Session Note Master Page

* Isi meets Captain Brightsun at a tavern and he gives her a quest to rescue his cousin Giltheras from the South Sea Freebooters. Alyrin joins the conversation and volunteers to help in order to gain passage North. Isi is more of the "buddy I work alone" type, but Alyrin follows her anyways.
* Isi has her first heist \*cue the mission impossible theme\* and successfully stole a map and potion!
* Isilee + Alyrin take on the pirate camp. It goes really well
* Isi and Alyrin sneak into the camp and get caught. And knocked tf out.

##### Session 1b

* Played: June 3, 2021
* Adelaide is staying at the Broken Keel Tavern in Ratchet and overhears a group of Bruisers discussing how the South Sea Freebooters are a threat
* Ga'an walks into the tavern and is immediately kicked out by Wylie after he orders a drink with no money to pay for it
* Adelaide is given information that Gazlowe, the leader of the town, will pay for someone to aid in hunting down bandits
* In search of a job, Adelaide sets off to find Gazlowe's residence, and is trailed by Ga'an.
* Inside of Gazlowe's residence, Adelaide and Ga'an meet Retick Fiztorque, the head of the Bruisers.
* Gazlowe offers Adelaide and Ga'an a bounty of 50 GP for the head of Baron Longshore, leader of the South Sea Freebooters. Gazlowe would also pay an additional 5 GP for the sigil of every pirate slain. He also requested that the team look out for a stolen shipment containing a looking glass.
* Adelaide, Ga'an and Retick set out for the pirate camp. After clearing out several groups of pirates, the team is surrounded and it is revealed that Retick has been working with Longshore all along and has lead the two into a trap.
* Adelaide surrenders while Ga'an is knocked unconscious (setting a precedent), and they are both thrown in a prison cell where Gilthares Firebough, Isilee, and Alyrin are being held.

#### Session 2

* Played: July 13, 2021
* First session where the whole party played together (before the introduction of Juniper)
* The group has a meet-cute in a cage in a pirate camp <3
* They break out (Isilee lockpicks and is only able to free herself) and they fight lots of peeps!
* No one has their spell casting foci

#### Session 3

* Played: July 21, 2021
* The group loot Baron Longshore's body finding coin, a small hand pistol (taken by Adelaide), a healing potion, and a pistol.
* The group decapitates Longshore to bring his head back to Gazlowe.

### Session 4

* Played: July 31, 2021
* The group searched Baron Longshore's tent and found a map of the Barrens, a manifest of future shipments "signed" by Gazlowe, and communications referring to the pirates "contact" (Retick Fiztorque) giving them information on an upcoming shipment.
* The group make it out of the pirate camp and set off to reunite Gilthares Firebough with his cousin, Captain Brightsun, who had previously hired Isilee and Alyrin to retrieve Gilthares.
* The group discovers that Retick has been working for Longshore for several years

### Session 5

* Played: September 6, 2021
* Now back in Ratchet, the party goes to Jazzick's to get supplies.
* Back at the Broken Keel Tavern, The party learns that Alyrin died at the Battle of Mount Hyjal and woke up possessed.
* In the back of the tavern, the party sees a beige giant putting up a poster that reads "Gladiators Wanted" for the Diremaul Gladiator Fights in Feralas.
* The party decided not to follow that particular plot hook because it was in the opposite direction of Orgrimmar and also they were almost sold into slavery AS gladiators, awkward.
* Instead, they decided to go to Orgrimmar on Captain Brightsun's boat, each PC for their own personal reasons
* Before embarking, the group met a Tauren named Sugorim (?). The Tauren had a crate of hides which they needed to deliver to the Hall of the Brave in the Valley of Honor.

## The Searing Blade

### Intro to Orgrimmar

#### Session 6

* Played: October 2, 2021
* The party arrived at the docks in Bladefist Bay, finding themselves in an inhospitable desert
* After traveling the eastward road towards Orgrimmar, they finally reach the city gates
* At the Broken Tusk Tavern, the party met a distraught Orc woman named Rasa who is looking for her missing mate Uto. Rasa is talking to a Tauren named Juniper.
* The party agree to search for Uto in exchange for catcus apple bread.
* Ga'an opens up about some of his backstory and motives: he wants to be powerful to kill a witch doctor from his home, The Echo Isles
* Investigating around Orgrimmar, the party learn that Uto never arrived at Borston's Firepit.
* Talking to guards reveals that there have been a few disappearances around the city, primarily of young orc shaman. These disappearances have been occurring over the last several months.
* Isilee reveals that her mother was a human from Lorderan and passed away, at which point she went to live with her elven father in Silvermoon.
* The party learns of another missing orc by the name of Dura, who's husband and sons run the salvage shop. The party proceeded to not talk to the husband and sons at the salvage shop.
* The party learns of whispers of a dark organization returning known as the Burning Blade.

#### Session 7

* Session 7: December 4, 2021
* The party travelled to the Valley of Wisdom to meet with the Shaman and discuss the disappearances
* Juniper traumatizes an intern
* Kardis Dreamseeker, head shaman, tells the party of a young shaman named Urkar who wanted to better commune with the spirits and went underground to do so. The spirits have been agitated for the last few months for unknown reasons.
* The party is told to follow up with Godann's Runework in the Cleft of Shadows.
* While traveling to the Cleft of Shadows, Alyrin expresses how valuable Priests are and how when she's more powerful, she'll have tons of kidnapping attempts made on her.
* She is then promptly kidnapped.
* Isilee follows Alyrin into the alley where her assailant has dragged her and is able to diffuse the situation. The assailant, a troll, is named Jes'rimon, and he is a member of the Shattered Hand.
* Jes'rimon brings the party to Yelmak's Alchemy. He tells the party that many military recruits, all orcs, have gone missing
* The party is asked to rendezvous with an operative named Kor'ghan at Rekkul's Poisons in the Cleft of Shadows. They are given the key phr

> We are here to be freed of our shackles.
>
> Code given to party by Jes'rimon for communicating with Shattered Hand contacts

* The party learns of the Darkfire Enclave, the training ground of Warlocks in the Cleft of Shadows. Their leader, Neeru Fireblade, is trusted by Thrall to research demons.
* One member of the Enclave, Gazz'uz Voidrender, is #NewInTown and has been acting especially suspicious, even for a warlock. He has been staying late past when the other warlocks leave. Kor'ghan wants this info passed along to Jes'rimon
* Back at the Broken Tusk Tavern, the party play a game of "What The Fuck Is Up With That?" to learn some more about each others' pasts.
* Ga'an is from Sen'jin Village in Durotar. The Echo Isles, home to the Darkspear Trolls, is now controlled by Zalazane, who banished the trolls from the Echo Isles. Ga'an learned to be a Witch Doctor from a troll named Mozo're. Ga'an's father was kidnapped by Zalazane
* Isilee shares that her mother died of an STD and her elven father, Leodis Skybearer, sucked. Adelaide recognizes the name but doesn't elaborate on her connection.
* Juniper **claims** that she doesn't have a cow boyfriend. sus.
* Adelaide chooses to drink to the point of unconsciousness to avoid the mortifying ordeal of being known

#### Session 8

* Played: December 11, 2021
* The team kill Gazz'uz, I don't have many notes on this except that Lu'va was a bat

#### Session 9

* Played: December 18, 2021
* The party loots the cave they cleared in the previous session and find several coded missives, some in Orcish and some in an unknown language (later discovered to be Eradun, demonic language of the Eredar)
* Adelaide recognize the sigil on the ground that the warlocks had been conjuring through is for summoning
* Upon searching the bodies of the cultists, the group find that they have covered their Horde tattoos, and defaced their shaman totems.
* The group also finds sending stones, yasssss
* Adelaide is strangely drawn to the green pulsing gems and hands it off to Isilee, disturbed by its pull.

#### Session 10

* Played: January 6, 2022
* Shopping episode!!!
* Backpack store <3
* Isilee tries to rob a component store for Adelaide. The rug and armor come to life and she nearly dies from their pursuit

#### Session 11

* Played: January 8, 2022
* The team returns to the Broken Tusk Tavern to find a team of guards and their Worgs investigating around the area (in pursuit of the thief who broke into the component shop, aka Isi)
* The party coats Isilee in onions to disguise her smell while Lu'va is made to smell like Isilee and sent off the other direction to lead the Worgs away.
* The party travels to the Darkfire Enclave to discuss the events with Neeru and get the Eradun missives translated. Neeru recognizes the insignia of Taragamon the Hungerer, a great Fel Guard of the Burning Legion. This could mean another demon invasion of Azeroth. Ruh-roh
* Neeru explains that the first warlocks were shaman, and that Fel drains life-force, leaving only mummified corpses
* The necklaces worn by the warlocks are called Searing Collars, which only work on Orcs but can amplify their Fel casting.
* Neeru translates the missives (which are still in code) for the party and says he will pay them for each searing collar they find
* After leaving Darkfire Enclave, the party are seen exchanging large amounts of money in an alley and are later ambushed (oops)
* Adelaide finds drugs :)
* The party speak to Jes'rimon again and learn of the Searing Blade, a sect of the Burning Blade, who have taken up residence in Ragefire Chasm.
* Jes'rimon has obtained a key for decoding the missive and discovers that it is a letter addressed to Gazz'uz. The letter details a recruitment plan for targetting orc shaman and low-ranking military recruits. Skull rock, where the party fought Gazz'uz, was only one of multiple bases for gauging interest (the uninterested were sacrificed for rituals). The Searing Blade is planning to open multiple portals around Orgrimmar in the shape of a crescent moon and need more support to do so
* Jes'rimon tells the party that due to the North Watch incursion on Duratar, the Shattered Hand's resources are spread too thin to investigate this threat. He asks that they investigate on his behalf, and do what they can to clear out Ragefire. He will award them 10 GP/cultist
* The group ask for potions and Jes'rimon says that while he can't give them any for free, Yelmak will give a discount. (we forget this immediately and do not buy potions before going into Ragefire)

#### Session 12

* Played: January 15 2022
* Shopping episode p2
* Juniper purchases the Moon-touched dagger and Alyrin buys the Robe of Useful Items from Marem's Magnificent Magical Wares
* Isilee buys many many squiggle daggers
* Jes'rimon leaves the party a note saying "eyes always watching, be careful"

### Ragefire Chasm

#### Session 13

* Played: January 29, 2022
* The group fights their first group of orcs at the beginning of the path to Ragefire Chasm
* Pushing further in (and after a long rest), the party fight another camp and find a hidden room behind an illusionary wall
* Inside the hidden room, there is a dead human in cloth robes with a golden anchor crest. The party puts it together that this man is a Kul'Tiran from North Watch (not to be confused with Death Watch).
* They find a blink back belt for Isi!

#### Session 14

* Played: February 5, 2022
* Pushing further towards Ragefire, the group begin to notice holes in the cave walls which seem to be dug out. There are claw marks in and around these holes, but Lu'va's investigation does not reveal much.
* The party find themselves at a shear cliff face, with a frayed rope descending down into the darkness. They tie together their own ropes to descend down and Alyrin goes first, making a commotion by shouting to the party
* Trogs emerge from the holes and begin to attack. Alyrin falls 100 ft and is knocked unconscious. Ga'an descends to try and rescue her but is also knocked off the rope and falls to the ground unconscious. He fails his death saves and dies, yikes
* The noise is loud enough to summon an Earth Elemental which first attacks the trogs, allowing Isilee to safely descend and heal Alyrin.
* Ga'an is reanimated, seemingly by his shadow. We don't have time to unpack all of that...
* Adelaide and Juniper make it down safely, in time to help fight the Earth Elemental
* Ga'an now has black markings and a tattoo of a skull on his chest

#### Session 15

* Played: February 19 2022
* Ga'an is noticeably more grey, but is evasive when questioned about what happened. He only clarifies that troll magic comes from the Loa
* After a few more skirmishes, the party make it to a room with stone that its worked and smooth, with a carved hand indent and crude runic symbols. The text above it reads "No victory without suffering"
* Isilee pours a vial of Orc blood she had collected onto the handprint causing a pulse to reverberate through the chamber, revealing a doorway
* The party pass a large stone statue and find an extinguished campfire and a hut with a collapsed roof. Ga'an begins to summon a shadow, which makes his tattoos glow
* The party are ambushed while investigating the collapsed hut and are fireballed twice, but ultimately win the fight
* In the aftermath, they find 10+ bound bodies, one of which has a necklace with the inscription "Dura, my love". Oh wee ohhh we ohhh
* Investigating the statue, it shows a bipedal humanoid with cloven hooves, an elongated head with tentacles and sharp, plate-like growth. The figure has horns which curl inwards and elf-like ears. At the foot of the statue, there is a shrine of bone. The inscription on the statue's base reads "Kil'Jaedan, The Great One". The party know him as the progenitor of the Orc race, lord of flame, and "the deceiver".
* The party overhear guards talking about Bazzalan, referring to him as a Satyr, and saying that he wants the portal open

#### Session 16

* Played: February 25, 2022
* The party gets their shit rocked by a Doom Guard. Ouch

#### Session 17

* Played: March 20, 2022
* Adelaide wakes up on the wrong side of bed and while on watch, overhears a conversation of two guards discussing checking on Troch's landing to see if initiates are needed. They express their frustration about Sozar, who gets to just "sit on the cliff and watch"
* The party push forward when everyone is awake and Ga'an summons 2 shadows.
* 2 encounters go very well, the 3rd is rough
* Ga'an shouts "Your souls for Bwonsamdi" which is a little concerning
* They find a prisoner who says his name is Uto. Yay!!
* Adelaide would like to leave Ragefire now, thank you very much

#### Session 18

* Played: March 26, 2022
* The session began with Adelaide arguing for the group to return to Orgrimmar now that Uto had been found.
* The party persuades her to stay and push onwards because they'll all totally be super fine
* Conversing with the Orc prisoners reveals that the names Taragamon and Jergosh have come up in discussions between guards-- they are probably running this operation
* Uto mentions that he is a veteran of the First War. The party lies that they've moved into his house while he was gone
* Ga'an continues to be evasive about his new powers and everything that has occurred since his alleged death. When asked about Bwonsamdi, he explains that he is the loa of the dead, and therefore is a good deity to have the favor of given the killing and death surrounding the party
* The party brainstorm codewords for battle strategies, which are:
	+ *Despacito* - bladesong
	+ *Hasslehoff* - buff
	+ *Scatter* - scatter
	+ *Merry-go-round* - everyone go into Melee
* The party heads deeper into Ragefire and find mummified corpses on a bridge. They identify one body, to be Urkar Firefist, the young shaman that Kardris Dreamseeker told them had disappeared. Clutched in his fist, they find his totem
* A booming voice echoes around the chasm:

> Mighty heroes of the Horde, welcome to Ragefire Chasm! I've been expecting you.
>
> Taragamon the Hungerer

* The party rushes forward to confront Taragamon, and Adelaide is almost immediately yeeted into the lava, where she misses the insta-death threshold by one point of damage
* The party miraculously prevails without any deaths today, yay
* Pouring lava descends on the party, who all start to run before Isilee identifies that it is an illusion and confronts the hiding cultist who conjured it
* The cultist states that Bazzalan will get here soon and Taragamon was just a figurehead meant to distract them. Isi kills him after acquiring this information.
* The party find an "office" further into the cave system with a grimoire on the table initialed "N.F.". They can hear cultists chanting not too far away
* Adelaide notices that Taragamon's blade, which glows in the presence of Fel magic, glows a bit brighter when near Isilee. She asks Isilee to cast a cantrip for her and remarks that it's interesting but won't clarify further.
* The party double back to the last camp they cleared, dump the orc bodies in lava, and set up for a long rest

#### Session 19

* Played: April 2, 2022
* Isilee tries very hard to make friends with Ga'an and Adelaide. Neither conversation goes particularly well, but Ga'an opens up slightly about who his parents were and why the Echo Isles are important to him. Adelaide mentions that she was once close to someone named Mina, but they haven't spoken in a very long time.
* The GayteKeepërs inspects a grimoire initialed "N.F": it is an extensive journal primarily written in Eradun. It seems to be a research journal
* The party encounter Bazzalan the Satyr and stop a group of warlocks from summoning another Fel Guard just in the nick of time. Many souveniers are taken from Bazzalan's corpse. Some are consumed.
* Isilee mentions missing her fiancé Pietro, and their murder-cuddles
* The GayteKeepërs face off against Jergosh, who has been running the operation. He real dead now
* The party finds Neeru's monocle and Jergosh's research book

#### Session 20

* Played: April 16, 2022
* Isilee fills Adelaide in on what's happened in Silvermoon since she left: King Anasterian Sunstrider was killed by Prince Arthas Menethil (who also killed his own father, King Terenas Menethil). Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider still lives and is now leader of Silvermoon
* Alyrin uses the spell scroll patch from her robe and gives it to Adelaide. It is a scroll of Detect Thoughts
* Adelaide tries to jump across a pool of lava, with Isilee attempting to catch her. They both fall in. Juniper also falls in trying to help pull them out. Miraculously everyone survives
* The GayteKeepërs find and kill a basilisk on the way out of Ragefire Chasm. Alyrin is turned to stone during the fight but luckily the party find a bag of holding with a petrification antidote
* After a brief Trogg encounter, the party finally find themselves back at the Cleft of Shadows.

### To Catch a Rat

#### Session 21

* Played: April 20, 2022
* The GayteKeepërs make their way to Yelmak's Alchemy, where they sell the basilisk parts they harvested and go to meet with Jes'rimon.
* The party is introduced to our brother, our captain, our king, Whuut
* Jes'rimon is surprised to see the party alive (same) and is at first skeptical of their claims that Neeru was collaborating with the Searing Blade. He compares the handwriting of the documents the party found to the translation of the Eradun missive Neeru previously gave the party and does find them to be comparable
* Jes'rimon recognizes several names on the list of "Eyes and Ears in Orgrimmar". One is Kartosh Soulflame, a well-respected Shaman in the Valley of Wisdom. Another familiar name is Nekros Clantaker, a gang leader in the Cleft of Shadows.
* After meeting with Jes'rimon, the party run some quick errands on the way to the Broken Tusk Tavern, where they promptly get hammered on Tauren Kodo Sweat (this drink is chosen in particular in honor of the Tauren Winter Veil festival which occurred while the party was in Ragefire Chasm.
* The party attempt to sleep off their drinks but are attacked in the middle of the night by assassins, who they mostly wipe the floor with (but one gets away >:( )

#### Session 22

* Played: April 23, 2022
* The Gaytekeepërs are woken by a knock on the door of their shared room -- two orc guards who identify themselves as Mojka and Komak.
* The guards report that the intruders from the night before were members of the Clantaker gang. This is concerning as the gang is not typically known to venture far from the Cleft of Shadows, particularly not to the Valley of Strength where the embassy is located.
* The party convinces the guards that they are unfamiliar with the Cleft of Shadows, and that they were likely attacked due to being drunk and having come into money from cashing in on a contract with Yelmak
* The party head downstairs to breakfast. An Orc bumps into Isilee, who looks down to discover a note with the Shattered Hand logo that simply reads "URGENT"
* Juniper casts Pass Without a Trace on the party, who all make their way to Yelmak's Alchemy as stealthily as they can.
* The door is locked when they arrive and upon knocking, a voice yells that they're closed. Jes'rimon recognizes the party and tells Yelmak to let them in.
* Yelmak's store is in disarray, appearing to be ransacked, the floor littered with shattered bottles and books fallen from shelves
* Yelmak himself is visibly injured, as is Jes'rimon. Jes'rimon explains that the store was attacked during the night by three orcs who tried to break into Jes'rimon's office. The body of one, dispatched by Jes'rimon, lies on the ground with a gash across his neck. The other two, one male and one female, escaped (but the female was slashed across the eye)

#### Session 23

* Played: April 24th, 2022
* A PLAN EMERGES: Confront Neeru directly with Jes'rimon for backup and see how he reacts
	+ Juniper and Isilee get supplies at the inscription store so Adelaide can make a copy of the grimoire
	+ Alyrin does ~arts and crafts~ and learns how to emboss!! It goes perfectly and everyone thinks so
	+ Jes'rimon reminds everyone at least 6 times that we are NOT GIVING NEERU THE COPY just showing him we have it
* The team heads down to the Cleft of Shadows to enact the plan but see two guards riding Worgs exiting the cleft. One of them is Harkzog! The group hides in an alley and Jes'rimon and Isi (and pika Lu'va) stake out the Darkfire Enclave tent.
* The tent is closed down, with two orcs inside. Isi overhears that someone attacked Neeru earlier that day. Jes and Isi return to the group.
* Alyrin and Isi return to the tent, let pika-Lu'va loose and run after her - Isi and Pu'va distract the orcs while Alyrin charms one of them.
* We learn that Neeru was attacked while these orcs were at lunch by an orc with a scar across her face and Neeru killed her and called his guards. Neeru suffered a minor wound. Neeru went home but the orcs do not know where he lives. Isi may or may not have promised to bring Neeru cactus apple bread.
* As Alyrin and Isi leave, they see movement in an alley and pursue a spy. They are able to NON-LETHALLY kill him and dose him with truth serum. The group joins and exercises their intimidation skills (s/o to Alyrin's finger obsession). They learn that:
	+ The spy (Marcog) works for Nekros
	+ NO ONE ATTACKED NERU
		- Neeru asked for Nethraza Doomrend, who works as a laborer in the drag and transports shipments from the front gate to shops. She is also on the eyes and ears hit list.
		- Nethraza entered the tent and Neeru lit 'er up with green fire
	+ Neeru operates out of a tunnel off of Shadow Swift Underground and gives directions on how to get there
* NEXT STEPS - Jes'rimon tasks the group with taking out Nekros and Harkzog (late night assassin fun time!)

#### Session 24

* Played: April 27, 2022
* The GayteKeepërs head towards the Shadowswift Brotherhood to find Nekros and hopefully bring him in for questioning
* Upon reaching the alcove where Nekros has made his hideout, Isilee sets off a trap which explodes, knocking Adelaide unconscious
* Pushing further in, another trap is set off (this time a swinging log) which hits Isi.
* Ga'an is investigating a table in the room when he is stabbed from behind and drops unconsious
* A battle ensues wherein the party are able to subdue Nekros (via Ga'an's sleep spell). They tie him up. disarm him, and feed him Isi's truth serum potion
* Nekros is initially reluctant to part with any information, and is unfazed by the removal of his finger during the interrogation
* Eventually, the Gaytekeepërs are able to convince him that Thrall will grant mercy and is his best shot at living
* Nekros relents and spills the beans, confirming the attack on Neeru to be a false flag and sharing that their new goal was to clean up lose ends in their network, with the next target being Harkzog. Kartosh was potentially going to be kept alive as he was still useful for bringing in young shaman eager to prove themselves
* Nekros allied with Neeru due to the promise of power with the Burning Legion's return
* Neeru and Nekros were going to meet in the early morning at the Darkfire Enclave to discuss next steps
* The party knock Nekros out one more time and stuff him into an empty barrel so they can carry him through the Cleft of Shadows without suspicion. While searching his hideout, they also find a ledger containing the operations of the Clantakers
* The Gaytekeepërs travel back to Yelmak's Alchemy, dropping the barrel once but otherwise successfully carrying it to their destination. Upon showing their prize to Jes'rimon, they find that Nekros has died during the journey (due to the blood loss from his missing finger)
* The party fill Jes'rimon in on what occurred, and agree that their next course of action should be to stakeout Harkzog and hopefully capture him alive.

#### Session 25

* Played: April 28, 2022
* The GayteKeepërs attempt to travel stealthily to the Valley of Honor to reach the Hall of the Brave where they hope to find and interrogate Harkzog
* The party splits up into two groups to locate Harkzog
* Isilee eventually spots Harkzog going into a building and signals through Lu'va for the others to catch up to her
* Ga'an notices multiple sources of deep, heavy, animalistic breathing: Harkzog is currently in the Worg stables, tacking up one of the many Worgs
* Isi is a bit too enthusiastic in her sneak attack and one hit-KOs Harkzog. Luckily, he's only mostly dead and Alyrin is able to bring him back from the brink.
* The party notices that Alryin looks a bit more gray than usualy and she is struggling to cast Holy magic
* The Worgs begin to stir and make a commotion, causing the party to quickly flee with Harkzog in tow as a group of guards come around the corner
* The guards are able to track the group with the help of the Worgs, so Adelaide and Isi split off from the group to try and make a diversion
* Adelaide assumes the form of a young troll, telling the guards that her name is "Ba'an" and that she is lost. This doesn't go as well as planned and the two end up fleeing, accumulating several points of exhaustion and finally finding refuge in an engineering shop, careful to avoid the many deadly traps. The guards have much less luck and are nearly killed by a giant metal piston spike, causing them to abandon their chase
* Meanwhile, Ga'an, Alryin, and Juniper have their own shenanigans attempting to find a cart for Harkzog's body, but manage to make it back to Yelmak's Alchemy's...just to realize they've been tracked there by the Worgs
* Jes'rimon is forced to use his status as a member of the Shattered Hand to turn the guards away, compromising the secrecy of his base of operations. He is very, very pissed about this
* An interrogation of Harkzog ensues, where he reveals that he was trying to defect from the Searing Blade as he only joined to help restore the Horde (more specifically, orcs), return to its former glory
* After learning of Nethraza Doomrend's fate, he finally had enough and wanted to leave before Neeru Fireblade or Nekros Clantaker killed him

#### Session 26

* Played: May 1st, 2022
* The party split up to run errands, including picking up items ordered from the leatherworker, specifically an intern girl named Kamari, and the jewelcrafters, run by a pair of identical blood elf twins
* The GayteKeepërs confront Neeru, resulting in a fight
* Adelaide drops unconscious, and her soul becomes trapped inside of a soul gem
* After defeating Neeru, Alyrin is able to successfully resurrect Adelaide with the help of Isilee and Juniper
* Neeru is escorted by members of the Shattered Hand to Thrall
* Back at the tavern, the party recuperates from the difficult encounter. Adelaide reads one of the tomes found in Neeru's office, learning of the history of the Eredar and their pact with Sargeras. Adelaide additionally learns that this brought about the Third War, which culminated in the Battle of Mount Hyjal and the burning of Nordrassil
* Alyrin, distressed by this knowledge, explains that she was born before the Sundering during the Long Vigil. She joined the priestesses of Elune and became a Sentinel, protecting the lands of the Night Elves. She was killed in the Battle of Mount Hyjal and resurrected as a Dark Ranger under Sylvanas Windrunner.
* Adelaide is surprised to learn of Sylvanas' (un)death. Isilee informs her that Lor'themar Theron is the new Ranger General and Lord Regent while Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider travels

## I'll Make a Witch Doctor Out of You

### Setting Direction

#### Session 27

* Played: May 19, 2022
* Isilee, Adelaide, and Juniper run some errands in the Valley of Strength while Alyrin and Ga'an travel to the Valley of Spirits
* Ga'an has a vision quest and is told by Bwonsamdi to travel to First Home, as is the traditional rite of passage for witch doctors. The catch: First Home is part of the Darkspear isles, which were sunk under water by a sea witch when Ga'an was 10 (he's now 17).
* Ga'an also learns the Bwonsamdi was not always a Loa. The original loa of death was Mueh'zala, who liked the tip the scales in favor of life.
* The Sandfury Tribe still worship Mueh'zala and make sacrifices to him. Bwonsamdi would like Ga'an to kill their Chief, Ukorz Sanscalp.
* The party reconvenes at the tavern, and Ga'an recounts the events of his vision as well as his plan to find sailors in his hometown to guide him to where Darkspear once was

#### Session 28

* Played: May 25, 2022
* The session begins at the tavern, with Emissary Blackhoof arriving to speak with the GayteKeepërs about the Cenarian Circle
* Blackhoof tells the party of troubling instances of Night Elves not awakening from the Emerald Dream. The druids are unsure of the nature of the issue, especially as their leader, Malfurion Stormrage, has also fallen victim to this.
* Fandral Staghelm has become the interim leader of the Circle in Malfurion's absence. He does not wish for non-druids or undead to enter Moonglade, but Blackhoof gives the Gaytekeepërs a letter requesting that they be given access.
* Moonglade is located near Mount Hyjal, and can be accessed via the Goblin city Everlook
* The party receives a letter from Jes'rimon thanking them for their help, and promising to be in touch shortly about a reward.
* The party makes an overnight trip to visit Rasa and Uto, where they are welcomed with open arms and gifted Uto's old battleaxe. Orcbnb

#### Session 29

* Played: May 30, 2022.
* Whuut struggles with colors, which may be why he struggles with making and selling potions.
* **Whuut is colorblind.**
* Since he’s colorblind, Juniper made him a greyscale flower crown and gave him a delicate forehead kiss.
* Alyrin tells the party of her vision quest where she spoke to and fought her dark reflection
* Alyrin and Isilee went to sleep several hours past Saoirse, Juniper, and Adelaide.
* Jes'rimon summons Adelaide to assist the Shattered Hand on a mission. Adelaide follows, and only Juniper and Ga’an saw her leave.

#### Session 30

* Played: June 8, 2022
* The Gaytekeepers left for the Valley of Wisdom to Thrall’s building, Grommash Hold.
* The corpse of Mannoroth, a demon, is being braced against a giant spike at the entrance of Grommash Hold. A plaque reads: “A testament to the sins of the orcish people, may Grommash’s sacrifice free us of our shackles once and for all.”
* Mannoroth was a Pitlord who enslaved the orcs. Grommash was the first to partake in the gift and the last to finish him off.
* Orc guards line the canyon. Many have black armor with gold detailing, all of which is much more intricate than the armor worn by city guards. Several orcs have larger pauldrons and armor with more detailed and decorative armor.
* When the party (minus Adelaide) arrives into the Hold, Kardris Dreamseeker waits for them. The party gives Urcar Firefirst’s totem to Kardris. She thanks them and returns the totem to the Gaytekeepers.
* Eitrigg is Thrall’s advisor. He’s an orc guard with a massive pauldron on one shoulder, likely depicting his rank. He leads the party (minus Adelaide) through hallways until they arrive at a large circular room that has multiple arches and rises to it. There are roughly 12 guards on the edges of the room.
* There are numerous banners hung around the room; one depicts a white wolf face, another, a skull on a red banner. The iconography is detailed and interesting.
* Thrall is a deep emerald green skinned orc with incredibly ornate black and gold armor. He is reading a document when the party arrives; a pike with the head of Neeru Fireblade is at his side.
* Thrall welcomes the party as friends. He’s filled with hope, considering the party to be a representation of the new Horde. He emphasizes this while looking at the elves.
* The party is gifted an orb that will allow Adelaide to find her way back to the party. Ga’an takes the orb.
* They then go into the feast, which is filled with breads, smoked meats, and other delicacies.
* Chieftain Vol’jin is a blue troll with traditional tribal paint on his face. He is of the Darkspear trolls. Kardris also enters the room, as does the rest of the elder council.
* Sagorne is a shaman.
* Mokvar and the troll woman seem like lightweights.
* Gotura Fourwinds, a Tauren shaman and ambassador from the Earthen Ring, commented that "the elements are still shy".

#### Session 31

* The GayteKeepërs are still at the lunch. Thrall puts down his HUGE turkey leg and says, "oi what will you all be doing now that we have finished your adventure?"
* Ga'an wants to get to First Home. Another troll tells Thrall it is a sacred place for the dark spear trolls who wish to attune themselves with the loa and prove themselves. A darkspear troll can never truly connect with the loa of their own will without doing so.
* Isilee asks for supplies or suggestions for supplies. He suggests a single potion of water breathing. He also suggests finding others who have expereicne with the isles, and skills like fishing, navigation, etc. Sen’jin Village, of which Ga’an is familiar, is a few days journey to the southern tip of Duratar. The larger group asks when we think we head out, we respond soon, likely in the next day.
* The troll tells Ga’an that he hopes Ga’an understands the importance(?)/task(?) of Ga’an’s passage to first home. He wishes Ga’an the best and impacts some wisdom into Ga’an. The troll we speak with was one of the last trolls to go to the isles prior to the sinking by the seawitch
* The troll asks how much we know about mitt romney. Since we know a bit of him, he explains that romney is a well known loa in the circle. He can tell Ga’an hopes to prove himself and that Ga’an has already been marked by the loa. The most important resource is going to be those that you keep around you, those that you see. The darkspear would not be alive today if we didn’t find friends in the orcs and the tauren. We come from different backgrounds and we rely on each other. Together we are stronger.
* Zalazane was the friend of the troll that we’re talking to. It was only by going together that they got out together. Time also passed different. What was less than a day was actually more than 3 months. Know those you can trust and why. You cannot do it alone.
* He calls Ga’an a fool for wanting to go up against Zelazane. He plays games with your minds, his power rivals or even exceeds that of this trolls father. Zelazane is a trickster. If you wish to even rival his power, Ga’an needs to go to first home and needs to converse with the loa.
* Ga’an makes fun of Juniper for having hooves because apparently it’s hard to swim with hooves.
* Alyrin talks to someone regarding getting to Moonglade, and that she should talk to some druids at the Grove of the Oliver Branch. Alyrin doesn’t know how to get to Moonglade and we didn’t ask the emissary from the Cenarian circle. It borders on the Fel wood, Winterspring and Dark Shore. To get that far north, you have to go pretty far North, which is very difficult, especially in Winter. Saoirse doesn’t think that going north is a good idea, and Alyrin thinks her brother is worth it.
* Thunderbluff is calling for aid given the recent increase in Quilborn raids and the Venture Company. Thrall asks for a moment and then thanks the Gaytekeepers. We offer to help, since the Horde is spread pretty thin. North Watch and the Quilborne, and in Ashara and Ashenvale are spreading resources really thin.
* Alyrin wanted to asks about all the banners in the throne room, with all the weird symbols.
* Thrall responds that the banners are the banners of the orc clans that compose the horde. The banner that we’re looking at, the burning blade, was once a very noble clan within the horde and some of its people are still within the horde. However, after coming to Azeroth, they became more of a cult and branched off to become demon worshippers. Bleeding Hallow, Warsong, Blackrock, Frost wolf, etc. The shattered hand is also one.
* Anyway, Thrall leaves, and we leave to go shopping. Isilee talks us up as we leave. Kardris Dreamseeker tells us to travel safely.
* We end up going to the Grove of the Olive Branch. We meet two tauren there, and Alyrin says we’re going to go because it would be really cool, but we don’t actually know how to get there. The tauren says that that’s an important detail (she’s being sarcastic lmao). The druids usually wild shape to get there. The alternative is to go to Fel Wood, and there lies a very secluded secret tunnel that is often used to bring visitors in. Our best bet is to find and take the tunnel to get there. She doesn’t have a map.
* You’re going to want to go to the very north tip of Fel wood. There’s a village of furbolg that lies to the north in the very northern reaches of Fel Wood. They were once very honorable, but the corruption that has created fel wood has changed and corrupted them, driven them to madness, but they were once protectors of this entryway. At the very northeastern edge, we’ll find the tunnel. The tunnel will lead us to Moonglade. The tunnel is small enough that we would need to walk single file. Its is under the boughs of a great tree. There’s no specific door, it hasn’t been used in a hot minute, so she doesn’t know what we need to get in.
* Our biggest barrier will likely be anyone guarding the tunnel from Fel Wood’s side or Moonglade’s side. The tribe that we are looking for is now known as the Fel Paw. The biggest barrier will be the tribe that stakes claim to that entrance. The tree is ancient. The tree will probably stick out.
* We went to Yelmacks and proceeded to do fast shopping.
* We went to the tavern and purchased food, alcohol, and water. We talk about going to the map store, then we head up to the room. Ga’an meditates.
* In the morning, Juniper purchases several maps, we all buy fanny packs, and then we bounce, with Juniper at the lead. Ga’an and Juniper both do herbalism checks and at the end of the day, everyone works on their own respective hobbies. Juniper casts goodberries in the morning, and passes them out in the evening. She also gives one to Stoga.
* Juniper casts alarm to wake up the party if anyone, excluding Adelaide and Lu'va, cross the boundry.
* We hear some kind of bird-like cry screech in the night, and more voices join in as a chorus. Naturally, we go towards the noise because we are brave and invincible adventurers.
* Juniper casts pass without a trace on the group, including Ga'an's two summoned shadows, Chad and Greg. We’re sneaking off to find the source. The canyon forks in numerous directions and we end up going upper right.
* Alyrin and Ga’an helped guide Juniper. Juniper does not want to hold the hand of Chad or Greg.
* We hear a similar, but louder, noise as we continue on the path. There’s blood on the trail, and Alyrin can hear the sounds of tearing.
* Juniper starts walking mindlessly towards something, down the path. She’s staring distantly, and she’s kind of in a fugue state. There’s a beautiful, melodic sound playing. The shadows can also be charmed, and both Greg and Chad begin following Juniper.
* Ga’an dismisses both Chad and Greg.
* Juniper is walking forward ahead of the group under some kind of spell.
* Isilee, Ga’an, and Alyrin have to run to catch up with her. As they catch up, we see these large creature with large wings, arms, and terrifying beast things. Combat begins. Juniper really wants to be with the birds, but then she snaps out of it. Then, Juniper gets charmed again, while the rest of the party does not. Soairse, Alyrin, Isilee, and Ga’an continue to fight the harpies.
* Juniper has not succeeded on a single saving throw against these harpies.
* Isilee also gets caught by one of the harpies in a different turn.
* Everyone breaks free, thanks to Ga’an, Saoirse, and Alyrin. The harpies are disposed of with some fairly excessive violence. The gang rolls some checks to find some treasures and feathers.

### Ga'an's Homecoming

#### Session 32

* Played: October 16, 2022
* The GayteKeepërs arrive in Sen'jin Village after dark, where they are stopped by Watcher Voone. He lets the group pass when he recognizes Ga'an, but informs them that the town is on edge after the previous night's raid. Voone alerts Ga'an that he should check on his family, who's home was hit hard in the attack
* As the party walks to Ga'an's family's hut, Ga'an is stricken by the memory of the raid which took his father and left his mother crippled. Ga'an had hid under the table, paralyzed by fear. His younger brother saved the life of both Ga'an and his mother.
* The orb of teleportation begins to glow as they reach Ga'an's home, and out pops Adelaide
* Isilee gives Adelaide a hug and they quickly catch up on the last 10 days before Ga'an knocks on the door to his family's hut
* Inside, they meet Ga'an's mother, Molla, who is now bound to a makeshift wheelchair. She is delighted to see her son, but still distressed over the condition of Ga'an's brother, Volza, who lost an arm in the attack. He is currently sleeping, but his recovery has been unnaturally slow-- there is belief in the village that the raiders may have begun coating their weapons with something that impedes healing.
* Molla is also concerned by Ga'an's appearance. She initially laughs when he tells her of his communications with Bwonsamdi, but sobers when she realizes it isn't a joke. Molla suggests Ga'an consult with Gadrin about this, warning that Bwonsamdi "does not just give"
* Ga'an quickly introduces the rest of the party to his mother, but quickly ushers them out and leads the group to the Loa's Shrine Inn
* The inn is run by a Troll named Drek, from whom the party rents two rooms for the night.
* The party attempts to get Ga'an to open up, but he is guarded and evasive.
* In the morning, the group encounter Watcher Voone once more in the tavern, and engage him in conversation about Ga'an's quest for First Home. Voone is skeptical of how the party plans to go somewhere that is now under water, but suggests they speak to Vashi, who runs the Sen'jinn shipyard. She is one of the troll sailors who did not leave to enlist in the Horde navy, and can likely assist them in reaching Darkspear.
* Now seeing the village in daylight, The Echo Isles are visible across the water. It is filled with lush palm trees which have begun to claim the large Mayan-esque stone structures on the shore.
* The party return to Ga'an's home. Volza is still sleeping, but Molla is awake and happy to see Ga'an. She is interested in hearing of the party's exploits and tells Ga'an that his father Cu'ul would be proud of him.
* Isilee snoops around the hut and accidently knocks to the floor a case containing two ceremonial necklaces, much to Molla's distress. These were the necklaces that she and Ga'an's father wore to symbolize their marriage, and Ga'an has not seen them since his father was taken.
* Volza finally wakes up and is excited to see his brother. He is in terrible shape, depsite his natural Troll regenerative abilities. He's little more than a child, with his tusks just starting to come in, one at a crooked angle. Volza and Molla both have golden eyes, unlike Ga'an's stark blue.
* An unfortunate comment about Volza's severed limb gets the party more or less kicked out, and Ga'an is given a list of errands to run for his mother. When Ga'an returns from these errands, Gadrin and his assistant Bom'bay are at the hut, speaking to his mother.
* Gadrin is visibly uneasy at Ga'an's appearance, and warns him of the dangers of dealing with Bwonsamdi. Ga'an brushes him and his mother off, insisting that he knows what Bwonsamdi wants from him in return, and is not concerned about doing it.

#### Session 33

* The GayteKeepërs visit Jojo’s Mojo and sell the Orb of Time for 500 gold, lying about it possessing Wild Magic capabilities.
* The party travels to the beach to await the return of the fishing ships. In the meantime, Ga'an casts Water-breathing on the group and everyone begins to experiment with swimming and fighting underwater.
	+ Wanting to test their abilities, the party swims out to investigate an old shipwreck. They find it filled with crab people (Makrura), and decide to return later when they are more prepared for a fight,
* Swimming back to shore, the party meet the head of the shipyard, Vashi, and her husband A'thian.
	+ A'thian remembers the region where the Darkspear Islands once were. He can spare himself and two others to aid in navigating to the islands,
	+ They will charge a rate of 15 GP/day for their services, and will need the party to secure a seafaring vessel and crew in Bladefist Bay.
* Darkspear should be roughly six days from Bladefist if the winds are good, and it will take two or three days from Sen'jin Village to reach Bladefist,
	+ A'thian agrees to depart the day after tomorrow, setting sail at 6am. He will be joined by Sam’gha and Mi’zae as navigators.

#### Session 34

* The session begins with the party ciming to consciousness at the inn and making plans for the day over breakfast.
	+ Ga'an, Adelaide, and Alyrin will go to JoJo's, while Juniper and Isilee will (?)
* At JoJo's, team GAA purchases 5 necklaces which will allow them to speak (and therefore cast spells) underwater. They also aqquire a +1 bow and +1 shortsword.
* GAA team went to Jojo’s, and bought 5 magic necklaces a bow of +1 and a short sword of +1
* The Gaytekeëpers travel back underwater and decimate the local crab population.

#### Session 35

* Upon entering the ship, the Gaytekeëpers find several decaying bodies, some of which appear to have been Forsaken.
	+ OOC, we realize these are the bodies of our one shot characters
	+ The party loots the ships remains, uncovering a lute engraved with, “*To my biggest fan, Este. Love, Saylor Twift*”. They also uncover a significant amount of coin, a sealed ceramic jar, two spell scrolls, several potions, and a handful of gems.
* Several methods were attempted to bring the Makrura to shore as they would fetch a high price, but the group is ultimately unsuccessful.
* Arriving back on land, the party accompanies Ga'an as he seeks out Mother Norn'sa. She can be found in the back room of JoJo's. Isilee sells the cursed fel blade from Ragefire Chasm to JoJo before entering Mother Norn'sa's room.
* Mother Norn'sa's room is cluttered and dimly lit. The room is decorated with dozens of pieces of driftwood.
	+ Norn'sa sits in the center of the room, carving the driftwood with a Troll tusk. She tells Ga'an that he's been expected, and explains that everyone in the village has a piece of driftwood, which helps her interpret the spirits. She chides Ga'an for not visiting her before setting out from Sen'jin Village the first time.
* Norn'sa begins a reading for Ga'an, pulling out a brazier and a bag of carved bones. She holds Ga'an's driftwood over the fire and allows Ga'an to take it. He hears Bwonsamdi's voice echo in his mind as he does so.
	+ Ga’an struggles at first to clear his mind, which Mother Norn'sa notes as she mutters her incantations. Ga'a'n finally lets go of his apprehensions and feels a warmth travel through his hands into his arms, chest, and head.
	+ Light flashes from both their eyes and the room is plunged into darkness.
	+ Everyone feels weightless, and is unable to see anything. Feelings of loneliness pervade the space and no sound exists.
* A blue green flame bursts from the brazier and shadows dance around the room. The drift wood floats on its own over the ghostly flames. Her voice now fills the room with renewed vigor.
	+ The spirits tell her all. Coldness consumes Ga’an. A cold presence takes over the room, as if the party are all caught in a blizzard.
* Norn'sa speaks of a burning hatred for a single troll that has taken almost everything from Ga'an
	+ The burning carvings coalesce into the eerie tribal mask of Zalazane. A low maniacal laughter begins to fill the room.
	+ The party closes their eyes and reopens them to find the mask has disappeared. Now, the tent is filled with firelight and embers and smoke fill the air. There is no visible source of this, and shadows of fleeing trolls dance across the tent.
* A single tall silhouette is behind Mother Norn’sa. A single voice calls out, "Molla, where are you?"
	+ The silhoute is attacked by a shadow, and is shot in the shoulder and tackled to the ground.
	+ Norn'sa muses that hatred drives Ga'an, and he seeks power in order to achieve his vengeance. At what cost will this come?
* The flame begins to turn black and grey, and new carvings on the driftwood begin to glow.
	+ The sigils float into the air and float into the air toward Ga’an, but he can’t move or do anything. When he looks down, he sees dark shadowy chains reaching out of the ground to hold him in place. The symbols collide with his chest and all of his tattoos begin to glow with the same color, radiating even through the armor. An agreement he doesn’t know the terms to, Norn’sa sees all of this.
* The flame shifts to a light blue color, and the sound and smell of the sea fills the air.
	+ The destination is Darkspear Isles. It lies beneath the ocean. The light filtering through the canvas begins to darken as if going deeper and deeper into the ocean. Suddenly, hundreds of burning orange eyes with slit pupils can be seen on the canvas, a deep voice reverberates, “WATCHING”. There is something ancient about the voice. The minions of this ancient evil now guard the island. A whirlpool and mist on the surface, and nothing to hide you below the sees.
	+ Shadows will be the party's ally on this journey. That which they seek remains untouched, protected by the will of the Loa.
	+ The shadowy troll silhouette of Bwonsamdi appears, and with it chains that stretch from Ga'an to his hands.
* Norn'sa warns that First Home is not a place of peace or safety. Those who travel there will be tested by the loa. The spirits hide survival or death from her visions.
	+ The journey will be treacherous, and the party will have no experience with this enemy. The spirits don’t even fully understand this evil, an evil older than Azeroth itself. The minions have pledged their allegiance to this darkness. Shadows and Caution will be their friend. Don’t kick the nest, use stealth.
	+ Should Ga’an fail, the village will be doomed. Should Ga'an succeed, that will not be the end of his trials. This will just be the first test.
* The fire shifts to a golden yellow color. The ocean air fades and is replaced with an arid intense heat. The silhouette of Bwonsamdi can still be seen, along with the endless deserts of Tanaris.
	+ The Farraki trolls in the city of Zul Furak have been lead astray by an eldritch evil, Ueetay No Mueh’zala.
	+ Blood begins to trickle from Norn'sa's nose, and the earth trembles. A silhouette much larger than Bwonsamdi appears.
	+ Through the efforts of Bwonsamdi, the original keeper of souls has been almost erased.
* Ga'an asks of Norn'sa, should hesucceed, what will Bwonsamdi ask of him next?
	+ The silhouette fades, but the eyes of Bwonsamdi remain just a second longer. A raspy menacing laugh echoes through the room, the voice of Bwonsamdi.
* The last time multiple people went to first home together was Vol'jin and Zalazane. Those who go to first home don't return the same people they were before they left.
	+ Did the trials Zalazane underwent cause him to go mad and attack the trolls, or was it always his path?
	+ Norn'sa pulls out Zalazane's driftwood, and says the spirits don’t give absolutes. Fate and destiny are often guided but they aren’t set in stone. The only absolutes are a beginning and an end.
	+ Zalazane was given a choice at first home, and he chose the path that hurt many. Ga’an will have a choice at first home as well.
	+ Our enemies are those who chose to follow evil, whether at first home or at Zul Furak.
* Norn'sa warns: "Don’t be stupid Ga’an, beware the minions of the eldritch entity that lie beneath the waves. The sea witch and her ilk should not be disturbed lightly. Use caution and be wary of the mists and whirlpool that protect their kingdom."
* Norn'sa then turns to Adelade and says, "Mina misses you".
	+ Adelaide immediately leaves the room
* Norn'sa tells Alyrin "the Emerald Dream awaits", says that Isilee is looking for a family, and that Juniper should check in on hers.
* With the ritual over, the party finds that Adelaide has completely left the building. They begin to search for her, and Isilee finds her at the beach, staring out at the tides.
	+ The two have a heart to heart, and Adelaide confides that she broke when Mina died, and has felt that everything else that's followed is meaningless.

#### Session 36

* The party awakens before dawn, exhausted and in a rush to set out. Ga'an visits the home of his family and says his goodbyes.
* After getting on board the ship, Ga'an is egged by Isilee
* The Gaytekeepër discuss Mother Norn'sa's reading and Alyrin realizes that she has some knowledge of an ancient evil in the deserts of Tanaris.
	+ Alyrin states that she is a little worried about traveling out on the ocean because "there is some freaky stuff going on with the fish elves and stuff"
* Alyrin has some amount of knowledge of the Old Gods.
	+ One is sealed in Tanaris, one is in the North, one is destroyed and one is lost and hasn’t been seen.
* More discussion is had after we find a small cove at the beach and Ga’an shares a bit more to the party about his goals and emotional state

### The Voyage To Darkspear

#### Session 37

* The party wakes up in the morning and sees the troll sailors preparing to depart.
* Juniper rolls around in the dirt. Isilee lies to Juniper that the plan was to jump overboard if we were attacked.
* The boat pushes off and the party is off again. However, where previously the boat stayed close to shore, now the shore is no longer in sight.
* Ga’an and Alyrin keep watch, but notice nothing throughout the day. Ga’an spends some time shaving copper dust.
* Eventually, the ship makes camp once more north of Tygard
* Ga’an with help from Juniper surveys the camp but finds nothing unexpected. The camp was marked with a the troll symbol for safe home.
* Isilee starts befriending Dentula and Tynoom while Ga'an makes a potion of healing.
* Juniper blows Alryrin up with a trap book. Oops.
* Upon arrival in Bladefist, the party goes to meet dockmaster Trapi Keenbol to charter a ship, who recommends that the GayteKeepërs speak with Captain Stormfang on dock three.
	+ Trapi explains that charter rates are usually based on the captain. Stormfang has a crew of 12, so it could be up to 50 gold per day.
* The party meet with Captain Stormfang and reach an agreement to charter *The Jewel of the Horde* for up to four weeks. The price is a sum of 1200 GP, half of which must be paid upfront. The ship will set out at first light.
* The party decides to run some errands in Orgrimmar before setting out. A stop at Red Canyon Mining and Jewel Crafting proves particularly lucrative due to the use of moonlight calm on one of the two blood elf twins.

#### Session 38

* More errands! Madam Marem, Rekul's Poisons, and a brothel [Adelaide will remember this.]
* Ga’an procures a Tome of Understanding which will boost his wisdom. He will be reading it for the foreseeable future.
* The party splits up to check out Dark Briar Lodge while Ga'an consults the Witch Doctors in the Valley of Spirits. Ga'an hears a strange laughter as he walks past the shrine of Bwomsamdi, but is pulled out of his trance by the apprentice witch doctor, Ur'kyo. He is then brought to meet the head witch doctor X'yera.
	+ X'yeara tells Ga'an that when the Isles stood, they were scattered and disparate. They only unified when first the Alliance attacked, followed by the Seawitch. Ga'an is the first mortal that the Loa have taken personal interest in since Vol'jin. He is likely to be tested by Bwonsamdi personally.
	+ The Loa are very powerful, and some are more forgiving than others. Some provide wisdom (Gonk) and how to be one with nature. Kragwa can be fickle but very loyal. Some are treacherous (Ganbala) the loa of serpents. Bwonsamdi is not as fickle as the Loa of serpents, but everything is transactional. The question must be “what will this mean for me?”
* X'yera further explains that the Trolls were once part of an empire called the Gurabashi. The remnants of this civilization can be found in the forests of Stranglethorn. They are not very friendly. The Farraki were once part of the Gurabashi but moved on and left.
	+ The Zandalari came before the Gurabashi. They ruled all of Azeroth for a very long time before the Night Elves struck them down. During the time of this empire, there was a priest to a god of death who proved himself worthy of power and trust. The legends speak of this god of death - one who has been forgotten. One who craved endless sacrifices. This follower saw this, and after receiving his power, turned on this nameless god and seized power for himself.
		- This forgotten god has endless hunger and unmatched cruelty. It was said that a deal was struck between him and Bwonsamdi in order to seal him away for all of time. The book is damaged, much has been removed. Ga’an is hallucinating his name onto the page of the damaged book.
	+ X'yera warns that If someone were to try to bring the old loa of death into this world, it would destroy everything.
* The Loa live many planes. Some live in the emerald dream, some in this world and some in the plane of death (Bwonsamdi). The Loa cannot travel freely, but some radical cultists have attempted to bring the nameless god, but this would mark doomsday for all mortal races.
* The Witch Doctors have only met one Farraki, who managed to flee before being sacrificed. Her name was Batam'si. She refused to speak to anyone about it. She stayed at the Valley of Spirits for a time, but departed years ago, heading south. She may have headed into the Barrens at some point.
* When X’yera was young, he underwent the trial of First Home himself. Even now he is uncertain what is real and what is an illusion. Reality is different there, a protected site where the Loa can almost freely move between. The whole party will be tested and potentially separated. They will never know if what they see is true, or a test. Not all are fit for First Home. Many are never ready and die in the trial, or stagnate and fail to push forward.
* Further information about the Loa:
	+ Hireek the loa of the midnight sky or the loa of treachery can provide stealth and silence
	+ Kragwa can provide strength
	+ The loa golden eagle can provide health
	+ Shengo can provide us with safe travels and clear skies
	+ Shirvala can provide strength and protection in battle
	+ Gonk can provide intelligence and the hunt.
* Back at the tavern, the party learns to play the card game "Call of the Banshee". Garuk, a young orc down on his luck, finally won and we were all happy for him.
* Adelaide sneaks out at night to acquire some "company". She is not as sneaky as she would like and the party notices her disappearance and flips their shit. There is a confrontation about it in the morning and a fair amount of tension in the party.

#### Session 39

* In the morning, the party meet the first mate of the *Jewel,* a Tauren named Izha Strongwind. They pay the first half of the fee and the ship begins to set sail. Juniper has some awkward Tauren bonding but manages not to faint.
	+ Izha tells everyone of the recent quillboar attacks in Mulgore, alongside the drought in the Barrens and Stone Talon. In addition, the Defias Brotherhood have been invading the area and set up a processing plant at Windshear Crag.
* Alyrin summons a frog using her hat. Ga’an tries to eat the frog, but it turns to dust.
* North Watch ships attack the *Jewel*, but fuck around and find out.
* Ga’an casts scorcher during the fight, and accidently ignites the ships gunpowder stores. This was not what he expected to happen.
* Alyrin is knocked unconscious, and then “healed” by the blood elf bard, Velarise. Luckily, she is stabilized by her necklace.
* The party investigates the scorched remnants of the North Watch ship, uncovering the following:
	+ A wooden lock box lined with lead. Inside is a broken holy symbol, as well as a badly worn libram to the light, with pages ripped out and "lies" scratched over the text, as well as the phrase "the hour of twilight is at hand" and "In darkness, there are infinite paths"
	+ A missive written to Lady Admiral Proudmoore referencing her "late husband" and "the traitorous Lady Jaina Proudmoore"
	+ A small necklace with a gold pendant in the shape of an eye with a slit-pupil. The necklace itself does not possess any magical properties, but the person in possession of it hears a deep voice like in Mother Norn'sa's hut which warns, "WATCHING"
	+ A diary of a Kul Tiran sailor chronicling his descent into madness over the course of his voyage. The diary notes that the crew was denied entry first into Silvermoon due to the Blood Elves joining the Horde, then into Gilneas. They were able to trade some goods at the dock but denied the ability to restock food or enter the city due to food shortages and fear of another outbreak of the undead plague. The city also is rumored to be swept up in a civil war and dealing with a dark curse in the countryside that twists people into "savage wolf men". They also learned in Stormwind that the country is wracked by civil war with the Defias Brotherhood. In addition, King Varian went missing en route on a diplomatic mission to Theramore, leaving the ten year old Anduin as King and Bolvar Fordragon as his Regent Lord. The diary begins to contains phrases such as "the hour of twilight", "infinite possibilities", "the Black Empire", and "may the shadow of C'thun guide me". The pages also contain an illustration of
		- An octopus-shaped silhouette with a variety of sharp spines covering its immense body and tentacles.
		- An immense Ziggurat and hellish landscape dotted with obelisks and structures overlooked by a giant octopus-like creature with a giant eye above its head.
		- An immense ancient city with a sealed gate.
	+ The sailor's diary describes being plagued by whispers of "watching" and "infinite possibilites". A visit to the Night Elven tree of Teldrassil yielded a nightmare in which the tree's reflection in the still water grew unnatural spike-like growths on the trunk that glowed a crimson red. Dark energy poured out from its branches and gave the tree an ominous aura. Monsters and abominations of flesh, tentacles, eyes, and teeth crawled from the holes and crevices littering its surface. A familiar voice rang out: "New Beginning". The sailor soon begins to talk of the need to go to the desert to "break him out" from "behind that accursed wall". He prays "may the shadow of C'thun guide me" and writes "C'thun how I long witness your awesome might".
* Back on the *Jewel*, Captain Stormfang is understandably PO'd about the damage to his ship but the party compensates him well for the damages to smooth things over.
* Adelaide writes a missive to Jes'rimmon detailing the findings and Alyrin sends Scintilla to deliver the message.

#### Session 40

* The party unpacks the revelations of the last session further. Alyrin/Adelaide recall that the "Hour of Twilight" refers to an armageddon whereby all life is snuffed out in the entire great beyond in an instant.
* Velarise comes to apologize to Alyrin for almost killing her. The Gatekeepërs learn that she is 85 years old (relatively young for a Blood/High Elf, but older than Adelaide). She comes from Fairbreeze, a farming community in Western Quel'thalas. Adelaide is very snobby about this and Velarise leaves, dejected.
* Isilee opens up a bit more about her own life story. She knew Pietro as a child in Lordaeron and was partners-in-petty-crime with him. When her mother grew ill, her father took her to Silvermoon, "the only good thing he ever did" for her.
	+ She is cagey in her answer about how she met Pietro again as an adult and where she was after being in Silvermoon.
* A'thian shows the party a map of Darkspear, identifying First Home for the group. The party decides to stop at the Temple of the Loa and Dazduga Shrine to make the proper tribute to the Loa before entering first home.
* As the ship sails nearer to the isles, Ga’an is kept awake that night with apprehension. What will Darkspear look like? What will have changed? Ga’an remembers hunts and adventures around the island, rituals celebrating Gonk and other Loa.
* The entire ship is awakened in the night by an attack of Naga. One of the crew dies in the attack, and Stormfang grows furious when he overhears talk of occult symbols brought on board by the team. Alyrin's Moonlight Calm saves the day for the party to not be thrown overboard.
* The party debate tossing the lead-lined box overboard but decide against it.
* In the morning, the ship sails into a heavy mist that is magical and unable to be dispelled by Adelaide.
* Ga'an's tattoos glow purple, a beacon pointing in the direction of First Home.
* The Gaytekeepërs have a Tusk Love book club/cuddle puddle to pass the time.
* Fish attack!

#### Session 41

* Cade and I both have shit notes for this oops
* More naga attack! The party defeats them but!
* Whirlpool!
* Izha and Stormfang manage to successfully maneuver the ship onto a rock to stop the descent into the whirlpool.
* Ga'an's tattoos seem to point directly to the center of the whirlpool

### Exploring the Islands

#### Session 42

* The party convene on deck to discuss the plan. Lu'va is sent to scout and discovers that Dazduga volcano is between the ship and the center of the whirlpool. The volcano is immense and dotted with structures at its base. There seems to be a shelf on the seafloor with a multitude of dilapidated stone structures. Traveling further, she then comes across structures built of different materials, as well as shattered boats similar in design to those in Sen'jin. Further in are mounds and buildings similar to islands, and a very intact stone structure.
* Trolls historically do not build with stone, so Lu'va's findings are puzzling to the party.
* Before they depart, A'thien tells the party of his sister, Go'ze, who was once an aspiring Witch Doctor who traveled to First Home. He asks that the group please pay Go'ze the proper respects.
	+ Note: this was forgotten about immediately and we absolutely did not do this
* The party dives into the ocean and begins to explore the stone city. The area is largely leveled and destroyed. Adelaide and Alyrin identify that the architecture of these ruins appears to be Night Elven, prior to the separation of the High Elves and Night Elves. This was long ago before the Sundering, when the world was one continent. The city may have sunken during the Sundering, when the world split.
	+ Adelaide is geeking out about this
* The party comes across a troll ship that likely came from when the trolls were fleeing the island. Inside is several troll corpses; a family that never escaped.
* Further on, whispers in Elven start to permeate the area, reliving the last moments of the city. The Gaytekeepërs approach the intact building, and start to notice iconography of Elune. The sound of crying starts to stand out. It is near the building that looks like it could be a Temple to Elune.
* The crying is coming from the ghost of a Night Elven child named Thalia. She is upset that she can't pick up her doll. She says that her mother, a priestess, is angry at her. She last saw her mother in the mausoleum.
* The party agree to seek out her mother and journey into the mausoleum. Inside it is a statue of a female elf looking upward towards the sky. In her hand is a large diamond. Unlike the other statues, there is no damage
* The party fight a banshee and some will o'wisps, and struggle to solve a elementary school level riddle but finally achieve success. In reward, they are granted a pearl of power and a large diamond.
* Thalia is reunited with her mother and their souls are at last set free to find their final resting place.

#### Session 43

* Ga’an leads the party forward while Isilee looks for treasure.
* As they are traveling, Ga’an sees a patch of seaweed that is razor sharp, but they are able to avoid the seaweed.
* Alyrin thinks she is hallucinating the buildings intact, and experiences flashbacks to when she was a child prior to the sundering.
* A chill starts to crawl down the backs of everyone's spines. As the team proceeds through a new section of the ruins, they come across the base of a tower. Alyrin sees a flash of light before it dwindles away.
* The party is ambushed by undead ghosty things. Ga’an drinks their souls.
* The group proceedes forward. As they approach Dazduga mountain, the volcanic activity picks up. Ga’an barely keeps Alyrin from jumping into a volcanic vent.
* Ga’an meditates during a short rest at the base of the shelf. As he focused in on the feeling of the purple mark that had been on his chest, Ga’an finds himself within his own mind in silence. He opens his eyes and finds himself in a familiar dark space. As he looks around, he realizes that he is spalshing around in knee deep water. Illuminating the space is the blue light of the distant moon. He can’t see further than 5 feet around himself. In the distance he sees 2 beacons, that rapidly turns to 3 beacons, then 4. As he steps towards the beacons, it looks as if 3 are clustered together and 1 is separate, further away.
* They proceed to swim forward and begin approaching the volcano. As they travel towards what was left of Dazduga shrine, they begin to see creatures swimming around, humaoid creatures with legs, but fish-like features. They keep having to duck into rock crevices to hide away. The creatures have pale green skin, crusted with barnacles. Some have tentacles, various aquatic fishlike features. They all look different. Some have humanoid features, some look troll like, or human like features. Some have elven features. They occasionally speak a language but nothing that the party recognizes.
* Isilee stealths ahead to peak over the wall of the temple. She sees massive fissures, filled with lava, pouring out into the ocean. She sees a few figures at the shrine, marching up to the lava pool. As they move to the lava, one seems to stay back. This one seems to have 4 arms. She speaks words praising Ragnaros, and the old gods, and asking them to bestow power upon them. The other 3 individuals dunk themselves in the lava
* Adelaide remembers that Ragnaros is the elemental lord of fire, enslaved by the old gods
* A fight ensues. In the aftermath, Ga dissects the fire Naga. The Naga's skin has a magmatic sheen, and his heart has a magmatic essence. Sort of like an elemental fire mixed with biological tissue. Ga’an wants to offer the heart to Krag’wa.

#### Session 44

* Ga’an leads the party to his family's former home of Zul’dara. At the island, and as they approach they see glowing purple lights, not Loa vibes and not undead vibes. They hide behind a tree to avoid a patrol and proceed forward. A sort of mosslike growth seems to be collecting on the trees. Ga’an tries to collect some, and is badly injured by a frostbite/freezing cold from the moss.
* The party draws closer to the village and realize that the purple lights are crystals, and people are still living in the village (just not trolls).
* They proceed south through the forest to the area where Ga’ans home once was. Upon arriving in the clearing, the coast is clear and Ga’an enters into the remnants of his hut. Memories flash before his eyes and he is brought back to the old days.
* He begins by looking through the ritual masks, tattered, broken and bleached by time and the sea. Much of the paints are weathered off. Something catches his eye: a small white shape buried amongst the rubble. He pulls out a small ornate knife that has been carved from bone, barely larger than Ga’ans finger. A small crack runs down the sheath, brittle from the ocean. The knife is as sharp as Ga’an remembers.
	+ A memory flashes through his mind. His first hunt, the knife carved from the tooth of his father’s first trophy kill. Ga’an was never meant to lose it, but it couldn’t be retrieved before boarding the ship.
* The others can’t find anything of interest searching the house, but Ga’an finds a piece of wood from the home that is still mostly intact.
* They proceed towards the Temple of the Loa. As they pass towards the temple they find piranha-esque fish but Ga’an is able to chart a path around them.
* As they approach the temple, the party sees the large stone wall with a huge tower, where the whirlpool originates. Ga’an notices those similar purple lights as they bob along the walls.
* Eventually they arrive at the temple, an immense Ziggurat-like structure. Many of the carvings have been damaged by the sea and destroyed. Sections of the temple seem to be caved in and destroyed. For the most part, it is the decorations are what has been damaged.
* Ga’an remembers coming here on market days with his father to sell hunting goods. There were many tiers to the temple, and different people went to different areas for different needs.
* Down the staircase is a ruined relief of a witch doctor traversing first home. This was once a place where acolytes and priests lived. Walls are caked in algae like growth.
* The furthest southern room (kitchen) is destroyed and caved in. Spots in the stonework are uncovered and glossy on the walls.
* SNAIL FIGHT

#### Session 45

* Adelaide casts tiny hut and all take a long rest
* As Ga’an falls asleep, he finds himself in the endless black void.
	+ It feels as if an eternity passes, wading through knee deep water. Echos reverberate out from the splashing. No light permeates the area, and Ga’an can barely see his hands in front of his face. Suddenly, when he turns around he can see a beachfront, and Ga’an is knee deep in the surf. As he walks forward onto the beach front, he sees a thick, dense forest. As he approaches, the trees move out of the way. Ga’an strides forward, following the path laid out by the trees. As he walks forward, the trees close in behind him. There is no way but forward. There is a cacophony of sound, birds, insects. Eventually the path empties out into a clearing. In the clearing is a hut, the hut from Ga’ans childhood. But this hut is pristine. It looks as if the day they fled the islands. Ga’an is reminded of the attack from Zalazane, fleeing his home for the second time. The interior of the hut is pitch black. Ga’an opens the door and enters. However, the door slams shut behind him, and he is once more in the endless void. Behind Ga’an is a table with a single lit candle. A chair is pulled out beckoning him to sit.
	+ Ga’an sits down, and Bwonsamdi sits before him. Ga’an talks to Bwonsamdi, and it is implied that Bwonsamdi wants results, sooner rather than later.
* Meanwhile, the rest of the party shares a different dreaM;
	+ They find themselves swimming in a black void. They can't stop, if they stop, they will die. They can see the silhouettes of dead humanoids floating all around, hundreds of bodies. A deep voice says "Let go". The voice comes from a small fish. "We have not forgotten, we have not forgiven. I have tasted every one of your powers; you are nothing. I AM A GOD."
* The party awaken and divide the snail shell into:
	+ 4 Breastplate sized pieces
	+ 7 dish plate sized pieces
	+ 2 Ga’an's palm sized pieces
* The party is ambushed by some fish people. They kill them and proceed forward.
* Ga’an enters the next room, and sees glowing purple lights and ruins. A dais has a large cauldron and blue glowing runes. At a rickety table, Ga’an sees a table with a non moving humanoid shape sitting at the table.
* There are people in the room. Three human women, one of them an old lady. All are bound and dressed in tattered rags. They claim to be sailors sailing from Stormwind to Theramoore, caught in the whirlpool. Adelaide casts Dispel Magic and the old lady is revealed to be a sea hag.
* A grueling fight commences, with a brief pause to plead for mercy. Ga'an refuses to offer his knife as a tribute, though Isilee offers a necklace the party has not seen before and tries to negotiate a deal that will require a contract signed in blood. The fight begins again and the team is (barely) triumphant, TPK avoided.

#### Session 46

* The party investigates the Hag's room. Isilee finds a boatload of biological things, teeth, claws, eyes, bits, etc… Box o’Organs
* Ga’an inspects the body on the table, split open as if it was being dissected. Most of the organs have been removed. Some other things have been added, inhuman organs that Ga’an doesn’t necessarily recognize. Possibly human, but hard to be certain. Some of the skin has been removed and fish scales placed on these spots. The magic is a very old magic that Adelaid has never dealt with.
* Isilee confronts Ga’an about his refusal to give the witch the bone dagger.
* Isilee scouts ahead to the south, and finds a collapsed hallway they can squeeze through. They follow her through the door.
* They explore the center room, and don’t really find anything. The staircases going to the lower level are filled in with sand and rubble. It appears they are inaccessible.
* They look in the storage room to the southeast, and after a brief fight with the mephits, investigate the storeroom. They find 600 gold, 600 silver, 900 copper, ruined robes and vestments destroyed by the sea, and ruined ritual items, fetishes and masks. There is also an opaque white stone and an opaque crimson stone, translucent dark green stone, translucent rich gold stone (opaque and smooth to the touch), translucent stone with circles of grey white and green, other stones, 2 bottles (still corked) one has a thick red viscous liquid, and the other has a blue liquid with a silvery shimmer. A small pouch with 3 knuckle bones, one side has a happy face and the other has a sad face. The last item is a golden shimmering chain, with 5 reddish orange spherical gems.
* Finally, they come across an ornate light balanced decorative hand axe, covered in tribal markings. There appears to be tigers claws on one side. This is a +1 finesse hand axe of Shirvala.
* Investigation of the Seance room finds piles of bones and pieces of creatures littering the floor. Also piles of coin are present: 2300 copper, 1700 silver, 40 gold, we find a bottle containing a thick red liquid with a silvery color. There is also a necklace of five fireball beads which the party splits so everyone has one.
* Ga’an has a recollection of the banner, he remembers the day they fled the island. It started with a human attack from Kul’Tiras, and the banner looks similar to the Kul’Tiran ships and sails. First strangers came to the island, these people were the orcs, fleeing from the eastern kingdoms. They were welcomed with open arms. A week later, human ships - the Kul’Tiras attacked. They first attacked the troll outpost, and then spread to attacking trolls. A few days after that the sea witch sank the island.
* Ga'an walks the party through the proper rituals, and Ga’an leaves the rib bone of the demon enforcer for Samedi. Isilee prays to Shadra, and leaves a mirror. Juniper prayed to Shirvallah.
* Climbing to the top of the temple, they destroy a Naga statue at the top and complete the rituals to Gonk and Bwonsamedi. Ga'an gives Gonk the heart of Ragnaros’s chosen.
* The party ventures on from the Temple to the Tomb of the Old Ones, encountering a Ley Line dead spot along the way where magic is dissipated. They map its boundaries and avoid it.
* The left side of the Tomb is collapsed, but the right side is intact. Ga’an discovers the tomb of the high priest Jeram, whose mask was oddly intact and able to be reached. Ga’an recalls that Jeram was the high priest, well respected. He was referred to as the chosen of Samedi. He died shortly before Ga’an was born.
* Ga’an takes the mask and puts it on. He hears a whisper, "Make the darkspear proud".

#### Session 47

* Everyone but Juniper has a shared dream/vision, the same as the night before. They are sinking in a deep ocean, slowly following. As they tire, they fall to the depths. As they struggle trying to keep from sinking away. There is a voice telling them to let go. A small fish is circling their heads
	+ Ga’an declares him false and declares that Gral is the true lord of the sea. This angers the creature, who responds "I am the original, I was here before your gods. I will be here after. The Black Empire is very real, long before all were the Old Gods". "Buried deep beneath the earth is a power. The chains will break soon and I will destroy each and every one of you.
	+ The vortex is their doom.
* The party discuss their shared dreams in the morning. Adelaide explains that Void is antithesis of light - the opposite of those who draw upon the light. The capital "T" Theory behind this is that there are dimensions that are behind/beyond our own. Light and void have never been traversed as far as mortals are concerned. The dimensions meet in a place of chaos, the twisting nether. It is believed that this can cause things to be created that are otherwise not meant to exist. Reality, demons, etc. spawn from the Void. It is believed that the ancient physical beings that ruled Azeroth were Void incarnate. For something to manifest from the void, it must be immensely powerful. A tenet of the void is that there is infinite possibility.
* Juniper had a spooky not fish dream. She was in Thunderbluff, prior to Thunderbluff's existance. Her parents eyes were melting and had tentacles and said they would never leave. Today is the first fay of Wintervale, a feast celebrating that the world has renewed again, an important day in Tauren culture
* The group stealths to the gate with no issues. Ga’an observes that the ground dips drastically there and that there were many small cramped hovels made of ruined stone and driftwood. The area is full of activity and there are many narrow streets. They are occupied by all the small fish folk  (mrglefolk/murlocs) like the Gaytekeepërs saw with the Naga. There is also a large plateau with coral structures. This plateau has buildings/structures made of stone.
* The group decides to stealth through the slums to the southernmost gate. The idea is to sneak through and circle around southwest around the plateau.
* As they are stealthing, Isilee ends up finding a murloc and knifes him to death. They continue stealthing and they find a main throughfair. On the main road, there is a Naga. two mur’guls, a sea spawn and a weird lobster centaur creature.
* The party run across the road into an abandoned house. Alyrin uses invisibility to scout ahead, and finds a path forward. As they run forward, Isilee assassinates one murloc who was just minding his business working on his carving. Then another murloc ran around the corner, and got instantly knifed by Isilee. The Gaytekeepërs sprint to the edge of town and make it out without being seen.
* After exiting the gate, they notice multiple large fancy ruined buildings, which the party at first decide not to investigage. Adelaide has a change of heart and does a quick swim-through of the building with detect magic active. She borrows Isilee’s ring for this. She uncovers a magic box and a gem that seems to pull her in (but she resists it).
* The party proceedes toward First Home and sees that it is surrounded in stone walls.
* Isilee stealths to the top of the wall but rolled poorly on her perception check. Roll initiative.
* The party kills a naga and some murlocs, then books it down to First Home, which seems to be encased in a snowglobe-esque bubble that the Naga cannot enter.
* Adelaide tries to send a message to A'thian letting him know that the party made it to First Home. The message back is barely audible. This indicates that the Gaytekeepërs have entered another plane of existance.
* Ga'an prays to the loa, and a light starts to radiate from his chest. As he looks up, the trees start to move and shift to reveal a path.

### The Trials of First Home

#### Session 48

* More Naga have gathered around the bubble of First Home. Isilee takes a quick break to investigate the box that Adelaide discovered and try to open it. She notices that there is a very powerful magical trap and is unsure what it does.
* Adelaide decides to hold off on doing anything with it since the spell protecting it is very high level and will probably TPK them. Isilee gathers sand.
* The party enters into the forests of First Home. It is dark, and very difficult to see. When they look up, all they can see is thick jungle canopy. Juniper opens her dagger. While at first, there is no breeze or noise, the party slowly becomes aware of insect sounds and the occasional bird call. Ga’an is in front leading the group deeper into the forest. There is no way to tell what time has passed. The glow disappeared once they entered the forest.
* According to Juniper, the party should have reached the other side of the island by now. However, there hasn’t been a discernible change in the environment. The path has been closing behind them, and the only way is forward. Vines, ferns, bushes and tropical plants coat the forest floor. Suddenly rain begins to pour down from the canopy above. As the rain falls, the path begins to turn into a muddy mess. It becomes hard to see and the group begins to grow tired. They proceed a little bit further.
* In the clearing, they decide to take a break and long rest. Ga’an prays to Lukou and Shango and Adelaide casts tiny hut. Juniper casts speak with animals and has a conversation with Stoga.
* Adelaide and Isilee have a heart-to-heart during the first watch about Isilee's difficult past. Juniper wakes up and Isilee goes to bed. Juniper and Adelaide make awkward small talk and then sit in silence.
* When Ga’an wakes up for his watch, there is a mysterious mist that emanates from the darkness as the rain ceases. Magic tries to affect Ga’ans mind, but he doesn’t succumb. The faint light dispels the tiny hut, and then Ga’an decides to follow the light. It is familiar.
	+ Ga’an follows the light and suddenly isn’t in First Home anymore. He is on a beach near Senjin Village with a ruined hut. There is an old hunched troll with two fingers at the hut: Mozo're.
	+ As they speak, Mozo’re is drawing voodoo and loa symbols in the sand. He explains to the young Ga'an that a Witch Doctor's purpose is to maintain the balance of the loa. Most trolls only focus on a singular loa. Witch doctors know that there are many loa, found in many places. They don’t focus on just one or two. They focus on all of them, even the unnamed ones.
	+ Ga’ans father appears advises him to not go to Mozo’re for guidance, instead to seek out Gad’rin.
* The whole group wakes up at once, and somehow Ga’an has arrived back. They wake up and see that there is a long tall lanky humanoid figure with a knife in one hand and a small wooden branch in the other. It is dressed in a simple loincloth and has small shin wraps that are blue/green. It has a bunch of cords and necklaces around it’s neck. It has deep dark pink hair. It’s hair is many long braids down it’s back. It’s a troll. His name is Igor ("eye-gor")
* Igor is a Tom Bombadill esque fellow and guides the party through a series of eye based riddles, until he points the party towards where he says their destination is directly ahead. Ga’an gives him the green and purple robes from ragefire.
	+ As Igor walks away, he flashes and turns into a wisp. He is a spirit!
* In the clearing, there are two large braziers, and the remnants of a large stone building. It ascends 20 ft before it is lost in the canopy. On either end of the walls, there are two immense stone statues of troll heads. These carvings are adorned in intricate details and carvings.
* Isilee checks for traps, sees none and Ga’an moves forward to inspect the carvings. He sees many pictographs, decorative shapes, and troll figures in ceremonial garb offering food in a circle. Coiled serpents in other areas on the wall.
* Ga’an tells the group about the Loa and warns Alyrin about Samedi.
* Inside the building is a large room with a raised central dais and five platforms. There is a small shelf in the back of the room with some items. There are also carvings on the walls.
* Ga’an realizes that the room is likely some sort of temple to Dambala. They all leave offerings to Dambala in front of the shrine before stepping onto the raised dais platforms. A cylinder spins up to the top of the room with a concealed staircase inside.
* Isilee checks the staircase for traps, and the group follows her up
* They make it into another room and use magic to activate pillars. This gives them access to two levers which Alyrin and Juniper pull. That gives them a brick climbing route to the ceiling to a new room and Ga’an and Isilee proceed through there.
* Ga’an and Isilee stab a poised blade into a slot in the ground. That opens a door at the end of the hall. Ga’an proceeds through the door and steps onto a raised dais.
* Suddenly, cutscene. Lots of treasures are shown to Ga’an, and Dambala says all it will take to gain the treasures is the betrayal of everyone else. Ga'an has an absolutely metal line about "if I betray my friends, will my mother walk to me, or run away?"
* The group joins up and continues forward until they arrive back in the jungle. In the shadows of the forest, we begin to see odd shapes, stone carvings. They find another clearing, full of carvings on stone walls and many braziers. The carvings are murals depicting the history of the trolls.

#### Session 49

* Adelaide is bodied by a tree. Juniper goes beserk from the Axe of Shirvallah.
	+ The party is forced to subdue her until Alyrin can break the curse
* A voice emanates from the area and a wisp appears. Ga’an believes it’s Shirvallah, and during the conversation, they discuss how the journey has just begun.
* Isilee's name is revealed by the wisp to be Anidori.
* The wisp comes back from around the corner, and has revealed itself to be Mozo’re, who is actually Gonk! He tells the party that while the world will try to pull them apart, they must stick together as a pack.
* Gonk refers to the tree person as a lost one, which implies it was a failed witch doctor
* A tunnel opens up to the west and the pack walks through. They enter a clearing (bowl shaped depression) down the path and see the area full of flickering lights and piles of skulls. A light is emanating from the stone structure at the center of the clearing. This light isn’t flickering. There are spots of almost pure white light, purplish light and sickly green light.
* There is a hole in the canopy directly above the stone structure. You’d have to stand inside the stone structure to see out of the hole.
* Ga’an walks over to the altar/temple thing in the center and inspects the area. It looks to be 10 stele, each to a loa. All of the things that have been sacrificed to the Loa during our quest are resting in the basins near the altars.
* The group looks up and sees a purple aurora borealis blasting upwards into the sky. No one has seen anything like it. All planes sit between void and light, and the connection is the twisting nether. First home is a thinning of the veil, and is the easiest place for powerful entities to move between the emerald dream and the material plane. The party is looking into the twisting nether.
* The group travels around the circle and leaves offerings to each loa (balancing them). After the loa achieve balance, vines sweep aside from an exit.
* Before they leave, Ga’an returns to the obelisk and looks up. An irradiance was shown on the tip of the obelisk, but there is no discernible difference.
* Ga’an ask Isi why she was going by another name, not Anidori. She claims that she changed her name to run away from trouble. Adelaide asked what trouble happened/what the trouble. “I basically betrayed everybody I knew”. She made a lot of conflicting promises, such as pledging herself to people. It all came to a head when she told Pietro, and then it quickly got out. She thinks he might have betrayed her. She claims it was only two organizations, and Ga’an thoroughly believes her (27 insight). Pietro worked for one of the organizations, so that might have been a factor in the betrayal. Ga’an asked what she expected to get out of all the pledges and such. She claimed that it was because she was trying to survive, and once she pledged to one group she couldn’t get out of that without pledging to another.
	+ The first organization was the Blades of the Sun (high elven spy organization).
* As the group gets up and begins to head towards the tunnel, the group walks further into the trees. They see a flickering light up ahead and the group walks out of the forest into a clearing with a dilapidated hut. This is the hut from Ga’ans vision.

#### Session 50

* The session begins at a wooden hut that is an exact replica of Ga’an’s childhood hut. Two tiki torches light the steps to the door, but nothing can be seen by the inside.
	+ Ga’an approaches the hut and disappears into the darkness. Isilee attempts to follow after, but instead finds herself feeling around blindly in the dark. She reappears at the other side of the clearing.
* While Alyrin investigates the outside of the hut, Isilee hears a rustling sound behind her. Turning around, she sees the treeline open up into a tunnel. No one else can see it, and Isilee appears to be in a trance as she walked towards it
	+ Isilee hears the sounds of the city streets of Lordaeron and the gentle strumming of a lute coming from the tunnel. A young male voice she recognizes speaks to unseen strangers, announcing he would play a song of lost love.
* As Isilee walks towards the tunnel, Adelaide attempts to call to her and pull her back, but is unsuccessful.
	+ Adelaide attempts to follow after, and instead finds herself back in the same clearing
	+ After some fruitless searching, Adelaide, Alyrin, and Juniper decide to sit back-to-back-to-back to keep watch.
* Meanwhile, the illusion turns on Isilee. She plummets into a freefall, only to find herself caught in a net.
	+ A sourceless voice calls out: “Little moth, caught in my web, drawn to the flame. I’ve been watching you and your friends for sometime. What is it you seek, little moth?”
* The voice comes from the form of a 30 ft long spider with spiked legs.
	+ This is Elortha no Shadra, the Mistress of Spies.
	+ Her mandibles move as she speaks, but the sound emanates from all around.
	+ “Your skills of subtlety and subterfuge are lacking, aren’t they Anidori? The man you once loved hunting you down…poor little insect, caught in a web of your own lies”
* Shadra explains that Isilee crossed her path by chance, because of the dark contracts Ga’an made with Shadra’s kin
* Isilee seeks for the loa to aid the party against the Old Gods
	+ Shadra explains that the loa are bound to their plane, and only in some areas can they cross over the boundary. She can only aid indirectly
	+ Shadra asks Isi what she would ask of the Mistress of Spies. Isi requests a favor from the goddess. She finds herself freed from the web, but wracked with pain and stumbling to catch herself.
* Isi walks out of the treeline grabbing at her neck. Adelaide notices a black mark in the shape of a black widow spider about the size of a gold piece that has been branded into her skin. This mark is the Blessing of the Silk Dancer.
	+ The Blessing of the Silk Dancer grants Isi +2 to poison DCs as well as knowledge of 4 new poisons.
	+ Isi’s first words: “I THINK SHE MADE ME INTO A SPIDER”
* Ga’an finds himself in a hut with one of the four walls missing and nothing inside except a table, two chairs, a single lit candle, and ruined wall decorations. After Ga’an takes a seat, the shadows coalesce into another figure in the second chair. Ga’an recognizes from his greyish-blue pallid skin, rushka mask, burning blue eyes, and black hair that he is Bwonsamdi
	+ Ga’an and Bwonsamdi speak of the history of the Darkspear trolls, constantly being forced to leave their homes and flee to another
	+ Bwonsamdi refers to Ga’an as the “chosen one”. Ga’an asks why the loa are so invested in the Darkspear trolls. Bwonsamdi responds that there is a lot of history yet to be written, and that Ga’an is not the only chosen one. He is not the first, and may not be the last.
* Bwonsamdi discusses the relationship between gods and their followers– worship gives the gods power to protect their followers so that they continue to worship them.
	+ The gods have been around since before the trolls and will be around for a long time after. Who will they be without worshippers?
	+ Gonk sees something special in Ga’an, keeps telling the rest of the loa. Ga’an came knocking on Bwonsamdi’s door twice.
* Bwonsamdi states that while he would have chosen Ga’an’s brother over him, he is beginning to see the same promise that Gonk sees in Ga’an.
	+ He informs Ga’an that Zalazane is the chosen of another loa. He’s pacted with Ueetay no Mueh'zala, which explains how Zalazane was able to raise trolls from the dead.
* Bwonsamdi reminds Ga’an–“Don’t forget, we made two deals. Don’t worry about the second. I’ll let you know when the time comes”
* Ga’an has learned that “whatever it takes” is not the best path
	+ Dambala would have offered him the power to strike down Zalazane, but where would it have left him? Ga’an didn’t need him, he has his companions to help him weather the challenges ahead.
	+ Bwonsamdi reminds Ga’an that many trolls, with and without friends have tried to take on Zalazane but no one has come back. How is he different?
* Ga’an responds that he and his friends have made it to first home, under the ocean.
* Bwonsamdi asks, “Why are you and your people in the situation you’ve been in now?”
	+ He answers his own question: "Friendship. You aren’t the only group to be carved into the blank wall. You are not the first, but you will be the last if you mess up. Before you, it was another troll, one blind to the truth, too weak to take action and protect the people he leads now. How many have suffered for this choice? All for friendship. One troll knew what needed to be done but chose not to. "
	+ Bwonsamdi additionally provides guidance on the Zalazane problem– by removing the Farraki worshippers, Zalazane will become weaker, as he receives power from the god of the Farraki.
* The conversation comes to a close and Ga'an leaves the hut. A moth-like creature lands on his head.
	+ The creature has broad brown wings patterned with eyes, and a skull on its thorax.
	+ He receives the Champion of the Grave blessing, which allows him to re-roll a death saving throw once per day.
* Isi wants a souvenir of the house to take with her, she finds a splinter to pull
* The group exits the clearing through a tunnel that forms in the treeline and makes their way back to the beach. When they reach it, they notice crystal torches like a star field and new structures outside the dome that were not there before.
* Adelaide casts Tiny Hut to blend in with trees, makes goodberries cool ranch flavors.
* Adelaide and Isi have a heart to heart on their watch together. They discuss Isi’s experience with the spider goddess and Isi’s fears about betraying the group given her history. They also discuss the gem Adelaide found in the Academy ruins that she felt a terrifying draw to; Isi takes it from her.
* The party makes its way out of First Home and starts to proceed out of the dome. Ga’an, Juniper, and Adelaide notice what appears to be a watch of two Naga circling outside the dome passing by every 10-20 minutes.
* The party passes through the dome and splits up to hide behind rocks. They come to the realization that there has been a war camp erected to watch them as they made their way through the First Home dome.
* In the camp are four sharks with saddles that are tied to a mast, as well as a statue of the Naga sorceress Zar’jira, depicting her snakelike body, snake hair, and royal garments.
* About to be spotted by enemy patrols, Alyrin makes Juniper and herself invisible as they advance through the camp. The party debate on riding the sharks, but Ga'an feels it is not a good idea. Instead, Ga’an uses a shadow mastiff to free one of the sharks seen tied up in the Naga camp as a distraction.
* The party is spotted by the Naga on watch, who sounds an alarm. The alarm catches the attention of the sea witch, who rises to meet the group.
* After defeating the faceless one, the voidwalker it summoned, and the naga witch, the party noticed swarms of light moving in their direction. The party fled down the wall and into the naga slums, trying to shake their pursuers…

#### Session 51

* The session begins with the party deciding to duck into an alleyway of the Mur’gul slums
* Adelaide is unsure of what the creature from last session was, but finds it reminiscent of dreams they’ve had of late
* Juniper casts Pass Without a Trace on the party
* The group is heading south east towards the ruins of Alme Nalore
* Adelaide casts Major Image to create the distraction of a Kraken going in a north west direction. The Naga spot it and blow their horns to sound the alarm.
* Isilee ducks into a hut and finds it to be occupied. She easily murders it as the rest of the party follows her inside. While Adelaide is passing through the threshold, a Mur’gul spots her and begins to yell. She dispatches it and Alyrin shoves the body into the hut.
* The party continues to move through the slums. Isi peeks into another hut, casting mute on one of the Mur’guls inside. She, Juniper, and Adelaide kill the two Mur’guls while Ga’an and Alyrin investigate an empty hut with a chest.
	+ The chest holds several fish, an iridescent conch shell (which Ga’an takes), 3 GP, 2 SP

* Isi checks out another hut that is in a state of disrepair. She notices out of the corner of her eye a reddish Mur’gul with a glowing crystal staff, looking up at the Kraken illusion. Isilee casts Mute on the Mur’gul. The muted Mur’gul attempts to convey the threat to another Mur’gul, who is confused by apparent miming.
* Isilee notices a stone ziggurat with a statue on top with snake-like features. A mur’gul bows down at the altar
* Rotting corpses of adventures decorate the shrine of Zharjira as offerings
* The slums situation escalates as the illusion flickers out. More and more Mur’guls come to investigate the noise, and several Naga catch up as well as a crab/centaur creature.
* With the party low on health and mana, Adelaide grabs a barely conscious Alyrin and Dimension Doors to the edge of the slums.
* Adelaide takes out her sending stone to alert A’thian that the party is out of First Home and making their way back to the ship.
* A’thian is surprised to hear they are alive and informs them that they’ve been gone from the ship for 13 days. His message cuts off as he says, “The captain wants to-”
* Adelaide begins to cast Tiny Hut and sends Lu’va out to catch the attention of the rest of the party.
* Alyrin, unsure of what else to do, takes out the fish she grabbed from the Mur’gul chest and begins to snack.
* The rest of the party just barely manage to make it out of the slums alive, reconvening at the Tiny Hut.

#### Session 52

* A creature swims near, long with a rounded front body, fish tail, three long tentacles and a giant, toothy maw. It appears to be an aberration, not of this plan of existence. It has three black eyes aligned vertically.
	+ The creature's form shimmers and then splits into two. One goes north, while the other goes south, passing over the Tiny Hut but luckily not stopping.

* Adelaide yells at Ga’an for vetoing the rest of the group about riding the sharks.
* Isilee looks for alignment on how much to give Stormfang as his bonus
* Ga’an proposes going around and back to the ship by going east through the ruins and hugging the shelf
* Stealthing along, Alyrin hears distant moaning/wailing noises in the background, but they ignore the party.
* Two sixty foot statues of night elven figures mark the entrance to the armory
* Adelaide doesnt think its wise to go in, but Isi and Alyrin would like to. The party takes a vote. Isi, Alyrin, and Juniper want to go in which is a majority
* Inside, the structure is half crumbled, similar to the academy that Adelaide explored. On the wall, Isi recognizes the ancient high elf symbol and old darnassian (the sentinels prayer):
	+ Our foes we erase [blank] death
	+ Wax and wane [larger blank]
	+ We are reborn
	+ Elune be with us

* Isi & Juniper find one quiver full of 20 wooden arrows, seemingly untouched, and another quiver untouched, beautiful elven design. Alyrin finds one long metal rod carved with runes, uncorroded, and two sealed ceramic jars. Ga’an notices an orb of light, a will o’ wisp traveling around, that hasn't clocked the party.
* Naga seem to avoid the ruins, though the large fish squid like creature seemed to not mind it
* Lot of purple lights floating above the party, seems like patrols have doubled
* Isi suggests looking through the academy again, but Adelaide is not in favor, the group agrees
* The party makes it back to the ship, and Adelaide casts identify on the armory loot:
	+ immovable rod
	+ Bundle +1 arrows, they stack with +1 bow
	+ Quiver is the Quiver of Eonar, the lifebinder, nature goddess, ordering of Azeroth, titan pantheon more associated with dwarven/gnomish religion
	+ Bag of holding for ammo

* Turning quiver inside out:
	+ Gallons of seawater, oops
	+ 40 arrows
	+ One extra special arrow with green glow, gnarly tip

* The gem that Adelaide feared is an elemental mote of arcane which can summon an elemental
* Isilee makes a weird souvenir jar of teeth, sand, sea water, booze, eyeballs, fishbones as a “gift” for ga’an
* Ga’an puts on naga priestess robe with two extra arm holes
* The party travels back to Orgrimmar, nightmare free. Ga'an decides to bring the cursed Axe of Shirvalla to the Valley of Spirits.
* The team's plan is to go talk to Jes'rimmon first, then Thrall. They need to run errands in Orgrimmar, then head out to Moonglade by way of Thunderbluff
* The party is surprised by a large guard presence at the dock, and the presence of many warships. They make inquires and discover that the Horde is at war with the Alliance! There is bad fighting in Ashenvale, where the night elves are
* The party recalls that the Forsaken joined the Horde thanks to the help of the Tauren. The Forsaken were attacked by the Eastern Kingdoms, and sent emissaries seeking aide. The only emissaries they sent who weren't killed were the emissaries of the Tauren. The Tauren convinced Thrall to let them join the Horde with the logic that it would give the Horde a foothold in the Eastern Kingdoms
* As the party makes their way to the gates of Orgrimmar, they see a sea of tents: a war camp.

## Interlude

#### Session 53

* The party sees thousands upon thousands of soldiers gathered at the gates of Orgirmmar. The amassing army is comprised of orcs, trolls, blood elves, goblins, and taurens. The Blood elves are few and far between, and have very posh tents. There are catapults, metal humanoid contraptions with sawblade and three finger claw arms.
* Inside the gates is a celebratory atmosphere. It is still the Feast of Wintervale, though it is the last day. There are festival goers with fluffy white hats, and sea of colored clothing. The whole valley smells of spices and baked goods.
* A small older goblin man with puffed out hair and sideburns dressed in heavy furs advertises his cart of wacky eccentricities. The party immediately b-lines for this and buys from him celebones, an oops stone, and an invisibility ring (single use).
* The desert is pretty cold this time of year, around 35 degrees
* The gang bullies a small goblin child trying to make a living on the shell game, and then Isi wins Addie a candied apple <3
* Addie cheats on the hammer game but it's fine.
* Alyrin sits on Mall Santa's lap and gets a sketch of it. She leaves a nice tip for the poor overworked artist while the rest of the gang get food and Adelaide gets a dreidel.
* In a game of archery, Isilee wins two rats that she names A’thian and Ga’an. Juniper wins dolls to send to her parents, while Adelaide gets a Sylvanas doll and reminsices about childhood dreams of becoming a Farstrider.
* The party meet Teja, a troll from the mercenary group calling themselves the Gutter Rats. She informs the party of a grand tournament taking place in the Hall of the Brave. She fills the party in that the war began with the disappearnce of the human king Varian Wryne, which the Alliance blamed on the Horde.
	+ The Gutter Rats have been working out of the crossroads escorting caravans for the war effort. They've mostly contended with centaur and quillboar raiding parties.
* The Gaytekeepërs make their way to the Hall of the Brave and find they've missed the registration period. They name drop Madam Marem to get themselves on the list last minute. They are ushered inside where they meet a very self-important Orc man with a golden tusk.
* Isilee spies on a meeting where she overhears that Warsong Lumber Camp has fallen due to the "damn night elves" and others of the alliance. Lady Proudmoore (assumably Jaina and not her mother) has requested to meet with the Warchief.
* The Gaytekeepërs are brought into the prep room. There, they see the other groups of adventures including the Gutter Rats, as well as two young shaman.
* The party discusses strategy and collaboration, particularly about focusing on one target at a time.
* The tournament begins acknowledging the esteemed leadership present at the event, including Thrall, the high shaman of the Horde, and "regent lord of Quel'thalas, Lor'themar Theron". He is a Blood Elf with one blazing emerald green eye. The other eye has a long dark scar passing through it.
	+ This announcement is news to Isilee and Adelaide that Kael'thas is no longer the leader of the Blood Elves. Adelaide knows of Lor'themar, having met him in passing on several occasions while attending dinners with her father. He was once a Farstrider, second in command to Sylvannas.
* The tournament is held in a round pit, with an iron cage to protect the crowd. The Gaytekeepërs battle their way through three fights and emerge victorious alongside the Gutter Rats. The Horde leaders all make their way to congratulate the winners. Lor'themar says "very impressive" to the group, but nothing else. He looks over them, and his eye twitches in a second of recognition when he sees Adelaide. He leaves with Thrall and Farseer.

#### Session 54

* The party retires to the Broken Tusk Tavern to celebrate their victory.
* Isilee convinces Morag to give them the room for free, as a discount for the fact that they were attacked viciously in the night the last time that they stayed there.
* While the group is feasting on raptor meats and pumpkin spice waffles, Isilee and Alyrin notice some orcs in the corner watching them surreptitiously.
* Isilee volunteers to go check it out, and goes over to the orcs. They immediately try but fail to spell her, suggesting she go to room 4 of Dark Earth tavern as they had some business with her they wanted to take care of.
* Isilee returns to the table and alerts the rest of the party to this problem. A plan is conceived where Isilee will set out without the rest of the party, who will sneak down to the Cleft of Shadows and follow her invisibly behind. Isi will take Lu'va with her so Adelaide can see where she is.
* This plan is enacted, and Isi leaves for the cleft. The rest of the party finishes their food and then heads after her.
* Upon Isi's arrival at the tavern, she attempts to interact with a whittling troll that does not want to talk to her. She rents a room up front with the owner, and inquires about the orcs that told her to come there, but is met with resistance as this would be a breach of privacy. She heads back to the room, where she is greeted by rat dung and another spell, which compels her to allow herself to be tied up by some elves that enter the room after her. Lu'va is dispelled.
* Isilee is interrogated by her former boss, Cinder Sharpflyer, about her business with Ravenhold and the Syndicate.
	+ It is revealed that Cinder received a burn notice from Isilee's fiancé Pietro, detailing her double-cross and alleging that she spied on the Syndicate and was working against Blades of the Sun.
	+ Isilee defended herself, claiming that she never worked against Blades of the Sun, but did spy on the Syndicate without being told to by Cinder, and further did not contact him after running away.
* The rest of the party sneaks to the Cleft, where they pause to wait as Alyrin makes them invisible. She does, and Adelaide attempts to use the ring of invisibility that she purchased from the cart merchant in the last session. Much to the party's chagrin, the ring turns invisible, and nothing else happens. Adelaide resolves to use her Lu'vavision to work out where Isilee is being held. Alyrin and Juniper go forward toward the tavern, while Ga'an and Adelaide stay behind.
* Alyrin is unable to open the door, as it has been locked since after Isilee arrived. She attempts to use the magic key she obtained before, but it does not work. She then uses one of the patches off the robe of useful items and installs a new iron door like two feet away from the other door, and enters invisibly through that. This scares and inspires the tavern keeper.
* Adelaide attempts to connect to Lu'va but finds that she has difficulty doing so. She begins to blindly walk toward the tavern to see if she can get within range (not knowing if Lu'va has been dispelled or not). She is unable to connect, and Dimension Doors herself and Ga'an into the tavern successfully. However, the second that she arrives, she is attacked by none other than Kanyi, a troll she worked with on her side adventure with Jes'rimon.
* Kanyi immediately heals Adelaide and chastises her for coming. She then tells her that if any other members of the party are there to reveal themselves.
	+ At this point, Ga'an, Alyrin, and Juniper all break invisibility, and Kanyi is like. Okay. Sure, I guess
* The group is lead to where Isi is being held. Cinder has them all drink truth serum after Juniper reminds him that he has it.
	+ The truth serum 'tastes like blue'
	+ Isilee tells Cinder she saw him as more of a creepy uncle than a dad
* Under the truth serum's influence, Isi confirms her earlier stances to Cinder, who accepts them as truth.
* Cinder asks if there is anything else he should know about, and Isi and Adelaide take the chance to tell him about the goings-on related to the Old gods and their discoveries of that nature from the First Home adventure.
* Cinder releases the party and says that he will relay their findings to Thrall.
* Isilee later reveals to the party that she did not work against Blades of the Sun, but rather wanted to leave the organization.
* The group returned to their room and split the winnings of the competition earlier before turning in for the night.
* The next day, the party engaged in rapid shopping, before Ga'an went to meet with the shamans in the Valley of Spirits to bring them the Axe of Shirvallah and discuss with them the events that went on at First Home.

#### Session 55

* Adelaide leads Isilee, Alyrin, and Juniper to Coifcurl Spa in the Valley of Wisdom.
	+ The spa offers many treatments, including mud baths, massages, and shamman IBS treatment.
	+ The girls treat themselves and emerge clean, shiny, and with killer hair
	+ Isilee tries to dip her rats in mud and one (Ga’an) bites her and escapes. She mentions this to the owner, who is definitely going to fire an innocent employee now.
* During the mud bath, Adelaide confides in the others about the secrecy of bladesinging and her theft of a bladesinger textbook when she wasn’t selected for the program
	+ Everyone agrees it’s probably fine and won’t come back to bite us in the tooshie.
* Part two of Girls Day™ is clothing shopping at Magar’s Cloth Goods! Isi negotiates the price down for a sponsorship contract.
	+ The tailor, Magar Irontusk, doesn’t like logos, thinks it's tacky (fair). The party will advertise through word of mouth instead.
	+ The girls pay half now, half later (40 now, 40 later)
* The party meets up with Ga’an who has been waiting outside the Cleft of Shadows since speaking to the witchdoctors
	+ While waiting, Ga’an overhears guards discussing an escort job to the Crossroads. The job involves fighting quillboars and pays pretty well. It is sponsored by the military
* The Gaytekeepers stop in at Madam Maram’s, who is pleased by the publicity the party has stirred up for her. Her stock is low because of the conflict (and popularity spurred by the Gaytekeepers)
	+ Adelaide inquires about items which allow for more prepared spells. Maram did have a ring of spell storage, which was bought by a blood elven woman.
		- This woman turns out to be one of the elves involved in Isi’s kidnapping, Satashia
* Maram offers the party a job: she has beef with another magic shop owner who one upped her with an acquisition.
	+ The item is a ring with a blue gem, though Maram would not say its purpose
	+ The ring was bought (before Maram could acquire it) by Enchanter Farendin Manaflame at Godan’s Runeworks
	+ Farendin is a recent arrival from Silvermoon and fails to recognize the way things are done in Orgrimmar
	+ Godan has felt empowered by him, and Farendin needs to be put in his place
* The party negotiates a price of 1500 gp + 1 alchemist fire + 1 spice pouch
	+ Payment is contingent upon the job going smoothly (i.e., the theft can’t be linked back to her)
	+ If the ring is obtained in this scenario, the party must still provide it to Maram
	+ If the ring is not provided to Maram, the party will not be able to set foot in Orgrimmar again (on threat of death)
	+ Maram gives the Gaytekeepers one week to think on the job and perform any reconnaissance, after that, the job will be given to another party.

* Back at the inn, many plans are thrown around, including polymorphing Farendin into a worm and Isilee distracting him in disguise as a suitor.
	+ Ga’an and Isilee also speak briefly about being chosen of the loa
* Adelaide shows the rest of the party the puzzle ball, and tries to identify it (unsuccessfully)
	+ Ga’an inspects it, noting the polished platinum with rings of gold filigree, impossibly small and intricate engravings, and a faint purplish-blue glow through one of the grooves
* The button to create coins jams, though more pieces of the puzzle present themselves
	+ Adelaide progresses the puzzle until a new button is revealed.
	+ The new button creates 7 garnets, 3 corals, and 1 jade before it jams.
	+ Alyrin tries to remove curse, nothing happens
* Isilee is concerned for Adelaide’s safety, believing the puzzle ball to be dangerous, but Addie says she has it under control.
* The next morning, Isilee goes in disguise as a blood elf soldier to seduce Farendin
	+ Isi stealthily throws A’thian the rat under the back curtain in Godan’s shop, then yells after the rat and chases him through the curtain.
	+ A blood elven man in green robes has cast hold on the rat, and asks Isi to take it and leave
	+ Isi unsuccessfully tries to flirt first with Farendin, then with Godan. She learns that Farendin is happily married and lives with his wife, and is asked to leave the store.
* She then tries to ask about “Stacy Manaflame” at Yelmak’s but is met with confused looks.
	+ Whuut now has glasses to correct his colorblindness, good for him.
* Meanwhile, Alyrin and Adelaide go to the gem store and have several gems identified.
	+ Alyrin once again moonlight calms one of the elf twins, though it is unclear which.
* Back at the inn, Adelaide progresses the puzzle further and finds a knob which creates a two foot wide black hole in the ground.
	+ Some investigation reveals it is a portal to a pocket room with a pile of magical items
	+ One ladder patch and several shenanigans later, Isi emerges with several items of non-magical clothes(a fur coat embroidered with the letter “E” and boots), a wizard’s staff, and a rod of hand-warming
	+ More of the puzzle has opened up now, and the purple-blue glow can be seen clearly through large cracks in the mechanism.