19 - Yet Again to Wander the Gold Hills

by lichbrush

## Cast

Greg Hansen - Dungeon Master

Broken - Edwin Blackbeard

JonDungeonMaster - Kreature

Shadow - Murdock

SoulCrusher - Culver

## Recap

#### Encounter 1: In Town

Kreature sets out to find the cabbage merchant with stories of hidden treasure, but the man is absent from the town and no one has seen him recently.

### Day 1

North East then east at a normal pace

DC 10: Navigation Passed

*ENTERS Gold Hills*

#### Encounter 2: Giant Goats chased by bird people

As the party continues in the gold hills the whole party feels the ground shaking as a cloud of dust heads towards them. A small group of giant goats are coming towards them. Kreature places spiked plants between them and the goats as everyone prepares to receive these goats. The goats kill themselves running into the spikes as bird creatures who were chasing them fly in from beyond and look for new prey. The first three birds are put to sleep by Kreature and Culver as Kreature turns into a Dire Wolf and moves to engage. Murdock skewers one right through the eye with his new bow as is swoops towards Kreature. As Culver invokes the chaos of his magic to send a stream of fire at one of the bird people the dire wolf begins to fly.

The dire wolf paws its way through the air to engage the bird reinforcements. Two of the birds swoop down at Edwin as Murdock snipes another from the air and another one goes to help his friend deal with the flying wolf. Culver throws another gout if flame blinking momentarily from existence. The flying wolf disregards the birds fighting it and dive bombs the one attacking Edwin as edwin brings down his maul, the two together slaying it. One of the remaining two awake charges Murdock. The wolf goes for the sleeping one but gets all grass. Edwin and murdock combine to slay the last awake one. Murdock and Kreature slay two of the sleeping ones where they lay as Edwin shakes one awake and fights it honorably, slaying it. These birdfolk carry just javelins and nothing else.

#### Encounter 3: Kreature in the Night

The party beds down for the night early, butchering the goats. Kreature fills his cauldron with water that he finds digging below the river bed. He casts create water raining on his tent. He builds a fire inside the tent, he grinds the dreamroot to a powder. He channels his warlock power into his cauldron then puts the dream root and eye of roper into the boiling cauldron. Kreature turns into a giant spider and drips his poison. He chants a poem:

*Midnight moon so far above*
*Help me share my master’s love*
*Down below in this last of mists*
*I beg I beckon thee where your light doth kiss*
*Midnight moon now trapped in this mountain’s water*
*Connect now this imbiber to the dream of my master’s slaughter*
*Eye in the sky to eye of roper*
*Bind the one who’s deal must broker*
*Midnight moon to seal this deal*
*Instead of vellum*
*I offer now this spider venom.*
*Divide the mind*
*Guide the soul*
*Bind the body*
*Assert control*
As Kreature speaks the words the cauldron begins to spurt and bubble turning green and then black becoming almost oil-like in its thickness. Kreature pours the potion into a glass vial to be used later.

#### Encounter 4: Perytons’ Stalking

As Culver is on watch he sees two shadows in front of him as he turns around he doesn't see another figure. He casts light and sees above they are surrounded by 3 winged figures with goatlike faces and antlers, screams out and runs for Kreature's tent. The first dives in at Culver striking him down in a single slash. The second comes after Murdock goring him with its charge. The last attacks the tent striking Kreature. Edwin smashes the peryton that struck down Culver twice as Murdock stabs it in the back killing it. Kreature turns into a bear causing both perytons to consider him the biggest threat and swoop back down at him knocking him unconscious. Murdock binds the wounds of Culver as one of the remaining perytons swoops at him and knocks him out. Edwin is knocked out by the other peryton leaving Culver as the only remaining conscious party member.

Culver pulls a healing potion out of Murdock's bag and administers it to him, Murdock goes and tends to the wounds of Kreature. One Peryton rips up the back side of the tent as the other strikes Kreature back down. As the party is in a harrowing situation Edwin bleeds to death. Culver drops one of the remaining Perytons to sleep. Murdock patches himself up and dodges the dive attack of the peryton as the sorcerer throws more flame, his strange magic then replaces his words with pink bubbles. The Peryton swoops back at the sorcerer impaling him and dropping him to the ground as Murdock shoots it through from behind finding the perfect spot to end its life. Murdock then ensures his allies will not bleed out before slitting the throat of the sleeping peryton.

Murdock sets up the Peryton heads on javelins around the camp. Murdock buries his friend Edwin.

As the rest of the party goes to sleep Kreature turns into a badger monstrosity, digs up Edwin and eats his heart before recovering the corpse.

No Foraging Necessary

### Day 2

East Normal pace

DC 15 Navigation passed

#### Encounter 4: Gnolls on the Ridge

As they are traversing on the second day Culver spots up on the cliffside 7 dark shapes that look doglike standing as tall as a man holding long spears by their side. Culver screams “holy shit its raining dogs” as he casts sleep knocking one off the ridge badly injuring it, as Kreature does the same knocking another down as he turns into a dire wolf. Culver fires a fire bolt which turns into a stream of 7 magic missiles badly injuring one at the top of the cliff which Murdock takes down while helping Culver back to his feet after taking a spear. Kreature as a wolf finishes one of the fallen gnolls leaving 5 remaining. The gnolls reach for longbows sending an arrow straight through the eye of Culver. Kreature turns back into himself and fires a moonbeam scattering the remaining gnolls.

Kreature eats Culver's heart in full view of Murdock who does not stop him. They find some treasure and a featureless iron holy symbol as well as a glass chess bishop.

The two found a nice covered area with an overhang to be more hidden from the air at night.

#### Encounter 5: Shapeshifter in the Night

Murdock sees a humanoid shape in the night shift into a 4 legged beast and come near the camp. He shakes Kreature awake and points at it. It changes into a half beast shape. The creature appears to be hunting. The two press against their alcove hoping for the thing to pass [group stealth average 23]. It kills a larger animal and drags it away.

No Foraging necessary

### Day 3

East slow pace

DC 15 Navigation passed

#### Encounter 6: A Stairway to Gold[unrand]

Coming into view is a set of stairs curling up into the heavens 70 feet nearby a large tree with a glinting of gold at the top. There is a building below it. Kreature begins to inspect the tree suspecting some kind of foul magic. He notices the stairs are magical inscribed with runes with his detect magic, they are dwarven runes of protection. There is a first floor to the building and a small part of the second floor where the stairs are. Kreature can not spot any animals in the tree. Twigs and acorns litter the bottom floor. He searches for something that is hidden in the roots but finds no particularly special. Upon inspection the tree appears very well tended. The second floor is free of any debris, vines or growth, it seems swept clean. The stairs are made of black iron. Murdock climbs the stairs and as he gets above the canopy of the tree the air begins to shimmer and coalesce into the vague form of a humanoid whose voice rings out “Stop now, come no further, the stairs are not for the likes of you, go back now”. Murdock does back down and reports this to Kreature.

Kreature makes his way up the stairs as he makes a plea to Serpentor, what he calls his patron hoping that is plan works and promising his heart to Serpentor if it fails. Kreature casts Armor of Agathys being surrounded by this protecting chlorine gas feeling the aid of his patron. As Kreature comes above the canopy the winds come together violently in gale the air creature saying “Go back you tainted one go back or know Yarala has stopped you in your tracks”. Kreature calls out “I was really hoping you were a fey because I really don’t care about wind in the slightest”. Kreature is blown off the stairs by the air being and falls away from the tree and the building, crashing into the ground. Kreature gets up and heals himself, and Yarala stays above on the stairs.

#### Encounter 5: Imbibing the Potion

Kreature offers Murdock to drink his strange concoction with him but Murdock declines. Kreature drinks the oily potion. Murdock smells rotting from Kreature's body as his body lies stiff. Kreature wakes up in a place that is dark with almost no light a sulfuric gas surrounds him. He sees rotting husks of human beings with furs and horned helms carrying weapons and amulets and necklaces. Kreature turns to see a hydra with thousands of heads which laugh and turn. A thousand voices speak to him and they welcome Kreature to Serpentor's abode. One of the heads bites as Kreature picking him up and placing him. Kreature can then see this hydra fighting an army of furred barbarians including one with a stag's head with a halberd of immense power. As the Hydra slays hundreds or thousands of men it is slowly dying. The man with the stag's head strikes the final blow. As the hydra dies it reaches out a head and bites the stag headed man in a torso as their blood merges. The fools of the remaining barbarians who slaughtered Kreature's master take the man's body and weapon Kreature feels his master's desire for this weapon and knows that it would please him and make sure he would not be slain again. There is a procession with the corpse to a tower with stags antlers that reach high above the plain, they lock the body away beyond a dark black door that is unopenable. Kreature accepts this quest from his master and sees a ring of dark black iron inlaid with silver which he must have to open the door.

Kreature awakens to see that one of the donkeys has passed out. Kreature was unconscious for more than half an hour. Murdock tells Kreature that Arlo found such a ring on his last expedition.

Kreature frustrated by his encounter with Yarala shoots his rod of lightning bolt at the tree and runs away as storm clouds surround the tree putting out the fire. An unnatural rain sets in as the two flee the winds whip. Eventually the winds die down as the set in for the night.

Foraging DC 15 1 pass 1 fail

### Day 4

Slow pace back to Farfield Keep

DC 15 Navigation passed

#### Encounter 6: Faerie Dragon Ritual

Kreature notices far to the south there is a field with fey or sprites or wisps dancing in a small circle around a humanoid skeleton. Kreature casts Pass without Trace as the two creep up closer to this event. The body is much larger than a human probably some 12 foot tall wolf man it has grey and white fur which has been pulled away revealing ragged flesh underneath. It seems freshly killed and those dancing around it are 9 faerie dragons that are long and wispy and have almost humming bird-like wings they flash different colors. They dragons seems to incant something in lizard sounds. The two bunker down to watch. As the powder they are given coalesces and something steps through, too big to be a human too small to be a giant. It has big blue and green and red fingers and toes much to long. It speaks to the faerie dragons then picks up the corpse and as it does the corpse twists and contorts and becomes a human shape with unusual features, almost like a too tall human before both the new creature and the strange fingered one disappear once more. Murdock recognizes some of the features as similar to the ghouls he fought in the sunken fort.

Kreature begins to follow one of the faerie dragons which split in multiple directions and casts sleep but the faerie dragon ignores it and keeps going.

#### Encounter 7: Spider Cave

The two notice a cave with spider webs not far away but decide to ignore it for the time being.

#### Encounter 8: Hippogriffs on the Hillside

As they are making their way home Murdock see on the cliffs above them 3 horselike creatures with wings and eagle-like beaks. The two sneak forward and Murdock fires at one shooting it out of the sky. Kreature turns into a spider and moves in to protect Murdock. The two dive in taking chunks out of the spider that fights back ineffectually. Murdock fires another pair of shots taking a second out of the air leaving only one left. As the hippogriff turns to flee the spider bites it dropping it out of the air with its poison. Kreature takes feathers from the hippogriff before tossing it off a cliff.

Foraging DC 15 2 passes

### Day 5

Slow pace back to Farfield Keep

DC 15 Navigation passed

The Party returns to Farfield Keep