Recap
The morning of the 10th of Trival, 1329 Avard, Duckoron, Kalla

The party arrived in the merchant district of Duckoron on a fair day. The merchant quickly paid the mercenaries and then hustled his workers to unload the wagons. Finally finished with their eighteen-day journey, the group separated. The lovely bard Sauriel muttered a quick good-bye and disappeared into the crowds.

After the incident with the thief at the Haven a few days back, the party was low on funds. They settled in an inn in the less than savory part of town and were then beset by pickpockets that seemed to teem all over the city. Horus and Jacob went to sell and buy better armor. Gemini and Kai went looking for exotic weapons and other items not found in most stores. The pair was in luck and Kai bought several set of shuriken, and Gemini made contact with a man who knew about the black market. Once he had directions, the pair left to rejoin the dwarf and cleric. Once back at the end, Gemini asked Jacob to accompany him on an outing, since there were rumors of strangers being kidnapped in the city.

Gemini led Jacob to a seedy bar called a Dive. This was the location the shopkeeper had told him about. The dark interior was full of bodies drowning their sorrows in hard drinks. Fights broke out often and were ruthlessly squelched by several half-orc bouncers. Gemini did not have much money on him, not enough to buy items off the black-market, so he amused himself by talking to some of the patrons of the dive. One such was a large half-orc named Thrug. Seeing the poor fellow looked incredibly sad, Gemini asked why. Soon the two were talking about hooking up and traveling together. In no time at all he was brining the stray back to the rest of the party.

Thrug was welcomed into the group seeing he was a capable looking fellow. The night was less than quiet when the rumors became very real for the group. Deep in the night a kidnapper made a grab at Gemini. His hit missed and the little rogue was quick to call for help. With a curse, the kidnapper escaped back into the night.

Come morning the party went to the nearest guard post to get more information. The guard at the desk, a fighter of Yatindar, told them it looked like a Pirate Prince was operating in the city and taking people to be sold as slaves. There was a rumor that it was a Princess not a Prince and that she was collecting those that looked nice to fill her harem. He also told them of a few whispers of a cult of vigilantes working in the city and general unrest in the countryside. The party ignored all other rumors to focus on the kidnappings. They figured since it was pirates behind it, they would stake out the docks.

Pickpockets were much more prevalent near the docks, but the party lost no goods to the sticky fingered thieves. The night was long and filled with a fog that wrapped everything in cotton and made outlines hazy. Many of the party dozed off, and once again a person snuck up and tried to steal the halfling away. He was thwarted again and disappeared in the thick fog.

Grumpy groups of five made their way back to their rooms come the morning. Once rested, they picked their brains. The guard’s words came back to them, “They have some secret way in and out of the city that we have not yet discovered. A hidden cove, probably, further in land where they can come and go as they please.” The party then gave up waiting out at the docks and decided to lie in wait in the comfort of their rooms. Four more days passed before a kidnapper struck again. This time Gemini was taken unawares and spirited off. Kai saw it happen and woke the others and followed the kidnapper out into the night.

They followed the man and his burden for many blocks until he joined a group of four with a young human male tied up and gagged. The party wasted little time in attacking the group to save the two taken prisoner. The five kidnappers fell quickly enough even with the help of a bard leading them. The young human was able to escape his captors, but Gemini stayed unconscious. Once free, the party had had enough of the port city of Duckoron and decided to leave with the morning light. The human thanked them for their help and asked if he could join them. Everyone said yes and Caleb Johanson became the party’s sixth member. The morning of the 15 of Trivor saw the party leaving the eastern gate and heading back to the hills to search out a set of ruins.

XP AWARDED:
900 for the Pirates consisting of two rogues, 3 fighters and a bard.

TREASURE:
The party found 203 sp, 15 gp, a malachite, an aquamarine, and a scroll of Fox's Cunning.

DM NOTES:
The party was not so thrilled with Duckoron. I wonder why..it couldn't have been for the pickpockets, could it? Naw...they are just picky. This was a fun but slightly fustrating night. Gemini was getting knocked on the head everytime we turned around. Guess he was just too cute for his own good. The poor guy also missed out on all the XP since he was out the entire fight. PFC Lott and his elven bard had to retire from the campaign since his schedual changed and he could no longer meet up with us. So now I have 6 PCs and an open road...so much can happen, I can't wait.