Rana's POV

[Panthro82]

Ok so I had to take some time to cool off after that mishap last week and I got punished for having a potty mouth also(Post got deleted and I am being watched closely by the Nerd Brigade). Here is Rana's POV. I guess I'll start from the beginning since we have a newb.

I am a Sunder Elf, or Ranarim. Raised in a very secluded area(had virtually no interraction with humans or other races the majority of my life up until recently). I left my village in search of Knowledge and curiosity of the outside world. I spent a small time living in Summervale studying with the Galan. At a young age I was given the choice by my parents to pick what I would like to focus my studies in. I chose to become a Monk. In my time in the Summervale, its beauty reminded me of my mother(she was a cleric), so I spent most of my time there studying the ways of the Adept. I recently ventured out of the Summervale, but have vowed in my heart that I will call the Summervale, amongst the Galan, my home one day when adventure and curiosity is no longer in my heart.

After meeting Eli, we became friends, and I have stayed with him and the other party members at his estate with his family. Recently, his mother abruptly dissapeared while we were off adventuring. We learned through various people(including a very nice old lady that lives next door), that his mother had wondered off at dusk one night. We encountered a zombie on the way home, (which was easily dispatched). Then we went back to the manor. I suggested we search the house for clues that might give us more information on the whole situation. We found evil relics and learned that an evil ritual was performed in the manor. Eli then vowed to smite those who did this to his mother and urged us to press on to find her. I convinced him that we would find her quicker, and be better prepared if we seeked out a priestess with knowledge on what we were up against. So we set out to meet with her.

On our way we came across a town as dusk was approaching and decided to find a place to rest for the night. We heard of happenings in the Mausoleum behind the church. The priest told us of Gasts and zombies infesting the area. We went in and dispatched of all the creatures inside, including a mummy that told us they had a deal with the Sheriff. They were paying him to supply them with food(villagers). The next day, while searching for clues in the now empty Mausoleum we ran into the Sheriff, who admitted everything and also threatened our lives. At the beginning of combat I had a brilliant strategy and it worked. I hit him with stunning fists sucessfully and tied him up with rope. Although as if god himself thought that was too easy, he granted the Sheriff super human strength to break free. We eventually subdued him though and he now is behind the bars he used to reside over, awaiting his trial.

[Manimal6]

Maybe after reconsideration god himself thinks he should have let you do that. At the time he thought it would be better to fight him instead.

[Panthro82]

Lol I completely understand where you were coming from though. you put in alot of time on that and when I pulled off that Macguyver move I could see shock written all over your face like you were thinking, "no way he just pulled that off so quick and easy"

[Panthro82]

The group decided that we didnt want to sit around and wait for the trial of the town sheriff, so we all wrote our own accounts of the situation leading up to his encarceration and left them with the town priest. We were travelling towards Elder Daven to see the priestess. The road we were travelling was scarcely used and was ominously quiet and devoid of life.

Brialla(Theif) and Ely(Paladin) noticed horse tracks leading off the road and slightly to the right. At that point Brialla and Yagerhoffen(sp? ranger) decided to investigate the tracks as the rest of the group waited on the road. Shortly after the rest of the group and myself heard our ranger yelling out and we all ran towards his voice to see what the commotion was. I had a feeling it was something we were going to have to fight and I decided to sneak in to the area. As I moved in I noticed a massive Ogre with the party members around it. I snuck right up to him and got in a good hit. He retaliated against Yager shortly after that by spinning around and slamming down into his shoulder with his battleaxe. Yager dropped down and nearly died. After a short while we disposed of the ogre and Willhelm(Cleric) and I both casted healing spells on Yager to help him back up to his feet. We collected everything off the ogre, took his pack horse, and headed towards Elder Daven.

After a few hours we came to the outer walls of Elder Daven as the sun was beginning to set. As we walked in the gates were closed behind us and locked for the night. As we walked through the town, heading towards The inner city walls we noticed alot of strange things. Creatures lurking in the shadows. Shadows of creatures on the roofs that we couldnt see. Then as we turned a corner that left us only 50 or so feet from the inner gates, we stood face to face with a huge, yellow-skinned ogre. He said the toll for passage was money or blood. Before I had a chance to convince him to let us go without either thing happening, an orc and a human attacked Willhelm(Cleric) and Walter(Sorceror) from behind. As this happened the ogre crushed into Ely with his weapon, sending Ely flinging off of his warhorse and straight into a wall nearby. Walter reacted quickly by taking out his dagger and plunging it into the orcs stomach. The orc dropped to the ground, apparently unconscious. At the sight of this both the human and the ogre mysteriously ran away in opposite directions.

Shortly afterwards, I noticed out of the corner of my eye as I was watching the ogre flee, total blackness along the wall where Ely had been laying. I then saw Ely's weapon start to glow as he got to his feet. He was surrounded by this very strange blackness when all of a sudden a creature swooped down with leathery wings and a very odd appearance. It stabbed Ely in the back of the leg and then again in the neck shortly afterward. It flew away as a group of guards came towards us. Ely was nearly dead. One of the guards along with Wilhelm, helped to heal Ely enough to get him to shelter within the inner walls of Elder Daven. The guards told us that the ogre, human, orc, and winged creature were all part of a group of thieves that were also assassins for hire. They said that the assassins wouldnt be out at this time unless they were contracted to kill one of us. It seemed obvious they were trying to murder Ely.

As the inner gates to Elder Daven closed behind us we followed the guards into a building. Inside was a man named Chobry who appeared to be the commanding officer. Chobry mentioned that Ely's guards were in Elder Daven recently and had stayed with Chobry and his men. For some reason this struck me as very odd. A part of me had this strange feeling that the head of Ely's guard might be partly responsible for the assassins, as I was already very suspicious of him when he spoke to us about Ely's mom disappearing a while back. After an exchange between Ely and Chobry we were all shown to our respective rooms to sleep for the night. This concluded our session...

[DM_Running_Farland_3.5]

Funny dude, you is.

[Panthro82]

We were asked to follow this woman to see the Priestess. While waiting in the main area of the church we saw a group of worshipers come into the church. They interested me because they all walked a very particular way and the woman were on one side while the men were on another. After a while we were asked into a room in the back to speak with the priestess. She took the relics from us and told us that the church of Gruulsh was rounding up their numbers recently, which might explain Ely's mother disappearing. I still dont believe Ely's mother is anything more then a victim. Her mind under the controls of some evil being no less.

After a man came in and whispered a brief conversation to priestess Harnet, she left the room for a while leaving only us. I was caught up in memory of my mother in her church while they were whispering, so I didnt attempt to listen to what they were saying, but Brillara and Heinrich did listen and mentioned a struggle between Chobry(cho-bree) and some creatures. When the priestess returned she entered the room with Chobry. Chobry spoke of the king and after he talked for a while I felt slightly better about him. It seems he is a man of valor. He mentioned that the king was complacent and did not help those within the outer walls of Elder Daven. The two spoke of cleaning the streets up and asked our help in the matter. I decided to let Ely decide. I was suprised that he accepted, seeing as how it was not long ago that I fought him just to come here to gather information before we sought after whatever was responsible for his mother dissapearing. I did, however, think it was a good decision. Doing this would put us in good favor with Chobry and the Priestess, maybe encouraging them to go an extra mile in their aid to us on our mission.

After we prepared, we set out on our journey. Before we could exit the inner walls a suspicious man approched Ely and started talking to us. He lied to us by saying he had "heard" we were setting out on a travel. Later he admitted he had deduced it from our purchases in the supply outfit. He told us he was an adventurer/gun for hire and he would like to accompany us on our mission as he was not currently assigned to anything. This made me highly suspicious. A night removed from Ely's attempted murder and a stranger approaching us wanting to travel with us. Ely used magic to determine that Carol had no ill intentions and he agreed. I am going to watch him closely, however.

Not too far out of Elder Daven we encountered two goblins on the path. They were highly skilled monks. I attempted to hide, and made a great effort, but they still easily noticed me. I got in a few good hits, and we all fought hard and eventually overcame the adversaries.

We traveled all day and found no town. We decided that we would have to travel at night also, instead of resting as we couldn't rest at night knowing what lurks about in the night in these areas. I was actually happy to do this, as I hadn't had a really good workout in some time. Traveling with humans you tend to have to stop and rest alot. It wasn't long into the night that we encountered a ghast ahead of us. Being on point, I had the jump on it and swiftly disposed of it shortly after he mumbled some jibberish. Wilhelm traveled alongside me upfront. He is a great person. I told him about my mother. He mentioned his issues with some creatures(mainly ghasts) and I tried to help him realize that composure and strategy were key in fighting them. Although I do agree that they are horrendous things. They smell terrible.

Later on we encountered undead owlbears and a ghast. They were slightly off the path and I suggested we travel on, because the longer we stayed in one spot we would attract more and more creatures. I am not afraid of these things, but I hate the way they smell and I didn't want to waste my time on them. Ely could not leave without disposing of them though. The battle started with Walter being struck down by one of the bears. This enraged me as it seemed as if he was killed. I struck the bear with great force, nearly destroying him on my first attack. After The first owlbear was dispatched, Carol decided to join the fray and got in some impressive attacks. After we finished up we kept on our way. Shortly after we came to a field with a cabin in the middle of it.

When I looked back to the group after I took in the cabin, all of them except Brillara and Heinrich were fast asleep! Humans! Always sleeping and resting! Brillara moved in towards the cabin cautiously and tried to glimpse into it. Just then a creature materialized in front of her. It started to attack her. I quickly attempted to wake the humans, but they were out cold. I instructed my familiar to keep trying and I ran to help Brillara. My first attack I thought hit the creature, but it dematerialized, once it re-materialized I struck it hard. I had read about these creatures in books in the Summervale and knew it to be a vampire when I caught myself nearly attacking Brillara! It was attempting mind control. After a while of fighting I noticed Carol charging out of the corner of my eye. He was charging towards the vampire head on with his flaming rapier drawn. I took this cue to position myself behind it ready to strike with my kama. Carol made an exceptional attack, slicing into the vampire with incredible precision and accuracy. The creature burst into flames and let out a yell. At that exact moment I struck hard into its back and the two attacks combined completely destroyed the creature. Right after that Ely came charging towards us shouting, "BURN HIM!!!!" He must have still been half asleep and out of it...

Afterwards Ely, Brillara, and Henirich decided to venture into the cabin to see what was inside. Ely was truly sleepy as he busted through the door without taking caution. I had read somewhere in my studies that Vampires are prone to setting traps around their lair so that they wont be caught off guard while they are resting or regenerating. I decided to watch over the humans that were still asleep and stayed close to the cabin in case the three needed help. Shortly afterwards, they came back out with some interesting items in hand. I walked alongside them as the cabin burst into flames behind us. I quickly noticed two of the items as we sat in the field for what they were and was instantly amazed and curious. A door and a window came out of this robe and I knew of these items from books! We sat at the edge of the field, watching the cabin burn down as the sun slowly came up in the morning sky...