Ok... Who is that bunny?

When the group gets back to the city... no one is there. The guards aren't there. The archers aren't there. The wizard isn't there. The Knight is still sorta there... you know... his burnt remains and all that... But he doesn't count. Point: the place is deserted.
And when they make their way to the man hole cover... it's open.
And when they get to the room with the dire crocodile... it's dead.
And the trap door thingy is open.

Charity, sensing something is wrong, takes off to find her sisters.
It takes a little while to catch up to her. She has found  the middle sister Hope. As it turns out, because of the death of the knight (a.k.a Sir Crispy) The guard did a more thorough search of the area to find weaknesses in the fortifications. It didn't take them long to backtrack the groups movements though the sewers and locate anyone who noticed them (hint: the inn keeper where the party was housing the girls.)

Hope was ambushed by guards while she was at work. She managed to get away... but when she made it back to the inn, she saw the guards dragging Grace out. She was still very sick and wasn't in complete control of her powers (reminder: she has the traits of a psionic. Meaning psychic. Meaning she can do pretty much anything anyone else can do... but with her mind.)

While trying to fight back she released a huge amount of psionic energy... but the stress was too much for her. She died while trying to get away.

Now the girls blame the group... if they had hurried they could have saved her. Or better yet, they could have left the girls alone and the guards never would have found their hiding place. Or better yet, maybe they shouldn't have LIT A KNIGHT ON FIRE! (I'm looking at you Vaylan and Gram)

The girls leave, hating the group.

That night, while making their way to an inn (they have to be sneaky since they are wanted fugitives now...) when Qila hears something behind them. They all turn, and out of the shadows emerges...

The Good King, Mr. Schnibles (He is supposed to be holding a whisk instead of a knife)

It's the small pink bunny that Grace was holding that first time they met... It only takes a few moments to realize that what everyone else had assumed was Grace trying to defend herself, was actually her transferring her consciousness from her weak, sick body, to a body she knew couldn't get hurt. And now she can go on adventures like she always wanted.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of the first quest "Chasing Charity".

Tune in next time when the party learns about the mysterious Zodiac scroll, and the incredible powers it can lead them to.

Ok... So where is this bird?

Where we left off the group they had made it past a LUDICROUSLY huge crocodile without being thrashed into bits. They now exit the sewer and are outside the wall! (Obviously a slightly concealed manhole cover, that had been overlooked during the defense of the city. Why? Cause I said so that's why!)

When they make it out the find them selves in a small field. Thy happened to pop out in a space between some bales of hay and the city wall (lucky, right?). After a quick examination of their surroundings they realize they are... Well surrounded. 10 archers on the walls above them, two more on platforms guarding the path that leads to the city. Farther ahead on one end of a bridge that leads to a forest is a wizard. 5 or 6 guards stand watch at the city gate and a lone knight was patrolling the grounds and barking orders.  

 And our group is breaking a lot of rules by being outside the walls. 

O_O 

Now the problem is how to get past everyone in order to get to the forest. They could set fire to the hay bales. They could create a silent image in order to distract the guards. There's lots of options. So the finale plan is this: create as much mayhem as humanly possible.

• Hay bales on fire? Check. 
• Silent image of invading army? Check.  
• Letting a bunch of horses go in order to run around like the mad killing machines they are? Double check. 
• The knight not believing it for one second? Check.

The problem is the knight was very vigilant... and so he was walking right toward the group where they were hiding behind the horse stalls. That's when Gram has the marvelous idea to put grease on the ground so the guy falls and they can run! Awesome! 

He doesn't even slip a little. Gram might as well have summoned "ground of makes you walk better like a boss". 

Well that's when the plan falls apart. Gram and Vaylan decide "What the heck. Let's just light this dude on fire."  

Pretty much every body's reaction when the knight was cooked alive in his armor

Yea. They light him on fire. Obviously the knight was caught a little off guard and thus was cooked like a tinfoil dinner. 

The group, capitalizing on the sudden bar-b-q, make a run for it. They end up knocking out the two archers on the watch tower AND the wizard watching the bridge (he wasn't ready). 

And thus the group makes it to the woods.   

Now they set to work trying to actually find the place where this giant freaking owl lives. They just start walking in the woods, hoping they stumble across something. Road map, knowledgeable woods hermit, sign post, divine intervention, anything really. 

First thing they find!! Dead deer. Fresh kill. Looks like wolves... that's sad. 

Next they find... well wolves. A whole pack of them! The team sets to work tearing them apart. The true hero of this battle, however, is Eddie. That's right. The dire rat stead. Kills at least 3 of the wolves. Yea. That rat owns. 

They finish off the wolves but... what is that sound? 

Forest Troll. Big, strong, stupid. 

Well, that would be a forest troll. 

This is a forest troll. Big, strong, stupid. One heard the group fighting the wolves and thought it should investigate. 

The problem is, there is NO WAY this group is taking on a fulling grown forest troll, and living to tell the tale. They are NOT Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They do not go to Hogwarts. In fact, only one of them can do magic. 

So they hide. Up a tree they go (Gram needs some help climbing and hiding.)

But they make it out OK. The big guy eventually loses interest and wanders off. The team gets out of the tree and runs the opposite direction. It's not long before they come across a GIANT panda. And I'm talking GIANT. Makes Vaylan in his bear form look tiny. 

So of course they go up to it to ask directions.

Vaylan (being basically half bear) walks up and is like "Yo! My peep. Sup?"
The panda, obviously having no previous affiliations with this company, just nods politely and continues munching of... I don't know... bamboo or something.

It was also about this point that Gram, being Gram-y, decides to sneak up behind the panda the size of an elephant, and RIP SOME OF ITS HAIR OUT. Well, Mr. Panda is having none of that, and smacks Gram so hard he flies 10 or 20 yards. (Yea... panda no play nice with tiny wizard.)

But thankfully, the panda doesn't take to much offence to this and continues chatting it up with Vaylan. He mentions that there are some people in the tower over there and they may know some stuff maybe.

(Panda Exit stage Left)

With many nods and "Yea that sounds like a good idea"s the group heads over to the ruined tower and enters.

It's about that time they are attacked by a bandit who was hiding in the room. Well... it is one against 4 so AND a giant rat-o-doom... so... he loses.

They make their way up the stairs but obviously the guy from downstairs made a bit of a ruckus when he died. So they are being shot at by an archer. ENTER! THE MAGICAL BEAR OF REALLY HIGH JUMPING!!!

Well... OK it was just Vaylan. But man did he jump. Clears the remaining distance to the top with a single jump and the team proceeds to surround the baddie.

Boom. Dead.

Now, for the cool part.

*Knock knock knock* (Vaylan KICKS DOWN THE DOOR) "KNOCK KNOCK!!! IT'S A CANDY-GRAM!"

The team charges in and starts taking on a room full of bandits. Each person takes out at least one other except maybe Gram... honestly don't remember if he did or not.







AND at one point Qila... um... breaks Gram's knee cap. Oops. She missed while swinging.

  

The group defeats everyone eventually and opens up the HUGE chest in the room. 

And there is stuff in it... stuff in it for sure... none of which I can recall at the moment... BUT there was also a MAP that showed where they could find the owl. Win.


Instead of setting off right way, the group waits the night and gets some rest. The next morning, bright and early, they head out and head east towards the mountains. They don't run into anything and make it thought the pass just fine (though at some point there was supposed to be a spider there).

That's when they find the owl... and it is HUGE. I'm talking HUUUUUGGGE. Easily make off with the giant panda from before.  And....

It's asleep.
(It's daytime, what did you expect?)

As the group is thinking of a way to get to the owl without dying, Charity takes off. She is sprinting to the owl as quickly and quietly as she can... she grabs a feather... and makes it back unscathed.

Yea kinda....

The group then uses the rest of the day and travel back to the city. But when they show up to the gates... there is no one there... no guards, no archers, no wizard. (The knight wouldn't be there anyway 'cause he's crispy.) 

 And  that's when they knew... something had gone horribly wrong.