Campaign Logs

Session 295 (Mission 3J): [Darvius, Risk Assessment Manager of the Cohort Arcanum] Played on the 2nd of August 2020! Present: Alvah Laurent; Anuirean Sorcerer/Bard, lvl 8 (Depraved Lunatic) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 12 (Hats4Cats) Aye right, what the hell is it with Sidhelien and lacking any sense of urgency to do anything! Like all of them just like waiting and waiting for time to pass, Queen Galanhel and Darvius are both the same, they won't make any choice without knowing every... little... detail. I don't have time to wait around, we gotta get stuff done! Queen Galanohel told me when they are planning to march to war with the Dwerren and its soon so we don't have long to get her this army and at this rate, the whole of the Sielwode will be destroyed before we do anything. Thanks to Darvius I might have missed a chance to go find Kaerava. Well, I might get another during the coming war, that's what she implied to me anyways. Apparently Gorgon city is just full of demons and creatures of power but if he goes to war then maybe I can get an opening when the defenses are lowered?  I’ve not been eating or sleeping much recently, I’m lucky I've got this Sidhelien weed to help sleep at night. I'm not even looking forward to traveling back to Urkenhame for now, It's winter and they are all celebrating and feasting, I just don't want to be around that.  My home is hollow and being near it just makes me feel kinda sick, like I can't relax and my heart beats jumps around strangely. Can't remember the last time I got a good night's sleep.  I was trying to save Kaerava this mission, I swear! We just ended up walking back and forth again, Darvius won't do anything without weighing up all the dangers, it's frustrating because we don't have the time to do that. He is like the complete opposite to Cordi. I'm ranting... the mission. We got the head of the ancient mind flayer and took it to Aoibhin. That was the plan anyway, Queen Galanhel was zen as ever, but she did give us a book to read to learn Karamhul but we never needed it. I left Nalu back with Galanhel because well Aoibhin did threaten the whole eat your friend why you watch deal. We ran into something along the way though, it was called the Golden Goblin. We marked it if you ever want to go there. An Establishment where they do gambling, pit fighting, and slave trading. More importantly, it's owned by Gorgon and used for political meetings. The Herald of Azari, Aragnak’s ambassador, The Gorgon and many others. The place looks new but so many scary-looking “people?” where there. Some of Aragnak’s children were playing dice around the table, imps were flying around. Most there had demonic features, elfs with slit noses and sharp teeth. Shadow elfs, nobles, winged demons, you name it. We're getting escorted around by Voggun, an impish like creature. This whole place had me on edge, most had really nasty looks on their face. I kinda felt like I stood out as not being the standard clientele for somewhere like this. Darvius and Alvah seemed ok with everything but I was panicking because of Aragnak’s Hadrachen. We got introduced to the landlord by a goblin called Xat. The Imp Voggun really wanted to show us the rooms, but then suddenly disappeared off because of a cheater at a table. We checked out the rooms and found a dead body with a crow holding a pair of eyes in its break. Yeah, we got framed, worst still the dead body was one of Aragnak’s ambassador. One of the big Hadrachen with four legs started pouring because Voggun was acting all this up with the shock and awe of a seasoned actor. I don't know if he planned it with Xat but he was quite happy to shut the door behind us. So yeah we didn't stick around, made a break for the window, and legged it. I may or may not have looked like Korak during this. Darvius was able to grab the crow with eyes on the way out. O be careful of Voggun, he was able to mind control the Hadrachen doing some weird magic. I got shot in the arm and burned during this but wasn't too bad.  After escaping we looked at the crow and saw it was someone familiar, who’s, I don't know but we did take the eyes from it. He had Nalu’s eyes. Not like them but were them, from a past life. I kept them safe and we got as far away from the Golden Goblin as we could. There were crows in the sky following us for some time but they soon cleared as we made our way to Aoibhin.  The Hive has changed since last time I was there, the mushroom people are gone and she has taken control over the mountain. Strangely enough, practicing farming. We were able to get an audience and began the negotiation. Talking takes so long, it felt like hours of listening to Darvius go on and on. I mean it was working though. We got loads of information. Aoibhin is choosing a side in this war and the Gorgon had already outstretched a hand. She wants a province to herself one where her people can call their own. She battled on the Gorgon side before in the last great war, alongside the shadow. That is already a sour taste of defeat once so we do have hope. We are currently trying to set a meeting between her and Lady Galanhel but finding neutral ground is becoming difficult. We have however at least started the talks. The first step was giving the head of the mind flayer to her. We got access to her hive for now, as long as we are able to kill the purple worm that is currently taking up residency. If we remove it she can move into the new tunnels and expand. There also the issues of loads of Ropers being down there. Once it's all clear we will gain access through and she gains new lands. Will also show her we keep our word. I really wanted to go get on with it but I was the only one, everyone else thought it was too strong. Didn't really matter because she was off to the Golden Goblin and didn't want to grant me magic given our last meeting.  She was still really pissed at me, but I think my youth helps sometimes you know, what did Darvius say: “Low bar of expectations”?. We made our agreements and traveled with her on the way to her meeting with the Gorgon. We explained our adventure at the Golden Goblin but we all agreed it was best to give it a wide berth. However, after departing we ran into our friend Voggun on the way home. He seemed really happy with himself after the whole framing of us for killing Aragnak’s ambassador. He then wanted us to go with him so he could “capture” us, tell Aragnak who would turn up to claim me and then they would kill Aragnak why he was weakened. With the Gorgon being there it might work, then they would take his hoard and everything else. Darvius noticed there was very little stopping him from just betraying us but we could make a contract to ensure everything was above board. I mean I get why Darvius didn't want to do anything with it. I didn't want to see Aragnak killed. I mean I know he wants to kill me at this point but that's because he doesn't know me yet. I mean if I saved him from an ambush then I'm sure he would see things differently. Also.. he is one of the few creatures I could even think of who would even be capable of helping me get Kaerava back. Voggun was quick to brag about the minions of the Gorgon and their secrets, one was his lieutenant who received a blessing from Azari why he was still alive. Snake looking lady with six arms each with swords. Her first secret was she can teleport herself at will and her second was she can split herself into two separate beings, hmm wonder if I could learn to do that. She was called Marilith. The brushes were doing strange things as well, echoing the words “the shadow” at night like every time the imp said it. It creeped me out but Alvah had fun with it long after the imp left. I have no idea if this woman could even stand next to Aragnak in a weaker form, with all his items, and magic well if the Gorgon was there, maybe. Either way, I don't want to help the Gorgon with any of this nor one of his minions but I did want to go back to show Aragnak that he would be betrayed and so to Aoibhin that they are willing to betray any of their allies.  Darvius however wants to go speak with the queen and then sit in meditation for weeks about all the different things. We headed back and ran into the Demon Saps. These creatures are made of tree sap and hide in trees, taking over the body's travelers. DO NOT use fire on them. It gives them insane energy, just freeze them and they are harmless, well like if you keep away. We collected one of them for storage.  Back at the Queen we explained everything but we are not doing enough, fast enough. Kaerava is trapped with who only knows what and I can't stop thinking of what is happening to her. The war is coming in the next season and I'm not convinced the Sielwode will see the next summer. One of Galanhel’s druids is off to clear the land of sap demons.  I showed Nalu the eyes not thinking at all. I don't know what I expected.. She got really upset, no shit! I forget she doesn't see what I do. When I look into her eyes I see nothing but kindness and awe. I mean sure she is a little greedy but who isn't, frankly most of the Cohort have greed greater than any dragon i've met. But she is a good teacher and patient. I think she makes me better by just being around her, ya know like a compass showing me what way to go. I think Larmedylth knew that she would be as good than I would be for her. Anyways I flew after her and hugged and apologized, she said it was painful. … ... she said… ... SHE SAID, I HEARD HER AGAIN. It was like I didn't even notice in the moment but I heard her.  No it isn't a voice it's different. It wasn't that I heard her but more I just knew what she was saying.  This is probs because Queen Galanhel told me that you can replace your own eyes with them and I got so excited with the idea of having dragon eyes, I kinda forgot myself. Not her fault or anything just I didn't know and got carried away.  I'm sure I can just change mine on my own, well I might be able to do something a little more than just eyes. I offered to destroy them for her but she didn't want to. I am going to hold onto them for now, until Nalu decides what she wants to do with them. I'm staying in the Sielwode for the winter, I really don't want to go back to Urkenhame, not without Kaerava.  Dragomir Black & Nalu, Cohort Members

Session 288: Sweet Dreams Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 11 (Adam B)  Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 7 (Spynx)  Green Knight; Fiend Paladin, lvl 1 (Hats4Cats)  HeN; Awnshegh Fighter, lvl 5 (Hazelchan84)  Jannis the Red; Brecht Fighter, lvl 7 (Physh)  Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 7 (Simon D)  Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 9 (Depraved Lunatic) We journeyed as promised to Vampire’s Hold in an attempt to disrupt the ceremony by which an apprentice would be selected and if possible put an end to Alkava herself. We were welcomed into Castle Harlech despite being in the company of several who had been part of killing the former master of these lands. Alkava herself greeted us in the great hall and invited us to participate in the contest the following day which would take place in a demi-plane of her making. Spectators will be allowed to watch using magic divination. She refused to reveal any further details until the following day. We were given access to the castle while we awaited the contest aside from her own private study. Cedrych led the way having spent some time here after our previous attempt at diplomacy. He led us to a library on the second floor and we searched for any information that would give us an advantage in our upcoming fight. In short order Cedrych found a secret door and he set off down the hallway revealed with his apprentice Sithric. The way was barred and there was no lock to pick only two hand shaped depressions. Our search was interrupted by one of Alkava’s guards who was drawn to investigate by the noise of the large stone wall scraping open. Jannis, who was standing watch outside, warned us of his approach. Glenn, thinking quickly, recreated the sound using his divine magic claiming he was practicing for the contest tomorrow. The guard, thinking he is now wise to Glenn’s distractions, searched the nearby boxes and left with a mummified hand. The Green Knight, who had joined us again on this mission, found another hand in the chest.  Hen approached the hidden doors and placed her hands in the two recesses but nothing seemed to happen. She removed them but her hands were now missing. She somehow had the ability to regrow them although this diminished her form somewhat. Cedrych joined her at the door trying to find some way through. Regeneration did not appear to be Hen’s only power as she transformed into an ooze and with Cedrych propping up the door slipped under into the room beyond.  What happened in that room I cannot say but suddenly Cedrych was running through the library and out the window before vanishing from sight. He returned shortly with pieces of Hen’s body but at this point the alarm had been raised. Hen was revived but her form diminished even further having fallen victim to the giant snake “Chomper” that was guarding the room.  We are presented to Alkava and she expresses her displeasure with our actions. She was determined to find a suitable punishment. She found Hen’s newly diminished form rather amusing so she had Chomper cough up the morsels he had taken and return them to Hen only to lead her back to the doorway and place her hands into the recesses. She remained there until enough of herself had been sacrificed to be permanently diminished which seemed to satisfy Alkava.  We thought our punishment had reached its conclusion so we headed back to our quarters only to be summoned again. Hen revealed that the room only contained a body shaped outline in blood on the floor. Alkava was waiting for us again in the great hall with six glass vials and a glaine dagger. She wanted all of us to willingly provide a sample of our blood. I was admittedly hesitant to leave any of myself with this creature but there seemed to be no other way forward. I will have to rely on Avani’s protection should this be used against me in the future.  The Green Knight however staunchly refused to comply. Alkava left briefly stating that if his blood was not in the vial by the time she returned he would be killed outright. Cedrych managed to sleight of hand some blood-wine into a vial and passed it off to the Green Knight before she returned but I am not sure this escaped the notice of Alkava and her companions. At least it seemed to be permitted. Finally we were dismissed to rest.  Glenn spoke with the Unicorn formerly known as Biscuits in the courtyard but I did not linger to hear their conversation before retiring for the evening.  In the morning we were called to gather in the courtyard. Alkava summoned an army of eyes that floated around those gathered before her. She explains that the cost to compete will be all of our possessions that the eyes have carefully observed what we carried. Even her trusted advisors seem surprised by this news. After considering the cost myself, Cedrych,Glenn, Hen and Jannis agreed to compete. Sithric stayed behind to guard the Light of Avani he carried concealed as part of our mission. The Green Knight kept his own counsel as to why he would not compete. Before we departed Alkava provided us with Darkvision as the plane was lightless.  We entered the demi-plane of Alkava’s making. I was surprised to find myself standing in a ring flanked by the followers of Alkava with none of my companions in sight. We stood surrounding a pile of arms and armor but before I could act her undead knights were running forward and laid claim to the hoard. I fled into the darkness grabbing what equipment I could find.  After some time alone in the darkness I found myself at a river and could see Glenn swimming beneath the water pursued by several large bats. We regrouped and before long found Jannis as we crossed the river and moved further from our starting positions. Several chests provided us with the basic equipment we needed. Before long spotted Hen and the vampire known as Eckhard fighting in the distance. Before we could intervene Hen is felled by his blade. We approach and Ekhard offers us the chance to leave with Hen’s unconscious form. We attack him instead. Glenn managed to cause his rapier to grow to such an enormous size it proved unwieldy as I charged forward to smite him down. Jani took the brunt of the Vampires offensive. Ekhard realized quickly he was outmatched and attempted to flee into the darkness only to be restrained by Glenn’s divine magic. The bats we had been fleeing from returned and put an end to Ekhard. Now regrouped and rearmed we made short work of the bats and Hen was quickly brought back to consciousness. We continued searching for anything that would help us in the contest. Hen found a chest full of magic confectionaries and Boots of the Sidhelien at the very corner of the demi-plane. As we made our way back towards the center we were confronted by a group of four undead knights and a mage. We attempted to flee back in the direction of the river as we knew we were outmatched. As we retreated we came across a handful of weapons including a magic dagger tainted by Azrai that Jani claimed and a sword that seemed to be blessed by Avani herself. We made it to the river but the sounds of battle and flashes of arcane magic greeted us from the other side. Caught between a rock and hard place we continued our retreat across the river and the group chasing us abandoned their pursuit. We waited on the far bank near a group of standing stones aiming to attack the survivors of the battle that was taking place on this side. Before we could ambush them Jani was spotted and battle ensued with the survivors numbering four in total. Glenn channeled the power of Avani’s daughter and the sunlight made short work of the vampires before. As we are finishing claiming their belongings Glenn is surprised by a pale creature, gaunt with stringy black hair surrounded by an aura of darkness. Before we could strike it down it revealed himself as Cedrych, our final missing companion, who seemed to have been corrupted by this place. He feasted on the blood contained in the waterskins we had found seemingly desperate in his hunger for it.  Before we  had even processed the fate of our companion we were approached by a large group of vampires, seemingly all who had survived the initial battles. They demanded all who were not one of their kind leave before the final bout. I ask permission to bless Cedrych’s weapon before leaving but this is denied. After deliberating Jani, Glenn and myself all made our way to the standing stones and surrendered leaving the demi-plane behind and returning to Alkava’s courtyard.  Hen attempted to stand against the vampires instead of leaving. Cedrych was quick to dispatch her but seemed surprised when she did not rise again to her feet as one of their kind.  Cedrych nearly violated the rules of their engagement but managed to survive until only he and one called Lucinda Bloodmoon are left standing. By this point he was barely keeping to his feet. He attempted to fight from a distance (as he does best) but Lucinda launched a fireball into the darkness and at last he was felled.  Then the revelation we had not anticipated. All of us, including Cedrych and Hen, awake in the courtyard. It seems the contest was not in a demi-plane but rather a realm of dreams. None of what happened there was real except the damage we received to our bodies and souls. Our possessions remain ours. As we tried to come to terms with this turn of events and before a plan could be formulated Alkava plunged a blood silver dagger into Lucinda’s chest and pulled out her still beating heart. Her second had been chosen.  She then rewarded us for our performance in the contest. It seems she had not anticipated we would offer such a challenge to her followers. Biscuits, still in the form of a Nightmare, is returned to Glenn and bound to his will. I asked for the blood she had taken from all of us to be returned but this request is denied. Instead she offered any of the weapons we had encountered during our time in the dream world. Jani claims the dagger that was tainted by Azrai. Knowing this means she possesses a relic of Avani I asked for it to be given to me but questioned why a weapon of the goddess would not be in her favoured form of a spear. Alkava returned with the Anani’s Whisper and before my eyes it transformed from sword to spear. I am glad to have rescued such a relic from this dark land. Hen bargains to continue her training in blood magic under Alkava’s tutelage. Cedrych, his curse having been part of the dream as well, demanded only time to think further on the boon he desires.  As we depart Vampire’s Hold Glenn is able to return Biscuits to his original form using a reminder of Mispera. I know my blood continues to be tainted by the blood of Azrai from his servants we defeat. Perhaps the time will come when I shall seek out this Mispera to learn of how she defied the corruption she bore.  Our mission a failure, we returned with both the Light of Avani and the sun arrow we had obtained in anticipation of open combat with Alkava unused to the Cohort. The nights have grown long as the winter is upon us.  Once his log is submitted to the archives Nils sends the following letter to Emir Gerad ibn Farid el-Arrasi in the City of Ariya.  Dear Emir Gerad ibn Farid el-Arrasi, I write to you so that you may know the outcome of our quest to bring the light of Avani to the lands of Vampire’s Hold. The Lady Alkava is powerful but also more clever than we had anticipated.  We had hoped to take advantage of a large number of her followers that would fall in the contest of succession to obtain some advantage but the Lady was always one step ahead of us. Firstly she demanded all we carried as an entry fee and then only at the contests conclusion revealed that it was but a dream and none of the followers we had slain were truly dead.  Fortunately this meant that Cedrych the Vampire Slayer, who had fallen both under the curse of the vampire and in battle during that contest, was restored to his former self. At least he remains outside of Alkava’s shadow for now.  Before we could formulate a new plan to disrupt the ceremony a blood silver blade was plunged into the chest of Lucinda Bloodmoon, the winner, and her heart removed. The rule of two is restored and the path of succession in the land of Vampire’s Hold clear.  If one thing was gained it is that a relic known as “Avani’s Whispers” was recovered and now graces my hand. I had hoped you may know more of how this came to be lost in the lands of the Vampire and would share the tale with me. I also ask if the Light of Avani which we had carried in hopes of summoning the sun to aid us in battle should be returned to you. Short of open battle I am not sure how any could challenge the rule of Alkava considering the armies she now commands. Only if her heart could be located (and also the heart of her new apprentice) could this be attempted.  Together in the light. Nils Ullstein

Session 290 (Thylea): The Beasts in the Mithral Mines Phage (Kristen B) Hadrian Darkleaf (Hazlechan84) Nephenee (Serephen) Thylea, Emmanir of 1526 HC. After a few months of researching many things in the libraries of Thylea. I felt that it was time to do something out in the world and fulfill my Cohort duty. I gathered a small team in the Cohort where we discussed things to do. I was met by my usual friends Hadrian and his wife Demi. But a new face showed up named Nephenee who I did not know. I brought up that the Mithral Mines was something I was interested in exploring, for we have a deal with the dwerren Volkan that we would clear out the mine and let the dwerren reclaim it. We agreed we should at least go there and scout things out as months have passed since we last went there and killed the hordes of troglodytes and something else could have moved in since then.  We left Mytros and Hadrian took us through the western route to the Mithral Mountains. We got there in very good time and left our mounts outside of the Great Falls of Arkelon where behind them is the entrance that we know of that leads into the mines. I warned them that this was where we were attacked by the hordes of hungry troglodytes and we should try and be stealthy. Nephenee informed us she could see in the dark and was sneaky. She scouted ahead for us and did not make it far into the entrance when something came out to meet her. The rest of us not far rushed to meet this new threat as it was a giant insect. We knew it to be the Megapede. A monster that eats people and metals and it went for Hadrian and ate his chain shirt. Luckily he was able to not be eaten as well. Less than a minute later of combat the Megepade started to flee deeper into the mines. We chased the monster as it led us to the northern path where we had not explored the last time. Nephenee was able to put down the monster and we discovered that it led us to a place with a giant hole that went down for a long way. Depths unknown as the bottom could not be seen. Being hurt and not wanting to keep exploring the mine for that day. We decided we should harvest the Megapede for valuables. Hadrian was able to reclaim his armor but it was damaged by the monster acid. Being that we entered the cave very early in the morning we decided to take the parts of the Megapede to Estoria which was close by and we could make it there by nightfall. There we could take our rest, recover and supply ourselves for better exploring the mines.  On our way to Estoria loaded up with carapace and the head of the Megapede we were met by a fey creature. We decided to greet it and possibly talk to her. I thought at the time she was friendly as I lately in Thylea have been met by friendly fey. She told us that Nephenee or myself was cursed and attacked us. A charm was coming from her with her fearsome attacks. I was able to get my mounts away from her and started to punch her but her daggers did wound me. Being still hurt from our assault in the mines, I was afraid I might be slain by such a pitiful creature. Nephenee was able to get away from her and fire shots at the fey monster. Demi and Hadrian were in their own fight as the creature had charmed Hadrian in such a matter that he was fighting his own wife. We did slay her without no one dying or any mounts getting hurt. Not knowing what this thing was that attacked us or why. I decided to take the body back with us to Estoria and possibly find someone that could tell us more about her. She had on her ironwood daggers and a magical necklace made of bone. We made it to the city at night and decided to camp outside of the city due to the Megapede and fey corpse.  The next morning we went into the city to meet with Volkan. He was surprised to hear we killed the Megapede but upset that we had not sacrificed it to a god yet. We decided to sacrifice it to Volkan. Where Volkan was very pleased with our offering to the god and decided he would take the parts of the Megapede and make armor for Nephenee, Hadrian and Nara. I then asked him about the fey that attacked us. He was upset by seeing the creature. He told us it was a Maenad and it used to be a human that was cursed and transformed into a crazy half fey creature. Possibly having to connect with Lutheria in some way. The magic necklace we believed might be the item that cursed the creature, I decided it was time to lay it to rest. I went out of the city and did the Thylean death costumes and buried her with two gold coins and her bone necklace. The rest of the party went to the Dragon Shrine and spoke to the head priest there. He told them about the bounty of the Megapede and the party informed him that we just returned from slaying it. We then met back up and rested in the city. The next morning Volkan was done with the Megapede armor. He did very fine work with the carapace and also inlay it with mithral and enchanted them with magic. To do all that in one night has me thinking he is more than who he says he is, just like Kyrah was. He surprised me with a gift as well. He had forged me a new holy symbol to my god that he does not know of but knew I worshiped. How had he known and why would he do such a thing left me with many questions but I did not want to bring them up so openly in these lands. But the gift was very powerful and I must keep it hidden as such an item could lead to problems seen by the wrong people. Volkan warned us about a mine shaft in the mine but we thought he was talking about the giant hole. We thanked Volkan for his fine work and bought our supplies and headed out back to the mines. We got there with no problems on the road. The Megapede corpse lay still layed near the giant hole. But we found a path up from there and found a dwerren living area. There layed corpses of many things. One of them being a giant three headed dog. Thinking that it was the thing that Volkan told me about that made the dwerren flee that mines was dead. It seemed that the Megapede killed everything in the area but the three headed dog which something else killed it. It left us fearing what might have done it and the giant hole that was not too far from the corpse. We then explored the upper level of the dwerren hold. It seemed that strange bird-like creatures had turned most of these two headed dogs monsters to stone but the birds were also dead. We ran into no more trouble on the top floor but did find a nice ring and a mithral chainshirt. We searched and found a way down into the lower floor but it seemed to be a platform that would lower us. We all gathered inside and that was when things started to head south for our mission. The platform walls had designs of dragon heads in the walls. Where they started to spray oil everywhere. We knew that this was now a trap and were trying to find a way out of it when fire then erupted and we were all burning alive. Luckily there was a lever that we pulled that started to bring us back up. There with a loud *DING* the doors opened and we all rushed out to roll around and put us out of the flames. The doors then closed and we were all still alive but badly hurt. I then healed us and we then thought of how we were going to get to the lower floor of this place. We decided to use the device but we filled the dragon heads up so no oil would spray at us and then entered it again afraid of what it might do. The doors opened again with the *DING* and we were still alive and in a new place. Nara rushed out fearing the lift we took. We then followed and found a larger area next to us. There were two two-headed dogs that rushed us but were easily killed but a giant three headed one came out and spoke to us asking who we were. Someone shot her with a arrow and she attacked us with her giant maw. She had a loud howl that deafen us and we knew we could not defeat this beast. We all could be killed by such a monster but people were able to flee and make it back to the lift. Nara looked like she was going to be this thing snack after I gave everyone a mass healing word to get them to the lift in time. I knew that if I did not do something that Nara would be gone. Knowing that Hadrian and Demi loved the wolf and how Nara had helped me in the past I asked Kyrah for her protection to be granted to Nara. She was protected and able to get to the lift, followed by the beast which then took a bite at me and everything went dark. I awoke at the top floor and we were able to escape the jaws of death. Our mission here was then done. We could not slay such a thing with what we had and it was time to head home and try to recover and possibly sell this mithral chainshirt.  On our journey back to Estoria we saw a corpse of a fallen centaur that was being eaten by these bronze metallic birds known as Stimfay. We started to approach to recover the body but before we could get there a group of Amazon women came out of the forest and started to hunt the Stimfay. After they left we took the body and buried it and made our way to Estoria. There we sold the fancy ring and tried to get Volkan to buy the mithral chainshirt. He did not have the funds to buy it and we decided to find some noble in Mytros who possibly could. We said our goodbyes and left to return to the Cohort in Mystros. There our adventure ended.  Phage

Session 288 (Mission Special): Sweet Dreams Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 11 (Adam B) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 9 (Depraved Lunatic) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 7 (Spynx) Jannis the Red; Brecht Fighter, lvl 7 (Physh) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 7 (Simon D) Hen; Awnshegh Fighter, lvl 5 (Hazelchan84) Green Knight; Fiend Paladin, lvl 1 (Hats4Cats) At last, the Eve of the Dead was nearly upon us. The last few months of preparations would culminate in this tournament. Time was short, so we set off immediately for Castle Harlech. The journey was uneventful, and it wasn’t long before we arrived. The Castle was busier than usual, buzzing with anticipation of the event. I recognized several familiar, gaunt, vampiric faces as we made our way to Alkava’s great hall. The Vampire greeted us with some surprise; evidently she hadn’t expected we arrive in such great numbers to compete. The tournament would be held the following day, in a demi-plane under Alkava’s control. Beyond that, the details of the competition were still being withheld, but those who didn’t compete would be free to watch via divination magic. Access to the mebhaighl had been constrained in an attempt to prevent magic users from performing arcane shenanigans around the Castle, but within the demi-plane, spellcasters would have full access. We were dismissed by the Blood Sister and given free reign of the castle. Well, nearly free reign. In the weeks I had spent at Castle Harlech, only one place was off-limits. Naturally, we headed to a study that adjoined the restricted room for some light skulking. I still intended to do what I could to disrupt the Vampire’s selection process or ceremony, and perhaps we could find something useful in the restricted section. We headed to a small study in the north-west of the castle, ostensibly to read and prepare for the following day’s event. It wasn’t long before I found a hidden door in the south wall of this study. A nearby wall sconce was the mechanism to open it, and Sithric and I slipped inside while the others stood watch. The corridor continued in darkness for twenty or so feet, eventually terminating in what I could only assume was another door. This one had hand-shaped holes carved into it, with only blackness beyond. It was clearly some arcane locking mechanism, but neither Sithric nor I could make heads or tales of it. We slipped back into the study just in time; Jani had been posted outside and advised that a guard was on the way. Evidently, the sound of the door opening had drawn some unwanted attention. Thankfully, Glenn was quick on his feet, and used thaumaturgy to create a similar noise. We told the guard that we were practicing illusion magic for the following day, and the vampire seemed to buy it. He fetched a mummified hand from a chest in the study before taking his leave. The Green Knight rooted around in the box and found another. Perhaps these were the keys to the door? When the coast was clear, I described the door to everyone in the room, to see if they had any idea of what to do with it. Hen volunteered to try and use their amorphous ooze form to bypass the mechanism, and I escorted them back down the secret corridor. They plunged their hands into the void of the door and… nothing happened. When they withdrew them, only stumps remained. Hen described no pain, but said that some small portion of their mass had been lost. This did not seem to bother them much, and they regrew new hands. Undeterred, I tried a more head-on approach. I pushed my shoulder hard against the door and created a small gap. Once again, Hen’s ooziness came to the rescue. They collapsed into no more than a puddle, leaving their personal effects behind, and slid under the door. I whispered through the door and asked them to describe what they saw, but it wasn’t long before I heard the breaking of glass and a startled shout from Hen. The sounds of scraping footsteps, more shouting from Hen, and then silence. Something had gone wrong. I raced down the hall and back into the study, pulling some rope from my pack and tying it around my waist. With no time to explain, I handed one end of the rope to Glenn, activated Winter’s Veil, and jumped out the window. The adjacent room that Hen had been in had a window, and sure enough there I saw them. Or what was left of them, anyway. A massive serpent was too busy lapping up their remains to notice me, but it did draw the attention of the guards. There was some yelling from the Castle walls as I gathered what I could of Hen’s remains and brought them back to the study. Glenn managed to stabilize and revive them, but the snake had consumed a great deal more of their mass, and they were limited to roughly the size of a halfling. More yelling from outside, and then we all heard Alkava’s voice ring out clear like a bell; we were summoned before her once again. We tried our best to deny the transgression, but the Blood Sister was having none of it. We had trespassed and would pay the consequences. Hen was brought back up to the room for their punishment. Alkava commanded the snake, named Chomper, to regurgitate Hen’s remains. They were assimilated and Hen was back to full size, but not for long. Alkava then ordered Hen to put their hands back into the door and hold them there. As they did, Hen began to shrink as more of their mass was consumed. When they were about half their original size, Alkava permitted them to stop. Just when I thought the rest of us would be let off the hook, we were summoned before Alakava again. She set out a glainne dagger and six vials and offered us a choice; either fill a vial with each of our bloods, or lose a hand to the door like Hen had. With some protestation, I offered my donation, and the others begrudgingly accepted. All but the Green Knight. He would not submit to Alkava’s request, even under threat of execution. Alkava left the room to give him a few minutes to think things over. Knowing that this stubborn creature would not give in, it was up to me to resolve this mess so we could move on. Fortunately, Vampires have quite the predilection for blood, and there was no shortage of it in Alkava’s banquet hall. I poured myself a glass, and when no one was looking, palmed one of the vials and filled it. I then quietly offered the filled vial to the Knight, just as Alkava returned to the room. The Knight made a show of putting the vial down, and as Alkava inspected it, locked eyes with one of her retinue. She moved toward the Blood Sister, as if she were going to disclose my deception, but kept looking back at me. It seemed like she wanted something , so I nodded back to her frantically. Unsure of what I had just agreed to, Alkava accepted the Knight’s offering and we were dismissed. All things considered, I think she took it rather well. On our way back to our quarters, Glenn stopped to speak with Biscuits again. I don’t know what words they shared, but I could tell that seeing his loyal friend in such a state was tearing Glenn apart. That night, I was visited by the vampiress from the banquet hall. She introduced herself as Lucinda Bloodmoon, and she had come for her payment. She demanded something of value for her silence. I tried to buy her off with a few adamantine arrows, but she was having none of it. Sadly, I parted ways with the Horn of Alarum. In the morning, we were gathered in the castle courtyard. The place was packed with competitors and spectators alike. Alakava took to a podium and addressed the crowd. The competition would be a free-for all melee with only one survivor. It seems many had expected this, as had I, and I fancied my chances. But no one had expected what came next. In order to compete, a competitor had to surrender all items on their person to Alkava. She clapped her hands and several omniscient eyes appeared, surveying the crowd. This really through a wrench in our plans. We had gone to great lengths to secure a few items that would help us against the vampires in combat: glainne and sun arrows, potions of self-destruction. All of it to be given over to the one we would use it against. We debated what to do. The Green Knight would not part with his armor, and so would not compete. Similarly, Sithric held the crystal of Avani’s Light, and that was surely our strongest weapon should it come to blows en mass. He too would refrain from the melee. The rest of us took stock of what we had and begrudgingly turned it over. And with that, the game was on. I was transported instantly to a dark field. I could hear water rushing to my east, and to my left and right were vampires looking as confused as I was. Not far off lay piles of weapons and armor. First to move was that prat Eckhard, one of Alkava’s favourites. He grinned at me and I felt his eyes boring a hole in my soul. Struggle though I might, I could not shake off his control; I was paralyzed. He ran to a nearby pile of supplies and began to equip himself. In the darkness all around me, I could hear others doing the same. There was no sight of my fellow Cohort members. Then, I felt a sickly tearing at my lips. The skin blistered and peeled, and each blood red lip detached itself. They fluttered like bats wings, and found their way to the two vampires nearest to me. The lips dissolved into a red mist, and the vampires were changed before my eyes into sickly, gaunt things with cruel claws. As they transformed, they turned and looked at me with empty sockets, black as coal, and lips dripping red with blood. That bitch Syndra will pay dearly for this. Seeing this, Eckhard gave a faux salute and dashed out of sight, leaving me to my fate with these horrid things. I finally managed to shake off Eckhard’s charm, but it was too late. The things pounced on me, sapping my strength. I tried to scramble away, but my legs gave out beneath me. I could feel the cold grip of death, and then only darkness. The next thing I remember, I was frantically gulping down a warm, thick liquid from a waterskin. At my feet, a backpack and some useless clothes lay strewn about. I could no longer hear or see the other competitors or the cruel beasts that Syndra had set upon me. I was alone in the blackness of the forest. Taking advantage of the respite, I took stock of my situation. I was alone, unarmed, and unarmored. Looking down at my hands, I could see they had changed. My fingers were pale, long, and bone thin, ending with cruel black claws. I reached up to feel my face, and it too was gaunt and hollow. I had been changed: born again as a vampire. Undeterred, I packed up the supplies that lay at my feet and began to stalk the woods, quiet as a shadow. As a professional appropriator, I had always felt at home in the darkness. But somehow now it seemed even more welcoming. I slipped from shadow to shadow with ease, confident that I was moving unseen. Before long I saw something glinting in the tall grass: another cache of items no doubt. This time, luck was on my side, and I found a dagger and some studded leather armor. I carried on like this for some time. Skulking my way through the dark, stopping only when I found something of value. I managed to accrue a longbow and some crude arrows as well as glainne and ironwood daggers of exceptional quality. Though I had given up much to join the melee, my pockets were once again beginning to feel full. With no idea where I was, or where my allies were, I made my way north and east, slowly. After a while I once again heard the sound of rushing water, but this time it filled me with a sense of dread. Nonetheless, I steeled my resolve and moved towards it. Before long, I found a small river, perhaps twenty or thirty feet across. The moving water repulsed me in this new form, but it was the only landmark I had. I began to follow it down-river, hoping to reorient myself. After several hundred feet, I spotted a bridge and a large chest, no doubt containing more equipment for the competition. I was about to open it when I heard a woman’s voice to my west. A tall, slender vampiress emerged from the gloom and I recognized her from Alkava’s court. Her name was Scarlett Bloodfallen, and she had a reputation for using blood magic martial skills in equal measure. She wore a mythrial necklace inlaid with a ruby shaped like a bird, and about her finger an ornate ring. I bade her come no further lest she provoke the ire of Cedrych Brightbough, Vampire Slayer. I boasted that I had already slain five competitors, and that I wouldn’t think twice about adding her to that list. She accepted the challenge and we squared off to fight. I was still growing accustomed to my new form, but I was confident that I could take her. Without any warning, she disappeared before my eyes, but her footsteps gave her away. I did my best to even the playing field by melding into the shadows and waiting for an opportunity to strike. But it never came. I could hear Scarlett dashing for the river and saw the chest I had spotted earlier open and its contents emptied. A few seconds later, an orb of fire came flying vaguely in my direction, exploding on impact. Unharmed, I waited for the vampire to reveal herself, but she fled off into the darkness. With the vampiress scared off, I continued to follow the river. Eventually, I arrived at the circle of stones that marked where I had begun the melee. Though the supply of weapons and armor had been greatly diminished, there was still plenty left to peruse. As I made my way towards the cache, I spotted a giant vampire bat sitting in a tree nearby. My ability to hide is useless against beasts that see with sound, so I decided to put some distance between myself and the creature. As I did, I noticed a group of vampires hiding in the bushes to the west. They seemed to spot me as well and advanced. But when I announced who I was, I could see the look of fear in their dead eyes. None of them dared stand against Cedrych Brightbough, Vampire Slayer, and they fled north into the black. Just when I thought there was no one worthy of my skill in this contest, a great pillar of radiant light erupted in the distance, on the far side of the river. It was Glenn, I was certain; he was alive and needed my help. I ran as fast as my new form would carry me, south along the river and across another bridge. Before long, I could hear my allies in the distance. By the sounds of it, they were victorious but had taken quite a beating. No doubt every vampire left in the tournament was making their way towards them now. I could see the relief in their eyes when I made myself known to them, but our reunion was short-lived. A large group of eight or so vampires announced themselves as they approached the group. The remaining competitors had sensed they had no chance to defeat me one on one, so they had been forced to form an alliance to stop me from winning the tournament. The vampires were gracious enough to allow my wounded, human allies to surrender and withdraw from the tournament. They escorted us to one of the standing stones, and one by one I saw my allies off to safety. All with the exception of Hen. At the last moment, they drew their dagger and hurled it at Scarlett Bloodfallen. Knowing they stood no chance against a horde of angry vampires, I took it upon myself to give Hen the mercy of a quick death. Then, I turned my sights on the rest. We squared off and began the dance. I ducked and dodged, gaining range on the other vampires while peppering them with arrows. With blood in the air, the ravenous monsters began to turn on one another. And one by one they fell until only Bloodfallen and I remained. The battle had taken its toll on both of us, so once again I put distance between myself and my quarry. From the gloom I fired arrow after arrow, and I had her on the ropes. But then, in a last ditch effort, she hurled an orb of fire blindly into the darkness. I dove for safety, but my new form had been stripped of my normal alacrity and the fireball found its target. I was suffused in fire and light, and then darkness. When I opened my eyes, I was lying in repose in the courtyard at Harlech Castle. As I sat up and looked around, I could see Glenn, Nils, Jani, and Hen around me as well as a dozen or so other vampires, including Scarlett Bloodfallen. They were all stirring, as if from a deep sleep. A loud chorus of cheering was rising up from the crowd all around us. They were chanting Bloodfallen’s name, and she was carried up onto the dais where Alkava awaited. Alkava produced a bloodsilver dagger from the folds of her robes and stabbed Bloodfallen in the chest. The Blood Sister reached into the wound and pulled out Bloodfallen’s heart, tearing it in two. Each half immediately repaired itself, forming two identical copies. Alkava presented her newly annointed second to the crowd, and the cheering intensified, before she was dismissed to the depths of the castle. As the crowd began to dissipate, Alkava turned to the rest of us. The entire competition had been an illusion; a shared dream in the collective minds of the participants. There was no lasting physical damage done to anyone, though I felt some lingering effects on my soul. Our items were also returned to us. Surrendering them had only been a test of our resolve. But similarly, none of the items we had found in the tournament were real either. For making it so far in the competition, Alkava offered boons or items to our group. Nils and Jani were awarded with weapons, similar to the ones they had found in the tournament. Hen asked for additional blood magic training, and Glenn was awarded with the corrupted Biscuits, now bound to serve him. I deferred my reward for a later date; I needed time to think up an appropriate reward. Bloodfallen had been anointed so quickly that we hadn’t had time to collect our thoughts or lay a plan to interrupt the ceremony, and we all agreed that attacking Alkava now would be suicide. So we gathered our things and made our way back to the Cohort. I think I’ll give vampire slaying a rest for a while.

Session 285+287 (Mission Special): Wings Over Tjoscanth Present: Medi Eirwen - Level 8, Alseid Druid (Serephen) Prudence Duskhart - Level 8, Alseid Druid (Lena C.) Agatha Duskhart - Level 8, Human Sorcerer/Warlock (Summer) Diesa Gemfire          - Level 7, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard (Zilarrezko) Amaida          -   Level 1/2, Thylean Nymph Druid (Hazelchan84) I was a little surprised when Prudence and Agatha expressed a desire to get out and adventure again. At the same time I was thrilled at the idea of being able to travel and share new experiences with her. I mean them. We met up at the grove to discuss a request from the Markgraf of Berhagen, Ludwig von Schaeffen. Something about a lost cache of treasure and magic. As we were getting settled we noticed a stranger had wandered into the grove. Amaida, a new recruit to the Cohort had somehow found her way here. She seemed a bit of a starry-eyed dreamer, but she claimed she practiced nature magic, which may explain why she was drawn to the grove. Either way, we opted to bring her along. We travelled to Berhagen to meet with the Landgraf. He explained that long ago, an archmage known as Iggwilv made her home in the Tjoscanth mountains where she conducted many arcane experiments. During one such experiment it’s said she unleashed a powerful demon known as Graz’zt, which subsequently killed Iggwilv and fled into the shadows. The archmage’s minions ransacked her treasures, looting whatever they could and scattered in all directions. Legend has it though, that Iggwilv kept a secret hiding place in her caverns for her wealth, magical tomes and a powerful magic lamp, which the Landgraf was particularly interested in. After many years of laying forgotten, this legend had resurfaced as the nations bordering the mountains learned new information, clues that might hint to the true location of Iggwilv’s secret hoard. Many of them had already sent parties of treasure hunters to seek it out, and we were to go on behalf of Berhagen. We were informed that the other groups included Vos, Orogs and Goblins, from Rzhlev, Molochev and Kal Kalathor. As such we should expect hostile encounters as these groups will do whatever it takes to be first to the treasure. The Markgraf explained that the only item he truly wanted from the treasure was this lamp, which was said to bring glory, honour and great power. Any other treasures we locate would be ours to claim. He directed us to an area of the mountains East of the town of Bissel and gave us an old map, marked with potential locations of Iggwilv’s hoard. In addition he handed us a weathered page containing a short verse: The horn of Iggwilv Pierces the heart- Look over your shoulder Before you start. How many sorrow? Foolish men, Because they didn’t Turn back then. We hoped that this would make more sense as we began our exploration. The Markgraf also mentioned that there was a vale of Sidhewair up in the mountains, and that making contact with them to establish good relations may allow us to use their vale as the site for a forward base camp. This would make things much easier for repeated expeditions into the mountains. After a discussion about what languages we could use to communicate with them we put our faith in their ability to speak Sylvan or Sidhelien and set off. The journey to Bissel was fairly uneventful, so I was able to just enjoy spending time on the road with Prudence. We did pass a group of Berhagen soldiers who were a little rude and took the time to investigate us and our reasons for travelling, probably looking for an excuse to start a fight, though Diesa managed to defuse the situation and even befriended the company leader, Wrever, as he apparently also has family up in Grevesmuhl. He said to mention his name if any other Berhagen soldiers gave us a hard time. Prudence and I opted to change into birds to fly around in case our appearance caused any fear for the villagers of Bissel. The sensation of flying was incredible, made even more so to be up there with Prudence. Prancing through the forests is still my favourite feeling, but flying is easily a close second. The rushing wind, the peace and quiet, the sight of all the people and houses so small down below… it’s a wonderful feeling. Up in the mountains the terrain was a little more hostile. We ran into a group of ogres outside of a cave. By the sounds and smells on the wind Prudence and I figured there were about 12 in total, counting those inside the cave. We opted to avoid the cave, saving our magic and resources. Further up the valley we spotted another cave, surrounded by what looked like ogre bones. Inside this one we caught a glimpse of an exceptionally large wyvern, which noticed us and grew agitated. Again, we decided to let it be and not risk serious injury so early in the expedition. The following day we reached a confluence in the river where we’d need to cross. At this confluence we found a pair of giants that seemed to be playing catch with massive boulders that could have flattened us if they missed their catch. None of us spoke the language of giants, but Diesa tried calling up to them in Karamhul, which they seemed to understand. They offered us a magic scroll, which Diesa said contained a fairly powerful spell. We traded them a couple of potions and some gold pieces for it. The giant we traded with mentioned his treasure hoard, then quickly backtracked and made sure we were aware there was no such hoard. Either way they seemed friendly enough, so nobody was of a mind to try and steal from them. They helped us cross the river and we continued on our way until we found another cave. This one we decided to explore. We were quite close to the vale of the sidhewair, so we weren’t far from a relatively safe place to rest should anything happen. The cave smelled pretty foul, Prudence and I were able to identify the scent as that of trolls. Moving further in we started to hear a piercing scream and hurried deeper. We rounded a corner into the deepest part of the cave, through which we could see firelight. I was worried that whoever was screaming was being cooked alive so I was perhaps not stealthy in my approach and the trolls noticed us and rushed out. I slipped around the trolls to find the person in danger, a young-looking sidhewair woman, bound and covered in seasonings and spices. She seemed to recognise me as an alseid and praised my coming to save her. As I looked back to the group I saw Diesa and Prudence being battered and cornered against a wall. One of the trolls knocked Prudence to the floor and I dashed back to help her. I won’t ever watch her die again. I channeled the healing magics she taught me to harness to raise her, and simultaneously channeled my own fury into a wall of fire to defend her and Diesa. It wasn’t much longer before the trolls were defeated. Diesa retrieved the armour and weapon of their leader, and the sidhewair woman Mintina was beyond grateful to us, offering to lead us back to her village. Prudence and I left the cave ahead of the group, after I confirmed that she was all right. It’s been a while since that day, but the effects linger strongly. We made it safely to the gnomish vale, and were brought to speak with the king: Jorsten III. Mintina introduced us and explained what we had done for her and the king seemed thrilled by our saving one of his people. We explained our mission, and our desire to establish good relations with him and his village. He was more than happy to offer us space to set up a camp for our expeditions. Diesa looked into what resources we could trade with the sidhewair to strengthen our ties, while I asked about some of the other treasure hunter groups. The party from Rzhlev had passed through the vale already, while a group of Orogs had been spotted following the river about a week past. They all appeared to be heading North. There was also supposedly a group of alseids in the mountains that was there to tame some hippogriffs. We were given accommodations, and we opted to rest for a week or so to recover our strength and magic. Prudence and I camped outside rather than try to stay in the cramped, stone halls. Too reminiscent of bad memories. The sheep were pleasant company though. During our stay Agatha and Diesa had an encounter with the court mage, Nyqaryn, and had been shrunk to gnome-size temporarily. We also learned the names of the giants we encountered: Kolver and Rinder. Prudence and I got to spend some time flying around the vale. I could genuinely spend hours up there just riding the winds with her, though I might forget about my responsibilities after too long. After our rest we set back off into the mountains, opting to follow the other groups North as we figured they may have already checked the Southernmost point, marked 1 on our map. On the way Prudence woke me up in the night. Something was stalking our camp. Heavy footsteps almost like hooves and a rustling of branches, which was unusual considering the lack of trees in the area. We waited a bit and a strange dragon-like creature that looked to be made of bark, leaves and flowers peeked over the ridge above our camp. We called out to it in Sylvan and it immediately scurried away, and did not reply to our calls in Sylvan, Sidhelien or Druidic. Thinking it to be harmless we let it be. During my watch I heard it again and woke Prudence to watch with me. This time I wanted to pretend not to have seen it, to see what it would do. It blew a cloud of pollen or spores over Agatha and Diesa, who were still sleeping. It didn’t appear to do much to Diesa but Agatha started to toss and turn. The dragon ran off, giggling to itself before Agatha woke up in a cold sweat. Apparently she’d suddenly had a terrible nightmare, I don’t think she slept well after that. At least the dragon’s intentions were mostly harmless, if cruel. In the morning we saw an oleander bush on the ridge above where we’d been camping. It shouldn’t have been able to grow in such a place and looked suspiciously similar to the flowers on the dragon. I left it a note in Sylvan to imply to it that we could have easily played a trick on it in return, but chose not to disturb it. Early the next day we encountered a strange old man, sat on a rock. We called out to him, he seemed to be a regular old hermit man named Eldred. He’d been out here studying magic by experiencing this place where the mebhaighl was strong. He wasn’t a fey in disguise and generally seemed to be honest about his intentions. We traded him some food, a winter cloak and a diamond for some valuable information and a page from an old journal. He told us that he’d seen a group pass by recently that went East, as though to the point marked 3 on our map, but they they returned and headed North. We figured this meant that points 1, 2 and 3 had been searched already. He also told us that Yggwilv’s Horn was supposedly the tallest mountain in the range, though he wasn’t sure if it was North or South of there. The lost cave was supposedly South of the Horn though, following a narrow track that leads to its entrance. The cavern itself is rumored to be a nexus of old primordial powers, powerful elemental magic, and primordial creatures may lurk in the tombs. The stained, weathered page apparently fell out of the journal of a traveller who had found the caves and survived. The hermit had seen him travel up from the South, implying that the cave was South, not North! If that’s true then this clue would likely give us a lead on the other groups. We thanked the hermit and set off South again. On the way Prudence and I took to the skies again to scout for Iggwilv’s Horn. We spotted two peaks that seemed to be about the same height, it was hard to tell which was taller, if either. Both were South of us. As we approached that direction we saw a plume of smoke from one of the peaks, and a flock of flying creatures diving around the source of it. We decided to leave that peak alone and investigate the other one, as we figured the smoke was a camp of one of the other treasure hunter groups. As we camped out I noticed a creature flying our way on my watch. It was flying unnaturally, as though it was injured or sick. It turned out to be a hippogriff, which crashed near our camp, waking everyone up. It asked for help, even after I healed its wounds. From what I gathered there were some people that had captured members of its flock. I misinterpreted what it was saying and thought that it was being done by goblins. I looked to the group and explained this. Prudence could tell that I was pained by their plight and would have a hard time being pulled away from helping them. The group agreed, mostly because of the prospect of getting to fight goblins. We climbed the peak the next day and found not goblins, but half-orogs. They seemed surprisingly friendly and hospitable, and explained that they were capturing hippogriffs to train as military mounts by taking their chicks and luring the adults down, then poisoning them to prevent them from fighting back effectively. Diesa seemed content with this and didn’t want to disrupt their livelihood. I didn’t want to cause a big argument with her right there and then, but I couldn't accept just turning around and leaving them to it. Maybe I would have agreed with her at one time, but spending so long among nature had changed my perspective. She might see people and gold as mattering more than “just animals” but the lines are a bit more blurred for me now. We managed to come up with a compromise: Prudence offered them work as militia in Bardenhold. They wanted proof of her station before accepting, but weren’t opposed to it. After I expressed my desire to see the hippogriffs released they asked for a down payment to ensure we were serious. I threw them some gold and was given the keys to let the captured adults and chicks return to the flock. I don’t really care if anyone thinks I’m soft or unrealistic or whatever for caring about these creatures as much as I do. They asked me for help and I refused to ignore that. My sister wouldn’t have ignored it.

Session 289 (Mission 3R): Meldranth, The Fake White Dragon Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch - Level 7, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Rendi Theocus - Level 5, Pixie Druid (Hazelchan84) Brammund - Level 4, Dwerren Wizard (Tiwpe) Galena Abanâthu - Level 8, Aasimar(Dwerren) Rogue/Bard (Zilarrezko) Thorg Sabertooth - Level 7, Half-Orog Barbarian (Darvius) Now that I wasn’t being distracted by someone calling me for help I was able to resume my efforts to resolve the Selkie issue for totally benevolent and selfless reasons. The pixie was back, which was good as the rest of the group seemed a little questionable. One just wanted to kill things, which isn’t really helpful usually. Anyway, I explained things to the group. Two of them had no way to swim properly, so we’d have to make a detour to help them. Selvie came with us to help us find the way to her home. We picked up Kryzi and sailed North. We had to go to Selkie Rock first. We got dropped off nearby and Kryzi took us the rest of the way. Selvie recognised the place and we told her about our last encounter here where we saved Anabla. The new guys looked in rocks and god seal coats of their own. Finally ready, we looked at the map to figure out the best way to get to the Syrens. We still haven’t actually gone to see them to let them know we’re out here trying to help them, so we definitely should have been going to do that. Kryzi carried us along, but some people didn’t want to sleep on the sea, so we had to land to sleep. Then the devil orog said we should just stay on the land because he moves faster there. Turns out that you can get places faster by just walking faster. Who knew?! We passed by some polar bears which wanted food. I think some of the others wanted to kill them, but there was really no point. I didn’t want to waste magic fighting something that just wanted food when we had plenty of spare food. Eventually they handed over some rations to give them. Honestly with how reluctant they were you’d think they didn’t actually want to do a mission and just wanted to murder random creatures all day to take bits of their bodies. The Cohort really needs to step up their entry standards. If I got in then they really have issues. During the night I saw the bears again, hanging around the area. They left us alone though, which was nice of them. Next day we were almost at the point where we were going to get onto the sea when something huge came out of the sky towards us. It was a massive white dragon with scales and feathers and such. I don’t think feathers on a dragon are normal, but then neither is witch hats on pixies so I wasn’t going to judge. She called herself Meldranth, Lady of Ice, also known as the White Dragon. She said there was an imposter out there called Nasaadi, the Snow Dragon. We tried to just carry on our way, but the dragon asked about Kryzi, and thought we were Selkies. It wasn’t listening to anything I had to say, which was rude, and then it picked up Selvie and said she’s make a good addition to her hoard, which was even more rude. We did everything we could to try and get her back and escape to the sea but it turns out dragons are really, really strong. Nobody died but Selvie got knocked out and taken away.  Nobody really knew what to do. I came up with an idea but I don’t think people trusted me very much. I have no idea why, considering my last idea saved people weeks worth of trouble. I followed my pixie senses and found a circle of standing stones with old magic runes on them. There was a statue of that Fredrick Giles person again. I knew that portals normally need sacrifices to open them, but this statue person wasn’t the type for blood, especially blood from small cute animals. They were a good cook though, so we went looking for ingredients, foraged some nice vegetables, fruits, cheeses and meats and made a nice soup. We sacrificed the soup and the portal opened up! I led everyone through to meet with the Queen of Witches and the Queen of Night and Magic. I totally wasn’t worried about it. I told them about what had happened. They didn’t seem too surprised that Selvie had been kidnapped again. I guess it happens to her a lot. They did refer to Meldranth as the Snow Dragon, told us Nasaadi was the true White Dragon. Obviously she would tell it the other way since she apparently really, really hates Nasaadi. As soon as she doesn’t have something or someone I need I’m going to mock her relentlessly over that. Anyway, the queens offered us help, but needed some time to get it ready. I spent a day looking at the runes around the portal. I know that the world and the Feywild are connected, just a bit distant. I figure the runes there are meant to pull the mebhaighl connection closer in that place. Maybe I could copy them… make my own Feywild connection at the tower. Would be really useful. The bookish dwerren was looking at them too. I think he was interested in old magic, but I’m not teaching him. I barely have the patience to learn it, teaching sounds even more dull. Next day we were called back. The queens gave us a fey blood contract to work out with the dragon to get Selvie back. There was totally no cost for their help as long as I do what I was going to do anyway. We had a big long talk about what we could offer the dragon, or how we could word the contract to trick her. Eventually we didn’t come up with anything that good, and the other dwerren offered some powerful item she had that could revive people. The queens warped us straight to the dragon’s lair and we walked right on in. She seemed surprised we’d made it there so soon, sat on her big pile of gold and items and stuff with Selvie in a cage. I goaded her a bit by saying she was missing some things that she couldn’t just get by herself, then showed the contract when she became interested. I put forward our terms: we get Selvie back immediately, safe and unharmed, and we get allowed to leave, also safe and unharmed. She asked what she got in return and we offered the token. After some back and forth she accepted, though we had to add a clause for her to not go hunt down the person it came from to try and get more. We killed a bunny and took the token out of its stomach to hand over and we got Selvie back. She was pretty shaken up, but Cordie doesn’t leave a person behind! Especially when whoever took that person was insufferably arrogant.  We went back to the Cohort after so Selvie could be sent back for the time being. I’m not sure if I should bring her next time, she’ll probably just get kidnapped again. I do know that I’m going to make the location of that dragon’s lair public knowledge, and ensure everybody knows her as Meldranth: The Fake White Dragon, second to Nasaadi, The Actual Snow Dragon And Don't Believe When She Says Otherwise. Since dragons like their obnoxiously long titles, I'm sure she won't mind this one.

Session 287 (Mission SPECIAL): Wings Over Tsojcanth Present: Medi Eirwen - Level 8, Alseid Druid (Serephen) Prudence Duskhart - Level 8, Alseid Druid (Lena C.) Agatha Duskhart - Level 8, Human Sorcerer/Warlock (Summer) Diesa Gemfire          - Level 7, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard (Zilarrezko) Amaida          -   Level 1/2, Thylean Nymph Druid (Hazelchan84) The party are rewarded with 1,000 kraken's booties for making progress on their mission. Combat XP 180XP Quest XP 750XP RP XP 1,000XP + 1,000XP for recruiting the Han-Orogs Exploration XP 2,000XP Log XP 986XP to Medi Total XP 4,930XP to Prudence, Agatha, Diesa, and Amaida 5,916XP to Medi Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Unit of Half-Orog Mercanries for Abbatuor Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 288+292 (Mission SPECIAL): Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Present: Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 11 (Adam B)  Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 7 (Spynx)  Green Knight; Fiend Paladin, lvl 1 (Hats4Cats)  HeN; Awnshegh Fighter, lvl 5 (Hazelchan84)  Jannis the Red; Brecht Fighter, lvl 7 (Physh)  Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 7 (Simon D)  Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 9 (Depraved Lunatic) The party were given some gifts at the end of the session by Sister Alkava. In addition to those HeN will be receiving more blood magic training. Cedrych and HeN both gained 1 failed death save. Combat XP 1,236XP + 1,339XP Quest XP 1,000XP + 3,000XP RP XP 1,500XP + 500XP Exploration XP 750XP + 250XP Log XP 1,915XP to Nils and Cedrych Total XP 7,030XP to Green Knight, and Sithric 9,575XP to HeN, Glenn, and Jannis 11,490XP to Nils, and Cedrych Renown, Fame, and Infamy Net 0 Renown with Blood Sister Alkava (lost from 288, and gained from 292, some rewards and punishments dealt to neautralize any leftovers). Cedrych gains +25 Renown (Blood Sister Alkava) as a representation of the favor he is still owed. Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 289 (Mission 3R): Meldranth, The Fake White Dragon Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch - Level 7, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Rendi Theocus - Level 5, Pixie Druid (Hazelchan84) Brammund - Level 4, Dwerren Wizard (Tiwpe) Galena Abanâthu - Level 8, Aasimar(Dwerren) Rogue/Bard (Zilarrezko) Thorg Sabertooth - Level 7, Half-Orog Barbarian (Darvius) Combat XP 500XP Quest XP 250XP RP XP 1,250XP Exploration XP 1,500XP Log XP 700XP to Cordie Total XP 3,500XP to Rendi, Brammund, Galena, and Thorg 4,200XP to Cordie Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Infamy (Meldranth), +10 Renown (Selvie) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 290 (Mission Thylea): The Beasts in the Mithral Mines Present: Phage (Kristen B) Hadrian Darkleaf (Hazlechan84) Nephenee (Serephen) The party had a number of items crafted for them by Volkan out of the corpse of The Megapede. Combat XP 300XP Quest XP 1,500XP RP XP 1,000XP Exploration XP 1,500XP Log XP 860XP to Phage Total XP 4,300XP to Hadrian, Nephenee 5,160XP to Phage Renown, Fame, and Infamy +0 Renown (Volkan) [used in session, but should still be added as 0], +1 Fame (Thylea) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 293 (Mission 3U): It was at this moment that Rordum knew Present: Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik, Paladin, 9, Depraved Lunatic Korak Flomhelm, Dwerren, Clerric, 12, Sloth Chikat Stonehaven, Dwerren Cleric 6, Hazelchan84 Aubrae Trevelyan, Human, Paladin, Level 6, Zilarrezko The party receive 2,000 old anuirean gold pieces as partial rewards from the Landgraf (tax free). Additionally the party receive a total of 200gp worth of rewards, gifts, thanks, and appreciations from various peoples during their Triumph after the defeat of Rordum. These amounts already have Angel's shares removed. The party also harvested the dragon's corpse. Combat XP 500XP Quest XP 3,000XP RP XP 1,000XP Exploration XP 3,000XP Log XP 1,500 to Eirena Total XP 7,500XP to Aubrae, Chikat, Korak 9,000XP to Eirena Renown, Fame, and Infamy 10 Infamy (Rordum), 1 Fame (Brecht), 7 Renown (Wierech) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 294 (Mission SPECIAL): Fire, Lightning, and a Whole Bunch of Goblins Present: Agatha Duskhart, Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 8, Summer Prudence Duskhart, Alseid, Druid, Level 8, Lena Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 8, Zilarrezko The party received rewards in session. Combat XP 1,666XP for defeating an army of about 200 goblins with just 3 people. Quest XP 1,500XP RP XP 1,250XP Exploration XP 1,250XP Log XP 849XP to Prudence Total XP 5,666XP to Agatha, Prudence, and Diesa 6,515XP to Prudence Renown, Fame, and Infamy +3 Renown (Grevesmuhl), +1 Infamy (Explictica Defilus), +3 Renown (Medoere), +1 Fame (Brecht) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 295 (Mission 3J): Darvius, Risk Assessment Manager of the Cohort Arcanum Present: Alvah Laurent; Anuirean Sorcerer/Bard, lvl 8 (Depraved Lunatic) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 12 (Hats4Cats) The party members receive 1500 golden flowers tax free for bringing in information, and setting up a meeting with this ant queen. Combat XP 1,100XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 1,250XP Exploration XP 1,250XP Log XP 1,120XP to Dragomir Total XP 5,600XP Alvah, Darvius 6,720XP to Dragomir Renown, Fame, and Infamy +5 Infamy (Aragnak), +3 Renown (Sielewode) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 294: Mission Special - Fire, lightning and a whole bunch of goblins went flying. Present: Agatha Duskhart,         Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 8, (Summer) Prudence Duskhart,     Alseid, Druid, Level 8, (Lena C) Diesa Gemfire,             Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 8, (Zilarrezko) So, it’s been some time since I’ve written a log, let’s see if I remember how. Originally the prospect for the mission was that we would take a group back up to the mountains and explore, but seeing as it ended up being simply me, my sister and Diesa we decided to do something a little easier instead. Diesa had knowledge of goblins, in Grevesmuhl, and thought that we could go out there and cull their numbers, help the local villages by cutting back on the raids. The ship dropped us off in Daugren.  To prepare we went to the castle to ask for permission to cast higher level spells, where we were greeted by the priestess, not the Herzog. She granted us up to the 3rd circle, even though I am capable of the 4th. Frankly I didn’t like her. She seemed terribly arrogant, like she thought she was more important than she was.  Anyway, we thanked her and went to see Diesa’s family, and her tavern; ‘The Tipsy Wagon’. It’s a lovely place. We spent the night there. In the morning the three of us set off towards the mountains where these goblins were last sighted. You can really start feeling the chill in the air, the beginning of winter out there. The party camped once, and as the second day drew to a close and we reached the foothills, before we could scout out and settle on a place to camp we were set upon by a whole swarm of goblins. There were so many.  Agatha set off a ball of fire that sent them flying, I called down a bolt of lightning from above. The swarm on the ground wasn’t that big of a problem, in fact we dealt with them pretty quickly.  The problem was the four other swarms up on the cliff edge, all starting to fire their arrows at us. We knew very quickly that we had to get into some cover at least, to negate some of the damage coming towards us. Unfortunately, the trees on one side of us were burning up larger and larger, thanks to Agatha’s fireball. The only upside was that it gave us some light to see by. I conjured up another cloud from which I can call down lightning. But the arrows kept coming. Diesa started to sneak closer to the cliffside, as me and Agatha kept attacking them with our magic.  An arrow took Agatha in the side and she fell, but I was right by her side. Healing her. Then I was angry, angry at the goblins for hurting my sister and knew that retreat was not an option anymore. Not for the goblins anyway. Diesa made her way up the cliff in a puff of smoke, and the goblins swarmed her, I lost sight of her for a moment when a large booming sound echoed out into the night. She sent a lot of them flying over the side. Only two stood up. But not for very long. One Agatha could just snipe with her spell, but the other ran. He was fast, so I needed to be faster. Having recently mastered my transformations to accommodate flight, I turned into a giant eagle. Soaring towards the cliff where the goblin ran. Diesa, having been already up there was right in front of me, and found the only goblin that managed to run. He went into the nursery where we finished it off.  However. The nursery was not empty, and we were left with about 35 juvenile goblins. Small as pixies. None of us had the heart to kill them, and if we turned them over to the authorities they would just end their lives. Diesa remembered that there was a friendly goblin village in Medoere. We could take them there. So we set off from Daugren and gave the little goblins a better chance at a better life. - Countess Prudence Duskhart of Abbatour

Session 293: It was at this moment that Rordum knew…   Adventurers Present: -Aubrae Trevelyan; Anuirean Paladin, lvl 6 (Zilarrezko) -Chikat Stonehaven; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 6 (Hazelchan84) -Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren,Cleric, lvl 12 (SlothSlow) -Eirena Lightshadow; Rjurik Paladin, lvl 9 (Depraved Lunatic)   We assembled at the Cohort to go to Castle Adlersburg on the eve of the dead. The Landgraf Kier Adler wanted us to clear the castle out, so he can reoccupy and fortify it, to improve the resistance against the Gorgon. Not only that, but the heirlooms locked inside the city were things that he aspired to regain as well. Our group consisted of several holy warriors, which was only fitting for an expedition to a ghost castle. I quickly briefed the group on the mission and we went on without further quarrel. Once we arrived in Wierech, we were granted an immediate audience with the Landgraf. He informed us on most of the concrete information he had regarding this castle. Which was frankly not a lot. We asked him if he would be able to send us any assistance and he offered that we take his cousin, Angel Adler with us. After our conversation we head off in different directions. Korak and Aubrae went off to find more lore on the duke Kurt Adler, Chikat and I went to our respective churches to offer prayers. Aubrae and Korak found out that Kurt Adler was a very self-assured, almost arrogant person. While he was a just ruler, his arrogance cost him and his people their life – He taunted the Gorgon into attacking Castle Adlersburg, so sure of his fortifications, only to be decimated into the ground. After I prayed for a moment in Kirken’s Church, I returned to the group to meet our new, very eccentric companion, Angel. While she was a nice kid at heart, she was definitely Kurt Adler’s descendant, boasting enough self-confidence for a whole city. She also wore a quite… open outfit. I guess when every single piece of equipment is magical, you don’t really need a protective suit of armor, huh. Did I mention that she also had a crown that was almost radiating sunlight? Korak wished for us to go to the feywild to get aid from the fey in this endeavor. It seems that I was the only one who was opposed to this. Not only was it extremely risky in a time sense, since time flows differently in the feywild, it was also unnecessary. Fey are fickle, why would he count on them of all  people for help with this? ( No offence, Cordie ) However, it seems that noone else in the party is as exasparated about this as I am. So after sleeping the night in Wierech’s capital, we begin our journey to the feywild portal. Yikes. The journey is peaceful and we make it in 2 days. We parley with the Alseid and after a while of trial and error, Angel manages to open a portal to the feywild, without needing a dragontree branch. Kirken bless her. We travel through the feywild, seemingly lost. Since there wasn’t any sign pointing to the location of the Fey, we had no choice but to wander onward. After what seems like ages, we happen upon a strange creature wrapped in moss. Everyone but me moved aside, while I talked to the creature. I asked it if it could show us the way to the Fey and it transformed into a giant turtle, offering to take us there. Well, isn’t that fine and dandy. After a quick ride on the back of our turtle friend, we arrive at a giant tree. I can’t recall what it was called, but its acorns are apparently the source of everoaks. Greeting us there was the Fey, Fhiele. A fickle creature, as was to be expected. She was or was not willing to help us. Korak tried to go along with its whims, but ultimately failed to get any help for this mission. Chikat however got the drift of how the Fey thinks, showing her some tricks and getting the boon of a few castings of the Heartstop spell, in the form of powder that will apparently make you taller as a side effect. We debate for a while wether the Fey puts us back into our world several years or months later, but we manage to convince her to send us back just a day later. Great, 3 days lost to these shenanigans. After returning from the feywilds, we continue on our journey, making haste to arrive in time for the day of the dead. While our first few days of travel weren’t eventful, what happened on the last day of travel was exciting enough for the rest of these days. The Copper Dragon, Rordum, titled the eternal one, suddenly landed next to our group, stating that we would die now. Undeterred, we dismounted and engaged Rordum. Between our attacking it and it focusing it’s ire on me, Rordum was quickly overwhelmed. We gave Rordum a chance to surrender multiple times, but they refused and were thus slain shortly after. While it gives me no joy to have gained a dragons ire, I guess it’s carcass was going to prove useful in procuring items that will aid in our survival against the next assault of Rordum. We debate wether we should return with simply this dragon carcass. Angel seemed to get cold feet and wanted to get back home. That was my impression at least. We ultimately vote to hide the corpse and continue on with our mission however, as it would be ridiculous for us to return after having travelled so much. We enter the perimeter of Castle Adlersburg, which gives the word ruin a whole new meaning: the construction, while once probably elegant and sturdy, had given up and rubble was decorating every wall that we came by. One by one, ghosts began appearing, as if they always had been there. You could see spirits that clearly belonged to a certain group of citizens, from farmers to aristocrats. Guess in the afterlife, there is no group division. We travel back and forth, from the castle entrance, through Sera’s temple to the castle keep. We found nothing but rubble there, so we retreated to the temple, which was spewing red mist from an underground entrance. We climb down the ladder and find ourselves in front of a probably desecrated temple of Sera. A golden scale was imprinted in the ground, flanked by statues depicting the goddess. To the right of the entrance was a small altar to pray at. Korak informed us that there were other statues in place of these in the shadow world, dedicated to the Gorgon. He warned Angel not to pray here, to which she begrudgingly agreed. We have Chikat use his holy symbol to open the front door, after Korak disable the trap plaguing it. We begin our exploration of the temples insides. I must say, this temple is more a maze than a temple. On a passage to the far left, we happen upon a rug, which we just recently suspected to be a mimic. To prove my point and to check if something was actually under the rug, I tugged at it and sure enough, it tried to strangle me. Korak ripped the rug off me in a swift fashion and just as we began to give it hell, Korak cried out for us not to damage the rug, as he wanted to sell it off to someone who likes rugs. Makes me think back to that weirdo in Zobeck who had… a very intimate relationship with his rugs. I defuse the battle by dispelling the smothering rug, which allows Korak to roll it up and stow for later transportation. The next important thing we find is a living area with a functioning, warm bath, as well as freshly spawning food and made beds. A perfect place for relaxation, if the ruins weren’t haunted and all. Angel was just about to undress and bathe, before Aubrae manages to convince her to bathe at a later time, as we still had work to do. Was I this carefree as well as a teenager..? In any case, our next discovery was that of the hoard of Sera. To open it, you need to solve a puzzle first, the instruments are 3 scales, one has gold ore in it, one had a stone inscribed with ‘joy’ in it. To solve the puzzle, you have to take a careful look at the tenets that Sera stands for. These are copied to the bottom of the log. The tenets required to solve the puzzle are highlighted. After solving the puzzle, the door to Sera’s hoard opened. A barrier of acidic goop and magic was blocking the entry. While walking inside was possible, it was burning your body as you were treading through. As Korak informed us a short while later, there was also an invisible maze inside the room. So I guess that to get through to the hoard, you will need some protection against acid and skilled thieves, as well as a potent spellcaster, who can detect the invisible maze inside the goop and lead the thieves. This sounds like the perfect job for Eagle-eye. After confirming that we will not tamper with this barrier this day, we continued further, into the only room we hadn’t looked through yet up north. And sure enough, what we stumbled upon seemed to be worth all the trouble we went through. The wife of the Duke Kurt Adler was sitting there on the thrown, accompanied by her jester. While her jester seemed especially out of it, the Duchess was willing to talk, happy to do so even. But only Chikat knew the language of the Brecht Nobles, so he had to speak on his own, translating for us as we went. The Duchess informed us of Kurt Adler’s brazen attitude, how he kept taunting the Gorgon to attack his fortifications, dooming everyone inside the castle to die. Not only that, the Gorgon has apparently bound the soul of Kurt Adler to himself, turning him into a fearsome paladin of the Gorgon. Sounds like a terrible, terrible fate. One of the Gorgon’s mightiest lieutnants, the King of Cockroaches, was stationed deeper inside this castle as well, with his troops of course. And in addition to all this, a powerful demi-lich has been posted in the castle as well, binding the souls of many of the ghosts in here to his service. If he were to be defeated, the duchess among most of the other ghosts would vanish from this place, finally at peace. This should be something to consider. We were warned to not attack castle Adlersburg lightly, however. While the Gorgon might not pay much heed to losing a few soldiers or even someone raiding Sera’s hoard, if we were to take down his stationed guards and delve deeper into the castle, we might run into the risk that he himself will show up in this castle, to get rid of the nuisances with his own hands. Whoever wishes to do something significant within the castle perimeter, PLEASE be very careful about what you get yourself into. If you underestimate the danger of this place, you will most likely be punished for it. So take great care when delving into Castle Adlersburg. Lastly, the Duchess shows and tells us about the ways to the deeper floors of this complex underground bastion. There are two doors into the second floor, one being a dangerous flaming door of death leading into the forges of Sera, the other being more commonly used by the Gorgon’s soldiers. The third floor is where the King of Cockroaches will be found, with the fourth floor being the “resting place” of Kurt Adler’s ghost, the super scary paladin. Sidenote, the duchesses thick accent made it difficult for me to understand her. I’m not entirely sure if the floors are exactly setup as told. I am certain that soldiers and forges are stationed in the second floor though. We talk to the Duchess a bit, about how we could release her into eternal peace, or the exact nature of her ailment. She thanked us for our concern, but believes that her soul will simply vanish once we kill the demi-lich. After saying our goodbyes and farewells, we made our way back to our dragon corpse, to parade into the city and deliver Angel and our intel back home, safely. All in all, we had a quite successful mission, dispite our initial disagreement at the beginning. Thankfully, the Fey wasn’t particularly out of it when we visited her, so we were spared the embarrassment of missing our window of opportunity for this mission. We gathered some nice intel about the whole castle situation and setup for expeditions to come. Whoever attends a mission in Castle Adlersburg, please be sure to read this log, to be prepared for the dangers within! That is all. -Eirena Lightshadow Tenets of Sera: ·          War is good for profit. ·          Peace is good for profit. ·          Take joy from profit, and profit from joy. ·          Poor company makes for empty pockets. ·          Nature decays, but gold lasts forever. ·          Money breeds money. Gold breeds gold. ·          Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack . ·          Friends are good. Gold is better. ·          A bird in hand is better than two in the bush. Tenets in Bold are important for solving the scale puzzle within Castle Adlersburg

Session 296: TuRn BaCk! ThIs Is NoT tHe WaY! Adventurer's present: Agatha Duskhart,         Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 8, (Summer) Prudence Duskhart,     Alseid, Druid, Level 8, (Lena C) Diesa Gemfire,             Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 8, (Zilarrezko) Medi Eirwen,                Alseid , Druid, Level 8, (Sere) Lucan Yaeldrin,            Hannar Sidhe, Wizard, Level 3, (Mekapix) We gathered together at the Cohort with the intent of searching for a hidden cave that houses some sort of artefact. I didn't know what to make of the group at first, but felt my pride a bit wounded when it was insinuated that my painting wasn't useful after having just met them. Though, I'll grant I could have done a bit of a better job in this mission. We geared up with some potions and material components before heading off. Our first stop was to the Vale of the Gnomes to meet the baron there, as well as the gnomish king to inform him that the group would be continuing the mission. We were warned of other treasure hunters that were beginning to swarm the mountains, looking for the same cave we were. There had also been reports of giant snake with silver fur that had been spotted within the area. Before we headed off, we needed winter cloaks in order to traverse the area. After asking the baron, we found that there were gnome triplets that could help us obtain the cloaks we needed, though we weren't prepared for how. The triplets would communicate by speaking one word of their sentance in turn, and when we asked if they could supply us with cloaks, they asked for a pearl in return. We gave them a pearl, and one of the triplets held it in her hand whilst the other two smashed it with hammers, breaking the pearl to release the cloaks, but also breaking the poor child's hand! Understandably, the injured child ran off, and Agatha pursued her. It's a little difficult to know what was going on, as the two remaining gnome children began speaking, saying things like "It's fine." Or "I'm okay." Eventually Agatha and the third child returned, though her hand seemed better. I'd love to know more about the three of them, I really would, they're very intriguing. We left the Vale of the Gnomes, where Medi informed me of the six potential sites where the cave was suspected to be. She then told me that there had been a hermit who had seen a survivor from the cave we were looking for, and obtained a journal from him that we now possessed. It was believed that the cave we were looking for was not actually at one of the six suspected sites, but further south at one of two mountains, so that was the direction we headed in. We stopped by the first mountrain, where the group had found a herd of hippogriffs. Medi was able to communicate with them and find out that the hippogriffs had seen danger in the area, but the danger was mainly the cold climate and natural creatures within it, nothing else. We then fed the hippogriffs and I took the opportunity to start a nice painting of them before we camped for the night. In the morning, we set off for the second mountain. As we approached, we were approached by three hill giants who, after the use of a scroll of Tongues to help communication, wanted to see if any of us were strong. If so, we could pass, if not, they'd eat us. Diesa was able to handle this without issue and proved her strength to them. They let us pass, though we did ask them if others had come through, which they confirmed that two green skinned strong small folk had come through. Sounded like Orogs, and probably were by what we found later. Remember that bit. After this, we were finally able to find the cave we were after, and were ambushed by stirges, though Prudance cleared most of them with a well timed Moonbeam. We investigated where they had come from, and found small holes with dry, ripped up body parts in them, but found nothing else. That was when we met the most vicous trap I may ever know. Six stone heads were in the cave, each one with a different coloured gem inside. Each head sat next to a cave tunnel, and approaching each tunnel caused the head to say "Turn back, this is not the way." We heard this saying many times over the next two hours, too many times! Agatha also found out the hard way that, if you tried to remove the gem from within their mouths, they'd bite you pretty hard. Just one more annoyance these carvings added to our journey. We managed to get a peek around some of the tunnels. The tunnel next to the head with the amber gem had a number of tracks going back and forth, including foot traffic, dragmarks, and claw marks. We didn't investigate what was down the tunnel next to the gem with the purple gem. Agatha sent her spider familiar down the route next to the blue gem, were it was eaten by a roper. The tunnel next to the deep red gem had strange and curious creatures that called themselves Pechs. They seemed a little confused and when we mentioned Iggwilv, they freaked out and returned to their tunnel. We didn't really investigate the tunnel next to Olive gem, and we heard the sound of water coming from the tunnel next to the dark pink gem, but ultimately decided to leave it. After a lot of deliberation, consulting the journal, puzzling out any hidden meanings, and yelling at the stone heads, we headed down the path next to the amber gem. After some investigating, we founda room that had a few weapons in it, one of them magical! Though, when entering the room, a large golem made of clay attacked us, and had seemed to absorb an Orog. Probably the one I mentioned earlier. We managed to eventually defeat it, mainly due to Medi creating a wall of fire, Diesa hitting it with her weapon, and Agatha blasting it. I'm rather ashamed to admit I was of little help in that battle... But after we had dispatched it, we carried on further into the cave. We found a large cave with a number of giant bats, though they seemed to be very distracted. It was at this point that we realised that we'd been away for some time, and now that we had found what we believe to be the correct cave and path, we would return to the Cohort and return at a later date. As we were leaving, the heads spoke again and they were asked to please stop. We then found out that "please" seemed to be the magic word, as that made them keep their mouths open and allowed us to take the gems inside. They seem to be worth some good coin, so hopefully we can use them to fund the next trip to these caves. All in all, we may not have got much done but at least we can assure ourselves we're at the right location. In the meantime before we head there again, I'm going to study a few new spells, I felt rather powerless while we were in that cave and I don't want to feel that way again. - Lucan Yaeldrin

Session 301 (Mission 3J): [The Fall of Mur-Kilad] Played on the 7th of August 2020! Present: Chikat Stonehaven; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 7 (Hazelchan84) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 13 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 12 (SlothSlow) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 9 (Depraved Lunatic) By request of Dragomir Black, due to sensitive information contained in this log, I request that this document be restricted from Galena Abanâthu until she has spoken with an appropriate member of the Cohort Arcanum who has been informed on the current situation with Mur-Kilad. Some things should be told face to face and not by reading my report.  Aye right so good news first, we found the entrance to the Black Pyramid and have a way of getting there! Now for the bad news, I started another mission for Queen Galanhel, it was nice to see Korak join us for a change but currently, these missions seem like they're just to keep me occupied. Darvius is insistent that we are taking steps to help Kaerava but I don't see it. The war is still ongoing with the Gorgon and his forces with little to no end in sight. I’m pulling my hair out and I don't even know what this Gorgon looks like. Queen Galanhel still has hopes of bringing the forces of Mur-Kilad into the war but that is now no longer possible. I think I'm starting to see how the Gorgon plans and moves and it's terrifying and now I’ve convinced more than ever this has all been a distraction. I’ve been talking about this with Nalu, she just shrugs at my musing or maybe I’m overthinking things.  It has been common knowledge thanks to some individuals, that I was on the mission to kill the vampire. It was only six weeks or two months after that mission that I ran into Malise, Dymphna and Ailbhe. Ever since they tricked me and kidnapped Kaerava, I went straight to the Sielwode and began aiding them the best I could. The number of times I have walked through Mur-Kilad and only met small amounts of forces or for the most part nothing. A good example of this, on this mission we ran into a ghost looking troll that could only be killed with Psychic damage and a creature I think it was called a Subeck. A reptile looking man demon. They are key parts of the Gorgons forces yet we saw traces and camps of hundreds moving through Mur-Kilad but only ran into two. Directly looking for us. I’m now wondering if this was just a test. Another example was why traveling to the Ant Queen we passed an army of 200 goblins. I’m not sure if they followed but I’m guessing our presence hasn't gone unnoticed. I’ve been trying to think about what the Gorgon expected me to do after he kidnaps Kaerava and so far I think I have done everything he would have expected, well apart from the Margreve. I believe Mur-Kilad is a distraction; it was signs of hope without any risk. Its removal was planned with a replacement and I don't believe it's a coincidence that Galanhel heard the same information about the kidnapping of the Mur-Kilad king around the same time the Gorgon posted about Primordial activity.  Anyways thoughts aside we did meet again with the Ant Queen Aoibhin trying to start a relationship. Currently, without getting Galanhel to meet with Aoibhin and finding a place of common ground it is looking impossible. Aoibhin informed us that the Gorgon was planning on wiping out the forces of Mur-Kilad as they have been plotting against him. The whole primordial thing. She has been promised the province of Mur-Kilad if she sides with the Gorgon and from the end of this mission, he may have fulfilled his part. It really did feel like that we were checkmated. His forces already patrol the area, buildings like the Golden Goblin are being built and the army's march freely. I don't believe there is little we could offer but I will leave that to Queen Galanhel to work out. One thing is for sure, if Aoibhin does side with the Gorgon then we cannot allow her to grow her hive. It took her only two months to replenish what she had lost and now with more room and food, her numbers will be an army on their own.  We're still trying to reach to Black Pyramid and the only way into Mur-Kalid that isn't controlled by the Gorgon.  To do so we had made a deal with Aoibhin for safe passage for one year on the condition we kill the Purple worm currently deep underground. The thing was massive and could take the damage from a whole army but thanks to some clever tactics we killed it without any real issue. The bigger problem was once dead getting the poison. Chikat was able to turn Korak into a huge creature and pull the worm out. We got plenty of poison from it but took valuable time that costs us more than we thought. It wasn't even just the worm, but the cave full and I mean full of ropers. We killed eleven of them in total but I think they took Sithric to the edge. He was having a bad day and I kinda snapped a little near the end. I was tired, angry and I really haven't been feeling myself. The grass from Sielwode helps. I was just walking right into the ropers and frying them to pieces. However, after a long trip through the caves we found the entrance Mur-Kilad. We found the guard posts left empty and signs of recent battle. Most of the weapons and armor had been taken but we did find a few pieces left behind and some gold. There was a fork in the road not too far in, to the east of the entrance, one of black mist and strange arcane energy. The other leads to the main city. Darvius scout ahead but got seen. The city had been defeated, sights of battle were hours old. I didn't want to mention to the others that the time we took in the caves might have made the difference by the gorgons forces. This whole mission so far had felt like we were too late to make a difference as it was. Adding more grief and blame wouldn't have helped. Darvius spotted undead Dweren zombies controlled by demons walking around the halls of Mur-Kilad. An army of the dead and the damned. Darvius was spotted scouting and we had to make a break for it, destroying the bridge on our way out to buy us some time.  The black mist we saw was confirmed to be the entrance to the Black Pyramid. We didn't think too much of it at the time but it could be possible many of the forces retreated into the Black Pyramid away from the assault. I will have to ask Darvius how many he saw but given how the forces were quick to gather their things and we saw very little behind, it is possible.  We escaped back to the Hive, Aoibhin had taken our barrel but I refused to trade for it, at the very least the Queen would be able to put this to good use. Sidhelien archers all firing purple worm poison would make for a stronger force. Aoibhin did keep the rest of the body of the purple worm for food and armour but I just wanted to get home. Darvius and Korak tried their best to make new negotiations afterward but Aoibhin is difficult to read. She keeps believing the Golden Goblin would be a safe place to meet but I still think it would be foolish. I was happy to see Nalu after returning to the Sielwode, she had stayed with Queen Galanhel given Aoibhin nature and threat. We explained everything to Queen Galanhel and presented her with the barrel of purple worm poison. Nalu wanted to claim it as her hoard, impossible to get anything valuable passed her. Once she realised we’re getting paid, watching her push the barrel toward the queen made me laugh for the first time all month. Not sure if she was joking or serious but nice to see her enjoying being a child, why would any of us want to grow up. Queen Galanhel is trading the poison with the Scorpions, the group that Gak Gak had a contract placed on us with. I’m sure she will be able to get some key targets removed. She offers us a reward for it and we still have plenty of poison leftover, valuable for trading so at least Nalu will be happy. More information had come in why we we’re away, Queen Galanhel had taken two provinces back, Annydwr and Ghyllwn.  but mainly due to the forces moving to centralize in Tuar LLyrien and Cu Haellyrd. She now talks of treating for peace but I don't see what will be gained from it. If Aoibhin sides with the Gorgon then time of peace becomes far more valuable to the Gorgon as Aoibhin will be able to create an army in a few seasons, Tuar LLyrien has to be reclaimed. Queen Galanhel still thinks the Mur-Kilad king would be a valuable ally, maybe not as much as before but he still might be worth saving.  Urghhh, this all hurts my head thinking about all of it. I now think it's possible that the plot to kill Aragnak might have just been for his brain as a final gift for Aoibhin, she would have been there exactly at the right time… I mean his hoard is valuable but there would be nothing even close to that kind of gift. Any greedy adventure might have gone through with it, hmm maybe he doesn't understand me? It doesn't matter, my goal is to find a way of rescuing Kaerava, I can worry about everything else after.  Dragomir Black & Nalu, the Voiceless Cohort Members

Session 299 (Mission Special): Treasure Beyond Measure Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 11 (Adam B) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 10 (Spynx) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 8 (Simon D) Raven Tonks Rowan; Hanner Sidhe Warlock, lvl 7 (Hazelchan84) Luna; Tabaxi Sorcerer, lvl 1 (Serephen) Rumour had reached my ear of a golem composed entirely out of gold and treasure. Naturally, my interest was piqued, so when Nils gathered a group to go after it, I was eager to tag along. Somehow, on a previous mission, he had been party to its creation and now was ordered by the Kallanon to clean up his mess. Glenn joined us, as did Raven the once-vampire, and a greenhorn by the name of Luna. The creature had been created by the Mad Maeve in Tuornen, so we set out to Anuirean lands. Before long, we arrived in Haes and sought audience with the Duchess. My companions requested magic access, and Nils inquired if there had been any news or rumours of the Golem. The Duchess was busy with the Anuirean civil war, but did tell us that it was rumoured that the golem was vulnerable only to adamantine and was resistant to magic. Adamantine arrows have long held a spot in my quiver, but the rest of the group was ill-prepared. We headed to the nearby Officer’s Quarters to look for an armory. Perhaps the Duchess would be willing to lend a weapon to our cause. Nils struck up a conversation with a doddering old man, the Duchess’ father, evidently. It became clear to me that the old coot had lost his mind. He rambled about a war between slugs and horses, golden birds and blue lions. Nils entertained his rambling for a while, but we quickly took our leave. We headed to the market district, but were quickly told that most of the weapons stock had been bought up as part of the war effort. We were advised to try the Trader’s Way, as it was frequented by wealthy merchants who may have something squirreled away. The place was quite posh, and although I may not look the part, I am fluent in the language of these people: coin. I ordered an expensive bottle of Sidhelien wine, and began to carrouse. I was drawn to the table of Saebra and Gavin Windsong, who were travelling merchants of some repute. They confided that most of their stock had been acquired by the Duchess already, but that they had a few choice items left. They advised us to visit their stall by the Brosen Royal Guildhall the following day. I left the rest of the bottle to them, and my companions and I retired for the night. In the morning, we found Gavin and Saebra at their stall. After some pleasantries, talk turned to business. I acquired five adamantine arrows of good quality. Though they charged a premium, I managed to negotiate a reasonable rate. These two were shrewd businesspersons, to be sure. We also purchased two vials of Adamantine Oil, which could temporarily, and cheaply, allow a weapon to function as one made of pure adamantine. With the day still ahead of us, we left Haes heading south. Our travel was largely uneventful, with the exception of finding a rather gruesome tree with frog-like horses hanged from its boughs. The distraction was unwelcomed, so we pressed on and after a few days we arrived in the village of Avanfare. They were hosting some sort of brewing festival, and the small hamlet was bustling with rowdy activity. Given her preoccupation with the war, the Duchess was unable to send someone to officiate the contest. However, Glenn and I were recognized as great heroes of Cerilia, and our group was asked to sit in judgment. The primary competition was between the provinces of Nabhriene and Elevesnemiere. Both the brews on offer were palatable, though paled in comparison to good Sidhelien wine. In the end, we voted for the sweeter ale of Elevesnemiere. This caused great joy for about half the attendees, and consternation for the others. We ended the night at the playhouse, as the playwright Miranelle Flaertes debuted her most recent work. Evidently, this Flaertes was some distant relative of the Duchess. The play told some tale from Tuornen’s history that about half the crowd found treasonous. By the end, half the playhouse seemed ready to fight, but we turned in for the night. In the morning, we awoke to a ruckus in the center of town. Two large groups of armed civilians were squaring off. The people of the Western Imperial Temple of Haelyn had Miranelle Flaertes bound in their midst, and their supporters were calling for her head. On the other side, the Militant Order of Kirken were trying to rescue her. Glenn approached and tried to use magic to defuse the situation. The group seemed to calm for a while, but the standoff was still tense. Nils suggested that each group nominate one champion to settle the conflict with a duel. Glenn, as an impartial cleric of Larame, would judge the victor. This seemed to appease the masses, and before long a duel was set up in the playhouse. The duel itself was brief, but grizzly, and in the end the champion representing the Western Imperial Temple of Haelyn stood victorious over the corpse of his opponent. Glenn quickly restored the woman to life. She was missing an eye, but would live to fight another day. Her name was Halie Goldstone, and she thanked Glenn for intervening on her behalf. After that, things seemed to calm down a bit, and we decided to get back on the road. Before we left, I plied the locals for rumors of the Treasure Golem. I found one man who told tales of adventurers heading off to a cave in the south-east. Those very few who did return arrived naked, stripped of all their belongings. The man thought we were fools for following in their footsteps, but all I could think of was all the loot that had been added to the hoard by those who came before us. We set off, following the road south-east, and before the end of the day we were approaching the lair of the golem. Nils said it had been confined to a place called the Cave of Bellamy. As we approached the cave, Glenn and I spotted some creatures in the underbrush. I had seen these small, purple felines before in the Margreve; they were Carbuncles. Fortunately, Glenn could speak their celestial tongue. At first, they told us that the creature was far too dangerous for us, but after some persuasion, we formulated a plan. We would melt some gold in a brazier to lure the creature out of its cave and then the Carbuncles would help us destroy it. Before long, the bait was set. We hid in the trees near the entrance to the cave, and Nils approached the entrance with the Keystone. From within, we heard the sound of metal, and a huge pile of coins and treasure slid forth from the cave. The carbuncles attacked the creature with beams of radiant energy, and the rest of us followed suit. Nils stood at the front line, and I peppered the thing with adamantine arrows from afar. After a few moments, the golem turned into an enormous whirlwind of coin. It moved with surprising speed over Nils and the carbuncles. Nils managed to stand fast, but a few of the Carbuncles were slain, with their gems being ripped from their bodies and absorbed into the storm. In this form, the golem was even more difficult to damage; slashes from Raven’s longsword and the pierces of my arrows did nothing, despite coming from adamantine weapons. The storm raged, knocking Raven down. Glenn was overwhelmed as well, with his armor and shield stripped clean off. Still, we fought on, and after a while the golem had tired itself out and coalesced back into its normal form. Now was the time to end this thing and claim our prize. Nils summoned holy wrath as he struck the creature. Glenn revived Raven, and they cast a spell that seemed to stop it in its tracks. Seizing the moment, Luna and I fired off a final barrage of arrows and magic. My arrows struck a weak point deep inside the creature, and all at once, the writhing mass of treasure stopped moving. The carbuncles tended to their dead and wounded while I began the laborious task of taking stock of our new-found wealth. We found thousands of gold worth of coins, mostly in the form of copper, almost a dozen magic items, and a veritable wealth of mundane masterwork armor and weapons. Just getting this massive pile of treasure back to the Cohort would be a mission on its own. We decided to enlist the Duchess’ help, and Glenn used sending to contact her. We spent a few days counting and sorting our haul until the Duchess’ man arrived. He was an elderly man called Arch Prelate Rover Eclair, and he had with him a retinue of one hundred men. Naturally, the Duchess wanted her fair share of the haul, and despite my protestations, we eventually settled on a tithe of twenty-percent. In addition, we would donate most of the mundane armor and weapons to the Duchess’ war effort. We traveled back to Haes with the convoy, and the Duchess held a great feast in our honour. If funding her war effort weren’t enough, Glenn asked to see the former Duke. He had been cursed by Mad Maeve years ago and his spirit inhabited the body of a hound. Glenn tried to use divine magic to undo the damage, but it was beyond his ability as a healer. As a final effort, he pleaded with his goddess, and evidently she deemed it worthy to intervene. The Duke was restored, but part of the curse was passed to Glenn in the form of Azrai’s blood. He also inherited a pair of dog’s ears which go quite nicely with his Halo. The Duchess was speechless, and brought forth an opulent golden chalice to give to Glenn as a gift for restoring her ancestor. Not bad for a few days' work.

Session 303: Lutharia's corrupted clergy Adventurer's Present Horus; Thylean Minotaur Barbarian, lvl 1 (Mekapix) Nephenee; Medusa Rogue, lvl 5 (Serephen) Hadrian Darkleaf; Cellwair Ranger, lvl 6 (Hazelchan84) We started the day by heading to the Commerce Gate. Nephenee and Hadrian had a mithril shirt that they had obtained from a previous mission that they wanted to sell, so I accompanied them. On the way, we came across a procession of people in mourning while holding a bronze cage holding a chained minotaur. Hadrian asked what had happened and the human said that some soldiers were attacked by the minotaur's tribe, and that the minotaur was to be enslaved and put to work in the colosseum for their "entertainment". A likely story, I expect those humans stepped into the tribe's lands with their usual attitude, thinking they own everything they step on. I had to leave once the old huan woman suggested I was Nephenee and Hadrian's slave, I despise that they treat us like this and, if I were to retaliate, I'd be punished. I will not deny that I was also bothered that neither Hadrian nor Nephenee stated I wasn't their slave. While Nephenee stated that it must be hard to be viewed as a monster, I doubt she is truly aware of just how poorly treated we can be. Regardless, we carried onwards to the Commerce Gate and were able to sell the shirt for a hefty sum. Nephenee apologized to me as I wasn't able to claim any of it, but I hadn't retrieved it, so I should not have earned from it. Afer speaking some more to the merchant, explaining we were from the Cohort and for hire, she mentiond that a temple to Lutharia was having issues about wine being stolen, so we left to investigate. We found the temple and entered to see a male and female human passionately kissing. Hadrian interrupted the two and  explained who we were and why we were here. The two of them were called Trellus and Septia Rallide, I wondered if they were siblings or mates, and it turns out that they were both. I wondered if this was human culture, but Nephenee seemed to be as confused as I was so perhaps not. Hadrian seemed particularly disgusted by the act and looked queezy for quite some time afterwards. The two sdeemed to recognise Hadrian and asked about some sort of special horn. Hadrian admitted he had it but when they offered to buy it from him, he adamantly refused and even seemed angered by it. After that, they explained that they were a priest and priestess of Lutharia, a titan who resides over the realms of dreams and the goddess of death. Known to be evil, but is still respected. They continued to tell us about the bandit attack. They ordered a few caravans of wine from the vineyard, but they never arrived. They wanted us to apprehend as many as we could, but not kill them. It seems that the way of Lutharia is to sacrifice people to her, and that is what these two wished to do. They offered 2000 drakmas if we brought them back alive, or 1000 drakmas if we killed them. We decided to take the job and left, but then our day took a strange turn. We were waved at by a, by human standards, beautiful human male. Nephenee and Hadrian seemed to think they he was waving to one of them, to which I joked that I was offended they had not considered he was waving at me, and so we approached him. His first move was to start touching my around my chest and commenting on my strength. He may have been waving at me after all. We got his attention off of my body enough to find that he was wondering if we had accepted the job offered by the worshippers of Lutharia. He led us through Mytros, explaining that there were rumours surrounding that temple. The rumours said that the worshippers of the temple had been kidnapping orphan or poor children off of the streets for their sacrifices. While he had not seen it himself, he said he had noticed the number of children from the lower class getting fewer and fewer. He parted ways with us and returned to the Siren's Roost, which was clearly a brothel, and made me a... suggestive offer. I was more confused than anything, being seen as a monster or slave to be made me unprepared for such an offer, but I will not be taking him up on his offer. After a talk at the Cohort to figure out a plan, we decided to find these bandits, but see if they had any involvement due to these rumours. The vineyard was run by some human that clearly enjoyed the soft life his workers and minotaur slaves had built for him. He said we were able to look around the area to find any clues. I searched for tracks, and managed to find a set of caravan tracks that lead down a side path. It lead to an overturned cart with wine spilled along the dirt. Nephenee and Hadrian investigated and discovered that the scene appeared to have been a fake attack. Most likely a lure for a trap, but we had no other leads to follow, so we followed the tracks further as quietly as possible. We discovered a small camp of "bandits". They all had weapons of poor quality, and only a few had armour, the rest just wore clothing. They were clearly novices with their equipment, and were just commonfolk who decided to grab a sword or two. Nephenee approached first, her weapons sheathed and hands up so we could speak to them, and the rest of us followed suit. The one leading them was a human male called Lukos. After assuring him we were on a job for the church of Lutharia, but not their allies, he sat down with us. He and his group were trying to lure in members of the Lutharian clergy to make them "disappear" in retaliation for the temple taking their children. Lukos confirmed that their children had been going missing, Lutharian church members had been spotted in the area, and that there was a basement area that was off limits to everyone. We decided we would help and worked together to come up with a plan to help. We wouild tie up the "bandits" and present them as prisoners, but Nephenee would be among them, using magic to disguise herself as one of them. They would be imprisoned and wait until nightfall to attempt an escape, while me and Hadrian would provide distractions from the main hall of the temple. The plan worked better than expected and the prisoners were taken to the basement, while me and Hadrian were paid and remained upstairs. Hadrian spoke to the priestess about the special horn, and then we pretended that we would read the scriptures of Lutharia as we were "interested". We were able to do so until the night came, and only two clergymen were left in the temple. As a distraction, I lured one of the clergymen outside, planning to knock him unconscious and hide him in the cart. The Nara appeared and began barking at me, I tihnk it was part of Hadrian's plan after I left the room. Regardless, this attracted the attention of the other clergyman, and I tried to pretend that Nara had most likely seen something down an alley. They told me to investigate whilst one of them remained by the cart and the other returned in the temple. I knew I had to act quick, so I pretended to see something in another direction so I could smash a pot of acid onto the clergyman's head, but he saw through my lie and a fight broke out. I killed the clergyen with Nara's assistance, and was trying to hide the bodies as the rest of the "bandits" appeared. I sent some of them to Nephenee and Hadrian, and told the others to help me hide the bodies off of the streets. By the time the bodies were hidden and I got to the basement, Nephenee and Hadrian had managed to defeat the rest of these cultists and free the captives. Taking some time to search, Nephenee discovered a letter from someone or sopmething called the "Golden Eyed Serpent" stating that they were going to take in children from an orphanage. I can guess why... After the search, we supplied the commoners with some money so that they could get away and hire the Cohort again if needs be. After business was concluded,we returned to the Cohort. When we returned, there were many corpses around the area. The cohort had been attacked by cultists in dark robes while we were away. We suspected that those priests from the temple of Lutharia had done this, aiming for the horn that Hadrian had kept hidden away. We told Valthribra such as she has stated that she will look into it. All in all, I feel that my first mission for the Cohort can only be called a success, and I look forward to more interesting work in future. Hopefully I'll be able to swing my sword a bit more next time. - Horus

Session 303 (Special Mission/Thylea): “The Infiltration”  Played on the 9th of August 2020!  Present: Hadrian Darkleaf; Cellwair Ranger, lvl 6 (Hazelchan84)   Nephenee; Medusa Rogue, lvl 5 (Serephen)  Horus; Thylean Minotaur Barbarian, lvl 1 (Mekapix)  We introduce ourselves at the Cohort in Mythros. First order of business, selling the Mythril chain shirt, from the Mithral mines, to a merchant in the city. We head toward the Commerce Gate, Bypassing a funeral for minotaur killers, and Meeting a Fancy looking Merchant named Eudokia. We negotiate the price for the Shirt. And she gives us a lead to a job regarding missing wine from the temple of Lutheria.  We head over to the Temple of Lutheria, where we meet Trellus and Septia Rallide, who are brother and sister and husband and wife. They tell us that the wine was stolen on the way from the Vineyards of Mythros. They also inquire about the Horn of Balmytria, which made me very nervous. When we leave, a half naked man makes eyes at our group. For some reason the others follow him and he tells us of rumors of kidnapped children and such, snatched and stashed under the Temple. He leads us through the city to the Siren’s Roost where he invites Horus in with him. Horus declines, and we head back to the Cohort to discuss our options and check on the Horn.  We decide to head out the Vineyards, with no intentions of picking sides. When we get their we are “greeted” by a pretentious vineyard owner that basically said he didn’t care about anything regarding the wine after he packs it up. We followed some caravan tracks down a hill and found a turned over cart that looked like a poorly laid out scene, so was clearly a trap. We continue to follow the trail when come across a small camp and meet the Person in charge, a Warrior named Lukos. He explains why they took the wine and how the temple has been stealing people.   We come up with a plan to fake some prisoners with Nephenee as one of the prisoners and “return the stolen goods” to the temple and the Weird priests. We return to the temple with our “prisoners” in tow. The Weird priests pay us 2,000 Drachmas for the “prisoners” and returning the goods. We wait until night falls, studying some books on Lutheria into the night. Around nightfall, Horus calls me over and asks what our plan up here is. I tell him I want to try to sneak into the backroom where they took the “prisoners”. He and Nara cause a distraction that takes the cultists near us outside, while Demi and I snuck into the backroom and tried to determine where the prisoners are being held. When I touch one of the spots on the candle sticks, the chest, in between the candle sticks, opens up.  I head downstairs, telling Demi to watch at the top of the stairs. I sneak to the bottom, assessing the situation, and attack the two cultists I see at the bottom guarding the door. I get the first one down without issue and I stab at the thigh of the other. Once I get them down, I pat them down for keys and go unlock the nearest cell to free the prisoner. I hand him the keys, and my lovely wife rushes forward to open the door. I zoom through and open the next set of doors. Soon, Nara runs up to my side and Nephenee is shouting at me to go down a certain hall. I do as she says, and a cultist is holding a knife to a child's throat. He tells me to stop and “come no closer or I'll slit her throat.” I pause and stop the others from rushing in. Nephenee in her plain ol her Human look, offers to switch places with the child, since she is “the ringleader” of our group. He falls for her trick and he falls dead as soon as she is in his grasp.  We quickly clear the rest of the underground system and getting the rest of the captives out. When we go upstairs, I remember where the weird priests stashed their money and give the extra 500 drachmas that I found to Lukos to help him pay and supply for the children’s wellbeing. We head back to the cohort after seeing the group off. 

Session 299 (Mission Special): Treasure Beyond Measure Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 11 (Adam B) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 10 (Spynx) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 8 (Simon D) Raven Tonks Rowan; Hanner Sidhe Warlock, lvl 7 (Hazelchan84) Luna; Tabaxi Sorcerer, lvl 1 (Serephen) I had grown impatient waiting for Orithar to complete his task, so I made the decision to take matters into my own hands. I knew Cedrych would take very little convincing to take on this task as the creature I had been commanded to destroy by the Council was a golem composed of gold and other precious items. Glenn, the devoted follower of Laerme, chose to join us on this quest as well. His Philanthropic activities also carry a heavy financial burden. Raven and Luna two other members of the Cohort I had not journeyed with before joined us as well. Cidro, an ale drake that seems to favour Glenn’s company joins us as well. I had recently visited the Duchess of Flaertes to seek permission to take on this quest despite the troubled times in the Anuire. We set out for Haes in the lands of Tuornen and sought an audience with her. We were granted access to the ley and valuable intel that the creature defenses could be overcome by adamantium weapons and it was resistant to magical effects. The keystone to the Mad Maeve’s realm was also loaned to us. I did inquire about the Duke – and it seems even the Duchess’ most powerful clerics had been unable to lift the curse. We took our leave and visited the barracks within the castle walls hoping to learn where adamantium weaponry could be obtained. A old veteran, who turned out to be the Duchess’s father, shared stories of his old campaigns fighting off the strange creatures that came from the Spiderfell to the south. As we were unable to find adamantium weapons within the castle we set out for the market district but found the pickings to be slim. From what we could gather the city’s more high-end merchants tended to frequent the Trader’s Way on the West edge of town. Cedrych flaunted his fame and soon caught the attention of Saebra and Gavin Windsong, travelling merchants who had set up their wares at the Brosen Royal Guildhall at least for the next few days. We visited their establishment the following morning and Cedrych stocked up on Adamantium arrows. Raven and I being of more humble means purchased some Adamantium Oil which would provide the same effect hopefully for long enough for us to slay the creature. Being a bit short on funds I had no choice but to add to my debt to Cedrych.   We set out from the City heading South towards the land’s where I had previously dealt with the Mad Maeve. We passed the gravesite were the frog-folk had been put to death for grave robbing. A few days of travel took us further south to the town of Avanfare. It seemed that a local festival was taking place that would have been more at home in Brecht lands – a contest between brew masters from the provinces of Elevesnemiere and Nabhriene. Once more Glenn and Cedrych’s fame brought attention to them and before long our whole party had been recruited to judge the contest as the Duchess had been unable to spare a representative. I found the Stout brew of Nabriene preferable, but my companions universally preferred the sweet taste of Elevesnemiere. Although the local townsfolk seemed disappointed in this judgement the festivities continued into the night. Eventually we proceeded to the local playhouse as Miranelle Flaertes, a distant relative of the Duchess, was debuting a play telling the story of one of Kirken’s champions. It seems to have pleased the local followers of my once god but those who wear the symbols of Haelyn and the Western Imperial temple are outraged. Kirken is a son of Haelyn and shares many of the same ideals. Not so different from Laerme and her mother Avani. We awake to the sound of shouting. It seems a night’s rest has not cooled the temper of the Haelynites as they have abducted the Lady Miranelle and plan to put her to death for blasphemy. Improvised weapons grace the hands of these wood be warriors and a melee if about to commence. Glenn and Biscuits move between and try to bring calm the emotions of both parties, but it does not appear they will be satisfied until blood is shed. I propose single combat between two chosen champions. The followers of Haelyn and Kirken agree to this proposal and Glenn is chosen to act as an impartial judge. After a brief exchange, the Haelynite stabs the follower of Kirken through the eye and she is felled. The ever-charitable Glenn revives her, but she still pays the cost of her eye. Despite this, Halie Goldstone is grateful for his intervention. Before continuing our journey south, we seek out any rumors of the golem. We hear tale of adventurers returning naked and stripped of all they possessions IF they return at all. The final leg of our journey to the Cave of Bellamy and have nearly arrived at our destination when the way is barred by a pride of small purple felines known as Carbunkles. Glenn converses with them in Celestial and they agreed to help us with our quest. We approached the portal to the Mad Maeve’s realm and decided to set out ambush on the threshold. Using a large cauldron, we melted gold coins and allowed the “smell” to waft through the open gateway. I had left the keystone on Traveller – planning to sent him away once the fight commences to close the portal and trap the creature on this side of the gateway. Before long, the creature appears through the portal and is massive. Traveller is felled immediately, and the keystone is absorbed into the body of the creature. We attempt to fight the golem, but it turns into a swirling tornado of coins and pushed past me towards the rest of the party and the Carbuncles. Raven and many of the Carbuncles fall in battle. It seems in this form even Adamantium weapons are unable to harm it. Glenn was stripped of his shield and armor before finally the golem coalesced into its regular form. Seizing the opportunity, I smote it with my spear and the holy wrath of Avani. Glenn seized the opportunity to revive Raven. With a final barrage from Luna and Cedrych and one more spell from Raven the creature was finally slain and I was buried beneath it within the piled gold and gems. Many of the Carbuncles lay dead around us. Glenn, Raven and Luna each give up a part of the souls into the gems left behind to revive the creatures. We begin taking stock of the horde of treasure that lays before us and quickly realize that we have not brought enough carts and horses to transport the treasure home. We compromise by sending a message to the Duchess and within a few days a retinue of her soldiers arrive to aid in transporting the wealth we have claimed back to Haes for a price. My companions bargain away mundane arms and armor we have found for a reduced share of the treasure, but I am less certain that we have come out ahead in these dealings. We arrive back in Haes and a celebration is held in our honor. During our stay Glenn offers to see if his abilities would be able to overcome the curse on the Duke. Although his ability as a healer is outmatched, he summons the aid of Laerme herself and with the power of the Goddess the curse if overcome….in a way. It seems the curse, at least in part, is not dispelled but rather transferred to Glenn. His ears have a certain canine quality to them now. The Duchess is shocked as the curse is removed and offers Glenn as legendary relic of her family – a holy chalice in recognition of the great deed he has preformed for the Flaeretes line. Following the celebrations, we return to the Cohort in high spirits – except for perhaps Glenn who wears the taint of Azrai uneasily. My debt to Cedrych is finally repaid and my reputation restored in the eyes of the Cohort. 

Session 302 (Mission Special): In Good Spiritsign Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch - Level 8, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Rendi Theocus - Level 5, Pixie Druid (Hazelchan84) Salazar di Fioretti - Level 6, Hanner Sidhe Bard (Adam B.) Green Knight - Level 1, Fiend Paladin (Hats4Cats) Hedrin Toadslayer - Level 8, Dwerren Sorcerer (SlothSlow) Vascos          - Level 1, Minotaur Barbarian (Depraved Lunatic) Arnock          - Level 1, Dragonborn Sorcerer Pregen (Wolflord2550) I really need to put aside a special room for these Cohort groups that keep turning up. There were 6 people this time, some of them really noisy and rowdy. One in particular kept babbling about killing things, my favourite. I eventually managed to explain the mission to them: After I heard what the shadow fey were doing around Spiritsign I wanted to go pay them a visit. The attitude that they could just push the Alseids around because they were stronger wasn’t technically wrong, but I wanted to undo their work anyway. Shurran was able to give us directions to it and said that they’d probably have built a big temple to Serastra before anything else. Some of the group thought this meant that I wouldn’t continue the plan. We went toward Zobeck to find the river first and stopped at the brewery on the way. The gnome invested some gold so the people might set up a proper room for us since we stay there often, but the lizard got real drunk and tried to steal from her. He got caught and the cowboy had to reign him in for the rest of the night. Aside from that everything was great, painfully quiet, until one evening Bagholder shot us all and it actually did something! We got shrunk down and sucked into her. Everyone started panicking, as though they’ve never been sucked into an interdimensional space against their will before. Amateurs. I started trying to scold Bagholder, but she created some arcane writing over a map. Looked like an area around a place called Baruk-Azhik, but the writing was in a language I don’t know. The symbols kind of looked like the signs used in old magic though. Then a tear appeared and a big eye-tentacle came out, kind of looked like one of Bagholder’s eyestalks. Only unlike Bagholder this one started talking. The eye introduced herself as The Beholder. She seemed nice. Bit crazy though. Turns out she really likes purple, which I’m covered in. She offered to make me some new clothes if I ever stopped by her place, somewhere in Baruk-Azhik. It was the kind of offer where you’re not sure if they’re gonna kill you or not if you actually take them up on it. Anyway, she was just starting to tell me about Bagholder and the stuff inside it (it turns out there was stuff inside Bagholder before I got her!) when the lizard started insulting her, which was really rude. We got sucked into a place of pure darkness and it turns out The Beholder isn’t just one eye, she’s lots of eyes! She asked us if she should curse the lizard or disintegrate him. The vote was a bit split, but she turned him into a human instead and sent us back into Bagholder. He wasn’t happy with that, kept calling The Beholder evil, wouldn’t apologise for being rude… honestly seemed like he'd been hoping for the disintegrate option, so The Beholder made sure he got what he wanted. I wanted to congratulate him but he was a pile of dust and dust can’t really accept congratulations so… The Beholder told us to clear out some of the snugglebeasts to clear some space. For something totally not sinister. So we got snugglebeasts! They’re adorable. And a pile of dust! That's less adorable. We followed the river around and got help from a friendly bearfolk to cross. Apta Mapleleaf. Their village, Ulchik was nice and he told us some of what’s been going on around. He seemed impressed that we managed to help the Scar get healed. The group was really excited to camp out in the forest, especially since we were moving into some really dangerous parts, so we didn’t stay for drinks. This part of the woods was near Baba Yaga’s place, we were advised to stay close to the river. We immediately strayed away from the river. That night we all got woken up by a black knight on a horse. He was pretty rude, yelling at the top of his voice and waking everyone up. Seems he had a message to deliver to someone from their grandmother, he didn’t know who though. All he knew was he was looking for a red haired woman, born in harvest time 20 years ago. Seems kind of inefficient to send someone on an important mission with only vague details and supreme confidence in themselves to find the right thing regardless… I wonder if this woman is the Kallanon’s sister or something, running her own mini-Cohort out here. Either way the gnome pointed him towards Anuire and he dashed off into a tree. He went through, but the horse and the guy he was borrowing weren’t so lucky. The horse broke free from its old body and made quick friends with hatboy. For reasons totally unknown. It was really smart, even had a name, but no way to tell it to us. Maybe if someone could speak with the dead AND speak with animals that’d work. Maybe I should learn how to speak with the dead. Then I could speak with dust guy some more. Then again, I think I’m okay not doing that. The dead guy looked like a Zobeck knight, had a ring on with the mark of a minor noble house - Svelholm.  The horse cooked itself quite skillfully and we carried on the next day. We passed by the Twilight Fork, so I suggested we hang about and see it in the twilight. As the fog rolled in I told the party about the power of the Fork, to make both choices of a tough decision at once and know you were getting the better of the two. Cowboy clearly had something he was torn over, then he was torn over it. Literally. He split into two of himself, and one wandered off into the fog. He seemed pretty upset about it, maybe it was the fact that his soul had now been split in two… Nobody else used the magic for their own choices. We also found a lady there. She looked pretty messed up, and had the brand of House Tyron on her hand. She called me a lord so I ordered her to come with us out of the fog so maybe she’d be less confused. She said her name was Shay, and that Lord Tyron gave her a choice: marry him or be a slave. Then he had her go to the Fork to do both. I figured this was the part of her that lived the worse choice. Hatboy kept giving me funny looks, like I was going to trick her or something. I think he’s forgotten how I work. Tricking people is funny, but Shay had already been tricked, badly. The real funny trick for people like that is to give them something really nice, that confuses them. So I asked the Margreve to escort her back to the tower where she’d be safe. Next day we made it to Spiritsign and found the temple. It was all right, if you like massive, incredibly lavish temples full of shiny sculptures and pristine statues. We were allowed in and met the head priestess, Balarliira Nirinn. Turns out she’d heard of me and was pretty impressed. She said she was good at magic, and summoned a bunch of weird, gross demons to prove it. Apparently she trains them to take the form of pretty ladies, and they seduce people to get close to them before revealing their true forms. Which, honestly, sounds hilarious. She said that they’d chased off the Alseids, and that they now feared them because they were so strong. She told us to go see the nearby standing stones, before their people cleared them out to put up a tavern. There was one other thing she mentioned that really caught my attention: they hadn’t built the temple here, they just moved it here from the shadow realm using dimensional pylons. Those sounded fun to mess with, but I didn’t know where they were. Rendi, as it turns out, did. As we left, Rendi snuck off and a couple moments later the whole temple flickered and almost blinked out of existence. The guards got all spooked, saying someone had messed with one of the statues out front, half ran to find Rendi, the others went to protect the other statue. I offered to help them guard it, and made Rendi appear off to one side to distract them. Rendi caught up to me and whispered that there were illusions on the statues, hiding some weird diamonds. He’d managed to see through them and stolen one, so I told him to grab the other and complete the set. As soon as he did the whole temple just vanished, back to the shadow realm probably, along with all the guards. I’m so sad Balarliira wasn’t closer to the door, I probably would have laughed myself to death from seeing the look on her face. I can imagine it though. Fantastic. I wasn’t sure what to make of the other Pixie transforms at first - just because you have the body of a Pixie doesn’t mean you have the soul of one. Rendi is a true Pixie, I’m happy to have them around. We finished up by going to the standing stones. There were some elder signs there, which I messed around with, trying to understand them. I understood a bit too well, because I opened up a portal. A few people decided to stand around the middle, where the portal opens up. Don’t they know how dangerous that is? Well… they do now. A bunch of Alseids came out of the portal, looking confused. I told them about what we did and they were amazed, though they did say not to keep the weird diamonds near the portal, or they would have been scattered when they tried to come through. Maybe we could use that information somehow… Anyway, they offered to lead us in asking the spirits for signs, since we were in Spiritsign after all. I dunno what everyone else was thinking of, but my vision was incredibly specific, useful and informative. All in all, a successful mission.

Session 301 (Mission 3J): [The Fall of Mur-Kilad] Played on the 7th of August 2020!   Present: Chikat Stonehaven; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 7 (Hazelchan84) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 13 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 12 (SlothSlow) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 9 (Depraved Lunatic)   We had gathered a force capable at least I believed of defeating a legendary purple worm allowing us to finally reach the depths of Mur-kilad, and perhaps finding the missing Dwarven prince. We first traveled to meet with the Queen Galanahel to debrief on any current news. Not having much for us we departed for the north once again. The first encounter we had with the Gorgon’s forces was a strange spirit troll and a lizard man that attacked our camp at night. The lizard man turned out to be a creature called a Sobek one of the Gorgon’s elite forces. Dragomir banished the troll with his magic, and I was able to with some great effort to find where the Sobek had hidden himself. After luring him out, I struck quickly and retreated. He rushed me and was soon finished off even a Sobek would not last long against the might of the group we had assembled. When the troll returned we engaged it, we did swiftly defeat it but we could not figure out the key to stopping it’s regeneration. The Sobek also regenerated, but fire stopped it swift enough. The spirit troll nothing seemed to work, being out of ideas Drago unleashed a disintegrate into it melting it to Ash. Traveling on we saw signs of a large force gathering near the border of the woods. More of these Sobek, we skirted around them and took pains to hide our trail. We decided to avoid the gambling den the Golden Goblin. However, we did encounter a force of some 200 goblins. Not wishing to expend our resources we retreated from them and they did not give chase. Still we continued to obscure our tracks. When we finally arrived at the cave of the Ant Queen, we were escorted to her. She revealed to us that she had made a deal with the Gorgon to not allow the Dwarves out of the mountain through her entrance, in exchange the Grogon would allow her to remain in newly captured domain. She did tell us that she had bargained for one of the Dwarves to be allowed safe passage through her realm, and that she would allow us to bring the Dwarf prince out. However, first there was the Purple worm. I wish I could tell you have epic the clash with the purple worm was. We descended down to it’s cavern, and it emerged it’s size was breath taking. It immediately swallowed Korak! All was going according to plan. I struck at it but it was like striking a moving rock wall, and I barely made a dent. We all unleashed our attacks, but it was Dragomir’s magic that won the fight for us. Korak came climbing out of it’s mouth using his magic. Then Dragomir cast a hold monster spell on it taking it out of the fight. We then began to beat on the now held monster for at least a minute with all our combined attacks. Just as Drago’s spell was about to expire, so did the worm. Next, we spent some time deciding how best to get the poison sack from the worm. Its underside was still deep underground. Chikat transformed Korak into a huge elephant beast and with ropes we pulled it out. We went about draining it of poison, it filled 50 plus vials. Then Korak fashioned a huge barrel with his magic and we filled that too. Next came the longest part of the journey the fight through the roper caves. If you have never fought a roper let me tell you, they are dangerous foes. They can camouflage themselves to look like stalactites, or stalagmites and there is no way to tell the difference until they attack. First, they lash out with multiple tendrils that seem to reach about fifty feet. With these tendrils they wrap you up and pull you to them to devour you with their razor-sharp teeth.  Their hides are as tough as granite as well. The cavern was full of them! Fighting one is dangerous fighting a cavern full is deadly. Thankfully, we were a strong group and we dealt with them though not without some harrowing moments. Still they offered me a good exercise in dodging and avoidance. Having made our way through the roper caves we came to the outside of a dwarven outpost. It still smelled of fresh blood. We explored a bit and discovered the battle was still fresh. Going deeper there was a black mist that we discovered was the entrance to the black temple, and the dwarven town. I snuck down towards the town, but what I saw was a horror. The dwarves had been defeated by demons of the Gorgon and raised as undead! I ran back swiftly and called for a retreat. The Ant Queen had conveniently taken our barrel top side and told us she had nothing to fear from the Gorgon’s demons. We treated with her a bit trying to gauge her loyalties. I believe she will try to remain neutral in any further conflicts, but we do still have passage through her domain for a year. She was thankful for the destruction of the worm. I imagine her hive shall feast well on it. Returning to Queen Galanahel we told her of all we had encountered and offered to sell her the barrel of poison. She intends to trade it to the Scorpion assassins in exchange for some contracts on her enemies. I told her I would take my payment in supplies for my monastery there is still quite a bit of construction to complete. Perhaps she will furnish enough for the first planned expansion. The training is going well and the monks will soon need to be battle tested. I am not sure if we will return to try and get to the Prince again. Queen Galanahel seems to think it may be worth it but having to fight through an army of demons and undead does not sound like a good plan. We shall see. The Queen also implied that she may be able to find and armistice with the Gorgon and let events simmer down. Time will tell it seems. Until then, I shall travel back to my monastery and prepare. Perhaps go and visit Thinnie as well, probably in spring.   Darvius Alandre, Carnifex Primera Junior Council Member

Session 296 (3X): TuRn BaCk! ThIs Is NoT tHe WaY! Present: Agatha Duskhart,         Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 8, (Summer) Prudence Duskhart,     Alseid, Druid, Level 8, (Lena C) Diesa Gemfire,             Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 8, (Zilarrezko) Medi Eirwen,               Alseid, Druid, Level 8, (Sere) Lucan Yaeldrin,           Hannar Sidhe, Wizard, Level 3, (Mekapix) Combat XP 550XP Quest XP 1,000XP RP XP 1,000XP Exploration XP 1,000XP Log XP 532XP to Lucan Total XP 3,550XP to Agatha, Prudence, Diesa, Medi, and Lucan. 4,082XP to Lucan Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Gnome Vale) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 299 (SPECIAL): Treasure Beyond Measure Present: Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 11 (Adam B) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 10 (Spynx) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 8 (Simon D) Raven Tonks Rowan; Hanner Sidhe Warlock, lvl 7 (Hazelchan84) Luna; Tabaxi Sorcerer, lvl 1 (Serephen) Glenn, Luna, and Raven each gain 1 failed death save. Loot dump, handled in session: 1,500,000 bread pennies (-20% tariff from the duchess + cohort taxes) 60,000 silver swords 7,500 golden crowns 3,000gp worth of gemstones and pearls (tariffs end here) Battle Standard of Honor 1 Feybread Biscuit 1 Nail of Sealing The Pouch of Platinum Endless Quiver Bowl of Purity Bridle of Conjuration (requires attunemment) Crystal Ball of Scrying Survivor's Belt (three use per long rest, attunement, must tell the story) Padded, Studded Leather, Hide, Studded, Chain Shirt (Good quality) [taken] 2 Good quality shields (taken) Handaxe, Whip, 2 Hand Crossbows, Pike, War Pick, Longbow, Greataxe, Rapier, Sling (good quality) [taken] Illithid Robes 2 great quality arcane foci 1 great quality focus of Haelyn [taken] 1 great quality focus of Cuiraecen 250gp worth of expensive diningwear (silverware, cups, plate, etc.) 3 Dungeoneers packs (no backpacks or waterskins) 2 entertainer packs (no backpacks or waterskins) 4 explorer's packs (no backpacks or waterskins) 1 scholar's packs (no backpacks or waterskins) Combat XP 840XP Quest XP 3,000XP RP XP 2,000XP 1,500XP to Glenn for epic RP! Exploration XP 0XP Log XP 1,168XP to Cedrych, and Nils Total XP 5,840XP to Raven, and Luna 7,008XP to Cedrych, and Nils 7,340XP to Glenn Renown, Fame, and Infamy +10 Infamy (Mad Meave), +4 Renown (Tuornen) for everyone. +6 Renown (Tuornen), +4 (Renown (Western Imperial Temple of Haelyn), +1 Renown (Militant Order of Cuiraécen) to Glenn. Nils regains his 5 lost Cohort renown Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 301 (3J): The Fall of Mur-Kilad Present: Chikat Stonehaven; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 7 (Hazelchan84) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 13 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 12 (SlothSlow) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 9 (Depraved Lunatic) The party returned with 1 barrel of purple worm poison. Their loot is to be determined in light RP. Combat XP 4,360XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 250XP Exploration XP 1,000XP Log XP 1,141XP to Darvius and Dragomir Total XP 7,610XP to Chikat, Korak, and Sithric 8,751XP to Darvius and Dragomir Renown, Fame, and Infamy +2 Renown (The Ant Queen), +3 Renown (Sielewode) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 302 (SPECIAL): In Good Spiritsign Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch     - Level 8, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Rendi Theocus              - Level 5, Pixie Druid (Hazelchan84) Salazar di Fioretti          - Level 6, Hanner Sidhe Bard (Adam B.) Green Knight                  - Level 1, Fiend Paladin (Hats4Cats) Hedrin Toadslayer          - Level 8, Dwerren Sorcerer (SlothSlow) Vascos                           - Level 1, Minotaur Barbarian (Depraved Lunatic) Arnock                           - Level 1, Dragonborn Sorcerer Pregen (Wolflord2550) 2 Failed Death Saves for Vascos. The party recovered two dimensional shackle stones. Combat XP 0XP Quest XP 2,000XP + 500XP for creativity. 1,000XP to Rendi RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 1,500XP Log XP 1,200XP to Cordie Total XP 6,000XP to 7,000XP to Rendi 7,200XP to Cordie Renown, Fame, and Infamy Starting Margreve Status: // (Vascos 2) // (Arnock 7) // (Rendi 11) // +1 Infamy (Shadow Fey), +2 Renown (Shadow Fey), +1 Infamy (Queen of Night and Magic), +2 Renown (Queen of Night and Magic) Net +1 Renown (Shadow Fey), +1 Renown (Queen of Night and Magic). Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 303 (THYLEA): Lutheria's Corrupt Clergy Present: Horus; Thylean Minotaur Barbarian, lvl 1 (Mekapix) Nephenee; Medusa Rogue, lvl 5 (Serephen) Hadrian Darkleaf; Cellwair Ranger, lvl 6 (Hazelchan84) Combat XP 116XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 1,500XP Exploration XP 1,500XP Log XP 511XP to  Hadrian 1,023XP to  Horus Total XP 5,116XP to Nephenee 5,627XP to Hadrian 6,139XP to Horus Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Fame (Thylea), 1 Infamy (Lutheria) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 304 (SPECIAL): Inverness Sucks Present: Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik, Paladin, Level 9, Depraved Lunatic Aubrae Trevelyan, Human, Paladin, Level 7, Zilarrezko HeN, Awnshegh Ooze fighter 7, Hazelchan84 Tal Thrum, Human, Fighter, lvl 5, Sloth Fenris Nathair, Sidhelien, Druid, Level 6, Hats4Cats The party acquired The Sword of Ghost Slaying +1 Hit, +2 Damage (+4/+4 vs. undead). Tal, Thrum took on a loan of 4700gp. +5 points for going through the hole. +10 points for defeating the manticore spawns. -5 points for not checking doors. +5 points for defeating green slimes. 15 points! Nice work! Combat XP 480XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 1,500XP Exploration XP 2,500XP Log XP 972XP to Aubrae Total XP 6,480XP to Eirena, HeN, Tal Thrum, and Fenris Nathair 7,452XP to Aubrae Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Roesone), +2 Renown (Osoerde) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 304: Mission Special - Inverness Sucks 9/8/2020 Players Aubrae Trevelyan, Human, Paladin, Level 7, Zilarrezko Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik, Paladin, Level 9, Depraved Lunatic Fenris Nathair, Sidhelien, Druid, Level 6, Hats4Cats HeN, Awnshegh Ooze, Fighter, Level 7, Hazelchan84 Tal Thrum, Human, Fighter, Level 5, Sloth Log I got help from some other cohort people to perform a task of sensitiveness on behalf of myself and Empress Marlae. We attended her court and discussed the particulars in her private chambers. I, with support from the Empress and the protection of the Cohort would travel into Oseoerde to find William Moergan - legitimate duke of the realm. I had heard rumours that he had travelled to an old ruined fortress called Inverness. Thence offer him support from Roesone to retake his country, my homeland, in exchange for joining Marlae in the war for the Iron Throne. We set off the next day, with much more personal support than expected from the Empress. Travelling to Calrie and then across the border river into the Spiritsend marshes we soon found a large keep flying the banners of Viscount Ansien of House Bindier, a trusted ally of Roesone. Meeting with the Viscount there we learned that Duke William was actually enjoying refuge with him. The offer was conveyed to the Duke and he began negotiations for joining the war, however he also conveyed to us that he had been consider posting a quest to the cohort's board of fate. Under the advise of his enigmatic advisor, a strange man known only as The Seer, the Duke is seeking a powerful artefact known as the Soul Gem. The name is said not to be fanciful either, this item supposedly can grant its wielder contol and mastery over souls. I think this item sounds evil. Messing with souls seems like bad news. No one else seemed particularly perturbed by the idea of it however. The Soul Gem is supposed to be buried beneath the ruins of Inverness but the area was too dangerous for the Duke and his band, hence asking for the cohort. With Duke William safe and persuing negotiations we opted to atleast poke around Inverness. The Seer offered us loans on decent terms and steep discounts on magic items in persuit of this quest. Tal aquired an enchanted ghostly sword, a bane to undead, and a number of potions. The rest of us still found the prices and debt too steep. From Bindier's keep Inverness was less than ten miles travel. The walls, even ruined were immense. The courtyard contained bodies, old - the skeletons of wyverns, and more recent - some humans who had died seemingly from a bear within the last six months. It was crossed often by ghostly forms but they paid us no heed. The central keep was so wrecked it resembled more a small mountain of rubble than a construction. No entrance could be made there that we saw. Though some runic markings remained. We found entrance to the underworks from a staircase in one of the round towers. After a couple of corridors we entered what might have been an old chappel. The roof had partially collapsed, destroying some benches. Among the stones we found a knight from Rohrmarch, a veteren of the Battle against the Chimera. The man bade us flee with his last breath, but before we could approach or flee his body transformed into a terrible creature called a manticore. It attacked us and we defended ourselves. Two more of the beasts emerged from the body during our battle. During the distraction a number of small fiends tried to ambush us from a side room. Small flying creatures with purple complexion and spines carrying forks or tridents of a strange purple wood. Once the Manticores were destroyed the fiends were made short work of. Sadly for us the taint and corruption of these creatures seeped into our blood. I can feel the violation of my flesh as I write this. How unfair it is that evil, even when defeated, should have the last word like this. Recovering from the commotion we examined the side room the fiends had emerged from and found three large barrels. They were waxed and contained vast amounts of potent acid. Venturing further in we found creatures that seemed to be made of semi-solid acid. Perhaps some old wizard created them from these barrels. These gelatinous beings filled a corridor and tried to engulf us, sliding into our positions. They reminded me of small versions of the strange room under the fortress of Aldersburg. I was able to dodge their assaults but Eirena and Hen were not so lucky. They, particularly Eirena, were badly burned by the acid and had their arms and armor degraded considerably. By the time I cut down the last one Eirena's burns were severe and her equipment almost destroyed. We decided to return to report what we had seen and recover.

Session 299 Nils regains his 5 lost Cohort renown. Session 288 Added log XP for Cedrych

Session 310 (Custom Mission):[Hope for Kaerava, Straits of Aerele to The Grand Peacock.  Played on the 14th of August 2020! Present: Aubrae Trevelyan; Anuirean Paladin, lvl 8 (Zilarrezko) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 13 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 12 (SlothSlow) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 10 (Depraved Lunatic) I’m feeling a little better after getting home. You could say slightly less hopeless than I was before leaving? Last month we killed a purple worm and collected its poison which was traded with Queen Galonahel, well everyone but me. Korak got a new pair of magical boots that lets him disappear and reappear, maybe I won't have to save him as much from now on. Sithric got a magical bow and Darvius is getting a small fortune in supplies for his tower. I held onto my share, it’s not like I didn't want to help the Swielwode but frankly I was getting angry at Queen Galonhel’s attitude towards Kaerava. I know, I get it, to the Sidhelien it feels like only a small moment has passed but she isn't the one in the hands of the Gorgon. I have heard the rumors that come from the Gorgon’s crown, those who are magically adept get plugged into machines, others are tortured and twisted into demons, the horror stories… It's why I can't sleep. Yeah, so maybe if it was her she wouldn't handwave it away. I know she cares... but she comes across cold ya know. It's a Sidhelien thing. Galonahel had made preparation to trade the poison in with a group called the Scorpion Assassins. In exchange for the parties items, they had to ensure the poison was delivered, I think me and Nalu should have charged her. We expected the queen to have spies in her court, well I’ve assumed this for some time given how the last few missions have played out. So we took extra care to place the poison into my egg rather than using the barrel, however, we did use the barrel as a decoy. I had been wondering why the queen took so much effort to make a show of transporting the poison “secretly”, taking a long path to sail and using cohort members to guard it. I think she was testing where we would be attacked. Maybe telling different people different locations we would be stopping. Testing to see which one leaks. Korak almost gave the whole thing away by blabbing about stuff in her court. Queen Galonhel also gave us a letter, which contained a list for the Scorpion Assassin of targets she wanted to be removed. I didn't read it, wasn't part of my deal with her so I guess that on the others. The plan was to sail down the river Maesil out to sea, into the Straits of Aerele, pasted Caelcorwynnm, through Harpys Passage, and ending in Ber Dairas.  The journey was nice, we loaded on the Barrel and headed down the river. We had some of Galonahels, best men and women, with us. The captain had beautiful blue hair, not as nice as Nalu’s but still. We traveled down the river fine until we reached the City of Endier. This city is run by someone called the Guilder Kalien, I think it's a free city not claimed by any noble yet but I don't know why anyone would want to live here. The magic zone is nothing, zero/zero. Nalu was lying flat on the floor, angel style. She wasn't looking too good. We had to dock so the ship could trade and regain supplies. I stayed with Nalu during all this just trying my best to make sure she was ok. Aubrae was off buying wine and other things, I think she got a bottle of Purple Dragon Wine. What a strange name for a wine given the magic zone, no dragon could be living here. The day was peaceful but during the night why me and Korak were on watch, he heard some scraping coming from the stern of the ship. Four men wearing black cloaks and well made short swords attacked. After a quick encounter where Darvius was having fun running on water, kicking them why they tried to run away. We found markings that related them to a thieves guild called the Golden Snakes. They operate in the city of Endier, they did have these nice cloaks that help us hide better in the shadows at night. Sithric got some armour and stuff but we turned the bodies into authorities. The night passed peacefully after that and we got back on the river. There was a moment of panic a day later when they wanted to stop off at the city of Anuire, the greatest city that ever has, will, or be. Well, it isn't that great, it is negative one magic when you even get close which means Nalu would get really sick. No idea why we're going given Nalu was there but thank the fate weaver the gates were closed and we weren't let in. Well you know Sidhelien racism lives on well.  Right, this is where it gets good because we left the city and headed into the Arnienbae and then into the straits of Aerele. This whole place used to be a mountain range where the God’s Battled. Always wondered if any Dragons turned up to the battle or what side they we’re on. Also just assumed they would have stayed out of it, but maybe not. Like anyways, the Straits are still full of magic, never felt anything like it at all, just remembering the feeling makes me want to go back and sail around. I’ve marked all this on the map for anyone interested but the magic goes up to the twelfth circle! I’ve got as far as seven and some eight but that's so much more than I thought possible. The water was strange as well, like almost as the spirits and gods still linger on. I kinda wanted to see what the shadow realm was like on the other side, well I got to see something at least. Everyone else thought it was a bad idea but when do you get the opportunity in a place like this. It wasn't until we approached the end of the straights we were attacked by the spirits that still reside in this place. They swarmed the boat and tried processing everyone on the ship, mainly the captain. They also had the ability to age you drastically. I think for a moment I was aged to near-death like forty or so but was able to resist it. They were dangerous but I saw something worse. There have been reports in other cohort members logs of how magic can get really strange in areas above nine. I think there is a creature made from a cactus that lives because of tenth level magic. So when I cast banishment on the ghosts, it opened a small portal into the shadow realm. We could all hear the spirit screaming as it got pulled in but there was something on the other side looking back. A titan of a creature, it looked a little like a dragon but I'm pretty sure it wasn't but if it was at least it has seen me. Whatever it was, the captain had doubts anyone would believe what we had seen. It made the Krachen look small, the thing was truly a titan. We were able to escape the straights before more ghosts turned up. Two of the crew got changed by the ghosts, I’m pretty sure Korak could have helped them but he didn't even try. Guess he thought he shouldn't? I really wasn't thinking straight so just went and checked on Nalu.  Travel was peaceful through Suidemiere, me and Nalu got to do some swimming. She is so fast underwater and loves it too. Kinda feel bad because I can tell she would love to do more underwater stuff but I’ve been so busy. I’ll promise to make it up to her. We also passed by the island of Caelcorwynn, this unclaimed land has had rumours of pirates and an Awnshegh who may have control. Sounds like a really fun place to go explore some time. Given the nature of pirates we kept a good distance and didn't see any boats coming or going, so like could just be a rumour. The captain did tell me of a story of a dragon that is said to be from around here. It was called the Wasteland Dragon. It was said to have been corrupted by god's blood. Its breath is made of pure energy. The illusion the captain made was a dragon with red skin and a white underbelly. Its tail looks more like a fish and really long so I guess it can swim pretty well but it has blue eyes. Nalu has never heard of a dragon calling itself a wasteland dragon so without its real name who knows who it was or is. We made it into Harp’s Passage, where we were all watching the skies. But it was a good call to take a long way around as we got to avoid any trouble, took longer but given how we had to drop off the elderly Sidhelien best not to have any more casualties.  After a long trip, we finally made it to Ber-Dairas. We headed to the Cats Cradle, an establishment run by Elishava. Some fighters we’re dueling in the pit, an Awnshegh women who was favorite to win lost, the red devil or something she was called. Anyways we met with Elishava and spoke to her about getting a meeting with the Scorpions. She remembered us and we sat down for talks. Her child we rescued was there on her lap, guessing she is teaching her early. Right Korak needs to learn to stop blabbing. Every time he walks into people he loves just sings songs of secrets, right I get it, but this is the kinda stuff that got Kaerava into this in the first place. Soon as we met the elven ladies he couldn't wait to tell them about her, which is fair I kinda did the same thing but we are meant to learn from our mistakes. He couldn't shut up talking about the Ant Queen even after I was kicking him under the table he still wouldn't shut up. Like that was a Cohort mission and Darvius made it clear we shouldn't be just spouting out to everyone. What does he expect from Glenn? Next, he will be telling everyone that Nalu is a Dragon and I will have bounty hunters showing up on every mission. It wasn't that big of a deal, just this kinda thing always ends up getting others hurt, I thought he would have learnt that from last time. We got a red coin from Elishava, on the back it had a picture of a Scorpion. We were told to go to a bathhouse called The Grand Peacock Altaawus Alkabir or الطاووس الكبير in its native writing. We arrived at a multicolour building with strange trees that produce things called bananas and coconuts. We asked to get clean as per Elishava instructions using the coin as payment. They took us into a changing room where we all had to get naked. You couldn't tell if Korak was facing the front or back with the amount of hair he has on his body. He looks more like a bear than a Dwerren, I don't even think that counts as being naked really. Nalu hide all my belongings and poisons because I didn't trust them. Hmm, I bet they were really surprised I was able to hide my things because as we're taking a steam they 're going through our things. They got the letter from Queen Galonahel from Darvius stuff, which means they saw everything anyone but me was carrying. I mean we do have many enemies so even knowing what we have might be a problem, I would rather be safe than sorry anyways and glad Nalu kept everything from prying eyes.  The bathhouse was all together, not men and women but all in one. I could feel my face going red and even took a towel with me. Once we’re all in the steam room it was fine, there was so much steam you couldn't see anything anyways. After a while a woman joined us by the name of Jasmina, her and Darvius talked in roundabout ways for some time, why we’re here and what we're doing. We then went to get a private massage, I got taken into a room with Jasmina where I tried my best to explain like Darvius does but I don't think I have the skill for that yet. To be fair I think I did a good job. Maybe, I explained what I wanted to hire them for and where, when but there were no promises on what they could achieve. Given the target, what the request I can see why. I offered my services to help but she kinda just laughed it off, guess that fair. It was almost like she already knew what I wanted, I bet Galonhel’s letter mentioned this just to help me out. Guess that was nice of her, I kinda needed it. After trying my best at this we went and got a bath, the water was amazing. Nalu was having a blast swimming around and the music the other ladies were playing was making sure we couldn't be overheard. I did see if they knew anyone with bloodline who could be captured but made me realize I really didn't think this through. Like I was thinking of a warlord or something but I guess I was being naive. The only reason I want some is if I'm going into the Gorgon’s realm anything we have to fight will start turning us into monsters and even getting people to go there is going to be a problem. If I can take on the Azari bloodline myself why we are there then maybe they might be more willing to come along? I already know Nalu won't be going but I haven't told her yet.  Darvius was speaking about the contract that was taken out on me and he with the scorpions turns out they still had it but we haven't done anything that means they had to step in. They did talk of gods dying though so we kinda guess where this was all heading. Thinnie is now in real danger, we did buy some time. I spent ten more of my vials with Darvius for a total of twenty two to remove the contract and for them not to get involved. The very costly group, I'm glad I’m not hearing the gold cost for any of this. We finished off our agreements and got changed. Darvius now wants to go help Thinnie but last time we just found ourselves walking back and forth for ages. Nalu really wants to see if she is alright so I guess I will be coming along then. I mean I think I’ve done everything I can for now to help Kaerava. I mean getting one of the strong assassin groups to research where she is and how to get here is really good and Darvius has helped me non stop, not just with being there but like saying the right thing. Aye, best we go see how Thinnie next month.  Drago & Nalu

Session 309 (Exploration): The Shadow over the Golden Scorpion Adventuring Party: Astrid; Anuirean Paladin, Level 4, Kristen B Elias Siannodel; Sidhelien Ranger, Level 1, Steven F Caern Walsh; Anuirean Cleric, Level 1, Mekapix Luna; Tabaxi Sorcerer, Level 2, Serephen The day started with myself, Luna, Astrid, and Elias arriving in the city of Ber Dairas. Immediately after we entered, we were accosted by someone in red and yellow robes that, according to Luna and Elisa, was trying to sell us some sort of tonics. Though whatever was said to him made him leave. Just then, a strange humanoid that looked to be a mix of human and cat, apparently called a tabaxi, jumped down from a rooftop and in front of Luna. Her name was Elishava and she's a relative of Luna. She was checking up on her, and said that if Luna was looking for any work, she should meet her in a place called the Cat's Cradle later, then she jumped back up and ran off again. After having to deal with a pushy weapons salesman, we managed to get a pair of camels and headed to the Cat's Cradle. We were asked if we wanted to bet on any fights but we declined, I especially didn't want to. As a doctor, I should be helping the injured, not inciting the injuring. We then spent some time talking to Elishava and she offered us a job. The job was to head to the city of Ariya and find two people called Adan and Laila, and bring them back to the Cat's Cradle. The task was difficult to decide on. The pair of them had been stealing gold from a local noble and redistributing it to the poor of the city by hiding the coins in loaves of bread. Unfortunately this was drawing the attention of the nobles to this group of tabaxi, which Elishava didn't like. So if we leave them there, they and the poor may be targeted by the nobles, but if we do get them, then supplies will be taken from the poor, and it sounds like Elishava will deliver a pretty harsh punishment to the two of them. We couldn't agree on whether helping Elishava was a good or bad idea, and even now, I'm not 100% sure of my answer to get them out of there. We left Ber Dairas and headed along the trail headed south east. During our travel, we came across an abandoned caravanserai that had been partially broken and filled with sand. After a little scouting and not finding anyone nearby, we investigated the area. I was able to cast Detect Magic and find that a lot of the sand that had broken the walls was actually magical, though I could not discern a school of magic. Elias was able to find marks that made it look as if someone was dragged to the centre of the room and then vanished near the hole in the roof. Astrid was able to use her divine sense but couldn't find any signs of elementals, undead, or other such creatures. Luna searched the premises and did actually come across a few small chests with some valuables in it, such as a necklace that she immediately started wearing, as well as some decorative pots and some wine. Elias and Astrid then performed some extensive investigation of the fountain in the centre of the caravanserai and managed to unblock it, causing water to flow through once again. We decided to rest there for the night and return to Ber Dairas the next day to take care of the objects we found, Luna wanted to sell them off but Elias felt they should be returned to their next of kin. As we rested that night, I think we all felt a strange, dark presence wash over us. We were able to rest well enough but it felt like something strong and terrifying saw us, watched us, and then moved on. We quickly moved out the next morning, taking the items we had found, as well as some notes written by whoever lived there before. We eventually arrived back at Ber Dairas in the evening and were approached by two guards, asking us what we were doing and why we were trying to get in the city so late. Elias explained about the caravanserai that we had found, and what we had found in it. He also showed the items we had found in the caravanserai and asked them to be returned to the next of kin of those who lived there. The guards were aable to tell us a couple of things about that particular caravanserai. It was called the Golden Scorpion and the fountain was known tobe quite strange for the area as most caravanserai simply had wells and not working flowing fountains. They suggested that we speak to someone called the Red Witch, someone who was gifted in magical knowledge. Then, much to Luna's dismay, the guards took most of what we had found at the Golden Scorpion. She kept the necklace though. We decided to rest at the Red Stallion, an inn that was above the Cat's Cradle and run by Elishava. The clothing there was very well made, I must say, and even had the insignia of the Red Stallion, which I expect was to stop any attempts at theft. The next morning, Luna spoke with Elishava alone while myself, Elias, and Astrid sat down for breakfast. Elias asked about why we had joined the Cohort and what we were doing. Astrid explained about how she had joined the Cohort some time ago, but fell on one of their missions. She was later resurrected with the objective of hunting a dragon. I wanted to ask more about her resurrection but Elias began speaking of his story and how he wanted to do some good for people. I was about to chime in but Luna suddenly came from another room and just left, carrying something her hand... paw? They looked like hands but she is a tabaxi so... I'm not sure. After she left, we were treated quite well by the staff until she returned, stating that she had gone to perform an errand, and she had a bag of coin with her. Not long after, Elishava came along and brought a tabaxi child called Reshida, asking us to take her to the capitol building. We headed to the building twice. The first time we went, we had not brought a gift. You see, it appears that it's respectful in this culture that, if you are going to someone's home, you must bring a gift for them. So we needed to make a slight detour to the market and buy some silks, then returned to the capitol building again and presented the silks as a gift. The Red Witch didn't actually accept the gift as it wasn't her home, the gift should have gone to the Sultana's sister, but she was busy in a conference and so we were allowed to keep the silks. We explained to her about the strange magical sand, the blocked water fountain, and the horrid, forboding feeling we got from staying at the Golden Scorpion. The Red Witch didn't seem to know much about what was happening, but did say she would look into the events. She did reward us with some coin for finding out the information and returning the items from the Gold Scorpion. We thanked her for her time and left, Luna allowed Reshida to return back to Elishava, I'm not too sure why we brought her along but Luna seemed to understand something so I didn't question it. We knew it would not be long before we would need to report back to the Cohort, so we decided to set off eastwards once more. Along the way, Luna asked me why I had joined the Cohort in the first place. I told them that I was once in the civil war of Rohrmarch, on the side of the baron. I was a medical officer, but my platoon and I were attacked by creatures that I know now work within the Cohort itself. I was simply looking to do some good within the Cohort as the aftermath of the civil war resulted in the loss of my home and I had no where else to go. The others seemed sympathetic, which I thanked them for. That evening, we found an outpost to stay at and all had a bath and dinner. Except Luna, she seemed averse to using the baths. Not sure if it's a racial issue or some sort of self confidence issue. We set out the next morning and kept heading east. We eventually came across one of the giant scorpions we had heard about and were deciding if we should ambush it, as there was only one we could see, or leave it incase there were others underground. The decision was made for us when the giant scorpion noticed us and attacked. It gave Astrid a bit of trouble, attacking her horse, but we were able to dispatch it with no casualties. We decided that it'd be best to take it and head back to town to get some reward money for it. Elias and I managed to extract two vials of the scorpion's poison, and we decided that they'd be best going betwen Luna and Elias. We collected our reward money for the scorpion and decided to return to the Cohort. I must say, my first outing here has been a strange one. The tabaxi, pushy vendors, and the strange presence by that caravanserai? I can't help but wonder if every day in the Cohort is like this? Judging by other reports I've read, it seems like it. I expect there's a lot of people who need help out there, I hope I can do something for them. - Caern Walsh

Session 310 (Custom Mission):[From the Straits of Aerele, to the Head of a Scorpion] Played on the 14th of August 2020!   Present: Aubrae Trevelyan; Anuirean Paladin, lvl 8 (Zilarrezko) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 13 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 12 (SlothSlow) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 10 (Depraved Lunatic)   You will recall that last month we defeated a giant Purple worm in the depths of Muir-kilad. The plan was to take the poison on behalf of Queen Galonahel and the Sidhe Throne to the enigmatic Scorpion Assassins in Binsada. There she would task us to deliver the poison and a letter with her requests to the sisters, as they call themselves. We had each of us asked for a boon from the Queen, except Aubrae who had joined us to undergo a pilgrimage to the temple of her goddess. Furthermore, it seemed the queen was suspicious that members of her court were working against her and that the trip might be compromised. She had taken efforts to throw false trails, and we had taken our own efforts. The poison had been removed from the barrel and hidden in Drago’s magical Dragon egg. The barrel would serve as a decoy. Our Trip was to be mostly taken by river boat down the river Maesil, through the Straits of Aerele, past Caelcorwynnm, through the Harpie’s passage, and finally ending in Ber Dairas. The Queen had put a couple of her best Knights with us, as well as the captain of the boat and her brave crew. Our first port was the City of Endier. A bustling trade hub, the crew and captain began to trade with the people there. The magic level of the zone is quite weak, and Drago was concerned over Nalu. Some of the group went into the city to trade and buy some items, I remained aboard the ship to protect the wine. As night fell we faced our first trial a cadre of thieves stole aboard the ship. However, they did not expect to meet the strength of force we provided. Two of them fell quickly, two others escaped into the murky water bloodied. I handed the would-be thieves over to the captain, after divesting them of their weapons. They were members of a thief’s guild called the Golden Snakes, they were well equipped and we divested them of some of their finer gear. We did not learn anything useful; they were just pawns. Turning them over to the dock authorities, we set off once again. Our next port was to be the city of Anuire, but we were turned away stating they had no desire to trade with us, much to Drago’s relief. As the journey progressed our next danger would be in the straits of Aerele. The location where thousands died in the legendary God battle ages ago. As we traveled the crew were on high alert, and for good reason as we neared the edge of the straits a dense fog began to roll in and the spirits of the dead began to flood on the ship. The battle was intense, the ghosts used horrible magics to age those they attacked trying to waste them away by the ravages of time. The attack even affected Sidhelien. For my part of the battle, I realized that those they could not see and could not see them would not be affected by the attack, so I would dart out and strike quickly to return to cover. Aubrae bravely stood by the captain as she navigated us through the straits, I would do my part dashing by striking at their attackers. Eventually the captain was cleared of all attackers the ghosts continued to press the attack, but then we broke free of the straits and into open water once more. Some of the crew had fallen prey to the aging magic. Thankfully, none of the Cohort was permanently affected. The rest of the journey was peaceful. Nalu and Drago passed the time swimming beside the boat, Drago using his magic to make himself amphibious. We passed by an island claimed by pirates and Awnshegh, named Caelcorwyn but we kept a healthy distance. The captain did mention to Drago rumors of a Wasteland Dragon that might also lair there. So many Dragons in this world, of all shapes and types. Next, we passed through the Harpies Passage. We were watching the skies, but it was quiet, and finally we docked in Ber-Dairas. We headed straight to the Cat’s Cradle. We soon found ourselves with Elishava and told her of our needs to meet with the Scorpion sisters. She had heard through the underworld of our arriving and what we were doing. She gave to us a red coin with a picture of a Scorpion, and told us that we need to go the The Grand Peacock, Altaawus Alkabir. After saying our good byes and receiving gifts of wine from Elishava we headed towards the bath house, a large many colored building with a well-manicured landscape. Presenting the coin to the front desk, I requested a bath for all of us. We were taken to the undressing room where we were to leave all of our belongings and come out naked. Assassins and their precautions, believing everyone was out to kill them, still a bath house is a good place for them to do business. Naturally, most of the party was upset at having to leave their belongings. Drago showed uncanny prudence in having Nalu swallow the Dragon Egg to hide it. Natrually, I myself am comfortable with my body and I am hardly defenseless while naked. We entered the steam room and soon were joined by Jasmina. I spoke with her explaining back and forth our purpose here, and what was required. I knew they had already gone through our things and taken the letter. I also knew all of our belongings were quite safe. Assassins can be counted on to wish to keep their “good” reputation. She took Drago off to discuss his individual contract, to aid Kaevara. I had prepped him for the discussion, and it sounds like he did just fine. After deep tissue massages, we were taken into the bath proper. There Jasmina and I engaged in a bit more banter, and I asked her of the Contract against me taken out by Gak-Gak, she implied that since I had remained out of the territory, I was not in danger. However, she revealed that Thinnie was in Danger stating that “Gods are born and die all the time.” A bit more banter later, I had bought out the contract Gak-Gak had placed on Thinnie giving the Scorpions twenty-two more doses of the purple worm poison. I have no doubt the only reason she had revealed this to me was because she had found the poison in my belongings. One of the reasons I had left it there was to tempt them and test them. It seems my gamble payed off. Thinnie was now safe from this threat, but not from Gak-Gak. We soon departed the Bath House, I do have to recommend it for those who have the chance, I feel quite invigorated from the experience! I said my farewells to my companions and departed immediately to check on Thinnie. Thankfully, when I arrived at her court she was safe. I learned that in my absence Gak-Gak had made allies with the Moon people and had spent quite a bit of time with them. He had left his servant behind with a staff of scrying to observe Thinnie. I warned Thinnie that she should not drop her defenses for anyone, because people might wish to do her harm for her gods blood. She promised me she would not, I learned that Gak-Gak planned to return near the spring…. I have little doubt his plans are to now usurp Thinnie and lead the goblins to war. We will not allow that to happen, I am gathering a group of the Cohort to stop him and we will set off next month it is time Gak-Gak is stopped for good.   Darvius Alandre, Carnifex Primera Junior Council Member, Cohort Arcanum

Session 308 (Thylea): Zakroth Revealed and War coming to Aresia Nephenee (Serephen) Phage (Kristen B) Sabiha bint Habivi (Zilarreko) Thylea, Faniele 1526 HC. I arrived at the Mystros Cohort and met with Nephenee and Sabiha to discuss with them about reclaiming possibly lost treasures that we left behind in a Dwerren hold volcano when I was captured and escaped from. I saw many treasures left behind due to time trying to escape the lava. Now that months have passed I think we could go back and get riches from what was there. They agreed and we made our way to Aresia as our first stop to meet with Lord Grace. A noble that I rescued when I escaped and could possibly get his aid.  When we got there and went to the Lord's manor we were met by another of the people I rescued. Jovip or now known as Jovisha due to me changing his gender from constantly annoying me. She was glad to see us and we explained we had business with Lord Grace. When we met the lord he was glad to see me again and I talked to him about my plan to get rich and how he could help with gathering trustworthy men to mine and bring back the treasure the dark dwerren left behind. He agreed he would try to help but it would take time for him to get what I asked for ready. He then brought up rumors about an army gathering in the forests nearby the city. Monstrous and fey creatures that plan to take the city. But he thinks it is foolish that anyone would even try as the city has good defenses. We said we might look into it but we were more interested in scouting the volcano and seeing how things were there before the expedition.  We then made our way to the market to gather supplies we might need to scout out the volcano. We met a merchant who claimed that all his wears he had for sale were special and had an epic story to them. He did have a story to all the stuff he was selling but if they were true I am not sure. I saw no magic coming from any of the things he was selling. Ha also claimed he was once a great fighter of the arena in the city of Aresia and that his daughter has now taken his place. Our party seemed interested in the competition that was going to take place every seven days. We decided we wanted to enter and test our skills. He gave us the run down of the sports and rules. We then went off to check other things out in the market when a man approached us. He wanted us to get on the boat with two water nymphs. I felt their charm trying to come over me and knew this man was a servant to them. I then noticed my companions were now also charmed by them and wanted to travel with them down river to a shady place they wanted to show us. I tried to get them to free my companions but they would not release them. Demetria and Telephassa were their names. They did promis us safe passage but everything about them seemed off and I was on edge for when they would betray me.  They brought us up the river and deep into the forests where we docked at a camp of many monstrous and fey creatures. I guess the rumors were true about a force building up in the forests. A giant asked us to leave the boat and to follow him to their leader who wanted to meet us. The leader of this coalition against the city of Aresia is a Minotaur named Zakroth. He is a large and powerful foe wielding a large mithril sword known as The Sword of the Grandmaster. He demanded to know which of us were the heroes of prophecy. I tried to deflect that the hero known as the snail was not with us and is well known as such. Nephenee was trying also to deflect his question about the horn of Balmytria location. He grew frustrated with us and summoned a shaman to read into if we were lying. Which she was able to tell and he then threw us into a torture chamber where he would get the answers he wanted out of us. There we met with Ugalut who was in the process of torturing men that once served him. The shaman who brought us there threatened that we would soon be telling them everything and then left us with him. Ugalut then told us that he could help us get out of here and warned the city. We together could play it off as we told him everything and that he was then ordered to bring us back to the city. The other men that were imprisoned would not be likely to come with us though and I agreed with him. Then he brought us to the boat where we arrived without the water nymphs guardian it and we made our escape together back to the city. We brought Ugalut with us to see Lord Grace who would inform the queen on our behalf. The lord was in an important meeting that we informed him we had more pressing matters. We told him about what had happened and with Ugalut there with us to confirm our story the Lord believed us and we started to plan for what might come. A big problem was that we believe the camp was on the border of the Fey Wild and that the city scouts and forces would not be able to do much because of that. I then called in the help of two trustworthy dryads to help us. We also believe that Zakroth was once a good creature and that he came into contact with Lutheria who corrupted him and is causing this assault. Soon armies will march and a battle will possibly happen unless we could take out Zakroth and any other corrupted leadership.. We left the Lord to his business and went back to the market. There in the market we went to the next place we wanted to see Haidees Curiosities. She sold many potions, magical daggers of warning and dimensional shackles. We bought a few things and then signed up for the tournament that was going to happen the next day. Some of us then prepped for the fighting that was to come.  The tournament was very interesting. I have to admit I did enjoy myself. We fought some interesting fighters known as Althea, Nausicaa, Telemancho and Phylace. Sabiha and I lost in our duels but Nephenee showed off her skills and won both of her fights. She would have lost her third fight but the fighter was Speio. The latest champion and the daughter of the last grand master of the coliseum and the armory wears merchants we talked to. She threw the fight and made a great show of it for the money. It was a clever thing to do and she must have made a lot for throwing away such pride. We then, having had our fun and throwing our frustrations into sport left to make our way back to Mystros and to go our separate ways. I headed off to meet with again a crazy gnome druid and I was not looking forward to all the walnuts he would probably be offering.  Phage

Session 306 (Mission 2X): Dao Under Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 12 (Adam B) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 10 (Spynx) Alvah Laurent; Anuirean Sorcerer/Bard, lvl 8 (Depraved Lunatic) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin, lvl 9 (Simon D) Tal, Einar Thrum; Vos Fighter, lvl 6 (SlothSlow) Green Knight; Fiend Paladin, lvl 2 (Hats4Cats) After our smashing success with the Treasure Golem from last month, I was eager to continue lining my pockets. It should come as no surprise, then, that when I read about a great hoard of treasure sealed away in the Tsojcanth Mountains, I eagerly assembled a group. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones who had heard the rumors. No less than four other factions (including some other Cohort members) had already made unsuccessful attempts to acquire it. No matter. Let their loss be my gain. Glenn and Nils, having acquired a bit too much Azrai bloodline of late, wanted to stop first at the Fort of Last Hope in Mispera. If the logs could be believed, she had managed to suppress the dark changes that normally come along with vast amounts of shadow blood. Perhaps she could be of some aid to them. Or perhaps not. The journey to Mispera was uneventful, and after exchanging pleasantries with Glenn, Mispera confided that she had no way of helping them avoid their inevitable fate. She confessed that she would not even be able to keep her own darkness at bay forever, a fact which caused great distress in dear Glenndolyn. Although Mispera was quite proximal to the Tsojcanth Mountains, she hadn’t heard of the great wealth stored there, or the Lanthorn that seemed to have aroused all the interest. Still, if it was an item of power, she would rather have it not fall into the hands of Chessa or some other bloodthirsty, fickle human ruler. She advised she may be able to reward us if we could return the item, depending on its value. With that, we set off. The journey to the mountains was quiet and smooth. We followed the river from the Fort of Lost Hope to a small farming village called Bissel. Here we inquired about the mountains and sought to find a local who could perhaps assist us. Nils seemed to be familiar with this dreary backwater, so he took the lead. Eventually he found a miner by the name of Karl. He was suffering from Miner’s Lung, and Glenn and Nils took turns channeling their restorative magic into him. It seemed to do the trick, and before long the man was back in pristine health. Karl knew the mountains well, but also the dangers they held. He spoke of wyverns, giants, werewolves, and goblins. And if that weren’t bad enough, this time of year, avalanches were quite common. After informing him that he would be travelling with the Cedrych Brightbough, his confidence returned. We gave him some gold for a mount and supplies and set him off to gather them. The following morning, we left. The mountains themselves were bristling with magic, up to the Ninth circle. On the first day, we followed a rough path along the river to the North-East for twenty one miles. As we picked a spot to camp, Karl informed us that we were very close to the Wyvern’s lair. He scavenged some foul-smelling roots from the water’s edge and encouraged us to rub them on ourselves to hide our scent. That night, we saw a large creature fly out of the cave. It was hard to tell at a distance, but it seemed huge. If I hadn’t known better, I might have confused it with a red dragon. This Wyvern had apparently killed the brother of Tsar Drago Koskov, and there was a large bounty for its head. Evidently, its lair was also filled with a small hoard of treasure. We debated whether or not we should engage this thing, but ultimately decided to press on to the true prize. In the morning, we set out again on the path. Near a confluence of the rivers, we came across two Storm Giants playing catch with a boulder the size of an ox. The previous Cohort group had met them as well and claimed they were friendly and interested in trade, so Alvah and Glenn approached them. I couldn’t understand what was said, but I did see one of the giants produce a gold coin the size of a dinner plate. In the end, we had nothing that interested them. A bit later in the day, I was ambushed by a three-headed snake. The damn thing killed my horse and retreated back into its lair to eat. Rather than waste time extracting revenge, I continued on foot. The treasure we sought was said to be hidden away in some caverns at the foot of Igglwiv’s Horn, the tallest mountain in the range. We continued south-east and Karl pointed out a mountain he thought may be the highest. Based on the logs of the group that came before us, I was quite confident that this was not the mountain we sought. Glenndolyn sought guidance from his deity, and she confirmed this as well: The Horn of Igglwiv becksons from the West. Soon you’ll be dead like the rest. We turned down a narrow mountain path and headed west toward another tall peak we could see in the distance. As we traveled, we saw the Wyvern again, this time flying with a few smaller creatures. They seemed to be hunting, so we immediately sought shelter to hide ourselves. Just when it seemed the creatures had spotted us, Biscuits used fey magic to conceal our group. The wyverns plunged to the ground no more than a hundred feet away, tearing into a small herd of mountain goats. The matriarch was huge, to be sure, but I was confident in our ability should it come to a fight. After a few tense moments, the Wyverns flew off and we carried on. Not far from there, we came across the corpses of five or six hill giants. I had read about these ones as well; evidently they required Prudence to compete in some sort of “Test of Strength” in order to pass. It seemed that whomever had come before us wasn’t quite as willing to play their games. I checked the area for tracks and found those belonging to Prudence and Medi’s group, given away by their hoof prints. There were also more tracks from a large, heavily armored, group. Likely it was this group that had laid waste to the hill giants. We pressed on to, nearly making it to the base of Igglwiv’s Horn before we set up camp for the night. I did my best to camouflage our bivouac, to avoid the eyes of the Wyverns. However, they did not make an appearance. We did, however, see a large group of orcs and goblins, maybe a hundred strong. They passed us unknowingly and began to establish a fairly large camp to the south-east, near the river. They appeared to be battle-worn and wounded, and once again we discussed if it was worth attacking while they were weak. In the end, we decided to set out before dawn and arrive at the caves before them. Skulking quietly through the gloom, we managed to avoid waking up the Orog camp, and after a few hours of climbing we arrived at the Caves of Tsojcanth. We landed in a rather large room with five or six tunnels leading out of it. Beside each of these was a large, carved stone face. Again, I searched for the tracks of Medi and company and found them leading into a tunnel to the North-West. The bloody faces made a hell of a racket as we passed, and Nils had the brilliant idea to bring his mount into the tunnels with us. As I led the way down the tunnels, following the tracks of those who came before us, I stumbled across a huge, vile bat feasting on something. I haven’t had great luck with bats, and this day would be no exception. It let out a piercing screech which nearly ruptured my eardrums. I felt as though I couldn’t move. The rest of the group sprung into action, but the bats retreated into the dark. The room beyond was caked in bat guano, several feet deep. In the north wall was a small opening leading down to a rushing river. Surprisingly, there was a small boat tied up here. Glenn cast water walking, and we descended to investigate. The river was flowing quite rapidly from west to east. On the northern side, I could see a small beach, so we went to investigate this first. Climbing up from the bridge we entered a long, narrow tunnel. This continued on for about a hundred feet or so before joining with another large river, this time flowing east to west. I could hear the roar of a waterfall to the west, and even make out a crack of what looked like daylight. There was a bridge here as well, and the path we were on continued over the river to the north. From here, the path split in three directions: north, east, and west. From the western passage we could hear the sound of goblin voices talking. The language was harsh and cruel. Goblins, perhaps? I snuck ahead to investigate. As I peered around the corner, I could make out a few dozen humanoid shapes with red skin. Too large to be goblins, these were clearly hobgoblins. I signaled back to the group that we were vastly outnumbered, but as I turned to disengage I heard the unmistakable sound of a huge pile of gold coins sloshing about. It sounded exactly like the Treasure Golem, and I must confess I let my baser instincts get the better of me. I popped out from behind the corner with Heartpiercer at the ready and felled two of the hobgoblins before they could blink. Then I saw it. A massive three-headed creature came writing out of the massive pile of coins. It roared with the heads of a lion, bull, and snake and attacked. This was the Gorgimera. I retreated back into the hallway as Nils and the Green Knight stepped forward to take my place and hold the line. The beast exhaled a breath of noxious fumes, and I began to feel my body slowly turning to stone. Not good. Thankfully, I was able to shake it off and get to a safe distance. We threw everything we had at this beast, including a volley of glainne arrows and daggers. Glenn used a spell to block the reinforcements, and from the ranks of hobgoblins someone reciprocated in kind. Glenn and I were trapped in the easternmost tunnel behind a wall of stone, but he quickly dispelled it. We laid into the beast for what felt like hours, and although it was a formidable foe, I could see it weakening. Just when we had it on the ropes, the beast was enveloped in a sphere of magical darkness. From the back ranks of the hobgoblins, a spellcaster charged forward and into the black. Again, Glenn dispelled the magic, but when the darkness fell, the beast had turned invisible. Fortunately, the hobgoblin riding on its back made it a relatively easy target, and under a flurry of blows, the rider fell. We could hear the invisible creature retreating, and we pressed the attack into the hobgoblin ranks to chase it. From the depths of its lair, we heard a horrible bellow. At first, I thought it was a death knell, but amidst the chaos I could make out a single word: “COHORT!” It was at this point that things took a turn for the worse. From the northern tunnel, several large creatures with skin like stone appeared. They wore red flowing silks and carried massive hammers with them. I had never seen these things before, but I learned later that these were Dao: lesser primordials that were not to be trifled with. They levelled their hammers at Tal, and we knew at this point that the battle was lost. We began a long, fighting retreat back the way we had come. The Gorgimera, seemingly emboldened by these reinforcements, returned to the fray. We fought our way back south, across the stone bridge. The Dao summoned earth elementals to bar our escape, but I managed to elude their grasp. In the chaos, Tal was separated from the rest of the group. Before I knew it we were across the river, running for the mouth of the cave. By some divine grace, we managed to barely make it back to civilization, bruised and broken.

Session 312 (Mission 3Q) - Shadow Fey Jailbreak Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch - Level 9, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Night Howler - Level 1, Dragonborn Barbarian (Mekapix) Grian Veles - Level 3, Pixie Warlock/Druid (Kristen B.) Hedrin Toadslayer - Level 9, Dwerren Sorcerer (SlothSlow) Lorena          - Level 1, Human Druid (Valentine) Where do these people keep coming from? I blame the gnome personally. Either way they seemed fine with helping me on my mission, so I can’t complain too much. I told them the situation in Zobeck and we headed off to continue our investigations into the Shadow Fey. Along the way the wolfdragon showed that he likes perching on rooftops through the night, like most normal people.  Close to the city we ran into some lost kids. A bit obvious, but effective. They said they’d been playing hide and seek and got lost in the forest since last night. Nobody sensed any magic or shapechanging on them and the Margreve didn’t give any warnings about them, so we took them back. When we reached the gate a bunch of people that looked like their parents were already waiting, and all came up to thank us and distract us. Soon as I reached for some coins I noticed that Bagholder was gone and the kids were already halfway through the gate. We managed to catch them and get our things back, but there was a big argument over what to do with them. One person wanted to hurt them, one wanted to turn them over to the guards, one wanted to just let them go, it was a mess. I tried to check if they worked for that one crime lord I’ve heard of recently. They didn’t react to the title so I handed them some coins for the effort and sent them off. Wasn’t a bad trick, even if it was obvious and they messed it up by getting caught. First stop was a place to sleep. I was avoiding the Silk Scabbard for reasons, so we went to the Seven Bells. We asked about the Shadow Fey and where they’d been active only to hear that they’d all been caught, rounded up and sent to the jail mine. Apparently old trustworthy Tyron had sorted out the entire problem in one go. Which is weird considering how incompetent the guards were before. Almost as though this was all one big long con. The woman said that he’d be considered for a seat on the council for this… unless all the shadow fey broke out of the prison somehow. But what were the chances of that happening? Pretty low, obviously. The next day we didn’t leave the tavern. A totally different group went off to do shady things. A pair of pixies called Sugarpuff and Sprinkles, a half-orc in heavy armour, a priesty-looking human man in robes with a staff and a weird looking gnome. Totally not us. This other group went to the Shadow Fey Exchange to try and find out if the Shadow Fey knew anything about Tyron’s plot, or had any evidence they could use against him. Turned out the whole building had been burned down though, except for a little black tree sprout. Thankfully Sugarpuff could talk to it, and learned that most of the Shadow Fey in the building had escaped to the Shadow Realm. Until the tree grew up again it wouldn’t be able to transport people, so Sugarpuff made it grow. The building restored, the group went in and spoke with a Shadow Fey lady called Kaithaea. She told them that all the Shadow Fey who’d been out and about in the city had been captured and taken to the jail mine, West of the city. Some humans had also been taken, on the grounds that they’d been working with the Shadow Fey even though they hadn’t actually, which was really interesting. Kaithaea didn’t know anything specific about the sudden turnaround, but suspected the same as me, that it was all a scam. She also mentioned that the Margreve wasn’t happy about the mine they were being made to work. She offered the group some tools and weapons, along with some strange black clay that would open any lock, since they seemed set on breaking everyone out of there. Taking the law into their own hands, you’d never catch me doing that. So the group set off West towards the jail. One of the pixies turned invisible and scouted around the place. They had a big wall that was keeping the Margreve out, lots of guards along the wall, a bunch of gross stuff being dumped into the river through a waterway and a big mountain on the West side of the camp. The group decided that the mountain would be the best way to approach, but first they used some magic to make the snow much heavier to obscure them. As they flew over the mountain the snow gave way and collapsed onto the camp as an avalanche, burying some of the guards, which was fortunate. The pixies slipped into one of the prison buildings while the others went somewhere else. They passed out some lockpicks and weapons, and helped fight off the guards to get all the prisoners free. Sugarpuff also had some Margreve tree seeds, just like I do. She went and planted a few of them so the Margreve would be past the wall, and could start tearing up the prison, which was really clever if I do say so. I should meet up with this Sugarpuff sometime, I think we’d work well together. After a few spells the prison guards got spooked that the Margreve was angry with them and turned tail to flee. I wonder if the forest let them make it back to the city… It turns out the things they were mining there were fairy stones. They say when fairies die they sometimes leave their essence in stones, which bring light to the world and after a while they can be reborn again. I kind of hope I get to be a crystal if I die. Though I think I still have a dragon soul gift from Nairth, so if I do die I think I just get born again anyway. Turns out people mine these crystals up and use them to power magic lights and things, but that interrupts the renewal cycle, and the Margreve isn’t a fan of that. One of the prisoners also knew something useful, and I know this because Sugarpuff told them to come and share it with me at my tower, which they did. They said that Lord Tyron had been deliberately instructing the guards to go easy on the Shadow Fey, and anyone who refused, or threatened to go to the council with that information was locked up. It sounds like he was waiting for it to get just bad enough that his reward would be even better when he miraculously fixed everything. Sadly they didn’t have any hard evidence I could bring to the council, but they said he’d almost definitely have some in his fort. His fort which is conveniently right next door. Y’know I haven’t ever paid that place a neighbourly visit, so maybe it’s about time I did that! I can’t let Sugarpuff and their crew have all the fun.

Session 305 (3X): Snakes, Bats, and Turtles, oh my! Present: Agatha Duskhart, Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 9, Summer Prudence Duskhart, Alseid, Druid, Level 9, Lena Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 8, Zilarrezko Lucan Yaeldrin, Hanner Sidhe, Wizard, Level 4, Mekapix Medi Eirwen, Alseid, Druid, Level 8, Serephen Combat XP 430XP Quest XP 1,500XP RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 2,500XP Log XP 1,286XP to Lucan Total XP 6,430XP to Agatha, Prudence, Diesa, and Medi 7,716XP to Lucan Renown, Fame, and Infamy N/A Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 306 (2X): Dao Under Present: Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 12 (Adam B) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 10 (Spynx) Alvah Laurent; Anuirean Sorcerer/Bard, lvl 8 (Depraved Lunatic) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin, lvl 9 (Simon D) Tal, Einar Thrum; Vos Fighter, lvl 6 (SlothSlow) Green Knight; Fiend Paladin, lvl 2 (Hats4Cats) The party barely escaped with their lives, an XP penalty was applied considering the circumstances. Tal'Thrum has died. Combat XP 366XP Quest XP 500XP RP XP 500XP Exploration XP 500XP Log XP 373XP to Cedrych Total XP 1,866XP to Glenn, Alvah, Nils, Tal, and Green Knight 2,239XP to Cedrych Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Infamy (Terran) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 308 (Thylea): Zakroth Revealed and War Coming to Aresia Present: Nephenee (Serephen) Phage (Kristen B) Sabiha bint Habivi (Zilarreko) Nephenee got 280 golden drachmas for winning the armed combat competition in the Gymnasium, and 500 golden drachmas for "fixing" the competition. Up the party how they split these earnings. Combat XP 500XP + 250 for Nephenee for winning the competition. Quest XP 1,000XP RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 1,500XP Log XP 1,000XP to Phage Total XP 5,000XP to Sabiha 5,250XP to Nephenee 6,000XP to Phage Renown, Fame, and Infamy +2 Fame (Thyela) for Nephenee +1 Fame (Thylea) for Phage and Sabiha +2 Renown (Aresia) for everyone. Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 309 (Exploration): The Shadow Over the Golden Scorpion Present: Astrid; Anuirean Paladin, Level 4, Kristen B Elias Siannodel; Sidhelien Ranger, Level 1, Steven F Caern Walsh; Anuirean Cleric, Level 1, Mekapix Luna; Tabaxi Sorcerer, Level 2, Serephen The party received 300 golden stallions for slaying the scorpion, and another 60 for the meat. Combat XP 175XP Quest XP 1,000XP RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 1,000XP Log XP 835XP Caern Total XP 4,175XP to Astrid, Elias, and Luna 5,010XP to Caern Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Binsada) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 310 (SPECIAL): From the Straits of Aerele, to the Head of a Scorpion Present: Aubrae Trevelyan; Anuirean Paladin, lvl 8 (Zilarrezko) Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 12 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 13 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 12 (SlothSlow) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 10 (Depraved Lunatic) Every character had their maximum Hit Points increased by 1. Combat XP 1,600XP Quest XP 3,000XP RP XP 2,500XP Exploration XP 1,500XP Log XP 1,290XP to Darvius 1,720XP to Dragomir Total XP 8,600XP to Aubrae, Korak, and Sithric 9,890XP to Darvius 10,320XP to Dragomir Renown, Fame, and Infamy +2 Renown (Sielewode) +1 Renown (Scorpion Assasins) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 311 (Mini-Session, 3V): Log Needed, Roll Call Needed Present: Brognir Bronzehelm, Dwerren, fighter/barbarian, 7, Kristen B Nubby, Cellwair, Rogue, Level 5, Hats4Cats Vascos, Minotaur, Barbarian, Level 3, Depraved Lunatic, Gundle, Anuirean, Bard, Level 3, Slothslow Seria, Sidhelien, Fighter, Level 1, Valentine Each member of the party is rewarded with 600 greater grivnas. Combat XP 182XP Quest XP 1,000XP /2 = 500XP (Chessa was disappointed) RP XP 750XP Exploration XP 500XP Log XP Log needed Total XP 1,932XP to Brognir, Nubby, Vascos, Gundle, and Seria Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Rzhlev) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 312 (3Q): Shadow Fey Jailbreak Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch - Level 9, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Night Howler - Level 1, Dragonborn Barbarian (Mekapix) Grian Veles - Level 3, Pixie Warlock/Druid (Kristen B.) Hedrin Toadslayer - Level 9, Dwerren Sorcerer (SlothSlow) Lorena          - Level 1, Human Druid (Valentine) Each member of the party received one shadow fey opal. Combat XP 650XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 1,000XP Log XP 1,130XP to Cordie Total XP 5,650XP to Night Howler, Grian, Hedrin, and Lorena. 6,780XP to Cordie Renown, Fame, and Infamy Starting Margreve Status Grian: 12 Starting Margreve Status Lorena: 8 Starting Margreve Status Night Howler: 4 +3 Status (Shadow Fey) for everyone Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 305: Snakes, Bats, and Turtles, oh my! Adventurers Present Agatha Duskhart, Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 9, Summer Prudence Duskhart, Alseid, Druid, Level 9, Lena Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 8, Zilarrezko Lucan Yaeldrin, Hanner Sidhe, Wizard, Level 4, Mekapix Medi Eirwen, Alseid, Druid, Level 8, Serephen So, we decided to head back towards the cave once more after not getting too far into it last time we came here, though there were a few more surprises on the way this time. As we headed towards the cave, we passed through an area where the rest of the group explained they had been attacked by a large, 3-headed serpent. There was a hole in the group that the snake used as a burrow, and last time, Agatha got ambushed by the snake as she moved near the burrow, as she wasn't aware of the snake's presence. This time, Agatha was aware of the snake's presence, but moved towards the burrow... and got ambushed again... I'm not entirely sure what her plan was, I'll admit, because once the snake was out, we tried to get it to leave. We went a few rounds with the snake, throwing some spells at it but nnot wanting to use too many resources too quick. It left a fair few marks on Agatha, but we managed to scare it off soon enough and it retreated down it's burrow. Diesa did have the thought of blocking the burrow but considering the snake could burrow through the ground, it didn't seem worth it, so we moved on. As we attempted to camp that night, I was on guard duty with Diesa's familiar, but was unable to spot that a rock slide was forming until it was too late. Myself and Medi were knocked unconsious by the boulders, but were soon enough healed. We inspected the cliff but it didn't look like there was any foul play, and it was just a natural phenomenon, We headed out again after the night's rest. We made our way closer to the cave and came across a rather disturbing sight. We found the corpses of five hill giants within the mountains near the cave. We did a little scouting first in case whatever attacked them was still around, using my illusions as a lure, but nothing reacted so we inspected the bodies closer. It seems that it must have been a large group of people was responsible for their deaths. We found weapon cuts across their bodies, and tracks of people leading through the area. It's difficult to tell if they were unprovoked attacks, when we had our test of strength before, they did say they would eat us if we were too weak. So not too sure who the bad guys were, but the giants were dead and we can't really do anything about that, so we continued towards the cave. Before we made our way into the cave, we knew that there was a waterfall in the area nearby, so we decided to make a quick detour to look at it. The journal notes eluded to a waterfall, so we decided to inspect it in case it revealed another way in. In a sense, it did reveal another possible way in, just not a very good one. The opening in the mountain that the water flowed from was pretty high up in the cliff face and only really accessible to anyone who had flight. Medi decided to shapeshift into a large eagle and have a look in the opening to see if there was anywhere safe for us to be dropped off. She was gone for a little bit of time, but when she returned, she said that the current of the river looked too strong for us to swim in, and that while she had travelled a fair bit inside, she couldn't find any where we could land. So we decided to head in through the regular entrance instead. We went in and intstantly moved past the heads, avoiding their monotonous cacophany, following the path we found before. We had a moment where we turned a corner and found a dead end, thinking something strange had happened to the cave! I immediately began to theorize. Perhaps it was a cave in? Maybe an illsuion? Maybe the cave itself was alive?! Then we realised we took a wrong turn. My sense of direction isn't always great but that was a little embarrassing. We knew that there would be bats up ahead, and I was tasked with using my magic to create a sound to lure the bats in a direction so we could attack them at once. Unfortunately, Diesa kept stepping forward to get a look at them and alerted them. Be aware, the hearing of these bats is extremely impressive. Combat ensued with us fighting these bats, and we learned they had weaponized sound. They had a powerful screech that would cause anyone to hear it to potentially become incapacitated. However, we found out a trick to them. They seem hunt solely on sound, so Diesa was able to use the Silence spell around them and they became confused, unable to find their prey. I was also able to discover that I could lead them with sound, and was even able to make the bats attack each other with a well placed Minor Illusion. Soon enough, we were able to route the bats, and judging by the fact that we heard those obnoxious heads, they more than likely fled the cave. Pressing on, we found a spellbook within the bat's... leavings. It wasn't pretty but that's what you do for magical knowledge. Thhe spellbook is remarkable, if not a little disturbing. It's bound in human skin, and filled with many illusion spells! I look forward to copying some down at some point. There was also another tunnell that lead into a large river. Medi shapeshifted into the form of a giant bat, very appropriate, and left us for a little bit as she explored. She eventually returned with some news. Entering the cave with the river, there was a path to the west, north-west, and east. West just seemed to be a rough flowing river, north-west was a path that lead out of the river and towards another river, and east lead upstream of the river towards a boat. Seeing as west was dangerous waters and north-west was untraversable waters for some of us, Medi and Prudence went to the east, Medi under Alter Self and Prudence in the form of a giant bat, very appropriate again, to get the boat and bring it back. In the meantime, I set up the Alarm spell on the tunnel we came from in case anything tried to sneak up behind us. Eventualy the boat was obtained and brought back to us, and we jumped in. We sailed to the east and came across a large open section of caves with multiple tunnels leading off of it. One tunnel went into a dangerous and fast running river, while a few others led to embankments, so we chose an embankment. After landing the boat, there was movement as the water surrface broke and a huge turtle surfaced! We were a little worried about the turtle attacking but Medi was able to use a spell to speak to it. Turns out the tutlre was actually in a fair bit of pain. These worm like creatures that pretend to be stalagtites had dislodged from the roof of the cave and burrowed into the poor thing's shell! We decided to help the poor thing and make quick work of the creatures. Not sure what they're called but I believe Medi or Prudance said that they were infant Ropers. After that was dealt with, we were able to have an actual conversation with the turtle. Turns out the turtle was trapped in the cave. They had been brought into the cave by other people when they were very young and had been looked after by the people who brought them there. Unfortunately, time takes its toll, as do big monsters in these caves it seems, and the people are no longer with us. The giant turtle did say that there was a lot of shiny things within the cave, but that it was guarded by some sort of large, scary monster. We asked why they hadn't left and it was simply that they were too big to leave the cave. We asked how they were with the outside and they said they could actually move fairly well on land. Medi asked if the turtle would be ok coming with us if we got them out of the cave, and they seemed fairly happy with the idea. So Medi Polymorphed them into a smaller turtle and we left the cave with them. After we got outside and they returned to their full form, they said they wished to head northwards with us, their new family apparently. A very sweet and touching notion! But we can't just leave the Cohort, so Prudence invited them back to her grove to stay and the turtle accepted! We then finally asked their name, felt a bit rude that we hadn't asked earlier, and they saiid their name was Samantha. So all six of us returned to the grove, Agatha and Prudence painting a bit on Samantha's shell, before I decided to get everyone in a position around Samantha so I could paint it later, adding myself in alongside of course, to commemorate the occasion! All in all, it was an interesting trip. We found out about monster, potential gold, we found new spells, and we made a new friend. While we didn't get far in the grand scheme of things, I can't deny this was a very worthwhile trip! - Lucan Yaeldrin

Session 311: Hop, skip, jump. Adventurers Present: -Lorena the Cunning, Sidhelien, Fighter, LvL 1 ( Valentine ) -Brognir Bronzehelm, Dwerren Fighter/Barbarian, LvL 4/3 ( Kristen B. ) -Nubby Oddling, Cellwair, Rogue, LvL 5 ( Hats4Cats ) -Gundle Oddlong, Anuirean, Bard, LvL 2 ( SlothSlow ) -Vascos, Minotaur, Barbarian, LvL 3 ( Depraved Lunatic ) Our group grouped in the Cohort Tavern. We briefly talked about the mission we were about to tackle, which was to collect bushels of wheat in the name of Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk. The way the Tsarina phrased her request worried me, as I didn’t want to hurt innocent villagers over bushels of wheat she won’t miss anyway. The rest of the group seemed indifferent to this, but I don’t think they were. We travel to Rhzlevlsky in Rhzlev. The shipman informs us that the Tsarina is in a foul mood and that we should be careful when parleying with her. Indeed, she seemed to be quite angry that her golem wasn’t constructed yet. The two she was scolding in her audience hall was an exotic looking woman, as well as a Vos youngling who seemed to be her apprentice. She hushed something to our group which would get us to go meet them later. We then talk with the Tsarina. She was growing impatient and wanted us to get her 1000 bushels of wheat, through any means necessary. She gives us directions as to where to find this city and we made off to a tavern. After receiving our briefing, we head off to a tavern that the Cohort apparently frequents. The owners seemed happy to receive us, the pair that was scolded earlier was present as well. I decide to not sit down on the benches, lest I accidently squish them. So I stood at the edge of the room. Apparantly, I am naturally sneaky, as the male part of the owner pair seemed to be spooked once he noticed me. I didn’t understand what he told me, but I asked Lorena to tell me how I could apologize for scaring him. She pranked me, fixing her mischief later. To this day, I don’t know what she made me say. We set off the next day. Seria and I lead our group through the plains, together with the wheat caravan that Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk sent with us. During the second or third day of our journey, during our lunch break, we took a walk and suddenly found ourselves in a forest. Surprisingly, a large array of tables, hosted by a girl with bunny features. I was wary of this at first, but after the rest of the party got settled and ate some stuff, I partook as well. I carved a bunny as well, out of a stick. A table suddenly stabbed the girl, but it didn’t actually kill her. One after another, we began destroying all the tables. After the deed was done, Brognir began eating carrots, which seemed to upset the girl. After everyone ate a carrot, we suddenly woke up back at our camping place, changed forever… Gundle and Brognir grew bunny tails, Seria, Nubby and I grew bunny ears. While the caravan didn’t say anything, they looked at us weirdly. Perhaps they thought we were hiding our true nature? We arrived at Novorossikhtinsk, the city we were to collect the bushels from. We got a quick audience, and the nobility there seemed to be in no rush whatsoever to pay their due taxes. The noblewoman receiving us was being served a very tasty meal as we spoke. An exchange happens and we learn that a man named Zotov Jaromir Konstantinovich has allegedly stolen all of their bushels, so we set out to make things right. After a brief bit of travel, we happen upon the keep of Zotov. It was more a fortified camp, if anything. Seria, Brognir and I sneak around the men, while Gundle and Nubby gather their attention. While the original plan was to get the bushels out sneakily, there were far too many bushels to do this in stealth. So we attacked the band of bandtis. The battle was quick and painless, most of Zotov’s men falling in one blow. Quite frankly, we massacred the poor folks. Zotov died with a shot through the head by Seria. After the battle was over, we gathered the spoils and bushels, to return to the Tsarina. As we returned with the bushels, she seemed disappointed. She said that this was a test, probably expecting us to kill the noblewoman If necessary to get the bushels. And she now “knows what kind of mercenaries” we are. We got a request to get her some glainne so her golem can be finished. I am unsure if anyone who doesn’t like the Tsarina will take this request up though. Log complete. -Vascos

Session 315(Custom Mission): [Darvius Vs GakGak: Battlefield Won by Sending] Played on the 19th of August 2020! Present: Drago & Nalu, Vos Dragon, Sorc, 14, Hats4Cats Korak Flomhelm, Dwerren, Cleric, 13, Sloth Darvius Alandre, Sidhelien, Monk, 13, Darvius Cedrych Brightbough, Sidhelien, Rogue, 12, Adam B Glenn Sturgis, Rjurik, Cleric, 10, Spynx Sithric Sidhefriend, Hanner Sidhe, Fighter/Rogue, 10, Depraved Lunatic Nils Ullstein, Brecht, Paladin/Warlock, 9, Simon Aye alright, where is Korak! He should have been here by now. I’ve just finished tidying away all the items I got from Gak Gak’s study. Like we took like just short of seven hundred of fifty pounds of stuff from there including his belongings. So I best to calm down and write this log before I dive in, having a clear head and all so I don't make any mistakes. At the start I didn't exactly want to go on this mission, not because I didn't want to help Darvius but just because I knew that everyone would. He’s Kinda popular around here and just getting everyone into the same room was an issue, pretty sure he even turned away a few heads at the door. Nalu signed up so it’s not like I wasn't going to, just in the past with parties sizes like this it's normally very hard to get anything done. We always just end up talking to each other, without listening but this time it was different. Maybe we’re getting better at this? I won't bore you with all the details of what Darvius outlined to us but the full details are in one of my logs around here. The general issue was with a goblin called GakGak, he is the best friend of a little girl who became the demi-god of the goblins. She is called Thinnie and is really nice, Nalu has grown to like her a lot but GakGak is just using her why he was working with the primordial God Solaria. We all pretty much guessed it's the same reason as always, she has something powerful he wants, godsblood. Urghh this happens far too often. Last month however we found out that GakGak placed an assassination attempt in with the Scorpions Assassins, me and darvius paid out the contract with purple worm poison so she was safe. We could have paid for them to kill GakGak, but I didn't feel comfortable putting a contract on anyones head so here we were, doing the dirty work ourselves. I mean, if you're going to do something like this I kinda think it's best you do it yourself, right? Then you're taking responsibility ya know. GakGak had also been spending time with the moon cultist who we moved from the temple of the moon in Drachenward. I really hoped they would turn out alright but it doesn't look like it. We did try and get some extra supplies from the Cohort basic stuff really, and that rod of counterspell to help with GakGak but nothing was available. We learned however that the primordials that were released and attacking the temple of Solaria had been dealt with, we need to get a town crier or something to let us know when this happens! The idea what we still might have to deal with them had been stressing me out. With the details out of the way, we headed out trying to solve the problem of GakGak. We arrived in Hjorvar, Kopingdal to see King Uldvik, however, he was absent. The moon cultist and their metal men had moved to join with GakGak & friends, so he had raised his army to go deal with them. He didn't have much of a fighting force. Might be due to us asking him to help with Solaria tho it been a few years since then but his country always got the rough end of things. The army's main camp was at the ruined mansion that was attacked by the now-dead Sharpclaw west of Kopingdal. It's a good resting spot to make camp, it still has good walls and such. Worth noting that one of the Kopingdal guards really didn't like Anuireans, so best to speak with any female guard to be on the safe side if you're from there. We were able to get magic access from his King Uldvik daughter before heading out to make the travel easier on us, guessing our fame in the area helps. The travel was nice, I would have preferred to be flying but guess we had to ride, going to have to learn to fly faster. Nalu had taken to using a smaller form, I think because now that I was now flying around, she could take the lift was nice to see her comfortable doing so. On the first day, we ran into a plant-like creature called Warlock’s Trumpet Bloom. These plants were created by Azrai, mixing his blood with fey plants. Apparently their sap can help those who draw power from less divine gods but as soon as I saw them, I made them disappear. Who knows, maybe they are now linked to the shadow world and can live there from now on, doubtful. On the second day Cedrych spotted a beast covered in white fur and blue eyes, lying in wait, buried in snow. I think I’ve heard of them before. A yeti-like creature. They are very territorial and can breathe Ice and Paralyze you with their eyes. So no reason to just be fighting these things when we can go around. The yeti followed us as we moved around it, checking that we left the area. Once it was happy we were leaving it just went back, guess it's smart enough to know any fight is a risk not worth taking. Cedrch was saying no one knows where they go come spring, might be a cool mystery to find out. Wonder if they can speak a language? After three days on the road, we made it to the ruins of the old house. The place was still a mess, but we finally caught up with King Uldvik and his men. This was his starting point for the war on the goblins and was leading all his men up the mountain to fight the Metal moon men and GakGak’s goblins. We were pretty sure Thinnie wouldn't know anything about what was going on so this is just GakGak’s doing. We tried to do some scrying and find out basically what the king had already known from his scouts. Thousands of Goblins, hundreds of metal men. Uldvik wanted us to assist with the war and we kinda felt like most of it was our fault so we kinda had to. Cedrych wanted to try a sneak approach but looking at Korak, Glenn, and Nils in all their plate armour kinda made me chuckle. We agreed to help the king but marched ahead so we could clear the way up the mountain beforehand. We arrived at the top of the mountain and started base camp. The rivers were frozen and the mountains surrounded us from all sides. This is where things got weird. The king had brought up this huge green and gold throne and he was going to use it to channel ley magic. I offered to stay with him in the fight given how I think I could help protect him but he didn't want me anywhere near him, saying I should join a group of mages. It was at this point the ground was struck by lightning. This started everyone interrupting it as a million different things. A warning, a sign to strike, an omen of death. The king's advisor just liked to talk I think. Glenn asked his Goddess Laramie, and got some strange wording back. “Night or Day, Heads or Tails, Fate swings, and moves. Your eyes unseen.” We took this as we're not seeing something we really should be. I went and checked the shadowrealm, the chair did not exist in the shadow realm but did have a circle of moonlight around it. At first, I thought this to mean a bubble of protection, it did have one but I did uncover more important information about this effect later on. Like anyways we all went around looking for different things. Cedrych headed into the mountains and made a base camp. It really wasn't until Nalu got close to the throne that something strange happened. She flew up and did the same thing as the lightning, making a mark on the floor. Nalu wasn't interested in the throne but the king. With a dragon all in his face, he started getting scared and basically made a break for his tent and as Korak reached out to grab him his hand went straight through. I was a little caught by surprise but as Korak removed the magic, GakGak was standing right in front of us. He popped off somewhere but you can't hide from Nalu’s eyes. Me and Glenn gave chase and finally, I was able to stop him where he stood. Aye the guards almost ended up killing him instead of capturing but that to Cedrych being alert we knocked him cleanout. I was able to gather all his things and put them in my egg as well as keep him from escaping. After bringing him in, why searched the tent and didn't find anything but the king's leather armour and paperwork. The tent itself was kinda magical stopping some magical effects but I didn't see anyways of an exit. Back with GakGak Niel’s got him to spill his secrets about hiring to kill Thinnie, which we knew. However, we didn't know he stored a Bloodsilver dagger under her throne ready for use. He did have a huge tattoo of Thinnie on his body of at least two thousand gold. I had heard rumours of spells that require such levels of tattoo’s but should have guessed GakGak was the type. Does not seem like the worst idea around. Well even with GakGak caught he wouldn't tell us where the king was and said we had to trade him for the king or the king would die. Darvius wasn't going to let him go so instead we thought I could play GakGak and we would trade me for the king and I could just get out. We sent two parties towards the goblin camp, one without the heavy armour wearers and one with them. Sithric, Cedyrch and Darvius did a great job clearing the path for us and it was an easy walk there apart from the dead goblin bodies. So.. this is where goblins acted like goblins, not people. Korak used a sending spell to message GakGak’s seconds. First Bei Bei who told Korak that she doesn't care because she is now the boss. Then he tried Gib Gib who said the same and then Tim Tim who also said the same. It wasn't long until the goblin encampment was in a civil war. Goblins fighting each other over who is now the leader now Gak Gak is dead. The moon men started leaving, seeing their allies fighting each other was a good sign the battle to come wasn't going to end well. We took this time to check over the encampment, I brought both Sithric and Darvius with me. We didn't find any sign of the king but I saw the same moonlight spotlight over the top of the metal men army as it moved through the shadow realm. As we left the shadow realm, the King men had attacked the remaining goblin forces that were all inward fighting and wiped most of them out with barely any injuries. So I guess Korak won a battle with three sending spells. After not finding the king anywhere in the remains of the Goblin encampment we did a sending to him and he was at Thinnies. We arrived back at Thinnies and Darvius tried to explain everything, showing her the dagger. Thinnie told GakGak not to go and like I could tell this was really hard for her. She is getting a really messed up childhood. We all see our share of death and things but goblins are always killing each other and she’s around this all day. To hear that the one you thought was your best friend was planning to kill you for your power. Worst still she really wants to keep the dagger, because it's pretty. Why she wants a reminder of something her best friend was going to kill her with. I don't know. I think she needs help. Like it's clear Thinnie doesn't want to have to do this, she might just need reminding that she does have other options. Maybe if we show her want her life could be with friends and a family, parents. A farm with all her pets, even more pets. Maybe at Darvius monk place? I think she doesn't know that the goblins don't see her as a friend, just a tool. Might be because they're the same height so they just look like kids. Anyways after exposing GakGak many more had to be killed so I bet she will love us for that. I don't know like she shouldn't be there. We go and release the King from his Cell, he is kinda relaxed about the whole thing but Darvius speaks about getting a tutor for Thinnie from his court and even offers Darvius a marriage. Not Darvius type but hey, he’s got options. Not sure like if having another political figure is good for Thinnie but this kinda is Darvius’s Call. I wanted to go deal with Gak Gak’s room, we saw so much primordial stuff in there and we needed to make sure what he had been up to. He had heavy protections on it but Glenn was able to get it open. On the floor was a symbol of Solaria, I was pretty sure I could remove it but before I did I wanted to see the other side of the coin. From the shadow realm, a spotlight of red fire beams onto the symbol. I'm now pretty sure that beings of great power, like Solaria, gods from the moon or any greater power can use the shadow realm to watch over objects, symbols or people. Maybe it offers them a small amount of protection or maybe it acts as a gateway of sensory connection. Anyways it's definitely a connection of some type so I removed it. I think that's the first Primordial seal I have broken, and I wonder if Leana would be proud… nope I bet she would yell at me for some reason. When the seal was broken and removed the light in the shadow world faded so we were able to remove their sight. There was also another primordial inside one of the rooms but we left that until more members arrived. I did collect everything that was in Gak Gak’s room. We all cleared the place clean out by the end. A golden book with a burning sun, Alchemical supplies, loads of magical books that I can't wait to read, scrolls and many more. I rarely get to fight another magic-user so find one who can cast spells above me, I can't wait to read through this stuff. There was a skeleton of a goblin on the war enchanted with high-level necromancer magic. Sihtric arrow did nothing and shattered on it. It wasn't until I used “that” spell that it was finally destroyed. Always concerning when I have to use that kind of magic. I'm sure that skeleton was Gak Gak’s backup plan in case of death, I’m sure when the execution comes he will be smiling. Before we left I asked Thinnie to borrow that dagger, I just wanted it away from her. That thing isn't just all the memories of Gak Gak and the goblins who tried to kill her with it but there aren't many things out there that can hurt a Demi-goddess and she is six! Like most people don't want six-year-olds holding knives let alone a dagger-like that. I don't know, I think getting it away from Thinnie was the right thing to do and I can talk to Darvius later about it. He always has a straight head on him, too straight sometimes but maybe we can just give her a good fake or something. Maybe she just likes how it looks, anyways that thing is still too dangerous for her to have like. Now she won't be harmed by it when one of the goblins ultimately decides Gak Gak had the right idea. I will try and see if Darvius would be willing to just hold onto it until she comes of age at the very least. She said she would be very mad at him but he could handle it. Plus if he comes back with Twenty snails and says he lost it I'm sure she would forgive him. It would mean she would be a lot safer, well in a goblin encampment. We left and headed back, we heard Gak Gak was executed. We won King’s Uldvik war without any losses and he might have taken some lost land back. Darvius dealt with Gak Gak and the contract on Thinnie is finally never in question. For the moon cultists we haven't talked to any of them since the events but Thinnie is at least not at war with anyone so that's good. Anyways I’m going to search through Gak Gak’s things, a lot to go through. Dragomir & Nalu

Session 315 (Mission Special): Gak Gak's Gambit Played on the 19th of August 2020! Present: Drago & Nalu, Vos Dragon, Sorc, 14, Hats4Cats Korak Flomhelm, Dwerren, Cleric, 13, Sloth Darvius Alandre, Sidhelien, Monk, 13, Darvius Cedrych Brightbough, Sidhelien, Rogue, 12, Adam B Glenn Sturgis, Rjurik, Cleric, 10, Spynx Sithric Sidhefriend, Hanner Sidhe, Fighter/Rogue, 10, Depraved Lunatic Nils Ullstein, Brecht, Paladin/Warlock, 9, Simon It had been some time since I had adventured with Darvius. As one of the few, true Sidhelien in the Cohort, of course I answered his call for aid. Evidently, he had been spending quite a bit of time with a young Khinasi girl named “Thinnie”. She had ascended to demi-godhood under the worship of a tribe of Goblins, but now it seemed that some of her worshippers were working against her. Darvius speculated that one of her high priests named Gak Gak had hired the Scorpion Assassins to kill Thinnie. Although the contract had already been bought out by Darvius, as long as Gak Gak remained, Thinnie would be in danger. Quite frankly, I couldn’t care less about the girl and a bunch of goblins. They were nearly a world away, far in the North-West. However, if this was important to Darvius, it would make it important to me. Our first port of call was in Kopingdal, Hjolvar to meet with King Uldvik. We found the city bustling, but lightly guarded. The King was absent, as were all the able-bodied young men. Darvius met with his daughter, who held the castle in his stead. The King and his army had marched to the west to meet an invading force of goblins and moon-metal men. There had been a truce with these factions, but evidently it wasn’t holding up. We set out immediately to try to catch up. We made good time, given the deep snow and cold winds. On our first day of travel, we were nearly ambushed by two large, sentient plants. Drago quickly banished them, and we pressed on. The next day, I spotted a large humanoid creature hiding in the snow. I had heard tales of these beasts that the locals called “Yetis”. They were powerful ape-like creatures that could breathe ice. Very territorial. We gave it a wide berth, and continued onward. Mid way through our second day of travel, we arrived at an old ruined manse that King Uldvik was using as a staging ground. We were granted an audience with the King, and he briefed us on the situation. An army of moon metal men and goblins had gathered in a mountain pass to the south-west. The King’s scouts estimated their numbers to be in the thousands, and the King had gathered his army to stop them from pressing forward into his lands. Darvius offered our assistance, and the King was thankful for this. Korak attempted to scry on Gak Gak and a few of his lieutenants. He was able to confirm the estimates of the enemy force. Something about this situation did not sit right with me. The King seemed overly confident about his chances. I suggested we scout ahead of the main army, to see if we could take out some key targets, including Gak Gak. But the rest of the group wished to stay with the King’s forces and assist in open combat. We camped for the night, and the following day headed into the mountains to meet the rest of the King’s forces. They had assembled a battle line in a deep valley. The goblin army would be funneled through the narrow pass here, which would hopefully reduce the impact of the goblin’s superior numbers. The King and his druids would oversee the battle from a powerful druidic throne, some manifestation of their primal god. As we went over the battle plan, a lightning bolt struck the mountain top near the King. His druids argued over what this meant. Was it an attack from the goblins? Or an omen from their god? None of this was sitting well with me, or the rest of the group. Glenn pleaded with Larame for guidance, and she offered this cryptic verse: Night or Day, Heads or Tails, Fate swings and moves. Your eyes unseen. There was something important we were missing. While the others argued, I set off on my own. I climbed into the mountains to the west where I would be able to see down into the adjoining valley. But aside from a few roaming goblin patrols, I saw nothing. I was beginning to settle in for the night when I heard some commotion coming from the soldiers gathered at the base of the mountain. Looking down, I could see a small goblin frantically running to the north, with Glenn and Drago not far behind it. I let loose a few keen shots, and the creature was quickly killed. We were in need of answers, so Glenn brought it back to life and we stripped it down and restrained it. It was explained to me that Gak Gak, the goblin we had captured, had somehow been impersonating King Uldvik for quite some time. Drago and I immediately searched the King’s tent, but nothing seemed out of sorts. I inspected his personal effects and noticed some very slight differences in language and handwriting that would have gone unnoticed to the untrained I. With the goblin restrained, we awakened him to begin the interrogation. At first, he denied the accusations that he intended to kill Thinnie. However, Nils was able to draw forth the truth using divine magic: he had hired the assassins to kill her in his presence. He had hidden a bloodsilver dagger beneath her throne. It seemed his goal was to take her bloodline for himself. Gak Gak tried to convince us that releasing him is the only way to save King Uldvik. Darvius wanted to execute Gak Gak on the spot, but the senior leadership of the Hjolvarian army wanted to ensure that the King would be returned safely. We left Gak Gak in the care of the Hjolvarian archdruids while we worked to free the King. Darvius, Sithric, and myself scouted ahead of our party, eliminating the roaming patrols of goblin scouts. We ascended the mountain and perched on a rocky outcropping that overlooked the goblin warcamp. Glenn and Korak tried to locate the King using divine magic, but he was either not in the camp or shielded from divination. They reached out again to communicate with Gak Gak’s lieutenants, in an attempt to persuade them to free the King. Neither Bei Bei, Gib Gib, nor Tim Tim seemed particularly concerned for Gak Gak’s safety. In fact, they each independently claimed control over the remaining goblin forces. It wasn’t long before the camp erupted in chaos, as the newly splintered goblin factions began to kill one another. We used this cover to search the camp for the King, but it appeared he wasn’t being held there. Once again, Korak reached out using his divine magic, this time sending a message to King Uldvik. He informed us that he was being held in a tower in a city of goblins. Darvius knew the place, and we set out immediately. After a day or two of uneventful travel, we arrived. The city was quiet, as most of the goblin forces had been called away to fight. Darvius spoke with Thinnie. The girl was no more than six or seven, and clearly had no capacity to lead these people. Darvius explained that Gak Gak was planning to have her killed, and asked her to look under the throne. She found a bloodsilver dagger of immaculate quality, and all she could say was “It’s pretty.” Eventually, she seemed to come around to the idea. Regardless, Gak Gak would be out of the picture. Then we turned to interrogating his remaining lieutenants, including one called Klild. Klild denied serving Gak Gak, and this was verified using zone of truth. It was likely that Gak Gak had used enchantment magic in the form of crystals to keep his lieutenants, including Klild, under control. Darvius then systematically went through the remaining high-ranking goblins to identify traitors, and executed anyone who was working against Thinnie. Thinnie didn’t seem to fully grasp what was going on, and was visibly upset by all this, and the land itself was wracked by storms and earthquakes that echoed her grief. Eventually, King Uldvik was released. We explained the situation, including what had nearly happened to his army. He was understandably grateful for our assistance, and even offered to send one of his children as an ambassador to Thinnie’s domain to help tutor her in statecraft. Darvius and Drago, on the other hand, tried to convince Thinnie to give up her life as a demi-god and live like a normal child. Of course, she was too attached to her goblin retinue to go along with this. After all this was done, we investigated Gak Gak’s private sanctum. Klild warned us that it was likely trapped and very dangerous, so we proceeded with caution. Sure enough, the door was locked and protected by magic. Korak dispelled one of the wards, and Sithric and I got to work picking the lock. When we were done, Glenn opened the door. Something tried to take hold of him, but his angelic nature allowed him to shake it off. Inside, the mages and clerics were having a field day. There was magic oozing out of every corner of Gak Gak’s study. In particular, Drago peered into the shadow world to espy a ray of sunlight intently focused on a sigil on the ground. We knew that Gak Gak was a servant of Solaria, and immediately set about deconstructing the ward. There was also another door to a small cell, although this one was locked with magic and I was unable to bypass the simple mechanism. The cell appeared empty, but as her peered through the leyn glass, Drago saw the leylines converging on the bed. It seemed like this cell was being used to contain something, but we couldn’t say what. We left this mystery for another day. Lastly, we turned our attention to a skeleton that was pinned to the wall nearby. Drago suspected this was some phylactery belonging to Gak Gak, and that unless we destroyed it he would simply be revived here when he died. Sithric threw a dagger at the skeleton to try and damage it, and the dagger was splintered into a thousand pieces. Knowing that there was strong magic here, Drago didn’t want to take any chances. He used disintegration to destroy the skeletal remnants. Content that Gak Gak’s lair had been neutralized for now, we departed back to the Cohort. They would very likely want someone to investigate this primordial business further.

Session 315 (Mission Special): Gak Gak must die Played on the 19th of August 2020! Present: Drago & Nalu, Vos Dragon, Sorc, 14, Hats4Cats Korak Flomhelm, Dwerren, Cleric, 13, Sloth Darvius Alandre, Sidhelien, Monk, 13, Darvius Cedrych Brightbough, Sidhelien, Rogue, 12, Adam B Glenn Sturgis, Rjurik, Cleric, 10, Spynx Sithric Sidhefriend, Hanner Sidhe, Fighter/Rogue, 10, Depraved Lunatic Nils Ullstein, Brecht, Paladin/Warlock, 9, Simon   The time had finally come my old nemesis Gak-Gak had gone too far, he had taken out a contract on Thinnie with the Scorpion Sisters. I had uncovered his plot, I had discovered he was working with the moon cult, and now I had gathered my allies and we would put an end to him once and for all. Thinnie deserved time to grow up and discover who she was, and I would not let this megalomaniac destroy her. Many had answered my call for aid and they had assembled within the Cohort, after laying out what we knew of Gak Gak and his plans we set out for Holjvar to meet with King Uldvik. At arriving at the city we discovered that King Uldvik had gone with his fighting men to a old mansion on the border, we also arranged magic access with Uldvik’s daughter. A great host of metal men, and goblins had gathered in the mountains and he was leading his host to attack them. We set off immediately on horseback to reach his camp. During the journey we managed to avoid some deadly plants with some clever spell use by Drago, and then Cedrych spotted a large Yeti that was attempting to ambush us. We avoided both dangers and saved our strength for the battles to come. When we arrived at the old mansion that was in great disrepair, we were escorting in to meet King Uldvik, he told us of the great host of goblins and moon metal men that had been assembled. He had gathered his armies and he would meet them on a battlefield of his choosing before they could attack his lands. Korak used scrying to find one of Gak Gak’s minions. We saw them gathered in the mountain pass thousands of goblins and a couple hundred of the moon metal golems. King Uldvik said it would be a tough battle but he believed he could win. I volunteered us to aid in the battle. He naturally agreed. We set off for the battle site. We gathered with the King’s forces as the king’s druids used their magic to summon him a mighty throne blessed with the power of the moon he sat on the throne as we discussed battle plans. Just then a lightning bolt struck behind the chair, the druids began to argue about the significance of this sign. Some thought it a sign of certain defeat, others saw it as a sign of certain victory including the king. As the debating went on Glenn used his divine insight to ask Larame for guidance the god replied cryptically.  “Night or Day, Heads or Tails, Fate swings and moves. Your eyes unseen.” We began to discuss the importance of this omen and the lightening bolt. Cedrych vanished off on his own deadly business. Drago began to try and sooth a now agitated Nalu, we began examining the area in more detail looking for anything we could have missed. Suddenly Nalu took to the air and shot a lightning bolt right behind the chair, startling us all. Thinking something was wrong with the chair, we began to look at it more closely. The King obviously now agitated rose to leave, and Nalu was in quick pursuit of him. Realizing she was not saying something was wrong with the Chair but the King Himself! We followed him to his tent, he quickly became agitated and called for his guards. Suddenly, Korak lunged at him and as he did so he passed right through the top of the king! He was some type of illusion. Korak then tried to tackle him at his knees, and as he tumbled across the ground with him suddenly, we were faced to face with Gak Gak! He had disguised himself as the king and had been leading us into a trap! Gak Gak suddenly spoke a word of magic and vanished, hearing an outcry some distance away. I drank a potion of haste and took off running in that direction. The land blurred as I raced after the Goblin following the cries of “Goblin” through the ranks of the Holjavar warriors. Drago soon appeared beside me just as I once again spotted Gak Gak a short distance away from me, fear in his eyes at seeing us. The little vermin vanished again, and so did Drago and Glen, I rushed around a small mountain to witness Gak Gak take an arrow in the back from a hidden Cedrych! My canny old friend had set an ambush it seems. He soon fell to multiple javlins thrown from members of the army. Glenn was able to save his life, and we brought him back to the Druids. There Nils used a spell on the Goblin that brought his shadow to life where it revealed his plot to hire Scorpion assassins to kill Thinnie, while he used a Bloodsilver Dagger he had hidden under her thrown to kill her and steal her god blood. I almost snapped his neck at that point…. The druids talking me down and restraining gak gak with their magic, we devised a strategy to free their king who we believed was in the Goblin camp. We Cedrych, Sithric and I made our way ahead of the rest using our speed and stealth we took out three goblin scouting parties before they knew what hit them. We made our way to the top of the hillside, using magic the clerics could not detect the King inside. Korak sent a message to Bi Bi telling him we had captured Gak Gak and wished to trade him for the King, it was a ruse the plan was to use magic to disguise Drago as Gak Gak, but Bi Bi responded that he was now the leader! So we tried the second and third lieutenant of Gak Gak Tim Tim, and Bib Bib they both respond with the same. Soon the goblin camp is in full civil war for leadership. The chaos was immense, the Moon Metal people began to retreat. I asked Korak to send a sending to the King to ask him where he was he revealed that he was in Thinnie’s Tower locked in a cage! Soon the men of Holjavar were on the camp and the goblins were killed or scattered to the four winds. We informed the druids we would rescue the king, and that they were to hold Gak Gak where he would be killed once the King was returned. Travel through Thinnie’s land was without incident. I am well known in her lands, and many of her people consider me a trusted friend and ally. Standing before Thinnie I revealed to her all that had happened, she was doubtful until she held the blood silver dagger in her hands. When I asked after the king, she told me he was upstairs, Gak Gak had told her he was a bad man. We went up to free him from his cage and then returned to Thinnie, placing down a circle of truth we began to interrogate goblins and gnolls of Thinnie’s court. Discovering many more traitors we executed them away from Thinnie’s eyes, yet she knew what we were doing. I care for the girl enough to know this had to be done, any who had wished a return to their old ways needed to be rooted out so that Thinvaxia’s kingdom could flourish and grow in a peaceful way. Drago requested the Dagger, Thinnie did not wish to give it up unless I asked for it. I told her I would take responsibility for it, and she gave it over. I will return it to her when she is older. Drago has some god’s blood he wants to hunt in an effort to free Kaevara, I am not sold on the plan but the Dagger may have some use in the future. The party was eager to explore Gak Gak’s chambers. With a combination of lock picking skills and magic, we gained entrance to his chambers. There we uncovered a plethora of magical material; Drago destroyed a goblin skeleton that we believed may have been some type of phylactery for Gak Gak. When he dies, he needs to stay dead. There was one chamber that we could not get into some type of magically sealed cell. I sent word to the Cohort, and I would remain at Thinnie’s court until the Cohort arrived within the cell the magic users could see some type of magic similar to Solaria’s magic. Having taken all Gak Gak’s magical supplies and books the group seemed satisfied. Speaking further with King Uldviik he agreed to send his daughter to Thinnie’s court to help guide her on political matters. When I met her before she seemed to be a kind level headed woman. Let us hope my faith is not misplaced. The king did offer me the hand of his eldest son in marriage. A kind gesture, but I am not prepared to settle down and a political marriage does not really interest me either. Gak Gak was soon to be dead, Thinnie’s life was safe, and the land was more secure than ever. All in all a very successful venture. Follow ups from this mission: Gak Gak's execution Solaria presence in the sealed magical cell awaiting the Cohort at Thinvaxia's tower to investigate. Identifying magical items found on Gak Gak and in his chambers. King Uldviik's daughter's arrival and introduction to Thinnie.   Darvius Alandre, Carnifex Primera Junior Council Member Cohort Arcanum

Session 320 (Mission Special): Lord Tyron's Glory Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch - Level 9, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Raven Tonks Rowan - Level 8, Hanner Sidhe Warlock (Hazelchan84) Hedrin Toadslayer - Level 9, Dwerren Sorcerer (SlothSlow) Varis Nailo - Level 1, Hanner Sidhe Warlock (Linkshadow) Following up on the anonymous tip I received after some group of crazy people broke a jail, I shared my plan with the group that turned up to help. Two of them were already here, but one new guy came from the Cohort. Am I some sort of babysitter for all the new recruits? I mean I could be, but nobody asked. This is totally a safe place to send them for their induction. People are making good, sound decisions with their lives. I had a talk with Shay about Tyron and her other half. She gave me directions to his estate, way out near the edge of the Margreve. I wonder what happens if the two halves are put back together. Step one, go to Zobeck. We didn’t find anything strange on the way there, which is always disappointing. I took the group to the council to see the Mayor. Just in case we got caught and arrested for doing something totally not illegal at all and actually for the good of everyone again, I wanted to have some actual defence this time. We had to wait hours for an appointment though. So we went to the Book Fetish to waste some time. Conoor got invited to Raven’s wedding and was very interested in our new guy. Maybe we could have traded him for some fun items. Probably against Cohort rules or something to do that. We got some lunch and eventually, after so many hours, we got to meet with the council. On our way in we passed an acquaintance of mine being dragged away in chains. Turns out they were caught doing something totally illegal and asked for my help. Not one to pass up a big favour. I told the council they weren’t a bad person really, just an idiot, and that they’d be more useful doing something other than mining, even though they’re probably really good at that. The Mayor said they were really short-handed in the mines after someone let a whole bunch of prisoners free and destroyed one of the mines, so they’d rather keep him there, but my word apparently means something here so she reduced the sentence. Next up we explained the information we’d been given and everyone got real chatty trying to talk over each other and argue about every detail of what they’d just heard. They’d fit right in at the Cohort. The Mayor called order, said they’d heard rumors about this before, but would need evidence to do anything. Obviously one step ahead of her, I already had a plan to get some, and she seemed okay with us intervening as long as we didn’t do anything we weren’t supposed to do, like raiding people’s homes. Myzi the Mouse King was real angry at this, called us ‘outsiders’ and said we shouldn’t be allowed to interfere in city business, but some other members disagreed, one accused him of working with Tyron on this and a whole second argument started up. Amazing how easy it is to sow chaos. Eventually the Mayor shut everyone up and said her decision stood. Step two, head to Tyron’s fort to rummage around for evidence. We stopped off at Old Mikhail’s Inn on the way. Turns out I haven’t been there since moving into the tower, so he gave us free drinks to celebrate being neighbours. At the fort I noticed a whole lot of trees being cut down to expand the fort. The Margreve wasn’t too happy about it, but wasn’t at the point of retaliating just yet. The fort people let us in after I said who I was, they seem to know that Tyron and I are friends. The fort commander was a lady called Etta Glory. Maybe she’s who the fort is named after? I always thought it was just his ego running away with him. Probably both. She seemed nice, and showed us the fancy tree inside the fort. I had a sneak into the keep while Apprentice distracted her and found nothing except a letter saying to move all the other letters to Tyron’s estate. I managed to convince Etta to slow down on the construction work, even though she said Tyron claimed the Margreve was okay with it. Back at the tower Shurran made us all some food. She really is like a mother, which some people wouldn’t expect from a Shadow Fey. I guess I do lots of things people wouldn’t expect from a Pixie either. We all gathered up in the divination room and tried to use the new Scrying orb in combination with my Ivy Crown to try and see how we could get the evidence we needed. I saw a vision of boxes and boxes of paperwork being burned, outside a big fancy mansion. Not the present, but the future. Probably the near future. No time to waste, just the way I like it, I called on the Margreve to help us get there fast. It responded by calling in Lesharrk and her babies, which were bigger now, to carry us over there. I’ll have to bring them a horse or two later to thank them for this. At Tyron’s place the guards welcomed us because apparently I’m good friends with him. We got let in to meet him, his wife “Laera” and daughter Helga. We talked over lunch, turns out he was planning to take that new prisoner from the mines to sacrifice to the Margreve. He asked about Raven's wedding and I told him that of course he was invited, providing he was willing to go to Castle Shadowcrag for it. I'm sure Gryzwald will welcome him and/or his men gladly, with great hospitality. While the others were distracting him, I sent Shay a secret message to catch her attention. We went to see a shrine of Loki, the Twin Snakes, God of Trickery and Deception. Wouldn’t have assumed Tyron to be a follower of Loki. I caught Shay on her own and told her about her other half. She’s not happy. It’s like she doesn’t feel anything at all anymore. I wonder if I can fix that. When I asked her for help, she told me the papers were in a hole out the back of the estate, and they were going to be burned the next day. I went to let the others know and come up with a plan. New guy and the gnome-dwerren hybrid went to distract Tyron by playing card games with him, while Raven and I snuck out through the kitchens, disguised as a guard. There were a couple of guards loading boxes into a pit, but they were easily distracted, leaving us free to loot the pile. Raven found a lot of good papers that prove Tyron was doing exactly what we said he was doing. I didn’t find much but I did manage to find a couple that linked the Mouse King to Tyron’s schemes. Papers in hand we headed back, made our excuses to Tyron and got a ride back to the city. Back at the city we got an audience really quickly, the council were very interested by what we found. Myzi came in late. He was probably out sending a warning to Tyron or something. Soon as he saw we were back with evidence he tried to get out, but got stopped by the guards. He’s in a lot of trouble. The Mayor said that him and Tyron would go on trial, which is hilarious. Their status is gonna take a big hit, while ours goes up. The Mayor even agreed to let my acquaintance out even earlier considering how much help we’d been in uncovering this. We got some rewards and now I can get back to planning my next move. If Tyron hears I was responsible for this he might not think we’re friends anymore.

Session 314 (3X):  I'm not going back Fomorian Present: Agatha Duskhart, Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 9, Summer Prudence Duskhart, Alseid, Druid, Level 9, Lena Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 9, Zilarrezko Medi Eirwen, Alseid, Druid, Level 8, Serephen Amaida, Thylean Nymph Druid 4, Hazelchan84 Lucan Yaeldrin, Hannar Sidhe, Wizard, Level 5, Mekapix Savas Al-Hadar, Khinasi Cleric Fighter 9, Physh Combat XP 478XP Quest XP 1,000XP RP XP 1,000XP Exploration XP 2,500XP Log XP 995XP to Lucan Total XP 4,978XP to Agatha, Prudence, Diesa, Medi, Amaida, and Savas 5,973XP to Lucan Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown Berhagen Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 315 (SPECIAL): Darvius vs. GakGak Present:     Drago & Nalu, Vos Dragon, Sorc, 14, Hats4Cats     Korak Flomhelm, Dwerren, Cleric, 13, Sloth     Darvius Alandre, Sidhelien, Monk, 13, Darvius     Cedrych Brightbough, Sidhelien, Rogue, 12, Adam B     Glenn Sturgis, Rjurik, Cleric, 10, Spynx     Sithric Sidhefriend, Hanner Sidhe, Fighter/Rogue, 10, Depraved Lunatic     Nils Ullstein, Brecht, Paladin/Warlock, 9, Simon -God Touched Tighmaevril (Bloodsilver) Dagger lended to Drago -Drago and Darvius spent 5 renown to borrow, bigger hit if not returned (base amount already knocked off). The party looted GakGak's library which has a number of books about various magical topics, including primordials. Hjolvar has offered the title of Karl, and a manor in Kopingdal to each of the party members. Hjolvar pays the party 200 golds each (100gp) Combat XP 900XP Quest XP 3,000XP RP XP 2,500XP for good planning (and lucky unluck) Exploration XP 2,000XP Log XP 1,680XP to Drago, Cedrych, and Darvius Total XP 8,400XP to Korak, Sithric, Glenn, and Nils 10,080XP to Drago, Cedrych, and Darvius Renown, Fame, and Infamy Urga-Zai, neautral renown, Thinnie is sad 1 Fame (Rjurik) 7 Renown (Hjolvar) +1 Renown (Cohort Arcanum) for bringing back potential primordial information. Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 317 (3W): Say Scorpion One More Time... Present: Brognir Bronzehelm, Dwerren, Fighter/Barbarian, 7, Kristen B Elias Siannodel Sidhelien, Ranger, 2, Steven F William-Richard Carter, Brecht, Cleric, 1, Depraved Lunatic ( PREGEN ) Luna, Tabaxi, Sorcerer, Level 3, Serephen Cromartin “Crow” Perrywinkle, Human (Khinasi), Rogue, level 1, MegaScientist The party have received a total of 750 golden stallions for killing scorpions (half reward for the smaller ones). They sold the meat in session. Combat XP 280XP Quest XP 1,500XP RP XP 1,500XP Exploration XP 1,500XP Log XP 956XP to Elias Total XP 4,780XP to Brognir, William, Luna, and Crow 5,736XP to Elias Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Binsada) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 319 (3J): That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Giant Ant Present: Galena Abanthu, Aasimar (Dwerren), Rogue/Bard, Level 8, Zilarrezko Alvah Laurent, Anuirean, SorcBard, LvL 8, Depraved Lunatic Suibhne Moonblade, Sidhelien, Rogue/Wizard, LvL 4, Physh Fenris Nathair, Sidhelien, Druid, Level 7, Hats4Cats Alvah's Red Magian Coin was used. Combat XP 375XP Quest XP 0XP RP XP 1,500XP 1,500XP to Galena for great RP Exploration XP 1,000XP Log XP 575XP to Alvah Total XP 2,875XP to Suibhne, and Fenris 3,450XP to Alvah 4,375XP to Galena Renown, Fame, and Infamy +2 Infamy (Ant Queen) for everyone An aditional +5 Infamy (Ant Queen) for Galena Cohort renown changes will be judged in trial. Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 320 (SPECIAL): Lord Tyron's Glory Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch    - Level 9, Pixie Sorcerer (Serephen) Raven Tonks Rowan    - Level 8, Hanner Sidhe Warlock (Hazelchan84) Hedrin Toadslayer        - Level 9, Dwerren Sorcerer (SlothSlow) Varis Nailo            - Level 1, Hanner Sidhe Warlock (Linkshadow) For discovering the encriminating documents pertaining the foul and illegal business of Consul Myzi I, and Lord Tyron the party are rewarded with citizenship status in Zobeck giving them additional rights and privaliages that the average perosn in the city does not have. Additionally each party member is given 100 pennings from Consul Myzi I, and 100 pennings from Lord Tyron for their troubles (200gp total). Each party member receives a set of papers verifying their status as citizens, and they should be kept on each person. If destroyed they can be replaced for 25 pennings at the consul building. Combat XP 0XP Quest XP 3,000XP RP XP 3,000XP Exploration XP 500XP Log XP 1,300XP to Cordie Total XP 6,500XP to Raven, Hedrin, and Varis 7,800XP to Cordie Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Status (Margreve) +3 Renown (Zobeck) Korak will be released from prison early. +1 Infamy (Zobeck) for Korak (this comes from light RP, but putting it here). Varis Nailo has a starting Margreve Status of 8. Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 321 (Thylea): The Amazing Sticks & Stones Present: Phage, Vos, Cleric/ Monk, 8, Kristen B Echo, Thylean Siren, Rogue, Level 1, Lena C Robert Bossouri, Brecht, Cleric, 7, Depraved Lunatic Thrasios, Human, Barbarian (Pregen), 1, Adam B Sabiha bint Habivi, Serpentine Lamia, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 6, Zilarrezko Nephenee, Thylean Medusa, Rogue, Level 6, Serephen Romilly, Goblin, Sorcerer, Level 1, Summer Nephenee is rewarded with 112 golden drachmas for coming in second place in the armed combat competition. Romily is paid 165 golden drachmas for her epic performance in the wrestling matches. Robert is rewarded with 23 golden drachma's for his performance in the armed combat competition. Phage does not receive a reward as she was officially disqualified from the event. Combat XP 250XP for everyone. Quest XP 1,000XP RP XP 3,000XP Exploration XP 750XP Log XP 1,000XP Phage Total XP 5,000XP to Echo, Robert, Sabiha, Nephenee, and Romily. 6,000XP to Phage Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Fame (Thylea) for Romily "The Stick" Goblin Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 322 (SPECIAL): A Sidhelien, A Pixie And A Half-Orog Walk Into Ber Mera... Present: Grian, Pixie, Warlock/Druid, 4, Kristen B Green Knight, Fiend, Paladin, level 2, Hats4Cats Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik, Paladin, lvl 10, Depraved Lunatic Thorg Sabertooth, Barbarian, Level 6, Darvius Aeferen Revven, High Elf, Ranger, lvl 3, Sloth 200gp per person was given out. Combat XP 0XP 100XP to Thorg Quest XP 750XP RP XP 750XP Exploration XP 3,000XP Log XP 900XP to Eirena Total XP 4,500XP to Grian, Green Knight, Eirena, and Aeferen 4,600XP to Thorg 5,400XP to Eirena Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Merasaf) +1 Renown (Iron Hand Tribe) for Thorg Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 319: That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Giant Ant Adventurers Present: -Alvah Laurent, Anuirean SorcBard, LvL 8 ( Depraved Lunatic ) -Fenris Nathair, Sidhelien Druid, LvL 7 ( Hats4Cats ) -Galena Abanâthu, Aasimar Dwerren RogueBard, LvL 8 ( Zilarrezko ) -Suibhne Moonblade, Sidhelien Rogue/Wizard, LvL 4 ( Physh ) While this log is undoubtedly thought out by Alvah, theres no trace of her meticulous handwriting. Actually, the handwriting doesn’t resemble her usual writing style at all. Very well, our group had gathered for Galena. She wanted to see if there were any survivors in Mur-Kilad and if we could get them out of there. Frankly, that meant trying to get people out of there through a passage not occupied by the Ant Queen, as she would only let one singular Dwerren through. We were in for a ride, I’ll tell you. Fenris, Suibhne and yours truly decided to help her out. I briefed the party of what sort of deal we managed to sort out with the Ant Queen. Essentially, the Cohort was granted free passage, but we could only take on Dwerren with us. As Korak managed to get out safely and the Dwerren thing was still offered to us, I guess she meant the king of Mur-Kilad specifically. Our group was worried that the Ant Queen would hold onto her contract in a literal manner, only allowing passage for those that made the deal originally. But we weren’t dealing with fey, the ant queen isn’t as… how should I put it, petty about those things. After affirming that things were going to be okay, we went to the Sielthrone, to convene with Lady Galanohel and ask about the most recent developments. Which there were none of. So after a bit of smalltalk, we went on our way. Our first day of travel was rather uneventful, but the next night… we were ambushed by two winged froglike creatures, looking for a midnight snack. Suibhne and Galena didn’t wake Fenris and yours truly up, so it took us a while to get going. Speaking of getting going, the creatures quickly approached us all and started clawing and biting at us. Suibhne and I were the focus of their attention, a position that I despise, for good reason. One of the beasts managed to latch on to me and swallowed me whole, while the rest of the party tried to save me. At least I assume they tried, It was hard to tell inside the stomach of this creature. I tried multiple things to get it to drop, but when I managed to kill it, it was already too late. The creature was so high up in the air that I turned into mush, when I landed. I don’t remember what happened in the time between my death and reappearance, but I found myself standing at the cave entrance of the Ant Queen’s lair. Locked inside a coin, spiritual and all that stuff. I saw the rest of the party approaching and explained my predicament and we ventured inside to speak to the Ant Queen once my companions had been sufficiently… scrubbed, I could say? That thing the ants do before they let you in. Spiritual me explains the current situation to the Ant Queen and requests passage from the Ant Queen. She is upholding her side of the deal, so theres no further trouble, but I suddenly receive a Sending from the Magian. He told me that I should place my coin on my body by midnight the next day. Interesting. When I retorted that I don’t have body left, I was told to find one, or die. This seemed to pique the Ant Queen’s interest and frankly, this interest piqued mine. She said that she could provide one of her larvae for me to reincarnate into and I found this intriguing. Not only wouldn’t someone unrelated to this have to die for my life, I could of very well been the first Antuirean Aebrynis has ever seen. And with this, I put my fate into the hands of the Ant Queen’s larva. Meanwhile the rest of the group studied my condition, or rested, or investigated the further part of the cave. Galena in particular was intrigued by a movable anvil, probably an heirloom of the ruling family of Mur-Kilad. We helped her to unlock it’s powers and it appears that it is more powerful than we could tell at first glance, as the ants suddenly got excited and pushed her towards the throneroom. While in my incorporeal state, I drifted through the walls in the Ant Queen’s caverns. She told us that this place is linked with spirits, which is probably why I could return as a spirit. Quite a liberating experience I have to say! I almost miss it. While Suibhne, Fenris and I had made our way to the Throneroom however, Galena made up other plans. She didn’t want to hand the anvil over to the Ant Queen because she wanted to keep the last legacy of Mur-Kilad for herself. On one hand, I can understand that she wants to have a piece of her home with her. Something to remind her of better times… The following segment is written in a dramatic flair, albeit poorly. Multiple lines were crossed out because they weren’t dramatic enough. And then she decided to go against the first, second and ninth tenet of the Cohort, all in one fell swoop. She left the caverns in a melancholic fit, leaving our group to try and bargain for our lives with the Ant Queen. We had a message sent to her, pleaing for her to return and redeem herself, but she wouldn’t listen. The Ant Queen was furious and threatened to kill us all on the spot. Well, she was about to destroy my last chance at survival, since I couldn’t run out of the caverns as a spirit. But still, at the threat of death, Suibhne, Fenris and I were held hostage. We managed to bargain some time with the Ant Queen, by offering her items of power, or gold. We sent multiple pleas to reliable Cohort members, even to the Kallanon himself, informing them of our predicament, Galena’s betrayal and our… bail, so to speal. The Ant Queen wants the Anvil back, else she will kill us. The writing seems to calm down. After all of this, midnight arrived and my spirit was sucked into the larva, together with my heart. And what my reincarnation lacked in Antuirean, it made up with… nothing, frankly. Yours truly is now a giant ant. A weird sensation, I must say. I’ve never felt more rigid in my entire life, but having multiple appendages would be incredibly useful, if I weren’t incapable of using any of them for more than walking. Atleast my feelers are sturdy enough to hold a dagger. Getting a good outfit for this form is going to be extremely troublesome. Oh and remember that time when I got cursed by self righteous fey trees? Well, their curse is persistent. I’m partially treeified as well. I guess I will have to stick to Cordie for a while, we should get these Vas’ya out of the shadow world. Frankly, now that I have gained a, quite literally, life-changing experience, I feel ready to take on the horros of the Shadow world. Wish me luck. -Alvah Laurant.

Session 314: I'm not going back Fomorian Adventurers Present: Agatha Duskhart, Rjurik Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 9 (Summer) Prudence Duskhart, Alseid Druid, Level 9 (Lena) Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard, Level 9 (Zilarrezko) Medi Eirwen, Alseid Druid, Level 8 (Serephen) Amaida, Thylean Nymph Druid, Level 4 (Hazelchan84) Lucan Yaeldrin, Hannar Sidhe Wizard, Level 5 (Mekapix) Savas Al-Hadar, Khinasi Cleric Fighter, Level 9 (Physh) There were a fair few of us travelling on this week's venture this time. As well as Medi, Prudence, Agatha, and Deisa, we were also joined by Amaida and Savas. We decided to have a talk about our plan for the cave, given what we had heard about the last group that went in ill-prepared. We filled in Amaida and Savas, and Savas explained that he had been asked by a member of the last group to find and return with the body of the one who fell. We agreed to help find it if we could, but didn't hold out much hope. Our plan was thus; We learned from Samantha that there was a large pile of gold up the river from the chamber where we had found them, but there was a big, loud monster there that guarded it. We were going to approach the area, using familiars to scout and find out what we could of the creature, and then figure out how to tackle it. Not much of a plan, but we had limited knowledge so what could we do? So we set out into mountains, headed towards the cave's location. Along the way, we spotted a big wyvern, followed by two males, flying through the air all of them carrying goblins in their talons. The wyvern appeared to be leaving what appeared to be a large campsite to the northeast of Snake Pass. We had a bit of a discussion about whether to investigate the area but seeing as it was a little out of the way from where we were headed, and potentially dangerous, we decided to give it a miss. We carried on our way and found the location where the three headed snake resided, as well as a dead horse that we know belonged to the last party who came this way. We just walked past it this time, not tackling the bloody snake if we don't have to. We continued along the way and there was a point where Medi began speaking to some large birds, I'm not sure what was going on but we didn't get into a fight and Medi seemed ok after their talk, so no harm, no foul. Later that night, myself and Medi were on watch when I noticed a creature circling around us. It looked like a bird of some kind with some papers in its talons, luckily I was on watch with someone who was known for communicating with nature, so I pointed the bird out to Medi and she managed to speak with it. I say speak with it, I think she just said hello, and it swooped down and dropped the papers. Turns out the papers were spell scrolls, but when I had a look at them, they were written in holy scripture so I couldn't understand them. We presented the scrolls to Savas who managed to identify them as Inflict Wounds, Guardian of Faith, and Revivify. The Revivify scroll was interesting as the cost of the resurrection was already paid into the creation of the scroll, meaning no one needed a diamond dust tattoo for this to work on them. A very helpful and generally excellent find.Savas decided to let me hold onto it as my knowledge of religion would give me the best chance of casting it, aside from himself of course. We continued on our trek and found a strange sight near the cave. There was an intersection of rivers near the cave that seemed to have a camp set up nearby, though the camp had seen better days. The place was destroyed, a closer look revealed that there were large footprints within the ground and it seemed that whatever left them stomped through the camp and on whoever was resting in it. We found a number of bodies that had clearly been crushed underfoot, but what was more shocking was that there were a number of bodies and skeletons that looked malformed. Bones were in the wrong place, or were twisted, but it didn't seem like it was broken and reformed, more like they had always been that way. Couldn't be true though, surely nothing could live long with their bodies twisted this way. The other strange thing was they had been completely robbed by the look of it. Aside from the bodies and a few scraps of material, everything they could have possibly taken was missing. We found that the tracks led from the camp up to the cave, but before we followed, we looked at the mouth of the waterfall again for the body of who died in the group before. We found... pieces... but we couldn't find any equipment, including a magic sword he supposedly possessed. We did find more of the large footprints though. Seems that they're hunting whoever enters the cave, takes anything valuable, and return to the cave, making sure to leave nothing behind, especially anything living by the looks of it. Moving into the cave, we found more deformed bodies as we entered the familiar main chamber once more. It wasn't long before we were approached by the Pech again. They talked to us about two large creatures that had become more active within the caves. The Pech called one the Horse-Eater and the other was the Cricket-Eater, and that thye made sure to stay far away from these two things. After taking a moment, Diesa managed to recall a story about creatures that seemed to match what these two creatures could do. She recalled the stories of a kind of giant called a Fomorian, giants that had long ago been corrupted with Azrai blood, causing them to shift into horrific monsters. The Pech told us to be careful of them and to not look them in the eye, as doing so allows them to twist and malform your body. It sounds like an interesting process I would love to study, though I'm happier just hearing about it and not having to witness it. Or succumb to it. They also told us to be wary of the Living Wall, but turns out that was what they called the clay golem that came out of the walls the first time we were here, so there's no need to worry about that anymore. The Pech told us that the Fomorians had travelled down the path with the pink gem, and then they returned to their little cave. We decided to not go that way, and just head the way we went last time. We made our way forward, managing to scare off the few bats that remained in the cave full of guano, and after a quick casting of Alarm and Water Walk, we just walked our way down the river as the boat was gone. Well, gone from where we left it. It was actually in the cavern where we found Samantha, and in very good condition in fact. Agatha gave the boat a once over with Detect Magic and found that it was magical with transmutation properties. Probably enchanted to fix itself over time, but we didn't take the time to identify it. At this point, we decided to send Diesa's familiar forward, but an issue occured due to an ability that Diesa possesses. Diesa has an interesting ability where nothing can invade her mind with telepathic communication, unfortunately this ability isn't under Diesa's control. As a result, I'm sure her familiar did something interesting, but we had no way of knowing what it was. Her familiar went down the tunnel, we soon heard a voice telling us to leave, and a few minutes later, Diesa told us that her familiar had been killed by something. Not overly helpful but a good effort. We descended into the tunnel ourselves this time, Medi managed to use a spell to create stone platforms for us to stand on so that we wouldn't be dragged into the cave chamber by the water current. The chamber itself was quite large, with a moat of pitch black water around an island covered in gems. Aside from that, there was nothing around, no spirits, no monsters, nothing. We decided to experiment. A gold coin was thrown onto the pile but there was no reaction. Mage Hand was summoned and moved to the island, but there was no reaction. Minor Illusion was used to create the image of someone standing over the gold, but there was no reaction. A reaction was only caused when the Mage Hand took a gem from the pile, the reaction was a little strange. We realised that the message given to us was the exact same as the last time we heard it. Though we had to address that later as a collection of strange pale creatures with long claws came from the water and we begun battle. The battle was actually over relatively quickly and we looked around the area. The water was dark because of an illusion spell that was within it, but Diesa and Agatha found some sort of necromancy magic that seemed to pull the creatures we killed within a collection of tentacles. Diesa believed that the energy was designed to bring them back again, a process I'm so interested in witnessing! But I'll need to attain a spell that will allow  me to dispell the darkness first. Perhaps I'll return at somepoint to study it. After we were done in that room, realising the "warning" message was an illusion spell that triggered anytime someone stepped on the island or took something from it, we began to take a number of the valuables from the island. We left the chamber and had a discussion about what to tackle next. A majority vote stated that we were to investigate the strange clucking noises we had heard from within one of the caves before. We made our way in and found that the creatures we could hear were strange creatures that appeared to be able to petrify creatures. We managed to dispatch the creatures without too many issues and then found a nest with a few things in it. The first things we saw was petrified creatures such as rats and bats. The second was a large peridot that was clearly worth a lot. The third was a few eggs, clearly of the creatures we killed. The fourth was a strange key like item with what looked like a magnifying glass on it, and the last was a tube containing some spell scrolls. We decided to take the eggs, the item, and the scrolls, though I think Agatha took a bat as well. As we were leaving, a loud voice began booming through the cave. One of the halls that led to the chamber was now populated with a Fomorian who was asking us to move closer and look at it. Agatha reacted quickly and cast Darkness on the area so we could not see each other. Then we ran like hell! We did manage to escape. The use of Invisibility and the druids shapeshifting allowed us to get out through the waterfall. After returning to the Vale of the Gnomes, we managed to identify the item as a magical item that seems to improve the users sight for 24 hours. The scrolls were of Arcane Gate and Flesh to Stone. We decided that whoever got the item would forfit their share of the coin, and so we played for it and Prudence won it. I was able to take the scrolls of Arcane Gate and Flesh to Stone, and Savas took the three scrolls we got from the bird on the way to the cave. The money was split among us and me and Diesa decided to swap a spell with each other. This outing was denfinitely beneficial, but a warning to anyone who goes to this cave unprepared. Be careful of the Fomorians, they are clearly strong, and if their gaze can cause those who meet it to become misshapen, then you're in for a bad painful time. - Lucan Yaeldrin

Session 321 (Thylea): The Amazing Sticks & Stones Phage (Kristen B) Robert Bossouri (Depraved Lunatic) Echo (Lena C) Romilly (Summer) Nephenee (Serephen) Sabiha Bint Habivi (Zilarrezko) Thylia Faniele 1526 HC We met up at the Mystros Cohort in Thylea. I planned to head back to Aresia to see how the threat from Zakroth was being handled. I met some new faces in the cohort. Echo and Romilly which the small goblin grew attached to Robert right off the back and was riding his back through much of the journey. When we arrived in the city of Aresia we went straight to meet with Lord Grace. Who Jovisha and the Lord were happy to see us. We talked to the lord about Zakroth threat to the city and the Queen has been making plans for a battle to come if need be when the snow melts. The dryad friends I ask to help had done so indeed. Aresia is able to know the camp location and if we join in the battle I am sure we could help win the fight for Aresia. We then talked about other matters with the lord that was less important.  After our meeting with the lord we decided to explore the city some more. We decided to head and see the city's famous gardens. It was full of olives and we are not sure if Romilly had found the perfect olive and ate it. Let's hope not because we had heard rumors that people in the city want to find such a thing. After our time in the gardens we headed up the hill next to it to the Temple of Shields where on our way up we were pasted by a group of Sirens that were going to meet with the God of Beauty Narsus When we entered the temple we met Pyrrha a leader of the temple and a women training new recruits with excessive force. She was rude to our party because we had a goblin as our companions. She was hard on Nephenee who wanted to join their ranks but with how Pyrrha treated her I think she will not return to the temple of the shield. Upset that our journey to the temple was soured we decided to check our the Temple of Elements. The lady at the gate put up a show to open the gate, she moved the stone wall itself with some kind of element magic. Inside we met a minotaur who we had seen before at the arena in the city. He was Taureus the leader of the temple and was a pleasant person to spend most of the day with. He spoke about the temple duty to maintain the city and to not use the knowledge they have for offensive purposes. He then taught us the beginning steps of their way to bend water. After a long day in the city we returned to Lord Grace estate and went to sleep. The next day we decided to head out and see how the local villages were doing and to spread the word about the Cohort and ways we can help. A half a day journey later we get to a very small walled village near the city. We headed in the inn to ask our questions. The inn woman was glad to see some travelers. She mentions that the forests nearby are recently full of monsters and we should be careful. We assume them to be Zakroth forces and told her we plan to deal with them soon. We then have a pleasant meal and continue our journey. We head south and explore the forests near the volcano that the dwerren hold was. We found nothing of interest and headed back to the city to join in the sports of the arena. First Romilly joined in the wrestling and was given a partner named Rocky Roxane Roma the Rock. Romilly was given the nickname as Sticks and their team was known as Sticks & Stones. It was a show to behold and the people loved the show. Sticks & Stones won and when everyone was cheering Sabiha came flying in and swooped Sticks away. Taureus played it off as Sticks being kidnapped and told the audience to return next week to see what will become of Sticks.  We then got to the armed combat part of the arena. First up was me and Robert. I was excited for us to fight each other to see how well of a fighter Rob could be. But I was left disappointed as Rob would not dare fight me with all of his power but with just a thrust of a spear. I tried to temp him to attack me with his god magic but he would not join me with casting spells and because of that it was no show and I was disqualified from the tournament. I wanted to leave the coliseum then and return to Mystros but Nephenee was up next and I had to see her kick the Snail in his shiny butt. Which she did and it lightened up my mood but she then came to face Speio again which she lost this time. My comrades then went with Taureus to the one place I hated in the city to celebrate. I went to the gardens instead to try to calm my anger and frustrations I had with Robert. I tried to listen to nature in the gardens but nothing came to me like it did when I was in the forest the day before. I decided then to pack up my things and head back to the old forest to continue my training with life magic. As for the rest of my comrades they had an amazing night out and Taureus cannot wait to see us return for the show. The people want to see more of our new goblin companion Sticks, the Snail and Nephenee. It is good that the city is in a good mood because when spring comes things will be getting dark for the city when Zakroth marches. I plan to be there to stop him and hopefully find out more about Lutheria plans.  Phage

Session 317 (Mission 3M) - Say Scorpion One More Time... Played on the 20th of August 2020 Adventurers Present Brognir Bronzehelm, Dwerren Fighter/Barbarian, lvl 7 (Kristen B) Cromartin Perrywinkle, Khinasi Rogue, lvl 1 (MegaScientist) Luna, Tabaxi Sorcerer, lvl 3 (Serephen) William-Richard Carter, Brecht Cleric lvl 1 (Depraved Lunatic) Elias Siannodel, Sidhelien Ranger lvl 2 (Steven F) Leira keep us warm through the long evening.   I suppose it is best to begin with the most important matters, to that end, a detachment from the Cohort and myself were dispatched to Ber Dairas to continue an ongoing investigation into the, for lack of a better word, plague, of giant scorpion within the borders of Binsada. Our mission came at the request of Sultana Banira bint Hamilha el-Reshid herself.   This outing marked my second encounter with the flood of giant scorpions, as detailed in Caern Walsh's entry - The Shadow over the Golden Scorpion. Evidentially, the sudden ruin of that caravanserai has become more commonplace than we had originally believed. For those of you unfamiliar with the events surrounding the Golden Scorpion, myself, Luna, Caern, and Astrid, found the caravanserai ruined, as if by a sudden, violent, sandstorm. The cause of which Caern determined to be arcane in nature. We felt a darkness, a discomfort in the air when we made camp there for the evening, and from what we observed and learned from the Ber Dairas guard, traders and the Sultana herself, our discomfort was not without warrant.   Many other sites across Binsada have suffered similar fates. Following the sandstorms, these sites become home to colonies of giant scorpions, of many different, and some disturbing, varieties. The frequency of these events seems to be increasing, if I understood both General Vorduine and the Sultana properly, and while at first brush, there is no discernable pattern, the Sultana indicated these events, and the general scorpion population, is growing out to the west, in Mermoune, near the Harrowmarsh.   Bronzehelm linked this to a place called the Tower of Evening, please refer to previous logs on that particular location, as I am regrettably unfamiliar with it.   As for the reason, or potential source, Mermoune is our best lead so far. Leaving this unchecked will, at best, continue to interrupt trade and travel within the region, at worst, we will continue to see caravanserai and other outlying settlements vanishing in the same way. The two matters appear to be related, though the particulars of that relationship are unclear as of this entry.   To summarize our involvement: We returned to the Golden Scorpion and found it overrun with several types of the giant insects, a few of which we, at least I, had not encountered before. We culled the number slightly, though I doubt it made much difference, and reported our findings to the Sultana.   Now, for rest of the report.   Brognir Bronzehelm, Cromartin Perrywinkle, William-Richard Carter, and I began our work in Ber Dairas. At least for my service to the Cohort within the region, Ber Dairas seems to be the de facto entry point. Though I should make a recommendation to the Cohort to prepare members in advance for the - experience - that is entering Ber Dairas. I'm rather curious what tonic Rashid is going to attempt to sell me next, last excursion it was camel grease, this excursion hay that should make the beasts go faster. If I didn't like the man so much....   After what is becoming a usual lesson in respectfully keeping one's head down, we acquired camels for Carter and Perrywinkle. It would be worth setting up an arrangement of sorts with the vendor. From there, we requested an audience with both the Red Witch and the current commander of the watch.  Luna requested the audience with the Red Witch, who was absent at the time, for ley permission within the region, and with the assistance of the capitol clerical staff, she, and the rest of us, were authorized for what we needed to use.   I requested an audience with the commander of the watch, hoping that they would have some insight into the growing scorpion problem, based on the talk of travelers and traders heading in and out of Ber Dairas. We were met by the region commander, General  Gaered Vorduine.  As an aside, I doubt I will ever grow accustomed to the frequency at which I've met people of great position in the last few months, since becoming a member of the Cohort. Naivara is beginning to find the stories of my travels less and less believable as the weeks go on.   General Vorduine told us that the region was peppered with sightings of these giant scorpions, with no distinguishable concentration of them. Rumors indicated the sightings began to the west, but of late, they simply are everywhere. However, he did indicate that the scorpion blooms, for lack of a better word, coincide with events similar to what we observed at the Golden Scorpion caravanserai. Such events have become more common, it seems, than we originally thought. Such events have occurred at outlying settlements and caravanserai, though there were no reports made of major settlements falling in this way. For that, at least, we can be thankful. He recommended we seek out the Sultana herself, as her court was moving toward Harpy's watch in the south, indicating that she had more current information on the situation than he did, at least at the moment. He also mentioned that the turtle caravan was on the move as well, and heading toward the city. Quite a rare sight indeed.  One we were fortunate enough to encounter as we traveled south. The sheer size of this market atop what what I would hope is the largest reptile I ever have the fortune of meeting, was humbling. We took a moment to resupply and it proved a fruitful opportunity, both in gear, and in information. A gentleman by the name of Ibrahim greeted us as we climbed aboard the lumbering market, and told us that the area around the Golden Scorpion had become rather infested with giant scorpions. Once provisioned, we returned to the ruined caravanserai and found it overrun, yes, that's the word, overrun, with them. The first contingent from the Cohort I travelled with encountered one of these large insects, brown, giant, but natural. Several of the varieties skittering around the Golden Scorpion seemed slightly more than natural. Including the standard variety, we determined three separate variants, the smaller, stub-tailed stygian scorpions, and large, twilight-blue night scorpions. The latter pair seeming almost unnatural.  Specifically, the stygian scorpions have a venom that wears men down, in addition to being highly toxic. We were fortunate not to experience the effects of these, but the thought of being exhausted and at the mercy of these things is not a scene that I'll scour from my imagination for quite some time. The larger night scorpions have a venom that blinds if you're lucky, and locks your joints if you're not. We were, again, fortunate not to experience the full effects. Legend does little justice to the heartiness of the dwerrer. Bronzehelm held off two of the large ones and suffered none of the more extreme effects.  Overrun is the correct term for the Golden Scorpion, and we decided after seeing the skittering mass that lay in front of us, to wait for a hunting group to break off from the main colony. One did, a collection of five, three stygian scorpions, one night scorpion, and one giant scorpion. Through valiant and skillful work from everyone, though Bronzehelm deserves special mention for braving two of these things and holding out against several stings. We brought down the five, and were able to harvest several vials of venom, and were able to sell field-dried scorpion meat back in Ber Dairas.  After leaving again from a short stay in Ber Dairas, we returned to our travel south to speak to the Sultana. On route, we encountered an oasis encampment of wandering Kinasi and lizardfolk. A strange place indeed, and while the lizardfolk do not, at least from this experience, deserve the reputation they have received, I can see where the seeds of that tradition came from. They kept and sold large, scaled, beasts, some with dagger-like teeth, and one they had chained near the oasis was, well, I've seen domiciles smaller than that thing.  A few of our company sought some relief in a hookah lounge within the settlement, the proprietor of which was called a Queen of the lizardfolk. Whether that is for this settlement, or for the collected people, I don't know. But at 5 gold pieces for entry, Perrwinkle and I declined the hospitality. No tobacco, however enchanted it may be, is worth needlessly aggravating Chaedi over reckless spending. Carter, Bronzehelm, and Luna did enter, and from what I gathered, had a profound experience indeed, and may have made a contact worth keeping.  From there, we located the Sultana's court near Harpy's Watch and discussed the matters of the Giant Scorpion population. I've laid out what we learned in conversation earlier in this letter, but more investigations near the Harrowmarsh are certainly warranted if the Cohort intends on aiding Binsada in mitigating and managing this situation.   May the embers of inspiration keep you, Elias V. Siannodel

Session 322: A Sidhelien, A Pixie And A Half-Orog Walk Into Ber Mera... Adventurers Attending: -Green Knight, Fiend Paladin, LvL 2 ( Hats4Cats ) -Aeferen Revven, Sidhelien Ranger, LvL 3 ( Slothslow ) -Grian, Pixie Warlock/Druid, LvL 4 ( Kristen B ) -Thorg Sabertooth, Half-Orog Barbarian, LvL 6 ( Darvius ) -Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik Paladin, LvL 10 ( Depraved Lunatic ) We assembled at the Cohort to explore the far east of Cerilia, Merasaf. Not many expeditions have been made in that area, which might be partially because the local ruler doesn’t like outsiders. Nontheless, we still wanted some new markers on the map. Thus, the Green Knight, Grian, Thorg, the newbie Aeferen and I set out to the city of Ber Mera. Pulling into the city via boat, we quickly made our way towards the market area, to aquire some general knowledge about the area and what plagues them. The mebhaigl in this city is extremely constricted, as to be expected of our cities. However, a certain district shone upon this magic deprived land, full of magical power. A strange phenomenon, to say the least. A tower made completely out of ivory rose from the ground over there, probably made by sidhelien architects. We made our way into a bakery called tough cookies. Much to my parties surprise, they were selling cookies there. The owners, two Sidhelien named Neamhain and Sorcha greeted us, their daught Bóinn in their arms. While the group inquired wether or not they would like to buy some cookies, Grian suddenly made an appearance and asked if he could have one. Sadly, not everyone is as used to pixies and the like as the Cohort is, as the pair suddenly panicked and asked us to leave their store. Sorcha quickly disappeared into a backroom with her child, while Neamhain brandished a dagger. Without making any bigger scene, we left the perimeter and went on our way. Grian had to spend most of our time in this city in my bag, after this incident. Poor little fella. We went on to a general goods stand in the merchant district. This city seemed to be more of a stopping by sort of place. Lots of general goods, little specialized markets, as far as we could tell. Well, every city has it’s own business enterprise and by the looks of it, the city was definitely making a good profit margin. While my companions get some general knowledge from the stand and try to offer him some voska, I’m on the lookout for guards, as that little pixie incident could easily put us in their sights. And shortly after, a little girl came running up to me and grabbed my coin purse. Usually, I would’ve probably given chase and reprimanded the girl, but since I had just recently spent most of my money on new armor… I was almost broke. It wasn’t an amount of money to cry over. The girl made off with my money, I made sure my party got that I wasn’t going to chase after it. We continue our talk with the owner of the stand. The Emir here, while he is said to be a just ruler is extremely vary of outsiders. What with living inside a walled-in kingdom and all, that makes some sense. His de facto second in command, the White Sorceress however was much more willing to talk to the weird bunch that is the Cohort Arcanum. Before we moved on to there, I excused myself for a while to pay a visit to the temple of Cuirácaen, held by the White Sword of Khirdai. While I wasn’t sure if they were on good terms with my church, I figured that we were all followers of Cuirácaen one way or another, so I came to pay my respects to my god. A priest of Khirdai welcomed me, happy that I was here to pay respects to our god mainly. I inquired why that seemed to be a rare sight, as he pointed me towards the Sword and Lightning bolt stuck inside a stone in the middle of the temple. As I recognized the significance of this weaponry, my jaw almost dropped. Those were some of Cuirácaen’s fabled armaments, spread among his greatest churches. They’re usually stuck, or don’t let themselves be worn by anyone but those chosen by Cuirácaen himself. While I’m not sure if this is a matter of birthright, faith, conviction or proof of mettle, what matters is that those who are able to equip these armaments are said to become extremely powerful warriors. I hope that I will one day prove worthy of these armaments, wether I am chosen or not. To become a venerable warrior is the greatest kind of worship one can offer to Cuirácaen after all. After paying my respects at the temple, I returned to my group so we could carry on to the ivory tower. As we arrived at the front door of this magnificent building, the girl from earlier comes running up behind us, inquiring what we’re doing here. She tossed me my coinpurse back, with one coin missing. Some pocket change is always good to have at hand, so I gladly received it. The girl introduced herself as Turanda el-Shaifal. She has a skin tone expected of Khinasi and wavy, long brown hair, accompanied with brown eyes. She wore a slightly tattered white dress and a necklace with aspectrum of colourful stones. If you encounter her in the city, don’t be too harsh on her. She invited us into the tower, claiming to be one of the students here. I was inclined to believe her at first, however the manner in which she carries herself in addition to the fact that she took place behind a rather important looking desk. And then, handing us over our task as if she owned the place. My theory was that this girl was actually the white sorceress. And seeing how Drago is already capable of magic I could only dream of, I could see that this little girl could be the white sorceress responsible for culling hundreds of orcs and orogs. Nevertheless, we got what we asked for: A task. Namely, we were to scout out the location of an orog encampment in the province of Saurmath in the lands of the Iron Hand tribes. It’s supposed to be in the mountainside, she said. And as our reward, we asked to meet the white sorceress. My party was not half as convinced as I that this person might actually be the sorceress they were looking for, but I digress. She agreed to our reward, shortly after we began our exploration expedition for real. We ventured outside the city walls, making good progress on our first day. After leaving the walls perimeter, we stuck close to the mountainside. Grian and Revven led our group through the rough terrain and not long after our departure, we could see smoke coming from the distance. As putting up a campfire this close to enemy territory would only be done by either brazen adventurer’s or orogs, we concluded that this has to be the orog encampment. Sadly, we might’ve scared them away. Either that or put them on high alert, as we were spotted by a scout party, which blew their horns and came back with almost 3 dozen orogs, riding owlbears. We made a run for it, trying to circle around the mountains, so we could continue our expedition in the south-eastern part of the Iron Hand Tribe. Thanks to Thorg, we managed to shake the scouting parties off quickly, but we had to spend the rest of our day doing so, so we made camp at a safe place to rest up and continue our journey. However, wind was taken out of our sails as morning came upon us. Some of our party had been marked by shamans of the Iron Hand Tribe. While their decision not to attack us still puzzles me to this day, I was adamantly against continuing to travel inside of the Iron Hand territory. It didn’t sit well with me that our party was able to be scried on by enemies in enemy territory, but the rest were strangely eager to press on. Even Grian was unphased by this. I however had no interest of getting the party or myself killed, so I expressed my disagreement vehemently, stating that I would be no part of this scouting mission as long as we are marked by the orog shamans and that I would return to Ber Mera if they are so insistent on carrying out this expedition. This seemed to sway them, even if Thorg felt the need to mock me for my carefulness. Nevertheless, after this debate we made our way back to Ber Mera and the wall. Grian, being a magical creature, felt sick in the city and the markings seemed to begin to fade as well. While we spent most of our time in the city and the inn, I told the party that I would go report our findings to Turanda, to get our reward. They did not complain, so I went to the ivory tower to meet up with her. At the door, a man named Cormac answered and I asked to see Turanda, as we had business to conduct. He seemed puzzled at first, but then let me in to let me talk to the White Sorceress. And if you had any doubts until that point, it is when he brought me to the same desk that the little girl sat behind, with same little girl present at the seat that I am 100% certain that Turanda el-Shaifal is indeed the White Sorceress. I reported that we had been looking for a camp and found smoke rising to the sky, likely from a live campfire close to the mountainside and that it’s most probably the orog encampment she was looking for. And for our services, she rewarded us with with 750 Golden Stallions, which I brought back to the party after my report. The boys were puzzled at first, as gold wasn’t the reward we negotiated, until I explained to them that the girl was indeed the White Sorceress. While they seemed skeptic to me, they chose to believe me afterwards. I checked on their markings and most of them had finally faded. The Horse Revven was using still bore a marking however, and since we already went through so much trouble to wait the marks out, we got a new horse for him and set out once more, to explore deeper into Iron Hand territory. Heck, if we passed a scouting party, we were looking to get ourselves some exotic mounts. None of our plans came to fruition however. We ventured through the lands uninterrupted. Frankly, I’d rather have a calm journey than one with more than 30 owlbear riders breathing down our necks, but since we were on the lookout for trouble, I was a bit disappointed. But atleast we found what I can only presume to be the capital of the Iron Hand Tribe. Or a city, at the very least. There were orog farmers around, elder looking orog people and women mostly. This area around the city was strangely idyllic. As we approached the gate, the guard began speaking to us. As Thorg knew the local language, courtesy of being a half-orog, he responded. I don’t know what they were speaking of, but after a while, the guard suddenly started to punch Thorg. I almost got myself involved, but Thorg took initiative before the guard could land a hit. They brawled for a while, but the guard was no match for Thorg. He quickly went down and another guard let us in. He gave Thorgs followers a look, but didn’t say anything to us. We moved into the city and took a look around. Inside, there was bustling activity. People going about their business, rowdies being rowdy, almost exactly how you’d imagine an orog city to be. Thorg went to ask a seasoned looking orog about obtaining an owlbear and found out that they’re given out by the leader of the Iron Hand Tribe, for those who’ve proven their loyalty to him. There was a second way however, which was namely to challenge one of these owlbear riders to a duel for their owlbear, to the death of course. The challenger was to provide a prize of similar value to the owlbear, even though the owlbearrider was to be titled a coward if he were to deny the duel. I don’t see the point of providing a reward, if you are going to die anyway if you lose. After learning all of this, Thorg was eager to find himself a knight to challenge. I quickly healed the bruises he had suffered from his earlier bout and soon after, he found himself a worthy challenge; a half-orog woman named Ulumpha, clad in a purple cape with a white fur collar and what I’d presume to be black half-plate armor, as well as a large axe. You could tell that she was a half-orog, but also defintitely a sight. Perhaps it was her appearance or what Thorg talked about with her, but he was rather impressed by her. She also seemed to drop her attitude midway conversation, as the tone of it got less aggressive and… friendlier? They had a talk for a while and we were left to fend for ourselves for a bit, even if we did barely anything but twiddle our thumbs. Thorg returned to us after a bit and informed us of some new intel: The orogs leader, Burzuk the Great, is planning a full-scale assault on Ber Mera, and had multiple camps setup around the area of the wall. As soon as spring came, they would look to mount their assault. My heart clenched as I heard of this and I wanted to return to Ber Mera as soon as possible, to give them a heads-up. Thorg decided to stay behind in the orog city, while the rest of us made our way back to the wall and into the city. Cormac greeted us once more, this time a bit more reluctant to let us in, but hearing that we had important intel to share with the White Sorceress, he let us see her once more. Turanda was handling some paperwork at the moment as we barged in. While I was ready to spill the beans as soon as we walked through the door, my companions halted me and sold the intel off for another few hundred gold. While I can see that this was the Cohort thing to do, I was slightly frustrated at this at the moment. After hearing of this, she gave us another reward of our choosing: Potions with varying effects or cold, hard gold. Thorg and I received an ingot of gold probably worth about 200 Old Anuirean Gold Pieces, the rest took some potions. After receiving our rewards, we told her that she could always post a mission to the Board of Fate if she needed help, or we could have a request brought over to the Cohort at her behalf. I can’t tell if she was sincere, but she told us she would think about it. I hope that the city can withstand an assault this large. If the Vos that are attacking Merasaf as well cooperate with the orogs of the Iron Hand Tribe, I would be very worried for the safety of Ber Mera and Turanda. A return would definitely put my mind at ease. All in all, we achieved the goal of this expedition: Exploring unmarked territory, making new contacts and finding a way to receive owlbear mounts. Thorg probably met the love of his life and I reaffirmed my conviction to become a warrior worthy of the banner of Kirken. That is all. -Eirena Lightshadow

Session 328 [Mission 3X]:  Easy Money, Too Easy Expedition Members: Jannis The Red (Brecht Fighter 8) Dragomir (Vos Dragon Sorcerer 14) Darvius Alandre (Sidhelien Monk 13) Korak Flomheim (Dwerren Cleric 13) "We met in the Cohort with the intention of not looking for the magical lantern as the primary contract requested, but instead to deal with wyverns who had been terrorizing the area and making the mission exceptionally dangerous for our fellow Cohort members.  After gathering our supplies and making our preparations, we headed out. We first stopped by the well protected vale where the Sidhewair were encamped.  We met briefly with King Jorstun III and a Baron whose name I have forgotten.  Drago insisted on having a Heroes' Feast before we engaged the wyverns, to help combat their deadly poison, but we were short on cash.  Darvius then single-handedly made the decision for the entire group to increase the King's tariff from 20% to 25% in exchange for the small amount of gold we needed for the spell.  I was rather perturbed this wasn't decided as a group, as the rules of the Cohort dictate.  For now, I held my tongue.  We spent the night resting before heading out again, and I accepted an offer to share a bed from a dark mysterious woman who seemed to have no shame about how she carried herself or what she wanted.  She would not normally be my type, but it has been some time since I've been with a woman, and I found her highly intriguing for some reason. As we entered the main valley where the Wyverns hunted, we heard a great rumbling sound.  Before we could react, a fash moving avalanche of snow ripped through the party, burying us in snow.  All of the expedition members survived, but alas, all the mounts were lost.  As we were recovering and beginning to dig out our mounts to grab our gear, 5 large trolls appeared in the distance heading towards our group. Darvius shouted out a warning to them, but they proceeded with his warnings unheeded.  Darvious shouted warn more threat to the trolls as they were about to enter my bow range, and to add weight to the threat, Drago coiled himself in flames.  After one look at the serpentine fire, the trolls conversed briefly, and then turned and left.  Mount-less, we continued. Before heading to the wyvern lair, we decided to stop by the Giant's Playground to rest and recover from our wounds from the avalanche.  In the morning we encounter Kolvar and Rendir, two extremely large and powerful giants.  Once again, Korak took it upon himself to enter negotiations and agree to terms without consulting the rest of the party.  At this point I'd had enough and started voicing my anger...  while I must admit, especially in hindsight, Korak's idea was a good one, but the fact that he repeatedly ignored the input of his companions and made agreements affecting all of us without a vote or say not only personally offended me, but again is not the Cohort way.  With no way to escape or change the agreement Korak made with the Giants, which was to give them ALL of the gold we found in the wyvern's lair in exchange for their help, we feasted and then headed directly to the creature's lair.  After bashing their way in to the main cave, the giants made short work of the wyverns.  There was SIX of them total, far more than I had anticipated.  The giants killed the 5 smaller wyverns within 30 seconds of the battle ensuing.  Between the giants blocking my sight, and Darvius running about,  I had no clear shots with my bow.  I felt completely useless.  With five wyverns down, the giants managed to wound the matron before she retreated and flew off to safety. The hoard that was present was... unimaginable.  There wasn't a patch of ground anywhere near their nest that wasn't covered in gold coins and gemstones.  Chests, urns, and items were scattered throughout the fields of gold.  As per Korak's agreement, the giants took every coin present.  They actually melted them down in the lava flows on the spot and minted them into giant coins...  three to be exact.   Meanwhile, we collected and took stock of the hoard of items and materials that were to be our share of the loot.  There were several pieces that multiple people were eyeballing, but we decided to hold off any claims until we returned to the Sidhewair vale and got the items identified.  The giants helped us carry our haul back to their playground since we had no mounts.  As the giants left, we saw the wounded matron wyvern circling overhead, most likely because of the surviving wyvern egg that Korak had taken from the lair.  In an effort to lure her down, I started tossing wood around the egg as if I was building a fire.  She immediately flew down and started to attack.  The part made short work of her, with I being the only one who took a hit.  Thankfully it was no more than a scratch thanks to Korak's Heroes' Feast providing me immunity from the beast's deadly venom.  It wasn't the epic battle I was hoping for, but at least it was something.  We camped there in temple summoned by Korak while Darvius ran back to bring the Baron and his troops to help us scavenge the wyvern body and carry the haul back to the vale. Upon our return, Korak worked closely with the mysterious woman I had been with before to identify the items.  The Baron was present to decide which items he would claim for the King's 25% tariff.  While there were many powerful and interesting items, the Baron focused on a single one in particular, a staff.  The cudgel in question wasn't successfully identified, though a Legend Lore from Korak gave hint that its powers may be related to The Fate Weaver.  This caused a rather emotional conflict between Darius and the Baron.  The Baron was already interested in the staff, but after Drago started blabbing about how important the staff was to the Cohort and Darius exclaiming that the Baron would NEVER take it (seriously, where did they learn their negotiating skills from, a mentally challenged Kobold?), the Duke did just that.  Taking the staff, he turned and started walking out of the room.  Fortunately, I was able to calm my companions down to avoid a fight right then and there.  We got the lion's share of the haul, as the staff was the only item the Duke claimed, and we could always come back for the staff.  The Baron specifically stated that he would be open to trade for it at a later time.   Afterwards, we sat down together and divied out the items to be claimed directly by expedition members, and which items would be sold for money to be split within the group.  I got my first choice, the Golden Hungry Spear, an excellent quality magical pole arm that can restrain creatures when thrown.  Korak and I were both interested in a shield with a dragon's crest on it and a set of mirrored plate-mail.  Korak offered me his superb set of plate in exchanged for withdrawing my claim to the magical armor, so I accepted and claimed the shield, an superb quality Absorbing Shield capable of protecting myself and all other affected people from suffering the effects of area affect spells.  I also was given another magical pole arm, Aesop's Scythe, for me to sell.  Finally, I claimed the eyes from the matron wyvern.  It is said that through a process I need to research, that they could bestow upon me exceptional darkvision. Each member of the expedition was to claim a magical crown.  We had only successfully identified 2 of the 4 we found, so it was decided we would wait on divvying these up until after they were all identified.  Finally, we would use some of the wyvern scales to have Korak craft us each a cloak.  The rest of the loot that wasn't claimed by party members was to be sold and divided among the group.  In the lair we did find a large source of raw magical focus crystals.  I will be leading an expedition back to harvest them with the intent of donating all of them directly to the Cohort."

Session 328 (Mission 3X): [The Wyverns of Tjoscanth Mountains] Played on the 28th of August 2020! Present: Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 13 (Darvius) Dragomir Black; Vos Sorcerer, lvl 14 (Hats4Cats) Jannis the Red; Brecht Fighter, lvl 8 (Physh) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 13, (SlothSlow) Right, with everyone in a mad rush to get out of Urkenhame for the spring, I’ve got some free time to write up what I’ve been up to. Not too many members on this mission but it was nice to see Jani join us. It has been some time since I’ve seen his face around, aye glad he is doing well for himself. Well, there have been quite a few groups traveling around Tjoscanth Mountains all looking for one of Archmage Iggwilv’s chambers that apparently contains this powerful lamp. Like that sounds nice n all but it's really not my thing, maybe if no one else is interested I could help but I always feel a little claustrophobic when underground, maybe due to Nalu having to squeeze through the caverns. Either way, our goal was something different. There has been a Wyvern flying around the area, eating and attacking people as they go. I heard about it when reading the logs, apparently, two different cohort parties ran into it when traveling. One was almost attacked from above. Like normally I wouldn't see this as much of a problem but like this Wyvern was closer to the size of Nyskira.  I spoke with Nalu asking if it was a Dragon but according to her it's more like a beast than a dragon just kinda looks similar. I was hoping that we could just talk to it but that wasn't the only issue. She was the broodmother and apparently she has many males in her lair that she hunts with. O and extremely aggressive. We stopped by at Presphines shop to inquire about getting some extra supplies. I’m still looking for something to stop me from falling out of the sky and Darvius wants another Haste potion. If anyone finds an Angel feather or a Quickling they can be used to make these potions, how to make them you would have to ask Presphine but both me and Darvius would be interested. Also a Spark, ya know the creature, can be used to make a haste potion. She did have a potion of speaking to animals that we brought but the rest is standard potions. So if you want anything special you are going to need the ingredients.  Before entering the camp Nalu looked down at the mention of the Margreve as we were talking. Took longer than it should work out why and to this day both Darvius and Korak still don't understand. It was due to that blue Hadrachen dying to the Beholder in the Bagholder a phase I didn't think I would say, back on one of Cordi’s missions. I never thought it would be Cordi’s fault but Nalu didn't seem to mind though, apparently, she wasn't close to that one. I guess every mother loves her children but that doesn't mean they have to like them and from the rumors, I heard there's a good reason for that. Though Nalu didn't want to speak with the one back at Mispera’s so who knows. We traveled to meet with Markgraf of Berhagen, Ludwig von Schaeffen at the Gnome encampment. On arrival at the Gnome base, we got taken to first see King Jorstern III. O if ya go here don't ask about King Jorstern II. There is a statue of the first as you walk in and everyone asks about the second. Guessing he wasn't a good King or something. I kinda like to play a little naive and underwhelming when I meet new people, especially kings and Barons. Rather not have them instantly start taking note of me ya know, The spotlight isn't something I want to live under but for Darvius… He really likes to be known: ranking, titles, deeds, great achievements. The gnome king hadn't heard of Darius, so I got a giggle out of that. There is value in being underestimated like I doubt Gak Gak would have sent The Scorpion Assassins after us if he thought a goblin could do it but for the Carnifex Primera! Right so the Gnome King thought we would be dead so started writing our name down ready for a tomb, I mean I appreciated the thought at least, doubt many other rulers would pay such respects. There are rumors that the Vos are looking to attack the gnome encampment to take it. I might stay around to make sure they're ok, not the Baron. We got introduced to the Baron Ludwig von Schaeffen afterward. Not really sure what to make of him, I mean he’s arrogant but well so is Korak and Darvius so kinda balances out. So many egos, honestly only working with him because I trust the judgment of the other Cohort members who set this relationship up. Medi has a good head on her so if she thinks this man is alright to work up then I see no issue with it, really had nothing to do with him at all. Was funny acting like I had no idea who he was or anything about this place? We negotiated an increase in payment percentage for aid with our mission. We are kinda running low on funds and Korak can make a great meal that ensures no one will die on this mission. I trust Korak and Darvius can handle whatever we get into but Jani. The problem was convincing everyone it was worth doing and it probs weren't but I don't care. I would happily spend a thousand gold every mission if it means we all come back alive, one thing you learn quickly from dragons is greed will get you killed. We agreed to a twenty-five percent cut for his share for an extra five hundred gold we needed but I got the feast so I was happy.  We also met Nahy... Nayhla… Nayhlah? If anyone should know her name it's Jani given how he spent the night with her, so maybe check his log for it. She was a gnome sorcerer who didn't like wearing many clothes but had a fondness for pearls. Lots of them. Didn't really want to ask why, maybe she just likes looking at them but I’m guessing it's for magic. She was very open about asking for someone to join her during the night, I didn't know you could openly ask like that. Jani and Darvius both wanted to so might have teased them, they forget sometimes that I’m a man now. I think only Jani joined her in the end but I wasn't with Darvius during the night so who knows. Before we left the Baron gave us his or the gnomes familiar to take with us, ya know to keep an eye because apparently other members have already ripped him off in the past. Not sure which ones he was referring to but best not to ask.  The first day quickly ended with all our horses getting killed by snowfall from a nearby cliff. Me and Nalu took to the skies and saw a group of five trolls coming closer. Darvius gave a warning to them and I put on a show. Covering myself in a ball of fire as I hoovered in the sky. Trolls are stupid but not that stupid, they quickly turned back around plus the horses are easy meat, they just need to wait for us to leave. Might be a good tip for adventures, if you see trolls make fire. Why would you even risk it? We were heading to the playful giants that like to throw boulders like toys. I think Korak wanted to play or maybe be the ball they throw around? When we got there the place was empty, but with some smart planning, we picked a spot to camp that offered the best coverage from the skies. Didn't want to be attacked during our sleep before we had eaten. The night passed and in the morning we awoke to the sound of heavy feet not Korak but Giants! They were by far the nicest people we met. We offered them a free breakfast which at first they didn't believe us but after they made a spot, by hitting the ground with a hammer, Korak made a table even big enough for giants. We sat and ate telling tales. The one with the blonde beard, the smart one, was called Kolver, the muscle, has a brown beard, and was called Rinder. He took a liking to Korak, think because Korak looked like a really small version of him, beard, hammer, both sound the same when they speak as well. As we talked they spoke of the past. They both were alive when Tiamat was placed into the moon. They were small back then only our size but they saw the events that caused Tiamat to be sealed. When it happened they did something together, I think they were already a couple even back then but after Tiamat was sealed they started growing. They had children and now live here. Their children are the giants of the Giantdowns so I guess they are the fathers of all giants. They like gold and treasure, why? No idea but they have it but not the smartest about keeping it secret but they do like trading for it. They brought out one of their sheep that was the size of a purple worm. Korak couldn't wait to hug it. We spoke about the Wyverns we were going after but they just called them mosquitoes. Korak offered them the gold from the lair if they helped us get the items there which Jani didn't like the sound of but I had no issues with it. Seemed like a far safer fight than doing all the heavy lifting plus we made the giants immune to the mosquitoes stings well part of it.  As we marched on the lair I kind of felt bad for the Wyverns. There were five males and one female in the lair. They all died pretty quickly, the broodmother got away but looked like she was badly damaged. After the fight was over the giants took all the gold and melted it over the lava into three whole gold coins, they seemed happy enough with that. We got a bunch of items that I'm not going to go over in the log, just because it would take too long to write them out. There was an interesting door however in the lair. It had a symbol that looked like it was designed to fit the door but no signs of a handle or keyhole. Like more the kind of door that wasn't designed to be opened. On the front was a picture of a dragon, this one was different to any I’ve seen. Its horns. One at the front was curved inwards. Both me and Nalu haven't seen anything like it. When doors are sealed and don't look like they are meant to be open, best to leave them like that until you know more. I know Jani is setting up a group to collect the Arcane crystals that are around here, if I have some free time I will head back and try and work out a little more about it. I also heard a rumor there’s a dragon in the area so that's a win, win. Apart from the items, there was also a Wyvern egg and the bodies, which the giants started eating. After chopping off their tails and cooking them on lava. They helped us carry everything back to where they were playing. They had a camp set up somewhere around here with sheep and all sorts so they headed back.  After they left we could still see the broodmother circling above us. It came down and it really didn't get to do much. It did get a good hit on Jani but that was about it. I don't know, everyone was celebrating afterward but.. Just felt kinda disrespectful really, Korak couldn't wait to chop up pieces to Moradin. He made a temple out of the ground to do so but personally I think we could at least say our respects first? I didn't sign up to be a butcher. I just didn't understand the celebration, I like the idea that after a battle it should be a time for mourning the defeated. The more I learn about higher circles of magic the more I just don't want to use it to fight. I feel safer with it, but there's a feeling in my stomach that worries me, like a feeling of dread from it. At least the area should be safer for cohort members, if the Wyverns got to attack I could easily see the same thing that happened to Alvah happening to anyone.  Baron, Ludwig von Schaeffen arrived with his knights and we returned to the halls of the gnome encampment. There we came up with an arrangement to split the loot with the Baron getting his twenty five percent share. The provocatively dressed gnome sorcerer offered to help with all the magic needed to work out what is what. She even offered to teach me how to do it so given how Korak sometimes doesn't know it wouldn't be a bad skill to learn. We looked into all that we could but one thing stood out more than the others, a staff. We don't know what it did but when Korak tried to get a little more information we did learn the following.  "The Fate Weaver sings, tunes, and weaves her tapestry. A testament to her level of mastery. A needle, a change, fate reborn. A second weaver, much to the lady's scorn." I tried to be upfront about it. That this is the only item that isn't up for debate, given its nature to the Cohort. Probs not the smartest but I thought if he got that out of his mind then he can just get most of everything else, I mean most of us only wanted one or two things anyways. Did he want most of the items? Nope. He only wanted the staff. Darvius explained that if he took it he would probably just be sent to get it from him one way or another. We tried to explain that he doesn't get the first pick. Did we agree he gets to take it? Nope. So he just took the staff and nothing else. I'm not worried, he can take it up with the Kallanon, I’ve already heard rumors that action is being taken because of this, who would have guessed. He was being a prober prick about it. He also at one point wanted to go take the gold off the giants with his little army. I feel sorry for them if they try it. Plus I like em and so does Korak so I guess we would be on the giant's side? We still have a few things to take care of, but that can all be done later. It's been a long week and me and Nalu need a rest.  Dragomir Black & Nalu the Voiceless Cohort Members

Session 324 (Mission 3T): As Cold as Ice Played on the 26th of August 2020! Present: Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 12 (Adam B) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 11 (Spynx) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 10 (Depraved Lunatic) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 9 (Simon D) Astrid; Anuirean Paladin, lvl 5 (Kristen B) Spring had arrived, so it was finally time to pay the White Witch another visit. She had posted a mission on the Board of Fate asking for help to deal with Syndra. Both Glenn and I had an axe to grind with the Demon Queen, so we decided why not try to kill three birds with one stone. First, we procured some dimensional anchors from Rendi. They weren’t cheap, but apparently they could be used to pull a building out of the Shadow World. Glenn was intent on reclaiming the Temple of Lareme that Syndra had been desecrating, and this seemed as good a means as any to do so. We sought counsel from the Kallanon. I happen to know that he’s quite partial to binding and planar magic. Unfortunately, he was quite busy preparing for the trial of Galena. He did offer us some advice on using the dimensional anchors. Evidently, they need to be tethered inside a magic circle (whatever that means). Oh, and he advised against using teleportation magic while in possession of them. Dispel Magic could be used to temporarily suppress the anchors, which would allow you to bring them through portals and the like. With this information under our belt, we headed to the domain of the White Witch. Though it was spring everywhere else, her domain was as icy as ever. After making our way past the guards, we headed into a common room. The Witch had quite a motley crew in her court. Sally, a many-armed serpent, brought us food while we waited. A tall fae-looking man with silver hair and robes of flowing water advised that he could get us an audience with her Witchiness, but that we should wait until the morning. He was called the River King, and he was a spurned lover of the Witch. Astrid, who had been here before, thought better of this. If they could be believed, the White Witch is quite mercurial in her moods, and that she was calmest and most reasonable at night. We insisted on an audience in the evening, and the River King reluctantly obliged. He gave us a tour of the tower. The second floor contained the guest quarters, where we would be staying. The third floor was the Witch’s personal library, where more strange creatures gathered, including a barely dressed sidhelien woman who looked vaguely similar to Kaevara. The fourth floor was reserved for important guests, but there was a small parlour where we were allowed to relax and play card games if we so chose. Finally, the fifth floor was the White Witch’s personal chambers. The River King knocked three times, then kicked the door once. After a short while, the doors opened on their own, and the White Witch greeted us. Well, perhaps I’m being too generous. The bitch essentially laughed in our faces. Evidently, Syndra had ascended to demi-godhood thanks to the donations of godsblood that some Cohort members gave her and the forced worship of the Orog provinces she now controlled. Without even letting us speak, the White Witch dismissed us, deeming that we were not up for the task. To say that I was infuriated by this treatment would be an understatement. Does this haughty ice queen not know who I am? The deeds I have done? How lucky she is that I deign to answer her plea for help? This was *not* how you treat one of the Cohort’s most skilled members. I will remember this sleight. Dismissed, the River King led us to the roof of the tower and left us there. Perhaps to cool off. After some time, three large, insectoid creatures slinked up the tower and coiled around the braziers there. They were Remorhaz, lesser primordial creatures said to be the offspring of Shiva and Solaria. Some of my companions thought they may have been sent as a test of our mettle, which seemed preposterous to me. Fortunately, Glenn could speak the language of the primordials and asked them. They were servants of the White Witch, of course, and laughed when we mentioned coming to defeat Syndra. All they wanted was to warm themselves by the braziers on the roof. Still fuming, I headed back inside for the evening. The others evidently headed to the Library. In the morning, my temper had cooled from a roiling boil to a slow simmer. As we gathered for breakfast, we planned what to do next. We decided that we would try once more to speak with the White Witch, and if that failed, we would head out south without her blessing. We had time to kill before evening, and Glenn wanted my assistance in the Library. There was a particular book he was interested in, but it was in the Restricted Section, guarded by a strange creature composed of nothing but eyeballs of various sizes and shapes. I walked in like I owned the place, as I am wont to do, and the creature paid me no mind. I found a copy of Leylines by the Magian and brought it out to dear Glenndolyn. He seemed ecstatic as he pored over the book, but it was clear that it would take him some time to absorb the information it contained. I appraised the book carefully, noting its height and width, the colour of the cover and binding, as well as the number of pages. Perhaps I could have a replica created and perform a bit of the old bait and switch. While we were in the Library, Astrid spoke to one of the Giants we had seen in the courtyard. He reiterated that Syndra had become incredibly strong as of late, and that the only reason that the entire Blood Skull Barony had not fallen was because a powerful orog druidess opposed her in Sh’kkra. We mused that perhaps this druidess could be an ally in the fight against Syndra. With this information in hand, we waited for night to fall and once again sought an audience with the White Witch. This time, we made the climb to her chambers alone. I knocked three times and kicked the door once. There was no reply. We were about to leave when suddenly the door swung open. I swallowed my pride and pitched our idea to the Witch: we would head into Syndra’s domain and seek out this Druidess. Perhaps she could be an ally. After that, we would use sidhelien hit and run tactics to disrupt the ley-pylons and orog camps in the area. This would weaken Syndra’s control of the ley, and since the orogs only respect strength, perhaps their worship of her as well. The Witch seemed amenable to this plan, although she did not offer any further assistance. She personally did not care if Syndra lived or died, only that she be removed from the Blood Skull Barony. It was at this point that a large statue in the White Witch’s chambers caught my eye. It seemed to be a sculpture of the Primordial Shiva. Furthermore, when asked if she would provide some sort of proof that we were about her business, she manifested a small humanoid figure in a blue icicle dress. It flitted about our heads and also bore an uncanny resemblance to Shiva. These two facts coupled with the Remorhaz we had met on the roof indicated with some certainty that the White Witch was in league with the Primordial Shiva. Consider this your formal notification, Council. We set out south the following morning, making good time. Despite the snow, we made it twenty-seven miles on the first day, and twenty on the second. Both days were uneventful. On the third day, we finally arrived in Sh’kkra. The magic level here was 8/9, but it was being heavily contested. Syndra was trying to choke the Druidess out. A group of Cohort members had previously been to the Druidess’ camp, so we headed there at once. She greeted us with some suspicion, rightfully so. We inquired as to her feelings toward Syndra. It was clear that she bore no love for the Demon Queen, but the Druidess was a self-proclaimed pacifist. Syndra’s forces were trying to oust her from the land, and may be able to do so eventually. Wary of Syndra’s spies, I inquired if there was someplace we might go to speak privately. She banged her staff on the ground and summoned a giant green skull. Evidently, it used to belong to Syndra, but she had made the mistake of flying it too close to the Druidess’ domain. We all got inside and flew off to some nearby ruins and then spoke some more. The Druidess once again insisted that she would not cause harm to Syndra or anyone. Meanwhile, in the sky above us, two green dragons were killing one another. The druidess seemed unphased by this, commenting only that “the fake and the real were fighting.” I feigned indifference, knowing better than to get caught up in the affairs of dragons, but the presence of the dragons seemed to upset Astrid greatly. Eventually, they fell from the sky and one of the dragons began eating the other. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that these were two different emerald dragons. The prey slowly changed into the shape of a small girl: a weredragon. This must have been “the Fake”, and “the Real” seemed quite upset with her. Apparently, the Fake had been impersonating the Real under the orders of Llaramdylth. Sithric seemed to recognize the Real, and addressed it as Parsee. I warned the boy not to get involved, but he insisted on running his mouth. Parsee wanted to know where Llaramdylth was, and the Weredragon didn’t know. Fortunately, neither did any of us. She had gone missing quite some time ago, but I knew Drago was hunting for her. I told Parsee that I would bring a message to Drago on their behalf. The Emerald Dragon did not seem content with this, and was going to kill the Weredragon until Glenn intervened. He was in possession of Llaramdylth’s Shield. Perhaps it could be used to locate her? Parsee agreed to spare the Weredragon’s life in exchange for the shield. I told Glenn that he had no obligation to this creature, but once that man has his mind set on helping someone, he’s as stubborn as an Ox. Glenn traded the shield for the life of the Weredragon girl. With the distractions over with, we returned to the subject matter at hand. The Druidess knew of several key locations on her borders where the Orogs were erecting monoliths to try and control the ley and choke her out. She agreed to give us their locations, but once again stressed that she would not shed blood to take them back. With this information in hand, we returned to the Cohort.

Session 323 (SPECIAL): Defiling the sarcophagus of Defilus! Present: Agatha Duskhart, Human, Sorcerer/Warlock, Level 9, Summer Prudence Duskhart, Alseid, Druid, Level 9, Lena Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren, Fighter/Wizard, Level 9, Zilarrezko Medi Eirwen, Alseid, Druid, Level 9, Serephen Amaida, Thylean Nymph Druid 4, Hazelchan84 Traven Arestet, Vos Human, Warlock, Level 1, Mekapix The party members are each rewarded with 500gp for bringing back the sarcophagus. Combat XP 975XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 2,000XP Log XP 697XP to Agatha Total XP 6,975XP to Prudence, Diesa, Medi, Amaida, and Traven 7,672XP to Agatha Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Cohort Arcanum) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 324 (3T): As Cold as Ice Present: Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 12 (Adam B) Glenn Sturgis; Rjurik Cleric, lvl 11 (Spynx) Sithric Sidhefriend; Hanner Sidhe Fighter/Rogue, lvl 10 (Depraved Lunatic) Nils Ullstein; Brecht Paladin/Warlock, lvl 9 (Simon D) Astrid; Anuirean Paladin, lvl 5 (Kristen B) Zendrana, the fake emerald dragon / weredragon was adopted by Glenn and Cedrych. The party members receive 400gp each from The Cohort Arcanum for their information. Combat XP 0XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 2,000XP Log XP 1,200XP to Cedrych Total XP 6,000XP to Glenn, Sithric, Nils, and Astrid. 7,200XP to Cedrych Renown, Fame, and Infamy +1 Renown (Cohort Arcanum) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 326 (SPECIAL): Amethysts and Future Dreams Present: Tanya Karelovna, Vos, Monk, Level 4, Serephen Grian, Pixie, Druid/Warlock, 5, Kristen B Revven, High Elf, Ranger, 4, Sloth Eirena Lightshadow (Depraved Lunatic) Savas Al-Hadar (Physh) Combat XP 440XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 2,000XP Exploration XP 3,500XP Log XP 1,588XP to Grian Total XP 7,940XP to Tanya, Karelovna, Savas, and Revven 9,528XP to Grian Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Renown (Nona Yeninskiy), 1 Renown (Vore Lekiniskiy) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.

Session 327 (3N): Killing With Kindness Present: Lucan Yaeldrin; Hanar Sidhe Wizard, lvl 6 (Mekapix) Luna; Tabaxi Sorcerer, lvl 3 (Serephen) 750 golden stallion reward from Jasmina bint Chalina el-Darenda Combat XP 0XP Quest XP 2,000XP RP XP 3,000XP Exploration XP 500XP Log XP 1,100XP to Luna Total XP 5,500XP to Lucan 6,600XP to Luna Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Renown (Ariya), 2 Renown (Red Sands) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 328 (3X): Easy Money, Too Easy Present: Jannis The Red (Brecht Fighter 8) Dragomir (Vos Dragon Sorcerer 14) Darvius Alandre (Sidhelien Monk 13) Korak Flomheim (Dwerren Cleric 13) The party received lots of rewards in session including 3,000 cowards coins from Tsar Drago Koskov, and a large amount of wyvern loot (handled in session / light RP). Needless to say there were a large number of magic items. Combat XP 1,000XP Quest XP 3,000XP RP XP 500XP + 3,000XP for inviting giants Exploration XP 500XP Log XP 1,600XP to Jannis, Drago Total XP 8,000XP to Darvius, and Korak 9,600XP to Jannis, and Drago Renown, Fame, and Infamy +3 Renown with Tsar Drago Koskov +3 Renown with Rinder and Kolver +1 Renown (Cohort Arcanum) for Jannis +1 Renown (Berhagen) [net gain] Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not. Session 329 (xx): Wedding of Raven and Shurran // Mama Birb Present: Cordelia Glitterwytch; Pixie Sorcerer, lvl 9 (Serephen) Green Knight; Fiend Paladin, lvl 2 (Hats4Cats) Hedrin Toadslayer; Dwerren Sorcerer, lvl 9 (SlothSlow) Raven Tonks Rowan; Hanner Sidhe Warlock, lvl 8 (Hazelchan84) Varis Nailo; Hanner Sidhe Warlock, lvl 2 (Link S) Combat XP 0XP Quest XP 1,000XP RP XP 5,000XP 2,000XP to Raven for getting married Exploration XP 500XP Log XP 975XP to Green Knight Total XP 6,500XP to Cordie, Hedrin, and Varis 7,475XP to Green Knight 8,500XP to Raven Renown, Fame, and Infamy 5 Status (Shadow Fey) for Raven 2 Status (Shadow Fey) for everyone else 1 Status (Shadow Fey) for Cordie for avoiding the prank 1 Status (Shadow Fey) for Hedrin for releasing spiders and snakes at the wedding. -1 Status (Shadow Fey) for green knight for falling for The Moonlit King's prank Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Other Notes Congrats to those of you gaining a level up! You can find full information on leveling up  here . Remember it takes 24 days (or more if multiclassing) to level up! This is one week in real world time. Also keep in mind players are free to play in more than one session each real world week, but their characters are not.