Session logs from 2018

Among other things, this year saw the introductions of Bronn and Beatris, the beginning of The Advantage, and the notorious Alt Campaign.

Click here for campaign and one-shot diaries from the previous year: 2017, and the following year: 2019.

## Session 41: Friends and Foes

January 6, 2018

The party travelled from Tol'Anar to Westhaven, Agranor, and from there to Syllior, Kavaad, making stops in Littlehaven, Smallport, Ulrond's Harbour, Windfall Tower, Grifport, Kavaad, and Welton.

Ragna made their farewells to the party, seeking guidance with the curse of lycanthropy. Galad started to seek out his shadow. Willow returned to her ward and completed the city's defences. Percy made further inquiries into the fate of "Crocus". Altruism unlocked his poison rage, and contemplated returning to his original quest for his tribe's artifact, the "alfgrindr". Kassiopeia and her family settled down in Syllior with the help of Percy's expert knowledge of personal security and identity falsification. Steward Angus Telvar, Admiral Viviel Onnurai, and Magus Dalion Sohl assigned General Bron Wellton as Willow's personal guard.

Oh, and then Akaloth came waltzing up into Longstrider Citadel and did a thing to Creed before addressing Willow telepathically while in the possessed body of one of Willow's guards. Akaloth was then taken to the citadel's prison cells, where he and the party spoke for a time, before Akaloth released the possessed guard and killed the night hag that had been following the party for a while. Akaloth told the party, that he had seen the light, and that he, unlike Daeszal and Nefathat, considers it a vital part of the world's balance. Akaloth seemed to encourage the party to try to rescue the missing spellcasters, and seek out the Ghoul Lord Khovakis in Thorothar, so as to increase their chances of permanently capturing Daezal, preventing him from simply returning upon death. The Night Fiend then left, taking with him the skull of the hag whose soul he had just consumed.

## The Ongoing Odd Odyssey On Occasionally Ordinary Oceans part I

January 19, 2018

The crew of "Good Gitta, the Advantage" arrived on the island Natac, in the fine city of... fuck. Her indser forfatteren at alle hans puns var på dansk. I byen Fårum, en by kendt for dens lammekøller, uld, garn og en magisk blå blomst, som farvede hår og uld hvis spist. Desværre var der en gruppe af gobliner som terroriserede landet og stjal alle fårene. Landsherre Fo Srelttes bad den brave besætning om at jage goblinerne væk. Han fortrak at de blev sendt til hobitterne i norden, så de kunne blive terroriseret istedet.

Besætningen bestod af en dybling magiker Random, en hobbit slyngel Harul, en gnomisk præst Tera og en skovridder? spejder? Killian, en halv-elver.

De drog afsted, blev venner med goblinen Kraan, dræbte Cha-Gok, lederen af gobliner stammen. Gjorde Kraan til den nye høvding af goblinerne. Vendte tilbage til en belønning på en last får, en last malm, og en last korn. For det hele var en tyndt forklædt Settlers of Catan joke. Og Kraan vendte tilbage til gruppen inden de sejlede og sluttede sig til dem.

## Session 42: Answers

January 24, 2018

Akaloth left the party in the dungeons of Longstrider Citadel, where they discussed the implications of their encounter with the demon. Sir Bronn presented some theories regarding the Ashen Fist and its involvement, and implored Lady Willow to accept a more active investigation. With Willow’s approval, Bronn was granted access to the citadel’s secret archives.

The Black Kraken, who had been locked up in the dungeons by Admiral Onnurai, had apparently overheard the conversation with Akaloth, and offered to give the party information about the Ashen Fist in return for luxuries such as coffee and tobacco from Badkûr.

After talking to Dalion Sohl about Kanilm Foheen and his other apprentices, Persephone went into town to ask Silvarax for access to the Golden Hope’s local library of botanical knowledge, specifically concerning certain perennials.

In the night, twisted dreams came to the party in their sleep:

Willow had a dream of restless research, in which a sickly green mist rolled over Syllior and into her bedroom chambers, whispering strange secrets to her — knowledge of the ghoul lord Khovakis, the tower of Galoz Klyth, and a demon-binding ritual. According to Akaloth, this should help them trap Daeszal in the Dark Spear.

Percy had a dream of some white tower by the sea being crushed by the weight of two great serpents, rising from the water, and coiling around the tower like the snakes on the caduceus. Before the tower fell, a light shone in its highest window, just as the light that appeared in the tower in Vallanorn when Percy had inquired her god about a lost connection.

Bronn had visions of cloaked warriors in a great temple to Manarakh. The warriors seemed to follow the orders of a Meisent man who shared the likeness of the old king Jerestan.

Altruism dreamed of dreams within dreams, and was connected to Burbas'Tel Helviep. The drow was clearly in danger, hunted by the angel Glorael (known as the Whitehand) and covered in blood. With the help of some mysterious entity, Altruism managed to trap Burbas’ mist form within the Dark Spear, and pull him to Syllior through the dream. While walking back and forth from the dungeons, where he went to speak with Burbas, Altruism saw Creed look right at him and smile.

Galad meditated on what Akaloth had told him earlier, unable to dismiss the demon’s seemingly valid points regarding the balance of light and darkness.

On the next day, the party — consisting of Willow, Percy, Alt, Bronn, and Galad — planned their next moves and set sail for Kavaad. Altruism would then leave for Westermarsh, where he would be able to return Burbas to physical form. Then Alt and his vampiric thrall would journey to Thorothar to hopefully draw Glorael away from Kavaad, gain knowledge of the demon-binding ritual from Galoz Klyth, and search for the “alfgrindr”.

With Altruism separated from the party, the others sailed north into Arrovale. On their way up the Lên river, Percy spoke with some of Kanilm Foheen’s apprentices: Gruntald Flightstone in Kavaad, and Dieron Pastus in Redgate. These wizards didn’t seem to be able to answer Percy’s questions, but then she also didn’t really know what to ask of them.

When they arrived in Riverrest, Willow and Percy flew on giant eagle wings to Starpyre Keep, where they were met by Sir Denos Falstane and the local baron’s son, Barlin Emberstar.

Percy requested an audience with Tubrin, and was escorted to his underground cell. Willow met with the baron of Arrovale, Skallos Emberstar, and managed to rub shoulders with a few of the local nobles.

As Percy was at the height of an existential crisis, having witnessed Tubrin’s madness, her conversation was cut short by the arrival of Martanna Emberstar, whose mere presence caused Tubrin to freeze up and keep quiet.

As Percy ascended from the depths of Starpyre Keep’s dungeons, Willow had a brief talk with Sir Denos Falstane, who had taken in Godric as his own griffon. Willow was hoping to speak with Sir Denos’ older brother, the knight warden of the Arrovale Marshes, Sir Harkin Falstane, but Sir Denos told Willow that his brother was out defending the northern borders of his ward.

Back in Riverrest, Mehen Myastan was contacted and (probably) convinced to find Altruism and join him in his quest, as Bronn and Galad made the final preparations for their journey to the Monastery of Barendein.

After a few days of travel and a run-in with a few goblins, the party arrived safely in the monastery where Aknarr Graw and his twelve paladins greeted them. When Persephone (somewhat rudely) inquired Aknarr about her dream with the caduceus-tower, she was dismissed and introduced to the diviner Sannl Fireforge, and her serpentine familiar, Fafnir. Together, Percy and Sannl tried to decode the symbolism in the dream.

Aknarr Graw assigned his paladins Grimna Bronzebraid and Varoin Goldenplate to the party, and sent the party off with Sannl Fireforge to seek out the City of the Glass Pool, where many of the missing spellcasters were rumored to be. The party was sent to start at the svirfneblin settlements under the ravine near Hoghill Forest, while Aknarr and his other paladins would enter the world below through Drevnir's Hall and the lost mines near the Greatsword.

On their way through the Ridge of Blades, the party was met by a young silver dragon named Zilmenaa, who offered some of them (Percy, Bronn, and Galad) a ride to their destination — the mountain ravine near Hoghill Forest.

   After Willow, Sannl, Grimna, and Varoin fought off some bugbear berserkers, Willow heard another party move through the mountains. Turning into a giant eagle, Willow closed in on them to get a closer look. Once she realised what she was looking at, she flew away as quickly as she could, commanding the dwarves to hurry with her as quickly and as stealthily as possible. For the next few days, Willow was a little out of it, and it took her some time to remember the dragonborn paladin, Pandjed Kepeshmolik, whom she had seen among this disturbing party.

As Zilmenaa departed for the north after having delivered Galad, Percy, and Bronn to the Underdark entrance, Percy gave the dragon a couple of gems as payment and thanks for the dragon’s kindness.

On the day of the summer solstice, Willow and the dwarves caught up to Galad, Percy, and Bronn at the werewolf cave.

## One-shot: Journey to the Whirlcurrents

February 9, 2018

Kelp Blackheart, Habla Seafroth, and High Priest Coras left Syllior on the 1st Towerday, Moon of the Tree, 852 CL (the same day as Ragna's reincarnation), for their great journey to Osprem's realm in the Elemental Plane of Water. In the first weeks, as their crew tired themselves against the wind and waves, Habla enchanted the ship's oars to row themselves. When they reached Eenhaven, some of the crew left the ship to do business in the city, while Coras' expedition continued west. In the Skipping Islands, Kelp went swimming with the sea lions, eventually befriending one, and naming it Kim. Kelp gave Kim a tight braid in its mane, hoping to recognize the sea lion another time.

As time went on and the islands became few and far between, Coras gave Habla lessons in leadership and Kelp time to explore the Green Sea. As they crossed from the Near Islands to the Far Islands, Kelp had seen underwater temples in coral reefs, sunken and plundered pirate ships, uninhabited islands, and a floating cloud giant city.

Eventually, the journey took them to Keramma's homeland of Ta'ainitu, where they had to pass the harpy reef without being lured in by the enchanting song. Before reaching the reef, Coras awkwardly inquired the others about their "orientation", and warning them of the harpies' songs. Habla instantly volunteered to be bound to a mast, and though Coras assured Kelp that the harpies weren't tall, she was bound as well, just in case. Coras himself manned the ship without issue, and in the end, it was only really a challenge for Habla.

While travelling in the Far Islands, Kelp befriended and adopted an iguana, which Habla named Mik, after Kim the sea lion. Coras took some time to visit a small island, where he one night told the others about the legend of Osprem and Xerbo. When they returned to the ship, Kelp noticed that the island was actually a dragon turtle, and that Coras tried to secretly say goodbye to the gargantuan sea creature.

After many weeks at sea, the journey took Osprem's devotees to a great maelstrom in the middle of the island realm of Ta'ainitu. On Coras' orders, Habla set a course directly for the maelstrom, and the ship and its crew was sucked in. As the ship was pulled down into the vortex, the crew witnessed tritons, merfolk, watersoul genasi, and a lone storm giant around them, and beneath them, a large tree among the coral reef. As the ship was about to crash into the tree, the crew found themselves in a different world — the Elemental Plane of Water. Here, Coras guided the ship to the Whirlcurrents, where they would meet Osprem herself.

While shopping for gifts in the markets of the great trade barges, Kelp and Habla overheard a sea hag trying to pay for goods with souls — an offer which the aquatic elf merchant in the shop refused to accept. This hag caught Kelp's attention, as a soul trader might very well know how Princess Leonara's soul could be returned to her body. When Kelp followed the hag, she arrived in time to see the hag frighten a fish-man to the brink of death. Kelp chose saving the fish-man over pursuing the hag, and she and Hable found some excellent gifts for Keramma and the other acolytes back home at the Obelisk. For a while, Kelp was also curious as to whether or not the marid (water genies) she saw in the Whirlcurrents were somehow related to her or knew her father. The marid didn't resemble her, though, so Kelp didn't inquire further.

After a few hours, Coras found Kelp and Habla and brought them to Osprem's sanctum on the grand catamaran, and presented the two women before their deity, who appeared as a long-haired human businesswoman in fine gray robes. Osprem welcomed her clerics and thanked them for their service, and Coras revealed that this would be his final stop on his journey, as he had been sick for a while, and now chose to go out on his own terms. Before he left, Coras made Habla the High Priestess of the Obelisk, told Habla and Kelp that he was proud of them, and gave them each a black pearl. This was the last time they saw Coras, but the two clerics stayed around for a few days, speaking briefly with Osprem, who gifted them a magical sapphire and a vampire's heart for Kelp's hammer, as payment for their devotion, and the loss of their High Priest and mentor. In the following days, Kelp acquired some presents for her adventuring party, and Habla finished her improvements on Kelp's hammer.

## Session 43: Down Below

February 9, 2018

On the eve of the Summer Solstice, the party met up in the werewolf Finildan's old cave, and prepared themselves for the journey into the Underdark to find the missing spellcasters. Accompanied by three dwarves from the Monastery of Barendein, Lady Willow, Galad, Percy, and Sir Bronn carefully joined a party of ten hobgoblins who were headed into the ravine near Hoghill Forest. With the hobgoblins' knowledge of the area, the party managed to circumvent the stirge swarms, giant spiders, and dungeon traps on their way down. After a full day's travel, the party split off from the hobgoblins, who were headed into an iron mine, where their captain, Okriyet, awaited them. Sannl Fireforge and Percy managed to find a safe place to rest for the night, protected by Sannl's *faithful hound*and Willow's *hearth of moonlight and shadow*.

After a few days in the Underdark, the party had stumbled into a goblin den on the outskirts of a troll town, where most of them had hidden invisibly or as tiny inconspicuous bugs, but Percy had to disguise herself as a goblin and pretend to fit in, when the troll in charge of the goblins' care picked her up. A wide-eyed goblin had taken a liking to Percy in her goblin disguise and followed her when she *dimension door'*ed away, only for Percy to knock the goblin unconscious with her mace. Galad quickly slit the goblin's throat to ensure the party's escape into the dimly lit tunnels leading away from the goblin den and its accompanying troll town.

The party followed the light into a series of caves lit by a dim orange glow, occasionally flickering in other hues. Here a single troll scout managed to find them, as they were taking a short rest under Willow's hearth. At first, Sir Bronn attacked the troll, but the fighting ended quickly when Willow put the troll to sleep with a *sleep*spell. The spell also conjured a friendly unicorn, which disappeared after a minute. The party left the sleeping troll behind, and ventured deeper into the dimly lit caves, where they found glowing mushrooms and bioluminescent lichen on the stone walls.

In the dim orange light, the party found an isolated cave with a small, slightly acidic lake where a single troll was fishing peacefully for pale, eye-less fish. After some wonky dialogue between the party, the troll, and the troll's five friends who arrived a little later, combat ensued. When the party started throwing spells around, strange effects followed. For example, Varoin was covered in a sphere of magical darkness, Grimna grew a third eye for a minute, Sannl birthed a bloodstone gem from her forehead, and Galad temporarily gained the ability to climb on walls and even upside-down on ceilings. Once the party discovered the trolls' weakness to fire, the trolls died one by one, but Varoin Goldenplate was close to death several times during the battle.

Amidst the fighting, a figure had risen from the pool's dark and sour water. The figure quickly joined in the combat, summoning a spectral guardian of faith wielding a massive trident and a shield emblazoned with the holy symbol of Osprem.

## Session 44: Otrolden

February 18, 2018

After a battle with trolls, the party collected themselves, as the figure rising from the lake showed herself to be none other than Kelp Blackheart, heralded by a *guardian of faith*which then slew the handful of goblins that had heard the commotion and rushed to pick off the remains. As Kelp was introduced to Willow's new adventuring companions, the party crossed the lake on foot to take a short rest. Galad took Kelp aside to ask her how she'd been doing for the past year, and Kelp shared some of her recent journey. Persephone scouted the area to determine the path forward, and after a brief situation with an ochre jelly which had spawned from Grimna Bronzebraid's snot, the party took the tunnel that was the least overgrown and the best illuminated.

The farther they walked, the brighter the diffuse light hanging in the air became, and with it, the stranger magic behaved. In a shaft-like cavernous hub, with troll-made rope bridges, the party encountered a curious orchid, which seemed to possess some form of sentience and magical ability. A few of the party members, Kelp in particular, attempted to communicate with the orchid, asking it for directions to the deep gnomes. The orchid didn't seem to offer any helpful reply, and the party continued. After climbing down the stars and crossing a treacherous bridge from the hub into a cave system filled with blue fireflies, the party found a lone troll, fishing for earthgliding lungfish. Bronn warned the party of the troll, suggesting a plan of attack (but the DM had drawn the troll, and the players found it too cute to kill).Galad tried to talk to the troll, but ultimately failed to communicate outside of simple gestures, but when the troll greeted him in Undercommon, Kelp stepped up and befriended the troll. The troll introduced himself as Orm and offered to lead the party to his hometown of Otrolden where they would find the chieftain Makmut who could help them find the deep gnome village called Quarzendorf.

On their way to Otrolden, Kelp and Galad connected some more, and though Galad didn't reveal himself, Kelp got the distinct feeling that the elf before her wasn't an entirely new acquaintance.

In Otrolden, the party was met with some skepticism, but thanks to their troll friend Orm, they were safely introduced to Otrolden's chieftain, Makmut the Wise. Makmut presented a story of how long ago, he and the rival tribe Grurg's chieftain, Urgar, once found the secret location of the village of Quarzendorf, but their envy and rivalry caused them to lose the secret location, and now neither of them can find it without the other, and their rivalry has only grown.

The party was allowed to rest in Otrolden, and after arguably swindling a local merchant and then carousing heavily, they all got a full night's rest. During their carousing hours, Willow updated Kelp on what had happened on Tol'Anar, Sir Bronn inquired Sannl Fireforge about the prophecies of her monastery to uncover the secrets of the recent civil war in Kavaad, and somehow Willow was incorporated into Otrolden mythology as "the Great Eagle that Reigns Supreme in the Surface World". During their rest, Galad woke Kelp to confess to his identity, and Kelp, who had basically already found out that he was Bryn, accepted him and went back to sleep. This left Galad a little confused and underwhelmed.

As new spells were being prepared over breakfast the next day, Kelp took a few minutes to cast divination, asking Osprem for directions to Quarzendorf. Osprem answered her, assuring her that "her new friends would help her find the way". Then Orm guided the party to the Cave of Illusions, where Makmut remembers being with Urgar back when they found the deep gnomes' village. The cave itself was filled with pools and small lakes, both in the floor and the ceiling, and the party was subject to a number of strange effects and sensations that could have driven them mad or killed them, but they managed to pull through and navigate to the other side of the cave unscathed. On their way, they picked up a small, intricate key from the corpse of a long-dead goblin. When we left off, the party was staring down a long tunnel with clear signs of dwarven masonry.

## Session 45: The Treacherous Tunnels

March 4, 2018

Having made their way through the Cave of Illusions, the party sent Orm back to Otrolden and made their way into the sewer-like tunnel of dwarven make before them. The tunnel went down and out of the wild magic zone, and into the dark unknown. After an hour of walking, the tunnel's walls were littered with enormous holes dug by a purple worm, and the earth shook with a mighty tremor, as one such worm passed through the tunnel only a few meters ahead, while the party hid in the area of a *silence*spell cast by Sir Bronn. After averting this encounter, the party proceeded with caution. Along the long straight tunnel, the party found a small abandoned camp, seemingly left behind by Kavaadic explorers weeks before. Willow picked up most of the useful equipment from the camp. When the party later encountered some strange plants, Galad kept his distance and Willow collected a few samples. After crossing paths with some goblins, a few giant lizards, and a dead ox, the party came to a T-section where the tunnel met a larger, but similar tunnel. Sannl laid cards to find the way, and determined that going left would bring both weal and woe, as Galad suggested flipping a coin, and Bronn tried to identify any difference between the two paths. With Grimna and Varoin in tow, the party went right.

The tunnel stretched on and on, and the party walked through it for several hours before they came to a large natural cavern in the middle of the tunnel's path. A number of gricks hidden on the rough stone floor attacked the party, but were quickly dispatched. After the battle, Percy went spelunking in a system of small tunnels, where she found a lone deep gnome by the name Grurgblimgnerrg. This gnome appeared to be ancient, grumpy, and suspicious. After learning that some among the party had magical abilities, the gnome offered to guide them to the "strange beings who collect spellcasters from the surface". Grurgblimgnerrg guided the party safely past a number of umber hulks, gricks, and carnivorous giant lizards, to an alcove where they could rest under Willow's protection.

While the others were asleep, Galad saw a dark, elven silhouette luring over Kelp and the party's newfound guide. Galad leapt at the shadow, but grasped nothing, and when he returned to the protective bubble, the shadow was gone, and the guide was dead. The skidding sound of a small creature running met Galad's eardrums, and as he sprang to action (and rolled a 31 perception check), he saw the form of a fleeing intellect devourer. With decisive action (and just enough damage with a guiding bolt), he slew the intellect devourer and collected its gross remains. In the next few hours, when the others were woken for their watch, they were told of the night's events, and Percy gave the deep gnome a burial after finding an unnatural stab wound in his neck. After a long rest, the party is left without a guide, but they still have his directions to the kuo-toa settlement of Doomoodpool and the svirfneblin ruins of Grurgblimgnerrg's hometown.

## Alt-Campaign session 1: The Road to Thorothar

March 18, 2018

Altruism and Burbas'Tel met up with Mehen Myastan in the Red Seal Inn in Kavaad, and once they had discussed their upcoming quest, Mehen bid Yosefkafarewell, and the small party set out on their journey to Thorothar.

First they stopped by Syllior to check in with their allies and friends. Kass declined Altruism's offer to join their quest, having decided to focus on her family and her new life in the Citadel. However, right as the party of three turned around on one friendly, spear-wielding half-orc fighter lady, they saw another friendly, spear-wielding half-orc fighter lady right before them — this one followed by a westie. They approached the woman and promptly bombarded her with hot chicken wings and information regarding their quest. And thus Magret Twice-Orphaned joined the party.

Before leaving Syllior, Altruism sought out Lady Willow in case she had returned to her keep. Alt was met instead by Admiral Viviel Onnurai and Sir Estos Banadir, who were leading a party of 30 or so soldiers. The Admiral informed Alt and Mehen that the Warden had not returned, but she deflected any inquiry regarding her current mission. Sir Estos, who had heard of Altruism's quest, asked the Lohkenorian to return with a trinket if he were to visit Ossor. This was not their destination, however, and so the party — now four (and a dog) — took the first ship to Sinria's coast, where they planned to walk around the City of Devils to reach Behera— the last stop before the wastelands of Thorothar.

When the ship got to Sinria, the passengers were instructed to go below deck while the captain and crew steered the ship into the bay and docked it in the city's harbor. The party, who had specifically asked to be docked outside the city, and had been promised such by the crew, where suspicious. Magret sent Balthazar, her fluffy familiar to scout, as colourful Sinrian nobles boarded the deck and exchanged a number of wooden crates with the crew, who then left. Armed guards then streamed onto the ship, following Balthazar down into the cabins. As Alt, Mehen, and Magret devised an escape plan with the other passengers, they noticed that Burbas'Tel was no longer with them. With most of the passengers scared and unarmed, the party attempted to negotiate their way out at first, when the cabin was flooded with guards, but they failed to intimidate the yuan-ti slaver who had apparently purchased them and the other passengers. A battle broke out on the ship, in which Alt, Margret, and Mehen killed the yuan-ti slaver and several of his somewhat snake-like guards. With a mighty dragon's roar, Mehen frightened the remaining guards, leading them to flee out into an ambush set by Burbas'Tel. The vampire spawn feasted well on the slaver's guards.

After the party had captured the ship and defeated their captors, they quickly departed the cliffside docks of Sinria, narrowly escaping another troop of guards who were chasing after a tiefling child who managed to make it aboard the ship as it sailed away. While Altruism looted the bodies of the dead guards, Mehen and Magret saw to it that the newly arrived tiefling and the other passengers were all safe and unscathed. Once Magret had removed the three gold rings from the trifling girl's neck, she spoke with a frail voice, shyly introducing herself as Quiet. The party made sure to arm the other passengers before they docked a few miles south of Sinria, where they split up. Magret asked if Quiet wanted to go with the party or with the other passengers, and Quiet, who had befriended Magret's familiar Balthazar at this point, chose to go with the party.

   The following day, the party arrived in the Sinrian town of Behera, which marks the last stop before the border to Thorothar. In the colorful markets of Behera, the party stocked up on rations and desert gear, hired a monster hunters' guild to aid them in their quest, and were joined by a strange fortuneteller, called Hemakshi, who had awaited the party's arrival. The monster hunters Key and Amirr led the party to the Smiling Sphinx, a cheap but comfortable inn, which also serves as a home for stray cats. A hooded individual warned the party of "the evil tail" while they were navigating the streets of Behera. As the party and their new companions were heading out to the desert the next day, they were set upon by yuan-ti assassins, one of whom towered over even Key the goliath, as it rose above the crowd, revealing a large serpentine tail where its legs should be. In the ensuing battle, one of the yuan-ti was slain by Quiet, who had recently been gifted a dagger by Magret. The remaining assassins fell prey to a *slow*spell and a whole lot of damage. Once the combat was over, Mehen explained the situation to some Beheran town guards, and the party went their way. The last thing the adventurers did before heading into the desert was to purchase a few camels, which they got at a discount for stopping a thief from stealing the beasts from the camel broker. With Paarthurnax and three camels in tow, the party formed a small caravan and journeyed east, following the light from Altruism's sunstone.

Following the desert trail, the party came across a few refugees accompanied by a guard from Camp Zeroth, who were going to Behera. The guard warned the party of giant lizards and scorpions, but when the party later encountered such creatures, they seemed to keep their distance form the caravan; the lizards were intimidated by Paarthurnax. The party's caravan was later approached by four horse riders: three humans and a dwarf. The four riders greeted the party, introduced themselves as members of the Golden Hope, and joined the caravan for a few hours before galloping off at full speed. This caused some annoyance among the monster hunters Key and Amirr, who considered the Golden Hope a rival guild within their line of work. The leader of the four riders, Huntmaster Halmdin Ol-Akarim, revealed that he and his companions were searching for clues in a case involving a number of disappearances among lower-class Beherans and Thorothan refugees. While Halmdin and his crew were still in the caravan, the group was stopped by a band of twelve camel-riding warriors. These warriors demanded a toll of 1 silver per head (not including tiny pets/familiars) on behalf of a person whom the warriors called "Satrap Azi Lu-Khadin". Hemakshi, the fortuneteller who had joined the party in Behera, gladly payed the measly sum for her party, as Halmdin payed for his men and camels. With the satrap's warriors out of their hair, the party was free to continue east, and some time after the riders from the Golden Hope had left the caravan behind, the party saw a handful of figures across the twilit dunes. The party approached and were greeted by some tribal hunters who gladly shared their fire and stories of their lion gods. By dawn, the tribespeople were gone, and there were lion footsteps in the sand.

On their second day in the desert, the party reached a fork in the road: both a crossroads, and a literal devil's fork planted in the ground where the paths crossed. Despite their attempts, none of the party members managed to wedge the large fork out of the ground, and so they chose to continue straight ahead to Camp Zeroth. While cresting over a dune under the morning sun, the party encountered a band of bugbears and goblins, whom they decided to attack. The goblinoids were disorganized but managed to hold out until Mehen was upon them. In a few swift motions, while empowered by Hemakshi's *haste*spell, Mehen dispatched the bugbear chieftain and the two remaining bugbears, smiting them asunder, and sending their heads tumbling in the sand. As the last goblin was fleeing, Altruism sent Burbas'Tel to kill it, leaving no survivors. After looting the bodies of the slain goblinoids, the party prepared to head further into the DESOLATE LAND of THOROTHAR.

## The Crazy, Compelling, Carefully Coordinated Continuing Cruise part 2

April 15, 2018

The crew landed on the isle of Sjatsø, an island with weird names, and weirder accents. Here the guard captain hired some of the crew, namely Random, Tera and Heral, to help her put an end to whatever was taking the cattle from the farms of the island. Over the next couple of days the party traveled to the various farms, asking around and gathering clues. It slowly became evident, that they where chasing a terrifying monster with glowing red eyes. They gathered some supplies, and where joined by Meriele, a barbarian c-elf. Eventually they managed to chase down the monster and defeat it. Of course this was only the first of the party's problems as it turned out the island was secretly ruled by a coven of witches. Only Random realized this truth, but she failed to convince anyone of the truth.

## Session 46: Flesh and Stone

May 10, 2018

Following a somewhat troubled long rest, the party was left in the Underdark without a guide. However, they still had Grurgblimgnerrg's directions to the kuo-toa settlement of Doomoodpool and the svirfneblin ruins of their late guide's hometown beyond.

Once everyone was awake, they discussed the strange brain-like creature that Galad had slain in the night, concluding that Grurgblimgnerrg was likely an intellect devourer. Willow, Galad, and Kelp, who had all previously encountered such creatures presented what little they knew, and the party started talking about the Makate tribe and the rumors that their chieftain may be a green dragon and that several of its members are intellect devourers.

The party's morning conversations were interrupted by the scuttling sound of a swarm of rats. Hundreds of rats with dim lights pulsing from their scalps ran past the party's place of rest before the party set off toward Doomoodpool, coinciding with the path where the rats had come from. Delving deeper into the dark, the party found a small tunnel leading off from the main path, and they heard a strange singing from up ahead. The singers turned out to be kuo-toa — zealous fish people. Between Kelp and Sannl's knowledge of the world below and its denizens, and Kelp's training in Undercommon, the party managed to device a plan to gain the favor of the kuo-toa. Willow transformed into a giant lobster to imitate the kuo-toa goddess Blibdoolpoolp, and with Kelp as her herald, they successfully impressed the kuo-toa party's leader. The fish people quickly devoted themselves to Lobster-Willow, eager to present her and her "sacrifices" (companions) to their archpriestess.

On their way to Doomoodpool, the party and their new allies passed seven duergar guards without trouble, thanks to Sannl giving the duargar a bloodstone that she had birthed from her forehead while affected by wild magic. The duergar seemed happy with this payment, but less than an hour later, the party encountered another group of duergar. This time, the duergar were lead by a gorgon-riding, tentacle-armed duergar called Otiskar Blackscream. The party tried to evade the duergar, but Otiskar Blackscream commanded his men to capture or kill the party and combat broke out between the two groups. After an intense battle, in which both Varoin and Percy had been petrified by the gorgon's breath, the party persevered and freed a number of the duergar's slaves. The petrified victims, except for two kuo-toa-made-stone were restored shortly after the encounter.

In the fight, Blackscream had fallen, and afterwards Bronn picked up his longsword and identified it as a *mind blade*—a psychic weapon tied to the mind of its creator—and discovered that Blackscream's mind had become trapped within the sword. However, the blade proved impossible for attunement.

Some of the duergars' slaves died to a *tidal wave*from Willow Stormborn, and most of the surviving ones were mentally absent and appeared to have been experimented on in strange and disturbing ways. Of the surviving slaves, the most aware was a woman in tattered wizard's robes who cautiously presented herself as Mara Calladar. Percy and the kavaadic locals of the party, Bronn and Kelp, recognized her by name as the latest apprentice of Kanilm Foheen and questioned her on what she knew, but they didn't learn much from that. Sannl and Bronn went around and identified each of the survivors they had freed, learning that Mara Calladar was under the effect of a powerful abjuration effect similar to the *mind blank*spell and cursed to never be able to return to the Westbank Woods.

After looting the slain duergar of some electrum pieces and cephalopod motif adamantine amulets, the party went with the kuo-toa and the former slaves of the duergar to the kuo-toa city of Doomoodpool. On their way there, they fought a pair of ray-like creatures called cloakers, that they managed to scare off with a daylight spell and a number of offensive spells. When Doomoodpool was near, Willow became a lobster once again and the party's kuo-koa guide Jooprinintroduced them to his rival Ugologu and their leader, Archpriestess Blipoolipl of Blipdoolpoolp. With Kelp Blackheart negotiating on the party's behalf, the archpriestess nearly had the party captured and sacrificed, but Kelp managed to deescalate the situation and assure the kuo-toa that they had come bearing gifts, and that their leader, Lobster-Willow, was a holy emissary of Blipdoolpoolp. Thus the party was spared and welcomed as guests, while the freed slaves they had brought along with them were imprisoned by the kuo-toa, with the exception of Mara Calladar, whom Galad had cast *invisibility* on — an opportunity for escape that Calladar took, despite that not being Galad's intention.

The party was invited to the grand ritual later the same day they had arrived, where the kuo-toa would perform a great sacrifice to their god and learn if Blipdoolpoolp truly did favour Lobster-Willow and her party. To plan for the upcoming ceremony, Jooprin, the party's guide in Doomoodpool who had also helped them in the battle against Otiskar Blackscream, asked to talk with the party in their designated hut where they were resting. As we left off, the party was discussing the fate of the missing spellcasters and about to plan their next move.

## Alt-Campaign session 2: The Scorched Dunes

June 3, 2018

After slaying a band of goblinoids, Altruism, Burbas'Tel, Mehen, Paarthurnax, Magret, Balthazar, Amirr, Key, Hemakshi, Eyes, Quiet, and the party's three camels still had a long way to go before they would reach Camp Zeroth. First, they rested at the literal fork-in-the-road devil's trident that was stuck in the ground at the crossroads.

After having camped out through the day's warmest hours in a *Leomund's tiny hut*provided by Hemakshi, the party made their way east, in the direction of Camp Zeroth and Galoz Klyth.

Looting dead manticores was the most dangerous part of the whole game.

Burbas'Tel was CREEPY as ALWAYS.

## One-shot: Two Warlocks Walk Into a Desert

June 8, 2018

A warlock was walking from Athoran to Qorath. On his way, he encountered a walled-in settlement, guarded by magic and jackalweres. At first, the settlement seemed empty and abandoned, but once he drank from the local well, he saw the town bustling with life. Fearful, he ran, and returned his attention towards Qorath. In the night, the warlock witnessed another pact-sworn mage unleash harmful spell upon a caravan in the distance. The warlock fought well, but the other mage, a deathlock, slew the people of the caravan and reanimated their corpses, all while the warlock was restrained by a spectral skeleton. When the deathlock approached the warlock to go in for the kill, the warlock released his innate and eldritch powers upon the deathlock. As the deathlock fell, his *armor of Agathys*spell rendered the warlock unconscious.

## One-shot: Clans and Plans

July 9, 2018

Over the summer of 852 CL, Fholtarr Thunderblood acted as head of his clan on behalf of his father who was leading the Blue Dragonflight on the frontlines near Auria. During this time, he spoke to the dukes of Jharuul and to Akkorak Firestorm, discussing the matters of the clans. Fholtarr also found time to do much needed research, and after persuading Amara Blackscale to join the battle against the undead, Fholtarr himself set out as well, leaving his mother and sister in charge. Through the council of Amara Blackscale and other experienced war tacticians, Fholtarr became a war mage, shedding his focus on transmutation.

## Session 47: Scales

July 11, 2018

The party huddled up in a small hut in Doomoodpool with their new ally Jooprin Maneater, setting plans for the upcoming ritual. They agreed on a plan to impress the archpriestess, and convince them that the sacrifices appease the goddess and that the party is indeed sent by Blipdoolpoolp.

During the ritual, the party noticed a fifth sacrifice being dragged up to the drowning pool under the statue of Blipdoolpoolp. This half-elven woman seemed conscious in a way the sacrifices supplied by the party didn't, and a stray cat appeared to urge Kelp to help the woman. The party combined their skills to save the half-elf while impressing the kuo-toa with an awesome display of divine judgement. When Ugologu went to drown the half-elf, Willow finished her *water breathing* spell, and Kelp, Percy, and Bronn cooperated to fabricate a watery avatar of the kuo-toa goddess. After saving the half-elf and gaining the favour of the kuo-toa, the party got to know the half-elf, who introduced herself as Beatris Louhi. In the wake of the ritual, Galad snuck out of the town to investigate an approaching figure, who turned out to be Fholtarr Thunderblood. The now somewhat larger party gained lodging for a month in a fine hut in Doomoodpool.

For their long rest, the party stayed together, guarded by a couple of kuo-toa. Sannl had a dream in which the trolls of Grurg and the trolls of Otrolden worked together. Willow had a dream of her time in the Feywild, on the paths of Spring and among the Summer Court (level up to 10). Bronn had a brief dream of Kanilm Foheen and Mara Calladar in the heavenly Dome of Strength in Kavaad, featuring a sickly green mist. Percy had a dream of a city on a river and a mysterious figure, giving her a strange déjà vu. For the first time in eighty or so years, Galad actually went to sleep as well, and in his dreams, he faced multiple shadows in a dimly lit tunnel, and behind him was a glowing silhouette and a golden tiefling woman wearing symbols of Soliel Felessa.

In the morning, the party set out to find Mara Calladar. On the way to her, Galad briefly encountered a purple dragon. Attracted by the party's telepathic contact with Calladar, a swarm of cranium rats appeared and tried to capture the party, dominating Bronn for an hour, before only a single cranium rat escaped the party's vengeance. Back in Doomoodpool, Fholtarr helped Beatris to learn the *sending*spell, and Bronn asked Mara Calladar a few questions. Beatris offered to help Mara Calladar safely out of the Underdark, and the two left for a drow outpost called Ryldz'tes. With information from Mara, Sir Bronn presented his theories on the Ashen Fist and the history of Kavaad and the kingdom's royal line. The party then discussed what to do with the spellcasters, if/when they find them.

During the discussions, Galad saw a shadow pass by outside their hut. He followed it outside the settlement, with the party following a few blocks behind him. In a cavernous alcove, he encountered his shadow, Gwathren, accompanied by two other shadows. Despite Galad's attempts at reconciliation, the shadows coldly carried out their ambush, weakening Galad and his arriving allies. Theia Riverfang's shadow was stopped from pursuing Galad by a living, breathing Theia Riverfang wielding the Bow of the River. Gwathren took Galad with him into the Realm of Shadow. Kelp defeated Theia's shadow with her mighty hammer, allowing Theia to use her shadow magic to take back her shadow. Willow tore Leonara Meisent's shadow to shreds with her newly acquired *primal savagery*. In the aftermath of the fight, Theia disappeared, Willow was finally restored of her hoarding madness, and a purple dragon nearly flew off with Bronn, if not for his *dimension door*spell. Not knowing much of Galad's fate, the party took a long rest (Bronn levelled up to 9).

## Ragna story session 1: The Wolf Thing

July 17 and 18, 2018

Ragna journeyed to Lohkenor and went to Úlfurþingid to beseech the masters of lycanthropy. her way was fraught with fey trickery and mysterious strangers, but also some allies. An old man and his sons asked for direction to the wolf thing but seemed to then walk the wrong way. Wereboars attacked Ragna's party. On the first day of the summer solstice events at the wolf thing, a strange high elf attacked and killed one of the were pack leaders. It was all very complicated, but then the day was saved (-ish?) and Ragna decided to seek training with Algrim the Black and his pack of werewolves.

## One-Shot: Lo-Tha In the Sky with Diamonds

July 18 I think, 2018

Lo-Tha and Moraan found themselves in a githyanki city built on the corpse of a power. The locals were all put in stasis by a psionic disturbance, and the two had to team up with a gish and her party to stop an aboleth from rekindling and consuming the power's lost godhood from within. With aid from a band of einherjar, conjured with a horn of Valhalla, the party slew the aboleth and its servants. Lo-Tha also found a second stone similar to the one that was embedded in her forehead when she first entered the Astral Plane.

## The Hilarious Hijinks Has Had Honourable Hobgoblins Hastely Hitting Horrifying Hags Heroically Part 3

July 19, 2018

The Advantage arrived at the island of Dorotea, here Random and Tera caroused in the City of Pascual, where they learned of a smith, who worked on magic items. Needless to say they where intriqued, and went to the village called... I wanna say Damian? (I'm an excellent DM who writes things down). The smith told them that his weapons and his daugther had been taken to the abandoned village Tristan (that one I'm pretty sure about). In Tristan the party med the Four Brave Maidens, a small militia of young women from Damian, who where sick of the "my daughter has been taken by goblins"-trope, and decided to take things into their own hands. The four maidens where Ana, the twins Ynes and Ysabela and of course an angry high-elvish warrior lady - Feera the Furious (Astrid's cool new character).

The party soon learned, that the local hobgoblin tribe wanted Matilde, the smith's 12 years, 11 months and 20 days old daughter. What followed was a hobgoblin siege of Tristan, a clever use of the hat of disguise and the child sized Teera, exchanges of magic weapons, the hobgoblin captain Sark offered plenty of gold if the party could kill his betrothed Yvelda on their wedding day, and of course, as Random suspected all along, it was all an elaborate ruse, orchestrated by Yvelda, so she could get her daugther back, the minut she turned 13. Needles to say, the hags where hacked to pieces along with her daughter.

## Alt-Campaign session 3: Camp Zeroth and Beyond

August 7, 2018

On the 4th Fireday, Crown, 852, Altruism and his party of ghoul slayers, do-gooders, and assorted allies were trekking ever closer to Camp Zeroth on their path to Galoz Klyth and Altruism's clan's artifact.

In the Windblown Wastes, the party was attacked by ghouls in a blinding sandstorm. After defeating the monsters, the party was hit by a powerful whirlwind, which separated the party members and nearly killed Quiet. When the sandstorm subsided, the party got to Camp Zeroth. Mehen earned enough *EggsP*to level up, and we're using collective milestones from now on.

In Camp Zeroth, Hemakshi recognized a person from her drawings, and told him to join their quest. This person, a desert elf called Adran Onnurai, employed by the local authorities, didn't take too kindly to this strange and sudden imperative from a complete stranger. Adran fetched a medicine man of his people, Xeteraenon Naïlo, to cleanse Hemakshi of her "desert malady", but instead, Xeteraenon spoke telepathically to Hemakshi, and told Adran to trust his new adventuring companions. After also speaking to Amirr, Mehen, and Alt, Adran agreed to work for them as a guide in the desert.

Ahmad Ol-Ahmad found a different protector in Halmdin Ol-Akarim, and he joined up with the Golden Hope to investigate the disappearances of poor and infernal people.

Magret bought herself a cowboy hat, and Quiet a matching one. Then the two of them and Balthazar went out for a night of fun, while the others caroused.

As part of this round of carousing, Altruism had a whirlwind romance with a local tiefling called Virtue, which incidentally is also Altruism's dad's name (a fact Irene had forgotten when she stated this, much to the amusement of the rest of us). Key and Amirr managed to get themselves into local legend, as they won a small fortune each, and they also got some good PR done throughout the evening.

In the night, there was some trouble with a few tribal refugees being arrested by guards for theft, vandalism, and disturbing the peace. Mehen convinced the guards to allow most of the refugees to return to their camps, except for this one boy, who had a pair of lion gloves, a knife, and an assortment of jewelry on his person. The jewelry was given back to the vandalized shop's owner. The shop was repaired with mending by Hemakshi. The knife and the gloves were taken by the guards, but Hemakshi managed to snatch the gloves with a mage hand.

Adran's employer, a tiefling known as Executrix Melidai was impressed with Hemakshi (because of a high carousing roll) and agreed to help find a good home for Quiet, while the party advances into the perilous desert. The next day, the party went to visit Quiet's new home and say their goodbyes. This home, as it happens, was the family home of Alt's recent fling, Virtue, and a couple of middle-aged tiefling dads. Magret promised to come back for Quiet once the mission is over.

As the party headed out of the camp, they witnessed a visit from Satrap Azi Lu-Khadin. The old satrap appeared to have some sort of agreement with the owner of the shop that was vandalized in the night, possibly involving protection money or blackmailing. The party also stopped by a crowd collected around a doomsayer, telling of the end of days, and warning people against trusting the authorities. The party managed to ridicule the doomsayer, and spin it into a PR stunt for the Ghoul Hunters when a stirge swooped down and attacked Amirr. When Amirr blasted the stirge to pieces, a wild magic surge happened, forming a sphere of darkness around Amirr, which Hemakshi dispelled.

Eventually, the party managed to leave the camp, and on the 4th Ashday, Moon of the Crown, 852 CL, they entered the Burning Valley and fought a band of smoke mephits. They also found an ancient statue of dwarven make, which contained a fire elemental spirit, which can be woken by blood.

In the night, a draconic individual and their large guard drake came by the party. Adran, Mehen, and Amirr approached the figure who presented herself as Jhiraaj, a red dragonborn from Jharuul, and his guard drake as Ix. (Jhiraaj is pronoun indifferent and subtly changes shape to slightly mirror those around them. They also have wings!)

On the 4th Saintsday, the party, now consisting of Alt & Burbas, Mehen & Paarthurnax, Hemakshi & Eyes, Magret & Balthazar, Key & Amirr, Jhiraaj & Ix, and several camels, absolutely destroyed a pack of hell hounds. Amirr's magic missile was a little too wild and had to be stopped by Hemakshi's shield spell. Then the imp Yezmeniev (the same imp that they had met at the Crossroads) appeared, announcing that they had completed his first challenge. Then he challenged them to create a new hell hound using the charred remains of burnt skin and hair left over from the defeated fiends. The party improvised a "hell hound" by summoning a fiendish steed in the form of a big black dog. Yezmeniev disapproved and told them he would have their souls if they failed. They cast dragon's breath with fire on the steed. Yezmeniev laughed and told them they still hadn't completed the task. Amirr challenged this, but Yezmeniev boasted and reiterated that they hadn't used the remains of the slain hell hounds. Amirr responded by adding a bit of the burned stuff to their home-made hell hound. The imp shrieked in defeat and allowed Amirr to use his trident as promised.

Amirr and Mehen went back to the Crossroads to fetch the trident, while the others slowly pressed on, venturing into the Chimera Oases, where they found an illusory watering hole and were attacked by undead zombies and skeletons. After the battle, the party found a secret dungeon entrance concealed by the illusion. In the night, Jhiraaj sent out his guard drake Ix to scout, and Hemakshi recognized that he was seeing through the drake, not unlike her own situation with her familiar Eyes. Hemakshi peered into Jhiraaj's mind and felt all the senses of Ix as her own. The guard drake was scouting in the east, where it spotted the tower the party was seeking. Then a sandstorm came rolling westward with a roar. This roar awoke thoughts of family and grief in Jhiraaj, who seemed to then catch on to the detection of her thoughts. They awoke as Hemakshi withdrew her spell, and Jhiraaj seemed to think that Burbas was the one peering into their mind. Hemakshi and Jhiraaj exchanged a few words, and the wizard learned a few things about the dragonborn. Come morning, Jhiraaj journeyed, while the party awaited Amirr and Mehen's return.

On the first two days of the Moon of the Dragon, the party explored the Chimera Oases, experiencing a nature documentary from inside *Leomund's tiny hut*next to a real watering hole. From the corpse of an elephant, Hemakshi got a piece of cloth containing an old necromancy spell. With the aid of a being Hemakshi calls Adrika, she uncovered the nature of the spell. Adrika visited upon Hemakshi a vision. With a low mountain hovering in the horizon, and a golden light from above, the vision took the form of an elephant from an old Zabrabani story. As in the story, the elephant was seeking a watering hole, and as it walked and walked, it never found one. While it was busy looking for water, the elephant had died without even noticing, so it just kept walking. The spell is called *animate beast*and functions much like a cross between animate dead and dominate beast.

Once Mehen and Amirr returned, the party headed into the dungeon under the fake oasis where the undead had come from. Inside, the dungeon appeared to be an old crypt or temple devoted to Asmodeus and his servants that arrived in Thindrel during the Infernal Invasion of Sinria. Only Burbas'Tel and the camels stayed outside. After much investigation of a puzzle room, Mehen managed to solve the code by dumb luck, as he pressed tile number 6 three times in a row. In the final room, an old man woke from his undead slumber and demanded to be fed, but his hunger would not subside, no matter how much food the party gave him. it escalated to a fight, and the old man and his skeletal minions proved a challenge for the party. The party's familiars were burned, and both Amirr and the new guide Adran were greatly wounded when Hemakshi removed her mask, revealing a pair of functional, golden eyes, glowing with a deadly radiance from the decades-old scars on her face. With Hemakshi and Mehen's combined radiance, and with the help of their allies, the old man was crushed under the maul of Tyr's dragonborn servant, and a just vengeance was enacted against the undead and the forces of the Hells.

With no time to loot the place, the party was called by Burbas' voice and the sound of battle from outside. Altruism was the first to react, and as he stepped up through the stairs, he saw the source of the noise. He knew then that his plan had worked, but he did not know if he was ready to face an angel in combat. Glorael, the Whitehand, wings outstretched and covered in crimson flames, stood before Alt and his thrall, pointing a HEAVENLY SWORD at their HORNS and FANGS.

## Session 48: Gwathren

August 9, 2018

Galad and Gwathren had been thrust into the Shadowdark, the world below the dreadful Shadowfell. While the rest of the party was resting in Doomoodpool, Galad tried to convince Gwathren to reunite with him. When that failed and Gwathren had retreated into the darkness, Galad befriended a horrifying creature that had grown deformed in its isolation in the realm of shadow. Violently embraced by this sorrowful creature, Galad settled down in the skeletal remains of an enormous fish, not far from a bottomless pit. There, Gwathren possessed the lonely creature and responded for the first time, urging Galad to join the dark side, so to speak, and together they could reap the powers of Daeszal and finally become the world's most dangerous assassin. Still, Galad insisted on the light, and so Gwathren drained the sorrowsworn of its strength, leaving Galad alone in the darkness.

In her sleep, Willow walked across a frozen body of water to the edge of the night sky, where blackness draped the border to an ethereal dream world. Visited by wretched lamprey-like half-people, and urged on by a freezing wind, Willow stepped into a place where she could visit Galad as a winter breeze.

Galad had visions of the night he killed Prince Wranfir. Willow saw them as well. And as she stared into the bottomless pit, the vision revealed the passing of time around Wranfir's shadow, the crown princess mournfully watching the bed as the seasons passed outside under the Old Tree.

Sannl dreamt of Theia leaving and being ambushed by a dragon, causing the loss of Galad, and then when the dream restarted and Sannl intervened, Theia, half-clad in shadow, escaped the dragon and created a dark portal. Upon waking up and talking with the others, Grimna shared her dream about green eyes, demons, and a door of shadow leading to light. The party agreed to contact Theia. Bronn warned of the dangers of using the sending spell, and so Willow let Bronn use her magical messaging stone to speak to Theia.

Doomoodpool was visited twice by outsiders. First by three duergar demanding slaves from the Archpriestess. The first duergar was zapped to death by the might of Blipdoolpoolp. The second was torn to shreds. And the third was drowned to appease the Sea Mother. The second visitation was by Theia, and riled up in a zealous rage, the kuo-toa were ready to attack. As the party scrambled to prevent almost fifty kuo-toa from bombarding their much needed ally, Theia made a show of her shadowy powers and also revealed that a dragon was on its way. Once the kuo-toa had been washed aside or lulled to sleep by magic, the purple-scaled face of a huge dragon appeared behind Theia. The dragon's feline smile curled wide and opened to reveal rows of sharp teeth and a bright beam of light spilling from the dragon's maw. In a flash of light, Fholtarr and Theia were down, and Sannl was dead.

In the dark reflection of Doomoodpool, Galad asked his shadow to delve into the bottomless darkness that Gwathren seemed to love so much, but the two halves of his soul could not see eye to eye, and Gwathren drew Daeszal's Fang, ready to strike. Familiar with his opponent's weapon, Galad circumvented his soul's capture by focusing a spell into himself, stopping his heart.

The purple dragon was pushed back through the collapsing tunnels, and Bronn and Fholtarr decided to give chase. Unable to accurately calculate the direction and distance of their dimension door spells, the two had to abandon the chase. Back in Doomoodpool, Percy revivified Sannl, returning the slain diviner to life.

Split in two, yet still connected past death, Galad had to face his shadow once more. As his halved soul was guided to its afterlife, Galad was stopped by Gwathren and the temptations of Daeszal. The demon commanded the shadow to take him, but Galad's faith carried him on, bringing him before the light of Soliel Felessa herself. The heroine welcomed Galad into the light and forgave him his shortcomings, promising him that the demon would face judgement with or without Galad. In the afterlife, Soliel was gone, but her daughter Helieth had appeared in her place, next to Seraphina Zokesh and a host of deva angels. The dryads that perished at Tol'Anar on the day Galad had returned to life were there as well, presenting him with the bow he had crafted from the Sky Tree. Contemplating his fate, Galad strode into a desert heaven with peace as his sole companion.

## Session 49: Galad

September 9, 2018

With the help of Theia Riverfang and her newfound shadow magic, the party managed to enter the Shadowdark to look for Galad. However, Theia's magic is powered by negative emotions, and in order to create the shadow crossing needed to enter the Plane of Shadow, Theia was angered by the memory of her death and the ignorance of her companions. This anger manifested itself in the Shadowdark and summoned a sorrowsworn spirit of anger, which the party chose to fight. They were also attacked by smaller sorrowsworn, called the wretched, that resembled top or bottom halves of human bodies with lamprey mouths at the cross-section of the cut bodies. Willow called on the fey spirit of a darkling elder, who came to the party's aid, but after these encounters and the dragon fight earlier in the day, the party had expended many of their resources.

Beyond the sorrowsworn, there was a locked door, heavy and wooden, with no visible hinges—clearly opening inward. First, Kelp and Fholtarr inspected the door thoroughly, to ensure that it was neither trapped nor illusory. Kelp then picked the lock and opened the door. When a shadowy presence, sensed only by Kelp, struck, she responded by smashing her Warhammer into the door as it opened into the room beyond. Kelp fell to the floor, lifeless; Fholtarr, standing nearby, was next, both victim's to Daeszal's Fang. Gwathren had ambushed them in true Bryn fashion. the rest of the party, shaken to careful consideration, planned their next moves with great caution, but little time for strategy. Percy and Willow assumed the forms of giant apes. Bronn and Grimna teleported to Galad's still body in the back of the room behind the deathly door. Sannl and the darkling elder guarded the entrance. Varoin lit a torch and watched the dead. Then the hunt for the shadow began.

The apes broke down the doors, countering Gwathren's ambush. Bronn examined Galad's body to decipher his fate. Grimna ran back to the action. Percy was hit and reverted out of her ape form. Sannl blinded the shadow, and Bronn forced it back when it tried to flee. With the perfect opening, created by her allies, Willow hurled her hulking form at the shadow, managed to grasp its incorporeal form, and slam it into the ground multiple times until it was torn apart in the flickering torchlight. Gwathren was ended, and all that remained of him was the cursed dagger from Gamrion's Tomb. Daeszal's Fang, having earned the fear and respect of those around it called out to the darkness. A part of the demon lay before the tired adventurers. Grimna handled the item carefully in her gauntleted hands, studied it coldly, identified it. Ideas were presented on how a soul might be freed from the demon's grasp. With great difficulty, seemed to be the answer. Percy, frustrated by her own uselessness, and blunt as ever, asked "well, what are we waiting for?" and as Grimna laid the Fang before the halfling, Percy swung her mace, and with the guidance of Hermes and inspiring words of Sir Bronn, struck the dagger. The moment of impact seemed to linger before the small cleric. Serpents slithered from her own weapon and into the demon's, forming cracks in its blade. Splinters flew in every direction, then evaporated. A roar of souls. A flash of light. A wind of voices. A quiet. Peace. Freedom.

Daeszal's Fang was no more. (Needless to say, Percy instantly gained a level.)

With the help of Willow's edgy fey friend, the party escaped the Shadowfell while Theia's magic was still active. When they had all made it through with the bodies, the portal closed behind them, and Theia reappeared. Back in Doomoodpool, Percy cast *raise dead*to bring back Galad. Aiding this ritual was Bronn, Sannls, and Willow, each with an appeal or a prayer crafted for the occasion. From his desert heaven, and through the guidance of Hermes and grace of the Light, Galad came alive again, and the Bow of the Sky Tree with him. However, there was still the matter of raising Kelp and Fholtarr, and the party's materials didn't reach that far.

With a night's rest and some preparation, Bronn created a teleportation circle and brought the party, including Theia and the dwarves, to a permanent circle in the Palace District Hall of Guilds in Kavaad. Here, they collected the materials to bring back Kelp in the House of Healers. But when the time came for Fholtarr, a delegation of blue dragonborn who happened to be in the city, and who had just heard of Fholtarr's death, arrived to take him to their ship. Leading this group was one Raishan Thunderblood, who nearly caused a scene before Willow told her to take Fholtarr's body. That way, leaving the Thunderbloods to pay for their wizard's resurrection.

While swimming to shake her traumatic experience, Kelp met a fellow water genasi, who lived with dolphins. The genasi, known only as "friend", told of her genie father's magical gifts to her and warned Kelp of undead wildlife at sea. When Kelp emerged, she spoke briefly with Raishan, who was readying her ship to sail off. Then she found the shrine to Soliel in Kavaad, where she brought Galad to watch the sunset. There, Galad prayed for light, and the statue's warhammer emitted a brilliant light, saluting the sunset and looking to the island of Tol'Anar.

From here, we are doing downtime until the Alt campaign is completed. It will probably last at least a month of in-game time if not more.

## Alt-Campaign session 4: Broken Wings

September 23, 2018

Burbas and Alt stood face to face with Glorael the Whitehand, a fallen angel of Manarakh. Their allies emerged from the deathlock's crypt as the angel demanded that they surrender the Dark Spear and the drow to him. The angel was willing to let the others go, showing its goodwill by letting Adran, Amirr, and Key pass. The others stayed back, obscured and blinded by a magical darkness that Burbas had cast to buy more time. When it was clear that the party wouldn't yield to the angel's authority, it displayed its power by manifesting a golden plate armor, thus preparing for battle. In this moment, Magret stepped between the angel and those in the darkness, specifically Altruism and Burbas'Tel. Amirr feigned loyalty toward the angel, attacking Key without warning, so that it would let him cast *haste*on it. Before Amirr's plan could be revealed, Key returned the favor, knocking Amirr flat out. Glorael tried to walk through Magret, but was stopped by her shield. Mehen and Hemakshi debated their next moves, and finally decided to send a hasted Mehen into the fray. Bombarded by blistering sand and bloodthirsty stirges, the party fought the angel.

Burbas, who had convinced Alt that the angel would surely break through his friends, asked Alt for a drop of blood and his freedom. Alt allowed this. Burbas plucked the drop from the barbarian's lower lip, drank it, and transformed into a true vampire. Then he joined the fight, teeth and claws at the angels neck.

Altruism broke through the angel's magical armor after Mehen and Key had put cracks into it. In a golden light, the fragments of armor exploded and holy light burned from Glorael's skin. Some of this light was absorbed by the Dark Spear (and I forgot to mention that Alt can consume that light to gain Radiant Rage). The angel put its white hand on Altruism and commanded that he die, but the Dark Spear saved him. However, now Altruism was but a dark mist in the wind. The party was wounded and their magics expended, but with the strength and judgement of Tyr, Mehen brought the angel low, its broken wings bleeding with golden ichor. Smite after smite, the angel was beaten. But its retaliation was swift, and with its heavenly sword, the angel smote him back. Magret parried the first strike, but the second lacerated Mehen who fell to the ground, unconscious and bleeding.

   The others were running out of options. Amirr had summoned the imp Yezmeniev with his trident, but was constantly near death. Key was wounded. Burbas still clung to the angel's throat. Alt was a cloud.

In that moment, Paarthurnax arrived to avenge his friend and master. Lunging at the angel's back, Paarthurnax made contact and toppled the angel. The two slid across the hot sand. Burbas leapt from the fallen angel. Paarthurnax dug in with his claws and caught Glorael's head in his jaws. The angel's head was ripped from its bleeding neck, flying in an arc away from its body.

Now freed from his service to the Dark Spear, Burbas'Tel upheld his promise to not immediately kill the party. They all rested, finally able to dig into the loot in the dungeon below. In the night, Amirr left with Yezmeniev and Burbas left on his own. Amirr left a note for Key. Burbas'Tel swore to hunt down the hags that control the Cult of the Shadow.

All rested and (levelled up!), the party continued on their path to Galoz Klyth. In the ruins of an old dwarven city, the party met Ulla Strigisdatter, who was a member of Altruism's original expedition to Thorothar. They were also introduced to her spiritual animal companions. In the city, Magret fell in a snake pit (why did it have to be snakes?) and the party found an old statue depicting "Harendûr, Prophet and Prince of the Valley", a dwarf lord of Ûder known for spreading the faith of Barendain. We ended the session after a gross zombie fight near the excavation site of a sand-covered temple found behind the statue of Harendûr. The party was about to DELVE into a DUNGEON.

## Alt-Campaign session 5: Path to Prophecy

October 14, 2018

As Paarthurnax slowly dug out an ancient temple, the tanks of the party went out into the ruined city of Harendûr's Valley to slay some undead. Mehen Myastan, Key, and Ulla Strigisdatter mauled their way through a group of animated skeletons that they found in the sand. Adran Onnurai joined their endeavour and helped them take down a group of ghouls and gorgers lead by a spell-casting ghast. The ruined streets were covered in poisonous fumes and Mehen was blasted by a *disintegrate*spell, but our heroes prevailed and the monsters were slain. Adran looted a magical whip that amplified his greed and obsession with material wealth.

The team made their way to one of two large towers within the Ûderai ruins. Ulla had sensed a concentration of undead in this area, and a singular fiend. So, as adventurers do, they pulled off the door and poked their heads through the opening to see what the monsters were up to. When the undead showed themselves to be the lingering spirits of black dragonborn-looking warriors and attacked the party, it was time to kick in the door and go full ham. But in that moment, five additional spirits rose from their corroded graves, and cooked the party's proverbial ham, and our heroes were forced to flee, with Mehen carrying an unconscious Ulla out of the tower and away from the overwhelming number of axe wraiths. On their way back to Hemakshi's *tiny hut*, the brave runners-away ran through a group of helpless zombies with zero issue. Some fights are easier than others.

    Back in the camp, the party started to investigate the ruins behind the statue of Harendûr. Inside a small tower to the side of the temple, Ulla's owl familiar Ole spotted a hidden trapdoor. Adran and Key inspected the trapdoor more closely and found a key in Key's keyring that blocked the entrance. After some discussion, Adran went down into the buried structure. Thanks to Hemakshi's *telepathic bond*spell, Adran could easily call four help when he was attacks by swarms of poisonous snakes. The others came to his rescue—Ulla through the ethereal plane, and Alt horns first through the wall. They decided to leave the dungeon for the day and rest up for the next. The bruisers returned to do battle with the axe wraiths, and again, the evil spirits increased in numbers, but with some clever tricks and taunts, and just pure muscle, the party laid the wraiths to rest. Key grabbed the skull of the their leader out of the sand and started wearing it as a helmet.

Victorious, the wraith-banes returned the others and journeyed into the temple. In one of the temple's rooms, they were all met by a vision of the past (except for Magret, who stayed outside to keep watch).

Key's vision brought him back ten years to his time in a jail cell when he had first met Amirr. Key snatched a keychain off of the guard, and managed to hide it behind his back, while they repaired and reinforced the chains Key had broken.

Adran was flushed with a memory of wandering through the desert with his tribe. Xeteraenon Naïlo was leading the nomads, guiding them by way of the stars. Other elves looked up to Adran and told him they could see him leading the tribe one day.

Mehen relived the time he found Tyr. His village was attacked by ghouls. His mother's orphanage was destroyed, but he found a frying pan in the kitchen and shielded himself from the paralyzing claws of the undead. A desperate swing with the pan gave him enough time to make it to his father's smithy, where the bodies of two golden dragonborn lay before a hungry ghoul. Mehen filled the room with smoke and made his way outside with an unfinished maul an adventurer had commissioned from Mehen's father. Mehen was cornered by the dead in the street and his vision went dark. The next thing he saw was a pile of dead ghouls and a glow from the WEAPON in his HAND.

## Alt-Campaign session 6: Oaths and Offerings

October 16, 2018

Inside the ruined temple to Barendain in Harendûr's Valley, the party was met by visions. Hemakshi cast a spell to read an inscription over the entrance to the room where the visions took place. "Thou dost enter the sacred Tomb of the prophet Harendûr, the Prince who saw the End. Behold the Dead gave thee Life," the inscription read.

Alt and Ulla caught each others eyes and saw the same time of their lives. They were parting with their families as they left their village to go and fetch their artifact, the Alfgrindr.

Hemakshi found a different kind of vision from the others. She saw the past of Ûder, how grand the empire had once been, and how far it had stretched millennia ago.

As they pressed on, there were also rooms showing the present and future. However, only Hemakshi's visions appeared here. She saw the city as it was outside, in ruins, and watched by Magret Twice-Orphaned. The ruins of Ûder were lost and scattered, buried and forgotten. In the future, she gleamed an alliance between Drevnir the 22nd and some greyish dragonborn, joined in a crusade against the undead. The armies of Duerhaith and Dragonhorn were working together, as they had never done before, and were unlikely to do. Hemakshi sensed that there was more to these visions, but it did not show itself to her. Ulla's powers to sense the unnatural were also somewhat clouded inside the temple, and the party's food and water spoiled and evaporated.

The next corridor was blocked by sand, which took a couple of hours to clear out. Behind the sand was a small tomb with six sarcophagi and a statue of a dwarven saint. The statue was labeled "Mirindnn, Warrior Saint of Engineers" and when they inspected it, the statue came to life and presented the party with a riddle in rhyme. When they had solved her riddle, she granted them these four magical charms: Charm of the Dragonslayer, Charm of Darkvision, Charm of Vitality, and Charm of Rest. As the statue returned to its inanimate self, they were shown the way to Harendûr's tomb. The party descended through a hole hidden under a false sarcophagus and came to an empty hub. Most of the paths from this hub were blocked or collapsed, but the way to the tomb was intact. Inside the tomb, Adran was tempted by greed and started to lift coins from the grave gifts. The others stopped him in time for the dead not to strike out in vengeance. The tomb had Harendûr's sarcophagus and eight smaller ones, including Mirindnn's. Altruism reached out the Mirindnn's spirit and inquired about their tomb and the mummies' wishes. The mummified remains of the warrior saint told Alt of a disturbance to the necromancy of their grave, and told him that he could have some of her grave gifts if he swore on his blood and proved himself worthy against the foe ahead. As the party's destination was already Galoz Klyth, the same place that disturbed the tomb, the party agreed. One by one, they gave some of their blood to the dead dwarves and swore to serve their common goal. In return they were each given an item from the tomb. Mehen was allowed to take Harendûr's Helm of Prophetic Clarity, which he then gave to Hemakshi, who had earned a book of divination spells. Adran had to destroy his magical whip to convince Harendûr's spirit that he was not governed by greed. This earned him a magical dagger. Key was given a Claymore of the Crusade, and was allowed to attune to it as otherwise only a paladin would. Alt earned Mirindnn's Ring of Spell Storing. Ulla took a Bronze Dragon Shield and gave it to Magret when they were once more outside.

On their way out, Hemakshi got to see the rest of her visions in full clarity. The past now included the fall of Ûder, in which a massive black dragon had felled the entire empire, and only a few dwarves had survived. Among the survivors were Harendûr's people, whom he had warned of the end. In the present, she saw how dragons and dragonborn ruled, while dwarves were forced into hiding, where they cowered and waited. In the future, the vision showed the alliance between dwarves and dragonborn to last until their armies reached Qorath. Then each faction split the the others and the age-old conflict began anew. The dwarves appeared victorious and invaded Dragonhorn to reclaim their promised homeland, but then the mountains shook and crumbled as a massive spine emerged from the earth. The dragon returned to cast its shadow over the world once more. [Aren't you guys just excited for that?]

With these gifts and this knowledge, the party got ready to head into the approaching sandstorm and take the last steps toward Galoz Klyth. Their way through the sand was less difficult thanks to Ulla Strigisdatter, and with her and Mehen in the front, most of the undead they encountered on their way were but trivial to defeat. Leaving behind Harendûr's Valley, they set foot on the Road of Offerings. Here, they were met by an ominous song, as a choir of cultists greeted them with blades. The party made quick work of the choir, sparing only the first soprano who in turn gave up what little information she had on her masters. She told them to make offerings before the Gatekeeper, an undead knight guarding the path to Galoz Klyth. When Adran heard the soprano whisper something to herself about maybe screaming of help or trying a spell with only verbal components, he slit her throat without warning the others. Ulla shouted in shock, and the others demanded an explanation. When they were stopped by the Gatekeeper and forced to present an offering in fresh blood, they gave the knight the body of the dead singer. Spotting Hemakshi, the knight inquired as the the reason for her presence, suggesting that she might be an offering, or that her passage would cost them more. They decided to tell the knight that she was their offering to Lord Khovakis, and the knight decided to leave his torch behind and escort them to the tower personally. When they rested for the night, the knight was up, speaking to each of the party members who held watch from within the tiny hut. Through these conversations, the party deduced that this knight was the adventurer who had commissioned the maul from Mehen's father and then joined the undead once he witnessed their power in Ironston. Indeed, the Gatekeeper had helped the ghouls in destroying the town and killing Mehen's parents. Once this was clear to Mehen, he attacked the knight. Before retaliation was possible, the part descended upon the knight with everything they had, and Mehen smote the unliving crap out of that death knight like it was nothing. The Gatekeeper's skeletal minotaur guards were too slow to react, and they too were BEATEN to BITS.

## Some kind of alliteration with dragons

October 28, 2018

I'm not the DM, I don't know what "Dragekrigen" is… [oh hey that's the battle of the bastion, where we fought white dragonborn alongside tervaround's fellow gnome soldiers!]

## Alt-Campaign session 7: Sand and Blood

December 20, 2018

Alt, Mehen, Magret, Ulla, Key, Hemakshi, and Adran (and an assortment of magical animal companions) continued their quest on the Road of Offerings, facing a sandstorm and their final destination, Galoz Klyth. Among the spiky cliffs and skeletal remains of ancient beasts, the party came upon a group of cloaked figures paying tribute to undead spirits tethered to urns, as well as the spirits themselves. As the spirits attacked, hungry and vengeful, so did their cultist tributaries. In the fight, ghouls and gorgers arrived, eager to feast on the living, and skeletal minotaurs stood guard against intruders. But none of that could keep our party of heroes at bay, and their adversaries were slowed, crushed, blinded, stabbed, bloodied, and in some cases, terrified. One cultist simply gave up and decided to change his ways, and managed to flee. The similar-minded, de*feet*ed minotaur was not so lucky. The party took some time to loot the scene and rest up.

In the aftermath of the encounter, Hemakshi received a vision (or tarot card), placing a page from her book in the correct chronological order. The page read 'Master' and contained a drawing of a jackal-headed fiend. This very fiend then appeared before the party, offering a little help for the small price of the buyer's soul. The deal was negotiated, and Adran gave up the first 50 years of his afterlife for a rustblade sword and a one-time call-in of any one creature from elsewhere in Thindrel. The fiend's little helper, a four-armed goblin-looking creature, was also bound by the contract—to return the sword to Adran, should he lose it. The field of the battle turned out to be encased in the skeletal remains of an ancient blue dragon. Seeking to understand his heritage and the nature of dragons, Mehen collected some bone, marrow, and filings of the dragon's horn.

On the steps to the Tower of Sacrifice, the party spotted a winged silhouette in the distance. Ulla had sensed this to be a dragon, and another flying creature miles behind the tower to be an undead. Before Ulla or Adran could stop him, Key waved to the silhouette and caught its attention. The wings disappeared and out from the cliffs and spikes came Jhiraaj and their red guard drake. Jhiraaj explained their true reason for coming to the tower—to free their son Pyrioth, and to avenge his death and reanimation.

At the tower's gate, a hungry hill giant stood chained to the ground, eager to devour any who should be unfortunate enough to walk too near. As the party assessed the situation, the gate opened and gave way to five riders—four blackguards led by the death knight that the party had defeated only hours earlier. The riders charged right by the hill giant and the gate shut behind the hooves of their skeletal warhorses. Mehen stood his ground, bracing for impact and poised for victory. With friends by his side, he fought the death knight for a second time in one day. During the clash, Adran snuck around and rusted the hill giant's chain, releasing it upon the blackguards. As the first rider, slowed by Hemakshi, fell to Altruism's rage, the death knight spoke the rider's name and commanded its corpse to serve him in battle. Balthazar's lightning breath helped Ulla take out the skeletal steeds, but the blackguards fought back, knocking Ulla down. Altruism picked her up and started running. Key was unable to get a good hit in on the death knight who constantly blocked his attacks and countered with destructive wave spells. Adran rusted the death knight's shield away, and Magret aided Key, but the death knight still withstood their combined attacks. Mehen dropped his weapon and wrestled the knight with his bare hands in an attempt to tie him down. His balance was thrown off and Key managed to get in a good blow, knocking him to his knees, but in a split-second, and with a popping sound, Mehen was gone. With a single word, the death knight had banished the party's paladin. And by simply speaking its name, he instantly killed a blackguard and raised its corpse, gaining the last bit of life force it still possessed. With haste, Key took three mighty swings at the kneeling death knight. One hit. Just enough to break the banishment spell and bring back Mehen to finish the job. The death knight vowed to return. Mehen vowed to slay it each and every time it did.

The party still had a hungry, hungry hill giant on their hands. They scattered in the cliffs and tried their best to hide. However, Key was a little too big and a little too slow after his haste subsided. The giant's shadow loomed over the goliath. Key spun around and looked up, speaking to the giant in their shared language, and he managed to convince the hungry hill giant that the best course of action was to head inside the tower for more food. The hill giant picked up the last blackguard as a light snack and broke through the massive gates, clearing the way for the party.

The party took a quick breather before following the giant into the dungeons below the tower. Adran went in alone to scout. A blackguard and two ghasts were keeping watch over the entrance to the jail cells. When the blackguard disappeared into the storage room, Adran silently took out one of the other guards, but he was jumped by the second ghast and paralyzed by its claws, giving the blackguard time to arrive with a venomous trident. When the party upstairs heard the commotion, they came to Adran's rescue and quickly laid waste to the last two guards. Key looted the blackguard's key to the storage room and headed there himself. The room was just an empty corridor with six doors, each marked with a hieroglyphic rune. The runes were a broken chain, a severed hand, a flask, a pentagram, two overlapping rocks, a mustard flower. Other than that, the doors were featureless and had no handles or keyholes.

Mehen stepped in front of the door marked with the hand rune and the door faded away, effectively opening. Inside, there were a number of crates and boxes which Mehen grabbed without investigating. When the paladin of Tyr left the storage room, his right hand fell of off his arm. The party panicked and did whatever they could to heal it back on, but their magic wasn't advanced enough to restore the hand for good. The door with the flask rune opened for Mehen after drank his own blood while licking his wound. Behind this door, the party found alchemical supplies and a set of notes detailing the undead invasion. The door with the broken chain rune opened for Ulla who cleverly vowed to never hit Mehen and then gave the dragonborn a smack across the face. Having broken an oath, she was free to enter the room and find the death knight's old diary. The pentagram door opened for Altruism. The mustard flower door opened for Adran while he was the target of Alt's hex spell, which uses petrified "eye of newt" (mustard seed) for its material component. Hemakshi contacted her guardian angel Adrika to ask for help. As part of contacting Adrika, Hemakshi received another vision by way of tarot card. This time, she got the Prophecy card, and Adrika told her to seek out healing behind the last door. Together with Key, Hemakshi could enter the room with the dual rock rune and found some more treasure. Suddenly, the sound of company came from the guard house where the corpses of three guards and a hill giant still lay. A party of goblinoids, led by a half-orc with a trident tattoo on his forehead. The half-orc introduced himself as Prong the recovering warlock, and he briefly mentioned having made a regretful pact with a sly devil. Prong and his company agreed to stick with the party and not attack each other.

In the early morning hours of the 2nd Treeday, Dragon, Hemakshi used a diamond she found where Adrika told her to look to cast a regenerating spell on Mehen's hand. Mehen had injected his wrist with the bone marrow and filings he gathered from the blue dragon corpse outside the tower. With the blessing of Tyr, Mehen's hand came to life once more, sprouting new, blue scales marked with golden runes, and growing in size and strength to wield two-handed weapons with one hand. Before dawn, the party made sure to rummage through all the storage rooms again to find the last potions, magic weapons, and records of history. Then, having rested up, Hemakshi got another vision, pulling the Tribe card and placing the page in her book in its chronological order. Alt and Ulla recognized the figures appearing on the page as the goliaths that had helped them in their original quest for the Alfgrindr. Hemakshi said to find them in the jails, so the party decided to explore the lower level of the dungeons.

In the Dungeon of the Faithless, the party encountered the ghosts of four dead prisoners who had died without finding faith. Mehen and the Lohkenorians helped the ghosts depart for the Fugue Plane, and were gifted with additional uses of their magical charms (the ones Mirindnn gave them in Harendûr's tomb). Shouting out in Gol-kaa, Key located his fellow goliaths and freed them with Adran's help. They quickly introduced themselves as Ko-Tha and Mo-Tha Thunukalathanu, the siblings of Lo-Tha, and they caught up with Altruism and Ulla whom they had met once before, very briefly and not realizing that they had joined the humans' tribe. Mo-Tha asked Altruism about Lo-Tha's fate. Ko-Tha asked for a weapon and a target.

With newfound strength and allies, the party was finally ready to take on the TOWER of SACRIFICE.

## Alt-Campaign session 8: The Tower of Sacrifice

December 29, 2018

These are rough notes, so forgive me, while I sort this out and make a proper write-up.

You found Key's old cell, prisoner body parts with arcane tattoos, and a hemogoblin that once slain dropped the Heart of Khovakis.

Back in the guard room over the dungeons, Prong and his party had taken care of an enemy patrol, but the goblin went berserk and killed one of the hobgoblins.

Ehrbad Lu-Galoz in the Great Hall with skeleton waiters and delicious, delicious food, wine, and mead

The archpriest's quarters, killed the archpriest twice and fought his chandeliers of human bones

On the archpriest's very dead wife, Key found an amulet containing a key and an image of teh archpriest in his youth. With this key, they could unlock the door to the next flight of stairs up to the archpriest's study.

The study was decorated with statues and filled with books. There were statues of Azijhara the Lady of Snakes, Apep the Apocalypse Serpent, Thoth the Bringer of Knowledge, Mithaar the Sun King, and a dozen others, including one of Ontogwi bringing the "Unclaimed Light" of the moon to his chosen people, "the Exhaulted Faithful". Ulla opened a book of shadows and tried to read it, but was sucked in to an empty demiplane. Trying to find Ulla, Key read in the book as well and was also trapped in the Emptiness.

While searching for answers on the book of shadows, and trying to free their two missing friends, the remaining party members found a secret passage to a laboratory, where a strange magical experiment or ritual was taking place. Thinking this might be the death knight, Mehen misty-stepped into the lab to stop the ritual. In that moment a writhing mass of body parts, stitched together in a vaguely humanoid shape and covered in arcane symbols much like Amirr, that was targeted by beams of crackling lightning from four large crystals, rose up and killed its necromancer creator. Mehen, a bunch of terrified lab workers, and a hulking patchwork monster, were joined by Alt, Ko-Tha, Adran, and Magret as combat broke out. Magret stopped a lab worker from zapping her friends with the beams from one of the crystals. Ko-Tha, Alt and Adran prevented the other lab workers from calling in reinforcements, and Mehen took on the experiment, which was being healed each time the crystals cast lightning bolts on each other, catching it and the party in the damaging line. With his mighty dragon hand, Mehen pushed the monster out of the beams, but then he was left standing in the middle of them, and with the next zap, Mehen went down. Magret got Mehen out of the blast zone, and an unstable crystal was broken to ensure that neither Mehen nor Hemakshi would be hit by a stray arc of energy. The experiment was eventually felled, but its presence had disturbed the magic around it, causing spells to take on strange effects, and Magret to surge with wild magic for a whole minute. For over a week, neither she nor Mehen would have to sleep, nor would they be able to.

After that mess, the party took a short rest to recuperate (I think Mehen used a charm of rest to gain the benefits of a long rest). Two tarot cards were drawn, and Hemakshi had a vision of the Helper card. A four-armed vaguely goblin-like fiend appeared before the party and offered them a number of items, some of which it had acquired from the tower itself. The party traded in the berserker axe, some manticore parts, and a chestful of gold coins for a dustbringer maul (good against skeletons) and Krûszat the Screaming Blade, a sentient longsword previously wielded by Halmdin Ol-Akarim. The helper also told the party that Khovakis possessed a sword, a ring, an armor, and a dream catcher—all containing some form of magical essence.

After this, and once Hemakshi understood what the book of shadows was, the party all read the book and entered the Emptiness one after another. In the Emptiness, each person was isolated in sensory deprivation, alone with a single question or thought. Hemakshi, holding the Heart of Khovakis, witnessed the hobgoblin magus' time in the dungeons and conversion to the Ghoul Lord. She also learned the names of all the tower's blackguards, including that of the death knight—Ozimir.

After the emptiness, they all emerged from a dark pool in the middle of a large stone chapel—a room further up the tower. There, they were attacked by spirits of dead priests wearing broken amulets, and found themselves unable to damage the spirits. Large statues beside the pews appeared to look like the spirits, so Key, Mehen, Alt, Adran, and Ulla redirected their efforts to the statues. Each time they destroyed a statue, the corresponding priest's soul was destroyed. When Hemakshi started a *mending*spell on one of the broken amulets, the spirit stopped attacking. When the spell took effect, the spirit was freed. Three out of eight spirits where saved. The others perished, their souls forever lost. Under the chapel's alter, Hemakshi and Key found a key and a magical amulet. The key unlocked the chapel's door, which the others couldn't seem to open after destroying the chapel's spirits.

Another short rest. Tarot card: Host. Adrika appeared in her heavenly glory and that was pretty cool i guess. While following the angel through the next room, Ulla had a little talk with Alt.

A shady cultist called Thras tried to get the party to help him in a blood ritual to summon a sliver of Nefathat. Adran didn't buy it, and the party pwned Thras and his followers, after Mehen sensed that they were all in fact undead. Not wanting the blood ritual to go off with the cultist's blood, Hemakhi cast prestidigitation, which resulted in five granite armed crushing the altar completely, as Adrika momentarily reached back into the material plane to help the party.

They party fed and freed a pack of gnolls, lead by a gnoll called Yit who warned the party about a terrible demon up ahead. I said the gnolls would help in the boss fight against the butcher demon, but then i just kinda forgot about it. Onward!

In the next room, Adran walked out on a balcony, finding himself face to face with a blackguard on a zombie wyvern. Meanwhile, the rest of the party was being attacked by a ~~bullshit~~butcher demon (y'know the one with four arms, a horse head, and a cleaver that can cast *absorb elements* at will). In the end, Ulla got the hdywtdt on the demon and the wyvern, and Hemakshi named the blackguard, killing him instantly. Milestone leveling caused everyone to instantly level up and get all their stuff back. More blackguards came streaming in, but they too were named and dropped dead, their skeletons rising to serve the wielder of Khovakis' heart. The death knight arrived and prepared to incinerate the heroes, particularly Mehen, but as the name Ozimir left Hemakshi's lips, the death knight was undone. His helm fell down and skid across the floor, ending in front of Mehen, who picked it up and crushed it in his blue hand.

Key found a lock to the entire lower tower, and used his skeleton key and crusader's greatsword to bring all the lower levels of the tower down. However, he had to leave the party behind, as they progressed upwards into the top levels, held aloft by the raging, magical sandstorm. Magret went with Key to make sure he would survive crashing into the rubble below. Adran spotted Pyrioth, the zombiefied offspring of Jhiraaj, about to attack Key and Magret. Adran used the charm of the dragon slayer and leapt onto the dragon's back, bringing the light of the stars with him. In a graceful last effort, Adran slew the dragon and ran down its falling spine, jumping to meet Key's range with *feather fall*. Catching Adran in one hand, and holding the sword that toppled the Tower of Sacrifice in the other, Key descended out of view. The sand swallowed the final heroic image of Magret, standing guard for two of her friends. Three heroes completed their part in the quest. Now it was up the others to defeat the DARK LORDS.

## Alt-Campaign session 9: Dark Lords

December 31, 2018

The NPCs like Ko-Tha, Mo-Tha, and Prong all went down with Adran, Magret, and Key, all descending through the sandstorm that still held up the top layers of the tower Galoz Klyth.

The remaining party came upon hill dwarf cleric of Torasenna, Reirak Helcral, whom the death knight had captured and chained in the room above. The dwarf had apparently soloed his way through the tower up to that point, bent (eller børge) on conquering it.

In the next room up, the party of five stood before five skeletal serpents, intertwined in each others bones, and giving off a faint aura of magic. Mehen sensed their undead nature and tried to strike, but was overwhelmed by mournful cries and painful memories of his past. Ulla slapped the paladin awake as tears were streaming down his scales. Mehen relayed the information and they all attacked the snakes, who by now had come alive in a circling blur of animation. the five bone nagas where quickly reduced to two. These transformed into lightning and slithered to hit each of our heroes several times before finally being bashed and smote to pieces.

[After the Alt-party defeated the Azijhara room with the nagas, the DM offered a draw from the tarot cards, which resulted in the *Heretic*card.]

The spitting image of Khovakis the blood mage came dripping down the stairs into the naga room, drawing a greatsword from his own ichor. The creature explained that some of the top rooms had yet to be reinstalled according to the last emperor's wishes, and as such represented challenges related to outdated religions. The party fought and defeated the creature only to find that it was merely a blood simulacrum and not the mage himself.

In the next room the party found four levers and a door. Each lever shared the likeness of a bird: crane, duck, peacock, and emu. Above the door was a large bust of an ibis bird with gemstone eyes of green. A hapless NPC who should've really left when the others did came up and pulled on the wrong first lever and was promptly disintegrated by the ibis' eyes. The room was also decorated with great prayer wheels and floating scrolls recording the last words spoken spoken by any creature that dies in the tower. Reading through the scrolls, the party found quotes from the dungeons that contained the last living words of Ozimir and of Khovakis. They also found the last spoken words of other adventurers who had reached this level of the tower. By reading through the mistakes that other had made before them, the party found the correct sequence for the levers and could pass through the door.

In the next room, there was a strange chess set with only one color's pieces. The pieces were all life-size colorless constructs and resembled ancient kavaadic soldiers. When touched, the pieces attacked. Casting *light*on a crystal embedded in a construct's form restored its colors and converted it to the other team. This helped the party take the king and advance. Then they took a short rest, all while the tower was crumbling below them. Indeed, the rooms they had just passed through were breaking down and falling into the sandstorm. [tarot card: Favorite] As the floor gave out under them, a gnoll pack climbed up to pursue the party. The pack leader, a flind called Grin, decided not to trust the party, despite sharing the goal of reaching the tower's top. Grin tried bringing Altruism down, but was forced to let go and fall into the storm by a well timed *heat metal*spell from the horned shaman. As Grin and her pack descended, they laughed a mad laughter, magically overtaking Alt, Ulla, and Rierak, who then fell too. Mehen caught Reirak with his new hand. Hemakshi caught Alt with a *feather fall*. Ulla managed to step into the ethereal plane just in time to phase back onto the crumbling stairs. Then a demon tried to infiltrate the party in the guise of one of Alt and Ulla's old friends, but they had found Magni Steinursson's last words on a scroll in the bird room. They slew the demon. The party was safe for now, and could progress up the darkened Steps of the Damned. There, they found themselves face to face with a colossal demonic serpent of fire and shadow—a guardian creature deployed by the god Apep. The serpent's presence caused maddening crowns form around the skulls of the party, and the demon's hissing tongue of flame nearly brought Altruism down. In the face of doom, Hemakshi spun a spell and managed to banish the fiend before it could do any more damage.

Boss Fight 1.1: Minion Mania

Mehen stormed forward at the necromancer and blackguard protecting Khovakis. Hemakshi and Ulla were pulled off the tower by the storm. Jhiraaj arrived to help. Ulla summoned a giant fey owl. Khovakis killed Hemakshi and used her angelic blood to start his demon summoning ritual. Altruism consumed the soul of a demon to escape his vampiric mist form. Adrika arrived with some much-needed healing. Reirak revivified Hemakshi, forging living gold into her mortal wounds. Khovakis had escaped into the ethereal plane, but was trapped by Mehen's *magic circle* spell.

Boss Fight 2.0: Ethereal Boogaloo

When Jhiraaj left, Ulla's sword Krûszat overtook her to go shout at the dragon for a bit. Altruism stormed in and was surrounded by shadows and the full demonic form of Nefathat the Dark Glutton. Reirak channeled Torasenna's divinity to destroy the shadows. Mehen smote Khovakis and claimed Alfgrindr. Ulla helped Alt against Nefathat. Hamakshi killed the demon with her radiant consumption.

The party landed safely, and is now alone in the desert. (-ish)

For campaign and one-shot diaries from 2019, including the Alt-Campaign Epilogue, see session logs from 2019.