Here we go again, another wacky recap...

Present for this game...
1) Todd (DM)
2) Justamere (Warforged with a thing for helping gnomes) (Tony)
3) Yattannee (Human Tribal Druid) and a "bandit spy"(Brian R)
4) Yoric (Half-Elf Sorcerer) (John)
5) Zathrus (Kobold sorceror) (Tim)
6) A "bandit spy" (Mike)
7) Rhiannon and Grimtooth (The crazy wolf girl and her pet wolf)(me)
8) Nailghus (Human Monk)(Chad)

Also, present but not there is RL: Westfur Jones (Book loving Human)(Ashby), Kuric (Taciturn Half-Orc Barbarian) (Brian L), Zarrakaf (Turban wearing scout)(John S), Crispin (Human Holy man)(Christian), and the Feldrin the gnome (NPC).

The game started with Zathrus attempting to flee the moat house. He ran into an obstacle... the sunken moat. Not wishing to attempt the swim across with all of his equipment, Zathrus began to circumnavigate the moat looking for a shallow area where he can ford the river.

The main group continued to ransack the room. Rhiannon identified the fur rug as belonging to a winter wolf. Realizing its worth she spread it out and placed the following items in the makeshift sack:

Bag of Black Pearls
Signet Ring
Brass Candleholders
Green Man's Dagger with sheathe (Moathouse 15)
Green Man's Steel Ring Belt (Moathouse 15)
Green Man's Small Pouch Coins and a large eye (Moathouse 15)
Spectacles

Nailghus checks out the cabinet in the room and finds several articles of clothing, underclothing, and the like. There was also a cloak with an eye on the back, which Nailghus placed in his backpack.

Seeing the robe with the eye on it Justamere wondered if it was related to the "Order of the Eye" he had been told about by the gnome (although he did not reveal his source of information). The "Order of the Eye" was a monastic order that came to believe there was no order in the universe. Individual subjectivity came to be valued over objectivity. Instead of good and evil as absolutes provided by the natural order, morality is entirely dependent to sentient interpretation.

Rhiannon then tore apart the bed looking for more loot. She found none and complained that there was always something under the beds in the stories.

Nailghus then checked out a half-open book that was lying on the nightstand. He could not understand the language it was written in, but was almost drawn in by its evil power. He quickly slammed the book shut. Rhiannon asked if she could read it, which caused Nailghus to shout "NO!"

At that point it was decided that the book should be burned (since it was literature of a questionable nature). Rhiannon was still holding a produced flame, and attempted to set it alight. However, the eye on the book's cover opened. Under its gaze Rhiannon found she could not bring herself to set it alight.

Nailghus flipped the book, but was chagrined to find there was an eye on the other side. Yattannee then attempted to stab it with his scimitar but found himself unable to strike the blow.

Nailghus threw the winter wolf skin over the book. Rhiannon (who wanted the skin), put the bedsheets over the skin and grabbed it from underneath. At this point Yattannee managed to stab the covered book with his scimitar. It immediately began spurting a bright red blood, which is quite unusual in a book. Rhiannon stated it was "the second bloodiest book she had ever seen".

Around this time Justamere realized his (stolen) horse was outside where the dragon might be. So he decided to go bring it into the keep.

Meanwhile, Zathrus heard a low rumbling (like may feet) coming his way. Not wishing to wait he chose discretion as the better part of valor and ran back towards the moat house. He passed Justamere, who was going the other way (towards his horses).

Justamere eventually came across Hesir of Wotankeld riding his (stolen) horse while leading the others. He was attempting to stay ahead of over 30 bandits who were either chasing him or running from pursuers. When he got to the sunken moat, the horse reared and threw him. Justamere and Hesir navigated the horses across the sunken moat and Justamere helped Hesir back on to the horse (after an argument about who's responsibility the horse was). Justamere then slapped the horses flank sending Hesir off towards the moathouse in a semi-controlled gallop.

Justamere then decided to hide himself by lying down in the moat. Not needing to breath he hoped the group would pass him by without noticing him or trampling him to death.

About this time the group began to notice the commotion outside. Nailghus looked out the window and realized that there was at least thirty men headed towards the keep. The group quickly decided to make their way to the arrow slits, where they would attempt to defend the keep from the approaching bandits.

Being a realist, Nailghus realized that with his injuries from the previous battle that he was unlikely to survive. Rhiannon realized it too and wished to ensure he would survive. So she told him to make a break for it down the side passage. For his protection she sent Grimtooth with him (which would have the added benefit of ensuring Grimtooth's safety as well).

Justamere barely avoided being trampled by the thirty bandits, when he realized another group was coming (abeit somewhat slower, without the benefit of the magic road). Not wishing to trust his luck a second time and hoping that they were potential allies, Justamere chose to stand up and introduce himself to the second group. They militiamen around him were startled by his bizzare appearance, and their leader came to question him.

The militia itself was mostly village folk, but their mounted leader was something different. Dark skinned and dressed in dessert robes, he cut a dashing figure on his mighty Arabian steed. He accepted Justamere into his ranks, but not into his full trust. Specifically, he declined to tell him that he had managed to place two spies among the bandits, who would let the militia in when they inevitably closed the gates.

Hesir beat the bandits to the keep, and led te horses directly into the main hall. He quickly dismounted and joined the group which was rushing to the arrow slits.

Only about half of the group had made their way to cover when the bandits entered the courtyard. They were split into three groups of nine, each with a mounted goblinoid leader. Leading the entire company was a human riding some form of horse-sized dinosaur.

Thinking quickly Yoric charmed the leader of the group with his magic. He told him "prepare for the assault behind you", before ducking into the hallway with the arrow slits.

The commander ordered his men to do just that, confusing them. The confusion grew when Zathrus used a magic scroll to cast a sleep spell on a group of the bandits in the middle ranks.

Nailghus and Grimtooth made the leap from the wall into the moat. Nailghus began to head down the road when he saw the militia ahead. Speaking to the commander, he explained the situation inside the moat house and requested a healing potion so that he could join the fight. The leader gave him one, and quickly downed it (restoring his vigor). Not wanting to endanger Grimtooth in the coming battle he told him to "Stay", which the wolf did, then filed into the militia’s ranks.

Meanwhile, Zathrus cast a spell to spook the bandit horses, while Kuric the barbarian made his way to the keep wall. Hoisting a large barrel of Alchemist Fire he had located in the storerooms below, he brought flaming doom down on a group below.

Yoric continued play with the minds of the bandits, using a message spell to transmit threats to them, telling them that they were "doomed".

Not knowing entirely what to do and not having anywhere else to go, the two "spies" flanked the moat house door.

About this time the militia reached the moat house. Justamere ran ahead of the group, and took aim with his crossbow at the nearest bandit. His highly accurate shot stuck the bandit straight in the chest. He only had time to say "Oh, this is inconvenient" before falling to the ground.

Unfortunately that was not a bandit, but one of the noble's two spys. The second spy attempted to aid his comrade, but was quickly cut down by Justamere as well.

Around this point the group began to unleash arrows and sling stones at the bandits. Yattanee, Rhiannon, Westminster Jones, Crispin, Zarrakaf, and even Feldrin the gnome helped with this effort. With the leaders charmed or barely able to control their own mounts and entire groups of bandits sleeping or on fire the bandits quickly devolved into chaos.

Unable to put up a defense the bandits continued to fall before their attackers. Kuric and Hesir leapt into the courtyard from the wall above and began dealing death as only two barbarians can. Nailghus used his martial arts to great effect. Only Justamere was felled by his attackers.

At this time the remaining bandits were rallied by their dinosaur-mounted leader and lead into the main hall. However, Yoric lured them close by the door where he was, and used a burning hands spell to severely injure them. Some bandits did survive the spell and continued to flee into the moat house.

Nailghus, trained specifically to protect nobles, paid his debt of the healing potion back by feeding another one of the potions to the noble who had gone unconscious from battle injuries whilst still mounted on his war horse.

By the time Rhiannon bored of slinging bandits to death and entered the courtyard, there was almost no one left to fight. The group did manage to claim the two remaining bandit horses.

With the battle won (and huzzahs all around), Todd ended the session for the night.

Hope you all enjoyed the recap! As always just let me know if you have any corrections or additions in the comments.