[Spoilers] Return to Greyhawk

[Koram]

Session 29 - 1/20/2023 - The Lure of Loot and the Aspect of Pelor


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools - Covered by Koram for part of session
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Start session after short rest in the moonstone vein cave behind the hidden door.

The party decides to head back to the secret door they located west of the roper cavern to see if the key Eilo found will unlock the secret door they found there but could not open. The ornate key Eilo found the the rubble of the moonstone chamber fits the lock and the door opens into a short narrow corridor leading to a small cavern. The cave is full of overturned chests, kegs, tapestries, weapons, and armor. There is a stone table in the SW part of the room with body covered by a shroud. The party cautiously checks the body and determines it has been here for several years and appears to have perished of the Red Death. The corpse has its hands folded over a book on its chest. The corpse appears to be Zelligar from the large "Z" on the cover of the book. Magar begins the ritual to detect magic, and Koram begins the ritual to detect poison and disease, as the rest of party searches the chamber in awe of all the items scattered about. Koram detects no trace of the Red Death or any poisons. As Magar completes the detect magic ritual, the room lights up with magic everywhere. He detects a total of fourteen magical items in the chamber. Magar begins to ritually identify all the items as the party settles in to wait. There is a longsword +1, Cloak of Elvenkind, Boots of the Winterlands, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Sentinel Shield, Brooch of Shielding, Wand of Magic Missiles, Boots of Elvenkind, Staff of the Python, Robe of the Serpent, Ring of Protection +2, Doss Lute, Silver Raven Figurine of Wondrous Power, and Zelligar's spellbook.

The party, amazed at the windfall of items, spends some time dividing up the items amongst themselves. Inside the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, the group finds a note. It has one line of text, "Did you find me? - R". The group sits a bit longer and attunes the items that require it, then head back to the moonstone chamber and the unexplored hallway to the south. They find a room that looks like it was set up at one time to process the moonstone. Following the hall further south, then southwest, Koram and Dour find another hidden door leading to a small hidden cave. There is a corpse sitting slumped over against the eastern wall.

Next to the body is a note:

If you are reading this scroll, you are probably one of the curious, greedy, fortune-hunters that have pestered us for decades.

Some deadly curse has been put upon us. It resists all magics we have brought to bear; we knew not for certain if it was lethal, but we feared it. We did the best we could in the time we had, but we were hurried and like all mortals before us, assumed we would have more time than we did.

Zelligar is dead, not five days since he first showed signs. I have hidden him in a makeshift tomb with as many of our true worldly treasures we could assemble in haste.

While you are here plundering our home, you may as well make yourselves useful.

There is a special key hidden in these caverns that is the only means to open a secret door.

I apologize for the further inconvenience of an additional search for the key while you are ransacking my basement, but I could not risk some lettered goblin or gnoll finding me, this note and they key at once.

Find the key.

Find Zelligar.

Put me to rest with him.

Take nothing within our tomb. Answer to the contrary at your peril.

You may help yoursefl to everything else, as you no doubt have already commenced.

I have been where you are many times; in a dark and cold cavern, reading an old scroll by torchlight or spell, standing over a corpse in whom, my only interest was rummaging through his pockets for treasures.

There is always some other shiny thing in the darkness... and likely one among you who will invariably be unable to resist touching it.

Guard against your avarice. Learn when enough is enough. Take only that, nothing more.

I shall not survive this plague. Here I die. Alone, drunk, with a barrel of my own shit for company.

Truly, there is justice in the world.

If you are more honorable and decent than I was, I implore you: Find Zelligar, seal me up with him. Let us rest.

~Roghan

The plague of the Red Death apparently killed them both. There is a chest in the southern part of the room and Eilo also finds a small one foot square iron box located under a waste bucket that appears to have been used by Roghan before he died. Checking the box, there is no evidence of any traps, and the group open the box to find it is lined with lead and contains a single leather pouch. Inside the pouch is a ceramic fragment of a mask, that appears to be about 1/3 of the overall mask if it were whole.

Magar casts detect magic and identify, determining the mask is actually an artifact known as the Aspect of Pelor. Pelor is one of the Forgotten Gods of Greyhawk. Eilo takes the mask for now, but does not put it on or try to attune it. Easeis casts speak with dead on Roghan. The party learns that Roghan and Zelligar once had both the Aspect of Pelor and the Eye of Incabulous, who is also one of the Forgotten Gods (Plague). Talitha's mother had hidden the fact that she was evil, but eventually stole the Eye and vanished. The mask must be kept away from her at all costs. The mask is an artifact that represents Pelor, the goddess of life, light and healing. It is but one piece of six comprising the relic, "The Saragon", also known as the "Mask of Forgotten Gods".

Upon hearing this, Magar reveals that he believes that he has seen the Eye of Incabulous during his trance time, and believes that it is the cause of the Red Death.

The group looks over the rough map Koram has been keeping and believe that they have explored all of the Stronghold. The decision is made to leave and head back to the Keep.

End Session 29 - The party heads back, uneventfully, to the Keep on the Borderlands.

Total XP for each member stands at : Magar 4.209 - Dour 4,229 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 4,379 - Koram 4,514

[Koram]

Session 30 - 1/27/2023 - When it Looks too Good to be True...


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Start session as the party arrives safely at the Keep on the Borderlands and takes a common room at the inn.

The party settles in at the common room of the inn and begins sorting through the coin in the bag of holding. Eilo goes out into the tavern area and asks around to see if anyone knows or has seen a halfling matching Periwinkle's description, but no luck. The group settles in for the night and Magar, Easeis and Kismet offer to take watch shifts. Shortly after the group falls asleep and Magar is standing by the fireplace, he feels the air grow cold. As he looks around to see what is causing the chill, a fireball erupts from the fireplace blasting Magar off his feet and everyone else from their beds. Magar taking the brunt of the fire is killed, the rest of the group is knocked unconscious, and the room is set ablaze.

Easeis awakens, barely conscious and still covered in painful burns. A voice echoes from inside his head, "You're alive, get up."

Easeis shakes his head wondering if he is imagining the voice. A moment later, "No, this is Zelligar and I have taken temporary residence in your mind."

A ghost, that Easeis recognizes from the various images the party has seen, as Roghan, appears in the room and growls, "YOU GREEDY F***ERS!"

Zelligar tells Easeis that all coin and items taken from the tomb must be returned and the chamber sealed. He also says that he will be residing in Easeis's mind for a while.

Easeis casts detect thoughts on the spirit of Roghan and all he sees is anger, fighting and killing.

Roghan takes potions of healing from the party's inventories and wakes Eilo, Dour and Kismet. Eilo popes up ready to attack, but Roghan stops her with a stern warning. Eilo then flies outside to see other confused patrons of the inn milling around outside along with several guards. A bucket brigade has been set up to put out the remaining small fires on the inn/tavern building.

Eilo stops and prays to the Rainbow Unicorn to bring Magar back from the dead. Her patron simply answers with, "You know how to have him restored. All is not lost.", before vanishing from Eilo's thoughts.

Zelligar agrees to let one other from the group accompany Easeis to return the coin and items to the tomb. After a short discussion, it is agreed Koram will go with Easeis. The rest of the party remains at the inn under the watchful eye of Roghan, who seems ready to attack them at any moment.

Along the way, back to the tomb, Zelligar reveals some information to Easeis as they converse in his head. Talitha's mother's fake name was Amara, and Zelligar verifies that the illusion created by the black marble was indeed an image of her, at least as Zelligar and Roghan knew her. He tells Easeis that he will reveal more about the Aspect of Pelor once the agreed upon terms have been met. He will remain with Easeis, saying he will be dormant, but still there, and will return when called. He cannot remain forever, but will be there for some time.

Easeis and Koram return the items and coin as requested, uneventfully, and return to the rest of the party at the Keep. Zelligar and Roghan make the party swear an oath to their Gods or the Aspect of Pelor, to never divulge the location of the tomb or loot it again.
After some additional discussion and investigation, the party determines that the closest temple that will serve to raise Magar from the dead is in Narwell, about a full day away from the Keep. Eilo and Kismet have healed everyone to the best of their abilities and the group, with the exception of Easeis and Koram, have gotten a long rest.

The party buys a cart and retrieves their donkeys, pony and riding goat from the stables. Magar's corpse is loaded into the cart and the group takes the south road to Narwell. The trip to the town in the Wild Plains is thankfully quiet and peaceful.

Once in Narwell, the group locates a temple dedicated to St. Cuthbert , and the priests there tell the party that they are willing to raise Magar. Dour and Koram speak to the priests doing their best to improve relations and in the end settle on a fee of 2,200gp to return Magar from the dead. The priests tell the party to leave Magar with them and to return the next day, but Eilo is sad and wants to stay with Magar. The priests shoo her out but allow her to leave the giant weasel she removed from her bag of tricks to keep vigil. Koram searches a library for any information on the Aspect of Pelor, and manages to sell the painting of Wooley Bay from the party treasure for almost 100gp. Kismet and Koram also each spend time to making a healing potion. Kismet keeps hers and Koram give his to Dour.

The party searches Narwell for shops and other places of interest, and find a shop that sells potions. With their dwindling funds, the group buys 5 common healing potions and Koram and Dour also each buys a greater healing potion.

Narwell also has a legendary creature vendor and the party spends some time window shopping. The merchant has a giant bat, giant eagle, a pseudodragon and two dragon eggs.

Magar takes time to copy the Alarm and Distant Whisper spells from the scrolls he has been carrying into his spellbook.

Koram checks back with the scholar he hired at the Narwell Library, but unfortunately, there was no information about the Forgotten Gods or the Aspect of Pelor.

The party then packs up and heads back to the Keep.

End Session 30 - Right back where we started before traveling to Narwell, trying to get an audience with Lord Weyland.

No change to total XP : Magar 4.209 - Dour 4,229 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 4,379 - Koram 4,514

Large reduction in party finances...

[Koram]

Session 31 - 2/10/2023 - Getting Back on Track after Bringing Magar Back


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Sunday the 9th of Coldeven mid-afternoon...

Start session as the party arrives safely at the Keep from Narwell and returning Magar from the dead, so we can go back to trying to get an audience with Lord Weyland.

The party is taken from the main gate when they arrive directly to Weyland's audience chamber. There is a long discussion regarding Roghan and Zelligar's stronghold and current status, and explanations about what has occurred. The group further explains what destroyed the Inn, and that the overall tasks that they were hired for have been completed. After agreeing to providing written reports and copies of Koram's maps, minus the location and description of the tomb, Varnas agrees that the group deserves their rewards and pays the agreed upon 200gp to each party member. The party also tells Weland that the lower levels of the Stronghold should be left untouched or possibly even sealed up.

Eilo summons an ape, baboon and tiger to help clean up at the inn, but the innkeeper doesn't want the animals assistance. He instead asks the party to supply the funds for the ongoing repairs to the inn since it seems like they were responsible, directly or indirectly for the damage. The party members all agree and pay the innkeeper 16gp each, with Easeis rounding up his share to 20gp.

Koram receives a sending from Helden that he has received his cut of the payment from the Lockswell missions, and that he has further jobs available.

Dour makes arrangements with Lord Weyland that if it is decided that the moonstone will be extracted before the lower part of the Stronghold is sealed, that the party has first claim to it.

Zelligar speaks to Easeis and asks if he recognizes the name Devolder, possibly a pirate or bandit leader. He also wants to further discuss what is to be done with the Stronghold and the Aspect of Pelor. He then drops a huge request to the party, the idea that he would like to be resurrected, and that in return he would further reward the party beyond what they have already taken from his Stronghold. He tells the party that he will reveal the locations of several caches of wealth he and Roghan had stored around the continent that will more than pay for his raising. He also asks the party why they did not try to use the Stone of Weal and Woe.

The party then checks in with the regular and travelling merchants that are set up in the Keep, allowing them to offload some extra gear and exchange some items for more portable wealth. Odd barrels/food items are traded for more portable travel rations. The party also uses group funds to buy a second Bag of Holding, which everyone agrees that Easeis should carry.

Eventually, as night falls, the party gets rooms in the undamaged part of the inn, and in the morning they have a visitor awaiting them as they wake on the 10th of Coldeven. A large half-orc wearing the markings of the tribes of the Pomarj, but also carrying a banner of Furyondy, steps up to the party as they exit the inn. He introduces himself as Jordan, and says he has a message from Malfon. The group recognizes the names as belonging to members of the famous Untouchables adventuring group. The party also has suspicions about the Torch of M probably having belonged to or been created by Malfon since one of the command words is Jordan. Malfon resides in his tower in Armoria which lies in the once Kingdom of Iuz. Eilo likely has never heard of the "Untouchables", while Kismet and Magar may be remotely aware of the story in passing given their many years of hermitage; everyone else would be quite familiar with the tale. Thirty years ago, the "Untouchables" first gained notoriety defeating the forces of the Temple of Elemental Evil, just outside Hommlet a four day march from where you are now, but their true fame culminated in an epic battle on Furyondy's northern front, where armies of Furyondy, Veluna and Celene confronted the forces of Iuz, in which Iuz himself engaged in battle, facing off against the paladin, Lasarian - who would be possessed by his god St. Cuthbert during the battle. Iuz was destroyed and the vassal state of Armoria formed where the lands of Iuz once were. The "Untouchables" were: Lasarian, Malfon, Jordan, Draisin, Asharack, Htrothgar and Mikael. Asharack, Hrothgar and Mikael seemed to have vanished from public view, but Lasarian and Malfon remain well known, just not so much in this area; while Jordan and Draisin are still commonly heard names in this region. Jordan also tells the party that Malfon is an asshole, and to tell him so if we ever run into him.

Koram mentions to the group that, if no one objects, he would like to remain in town until the full moon in order to perform his monthly holy day rituals to Moradin. The party agrees and stays one more night in the inn at the Keep. While discussing next steps, Easeis asks Eilo for the Aspect of Pelor so it can be placed in the new Bag of Holding, effectively hiding it from prying eyes and scrying magic. In a huff, Eilo eventually agrees and then goes off and summons a jackal, ape and axebeak to try and cheer herself up. Helden contacts Koram with another sending which he relates to his companions. "Greyhawk Elder says conceal the Artifact and return to Greyhawk for more work in Greyhawk, Celene, Wild Coast, or Kron Hills."

Koram heads off the morning of 11th Coldeven, the full moon tonight, to see about the possibility of using the forge at the Keep. As luck would have it, the blacksmith at the keep is a Suel named Aksel Osberg, he is an adherent of Fortubo, god of mountains and mines, whose symbol is a warhammer. He says that he will gladly open the smithy to Koram after hours, adding that any blessing of Moradin on his forge would be welcome. He asks only that he be permitted to quietly and respectfully attend and make his own offerings to Fortubo. Koram respectfully thanks Aksel, saying he is welcome to watch the smithing and public part of the services. Koram only asks for a short time alone at the end for his personal private prayers to Moradin. That night, Koram uses one of the iron ingots and a fair amount of his gold, melted down to create a gold edged iron warhammer symbol to Moradin. He then offers the symbol to Askel, telling him to hang it in his forge as a blessing for his assistance to Moradin in alliance with Fortubo. Aksel accepts the gift reverently, declaring it will hold a place of honor in his smithy. He thanks you and wishes you well on your journeys - adding that you are always welcome in his shop.

During the full moon ritual observance, toward the end when Koram is left to himself to commune with Moradin alone, the hissing of the bellows and the roar of the flames in the forge seems to take on a kind of voice speaking to him: "Comet. Ybarra. Pelor. Sethucea. " It's a kind of list, repeating itself over and over until Koram is certain he has heard and can remember. He also has a vision, it resolves itself in the dancing shadows of the smithy, and is fleeting, and although Koram's eyes perhaps didn't quite catch it fully, there is an image in his mind: It appears to be an image of the Aspect of Pelor, but the mask is complete and appears slightly different, as if the image is a Dwarven rendition of the full artifact. Koram relates all these details to the party as they travel south the next day.

The party prepares to head south the next morning, 12th Coldeven in search of the first of Zelligar's caches of wealth to bring him back from the dead.


End Session 31 - Heading to the ruins of the Temple of Shargas, north of Castle Sulafrait.

No change to total XP : Magar 4.209 - Dour 4,229 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 4,379 - Koram 4,514

[Koram]

Session 32 - 2/24/2023 - Off to the First of Zelligar's Caches and a Brutal Fight with Orcs


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Monday the 10th of Coldeven 6 AM...

Start session as the party is tying up loose ends and preparing to head out to locate the first Zelligar cache.

Zelligar speaks to Easeis in his mind and gives him further details about a cache located in the swamplands to the north of Castle Sulafrait in the ruins of an old Temple to Shargas. He can't exactly remember, but thinks there is treasure worth about three thousand to four thousand gold hidden there. He also mentions that the malfunctioning magical door in the stronghold bedroom used to lead to a cabin where more wealth was stored, but that location is far to the east. The cache in the Temple of Shargas is located through a secret door in the outer SW wall of the temple. There is a courtyard to the east of the outer wall, and within the courtyard is another secret door on its eastern wall. This should lead the party to a statue-lined hallway running north-south with an old inner temple at the southern end of the hall. In the old temple is a statue with a removable stone tile beneath it, and the treasure should be underneath. Zelligar also tells Easeis that he believes that the Temple of Tritherion in the City of Greyhawk would be a logical location for his to be resurrected. He knew a high priest there by the name of Nelander.

The party also speaks further with Lord Weyland. Magar tries to get him to advance funds to the party for continuing their efforts to fully remove the curse from Roghan and Zelligar's stronghold, but to no avail.

Koram makes arrangements with the blacksmith at the keep, a Suel named Aksel Osberg, who is an adherent of Fortubo, god of mountains and mines, whose symbol is a warhammer. He tells Koram that he would gladly open the Keep's smithy after hours, adding that any blessing of Moradin on his forge would be welcome. He asks only that he be permitted to quietly and respectfully attend and make his own offerings to Fortubo. Koram thanks him, saying Aksel is welcome to watch the smithing and public part of the services, but asks for a short time alone at the end for his personal private ceremonies to Moradin. The group has agreed to stay the extra time needed for Koram to complete his full moon holy day ceremonies and prayers. The night of the 11th of Coldeven, Koram enters the Keep's forge with Aksel. Koram uses one of the iron ingots and a fair amount of his personal gold, melted down to create a gold edged iron warhammer symbol to Moradin. He offers the symbol to Aksel, telling him to hang it in his forge as a blessing for his assistance to Moradin in alliance with Fortubo. Aksel accepts the gift reverently, declaring it will hold a place of honor in his smithy. He thanks Koram and wishes him and his companions well on their journeys - adding that Koram is always welcome here.

The party sets out on the morning of Coldeven the 12th at dawn heading south for Narwell. The fairly well used road lends to an easy and uneventful day of travel to the large town of Narwell. The party grabs a room and spends an quiet restful night before setting off again in the early morning on Coldeven the 13th following the road south towards Eyebite Tower.

The day's journey goes uneventfully for more than half a day, well into the afternoon. The party is walking through predominately tall grassland dotted with a few large trees here and there. As the group approaches a bend in the road, the tall grass obscuring the trail beyond the bend, voices can be heard from ahead. Koram identifies that the voices are speaking Orcish, and it sounds like there are several of them, at least. The group readies themselves as the first of the orcs, a much larger one in the lead, round the bend and stop a stone's throw away, eyeing the party warily. The leader steps forward with a few orcs following closely, as Koram and Dour advance to meet them. With Koram translating into Orcish, the party tries to negotiate, telling the orcs there is no need for either side to suffer any injuries or losses. The orog leader, confidently stating that his force consists of 15 orc troops, demands the party pay a tribute of 100gp to pass, or surrender their mounts and cart, effectively 100gp worth of equipment, or the orcs will simply take what they want from the party. The party warns the leader not to underestimate what he is in for, but he seems unimpressed.

Both sides grip their weapons at the impasse, combat erupts, and Magar whips an ice knife at the orc right behind the leader missing, but as the ice knife explodes against the ground, the leader and two orcs are hit by icy fragments. Wiping a bit of blood from the ice shrapnel off his face, the orc next to the leader swipes his greataxe at Koram, but misses. CoCo dive bombs the orc distracting it for a moment. Eilo, seeing the owl bothering the orc, targets it with an eldritch blast, the ray of force blasting the orc from his feet, dead. Kismet throws a ball of produced flame at the leader, but misses. Koram chants and a spiritual hammer shimmers into being behind the orog leader, and swings, missing, but Koram does manage to land a strike with his warhammer. Dour slams the leader with his maul, and rebounding the momentum of his strike as it hits the orog, whips the maul back around, hitting the leader a second time. The leader snarls and returns a wicked strike with his greataxe at Dour, chopping into the dwarf's side. The remaining orc that approached with the leader steps forward and slashes Koram with his greataxe. Easeis moves back with a pair of the donkeys, using them for cover, and twin spells witch bolt, one streaking towards the leader in a spark of electricity. The second arcs into the other orc, causing it to convulse and drop to the ground. Several other orcs have started to advance, and the party can see the orog leader was not lying, and that they are outnumbered almost three to one. One of the additional orcs charges up and lands a glancing blow with its greataxe to Dour. Magar drops a flaming sphere to east, and slams it into an orc just out of melee range with Dour and Koram, stopping the orb in the midst of four opponents. The front wave of the remaining orcs has now reached Dour and Koram, the dwarves already nearly surrounded, and another orc manages to land a greataxe slash on Dour.

The battle rages on and CoCo flies by distracting the orog leader. Eilo drops an area of faerie fire near the flaming sphere outlining a few of the orcs in purple flames making them easier targets, and then uses her healing light on Dour, closing up some of his wounds. One of the orcs that swept past the dwarves throws a javelin at Eilo, and grazes her. Kismet follows Magar's recent example and throws an ice knife striking her target, the resulting shrapnel also hitting two additional enemy orcs. An orc that is unable to get into position to strike with its greataxe, tries to snake a javelin through the combatants to hit Dour, but it files over the mass melee. Another orc unable to get into melee with the dwarves launches a javelin at Eilo, but she zips out of the way. One of the orcs that flooded past the melee moves a bit further north and heaves a javelin at Easeis, clipping him. An additional javelin flies up at Eilo, but this one also misses. Out of the press of orcs surrounding the dwarves a javelin finds its mark, striking Koram solidly in the shoulder from behind. A fourth javelin lofts its way towards Eilo from the mass of orcs, striking the faerie and momentarily spinning her in the air. Koram strikes the leader with his spiritual hammer and then a streak of radiant light erupts from the holy symbol on his shield also striking the orog and outlining the enemy in a residual glow. Dour uses the glow to focus his strike and hammers the orog again with his maul, but the stubborn leader remains standing. Dour quickly surveys the battle, which is not going well for the party, and takes a deep breath, stubbornly shrugging away some of the fatigue beginning to take its toll. The orog lets loose a battle roar, swinging his massive greataxe in a sudden frenzy, chopping Dour twice, knocking him to the ground. He follows those strikes with a sudden backhand at Koram, surprising the dwarf and knocking him unconscious alongside Dour. One of the other orcs from the melee breaks off and moves to strike Kismet with its greataxe. Easeis twin spells another witch bolt spell on both the orc that attacked Kismet and the leader, striking both with bolts of electrical energy. One of the orcs moves away from Magar's flaming sphere so he is not burned and swings around to flank Kismet, striking her with his greataxe. The orc that previously struck Easeis with a javelin throws another at him and again clips Easeis, who maintains the concentration on his witch bolts. One of the orcs that previously hit Elio with a javelin throws a second at her, but misses. One of the orcs that decided to stay in melee with the dwarves, is left standing too close to Magar's flaming sphere and yells as he is burned. Magar picks a large stone up from the road and catapults it at the leader, the rock smashing into the surprised orc's face, killing him. Magar then rolls his flaming sphere after one of the orcs that advanced on Kismet, the sphere crashing into the orc's back causing it to bellow in pain. An orc, free of the melee with the dwarves, advances and manages to graze Easeis with an awkward greataxe swing.

The battle continues with both Dour and Koram unconscious, and the enemy orog leader and few orcs dead. CoCo does a distracting flyby on one of the orcs attacking her master, Kismet. Eilo focuses a small quick flash of healing light on Koram, just enough to allow the dwarf to crack open his eyes from the ground. Eilo then launches an eldritch blast on one of the orcs attacking Kismet, the beam of force smashing into the orc and killing it. She then flies to a new position trying to use the few large trees nearby for cover. One of the orcs cleared from the melee draws back his arm and whips a javelin, managing to strike Eilo. Kismet uses primal savagery, growing claws dripping with acid, and slashes the injured orc in front of her, killing it with the strike. A new orc steps forward and hits Kismet with a solid slash from its greataxe. Three javelins sail up at Eilo from below, she dodges two, but the third draws a line of blood across her leg as it zips by. The orc in melee with Easeis swings again, but is only able to land another grazing strike. The remaining orc facing Kismet swings at her, but the agile druid manages to sidestep the strike. Koram stays prone, playing dead, and peeks around. Seeing no orcs immediately watching his prone form, he recites the prayer for cure wounds and reaches over to tap Dour on the arm healing his companion of many of his wounds and rousing him from unconsciousness. He then glances over, still prone, and his spiritual hammer suddenly surges forward slamming into an unsuspecting orc. Dour pushes himself to his feet as he draws a healing potion from his belt and downs it, looking much better than just a few seconds ago. As he drops the potion flask and sets his second hand on the handle of his maul he launches an uppercut swing and a nearby orc, but misses. Easeis again twin spells witch bolt and targets the two orcs closest to him, but only manages to land a hit on one of them. He moves away from the orcs, one swinging a greataxe and the other throwing a javelin at him, both missing, and Easeis drinks a healing potion as he manages to temporarily get clear of his opponents. Another orc moves to get a better angle and tries to hit Eilo with a javelin, but the throw snags in the branches of the tree where Eilo is flitting around.

End Session 32 - Top of initiative against the remaining orcs.

No change to total XP : Magar 4.209 - Dour 4,229 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 4,379 - Koram 4,514

[Koram]

Session 33 - 3/3/2023 - We Survive Pretty Bad Odds


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools - Piloted by Stel
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Monday the 12th of Coldeven, late afternoon

Start session at the top of initiative against the large orc war party.

Magar rolls his flaming sphere into the orc between Koram and Kismet scorching its back and planting the sphere behind the orc. He then casts rope trick and scrambles 15' up a the rope, disappearing with it into his extradimensional hidey hole. CoCo does a fly by distraction on one of the few orcs that remained near Dour and Koram when they were knocked out. Eilo drinks a healing potion, and then hits the distracted orc with an eldritch blast, the beam of force blasting the orc from its feet. She then zips back SW behind a treetop hoping for some cover from the remaining enemies. Another orc that thought the dwarves were out of the fight moves back into melee with Dour, swinging its greataxe, but misses, possibly due to seeing how many of the war party are dead. His distraction also costs him as he doesn't realize how close he has ended up the Magar's flaming sphere and he yells is pain as he is scorched. Kismet casts cure wounds on herself, closing up a couple of minor wounds. A second orc moves up on Dour from the east and lands a solid greataxe slash against the just recovered dwarf. One of the orcs not in melee to the north throws a javelin at Eilo, but the cover of tree branches deflects it. Another orc that had swept around to the east closes most of the distance to Easeis. Another orc free of melee to the west tries to hit Eilo with a javelin, but the nimble faerie again escapes being hit. Koram rolls to his feet and presenting the holy symbol on his shield channels the power of Moradin, healing himself, Dour and Kismet simultaneously. Feeling much refreshed and eager for payback, Dour sweeps his maul up and around, landing a crushing strike to one of the orcs that moved in to attack him, caving its chest in and dropping it dead in its tracks. Easeis again twin spells witch bolt targeting the orc closest to him and the one staring confusedly up where Magar vanished 15' in the air, but only manages to hit the dumbfounded enemy. The orc in melee range of Easeis lands a grazing strike with its greataxe. One of the orcs to the south, seeing both dwarves back on their feet, and watching his companion crushed by Dour, turns and bolts off to the south.

Magar, watching the battle below his extradimensional retreat, slides a few feet down the rope, trying to land a fire bolt on the surprised orc at the base of the rope, but misses, then scrambles back up the rope. Just as the orc thinks to reach for the rope, Magar slams his flaming sphere into the orc's back, causing it to yell in pain, and then pulls the rope back up. The orc at the base of the rope moves away from the flaming sphere and elf that it can't get to, and instead rushes up and swings its axe at Easeis, knocking him to the ground, senseless. CoCo the owl swoops in at the remaining orc facing Dour and distracts it momentarily. Eilo flies north 30', then vanishes in a swirl of mist, reappearing a further 30' to the north right near the prone form of Easeis and just west of Magar's rope trick. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere to the orcs below her, she unleashes an eldritch blast on the orc still smoking from Magar's flaming sphere, blasting the life from one more opponent. Kismet move north towards Eilo and Easeis, turning back to throw a ball of produced flame at one of the remaining orcs between her and the dwarves to the south, but the flame flashes into the ground at her target's feet. Another orc moves to engage dour and manages to land a light slash with its greataxe on the dwarf's shoulder. The remaining orc up near Easeis shuffles a few steps to engage Kismet, but misses with its greataxe. A pair of orcs that had originally bypassed the surrounded dwarves move back over their fallen comrades to engage Dour and Koram, now standing should to shoulder against the remaining enemies in the south. One swings at Koram, but cannot get through his defenses, but the second manages to land a deep slash on Dour. Koram presents the holy symbol on his shield and a radiant bolt erupts, striking the orc that just attacked Dour, outlining it in a shimmering light. Simultaneously, Koram's spiritual hammer flies in and lands a crushing hit to the same orc. Dour takes advantage of the outline left by guiding bolt and crushes the glowing orc to the ground. Easeis lies on the ground bleeding out from several wounds. The final orc near Easeis turns and throws a javelin tearing a cut across Eilo's torso.

Magar climbs down from his cover and yells, "I've had it!!!", casting mage armor on himself and then moves his flaming sphere into a better position to get a line on the remaining orcs. CoCo flies down to distract the orc that has moved into melee with Kismet. Eilo hexes the same orc, and then hits it with an eldritch blast, the impact staggering it and the hex blackening its arm with necrotic energy. Eilo also focuses her eldritch blast using Grasp of Hadar, causing it to pull the orc right into Magar's flaming sphere, engulfing the enemy and killing it. Eilo then zips up into Magar's rope trick space. Kismet moves north a bit and throws a ball of produced flame just barely skimming the orc by Easeis with fire. The one orc remaining by Dour drops his weapon and follows his companion that ran south, taking a staggering hit from Dour as he turns to flee. Koram unslings his heavy crossbow and sticks a bolt into the orc standing over Easeis, then whispers a quick healing word to Easeis, closing the worst of his wounds and waking him. Dour runs north, pulling a handaxe from his belt. As he gets close enough to the last standing orc, he hurls the handaxe and it buries into the orc's chest with a spray of blood, killing the group's last visible enemy.

Easeis rises from the ground and moves to the center of the battlefield, close, but not too close, to the flaming sphere. The group surveys the carnage and makes sure all the visible threats are down, except for Eilo, who wings off the the SE to try and find the escaped orcs. Dour and Koram spread out to begin searching for the pack animals that bolted during the fight. Easeis moves to search the leader's corpse. Most of the animals are recovered except the last mule. Eilo returns after a few moments, the two fleeing orcs having escaped. Dour, Eilo and Kismet spread out to search for the last mule, while Easeis, Magar and Koram finish searching the bodies of the dead orcs. The search yields some coin, a chainmail shirt and several greataxes in decent shape. Easeis also casts cure wounds on himself that he copied using his ability to peer into the weave. He then uses Talitha's Block to cast speak with dead on the orc leader. His questioning reveals that the orcs were a raiding party headed north, that they had come from the Wild Coast to the south, and they had passed by a ruin on their way here. Eilo and Kismet both cast cure wounds on themselves. Easeis again casts his copied cure wounds, this time on Dour. The party moves the orc corpses into a pile near the edge of the road and takes the leader's head for further speak with dead sessions if needed. The party then moves off the road a bit away from the dead bodies, sets up a camp, and with the dwarves on the first two watches, Magar and Easeis get a long rest. They take over the end watch and the whole party manages a sorely needed long rest.

400 XP each for the orc combat.

While sitting in camp, Koram relays the information that he was given during his holy day prayers back at the Keep.

"While performing my holy day prayers to Moradin, I had a vision showing me a stylized version of the Aspect of Pelor, but it looked more Dwarven in design and craftsmanship. I also heard a repeating series of words/names, Comet, Ybarra, Pelor and Sethucea. We have all heard of the sages predictions of the return of the Comet Swift. Not sure why Pelor was specifically mentioned in a message from the Soul-Forger to me, and I don't recognize Ybarra or Sethucea. Any ideas?"

Eilo wracks her brain trying to remember any of the words besides Pelor, but can't think of anything.

The comet is well known to the sages, they expect it to appear in the sky sometime mid-Flocktime, about two months away. Both Kismet and Magar are old enough to remember the last time it appeared 102 years ago.

None of the party has ever heard the name "Sethucea"

It is now the dawn of Coleven the 13th, and the party is well rested to resume their journey south. As they get close to the Tower of Eyebite, the party starts seeing signs telling travelers that the tower is to be avoided and that the occupant does not want visitors. Easeis recalls that Eyebite is inhabited by a wizard named Unevras, and that he is rumored to be somewhat of a hermit, seldom, if ever granting audiences.

Eilo, of course, wants to stop and chat...

End Session 33 - Approaching the Tower of Eyebite

New total XP : Magar 4,609 - Dour 4,629 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 4,779 - Koram 4,914

[Koram]

Session 34 - 3/10/2023 - Eyebite Tower - Unevras and Stumpy, then onto the Ruined Temple of Shagras


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Friday the 14th of Coldeven, midmorning.

Start session as the party makes the final approach to Eyebite Tower. The warning signs the party has been passing continued to be seen in, common, orc and goblin, basically stating the tower was to be avoided as its master did not want company.

Eilo flies up and pulls a finely wrought chain causing loud bells to go off announcing the party's presence. A magic eyeball appears in the air, looks at the party, and then turns into a mouth which exclaims, "I don't want to buy anything!"

Eilo calmly and directly states that she just wants to visit and that she brings cake. The mouth replies that Eilo seems "interesting", and they chat for a bit. She then promises to tell the wizard a secret if he has some cake with us. The wizard's magic mouth sounds skeptical, until Eilo name drops Zelligar. The entire tone changes, and the mouth exclaims, "Zelligar...did you say Zelligar? Come in! Come in!"

The door opens and allows the party to enter Eyebite Tower. They are met inside by the wizard Unevras who introduces himself along with the small gargoyle-like homunculus on his desk named Stumpy. He tells the party that he grew up hearing stories of the exploits of Zelligar and seems like a huge fan of the now deceased wizard. Unevras, Stumpy and some of the party sit to have some cake. Eilo summons a giant hyena to join the party. There is some discussion of the region and the party learns some useful information. Stalkara Estates to the SE was once cottages, carriage houses, and servants quarters, but now has fallen into disrepair, but Unevras is unsure if it is still inhabited at all. He has little interest in the orc chief and warband that the party recently encountered, but does relate that most of the orc raiders in this region come from the Pomarj, and that they are better equipped than the typical bands found scattered about to the north. Eilo and Magar begin further discussions about Zelligar and it is revealed that he did pass through this area on his adventures some 40-50 years ago. Unevras lost track of what became of Zelligar about the time he turned 50. The party reveals a bit about following the trail of Zelligar but not all the details of the stronghold. The group also tells Unevras that he would be allowed to borrow the cat in a jar that the party has held onto, telling him it once belonged to Zelligar. He is overjoyed at the prospect of studying something that may have belonged to Zelligar and agrees to do some research for the party on the names Ybarra and Sethucea in return for the loan of the cat. The party is allowed to explore his tower a bit, and then, with promises to return, set out again towards the ruined temple.

The party travels overland to the south and makes it to a bridge crossing the Wyvern's Run river and the troops stationed there give them some further information about the area. The bridge and Castle Sulafrait are both controlled by the militia of the town of Pascorel further to the south. There is a small ruined fort called Leraizen west of the bridge and north of Pascorel that is often used as a base camp for orc raiders. Pascorel will send troops to clear it every so often, but it eventually ends up returning to the hands of orcs and slavers. Consulting their maps, the party agrees to stay on the west side of the bridge and river in order to get into the wetlands where the ruined temple is supposed to lie. The group travels a few more hours, reaching the bend in the river near where the temple should be located in the early evening. Magar and Kismet send out Papi and Coco to do a bit of scouting, and luckily the party is almost right on top of the ruins. The old ruin appear to have once been a fortified temple or monastery of some kind, but it appears long abandoned and is beginning to fall apart. It is covered in thick overgrowth and surrounded by swampy wetlands, it blends into the landscape.

Following Zelligar's instructions, Dour and Koram locate the secret door just as expected, on the south wall near the SW corner of the ruin. Eilo summons a jackal to go with her giant hyena and quietly investigates the short tunnel inside the secret door. She sees a trap, just a basic spring-loaded spiked board set on the exterior side of the door to hit anyone trying to exit from inside. Elio cuts the rope holding it and sets the trap off, which smashes into the interior door. She peeks through the ruined door and sees a hall running east and west which she reports back to the party. The group slowly moves into the narrow hall, but has to leave the giant hyena outside, as it is too large to fit into the small confines of the interior. The hall to the west ends in another door, which Eilo quietly opens. She sees a hallway running north that turns east and ends at another door which is charred and cracked. Peering through the cracks, Eilo sees a charred and collapsed room, and the door appear to be jammed shut. The eastern hall leads to another door which appears more intact which leads into a small room that is only lightly scorched. The eastern wall of the room appears to have partially collapsed and then been rebuilt from rubble and debris. Eilo and the jackal manage to squeeze through some gaps in the rubble to do a bit of scouting, that is, until they are attacked by a large eight legged lizard...basilisk.

Kismet throws a ball of produced flame through an opening in the rubble, just barely scorching the opponent. Looking at the shoddy construction, Koram picks the weakest looking portion of the rubble, squares up behind his shield and barrels through the wall, making an opening for others to follow. Magar holds a fire bolt waiting for Papi to distract the enemy creature. CoCo does a flyby on the basilisk, distracting it momentarily, just as Dour charges through the opening made by Koram. He lands a solid hit on the distracted critter. A second basilisk appears, joining the first in attacking the group. Easeis lines up on both opponents and twin spells witch bolt, striking the first with a crackling bolt of electricity, but missing the second target. The jackal tries to bite the first basilisk, but misses. The second basilisk moves up behind Dour and tries to bite the dwarf, but cannot penetrate his armor. Eilo hexes and then eldritch blasts the wounded enemy striking it with a beam of force as her hex causes additional necrotic damage. The wounded basilisk turns on the jackal that tried to bite it and returns the favor, clamping down on the poor fuzzy, and causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. Papi does a flyby, distracting the second basilisk, and Magar releases his held fire bolt with perfect accuracy, severely burning and killing his target. Kismet throws another ball of produced flame, barely scorching the second basilisk. Koram moves up and swings with his warhammer while trying to avert his eyes behind his shield, missing. Magar moves away to the SW and averts his eyes while readying another fire bolt. dour turns and smashes the second basilisk with his maul, staggering the creature, and shrugs off the petrifying effect of seeing the creature. Easeis tries to vortex warp the basilisk over the 5' high stone wall to the north that cuts off the small area where the fight is happening from the larger courtyard to the north, but the magic fails to move the enemy. The basilisk clamps its jaws onto Dour's hip, crushing jaws not stopped by his armor. Eilo flies into better position, moves her hex to the remaining target and then hits it with an eldritch blast, force and necrotic damage ripping into the creature. She then uses Grasp of Hadar to lift the basilisk from the ground and drops it 10' back down. Papi again distracts the opponent and Magar takes advantage to tag the critter with another fire bolt, scorching the already injured enemy. Kismet throws anther ball of produced flame, but misses in the chaos of the fight. Koram moves in and swings his warhammer, but it bounces off the tough hide of the creature. Magar moves to get better line of sight and again readies a fire bolt until Papi has a chance to distract the basilisk. CoCo flies in battering her wings against the basilisk's head, distracting it. Dour takes advantage of the basilisk snapping at the owl familiar and lands a wicked overhand smash with his maul. Easeis averts his eyes, but still manages to land a ray of frost on the basilisk, and it shivers from the cold. The basilisk, getting hit from all sides, and battered, tries to bite Dour again, but completely misses. Eilo hits it with another eldritch blast, bloodying the creature further, and once again lifts it into the air with Grasp of Hadar. As the basilisk lands with a thud, it bounces onto its side, dead.

233 XP for the basilisk fight

End Session 34 - After the basilisk fight in the courtyard of the ruined temple.

New total XP : Magar 4,842 - Dour 4,862 - Eilo, Easeis and Kismet 5,012 - Koram 5,147

[Koram]

Session 35 - 3/24/2023 - Bullets, I Mean Bulettes, and the First of Many Bad Decisions for the Party...


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Friday the 14th of Coldeven, late morning.

Start session as the party is catching their breath after the fight with the basilisks.

Kismet spends some time investigating the dead basilisks, her druidic training in the ways of nature giving her some idea of the useful things that might be extracted from the dead creatures. She manages to harvest teeth, eyes and some vials of bile from the bodies which are placed in Easeis's bag of holding. As the items are being put away, Eilo flies over the low stone wall into the northern part of the courtyard.

As Eilo circles around checking the overgrown area, a sleek armored shape erupts from the ground, crashing into her, knocking her from the air, landing on her, and pinning her to the ground. The rest of the party reacts quickly and heads for the wall dividing the main and southern courtyards. Kismet runs and hops the wall as she throws a ball of produced flame at the small bulette, but it flies wide. Magar also hops the wall, having better luck as his fire bolt burns into the creature's side. Koram, hops the wall with an agility that belies his short stature, presents his holy symbol and tolls the dead, necrotic energy rolling over the bulette. Easeis twin spells vortex warp, simultaneously plucking Eilo from the ground, dropping her behind the wall, and instantly moving Dour into position right next to the bulette. A second, much larger bulette, presumably the mother, erupts from the ground and strikes Dour. CoCo does a flyby to distract the larger opponent. Eilo stands up, dusts herself off and leaps into the air climbing up to about 15' above the ground, quickly surveying the battle from her new angle. She then focuses her hex onto the larger enemy and casts eldritch blast, but still disoriented a bit, the force beam tears into the dirt just next to her target. Dour swings his maul like a lumberjack hammering it into the mother bulette, and using the rebound from his first strike, tries to windmill his maul around to strike again, but misses. He steadies himself, taking a deep breath and shaking off some of the soreness from his injuries. Papi the owl flies down to distract the smaller bulette. Kismet moves forward and throws another ball of produced flame, this time at the mother, the flames striking the mother squarely in the face. Magar grabs a rock from the crumbling wall, catapulting it with massive force into the mother's armored hide, staggering the large creature. Koram steps forward, swinging his warhammer at the smaller bulette, missing, but at the same time reciting a prayer that brings a glowing armor into place around Dour. Easeis casts a twin witch bolt at both opponents, but the bolts crackle past his targets. The larger monster lunges at Dour, but is deflected by the glowing armor around the dwarf. CoCo dives in from above and flutters around the mother bulette distracting her perfectly for Eilo to land her next eldritch blast. The force and necrotic energy slam into the mother and Eilo also wills the Grasp of Hadar to yank the creature towards her, right at the smaller bulette, Dour and Koram. Both dwarves, used to Eilo's tricks, manage to sidestep the larger bulette, which then slams into the smaller one. Dour lines up a perfect overhanded strike with his maul as the mother comes to a stop, smashing his maul into her skull. The smaller bulette tries to hit Koram, but can't find a gap in the dwarf's defenses. Papi does distracting flight on the mother bulette, already reeling from Dour's massive strike. Kismet tries to take advantage of the distraction, throwing another ball of flame at the mother, but it skims over her armored hide doing nothing. Magar grabs another rock, bolstered by his last success with catapult, but unfortunately the larger bulette shifts just as he launches the rock, and it misses, tearing a divot into the dirt of the courtyard. Koram rings out another toll the dead at the mother, but it appears to have no effect. Easeis fires a mind sliver at the large bulette and the monster shakes its head at the sudden pain in its skull. The mother, enraged at the attacks coming from all sides, turns towards the loud ringing sound. She rears up, and then lunges forward, crashing her beak and full body weight into Koram, smashing him unconscious to the ground in one massive strike. CoCo dives by the mother's head trying to distract the beast from where it stands over Koram's prone form. Eilo misty steps to the NE and then flies even further that way to get a different angle on the battle. She casts another eldritch blast, striking the mother with both the beam of force and necrotic damage from her hex, pulling the mother up and away from Koram, and dropping the large creature to the ground, finally dead. Dour moves forward towards the smaller bulette, yelling for someone to try and get Koram back on his feet. He swings his maul across at chest height, slamming it into the remaining bulette and causing it to panic and leap towards Easeis. As it turns to spring away Dour manages to land another punishing hit with his maul on the monster. The small bulette manages to plow into Easeis, painfully bashing him backwards. Papi flits down and circles the remaining enemy's head. Kismet moves in giving up on the produced flame, and striking with her scimitar, deeply slashing the bulette and dropping it to the ground.

Eilo flies down and taps Koram on the head casting spare the dying to keep him from succumbing to his injuries. Kismet then moves over and casts cure wounds, healing the unconscious dwarf enough for him to groggily wake up. Koram wobbles to his feet, nodding his thanks to Kismet. He utters a quick prayer to cure his own wounds, gritting his teeth as he feels a cracked rib grind back into place, but then looking better as the heal takes the worst of his pain away. Kismet investigates this new creature and her knowledge of nature allows her to determine several useful parts that can be harvested from the creature. She succeeds in getting the lethal beaks and some claws from both along with the armored hide from the larger bulette. The additional useful animal parts area also placed into Easeis's bag of holding.

The party agrees that they need a breather. It is decided to move back into the small room to the west of the southern courtyard area, where Koram plowed through the wall, to set up a quick camp to rest a bit. After an hour to rest, grab some food and water, the party feels a bit better and thinks they are ready to continue their exploration.

383 XP each for the bulette combat. Eilo, Easeis and Kismet now at 5,395, Magar at 5,225, Dour at 5,245, and Koram at 5,530.

As the party is preparing to move back east into the courtyard, a sudden yelping bark comes from back to the west, and the group realizes Eilo's giant hyena is fighting something. The party rushes back through the tunnels and out the secret door in the SW outer wall, immediately seeing Scooby, the giant hyena, locked in combat with an orc.

Magar points at the surprised orc and a fire bolt slams into its chest, burning it. Papi then flies down, distracting the orc momentarily allowing Scooby to lunge forward a clamp its jaws on the orcs face, killing it. The party immediately spreads out and looks around, but no other opponents present themselves. Investigating the orc corpse, the party sees it is dressed in very similar fashion to the war party they recently faced on the road to the north just a couple of days ago. Magar and Kismet send Papi and CoCo to fly a scouting pattern around the ruins. There is a portcullis to the north which appears quiet, but there is also a man door in the north wall where a single orc stands sentry. The owls manage to get a vantage where they can see through parts of the ruined roof and report back that there are also at least 5 more orcs sitting around a campfire. They also hear something large moving about in the far NE part of the ruins. The owls return and the party discusses what to do next. The group could return through the secret door and, if the instructions are correct, might be able to get to Zelligar's cache of wealth without needing to engage the orc or other creatures in the ruined temple.

Eilo, struck by a sudden chaotic impulse, thinks it would be better to head north to the guarded door and engage the orcs. Kismet quickly follows. Dour and Koram look at each other and shrug, Koram then glances at Easeis, who is just looking at the ground and shaking his head. Magar stands behind Easeis and the dwarves waiting to see how they react. With a sigh, Dour begins to head north along the west wall with Koram flanking him. Easeis momentarily thinks about leaving the lunatics he has taken up with, but then just curses and follows the dwarves, Magar a few steps behind him.

The group manages to get to the NW corner of the ruins and, thanks to the owls scouting, know the orc sentry is just around the corner. Along the way Koram and Dour discuss letting the Eilo and Kismet deal with the orc since they are the ones that wanted to start all this. Eilo orders Artichoke the axebeak to engage, but the fuzzball critter misses. Magar sends Papi in to distract the orc. Koram hesitates for a moment, but as he sees the door opening and an orc stepping out to join the first, decides he will have to engage. He snaps a shot off with his heavy crossbow, but it skips of the corner of the stone wall, missing. CoCo, following Papi's example also flutters down around the first orc's face, momentarily disorienting the enemy. Scooby, the giant hyena, clamps his jaws down on the distracted orc's leg, drawing blood. Eilo focuses her hex and then eldritch blasts the orc that Scooby is biting, the beam of force striking the creature and the necrotic energy of her hex then blackening the orcs features as it drops to the ground. Magar moves forward to get line of sight on the second orc and lands a blazing fire bolt on his target. Easeis reluctantly moves forward and points his finger at the second orc, a beam of frost, narrowly missing the opponent. Kismet drops a flaming sphere to the north and rolls it south, ramming the orc and burning it. Dour moves up next to Koram, but has no line of sight on the single remaining orc. The single orc suddenly isn't alone anymore, as a five additional orcs, probably from the campfire, flood out of the doorway. One of the orcs appears larger and better armored than the rest and all carry huge greataxes, which they use to great effect, wounding Scooby and killing Artichoke in the first few seconds after they arrive.

End Session 35 - Top of initiative against the orcs on round 2.

New total XP : Eilo, Easeis and Kismet : 5,395 - Magar : 5,225 - Dour : 5,245 - Koram : 5,530

[Koram]

Session 36 - 4/7/2023 - Orc Combat, More Bad Decisions


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Friday the 14th of Coldeven, afternoon

Start session at the top of round 2 against the orcs.

One of the orcs swings its greataxe, striking Scooby the giant hyena, while a second orc runs back to the east. Papi flutters down around the orc war chiefs head, annoying him momentarily, before flying away. The war chief swats at the owl as he charges Dour, and Koram takes uses the leader's momentary loss of focus to hit the orc with a guiding bolt, lining him in radiant energy. CoCo dives at one of the other orcs, causing it to flinch, and Scooby takes the opportunity to bite down on the orc's thigh. Eilo flies up to 40' and moves her hex over to the most heavily armored orc. She then hits it with an eldritch blast, combining force and necrotic damage on her enemy, and using Grasp of Hadar to lift the orc 10' into the air before dropping him on his back to the ground. Magar runs south 30' away from the melee and drops a flaming sphere, ramming it into the prone orc Eilo just dropped. Easeis twin spells witch bolt, missing the orc fighting Scooby, but a crackling bolt of electricity linking to the orc leader. Kismet casts ice knife and throws it at an orc to the north near Scooby, striking two of the orcs and Scooby with icy shards, one of the orcs dropping from the shrapnel. She then rams her flaming sphere into the other orc, just brushing it with the edge of the fire. Three of the orcs that are surrounding Scooby all swing their greataxes at the giant hyena as it spins and snaps at them. Two of the orcs manage fairly good hits on Scooby, while the third smacks his axe into the dirt. Dour attacks the heavily armored leader, but misses as the orcs rolls to his side trying to get back to his feet. The war chief shoves Koram back 5', and steps forward to get away from the flaming sphere, then slams his greataxe into Koram's shoulder, staggering the dwarf. Muttering a dwarven curse, Koram grits his teeth and shoves the much larger orc right back next to the flaming sphere and stubbornly steps back in the war chief's face. CoCo flies down and skims by the orc leader. Scooby tries to bite the orc standing next to the flaming sphere, but misses. Eilo, casts eldritch blast on the hexed leader, but the beam of force, narrowly misses and blasts a hole into the ground. Magar concentrates a mind sliver at the orc leader, but the large orc seems unaffected, but then rolls his flaming sphere into the leaders back burning him. Easeis focuses on his witch bolt, a surge of electricity shocking the war chief in front of Koram. One of the orcs fighting Scooby manages to land a grazing blow on the giant hyena. Dour steps forward and lands a crushing blow to the war chief with a loud clang like a hammer hitting an anvil. Kismet rams her flaming sphere into one of the orcs, burning it severely. She then tries to cast produce flame, but something strange happens, and her produce flame cantrip doesn't work. Instead, fireflies surround her club, so she runs up and strikes the leader before backing away after the swing. The orc leader takes the opportunity to swing at Kismet, as she hesitantly backs away after her attack, but his greataxe falls short. The two remaining orcs fighting Scooby circle and both attack the hyena, one missing, but the other landing a solid hit, Scooby vanishing in a puff of magic. The orc that Kismet has been burning with her flaming sphere runs forward and slashes her with its greataxe, causing her to gasp in pain, her flaming sphere flickering out of existence. The war chief snarls at Koram, annoyed at being shoved back near the flaming sphere, so it again shoves Koram back. It also tries to hit the dwarf with its greataxe, but the dwarf is ready this time and catches the strike on his shield. As the war chief recoils from having its attack stopped, Koram shoves his shield into the orc and again pushes him back towards the flaming sphere. CoCo swoops down again on the orc leader before zipping back out of reach. As the owl distracts the orc leader, Eilo flies to the NW and lines up perfectly to land another eldritch blast, the force and necrotic damage again hitting the tough orc. The orc was not expecting that Eilo's repositioning also allowed her to pull the orc up and back to the NW, causing him to not only fall, but to land directly in the flaming sphere, killing him. Magar lines up and hits the war chief facing Koram with a fire bolt, scorching him, and then slams his flaming sphere into the orc's back. The war chief screams are cut short as he drops to the ground, his body engulfed in flames. With the target of his witch bolt now dead, Easeis casts a ray of frost at one of the orcs to the north, but the icy beam flies wide as the orc turns to move. Kismet throws a ball of produced flame at the southernmost orc, but misses. The orc furthest to the north runs off to the NE around the corner of the ruins. Dour charges the southern orc, closest to him, and lands an uppercut swing with his maul. The orc counters and lands a slash with its greataxe, crushing into the dwarf's chainmail. Papi dives in and claws at the orc facing Dour, before circling back into the air. Koram utters a prayer of Aid on Kismet, dour and himself, taking a bit of the sting from all their wounds. Eilo shifts her hex to the orc facing Dour, and then fires an eldritch blast, slamming the opponent with the beam of force and watching as the necrotic damage from the hex blackens its face. As a final insult, she lifts the already dead enemy with Grasp of Hadar, and let's its lifeless body slam back to the ground.

250 XP to everyone for the orc battle. Interlude as the party prepares to make another bad decision...

All the visible enemies are down, so Eilo flies up searching from above to try and locate the orc that ran. Dour runs around the corner to the north and through the door the orcs came through in hopes of finding the escaped opponent, but finds only a small empty room with an open door to the south. Kismet, Magar and Easeis also all move to surround the north door. After some quick discussion, the party decides not to pursue any further into the unknown area of the ruins, and to instead return to the secret door in order to find a secure hidden location to rest up. Magar suggests that the orcs may have been carrying something of value or information on why they are here. Koram volunteers to do a quick search of the bodies while the rest of the group begins to head south along the west outer wall of the ruins. Eilo summons her last fuzzball from the Bag of Tricks and gets another axebeak, Artichoke is back. Koram finds nothing of great interest, a greataxe, chain shirt and some coin. Wrapping up his search and dropping the loot into the bag of holding, he suddenly hears more orc voices coming from the northern door. As he turns towards the door and before he can try to move out of sight, a heavily armored orc, the largest the party has seen here, exits the door and immediately charges.

The huge orc swings twice at Koram, but seems a bit off balance, seeing so many of its companions lying dead about the area, and fails to land a hit. Hearing the renewed sounds of combat, the party stops their walk south. CoCo begins flying back to the north. Another orc heading through the north door heaves a javelin at Koram, but it falls short, landing at his feet. Easeis turns up the Torch of M to 90', and then casts vortex warp. Koram feels the familiar spell and waits as Easeis's magic takes effect and he vanishes, only to appear a moment later in the midst of the rest of the party. Papi lands on Magar's shoulder and waits. Koram snaps a shot off with his heavy crossbow, missing his mark and yells to the group asking if the group is standing to fight or moving out. Magar steps up behind Dour and casts a fire bolt at the orc that has advanced south along the wall of the ruins, but the bolt clips the wall and dissipates. Eilo says she is good with continuing the fight, and eldritch blasts the orc leader. Dour says to hold position and draw them in as he fires his heavy crossbow, hitting the orc hugging the east wall. Kismet casts entangle in the path of the approaching enemies. Artichoke charges north towards the orcs. The huge leader and the other orc both charge towards the party. CoCo dive bombs the leader's face as he is charging and his steps falter for a second. Easeis points at the distracted leader and a ray of frost strikes it in the legs, slowing the enemy's movement. Papi just sits on Magar's shoulder and does nothing. The orc following the wall, gets into melee range, winds up, and swings at Kismet, its greataxe just missing the druid. Koram casts toll the dead on the orc facing Kismet, causing it to flinch as necrotic energy rolls over it. The dwarf then summons a spiritual weapon, and the glowing warhammer appears behind the orc, swinging, but missing. Magar drops a flaming sphere behind the orc and then rams it into the orc, engulfing him in fire and killing the surprised enemy. Eilo, hexes the massive leader and hits him with an eldritch blast, the force and necrotic damage seeming to barely bother the tough opponent and Grasp of Hadar drags him 10' closer to the party. Another orc appears from the corner of the ruins and charges. Dour tells Kismet to back up before she gets surrounded and then throws a handaxe at the leader, but it sails high. Poor tactical thinking by the party turns the tide for the worse, as the door to the east on the wall of the ruin, that the party was well aware of, but ignored, slams open to reveal another strong looking orc. It steps to just outside the doorway and slashes its greataxe left, then right, striking Easeis with two brutal cuts, dropping the sorcerer to the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Magar is almost simultaneously hit by a stinging bolt of magical energy from the inside the doorway. Kismet drops a new flaming sphere and slams it into the leader, but he barely flinches as the fire scorches him. Artichoke charges and tries to peck the leader with its beak, but the hit bounces harmlessly off the leader's armor.

End Session 36 - Top of round 3 and things are looking not great for the party. Easeis and Koram begin working on replacement characters...

New total XP : Eilo, Easeis and Kismet : 5,645 - Magar : 5,475 - Dour : 5,495 - Koram : 5,780

[Koram]

Session 37 - 4/21/2023 - Second Orc Combat, That Never Should have Happened


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

Friday the 14th of Coldeven, afternoon

Start session at the top of round 3 against the orcs.

One of the orcs moves in to attack Artichoke, and with two swings of its greataxe, the axebeak disappears in a puff of magical smoke. Papi and CoCo both dive in to try and distract two different orcs before swooping up and away before getting attacked. A second orc moves forward and manages to strike Dour with a slash from its greataxe. Koram steps up and clips the orc facing Dour with his warhammer, the orcs momentary grin at the glancing hit wiped from its face as Koram's spiritual weapon smashes into the back of its head, dropping the orc to the ground. Magar rolls his flaming sphere into the largest of the orc leaders, scorching the brute, before scampering up his rope trick into an extradimensional pocket and pulling the rope up behind him. Eilo focuses and a flash of healing light covers Easeis, shaking his head as he awakens on the ground. Eilo then darts to the side, again lining up with the flaming sphere and the largest orc. She unleashes an eldritch blast striking the leader with the beam of force and extra necrotic damage from her hex, and pulls the growling enemy up off the ground and dropping him into one of the flaming spheres. The orc leader yells in pain as he falls through the fire and hits the ground hard, landing in a crouch. A fresh enemy orc charges in from the north, and grins as he lands a heavy slash on Kismet, who just manages to hold her concentration on the flaming sphere. The orc's grin turns into a grimace of pain as he realizes that he stopped to close to Magar's flaming sphere and is burned by the fire. Koram catches a glimpse of an orc inside the eastern door casting a spell his way, but he manages to resist the effect and the caster snarls as it steps out of sight. Dour rushes at the large orc blocking the eastern door, hammering the enemy with his maul and then whipping the massive hammer around, landing a second staggering blow to the tough enemy. The orc bares its fangs at Dour, but instead of striking back at him, he surprises Koram, and almost knocks him out with a backhanded slash of his greataxe. Thankfully, Koram reacts in time to catch the second swing on his shield. Kismet, scrambling wildly to avoid being hit, runs south back towards the rest of the party. She then turns and slams her flaming sphere into the orc that just charged her, flames rolling up the orc's back. The massive orc leader advances towards the group and slams his greataxe into Kismet, tearing through a gap in her armor with a gush of blood and she falls dizzily to the ground. He then turns and swings at Koram, but the strike rings off the dwarf's heavier armor. Easeis staggers to his feet, and zig zags south away from the melee. Papi dives at the orc blocking the door, distracting it for a moment. One of the orcs to the north pulls a javelin and throws it at Eilo's hovering form, grazing the fairy. Koram calls on Moradin and channels the divine power given to him, healing himself and also helping Kismet to regain her senses. He also mentally moves his spiritual weapon and tries to hit the large orc blocking the door, but misses. Magar slides a few feet out of his rope trick space and casts a fire bolt at the orc guarding the door, the cantrip lightly burning the target. He then rolls his flaming sphere at the orc along the wall to the north, and engulfs the target in flames, dropping its smoking corpse to the ground. Eilo fires an eldritch blast beam at the orc leader, then pulls the enemy 10' into the air with Grasp of Hadar before dropping him painfully to the ground. She then spins in the air and a flash of healing light rolls over Kismet. The orc caster in the room to the east pops out again and fires a bolt of magical energy that skims by Koram, just missing the dwarf. Dour slams his maul into the orc guarding the door, hoping to finally take the brute down with all the punishment it has absorbed, but even though he lands another solid hit, the orc seems to still be standing strong. Dour then takes a moment to survey the battle and catch his breath. The orc blocking the door suddenly steps away from his blocking position and crushes his greataxe into Koram, knocking the cleric unconscious.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure, smaller and faster than the orcs, appears from the doorway and strikes at Dour three times in rapid succession, landing two stinging thrusts on the dwarf. Kismet regains her feet and quickly moves to use a healing potion on Koram, waking the unconscious dwarf, and then she runs to the west away from the swirling melee. The massive orc leader, Shaddrack, runs up and tries to stomp on Koram's still prone form before he can get to his feet, but the agile dwarf rolls and avoids the attacks. CoCo dives at Shaddrack, trying to distract the massive orc leader. Easeis casts a witch bolt at Shaddrack, but the bolt of electricity zips by and misses as Easeis falls back south 30'. Papi flutters down around the head of the large orc that had been blocking the door, momentarily grabbing its attention. Using some quick footwork, Koram manages to skirt out of being surrounded and manages to reposition himself north of the leader with no other orcs in melee range. He also commands his spiritual weapon to arc around and hammer the large orc that had been blocking the door, landing a solid strike, but the orc still remains standing. Magar again pops out of his rope trick space and tries to fire bolt Shaddrack, but swinging on the rope causes the cantrip to fly wide. He does manage to roll his flaming sphere and glance it off the orc chasing Kismet to the west before climbing back up into the extradimensional space, out of harms way. Eilo casts an eldritch blast at the large orc that had been guarding the door, but misses. A similar looking eldritch blast beam comes from the orc caster just inside the eastern door and it just barely misses Dour. As the beam tears past him, the dwarf spins and slams his maul into the door guard, staggering, but still not dropping the hardy foe. Dour then quickly downs a potion of healing from his belt. Shaking his head, the large orc returns two strikes with its greataxe back at Dour. He catches Dour just as he is finishing the healing potion, both strikes landing and the second sends the dwarf spinning to the ground, unconscious. The orc chasing Kismet catches up and lands two swings with its greataxe, pitching the bleeding druid face first into the mud, out of the fight. Shaddrack turns to north and swings twice at Koram, but the dwarf dodges one swing and catches the second on his shield, aggravating the massive orc leader. The one remaining orc to the north charges Koram, its greataxe ringing against the dwarf's armor, but causing no damage. The orc that knocked Kismet out charges Koram from the west, and manages to land a grazing slash across the battered dwarf's shield arm. Koram quickly scans the battle field and sees the dire straits the party is in, so he sends one last mental command to his spirit weapon, causing it to smash into the door guard orc, finally killing the tough enemy. He then looks at the surrounding enemies and drops his warhammer in surrender, hoping to keep the orcs occupied so some of the group can escape and regroup. Magar slams his sphere into the orc to Koram's west and also lands a fire bolt, both burning the orc, but leaving it standing.

Eilo flies to Easeis, who is grasping the bag of holding that contains the Aspect of Pelor. As Eilo gets close, Easeis throws the bag to Eilo and tells her to get away. Eilo hesitates for a moment looking back at her friends, focuses a quick burst of healing light on Dour, and then puts on a burst of speed, flying to the south. Shaddrack, still frustrated at not being able to kill the puny dwarf before him, attacks Koram again, but once more cannot land an effective hit, practically driving the orc into a rage. The cloaked figure, possibly human, barks for Shaddrack to stand down, and then orders Koram to tell Magar to surrender or all will be killed. Easeis walks back to the north with his arms at his sides in surrender as Koram yells up to Magar that the party is outmatched and cannot survive this fight. Magar pokes his head out of the rope trick and yells down that he will agree to surrender if the cloaked leader can get his troops under control. Dour staggers to his feet and surrenders with Koram and Easeis. The orc caster appears from the eastern door, his hands glowing with a readied spell, and orders Magar to drop his spells. Shaddrack, red faced and shaking draws his greataxe back and snarls at Koram, debating another strike, but holds at the last moment. Magar reluctantly slides down from his rope trick and dismisses his flaming sphere.

The cloaked leader orders Shaddrack and the remaining orcs to disarm, bind and blindfold the party. Eilo manages to escape to the south, and even though the cloaked leader and Shaddrack ask about the missing fairy, the group manages to deflect those questions. It goes pretty smoothly as Easeis simply asks the party's captors if they have ever had to deal with a chaotic fairy before. As the party is led away, Eilo makes it back to the secret door and goes into hiding.

End Session 37 - The party has been taken captive, except for Eilo. Below is Eilo's adventure notes and the in character Discord that occurred between Sessions 37 and 38.

Total XP : Eilo, Easeis and Kismet : 5,645 - Magar : 5,475 - Dour : 5,495 - Koram : 5,780

Eilo's Adventure:

Eilo zips through the secret door, making sure it is securely closed behind her and heads back up the tunnels looking for a good spot where she can hide up in the rafters of a ruined room to get some rest. Finally locating a likely spot in the abandoned rooms just north of the secret door, she plunks down against Easeis's bag of holding and tries to rest as her heart rate returns to normal.

Seemingly right after she falls asleep, the fairy is awakened by a sharp whisper, "Eilo, Eilo, wake up!" As Eilo's eyes pop open and her heart rate jumps back to hummingbird speed, she sees Periwinkle Lightfoot just below her in the dim light.

Periwinkle, seeing the fairy flinch awake whispers, "We don't have a lot of time, if you want to save your friends, we have to move!"

Eilo replies, "You followed us all this way? And you're not mad at us?"

"No! Well, yes. I am a bit miffed about splitting treasure, but not enough to see you all condemned to slavery or death. I suggest we don't think about it too much or I might snap out of it and flee for my life.", Periwinkle answers. "Yes, I followed you - and we can get into why later if you want, but we don't have much time. Those slavers aren't going to sit on your friends for long."

"Slavers They're going to sell them?!?!", a shocked Eilo exclaims.

Periwinkle impatiently says, "Yes, you stumbled into slave traders, but they will want to move your guys out quickly and they will probably abandon this site."

"Where should we go? Do you have a plan? Did rainbow Unicorn send you to me?", Eilo rapid fires questions at Periwinkle.

Periwinkle states matter of factly, "We need to sneak in and free them, I know where they are, but we have to act quickly. I don't know about your Rainbow Unicorn, I'm not even sure why I'm helping you, so we should go before I come to my senses."

Eilo responds, "Gosh Periwinkle, I don't know why you're helping me either, but I promise you now that I will repay this debt, if we make it out alive. Let's go!"

As they begin moving, Eilo asks, "How do you know where they are being held?", to which Periwinkle replies flatly, "Because this is where they sold me from."

Eilo gasps, "Periwinkle! Oh no!", before giving the halfling a hug. Periwinkle hugs Eilo back awkwardly and sighs, "You are a sweet little thing. Quietly now, follow me, and nothing bright, flashy or loud please."

Eilo says, "All right. Periwinkle, I'm placing my life in your hands. Lead on."

Periwinkle leads Eilo outside after listening at the secret door and opening it just a crack to peer outside. "All clear", she tells Eilo opening the door and then closing it behind you. She begins moving quite silently along the southern wall and stops at the corner to peer around it. Periwinkle and Eilo both can hear some talking, can't quite make it out, but sounds like it might be orcish. Periwinkle whispers to Eilo, "Can you see in the dark?"

Eilo replies, "No, I can cast light, but that seems like a bad idea. Can I just sit on your shoulder?

Eilo can just see well enough to see Periwinkle nod in agreement. "Hold on tight, we might have to get rough with these guys." Eilo is able to perch on Periwinkle's shoulder, hanging onto the pauldrons of her leather armor pretty securely. The halfling moves north in the direction of the voices. It takes only a moment to cover the ground when she stops and crouches down.

"Two of them.", Periwinkle whispers to Eilo, "They're probably out here looking for you. We can probably get past them easily enough, but then they might come up behind us. I think we should eliminate them quickly and quietly right now."

"Should we draw them away from the others?", asks Eilo.

Periwinkle shakes her head negatively. "We don't want to raise the alarm. Your friends are below the old temple in the old crypts, there are no guards on these walls - I think we can take these two out and get in without being seen. I hope. You with me?"

"I'm really scared Periwinkle." Eilo examines Periwinkle closely looking for signs of deception or anything else off, but genuinely thinks Periwinkle is trying to help.

Periwinkle stops for a moment, nodding, "Yeah, we are in a bad spot... and we could get caught or worse. These are just two dipshit guards, not the big guys. We can handle it."

Eilo nods back, "Ok, but let's try to stay quiet."

Periwinkle creeps forward in the darkness, moving around behind the voices. Eilo can't see them, but clearly the halfling can. Again, she moves in complete and utter silence. In an instant, she is behind one of the orcs, before he has a chance to realize anything is happening, she strikes him quickly, three times, and the guard falls dead to the ground. The other is so surprised, he is simple standing there with his jaw hanging open. He regains his composure and manages to land a grazing slice on Periwinkle's arm. Eilo casts hex and eldritch blast in quick succession, and the second guard joins the first on the ground.

Periwinkle exhales in relief... "That could have been worse. Nice job."

Eilo asks, "Are you hit badly?"

"I've had worse.", she laughs, "Not that axes ever tickle."

"Are you ready to move on?"

The halfling replies, "Absolutely, let's move."

The pair travel along the western wall cautiously and silently. Around the corner at the northern end of the temple they come upon the small guard post area Eilo remembers from the fight a few hours ago. The door is ajar and a candle flockers within. After listening for a few moments, Periwinkle approaches and both the halfling and fairy peer through, and, seeing nothing, advance through that room to another door. The pair repeat the process again at the next two doors, with the third opening into an open air courtyard that was once a graveyard, with a large crypt just inside the doorway.

"This is the way down," Periwinkle says, pointing to the crypt.

"Let's go.", Eilo states grimly, holding tightly to the halfling's pauldrons.

The pair descend a long dark set of stairs. It's deep, whatever it is, but finally they reach the bottom and their noses are assaulted with the ghastly odor of fetid, rotting flesh.

Eilo casts comprehend languages on herself as they reach the bottom of the stairs.

Periwinkle moves slowly and quietly, too slow for Eilo's liking, but is being very careful and quiet. After bearing to the right, the pair follows a roughly hewn cavern wall for about 30', before bearing right again in a similar passage for another 80' or so to an iron gate. It is locked, but Periwinkle crouches down, produces a set of elaborate tools, and deftly opens the locks very quickly. "Nearly there.", she says. "Eilo, are you watching our route, can you remember it? Just in case?"

Eilo casts encode thoughts to remember the path perfectly. "Yes, I'll definitely remember it."

Periwinkle nods, moving the gate very slowly... even so it creaks a bit. Eilo prepares to cast druidcraft in case the gate creaks further so she can cover the noise with the sound of screeching mice. Periwinkle nods just past the gate, the tunnel breaking away to the northeast and northwest. Nodding towards the northeast tunnel, Periwinkle whispers, "Make sure you don't go that way."

"What's down that way?", Eilo asks.

"Bossman and his witch."

The pair travels another 60' or so of rough cavernlike tunnel when it suddenly smooths out to regular, carved walls and floor. The passage here would be narrow to most, but the halfling and fairy have plenty of room to move. The hallway ends at the top of a stairway, from here Eilo sees light illuminating the bottom of the stairs, and thinks that she can even see someone, possibly Kismet, in a cage at the bottom.

Periwinkle points to the bottom of the stairs and motions for Eilo to stay quiet. "We have to see if they're all here. I'll start opening locks and you start looking for all their gear."

The halfling rogue creeps down the stairs quietly, peering around the corner. Eilo can hear some voices from much deeper in the room, maybe even the rough chortle of an orc. Periwinkle holds up her hand, indicating that Eilo should wait...

After a few breaths, Periwinkle waves Eilo forward, whispering as the fairy gets close, "Be ready to hide if you need to..."

In Character Discord:

Koram (to DM) - Even though we were blindfolded to be moved to the prison, do we have an idea of how far we went? Left and right turns?
With cartography and my background feature: Wanderer, would I be able to estimate the general area in the temple ruins we were taken? Looks like there are stairs in the prison, were we taken below ground?

Lasarian (DM) — You were outside probably 40 or 50 paces, took a right turn and heard doors being shut behind you in rapid success, 1, 2 and 3. You were then precariously guided down a very long set of stairs - even if the rest of the group didn't have the sense they were being led underground, the two dwarves know it for certain.

At the bottom of the stairs the ground became uneven and roughly hewn, you were turned right and at this point meandered somewhat but were struck by an overwhelming smell of rot and decay shortly after turning, you were marched for another 40 or 50 paces, stopped for a moment when you heard an iron gate or door being opened, then marched for another 20 or 30 paces to a set of stairs going down. Here there was another pause during which you heard some brief conversion:

"Over there for now."
and "It won't be long."

You heard a few more doors opening and closing and the distinct sound of keys and locks being engaged.

After a few moments you were guided to your individual cells where you find yourselves now. It is around 10:00 PM, you surrendered about 30 minutes ago.

The fetid smell of death is much less here. The air is dank, you can faintly hear dripping and running water. The room you are in is lit by two oil lamps one on the south wall, one on the north that is spluttering and dimmer and clearly needs refilling.

On both the north and south end of the room is a set of stairs going up, although the northern stair is much wider. There are two doors on the east wall.

There are six other prisoners with you in these cages, although one is most certainly dead. They all appear to be human, although one might be half-elven, that's Theron. The others are Jasper, Annabel, Hunter, Soshi (dead?), Theron and Jess.

The last sight of your captors you have is the human with the short swords, the female orc caster and Shaddrack, exiting the room to the north going up the stairs.

The human male says, to Shaddrack, "Bring one over to the shop, let's have a word."

Eilo/Stel (OOC) - I didn't think there would be shopping here. Maybe things are looking up?

Koram - Not sure about the others, but right after taking in the general layout of the prison, Koram is going to hit the comfy stone floor and try to rest. Short or long rest depending on time we are allowed.

Easeis - Ditto

Lasarian (DM) - Within 30 minutes Shaddrack reappears from the northern stairs and quickly surveys the cages before deciding on Easeis. He opens the gate to Easeis's cell and motions for him to follow:

“Let’s go, Spooky. Boss wants a word.” He says, laughing.

Easeis (to himself and the DM) - He better watch out. A sorcerer without spell slots and sorcery points is a dangerous creature.
Wait, not dangerous. The other thing... Helpless.

Easeis has been in the waiting room for hours.

Lasarian (DM) - Actually, it's the barber shop.

"Lead the way," Easeis says spookily.

Koram quietly chuckles if he hears the exchange.

Once Eilo thinks she’s cleared the corner of the temple, she turns east and makes her way back slowly to the secret door. Shutting herself in, she sits quietly in the dark and cries for her friends, especially Kismet who was still motionless and bloody when Eilo flew away.

She prays to Rainbow Unicorn for guidance, and to watch over her friends. She snuggles into the side of the bag of holding, which smells vaguely of mildew and anger, and tries to sleep.

Lasarian (DM) - Easeis, you are led from your cell, which Shaddrack leaves open to the set of stairs in the northern corner of the room, they ascend roughly 10' to a landing where you can see another narrower stair continues into the darkness above and an open corridor adjacent to it.

You are pushed along through the "tunnel" to a small room beyond, roughly 15 ' x 25' - waiting for you there is the Boss and the female orc caster. An empty chair awaits you and a thin, sickly looking orc with a pair of shears.

The human greets you: "Welcome! Time for a trim", he announces, and you are summarily seated while the orc butchers your hair until you close-cropped... albeit patchy and scruffy.

While you are having your hair cut, the human begins asking you questions: "Who are you? Where are you from? Did someone send you? Does anyone know you are here? How did you find us? What were you looking for?"

Human Leader - Who are you?
Easeis - To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?

Human Leader - "I'll be asking the questions, thank you.", he replies.

Easeis - Sigh

Human Leader - "Who are you?"
Easeis - "I don't rightly know my name anymore. You can call me Spooky."

Human Leader - "Where are you from?"
Easeis - "The coast. Although, most recently the city of Greyhawk."

Human Leader - "Did somebody send you?"
Easeis - "No, we came here of our own volition."

Human Leader - "Does anyone know you are here?"
Easeis - "Yes."

Human Leader - "How did you find us?"
Easeis - "Were you hiding? This structure is gigantic, it isn't exactly inconspicuous."

Human Leader - "What were you looking for?"
Easeis - "What is anybody looking for really? We were looking for a roof on the trip between Pascorel and Safeton before heading up the coast."

Lasarian (DM) - He is smiling as he listens.

Human Leader - "Greyhawk, you say? That's not good news. You could have found shelter along the road, surely... You are making for the coast through the swamps, that makes no sense to me."
Easeis - "The last two times we took the roads we were attacked by large bands of bandits and an orc war party. We're done with the road."

Lasarian (DM) - As you are speaking the orc butchering your hair says something in orcish and grabs your left earlobe. This attracts the attention of both the human and female orc caster.
They are both looking very closely at the back of your ear for a moment.
"Unbelievable.", the human says. "A repeat customer."

Easeis - "In fact, between two attacks, we were attacked by a fireplace. I'm very popular."

Lasarian (DM) - They continue speaking in orcish, basically ignoring you now. There appears to be some kind of debate among them.

Easeis (in his own head) - "Zelligar, do you speak orcish?"

Lasarian (DM) - Sorry, he does not. Abyssal, Celestial, Elvish.
The human turns to you, apparently the debate is over... for now. "Nice to meet you. Again, apparently. Bulg will return you to your cell now."

Easeis - "Bulge and Shitrock. Orcs sure do have interesting names."

Lasarian (DM) - Shaddrack claps you across the back of the head for that, but your barber ignores it and escorts you back to your cell.
As you are being led away you can hear them continue to debate, it is becoming more heated and the human is dropping some common in, maybe by mistake. "This place is burned, we have to go... first light."
There is some more raised voices in orcish to which the human retorts, "How would I know what she does with them?"

Easeis (to Shitrock) - "Boss seems on edge. Anything we can help with? We're very helpful."

Lasarian (DM) - Shaddrock remained behind to argue, your escort is currently Bulg.

Bulg - "Quiet you," he replies, pushing you into your cage. "Boss wants you alive, but that don't mean I can't beat some sense into you."

Lasarian (DM) - You can hear them for another moment or two, but it is clear they are arguing and walking farther away.

Easeis (to Bulg) - "I can assure you that beating me will not increase my sense."

Lasarian (DM) - He actually laughs. "You're a funny one, Spooky. Nice haircut you got there!", he says, locking your cell and walking away toward the stairs.

Easeis - "Have a nice night Bulge."

Lasarian (DM) - You are now alone in your cells.

Easeis (to everyone) - "The boss is spooked, seems like we've ruined their hideout, and they plan on moving at first light."

Koram - Still lying on the floor trying to get in at least a short rest. "Any other details 'bout the captors or conversation we aughtta know 'bout? Oh, and yer spooky voice was well played."

Easeis - "Well, they like hair cuts. Shitrock and the human seem to be in charge. Bulge cuts hair. The orc mage lady didn't say much. They didn't really ask me much, but it was enough to spook them that their hideout is compromised. Didn't get a name for the mage or the human."

Koram - "Yup, didn't want to comment on the haircut. If they try ta cut my beard, I'm blasting someone. Damn the consequences. If they come get any of the rest of us, anything we should say ta match yer responses?"

Easeis - "Not really. I told them my name is Spooky. We came here of our own will, and yes, somebody knows we're here."

Koram - "Ok, sounds good. If they come get me, just gonna play dumb and say I'm not in charge and just go where I'm told. Nice ta meet ya, Spooky. Technically, several folks know we're here. Good answer."

Koram and Easeis discuss several possible plans for escaping.

Lasarian (DM) - There are some small noises coming from the southern end of the room. Only Kismet and Jess can actually see what's going on, they both look around quickly, making sure the orcs have gone.

Eilo appears.

There is another, cloaked dark figure with her, about the size of a halfling. It is going to the two doors along the east wall first and appears to be attempting to pick the locks.

Easeis lays down. "If its all the same to you, I could use some shut eye."

Lasarian (DM) - You hear some faint clicking noises and one of the doors swings open. The halfling waves at Eilo, moving to the next door.

Eilo moves down the line, whispering to the captives to stay quiet and be ready to move.

Eilo flies over to Easeis and whispers, "What happened to your head? Are you doing penance? This isn't a good time for that."

Eilo flies down the length of the dungeon and flies back, stopping at Koram. "Is your stuff in here, or somewhere else?" she whispers.

Koram - "No idea where they took our stuff." Pointing at Easeis, "They took Spooky fer questioning, but from what he said, sounded like they spent more time arguin' than askin' him anything other than general info."
"Oh, and they gave him a haircut."
Koram tries to see if the halfling sized figure looks familiar. When the figure gets close, "That wouldn't be you Periwinkle, now would it?"

Lasarian (DM) - She turns, pulling her hood down making a “shush” gesture, but yes it is clearly Periwinkle.

Eilo surreptitiously sniffs Easeis to see if he smells like rotting fish.

Koram - "Well shave me beard... Not really, just sayin."

Lasarian (DM) - In moments Periwinkle has the other door opened and comes around to start unlocking cages. “Eilo,” she hisses, “Watch the stairs.” She points north.

Eilo flies to the northwest corner behind Dour and watches up the stairs.

Koram (to DM) - I'll watch the best I can from my cage as well, and listen for anything other than the lockpicking noises.

Eilo flies up near the ceiling at the southern edge of the stairs, peeking around the corner to get a better view. She's ready to pop backwards if she sees or hears anything.

Lasarian (DM) - She’s starting from the far north of the room so Dour first, then Jasper, Annabel, Easeis, etc
It will take her about 10 minutes to open all of the doors.
When she releases Dour she tells him to look for your gear.

Eilo (to Dour) - "Try the doors to the east."

Koram (to DM for a clarification) - Eilo and Periwinkle enter from the southern stairs?

Lasarian (DM) - Yes

Eilo (to DM) - Does Eilo see or hear anything?

Easeis (comment) - I'm in the middle cell in the back row. I have the worst view.

Lasarian (DM) - Some talking, very faintly, probably through a door and pretty far away.

Eilo (to DM) - Can I understand what they're saying?

Lasarian (DM) - No, too distant, too muffled.
Within 5 minutes the cages for Dour, Jasper, Annabel, Easeis and Magar are opened. Perwinkle goes to the cell holding Soshi, she pauses, looking around. "This one looks dead.", she whispers.

Eilo - "Keep going then."

Lasarian (DM) - Periwinkle skips that cell and moves on to Koram's.

Eilo (to everyone) - "I'll see if I can heal her."
Eilo flies into Soshi's cage and checks her for any signs of life.

Lasarian (DM) - She is as close to death as she can be without actually being dead.
She is unconscious.

Eilo - I use Healing Light to try and wake her.

Lasarian (DM) - Ok...

Eilo - As soon as she opens her eyes, I whisper, "Stay quiet, we're getting you out of here."

Lasarian (DM) - Periwinkle looks a little exasperated, but returns to that cell and picks the lock, returning to open the cell doors for the rest 5 minutes later.
It is now about 11:45, you are all free from your cells, and Dour has found your gear in a pile that looks like it was quite literally just thrown into the room just east of your cells.

Eilo (to DM) - Is it just our gear, or are there other weapons we can give the others?

Lasarian (DM) - Just your gear, they probably already plundered and picked through everyone else's stuff. Your gear was next.
Although, probably not until morning, you're not the only one's needing a long rest.

Koram - (to everyone) - "Well call me a bearded goblin. This is just... Thank you Moradin, and thank you little Eilo and friend Periwinkle."

Eilo (to DM) - I give my two daggers, handaxe and quarterstaff to the others. Better they have something than nothing.

Koram (to everyone) - "Gear up, folks!"

Lasarian (DM) - Periwinkle starts gesticulating madly, "Get your shit and let's go.", she says as loudly as she dares, pointing up the southern stairs.

Koram (to everyone) - "Get a move on people."

Eilo flies over and gives Koram a hug around his beard. "Can you see in the dark my friend? I have a map of the way out, we'll lead the way."

Lasarian (DM) - Are you grabbing and going or are you suiting up and then going? Armor takes a good 10 minutes to don if I'm not mistaken. Although clearly Periwinkle is urging you to move out now.

Eilo (to everyone) - "Armor is clanky. The faster and quieter we can leave the better."

Lasarian (DM) - Two of the captives will need help walking, if you intend to assist them it will slow two of you down. You might get a person on either side and you will move quicker but it will be tight in a few places.

Eilo (to herself) - I'm going to smell like the most delicious gods-damned brownies after this

Information - 1 minute light armor, 5 minutes medium and 10 minutes heavy

Koram (responding to Eilo) - "I see just fine in the dark and I'm our map dwarf."

Eilo (to everyone) - "I'm useless to help anyone, but I'll be at the front listening and guiding."

Koram (to DM) - Grabbing gear, only equip weapon and shield. Any loose gear we are not equipping, just stuff into the Bags of Holding for now and move. That's my take at least.

Lasarian (DM) - Moving as quickly as you can, Eilo and Koram you both estimate you can reach the surface within just a few minutes, even slowed by the captives.
Assuming you don't get caught, of course.

Eilo (to DM) - I want Periwinkle up at the front with me and Koram.

Lasarian (DM) - She is currently at the back of the pack shuffling people up the stairs.

Easeis (to everyone) - "Periwinkle should be at the back. She's the only person here who is rested."

Koram - "Agreed, if she's good with covering rearguard."

Eilo - "She's very scary and in a good way. Wherever she'll do the most good."

Koram (to DM) - If there is a weak person, especially with no darkvision, they can grab my shoulders and sort of lean over and I'll walk and drag them along.

Lasarian (DM) - The group stealth check doesn't go so well, but fortunately, there's really no one nearby to hear you. There's some stumbling by the captives and some suppressed coughing, but you wend your way through the natural caverns past the sound of dripping and running water toward the fetid smell of death and the iron gate which has been left open.
Most of the captives are human, so no dark vision.
Your not sure about Theron, he might be half-elven.

Eilo - "I think we're almost there, just a little farther."

Koram - "Ruck up and keep movin'."

Lasarian (DM) - You go through the iron gate, avoiding the other corridor behind you that leads to the north east. This passage opens into a larger cavern that smells worse than any area here so far. Those with darkvision can see some low shapes moving in the darkness in the many branches of the cavern leading away. Your route is a hard right and slightly uphill.
Away from the cavern and away from whatever was slithering along the floor in it.
No more than 30' from the cavern there is a sudden gap in the northern wall and a long set of stairs leading upward.

Eilo - "Up we go! We're almost there. Stay strong everyone," Eilo whispers.

Koram - Stop and check to make sure the gangs all here and continue. No one left behind.

Lasarian (DM) - It takes a bit longer than you thought, the stairs are long and steep and the other captives are weak and can't see, but finally you reach the surface.
You're kind of spread out a bit, without stopping for a headcount, looks like everyone is accounted for.

The surface is the very small interior of a crypt, the door to which has been left open, that small structure sits inside a courtyard that was once a graveyard back when this was a temple. There is an open door on the north wall and through it you can see through past the small guardhouse and outside. There is no roof in this location, you are looking up at the sky.

Everyone is up, everyone is out. Periwinkle says, "We should get away from the temple as quickly as possible."

Eilo - "Let's get back to the secret door and rest. We saw patrols around the perimeter wall, there might be more out looking for me."

Periwinkle shakes her head. "I think you should get as far from here as you can."

Koram - "Once they realize we've escaped, they might send patrols ta search the entire temple and find us."

Eilo - "Not if we leave tracks heading west."

Koram - "Stalkara Estates east controlled by orcs, Pascorel west safe haven. Sulafrait to the south also controlled by Pascorel and maybe the closest safe haven. Just some thoughts from my maps and notes."
"Easeis, did you tell them where we were supposedly headed?"

Lasarian (DM) - Theron and Jess say they are from Pascorel.

Koram (to DM info. request) - Based on our maps, are we closer to Sulafrait or Pascorel? Thinking closest safe haven and then get these people home.

Lasarian (DM) - Pascorel is probably a full day, day and a half march, Stalkara maybe 8-10 hours. Castle Sulafrait is probably 6 - 8 hours away. The terrain is difficult.

Koram - (to everyone) - "Stalkara was orc controlled based on our notes, so that's a no go to the east. Sulafrait supposedly controlled by Pascorel and closest safe location based on what we know."

Koram - "Easeis, did you tell them where we were supposedly headed?"

Easeis - "I told them we were going to Safeton, and then up the coast."

Koram - "I vote we push fer Sulafrait. It's basically due south, and if they believe Easeis, they think we're headed east or northeast."

Lasarian (DM) - I'll need to know where you are marshaling up in relation to the exit from the caverns below and how long you are planning wherever that is.

Koram - "I vote we move at least a half mile or so south, maybe stop and gear up, then push for Sulafrait. Only 6-8 hours away by my reckoning of our maps. Unless we get surrounded by a wagonload o' the orc leadership, we should be able ta punch through."

Eilo - "South sounds good to me." As soon as we get far enough away from the temple, I cast Light on myself so the others can see the way.

Koram - "Dour and I can help support the worst o' the wounded, and just set them down if we have ta engage."

Eilo (to DM) - Whenever we stop Eilo casts Make Noms! and hands out sugary snacks to everyone.

Koram (to DM) - Will keep the Guidance cantrip on myself as best I can as we are moving to enhance perception.

Eilo checks in on Soshi who was almost dead. "We'll have you safely home soon sister."

Soshi smiles weakly. “I’m just glad to out of there. You saved me!”

Eilo kisses her on the forehead. "We're saving each other."

Lasarian (DM) - Takes you about 30 minutes to travel a half mile. The terrain is difficult, it’s dark and you are assisting the wounded and weak.

Koram (to DM) - Have everyone stop and be as quiet as possible. With guidance up, would like to listen for any signs of movement. If nothing, we can gear up and I'll continue to scan for anything moving.

Eilo (to DM) - What time is it?

Lasarian (DM) - Maybe about 1:30 in the morning

Eilo - (to DM) - What time is dawn?

Lasarian (DM) - You would ask that. 5:36 am, it is cloudy, the moons are each 2/3 full. It is 59 degrees.

Eilo (to DM) - I would. I tell Koram that we might want to risk a short rest, since I can pull three tribbles at dawn. With luck, I'll get at least one that one of the wounded can ride.

Koram - "I like the short rest idea, but still think distance might be the better option. If they are in a standard spiral search pattern lookin' fer us, drastically less chance we run into a patrol the further away we get. Too hard to cover a large area in several directions by sending patrols straight out, unless ye have a ton o' manpower."

Lasarian (DM response to Koram Perception) - Koram, you notice someone is missing.

Koram (to DM) - Head count to figure out which person is missing, and look to see if there are any tracks heading away from where we were gearing up.

Lasarian (DM) - Takes you about two seconds to figure out: Periwinkle
You don’t see any obvious tracks

Koram - "What in th' heck? Hey Eilo, did ya see Periwinkle split off from us? Easeis, did you?"

Eilo (to DM) - Did I see anything?

Koram (to everyone) - "Anyone see the little lockpicking halfling disappear?"

Lasarian (DM) - No one witnessed her departure

Koram - "Up ta everyone if ye want to try fer a rest this close. My vote is we need ta get at least a few miles out afore we would be safe ta rest fer an hour without a spiral patrol pattern potentially finding us."

Eilo (to everyone) - "I owe her a great debt. Well, we all do, but I really do. The terrain doesn't bother me and I had a rest. Here, take my bag of tribbles and take three out at dawn. I'll be back as soon as I can. I think you should keep moving for a while longer."

Koram (to Eilo) - "Where are ye going?"

Eilo - "To find Periwinkle. If she wants to leave that's fine, but if she's in trouble I'm going to help her. I can fly twice as fast as you can walk in this terrain, I should be able to find her, unless she doesn't want to be found."

Koram - "Ye can't see in the dark, ya silly butterfly, yer not a bat. Seemed like she was in the best shape outta everyone, and if all these weakened captives made it this far, how would we not a heard something happen ta her at the snail's pace we were moving. If yer going, then I am too. At least I kin see in the dark."

Eilo starts to cry. "I know if Periwinkle wanted to stay silent, she would, and none of us would hear her leave. But I doubted her and she saved us all. These people are weak and need your strength. If Periwinkle... if I can just..."

Koram - "Compromise, ye fly straight back the way we came, but only a couple hundred feet and I'll walk back that way at the same time. Dour, Magar and Kismet can see in the dark and continue straight south with the others. They're moving pretty slowly and we can catch up."

Koram (to DM) - Get a map bearing on a constellation or the moon if it's out and show the group how to stay headed the right way on the map.

Lasarian (DM) - Stars aren’t really visible but you can see the moons behind the clouds.

Koram (to DM) - Understood. Enough reference for basic "keep the moons to your left and you are heading basically south" type of thing?

Lasarian (DM) - Yeah, you’re not navigating any oceans like this, but you can dead reckon a direction.

Koram - "We all owe Periwinkle big time, and we honestly treated 'er poorly the last time she were doin' 'er best ta help us. I'll atone fer that, but us gettin' captured or killed ain't the answer. Short search, then we head south, get safe, and lick our wounds. We come back after and look more thoroughly fer her, and try ta recover the M-Torch for Easeis too."

Eilo tugs on Koram's beard in excitement. "Thank you! Come on, let's hurry."

Lasarian (DM) - Eilo can probably make it back to the temple flying in about 15 minutes

Koram - "Yer call Eilo, I'll walk back a ways with ye ta look, but think Periwinkle is just good at vansihin' when she wants."

Eilo - "I know, I just want to be sure the vanishing in on her terms."

Koram (to DM) - Were we able to re-arm fully?

Lasarian (DM) - Absolutely

Koram (to DM) - Unless anyone objects, send the group due south. Eilo can fly as far north looking as she wants, and I'll walk back north a couple of hundred feet with guidance looking for signs Periwinkle split off or that something happened to her. Then I'll turn back and catch up to the group.

Lasarian (DM) - Perception from both

Eilo (to DM) - I'm going to use Talitha's Baby Rattle to cast Detect Thoughts as I fly to try to get Periwinkle's position.
Perception 19

Koram (to DM) - Perception 16

Lasarian (DM to Koram) - You find no sign of a trail.

Koram (to DM) - Wave at the sky hoping Eilo might see the movement, turn and head south to try and re-join the main group.

Lasarian (DM) - Eilo, you don’t find anything either, maybe a dreaming Lizardman. She is able to recover the Torch of M from outside the ruin. She observes no activity while there.

Eilo (to DM) - All right, I head back south to rejoin the group.

Lasarian (DM) - Ok

Eilo looks inside the Bag of Holding that Easeis gave her.

Lasarian (DM) - It’s empty.

Eilo vomits.

Lasarian (DM) - It is 2:30 am, the temperature has dropped to 50 degrees, you are moving at roughly 1 mile per hour, it has been just over an hour since you departed the temple ruins. Everyone except Eilo has 1 level of Exhaustion, the previous captives are suffering 2 levels of Exhaustion. You are moving through difficult terrain. Dawn is three hours away. Eilo has discovered that the Aspect of Pelor is missing.

Easeis (to everyone) - "No more walking. Sleep time."

Koram - "Fair enough. I think we should be far enough out fer anything other than a really determined direct pursuit."
(To DM) - Can we find a decent campsite? Not waterlogged, sheltered from the wind, maybe something blocking the view back north so a small fire can be set?

Lasarian (DM) - There are some dry patches here and there, but nothing large enough to accommodate the whole group. You would have to pick a high spot and share it with one other person. You would have to spend some time searching for your other accommodations beyond slightly higher, slightly less wet spots.

Koram - "Easeis, maybe continue slowly south until we find a high enough dry patch ta accommodate the group? At least with this much water, there probably ain't a clear trail to follow.

Koram (to DM) - Eilo is back already, isn't she?

Lasarian (DM) - Yes, she flew back to the group and then checked the bag.

Koram - "Up ta you Easeis, we could just pair up on dry spots and keep the captives in the center furthest south. Maybe Dour furthest NW and me furthest NE, with ye and Eilo to our south each of ye with either Kismet or Magar fer the night vision. Try ta keep our little spots within 60' or so of each other?"

Easeis - "That seems like it requires a very specific piece of land. But I don't have the energy to argue."

Koram - "I just want toa keep the armored folks spread apart a bit furthest north, casters somewhere close enough behind 'em to support and captives south. Whatever we can find that gets us close to that. I'll take first watch, still have a couple of spells left. You try to get yer four hours in first. Magar and Kismet too for that matter."

Lasarian (DM) - You can find enough reasonably dry spots for everyone within a circle roughly 100' in diameter, its a bit of a ring of dryish land around a small shallow pond.

Koram (to DM) - Sounds good to me as long as the others are good with it. Dwarves north of pond about 25'-30 apart, 2 casters east and west of pond, and captives on south bank.

Koram - "Good work, Eilo. Alright team, let's set a watch and get some rest."

Easeis - "I nominate Magar, Kismet, and Dour to take first watch. If you disagree, speak up."

After vomiting, Eilo just sits on the wet ground. She’s not moving or speaking.

Koram grabs a handful of hard candy from the jar in the bag of holding and hands it to Eilo. "Chin up little one, we're all alive because of ye and Periwinkle, including those innocents.", Koram states simply, pointing at the group of captives that were rescued. "I dunna know who Periwinkle serves or where she has gotten off ta, but we have more ta do. Get some rest while Magar, Kismet and Dour keep watch. We need ta focus on getting Zelligar resurrected and out of Easeis. Goodnight."

Eilo curls up in a ball holding the hard candy.

Easeis - "Eilo, may I have my torch and bag of holding back please? Eilo, you awake in there?" Koram, I think there is something wrong with Eilo. I mean, more than usual."

Koram - "Well, by the Abyss, we canna catch a break can we? Even gave the wee one some candy ta cheer 'er up."

Easeis bends down to retrieve his torch and bag from Eilo. She hands Easeis the torch and the bag.

Eilo sighs deeply and blinks slowly a few times. She whispers almost inaudibly, “I lost it, Easeis.”

Easeis puts his hand in the bag of holding and says 'Aspect of Pelor.'

Eilo just shakes her head. “It’s no use. It’s gone, Easeis. Periwinkle, she… she took it from me.”

Easeis picks up his things and walks over to Koram "Periwinkle took the mask." He then walks over to his camp spot while muttering, "You had one job.", under his breath repeatedly.

Koram - "What?!?! Stinkin' sneaky rot suckin' tunnel worm! Ta think I almost felt we shoulda treated 'er better when we first met. Dang it!" Pray to Moradin for forgiveness in being so DENSE.

Eilo - “Leave your anger, Koram. Periwinkle found me fast asleep. She could have slit my throat, taken the Aspect, and you would all still be imprisoned, or worse. I don’t know why she chose to help us, but she did. She gave me back my friends, and I would trade that scrap a thousand times over again and not regret it.”

Koram - "This ain't anger, ya winged brownie, this is motivated! Periwinkle didn't just stumble on ye, she were followin' us. Waaaayyy more ta this than meets the eye or I'm a fat bearded gnome. I git she helped release us, and I'm grateful fer that, and happy ta see ye, but somethin' still stinks."

Eilo sits and writes a letter to Easeis:
To My Friend Easeis,

I am so sorry that I lost the Aspect of Pelor. I know this was super important because you said it was. I am sure we can find it again because we are good at finding important things.

I am very angry with Periwinkle but I am also happy that she helped me save you so I am feeling very confused. But a lot angry. I want to hug Periwinkle but I also want to hit her a lot in the face.

I hope Zeligar is not being extra mean to you inside your head. I do not like him because of the fireball that killed Magar. Did you know that Magar is a great magical person? He found my book inside the tiger when it was lost.

Also I am very sorry about your hair. It looks bad.

Love,
Eilo

ps. I am also sorry because I vomited inside of your Bag of Holding.

She then slowly flaps over and gives the letter to Easeis.

Easeis - "SHE'S BEEN FOLLOWING US THE WHOLE TIME AND YOU JUST DID WHAT SHE SAID!"

Dour - "I agree Eilo, it seems she has other motives, but Periwinkle repaid her debt to us. I respect that at least, that should temper our anger."

Easeis - "You're all insane. Periwinkle tracked us for ages and then robbed us. She had no debt to pay, but now she does. Stop treating Eilo like a child with a skinned knee."

Koram - "I'm just saying, grateful fer the release, not gonna be throwin' the sneaky halfling a party if we find 'er again. She needs ta answer fer her actions."

Magar pets his owl with his mage hand. The owl seems happy, healthy and well-fed.

Dour - "Are you feeding that thing?"

Kismet- “You should always make sure any creatures under your care should be fed well and made happy, as much as you can, Sir Dour”, as she very carefully smooths the feathers of her faithful owl, Coco. Coco shakes her head at the touch and promptly flies into a nearby tree, keeping Kismet within view but far enough away to avoid strokes and the like. Coco was mostly feral but tolerated the other members of the party.

Easeis - "Thank the gods the imaginary owls are fine. All is well!" said Easeis in full George Costanza voice.

Kismet- As Easeis gives thanks, Coco the owl flies down from her perch and promptly lets loose a screech as she dives directly at his head, missing him by mere inches.

Koram, talking behind his hand to Easeis, "Do these folks with owls realize that the owls are not really owls? I think maybe I've been battered about a few times too many, because I always thought they were just spirits in animal form."

Easeis responds, "No, you're correct. They are spirits ripped from other planes of existence and given animal form via arcane magic."

Koram - "Yup, everyone's losin' it. I really hope they aren't feeding the durn fake birds. Not that it bothers me ta carry it all, but would hate to see our supplies wasted on somethin' that doesn't need ta eat and can't 'preciate the food."

Easeis - "Owl screeches at me again and I'm casting Ray of Frost on it."

Koram - Chuckles, "Yup, we're gonna end up killin' each other."

Easeis - "Eh, I might be immortal anyway."

Magar notes that if a thing in owl form left to its own devices behaves like an owl, it is an owl. What are all the living creatures if not spirits from other planes of existence given a form from this world?

Easeis puts his head into his bag of holding and proceeds to taking a rest.

[Koram]

Session 38 - 4/28/2023 - Escape and the First Cache of Zelligar Recovered


DM : Lasarian
Party: Baiz - Dour Warmfury - Mountain Dwarf Fighter/Champion - Mason's and Smith's Tools
Talo - Easeis - Human - Sorcerer/Spell Void - Dice Set and Thieves' Tools
Stel - Eilo - Fairy - Warlock/Celestial - Flute
Rox - Kismet of the Woods - Wood Elf Druid/Circle of the Land (Forest) - Herbalism Kit
Khaie - Magar - Grey Elf Wizard/School of Evocation - Herbalism Kit
Kor - Koram Orchammer - Hill Dwarf Cleric/Life Domain - Mason's, Cartographer's and Smith's Tools - Herbalism Kit

13th and 14th of Coldeven

Start session as the party is doing their best to rest in the swamp south of the ruined Temple of Shargaas.

266 XP to all for the fight before capture.

After about an hour and a successful short rest, Kismet's senses, adapted to the the sounds of the wilds, alert her to a buzzing sound that reminds her of an insect swarm. A moment later she picks out the dark cloud of stinging flies heading towards the recently rescued captive, Soshi. The swarm envelops Shoshi, and the prisoner slaps ineffectually at the swarm before falling unconscious. Kismet yells a warning to her companions as the swarm shifts in the air and swarms over another prisoner, Jess. CoCo dives at the swarm, her wings swirling the swarm momentarily. Easeis whispers, "smarty pants", and the Torch of M flares with light out to 60', and then focuses a mind sliver into the swarm causing the insects to flit erratically as a few of them drop to the muddy ground. Jess, a member of the Pascorel militia, swings the orc greataxe given to her by the party, swatting more insects from the cloud. Koram moves towards the melee and the ring of toll the dead emanates from the holy symbol on his shield, but it seems to have no effect. One of the other prisoners retreats away from the fight. Eilo hexes the swarm and the beam from her eldritch blast cuts through, many more of the insects smashed by the force and blackened by the necrotic damage. The beam swirls back and the Grasp of Hadar drags the swarm away from Jess towards Eilo. Kismet steps forward with her hand extended, and a cloud of poison sprays from her hand, but the insects seem unaffected. Papi swoops through the swarm snapping at the insects allowing the captive, Theron, to run forward swatting a few more bugs. Dour moves in and lines up so no allies are behind the swarm, whipping a handaxe into the cloud, killing a few more insects as his weapon passes through the swarm to thunk into a mossy tree. Magar points his hand and a cloud of poison erupts from his hand, but the diminished swarm is to spread out to be affected. The insects try to swarm over Theron, but he quickly hops away dodging the cloud. CoCo once again dives into the swarm, her wingbeats causing the insects to swirl about as she files off. Easeis points and a ray of frost hits at the exact moment the remaining insects are all concentrated in CoCo's wake, and the swarm drops into the swamp like a miniature snowfall.

64 XP to all for the swarm.

Everyone catches their breath and manages to heal and awaken Soshi. After checking the surrounding area once again, the battered group settles back in to try and rest once again. Kismet, Magar and Dour take the first four hour watch and thankfully nothing happens until their watch ends near dawn. Eilo reaches into her bag of tricks and summons two giant hyenas and a giant weasel. Easeis and the summoned critters take the second half of the watch. The next four hours pass uneventfully and everyone feels slightly better by about 10 in the morning (long rest completed), although some of the rescued prisoners are still exhausted from the ordeal. The large hyenas are a big help in carrying the weakest of the captives.

As the group prepares to set off, Easeis suddenly stops and his face goes blank. A strange voice emanates from his mouth...

"My dear Elhemani, I proposed and you agreed to recover my wealth to get me resurrected. You allowed the Aspect of Pelor to be stolen and I question your decisions thus far. You MUST go recover the cache as soon as possible. STOP BEING IDIOTS! You are also responsible for the loss of the Aspect, and I expect that you will also work to recover it. I will plant the location of the next cache in Easeis's mind. I cannot help you locate Periwinkle. Speaking to you all directly has taken much of my energy, and I will be unavailable for some time. I expect that when my strength returns, that we will be more on track to complete our mutually agreed upon tasks."

Easeis then seems to snap out of it and explains that he could also hear what Zelligar was saying through him.

The party decides to get the rescued prisoners to the safety of Castle Sulafrait, regroup, and then head back to the temple to recover the cache. Arriving at the castle, the group finds a tent city outside the walls, typical due to the Red Death and a few guards at the gate. The guards seem solid but not well equipped and the castle is in some disrepair, but seems better off than some of the other locations the group has visited. The guards approach and seeing the condition of the former captives, immediately begin asking what has happened. The group truthfully fills the guards in on the orcs, slavers and the recent combats the party has gone through, which should have helped the region by eliminating some of the local threats. The party explains they just want to see the prisoners taken care of and get some rest before setting back out to deal with some unfinished business with the slavers. Jess and Theron, members of the Pascorel militia, speak up on the group's behalf, and the guards send a runner to bring the Castellan, Indragoren, to speak with the party. The castellan arrives and the group recounts the fights with the orcs on the road and the orcs and slavers at the abandoned ruins in the swamps to the north. The castellan states that this fits with her understanding of what is happening in the region and that according to some of her intelligence, the slavers may be taking their slaves further inland west, and not east towards the coast or south to the Pomarj. Indragoren initially tells the party that they need to remain outside in quarantine, but there is communal food available for the tent camp. She changes her mind and allows the group to enter after it is explained that Koram is a priest of Moradin and can vouch that none of the group carries the Red Death. The party also relates that one of the captives stated that there were other strange things happening at the ruined temple. There were some kind of invisible guards at the main gate, giant flesh eating worms inhabit the caverns below the temple, and some kind of large flying creature seems to be living in the NE tower. The captives also relate that they think they overheard the slavers talking and that the leader's name is Blake. The captives thank the party, Indragoren and the guards assuring the group that everyone will be taken care of as best they can. Jess and Theron state that they will rest up and head back to Pascorel to warn the town and tell the leaders there of the party's assistance.

The party enters the castle and gets accommodations for the night, another long rest and good meals erasing the last of the exhaustion and letting the group fully recover from the recent difficulties. The group discusses plans going forward, and agrees to head back to the temple. The cart, mules, pony and riding goat were all left outside the walls of the ruin and may be dead, captured or lost. Eilo summons a jackal, giant weasel and a giant hyena, and then the the companions set out to return to the ruins. The journey back to the ruins is quiet.

Koram consults his notes and maps, guiding the group back through the secret door, into the courtyard, through the second secret door and south into the inner temple. It appears that the temple has been repurposed to the worship of the orc god, Shagraas, and a statue to the evil deity has been set to replace whatever god was worshipped here originally. The braziers in the temple are still warm to the touch. Magar detects magic, but nothing seems to emanate magic in the temple. The party searches around the statue's base, ed by the dwarves and their knowledge of stonework. It seems that the base of the statue can be slid, but since the statue belongs to an orc deity, the group decides to simply knock it over and smash it. Beneath the statue is a loose tile, revealing a collapsed tunnel once it is removed. Eilo casts light on herself and flies down into the tunnel until she gets to the top of the rubble where she finds a glinting block of silver. The large ingot weighs 65 pounds, and as the party searches the rubble further, they find 14 additional silver ingots. The party assesses the weight and manages to cram 7 blocks into Easeis's bag of holding, 4 into Koram's bag, and then the group lugs the 4 others by hand back out through the secret door in the SW outer wall of the ruins. Eilo flies in a spiral search and manages to locate the cart, 3 mules and Dour's riding goat. The group gathers the animals and cart back to outside the secret door, and then the party rearranges some of their gear. Rations, captured weapons/armor and water/ale kegs are removed from Koram's bag of holding and loaded into the cart to make room for the 4 loose silver blocks. The party then prepares to set off west through the swamp towards Pascorel.

End Session 38 - Preparing to head west through the swamp towards Pascorel

Total XP : Eilo, Easeis and Kismet : 5,975 - Magar : 5,805 - Dour : 5,825 - Koram : 6,110