Meet 132, Adv 15, 8/2/25

And that ended the 1st adventure of the 3 planned to avert Ragnarok. We had 2 character deaths during it and the group will get a few sessions to putter around before heading off to the 2nd location - what they know of as the Stronghold of Donnegarten. However in this time, it hasn't been discovered by the dwarves and the entire place is raw. 2nd wind back adventure? Thief of Time.

Write up follows:

Plantmonth 24th, 12:10 AM, 289 of the 29th age. We talked about the plan and how we should get back down the Crater sooner than later. Things are not safe up here and we needed to go. Shim cast invisibility on himself again and once sure we were sage and ready, worked our way back to Cliffside to try and get to Remembrance Overlook. It was while trying to pass behind the Speaker of the Sun’s palace that we noted the passage here was guarded by two elves, neither relaxed, each on alert. We did not trust the trip passed invisible or not. Looking up, we decided to head back to the stairs near the House of Silk and Smoke and take the Cliffside walk at the top of the rise. We would be walking through the Canopy section of the city but it would be safer and less chance to run into a patrol.

Checking the stairs to be empty, we made our way up to the walk and then stayed along the edge for the mile plus until we came to the steps down. These too (WMC – all good!) were empty and we quickly made it to the floor. We did not want to engage any of the Vael Th’anar in the area so took the longer way around. We passed the looted souvenir station and then made it to the great stone gate. Wilhelm took out the rune key, arranged it to the door, and rolled the stone to the right.

We entered the crater and waited until we saw the door close again. 2:35 AM. We went to the crater and looked down. We opened the hut, ate a full meal, and then took out all the coils of rope. Shim took 4 and we tied here at the crater’s entrance. Shim used the cloak to turn to a bat and Wilhelm shifted form to a raven once more. Then we began the long climb down.

The long trip took hours and hours. The 3 friends made sure they went nowhere new, stepped only where they had been before. And left ropes dangling behind at every location and locale that merited it. At one point Wilhelm got forced out of animal form and had to use a spider climb spell at the last section. But by 9:40 AM we were back at the 7th level and rejoined the group in the Githyanki stronghold. We shared what we had learned above and we talked about our options on getting out and getting out of town. Right now though, the group needed to rest so they slept.

By 6 PM that evening they had woken up and we were getting ready to leave this area for the last time. They ate some of the food they had gotten from the Grocer out of the Hut, refiled their water skins, and made sure their spells were up to date and ready. By the time 7 PM came, the group began the long trek back to the surface.

Thanks to the many ropes that Connal had left tied behind, the trip back was not as arduous as it could have been. Nate, Darius, and he made sure each person was tied to the trailing ends and then hoisted up one at a time to the next level up. Then the ropes were sent back down and slowly the process continued.

At the corridor with the multicolored rain, most of us had a time going through but Nate and Captain Asher each got changed to Red and Violet – forcing them to stay in the area hand out in the falling water until their skin changed to tan – and that was good enough. Past midnight, making it the 25th, we had to cross the chamber with the rotting meat from the Leucrotta and Asher called on Maglubiyet to cover the area with a zone of sweet air so the party didn’t get ill.

We had just hit the 2nd level and had nothing left in the tank. It was 6:30 AM when we crawled into the Hut and rested. We awoke about 3:30/4 PM, ate, drank, and cleaned up before continuing our grueling ascent. Finally getting there about quarter to 5. We discussed options (again, not wanting to be at the top and seen). Wilhelm was our best bet to get the animals from the House of Silk and Smoke. He was the only full elf here and as long as he went there just like he was meant to, it should be ok.

The rest of us, thanks to Shim's very much repeated casting of invisibility, would sneak around the town and make our way to the airship docks where we would meet up with Wilhelm and then the entire party head to the farms and fields to await contact from Twilick on the pick up.

We wanted to get the door open but late enough that the setting sun should obfuscate our passage. So we waited till 7 when the sun was down, then we hit the surface, went to the door, and Wilhelm opened the portal. Before it went, we had treated the area with Silent Portal to mask the door’s opening as well as a darkness spell, to hide the soft light that came out from the door. Once outside we waited for the door to close and took stock.

It was a waxing moon, 5 days to the Full, and no clouds in the sky so visibility was plentiful – good and bad for us. As for the sounds of combat and whatever we heard the other day, it was mostly over. Wilhelm walked as if he had purpose away from Remembrance Overlook, heading east across the city. There were a number of elven guardsmen outside the Speaker’s Palace, being spoken to by the Most Blessed of Frey. He didn’t pause or look on, instead kept going. It was almost 8 when he arrived at the House and he went around to the side where the kennel was and made his presence known to the Kennelmaster.

He wanted the three cats, was asked his name, gave it, and was given a price of 1 gold per day, 8 days. 24 total. He also wanted the two dogs. “Oh? Whose are they?” “Godrick.” Fuck. “I mean Eoghan.”

The master was slow rolling at this time, looking Wilhelm up and down. Sent his apprentice in to go get some info. Came out and then addressed Wilhelm. “Godrick and Eoghan. Both humans. Stayed here a while ago.” He paused, “Friends of yours?”

“No. I hated them. Dirty humans. Killed them.” Patted the sword at his waist.

The apprentice was by the kennel with the bear in it but the master was thinking. “Listen. I know, dirty humans and all. Can’t trust them.” He agreed to let the 2 dogs go, another 16 gold. “But I want something for me.” He pointed to the blade Wilhelm was wearing. “Hate to call for help or what not. Give me that pretty sword there as well and you can go on your way.”

Wilhelm gave up the Lathandar blade, took all the 5 animals on leashes and leads, and left without hurrying away but making sure he was nowhere near the House of the stablemaster. He headed to the southeast and the remains of the airship dock where once he had a chance, lead the animals and himself under the docks and waited in the shadows for the rest of the party to show up.

As for them, they had a harder time, forced to side step and back track often to avoid the wandering guards and people. It seemed that the last bastion of resistance with Little Gorok had ended and the dwarves there had been either captured or maybe killed. The Battlewagon was still floating there on the west end of town and there were way too many people about. It was almost 9 before they exhaustedly made it to the airship docks.

Reconnecting with Wilhelm, the group of invisible friends and the druid and the 5 animals headed southeast into the farms, going through 8 fields before finally stopping and resting. It might have been about 10:30 when someone was heard wandering the fields, we guessed it was a refugee hiding out from elves. He or she wanted nothing to do with Wilhelm and left. By midnight Captain Twilick contacted Shimlagesh and they arranged a pick up in an hour. The Windshade came around the farms, nets out, and we clambered aboard, vacating the invisibility.

Twilick took us south to Bogon, let us know that the Kaiser and Council wanted to speak with them in Bork Keep, and that the Steward would be housing the group there while they got their bearing back. We arrived in Bogon at 10 AM, took on supplies and rested. Shim was looking at the possibility of siphoning one of the manastones into the Rod of Resurrection but realized it was most likely beyond his skill.

On the morning of the 27th we took off from Bogon and made our way to Bork Keep, landing by 7 PM. The Kaiser, Donnegarten, and his Council were there to meet us (the Tilani representative was absent) as well as Steward Bork. We then had a meeting and told the Kaiser what we could. We had to admit to some faults and Darius took the blame for some of it. We were given a stipend of gold to spend and were thanked greatly for our efforts. But we were exhausted and wanted to rest so by 9 PM on Plantmonth the 27th, 289 of the 29th age, we took what rooms the Steward had set for us and fell to an exhausted slumber.

Meet 131, Adv 15, 7/26/25

Plantmonth the 22nd, 1:05 PM, 239 of the 29th age. We doled out some healing but our reserves were damned low. After fixing the worst of our hurts, we gathered into a ragged line and made our way carefully across the glass strewn floor and away from the slowly growing and glowing root of the burgeoning Lifetree.

Once at the hall we walked slowly and with care through the ankle deep piles of busted glass until eventually we were finally past. Beyond there we came to the room that had the Shambling Mound – still filled with roots and growth, but nothing living within. We climbed and pushed, making our way out and then at the “Y” intersection, went back to the northwest to check on the two dead elves there.

Again, male elf killed by a shaft of glass in his chest and his eyes and mouth perforated by numerous shards, and an older grey elven noblewoman. We thought about taking them with us but decidedly ultimately to leave them for now. It was almost 2 when we arrived at the area of the inverted gravity. Without rope we relied heavily on Connal’s monastic skills and Darius’ strength. We had been toting around Godric’s corpse (more meat than body, but still hopeful) during this time as the party did a twist and hand off one by one.

Once on the ceiling, we walked on until we came to the far end of the inverted zone. From here it was a slow go as we passed through there, finally done at ten after 3. We traveled for a bit longer, arriving at the former Githyanki camp by 3:30. From here it was bandages and conversation on what we were going to do next. The first thing we had was a food problem – not enough of it. Wilhelm opted to switch to Murlynd’s Spoon and Connal had the ability to forego food for a while.

We wanted to make the climb up but without rope, we were at a limit of what we could do. Wilhelm had 4 spiders left for spider climbing and there was talk of animal form or Shim’s bat form to fly out but the shafts were too narrow to make it possible. Plus there was the Feyr to get by.

We brainstormed a bunch and came up with a possible plan. One, only 3 of us would try to get out. Connal (the best climber and can fall some distance without getting hurt), Wilhelm for the spell use and the fact he can change into a raven and hitch a ride. And finally Shim who was the smallest and lightest; but with the bat cloak can change form as well as his own spell use.

Then we had to get past the Feyr – and for that, they were going to bring Leomund’s Hut with them

. The idea was, as had been explained, it’s an extra dimensional pocket and when it is closed and picked up, the walls of the hut on the inside are open to the raw chaos of the Astral plane. Anyone within has a chance of being crazy and or attracting an astral entity. BUT – if the feyr was inside, it was more than possible that it could use the Hut as a gateway once it was picked up to go to the Astral plane.

With 3 limits on opening it, we risked one now to empty all the supplies and beds from the hut’s interior, for now storing it here at the Githyanki Thorpe. We split up foods, Connal and his group taking less, just enough to make the surface, leaving the left over for the rest of the party. The goal was to get to the surface, get some food and rope, and maybe some rescuers to come back down. 4 days was the hope – 2 to get out, 2 to get back. The downstairs group also ended up taking everyone’s oil and the spare lantern that Connal had – giving us 6 flasks. Along with Captain Asher’s 5 possible light spells each day we should have enough light for 12 or 13 hours.

As for Connal and his team, they suggested going to the dead Mimic and throwing it down the shaft for the rest of party to eat. Most of the group said no, they were not that hungry. “Yet.”

“Yeah, no.”

“You’ll see.”

We all went off to the shaft up from the 7th level and by 4:30, the two party members changed to animals, gripped Connal’s back, and as a Raven, Wilhelm called to Shakak for Connal to climb like a spider as the monk at one of the few remaining spiders.

He climbed up the almost vertical 90’ shaft to the large slope, followed it on hands and knees some 60, 70’ to the next shaft, and then climbed that one to the surface of the 6th floor. The rest of the group headed back to the Githyanki area. Shim and Wilhelm changed back and they walked north and west. At the chamber with the root, they studied the silver sap and decided to still avoid it still. We went down the hall to the dragon flies and even though Connal was willing to take some to eat, Wilhelm continued to speak for the strange nature down here and advised us to avoid fucking or harming them.

Walking past (very carefully), we continued north until we could hear the Feyr once again ahead of us. From here we spoke to it, letting it know of the Githyanki and they had moved on. They also sadly mentioned the rift had been closed. But – they did explain the hut idea and the Feyr had to think long about it before agreeing to do so. The group then approached, beheld the frightening otherworldly horror, and then opened the Hut. On its way out, it did touch each of them lightly, and the 3 party members each got a point of wisdom. Nice!

From here we went on to the cliff, climbed down, and went off to the Mimic room. Yeah, it was here and rotting slowly (along with the eyewings). The group moved to the Mimic (in a pool of weird juices), donned gloves, and began to push the 400 to 450 lbs dead blue and red oversized animated treasure chest. It was slow going, and the slope up didn’t help. It had the habit of gouging the clay floor and making our hands and clothes sticky.

At 5:35 we were at the cliff, 15’ up. We tied the last bit of scary rope (fraying and not to be trusted) that Connal had to the mimic and the monk was at the top, ready to haul back and lift. Shim made a summons – and got (eventually) a troglodyte. The foul smelling reptilian was told to lift the beast as high as it can while Connal pulled. The 2 worked together, the rope plinking and threads snapping, the Trog hoisting up, the stink on him getting terribly foul. But we pushed and yanked and struggled and the mimic made the top – and shim had the Trog disappear (but its reek lasted another 6 minutes).

Then they shoved and shoved and shoved until at 7:15 PM, they finally arrived back at the hole down beyond the silver sap. They tilted the heavy mimic over the hole, teetered, and let it fall. And fall it hid, rolling and smashing, it ripped the opening larger, clay flying all over as it built up speed. It crashed to the slope section where its momentum continued, sliding and rolling down the shaft to the far one where it free fell 90’ to the floor and smashed open, meat and wood and mucus flying everywhere. The group came to investigate and there was 400 lbs of smashed mimc down here.

“Who the fuck do they think is going to eat this?!” Darius wondered aloud. “It’s rotting and raw.”

From above the 3 friends yelled down the hall, “Good luck and you’re welcome!” and then moved on. The rest of us left the “meat” on the floor and returned to the Githyanki area.

It was 8 PM when they reached the hole to climb to level 5. The slope here seemed easier and Connal donned crampons, the 2 friends took on animal forms and the monk then climbed. It was slow going but he made it to the 5th level. From here we walked on, Connal’s everburning torch lighting the way. We passed the Banshee chamber, the winding halls with the dead elves, and after much walking, came to the area where the strange rain was falling from the ceiling. Shim reminded the group that the rain was a rainbow of colors and whoever it fell on was changed color as well. Last time we had Godric and his waterbane spell to get us through. Now, we had a baladrana and a fast monk.

With the other 2 tucked underneath and holding the folds close, Connal ran and got SOME of the waters on him – turning his baladrana and his helm brown – but the rest of him was unchanged! It was 8:55 at this point and the 3 friends opted to climb one more time here and then camp at the top of the shaft. This was another one that was sloped and with Crampons, Connal was willing to risk the ascend for.

It paid off and at 9:05 PM, we opened the hut, crawled inside, and fell asleep. Both parties woke up on the 23rd and breaking our fast. Healing was doled out and weapons and armor and belongings were looked after. Connal, Wilhelm, and Shim closed up the Hut and kept going. They picked their way through the ruins of the Neogi lair, wandered past the room with the oversized mushroom and then kept going on. The spirit stag was gone but the reek of the rotting flesh corrupting in the former chamber of the Leucrotta was sickening. So much so that Wilhelm was overcome with the heaves and began to vomit. He was hunched over, unable to stand and had to be lifted and dragged out of the chamber.

Even beyond there it took him 10 minutes to get his bearing back. There were a variety of cross and dead end chambers but the party had a pretty good memory for directions and eventually that managed to navigate their way through, coming to the chamber with the shattered glass and the thousands of ladybugs. Again, Wilhelm advised the group to NOT damage the insects and step carefully through.

By 9:30 AM they were at the shaft going up and climbing without aid was not an option. Using a diminishing number of spiders he and shim transformed to their animals and climbed on Connal who swallowed the arachnid as the druid cast Spider climb again. Level 3.

We passed our way through the passage and had a choice – the tinkling sound of the metal trees or the possible encounter with the oversized bees and the grizzly. We discussed it and opted to avoid complications so headed for the trees. Last time the sound was melodious and knocked us out for an hour, this time we were more prepared and some tallow helped us get through with no issue. Beyond there was the chamber that had the hydra in it, and then some passages before getting to the room with the glowing purple crystal in the ceiling and lots of pools of water.

By 10:20 we were at the bottom of the shaft. Hoping to keep some of our precious spiders, Wilhelm instead cast Bull’s Strength on Connal who donned his crampons. He risked the climb this time and with his two friends as passengers, made it to the top of the shaft and at level 2. The pass through this area was simple. The Nymph was gone (the pool still remained) and by 11 we were at the shaft going up to level 1. Another round of climbing and then through the very top floor and finally the final ascent and we were in the crater of Remembrance Overlook – the surface.

The dome was still in place and light was cycling through, but our ability to see out was compromised. We did remember that looking into the dome was possible from the other way. Shim cast 3 invisibility spells on us and we decided we would wait until nightfall before trying to get out So we pulled up the hut, crawled inside, and fell asleep).

The downstairs group had another round of create water in place and then ate their stores of diminishing food, checking off another flask of oil and another 5 light spells from Asher. As for Connal and his group, they woke up and it was dark. Time was a bit lost to them, not sure when it was. They also ate (their own food stores fading quick) and after some time, figured it was late enough to risk opening the door.

Last time we knew the door opened shed a bit of light and other than the sound of the rock crunching on the group as it rolled aside and back – that was it. 2 Minutes tops, and can be opened no more than once per day. Wilhelm took out the runes, went to the door, and after a time or two, managed to get them just right, and the door opened.

We snuck out (invisible), no one was on guard nearby, but we can hear yells and cries and what seemed to be siege engines going off. It was dark but strange lights (fires?) illuminated in the distance.

WTF?

We worked our way up the slope, past the shattered doors and looted souvenir shop, to Tilani proper. Upper Canopy, the tree area to the north had some fires burning. The roof of the Speaker of the Sun’s palace has two 40’ spectral fires burning from the upper minarets, giving the entire place a spectral aura. Roaming bands of armed and armored elves were stalking the streets and it seemed they were gathering up every non elf they could find, arresting them on the spot. Every so often a loud voice would demand “open up” and “Prepare to be arrested.”

It was the strange Battlewagon on the west side of the river that drew the most attention. Hovering 100 plus feet off the ground, it was unlike any of the gnomish ships we had seen to date. It had 8 cannon ports on each side as well as front and rear guns. A crew of elves were working the trebuchets on board, firing rocks down at Little Gorok below, the dwarven section of Tilani. The stout stone buildings were holding for now and the dwarves within were defending themselves but this was out of control.

“Let’s get to the docks, now.” We picked our way invisibly through the streets, dodging patrols and listening to the mess. Seems the Speaker of the Sun died at the end of our combat with his astral projection. And the projection was saying everything out loud that had been said in the fight. Shimalgesh and Eoghan stuck out heavily as well as the rest of the group. Agents from the Kaiser. Sent here. Entered the Crater without approval. And then astrally murdered the Speaker. The elves have decided to militarize and are in the process of expelling every non elf from the city.

And when we got to the docks, Captain Twilick and the Windshade were missing. The docks were a mess, water tanks ruptured, ropes all about. And that Battlewagon…it would have blown the Windshade out of the sky. “I thought all spelljammers were gnomish?” the group wondered. “What the fuck?”

With no ship, we had two things left to do. One, get rope. The docks had lots of it so we were ok here. Two. Get food. For us and the party still in the Crater.

“Animals.” Wilhelm reminded us. The House of Silk and Smoke still had his and Eoghan’s animals in kennels. “Another time, we won't leave without them.”

Not wanting to risk having to cast more invisibilities, we figured we’d get the food first. There was a greengrocer not too far from the docks. We went there, patrols were roaming but not here right now. The grocer was closed but the proprietor was hanging out the 2nd story window, light behind him, holding a bow arrow nocked.

We snuck up to the front but the fight in the distance obscured our sounds. Door was locked but 2 windows. Smash and enter? Not worth the noise. Shim had an idea. Hiding under the monks baladrana, he cast Summon Monster and got a wild, barbaric Elf. Rita.

She unlocked the door and we entered. Tossing open the Hut, we started grabbing whatever food stuffs we could, shoving them into the open door. Hearing us from above, Shim sent Rita up the stairs to take care of the Grocer. There was a fight up there, blows being landed, and then a cry following by something landing on the street in front of the place. We wheeled an entire barrel of pickles into the Hut and pulled it closed, retreating to the back of the Grocery.

The Grocer, dirty and limping, entered his shop, took out a short blade, and stormed up the stairs crying, “I’ll kill you bitch!” to the elf up there accosting his family. As we were leaving we could hear Rita and the Grocer fighting again before he once more cried out and was thrown out of the window a second time to smash into the street.

We were gone before the patrols were going to show up, heading back to the fields and the airship dock. Wilhelm looked through the stalks and grasses, finding small spiders quickly and pocketing them, refilling his pouch for the future. We then went to the docks and managed to coil up 10 coils of rope, opening the hut one more time (at our limit) today, transporting them within.

At this point Shim could hear a voice in his head. It was Twilick! The gnomish captain was an hour outside of town on the way to Aysle. They had to flee 2 days ago when the docks were overrun and the ship was in danger of being arrested and impounded. The Speaker had been working on an elven Spelljammer, reverse engineering gnomish components for years. It was not ready from cross country flight, but as an elevated combat platform? It was MORE than capable. The Windshade withdrew.

Most non elves were being rounded up. Blamed the party, the Kaiser, the dwarves, the gnomes, the humans. It’s a mess right now. Gorok contacted the Windshade, hoping to have them drop much needed crossbow bolts and supplies on the dwarven encampment here in Tilani but the Windshade couldn’t get anywhere near it and had to withdraw after getting a broadside from the battlewagon.

The ship's mage has been working on a messaging spell – good for 6 minutes. Casting it twice a day – at midnight and midday, hoping to get Shim. Success (it was obviously midnight). We let Captain Twilick know we were going to get the rest of the group and might be a few days. Continue to reach out and when we can, we’ll arrange an exact time to open the dome again and run for the ship.

Message spell ended and we were discussing heading back to the Crater now (it was after midnight so the limit of 1 per day was over). We had 38 days of food stuffs, 10 coils of rope in the hut, and 2 of the 3 of us were still invisible. Plantmonth 24th, 12:10 AM, 289 of the 29th age

2nd Campaign, Session 14. 7/22/25

Icemonth the 13th, 3:00 PM. Since we were at Fort Guido, the party decided to make another round of purchases. Thobar used the Church of Aine scrip to get more food for everyone (another 10 days of iron rations) while the rest of us gathered rope, scrolls, ink, arrows, bolts, bags, clothes, and shields. A visit to Guido himself followed with some coins passed his way and by 5:30, we were back at the Lion’s Den where the party ate, got rooms, and a few of us, had a good night of carnal pleasures (Gun with Llerana, and Nevah and Cara having a fine night with one another).

The morning of the 14th was cold (15 degrees) and after getting to the dock with Tila and her crew, we were given 2 of the orange signal logs (paying for the 2nd one), and had her ferry us across the River Shrill to the western banks once again, landing at north beach. We offloaded our supplies and by 8:30, began trekking into the woods heading north for the stream. The trip was quiet and without issue, no new snow had fallen for a few days but there was still 30” in some places.

At the end of the stream by long lake, there was no sign of the original ogre encampment, leading us to feel good that Gavin had given up on the boats thing for now. We headed south, following the thin trail until we came to the waterfall area. From here we passed behind the frozen expanse on the goblin trail and kept going until the failing daylight let us know it was time to step off. We pushed northward off the trail and into the trees over 120’ from the path. From there we dug out a campsite and with our growing skills, had gotten better at finding wood.

Fire was set by 6:30 and we ate well before setting up a series of watches. We slept with no wandering monsters and awoke the next day on Icemonth the 15th, ready and able. By 11 we were at the long clearing south of the graveyard and by 12 had discovered that our crate of shields had been discovered and taken. We did take some of the broken wood to be used as kindling later and moved up the slope of the Hill to the Monastery. We arrived on location about 1 and headed for the Garrison first.

On arrival we learned that our bolt hole was no longer safe. The door had been smashed in, our sleeping area had been discovered and spoiled, and someone took a hammer and ledge to the oven and chimney, meaning we’d not be able to use it again for warmth. Even the dead 2 goblins outside the place had been discovered. We took some of the burnable wood still here and moved on, deciding the original stone tomb was the next best place.

We entered and noticed the 12 doors in here were now all open. The original ones we had closed with the 6 skeletons were missing. The door here was metal and stone, and the building was a thick block. We figured to use this as a bolt hole if we needed to. We dropped all the wood we had gathered in one of the crypts to the side and left, closing the door behind. From there we went to the Monastery itself and took a look.

The door was open, and there were a number of footprints in the snow. Most milled around the front but a few went out the door and then split, north and south the front of the building a few times and stopped. We looked for secret doors and found none. The inside was dark. While looking at the prints in the snow Gun was frowning and looking up. “Hey, Fjord?”

“Brian?”

“Yeah. Think you can climb up there, son, and take a gander?”

Fjord pulled himself up the wall and looked up there, clambering to the top and then frowning. It seemed that at one point, very very recently, there were 2 goblin guards up here. A leanto-tent of white grey cloth, small stool, and obvious meandering footprints where they hung out and then ran across the roof to the west. To the open roof of the Aine garden. And looking back at the Monastery grounds, Fjord noted that he could see the entire place, including where we walked, where we went, and our trip to here.

“Brian, we have a problem.” After it was explained we suspected that the goblin horde would be coming and very damned soon. Go in? Leave? Place to hold up?

Wait, why don’t we climb up too and head to the garden? When they come out we go behind them and their lines and make a run for Gavin.

It made sense. We all quickly were hoisted up and climbed to the top, where one there we headed east to the garden. Cara held back and to hide our prints in the snow called to Thor and summoned a cloudburst, centering it over the entrance area of the monastery and out prints to the wall. Given the cold it was 10 inches of snow that fell in a blinding deluge in just a minute – totally obscuring where we went (not where we had come from), and would force the goblins to hunt the grounds for us. There was talk that we might faintly hear the goblins coming from inside the monastery.

At the garden we looked over and the place was clear. Using the rope the goblins had already set here, we slithered down to the grasses and then Fjord was last. We waited here, listening to the secret door (hearing nothing) and went over a plan. 2:35 we figured it was enough time. Pushing the secret door open, yes, in the distance, echo of and echo, we could hear goblin voices near the front of the monastery.

We dodged into the original guard room, Yandr walking ahead, detect evil ability wide open. We moved along the area to the door and then the stairs down. No one was here yet. We lit the lantern (2:30 PM) and then went down. As the group went down, near the top of the steps, Fjord applied a flask of oil to a space a few steps down from the top. And then another 4 steps down from that, he did it again. Hopefully any goblins coming back down here would slip and hopefully either die or get seriously hurt.

At the stairs base we voted quick – Moray Vaco or Gavin’s Throneroom. We settled on Gavin. We traveled west, past the hall with forge (we could hear some work going on in there but no one was watching for us), and then past the long hall. We went down the hall with the Arena and made our way to the doors at the end.

Behind the dormitory room, Yandr felt the same evil that we had felt in the room near the piranha bird – like 3 different types of something all rolled together – a single point of evil. We backed up to the arena and in the safety (?) of the walls, discussed options.

We guessed we had a solid hour before the goblins would come back in after not finding us. So we could again – Moray or Gavin. The Gavin option was still the best bet. Atlas let us know he had quite a number of sleep spells at the ready and the group had been slowly gaining xp for a while (we were decidedly a 2nd level group now, a few of us having hit 3rd). We had a plan for Gavin and the rooms of sleeping hobs and bugbears were most likely gone for now.

It was 3 PM and we left the arena. Snuck past the room with the weird evil thing in it, opened the door at the end of the hall, and then went around there, eventually taking the long hall south covered in the goblin graffiti. We came to the guard area (empty), and passing the 3 dorm rooms, Yandr assured us he was getting no pings within.

We crept down the hall to the end where the alcove was. The torch sconces were empty now and Yandr pinged ahead while the party listened – paladin got 17 pings. Boiling it down were 4 goblins, 9 hobgoblins (1 of which seemed a bit “more” evil), and 4 bugbears. Gun poisoned an arrow. Hrimvar and Carl were going to bless us, Atlas had a sleep ready. And at 3:35 PM, we shoved the doors open hard and launched our assault.

Raised area with a throne across the way. Gavin and 2 huge hobs standing near him. 4 hobs at the base of the raised area talking. 4 goblins tending to a fire and a huge cauldron of boiling whatever. 2 hobs near the door as guards, and 4 bugbears, center of the room and north spread out.

Prayers to Thrym and Odin rocked out, bathing the group in a pair of bless spells, Atlas shot off a sleep spell at the hobgoblins near Gavin, dropping 2 of them. Shit. We then shot off arrows, one of the shafts hitting Gavin and dosing him with poison (he failed his save), more arrows followed and he rocked back screaming and angry.

The party pushed in, Yandr and Hrimvir blasting to one of the local hobs, hoping to finish him quick. Carl was right behind, lucern hammer thrusting. The rest of the group inched closer, getting ready for spells. The bugbears closed and the two hobs near the throne woke up their companions. Cara called to Thor and an eagle appeared, racing across the room, and launched itself at Gavin who had his forehead torn open. The two hobs up there quickly had shields out and stood in front of their king, covering him with their bodies, spears at the ready.

The 4 goblins charged the doors.and slammed them closed! Carl managed to wound one as it ran past but they still got the door closed! And then they were yanking pins and trying to drop the bars in place to hold the door! Fuck no! Carl managed to beat the hell out of the wounded one, killing it, but the other goblins did get the left side bar down – half barring the room. If they could get the 2nd one down, the rest of the group would be trapped on the wrong side of the throne room door

Entering 2nd round of combat. Stakes could not be higher. Icemonth the 15th, 195 of the 30th age, 3:36 PM.

Meet 130, Adv 15, 7/19/25

Plantmonth the 22nd, 10:15 AM, 289 of the 29th age. As the mound of rotting vegetation crept closer, Connal ran out to face it, hoping to keep it from advancing. Its pace was measured but unrelenting. The group was reshuffling positions in the back. Bless spells, shields of faith, and other helpful enchantments. But when the time came, Connal faded to the south and Godric was in the right place and let forth a blast of lightning!

It coursed out and struck the Mound, causing it to explode in static…and swell; absorbing more of the plant matter around it, rising taller. And then the bolt hit the wall, rebounded, and struck the mound again – and once again it grew larger and more dangerous!

Fuck. Magic missiles flew out, tearing into the mound, making it focus on Shim and start to plod that way. Darius’ sling stones hit but had no real effect so the group changed weapons as the Mound hit the front. It swung hard and Nate and Darius took the blows, shield splintering on impact. A ghoul was summoned by Shim and it tried to get in the fray but the Shambler ignored the blows and eventually entangled the undead.

Godric fired off magic missiles and the Shambler shook on impact. A dire wolf was summoned and joined the battle, tearing the bottom of the Shambler apart. And still it tried to storm down the hall and get Shim and or Godric, but Darius and Nate prevented it from doing so. Arrows, swords, and magic struck the Shambler, at one point more shields splintered and then Shim poured on a last barrage of magic missiles and it lost cohesion, slumped down, and fell over.

Done.

We were pretty beat up and some healing was dispensed. New shields came out and we looked over the entire room, dismayed to find no treasure of any kind. It was 5 to 11 when we left the shambling mound room…and went backwards to the hall we did not take to the north east. As expected the chamber did eventually dead end beyond the numerous wet vegetation weeds. There were 2 mummified dead elves here. One was an elder grey elven woman, her look and clothes decried her as nobility but no distinguishing marks or emblems.

The other, well, someone vented their fury on this one. It was an elven male, middle aged. His right hand was raggedly hacked off and he had a dozen long splinters of glass in each eye as well as longer shafts of broken glass in his throat. We looked about – same no markings or the like. We did take a few of the shards for now and then left. Returning to the other hall, we went on past the Shambler’s chamber and kept going.

Passage turned south and then west, according to Shim’s Diamond, was pointing that way. A breeze was picking up, 5 to 10 mph, and there was a flickering light in the air, 10 to 15 strobes that would stop and start again. About 6” of busted glass, covering the width of the passage and running about 20’ or so blocked our way. We were going to have to move it aside so we checked shovels and had Nate and Connal move it, while Captain Asher was supervising. The glass had to be shoveled ahead since piling it to the side only had it run back to the middle.

Entire process was a half hour and Shim and Asher had much back and forth about it. The Captain was upset his shovel was now scratched and eventually just gave it to Shim since “gnomes and shovels”… you can imagine the rest. Wind was picking up to 15/20 mph and we could see some lit chamber ahead.

It was really huge, 90’ x 95’, but split in the middle. There was a wrinkle in the Space-Time continuum. The chamber here was awash with twisted bits of roots half buried in the soil and clay. The ceiling was close to 13’ in height and the wind in here ran a variable 20 to 30 mph. The sound of distant metal twisting along with odd mournful cries from the deep emerge from a wrinkled area of space almost 40’ long and reaching up to the ceiling. What seemed to be a dark sky with a kaliediscope of stars was seen through the wrinkle, the very air seemed to fold over itself 3 or 4 times, giving the entire thing a strange translucent glow. Broken glass lay everywhere, not so much that you were in danger of stepping on it with every stride, but enough of it lies about to make sure the party is careful with their footing.

Busted glass in small piles were in the edges and corners of the room. And from the rift, from one side it seemed like wind was blowing OUT and from the other side it seemed that wind was being sucked in. No one wanted to get too close. Shim called forth a summons, getting a trio of stirges. He inspired the first one to fly in and head towards the left side where the wind was coming out. The stirge could not finish getting too close and came back exhausted. He then sent the next one to the right side of the rift where it hit the air stream and was sucked into the wall where it smashed hard and broke its neck. The third one was hurled like a football by Connal and made it much further into the room and then was tossed all over, losing control before exhaustedly ending its movement into a pile of glass.

Shim was going to need to get to the wrinkle. So we tied two sets of rope to him – one under his arms, one at his waist. Darius and Connal each took a rope and Wilhelm cast spider climb on the gnome. He then climbed up the side wall and walked along the ceiling to the wrinkle. Took 2 minutes, once there he took out one of the 3 Desmondian Diamond shards and shoved the point in the junction of the wrinkle at the ceiling.

It sparked, flared, and made a null space at the point. He then pushed, slowly dragging it to the right.

There was a strange hiccup and disjointing, and then Logari Simuscene, Speaker of the Sun, appeared. There was a ghostly wavering about him giving his form a soft edge. He appeared furious, terribly upset. Time seemed to slow down and stop around us as he took stock of the chamber.

“Do you have any idea what the HELL you are doing?” His anger was at Shim, but also encompassed the rest of the group. “This is NOT your home. This is NOT your place. And there is no fucking way I’m going to let the group get on with whatever cockamamie idea they have.”

“But we can fix it. We can bring back the life tree.”

“HA! You have signed your death warrant. The day will come when I am gone and that will be the end of the talk of the possibility of the Lifetree returning. I, me, I am the last living descendant from Aelfheim. I’ve gotten rid of ANY of the others. And when I go, there is only muddly blooded elves left.”

He pointed to the rift. “Fucking dwarves about KILLED my people. It’s over. It’s sad when my people get too much hope. They had it before, just about won the damned war.” He stabbed a finger at Shim. “And you little grubbing traitorous FUCKs, fucked us over! Giving magic?!? To Humans!?! Are you fucking NUTS?!?!”

He was spitting at this point and the group could feel the temporal spell fading. “And the gnomes and dwarves and humans stabbed us in the proverbial back. So when any of my people got too close to solving this fucking tree problem, I had them taken out. This hole, this tomb, this monument to the elven failure,” his hand stabbed upward, “and that fucking simpleton, The Most Blessed of Frey, HA! He who has been acting as a gatekeeper, preventing anyone from getting too close because he’s a fucking twit who has totally misunderstood Frey’s teachings.”

He drew a 3’ long rod made of glass and bared his teeth in fury. “And now it’s time for your meddlesome group to die.”

Time reenacted and he fired a glassine version of hold person up at Shim who managed to dodge out of the way. Darius and Connal both charged in, Darius throwing his AC to the wind. Ropes holding Shim were passed to Nate and Ryhgar and the rest of the party gathered down the hall to help out.

Loagri was hit, his magical astral form needing silver or magic to hit him. With the 2 of them close by, he was forced to alter his attack, shifting to a Magical Glass Missile spell hurled at Darius who Spellcleaved the glass shards as they struck, peppering the monk with shard of magical glass who rolled and dodged and ducked and took no damage. A silence spell followed and instead of hitting the Speaker (who would most likely save), Asher targeted Darius.

Trapped in the circle, he snarled at the cleric, pointed his rod (rolled a 4), and the 5 headed Hydra that we had fought above burst into being, snarling and biting and chewing, heads flailing as it tried to murder the half elven cleric. Damn it, the fight was now spreading out. And then Logari “STEPPED” – moving almost 40’ away and out of the silence area.

Which had Darius and Connal charge again, and again each getting some powerful hits on the wizard. Shim was still dragging the null zone and arrows were flying now. With the Hydra closer Nate gave the rope to Rhygar and engaged the Hydra, adding his attacks and dropping a head. Magic and sword play was following and the hydra was losing heads, down to a single one. And at that point, the group fired off a Shatter spell at Logari’s glass rod – shattering it.

And releasing chaotically the last 5 monsters he had stored. Two Ankhegs, 2 leucrottas, and another Hydra. The first hydra breathed fire down the hall, scoring half the group, burning armos shields, and weapons. We were looking around hopeless, Darius and Connal back to back with 2 of the Leucrottas and 1 ankheg engaging those three while the other Ankheg was heading to the Hydra’s position to help out.

Meanwhile the 1st Hydra went down and we had 2 rounds to finish it off. So we had Rhygar sacrifice the lantern and hurl a flask of oil at the dead body, setting it ablaze and preventing new heads from regrowing and it coming back to life.

At this point Shim’s Spider climb ended and he free fell 13 feet to the ground, where he lost contact with the Wrinkle and all his progress closing it – faded. We were getting pummeled bad here. Logari STEPPED again, this time portalling into the hall where he was now behind the party and at their rear. Connal and Darius nodded to each other, the fighter readied himself against the 3 foes against him, and Connal ran at the hall, leaping and flipping over the ankheg there to roll up to Logari. Wilhelm hurled a cloud of stinging beetles from his beetle staff at Logari’s face, forcing the Speaker to struggle to make more attacks and checks while being harassed.

Darius was hit, multiple times, the Leucrotta and ankheg ripping and tearing at him. He dodged and ducked, sacrificing his shield at a poignant critical hit, wrestling a new one off his back. Shim called out a summons, getting a lizard man and placing it in front of one of the foes around Darius to keep him up. More shields were splintered, Nate and Rhygar, but it was Logari who called forth a Glasslance and shoved the 4’ sharpened icicle of glass through Gordic’s lungs and out his back, dropping the wizard to the ground.

Captain Asher tried to dispel the monsters but his spell wasn’t powerful enough and he didn’t manage to make any of them fade away – but he did manage to cancel his own silence spell.

More arrows flew and we were bleeding through hit points. Connal stayed at Logari as the Hydra breathed fire setting 2 or 3 of the party ablaze. Wilhelm was dropping healing left and right, burning our mistletoe as he did so, struggling to keep Nate up. With a lucky shot, Eoghan blasted one of the elvar arrows into Logari’s eye, making the Speaker gasp in fury. He swept his hands out and called forth a Scatterspray, gathering all the piles of glass in the hall into a pressure wave and scouring it down the passage.

The shards lacerated Godric’s body, turning it to hamburger (and smashing him well past -10), and continued on ripping and tearing through the party, also dropping Captain Asher at this point to negatives. Things were getting desperate.

More shields were sacrificed and our weapons and armor were taking a beating, busting up and beginning to fail. Another massive heal was given to Asher, getting the Fighter/Cleric back up again. And we hit, stabbed, and shot as much as we could. Eoghan’s quiver was about empty, just a few fire starting arrows left. And he shot them one after the other, unloading at Logari from 6’ away until…finally. Finally. He died. He gasped out his fury at the party, hatred at Shimlagesh, and eternal fury at Eoghan before his astral form faded away.

The rest of the monsters were still for a round before they too faded away. We took stock and looked around. It was quiet, we had light from the Wrinkle which was still blowing wildly, and truly looked into the Astral void.

It’s a freewheeling space through there, but seemingly some white or good lights embolden the local area. In the distance there was a single long glowing flapping silver cord. It was moving back and forth, but angled towards the wrinkle, as if struggling to grow there, to anchor there. World tree? Without the divine anchor the Githyanki had been taking, it has not had a chance to reattach. Following that in the distance it seems to be coming from some barely seen white and green verdant looking place.

It was a good 150’ (estimate) through the wrinkle and into Astral space. But it was reaching for the wrinkle and we thought, maybe, just maybe before Shim closes it, we could try and reattach it here. We tied all 4 ropes together and then tied the free end to Connal. Darius and Nate (very hurt, nursing 3 painful wounds, but still in it!), held the tail end of the rope, driving 3 spikes in the ground just in case one or both of them lost grip and tied it to each of them. Connal then made his way through the Wrinkle, 3 passes, and going on the side where the wind was blowing IN.

Standing at the crumbling edge of the Astral Plane, he readied himself, wind at his back coiled his legs, and jumped! The wind, his momentum, and everything else – had him float out about halfway to the wavering root reaching towards the wrinkle…and stop. Fuck.

He carefully took Shim’s Batwing cloak out, tied it on, grabbed the edges…and flapped. He went forward 5 feet – but there was a weird pulse that sent out a beacon through the Astral space. He flapped again, another 5’ and another pulsing beacon. Damn it, using the cloak was sending a signal out to the Astral space that…he was here. Shaking his head he motioned back for the party to pull him in.

Back on the Prime Material Plane, they discussed the options. He went to the other side of the Wrinkle, took out the Nornian Skein, and held it up to the 30 mph wind there. Then, he went back to the other side, they did the entire pass through the wrinkle thing again, and he coiled himself up and JUMPED. At the end of his jump when he slowed down, he turned in space, took out the skein, and pointed it behind him – propelling him another 30’ before it ended. He was about 25’ away.

He grabbed the edges of the bat cloak…and flapped. 5 times. Sending out 5 pulses. But luck was with him since nothing felt it or came to investigate. He managed to grip the root/cord here. Wide, 3’ in diameter. He straddled against it as thin tendrils and roots reached out and wove into the rope. Then they moved up the rope at around a foot every second, turning the rope into an extension of the root – heading for the Prime material plane.

However now it was attached to the root and he could not pull it back. The group could not pull him back and Nate and Connal could see the rope now had fine roots growing through it and reaching around the area here, they let it go and watched Connal through the opening. The monk carefully cut himself free of the rope, and with nothing tethering him anymore, climbed up the rope hand over hand, the 150’ back to the Prime material plane. The last 10’ was the hardest, the wind blowing at him, threatening to rip his grip away but he held fast and dragged himself through.

Once here, Shim was able to then seal the wrinkle with one of the Desmondian diamond shard, tracing it around the root but closing the rest of it off. The shard faded from view and the wind stopped and the party was plunged into darkness, only the faint glow of Bleakwinter in Wilhelm’s grasp illuminating the party and the thin wavering spiderweb light coming from the fine root tendrils of the slowly growing world tree.

“How the fuck do we get out of here?” Shim asked, holding his wounded side tight.

The group looked to the east down the passage that led from this room and sighed. “We have to walk.” No more rope, one friend dead, one friend back from death, limited food, everyone hurt, few spells remaining, and whatever bullshit we had to climb out 7 levels back to the surface.

And who knows what’s going on on the surface. Did we kill Logari there? Did he tell everyone what we are doing? Is the Blessed of Frey waiting for us? What the hell…it’s a problem for another day. Plantmonth the 22nd, 12:55 PM, 289 of the 29th Age.

Meet 129, Adv 15, 7/12/25

Plantmonth the 21st, 10:30 AM, 239 of the 29th age. With little other options on where to go, we knew we were going to have to risk passing the Feyr. With its psionic abilities, as well as the difficulty any of us had risking to get past, we were not sure it was going to work. We had gathered together near the area and figured that we could try using Asher’s Protection from Chaos spell to get a few of us past it. So it was volunteered that Darius and Asher would be the two in question. A light spell was cast upon a rock and the two of them went down the hall.

Where they looked left and saw…the room was empty. But they could still feel a presence there. Ideas were tossed out, fairie fire, lightning bolts, just rush in. Eventually we all came down the hall and THEN – we could hear the Feyr in our heads. It was not liking the light and was going to kill Darius for bringing it in. A look around – it was invisible for sure, and we convinced Darius to ditch the stone.

Eventually the Protection spell ended and now everyone can hear the Feyr. It reiterated its statement earlier, if they could get the Githyanki to move, it would allow them to pass. We could not pass to go make that happen, wrapping us around again and again. It was willing to bargain. Bleed out (permanent hit point loss), denaturing (reduction of ability scores), other ideas. Nothing seemed like anything we’d want to do – since all 9 of us would have to do it.

Then it was asked, what about if we can’t go past you…what if you move us instead. It seemed to smile. That was a possibility. The last thing offered was taking 5 years of someone’s life. Captain Asher was willing to do it when Shim stepped in. The Feyr identified Shim as a gnome and said 5 years was not equitable; how about 10?

Shim took the deal, had 10 years taken from his life, and the entire party portalled to the other side of the room and past the Feyr.

We spent 10 years trimming the dead skin, fingernails, facial hair, and head hair from Shim. Around 20 to 12 and we kept going, wondering what we’d have to do to pass the Feyr when we left? The passage went for a bit and there were dragonflies. Lots and lots of dragonflies. Wilhelm stepped up and after checking it out, confirmed that outside of the incongruity of they’re being here – they were just normal dragonflies. We stepped past with care not to kill or crush any and then saw a light up ahead.

Silvery and solid, we closed and looked in. It appeared a portion of the life tree had once had a root running from the left side of the room, up along the ceiling, and then down the right side, disappearing into the clay soil. The root had some cracks in it where silver sap was collecting, making small drops and eventually falling away to the ground – making a line of silver sap below. And it was all glowing.

Briefly we thought about tasting it – that was discarded. Shim wanted to collect some and NOT touch it. So he used tongs and a vial, got some drops in it, and sealed it up. We did press a rock into the sap – but other than getting silvery light sap on it – nothing. And again – we still have not actually touched the sap.

We all ducked low and passed on, getting down the hall to eventually a hole in the ground running almost straight down, just under 4’ wide. We tried the light coin on the cord trick but it was inconclusive after 40’. A slope down there but the cord and coin weren’t heavy enough. So we tried it with a spike and did the test again. Lots of back and forth – but we did gather, 40’ down, then another 80’ in run down some slope, then another steeper drop that used the entirety of the cord (200’). Godrick stopped to study Levitate and the rest of us refilled lantern and ate. Eventually a bit after 2, we were ready.

3 of us went down first – Wilhelm as a raven along with Shim riding Connal. Once there, the monk used a shovel to dig a flat area, throwing the clay ahead and down the slope. He then checked out the long drop at the end of the slope and went back to the top of the slope. From there the party was lowered one at a time. Once everyone was painstakingly lowered to the sloped area, we lashed each person to the rope and lowered them down the 90’ to the 7th level below. There was a breeze here.

It was about 5 PM at this point and we were getting winded. 2 choices – towards the blowing wind our away from it. We decided to head with the wind. Passage went for 35, 40 paces and eventually turned to the north. Saw a long hallway with increasing light, and wind was rising up. Hole in the space? Was this the wrinkle? Shim used the Desmondian Diamond and no, it was pointing south and east.

No one wanted to risk the hall. So Shim dropped a summon and got a trio of giant rats. He spoke with them and convinced them to go down the windy corridor. They did so, slow steps. Each step looked like it catapulted them forwards 15, 20’! They were struggling to keep going but one of them made a 3rd step – and winked out of existence!

Nope. Fuck this hall.

We opted to go back the other way and head east. Passage eventually drifted southeast and we could smell something up ahead. Spices? And then a voice said in heavily accented Common, “I told you I heard a Prime. You owe me 3 drachmas.” Who the hell? “Come forward. Might as well be civilized about this.”

We inched along until we could see. The chamber had been extended up and down. 3 larger buildings made of some sort of grey clay bricks were here. A fire was burning in a half moon open side oven and around it were 3 figures. They were just about 6’ or so tall. Their skin was rough yellow and they had gleaming black eyes. Two of them were clad in some spectral looking chainmail hauberks, the one with the orange cloak and eyepatch had a two handed sword, the other with numerous beads in its black hair had a scythe. The last was wearing a set of platemail and also sported a two handed sword, except his was made of silver. All their accoutrements had a faint glow about them. The platemail wearing one lifted a pipe to the group and said, “I am Spak’thar of the M’Lar Githyanki. These are M’Nar and Fett’nur. What are you Primes doing here?”

We talked. They were Githyanki. They had come 3 years ago following a distress call from a Neogi party. Upon arrival, the elder Neogi were dying and their machinery were breaking down in the oxygen rich atmosphere. They did trade with them and left before their eggs and next generation hatched. Since then, they’ve set up shop here and have been siphoning the residual divine energy from the soil to bring back to the M’Lar clan.

They figured that Primes would eventually show up and when that day came, he and his 2 would leave. He can kill you all off, but wants to give them a pass if they are willing to help he and his 2 companions load up their wares. Oh, and give them any and all silver coins they have on them. We discussed it and decided…go for it.

They were chatty and yet focused. There was a Prime that comes down, at least 8 or 9 times since they’ve been here. He cords down. “Cords?” Apparently he projects himself here and leaves his body elsewhere. He’s been bringing dead bodies it seems. Also, that long hall with the light? There is a time rip there – supposedly a time crystal is at the end of the passage…very difficult to get.

Did let us know about a room of inverted gravity ahead and then another with lots of dead plants. After that was the Wrinkle. They thanked us, and by 6:30, dimension doored away from here and we assume to the Wrinkle, taking their crates with them. We did have a day of food here and some water, plus beds and a place to sleep the night.

We were up on Plantmonth the 22nd and were gone by 8:30 PM. Taking the passage we walked slowly, tossing an odd stone ahead and watching to make sure it landed. Eventually at one point..it didn’t – it instead flew up to the ceiling 15 up. We found the edge of the field and then used a rope, held on this side and tossed ahead. It flew up to the ceiling and we all took turns climbing up/down and then reorienting ourselves on the ceiling above. Finally once finished, we began to walk along, once more tossing a stone ahead as we went to find the end of the field.

It was well over 100’ away where the zone ended and the rock fell to the group above our head. We did the rope trick again and cycled one at a time to the ground. From here we pressed on. Passage split Northeast and southwest. A look at the Diamond showed it pointing south. Northeast had a variety of green weed plants ahead, southwest had rotting dead vegetation. We went along for a bit and then came to a large chamber with dead plant matter almost a foot and a half in some places.

Shim summoned a monster and had it enter the room (another barbaric elf). She went in slow and then the ground in front of her rose up, slammed her with two oversized hands, and then choked her to death. It was 9’ in height, bipedal and cone like, made entirely of ropy vines and dirt and plants. It roared and surged towards us as we gathered our weapons ready to fight the…shambling…mound. Plantmonth the 22nd, 239 of the 29th age, 10:15 AM.

2nd Campaign, Session 13. 7/8/25

Officially halfway through. I promised 26 meetings, and we deliver. What I like about this adventure is that it is inherently implied in multiple places that you are not expected to do the adventure in a single fell swoop. You are supposed to return to Guido's Fort often (until you cannot any longer). The fact I have them doing the adventure in the winter just adds another wrinkle to the logistics of it.

As always, D&D is a resource management game. Time, hp, food, encumbrance, ammo...everything. Write up follows:

Icemonth the 11th, 11:45 AM. Our presence was upsetting the piranha birds but we wanted to wait for whatever was behind the door to either move on or calm down. Finally after 10 minutes listening to them squawk and try to get us through the iron mesh, we snuck back to the secret door and listened (heard nothing) before opening it up.

All good and quiet. We went north to the end of the hall, and checked both ways. Right was a 10’ run to the door to the piranha birds – it was a dutch door, top can open and leave bottom closed if need be. Left the passage went on, Gun was sure it met up with the main hall, but there was another door about half way down on the left. He volunteered to go check it out and approached to listen.

The door was in poor shape. No lock, but someone in the past had braced this side of the door and there were axe and bashing marks on this side – testament to it attempting to being forced from the other. The halfling shook his head and returned to the group avowing that he was happy not opening the passage. We gave the hall a quick look of secret doors (finding none), and then were at the end of the hall, looking left and right. Decision time.

According to the map – we had the area with the stitched together bugbear golem (and maybe Moray Vaco), the Doubledoor the goblin menials had mentioned to us, and possibly head off to what we assumed was King Gavin’s area. None were perfect and we had about an hour and a half before the goblins were due to wake up. So we opted to head off to the main hall since we were here and go north to the Double Doors – seeing what was there.

The doors had no lock and hung poorly, actually swinging when touched. The amount of dirt on the floor let the group know the place was well traveled. Lintel and frame showed original symbology to Aine, mostly destroyed by now. We opted to enter, pushing the doors open. It was a temple – large. 2 rows of 8 pews filled most of the chamber, a raised dais on the opposite end, with a 9’ tall pumice carved statue of Maglubiyet there.

Did not want to enter but staying in the hall was a bad idea. When Carl entered, he grew upset and faint, blood flushing his face, feeling like something bad had been here in the past. The same was when Yander entered, the paladin reporting the same. The rest of the group was just uncomfortable at best. Gun and Fjord went to the statue to look around, Gun advising the half ogre to NOT step onto the dais. Rest of the party either stayed back by the door, listening weapons out, or checking the pews.

Fjord was looking the statue over, some red gems in the eyes. They were held in place by a lowered eye lid bracket – lift the “eye lid” and the gem could be removed. Don’t Touch!! He was admonished.

Gun was able to tell that someone wearing blood splattered boots stood to the left of the statue, and did so often. Priest? The boot prints did lead to the back east wall though and stop. Possible secret door? We wanted to come closer and check it out. However, when Hrimvir did, both of his undead servants stopped working and fell over loose bones. Damn it, he gathered both of them up and brought them to the other end of the chamber.

Enough of us dared to approach and checked out that end of the room – finding the secret door we expected to find on the east wall…and another secret door on the south wall! Both were activated by moving a certain brick out. Yander and Carl were convinced the one with the footprints was most likely heading to the high priest’s chamber – but now that the place was no longer controlled by Aine, the thought was it could be Moray Vaco’s. The menial goblins we had spoken to admitted the priest did often have prayer meetings behind the double doors.

We decided to open the south door first. Yander at the front, we opened the door and it slid aside, revealing a 10’x10’x crude carved chamber with a hole in the floor heading down, a wrought iron ladder fastened there, and the stink of rotting meat and carrion filling the air. “Nope. Not going to happen.” The party shut the door and spent a minute waving the reek away. Hrimvir managed to cast his animate spell, getting one of the skeletons back upright.

Quarter after 1, we were running out of time. We opted to check the east door. Weapons at the ready, the gnome and halfling were straddling the pews bow and crossbow ready to fire. Opening the door – it was indeed a private chamber. Bed, desk, table, chairs, door on the far end of the room. And a figure, small, wearing a ragged cloak wrapped tight against itself. Muttering. Child voice.

A detect evil got nothing. We dared to enter. It was a human child; 7, 8, 9? Thin, male, shorter. It smelled like a goblin. Shaved head. It had a bowl of gruel and was eating it. And he had tattoos all over his head, face, shoulders, arms, and torso. Tattoos of strange symbols and glyphs and Maglubiyat stuff. And it was terrified.

We eventually got a chance to get it to calm down. Said his name was Illi. And he was here because Moray said he was the next incarnation of Maglubiyat. Doesn’t remember where he’s from or family name. Terrified of being beat and hurt. Not allowed to leave. He had long bloodletting scars on his shins and legs. Atlas was looking the kid over and was sure that some of the runes – were the same sort of runes that we had seen all over the graveyard.

“By Thrym. The trigger. For the undead. It’s the kid.”

Fuck. If the kid dies, the undead will rise from the grave. And the kid looked like he was pretty weak already. “Look,” Yander said, “we gotta save the kid. And the goblins are about to wake up. Not going to leave him here.”

“Lets get to the Garrison building, give me a chance to really look over the runes,” Atlas offered.

The group agreed. Mostly.

“Kid’s pretty much a goblin already,” Nevah said, fingering his bow string. “You heard him, next vessel for maglubiyat. Should nix that in the butt now and save a lot of problems.”

“We aren’t killing a kid,” the paladin said.

“Sure, sure. Not yet,” the gnome replied, looking around.

We left. It was obvious that Illi had been pretty starved and walked very slow. He was distrustful of most people but for some reason accepted the paladin. He allowed Yander to lift him up and our pace doubled, the group getting out of the lower level, up to the main floor, and then to the snow. And it was COLD. 34” of snow on the ground. Hrimvir used one of his last endure element spells on Illi and we left the Monastery main building.

Cara covered the worst of our tracks and we made it to the Garrison. It was about 2:45 – goblins had to have been up for at least 45 minutes on average by now. “How soon before they notice the kid, the next Maglubiyat is missing and go looking for him?!”

Atlas had done a detect magic and was studying the 3 rune clusters on Illi that had lit up. One of them was indeed the trigger, a tattoo along the top of his back at the base of his neck, complex and difficult. It was tied to his life force as well as proximity. If he dies (goes to -1 hp) OR if it's more than 3 miles from the graveyard, the ritual’s final piece will be enacted and the 5 to 600 undead will rise from the cemetery.

The other 2 were tied together, acting as a bolster for the other. They were location runes. Effectively, Moray could TRACK Illi by these runes – being able to find him with a location spell. The limit – 3 miles. Shit, well within the area we were in now. BUT, the runes work in tandem, law of Sympathy and Three. If one of the runes was well defaced, the location effect would drop to 1 mile. And if both were defaced, the location effect would be negated.

We looked over Gun’s map. There was no way to take the kid to Guido’s Fort – even the beach was well over 3 miles away. There was a cave at the bottom of a cliff, a mile and a half away, that might work if we could deface a rune. We looked over supplies and had magical ink and a number of needles. But only Atlas had the knowledge of the right rune – and no one else had any skill that would substitute for the wizard’s possible skill. But he would need an hour to try to deface a single rune – and we were way too close with nowhere to escape to to risk doing it here. We were going to have to leave and leave now. And hopefully try to deface a rune at camp.

So by 3 PM we gathered everything up and began walking. It was slow going, snow on the ground, and half of us cold. Illi rode on Yander’s shoulders, wrapped in a blanket and cloak. We left the monastery grounds and then went down the hill eventually to the clearing there. We discussed either staying in the clearing or hitting the tree line. Either way we were going to leave a trail, and the edge of the trees would be faster than in the trees.

It was slow going to the other end of the clearing, there we found the blaze markings and walked the trail south and east until Gun felt we were near a ridge line. From here we left the trail and pushed on south through the trees. Cara stayed back, making a false trail before doubling back and obscuring the path through the trees for at least 70 or so feet.

We were going on, but going slower and slower until about 9ish, at least 3 of the party members had nothing left to give. We had to stop. Cara had some dry kindling she had been carrying and the rest of us followed Nevah out to the trees to find whatever partially dry branches we could find. Shovels hit the snow and we were able to light a fire. We ate what food we had and according to Gun, we were about a mile and a quarter from the Monastery at this point.

Thobar and Cara hung around with Atlas who had ink, needles, and hopefully an hour to work on Illi. Nevah was grumbling under his breath but was keeping watch. Yander held Illi tightly, the young man braving the pain. The rest of the group fell asleep as Atlas began working. He tapped back and forth from ink to the young man’s skin. Blood flowed, pain was etched on his face, as Atlas worked on and on…but he was not successful. Cara hit Illi with a heal spell and we were debating on trying again or going to sleep.

So we tried again at 10:30 PM, and this time, Atlas felt confident that the tattooing over the existing location rune worked – dropping the location effect from 3 miles to 1 mile. We smothered the fire, lowered the lantern, and then took turns keeping watching. The party was exhausted. Each person who tried to stay up struggled but we managed. A few giant rats approached the camp but there were too many of us and were sent off. When enough time had passed, we all got up and exhausted, still had some healing and spells to pass around.

Yandr made a suggestion on where to go with Illi. “The closest hole?” Nevah asked. The paladin scowled at him. “No. Serious. The two witches.” Gun confirmed they were under 3 miles from the Monastery so were a good place. The witches weren’t evil, just…unknown? Plus they were powerful enough to deter any of the local monsters to fight with them. With little other ideas, we figured let’s go. Gun said 4 to 5 hours from here, so we were on our way.

We continued pushing through the dense forest till eventually we came to the next blazed trail. And then from there went up and over two rises until we came to the clearing of the witches. The snow melted at the edge of the clearing, 3 gravel paths ran through to a 20x20 thatched roof cottage. Wild flowers abounded and standing outside were two women with graying hair and wearing aprons. One had a tray of cakes, the other a rolling pin in her apron.

“Look, Rosalinda!” one of the women said to her sister as we closed. “It’s those nice people we met a few weeks ago.”

“You’re right, Rosabella. Welcome!”

We talked to them and they offered us some tea and lemon squares. Yander did most of the initial set up, and we were able to suss out that these women had no problems with us, were willing to talk, and invited us in. They also seemed to know our names and treated us well.

We hung our shoes on the shoe tree inside and followed them into their home. There were more windows than we expected from the outside, the inside was larger than the building could possibly be, and there was even a second floor. We didn’t dicker around and after eating cakes and tea, explained who Illi was, what we’ve done, and why we wanted to leave him here. We also asked about the master tattoo on his back.

They were willing to watch him, charging us 75 crowns for the 2 weeks. Removing the tattoo was going to be difficult and would require special inks and time and no guarantee. They offered to try it for 400 crowns. We tabled that for now and they were happy to deal and make deals. We did learn that there is an Ogre that they don’t like, have wolf friends (we met him), and tramples their flowers. We did sell them (trade them) the two vials of bat guano we had. We got 2 extra healing potions and Atlas traded his for a pair of web scrolls.

At the end they gave us a large syringe to stick in the dragon’s ass and get some blood. We also learned a bit about the dragon. It was 300 years old and was born when the church of Aine fell to the forces of Maglubiyat. Because it never had parents, it never learned to cast magic – but it still had all the other dragon abilities.

Illi was given big thanks and a hug from Yander and the rest of the party wished the young tortured kid well (most of the party). We had made the call with only a few days of food left and the need for Moray and the rest of Gavin’s forces to calm down to head back to Fort Guido. We left here and went west, passing a long lake and looking over the hobgoblin camp there. We could count 12ish of the greenskins, but the huts and tents led us to believe it might be twice that number.

We pressed on till the sun was going down, getting to the ridge with Maglubiyat’s statue. We tied rope and climbed down, making our tired way to the Giant Bat cave. The bats had gone so we went in, set a fire (thanks Cara for more kindling) and exhaustedly fell asleep.

We awoke early on the 13th and were gone before the Giant Bats could get to us. We did not make the beach until 12 PM where we lit the orange signal log and waited. By 2:30 Tila and her boat showed up and we paid her the 10 crowns. She told us about Cullen and his safe return. Eventually we arrived at Fort Guido (3:15 PM) where Guido met us again on the dock. We had no treasure for this trip and after giving his a single small stipend, went into the Lion’s Den where we arranged lodgings and sleeping for the night (Nevah, Atlas, Hrimvir, and Cara getting rooms, the rest of the party a space by the fire in the Common Room). We were going to buy what we needed and head off again tomorrow.

Icemonth the 13th, 3:15 PM.