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!!!

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]

Sessions 37-38

THE SLAUGHTER AT THE TOWERS

Thistleburn 6-11, 4433

5 real days passed during the sessions, including 10 subjective days in the Forest of Dreams

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4
Robert the Unconscious, fighter 5
Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2
Xénos, spy 2
Uriah Sunstrife, paladin 1
Cassia Tannin, fighter 1
Black Phalaros, necromancer 2
Finrod, elf 1
Clif, elementalist 3
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4 (NPC)

Battle For the Towers

The party was trapped in a moonlit zone prison tower, surrounded by a small army of gnolls and their leader the moon-giant Kucmalog. 

Investigating the ground floor brought the attention of two animated statues. Their stone surfaces were hard to crack, and Robert shattered his magical Executioner's Axe during the fight! The group opened up another prison cell and fought two werewolves. They rescued five knights of the Behringer family in the process, swelling their army's numbers further. 

The party negotiated with the moon-giant and convinced him to open the doors of the prison. At that point, battle was joined! Kucmalog laid down terrible strikes with his enchanted sword and called curses on the group, blinding Daqqa-Jin and Hamon and turning them invisible. His gnoll squads swarmed around the tower and a pitched two-rank battle was joined at the doorway.

The slaughter was terrible! Almost 30 gnolls driven mad with hunger, fear and rage, pressing forward with halberds. Occasionally one would stop to chew on a downed foe, or even one of their own number. The party led them into a trap with flaming oil, blinded them with the fireworks of the Four Winds Bar and then battled them nose-to-nose with the help of the Behringer family knights. 

One by one the party members were knocked out, blinded or otherwise incapacitated until only Uriah was still fighting. Just when it seemed like the gnolls might push through, the rest of the shades arrived from deep inside the tower, alerted by a flying Xénos. Picking up the fallen gnolls' weapons, the 100-strong rebel army pushed forward, slaying the ravenous beasts to the last.

The group was in possession of the field, but still in a tricky position - most of them were knocked out or crippled, the clerics were out of spells and several Behringer knights and shade soldiers had been killed in the battle. 

Even so, fate was with them. Other than a small pack of snarling gnolls who did not attack, the party was not molested on their way out of the Moonlit Zone and back to the rebel camp by the lake. 

Rauffe welcomed the group with all the hospitality he could manage. A great meeting took place with the rebel leaders and the party, with everyone sharing their stories and trying to piece together events. Reymund the Pale agreed to make an extraordinary bow for Gorr, as soon as a workshop can be assembled for him (costing about 8000 silver). Rauffe happily presented Daqqa-Jin with a glass lantern filled with ethereal fireflies as a gift for rescuing so many of his men. 

The party was asked to assist the rebellion further: 

-- The surviving Behringer knights want to recapture their ancestral home from the gnolls, but they need help.

-- The two priestesses are convinced something is wrong with the Sage of Lune - she has gone mad, or been possessed, or something! They want to cure this ailment and turn her back to the path of good, rather than destroying her for allying with the Mad King.

After being outside the moonlit zone for a day or so, the moonlight curse faded from Daqqa-Jin and Hamon. The party rested up, dealt with some logistical issues, brought some equipment in for the rebels and then headed out.

Back in the Night Wolf Inn tavern there were some interesting people. Uriah signed up to the guild for cheap, because he was broke. A ventriloquist was doing a spicy act about the Emperor. Some guild members were mourning a fallen comrade, others were preparing for a mission. A blue-haired elf in black chain named Karakaël was friendly and voluble. He was interested in the party after hearing they had found their Four Winds Bar behind the clock in the library. News of the group's success seems to have spread amongst other guild members.

The group returned to Viridistan to sell their loot, train, identify items and carouse.

New Arrivals

Meanwhile, the party who had recently raided the Vault of the Warlord in the distant north [see the special play report a while back] finally made it to Viridistan with their revived friend St. Nolan, patriarch of Seker. After Black Phalaris gave him back his Staff of Healing, he was so happy that he removed the curses afflicting the group from Warlord's gold.

After then paying to have the cursed gold itself un-cursed, the Vault crew still had 50,000 sp of trade bars left (!!!) which they split up into equal shares. 

Other details were figured out: Gorr had his madness healed with a Cure Disease spell and a cursed item removed by the church of MAN-PAC. Spellcasters dealt with their mentors and got new spells. Party members identified items, traded equipment and sorted out who could use which intelligent weapons.

With new alliances formed, the group agreed they would call themselves THE WRETCHED COMPANY.

To carouse as much as they wanted the group headed up to the Cliffside district, to the Sign of Olive & Lotus. Finrod charmed the gate guard, who was happy to let them pass with an invitation to join them for a drink later. At one of the most expensive joints in town, the group got ready to take some richly deserved R&R...

[More details on rumours, mentors etc. coming in DOWNTIME POST.]

Monsters Defeated:

28 gnolls (1316 xp)
1 needlebeak (190 xp)
2 werewolves (380 xp)
2 caryatid columns (560 xp)

Treasure Gained:

firefly lantern
friendship

Treasure Sold:

topaz eye gems (2*1400 sp)
sapphire eye gems (4*900 sp)
robes with gold thread (1800 sp)
cursed mace -1 (0)
vacuous grimoires (2*1000 sp)

Money Gained:

most players noted already

Xénos - 585 sp gained after carousing costs [see next post]

Session 36

HUMANS, COME OUT TO PLAY...

6 Thistleburn, 4433
about 1 subjective hour passed during the session

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Robert the thrice-cursed, fighter 5

Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4

Xénos, spy 2

Uriah Sunstrike, paladin 1
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4 (NPC)

The party was in a Moonlit Zone tower, being shot at by crystalline guardians disturbed by Daqqa-Jin's horn of blasting attack [last session]. After a single hit from their lasers, Gorr's madness overcame him and he went berserk! He slid down a staircase in a stone coffin steered by Daqqa-Jin, risking a lethal fall, to crash into the enemy [a lucky attack roll by John averted disaster here]! They defeated the crystal beings, but not before the maddened ranger was clubbed unconscious by their glassy fists.

The party regrouped with their shade allies and progressed further down the tower. They defeated a pack of demonic winged heads with judicious use of a net to rescue more shades, and liberated some from a room with cages full of angry black birds. They spoke with two Lune priestesses who were happy to heal the group and help out. These two also relayed some details regarding the last days of their order, the Sage of Lune's behaviour, and the moon's alliance with Uthummaos.

While crossing a bridge between the two towers, the group spied a telltale light down below. Daqqa-Jin flew up with the Four Winds Bar and saw a pack of two dozen gnolls, led by a tall, luminous figure that could only be the moon-headed giant, Kucmalog!

The barbarian got the giant's attention and engaged him in conversation. The giant clearly wanted the group out of his prison, and probably fed to his gnolls too. This chat lasted long enough for Robert and Lord Fesgate to bash down the bridge door, bringing their crew into the second tower.

With Robert in the lead, the group explored the larger tower swiftly. Many rooms were populated only by monsters, all of which were flesh and blood beings instead of shades. Packs of needlemen, birds and spiders were all seen. Two knights known to Lord Fesgate were rescued: Otto and Hans Behringer, and the three began catching up immediately. Five other knights were stuck in a cell with two werewolves, but nobody wanted to open it right away - although Otto & Hans insist that their relatives should be liberated as well.

At the top of the tower, three frightening creatures waited in a hot magma-filled cell, this one NOT frozen in time: horned humanoids from the waist up with long red snake-tails. In exchange for their freedom, the entities offered the party some elemental ice gems called Lemcienee inside their cell. Nobody was sure about letting them out just yet.

Trapped and in need of a plan, the party discusses their options. They have many shades with them, but the gnolls are tough foes. And who really knows what a moon-giant is capable of?

Thus ends year three of the campaign. 

Thank you all for playing, I'll see you in January for the beginning of YEAR FOUR!

Monsters Defeated:

7 crystal guardians (665 xp)

11 vargouilles (1298 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

4 gemstone eyes

Prisoners Rescued:

45 regular citizens

24 rebel troops

Geroldus Estieveran, noble knight, shade
Ysmena & Helouys, Lune priestesses, shades

Otto & Hans Behringer, noble knights, flesh & blood men

Session 35

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE

Thistleburn 5, 4433
A few hours passed during the session.

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Robert the Swift, fighter 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4
Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2
Xénos, spy 2
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4 (NPC)

The party continued their talk with the Carrion King. It explained a few more details about the moon-headed giant Kucmalog & discoursed on his magical items. A flaming sword and a magical mirror, apparently one of many that exist in the kingdom. Then it gave a dire warning about a dangerous location in the moonlit zone. The creature also offered to trade any one of his magic items in exchange for Salzige's hideous, nightmare-inducing idol.

The group moved on, following the Carrion King's directions. They came upon a guardpost with moon-gnolls who were willing to negotiate and were interested in the group's plan to open up the prisons. The leader of the gnolls agreed to take the party to the prison towers in exchange for eating anybody they found inside!

Gnarg the gnoll and five of his troops accompanied the group, with one needlebeak. They ran into another gnoll patrol at a circle of standing stones, and there was a standoff. A few of these gnolls joined the group looking for easy food, but the others wouldn't come along - they declined to attack their comrades, letting the group leave after a tense moment.

The Prison Towers

After Gnarg helpfully relieved the gnoll patrol that was circling the towers,  the group had the run of the place. The front doors could be easily opened, but the group used the Four Winds Bar to fly up to the floating mini-tower. 

They saw a symbol & altar of Uthummaos and an investigated an old stone coffin, decapitating a corpse in there and taking some treasure. Then they were accosted by a terrible wraith, demanding they swear fealty to King Wakelinus and Lord Uthummaos! Gorr was having none of that, and struck the altar with a mace.

Gorr: "Fuck Uthummaos and fuck You!"

For his defiance, the ranger was blasted by yellow laser-beams from the sinister wall carvings!

As the guardian spirit attacked, Daqqa-Jin spoke the command word "Azerix" to activate another power of the Four Winds Bar, unleashing a blast of deadly lightning in every direction! It did terrible damage to the insubstantial creature but harmed the group as well: Xénos, Salzige and Lord Fesgate were all knocked flat! Gorr managed to grit his teeth through the pain (and pass his WIS check, keeping a tight hold on sanity for the moment) enough to splash the monster with holy water.

The creature was defeated, but at serious cost: Lord Fesgate got knocked unconscious but was alright with a bit of healing. Xénos barely survived a lightining-induced heart failure, and would be near-useless in a fight from now on. And Salzige lay in a coma, totally unresponsive...

The party unlocked the nearby cells, rescuing many shades from the time-prisons. They met a nobleman Lord Almery IV and his entourage: Hamon, Ranulph and their quarry, Reymund the Pale! They had to battle some giant snake-creatures called Jaculi to rescue some of the rebels, who suffered a handful of casualties. They threw down the Jaculi's corpses for Gnarg and his friends to eat.

Lord Almery was overjoyed at the rescue. He suggested they clear the tower in case more rebels were imprisoned further below.

Inside the smaller tower, Daqqa-Jin destroyed mounds of crystal with his horn of blasting, which shivered and broke apart from the stress. From the remnants of the crystal formations crystal golems emerged, blasting at the barbarian with scintillating energy beams. The whole group retreated back up the stairs, pouring lamp oil to cover the retreat. 

The situation as it stands:

7 crystalline men inside the tower are chasing after Daqqa-Jin
8 gnolls and 1 needlebeak led by Gnarg wait on the ground for more food
a handful of rebel troops have weapons, the rest are unarmed

Rebels Rescued:

40 rebel soldiers (5 died)
Hamon, the Unbreakable
Ranulph, the Silent
Lord Almery IV
Reymund, the Pale

Monsters Defeated:

13 Jaculi (247 xp)
1 Uthummaos' guardian (300 xp)
9 giant moths (342 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

2 topaz "eye" gems
robes embroidered with gold thread
ornate mace of strange aspect

Session 34

I SURVIVED A MOONLIT ZONE...

Thistleburn 5, 4433

7 subjective days passed inside the Forest of Dreams

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5

Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4

Robert the Hard Pressed, fighter 5

Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2

Xénos, spy 2

The party fled from the disastrous attack on Fort Behringer [last session], pursued through the moonlit zone by a pack of gnolls led by a half headed moon-giant! After several gambits and tricks including some airborne hijinks with the Four Winds Bar, the group escaped the gnolls' pursuit and reunited with the lake men and the bandit Rauffe, who was sad to hear of Eric's demise.

They returned to the Forgotten Village, where things seem to have declined. Arlen the magistrate was slowly degenerating, Baran the guard-captain was nowhere around and Lauriel the paladin had fallen in combat. Shandril the priestess of Solaris was the de facto leader of the village now. 

They held a sad funeral ceremony for Eric Withakay. The last original member of the party, the silver-tongued orator (or maybe he just got lucky) who had rallied the citizens of Drydale against the witches [yep, all the way back in session 1, three years ago] was dead. A crusader for good who had sworn his oath to a deity from this strange realm and championed its people. After being poisoned in Issachar Dimorites' mansion months ago, death held no mystery for him anymore. At the end of the ceremony, a blinding light flared from the Crucible of Solaris, and Eric's body was gone - transported to the arms of Solaris for his final repose.

After reuniting with their shifty pistol-wielding ally Xénos, the group rested, re-supplied and turned right around towards the moonlit zone, not even stopping to chat in the Night Wolf Inn.

They entered the forest through a different route, passing over a swift-flowing river of fog. They fought some giant carnivorous flies, and progressed towards a ruined tower nearby.

Outside the ruined tower, they spoke to a strange sickly-looking bird with a glowing white aura, like the ones the moon-gnolls kept caged. It called itself Ip-Ip, asking for food. It explained that the tower was the domain of the Carrion King, who lived there with a swarm of giant flies. The party fed it more and told it where to find some giant fly carcasses to feed on further, and it hopped along.

Daqqa-Jin entered the tower, and met the Carrion King himself.

This bizarre and unsightly creature was friendly & civil, eager to talk and bargain. He offered to trade with the party for gems, magic items, living captives, or secrets. The group traded him two secrets:

1 - The story of the magical book Pheldrazash, carried by their old friend Lothos who is being unduly influenced. Lothos is now a member of the Gloaming Tower.

2 - The story of Magrometh the Piper, and how the group released the horde of undead on top of the sacred mountain above the dwarven village Mishell.

For these secrets, the Carrion King told the party where to find Reymund the Pale in a nearby prison, and began a discourse on the kingdom's moonlit zones...

Monsters Defeated:

3 giant flies (87 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

none

Session 33

ASSAULT ON THE FORT

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4
Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2
Eric Withakay, cleric 5
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4 (NPC)

Battles with the Gnolls

The group had enough information from the two surrendered gnolls [last session]. The captives were tied up and left in an abandoned building while the group moved on, following the same tracks of looted objects as before. They saw more ruined buildings, crumbling and abandoned, and an old well.

The group came to a clearing that was bisected by a crude 10' high wall, built from loose and crumbled stones. A snarling gnoll popped up over the top and trained a bow on Daqqa-Jin, while Gorr climbed a tree to get a better view. Daqqa-Jin brought some food for the hungry creature, jumped up on the wall and saw a whole group of gnolls lying in wait. A fight began! Two large birds with glowing white auras were released and seemed to attack at the gnolls' command, but were shot out of the sky by Gorr and Salzige. Eric was hit in the leg and began bleeding out but used a scroll to stop it before he lost consciousness.

After the fight, Dawn Bearer delivered an electric shock to Daqqa-Jin with a "Sorry old chap, really need somebody more compatible, what?" and the barbarian was forced to drop the magic weapon. 

[DM Note - This was my mistake. I actually forgot this rule for intelligent magic weapons several sessions ago. Daqqa-Jin should never have been able to wield Dawn Bearer at all, so I hope you enjoyed your bonus use of this magic item!]

They came to a crossroads with a big stone mile-marker pointing in four directions:
Back the way they came it said Single Tower
To the left, Greater Towers & Red Shrine
To the right, Lesser Towers
Forward, Fortress Behringer

They asked Lord Fesgate about the Behringer family. He said that many of them fell out of favour with Raeldus I around the time he was imprisoned, but he knew not why. The tracks led towards the fortress, so the group progressed that way.

Fort Behringer

The trail led to a walled fort on a hill. The party approached up a winding path but were stopped by some warning bowshots. A crew of gnolls snarled from over the wall: 

"Man-things, you shall not enter here! We will feast on your tender flesh..."

The group weren't sure what to do but decided on the direct approach, charging forward under a storm of arrow fire! Using the Four Winds Bar, Eric blasted a cloud of choking black smoke in front, with paralyzing dust that Gorr had harvested from some magic butterflies - it didn't reach the gnolls, but Daqqa-Jin used his horn of blasting to push it forward over the fort's wall. 

Still using the Four Winds Bar, Eric flew up and spotted a horde of gnoll archers on top of the keep. He flew back down, grabbed the horn of blasting and flew back up at point-blank range, attempting to disable all the gnolls in one swoop. 

The gnolls were alert, their canine eyes keen. An absolute hail of arrows struck Eric while he activated the horn, and the few that remained un-stunned after the blast were able to hit him a few more times. Bleeding from a dozen wounds, he plummeted to earth - stone dead before he even hit the ground [-6 hit points and a roll of 2 on the "Death Table" - nobody can survive that!].  

With barbarian courage, Daqqa-Jin climbed up to Eric's body at the foot of the keep's walls, backed up by Gorr and Salzige's missile fire. Braving arrows and flaming oil, he grabbed the Four Winds Bar and desperately flew away with his comrade's body.

On the slopes beneath the fort, Lord Fesgate gritted his teeth and attempted to shield his friends from arrows as best he could, but several shots made it through his antique platemail [he is at 4 hit points]. A general withdrawal began.

The sound of a windlass & chain cranking can be heard - the fort's gate is opening, and what fresh hell will be unleashed from within??

Monsters Defeated:

11 gnolls (517 xp)
2 birds with glowing auras (380 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

none

Session 32

RUMOURS OF WAR

Sunstrong 15 - Thistleburn 5, 4433
10 days passed during the session
2 subjective days passed in your most recent trip into the Forest of Dreams

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 4
Robert the Unconstitutional, fighter 5
Eric Withakay, cleric 5
Salzige Brauen, necromancer 2
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4 (NPC)

Smuggling

The group headed out of the Forest of Dreams, ready to sell their ill-gotten gains in Viridistan. The Night Wolf Inn was as normal: some red-skinned Altanians and pale, fiercely painted Amazons were drinking in the tavern. Salzige attempted to interact with the warrior-women but was rebuffed, amidst the jeers of the eastern barbarians.

On the way back to Viridistan, a great traffic jam of farmers, merchants & travellers had formed outside the Great Wall. Daqqa-Jin went up to the gate and learned that due to a distant war, Emperor Seheitt was instituting new taxes. 

The party split up. Gorr, Fesgate and Salzige remained in the Forest of Dreams for a few days. Fesgate still had a broken leg, and Gorr's sanity was beginning to fray after many battles with the undead! Robert and Daqqa-Jin went through the gate on foot and proceeded into Viridistan.

In the Emerald City, everyone was talking about THE WAR! It was clear that news of the disaster on the sacred mountain [Session 18] had finally reached the general populace. Many rumours swirled. The most significiant: Shah Kijdawr is stretched thin and has few troops available to counter this new threat. Everyone is waiting for the Emperor to step in and send one of the Vasthosts north, but so far this has not happened.

Prices are up! Metal ores, lumber, wine & other goods have increased in price, leading to overall higher cost of living. Temples are sending priests & magic to help deal with the threat, increasing prices for religious services, spellcasting, scrolls, etc.

At Seven Visions, mistress Zvezdana Ozi had news. If the group wanted, she could call in that favour and put them in touch with some 'scary characters' who would be happy to buy some of the strange magical items they had recovered a few sessions ago. They decided to table this for now, and worked out a plan to smuggle their treasure into town.

The party brought their treasure to Targnol port [last seen in Session 2] where they contacted a shady character named Tilki who put them in the hold of a logging boat with a nice bribe to the captain. When they got to Viridistan they were picked up in a small dinghy and brought into town by one of the boat-people, a strange folk who live their whole lives in connected networks of boats & rafts on the waters of the Nereus Firth. This got them into the heart of town and past the guards at the Great Wall, for a simple 10% cut to their patron, Zvezdana.

She identified some of the group's items (including a robe of eyes, sweet) and they did a few errands in town & caught up on the news. Patchey, the proprietor of the Dragon's Eye Inn, gave them a letter that arrived a few days prior, which said only:

Meet me at the Green Lion statue at mid-day this week. The pelagic argosy sights land.

Knowing this was their Inquisition contact, Daqqa-Jin and Robert went to the meeting by the Green Lion, an ancient statue in the middle of a wide plaza by the sea. A shifty viridian who called himself Bolivar greeted them. He wanted to know what they had discovered about the Night Wolf Inn, but Daqqa-Jin didn't tell him anything he really liked. Some haggling (and subtle or not-so-subtle insinuations) followed. Bolivar said if they could give him something really useful about the Inn Master, or the overall agenda of the Guild, he could maybe see about helping them with a special gate pass to bypass the tax-collectors at the Great Wall.

Return to the Moonlit Zone

The group caught up with Rain in the Night Wolf Inn's smoking room. They saw a strange enigma - the animal heads on the walls animated and chanted in an unknown language. 

The elven bard explained the workings of the magical Four Winds Bar and the command words to activate it. She once owned one of these rare & powerful magic items, but traded it many years ago for her magical mandolin. The finding of this item seemed a respectable achievement. Rain listened with interest to the group's plans for the future and offered advice about the Inn's cellars.

Back in the Forest of Dreams, the group progressed further into the Moonlit Zone. They passed through the ruins of an old town now overgrown with trees. They passed by an old structure decorated with the sign of a red cross and two snakes, only glancing inside briefly. 

Coming to a clearing littered with buildings, they were spotted by a group of tall humanoids with the heads of snarling jackals & black eyes, covered in silvery fur. Battle was joined! The humanoids charged while a few of their fellows fired bows from cover.

Justin: "Just call me Michael Vick!"
DM: *laughs in horror*
Chris: "Not exactly, you didn't cast charm on them and make them fight each other!"

It didn't take long for the group to defeat their foes, with the last two jackal-men casting themselves on the group's mercy.  

Jackal-man: "We surrender! No kill!"
John: "This isn't a no-kill shelter..."

Chris: "I'll fire at the fleeing archer." *volley of arrows hit, the jackal-man dies*
Justin: "Gorr's arrows sent that one to a farm upstate!"

The group interrogated the survivors, learning a handful of details about the region and the name of their master, a moon-man named Kucmalôg.

Other Things That Happened

Gorr rested in the Forest of Dreams in the boughs of Grandfather Tree for a subjective 5 months! [recovering 5 fear points in this time] The wise tree spoke of many obscure & ancient things through the sighing of branches and the whistling of the wind. The ranger can't remember much, but perhaps in time this lore will come back to him...

Gorr is still suffering from madness at this time - he is capable of fighting at a distance with a bow but if things get too stressful or monsters/strangers get too close, I will have to make a roll to see if he loses his composure!

Salzige has been learning spells! The stone idol of a winged, monkey-like humanoid speaks to him in his dreams. After a few weeks, he awoke feverishly one morning and transcribed the spell chill touch into his spellbook. A few days later, he had terrible nightmares. Although he could not afterwards recall them, he was so shaken that for two days, even ordinary tasks were quite difficult [if he had been adventuring some penalties would have applied]

Monsters Defeated:

10 white gnolls - 8 killed, 2 surrendered (470 xp)

Treasure Found:

none

Treasure Turned In:

giant gold statue of Ahmon-Ibor
2x purple gemstone eyes (Robert kept these)
2x crimson incense (Eric kept for tithing)
silver grave trinket
silver plate set
2x silver scimitars
9x jewelry from Tannoch crypts (Gorr kept a red cross medal, Daqqa-Jin kept a gold chain)
glass-fronted scroll case (magic scrolls inside were kept)
scroll of sanctuary

Money Awarded:

Young Joe Spruce: 801 sp 

Cost of Living:

[I didn't want to spend time calculating this during the session. I will remind each of you next time]

Gorr: 235 sp
Daqqa-Jin: 97 sp
Eric: 163 sp
Robert: 168 sp
Salzige: 40 sp
Cassia: 11 sp
Xénos: 27 sp
Joe Spruce: (already deducted above)

Experience Totals:

Daqqa-Jin has reached level 4!
Robert the Swift has reached level 5!
Young Joe Spruce has reached level 3!

Session 31

INTO THE DARK

14 Sunstrong, 4433
A few hours passed during the session

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 3
Robert the Adequate, fighter 4
Eric Withakay, cleric 5

Clearing the Shrine

The group continued exploring the old shrine of the six-armed god Karttekeza. They fell upon the remaining mud-men, still distracted by Salzige's skeletal servant, and wiped them out with ease. They found another lever and attempted to get the water turned back on to clear out the muddy lower section. This they were not able to do, but they did reset the two trap-levers after Daqqa-Jin burned off the yellow mold covering them. 

Clearing away pieces of the macabre mosaic in the fountain, underneath there was an original painting of six-handed Karttekeza. Pressing all six hands at once revealed a secret stairway downwards into a hidden treasure room. Inside they found many oddities:

- an old robe of indistinct faded colours, hanging on a brass mannequin
- eight worn scrolls in a wood & glass display case
- a metal quiver of 13 arrows made of stone & crystal
- two bricks of crimson incense, redolent with a peppery smell

They explored the flower-garden and reached a domed structure where two gargoyles lurked. The group's fierce initial attack drove them off, flying for their lives! Daqqa-Jin climbed up the dome and examined the painting on its underside, including a massive shiny moon rendered in silver foil.

They found a ruined church with a grand mural on the back wall, labeled King Wakelinus & Queen Purah. It showed a young, regal-looking king in rich robes & a chest full of medals marrying a woman with a green dress, red hair & an elaborate seven-pointed crown. Oddly, the queenly bride wears an expressionless white mask. The wedding is officiated by two high priests: a man attired in robes of Solaris and a woman who bears a close resemblance to the Sage of Lune. The only other distinctive clue was charcoal graffiti around the building, saying "The Carrion King Lives!"

They explored an ancient long-hall decorated with heraldic shields & rusted weapons, some of which they recognize as symbols of the land's noble families. Daqqa-Jin sat on a strange throne that echoed with the sounds of ancient celebration. He was possessed by the spirits of the kings of old, who spoke from his mouth in ominous tones:

Spirits: "Two questions we will answer with the wisdom of old, and then we would walk in the world of flesh once more!"

Eric: "What caused Solaris' light to leave the land?"

Spirits: "Wakelinus entered into a traitorous compact with the Moon! In the days of old, a perfect symmetry was kept between sun & moon, each taking their allotted time in the heavens. The Mad King, in service to Uthummaos, convinced Lune to ally herself with him, betraying this age-old balance. Now darkness covers the land, and the moon's gaze lies heavy everywhere, with no sunlight to be seen."

Robert: "Where is the demon Varthatov?"

Spirits: "Below Wakelinus' Folly, the monument to the Mad King's hubris. The demon lairs in a darkened temple of Uthummaos underneath, where wafts the cold breath of dark chasms!"

Meanwhile, Daqqa-Jin experienced a vision of the hall as it was of old, a roaring fire in the hearth and many knights & lords at a grand feast. Three shadowy figures surrounded him, their eyes only glittering pinpoints of light. They reached forward hungrily for his life but he resisted with some effort, throwing himself off the throne and regaining his normal senses.

They found an old shrine of Solaris, now thoroughly trashed. The altar-stone was dragged away, all the metal fixtures & pieces were pried out and the statues were defaced. Daqqa-Jin followed the trails away from the shrine, and they led towards pathways in the forest where perhaps these pieces were taken. Many corpses of colourful forest-jellyfish were strewn about, and more graffiti about "The Carrion King" was scribbled around. 

The final structure of interest was a grand, unfinished building, perhaps intended at one point to be a temple of Uthummaos. A large mural of that dark god's sigil was painted on the back wall, and a smooth black glassy statue stood in the center. Unmindful of possible curses, Robert pried out the two purple gemstone eyes, the statue's only distinctive features.

The ruined city explored thoroughly, the group headed into the forest through the southward path, where some of Solaris' looted shrine must have been taken.

Entering the Moonlit Zone

The group met a pack of unicorns on the path, but they were skittish and fled quickly.

The party came to a clearing with a few ruined buildings and a mostly-intact old public house. A few dozen ragged shades, their volition totally gone, milled around the area helplessly. The group ignored them and was ignored in turn.

The party explored a locked wine-cellar and were set upon by three wights, each one missing its left hand. The creatures were dispatched with enchanted steel, but not before one drew Robert's life-force out, leaving him perilously close to death [only 2 CON left].

In the cellar were three intact wine kegs: one sour & vinegary, the second a magical healing draught and the third filled with the sparkling shadow-wine the group has seen before. Daqqa-Jin availed himself of the second keg's healing properties, and the group saved some for later.

Behind one of the empty casks was a hidden room. A tiny shrine littered with brittle bones & debris held a great golden idol of the feared demon lord Ahmon-Ibor! The group built a makeshift sled to help carry this heavy piece of loot and looked towards leaving the forest, returning to Viridistan to sell off all their treasure.

Monsters Defeated:

5 mud-men (235 xp)
3 one-handed wights (330 xp)
2 gargoyles, chased off (1000 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

potion (faint glowing blue)
faded robe (magical)
quiver of stone arrows (magical)
box of scrolls (magical)
2 purple gemstone eyes
golden demon idol
healing wine

After experiencing the horrors of the restless dead one too many times, Gorr's hold on his sanity has become tenuous!

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 25

MOURNING & RIDDLES

4-12 Sunstrong, 4433

Characters:

Robert the Swift, fighter 4
Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 2

The group left Room IV: Restful Seas with Suba-Jin's body [see last session], bringing it back to Viridistan for a funeral. The Inn staff were sympathetic and stories were shared about his life and exploits. The group heard strange tales about some of the Inn's other rooms.

Meanwhile, Gorr entered Room I: The Forest of Dreams, to speak with the ancient talking tree. Over a year had passed in that twilight realm since they had first met and it had grown a branch that the ranger could use for a bow. He was warned against climbing too high because dangerous flying creatures sometimes roosted in the tree's upper boughs. He climbed about halfway up the great tree and harvested the branch without much trouble. 

Returning to Viridistan, the group sold off the gold jewelry they took from the mummies at such a great cost. Suba-Jin was cremated with much of his treasure and the party met with his cousin Daqqa-Jin at the funeral. This slave-catcher saw an opportunity to join the group since they were now a man short.

Robert spoke to the priests of Hextor about curing the mummy's curse [see last session]. It was going to be very expensive (6000 silver!), but the priests were willing to knock down the price to 4000 in exchange for an unspecified favour at a future time. Robert wasn't sure about that.

Puzzling at the Inn

The group returned to the Night Wolf Inn to explore the basements. They passed through a kitchen cellar with many passageways, explored the wine-cellar and were followed by some strange twinkling amber & rose-coloured lights like little will-o-wisps. They passed by a crude statue or golem of some kind and into an odd burial chamber called "The Hall of Slaves."

The twinkling lights followed them, and the group began to feel kinda drunk. Gorr looked around a bit and saw a heavy black iron door with a pentacle on it, while the others tried to interact with the wisps to no avail. After a short time they were getting very intoxicated! They returned to the tavern to sober up. The twinkling lights followed them to the cellar stairs, but not back up to the first floor.

After eating and trying to sober up a bit, they wandered over to the Inn's library to poke around. 

Gorr found an ancient book called "Kings of the Long-Fallen" which expounded the crackpot theory that the elves - primitive forest-dwellers that they are - had once ruled the world and possessed miraculous powers: buildings that could fly, great highways that crossed the world and sorcery beyond the ken of men. It included many macabre tales of the cruel and powerful elven sorceror-kings with names like Asulam Omdrekh or Shodredh Dachod.

Robert investigated the grandfather clock by the fireplace which had a bizarre 18-hour face, four hands, and some other odd symbology:

close-up on the hands and numbers

Puzzling out the riddle of the clock occupied much of their afternoon. They were able to get the hands to a zero or 'reset' position, but they couldn't produce any other effect beyond that. Wandering around the Inn's first floor provided many clues that seemed relevant to this puzzle: statues with odd names & numbers in the dining hall, carvings along the ceiling in the cloakroom and pillars with symbols and numbers out on the east tavern portico.

[DM - many notes were taken here, some are written up on the Discord page!]

While looking around the inn for clues, the group noticed a door in the cloakroom that wasn't there before. Opening it, Gorr was magically drawn through into a misty void! The group followed him and ended up in a cramped passageway beside a creepy funhouse mirror. Many portholes or 'spy windows' allowed them to look from here out into the Inn's many strange rooms [see map]. Trapdoors leading up and down allowed them to move through these back ways.

Robert tried smashing a pane of glass with his axe, and it not only proved to be impenetrable, but at that very moment he tripped on a loose board and managed to jab himself on a sharp piece of wood. Coincidence?

When Robert touched the funhouse mirror (it had to happen) the distorted reflections of the party stepped out to attack! It was touch and go, but Daqqa-Jin's net turned the tide and the party destroyed their evil opposites who dissolved into mist.

The gang walked through these spy passages, observing many of the rooms they'd never been to:

- A room tastefully decorated in mahogany and brass. A reception desk with a 'wait here' sign and small bell [XVII - The Stygian Library]

- An impossibly huge underground cavern [XVI - The Caverns of Repose]

- A black void strung with enormous glittering spiderwebs [II - Web of Drowsiness] 

- A large boat lazily drifting down a river between two high cliffs [IX - Stream of Consciousness]

- An icy mountain landscape of clouds & snow [VIII - Cerebral Cliffs]

- The inside of a large bell-shaped temple carved with exotic imagery [not sure what room this might be]

- A glassy landscape in a starry void, lit up by a blue shooting star [III - The Comet's Tail]

After some investigation, Gorr found a concealed one-way passage [EDIT - this passage actually allows travel in both directions. Oops. -DM] into Room I - The Forest of Dreams. From inside the room it was totally imperceptible, and the peephole they had been looking through seemed to be just a knot in a nearby tree.

Back on familiar territory, the group pondered their next move. Was there more to that clock? Should they venture into another room or brave the basements again after sobering up?

Monsters Defeated:

mirror-versions of Gorr, Robert & Daqqa-Jin (607 xp)

Treasure Sold: 

mummies' loot: gold goblet, circlet, bracelet & ruby earring

Xénos has reached level 2! Good work!

Happy Birthday to Eric Withakay, who is now 24!