Recap: Predawn on the 1^st of Dasad. One word; one name: Grythe. He tore the party to ribbons. Were it not for Arkon's growing powers as a sorceror, the party likely would be dead. Deep in the sewers beneath some ancient city, they ran into a troll wielding a massive great-axe. Grythe had been trying to get into the city's vault, and was willing to cut a deal with any mage he encountered. After mercilessly killing Kivhass, Tram, Ahira, and his war dog, Grythe used Rain as leverage against the sorceror. Because of the troll, few explorers had plundered the sewers, and the collapsed buildings above them. Even the warrior with the double-bladed sword, and the blue elf, avoided a confrontation with Grythe, preferring to tunnel into the sewers from somewhere else -- perhaps in an attempt at taking the treasury of ancient city. The party's aborted exploration of the ruins yielded an ancient key to the treasury -- a ring of elemental command that allowed Arkon to bypass, and even give orders to, the elemental earth guardian of the treasury. After a harrowing battle of wits, Arkon managed to use the earth guardian against Grythe, and destroy the troll once, and for all -- but at a horrendous cost. Returning to Takanal with an unconscious Rain, and the severed fingers of Tram and Ahira, Arkon was welcomed by Father Engrin of the Takanal Church of Whalin and Barith. Once healed, Arkon and Rain returned to Rilan, where the GE representative Lantheros ushered them to Thayer's Rock -- the heart of Gideon Enterprises. Rial Mhenace, the master-mind behind GE, agreed to use a powerful rod left over from the Storm Wars, to resurrect Ahira and Tram. One day has passed. It is the third night of the Freeze -- that time of the month in which the sun does not rise. Only marks before dawn, there is still no word from the small conservancy located within Thayer's Rock, and behind closed doors with the local priestess of Habrem, and a friend of Rial's.

Mission: Once returned to life (provided the die allow it?), Rial will bid the group return to the ancient city's ruins -- but not without more information. The city was known as Tymarell, and was a fairly wealthy city-state some centuries before the Storm Wars. The city disappeared from the face of the earth, when a long-dormant volcano suddenly spewed hot ash and mud, creating a pyroclastic flow that consumed everyone in its path, and buried the city. Legend has it that Tymarell was guarded by a silver dragon. (It is within Rial's perview to assign a new PC to help the party, since they are temporary members of Firestorm.)

• The party was promised 200,000 SP by the Baron and the Bishop, in exchange for the emerald chalice, but delivery won't take place until the 3^rd of Dasad at the Soul Smithy at Mount Rilan. Payment: 500 ducats each. In addition to the money, the Baron and the Bishop is willing to make available a scroll of resurrection -- in return for an undisclosed mission.
• Tram ordered a suit of masterwork leather armor from Ye Sival in Rilan, due around the 4^th of Dasad. He told her that price was no option, and so she'll pour her considerable skill into the leathers that are to be crafted just for him. Ye Sival asks 14,000 SP for the masterwork leather armor +2 (AC +4) -- crafted as it is from a mixture of bulette and elasmosaur hide. A dark blue-green to dark blue in color, and specially treated, the armor will be exquisite.
• Doom Rex and his men have already left the Ruins of Tymarell, frustrated by the earth elemental that guards the treasury. They paid considerable attention to one area of the sewers, with numerous torch singeings of the ceiling leading somewhere. The floor plan of the dragon Killishadrastatia's secret room might reveal where Doom Rex is heading next.
• Should the party choose to return to the ruins of Tymarell, then a small party of orcs will be awaiting them just north of Takanal. The orcs will be lying in ambush (or trying to lie in ambush), to jump the party and slay them. How they got so far inland will be a mystery to anyone in authority -- probably because they were sent by Therin, at the behest of Doom Rex, to intercept and slay the party. (See Encounters sheet.)

4 male orcs Ftr1 ea: CR 4; Size M (5 ft., 8 in. tall); HD 1d10+2; hp 12; Init +2 (+2); Spd 30 ft.; AC 15 (+2 Dex, +3 hide armor); Attack +6 melee (battle-axe 1d8+5, crit 19-20 x2); SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will -1; AL CE; Str 20, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 4. Skills and feats: Climb +9, Hide +2, Listen -1, Move silently +2, Spot -1; Dodge, Power attack.

2 male orc archers, Ftr1 ea: CR 2; Size M (5 ft., 10 in. tall); HD 1d10-1; hp 9; Init +4 (+4 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; AC 14 (+4 Dex); Attack +4 melee (shortsword 1d6+3, crit 20 x2), or +5 ranged (composite shortbow 1d8+3, crit 20 x3); SV Fort +1, Ref +4, Will -1; AL CE; Str 17, Dex 18, Con 9, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 11. Skills and feats: Craft +1, Handle animal +2, Hide +4, Listen -1, Move silently +4, Spot -1; Point blank shot, Weapon finesse (shortsword).

• Stovan Kemal, the Amaran stock dealer, has offered to hire the group for 15 diamonds (500GP ea), to serve as escorts aboard a very special ship from Nikala -- a voyage of two months, both ways. He hasn't specified the cargo, but it's Chre war horses, worth nearly 2,000GP each. He has several favors he can call in, that would have them on a sloop to Teras, and then a galleon to Nikala. The sloop would leave on the 12^th of Trisad.

• P'Arkon traded four ogran-cut gems taken from Joseph, the half-elf on the river barge, to the Shipwreck Zone for their equivalent in ducats. The gem-cutter there left one in its original condition, and cut the other three into smaller rubies. The uncut gem contains a paladin's soul, captured during the Second Crusades.
• Djonn Senior will finish his debt of servitude on Grill the 11^th of that year, 1327 -- three months after being captured, trying to avenge the death of his bandit son. Djonn Senior has learned a great deal from the rogues and thieves within the stockades of Rilan.
• Cutheros the Apothecary already had a buyer lined up and waiting for several rare and expensive dicalthal stones. Unfortunately, the ship was delayed in Kur Maeth, because dicalthal stones have arcane magic potential. If the party is willing, Cutheros would like them to go to Loregard, and then to Tent City, to parlay with the ogres for some -- and he may have something they'll trade. Cutheros will send along a +3 cursed battleaxe that he's been stuck with for a year, and a note from Brin Vridara authorizing its sale to the Ogre Nations. The mission is doubly vital, now that the sale of the dicalthal stones will help rebuild his apothecary.