December 21

Leading up to Midsummer, there was a light rain for two days while the party trained. In the morning of Midsummer, the sky cleared up and the weather was perfect. It was one hell of a party. Shy young maids put some professional women to shame. Sunny found himself a pair and spent the night doing things he would never tell his mother about. He decided to name his shiny new leather monk beat-down gloves after the lovely ladies. The wizardly fellow looked away from the exposed flesh and instead read some musty books. The rogue fellow robbed the shit out of everyone.

They got a bit of a late start on that first day of Eleasis. They set out for Falcarragh Hill, passing quickly through the towns along the way. They encountered a pair of griffons, but otherwise their journey was uneventful.

They spent the night in Falcarragh Hill in a place called the Stone Goblet Tavern. They learned the barbarian northmen had mostly moved south around Oakleigh.

They set out again and arrived to find a nearly worthless wall had been put up this small town of Oakleigh. About 20 soldiers from Falcarragh Hill were here protecting the people, led by Lieutenant Merrick. They did not have enough soldiers to send out a party and defend the area. Outlying farms were still being attacked, but the town was safe.

The party went to the last known attack and tracked the barbarians. It was slow going, and eventually the trail was lost in a creek. In that area, the party set up a clever trap involving some illusions. Sadly, sometimes the dice aren't friends, and the barbarians went for their horses first. Though they were truly confused by the illusions, they still had horses. One got away, one was killed, and the party made a new friend while simultaneously asking to fight more golems.

Between the trail left by the fleeing horse and the new friend to guide them, the party quickly found the hideout of the barbarians. Some nice scouting and planning efforts were destroyed by the worst battle tactics since Hannibal and his elephants. Nonetheless, by dividing the total barbarians into two groups, the party prevailed.

They freed a girl, Maura, from a hellish life since she had been captured. She beheaded the "friend" barbarian that was tied to a tree, and then went on to take care of the rest. The party also found a door. It was iron.

The barbarians had tried to hack it down, but they did not think to dig down. The party did, and the door opened. They felt small for the entire place, it was obviously built for someone much taller than them. But when they went inside they found it was a well kept, well lit area. The first thing they encountered were the paintings of them, which they did not expect. Some were nice poses, some were battle ready, some were tasteful nudes. Then they meandered into a room with a pentagram and some book on a pedestal. They did not investigate that further, instead moving to another door. There they found themselves trapped inside another painting and battling black knights, but not for long. Then they found the way behind them would not open, so they pressed on.

They found themselves in a bitterly cold room surrounded by battle penguins, which charged with their lances by sliding on the ice. The party bravely killed all the penguins. They then sat down on the ice to rest on the 6th day of Eleasis, planning to go into the next door on the 7th.