Adventure Log

• Session 0 - 10JUN2023
• Session 1 - 27AUG2023
• Session 2 - 14OCT2023
• Session 3 - 19NOV2023
• Session 4 - 27JAN2024
• Session 5 - 21APR2024
• Session 6 - 15JUN2024
• Session 7 - 21JUL2024
• Session 8 - 14SEP2024
• Session 9 - 13OCT2024
• Session 10 - 2NOV2024
• Session 11 - 21DEC2024
• Session 12 - 26JAN2025
• Session 13 - 22FEB2025
• Session 14 - 08MAR2025
• Session 15 - 12APR2025
• Session 16 - 04MAY2025

Session 0 - 10JUN2023

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ✅
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

N/A

Session Notes

• Known as mercenaries rather than adventurers in this setting
  
• Setting is roughly Renaissance (gunpowder is OK, but basic)
• Erica/Walter are employees of an organization, Jin/Nick are contractors
  • Jin is the new member of the group until...
  • Nick meets up with the group in the first session and is the new new guy
• Campaign will take place in the nation of Acium
• General setting outline:
  • Group has been commissioned to search for powerful magical artifacts

Session 1 - 27AUG2023

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

• Group is all together and is located at a town called Raedan in the nation of Acium
• Ther group are at an inn called The Sword and Board run by a retired mercenary
  
• The group is trying to search for powerful magical artifacts
  
• Beginning status:
  • Long rested with full health

Session Notes

•  Erica and Walter are part of a mercenary guild
  
  • Picked up Nick along the road on the way to Raedan
  • Jin is along for the ride, but is not very talkative
• Group decides to go to the Council of the Few to learn more about a potential lead on some old ruins
• Council keeper tells group about ruins a couple days walk north of town that was recently discovered
• Promised reward of 10 gold per person with chance for more if valuable artifacts are found
• Group sets out to the ruins
• First day passes uneventfully as they travel through grasslands
• Evening falls and Walter takes first watch and will switch off with Jin
  
  • Walter hears varmint noises during the night, thought he saw a shooting start, switches off with Jin
  • Jin sees what looks like a boar moving through the grass
  • Jin casts minor illusion to make flames appear near where he saw the boar-like thing
  • This causes a yelp to sound out and some cursing in an unkown language (table talk: Goblin language)
  • This causes the thing to move away from Jin
  • Jin wakes up Nick and and lets him know about what he saw
  • Nick runs in the direction of the noise
  • Nick catches up to a suspiciously well dressed goblin, causing the creature to fall down and beg forgiveness
  • Nick brings the goblin back to the group as they are woken up
• The group confronts the goblin to find out more info
• He claims that he is being paid by Rizz to conduct market research on mercenaries by following them
• Jin threatens the goblin and the goblin fesses up that he is lying, but starts panicking thinking that his mind has been read
  • He is actually working for Rizz, but was actually following the group to scavenge the ruins behind the group
  • The group allows Cloc to join the group on this trip
  • Cloc grants the scout of the group advantage on checking for and disarming traps that we encounter
• Rest of the night happens uneventfully
• Group continues the next day towards the ruins
• On the second day, group comes across a geographical landmark....a small knoll ~4 ft in diameter
  
• Jin investigates the knoll and notices the ground is softer at one point, when pressure is applied there, the dirt gives way and there are stairs revealed going underground
  
• Erica creates a fire magically at the base of the stairs, illuminating an antechamber at the base of the stairs in front of stone doors
• Jin decides to push Cloc down the stairs, but Cloc catches himself and he proceeds down and makes it to the bottom safely
• Nick decides to charge down the stairs after Cloc, the rest of the group follows
• The stone door in the room is a giant monolith that appears seamless
• Vases are at either side of the door, containing flowers that appear gray/colorless, but not dried/dead
• Nick checks out the flowers, but as he approaches, his breath is enough to cause the flowers to crumble into ash, with a sulfurous smell
• Jin checks the remains of the flowers for traces of magic, decides that no magic left by the flowers
• Erica investigates the flowers for signs of magical tools, determines that the flowers were dried out completely at a molecular level
• Walter bangs the door to see what happen, rolls a nat 20
  • Cracks start to form and the door gives way
• We have solved the door puzzle!
• Jin looks through the door and sees a room made of stone
  • The room is 20'x10'
  • Along the perimeter of the room, funerary slabs are arranged, 6 in total
• Erica magically creates a bonfire in the room, burning away cobwebs from the room
• Nick pushes the door open
• Cloc tentatively walks into the room, nothing happens and signals that the room is clear
• Walter walks into the room and bangs the door, knocking the door off its hinges
• Nick uses Firbolg Magic to cast Detect Magic
  • He sees that there is a faint green light coming from the far side of the closed door
  • Green light indicates that it is from the school of Necromancy
• Erica investigates the slabs and finds a switch on the lip of the lid
• She presses the switch and the lid lifts and then slides into the wall
• Inside is a skeleton...that is just a skeleton, not imbued with magic of any kind
• Walter walks up to the skeleton and smashes the skull of the skeleton
• Cloc jumps into the sarcophagus and starts stuffing his pockets with stuff
• After a threat from Erica, he shows the group he has just grabbed a couple rings and finger bones
• The group opens the rest of the 6 sarcophagi, finding four other humanoid skeletons and 20 gold worth of non-magical objects
• Jin threates Cloc into laying down in one of the empty sarcophagi in a burial pose
  • Nick lays down in the other empty sarcophagus
• Jin determines that there is not really any mechanical way to trigger the coffin to close
• The group pushes open the door and Erica and Jin peek through
  • They see a landing of some kind with stairs that continue down...but can't see walls or a ceiling
• Cloc moves into the next room as Erica moves her bonfire into the next room
• Cloc is scared as he looks back toward the group and the group hears a noise similar to bones cracking
• Cloc says that he sees two heads and starts running back to the group, clinging onto Walter in fear
• Nick casts Hidden Step to sneak into the room unseen
• Once in the room, he sees two skulls in the room looking at the doorway, they do not react as he passes
• Walter decides to try walking into the room, the skulls follow him with their gaze as he walks around
  
• Erica walks into the room, one skull looks at Erica, one at Walter
• The bonfire and torch is extinguished, but the skulls still follow Erica and Walter with their gaze
• Erica and Walter decide to continue down the stairs to try to get out of the range of vision of the skulls
• After ~60 feet, the skulls reset
• The group makes it through 2 at a time and are on the stairway down further in to the cavern
• Walter and Erica make a glowing rock and Walter throws it down the stairs, watching it tumble down for an additional 100 feet before coming to a rest on a stone floor at the base of the stairs
  
• The group decides to at least go to the bottom of the stairs to see what is there before deciding whether to head back or not
• At the base of the stairs is a large clearing which has what looks like a stone building 2 stories tall
  • The stone seems to be seamless, formed in the shape of the building
  • As we proceed into the space, there are more buildings visible, a whole village worth of buildings
  • There are no lights in the buildings
• The group decides to short rest near the base of the stairs (1 hour)
• During the short rest, Cloc is shuffling a deck of cards to pass the time
  • The group also determines there is a slight air current in the cavern
  • The air is cool and humid
• There are suspiciously no living things (insects, newts, etc.) in the cave
• After the short rest, the group decides to check out a building to see what is inside
  • The house is made entirely of stone, seamlessly constructed
  • Inside are decayed remains of furniture, and some stone furnishings
• Nick racks his brain about history (history check) and is able to recognize that there are a lot of familiar features in the architecture to dwarven structures as well as elven architecture
  • However, this stone is melded from a single, seamless stone, like it is grown
  • Also, elven architecture is made from natural materials and not stone
• Going further into the village, other buildings are similar in construction and contents
• Proceeding further, an open area like a town square is in the middle with a large dome structure and four large doorways in the sides of the dome building
• Looking through a doorway, Erica sees sarcophagi lining the interior wall of the structure as well as an inverted dome at the summit of the building
• Nick casts detect magic and the entire building is lit up with the green light of Necromancy magic
• The group decides that their investigation is complete and decides to return to the surface
• Nick casts a fog cloud and it prevents the skulls from following the group with their gaze
• Jin decides to try to telepathically speak with a spell, but takes 4 psychic damage instead
• The group moves past the heads and then proceeds further out and make it to the surface
• The group makes it back to the Council of the Few uneventfully and reports the findings
  • Cloc left the group to go back to Rizz's provisions
• Gosnold is shocked by what he hears and decides it is above his pay grade
• He writes a message to somebody which is magically delivered and the group waits a couple hours for the response
• A satchel of money appears with a note where Gosnold sent his message. In it is 50 bonus gold for each party member
• Gosnold asks, and the group agrees, to be place on retainer for the Council of the Few
• The group members are given a small pin to wear as proof of this relationship
• The group advances to level 2!

Session 2 - 14OCT2023

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

• Group finished quest and got on retainer with the Council of Few
• Figuring out what to do from here
• Group leveled up to Level 2

Session Notes

•  The group has decided to go to Rizz's Provisions to follow up on Cloc following them on the previous quest
  
• Once at Rizz''s Provisions, the group asks Rizz about why Cloc was following us
• Rizz claims that Cloc was being a bit over-exuberant in his pursuit of the group
• Rizz actually has a proposition for work for the group
  • There is a shipment she is expecting that is a couple weeks late
  • It was coming from the west, the village of Wudu
  • It was a shipment of arms
  • Should have taken 7 days to get here, it is now 15 days later
  • It was packed in several large wooden crates marked with Rizz's Provisions
• The group decides to take on the quest and sets out in the Western direction
• The group also decides to check in with the inn to see if there is anything Rory wants in the western direction
  • Rory wants cool artifacts to use as display pieces in the inn
  • He is aware of several burial mounds that may contain artifacts
  • The group lets him know that if they find anything, they will bring it back
• The weather is a slight drizzle
• We encounter several other caravans of goods traveling the trade route
• Nick asks travelers about Eknon the Vex
  • He learns that there are rumors of hobgoblins causing problems in the far western region of Acium
• We  notice that some plant growth along the road was smashed down and is starting to grow back
  • The track is heading south toward the river
• We follow the tracks, Nick is taking point
• We reach the river and find a sandbar that is fordable by a wagon
• After crossing the river, we hear some clamoring and yelling
• We see four humans in leather armor that appear quite desperate and they attack!
• ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!
  • Erica kneecaps the first bandit
  • Nick tries to trick them into giving up using a disguise, but it doesn't work because it was a ridiculous and bad plan
  • Walter one-hit KOs a bandit 
  • Jin kills a bandit and his body begins floating away in the river
  • Nick knocks out the last bandit
  • Two dead, two alive (one unconscious, one kneecapped)
• END COMBAT
• The group questions the kneecapped guy for information about the missing shipment
• Jin persuades the guy to be helpful
• The bandit claims that our party is with "the others"
  • The Others here sound like a group of mercenaries that had attacked their bandit group and killed almost everybody
  • We find out that this bandit group did steal from Rizz's Provisions
  • A group of mercenaries showed up and slaughtered the bandits to take back the shipment
  • These bandits managed to escape
  • He will help show us back to his camp, but won't take us farther
• The bandit camp is tucked between some hills, and there is the scent of a recent campfire in the air
• 15 dead bandit bodies are in the remains of the camp
• We find some partially emptied boxes marked with Rizz's Provisions
• Our arcana investigation revealed that one of the mercenaries cast the spell Fireball
• The investigation of the battle scene revealed that the attackers were highly skilled and dispatched the bandits extremely efficiently
• We manage to find 10 gp each and load up four crates on a cart
• Nick decides to talk to a nearby bush and see if he can find out if there are any horses nearby
• The holly shrub he is talking to shakes a little bit, leans to the northeast, shakes, and then releases a sulfuric smell
• We decide to take the crates back to Rizz
  • However, we decide to omit the details about the other mercenary party
• Rizz is happy to see us and gives us 20 GP each
  • We also get a 10% discount on future purchases at Rizz's
• We return back to the inn
• The next day, we see, at the inn, a new mercenary party
  • A guy in a green cloak and bow
  • A dude in a robe (wizard?)
  • A woman in full plate armor (Triginta)
  • A possible artificer
  • All humans - these guys match the description from the bandit that attacked the bandit camp
• Rory, the innkeeper, is intimidated by them and wants us to stick around a little bit to help keep him safe
• We split the party:
  • Nick and Erica report to the council of the few, telling them about the potential link between the ruins and the party at the inn
    • The master sends out a message and thanks them
    • A reply is received at the Council of the Few
      • The master is being told to close up shop by leadership of the council of the few and that he needs to leave town immediately
      • The master is low-key freaking out, this is highly unusual and he doesn't know what to make of it
      • Nick pens another message asking for more information
      • A message is received in return that only has 6 words
        • The order of the red omen
      • This doesn't really give any additional information, and Gosnald (the master) doesn't really know anything else either, he pulls a scroll that he says might have more information and gives it to Nick/Erica
      • They then leave to return to the inn
  • Walter and Jin are acting as bodyguards for Rory (Walter is getting drunk)
    • The wizard from the other party approaches Walter
    • Walter and the wizard begin drinking together
    • Walter gives fake name of Albert
    • The other mercenary party leaves on good terms with Walter
    • Innkeeper is safe!
• The group reunites back at the inn
• Jin saw the other mercenary group heading North out of the town
• Jin takes out the scroll received by Nick/Erica and starts to read it
  • The scroll is a story about those who chase after power and the consequences of doing so
  • Scroll is probably several thousand years old
  • Story tell about those that seek power, comes with a price that is too high to be paid
  • There were six individuals that called themselves the order of the red omen that sought such power
  • They all met untimely ends
• We decide to go to Rizz and tell her everything we know and see if she knows anything about what is going on
• She doesn't know anything about them and has never heard of them
  • She promises a 30% discount if the information leads to her surviving a bad event
• We decide to go seek an audience with the local ruler (Vicadium)
• We explain things to the Vicacadium (Malhorta al Maz)
• He is concerned about the council of the few packing up and leaving
  • He is going to try to get more information from Gosnald
• Otherwise, he will just keep an elevated alert level
• The group sets off to the North on some horses to follow the group to try to get information
• There is heavy rain and it is unseasonably cold (we get disadvantage on perception checks)
• We manage to find the trail that the other mercenary group has left
  • The trail seems to be appearing and disappearing randomly at intervals (~30 ft)
• Nick uses detect magic
  • He notices that where the tracks disappear, it glows with yellow conjuration magic
  • We figure out that this is probably the work of misty step
• We decide to continue pursuing the other party and make our way to the entrance of the ruins
• We decide to stakeout the entrance and Nick+Jin build a hunter's hide
• As we are staking out the entrance, the ground starts to shake
• At the entrance, 50 animated skeletons rush out and are rushing south towards the city
  • Their arms are actually fused with weapons and they look quite mean

Session 3 - 19NOV2023

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

• Group followed some veteran mercenaries out to the ruins north of the city of Raedan
• While staking out the entrance, the group witnesses ~50 animated skeletons with fused weapons for arms rush out of the ruins heading toward Raedan

Session Notes

•  The group decided to hop onto their horses and race back to Raedan ahead of the skeleton horde.
  
• Nick fails at animal handling, so we don't make great time, only beating the horde by ~20 minutes
• At the town, there is a contingent of guards assembled that are hastily building makeshift fortifications
• The group approaches the Vicadium's chamber and tell him about the situation
• The group agrees to help with the defense, but with the caveat that we aren't planning on dying, so if things go south, we will bounce
• The group has been assigned to defend the East entrance to town
• Because of the guards helping the group for this battle, we all get +1 AC for this battle
• Jin decides to set up some trip wire booby traps real quick by the East gate
• ROLL INITIATIVE as ~20 skeletons approach the gate
  • ~10 skeletons get caught by the snares set by Jin
  • After a round and a turn undead, down to ~6 skeletons left
• The group wins the fight!
• Walter tries and fails to find horses to make a getaway
• Erica is looting the field and accidentally reanimates 8 skeletons
• ROLL INITIATIVE
  • Nick cheated by using channel divinity more than once a day - just for the record
• Fight ended. We figured out that you need to remove some magical bits from the skull after they have been killed or else they respawn
• We dispatch a guardsmen to each of the other gates to spread the word about removing the bits from the skull
• Short rest time!
  • Several party members decided to heal up
• The sounds of battle have died down in the city
• The group decides to head to the North gate to check on how things went
  • Overall, there was a fierce battle, but the skeletons have been slain
• The group approaches the Vicadium, he appears weary and tired
• He gives each member of the group 40 gold!
• The Vicadium asks the group to stick around in Raedan to help with reconstruction
• Long rest!

• Rory the innkeeper passed away in the battle

• Rizz is still alive after the battle and her inventory seems to have grown somewhat
  
• We gear up with some stuff from Rizz
• Walter wants to commemorate the loss of his friend Rory
  • Walter pours himself a tankard of Rory's ale and pours it out in remembrance for Rory
• Afterwards, the group checks in with the Vicadium to see if there are any jobs that need done
  
  • He asks us to head West to Wudu to spread the word about what happened and ask them for support/to make preparations
• The group decides to head to Wudu following the Vicadium's request
• Day 1:
  • Pleasant day of travel, no events of note
• Day 2:
  • We encounter a group of travelers in a Vardo wagon being pulled by a black horse
  • A halfling woman in the wagon flags down the group and asks for our attention
  • Erica talks with her
  • She wants to hire mercenaries to look for her boss that has been missing for a week
  • She is a collector named Anbryn Stillcloak
  • She starts traveling with the group
  • She steers her wagon off the road saying that this feels like the right way to go
  • She and Jin start communicating telepathically in Abyssal and she asks him who he works for
  • After an insight check, he determines she is a fellow warlock and she is in search of her patron that is missing
  • She comes clean with the group about the situation
  • Her patron just refers to himself as One and is interested in collecting magical items
  • The group agrees to help after the explanation is in the open
  • She stops the wagon after a couple hours of travel, she stops the wagon and points to other Vardo wagons gathered in the distance
  • At the spot, her stomach starts gurgling worse and worse, she seems like she is about to vomit
  • Instead of vomit, her eyes roll back in her head and an insect falls out of her mouth, she then collapses
  • Nick manages to leap onto and cover the insect to trap it
  • Jin can sense that the bug feels a need to be whole again
  • Erica infuses a bag into a bag of holding and the group manages to capture the insect inside the bag

Session 4 - 27JAN2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We caught a bug in a bag of holding and don't know what to do with it

Session Notes

• The group decides to carry the bag with them to the focal point of where the other Vardo are arranged around
• As we approach, Jin's brain feels itchy, like it is filled with static
• We decide to continue proceeding
• Ahead of us, we see a patch of dead grass in a clearing that has a pool of bubbling substance
• Erica decides to investigate by poking it with a stick
• The goop wraps around the stick and pulls the stick away and throws it aside
• We try to catch the insect as we release it, but it escapes into the pool
• Out of the pool comes a humanoid-insect being that is dressed in a nice suit
• It thanks the group for helping it become whole, it refers to itself as "One"
• Jin tries to talk with The One, warlock to patron (mind to mind)
• Jin asks what happened to The One
  • It says that it was dead, but is not dead any longer
  • It enacted a contract clause with employees to revive it
  • The One doesn't know who killed it
• Jin is able to deduce that The One is a being of great power that exists outside the Prime Material Plane (PMP)
  • It is some kind of abberation from another plane that is an individual being that was exiled from its plane that was otherwise full of collective beings
  • When it dies, it needs to build a network of warlocks to sacrifice in order to come back to the PMP
• The One offers insects to the party to have them become employees
• It offers a reward to the party; one of the Vardo that it's former Warlock was using
• Before the party can use it, The One removes a small box from the Vardo, but now the Vardo is free to use for the party
  • The Vardo is bigger on the inside! It is some kind of dimensional anomaly
• We also ask The One about the other group of Mercenaries that we ran into
  • It is familiar with these mercenaries, but not much more detail beyond that
• We have dubbed the Vardo the VARDIS - acronym pending
  • tentatively Vehicle And Relative Dimension In Space
• The group decides to get back on the road back to Wudu
• Day 1
  • No events
• Day 2
  • The group is attacked by bandits
  • Roll Initiative!
  • The bandit leader was knocked out and was named Bruce
• We win the fight and Jin wants to chat with the bandit
  • He tries to deceive the bandit to learn info about the area
  • He does not succeed, so we decide to kill Bruce

• RIP Bruce

• Level up to level 3

• We continue on our way to Wudu
• We see smoke rising in the sky above Wudu
• The city is on fire! We can hear people screaming
• We stow the wagon and hide it with some camouflage
• As we approach the city, we see people running around trying to fight the fire or rescue people from burning buildings
• We pull aside a goblin nearby and ask what is going on
• He said that "they came in the night" - a group of humans, fitting the description of the other mercenaries we met in Radan
• Erica is able to figure out where the local government building would be located, so we make our way there, avoiding craters and fire on the way
• When we arrive, we see a large gentleman that appears like he might be important and is directing people
• He is pretty distraught and asks us to help out with putting out the fires
• Jin is able to extinguish the flames in the entryway of the building using the Hunger of Hadar
• We make our way to the office through the use of an Eldritch Cannon that shoots water
• In the office, we see a figure run out and through the window.
  • It looks like a hobgoblin
  • Nick gets enraged and jumps out the window to chase after him
  • Walter chases after Nick to stop him
  • After a chase, some thrown corpses, and some emotional bro-hugs, Walter manages to stop Nick and promise to chase after his family's killer together
• Inside the office left behind, we found an empty safe
• Talking with the mayor, we find that the safe held some tax and census records as well as a necklace that contained a shard of dragon scale
• Jin is able to determine that a spot in the safe is seemingly colder than the rest of the safe, magically cold...

Session 5 - 21APR2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We got a VARDIS from a powerful being, traveled to Wudu, put out some fires, saved some folks
  

Session Notes

•  We decide to investigate where the other mercenary party and the hobgoblin ran off to
• We figure out that the hobgoblin proceeds West while the mercenary trail heads back East
• We look for the local Council of the Few to inform them what we have learned about the direction of travel for the party of mercenaries
• The local chapter of the Council of the Few building remains standing, completely unscathed in a sea of ashes
• It is just a single room with a single caretaker
• He explains that he employed the protocol and folded the building into a pocket dimension to protect the building
• The caretaker is named Udo
• We relay our story of the other mercenary group to Udo
• He relays that message back to HQ
• We decide to head west in pursuit of the hobgoblin
• We manage to find a recently used campsite
  • Investigating, we can tell that there is more than a single set of footprintes
  • Somebody has left behind a crude, mundane iron dagger
  • We are able to figure out that the trail went to the Northwest
  • The footprints are hobgoblin made, maybe ~6 of them
• We are confronted by a single hobgoblin that threatens us.
  • After some acrobatic intimidation by Nick and Jin, the single hobgoblin surrenders to us
• After some gentle (extremely violent) persuasion, the hobgoblin is amenable to providing information
  • We ask about Eknon the Vex:
    • There is a hobgoblin camp ~1 hour north where the other hobgoblins are
    • We will find Eknon the Vex there
    • We leave him tied up with a little bit of food
    • We learn his name is Klankec
      • However, we learn his real name is Krokkak the Razor
• We set back out on our journey and Nick decides to wear Krokkak as a backpack
• Krokkak helps us avoid a couple traps on our journey north
• We eventually reach a hillside with some conspicuous bushes at its base
• Nick disguises himself as Krokkak and enters the hobgoblin warren
  • Erica sneaks along behind
• Upon entering, Nick is challenged with a question by somebody in a language that he doesn't understand
• Nick decides to try to commune with the roots of a tree nearby and have the roots smack him in the face
• He is confused about what is going on and is disoriented, allowing Nick to proceed past him, Erica decides to duck out and return to the rest of the party
• We have now split the party:
• Nick's series of events:
  • He decides to head further in and enters a side room to see what was in it
  • Nick finds something that seems unusual upon investigating
  • It is a dark wood buckler (worth 175 gold)
  • Nick takes the buckler with him and heads back into the warren
  • Nick is able to hear 6 different hobgoblin voices as he is sneaking around
  • Nick decides to cast shatter in the middle of the group, then use Hidden Step to escape out of the warren
    • Two hobgoblins die and the rest are injured
• The rest of the party, waiting for Nick:
  • We hear a loud boom as we see the bushes part at the base of the hill and Nick (invisibly) leaves the Warren
  • We are 30 feet from the entrance

• Roll Initiative

• We decide to fight like insane monkeys that have had too much opium
  
• Nick sets up a powerful wind blast at the entrance, keeping the hobgoblins pinned into the cave
• Jin sets down Hunger of Hadar zone at the entrance where the hobgoblins that we see are
• Walter beheads the one hobgoblin with a thrown handaxe
• Erica lights a fire near the source of Nick's wind
• The fire is fed by the wind to blow smoke and CO2 into the cave
• As hobgoblins enter the cave, we knock them back into Jin's crazy tentacles
• Flaming barrels roll down the hill as six hobgoblins crest the hill and are coming towards us
• After some fighting, we are able to finish combat

• End Initiative

• Jin and Walter are able to see some hobgoblin women and children hobgoblins leaving from another exit
• We ask Krokkak the Razor to ID the hobgoblin bodies and figure out that Eknon is not among the dead
• Nick and Erica charge into the warren while Jin and Walter hang out at the rear entrance to make sure nobody escapes out the back
• Nick and Erica:
  • Charging into the warren, they find Eknon the Vex wearing the dragon scale necklace
  • Eknon claims his actions were done for a greater purpose
    • Eknon claims that the Firbolg were protecting people that wanted to exterminate the hobgoblins
    • He claims the firbolg were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time
  • Eknon offers to duel Nick 1:1 and Nick accepts
  • While Nick is preparing himself for combat, Erica decides to ask Eknon for more information
    • Eknon claims that there has been a systematic genocide waged against the hobgoblins
    • This extermination was perpretrated by a familiar sounding band of high level mercenaries
    • These mercenaries seem to have originated from the same place as the Firbolg village
    • Nick shows a picture of his wife and kids to Eknon
      • Eknon understands his actions have hurt other and surrenders his sword, offering his life as penance
      • Nick picks up his sword and cuts off Eknon's head

    • RIP Eknon

  • Erica grabs the dragon scale necklace that Eknon had been wearing while she comforts Nick
    • As Erica touches the necklace, she is overcome by feelings of sadness and loneliness
    • Glimpses of the past flood her memory
    • A dimly lit room comes into view, scrolls lining the walls
    • A humanoid figure in a tattered cloak lurches up from a desk and looks at Erica
    • The face under a cloak was heavily bandaged
    • End Memory!

• The group is now level 4!

Session 6 - 15JUN2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  RIP Eknon, Nick exacted revenge, and Erica had a vision
  

Session Notes

• Krokkak the Razor, the hobgoblin that led us to Eknon's hideout is still with us, but has a withered hand
• Erica fashions and surgically attaches a metallic hand to Krokkak to replace his withered hand
• Nick is feeling super depressed and broken after completing his revenge, something something...dig two graves
• Jin is able to find a Pearl of Power - when used (up to once a day), regain a spell slot - activation word TBD
• Erica and Nick spend the time at this settlement helping rebuild stuff for the hobgoblins
• The group decides to head back to the town of Wudu to check in with the Council of the Few for updates and to pick up our supplies and the VARDIS
• Upon reach the Council of the Few building, we find the building unchanged from the last time we were there
  
• Udo is surprised that after 5 days, he has not received any response from the Council's HQ
  • This is very strange
• We hand him the dragon scale necklace and he finds it interesting, but it doesn't seem like there are any visions he experiences
  • He says it is made from fossilized dragon scales
  • He asks to keep it for a while
  • When we are idly chatting about it, we let slip that it was a family heirloom of the town's mayor
  • Udo is shocked to hear that the mayor was in possession of this
  • Nick is able to ascertain that Udo is not lying about his assessment of the necklace, but he is definitely withholding some information that he isn't telling us
  • We are able to convince Udo to pull some books/documents relevant for the necklace and we will be back the next day
• In the meantime, we are going to jaunt around town and pick up our VARDIS
• We are surprised to find that our VARDIS was moved into the town and somebody has been taking care of the ox that pulls it
  • We decided to name the ox Porkchop
  • We are able to find a trail that somebody has been using to go to and from the VARDIS
  • Walter decides to rush into the VARDIS and finds that the main room is unkempt, but things seem to be in tact
  • As Walter explores each of the rooms...
    • In Jin's room (aka the Black Hole), we find a small human child that is terrified
    • Walter picks up the kid and drops them off in front of Jin since it was his room
  • The kid says that he, his mom, and his sister have been using the VARDIS
  • Nick and Walter decide to head outside the VARDIS to keep an eye out for others
  • Jin and Erica are talking with the kid
  • The kid says that his mom and sister are normally in the town square, helping with reconstruction during this time of day
  • The kid's story is that their house burned down in the attack and they have been using the VARDIS for the time being...they thought the owners might be dead or something like that
• Outside, Walter is attacked by a thrown dagger from a woman that is threatening him for hurting her child
• She runs in, past Walter and throws her arms around her child
• She apologizes to Walter about the dagger, but he says no hard feelings
• She will work on gathering their things and vacating over the next couple days
  • Her name is Godwyna, son is Osulf, daughter is Cyneberg - Last name is Graves
• We agree to help them find alternative living arrangements
• There are three things the group wants to accomplish:
  • Stock up on supplies for the hobgoblins - 10 gold per 5 days of supplies
    • We each spend 10 gold, Nick does 20
  • Return to the Council of the Few the next day to learn about the necklace
  • Find accommodations for Godwyna's family
• Walter and Nick have fun playing with Osulf
• We all go out to eat with the last of Nick's money for the night
• We return to the Council of the Few the next day
  • We find Udo inside and he shows us some books and scrolls that he will let us look through....but we can't take them out of the building
  • We ask Udo about the accommodations for the Graves family...he steps aside and talks with Godwyna about it while we can look through the materials he found
• Looking at the scrolls, Nick casts detect magic and finds that they have traces of conjuration and transmutation magic
• Jin casts mending on the scrolls since they seem extremely delicate...but nothing seems to be happening
• Erica decides that everybody is being silly and dives into the research materials
  • One of the books we find is a book written by a gnome called Fizzlewink that catalogs all of the known lore about draconic lore and legend, creatures that are depicted as an aloof creature, lazy and indifferent
  • Another scroll we come across describes dragons being associated with primal elements (fire, water, acid, ice, etc.) and this dragon scale could be associated with one of those
  • Common sense in this world is that dragons are ancient creatures that once roamed the world, but faded away as the humanoid races rose to power...they are basically just fossilized now, like dinosaurs in our world
  • We find another book that catalogs heroic folk tales....in those stories, the hero typically has some kind of powerful draconic-derived artifacts
  • A final scroll is a catalog of known heroes in possession of draconic artifacts
  • The mayor's name is Osgood Cantrell - perhaps his family derives from a past hero
  • One of the heroes has a similar name to Cantrell, so perhaps that is where the artifact comes from, but the ancestor is listed as having a sword that can rain down a blizzard and renders him unaffected by the cold
  • Nick has a brain fart and decides to put on the necklace and hold his hand over the flame - he then takes one damage
• Jin is able to determine that the necklace grants the wearer cold resistance
• Update on the Graves family - Udo offered Godwyna a job for the Council
  • And they lived happily ever after....maybe
• We make our way to the mayor in the remains of town hall - Osgood Cantrell
  
•  We tell the mayor that the hobgoblins likely were just taking advantage of the chaos created by the attack from the skeletons
• The mayor says that it is possible his distant relative, that was a hero, may have done bad things in the past, but seems like it would be a remarkably long time to hold a grudge
• The mayor tells us the story about Ordrick, his heroic relative, who was a sword for hire that kept fighting his way through life, consistently coming out on top against all odds, and then the stories about him were likely just exaggerated over time
• We check back in with the Council of the Few before leaving town to check in one last time
  • He hasn't heard anything back from HQ, but he is able to page us on our quill pins to let us know if he finds anything else out
• On our way out of town, we stop by the burial ground around dusk time
• The rain begins to pour and the scene is quite dramatic
• It is a MF'ing big burial ground, ~10 acres
• There is a lot of recent activity due to the large number of recently deceased from the attack
• We are looking for Ordrick's grave...
• With a clutch roll by Walter, we are able to deduce a burial vault with the name of Cantrell
• We decide to continue on our way from the burial ground to continue on our way to the hobgoblin settlement
• As we are on our way there, Jin is left with the distinct feeling that something is missing from his room...
  • There is a slightly less dark spot on his floor
• As we approach the warren, a small hobgoblin child with a homemade spear stops us
  • His name is Klox and he is friends with Walter
• We go into the warren and make our way to Krokkak
• He is incredibly grateful for the supplies
• We ask Krokkak some questions
  • What's up with the necklace?
    • Apparently Eknon became obsessed with the legend of Ordrick and sought out relics as a way to gain power to fight back against the mercenary attacks
  • How often are they attacked by the mercenaries, should they be coming back soon?
    • There is no pattern to the attacks, perhaps something else has drawn their attention away after the hobgoblins were mostly wiped out.
  • How are the bodies of the previously dead hobgoblins disposed of?
    • They were buried in the previously occupied warrens.
• The group decides to hunt down the previously occupied warrens to check them out for signs of why the attacks were happening and what might have happened to the dead.
• Naming system:
  • Warren Alpha - current residence of Krokkak and the hobgoblins
  • Warren Beta - previously occupied warren of the hobgoblins
  • Warren Gamma - previous, previous...etc.
• As soon as we leave Warren Alpha, our Council of the Few pins buzz
• So, we turn around and head back to Wudu and visit Udo
• As soon as we see him after entering the building, our vision goes white...
• We wake up in an earthen room, lit by a small lamp
• We have been transported somewhere
• Erica creates a magical fire and lights up that we are inside a natural cavern of some kind
• Udo is not with us, we are alone
• Walking through the cavern, it is eerily quiet and exceptionally dark
• The cavern begins to open up so that it is easier to walk side by side
• Eventually, we see a point of light in the distance
• Getting closer, we pass by massive stalagmites and see a bookshelf by the point of light in the distance
• These stalagmites actually are fossilized bones
• Getting closer to the light, we see two bookcases and a writing desk
• We realize that we are actually walking through the mouth of a fossilized dragon toward the skull
• Finally reaching the desk, there is a piece of parchment on the desk that simply says "Welcome..."
• As we pick up the paper, candles are lit and begin flying around the room, illuminating what seems to be a massive library
• Behind us, in the now-illuminated room, we see a bandaged figure
  • This is the same being that Erica saw in her vision
• He welcomes us in an unpracticed voice
• To be continued...

Session 7 - 21JUL2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We researched dragon necklaces, made friends with a single mom and kid, and ended up getting transported to a mysterious place from Erica's dreams...
  

Session Notes

• The figure in this room apologizes for the abrupt way in which we were summoned
  
• He says that we can refer to him as "The Archivist," working for the Council of the Few
• He was unaware of us until we started making inquiries into dragon artifacts
• When he learned more about us, he was relieved to find out that we were not the other group of mercenaries, members of Red Omen
• He asks if we want to do some work for him to work against the Red Omen
• Red Omen info
  • order that existed >3000 years ago
  • thought not to exist any longer
  • if it was alive, but in hiding, then it is likely most well informed about artifacts
• The Archivist is hoping that we can help go to the Grayogen Empire to ask the Empress (also known as the Oba), Lalali-puy, for cooperation against the Red Omen
• He says to ask the Empress, "Are you aware that Rajat still exists?"
• He can also help us get into the Empire
• Currently the Empire is having trouble with rural villages having their population suddenly disappear
• We hand The Archivist the amulet to examine and he says that the Cantrell family history about heroes is likely exaggerated
  • Upon inspection, he believes that the amulet belonged to Naezo, a dragon heroine that protected the weak with a fiery temper
  • Her residual magic resides in the amulet
• The Archivist thinks that the hobgoblins were being attacked because the Red Omen wishes for hobgoblin extermination (as one of their goals)
• We also ask The Archivist about "The One," previous owner of the VARDIS
  • He says that The One is an extra-dimensional being, history is full of them
  • Striking up bargains with warlocks to grant temporary power for some future cost
  • Most beings like this try to remain anonymous, so The One might be a bit different in that regard
  • In his youth, The Archivist ran across a similar being that The Archivist turned down
• Jin asks The Archivist about the Graves family
  • Investigating birth records, Mrs. Graves is 35 years old, no father of the kids on record
  • Completely unremarkable

• Quest begin: Seek audience with the Empress and collaborate to thwart the Red Omen

• Next steps:
  • Go back to Wudu, say our goodbyes, fetch our VARDIS (and Porkchop)
  • Head outside of town, somewhere unseen, teleport away to the Grayogen Empire
  • Doing this, Jin inspects Osulf, the kid, and finds traces of magic on one of his shoes
• Jin reads the scroll to use the teleportation scroll
• He does a great job and we teleport right to where we were meant to, just inside the border of the Grayogen Empire
• We are in a temperate rainforest (think Pacific NW), weather is a little windy with light mist
• Our VARDIS is now located on the side of the road
• There is some motion ahead of us on the road, with armored humans approaching us
• Nick recognizes the banners as the colors of the Grayogen Empire
• Walter and Erica are driving the VARDIS and greet the soldiers
• We are welcomed by the soldiers due to our paperwork
• They want us to help them out with some things and will offer us a payment of 100 gold
• The captain's name is Adare Havsa
• We are asked to investigate a village whose population recently disappeared
• Villages have been disappearing since 5 months ago
• New village disappears each three weeks like clockwork
• Looks like people just literally disappeared
• ~30 soldiers in the town
• Upon investigating:
  • The captain says this happened ~3 weeks ago
  • However, nature has reclaimed too much to have just happened a couple weeks back
  • The recent growth in the forest show that the tree roots are all growing in one direction toward the town
• We ask if there is a map of the empire with the town that have disappeared
  • The map shows that the towns closer to their border have been effected first, moving closer to the center of the empire
• It is clear from arcana investigation that magic is influencing the natural growth here, possibly from a spirit of some kind
• Detecting magic reveals that this is due to the effect of transmutation magic
• We relay all this to the guards
• Bordering countries:
  • Acium
  • Whisper of Revan
  • Cormendia
  • some other one I missed the name of
• Our current plan:
  • This happens every three week - this village was the most recent one - it happened here ~3 weeks ago
  • Next village over is ~1 day from here
  • We are going to head over to the next village and get that village evacuated
• We quickly make our way over to the next village over
• We approach the city with the message that the villagers are in danger due to a rampaging nature spirit
  • We ask for volunteers from within the populace to help fight back
  • Erica tries to persuade the residents to help out, but fails
  • However, Jin lies to them about being helpful and is able to gather ~10 posse members to help out and get a couple families to skip town (~20 people)
• That evening, the weather was remarkably average for that time of year and location...
• Jin sets out members of his posse on patrol
• After a couple patrol rounds, one of our patrol groups fails to return
• The missing patrol last went to the North of the village
• Investigating where the patrol went missing, we see drag marks heading into the forest
  • There is nothing unusual about the trees/roots
• We ask the other posse members to rouse the town and gather in the center of town since there seems to be some kind of attack
• The group goes deeper into the forest, looking for what caused the patrol to go missing
• We are assaulted by a sweet smell and survive a charisma saving throw
• We know enough to know that we just survived an attempt to put us to sleep
• As Nick asks some nearby roots about what is going on, we are assaulted by some tree people (Blights X6)

• Roll Initiative

• We killed the blights and Nick is almost dead, but Erica is able to reluctantly save him

• Combat ends

Session 8 - 14SEP2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We decide to work with The Archivist of The Council of the Few to help put a stop to the criminal group Red Omen. To that end, we are transported to the neighboring nation of the Grayogen Empire to help put a stop to their towns disappearing and try to get an audience with the empress. We are currently pursuing rogue nature spirits that were attacking a town in the Empire.
  

Session Notes

• We reach out to the posse members that are left back in the town via the walkie talkie
  
• We identify some nearby marks that look like are the remains of dragging bodies away
• The trail is quickly disappearing because the forest is quickly growing over the marks
• Nick is able to talk to some roots and plants (like he does), and he convinces them to help show us the trail
• We follow the trail to a modest clearing in the forest, shaped like a circle
• In the center of the clearing is a collection of small twigs (~15) sticking out of the ground with leaves
• Upon investigation, the twigs are slowly moving back and forth like the twigs are breathing slowly
  
• Nick decides to "send it" and uses Firbolg magic to transform himself into a mossy treeblight
• The twigs respond to this by recoiling away from him in treeblight form
• Nick decides to walk up to the twigs and fondle them in an overly friendly way
• As he does so, a strong sense of confusion and curiosity pervades his mind
• Erica is spending her time to magically create a shovel
• Walter checks in with the posse members back in town
  • The only weird thing is that they have seen an egret of some kind which is weird, but not necessarily some portent of evil
  • There is one viillage weirdo that does think the egret is evil, but that guy is always weird, so the posse thinks things are fine
• Jin uses warlocky thought powers to reach out to the twigs and is flooded by a wave of disorientation
  • He experiences cool, damp earth
  • He is now tapped into some kind of network of consciousness, perhaps the forest?
  • He can sense other living humanoids, a large collection south where the village is
  • Also, a pair of humanoids that are nearby and extremely still
  • They are located 30ft away from us to the west
• Nick takes this information and proceeds to where the other humanoids are (in his mossy blight form)
• As Nick approaches, Jin senses a feeling of nervousness coming from the collective
• At this point, Erica has completed her shovel, so we start digging at the ground
• This triggers a sense of danger and alarm in the collective senses that Jin is tapped into
• As Erica is digging, there are more and more roots
• We uncover some cloth that appears to be some clothing
• That clothing seems to be attached to a body! We are continuing to try to uncover it
• Jin hears the word/feeling "Why?"
• In an effort to communicate with the collective, Jin tries to communicate that the collective is interfering with other forms of life
• The collective responds with a strong sense of love and protection for itself and its members
• Jin tries to convince the collective to release the body through the metaphor of a baby bird growing up and leaving the nest
  • It doesn't really understand
• As we continue excavating, Walter tries to pull the body out of the ground, but fails
• Nick then gives it a try after changing out of his moss blight form and is able to remove the body from the ground
• The body belongs to one of our missing militia members, and they are still breathing
• As this happens, Jin feels a sharp sense of panic, but also a feeling of mighty trees sheltering small saplings
  • Basically implying that we are taking away its children
• Jin conveys the feeling that the large forest is shading its saplings and killing them
• The collective is very confused, and wonders who/what Jin is that they can take away the charges of the collective
• We ask the forest what is the danger posed to the people that the forest is protecting the villagers from
• The forest responds resoundingly, clearly, and repeatedly with the words "Bashuk Ushat"
• Jin convinces the forest to release the other person from our missing patrol, they are unconscious
• The forest was able to confirm that the missing people from the other villages are still alive, but being held in this stasis state
• As communication is cut, the forest replies with "Oba" over and over again

  • Reminder that the alternative title for the Empress is The Oba

• Our plan is to warn the villagers that we recommend evacuating toward the capital, but that we are still trying to figure things out
  • One guy ranting about an egret was trying to convince others to burn down the forest
  • People don't take him too seriously
  • Jin tries to intimidate this guy not to hurt the forest...he is exceedingly successful, causing this guy to pee and poop his pants in fear
• Our group then decides to head back to the previous village we were in with the soldiers
• We make it back to the previous village we were in
  • The weather is rainy and windy
• We rendezvous with Captain Adare again
• We relay all our info about the forest and stuff to him
• When we mention "The Oba" he makes a motion and states "Blessed be her passing"
• We are able to convince him to travel back to the Capital (Gulg) and try to have an audience with the Empress, we can at least be in the same room as her
• We will also be able to get our monetary reward back in Gulg
• Walter records the weather as we go
  • Light rain on the first day
  • Moderate rain on the second day
  • Weather in Gulg when we arrive is very clear and nice
• Gulg is described as a resplendent city of white stone comprised mostly of humans
  • It is built in a circular shape
  • There is a great respect for nature with things like elevated gardens and buildings shaped around old-growth trees
  • Sanitation seems to be respected as sewage is handled in a way that does not lead to disease or foul odor
  • Even low-class citizens seem to lead comfortable lives
  • Armed guards are quite prevalent throughout the city in very nice looking armor
• The seat of government is a former, heavily fortified building that the city has been built around
• We enter a large room in which the empress is seated on a throne, a human in her 30's with dark skin and light hair, in a white gown, almost toga-like, and a purple sash (purple seems to be the accent color of the Grayogen empire)
• We are announced into the room as "heroes of the realm"
• The empress asks for an update from Captain Adare
• He provides a summary of what we have told him, and she seems to be much more interested when Adare mentions how we were communicating with the forest
• When Adare gets to the part about how Jin communicated with the forest, she stops him suddenly and orders that the room be cleared
  • Only the empress, Adare, our group, three advisors, and two elite guards are left in the room
• Upon closer inspection, the Empress's eyes are a pale violet
• We tell her both that "Rajat still exists" (message from the council of the few) and the message from the forest "Bashuk Ushat"
• She demands to know where we heard these names
• We come clean about both the Archivist as well as the forest consciousness
• She laughs out loud when we mention The Archivist
  • "Nibenay deigns to grace us with his presence once again"
  • She laughs at the title "The Archivist"
• She wants to know more about the forest mentioning Bashuk Ushat
  • She claims that there are very few things in this world older than herself
  • She is surprised that nature has a long enough memory to know those words
• She wants to know what else we have heard about from The Archivist
  • She says that Bashuk Ushat is nothing we need to be concerned about, simply a story that lives under the bed, or a monster in the closet
  • She states that the forests are simply overreacting and that she will commune with it to help put an end to it
• She is a bit interested in us because The Archivist has decided to trust us to some degree
• She wants information about what The Archivist is up to, in exchange, she will do what she can to help
• She thinks that the Red Omen is extinct and dismisses the concerns of The Archivist
• She lets slip that Bashuk Ushat is the deity that is worshipped by The Red Omen
• She hints that she might be more cooperative should "The Archivist" meet with her directly
• Alternatively, she would pay this more heed if we were to bring her proof of some kind that the Red Omen is back
• We decide to head out and try to acquire the proof that she is looking for
• Nick decides to ask if there is anything she can provide us to help us on our journey
  • She provides us with a small box. Inside is a glass orb that is approximately the size of a golf ball
  • This orb appears to contain a blizzard inside it
  • She calls it a "Snow Globe"
• When you break the globe, snow will overwhelm the area around you, disadvantaging your enemies while not affecting you
  • 1d12 turns of snowiness when broken
• Gulg doesn't have a Council of the Few building, but there are some in nearby towns
• Options for next session:
  1. Explore the city of Gulg
  2. Go to a nearby town to a Council of the Few location

Session 9 - 13OCT2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We met the Empress. She is pretty sassy when we got her alone. She is going to commune with the forest to calm it down and thinks that the Red Omen is extinct and The Archivist is freaking out about nothing. We have been tasked with finding proof that the Red Omen is back and bring it back to her for her to take this more seriously.
  

Session Notes

• We decide to poke around Gulg for a bit
  
• The city might have heavily integrated with nature, but the amenities are pretty backwater
• We decide to check out the local wandwright - a kind of unusual store
  • "Nichye & Odag's Wands"
  • wands in this context are preloaded with spells, so basically magic for the mundane man
• Erica checks them out and finds that the wands are pretty dated in their magical design
  • After conversing with the shopkeeper, she figures out that this shopkeeper, Nichye, really does know what he is talking about
• Erica decides to buy a wand with False Life (at 2nd level) (gives 1d4+9 temp HP that lasts 1 hr) that has a single charge for 80 gold (we all contribute 16 gold)
• Nick decides to turn invisible to try to watch Nichye make the wand...but it doesn't work as the room is protected against invisibility

• Weather report for Gulg: a little breezy, beautiful temperate weather

• As we leave the shop, we see a royal page that tries to talk to us...but he is extremely nervous
• Nick decides to loudly yell "Tell us what you know about the Red Omen"
• This page asks to go somewhere more private
• We head into "The Ugly Apple's Pub" to chat some more
• The people in here are, true to their namesake, pretty ugly
• After sitting down, this guy is named, Kaeso Crito
  
• He explains...
  • He believes he has some useful information for us
  • ~2 days ride to the northeast, there is a set of ruins that has been reclaimed by the forest
  • He provides us a map/sketch showing the location and entrance
  • He is too scared of curses to go himself
  • He believes that this is related to the Red Omen due to it being kept secret for so long
  • He learned about it because he is a royal surveyor and had surveyed this area as part of his duties
  • Despite previous survey teams in this area, nobody had previously reported it...which scared him about reporting it himself
• Before we leave the town, Nick picks up a freshly cut Gulgian Tulip (favorite flower of his dead wife) and sticks it behind his ear in her memory
• We head to a small town between us and the ruins that Kaeso told us about and stop by a Council of the Few building
• As we enter the building, we find ourselves in that cave again where we previously met The Archivist
• We chat with him and he allows us to call him Nibenay if we want
• We fill him in with our conversation with the Oba
• The Archivist says that the Oba's relationship with the forest is something that she has been cultivating for some time
• When we told The Archivist about the forest telling us about Bashuk Ushat...
  • he thinks it is concerning, but it could also just be a side effect of the forest's extremely long memory
  • Bashuk Ushat - archaic term that would now be translated something like black beast or black mist
  • Bashuk Ushat was trying to return the world to a more primitive or basic state, simplifying things through purging more complex things (like sentient life)
  • Thousands of years ago, the great dragons and followers were able to seal away Bashuk Ushat
  • These signs are indications that the seal on Bashuk Ushat may be weakening
  • Bashuk Ushat, during its reign, did have a soft spot for humanity and found them useful as tools and followers
• We ask his opinion on the ruins that we were told about
  • He thinks it is a decent lead. The location matches up with the location of an ancient city named Gring.
• We decide to head to the ruins

• There is a light drizzle as we head out for the ruins

• We manage to find the location easy enough, and wriggle our way through a hole underground
• Heading further down, we see less natural cave, and more architecture and hallways
• It is very thick with roots and other naturey things
• The architecture seems to have been formed rather than carved from the earth
• It reminds us a lot of the first set of ruins we came across
• We are heading down some stairs and Erica sees some small critters scurry about ahead of us
• We enter a large room that contains a skeleton that is overgrown by roots
• Nick casts detect magic and the skeleton is non-magical while the roots have a faint trace of conjuration magic
• Erica investigates the room's exit and finds that the door can be slid open
• Walter throws the door open and makes a large noise
• We hear shuffling noises grow louder and louder up ahead in the hallway
• Jin decides to use an ability to crawl on the ceiling up ahead and scout things out
• Jin sees a room up ahead that contains a couple of metal caterpillars that are attached to some rope that move out of sight
• Jin enters the room by crawling on the ceiling
  • There are two doors, one straight ahead (closed) and one to the right (open, where the caterpillars went)
• We head to the right, in pursuit of the caterpillars
• We go into another room that has a pedestal. On the pedestal is a gauntleted forearm. The metal caterpillars are actually fingers that are being sucked back towards this arm

• Roll Initiative

• We are attacked by some humanoid creatures wielding clubs dressed in tatters
• Three of the fingers for the gauntlet are still on their way to the gauntlet
• We blast the gauntlet away from the pedestal and it stopped all the fingers in their tracks

• Battle Won!

• Erica decides to check out the gauntlet now that it is seemingly inactive now that it has been knocked off the pedestal
• It turns out to be mundane, filled with a jerky-like flesh
• Jin decides to investigate the pedestal
• In the pedestal is a cavity that contains a contusion of plant matter that seems to have a slow pulse
• Erica does a nature check on the tree-heart and finds that there is also flesh intermingled with the plant matter

• Inside the cave, it is fairly chilly and humid

• We go through a series of foibles as we engage with the tree-heart. We end up taking a bunch of psychic damage and Walter almost loses his arm
• We do a rest where Jin and Nick do a short rest and Walter and Erica do a long rest
• First watch: Nick
  • Hears a lot of activity and movement coming from deep below, not getting closer
• Second watch: Jin
  • Hears the activity start to die down, feels a large thud of some kind
• Jin's watch has ended
• We decide to head deeper
• The odor changes to the smell of rot
• We end up in something that looks like a city square with buildings all around us
• Roots and plants are grown up and ensnaring all the buildings around us
• We run across a standing figure, roughly Walter's size, clad in armor
• Its right forearm is unarmored and looks like it has been torn off of a troglodyte

• Roll initiative!

• After a grueling battle, we manage to win
  

• Victory!

• As the big boss falls apart, the helmet is making noises, seemingly still alive
• Jin tries to commune with the helmet/skull
• He detects that the thoughts are pure, unbridled rage
• When he asks, "Who created you" he gets back one single, clear word, "Myself"
• We decide to bring this with us back to the Empress as proof of the Red Omen
• We stick it in a bag of holding that Erica whipped up
• Options for next session:
  • Go directly back to the Empress
  • Go to the archivist first

Session 10 - 2NOV2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We go dive into some ruins and fight a big tree/undead monster. We collect a giant, sentient head and need to decide whether to bring this to the Archivist or to the Empress for more information or as proof of the Red Omen respectively.
  

Session Notes

• We take a long rest at the entrance to the ruins
  
• Then we decide to head back to a nearby village, Narfolk, where we can meet with the Council of the Few

• It is a perfectly average day outside for the season

• We enter the Council of the Few building and find ourselves in the Archivist's cavern like normal
• We present the head/helmet to Nibenay and recount our experiences to him
  
• He picks it up and inspects it. He points out that the helmet is marked as belonging to Triginta Septum
• He believes that this would support our claim that the Red Omen is active once more
• Erica asks how this relates to the Red Omen/Bashuk Ushat
• The Archivist explains that the most devoted followers would relinquish their identities and become numbers
• The ancient writing is some kind archaic fusion of modern elvish and dwarven
• He asks us to try to influence her to try to renounce her old ways
• We decide to head out to the Empress
• We make our way into the capital city of Gulg
  

• Today is a kind of warm day, 20 degrees warmer than normal

• We go through some roundabout process and make our way to the Empress
• She dismisses almost all her attendants, like last time
• We present the head/helmet to the Oba
  • She picks up the head and inspects it, seeing the writing
  • She hands off the head to an attendant, telling him to "take care" of it
  • We pass on the message that she should renounce her old ways
  • She grants us a boon:
    • Erica gets an empathy ability
    • Walter gets a fortify ability
    • Nick gets a light ability
• The powers we have gotten are part of "The Way"
  • This is a system taught by The Oba that can unlock more abilities should we want them in the future
• We talk with the Oba and she has convinced the forest to stop consuming villages within the empire
• We ask the guild of surveryors about Kaeso Crito, and nobody there knows anybody by that name
• Nick decides to disguise himself as Kaeso Crito and tries to bullshit his way into the department of Surveryors
  • As he confidently struts around the department, he tries to intimidate his way through
  • Nobody is buying his act and they try to push him out, which reveals his illusion, and the city guard is called, one woman does seem to try to help Nick make a clean exit
  • We are asked to leave the building
• This all tells us that Kaeso is not recognizable to the other employees
• We decide to loiter in the area and wait for this woman to leave
• We approach her to bring up Kaeso Crito
• This woman's name is Yali
• Erica explains the picture of why we are seeking out Kaeso
• Erica uses empathy to figure out that she is hungry, uncertain, fearful, but wants to be helpful
• She writes a bit on a piece of paper, where she has written out a meeting place outside the city walls, at midnight
• We follow up with Yali and meet up with her in the middle of the night outside the city
• She doesn't know anybody by the name of Kaeso Crito
  • However, there is something within her that tells her that she should remember Kaeso
  • This is a sign that it is the Oba's will that this person should not be remembered
• We decide as a group to head back to the village of Narfolk to meet up with The Archivist
• Upon entering the building, we find ourselves in the Archivist's cavern like normal
• He is floating above us, surrounded by books
• He comes to us and we fill him in on the situation
• He tells us that it is safe to assume that Kaeso Crito no longer exists
  • Either he never existed in the first place, or was destroyed as a way to cover up her tracks
• He reveals that The Oba, Lalipuli, is one of his kinsmen
• Others include:
  • Andrew Pinas
  • Hamanu/Deshay
• The Archivist explains that The Oba's offer of power is very real, but would come at a great cost to many others
• We ask The Archivist, if we are still working for him, what should be our next course of action
• The Archivist would prefer that we work under The Oba for some more time to help convince her to abandon her old ways
• We express to The Archivist that we feel like we are being used as pawns in some kind of power struggle between powerful, immortal being. It's not clear how preventing The Oba from her old ways and the Red Omen are connected
• In response, he starts removing bandages from himself
  • He is quite monstrous in appearance
  • Some combination of a dragon and a man
• The Archivist and his kinsmen were once under the employ of Bashuk Ushat
• They used to study dragon magic
• It was powerful, but would suck the life force out of other things for power
• The end goal was to ascend to dragonhood
• Bashuk Ushat would ascend further than dragons, on to godhood
• This caused those within Nibenay's clan to turn on Bashuk Ushaat and imprison him
• The name Red Omen refers to dimming the sun in order to derive the power to free Bashuk Ushat
• The Archivist sought to eliminate this history from the world through controlling the historical record
• Getting the Oba to renounce her old ways would be convincing her to act selflessly for once, sacrificing herself to stop Bashuk Ushat
• The proposed plan of attack from The Archivist to instill a sense of mortality in the Oba is to either:
  • Find an artifact to remind her of the person she used to be, probably something from her past
  • Somehow launch an attack on the Oba that is life-threatening

Session 11 - 21DEC2024

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We were asked by The Archivist to continue working with The Oba to convince her of her own mortality so that she stops pursuing dragon magic and act selflessly to stop Bashuk Ushat
  

Session Notes

• The Archivist has an agent that was supposed to make contact with us, but has dropped out of touch. He asks us to try to locate this agent
• We decide to take Tim's bait and go after this agent.
• The agent's last known location is near the border of the Grayogen Empire and The Whisper Ravan.
• Before we leave, Erica asks for a Dragon relic from The Archivist in order to craft an Arcane Focus for herself.
• The Archvist gives her a piece of dragon bone. Upon this, Erica scrimshaws an epic dragon fight scene onto it
• The agent we are looking for is a male elf, they will be wearing a green cloak, and their mask has distinctive markings of snowflakes and mistletoe
• The Archivist transports us to the last known location of the agent
• That turns out to be in a pine forest near the border of the Grayogen Empire and The Whisper Ravan

• It is a little chillier than average (cold enough to see your breath), but otherwise clear

• Nick decides to talk to a nearby tree to ask about the agent. The tree seems a bit confused, but it bends it boughs a bit to the West, indicating that there are people there
• As we move West, it is getting colder
• Walter is leading the way and suddenly feels an intrusive thought that says "Wait"
• Walter notices ~70 ft ahead that there is a green cloth by a rock
• The group hunkers down
• The psychic link works both ways and Walter talks back and forth with the agent
• The agent picked up a tail and is trying to lose them
• The elf has a walking stick and a big sack slung over his shoulder
• He approached us and states his name as "Kringle Nickmas"
• His mission is to make it to Gulg, capital of the Grayogen Empire
• He suspects the unseasonably cold weather is due to his pursuer
• Inside his sack are boxes with many different pieces that he says comprises a board game called "senet"
• We start on our journey to Gulg
  

• Day 1: It is quite unseasonably cold

• Day 2: The wind picks up and freezing rain comes down

• Nick, Jin, and Kringle slip and fall on the ice. Kringle is in a lot of pain
• Kringle broke his hip
• Nick heals Kringle! He's all good to go

• Suddenly, three snow golems emerge from the woods, roll initiative!

• Sadly, it isn't just a fun snowball fight and they actually are trying to kill us
• Nick is KO'd in the fight, but manages to roll well enough to stay alive
  
• Erica's max HP is reduced, it needs to be fixed using Greater Restoration

• Fight is won!

• Kringle produces a sugared plum and presents it to Erica, lifting her max HP reduction
• After a couple of days, we make it the rest of the way to Gulg
  
• We got some Kringle lore on the way:
  • Kringle wished he was a ginger, but he is sadly fair-haired like other elves
  • He is unable to grow a beard
  • He owns a toy factory in the Whisper Ravan, and currently is a toy carver
• Reaching Gulg, he gives us the senet game to present to the Oba in his place as he is tired from travel
• We end up putting on a farce of A Christmas Carol display
• At the end, we give her the senet board and she is shaken
• This was her senet board from ages ago and she is genuinely shook
• We ask her to teach us to play, and she, with tears in her eyes, says that she would love to

Session 12 - 26JAN2025

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We were asked by The Archivist to try to find an agent of his that has disappeared. We pursue and find Kringle Nickmas, an elf that works for The Archivist. After helping him, he gives us a senet board to hand to The Oba. Turns out that this was The Oba's personal senet board from ages long past, and her heart grew two sizes after receiving it.
  

Session Notes

• VARDIS has been hanging out outside Gulg
  
• Walter checks out a local shop, the Chronicle of Charms, a member of the glassblowing guild
  • It's an immaculate shop full of delicate, intricate pieces of work run by Ceva
  • Walter knocks over a bunch of shelves in the store
  • Walter is training for a day to learn how to create a Prince Rupert's Drop
  • Walter has not perfected the Prince Rupert's drop yet, but has learned a bit about making strong glass
• Jin decides to people watch in the city while we are stuck here. He notices that there is a rotation of three humans that do a regular rotation of patrols through the city
  • Jin decides to investigate these people to see if he can find out more or overhear them
  • Despite being unable to overhear them, Jin is able to observe their secret handshake
  • The three of them head to the Northwest
• Erica finds a place called Finney's Vault, attracting customers through street performances in front
  • Run by a person named Joyce, a very flamboyant person
  • Erica tries to negotiate over a garnet she finds in the store
  • She manages to buy it at 90 gold, despite it being worth significantly more
  • In exchange, she promises to help with the shop's application to be a guild-approved vendor
• Nick decides to pick up a Gulgian tulip to pin to his lapel
• We all rendezvous at our inn, The Hunter's Pipe, run by a dwarf named Thiarne
• One of the guys that Jin observed comes into the bar at night
  • Jin drinks some Frost Giant Icewine and suffers some cold damage as a result
  • Jin sits next to the suspicious human and revels in awkward silence
  • Jin accidentally kills the guy using Vampiric Touch
  • He decides to Weekend at Bernie's this corpse out of the bar with the help of Nick
  • Jin removes the left ring finger from the body before dumping it down the storm drain grate
  • We decide to have Nick disguise himself as this dead guy to try to provide an alibi for the rest of us
  • Upon returning to the bar, Nick offers to close out the guy's tab, at the top is the name of Ricken
  • Nick decides to spend the night in the VARDIS, located at the stables at the edge of town
  • As he is proceeding through town, he is followed by three people in town
  • These people are Ricken's friends and they decide to help him back home
  • They implore him to make sure that he makes the meeting tomorrow since it all hinges on him
  • Back at Ricken's house, Nick meets a small cat
  • Investigating the house, Nick finds a small wooden block that has a sun symbol carved onto it
  • When Nick places a small obsidian rock that was on Ricken's body over the block, a red sun appears
  • This Ricken was actually a Red Omen member
• We are adopting the cat! Moist Steven hasn't decided a name yet, so he is just calling it Cat.
• By the time he reaches the bar, Nick decides to name the cat Eknon the Cat.
• We decide to bring this information to The Oba
  
• We demand an audience and state that the information is meant only for The Oba
• She is seated atop her throne, looking the same as ever
• We demand that others leave the room, and she obliges
• Nick presents the stone and piece of wood and shows her the red sun symbol
• We explain that we found this in the possession of a guard named Ricken and that there is some type of conspiracy set to take place tomorrow
• She is able to magically merge the pieces together and they react with some magical flames
• She states that "Then, we are at war..."

Session 13 - 22FEB2025

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We kill some time doing stuff in Gulg. While we are killing time, Jin decides to literally kill a guy. He was a city guardsman named Ricken. We Weekend at Bernie's his corpse to cover up the crime while Nick pretended to be Ricken to provide an alibi. Upon searching his house, we adopted his cat, now dubbed Eknon the Cat, and found that Ricken was a Red Omen member. Reporting this to The Oba, she says we are at war...

Session Notes

• The Oba asks the group to try to hurt the cultists in her town in whatever way we deem best, hopefully not making too much of a scene
• We decide to stake out Ricken's house to try to catch other cultists when they come to get him as he no-shows to whatever important thing he was supposed to do today
• We split up. Nick is staked out on the roof across the street while the rest of us go inside Ricken's house.
• Eknon the Cat is hungry while staking out, so Nick opens a can of cat food and dives into the food. The cat food brand is named Mr. Meowstopheles.
• Eknon the Cat continues to be very cute, but then the two companions of Ricken are walking down the street in a hurried way, both in city guard uniforms
• The two guards try to slyly case the joint and make their way to the front door.
• After they knock on the door, Jin opens the door and Nick uses magic to blow them into the house.
• One of them manages to stay outside the house, but Walter reaches out and pulls him in.
• We incapacitate the guards and tie them up.
• Jin attempts to intimidate the two guards to get more information
• They reveal that there are not more people supposed to be coming
• So, we decide to send Nick to The Oba to fill her in on the situation and take custody of these guards
• The Oba sends this guy named Artin along with Nick back to Ricken's house
• Artin is extremely magnificently dressed in elaborate armor and is not talkative at all
• The group waiting for Nick to come back is chilling at the house
• There is a knock at the door while waiting. This is a person that Erica saw walk back and forth a couple times
• We pull open the door and then pull this guy into the house.
• He surrenders immediately and allows us to tie him up.
• He says that he is Ricken's cousin and Ricken owes him some money
• Erica detects that he is lying, so we tie him up more completely
• Cutting back to Nick and Artin, they have made their way back to Ricken's house

• Outside, it is a cloudy, chilly day with a light wind.

• Nick and Artin enter the house
• The two city guards are bugging out when they see Artin, but the third guy mumbles "fuck..." under his breath
• When Artin sees the third guy, his demeanor changes, and he becomes more animated, donning his helmet
• Artin calls this guy his "kin" and cuts him loose, but is extremely upset, telling him that he shouldn't be here
• Artin asks all of us not to mention this to The Oba
• The stranger chimes in and says that Artin is his dad and he is just trying to help
• Erica uses her empathy ability to detect that this kid is scared, nervous, intimidated, but at the same time excited
• We decide with Artin to keep his son, Bartin (family name Jene), secret from The Oba and escort Bartin back to the house while Artin deals with the two prisoners
• Talking with Bartin, he says that he was suspicious of Ricken because Ricken was extremely talkative once he started drinking
• Ricken was talking about how strong, powerful, and rich he would soon be
• Talking with Bartin, he just seems like an overexcited kid. However, Erica is deeply suspicious...
• Taking him to his house, we see that Bartin's house is a monolithic singular piece of stone that seems to have been grown out of the ground
  • Jin remembers that this is similar architecture to what we saw in the necropolis ruins previously
• The head butler greets us at the door, and apologizes for Bartin's behavior
• Jin and Nick recognize this butler, Errol, as another member of the Red Omen
• Nick manages to get us in the house by pretending to need to go to the bathroom
• Bartin, in his excitement at meeting us, invites us to hang out with him and shows us on a tour of the house
• Asking Bartin about the architecture, he says that this part of the city is extremely old and has been in his family for generations
• Asking Bartin about Errol, he says that Errol is way better than their previous butler, Burga. Errol has been working for the family for five years after Burga retired.
• We find out the Bartin's mom passed away due to illness a while back
• We convince Bartin to give us a tour of the local architecture
• We then convince him to accompany us to the palace and meet with The Oba
• After entering the throne room, we see Artin, The Oba, and the two prisoners (they are motionless on the floor).
• Artin is shooting death stares at us, but remains silent
• We reveal to The Oba that Errol, Artin's butler, is involved in the conspiracy, so we have escorted Bartin to the palace for his safety
• The Oba tells Artin to go clean up the mess, and he promptly leaves
• We see The Oba magically extract information from one of the prisoners on the ground
• She says that there is another task that she would ask of us, to go fetch an item that will prove helpful in the coming war
• She says that the Red Omen is much more organized than she had thought
• Their plan was to assassinate as many of her inner circle in a single day to weaken her
• The Oba speaks with Bartin about architecture as she asks us to wait outside
• A page shows up and hands us a document with the royal seal on it
• As we open it, we faintly hear the sound of wind chimes, some kind of protection spell to make sure that the right person opened up the message
• The letter asks us to retrieve the Obsidian Orb (no other information provided) from the Anarchist Zotogeus League, way across the ocean
• Our knowledge of the Zotogeus League is that it is mostly regional rulers and largely comprised of monstrous races (trolls, goblins, etc.)
• We make our way out of Gulg (along with the VARDIS & Porkchop). Also, Erica makes an automatic litter box that disposes of cat poop through an inter-dimensional rift. We don't know where it goes, but it works, so it can't be bad...right?
• We head to the nearest town that has a Council of the Few building in order to meet with The Archivist.
• After meeting with The Archivist, we realize that he is no longer hiding himself under bandages
• The Archivist is very interested in Eknon the Cat upon meeting him. We found a vet!
• He says that the Obsidian Orb that she has tasked us to get is actually 1 of 3.
• It is somewhat troubling and encouraging that she has some knowledge of where one of the orbs still exists
• The orbs augment and bolster the power of beings like The Oba or The Archivist
• If they control all three of them, then beings like them are prone to losing themselves to it
• He thinks it is unlikely that The Oba has other orbs in her possession already, or it would have been known to him or others like him before now
• He doesn't have any knowledge of other orbs' locations, and is also surprised that if she knew where this orb is, then why hasn't she claimed it until now
• He surmises that she must have exercised self control in not pursuing this orb until now
• There is a Council of the Few building in the town of Lonte inside The Zotogeus League that he can transport us to

Session 14 - 08MAR2025

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We decide to stake out and run a trap in Ricken's house to catch more cultists. We catch a pair of them and then some suspicious kid. The Oba sends one of her top men with us to round them up, Artin. This kid, Bartin, was actually Artin's son who had been trying to blow the case open. We take him back to his house and recognize his family's butler as a member of the cult. We exfiltrate Bartin again and tell the Oba. She is going to have Artin clean things up and sends us on a quest to The Zotogeus League to find an Obsidian Orb. The Archivist helps us out by transporting us to the town of Lonte.

Session Notes

• The Zotogeus League is a loose confederation of regional powers and warlords rather than an organized nation. It consists of all races, but is weighted a bit toward the more monstrous races.
• We suddenly find ourselves in a Council of the Few Building and surprise the attendant in the building, Deb.
• The VARDIS and Porkchop has come with us and is waiting outside the building.
• She says that we should talk to Anje for help, a local "finder of things"
  • He is a large troll with an eyepatch
• Deb gives us a hand-drawn map full of cute caricatures, turns out that she is a bit of a budding artist and likes drawing chibi-style stuff
• Stepping out of the building, it is a very run-down town, smelling of sewage and buildings that are all different types of architecture styles

• The weather is currently a bit chilly with a light breeze

• We decide to head into the local tavern, The Rat Catch
  • It is run by a troll named Zolkis
• Walter makes friends with Zolkis and gets some info
  • He suggests that Anje usually comes back each night
  • He also says to seek out the Packrats if you are looking for a good time
• We then head to Olinfehr's Curiosities to check it out
• It is run by an over-eager little goblin named Olinfehr
• Erica decides to show him The Snow Globe and presents herself as a fellow collector
• She says that we have come from The Grayogen Empire
• Olinfehr gives Erica a small sending pebble so that he can tell us when Anje swings back by again
• We head out to the Runsemith on the outskirts of town
• Coming up on a tent outside of town, we see a bunch of weapons stuck in the ground around the tent. Investigating these, it looks like they are cursed magical weapons

• The weather is currently a bit chilly with a light breeze

• As we approach the tent, a loud explosion occurs and a big puff of smoke comes out of the tent
• Erica heads into the tent as Jin sticks head in to listen
• The shop is being run by a scraggly looking human named David Tentant
• The puff of smoke we saw is his finishing crafting a dagger
• He says that he is worried about moving this dagger as it could potentially cut space and time
• Erica, upon investigating, can only really tell that it is a magical dagger, nothing else
• Jin uses his mage hand and nudges the dagger just a little bit
• Nothing happens
• David tosses the dagger out of the tent and declares it another failure
• Jin decides to ask David about imbuing necromancy magic into things...trying to get into some of the necromancy architecture and items we have seen from The Red Orb structures in the past
• He says that necromancy is a way to imbue souls into something, but that thing basically can just follow rote instructions, it can't really think for itself
• We then get a call over the pebble that Anje is back at Olinfehr's
• When we get there, there is a very large troll wearing an eyepatch
• When we talk with Anje about the obsidian orb, he says he has a lead and that he can lead us to it, but in return, he wants credit with the Council of the Few
• Nick buys a javelin of lightning/thunder before we leave
• Anje leads us north of the town, out in the wilderness
• On the way, he tells us that he saw very tiny little people with draconic features (kobolds) in a certain area and suspects that they are related to the draconic artifact we asked about
• We get there and come up with a plan for Nick to disguise himself as a kobold and approach the group
• The rest of the group hides some distance away
• Nick is immediately stopped and questioned
• We try to bluff our way through as an inspector...but it doesn't work, so we are rolling initiative

• Roll Initiative!

• We end up fighting against the kobolds. We kill them pretty mercilessly, but save a couple from death.
• We beat up two pretty bad, but left them alive and then Erica knecapped one

Session 15 - 12APR2025

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  We find ourselves in the Zotogeus League and go about finding a local treasure hunter named Anje. After some gallivanting around town we get a lead that there are some small draconic creatures (kobolds) that Anje is going to lead us to. We end up attacking the kobold camp and killing all but a couple that we leave alive.

Session Notes

• Erica begins interrogating the creature that she kneecapped
• They try their best in very broken Common that the orb is "us" gesturing to itself
• To try to communicate better, Jin attempts to communicate telepathically
• Jin is able to deduce that the creature means that the orb doesn't belong to us, it is their people's treasure
• The creature is able to tell us who currently has the orb, but said that we wouldn't want to meet her
• They describe her as the great mother and the strongest
• We decide to ask for more information about "The Great Mother"
  • She is very large
  • She lives beneath the earth
  • She grants all these creatures a "gift" of draconic lineage (probably by converting them to Kobolds)
• We end up healing the two kobold. The main one we have been talking to is named Ugri. The other is Vokku.
• We decide to investigate the camp before heading out
  • We find 4 total (1 for each of us) potions of Cure Light Wounds
  • Nick picks up a +1 shield (but he can't use his Cleric abilities while wielding it due to having the wrong holy symbol fixed by Erica)
  • We also pick up a scroll of Guiding Bolt
  • We also get ~50 gold each
    • Nick decided to give his cut back to the kobolds as part of reparations
• During the search of the camp, we find one of the tents is better furnished than the others
• This tent has a rug that covers a hole with a ladder
• We decide to rest before heading down the ladder and going to The Great Mother
• Erica attempts to affix Nick's holy symbol to his shield and is successful after a dope roll
• Next day, Vokku has organized the camp and is in the process of burying the dead
• Ugri joins us as we descend the ladder and head underground
• The tunnel is heading deeper and deeper as we go
• Eventually we reach a large chamber. There are other small holes entering the chamber
• Ugri warns us that when we meet The Great Mother, we should be respectful
• We head down one of the small holes in the chamber and make our way down a different tunnel
• Eventually we reach another large chamber that is actually lit
• The room is filled with ~100 kobolds that are chanting and gesticulating towards a large creature in the front of the room
• The creature is something similar to The Archivist in that they are part dragon/part person
• They are larger than The Archivist (huge, ~15 ft), but their dragon and human portions are all kind of mixed up and weird
• We head further into the room, to have an audience with The Great Mother, telling Ugri thanks for taking us this far
• As we enter the room, Erica deploys Boobo to do some aerial recon
  • There are exactly 53 kobolds in the chamber
  • The Great Mother is seated on a stash of shiny objects (looks like treasure)
• We decide to approach The Great Mother with a ruse
• We claim that we are from The Republic of Acium and searching for a group of mercenaries that were members of The Red Omen that were causing trouble
• We are searching for leads on The Red Omen due to the Zotogeus league being a haven of lawless mercenaries and offering a warning to her about The Red Omen
• Erica explains all this to The Great Mother
• The Great Mother replies in a large booming voice that she doesn't know who we are speaking about
  • If they come by, she will grant us power to deal with them
• Jin asks The Great Mother for her name and more of her history to learn more about her
• She says her name is Hurle, Protector of Creatures and she has always been what she is
• We tell her that we are seeking out the audience of Nibenah next
  • She doesn't really react and just spouts basically the same line about communing with her
• Erica asks if she has any magical items to provide to us to help us on our journey
  • A small kobold runs up to us carrying a brooch that depicts a small porcupine or hedgehog
  • If you are wearing this, and somebody is trying to touch you, they take some damage due to your spiky hair
• We decide to head back to The Archivist, but before we go, Nick checks out the surroundings with Detect Magic
  • All the kobolds have the effects of transmutation magic
  • There is a giant glowing orb inside the body of The Great Mother
• As we turn to leave, 10 kobolds block our path
• She insists that we commune with her before we leave, or we don't leave at all
• We decide to try to make a break for it
• Nick casts Thunder Wave on the kobolds blocking our path and they all die
• We bolt down the tunnels to escape, with Jin casting magic to slow down the people behind us
• We manage to break out of the tunnels and make it back outside to Anje
• We then head back to the town of Lonte

• The weather is....a bit windy and pleasantly sunny

• We decide to try to intimidate Anje into not going after The Great Mother on his own and are seemingly successful
• We strike a deal with Anje...he is going to recruit help on his side to deal with the Kobolds as long as we can deal with The Great Mother
• We head back to The Archivist and relay this information to him
• He says that he is not familiar with this entity and that the only way to retrieve the orb is to cut it out of her and remove it
• He can offer us something to help us
  • A small stone in the shape of a cat's head called The Stone of Good Luck (+1 on saving throws and ability checks)
  • A blue cloak with chain mail embroidery (+2 to AC)
  • A pocket watch with an engraved triangle (clockwork aulet, automatically roll a 10 in an attack roll)
• We decide to get the stone of good luck and give it to Jin

Session 16 - 04MAY2025

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

•  After slaughtering most of the Kobold camp, we are tipped off about the "Great Mother" that lives underground and is the being that induces the transformation into a Kobold. We head on down and converse with the Great Mother. We are able to determine that she has eaten the Obsidian Orb, but she is not going to let us leave. We managed to break out of the tunnels and made it back to The Archivist.

Session Notes

• The Archivist surmises that the Great Mother might be especially susceptible to fire due to her ruddy, brownish color. 
  
• We travel back to Lonte and head out to rendezvous with Anje.
• We meet him at the local pub and he introduces us to 9's, a small goblin that is a demolitions expert
• He is going to make a bowling-ball sized bomb and Erica is going to make a small fuze that fits into the bomb to remotely detonate the bomb
• Walter grinds up some glass into a powder while Nick infuses it with Thunder Wave and then incorporating that into the bomb, in an effort to make the orb more appealing
• We head back to the camp and see Ugri and Vokku
• Vokku is at the camp and is gesturing towards us as we approach
• She manages to hid from us
• However, Nick manages to talk to a local dandelion who disperses seeds in a direction after he asks it where Vokku went
• In the direction that the seeds are blowing, we find a small cave
• Nick does a cool jump down a cliff to the riverside and, despite looking super cool, still takes 8 damage
• We all head down the cave into the chamber before the Great Mother's chamber and have Anje and crew hang back here
• We continue on into the chamber with The Great Mother with the Obsidian bomb
• Walter presents the obsidian orb to The Great Mother, walking it closer to her
• He presents it to her and manages to convince her to eat it
• She tries to consume it, but it gets stuck in her jaw
• Meanwhile, Walter has backed away and rejoined the group
• At this point, Erica triggers the explosive...it fucks her shit up, dealing 72 damage

• BOOM! Initiative!

• The head was blown off of The Great Mother, leaving just an eyestalk thing and her moving body
• Also, our boys are rushing into the room to deal with the Kobolds
• After a long battle, that involved a lot of fire and gross, wet body parts, the Great Mother burned away and revealed the Obsidian Orb

• End fight

• Anje and the crew go about looting the horde of treasure from the room
• Erica puts the orb inside her bag of holding
• Beneath the Great Mother is a deformed halfling
• Upon seeing it, Jin hears his patron say "Weakness" within his head
• His patron compels Jin to snatch the bag of holding from Erica, but successfully is able to resist the urge to take the orb from the bag
• He suffers a penalty to his maximum health
• Erica ends up putting the bag of holding inside the tummy of her Bubo owl automaton
• Everybody is high-fiving and celebrating after the fight
• Walter and 9's share a bit of a moment afterwards