"The orb with the bisecting line: perhaps that could be a planet or a moon and its equator?  But what is it resting on?  It’s a shame that the base is cut off.  The handle to the left (if he’s orienting it properly, which is only a guess, after all): maybe that’s some sort of latch?  And the entire top half hinges up?  But still looking for similar astronomical or astrological signs seems like the best way forward for it.

 "Then there’s the spiral.  Well, if it really spirals around on all sides.  Again, it’s such a shame that it’s cut off.  Oh, do you see?  I thought at first it was symmetrical, but it isn’t.  Not quite.  You see?  There are the four circles in the center, and the four lines leaving: one per circle.  Those lines curve around widdershins mostly half way around, then take a sharp jag to the right, then angle back on a straight line.  Well, we have to assume that this is true for the line starting at the southwest circle; but it does seem likely.  But then the symmetry ends.  The line starting at the southeast circle comes to the end of that straight segment, and stops.  The one starting at the northeast stops the same way, but then there is a disconnected horizontal line near it.  The one starting at the southwest has a quarter-circle arc and then another straight line segment.  And that might be true also for the one starting at the northwest – again we’re missing too much to tell for sure.

 "I’m tempted to think that the basic figure is some sort of starting point for an alphabet or word symbolism, and that changes to one or more of the spiral arms denotes different sounds, or different meanings.  Presumably there must be some way of telling which way to orient the symbol.

 "I’ve never seen either of these two before.  The bisected orb looks similar to some of the astronomical symbols I’ve seen in other cultures, but certainly isn’t an exact match for any I know.  And the spiral is completely unlike any kind of writing I’ve ever seen before."

When we ask him who else we might ask, he says, "Well, the hall of records has who knows how much in the way of old parchments and tomes in its storage rooms.  Perhaps you could get permission to search through them.   But really that seems like a tremendous effort for very little chance of success."

Dragon 6

We go to the Hall of Records.  The clerk, Eulala Strikes says we can go in to the dead archives for 1 gp per person per day.  Kes, Jenna, beri, Artes go in.  It's a mess.  After spending all day there the four estimate it'll take between fifty and one hundred days to properly search the entire dead archives.  {4gp}

Dragon 7

Back in the Hall, Jenna casts Locate Object and narrows the area to a 10' cube which contains the "astrological" symbol identified by the sage.  No others are found. Afrter six hours a parchment is found which no one can read but Artes copies it.  The parchment sheet under it appears to be in the same language, so they copy it, also.  Then leave.  {4gp}

Dragon 8

The next day we go back to the sage and show him the copied sheets.  Meanwhile Jenna goes back to the Hall of Records and looks through that one stack carefully, but doesn't find anything else {1gp}.  The sage sayis it's in a dead language from Milsfyd.  He suggests going to the capital city of that country, Greater Woodknife, as scholars there do still sometimes use the language in their researches.  Milsfyd is off to the Northwest, on the other side of Wailwey and Quidson. 

Asking around, we find that there is no direct contact with Quidson, let alone Milsfyd; but that there are frequent trade trips to and from Wailwey.  One of the caravans we'd turned down for guarding was going there.  We ask around and find that another will leave in seventeen days.  Usually merchant caravans take about eighteen days for the trip.  More asking around, over games of Hawk & Herald or Draughts, provides the information that ten days is a reasonable travel time for a small group not burdened with caring for wagons, etc.  We decide that ten days is better than thirty-five, and plan to leave tomorrow.

Dragon 11

13:00 

Four humans come running at the group very fast, with longswords out, wearing studded leather.

1.  Kes starts singing Inspire Courage, shoots at X-1, misses; Zora swings at X-2 and hits for 16, miss; Artes dismounts, then swings at X-3, criticals for 11; Ulfgar swings at X-1, hits for 10, 10, 13; Ben shoots crossbow at X-2, hits for 8; X-1 hits Ulfgar for 18; X-2 hits Zora for 18; X-3 hits Artes for 12; X-4 charges Artes for 15; four more run up from behind the group; Beri casts Fireball on X-6 & X-7 for 34, thinks they are moving like Barbarians in Rage, has her horse take her 100' out to the side; Jenna dismounts and casts Bane on all but X-3 and X-4.

2.  Kes, still singing, dismounts, swings at X-5, misses; Zora hits X-2 for 19, 20; Artes swings at X-3 for 5; Ulfgar on X-1 criticals for 34, misses, hits for 14; Ben swings at X-6 for 5; X-1 hits Ulfgar for 18; X-2 hits Zora for 17; X-3 hits Artes for 17, Artes falls down; X-4 moves to Ulfgar and hits for  12; X-5 hits Kes for 12; X-6 hits Ben for 12; X-7 missed Jenna; X-8 hits Jenna for 13; Beri casts Summon Monster III and gets a Celestial Black Bear, which charges X-5 but misses; Jenna runs to Artes, suffers AoOs for 25 from X-7 and X-8.

3.  Kes tumbles away from X-5, stops singing [Inspire Courage will expire top of round 8], casts Shatter on X-5's sword, which shatters; Zora swings at X-2 for 18, 16, kills; Artes bleeds 1 hp damage; Ulfgar swings at X-1 for 37, kills, attacks X-4 for 12, 12; Ben criticals on X-6 for 16, tries to ride away by leaping over X-6, but horse balks; Barbarians stop Raging; X-3 charges Ulfgar, Jenna AoO for 7, but misses; X-4 on Ulfgar misses; X-5 draws crossbow; X-6 on Ben misses; X-7 charges Bear for 7; X-8 charges Zora but misses; Beri moves to line up three Barbarians and casts Lightning Bolt on on X-3, X-4, and X-8 for 25; Bear claws X-5 for 8; Jenna casts Cure Serious on Artes for 22, tells him, "Stay still!"

4.  Kes casts Shatter on X-6's sword but it saves; Zora hits X-8 for 16, miss; Artes obeys Jenna; Ulfgar hits X-4 for 14, 12, 11; Ben hits X-6 for 7; X-3 misses Ulfgar; X-4 misses Ulfgar; X-5 hits bear for 7; X-6 bloopers, drops sword; X-7 hits Bear for 11, kills; X-9 misses Zora; Beri casts Magic Missile on X-3 for 14; Jenna casts Cure Serious on Artes for 25, move 15'.

5.  Kes casts Summon Swarm on X-5, rats appear around him; Zora hits X-8 for 19, miss; Artes stands, draws bow, shoots at X-7 but misses; Ulfgar hits X-4 for 13, kills, hits X-3 for 14, 8, kills; Ben hits X-6 for 4, rides 60' away; X-5 moves out from rat swarm, takes 5 hp damage, shoots at Kes for 4; X-6 picks up sword and moveds to Kes; X-7 charges Ulfgar for 7; X-8 misses Zora; Beri casts Magic Missile on X-5 for 16; Jenna casts Shatter on X-8's sword, it shatters, moves 15'.

6.  Kes tumbles away from X-7 and casts Shatter on X-7's sword, it breaks; Zora hits X-8 for 20, miss; Artes shoots at X-5 but misses; Ulfgar hits X-7 for 16, 13, 18; Ben shoots at X-5 but misses; X-5 shoots at Artes for 4; X-6 draws crossbow and shoots at Kes for 3; X-7 hits Ulfgar for 5; X-8 backs up, Zora AoO for 12, kills; Beri casts Flame Arrow, but misses; Jenna casts Searing Ray but misses.

7.  Kes shoots X-6 for 8 and moves 30'; Zora charges X-5, hits for 16; Artes shoots at X-6 but misses; Ulfgar on X-7 hits for 18, 16, kills; Ben shoots and criticals on X-6 for 16; X-5 steps back from Zora into rats, Zora AoO for 17, rats do 5, shoots but misses Zora; X-6 bloopers and loses round; Beri casts Melf's Acid Arrow [through round 9] on X-5 for 8; Jenna moves 15', casts Heat Metal on X-5 [through round 13] for 0.

8. Kes's Inspire Courage terminates, shoots at X-5 but misses; Z steps 5', hits on X-5 for 15, 14, kills; Artes shoots at X-6 but misses; Ulfgar moves, then throws Axe at X-7 for 13, kills.

1,200 XP   running total:   20,275

Searching the bodies, find 7 still usable suits of good looking studded leather; eight light crossbows, five unshattered good-looking longswords, a total of 300 crossbow bolts, and 500gp on each body.

Ben casts Cure Serious on Ulfgar twice for 31 and 28, once on Zora for 28, once on Jenna for 27; casts Cure Light on Jenna for 12, on himself for 13, and on Kes for 12; casts Cure Minor on Kes (for 1) and on Zora (for 1).

Jenna casts Detect Magic, finds that the seven remaing suits of Studded Leather have a low level of magic; as do the five remaining Longswords. One set of armor goes to Kes, her old armor, and the others go into the Bag of Holding (BoH).  One longsword goes to each of Zora, Ulfgar, and Kes; the other two go into the BoH.  All the crossbows, all the bolts, and all the gold also go into the BoH.

Drag bodies off the road, then travel on down to the first place reasonable for making camp.  Set up by 14:00