ep 48 8-16/5/4713 The Orerry; Hasari - Asylum Stone #5

Return to Magnimar by Quillax's tree spell, consult with Sheila Heidmarch. Claw joins the Pathfinders and gets started on the Heidmarch larder. Word is that half the Lady's Light has collapsed into the sea. Giants raiding Sandpoint took a stone from the Old Light (which Neril confuses with the Lady's Light).
Return to Kaer Maga. Meet Lawless Kaid. Delve into the pits under the Therassic Spire, knock out & rescue the monk Hasari. Sephiria gets library access.

Quillax Account

Journal [30-April]

We were able to get to the library exit with Jarrick's body, meeting up with the rest of the group and we mourned his death. Jarrick had previously instructed me that he did not want to be revived, so we wrapped his body up and worked out that there was no Temple in Kaer Maga where we could have him buried, so we would need to bring him back to Magnimar. Sepheria found a temple which could cure her curse for trade of one of our +1 rings of protection. Once that was done, we stepped through to Magnimar using Transport Via Plants. We brought Jarrick to his Temple and instructed them to bury him as per their customs and handed over his shield. Perhaps fittingly, the painting on the shield would forever remain unfinished. though it would go on to protect another Paladin in the future and his tower/soup kitchen was ceded to the Temple for their continued use.

While we were in Magnimar, we went to the Lodge and spoke with Sheila. She heard our report and inducted Claw into the Pathfinder's Society officially. She also handed over the next Ioun stones. She did mention that we could potentially carry more than one stone each, which is something we were previously warned against. We cannot attune to more than one but theoretically we could each carry up to three stones without being driven insane.

With the other formalities aside, Sheila introduced us to a new Pathfinder who came highly recommended to her and she suggested that he travel with us. Irizati Al-Amestri is a tan half-elf with dark hair, who favoured a duster and a broad-brimmed hat and had been trained in Alchemy. He handed over two scrolls as a goodwill gesture. We agreed that he could travel with us and planned to leave first light on the morrow.

We met up to return back to Kaer Maga, but my Travel Via Plants spell failed, due to Kaer Maga's magical protections that had caused us issues before. We would have to wait until the following day to try again to travel to just outside the city near the Half-Light Path.

As we had time, Sepheria visited her sister, I worked on making potions, and Neril checked in on his students, and Claw explored the city. The following morning when we met again, Claw informed us that he had a vision of a ruined Abbey while holding the shard of Gluttony; his descriptions led to us to believe this was Windsong Abbey due to the Doomsday Door he described. We knew that the Doomsday Door was related to the Cult of Grotis, an end-of-days group. We are fairly certain the next shard should be Envy which will require the Dusky Rose Prism Ioun Stone that we had received from Shiela.

- Side note - Winding Abbey is known to be a meeting place of the 21 most important/powerful religions where they met to discuss important topics, although this has declined in recent years and the Abbey has be left to ruin.

It was suggested to us as we gathered to leave that we later check in with Koriah Azeren at Windsong Abbey. I had met her once, when I had first joined the Pathfinders so many seasons ago, and there was the small accident following the puzzle box.

As we had prepaid for only a week at the Wheel Unbroken in Kaer Maga and we had left Capita there alone, we felt it important to return quickly so save any incidents. Thankfully, we returned to the Inn before our pre-payment ran out and we paid for another week. As we were arranging this, the Owner informed us that a woman, Facelss Kade, had asked after our group. As you may remember from our previous messages, Faceless Kade leads an exiled group of Grey Maidens who live within Kaer Maga's walls. We were told she could be found in Down Market, probably in the main market area.

Sepheria sent a runner to invite Kade to tea that afternoon. Irizati sat at a table a little away from our group and Neril hid himself in invisibility to test if they were able to see him and as a flank in case they decided to be unpleasant. It was just on time for tea when 5 Grey Maidens in incomplete sets of armour entered the Inn. Only one had a full set of armour and we correctly guessed she was Kade. Two more had nearly complete sets and the last two had even less. They asked about a leaflet Sepheria had distributed regarding the invitation of Loyal Grey Maidens to Fort Rannick. During the discussion, they admitted to having killed a HellKnight that was chasing a person who had some tax discrepancies. They were paid to protect him and had done so. This was approximately 3 months previous.

- Side note - Hellknight Rogare had a personal crusade against the Grey Maidens as they considered them cause of the Plague, hence his start of legal proceedings against our group whilst they were in Magnimar and the reason we moved them to the relative safety of Fort Rannick. While the Maidens were indeed involved in the Plague, most Hellknights do not actively hunt the Maidens. They will only actively hunt the ones that are allied with the Church of Ergothoa, but otherwise will leave them alone. The most senior Grey Maiden survivor took a large number of Grey Maidens to Chellus (?) and were adopted by the Queen.

Sepheria informed Faceless Kade that we had business to attend to further before we could speak more with them and they informed us they could be reached in the "Three Tuns" later. Neril followed them out and reported back their conversation to us later, which was mostly that they had to induct most of their recruits, who were not top-level fighters and many of the women were happy to stay in Kaer Maga.

Once Neril returned, we returned to the Thorassic Spire to complete our promise to find all of the missing party. We bumped into Luonim the BloatMage in the library and found that his confidence in his own skills had been extremely shaken.

We made our way back to the Orriary room, which was a fascinating model of the solar system. Wisely, Sepheria opened the door with mage hand and when nothing attempted to kill us, Claw peered around the door before stepping into the room. Once he was inside and proved the room was currently safe, we all followed. Sepheria reckoned the model was quite accurate. There were two large cracks on either side of the room, breaking the perfectly smooth, round walls of the room but it seemed mostly like wear and tear as opposed to damage like that of an earthquake or such, however, the cracks matched each other almost perfectly.

Sepheria investigated the plinth/stand and determined that the lever was the on/off switching the odd wheel set into the plinth with cog-like ridges around it controlled something about the room, possibly the model. She used Mage hand again to flip the lever and we all waited for an attack but instead an illusion was activated around the entire room, the walls, ceiling and floor - with the exception of the cracks which showed nothing - all showed what appeared to be a live feed of the outside world with little miniature people going about their business unaware of being observed. After some discussion, the wheel was turned one tick counter clockwise. The little figures became translucent and began moving backwards. Neril then turned the wheel two clicks clockwise, so it was one click clockwise from it's original position. The people began to move forward and as time passed (and the sky darkened into night in the illusion) they became more and more translucent. Sepheria recommended we put the wheel back to the original position and lock it with a dagger then turn off the illusion. She suggested this was a long-term research project and we had important work to finish.

We moved to the next door, checking it carefully for traps. Neril noticed a large black spot on the ceiling. He hurried back to the plinth and removed the dagger, wanting to move the time back so that the illusion would show now as opposed to a little bit in the future when we turned it off. Before he could do this, the black spot split into two and each headed for a crack in the wall.

Two monstrous dog-like creatures appeared, which we later identified as Hounds of Tindalos). One hound attacked Irizati, who quickly turned invisible and teleported out of the room. The Hound, confused, then headed for Sepheria. The second Hound attacked me. Claw charged at the Hound attacking Sepheria. I took Earth Elemental form and hit the Hound, which Clank also then attacked. The Hound started to 'speak' in it's planar tongue. Irizati returned to visibility and cast banishment on both hounds, managing to banish one back to it's plane. Neril attacked the remaining hound and attempted to stun it but the hound shook it off. Sepheria cast booming blade on it and badly wounded it. The Hound lunged at her and grabbed her throat. Claw took its head but somehow the body still moved!

The banished hound came back through the crack and hit Claw with a rending gaze, injuring him, then went after Irizati. Claw struck a blow on the first hound that seemed to finally kill the headless beast. Clank and I charged after the beast that went after Irizati, who drew an odd weapon he called a gun and shot it three times, killing it.

Sepheria examined the room more closely, while trying to patch up her injured throat and suspected that activating the room was like a homing beacon for the Hounds but the only reason they could enter was because the walls were broken. The hounds couldn't enter our plane except through a jagged edge. We decided that we needed to fix the walls. I sealed one crack using stone shape before Neril suggested trying wall of stone, which worked well in sealing the other. The walls were mis-coloured but smooth once more.

Once we were patched up, we headed to the next door, on which was written Workshop in Thesselon. Inside, the Monk, Hasari, knelt over the dead body of the halfling (her partner). She whistled angrily, unable to speak as her lips were sewn shut. Buzzing came from the hives as Hellwasps started to swarm. Sepheria cast fireball on the wasps, trying not to hit the monk or her dead lover. Hasari bent over and seemed to listen to the dead halfling and then screamed angrily and ran over to attack us. Neril met her in the middle of the room, and attacked her when reason failed. I tried to strike her but she struck back and stunned me. While stunned, I could see a little wasp crawl out of the dead body's mouth then retreat back inside. Clank charged to my defence and struck Hasari twice. Sepheria tried Tasha's hideous laughter but it failed and she moved away to reconsider. Claw hit her then tried to grapple her and was able to grab her. Irizati quickly closed the door and readied himself in case she slipped free and tried to escape out the door. Neril attacked her again and this time was able to stun her. Meanwhile, I shook off my own stun and told the others in carefully formed words of the wasp.

Clank helped Claw and Neril restrain and tie Hasari up, with Neril continually stunning her to keep her from causing us more injury. Sepheria turned her magics to the dead body and effectively cremated it and any wasps hiding inside.

Under the remains of the halfling was a backpack of books, only slightly damaged. We picked up as much of his corpse/dust as we could and took his remains and the insane monk back to the librarians to deal with them and collect our reward. The Librarians told us they were going to send the Monk to a special group to see if they could help her.

Sepheria decided to try to hire Luonim, who agreed to take on a position at Fort Rannick as magical support for the Maidens there as well as Sepheria's research assistant.

I told Sepheria that she was never allowed to spend more than 24 hours in 72 in the Library or else she would change and become like the Librarians, wizen and slightly malformed by the magics contained in the books and the Spire itself. She reluctantly agreed.

We left the Spire to return to the Wheel Unbroken to tend our injuries properly.

[ xp 3140 each / 1000 clank ]

The Shards of Sin

#1 Shard of Pride
Overwhelming Illusion aura. The Shard of Pride is made of coppery horacalcum. Requires attunement.
As long as the Shard of Pride is carried, its owner
1. Can use major image once per day. At spell level 6 if caster is 11th level or higher. User can use INT for spell save DC.
2. Has advantage on saves versus illusion spells.
3. Has a +2 insight bonus on all skill checks.
Curse: The owner suffers delusions of grandeur, and is sickened whenever she must serve another creature as a subordinate of any sort for as long as that arrangement persists. She cannot gain the benefit of the aid another action, nor can she take the aid another action.

#2 Shard of Greed
Aura overwhelming transmutation. The Shard of Greed is made of black adamantine. Requires attunement.
As long as the Shard of Greed is carried, its owner
1. Can use haste as a spell-like ability once per day.
2. Has advantage on saves versus transmutation spells.
3. Gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls.
Curse: The owner becomes greedy, and is sickened whenever she is not wearing at least 500 gp per Hit Die in nonmagical jewelry and fine clothing. Each time the owner sells a belonging or gives one away, she must succeed at a DC 15 WIS save or gain 1 level of Exhaustion.

#3 Shard of Lust
Aura overwhelming enchantment. The Shard of Lust is made of a deep red djezet alloy. Requires attunement.
As long as the Shard of Lust is carried, its owner can
1. Use suggestion as a spell-like ability once per day. Can use CHA for casting stat.
2. Has advantage on saves versus enchantment spells.
3. Has advantage on Initiative checks.
Curse: The owner becomes narcissistic, and is sickened whenever he has not engaged in sexual relations with another creature within the past 12 hours. While the owner wears any sort of armor or magic item that occupies the body slot, he is staggered.

#4 Shard of Gluttony 
Overwhelming Necromantic aura, made of pale inubrix. Requires attunement.
As long as the Shard of Gluttony is carried:
1. User can use vampiric touch as a spell-like ability once per day at spell level = half user level, rounded up, to a max of 9 at 17th level. User can use either STR or DEX, or their spellcasting stat, for the touch attack.
2. User has advantage on saves versus necromancy spells.
3. User increases maximum hit points by 1 point per Hit Die.
The owner always feels hungry & thirsty - with ioun stone this effect is greatly lessened, but they still tend to snack a lot...

Curse: The owner is always hungry and thirsty, and is sickened whenever he has not eaten food in the past hour. The owner must make a DC 20 WIS save to resist consuming any food or beverage (including potions and the like) he carries immediately. If the save is successful, the owner can resist the urge for 1 hour before being forced to make the save again.

#6 Shard of Wrath (Major Artifact)
Aura overwhelming evocation; Weight 1 lb. Requires Attunement.
The Shard of Wrath is made of sparkling silver siccatite that feels hot one day, but cold the
next. As long as the Shard of Wrath is carried, its owner can use fireball (8d6, DC = CHA+Prof) as a spell-like ability once per day, gains advantage on saves versus evocation spells, and gains a +1 bonus on all weapon damage rolls (alternating fire & cold daily).
Curse: The owner becomes addicted to violence, and is sickened whenever she hasn’t brought a living creature to 0 hit points within the last hour. Once the owner attacks a creature, she must make a DC 15 Will save if she wants to cease attacking; otherwise, she does what she can to kill the creature.

ep 47 8/5/4713 The Black Rider

Destroy Rot Grub Swarms, defeat wyverns, steal Sihedron Shard, flee back, defeating Black Rider on the way.

2nd half XP
Evade Caulborn XP 2900
Evade Manananggal & 2 Hungry Fogs XP 2750
Defeat the Dark Rider CR 14 XP 11500
Total: 17150/5= 3430

Take the Sihedron Shard +1200 each

Total: 4630

Journal [16-April]
We landed in the Black Forest. Sepheria quickly shouted for us all to step away from the Menhir as we had been warned about the worms. Her warning came just in time as swarms of evil rot worms wriggled up from around the Menhir.
From a distance, Sepheria cast fireball and the flames washed over about three-quarters of each swarm but also lightly burned me, Claw, and Jarrick. The worms crawled onto Jarrick but his armour offered him protection. They also crawled onto Claw and two burrowed under his unarmored skin. They tried to climb onto me, but I shook them off quickly. I informed the others that Rot Worms are fatal if they get into the heart, so Claw was in danger if they got burrowed too deeply under his skin.
Claw used an arrow to gouge one out from under his skin but couldn't dig out the other. He headed over to Sepheria for help. Jarrick ran around the Menhir and away from the worms while I climbed on top of Clank, who the worms did not seem interested in as he was metal. I quickly cast Flaming Sphere and send it rolling around the menhir, burning the worms. Clank carried me towards Jarrick while Sepheria cast Scorching Ray at Claw's arm, aiming for the remaining worm. She was able to kill it and directed her magic towards a swarm, destroying it.
All the remaining worms started towards Clank, swarming up his legs towards me. Claw helped scrape the worms off Clank, getting most off, and Jarrick also helped with his shield, destroying one of the swarms and getting them all off Clank and away from me. I moved the flaming sphere over the swarms and cast produce flame, destroying another swarm while Clank stamped on the remaining worms around us, destroying the last of them.
After checking ourselves over for any remaining worms, Neril, who had followed our trail through the library's cavern to the Menhir, appeared beside us. He pointed out several wyverns flying around. We all hid under a nearby tree, watching the wyverns catch and eat something before they retreated to a tower that was part of the nearby keep. There was a large dome about 70' up from the ground. After some discussion, we decide to go after the wyverns.
As we approached the keep, the double doors swung open silently as we approached. Inside, we could see alcoves containing suits of armour and stairs going up the far end with doors on the North and South sides of the large room. There were two sets of hoof prints - a large war horse's and a smaller riding horse's - both coming and going. We consider the room carefully, then decide to go around and climb the outside.
As we stepped around the corner, a bunch of wyverns peer over and down at us and roar angrily.
Claw threw his javelin at them but missed then started climbing the tower's wall to get to the nest while Sepheria stepped back and threw a fireball at them.
One of the wyverns tried to dive at Sepheria but missed. Another went after Claw, who was climbing and when he let go from the wall, it snatched him from the air in it's talons.
​I took air elemental form and tried to whirlwind two of the wyverns but it wasn't effective at all. The large blue Alpha Wyvern went after Jarrick. Clank headed towards Sepheria to try to defend her while Neril started running up the wall towards the wyverns, attacking the one carrying Claw, stunning it and driving it into the ground, sending Claw tumbling from its grip.
Jarrick shot two ice arrows at the Alpha while Claw ran over and killed the stunned wyvern. Sepheria moved so she was protected by the castle's walls and pulled out her wand of magic missile and fired it overclocked at the Alpha.
The remaining wyverns attacked me and Claw. I smacked it in response and retreated to the group. The Alpha attacked Claw and Clank moved over to join us, readying an attack in case anything came within range. Meanwhile, Neril climbed the walls again and repeated his previous jump attack on a wyvern. Claw readied his glave while Sepheria threw scorching ray at the wyvern Neril was on top of, killing it, then she turned her attention to the Alpha. The smallest wyvern ran and we ignored it. I attacked the Alpha and when it turned to run, was able to kill it.
While we fetched our weapons and checked our injuries, Sepheria used her arcane recovery. Neril took a few minutes to help me extract wyvern poison from the fallen wyverns. We got 10 doses which we stored in the alchemy kit. [DC 15 CON save, 24 damage, 1/2 on save. 1 dose per hit, such as arrow or sword. Can put multiple doses on sword but could be spent on first enemy]
[ 3400 xp each, 1700 clank]
We climbed up the outside of the tower to check out the wyverns' nest and found some interesting bits, including a magic horse shoe.
From there, we flew or climbed to the top of the highest dome in the Black Keep. Sickly yellow-ish green light emitted from the preternaturally smooth window, through which we could see that the light originated from a high column/pillar that seemed to be part organic and part mechanical. At the top was the Shard, around the base were three desecrated angelic figures with metal sprouting out from their eyes and twisting up the pillar. We identified them as Astral Devas and they appeared to be drained of power, which had likely been filtered through the shard into the column.
Sepheria tried Mage Hand to draw the Shard to her but nothing happened. Claw tried to break the window but he simply bounced off what we determined was a Wall of Force. Sepheria Disintegrated the Wall and snatched up the Shard with her Mage Hand.
After a moment, the Devas screamed and started to disintegrate. The Forest shook like an earthquake suddenly happened. The air quality dropped significantly and the sky darkened. From deep within the Keep, a neigh from a horse screamed out. Cold, necromantic energy washed over us and both Jarrick and Sepheria were afflicted by a Curse of Living Death. Their skin paled and started to turn gangrenous.
With nary a word, we all turned and ran towards the Menhir, which was not far away. As we flew past the Keep's doors, the doors burst open and a headless horseman burst out. We could see a flash of light from the Menhir, as if it was activated although we were unsure if anyone had come in or the Caulborn had simply opened the way out. Our hopes to fly above the horseman to the Menhir were dashed when the horse took to the air.
Jarrick readied his weapon as the horseman approached but instead the Black Rider drew a severed head from his belt and threw it at Jarrick. it exploded with negative energy, doing major damage to the group. Sepheria lost concentration on her Fly Spell which was carrying Claw and he fell to the ground. Claw picked himself up and attacked the Rider, as the horse was still within reach of the ground.
Seeing how much damage the horseman can do with one of his bizarre head-weapons, I darted under the horse and up the side of the Rider, stealing one head away but not able to get both.The horse kicked me and the Rider landed a blow as I scrambled into the dubious safety of the main hall, forgetting that we chose not to go that way in the first place. A door at the end of the hall started to open.
Meanwhile, Neril attacked the horseman and stole away the other head then started to run for the Menhir. Sepheria dismounted from the broom and attacked the horse with the animated objects. The Rider was forced to land and he struck at Claw, as did the Horse. Claw barely managed to stay upright. Jarrick ducked in and Laid Hands on Claw then cast Shield of Faith upon himself. As we decided to regroup by the Menhir, Claw disengaged and ran.
In the main hall, two suits of armour started to leak a living gas, which as an air-elemental, I was immune to the poison. A manananggel (a creature with the head a bat, the disemboweled torso of a woman and the ability to fly launched itself at me and hit me hard enough to force me back into human form. The gas creatures moved towards me and acted like a poison. Unable to retake another animal form, I called on the Cuatal, and used our planar ally to cover my retreat.
Neril made it to the menhir and dodged past the ill prepared Caulborn who had stepped through and were standing near the rock. Sepheria left the animated objects running as she, also made it to the Menhir and passed through with the Shard, darting over the Caulborn on the broom. Jarrick quickly followed them through, leaving me as I told him to protect Sepheria and the Shard as the Horseman had followed her through. His horse was unable to move through the Menhir and was left behind. Sepheria's objects dropped from the air as she departed the plane, so the horse stood placidly by the stone. Jarrick struck the horseman and landed a very powerful blow as Ayomeday's blessing coursed through him in his fight against the evil creature.
Claw also moved and shoved his way through the Caulborn to the Menhir. Clank flew over the Caulborn and went into the Menhir as I commanded him to retreat and return to the library if he could make it. The manananggel grappled me and made it impossible to move and was both stronger and faster than I was, so I desperately cast Polymorph on myself and took on a Giant Ape form. My size prevented the manananggel from keeping me from moving so I headed to the Menhir, which was starting to lose it's glow.
Two of the Caulborn had followed Sepheria back so I was able to shove through and touch the stone, leaving the manananggel behind.
One of the Caulborn cast Charm Person on Sepheria, which her Ring of Spell protection bounced back and the Caulborn was ensnared by the rebounded spell. The other tried to attack her but was unable to land a blow. Neril was told to retreat out of the small room and Sepheria grabbed Claw and teleported them both up to the library where they started to ready to defend themselves against the coming Horseman. Following my orders, Clank continued up to the exit, managing to fly over the Toad Demons, only taking some damage.
Jarrick stood alone against the horseman, holding his ground and refusing to the let the Horseman loose on this plane. He fought most valiantly, striking with his weapon as much as his faith, nearly taking down the evil creature. As I came through the Menhir, Jarrick was bloodied but refused to run, so I engaged the horseman with him. Before I could react, the Horseman landed a fatal blow on Jarrick and struck his head from his shoulders in a terrible blow.
Enraged with sadness, I lashed out at the horseman. Neril, having heard my shouts, returned and between us, we beat the horseman down with Neril landing the final blow in vengeance for our fallen companion. We stripped the horseman of gear and collected Jarrick's head and body and started the journey back to our companions. Although Jarrick had instructed us not to form him a new body and call his soul, there was the possibility that there was a strong enough cleric to revive him into his current form if he was willing, as long as we hurried.
[4630 xp each for 2nd half; 1158 for Clank]
Horseman's gear - +2 Full Plate, +2 hand-ax, Spine Flail.
Things to do:
- Fix Sepheria's Curse
- See if Jarrick wants to return
- Quillax will want to make a bunch of potions (I have the ability for 1/day/25gpI think) + figure out how to make one of those metal rods to use my new planar shift spell.

ep 46 8/5/4713 Beneath the Therassic Spire

8/5/4713 Pathfinders return to the Therassic Spire, enter dungeon, find Luonim the mad Bloatmage (cured), the Spirit Naga (killed).  Dispel a fey fish, bypass river demons, meet Caulborn and travel to the Dark Forest.

Quillax Account

Journal [9-April]
After our long rest, we woke and decided to go to the market to see off our extra magical items to our new Dwarven friend and pick up some more reviving materials, however, he was not open.
We headed over to the nearby jeweler, where we bought diamonds (for Jarrick's spell) and the unguents (for my spell) necessary for the spells. By the time we had completed that shopping, Gadkah had opened and we sold him our magical items.
Due to the amounts of money involved, we had to go to the Bank of Abadah to collect it from his account and open our own so we were not carrying as much. We agreed that if the entire party died, the account would be bequeathed to Sepheria's sister.
While there, the branch of the Bank offered to help us in regards to the Sword. They would take it from us for 9500gp instead of us bringing it back to Wen Histani.
We headed back to the Spire.
We passed the door on the right marked Orrery, which Sepheria explained was a mechanical model of the solar system (with much difficulty considering Sepheria and Jarrick were both interested) and then the door on the left marked Moon Garden. The third door on the left was marked Centrifuge.
After some consideration, I stoned shaped an anchor point outside the door and threaded ropes through it with Clank acting as the anchor. Claw volunteered to go in first and as such was secured to a rope.
We checked the door for traps and found blood on the handle, we considered that this was from the bloatmage, who oozes blood. The door opened to a spherical room. Inside Luonim the Vast (the bloatmage) was standing on a raised dais in the centre of the room, saying he could control the spin of the world. It was quite obvious that he was driven mad, most probably by the psychic librarian blob at the entrance.
Sepheria was secured with a rope also as she stepped into the room to try to talk with Luonim, however, he flipped a switch that activated the room, which sent the entire spherical room spinning in all directions, cutting the ropes and leaving the rest of us outside, able to see only brief glimpses when the room aligned with the door.
Claw was able to grab Luonim and pull the lever again, causing the room to slow and realign with the door as it stopped. We tied Luonim up and gagged him, particularly when he tried to fireball us. Luckily Sepheria was able to block it.
We searched him and found:
- a potion of healing
- a wand of shield, with 11 charges
- a ring of protection +1
- a masterwork dagger
- a pouch of leeches
We brought him to the librarians and after some discussion, we decided to try to Dispel Magic on him, which freed his mind of the spell. He told us the Rogue may be in a bad way. We left him under the care of the librarians and continued back along our path (convincing Sepheria once again to pass the Orrery with difficulty).
We continued through the Centrifuge room into the next room, labelled the Water Chamber. I cast Water Breathing as a ritual on the party and we stepped inside. There was a few feet of water on the floor and an odd fish-like creature (a Grodair) trapped in a large metal cage in the middle of the room, with a metal cap strapped to it's head protruding with wires.
Thick metal doors behind us and ahead of us slammed shut and the room started to fill with water and a sharp electric shock passed through the water. Sepheria quickly mounted the broom to get above the water and cast Banishment on the Grodair. The water stopped increasing so Claw swam over and ripped the metal hat the Grodair was wearing from the wires. He got shocked but the water started to recede and eventually the doors opened.
The fish never returned, so we understood it was a permanent banishment as the Grodair was a fey creature, so it had been freed and sent home.
There was nothing written on the next door, so we entered cautiously.
Inside were two mosaics done in black and greys. On the North wall, there was a valley, which we knew to be the legendary Dark Forest, home to the Dark Rider. On the South wall was depicted Xavorax, the City of Silence, home of vampires and Caulborns. On the far wall was as door with a sedehron and a large onix stone set into the door.
Silasni - the dark naga - was by the door. She was wearing a Mind Shielding ring of jade on her tail. She told us that the Halfling was killed by Hell Wasps in the room past the Orrery, his wife the Monk went mad and was probably still with his body.
Sepheria talks to Silasni and determines that the Naga wants the Shard for herself. We decide that she is not a safe master for the Shard and Claw charges at her. Silasni banishes Sepheria, which enrages the rest of us. Claw hits her twice and she responds with a Flame Strike that hits my, Jarrick, and Claw.
I took Earth Elemental form and struck her. Clank moved in and readied an action to strike if he could reach her.
Jarrick shield bashed her and was able to knock her prone. Claw hit Silasni again and she tried to bite Jarrick but missed. I struck her with my stone fists, aiming down her mouth so she could not bite anyone else, then stepped back to let Clank strike her and he destroyed her (as much as one can kill as Dark Naga since they are effectively immortal and she'll come back eventually). Sepheria returned and collected the ring from the limp tail.
Looking at the paintings, we determine that the Castle in the North wall mosaic must belong to the Dark Rider also known as the Black Huntsman.
We know rumours of this being. He is said to go out on a cold, moonless night with his Shadow Hounds to hunt his prey. The hunt doesn't end until the Rider catches his prey and calls the human's name then kills them. Rumours say that sometimes he adds the soul to his pack of hounds. We also believe that Kazoug may have formed a pact with the Dark Rider.
Jarrick can sense that there is supernatural evil behind the next door and after some discussion, I touch the door in my elemental form. It lights up the onix ball but my stone 'fingers' are too big to draw on it. Claw goes up and tries to draw the symbol of Gluttony on it but the response is to strike out with lightning, hitting all but me.
Jarrick heals up Claw some then steps forward and draws the rune of Greed. The door opens.
We retreat for a short rest in the other room for Clank as he is badly damaged. Once we have rested, we continue into the next room. There is a large river (River of Memory) and we know that something is in the water, watching us. We spy several Toad Demons lurking under the surface.
Jarrick goes forward and strikes one then backs up away from the water. Claw does the same.
After consulting with Sepheria, I cast Wall of Stone as a cap over the water and we simply run over the river, leaving the Toad Demons trapped under the stone for the moment.
We knew that beyond the River of Memory, we were to meet with the Caulborns at the Black Menhir, so when we approach the next room and see a giant brain-like creature and three Caulborn standing next to a large black obelisk, we knew we were in the correct location.
Sepheria speaks with and negotiates with the brain-like creature and it tells us: To recover the Shard, one must destroy the Black Rider, which aligns with their goals. They want the Black Rider gone. Sepheria informs that that we will be keeping the Shard and after further negotiation, they agree.
We ask what they know about the Black Rider and are told:
- Kazoug was afraid of the Black Rider
- The Black Rider approached Kazoug, concerned about the Black Forest's magic.
- Kazoug agreed to use the Shard of Gluttony to shore up the Black Forest's magic in exchange for the Rider guarding the Shard.
- The Black Rider was possibly a servant a Farasma, Goddess of Death
The Caulborn activate the portal and the world changes
[ 7325xp each]

ep 45 6-8/5/4713 The Therassic Spire

6/5: Group escape the Hanging Manse's guardians. Drop off Augustille & Rest overnight.
7/5: Group goes to Therassic Spire library with Vargun the Augur, meet librarians, enter dungeon beneath. Claw killed by chain devils, revivified by Jarrick. Group decides to retreat & rest overnight again.

Quillax's Account

Journal [26-March]
(Still in the house of Berkanin)
In the downstairs room, there was a big carpet. We start to roll it up.
The little manikin disappears. We quickly use the lantern of revealing.
-Meanwhile- Jarrick follows our trail and makes it to the base of the cliff-side and finds our rope. He spots the Triffins. He thinks about how to maneuver around them. He was able to evade them.
The little manikin, revealed, attacked Sepheria and latched on to her. I tried to grapple it but failed. It is made out of carved whalebone.
-Meanwhile- Jarrick cast locate object on Sepheria's googles and could hear our scuffle.
Neril attacked the manikin and Claw grappled it and was able to pull it off Sepheria's arm. Sepheria stabs it with her dagger. The construct bites Claw and clamps down on him.
Augustille spoke, caught in a vision :
[ The Abbey of the Glutton Moon / Will flow with blood / The Wind in Tune / To finish that began before / and open wide the doomsday door ]
Note: Windsong Abbey is on the Coast.
We could hear a clockwork booting up behind us and Neril could hear another on the opposite side of us.
-Meanwhile- Jarrick picked the lock of the main door and could see a hallway with an enormous clock and two clockwork soldiers that were headed away from him (towards the rest of the party in the next room). He retreated and climbed off the
Neril struck the manikin. Claw smashed it against the wall twice and was able to break it.
Sepheria cast wall of force to block the two clockwork soldiers behind us. Unfortunately, it trapped the rug, which we had to abandon as we couldn't free it. Claw moved forward to hold the hallway in front of us, blocking the two terracotta clockwork from being able to get into the room. I tried to convince the insensate Augustille to go back upstairs but he would not listen.
-Meanwhile- Jarrick had climbed back down to the ground level and started to cross under the balcony to try to approach from the other side to avoid the Triffins.
Neril ran up the wall and kicked one terracotta clockwork in the head. Claw hit the terracotta in front of him. Sepheria managed to convince Augustille to go upstairs and I followed him. One of the terracotta pushed Claw back.
I cast wall of stone as a bridge to the ground. We sounded the retreat.
Jarrick went to the bottom of the stone bridge that suddenly appeared, knowing it was us.
We all retreated and made it down the slide and then I vanished it so we could not be followed easily.
[1700 xp each]
We returned Augustille to the Augers.
The Troll Augers consulted and they confirmed that the sword is held by Tyrannah to the South. In regards to the Shard, two powerful factions have allied themselves to recover a powerful shard artifact (from undercity). These two allied groups are Council of Truth and Thorassic Spire. Council either reformed or returned. They teamed up to send an expedition after the shard.
Augustille had another vision:
[ The Shattered Star with Seven Shards / For Seven Lords with Seven Swords / The Queen of Blue in distant Skies / Will kindle new the ancient wars / The seas will rise and men will drown / and what was lost shall claim the crown ]
We know that :
- Distant Skies - other world or planes
- Azlanti : lost underwater city
- Emperor Zin, one of the Azlantians, founder of Thessalon, wore a crown of all the shards in a slowly rotating halo.
We made it back to the Inn. We pass two gnomes running with ropes tied to a third gnome who was tied to a kite. Sepheria casts Fly on the gnome. We ask them to tell us if they see anything interesting from that height, especially if there may be deep shafts in the rock to the South.
The next morning, Sepheria empties her bag of holding of books and leaves Capita to guard them. We then head out to the Thorassic Spire with Vargun to introduce us.
The Thorassic Spire librarians are rumoured to worship another deity "the Peacock spirit" in secret - an ancient god of Thessalon tied to Pride.
Vargun pounds on the door until someone finally answers and we convince them to let us in using the Stone Giant's spellbook. Vargun leaves us there. Sepheria converses with the librarian who seems very nervous and convinces them to let us help.
The Librarian leads us down into the lower levels (storerooms) and shows us a stone door that had long been hidden behind a now abandoned tapestry. The librarians put up a crude barricade and were guarding the opening. The tell us they sent four people into the depths a few days ago but they haven't returned.
These four are:
- Monk, female, Harari
- Rogue, male, Petrotus
- Bloatmage, male, Luonim the Vast
- Dark Naga, female, Silasni
The Caulborn told the librarians about the secret door and helped recruit the party that went in. The Caulborn live in Xavorax, which is somewhere below Kaer Maga. They used to work for the RuneLords. They are paid in memories - they read the minds of adventurers after they complete an adventure, or so it is assumed.
They tell us, the door leads to a Chamber of Black Menhir, beyond the River of Memory. There is a standing stone obelisk, to transport adventurers to the heart of the Black Forest where the Shard is.
The Librarians asked us to investigate the missing adventurers in return for a lifetime library pass.
Sepheria writes a note to Abra the DuskWarden that we have found an unauthorized entry point into the undercity and have gone to investigate some missing people. Moncey will wait 24 hours after Sepheria loses mental connection then will deliver the message to him.
The door leads down the hall to another secret door leading to a chamber.
There is a floating pulsing purple blob that speaks in Thessalonian, asking "What is your query?"
Sepheria starts to ask a question but is his with a psychic blast which she is able to resist. She finishes her question: about a location of a collection of books. It provides the answer which she believes to be true. She then asks about the River of Memory. It provides an answer: Proceed through the door ahead, then take the third right door, then left, left again, and finally straight ahead.
Her ring of spell turning bounces the attack back but the answer-blob recovers. Sepheria works out the attack spell is a symbol of death.
Neril opens the door ahead and then opens the first door on the left of the hall - there is a disembodied snake-head floating in a sehedron. He then opens the door opposite (right side of the hall). Woven mesh of spikey chains interwoven on the ceiling. There are cloaks hanging on the wall. Three figures drop down from above: all three female Kyton Chain devils attack.
The snale head (type Couatl) also attacks, speaking in Celestial which Jarrick understands, saying "I'm sorry". Claw engages with the Kyton.
The Kyton attack Claw and do a substantial amount of damage to him and then grapple him. Neril swiftly closes the door to the snakehead to try to keep us from being attacked from behind.
Claw attacks the Kyton again. Sepheria's fireball doesn't work as they are immune to fire. A Kyton kills Claw. I tried a wall of stone to seal off the Kyton but the chains on the ceiling prevent it. Neril dodges in, attacks, then teleports out. Sepheria dimension doors Claw's body out. The Kyton attack Jarrick (in the hall), preventing the door from being closed due to the chains. I used Sunbeam, killing one and blinding the other two. Neril ran in and killed one. Jarrick stepped in and killed the last.
The snakehead shoot a scorching ray at me. I responded by throwing another sunbeam. It speaks and tells us that is can still see us due to true sight. It also tells us that the chamber is a conjuration chamber will empowers conjured spells. Neril tries to break the floor's sehedron but fails.
Down the hall, Jarrick revivifies Claw. Sepheria tries to shatter the inlaid floor. There is a psychic attack against her which she resists. The Couatl head tells us to press a shard against the sehedron. I do this and the shard suddenly feels supercharged and I feel very prideful.
The Couatl, now freed, tells us it's name is Tsikinal and gives us two scales/feathers. We can call it to us with a Planer Ally spell (Conjure Animal will work) and it will come to aid us. He tells us he is going to regenerate his body and also that the RuneLord of Greed is still alive or else his magics would have failed.
We retreat to nurse our wounds and put up a wall of stone to block off the secret door and the blob of psychic librarian. We tell the Librarians we will be back after a long rest.
[200 xp exploration each]
[3900 xp each]

ep 44 6/5/4713 Hanging Balconies of Bis

Overnight at Inn in Tarheel Promenade, hired by both Gadka the dwarf merchant and Vargun the troll augur. Drive off Tirana's gang from Gadka's magic item cart. Go west to Bis district and free Augustille the troll augur from a renegade Ardoc family member.

Quillax Account

Journal [19-March]
We woke at the Wheel Unbroken and went down to breakfast. Jarrick had left before dawn to deal with some Paladin issue.
As we ate, a Dwarf approached the group and enquired if we were adventurers. He introduced himself as Gadkah, a dealer in magical curiosities. He had some troubles with a street gang under Tyrannah (a sorceress related to the issue we are investigating for the Church *). The gang was expected to come harass him between 11am and noon and he wanted help.
While we were talking, our young urchin guide, Gav Nali, brought in a Troll from the Augers. Vargun was from the Troll Organisation of Asylum Stone. Her brother, Augustille, had been kidnapped by Berkanin, a young member of the Ardock family. Berkanin had taken Augustille right from the temple steps and was holding him captive and experimenting on him, studying him. Augustille does not have usual visions by the Auger's standards. His unusual visions are not marketable but still true.
We agree to help both parties with urgency. Moncey is sent with Gadkah in case the gang comes early. Gav volunteers to guide us to the place where rumours said Berkanin was holding Augustille.
We arrived at Bis about 9:30 in the morning to investigate the place in question. Gav points out a balcony about 40' up with no balconies below. We could see two entry ways, a series of pulleys for a wooden lift or an archway.
We left Gav below and chose our ways up. Neril disappeared from sight and ran up the walls. Sepheria took the broom. Claw, Clank and I took the lift. When Sepheria lifted above the balcony, some response was triggered and there was noise above us on the lift and it suddenly plummeted. Claw and Clank both took damage from the fall. My ring of feather fall protected me from that but debris fell from above. I stone shaped the lift pillars to try to deflect the debris. It protected Claw but not Clank.
Up above, Sepheria called for retreat and informed us of the two Giant Plant Monsters that appeared out of the bushes of the garden. Gav informs us that he saw something invisible yank the pins out of the lift causing it to fall.
Deciding that due to the time, we would be better suited to deal with Gadkah's problem with the gang first then come back, we hurried back. By the time we arrived, the gang was already there and trying to menace the Dwarf. The were dressed well and wore leather armour, carrying themselves as if they knew how to fight. I spoke with a woman, Jenna, and managed to scare them into retreating, which was not the expected reaction. Sepheria took the opportunity of them grouping up to hypnotic pattern them and Neril stunned Jenna, the only one to avoid the spell.
Sepheria intimidated them into spilling their secrets. The sorceress could be found at the Council of Truth (once the most powerful faction of Kaer Maga - made of wizards). It was at the SouthSide, close to the cliff face by an old watermill; there would be double doors cast in iron with an Owl, the symbol of the CoT. Supposedly there was a ventilation shaft on the cliff face, with perhaps a 1/2 mile drop (we assume this to be hidden within one of the eyes of the skulls that are carved onto the walls of the city). We stripped them of their armour and their weapons (and one potion of healing) and sent them running with a warning not to bother the dwarf again.
Gadkah gave us a lantern of revealing which makes any creature in the bright light visible. Sepheria was able to trade two wands for gloves of thievery and Keoghtom's ointment, which I hoped to study and work out how to duplicate when we next got some time to rest.
Before we could move on, there was sudden movement and commotion. A little golem made of a giant head and some odd arms (face of Runelord of greed), stole a tomato and ran. I gave chase before I thought it through with Neril and Claw behind me. It dove down a tunnel and I took a terrier form, following it into it's lair of rotten fruit. Before we could come to blows, Sepheria called out in a foreign language and it stilled. She called me back and I retreated to rejoin the others. Sepheria called out more in the other tongue and the little golem listened to her. We find out that these were made as sentinels.
Clank did not like it at all and appeared afraid of it, but Sepheria had it under her control, so we simply kept them apart as we headed back to the Inn.
Leaving the new Golem (now named Capita) to guard our things, we went back to Berkanin's place. Neril, in his invisible form, went up first and lowered down rope. Claw climbed up the rope while Sepheria carried me up on the broom. We had to leave Clank at the bottom as we would need to move fast to avoid the Plant Monsters. We managed to avoid engaging them by the boys taking to the roofs and getting out of sight and Sepheria and I simply flying high above them.
As an aside, rather oddly, there was a gazebo in the garden below us with an arrow sticking out of it.
Neril on the third level, spotted the Troll, badly hurt, strapped to the wall with a well dressed guy sleeping in a chair in the same room with an odd box strapped to his back. This was Berkanin.
Claw's movement across the roofs brought him to the second level of the building. He heard a strange woman's voice, whom we later knew to be the cat woman Kanya.
As we could not see Neril, I called out softly to him and he answered. He then went through the window and attacked Berkanin stunning him. There were two military clockwork soldiers that sprung to life in defence of the creator. Sepheria guided the broom in and attacked the clockwork soldiers with animated objects. I was able to see that they were clearly made by the Ardock family - different and not quite as good as the Golem Works. I could also see that they had some sort of fire runes and they could regenerate from damage.
The cat-women leapt up the stairs from the room below and she tried to attack Neril, missing him in her haste. Claw raged and burst through the door below and charged up the stairs behind her.
Out of nowhere, a clockwork psuedodragon attacked Neril with supercharged Magic Missile from a wand. It looked like the mini-dragon-clockwork was built around the wand.
The clockwork soldiers attacked Neril. As we were outnumbered, I threw up a wall of stone and was able to trap the clockwork soldiers inside, then I guided the broom across the room to Augustille to see what I could do to free him in case we needed to move quickly.
Neril attacked Berkanin and was able to stun him again. He then attacked Kanya the rogue but could not stun her. He retreated back towards me. Sepheria called her blade song and blasted Berkanin with scorching ray, partly to draw the rogue away from Neril, who was looking a little rough. Claw killed Kanya and the clockwork dragon (the wand did not explode thankfully) while Sepheria's animated objects continued to attack the clockwork soldiers behind the wall. I healed Neril somewhat and then turned my attention to the Troll, trying to free him while Sepheria's animated objects continued their barrage on the clockworks; we heard a heavy thump which we assumed meant the objects had defeated one clockwork. A harpy suddenly popped up from downstairs in an eclectic mix of clothes and an amazing hat. Surprised, I commented about the hat and she struck at me. Neril stunned the Harpy and Claw landed the fatal blow.
Certain that we could handle one clockwork, I dropped the wall of stone and threw a fireball at the clockwork. Neril, Sepheria, and Claw all attacked. Then the clockwork soldier self destructed. After Augustille was freed from the torturous device and his insides were back inside of him, we were able to salvage some of their pieces for further study, along with some random keys. At his request, we destroyed the recordings of his torture and the experiments done upon him.
Augustille had a sudden prediction: "The owl will seek but will not find, but Spire of Knowledge pays in kind. In secret kept in secret keep, In forest dark and cavern deep."
We know that the Owl is the Council of Truth and the Spire of Knowledge is the Thorasic Spire Library. We have also heard there is forest called the Dark Forest below Kaer Maga and we assume there is a cavern there.
The keys led us to a GolemBane scarab and invoices by someone called Dakar for Berkanin's experiments. There was also a mirror scrying glass and an eye ** which Neril pried from the archway as we reached the first floor.
* - stolen Sword of Lust.
** - CCTV equivalent
[4975 xp total, 700 in total for Clank]

ep 43 29/4-5/5/4713 Kaer Maga - Asylum Stone #1

1 month in Turtleback Ferry & Ilsurian; Sephiria crafts Goggles of Night while Jarrick practices smithing. In Ilsurian the priestess of Abadar tells them that Stone Giants have been seen in the ruins of Sandpoint; the Scarnetti Black Dog mercenaries reputedly fled.
Travel on halfling riverboat to Biston, at night attacked by Marsh Giant & Boggards on the dock, then humiliate some annoying Korvosan royal knights.
Reach the Twisted Door and follow the Halflight Path, defeating an ambush by three Seugathi and their dominated hydra. Reach Kaer Maga, sleep overnight in the city.

NPCs
Wen Histani, Prelate of Abadar in Ilsurian. Seeks return of the Sword of Lust.
Othlo Janke, Halfling Bargemaster of the Lucky Jenny.
Abra Lopati, Duskwarden on the Halflight Path
Gav Nahli, teenage guide, Kaer Maga

Kaer Maga - http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Kaer_Maga

Quillax's Journal 5-march

We received word that the Pathfinders Society was sending a boat to carry us to Kaer Maga but it would not arrive for approximately a month. Jarrick decided to study smithing and was able to secure his journeyman status before we had to leave. While he was doing that, we were able to secure a copy of Sepheria's Googles of Nightvision for a very decent price thanks to her excellent persuasion skills. We gave them to Jarrick to replace his stolen pair.

[In April equivalent] We met with Wen Histani, who reminded us of the task before us and told us of the rumours that the Black Dog mercenaries were driven out by Stone Giants in the ruins of Sandpoint.


We met with our arranged boat, a barge called the Lucky Jenny which ran by way of a magical waterwheel. It was crewed by Halflings and captained by Othlo Janke, who was cheery and talkative, unlike his stand-offish crew. The barge was a bit small for us, particularly Claw, but we were able to settle on desk without disrupting the crew or unbalancing the barge.


A day's travel brought us to Biston (Korvosa border town) located on the shore of Lake Syrantula. Othlo informed us we would moor for the night. Claw headed out immediately for the pub. Jarrick and Sepheria seemed content to lounge on the boat. Neril was nowhere to be seen, so I left Clank with Sepheria and went to keep an eye on Claw, who was working his way through a small barrel of mead.

The publican had rumours to share when prompted for news:
- Bloodsworn Vane and it's evil spirits, to which the Hellknights had been dispatched to investigate
- Rumours of Shoanti activity to which the King Tsadok had stepped up the number of armed patrols. There was some discussion on the King being possibly a half-breed but the publican dismissed that immediately.

Claw spoke to some Trappers just out of Ashwood and was told the following rumours:
- Giants and Ogres heading for Jorgenfist (we know this to be true)
- a riverman reportedly saw a Marsh Giant with a group of frogman (Boggards) at the Southern end of Lake Syrantula, well south of Biston.

Jarrick noticed that the crew of the Lucky Jenny were either freed or escaped indentured servants, which explained their reticence as Korvosans are not known for the tolerance of other species. This was relayed to us upon our return to the barge to sleep after we shared our own news. we were able to get below-deck with some of the crew standing guard on deck.

We were woken when the barge rocked wildly. The Jenny's crew was shouting about monsters climbing and hopping aboard.

Jarrick was the first to make it on deck, and he shouted down to us about a giant dragonfly and spellcaster as he attacked the nearest Boggard. The dragonfly tried to attack Jarrick but missed. Clank was next up on deck and immediately went after one of the Boggard. The halflings on deck escaped to below deck, unharmed.

Sepheria, once on deck, cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the Marsh Giant, which had climbed on board. The Giant boarding the barge from the water had been the cause of our rude awakening. The Giant, caught in the spell, fell off the side of the boat laughing and floating in the water chortling.

Over the course of the fight, Clank was hit with Bane. Claw killed the first Boggard and nearly killed another (in the water beside the boat - it escaped badly wounded).. Neril made good use of stun on the spellcaster and another Boggard. Jarrick was targeted by both the dragonfly and several Boggards. Clank killed the dragonfly. Sepheria killed the spellcaster with her magics, I killed another Boggard after Claw wounded it. Neril kept the Boggards stunned, allowing Jarrick to finish off the one beside him and Sepheria to kill the last. All the while the Marsh Giant laughed uncontrollably in the water.

We turned out attention to the Giant, with Claw, Neril, Jarrick, and Clank all striking with weapons and Sepheria with fire. I summoned a vine to pull the Giant aboard the barge so we could attack properly. Jarrick landed the killing blow, with the Giant falling off the side of the barge.


As we investigated the bodies, I noted that the Boggards were all diseased. The spellcaster also had a pathfinder's belt with the rune of Open Road upon it and the name of Yando Kline engraved crudely on the inside of the buckle. We know that he was a pathfinder who had been captured and held prisoner by the Boggards but had managed to escape. We gave it to Clank to hold.


As we were finishing up with our investigations, a small group of armoured men hurried towards us. We called out that the danger had passed. As they approached we could see they were Korvosan knights from the Arabesti house knights. They charged aboard the barge without permission, which Sepheria called them out upon, demanding that they show their manners and ask permission to come aboard of the Captain. Othlo gave it cheerfully when requested, and explained to the Knights what had transpired. Sepheria took up the conversation and explained more clearly to the Knight Captain. Claw offered to fetch the Marsh Giant body from the water and pulled it back aboard when requested. Rather unfortunately, the body rolled onto some Knights, and the Captain uttered a rather unacceptable slur about Claw, regarding leashes which I will not repeat.

I took great offense as did the others and in owlbear form glowered at the Captain for his comment. The Captain, although intimidated, decided to be stupid and attacked us. We dealt with the Knights quickly by simply stunning them with fist or magic - doing little physical damage. I sat upon the Captain to make my point and took his helm from him. We made it very clear that his comment was not acceptable. When he acknowledged that his actions were unacceptable, we let him go - sans helmet - and sent him on his way, chastised for his rudeness. There was some noise from the garrison so Othlo suggested that we head out.

It took five days from leaving Isle Syrian to reach the end of the waterway where we could travel no further by ship. We bid them farewell and headed towards the HalfLight Path with much speed. We were able to reach the gates just before they closed for the night and we were met by DuskWarden Abra Lopati, who would lead us to the city for a small fee. There was also a merchant with his two sons and his cart, who would be making the journey. We were given special crystals which shone like torches and could be used to summon help (the three nearest Duskwardens would be alerted) in the event that anyone got separated from the group. We were also informed that for a period of time we would have to travel silently as possibly when instructed.

The journey was slow but Sepheria had to be nearly forced to keep pace as the caves and walls of the path were covered with ancient languages, runes, and carvings and she could not resist trying to copy them or study them. Jarrick was drafted into making rubbings of anything possible and sketches using the paper and charcoal I carried for this purpose.

We came up to a bricked up archway that was carved with a falling star wreaking havoc on a human populous. This depicted StarFall and the fall of Azlant.

Abra stopped us as he examined the damaged and misaligned bricks, which gave us a small bit of warning before a Hydra burst through the wall. Jarrick could see down the tunnel that there were more odd, tentacled creatures approaching, which I was later able to identify as Seugathi (psychic mindflayer types). Sepheria quickly banished the Hydra to allow us to deal with the Seugathi and she backed off to maintain her concentration. Neril attacked and tried to stun the beasts but was unable to so he quickly retreated around the corner to rethink his strategy. Abra missed with his bow and likewise retreated around the corner.


Claw charged forward to attack and I moved up to use magic but we did not kill any before they were able to attack us psychically. Sepheria and Jarrick were able to shrug off the attacks but Claw and I were not so fortunate and were unable to move. Jarrick moved in to attack and Sepheria threw a fireball, killing two of the three. Neril darted in and was able to stun the last. Abra darted in and attacked with sword while Jarrick laid on hands on Claw. Neril landed the killing blow.

Shaking off the attack, I moved out of the cave to prepare for the Hydra. It took Claw a short while longer but he also regained his senses. After a short discussion, we decided to simply seal up the wall again as we believed the Hydra had been possibly dominated by the others. I cast Wall of Stone and we waited, listening. The Hydra made noises as it ripped apart the bodies of the Seugathi then it grumbled to itself and stomped off away from the wall.


We made it to the concrete bunker at the end of the trail where Abra informed the other wardens of the events and we returned the crystals. In thanks, Abra then gave Sepheria one of the Charm crystals and was able to recommend an urchin guide, Gav Nali.

[4800 xp each, 2400 clank]

Kaer Maga blocks magic, so Jarrick was unable to use locate object. We did find Gav Nali (after being pickpocketed a little) who chased off the other thieves and give us information:
- The Therassic Spire is library mysteriously closed
- Augurs on strike - argument with Ardoch family. Their temple is in Downmarket.
- Ardoch family - This family is known for their sorcery and automatons, as well as being sexist.


Gav eventually leads us to the Wheel Unbroken, an upmarket inn and <>. There are mostly merchants inside, although they have markings of academae ( rumoured to be devil summoners college of korvosa)

We rent two rooms and notice some Priests of Abadar, with whom Sepheria speaks. We later overhear them speaking of us and the missing sword. . There are also priests of Asumedaus in the corner, whom the Abadarians are watching covertly.

Claw, holding the shard of Lust, says that he feels the next shard is below us in the undercity.

[300 xp each for exploration]

ep 42 22-29/3/4713 End of Kreegs, Lamatar Bayden & Myriana reunited HMM#13

The Pathfinders assault the Kreeghold at dusk, in a tough battle killing Dorella, the Three Hag Sisters, 7 ogre slaves and one last Kreeg, driving off their ogre slaves. The undead frost wight Lamatar Bayden is defeated. A weak later his body is returned to Myriana the undead Nymph. The spirits of the two lovers unite and ascend in the form of light, and the swamplands are restored to their natural state. Thoughts turn to Kaer Maga and the Sihedron shard that lies there...

Sephiria's Account

We decide to raid the Kreeghold as soon as possible after the fight with the patrol so the remaining ogres aren’t aware they have been killed. Using Neril’s Pass Without Trace ability we creep up the slope toward the cave entrance where we see a couple ogres standing guard. Leaving the Grey Maidens behind we circle around over a scree slope to get to the other side of the entrance and ambush the guards. On the way Quillax loses her footing but as we’re roped together Claw is able to arrest her fall.
The ogres are unaware of our approach. I manage to disable one with Tasha’s Uncontrollable Laughter while the other is quickly defeated by the rest of the party who in turn despatch the one I had enspelled. While we wait for the Grey Maidens to catch up with us Neril casts Darkvision in preparation to entering the caves.
The Grey Maidens are ordered to stand guard on the entrance while we enter the caves as stealthily as possible. At the crossroads in the centre of the cave three more ogres are standing guard planning to quickly kill them using the same tactics as worked on the guards outside. During the fight we hear the sound of reinforcements being mustered from somewhere deep within the cave. One of the ogres tries to flee but Quillax blocks its way with a Wall of Stone. We think the room it was trying to reach was the base for the hags and the ogre witch Dorella so hope that the Wall will stop their joining the melee for the time being.
A Kreeg ogre arrives from the direction of the Foundry and engages Claw and Clank. From the other direction the undead Lamatar shoots Sephiria with a fusillade of icy arrows before ducking quickly back into cover. While Clank and Claw continue to wear down the Kreeg, supported by Neril and Quillax, Jarrick hastens after Lamatar having a particular dislike for undead.
Using magical Haste, Jarrick is able to catch up with Lamatar and uses Misty Step to teleport behind him to block his further escape. Calling on the power of Iomedae he smites the undead who flees back towards the main cavern seriously injured, trying to achieve sufficient range to use his bow but Jarrick pursues him. Catching sight of Lamatar I use Misty Step to attack him with my rapier as I’d previously noticed he seemed to be resistant to fire magic. Neril is only moments behind and under our combined onslaught Lamatar falls.
At the same time, the Hags (who have been spying on us) attack Claw with a Phantasmal Killer spell but he is able to shrug off their attack. The ogre reinforcements from the deep caves finally gather behind the injured Kreeg ogre so I take the opportunity to Fireball them as they’re clustered together. I shout a warning of worse to come and they fall back in disarray. The irate Kreeg attacks one with his ogrehook trying to discourage the retreat but as it was so badly injured from the Fireball, he kills it instead. The remaining ogres run for cover.
The Hags then try to attack me with the Phantasmal Killer but I resist it aided by a Ring of Spell Turning. Quillax drops the Wall of Stone and we take the battle to the Hags and Dorella who had been trapped in the cave beyond. Quillax Confuses Dorella while Neril teleports into the cave and manages to tip over the cauldron that the Hags had been using to focus their magic. The Hags retaliate using Cone of Cold which proves far more effective than the Phantasmal Killer.
In a moment of clarity, Dorella Lightning Bolts Quillax, Jarrick and Claw while Neril is able to stun two of the Hags despite being serious injured after the Cone of Cold spells. The remaining melee is messy with the Hags catching Dorella in their Cone of Cold spells while she returns the favour and one of the Hags is likewise caught by “friendly fire”. The hags are much less resilient than the ogres and the two stunned ones are soon defeated.
When I reach the cave I animate the debris on the floor and send a tornado of bone shards to attack Dorella and the remaining Hag. Dorella Shields the first attack but the Hag is killed. Seconds later the bone shards tear into Dorella and she falls. In the cave we find a statuette of Lamashtu that Claw smashes. The magical backlash caused by its destruction injures him but he survives.
We return Lamatar’s corpse to Miriana in the Shimmerglens and break the curse on the place as the spirits of both are finally able to move on the next world. In thanks Miriana blesses Jarrick.
With the threat of the Kreeg ogres lifted from the region and the Shimmerglens returned to the light we make plans to head for Kaer Maga and the next Shard.

Gray Maidens of Fort Rannick

Grey Maiden Charter of Conduct 

In the name of Iomedae the Inheritor, I swear: 
- noble service cheerfully rendered 
- defence of any charge unto death 
- courage and enterprise in obedience to rules 
- respect for all peers and equals 
- honour to all above your station 
- scorn for those who are lowly and ignoble 
- military prowess exercised in service to House Kaddren in defence of Magnimar 
- death to all who oppress the cause 
- death before dishonour 
Let Iomedae strike me down if I should be foresworn. 

All This I Swear.

Numbers end M3 4714
Captain: Orianna
Corporals: 3  hp 45
Troopers: 12 hp 30
Recruit Trainees: 5 hp 15

The Gray Maidens have sent out recruitment notices across the territories of Magnimar and Korvosa.

ep 41 7-22/3/4713 Revenge of the Pathfinders

Pursued by Longtooth the red dragon down the mountainside, Pathfinders kill him and escape, avoiding stone giant tracking party they make it back to Turtleback Ferry.

Two weeks later in a reprisal raid with the Grey Maidens, in the woods below Hook Mountain they encounter a strong Kreeg hunting party, killing 4 kreeg, 3 ogre mooks, and a hill giant. A captured kreeg gives much information prior to his execution. Apparently the gathering giant armies at Jorgenfist are led by one called Mokmurian, who the ogre believes to be a returned Lord of the Ancient Days...
___________________

Quillax Journal

Journal 12-Feb

We were able to escape from the giants by good luck alone. We managed to group up together and sent Neril ahead to scout ahead to make sure we had a clear run of it.

It turned out instead we should have been looking behind. Despite leaving the air elemental to distract the dragon, it still gave chase and bore down upon us from the sky. As it dropped from the clouds, we had a clear view of a glowing bronze sehedron embedded in it’s chest scales.
�Sepheria kicked off blade song and then cast Fly on Claw. Jarrick cast haste upon himself and Claw floated up about 12 feet towards the dragon. As it seemed to be focused on me, I taunted it and then dropped underground, having still retained my earth elemental form.

The Dragon stayed airborne and breathed fire upon the group.

In response, Sepheria drew her wand of acid arrow and cast at it. Jarrick drew his bow and struck the dragon twice.

As the dragon glided overhead, we could see it had a golden amber ring on one talon and a silver armband. Claw flew up and attacked the dragon, landing a blow. I surfaced for a taunt and threw a rock but failed to strike it before ducking underground again.

The Dragon decided that Claw was a more threatening target and bit and scratched at him. Sepheria blew out a second wand of acid arrow on the dragon while Jarrick continued to strike with his bow, landing two more arrows. Claw, injured, managed to disengage from the dragon, landing on the cliff.

As we were at a disadvantage while it was in the air, I resumed human form and cast grasping vine, pulling the dragon towards the cliff edge so that we might get within range. However, the vine does not hold and the Dragon pulled away and flew over to land behind Sepheria. She quickly cast animate objects on the nearby stones.

Jarrick quickly crossed to Sepheria’s side and attacked the dragon, managing to balance on some very precarious rocks in an awe-inspiring display of balance. He struck with all his power, smiting the dragon but not killing it.

Claw jumped off the cliff and ran up to throw a javelin at the dragon. I tried to cast confusion as I was too far and too injured to engage in melee but the Dragon shrugged it off. It did appear to try to run but Jarrick struck hard and killed it as it turned to fly off.

We very quickly looted the dragon, grabbing teeth, scales, skin for armour and the trinkets it wore. The sehedron in its chest was cracked and smoking, having broken when the dragon died - a very quick look revealed the amulet acted like Mighty Fists amulet but it was now broker. Very conscious that the stone giants might be giving chase, we turned with our quickly gathered loot and ran.

[xp = 2500 each]

While the Stone Giants attempted to track us, we met up with Neril, who cast Pass Without A Trace and we were able to avoid them. We returned to town to rest and heal.

There, I spent some time drying the land and casting Plant Growth to assist the farmers while Sepheria researched her spells from the Giant’s Spell Book with Claw helping translate.

We hear that the Grey Maidens are recruiting and are calling other Grey Maidens to the fort via an encoded message. Sepheria raised a concern that the Maidens may not have completely honourable intentions in that matter and we decide to have them sign a conduct charter, to which they agree.

As we need to head to another area for our next investigations into the Shards and other Grey Maidens groups are known to be there (although a traitorous branch of sisters following Faceless Kade. We agree to offer her followers a chance to defect back to an honourable branch. Any who accept will come to the Fort with the pass phrase “The wolf comes down from the North” so the Maidens know they were send by us.

While we were speaking to the Maidens about the Charter, they expressed concern about the number of entrances into the fort. Although I had shrunk many previously, they wanted several closed off completely. I made the necessary changes in such a way that it would not impact the Shocker Lizards or other wildlife but that the fortress was protected.

We spoke to Orianna and expressed a need for backup as we went to take on the Kreeg once more. Aurianna assigned 2 corporals (Masde and Halanda) and three regular maidens (Eleene, Timandi, and Jora) as well as herself to join us in our raids.

We took the Ferry up to Bitter Hollow and went to pick off another hunting group. We spend a night by the lake and then in the morning, Claw noticed some tracks. Sometime in the night the Kreeg party had walked right past us but had not seen us either. We decided to follow them, despite there being approximately 12 in the party. We catch up and encounter 4 Kreeg, 1 Hill Giant, and 3 orgres.

Sepheria, blade singing, casts fireball. I cast wall of fire, splitting the ogre party. The Grey Maiden corporals charged forward and Claw moved up and prepared himself. Jarrick drew his bow and shot at them from a distance. The rest of the Maidens and Orianna charged forward behind Claw.

The Hill Giant approached the group and the Kreeg move up and engaged with Claw and also threw javelins at Sepheria, which she shielded against.

Clank moved up following the Maidens, ending up at Sepheria’s side. One Ogre move up and attacked Jarrick but the other two ran away.

Sepheria threw a fireball and I called Lightning. The Corporals managed whittle down the health of a Kreeg, which Claw finished off. Jarrick cast Fear on another Kreeg. Orianna moved up but failed to strike any blow on her target. The Hill Giant tried to attack her but she dodged the blows.

The Kreeg were mostly focused on Claw but the Ogres were focused on Jarrick. Sepheria cast animate objects and I called down lightning while the Corporals ganged up on the smallest Kreeg.

Jarrick killed the Ogre he was fighting while Orianna and the maidens target the various Kreeg and the Hill Giant. The Giant struck Orianna, who managed to stay on her feet although another of the Maidens did not when struck by the Kreeg.

In the mist of the fight, Clank managed to strike the mortal blow on the Hill Giant while Sepheria’s animated rocks took out a Kreeg. I continued to call down lightning and the Corporals killed another Kreeg. The final Kreeg surrendered.

I quickly changed form to Giant Eagle and gave chase to the two running ogres with Jarrick and Claw behind me. I killed both Ogres then flew back to the party while Claw and Jarrick checked the bodies for anything of importance.

Orianna intimidated the surrendered Kreeg horribly and he told us there were very few (if possibly no) Kreeg remaining in the stronghold. He did mention there may be some in the mines or in the woods but he hadn’t seen any in days aside from those we just killed. He told us Dorella and the Hags were arguing about leaving now the weapons were done and handed over to the Giants. He continued to tell us that the Old Masters were coming back, like Stone Giant King Mochmurian. These were not regular giants but powerful and smart, servants of the Rune Lords. They were said to be gathering at Jorgenfist, the Stone Giant entrance to Hell where the Stone Giant King resides, which would possibly be found in the Valley of the Black Tower in the Iron Peaks (due North of our location). It overlooks the Mushkall River or one could go up the Storval Stairs? He repeats that Mochmurian - an Old Master - is coming back to being back the old ways.

As there is no further information forthcoming, Orianna kills the Kreeg.

[xp 3000 each; 1500 clank]

ep 40 5-7 (dawn)/3/4713 Stone Giants, Red Dragon

5/3/4713

Journal [5-feb]
Heading up towards the Kreeg Clanhold, we see a huge caravan of ogres in the distance, coming towards the Clanhold.
Over Storval Deep, we can see a Red Dragon, either scouting or just enjoying a flight. If it spots us, it could fly fast enough to reach us in just five minutes.
We decide to proceed anyway and climb up to the hole in the ceiling and send Moncey down to have a quick look. The Stone Giant King and his bodyguard are both inside, dozing, about 100 feet from the hole at the throne area. The Stone Giant king had a spell book and an interesting headpiece so our plan changed a little.
Neril jumps down first and casts Silence on the Stone Giants, which was important not only to our plan but also because Claw landed a bit harder than we would have liked.
Just as we were approaching the Stone Giants, a Kreeg entered the throne room from behind. Sepheria swiftly cast Hypnotic Pattern on him, ensnaring him.
We converged on the Stone Giants and started to attack with Jarrick landing the first strike.
Just as we started, Dorella unstealthed and dispelled the Silence spell for a few moments, which allowed the bodyguard to be awoken.
I took Earth Elemental form and went for behind the throne, surfacing in a gold pile. Neril immediately replaced the Silence spell.
The SG King used Necrotic Blast, which stuck multiple people, including his body guard. Jarrick stuck him and ducked back. Dorella woke up the other Kreeg and tries to run. While most of the group focuses on the giants, Neril ducked out to engage the Dorella, managing to stun her.
Sepheria animated the treasure pile and aimed it at the king.
Jarrick struck the killing blow on the Stone Giant king and then we all turned our attention to the bodyguard, except Neril who was keeping the other Kreeg busy.
Dorella manages to shake off Neril's stun and both Kreeg start to run, so Sepheria drops a fireball on them but they manage to escape.
Claw landed the killing blow on the bodyguard.
We quickly scavenge the spell book, hat and treasure from the giants and manage to escape the room. We retreat back to the nearby lake and have a long rest.
[2420xp each, 0 for clank]

6-7/3/4713

We decide to go back again, despite the fact the caravan would have arrived.
Sepheria and Neril go ahead on the broom (first and fast) to scout the movement.
The Kreeg have been supplying the Stone Giants with armour and weapons to be carried out on the Mammoths - possibly leaving at dawn.
We decided we needed to try to cause an avalanche and stop them. I flew ahead as a bird and met up with Neril who travelled on foot. We each had a short rest while waiting for Sepheria to arrive on the broom. Clank had to be left behind because there was no quick way to move him around and if we had to run, no way to get him out.
Jarrick and Claw were travelling on foot and were to meet up with us as soon as they could.
The Mammoths came out with 12 stone giants. As per the plan, I used Major Image to scare the Mammoths with some illusionary sabre-tooth tigers, and the retreated back inside. Only four giants gave chase to them.
We decided to try to wait until Claw (who had knowledge of the best place to cause an avalanche) had arrived, so we engaged to buy time. Sepheria cast fireball, I threw the air elemental summoning gem I had been carrying around, and then took earth elemental form.
One stone giant made an animal companion summoning call and summoned it's DRAGON companion. (LongTooth).
Realising, we were vastly outnumbered, and taking heavy damage, and nearly losing Sephiera, we ran. I sent the air elemental after the dragon to distract it.
Very luckily, we escaped. We met up with Claw and Jarrick and retreated hastily.
[300 xp for not dying]

ep 39 to 4/3/4713 Fall of Jaagrath Kreeg

Journal [29-Jan]
We decided to go up to check on the dam to ensure nothing was trying to free Black Maga or flood the town. On the way, we agreed to keep an eye out for any Giant Eagles to repopulate the Fort.
As we were making our way to the dam, we bumped into four Trolls who had the high ground. Given warning by Neril, Sepheria (who was aloft on the broom) cast fireball on them while Jarrick and Claw climbed up the steep hillside to reach them. I cast Call Lightning and sent Clank after the others. Two trolls headed towards Claw and One towards Neril who had ducked around the side of the hill, out of sight. The fourth Troll was a bit slow but also joined in on ganging on up Claw. Sepheria continued with Fireball while Jarrick crested the hill and claimed first kill. He used his shield to bash another down the hill. Claw killed another Troll and Neril killed a third. The last Troll came around the side of the hill towards me but it was struck dead between Sepheria's scorching ray and Claw leaping off the side of the hill to land on it.
[1440xp each]
At the dam, we found it unguarded. Surmising that the four trolls we fought earlier were the ones previously in the dam, we fetched the treasure we hadn't previously claimed (including some pink magical gloves) and headed down to the scorpion construct room. It dropped on Claw and nearly killed him even as Jarrick and Neril fought to free him. Jarrick was able to heal Claw but Sepheria and I were unable to use our magics until Claw broke free. A wall of stone bought us a few moments of breathing room and then a combined Wall of Force and Wall of Fire destroyed it.
[1180xp each]
Sepheria and I examined the remains of the scorpion and worked out how it made poison (a combination of two chemicals that were mixed just before the tail spike). Sepheria worked out how to make a construct and how to manage the sluice gates. She planned to write up a guide for the locals on how to control it. There is an energy read out system that reads "Low" but we are able to work out that there is probably about 3 years of standard operation before the power runs out.
From the dam, we headed out into the woods to the East to look for Eagles. We find a mated pair and they agree to go to the Fort just in time to lay eggs. [Approx 2 March in game]
The Eagles tell us that they saw Ogres hunting near Storval deep, so we gather supplies and water walk out from Skull's Crossing.
We find a track which Jarrick determines is an often used Ogre hunting trail. We create a "plant-hide" in the nearby thick bushes and wait. The next day Ogres come down the trail. There are 5 Kreeg including Jaagarath, who spots Claw.
Sepheria casts banish on Jaagarath, temporarily sending him to another plane of existence while we deal with the others. She tries to intimidate the others but is only a little successful.
Neril hastes Claw and I call lightning, still hidden in the bushes, hitting two ogres. 1 Kreeg attacks Sepheria but misses. Three go after Claw. Jarrick fears the Kreeg going after Sepheria, making him unable to move closer to her. Sepheria casts fireball, catching Claw in the middle. Claw strikes at Haagrath Kreeg, with Neril striking the same. My lightning continues to target ogres. The one Kreeg throws something at Sepheria but misses and Haagrath spots Jarrick in the bushes but his attack misses. The other Kreeg continue to beat on Claw, who was looking rather bloodied. Jarrick heals Claw and Clank finally made it through the bushes to attack. Sepheria claimed first kill with her magics and my lightning claimed the second kill. The feared Kreeg threw a javelin at Sepheria but missed. Another Kreeg aimed at Jarrick but missed. Jarrick targeted him in response. with Clank assisting. Sepheria threw scotching ray on the same and it eventually went down under Claw and Neril's attacks. It was finished by my lightning. The final kreeg was struck repeatedly by the entire group and Jarrick landed the fatal blow.
Once we were prepared and in place, Sepheria allowed Jaagarath to return to this plane. We all struck out fast before he could react but when he did, he targeted Jarrick, who went down under his attack. We continued to hit him with everything until Neril struck him dead. A quick heal to get Jarrick on his feet and we investigated the body and decided to drag the bodies into the undergrowth to hide them.
[3903 xp (total 6529) with clank xp 1954]
We decided to rest and hide in the bushes some more to see if anyone would come looking for the ogres.
(I think that's what we decided in the end, anyway)

ep 38 to 15/2/4713 Winter

Journal (22-Jan)

{in game date = equivalent 19-Dec}

Appropriately dressed for the cold and with plenty of food and the materials for a Resurrection spell, we left Sepheria studying some vital scrolls and started out by Ferry, care of Skull and his mate Bones, up to Bitter Hollow.

As it was nearly dark when we arrived and snowing, a half-orc allowed us to sleep in the back room of the trading post in exchange for some gold.

As we were breakfasting, a party of gnomes from the nearby settlement came in complaining of something odd in the Shimmerglens. We spoke with them and found they were worried about the White-Willow area. We reassured them we were aware and were looking into a possible solution. We also suggested they avoid the area as best they could for now.

After breakfast, we set out along the bank of Lake Coal. Claw and Jarrick spot a pair of ogre tracks and we cautiously following it up towards the mountains. Night fell and we were fairly sure we could find them come morning; unfortunately, when we awoke the winds and snow had erased the trail. We followed Claw, who got us lost, so instead we followed Jarrick, who was able to pick up a trail. We ended up at the base of a steep cliff, but Jarrick was able to climb up and lower a rope for the rest of us.

The little hunting trail led us to a gaping cave mouth belching out black smoke and ringing out with the sound of metal-on-metal from a forge. Just inside the cave mouth were the ribs of some behemoth bracketing the entrance. We could spot at least large kreeg ogres - one patrolling the stone shelf just in front of the cave and two more huddling inside.

After intense discussion that included Neril, who caught up, it was decided that I go in as a small animal form to scout the caves. I darted in at dusk as a little bat.

The Cave mouth, leads into a 60' corridor. At the end of the corridor there is a Rune Giant statue - later determined for certain as a mummy. It appeared to be a high ranking officer of the runelord of greed's army. There is a sehedron medallion around it's neck, which draws my attention. Past that, there are stares which go up. To the right, a small cave with a deep pit used for disposal, to the left more stairs.

At the top of those stairs, a three way choice guarded by a hill giant and three kreeg, two of whom were arguing. To the left, a huge cave filled with forges and a huge number of large ogres. To the middle, a narrower stair case that leads to a larder of dead animals and cauldrons with the three hags the Dryad Mariana warned us about. To the right was a hall with a cave off to the left with a shrine to Lemashtu as indicated by a statue of the mother of monsters (3 eyed jackal head on a pregnant woman's body) and containing a very alert undead, lich-like with icy claws and an icy crown. He was quick on the draw and smart. It was a close shave to get out of there. Following the little hall further down, it lead to a room with a throne, upon which sat a Stone Giant. He was guarded by a body guard and talking to Jaagarth and Dorella. There were multiple alcoves in the room as well as a trough or canyon strip down the middle of the room, which led to a hole in the ceiling leading out to the sky - my escape was unseen.

After I reported the position and number of enemies to the others, we sat and worked on a plan. We decided to steal the medallion as point of priority as they may have been using the medallion to resurrect the mummy. I formed a little stone hut to protect us from the elements, and we rested overnight.

Before dawn, I took an earth elemental form and used earth glide under the ground. With a few periscopes to check my position, I was able to get into the cave unseen, however, I was right in line of sight of a kreeg - if hidden behind the mummy. Eventually, I grabbed the medallion but was spotted. I dragged the medallion back into the cave wall with me and retreated. We all ran (medallion in one of the bags of holding), dropping a few stone walls behind us to slow any pursuit. Neril covered our tracks and we pushed hard overnight to get to Bitter Hollow. We rested there than pushed on back Turtleback Ferry.

We dragged Sepheria from her research and passed along our information. The medallions are know to be used for scrying but also can be used for gentle repose to preserve a body. We had thought that gentle repose had a time limitation but the medallions (perhaps by channeling life force) seemed to be able to preserve a body almost indefinitely. If the medallion hadn't been potentially able to see through the wearer's eyes and speak through the wearer's mouth, the other benefits such as false life would have been tempting. Instead, we destroyed it with Claw's maul. There was some star-metal in the alloy but not enough to bother with, so Neril disposed of the remains (I will not disclose the location in writing)*

Sepheria decided more research was needed before we went against the hags and she was awaiting importance correspondence from her sister, so we left her while we investigated the presence of a werewolf.

We tracked it for 3 days and found it over the corpse of an unlucky hunter. We were able to kill it without much difficulty and upon examining the corpse of the dead woman it became, we were not able to find anything significant. We buried both bodies and returned to town. Sepheria had received a missive from her sister stating the Grey Maidens were on their way. She also reported that her dreams were becoming clearer and she was seeing the great ring city of Kaermaga, which might lead us towards the next shard.

The weather was too awful by this point to attempt any raids on the Kreeg stronghold, so we waited. It was a few weeks before anything else happened but then a ship filled with Grey Maidens under Auriana arrived. We led them to the Fort, which we had tidied up. Many of the Maidens seemed little leery of their new station but Auriana was very pleased, rousing the Maidens with a heartening speech about destiny and purpose.

Auriana bore a letter addressed to us. The letter was from the Church of Abadar from the Cleric Wen Histani. She bade us find her at Isle Cyrian south of Pendaka.

Leaving Sepheria to her studies once more, we went down to the Church and were sword to secrecy and asked to find something important for her.

As it is secret, I will not relate it here, not until we have further information. We returned back to Turtleback to see if Sepheria had discovered anything in our absence.

[* we dropped it in the lake].

{date equivalent = mid-Feb}

------------

Personal Journal / Not currently for Pathfinders

Wen Histani, Cleric of Abadar, informed us that a powerful Enchantress by the name of Tirana had walked right into their vaults, bewitching the guards into simply moving aside, to steal a Thassilian relic known as the Sword of Lust. It was one of seven swords known as the Seven Swords of Sin. The weapon alone is not very powerful but it would be very bad if all the swords were gathered together and there have been quiet rumours that other weapons of the set had gone missing. They had been able to track Tirana to Kaermaga, which is known as an outlaw city. The city itself is some sort of artifact where the city/buildings make up the walls.

Wen Histani provided us with a rough map of the city and explained possible ways to enter, including mentioning the secret paths. She told us of the Dusklight paths which lead from the cliff tot he base of the city. Dusk Warden Rangers would be able to provide an escort. Alternatively, we could potentially approach from over land, or other ways. Wen recommended we go to Sirathu. There is a branch of the church within the city which can provide us with basic support but they are not able to provide us any real assistance as there is no official leader or any real law to speak of within the city.

ep 37 9-19/12/4712 Winter Sets In

9/12/4712 Party retreats 5 miles then sets camp. Next day they return to Fort Rannick and launch a raid that kills the last 6 mook ogres before retreating to Turtleback Ferry; Jakardros narrowly escaping Jaagrath Kreeg's vengeance. On return to Rannick a couple days later, they find the fort abandoned; Jaagrath Dorella and the last three Kreeg ogres have apparently fallen back to the Hook Mountain clanhold.

M12 4712 Winter sets in, with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. The party plan an expedition to Hook Mountain, while Jakardros Sorvak journeys west to Magnimar with news of events and letters for Vimandi Kaddren & Mayor Haldemeer Grobaras - send Oriana's Gray Maidens to garrison Fort Rannick, getting them out of Magnimar (where the Hell Knights are rumoured to be plotting a war crimes case against them for events in Korvosa) and onto a useful role defending the frontier.

1. Quillax Druid 10
2. Sephiria Kaddren Rogue 1/Wizard 9
3. Jarrick Rogue 1/Paladin 9
4. Neril Monk 9
5. Claw Barbarian 8

Journal (15-Jan)
Following our successful skirmish on the Fort, we retreated for a long rest and a planning session, which saw us heading back to the Fort well before dawn. It had stopped snowing but overnight, the snow had settled.
As we were travelling, we spotted tracks in the snow. After examining them, we decided that possibly 6 ogres had attempted to follow us, but they had turned back. We checked around us but found no sign of a possible ambush or scouts hiding, so we followed the tracks back and ended up at the Southern gate of the Fort.
As per our plan, Neril took me up on the broom to the upper level of the Fort where the small door that led out onto the parapet was set. There were no visible sentries. I used stone shape to make the doorway far smaller, so it would be a squeeze for a medium sized creature and impossible for a large one to fit through. There was no way to open the door, so the stone shape caused the door to explode and fly off the hinges. There was an angry bellow from inside the corridor and foot steps approaching but we did not stick around to see the approaching ogre. We hopped onto the broom and zoomed away, dodging a javelin thrown from an arrow slit from the Central keep as a warning bell sounded.
As we retreated to our meeting point, I used my shard to cast Major Image to darken the sky like Call Lightning had been summoned by the front gate, implying that was our planned attack position. We used the illusory clouds to cover our retreat.
Sepheria, upon hearing the bell, sent her Arcane Eye down the "Tunnel of Love" path. The door at the end of the tunnel was sealed so well the eye could not find a gap. As there were no enemies in the tunnel, we hurried through the waterfall and down towards the door. We ran into some of the Shocker Lizards, who thankfully remembered me, and after feeding them our rations (replaceable with GoodBerry if we were desperate), we passed safely by.
The door was somehow barred from the inside, so I stone shaped the walls around the door and it fell towards us, caught by Claw before it could make any noise. There was a large pile of barrels and crates which the Ogres had obviously used to barricade the door. Neril squeezed past into the room beyond and reported it was empty. Everyone but Sepheria and Neril worked on both sides to move the barrels and crates out of the way quickly but quietly so we could get past. Sepheria took the time to use the Arcane Eye to scout further ahead, however, she was once again met by blocked doors. Neril took a quick rest and kept watch on the other side of the door.
As soon as we were able to get into the room, we used a crowbar to push the draught extruder out of the way, but once again, the doors were well sealed.
We managed to open the door and walked up the stairs, at the top, Neril spotted an ogre and was able to surprise him. While the rest of the group moved up to attack, I secured our escape route by using stone shape to narrow the stairway so we would be able to squeeze back through but the ogres would not.
Claw and Neril were in position immediately to attack and did so. Jarrick, Jakardros, and Clank were not and so had to hurry into the hall way. Sepheria cast Mirror Image and I hurried after the others after the stairs were secured.
Claw killed the ogre, Neril tied the handles of a door together with some rope, and everyone else readied themselves for the fight we knew was coming.
Harlock Hookmore Kreeg opened a door and approached, hitting Neril with his hook, damaging the monk heavily. Neril managed to dodge the next strike, seeing another ogre in the room beyond (Dorella, the witch). Two more Kreeg were in the shrine room and they both struck at Claw, damaging him heavily and knocking him down. Jaagrath Kreeg stepped out of that room also, hitting Claw whilst he was down. Dorella moved into view (in the distant room) and threw a lightning bolt, which Sepheria dispelled. Dorella ducked back out of sight.
Four ogres burst out of the room that Neril had sealed with rope. Sepheria cast a hypnotic pattern, which unfortunately also caught Neril as well as the ogres, but not the Kreeg Harlock.
Seeing as we were vastly outnumbered at the moment, I cast Wall of Stone - strongly buttressed against the stone walls as the floors were made of wood - blocking all of the Kreegs from reaching us, so we only had the regular ogres to deal with for the moment. Claw attacked one hypnotised ogre and Jakardros shot that same one while Clank shook Neril awake and got out of the way so Jarrick could Lay Hands On Neril.
We could hear the loud thumping as the Kreegs attacked the wall in the areas where they were trapped behind it.
The one awakened ogre shook the others around him awake then tried to run, but Claw managed to pin him in place. Neril heard at least one more ogre in that room.
Sepheria threw a fireball at the ogres and killed one while I ready myself to recast the Wall of Stone in case the Kreeg burst through. Claw and Neril struck at the same ogre before Neril teleported to double check our retreat while Jakardros kept targeting ogres with his arrows.
As expected, the Kreeg were able to bring down the wall, so I cast the spell again quickly before they were able to strike anyone. Seeing as we were looking at a retreat shortly, I sent Clank down and out of the way so if we had to run, he wouldn't be in the way. We continued to attacked the ogres in the hall. Claw killed one and Jakardros another with Jarrick taking out the final one with his dagger.
We started to retreat but Jaagarath Kreeg managed to knock down Jakardros before he could fully retreat, luckily Sepheria was still within earshot and she doubled back to cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the Kreeg, giving Jakardros the opportunity to get through the narrowed stairs.
We returned to the town to rest and restock our supplies. When we approached the Fort again, it felt abandoned. We scouted it carefully and could find no sign of the Ogres.
We discussed what we were going to do. If we were going to follow the Kreeg and try to rescue the Commander's spirit from the witches, we would need to leave almost immediately as the weather was turning colder and high in the mountains would soon become bitterly cold and the witches could make the weather worse. Jakardros wanted to rebuild the Black Arrows and declined to travel with us further.
Rumours reached us that there was trouble brewing for our Grey Maidens - the Hellknights were looking to form a legal case against them - so we decided to request Sepheria's sister to send them out to Fort Rannick where they would be both useful and safe from politics. I spent a week casting stone-shaping spells, repairing the damage to the Fort and shrinking the secret entrances to be too small for Ogres.
[3008xp each]