Session logs from 2021

Slunnt (Slonn Hunt (the hunt for Slime Bronn)) concluded and in its wake came Hag Hunt. The party brushed up against unfinished business and new mysteries about Eknoron. There was a massive, coordinated assassination attempt on the party in Longstrider Citadel. The Black Kraken was killed. And Hag Hunt continued with the deaths of Risana and Wenda.

Previous campaign and one-shot diaries can be found here: Session logs from 2020. Followed by: Session logs from 2022.

## Session 92: Stunn Wellton

January 3, 2021

The party ventured into the Cliffside Necropolis and discovered Vizharr's secret laboratory and a cult to Eknoron. One of the cultists they passed by without conflict later turned out to be Slonn in disguise. In the necropolis, the party found a strange forge and a lair with hollow metal bodies. Almalak, Zephyr, Beatris, and Percy had a brief, dangerous encounter with Typhekk, the dragonborn blacksmith responsible for the creation of these strange metal bodies.

The party also captured Slonn thanks to Lo-Tha's expertise in melee combat.

## Session 93: Slippery Bastard

January 10, 2021

Despite his binds, Slonn managed to outsmart the taskforce, pslionically taking control of Lo-Tha and making her stun Beatris and push her out of the *tiny hut* to dispel it, then attempt to stun Almulaku who deflected Lo-Tha's blows with a *shield* spell. This gave Slonn the opportunity to cast *teleport* without his spell being countered. However, a slight mishap occurred causing him to appear off-target and take a slight amount of force damage. In his terrible condition, he was unable to withstand the damage, and he started dying. Percy managed to scry on him in time to see him die and liquify into a red slime. The taskforce communicated with the Hoghill Rangers to arrange a joint effort to locate the dead slime clone of Bronn. Once retrieved, Bronn's soul was restored to his real body, but most of his mind remained in the slime, awaiting Sannl's research into the Archivist's psionic sciences.

## Session 94: Pelenquolith

January 24, 2021

PT:SD featuring Kovauk went on a quest to the Pelenquolith in Mithlaru and slew the Mediator and some elves in the process of becoming mind flayers. Neeril went to space and felt an aberrant presence emanating from the planet Nazyrai. They also discovered a way to teleport between the Pelenquolith, the Obelisk, and Barendain's Monastery.

Sannl returned slemories (slime memories) to Bronn, Percy, and Marigold. Bronn released the real Gûrran + 12 Agranorian guards from the Soulstone (causing seven wild magic surges) ummmm... all CR0 beasts within 1 mile of Longstrider Citadel died, but Percy’s Divine Intervention made it better, for most of them.

## One-shot: Friendship Ended With Slonn Hunt, Now Hag Hunt Is My Best Friend

January 31, 2021

Lo-Tha, Mica, Neeril, and Zephyr travelled to Westermarsh to find the hag Wenda's lair. They explored very little of it before entering a mystical door into an overgrown chamber in the feywild. Zephyr sat in a throne-like chair in the middle of the chamber next to a tea table. Creeping roots and vines started approaching the chair to restrain Zephyr, but he escaped the danger. He also did drink some of the suspicious tea. This caused him to fade into the ethereal plane. The others followed his example before even knowing the tea's effect. Lo-Tha hesitated but drank as well, following Neeril and the genasi into the depths of the ethereal plane.

They eventually encountered Burbas'Tel once they re-entered the border ethereal to the material plane, and using a heart stone he helped them through the ethereal and back to the meaterial plane. The vampire brought them along to go fight Risana. Before that though, Burbas'Tel used his vampiric charm to make Risana's gnoll daughter Grin reveal Risana's location. He also pulled Grin into the ethereal plane and returned shortly with blood on his lip, chin, and hands, having presumably killed and fed on the gnoll. The group fought Risana, but when defeated, she simply laughed and turned to sand, slipping away.

## Ragna story session 3: Turning of the Tides

February 7, 2021

Ragna & Co. faced up against the treacherous wereboars and defeated the high elf "Moon Warden", after said elf purged the clearing at Úlfurþingid and killed many of the lycanthropes. The high elf killed Algrim and tried to magically extract some memories from his corpse, but in that moment an arrow pierced the elf's mask and eye. With the elf and many lycanthropes dead, the summer solstice was celebrated in grief. Algrim was given a burial at sea, and Ragna set sail for Syllior, now equipped with several sending stones and a greater understanding of her werewolf nature.

## Session 95: Party and Reunion

February 13, 2021

The sun was red for a little while, due to the events of the one-shot "The Eternal Flame" from 2019. Ominous.

Beatris Louhi's 20th birthday was celebrated at Longstrider Citadel with various friends and allies from the party's adventures. I'm sure it was all a ploy to introduce Marigold and Professor Jauntlore to each other, and in that respect it was a success. Other special guests included Durthee and Snichtick, Elmira and Ungarn, Kelp and Habla, Tudsetrold, and Almalak.

After her year of lycan training in Lohkenor, Ragna returned to Syllior, her pockets full of sending stones. The following day, Willow and Galad returned following their recent trip to the Feywild; thus the first four of the bunch were reunited for the first time since Daeszal's attack on Nrannas where Lo-Tha sacrificed herself to banish the demon. They had all changed significantly since that time, and perhaps for some it was time to finally forgive Galad for his past actions and mistakes.

This session was also recorded, so trust that over my notes here.

## Session 96: On Trial

March 7, 2021

Persephone used a scroll to planeshift to the Olympian Glades of Arborea, bringing the Soul Stone and Kassiopeia along with her. The two met Hermes who promised to hide the Soul Stone someplace not even he himself could find it. Kass faced a trial to gain the favor of Athena, narrowly emerging with her life. Hermes returned them to Thindrel, where they shared some drinks and opened up about to each other, Kass about her feelings for Percy, and Percy about her past and hope to reunite with Crocus.

The group wind walked to Kavaad to shop rare materials and to talk to the Holy Order of Saint Tyrum. After speaking to High Judge Estetheus about the Ontogwite temple trial and arranging a retrial with Galad as the temple's champion, the group followed the suspicious paladin Khamaz. Khamaz had captured one of Kass' former gladiator acquaintances, Blue, and put her on trial with grim prospects. Lo-Tha recognized the blue-skinned, ill-tempered tiefling from a vision and the group decided to break her out of prison to prevent her execution. First they shadowed Khamaz to her office in the grand arena, heightening their distrust in the woman.

Beatris, Neeril, and Percy discovered that Arida Siccadry, head secretary of the Golden Hope's local division, is an ancient silver dragon — in fact the very same ancient silver dragon the Red Hand was hoping to find.

## Session 97: Redbane and Blue

March 21, 2021

Percy went on a secret nighttime heist to steal the magic gauntlets from Kass' old nemesis Armon Redbane. The gladiator knocked her out, and the party soon became worried and tried to come to her rescue, further complicating the situation as Khamaz arrived. Beatris found the priest watching over Percy and then used necromancy to transfer some of her own life force to the unconscious (but stable) halfling. This caused Beatris' arm to visibly blacken farther up to her elbow. The next morning, they returned to fill out some paperwork with the priest. The group then performed their rescue mission for the tiefling Blue.

Back in Syllior, Percy apologized for her well-meant recklessness, and the group decided to be more careful in future and introduce a buddy-system (spoiler: this didn't stop others from later disregarding this agreement). Zilmenaa confessed that they had been to the capital as well, visiting the Silver Den in the slums, thinking it would be a great place to look for that ancient silver dragon. Zilmenaa had inadvertently told the Ashen Fist all about their search for this dragon.

## Session 98: The Devil is in the Details

April 24, 2021

The gang went on a quest for the Golden Hope, uncovered a buried ruin from the time of the Infernal Invasion, and encountered goblins and the devils the goblins summoned.

## Session 99: The Black Kraken

June 13, 2021

The Black Kraken led an infiltration into Longstrider Citadel and brought her Ashen Fist subordinates along in a coordinated kidnapping and/or assassination attempt on the party and some of their allies, including Marigold, Sir Angus, and Zilmenaa. Many of the intruders were killed or captured by the party and Sir Estos. The Black Kraken was killed quite brutally by Persephone Buckthorn. Lo-Tha Thunukalathanu failed to stop the fleeing ghostwise halfling that with her spellcaster-disabling *silence* spell nearly caused the deaths of several party members. The silver dragon Zilmenaa had been killed in the attack, but the party managed to bring them back to life in the morning.

## One-shot: Neeril's Coastal Quest

June 22, 2021

Neeril Orlyar explored Syllior's surrounding lands and went on a mission for the Golden Hope to collect some magical crystals from the Coral Caves. She was joined by local adventurer Uthror Marsil. On their way to the caves, they encountered Snowflake and Amethyst Crystaleye, who luckily isn't an actual amethyst gemstone, which would have been bad, considering a certain deal Neeril made in the City of the Glass Pool. At the Coral Caves, a monstrous sea lizard guarded the entrance where Neeril and Uthror would enter. The lizard spotted and attacked them, but the adventurers prevailed and harvested the slain creature. Neeril learned to convert the lizard's natural abilities into a supernatural spell. Inside the caves, the two adventurers managed to find and harvest some small crystals, but were attacked by bigger, floating crystals. Uthror protected them from the cold magic of the attacking crystals, and together, they managed to destroy the dangerous crystals and leave with the safe, smaller ones. While heading back to Syllior, they stopped in Tanglestone and spoke with the druids there. They visited Uthror's comatose father, and they attended a stargazing ritual conducted by the druid leader Elise Riverlock. Curious, Neeril asked to learn more from Elise and was taught some Gnomish and Druidic names for the stars and constellations, much like Lo-Tha had taught her the Classic and Dwarven names. Elise Riverlock divined the moon under which Neeril was born. The next day, Neeril and Uthror visited the dryad tree with Elise and met the dryad Umina. Finally, they returned to Syllior and were paid for the completion of their quest.

## Session 100: Girls' Night Out: Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered

July 13, 2021

After recovering from the assassination attempt, the group spent some downtime in Tradefall. Neeril and Beatris researched dragon-related stuff. Ragna spent time with the local Ontogwites. Willow networked with the other wardens of the barony, Sir Taegon Fieldwarden of the Balzian Fields and Sir Anverth Di Kavorazo of the Ward of Moors. Percy hung out with Viviel. Kass went winged-horseback riding. Lo-Tha went on a casual spy mission and staked out the entrance to a cult meeting place for Ashen Fist agents. After some recon with familiars, the party infiltrated the underground tunnels, sewers, and abandoned cisterns where a group of cultists were conducting a blood ritual and about to sacrifice a young halfling man named Gaular. The ritual was interrupted and the cultists killed or captured. On close inspection, it appeared the ritual circle was for a reverse summoning of some sort, possibly to feed the blood to an otherworldly being. (what could THAT be??)

With the city watch informed, and the surviving cultists handed over to their custody, the party proceeded through the tunnels. They followed the path augered as dangerous, where indeed there was a poison dart trap. Lo-Tha used her ability to deflect and catch missiles, and her poison immunity, to catch the darts for later use, exhausting the trap's entire supply. Beyond this, the group ascended up some hidden stairs into a mansion, where they found Mynwynn Viskhart. The gnome spellcaster was accompanied by a slew of shadow monks. Combat ensued.

Then Ragna made the bad guy's explosion trap go off.

The building started collapsing, threatening to bury several the adventurers alive. Neeril's bow was temporarily lost in the rubble, but otherwise, everyone made it out intact. Viskhart had also escaped, but her goons were defeated, and her base of operations was no more.

## Session 101: Creed

July 15, 2021

In the morning, the party met up with Princess Leonara to inform her about the Ashen Fist. They then returned to the scene and recovered Neeril's bow. Assuming that Viskhart had gone to the capital, the party returned to Syllior and continued their downtime there. The purple dragon egg was confirmed 'dragon', so alive and probably viable. Akhtin got Beatris to acquire a particular material component. Kass and Ragna collaborated on an armor set (of lightning resistance, I believe; the one you later sold in Mythhold). Willow made amulets for everyone, imbued with *continual flame* (at 5th level). Lo-Tha and Moraan spoke and agreed that Moraan's quest to destroy the mind flayers might be better fulfilled out in the Underdark, so Sannl stops by and brings the githzerai back with her. Percy does her job. Jobs, really.

News of infighting in Arrovale arrive, and with that infighting, troll elves and other dangers had started crossing over the northern border. The party wind-walked to Riverrest to meet up with Martanna Emberstar. In the city, Willow and Ragna recognize a ferryman, Fallan Murkwater, who may or may not be (definitely isn't, you guys, definitely not) a smuggler aiding the local supporters of the Red Hand. Those supporters meet up in the tavern "the Grinning Rabbit".

Crossing the river, a few of them spot a moving light source somewhere in the water. On the other side, they arrived at Tide's Reach where they were received by Sir Denos Falstane, who led them to a war room where they found Sir Harkin Falstane and Martanna Emberstar. They updated the party on the current situation in the barony. East of the river, the baron, Martanna's father Skallos Emberstar, had support and military power. West of it, there were bastions of Martanna's rebellion and support from Harkin's gryphon knights. The baron supports the child queen Cyrsanna and thus those that control her. Martanna possesses both of the Emberstar family's noble swords, so she is likely to gain support when she calls on it, but she is hesitant on attacking when her father still her her young sisters.

The party sailed north to Narrowleigh to aid in evacuating civilians fleeing the swamplands upstream. While on Fallan's ferry, the party was attacked by undead bog bodies, mostly of troll elves. Galad and Beatris coordinated a way to repel the undead without yeeting the necromancer off the boat. Victorious, yet concerned, they continued up the river.

Huh, I could've sworn this was the session with Zreed (zombie Creed)… so, the party was assailed with spells by a distant figure in the woods while they themselves were on the river. They hurried toward their attacker and found them to be the zombified body of the sorcerer Creed, whose magic mostly stemmed from his connection to the Soulstone. His ribcage was open and his heart notably missing. He used a lot of big evocation spells, including a certain delayed blast…

Then Ragna made the bad guy's explosion trap go off.

The party won. Well done!

## Session 102: Ultimatum

July 17, 2021

Parking as close to Narrowleigh as they could, the party continued on foot. Not long into their travels, they were met by Theia Riverfang who then guided them quickly to the town. She herself doesn't enter, but the party do. There they met a wounded griffon knight who recounted being attacked by a manticore near the Kyrval Mountains. To deal with the approaching threats to the people, the party walked north, encountering more zombies on their way, and a zombified griffon. The outposts up north were lost, and Swampsight had been transformed into an undead-construct amalgam of bodies and rubble. Investigating the dead ruin, the group finds signs of a battle, a necromantic ritual empowered by chaos magic, and clues that Pandjed Kepeshmolik and the undead body of Creed may have been there and taken advantage of the guards' internal conflict. The presence of a sundered holy symbol to Torasenna implied that Ongor Flowermine's original body had been used and consumed by the ritual.

Neeril found a number of tracks. While figuring out which to follow, Ragna used the skull to scry on Pandjed. In her vision, she saw the dragonborn conduct a ritual using a lightning-crackling, and literally burning heart to empower the undead genasi body of Willow, accompanied by the undead goliath body of Lo-tha. We can call them Zillow and Zo-Tha. They seemed to be underground and likely very far away.

Beatris interviewed some skulls, confirming their theory about Pandjed and his undead creations. They buried the remains of a guard, so he may be ushered into the afterlife by Saint Celes, the warden of the earth. They also got a glimpse into Creed's backstory and his nightmares about him causing a fiery cataclysm.

Having secured the area, reinforced the guards in Narrowleigh, and helped evacuate the first and most vulnerable civilians, the party decided to head towards Kavaad. Galad fought the patriarch and lost, but gained valuable time with him during the battle, learning a little more about his motivations. He seemed to care about his sister Princess Leonara and even more so about his niece Queen Cyrsanna. He didn't seem to care much either way about the ontogwites whose fate the trial-by-combat decided. With Galad's loss, the ontogwites had to abandon their place of worship and allow their temple to be destroyed. Brother Kaelor was very upset, but there wasn't any more to be done.

Galad pursues the patriarch after the battle to learn more. Spying him, he sees him dismiss Khamaz [October 2023 note: should I rename her? Considering… ahem]. He appeared unsympathetic to the Ashen Fist and their sinister associates. The patriarch also spoke to a crow that landed in his window, saying, "I see you, witch. I haven't broken our deal." He then scared the crow off. It circled the area intently and then–somehow–cast a divination spell on Galad, triggering a latent wild magic surge effect.

## Session 103: Leviathan

August 16, 2021

Following the trial for the fate of Ontogwi's temple, a wild magic surge bestowed Galad the opportunity to cast a powerful spell, *Call to Power*. When he cast the spell, at first nothing happened, but soon after Ragna received a *sending* from Apo'Otu concerning the arrival of something happening in the temple. The party rushed to Arcanum Square, which they found flooded from crashing waves emerging from the temple. Willow had confirmed that a powerful elemental was emerging from there. Managing to push their way through the torrent of water and into the temple, the group faced off against a titanic elemental emerging from the temple's portal to the water plane. Apo'Otu was unable to close the portal, but he could mitigate some of the elemental's destruction while the party attempted to subdue it. To withstand the elemental's devastating assaults, Ragna transformed into her hybrid werewolf form, but she lost control for a moment and pounced on an unconscious Apo'Otu, killing him. Meanwhile, Lo-Tha had managed to run across the surface of a 50-foot tall wave, reach the elemental's weak point, and stun it, giving Kass the opportunity to break past its last defences, sending it reeling back through the portal, just when the portal closed as a result of Apo'Otu's demise. Percy swiftly followed Neeril back inside the temple, where Ragna had now regained control and reverted to her halfling form. Percy revivified Apo'Otu, and he and Ragna had a conversation about the event and the consequences of the loss of the temple. Apo'Otu had lost his magic along with the direct connection to the elemental plane of water, but he volunteered to help those in the square who were hurt in the flooding. Beatris spoke with the dead civilians so their families could be found and contacted. With the exception of Percy and Kass, the party teleported back to Syllior. Percy helped Apo'Otu meet up with Garos, the mysterious Thorothan Ontogwite whom Kass had previously identified as undead. In the meantime, Kassiopeia visited her old home, which had been transformed into an improvised orphanage run by a human man named Epel. The three of them, Kass, Percy, and Apo'Otu returned to Syllior later with a *word of recall*.

## Session 104: Labyrinth

August 28, 2021

After the fateful encounter with the leviathan, Apo'Otu wasn't the only one whose magic was affected by the disappearance of the temple's portal. Ragna's powers were failing her as well, but she did retain some of her magic. In a training montage, she studied the fighters at the citadel's barracks, practiced water magic with techniques from Apo'Otu, and started integrating her fighting prowess with her retained magic. By the end of the week, she was back in fighting shape and received her finished mithral armor from Khrein that adjusts to her body as she transforms into her werewolf forms.

During this week, Beatris did what she could to study the necromantic magic that she had witnessed in the Arrovale Marshes, and she managed to devise a *necrotic infusion* spell. Kassiopeia continued her work on the dragon scale armor, and Willow procured some ivory and gemstone material components. Then came the time to plot the next phase of the hag hunts.

Beatris, Kass, Ragna, and Willow consulted the conspiracy boards and decided to investigate Wenda's lair in Westermarsh for clues and possible ways to weaken, separate, or stop the hags. The quartet wind walked to the swampy woods in Virdenia to locate the lair as described by the previous hag hunt team. After landing in Westermarsh and traversing some deadly ivy growths, the group entered the castle ruins where the lair is. They had seen an animated tree stump earlier and were on the lookout for danger and used magic to enhance their senses. With a *see invisibility* spell, Beatris spotted a ghostly figure that turned out to be a gardener for the Castlemoors who were once the wardens of Westermarsh, and the owners of the castle. The ghost helped reduce some of the ivy growth in the ruins, and with Willow's *detect evil and good* spell, the group uncovered desecrated parts of the soil that empowered the deadly ivy. Having prepared a great number of vials with holy water, the group had Ragna walk through the poisonous vines and dispel the desecrations in the ruin's immediate surroundings, making the place much safer to traverse.

Kass had brought Xanthos along and ordered him to keep an eye out from above. The winged horse reported seeing a vulture circle the ivy-overgrown clearings nearby, and Kass ordered that he kick it out of the sky. When Xanthos kicked the vulture, it turned into a goblin and plummeted to the ground but before it landed, it transformed into an other bird and began to flee. On Xanthos and Willow in giant crow form, the party pursued the tiny bird and managed to catch it. As it once again became a goblin, it was clear to the party that they were dealing with a druid. The goblin druid was identified as Grilda, a former apprentice to Malgenus. She was interrogated, although with great difficulty, and then left bound and unconscious under Xanthos' supervision as Beatris, Kass, Ragna, and Willow returned to the castle ruins, where they began to explore the few accessible rooms.

Inside the swampy, ruined castle the party found some footsteps that disappeared in front of a door to an uninteresting room, as if someone had recently stepped through and disappeared. In an other room, Beatris found a pair of rings and some copies of scrolls with Wenda's various contracts, and Willow picked up a lantern containing a will-o'-wisp. One of the contracts showed that Wenda had agreed to give "the child Demia" to the Red Witch in exchange for the Red Witch finding the spear Nal'Zugazh and returning it to Wenda. The group decided to avoid the bramble-filled room that led the past hunt to a tea room, the description of which Willow recognised as a place she and Galad had visited during their Feywild journey. Instead, the group went on to the last room, which was covered in magical darkness and featured broken stairs leading down a deep well. Lighting the room with *continual flame* amulets, Kass and Ragna went inside and found giant lily pads growing in deep, muddy water. Not trusting anything in the lair, Kass proclaimed that the lily pads were definitely carnivorous, and Willow blighted one of the pads that then writhed and withered. The other pads started moving, but they couldn't catch Kass or Ragna before being slain. Having defeated the lily pads, the group decided to explore the water, first sending a glowing amulet down, then a fey octopus familiar for Willow to peer through.

Through the eyes of her conjured fey octopus, Willow spotted a humanoid shape in the muddy water. With *water breathing*, the group, including Akhtin, but not including the two skeletons Beatris had animated, dove in to approach the figure. The creature in the water appeared to be a human girl and apprehensively introduced herself as Demia. The group spoke with Demia and discovered that she was a sea hag, only recently transformed as per her 13th birthday. Demia explained that she had fled into this hiding place some days prior when intruders appeared in the lair and took one of the lanterns. She also revealed that the lanterns can be used to enter magical doors and traverse a labyrinth. Inside the labyrinth, a different door leads to a carriage where Demia by now intended to go. The party convinced her to let them follow her through. They also told her about Wenda's contract to trade her away to the Red Witch, but Demia didn't believe that her mother would do such a thing, nor could she read the contract as it was written in Primordial.

The young hag showed the group the safest way through the labyrinth, a gloomy hedge maze, which required them to sneak carefully past a giant treant and deal with a giant spider, either by sensing its patrol and move while it was away, or face it in combat. Ragna listened carefully with her keen hearing and honed in on the spider's movement. Sensing it approaching around a corner, the group braced for battle, and with a *blight* spell from Willow and a wave of attacks from Ragna, the beast was swiftly felled. Along the way, the group had discovered several other features in the maze, including other doors and hazards, and Demia had relayed a lot of information regarding her hag mother Wenda and more. Finally, the group arrived at their destination - a door that opened and they went through as if they were stepping out of a carriage. The carriage was parked in Tykewood Forest, north of the town of Tyke, and it had no driver and no horses. Communing with the land, Willow discovered a planar influence some miles to the north and two horses of an unusual breed not too far away. Ensuring that Demia was alright, the party took her to find the horses which she recognised as Brave and Courageous, the missing horses from the carriage. There was still no sign of the driver, until Demia inspected the hooves of one horse and found blood on both left hooves. Ragna caught the scent to track later. After returning the horses to the carriage, Kass used her divine sense to inspect the horses, which were just horses, and found instead that a dark spot on the driver's seat was an undead creature. Ragna went to inspect it, and was attacked by the shadow, draining her strength. Kass was quick to smite the undead shadow, which appeared to be that of the driver. Finding more blood on the wheels of the carriage, Ragna followed the scent north along the road, eventually reaching the location of the planar influence. In the edges of a small clearing, each of the trees were marked with a circle struck through by a vertical line. Demia recognised the symbol as one her mother often uses and one Demia has helped her carve into other trees before. Ragna found the mangled body of the driver, and Beatris asked the corpse some questions. They learned that Wenda had hired the man in Tyke to drive Demia around and then to a manor in the woods to meet her extended family. There was no such manor, and the driver was instead met with this clearing where the trees cast moving shadows and his own shadow had attacked him. The driver's body was buried some ways away from the cursed clearing. A message had been left for Demia by her mother, instructing Demia to let the carriage return to Tyke and for herself never to return there. The party voiced their concerns about Wenda, and now that the story of the driver didn't quite make sense or add up without some sinister motive, Demia showed signs of believing the group about her mother. Ragna gave the girl one of her sending stones and Beatris teleported them all back to the lair in Westermarsh.

With Demia's revelations, the party went aside to rest and expand on the conspiracy board.

## Session 105: Willow's Will-o'-Wisp and the Would-be Widows

September 11, 2021

The party regrouped in Syllior where they found that Galad had received a somewhat mysterious letter from a woman named Ohlia. After deciphering the message, the party travelled to Behera and found the cat café (sure why not) "the Smiling Sphinx" and located Ohlia. Percy listened to an odd story from an old local tiefling. As the party brought Ohlia back to Syllior, Galad revealed that he had commissioned her to procure something for him, specifically a diamond worth a thousand gold pieces.

Leaving Neeril with her purple dragon egg, the rest of the party travelled by wind walk to the town of Tyke and met the local warden Lydia Silversnout and teamed up with Oren Jestora. They inquired about the dead driver from Tyke who was hired there to drive Demia. An acquaintance of the driver gave a description of the woman who hired him, providing further evidence that it was likely Wenda indeed. Having asked Lydia Silversnout about other possible recent disappearances, the party was pointed to Melëna by the warden. The month prior, and just before their marriage, Melëna's fiancé had disappeared without a trace. The young woman was torn apart by grief, but the party comforted her and helped her focus on her fiancé to aid Persephone in scrying on him. Percy saw the roots of a large, gloomy tree in a place similar to what had been described by those who had been to Wenda's maze. Determined to help Melëna get her fiancé back, for closure if nothing else, the party (including Oren Jestora) went to the carriage in Tykewood Forest. In the light of Willow's new *lantern spirit*, the carriage door became a portal to the maze, and the group entered. Ragna and Beatris stood guard outside to watch out for Wenda. Inside, they traversed hazards and traps, and with the help of some goblins there, they found their way to the gloomy tree. Percy had seen the tree trench its roots to grapple and swallow a goblin, so they kept their distance at first. Galad however, approached the tree with diplomacy and honesty with Kass right behind him. Willow could understand the tree with her druidic magic, so talking looked like an option, that was, until the tree lashed out and attacked. After an intense battle with a vampiric tree, and a revelation that this tree was likely an attempt by Wenda to grow a new dryad tree tied to the Shadowfell, the party took a rest and were joined by Beatris and Ragna. Lo-Tha and Percy found the rings and remains of Melëna's fiancé in the dead roots of the tree. After swiftly killing a vampiric mind flayer trapped in the maze, graffitiing a gazebo in the maze, and a few more plant-based hazards, the party returned to Tyke with Melëna's beloved. With the expensive diamond, they now possessed the means to return the dead man to life, but they chose to save it for later. Still, they had done a good deed. Melëna promised to let Percy know if she found a good word for almost-but-not-technically-a-widow, and Percy revealed why that would be relevant to her.

Once more shocked by the twisted actions of Wenda the Wandering One, the party returned to Syllior, bringing the half-elf former bodyguard to Martanna Emberstar and also former mayor of Narrowleigh, Oren Jestora with them.

## Session 106: Rooms Within Windfall

October 9, 2021

A concerted effort was made to uncover more about the purple dragon egg. Kass, Beatris, Ragna, Neeril, and Lo-Tha all participated in the theory crafting, observation, or magical force blasting of the egg, though it caused no visible or audible changes. Marigold approached Beatris to talk about something she didn't feel right to share at the jolly slime support group meetings: It was the story of how B. Meadows decided to become *Marigold* after carrying out horrifying acts for the baron of Kernenvale. [link to comic]

With Neeril staying behind to watch over the dragon egg, the others brought Oren Jestora to Windfall Tower, where according to Demia, the hags had set something up to listen in on telepathic communications. The trip was short thanks to the power of wind walk. In the village close to the tower, the group found themselves in the tavern "the Windblown Weather Vane". A local drunkard (and conspiracy theorist) called Bevond shared a number of stories with them, including some ghost stories about the tower. He mentioned that some merchants had gone to the tower not long ago, though wherefore he could only speculate on. The group made their way to the tower to investigate, finding signs of a great beast having scratched at the gates, and a smell of fish that was unusually potent considering the vast height of the cliffs separating them from the rocky ocean below. Last time Kass was here, she was kidnapped by Maledictus, so the group approached with caution, sneaking skilfully into the tower. Akhtin acted as a spy and scout, letting Beatris look ahead and warn the others. She and her ~~demon~~ cat saw two businessmen speaking to a fancy old lady. When the merchants left and the woman moved closer to the party's hiding spot, Oren Jestora greeted her as an enthusiastic guest and somehow persuaded the woman to let his companions in and give the whole group a house tour. The woman introduced herself as Zarothea, a mistress unaffiliated with the late inhabitants of the tower but devoted to its upkeep and protection. Over the course of this house tour, the group discovered some secret passages in the tower and caught clues that Zarothea was something more than she let on. A bag of harpy bones were found left behind by the strange businessmen, suggesting some very strange business indeed. Once Zarothea was revealed to be a sea hag daughter of Wenda (and also a character from that time we played Dialect set in Welton) and all cards were on the table, a deal was made. The party would be given free reign to roam the tower until dusk, and in return, two of them would have to share their worst fears with the sea hag. Ragna relived a nightmare of helplessness, futility, and horror, and Kassiopeia experienced her darkest possible timeline. Kass then threatened Zarothea and demanded she never use these fears against them, and the group set out to turn the tower upside down. In a secret basement to the secret basement, they found and killed a mutated beholder—a mind witness.

Having succeeded well before dusk, the group left the tower right as they received a message from Sannl Fireforge: Kanilm Foheen's body had been found, and Sannl was ready to return his mind and memories to it.

## Session 107: Mapping the Maze

October 17, 2021

The group decided to push the decision making about Kanilm Foheen aside so more of their friends and allies could have a say in the matter. Returning from Tradefall, those from that expedition shared what had happened, and Kass and Ragna shared the fears they had experienced in Zarothea's visions. Percy utilised her therapy domain cleric powers to help Kass, and the group went carousing with Lo-Tha as their sober companion. Ragna shared her backstory from her sailing days, telling the others about Captain Rootva and how the Golden Sealion went down at sea. Lo-Tha was informed that fellow Barendain followers had discovered buried old ruins of a temple to their god inside Syllior.

Burbas'Tel was contacted to aid in the hunt for Wenda, and they agreed to meet up the 4th Ashday, Moon of the Maiden, 853 CL. The news from Micah and Zephyr in Kerrum was that Risana was no longer where she was last sighted. In the week leading up to their meeting with the drow vampire, part of the group went to visit Malgenus and Pugnatus in hopes they would give information about their fiendish and monstrous facility members. The party gave Malgenus materials for a find familiar spell in return for confirmation that Adrienne lives in the Westbank Woods and Wenda does not. They then paid a magical egg timer and some night moss for a brief correct answer to a how best to accurately find Wenda and Risana. The answer was disappointingly "using powerful magic or asking the Red Witch of Three for help". Beatris exchanged a deep secret for one from Malgenus, learning that he used to connect to nature magic and wished to be a harmonious druid, herself revealing to him that she wanted to be a healer but just never could get the magic to work. That necromancer just keeps genuinely connecting with the monsters and the bad guys. Before leaving the ettin twins behind, Kass lost an armwrestling match to a gloating Pugnatus.

With wind walk, the party travelled to Tykewood Forest and entered the carriage door to Wenda's magical maze. Exploring the maze, the halflings fought some mushrooms, the group investigated the other exits, and some more fights where fought. One exit was a hut outside Deep Hollowmoor, where it appeared a drow, most likely Burbas'Tel, had once been held by Wenda. The group retraced their steps from the earlier visit when they had Demia as their guide, and found an exit that connected to a tree in the Haunted Swamps. Assorted treasures were found throughout the maze, and three pixies where freed from glass jars, and in gratitude, granted a very minor wish. In a fight against a group of massive ghoul toads, Beatris cast a spell that caused Akhtin's form to enlarge and express his fiendish abilities in battle. The next treasure chest turned out to be a massive mimic that could grow long, thin humanoid limbs. After that, the group fought a dread minotaur impaled yet unharmed by various piercing weapons. (My notes here say "Lo-Tha's legendary kill-steal".) Having mapped out almost the entirety of the maze, the party left the maze behind and used wind walk again to return home to Syllior.

## Session 108: The Last Laugh

October 19, 2021

(Galad and Willow officially attained 14th level.)

On a nice and sunny morning, Galad, Kassiopeia, Willow, and Ragna took a walk about 1 mile out of Syllior, where they planted some magic beans they had found in a bag in Wenda's maze. One bean grew into a small nest with eggs, the next into a blue campfire, and the third sprouted a tree with twenty-two magical fruits with strange and seemingly random effects upon consumption of these fruits.

In the final days before meeting up with Burbas'Tel as planned, news from Mehen Myastan told of his safe passage through Redgate with the maze-carriage. Burbas'Tel informed the party that Risana and Wenda can rebirth the other upon next new moon, so the plan became to start the hunt as soon as possible following the recent new moon to optimize the time and increase their chances of killing both hags in the same month. Galad used the skull of Rhilin Farspire to scry on Risana, who appeared in the vision as a magnificent aasimar priestess helping some Mistani villagers. After a bit of research on the Grey Run, a group consisting of Galad, Kass, Willow, Ragna, and Burbas'Tel (an also Lotha and Beatris, it turned out) travelled there via wind walk after teleporting to Kerrum. They landed briefly to ask some local Mistani for directions and were told that a travelling priestess had come to a nearby village some time ago. In the early morning, the group stopped in a village in the western Grey Run area where they found a temple and a population that revered a priestess by the name Kozma as their savior. Inside the temple, Ragna gained an audience with her, and Galad confirmed this was the woman he saw when he used scrying on Risana. After spending a day in the village, and discovering that Burbas'Tel couldn't enter the temple, not even through the ethereal plane, the group hatched a plan to infiltrate the temple.

The following night, Ragna and Galad managed to sneak into the temple invisibly while Kass and the vampire beat up the guards outside. Kozma discovered the intruders and eventually revealed her true form as Risana. During the combat in the temple, Risana whipped sand into the air, limiting her enemies' visibility and allowing her to stalk around unseen, bringing Galad near death, and using a *crown of madness* spell on Ragna to have her finish the job, killing Galad. Ragna managed to find the hag in the sand and tore into her in revenge, though she almost went down herself in the process. When the hag was covered in faerie fire from Burbas'Tel, who was unable to enter the fray, Lo-Tha managed to spot her as well, and with a flurry of blows reduced the hag to a cackling cloud of sand. Risana's cloud form would have been untraceable in the desert if not for the residual faerie fire clinging to its dusty particles. To the sound of the fleeing hag's laughter, the temple collapsed around the party, almost crushing some of them. Galad was revivified by Kass, and the group took only a short breath of fresh night air before dashing eastward after the faint lights of the fading faerie fire.

The party knew that allowing Risana to rest would restore her ability to escape in this manner again, so they made haste and split up to cover more ground. One team found a strange corpse with runic burn-marks on the inside of its skull and ribcage. Beatris made sure to grab the skull for later questioning. Knowing that the hag could walk into the ethereal plane, the next scrying was performed in both the ethereal plane (by Burbas'Tel with the skull) and the material plane (by Willow). They saw the hag sit down in the material plane with a flock of gnoll servants and hyenas, beginning to recover her raspy, sand-roughened voice enough to possibly use her magical laughter again. With one team teleporting and the halflings flying aback giant raven Willow, they managed to spot the hyenas in the pre-dawn twilight. At a vast distance, Galad focused his aim and fired a guiding bolt through his longbow, sniping and killing the hag. A clean-up operation was conducted to ensure the deed was done and to eradicate the gnolls. Burbas'Tel looted Risana's jewellery, including the heartstone required for the night hag's ethereal movement. With one hag down, the group returned to Syllior posthaste.

## Session 109: Where in the World is Wenda the Wandering One?

November 13, 2021

Back in Syllior, the next phase of Hag Hunt™ began with planning how to catch Wenda the Wandering One. The idea was for Percy to contact Wenda using a book stolen from Grilda's hut and convincing the hag that Percy wanted to make a secret deal with her, luring her into a conjured temple where the party and Burbas'Tel would be hiding, ready to ambush the hag. Lady Willow cured Sir Angus of a malady following his recent nightmares, and then discovered with scrying that Wenda was in Syllior. Percy met up with a woman who seemed to be Wenda in disguise, but after discussing their "deal", revealing some information about Percy's relationship with Crocus, the woman turned out to be a local of Syllior possessed by the demon Akaloth. Akaloth appeared when the woman mistaken for Wenda was killed, and the party immediately focused all their offensive capabilities on him. Willow ended the demon with a sunbeam, which Burbas'Tel, who was right there in melee with the fiend, did not like. It turned out that Wenda had been just outside the temple the whole time, communicating telepathically with Akaloth, but escaped into the ethereal plane and mounted a nightmare steed, outpacing even Burbas'Tel. There was no way for them to immediately catch Wenda, so they planned defences and what concrete actions they could take next time. Before going to sleep, Percy, afraid she had given the hag too much information, but also having gained a little more hope that her long lost love was still alive, sat at her table and cast scrying on Crocus. The scrying sensor successfully found its target, revealing a lone, and very much alive, half-elf in a dark forest.

Neeril summoned a goblin with breakfast. Or rather, the treasure goblin Helper happened to appear close-by during the breakfast picnic Neeril arranged the next morning. The party traded the goblin the horns and teeth of a blue dracolich (and also a lot of money) for three treasure chests with random magic items. Was it worth it? It seems so. Is it a very dubious business model? Very much.

(All the main player characters reached 14th level, and we've now done away with XP tracking.)

## Session 110: Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

December 11, 2021

Sir Angus figured out who else had been haunted by nightmares while Wenda was in town, including Galad, and Willow made sure to cure the afflicted. Marigold was commissioned by Ragna to make a "smell-bomb" so they could track Wenda across the ethereal border. The party met up with Sannl Fireforge and the other Barendain followers in the City of the Glass Pool, where the search for the missing spellcasters had finally resulted in the discovery of Kanilm Foheen's body some weeks prior. they decided to restore Foheen from the index's slime to his real body, and Sannl carried out the ritual. While waiting for Foheen to recover and wake up, the party killed some time in the now strangely peaceful former mind flayer city. Kass, Galad, and Ragna had a stone skipping contest. Ragna later tried to manipulate the water of the glass pool like it was regular water as found on the surface. It worked, but Ragna felt something tugging at her, as if the water was moving her in the same manner she was moving it. She had a strange sensation and vision of being in a different world altogether, before being snapped out of it by the others. She had seen a shape in the water, and when she asked Neeril to sense if there was really something down there, Neeril recognized the sensation in the water, not of a distinct creature's presence, but instead the same feeling she got when she was in space, hovering above the dark blue planet called Nazyrai.

Kanilm Foheen eventually woke up and conversed with the party and the acolytes of Barendain, talking about Kavaad's history, his and King Jerestan's motivation behind the war, the founding of the Ashen Fist, Foheen's knowledge of the demons and hags, and most everything the party could disclose to him, with the specific omission of the Red Hand. After this productive conversation, the party teleported back to Syllior, with a very minor, but slightly painful mishap. New plans to catch Wenda were pitched, involving her sea hag daughters Zarothea and Demia respectively.

Altruism was approached near his home village by the Red Witch of Three, who offered to sever his attunement to the vampiric spear and its curse in return for the spear. He refused, and she respected his choice, though she may have found his decision unwise. Altruism, a little perplexed by this, and having been warned by his friends in Syllior about something like this happening, used a sending stone to give Ragna a heads up. With this new information, the party was scared Wenda's deal to exchange Demia for the spear from the Red Witch had been accelerated after their encounter with Wenda. With that reasoning, they decided to check up on Demia, scrying on her to see a dead adventurer at her doorstep, and casting sending to ask her if she needs help. Her response was a feigned unfamiliarity with the messenger, which prompted the party to go visit the young hag immediately. First though, Percy similarly made sure that Crocus wasn't in any danger, though only with scrying.

Arriving in Westermarsh, the party spoke with Demia who had found some more of Wenda's scrolls and contracts, including one detailing the trade of a woman's firstborn, an infant girl born to kavaadic parents, a girl who would now be the very same age as Demia herself. This piece of evidence led Demia to question her true parentage and finally believe the terrible things the party told her Wenda was doing. Demia was then persuaded to join half the party in immediately returning to Syllior where they would meet up with Kelp and Habla. The other half started transforming to wind walk back, but Lo-Tha had been picking up the scrolls and contracts, so while the others were already in wind form, she was stuck mid-transformation when Wenda appeared and attacked along with her animated tree-trunk butler and an ill-tempered vulture. The butler had been alerted when the party first arrived, but they hadn't stopped it, and suddenly, it returned with Wenda. To prevent Lo-Tha from completing the transformation, Wenda dispelled wind walk on the halfling, thus also allowing Lo-Tha to fight back. During the battle, the others were frantically trying to transform out of wind form to help Lo-Tha. Nearly dying twice, Lo-Tha managed to stay up and defeated the tree-trunk, scared off the vulture, and forced Wenda to step back for just long enough to allow Willow to heal Lo-Tha. With her allies' support, Lo-Tha returned to the fray, ate a rock, astral projected into the ethereal plane, and killed a very upset Wenda.

For the next year of campaign and one-shot diaries, see session logs from 2022.