Moonday, 13 Iudicon (late spring), 1043 CY

Thena: new Ollo: full
High: 74 Low: 59

To begin with, the characters were called by Loris Raknian, the local tailor of their hometown of Tira's Gift, to the Glass and Wine, a tavern owned by the mine manager, Chaum Gansworth. There, the characters were introduced to one another:

• Panfalcon Strifelaughter: a Unionist halfling paladin; just arrived in town looking for a place of solitude to reflect on recent life events in the halfling homeland, Halrae.
• Zinnanonna "Z" Moonshadow: an eladrin wizard; apprentice to the local wizard, Allustan.
• Daveth: a human bard; employed at the Emporium as a relatively low-level entertainer.
• Regdar: a human rogue; a vagrant and a trouble-maker.

Raknian explained that an old friend of his had recently contacted him asking for help, and that he chose the characters because he recognized some heroic qualities in them. Shortly thereafter, a goliath sorcerer from named Oneus Earthmane entered and Raknian hailed him as the one in need of some assistance. Oneus hailed from one of the nomadic goliath tribes that frequented the nearby area at regular intervals throughout the year. He explained that he was the descendant of Voran Earthmane, a goliath sorcerer who built a keep where he could experiment and conduct his arcane research in peace. When the massive Tear of Infinity fell from the sky and carved out the valley-sized gash in the hills known as Tira's Fall, Voran's keep was destroyed, leaving only the ground floor and the subterranean laboratory. Voran survived and escaped with many of his creations, except for the greatest one, the staff of earthen might, an item that drew strength from the earth by channeling power from the Elemental Chaos. Oneus claimed to have discovered the site of his ancestor's keep and asked the characters to search the ruins and if possible bring back the staff of earthen might.

It seemed a relatively minor task, except that Panfalcon had heard that caravans passing near the old King's Wall that bordered Tira's Fall and (more importantly) the area Oneus claimed the keep was located had been coming under attack by "frogmen" for the past two weeks. The rumors were noteworthy in themselves, but also interesting was the fact that the nearest swamp was two days away to the south, so "frogmen" were rare in these parts. Raknian said he had heard the same rumors, and confirmed rumors that Mayor Lanod Neff was offering five gold pieces for each frogman killed. The sheriff was rumored to be gathering men and the mercenaries seen around lately to go out and collect on the bounty, but nothing had been done yet. Tempted by the bounty, and at Raknian's urging, the characters agreed and set out for the keep.

With Oneus's directions, the characters found the keep without trouble, and once there found the ruins bogged in mud, where six frogmen squatted with crude weapons, croaking in lazy inattentiveness. At this point, Daveth and Regdar identified the "frogmen" as bullywugs--savage and destructive humanoids that were little more than a blight on the world of life. The characters successfully surprised the slothful bullywugs, but were soon in a fight for their lives; the croakers went down easily, but the huge muckers had a penchant for knocking the characters prone, while the nimble twitchers hurled javelins from afar. It took a great deal of cunning (and healing by the paladin and bard), but eventually the fight was done. The characters, weary from their first taste of real adventure, returned to Tira's Gift for rest.

While there, the characters decided to stop by the office of Mayor Neff. There, they found six of the mayor's cronies dicing in his waiting parlor and when they attempted to speak with the mayor regarding the six bullywugs they had killed, they were told they would need to make an appointment: "the mayor is a very busy man." They were told the earliest that the mayor could see them would be in eight days. The characters were about to leave when Regdar decided to try throwing dice with the mayor's men, wherein he lost ten gold pieces (but, a little pick pocketing got him fifteen gold pieces, so a net gain after all).

The characters then decided to spend some time gambling at the Emporium, the very popular (and equally garish) casino, whorehouse, and freakshow in town. Regdar tried to play Three Dragon Ante and Going to Remington, and lost more money. Panfalcon indulged in a small amount of gambling and also lost. Daveth wanted to sample the more erotic pleasures of the Emporium's famed Veiled Corridor, but found the prices to be prohibitive for his limited income. He was about to run across town to the bordello, the Midnight Salute, but Z admonished him and he instead decided to retire for the night.

After a day of fighting bullywugs and a night of gambling and revelry, the characters settled in for a good night's rest.