Session 56

RETURN TO THE SAGE'S TEMPLE

Blackmoon 14-16, 4433

Characters:

Xénos, Assassin 5
Owen the Vitalizer, Cleric of Shang Ta 3

Uriah Sunstrife, Paladin of Seker 4

Salzige Brauen, Magic-User 4

Young Joe Spruce, Druid 5

Getorix, Magic-User 4

Cassia Tannin, Fighter 4

Finrod, Elf 4

To Question the Sage, Again

After dealing with some details in the Moonlit Zone and resting up, the group ventured westward to the Forgotten Village and then on to the Sage's Temple. They were not troubled by any passing foes during this time... the forest was ominously quiet.

They found the temple mostly as they remembered it, a tall rectangular structure covered in carvings, surmounted by a cupola dome. Scented smoke drifted from the shuttered windows, and it seemed deserted.

The party looked into the first level only enough to find the stairs upwards. They progressed through the top floor, discovering rooms both familiar and new. They were surprised by undead in a dead garden, but Phalaros' necromancy and Uriah's turning sorted them out quickly. 

After learning the undead command was of short duration and the creature would have to be destroyed in a few rounds:
Justin: "Just tell him to picture the bunny rabbits!"

They found the ritual room with a coffin of severed hands, but these proved more dangerous than before, animating and attempting to choke the group! They were turned and quickly sizzled in their coffin with several vials of holy water.

[The group visited some familiar rooms, no need to repeat everything. See the stories of the first visit]

The party found the three crone statues and attempted to trade their statistics, with some success [spending hero points helped here]. 

In a staircase room, they fought a brass soldier which was armed with a throwing discus, and had a sinister red glow in its eyes - the sage's guardians had been upgraded recently. This became clear when it exploded in flames after being destroyed! Salzige harvested a glowing, everburning magma-rock from the construct's remains.

The group ascended to the roof dome where they spoke with the False Sage, accompanied by nine more brass soldiers. Her manner was strange and unnerving as always, but things did not begin with hostilities. She convinced Finrod, Uriah, Getorix, Xénos, Owen, Salzige, Joe Spruce and Cassia to gaze into her moon-reflecting pool and experience a vision [Full report to come on these]. 

The only member of the party who didn't accept the offer was Black Phalaros, who had his own plans. 

Cassia asked "Show me your true face" and was greeted with a horrifying monster reflected back at her. As she was experiencing this vision, Phalaros carefully snuck up behind the False Sage and delivered a touch attack with a rigor mortis spell, paralyzing her for half an hour.

The fight was on! Ominous red light began to shine from the brass soldiers' eyes and a tense battle developed with the party carefully trying to dance around the deadly but slow-moving automatons, while the False Sage was carried to safety by another two. Several were destroyed, but things reached a crescendo of danger when the purpose of the magma-rock cores was revealed: three statues opened their mouths and breathed jets of flame, enveloping most of the group in an inferno!

[Lord have mercy I wish I had taken a screen cap of this moment.]

When the smoke cleared, Owen the Vitalizer was unconscious and Black Phalaros was nothing but a charred corpse [coming all the way down to -20 hit points!].

While they had winged the False Sage with some arrow fire, her brass soldiers lifted her on to the reflecting pool and they floated up through the cupola dome, disappearing up into the night sky!

The party knew that the crucial moment had arrived, and chose discretion. They hustled out of the room ahead of the pursuing brass soldiers, with Joe Spruce heroically dragging Owen behind him under a storm of discus-fire. After reaching (relative) safety outside the Moon Temple, the group packed their treasure out of Room I and returned to Viridistan to offload all their loot, identify magic items, study their treasures and plot their next move!

Stay tuned for:

- Treasure, magic item & XP breakdown post

- Black Phalaros' last will and testament

- Moon visions for everyone

- Downtime thread!

Sessions 54-55

GILDED DREAM OF THE INCANDESCENT QUEEN

Blackmoon 13-14, 4433

One subjective day passed in Room I.

Characters:

Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 5

Robert the Swift, archer 6

Xénos, assassin 5

Uriah Sunstrife, paladin 4

Young Joe Spruce, druid 5

Getorix, M-U 4


The Floating Palace

[DM Note: This game is posted out of order because we are playing this group right away. I will post the adventures of Group 3 in the Undercity soon.]

The Wretched Company was called by the Behringer Knights to investigate a strange teleporter in the Moonlit Zone near their fort. They all stepped on and were whisked away to a magical sanctum inside a storm cloud on the elemental planes.

They were greeted by some magical butlers taking the shape of talking storm clouds. The group soon learned the structure was built by The Incandescent Queen, a monarch of the ancient world. They explored some guest areas: a large meeting room and guest bathroom with some leftover "cosmetics" (including a healing ointment). Two talking statues of robed women prevented the group from taking anything in their sight, but they returned to this room a few times later to make use of the healing goop.

One room was a huge ocean where they found some strange items, potions and some valuable-looking ancient liquor. They used the queen's boat to sail around and visited a hot springs, a coral reef where Daqqa-Jin harvested some pearls, and a natural hot spring bath.

Through another doorway they returned to the regular hallways. The group fought some more cloud butlers who accosted them. They entered a room filled with flames which proved partially illusionary. Daqqa-Jin and Uriah ventured inside and were protected from the worst effects by the magic of the hot springs they had bathed in previously. Beyond the flames they discovered a shrine where they claimed some golden candelabras and a holy relic constantly dripping blood.

At the same time, the group were accosted by Mr. Halls and Mr. Waits, strange celestial beings with the heads of animals. These odd creatures detected the scent of CHAOS on the group and launched into battle! After a tough fight that almost saw Joe Spruce killed by a Mr. Halls' magical staff, an Enlarged Robert kicked Mr. Waits off the edge of the palace and into the clouds, knocking his bow off the edge as well (too bad!). The group is able to take Mr. Halls' golden plate mail and magical staff though (good work with Stone Shape, Getorix).

The party continued onwards and fought a pack of skeletons in a jungle room. These undead emanated a poisonous aura, damaging anybody in melee combat. 

They decided the jungle was not for them, and returned to the hot springs, then to the bathroom to heal and rest. At this point the mild vibrations they had noticed under their feet for a little while became more and more drastic. It was decided that they wouldn't be able to rest properly anyway and the company pressed onward.

Player: "I think we need a bigger healing potion."

They solved a puzzle in the Hall of Primaries and opened up a great treasure room filled with strange objects and treasure, pocketing most of them. They spotted a statue of the queen with real jewelry, but elected not to loot it.

DF: "Uriah kisses the ring."
Justin, I think: "Hah, simp!"

The group fights some more miasma skeletons by leading them into a flame-filled chokepoint, then disposes of some strange radioactive butterflies. After seeing a room filled with black mist impenetrable to their vision, they decide to climb the stairs and investigate the second floor. The whole structure is shaking by now and shows no sign of abating.

They find a room with a teleporter which does not work for them! Perhaps something is needed to activate it? They come across a room with two more talking statues, which they are able to 'kite' around the central hallway so they can run through the room they were guarding. 

Progressing through a richly appointed spa room with multiple hot tubs, they find the queen's library and bedroom! The party loots some of the queen's books and her porcelain masks. The queen has a few strange mirrors in her room but the party leaves them untouched. Crucially, they find an invitation to visit the palace! 

They use the invitation to get past the talking statues and learn the password to the teleporter. On their way out they stop by one more room and discover the bodies of the Behringer Knights they were sent to find. With the palace shaking uncontrollably, the group drags the corpses to the teleporter and leaves.

Player: "Maybe the Incandescent Queen will offer us a job?"

Another Player: "Yes, your job is to DIE!"

Player: "... I quit."

DM - Not a moment too soon! It was a matter of a few rounds until the whole structure fell apart. Thanks for helping me playtest this adventure fellows! If you had any thoughts or feedback (too hard/too easy, etc), message me and let me know.

Monsters Defeated (5620 xp awarded):

Mr. Halls (2060 xp)
Mr. Waits (1490 xp)
22 miasma skeletons (1034 xp)
2 cloud butlers (1000 xp)
6 sunlight moths (36 xp)

Treasure Gained: 

pearl-handled daggers x4 

sealed bottles of ancient liquor x8

assorted pearls x3

large black pearl

glowing blue pearl

gold candelabras x4

surgical kit

old maps of the planes

javelins inscribed with lightning symbols x2

potion of youth x2

book: On Coming Forth By Night

rare books from queen's library x5

queen's mask collection x5

Mr. Halls' staff

Mr. Halls' armour

the bleeding cross

flame tongue longsword

potion of water breathing

potion (of levitation?)

queen's lorgnettes

After two battles with the undead, everyone has gained 2 Fear Points.
Robert the Swift has 14 fear points now, equal to his WIS score. Aaaaiiieee!!!

Session 48-51

AGAINST THE BAT CULT

Harvestime 5 - Goodgrove 18, 4433

Characters:

Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 5
Robert, fighter 5
Xénos, assassin 5
Uriah, paladin of Seker 3
Young Joe Spruce, druid 4
Finrod, elf 4
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4 (NPC)

After the garden party, the group returns to Viridistan and catches up on a few things: 

- Salzige is retrieved from the clutches of the Inquisition in a surprisingly cordial meeting. The guards with him didn't ask for anything. The sorcerer is missing a finger now, and tells the party about his harrowing captivity and what the Inquisition wants from the group. 

- The party blows some money carousing with their noble acquaintance Vasu Cervantes. A few mistakes are made: Xénos acquires expensive tastes and carousing now costs double for him. Cassia wakes up in the middle of Ugtargnt's temple, incensing the uptight priests with her inebriated blasphemy!

- Information is gained from two sages at the Shadow Market.

- The group spends time training and gets details on interesting quests from their mentors (more later, we wanted to jump right into the action on game day).

The Guild Quest

Robert and his comrades return to the Night Wolf Inn for their first Guild Quest. They meet up with Ms. Haven, a scarred veteran of many battles and high ranking Guild member. She lays out the situation for the party: the Guild group A Motley Crew have gone missing in Room IV and somebody needs to find out what happened to them and mount a rescue if possible. If the Wretched Company can solve the problem the first group were sent in to deal with, so much the better.

Before they leave, she gifts them some items that may be useful: a few potions and two amulets of tongues, used to speak with the room's denizens.

The party enters Room IV and searches the furniture, discovering two finely-made cutlasses which they take. Using the small sailboat provided they head north, seeking a huge island and the village of Tanaroa.

They reach Tanaroa on the second day of sailing and meet the friendly islanders who address them as "Wolfclan." The Guild has managed to foster friendly relations with the locals here. The party rests, buys supplies and gathers information about their quest and the members of A Motley Crew.

In the morning they set out with a local guide who takes them as far as the tar pits, a day's travel past the Great Wall. Daqqa-Jin's tracking skills come in handy and he picks up the trail of a group who passed through recently. It leads north into the hills, and eventually to a mist-shrouded cave entrance. The group descends!

The Cave of Mists

The company explores the cave and rapidly gets stuck into a huge pitched battle with bloodthirsty primitive cultists, accompanied by giant scorpions and a few members of A Motley Crew, now turned to evil!

Use of the Four Winds Bar and Entangle spells turns the battlefield into a giant area-denial zone, and even a pincer attack from behind cannot stop the group. They are able to capture Sebastian the assassin, and rescue most of the other captured Guild members before they can be sacrificed to the crude bat idol. Conylt the cleric does not survive, after fleeing into the lair of a demon deeper into the caves.

The party encounters THE LIZARD-LORD, a strange talking green statue, and pilfers a few gems, but the being seems unable to pursue them. Later, they will sneak around it to pilfer all its treasure.

After resting, burying some of their treasure and sending the survivors of A Motley Crew back to the Tanaroa with their guide. The sorceror Usucachi attacks the group at night with a summoned earth elemental, but is defeated (thanks to Young Joe Spruce's Call Lightning spell, which blows up the pistol he was carrying - oops!).

The party delves deeper into the caves. Bypassing the fly-demon with a holy symbol of Camazotz, they open the great doors into the lower level and enter... 

The City of Bats

The party explores the ruined city. They encounter degenerated, pale lizardmen and interrogate them. 

Many ghouls, mummies and giant bats are fought and much treasure obtained. Several similar-looking bat idols are taken - one from a giant scorpion, one from a mummy, another from a replica of the city. There are some close escapes but the group does well against their foes, deploying all kinds of tactics and avoiding traps with careful observation.

They cross a river of blood, explore ruined buildings, see a room filled with lava, and climb some pyramids. They find a man frozen in a block of ice, but can't think of a way to get him out. They fly over a (probably) trapped floor using the Four Winds Bar.

Young Joe Spruce catches some ghouls in an Entangle.

Thinking quickly, Daqqa-Jin kicks a sneaky mummy into a pit.

They meet a nereid named Ixcacolel, trapped in a pool of water, and give her the Bat Crown so she can escape her confinement.

Finally placing all four bat idols atop the great pyramid, the gate is opened to the inside. The group battles the final guardians of Camazotz, the DEATH BATS!

Xénos lines up a backstab on the biggest bat he's ever seen.

After a tense battle, these final guardians are slain and the sanctum of Camazotz is ripe for plunder. Uriah and Finrod feel ill simply entering this evil place, where reality itself distorts in a dizzying undulation. Ever bold and greedy, Robert the Swift pries the ruby-studded golden eyes from the great idol of the bat-god, and takes its obsidian teeth as well. 

Upon a sinister blue altar lies an artifact of great evil: the Book of Dreams, which describes the granting of wishes by human sacrifice. The group decides to take it and bury it, for now. Returning to the surface, the Wretched Company plans to rest and recuperate, and then perhaps the City of Bats holds a few more mysteries?

The Return & The Treasure Map

The group took up most of the treasure, buried the rest, and headed back to their boat. Scouting ahead of the group, on the second day Finrod spotted a strange nest of two giant spiders. Dropping flaming oil from above drove them from their nest, and then a barrage of ranged attacks caused them to speak, begging for mercy from the group. They were driven away and their gold coins looted.

Returning to Tanaroa, the Wretched Company was greeted by the locals, overjoyed that the cult of the Bat God was broken, and the grateful members of A Motley Crew, including Sebastian, whose domination by the forces of evil was finally over! The assassin was a bit miffed to see Xénos wearing his magical armour, but he reluctantly accepted that such was the price of fighting for the bad guys and - not dying about it.

Loading everything on the boat, they took an alternate route inland and returned to take the rest of their buried treasure, passing a few zombies along the way.

After loading up their boat so it was almost ready to sink under the treasure's weight, they scouted out the location marked on their snakeskin treasure map. In the wastelands stood a plateau with a crumbling temple to some forgotten god: scouting it out invisibly, Finrod spied a great black dragon resting in the courtyard, and flew away with all haste!

Returning to the Inn, the group got a message left by the Behringer knights: they have discovered a gateway to a ruin of the ancient world, and want the Wretched Company's help exploring it. Also, the war against the Mad King is escalating, and they need all the help they can get!

Their new weapon passes allowed them to stroll through the Great Wall checkpoint with ease. Thanks, Inquisitors! In Viridistan the group sold off their mountains of treasure, had their money changed to gold coins and identified their raft of magic items. Many future plans are being made. Many characters reached level cap. Lord Fesgate needs to rest and recuperate after the shock of too many fights with the undead.

What's next for the Wretched Company?

Some Weeks Ago:

A group of young and reckless adventurers disembarked from the Sea Ghost in Viridistan and sold off a mountain of trade goods and contraband, gaining much experience in the process. After training, they plan to investigate the Crimson Curse plaguing the city...

From The DM:

When I told everyone to come over for a one-shot game on Halloween 2019, I never imagined this game would make it to 50 sessions! Thanks for coming back again & again boys. We have plenty more thrills & spills coming up in the future!

Monsters Defeated (11642 xp):

2 sabretooth tigers (1020 xp)
6 giant bats (120 xp)
Pumacaja (AKA "bat-boy,") antipaladin (290 xp)
Sebastian, assassin (660 xp)
Usucachi, M-U (290 xp)
Conylt, cleric (660 xp)
42 primitive cultists (840 xp)
2 giant scorpions (380 xp)
earth elemental (2800 xp)
3 lizardmen (141 xp)
2 mummies (1720 xp)
13 ghouls (611 xp)
giant black widow spider (80 xp)
giant scorpion (190 xp)
5 giant bats (100 xp)
6 DEATH BATS (1740 XP)

Treasure Obtained (Total value something like 35,000 sp):

pile of silver coins (in chest)
pile of copper coins (in chest)
bronze shield
gold armlet
gold scepter
fire opals x5
lava rock heart of the bat idol (4500 sp)
Usucachi's spellbook (spider climb, magic missile, summon familiar, invisibility, darkness globe, locate object, ESP, stinking cloud, blink, water breathing, haste, wall of ice)
headband studded with pearls
golden ore chunk
marble urn
electrum ore (4x)
bag of pearls (11x)
gold and jade amulet
golden torc necklace
amulet of Camazotz (2x)
treasure map scrawled on a tattered snakeskin
potion (violently bubbling scarlet, with a tiny iridescent feather floating in it)
scroll of Neutralize Poison
Blizzard Bag
priest scroll (from Conylt)
assorted jade items: jaguar, egg, nose plugs
coins (500sp, 900 copper) (Xénos picked up)
granite bust w jewelry
57 gold coins (already split up)
potion (bright amethyst fluid with dark indigo specks) 
assorted jewelry (11 pcs)
priest’s bat mask 
golden goblets (2)
onyx skull 
magic sword w/ bat wing handles 
Bat Crown (given to Ixcacolel)
Bat Idol's gold & ruby eyes (5000 sp each!!)
Bat Idol's onyx teeth (16)
Book of Dreams [placed in storage]
Assorted magical weapons, armour & shields looted from foes

After fighting many undead, the group have gained 3 fear points each. Lord Fesgate seems to be acting erratically after so many harrowing encounters, and needs to rest!

Sessions 47-48

THE PARTY: CONCLUSION!

Harvestime 4, 4433

Cassia, fighter 3

Finrod, elf 3

Salzige, necromancer 4

Black Phalaros, necromancer 3

Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4

Robert the Unsociable, fighter 5

Xénos, assassin 4

Young Joe Spruce, druid 3

Uriah Sunstrife, paladin 2

Oddrick, cleric 3 of Odin

NPC - Lord Fesgate, Fighter 4

NPC - Vasu Cervantes, Fighter 2

The Inn is Under Attack!

A horde of creatures emerged from the woods and swarmed towards the Night Wolf Inn.

The Wretched Company sallied forth, along with several high-ranking Guild members to meet the foe and buy time for the Inn's employees and other noncombatants to get to safety. Deploying the Four Winds Bar and their spells, they cut through the enemy's ranks until the more powerful foes got closer, and then fought a delaying action for several minutes, eventually retreating into the Inn itself.

The Inn's magical defenses (a group of gargoyles in the shape of winged wolves) helped out, crunching through the weaker foes outside.

Meanwhile, Karakaël appeared in the tavern to report a horde of enemies rising up from below the Inn's cellars! The Wretched Company hurried downstairs to fight on this second front.

A horde of the same wretched creatures waited behind some locked portcullis gates. One of the 'leaders', a hideous and short fishlike entity, was able to speak. It addressed the party, asking for its "sister" Oolpoollib. The Wretched Company didn't know what to do, especially when the beasts produced several wood elves and a few unfortunate Guild members as hostages, including the young & helpless Ruby Stone!

The conversation was short and unproductive. The creature spoke harshly but cryptically about the Guild Master. 

Just when it seemed there was nothing anybody could do, terrible magics were unleashed. A few party members collapsed with crippling headaches while the monsters began to explode, unleashing a storm of blood & gore throughout the cellars. Waves of fire and lightning followed, destroying whole packs of creatures. The magical assault emanated from a stooped, cloaked figure leaning on a staff, surrounded by a dark halo of energy...

Was this the mysterious Inn Master?

Monsters Killed:

tons!!

Treasure Gained:

none

Experience:

[This is a "story award" for lack of a better term, based on character level and how many days of the festival characters attended. There was no opportunity to gain treasure, and the mass combat XP would have been divided among a huge number of allies. So this award is my thanks for showing up and trying out a different game session from the usual! This XP award is unique and breaks past training caps, just this once. It has already been added to your XP totals. - DM]

Cassia - 900 xp

Finrod - 900 xp

Salzige - 400 xp

Black Phalaros - 900 xp

Daqqa-Jin - 1200 xp

Robert - 1500 xp

Xénos - 1200 xp

Young Joe Spruce - 900 xp

Uriah Sunstrife - 600 xp

Oddrick - 300 xp

NPC - Lord Fesgate - 600 xp

NPC - Vasu Cervantes - 200 xp

Sessions 42-44

RETURN TO FORT BEHRINGER

Thistleburn 19, 4433

Characters:

Daqqa-Jin, Barbarian 4

Robert the Giantslayer, Fighter 5

Xénos, assassin 4

Uriah, paladin 2

Young Joe Spruce, Druid 3

Mardonius, Magic-User 3

NPC - Lord Fesgate, Fighter 4

NPC - Vasu Cervantes, Fighter 2

NPC - The Behringer Boys: Otto, Hans, Stefan, Leonhard

For Eric!

The Wretched Company (joined by the young daredevil Vasu Cervantes, and his M-U friend Mardonius) returned to the Moonlit Zone to liberate Fort Behringer.

With clever ploys they ambushed a starving gnoll patrol and drew a large part of the main gnoll army out of the castle. A flying Mardonius dropped flaming oil to sow chaos inside the fortress. At the right time, the party rushed an abandoned spot on the walls and climbed up into the fort, then Young Joe Spruce cast an entangle spell to further tie up the gnolls.

Xénos boldly followed the fleeing giant Kucmalog up the tower, Robert close behind. The assassin caught the giant in the highest rooms of the tower, but his strike fell short of causing instant death. Robert caught up in time to back him up and the troublesome moon-giant was slain.

The group was almost trapped by the gnolls, but decisive and bold action by Uriah led to a one-on-one duel to the death against their chief Trorgezz. The paladin prevailed [I don't know how! He was a 6th level monster with a magic weapon! Seker smiled on you that day. -DM] and the rest of the gnolls fled confusedly out of the fortress, hungry and lacking leadership.

The party swiftly looted the fortress, except a few ancestral Behringer pieces, and Daqqa-Jin flew back to Rauffe's camp to gather the troops. 

The group discovered a magic mirror and saw many sights with it including the real Sage of Lune, replaced by an impostor and imprisoned - on the moon?!

Meanwhile, Daqqa-Jin was leading the rebels through the forest when they encountered some black-robed priests of Uthummaos, whom he spoke to briefly before blasting them all with the Four Winds Bar's lightning.

The victorious party was visited by an emissary of the Carrion King, who congratulated them and provided a way to contact him in the future, since it seemed they were "going places."

The company returned to the Ruined Town in an effort to right old wrongs: they restored most of the missing pieces in the Solaris shrine (only a halo and some kind of large piece are missing). Daqqa-Jin proclaimed for Karttekeza, sacrificing a valuable black sapphire in an effort to replace the gems taken long ago, then turning the shrine's water back on, washing the evil mud that infested it away. The god's influence is spreading back into the world.

Liberation!

The group returned to the Forgotten Village and discovered it occupied by the Mad King's troops, and their ally Shandril held captive by the traitorous, one-handed sergeant Baran.

Xénos once again showed his skills, shanking Baran through a window as the rest of the group held his attention.

Mike, upon learning Xénos has 17 STR: "and they called him... the Creatine Kid!"

Shandril was rescued and a pitched battle took place through the city streets and fields. These troops were fairly weak and no match for the Company. After more than half their number were slain including all their leadership, the rest surrendered and agreed to join the rebel cause [great reaction roll!]. From now on, some of the flowers grown in the village would be skimmed off and sent northward to the rebels, while the rest go south to the Mad King's troops.

The group left with many new options, clues and plans, but first: selling treasure back in Viridistan!

Monsters Defeated (4229 xp)

Kucmalog, Moon-Giant (1560)

Trorgezz, Gnoll chieftain (680)

1 Gnoll sergeant (100)

10 Gnolls (470)

1 gray ooze (80)

4 moon-moths (284)

Baran (460)

19 king's troops (190)

3 clerics of Uthummaos (405)

8 clerics of Uthummaos (1080 - Daqqa-Jin only)

Treasure Found:

sack of gold coins (200)

sack of gold coins (500)

gold belt buckle (250 sp)

silver crescent blades (200 sp each)

gold ring, studded with diamonds (2200 sp)

7 LARGE silver trade bars (7000 sp total)

giant-sized platemail (4000 sp)

giant-sized shimmering robe (1200 sp)

finely crafted 2-handed sword (1000 sp)

gem-encrusted peacock pimp chain (2200 sp)

black sapphire gem (2000 sp)

altar-stone of solaris [replaced in shrine]

3 metal angel halos [replaced in shrine]

12 holy symbols [10 donated - 2 kept]

seal of uthummaos (magical) [kept]

scroll of protection vs. undead

gold dust of heroism

sparkling moon-moth dust (as web spell)

red & white luckstone

one-handed flail +1

Lion's Blade +0

giant's dagger (shortsword +1)

greatsword +2/+4, frost brand

giant 2-handed mace +2, 13 STR to wirld, casts knock 1/week

velvet jewelry box with fly candy (magical - from carrion king)

Treasure Shares:

100 gp, 3375 silver to each player character

50 gp each to Vasu and Lord Fesgate

[XP totals posted when I get back from work]

Session 30

THE RUINED TOWN

14 Sunstrong, 4433
multiple subjective days passed in the Forest of Dreams

Characters:

Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 3
Gorr, ranger 5
Eric Withakay, cleric 5
Young Joe Spruce, druid 2
Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2

Exploring

The party returned to the Night Wolf Inn briefly to rest & resupply. A juggling act was going on in the tavern, and some bizarre characters were hanging around - including a few anthropomorphic crabs, who didn't talk much. The group asked after Rain, but she wasn't around. 

They headed back into the Forest of Dreams, following Rauffe's vague directions from the lake of mist. They evaded a group of odd monsters that resembled 3' red bouncing balls with eyes, mouths and feet. Circling around, the forest became difficult to navigate - they were getting close to a Moonlit Zone! Walking along the edge of the dense trees, they came to the ruins of an old stone city.

Mostly wreckage, it was bisected by a crumbling 30' stone wall. Daqqa-Jin used his barbaric climbing skills to get up to a higher vantage point. He spotted a walled garden of the same glowing flowers found elsewhere in the forest, here crammed so tightly together that seeing details was impossible. They surrounded a pillared dome, and a small building with brass doors. On the other side of the wall, crumbling buildings stretched in every direction, while a few landmarks stood out. Two taller buildings, and an amphitheatre of sorts with a ring of seats.

The group checked out the amphitheatre and spotted another dog-headed gargoyle lurking there. With a swift pincer maneuver, the group got around it and their magic weapons made short work. They found a dead adventurer (obviously from the NWI) with broken legs, carrying a sack of copper and a few papers in an unknown language.

The group decided to explore the building with brass doors in the walled garden. The doors had a carving of the six-armed god Karttekeza, and they were reminded that the deity requested they restore his ruined shrines if they could find them throughout the world.

The Shrine

Inside was a dim room, a great peacock statue at the back. As Gorr lit some torches and candles, the statue's eyes glittered blue & green with precious gems! Two yellow levers on the wall stood out, and a narrow balance beam above a pit of muck.

Daqqa-Jin was brave enough to cross the beam and stepped on a pressure plate, triggering a pendulum blade which dealt serious damage. He made an offering of coppers and blood to Karttekeza, hoping for vengeance against his foes.

Meanwhile, Salzige summoned a skeleton and sent it down into the muddy pit to retrieve some items. It was pursued by ambulatory mud-men, formed out of the slime itself! He then sent the skeleton to pull one of the yellow levers - and in a puff of corrosive dust it collapsed, destroyed.

Many ideas & theories were attempted to deal with the mud-men, and the obviously trapped room. Eventually, another skeleton was sent down to distract the mud-men, while Daqqa-Jin, Gorr and Eric attacked them from behind. One mud-man jumped on Daqqa-Jin, destroying itself while covering the barbarian with sticky slime. He slowly fled the pit (his movement seriously impeded), while the other two considered their next move...

Monsters Defeated:

1 gargoyle (500 xp)
3 mudmen (141 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

11 gold, 10 silver, 270 copper (already shared out)
note on dead adventurer

Sessions 28-29

RUINS OF TANNOCH

Sunstrong 13, 4433

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 3
Robert the Impetuous, fighter 4
Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2
Eric Withakay, cleric of Solaris 5
Young Joe Spruce, druid 2
+ Lauriel, paladin of Solaris 2 (NPC)

The Crypts

Wraiths of long-interred sorcerors emerged from their funeral urns amongst an unearthly howling. Battle was joined and the group desperately attempted to hold their own against silver blades and magic. Lauriel the shade was brought low by a scimitar, dissolving into the shadowy substance of her world. Coughing from a stinking cloud spell, the group fled back up the stairs into the tower.

With Daqqa-Jin's sneaking and some tricky tactics, the party managed to not only retrieve the sword Dawnbearer but evade the rest of the wraiths and defeat two wandering, dog-faced gargoyles that had come to investigate the noise.

With these foes dispatched, a friend was revealed - Marta, the last member of the Order of Tannoch. The sharp-tongued nun insisted the group destroy the remaining monsters infesting the crypts beneath, else they would be deemed looters & bandits. Reluctantly the group agreed.

At the same time, another wanderer arrived: a robed Orichalan named Salzige Brauen, an explorer who got lost inside the Night Wolf Inn and found himself on the fog lake! He swiftly joined the crew and put his magical powers to use. 

Searching for the remaining enemies, the group explored the tombs beneath Tannoch island. An assortment of funeral goods were scooped up, including a nice red & white cross medal, which Gorr jauntily pinned on.

Parts of the dungeon were suffused with a distant, warbling song, though its origins were unclear. Many passageways were blocked with rusted iron bars, and sometimes Daqqa-Jin would use his barbaric strength to bend these out of the way with a metallic screech for the group to continue on.

DM: *in a falsetto* "The bars bend with a creeeeeak!"
Player: *laughs* "Please do that sound again!"

The group discovered the tomb of Raeldus I, the old king who had built many of the structures throughout the land. They didn't disturb it, perhaps thinking of the many other undead they've found in tombs in the past.

Various crypts were littered with the bodies of intruders and dead adventurers. Some were old skeletons, (each missing a hand) while others were newer and still carried some equipment. From these latter bodies the group took some scattered notes, a crude map of the forest, and a silver & jade key carved into a skull motif.

The tomb of Raeldus II was found, past a hallway filled with displayed armour. This tomb was already looted, and graffiti of every kind splashed about with paint or scrawled into the stonework.

Past a broken mist-filled room and an old knocked-down wall, the group found a strange statue or shrine: a faintly glowing red cross held up by winged snakes. It didn't seem to do anything, but more one-handed skeletons were found nearby. Through another set of bars, Salzige Brauen found an ugly stone idol, depicting a humanoid with wings and monkey's paws. It felt uncanny in his hands, but he liked it and took it with him.

They found a domed room decorated with a celestial motif of sun, moon & stars. The words "chant the song of the cosmos" were carved on the wall. Daqqa-Jin climbed up to touch one of the sparkling stars on the ceiling, and they came to life as sparkling motes of energy that zapped him with electricity, so the group fled!

Recovery & Success

The twinkling stars and a few more encounters with magic-wielding wraiths had put the group in rough shape. They rested up above in the ruined tower, asking Rauffe the lake-bandit to return for them with his boat in a few days' time.

They kept exploring the tombs, fighting a group of fiery bats in a cave, and exploring the mist-filled tunnels beneath the island. Salzige's help proved invaluable when his skeletal servitor fell into a crevasse to the bottom of the lake bed!

Returning to the dome of animated stars, Eric sang a hymn to Solaris while the rest of the group watched nervously. A distant grinding sound could be heard, and the mysterious music heard earlier was now louder. Wandering through the halls, the group found a secret door had now opened. Inside was a shield decorated with knights, resting inside a magic circle. It was definitely the source of the eerie melodies. When Robert brought it out of the circle, the song became more coherent - it was clearly many voices chanting in unison, and as he held it the music slowly faded away.

Player: "Yeah that was in the back of the hymn book, under one-hit wonders!"

Returning to Marta the nun, she confirmed that all the monsters in the dungeons had been eliminated. She offered one more challenge: if the group could bring new recruits to the Order of Tannoch so the order could perpetuate itself, she would offer them an oracle from the magical Oak of Cicollus. The yellow-leafed tree on the island was magical, and once every seven years it was able to answer one question with all the gods' knowledge.

Rauffe ferried the group back to shore and said they were always welcome as rebels against the Mad King. He pointed out another location to the east, past the lake: a ruined city beside a Moonlit Zone that might be interesting to the group.

Monsters Defeated:

2 gargoyles (1000 xp)
5 wraiths (875 xp)
10 firebats (380 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

25 gold (already distributed)
9 pieces of jewelry, some very nice
4 silver scimitars
grotesque idol
singing shield
various notes, a map & a key from dead adventurers

Session 27

LONG-DELAYED RETURN

12-13 Sunstrong, 4433
6 subjective days passed in the room wilds

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 3
Robert the Swift, fighter 4
Eric Withakay, cleric 5
Young Joe Spruce, druid 2
Lauriel, paladin 2 (NPC)

Old Friends

Eric Withakay had recovered from his brush with death. With a few days of casting spells he was able to cure Robert the Swift's (multiple) curses and heal the group's injuries, bringing the team back up to full strength!

The group proceeded into Room I - The Forest of Dreams, intending to track down the bandit group that might lead them to Reymund the Pale [Session 6 downtime]. They proceeded to the Forgotten Village where Eric was able to make his tithes to Solaris, burning a few bricks of incense and the three candles looted from a flying demon on the Sacred Mountain [Session 17]. As the candles burned down, bright greenish gems were revealed inside before being consumed in a holy light.

Eric felt as if the celestial displeasure he'd been feeling for a while was greatly reduced, although not eliminated. Perhaps Istus the Colorless was still bent out of shape at the cleric's defection to another religion? 

John: "Oh yeah, you just go out for 'a few adventures with the boys' and then what happens?"

As a reward for his devotion, Eric was granted some one-use spells and a vision of two ruined shrines that Solaris wished restored: one in Eralion's keep, now cleared of monsters; the other further away in the ruins of another town. In addition, Shandril's young protegé Lauriel was now a crusading warrior and insisted on accompanying the group on their quest.

The party ventured towards into new territory in search of the bandits. Following a trail of golden bell flowers, they came to the shore of a vast grey lake of fog.

The Witch

They found a group of shades lairing in the ruins of a fishing village with a crooked stone dock. These were the "bandits" they'd heard so much about, who turned out to be rebels against King Wakelinus. Their leader Rauffe became quite friendly once he heard Gorr speak a curse on all kings, reasoning that none of the Mad King's servants would do that.

They spoke on many topics with Rauffe and learned that he couldn't take his boat out on the lake anymore due to the depredations of a "witch" - the party agreed to try and defeat her.

Searching for this witch took a few hours of walking along the shoreline. The party spotted a golden light dancing & bobbing in the "water" - calling out revealed it to be a maiden wearing a shimmering white robe, with sparkling golden hair. A strange oddity.

She introduced herself as Damascena and all the adventurers who looked upon her were enraptured by her beauty. Only Lauriel was immune, and disgusted by the situation to boot!

Damascena seemed to take a liking to Eric right away. When she learned the group had defeated two of the land's shadow demons [Session 12 and 14], she gave them a magical sword called Dawn Bearer as a reward! They enjoined her to leave Rauffe and his men alone, and she agreed to do so in exchange for Eric promising to visit her again.

On the way back to Rauffe the party spotted a group of eight noble-looking beasts - unicorns! It is known that they are wild creatures of the Moon and will only suffer the touch of the virtuous. At Gorr's suggestion, Lauriel approached and the paladin was accepted near them without complaint. After a few peaceful moments, they heard a distant sound and ran off.

[Lauriel has gained +1 morale for this experience - good thinking!]

Rauffe was pleased to hear that the threat of the "witch" was gone. He explained much about the legendary Moonlit Zones where he thought his men (including Reymund) were imprisoned, and their terrible guardians.

He and his men planned to row out onto the lake to Tannoch Rest-of-Kings, an island of tombs tended by an order of nuns since the days of the Old Kingdom. They hadn't been heard from since the great calamity befell the land and anything could have happened in that time!

The Island

The small rock jutting out from the fog was surmounted by a crumbling, ruined tower. An ancient oak tree with yellow leaves (exceptional here in this drab land) was the only other landmark.

After calling out and almost being hit by a projectile from an unknown assailant, the group decided on a stealthy approach, circling around the other side of the island. Gorr threw up a rope and the group ascended, checking out the tree and tower. Both Gorr and Joe got strange impressions from the tree - as if it were not evil, but surrounded by it, bent under its weight.

Daqqa-Jin climbed up the tower with a rope in his hand for his friends, and got into a fight at the top. A 9' tall, bloated, corpulent humanoid shade, its only weapons were iron nails in its fingers! A good shot from Robert and the barbarian's own axe sorted it out. The group spotted another of the beasts attempting to flee inside the tower but Robert and Gorr brought it down in a hail of missiles.

Three small birds alighted on the tower when the fighting was done, and spoke to the group. They knew much of the history of the place, but were easily frightened by any action.

Progressing down inside the tower, most of it was ruined. The group found the corpses of the poor nuns and recovered some silver treasure [helpfully detected by Dawn Bearer].

Progressing downwards into the catacombs beneath the tower, the party entered a room lined with burial niches where broken pottery crunched underfoot. They were ambushed by four more of the ogrish shades right at the entrance, and the battle got intense. Daqqa-Jin pulled out his Horn of Blasting to dispatch the creatures, but with great collateral damage. The entire back wall of the mausoleum was smashed, showering shards of pottery, grave goods and the ashes of the dead around the room - and releasing the spirits of the dead within, who emerged with a sepulchral howling!

Monsters Defeated:

6 shadowy ogres (312 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

silver plate set [3 items]
Dawn Bearer

Treasure Cashed In:

3 greenish candles from the Sacred Mountain
[These were just monster trophies of an unknown value when they were tithed by Eric. Since the gems inside were discovered in the process, it's only fair that everyone gets a share of treasure XP for them.]

Session 22

A TRADE IS MADE, AND FURTHER GARDENING

Warmshade 18-20, 4433
About a day and a half passed during the session.

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 4
Robert the Swift, fighter 4
Suba-Jin the Three-Handed, cleric of Hextor 4
Young Joe Spruce, druid 2
Xénos, spy 1
Lord Fesgate, fighter 3 (NPC)

The Hand Off

Eric Withakay was resting up after his brush with death. In the meantime, the group met up with a Viridian named Xénos, a distant contact of their old companion Two-Faced Humphrey.

After getting a letter from Lothos at the Dragon's Eye Inn [last session], the group debated their next move. Should they inform the Inquisition, or lead them astray? Finally they left a message scheduling a meet with Lothos the next day at a nearby dive bar amusingly called Cold Beer. At 9 bells the group sat down in the taproom smelling of coffee & local brews. The proprietor Dirman Green-Hand bustled between tables, telling stories & laughing with his customers as he delivered their drinks.

A cloaked figure sat down near them, garbed & masked as a priest of Nephtlys. He introduced himself as Daetris and seemed to be elven. After confirming that the group had recovered the treasures from the sacred mountain [a few sessions ago] he passed along an envelope and left as quickly as he arrived.

In the letter, Lothos asked them to meet at sunset in the center of the Bridge district, in a beer hall called Metod's where the exchange would take place. Meanwhile, Xénos tailed Daetris back to the Street of the Gods and into Nephtlys' temple, a great black stone sphere. Inside were many priests all dressed & masked alike, making it impossible to tell who was who.

Suba-Jin & Gorr went to Seven Visions and asked Zvezdana to identify his strange metal weapon [obtained last session] and get a history lesson. 

They gleaned a few clues:

- Demonology in the Empire has a long history. It has come in & out of favour over the years with the ruling classes and the sorcerors of the Gloaming Tower. Currently it is suppressed by the Inquisition who attempt to block magic-users' political power at every turn. Still, it is never clear what the nobility are up to, especially since every Viridian Emperor is usually a powerful sorceror - Emperor Hautulin Seheitt being no exception!

- The monster with two ape-like heads and tentacles for arms is the demon lord Ahmon-Ibor. The last time it appeared in the mortal realm was a battle called The Demon Siege, a millennium ago: Tharbrian raiders and hosts from the City-State of the Invincible Overlord were stopped by the Imperial Legion assisted by Gloaming Tower wizards. They summoned a horde of demons led by Ahmon-Ibor, who so devastated the enemy that the City-State resumed paying its tribute and the Tharbrian hordes never again rose to challenge Imperial dominion.

Ahmon-Ibor

That evening, the group walked through the poverty-stricken slums on the Bridge. They almost collided with an ugly old crone pushing an evil-smelling cart of ancient jars, but let her pass on by without incident.

The centre of the Bridge was a wide-open square with no buildings across its entire 200' width. Hustlers, gang members, drug addicts, panhandlers, mutants & other lowlifes clustered around the area under the uneasy peace enforced by the vicious Bridge Gangs.

Metod's was a loud, dim beer hall frequented by poor Tharbrians. Long trestle tables ran the length of two floors. Songs & clanging cups rang out from the already-drunk patrons. The group posted up in a back corner and ordered a few strong brews - the local favourite "Centaur Melter" was particularly potent!

After half an hour, the party was joined by a group of four armed elves. The leader wore chainmail and a holy symbol of Nephtlys. After some curt greetings and a few questions (which Robert declined to answer) they got down to business, paying the agreed sum and a bonus. Suba-Jin also sold off the two glass globes filled with liquid time essence.

Before departing, the elves' leader relayed a rumour heard from Targnol port: a distant contact named Komang who put the group onto the robbery of Philotheos Sten's mansion [way back in session 2!] had been found dead in the gulf, his body horribly beaten & scarred. Whoever did it had clearly tortured him beforehand. Who knows what this means?

The sound of a brawl beginning downstairs could be heard and both groups decided to make their exit.

Back To The Mansion

The next morning, the group met Sesto and shuffled into Cliffside with his crew. They resumed exploring the gardens surrounding Issachar Dimorites' mansion.

They battled a large pack of mandragoras in the garden passages. After striking down many and entangling the rest they interrogated the survivors, demanding treasure in exchange for their lives. The mandragoras pointed to their statue: a broken & defaced noblewoman holding a child, garlanded with flowers. Gorr searched it and found a silver necklace with a peridot gem under the garlands. One prisoner led the group to a root-choked sinkhole in the ground, indicating more treasure was down below before Robert shooed it away.

The group climbed down and began exploring the tunnels beneath the gardens. They investigated an unfinished tunnel with a bricked-up doorway, and met a group of 12 plant-women searching through the rubble of a storage room. They claimed that Issachar was their master and demanded to know the group's purpose here. The party's excuses fell on deaf ears. After protesting their good intentions, the plant-women gave them something else to do: their mistress Eilitheya (one of Issachar's wives) was a prisoner of Dushan's Dervishes. If the group could free her from captivity, the strange women would be grateful.

In a tunnel smelling of decay & rotting meat, they were set upon by surprise. A blur of white limbs & flesh struck down Lord Fesgate before anybody could react! It was a mountain of corpses raised into foul unlife, striking with its poorly-assembled limbs in all directions. Suba-Jin attempted to banish it with Hextor's power but the creature was too strong. A tense pitched battle was waged with Gorr and Robert swinging their axes and Joe Spruce throwing holy water while Xénos dragged Lord Fesgate to safety. With a deafening crash and a blast of smoke, Suba-Jin drew his Dragoon and blasted the abomination (only four shots left...). With a ringing in their ears the party saw it collapse under their assault into its component parts.

The group shook off the sense of doom that the undead monstrosity had induced (+1 fear point). Searching its disgusting lair revealed a heavy golden disk stamped with the word "DIMORITES". With one of their number badly hurt they decided to withdraw. On their way out they encountered another pack of mandragoras in the shadowed statue-garden, between them and the exit... 

A gentle word of caution from your DM:

I obviously use some well-known monsters, magic items, etc. in this campaign. Still, few things are as they seem. Don't assume that well-mined gaming tropes and old familiar D&D standbys will be the same in this campaign world. If you don't focus your attention on the clues you get at the table you may go astray and reach the wrong conclusions! Players to PM me the phrase "Fifth Head of Cerberus" will receive 300 bonus xp for reading this. [expired] Carry on!

 

Monsters Defeated:

9 mandragoras (351 xp)
1 mass of corpses (1060 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

silver peridot necklace
golden disk

Treasure Sold Off:

strange magic painting & golden cup (300 gold)
2 crystal spheres of time essence (80 gold)

Robert: 63 gold, 3 silver
Suba-Jin: 63 gold, 3 silver
Gorr: 63 gold, 3 silver
Regetus: 42 gold, 2 silver
Meep: 21 gold, 1 silver
Eric Withakay: 63 gold, 3 silver

Eric Withakay has reached 5th level!
Lord Fesgate has reached 4th level!

Session 20

THE WIZARD'S GARDEN

16 Warmshade, 4433
A few hours

Characters:

Gorr, Ranger 4
Robert the Swift, Fighter 4
Eric Withakay, Cleric 4 of Solaris
Suba-Jin the Three-Handed, Cleric 4 of Hextor
Young Joe Spruce, Druid 2
Lord Fesgate, Fighter 3 (NPC)

The Aftermath

The group was exploring the gardens of Dimorites the sorceror, overgrown with carnivorous plant creatures and other strangeness.

They headed north from the koi pond through narrow passages in the hedges. They first came across the remains of a battle: seven human corpses being picked through by a dozen of the gnarled root-men, who jumped to attention when the party arrived.

"We Mandragoras! This is our meat! You stay away!" one of them buzzed.
The group was trying to defuse the situation when Eric Withakay heard a faint, pained groan coming from the pile of bodies. One of them wasn't dead yet! While Young Joe Spruce attempted negotiations, Eric crept towards the sound to investigate.

One of the Mandragoras stood next to the body, guarding it from Eric. It seemed worried he would take its dinner.
"This is bad meat, fire-meat. If you eat it, it'll burn you!" warned Eric, and cast Light on the body.

Pandemonium erupted as the flash of light terrified the Mandragoras, who ran into the hedges with a chorus rasping cries and the shuffling of leaves. In moments, the group were alone with the corpses. They began a search and found a sack of 500 silver coins with strange markings: a woman with a crown on one side, a snake and a mask on the other, and the word Zur'Gonath. A few assorted low-value gems were found as well, and a spinel gem that seemed of decent value. All the dead men wore leather armour and had simple hand weapons. Strangely, they all had crude masks made of Papier-mâché or even twigs & leaves.

Eric assisted the groaning man who was only barely alive. After some healing magic the fellow managed to sit up and talk. He introduced himself as Joktan and asked the group what they were doing here:

"We're the backup. We just arrived, they said you would fill us in" prodded Gorr.
"With a priest of Hextor?" He looked skeptical. "Well, all right..." Joktan groaned out his tale of woe. "We got in here a few weeks ago with the magic door, from the neighbours' lot. We didn't expect all the monsters. We got pinned down in the baths and can't leave, because Petemnesthes the Lunatic has the key and nobody can find him! Sandar and Behrouz can't agree on anything, and we're being picked apart by the mirror-men!"
"What are those?"
"Didn't your mother ever tell you the story? They live on the other side of the mirror, and if you're bad they come for you. Never thought it was real... until now. They only hunt humans, that's why we wear these." He indicated his mask.

Joktan was able to walk, and offered to lead the party to his gang's hideout since they helped him. They were called Dushan's Dervishes, from the Bridge neighbourhood.

They didn't have to travel far. Back on the lawn, the party ran into a dozen armed thieves. They put their weapons down and stopped to talk once they spotted Joktan with the group. They confirmed what he'd said: the Dervishes were stuck in the gardens after their break-in went terribly wrong, and had barricaded themselves in the sorcerer's opulent bath-house.

The party offered to show them an exit and they followed along with interest to the grotto of sad black stone statues [see last session]. Robert the Swift insisted they blindfold themselves, which they were unwilling to do. After a tense moment that almost came to blows, the Dervishes shrugged and turned around, leaving the way they came.

"I never liked those guys anyway," said ME the piglet. "They're the ones who locked me in that shed in the first place."

Just to cover their bases, the group backtracked and warned Sesto's crew that others might be coming out the way they came in. Suba-Jin wrote on the wall above the stairs: "Go down the stairs, talk to the lookout, he'll get you out."

Exploring Further

The party progressed southwards toward the huge mansion (more like a palace) looming over the hedges. They entered an overgrown, scented garden, crammed with plants of every type colour & description. The trees and undergrowth obscured visibility except for a few narrow paths. The sounds of bees & tropical birds could be heard.

They immediately spotted a dark green statue of a bearded man holding a book, wearing the fine robes of a Gloaming Tower wizard. As they approached, a voice boomed: "Welcome visitors, to the manse of Issachar Dimorites!" Getting closer, they saw carvings around the base that someone had tried to scratch out: "Lord Issachar Dimorites, 4261."

They came to an artificial river of clear water running in a stone trough. Young Joe Spruce took the opportunity to look around for any plants that might be useful: he found a day-lemon tree, and harvested 15 of the fruits. When cut open they glow with a soft inner light, and are worth a few silver each. The others planted various seeds they were carrying with them.

A feline snarling from the south interrupted them. Two strange beasts emerged from the undergrowth: black & green panthers with huge bat wings and scars zig-zagging down their heads & backs. The group formed up for battle, and Joe Spruce's entangle spell caught the rear panther in its tracks. Meanwhile, Lord Fesgate was almost swallowed whole when the lead panther split almost completely in half, revealing itself to be a giant toothy mouth on legs! This one fled and the entangled one was dispatched, and the group was able to move on.

Next they came to a marble pavilion with a birdbath in the centre. Three giant butterflies flapped around, drinking from the birdbath or settling on the furniture. Suba-Jin approached and managed to distract one with a divine cherry [from back in Session 4]. The other two flew at him and he was paralyzed by the sparkling dust from their wings. One settled on him, licking his face with its poisonous tongue! The group came to Suba-Jin's rescue, shredding the butterflies with a hail of arrows & stones. After a few minutes the feeling came back into his limbs and he could move again.

The pavilion itself was held up by carved pillars. The floor was arranged into a mosaic of cavorting monsters, while the roof depicted a stern wizard launching blasts of lightning & fire from his hands and the word DIMORITES underneath.

Suba-Jin investigated the birdbath. It was dark green & yellow marble with a small jet of crystal-clear water bubbling in the center. He was the only one of the group willing to take a drink - immediately turning invisible! He bottled some of the water for later.

Outside The Mansion

The group decided to venture south, since the main structure was now very close. Passing through a narrow gap in the overgrown plants they were finally beside the huge mansion, over four stories high. They could see a wide pillared porch facing them, and another above it on the second floor. From nearby, they heard... singing?

An 8' tall blue man in voluminous robes was walking back & forth on the porch, strumming an oud and singing. His powerful baritone carried an otherworldly song, the melody and the language both alien to the group's ears. He stopped when approached and introduced himself as Marzaman of the East Wind. He said he had been summoned here to bless a wedding between Lady Lorca Dimorites and Lord Aeolus Adrestus. Something had gone wrong and the wedding could not be completed. As a result, he had been stuck here for one hundred years! 

"Look for yourselves," he indicated the grand doors behind him with a wave of his hand, holding a glittering gemstone plectrum. "Through the chapel, in the grand hall is the wedding reception. You'll see what I mean."

Who is this enigmatic blue man, and what secrets does the mansion hold?

Monsters Defeated:

1 winged panther-thing (820 xp)
2 giant butterflies (142 xp)

Treasure:

500 silver coins w/ odd markings
4 assorted small gemstones
1 nice spinel gem
15 magical day-lemons

Session 11

A RUDE AWAKENING

3rd-12th Longrass, 4433

Characters:

Young Joe Spruce, druid 1

Gorr, ranger 3

Robert the Swift, fighter 2

Suba-Jin, cleric 3

Meep, dwarf 2

Eric Withakay, cleric 4

*****

[DM's Note - Sorry guys, I waited too long to write this report because of the holidays & assorted things. My memory of the session is now a bit hazy. If I missed anything or got any details wrong, let me know and I'll correct it.]

A Night at Seven Visions

The gang blew a ton of money on gambling, wine, women & song. Most held their liquor, except for Robert and Joe. Their encounters with the courtesans of Seven Visions were bizarre & psychedelic, becoming ever more dreamlike and surreal as the night progressed, eventually becoming terrifying psycho-sexual dramas - their innermost fantasies come to life. Each was thoroughly scarred by the experience [gaining 1 fear point] and afterwards could never be sure how much was real and how much a bad dream, nor exactly how things ended.

During the night Fred, the last man-at-arms in the service of Young Joe Spruce, was overcome with fear at his companions' deaths and deserted the company.

In the early hours of the morning, while sleeping off their night of partying the group was ambushed in their beds by knife-wielding assassins. These rough-looking men with faces covered, wrapped in layers of ragged finery could take serious punishment. They were high on a drug called BLACK, the same tarry substance found hidden in Morthevole's shop. One of them was subdued and gave up Morthevole's name before he died of his injuries when the drug's effects wore off. Robert's arm was injured badly in the fight and would require a few weeks of bed-rest to heal.

The establishment's madame Zvezdana Ozi apologized for the mistakes of her security force and told the group she would compensate their next stay. Women, drinking, drugs, whatever they wanted. She used her occult knowledge to identify the ancient golden shield Suba-Jin found [a shield +1].

About Town

The group ran a few errands. First they found a jeweller in Hightown named Tibor Stefandis, who was wealthy enough to buy the ruby they found in Morthevole's basement. They settled on 370 gold pieces, a princely sum for a single gemstone! Stefandis recognized the ruby's design, and told them a strange story about it:

"This is a legendary gemstone. The Ruby Heart of Sanghé Shriwar the Slicer, a goddess long-ago fallen out of favour in the city. She was sometimes depicted as a beautiful dancing-girl in an overgrown garden, sometimes as a multi-armed vision of terror & destruction. She was associated with the moon, and vengeance. The center of her worship was in the Riverside district amongst several noble families. They may yet live in that area, but their fortunes have now fallen along with hers."

The group visited Morthevole at his shop in the Nest and sweated him (after fighting some albino monkeys on the way). He admitted that the "blackthroats" (as such addicts are called) came to his shop, and he sent them after the group for an easy score. Suba-Jin rubbed the last does of BLACK on his neck, and the group swept his shop before leaving him thoroughly terrified. 

To the Night Wolf Inn

Reasoning that it would be a great way for Robert to recover, the gang headed for the Night Wolf Inn, to rest up in the Forest of Dreams where time passes more swiftly than in the normal world. After a cramped (subjective) month in the Inn room, Robert's arm had healed up and the gang had mostly recovered from their encounters with undead in the crypts below the city [everyone lost 2 accumulated fear points].

At fighting strength, the group pressed on further into the forest. With Young Joe Spruce in their group, navigation was easy and travel swift. 

Returning to their allies in the Forgotten Village, they learned of more activity in the ruined castle of Eralion the wizard: a pack of ravenous shadow-hounds had been raiding from within the Moonlit Zone!

Venturing back inside that dark & cryptic region, they heard the baying of these spectral dogs in the distance but never encountered them. Creeping into Eralion's keep once more, they spied a man of elemental fire dancing madly in the courtyard. Defeating it with a combination of magic weapons and holy water, they suddenly heard the great doors of the chapel below their feet begin to creak open...

*****

Monsters Defeated:

Man of Flames - 370 xp

3 Blackthroats - 107 xp

Treasure:

40 silver pieces - 40 xp

3 gold pieces - 30 xp

selling off the Ruby Heart - 3700 xp

TOTAL:

91 xp each for this session

617 each for those who found the Ruby Heart

Many of you leveled up after last session. As usual, once you return to a safe area (in this case, the room's furniture) and rest a day, you can gain the benefits of your new level. Some of you had the experience after selling the ruby, but we ended last session in the middle of the action, so it doesn't make sense to do your levels right now.

Session 10

MORTHEVOLE'S CELLARS

3rd Longrass, 4433

Cast:

Gorr, ranger 3
Suba-Jin, cleric 2
Robert the Swift, fighter 2
Tullius Jr./Sir Karavon, fighter 3

Eric Withakay, cleric 3

Young Joe Spruce, druid 1

Ted, Fred & Ned, men-at-arms

New Friends & New Adventures

The group followed up a lead from the Church of Hextor: a down-on-his-luck merchant was asking for help. Joined by Young Joe Spruce, a druid in the city for the first time. Accompanying him were three men-at-arms, bound into servitude for a month for trespassing in the forests (for two of them, the servitude would be much shorter than that!).

The group met Morthevole the merchant and asked for information. He gave them the key to his shop and a crude map of part of The Nest. Gorr took a short detour to the pleasure-parks and boulevards in the south of the city to plant one of Grandfather Tree's acorns.

Entering the Nest is like walking into a dungeon. The borough is almost completely sealed off, with only three well-known entrances. Buildings stack on top of each other, blocking out the sun and rendering it a dark & confusing three-dimensional maze. The group startled a few prostitutes as they wandered, but saw no other living beings. They were able to follow their map and not get lost.

The Tunnels

The group explored Morthevole's dingy pawn-shop which had been cleared out in a hurry. They found a crack in the basement wall, leading into some rough limestone caverns, hewn into the very rock the city rests on. These tunnels were low & cold, filled with ancient calcifying skeletons stowed here long ago for unknowable reasons.

The first encounter was with some feral, emaciated humans resembling ghouls or vampires, with yellow phosphorescent eyes and sharpened canines. These ragged beggars lost their nerve after a few casualties, and were chased down & slaughtered to the last. The group descended further and searched through many rooms, fighting some undead priests with knives instead of hands, and turning over many ancient skeletons slick with minerals, stacked or sitting or sometimes piled haphazardly wherever they would fit. 

In a small shrine, they found a bronze statue of a buxom woman called Shriwar the Slicer. Behind it stood a chart of the world's three moons (Sky-King, Vanis & Howla) in relation to each other, showing certain conjunctions and alignments. Robert the Swift narrowly avoided death when he attempted to gain the trapped statue's treasure, but with Tullius Jr's assistance a glittering ruby was recovered from its chest.

At the bottom of the vaults, the group lit two skull-lamps with scented oil to open a great iron door. Inside, they disturbed a group of 12 knife-skeletons and were set upon by a strange foe: a skeleton with glowing crystal bones, which drew the very breath from poor Ted and Ned.

A Conversation with Morthevole

Returning to the merchant led to a few clues. He was endlessly grateful for the party's help, and they learned that the tarry substance found in his shop was called BLACK, an addictive substance rubbed on the throat, producing an energetic high and sense of self-confidence. He kept it in case of shakedowns: when black-throats come visiting, one had better be prepared to give them something. 

Gorr asked about the myserious amulet recovered from Eralion's keep: Morthevole recognized the symbol as one used by a local gang called the Coffin Masters to mark their territory.

The group pressed Morthevole to keep his shop open to them if they needed to fence stolen goods, or find a place to hide out. He seemed nervous about the prospect but reluctantly assented. He recommended a few out-of-the-way places to lay low for a while, since the group were nervous about the wanted posters they'd seen around town.

Night in Viridistan

The party visited the burning-ghats, at the base of the great bridge. Priests of the fire-goddess Kale Kala with sooty orange robes conduct cremation rites there for a fee. Joe Spruce paid 40 silver each for Ted and Ned to be prepared, while Suba-Jin and Eric administered a warriors' last rites - the latter stumbling over the liturgy, as he had only learned it a few days prior.

From there, they took back streets to Seven Visions. It turned out to be a well-appointed, upscale whorehouse. Soft music, plush carpets and incense pervaded inside. The madame, an elegant Tharbrian named Zvezdana Ozi whose office was decorated with appalling pornographic paintings, said she could rent rooms & provide any entertainments desired - and was herself a sage, well-versed in many topics of inquiry. The gang laid their money down and got ready to enjoy themselves while hiding out!

Monsters Defeated:

14 feral beggars (70 xp)

2 knife-ghouls (142 xp)

12 knife-skeletons (156 xp)

1 glowing crystalline skeleton (350 xp)

Treasure: 

270 gold coins (divided during the session)

silver comb (650 sp)

scented lamp-oil (240 sp)

ancient amphorae of camphor oil (1440 sp)

old ritual headdresses (nobody seems interested in buying these)

Total - 388 sp each

Treasure Kept: 

hammered gold shield (Suba-Jin kept)

crystalline bones (still glowing faintly)

corpse's hair (detects as magical)

Shriwar the Slicer's ruby "heart"

Carousing:

Robert - girls 100 sp

Suba-Jin - carousing 270 sp

Eric - carousing 300 sp

Gorr - carousing 1000 sp

Joe Spruce - carousing/girls 400 sp

The results of carousing will be detailed next session.

EXPERIENCE TOTALS:

Party To-Do

-Suba-Jin reached 3rd level, Eric Withakay reached 4th. A few other characters are spitting distance of leveling as well. Gorr might be close to leveling, but I don't know how much XP he needs (Chris, please send me a chart).

-The first 3 people to contact me with the passphrase "Yredelemnul" will get 250 bonus xp. [Expired]

-For each encounter with undead, your character's sanity is affected. Many members of the group have accumulated 2 or 3 fear points by now.  Once your Fear equals your WIS score, you suffer a blow to your sanity.  These points are not easily removed: for 20 days (one Imperial month) spent in a calm, civilized setting without any danger or strenuous activity, you may remove 1 point.  How you manage this mechanic is up to you.