Reports of a Drow Arch Mage

A rumor starts to spread around near by farm lands that a Drow has taken up residence somewhere within the surrounding lands. Some folk have even heard rumors of him kidnaping children of all races, live stock and some rumors even say that he is behind the sudden heat waves, one last thing the druids and rangers might find odd, any attempts to ask the creatures of the wilds by use of magic for information on this rumored Archmage are unable to answer, any scraying attempts or contact plan spells also fail, this includes the missing children, all of which are rumored to be around the age range of five to nine.

Norlamin immediately departs, searching for locations of where children or livestock would have been kidnapped from. He scours the area for any tracks.

Finding some of his regular pupils not attending class anymore the old human goes to visit the parents and learns the conditions under which each child went missing. The time of day they were last seen, locations, company etc.

He creates a short report of each incident and crossreferences for any common traits.

He also arranges for the younger pupils that attend class to be escorted to and from their homes in groups. Each of them is picked up by the door of the parents home, and delivered back there after class.

Nor begins his hunt, and quickly finds that such not only seems to be happening in the Myth Drannor lands but also the Shadowdale lands too. You manage to stumble over three possible leads, a small farmstead in the lands of light where a local farmer and his wife are rumored to have lost a daughter of five years, a halfling caravan who were last seen around the ironhills, and lastly apparently a orc warband is readying its self to also hunt for lost children of its clan.

The Old Man would find that the child had all just disappeared with out warning, those that disappeared in the day time where always outside and for a moment had gone beyond the watchful gaze of any adults and them just disappeared. The ones that had disappeared at night wear stolen from their beds it seems. One thing that happened to every family afterwards thought was a letter would turn up written in that races language saying. "Your child will be unharmed and have a better life than you could hope provide, the pain will pass in time, here is compensation for your loss." each letter would be found with a bag of one hundred platitum. The disturbing thing was one or two parents did not seem to care and where happy with turn of events.

The rumors reach the ear of a Bladesinger, who first (with the lack of success stated in the first post) tries to use magic to track the archmage or the children. With a chill running down his spine at the thought of what a Drow mage could accomplish, both magically and through pure evil cunning, he seeks out the help of a ranger he had been hunting with, before asking around to those parents he can find to get details of the disappearances, both the timing, and any circumstances that would prove that magic likely had been used (locked doors, barred windows and the like) in the abduction.

"Be prepared for anything," he'd caution Steffan. "Underestimating a person like this is the last thing we need to do."

((ooc: If you think they would cross your character's path, go ahead and say so and we can go from there.))

Adamus is utterly furious that even after the orphanage incident, children still are harmed. He asks around the farms and town if anyone has seen anything, including the patrolling Knights. He makes his displeasure known to them, having been watching the road between the camp and the farms religiously every day. He also attempts to find out anything his fellow Knights of the Shield would know on the matter.

Kira waves over to Steffan and the Bladesinger, resting hands in her pockets and sauntering to them. "Heard you talking about kids. Someone's hurting them again, aren't they? How can I help?" The last question more of a determined insistence than idle curiousity.

The band lead by the bladesinger learn what the old man had found out, also magic seems to of been used alot in the kidnappings as some of the children were locked in their rooms at night and in the morning the door was still locked, investigating the disappearence of one child a young homeless girl of six the locals had nick name the little Shadow for her habit of appearing in the village stealing some food and them disappearing off again, the party would come across a small cave she had been living in, and oddly there are statues of orcs outside the caves, a nasty grin frozen on their stone lips, their gaze looking down as if at where a small person once stood.

Norlamin would send word of his findings in regards to the Lathander farm to the Defenders and the church of Lathander.

He would also notify the Defenders of the location of the orc warband, presuming it is in the Cormanthor.


He would travel to each location, except the orc warband, and investigate for tracks like the trail found near Shadowdale.

DM Defiler wrote:

The band lead by the bladesinger learn what the old man had found out, also magic seems to of been used alot in the kidnappings as some of the children were locked in their rooms at night and in the morning the door was still locked, investigating the disappearence of one child a young homeless girl of six the locals had nick name the little Shadow for her habit of appearing in the village stealing some food and them disappearing off again, the party would come across a small cave she had been living in, and oddly there are statues of orcs outside the caves, a nasty grin frozen on their stone lips, their gaze looking down as if at where a small person once stood.

"Lordie, Lil' Shadow sounds just like...me." Wincing and holding her head, grating teeth and vigorously shaking out her hair. "Do you hear that? No, nevermind. Looks like a Flesh to Stone spell happened...and perhaps from someone very, very...small."

*said to Arjay and Kira*

So it would seem. I know little of magic but if these bastards left trail sign I can likely flush it out to where they went to ground. Do mages usually travel alone or with others to protect them and do their dirty work?

On the off chance that it led to some clue, Arjay would examine the coins that were left, or likely have Kira examine them as a mercenary might be more familiar with the subject, to see if there was any clue to be had by where the coins had been minted.

At the cave, Arjay would study the orcs for a moment and agree with the likelihood that they were petrified. "It depends on their capabilities," he said, regarding wizards traveling alone, "And how secretive they were trying to be. But a Drow wizard wouldn't be beyond co-opting others into his service, only to turn on them when it suited him. It might be worth our while to break the spell on one of these orcs and subdue it to question it. Either way, why they were here might prove important."

Nor traveled to the other places finding much the same in each place, that the child just seemed to disappear into thin air, also.

You have been waylaid on your travels and must deeme yourself!

You were at the cross roads when your elven eyes spot a grove of five bandits laying in wait to ambush you.

What do you do?

Kira seems to be right, with a stone to flesh spell the orcs could be turned back he the party wished to do so.

Hmmm, *He fetches some of his tent lines from his travel pack trying to bind the hands and feet of the orc tightly then pushes the stone statue* Wonder if that would do the trick?

The coins bear markings from almost every kingdom, some from the dales, some from thay, waterdeep and some lolthite in design.

Arjay tells Steffan how long it will take him to cast the spell, so that he can be ready to pull the bonds tighter once the orc becomes a mobile, pliable creature again. The fuzzy pink manacles makes him stop, stare for a moment, and decide that it's a subject best contemplated after the immediate concerns were in the past. Then, keeping his sword ready (and aware that if it comes to it, they can just kill this orc and try on the next one), he casts stone to flesh and gets ready to assist if needed.

*Steffan knocks an arrow just in case things go badly. He looks at the pink manicles and just shakes his head*

(The Defenders and Kira)

The ork comes alive again, laughing for a few seconds before blinking in surprise as he looks at his bindings, he would then attempt brake his bounds shouting and growling savagely.

what do you do?

Alarice will immediately check on the whereabouts of her twins and inform her brother (who watches over them) of the recent disappearances.

DM Defiler wrote:

The coins bear markings from almost every kingdom, some from the dales, some from thay, waterdeep and some lolthite in design.

She off-handedly shares this with the party, magnifying eyepeice still stuck in her eye. "Free Haven. Only place we find all three in one place within travelling distance from here. Would've said 'Skullport', but there's Lolthite markings. Looks like we're dealing with a Free Haven Slaver."

Anadra hears the reports and begins searching the forests for any sign of the drow mage.

She also tries to find any others who are searching so that she might assist them.

Elijah receives Norlamin's note and slams his fist on the table, cracking it asunder. One of the little children playing nearby starts to cry upon hearing the loud smack. Targeting the children again?! Just who are these wretched cowards who know no shame?!

The abbot commands all the orphans who are currently housed in the Lathander temple (while the orphanage is being rebuilt) to be placed on a round-the-clock watch. No children is to venture beyond the temple without an accompanying knight or monk.

He then heads off to join Norlamin in the search, relying on his keen senses and intuition to see if he can discern anything.