Imperial Wayhouse

This third house is in quite good condition, the roof is mostly intact, as is the furniture. There are only three chairs, but plenty of benches. Our friends put their gear away and start a fire, drying up nicely and then having something to drink as they sit down and give their legs a rest.

All of a sudden, you realize that you are feeling weak and dizzy. The room seems to shift and change around you. Too late, you try to scramble to your feet. Almost without warning, you find yourselves in a gigantic chamber, hundreds and hundreds of feet high. Your senses reel as they try to adjust to your new surroundings. The scale is vast beyond comprehension. Seconds ago you were seated at a table; now only a few of your companions are visible far in the distance. They sit or stand on massive platforms suspended high above an abyss by great supports as wide as tree trunks.

Not far away is a roaring fire so big it could engulf a small town. You are transfixed with terror, but the blaze does not seem to be moving toward you. For a moment no one speaks. A few huge globes of water sail out of the rattling darkness high above to crash onto the floor below. For a long moment, you are overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of the place.

It takes a while to comprehend but the party has shrunk, a lot! They are fifty times as small as before; if you were 1.82 m (6'), you are now 3.64 cm tall. Their weight has changed even more. They now weigh 2500 times less than before; if you were a 100 kg, you are now 36.3 grams. This impacts falling damage quite a bit; you only take 1 point of damage for every 10 feet fallen. The benches and the seat of the chairs are now 80' high, the table is a 140’ high.

Ambushed!

Our friends are still flummoxed, trying to piece together what just happened to them and have no idea of the danger above their heads. Only Regius' training by Zilgim Zebbleck makes him alert enough to notice a bunch of ropes descending from the ceiling, about a dozen all next to each other, and from each hangs a small figure. A quick spell takes out a few of them but then they land, and not just on his chair, our other friends are all ambushed the same way.

From the ropes drop small, long-legged humanoids with a flat head and a greenish hide covered with black hair, wearing leather armor made from something other than cow hide. They scramble forwards, brandishing nets, wooden javelins, and clubs, shouting something unintelligible until you eventually realize the word they are repeating is ‘surrender’ in very accented Common.

Regius is sitting on one of the two chairs and it was positioned in such a way that the goblin-like creatures land just ten feet away from him. They try to throw nets at him but they need to get close to him to do so. And fortunately he has a Spirit Guardians spell prepared. This takes out any foe that approaches him.

Unfortunately it seems the tribe leader and his bodyguards have come down onto his chair and after sending a few of his foot soldiers to their death they change tactics and start throwing javelins. Eventually one hits hard enough for the cleric to lose his concentration on the spell. He bravely fights on and his half-orc natures saves him from going down but it is at this point he surrenders.

He is still attacked again and brought down, though his foes do eventually stabilize his wounds. His armor is taken off and he is tied up and then both he and the armor are attached to a rope each, to be pulled up to the cross beam in the roof.

Reb was sitting on another chair and his enemies land forty feet away. He tries to keep his distance at first but the seat of the chair is only ninety by ninety feet so eventually he runs out of room. Apart from twelve foot soldiers, the tribe's witch doctor also came down and he uses a spiritual weapon spell to good effect.

Our friend drinks the Potion of Heroism he bought in Stjordvik and that helps him a lot in his combat. He also has some bad luck; when only one foe is near he attacks it with his Tecuani Tecpatl and it explodes into a lot of sharp slivers of flint that could have injured a number of enemies. He switches to his maul and any time he successfully hits a foe, he kills it, but eventually they manage to get him trapped in a net. He pulls it apart and kills even more of the foot soldiers.

The witch doctor uses his Hold Person and Command spells but fortunately Reb manages to resist one of them and against all odds he kills all enemies and knocks the witch doctor out. He then ties the foe up, hangs it from his back and decides to climb up one of the ropes. Giving it a few tugs the rope gets pulled up so he decides to enjoy the ride.

Butch had been sitting on one of the benches and his foes land only twenty feet away. Just as with Reb; any time the barbarian hits a foe, he kills it, but they eventually manage to get him in their nets. He breaks out of it and continues the fight until he thinks he might actually lose. He then jumps from the bench, taking eight points of falling damage but his foes don't follow, one halfheartedly throws a javelin but without any success. The half-orc moves under the bench to be out of their line of sight and decides a short rest might be in order.

Harpin was also sitting on a bench and he is lucky that his foes land two hundred feet away. Although... he doesn't do anything but wait for them to come over, he's curious and wants to learn more about them. When they get close and yell for him to surrender the gnome tries to explain that he wants to be friends and wants to go with them.

The goblins probably do understand but they still come with their nets and try and tie him up. This is not what the warlock wants and when he is swarmed he casts an Arms of Hadar spell. This kills nine of them and leaves only three, who are completely panicked by what just happened. Harpin then uses his Awakened Mind ability to try and explain again he wants to be friends and come with them.

The gnome manages to be more persuasive than he probably ever has been in his life and the cowed goblins actually believe that he was not the cause of the tendrils of dark energy that erupted from his body. They walk back to the ropes with him, the warlock taking that time to write messages to Butch and Regius in his Tome of Stoyu. Once at the ropes he makes clear he wants to ride one of the ropes by himself and is told to hold on really well.

The Beam Camp

Once Harpin and the surviving goblins are up on the beam he sees a large number of non-combatant goblins who are the ones who lowered and pulled up the ropes. There are two crossbeams in the room and he is told that the camp is on the other crossbeam so they set out for a journey along a narrow path at the edge of the roof.

The chief, his bodyguards, the few remaining foot soldiers, and Regius and his armor are all pulled up to the other crossbeam, there's quite a few non-combatants here as well. Almost at the same time Reb reaches the top, when the pullers see his is not one of their own they are about to let go of the rope and let the fighter plummet to his death. But then they see the witch doctor on his back and decide against that plan of action, letting the fighter up on the beam.

There is something of a stand-off, with both parties having a hostage of sorts. Reb tries to negotiate a trade, also threatening to push one or more non-combats off the beam. Eventually a deal is struck; Reb manages to negotiate an exchange and a promise from the chief not to attack his other companions and release any that might have been caught, though he doesn't trust the chief will actually hold up his end of the bargain. The chief and his people then move in the direction of the camp and the fighter in the other direction, reaching Regius.

He empties a healing potion into the cleric's mouth and once the half-orc is back to his senses they whisper about the current situation. The chief and his people are doing the same, each side glancing over at the other as they talk. Reb asks if the cleric still has any spells left and if he thinks they can take the opposition; there's not many of them left here.

It's a big risk but Regius does still have something up his sleeve and he nods affirmative. They time their attack, waiting for both bodyguards to be next to the chief. Then the half-orc casts a Call Lightning spell and uses his Destructive Wrath to do as much damage as possible to his foes. Both the bodyguards die immediately and the chief is brought close to death.

All the other goblins are frozen at this utter bloodbath but the chief flees towards his camp. The few remaining foot soldiers decide to do nothing as Regius ties up the witch doctor again and Reb chases after the chief. Our friend is faster and catches up to him right at the edge of the camp, knocking him out just as Harpin and all the goblins arrive from the other crossbeam.

The camp is a simple affair with most of the goblins living right there in the open, there are only two small dwellings and a jail where someone seems to be laying on the floor. There are only about eighteen foot soldiers left and a whole lot of non-combatants, all of whom decide to keep their distance and see what's going to happen. Our friends put the tied up chief and witch doctor near the middle of the camp and Reb starts a short rest to recover from the earlier combat.

Regius goes to check out the jail and finds a young, human woman, either late teens or early twenties, laying there in the muck. She is unconscious and just looks awful all round. The cleric casts a Healing Word spell and then wakes her up. She can hardly talk but it becomes clear that she is Talin, one of Jazzomyn's two companions. The half-orc's bedside manners are just as bad as his regular manners and all he can get from the poor girl is that something happened to Ash; the rat riders! And she doesn't know where Jazzomyn is; she apparently ran in a different direction, but if they can find her, she might know of a way to grow big again.

Next he goes to investigate the two hovels; the rest of the goblins seem to camp out in the open every day. He blows open the door and inside the first one he discovers three rather frightened female goblins, each wearing a fur lined robe that must have been really nice back in the day. There's a large bowl containing sixty gold pieces and a large wine barrel with the letter 'C' stamped on it. It's almost empty but Regius lifts it up and drinks the last of it; he doesn't like it at all.

The smaller of the two huts stinks of incense and dried fungus. At first glance there isn't much of value there but the cleric is thorough and finds a hole hidden beneath the sleeping pallet. Unfortunately it is trapped with poison lined barbs and the half-orc is unable to resist the effect; losing both Strength and Dexterity. There is quite some loot in the hole though; 5 platinum pieces (50 gp), 20 gp, an ivory bracelet, an unmarked potion, and a miniature bronze compass, likely a cypher.

Meanwhile Harpin has been talking with the witch doctor, who's name is Yakkar, he speaks a decent amount of Common, Reb is also involved for as much as he short rest allows. With the chief, 'King Algol' still unconscious, Yakker is happy to talk and he wants to offer his help in return for the tribe to be left alive and unmolested.

Of course our friends have many questions and they learn the following. The tribe was trying to capture them to then exchange for wine with 'the Cat'. That's also why they have Talin in jail. The Cat can be found in the stables. The witch doctor has no idea why the party has become small or what can be done about that. The tribe has been here for many generations and this is what they have been doing all this time, any time new people enter the wayhouse they get ready to capture them. Before Talin, the last time new people showed up was about a year ago.

Yakkar seems to know when he's beat so he makes sure to offer any help he can in return for his tribe's further existence and promises to render any help in the future. A deal is struck and the party decides to descend back to the floor to meet up with Butch and then Harpin and Regius can have their short rest. The go back up the beam and can now see how well oiled the goblin system is for lowering ropes to the chairs.

Going back down

Not taking any chances of the ropes being cut midair they each take a goblin down with them and then the witch doctor puts a rope around the chair back allowing for our friends to climb down to the floorboards. Once they are all down, Yakkar unties the rope and throws it down to them as they requested before the goblins return to the beam.

Butch has been waiting for them and they decide to camp down under the chair. During the remaining short rests they can identify any magical items they found. The chief's armor turns out to be a Scale Mail +1, which, surprisingly, is something Butch can use. The potion is a Potion of Greater Healing, and Yakkar had a cypher on him, a Levitater. The other cypher is a Passer, but the witch-doctor told them it needs another one to work, and that one fell from the beam some time ago.

Under the floorboards

Butch's pet rat, Remi, has not shrunk with them, and so might still be around. After hearing about these rat riders, the barbarian wants to find his rat and see if he can't ride it. They don't know where he is but under the floorboards would be one possibility and an easy one for them to search. They rope down and soon enough find a rat, three even, but none of them is Remi.

Battle ensues and every round a new rat shows up until our friends have killed six and the seventh rat that shows is Remi! Butch runs at his erstwhile pat and tries to hug it but just get bit in response. He keeps trying and Reb helps by grappling the chonky rat. It takes a long while but eventually something in the universe goes the right way and the rat now accepts the barbarian, even if he is now a lot smaller than Remi.

The Stable

The flagstone floor of this room is partly covered with a thick layer of rotting straw as high as a tall man. There are eight stalls separated by partitions, with their donkey, Rogius, being the sole occupant in the stall nearest the door. On the northern wall beside the door is a shelf, and there are pegs around the room to hang riding tack, etc. The room is well lit by many windows. A large bird's nest is visible high in the rafters, directly above the shelf.

After a good night's rest under the bench next to the door to the stable, they decide to go under it and see what they can learn about the Cat. Our friends squeeze under the closed door and end up on the step inside the stables. Sitting at the far end of the step is a figure, likely a half-orc. He is looking in the wrong direction but unfortunately the party isn't very stealthy.

The half-orc sees Reb moving closer with his bow drawn, though pointed at the floor. Still, the guard takes no chances, grabs a horn at his belt and blows on it before jumping to a rope ladder hanging from the shelf next to the door. It becomes apparent that someone assembled a ballista up there and it is being swiveled in their direction as the ladder is being pulled up.

Reb keeps the bow down and keeps talking, making sure to express they are coming to talk, not to fight. Soon eight soldiers mounted on rats appear from tunnels in the straw. They have spears and longswords, some made of silver, it looks like. The captain is a dwarven woman with short, chestnut hair coming out under her full face helmet. She's willing to hear them out and a conversation develops.

The riders are with the Cat and they offer the party to come live with them; it's better than the alternative, trying to survive out there. However, they won't just take them in and give them free run of the place. No, new additions are kept under lock and key for a few weeks and put to work, they have to earn trust to be given better jobs and eventually, their own living space. There are now 93, no, 94 people in the lair.

Ash is their latest addition, and according to the dwarven woman, on his way to become a productive citizen. Our friends aren't at all convinced life is so great in the Cat's lair but the captain lets Jonesy, who joined only a few years ago, speak. According to him, it is indeed much preferable to a life outside, even if it's not even close to his former life.

And that's the other big topic of conversation; why did they get small and what can be done about it. According to the captain, nothing. She was born here, this has been the state of things for a very long time. So far, nothing that either the captain or Jonesy said felt like lies to any of our friends. Still, they are not giving up so easily and there's still Jazzomyn out there, if she hasn't died, she might know what to do.

The party definitely doesn't want to join if that means getting locked up first and they tell the dwarven woman this. She tells them that they can't stay here in the stable, she'll have to attack if they do, but she has no intention of chasing them if they leave the way they came. They are free to try their luck out there. They definitely get the feeling she expects them to either die out there or, if not, return with their tails between their legs and beg to join.

Talin, hearing that Ash is alive and in the lair, wants to join. The last ten days have been more than harrowing for her and the thought of being reunited with her companion is all overpowering. She doesn't care about being locked up at first or anything like that and the party help her down the step and she goes over to the rat riders. Our friends say goodbye and move back under the door into the wayhouse proper.

The Garden

Our friends decide that their first destination should be the shrine to Beory in the garden; Reb made an offering there at the previous wayhouse, who knows. In either case it's a central location to look for any signs of Jazzomyn. And so the party heads to the other door and prepares to squeeze under it.

Wild Weasel

Reb goes first and arrives on a step much like the one in the stable, this one is also 25' high. Unfortunately a creature is waiting and the second the fighter gets out from under the door a huge, snarling monster roughly the size of a dragon—and with a similar temperament—pounces on the unfortunate fighter. It hits like a brick house, wounding Reb severely. It's not all bad luck though; the creature tries to grab hold of the battle master to drag it off but fails in doing so.

Then the fighter gets to react and he shows that he has many abilities and the option to unleash most of them in a very short time, doing more than double as much damage to the weasel than it did to him. The others now also come from under the door and the battle is truly on. Butch' Spit ability makes the creature focus on the barbarian and this time it succeeds at grabbing a victim and it runs off with the half-orc to its lair under the step. Spells from Harpin and Regius, together with more might from Butch, soon bring the creature down before it can kill the barbarian.

The lair isn't too large and at the far end there is a lot of detritus and weasel waste that might contain something interesting. Harpin goes to investigate and spots a human skeleton wearing two jeweled bracers. But then he suddenly hears humming. Cautiously he gnome calls out a hello but there is no reply. The skeleton doesn't move and the sound of the humming seemed to come a few meters away from it. Carefully they come closer and find a dwarven made hammer that looks very impressive and is the source of the humming.

Next to the skeleton they also find a waterproofed scroll case contains three yellowed pieces of parchment. One bears a rough map of the wayhouse, with the location of the goblin lair in the living area and the Cat's lair clearly marked. The word “gateway” is scrawled beside the latter. The second paper is sealed with black wax that was sprinkled with tiny chips of chalcedony while still soft. The third paper is sealed with green wax sprinkled with grains of topaz.

Their nature skills are such that our friends are pretty sure that weasels are solitary creatures and another one won't show up, leaving this as a good place to have a short rest and recover from their wounds. Regius removes a tooth from the weasel and then Harpin and he set to identifying the items they found.

One of the parchments is a scroll of Protection from Evil and Good. Unfortunately the other scroll turns out to be nothing but a curse; Harpin will have bad luck for a number of days now. That leaves the hammer; Regius' historic knowledge makes that he recognizes some of the Baltur iconography on the weapon. The weapon itself is called Zahar-Gund-Tarâg and the cleric decides to use it as his main weapon.

The Vineyard

After their rest our friends resume their journey to the shrine and see that a small path, of their current size, has been made through the bushes of profusely growing blackberries. It seems to be a good shortcut to their destination and they go down it. After some travel, Regius finely trained senses hear talking in the distance. Unfortunately he did not see the tripwire that drops a large framework on top of them, doing a lot of damage and pinning all of them except for Harpin.

Sounds of running soon turn into figures appearing; humans, dwarf, half-elf, half-orc, many wearing the same kind of armor and carrying swords made of silver, just like the rat riders in the stable. Harpin fires two of his eldritch arrows at them as the other extricate themselves from under the rubble. It's lucky both his attacks miss cause Reb argues for diplomacy and the gnome manages to talk up a storm, convincing the arrivals that they mean no harm.

Once tempers have gone down they try and gain some more information. It's not easy as the man in charge tells them plainly that standing orders are not to divulge any information about the Cat's lair. Harpin the conjures lady Catherine out of nowhere, startling the assembled and almost triggering an attack. He asks if the Cat looks like his cat. "Of course not, why the hell would you think that?" is the reply. So it turns out that the Cat is not a feline at all but just a person of maybe just under average height with dark hair, who wears a cowl. The Cat isn't seen often though, the assembled let slip.

Regius asks if they know about the weasel; they do. He then tells them they have killed it and shows the tooth, so maybe they should work together, look at how useful the party is. The Cat's people are skeptical; he could have found the tooth somewhere, maybe the weasel lost it biting in something hard. But, in all, they are willing to escort the party through their vineyard and towards the shrine.

As they go, they come to a clearing, where a train of three rats stand waiting, each has two large baskets full of blackberries strapped to it. At the edge of the bushes they are bid adieu and our friends set off towards the nearest of the two trees, deciding to see if there's anything interesting there. On the way they come across a train of eighteen ants herding even smaller, green insects; aphids. They look to be moving towards an anthill to the east. The tree offers little in the way of clues, though, as they are looking up, they see a bird alight from its nest and fly off, it doesn't seem to have spotted them.

The Shrine

Moving towards the shrine they spot six gnolls trying to light a large amount of leaves and other things under the shrine, it would be quite a bonfire. Regius hears a faint "help" come from the shrine, impressive at this distance. Harpin tries to sneak closer, there's not much terrain to hide behind. The others just walk closer and are then spotted by the gnolls.

At first there's some trading of ranged attacks but the gnolls can run really fast and close distance with Butch. Reb keeps his distance, using his bow, knowing how dangerous gnolls are. And this is proven true; they attack three times each and do a lot of damage to boot. There's four left when only his half-orc nature has kept Regius alive and Butch is down to single digits.

Then an attack by Regius triggers the end of the song from his hammer. A really tense round develops where he has to remain alive to be able to actually use his weapon. He manages to do so and then move and lets Zahar-Gund-Tarâg release it's crescendo, taking down three of the four gnolls.

Meanwhile Harpin has managed to douse the fire before it could become too big to handle and he has spotted the source of the pleas for help; a plump human has climbed up onto the shrine and is clinging on to the sculpture of a rotund woman; the goddess Beory, and coughing his lungs out, plenty of smoke has filled the enclosure. Harpin then doubles back and takes down the remaining gnoll with his eldritch arrows.

With the enemy defeated, our friends help the man down from the shrine. Seeing the state everyone is in, he immediately casts some healing spells on the most heavily wounded. The man then introduces himself as Marlowe, a cleric of Ulaa. Regius is quite happy to meet a fellow of the cloth and the entire party says a prayer to the goddess.

He looks rather haggard and his clothes are threadbare at best, Regius give the man his expensive outfit to wear. Marlowe tells them he has been here close to twenty years. He was part of an adventuring band, the Gray Company. He is the only one left and clearly this has taken a toll on him. But he is more than willing to tell the party what he knows about the area.

He doesn't know why everyone gets small here but he knows it also happens outside the Wayhouse proper so it's not that localized. Marlowe marks on their map all the dangerous areas; there is a tribe of very dangerous feral elves, a clan of gnolls who are apparently very fond of the liquid the aphids secrete, they are often stoned out of their gourds. And quite nearby, a number of halflings live under a hairfoot tree, he often trades with them.

Despite repeated offerings Marlowe doesn't want to join the party; it seems like he has lost any will to adventure. He tells the party that he's quite sure though that their rescue of him is a sign; they are bound to solve what he never could and return everyone to full size. Marlowe will go somewhere safe and rest from his recent tribulations, he will come see them in the Wayhouse tomorrow.

Ambushed, again!

Our friends decided to go see the halflings, hoping they might be of some help. As they walk down the path they find themselves in a hail of arrows coming from the bushes. They are far from fully healed but there is also not much cover around so Reb charges towards the source of the ambush and then Butch does as well.

Fortunately the attackers aren't very accurate, most arrows miss and then once our friends dive into the bushes they see six people, not all that well equipped and their armor and clothes look like what the Cat people wore but in quite bad condition. Butch hits the closest enemy, a limping woman with what looks to be a permanent sneer on her face, for quite a bit of damage and then Reb downs her but doesn't kill her. This is enough for the other five to call for parley.

It's a rather motley band, sort of, is a woman with her mouth fused shut due to a curse she got many years ago. Her name is Davis and she is the last of the Namverg Nine adventuring band. She came here two years ago and was soon press-ganged by the Cat's people. They were all the Cat's people till about a month ago when they decided to desert. Only to find out that living outside is even worse than being part of the lair. Their bows are close to unusable, they have hardly any food left and one healing potion between them, which is immediately taken by our friends when they hear this.

There were ten of them but they lost people quite soon. "Poor Wilhelm got his leg bit of by a weasel. It was the biggest thing you’ve ever seen!" "Screamed like banshee." "The weasel?" "No, Wilhelm." "It was swift, he didn’t even see it coming." They are quite impressed when Regius tells them that they killed the weasel.

When our friends ask if they have ever seen the Cat: "Thin fellow, shakes a lot, doesn’t have much hair left." Unfortunately the deserters don't know of any backdoor into the lair; there's just the entry tunnel with the rats. They are able to confirm that the Cat has about a hundred people and twenty rats. Although there is some confusion when one of them counts Stumpy Pete and Hinky Pete as two different people and has to be told it's the same guy. When asked about their silver swords, they explain that they have a smith who makes them, they are not great but they don't have that many proper swords.

All in all the conversation shows that some of these people are likely not the best and brightest. "The ants, worse day of my life." "What about that time when Bo’s father caught the two of you in bed together?" "You promised you weren’t going to mention it again, you ugly bastard!" "Yeah, well, your mom can’t store anything bigger than 4 gigs!" "She’s your mom too!" "At least I know who my father is."

Our friends decide to send the deserters to the Wayhouse, telling them that if the goblins should bother them to tell them the party sent them. Now hidden in the bushes the party decides to have a rest. During it there is some discussion if the deserters and the goblins can be used as a diversion, attacking the Cat's people so that our friends might then sneak into the lair.

The Hairfoot Tree

Someone, likely the halflings, has created an enclosed space under the pine tree by pegging the ends of the lower branches to the ground. This has created a formidable, spiky barrier that our friends decide to walk along seeing if there might be an entrance and the find one on the east side. It's halfling sized and just inside the entrance they find an oil lantern but there is no oil left in it. They see no one, which is causing them some worry, but they do find a rope that when cut will swing a branch into the entrance, closing it.

The area is filled with mushrooms that are clearly being cultivated here, there's also an improvised wheelbarrow to move things. Butch recognizes the mushrooms; they are all edible, he has used many of them in his own dishes. Close to the tree trunk there is a hole in the ground with a wooden, spiral staircase going down. Carved into the first step is a word that turns out to say 'Welcome' in halfling. Standing against the tree are, what first look like some planks, a number of disassembled boats.

The fact that no one is around or has come to investigate has everyone on edge and they decide to send Lady Catherine down the stairs to reconnoiter. As she paws down the stairs and gets close to the bottom, an alarm goes off and bells start clanging. However, no one comes to investigate and after a minute or so Harpin sends his cat onward.

She comes to a cool, dry room. It is pitch dark but thankfully cats can see quite well in the dark. Along the walls are stacked many large baskets. There are also a few barrels with the now familiar C stamped into them. Also leaning up against the wall are oars and a number of harpoons. Our friends don't know what to make of the fact that they still haven't seen a single soul. They discuss if they should spend the night where they are now, inside the barrier, or down inside that storeroom. After weighing possible avenues of attack and escape they decide to camp down where they are.

Ambushed, again, again!

Harpin has the third watch but is unfortunately oblivious to a number of invisible opponents approaching. A Cone of Cold spell is the first sign of danger and it alone almost takes all four of them out. Then the invisible rogues take care of the rest. Reb is the only one lucky(?) enough to be able to act and he hits his assailant whilst crying out that Marlowe sent them. But then he is brought down as well.

Our friends wake up inside what looks to be a kitchen, all of them tied up two times over and with each finger tied separately. The ceiling of this large room is supported by the massive roots of the tree above. There are low tables and chairs against the walls, and two large cauldrons of stew bubble over coals in the center of the room. The area is unlit except for the dim, blood-red illumination from the coals. The air is oppressively hot and smoky.

Five gnomes are standing around the room, most bristling with weapons. Lying in a corner opposite from our friends is the body of a dead halfling. There are two exits to the room, the one to the north has been barricaded and the gnomes keep peering through it. There is occasional sounds of running coming from beyond it.

The leader of the gnomes comes over when he sees they are awake. He is older than the others, with a face that carries a large scar on the left side, and a skin color that is a very dark red, definitely not a natural color for gnomes. "Who is this Marlowe?" is his first question. Then he wants to know what our friends know about the halflings in the tree and he is told the party knows nothing, they just arrived here.

His interrogation is cut short when the bead of a Fireball spell comes through the barricade and explodes, hitting everyone in the room. Whilst hurting a lot this has the fortunate effect of weakening our friends' bindings. A halfling girl of about twelve comes bursting through what's left of the barrier and attacks the nearest gnome in a frenzy.

Combat ensues and isn't made any easier by a Confusion spell cast by the gnome leader. A few more halflings show up, none of them really combatants; another girl of about eight, a boy of about fourteen who tries to cast a spell from a scroll and fails at it, lightning bolts crawl along his body before dissipating, and an ancient looking halfling woman with a rolling pin. But our friends have had something akin to a rest and have had their abilities restored and manage to take out four gnomes before the last surrenders.

Allied

The halfling girl comes out of her frenzy, two of the other halflings have been dropped during the combat but she implores our friends to come help Sheriff Burton, he is dying! Reb runs after her while the others look after the wounded in the kitchen. As the fighter follows the halfling child he spots from the corner of his eye a room containing a diamond so big it fills the entire room.

When they get to the room with the Sheriff it is just in time. The halfling is about to breathe his last but Reb manages to keep him in the land of the living with his healing kit. Burton is very thankful when he hears what our friends have done and then falls into a fitful sleep. Then our friends are shown another room filled with halflings all brought down by the gnomes. Regius uses a healing spell to get most back on their feet.

When our friends search the bodies of the gnomes they find that the leader was carrying a well hidden Pouch of Holding with inside it the following: a Coin of Alchemy, a Coin of Fate, a Coin of Life and Death, and a Coin of Vitality.

With some semblance of order restored and Sheriff Burton back on his feet they discuss what happened. It sure wasn't their week, the halfling tells them, first one of their boats was stolen and then yesterday the gnomes arrived and claimed to be recent arrivals. The halflings gave them shelter and were then attacked by them during the night. Only a heroic action managed to turn a total defeat into a stand off with the attackers. And then the party arrived and they know what happened then.

Burton is happy to help our friends in any way he can. When asked if he knows a solution to the whole size problem he tells them he does not. However, he does mention that about three years ago they gave shelter to a man from the Cat's lair, called Aren. According to him, he found a diary in the lair that talked about "needing to find it and destroy it to lift this damnable shrinking curse". Aren was found guilty of forgery and banished, which is why he ended up with the halflings. He spent a few nights with them and then left and was never seen again.

Our friends mull all this over and the timeline of the stolen boat matches up with Jazzomyn's arrival so they decide to go to the pond, thinking she might have gone there for some reason. They could also climb the fountain, it offers a good vantage point. The halflings explain that on occasion they go there to hunt some of the fish but warn that the big ones are quite dangerous.

The Pond

After a good rest our friends take two of the foldable boats, oars, and harpoons to the pond, two of the halflings accompany them. A structure has been built at the edge of the pond to get to the top of it and from there they see what looks like a wind-tossed lake. Butch and Reb take one boat and Harpin and Regius the other, setting off for the fountain.

After some rowing a monstrous wake appears, a fin the size of a rowboat breaks the surface, and the huge fish moves straight for the closest boat. But then its attempts to capsize the boat fail utterly. Butch immediately harpoons the huge creature and when the other boat nears, the spell casters start to pepper their opponent with spells. When it gets close to the boat Reb gets his attacks in and frightens it away.

Before long the fish is dead and Butch pulls the boat in close and jumps onto the fish to start to filet it, getting some huge, and hopefully tasty, chunks from it. Regius' inspired idea to cast light on a harpoon and then throw it as far as he can has distracted all the other fish but one, which now appears and attacks.

This time the capsize attack works and Reb goes into the water, luckily he has his Swimmer cypher and he uses it immediately before climbing onto the back of the fish. Butch uses his as well and then throws the harpoon that was still stuck into the first fish into the new arrival. Another cockamamie idea from Regius pays off; he casts a Spiritual Weapon spell but makes it look like a lure and positions it in front of the fish, making it swim towards the fountain and keeping it above the surface so Reb will be able to stay on with Butch being dragged along by the harpoon's rope.

The Fountain

All the while our friends keep doing damage to the fish and it dies close to arriving at the foot of the fountain. Once everyone is safely there they find the stolen boat at the opposite end of the structure. Then they climb up to the first tier basin. It is empty of water due to a large crack in it. Up to the second tier they go. This one is filled with stagnant water and when they circle around they see quite the sight.

A very large gemstone that looks unlike any they have seen before is close to the edge of the basin and pushing up against it is a half-elf woman that might very well be Jazzomyn! However, she isn't moving at all and when they get closer it becomes clear she is paralyzed. Our friends managed to pull her away and she slowly comes out of her stupor, mumbling about "destroying it".

The party wastes no time and the application of a piton and a maul seems to be having effect. Jazzomyn has just about regained her senses when the artifact falls into a million tiny pieces. "We need to get away from each other," she shouts as she jumps over the edge just as everyone starts to feel them selves growing large again.

Our friends scramble and within three rounds they are back to their original size, standing in the pond. All around the garden creatures have regained their size. There's a clan of gnolls that stand around, looking rather dazed. In another part of the garden a tribe of elves dressed in nothing but loincloths have appeared and when they see the gnolls, they yell and charge as the gnolls flee from the garden. The halflings seem to have all made it safely from the hairfoot tree. The goblins exit the wayhouse and run off in search of safety, "we did this," Reb shouts after them.

There are sounds coming from the stable that will haunt everyone for a long time; people resizing down in the lair when the earth won't give, dying in the most horrific manners. But at least one person made it out alive. A slight, dark haired man looking about to be in his thirties runs towards the party. "What have you done!" he screams and he unleashes strange effects at the party, not something any of the spellcasters recognize.

A crown of jagged, spectral crystals appears around Butch' head and he takes damage every round and can no longer attack the man. The others return fire and those close enough by can see that the man ages decades every round the combat goes on. His attacks hit hard and he takes plenty of damage in return but before he can be slain his body ages even more and then just falls into dust as do the clothes he is wearing.

The Aftermath

A surprising number of people from the Cat's lair survived the ordeal; thirty four. They are now all stumbling around quite overwhelmed; most of them have never been this size, they were born here and have trouble getting used to this new reality. Our friends try and keep them together, Regius and Harpin telling them that Ulaa was responsible for this miracle. Ash survived as well, but Talin didn't.

Reb goes to the hairfoot tree, thinking about trying to recover that huge diamond. But the halflings are still around and are already on the job. He talks with them and a deal is struck. They will sell the gem and split the proceeds, as a thank you for all the party has done for them. Reb explains that Resoborg is only a few days away.

Once the pressing issues have been taken care of, our friends have a talk with Jazzomyn. She explains that the person known as the Cat must have been the original thief who robbed the Imperial Vault back in the days of the Miforan Empire. She had been researching this for a long time and finally found a clue that pointed at a wayhouse as being the assembly point after the robbery for the Cat and his co-conspirators.

She did not know about the diminution artifact though that puts the words of the arch-mage at the time in a new light; "small-minded people will in time realize that their pursuit of unearned wealth will reap what they've sown". She asks the party to thank Adrian Hartley for her, when she hears it was him who sent our friends in the first place. She won't return to Stjordvik for a while, she'll stay here with Ash for a while longer, the party can't get her to change her mind.

Reb has plans and the next day he and Harpin go and find the goblins. The tracks are easy to follow and they haven't gone far. There are about forty of them left, including Yakkar and the chief, Algol. Reb suggests to them that after living for so many generations on the beam in the wayhouse, the goblins can't likely survive out here, but he is willing to let them live in a village of his; Hollenvik. If the goblins are willing to behave and work for a living. They accept the offer.

He returns with the goblins to the wayhouse and makes the same offer to the halflings who are harder to convince but eventually are swayed as well. Our friends plan to have a talk with all the former Cat lair people, and the deserters, and see which of them will be amenable to living in Hollenvik. To those they will extend the same offer, any found not to be suitable they plan to leave in Resoborg to be taken care of by the city or the local branch of the Companions of Elric.

Marlowe has been dealing with his own issues and tells our friends that he will not be joining them and instead will go out into the wilderness to find any trace of his former companions and honor their memories. They spend one last day at the wayhouse getting everyone ready for the journey to Resoborg and Reb leaves a final offering at the shrine of Beory.