Cast

Jack (Half-Nymph Hunter): Archer

Zaire (Human Ninja): Dark Rogue

• Played by SyC

Artix the Uncanny (Gnome Inventor): Artificer

• Played by Cr4ka

Story

The Gnomes of Aiventrix are a peaceful race of inventors, a protectorate under Baron Ashon. The gnomes refuse to craft anything for combat, and it is illegal to ever do so for any gnome.

Our story begins with Artix the Uncanny, an inventor who got caught making his "Flaming Warhammer", yet another attempt to create easily reproducible magic items. With Artix in prison, and forced to face other gnomes in their gladiatorial arena, he plots his escape. The Baron saw this opportunity and sent Zaire, who is being groomed to take over as resident spymaster, to get him out.

Artix prepared his escape carefully, hiding extra gear all around his laboratory as best he could. Barely keeping up against the other gnomish crafters who would make sure he had no way to escape, or gear secreted away. Though starting to give up hope, the message from the Baron gave him hope, and a plan was laid out.

Yet another battle Artix fought, defeating his opponent in the arena once more. Yet with new protective measures (a taser) being snuck into his gear, he was caught of guard.

Zaire snuck in, careful to leave an escape route for the two of them, but with Artix still being dragged out of the arena, the time window was getting smaller.

[DM: The rest is an excerpt from the journal of Jack, with some notes added for clarity]

After the unconscious gnome was dragged shamefully to his dirty urine covered cell, Zaire picked the lock and dragged his unresponsive burden towards the exit he had previously mapped out. Noticing his useless companion is naked [DM: not actually] and unequipped Zaire decided to bring the gnome to a nearby workroom and dumped him face first into what looked like a bucket but could just as well been a bedpan.

Finally awake Artix quickly gathered up some equipment he thought was useful and the two of them headed towards the exit.

Upon reaching the guard room, they noticed they had missed the guard change due to one of their tardiness and now faced with two armed gnomish guards. They rushed in and were able to subdue the guards but in the process Zaire was shocked to unconsciousness by the protective armor the gnome guard was wearing. In a panic Artix rushed out the prison dragging his companion only to find himself cut off by a cliff. Realizing he could not scale the cliff carrying such a heavy load, he decided to tell his friend to lose some weight in the future and also to search for some mean of waking him up. Luckily he found some potions of light heal in the pockets of the guards he defeated (among other things) and was able to revive his friend.

The two of them quickly climbed down the cliff and meet up with Zaire’s hireling. With the help of his hirelings the two quickly made it to an abandoned hideout Zaire previously prepared [After a long boat ride to the local coast the group needed to lay low for three days before the gnomish searchers would widen their net, allowing them to slip by through the mountain pass].

However their movements were noticed by a local “human” hunter by the name of Jack, who followed them into the cave out of “curiosity”. Upon entering the cave, the two noticed that the walls of the cave were splattered with blood, and they found bed rolls with dead bodies (with their hands chopped off) scattered near a dying fire. [Another body was lying in the middle of writing a dying message in a small alcove]

Spying on the two, Jack ventured into the cave as well, unknowingly he was attacked by a sneaky zombie that no one else in the world could have ever noticed. Fully calm and not panicking at all, he fired an arrow which hit the zombie square in the head and knocking it away. However this action revealed him to the two already scared shitless in the cave.

They exchanged greetings and decided to figure out what is going on together. Being the bravest out of the three, Jack decided to check the body in the bed roll. He was able to find a large sum of gold which he pocketed without the SLIGHTEST SUSPICION OR NOTICE FROM THE OTHER TWO [DM: he was totally noticed]. [With Artix noticing that the body was wearing typical necromancer gear, a follower of Nerghul]. Zaire uncovered a dagger from one of the bodies lying on the wall.

After a bit of searching, the three noticed a looming shadow from the way they came. A large spider like creature was feeding on the zombie Jack had previously slain. With much valor Jack let loose an arrow towards the monster, but the creature was nimble and possibly with the aid of some black magic was able to avoid the otherwise unavoidable arrow. Now enraged, the creature charged towards the party, but was slowed down by the narrowness of the cave.

The party quickly got on their feet and started to sprint the other way. Zaire was able to dive into a nearby cave river and hid underwater (but there was zombies in the water so he couldn’t stay long) [DM: an enclosure with a set of chain fences holding the zombies at bay, so they could be reused by the necromancer]. Jack the fastest of the three got away safely, while the misshapen gnome was not so fortunate, the creature made short work of his feeble prey and trapped him with spiderweb. The (yet again) unconscious gnome was dragged and dumped into a pile of dead bodies.

The other two were able to hide from the monster, after a while they circled back and looked to regroup. Zaire noticed that Artix’s bag was lost to the rushing water of the river and could not be retrieved [DM: he means the party didn't want to risk it]. After a bit of searching the three had regrouped and freed the almost crippled gnome from his bondage. The three then made a distraction and rushed out of the cave with a secret exit which Zaire had prior knowledge to. Finally safe the three found themselves in a storage room. [Artix pried open a barrel revealing a set of scrolls, which Zaire packed away with him]. Stocked up on all the necessary supplies, the party got on a boat and headed down the river.