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SESSION UNO: THE ORIGIN, THE ESCAPE, AND THE CHICKEN LOVER We begin with our adventurers doing their own thing. For one reason or another, at some point in our adventurer’s lives, they were accosted by cloaked figures, captured, and transported to some dark location. The adventurers, individually, hear two pairs of feet walking back and forth. Lulu tries to burn down the door, and succeeds in weakening her door. She snuffs the flame out by producing water. The rest of them open the unlocked doors and see two cloaked figures. The cloaked figures see the multiple exits from the room and attempt to exit the area swiftly. Aso overhears one of their captors exclaim, “I can’t wait til’ we get back to Askelios.” The adventurers explore the area, find their equipment in crates, and discover that the structure is mostly deserted. Finn stumbles across a group of presumed bandits while Caradin and Lulu run into an acidic slime. They fight two battles and come out on top in both, though Finn suffers serious injuries. They break into the captain’s chambers and find papers detailing their lives. They also find correspondence between the captain and someone named Gregor… as well as the latter's chicken obsession. The adventurers continue forwards, but back off after they encounter a group of 12 hooded figures who don’t see them. They go the other way before they are ambushed by slimes, one of whom permanently scars and blinds Theltar. Somehow, he survives. They burn a body with its chest busted open and infested by worms and spores which attracts some attention from the guards. The party slowly proceeds to explore the cave. The cave contains no other dangers… or at least none that the party finds. A stream is followed until they find the source, at which point the party hears the clucking of chickens. They burst into the room and find Gregor, a spellcaster who kindly asks the party to return to their cells before “testing”. The party looks around and notices the results of others who have been subject to the testing. Those unfortunate test subjects are all dead. The party attacks and defeats Gregor, leaving his body to rot with his precious chickens. They take what they can and leave from a set a stairs at the anterior of the room.

SESSION DOS: The Tiger Burger, The Sorceror in Heels, and The Maddening Storm It is morning. A grim storm approaches from the southeast. The adventurers see the two idiots that were assigned to guard them in the inn at Askelios. They pull up next to them and sit themselves down, staring at their former captors. The two farmers nonchalantly chat with Finn about their issues with the past year’s harvest. Finn questions them and the two farmers explain that the chicken fetishist only started buying chickens about 3 weeks ago. Invidia orders a squalid meal and munches while the other talk. Caradin introduces himself and finds that the two farmers’ names are Ewan and Tery. They continue talking and discover that there were around 30 people garrisoned in the cave. Frustrated, Finn knocks their food off the table and stomps out. Caradin tosses a gold to them as an apology and is told by the farmers that they too were experimented on. Specifically, their memories were erased and their minds made more compliant. The adventurers decide to head to Fairhaven. They travel swiftly and arrive at Areksul just in time for the evening. Invidia cooks for the inn and subsidizes both his and Theltar’s nightly stay. Morning arrives. The party heads out to Fairhaven but stumble across a large tiger. They fight the tiger, and Theltar is mauled and severely injured. Again. A woman on stilettos walks out of the woods. She claims that her name is Emi Lucine sun Arch and that she is heading for Fairhaven. Her claims of competence are clearly overblown, as she was heading in the opposite direction. They try to skin and harvest the tiger, but Emi’s efforts doom those efforts to failure. After much heated discussion, they bring Emi along on their trip. They arrive at Fairhaven in the afternoon. Emi leaves the party after calling them bitches. Finn heads directly towards the Inn while the rest of the group heads to the healers guild. They spend 120 gold to cure Theltar of his blindness, but the healers are unable to discern the source of Invidia’s cough. Invidia figures out how to make a tiger burger. They head into the Inn as the storm hits. It’s a fearsome storm, and as the guests watch, creatures and objects fly by on the streets. A window shatters. Invidia, Will, Finn, and Caradin go to board up the hole. Everyone in the party is summarily infected with a mania or phobia. Shenanigans occur. Several affectations become permanent. Invidia develops an obsession with writing inverse, while Carradin develops a fear of cleanliness. Aso is accosted by guards after beating a noble to death during the strange events of the previous night. The innkeeper rewards Lulu and Invidia with 300 gold for their calm-headedness during said events.

SESSION TRES: THE GUILDS, THE DUEL, AND THE MANTIS MEN Caradin, Theltar, and Invidia watch as Aso is carted off to jail. They make their individual decisions for the day, with Invidia heading to the Cleric’s Guild, Caradin heading to the Magus Society, and Theltar headed to the Monk’s Guild. Invidia is recommended by Father Ulgruf to the Magus Society. After all, if the Healers Guild couldn’t figure it out, the mages might. Caradin and Invidia meet with a gnome at the front entrance of the Magus Society named Kelcan, who directs them to the requisite paperwork. The paperwork takes an inordinate amount of time to fill out. Theltar enters the Monk’s guild, commits a series of grievous etiquette errors, and convinces the head of the local chapter that he is an absolute idiot. Kelcar leads Caradin and Invidia on a wild goose chase with regards to paperwork. They both leave, frustrated. All 3 return to the inn. Invidia convinces the innkeeper that he can handle the cooking for the night. He provides an example of a meal, and the innkeeper considers it decent enough that he allows Invidia to cook in exchange for lodging for one night. Emi arrives at the inn and engages in conversation with Caradin and Theltar, much to the irritation of the latter. She informs them that she was here to spy on some people… but she unfortunately can’t remember the exact details of her job. And that she can't return home because she is in hiding, even though she is a princess of the land. They go to sleep and wake up at 8. It is the day of Aso’s trial. Invidia heads to the healer’s guild and gets his illness diagnosed as one similar to the plague haunting Taer Valestas. He walks over to the others and they meet up with Aso. There’s still 2 hours before the trial, so Invidia walks around the city. He sees an advertisement proclaiming the “BATTLE OF THE BARDS” between the Rolling Stone Golems and Ballista and Roses. The trial begins. Invidia attempts to interject on behalf of Aso, but is shot down by both the judges and Aso. It goes poorly for Aso. The interjection of Caradin leads the judges to conclude that a trial by combat is the most fitting test for a living suit of armor. Everyone moves to the arena. They see… Emi. The two fighters get ready to engage in combat. -------------------------------------------------------- Emi vanishes, and Aso warily considers all possible angles of her approach. The only thing worse than mages, he thinks, are INVISIBLE MAGES. Emi appears to the side of the arena, covered in a crystalline shell. Icy vapors float off her body. The walking behemoth readies his hand crossbow, but the bolt fails to find any exploitable crack. Emi returns with a bolt of frost that noticeably slows Aso. He fires again, but once again it fails. Emi punches Aso with a glowing fist, but his armor absorbs the magical impact without much visible harm. He tries to throw a net over the dimunitive girl, but she dashes out of the path, returning with a ball of ice that slams into the suit of armor, noticeably denting it. Another attempt at the net fails, but it throws her off balance enough such that her next ray of frost misses entirely, freezing a chunk of the sands. The next net cast successfully ensnares her, but she freezes the fibers and easily tosses it off. A hasty attempt to retrap her fails, but it gives Aso enough momentum to dodge her hastily cast bolt. Emi charges up a spell, but she makes a split second decision to dodge the next net, freeze it with her aura, and kick it away from Aso. Her next spell attempts to freeze Aso in his tracks, but fails to noticeably hinder him in any way. He twirls, shaking off the frost in his joints, and swings a gauntleted fist at the tiny girl, but he misreads the speed of his opponent. She ducks underneath, slides between his legs, and grabs his shin-guards before channeling a significant amount of frost energy into Aso. He is flash frozen, and Emi walks away from the gigantic frozen statue. -------------------------------------------------------- Caradin, Theltar, and Invidia ask Emi to free Aso in exchange for a tiger burger. She throws a massive ball of ice into the coliseum, creating a hole. The living suit of armor takes this chance and dashes out of the hole. Emi goes invisible before disappearing. After the festivities of the day, the three adventurers head to the Battle of the Bards, located in a large tent on the west side of the city. Ballista and Roses are 5 bardic kobolds, playing a variety of instruments. They are using their bardic magic to augment their show with lights and smoke. The Rolling Stone Golems are 3 stone golems, each with an electric instrument built into their bodies. They win the battle of the bards for the night. Invidia goes up to them and they sign in his spellbook. They bargain with Emi to ride the lightning rail to Taer Valestas in order to cure Invidia’s disease. They travel through the heart of Eberron and see a strange fog begin to cover the land. They owe her 1160 gold and a tiger burger. They take the rail to Griffinclaw and arrive at 8pm. They stay at a squalid in for the night before setting off with Quariian, a ranger through the desert in the morning. They encounter a gigantic scorpion and barely manage to defeat it. From its body they harvest some poison sacs and slabs of meat. Continuing on, the group encounters a ‘thri keen’, who communicates in nods, and clacks. It mimes and forces the party to praise the sun before leaving. The ranger explains that the leader of the ‘thri keen’ found a temple dedicated to the sun and that all the ‘thri keen’ now follow this religion. They continue on and encounter a wight on the next night. They run. Screaming. The following day is especially hot and their progress is slowed to a crawl. The night time is much cooler, but their campfire is invaded by two female humans. Only Caradin is awake to see them, and they swap stories for the night. The two ladies disappear into the night. The next morning, they encounter a dark outcropping ahead. It is covered in a miasma of foul fumes. The rangers explain that it is likely that the outcropping is spewing some poisonous gas, the source of which cannot be discerned. They decide to take a way around the miasma, but encounter 2 ‘thri keen’ who are aggressive, until the entire party falls to their knees and praise the sun. They come over to the party, correcting them into the proper worshipping form, and leave the party. They reach Shivarin and spend the night there. They continue to Taer Valestas in the morning. The first two days are calm, but on the third day, they are accosted by a howling red wolf. They strike it down not once, but twice, before it explodes in a shower of crystals. Invidia reaches, but is unable to harvest one of them. Bleeding and sore, they enter Taer Valestas and enter the first inn they see. They rest.

SESSION "I GOT BORED OF SPANISH SO..." FOUR: THE AFFLICTED QUARANTINE, THE QUESTIONABLE BARD, AND THE HOLDOUTS Our adventurers wake at the Tavern and set out to gather information regarding the quarantine zone. They are recommended to an elf who is glaring daggers at everyone sitting around him. The elf tells them that the zone is incomparably hostile and a dangerous location by all measures. A contact name is given: Lady Gracaalis. Xanvis and Renfri get into a meaningless argument, as nobles tend to do. A massive bird-man with a strange device slung around his shoulder approaches the discussion and makes a case for ending the scourge as soon as possible. Renfri asks Zeed not to join the party, but Zeed insists. Zeed, Keldar, and Renfri go to a corner and consult furiously in whispers. Zeed and Keldar decide to join the party while Renfri declines. Zeed leads the way to the quarantine zone, but as they pass by a large park, a woman with white eyes tells Xanvis that he will meet a beautiful woman in this city. Zeed jokingly cautions Xanvis away from ‘his’ women. While they pass by a market area, the party observes a pregnant woman pass by a baker’s stall and swipes a loaf of bread, winking at the party as she passes. They approach the entrance to the quarantine zone only to find no guards in the area. They hear cries of help from the inside and they search for a way to enter. When they find the requisite items to access the area, they find no indication of the source of those screams. Proceeding further into the infected area leads the party to a small living area. Xanvis tries to loot a body that is currently being eaten by rats, but is accosted by the hungry rodents. The party tries to quickly kill the rats, but end up attracting a massively mutated dwarf creature. The combat is fierce, and some companions near death. Thankfully, all pull through, and the adventurers defeat the horrendously distended beast. They find a dagger and a ring on the dead corpse. Proceeding further, the group stumbles across a tower with another mutated dwarf standing in front. Caradin is sent to scout out the building and finds that there are several human figures inside with a (presumed) mutated elf. They leave the building after making note of the area, and go further into the city. They find a horde of mutated humans surrounding a wooden platform, upon which is a cloaked figure with the symbol of Zestril inlayed on their clothing. In a watchtower above, they see a mutated elf, who disappears. The mutated elf appears behind them and, once it has caught their attention, grins. The party runs away, with a horde of mutated creatures chasing after them. Zeed throws down a card behind them and summons an illusory frost giant. Starved of options and running out of time, the group decides to hide in the quarantine zone and wait for Zeed to send out a message requesting reinforcements. They decide to bunk in the basement of an alehouse. They open the trap door to reveal several emaciated, but non-mutated, elves.

SESSION FIVE: THE REGRETFUL SURVIVORS, THE DRINKING CONTEST, AND YET ANOTHER DUEL Invidia emerges from the cellar to find that his sickness has been cured. He pats his head and darkly mutters to himself that the damned idiots (clearly referring to the Burning Retribution) couldn’t even do their job properly. They walk to the entrance of the former quarantine zone and see that the area, though devoid of sapient beings, is also free from the disease. The elves tell them that their daughter is Lilliana, a mage in training, should be looking for them. Upon a guard’s suggestion, they retire to the inn in order to get some food and begin the search for their daughter. The innkeeper offers the elf couple the opportunity to stay at the inn in return for them spreading the generosity and charity of the innkeeper. A whole host of characters walk in and a soused Invidia invites them all to drink from a gallon of ale. These include a dwarf (possibly a deserter), an androgynous being with really spiky blond hair, and a skeleton. The entire group begins drinking, and before long, Isenhart challenges Kildrak to a drinking contest. They both down an insane amount of ale, and the innkeeper can barely keep up with the demand. Invidia helps him ferry ale to the table, and the two eventually bring an entire barrel’s worth of ale to the table. Isenhart ends up succumbing to the torrent of ale and the dwarf cries out his victory over both Isenhart and the 4 other clones that seem to have appeared around them. Isenhart and Kildrak wake up nursing massive hangovers. In the morning, they make their way over to Lady Gracaalis’ home. On the way, they are accosted by a representative (Haki) of the magus’ society. Invidia is asked by the representative to investigate a group of children (10) throwing minor illusions at each other. They continue on, and see a pampered 8 year old followed by an entire entourage of servants. She looks at one of them, but no one is able to tell who she is looking at. An extremely tired butler (Arngrim) greets them at Lady Gracaalis’ domicile and hands them a bag of 500 gold. The lady is apparently busy for the next 4 days. As they leave, Xanvis notices a multihued blue feather on the Butler’s shoulder that did not seem to be there before. Isenhart and Kildrak go through the initiation for those looking to join the Fighter’s guild. They participate in a battle royale with some guards. The magical aura surrounding the battle field seems to prevent any killing blow from being fatal, sealing and mending the wound as it is struck. The guards are taken down before Kildrak and Isenhart start their own battle. Kildrak obtains the upper hand and slays Isenhart. Kildrak makes it in, but Isenhart fails.

SESSION SIX: THE EVIL BANK (BUT THAT'S REDUNDANT), THE SPOOK MASTER GENERAL, AND THE PASSION Kildrak decides he wants a better weapon. He goes to Angur's Forge and tries to haggle for a 1000 gold scimitar. He can not afford it so gets a loan from the bank. 5 minutes later he returns the loan after understanding the full terms. He owed money on the interest already and commented that he would need some lube after what the bank just did to him. The group was talking about getting holy water for the coming mission and made a joke about obtaining holy lube for him. Coincidently a man came by and gave them a jar of holy lube for free. They run from the guards toward the graveyard, where they are greeted by a spooky man. The man explains that he was expecting the Burning Retribution, but that any group would do. The man gives some cursory details on the matter at hand and leaves. The group explores the suspiciously blurry area and Isengard accidentally steps over a grave, disturbing the already restless dead and forcing them out of their resting places. Battle commences and the heroes are victorious, though it comes close. After a short rest, the party continues into the building, where they encounter a bloodied wall. The group continues further and finds a large golden bell on the floor. The rope formerly holding it aloft has snapped, and from the blood pooled around it, they surmise that it was used to crush someone. The body is nowhere to be found. The group moves forward, avoiding the hanging golden bell in the center aisle, and approach a golden altar. The altar opens up to the crypt, where they see extremely lifelike statues. A mirror is discovered. Kildrak takes the first step into a hallway with statues that burn or freeze the metals in front of their gaze. After much technical finagling, the group manages to push past the hallway. They continue and explore the crypt in its entirety. A religious robe and dagger are found. Theltar leads the group into a room with a bunch of ghosts. A spooky girl leads the party to a door that can only be perceived through the mirror. The door opens to reveal a man. He cautions them to not get too close and warns them away from his “research”. He is researching a massive statue in the crypt, which apparently has a soul trapped inside. It is able to be turned into a sentient weapon. He gives his name as Loc’Host. There are two options offered to the party: become petrified like the other statues, or undergo a state of total amnesia. Kildrak attempts to stab the Passion, and is only met with air. The ghost girl possesses Kildrak and forces Keepsake to stab Kildrak with the dagger. The statue stirs. Elminster appears to Keepsafe and tells him that it was P L A N N E D ALL ALONG. Bleeding to death, Kildrak asks Keepsafe for the dagger. Kildrak takes the dagger and plunges the dagger into himself, all the while flipping the rest of the group off. The group solemnly considers his last act of defiance. The statue awakens. Its blade catches fire and a magical energy radiates from the statue. It speaks and asks for who awakens it. Its name is Neriah. Invidia impatiently demands Loc’Host to transform him back into his usual age, but not before accidentally turning him 8 first. The Passion decides to reward the group and disillusions the door, revealing a pool of water. Within the pool are two things. One is a chest with 550 gold, while the other is a suspiciously familiar glass blade (WHICH SELECT MEMBERS SEEM TO REMEMBER BEING IN THE HANDS OF THE BURNING RETRIBUTION). Loc’Host takes the dagger back and lodges it into Kildrak’s body with a nasty squelch. Kildrak’s body begins to turn to stone. The party leaves the crypt after robbing it blind. Loc’Host unfreezes the statues. The group collects the other humans and leaves, but not before hearing a monstrous roar echo through the darkness. A short while later, a distinctly human roar sounds out with the din of battle. It seems that some champion has slain the beast. Radiating justice and carrying the blessing of Loc’Host, the party arrives back at the inn and tell the guards the tale of their entire day. The suspicions of murder are dropped against Isenhart.

SESSION SEVEN: WHAT THE HELL CHAMPION?* The Champion, Theltar, and Sir Lander request to join the Fighter's Guild where they have to fight with a 4th man known as Wraith. When the battle begins Theltar and Champion gang up on Sir Lander while wraith takes shots at them with his heavy crossbow. After Sir Lander is finished the duo attempt to gang up on Wraith but the man was prepared and skewered Champion on his pike as he drew near. Theltar was clever enough to knock Wraith into a spike pit nearby but unfortantly he lost soon as well. Everyone was accapted into the Fighter's Guild anyways thanks to Wraith's Recommendation. Sir Lander approaches the seer, who speaks thus, “The Lord of Nightmares cannot be slain until the white wolf is chained.” To the champion, she imparts the knowledge that there will be a ghostly maiden who plays a crucial part in his future. To Xanvis: In his future, there lies an ancient ruin with a lone falcon. It is there that he will find what he most desires. To Keepsake: In his future, there is an iron statue of a Dwarven warrior… bleeding from a sword wound. To Invidia: She waits for a long moment, before muttering, “When iron is fused with flesh, the cathedral of mirrors shall be destroyed. “ The seer offers the party a bunch of apples, which seem to be vaguely magical in nature. Sir Lander takes a bite, and he warms up immensely. Invidia takes a bite, and notices that his familiar no longer seems to recognize him. The Champion speaks purely in rhyme. Theltar turns everyone within 5 ft of him green. Sir Lander takes another bite. He doesn’t feel any different, but he still radiates like a warm campfire. They set up for camp. Xanvis is the only one who hears a haunting melody emanate from the figure of the seer. He feels that all of his attacks for the next 24 hours are going to be criticals. They sleep. The next day and night are spent traveling. As the group sets up for the night, a clearly diseased elf walks near the camp and falls down, dead. Keepsafe resurrects the man as a zombie, but Sir Lander strikes it down immediately, causing a small scuffle between the two. Invidia breaks them up. They go to sleep. The next day is spent traveling. Invidia tries to shut Sir Lander up with his Book of Curses, and the two exchange childish insults… at least until the party is accosted by a scouting party featuring goblins and an ogre. Battle commences, and Theltar, unsurprisingly, is nearly decapitated. He refuses the assistance of Sir Lander, but gladly accepts the help of Keepsafe. The party moves into a spooky area. They observe mysterious figures removing the brain from a being on a stone slab. As they approach, the image disappears. Theltar observes a group being eaten alive by a massive 50 foot slime. He passes the scene silently. The party approaches a rocky outcropping to settle down for the night. They observe that the rocks around them are covered in demonic faces. The Champion recognizes them as images of demons from the Abyss. There is a symbol carved onto the rock -- one of the Daelkyr: a race of nightmares given form. They leave and find another spot. The next day sees the party ascend onto a plateau. Crossing over to the other side, they observe a massive battle taking place between human and elven forces. PLOT TWIST The Champion attacks Sir Lander. The sword disagrees with this choice of action and acts against The Champion with a psychic scream. Invidia, Keepsafe, and Xanvis are knocked out, but the others manage to resist it. The Champion drops the sword in shock, and Theltar, spotting an opportunity snatches it up. He disappears in flash of light. _______________ *<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatTheHellHero" rel="nofollow">http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatTheHellHero</a>

SESSION EIGHT: DICE AND MINCE THE GNOMES We return to our party looking much smaller than before. Immediately the Isenhart blames Keepsafe and his dark magic for the current lack of party members after a short argument they both decide they don't have enough people to face the lich that haunts this battlefield. After some debate on which side to serve they decide upon the Elven army because Isenhart has family that are elven and Keepsafe used to be elven. A high ranking officer of the elven army only took them on after they told her about the dragon attacking both sides which she somehow missed and after showing the bounty papers they had about the necromancer. She gave them a somewhat easy job fighting underground against the human army to stop them from getting behind them using earthworks. She told them to meet up with the other mercenaries they had hired. The group of mercenaries were not the most inspiring bunch. Upon walking up to the group they saw a rolling pile of fur, spikes, and, fury fighting on the ground. It was two Gnome Brothers that called themselves Dice and Mince. They were mercenaries, with issues. Another two in the group was a couple that fought together, One was some tall cocky asshole mercenary type the other was a quiet girl. I can't say who started the fight, whether it was Keep Safe or the Brothers I don't know. Keepsafe attempted to intimidate the brothers but that only made them angrier. It was only through shrewd manipulation of the one known as Mince and his eating problem were they able to bring the brothers in line by promising him the services of a cook that was in there party. Upon entering the underground passage the group was quickly thrown into the thick of things. At some point in the battle the gnome brother known as Dice was able to tame one of the Wargs of the enemy The Mage Invidia eventually shows up. After a long battle the group was able to help the elves achieve victory. The Mercenaries almost turned on one another when the issue of the Warg of the enemy came up. Remember that tall asshole I told you about, that guy tried to Kill Dice's Warg, It almost came to blows if not for Isenhart convincing him to ask the person who hired them if they could keep it. Rather than fight and possibly lose he agreed to allow the Warg to live. As he left to go tell the officer of there victory, Keepsafe may have insulted the brothers or them insult him, Keepsafe attempted to Intimidate them again only to fail and have the Brother's try to intimidate him back by breaking bones and smashing skulls saying "This could be you" and then crushing a skull it almost broke out into another fight if not for Invidia's book of curses which quickly took the malice from Keepsafe to the book. After some more minor scuffling most of the group was paid for the mercenary work, except for Invidia who was never part of the original deal. Mince the Fat Gnome offered the services of him and his brother for free meals which Invidia accepted sort of not knowing the horratious Apatite that plagued Mince. Dice tried to stop the deal but was unable to wretsle down his brother and found themselves working for the Horizon as long as the meals kept coming.

SESSION NINE: DICED AND MINCED GNOMES*, AND THE NECROMANCERS TOWER Our story begins with The Horizon company sleeping for 5 days waking to find the two Mercenaries being eaten by the very Warg that they sort of rescued/ took. Mariar and Luigar were eaten to death in the night. Isenhart, Keep-safe and Invidia decided that they would need more members to join them to slay the Necromancer who is residing in the Tower on the battlefield. They decided to return to the Elven officer to find mercenaries to help in there mission to slay the necromancer. As they walk into the camp she looks busy as a number of prisoners tied to poles call out that they love Sir Lander and are singing his songs as loud as they can. Isenhart asks what happend here? "Some crazed noble escaped from the jail and he seems to have taken the sanity of these men with him. Did you know this man by any chance?" They all quickly denied Knowing Sir Lander. As they asked her for some Mercanary help in the coming battle with the Necromancer she offered them an old Mercenary obsessed with gaining knowledge, he was an elderly fellow but agreed to join them for a fair share of monetary value and possible Knowledge he then forgot then remembered he was with them, he was very old. Gaining there new ally as they walked across the camp toward the Tower of the Necromancer in the distance they spotted a tooth fairy after feeding it some Pie, Its Master showed herself it was the beautiful Zevira a warlock while she kept her secrets to herself she agreed to join them in there quest to slay the Necromancer. As they approached the Tower a statue guarding a plate stood before them. The old man told them he was professor and had a large amount of experience in the field of adventuring, He told them the Plate was for an offering then droned on while Isenhart offered a couple copper only to have it burned for not being what it wanted. Keepsafe gave up the Heart of an undead he had following them. This was acceptable and they entered the Tower. Keepsafe growing more and more irritated at the old man's talk of knowledge and experience quickly boiled down to him not liking the man and calling him a fool! The old man warned him not to call him a fool!. As they explored Keepsake's undead servant ate a full course meal sitting on a table only to have the plate crash against his head destroying him. Under the Tower the group had found an unconscious Theltar the monk he looked horrible, but he soon was back on his feet after some needed help from his old friends. he was soon back on his feet his memory was hazy as to what happend to him but he has lost the Sword. After some catching up the group continued on into the Dungeon on the second floor they found an alchemical lab. The Oldman pocketed two random potions and read the Necromancer's notes revealing a dark secret about Theltar and the Necromancer's plans The Old man shared this information only with Zevira who reiterated what the Old man had told them about the book. Isenhart the Paladin also decided to be a bit curious and opened a drawer with a number of potions init as it exploded from the trap inside that no one checked for. After putting them out Isenhart had gained another head growing on his Shoulder it was truly an evil thing as it wanted to always do the opposite of whatever Isenhart wanted to do. The group continued on until they came to a room with two guards one told only lies the other only truths two doors were behind them one to safety the other to death ask us your question than choose!!!! The group thought it over for a bit until The Old man gave them the answer and picked the correct door. In the next room a Spellbook, a chandelier and a chest reeked with magical energy. The Oldman snatches up the Spell book telling them that he wont read it becaue it is most likely trapped and will instead hold off on it till he can dispel it. he ppens the chest starting another trap with them floating in the air and then falling. Keepsafe calls The oldman a fool a second time, even after being warned. But he decides not to harm Keepsafe because there is a women present and tells him that is the almost last straw. Theltar says an off hand comment but he and Zevira are able to talk the Oldman down. Continuing on through the dungeon they come to a room that has some type of number puzzle after multiple attempts they finally figure out the pattern and escape. Then they arrive in the Necromancer's servant quarters where they find a girl trapped behind a barrier. Isenhart and keepsafe think quickly and decide to use writing on paper to ask the girl questions. She tells them the Necromancer is right upstairs. Rather than leave it like that Keepsafe decides to use the Oldman's forgetfulness against him and talks him into reading the Necromancer's spell book even though he knew it was most likely trapped The already old man aged 100 years growing even more Senile and old he began to call them invaders in his study and began telling them there all young whippersnapper Zevira made him think she was his Grand daughter of 12 years old. Keepsafe continued to use the old man's senility to read the book ageing him all the way to the twilight years of his life. The book offered no answers The group tried to take a long rest but the Oldmans complaining and waking up at all times in the night kept the others up. Eventually Zevira and him went to be alone wherer he promised her the Wizard's tower and his ancient spell book when he died as long as she promised to Find the Great old one and finally finish his life's work of proving its existence. Zevira promised as he fell back to sleep again. Only to wake and bother the party again finally Keepsafe had enough he got the book that aged people dramatically and told the oldman who was constantly forgetting everyone's names and who they were sometimes even fighting them because he thought they invaded his home Keepsafe told him what he seeked the Knowledge of the great old one's existence was here in this book!!! Zevira and Isenhart tried to keep The oldman away telling him it would kill him if he read the book, but that dd'nt deter his goal as he stepped back and told them to move or face his fury as he reached for the two potions he grabbed earlier in the dungeon, as he drank them he changed into an unholy monster only seen in nightmares. The Oldman had turned himself into a monster all the while damning Keepsafe for making him do it. This quickly unite them all against him as they fought the Monster turned Keepsafe to a pile of bones and smashed down on Isenhart with one mighty swing. Before it could continue the group finally put it down. Keepsafe told the man he was a fool all along and the book and his life work are trash. Isenhart promises keepsafe they will have words. As Zevira takes up The Oldman's boonish spellbook along with her own. The adventureing of the night ends with the knowledge that they'll have to face the lNecromancer tomorrow. _____ *AKA Mariar and Luigar

SESSION TEN: THE GAUNTLET For years, the exact amount of them unknown, Gorgoldand had done little except lure adventurers into a dangerous obstacle course named after a popular game released in 1985. The Horizon Company was little exception. The path to the mountains was, if not an enjoyable one, a truly beautiful one. Gymir had grown used to the closeness of the sky from his youth, but even he had to admit that the day was especially beautiful. Blanketed above them was a sea of blue. Clouds sailed overhead and docked near the mountain tops. Even the pollution from the goblin cities seemed to know to stay away. The desert of pollution circled the ocean, creating an oasis. When no one was looking, Blowguh, though he would never admit it, outstretched his hands to dive into the water, to bring it closer to him. He even considered climbing up the back of Gymir or Buchanon, and pushing through the self-loathing it would cause, just to have a diving board. Buchanon, mechanical as he may be, let his childlike wonder wander into thoughts of submerging himself. He knew he would rust, but he didn’t care. Theltar, as always, stayed in the back: too busy thinking about how to not die. The journey to the Gauntlet was an arduous one. One could only be enamored by the sea above them for so long before the water reflected the sun. Upon arrival, they immediately reached an impasse. The map had led them to an overhang, with at least a fifty foot drop to get to the impressive crater that was the Gauntlet’s entrance. The crater was another drop, though it was impossible to tell how far, with limestone and other materials forming an almost unblemished perimeter. On the far side, there was a single hole, maybe three feet tall and two feet wide. It, as well, was too dark to tell how deep. The journey had been rough on all of them and, when combined with their lack of forethought, did not benefit their problem-solving skills. None of the party had rope, and since most of the party possessed some degree of dark vision, only Gymir had anything resembling a torch. Though, when held by Gymir, the candles appeared to be matches, and he possessed dark vision, so why he had the candles was another piece of evidence that the party was not too bright. Somehow, Buchanon’s childlike wonder saved the day. As the party stood on the overhand, mentally and physically drained from the journey, a small figure passed near the Gauntlet’s entrance. “Hey, you, what’s your name?” the mentally deficient robot shouted at the traveler. The traveler looked around for a second, obviously surprised that someone else was insane enough to show up. “Oh, uh, Sinbad!” he cried back. If any of the group had high perception this day, it went unnoticed, just like Sinbad’s lengthy silence before answering the question. The duo continued to converse. Sinbad told them that there was a path just a little bit away, but that it was a two hours’ journey. None of the group had rope, and frankly, two of the group would not be able to make use of even the strongest rope, so they packed up and went on their way. The entire party introduced themselves, and Buchanon in his endless wisdom, offered the party’s help in completing the Gauntlet. “Oh sure,” Sinbad muttered when they arrived “but you must know that I’m a pacifist.” The next moments were filled with banter from the party, such as calling Sinbad a “little bitch (Blowguh)”, a “wee pussy” (Gymir), and various other similarly endearing names. Theltar was used to trying to stay alive, so he remained mostly silent. Sinbad mentioned having some rope to enter the Gauntlet and also possessing multiple potions to help Gymir and Buchanon and so they started down the hole. Gymir, noticing the small crevice in the wall, started a lengthy discussion with Blowguh, and used his pejoratives against Sinbad again with good effect. Blowguh, always one to accept a challenge, but not one to think about his words yelled “Puththy? I’ll thow you a puththy!” He grabbed a candle from Gymir and threw himself into the blemish. Gymir, now half the size he used to be, took Blowguh’s actions as a que for him to follow the rest of the party. Arriving at the bottom of the shaft, the party looked on. Buchanon took a candle and the rest used their darkvision. The Gauntlet was obviously meticulously planned. Corridor after corridor, bottlenecking the party. The walls gave the party just enough room to fit and be comfortable, but not enough room for any movement besides marching. The walls were cave walls. Dirt and stone combined to form what to be The actual adventure has since been lost to time, though those who knew the adventurers told rumors of finding Blowguh passed out in another room, tiny rat like creatures with blowdarts, several incredibly dangerous traps, and Gymir tossing Sinbad into the middle of a trapped room, only for Sinbad to use a potion of flight and reveal his intentions to betray them from the beginning. All that is known for certain is that they managed to escape with their lives somehow, even Theltar.

SESSION ELEVEN: THE STORM After their encounter, the Horizon company escaped only to discover a campsite littered in dead bodies and a senile old wizard dead in the center of it all. As Buchanon and Blowguh began interrogating the old man, they found that his name was Grandpa and he was looking for his grandson who he apparently found to look quite similar to Buchanon! This began a quick philosophical discussion on how grandpas are really just dads raised to the second power and the possibility of the exponential father. Meanwhile, Theltar was combing over the bodies looking for clues when he found a diary belonging to the apparent leader of the camp, a warrior who had been mostly eviscerated in her tent. Reading the diary, Theltar found out that she was the leader of a group of adventurers who rather than fighting their way through the gauntlet had instead decided to wait at the end and ambush whoever managed to escape in order to steal their belongings when they were weak and weary. The diary ended shortly before she and her entire team was horribly murdered by whatever mysterious entity had gone ahead of the group. Deciding to take Grandpa the wizard along, they continued on to their destination of Trolanport. While on their way, the team stopped and saw a monster of a wave on the beach and then saw the altogether stranger sight of a dwarf riding a surfboard directly atop it! Communing with his god through the incredible power of surfing, the dwarf cleric used his divine magic to blow his sunglasses onto Buchanon and come to a calm stop as he introduced himself as Hardek or Keanu to his friends. The Horizon Company began talking to Keanu and found out that he was a cleric of a pretty chill god while also noticing a dwarf captain on a boat. Calm, friendly, and wearing a hawaiian shirt, Blowguh hatesd Keanu on sight and began to destroy the sand castles of small children while Keanu offered to take them all to the tavern where he was staying at for a round of drinks. Once there, Keanu and Blowguh began a drinking contest with Buchanon also joining in that escalated when a gnome prostitute entered with a local specialty that resuleted in magical side effects when drunk. Because of this, Keanu grew straight to the ceiling and Buchanon lost the ability to speak with an inside voice while Blowguh began drunkenly hitting on the gnome. Buchanon also learned that getting drunk was fun even if it didn't affect him, Theltar left to go feed, and Grandpa enjoyed hanging out with the young folk. Deciding to give Blowguh his privacy while he went upstairs, Keanu took Buchanon to go talk to the Dwarf Boat captain from earlier and his halfing companion where they found they were looking for new crew members to travel to Trolanport as well! Deciding that helping them would be in the best interest, The Horizon Company decided to join the boat captain's crew with Keanu also deciding to come along after deciding to follow his gods teaching of going with the flow. The next morning, everyone got on a boat, and set sail. However, the trip went incredibly poorly midway through their journey as a mighty tempest soon sprung up and endangered the lives of everyone aboard. While the Horizon Company used a combination of their magic and skill to keep the boat afloat, it still ended up crashing into the port as the thunder and lightning blasted behind them driving them all to take shelter in deserted outpost for passing sailors. The shelter was damp and cold, but the team managed to light a stove with their supplies and get some rest. Midway through however, Grandpa noticed a leak under a door and motioned Keanu to fix it with his proficiency in carpentry.As he went in the room, Keanu was shocked to see the dead body of a dwarf and a dwarf sized hole in the ceiling with a menacing watchtower in the distance. Calling the grouchy, irritable, and exhausted team together, they all fixed the hole in the ceiling and decided to tackle the mysterious death the next day when Captain Tom began whining and they decided to handle it then. They explored the shelter a little more and found a second room and a safe that could not be opened. Deciding to go visit the watchtower, Buchanon refused to go along as he had been insulted by Theltar and was pouting. While Blowguh and Keanu attempted to use reverse psychology to get him to go, it only took effect when they left and Buchanon got lost as he tried to find where they had gone. At the Watchtower, the horizon company continued to find the island deserted even in the well lit watchtower and was astonished to see etchings of dwarven gods and heroic tales on the staircase leading up to the tallest room in the watchtower. As they headed up the stairs, they immeidately smelled the scent of a dead body and found the remains of a young dwarven man whose head was smashed through with a piercing weapon in his bed. Continuing to explore, they also found a severed orc arm under a bulging blanket and other remnants of a struggle as they realized there was a mystery as to where everyone on the island had gone. While Blowguh and Keanu were discussing this mystery, the floor beneath Theltar immediately collapsed and he was plunged downwards. If it had been nearly anyone else, it would have been instantly letha, but he just barely survived as they stabilized him. Returning to the shelter, the Horizion company was surprised when they saw Buchanon with an incredibly young orc child. Blowguh became immensely infuriated as he was reminded of the slaving ways of the orcs in his past, and attempted to kill the child as the others tried to talk him down. They were then interrupted by a mermaid (I think?) who informed them that she was here to protect the child. As Blowguh immediately calmed down upon seeing the attractive fish lady person thing, the team began scrutinizing the evidence gathered. Littered across the floor were receipts and paperworks for a local logging company that had been deforesting the island for profit and a list of names. The Or child identified itself as Ruby through a complicated series of guesswork and the team decided to further investigate the island while leaving the captian behind. Taking the kid with them, they continued to find the place deserted and with occasional signs of struggle, painting a grim, but strange picture before them. However, they also gathered a great deal of evidence from this work and soon realized that a lot of the dissapeared residents were members of the logging company and that this was their camp. They further realized that Ruby the orc child was most likely related to a pair of loggers who had been taken for possibly knowing too much about some unsavory practices going on. Realizing that there was no time left to lose, the team took a small break to get themselves all some warm clothing from the deserted houses since it was still raining like crazy and Ruby seemed to be pretty cold considering he was pretty much just wearing a t shirt. Returning to the shelter they opened the previously locked safe and found some documents confirming much of the information they gathered and decided to go and investigate the smokey remains of the camp leader's house which had apparently burned down, yet as they approached Ruby pulled furiously at their clothes to try to warn them away when the smoke began to coalesce into the form of an elemenal, the loose amalgamation of a giant burning man with burning red eyes and charcoal skin. As the team readied their weapons and positioned themselves, the ash spirit screamed out in a horrific voice that echoed even above the torrential rain and prepared to unleash its first attack when the session ended.

SESSION TWELVE: THE ISLAND OF ASHES AND RUBIES As the session begins, the Horizon Company gripped their weapons as The Ashen Grudge arose and the storm howled behind them. The Ashen Grudge, the spirit empowered by the lingering sorrow and malice of the island's denizens given form from the ashes, unleashed an unearthly wail filled with the voices of the dead screaming in unison. Yet as this twisted shape took form, Keanu's voice boomed out above the tempest as he unleashed the full might of his clerical powers by channeling the divinity to prove to the spirit his ability to help finally put it to rest. Though it did not have the full force of a standard turning, the channeling of the divine energies of Keanu's patron God still had a resounding afffect upon the spirit as even the storms seemed slightly pacified and the Ashen Grudge's aim switched to testing the party. With Keanu's part done, it was the rest of the team who proved their strength, coordinating their strikes in sufficient number to get past even the ghosts immunity to fire and resistance to weapons until it's corpreal form was struck dow n and the spirits freed from their torment. With their souls finally able to rest, the ash composing the Grudge began to shift around until it formed three figures and the Horizon Company realized it was reenacting the night of their death. The team watched helplessly as the last moments of the victims' lives replayed as they saw a monstrous man burst into their home with a pickaxe and violently murder them each with a single swing. As the ashes finally settled and the spirits departed, the team gathered Ruby and continued their investigation. The team continued on in their solemn investigation, looking through the decaying and overgrown remnants of the town. Passing in and out of crumbling homes, the team found an acceptance letter to a famed musical school underneath the corpse of a worker murdered before he could ever hone his prodigious talent, a couple murdered barely feet away from each other, a child murdered in his own room, and other forgotten tragedies. Throughout it all, the team saw the same method of death: Piercing Trauma to the head. The Horizon Company realized that the murderer they had seen from the Ashen Grudge had been more amibitious than they had initially suspected. While investigating a corpse, the team was suddenly swarmed by large Corpse Wasps which had nested in the dead body of one of the villagers. As the wasps quickly swarmed Blowguh, Grandpa came in, blasted the bees with fire, and left with the pride of a job well done. To defeat the almighty wasps, Keanu blasted them all out into the rain using a powerful burst of wind which unfortunately resulted in a long description of the wasps children struggling to survive as a veritable barrage of torrential rains fell upon them and smashed them into the earth. Nevertheless, the team gathered multiple clues in their investigation by defeating the wasps and exploring the decrepit homes. Crossbow Bolts with scripture of the God Boznir inscribed into their shafts, Strange letters, rotting and scraping showing signs of a fight, and always the same method of death. As the team finished their survey, they ventured towards the last remaining location on the island, the ruby mine that had driven such madness and had given Ruby his name. As the storm began to fade into a drizzle, the Horizon Company soldiered through the mud to reach the mine. Yet, as they drew close to the entrance in the Orc Camp, Blowguh saw a magniicent hole that proved to be simply far too tempting to avoid as his large tongue began to salivate at the thought of squeezing himself inside the tight, wet well. Lubing himself up before penetration, Blowguh plunged into the tiny hole in the ground even as the rest of the team tried to stop him after they realized Ruby was trying to warn them not to, yet Blowguh carried on nonetheless. While the rest of the team scrambled to meet him through the mine entrance, gaining a shockingly hefty pickaxe with dried blood upon it and a lantern to navigate the mine, Blowguh saw a grisly scene. In a secluded passageway glowing with red gemstones were the skeletons of two lovers locked in one last embrace, one immensely large clothed in the rotting remains of workers wear and the other a smaller human skeleton clothed in the garb of one of the island residents. Beside them was one final letter, an apology to Ruby, addressed from his parents that explained everything. The island had once been a small, but stable community that served as a port to passing ships and survived off the austere teachings of the god Boznir who preached a life of reserve. With the local economy so dependent upon their natural resources, a trading company was established in cooperation with the locals that would ostensibly chop down the many trees on the island for the mainland trade and help bring in money to the islanders. Though the workers and islanders clashed on several matters, the deal was sustainable until the discovery of a large and rich well of priceless rubies in the center of the island. As the trading company moved to seize the asset, the islanders led by an elder follower of Boznir blocked the action for fear of violating Boznir’s will and destroying the island. Unwilling to pass up the opportunity the trading company began porting in a variety of new workers to illegally mine the rubies, and among these were two orc brothers: one a large, but simple man possessed of a strength rivaling giants, and the other a young orcish man with a natural sense of empathy and charm to help pacify his brother. The two proved an invaluable asset with the older brother’s pickaxe proving vital in mining new areas until the younger brother met the daughter of the island. Despite being so different, the two fell in love and began a secret relationship that continued until a half orc child was born of the union who they named Ruby after the gemstones of the island. While the two were very much in love, they both realized that if they were discovered that they would likely experience severe repercussions and so decided to hide their child in a cave until Ruby’s father could escape his contract with the company and start a new life together in Trolanport. Yet, their plans to elope were discovered by the island elder and several of his men who with crossbolts etched in the holy words of Boznir, chased the pair down the mine on a night with a howling storm. Chased into a corner and unwilling to let their child die alongside them, Ruby’s parents hid Ruby behind some rocks to save him, as Ruby could only watch as his grandfather murdered both of his parents for their crime of falling in love and having him. Tinged with regret at murdering his daughter, the elder had apparently realized the enormity of his sin, but before he could do anything he was discovered by the giant older orc brother who realized that this man and his cronies had apparently murdered his beloved younger brother, his brother’s wife, and his defenseless nephew. Grabbing his pickaxe, the older brother caved in the old man’s chest just long enough for him to write some last words before dying as he set out to the rest of the island with a growing emptiness inside of him. As the storm howled, the older brother systematically killed each and every isolated member on the island, the tempest covering up his rampage as his despair and madness destroyed his mind. Though he had disappeared after his massacre, the damage was done and the island became known only as a cursed spot haunted by its murdered residents. In this way, Ruby grew up alone, sleeping next to the corpses of his parents and barely surviving off the fish on the island. After having realized the truth of this tragedy, Blowguh crumpled up the paper and began desecrating the grave of the two lovers by stealing the rubies surrounding it right before the rest of the team arrived. Piecing together all the evidence as well upon reading the letter, Keanu and Theltar got into a huge argument about what to do with the boy. Blowguh wanted to viciously murder the child while he wasn’t able to defend himself and (potentially) oppress others in the future. Theltar advocated abandoning the boy since he had clearly been doing juuuusssttt fine on his own and Theltar turned out perfect without parents. Keanu advocated taking the boy to trolanport to get him in the care of people so that he might have a chance for a normal childhood and move past the trauma. Infuriated by Theltar’s complete absurdity and outright insults that the only reason Keanu could possibly be against abandoning a starving feral child to live in a cave next to the corpses of his parents on an abandoned and haunted island forever was to appease his selfish sense of virtue, Keanu actually exploded in anger and regretted it immediately as he realized that the strange vampiric monk said this not from a sense of heartlessness, but from the genuine belief that such a life was better. This horrific understanding of the magnitude of Theltar’s trauma absolutely floored Keanu as the dwarf cleric struggled at how to convey empathy to someone who truly had none. Meanwhile, Blowguh and Theltar slowly drew their weapons to murder the unsuspecting dwarf, far too caught up in his own mental processes to even note their coming attack. Blowguh's desire to kill ruby, to kill this idealized icon of his orcish oppressors symbolized by turning the tables and murdering a defenseless child, and Theltar's simple ruthlessness at not wanting to deal with a dwarf who would yell at him amplified their killing intent as it resonated between them. It would be easy to justify the deaths of Grandpa, Keanu, and Ruby to Buchanon and the others of course... simple casualties lost to the dangers of the island and easily covered up. As Theltar silently moved forward to surprise kill the defenseless cleric however, he was interrupted by Blowguh's furious growling as Ruby suddenly fled deeper into the mines and the goblin fled further after him. Racing after the child, the team found themselves at the edge of a cliff. Realizing that cliffs were really just large holes, Blowguh set about exploring the bottom when he was suddenly and viciously attacked by some hideous monster in the dark. Hearing his cries, Theltar unleashed his most dangerous technique: The Legendary Dopest Dunk. As Theltar leapt down however, he realized the identity of Blowguh’s attacker as the impossibly muscular orcish man before them howled in a broken and maddening garbled combination of orc and common. Here was where the older brother had gone after losing his mind and murdering everyone on the island, an insane and heartbroken man living in a pit of his own feces and surviving off whatever skinny fish he could catch from the river in the cave. Even insane however, the orc was a formidable opponent as he threw Theltar into the river and sent him flying away leaving Blowguh to grit his teeth and repeatedly tank his powerful attacks. The orc was able to attack and move multiple times in the same turn, his stench forcing his attackers to muster their spirits and even his glancing blows sending them down to the ground as he beat them repeatedly. Again and again Blowguh was knocked unconscious, yet he would continually get right back up and begin fighting again as Keanu’s healing magics kept him afloat. As they took his attention, it was Grandpa’s insanely overpowerd ‘fireballs’ (Scorching Rays) which did the bulk of the damage, sending the isane orc into retreat after he tossed an unconscious Blowguh into the river to be swept out. Realizing that Blowguh would drown if he didn’t get to him in time, Theltar rushed to pull him out while Keanu brought him back from the edge of death once again leaving Grandpa alone to overlook the chasm. Yet, unbenknownst to the others, the deranged Orc stealthily climbed the clif face and with his brutish strength knocked Grandpa to the floor with one blow as he stood poised to end the life of the friendly old man. Hearing his scream for help the others began to attack again as they unleashed all of their attacks. However, even as he lay on the cusp of death, the orc pulled out one last glimpse of life as he realized that Keanu had picked up his pickaxe along the way and stole it from the dwarf after wrestling it from him on the ground. With one last strike, he began fighting with all his strength until Theltar delivered the final blow and finally put an end to the slayer of the island and his tragedy. Though they were bloodied, out of all spells and powers, and exhausted beyond all measure, there was no other word than "Victory" as they overlooked the scene. Finding Ruby eventually and deciding to put off the problem, the team returned to captain Tom and explained the situation. Here Captain Tom revealed his honor by telling them that the team could actually lay claim to the island by using the charters they had found from the trading company and other paperwork or they could sell it to him for some gold. Although the gold was tempting, the team realized they had essentially been offered their own island base complete with plentiful resources and access to multiple trading communities close by. Renaming the Island, Bloodstone Island’ the team declared it their base and hired captain Tom on the spot to conduct their trading missions after resolving to fix the place up. Deciding to take Ruby to see a specialist in Trolanport, the Horizon Company ended the session by setting sail for Trolanport on clear skies. Summary: The Gang solves a scooby doo murder mystery and gets an island for it.

SESSION THIRTEEN: A REUNION, A ROBOT AND A REGRET As the session began, The horizon Company finally made land in the gnomish capital of Trolanport, a paradise for those of a shorter persuasion and proficiency in tinkerer’s tools. The team watched as all manner of impressive mechanical devices and populated the large port city. Leaving Captain Tom to mind the ship, the team set about exploring the docks when they saw large anaconda with a peculiar look of intelligence. Feeling threatened by its perceived smug attitude, Blowguh immediately started throwing a fit, drawing the eyes of both the large owner of the snake and a mysterious gnomish woman. Resolving the situation, Theltar found himself rather drawn to the snake, and began debating with the large man over the price as the others carried on. Having agreed to work further with Captain Tom for the party, Keanu intended to leave The Horizon Company after dropping off Ruby at the language specialist he had heard about to help rehabilitate the feral child, and was asking around. After having a quick chat with a lovely fish merchant who conned Blowguh, Keanu the dwarf met Keanu the gnome, an elderly monk riding a turtle! Quickly establishing a rapport, the two Keanus spoke for a while and learned that the annual artificer’s fair was going on and that the whole city was checking out the amazing inventions being displayed there. Keanu also told Keanu that he could find the gnomish language professor by heading to the Library of all Knowledge. With this information, Keanu took Ruby and Buchanon with him to the library of all knowledge, while blessing his friends goodbye. Before he left however, Keanu was warned by Keanu of The Trust, an organization of gnomes that would eliminate anyone who posed a threat to the gnomes of Trolanport, particularly a constantly infuriated bounty hunter goblin. Meanwhile, the constantly infuriated bounty hunter goblin Blowguh was staring blankly as a half-elf dressed in the clothes of nobility sailed in on a quickly sinking rowboat. While the man was incredibly handsome, he quickly proved himself dumber than a sack of hammers as he greeted Blowguh as he would a fellow nobleman and introduced himself as Lucian Lampurge, idiot for hire! Well not really like that, but regardless, h quickly introduced himself as a nobleman looking to travel to Taer Valaestras to make his fortune, but unfortunately had sailed with the map upside down the whole time and ended up in Trolanport. Realizing the opportunity, Blowguh quickly told him that his party had a boat and in exchange for all of Lucian’s gold, would gladly hire him. Lucian then quickly signed a contract that also gave away any rights to his massive inheritance while happily chatting with Blowguh. Meanwhile, Theltar was haggling with the large man with the snake and was testing himself to see if he was worthy of it, for only someone who the snake chose would be accepted. While the others watched this ceremony of Theltar manhandling a snake until it loved him, they heard a loud banging sound coming from a pipe and found a Gnomish man furiously pounding away inside of a sewer grate. While Blowguh was interrogating him, Grandpa freed him and was embraced by the man, prompting Lucian to hug him as well. The man introduced himself as VEGER, and told a very ambiguous story that implied he had traveled out from the underdark. The Gnomish man and Grandpa quickly bonded and spent the rest of the session swapping tales and commenting on the actions of others. Meanwhile, Blowguh and Theltar realized they were being followed by a gnome assassin from the Trust, who was monitoring them from afar, and they tracked her down to a butcher shop after a quick chase scene. There she was very upfront while still being coy about The Trust wanting to make sure that there would be consequences if they did anything to disrupt the neighborhood like a more sinister Home Owner’s Association. At this point, the team decided to go investigating around town and see what interested them in order to look for a job and a place to sleep. As they asked for directions, Lucian met Tom the Gnome, who was a baker who lived in the city and spent a good hour just having a niceee talk with him about his family. From tom, the team learned that the Artificer’s fair was in the middle district because it was most important and that the greatest artificer of them all was Tom’s Uncle! After bidding Tom goodbye, Blowguh ended up hearing rumors of a group of mysterious masked merchants who were just in town and were convinced that they were incredibly important and spent more time chasing down rumors about them. Assigned to gather information on these mysterious masked men, Lucian went back to talk to Tom the Gnome and had another pleasant chat with baked goods while Blowguh blew his lid at repeatedly coming up empty. As the team stepped forward into the artificer’s fair, the team were stupefied by the sheer array of mechanical designs on display. Electric powered flying machines, rapid-fire Gatling crossbows, indescribable armaments of all kinds and shapes, and a living mechanical dragon dead in the center of it all. At seeing this, the team immediately split up as Blowguh and Theltar scanned for inventions that might prove useful to their violent endeavors, Grandpa and VEGER looking at the greatest invention of all time (a refrigerator) and coming away unimpressed, and Lucian meeting a gnome named Corki who was literally ripped from League of Legends along with half the other npcs at the fair. Yet through all of this, the team learned of reputation of the judge of the fair, Tom’s uncle, and the greatest inventor in the entire city. As Blowguh was getting shot for money thanks to the Gatling crossbow wanting to show off his invention, Buchanon came back to the awe of any spectators who thought he was another entry to the competition. While the team dealt with a very depressed Teemo who was grappling with the suicide of his arch-rival in the city of Korth, Buchanon came back just in time for the famed inventor to appear as well. As Buchanon looked to the famed man, he was astonished as tears welled up in the older gnomes eyes and he cried out, “Son!” And so, the famed inventor revealed that not only was he Tom’s uncle, but Buchanon’s true father/creator (Incidentally making Buchanon Tom’s cousin.) The Inventor revealed that he had long thought Buchanon lost after he was stolen before his completion, but that he had finally returned like the prodigal son. For his part, Buchanon was stupefied as while formed an erstatz family from the various members of The Horizon Company, here was his father before him. Bucahonon and the old man began to trade questions, asking what had occurred to the other in their absence and trying to catch up for all the time they had missed. Lucian began speaking to the mechanical dragon named Godfrey, who didn’t actually talk, but was a very talented listener. While Buchanon and the Old Man deeply wanted to reminisce, the old man also brought up the point that Buchanon was actually incomplete, taken before his upgrades could be installed and that he could finally be fully repaired now that they had been reunited. Buchanon was thankful, but then revealed that they had found an island and that he would love it if his father could come live with them. At this, the Inventor Balked as he explained it would take a thousand gold a month to fund his experiments even accounting for a family discount. While Buchanon couldn’t understand if this was his father’s way of trying to maintain distance from him, Blowguh was also upset that he was telling them his secrets. While Buchanon negotiated with Blowguh, the old man suddenly took off running as the Trust arrived to break up their argument and told his son to come find him in the city if he lived. While the reunion was short lived, Buchanon realized that he had finally found answers to the questions he sought and would continue to pursue them in the future as he and the party also fled. Eventually finding a bar to sleep in, the team settled in as VEGER and Grandpa continued to talk about the rest of the team’s regard for the old man, Lucian continued his efforts to chat up every incidental npc and promised to become Teemo’s new rival now that his old one was dead to cheer him up, and Blowguh and Buchanon had a pep talk between the two of them to establish family rules. Eventually everyone went upstairs to bed with little concern for what the trust might possibly do to them. The session ended with the party asleep and absolutely defenseless as unheard footsteps crept closer to them. And a scream was heard outside their doors. Summary: The Gang meets Buchanon's Dad, met half the cast of league of legends, and may or may not get their throats slit in the night as they sleep.

SESSION FOURTEEN: THE MECHANICAL MANTICORE, A BROKEN TRUST, AND A BOUNTY HUNTERS FAREWELL As the session begins, the team is awakened from their short rest by the sound of a man screaming for help. Meeting in the hallway, the team realizes that it must be one of the other tenants, and leave behind Grandpa the sleepy old man Wizard since he wasn’t getting up, and quickly begin knocking on doors . Strangely, nearly all of them were silent, until they find one barricaded and burst it down, there they met a legally safe parody of beloved League of Legends character and media personality Corki who informs them that the scream was from another room and that he barricaded the door for his safety. As the collective party and Corki-parody entered the room across the hall, they saw the brutally murdered and smashed body of one of the artificers from the artificer’s fair, the room covered in blood, and tracks leading outwards from the window. Before anyone can react aside from Corki vomiting, Theltar the dhampyr monk, the absolute madman, jumps straight out the third story window in hot pursuit of the tracks to see if he can still catch up to whoever did it. At this, Lucian the half elf sorlock noble sighed, and immediately jumped out the window and used his years of acrobatics experience to safely land at the bottom beside Theltar as well. Buchanon the fighter/robot son of the party and Blowguh, goblin barbarian and self proclaimed world’s greatest bounty hunter, both immediately jumped down and ended up crashing straight through the second floor thus leaving only Veger, the mysterious dwarf from the underdark, alone to investigate with his sweet sweet -1 modifier to investigation. Down on the ground, Lucian and Theltar found that the tracks were very fresh, proving that the suspect had just fled the scene, while Lucian created an imprint of the tracks, using minor illusion to prevent making any mistakes. After comforting Corki, Veger went looking for the human innkeeper, only to realize that he had mysteriously disappeared thus making him a suspect in the case and that nobody was there. Blowguh and Bucahnon came rushing down and met with Lucian as they all left to pursue the tracks, only to be completely passed by Veger as he rode in on a pony he had stolen from the stables in their pursuit of Theltar and the tracks. Blowguh panicked at the sight of the horse, but nevertheless, their journey caught them up to Theltar who was currently analyzing the tracks he had followed. For some reason, the tracks which had been made by something incredibly heavy from the impressions in the mud had gotten gradually lighter before disappearing as though whatever made them had simply flown away. Deciding to pursue some another set of tracks in the mud, the team raced back to the sight of the artificer’s fair only to discover Godfrey, the mechanical manticore, had disappeared from his stand. Yet, they were far more surprised to run into a friend they hadn’t seen in some time, the necromancer chef Invidia! When they had last split up, Invidia had had a heck of a time over in Sharn along with the warrior Isenhart. After cooking a member of the upper nobility a meal worthy of a king, the noble had appointed Invidia as a candidate in the Cog district election against an unknown opponent in 30 days. However, Invidia knew he would need help, so he split paths with Isenhart and had traveled over to gather the other members of the party for some fun political shenanigans and also to gauge how adept they were at voter fraud. On the city outskirts, he met a decidedly helpful stranger named Sal who was a burgeoning author and began interviewing Invidia as he cooked a turkey using his magic. Eventually Sal and Invidia entered the city until they coincidentally ran into the party as they were investigating. The team held an impromptu reuninion as the members of the party who had most recently joined were introduced to one of the founding members of The Horizon Company, and found themselves all fairly amicable to each other. Still,there yet was the mystery of the murder and giant monster that had apparently commited it. Godfrey had gone missing, and the only man who had any ideas as to where he would be was Buchanon’s creator and father, Beregar. Suddenly, Lucian broke out in a brilliant smile as he remembered that just a while ago when they had first come to town, he had spent the time that was supposed to be for gathering leads on missions on speaking to a friendly gnome baker named Tom who was the nephew of Beregar and also Buchanon’s cousin. Lucian brought up that Tom would be the most likely to help them find Godfrey’s creator and solve this mystery as the team, now with Invidia and Sal in tow, all set out to go visit Tom the Baker! As the team raced toward Tom, they were oblivious to the true threat they were facing until out from the shadows emerged 5 gnomes dressed in combat gear led by a grizzled leader brandishing a scimitar and ordered them al to halt at once. These gnomes ordered the team to turn over Blowguh for a laundry list of crimes, some imagined and most real, and advised the rest of the team to stand down or be taken in as well. While Lucian and Invidia tried to be diplomatic through turkey based peace and Sal squealed and hid, the rest of the team took fighting stances and grouped up around Blowguh. However, the gnome captain hated goblins on a deep and unabiding level due to the cultural animosity between the two and he deliberately escalaed the situation until finally Buchanon attempted to grab a gnome who had come close to eat Invidia’s urkey and toss him at the captain. While Lucian and Invidia magically supported the others, Buchanon grabbed the unconscious blowguh to try and protect him and Veger transformed into a monstrous dragon form and ahnilated one of he trust members. As Diplomacy failed, Theltar realized that the team had no shot of actually escaping the trust when the whole city was full of them and switched to attacking Blowugh to knock him out. Theltar then presented Blowguh to the trust and argued for leniency as he explained that they were wasting time fighting when they were investigating a mystery. As the gnomes quickly stole away Blowguh, the captain thought it over and agreed to give him a fair trial in exchange for the party solving the mystery, giving them only an hour and 40 minutes. With the time limit looming, the party had to quickly get over their mutual mistrust in order to rescue Blowguh and work together to figure out who had murdered the artificer. Knocking on Tom’s door in the poorer district of the city, Lucian was introduced to all of Tom’s many many similarly named cousins and children before explaining to them how he needed to know where their uncle was staying at. To Lucian’s and the party’s dismay, it turns ou Beregar was just staying in the hotel literally across the street from the murders. Leaving Lucian behind as he was swarmed by excitable and overly friendly gnomes, the team split up with Sal, Invidia, and Buchanon going to his father and Theltar and Veregar heading back to the crime scene. When Theltar and Veregar returned, they found that the inn was still eerily silent, with not even a single sign of life or panic that might be expected from being the scene of a murder. Traveling up and down, Theltar and Veger soon discovered the reason why. In the time that they had been away, each and every artificer and guest who had been staying in their rooms was brutally murdered in ways that suggested different methods for each, bludgeoning, slashing, piercing, until their rooms were entirely covered in blood. Furtheremore, the original body had had its face caved in to make identifying it even harder, proving that the murderer had returned to the scene of the crime while they had been chasing their tracks. Exploring the basement, they found the body of the gnome who had invented the refrigerator stuffed in a barrel that they had been pushing around, but more importantly, they also discovered that the inventions of the gnomes were all missing. As Theltar and Veger realized the stakes involved, they sincerely hoped hings were going better for the other group. At the inn, things were not going better for he other group. While Lucian had managed to catch up while carrying as much leftover bread that Tom was unable to sell during the day, the others had found their way barred by an obstinate bouncer. Ignoring Lucian’s noble credentials or Buchanon’s pleas to see his father, he was bribed by Sal wih disappearing gold to let them in. Entering his room, the team found the old man tinkering with some consructs and began asking him a great many questions. From him they found that there existed many people with the motives to kill the artificers, people looking for ideas or political motivation, that he was unable to either control or track Godfrey, that the trust was incredibly dangerous. In addition,the old man realized that “Sal” wasn’t actually writing anything at all in the many notes he was taking on the party, he had just been scribbling on a piece of paper and the team assumed he was okay because he had come in with Invidia. While the old man wasn’t too useful, he agreed to serve as a character witness to help out Blowguh during his trial and began doing some repairs on Buchanon to fix the damage sustained over multiple fights. Somewhat disheartened, Lucian and Invidia hoped that the other team had done better in tracking down clues to help Blowguh. When both sides met up, they realized that all they had to go on were theories with little sustained evidence. Theltar proposed that it was most likely Buchanon’s father given he could use Godfrey to steal his rival’s inventions and he would be the most likely to take control of him, and that he was in the best position to lie as no one was capable of proving him wrong. Lucian proposed that it might be politically motivated as the human bartender was the only unaccounted person and taking out many of the geniuses of Trolanport while stealing their inventions would leave them much weakened both now and in the future considering most of the inventions had potential military applications. As the team pondered this, they were suddenly alerted to a strange groaning sound coming from behind the bar and found the prone form of Teemo, Lucian’s (self-declared) rival and the only artificer left alive in the entire inn. Unable to rouse him from his self induced stupor, the team realized they could use him as bait to catch the killer! Dragging him up the stairs and placing him in his bed, the team prepared a cunning ploy to ambush the killer before he could murder Teemo and help save Blowguh. While Theltar and the remaining members of the team readied their trap, Sal took Veger aside to give him a potion, and revealed that he needed him to keep a secret. Before Veger’s own eyes, Sal revealed himself to truly be the infamous rogue who had stolen from the Horizon Company in the past, the man named Pelcast the Greedy. Deciding to leave this whole mess behind before he could get caught up in it, Pelcast was completely oblivious to the fact that this conversation was being eavesdropped upon by Theltar who seethed with rage at the man who had robbed him blind. Readying an attack, Theltar suddenly ambushed him as soon as he steped through the door and encouraged Lucian to follow up with an eldritch blast at the shapeshifting stalker as he stunned him completely. Unable to say a word, Pelcast died for the sin of being greedy enough to rob a dhampyr monk who literally kept a list of people he would take revenge upon. With Sal/Pelcast dead, the party suddenly heard a squelching sound as they realized they were distracted from the trap by this impromptu murder. Rushing to Teemo’s room, the party saw Godfrey looming over Teemo’s dead body with blood on his fists, in a strangely humanoid form. The team realized he had the ability to shapeshift which was how he hid his tracks originally by shifting to another form and jumping from building to building. Passive to their presence, Godfrey is suddenly ambushed by a stunning attack from Theltar followed up by Veger’s shield blow. Lucian attempts to check on Teemo to see if he is still alive, but blasts Godfrey when he realizes that the ptsd afflicted gnome is dead. Realizing it is under attack, Godfrey tries to jump out the window while dodging fists and eldritch blasts, displaying some ice powers while shifting forms to a more agile ability. All three members of the party jump out after it in hot pursuit and tank the damage, but suddenly godfrey knocks out Veger and flees the scene with a blistering speed. Left with the choice of taking another shot at it or helping to save Veger, Lucian saves the mystery dwarf’s life and leaves it up to Theltar who matches the beast in speed. Racing through the town in a furious chase, Theltar tracks it to a mysterious house on the city warehouse district, but decides to retreat rather than face Godfrey and his controller singlehandedly. As Theltar gets back to the sight of the others patching up their wounds, the team realizes that they’ve run out of time to solve the crime as Blowguh’s trial begins. Traveling to the trial, the party members are uneasy about the goblin’s chances, beligrent, violent, and impossibly prone to friction, the party are even less confident in his chances when they hear that he’s elected to represent himself as his own lawyer during the trial. Looking around for the guard captain, the party are unable to find him prior to the trial to give him the evidence they’ve found related to Godfrey and elect to hold on to their info. Standing around, the party is stunned when they see a muzzled Blowguh fiercely fighting several very bloodied gnomes as they forcibly drag him into the trial, calming down only when he sees Buchanon. As the party goes up to him, he seethes in silent rage at Theltar and calls him a traitor while the others awkwardly wish him the best of luck and take their assigned seats to watch the trial commence. The Judge calls the court to order and immediately Blowguh gets up to gripe and argue for his innocenc causing the Judge to look down sternly. With a look of outright disdain, the Judge begins to matter of factly read the list of crimes commited by Blowguh: attempted assault to trespassing to disturbing the peace and Blowguh fumes. Lucian attempts to make the argument that this is a cultural misunderstanding and argues for leniency in sentencing, arguing that as a citizen of another country that there will naturally be friction, but the judge counters that by revealing that Blowguh had murdered several guards in the short time that he had been captured, and had been banished before. Continuing the trial, the judge goes to try and find out why Bolwguh was in the city, and shoots down Blowguh’s argument of being there to help out Buchanon by saying that he should have stayed on the ship. While the others try to help by pointing out the results of their investigation, without the missing captain they can’t help out too much without being called as character witnesses. With his arguments clearly not impressing the judge, Blowguh begins rapidly lying in succession to try and save his case, but the judge easily sees through it. As the trial continues, neither Buchanon’s desperate appeals to save the life of his best friend nor Blowguh’s furious insistence upon his innocence work and the situation grows more and more dire as the judge begins to get frustrated at the lack of anything that would change his mind. Calling a recess as he and the council of judges make their decision, Blowguh and Buchanon wait in uncertainty, the options left to him being state imposed slavery or death and him being unsure of which was worse. When the judge returns, Blowguh knows that he needs a miracle, something, anything to save his life, yet Blowguh learns that there are no miracles when he is sentenced to death tomorrow. Asking only to be allowed to speak to his friends one last time, Blwoguh wishes Buchanon the best and hugs him as he tells him the tall robot that he’s grown up now. To Theltar, he spits on the monks face for betraying and killing him by handing him over to which the monk is unapologetic when he says it saved the life of all the others. Lucian apologizes to Blowguh about not being able to save him either after only knowing him for like 6 hours at most. With his final goodbyes, the guards quickly surround blowguh and expect him to turn himself fin peacefully given that he’s surrounded by dozens upon dozens of law enforcement officers. Those guards are quickly proven wrong when Blowguh, defiant to the end, breaks free of his cuffs and begins fighting as many people as he can to try and reach his “Baby” to take as many with him as possible. Yet, his last stand is cut short as dozens upon dozens of crossbow bolts fire into him at all angles, the mere volume of shots slowing him down from the sheer weight of them all even through his rage. Propelled by the last of his adrenaline and anger, Blowguh reaches his weapon, but instead throws it to Buchanon to the shock of the others and tells his f to, “Take Baybeh - AND RUN. MAKE UTH FAMOUTH - MAKE UTH GREAT PARTNAH”. Bleeding out, his lungs and other organs punctured with dozens upon dozens of arrows, Blowguh’s rage finally ends, his rage at the world, his rage at his slavery, his rage at his lack of respect, and the last sight he ever sees is his best friend as he slumps to his knees and dies. And so the session ended as the party consoled Buchanon, a subtle reassurance that though Blowguh was gone, that the robotic man yet had family to care for him. Though there remained mysteries to solve, why Buchanon’s father had not showed to the trial, the identity of Godfrey’s true master, and why Keanu and Ruby had failed to return from their trip to the library, all were temporarily forgotten as Buchanon mourned the loss of his best friend and the party planned the funeral of the world’s greatest bounty hunter. Summary: The world's greatest artificers die in their beds, a mystery is unsolved, and the team loses a friend.

SESSION FIFTEEN AND SIXTEEN : THE GHOST GIRL, THE STRANGE SONG, AND THE MALEVOLENT MANOR As the session (part 1 of 2 honestly) began, our intrepid heroes awoke to find themselves in the middle of a blizzard, a small encampment that provided little to no shelter relative to the harshness they faced. Weary and confused at how they arrived here, paranoid of the strange and elritch magics which most likely uprooted them from Trolanport, The Horizon company’s spirtis were bolstered when they met Mollin, a drow nobleman cleric who seemed to have some great amount of familiarity with the party. In truth, Mollin was merely the true form of Keepsafe, a living undead cleric wielding a warscythe and a small silver bell who had traveled with the Horizon Company in their earliest incarnation until his untimely (2nd) death. Now, he had crawled his way up from hell only to be overwhelmed with the same group of idiots who had led him to his original death. Annoyed and experiencing the cold for the first time since his return, Mollin the Drow Cleric reluctantly joined the party as the motley group sojourned to some lights on the horizon to take shelter from the storm. Battered by furious snowdrifts and winds carrying whispers of the Winter King, the Horizon Company nearly broke down the door of the tavern of the small town they arrived in, a village so remote and tiny it did not have a name (I forgot the name). Speaking to the tavern owner, a gruff dwarf seated on a stool to be face to face with his customers, Lucian negotiated a fair price for some shelter while Buchanon went about introducing himself to the Hardy, yet stoic villagefolk. However, their time there was broken by a creepy and very much foreshadowing sort of song, the type of song that when you hear it you think, “Boy, that will probably be creepily sung by two little girls in a hallway carrying knives or an axe murderer later on”. The Song spoke of a wizard destroyed by his own hubris after finding a powerful magic wand, the eldritch powers within the magic device eventually consuming him and his home in radiant fire until nothing remained. The singer of the eerie melody was a raven haired bard known as Cravewyre, a mysterious woman who the locals actively shunned and whom Lucian immediately pegged as a ghost or the wizard from the song reborn. She explained that she was looking for adventurers to help her explore the house, later dramatically revealed (retconned) that she was a treasure hunter. The Horizon Company, figuring that dramatic and sudden quests such as this usually were the key to explaining the weird and random events which determined their lives, decided to take on the mission and ventured forth. The collective company arrived to see the manor very much not destroyed, yet exceedingly decrepit as though nature had done its absolute best to erase its existence and failed. As the party walked up to the door, they were surprised to see in the snow, just a giant mass of brown in white, a gargantuan Rhino standing at 30 feet tall staring at them. Realizing this had to be an illusion, the party laughed wildly as it charged and then panicked as the very much real rhino sent them all flying into the house from the sheer force of its charge. Now trapped in a haunted house with a giant rhino outside, the party realized they had to find a way to kill the thing or explore the creepy house. Working together, or really not so much working together as bickering wildly and bumbling through what was supposed to be a very frightening encounter, the party realized that their mission was to collect an array of skulls displaying phases of the moons when they discovered a dining room seated with headless skeletons. The party then explored multiple rooms: a hall closet, a game room with an unfinished chess match, and a room covered in butterflies of all types and colors. In this way, they found two skulls. However, by this point, the party was at a very tense position. Mollin and Buchanon were acting incredibly pissy and passive aggressive to each other, Theltar found himself standing back from the events and letting the party fall apart, and Lucian had the distinct feeling that Theltar was plotting to murder him as he stood there silently watching him go through the rooms. When the party arrived at the kitchen, this tension exploded as Buchanon found a bunch of magical color changing apples and began playing around with them and the potions, therby turning himself and Mollin bright red after he touched him. Buchanon and Mollin got into a massive row about their mutual disrespect, Buchanon being called a child, and Mollin’s feelings of being slighted by Buchanon’s Blowguh influenced manners. While Lucian attempted to intervene, Mollin called him a half breed piece of filth in the drow tongue, and Lucian finally realized that Mollin was actually pretty racist towards him. As tensions rose to a peak and Lucian was 150% certain that Theltar was about to horribly murder him somehow, the lights went out and a knocking sound came from the storage room. As the party gathered their wits to investigate, they realized that the storage room was covered in an impenetrable magic darkness and that the knocking sound had not ceased. Tying a rope around Mollin first, Lucian was suddenly turned bright red as well when he handed him the rope and Theltar put his head in his hands as he found himself utterly flabbergasted at his allies stupidity. Nevertheless, Mollin went inside as Lucian held onto the rope, only for it to suddenly become unexpectedly taut and a small scream to be heard. Lucian quickly began pulling only for Mollin’s voice on the end to explain that he had just tripped due to the becoming rather cluttered. When he got out, Mollin was holding a bright red skull. In addition, he was no longer a racist and revealed that he loved Buchanon. Both Lucian and Buchanon were incredibly happy at Mollin’s new go getter attitude and decided that this Mollin was much cooler than the old Mollin. Continuing to explore and inadvertently turning a bunch of things red, the party eventually encountered a magical mirror and had a quick game of trying on costumes and repeatedly making constitution saving throws to try and figure out how the magical mirror worked. It turned out the magical mirror blinded people and Theltar spent the next hour watching Lucian, Mollin, and Buchanon writhing on the floor on pain while talking about how they were blind. However, as they rested up, the team began to hear a furious pounding from downstairs as the blinded ones’ sight returned to them. Fearful of what it could be, only Lucian and Cravewyre gathered the courage or idiocy required to open the front door only to see Veger covered in Rhino guts and viscera incredibly angry at them for not coming to help him while he was being attacked by the giant rhino. Cleaning himself off the rhino as he went along, Veger told him that he had woken up later than them only to find that they had all ditched him since he was a little away from the others and that he had a hell of a time tracking them and it had been a major inconvience for everyone involved including the now dead Rhino. Joining the party, the team resumed their exploration coming to the opposite end of the upper hallway and found a great wind blasting forth. Combining their efforts, Veger pushed forward into a hallway with many rooms. As he walked into what seemed to be an ordinary bedroom, he felt a sudden jolt through his body, a feeling as though the earth were ripped from his feet, and a sudden sense of a great mistake. Elsewhere, Lucian had made a plan to use climbing tools to safely navigate their way to him with only Buchanon not being allowed to join on account of being the only person still bright red. As they found their way to the room, Lucian entered the room and saw centipedes in the corner attempting to rip apart something small. To his horror, Lucian realized that the small creature was Veger, but before he could call for help, Lucian realized that the floor was now a great plain and the centipedes were staring at what was now a new meal. Outside the door, Theltar and Cravewyre realized that Lucian had disappeared and turned their back to Mollin, only for the drow to suddenly attempt to break Theltar’s neck. Barely dodging with his monk skills, Theltar realized that the new, muc more likable Mollin was a doppleganger and that the real Mollin was either dead or knocked unconscious back in the storage room. Back in the centipede room, Lucian realized that even if he himself was tiny, his spells were still the same as he cast Mage Hand to lift and carry Veger safely away from the centipedes before following suit with a quickened Mage Hand of his own to essentially fly the small hand like a magic carpet to the door. Positioning Veger near the door for his safety, Lucian prepped a powerful Eldritch Blast to blow away the Doppelganger, only to realize too late that a full power eldritch blast would be deafening when he was still shrunken as he stunned himself for the rest of the encounter and nearly gave himself tinnitus. As Theltar grappled with the Doppelganger, ‘Mollin’ realized that it would need a new strategy only to feel the thoughts of Buchanon coming up the hallway after hearing the sounds of fighting. When Buchanon returned, he saw Blowguh, his recently executed goblin barbarian friend and mentor, begging him for help and claiming that Theltar had betrayed the party. Unable to tell the truth, Buchanon joined the fight against Theltar only to realize that this Blowguh was acting nothing like the real thing by ordering him around and also calling the rest of the party friends instead of his usual genitalia based terms of endearment. Working together, Buchanon and Theltar finally put an end to the demented double as Veger burst up from beneath the door as his reduced state wore off. Lucian was still stunned on the floor as the others celebrated their victory. After clearing the doppelganger, the party went down and found Mollin stuffed in a pickle barrel. Sadly, the real Mollin was still a racist and refused to apologize or say thank you to Buchanon for saving his life, but mostly everyone was glad he was alright. After that, the party set about exploring and looting the mansion back upstairs. Lucian and Mollin found themselves in a library as Lucian stole some new reading material. Theltar developed a new talent for skittering creepily on a wall (Which was actually fairly humorous to everyone) and found himself relaxing on a thought detecting bed, and the others explored as Veger judged whether the loot was worth anything to his draconic master. There were invisibility rooms and other such things, but Theltar also began to read the thoughts of a strange entity hiding in the library watching the party as they desecreated the belongings of its master. Skittering into the corner, Theltar waited for this mysterious entity to move, and then suddenly grabbed him only to realize that he was hodling a plain old imp. As the party began playing Bad Mollin Good Lucian with the Imp, they realized that the guy was actually pretty burned out and not at all loyal. He had essentially just been chilling in the house ever since the death of his master and thus divulged everything he knew, every minor detail he could think of to get them to leave sooner or later. Eventually, he realized that the Horizon Company planned to continue talking to him and rather than deal with that torture, asked Lucian to murder him. The party thus bumbled their way forward. Eventually, the party came to a room with only a single skeleton inside of it which sent Cravewyre into tears as she collapsed. Reacting with concern, Lucian began asking if she was okay when Cravewyre began going into her tragic backstory, that she and two others had gone into this house to get treasure only for her to die and the others to flee, dooming her to repeat the events every night at the bar until the house was finally cleared. As her spirit faded away, Lucian promised her that he and the party would finally put her to rest. Immediately afterwards, Lucian fist pumped and said that he had called it from the very start, right back in the bar that she had been a ghost as he got really excited. None of the other party members really reacted to her revelation since she had been pretty quiet and non talkative aside from just frustration at how incompetent they all were and Lucian had been one of the few to chat with her. Also along the way, Lucian killed every single butterfly singlehandedly with one casting of burning hands. Going further into the house, the party eventually reached the inner sanctum of the wizard. Pushing past poltergeists and traps, the Horizon company soon found themselves in a study holding a single wand contained in a purple circle. With everyone afraid to touch it considering nobody sensible would draw a circle around a wand unless it was spooky shit, Buchanon got bored and just went up to grab it only to completely disappear. In some other dimension, Buchanon was now being beaten up by an invisible burning zombie. Eventually they ended up grabbing it from the side only to reveal a zombie burning with radiant fire slamming Buchanon into the ground. Despite his 8 int, Lucian was 2 for 2 in regards to his predictions as his radiant magic, so attuned to destroying the undead, merely slid off as though a oil upon water because the creepy song sung in the tavern truly was foreshadowing and not just local flavor. The party wanted to say the fight was pretty difficult, but to be honest it was 5 on one and it mostly came down to beating him to death again. As they defeated the ancient wizard, the party felt a great sense of relief come from Cravewyre as she thanked them for their actions, the party sheepishly hiding the loot and the nearly unrecognizable corpse of the zombie wizard/homeowner. With this the session ended as the party woke up in Trolanport with a heckuva story and all their misbegotten riches including a book filled with every transmutation spell to give to their beloved and very dear companion Grandpa the sleepy grandpa wizard, who unfortunately died alone in a hotel room while they were all away. Summary: The Team has yet another Ghost adventure, Learned why Racism means People like your Doppelganger More, and Beat a Zombie Wizard to Death Rest in Piece Grandpa. Sorry we never learned your backstory. IN MEMORY OF ALL NAMELESS GRANDPA'S

SESSION SEVENTEEN: A RECKLESS ROBOT, A DARK DUEL AND A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY&nbsp; When the session begins, The Horizon Company awakens from their spooky scary Haunted House Session in the possession of a great deal of loot from the house. Excited to relay the story to Grandpa, the party attempts to rouse him, but he does not stir. With dawning horror then a great sense of loss, the party realizes that Grandpa had passed away peacefully in his sleep while they had been unconscious on their adventure. Trying to stave off tears, the party decided to look through Grandpa’s journal. As it turns out, Grandpa had been search for his family had been for some time. Long before he had known them, long before the madness that would come to define, Grandpa had been happy. A wizard of moderate talent and admirable work ethic, Grandpa had been on the pursuit of power, but had fallen in love. He had made a family, bought a house by the riverside, and lived a long and happy life for years. Grandpa wrote of the joy he felt as his children married and lived fulfilling lives of their own, he wrote of the tragedies which plague any family after enough time, worries of the future, dreams of the past, and the smile on his face when he held the tiny finger of his first grandson Tommy. As The Horizon Company continued to read, they not quite contentment, but peace that Grandpa had genuinely been happy at one point in his life before his quixotic quest to reunite with his grandson, but they were still left with the question of what had occurred to separate him from his loved ones. As the writings grew fainter, as though the hand that wrote them became arthritic or shaky as they held the pen, they wrote of retirement and a coming family reuinion where he could see every single one of his beloved members to celebrate a new grandchild, but on that day, something horrible occurred. Grandpa himself wasn’t able to determine what happened and from what he wrote none of the non arcana trained members were able to divine, but the younger Grandpa was forced to watch as each and every one of his many many family members burned alive by a dragon before his eyes, helpless to save them. The party continued to read as he tried to find any way of resurrecting them, of finding out what occurred and moreso why, before he simply blocked it all out and began writing of finding Tommy. Not realizing that some had begun tearing up, a single newspaper clipping fell out ofo the journal’s back, confirming the incident, and the team realized that wherever he was, Grandpa was happily reunited with his family. Reciting whatever funeral rites were held sacred by their respective deities, the party felt a great sense of loss for the man they had only ever known as Grandpa and wished him the best in his next life. Then Mollin tried to resurrect Grandpa as a zombie. After threatening Mollin that they would blast him out a window/beat him to unconsciousness/hit him with a broom if he did that, the party decided to go check the library of all knowledge to see if they could find his registered family records from his time working in the Magus Society to locate any unknown family members they could alert of his passing. Along the way however, the party is interrupted by a delegation of half elves who seem to display an odd recognition of Lucian by calling out to him by name despite his inability to recall any of them individually. Somewhat confused, Lucian casts some spells to tidy himself up, but they quickly wander off by the the time he gets there. Nonetheless, the party also chats with Veger to finally get some answers about their mystery man, but get nothing really too definitive. Eventually, they arrive at the library. At the library however, the Party meets two new strangers with names which mean that they’re important. A mysterious Rogue named Dysmas and a pirate Captain named Capt. Jamison. Together, they offer their skills for employment as Dysmas says he has business with the team despite their…less than stellar reputation. Buchanon and Veger begin chatting up and decide to take them drinking to learn more about them while Mollin and Theltar both seem deeply distracted by a drow who they quickly begin pursuing. Lucian goes to help them, but is warned away by a very explicit and quite graphic death threat sent by Mollin. Deciding to do what they originally came to do, Lucian wanders the halls largely ignored by the politely racist gnomes until he almost runs over a very nervous gnome librarian named Bethany. She had glasses as thick as telescopes, a stutter like a drummer’s rhythm, and the confidence of a person due to be executed for their opinion on bread. Lucian ended up bonding with Beth while they searched, but more importantly he also worked to bolster her sense of self as many of the other gnomes had been bullying. While Lucian eventually found that suspiciously all of Grandpa’s surviving relatives were reported dead, he was still glad that he helped make a person feel better about themselves. Meanwhile, Mollin and Theltar caught up to the Drow and were given an offer to have Mollin return to the fold as it were. This was, obvious in retrospect, very much a trap as Mollin was due to be executed after being reinducted to the fold. Witnessing the abduction, Theltar decided to return to the bar and wipe his hands of the whole affair. Meanwhile at the bar, Buchanon were engaged in the THC bonding ritual, a rousing drinking game of the famed goblin brew Rotgut, the worst, most vile drink that was still technically alcoholic. Dysmas and Captain Jamison acquitted wonderfully, drunkeningly holding their ground with a robot that literally was incapable of getting drunk. Before our newfound companions died of alcohol poisoning however, Lucian and Theltar arrived at the same time despite trying not to act as though they had noticed the other. The party is somewhat nervous that Mollin didn’t come back with Theltar, but Theltar doesn’t say anthing after fleeing to the darkest corner of the Black Orb Inn and they all assume Mollin is just off doing his thing. With the team (mostly) back together, they decide to investigate the strange cabin they tracked godfrey to while debating whether a metal shapeshifting statue in the form of a dragon counted as a dragon. However, their brief dialogue is interrupted when a cart goes careening out of control towards a child. Dysmas and Lucian both dashing, the pair instead watch helplessly as they come up just barely short and The Cart dashes over the child, killing him instantly as it goes barreling off a bridge. Determined not to let another die, Lucian jumps off the bridge after the cart, grabs the driver, and does a triple jump back onto the bridge to rescue the noblewoman who was driving the wagon. After making sure she was okay, Lucian rushed over to stabilize the child, but it was far too late as parts of him were strewn across the bridge. It was a ghastly sight, and Lucian burned with a quiet fury, yet the noblewoman and several members of his own party had fled the scene out of boredom or fear of avoiding being arrested for the trust. Silent, Lucian promised the kid he would find justice for him and left it to a guard to handle. There was also a strange tentacly dude who may or may not have been an abomination from across the stars poorly attempting to feign humanity in a grim mockery of the idea of sapient life selling overpriced potions as part of a pyramid scheme. Lucian gave him a business card which was just the famed bard Sno’op Dog’g the OG with an illusion of him doing his famed Snoop Dance, a powerful Hypnotic Pattern attack which induced daziness into all who observed his powerful rhythms and rhymes while inducing images of a mysterious five ended leaf. That business card being given to an elder abomination from beyond the stars was basically the summary of the session. At the cabin, the party screws around until they find a magic lock guarding a door which Lucian accidentally guesses the password too. Pocketing the magic lock, the party descends into darkness only to be swiftly ambushed by two tiny and twisted gnome like beings who explode when killed. Rushing past a hallway full of giant webs and whatever would make giant webs, the party easily defeats the little monsters after chasing after them. They then wander around until they stumble on a room full of prototypes for Buchanon! Though each represents some step in the iterative design process, each lacks a fundamental element that Buchanon recognizes as his core, a magical device even he did not understand. Possibly perturbed at the notion that the device in his chest was all that separated him from these rejects, Buchanon seemed to disregard caution entirely from this point on. Sneaking their way, the party began to push for a rest, yet Buchanon urged them on as he tried to find out more secrets of his past. However, the party began to overhear talking come from a wide corridor, and recognized it as undercommon. Hidden in the darkness beneath Beregar’s cabin, a group of drow were plotting on how to create a robot army for themselves to defeat their enemies and gloated of their plans to coerce Beregar to give them the viable prototypes so they could create more of their kind. Enraged, Buchanon burst in despite the party being both outnumbered and injured from various traps and enemies encountered along the way. Although he fights furiously, BUchanon is overwhelmed and downed and the leader of the drow, a particularly cruel taskmaster with a perpetual sneer soon calls out to the team to parley, that he will allow them to leave with their lives if they give him Buchanon. Faced with this ultimatum, Lucian refuses to abandon Buchanon and in quite literally the most hackneyed and cliché line ever delivered, declares that he will never abandon a friend in need and opens up with a twin salvo of magical energy to heavily damage the drow. Realizing that they stand a good chance of dying and their master’s distraction, the small servants of the drow exploit Lucian’s fight as a chance to flee for their lives with the loot and abandon their slave driver. Stunned by Theltar’s vampiric monk techniques, the others heap on damage and ge him in range for Lucian to finish the fight with two Eldritch blasts which disintegrate the drow entirely as he curses his follower’s treachery. Lucian then rescues Buchanon in the nick of time with a healing potion from the Haunted House they explored and is relieved when Buchanon’s eyes power back on. With the loot missing and Mollin still nowhere to be found, the team returns to their explorations and enter a strange room where they find a Minotaur gently toying with a small eyebot and Beregar unconscious on the floor. Slowly awakening, Beregar looks up and apologizes to Buchanon, but misidentifies him and calls him Red. Confused beyond words, Buchanon looks around and realizes, in the back of a room, is another prototype like the ones he saw earlier with one crucial difference. Embedded in its chest is the same power core which grantes sapience to Buchanon, yet he was unmoving. Summary: The Team visits the library, a lot of members are replaced again, warforged prototypes are beginning to show up, the drow kidnap Mollin and attempt to kidnap Buchanon, and we discover Buchanon has an older brother named RED. Rest In peace Grandpa, sorry your backstory was so sad. IN MEMORY OF ALL GRANDPA'S WHOSE BACKSTORY WAS DISCOVERED POST-MORTEM

SESSION 18 : YET ANOTHER NEW PARTY MEMBER, GOODBYE GODFREY, AND OBVIOUS TRAPS WE KEEP GOING TO Starring : Dysmas the Newly Recruited Human Rogue, Lucian the Idiotic Nobleman Sorceror/warlock, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian Leader, Veger the Astonishingly Brutal Dragon Knight, Theltar the Edgelord Vampire Monk, and Introducing Curak the Genius Minotaur Artificer As Red lurches forward, the party hitches their breath, only to realize that the robot is defective. Mildly disappointed, The Horizon Companycollectively inquires as to the identity of the robots, the presence of the drow, and what the deal with Godfrey is. With a reluctant sigh, Beregar explains that the drow had captured him shortly after they last left him, using the rain and party as a distraction to subvert the attention of the trust, and had dragged him down here with the idea that he would mass produce these mechanical men or “Warforged” for them to use as an army. However, Beregar was unable to replicate the unique processes that empowered Buchanon and Red, a core that produces a pseudo soul, and would have been tortured if the party hadn’t rescued him. At this point, the large minotaur ceased his conversation with Lucian and introduced himself as Currak, Beregar’s artificer apprentice and the first PC in a good while with an actually positive intelligence modifier. Debating on how to protect Beregar’s inventions from falling into the wrong hands, the party invites him to stay at Bloodstone island with him, and the old man agrees as he openly considers the potential inventions and experiments he could get up to with access to stable funding and a safe environment.With that matter resolved, the team decided to evacuate immediately and relocate Beregar to a safe house. While they were reluctant to abandon Mollin, or at least Lucian was reluctant to abandon Mollin and the others were various shades of indifferent, taking on the drow would have been suicide. As they were exiting however, they heard the nervous sounds of a small halfing coming up the way. The tiny quivering man introduced himself as Bilbo motherfucking Baggins and he requested that the party all go outside or send out a hostage to enter an obvious ambush with a bunch of assholes. The party quickly realizes that this plan is super dumb considering most reasonable negotiations hardly begin with a hostage and that this man is being coerced against his will to do so and begin plotting. Stacking as much upgrades as possible onto Buchanon and stalling for time by sending him back and forth, the party spies on them and sees a mercenary company that Lucian recognizes from his time as a nobleman as being incredibly dangerous and far beyond their league. With that in mind, the team stacks as much as they can in their favor before sending Lucian out to negotiate. Their Leader, a man dressed in dark clothes and exhibiting a dangerous aura of being just as handsome as Lucian, introduces himself as Sir Lander. Behind him is a woman or robot woman in massive armor who was a surprisingly big fangirl of Beregar and another mage who appeared to be annoyed by the leader. After some brief and tense discussion, the party is surprised when they are handed an invitation instead of being mercilessly murdered to a man. The Fake Sir Lander laughs and reveals that he is working for a noble who wants them to come visit the Glimmering Isle for some reason he was not told. Before departing, he also promises Lucian that he would meet again which was either just another intimidation attempt or his attempt at sexual tension. Potentially both. Happy to have helped Bilbo, the Halfling then flips the party off and rushes off to go see his family. With some amount of trepidation, the party sets out from the cave. Once back, the party makes preparations for their upcoming departure and detour towards the Glimmering Isle. Their first stop is selling off the potions gathered from Pelcast along with their loot from the haunted house. The party scores pretty darn amazingly as they get thousands upon thousands for selling off gold along with getting some pretty good loot. With this wealth, they get enough to hire contractors to clear the lands, create some living spaces, and also fund Beregard’s experiments. Lucian immediately spends his share of the money on two baller as fuck suits and just goddamn styles all over everyone. He then gives half his gold to Dysmas out of consideration for his blindness in the caverns and not realizing how inexpensive lanterns are. Everyone else spends their cash on sensible things. There is also some serious contract negotiation as Lucian finds out how seriously he was screwed over, prompting the other new members to make sure to read their contracts before signing. At the end of the day, Theltar makes a new friend when he finds a teenage gnome wearing a fancy dress in his room who tells him that she was a maid who fell in love with a noble and is now on the run from the Trust because of it. Given this decision, Theltar decides to just leave her in his room and have a drink, but is interrupted when the Trust breaks into the bar looking for her. While the others immediately begin drunkenly making fools of themselves by encouraging revolution or singing as loud as they can, Theltar immediately turns over the girl in his room. As it turned out, she was just a runaway noble who got in an argument with her mom. Theltar gave her some life advice and shrugged because he thought that was obvious and not a mystery considering there would be no other way she could afford the dress she was wearing. The party spent the rest of the night drinking and bonding while ignoring how Mollin was probably being tortured by the drow miles beneath their feet. It’s the drow too so it probably involved spiders and outlets for repression. The next day, the party sets sail for Glimmer Islands and sends their crew to the island to start preparing for renovations, hoping that this incredibly obvious trap doesn’t kill them all. Summary: We got the world's greatest artificer making inventions for us, we set sail for an incredibly obvious trap after Fake Sir Lander gave us a card, and Lucian bought two new suits.

SESSION NINETEEN : JOB INTERVIEWS FOR DUMMIES, FANTASY ISLAND SIM CITY, & THE GOLDICUFFS TANGO&nbsp; Starring : The Horizon Company ( Lucian the Half Elf Sorceror/Warlock, Dysmas the Human Rogue, Theltar the Vampire Monk, Curak the Minotaur Artificer, Veger the Deep Gnome Dragon Knight), The Blood-Guard ( Zaos the Alvarial Swordmage, Samnir the Frost Giant Barbarian, Almon the Firbolg Druid, Amata the Shardmind Psionicist, Peckbeck the Gnome Monk of Earth, Qi Yiang Anti Magic Martial Artist, Almer the Elven Runesage, Kylar Stark the Cursed Human Swordsman, Brioc the Sassy Shadow Sorceror, Halkio the Dragonborn Wyvern Rider, The Unknown Ranger the Doppeglanger Assassin), The Golden Company (I dunno. They're six goliaths I suppose? One of them is a seven and half foot tall sadomasochistic barbarian woman who is now attracted to my sorcerer. Shit's fucked. Avoid them at all costs) When the session began, The Horizon Company readied for their greatest challenge: Hiring Employees. Before they departed to Bloodstone island, the party decided to hire protection for their workers while they left to aid out the dwarves and get that cash money. Using Theltar's quasi legal connections, the party arranged an interview session at the adventurer's guild to speak with a variety of applicants of unique appearances, over the top personalities, and dramatic backstories for the position of island guard. The only thing the various members could agree on for hiring criteria was the requirement of a good handshake and ability to be discrete before they split up to begin interviews reconvening to discuss them occasionally before grouping up and conduncting more. Midway through the interviews, Curak came back after finishing working with Beregar to come see how the interviews were coming along. Buchanon and Beregar were still off having a Mad Scientist Father-Robot Son bonding day so they were unable to attend. Among the applicants, these were the fellows who stood out to the party: Samnir : Immediately, half the party darted towards a frost giant who seemed to exude an aura of menace and power. Introducing himself as Samnir, he told the party stories of his strength and skill. None of that mattered compared to how big he was though. He was very tall and the party was very impressed by that. Celcia Leobella and Almer Keapetor : Lucian and Dysmas interviewed this pair, a female archer with the ability to launch a flurry of arrows and a male runesmith with the potential to unleash devastating powers of either destruction or healing. Speaking to Celcia, Lucian and Dysmas were impressed by her resume, her skill, her potential assets in mapping out the island, and her grudge and potential use as an informant against the merc company known as Silent Rain. However, she was pretty bad at conversation as she was very obsessed with her bow and quite brazen about her own hubris. Almer was a sharply intelligent man who was forward with his abilities. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was a highlander and that he would become stronger by killing other runesmiths until there was only one left. It was all a big prophecy deal. Friea Carroris -A Female Elf Warden with the ability to perform a great deal of combos using her shield Javelin. Dysmas conducted this interview and found that she had an in depth backstory, signficant abilities, and was very professional. Unfortunately, she was greatly overshadowed by the multitude of other applicants Team Dwarf Fuckbois : A team of 3 dwarven dicknozzles and layabouts who nonetheless seemed fairly strong and had good carmraderie with each other. Formed of Whungrod Boneaxe the Barbarian who could spin good, Nubin Rubyflayer the Bard and Buffer, and Darduri Broadhelm the Rogue who could dissapear at will. Veger conducted their interview and found that they had some worrying morale issues despite their talent as well as all not being the brightest bunch. Amelie Brown - A human cleric worshipping an elven god of water, Lucian learned that she was a healer who had little offensive magic and had high control over water. Moreover, she was on the run from the mob in Sharn for some reason and was very afraid of them. Overall, she was a standard sort of healing mage more inclined to support allies. Remembering that Dysmas was from Sharn, Lucian decided to bring her up to him. Qi Yiang - Wielding a weapon of such impractical design that he had to be really good with it or absolutely terrible, Lucian interviewed him and found him to be a warrior of great skill and power. A loner and egotist, QI Yiang nevertheless had a power that allowed him to fight against mages evenly as his magical glaive could silence a mage on contact for 10 minutes. The Gnome Quadruplets - A set of quadruplet gnome monks each wielding control over one of the elements, Lucian and Curak learned that they were all fresh from the monastery they had been raised and educated in and sought to make their way in the world. Cabkeck the oldest had an affinity for the power of earth and distinguished himself by his rock solid handshake. His sister Pedlas had an affinity for air, was more flighty and less confident in herself, and had a relatively light handshake. Their other sister Cirwava had an affinity for firebending and was incredibly excitable and nearly ripped off Lucian's hand as she was much stronger than him. Lastly, Reddag the youngest had an affinity for Waterbending and gave a loose and slippery handshake. Brioc Elies -Dysmas conducted this interview. Brioc was a sorceror stronger than Lucian, though his origin was rooted in the shadowfell as he was a master of magical darkness. Brioc was also sassy as all hell and did not hesitate in the slightest when it came to pointing out Dysmas' shortcomings throughout the interview while remaining confident in his powers. Kylar Stark - A Human Knight with a cursed sword which fed upon his bloodline's lifeforce in exchange for great power. Though the sword reduced his lifespan, it also provided him power that had enabled him to singlehandedly defeat an adult dragon in a one on one encounter. Halkio - A dragonborn knight who rides his wyvern into battle. confident in both his abilities and that of his mount, he impressed the party. The Unknown Ranger : A doppelganger that referred to itself as the unknown ranger, Theltar conducted this interview, and found the doppelganger's skillsets better used for the sake of the party rather than against it. A doppelganger in every way with a set of skills it was talented in. Almon : A Firbolg Druid with the ability to awaken nearby plant life into a berserk state without regard for friend or foe. A tactician in the forest, and a bit of a sap outside, Almon nonetheless impresssed the team withhis ability to awaken plants and cause them to go berserk as well as the utility he offered. The Sunbro Paladin : A thri Keen with power and devotion sufficient to generate a sphere of pure divine energy. Unable to communicate wihtout the use of telepathy, he didn't leave much of a mark personality wise, though his skills showed through. Zaos : The Alvariel Sword Mage capable of wielding both powerful offensive magic and martial skill from the sky. Amata : A shardmind? Psionicist of such strength and skill that he? could levitate even giants with his mind and serve as a communication hub to his teammates. A living collection of psionically empowered shards, Amata acted as the forefgront for a hivemind and sought to rebuild a gate and was willing to lend their immense skils in exchange for help in this goal. After Lucian's conversation with Amelie Brown and her mention of being on the run from the mob of Sharn, Dysmas was determined to speak with her alone. In order to ensure his privacy, he made sure to waive off Lucian by implying she was an old flame of his. What happened in the room was unknown afterwards, but Dysmas kept it a secret. Meanwhile, a group of six goliaths from wherever it is in Eberron that Goliaths are from, burst in the door dramatically and when nothing happens sit down next to Veger. Declaring themselves THE GOLDEN COMPANY , they proudly declare that they came when they heard that there were jobs for strong fighters and immediately began FLEXING in unison using their BRUTE STRENGTH . They then began hassling Veger who was extremely accomodating and began making merry with them. Veger was offered a drink of Heroism which he gladly downed. The central ingredient to Heroism turned out to be alcohol however, and Veger quickly became drunk. Samnir the forst giant also came in at this point to make sure the goliaths didn't get too rowdy and check on Veger. At this point, Lucian arrived back after concluding most of his interviews and met with the others who were all currently being hassled by the Golden Company. Offered the drink of Heroism and figuring it was probably a magic potion, Lucian immediately downed the concoction because he is an idiot and became insanely drunk after wrongly betting on his constituion. After being asked a minor question about his origin, Lucian's first action after being drunk was to begin stripping on a table to show Veger and the party the horrific mass of jagged red dragon scales stabbing out and across his back to whoever was behind him thus spoiling his secret. Too drunk for rational decisions, Lucian immediately volunteered for the goliath game of Goldicuffs which was basically just punching each other wit brass knuckles until someone fell down. Lucian's opponent was a 7 and half foot tall Goliath barbarian, but to be honest it really was ridiculously unfair because Lucian just cast Enlarge on himself and grew to like 12 feet tall and still had a full set of spell slots to use. Basically using his shield spell to nullify anything she could do, Lucian felt incredibly bad as he easily dominated her and deeply regretted everything that led up to this moment Afterwards, Lucian accidentally seduced her by beating her in a fight and then healing her. Too drunk to understand her incredibly obvious innuendo, Lucian thought she was coming to his inn room later that evening for a rematch and made a note to prepare for another fight. After that the interviews quickly finished, and the party met up to decide on the various members they approved of. Through careful deliberation and analysis of their budget, the party spent 20 minutes deciding the new members to hire and an hour and a half deciding the name of their new recuits. Eventually, they following to make up the first members of The Bloodguard: New Bloodguard Members: Zaos - Alvariel Swordmage Samnir - Frost Giant Barb Almon -Firbolg Druid Amata -Shardmind Psionicist Kek - Earth Gnome Monk QI Yiang -Anti Magic Glaive wielder Almer -Rune Tablet Elf Kylar Stark -Cursed Sword Wielder Brioc -Shadow Sorceror Halkio -Dragonborn Wyvern Rider Doppelganger, The Unknown Ranger -Doppelganger Assassin With all that decided, the party began making preparations for a post interview Company presentation and welcoming feast for their new members at the Black Orb Inn. Lucian readied himself for a battle to the death, Theltar decided to feast, Dysmas despaired at the destruction to his room as the team once again used his living quarters as a meeting space, Veger sized up the new recrutis, and Buchanon got a bit closer to his father. Summary: We spent four and a half hours discussing which imaginary friends we wanted to go live on our imaginary fantasy island. Then we moved to New Dwarfington.

SESSION TWENTY: THE CHAIR OF THUTH, THE UNKOWN OBSERVER, AND A SINISTER SENATOR Starring: The Horizon Company (Lucian the Half Elf Sorceror/Warlock, Dysmas the Human Rogue, Theltar the Vampire Monk, Curak the Minotaur Artificer, Veger the Deep Gnome Dragon Knight, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian), Westrul and the Drunk Bois (Broufrom Blessedbrew, Kherfouk Earthfinger, Ustrun Bonethane,Khemreak Nightfinger, Yotmarlum Coinbasher, Grognulim Bluntbuckle, Thratgroid Mountainriver, Grousdret Cointank, Thatgrout Ashmaster, Westrul Copperstone), TIlda Swift , Senator Kodak Rocktongue, and Oscar the Garbage Dwarf As the session began, The Horizon Company began settling into their improvised quarters, making small talk with their fellow adventurers, and watching as Emi the Ice Sorceress was taken to jail to Theltar’s delight or closest facsimile to such. Eager to begin earning coin, THC had Lucian get in line to find them a job while they chatted with some fellow adventurers. Beregar began analyzing the technogology of the dwarves and departed to assist them with his famed mechanical expertise. The Horizon Company found out that magic and anything related to it was very much frowned upon in the city as well and especially by the dwarves of Stone Rift when the party is asked to join an impromptu spear chucking contest which Theltar wins. After the spear tossing contest, THC befriends the group of dwarves who asked them: Westrul and the drunk bois, a collective of rowdy blue dwarves. Left to his own devices, Lucian quickly struck up conversation with the person in line next to him, a dwarf in impressively ornate plate armor, and advertised the Horizon Company’s various services, some made up and others exaggerated. Impressed, The dwarf introduced himself as a Warden of The Grey and offered THC well paying, but dangerous work after the ending of the dwarf mission. Whiling away the time, the line progressed quickly and soon the others returned just as Lucian got to the front of the line. There the party was offered a mission involving testing a dangerously unreliable machine for the city in exchange for 100 gold. Bringing it up only as a joke, Lucian looked on in dismay as Dysmas swiftly vounteered the entire group to partake in the experiments, ignoring the fact that they had actual business cards. Resigned to their accidental mission, the party reluctantly set forth. Arriving at the mission area, the party saw a great deal of dwarves milling about prepping all sorts of electricity based technology. There they met the contact whose name Tilda Swift. Tilda Swift did not exactly endear herself to the party as she declared this to be her first time trying the machine out and repeatedly stressed just how ‘safe’ the machine was as well as proving shockingly inept at most standard scientist things. The machine’s ostensible purpose was to act as a lie detector, injecting an active electric charge in the brain of the person that automatically detected when they lied as well as adminsterd a powerful shock at the discretion. In purpose it was a polygraph machine, and in design an electric chair. Despite his typical idiocy, Lucian brought up that the variability in the constrituions and natures of the THC members would probably modify experiments as well as multiple other concerns as to the validity of the experiment along with his associates. Interestingly, the dwarves of stone rift dind’t really have standardized scientific protocol like the other countries of Eberron. In addition, the dwarves tech all relied upon a type of extradorinaly rare metal from their home dimension that had absolutely no equivalent in Eberron that the assistant of the World’s Greatest Artificer, someone who would have a great depth of knowledge on the subject, would know. In other words, production of any of their tech would be incredibly limited for anyone in Eberron, including these dwarves. THC also got into a big discussion of how exactly a group of dwarves from another world all spoke, read, and wrote in a language they had absolutely no clue about due to being interdimensional visitors. The answer came out to be that there was a device that did it, casting constant comprhehend languages on everyone in the city. After all that, the team decided it was only fair that Dysmas would be first up to bat considering he signed them all up for it, but Veger, Lucian, and Theltar would follow in that order. First up to bat, Dysmas strapped himself into the machine with a touch of trepidation as electricity arced between the spokes of the Truth Chair. Answering basic questions such as his name, Dysmas was stumped when asked what happened to him three days ago and kept getting shocked because he forgot where he was. Eventually, the scientist felt really bad for him and jus started asking him other questions: Where he was born (Breland, but raised in Sharn), Family name (Hornwood). However, the questions took an oddly personal stance as he began to be questioned on his loyalties. Shocked repeatedly, Dysmas eventually gave an answer that he was stll technically underf the employ of organizations possibly from Sharn. Rapidly releasesd from the chair afterwards, Curak and Dysmas got into a row over the revelation as Curak accused the rogue of being a traitorous theif and Dysmas attempted to assuage his fears while nursing his electric wounds. Up next, Veger’s round of questioning went rather smoothly as he acted without pretense, anserwing the multitude of questions directed at him as truthfully as he could. However, unbeknownst to the others in outside of the room, VEger begins to hear a voice, familiar and unfamiliar, the voice of his master asking him of his loyalties. Despite his efforts to entreat his lord, Veger begins experiencing psychic repercussion, visible to the others only through him frothing at the mouth and acting as though he was experiencing a seizure. Seing their friend in dire straights, the rest of the team rush in while calling for the experiment to get stopped while popping a healing potion in Veger’s mouth to bring him back from his unconscious state. Propping Veger up outside the door to receive medical attention under the supervision of Dysmas, the team is ambivalent about the experiment going forward. Next time on the chopping block, Lucian goes in with a cool smile and absolute confidence as he straps himself into the Truth Chair. Having observed the chair, Lucian realized that the chair was more powerful than even the dwarves knew as it could determine objective truth. In other words, the electricity running through the person was entirely secondary to its main effect as the chair wasn’t actually responding to the people strapped inside it, it was analyuzing their statements and cross referencing it with some objective state of reality it could read for a reason unknown to the person running the experiment. Despite his typical idiocy, Lucian brought up that this meant that this chair was more powerful an artificat thn what was initially suggeste. Deliberately shocking himself at first to test it, Lucian attemptec a casual and easy tone, but began to lose himself when the questions turned to his childhood as his practiced deceptions failed him there. Experiencing a similar effect to Veger as time seemed to slow and he heard voice that he had never heard before, a deep voice form a powerful entity. Attempting to Joke around with it, Lucian received several words directly into his own mind as the entity spoke of how it would need Lucian to trust him, how he was related to it, and spoke of the nature of power. Hearing the following words (Longing, Furnace, Daybreak, 17, Benign, 9, Homecoming, One) Lucian tried to make sense of it all while still maintianig his own identity and refusing to give away his soul like his brothers before him even as the entity promised to speak to him again. Realizing that the numbers seemed to be linked to his health, Lucian was barely let go in time before being shocked to death, the electricity having burned his intenral organs badly. Lucian grits his teeth and leaves the chair a nervous wreck grasping at the edge of life with only a single hit point left, nursing some internal burns and bleeding. Before THeltar can take his place however, Lucian grabs the vampiric monk and begins rambling at him that the chairs super charging of electricity through the body might be providing a conduit to more powerful entitites, an idea far too intelligent for him that he stole form someone smarter, and that he needed to be wary. Leaving Lucian passed out on the floor while Dysmas frantically deliverd first aid to him, Thelotar strapped himself into the machine even after seeing it horribly injure two of his friends/acquiantances/hated coworkers. However this time before the questions could get too far, Theltar was heaviliy electrified prompting Curak to attempt to bust down the door. Using his spydroid, Curak found out that the scientist in charge was being heavily berate by her boss to get answers for what was happening as she tried to figure out why the machine was working like this and allowing strange communications or glitches. While this was going , a group of heavily armed dwarf guards began surrounding the laboratory, binding dysmas and ignoring Veger bleeding out while they began entering the thing. Mustering up his strength, Lucian came out and stabilized Veger with his last healing potion. Inside Theltar began trying to free himself as Curak watched the entrance of an austere, but malevolent looking dwarven man entered. Declaring himself Senator Kodak Rocktongue, he went straight away to the room with his scientist lackey while having his guards restrain Curak. Senator Kodak then proved he was evil by punching the unarmed and defenseless scientist in the face with his metal glove then boasting about how he distrusted every adventurer in the city and needed to know their secret. In response to her incompetence/inability to deal with the magical fuckery of ancient unknowable powers, Senator Kodak Rocktongue, corrupt chucklefuck and main bad guy of this arc, killed DWARF SCIENTIST WOMAN to the horror of Curak. Senator Kodak left the clinic with all the grace of a dick with two legs, assuring CUrak that the strange interrruptions were just due to the woman in charge just loving torture a lot, and left with an evil chuckle. Leaving the scene of the crime after being driven out, the team reconvened in an alley to discuss what happened only to be interrupted by Oscar the Garbage Dwarf, a dwarf with magical powers who lived in garbage. Giving him some gold to get him to go away, the team discussed their next plan of action because a man who murdered his subordinates so casually and seemed so power hungry probably didn’t exactly have good plans for the city. Settling on collecting information on the man for the time being, the team went off to get drunk and forget about their problems. Veger requested their help to find out what was going on with his dragon master after this whole adventure, Lucian needed to find out what exactly was the mysterious being who contacted him and called him descendant, Theltar pushed for leaving the city rather than dealing with Senator Rocklicker and avenging the death of someone who electrocuted him, Curak was intrigued by the technology of the chair and its strange powers as well as the murder he witnessed, and Dysmas set out to collect info. Summary: The Team Sat in a chair, told the truth after torture, and then met the bad guy.

SESSION TWENTY-ONE : THE FOREST DRAGON, THE CONSIPRACY, AND THE PATERNAL GIFT Starring: The Horizon Company (Lucian the Half Elf Sorceror/Warlock, Dysmas the Human Rogue, Theltar the Vampire Monk, Curak the Minotaur Artificer, Veger the Deep Gnome Dragon Knight, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian), Senator Kodak Rocktongue (mentioned). The session began with The Horizon Company resting in the aftermath of their encounter with the blitz chair. Dysmas had departed to gather information while the others recovered from their wounds. Before Dysmas returned however, the party was happily surprised to see that they had received several Christmas gifts during the course of the night. Upon Dysmas’ return, the team set a saide their gifts and began a strategy to discuss Senator Kodak Stonemolestor. Dysmas had discovered that he was a politician highly popular with the working class dwarves of the city who had risen to power on the backs of this war and was highly ambitious, yet was currently checked by his position not allowing him to maintain full control over the army due to the presence of General DWARF. Deciding to try and locate more underground info, Lucian began blatantly eavesdropping on some adventurers who had gone to an underground crime bar, a bar full of beer and (possible) crime, and then suggested that the group head there. Unanimously agreeing to find this place, the team decided to also bring it up to the adventurer in charge of dispatching missions since they realized he was their best contact in the city. Speaking to the masked man, The Horizon Company’s gathered members found out that he had also harbored his own suspicions towards the senator due to several suspicious incidents. After agreeing to exchange information under the guise of taking on a mission, they retreated back to a place of privacy beside a very large cage. Before they could get further along in their discussion, the party woke up the sleeping beast inside and saw that it was a decently large pale dragon with pale pink scaling and several large green vines growing out of it. The party discovered that this was a berry dragon that had once been given the name Jesus Dixon and had been purchased by the man for a substantial amount of gold. Buchanon and Lucian both instantly loved it and got to eat a goodberry the size of a watermelon as a Berry Dragon’s ability is the ability to grow goodberries out of their back. The team saw visions of the Berry Dragon being hurt and helped by Mr Leader, so called due to the huge giant pin on his chest which read MR LEADER, which helped convince them to trust the man further because of his kindness to the monster. The team was given the assignment to track down an informant of Mr Leader’s in a seedy bar that they heard about earlier, and were assigned to track down a missing ring of a noblewoman to giver them cover. Granted this important mission, the team decided to go buy Buchanon’s dad a Christmas gift to make up for him being a neglectful son. Heading to the black market, they found a myhsterious stall run by a mysterious old man which sold mysterious things and decided this was the perfect place to get him a gift. Finding an obsidian cup that spoke in eldritch whispers when you put your head next to it, the merchant told them that he would only sell it for 20 gp worth of copper forcing Lucian to repeatedly go back and forth between the bank to exchange the thousands of copper pieces needed for the transaction With their holiday shopping done, the party then just sorta waited for time to go buy and did some more shopping in the market. Summary: Got some info, met a dragon, bought a christmas gift

SESSION TWENTY-TWO : THE BARBARIC BATTLE, THE CONSPIRACY'S CONCLUSION, AND THE DUELING DRAGONS Starring: The Horizon Company (Lucian the Half Elf Sorceror/Warlock, Dysmas the Human Rogue, Theltar the Vampire Monk, Curak the Minotaur Artificer, Veger the Deep Gnome Dragon Knight, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian), Senator Kodak Rocktongue (mentioned), The Four Horsemen (Phantom, Specter), The Bottle and the Blade Bois (Romnak the Bartender, Goredon Bolton the Dinosaur Chef), The Manager, Oscar the Garbage Dwarf As the session began, The Horizon Company began their usual faffing about. Dysmas departed to alternatively purchase a case of the cities signature candied blood apples as souvenirs or purchase some lifesaving healing potions. Veger asks for some time off to try and meditate to reconcile with his dragon master. Lucian made an excuse about finding a noblewoman’s ring and left to go bother people in the Black Bazaar. For his part, Buchanon left to go deliver a late Christmas present to his science dad Beregar, the vase filled with black screaming sand that spoke in eldritch tongues. Half focused on his latest invention, Beregar gives a sort of awkward half hug to Buchanon who reacts in astonishment because it turns out in the few months of his life he has never been hugged. Overjoyed to finally discover what hugs are, Buchanon nearly breaks his father by giving him a huge hug as he is a 7 foot tall robot man and Beregar is skin draped over a skeleton. After giving his father his present, Buchanon and Curak have a discussion about Baby, Buchanon’s axe and the only remnant of his friendship with Blowguh. Inquiring about upgrades, Curak accidentally offends Buchanon by implying his weapon should be replaced. Elsewhere, Lucian and Theltar try and have a conversation, but Lucian repeatedly talks to empty corners to Theltar’s dry amusement. Seeing a chance to escape the awkward situation, Lucian explains the significance of Baby to Curak and helps them reconcile as Curak thinks about some potential upgrades. Outside, Buchanon is just dispensing beer to adventurers while looking sad until Curak reconciles with him with some cool new ideas. Finallly done with their business, the team minus Veger and Dysmas head to the Bottle and The Blade Bar in the deep slums in order to meet with a contact who can blow the conspiracy on Senator Kodak, but unsurprisingly get lost. The twisting and turning nature of the Deep Slums, like a deep canyon indented with the homes of the city’s underclass as though a favela built into the grand canyon. Pressing forward, the only thing the team hears is scurrying, yet they see nobody at all. Compeltely lost, the team realizes they are insanely incompetent. Oh my god why. We had an entire day to get directions. Eventually coming to a dead end, the team sees a slightly larger tunnel marked by several runes in a language they don’t understand made out of blood. Seeing the set up to a discount horror novel, the team decides to turn around only to see a small dwarf boy no more than 5 years old named Fredrick staring down at them from above. Lucian waves hi to the young man and he immediately spits in Lucian’s eye painfully. Theltar jumps up and scares the child into compliance. Lucian immediately backflips to follow and is thankful that Theltar didn't snap the child’s neck. The team all eventually work their way up there and begin talking with the 5 year old child as their peer. Buchanon offers a 5 year old kid a beer and the Team then break for 15 real life minutes to get into the nuance of why giving small children alcohol is bad. Through multiple embarassing stories about himself, Lucian manages to communicate what getting drunk is to Buchanon. While theis was going down the child was just sitting there listening to multiple grown men argue with each other. The team then gets into a small scuffle trying to make toys for the 5 year old kid. Finally, the team decide to ask the kid to guide them since he knows the way as he talks about how his dad goes to drink often and he tells them how they almost went into a tunnel to an evil god. On the way to the Bottle and The Blade, the kid talks about how much he loves his dad, an Irregular named Skatdrig who is apparently rather powerful, as well as playing with the toys the team made. Giving the small child quite a bit of coin as thanks, the team meets Ramnok the bartender, proprietor of the Bottle and the Blade and server of the Best beer in the entire city. Sitting up to be served, Lucian and Buchanon sort of go in circles during their conversations, learning about 30 foot tall giant rats in the basement that breathe fire and are made of metal that live in the basement, and how Ramnok is offering his beer recipe as reward for defeating them. Lucian accidentally says the password to him and gets directed to the bar chef, a talented dinosauroid man named Goredon Ramsey Bolton, a snooty awakened dinosaur chef who pushes them into a storage closet after they tell him the password. The team roots around blindly in the room until they knock politely as punishment for me losing my notes about last session. Before entering the crime bar, Lucian uses his fancy new Magic Boots of The Aristocrat, the most powerful magic item in the game, to make himself look rad as heck before entering. With this incredibly vital and 100% necessary step completed the team enters this den of crime and villainy. Immediately upon entering, the team gets offered a variety of well paying jobs of a morally dubious nature from thievery to Smuggling to Assassination (Including jobs that would have had them kill members of other groups). Lucian handles the ngotiations to Curak's growing displeasure as the immoral nature of the work continues to vex him, as hearing the manager callously discuss the worth of a man’s life (about 20-5000 gold depending) disgusts him on a visceral level. Curak storms out in righetous indignation prompitng the manager to decide to call the guards to take care fo them all, but luckily the presence of Theltar and Lucian help settle things and the team is allowed in after checking their weapons. Upon entering the main room, the team sees a seedy gambling den with the upper rafters lit with a smoggy sky of cigar smoke, the floors soaked with spilled beer aplenty, and dwarves hanging around multiple gambling stations. In the corner, the team sees Oscar the Garbage dwarf and a much larger man in a cage fighting to the death with Oscar coming up top through several well placed axes. Once outside, Oscar talks to the team and reveals that he works for the city as a spy and lives in a mansion along with his garbage pile. The team realizdes their cover is completely compromised as Oscar departs on friendly terms. Seeing the cage Oscar was fighting inside, Curak and Buchanon both sign up to fight at Buchanon’s urging as he thinks doing so is honroing Blowguh’s memory. Lucian reminds Buchanon about how sad his dad would be if he died, but is ignored. Buchanon is immediately disqualifeid after doing his party trick of shooting beer when it hits a member of the audience. Through shenanigans, Theltar and Curak start a fight in the rage cage to the further dissapointment of Lucian who simply keeps an eye out for the contact they’re supposed to meet. Curak’s strength prove no match for Theltar’s skill and dexterity as the Vampire Monk dispatches Curak and beats him into the ground using his martial arts. With the crowd cheering him on, Theltar gets offered 600 gold to murder Curak in cold blood, but declines and spares him to the disappointment of the crowd. Afterwards, Theltar is spoken to both by a man with an eyepatch who offers him further employment and a man who claims to be able to hhave them meet with their contact out back. Leaving that sort of thing to Lucian and the others, Theltar follows them from behind as the Horizon Company goes out to meet their man. Blidnly following the dwarven man into the network of alleyways, the team is hit with the sick stench of death as they see their contact Spectre dead over a pile of 20 dwarven guards, stirge swarms, and battlehounds and nearly unrecognizable as several more guards emerge from the shadows. Realizing they were betrayed, Curak charges into the darkness towards the dwarf who would lead them towards the contact, but missed completely as the shadows were simply far too dark. AS the dwarves menacingly stepped forward, their darkvision suddenly failed them as Theltar, hidden among the rooftops as is his vampiric tendency, used his powers to plunge the area into magical darkness. Stunned by the sudden reversal, the dwarves were completely unprepared as Lucian stepped forward and drew a small red orb that blazed even in the night. Focusing intently and waiting for the confused guards to make a sound, Lucian draws upon his magical energy to activate the orb and unleashes a powerful fireball spell to instantly reduce 4 of the dwarven guards to ash and grievously burn the other 2, before immediately following up by using the screams of the survivors to disintegrate one with a double eldritch blast. Theltar then descended upon the wounded survivor, finishing him off and draining of him of his blood in the darkness before using his monk agility to swiftly block the path of the betrayer. Before he could flee again, Curak rushed him and knocked him to the floor with his horns stunning him long enough for Lucian to follow through with a Suggestion spell to make him surrender peacefully. While Curak and Lucian handled the betrayer, Theltar and Buchanon find the papers proving Senator Kodak’s complicity on the contact as well as identifying the corpse as belonging to Spectre, one of the four horsemen and most feared mercenaries in the world. The Contacts body is half burned from Lucian's fireball, but the papers are preserved through a case. Contained with the documents are intricate leaked battle plans, and orc and goblin strategies proving that he was leaking the strategies and cooperating with them along with documentation of many other crimes and murders the man had commissioned. Intriguely, the Senator also had apparently been obsessed with some entity named The Ancient Blue who promised to destroy all of the city but spare him if he did its bidding. The gang unanimously agrees that being a traitor and murderer made the senator an overall asshole, and that their first priority should be getting the documents, their captive, and Spectre’s body back to MR Leader or the mercenary known as Phantom as Theltar realized. As a massive siren began to wail, the team realized they had to flee the scene immediately as not only guards but the criminals at the bar would be looking for them with all this violence nearby. Through Theltar's dark methods, the team evaded detection easily, but still saw dozens of guards swarming and patrolling the streets of the deep slums. Using manner to scout ahead as well, managed to find their way back while Dodging and ducking alleyways to evade Oscar the Garbage Dwarf/Spy. They eventually come to a choice between the bridge and the lift with both being heavily patrolled by guards. Unsure about how to get past without drawing attention, the team debates whether to simply create a distraction for Theltar so he can make it to MR Leader with the papers. However, the team is cornered in an alleyway when hey duck into to evade a patrol by Oscar the Garbage Dwarf. There is an awkward silence, but the team just sort of looks sheepish and mumble out basic hellos and greetings to Oscar’s amusement. Instead of starting a fight, Oscar asks them to tell him what they know so the team just sort of tells him the honest truth, shows him a copy of the documents, and explains that they’re trying to save the city from Kodak at the moment. There’s a moment of tension between all of them as the team is unsure if they’ll have to fight Oscar and the countless guard swarms who would emerge from the sound of fighting before Oscar lets them pass on. Oscar helps them escape by explaining that thesirens aren’t about them, but that a blue dragon of unusual size has appeared in the skies above and has driven everybody into a panic. Using the dragon as a distraction, the team manages to sneak their way back to the adventurer barracks. Once there, they see every adventurer still left in the city being mobilized by Phantom who has no time for them until they signal that they found something. Before they can explain however, Phantom visibly recoils in anger and hatred as he sees the dead body of Specter and demands they hand him the body even as his face and form begin distorting violently. Phantom begins swearing vengaenace upon Senator Kodak and the entire damn city as his boyd begans to transform and the entire backroom they’re in beings melting from the sheer heat being put out. Trapped in the cage, the Berry Dragon begins slamming against its cage to free itself successfully as Lucian begins mobilizing the others as well as their dwarf betrayer to escape whatever Phantom is transforming into. Only fleeing outside just in time, the team watches as a giant red dragon bursts free alongside the berry dragon to go battle against the ancient blue terrorizing the city leaving them all staring blankly. With the city burning around them, low on health, and being actively hunted by whatever forces are still loyal to Senator Kodak, the team all turn to each other and shrug at how quickly this escalated. Summary: The Horizon Company fucks up everything, solves a mystery, and starts the end game. Also Theltar is the most moral of us all. GMs additions: The full list of notes found on the contact include: Details about a smuggling operation where Senator Kodak has employed the crimincal underbelly to smuggle weapons out of the city. These weapons would then go on to be used by the burrow goblins below to aid in their attacks on the city. They also describe the exact days and times that goblins should launch attacks in order to cause distractions for various reasons, from times that smugglers would be entering and leaving the city to kidnappings. There were also notes on every battle plan the army of stonerift devised so that the orcs/giants on the surface always had the upperhand in their conflicts with the dwarves. The most recent plan detailing an assault on a goblin camp and how best to ambush the assault force. Finally a journal of sorts filled with ramblings in regards to the Ancient Blue one and how he despised the dwarves here for stealing all his lightning and for appearing so close to his lair. Kodak was promised power beyond imagine and his very life as long as he played the part and allowed the orcs to take the city. Every few pages notes about the locations of key adventurers and how best to distract them with meaningless things such as riddles can be found. Very frequently Kodak expresses his deep hatred for the foriegners for being a thorn in his side for so long.

SESSION 22.5: MEANWHILE, BACK AT BLOODSTONE* Starring: The Blood-Guard&nbsp; and&nbsp; Calypso the Weird Water Woman with Attachment Issues** While the main team was getting themselves into a whole heap of trouble, the boys back at the base were having themselves just a plain ol good time. After having thoroughly and completly stomping the pirates, humiliating them and their leader in some would say quite excessive manner, the Bloodguard's time was spent on other diversions. Training, chatting, mapping out the island, or helping the workers repair the islands buildings were the main activities enjoyed, but without much else, the Bloodguard soon found themselves branching out. On an unseasonably warm day, the Frost Giant Samnir gathered together his closest allies in the Bloodguard: Almon the Firbolg Druid, Brioc the Sorceror of Shadows, Kylar Stark the Wielder of the Cursed Blade, and The Unknown Ranger. Being the only ones willing to follow his summons, he then took them for a small jog for someone of his size and a horrid march for someone of theirs to a vast lake in the center where the waters of the ocean mixed with that of the island. A tad disgruntled at missing breakfast for this, the team watched as Samnir entered the lake and half of it began to freeze as eh began regaling them with how he had begun work on this for some time to create a place where he could relax in peace. However, he had contacted them because he had seen a woman in the water staring at him while he was bathing and lo and behold she was there glaring upwards at him. Fielding guesses as to whether she was a fey or not and how potentially screwed Samnir was, she emerged from the waters and declared herself as Calpyso, the woman of the lake and also the woman of being really cross at a giant cooling his junk in her home. Hers was a tragic tale, full of woe and tragedy and woe, having been trapped here forever by a wizard under horrible pain if she was to leave and being largely ignored even before Bloodstone became a ghost town due to teh town's superstition. However, Calypso's curse could only be broken by falling in love with a hero, but many had abandoned her. Looking around at each other, the mercenaries that made up the bloodguard began to wonder which of them could possibly start and successfully end an entire relationship in a single day and just threw out Brioc. Very quickly realizing this wouldn't work but still flattering her, the team tried several attempts to free: Picking her up, picking the water up, picking both her and the ater up, dispeling magic, yelling loudly. Surprisingly, none of this managed to break a centuries long curse. Eventually the team came upon a solution that was both brilliant and impossibly idiotic at the same time: If the problem is that they can't share a lake, why not just have two lakes? It was the greatest idea of all time as the gathered members of the bloodguard quickly began drawing a scheme. Summoning Kek the gnome Earthbender and very quickly dispelling him when he began talking about his sisters for the 189th time, the team surprisingly found that their incredibly dumb idea was possible simply by virtue of the sheer power and number of spells they had. Through a combination of creative work diversion and enslaved badgers, the expanded lake was dug and Bloodstone island got its first non worker resident. Though long and arduous, this would help allow Samnir to be a bit more comfortable before the main squad made him his home. Meanwhile, back in Stone Rift, the main team members were currently battling dragons or trying not to be overrun by goblins and orcs ______________________ **&nbsp; <a href="https://tpzoo.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/watery-t" rel="nofollow">https://tpzoo.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/watery-t</a>... * <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Meanwhi" rel="nofollow">http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Meanwhi</a>...

SESSION TWENTY-TWO: A SENATORS SECRET, VOLCANIC VIOLENCE AND A FRIEND’S FATE Starring: The Horizon Company ( Lucian the Half Elf Sorceror/Warlock, Dysmas the Human Rogue, Theltar the Vampire Monk, Curak the Minotaur Artificer, Veger the Deep Gnome Dragon Knight, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian), Senator Kodak Rocktongue, Dorn the Paladin, The Dwarf we cast Suggestion on and eventually forgot about Standing outside the remains of the barracks where PHantom exploded from, the team pick their jaws up from the floor and think about thier next actions. Dysmas and the others return with an unexpected ally, the Paladin Dorn who volunteered to team up with them after speaking with Veger for a good while.Realizing that stopping Phatom required stopping Senator Rocktongue, the team began running their options to figure out where he could have possibly gone: His Mansion where his guards and resources were or the Senate Office where he worked as a cover. Booking it to the mansion, the team finds Phatom launching a strafing run and setting things aflame. Sending in Theltar to naviagte, he finds most of it deserted, but spies some defenseless maids screaming for help. After making deal to rescue them in exchange for information on their employer, Theltar quickly abandons them without regret. Hearing their screams outside, the rest of the team stands there staring at the floor awkwardly and Lucian prepares to rush in to rescue whoever was screaming, but is unexpectedly held back by Buchanon who uses his mighty robotic grip to restrain him until the screams turn to choking and eventual silence. Lucian feels like a monster. After exploring for a while, Theltar finds a warehouse and takes the team to explore it. Entered the Mansion’s Warehouse Start walking through through the warehouse and find orc/goblin tailored, mass produced short swords Finds an absolutely massive door, opened with with a simple valve after following a chain running through an arrangement of gears. It grinds opens via a series of cogs to about ¾ open and THC enters. Unfortunately, the door closes because it was not opened all the way and closed behind them! Behind the door, the floor sloped steeply down, with increasing heat. The heat was so intense that it seemed to be that of a forge that had burned all day. Another door was met by THC and a robotic announcer voice, announcing to THC that the outside door was locked and the inner door unlocked. Behind the door, was a volcano! Rivers of lava flowed, directed by chains and buckets? Transporting the lava, it was compressed into a sword making factory. THC follows the path deeper into the volcano, eventually coming to the end of the path. THC hops into a metal container and sails down the tunnel of lava! And the end of the tunnel, the final showdown between Kodak and THC Kodak explains his master plan, how he betrayed the dwarves of STone rift for his own survival and played all the factions against each other to enrich himself. And thus the showdown began. Kodak utilized the chains rotating around the platform, as did some of the other dwarf guard brought by the senator. Theltar summoned a cloud of darkness to hinder Kodak’s movement as Veger transformed into a terrible demidragon. Dark hexes exploded from enemies as Lucian launched magics after magics at the enemy. Buchanon buried Baby into the enemy's bodys as Dymas shot a dwarf into a massive bucket of lava. In a key moment, Dymas expertly launches ball bearings under the returning Kodak. The senator lands onto the platform, dodging the cheesy trap. As Kodak approached Buchanon menacingly, Theltar summons The Nutcracker. Curak falls unconscious! Lucian uses his wand of wonder and casted slow! Dysmas revives Curak! Buchanon pushes Kodak into the lava, challenging him! The accompanying adventurer Dorn swings his mighty greataxe left right and center, beheading dwarves and throws dwarves into the lava river! Buchanon falls unconscious. The battle rages on, eventually getting Kodak alone. Dorn, wounded but still grinning, becomes enlarged by Lucian and throws Kodak into the lava once more, holding down the dwarf senator into the lava. THC pelts him with magic, projectiles, and weapons. But it is the lava that finishes the senator is a melted corpse. Suddenly an alarm starts going off, THC revives Curak and the artificer finds an emergency exit. THC flees for their life, but not before Theltar beheads Kodak as proof of the treacherous senator’s death. A giant cog falls onto Curak and is picked up by an once again enlarged Dorn. They begin to sprint for their lives, but time runs short. THC escapes, but Buchanon and Curak are still with Dorn. In the most awesome sacrificial save, Dorn, throws Buchanon and Curak out of the explosion, but disappears into fiery inferno, taking 1617 damage in the process. However, THC didn’t watch the explosion, and Theltar had a pair of shades thrown to him, in which the shadow monk promptly put on, basking in the glory of the explosion. However, the fight was far from over - Cannonball flies by and calls to arms, calling for mech riders to fight the battling dragons and pit fiend. Buchanon and Theltar volunteer, leaving THC to rest for the upcoming battle for Stone.&nbsp;

SESSION 22.5 : THE DRAGONS ARE FLYING* Lucian and Dysmas went to the East Front along with some other membe. Lucian kicked ass and took a lot of names bouncing the enemy commander onto his own troops like a wrecking ball and blasting trolls. Dysmas also did good, but almost got killed by the enemy commander, a 2 headed giant. Lucian accidentally convinced an orc bard named Orco the Witnesser to join his side and rescued Dysmas. Dysmas got PTSD from murdering another in cold blood and Lucian passed out from blood loss from an internal injury sustained in the fight and entered a coma. Veger and Curak went to the West and kicked a fair amount of ass. Curak passed out, but they managd to pull through together. Theltar and Buchanon entered into some mechs and got into a sweet battle though Buchanon failed to hit for a great deal of time. It was awesome. SESSION TWENTY-THREE: THE LOREMASTER'S LAMENT, AND UNKNOWN ADVENTURE, AND THE MISSING RECAP WRITER The Horizon Company (Lucian the Half Elf Sorceror/Warlock, Dysmas the Human Rogue, Theltar the Vampire Monk, Curak the Minotaur Artificer, Veger the Deep Gnome Dragon Knight, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian), Some members of Burning Retribution (THE BEING KNOWN AS BARLO, OTHERS), Orco the Witnesser THe session began with a victory party to celebrate the continued "survival" of the dwarf city and the heroics of THC and some other unimportant people. Like Barlo. Barlo was unimportant. If it's in the recap, it is confirmed for all time. Anywho, the various survivors of the battle were showered with accolades and monetary reward for their heroics in a surprising example of things going well for once. Buchanon's dream of being famous took a massive leap forward as his actions as a mech pilot and a seemingly autonomous golem led to him being hailed in the city. Curak and Beregar got some inspiration from the mahcines of the dwarves. Dysmas was still deaing with the emotions of actually murdering another person. While the various members of THC settled their affairs in the city for the last time, save for a still unconscious Lucian, the disgusting and decrepit excuse of a cleric known only as Barlo spied a young woman and slithered and slurped his way in a manner which disgusted half of those witnessing. ACtualizing his speech muscles and 7 tongues in a way that resembled a bastardized mockery of Common, the Barlo Beast attempted to communicate with the young woman who quite sensibly refused the horrible monster and abomination that is Barlo and revealed that she was Fortuente, the child he abandoned to her death out of cowardice and fear, running away while leaving a 5 year old to battle against a demon by herself. Again, Barlo, a supposedly dwarf cleric, abandoned a little girl to her death after promising to rescue her from her life of crushing poverty and neglectful drug addict father. This small child then battled the demon alone. This is an event that happened and will never not have happened. Barlo's defense is that he thought a small hamster would protect her and is an example of his criminal neglect and poor character. Fortunete revealed she somehow defeated the demon, but at a high cost, becoming a blood hunter and having her childhood ripped away from her by becoming older through some m echanism I am completely unaware of. I presume demons/magic/demonic magic. After her completely justified rejecting of Barlo, the sad pitiful pathetic dismal tragic disgusting negative awful terrible no good dreadful hideous monstrous excuse of a dwarf felt sad. After this was the issue of payment and resolving transport. Due to a tragic combination of being cheapskates, the party chose a method of travel that enabled them to be attacked by encounters that were random in nature. There was a giant for sure, a goblin named bob (There may not have been a goblin named bob), and a genie that was terrible at wishes. This genie led to a great deal of strife and tragedy and would go on to accidentally instigate the Conjuration Cataclysm years down the line through an accidental wish creating a localized orb of conjuration, but that is entirely irrelevant. After a mass argument, Theltar, the vampiric monk, fled in fear of having to pay back his debt to an ice sorcereress named Emi. Fleeing into the woods, he ended up meeting Phantom who agreed to train him. The others, after waiting for 3 days, decided to move on without him figuring he was probably pulling a prank on them or dead. They then decided to get on a train and enjoyed some snacks on a pleasant ride. _____________ * <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050634" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050634</a>

SESSION TWENTY-FOUR: THE BUTTERFLY DREAMS, A REPLACEMENT, AND THE TOWER OF SHADOWS As the session began, Lucian stirred in his sleep. While the others had been encountering random events, he had been dreaming, dreaming of places he had never been to and seeing peoples he had never met. Lucian first found himself at a crossroad overlooking a battlefield, before being whisked away to a town of dragonborn. Speaking fluent Draconic and openly wondering if he was stili in the dream sequence, Lucian found himself being taken by a large dragonborn to a prison despite his best magical efforts before watching them all flee from an attack.Trapped in the prison, Lucian kind of shrugged when the prison tiles began falling apart and left him stranded in a black void, frankly underreacting to what he believed to be a surprisingly lifelike and painful dream sequence from where the dragonborn gripped him roughly. After some time int he black void, Lucian found himself in a room with a vareity of hooded cultists surrounding an old man. Despite his best efforts to get their attention, Lucian realized he was only an ethereal presence to them, and that they were unable to see him. Walking to the old man and invisibly shoving the cultists, Lucian was suddenly gripped by the surprisingly strong hand of the man on the table, and pulled right into his face. For some reason, the old man was able to see Lucian despite no one else being able to, and broke into tears upon seeing him, insensibly babbling in happiness and tears. Despite the old man's incredibly advanced age and sobbing, Lucian felt it a bit odd how strangely familiar the old man was to him and earnestly returned a hug even as the old man's entire body seemed to wrack itself from the effort. As Lucian's hands wrapped around the old man, Lucian felt the familiar sensation of armored scales, the same kind of dragon scales on his own body, but just as he was about to inquire further the old man's body shuddered and he felt his body go limp in his arms. As Lucian desperately tried to help the old man and find out their connection, he felt himself being pulled away and awoke to find himself in the train car alongside the others. While he had been in his coma, Lucian had been cared for by Orco the Witnesser. Astonished to see that Theltar had dissapeared, secretly convinced it was still a prank by the notoriously aloof monk, Lucian told the others of his strange dream. Lucian also made sure to formally introduce Orco to the others who had met the Orc carrying the unconscious body of their acquaintance, but had apparently just accepted it as the usual strangeness of Lucian's life. Traveling, the party whiled away the hours by conversing, finding out Orco was a thinker among his people and that the orcs were dragon worshippers manipulated by the Ancient Blue to attack the city, and planning the future of their organization. After THC got off the lightning rail in Korranberg they were informed that there ship wouldn't be arriving for three more days. Rather than doing nothing, they decided to follow the DM's prodding and went to the nearest tavern, where all new party members are forcibly stuck into their team without any kind of imagination used to make it an organic introduction. Outside the tavern, the group met a human named Geldrick. The man had a sword by his side, and a cup of ale in his hands. The group walked right past him because he clearly wasn't some joke throwaway character for them to become unhealthily attached to. Once at the bar, the soldier walked in and sat next to them. THC began discussing their group's current predicament with needing to go to Trolanport to take the tunnel there for a month to find Veger's master. It was at this moment that Beregar mentioned that the group did not have the funds to pay for their workers for a journey that would take over 2 months. The group began to brainstorm all of their best get rich quick schemes when Geldrick turned to them and revealed his business proposition. He has overheard the group in need for gold and told them of a tower to the east where adventurers often frequent for gold. He explained to them that the lower levels often provided a good amount of gold for parties such as them, but that the true prize was found at the top. What's the prize? No one knows really. Just speculation and rumors that it could do a variety of things, including a wish spell, which was eradicated from all spell books thousands of years ago. Geldrick only had one request, "Get me to the top and let me have the prize. You may keep any reward we find on the way to the top." Armed with the knowledge of their next great quest, THC set off for the city of ShadeMount, which is a popular city on the southern border of Cyre for adventuring groups this time of year thanks to The Tower of Shadows. Beregar was sent back to the island with the blood guard's payment for the next 2 months, and a temporary release of service since THC could not afford to keep him on salary for now. THC then hopped back on the lightning rail until they stopped at a mountain village outside of the only safe road over the mountain range. As they continues to travel together, the group became more acquainted with Geldrick. High in the mountains at their camp site they were joined by a heavily militarized goblin patrol. After a brief discussion about if Sverfniblen were really gnomes or not, the goblins joined them at the camp and swapped stories about Spike the goblin leader and Blowguh owing them 10 gold pieces. With Blowguh's debt paid the patrol left them to their sleep. In the morning the group set off and after 3 days arrived at the town of ShadeMount. It was a large and beautiful city surrounding a huge mountain. Apparently the mountain was actually the tower's defenses to make it impenetrable from the outside. As the group made their way further into the city they found the nicest tavern in town for the night. Immediately they noticed a charismatic and strong looking elderly dwarf manning the bar. Behind him on a mantle was large dwarven warhammer made of an impressive looking material. Curak felt drawn to talk with the man and discovered that he was a smith and former adventurer who used his money from his youth to open up this tavern, a dream of his since he was a little boy. The Dwarf felt mutual respect for another craftsmen and kindly gave them information about the city and the Shadow festival going on throughout the city outside. Tomorrow the Tower opens again for another 300 days, and everyone is celebrating the influx of Groups such as THC and the rewards that will be brought back from the tower. It would seem that some old mage made the tower long ago to defend his prize possession at the top, while also designing it in such a way that people can enter and play his mad game to prove their worth. Each year the layout of the tower changes itself, monsters respawn, and new rewards are added as incentive to climb. The city was ruled by a round table of adventuring groups which set their own laws, separate from Cyre so anyone was welcome to join the climb. This year many groups were going to make their attempts at getting to the top, a feat that few have accomplished, and none have returned from. Thanking the dwarf for the information the group went to a table and discussed preparations going forward while many adventurers eventually came in for the night.

SESSION TWENTY-FIVE: THE GRAND OPENING OF THE TOWER OF SHADOWS Some of the The Horizon Company (Geldrick the mysterious soldier, Veger the Deep Gnome Dragon Knight, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian) and Osbourne "Quickshot" Tealeaf. Geldrick got up from the table late into the night and went outside, shortly followed by Veger. The two began to bond over their common war stories about being officers in armies. As Geldrick stood outside smoking a cigar he looked over to Veger and asked "I know that the others want more time to prep before entering, but how about we check it out? Just the first floor. Can even ask the metal man to come too just in case." Veger thought about it for a moment and agreed, informing Buchanon of the plans. The next morning they made their war to the set of grand doors at the base of the mountain. They arrived thirty minutes early but there was already an enormous crowd of hundreds waiting to enter. As they stood outside the 30 feet wide, 20 feet tall doors, they began to examine the crowd. Many groups were in attendance, some of which looked like they were very strong. Some notable groups included a small army of qunari, 50 in total, led by a large muscular quanari with an eye patch. They recognized the group as a mercenary company known as The Bull's Chargers. Another group nearby seemed to be a small group of 10 or so pristine looking holy paladins led by a serious looking man holding a shield that radiated with the coming dawn. There eyes then shifted to a motley crew if they have ever seen one. A man with muscles bursting out of his plate armor stood in front of an old crazy looking wizard, a trio of elves with longbows, though one was clearly a dessert elf and the other a wood elf with unusually white hair who seemed to be talking to himself, and the last was a tan wood elf with dark hair and a more primal hunteresque look to him. Behind them were a pair of Khajit who could only be assumed to be brother and sister. Much to Buchanon and Veger's surprise, the group finally made sense when a bird man with a didgeridoo and metallic wings and feathers walked up to them that they realized they must be team PTSD. There were of course less impressive groups in attendance. A group of teenagers off in the corner wearing hand-me-down armor and wielding old family weapons. A group of trader's who seemed to not even have weapons on them, likely just looking to set up shops further in for a nice profit. And finally standing next to them was a trio of women, a half orc wearing robes, a dainty elf wearing armor three times her size, and a shy human with a bow. When the group began to snicker the half orc approached naming herself as Stacy. She had an awful valley girl accent and explained to the group how the first day works. When the doors open, everyone will enter a large room with 100 doors all with a one word theme above it. After that the tower's many advances will begin to twist and turn up the unknown amount of floors to the top. The traps one the lower floors respawn along with the monsters, but the hidden treasures do not. The monsters often hold small amount of money on them that increase the higher you make it. Eventually safe paths will be found to the upper levels and charted, but the most profitable time in the tower is at the start when the treasures are still there. After the group began to understand they asked about the treasure, which Stacy replied with the usual stuff plus something odd. Magic sentient items found only in the mountain exist inside, each year the items beckon for their masters to make the climb to the top so the sentient soul inside can be freed. Their are many people every year possessing these items that make the climb. They are powerful boons with one notable downside, the wielders of the items must kill other wielders and allow their items to "eat" the others to become stronger, or must find other items hidden away in the mountain and eat them instead. The only way in the final door is by possessing one of these items and it being strong enough to prove their worth to the tower. After a brief glance Geldrick gets the feeling that the Qunari's eyepatch, the big man in PTSD's armor, and one of the children's shoes are some of these items. Stacy walks away leaving them feeling a little paranoid now after realizing that though the climbers are generally cooperative with one another, some may betray them. The door finally opened and as the group ran inside the traps already begun. A large pendulum swung from the east, cutting down 12 people straight down the middle leaving 2 slabs of meat to fall over. With the grim reality of their situation set, the adventurers moved in. Inside THC picked the door labeled as "Pyramid" and before entering, a halfling approached. Veger recognized this man as Quickshot who was apparently doing final testing on his "thundercannon" before releasing them for sale. The group allowed him to join for the day and went inside their door. Inside they found a split in the path and they chose left. They found two sarcophigi in the room and a large symbol of a sun surrounding the eye of Horus. The eye could clear be pressed, but fearing for traps the group just turned and went the other way. The next room had an invisible maze that shocked anyone who ran into it. Thanks to some clever work, Geldrick was able to lead them out. In front of them was a door with the same symbol etched into it and the ground below them as well. The eye on the ground however had lines extending from it to the door, and from nearby hallway. The group then went to each hallway and after failing both puzzles had a deadly battle with the guardians. After pulling the trapped levels on each side the door in the middle room finally opened.

SESSION TWENTY-SIX: THE UNDERWATER RUIN, THE MOTHERLY STATUE, AND DYSMAS'S FORTUNE&nbsp; At the start oft the sesion, the team who had ventured inside decided to retreat out of the tower in order to recuperate and make an attempt with their full force. Silvering their weapons as part of their preparations and reuniting with their other members, the team agreed to adventure with a priestess of the Soveriegn Six named Xiltanthia in exchange for a guranteed 50 gold and an equal share of the profits. Finally making their unified attempt instead of rushing ahead, the team found themselves teleported to a shadowed ruin looming with traps and statues and smelling of dust. Making their way down the many tunnels and paths, the team found themselves facing a statue with an almost maternal air to it. Before they could progress further, they heard a motherly voice implore them to freely share their darkest secrets or progress no futher. Deciding to divulge, the team took turns and watched as each whispered their secret into the ear of the statue, wondering what they could be hiding from the rest of the party. When they had finished, the team were suprised when the same soothing voice thanked them, and then told them that their secrets would now be used to compose powerful traps for the rest of their journey. After a period of mild cursing and wishing someone had a secret fear of delicious wine and attractive women, he team pressed forward. After a short period of time, the team encounters a path of randomly dissapearing mushrooms clearly intended to test their cunning and acrobatics. Flexing his great acrobatic skills as part of his rogueish proficiency, Dysmas immediately falls of and takes damage. Deciding to try a different path, the team encounters a steep wall. Once again having a time to prove himself to the others, Dysmas climbs the wall only to be riddled with poisoned arrows and knocked off in short order. While Dysmas is healed, Lucian walked back to the mushroom path and decided to take it on, using his years of acrobatic training and ability to manipulte rope with magic to make it to a floating ruby. Casually relaxing, Lucian discovers that the ruby is actually a container for a powerful fire spell and is actively setting him on fire, but decides to ignore it due to his part draconic heritage and general high pain tolerance despite his grievous burns. SAfely making it to the other side, lucian creates a clear path for the others out of mushrooms where they all burn themselves on the same pain ruby. Clearly impressed with its power and missing his fireball orb (Which had heroically Sacrificed itself) Lucian wanted to find a way to steal the clearly explosive ruby, but is talked down due to being and incredibly incredibly obvious trap. Also Buchanon and Veger are there, bumbling and stumbling along and watching the others suffer. Continuing on, the horizon encounter a water room which is problematic as Dysmas is completely unable to swim.Wwhile dysmas battles a childhood fear of water, the team plot how to swim while also stealing treasure. Also not dying at the same time. Discovering some chests with air bubbles attached, the team realizes there are a series of them spaced around to help them navigate, but with limited supplies of air in each. Helping Dysmas overcome his inabilty to swim, The team all work together as a group to safely explore underwater, getting gold aong the way. Dysmas and 'lucian in particular farm a great deal of gold by themselves due to their efforts. However, lurking in the hidden crevices of the water, the team is ambushed by sevderal large tentacles just as they are about to reach the next air chest, as a powerful tentacled arma ttmpts to drag geldrick into the darkness. While Dysymas flees into a chest, the rest of the team readies for a fight, only to realize they can't actually speak underwater and their weapons aren't as effective. busting out crossbows, the team steadily whittles the sea creature down until the octopus evetuallly dies in a n explosion of ink and oozy blood which sticks to the members of the Horizon Company. Finally seeing the exit, the team has a faint sense of hope when they see a drain for the water that would allow them to leave the room. Diving straight for it, the team is relieved to finally be free of this underwater maze when once more, streams of tentacles blast forth from the shadows, but rather than an overgrown animal, the team sees two vaguely humanoid figures swim out attached to them. REalizing themt o be Kraken priests, Curak and Geldrik decide to drain the water as quick as possible while the others hold them at bay. Throught he power of both exerting their POWERFUL muscles at the same time and working togther, the duo somehow make less probgress than if they had worked seperately, spending the bulk of their time draining the water even as they are brutalized by the tentacles in a stunning dispaly of why working alone is always better. Meanwhile, Lucian, Dysmas and the priestess are the only ones actually doing damage, realizing they can use the air bubbleds to cast spells at the expense of their air supply. Blasting the Kraken Priests to both damage them and buy his allies time, Lucian manages to reposition the kraken priests to prevent them from killing his allies and Xilthantia also keeps them healthy while they drain the waterDysmas is the hero. Working together, they deal a good deal of damage and bring down one whent he water completely falls, but the survivor quickly knocks out Xi. Realizing one of their lightining bolts would be enough to kill the party, Lucian rushes forward to try and take down the Kraken Priest but is electrocuted by their lightning magics in place of the others. WIth the party in dire straits, Dysmas levies his crossbow and takes careful aim, knowing that a miss could mean a total party kill and finally puts an end to the Kraken Priest duo and revives both Lucian and Xi. Witt the Kraken Priests out of the way and the water drained, the party wonders if they could go back and loot hte gold they missed when they hear a masssive thundering crash barreling towards them, as they see the visage of the Statues which welcomed them to the ruins staggering towards them with the water gone, motivating them to casually jog away (because running would be admitting weakness). Teleporting to the next floor, the team decides to take a rest and end the session. Meanwhile, Veger and Buchanon were also there the entire time, coincidentally battling a 2nd octopus and 3rd kraken priest all on their lonesome and not helping the others out at all. Jerks

SESSION TWENTY-SIX: THE SHADOWS OF SLAUGHTER Starring : The Horizon Company (), Xilthana the Priestess of the Sovereigns When the session began, the team had discovered the best of all man's comforts in the room they teleported to a single moldy cot. Mildly recovering from their wounds, the team decided to take a more coordinated approach to the next room e, and swore they would be prepared for whatever the dungeon could throw at them. Immediately upon opening the door, the team realized they were all now blind. Trapped in a magical darkness that wasn't magical darkness, a sort of advanced darkness, the team stumbled and bumbled all over each other until they realized they could see only a shining green lantern in the shadows. Picking up the Lantern, Veger sadly does not gain superpowers and a new costume, but instead projects a 20x20 diameter light aura which allowed the party to see in the non magical, magical darkness. With the way lit before them, the team found a fresco style painting depicting a shadow army overruning and slaughtering the residents of a shining city in the desert. As the party inches along to see every intricately drawn details of this grim tapestry, a hushed whispering arises on a dead wind. A single refrain, echoed 1000 times. GET OUT As those on the outskirts of the light feel warm breathing on their necks that smells faintly of blood and meat and deathly cold fingers, those on the outskirts are raked with knife like fingers as the light of the lantern contracts and leaves thems tranded. Swarming to the center of the lantern's light, the team realizes that anyone who leaves it will be swarmed and absorbed by the shadow like entities lurking right there in the darkness. Ignoring the ghastly wails of the shadow beings, Geldrick takes charge, leading the team forward through the maze like corridors and maintaining the parties morale and focus by shouting over the pleas of the shadows to join their suffering. Rounding a corner, the Team hears the screams of whatever group of adventurers/sorry bastards got there right after they took the lantern from the starting area echo throughout the maze and shrink the light just a bit more. Now grouped right beside each other, the party is forced to move in unison while searching for an escape route. Theorizing that there is either a corrrect path or something they must first find, the team scours teh dungeon top to bottom in pursuit of their escape, but come out empty again and again. Finally arriving to an isolated room, the party is immediately hit with an unexpectedly warm haze of air as though they had walked into a sauna of putrid air. While their priestess retches, the team sees a pile of dead bodies, stripped of flesh and identifying features stacked cieling to the the floor so tight, that the slightest interruption would send them sprawling, and the vague sense of an ominous presence. Determined to find a way to rescue his party, Curak puts a cover over his mouth, and moves to enter the corpse pillar, drawing the shadows to an absolute silence. Moving through, Curak sees only a single glowing bracer, and as he moves to retrieve it, he makes eye contact with a demon, crouching alone in the bodies, in absolute darkness until they brought light to it. Curak sees the eyes of a young boy. Leaving immediately, Curak is shaken, but shows the party his prize. Sadly, it is not what they needed to escape and as the voices resume, so too does their journey. Arriving at a path, the team actually sees a source of light for once. Tragically, that source is lava, and the only way across is a rickety bridge across. Stepping carefully to avoid breathing in noxious fumes, the team hears a set of marching in time with them, stopping when they stop, until they quite literally walk into a group of skeletons. Not fearing so much the skeletons as the threat of being overwhelmend and thrown into the lava, the team decides to beat a hasty retreat while Curak and Lucian form a barrier and launches powerful Area of Effect attacks respectivley to stop them, only to realize they were flanked by a small army's wsorth of skeletons all clambering and moving atop each other in their desire to rip apart the party. Literally 50 skeletons. An absurd amount of skeletons. So many skeletons that time seemed to freeze (lag). Trapped between a rock and a metaphorical hard place/literal army of skeletons, the team braced themselves for the skelton rush. Despite killing a platoon's worth of skeletons however, the army did not relent and Geldrick realized he had to use his secret technique of being absolutely fucking fantastic of murdering things unlike the rest of us scrubs as he turned himself into a whirpool of halberd strikes, destroying the bodies of each skeleton which made the foolish decision to enter his domain. Standing atop a literal pile of bodies, Geldrick created an ice vortex with his sorcerous powers which would kill the rest of the skeletons who would mindlessly pursue them (and slightly damaged the rest of the party) while the others finished clearing the path to escape. Managing to flee, the party discovers a room depicting the history behind the earlier wall painting. Wrapping around the room, the tapestry depicted the the terrible gencoidals history of 2 tribes of elves living in the desert with one becoming sun devil worshippers as a response to racism. Originally, some pale elves welcomed some less pale elves into their city. Then, they started horribly mistreating the darker elves. Then, the Darker elves began doing demonic rituals. Then, more and more demons. More Racism. More Demons. More Raicsm. Eventually, events proceeded to a point where the dark elves turned into a horrible shadow monsters and slaughtered the slightly more pale elves. Moral of the story is that Racism is bad. I mean just bad in general, not because of devil summoning. Although, devil summoning is also bad. That means you Geldrick. Assuming all elves know each other. Anyway, the team continued their journey, only to realize they had somehow looped around. Thinking it was a trap of the room, to ignroe the fact that it was instead their poor sense of direction which was to blame, the team ended up accidentally stumbling into the exit.

SESSION TWENTY-EIGHT: DEAR GOD, NOT TIM Starring: The Horizon Company, &nbsp; Xilthana, and newest member Robben Sortree After valiantly escaping/getting lost inside the room of shadows, the team ends up skipping quite a few floors, jumping all the way towards floor # 27 which was a much larger safe haven within the tower laden with merchants and their fellow adventurers all congregating in what appeared to be a centralized meeting place. There were caravans and many adventuring groups all gathered around what seemed to be several bonfires and a fresh water source. Immediately upon entering, the team realized that the Chargers and Team PTSD were absent, having gone on ahead of them to further explore the tower. Realizing they were behind but too injured to press on, the team decided to take time to replenish their depleted item stock and rest up. Deciding to get some info on why all these caravans were here, the team met the most peculiar family of merchants from Shivairn where Xi was from, the three brothers Abid, Abeed, and Abead who specialized in exotic wares, rare ingredients for magical chefs, and spices good for both cooking and magic. The trio were very friendly people and the team got along quite well with them as Lucian used some of his money to purchase the world’s spiciest pepper and Xi perused much of their stock of spices, overjoyed to be reminded of her home. The Horizon Company found out that the merchants had made it up there by following the more prepared adventuring groups. The Horizon Company also learned from the three brothers that many of the weaker groups had been traveling behind groups like the chargers as well to allow them to weaken the dungeons at the price of taking most of the treasure. This presented a new tactic for the group that led to some controversy as the team debated whether to go with this or continue blazing their own trail. The team ended up discussing with the brothers about making a trade relationship or for consultation on their own business and found them amenable, exchanging business cards. After concluding their business with the three brothers, the team split up to accomplish several objectives. Veger, Lucian, and Xi ended up going item shopping to replace many of the items lost like Dysmas’ balls and pick up necessities like rope. Buchanon and Dysmas teamed up to find a place of refuge while Curak and Geldrick had a confrontation over a mysterious magic item Curak had found and attempted to attune to. When Curak had jumped into the corpse pile, he had discovered a band which radiated magical might. Though he had not the chance to attune to it during his time in the room, now that he could catch his breath, he decided to find out more about it. Through his artificer’s sense, he discovered that it was Band of Command, a powerful magic item that allowed him to dominate the senses of others, but before he could attune to it, Geldrick interrupted him and explained that if he did so, then Geldrick would have to fight him to the death. As it turns out, the band of command was one of the magic items that Geldrick had to consume in order to reach the top of the tower, and that once someone was bonded to one, then the only way to be released was death. Geldrick explained that long ago, he had made a bond with one of these items which had helped save him during his time as a soldier, and now he was obligated to return to assist this item in its goal of reaching the top. Geldrick explained that he would prefer to have to consume unattuned items rather than murder other users, but that if the choice came down to it he wouldn’t hesitate. Curak was understandably angry given the loss of such a powerful item and Geldrick’s initial hesitance before telling them this, but quickly agreed to hand it over given that he was their client and Curak was a professional. Meanwhile, Buchanon and Dysmas were visiting some adventurers dressed rather loosely around a campfire when in a misguided attempt to win them over, Buchanon quite literally expelled copious amounts of beer all over everybody in a scene literally taken from a commercial to sell Beer. After a moment of hesitation from being soaked in alcohol by a beer shooting robot, the adventurers began dancing and partying. Dysmas also attempted to dance, but frankly he couldn’t. He just… He just can’t. There’s just something wrong with that child. After recuperating, the team had a major decision before them. They could follow in the safer footsteps of the more advanced parties like a couple of nerds or they could make their own paths like real adventurers. The choice was clear as the team burst through the door to an unknown path. There they found themselves watching as another group explored another room of adventure, a group of halflings. Yet, to the horror of THC, they saw as the Halfling group were swiftly attacked by a number of monsters, being cut down even though the majority of them could turn into dinosaurs which are well known to be both rad and bulletproof. Though THC tried to knocked down the glass door separating them, including teleporting through which failed because of magic, they were forced to watch as the qunari adventuring group mopped the floor with the remainder and passed over the survivors before the glass fell and THC could lend aid. Despite searching, there was only one survivor, a cleric who went by the name of . After reviving him with some healing magic, the team were happily surprised when he decided to join THC after a promise of payment. After that joyful moment however, the sleaziest scumbag ever to walk the earth scooted out from the shadows, licking his bloody chapped lips with his malodorous and engorged tongue. Hiding his disgusting perverse and frankly heinous intentions behind an ilusion of pleasantries, Tim the Mortician plopped into the world ready to take away the bodies for his own unseemly purposes. God. To anyone reading this, kill Tim. Don’t hesitate. Don’t argue about metagaming. Just shoot him. Stab him. Blow him up. Kill Tim. After the terrible experience of being in Tim's presence for a single second without murdering him, the team carried on with their new pal in tow.

SESSION TWENTY-NINE: SWEET ROBBEN Starring: The Horizon Company, and Xilthana . As the session began, the team found themselves in high spirits, having recruited another friend and a healer at that, and entering the next challenge room with full health and hearty stomachs after their rest. For the first time in a long time, the team carried themselves with confidence, the confidence of a seasoned group of adventurers. Striding towards their next obstacle to the top fo the tower, the team whistled when they saw a 40 foot by 40 foot obsidian cube with strange sigils inscribed into it. Their amazement was quickly interrupted however when a sudden gust of air behind them alerted the Horizon Company that a massive door of the same material as the cube had suddenly burst from the floor behind them, separating Curak from the rest for the remainder fo the floor, and locking them inside. Moving into defensive positions, the team were now more guarded, realizing that the walls could be manipulated and move through the use of multiple orbs standing on pedestals. Splitting into two teams, the Horizon Company found that manipulation of the doors could open up two alternating hallways and close doors, but would trap people inside if done poorly. In addition, the central cube would not open regardless of any orbs that they would push, leading them to suspect that the key to escaping the floor was inside. After analyzing the orb system and the doors, Geldrick pursued a hunch of his and had the team close the doors behind him, locking him inside an obsidian cube inside the left hallway. Maintaining a sense of calm, he then instructed the rest of the party to continue to unlock doors revealing a hallway in the back that allowed him to disable the walls and finally drop the walls on the cube after walking back to the others. Jubilant at Geldrick’s straight up sick nasty puzzle solving skills bro, the team gave each other congratulatory high fives. Grouping up as the walls which made up the cube receded once more into the tower floors, yet there right in the center of the cube was a group of adventurers standing over a pile of treasure and items. A Knight with shining Armor, A Rogue with a knife and a grin, A Dwarf with the crazed eyes of a Barbarian, an elderly wizard with a star patterned robe, a half elven bard with a harp with the notes of heaven, and a warlock, . They were the Average Joes of the standard DnD adventuring group, so conventional as to be unconventional, and each in turn surveying their counterpart. Yet, the key attribute of the Average Joes was that they were in possession of a great many magical items which were bonded to them just as Geldrick was, and just as Geldrick was involved in this death game, so were they. As each party sized up the other, each saw that the other was in violation of the Tower’s one law, that to progress is to kill and to stay was to be killed, and any hopes for peace died as the spellcasters quick drew their focuses like gunslingers and warriors raised their weapons as each tried to show some initiative. It is unimportant who struck the first blow, who fired the first shot, because in the chaos of the fighting, each man was fighting for the survival of the person beside him, the friends they had made. The Horizon Company had made a promise to protect Geldrick and take him to the top of the tower regardless of circumstance, and these others had likewise formed a bond through their trek up the tower, though more mercenary and martial than the Horizon Company. The Berserkers raged against those who would do harm to their allies, the casters dueled flooding the air with shot after shot of death, the rogues hid and waited for their moments, and the healers desperately kept their allies afloat hoping the other ran out of healing spells first. As the brawl worsened, the parties were intermittently separated, forced to leap out of the way of the numerous walls which were now being used to generate cover or to try and bisect their enemies with both sides avoiding being crushed to death. As the situation grew more desperate, each party threw out their most dangerous techniques, overcharging spells, burning resources, and Geldrick invoked one of his most powerful spells, opening a portal to one of the endless ever devouring maws of Hadar the Hunger which Consumes all which soon sprouted numerous feeding stabbing and bludgeoning tentacles along with the deathly cold of the plane where Hadar lurked throwing all within into blindness and pain. In this chaos, there was a squeak that went unheard and a cry of help unanswered as Robben, Dear Sweet Robben, was trapped within the mouth of Hadar and unable to escape. Robben, dear sweet Robben, had rushed to the sound of his friends, the sound of safety after already being injured, and yet just barely within reach of safety, he was tripped by the Halberd of the enemy knight and stabbed through by the panicking warrior as he attempted to ward off the numerous tentacle mouths of Hadar. As Robben died, a single bloodied hand managed to slip out of the dark, but was ignored. The Horizon Company moved into defensive position to protect Geldrick, but his spell proved more potent than anticipated, allowing the team to even the odds and put an end to the enemy group. Slaying and consuming each item holder’s power after killing them, the time soon came that there were only two survivors, the wizard and bard who were both without the weapons which demanded death. Stumbling wounded out of the inky darkness of Hadar’s hunger, stabbed with the numerous tentacles and suffering from frostbite, the bard saw the dead bodies of his allies and saw Xi, the cleric from Shivairn THC hired, before him. Looking at the dead bodies, he readied a spell, a spell only created to hurt and kill another, when he was interrupted by a commanding voice as Geldrick spoke out. Geldrick, his eyes haunted by the bloody battlefield and ruined corpses of his enemies, spoke to the bard about preventing a further need for bloodshed about the pointlessness of fighting even when there was no need to. Looking at Xi before him, the bard surrendered and decided to run away alongside the wizard after coming to the conclusion that this was all pointless. It was a messy victory, and THC wished to give a cheer, but their voices were silent when they saw the body of Robben, stabbed and bludgeoned and frozen, beneath their feet. While they had fought, he had died. While they had bantered, he had suffered. While they had promised him safety, he had only received death. Robben died because of his allies and it was something the team would have to live with. For they had one destination, the top of a tower that no one had ever reached, and they had a promise they needed to fulfill. For this one moment though, they forgot about that, discarded being tough adventurers, and mourned for a friend they never had a chance to know. TLDR; We accidentally killed our new player’s character after spending all last session trying to find him. Whoops! At least we got gold!

SESSION THIRTY: NORTH-FACE* Starring : The Horizon Company , Xilthana , and PTSD As the session began, the party’s pleasant lunch was interrupted by the sound of metal grinding on metal and sickening squishing plops as a biometallic tail sprouted from Buchanon’s metallic chassis. Everyone swiftly returned to eating their beans. Their hunger satiated and their minds now over the loss of dear sweet Robben, may the soveriegns save his soul, the Horizon Company set forth on their perilous journey, but were set back when they touched the door handle and it was cold! Fearing whatever frost monster may lurk behind the door, the team spent 30 minutes switching into their winter fashion line (now available at all participating Black Orb Inns), and ripping apart Lucian’s precious 10 foot pole despite the fact that he apparently had 10 torches in his inventory already (Explorer’s Pack). Stepping forth into the snow, the team saw a winter wonderland with endless vistas, beautiful wildlife, and jutting mountain tops. It was truly wonderful. Mostly, however, the team focused on how they’re fingers were cold and they were tired and that the snow was getting into their boots. Left with little guidance on how to proceed when they’re choices weren’t limited to forward or backwards, the team set forth towards the only recognizable landmark in sight to hopefully gain shelter from the approaching blizzard. Marching swiftly, more accurately trudging, the team heard the sound of an explosion as an errant fireball impacted in front of them startling a herd of Arctic Bison, a particularly large breed of Bison noted for their distinctive white coats and particularly sharpened black horns, which set into a stampede. Quickly taking cover on a handily provided snowbank, the team saw in the distance what seemed to be a congregated mass of people fighting. Unsure if that was the way out, the team strode forth to try and get their bearings, dodging spell fire along the way. Unsuccessfully dodging spellfire honestly. As they got closer, the team saw that the fighters seemed to be a particularly well equipped adventuring team fighting 8 minotaurs and a swarm of zombies led by a greasy zombie with a perfect, honest to god immaculate, ass. An artisan ass crafted by golden hands. This thing was incredible. This is incredibly important knowledge that will 100% come up in the future and wasn’t some random occurrence perhaps instigated by some dread necromancer’s suggestions. There was also a 15 foot goat off in the distance that may have been a metaphor. A distinctly goat shaped metaphor. Regardless, the team realized that if things didn’t change, then they would die before even reaching the fight, and so they sent forth Dysmas to scout ahead using his keen roguish agility. However, realizing that magic was the solution to all life’s ails, Geldrick simply used Dimension door and took him and Dysmas straight to them, directing Dysmas into perfect position to ambush the wizard, a particularly scruffy looking man who smelled as though he hadn’t washed in years and looked the same. Dysmas recognized him as someone from Sharn from his time there, but still put a knife to his neck while promising not to hurt him if he stopped bombing his friends. However, as this was occurring, a particularly burly man resembling a brick wall of scars, metal, and muscle wielding a magic sword stepped forward to oppose the neutral good that is Dysmas. Quickly realizing things were about to go south in a hurry and that he would probably be out of his head if that were to happen, Dysmas shaped his sharp cunning to talking his way out of the situation rather than rely on threats, brokering a treaty between him and the adventurers known as Team PTSD, some of the most accomplished heroes of the realm of Eberron. Fighting alongside them, Dysmas used his boots of levitation in conjuction with Lucian’s ready willingness to cast message on everything and everyone out of the ordinary to tell the others that they were going to make a break for a temple far in the distance. If the others couldn’t get there in time, then the temple would be barricaded and leave them to deal with the enemies alone. Now moving from their clearly casual jog to actually running, the team was slightly surprised when they saw a beautiful woman who was very clearly an ice spirit considering she was barefoot in the snow call out to them. Deciding to trust everyone they meet, the team blindly follows the spirit, and somehow ends up ahead of Team PTSD, Dysmas and Geldrick despite traveling a greater distance slower. The team tries not to think about how they moved or what they saw and especially not about what they heard as they momentarily moved through the fey, and instead felt an inexplicable sense of palpable relief upon arriving safely at their destination. Turning to thank the spirit because they are polite and not rude dudes, the team receive a business card as she fades away, informing them that they have received a favor from the Prince of Frost’s Emissary. Those knowledgable of what that meant cringed heavily, while most were blissfully ignorant. Pushing forward the team ended up meeting Team PTSD in the temple safely, driving off the minotaurs and Oddly greased Zombies. The Horizon Company eyed Team PTSD suspiciously wondering if the more experienced party would attempt to attack them once they saw the sentient weapon they carried and if they could even survive such an attempt, but their suspicions were allayed as the hulking warrior known as Volkovoy, who wielded a sword as mountainous as he that was inscribed with a wolf’s howl, informed them that he meant no harm as he had already collected the 10 required items of ascension. Breaking bread with each other, the two teams decided to swap stories and learn more about each other. The Horizon Company learned that Team PTSD had recently lost a member quite some time ago, a Magical doctor named Tomas who had perished while helping a more rookie adventuring team in a plague situation, and that they were planning to use the wish at the top to maybe resurrect him. They spoke a great deal about the fellow: learning he stopped Zeed from attempting suicide when the bird bard was temporarily turned human, that he wdas a founding member of Team PTSD, and that he had been the apprentice of the wizard Dysmas had almost killed back named Agamenos when he was 8 years old. The team seemed broken up about his untimely death, and for that reason had sworn an oath of vengeance against the dwarf known only as BArlo the Undying, a veritable brute of a man who was apparently a capricious and unpredictable immortal that had been responsible for Tomas’ death as well as that of many others according to reports they had received. A genuine scumbag. He was simultaneously known as either a hero who had participated in heroic events like the protection of Stone Rift but also someone capable of great cruelty having overseen the slaying of the demon binding monks and the slaughter of the hometown of the Blood Hunter Fortuente. The only known thing about him in the realm was that he was a dwarf, that each time he resurrected he came back more deformed and stronger, and that he was absolutely terrible with women. Just god awful. Eventually, the two teams split ways amicably, the party to explore the temple they found themselves in further, and Team PTSD to go explore a really really cool cave. Like a seriously cool cave guys. Moving on, the team entered a dark room where they once again destroyed Lucian’s beautiful beautiful 10 foot pole due to him forgetting he owned 10 torches in his explorer’s pack. Not seeing much of note, the team encountered a strange slime like monster holed up in a corner of a room just before another large door. Deciding t talk to the little monster fellow, the team saw that he carried a book in a language they couldn’t read and that he offered it to them in exchange for not speaking.Realizing that he was a librarian of a tiny library, the team began trying to make several books to exchange with him, from Curak’s surprisingly delicate origami flip book to Lucian’s book of plagiarized love poetry, until Lucian ended up giving a business card and had the tiny guy turn it into a library card. Now a proud supporter of the library system, Lucian checked out a book detailing the history of the temple of elements they were in and was informed to return it in two weeks. Now more than ready to enter the temple, the team saw a raised platform with 4 circles upon each colored differently and with elemental symbols inscribed into them. Deliberating which room to enter, Lucian bumble stumbled his way into the fire room and saw a mermaid suffocating and dying in a glass case on the opposite side of the platform. Seeing a mermaid across the room, Lucian immediately moved to rescue her when Geldrick, realizing magic was the solution to all life’s ails, used Dimension door and saved her by taking her to the water room. From there the team tried to figure out the riddle of the room Fire is not a measure of brute force but intelligence to see its true beauty. Sadly, Brute force was all the Horizon Company knew and the session ended with them trapped. __ * <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844457/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844457/</a> *Original Title: THE OTHER

SESSION THIRTY ONE: THE TRIAL OF ELEMENTS, AND A DEATH IN THE FAMILY [To be completed]

SESSION TWENTY-THREE: THE NAMELESS Starring: Horizon Company, Xilthana, PTSD, The Bulls Chargers and miscellaneous adventurers As the session began, the team was still coming to terms with Curak’s death. Some regretted not being strong enough, others simply mourned. Not having the chance to grieve however, the team realized they still had one last task before them. With Geldrick having acquired ten key weapons, the team could now reach the top without resistance. Though they were still uncertain about what was at the top, the team remembered that that Team PTSD had planned to use whatever was at the top to bring back the wizard Tomas. Determined to reach the top first and revive Curak, the team entered the top with the life of their comrade on their side only to see not just team ptsd, but every single high level adventuring group gathered around a table waiting for them. The tower’s top floor could only be opened when 10 key weapon wielders that had absorbed 10 weapons were gathered together, meaning that the others were left to hope that THC could fight their way through. As the last member however and unknowing of whatever possible danger lurked behind the door, whether it was some kind of death tournament or maze or battle, Geldrick demanded that all teams not kill each other if the key wielder was down or else he would not use his key to open the door. There was some grumbling from an asshole dwarf named Bulgrim who had the standard adventurer backstory of a dead wife who he wanted to avenge/bring back from the dead, but every one was fairly cool with the requirements. Planting his key into the door, Geldrick and every other Key Weapon holder began to feel their powers drain in the door, very quickly depriving Geldrick of being superman in dnd. Moving as a collective mass into the door, the various adventuring groups saw a massive dilapidated city standing before them, once magnificent but now brought low by the ravages of time and conflict. It was a haunting sight, yet the silence was quickly interrupted by a strange mechanical device which seemed to float freely that introduced itself as The Curator. The Curator had apparently been waiting for adventurers to arrive for some time, explaining that the tower was a means of testing them and that this year they had succeeded because the tower was made easier than normal. In other incarnations, its parts had been a tomb of horrors or portals ot planes of eldritch horror. Even though they had arrived however, the team found out that there was still one more task. Deep within the catacomb like remnants of the city, there lay a device called the helm of violation, a charming name for a magic device that could grant any wish its wielder wanted. The Helm was located deep within the city and would be guarded by a powerful security system left by the ancient civilization who built the tower and city. IT was only at this moment that The Curator informed them that hey had 3 minutes out of 5 remaining to get moving before the security drones would begin attacking them. Looking around, the team realized The Curator was speaking to every single individual that had gathered here at the same time and realized they needed to get moving. Racing towards a large dome like structure which was obviously important given that it was very big, the most obvious symbol of importance, the team suddenly heard a loud cry of pain coming from the qunari which had accompanied the Iron Bull. The Security Systems was back in operation. Suddenly hearing what seemed to be the sound of revving, the team turned around in unison only to see a robotic statue standing 50 feet tall with 3 faces with burning blue flames for eyes. Realizing that the sound was a signal for an attack, the team suddenly ducked into an alley and narrowly dodged a giant laser beam which evaporated the road they were just on. Forced to continue dodging the laser beams from the statue, THC soon encountered about 30 mechanical enforcers from the security system. Using a combination of Lucian’s Fire Magic and Geldrick’s proclivity for decapitation en masse however, the various robots posed little threat and served only to further diminish the team’s resources. Dashing in the alleyways, the team found their heckler, the dwarf named Bulgrim, surrounded alongside some Qunari. Fighting their way to his side, Bulgrim gave them his begrudging respect and told them that he would hold the line. As he was giving this epic speech however, Lucian destroyed the rest of the robots and the team started dragging Bulgrim and his friends along with them. In addition, Lucian had to use a 3rd level spell slot to save Manner the cute little robot from being destroyed entirely by the Giant statues laser. However, the enforcer swarms were relentless and it was all the team could do clear a path forward. Thinking to slow them down with the magic spell Web, a spell designed solely to inhibit movement, Lucian was flabbergasted as they completely no selled it and vowed to file a complaint to the sorcerer guild. Whikle they were racing, they saw the Iron Bull alone and surrounded, and drawing the fire of the 3 faced statue. Seeing him racing towards them , the team realized he would draw the fire towards them all. Seeing the statue about to target them while surrounded, the team was surprised when Zeed came in and knocked it slightly off balance with a powerful fireball giving Geldrick and Lucian the chance to knock it back with their Eldritch Blasts into a building. With the statue temporarily down, the team’s main objective soon became a mad dash to the dome as Zeed flew ahead of them. Ducking, bobbing, and slicing their way through a literal army of drones, the team saw that Team PTSD in conflict a the dome and Lucian was contacted by Agemenos the Homeless Wizard of Sharn that the Dome was just the first step in getting the wish. IT turned out that the dome needed to be reached to shut down the shield to a tower on the other side of town and that it would need to be defended. Giving a collective sigh of frustration, the team sent the adventurers they had rescued on the way to defend the dome and help out Team PTSD while they went to take down the tower. However, the time the statue had recovered by the time they had almost made it to the tower and while firing its powerful laser, it completely destroyed the road before them and turned it into difficult terrain. Realizing it would be suicide to race across that, the team were forced to detour into the underground transportation system of the city to make ti to the tower. Force dto hide in the dark, the team was ambushed by a horrific monster which attempted to grab them, but was thwarted by Lucian’s Hellish Rebuke. This only delayed it temporarily however, as it burst through the floor at a later point and grabbed Xilthana, threatening to take her into its underground lair for what I presume are entirely benevolent purposes like not eating her. Quickly trying to free her with whatever powers they had, Geldrick came up with a brilliant idea and lured it outside where he discovered it stood around 40 feet tall and placed himself beneath its feet. Unbeknownst to the monster, it was being targeted by the Robot Statue’s laser attack and before it could eat Geldrick, he teleported out of there only to see the monster’s upper torso be completely vaporized by the powerful attack. However the attack impacted the tower they were tryng to reach and the construct was completely destroyed in the attack, inadvertently bypassing that entire section. Deciding to tell people that was very much intentional in the future, the team made one last push into the heart of the city where their treasure would lie.Also really quick, at some point, the team reignited Bulgrim’s optimism through completely no selling his attempts at a dramatic self sacrifice. Anyway heading into the tower, the team saw that there was strange scripting all along the wall in a language none of them could read because only nerds take comprehend language. Going only off of the visual depictions, the team saw the history of a combined force of dragons and humanoid figures fighting off a collective invasion of some mysterious force that couldn’t be named. Slowly moving through while continuing to drag Curak’s frozen corpse through all of this, the team eventually came to one last massive door in a tower filled with massive doors as they finally realized these were dragon sized. Standing before it, the team was told that they needed to let all their secrets bare or else be destroyed, but figuring that they already told their secrets in the first floor, they went in only to be faced once more with the robotic visage of The Curator hovering alone in a room lit only by six pillars of pure blue flames and the silence of the grave. In a very neutral tone, The Curator congratulated the team on being the first to reach this area in over 10,000 years. Curious on how he had arrived there, the team asked the robotic administrator several questions about the area. The Ancient Civilization which had built this tower, actually a bio organic construct which would continually adapt to its inhabitants, were masters of a long lost school of magic, the Tradition of Soul. Able to manipulate the very essence of humanity and free will, the Ancients had used this magic for everything. To the Curator, current soul manipulators like liches were nothing more than pale imitations of what the ancients were capable of doing. The Curator, in a voice as calm as a very patient instructor, told them how the Helm of Violation was similarly empowered by this lost soul magic and the tower was used as a way to empower it. Through its various tricks and traps, the tower was used to harvest the souls of the fallen who would be lured to the area through the generated treasures and rumors it would deliberately feed into the world, their deaths empowering the tower. Those expeditions had been doomed to failure from the onset, as the tower’s peak would never have opened for them, but rumors of the treasure at the top continued to lure them there. It was only by sheer luck that the team had come here on the very year it would have been safe to do so. The Tower had been harvesting souls for 10,000 years and it was finally ready to activate. The Curator was surprised however at the team’s lack of knowledge when Buchanon was empowered by 10,000 souls just like the statue outside had been in a revelation that literally had the rest of the team saying “What!” at various intensities for the next 5 minutes. Buchanon the Robotic Barbarian had 10,000 souls inside of him giving him life. Rather than not having any soul, he had an excess. Not sure how to react to this, the team was informed there was only one more task before they could get their wish. They would have to defeat the guardian, a miniature version of the statue outside first. Just like Buchanon it too was empowered by the souls of the fallen, and they were informed that it would be stronger than anything they’ve fought in the tower so far, being resistant to magic. Asking if there was anything they could use to fight it, the team was informed that the pillars were made of pure soul flame which gave Dysmas the idea to light his weapons on fire with the soul flames. Quickly grouping around, the rest of the team save Lucian empowered their weapons. Deciding to fight beside GEldrick one last time, the team readied their weapons as Geldrick moved to take the helm and activate its power. Burning with power of the ancient’s soul magic, the guardian immediately proved itself far more powerful than they anticipated, opening the start by blasting them with a laser beam immolating half the room. Fighting with everything they had, those empowered with the magic of soul found that their attacks were able to cut through its armor and resist its attacks, but its sheer strength meant this only made it so that the fight was survivable. Dodging blast after blast of its laser or surviving through its attacks, the team found themselves forced to rely on the healing magic of Xilthana and Pup to survive until they eventually managed to finally shut down the boss. Just as they were about to celebrate however, the construct exploded and out from the rubble appeared a being of pure shadow with a katana that had a red edge. Dissapearing and reappearing to dodge their strikes, the team found out that it also had delayed attacks such that even a single slice would cause you to collapse in a heap of blood in 12 seconds. Using Geldrick’s Shadow Hound to Track it, the team were able to fight back, yet as the fight grew longer, the team realized it was absorbing the souls which powered the helm of violation for its movements using the soul magic of the ancients. Realizing that with only one soul pillar remaining it would be able to kill them all if it absorbed it, the team put everything they had into a single strike except for Dysmas who put a petrification ring on to hide like a coward when things looked bad. What was his plan? Be trapped in a tower for 10,000 years until the next adventurers appeared? Leave his friends to die? Fucking Dysmas. Goddamn you Dysmas. Regardless of Dysmas’ cowardice, the team prevailed despite multiple close calls and Lucian being a bloody heap on the floor afterwards. Now, with the Helm of Violation in Hand, the team saw a mysterious portal to some shadowy dimension no one had heard of, but regardless the team supported Geldrick’s decision to use the helm. Helped to the Helm by Lucian and the rest, Geldrick revealed he had lost his men in a war a long time ago, and had been haunted ever since. Now , that he was here, he intended to set it right. With tears in his eyes, Geldrick used the last remnant of the soul power to wish for, “them all to come back. Every one of them.” To bring back his men and those in the tower as well. However, as he did so, a dark laughter filled the room and a malevolent voice promised to bring everyone back just as promised and the shadowy portal winked out of existence just as the soul pillars did so. Before the team could investigate further, they saw Curak come back to life, the ice melting, and rushed to hug him and catch him. Explaining the situation, the team quickly left the tower hwile Lucian promised to help Geldrick find his men afterwards as they hadn’t reappeared near him. Rendezvousing with Team PTSD, the team learned that those who hand’t been eradicated by the 3 faced statue’s beams were brought back to life, but that it seemed the Statue’s laser absorbed the souls of those it killed. Moreover, the city was collapsing entirely without soul magic to sustain and would self destruct soon if the team didn’t escape into the teleportation circle they had drawn. However, one of the members of Team PTSD named Thordol collapsed, muttering the name Erevan over and over again, and so Lucian had to carry him to safety. When they teleported to the bottom of the tower, the team found the entire village deserted and a mysterious fog over everything. Wanting to be cautious, the team was surprised when Geldrick rushed ahead claiming he could hear the voices of his men. Suspricious and concerned over how eerie their voices were, the Team urged caution, but Geldrick was incensed at the suggestion he hold back from rejoining his men and even threatened them all if they tried to hold him back. As the session ended, all the team could do was see Geldrick fade into the fog and hear the whispers of the dead. However, unknown to them, their actions had unleashed something far darker. A prophecy had been fulfilled, A promise was broken, and once more the nameless were returned to Eberron. The Daelkyr had returned.

SESSION THIRTY-THREE: BEYOND THIS PLACE OF WRATH AND TEARS* Starring: Horizon Company , with the returned prodigal son Theltar Thultin , and newest members, future resistance leader&nbsp; Alauriel Bel’Divier. As the session began, the team was in dire straits. The Resurrection of Curak and Geldrick’s men had come at a grave cost, resurrecting the dead and creating a mist which dulled not just vision but the senses. All around town, adventurers and citizens were being driven to a state of madness, unleashing their repressed desires and thoughts, and turning the area into a state of brutal anarchy. Right before, Theltar had returned to the group to much acclaim while Curak was drowning his sorrows, but a confrontation between the two led Theltar to be driven temporarily mad by an influx of emotions. In this emotional state, Theltar had murdered the party’s friend and ally Xilthana when she attempted to help, and had abandoned the completely mutiliated body in an alleyway. Curak had accepted an offer from Theltar’s god to remove his memories in exchange for murdering his beloved mentor Beregar, and was told that the old man intended to murder him and Buchanon to upgrade Red, Buchanon’s incomplete and defective warforged brother. At the same time, Lucian, Orco the Witnesser, and Dysmas had discovered Xilthana’s body and swore an oath to catch the killer after grieving in their own ways, ignorant of Theltar’s responsibility. Sending Dysmas to find Theltar and the others to help them catch the killer, Lucian rushed off to save the 3 Merchant Brothers, Abead, Abid, and Abeed, who were being assaulted by some of the madness infected residents of the town. Beating the bandits down with his eldritch blasts, Lucian managed to rescue them, but he could see that the situation in town was badly escalating. When the team arrived to see Xilthana’s body, they ended up meeting Team PTSD as well who had also managed to resist the mind effects of the mist. Deciding to work together to escape the city before it destroyed itself, the team used the Merchant Brother Trio’s Cart to escape, fighting and saving as many people as they could on the way (Mostly Lucian because for 3 glorious minutes, he was literally Batman). The plan was to use their combined strengths to push right through the barriers of the mist before it got worse, escorting the merchant trio out of the mist, then make it back to their island while having the merchant trio take Xilthana’s body, wrapped in Lucian’s black Cloak, back to the desert town of Shivairn. Just as they managed to clear through one part of the town, the team saw a gargantuan monster, 2 clawed arms and almost inky black, with a single large eye in its demonic head standing in the middle of a large crowd, driving each and every member insane and participating in an orgy of violence and horrors. Yet, as soon as Dysmas crossed the threshold, this monster, this daelkyr, effortlessly tossing aside the members of the crowd swarming it and began dashing towards him full force, somehow sensing the cowardly rogue. Charging with inhuman speed, the teams tried to slow it down through crashing buildings or firing off arrows, but it only made it angrier. Asking Lucian to throw him the Reaper’s Katana, the weapon they stole from the Daelkyr Shadow Guardian, Theltar shadowstepped and ambushed the Daelkyr to try and slash out its eye and stop them from following them. Faster than an arrow, Theltar leapt on to its back and sliced its eye with a single action, but as he did so, countless eyes suddenly appeared on it sback and began glowing, sending out a salvo of powerful lasers at the monk. Barely managing to avoid being paralyzed and killed, Theltar was forced to retreat and head back to the others. Seeing the end in sight but with the monster right behind them, the teams were about to make a last stand to allow the merchants and several of the non insane civilians they had picked up along the way to escape when a small man with a Thundercannon appeared and got off a lucky shot, temporarily blinding it and allowing them to escape into the tree line and avoid its attacks. Looking back, the team heard the wails of the damned, the city burning in the distance, and the tower rising above it all as it continued to spew more of the mist. Given the chance to recuperate, the teams gathered together to discuss their next move once they were out of immediate danger. Granted temporary respite, the team noticed a white haired high elven girl with Team PTSD. Introducing herself as Alauriel Bel’Divier, she explained that she was the apprentice of the Wizard Tomas Degas that Team PTSD sought to resurrect, and that she had been traveling with them since the start of her apprenticeship. A powerful Divination wizard, the team was very impressed by her abiliuty to see the future, and began badgering her with inane questions. Allowing the members of THC to call her Ari, she had been rather sad since the untimely death of her mentor, and was now ready for to complete her apprenticeship. THC and her got along pretty well and they ended up inviting her to join after she expressed feeling trapped in a rut, but she declined due to feeling like she would hold them back due to being considered an apprentice. However, Agamenos the Homeless Wizard of Sharn told Ari that her time with Team PTSD had proved more than worthy of being considered a full fledged mage, and that she was now ready to forge her own legend while they took on the burden of resurrecting her master. Agamenos also threw in that doing so would mean a future without having to do footrubs for him and that sealed the deal for Ari. With one last goodbye to the members of Team PTSD, Ari bid them goodbye and officially joined THC. Before the Merchant Brother Trio departged however, Lucian gave them a letter addressed to Xilthana’s family and his entire share to compensate for the one she earned. Arriving out of the mist and heading to the city as well,the team found themselves in civilized society for the first time in days, only to be interrupted by a messenger! Explaining he was there on behalf of the banks, the messenger informed Buchanon and Curak that Beregar had died, and that he had stipulated that his two ‘sons’ were to receive his life savings with the stipulation that they put it towards their island business to do something with their lives instead of squandering it. Furiously demanding to know more about how he died, Buchanon extorts that Beregar had apparently traveled to Sharn and gone missing there over a month ago, and with no news had been declared legally dead by the state in accordance with his will. While Curak internally grappled with this conflicting news of his mentor, Buchanon was devastated by the loss of his father. Splitting off from the party who stayed in the local Black Orb Inn, Curak and Buchanon were led to Beregar’s personal bank account where they found in the immortal words of Alauriel, “A metric fuck ton of gold”. It was enough that they could completely renovate the island, pay off the Bloodguard for months, and still have enough left over for their underdark excursion. The party then spent 3 days in Korranburg doing various errands before finally traveling back to the relative safety of Bloodstone. Returning for the first time in months, the older members of the team were explaining all the wonderful details of the island and the people on it when things begin to get strange. As Samnir the Frost Giant begins to wave in greeting, everything around them begins to slow and stop right beside them. Immediately, the more combat prepared members stepped forward to battle whatever was powerful enough to freeze time and attack them on their base, yet none of them were prepared for what stepped out from the portal as a warforged clad only in a tattered red cloak with a strange symbol upon it emerges. Standing tall, the warforged introduces itself as T9 and declares that it is here to speak to the Horizon Company in order to save the future. Where Buchanon is large and bulky, a prototype design, T9 is sleek and streamlined, entirely efficient for the purposes of fighting. He radiates danger even to the veterans of the group with his knowledge of them and presence. Stunned into silence, the team asks the warforged to explain itself, and T9 begins relating the story of Eberron 300 years into the future. According to him, Beregar did not die in Sharn as is believed due to rumors spread by drow sleeper agents, but was instead captured and enslaved by the members of the Living Steel who had pursued him in the past after one of their agents disposed of a group of assassins working for the murder circus. As they spoke, Beregar would be broken out by a group of slaves attempting to escape the underdark. In his (Daniel’s) exact words, “Beregar was traveling with a group of idiots who would fail in the original timeline.” Their failure allows him to die or be recaptured, letting the drow capture his soul or magically force him into compliance and finally achieve their goal of acquiring a slave army immune to the ravages of the sun and able to assault the surface world. After slaughtering the last dragons, They would emerge first at Krona’s peak, launching a strike and murdering every single living soul who doesn’t flee from them in a day that goes down in infamy as the start of the end. After leaving not a single survivor, the Warforged Army then encounter an army of undead led by Geldrick and recently dead and engage them in a brutal and horrific war that buys time for The Horizon Company of the original timeline to divert all their efforts into gathering the world’s greatest heroes to form an army. With Geldrick’s leadership and the ghost legions immunity to standard tactics and immortality, a stalemate emerges. Around this time, 5 months into the future, the Drow Cleric known as Mollin emerges along with Sir Lander and they begin urging the kingdoms to unite to combat the drow threat, but ultimately fail in their objective due to the conflicting self interests of the kingdoms and the sabotage of the Living Steel. Sir Lander’s Cult ends up joining with the forces of good to help stop the drow, but are attacked by other cults. However, the Ghost Army does not last forever. Around this time, the drow make bargains with the daelkyr, making some unknowable deal involving the destruction of their enemies in exchange for their assistance. With the help of the Daelkyr’s soul magic, the Warforged begin fielding units capable of devouring souls and using them to empower themselves and the drow begin splicing daelkyr symbionts into themselves to further increase their magical might. With their one advantage removed, the Warforged smash through the undead forces as Geldrick is forced to watch his men die one more time, their very souls and beings sacrificed to try and save their commander, until he too is devoured and consumed by the Daelkyr and Warforged. With the undead army gone, T9 switches to tell the story of their last stand. Without the undead army and due to their inability to unite until it is too late, the 5 kingdoms of Khorvaire fall like dominoes as countless citizens and armies perish and the Drow conquer everything, enslaving the surface world. However, at this time The Horizon Company had finally put together a resistance composed of elite warriors from all over Eberron: Elven warriors of Taer Valaestras, Refugees from Krona’s Peak, Dinosaur Riders from the Talenta Plains, and exiled members of Necromancers and Paladins eager to avenge their fallen order. In addition, they had gathered many ancient artifacts and Adventurers of all kind: the High Flying and slightly dysfunctional crew of an airship that uses Baloons, a group of gamblers, Team PTSD, and many others. Throughout this, THC would also reach untold heights of power. Yet, it would all be for naught. T9 tells them how, pushed back to their island, they all end up falling before a seemingly unstoppable tide of robots, demons, and cybernetic drow, their only victory being that they allow a small seed of resistance to continue to survive. He tells of how at the time of the battle, Buchanon had become so upgraded as to be a one man army and famous as a symbol of hope for the resistance, and that the drow took great pleasure in ripping him apart after murdering his friends and repurposing his upgrades into an elite series of warforged made up of the signature magical weapons of the strongest members of the resistance. Specifically, he was made with Buchanon’s internal parts, the Robotic Barbarian’s ‘heart’ being put into a merciless assassin droid. T9 explained how he was a part of this line until he was captured and reprogrammed by artificers 300 years in the future working for Ari who had captured him as part of a deliberate plan. In T9’s timeline, the few surviving members of the resistance are now led by Alauriel, the Magus of Time and Vision and one of the only survivors of the last stand. Under her leadership, her lieutenants such as Barlo the Immortal lead the few unconquered remnants in the dystopian society created by the Drow. Using Ari’s ability to divine the future, the resistance force is able to predict incoming raids and stay one step ahead of the Forged as they are referred to in the future, but ultimately hold no hope of stopping them. Their last ditch effort is to send a warforged operative back to the past using a device empowered by the last remnants of magical technology not under the control of the Living Steel or their warforged and demonic legions to change the past. Using Ari’s divination abilities, they were able to see where everything went horribly wrong and sent T9 to stop that, his presence creating ripples throughout the timeline that have already greatly influenced things While the team struggled to come to grips with the fact that they were responsible for letting down the future, T9 followed up by revealing that in the original timeline, Ari had not joined up with THC and had continued to journey with Team PTSD allowing her to survive the battle. T9 told them that the entry of time travelers is like a stone entering a lake, creating ripples in history or predestined causality. He speculated that the presence of a time wizard known as Shiajin might be responsible for some alterations already just by his presence, the ripples caused by his entrance altering quantum certainty. T9 also alerted them to the possibility that he was not the only time traveler entering Eberron, and that it was possible that an enemy operative could have been sent back as well. T9 conceded that the arrival of the drow had averted the incoming threat of an army of giants attacking, but painted a grim picture of eternal servitude and slavery, torture by demons, and an endlessly expanding legion of iron faced warriors marching out to conquer other continents. Determined to avert this dark timeline, the team asks what they need to do to stop this from happening and are told that they will need to assassinate the leader of the drow households, a Matron named Brianae. To do this, they would need to meet with Veger’s master, meet up with the escaped slaves currently with Beregar, unlock their true potential, and launch a final assault using unknown allies in the underdark to stop the threat once and for all. To help them, T9 would follow, but due to the ripples caused by time travel, his knowledge was now faulty. However, he was still an ace combat droid with razor claws and a variety of tricks from the various upgrades he had recieved. As time began to return and Samnir completed his greeting, the team decided to cut their break short and immediately prepare for their expedition to the underdark. Summary: The future was destroyed by daelkyr, drow, and Forged, and every single member of every single party died in a final stand to stop them. Though we failed, we sent a light back to the past to help us set things right once and for all. There is still hope. __ *Looms but the Horror of the Shade.

SESSION THIRTY-FOUR: THE HORIZON COMPANY V REGINALD HORNWOOD Starring : Reginald Hornwood Aka Dysmas as the Accused, Lucian Lampurge and Alauriel Bel'Divier as the Defense, Curak Forgeroar and Theltar Thultin as the Prosecution, Pup Snapdragon as a witness, the Blood-Guard as the Jury and Amata presiding as Judge. T9 also present. (While reading this, please play your favorite Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney song or the Law and Order theme stuck on a loop) As the session began, the team was torn apart by the horrors of the legal system as Dysmas was put on trial. Before they could ready to face the threat of the Living Steel, the faction of Drow who conquer the future using an army of warforged produced using their enslavement of Beregar, The leading members of the Horizon company were to place Dysmas on trial for crimes against the company. Having revealed to the others that he had given away the secret location of their island base to strangers in a bid to gather allies against the daelkyr and his treason in the tower of shadows, the group was torn on what to do. In fantastic display of making things worse for himself, Dysmas had angered Veger to the point that the Dragon Knight would have beaten him bloody had it not been for the intervention of Ari. With both Theltar and Veger pushing to kill Dysmas, Buchanon and Lucian arguing against, and Curak struggling to come to terms with a solution that would satisfy his internal values, the team decided that a fair trial was the only way to resolve things. The Morning after T9’s warning of the future’s horrors, the team gathered the various members of the bloodguard to form a jury with Amata, the shardmind Psionicist, standing as an impartial judge given Curak’s well noted distaste for the thief. Quickly coming to Lucian to ask him for his help, Lucian realized he had accidentally agreed to be Dysmas’ lawyer prior, but had entirely forgotten about it. Stalling for time, Lucian called for 5 minutes to think of some arguments with Dysmas, and together they came to the stand. With Lucian serving as the defense and the collective minds of Curak, Theltar, and Veger representing the Prosecution, it would be a trial for the ages as Lucian’s well noted intelligence was brought to bear. The Trial began with the opening statements as each side declared their intent: the defense pleading the innocence of their client and the prosecution arguing that the client was real piece of shit who endangered everyone’s lives constantly. Each side brought about a number of points, but the early case hinged on the possible mind alteration influence of the fog impacting Dysmas’ testimony and making him an unreliable witness in essence Temporary insanity. With Amata being unwilling to do the mind probing, the only hope the Prosecution had was for their star witness, Pup, to be brought out as he was the only one who could have seen Dysmas disappear in the bar and tell a bunch of strangers about their secret base. Meanwhile, Pup was outside playing with Sir Henson and throwing an impromptu puppet show for the grizzled and hardened island workers who nonetheless had their childhood memories rekindled by the earnest efforts of Pup in a tragically unexplored subplot. Eventually, Pup was brought inside to deliver his testimony and basically nixed that line of attack, but it effectively derailed the prosecution’s initial efforts. Taking a brief recess, Lucian called for negotiations with Curak to possibly strike a plea deal, but found his efforts to be relatively fruitless as Curak’s sense of justice prompted him to pursue Dysmas with everything he had. Nevertheless, Lucian managed to get Curak to agree to at least stipulate the charges he sought to push for given that the 18 Int minotaur had spent the last hour arguing for a vague “Punishment”. Heading back intot he court room, Curak and the prosecution pressed Amata for permanently sealing Dysmas in a stone statue using his petrification ring for an unspecified period up to and possibly exceeding 6 months to prevent him from spilling more secrets. In this state, Dysmas would still be unconscious, but would be completely be unable to interact or experience any sensations from his surroundings being made of stone. This state of living death would be far merciful and quite ironic in the view of the prosecution given that it was a state of existence Dysmas would have inflicted upon himself in the Tower of Shadows, where he turned himself to stone in a tower that appears only every 1000 years where he would be alone if the people he abandoned hadn’t succeeded in spite of him and resuced him. The defense argued that rather than be subject to a horrible torture for 6 months, Dysmas should instead be placed under probation, possibly under the supervision of a superior and with wages garnished as is the purview of the leader of the The Horizon Company and its bureau of judges, but that there was nothing in the contract which stipulated such a horrendous fate as death or worse save for the desire of cruelty by the prosecution, which had been supported by Theltar openly calling for Dysmas’ lynching to the point that he had to be warned that he would be expelled from the court room if he continued to do so. The crux of the defense’s argument lay in the language of the contract, and the prosecutor’s efforts to superimpede the trust guarding it. At the time of the action, there was no clause stipulating that there was any punishment towards stating the location of the island, particularly for new members who might be unaware of it. Although the prosecution argued that it was an unspoken rule, the defense pointed out that they had repeatedly hired and trusted people very shortly after meeting them, revealing the location to Ari after a week of knowing her, revealing the location to the bloodguard in a day, revealing the location to Dear Sweet Robben literally 1 hour before his untimely passing, and many more. Furthermore, the extenuating circumstanmces of the scenario surrounding Dysmas’ revelation, teleported to a mysterious otherworld known as Ravenloft with strangers and informed of the party’s accountability for the daelkyr crisis, had prompted him to attempt to gather allies in accordance with standard operating procedure and was not treason borne of malicious intent. To punish Dysmas with such a horrendous torture, the defense argued, would void the contract given that it would be a distinct violation of the terms agreed upon at the start and would create a legal precedent of retroactive torture at the discretion of whoever was in charge. The prosecution still argued that Dysmas' incompetence placed a great danger to the entire party and warranted punishment, but they were notably less composed. After closing statements, Amata and the jury decided Dysmas did not deserve to die, but that he still was an active risk to THC and warranted action. Almer, the runemage we hired, offered to impose a geas on dysmas that would silence him if he further spoke of the island which was agreed to by the court and the defense alike. In addition, Dysmas' wages would be garnished to support the Bloodguard who he endangered and he would be placed under probationary supervvision under the direct supervision of Curak. Still, Dysmas was alive and not a stone statue and both he and Lucian high fived at their success. For the prosecution’s part, Curak was content that justice was reached by the law even if he personally was not happy about the particular result. Nevertheless, Curak pledged to faithfully fulfill his duties. Veger was his usual stoic self, and was no longer violent towards Dysmas but pledged to end the rogue if he ever again endangered the master he cared for or Veger’s people with his irresponsibility. However, tHeltar was still enraged at Dysmas and skulked in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike against Dysmas and force him to suffer… an accident. Theltar’s schemes would have to wait however, as the powerful psionics of Amata would detect his klling intent if he couldn’t plan it right. As Lucian and Dysmas cheered, Dysmas was taken away by Almer and then had the rune painfully placed on his neck, causing Dysmas to writhe and scream in pain for 6 hours straight until he passed out midway through. While he recovered, Ari shared her vision of the future to Amata and warned about the threat to Dysmas' life that she had seen, as she had prophecized that Dysmas would be struck down by a supposed ally. While Amata promised that they could protect Dysmas as long as he remained on the island, the shardmind could voice no promises about what would happen if he left. For their parts, Curak, Ari, and Dysmas figured it would probably be Theltar who killed him as it was extremely obvious given literally everything they knew about the man. I mean seriously, he was not subtle. Meanwhile, Lucian did a victory dance over successfully winning a case he did not prepare for unlike the last time he attempted to defend someone in court. While it would seem to be a perfect stopping place there, Curak and Theltar met up to take a walk and talk. Though no one else on the island was aware of it, the contents of that talk would be very important to the future of the two men. Summary: Dysmas was put on trial, and ultimately found not guilty thanks to the lawyering of Lucian. However, something dark still remained in the rogue's future, and the machinations of the Living Steel continue deep beneath the Earth as they prepare to take over the world.

SESSION THIRTY-FIVE: THE FRACTURING Starring: Horizon Company (Dysmas the Rogue, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Curak the Artificer, Lucian the Warlock/Sorceror, Veger the Dragon Knight, Pup the Pupeteer) and Amata As the session began, the team was gathered together in an island hut preparing for their departure. In one corner of the room, Lucian and Orco were building a sand castle indoors despite the fact that the beach was literally right outside while Pup was redressing Sir Henson in a pirate costume and was debating whether a pirate hat and a parrot were going too far. In an entirely different room, Curak was repairing Buchanon after Buchanon overused his beer shooting mechanism. Way off in the mines, Veger was practicing his mining skills for old times sake to help the workers using his prodigious strength. Theltar was off brooding in his brooding corner as per his custom. Meanwhile, Ari, Amata, and Dysmas were about to start an event that would have momentous consequences. Haunted by visions of futures yet to come and horrors foreseen, Ari had been granted a vision of Theltar horrificially murdering Dysmas. Like absolutely brutal, dear god, the poor fellow would have been frankly unrecognizable, his neck limply moving in the wind while his body…. You don’t want to know what happened to the rest. Just horrific stuff all around. In all honesty, it wasn’t explicitly Theltar, but his repeated calls to murder Dysmas during the trial made it obvious and the vision specified it would be an ally. Acting under Amata’s supervision, Ari walked over to Dysmas and asked him the phrase, “Do you want to see a neat trick?” before surprising everyone in the room by casting suggestion on Theltar and forcing a failure using her divination powers. With Theltar under her control, Ari gave him a command asking him to tell what he was planning to do to Dysmas in the future. In the tone of voice one would discuss a minor errand, Theltar spoke openly and honestly about how he planned to ‘Turn’ Dysmas and send him against the party where they would then tragically be forced to murder him while being unable to trace it back to himself or impunge Curak’s character. Frankly speaking, no one quite honestly expected a level of plotting on par with that. As the spell immediately ended with that revelation, all hell broke loose. Theltar jumped straight to the ceiling and hid in the darkness of the brooding corenr, Ari cast invisibility on both herself and Dysmas to hide, Amata threatened anybody who did anything aggressive with immobilization. While Ari, Dysmas, and Theltar were having this very dramatic showdown however, Lucian and Pup were screwing around with their own interests. Blithely walking over, Lucian was largely ignorant, mostly due to Dysmas’ voice coming from nowhere mumbling some business “Theltar trying to kill me” as though Theltar wasn’t always threatening to kill someone. Still, it was obvious that this situation was pretty bad, and Lucian could tell that Theltar was in his brooding corner so he began trying to talk his friend/acquaintance/coworker/potential murderer down from the ceiling. Lucian used his well practiced wit, imploring his comrade to, “Stop being a dick and talk like an adult about whatever this is” and trying to poke the skittering Shadow Monk with a 10 foot pole held up by a mage hand. In a shocking display however, Theltar did not stop being a dick and continued to crawl around in the corner. Unable to counteract Theltar’s revolutionary tactic of refusing to talk to him , Lucian decided to hold his action to cast web and try and resolve this whole thing in TRIAL SESSION 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO. Realizing what had happened, Pup bravely strode forth and asked for opinions on whether Sir Henson, now renamed HAWKEYE HUDSON , should have a pirate hat. Infuriated at how Pup could ignore the obvious, Lucian told him that clearly Hawkeye Hudson should have a pirate hat as that would be very cute and adorable. Satisfied, Pup placed the hat on Hawkeye and was thus the most productive member of the team. Realizing that he was the equivalent of Usain Bolt in a 10 meter dash for middle schoolers, Theltar moved his darkness outside, teleported out, and then took off running in a single movement. Trying to prevent his escape, Lucian cast web only to be slammed in to the floor by psychic force before then being dogpiled and slammed again into the floor by T9 because Amata and T9 were uneducated hicks without any form of insight or Arcana proficiency who thought the guy who was trying to resolve things peacefully was going to light the whole damn building up with a fireball. Where was this concern when Ari cast Suggestion Amata? Where was it then!? Taking only his pet snake (not her babies though) and the goddamn Reaper’s Katana (The powerful magical weapon the team got as a reward for completing the shadow tower), Theltar then disappeared off the Island using an unknown Mechanism. As they all reeled in the aftermath of the team founder admitting to a plan to murder Dysmas by having the rest do it, Curak stumbled in with a fury that quickly turned to heartache. SESSION 35.5: A FATHER TO HIS MEN, A CAPTAIN OF HIS SOUL Starring: Geldrick and the Army of the Dead . Meanwhile off in the Mournlands, Geldrick was being driven just a bit mad. As he sat among his men, a burning ripping sensation emerged in his head and all time seemed to slow as the pain was dragged out to excruciating limits as though perfectly engineered to prolong suffering. Opening his eyes, Geldrick saw his men seemingly frozen in place, but with a pair of eyes burrowing into his back. Slowly turning, Geldrick could not describe what he saw. Crouched atop a rock bathed by fog, Geldrick saw a ghastly siholuete, a dark obelisk which loomed over all. Moving inexorably slowly in the frozen time, the creature moved with a sort of feline grace, yet was undeniably far too human for comfort as though a man ripped asunder and loosely put back together in the shape of a beast. Its limbs were too long, misshapen as though they had broken and forced to heal in a thousand iterations. Its eyes hollow, yet focused and human. Its mouth was forced into a catlike smile that stretched beyond its face. Its claws red and dripping. This was the form the daelkyr, Nad, had taken. Through intuition alone, Geldrick deduced that Nad had frozen time, not to take advantage for the fight, but simply to prolong the suffering. Frozen along with his men, it would take him away from them so soon after their reunion. Moving right beside him, it slowly moved its red tipped claw, clad in 10 razor sharp fingers, and moved them into Geldrick slowly with the practiced animosity of a serial killer. Burning and dripping, the claws seemed to extract something from him, but whatever it had taken, it had also awaken something inside of him, a single overwhelming desire. Geldrick wanted to fight. Gripping his Polearm, Geldrick did a one armed rising slash using all of his magical power and surprised the daelkyr, splling its guts upon the floor, but was unable to finish it off. Stuffing its spilled organs back inside of its flesh wounds and rearranging them, the daelkyr furiously grinned and jumped back 20 feet. However, Geldrick realized that he stood no chance of winning as whatever magic marked him was impacting his ability to hit it. Touching his chest, Geldrick also realized that he was bleeding out. Geldrick’s only hope was to outlast the time stop effect and get the help of his men. Warping 500 feet out, Geldrick saw the daelkyr rise up on its 2 shorter hind legs and run 100 ft in 6 seconds without even dashing. Flailing its arms while its guts spilled out, the sight would have been morbidly comic were it not heading straight for Geldrick. Taking a defensive stance, Geldrick bided his time as it raced towards him, before it suddenly leapt 50 feet in the air to crash down upon him with its claws. In the second before it could however, Geldrick once more used Dimension Door to warp back to his men who were beginning to unfreeze from time now that the effect was wearing off. Off in the distance, Nad moved back and forth, his hollow eyes always fixed on Geldrick no matter how far away he was. Thus began the game of Cat and Mouse, as Geldrick’s men and the Daelkyr each stalked the other, each unable to pursue their quarry without the other escaping, each determined to protect or torture Geldrick. Having his lieutenant enhance him with her divination magic, GEldrick placed himself under the protection of the spell Nondetection, forcing the daelkyr to maintain visual contact if it wanted to pursue him. Although protecting him from some of the worst effects of a daelkyr curse, it was also vital to Geldrick’s plan as he informed his men. Slowly and deliberately isolating himself, Geldrick planned to present himself as performing a heroic sacrifice for his soldiers while actually having some of them ready to ambush the monster before it could freeze time. With its attention focused on its quarry, Nad would be paying less attention to the targets it could not extract suffering from. However, before his plan could be put into action, Nad froze time again , using this to move closer to GEldrick and the men he selected for this mission. Forcing Geldrick to watch, Nad slowly extended one more of his scythe like claws and with one clean motion cut one of his men in 10 pieces. AS Nad walked into his range to taunt him, Geldrick channele all he had into a single strike, swearing to not allow even one more of his men to die, as he brought down the polearm with enough force that he heard Nad’s spine snap as the blade cut through and outright broke parts of its body. Pulling itself up despite that, its neck and head idly flopping, Geldrick finished off the daelkyr with the other side of his polearm, spinning it around and smashing the daelkyr into a crumpled heap of flesh on the floor. As he did so, the marks on his chest dissipated and the pain faded away, yet Geldrick still lambasted himself that another of his men had died. Though he did not know it, his actions had vanquished another of the strange beings known as Daelkyr, but certainly not the last. Having perished against them in another timeline, Geldrick gained more strength that woulod be tested in battles to come were THC to fail in their efforts to stop the Living Steel.

Recap: Trolanport

Recap: The Mines of Trolanport

For A Fucking Pickaxe Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, T9), Klektash the Psion, and Henry the hovering eye. Where: The Last floor before entering the Under-Dark. When: 909 YK, Exact Date Unknown Long story short, while in the Under-dark our intrepid group of adventurers meet Klektash a psionic-spear-man of a secret order of Elves tasked with guarding the entrances to Khyber, defeat 2 of 3 Hags (losing Lucian's shin to a pack of Red-Caps, which T9 promptly replaced with a mechanical bionic) and freed an Ethereal Eladrin, who warned them specifically that there was a magical pickaxe in a secret storeroom that was incredibly dangerous.&nbsp; Guess what happened next.&nbsp; The party went in swords ablaze, only to encounter a black pudding (I wish I meant the sausage) that separated the party and systemically decimated each member of the group.&nbsp; They would have died.&nbsp; Except they didn't because they were rescued by a Troll King.&nbsp; It was a weird day for them.&nbsp; Plus side is, they got the pickaxe.&nbsp;

THE RED CROWNING Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, T9), Klektash the Psion, and Henry the hovering eye. Where: The Troll Encampment, the ‘Temple of the Star’. When: 909 YK, 30th of Barakas Through the bargaining of Theltar Thultin the Horizon Company have successfully snatched survival from the jaws of defeat. Their unexpected saviours who revived the group after their demise at the hands of the great Ooze guarding an ancient and magical pickaxe, were none other than the Trolls and their ‘King’. However salvation has come at a steep price – that of service. The ‘King’ of Trolls has placed a geas on the Horizon Company, that can only be lifted when they clear the path to an ancient artefact located within an unnamed temple below the Troll stronghold. The King explains that they were not always monstrosities, but were once explorers diving into the Under-Dark in search of a great artefact. However when they discovered it a schism grew between the expolerers, and thus half the explorers were turned into trolls and others turned into the undead, the two cursed to never enter the threshold of the other. The task of retrieving the star was urgent, for the longer the curse was in place the more dramatic and possibly permanent the effects of the transformation were, and so the King bid the company to dig deep into the earth and rediscover the temple. The King stated that the star had two primary defenders, a mage and his lieutenant, and the company inferred that the pair were hella’ powerful. Gesturing at a pile of refuse he added that they were all nude, with the exception of Theltar and Lucian (the latter owning nothing other than a pair of magical boots). The company robed and armed themselves and proceeded to mine away at the ground of the common area. Thus the session begins, several hours later while the company takes turn using the magical pickaxe (the one that got them killed) until Veger made the final breakthrough. With one clean and powerful swing of the pick the floor gave way and collapsed, Veger falling forty feet down. Looking down into the whole they realised they’ve accessed the entrance to the temple. Thinking quickly Klektash the Psion borrowed the belt of one of the resident ogres (which was an astounding 200ft long) to use as rope. Each of the remaining company members slowly descended into the temple while Lucian was forced to remain amongst the trolls and ogres so that T9 could recalibrate his new shin implant. As they descend into the entrance Theltar decides that a short rest is in order so that both he and Veger can recuperate from their respective injuries. Once said rest elapsed they brashly slid open the temple door and were confronted by two figure of pure darkness. Thinking on her feet Ari tosses a fire-ball into the narrow corridor thus discovering their seeming indifference to fire (or magic). They group scuffle, and in the process Theltar sprains his wrist as he and Veger attempt to hold the front line. While Ari and Dysmas attempt to provide some ranged cover for the pair, Klektash and Pup support the team with their magic and attempt to undermine their enemies. Soon Theltar and Veger were able to slay the wraiths, but in doing so they are coated in shadowy residue that they cannot scrub off themselves. As the Company cautiously proceeded forth through the narrow corridors they notice that the air is flecked with dark particles, and soon the group encounter another door. This time far more cautious then earlier the group waits in place as Veger stealth’s forward using his magic and spies 3 wraiths in the room and a magic red ring. He whispers to Dysmas the number of enemies, who fails to relay the information correctly. Veger thus closes the door behind him and the group discusses whether or not to take the ring. They discuss ways they could steal the ring without being noticed. Finally they decide not to risk it (painfully remembering that they died because they wanted a pickaxe.) So they cautiously proceeded past the room. That is until they encountered a door. It emanated an eldritch horror, a wall of fear personified and all the members of the company cowed before it. All but Theltar and Pup (one of them was immune to fear and the other was an eldritch abomination [hint: the abomination was the latter, there is no god but pup]). Klektash understanding the nature of psionic suggestion realises what the door was doing, and so he dispelled it using his incredible abilities. Sliding the door open they find a barren room, with a prone figure in the distant corner. A half elf curled up in the foetal position, raving. The group cautiously waits by the door evaluating the room to detect any traps, as the scenario reeked of one. Not Veger however. The group follows him in, and Klektash attempts to use his psionic ability to communicate with the mad man. Unfortunately his mind is broken. Thus Veger marches further into the recesses of the temple – and activates a gas trap. After by-passing the trap through sheer force of will he discovers a basin of clear water, and within it two crystals, one red the other blue. Reaching in to pull them both out he is only able withdraw one, the blue crystal. The company regroups and continues moving further, only to discover they have gone full circle. So they choose a new route, and what they found really freaks them all out. Using her invisible magic hovering eye (named Henry) Ari scouted what was behind another door. Inside she saw a large figure clad in black armour look directly at Henry, who then closed his fists around it thus destroying the eye. Ari snaps out of her trance and warns the group not to open the locked. So they circle back and look for other rooms to explore, and they find just that. Veger once again scouts ahead reporting that there were two wraiths furtively looking through crates and barrels as if searching for something. However when reporting this to the group he fails to close the door behind him, and thus as the group deliberates they are attacked. Two invisible assailants ambush them. The fight goes poorly for they lack the Half-Elf that can shoot Faery fire, and thus have no way to locate the assailant. Pup uses dancing lights to reveal their enemies but to no avail. Thinking on his feet Dysmas drives one of his daggers into the assailant thus marking him. But the fate had other plans. Instead the wraiths in the room hear the commotion and attack the party. Now surrounded, they even out the odds as Veger, Theltar, Klektash and Dysmas are all able to deliver a finishing blow. Thus all are further infected. The group loots the room finding a pair of boots, goggles and keys and thereafter decide to take a short rest while they recuperate. During said time Theltar stalks into a dark corner and makes it darker. From said darkness he remerges warning the group that the dark substance that sticks to them may kill them later. The party then does the smart things and gets the hell out of dodge, going about petitioning the Troll King and Fairy Queen for aid. Lucian and T9 join them here .The Queen reluctantly gives the group a Fae ranger, and the Troll provides information and resources. He speculates that the mad Khoravar must have been one of the explorers, a dim man named Stendor, and at the request of the party provides them with a pearl worth 99 gold pieces. With a lot of spittle and some unmentionable deeds they get the pearl to stick to a single gold coin, thus achieving one of the components of the identify magic item spell. Using the jury-rigged pearl Ari gathers that the boots are in fact boots of springing, the goggles are goggles of the night, and the blue stone an Ion stone of awareness. Delegating these tools to Veger, Dysmas and Ari respectively they anxiously prepare to face the Dark Knight. Forming rank for combat and cautiously opening the door to the Knights lair, they stand at the threshold before him. He stands tall, with his single great sword clutched in both hands, blade to the ground. He stands relaxed, with the poise of a swordsman – ready to strike at a moment’s notice. He politely greets the party. The party returns the greeting. This was not how they expected this encounter to go. As they all converse the Knight reveals numerous things. He admits, that yes, the star lies beyond that door – pointing to his left. He and his master – the wizard – faced an insurrection amongst the undead explorers that revolved around the star. When the explorers discovered that the star grants wishes a bitter argument broke out between the explorers as they debated on how to use it. The Wizard and his followers elected to gain immortality, and thus were transformed into walking beams of light. But the Star consumes light, and so all of it was snubbed out of the temple. When the light left their world they had to feast on shadows. Now they are abominations. They cannot enter the light, and the Trolls and Ogres cannot enter the temple as a product of this Star. The wraiths and Wight’s attempted to usurp the Wizard and his Knight so that they can snuff of the star and die in peace. Failing to do so they instead lock the pair inside the inner sanctum. He adds that the Wizard seeks to undo these radical effects and properly harness the Star. The horizon company and the trolls were not the only ones to approach the Wizard. The Drow have come, seeking to broker an alliance with the wizard and thus initiate their plans to blot out the sun suing the star, but failed to open the doors that the company stand upon. Instead they had to settle on the poor quarry of a defected Drow. Throughout the conversation the party attempted to convince the paladin to stand down, to betray his master, to accept death – but he refused. Theltar however makes the most progress, bargaining with the Paladin so that he may meet his master. The conditions were that he was to be unaccompanied, and to hand the key over to the Paladin so that the company cannot storm the inner sanctum. They agree, but caution Theltar. As the group waits outside minutes go past but not fast enough. Agitated, they speculate as what could be going on inside. At Lucians request Dysmas bends down to study the lock so that he can pick it. As he bends down the door slides open. Theltar and the Paladin walk out. A deal has been struck. The Wizard will not aid the Drow. In exchange the group must snuff out all the lights and assemble the trolls and ogres in the throne-room so that the mage and the paladin may slay all the Trolls and thus roam the under-dark freely. This divides the group sharply. Klektash and Lucian are both very adamant about honouring the agreement, while Theltar insists that this must be done to defeat the Drow. As the group debates they inch closer towards a consensus. Veger agrees with Theltar, and so does Pup and Dysmas (although for different reasons), while Ari reluctantly agrees as well. The only staunch opponents are Lucian and Klektash. When it becomes obvious to Klektash that the popular vote is in favour of breaking the Geas and the Oath he storms out. The groups dashes after him, and as they approach the temple entrance it becomes apparent that there will be a violent clash. Klektash uses his psionic ability to stun any who approach, but fails to prevent Theltar front knocking him out with the butt of his katana. So the Company agrees. Meanwhile Pup meets the Mages Bone Golem: “ WHAT IS THAT? WHAT IS THAT? ” was his reasonable and calm response. With violence narrowly (or with limited occurrence) avoided Dysmas proceeded to ply the Wizard for information. He revealing himself to be Sergar Vosk (Brother to the Troll King, and head of the School of Magi) and his companion as Paladin Nivairn Crestroot he acceded. The Star is one of many artefacts of great power. All such artefacts were capable of both granting wishes and summoning the Great Black Dragon (The creature that founded the Gate-Keepers whom the party was seeking out.) Each artefact (of which there may be between 4 and 6) had to be powered by absorbing a certain property. The Star for example would require large quantities of Light, and other Artefacts might require souls. However of these artefacts only those that fed off of ‘positive’ properties could be used to summon the Great Black Dragon, e.g. Light or Souls. Stating his own undisclosed ambitions over the star he stated that after he used the star he would hand it over to Paladin Crestroot. Remembering his strange marks, Dysmas displayed his back to the wizard in hopes that it would shed light on its meaning. But to no avail. It’s seemed that he could not read it, but any who could even glean its meaning must be a student of the prophecy. Which meant that Lucian was just that! After the Thief squeezed as much information out of the pair of possible the two relayed instructions for the assassinations. They had to do two things; firstly extinguish all the lights in the Troll stronghold, and secondly summon and assemble all the trolls to the throne room and initiate the attack after the geas was lifted. Afterwards the Wizard would vow not to aid the Drow and to lift the shadow curse. With a majority vote by the company in favour of taking Sergars deal (with Lucian as the only vote against, who opted to only offer medical aid) they returned to the compound. There, while Theltar and Pup hatched a devious plan the others went about summoning the trolls and ogres to the throne room. While Veger and Ari were able to summon most of the inhabitants with the promise of the Stars returned, Dysmas had a harder time convincing the ogre chefs who were only interested in food (who promised to eat him if there was none). In the throne room, with all the Kings subjects assembled each member of the company (with the exception of Lucian) stationed themselves near one of the light sources. Thereafter Veger brought forth the Star and presented it to the King. The King and his subjects in great ecstasy and relief toasted to the good health of the Horizon Company, how they would be remembered for such a noble act, and celebrated the thought of returning home. Alas, Veger did not hand over the star and the signal was given. The room fell into darkness. In the darkness emerged two figures. As the trolls rushed forth to kill Veger, Sergar Vosk used his magic to strip all mortals in the room of their shadows. Unfortunately all the company members who were diseased with the shadow curse were severely affected, with Veger falling in battle. So a great host of shadowy warriors appeared and in a single coordinated act laid a hand on the Trolls. As one all the Trolls fell as their strength left them, their lungs no longer able to breathe, their hearts no long able to pump blood. All but the King and his lieutenants. Thereafter a second act of magical awe occurred. In Theltars place there stood a great black T-Rex, and it rushed forth to engage the Trolls and did bloody battle. In the midst of it the Company was able to bring back Veger into the fold. Now locked in conflict the Company fought, but the battle seemed one-sided and in their favour. The Paladin stepped forth and swung his great sword earthbound, driving it into the ground firing a great blue beam of energy, accidentally knocking out Dysmas who was rescued by Lucian. Seeing that this failed to slay the King, Sergar himself sacrificed the wraiths of his comrades. In an act of biblical proportions a dark torrent of energy hurled itself at the King, smashing him into his throne. All watched as one brother slay another, drowning him in darkness. Still the lieutenants would not relent. The team slowly picked them off, all the while Pup pointed as his marvellous T-Rex creation shouting “ I DID THAT. I DID THAT.” Clapping and laughing manically. As the last Lieutenant stood, Theltar in T-Rex form pressed forward and hesitated, he looked back seeing Pup. “DO IT.” The Dark Lord whispered, and so Theltar in one swell swoop bite down on the Troll and tore his torso from his body. To celebrate the T-Rex proceeded to skitter on the ceiling. Afterwards the company reflected on their dark deeds, and bade the Paladin and Wizard farewell. The Paladin confided in the Thief that he too wished to use the star to summon the great black dragon, before giving the group a salute and entering the under-dark. The company having looted the King for his key to the under dark and the magical pickaxe, returned to the Temple to loot what was left. Thereafter being rich in wealth but morally bankrupt the company descended into the abyss. Tl: dr; we find a temple, and make a bargain to help one brother kill the other. Yes the one who saved us. The group has a spat, and we slaughter the Trolls. Then we bask in our new found wealth. (Klektash also swears to accompany us so that we do not err in such a way again.)

UNDER-PARK tm Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, T9), Klektash the Psion, and Henry the hovering eye. Where: General Under-Dark, Spores Cavern, The Under-Park. When: 909 YK, ? As the session begins the party descends further into the under-dark. As they follow Veger they face no issues except when Alauriel accidentally steps on a fissure that erupts in hot gas, but she easily evades this. As they continue on they see six small figures in the distance on strange mounts. Racing towards them quickly to hail them down they are confronted by three deep gnomes named Belwar, Brickets and Firble on strange and alien lizard mounts. Revealing themselves to be merchants the party face decides to entice them the best way he knows how – the promise of a sale. Browsing through their wares the party realizes that they will soon run out of rations. To Klektashes exasperation he learns that these ‘rations’ consisted entirely of tubes of yogurt in a large barrel. Haggling hard the group is able to settle for 30 days’ worth of rations between the 6 of them for 30gp and Klektashes family heirloom (what would grandma say?).Soon they learn that the three gnomes are also Lizard ranchers, and had just recently sold a few to the extra-ordinary UNDER-PARK TM . As Veger leads the way he takes a wrong turn and stumbles into a large cave. Dotting the landscape are numerous stalagmites and stalactites, few of which are illuminated by their torches. Seeing a strange language scribbled across one of them Veger approaches. A warning in under common. Demons Ahead . Ari sends Henry to scout out the cavern for the danger but Before the Company has any time to react they realize that they have been flanked on all directions, except behind them. As the Company charges head first into the combat their torches illuminate their foes – a dozen balls of brown gas each with a huge eye-ball inside. While Theltar dashes behind enemy lines (discovering two Demon Shadows), Veger and Klektash held the front-line while the rest attack from afar. As the two slay a pair of these beasts, their fog dissipates and they cough and hack hard. After the fight ends Veger and Ari surmise that these creatures they fought must be Gas Spore. Ari diagnoses them and discovers the two only have a few hours left. Remembering UNDER-PARK TM they dash as fast as they can to reach the park realising that it may have a cure for the infection, all the while Klektash panics at the predicament while Veger handles the situation with his trademark Stoicism TM . Reaching the UNDER-PARK TM they find a Svirfneblin named Rogrog guarding the entrance. Much to Klektashes frustration Rogrog insists that each customer pay the appropriate fee and thereafter take the full tour before meeting the esteemed Dr. Alfred. A small sum of 20 gold pieces each, (With a smaller charge for children, which Dysmas insists Pup is). Klektash demands that they be taken to Dr. Alfred immediately before they succumb to the spore infection, and Rogrog suggests that they take the express tour in which the sequence of park events is inverted. As they entered the underground cavern, lit with strange fluorescent fungi, they spotted numerous strange beasts behind white hot steel beams, all the while a terrible rendition of a theme song by recorder played in the air. As they reached the final destination they find a much larger cavern, and in the middle a massive tower, wide and tall reach into the concealed cave ceiling. Right next to it was a massive pit, with only 3 monstrosities, each more terrifying than the last. Rogrog ushered the Company in, and introduced them to Dr. Alfred. The old man greeted the Company and Klektash made him aware of their predicament. Delighted at their misery Dr. Alfred offers them each a large sum of gold for each spore hive. It becomes apparent that Dr. Alfred is a true scientist, unhindered by social taboos, and despite the knowledge that the extraction procedure is long and possibly deadly they still choose to go ahead. With only a few hours to spare the Doctor extracts the fungal virus from both of his patients, saving them. While all of this is happening the rest of the company pay a visit to the lovely merch-store and buy various souvenirs. As Veger steps out of the operating theater and joins the rest of the group he spots a group of baby rust monsters and makes a bee-line straight for them. Being one of the wealthiest members of the party he buys one, and so does Theltar (the latter having ambitions of an edgy army of fantastic beasts). After the surgery Dr. Alfred insists that they enjoy what they paid for – the express tour of the Under park, and guides through the habitats. There they see numerous fascinating creatures of the under-dark, ranging from the massive Froghemoth, that bursts through the surface of its large pond to eat a cow whole, to Flumphs that peacefully nuzzle the new guests. The most fascinating species that they encounter is a giant hovering brain, that Ari, Veger and Klektash immediately recognize as an Elder Brain. Cautiously questioning the brain, they learn that Dr. Alfred has established a symbiotic relationship with the Elder Brain, which allows it to avoid confrontation with the outside world. Dr. Alfred also reveals that the security system is based upon white-hot iron rods that separate the visitor’s routes from the enclosures, all of which is connected to Dr. Alfred’s vital signs, thus acting as a safe-guard to prevent their escapes. As they tour the area, Dr. Alfred realizes that the Fae-Spider, which has a habit of blinking out of its enclosure, has escaped. Quickly hustling them through the park he escorts them to the exit of the park and bid them good-bye. Having cured Veger and Klektash of their infections the group marches ahead to reach the besieged war-camp of Vegers Master.

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, T9), Klektash the Psion, and Henry the hovering eye. Where: General Under-Dark, Spores Cavern, The Under-Park. When: 909 YK, 7 th of Rhaan. During the five-day trek to the War-camp the group encounters the brave Kobold, Snoot, bannerman of Bellavantor the master of Veger. Unfortunately for them, snoot dies. He was really cool, because in a single session he became a group favorite. So instead they continued marching for 8 hours, and reach a great cavern. The walls were lined with glowing vegetation, and the ceiling stretched into the darkness. As the company crouched on the ledge of the cavern they looked down and saw a great invading host. The air was filled with the sounds of hammers striking anvils, as though it were right in front their ears that betrayed the presence of blacksmiths that must have been gargantuan. As they looked to further to their left they realized that this host is just the vanguard. Looking closer they see a massive tent in the middle of the vanguard with a flag of the spider over it, surrounded by a host of orcs and their goblin slaves. To their right they saw a war-camp carved into the side of the cavern wall, but in-front of the gates there was a magical barrier that stretches from the ground to the ceiling. Veger annotates that such a magic barrier is only used in dire times when his Master was on his back leg. As they laid in wait and planned Theltar went forth to scout out the area. Their plans varied from leaving the besieged dragon to find allies and break the siege, to assassinating the vanguard captain. Veger informs them that there are numerous entrances to the War-Camp, including a secret tunnel located right in the middle of the camp. As Theltar returns they decide to cast pass without a trace and sneak into the hidden tunnel through the goblin camp. As the fog of darkness envelops them they see and realize that the masses of goblins were nothing more than cannon fodder, tossed at Bellavantor forces until they collapsed. Lucian quietly comments that if the Orcs were slain the goblins may desert or aid Bellavantor. As they approached the tunnel they enter a small open field surrounded on all flanks by tents, goblins and one menacing orc with suspiciously good weapons and armor. While Theltar kept the rear-flank of the party, Veger inspected the tunnel entrance. A large boulder, like a massive coin lied on the ground, plain and unadorned. As Veger bent down to lift the seal, Theltar turned to stop him – but too late! The sound of the ground and the seal grating had piqued the curiosity of the goblins. Surrounded the party quickly scuttles into the tunnel, but realize that they do not have enough time to close the seal. Theltar noticing that the Orc was both a commander, a bowman and a sentry man, leaps out and into the fray to kill him before the alarm is raised. The rest of the party is forced to leap into the fray to reinforce their friends but they tarry. The goblins surround the tunnel entrance and form a gauntlet of spears on anyone who attempts to leave the tunnel. Only Dysmas can get out before the goblins form rank, but he is separated from both Theltar who is occupied fighting the powerful orc and the group, and thus suffers severe injuries but not without inflicting some. Veger being the most powerful attempts to lead the relief force but steps out in the gauntlet and is attacked on all sides, but Pup the Bard is able to revive him. The battle continues, as Theltar continues to fight the orc who is revealed to be a warlock of some sort, T9 attacks both the Orcs and sets up a perimeter to kill anyone who might attempt to alert the army. Ari, Lucian, Pup and Veger break the gauntlet and Lucian sees an opportunity uses his fire magic to scatter the goblins, but also in the process lights the nearby tents on fire catching the army’s attention. As an injured Dysmas attempts to regroup with the main party a goblin attacks him, and responds with his own he hyper-extends his back, allowing the goblin to drop him. The goblin then dashes to raise an alarm. Meanwhile Theltar worse from wear and still locked in combat with the warlock is able to bring down reapers katana on him, sundering him from nave to chops using the katana’s delayed damage mechanic. Spying the last goblin, the one who downed Dysmas he teleported using the shadows and metal gear revengeance style skewers him on the katana while he crouches on the pommel (shut up I have the artistic license to say these things). Lucian rushes to Dysmas’s aid and heals him up, and tells the group to start tossing any evidence of a scuffle into the fire. In the precious few minutes they have before the fire-fighters arrive they are able to dispose of the evidence, enter the tunnel and seal it behind them.

THE COALITION OF DUDES WHO DISLIKE US Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, T9), Klektash the Psion, and Henry the hovering eye and General Bostok of the War-Council. &nbsp; Where: The Sapphire Garrison When: 909 YK, 7 th of Rhaan to 14 th of Rhaan. The party arise out of the tunnel and find themselves in a pit. They are surrounded by a coalition of dudes who dislike them, and meet a dwarf who seems to be in charge, who has his men stand down. The dwarf, a five-foot-tall, full plated, black hair, golden beads in beard, braided, with an air of authority. He introduces himself as Bostok, one of Bellavantors General. They meet the dragon in person who conducts himself like a champion fighter. Before anything else occurs, he demands an oath that none may betray him, and the Horizon company bends the knee except for Theltar who is banned from the war council and is assigned Veger as a watcher, with certain areas restricted to him. As evidence of their oath they are given gifts of magical items. The Dragon tells them that they are at war in the Underdark, and that many are loyal to him - Dwarves and Adventuring Elves, psychically dominated slaves, etc, but they are outnumbered 10 to 1. The Drow have been dominating the under dark. Their mission is to gain allies or stop Drow from gaining Allies. He states that he holds no hope of Duergar joining the cause, but there are many factions such as the Rebel Drow. He annotates that the Drow worship a new god. Bellavantor admits he's not great at uniting the underdark and compels Veger to kill all drow. Bellavantor points out that the Beholder's follow the biggest Beholder. That the Illithids and Drow have a tenuous alliance that maybe broken. A Group of Elves are also down here with strange wings, that the Drow have contacted. He commands them to contact a Group of Necromancers from the surface who came down in last few months, and have not pledged allegiance. Kua Toa follow only their false gods, but they might be spoken to. He advises them to speak with others to learn more. The team then ask the Dragon questions: Lucian asks the dragon's name and what to call it (Bellavantor), Theltar informs it of potential allies in the undead they betrayed the trolls for, the team informs the dragon of the Drow's above-ground excursions. As he was walking by earlier, Lucian heard motorcycles revving, but was forced to ignore it. After the talk with Veger's Master, Lucian went to investigate it with Orco and found a shimmering Portal. Out of sheer curiosity, Lucian stepped forward, disappearing before Orco's eyes. Opening his eyes, Lucian saw a blasted hell-scape populated by a bunch of dwarves in mad max gear riding strange machines (motorcycles). Completely intoxicated by this mysterious and amazing machine, Lucian contemplates stealing and driving it through the portal, but decides against it while the dwarves begin circling him and waving their shotguns in the air. Lucian absentmindedly casts Hypnotic Pattern causing half of them to die in a horrible crash as he is just absolutely in awe at these amazing machines they seem to be riding that seem to be like automated bicycles. Realizing the portal is disappearing, Lucian steps back through it, ignoring the screaming dwarves on fire behind him, as he actively commits every single detail in perfect memory. Face to Face with Orco, Lucian's face breaks into a grin as he instructs his close friend to write something down. Afterwards Lucian has an incredibly awkward encounter as he informs Snoot's wife of his untimely passing. He learns that he has 3 children, planned to open a bakery, and was the leader of the Kobold Tribe. Lucian informs them that he died during his duty and would have made them proud. Lucian then joins the Five Generals including Bostok, with the fourth being a female elf, three svirnefblin. As the meeting on how to break the siege continues, they are interrupted by the other Dragon Knights, the most important individuals save the dragon Bellavantor himself. For the next week, they have a nice training montage. DMs edit: the other dragon knights did NOT show up.&nbsp;

QUEENS MIRROR (PART ONE): ‘LESS THAN NOTHING’ Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, and T9), Klektash the Psion-Spearman, Henry the Hovering eye, and General Bostok of the Council of Five. Where: The Avariel Isles. When: 909 YK, 14 th of Rhaan to 17 th of Rhaan. After a week of training and planning the party decides to find their partner to create an alliance with on Bellavantors behalf – the winged elves that reside in beneath the stone. As they set forth to find the Avariels one of the Generals insists on assisting them in their journey and the party seeing that there would be no good reason to refuse allow him to do so. He guides them through another secret tunnel and takes them to a river that will lead them to the Avariel refuge. As they stood on the embankment they spotted the ferryman, who was garbed in black cloth and had the frame of a skeleton. The ferryman in a strange indescribable voice asks them for 30 gold pieces as a fee for taking them down river. While Dysmas is digging through his purse Theltar hands the ferryman the fee, but unfortunately Dysmas also hands the ferryman 3 platinum pieces. After realising this Dysmas is irate, demanding his money back and exclaiming that his is more money than he had in his life until he had met the Horizon company. The ferryman does not budge. He informs his passengers that he had previously ferried several dozen drow to the Avariel Island, and that it would take them three days of sailing down the dark river to reach their destination. As they get closer to the island Theltar underestimates the distance between the boat and the shore, and forgets that he chose to train as a ranger instead of as a monk in the previous week and leaps in to the water. To save face he swims to shore and pretends that it was all part of the plan, and that no he doesn’t look like a wet kitten. As they disembark on the shore Klektash insists that they formulate a plan of some sort, all the while Theltar desperately attempts to search for tracks – though he fails. The group also learn that the ‘Take the bull by the horns’ approach is standard in Bellavantors army, as both Veger and Bostok ignore Klektashes pleas to formulate a plan and march on ahead through the valley. Dysmas proposes a plan to take their companions behaviour into account – how about we let them march into the enemy, and we sneak up behind so that we can stab the enemy in the back. The party agrees and they travel. As they sneak/march through the valley, and later the abandoned city Ari inspects the architecture and concludes that it is elven in nature with large regal buildings of marble decked with exquisite spirals, but also has other influences such as the magitech of the Thunder-Dwarves given the brass topped buildings and the ubiquity of brass steam pipes. All the buildings seem to be covered in luminescent moss, which speaks to their abandon, but they notice that light seeps from the windows revealing that the cities inhabitants are all residing inside. They also stumble across a series of large organic rock like mushrooms, that shine bright turquoise light. Ari inspects them and remembers that these are ‘Faezress’, a fungus that converts magic in the area into wild magic. Soon they approach a bridge, and beyond that bridge an Avariel standing guard near a series of dilapidated and broken walls. Veger immediately walks over and waves him down, noticing that he is wearing a drab coat that covers his wings, and has mirror shard around his neck. The two converses in elvish, with T9 translating and slowly the rest of the group trickles by Vegers side. The avariel constantly insists that they take his things, while speaking in his dull monotone voice, gesturing at a slab of broken wall covered in a thick layer of dust. On it there are only a few knick-knacks, including a compass the likes of which the group has never seen before. Lucian realising that the conversation is going nowhere insists that he should cross the walls and speak to him in person – the avariel consents so long as no one touches his precious dirt. Lucian thus does a cool-ass backflip (as the elves of Taer Valestraes might say) over the wall without touching his precious dust. from the more personal angle Lucian can get more information. The Avariel introduces himself as Machias, and he’s been down here for around eight months. It wasn’t his choice, but he had to follow his Queen even if he didn’t understand why she had her people retreat into Khyber. He reveals that she has changed significantly, as has everyone here, but he doesn’t know why – he’s just a simple merchant. After this introduction Machias returned to bartering, offering the magical compass for something in return, and constantly offering to trade his mirror shard for something ‘less than nothing’. So, Lucian draws an immaculate ass for him, and they seal the deal. Ari scans the object for magical properties, but before she does Machias states that the compass shall lead them to another mirror shard. Before they leave they ask for directions, and where the queen is so that they can negotiate. Machias points north – ‘there you shall find the city and beyond that the Queens Castel’, he points south west – ‘there you shall find the shores, he points to the south east where the diplomats came from – ‘there you shall find the bridge’. He also advises against brokering an alliance with the Queen who has become an inverted image of her former-self and hides in a cave in the west, with what few retainers she has. Instead they must negotiate with her de facto regent, Ug the Jester, who is now known as Luthias the smartest elf on the island, who resides inside the palace. They say their farewells and set off to find the Regent-Jester. As they stand before the palace they all take a moment to breathe in its beauty. It is massive with marble spirals of elven design, and magitech brass tubes that look like gold in the faint light of the glowing moss. But it looks dilapidated as all the buildings are, and abandoned. As they step across the threshold in to the hall room, they find a great banquet table with spoiled food laid on fine porcelain plates, surrounded by suits of ornate steel armour with white gold trimming. The rooms have an air of royalty, but also melancholy. By the entrance to the throne-room is painting depicting what must have been the old Avariel city, one of pristine marble set against sky levitating in the heavens. They continue forth into the throne room only to find that they’ve been beat. Standing before an elf in a jester’s costume on the throne are four dark skinned elves in armour – the Drow. The Bellevantor dwarves and the Drow exchanged some colourful language, and fists are raised but their tempers are settled by the Regent-Jester reminds them that they are diplomats here, and under guest-right no one shall be harmed in the palace lest they test the wrath of Avariel. The Drow diplomats leave in formation, and the Horizon Company and co. stepped aside to let them leave, except Bostok until Lucian convinced him to step aside. Thereafter they parlayed with the Regent. He reveals that this tragic affair began when the incumbent Queen Sorya of Avariel had found a magic mirror. What it did or why is was activated was not for him to know for back then he was a mere Jester, and a stupid one at that. But when the mirror was used the Avariel were left bereft of the use of their wings, their moods that once were as bright and high as the sky sunk into a dark temperament, and everyone became an inverted image of their former selves. Once the mirror had been used their city was suddenly in the depths of Khyber and the mirror itself was shattered into numerous pieces. At this he raised the mirror shard tied on a cord around his neck. He stated that if the shards were all reassembled then perhaps they could revert its effects. Therein lied the rub though, for Avariel once loyal, trusting and cooperative, were now deceitful, paranoid and divided thus making the reassembly of the mirror difficult. He stated that the Drow had already begun aiding the Avariel by locating these shards, at which point Lucian stepped forth and offered to do the same. The Jester accepted, and revealed that there were six shards left to find. The first was with the Queen herself, who may very simply hand it over. The second was with Machias the Merchant, and with a mirthful smile pointed out that the library may help them answer his cryptic riddle. The third was with the librarian’s wife who wore it around her neck. He cautions the party to beware her gaze, and the group suspects a medusa. The fourth was with a wizard’s apprentice who locked away his master who was researching one of the shards, and would be found at his tower. The fifth shard was with the priest. With more grim caution Luthias pointed out that the priest used to be the resident healer, but since the mirror incident he came to worship a god of poison. The last shard was lost to even him, though he commented that the compass Machias had might be pointing to it. As the group left the palace they decided to enter the closest place they could and kill two birds with one stone – the library. As they crossed the threshold of the library they planned numerous methods to defeat the medusa, including their shields, using hypnotic gaze and a mirror. One thing they all agreed to do was not to kill her. As they stepped into the library itself they saw a great blaze in the back of the hall, and when they approached it they found an elf tossing books into a great bonfire. When they ask the man who he was and where the librarians wife was he revealed himself as the librarian and pointed to a door in the corner. While tossing priceless tome into the fire which he insisted were less than nothing to him, he made a quip that perhaps they can solve her damn riddles. This throws the group off balance and as they (except for Dysmas who was freaking out about the book-burning) approached the door a feline voice spoke through it, asking a riddle. Only then did it occur to Ari that this was a sphinx not a medusa. After failing a series of riddles, they finally answer once correctly, only to be snubbed when the sphinx insists that they failed the riddle. Theltar realises that since the entire city has been inverted magically the answers too must be inverted – and so he informs the group who are able to crack the riddle. The sphinx slides the shard under the group is about to leave when Dysmas in a panicked and hurried tone insisted that they stop the librarian from burning all the books. It had hit him like one of Geldricks punches to assert his leadership – the books were somehow related to Machias’s riddle. He suggested that they snatch a book and an unburnt one. Then the real conundrum of where to go next in such limited time arose. So, Lucian casted haste on Theltar who dashed off faster than they could say edge lord, and traded the burnt book for Machias’s shard. Next, they had set off the face the wizards apprentice. As they approached his tower they realised how arduous this tower was going to be – it was overgrown with Faezraess, the wild-magic inducing fungus. Anyone using magic here was liable to summon a lich, or something equally terrible or random. Nonetheless the gritted their teeth (specially Ari who’s recently had some self-esteem problems about how rarely she got to use her magic effectively). As they entered the tower they were greeted by the eponymous wizard, who warns them that the towers magical defence system had been activated by the drow that had gone before him. His final words of advice were ‘Don’t trust anything’. So, they stepped forth into the bowels of the tower. As they enter one room, Dysmas taps everything with Lucians 10ft pole, but as Veger steps on the rug it comes to life and begins strangling him – or attempts to cause its Veger man you think you can mess with him. Veger shreds it to pieces. They exit the room entering the hall with the staircase. But as they do so another door opens revealing three suits of walking armour. As the group does battle, the door behind them is accidentally left open and the rug sneaks out to strangle Theltar. Theltar just closes the door on him and hears it die. So, the rest of the group attempt to do the same, but they settle for killing the armour and shoving it in the closet. They ascend the steps to see that the Drow are also having the same problem – for every Drow there is also a suit of armour. They leap into the fray, and in a pincer movement kill many Drow. However, a Drow mage tempts his fate and casts a magic spell on Ari, which triggers wild magic thus creating a 20-ft. void of black tentacles that wish to do unspeakable things to its victims. It’s also inspires in the Drow mage an insane fear of his warrior comrade, and he dies having been taken by the hentai tentacles. Soon the group splits into two and complete the pincer slaying every Drow save the last warrior who had deftly held his ground against Theltar. Theltar, Veger and Lucian toss him into a large closet and proceed to press him for information. When this fails Theltar asks for some private time with him. Alone, theltar attempts to persuade the warrior to abandon the Drow and join his secret conclave, but the Drow refuses. All the while the rest of the party are looting the bodies and shoving the armour corpses into closets. While Dysmas is doing this, he realises one of the closet chests is an illusion, and finds a lever. He informs the rest of the group, all of whom ask him to wait until Theltar is done. Realising how much time has been lost Dysmas knocks on the door and insists that Theltar hurry up. With little time, and with such a resistant recruit Theltar sinks his fangs into his new meal, and cuts his head off to hide the kill. Satisfied with his kill Dysmas pulls the lever and the stairs appear.

QUEENS MIRROR (PART TWO): THE WIZARDS APPRENTICE Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, and T9), Klektash the Psion-Spearman, Henry the Hovering eye, and General Bostok of the Council of Five. Where: The Avariel Isles. When: 909 YK, 17 th of Rhaan. “ Pull the lever Kronk!” And so Dysmas pulls the lever. As he did the stairs that were previously mere apparitions solidified. They ascend the stairs and they are confronted by several dozen suits of walking armor. To their left there was a large hole in the wall from which all these suits poured out of. Yet the true danger was the living gale that swept into the narrow stairs case, and with a strong gust of wind tossed all the adventurers against the wall. Lucian reacts first and brings his dagger down on the elemental, but his stance is shaken and his slash is instead swept aside to the wind injuring one of his companions. Klektash instead uses this as an opportunity to seal the elemental inside the staircase and prevent the suits from flanking them. He casts a wall of disgust, but in the panic his companions Lucian, Ari, Bostok and Dysmas break out of it, rendering it a trap for the remaining diplomats. As the skirmish continues Ari finds herself surrounded by suits of armor, and chooses to risk wild-magic when she fae steps out the range of her enemies. But when she apparated back into existence she realizes that she has grown a luscious silver beard. As she strokes her new whiskers – the true sign of her wizard prowess a beast made of shadows sneaks up behind her and strangles her till she passes out. Dysmas, also in a similar conundrum uses his new magical daggers to teleport close to Ari, only to discover the shadow elemental standing over her prone figure. The beast stretches its shadowy grasp and creates a wall of darkness between the two diplomats and the rest of the group who are in the thick of the fight. While the rest of the party fights hard Theltar gets curious and chooses to enter the hole in the wall that allows him to flank and secretly attack the shadow elemental before beating a hasty retreat. The beast unable to attack Theltar settles for Dysmas and thus grapples him. The group now aware of the beast order T9 to rescue the unconscious Ari, who swoops in and rescues her. All the while Dysmas was in the grasp of the beast, slowly suffocating, but he wriggles his way out of its grip and dashes away from the battle to use his bow next to Theltar. Lucian despite his typical idiocy and preference for spell craft, Lucian proved himself a remarkably vicious knife fighter as he effortlessly dismantled two walking armors but in the process, is grabbled by the beast while Bostok in three clean swipes slays the last of the living suits of armor. Klektash now relieved of the pressure from all sides could focus his psionic attention on the beast, driving his augmented spear into its heart. They regroup and climb up the final flight of stairs to find two combatants locked. The first is a Drow warrior, and the second a strange bipedal beast that was part-man and part bird armed with a single spear. Theltar, the first to react steps forth and in under common asks offers the Drow an alliance, and so he accepts. The group slay the black Aarokocra, and they parlay with the Drow. He introduces himself as Ulryin Tomtor, and states that his squadron of seekers were whittled down as they reached the tower. However, the killing blow was the apprentice’s sanctum itself which killed of the rest of his party. Taking this warning into account they step on the threshold of the wizard’s bedroom. Realizing its probably trapped they intend to dash through the room and leap in the glowing portal that must lead to the sanctum. But they hesitate, and the statues of strange beasts come to life. The gargoyles descend upon the diplomats, severely injuring Klektash. With help from Ulryin who, both strikes up a friendship with Ari, who lets her use him and Dysmas as a brace for her crossbow. As they stood before the portal the group argued amongst themselves whether or not to go forth, or to take a short rest before proceeding. Finally, they realize that they were in no state to defeat the apprentice when they were so short winded and injured, and so they take out an hour to recuperate. While this occurred Dysmas and Lucian proceed to loot the wizard’s bedroom, finding a blue wizard hat for Ari that complements her silver beard, and shoving the bed covers in their bags. While this occurred Theltar was asking repeatedly for the bottle of supreme healing that Ari held, until finally the group relented and handed it over. Thus, relatively prepared the group stepped through the portal and found themselves inside and alien hall (as though they were in a certain bar in Solstheim) proceeding forth they found a lush kitchen, stockroom, alchemy station – the basic requirements for any aspiring mage. Dysmas using his thieves’ tools can snuff out which door leads them to the mage. Realizing that the door itself was locked he cracked knuckles to try and practice his craft. Afraid of a trap that would kill him he asked General Bostok to step in front of him and use his shield as cover. Fumbling on his first attempt the thief triggered a trap, causing the roof to collapse on him, Bostok and Ari (who impatiently walked up to the door.) Both Ari and Dysmas leap out of the way, but Bostok was buried under the rubble. Horrified the party started to dig him out, but realized that the rocks were an illusion, but too late. The illusion was believed and so the damage was real, and Bostok was severely injured. Dysmas stating that he was rusty after months without practice went onwards with his work. Working in a few minutes he could undo numerous difficult and magical locks, all of which had some sort of creative and deadly trap. Before they enter the room though Bostok informs them that he is too injured to continue. The group use what’s left of their healing spells to help him recover but it was not enough. All of them turned to use to the health potion on Bostok but Theltar refused, and so with a heavy heart Bostok informed them that he was in no capacity to fight. Thus, without Bostok or Veger (who had gotten fish poisoning after eating an angler fish out of the river of death, even though we told him not to ) the diplomats had no tank. Slowly opening the door, Theltar stepped inside and saw three figures – the mage and two monstrosities made of flesh. Stepping forth to snuff out the candle he accidentally piques their suspicion. The apprentice speaks out “ Who’s there?” but before he can say anything else Theltar casts an area of silence over it. The paranoid apprentice having vindicated his suspicions of an attack, ripostes with his own and the two parties do battle. At one point when the group thinks they have finally outdone the mage by separating him from his flesh golems when he uses his magic to construct a wall of ice that traps him with Lucian. Stepping forth in a gravelly tone the apprentice declared “What you don’t seem to understand is that I’m not trapped here with you – you’re trapped in here with me.” Lucian however, powered by his distaste for clichés and his inner meta counterspells him, and in rapid succession loops his arm around his and tackles him to the ground while punching him in the face with the cross guard of his dagger. “That lines so overdone! And you should of said that as you were casting the spell man!” As the fight continues Klektash is again severely injured, Theltar is forced to resort to hit and run tactics, and Dysmas runs around the room with a very angry, very film-savvy flesh-golem chasing after him. The group in combination knock him out with the use of hypnotic pattern but his golems snap him out of it. With their backs to the wall Theltar stepped in with reapers katana, and using Dysmas’s previous attack brings down the katana on the mage just as a shot rings out from the distance. A man in a trench-coat fires some sort of device and the projectile passes through the apprentice where the cut was made. Now bleeding to death T9 stepped forth and staples metal pieces to his chest and melds it together with his blow-torch. In addition to this Lucian reduces the need for further invasive surgery by using Toms Wonder Bread on the apprentice. Now conscious the apprentice groggily asks what’s happening but his answer is a grim declaration that he is a dead-man walking. Just as he finished his sentence the man began bleeding profusely from the leg again. As the elf bled to death Lucian and Dysmas are locked in a debate over whether to simply stabilize him or to heal him as best as they can. While they argue T9 attempts to saw the elfs leg off to save him, but this spurs Lucian into action who uses his healers kit to tourniquet the wounded leg. Before the elf wakes up they snatch up the shard and make a dash for the exit with their new drow companion. Now with two pieces to their name, they dart for the priests holy house to retrieve the last piece before the drow, who also possess two pieces, so do.

QUEENS MIRROR (PART THREE): A JESTERS SACRIFICE Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Ari the Wizard, Lucian the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Pup the Puppeteer, and T9), Klektash the Psion-Spearman, Henry the Hovering eye, and General Bostok of the Council of Five. Where: The Avariel Isles. When: 909 YK, 17 th of Rhaan. As the party dashed to get the last shard they encounter a mysterious vampire/undead named Siddartha who leads a blond zombird. He had completed the priest challenge first. Upon seeing Theltar, a fellow vampire he points at him and challenges him to a duel. However, as the duel goes down Siddahrta bears more bad news and regenerates his wounds. The team decides to meet the queen. Her hobby is shitting herself and being gross. The party accomplishes nothing of value Out of the bloom Klektash gets eaten by a fish. The party meets Mollin, Beregar, and Naerth. The team catches up with everybody. They were attacked by a giant rock thrown by Samnir because of Mike's dumb security rules. Everybody short rests. While they sleep a dream comes to Lucian who finds himself in the same ancient city as the one he found himself here before. The skies are cloudless, and above him an lied an Eclipse. Lucian sees an old man sitting by the campfire and strikes up an hour-long conversation, and immediately opens by asking if he is a demon to nip that in the bud. He is informed that he is rather the opposite and has decided to make contact now that Lucian has learned more. Lucian is promised to learn more in the future about his dragon lineage, also informing Lucian that T9, Beregar, and Bellavantor know about the soul forge. Ancient artefacts are returning to the world. Bygone age is making a comeback. Some of the Elder gods are returning. Lucian was exposed to a bright light on the mountain. He was sought out by his patron specifically. When he looks upon the light he sees a large brilliant but ancient structure engraved with strange carvings. The Language looks familiar to him, but is unreadable. Lucian says to his patron, "Feel Free to use me up and throw me away." This line is riddled with innuendo and should be stressed that Lucian means it seriously. Lucian is informed his fate is ultimately tragic, but Lucian informs him that he never expected to even have a future and so doesn't care at all about what happens to him so long as his friends end up alright. Lucian is informed that his friends have already been pulled into their own dangerous destinies through his and their actions. Lucian promises his patron that he will help him purely because he feels like he owes him and because he seems nice. Lucian is tasked to find out more about his heritage through speaking with his allies. Once they rest they the party will do a mirror Battle. Everyone has a mirror shard. special places in the mirror realm they can use. They face a small squad of casters, a dozen powerful warriors. The team is swarmed by drow and are kept back by black tentacles. Ari is brought down. Everyone is brought to their knees but Lucian uses a magic mirror to group them all together. Theltar uses a magic mirror to fire a lightning attack at them. The boss drinks a potion and turns into a dreagloth as he becomes a horrific monster. Several of the remaining drow surrender. A drow mage casts greater invisibility on the monster to make it tougher on the party before surrendering. Anyone who surrenders is prevented from being attacked by combatants under disqualification, but the draegloth runs rampant. Theltar talks a guy into surrendering. Veger crits and does 63 damage, severely hurting the monster. The monster returns the favor and knock Veger unconcious. Lucian is running around healing people while the rest of the party unload into it. Theltar casts darkness upon it. Veger is smushed again. Ari kills the monster by firing into the darkness cloud. Alauriel now given time to contemplate her new companion Urlyn Tormtor, and creams herself realizing how fucking hot this dude is. Lucian stabilizes Mollin, while pointing out that Mollin didn't heal anyone during the entire fight and seems to have lost his cleric abilities. Now having successfully accomplished the first stage of the mirrors restoration. The second stage required that the Regent–Jester give up his intelligence. The Jester sacrifices his intelligence to save his entire people, speaking to the party one last time as he confesses to being afraid but determined to make the sacrifice. The team watches as his intelligence and wit fades away. The team loots the drow in the aftermath as the jester returns to idiocy. Ari inquires as to Urlyn's relationship status and is informed that while he is single, that drow typically don't form standard relationships and that men tend to be exploited by drow women. Also, super important, Dan did a roll to determine how attractive and handsome Urlyn was and got a nat 20. He is super-hot. The Queen returns and gifts the magic mirror to the party in addition to 4000 gold. She is distraught over what has happened to her people, but Dysmas makes her happy by revealing that he managed to save one of their history books. Lucian goes to the merchant Matthias, first doing a bit about returing some stolen lint, then giving him 100 gold and his entire supply of oranges to help him rebuild. He is genuinely touched by the gesture and lets Lucian know where T9 is. Lucian comforts T9 about the robot losing his purpose due to the return of Beregar, developing emotions, and his worries over whether he has a soul. Lucian reassures him that they are friends along with the other members like Dysmas, Ari, and Buchanon. Even Theltar doesn't hate him and he hates everyone. T9 is ultimately comforted and promises to help the party end this war and save the future. For the next two days, the party helps get the city back in working order before it returns to the surface.

VEGER’IN IT UP IN CLOCKTOWN Starring: Horizon Company (Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Alauriel the Wizard, Lucian Lampurge the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Invidia the Wizard of Korth, Mollin Do’ar D’Thuranni former cleric and monk, and T9), Henry the 1 st the Hovering eye, and General Bostok of the Council of Five, Urlyn Tormtor the Drow Warrior. Where: &nbsp;Makers Island When: 909 YK, 19 th of Rhaan. As they travel Beregar regales the party of his recent escapades of how he sought to visit Lady Gracalliss. He was attacked by drow when he arrived there and was kept in a Drow Prison. A Group of 18 people escaped alongside him with the help of a drow, and the distraction provided by several demons fighting nearby. Beregar found the soul-forge, and the great monster defended that defended it. In the skirmish Beregar was sole survivor. The artificer warns the party that in future they must also face this beast if they wish to seize the Soul-Forge before the drow do so. And so, after this dire warning the party takes the ferry back, all the while Urlyn and Lucian bond over a game of cards. The party encounters an expedition from Grackelstugg on the island. A group of dark-dwarves or Dueregar, with a leader – an armoured warrior named Ivar Firehand, has two arcane markings. Pretending to be a group of mercenaries hired to flush out the inhabitants of the Golem Compound the group enter in unchallenged There the Team encounters a clay golem; realizing that only magical weapons are effective against it. Dysmas successfully but unexpectedly stabs it and it explodes, killing the golem – revealing a statuette made of mithril in the rubble in the shape of a standard golem. Amidst all the sounds of machinery and whatnot, two strange creatures sneak up on them. A mechanical spider that begins repairing the walls embedded with shards They turn the corner and accidentally stumble into another golem. Slay the golem and collect gold dust. They are convinced that it is mustard. Mollin grabs the clockwork golem and triggers the alarm. They flee into another room with a suit of Armor in the middle of some demonic runes. They realize that it’s probably a trap. Invidia and Mollin and debate religion as Invidia tries to convince Mollin to take up a god, maybe Arduk. As they debate religion Ari uses her intelligence to deduct the solution to the puzzle, but before she does anything Veger tosses a hammer at the suit of Armor activating it. The party realizing shits about to hit the fan and everyone books it out of the room, except for Veger, Mollin and Lucian. As the rest of the party exits the room it slams behind him. The statue comes aflame, powered by the magic of the compound – and steps forth to smack the shit out of them to death. What will happen next? Will the boys survive? Find out next ti- Oh shit Lucian, what are you doing? Oh shit – OH SHIT. LUCIAN CLUTCHED! Lucian cast banishment and saved us all at the last moment! Damn, Lucian – you saved us all.

TAKING 72 FOR THE TEAM Starring: Horizon Company ( Veger the Dragon Knight, Theltar the Monk, Alauriel the Wizard, Lucian Lampurge the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue, Invidia the Wizard of Korth, Mollin Do’ar D’Thuranni former cleric and monk, and T9), Henry the 1 st the Hovering eye, and General Bostok of the Council of Five, Urlyn Tormtor the Drow Warrior, and Cyprus Dumein Privateer-Cleric of the Sun. Where: Makers Island When: 909 YK, Exact Date Unknown After the disastrous incident with the animate suit of armor the party decides this place is too dangerous for Beregar. So Dysmas and Ari bounce back to the surface to hang out with Beregar and guard him for a while. Meanwhile the rest of the party meets a that robot says ‘Whuq Fesa’ to Invidia, which is probably super racist! Bostok then discovers a frozen cleric of the sun god in a room attached to an alchemist stasis field awakening the poor man with a shriek. The party exchange introductions with the man from out of time named Cyprus Dumein. He and his band of privateers named the Wayfarers &nbsp;were tasked with exploring this compound but died here over fifty years ago. Veger and Bostok then walk into a room where one of Cyprus' companions disappeared. They get stuck battling magical weapons and an animated War-hammer. Outside, the team hears their screams of pain and the sounds of battle. After finishing them off the team finds themselves in a library filled with magical books. The books replace themselves when taken and Lucian and Invidia take books (Lucian literally stuffing his bag with random books until full and Invidia carefully looking for valuable tomes.) Veger fucks around with some magical blue and yellow powder. The party then encounters a Giant Gold Covered Golem Immune to fire and necrotic which drinks up flames to heal itself. Theltar strikes the killing blow after Veger goes down multiple times during the skirmish. As they solve a puzzle and descend a floor, they encounter a group of flesh and steel golems. The tensions between the groups begin reaching their boiling point when the leading Steel and Flesh golem get into an argument about the what they should do in their Masters absence. The party parlays with the leaders, Farron of the Steel Golems whose people wish to remain in the compound and guard their masters keep till his return, and Azhog of the Flesh Golems whose people wish to leave the compound believing their master to be long gone. Neither faction was willing to let the adventurers pass, and so they plotted. Invidia, with the help of Lucian come up with a plan to resolve the conflict between the two factions without any need for bloodshed. They would take the staff of Farron and injure themselves so much so that they could persuade the flesh golems that they had just barely succeeded in his assassination. This way both groups could achieve what they wished without bloodshed and THC could retrieve what they came for. It was easier said than done as the comrades began punching eachother, stabbing friends with ice knives and burning themselves. Lucian took seventy-two punches to the face like a champ, and was left with but a mere hit-point to keep him conscious. Lucian, with Cyprus's assistance, enters the Azhog’s territory, impressing the golems with his wounds, passing the inspection. Walking to Azhog’s office, Lucian feels faint, but stands strong (making a NAT 20 Constitution check). Entering the office, Lucian presented Ferron's staff, while Azhog grilled him for details. Lucian concocts a masterfully crafted web of lies, explaining how he abused the metal golem's honor and trust of The Maker's faithful return. Lucian lies that he and THC attempted to surprise attack, but were not successful. However, through a brutal battle and "losing" Invidia, who was revived by Cyprus, Lucian managed to seize the staff. Azhog leapt forward, inspecting Lucian's wounds. Once he did, Azhog asked for more details, specifically about the magic used and the wounds given. Lucian successfully regales a detailed account, using his knowledge of fire magic to misdirect Azhog, giving satisfactory minutiae to the flesh golem leader. However, for the final persuasive push, Lucian asks for the power supply of The Maker. Azhog is extremely suspicious as to why Lucian wants to go deeper into The Maker's workshop, but Lucian convinces Azhog it is necessary -- that Azhog only needs to wait for THC to complete their mission. And with that the party was able to proceed forth into the Makers Sanctum. * Big thanks to Roman and Mike for taking the notes in my absence. You guys rock :D

ALL'S WELL THAT INNISWELL Starring: Bellavantors Diplomats, consisting of the Horizon Company ( Veger Rotses the Dragon Knight, Theltar Thultin the Shadow-Monk, Lucian Lampurge the Warlock/Sorcerer, Dysmas the Rogue-Thief, Invidia the Necromancer of Korth, Mollin Do’ar D’Thuranni the Monk and former Cleric, Alauriel Bel’Divier the Divination Wizard and T9), General Bostok Dourblade of the Council of Five, and Cyprus Dumein the Privateer-Cleric of the Dol Arrah. Where: Makers Island When: 909 YK, 19 th of Rhaan. When we returned we found our heroes beaten and bruised after having pulled off one of their greatest persuasions – convincing the Flesh Golems that they slew Farron, leader of the Steel Golems. Now resting before the third and final closed door they pondered their plans. Through Lucians silver tongue they swayed both parties to side with the Company in some capacity. Azhog would be willing join the Horizon Company and leave their absentee Maker behind, and Farron was willing to grant the company entrance to the inner sanctum. However, the catch was that the Steel Golems refused to let the Flesh Golems leave, and the Flesh Golems were adamant about camping by the entrance of the compound which would aggravate the Steel Golems. If either party got their way a conflict would break out undermining the Companies efforts to build an army. Therefore, after their long rest the first matter that they attended to was the boiling tensions. Lucian, Invidia and Cyprus dashed up to the floor above them to parlay with Fallon. They made it clear that the best course of action was to let the Flesh Golems do as they please, but Farron was iron-willed. He would not let the Flesh Golems abandon the maker. Yet Lucian pleaded – that such is the nature of faith, that one must take a leap and let the adventurers discover once and for all what became of the maker. And so Farron relented – go forth! He said, we know you have the best of intentions. With this the company handed over the radioactive power source and soon the air was humming with machinery and light flooded the rooms as life returned to the makers compound. Yet the lively mood was cut short by Farrons dire warning – we shall not aid you in your descent, but you must know that if you lack the password the Mithril Golems will fight you. With Farrons blessings the party descended the final set of stairs and into the Inner Sanctum. Before them lied a narrow iron corridor ten feet wide that led into a much larger stone hall. On all four corners of the room were hovering statues of golems holding up mirrors all pointing at the center of the hall. Entering it they found similar corridors in all four directions, and while Lucian, Invidia and Cyprus began combing the corridors for clues Bellavantors men – Veger and Bostok – marched forward. Meanwhile in the center of the Hall Dysmas nervously eyed the statues and noticed too late that they were following the Dragons men. As the pair gingerly opened the door four brilliant rays of light burst from each of the mirrors targeting them, and the hapless Dysmas who saw this coming. The rogue ducked and rolled out of the way of the beam, but the Knight and the General weren’t so lucky. Veger in fact leapt backwards and retreated into the original corridor, inspecting how the beams of light had pierced his chainmail when burning him. With the heroes first obstacle of the day identified they went about solving it. Suggestions were thrown here and there, but for now they settled on two – having Dysmas use his thieves’ tools to deactivate the trap at the door, or using mage hand. Dysmas, concerned about the deactivating the trap alone got Theltar to assist him, and as they approached the door the thief knelt to work. Alas Theltar touched the door-knob triggering the trap, as the pair narrowly ducked out of the way of the beams, both singed in the process. While Dysmas retreated backwards, Theltar shadow-stepped behind the door. As the monk attempted to open it again the beams began showering the door in brilliant bursts of light, but the door withstood. Well that didn’t go so well , the company thought to themselves, so they initiated plan No. 2. Ducking behind the corridor like an amateur bomb squad the company had Lucian deploy his mage hand to try and open the door. But before they went through with-it Cyprus and Lucian struck mental gold! The animated hammer was also being targeted by the mirrors, and so the party hypothesized that each mirror must have some different function. Veger deftly boomeranged his shield off the first mirror, which shattered. Invidia tossed a fireball at another. One by one each they shattered each of the mirrors, and behind each one was a rune only Invidia could read: Disintegration . The path ahead now safe the group carefully advanced. As they gently swung the iron door open they took in the cavern. The ceiling was beyond sight, and the floor was made of simple stone. Beyond and below the edges of the floor itself was darkness. Equidistant from each other two figures towered over the party, garbed in the blueish-silver tinge of mythic material bearing tower shields large enough to defend a castle portcullis – the Mithril Golems. Perhaps they saw the party, perhaps they chose not to acknowledge. The party could never know, but the adventurers hoped to the gods that they could pull off an unlikely plan – sneak right down the middle of the platform, for each Golem was seventy feet from the other. Perhaps they won’t see us. Bostok being the hardiest volunteered for the daring tactic. Slowly but surely, he inched forward, and soon he was right in-between the two golems. The plan – mad though it was – was working! Half giddy with disbelief, half sober from peril he turned around to gesture to his comrades. Yet Luck was a fickle god, and the Golems turned. The Golems, shining azure turned and asked simply “What is the password?”. The party froze. What was the password!? They manically asked via mental spell. In their haste, they forgot to explore the third and final door on the 2 nd floor which contained the password. A second passed, and then another. “What is the passwo- “Lucian arced his fist backwards, and whipped an eldritch blast straight at the Golem on the left, mid-sentence. The blast, that would ordinarily toss men thirty feet off the platform and into the abyss, merely inconvenienced the golem. Correction its position with mechanical precision the Golem popped into a shield bearers’ stance. The fight was on! The thief stepped in front of his friend and let fly an arrow that glanced off the machines gorget. Lucian seeing the adversity ahead told him he had a plan – get as close to the Golem as possible! So, the thief did with great reluctance cursing himself for having such a mad friend. Lucian with his great acrobatics skills dashed and leaped on his back, all the while invoking his innate and external magical powers. As a bright white light emanated from the sorcerer, suddenly Dysmas and Mollin began dissolving their armor, growing larger by the millisecond, having been transformed into giant apes! Bostok, using his experience as a general rallies the company, and the apes (specially Dysmas) invigorated by their new-found strength go to town. As they toss boulders and swing furry fists, the party each gets a chance to inflict injury on the Golems. But a glancing blow on the ape-mounted Lucian knocks him off, breaking his concentration and the spell. Fortunately, Dysmas catches him before he falls, and implores him to let him go ape again. Meanwhile the 2 nd Mithril Golem seizes the opportunity and brings his blade down on Mollin, now in Drow form, knocking him unconscious in a single swipe. The party, infuriated by Mollins injury, intensify the battle. Invidia with cool calm and intellect tosses the 1 st Mithril Golem into the Abyss with his magic. Unfortunately, there is a casualty as Theltar who opted to attack from the rear was pinned by the blow and tossed off the edge as well. Yet Theltar is a hardy…whatever he is, and recovered from the fall. Thus, the battle raged on, and though it ended in a few minutes the sheet threat of the remaining golem made it feel like an hour to our adventurers. During the battle, the Golem resorted to numerous techniques including flashing blinding rays of light. Tis not enough though to withstand the combined might of the Horizon Company TM and its allies, and so the last Mithril golem fell, having been literally torn asunder by the adventurers. Bruised but not worse for wear the party press onwards. THC entered a workshop, and during the brief respite Invidia immediately noticed protective runes on the door frame that have been strangely reversed. Meanwhile, the remaining the party notices a skeleton, long since dead, laying in the workshop's bed. Mollin picked up a book and read it, discovering it to be the second part of the journal discovered previously in their delve into the Maker's Island. Suddenly, the skull began to rise and transform into a Demi-Lich. Threatening Cyprus for his oath to Dol Arrah, the Demi-Lich released a terrible scream and the battle begun. The Demi-Lich is immediately boxed in with the use of the Wall of Force spell by Invidia. Everyone scrambled into position, bracing themselves for the upcoming battle. However, as they prepared so did the Demi-Lich who created a zone of anti-magic making the heroes hesitate in battle. Veger charged forth, but his shield was rendered useless by the Demi-Liches power! Counter-acting the foil Cyprus burned it with holy fire as Invidia transformed Mollin into a T-Rex! In a mighty clash between the beast and the Demi-Lich, the perilous foe seized the upper hand. Seeking to undo the brunt of being outnumbered the Demi-Lich knocks Mollin down and inflicts more damage and terror upon the party. The tide of battle having turned in its favor the Demi-Lich laughed wickedly and stood over the downed form of Mollin. Now pressing the advantaged, it began swirling in a strange vortex of putrid magic, and so a circular aura bursts forth from it, hitting Veger, Bostok, and the unconscious Mollin. While the Dragons men holdfast, Mollin was not so fortunate, for the Demi-Lich had formed a soul bond with the Drow, and began the process of eating his soul and transforming into a Lich. In a few seconds, not only would the former cleric die, he would suffer an eternity as a slave without a body. The Demi-Liches voice rang out “Even in death you will serve me.” But an old friend intervened – as Mollin felt a warm and familiar presence. A small, playful smile almost despite the world. That of Old Man Inniswell, his soul blazing. Suddenly instead of feeling his own soul slip away, he felt his connection to Inniswell disappear. His dear friend was no more – he made the ultimate sacrifice. He had given his soul so that Mollin could live. As they saw their party member being absorbed, Cyprus and Lucian cried out to the heavens. Doll Arrah, Ancestors, my guardian, please! Save this soul from damnation! From Oblivion itself! Each reached out to their respective sources of power, and together the forces of light brought back Mollin the former servant of the dark back to the land of the living. However, the fight was far from over, as the Demi-Lich having consumed Inniswells soul transformed into a full-blown Lich. The odds were not in their favor, but the party continued the struggle, battling the undead. But isn’t fate a funny thing? Somehow, perhaps by outnumbering their foe, perhaps by sheer grit, or perhaps by fiery spirit, the party slowly and bitterly fight for the upper hand- and were winning it. The Lich maniacally bowled through the fighters and pulled a mysterious item from his chest. The phylactery? The Maker began his incantations. In mere seconds he will be invisible, and will flee to fight another day. All the blood and sweat and friends our heroes sacrificed in these damnable corridors would be for naught. But Lucian would not have it. Deftly he whipped his arm with grace and cast counter spell. Cutting off the Liches retreat, he snatched from the Liches hands its escape. The Lich became a panicked animal, and turned to Lucian. In a desperate attempt, the Lich attempted to attack the party, but Lucian returned the favor. Dare you see a soul at the white heat? Then crouch within the door. For if you don’t you shall share the Liches fate. For Lucian casted Hellish Rebuke and engulfed the Lich in Hell-fire. Fueled by righteous fury the exiled heir strode up to the abomination and placed his index finger on its cold forehead. He simply whispered, "That was the plan, you idiot." And it was last thing the Maker ever heard. Almost as one the party collapsed into each other’s arms in exhaustion. Their victory was sweet, but it cut deep, and cut bitterly. Their war was not over. What where they supposed to say to Farron? That they killed his precious Maker? So, they took a respite and did what all adventurers did. They looted the place. At this moment Invidia of Korth had made an amazing discovery – a tome of golem forging. A manual in the secret arts of soul manipulation. After seizing the phylactery they returned to Farron, and calmly explained what happened. Our heroes did not expect to live. But Farron, as he always is, was reasonable. He only regretted the loss of his brothers – fated to remain inactive due to the Makers neglect. However, one does not travel in the company of one of Korths most talented wizards without expecting ingenuity. Invidia utilizing the Phylactery, was able to reactivate the dormant steel golems. Now they were ready to leave this wretched place, with a united army of golems behinds them – of blood and steel. With gold, and magical artefacts to boot. But what’s all the treasure in the world compared to an old friends smile?

Duel of Mates Starring: Bellavantors Diplomats, consisting of the Horizon Company ( Veger Rotses the Dragon Knight, Theltar Thultin the Shadow-Monk, Lucian Lampurge the Warlock/Sorcerer, Buchanon the Warforged Barbarian, Dysmas the Rogue-Thief, Invidia the Necromancer of Korth, Mollin Do’ar D’Thuranni the Monk and former Cleric, Alauriel Bel’Divier the Divination Wizard and T9 the futuristic war-forged ) , General Bostok Dourblade of the Council of Five, Cyprus Dumein the Privateer-Paladin of the Dol Arrah, Ulryn Tomtor the Drow defector, Naerth the Drow rebel, and Beregar the legendary Human Artificer. Where: Makers Island , then The Sapphire City , then The Palace of Bellavantor. When: 909 YK, &nbsp; Shrugs Our adventure resumed with the group having just resurfaced after a grueling encounter with the Lich of Makers Island. Having reached the entrance, they regroup with their ‘employers’, the dwarves of Gauntlgrym. The camp leader approached and asked the party how their mission went, and the party replied with a simple “We rocked it.” The Horizon Company then offered the Dwarves the remnant objects in Makers Island, and in accordance with their ‘contract’ the imposters gave the dwarves a handful of the non-sentient golems. Invidia is a gesture of camaraderie offers them a map of the compound as well. In addition, as per the ‘contract’ they also handed over a handful of the non-sentient Golems. With this the Leader of the Dwarves having missed out the ‘fun’ proposed a contest of arms. The stakes? Defeat me and I’ll let you in on a little secret about the city of Gauntlygrym. If you lose … well who cares, you lost. The group collectively looked at each other, except for Theltar who gave an edgy aloof glance, and then as one they stared at Veger. So, the Dragon knight stepped forth. The two combatants walked a few dozen feet away from the camps where the dwarves and the company watched, including Beregar and the Drow. They faced and wished each other the best of luck and turned around, walking 30 ft from the other. And thus, the Duel of Mates began! The Dwarf (oh let’s just call him Ragorh Waterfoot) was quicker on the draw. His armor glowed a brilliant white light, bursting from its runes. Upon his crest was the living face of ape that eyed Veger with fury. Waterfoot pulled his arm back and in his fist a beam of light the size of a spear appeared. They then had this strange discussion about having the high ground and thus Waterfoot leapt up 50 ft in the air in a long arc over Veger, and before he lands with three flourishes of the hand he sends them hurling at Veger, all of which catch him. Veger retaliates with two tosses of his shield at the airborne dwarf. At the tip of the arc Waterfoots gloves glowed again and in his hands was a lance. Stopping in midair he honed the lance onto Veger and fell upon him, injuring the knight. However, in doing so he overheated his device and thus draws his broadsword and swipes at Veger. His enemy now toothless and burned, Veger pressed his opportunity and for twelve seconds he rained blow after blow with his dark sapphire shield.&nbsp; But the odds are still are not in Vegers favor, for at this point he is heavily injured and was not able to inflict sufficient damage to Waterfoot. Thus, falling back and allowing his device to cool-down he spins around, and in his hands apparated a heavy crossbow made of pure light. Two bolts later and Veger Rotses falls, unconscious from his injuries. Lucian healed the knight up and the two Khyber residents shook hands on a good duel. The dwarf, magnanimous in victory, chose to disclose his secret. The King of Gauntlygrym has made an unpopular alliance with the Drow a month ago, due to the Drows habit of using enslaved armies. Nonetheless with the aid of the Drow they have secured the trade routes from raids by demonic entities. But still there is disapproval from the clans and elders. But what is a dwarf but loyal? Treason is an alien concept to them. While Lucian and Dysmas try and glean more information, they accidentally let slip the possibility that they are imposters and are not the mercenaries that the dwarves contacted. The Expedition leader is a bit suspicion but the company cant tell whether he knows or not. During their brief respite the teams picks up on some subtle body language from Ulryn towards Cyprus. This drama can be explained in the following diagram. While the rest of the party ate popcorn, and watched the love triangle tangle, Dysmas offered his electric baton from Stone-Rift to Beregar. Then he walked over to chat with Ari, but instead of conversation she falls in a prophetic fit. When she wakes up she is confused and angry – she just had a vision of the minute preceding her fit. A few minutes pass, and the two groups have packed up all their things and are ready to leave. The cloaked ferryman docks near the bank of the encampment and the Gauntlgrym Dwarves depart. Our heroes looked over their shoulders and realized a lot of gold would be required to take the golems back, but no worries. We have gold. Lucian give the ferryman the gold – wait I thought you had the gold? – what! No, I don’t. Do none of us have the gold! The party empty their pockets and with desperate fury ransack their packs looking for their gold. Ari upturns her bag and finds only 15 gold pieces – she hasn’t take a single coin since she joined the company. “Oh Gods!” Lucian screamed in agony. Amidst his breakdown the party is able to squeeze together and find their misplaced gold. They reflected on their companion Curak who is usually assigned this job, and gave a collective sigh. They are forced to pay a whopping 3540 gold pieces to ferry themselves and the Golem Company. As they board the small raft alongside the Gauntlgrym dwarves they find that much to their disbelief, the nearly 100 bodies are able to fit comfortably. Thus, they sailed upriver for about five days. During which time the raft docked near Gauntlgrym, and Waterfoot (real name Fire Hand [Hi Dan, when you hover the mouse over his attacks you can read his name.]) and his men disembarked. The party spotted the LEGION squad surrounded by guards with crossbows aimed at them near Graksltug en route to Gauntlgrym. When the party docked by the city then resumed a march for a few hours. However, the earth rumbles, and from the abyss a gargantuan purple worm rise. The odds look dire for our te- oh wait no. The Mighty 88 charged down the worm and swarmed it. In a few seconds the Golems slew one of the most dangerous creatures in Khyber. Invidia and his culinary adventurism insists that he cook as much as he can. He cooked and candied the head. Then the Companies spent a solid 15 minutes trying to figure out the logistics of sneaking a 100 man army and giant worm past the besieging orcs and goblins and get the worm into the City. Thus they settled on a 4 point part plan: Candy as much of the Worm as possible Douse the rest of the worm in oil, and roll it down the hill into the enemy encampment and blow it up Bury the over-sized golems by the unoccupied secret entrance by: a.Having Ferron, Ari, and Cyrpus use magic to bury the golems, with assistance from poly-morphed Dysmas and Mollin as giant badgers b.Bury the over-sized golems far enough from the distance, and equidistant from each other to avoid discovery. Enter the Garrison. This four-point plan goes off spectacularly! As they rolled the worm down the hill it crushed a dozen goblins and a few orc officers, before exploding in a blaze of sapphire and jewels, killing 400 enemy combatants. But the tactic is bitter sweet for Dysmas and Invidia who weep at all the lost loot they could have gained. Soon after they entered the city via the secret entrance, and encounter the same woman guarding it as last time. Lucian is a bit too friendly as he misty steps right next to her, which causes her to flinch and fire at the group. After having scolded the half-elf, she provides the group with an escort to reach Bellavantors sanctum at Vegers request. As they travel up the city they realize its arranged in such a way that the bottom-most layer is entirely dedicated to the military, and above it lies the general commercial area. At the uppermost part of the hill city is the nobles quarter, but at the summit is Bellavantors palace that is built into the hill itself. As they entered the palace and descended it got hotter and hotter, but finally they reached the dragons chamber. The adventurers presented themselves before the Dragon, and Veger delivered his report. The winged elves did not side with us, but they did gift us with gold and this Magic Mirror, capable of great feats, while Bellavantor affirmed this through the use of an identify spell. The golems have been recruited, Veger reported, and Bellavantor rumbled in approval. But his master was still not satisfied, for his city is still surrounded. The Golems will ensure that the invaders will be repelled and will be able to secure trade routes with other cities, but his own patience was being tested by the goblins. The Dragon made an ultimatum. In a fortnight he shall descend upon the enemy and melt their flesh like tallow. If the party fails to recruit and make use of the flumphs (who pose a mental threat to him) in the week following the end of the goblin ultimatum he shall also burn them to a crisp. Having made his intentions clear Bellavantor eyed the newcomers – Invidia, Mollin, Naerth, Urlyn , Cyprus and Beregar. Veger introduced them, and Bellavantor demanded that they bend the knee and make an oath. Invidia and Cyprus hesitated for a mere moment before bending the knee. The others took more time to come to the same conclusion. Beregar admitted that the dragon was the only realistic option for safety against the Drow, so he bent. Urlyn preferring not to die and end his burgeoning yugioh career also bent the knee. Naerth stepped forth and informed Bellavantor of the reason why he had sought him out. He claimed he represented a rebel faction of the Drow who did not follow Lloth, but instead a goddess of moonlight and hunting. Mollin stepped forth to continue Naerths sentence – we come as foes of the Drow of Menzoberranzan, and as representatives of the rebels. We wish to broker an alliance. But Bellavantor refuses, for he is like the earth, and the earth does not meet halfway with the moon. Either they must submit or die. Mollin and Naerth exchange a glance and explain to Bellavantor that they do not have the authority to tender the fealty of the Drow rebels to Bellavantor … but they will take the oath themselves. Bellavantor thus grants them a mercy, his trusted knight Veger shall travel alongside these Drow, and visit the Rebels and see if they are worthy of an alliance. Should he judge them unfit the orginal offer stands – submission or death. For the time being a pact of non-aggression was enacted. With business having been conducted Bellavantor dismissed the group, but Invidia stepped forth and offered him the candied worms head. The Dragon dug into the exotic dish, and gave a deep rumbling burp that clapped in the air like thunder and shook the cavern as a sign of approval. Now dismissed the armed escort took them to the Magical Armory where the Quarter-Master opened a vault filled to the brim with rows upon rows of magical items. He informed them that each magical item will choose its owner, and the owner will know by instinct which is meant for his or her hand. The group guessed that the net worth of this vault must have been in the hundreds of thousands of gold pieces. As the new blood wandered about each was drawn. Invidia felt compelled to choose a staff made of rope and bone – the staff of wyrmms, the Quarter-master remarked with a wink in his eye at the clearly necromantic item. Invidia did not enjoy having to carry such an open token of necromancy. Cyprus wandered about and discovered a golden hilt. He picked it up and from the pommel burst forth a brilliant yellow light, scorching like a star – the ‘Suns Folly’. Mollin, uncertain of who he was wandered here and there, pulled in a hundred different directions. Until one weapon called to him much louder than all the rest – a beautiful blade – The Amber Scythe. Now armed with Bellavantors gift the team plan for the week of downtime ahead. T9 approached Veger, Lucian and Dysmas, and request some help. Meanwhile Invidia with innocent curiosity asked the Quarter-Master if there was a mortuary close-by. What followed was the creation of a dead man walking – Mai butler.