Records from the Third Campaign

## Here lay the records of the group who came to be know as: Fools Judgement

Six brave individuals drawn together trying to make some money and maybe do some good along the way

## First arc: A Chance to begin again

The story begins in Toroban just after dawn on the 9th Rath of Scorch, 698 YoR.

**Ko:** Six individuals gathered in Fool's Fate for the graduation ceremony, and a number of destinies began to intertwine. As the ceremony began there was a commotion at the door and a late student made their way to a seat. Students were called and given their assignments until only five other students and I were left. Commander Vainglory called them forward to have a chat, he explained that most of us either did poorly on our tests or had made a pact with something that made putting them on a proper assignment difficult. Due to these complications we were offered a spot on an experimental Seekers unit with the Dwarven Paladin Belial as the lead of the group, after an awkward silence or two, the group accepted. The group began exchanging some pleasantries and learning a little bit about each other. As the Tabaxi named Ko attempted to go and get fitted, as they were asked to do by commander Vainglory, the Kobold named Sniv used magic to restrain him. The rest of the experimental group was quick to press Sniv about this while Jan picked up Ko and headed to get fitted. The group got their fittings done and Jan took some of them out for drinks. Ko refused as he had "Work to do", and Julian said he would catch up with them in a bit. Jan took the group to his Uncle's tavern the Crooked Goose. It was a dusty run down tavern, much like his Uncle, the group chatted and drank for a while before going on a crawl before work the next day.

*1st Silth of Frost 698 YoR*

The group got their first assignment. A young girl had gone missing and the group was to go and find her. The group started with the mother's residence and asked some questions about the girl and her task. After gathering; that she usually returns by night, the path she was taking to the farm, and that she was collecting wax in her basket. The group headed out along her path. As they were walking there was a commotion coming from a house not too far from them. A green Kobold burst through a window and combat ensued. Another Kobold joined the fray and was killed, while the first Kobold was restrained and captured. The civilian in the house was saved by the group and the belongings that were taken were returned. The nice Elven lady introduced herself as Timala and offered us tea should we return. The group thanked her, handed the captured Kobold off to some other guards, and set out on their original task. Making their way to the farm they were met with a locked door which was illegal as Sniv would inform us. Jan broke down the door and barely avoided a crossbow firing directly at his head. Hearing shouting from the other side of the door Jan, Julien and Belial talked with the owner of the farm and learned that he would not come out of his house until Gorlog was removed from the area. Apparently Gorlog had killed his Ma and Pa a few days earlier and he's been hold up in his house ever since. The group went to the bee hives to investigate and found drag marks and damage on some trees which Julian would tell us was likely from a wolf. The group went into the forest to find a corpse with its meaty bits eaten. A group of Orcs showed up and said they owned the farm...

**Belial:** The team tried to negotiate with the orcs, but when the latter started to move away to go occupy the farm talks broke down. What followed was a desperate struggle in which Julian, Adran, and Sniv were downed, but the orcs and goblins were all killed and the wolf retreated. With 3 of their members on their last legs, the task force decided to take the body, which they assumed was the man's mother, and retreat back to the farm without looking for the father.

Back at the honey farm, the man accepted that the greenskins were minions of Gorlog and that the danger had passed, and came out of the house with his son and Elise. He was heartbroken to identify the corpse as his mother. His son was in high spirits and resolved to join the expeditionary corps himself. The team warned him to be careful for a while (maybe set some bear traps) then left with Elise. They returned Elise to her mother, who thanked them profusely and gave them free candles. Jan and Ko also bought small wax statues that Elise had started making in her free time. They went back into the city and got debriefed and payed 27 gold and a health potion each, and got the next few days off to recuperate. Then they went to celebrate their successful mission with another pub crawl. At the Crooked Goose Jan met a man who was interested in investing in the Goose. Sniv received a summons for the whole team next morning from his boss' boss, Lord Grimnar.

*1st Est of Frost 698 YoR*

The team went to to Lord Grimnar's office, where he was currently in a meeting. Smoke started to come out from the door and they rushed in to find him alone with a smoking mark in front of them. Sniv found this very suspicious and asked Grimnar (The chief of the the Guard, his boss' boss) if he was trying to hide evidence, but he explained that that the burn was made by his guest, some notable citizen. Grimnar told the team that there had been sightings of Tiefling children around town stealing stuff, and asked them to track them down and bring them to the orphanage, if they had the time. Having nothing better to do, the team split up and started asking around town. They eventually tracked the children to a burned-out warehouse that used to be used by smuggler's. Belial and Sniv had already been inside and assured everyone else that it was empty inside, although it did appear recently inhabited, so they set up on either side of the entrance alley and waited for someone to enter.

A hooded lion-man came out of the warehouse, and when he saw the ambush he attacked with magic. Ko tried to reason with him, cat-person to cat-person, but the man laughed inside his head and told him they weren't the same, then dimension-doored away. Reasoning that there might be more people in the warehouse, the team crept in, and the more observant people noticed a faint light coming from a pile of rubble and shelving. They found a hidden trapdoor in the pile and entered into a secret safe-house with 3 tiefling children and an adult male cambion. Noticing the intruders, the cambion sent the children down a small escape tunnel, summoned a hell-hound, and attacked the team with his flaming sword. Ko slipped past him and pursued the children (with the hell-hound pursuing him) while the rest of the team fought the cambion. They managed to surround him and kill his dog (it turned into a little statue, which Adran picked up), and when he tried to escape out of the trapdoor they caught up to him and smashed his wings until he died. Meanwhile, Ko had caught up to the children, and managed to convince them to follow him to the orphanage by bribing them with food. The city-guard showed up after the fact, and so did an infernal affairs researcher from the Chimera Concord, who tried to bribe everyone to give him the corpse, gave Belial an orb to call him, and protested shrilly as he was removed from the area. Lord Grimnar also appeared, congratulated the team (minus Ko) and payed them generously. Then they went to the orphanage to find Ko and the kids. Using a combination of magic and the eldest child's broken Draconic, they managed to find out that the Cambion was the children's father and they were only trying to complete a ritual that would take them back home to their people. The team felt pretty wretched about this, and they all dispersed to go home. Ko went to the guardhouse to get payed, but did not receive as much gold as the others had.

**Sniv:** *1st Kross of Frost 698 YoR*

Sniv was able to receive a reduced ticket quota and was able to take a much needed rest. During Sniv’s lack of vigilance a group of rich “merchants'' made a deal with Jan to rent a room in the Crooked Goose. The room had to be away from the places that the town guard frequents and would ostensibly be used for private games of chance. Ko and Belial listened in on the deal and okayed it. Belial bought a helmet that looks like a fish, Sniv bought an alchemy kit to brew stimulants, and Adran bought a blank book which he is turning into a Common phrase book for the recently orphaned tiefling children. Julian stayed at home feeling sad about killing a dad; he occasionally went out for drinks at the Crooked Goose.

*1st Streth of Frost 698 YoR*

when the mandated rest days were up the party got a new assignment to get an unregistered mage some registration forms. The mage lives a four days' walk away which is a great opportunity for Jan’s new horse to stretch its legs. The party was warned that a Ranger pair had not returned from the forest they had to travel through. Nearing evening on the first day of travel the party found a smelly ransom note for the scouting party. A poorly hidden path lead right to the captor’s camp. Sniv stepped on a branch and alerted the camp, but they thought he was a part of their joint kobold raiding crew. Sniv looked for the kobold force but was unable to find it. Ko found the two captive scouts and the party began devising a plan to free them.

**Adran:** *1st Streth of Frost 698 YoR*

The party decided to wait until the most of the bandits fell asleep, and use magic to incapacitate the watch. Unfortunately they had two in watch and only one succumbed to Belial's sleep spell. We fought the bandits, and killed most of them, however their leader escaped and a seriously wounded Sniv was killed trying to arrest him. Fortunately one of the rangers had a spell to preserve a body for a cycle. The party also found a damaged magefire pistol, and a bottle that can produce a seemingly endless amount of smoke. The rangers warned us of an impending attack on Istengroth-tor, Belial wrote a message to command warning of the attack, and notifying them that we were diverting to assist. Jan took the message and Sniv's body and raced back to Toroban. The rest of the party proceeded deeper into the forest.

*1st Eith-Kesh of Frost 698 YoR*

Jan, Amaya Pendron, and a newly resurrected Sniv set out from Toroban on horseback, but were attacked by a trio of kobolds, presumably scouts for the main force. The kobolds were beaten back and the group continued on.

**DM:** *1st Orseh of Frost 698 YoR*

Pressing onward to Istengroth-Tor both groups arrived in the besieged town in the mid morning. Jan, snive, and Amaya rode swiftly and managed to participate in the latter half of the siege. Those on foot arrived at the closing of the battle to find an exhausted and battered elven host, and a great many slain kobolds. After re-grouping the party was beseeched to head out and find the leader of the village, as it seemed that the attack had been part of a larger plan to isolate Shadove Nintonn for reasons that were as of yet unclear. Setting out promptly the party had a serious talk with Sniv about trying to stay alive, even if it meant letting an arrest get away. While they were talking Jan fell prey to a net trap and the rest of the group was attacked by kobolds being led by an unidentified humanoid. As luck would have it, a party of hobgoblins was also in the area and tried to take advantage of the situation and  claim the head of the party for themselves. After a hard fought battle the party managed to drive off both the kobolds and the Hobgoblins, having to take a short rest themselves to fortify themselves for whatever future battle they would have to face that day. As the party continued on towards the cave of the Sphinx they saw a large area around it was blanketed in a dusk-like magic, cautiously approaching and entering the duskfield the party seemed unaffected, with the exception of Ko, whose fur altered color when he stepped in. After assessing that there were no immediate consequences the group progressed through the duskfield to the entrance of the Cave of the Sphinx. Finding 4 dead elves outside, and hearing a cry of pain from within, the party pushed on into the cave, finding that the sphinx and Shadove had been slain by some mysterious people, who had some kind of association with Julian. After an attempt at a conversation, 4 of the assailants used some magic to leave, and the 5th one began casting magic in preparation to kill the party, and specifically Julian. After a harrowing battle the party was triumphant. Julian found that there was a connection between these mysterious individuals, and the grimoire that he carries with him. Perturbed, the party had some important conversation on their way back to Istengroth-Tor. After reporting back to Amaya and the elves the party retired to a bunkhouse to rest and identify the new items they had acquired. Julian learned the summoning word for the hellhounds statuette and promptly almost wiped the injured party by summoning it and finding out it wasn't friendly. Luckily Sniv was paying attention to the command word, and was able to dismiss the Hellhound after it dropped Julian. The party then decided it was wise to leave any other tasks for the next morning.

*1st Rath of Frost 698 YoR*

The party woke up sore and aching, but otherwise eager to continue their original mission. Setting off from Istengroth-Tor the party made its way back to the main road and continued towards Ryissine. Over the days of travel they found a few roadside shrines, and made some offerings, but enjoyed a quiet rest of the trip.

2nd Silth of Frost 698 YoR

Arriving into Ryissine in the late afternoon the party checked in with the Expeditionary Corps at the Madman's Merriment. After a short rest they headed off into town to find the tower of the unregistered mage. Upon arriving at the tower they met with the enchanted dragon head that served as a door knocker. The custodian told them that the owner of the tower had gone out to the river. By sheer luck, and a good deal of persistence, the party found the unregistered mage enjoying a nice sit by the waterside. Ko opened communications and the party spent a long while talking to Atteran, they did not manage to convince him to register but gained some interesting information along the way. After leaving the Mages tower they met some Concord Wizards and got into a disagreement with them,

**Jan:** 2nd Est of Frost 698 YoR

The party awoke the next day and split up. Ko went to go speak with Atteran, while the other 5 went to speak with Korfien the wizard. Korfien had not conducted the water tests but assured the party that he would send a report to the Corps when he did. At Atteran’s house Ko asked about his Glaive (The Elemental Plane of Air) but didn’t receive much more information other than maybe it has something to do with Goliaths. Ko then asked about a symbol which Atteran identified as a symbol of the Igazi, meaning two lives interconnected, and was potentially related to Goliath blood magic. The party regrouped at the Madman’s Merriment when the supplies master asked if they could deliver a shipment to Toroban. Our heroes, helpful as ever, agreed and were compensated for their trouble. The road back to Toroban was quiet for the most part. The first day of travel went smoothly with no interruption other than some banter regarding Julian’s book. However in the night some Fey gremlin creatures stalked outside the camp and ended up stealing Julian’s pants in the dead of night, despite being under the watch of Sniv.

2nd Kross of Frost 698 YoR

The second day of travel offered more of the same, albeit without the pants stealing.

2nd Oust of Frost 698 YoR

The third day offered a surprise when just outside Toroban, Ko was racially profiled and attacked by a hitman named Kilroy looking for the Rakshasa the party met outside the Devil’s lair. Kilroy explained that the Rakshasa was roaming around the nations surrounding the rift, attempting to find a good spot to open a portal to hell and unleash and army of devils. The party was unable to help Kilroy but did bring him to some contacts in the corps so he could exchange information. After a debrief, the party was put on leave for 15 days, due to injuries taken during their outing. On their first day of leave the party decided the best way to celebrate would be with a good old fashioned pub crawl, starting at the newly more or less refurbished Crooked Goose. They drank up, and Belial took too many stimulants with her ale and started having the high of her life. The party left the goose to go spend too much money on Froghemoth street meat. They then hopped to a much nicer tavern called the Flying Feathers, where they made friends with some aristocrats after sharing the secrets of the street meat. The new group decided to hunt for more Froghemoths in the lake at the center of the stronghold. While not finding any monsters, someone had mentioned a gun that Belial had. Everyone, with the exception of Sniv, thought it would be great fun to shoot the gun into the air in celebration. Sniv tried to stop Belial but only ended up changing the trajectory of the shot so that it hit Jan instead. The group bolted, leaving Sniv alone with a gun in his hands. Jan, Julian, Ko, and Belial regrouped at the Goose before calling it a night. Belial went to the first room she could find and went to sleep. Julian and Ko went home. Jan went to the stables where he started having an episode, leaving him frozen in fear awake at the stable.

**Julian:** 2nd Rest of Frost 698 YoR

On their first day of forced leave after their harrowing events of the previous mission, the group began by taking care of several tasks, such as shopping and taking care of minor business. Most of the group assembled and went to visit the Shifting Athenaeum, where they met with mast Shi and learned more details about the acid king including that he was likely hatched from an egg that the Concord was in possession of. Additionally, she gave the general location of the Sphinx the group had learned of during their time defending the elven village. Ko asked for more information about his glaive and learned that it could be a cause for concern. After leaving the Athenaeum the remaining members were found and as a group they payed off the fine to retrieve the pistol Belial had discharged the night prior. Everyone then went to have tea at Timala's. There everyone but Sniv did psycadelics and Belial almost had her soul eaten by a statue. Ko learned even more about his glaive, that it's a living relic which are drawn to conflict and strife and impact the events for better or worse. He also learned it's name, Dancing Cloud-Burst. Sniv placed an order for the gun to be repaired, Belial got the other statue exorcised, Grimnar, the captain of the guard mentioned that he might have a job for the group and news came in that the Concord had been attacked.

**Ko:** 2nd Streth of Frost 698 YoR
As Ko returned to his room at the orphanage he noticed that a few things were askew so he took some time to run around town during the night. In the morning the group met up at the Crooked Goose and discussed the plan for the day. While they walked to Lord Grimnar's office Ko and Sniv noticed they were being followed so they decided to split up hoping to determine which part of the group was being followed, but neither group noticed the follower again. Adran, Belial, Jan and Sniv met with Lord Grimnar and learned that the attack on the Concord was well planned, well funded, and must have had insider information. The schematics that were taken would help anyone, with the capability, destroy the ballista on top of the walls. After talking more with Lord Grimnar, Belial suggested that Myriad may have something to do with this attack. After the meeting the party regrouped outside and began to discuss what was said (but couldn't scream about it because they were not in a sewer). A messenger hawk found the party and requested their help at the Fate. The party arrived and was sent on a house call to Amaya's after she hadn't checked in after returning to the city.

They made it to the house and noticed the door ajar (Sorry Jan, maybe next time), Belial and Sniv ran around to the back, while the other four entered into the house. Noticing two dead bodies on the ground and hearing floor boards creak upstairs the party was split. Jan and Ko went upstairs to find 3 soldiers. Belial and Sniv went downstairs to find a captain and 1 soldier. Adran and Julian split from the main floor, only for Julian to find 2 soldiers while Adran ran down stairs. The fight ensued and things were going very poorly, not only was Jan knocked unconscious but Ko was killed. Adran and Julian ran upstairs, Adran spared Jan from death and Julian's book preformed a ritual that brought Ko back to life. As the party regrouped they let the mercenaries go, they were later caught by the guards, and tried to get some rest but were spooked by Amaya making her way up the stairs. After a small talk the party believed she was not the Mole in the corps bu Amaya had yet to give the party her full trust. The party took some time to rest up at the Goose, Ko got hammered and told the party more about himself before crashing. The rest of the party went to interrogate the mercenaries. The party quickly learned that the group was hired by Sarn Kell who has been putting bounties out on the higher ups in the Corps and the Concord. They also learned that Rosner and the Blue Bastards have been taking multiple contracts from Sarn. As the party returned to the Goose Ko asked for help and was able to Attune to Dancing Cloud Burst. And with that the party only has 13 days left of Downtime...

**DM:** 2nd Eith of Frost 698 YoR

During the night, a few members of the party experienced visions from beyond their scope. In the morning Ko gathered the group at the Goose and came clean about what was going on with him and his possible connection to Julian's Patron, After a serious discussion and consideration the party chose to split up, with half of them following up on Adran's vision, and the pother half heading off to try and purchase a house. Adran's group went to the town hall and witnessed a standoff between the guards and a well dressed man who was demanding to speak to Lord Grimnar. After a while Grimnar came out and seemed to be able to placate the irate individual. Following up afterwards the group learned that a notable merchant had been murdered the night before, and that shed had been a close associate of the fellow. Meanwhile, Ko's groups managed to purchase a rundown house out nears the edge of the Kingswood, Regrouping the party went to go check-ou the new house, only to find it infested with molds and oozes. Having taken considerable damage in the initial clearing of the house, the party chose to retreat until the next day to fully secure the house.

2nd Kesh of Frost 698 YoR

Returning to the house with a plan and gear to enact it, the party easily manages to clear the last of the creatures living in the house. after all was said and done there was a lively party as Ko got ready to settle into his newly bought house

**Adran:** Having cleared the house, the party returned to the Goose and met up with Jan. Discussion ensued and it was determined that, given Ko's recent purchase, the party needed more income. The job board outside the Fool's Fate was consulted and the party decided on potentially taking an escort job for Finral Vancilius, a member of the Concord.

2nd Orseh of Frost 698 YoR

The following morning the group met up at the Goose, and headed off the the Concord to speak to Finral about the details of the job. There was increased security at the Concord, with all people entering having to pass through a zone of truth, and a weapon screening. Having been cleared the party followed the directions to Finral's office. The details of the contract were simple, Finral was to be escorted to the possible location of an ancient city located in Istengroth forest, between south tooth and middle tooth, and we would be paid 500 gold each. The journey was expected to take two days each way and we would be stopping for three days at the site. Ko was able to haggle for partial payment up-front, which he used to pay off part of his mortgage and commission some work to get his house livable. The rest of the party split up to buy supplies.

2nd Rath of Frost 698 YoR

The party met set out with Finral promptly in the thick morning fog. After a couple of hours the party was overflown by a large form briefly glimpsed through the fog, maybe a dragon. At around noon, the party heard calls for help and came across a couple of old women accosting a young woman. An examination by Belial revealed all three to be fey, the group fell back fearing a trap. The party set off again as the older women apparently killed the younger one. Closer to evening the party was once again overflown by a large, probably draconic, form. It was speculated that this may be the Acid King. The party made camp and sorted out a watch order. During the night, Belial and Sniv were grabbed by a group of bandits lead by the surviving leader of the group that kidnapped the rangers. He offered to return Belial and Sniv in exchange for Adran, for whom the Black King is willing to pay 6000 gold. The bandit leader threw a flashstone into the center of the camp, blinding Julian, Jan, and Finral; and ordered his men to attack. Two of them grabbed Adran and started dragging him off, however he promptly escaped by turning into mist. The party killed a couple of the bandits and severely wounded a third, at which point the leader called a retreat and released Belial and Sniv. The party moved camp and went back to bed

**Jan:** 3rd Silth of Frost 698 YoR

The Party woke up the next morning and discussed why the black king wanted Adran. They couldn't quite figure it out but concluded that maybe it had something to do with Adran's patron. Carrying on through the day, the party came across a hole with bodies in it. After determining that is was not an accident and instead probably a ritual sacrifice pit, the party descended only to be ambushed by three ankhegs. The party slayed them with minor inconveniences, then took a small rest. They elected to set up a camp about 30 minutes away from the mining town and sent Ko and Sniv to scout the town. The town was made out of low quality wood buildings on top of the ruins of an old village. There was a large host of goblins occupying the town, including frog riders. After scouting the party rested for the night and put into place a plan to try and negotiate with the goblins before killing them.

3rd Est of Frost 698 YoR

They woke up at before first light to prepare their "negotiations" which quickly fell south. The battle which ensued was much harder than expected resulting in the party making a tactical retreat to try and find a new strategy.

**Julian:** After retreating from their initial foray into the mining camp, the group moved their campsite to avoid any retaliation strike. This proved a wise decision as while they were resting they noticed a large patrol pass by. After recuperating and deciding that their next course of action would be a full attack on the camp, which they proceeded forward with. This second visit to the camp proved a tough challenge but one that was within the group's means and they overcame it without sustaining any casualties. The group was able to pacify the elemental beast that the goblins were keeping without killing it and made peace with it. A few magical curios were claimed from the goblin spellcaster. The group rested for most of the day to bring themselves back into fighting strength before heading into the mines at their sponsor's urging. Within they found a large dwarf made cavern with a bloody shrine covered in jewels seemingly in offering to a large rock. After exhausting mundane and magical options for divining danger, Jan knocked on the boulder which woke up and ate the gems. The boulder was another elemental that the goblins were worshipping and turned out to be a reasonable enough sort of fellow who Finral was able to strike a deal with for use of the mine as long as any gems were turned over to the elemental.

**Ko:** 3rd Est of Frost 698 YoR

The party began their two days of watch for Finrell, Sniv and Julian decided to sleep as they watched through the night. On the first day Adran, Belial and Ko looked into one of the wings of the mine to do some exploring and investigation of the area. Finding a door, Belial having worked with deserved technologies was able to open it easily, but behind the door was a skeleton which Ko swung his glaive at assuming it would attack the group. After some deliberation the party was able to completely open the door but two spiders and a specter engaged them. The spiders were defeated easily and after attempting to lay the specter to rest the party finally put him out of his misery. Unfortunately Sniv and Julian were captured by a group of Kobolds working for Yahshin and the party set out to rescue them, cutting Finrells research time short in order to keep him safe. Trailing the kobolds Adran and Ko were ambushed, Ko was pushed over the edge a number of times but was able to survive thanks to Adran and the cavalry. The party now looking for their next clue to lead them to their friends...

**Adran:** After a short rest, Finral decided he had had enough of danger and he and Belial set off back to Toroban, leaving the rest of the party with instructions to free Julian and Sniv. A little later the party's rest was again interrupted this time by Julian and a woman fleeing a pair of snake-riding kobolds. After killing the kobolds the party was informed by the woman, Shayura, that the camp was going to be taking delivery of 16 ogres within the day. Seizing the opportunity the party moved to the camp and waited for the ogre escort force to leave. The escort for left, leaving 6 kobolds guarding the camp, the party waited a quarter hour and attacked. During the attack Jan was downed and Adran excavated him into a hole in an attempt to make it harder for the kobolds to finish him. Ko was able to sneak most of the way around before being seen and opened his eversmoking bottle, shrouding half of the camp. The plan was successful, the party got in killed all the kobolds, with only Jan going down, rescued Sniv and recovered all the gear. Ko also found a cat figurine and he and Julian found a chest containing 250 copper pieces, it was decided that this was not worth hauling back to Toroban so was buried out of spite. As the party was getting ready to clear out, Jan woke up in his hole providing yet more trauma. After leaving the camp the party heard/saw a dragon flying over from middle tooth. There was a draconic roar of frustration from the direction of the camp. The party decided to make camp for the night.

3rd Kross of Frost 698 YoR

During the night, Adran was approached by a bunch of floating lights asking for help. He woke Ko and asked him to take over the watch while he investigated the lights. After following them for a few minutes, he was lead to a dryad pinned to a tree, and being tortured to death by a briar plant. He attempted to destroy the plant with an eltritch blast, provoking a hag to appear and offer a deal to kill the dryad and share the power. Adran emphatically declined the offer with a spell. After a couple more spells, the hag want invisible. Adran took that opportunity to finish freeing the dryad, there was a fight until the hag downed the dryad and left with a final taunt. Adran stabilised the dryad, and waited for it to awaken. After it did, the dryad bound the remaining energy of the curse into a circlet and gave it to Adran. He returned to camp and offered to take Jan's watch. Midway through the watch, Adran heard a creature exiting the tent, suspecting more pants-thieving creatures he offered a trade for a ration; however it was the hag back for some revenge. Caught off guard, Adran was downed by the hag's first attack fortunately, the rest of the party was awakened by the noise and pursued and rapidly killed the hag and stabilized Adran. It was decided that the hag's corpse should be burned, reentering the tent Julian was convinced that the outside world was incredibly dangerous and the only safe place in the universe was inside the tent. Ko then entered the tent and agreed with Julian as there were no dogs in the tent and many outside. Jan suggested that the party should begin packing up for the walk back to Toroban, but Ko and Julian could not be convinced to leave the tent. Jan then started to dismantle the tent but Julian cast hold person on him and pulled him into the tent, where he saw their point because there was no war in the tent. About an hour later Adran woke up in the bush where he had fallen and found everyone else in the tent, refusing to leave. Realizing that the tent had been cursed by the hag Adran attempted to talk the others into leaving the tent, to no success. Adran then stored the tent in his crystal, which broke the curse. The tent was then burned with the hag and the party set out for Toroban.

## Second Arc: Rage of the Stolen Dragon

**Jan**

Notes lost to the darks corners of time

**Julian**

The next day Belial and Sniv sorted through the reclaimed mining equipment and then went to talk to the core and report that Julian and Ko were former members of Myriad. Everyone also received a message that their rest would end a day early and they were to report the next morning for duty. That night Ko went to visit Belial and they had a talk about the previous day's events. The next morning Ko also visited Julian where he did drugs and put himself in a near death experience. After the group met up for their summons and were assigned to escort a noblewoman to a hunting lodge and back after she had finished her hunt. On the way to the lodge they were ambushed by some bandits seemingly associated with Myriad. They knocked most of the party out with sleeping darts leaving Julian, Ko and Belial awake when they tried to convince Julian and Ko to turn coat. Ko somewhat played along trying to buy time and get information. Eventually into the conversation the "bandits" revealed themselves to be members of the core attempting to test Julian and Ko's loyalties. The noblewoman also revealed herself to be Amiah. Amiah threatened orphans and gave Ko and Julian a tentative pass for now saying they were all still headed to another job. They continued on to the hunting lodge where, the next morning Amiah debriefed everyone on their mission, to deal with the Acid King. Connected to this were separate goals of lowering the kobold population which has been threatening people lately, locating and saving a core team which has been captured and possibly finding a legendary dragon slaying weapon which may be in the area, after some discussion the team decided to take on the undead and the other seeker team would focus on looking for where the dragon slaying weapon could be.

**Ko**

The group woke in the morning and began the day talking about Adran's dead animals and trying to find a solution that would not interfere with his experiment but also not stink up the room. After some deliberation a solution was found and the party set out to clear some of the undead in the area. After some walking and talking the group happened upon a group of undead. During the battle things were going well until the Shpinx from the middle tooth flew into battle and banished the holy paladin Belial. After much pain, the battle was complete and the party met a new race in the forest known as Xvart. After witnessing the parties prowess in battle one Xvart asked the party to help free their god. The party went to help the odd little creature and found their clan with some dead person soup and a screaming spoon. After faking a ritual to transform the spoon into a bottle of smoke, the creatures were delighted and attempted to join their god... after witnessing a ritual suicided the party looted the area and returned to the gentle away with a new map of the area.

**Jan**

That night the party woke up in the hunting lodge to the sound of wolf like calls. Seeing as they were in the forest they assumed it was more or less regular, and decided to ignore the howls, going back to bed more frightened. The next morning they left the lodge to trek through the snow to get to the tomb of elders. There were plenty of undead on the way there, but the dead could be easily dispatched. The dead seemed to be walking out of the entrance of the Tomb of the Elders. The party ventured inside and got ambushed by the angry spirits of the elves buried inside, who themselves seemed to be fighting the walking corpses. They had a small deal of trouble dealing with the spectres, but managed to fight through the tomb to a locked gate. They opened the gate and came to a room that looked as though it were partway through a funeral. Ko realized that the ruins were not elvish in origin and that they actually part of an ancient giantish sacrifice pit. The party moved through the tomb and stumbled across the ghost of a long dead elf king fighting an endless hoard of undead, presumably the sacrifices from the ancient giants. The ghost of the king told the party that his resurrected body was probably what was stirring up the dead in tomb. He instructed them to fight his corporeal form so that the dead could finally rest. The fight was difficult and the dead king proved to be a worthy opponent with a few tricks up his sleeves, but Belial wound up smiting the body of the elven king, killing the heck out of it. The party did as adventurers tend to do and looted the king, finding a set of ancient plate armour, some elven boots, and a nifty warhammer.

**Belial**

The Seekers returned to the Quiet Rest, cleaning up the occasional undead as they went. There they conferred with Amaya and considered the various tasks and points of interest in the area:

> The remaining undead
>
>

> The dragonslayer's sword - the Twin-Star ranger team is investigating the mountain. They are reputed to be highly effective combatants and might take on the Acid King themselves if they spot a great opportunity
>
>

> The humanoids that were spotted north of the lodge
>
>

> a house in the middle of the woods with no road leading to it
>
>

> armed ogres at the base of the mountain
>
>

> Long-running orgy at a hot-spring
>
>

They first went and cautiously investigated the house. They found it completely deserted, with all the objects slightly warped. Ko found a journal which was mostly illegible but for occurrences of the word "Crizan" (the plane of chaos) and the last page, which revealed that the writer had become trapped and warped in Crizan, and upon return had left the house (really an inn) to find civilization. The Seekers continued north from there, clearing undead as they went. Belial and Julian wanted to climb up the mountain to have an adventure and find the magic sword, but Sniv and Ko were reluctant; Sniv was afraid that the Acid king might persuade him to betray the corps, and Ko was afraid the Acid king would kill him. At the foot of the middle tooth, they were spotted by a black dragon, but it flew by and left them alone. Twin-Star reported that they felt watched up on the mountain and that a distraction would be appreciated. Then they reported that the dragon had flown away from the mountain and the Seekers seized the opportunity and started climbing. Up on the side of the mountain they encountered a small orc hunting-party and killed them, despite Belial and Sniv's attempts to get them to flee or surrender. The orcs had caught a multi-tailed firefox in a bear trap, which the Seekers freed and healed. Then they bedded down in a nearby hunting shelter.

**Adran**

In the morning, the party recovered the blankets from the shelter and continued up the mountain. After passing the tree line the party spotted a flock of large birds diving down on something. Getting closer it became apparent that these creatures were not actual birds, but antlered, wolf faced bird things; and they were hunting another group of orcs. As the party approached, one of the bird things took down an orc and ate its heart straight out of its chest, healing the bird thing; seeing this the party made a very reasonable decision that these were not creatures to be messed with and bravely ran away. Four of the bird things pursued and after a brief fight we killed; the fifth, seeing that its orc prey had gotten some cover tried to pursue as well but was quickly shot down by the warlocks. The party approached the surviving orc and seeing that he was near death healed him. He introduced himself as Giri and told the party that his tribe is from the dragonspine mountains, they are here for a proving, and that he is hunting a 9 foot tall humanoid that travels with a wolf. The party salvaged some supplies from the dead orcs and parted ways with Giri, leaving him to his hunt. The party continued up the mountain, heading for the 3rd peak. After a couple more hours of trekking up the mountain, admiring the view the tri-tailed fox was spotted again up on the wall of the slot canyon the party was walking up. The party climbed up the side of the canyon to investigate, but the fox had disappeared. The party continued up the mountain on the side of the canyon, and after a bit further a crevasse opened up on the canyon floor, right where the party would have been walking. After another couple of hours, the party found another lee in the rock to camp. A small snow berm was built to help keep the wind out. The next day, the party was rudely awakened by a visit from Yashin, who used his acid breath in an attempt to kill the party then left before examining the results. Ko and Julian were hit the worst both getting knocked out immediately, Belial was woken up very rudely and in a great deal of pain, and Adran used a new ability to escape relatively almost completely unharmed. After a bit of healing, the party was again visited by the tri-tailed fox who lead them away just before an avalanche buried the camp. The fox continued to lead the party up the mountain, guiding them to the 3rd peak faster than should be possible. At the peak, the party found a massive, lightning killed, hollowed out tree. Entering the tree the party found an ancient shrine to the many faced mother tended to by a similarly ancient elf. The elf was in the middle of a ritual so the party decided to wait for him to finish, and spent the time waiting admiring the carvings on the walls. The carvings depicted the history of the mountain, and showed that the white dragon's cave is on the 2nd peak. The elf finished his ritual and greeted the party. He told the story of how he got here: some time ago, he traveled here with his wife, she died here and he planted the tree on her grave and tended it. A some centuries later the tree was killed by a lightning strike, he was also visited by a group who told him of the Many Faced Mother. His last visitor was a woman who arrived from Rhyssine to kill a white dragon that was harassing the town. He told the party that the dragon's cave is in a valley that appears frozen, but there is a path through the frozen waterfall at the end. A scaled, maned golden unicorn then arrived bearing some root vegetables for dinner. He also asked if any of the party would like to commune, and Belial expressed interest.

**Julian**

In the morning, after resting the night in the tree, Belial debriefed with the other groups and heard that a group of Kobolds had headed out from their camp with something of value to bring presumably to the dragon. The group decided to intercept them. The ambush they set up went well and they eliminated the kobold party without issue. Two magic rings were reclaimed and along with the ranger team they planned to frame the orcs to set off conflict between the two groups. While dealing with the bodies a group of orcs, drawn by the sounds of fighting, found and launched an attack on the group. The group were able to fend them off and dispatch them without much issue. The group decided to head down the mountain to a less dangerous area and to also assist in freeing the captured seeker team. After resting that night there was evidence that someone had been watching us, Ko's white fur also reacted which set him heavily on edge. After quickly braking camp and getting some distance the group talked amongst themselves and the other teams and decided to stay in the area for now and see if they could find more information on who exactly was watching them.

**Ko**

4th Kesh of frost

Camping for the night with Seekers Inverness, it was made clear that the other seekers were not fans of the two ex myriad members in the party. Deciding to make the most of the night the party popped open the keg of Orcish ale, while Ko sulked and went to bed. The group that had some ale ended up getting very drunk, Julian buried himself in the snow to cool down but ended up getting too cold so the group decided to get him to bed. Shoving Julian into Ko's bed and ending the night the party went to sleep in preparation for the next day. Having the teams split up to harass the kobolds while a pair of rangers sneak into camp to save their allies was the plan that was decided upon in the morning. Travelling to a designated location, midway through the day a group of kobolds found the party. The party managed to escape into the forest and avoid a confrontation with the kobolds and basilisk. At the end of the day the party set up a small camp in the snow, the party were happy to rest. During the night a group of kobolds ambushed the party and began stealing small shiny things, most notably the Fish Helmet that Belial bought back in Toroban

**Sniv**
4th Orseh of Frost 698 YoR

Ko was taking the last watch and, by using his cat’s talent for spotting things amiss, saw a fire moving through the trees. After alerting Belial to the nature of the disturbance Ko snuck off to get a better look. Jan awoke and strung his bow. Ko’s cat’s talent for not getting seen failed him as the fire call out “Hello is anybody there?” as he approached. Knowing the scouting effort was lost, Ko slunk back into camp. The fire followed Ko until confronted by a gleaming dwarf and a mercenary with his bow drawn. Belial approached this red skinned creature. This fire woman's flowing orange hair flickered with the darker colors of flame in the gray light of the morning. A conversation ensued, the fire Genasi explained that she was from a nearby village of Genasi that were living in fear of Gorlog and sent out their Gorlog expert to learn more and warn others. The red woman was named Sayla and had a nervous disposition. Not wanting a civilian to get killed, Belial told Sayla to go to the Watch’s base of operations. But Sayla explained that she was a skilled fighter and preferred strength in numbers and so was made a part of the operation. The camp was being packed up by Adran and Julian as the dialogue came to a close and Sniv stumbled out of his bedroll smearing wake-up powder on his gums. Introductions were made all around and the party got a call that it was go time. The first patrol of Kobolds was ambushed and killed quickly. One Kobold was left to flee and raise the alarm. Coordinating with the other seeker groups, the party moved further in. Another more ratty group was dispatched easily. There were no survivors this time, so Jan found a horn on a dead Kobold and blew it. Each time there was a fight Sayla became extremely nervous and something magical would happen. This time there were black tendrils that spooked the party. There was a message from a seeker team that the Kobolds were letting out a monstrous beast from a cage. The beast had been given Belial’s scent so the party planned to catch it in a pit trap. The pit traps were set and Belial was set up in a defensive position at the center of the pits. Expecting a large beast, the party braced themselves as a host of Kobolds, leading a Basilisk, marched down the road. The battle was tense, as Snake Riders flanked the backline artillery. Jan’s hatred of archers led to his counter-charge dealing swift justice to the Kobolds’ spell-slinging leader. Sniv and Adran fought a retreat from the Snake Riders, as Ko took out key targets. A Kobold and the Basilisk fell into the pit trap and Belial struggled to keep them in there. The main Kobold force at the center rallied to charge Belial until Sayla went and stepped out in front of the force. Few Kobolds got past Sayla and those that did go a returning greataxe to the back of the head. The battle was winding down as the few Kobolds left amassed behind the party. Suddenly the faint thundering footfalls became deafening as a cyclops crashed through the trees holding a crushed fish helmet. Belial called a retreat and was hoisted onto Jan’s horse. The retreat was so desperate that only Jan could fire back into the charging Giant, as everyone else ran for their lives. Just when the party began stumbling due to exhaustion did an emerald-sludge of acidic-breath strafed them. Both Sniv and Jan’s horse collapsed immediately from the shock of the acid burns. Jan almost succumbed to the same fate but had a sudden second wind. Belial deflected the acid with her shield and struggled to her feet. Locking eyes with the nervous barbarian, Belial urged her to run, which Sayla did with much haste. Jan ran in the opposite direction of Sayla toward the cyclops. Blood leaked from the slits in his armor as Jan ran his lance through the beast. Jan’s courage rallied the party, Belial healed Sniv, Adran stabilized the horse, and Ko put everything into a powerful lightning-glaive strike. The Giant lasted twelve more seconds flailing as the party swarmed them like horseflies.

**Adran**

4th Orseh of Frost 698 YoR

Just after the giant fell, Yashin came in with another strafing run, downing Sniv and wounding Adran. Sniv was quickly stabilized and carried into a freshly excavated hollow. Another pass; this time over Jan and Julian. Jan went down, and Julian was able to stabilize him. Another pass; this one over Ko and Seyla. Seyla decided to try and play dead, and Ko decided to try and draw off the dragon to let everyone else escape, he ran away and un-stoppered the green-smoking bottle. The dragon roared in rage and veered in his direction. Ko threw the bottle away and dove off to the side as the acid hit the bottle. While this was happening Adran was able to get Sniv's potion to Julian who used it on Jan. Jan, Seyla, and Sniv started to run away on Nav. Meanwhile, Ko was using the wand of rock in an effort to keep the dragon's attention on him, when the wand exploded, downing him. Hearing the boom, Julian volunteered to be distraction #2 while Adran ran to save Ko. The dragon then made a pass over Adran, who encased himself in ice to survive. When he found Ko, all of Ko's fur had all gone white; and he wasn't bleeding. Seeing this, Adran elected not to touch him. As the dragon was lining up for another pass, this time on Julian; a fireball exploded throwing off the run. Turning Julian saw Amaya and a rather battered wizard of the Concord running up, the wizard let off another fireball and was able to drive off the dragon. Amaya, Julian, and the wizard, Thiran, ran over to Adran and Ko and Thiran teleported the group back to the Gentle Away. Ko, still comatose, was put to bed; there was mention of a briefing the next day, and everyone went to bed, exhausted and battered.

4th Rath of Frost 698 YoR

Jan, Sniv, and Seyla arrived the following morning, as did the rescued seeker team, The Seekers Inverness and all three ranger teams. Ko woke up, his normal color again, and was rather distressed to find out he'd gone white for a while. the party was informed that Thiran was the only survivor of 8 concord wizards who were supposed to teleport to the away to help them, however something pulled them off course into a field of twilight, where they were set upon and killed. Yashin, angered by the deaths of two of his priests, had ordered his forces, now estimated to be some 3000 kobolds plus the surviving ogres to attack Toroban. These things put together meant that the corps had ordered almost everyone back to defend the outer city. Only the party and Twin Star rangers would be staying back, with orders to climb the mountain and kill the dragon in it's cave before the the attack on the city. The party began resupplying and gearing up for the long climb.

**Belial**

5th Silth of Frost 698 YoR

The team left the Gentle Away for the mountain. Belial brought up the fact that there were still unknowns about the acid king, such as his mate and the provenance of his egg. She also asked everyone if they were willing to die on this mission, and everyone was, except Sniv.

5th Est of Frost 698 YoR

On the second morning out of five until the attack, Julian prayed to Praxis and seemed to receive his blessing, but said that he was so used to simply following his patron's orders that he had no idea what he wanted to do with this life. The two teams located the frozen river and followed it up to a frozen lake. Twin star kept watch for ambushes while the seekers carefully crossed the lake and slipped through the frozen waterfall on the other side. Inside the cave they found bodies frozen in the walls, and a pool further in that rippled forebodingly. Ko warned everybody to be quiet, then scouted forward and saw a giant long insectoid sleeping under the water. He went further and found the skeleton of an adult dragon, and a figure with a spear frozen in the ice, which he assumed was the dragonslayer. It seemed that the she had wounded the dragon, which had then perished fighting the insect

Meanwhile, Julian had the idea to use Seyla's fire to start melting out one of the corpses, which was clad in magical armor. Ko came back and took Seyla back with him to the dragonslayer. She was able to melt out the spear, and as it fell into her hands she felt that it could change shape, and willed it into an axe. She and Ko tried to sneak back, but awoke the insect, which came out of the water to investigate. There was a moment of panic where the seekers debated whether to flee or fight, but fortunately the monster didn't spot anyone and retreated back under the ice after taking the dragonslayer's body as a snack. They hurriedly unfroze the body in the magic armor and then fled back outside.

**Jan**

After a short break at camp, Twin Star asked about the contents of the cave. The party argued back and forth about going back to collect the loot, but ultimately decided against it.

5th Kross of Frost 698 YoR

The party went to sleep, and during the rest, Ko saw foot prints leading toward a sleeping Julian. Ko became reasonably sus and decided to wake Julian, however he did so in a aggressive manner causing a tense situation of distrust. As done many times before Belial was brought in to ease party tensions, and during these small scale peace talks it was discovered that two of Julian's tarrot cards were missing from his pack. Ko walked a small distance to pray when all of a sudden, the fox got nervous and started running. Taking that as a bad sign the party roused and took off after it. They followed the fox through an icy landscape full of recently dismembered corpses and ended up at a cave with a large multi armed ape, heavily wounded. Instead of raising arms against the creature, they decided to heal its injuries as much as they could, and learned that the ape was being tracked by the orc hunting party, and they were coming in hot. Deciding to help a fella out, the party took the side of the ape and tried to talk down the orc hunters. It did not work. The orcs confidently attacked the party, and despite being strong combatants, the hunter's confidence was misplaced. The party killed all the orcs except their king Durathar who decided to yield. The party let Durathar live on the promise that he would teach Belial how to speak orcish. The party sent the now discraced former king to Toroban. The ape revealed to be named Girain explained that he was on the mountains to try and convince his Yeti cousins to make better life choices and not support the Acid King. The party asked if he wanted to come with them to the Acid King's lair, Girain agreed.

**Julian**

5th Oust of Frost 698 YoR

The group made their final approach to the dragon's lair. As they approached, Girain brought away the yetis guarding the entrance and made his exit. Making final preparations, Ko and Jan crept up to the entrance, unfortunately making too much noise and causing a massive roar from the cave. The two took cover and the group braced as Yashin came flying out, wielding a spell that Ko and formerly Julian were known to use. The fight commenced and though he was powerful, several very powerful hits from Twinstar and Seyla made for a relatively quick work of the dragon. Soon, his mate emerged from the lair, though she wasn't hostile and after some discussion, took her clutch and left. A Concord mage teleported in then and after some talk that we wanted to check the surroundings left saying he'd return to pick us up in a few hours. Inside the cave there wasn't much until going through an odd acid covered door, there was an office like space scarred with more acid and several notes alluding to connections with The Dusk and how they had likely been keeping tabs on the group. With no other leads the group made their way up to the peak of the mountain where they found a shrine to Nymeria and to an unknown dwarf riding a pegasus. Twinstar decided to remain there to preform their ritual on the planar convergence. Decending back down to Yashin's corpse, they met the mage on his return and were brought back to the city where they met Amiah, covered in gore of a hard fought battle.

## Third Arc: Very Relaxing Downtime

**Seylah**

5th Rest of Frost 698 YoR

The group was zapped back to Toroban and met with Amaia. We make our way back to the Crooked Goose for a drink. The orc guy is there and after a conversation, disappears into the sewer. The party splits off to sleep for the night. Ko finds two notes stabbed to his door, he tells the group it’s a death threat and an apology. Yan has sleep paralysis nightmares about a pair of red glowing eyes. Sniv brings the dragon tongue to his kobold people. Bailiel is high so she takes Seyla back to the camp and they dig graves for fallen soldiers. The party meets Amaia for a debrief. We are paid and then offered a new position that grants the party more freedom, and we have to come up with a group name by something Eve. Afterwards, the party goes back to the crooked goose and the orc guy is there roasting a dead kobold. They stop him and Bailiel apologizes to Sniv and promises to buy meat for the orc guy. Also the orc guy gets hired as a bouncer. The party gets drunk and starts throwing around party names. Some people are drunk and need to be escorted home. Julian and Ko end up in a church for the night. Bailiel takes Sniv to the kobolds and apologizes to them for the orc killing one of them. Seyla takes Adran, who makes it home safe but Seyla ends up at some rich tavern without paying. She pays in the morning, finds her way back to the crooked goose, where Yan tells her to take a bath. Julian and Bailiel pray. Everyone goes shopping.

**Ko**

The group finished their shopping and eventually met up at the goose. Ko returned with a large sack of thoughtful goodies for the group and apologized for being a bit of a cunt the past few days. The group managed to decide on a name, Fool's Judgement! Sniv returned with news that Lord Grimnar had a job opportunity for his group, but wouldn't give any details without the group saying yes. Adran opened up about his parents death when stronghold Lasarn was destroyed by the giant Kovar. Ko opened up about his most recent death, and Jan let slip that he has seen a pair of red eyes throughout the night. Ko and Belial attempted to determine what the red eyes could be but didnt press the issue with Jan any further. In the morning, Belial and Sniv went to talk with Lord Grimnar and learned that something is causing people to go missing and some of those that don't to end up catatonic.

**Sniv**

Sayla had to go back to her village and tried to leave unobtrusively, but Ko would not have it. After failing to steal Sayla’s falcon-projecting glove off of her hand Ko bought it for a low price. Everyone at the Crooked Goose wished Sayla a good and safe journey as she left. After showing himself to be a master of the deal, Ko threw down a sack full of gifts. And while doing a fairly good impression of a Kobold Claus who doesn't give gifts to adults too often, Ko hands out a gift to each party member. Sniv and Belial laid out the situation for the rest of the party at the Goose. People were getting their minds wiped. The total number of victims was three they were: both an Archivist and Timala who had relics and a guard who followed a lead into the sewers. Timala’s house was decided on to be the place to check first. After talking past some of the city watch guarding the scene of the crime the party entered Timala’s house past a door that had been forced by a large spherical object. Inside the house there were signs of a struggle: an overturned table with its séance-equipment (teacups and incense) spilled onto the floor, broken runelights, blood where Timala would have sat and char-marks on the seat opposite. An evocation rune on the stairs had been triggered and a pillar of ice had been erected (now a puddle of water). The door to the upstairs had been locked and was opened with a bit of finesse from Ko. Inside the room were storage boxes, most notably the opened box labelled Fell Shrine, which used to hold the statues that Belial found in a wreck off the coast of Fell Serine among other things. Ko walked downstairs and put the scene together like a proper detective. The assailant broke down Timala’s door and demanded a séance at bladed weapon point. During this séance there was a fight and this is most likely when Timala was mind-wiped. Going upstairs the assailant unlocked the storage room with Timala’s keys and stole what they came for. Before leaving the house the now-thief locked the storage room behind themselves. Everyone agreed that the next course of action would be to split up and question the neighbours to corroborate their story and maybe hunt down the assailant if they are still in the neighbourhood. Sniv and Adran had a brief and unhelpful dialog with a carpenter. While Ko and Belial talked to Timala’s immediate neighbour. Now this neighbour was a shy old woman with big thick glasses which magnified her eyes. This lady was up early baking some muffins that are made from oats, flour, and a little water. Before the first batch of muffins were in the oven she went out to feed Mr.Mittens who still hasn’t come home yet. The muffins this lady makes sell for two coppers a piece, but Agatha across the street sells her banana bread for three coppers a slice and always outsells the muffins. This is disheartening because the sale of the muffins is the only way this lady can afford Mr.Mittens’ food. Feeling pressure to support a cat in need Ko buys a muffin for three copper and eats the bland thing through the rest of the conversation. The woman continues to talk about her morning. She went out to salt Agatha’s banana bread so her muffins will sell more. When she was sneaking out she heard a loud bang and saw a tall man enter Timala’s house. This can’t be good so the lady decides to add sugar to make her muffins extra good. While baking she started singing “coming of kobold claws”. Muffin Lady is excited for astral eve as she really likes seeing Nymeria and has seen her Nymeria 7 times from this house. The lady pauses to ask if Belial has seen Nymeria seven times. Belial answers yes. Muffin lady remembered that she heard an “oh!” from Timala’s house and didn’t think anyone was visiting and would know because she keeps an eye on the block. At this point the woman produced a glass of lemonade and handed it to Belial saying that she had planned to give it to Timala but Belial should instead because she knows where Timala is. Saying thank you for her time Belial poured the lemonade into a waterskin and handed back the glass. The Muffin lady was poor but could afford lemons which led Ko to doubt her story. Belial and Ko decided to question Agatha across the street. The smell of salty banana bread greeted the pair as Agatha opened her door. A fat cat ran out and Agatha called out to Mr.Mittens to return. Belial started to ask about the old woman who lives across the street. Agatha became confused explaining that no one has lived in that house for over eight years. Belial and Ko spirited back to the old lady’s house calling for reinforcements. Sniv and Adran, hearing the call, started towards the same house. Before they could meet up Belial had reached the front door and bashed the lock with her warhammer. Ko sprinted around the back. Seeing no signs of escape he began working on the lock. Beside the door Ko recognised the Myriad sign for danger/death carved into the wood. Not heeding the warning of his former employer Ko opened the door and went in. At the same time Belial kicked the front door in. As splinters of a shattered door flew into the centre of the room Belial locked eyes with Ko. As they both realised that the house was just one big empty room. Ko, Belial, and the newly arrived Sniv searched the palace for clues, as Adran mended the front door. There was a thick layer of dust on the floor with cat and rat prints on it. A pile of fresh cat scat was in a corner. And none of the dividing walls or furnishings seen during the interview with the muffin lady were there. After finding no immediate leads the party went back to Agatha’s. Agatha complained that her cat Mr.Mittens has been getting fatter for eight years now and her banana bread gets randomly salty. Sniv pointed out the security flaw in leaving your mixing bowl unattended. Belial thanked Agatha and hinted that she may have an acquaintance interested in hiring her to work in a pub. Following the few leads they had the party went to the market. The muffin lady was a regular according to the market vendors. Her strategy is to stand opposite to Agatha and yell “Muffins over here, far better and cheaper than the bread”. The vendors didn’t know much more about her. Doubling back the party went to talk with Elise and her mother who also live in the area near Timala’s house. Elie’s mom didn’t know anything about what happened but Elise knew the person that lived in the abandoned house. His name was Archie and he wore thick rimmed glasses and is younger than Elise (who’s 14). Elise explained that Archie says that he lives in the abandoned house, Mr.Mittens is his cat, and it’s Harvest when it’s Frost. Also when Archie asks if Elise wants it to rain on the way home and she says yes it always rains. Feeling arcanely overmatched the party sought out guidance from the concord. A fast test by the mage at the front desk revealed the lemonade to be unstructured magic typical of fey, fiend, or celestial. The Archmage Bowstorm was called in to test the lemonade further. After an extended testing period using many spell components the Archmage announced that the fey lemonade was made to clear mind fog. Now having a way to cure Timala the party rushed to the city watch HQ. After clearing through the protocols to be allowed in with the members of witness protection. Belial poured the lemonade carefully into Timala’s mouth. Timala recovered immediately. After the situation was explained to Timala, she explained the scales are even and it’s always good to have a fey owe you a favour. Timala recounted the events leading up to her mind wipe. A gaunt spindly man burst through her door. Her defences burnt his leg, but he was able to enthral her. The man asked how long ago she knew a person named Crosmyr. She didn’t know Crosmyr. Timala was then taken hostage in her own mind and heard speech in her head.

**Adran**

Having learned what Timala knew, the party set out for the sewers to find out where the kobolds had disappeared; and for Belial to give them the grubs. Setting out from the kobold warren the party worked through several traps around the area and spotted an illusion on the ceiling that seemed to be covering a hole. Attempts to attack the illusion were met with a single-eyed head peeking out and redirecting the attack. A test revealed that the head was not a passive defense, but something that needed to see the attack coming. then a voice came from the hole revealing that this was just to buy time and three of the creatures that had been disrupting attacks dropped out of the hole. After a few seconds, a fourth invisible thing dropped out of the hole and started to run away Ko and Sniv spotted it and realizing this, it tried to convince them that it went in a different direction and to prevent the rest of the party from following it. Ko was sensible and realized that this was a stupid idea, Sniv however did not. Sniv attempted to kill Adran, who had cast a flight spell on himself and Julian, and managed to do a substantial amount of damage before being restrained by everyone else, attempting to run away, and finally realizing that someone had forced a stupid idea on him. Meanwhile the invisible thing had hidden behind a door that Ko couldn't pick. The party called the guard to get a key/find out where the door led. While everyone was waiting, Julian Sniv and Belial explored the hole and Ko stood in front of the door and had a mental conversation with whatever was on the other side; asking about Crozmyr and what the thing wanted. The thing explained that Crozmyr was power and that it would be done with it's plans by the astral eve. Lord Grimnar then arrived with a key to the city, a key that could open any lock in the stronghold, and the door was opened to reveal an empty room. The exploration of the hole revealed that it led to a house that the creature had been using as a base: there were bodies, drained of blood; and a map of the stronghold with several locations marked and all but one crossed out. The one remaining location corresponded to the Shifting Athenaeum, The party running low on resources and not wanting to risk taking time to rest enlisted the help of a quartet of guards and ran there. Running into the Athenaeum, the party found the thing, a mind flayer, standing over Grandmaster Shi. Not wanting a distraction, it stunned Shi and turned it's attention to the party. Three of the guards charged it but it turned them, Sniv and the fourth guard tried to circle round but encountered a pair of intellect devourers and Sniv got his intellect devoured. after a brief fight with the guards, with the party trying not to kill them the mind flayer circled round and stunned most of the party, unfortunately for it Ko was standing right in front of it and managed to resist the stun and inflict a considerable amount of damage before it plane shifted away. The party stabilized the guards and learned a bit more about Crozmyr from Shi.

**Belial**

5th Kesh of Frost 698 YoR

the only thing left in Sniv's intellect was the law, so he kept trying to arrest everyone, but he was persuaded to go do paperwork and wandered off, but when the team went to the guard's headquarters he wasn't there. They looked around a bit and Belial kept looking while the others went to bed (availing herself of some *sniff*). She went to a slummy area and eventually saw someone carrying a small humanoid and chased them down as they shouted at her to leave them alone. Sniv (for it was he) got dropped in a dead end but the kidnapper disappeared without a trace. Belial brought Sniv back to the guards headquarters. In the morning Sniv got chewed out by Grimnar for losing the all-key (he didn't have it when Belial found him). Grimnar had to destroy all the all-keys and him that some of the large cost would come out of his reward. Amaya showed up to the Goose to confirm that the team would take the job and the name *Fool's Judgement*. She also arm-wrestled Duratar. The outcome is unknown. Agatha also came to sell banana bread to Jan, but no romance arose, much to Belial's chagrin. Jan evaluated stew vendor named Fergus but decided not to hire him because he lied about his prices and earnings. Instead he hired the streetmeat vendor (he of the froghemoth tongue) Alesso at very reasonable wage. Alesso also said he'd acquire dragon meat from the concord for the grand-reopening. The *Fools* went to try and find the scene where Sniv had been left by the kidnapper, but Belial couldn't remember where it was. Then Ko had something to tell them, so they went to his house, where he revealed that he had contacted Myriad to arrange a meeting, hoping to get information from them. He refused to take anyone else along and so Belial forbade it for safety reasons.

In response he said that he would have to think about his future with the team, which Belial took to be another threat to leave. They yelled at each other and he stormed out. As soon as Ko had left a Myriad spy revealed himself (he was invisible though) and said that unless Ko told them the whereabouts of Commander Ryker Vainglory by the end of Frost they would kill him. Belial tried to capture him but no one else on the team made any move to help her (Jan wanted to negotiate with the spy), so she gave up and went to search for Ko, fearing that they'd already snatched him. The rest eventually joined her. Belial used the *locate object* spell on his glaive and they found him at the orphanage, where he was sulking on the roof and had to be coaxed back down. Back together again the team to refuge in the cellar of the Goose, asking Duratar to stand guard for invisible people. Ko and Belial yelled a bit more and he revealed that Myriad had issued the threat a while ago, which did not make Belial happy, but she okayed the meeting, figuring that Ko was in danger from Myriad anyway. Duratar killed a man in a black cloak who tried to climb in the window (he may have been invisible; Duratar applied paste to his eyes that allowed him to see through invisibility). The man had a signet ring and a bunch of suspicious potions on him, and everybody agreed that he was probably Myriad. Duratar also nonlethally stopped another man from climbing in the window to get a drink because the front door was blocked. With the argument resolved, Belial went to the corps paladins' moot and told them all that Julian and Ko could be absolutely trusted and that they should all be respectful to them.

**Julian**

Belial missed morning prayers and so Julian went to check on her and found her in her room fairly drunk in the midst of an existential crisis on her beliefs and that she's a hypocrite. They then headed to the goose where they met Ko and as he went to walk outside nearly walked into a shadowy figure and yanked him inside. The figure revealed himself to be a bandit captain the party had run afoul with twice previously. He implied that he had Adran hostage and offered to trade Ko's glaive. After negotiations fell through they attacked the man and he cast the same shadow magic that Ko uses. Once he was weakened he used a spell to dissolve into shadowy smoke and fled. As they started to make chase through Ko's mark on the man they realized Adran was just at home and went to check on him. They then got Sniv who was out working. Everyone then followed Ko's mark to the edge of the city before heading back where they were intercepted by Amaya. They all went back to the goose to discuss what Ko had learned yesterday. Apparently Myriad has some plan to sacrifice %20 of the population to save the rest and that's why they want Vainglory's location to try to get his cooperation. Amaya left and Belial went to take a nap while Sniv Ko and Julian further discussed what to do next.

**Ko**

The Fools arrived at the royal palace and were quickly set upon by makeup artists and others that helped to make the Fools presentable to the audience that would attend the astral eve ceremony. After cleaning and talking the ceremony began and the Fools were individually introduced to the crowd. As Sniv was introduced to the crowd he held his manacles above his head and asked for Peter Krin to answer for his crimes. Unfortunately Peter Krin was not apprehended at that time. Belial picked up Sniv and sat with him to avoid looking foolish. The rest of the group was introduced and the ceremony continued. Once Belial released Sniv he attempted an escape but was quickly subdued once again. As the ceremony continued Nymeria flew over the plane three times, the fire break team was named and so were the Fools. After the ceremony Sniv escaped and attempted to arrest Mr Krin. After collecting the fine from him, Mr Krin burned the receipt he was meant to sign and fled from the scene of yet another crime...

The Fools returned to the corps for a large party where the group talked with a number of captains hoping to see who their handler should be and drank far more than anyone should drink in one night. Belial got black out drunk and woke at the protest grounds with war paint on, Julian ~~may have~~ had a great night with a very *forward* Captain (who was hoping to *handle* the party moving forwards) and also woke at the protest grounds with war paint on, Sniv nearly died after insulting a fire break team that had just lost a team member, Jan drank and acted like a ~~boring~~ normal human being, Ko stumbled around asking people question he had on his mind but ended up at the dawnspire surrounded by ladies under garments, Adran drank responsibly and helped keep belial from dying like a good party dad

**Jan**

The next day the party gathered at the Goose to discuss which captain they would like to choose. After some mild yelling they settled on choosing Marad. They then discussed the various notes that had been acquired and made sure all party members were up to date with the most current Intel. There was then a brief discussion of the cult of dusk and what the party knew about it. The party knew very little. As the party was discussing the Intel gained from Harbinger, the Fey Ginger kid walked into the bar to tell Agatha that he was going to war With all the discussions over and nothing else to yell about (for the moment) the party all went together to lord Grimnar's office to get paid for a job well done. The party then split up to achieve some quick tasks. Ko and Jan went to the Royal Palace to see if they could identify the leak from within the council. Despite crafting a near fool proof plan, they were unsuccessful. They did however meet a man on the council named Derosario. Derosario didn't give the most conclusive answers to Ko's or Jan's questions, but did mention that he was suspicious of the halflings and specifically one halfling named Pidlim Quickfoot. They also learned that the troops go to war at the start of Scorch Belial and Sniv went to the corps to learn what they could about the boomstones, but made a quick detour so that they could make amends to firebreak 2. No boomstones were set off by the enemy side during the battle, meaning all of the enemy's boomstones are still unaccounted for. They learned about cyrildis assembly, a mass manufacturing plant in Blackstone. Then Sniv and Belial sifted through some afteraction reports and read the water quality statement, The water was indeed being stripped of it's magic, but was regaining it through absorption of the earth's magic.

**Sniv**

After meeting in the morning the party went to Ko’s house to test how Sniv got earth powers. Ko said that he had a meeting to get to and left the group. At Ko’s house it was decided to climb a tree and test if the power of the earth given to Sniv can force the target off of a perch. Belial volunteered to climb the tree and be targeted with Sniv’s hold person. Finding no tree in Ko’s yard, the party moved into the King’s Wood. After scaling a hearty tree Belial okayed Sniv to hit her with the hold person. Suddenly a crushing weight settled on Belial and she was forced to prone on the tree branch. After a moment Sniv dispelled his hold on Belial. Belial started to make her way down from the tree only to be attacked by a small stick person. The damage from the attack was minimal, so Belial called out not to kill it. Just as words left her mouth more stick people sprouted from the ground and began to ensnare the party. Both Adran and Julian were able to misty step to safety while Sniv was able to nimbly doge away. This left Jan and Belial who both had different approaches to escape. Belial tried to walk past the twig people who were now joined by a vine that whipped about. Unfortunately the going was slow and Belial began to get swarmed. Jan on the other hand stood his ground and began slaying the twig people. Some of the party became upset with the killing, so Julian jumped in to speed up the retreat. Julian moved in and cast freedom of movement on Belial which allowed her to cast sanctuary on Jan. Kicking off the vines that bound them, the party went back to the relative safety of Ko’s back yard (which until recently had an invisible assassin problem). More earth magic testing was commenced, as Adran moved earth to make a 5 ft. deep hole. Climbing into the hole Belial concentrated on the flow of magic through between magically drained water and the earth as Sniv had done. But no new magic flowed into her. Just then Ko let his presence be known. He looked beat to a pulp and his arm was dislocated. Ko explained that he had gotten into a fight with Grandmaster Shi while in a dream tea slumber trying to communicate with his patron. Belial was able to heal Ko immediately. Feeling much better Ko wanted to try and learn earth magic. Ko climbed into the hole stopped breathing and slumped over. No one noticed because after a moment he awoke and wanted to go to the orphanage. The way Ko answered questions about his intentions tipped off the perceptive members of the party that he was acting unlike himself. The party followed Ko to the orphanage and he told everyone that he had to find something in his room. Suspecting something, Adran went behind the back of the orphanage and saw Ko’s window open and waited to see if someone left by that way. Unfortunately Ko was able to slip out without anyone noticing. After ten minutes Julian went into Ko’s room finding Ko with blood on his claws. An interrogation ensued but there was hole in Ko’s memory. Moving away from the orphanage so as not to traumatize the children, the party doubled back to try and find the source of the blood. A few blocks away the guards had set up a crime scene. A man had been killed with a claw to the throat. Using the power of the core, the party seized an opportunity to take over this investigation. The man was a member of the cult of dusk and had a wealth of jewels and five sending stones that needed a wisp to use. Ko stated leaking wisps only being able to hold five out at a time. The sixth wisp flew to Jan but bounced off into Belial who learned new magic. Members of the party that have tarot cards seem to be able to hold wisps. Using speak with the dead, the party interrogated the dead man about the cult of dusk. And then pocketing the spoils, the party left the crime scene having an extended planning session on the next course of action.

**Adran**

The fools minus Jan and Sniv went to 4Bs magic shop to investigate items that can cast sending, or provide defense against possession. They had letters of sending, The Fools bought one and used it to send a message to Bayega. They also did a trade of the hellhound statue for a recharging wand of detect magic. A concerned concord mage arrived reporting several concerning scrying attempts. After reassuring the mage that this was not concerning the fools set out for the fate to talk to Marad or Richter. About half way to the corps, Ko received another message asking about where and when to set up a portal, instructing them to send a message when they were ready. This meant a return to 4Bs to buy another sending sheet. After arriving at the corps the fools sought out Marad, he approved the Fools leaving the city early.

After leaving the city the Fools sent a message to Bayaga and she opened a portal from her mountain abode. Bayaga, a goliath, invited the fools in. She spoke to Ko: saying that she didn't expect to see him alive; that goliaths were not tolerant of things that smell of evil; Ko was igazi bonded to something that died and he was expected to die as well unless he could be rebound; Ko was bound to something primordial. The patron is a remnant of something long dead, betrayed again and again and is most often known as the vestige of shadow. Bayaga bound Ko to the latent power of the shadow. Possession requires consent so Ko consented to the possession by meditation and trying to connect to the magic. Belial was skeptical so Bayaga performed a guided meditation on the nature of magic for Belial. The vestige of shadow needs Ko to feed on the negative emotions of the plane; to gather the motes and saturate them with hatred, anger; and consume them. Veilmore approached Bayaga 200 years ago asking if she wanted to join his plan to return the vestige to her rightful glory. Veilmore stumbled across the vestiges over 300 years ago. The whisps are accumulated naturally but they are rare. The tarot cards were created by a group of mages who would gather the power of Craizan and store it into items. The cards are activated by drawing them from an appropriate bag. They cause a random effect when drawn. Ko decided to give Belial his card pouch, but Julian wants to hold on to the cards. Bayaga wants to see the vestige returned but won't side with Veilmore because he is in her words, an idiot.

She wants the vestige returned because existing in a shattered, dispersed state is a fate she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy. It was decided to speak to the vestige. Belial grabbed Ko in a bear hug and he opened himself to the vestige. She arrived and immediately attacked Julian with a volley of 5 hate spikes for abandoning her. Julian infected by hatred from the spikes attacked Ko with the spikes on his gauntlet. Belial was able to pin Ko's body on the ground where the vestige started crying and muttering about Julian's betrayal. Belial was able to calm the vestige with a promise of friendship. The vestige had to leave as staying any longer could drive Ko insane. After the vestige's departure Bayaga opened a portal back to Toroban and the Fools returned to the city to discuss what was learned.

**Belial**

The grand reopening of the Drunken Dragon was attended by Corps members in the double digit, bringing the establishment to maybe 1/3 capacity for the first time. Anthony Marfield was the life of the party with the dragon's breath that he and Duratar had reverse-engineered. The partying was interrupted by a Hikathian bishop who objected to the bar's new name. There was a brief scuffle that ended with Duratar flinging the bishop out the door. They got back to drinking, but Jan started seeing the red eyes, this time accompanied by a smile. He said that he wasn't feeling well and went up to bed, and it started talking to him and offering help, and he started yelling back at it. Julian heard this and he and Belial went upstairs to see if he was okay. He decided to come back downstairs and finally tell the team about the eyes, which really worried them, especially when they realized that any prolonged magic, helpful or harmful, did not work on Jan. Jan decided to ask the Concord for help in the morning.

6th Eith of Frost 698 YoR

The next morning everyone went to the Concord except Ko, who went to give a goodbye gift to Alira. They told the front desk person that another one of them was possessed, and got directed to one of the magic testers, who ran a battery of tests and concluded that Jan wasn't possessed, but that he was an impossibility who didn't seem to contain or even conduct magic. He didn't offer any immediate solutions, but with the knowledge that it wasn't possession, the team met up with Ko and Marad and took the teleporter to Blackstone. In Blackstone they asked around and quickly found out that the tabaxi worked at Blackstone Boomstones, but that we shouldn't ask about their appearance. They went there first, dropping Marad off at Fool's Function, the Corps headquarters in the city. At the workshop an employee told them that they already had a problem with fire newts in the foundry, and they ran to help. In the basement there were a bunch of fire newts and a big fire monster temporarily contained under a security dome. They killed most of the news and long-nosed smoke imps that also showed up before the big thing managed to smash the dome, and as it charged at them Julian banished it back home, leaving only a single fire newt still fighting. Adran went to blast it, but missed and hit a pile of charges, causing a huge explosion, but fortunately and inspirationally, Julian managed to hold his concentration and not let the monster back.

**Jan**

6th Eith of Frost 698 YoR

After their encounter in the basement the party headed back up the elevator and met the smith in charge of making the boomstones. He was fire giant named Ergaan. The party inquired about the grade 5 rune charges, and learned that they were purchased by an individual named Xyrgoss.

They stayed at Blackstone Boomstones until the Tabaxi who worked there returned. His name was Claws Under the Eclipse, but his friends called him Kaersat. He had golden runes inscribed on his skin, which he explained was done by Ergaan. The runes gave him some sick but non specific powers including extended life.

Ko and Kaersat talked about other Tabaxi in the world and some goings on over the last 25 years. Kaersat made the observation that Ko smelled sad

The party learned that Kaersat was an adventurer from a long time ago who travelled with a party consisting of Rosborn, Rico, Luca, and Grandmaster Shi. Most of Kaersat's party was long dead at this point.

The party having collected as much information as the possibly could, left Blackstone Boomstones and headed for Cirildis Assembly. There they learned that 5,000 short swords were collected by a group of Hobgoblins.

The party determined that they had as much info as they were going to get from Blackstone, so they collected Marad and teleported back to Toroban.

The next day Ko went to Grandmaster Shi's house to deliver a package to him, and to discuss what he had learned from Kaersat. Meanwhie Sniv collected his dragonscale shield he had commissioned.

While this happened, Jan went to the docks to buy a Keelboat for the journey ahead. Jan made a foolish deal with the harbormaster, but when Ko and Sniv learned of the deal they started arguing about the 700GP worth of gold Jan had essentially given away.

The ruckus caused by this argument attracted the attention of the guards, and when allegations of bribery got tossed around Jan, Belial, and Adran were sent to jail.

Marad quickly bought their freedom, but after getting out of jail, Belial resigned as the party's leader and retired to her room. Waiting for her in her room was a plaque mocking her recent incarceration.

At this point Belial said she was leaving the party. The rest of the group awkwardly left at Fool's Fate split up. Jan went to the Drunkin' Dragon in case Belial was there. She was not. Ko, Julian, and Sniv went to the nearest cheapest bar in the area and found Belial there. Julian apologized for his and Ko's prank, and asked Belial to return. She did not make her final decision.

## Fourth Arc: Jan's House, the long way round

**Julian**

6th Eith -Orseh of Frost 698 YoR

Ko, after some thinking and alcohol, talked to Belial about what a terrible person he is and said he wanted her to stay. She was concerned with how drunk Ko had gotten and walked him home with the others who were still there. The next day everyone met at the drunken dragon and Belial agreed to stay with the group and that there wouldn't be a leader currently.With that settled the team set out to help their wizard friend. Poor weather slowed their journey and a ranger team warned them off from continuing to the city. Pushing forward they found a suspicious lump in the road, it turned out to be a heavily injured man and an ambush. After repelling the ambush and capturing one of the bandits they went to attack their camp. There they learned that the bandits who were also mercenaries were hired by some lady. Some failed negotiations lead to a fight which ended most bandits dead and one captured.

**Ko**

6th Orseh of Frost 698 YoR

The group returned to Marad and began an interrogation of Julian and Ko under a zone of truth. After some time Belial was satisfied with the answers she received and the party went to sleep.

6th Rath of Frost 698 YoR

The next morning the party made their way to Ryissine and made there way into the quickly constructed base of operations for a debrief. Learning that the sphere contains most of the city and it is very hard for anyone to exit, along with hearing noises coming from within, the party decided to make their way into the sphere. After battling some very odd creatures, that were previously seen in the cave of the sphinx, the party encountered a hooded creature and a huge construct of some kind. After withdrawing from the fight the party made their way to atterans tower and talked about the situation. Making a plan the party set out and set up a magical circle to protect them from the undead-like creatures while the party could communicate with, who they assumed was, A. A battle ensued and the fools came out victorious.

**Sniv**

The battle was grueling so the party was invited to rest at the core HQ and after enjoying a nice meal they went upstairs to sleep. Almost everyone went to sleep except Belial who stayed up to watch Jan sleep. In the middle of the night Julian slinked out of bed towards Sniv. Sniv and Adran didn’t hear Julian slinking around their room. Upon reaching Sniv Julian began savaging him with tooth and claw. Adran did not hear the thrashing nor did Ko, Jan, or Belial in the adjoining room. Sniv only awoke for an instant before his throat was ripped out.

As Sniv died the cloak he was wearing exploded into a cloud of crows and turned him invisible. The crows awoke Adran who began eldritch blasting and yelling out. The yelling woke the rest of the party. Ko sprinted into the hallway to block off the monstrous Julian’s escape. Jan ran right through the wall separating the two rooms and jumped onto Sniv’s bed to land a powerful strike on the beast. Unfortunately Sniv’s invisible corpse was trampled in this charge. Belial was also able to bolt out of bed and clamber through the hole left by Jan. With the whole party now converging on the room Julian tries to grab Sniv in his mouth and run but he is blocked by Jan. Noting the full moon Jan exclaimed that Julian is a werewolf. Julian escapes out the window but is blasted unconscious by Adran reverting back to a human. Seeing the mulched corpse of Sniv, Belial runs out of the room to quickly get a healer. Jan follows her and within just under a minute they are able to put Sniv under gentle repose. Julian fights for his life as no one stabilizes him but he is able to return through luck and willpower. The party locked Julian in a cell for his safety and confronted him with questions about what just happened.

It turns out that he had gotten lycanthropy from a corps captain and instead of getting the disease removed he went drinking with Belial and forgot about it. Belial was able to remove the lycanthropy disease from Julian and guarded him until morning.

7th Silth of Frost 698 YoR

The next day Amaya came over to check on the party and hand the location of the core leader to Ko that he can use to bargain for his life. Sniv who was kept in a box for the rest of the night until Julian was let out of his cell and was able to revivify him. With the note delivered Amaya decided to leave post haste to set up an escape plan for the leader. The party then headed to Atteran and exchanged information he was very concerned about the amount of things relating the Cult of Dusk to the Cave of Veilmour and began packing to make sure of some things. Atteran also said that he would be able to allow the party to speak to A. even though she had her head caved in. So the party went looking for the body. And found it roughly in the same spot on top of someone’s house facing the central square. When the party was about to head back to Atteran, Ko said he was feeling tired and went to lay down. Remembering the last time Ko went to “lay down” he killed someone Sniv and Jan went with him. Julian, Belial, and Adren asked A’s spirit questions and learned about her revenge plot. As Ko went back to HQ and had a talk with the Shadow under Sniv’s watchful gaze and Jan’s mediocre cooking. Ko was trapped for a bit in the Shadow’s room until she decided to let him go. The party reconvened at HQ to exchange notes and the plan going forward was kept mostly the same. The party is now going to look for A’s house in the town while they wait for their boat to arrive.

**Adran**

There was some discussion about Sniv and his comfort around Ko and Julian, fearing possession. The virtues and qualities of Vanessa's reproductive system were also discussed. Sniv went to sleep somewhere else, and Belial, Jan, and Adran each spent a shift watching over Julian and Ko. Ko barely slept haunted by thoughts of having done something wrong Adran offered some comfort and told him to get some sleep. Sniv woke up being watched over by Marad. Marad told the Fools that he was leaving for a bit to escort prisoners back to Toroban and would meet them again at Jan's village. Marad had also found a naval training exercise for the Fools to participate in. First, however, the Fools paid another visit to Atteran to confirm that Julian's armor isn't a threat to the party and Ko isn't possessed by the shadow. Atteran confirmed that Julian's armor did what he said it did but added that it would also attempt to overcome the wearer with bloodlust if they were hit. The bloodlust specifically targets the attacker. Attaran also offered to open a window into the opposite so the Fools could see whatever had the potential to possess Ko, or Ko if he was possessed. It would take and hour however so the Fools asked if they could come back after the naval exercise.

After the exercise the Fools headed back to Atteran's, the door was opened by the dog, and the Fools only just made in the door before breaking down into an argument. Ko said that he didn't want the ritual performed. After some badgering by Belial Ko finally apologised to Julian for sticking a glaive in his face. The argument then went in circles about the impossibility of proving that someone wasn't possessed or wouldn't become possessed in the future. Partway through the argument Belial embraced the futility and left. After determining that the argument was unwinnable the Fools returned to Fools Folly for dinner and drinks. Sniv headed off the his secondary location for another night.

During breakfast a bunch of people showed up with contracts for the corps. The ladder loaning man arrived asking for help clearing out some rats. The rats were dealt cleared out with no difficulty, The Fools then went to the concord and searched for any remaining items. All that was found was an arcane mark that read "The Belltower", deciding that whoever left the mark probably pointed to the belltower on the church to the many faced mother, the fools then headed there curious as to what they would find. According to an attendant at the church, the belltower was abandoned a long time ago. The entrance to the tower was locked and chained, and none of the keys from "A" fit the lock. Adran, Belial, and Sniv flew up to the top of the tower and dropped a rope. Belial yelled down that the rope was ready interrupting Julian and Ko who were in the middle on another argument, this one about religion. Julian climbed the rope but Ko let Belial pull him up. It was determined that the trap door wasn't trapped and the Fools descended into the tower finding a bear trap at the bottom of the ladder.

The room was rimmed in bookshelves full of various religious texts there was also a bed, dresser, and a writing desk with paper, and inkwell and pen, and a box. Belial started investigating the dresser, finding various clothes. One of the knobs on a drawer pulled out to reveal a hook, which Julian identified a lift hook for opening false bottoms. Opening the false bottom of the drawer triggered a gas trap, Ko then stuck his hand in and poked himself on a needle, not seeing any more traps Ko pronounced the drawer safe whereupon Belial pulled it out and triggered a rune charge. This set the dresser on fire and destroyed the documents stored there. The box was investigated next revealing a dancing elf figure and a small fortune of assorted gems. Returning to the Fools Folly, the Fools checked to see if there was any armor that could replace Julain's, however there were no magical options. So the Fools went to the bar to get drinks. Twin Star arrived, returning from the mountain. Twin Star updated the Fools on where they'd been. Ko started a bar fight by throwing a mug of beer. After the fight died down, The Fools had a chat about Igazi bonds.

**Belial**

7th Silth - 7th Oust of Frost 698 YoR

In the morning Ko pointed out that the cult might try to hide their operations upriver (if they exist), so the Fools asked Twin Star to scout up the river for them while they went to the monastery and to Jan's village, and the Twins obliged. Then they embarked on Jan's boat and started sailing upriver with the wind at their backs. Belial and Julian caught a fish by compelling it to a duel. They discussed the wisps and Ko agreed to share them, giving one to Belial and Adran each. In the evening as they sought anchorage they saw a dim blue light onshore behind a rock. Sniv and Jan guarded the boat while the rest went to investigate. They met a lizardman named Morj whose sword gave off the glow. Morj told them that he chases the experience of divinity, and had iconography from diverse faiths tattooed all over. Previously some Hikathian Missionaries had gotten offended at his tattoos and attacked him, and he'd killed their leader, and now he suspected that they were coming to kill him. Ko asked Morj about the wisps and he produced a couple, even though he didn't know about them before. He ate one and entered an ecstatic trance, and as he did the Hikathian assassins came out of hiding, trapped him in iron bands, and started to drag him away. Julian wanted to kill the Hikathians and save him, but Belial refused. Even without her help though, Julian and Adran with ranged assistance from Sniv (who didn't know what was going on in the distance) and eventually grudging assistance from Ko, killed some of them and the rest fled. They freed Morj and, finding out they had the same destination, decided to take him with them to the monastery.

**Julian**

7th Rest of Frost 698 YoR

The next day as the ship continued up river, Ko realised they were being followed by another boat. As the boat drew closer they realised it was being crewed by Valemore. As he drew closer the party realized they couldn't out pace him and Jan manned the ballista and sunk Valemore's ship with the blast charge he had bought previously. Valemore teleported onto the ship and began focusing on Julian and Ko. He taunted Adran, saying that Nymeria would betray Adran like she had betrayed him. Valemore was powerful and dangerous, causing significant injury but was able to be repelled before anyone was felled and he teleported away. From the sunken ship Jan retrieved a cornucopia of wind that would allow them to sail in calm air. That night Jan's nightmares were worse than usual and Belial woke him. Jan saw and attacked a spectre he saw standing on the deck that no one else could see resulting in fear and confusion from Belial and Ko. Belial had some magic drained from her and caught a glimpse of the spectre and Ko jumped dimensions and saw the spectre fully materialized and was able to talk to it. The spectre said it was just trying to protect Jan and that it was the King of Fel Sarine. The conflict was left there leaving few answers and an air of uncertainty and post discussions were interrupted by a posse of gator bears attacking being drawn by the commotion

**Ko**

The gator-bears attacked the party after the previous commotion. The fools were attacked and dragged away by the gator-bears nearly having a number of casualties. As the battle continued Sniv decided using his earth magic on Belial was the solution to their problems... thankfully everyone made it out alright and there was only mild screaming afterwards.

7th Streth of Frost 698 YoR

Making their way into bridgetown the party met a group known as VIP (Vilepaw Industries Professionals) who were working within the town to tax those travelling through and the towns people as payment for their protecting the town from a horde of Gnolls. The Fools went about collecting information and getting taxed but managed to determine the VIP would leave provided their job and payment was complete. Ko went out to talk with the Gnolls in the demonic armor Julian has and accidentally started a frenzy which caused a number of casualties on the Gnolls side. Returning to the plains with a saved Gnoll, Ko told the Gnolls head into the stormpeaks and the rest of the party paid the VIP. The night came to a close, town was saved and the VIP began getting ready to leave for their next job...

**Sniv**

A restful evening was had, with half of the party sleeping on the ship while the other half sleeping at the only inn in bridge-town. Early in the morning the Belial bought a climbing harness and Sniv bought 40 darts and 40 arrows as well as 20 rations. After a minor shopping spree the party sailed up river. Not realising until they had arrived at their destination that Morj had got off the ship at Bridge-Town and never got back on. At this revelation the party collectively shrugged and anchored the boat. The party’s destination was the monastery of Grandmaster Shi’s order, but all they saw at the described location was an old wooden hut. Knocking on the old hut’s door the party was greeted by an equally old man who asked if they would like to take the path opening his back door revealing a path to the monastery. Without asking for clarification the party said yes and the old man explained how to walk the path. “Now that you are on the path, do not turn back or fall asleep and the path will lead you to enlightenment”. Nodding sagely the party decided to sleep the rest of the day on the boat. But as soon as they had turned around the party felt exhausted. Noticing that they were indeed on the path in a metaphysical sense and feeling more exhausted than ever the party trudged onto the physical path. As the party walked a short distance from the old hut a swirl of dense fog surrounded them. Not being able to see Sniv suggested that everyone hold hands, so a line was formed with Jan at the front and Adrin at the back. Adrin started placing sticks into the ground as markers in case they became disoriented. The path was cut through a rock which formed a small wall on either side. The building material used for the paths construction was cobblestones that became uneven at some point causing the party to blindly stumble. As they stumbled some of the party lost their grip on their partner’s hand. Stopping immediately the separated groups called out to each other, but their cries were lost in the damping effect of the magical fog. The groups were: Group A consisting of Jan and Sniv, Group B containing Belial, Ko, and Julian , and Group C which only had Adran. Not able to turn back and look for their compatriots, each group decided it was best to carry on the path. Belial started to communicate with Adran using the wisp-powered sending stones. So when they both arrived at the same man stuck under a tree they thought they had found each other. But when Belial lifted the tree, Adrin's man under the tree remained trapped. Using shape earth Adrin was able to free his man who crawled out from under the tree jumped to his feet and thanked Adrin. Suspecting the path branched in some way and this was just some unlucky coincidence for identical woodsmen in the area Group B and C continued on the path. Group A also found the same man under a tree. Sniv wanted to kill the broken man as both Jan and him didn’t have any way to heal crushed limbs or fluid-filled lungs. But Jan warned against it because approaching this man might be a trap and as tired as they were, an ambush would be taxing. Jan and Sniv walked a wide path around the tree. And as they left the man to die a deep weariness filled them compounding on the exhaustion from before. They agreed that even lifting a finger to help the trapped man was impossible as this fog was making just walking around a tree as exhausting as a nine hour forced march. The groups all arrived at a big door with some magical runes inscribed on it as well as a recessed handle. The door was under a stone arch so Group A sized up climbing up the door, over the arch, and to the other side. But before trying such a feat of agility and strength Jan suggested that they try the door and see if it was unlocked. Surprisingly it was but as soon as Jan and Sniv passed the threshold the exhaustion they felt increased to the level of an eleven hour forced march. The only member of Group C studied the rune on the door and explained it to Group B. “It says here that magic enters and strength goes around” Adrin explained. Belial, trusting in the magic of her group rather than their two-thirds pitiful strength, walked confidently through the door after testing that it wasn’t deadly to the touch or that no one was on the other side. Adren did also walk through the door, but was deemed not magical enough suffering exhaustion. Next on this path of trials the groups came to a man eating cooked venison in a cosy camp off the path. Groups B and C interrogated this hunter finding that he had a different name for each group but the same set up. The hunter offered them a place to rest but Groups B and C refused not wanting to fall for the plot of a drowsy good meal. Continuing on their way both groups suffered exhaustion. Group A took the offer of a good meal, but did not want to leave the path for fear of losing it. As with the magical fog surrounding them only a few feet could be seen in either direction. The hunter did not share his meal but took some offered trail rations from Jan and Sniv’s impromptu picnic. Continuing on the path the groups came across the markers left by Adrin and a designated marker in each group was made to mark the sticks seeing if they passed by them a second time. After a while the sticks stopped and the groups found themselves confronted with an orc child muttering to himself. Belial was only able to understand that the boy was called Grug Grug with her rudimentary orcish. The child was dragging a heavy sword behind himself and was falling asleep on his feet. So each group helped the child stay on his feet and kept him walking. As they walked with the child each member of every group had to fight off the weariness of the journey. Luckily none of them succumbed. Just when everyone felt like they could go no further the fog lifted and they were at the monastery. Each group looked around and saw the other members of the party were there, each holding onto the same orc boy. Above the doors of the monastery was the inscription “And you also need luck”. “Might as well go first,” said Julian, stumbling forward. It might be a trap everyone else warned, as Julian turned into mist and passed through the inky-blackness of the threshold. Calling after Julian to see if he was okay returned a null result of complete silence. So each member of the party sticking close to Belial made their way into the darkness. Jan, Sniv, and Adren stepped out of the darkness back onto the beach in front of the door to the old man’s wooden hut. The old man opened his door and told these weary travelers that they can rest upstairs and try the path again on the morrow. Not believing a word he said Jan, Sniv, and Adren began scheming on a way to fight exhaustion to stay awake for this “second attempt” tomorrow morning. Belial, Julian, Ko, and Grug Grug stepped into the monastery and were greeted by the head monk. Wearily Ko took out grandmaster Shi’s package that they had been sent to deliver and handed it to the head monk. Asking after the rest of their group the head monk was surprised to find that the couriers had taken the path and not the express delivery route. But he didn’t complain too much as the path is the first step to enlightenment and he was willing to accept the Fool’s Judgment into the order. Not wanting to repeat his enrolment speech twice, the head monk contacted the gatekeeper at the hut to send the rest of the Fools over. After direct communication with Belial the Fools standing in front of the wooden hut were ready to take the express path. This path was much the same sans fog and the walk only took 20 minutes. After being reunited the Fool’s Judgment began hearing the head monk’s spiel. Basically the path is the first step to being an initiate and the next step is completing a quest to bring knowledge back to the monastery. The quest he has for the Fools is to excavate a wish-granting sword from a lake guarded by a fearsome beast. Jan was excited to accept, but when he was told there would be no reward other than progression in the order for the three who made it through the path, he became less so. The head monk leaves for a while to get a reward for delivering the letter. During this time a large ork comes by to collect his kid. When asked why his kid was on the path he explained that it was his job. Jan and Sniv realise that the monks on the path are just actors and feel less terrible leaving a man to die. The head monk returns with a bag filled with a set of dwarven full-plate explaining that it enhances a dwarf who wears it much like the elvin full-plate worn by Jan the human would do for an elf. After a humble meal the Fools are shown to their cells. As the party begins to drift off to sleep Belial and Ko have a heart to heart. Ko is worried that Belial is losing the natural cautiousness needed for preservation. She is charging into danger more readily than before. Belial did not realize that this was happening and voiced how she believes party cohesion is lessening because of lack of trust and annoyance. As Ko and Belial stand under a canopy covered in moonlight they hear a sound. It is a song so beautiful that they go to check it out. They find that the source of the song is behind a locked door. Ko wants to check it out but Belial doesn't think it’s safe. They begin arguing over the singing waking Sniv who goes to find a magic user to stop this magical singing. Sniv finds that the rest of the monks in the monastery are sleeping with wax in their ears. Jan is awoken and is compelled by the song to the locked room. As the rest of the party wake up (or are shaken awake in Adrin’s case) they congregate in the hallway to the locked room. Belial is struggling to hold both Jan and Ko from the room. When Sniv explains the wax belial begins stuffing wax into the ears of herself then Ko. Coming to his senses after having the wax stuffed in his ears Ko realizes that going into the room is bad actually and rushes to stop Jan who has made it into the room. Inside the room is a siren who slips into her pool and grabs hold of Jan. After failing to hold the magic-proof Jan with hold person Sniv is also compelled by the song. In the nick of time Belial and Ko work to restrain Jan and Adrin hold-person’s Sniv. The song ends and the siren says she no longer wants to eat the Fools and after answering some questions jumps back into her pool. The exhausted party shambles to their rooms thinking about nothing but sleep.

**Belial**

7th Orseh of Frost 698 YoR

In the morning Belial put on her armour and realised that it was one of the legendary sets of Chasm-Walker armour. She ran out and proudly showed everyone how pillars of stone would slowly rise from the ground and shift around at her command, but was reprimanded by a monk for destroying the garden. The Fools talked in the garden for a bit, comparing Sniv and Jan and Belial's childhoods, and Ko told them about active listening. Then they picked up Drakus and Amfini, who would come with them to find the wishing sword and bring it back to the monastery. As they walked back to the old man's hut at the bottom of the path they found Morj again; he'd been trying unsuccessfully to walk The Path and was almost keeling over from exhaustion. They were able to convince him to go back into the hut and take a rest before continuing his attempts. The Fools sailed on, some of them trying to sleep off their exhaustion from The Path, but were woken up when they encountered halfling fleeing downstream on a rowboat from a swarm of goblins on flying frogs. He tossed something onto the boat, said it was our problem now, and kept going as the goblins reached us. Fortunately Sniv had recently learned goblin and was able to negotiate with them. They learned that it was an idol of Vorsesh that protected them from Vorsesh while it hunted. The goblins had all kinds of restrictions on what could be done with the idol, it couldn't touch the ground, they couldn't touch it, but the fools managed to float it to them in a barrel and they accepted it and left

As they sailed on they noticed something on the shore was keeping pace with the boat. Jan shot at it with the ballista but that didn't scare it away. They tried to take naps, but a tentacle cat kept sneaking up and trying to pull people off the boat, which prevented them from resting peacefully. Eventually they found the turn off from the main river and made camp. They tried to go to bed despite the monsters that were still stalking them. On the very first watch the tentacle cat attacked, and when they fought back it called for help and the other monster, which turned out to be its mother Vorsesh, came to help. They fought. The fight ended with the Fools driving away the tentacle cats, and then finally being able to rest.

**Adran**

7th Rath of Frost 698 YoR