Zinnia headed to Dar's place and asked him about the items.  Dar admitted that the wand and gem were probably his, from his old days at the Guild, and Han must have borrowed them at some point.  Zinnia asked if she could use them in her investigation, and he agreed she could take one.  So she retrieved the gem, figuring she could use it to prove her theory at this point--that were was no ghost, it was just an illusion.  She also asked Dar where the old Guild Tower was, believing that was where Kyristan and/or Surrisk were hiding out.  He told her that the tower was cloaked in an illusion, so that it was not visible unless you were 10 feet away from it.  The gem would help her find it, so he gave her basic directions.

Zinnia then went to the mayor's house.  A small crowd of protestors had formed there, demanding the mayor do something about this ghost who was now apparently murdering people.  Zinnia asked to investigate his house, since it once belonged to Kyristan, figuring there were still clues left over.  Oswald pointed out that was ten years ago, but gave his consent.  Using the gem, Zinnia searched the entire house and even the exterior, but found nothing illusionary, invisible or ethereal.

When she was leaving, Darrin pulled her aside.  He had overheard some of the protestors speaking, and a few seemed to think Zinnia was the culprit--after all, this whole ghost business started when she arrived in town.  Zinnia noticed a few of the protestors glaring at her, which seemed to confirm this.  Darrin warned her to be careful.

Zinnia headed for the guild tower, which was unlocked and unguarded, as the cloak was the only real defense.  The first room was sort of a grand hall with nothing really in.  There was a spiral staircase leading up to the next floor, and also some kind of human-sized chute that also went straight up.  And looking up inside it, it seemed to go to the top of the tower.  Zinnia wasn't sure what it's purpose was.

The second floor was an old meeting room, with nothing now but a few broken chairs.

The third floor was an old testing room.  A pair of fire beetles had nested in there, and attacked.  The party easily took care of them, with Varni stabbing one with her dagger and Aldair impaling the other with his rapier.

The fourth floor was an old research room.  She found a rat that nested in a spellbook and chased it off.  She managed to find a spell of Levitation still intact in the spellbook.  She also found a magical crucible of some kind under some rags.

The fifth floor was an old library, largely bare.  She did manage to find five intact books, though.  One was a basic beginner's spellbook, another contained all of the 1st level Evocation spells, a third was a history of the guild and a registry of its members, the fourth was a vegetarian cookbook, and the fifth one contained Elven poetry that had been translated into Swadian.  Zinnia took the first three books but left the other two behind.

The sixth room was an old storage room.  There was some graffiti carved on a table that read "Darwin was here (or was he?) Illusions forever!" and a single skeleton just sitting in one of the chairs.  Zinnia sensed necromantic magic coming from the skeleton, so shot it with her crossbow.  The skeleton jumped up and quickly bolted upstairs.  She took another shot at it, dropping it to 1 HP, but it still managed to escape.  Zinnia immediately recognized it was probably an undead familiar, like in that spellbook she found at Surrisk's cave, and deduced this meant that whoever was here now knew about the party's presence.

Upon reaching the seventh floor, the skeleton was nowhere to be found.  Furthermore, the stairs ended here.  Only the chute continued further up.  The walls were too smooth to climb.  Zinnia searched the room and found a magical ring on a table, which she took (later, she had it identified as a Ring of Thaumaturgy; she then realized this was the same ring Norada bragged about earlier) and a journal that gave instructions on how to brew magical potions and even included locations on where to procure ingredients.  She took that, too.

After some thought, Zinnia finally realized that the chute was meant for levitation.  This is how mages got up and down the tower normally.  She had the scroll she found, but it only worked on one person.  Darrin suggested she tie off a rope and toss it down, so the others can follow.  However, Zinnia failed her arcane check (even with Tide of Chaos, she failed again).  With no further recourse, she and the party had to turn back.  They descended the tower and returned to town for the night.

Notes
Poor Han.  RIP.

I was actually surprised Horizon went straight to the tower so quickly.  To be honest, I wasn't fully prepared for that.  What resides at the top is something I have not been able to stat out yet (it's proving quite difficult) and furthermore, I'm not sure she would be able to handle it at level 2.  Fortunately, her bad rolls prevented her from going any further.

The Ring of Thaumaturgy (or Ring of Cantrips in 2E) is a new item created just for this module.  It basically just lets you cast what was once called Cantrips (now called Thaumaturgy) at will.

Day 08 - Confrontation with the Ghost Prince
The following morning, Zinnia woke up again and headed down to the common room.  People were talking about Vel Marka, the owner of the components shop.  Apparently in the middle of the night, he closed up his shop and disappeared.  Some said the ghost had taken him like Norada, others said he had been killed like Han.  But at least one fellow swore he saw Vel heading up to Old Northbank this very morning.

Zinnia gathered up her party (after paying Darrin and Aldair for the first week of service--2 GP each--and renting her room out for another week) and went straight to Vel's shop.  It was all boarded up and seemingly abandoned.  She had Aldair break in, and found that the interior was largely empty, as most of the valuable stuff had been put in the back room.  She had Aldair break into that, too, because she is a PC and thus the laws do not apply to her.  Inside the back was most of the valuable merchandise, plus a chest filled with gold pieces (a few hundred, at least).

Locking everything back up, she then went to Old Northbank.  She paid a visit to Sanda and questioned her about where Vel might be, if he were hiding.  Sandra knew that Vel once ran a shop in Old Northbank, before he became successful and moved to the better part of town.  Following Sandra's directions, Zinnia found the place all boarded up, as well.  Aldair wasn't able to pick the lock, so she had Darrin tear off the boards on one of the windows, then broke it with her dagger.  She crawled inside, with the intention of opening the door from the other side.  But as soon as she was in, she got hit hard by three magic missiles (dropping her to 5 HP).  She called out that she was a friend, and Vel Marka stepped out of the shadows, apologetic.  "I thought you were the Ghost Prince!" he said.

Zinnia managed to get the whole story.  Last night, Vel was visited by a ghost who looked exactly like Surrisk, who called himself the Ghost Prince.  He told Vel to join him and become immortal, or refuse and die.  He had three days to decide.  Then the ghost vanished.  Vel, something of a cowardly man, panicked.  He locked everything up and fled to his old shop to hide out.  Zinnia came up with a plan--she would camp out at Vel's shop in three days, to ambush the ghost when he arrived.

She went back to the other side of town and visited Kitta, asking for her help.  Kitta agreed, but admitted that as an Enchanter, she wasn't terribly useful against undead.  Zinnia stated this wasn't a real ghost, but an illusion, but told Kitta to sit tight for now.  But she did ask Kitta to scribe her a Levitation scroll.  Kitta agreed, saying it would be ready by morning.  Zinnia then went to see Dar and ask for his help.  Dar looked rather disheveled, giving the impression he hadn't slept in some time.  She tried to persuade him to join her ambush, but Dar felt he had more important things to do than sit around for three days (she failed her Persuasion check).

Zinnia then went to the temple to ask Normand for help.  Normand was giving a sermon about the evils of the Ghost Prince and how the mages and the mayor needed to do something before another person died.  At this point, Zinnia remembered that Normand had been visited by the ghost three days ago, so the ghost was scheduled to arrive here tonight (although the ghost had not promised immortality like it did with Han or Vel, but rather told Normand to leave town or else).  She quickly amended her plan.  After the sermon, she asked Normand if she and her party could camp out in the temple tonight to wait for the ghost.  Normand wasn't sure.  Lura agreed to protect him, but he reminded her that a ghost cannot be harmed by mundane weapons, even by a paladin, so she could not protect him at all.  This reminds Zinnia of the magic long sword she found way back on Day Three.  She hands it over to Lura.

Lura is obviously surprised that Zinnia would do this, and is impressed by the sword's divine power.  Normand then agrees to Zinnia's plan.

The party sets up camp in the temple that night.  At some point, Zinnia nodded off in one of the pews.  She awoke suddenly, quite late, by Darrin.  (Aldair and Varni are both sound asleep, the former with his head on Zinnia's shoulder and the latter curled up in a pew like a cat).  A ghostly figure that looked exactly like Surrisk in the painting she saw at the mayor's place had just phased through the front door and was very slowly hovering toward Normand's bedroom (where he and Lura were waiting as bait).  Zinnia quickly woke up the others, then sent Darrin and Aldair to stop it.  They rushed over, weapons drawn.  Zinnia used the Gem of Seeing to inspect the ghost, and discovered it was not an illusion--it was a real ghost, after all!  The ghost passed right through Darrin and Aldair, and through the door into the bedroom.

Zinnia opened the door to find the ghost pausing before Normand and Lura, the latter with the magic sword drawn and at the ready, standing protectively in front of the old priest.  As a distraction, Zinnia shouted out that she was the daughter of Arabella Ballana.  The ghost turned its head to look over its shoulder, but it was unclear if it recognized that name or not.  At this point, Normand managed to turn it away and it vanished.

Normand was confident the ghost would not return tonight.  And as long as he remained in the temple, where his power was strongest, the ghost could not harm him.  Lura, however, was free to leave the temple as she wished.  So she swore her new sword to Zinnia's cause, agreeing to serve her for as long as her skills were needed.

Notes
The first appearance of the Ghost Prince!  Ha, Horizon couldn't help but roll her eyes at anyone so pretentious as to give themselves that name.  Speaking of Horizon's actions, she practically collapsed into her chair when the Ghost Prince was turned.  I think she was pretty tense during the confrontation.  I hope that means I'm doing a good job, if I'm evoking emotional responses.

Lura joins the party!  There are five recruitable NPCs in this module.  Darrin and Aldair are the easiest to recruit; you just have to pay them.  Varni is the third and next easiest--you just have to agree to teach her magic (or in this instance, get Kitta to do it).  Lura is the fourth one, and probably one of the hardest to recruit, because she hates mages.  You have to find the magic sword in the haunted house, then give it to her.

I statted Lura out as a Paladin of the Crown, and gave her the Mageslayer feat.  She's level 3.  She makes for a good tank, and is the only healer the group can obtain.  Ironically, she cannot turn undead, though.

I'll set up XP later.  I'm pretty sure Zinnia hit level 3, though.

[Matt4]

Woooh, things are getting interesting. The ghost is a real ghost after all O:

By the way Daos, I wanted to say that your writings are always easy to read and pretty engaging, bravo!

[Daos]

Thank you.  I guess all those years of writing stories in my youth are paying off.

[Daos]

Okay, time for XP:

Determining the cause of death of Han - 25 XP
Learning the location of the Guild Tower - 25 XP
Defeating fire beetles (x2) - 5 XP
Discovering the undead familiar - 25 XP
Tracking down Vel Marka - 25 XP
Confronting the Ghost Prince - 25 XP

TOTAL:  130 XP

That puts Zinnia at 921 XP total, which means Zinnia is now level 3.