Session logs from 2019

These are the campaign and one-shot diaries of 2019. In many ways, 2019 was the year of the slime. It also saw many plot twists and betrayals, such as Maledictus replacing Kass, and Bronn being slimed.

Previously: Session logs from 2018. Next up, an other year of the slime: Session logs from 2020.

## One-shot: Winging It

   January 13, 2019

Bronn and Percy took a one-day tourist-style vacation in Kavaad. A few days later, news reaches Syllior of a sudden but short-lived fire in the Gnomish Gardens.

Two houses, a potion shop, and a potato patch burned down. Eight people got badly burned. Sources say the fire was caused by a magical explosion.

(The two acquired some new and interesting stuff, including a few books with new information regarding certain conspiracies in Kavaad, a coven of hags, and a strange revelation from Percy's past.)

## Alt-Campaign epilogue: The Way Home

January 20, 2019

Successful in their endeavour, the heroes part ways, some to go home, others to carry on the adventure. While returning the artefacts from Harendûr's Tomb, the adventurers received visions in the chamber of futures. Adran found out just how bad his deal with the Jackal Fiend was, and warily returned to Executrix Melidai and his fellow desert elves. Magret and Key visited Quiet in Camp Zeroth, and helped her guardians find a way to better connect with her. Key banded together with Ko-Tha and Mo-Tha for a while. Hemakshi teleported herself, Mehen, Alt, and Ulla to Tradefall, wherefrom they went to Syllior. Altruism reported back to Willow and Bronn, handing over the Tome of Understanding.

Hemakshi managed to find one of the Guardians of the Circle and warn them about the vision of Blackscale's return that she had received in Harendûr's tomb.

Alt, Mehen, and Ulla returned Alfgrindr to the tribe in Lohkenor. Then they destroyed Nefathat. Maybe. When they reach the North Pole.

## One-shot: High Levels, Low Stakes

January 25, 2019

Kelp and Galad took a few missions for the Golden Hope on the Salt Coast. After speaking to Silvarax Nevathuul, the two signed a contract for some rodents of unusual size and a small goblin infestation.

On their first quest, they encountered one-eyed beasts including a trio of capybaras that were stealing away people's pets and animals for the hag Hyrnibe. Following one capybara into a feywild crossing, the adventurers found Hyrnibe and spoke with her, discovering the truth behind the many missing eyes, as well as the reason for Tudsetrold's occasionally glowing eyes. According to Hyrnibe (or her awakened peacock guard anyway), the hag Adrienne can spy through the eyes of any creature that has never spoken a word and has at least two eyes. Leaving the feywild again and returning the farmer Milos' (now one-eyed) dog to its rightful owner, Galad and Kelp met a green adventuring party — a young human woman, her grandfather, and a gnome rogue. Kyrë was her name, and she was allowed to come with the heroes on their second quest.

Clearing a vineyard of goblins proved a trivial task, but offered a more relaxed adventuring experience. The trio had plenty of time to train and trade stories between the tracking and whacking of garden pests. Galad became acquainted with his new abilities, and Kelp was there for damage control. Kyrë even took out the goblins' bugbear boss all by herself, using the training and encouragement of her adventuring elders. She straight up rolled nat 20 three times in a row, and is now a 2nd level monk.

Kelp spent some time with Habla and the two went on a trip to visit Kelp's mom. Kelp and Habla fall in love.

Galad journeyed to Nrannas to speak with Udhros and returned to keep saving the world one quest at a time.

## Session 50: Lady Longstrider and the Order

February 24, 2019

   The party spent three months of downtime mostly apart, doing their own separate things.

Galad visited Nrannas and reconnected with some of his noble family. He went to his cousin Wranfir's deathbed and released the prince's shadow, restoring Wranfir's soul in Arvandor. On his way back to Syllior, Galad met Theia Riverfang, who had discovered that much of her tribe had survived the massacre and fled deeper into the swamps. Theia wished Galad well and continued on her quest to find her brothers.

Persephone met a mysterious figure known as "Beans", who turned out to be the half-orc Nigel, whom Percy thought was a fictional character. The two didn't have many answers for each other, but Nigel gave Percy a broken coffee table and they both promised to let the other know, should they find clues regarding Crocus or Lord Kernenvale.

   Sannl received an ominous vision following her death in the Underdark, and decided to make real changes in the world outside the monastery. As a result, she is now an evoker. Sannl also heard from Aknarr Graw whose paladins had mapped out a good portion of the world below. She now possesses a more detailed map.
Lady Willow's keep Longstrider Citadel raised some archer units, and she attracted the two-headed half-giant to her ward. Malgenus and Pugnatus live in the ruins of Castle Semarro. Willow also received the wrong draft of a letter from Prince Tymos Cornelius Avtor Windfall, and was invited by Sir Harkin Falstane into the secret alliance of wardens. The illusory skype-simulacrum of Elmira Dushiuri visited Willow and offered her help against the shadow demons, hoping to then get Willow's help against the other coloured lords and ladies of Sinria.

    Kassiopeia met the Keited Hand and heard rumors that the Ashen Fist in Kavaad was moving many of their agents to Tradefall, where the two Greyhands, Viskhart and Fezim are stationed. Kas also became involved in Bronn and Percy's theatre project as a prop maker and entertainer.

Kelp and Habla stopped some zombie shark ghoul submarines. That sentence is canon. Kelp said goodbye to the party, deciding to keep her adventures close to home and close to Habla. The ensuing group hug would have been somewhat awkward if the short members of the party couldn't fly.

In a flashback scene, we played out Faelor's fight with the ~~Patriarch~~Muscle Pope, which was witnessed by a few members of the party. These members later recognized Faelor, when he appeared near the end of the downtime period.

Sir Bronn successfully got his establishment funded and built a theatre. He then attracted a tailor follower, and set up his spymaster Eccho Vassalar as manager of the establishment. Bronn also received information regarding the Ashen Fist spy inside Longstrider Citadel, and prepared an ambush.

In the moon of the Manticore, the party reconnected as Bronn's establishment (funded by Percy and Hestitia Honeypond) was nearing completion. The party set an ambush for a spy from the Ashen Fist, who turned out to be Sir Guy's son Aelum. During the confrontation, a high elf ontogwite struck down two Ashen Fist agents and hastily introduced himself as Faelor, sent by Apo-Otu to enlist the aid of the party against the Ashen Fist. Aelum ended up joining the theatre's production crew as a teleporting stagehand, and his dad got a short vacation to sort out his family life.

Eknoron Zerevil made a short visit, ordering Willow to attack the rangers of Hoghill Forest. Through some tailor-made negotiation, (and subtle attempts to banish Eknoron) the party manage to alter the deal and were instead ordered to bring Lord Balzamar the head of the Red Hand, Maro Zokesh. Eknoron's own men will march on Hoghill Forest instead. To buy some more time and re-earn goodwill with Eknoron, the party decided to pursue a dragon hunt commissioned by Eknoron's magus, Vizharr.

    After Eknoron and his guards left the citadel, Admiral Viviel Onnurai stormed in, drawing her blade and pointing it at the warden, announcing: "I know how to bring back Princess Leonara!"

## Session 51: The Dragon on the Mountain

March 9, 2019

To stall on Eknoron, the party took a quest from his magus Vizharr to slay the fabled dragon said to live near the Greatsword. In the mountains, the party fought some yetis and met the Makate tribe who had recently returned to their winter territory. Kas tested her strength against the goliaths, and Percy spectated an orgy in Kovauk tent. Galad sought out Ra-Sok, and was informed of the druid's passing. Instead, they spoke to Anuk who was becoming the tribe's new spiritual leader. When Kovauk was no longer occupied, she spoke briefly with the party, who told her of their quest. Kovauk wished them luck, and pointed them way north. The party then spent a week north of the Greatsword before divining that that they had to turn back. In a hidden cave on the south-eastern side of the mountain, the party found the frozen corpses of Ra-Sok and a younger Kovauk. Kas and sir Bronn found a druid's altar probably belonging to the late Ra-Sok, and then spearheaded the party's way deeper into the caverns, through a thorny maze of brambles. Sannl, Galad, and Faelor hacked and burned the bushes away, and discovered the ruins of an old stone giant temple. Sannl and Percy scouted ahead, flying into the temple and finding the remains of dead goblinoids on their way before being attacked by giant eagles. When the eagles were dead, the party made their way into the inner sanctum, which looked very much like a green dragon's lair (possibly in disguise). There they saw cave paintings detailing the meeting of Ra-Sok and Kovauk, their journey back to Ra-Sok's tribe, and Kovauk's death at the hands of the chieftain Ko-Kra. A cold wind howled through the lair. The sound of wings, then silence. The beast was home. The party started their attack on the adult green dragon, yet the dragon hesitated to retaliate. Once it was clear this was a battle to the death, the dragon and her lair assaulted the adventurers, nearly killing both Sannl and Faelor. Though Sannl had prophesied and promised it not so, Bronn died in the battle, poisoned and crushed by brambles. His body was obscured by the lair's bushes, but Percy managed to reach in and bring him back to life. Meanwhile, the dragon, who had revealed herself to be Kovauk, angrily inquired the party on their motivation and alliance to this "Eknoron" figure. Transforming back and forth from her goliath form, Kovauk struck at Faelor and Sannl before rushing away from Galad's radiant fireballs, Sannl's napalm strikes, Faelor's ghostly grandma, and Percy's golden dildo spiritual weapon. Galad pursued Kovauk into her hoard as they started negotiating. Finding, the dragon nearly dead in half-giantess form, the party offered a deal. Kovauk would help them against Eknoron and Vizharr, and in return, she would live, and Sannl would help to find the remaining intellect devourers among the Makate clan. Kovauk quickly accepted the terms, and promised them a share of her treasure as well. The next day, the party set up an ambush for Vizharr, and with Kovauk's eager participation, they slew Vizharr and his paladin guards before he had a chance to fight back.

## Session 52: Two of Swords

March 23, 2019

After allying with the goliath turned green dragon Kovauk and slaying Lord Balzamar's magus Vizharr, the party spent some time with the Makate tribe. As promised, Sannl exposed the intellect devourers among the Makate. Anuk's druid apprentice Nukai was among them, and caught on to what was happening. Nukai and their fellow intruders from the Underdark tried to fight back, but the intellect devourers were all killed. For a while during the battle, Percy was a brain-dead mammoth, and Galad banished Nukai into a harmless demiplane. Faelor cut a beefy brawler to bits and squashed the brute's scuttling brain, while Sannl's *dawn*spell took care of the rest. Bronn stayed mostly untouched (as I remember) thanks to his defensive flourishes.

The party returned to Syllior, going through Nearbridge, where the rain was heavy and Eknoron's dragon knights stood guard. Galad meditated in the rainy woods, giving prayer to Soliel and the angel Fulgurot. Thunder rolled in during the night, and lightning crossed the sky in the early morning, giving way to sunlight.

When the party arrived in Syllior, they were met with celebration; the princess Leonara was alive again. Admiral Onnurai and Lady Willow had broken the bag of holding where Leonara's soul was trapped, letting it pass into the Astral Sea. The clerics of Osprem, Habla and Kelp where then able to raise her from the dead. Meeting up with Willow, the party gave report on their latest quest and started planning with Leonara on what to do next. The princess was still weak from her soul being trapped and haemorrhaging into her shadow, which was now destroyed, so Willow was asked to remain as Warden at least for the time being. The idea of an alliance with the Red Hand was discussed, and a possible marriage between Leonara Meisent and Maro Zokesh was mentioned.

Creed was mentioned, and understanding that the vegetable sorcerer was possessed by a shadow demon, Faelor decided to cut Creed down, causing a mild burst of wild magic. This surge of chaos caught the attention of an extraplanar businessperson, whom the party traded some random magic items with, acquiring among other things a lantern of revealing and a new armor set for Galad.

The conversation in the war room continued without the princess, and Bronn had the others agree on the alliance with the Red Hand. Then he teleported them all to the Red Hand's secret hideout in Selvat's Tower in Swordview. Here, the party met the sinrian diviner Abiran Alzur, the Hand of the Hand Pedro Prodromos, and Maro Zokesh himself. The party spent some time finding out if this prince was aligned with their own goals and ideals, and ended up with a new ally in the Red Hand. (Bronn levelled up to 10 and will soon meet a sphinx?)

To celebrate this new alliance, the party went carousing in Swordview, where Percy maybe got a follower or title or something yet to be determined. The next day, the party fought a gnome artificer in the Bramble, along with some stone cursed, a grey render, and the artificer's piloted golem/mech. Apparently gnomish technology is really coming along lately. The artificer was spared, and brought back to the town for justice. The gardeners' guild in Nesternook sued the geomancer' guild at Skywarren House. All in a day's work for a group of accomplished adventurers.

(Persephone and Sannl also attained 10th level)

## Session 53: Shenanigans at Skywarren House

April 15, 2019

Having found some strange gem powder after the battle with the gnome artificer, the party went to investigate at the geomancer's guild at Skywarren House in Swordview. Sannl spoke to the gem cutter Quonen about geomancy and alchemy. To pay for the expert cutting of Galad's fire opal, the party decided to become test subjects for a line of experimental potions. Stuff happened, hijinks ensued, weird magic occurred, and Willow became even more perceptive. Sannl extracted the memories from one of the obsidian skulls she retrieved from the stone cursed, discovering Vizharr's involvement with the local geomancers. Kas knew enough to suspect the Brotherhood of the Stone.

After retrieving Faelor's body from possession by a mostly friendly water elemental (as I said, stuff happened), the party met up with the leader of Skywarren House and the geomancer's guild, Lady Skywarren. Through her, the party got access to the Brotherhood of the Stone, and she agreed to let Sannl identify the soulstone. However, Sannl's will wasn't strong enough, and she had her soul trapped in the stone. The party tried one by one to attune to the stone so they could free Sannl, but Galad became trapped as well, disappearing body and soul. The others banded together to all touch the stone at once, giving the hearty Kas the opportunity to control the stone for a few seconds, freeing the two trapped magic users, and nearly dying in the process.

Kas turned and attacked Lady Skywarren, and combat broke out. The part struggled but in the end, they killed the guild leader, along with three cabalists and one of Eknoron's dragon knights, who seemed to be afected by the soulstone's magic. Helmed horrors arrived, but too late to save Lady Skywarren. With a well-placed *tiny hut*, Bronn prevented Trissana from teleporting in when the party was at its weakest.

Galad staged the scene to look more like Vizharr's doing, and the party pressed further into the dungeons of Skywarren House. There they met a party of cabalists, and nearly killed some of them before deciding to approach with diplomacy, rather than unprovoked murder. The cabalists, Xanthe, Caldorin, Ieresto, and Gronn, were convinced that the party was part of a sub-order of the cabal, and they were quickly swayed to the party's side. The cabalists came to believe that either Vizharr had gone rogue, or Trissana and Eknoron were evil masterminds and not to be trusted, which may not be too far from the truth.

Galad got his fire opal perfected and Sannl was given a few spells by three of the cabalists (*elemental beam* by Xanthe, *conjure minor elementals* by Caldorin, and either *enlarge/reduce* or *create homunculus* by Ieresto).

Having taken the soulstone and a few other items from the first group of cabalists, the party spent some time trying to understand and attune to the soulstone. Galad eventually succeeded, but upon wielding just its simplest powers, he decided it was much too dangerous for anyone to use.

## Session 54: Strange Sights

April 28, 2019

Party got back to Syllior via teleportation circle to Kavaad.

Jooprin released in Syllior, Kelp got the Soulstone (and forgot by Modify Memory)

Sir Bronn heard of an ancient tomb deep below the theatre

Sphinx puzzle revealed the coordinates to the sword Starlight.

Faelor in Astral Plane with Feelings™, Galad banished himself to a distant continent on the other side of Thindrel.

Reconnecting and carousing: Black-out drunk Kas was robbed and lost her mithral armor, Galad and Bronn made enemies of Stephana Honeypond and Viviel Onnurai, Willow had a quick fling

Morning after interrogating Willow. No luck finding Kas' mithral armor; It was likely acquired by Greyhand Viskhart.

Viviel and Stephana sorted some worries with Willow, and Viviel asked Willow for relationship advice.

The party went on foot to Tanglestone and met with the druids.

Entering the coral caves and meeting the myconids, such as "bell" and the screeching sovereign "crown".

Umberhulk fight. Corrupted quaggoth spore servants, abandoned mushroom village.

Beholder fight in fungal lair. MVP Faelor, HDWTDT Galad, Investigation 37 Sannl.

## Session 55: Virtue and Sin

May 10, 2019

Sannl harvested an eye stalk from the slain beholder and discovered a hidden passage into the svirfneblin village of Underfield. To get to the village, the party had to cross a lake of acid with floating platforms of giant mushrooms. Percy arrived in a hurry, and the party started making their way across the lake and into the poison spore filled village, putting on masks and cloth over their mouths to not inhale the spores. Faelor refused to don any sort of mask, so he stayed behind and guarded the entrance. Kas struggled to cross the lake without falling in, but all managed to pass the acid. There was supposed to be green mould or something, but the DM couldn't find it. Let's just say that Galad and Sannl burned it away.

In the mushroom infected Underfield, there seemed to be no survivors. A loud roar from a troll alerted the party to danger, and Galad lit the whole place aflame with a fiery *dawn*spell, scorching the overgrown huts and incinerating the infected troll. Percy found the troll had been carrying a dead gnome with spores in its eyes, and called the party over. The central structure of the village was still standing and spewing spores. Infected myconids and gnomish spore servants attacked. Percy and Willow used necrotic magic to open the central structure and stop the mushroom creatures. Willow blighted a gnome wearing a mushroom cap, which was the source of the infection, ending the battle.

Percy cast *speak with dead* on an overgrown gnome lying over the table where the leader with the cap was sat, and the corpse moved to give Percy a vision through its psychic spores. In this vision, she saw the gnome's last memory —how the infection began, and who was behind it. The vision showed Percy a tall figure, floating over the ground, with a long head with tentacles over its nose and mouth, and next to it a glass tank with a gnome floating in a slimy green fluid. Reeling back from the vision, Percy was overcome with an eerie sense of déjà vu.

After collectively deciding that the hat that caused the infection was a very bad magic item, and that no one should use it, Sannl decided to take a look around the village, and the party started investigating. They found mostly empty houses and about a dozen dead infected gnomes. In one house, however, the inside was untouched by the spores, but burned to a crisp. Also burned were two recently dead gnomes, so recently in fact that they demise had to have been Galad's *dawn* spell. Kas picked up the two burned corpses and Willow gave the party a speech about the morality and ethics of their "kill first, ask later" strategy that had become the standard.

On their way out of the Underdark, Kas briefly fell in the acid lake, Bronn was given a box of myconid spores by the myconid sovereign "crown", and the whole party was applauded by "crown" for their deed. Back on the surface, Galad turned invisible and took off on his own, while the rest went back to Tanglestone and met up with the druids.

In Tanglestone, Percy had her god Hermes raise the two dead deep gnomes, promising Hermes to improve the infrastructure of the land and to erect herms along every road in Syllior and the Salt Coast. The party and the people of Tanglestone then had the chance to speak with the raised gnomes, Xibli Slimelicker and Dazra Downdigger. The two provided mostly stories of their harsh survival in the infected village, and seemed to know only little of the tentacle-faced creature from Percy's vision.

The party reunited and formed a plan to acquire the sword Virtue from Eknoron under a special play in the new theatre. To account for every possibility, the party laid detailed plans and Kas melted down Fholtarr's staff to forge two fake Virtues from the moonsilver. Her father Oren and the dwarves Sannl and Habla aided in the smithing, as mithralwork requires special techniques and ancient elven arts. In the weeks of planning, Percy had a good talk with Kas and later one with Galad, where she offered her wisdom and services as a therapist-flavoured cleric.

Before the play, Percy went to check in with Mara Calladar, who acted more than a little strange, and shared a new memory of her — one in which Percy was floating in a cylindrical glass tank, hooked up to a thing called the Index, which was also somehow connected to Tubrin.

With all this in mind, the party made their final preparations, and welcomed Eknoron and his entourage into the city. Eknoron, his new magus Trissana, and the black dragonborn knight sir Xerrix Malflame rode in on drakes along with a score paladin guards. Xerrix and the guards stayed in the weapon house with Faelor, Galad, and Sannl. Trissana and Eknoron went to the box to watch the play from the best seats as guests of honour. Before entering, the party convinced Eknoron to leave his weapons behind with his guards, allowing the party to switch the sword for a fake during the play, while Kas, Percy, and Bronn kept Eknoron and Trissana entertained and distracted, respectively. After the play, Trissana received a sending with news from Wosheg that Vizharr was dead. She whispered something to Eknoron, who seemed busy taking in the applause (which was actually directed at the actors on stage). Then Trissana went off to check on her demiplane and try to locate the soulstone. Despite the lengths the party had gone to hide it, Trissana might just be able to find it, if only she had access to a *locate object* spell, which she then asked Percy for. Eknoron had a sparring fight with the lead actor and one with Kas, but was never allowed to use his "real" weapon and discover that it was replaced by a fake. Eknoron left Syllior with his guards, thanking the party for a magnificent start to the new year 853 CL.

Trissana was delayed and annoyed to no end this night, but did manage to talk the party into joining her and Xerrix in her demiplane to locate the soulstone. This was a grave mistake on her part, underestimating the party, as her plan to kill them failed the moment sir Xerrix was banished by Galad, returning his twisted body and soul to the soulstone by which he had been magically altered. Trissana filled the room with deadly fumes, but lost her concentration on the spell. Held in place by Sannl's beholder eye ray of telekinesis, grievously wounded by Percy, and thoroughly disappointed in her own fate, Trissana was shot through the heart by Galad, and her body plummeted into the velvety floor of an unraveling demiplane. Her equipment resurfaced as the room started clumsily falling apart. A hasted Kas quickly gathered most of the loot and the hidden corpse of the cabalist Xanthe. The party narrowly escaped with their lives and a lot of gemstones.

A new year began, and everyone had a lot to think about.

## One-shot: Maggie the Magnet Thief

May 18, 2019

Garret Brushgather the halfling giant hunter, Meena Silverthread Ironhide the rock gnome battle smith, and Talky the blue kobold archivist broke free the gnomish miners of Botlode and slew an evil, tree-eating giant, allowing the miners to relocate and unionize.

## Session 56: Eldritch Knowledge

May 25, 2019

As the new year began, Willow's plea to the Queen of Air and Darkness was delivered by the north wind. Willow's mind was bombarded by cold chills and eldritch knowledge of the mind flayers. When she woke, the north wind had taken her hair. (Willow is now level 11 by the way)

Percy opened up about her history and got a full-body magic x-ray scan from Sannl. She also opened up about her early life, referring to her younger self as "just a piece of street waste". The party assured her that she isn't trash.

A proper burial was held for Xanthe the adventurer cabalist, and the party took some time to reflect on life, death, and the costs and repercussions of resurrections and war. Willow argued that Xanthe, unlike the gnomes from Underfield, had already served her purpose when she died.

The party went to the Obelisk to speak with Princess Leonara about the coming war and the possible marriage between her and the Red Hand Maro Zokesh. After the meeting with Leonara, Kas found High Priestess Habla working in the armory, forging a bolt of lightning into her morning star. Kas and Habla discussed the possibilities of imbuing Kas' mithral sword with elemental magic.

The next week of downtime was spent preparing for a meeting with Maro Zokesh in a secret grove near Tanglestone.

Kas exchanged favours and information with the Black Kraken. The former Ashen Fist Blackhand started teaching Kas the shadow movements and weak points of her possible opponents (multikassing into rogue enabled). In return, the Black Kraken requested to be released from house arrest and have access to the whole city. Kas spoke to Willow who spoke to Viviel to make this happen.

Faelor and Galad went adventuring around the Outwall Farmsteads and heard rumours of high-ranking Ashen Fist agents and recruiters collecting in Redgate. The two were teleported to the capital, where they got a ship from the Thorothan ontogwites to Redgate. Thanks to Percy's connections in the Golden Hope, Galad and Faelor got to meet up with Kyrë at Elvenfall Square. At Kharo's Keep, they found a Red Hand agent in the city guard called Matthéo, who offered his help. Galad found a note using new thieves' cant, and followed the lead without much research. Galad and Faelor infiltrated the Ashen Fist hideout as noble elf patrons of the guild, while Kyrë kept watch out on the street. The two ex-noble elves found a charismatic human called Maledictus, who seemed a leader among the crowd, and they followed him down below the basement and into a dungeon. There, the two were met with the visage of an elderly woman who transformed before their eyes into a lumbering hag matron, Maledictus morphed into a horned ogre, and conjured a second hag and the demon Akaloth. Akaloth gave Faelor visions of Creed's nightmares, thanking the barbarian for giving him the troubled dreams of the chaos sorcerer. The new hag laughed maniacally, inflicting her cackle fever curse on Faelor, all while giving birth to a third hag. The elves saw Maledictus and the three Sisters of Dread and all went black. They came to later in the night outside the hideout, and Kyrë was gone. Galad burned down the hideout and the two found some midnight refuge in the Cathedral of the Lord's Host. Here, Galad experienced a spiritual connection to the angels of Manarakh and the history of Soliel's crusade. From the colossal glass mosaic of Fulgurot, a spark of lightning struck Galad's holy symbol (level up to 11). They never found more of the Ashen Fist, and all they found of Kyrë was her bead necklace of the four seasons.

With the knowledge Willow had gained from Mab, Sannl reached out to the outer planes, casting sending to Lo-Tha in the Astral Plane. Over several days, she received a couple of answers regarding illithid lore and the mind flayer's enemies, the Gith.

Percy, Willow, and Sannl went to talk to Mara Calladar, and tried a few restoration spells on her. She exhibited a few different personalities, and her knowledge and memories seemed to change throughout the afternoon. Sannl visited her again to help Mara remember her spells and possibly write them down.

The party recollected and shared their knowledge before heading to Tanglestone to meet with the Red Hand. In the war room, Faelor's cackle fever spread amongst the party, but with a few greater restorations, their curses and diseases where removed. On their way down the coast, Willow befriended the hill giant Gruggnog who had walked all the way from the southern tip of Dragonhorn.

Elise Riverlock sent Leonara and the party off the the secret grove, where they met with Mero Zokesh and a small entourage, including Bronn (how can a man be in the two places at once?) and the priest Heidegar (from Greencrest). Leonara Meisent and Maro Zokesh spoke in private and decided on the alliance, completing a royal Kavaadic engagement ceremony. As the the alliance was sealed and the betrothal completed, a green mist rose from Faelor's shadow, and the high elf rushed at Maro Zokesh with his axe. Akaloth, who had been hiding in Faelor's shadow, possessed him, and when Galad banished Faelor, the demon was forced into its physical form. Each character's shadow rose and use their powers against them, until Akaloth's form was destroyed by Sannl's magic missiles. After this, the party knew the war was near. Sannl harvested Akaloth's horns, as the rest of his form turned to tar-like ichor and shadowy mist.

The party went back through Tanglestone and boarded their small sailing ship en route to Syllior.

## Session 57: Syllior Besieged

June 14, 2019

After the demon Akaloth was banished from the secret engagement ceremony, the party went back to Syllior, bringing with them the priest Heidegar. Heidegar spoke briefly with Galad and Willow about Greencrest and Eknoron's attacks on Hoghill Forest before he set off to find Kendor in the capital. Upon return, Vivielasked the party what for they had taken the princess off with them on a secret trip. Kas nearly spilled the beans about the betrothal before the others stopped her and directed the admiral to speak to Leonara herself.

Faelor visited his temple and told Apo'Otu about his and the party's experiences. Though the demon was expelled, Faelor wanted a true cleansing. So the high priest drowned the elf, and Faelor was reborn from the waters of the elemental plane.

Meanwhile back in Syllior, Bronn had Sannl use stone shape to help him censor the theater's statue of Hermes. Percy came in to inspect the statue and de decided to alter it very gradually, but was spotted by Eccho, who reported it back to Bronn. The feud continues.

Willow used her new *wind walk* spell to taketh party on a small trip to the ruins of the old Castle Semarro, where they met with the two-headed hag-spawn brothers Malgenus and Pugnatus. The brothers promised not to eat any people if the local goblins were dealt with. So the party dealt with the goblins, no problem.

One night of carousing had some interesting consequences for the party. Kas and Galad found themselves tracking some Ashen Fist agents in the Black Kraken's old territory, and drunkenly fought their way through a few guards. Greyhand Viskhart, who was there managed to escape, but the two green drunks found and rescued Kyrë who had been bound and prepared for a dark ritual. Sannl got black-out drunk and awoke the next morning at Mara Calladar's place, apparently after having devised a new spell with the help of one or more of Mara's alternate personalities.

Sir Harkin Falstane of the Arrovale Marshes arrived on his griffon, warning Lady Willow and her people of an army of hobgoblins marching their way. In preparing for this battle, Bronn and Sir Guy readied the troops. Sir Estos was sent to rally the Outwall farmers. Kassiopeia spent some time training with Viviel and helping Leonara get back in fighting shape. Before the night of the battle, Sir Bronn made a powerful speech, imploring the soldiers to fight Eknoron and consider giving Maro Zokesh a fair chance to prove himself. The speech was inspiringly delivered and well received.

The goblinoid war band attacked Syllior's forces and the griffon riders of Arrovale under the cover of night. A few goblins made their way into the city, but most of the attackers were repelled, though at great cost to Syllior's numbers and morale. The Salt Coast druids were pushed back after calling on the land itself to combat the invaders. Forced to flee or face certain death under the weight of Wosheg's worg riders. Okriyet brought siege weapons and rust monsters, but the obgreblins were fought back by Gruggnog the hill giant and the party, after the party had successfully defended the eastern gate and captured Okriyet. With Kas as a giant ape carrying a howda siege tower, the party stormed into the battlefield and managed to capture Wosheg using Sannl's beholder eye ray. The knights of Longstrider charged the war band's back line, and Sir Guy successfully captured the warlord Maglutai. With the three enemy commanders all captured, their armies disbanded and fled into the night.

## One-shot: The Eternal Flame

July 4, 2019

In the Elemental Plane of Fire, a party of treasure hunters sought a holy artifact of Thalaar, each working for their own secretive patrons. A few demons, dance moves, and deaths later, Nauron ascended with the artifact.

## Session 58: What Lies Within

July 24, 2019

After the night's battle against the invading hobgoblins, the party locked the enemy leaders up and started clearing the field, driving the last enemies away, and healing their own wounded. With Maglutai's war band on the run and Syllior successfully defended, Sir Harkin and his griffon knights returned north to Harkin's ward in Arrovale. In the early morning, strange lights could also be seen in the northern sky.

The three captive hobgoblin leaders, Maglutai, Wosheg, and Okriyet, where held in the citadel's magically sealed cells. The party interrogated Maglutai first, and through Kas' brutal intimidation, they came to an agreement; the war lord informed the party and their allies of Eknoron's role in the attack on Syllior, and in return, Kas would battle Maglutai one on one, for a death more honorable than the one awaiting him in the dungeons. Wosheg seemed nonplussed about the coming death of her mate, and she claimed to have nothing to do with Eknoron, but was unsurprised by Maglutai's "foolish involvement with the iron dragonborn". Unaffected by the dungeon's magic, she conversed with Sannl, demanding freedom in return for leading the war band far away and upholding the peace with Barendain's monastery. Finally, they spoke to Okriyet, and sort of, kinda, maybe offered him a job???

All this, the party reported to the Longstrider Council, who were preparing a meeting about Percy's infrastructure project. The vote has not yet been cast, giving Percy some time to lobby for her position. The council agreed to use Maglutai to expose Eknoron, and admiral Viviel Onnurai suggested that Kas simply not fight fair. Kas decided on a fair fight to the death—no magic, no cheating.

After the meeting, Viviel took Percy aside to speak to her about Mara, Leonara, and being a foreigner in Kavaad. In return for supporting and lobbying for Percy's herms and roads, Viviel was promised Percy's aid in talking to Leonara.

Varoin Goldenplate approached Sannl and asked for her guidance, looking to her as the authority on Kavaadic matters. She hesitantly took up the mantle and guided Varoin on his path in the kingdom and the coming war.

An arena was constructed at the city walls, and citizens were gathered around to witness Kassiopeia's fight with the hobgoblin war lord Maglutai. Guided by Bronn, Maglutai told the audience of Eknoron's involvement (collusion, if you will) before the fight. Triggered by the heat of battle and Maglutai's words, Kas had a vision of the dream Daeszal had given her on Tol'Anar, where the orcs looked to her as their leader and the mother of a new legion of demons. She could hear the war drums of which Maglutai spoke. Shaking the vision, Kas, bloodied and bruised, managed to fell the warlord, severing his head from his body.

Half-drow necromancer Beatris Louhi arrived just in time for the end of the battle. She reconnected with those of the party that had gone into the Underdark and saved her life in Doomoodpool, and then they all has a well-earned night of carousing. Sannl and Varoin found the ruins of an old tower dedicated to Barendain and the Kavaadic saint, Lectilles Taegus. Kas asked Percy for help with her dreams, and Sannl examined her with her ring of x-ray vision.

After a long rest, the party decided to pursue the strange lights up north. Using Willow's *wind walk* spell, they could easily make it there before sir Harkin and his knights. On closer inspection, the lights seemed to emanate from a magical storm cloud, which made life difficult for the party's wind-forms. Galad decided to stop at Gamrion's tomb, and the others follower suit, except Willow, who spent some time in the storm, feeling a connection to its magic. Inside the tomb, Galad picked up Soliel's war hammer, and found that its sunlight repels the undead—and as it happens, also necromancers of 10th level or higher.

The party reconnected at the hanging bridge leading to the monastery of Barendain, and there, they were forced to revert to their own forms again. While carefully walking across, the party was attacked by frozen undead, including griffons, humans, and a dead goliath covered in retributive ice. A boomerang hurled the undead off the bridge, and when Galad and Percy turned griffons, it looked like the party would make it over safely; however, it was not so simple. A massive silhouette appeared in the frosty mist ahead, reaching with a mighty axe up to the ropes.

A frost giant with entirely too many heads came lumbering up under the bridge, and nearly cut it down. The axe sliced through one side, leading the bridge dangling from one side, and the party hanging on for their lives—but not Beatris and Percy; they fell into the windy chasm below, disappearing in the storm. Sannl was quick with a *featherfall*spell followed up by a *dawn*on the giant's head. Kassiopeia leapt unto the giant, sword first, but was thrown into the snow by a massive hand, alining next to Percy, who was clutching unto the giant's right ankle and inflicting wounds up and down its frustratingly regenerating Achilles tendon. Bronn strummed on his bandora and flew down, catching Beatris and lifting her into fireball range. Willow coated the giant in faerie fire, allowing Kas to hurl javelins at it through the wind and snow. The giant was brought down, its heads collapsing into its torso, but not for long. It rolled off a cliff, bringing Percy down with it, regenerating itself just enough to keep fighting on the descent.

    With the last few griffons dying to magic missiles, Galad hopped off the bridge and into the chasm, aiming for the glimmering faerie fire-covered silhouette. Because sorcerers don't care about "action economy" or "rules", he fell with style, rushing past Faelor and Kas, gliding acrobatically on the wind, watching out for the plummeting Percy, then immolating the giant with one spell and returning several hundred feet up to the cliff with another, his hands grasping the edge as the giant finally died. One small detail, however, is that Percy was still falling, already dangerously close to death from a gash in her back. Her boots of flying weren't much help in the magical storm either. With a *polymorph*spell, she took the form of a giant sparrowhawk and barely managed to steer herself up from her dive, and flying to safety. With the battle won, the party climbed and/or flew safely to the other side of the half-broken bridge.

The storm seemed to be entered around he monastery, and when the party was nearly there, the storm intensified until Willow was able to dispel it. The storm cleared almost instantly, and from within the mountains themselves, a great elemental of glacial ice appeared and spoke to Willow in Primordial. It asked her why she stopped its final rage, and when her answer was so she could better listen to its words, it thanked her and warned her of the creatures of the deep, mournfully recalling the loss of its followers to these otherworldly beings. The glacial ice started to crack, and the icicle at the heart of the elemental gave out, the spirit's life snuffed out. Faelor retrieved the heart.

The party was received at the monastery where Sannl was the only elder present, and one of the ten oracles would soon reach the end of its cycle. Sannl visited the oracles' chamber and visited her own dreams and then the oracle's, briefly discussing visions of death, and the purpose of life and foresight. The others mostly rested, some exchanging niceties, knowledge, and magic with Beatris and the local acolytes. Namely, Beatris shared a teleportation circle to Ryldz'tes in the Underdark in exchange or one in Kavaad. Kas found some books on orc lore to read. Fealor got to read a little about the primordial spirits of the Ridge of Blades. Sannl made sure to leave the monastery in good order, calling back some of the other elders to keep an eye on things while her adventure continues.

A little after noon, when Kas finally got out of bed, the party went wind-walking to Starpyre Keep to visit Tubrin. Camothas Gembrawl received the party there, and told them that an ankheg had appeared in Tubirn's cell. The baron's daughter Martanna Emberstar escorted the party down through the dungeons to the prisoner, where a few new doors and locks had been installed. The prisoner was duplicitous at best, and hard to speak to, until after an hour of interrogating him lead to some answers about Percy's mysterious past. According to the amalgamation of shifting personalities that Tubrin presented as, Percy was once one of his collective, but he did not create her and neither did his creators, and yet some of her useful memories are still stored inside Tubrin. Bronn gave the eldritch horror some constructive feedback, and Galad basically told the mad mage to go fuck himself, so Turbin pressed himself into the metal cube in his head and disappeared into it, dropping on the floor with a loud clang. Percy kicked the cube, and then she heard its voices beckoning her to rejoin them. So yea, that was pretty messed up.

## One-shot: The Fholt in Arr Stars

August 6, 2019

Fholtarr Thunderblood awoke, returned to life in the infirmary of Tiamat's temple in Jharuul, but without his magic. While piecing the past few months' events together, Fholtarr teamed up with Leandor the high elf swashbuckler and Talky the kobold archivist in verbally facing off against Raishan, investigating some illicit Blackscale business at the docks, and helping the magic seller Sandhorn. With some help from Thrivakk Thunderblood and Badhor Amastacia, they discovered that Fholtarr's magic was captured inside the Soulstone when Raishan had allied with Eknoron's magus Vizharr. After being teleported to Mithindel, the three, Badhor, and Ielenia entered the Elemental Chaos to search for Fholtarr's magic, but found that this plane was not the same as the Soulstone's. Leandor and his husband got back their lost wares and items from the Blackscales, and Talky was honoured with titles in both Jharuul and Mithlaru.

## Ragna story session 2: Eyes of Ice

August 7, 2019

Ragna went hunting with Algrim the Black's pack and learned the ways of the Lohkenorian werewolves, while occasionally visiting Sátved and working in smithies there. While hunting in the weeks before the winter solstice, the pack stumbled across a strange frost that controlled the minds of local creatures. With the aid of a wereraven druid and a werebear paladin, the pack tracked this frost to an elderly man and his four mute sons, who turned out to be one disguised Fomorian giant. With the giant defeated, its amulet released a captured winter hag, who fled into the mountains. The party of three left the pack behind and explored Myravellir's swamps, where a lost tribe of lycanthropes had disappeared and all that remained was a serpent cult and their lindwyrm protector. The lindwyrm turned out to be a human who had performed the blood ritual with too many strange creatures, transforming them into an amalgamation of beasts and horrors. The lindwyrm slain, the three found a sending stone of elven make, connecting the lost tribe to a mysterious high elf. Returning to the Thing for winter solstice, Ragna briefly encountered the high elf who had attacked the lycanthropes on the last solstice.

## Session 59: Winds over Kavaad

August 24, 2019

After Tubrin disappeared into the metal cube, Persephone spaced out and the party was escorted from the dungeon by Martanna Emberstar. Upstairs, Denos Falstane showed a much grown Godric to Galad and Willow. The party spent some time planning how to reveal certain secrets to their allies, before they found and told Harkin Falstane about Daeszal, the Ashen Fist conspiracy, Eknoron's connections, and the legitimacy of the Red Hand.

To earn Martanna's favor, the party went north, wind walking in search for Sir Lygar Boatspyre's party of paladin knights in the Arrovale marshes. There, they tracked a group of troll elves, who then ambushed the party, but were all killed, some quite violently by Kas in a blood rush. After a short rest the party continued into the dark swamp and found ghostly lights watching over a shaded stream. Crossing the stream, the party followed the tracks into a troll elf camp and negotiated briefly with a pale troll elf, who demanded the party's magic items and wanted the magic users killed or delivered to a mountain. The party wriggled themselves out of this situation with no major drawbacks. The troll elves complained about demons in the area.

On their way out of the swamp, the party was attacked by a dire troll. In the battle, Willow revealed that she had alway been a white dragon??? This whole time??? Plot twist! Kas almost died, having been left alone on the ground with the troll, while the others took to the sky. The troll was finally killed by a combination of Galad's cone of cold and Sannl's magic missiles. After this, the party discovered the corpse of paladin leader Lygar Boatspyre, and brought it back to Starpyre Keep, where he was burned under the cold night sky.

The party spoke to Martanna about war, family, and Arrovale's many issues. That night, Willow faced insomnia and sought Sannl's help identifying her, finding that some magic prevented her from sleeping outside a stone circle. the next day, the party attended a hastily arranged feast at Windfall Tower, where they informed Prince Tymos on almost everything concerning their various conspiracy theories and alliances. His magus was not available, and the griffon knights were absent, but there was much partying and merrymaking. Walking along the coast, Galad gained some dryad allies in Umina and Folyana, whom he thanked and sent to the Salt Coast. Kas blacked out and woke up in a cave prison, facing Maledictus and the shadow of Akaloth. In the darkness, Kas received a vision.

Ascending the sheer cliff face under Windfall Tower, Kas rejoined the party the next morning and absolutely obliterated Bronn in a fist fight duel. After some baths and a hearty breakfast, the party wind walked back to Syllior.

## Session 60: Rising Tensions

August 29, 2019

Returned to Syllior, the party brought a somewhat dissociated Percy up to speed on recent events, and they started planning their attack on Eknoron. They decided to take Tradefall while Eknoron's armies were still busy taking Hoghill Forest and camping out at Arrovale's borders. In preparation, Kas contacted some gladiators and had Okriyet freed to start building and repairing siege engines. Wosheg was freed on the condition that she would keep the peace with Barendein's monastery and march the war band out of Kavaad. Galad meditated on Fulgurot's power in a lightning bolt, praying for some show of divine will to manifest in Redgate, where Eknoron was last reported to be.

Teleporting to Gallo's Tower with princess Leonara, sir Estos Banadir, and a group of soldiers, the party managed to take Tradefall from Eknoron's remaining guards and instate the princess as self-appointed Baroness of Balzamar. In the castle, Willow and Sannl found some magic items left behind by Trissana, including a robe of useful items.

With Elmira Dushiuri's aid, Willow, magically shifted into the form of a yuan-ti pit master, acquired a mercenary unit of tiefling warriors. Kas led a mission with some of the others into the sewers and the undercity of Tradefall, where they found Viskhart's agents, and were brought to the Greyhand herself. The party struck a surprisingly easy and surprisingly generous deal with Viskhart. Percy helped return a former warlock's soul to her body, and was in turn given some worn-down antique winged boots. Useless on their own, the boots provided an upgrade to Percy's current boots after Dalion and Icon had spent some time with both pairs. Kas' missing mithral was returned, although Viskhart denied ever having taken it and instead implied its disappearance was the work of the Blackhand in Syllior.

Galad had the dryad Folyana settled and planted in a grove near the Sunstone on the Salt Coast, where Grugnogg the hill giant also came to stay. Sannl scanned Kas on Percy's behalf, after Percy had received a weird hunch. An instance of cackle fever in the army's camps was quickly averted, but the cursing culprit was never caught. While moving the army across the Balzian Fields, a rift in the planes tore itself open and gave way to Helper, the merchant assistant to the Jackal Fiend. The party spent some of Willow's useful items to purchase two boxes of randomly determined magical items. From these boxes, they received a number of cool trinkets, an elven chain, and a belt of hill giant strength.

To celebrate the loot crate jackpot, and to ease the nerves of war, the party spent some time carousing in Syllior. Sannl had to rethink her choices and alliances, after learning that the king of Duerhaith had allied with Eknoron, putting her at risk of exile for fighting on the party's side. Galad was kidnapped by Blackscales, but sank their ship and escaped with relative, sorcerous ease. Percy got on thin ice with her guild, due to her recent fugue-induced mistakes and unreliable work hours. Kas earned good money. Willow heard reports from Arrovale about abnormal monster sightings, connected to the troll elves' reported "demons" and loosely matching the descriptions of the previous bodies of Willow, Lo-Tha, Creed, and Ongor Flowermine. With Arrovale's paladins gone, the threat of the undead looms again.

Sannl leaned on the party to decide on her next move. She wind walked to Drevnir's Hall and ended up sneaking windily through the king's palace to speak directly to King Drevnir XXII. In her audience with the king, Sannl failed to convince him, and was then asked to present one-hundred pieces of evidence before him — one for each step on the stair to his throne. Regrouping with Percy and Willow, Sannl decided on a dramatic presentation before the dwarven king, in which Percy would recite 99 names of victims of Eknoron's shady connections and demonic allies. Then on the hundredth step, they plan to pile all their collected pieces of evidence, incriminating Eknoron.

## Session 61: The Battle of Balzamar

September 21, 2019

With Eknoron's armies marching back into Balzamar, the party had called out to their allies across the kingdom to prepare for battle. To buy time for Sannl to speak with the king of Duerhaith, the party's armies pulled back to Tradefall. An envoy of Percy, Galad, and Faelor travelled to Drevnir's Hall to help Sannl present her case. Percy listed the names of ninety-nine victims of Eknoron's criminal and demonic allegiances. When the king defended Eknoron as a dragon-slayer and presented the heads of three dragons given to him by Eknoron, Percy replied that Eknoron will only be worse than those dragons, and presented with evidence, the king had to listen. Galad spoke of his part in Daeszal's return and his determination to right his wrongs. Faelor shared his personal history with the Ashen Fist and the love it had taken from him, and the king was moved. Finally, when Sannl pleaded with king Drevnir and his advisors, the king decreed that his subjects take no part in Kavaad's internal conflicts on pain of exile or even death. Sannl the other acolytes of the monastery, however, were allowed to oversee these foreign affairs and interfere with Eknoron's conquest of Kavaad. The party then regrouped in Tradefall, where Willow, Bronn, and Kas had readied the troops.

When Percy received word from Hermes that Kas had tried to pray to him, she took Kas aside and spoke with her in a gnomish tavern. This talk was abruptly interrupted by a of viral fit of cackle fever spreading throughout the tavern. The party managed to contain the problem, and when investigating the scene, it appeared a large monster had mysteriously infiltrated a group of drinking soldiers and inflicted the laughing curse on one of them.

The Hoghill Rangers arrived at dawn the next morning, with sir Callum Ferngreen and Captain Ellywynn in front. Eknoron's army arrived less than an hour later, and in greater numbers than the defending units. Eknoron had brought mindless helmed horrors to the battle, and mages to direct them. With wyverns screeching above and drake-riders in the field, the dragonborn soldiers quickly engaged the party's archery line, so Bronn, Faelor, and Kas had to go in and break the cavalry wall to save the archers. With the archers safe, the enemy wyverns started falling from the sky, one crash landing with its rider unscathed. An antipaladin waded through the battlefield, carving a way for a swarm of kobolds to scuttle in and attack. The party quickly descended upon this otherwise menacing knight, making quick work of him and leaving the kobolds asleep. When away from most of the party, Kas attacked Maro Zokesh. Kas was revealed to be Maledictus in disguise, and managed to damage the prince before the party could arrive to stop him. When banished by Galad, it seemed Maledictus was gone. As the armies clashed, more and more allies arrived to help against Eknoron. Sir Harkin and his griffon knights, Kovaukand the Makate tribe, and even Maro Zokesh and the Red Hand. Sir Bronn advised Leonara to ride into battle to rally her knights and display the sword Virtue on the battlefield, which she did, though still in recovery from her death. In the chaos, her troops were cornered by their fellow knights who had now sworn fealty to Eknoron, and Leonara was captured. Time after time, the combined forces of Syllior and its allies were unable to break through the line of traitor knights, until, when all others had failed, Kovauk and her goliaths pushed them to the very top of a hill where Harkin and his griffons could descend upon them from all sides. Carried by griffons, the party chased down Eknoron and his wyvern riders over the morning bloodbath.

Captain Boomerang split Eknoron's head from the rest of his construct body, revealing an empty armor with strange, arcane carvings inside. Maledictus returned to the battle but was sunbeam'ed by Willow. Wyverns nearly caused a TPK, but through overwhelming damage and constant healing, the party managed to survive the fight and bring down Eknoron and his most elite troops. The remaining units of the attacking army fled or where captured while trying. I think that's a victory! But where is the real Kas?

## One-shot: The Nameless Saint

October 15, 2019

In the early centuries of human civilization in Thindrel, the angel Valaara rallied a group of heroes to fight back against a dark god. In their quest, these heroes acquired the Bow that Knows the Names of All Worms, which would later be known to humankind as the Bow of the Nameless Saint. With the bow, the group went about slaying demons and eventually was called to the outer planes to slay the evil god of worms.

## Session 62: Journey to Kalruun

October 16, 2019

After the battle with Eknoron, the party and their allies began to assess the situation. Some of them spent the rest of the day inspecting the now inert constructs that Eknoron's mages had commanded. These constructs appeared to be hollow suits of armor inscribed with strange arcane sigils and draconic runes, much like Eknoron's fallen steel body, except that they were powered by chaos magic like that from the Soulstone. Galad experienced some limited control over one of these constructs.

The next morning, the Willow scried on Kas and saw her duelling an orc warrior in what looked more like a bout than a battle to the death. The party contacted Kas via sending and decided to go looking for her, but before they left Tradefall, they made sure to speak to their allies. Galad checked in with Kovauk, while Sannl and Bronn visited Leonara. Bronn also reported back to Maro Zokesh.

In their search for Kas, the party decided to look for clues about Maledictus and travelled to Windfall Tower to investigate further. In scouring the caves in the cliffside, the party found dungeons and cells containing some captured servants from Prince Tymos' court, though most of them and the prince's personal griffon had been slain. In the tower itself, Galad and Bronn found no servants or guards. They did find some strange items, among them a metal slab with barcodes and a mirror of life trapping, which they shattered, releasing a confused Tymos Meisent. They also attracted the attention of Maledictus' mother when they used a magical communication device to write to her, pretending to be Maledictus. Willow found signs of a shadow crossing in the back of a cliffside cell containing some of Kas' things. Tymos was safely teleported to Gallo's Tower in Tradefall, and the party looted some sunken treasures in the cove and on a shipwreck. Among other things, Sannl found a spellbook and a ghost that seemed determined to destroy the last of the book's contents. Sannl recovered the broken pieces along with the intact spell notes, and she later repaired the torn up pages to reconstruct their secret knowledge.

After a night's rest, the party (minus Faelor) continued with *wind walk*to Agranor, where they arrived late at night in the town of Flowerfen. After a day of travel, the party payed for lodging at an inn. Bronn and Galad both went out about town in secret, while Sannl stayed up late transcribing spells. While poking around in Percy's past, Bronn was pulled into a dark alleyway, and sensing an ambush he annihilated three people with a *steel wind strike*. When trying to heal one of them, he found the man was already dead, and that he wore a simple tattoo of a stylized eye. When Bronn returned to the inn, he approached a green haired half-orc woman to possibly find more information. The woman spoke mostly in thieves' cant and wore the same tattoo as the man back in the alley. Bronn managed to get a limited amount of information out of her, but she wanted coin for the rest. When she asked why he was so interested, he told her that he was "collecting flowers". The conversation became strained, and Bronn decided to back out before the situation escalated, instead opting for sneaking into his room's window from the back of the inn. Failing spectacularly at this, he snuck in through the front in disguise. This all happened just in time for Galad to notice as he was returning from his own errands.

The next day, people were watching from the shade as the party got on the first coach out of town in the direction of Mythhold. On the open road, the party discussed the history and morals of the "fuck Avtoor" meme. Sannl spent most of the trip reading the restored last ten pages of the spellbook from the shipwreck. In reading this, Sannl learned strange and forgotten lore, but was wracked with the cosmic scale of it. When she tried to stop, the text kept pulling her back in with the insidious promise of eldritch knowledge, and were it not for Willow's quick reaction, Sannl would have transformed into an allip (an evil ghost that seeks to infect others with the same cursed lore).

When the party arrived in Mythhold, the party sought out wizards and librarians to learn from. Willow summoned an invisible stalker to find the path to Kas, but her order to the spirit was insufficient and the elemental broke free. With the help of librarian and conjurer Yohannah, Sannl learned some tricks to summoning elementals, and how best to command invisible stalkers in the future. Willow remembered a different spell to find the path: the aptly named *find the path*. However, this spell required an item from the target location, so Bronn and Galad went out to find lumber from the woods where Kas would most likely be, given the presence of orcs in Willow's scryings. In the end, they ended up stealing a sliver of a very expensive desk made from Kalruun oak.

And while in Mythhold, there was a carousing quota that needed to be filled, because of course. Galad encounter Udhros Orixidor, and the two zipped through the city with far step, jumping from wizard's tower to wizard's tower, discussing events and items, including the eladrin necklace Galad got from Kyrë. Galad told Udhros some things about the Soulstone, and Udhros offered to safeguard it in a sealed-off demiplane. Bronn showed some wizard school students how much cooler it really is to be a bard, and enlightened a necromancy drop-out warlock-by-mistake to take up the harp again. In his persuasive presentation before the small crowd, Bronn was disturbed by a plural-presenting voice in his head approving of his talents in recruitment.

Meanwhile, Kas joined a hunting trip with Vrosh Horntooth into the Kalruun Fields, where the orcs were pushing back the human settlers. Kas agreed to burn down the village and steal their sheep and cattle on the condition that no villagers were harmed. This deal was upheld, at least for the most part, as a few humans were roughed up a little before they were allowed to flee with their horses.

Two days later, the party found their way to Vrosh's camp in Kalruun Forest. Bronn and Galad took a detour and teamed up with Zilmenaa who was flying over the Kyrval Mountains. In the meantime, Kas introduced Willow and Sannl to Aktul the orcish head priestess. Reunited with Kas, the party swapped stories until they were all caught up on the past few weeks. Kas recounted how she travelled through a nightmare realm and briefly met Burbas'Tel there while on her way to some force calling her north. Bronn and Galad convinced Zilmenaa to come back to Kavaad and help the party sniff out an other silver dragon, in the hopes that it can aid the Red Hand's cause. Zilmenaa had also come up with humanoid personas each more or less based on Bronn (Vronn Zvelton), Galad (Trouble, or "Balade"), and Percy (Mercy).

Kas and Aktul prepared an orcish feast and a party to celebrate. There was armwrestling, brawling, gross stew, and all-round merrymaking late into the night. In the early morning hours, Kas had been separated from the party, and Bronn was lost alone in the dark woods where demon orcs were hunting in the dark. Bronn managed to escape and find Kas, and the two then fought off the hunting party long enough for the others to arrive with Zilmenaa. With the slaying of these demon orcs, Kas felt seen and partly fulfilled in a new and spiritual way that connected with her experience of hearing drums in her heartbeat as well as her lessons with Aktul and Vrosh. Will Kas pursue the demon orcs further, or is she ready to head home with her friends?

## Session 63: How Fholtarr Got His Mojo Back

October 26, 2019

Up in the Kalruun Forest, the party and Kas decided to return home, but first, Kas wanted to stop the orc chief Vrosh from pillaging the human lands and prove herself in front of the tribe's warriors. She defeated Vrosh in a duel, revealing her half-orc nature and displaying a supernatural change with a glow in her eye and her scars forming into words on her left arm. Scared of Kas, the orcs retreated, and the party made their way to a dry place to draw up a teleportation circle and return home.

After checking in with their royal allies, the party went back to Syllior to join up with Percy. In discussing their next move, Bronn offered to deal with the politics above ground while the others could venture into the Underdark. They also discussed what to do about Fholtarr and the Soulstone. Then a week of downtime and carousing followed, in which a number of things happened.

Willow and Galad had some talks about the Feywild, their concerns for Kas, and more. Sannl and Varoin frequented the inns of Syllior and discussed matters of the monastery, such as the appointment of a new oracle. Bronn and Percy spoke at length, among other things about what happened in Flowerfen and Mythhold, regarding Percy's past as Violet and Bronn's latest encounter with voices in his head. The two of them drunkenly decided to scry on Kanilm Foheen, and learned that *true seeing*works through a scrying sensor. Though the spell was unsuccessful, true seeing did reveal a strange silhouette overlapping Percy. Through sending, Percy managed to speak to this "silent passenger" and got to know this "Marigold" person a little bit better. Kas revealed to the party that she was now a paladin, and she also managed to royally piss off the Black Kraken by pointing out her secret hideout to Viviel Onnurai. Checking in on Mara Calladar, she appeared to be developing new, less stable personalities. Galad quietly celebrated his birthday during this week. Oh, and then Bronn drunkenly stole the Soulstone to figure out if he could get Fholtarr's mojo back, but ended up trapped inside it, where he found the souls of some slain dragons and even fought one of them before the party managed to get him out (thanks to their new and improved understanding of the invisible stalker spirit). The party summoned Fholtarr, who was teleported directly to them from Mithindel, and Galad managed to channel the infamous mojo out of the stone through a lightning spell and back into Fholtarr. With his magic returned, Fholtarr returned to the high elves to plot his vindication in Jharuul and revenge against his sister. Lastly, Percy got her road project approved, and set up a Sanctuary for *word of recall*at the herm nearest the Longstrider Citadel.

With these problems and preparations all done, the party decided it was time to head into the Underdark to search for the missing spellcasters and learn more of the "all-knowing mind flayers". After some consideration and his latest harrowing experience, Bronn decided to join the others in the world below, and the team prepared to use the teleportation circle to the drow outpost Ryldz'tes, which they had learned from Beatris Louhi.

    However, there was a mishap wit the spell, and the party and their Kuo-toa ally Jooprin were thrust into an unknown location in total darkness. Luckily, they weren't far off target, and this way they managed to circumvent the drow. The party had a cave above them with some distant, coloured lights, and a network of small tunnels below. Using Jooprin's equipment as a component, Willow found the path to Doomoodpool, and the group decided to go through the smaller tunnels, though not the smallest ones here Fafnir had been attacked by some unknown creature. A handful of traps sat in their way, and crafty kobolds set ambushes for the party, but such simple trickery wasn't enough to stop these experienced adventurers. With some clever use of magic, the party found a way to get around the kobolds' den and into a large cavern below, where strange fungi grew, and oscillating particles and a seemingly sleeping beholder floated about in the air. Percy's illusory duplicate distracted the odd beholder as the party drifted down to the stone floor, narrowly evading the suspicious fungal growths. Among two stone statues and a pile of dust, Bronn found a convenient ring of feather falling. Ready to end the day of adventure, the party rested in a narrow passage, shielded by Sannl's tiny hut, and Willow's fey magic. The next morning, the party followed the path into the Cloaker Caves and travelled with wind walk through most of this haunted place, but were caught by cloakers woken by the heedless noise of Jooprin who wasn't yet used to flying. With nothing to hide behind out in the open air, the party was forced to stop and fight until their captured members were freed from the monsters' grasp.

## Session 64: Down Under

November 3, 2019

The party escaped the Cloaker Caves and huddled up for a short rest in a small tunnel. Kas noticed a small group of kobolds in the tunnel ahead and snuck up on them, scaring three of them to death instantly before Galad killed the last one with a firebolt. Continuing through the tunnel, the party climbed up at a crossroads, finding a long-dead stone giant. Percy spoke with the dead giant's animating spirit and gathered information about the purple dragon Sazzanith and the history of Kavaad's ancient architecture.

Leaving the stone giant to rest, the party found their way into a kobold lair trapped with falling spikes, slippery lake banks, swarms of piranhas, underwater bear traps, and murder holes along the walls, not to mention a trapped chest over a pit trap with a gelatinous cube inside. The party exhausted a great deal of their spellcasting clearing a path through the kobold lair.

Beyond the kobold lair, the party came upon a goblin cave with a caustic geyser filling the ceiling with acidic gasses. Defended by Galad and Bronn, the party went out on a naturally formed stone pier and started transforming into their *wind walk*forms. During this transformation, while the party was incapacitated, pale, eyeless goblins attacked, dragging a helpless Percy under the water. Bronn dove in to save her while Galad protected the others. With Percy rescued and the goblins fought off, the party made their way across the lake, taking some damage from the exploding geyser and the caustic air.

Sannl set up an other tiny hut and the party took a short rest in the tunnel on the opposite side of the lake. There, Willow spotted a number of creatures in the dark cave ahead, including a floating creature with tentacles. The party decided to follow into that cave after their rest, and parted ways with Jooprin, whom they sent up into the purple worm tunnels leading to Doomoodpool. The party had a little pep talk for Kas, for though immune to being frightened, she was still horrified by the tentacled monsters in the dark. Galad and Faelor swapped out some magic items, leading to Faelor having the strength of a hill giant.

    Following the way Willow had spotted the creatures, the party stealthily moved through a cave full of massive drip stone formations. However, some of the stalactites and a stalagmite the party hid behind turned out to be monsters. Ropers and piercers attacked the unsuspecting party, but were struck down with greater ease than the kobolds from earlier in the day. The party also encountered strange doppelgängers incapable of intelligible speech in these caves, as well as the remains of a party of paladins from Barendain's monastery. The body of Ezerina Steelsinew, the party's leader, wasn't among them.

Percy found a hidden alcove in the side of the drip stone cavern, giving the party a safe place to rest for the night, but when a group of gray dwarves emerged from a metal door carrying a strange box, the party was intrigued and decided to investigate instead. Percy and Bronn put on false dwarf personas as Nora and Kildrak, using *disguise self*and *tongues*. The two managed to speak with the dwarves and negotiate a way to enter the metal door, bringing the whole party with them, while the dwarves carried their strange box off toward Krûl. The leader of the duergar group revealed that he had seen through the party's illusions, and when the party went through the open door, the duergar disappeared, and the door closed behind them. Behind the now closed door, the party was faced with another door identical to the first. Between two doors, the party was trapped.

## Session 65: Slime Time

November 19, 2019

Trapped between sealed doors, the party found themselves attacked by grey ooze, slithering out of hidden cracks in the floor and walls. The door ahead opened for an unseen creature that stunned Willow and tempted the others to pursue it while Sannl completed her casting of *tiny hut*. The door closed behind the creature when it left, leaving the party behind with a reinvigorated floor of ooze to deal with. When the hut was completed, the ooze closed in and covered the dome, which had to be cleared before the spell ended. In the rest, Galad decided to sleep, and had a dream in which Willow disappeared under the snow of a wintery landscape and Galad himself sank into a crystal-clear frozen lake where his magic failed him. With the oozes cleared out and the long rest complete, Willow remained fast asleep, breath cold, and unresponsive to any attempt at waking her. Persephone tried *greater restoration* but to no avail, receiving only a message from the North Wind: "Her mind is my charge, her body yours. Keep her safe."

Bringing Willow along on a *floating disk*, the party bypassed the door ahead with *stoneshape* and *fabricate*, leaving a hidden section in the wall where the is thin enough to break with ease, should they need to escape that way. Kanilm Foheen's Codex lit up on Percy's back, as was pointed out by a strange creature in the cavern beyond the door. The creature, a bat-spider-human hybrid, offered to introduce the party to its village and their leader, a psychic gray ooze called Globulon. The party graciously declined for the time being, and made their way past a group of cave fishers, into a huge snail shell, seeking the mind flayer rumored to reside there.

    With Fafnir as a spy, the party gleamed a row of glass tanks containing various monsters and slimes. Bronn and Percy deceived a pari of quaggoth guards and the party started investigating the inside of the laboratory. Faelor pressed on through the spiral building and into the back room, where he found the mind flayer and a group of slimy minions copying his elvish appearance. Combat broke out. Faelor was stunned for most of the fight. Kas and Bronn brawled their way through the slimy minions, while Percy flew over them to cast *inflict wounds* on the mind flayer, which then teleported into the room with the glass tanks. Galad and Sannl protected Willow's hibernating body from the quaggoths, and the others followed into the room, where the tanks opened one by one, releasing the creatures insides: A death kiss, a goblin, a spirit troll, and three Kuo-toa, one of which had been transformed into a black pudding. The party's attention was quickly diverted to the death kiss, giving the mind flayer enough time to go meddle with some tanks with hidden contents. Still stunned, Fealor was attacked by the mind flayer, its tentacles wrapping around his neck and head. This shifted the party's focus, and when they ran to help Faelor, the mind flayer let go of his head and backed up, creating a wall of force separating itself and Willow from the rest of the party and the other monsters. Bronn, Kas, Faelor, and enlarged Percy soon followed with dimension doors, and managed to slay the mind flayer, Kas splitting its head with a divine smite. This broke the wall of force, and there were still monsters being released from their tanks. An ooze with faces, connected to a tube where a clone of Ezerina Steelsinew was growing, stole Sannl's memory of preparing spells, and it stole Brown's free will, forcing him to attack his allies. One by one, the party fell unconscious. Kas bled out on the floor of the laboratory. Darkness took the rest, as yet another monster - a drider - emerged from its glass tube.

The mind flayer was killed, but at what cost?

## Session 66: A Krûl Mistress

November 24, 2019

Unconscious or dead respectively, each member of the party was rolled up in a ball of web and dragged off to Krûl by a drider. There, the party was confiscated from the drider and stripped of their equipment. Percy brought Faelor and Galad back to life, using the ice elemental's heart to do so. Thanks to Elmira, disguised as drow noble J'kae Rhithiss, the party was bailed out and Bronn went on a heist with the disguised noblewoman to regain some of the group's lost equipment and find Kas' body and bring it back to Percy to be raised from the dead. Willow woke from her slumber with a quest from the Queen of Air and Darkness, to retake the Queen's domains from the Red Witch. Once safely outside Krûl's reinforced walls, Elmira dropped her disguise, and the party made camp, hidden in the side of a tunnel wall, ready to rest.

## Session 67: The Mind Flayers

December 30, 2019

    In which our heroes attempted to regain some more of their gear and lost two dear friends.

The party got a rest in the side of the tunnel wall. The group quickly discussed their plans for the time being and Faelorreassured Percy that he would do everything to get her and the others' things back while keeping the party in one piece. After a hug between the two, Percy switched and Marigold (spelled with an 'a' unlike her Witcher namesake) took over, and needed to be brought up to speed. Marigold learned how to fly using the winged boots, and she experimented with calling on Percy and her divine spells even when Marigold was alone in the "driver's seat" of their shared body. Outside their hiding place, a pack of basilisks were driven into a pit of carrion crawlers, resulting in the opposing groups of monsters eliminating each other. Peering out from the wall, the group saw a familiar figure in the darkness — Beatris Louhi, accompanied by her feline familiar, Akhtin.

Beatris joined the group and introductions were made for those unacquainted. When the dragon rune on Beatris' delver's cube lit up, the party became quiet and watchful. The whooshing echo of great wing beats rolled over them before a tiny, pale figure crawled anxiously through the tunnel, sneaking past the last remaining carrion crawler and responding only briefly to Galad's message spells. Amid the continued planning of the upcoming heist for their remaining magic items, Galad ran to catch up with the tiny kobold-like creature, but lost it before it vanished at the gates of Krûl, at which point the delver's cube lost its glow.

The party decided to send in a small expeditionary force and connect with some of Beatris' shady contacts in the sewers of Krûl to find if there was an easier way into the city and the Artefactium where the items were stored, and also to possibly unify a resistance group against Baron Graldain Ironpike of Krûl and his supposed mind flayer masters. To aid in this scouting mission, Elmira placed a glamour of seeming on Bronn, Faelor, and Beatris - the three volunteers for the initial expedition. Thanks to Beatris' papers and contacts, they successfully entered the city and learned of a possible weakness in the duergar fortress' defenses.

After meeting up with Gnask, a goblin informant for the local underground resistance, the expeditionary trio, headed by Bronn, decided to investigate some mysterious snail house-like structures in Krûl reminiscent of the mind flayer laboratory where they all nearly died. Faelor received a sending with warnings from Apo'Otu to beware the hostile waters of the City of the Glass Pool. Faelor responded to his master's call, unsure if that action would alert the mind flayers to their presence. At the snail house, the trio observed a group of dwarves enter in a strange state and exit some time later, changed. One dwarf in particular had gained a glow to its eyes and stared straight at the group for a moment before disappearing into a marketplace crowd. Here the trio split up. Beatris returned to coordinate the sewer rebellion, while the other two returned to the eastern gates, wherefrom they had entered Krûl, and beyond which the rest of the party waited for the safe return of their friends. This is when it all went wrong.

Beatris found Gnask and the rebels more ready and eager than she had anticipated — more coordinated as well; their steps choreographed, sentences simultaneous, and in place of the pronouns "I" and "me", they all seemed to use "we" and "us". After an uneasy while, in which Beatris tried to ensure that the rebels were indeed sufficiently prepared and informed for the mission, her familiar alerted her to the presence of rats. Rats hiding on the rebels. In their shoes, their hair, their bags. Knowing now that something was definitely wrong, Beatris bolted to the eastern gate, sending Akhtin ahead to warn Bronn and Faelor. When grumpy cat and his wizard arrived at the gate, it had just closed behind Bronn and Faelor who were well on their way through the seven layers of gates. In the third room, however, something was waiting for them. A row of duergar guards surrounding a tall figure with a robe impossible to tell the color of. The figure's face writhing with tentacles and set with strange black eyes — all matching an illusory image previously conjured by Elmira. Above the mind flayer, a large orb hang fixed in the air, topped with glassy eye stalks, filled with an empty-looking central eye, and adorned with four tentacles around a circular row of teeth.

The mind flayer in the glistening robe reached out with its slime-covered hands to grasp Bronn's face. Quick to action, Faelor reached for his axe to strike the aberration but found himself paralyzed by a spell from Bronn. Faelor could move only just enough to lock eyes with Bronn, whose cheeks were then caressed by the mind flayer before it turned its attention to Faelor. The mind flayer wrapped its tentacles around the head of Faelor Xiloscient, just as Beatris managed to make her way into the room and Bronn was ordered away, disappearing through a *dimension door*. Beatris, her familiar, the duergar, and the orb above all bore witness to the horrible thing that happened next. Wrapped around his face and neck, the tentacles tightened their grip and made a slithering sound followed by a pop and a crunch. With a guttural slurp, Faelor's brain was extracted out through his skull and devoured by the mind flayer. His limp body fell to the floor. The room was on fire. All Beatris could do in the moment was to burn down everything around her. Caught in the orb's appendages, she was nearly treated to the same end, but with Akhtin's help and some hearty skeletons, she managed to slip from the mind flayer's grasp and scare it into a flight as she herself took off in the opposite direction, barely creeping through the last four gates alive.

When Beatris united with the party outside the city, and Faelor's brainless corpse was reclaimed, the group decided to fall back and hide in a cave inhabited by flumphs. When Beatris had told the others what had happened, some decided to rest and protect Faelor's body while Sannl and Galad immediately went back to Krûl to find Bronn and hunt the mind flayer before it could restore its defenses. Running through the dark, Sannl and Galad heard a clicking sound echo through the tunnels and saw a hook horror. An unseen force made swift work of the horror, and the two decided to rush ahead when Sannl's *see invisibility*spell failed to reveal the hook horror's killer. As they reached the broken gates of Krûl where dwarves were already working to rebuild, they were dragged behind cover into a hiding spot by a creature that revealed itself to be a drow. The drow offered Sannl and Galad her help in passing into Krûl unseen as well as finding —and fighting— the mind flayer.

With the drow Neeril's help, the small group infiltrated Krûl and made their way to the mysterious snail houses and conch buildings of Krûl's smithing district. In the first, they found only a deep well. In the second, a similar well, but also a mind witness and a group of strange duergar wielding some of the party's old equipment. Though Sannl nearly drowned under the mind witness' weight, the group prevailed and gathered the stolen items, including Percy's bag of holding and a belt of hill giant strength. in the third and largest conch building, a mind witness and two mind flayers surrounded three glass tubes. In one tube was a red ooze, in another was Bronn, and between them a stream of slime was growing into a clone of Bronn. The mind flayers escaped, leaving behind swarms of cranium rats. Bronn's clone escaped as well, but the real Bronn was rescued by the group, though he had been rendered comatose. The ooze disappeared into a metallic cube the mind flayers had been working on, and a whirlwind of limbs spewed forth from the cube to attack the party. With a storm of spells, the limbs were repelled and reduced to a single body — that of Kanilm Foheen, royal court magus of Kavaad, henceforth referred to as "Kaslim Foheen". A confused Kassiopeia arrived with a score of guards tailing her, but Kaslim Foheen transmuted the conch's material to seal the entrance, keeping the guards at bay. A brief combat with the slime wizard became a tense conversation, and after the group allowed Kaslim Foheen to cast a protective spell on himself to "fend off the cube's influence", he teleported away, and Galad's attempt to counter the spell was ineffective.

Introductions were made with Neeril and Kas, and the group decided to make an attempt at the originally planned heist. With no other exit left, the group swam out through a well and up into another snail house, bypassing the guards and sneaking into the fortress district, Kas carrying Bronn's body, and Percy's bag of holding stuffed with eye stalks. In the Artefactium, the group distracted an elderly archivist —a dwarf woman who had clearly seen better days— and reclaimed a few stolen items as well as some new ones, including a pair of portal hand mirrors and a crystal ball appearing like a shape changing eye. In their escape, the group fought off a pair of troll warriors from Grurg, Vort and Okka. Once outside, they quickly made their way back to the flumph cave to reunite with the party and rest. Elmira and Beatris teleported out to the circle in Gallo's Tower, bringing with them the bodies of Bronn and Faelor, as well as one of the portal mirrors. Willow watched over the resting party and heard a small creature foraging in the cave. Recognizing the creature's Neblim dialect and identifying it as a deep gnome, Willow decided to seek out the gnome. The gnome was shocked at first and tried to hide from Willow before introducing herself as Durthee.

## One-shot: Beasts of the Night

December 31, 2019

A band of heroes freed the Beastlands from a dark corruption at the heart of the secret spring of life in Karasuthra, which had left many of the Beast Lords changed and mutated by demonic influence.

For more slime time, see session logs from 2020.