Meet 128, Adv 15, 6/28/25

Plantmonth the 20th, 3:20 PM, 239 of the 29th age. We discussed options on where to go and for how much longer to adventure for. We were still doing ok, so figured another hour or two. So from there we went west, the passage curved and meandered a bit, heading north and then u turned to the south – and there was a 15’ drop here. The ceiling was normal, but the ground here slid down and back, making a reverse clay cliff. Nothing was at the bottom. It was an annoyance at best. We set rope and one at a time, made our way down, Connal doing the monk drop thing at the end.

The passage traveled a bit and then ended up at a large chamber – 30’ x 50’ oval. 4 sets of walls were here, made of well made ceramic bricks. Two of the walls made a 20’ angle in front of us, the acute side facing away, and the other 2 did the same 20’ more feet beyond that. There seemed to be a glow, steady yellow white beyond the second wall. Each set of walls were about 4’ high as well, making seeing over them difficult.

We discussed options to go in and check it out, summon, invisible, brave. So most of us hung by the door while one of us snuck in, looking past the 1st wall. There was an elven warrior, clad in armor, and very dead. Like he died in agony. Black burst veins ran through his entire body and equipment.

We were discussing next options when We figured Shim could send a single figure in. He made a summons, and got a manes demon. He coaxed it to go forward one step at a time until it came to the next wall. And then it seemed to shrivel as we heard a horrific teeth shaking keening cry. And rising up from beyond the 2nd wall was a ghostly undead horrific elven ghost like apparition. And it was screaming. And the scream made everyone shake and cover their ears in terror.

Banshee.

Its mournful wail filled most everyone with terror – and instantaneously, everyone fled except Shim, Wilhelm, and Connal. The rest of the group dropped everything they were holding and ran back. Where they hit the 15’ tall cliff and started fighting and clawing to climb it up and get away. Connal put on his negative energy gloves and pulled to cowl of his cloak up and over. Wilhelm stood behind him and stuck him with a bull’s strength, and Shim fired off 3 magic missiles, tearing into the dead elf.

And then she was up front. And being non corporeal, she was going to be able to sieve around and get Shim. So Connal stepped up and punched, kicked, and slapped with his negative plane gloves as Wilhelm struck her with a Fairie Fire spell. Shim jammed some tallow in his ear. And her screams and cries KEPT on doing damage to us, bleeding away hit points one after the other.

The other group, one and then two managed to clamber up to the top of the cliff and started running blind through the hall, smashing heads, faces, and whatever, as they ran away into the gloom. The Banshee and Connal were grappling with one another, her negative hits freezing the air with his passing. Wilhelm drew Bleakwinter and Shim fired more magic missiles. Connal was hurting and used his monastic ability to heal some of his wounds, giving up the grapple to try and strike her fast and repeatedly.

Another summon went out, this time a Barbaric elf maiden, who backed up into the room, horrified and began shooting. But her arrows went through the banshee, risking hitting Connal. The banshee hated the elf woman and the grapple was reensued, the monk maintaining control of the banshee’s movement. More of the party had climbed up the wall, a few of them bleeding and dazed from smashing into the walls as they ran into the dark, ending up in the dead end passage.

We were getting hurt now, hit points were whittling away. The banshee was not going down, and in her anger, she fired off a death wail – her most powerful attack at Connal. The shrieking wail was like the claws of death walking over your grave and only the monk’s great will kept him from succumbing – but he still took 20 hit points of damage (the elven barbarian died instantly, Shim and Wilhelm were just out of range. Connal was down to a handful of hit points and Wilhelm raced in, healing at the ready and doles out.

And still she screamed on. And then Shim needed healing, and Wilhelm. And at this point, the group redoubled their efforts as the banshee was raggedly falling apart – and Connal struck the killing blow – destroying the banshee. Her death caused a feedback loop of negative and positive energy briefly coexisting that fed back to Connal and zapped him hard – frying about half of his magic items in the process.

We healed and took stock of our messes. – and they were plenty. We were pretty much out of spells. And the fear aura ended after a turn, so the others came back slowly and with care and concern. Everyone was tired and dirty. We picked up the few items that had been dropped and we decided to open the hut and rest.

We took out the meat that had been purified from the Leucrotta room and cooked it here, and then we doled it out and ate it. We felt our hurts and healed some more, and then tired and so done – fell asleep. We awoke the next day and prayed, studied, and got ourselves ready to go. Past the banshee chamber was the next passage down, and from up here we could hear music – chaotic with hints of melody, mostly flutes and harps.

We checked our gear, tied a number of ropes together and made the trip again one at a time, 2 people at the top lowering the others one at a time. Finally it was Godrick with a levitate taking Darius down, and then Connal was last with the rope and some careful climbing. By 8:20 on the 21st, we were at the bottom.

Short hall to a room with dozens of puddles and colored drips falling from the ceiling 6’ up, motes of light flitting about. We did not want to enter, and the water was making the music. And the motes were bothering us. The thought was fairies. Wilhelm spoke Sylvan so he tried first. And one of the motes drew closer. It was naked 3” tall winged figure. Called itself Bluebell.

They had come here some time ago, following the neogi just ot get something from them, through the wrinkle down below. But they were sort of trapped here now. There is something otherworldly behind them – and the Neogi and their machinery hurts them to pass. We convinced them the neogi were all gone, so they turned off the music water thanked Wilhelm, let us know to be “Afraid of the fear ahead!” and they flew on and off, up the passage to eventually the world above.

We got past the room now with better ease, and from here the passage had three choices – south to another 15’ cliff and then a split there east and southwest, nor west a bit and then north. Shim checked the gem, and it was pointing down…and just a notch west!! OMG! Getting closed thank god! (500’ or so below the ground?!?!)

We took the north passage and as it went 40 or so paces, it turned to the west. But those in the front started to feel…worry. Like a strange all consuming fear and worry. Um…back up.. Shim tried to fire off a dancing lights spell and it went into the larger area beyond, illuminated some …tentacle thing…before the lights faded.

And we then could all hear it talking to us in our brains. It asked if the group is willing to lie that it will free it. They are doing their best. We’re still lying right? It called itself a Feyr, and comes from a different world without time, just emotions. It came here through the Wrinkle a few years ago, took out the Neogi patrons, and then was looking to leave when some Githyanki came in doing something near the wrinkle. So it leaves its body hear and sends its mind elsewhere to hunt about.

We could feel that anything with this powerful creature was not in our best interests. But we played nice and it said it would let us past if we could get rid of the Githyaki. But they are past it – so we could…yeah, not happening. We backed up and it faded from our minds and we felt better. We went to the cliff, made our way down to the bottom. The lantern ran dry and we had to refill it again. Relying on Shim direction, we went southwest. Passage went for a bit and then looped back to the north – dead ending and at a pile of busted glass almost 4’ tall covering an area 25’ at least . We backed up griping and moaning, and went back to the other passage to the east.

The corridor went on for 35 paces then turned south and there was a smell, foul like rot. Ground sloped away and ceiling went to about 18’ in height. Biggish area, burl of a tree, almost to the ceiling. In the back of the burl, was an oversized treasure chest painted blue and red, poorly made. 5’ wide, 4’ deep and tall.

“Mimic” the group said. “Fuck that”

Shim gave a summons, getting a goblin this time. Had it sneak around to the back of the box, where it crept up on the box – and was immediately eaten.

“Mimic.”

It turned to us and jumped forward – while 4’ 5’ wide leathery winged huge eyeballs with tails and spikes dove down at the party. The mimic spat a huge amount of glue, sticking Darius to the ground. The group was going to split up but now committed to staying. Nate and Rhygar drew up to receive a charge as Darius was hit and poisoned by the eyewing monster. Eoghan threw some arrows and Connal monked out of the way.

The big thing was Shim dropping a gelatinous cube – right on the damned mimic – stopping it there and forcing the two of them to do battle. We took out the eyewings with little more issue and then the mimic which was pretty messed up from the cube was finally dispatched. We looked inside (after healing), and found 4 magic items: A staff, a bat winged cloak, a sword, and a shield. Shim assured us everything was magical, and quite a bit – so treasure was doled out and we discussed heading back to face the Feyr now.

Plantmonth the 21st , 10:30 PM, 239 of the 29th age. 

2nd Campaign, Session 12. 6/24/25

Icemonth the 10th, 12:45 PM. We had gone back to the Garrison at the southwest end of the Monastery grounds and talked at length of our options and what our plans were. First, we had 7 days of food (6 after today), so the thought of going back to Fort Guido and hiding out was an option but we discarded it. Thinking Gavin and his team might follow us or better dig in and have more defenses was an option but it would be more impactful if we came back after a day.

That led us to discuss staying here and now. It was a blizzard outside, 30 mph winds, blinding snow, 150 foot visibility. No one was going out to track and that included us. We figured for a day, we’d be ok. The building was cold though. So we used about a third of our wood to light a fire in the kitchen oven to not only warm the place, but give each of us the chance for a good night’s sleep.

We were also wet. So we took off our clothes, set them up to dry, and kept careful watch. There were some chinks in the mortar, but the kitchen did heat up to about 65 degrees which gave us the chance to get a good night’s sleep. Knowing the goblinoids were nocturnal, we wanted to be at the Monastery proper by 6, 6:30. So we ate, got dressed again in our dry clothes, and Nevah banked the fire so it would give little light but still enough warmth. And the party rested, taking alternative watches as need be.

We were up the 11th and by 6 AM, were out the door. A trio of Endure elements were cast (Hrimvir, Fjord, and Thobar) and we went outside. It was still snowing. Over 3 feet on the floor, but the wind had died down some. It took us a time to make it to the door (6:30). We could see the goblins had opened it during the night, and partially covered tracks led off to the garden and back. Ok, they resupplied some food stuffs.

We entered with care. Spear racks were gone now. And the two secret doors were closed. We went to the north one, listened, got the all clear, and opened it up. Less carrion in the hall here, and quiet. We entered with care, went south behind the sanctuary, and stopped at the cross hall. The original noose on the floor was gone, and someone had made an attempt to clean up. There was a cloth head mop here, stained with dye, dirty, and smelled of urine (what else were they going to use to moisten the mop? Filthy!).

Still no goblins. Detect evil was also coming up blank. We entered the original hobgoblin/goblin watch room – empty. In the intervening day, they also took all the pillows and sheets. Dragged the beds away from the back wall. We dragged them back in place, got the clean from Gun on the door being quiet, and entered.

Store room was empty and stone stairs went down into the darkness. Listening got us nothing. So we drew up marching order and proceeded down with exaggerated care, the gnome advising everyone of a goblin trickery. Good call because just about 1/3 of the way down 2 steps were covered with a sheen of oil, and 2 steps past that had broken glass shards all of it. Needed to get this out of here. Nevah suggested he’d be right back – hoping to head back to the 1st floor and get that mop!

We waited as he retraced his steps and handed the mop up to the front. We then used the mop to sop up the oil, and then sweep the glass shard away. But now we had a wooden handled mop stained brown with dye, damp with human urine, coated in at least half a flask of oil, and had scores of glass shards stuck in the fibers.

Best weapon ever.

We took it, knowing that if we lit it on fire and hit someone with it – epic.

By 7:45 we were at the bottom of the stairs. No smells of incense. No mumbling goblinoid voices. We talked about options and decided to head as far west as we could – there was a passage beyond the last one that turned southwest and should get us closer to our goal. We made it there and then continued on with serious care. The passage had turned here and went on 40 or 50 feet before turning full south. Some faint light was coming out of a side passage and we inched closer before looking through the 20’ wide opening.

It was an arena. Easily 120 by 70, the floor of which was 10’ below the hallway level. Seating for hundreds. Two huge columns from the floor to the ceiling above. But there were 4 bodies in the gloom below and a 4 count of slow-burn torches here. A few of us eventually inched in and made their way down to the floor.

The bodies were that of two wolf-hounds, and two humans. Most likely rangers. Which matched what we had learned back at Fort Guido. It looks like they’ve been dead for a week or 3, and their final death involved arrows – most likely from up in the stands down there. Who knows how long they held out before being killed. We looked all over for their gear and didn’t find it exactly, but there was a hidden area under some of the seats that had a ring, sword, bow, short sword, leather armor, and a handful of arrows. Atlas did a detect magic and identified two of the items – Ring was a ring of protection (given to Hrimvir), and the sword was a short sword +1 (Fjord took it).

After making sure there was nothing left and Gun finishing the mapping, we left the arena about 8:30 and kept on down the hall. At some point we ended up with two possible doors, one on the east wall, one on the south – both at the end of the passage. We listened to both and heard snoring beyond the east one. Yander verified a detect evil spell – 10 of them – 5 goblins, 5 hobs.

The party decided to send Gun and Fjord in to take them out while sleeping and the rest of us quiet in the hall. They got the door opened, and split up, 5 on left, 5 on right. They held hands over mouths and stabbed in throats. One at a time until 1 was left and they invited Nevah in to do the honors. We looked over the room. Door on the east wall which we opened and checked – went back to the long hall we had been in yesterday. Ok, map was filling in.

It was 20 after 9 when we got to the south door. Opening it showed a hall going south and then turning to the east. A look there showed a long hall to another door, and a side passage also going south here as well. Gun felt the east door would lead to the hall so we approached. It was here that Atlas noticed another alarm spell glyph up there. Matches the same one that was in the supply room. Opening the door will trigger the alarm and we’ll be knee deep in goblins. If he had some crushed gemstones and a bit of luck, he could try and bypass the rune. We decided to just not and instead went to the south passage.

It was long – 80, 90’. We looked for secret doors (found none). They had decorated the hall with crude pictures of greenskin goblins. At the end we could see a wavering light around the east turn and glanced quickly there. Two figures 40’ down keeping guard. Hobgoblin with a crossbow and goblin with a bow.

We needed to check it out but they were too far to risk an attack or charge. Atlas once again came to the front and used a Sleep spell, knocking both of them out. Knife to the throat and they were no longer an issue. There was a passage here to the north with a door on the east wall. And a passage to the south a few feet on with 2 doors on the east and west wall there – AND the passage kept going into the gloom. We dragged the 2 bodies north and listened while Yander did his detect evil.

15 Hobgoblins. Most likely sleeping. But 15 of them. Fuck, that’s bad.

We went to the other 2 rooms and checked them out. The east door had 14 more hobgoblins, and the west door had 14 bugbears.

Damn it – 43 powerful enemies if we do something terribly wrong. We wanted to keep checked but were very nervous. Looking through our gear, We had a length of barbed wire which using Hrimvir’s pliers, Fjord fastened around the two doors on the south wall that were facing each other – that would slow them down. For the north door, Cara called out a prayer to Thor, warping the wood and forcing the door there to stick closed.

We kept going east from here, trying hard to be super quiet. Lots of goblin graffiti here. 70’ or so and a triangular alcove here with a double door. Echoes sounded something awake on the other side. And a detect evil got a number of goblins, hobgoblins, and a strange hobgoblin that we assumed was the Goblin king, Gavin.

Ok. Not ready for this. We decided to back up (it was 10:30) from here and headed all the way to the corner, down the long hall, up to the door, and then to the ready room that we had killed the goblins and hobgoblins sleeping in. We opened the door and exited here. Hallway went north, south, and east from here. North would lead us back to the kitchen and double doors, so we went south.

Came to a door and did another detect evil – getting according to Yander, 24 goblin pings beyond it. Ok – but still 24 of them. We kept heading south, passing the door with the alarm on it (not visible from this side) and the passage ended and went east. We went that way and there was a door here that also went to the goblin room (2 ways in – we’d have to either use that to our benefit or prevent the goblins from doing it when they get the chance).

We kept heading east to the end and the passage went north. Gun assumed it would eventually make a large square. There was a door on the left and a few of us found a secret door on the right! It rose up and to the left, a rough passage was beyond it. While listening to the door here though, Gun could hear something on the other side sniffing around. And Yander got a single strange scented evil ping. It was fumbling with the knob so we all filed into the secret passage and yanked the wall closed. The passage went north and east and ended at a tight iron mesh where 8 big assed birds with colorful feathers, long heads, and very long beaks filled with double rows of curled sharp teeth.

The druid had to dig in her memory a bit but said they were Piranha birds. Vicious, meat eaters, and if there were enough of them, capable of swarming. We could see through the mesh a door in the room on the west wall, so conceivably we could get there from the main hall. But it would be dangerous to open that door. It was 11:45 on Icemonth the 11th and we were discussing our next options.

Meet 127, Adv 15, 6/21/25

Plantmonth the 20th, 10:20 AM, 239 of the 29th age. After making sure all the purloined mercury was stored away, we traveled back to the “Y” intersection and explored the southwest, and last, passage. The ceiling, floor, and walls had these strange grooves running in them, a few inches to a few feet long. They were triangular in shape, and deeply gouged the passage.

Eoghan and Wilhelm gave further look and discovered very fine flaky rust particles in the grooves. In addition, there were indents in the floor here and there, maybe 30 in total down the entire length, something needle point had pushed into the ground – spear like but way too fine in diameter.

We crept on. After some time the passage turned more south and opened to a largish chamber. The light was not shining too far, but we did see a pair of very rusty metal boxes, barely a notch over 3’ square. Nate wanted to get closer and the rest of the group hung back as the brave fighter approached the box, and stabbed it with the point of his halberd. It went through the side easily. He pulled it out and turned the box. The side spilled open, showing just fine smattering of badly rusted parts within.

However the light beyond here showed three more boxes – about 5’ square. And then another two boxes past that – these were 6 and a half feet square. But those also had badly rusted articulated metal spider legs on each. We backed up again and discussed options. Throughout it all ,we kept hearing a strange musical trilling deeper in the darker part of the room. Captain Asher cast Deathwatch and the group inched forward again.

And he got a ping. Not from the now 9’ tall box much less rusty and with 8 more big spider legs on it – no from something just past it. We came closer to another box, hoping to open it, but made too much noise and the trilling stopped.

We all backed up hard and Captain Asher’s spell picked up…5 creatures. And closing. They were big and alien looking. The bottom part was a 4’ tall wolf spider, colorfully dyed in weird places. And on top of it was what seemed to be a 4’ tall moray eel – big teeth, vestigial eyes, undulating and looking about. They crawled on boxes and inched closer, trilling as they did so.

So Shim cast Comprehend Languages and the figures all turned to Shim and ran forward. Two of them leapt from boxes, slamming into Darius and Connal who were plugging the exit of the chamber with their bodies. The monk tried to dodge but failed, getting stabbed by the sharp legs and then bit – and the bite was poisonous! He was affected as if by a Slow spell, moving half normal speed and resolving last in the round.

Darius’ new armor got pretty beat up, new holes appearing in the banded mail. The battle was joined and we poured on the fight. Seeing another one readying the jump, Nate and Ryhgar held their tridents and spears at the ready while the rest of the group fired arrows and magic missiles into the mess. The alien creature did get hurt but could take quite a bit of damage.

Indeed the back one on the box DID jump – and the two fighters skewered it out of the air, killing it before it could land. Wilhelm called out a summons and a hippogriff appeared in a flash! It kicked and bit the nearest one, cutting it to half hit points. Then another died, and another. The last ones were very hateful (according to Shim’s Language spell) and were going to keep attacking. So we hacked, cut, and attacked and finally the last ones died.

Connal’s poison expired in a few minutes and he was able to move again at full speed. We looked over the rest of the chamber. A nest was here, 5 eggs in it, all cracked. The last big box we figured out how to open up and it was filled with spikes, gears, gyros, gizmos, and other strange things. A glow was from the back. It took Darius a few tries to get under the stronger struts in the machine before he could finally grab a handful of pretty screwed up, but still functioning manastones.

We headed off and there was the hole heading down to the next level. We tried the light coin on the wide trick – the descent was large here. 80’ vertically, 120’ by distance. We tied off the rope to the big box and spliced three together. Connal and Shim went down first securing the bottom – then Godric did a levitate, ferrying himself and two others down. Darius and Captain Asher tied rope to others and lowered them safely one at a time, and then they went down, the last one hitching a ride with Wilhelm who cast Spider Climb – noting he was down to about half his original complement of spiders for spell components.

It was 12:30 PM at this point and we followed the passage as it “S” turned a bit, Darius anxiously looking for dead ends.

About 15 minutes of walking and we found an area where rain was falling in a 15’ diameter area, colorful rain that hit the clay floor and was instantly absorbed. Not wanting to risk it, we summoned…a kobold. It was commanded to step into the multicolored rain where everything about it – skin, hair, belongings, all turned monocolor – tan. We then had it come back through and it happened again – turning black.

Godric meanwhile admitted he had a Waterbane spell – allowing him to make a 4’ diameter sphere of water repulsion around up to 3 targets per casting. So we paused here, allowed him to restudy his spell, and then chose the three tallest party members – casting it on each of them. They then acted as a shield, ferrying 1 person each, went back and got the rest of the group. We took the Northwest “Y” passage here and it went on, curved east, then south, then west – doubling back on itself again.

“Counts as a dead end,” Darius grunted. We ferried everyone back through the colored rain again, Godric’s spell still in force, and took the south, southeast section of the passage. It “S” turned a few times and them spilled out to a smallish chamber (15’ diameter) with a southwest passage and a northeast passage. There were 2 dead mummified elves here.

We looked them over. One was older, male, clad in the manner of a priest. However any identifiable markings such as symbology or the like were removed from his clothes and belongings. The other was a young elven girl, 7 if she was human. She had a sad look on her face and was clad in homespun and peasant wear. In her dress pocket was a stuffed toy dog. Eoghan took it. It was about 10 after 3 so we opted to go southwest. The passage went sa bit, curved back to the east…and dead ended.

Lots of roots here but another dead end. It was 3:20 on Plantmonth the 20th.

2nd Campaign, Session 11. 6/12/25

Icemonth the 9th, 5:05 PM

“Brian…there’s a bunch of them coming now!” Fjord cried out, backing up, weapon ready. The group fanned out, weapon up. Hrimvir called out a blessing from Thrym, filling the party with energy. But the fact that we were ill prepared for the fight and low on spells had Yandr suggest, “Seriously – what are we doing?! Let’s go! I’ll cover everyone!”

The group opted to flee heading back to the stairs and drawing up again. A glance down the hall showed a serious number of hobgoblins and a bugbear leader, all armed and armored up. Even Nevah, bow at the ready, grimaced at the number approaching. “Fuck it, up the stairs. Now!”

Cara who was already there, took out two flasks of oil while the rest of the group filed by, until as the foes were coming, she smashed them to the ground and we got the oil lit – sending a 3’ gout of flame up and coving our retreat. We charged to the top of the stairs, contemplated throwing food and barrels down, but decided it was better to just go.

We left the alcove area, ended up at the guard room, Gun locked the door and we used Cara’s poor rope to tied the door handle to a pair of beds. Then we ran for the hall, to the Sanctuary, and then out the monastery doors into the snow. Fjord and Hrimvir ran point, plowing over 2’ of snow aside with their bodies. The wind had picked up to 20 mile gusts and Cara went last, balanced on her snow shoes and dragging her cloak back and forth behind us to obscure the worst of the trail behind. With the wind, it should fill in any obvious tracks within a half hour.

Cold, wet, and tired, we returned to the garrison where we entered, closed the door, and braced it shut. We opted to not light a fire, cursing us to cold rations and shivering under blankets. We wrote what scrolls we could and after setting up a watch, we fell asleep.

We awoke early on Icemonth the 10th and after praying and studying, were ready to go by quarter after7. A shake of the lantern let us know it was 1/3rd full (8 hours). We left the garrison, closed it behind us, then took a circuitous route back to the Monastery. It was 8 AM when we made it to the door. 8:30 when we were back at the hobgoblin chambers. It was obvious that they had forced the door, rope was missing. At the alcove, there was now no longer any food or water stored here.

We proceeded down quietly, hearing nothing. Goblinoids are nocturnal so this was sleep time for them. We decided to recheck the original northern hall. By 8:50 we were back in the sitting room. Fire was out and stew was gone. Beyond here the cell was still closed. Yandr let us know there was a single evil figure in the bugbear room. And from the taste, it was the dwarf.

We crept up, slowly looking around. Fjord and Yandr went back down the hall to keep watch. Gun took some of his new contact poison out, applied to to a piece of the bottom of his cloak, and using his gloved hand, held it ready. He snuck in to the sleeping dirty dwarf in the bugbear bed, slapped it over his face and mouth – and he died! His heart and lungs froze and he gasped, muscles locking up until he passed on in 20 seconds.

Whoa.

We looked over the room, the dwarf had old callused wrists and ankles, showing that at one point he was in manacles for a time – but not for a while now. He had a single worn forge hammer. We left the area and decided to head back to the other passage and retry the forge area again.

By 9:30 we were back at the area, and Gun and Fjord assured us it was quiet. Yandr got a faint pair of evil pings to the east and south – nothing here though. We entered. The forge was large enough for 4 people to work at once. ¾ of a ton of iron bar was here, as well as enough coal and woodstuffs to run the forges for some time. Weapon racks were empty, but tool racks had 4 sets of about everything. Door on the south wall.

We looked around and decided to place the tools inside the 2nd furnace, under the ash and residue in there – they might find them, they also might not and accidentally burn them. The south door led to a simple cell. It appeared that this was where the dwarf normally slept and stayed but he had been upgraded to the bugbear chambers (before he died).

We headed back to the northern hall, went east and headed off to the area with the 2 evil pings. There was a closed door here and a passage that went further on. We opted for the door and looking it – it was a torture room. Iron maiden, rack, cauldron with oil, pokers. Two goblins here in leather and barbed wire, woman in the bed, man on the floor. Some, BDSM stuff? The party went in and took them out.

There were 4 cells in here, each with some moldering hay and little else. The iron maiden had the bones of a long dead person. The scent of incense was coming from the other hall. Yandr let us know that there was nothing evil there – but the place had the taste of evil – as if something evil had been done there. Moray Vaco’s area? We proceeded with caution.

The hall turned twice until we could see a single torch burning in a sconce. There was a door partially open near it – and another door at the end of the hall. There was a metal basket there with 5 torches spent and three fresh. The hall was very clean for some reason. We could also smell dogs.

The thought was to wait and see. That torch was not going to last forever. And it was a good thing we did. As it was getting low, a figure came out of the partially open room. It was a conglomerate of stitched together bugbears, at least 5 of them, gruesomely made into a golem of dead superior goblinoids. It lit the torch, put the spent in the rack, and then went back and got a broom, sweeping the hall clean.

We did not want to fight the golem so we left here and headed back the long way until by 11:20, were back outside the hall with the forge. The gut was the goblins were probably going to sleep another 3 hours or so, maybe a bit more. But we could hear very faint voices coming down the long hall past the forge. So we followed.

It split here, turning south eventually or heading off to the southwest. The south had the faint goblin voices – so we went that way. The hall was very long here and we went slow and with care, after Gun and Fjord gave it a quick scouting (2 doors and the passage kept going).

The first door was closed and locked, so we went on past here to the next door. There was a doubledoor on the other side of the hall a bit further on, but we could hear goblin voices here. They were thin and reedy, bitching about getting up early and getting breakfast ready. The door was locked and maybe barred. We wanted it open but didn’t want to alert the entire compound. So we knocked on the door hard and waited.

One of the goblins told us to go away, it was too early for breakfast, come back later. So we knocked again harder. Goblin thought we were one of the ogres and berated us to leave. We played stupid and kept annoying the goblins to open the door before one of them was very mad, pulled the bar and unlocked the door, pulling it open.

And Nevah shot him at point blank with his crossbow, sending him crashing back 12’ to roll to a stop in the huge over sized dining room.

We entered quick seeing 3 goblins, thin, small, and wearing rags, working on setting the tables and getting the place ready for breakfast. They put their hands up immediately and said, “We surrender!”

Nevah went to methodically shoot another when Yandr was right there. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?!” The paladin asked, hand out, “They surrendered.”

Nevah drew himself up and got in the paladin’s face. “We talked about this upstairs! No surrender, remember?! Let me kill them.”

The two of them got to squabbling as we shut the door and the 3 goblins came forward ready to be captured. “It’s ok,” one of them said as we tied him up. “We get roughed up and captured often. We know the drill.”

We checked the room out. Kitchen beyond here, they were steeping beans for now to make a porridge. King Gavin gets everyone up about 3-4 PM and they all come in and eat. (3 hours?) No pantry here. The goblins aren’t allowed to go anywhere else but they do give a sort of idea of the nearby rooms. A store room is north of here. And the seating in here is for about 80.

After getting what infor we can out of them, we leave them in the kitchen, and head off back to the store room. It is locked but Gun manages to pick the lock, twisting it open and we entered. Cured leather, grain, corn, wheat, oats, thousands of arrowheads, fresh torches, 20 coils of rope, 200 cloaks, 800 spikes, 200 backpacks, etc. A trove to outfit an army.

We managed to get a pair of ropes when Atlas was looking back at the door. At the top was a glyph, spread over the door and lintel. And we had broken it when we entered. “Guys?” The mage intoned slowly. “I think we set off an alarm.”

Yandr did a quick detect evil – and got 30 pings at the limit of his senses to the south and closing. “Fucking hell.”

The party ripped the door open and ran north. The goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears gave immediate chase, shouting and crying. We scooped up Gun (Hrimvir) and Nevah (Cara), running hard and doing our best to stay ahead of the rising horde. We hit the hall, turned right, and charged for the stairs, Yandr letting us know it was now maybe 40 behind us. At the stairs we did not pause, hitting it with all we had, breathing hard and legs churning. At the top we blew through the door and slammed it closed, Gun locking it and the party quickly tying the rope to the bed. Paladin let us know it was at least 50 now.

We ran across the chamber before we heard the door behind us tear open, blades hacking at the rope as we charged out and ran for the Sanctuary – 3 to 4 minutes tops ahead of the goblinoids giving chase. We hit the door outside, snow was falling, visibility was down to 150’ tops, wind was howling. Blizzard.

Hrimvir and Fjord took the front, the half orc and half ogre shoving the 3’ snow aside with the bodies and shields. An endure elements was doled out to keep Fjord in top form as they charged off out of the Monastery and towards the exit. We ran on for 6 additional minutes in the snow before Fjord was forced to slow, holding his side in paid and breathing like a bellows. Hrimvir took point for another minute or two before he too was just done.

We were quiet, weapons waiting, looking back. It was obvious the goblins were not going to chase us in the snow, there was a blizzard going on and no visibility. We waited to get breath back and then cold and miserable, headed back up the hill and made it to the garrison again. We entered, closed the door behind us and barred it in place.

“This isn’t going to remain hidden for long,” Carl offered. “They are subhuman but they will find this place especially since we’ve now been in their lair and they’ve seen us and chased up twice.” He looked around, “What are we going to do?”

“Besides kill them,” Nevah offered.

“Of course,” Carl agreed. “Besides that.”

12:45 PM, Icemonth the 10th

Meet 126, Adv 15, 6/7/25

Plantmonth the 19th, 4:50 PM, 239 of the 29th age. We all drew up and proceeded down the dark clay corridor of the 4th landing. The passage moved on relatively straight and then opened up to a larger chamber, crudely 30’ x 60’. There were thousands…tens of thousand of ladybugs in here. They covered the walls, floors, and even took to the air now and again, landing on us before moving on. There were 3 body shapes under the carpet of ladybugs, scattered about the room.

It was decided we’d light a torch and a few of us would enter with care after Wilhelm confirmed the lady bugs, although not in their normal habitat, were indeed normal in all other respects. The floor crunched beneath our feet, covered below the lady bugs, with pulverized glass. We stepped carefully around. The three bodies were all elves, and all were paper-thin mummified looking.

There was a short male cobbler who died with a resigned expression on his face and a pocket with a handful of shoe nails. A horrified female in finer clothes and missing her wedding rings. And a younger elf mail in scullery clothes. No one had anything magical on them. We eventually left the room and went off to the southwest.

Past here we spent almost 2 hours going in and out of smaller side passages. There was the faint aroma of flowers at one point and we wandered around. Dried roots, other sections with roots still collecting water but nothing growing, multiple passage all over. We did come to an area where the clay looked like it had been scooped or dug from the eastern wall repeatedly – but the clay itself was nowhere to be found. Nate did tell us that the clay was some of the finest he had ever seen and took a few pounds of it for a later project.

There was a section with a narrow passage, just a notch over 2’ in width, barely 5’ tall, ran for 15’ before widening out. Smell of flowers was stronger and we could hear whining and crying past here, like someone was hurt and needed help. Connal, who had gone through, came back, let us know, and had Shim go with him.

On the other side the gnome did a summon and a lizardman appeared. He coaxed it to go down, it reported back as it was walking and then a weird scream and it was dead. A moment later, a whining call for help.

Yeah. Fat chance. He summoned 4 creatures now, telling the wild elf to go last and report back what it is. Lizardmen went down and there was more combat. Wild Elf was close enough to say it was a Leucrotta. A creature made of wizardry during the Kinslayer Wars. 7’ at shoulder, 1500 lbs, some magic resistance, a terrible beast to fight.

We all retreated and then found an area to set up the Hut. Once inside we all rested while Shim worked on a replacement set of underwear thanks to his needle and thread and Darius’ generosity. We slept well and the next day we awoke, broke fast, studied, and discussed plans and options.

We decided to finish up this side of the narrow passage eventually finding 1 last dead elf. Not nearly as mummified, it has a 4’ long spear of glass through its neck. Was a ranger, warden, based upon clothes as well as accoutrements. Eoghan took his nice boots as well as a handful of Eyl-Ivar arrows he had (elven master archer arrows).

We went back to the narrow passage and everyone that needed to took off their armor and inched their way through. We were getting pretty dirty but made it. As we were coming out to the other side we could hear the plaintive cries for help and moaning once again. We moved on, 2 other side passages (1 filled with daisies, the other dead ending) and could faintly see a room beyond there.

20 minutes was spent coming up with a plan and once we were ready, set it off. Summon monsters got us a handful of centipedes and giant rats. A bless bolstered us, and a light spell on one of the rats made it easy to find him. Zone of Sweet air took the Leucrotta’s debilitating stink out of the room. They entered the room and the monster within started attacking the vermin.

Wilhelm hit it with a fairie fire spell and then Godrick blasted it with a lightning bolt. It tore into the room, the Leucrotta dodged it, hit the back wall and rebounded, Leucrotta dodged again, and then it scored both Connal and Godrick (the monk dodged the bolt). It charged us and we returned the favor. Its bite was wicked and crushed shields and armor if it could get a grip on them. We struck as hard as we could and the leucrota took the blows and whirled around, kicking, snarling, and savagely biting.

But we outnumbered it swiftly, Shim got a lucky summons with a ghoul, and it was forced to split its attack and give ground and after a few minutes, it took the last fatal blow , was paralyzed, and the party tore it to bits before it fell over. Good job.

We found an elven silvered magical long sword, leaking magic and badly hurt – runes identified it as Doombringer. (poor condition, but +2!). We did some healing and then went through all the half rotten dead meat in here. Deer, cow, chicken, quail, pig. We identified a large portion that was still identifiable, and hit it with a purify spell – giving us about a day or so of raw meat (no salt, but we could cook it later and eat it). Nice.

We left here and went north. Wide passage that split. We opted to go north and could hear hoof steps in the distance. Strange glow. About half way around we guessed it would meet up with the other passage so we stopped following whatever it was, went down the other passage, and it did meet up (with a side corridor heading south). So we had a circle passage and a side spur. Nate wanted to go back and follow the circle, and he got Shim bouncing with excitement to do so. Eoghan and Wilhelm were of a different mind.

We did eventually go back to the start and sure enough, the ghostly figure and hoof beats were there. We sped up and it did too, but we could catch glimpses. A Stag. Glowing white and spectral. We picked up the pace and was 2 cycles around the circle approaching a third when Connal poured on the speed and tried to catch up. The deer turned to the wall and jumped through it – leaving a huge splash of ectoplasm behind. Which then turned to about 25 pounds of vegetables (potatoes, leeks, celery, tomatoes, etc..). The druid assured us it was good and fresh and we added it to our bags for now.

We headed south till we got to a larger chamber. A 13’ tall, 8’ diameter mushroom was here, faintly swelling as if breathing in the middle of the room. Nope. Nope. Do NOT go in and touch the damned mushroom., No one.

We stayed along the edge of the room till the other passage and left this chamber behind, heading northwest. We came to a split, southwest or northwest and went northwest. The passage did end in time but there was a 2’ diameter, 2’ deep pool of mercury, just sitting there. We discussed worth and we had vials with stoppers, so the party loaded up on the precious metal and then doled it out. It was about 20 after 10 on Plantmonth the 20th and we were going to head back to the other passage and wee where that led.

2nd Campaign, Session 10. 5/27/25

Icemonth the 9th, 12:30 PM. We proceeded to the back of the hobgoblin/goblin chamber where Gun used the key we had gotten earlier to unlock the door. Beyond was a landing with a set of stairs going down into the gloom. A variety of poorly preserved foodstuffs, water casks, and other supplies were stored here in boxes, bags, and barrels. Hearing nothing from below, we scouted down the 60’ depth of stairs, noted a “T” intersection at the end, and some sort of smithing noises coming from the south end of the “T” (Distant and echoing, but definitive).

Information was shared at the top of the steps and we opted to go away from the noise for now, heading to the north end of the “T”. We had the lantern lit (Yander let us know we had a bit under ¾ of the oil left for now), and proceeded with caution. The passage was surprisingly long, 40 paces or so. We checked for secret doors while walking, eating up some time but not wanting to miss anything. The end of the passage had a single door here, closed.

We checked it out (unlocked, no noise, untrapped), before daring to open the chamber. It was a sitting room, smoky fire going out on a fireplace, greenish stew in a pot, table and setting for three, couple of wine jugs, and a door on the other end of the chamber. We listened to the other door (quiet), shut the one we entered and guarded it, and then gave the room a once over. Goblets were tarnished but silver (not goblin made), stew was gross, wine was terrible, and we did drag the still hot log from the hearth and checked the area – nothing up there. We replaced the room as best as we could and then by 1:45, were heading out the western door.

Hallway was beyond here, some breeze as well, at least as far as our light could go and even infravision showed it kept going. 2 side corridors to the left (south), one 20 paces, the other another 30 beyond that. Checked the first one out, small alcove and it ended at a door. Metal clad, replaced from somewhere else. Looked like a cell door. There was a keyhole – with a key in the door. Um…ok.

Opened the door and it was a cramped cell. Simple pallets for bed, a crap bucket (old and dried turds within). 42 tally marks were on the back wall. Some hairs in the bucket and on the pallet. Group figured they were dwarven beard hairs. Ok, 2 or 3 dwarves had been imprisoned here – 42 days, but now gone.

Closing the cell we crept on down the hall to the next alcove/side passage. Looking past here, passage kept going west another 30 paces and turned south some more. Still a breeze. This alcove and door however we could hear voices. Goblinoid, but deep. A detect evil gave us 3 pings. Bugbears. We girded ourselves up, drew weapons, and opened the door, firing missile weapons first.

The battle went fast and the bugbears, even though tough,, did eventually fall when overwhelmed 8 to 3. We checked the chamber out. Room for 6 to sleep, but only 3 here. While going through the stuff, we did find assorted adventuring equipment that did not fit any of the bugbears (Leather, sword, backpack, lockpicks, etc..). One of the bugbears had a sweet axe that we tested out, convinced it might be magical. Taking it we then pocketed what we needed and moved on.

Getting to the end of the hall, the passage turned south and we had 2 choices – door at the end of the hall had a “C” clamp on the wall and a length of chain holding it closed along with a twist of wire. Other door was poorly fit in the frame and we could see spaces around the framework denoting a rough cave beyond. Cool moist air flowed out. The other door we could hear faint breathing behind.

We decided to do the door with the lone figure within. He was badly beaten up, called himself Cullen DeFilch. Was from Guido’s Fort. Came up from Jector 4 months ago to capitalize on the beaver fur trade but it was hard work with little reward so far. He did note late at night and at odd times the trade boat would drift west into the mist, be gone a bit, and then come ashore. He suspected there was some smuggling going on, and he had been running up a tab at the Lion’s Den and Guido wanted his money. So he took a row boat out early one day, hoping to get a cut of the smuggling and was surprised to see it was goblins!

He was captured, brought here, and beaten and starved. A wicked looking cleric name Moray Vaco has been questioning him but he is running out of anything useful to tell the cleric. He just wants to get gone. We healed him a bit, let him know his stuff was in the next room (what we did not take), and gave him a signal log to get Tila to come across and ferry him back to the fort. He thanked us, declared he would pay us back one day, and we watched him go.

It was about ten to 4 when we went to the last door. Forcing it open was a large cave, shaped a bit like a fat “J”, 80 by 50. A stream ran from the south end of the cave from east to west, through a passage about 4’ wide and tall. We thought that we were under the garden area above. There was a chance that the tunnel would lead out and west beyond the wall of the Monastery. So Cara volunteered to go, being small and light and could swim if need be. A rope was tied to her and she went down the corridor (after getting an Endure Elements spell to aid in the cold cold 33 degree water). Using a light spell on a stone, she inched along until the rope came to an end.

There was still more passage so she went back, discussed it with the party, and the thought was another rope length was called for. Hrimvir was holding it, playing out the slack, and Cara went back into the gloom. She went along, calling back distances, until about 70’ in, the water sped up, sloped down faintly, and she lost her step, falling forward and then DOWN a hole in the floor! Dangling, she slammed into the side of the hole, tried to hold her breath and was screaming in terror.

Hrimvir meanwhile was dragged forward, lost HIS footing, and was sliding down the cold passage, the water forcing him forward. Fjord shoved himself into the hole, grabbed Hrimvir by his armor, and HE was dragged forward! Cara slipped more down, barely able to breath, getting battered and pissing hit points away. Then finally Yander charged into the cold cold water, two hands on Fjord’s shoulders and back and pulled – stopping the slide for now. Everyone was kicking and trying to get a purchase on the floor.

Fjord shoved his body up, the half-ogre’s bulk filling the entire passage 4’ height, jamming it with his bulk. This allowed Hrimvir to get to HIS feet, and then everyone took a trail on the rope, and began walking back slowly while the rest of the party had lantern light shining into the narrow passage. It took some time before Cara sputtering and badly hurt came out of the hole and then back down the passage.

She was a mess, her scrolls were garbage, soaked from head to toe. The rope that had held her was badly frayed and the party decided that they would not trust this rope in the future for any climbing needs.

We dried off as best we could, healing was doled out and we left the chamber with care. Heading back to the east, we went through the sitting room and all the way back to the base of the stairs.

We could still hear the smithing noises and figured it was a few minutes before 5, let’s try one more place before calling it for the night. We went south to the next “T”, the noise was coming from the west so we headed that way. Maybe 40’ to a side south passage (corridor did keep going). It was from here we could hear a number of smithing noises. Goblinoid voices. Even…a dwarf? Yander did a detect evil and we could pick up 9 traces. Wanting to see what the spacing was, Fjord looked beyond the passage’s corner and looked south. Corridor was 20 odd feet to some larger room. Smithy for sure, could see the glow of coals and stuff.

But the two hobgoblins in the area keeping guard, spotted the half ogre, shouting out, “Hey! You!”

“Brian…I think we have company coming,” Fjord said, coming back around the corner as a whole host of enemies were charging northward in our direction.

Meet 125, Adv 15, 5/24/25

Plantmonth the 19th, 1:45 AM, 239 of the 29th age. The group was exhausted and fell asleep in the Hut. When we awoke the next morning (10ish), we broke our fast, grabbed some prayers, and were on the way and out the door right afterwards. We left the chamber with the dead ankheg and decided before we tried the two narrower passages here, to go back to the larger passage on the north and take it that way to the west. The clay passage went for some distance, curved to the left and ended with a mass of roots and a dry area with a single dead elf there.

Skin was papery, mummified. Female, wearing wizard robes. One hand in front of head (face down), other under its body. We took time and flipped her over. Glass shards fell from the front of her, caught in clothes and falling to the ground. She wasn’t cut by them, so it seemed. Had a component pouch, 5 of them – all the strings cut and contents missing. Also a wand case, same – cut and wand missing. Ceremonial robes, mages runes. A detect magic revealed nothing. Read magic had we looking over her mage’s robes.

Ramona Thistle of House Hamsveld. 6th Chair, Order of Water. Wasn’t exact but Nathanial’s elven girl, Kiara, was a mage. And he did remember the name of the house as an elven mage’s family. Shim let us know that the Wizard’s guilds in our time don’t specifically say, Order of …blank. Usually refers to a Tower type (same, earth, air…). 6th Chair? Obviously took her test and is pretty low in the pecking order.

Could not tell what specifically killed her (it was not the glass). But barring the mummified look of her, Connal was sure it was a decade. Maybe 2 tops. Not 250 years ago (when the tree fell). She had all her stuff taken from her, but inside her left boot in a hidden sheath was a silvered stiletto. We took it and gave it to Godric for now. Taking her robes with some idea of maybe finding family and returning it, we left Ramona here and moved on.

Leaving the dead end we went back to the Ankheg room and checked the 2 passages. Sadly, both of them dead ended after a dozen paces. Ok – it was back to the Starlight room and the chamber beyond that the summoned lizard man had died horribly in (by fire?) yesterday.

By 12:25 we were back in the crystal chamber, purple light illuminating it all. We walked around a bit to the west passage and the thought was once again to have Shim send something down there. A quick summon followed and he sent a zombie to head off. It walked slow and was gone about 5 minutes when we heard some distant quick combat and then nothing. Shim let us know the spell was over.

Ok, armor and weapons ready, the group walked off. Passage went south west, curved and went north west. 3 splits here. 1 to the north east and narrow, one to the north but up a 2’ ledge, and one curved along to the west. A weird smell was in the air. It was time. Another summon? We opted for 1 more – hoping to get something that could talk to us. This time an orc showed up, armed and ready. It was given instructions and went first into the west passage.

Big room. Dead Moose. Something coming. Heads. Lots of them. 5 of them! Some combat and then fire sound and over. Hydra. Group was ready, and we went in. Big chamber, passage west and north. Dead moose on the south end, about 1/4th eaten. Rotten and stinks. But a 5 headed hydra with a body like a tank came out of the north corridor and attacked the party, heads all over the place.

Combat ensued and we got bit up. 1 of the heads breathed fire, but the group had planned with at least 4 instances of fire protection and resistance on the front line people. So although it was a 12 hp blast, it danced off of us doing little if anything. We were prepared and it helped us to rip the hydra down, dropping heads one by one.

Nate tried to use his Seshele Trident, activating one of the dormant powers (had 20 – now it has 19), but it was not combat oriented. Instead, it gave him perfect 120’ radius view of every enemy in the area. The hydra yes, north and west, an 11’ tall honey eating cave bear, and going down into the earth some 80’ feet, was a strange creature with a stag body, lion parts, and a wicked beak like bony face.

We took some damage but it did end at long last with a final flurry of swings and the hydra fell over.

Win! We took a short breath and Shim and Godrick were up at the dead beast vials and flasks at the ready to get some blood. The party was discussing what to do next when at 2minutes exactly, the hydra shuddered, 2 more heads grew, and the now 7 headed hydra whirled on the party and attacked. 2 of the heads were now breathing and fire and Shim got caught right in the front by one of them, the gnome’s clothes going up and Shim dancing back trying to not get fried. Godrick tried to get a lightning bolt ready and the party once again poured on the fight.

Eoghan was yelling out that we had to burn the damn thing as soon as it died or it would come back again..and with more heads! The fight took longer and more damage was done, most of the front line fighters had taken quite a number of bites. But eventually the last head was put down. We then dumped 3 flasks of oil on it and Wilhelm set the damned thing ablaze. Combat over.

Nate filled us in on what was around us and how the Seshele Trident worked. We could go west or north. We opted north. Went to a “T” intersection. To the west we could hear buzzing, quite a lot of it. To the east? A wall of glass. Filling the entire passage. And from the distortion, a foot and a half thick. We pried a bit and figured the glass went into the floor, wall, and ceiling. Wilhelm could shatter it, but it was so thick, it might not do any more than a small section of the glass.

We opted to (after much discussion) leave it for now, go back to the Hydra room, and head on to the west from here. Once we got there, the thought was to go back OUT of the Hydra room (to the east) and check the 2 passages there first! Both were dead ends eventually, one with wet roots, one with dry. But nothing for it. So by 10 after 2, we were back to the Hydra room and plotting our way west.

We heard some tinkling like bells ahead, or chimes. The chamber opened pretty large to an area filled with colorful blue and red dwarf elm trees. Their leaves moved in an unseen breeze, ringing off each other, tinkling about the place. The leaves felt normal and they were able to be plucked. But their color faded to orange afterwards and did not have that metallic tinkling afterwards.

We chanced to move through, most of the room was pretty dense and we had to hunch low, filing through the middle. The sounds were soothing and about a third of the way through the group as one decided to just relax and just…enjoy the chimes (everyone failed their save). We sat there for an hour before we had gotten so inured to the sounds that we regained the will to move on.

So we crawled on to the end of the room, turning north, and through the diminishing trees – saw Nathanial’s bear. It was a frightening brute, scarred and bloody muzzle. It was tearing through a barrel of honey, stuffing its face. We decided fighting it was a death sentence (what is they say? Even 1 bear is 1 bear too many).

Wilhelm did a speak with animals with it. We learned the bear was…sad. Depressed. It had a haunted quality about it. It was lost here and it wanted to go home. Home to where there was sky. And trees. And freedom. A place that he was from. Wilhelm identified himself as an elf which meant a lot to the bear.

It had a fairy. A partially crushed fairy that it was sorry it had killed. Dust flew off of it as it shook it about. It hurled the barrel to the west and we decided to play extra nice. Wilhelm did say that he would do what he could and in all his power to get the bear home. That’s why they were going down. The bear admitted that it could not leave. It was limited to 1, 2, or maybe 3 chambers and then it had to stop. It was physically incapable of moving on.

We traded trinkets with the bear. Feathers and rocks and bits of whatever. It did not want treasures but we found other items it would take. Cat toys and slide whistles. Eventually we were allowed to all pass and the bear ambled off to the east to go sit with the bees for a bit, thanking Wilhelm for his words and giving him the time to just talk.

At the western passage, the ground sloped down to an almost 85 degree angle drop. We did the coin trick with light and it was a good 80’ down. We needed rope. Going back to the tree room, we tied a length there, walked back to the hole, and then tied two more lengths down. Captain Asher did a lighten Load spell on our equipment and Godrick did a levitate spell on himself. He then ferried two people down while the rest of the party made their way slowly and with care all the way down to the 4th level. Eventually it was a spider climb spell, untied rope, and by 4:50 in the afternoon on Plantmonth the 19th, 289 of the 29th age, we were all drawn up again and ready to press on.

Meet 124, Adv 15, 5/17/25

Plantmonth the 18th, 2:20 PM, 289 of the 29th age (202 years before our time). We did not want to go back to the Nymph for now. So we opted to head back to the other twisted passages, starting with the first one that smelt of roses.  We followed the twists and turns, coming by an area where a large section of tree root had desiccated, a split here and again followed the rose scent. Eventually a slight uprise and there were a 6’ carpet of roses growing in the dark gloom some 200’ below the ground.

We had Wilhelm check the entire thing out, top to bottom. Stems, thorns, soil, color, scent – they were in all ways normal every day red roses. Just growing completely in an area and environment and depth that made no sense. We backed up and took another passage, coming eventually to more roots. Then we backed up and checked the other side passages. Twists, turns, dead roots.

No way through except the Nymph’s chamber. We discussed options and settled on trying to keep her away from the pool and overpowering her magic resistance with as many possible attacks as we could. We swapped to non magical items, set up who would tackle the celestial lizards, and figured that early on, Godrick would blast the area with a lightning bolt. The group girded itself for a long fight and we got in position.

And entered. Bless was cast, strength was cast, the group moved closer and in place. And Godrick shot off his lightning bolt. It hit the Nymph in the chest, she failed her magic resistance, frying through her, hit the back wall, and shot back again, and again she failed her magic resistance- before charring her to death.

Entire fight with the Nymph 2.0…31 seconds. After that the fight with the Celestial lizards was much easier. Without the Nymph, their regeneration did not function and the party was done with the struggle by 5 minutes to 4.

We reloaded the lantern with oil and peering into the pool, could see it went down 15’ feet. We tied a rope to Connal and let him slip into the cool water. At the bottom was a wrapped burlap bag and an 8’ trident. As he took it, he could feel a pulse run through it and out from him, and runes shot from the base to the tip and winked out. He swam back up and we went through the bag.

A dozen gemstones of a variety of worth (5 to about 50 crowns per), a potion of Perfect Health (permanent 1d4 hp), and the trident. Wilhelm and Shim gave it a once over. According to the read magic and detect magics, it was a Seshele Trident, a magical weapon from a race of aquatic elves. There were 2 powers, a martial one and an elective one – the elective one had 20 uses and was then done. We discussed who would get and it was either Rhygar or Nathanial – deciding to give it to Nathanial for now. He practiced with it and was very happy with its function.

As for the potion, we decided to give it to Shim, the gnome drinking it down and getting 3 fresh new hp for it. Hooray! We gathered everything up, took some samples, and were on our way south. The passage went on a bit and then ended eventually at a large mass of root half in the wall and a hole going down in the gloom. The light coin trick let us know it went down another 60’, 70’, 80’ . And we had no more rope – all 4 coils had been used.

At this point we discussed options. Climbing down without rope was suicide. So the thought was that Wilhelm and Connal would go back to the 2 other passages and using the monk’s normal skill and Wilhelm’s Spider Climb, scale back to the top, and get the 2 sets of 2 ropes and bring them back here.

It took some time (2 hours) to back track the distance, more light spells were cast, including a spider climb. But eventually all 4 coils had been untied and brought down here to the 2nd level. Then, we tied a pair to the root tree here and let it slither down into the gloom. Then one by one, we climbed down the many ledges and switches until we came at long last to the floor of the 3rd level. It was about 8ish as we set ourselves up and went down the passage.

The chamber ahead of us was lit by a steady purple light. 25’ above the ground was a 3’ length of crystal cluster growing from the ceiling radiating the light. The room had 2 dozen small puddles in it, reflecting the light, and there were 2 passages in here – 1 to the north, the other to the west. No one wanted to go in. Shim summoned a Lizardman, and the Saurial was instructed to RUN around the chamber stepping over and through the puddles.

It did so and we expected it to die – but it didn’t! The Saurial ran without issue around the entire chamber and came to the gnome pleased. With just a minute or 2 left, Shim ordered it to run through the western corridor and yell out what it sees along the way. Holding its weapon aloft, it ran off doing so. We heard it keep up a commentary and then say there was something here. Big! My gods. There are 5 of them!

And then the WHOOSH sound like something either went very fast or was set on fire. And then quiet.

Ok, let’s go north.

We took our time, slow walking it until we got to an area that split by a small chamber – northwest or south west. We discussed options and settled on southwest. Going that way there was a chamber here. 9’ ceiling. Some rocky formation on the south end of the chamber looked like a sleeping giant figure. There were 2 thin passages in here, south and west. We had Shim summon again, getting another Lizardman. The saurial was told to run in and run around, heading to the rocky figure. He got there. Assured us it was just rock. Had him hit it a few times. Still rock. Then Shim sent him to the south crack in the wall and he pushed his way through. It was too tight for the lizardman who we assumed got stuck a few times before the spell expired. Infravsion picked up the floor had odd tubes maybe 3’ wide warmer under the ground.

So we had weapons out and entered, heading for the south side of the chamber. But it was the 3rd set of people entering the area triggered an explosion from under the ground. A huge insectoid monster burst out, snatched Wilhelm in its jaws, and clamped down HARD – making the druid scream in pain. It had a poisonous stinger and the group plied weapons and spells against it. Its AC was high, the chitinous plates turning aside all but the most sure of blows. Wilhelm was getting crushed. Connal jumped his way to the top and began to beat the creature from the top.

It then turned and DOVE, taking Wilhelm with it under the earth, and Connal as well, the monk having his foot trapped between plates. We shot and stabbed as it went by. It was getting dire for the druid at this point, barely alive and running out of air. But the Ankheg turned back to the surface, spat out the druid and tried to swallow Darius – just missing the fighter. And then the last of the blows hit and the ankheg died.

We took time with shovels and crowbars to dig Wilhelm out who was down to 2 hp. His shield was lost and some of his equipment was beat up but he lived. We spent time healing him up, and the group gathered around the ankheg. Darius wanted some of the plates – a skilled armorer could make good platemail out of it. But the group had a hard time cutting the plates well enough and free – spending 3 hours before succeeding. Shim used Prestidigitation to clean us up and then we opened the Hut, climbing in and deciding to rest for now, we were pretty beaten up and tired.

Plantmonth the 19th, 1:45 AM, 239 of the 29th age.