Adventure Tales

***This section is for session recaps, the tales that characters tell of their adventures in the Northern Marches.***

Friends, if you wish to change the title or summary for an adventure, feel free to do so. I am merely making a placeholder so that a record of some sort can be kept. Some dates later on may be off by a few days.

~ K.A.

## **Brightbloom, 486 A.C.**

### **18th of Brightbloom: *Undead Hunt in the Shrieken Mire***

A group of five distinctly different individuals set out to collect on the bounty on undead, heading for the rumored marsh to the south where undead were said to roam. They found more than they expected, fighting off strange creatures several times, before finally discovering the misty mire.

*Alleria Vasari*

Five of us set out early in the morning on a Stonesday, the 18th day of Brightbloom. We followed the Seamarch Road southwest from Alistair’s Stand, curving south when we passed the Summerstone. The moor was desolate and eerie to the west, but that just gave us a clear view in that direction. I took the lead, knowing roughly where we were going, with Draco behind me. Sol led the mule and our supplies, while Basileus kept pace with Lyle, who rode atop his large dog. Basileus’ owl perched on the man’s shoulder.
As we passed through Alistair’s Crossing, Lyle seemed to be bored by the constant walking with nothing to see. His constant banter drove Draco to pull out his drum to drown out the little one’s voice. Of course, the combined din attracted unwanted attention. Seemingly enjoying the noise and not distracted by it, Basileus was still observant. He spotted several figures moving low through a gully to the east of the road. He used his wizard’s sight through his owl to look closer, after pointing the figures out to the rest of us. I dropped behind to sneak behind and closer to these creatures. They approached our party, revealing themselves to be five orcs, clearly looking for trouble. Their leader spoke in Orcish to the others: “Drop your packs and weapons. Then go away. Leave the mule.” I couldn’t tell anyone else what he said, since I was hidden away by now.

Lyle turned his talkative nature to address these new people. His showmanship actually saved us. He did that magical trick to amplify his voice, and boomingly told the orcs to go away. The orcs probably didn’t understand him, but they actually were afraid of his voice. The leader held his hands almost in surrender and they all backed away, saying “No mage. We go away. No mage.” I backed away from my hiding spot as they ran away from our humble party at full speed. When I got back to the others, I translated what they had said. Lyle was very proud of himself for scaring them. I just considered us lucky. If Draco plays that drum again while we are on the move, I am considering confiscating it…

The next few hours were quiet, Thandol’s Span rising up in the distance. Stopping for a short time, we turned west and followed the Thresh River along the cliffs above it. We reached a lazy bend in the river when we heard some terrible screeching above us. Three creatures circled ever closer before they dropped down to attack us. They looked like a large chicken that some dark force had changed into a nightmare. With leather-like wings, spotty feathers, and a long lizard-like tail, their long claws slashed at us from above. They had a terrifying scream so sharp that felt that it physically pierced into my head, making me stop in my tracks for a moment. We rather quickly killed the monstrous chickens, which attempted to flee when the first fell. I studied the body of one of them afterwards and saw that its blood was sizzling when it hit the ground beneath it, turning it to stone. Draco thought better of eating it after seeing that.

We continued downriver for a few more hours. As the sun was setting, we reached a place where the Thresh River flowed into a rather dark forest. It almost seemed darker than the area around it. Basileus told us his owl could see the Mire to the west. We made camp a ways from the river and forest and settled down for the night. Someone had a good idea to create defense of some sort since we were out in the open. Basileus volunteered to bid the earth to move, keeping a earthen hill ring around our camp. Very impressive. Of course, the odd wizard then decided to create a hole under a large stone to sleep in.

I tranced for the first part of the night, while the others kept watch. I was awoken by someone, interrupting my rest. There was a strange creature(?) approaching our camp from the direction of the forest. It looked like a massive pile of vines and plants that was rolling into itself to move towards us. Seeing it constant movement, we prepared to fight it off. Basileus was closest to it when a vine whipped out to wrap around him. The struggle began. Common weapons seemed to do little to it, but Sol’s everchanging elements, Lyle’s brilliant lights, and Basileus’ flaming hands made all of the difference. Their magic seemed to really affect the creature, and it focused on them. The fight seemed to take a long time, but in truth less than a minute had passed when Draco’s axe found the creature’s pulsating red heart. All of the vines lost their strength and lay still.

Basileus took care of the pile of useless vines, bidding the earth to swallow it up. Draco had grabbed the heart of it before this and ate it. I don’t know how he can eat that...Otherwise, we settled down again for the night. The others slept as I took watch. There was a strange sound on the wind, almost like whispers in my ear.

The next morning, we set out for the Shrieken Mire itself. We turned northwest as the dark forest to the south met the mire. We followed the edge of the mire in a mostly northerly direction, the moor being to our east now. After trekking some 15 miles, and perhaps 9 miles northwest of our previous camp, we found a defensible bluff near the mire. Basileus created a larger earthen wall at the top of this steep rise while the rest of our party observed and rested. This would give us a relatively safe place to observe any undead activity in the mire. We saw nothing however for many hours.

Mid-afternoon, we decided to scout a bit further north. Two miles northward, we came across a ruined stone bridge. It seemed to be part of an ancient road that was above the mire itself, traveling east to west. It was here that we finally discovered the creatures we had set out to find. Well, rather they found us.

Four humanoid figures ran towards us from the mists. We all started to move back towards our encampment, fighting and running. One of them was killed before any of them had reached us. One of the figures was larger and look more unnatural than the other three. He actually spoke words, in a harsh strange tongue that I had never heard before. Draco was the first they came to, as he was between them and Lyle. They set upon the two of them, while Sol, Basileus and I rained down frost, fire, and arrows onto the undead.

Lyle had cast some sort of spell that glowed around him; it seemed to confuse the undead attacking him. They would direct a blow at the little one, but they would constantly miss or end up hitting the lizardfolk next to him instead. Magic is truly intriguing. Whatever it was, it certainly saved Lyle’s life many times over as Draco seemed to revel in his bloodlust.

The undead were a hard to kill bunch. They would fall as if a killing blow had been struck, but they rise again. A single blow after this rising would actually kill them. There was an overpowering stench around them when you got close that was enough to churn one’s stomach. Their clawed fingers had a similar, but more potent effect to the monstrous chickens we had encountered the day before, making a person’s limbs seize up and become unable to move. Luckily, we were all strong enough in mind and body to shake off these effects.

Perhaps the halfling’s luck rubbed off on each of us because somehow we all survived. Only Draco had been damaged in any way and he said it was nothing. The heads of the four undead were collected for the bounty, and we started to make our way back to town, having achieved our goal of locating and killing some undead.

It took us another day, but we arrived in Alistair’s Stand safe and sound. The Order of the Black Rose paid us quite handsomely for the undead killings. The man there commented on the larger undead’s head, saying that they were considered undead bosses since they were able to give orders to other undead. He was surprised that we had run across one of them. Overall, it was a successful hunt for the five of us as we learned a lot, earned a bit, and survived it all.

*Basileus Wainwright*

No recap posted.

*Draco Sylthinix*

No recap posted.

*Lyle Tealeaf*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

Five of us set out early in the morning on a Stonesday, the 18th day of Brightbloom. We followed the Seamarch Road southwest from Alistair’s Stand, curving south when we passed the Summerstone. The moor was desolate and eerie to the west, but that just gave us a clear view in that direction.I followed the group, led by Alleria, leading the mule.  As I walked into the wild, I found myself pondering if I could enjoy living here, as I am used to city living. Meanwhile, Lyle road has dog, and Basilus had his owl. As we passed through Alistair’s Crossing, Lyle began constantly railing on and on, as halflings are wont to do. This banter drove Draco to pull out his drum to drown out the little one’s voice. I was lost to the beat, but thankfully,  Basileus was still observant. He spotted several figures moving low through a gully to the east of the road. He used his wizard’s sight through his owl to look closer, after pointing the figures out to the rest of us. As they came closer, suddenly Alleria disappeared. At the time, I had thought, the coward, but as later would show, this doesn’t seem to be the case. I still need to ask her about it. Anyway, this figures revealed themselves to be five orcs, clearly looking for trouble. Their leader spoke in what I can only assume is Orcish. Lyle, still complaining, said, in a suddenly load voice, “ go away.” And it worked! For some reason, they were scared of him and ran away. Alleria then returned, and I was too happy at the time to wonder where she went. She claimed that the ocrs were scared because they feared mages. Draco was very displeased that we didn’t get to fight, so the drum stay quiet. We decided to rest, and right before we left, we saw the oddest thing. It looked like a bear, with owl like beaks.
The next few hours Thandol’s Span came rising up in the distance. Stopping for a short time, we turned west and followed the Thresh River along the cliffs above it. We reached a lazy bend in the river when we heard some terrible screeching above us. The screeching stun me for a moment, and the three creatures attack us. They looked like a large chicken that some dark force had changed into a nightmare. With leather-like wings, spotty feathers, and a long lizard-like tail, their long claws slashed at us from above. I was pissed at the one that kept screeching, and eventually froze it, causing it to fall out of the sky and shatter. The rest of my friends quickly killed the monstrous chickens, which attempted to flee when the first fell. Alleria studied the body of one of them afterwards and saw that its blood was sizzling when it hit the ground beneath it, turning it to stone. Draco thought better of eating it after seeing that.

We continued downriver for a few more hours. As the sun was setting, we reached a place where the Thresh River flowed into a rather dark forest. It almost seemed darker than the area around it. Basileus told us his owl could see the Mire to the west. We made camp a ways from the river and forest and settled down for the night. Someone had a good idea to create defense of some sort since we were out in the open. Basileus volunteered to bid the earth to move, keeping an earthen hill ring around our camp. It was a neat display of magic. The odd wizard then decided to create a hole under a large stone to sleep in.

I was looking at my crystal, when suddenly Basilius Iit a bonfire. In its light, I saw there was a strange creature approaching our camp from the direction of the forest. It looked like a massive pile of vines and plants that was rolling into itself to move towards us. Seeing it constant movement, we prepared to fight it off. Basileus was closest to it when a vine whipped out to wrap around him. The struggle began. Common weapons seemed to do little to it, but My icy blasts, Lyle’s brilliant lights, and Basileus’ flaming hands made all of the difference. Our magic seemed to really affect the creature, though, fire was by far the most potent. In the end,  Draco’s axe found the creature’s pulsating red heart. All of the vines lost their strength and lay still.

Basileus took care of the pile of useless vines, bidding the earth to swallow it up. Draco had grabbed the heart of it before this and ate it. It was disturbing, and I sadly didn’t get a chance to look at it before Draco ate it.  We settled down again for the night, and I slept well.

The next morning, we set out for the Shrieken Mire itself. We turned northwest as the dark forest to the south met the mire. We followed the edge of the mire in a mostly northerly direction, the moor being to our east now. After trekking some 15 miles, and perhaps 9 miles northwest of our previous camp, we found a defensible bluff near the mire. Basileus created a larger earthen wall at the top of this steep rise while the rest of our party observed and rested. This would give us a relatively safe place to observe any undead activity in the mire. We saw nothing however for many hours.

Mid-afternoon, we decided to scout a bit further north. Two miles northward, we came across a ruined stone bridge. It seemed to be part of an ancient road that was above the mire itself, traveling east to west. It was here that we finally discovered the creatures we had set out to find.

Four humanoid figures ran towards us from the mists. We all started to move back towards our encampment, fighting and running. One of them was killed before any of them had reached us. One of the figures was larger and look more unnatural than the other three. He actually spoke words, in a harsh strange tongue that I had never heard before. Draco was the first they came to, as he was between them and Lyle. They set upon the two of them, while I, Basileus and Alleria rained down frost, fire, and arrows onto the undead.

Lyle had cast a spell that glowed around him; it seemed to confuse the undead attacking him. They would direct a blow at him, but they would constantly miss or end up hitting the lizardfolk next to him instead. Magic is awesome, I have seeing before, back home. It is when a patron protects their servants. Lyle’s life many times over was saved,  as Draco seemed to revel in his bloodlust.

The undead were a hard to kill bunch. They would fall as if a killing blow had been struck, but they rise again, unless it seemed, the divine power was used. Once they rose again, an excessive amount of force seemed necessary to put them down for good. There was an overpowering stench around them when you got close that was enough to churn one’s stomach. Their clawed fingers had a similar, but more potent effect to the monstrous chickens we had encountered the day before, making a person’s limbs seize up and become unable to move. Luckily, we were all strong enough in mind and body to shake off these effects.

Somehow, we all survived. Only Draco had been damaged in any way and he said it was nothing. The heads of the four undead were collected for the bounty, and we started to make our way back to town, having achieved our goal of locating and killing some undead.

It took us another day, but we arrived in Alistair’s Stand safe and sound. The Order of the Black Rose paid us quite handsomely for the undead killings. The man there commented on the larger undead’s head, saying that they were considered undead bosses since they were able to give orders to other undead. He was surprised that we had run across one of them. Overall, it was a successful hunt for the undead. I got to learn more about my new friends, and more money is always a good thing.

### **21st of Brightbloom: *The Missing Apprentice***

A human, a dwarf, a halfling, and a half-elf banded together to search for the missing Apprentice of the Seven Spires. Strawberries, a beautiful singing voice, and several Drowners later, they found little trace of the orc.

*Edward Allyne*

We left much too early in the morning for my taste. It had been a long and fruitless night of writing for me; both the sun and my companions arose before I was ready. But we set out merrily enough – we were seeking the missing apprentice of the Spires, one orc woman by the name of Helva. We had a script to follow – take the Bright Run out of the city a few miles, then cross, and head north. Eventually, we were told, we would hit the Arden River, and if we followed it north, we would meet the Forest of Arden, and in those recesses, in a place we were told of, we sought news of the apprentice Helva.
Well, it did not take long for us to leave our script – instead of heading due north after crossing the Bright Run, we followed the Bright Run river (or spring, perhaps)... Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you – Lyle fell in the river while we were crossing! Ha ha ha!

At any rate, we followed the Bright Run for another seven miles or so, heading north west (remember to tell Alleria that her map of the Bright Run is wrong - it travels north west, and meets up with the Arden River). ~~After we stopped to investigate the~~ We turned north and traveled about five more miles to meet the Arden River. We stopped for lunch at a scenic overview looking out upon the very steep Arden River valley, and ate some of the most delicious strawberries I have *ever* tasted. No berries I ever had in Avelnen could compare with these! Swol caught some conies which we saved for dinner (more on that later).

We traveled along the river for about 18 miles – sometime during that travel we passed a barge with fisherman on it, traveling south. They warned us of Drowners; how ironic!

We came within sight of the Arden Forest as night fell. We camped for the night outside the forest, and a reasonable distance from the river. We set watches, and fell asleep, and I, for one, was exhausted, having been unused to the amount of walking we had had to do that day.

During the second watch, Scrap awoke me – coming from the river was the *most* beautiful music *I have ever* heard. Friends, I have heard great musical performances. Some of them have been in my own plays. But *never, never, never* in my life have I ever heard such soul-rending beauty. If the singer of that music had been on the largest stage in Avelnen, she would break the hearts of the entire city.

I rushed to the edge of the canyon, but my vision could not pierce far enough to discover the identity of that star-inspired singer. Alas! I wish I could recall the melody, and hear again that song that shook my spirit so. I shall return there again soon. If you would hear such beauty, come with me on my next travel northwards.

In the morning, no sign of the singer could be found. We entered the forest, following the Arden River for another four or five miles. There, we encountered what I am *confident* is an ancient Elven road running precisely due east and west. There were the remains of a bridge over the Arden river, but so ruined as to be impassable. I am eager to find that road again, and travel eastwards on it, to find whatever structure it leads to.

Eventually, about an hour before noon, we found a woodland lake, about a mile in diameter, with a small wooded island in the center. We saw movement on the island, about a half dozen figures, we thought, moving with frenetic energy. Lyle made a the sound of an owl from thirty feet from our party, and the figures immediately dove into the water and came to investigate. We hurriedly backed up further into the woods, but our friend Scrap made a little too much noise, and the seven Drowners (for so they were) came straight for us. They were fishlike folk, but bipedal, and with long claws and sharp fangs. Our friend Swol charged forward, and dared them to fight him. At once five fell upon him, and he acquitted himself so well that he was stricken only three times in the space of almost a moment of five vicious beasts doing their utmost to slay him. Lyle and Scrap took care of some of the enemies, and I acquitted myself decently in the fight.

Swol was a demon of lithe movement, masterful shieldwork, and nimble dodging. How he survived so many strikes (certainly over thirty strikes fell in the forty seconds he stood before them!) I cannot imagine. We slew four of them, and afterwards we scared the other three off.

We thought that there was likely to be a creature called a “water hag” on the island as well (not a true hag, we think, but a misnomer that has stuck); when the three Drowners made their way back to the island, a great screaming and wailing rose up, and a great splash was heard.

We decided that it was better to retreat precipitately than die ingloriously to a fearsome beast while we were exhausted. And so we did.

On our flight from the lake, we encountered a small clearing, with a quenched fire, and halfling-sized tracks. We traveled south, and made it back to Alistair's Stand in the evening of the third day of our travels.

*Lyle Tealeaf*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

## Longday, 486 A.C.

### **4th of Longday: *The Arden Vale Cathedral***

Following up on a rumor many of them had heard, the four adventurers set out north to the Arden Vale, in search of an old cathedral. They found the rumored cathedral and also encountered a few very dangerous creatures, barely surviving one and fleeing another.

*Alleria Vasari*

If you would like the short tale of our venture, here it is. Edward, Basileus, the halfling Ancaith, and myself set out to investigate a cathedral ruin within the Arden Vale. We cut across the plains to the north and followed the Arden River toward the vale. On our first night, Edward and Basileus encountered what I believe to be some fey wild child. In addition to this curious event, we almost perished to the ambush of a large, six-legged panther. But we all survived somehow. We entered the forest on the second day, walking a large circle around the east side of the drowner lake. Further to the northwest, we found the ruins of a cathedral, its entrance engraved with a very ancient emblem of Kossuth, lord of fire and light. A ginormous bone snake was guarding the altar, causing us to leave quickly. We cut through the forest, making our way back to the river and southwards. Our second night was quite peaceful, courtesy of the human’s impressive earth magic. We stopped by the barge wreckage that we saw on our way north, easily clearing out the goblins within and freeing the captured hunter we discovered belowdeck. The remainder of our journey back to town was uneventful. The hunter returned safely home, and we went our separate ways.
Now, if you wish to hear of every misadventure, grab a drink and settle in. We saw much in those three days, and it is a long tale...

I had honestly been looking forward to this venture. Striding through the forest, a place familiar but new. Edward had assembled our party to locate this supposed cathedral in the Arden Vale. I was surprised by the rumor. Who builds a temple in the middle of a distant wood, except for those who are unsavory to begin with? The venture sounded interesting, so I agreed to join them.

The four of us set out on the 4th day of Longday, crossing the Bright Run at a bridge within the city. I took point as the scout, while Edward’s mule Camilla trod a steady pace next to him. Basileus took up a similar place as before...holding the mule’s tail as he looked through the eyes of his familiar. Ancaith, a halfling mage, kept up with us quite well. We followed the run for an hour before we turned north across the plains. Soon after entering the plains, a flock of razorhawks swooped down on us. It only took a few well-placed spells and arrows to get rid of the pests. Luckily it was a small group.

We reached the Arden River almost three hours from the Bright Run, having a pleasant walk across the plains. It was an old river as far as I could tell. It had worn a deep valley in the plains, the distance from the top of both slopes being perhaps 100 feet apart. The river itself was about 50 feet wide at this point, with 20 feet of flat ground on either side before sloping 80 feet up to the top. On the northern bank of the river, we saw the wreckage of a barge of some sorts. I saw no movement onboard, so we decided to just note the location and move on. We followed the river northeastward, staying a little distance from the river. Edward showed us those strawberries he spoke of. They truly were delicious treats, the sweetest I have ever tasted. A herd of auroch grazed in the distance as we turned north, still following the curve of the Arden.

Ah, Basileus’ bastard bird scouted high above for us while we lunched. The plains on the south side of the river curve around the Brightsilver Hills. It is likely connected to the plains south of the hills as well. On the north side of the river, there were further plains for several miles. The rolling stones of the Roostruck Hills rose up at the edge of that plain. The forests of the Arden Vale bordered the northeast edge of both these northern hills and plains, and the plains we were traversing.

It was perhaps four hours of travel along the river before we reached the edge of the Arden Vale forest. We still had a few hours of daylight, so we decided to venture a bit into the forest before making camp for the night. The river widened slightly as we moved further in, the ground gradually sloping downhill, bringing us a bit closer to the river’s surface. Basileus swore he heard the sound of children’s laughter, joyful peals of it echoing through the trees from the northeast. Having heard rumors of fey in these woods, we decided to retreat for the night.

Oh, before saying more, Basileus has the most fascinating connection with nature. He can ask the earth, the wind, even the water questions and they answer him. Quite a skill there. Anyways, he asked the ground itself what they thought of the forest. They said that the *trees are intruders*, and also *new growth*. This was surprising to me because the forest looked ancient to me. The trees looked old, the undergrowth was dense, and the stones weathered. It did not look like a young forest. Roderick had said something similar to the human though; he thought the forest couldn’t be more than 50 years old, although I don’t know why he says that. I’ll have to ask him. Basileus then asked the trees how they grew so quickly. They answered that they grew to *protect our king*. Basileus said it was *our* as in all of us, not just referring to the trees. Another mystery in this venture. Also, there was no wind at all in the forest, which seemed to bother the human.

We ended up camping in the same place that Edward’s former party had stayed previously. The hollow gave us some cover from the plains and a clear view of the dark forest ahead of us. Edward assisted me in laying out a thick line of salt around our camp, which we hoped would deter any fey creatures from entering the area. There was also Edward’s story of the charming voice from the river. Ancaith plugged up his ears with wax, so that he would not be able to hear this strange voice. I also cast an Alarm to alert me in anyone crossed that line, including the members of our party. I didn’t want something similar to happen again. And damn was I glad that I cast that spell. It was not a quiet night...

Basileus took the first watch, observing through his owl’s eyes and allowing the rest of us to rest. I was awakened by my Alarm, the sound ringing in my mind. I grabbed my bow and looked around to see what had happened. I saw Edward outside our circle of salt and crouched down, hand outstretched in front of him. There was nothing in front of him, so I thought he had been Charmed again. I called out to him, but Basileus stopped me. He explained the situation, as Edward stepped back within our circle. Smiling widely, he was looking at his wrist, which now had a silver metal bracelet on it, a perfect fit.

Apparently Owl-Basileus had seen a strange child stalk up to our camp, maybe 8 years old, with gray skin, stringy hair, large unblinking eyes, and wearing a crown of laurels. It stopped at the line of salt, poked it, and hissed. Basileus returned to his own vision, but saw nothing in the place his owl had seen the creature. He woke up Edward and explained the situation. He too looked at its location and saw nothing. For some reason or other, the half-elf decided to starting singing and got an immediate response from a different direction. The beautiful voice he had heard previously sang along with Edward’s tune. The wild child also seemed to love the song and laughed a pure child’s laugh that only the owl-Basileus heard.

As the song ended, the voice also stopped, and the child held out an object in Edward’s direction. Basileus told the half-elf of this, and he was quite pleased. He crossed the line of salt, and that was the point I woke up. I never saw the wild child, but Owl-Basileus saw it run back to the forest after Edward returned to the fire. I went over to where Edward had been outside the circle, and even to my skilled eyes, I only saw the tracks of perhaps a rabbit, nothing child-like. Personally, I think the child was truly a fey creature; to have hidden so well, there had to have been strange magics.

Anyways, Edward remained awake to keep watch while the rest of us went to sleep again. Not long into his watch, a large creature attacked him from the darkness around us, catching Edward completely off guard. I awoke again to my Alarm sounding off. I again grabbed my bow and saw the shadow on top of Edward. It was the largest and strangest panther I had ever seen, with a pure black coat covering toned muscles, six legs, and two tail-like things sprouting from its back. Basileus had awoken to the beast’s snarls, which also pierced through Ancaith’s wax plugs. I assumed this creature was also another fey beast, given all of the rumors we had heard. Speaking my native tongue, the language of wild beings of the wood, I shouted at the beast. It actually reacted to my words, stopped its assault on Edward, and turned towards me. And so, the fight ensued.

It was an exhilarating fight really. The creature had something strange going on with it, because there always seemed to be two of them there when you looked at it. If we hit it at all, the shimmer would stop for a moment and we could clearly see one creature, but the distortion would always start up again. This caused a bit of frustration, but after weathering many swipes of its spined back tentacles, we slew the beast. Edward and I took almost deadly blows but were alright in the end. His potions saved both of our lives. The other duo stood their ground with their spells and actions. With fellows like these, I am sure we can take on many dangerous foes. Finally though, we settled again and the rest of the night was peaceful.

We returned to the forest the next morning, following the river for a few hours. Oddly enough, we saw no trace of the ruined bridge that Edward had seen before. He swore it had been where we were standing, but upon inspection, nothing was there but the old woods themselves. Basileus shed a bit of light on this mystery when he asked the stones if there had been a road there before. The earth told him, *Often times yes*. More fey magic if you ask me, making an entire bridge and road disappear. This was actually close to where the human had heard the children’s laughter the day before. I definitely think there are some powerful fey in those woods east of the river.

Not wanting to see the lake and drowners again, Edward suggested we give it extra distance and turn away from it. We did not have a firm location for this cathedral so we were going to stay about 10 miles from the southern edge of the forest. We traveled northeast for a few hours, going slowly through the dense woods. That Bastard flew up to scout for us, when we noticed the ground was sloping upwards again. Basileus told us about the steep snowy mountains to the east, bordering the vale along the northeast side, the river to the northwest, and forest continuing in every direction. We turned northwest to go further into the forest, easily crossing the river.

A mile northwest of the river, I noticed something peculiar a bit to our left. There was a small clearing which was made up entirely of dead wood and plants, an unnatural clear edge between the living and dead. Signaling everyone to say put, I cut a small leafy branch from a nearby tree and quietly approached the clearing. I held out the branch halfway over the line between death and life; nothing happened. I tossed it completely into the clearing. The dead trees surrounding the clearing dived onto the offending branch, moving so quickly I could not discern anything other than the frenzied movements of dead but not dead trees. After a short frenzy, they returned to their previous locations. Upon careful, distant observation, they did not appear to be anything other than dead trees, even though I knew they were alive somehow. I backed away slowly, without their notice, and came back to the party. We decided to move stealthily from that point onwards.

Our quartet finally stumbled upon the stone wall surrounding the cathedral complex at the narrowest part of the Arden Vale, about 2 miles further northwest. The wall originally would have been impressive, being 5 feet thick and presumably several tens of feet tall. Now it is rundown, broken and in ruins in many places. I carefully scouted the whole border and found it to be about a half mile per side, wider from west to east, the walls each directly facing the main directions. The forest naturally spilled into the complex and the dense woods continued inside.

When we walked through an opening in the wall, Edward winced and said his new bracelet had tighten a bit when we crossed that threshold. A curious thing, but I don’t know why fey would not like this place. Anyways, the forest thinned out after a few minutes and we saw the cathedral ahead. While there was a clearing around the building, it seemed like nature was attracted to it at the same time. The cathedral was covered in greenery as if the plants wanted to cover the whole place. The stone structure looked similar to many temples to The Eight that I’ve seen, grand and majestic even in disrepair. Edward...or was it that wizard?...identified the symbol near the main doors as an archaic sign of Kossuth. Yes, yes, the divine of fire, light, order, the same one you probably know of.

I told the others to wait again as I made a loop around the building. The cathedral was huge, at least 500 feet from north to south, with three wings beyond the main chamber. There were exterior doors to the west and east wing, but nothing visible for the northern wing. One of the doors for the west wing was completely shattered, where the others were whole. A smaller building was north of the cathedral, possibly living quarters, but completely in ruins. Be careful of sinkholes if you go near it.

Other than the very unnatural rampant growth on the cathedral, nothing seemed amiss. Wait, no, that’s wrong. Basileus mentioned how there had been no wind at all in the forest before, which was very strange. However, inside this complex, the wind had returned. He said that the wind said that it *came far from the north where it was free*. Make what you will of that. The human may speak strangely but I have found his words carry much truth.
We all entered the cathedral quietly, just in case. It was very clean for a ruin, nothing beyond old seats and animal bones. The bones were odd though. They were full animal skeletons, with no flesh attached, no teeth marks, no tool marks, and no gore around them. It’s like they feel asleep and their flesh disappeared. Basileus’ wind said the area smelled of *bones and corruption*. Noting them but not touching them, we approached the altar in the center. There were two areas of the floor that had collapsed, revealing a very dark basement below. A frigid breeze came from it, as well as an odd sound, metal scraping across stone. It only continue for a few seconds before stopping.

Ancaith had reached the altar while I listened at one of the holes. The very second he reached the top step, all of us heard the rattling of bones across the stone floor. Every single animal bone in the room was moving towards the altar. Mere seconds later, a huge snake made entirely of bone had formed on the altar dias. We just ran. Edward ran ahead to gather up our mule. I kept pace with the halfling, attacking the creature as we retreated. The bone snake moved swiftly, stopping only to cast a paralysis spell at myself and the others. It actually spoke Imperial! A worrying fact that.

As we fled the cathedral, the magical marker I had on the creature disappeared as soon as we exited the building. I think it collapsed back to bone once we had left, but I wasn’t taking a chance just yet. We turned southward, wanting to leave the forest as soon as we could. Reaching the border between the forest and the hills south of us, we continued along that line approximately southeast. A few miles from the Arden River, we made camp for the night. Just to be safe, Basileus made one of his dugouts big enough for all of us. Rolling a stone across the entrance, our night was quiet.

The next morning, we continued towards the river and then followed it south along the western bank. It was a rather nice day as we kept walking back to town. We decided to investigate the barge wreckage we had seen on this side on the river, since we had the chance now. The river valley was quite deep at this point, but I could still climb down carefully. Basileus started carving stairs into the earth while I went ahead. Ancaith stayed with Camilla as Edward followed me, quietly stalking up to the wreck. The deck was empty of any cargo, likely looted previously. Both of us heard chattering from the boathouse, and peeked into the small window. We saw a group of 7 goblins within, rolling dice and yelling at each other in their chittering language. One of them was a bit bigger tha the others and was simply watching the others. Edward’s eye flashed a gold color as he did something, which startled the boss goblin enough to make it stand up. He ordered the others to check outside, where they saw Basileus and Ancaith on the sands. A fight ensued as they rushed the mages. The duo decimated their ranks as the goblins fell to their torrent of fire and frost. The look on that goblin’s face after he hit the human with his axe…terror in the face of fire. It was priceless…

There was a small pile of coins the goblins had collected, but otherwise the wreck was bare of anything of value. Someone found a ratty paper in the boss’ pocket, with a rough sketch of an orc and written in Goblin “Krog – orc spy”. We also found a man tied up belowdeck, a human hunter who had gotten caught unawares. Sergei came with us back to Alistair’s Stand, glad for the rescue from an unknown fact. Besides the goblins, the day was a peaceful walk through the plains. We escorted Sergei to his home, where his wife thanked us for returning him to her. With that thanks, we all went our own separate merry ways.

Overall, it was an exciting venture. Yes, we almost died a few times. To the six-legged panther, to the giant bone snake...to the dead plant creatures...Hm, maybe more than a few times then. Still, I want to go there again. We never looked in the other wings of the cathedral, and it seemed like the guardian would not follow us outside of the building. Hopefully, it is limited to the main chamber and can’t enter the wings. I guess we will see next time…

*Ancaith Riárdon*

No recap posted.

*Basileus Wainwright*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

### **12th of Longday: *First Foray Into the Under-City***

A quartet of adventurers rushed to be one of the first groups to explored the newly discovered tunnels beyond the Deepgate. They explored the southern street and ventured up the eastern corridor, fighting many new creatures around every corner.

*Ancaith Riárdon*

No recap posted.

*Draco Sylthinix*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

My group, consisting of myself, Draco, Scrap, and Ancaith, met at the Tavern, though, Ancaith  did not show. We waited, then decided to leave him a note, telling him to enter the Deep-gate. The three of us set out and to explore the underground, and to find the six dwarves that went missing. We didn’t know it at the time, but we almost lost a party member due to the Dwarves. Anyways, we met with a dwarf who led us to the entrance. As we walked there, I have a rousing speech about the adventure ahead. For reference, above is the map we were given.

The bottom right corner is were we came in. At first, we tried to open the doors on the north side of the wall in the passage way immediately to the right. Despite Draco best efforts, it would not open. We noticed that there were dwarven tracks headed down the East corridor.

We then went to the area marked “Old Tavern,” as we didn’t like the idea of leaving it uncleared behind us. On our way there, with Scrap scouting ahead, we noted that the first room on the south wall did look as to have someone who had recently camped there. The second room had a dead worm in it.  As we approached the closed doors to the Old Tavern, Scrap heard a sound from the north. I picked up a rock, cast light on it, and threw it in that direction. It sailed over a group of frog like creatures, who were trying to sneak up on us. We made quick work of them, scrap throwing javelins and some fancy sword work, while I brought fire. Draco did what Draco does.

We turned around, and, somewhat scarily, the doors were now open, and none in the party had opened them. At this point, Ancaith joined us.  I once again threw a “light rock” into there, but no movement. Draco, roared in challenge,  charged in. Immediately , a very large worm dropped from the ceiling and attempted to crush Draco, but missed. Scrap headed in, while we two mages stood at the doorway. A second worm dropped, smaller, but it also missed it target, Scrap. Both Scrap and Draco wailed on it, but their weapons seemed to do little damage. My fire, and Ancaith ice, however, was effective. During the battle, Draco nearly passed out, but I rushed in and healed him in time. Afterwards, we finally brought down the big worm. The smaller one, seeing this, began to flee. Draco, however, would not have it. We chased it down, and I killed it with a fire bolt right down its mouth, causing it to explode. The smaller worm had fled down a corridor that is not on the map, as it is behind the back door in the old tavern. we noted that there were more doors back here. Draco began to eat the worm, and declared it was delicious. For the rest of the trip, he carried some of the worm and was eating it. Draco offered it to us, but we all declined.

Now, we decided to follow the tracks down the eastern corridor. It goes on for a bit, and then turns sharply north. It narrowed to a 5 foot wide hallway, which opened up to a huge natural cavern. The trail led on a path, which on the sides of mushrooms started to show up. They grew bigger and bigger, and at this point, for some reason, Scrap seemed really freaked out.  Then in a circle clearing, we saw the backside of a dwarf, tapping a pickaxe on the ground. Draco went up and tapped him, and it turned around. My word, what a sight. It had a fungus growing straight out of its face, and screamed. A lot of screams were heard in response. Draco hit it, and it exploded, with spores going all around Draco. Instead of running, Draco froze, and had the most peaceful look on him face. Thankfully, after a few seconds, he seemed to shake it off. If he hadn’t, I don’t think he would be alive today. While Draco was coming out of it, Scrap dragged him towards us. Now, around the circle, the other dwarves appeared, in a group of 3 and 2, also with growths on them, as well as very large, walking mushrooms. Ancaith threw ice at the group of three, and they all exploded. He then moved faster then I have ever seen, booking it back the way we came. I tried to put to sleep the walking mushrooms, but I only but to sleep one. I too, then ran back the way we came. Draco and Scrap killed the other dwarfs, seemed to shrug off the effects, and we all made it back to the entrance.

Scrap then decided to leave, and I thanked him for his help. Immediately after he left, we were attacked by 7 of some kind of bats, which dived us and would latch on to you and drink your blood. I killed a couple with my new spell ice knife, but both Draco and I had one bat make it to us. But not Ancaith, who raised his hands and a loud thunder wave took out the ones going for him. Draco and I killed the ones on ourselves, drenching us in our blood. I nearly passed out from the loss of blood. Here, I again gave a rousing speech about braving the unknown.

I decided to head back to the Old Tavern and look for loot in the back rooms. We found dead skeletons with holes in their heads, which is odd. After some looking, we found some silver, 2 gold pieces, and a ruby. We were then attacked by acid slimes, which seems to take little damage from what we threw at it, beside a lighting attack from Ancaith. We fed the two some metal, and ran away, as we were tired from the day. On our way back, we were again attacked by the bats, this time 10. Draco dropped the dead worm from before, and the bats thankfully dove for the worm.

We met with Thrax, and told him of our findings. He paid us well.

I look forward to going back, as there is much to be explored.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **17th of Longday: *Second Venture into the Under-City***

The party heads underground to continue exploration of the new tunnels of the Under-City. They battled with foul-smelling frog-like creatures, cleared a stirge nest, and explored a few doors.

*Alleria Vasari*

It had been a quiet few weeks for myself, settling back into my normal routines after the danger-filled venture to the Cathedral to Kossuth in the Arden Vale. Sol was organizing another party to explore that new tunnel into the Under-City that the dwarven Reclaimers had discovered. Another interesting place to visit? Why not?
While I was curious about this new area beneath the surface, it seems dangerous situations appear everywhere I explore. Very interesting creatures as well. I’m quite glad I decided to come to these northern reaches. Still, the Under-City was an unknown environment, and that threw me in some situations. Wear something to cover your nose and mouth if you go down there – many foul smells and inhalant dangers. It also might have been wise to bring someone who could read Trodhar, but that’s for another venture down there.

Sol led the four of us to the Deepgate, where an armored dwarf led us down the tunnels to the unexplored section. Scrap decided to forego this venture, and perhaps come another time. I don’t blame him; I heard he had a rough fight the last time he was down there. That left Sol following the dwarf guard, myself, Draco, and another human Swol. A new human to work with, but at least he seems more down to earth than the noble one.

The dwarf stopped as we came to the new tunnel, and pointed us in the right direction. Referencing the map that Sol had acquired previously, we laid out our plan for the day. Too many annoyances happened and they were tied to specific places, so I’ll just list events and give some details for each of them.

- - - - - - - - - -

Trading House

* East corridor from 4-way crossroad, 1st door on north side
* Trodhar writing above the door: “Trading House”
* DANGER: 2 undead spirits inside and 2 zombies?). Find a cleric!

Both doors were jammed shut with an iron bar from the inside. They were very well crafted stone doors, seamless, hingeless, and designed to seal the room beyond. Swol’s crowbar helped Draco pry one door partially open, but they couldn’t open the door completely until the two of them pulled on both doors together. That’s when the rusted iron bar snapped, allowing the doors to open.

The room itself was about 20 by 25 feet. The western wall was bulged inwards, like a partial cave-in. The northeastern corner was crumbling, and a hallway led out to the east. The whole room was covered in dust, but there was a steady breeze coming from the hallway. Rotten books are scattered around the room, and two dried-out dwarven corpses are hugging each other, slumped against the back wall. On the ceiling, there was a mural of dwarves picking mushrooms, smiles on their face.

The second that Draco entered the room, things shifted. Two ghastly spirits rose from the two bodies within, the bodies themselves also twitching and rising slightly. The spirits wore expressions of pure terror, seemingly directed at us or maybe the open doorway we stood in. Nothing happened when I got a clean headshot on one of the corpses; it kept rising. Draco stepped back out of the room as the spirits fully formed. He and Swol shut the door, making it as seamless as before. We all waited a full minute to see if the spirits came through the walls at us, but we saw and heard nothing.

Room with Ancient Lock

* South street, 2nd door on north side – marked “Locked – need someone...” on original provided map
* Very difficult lock, according to Swol who is skilled with such mechanisms. It will take some time to unlock it carefully.
* There is some faint Trodhar writing to the left of the door. Swol took a tracing of it. Can someone translate it and let me know what it says?

A band of 10 of those aforewarned frog-like creatures approached us from the west as we worked on this door, probably attracted to our lights. I had heard of these as troglodytes. While they were individually easy to kill, this was made up for by their numbers, foul smell, and poisonous claws and fangs.

Swol dodged so many feral attacks, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. Sol’s magic, Draco’s snapping jaws and claws, and my arrows methodically killed every one of that group. While the others rested, I piled up the corpses to one side, but they will likely cause the whole area to stink horribly for a while.

***Troglodytes*** → monstrous creatures that look like a frog upright like a human and walking on two legs. They smell awful, so wear a face covering if you don’t want to vomit upon smelling them. Their hands and feet are quite long, tipped with poisonous claws. Their bite is as bad as their claws.

Room A

* South street, 1st door on south side
* Safe room, no creatures within. Faint remnants of a campfire.

This was a small but safe place to rest for a while, and quite close to the tunnel back to the Deepgate. There are two doors along the back wall. The eastern door is caved in, while the western door leads what was likely to a small storeroom. I found a tiny brass key in this room; if anyone finds something that requires such a key, come find me.

Room B

* North street, 1st door on south side – marked “Bat-like creatures nest…” on original provided map
* Stirge nesting room – CLEARED

Being completely underground like in the Under-City was a new experience for me. I thought the sounds I was hearing were echoes from elsewhere, but apparently I wasn’t as quiet as I normally would have been. I’ll have to practice stealthing in a cavernous area…*(Natural 1 for stealth \*shrug\*)*

A flurry of leathery wings stormed out of the ajar door that I not-so-quietly approached. Two of the creatures attached to me right away, but Sol’s Sleep spell saved us from my disastrous stumble, allowing us to clean up the street quickly within the duration of the spell. That same spell had quickly resolved an earlier sweep as those ones had all died from the falling damage they took. Having an area of effect spell is very helpful against these creatures.

Perhaps more than 100 stirges originally nested in this room. The stirges had nesting nooks along the ceiling. Many nooks were empty when we burned the room, so there may be wandering stirges around until they completely die out. The walls were covered in a sort of wet flesh. There was a fleshy blood storage container in the middle of the room, rising up from the floor, which pulsed like a heart. Egg sacs were along all of the walls, also pulsating.

We all did our part and set our torches around the room, to burn as much of the room as we could. Swol and Draco destroyed the central heart, while Sol and I scraped and blasted the eggs and remaining few stirges. The area should be clear of all stirges for the time being.

There is a wide slanted chimney that comes from the room out into the street, maybe 3 feet in diameter. We weren’t able to check it, but we might want to block that off somehow.

Before we left the room to burn out, we found a damaged lockbox under all of the mess, containing a small treasure trove of old dwarven coins, a mix of silver and gold. A very nice reward for the cleanup.

***Stirge*** → raven-sized mosquito-like bat creatures that will attempt to latch onto other creatures in order to suck their blood. Only a few of them will attach to a person at one time. They carry a nasty disease; see a cleric if you feel at all ill after contact with a stirge.

Room C

* North street, 1st door on north side – marked “Stuck Fast” on original provided map
* DANGER: brown mold! The eastern door in the hallway leads to a room filled/covered with brown mold. If inhaled or touched, this poisonous mold will kill any creature within a minute of contact. DO NOT ENTER this room until it can be cleared out.

This set of rooms seems to have been the home of a merchant, who was possibly a stoneworker as well. The main room was a living space, a hearth along one wall and a workbench with old tools on it. A door on the north wall leads to a study; the ledger we found on the desk was turned in to Overseer Thrax. There is a storage room east of the study, nothing within.

The main room had a hallway following its eastern wall. A northern door leads to the storage room above. An eastern door leads to the brown mold room; it entirely covers the whole room. There was a door on the other side of this room, but we could not explore it due to the mold. Swol and I both marked or wrote next to this door about the danger inside, just in case someone tries to enter. A southern door on that hallway leads to a religious shrine; two statues we found were also turned in to Overseer Thrax.

- - - - - - - - - -

Overall, it was a successful exploration I think. We found some treasures, returned some dwarven artifacts, and survived some dangerous situations. It was definitely worth it to go underground, and there are also several unexplored and unresolved places that will be fuel for further ventures. While I have a more detailed map of the areas my party explored, the dwarves’ map has further notes that should be referenced, especially for the areas we didn’t touch.

*Draco Sylthinix*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

### **22th of Longday: *Return to the Shrieken Mire***

Setting out with the goal to explore more the Shrieken Mire and searching for ruins, the party followed the old stone roads. Among other things, they discovered the nest of a fearsome wyrm and cultists at a ruined temple.

*Alleria Vasari*

No recap posted.

*Draco Sylthinix*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

### **25th of Longday: *The Under-City: A Tavern Delve***

These four delved again to the dark tunnels of the Under-City, this time moving further into the corridors behind the Old Tavern.

*Ancaith Riárdon*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

### **29th of Longday: *The Summerstone***

Three adventurers gave into their curiosity and scholarly minds to explore the Summerstone under the light of the moon.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

### **31st of Longday: *The Under-City: Faith and Filth***

Cleansing undead spirits was only the first part of this venture. The four followed the tunnels northward, finally finding the troglodyge camp. They also peeked into the "Temple of the King" where the reported elemental stood guard.

*Alleria Vasari*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

## Highsun, 486 A.C.

### **5th of Highsun: *Bright Run Combustion***

Backtracking to a previous discovery, this party strolled up the Bright Run. Their quest for alchemical ingredients was almost a success, before it all took a fiery turn.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Lyle Tealeaf*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **7th of Highsun: *The Discovery of Morven Kor***

The party set out for the distant mountains that loomed above the Arden Vale, searching for dwarven ruins that were rumored to be there. Following a tip from another adventurer, they followed the Arden River to discover the Water Gate of the long-abandoned Dwarfhold, Morven Kor.

*Alleria Vasari*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

### **13th of Highsun: *Orc Hunting***

The party set out for the Brightsilver Hills and the plains beyond, seeking bounties for feral orcs roaming that area.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Lyle Tealeaf*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

### **24th of Highsun: *Seeking Hulgrave in the Bay***

The party traveled to Fort Victory, following a lead that Draco had heard of treasure in the bay. They were looking for a place called Hulgrave within Drownrock Bay. After procuring a guide and a vessel, they set sail. Unknown to them, they would find what they sought, but it came at a cost...

[Alleria Vasari's death]

*Alleria Vasari*

No recap posted.

*Draco Sylthnix*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **29th of Highsun: *Return to Morven Kor***

The party set out again for the ancient Dwarfhold, Morven Kor. They hoped to start pushing the orcs out of the valley, so that the city could be safely explored and claimed by dwarven kind once again. They found more than they were prepared for...

[Sol's death]

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Sol*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

## Dawnfire, 486 A.C.

### **3rd of Dawnfire: *The Lonely Island***

New faces joined old ones, as this party set out along the Arden River to clear out the drowners' nest...

*Bilias*

No recap posted.

*Draco Sylthinix*

No recap posted.

*Jillian Silvermoon*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

### **8th of Dawnfire: *The Under-City: The Fungal Gate***

The party delved the depths of the Under-City once again, determined to release those who had fallen victim to the fungal blight and to cleanse another section of perils...

*Bilias*

No recap posted.

*Draco Sylthinix*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **10th of Dawnfire: *A Glimpse of Maer Diev***

Following leads from a time-worn map, the party set out to find the ancient elven city of Maer Diev. It may literally translate to "City of Overwhelming Beauty", but dark rumors are carried on the wind, calling it by another name -- The Dead City.

*Basileus Wainwright*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Jillian Silvermoon*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

### **14th of Dawnfire: *An Unexpected Discovery***

Where this party ventured might not be known, but they discovered something quite expected. Goblins...

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Lyle Tealeaf*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **18th of Dawnfire: *Silent Stalkers and Lingering Watchers***

The party set out from the Arden River valley to find dwarven ruins in the mountains beyond the forest. They actually discovered the ruin they were seeking, but there was more to it than met the eye.

*Basileus Wainwright*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Jillian Silvermoon*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

### **24th of Dawnfire: *Dark Days***

[This was not an adventure but a significant event that happened in Alistair's Stand. Below is a short summary of the events, which may or may not include all that we experienced that day.]

(I can add sections for anyone else who would like to add anything.)

*Jillian Silvermoon*

No recap posted.

### **26th of Dawnfire: *Out for Orcish Blood***

The party ventured east to the hills where they had previously encountered orcs, hoping to collect on their bounty once again.

*Bilias*

No recap posted.

*Draco Sylthinix*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **31st of Dawnfire: *Beyond the Mists***

The party set out to the west of Alistair's Stand. They ventured into the ever-present mist on the moors in search of the "Barrow-men" that were rumored to be in the area. While not finding any of these people, the four did discover a treasure trove in the form of a field of barrows.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Jillian Silvermoon*

No recap posted.

*Lyle Tealeaf*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

## Laterose, 486 A.C.

### **1st of Laterose: *The Under-City: Further In, Deeper Down***

The party delved further into the Under-City to see what lay beyond the Fungal Gate...

*Basileus Wainwright*

No recap posted.

*Bilias*

No recap posted.

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

### **4th of Laterose: *Discovery of the Barrow Maze***

Disturbed by more rumors of activity in the moor to the west, the party returned to the Barrows to investigate. There, they found a place long forgotten beneath the mists.

*Ancaith Riárdon*

No recap posted.

*Bilias*

No recap posted.

*Swol Penderghast*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **13th of Laterose: *The Under-City: Mechanical Wonders***

The party again descend beyond the Fungal Gate, following the northern bridge. They discovered several clockwork machines, both mundane and dangerous...

*Ancaith Riárdon*

No recap posted.

*Bilias*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

No recap posted.

### **15th of Laterose: *The Under-City: Mechanical Carriage***

The party followed another path in the Under-City, discovering a waypoint of sorts with a mechanical carriage on rails and its guards...

*Bilias*

No recap posted.

*Jillian Silvermoon*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

### **16th of Laterose: *Return to the Mists***

The party set out once again to explore the Barrows. Three ventured into the shrouding mists--only two still breathe...

[Edward Allyne's death]

*Edward Allyne*

No recap posted.

*Thoril Stonehammer*

No recap posted.

*Yedus "Scrap" Agadar*

We lost a good friend today. Even though I didn't always get along with Edward I felt he was fighting something I couldn't comprehend. I don't know.... I think if Edward were here might have understood what to do in these dark days. Everything seems to have become more grim since his death. We need strong comrades more than ever now...