Campaign Logs

Pro

Session 82 (SPECIAL): The Indigo Star Present: Bellasaar, Hadrachen Ranger (Link S) Galena Abanâthu, Dwerren Rogue/Bard (Zilarrezko) - Late due to human error Jaidiele Sylis, Sidhelien Ranger (Ryan F) Orithar Trisk, Half-Orog Wizoo (Hats4Cats) Saorise Auliffe, Human Sorcerer/Paladin (Serephen) Sithric Grimhildsson, Half-Human Fighter (Depaved Lunotic) The party left this encounter with The Indigo Star. It has been labeled as a very important item by The Kallanon himself. What it does exactly is uncertain even to The Fate Weaver herself. Yet she knows it will have an important part to play in the tapestry to come. The Kallanon rewards the party with 300gp each (tax free) for their efforts in service of The Cohort (Link can apply this to his next character). Bellasaar is posthumously granted the title of Hero. Orithar is instead brought back to life by the lamp from The Tower of Evening. Its magic restores the fragmented pieces of his body back to whole, but leaves him permanently scarred.  Monster XP 241XP for defeating the spark 500XP for surviving your encounter with Ixaranum Quest XP 750XP for saving The Indigo Star. RP XP 250XP for epic RP. Exploration XP 100XP for discovering Sami's Hotspring. Log XP 200XP to Galena, Orithar, Jaidiele, Saorise, and Sithric Bonus XP 200XP to Orithar for sacrificing himself to save The Indigo Star 700XP to Bellasaar for making the ultimate sacrifice. Total XP 2,041XP to Galena, Jaidiele, Saorise, and Sithric 2,241XP to Orithar 2,541XP to Bellasaar (for Link's next character). Renown, Fame, and Infamy 20 Fame (Indigo Star), 10 Infamy (Ixaranum), 1 Renown (The Cohort Arcanum) Orithar gains 1 extra Renown (The Cohort Arcanum) Passes Each player receives 0.1 Bronze Passes (When you get to 1 you receive 1 full Bronze Pass). Link is awarded with a Silver 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 83 (1Z): Not a Bee Pun Present: Cordelia Woodwytch - Level 5, Cellwair Warlock (Serephen) Salazar di Fioretti - Level 4, Hanner-Sidhe Bard (Adam B.) Eirena Lightshadow - Level 1/4, Rjurik Cleric/Warlock (Depraved Lunatic) Dragomir Black - Level 6, Vos Warlock (Hats4Cats) Shlar Ohmste           - Level 4, Sidhelien Wizard (Michael H.) Korak Flomhelm - Level 6, Dwerren Cleric (SlothSlow) The party found various items during their journey. Duxt's Brooch of Shielding, and the Honey Lamp are both classified as important items. Additionally The Kallanon rewards the party with 500gp for continuing to establish good relations in The Margreve. The party are rewarded with an additional 500gp for retrieving the honey. Not long after awakening Lyla begins to manifest magical powers due to her vast time spent with the fey. She may be picked up by a player as a level 1 sorceress with a unique bloodline. Player who participated in the session get first dibs. I'd ask you only take her up if you're interested in playing the character, and not just in the mechanical aspect of things. For this reason I will be keeping her stats a secret for if/when someone decides to play her (her stats may be good, or bad you'll have to find out). Monster XP 166XP for combat 87XP for avoiding/surviving traps Quest XP 750XP for Retrieving the honey, and saving Lyla. RP XP 200XP for great RP! 600XP for negotiating with the queen. Exploration XP 0XP Log XP 150XP to Shlar, Cordie, Salazar, and Drago Total XP 1,803XP to Korak, and Eirena 1,953XP to Shlar, Cordie, Salazar, and Drago Renown, Fame, and Infamy Each party member receives 1 Status (Margreve), and 1 Renown (Bearfolk) for defeating the Shadhavar. Each party member receives 2 Renown (Terelsa Garlook), and 2 Infamy (Zobeck) for retrieving the honey. Each party member receives 3 Status (Margreve) for rescuing Lyla for Baba Migori. Each party member receives 1 Renown (The Cohort Arcanum) for continuing to deepen relations with the denizens of The Margreve. 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.

1579824644

Bautista Sault

Session 86 (Special): Good Hag Hunting Present: Ant: Dwerren Barbarian, lvl 5 (Seraphina Leaf) Nimogene Mammsdotter: Sidhewair Rogue, lvl 5 (Summer) Portia Folkor: Anuirean Fighter, lvl 5 (Lena C) Galena Abanâthu: Dwerren Rogue/Bard, lvl 4 (Zilarrezko) Zolis Ulmokina: Khinasi Fighter, lvl 4 (Lordgenome) Tristan Brandiar: Anuirean Sorcerer/Warlock, lvl 2 (Kristen B) Locations: Port Helen Galena brought us together at the Cohort to go hunting hags near Port Helen. We traveled to Port Helen and swift an audience with the Siren. Galena spoke for the party, trying to uncover any additional information about the hag in the area. Tristan requested and was granted first circle of magic. The Siren directed us to a local orphanage to find Rennie and Linde, local children whose father has disappeared. Apparently this all may be related to the hag. At the orphanage, the children told Nim that their father got involved with bad people with worms. Undead worms seem to feed on each other in the children’s dreams and they are worried that their dad may be turning into a worm. It was difficult to understand the children but it they revealed that a red worm named Qorgeth is somehow responsible for the worm business. At some point, Linde went into a fugue state, and began uttering prophecy related to the situation. What she describes includes worm coming out of mouths, blood, and terror and then begins speaking in tongues. Tristan casts comprehend languages in an attempt to understand the unknown language she is speaking. But when asked to repeat it, she has no recollection of what she was saying… neither of them do. One of the caretakers at the orphanage came over to scold Tristan for using magic even going so far as to threaten him with a frying pan We headed to a local inn to rest and search for clues. Galena spoke with an old acquaintance for more info while myself and the others arranged lodging and drank our fill of wine, chocolate milk, and stew. The woman Galena was talking to recalled an old tale of a worm that was killed by the cohort many hundreds of years ago. The woman believes it is nothing more than an old wives tale. The next morning, we explored the mountainside in search of suspicious looking caves and after a half a days journey, we came across humanoid tracks. The tracks led to drag marks and blood leading the same direction which eventually converged on a cave entrance.. In the cave we encountered a black eye painted on the wall—the symbol of the cohort! In the next chamber, we found a man in bloodied and soiled silken robes chained to ground and unconscious. On the other side of the chamber, the stone teeth of a giant worm jut out of the floor. Beyond the teeth, little white worms crawl around and the stench of rotting flesh hangs heavy in the air. I draped my cloak over the prisoner and carried him out of the cave. Tristan cast a spell of protection  and we brought him to the gates of Port Helen. Nim went to the Siren to request help from a powerful magic user while the party waited at the gates. A priest of Nasiri(?) came to aid us, casting restoration magic on him. I never did catch his name. She declared him worm-free and safe to enter the city. We then made our way to the palace to debrief the Siren in private court about the worm cave and its implications. Nim drafted a letter to the kalanon council apprising them of the situation before heading back out deal with the hag. We headed out to where the hag was last seen: a creek north of Port Helen. Nearby, we encountered an illusion of a campsite and ominous cackling. Nim discovers an imprint and drag marks of a boat, we traveled downstream and encountered a lake with a large tree at its center, twisting roots sprawling into the water. It’s at least one hundred feet to the tree from the lake’s edge so we planned to return with a boat. We headed to the Firbolg village nearby to request a boat from the mayor. The mayor was familiar with the tree in the lake: a fabled fey tree where lovers who kiss at its base are destined to wed. We managed to procure one and then spend the night at Berry's mom's house. In the morning we traveled back to the lake but before  crossing, Tristan reveals he joined this quest in order to defeat the hag who gave him his powers. He wasn’t  entirely sure that this is THE hag but was hesitant to share his motives with the party nonetheless. We rowed the boat out to the tree and begin circling it, looking for a suitable entrance. Around the tree lies a magical darkness, we managed to jump onto one of the catwalks built into the tree and soon approached the large wooden door of the treehouse. Nim and Galena peeked through the window and saw a dismembered body through the window and the hag standing over it. Ant and I busted down the door hoping to surprise the hag but are unable to gain any advantage. Through a combination of her cursed gaze, horrifying visage, and magic shields, the hag put up one hell of a fight. In the end, Ant found himself cursed, I nearly met my maker, and dropped Tristan instantly to her bite. He managed to survive but waa left horribly disfigured... a rough first mission for the young noble. X

1579845184

Kristen B.

Pro

Session 86: (Special) The Hag Slayers of Port Helen Tristan Brandiar (Kristen B) Nimogene Mammsdotter (Summer) Portia Folkor (Lena C) Galena Abanathu (Zilarreko) Ant (Seraphina Leaf) Zolis Ulmokina (Lordgenome) I meet up with the other members of the Cohort in the Halls of the Cohort. I was nervous of what they would think of me. I was new and this would be my first mission. When I heard they were gathering to hunt a hag I had to go. But I was not sure if I could tell them about my pact and why I seeked to end this hag. They might not have let me come along. But we talked about the past and what our mission plan was. Then we set off to Port Helen. When we arrived. We headed straight to the Siren Palace. Nim seemed nervous being back in the city and was warning us about some guards being evil. We did not wait to long before we meet the Siren and Galena spoke on behalf of the party. We told her of our mission here. Asked her to let me use magic within her realm and then we heard about a missing father and his kids in an orphanage. Their names were Rennie and Lindie. Thinking they could be a lead to information on the hag we went to meet with the kids. The party decided to let Nim talk to them because she knew the language and she was about their age. She asked them what they knew about their missing father. They talked about worms. That their father had dreams of them and somehow got involved with this worm cult. They feared their dad was already a worm. They said that these undead worms would eat the living worms. That everyone has worms already in them. It was alot to follow but they did mention a red worm named Qorgeth. When we asked about Qorgeth Lindie started to speak a prophecy like she was being possessed by something. She said strange and horrible things about the end times and with worms. I did not follow what she was saying and when I asked her to repeat she started speaking in a language none of us understood. I then went to cast a spell so I could understand her but before I could the guardian of the kids came in to stop me. Asking what I was doing and I explained to her I mean them no harm and wanted to help them. She allowed me to cast the spell but got a frying pan just incase. I dont blame her of not trusting magics. When I cast the spell Lindie was not speaking the language anymore and it seemed she forgotten why we were talking to them. Seeing as we got as much as we could out of the kid I paid the nun some silver to help with the kids and left with my party.  We then decided after a long journey and that we spent most of the day away already to rest up and head out the next day. The other party members who have been to these parts before wanted to meet with a woman in the inn and to talk to her about what we learned. When Galena meet with the woman she found out that a very old tale is told about a worm that was killed and sealed by the Cohort for a very long time ago in a cave. We then got some sleep and left the next morning looking for these caves. Along the way we found tracks and drag marks when we got to the mountains south and a few miles out of the port. Higher up we found blood that we followed to a cave. The cave was dark and lead deep down into the earth. We found the symbol of the Cohort near more ruins like walls than natural cave walls. In the ruins we found a bloody man chained. He was unconscious and behind him another chamber. The other side of the chamber was teeth like that of a worm. Down in a pit these white worms crawled around floors of flesh and blood. The smell of rot was everywhere. I released the man that we thought was the kids father and left the cave. Outside I cast protection of good and evil hoping it would help the man. We then went back to Port Helen to see what we can do for this man. To talk and possibly get some answers and to report this to the Cohort. We did not want to bring the man into the city until we knew he was no threat. So we sent Nim to talk to the Siren and send someone to look after this man. She returned with a priest and she spent some time tending and casting spells over the man. She told us he was safe to let into the city and that no worms were in him. But he was cursed with something. We then told the Siren about what we found and that the Cohort should be warned about this and that they would possibly come to deal with this problem. We then sent a letter to the council of the Cohort about our findings. We then rested and headed out the next day to deal with the hag. Not knowing where to start looking we checked we she was the last two times before. It was raining and we saw a camp near the river and a bridge. When we got up there to check out the empty camp we saw it was all an illusion and we heard the cackling of an old woman. Across the bridge was a hiding spot of where a boat could be docked. So we decided to follow the river and see where it could lead. It lead to a lake where a giant tree was in the middle of it. We saw a boat docked and lights coming from the branches in the tree. Needing a boat to cross we headed to the nearby Firbolg town that the party has been before.  There we meet a girl that I was told likes shiny things. I gave her a silver and saw her leave with glee. Nim then started to climb on people so she could be taller and we went to meet with the mayor. When we found him we told him why we were here. We asked him we needed a boat from the town and explain why. Finding a giant tree and a way to cross to it. The mayor told us it was a fey tree and if two people kissed under it they would be blessed by the fey. He allowed us to borrow a boat from the town and the party thanked him, then set off to find another member of the Cohort house named Berry. We found his mother inside and she tended to us. Feeding us and letting us stay there for the night. That night knowing I was going to face a hag and I could possibly freed from my pact. I decided to tell the party of my past with meeting a hag before. I told them I made a pact with an old woman in the woods. She offered me power and I took it only to find out I bonded myself to a hag and she had power now over me and wanted to corrupt me. I plan to kill every hag and free myself over the pact. They were upset at first that I did not tell them but were fast to making jokes to my expense.  The next day it was clear weather but I could feel rain was coming later in the day. We did not see any boat or lights in the giant tree. We row to the tree and when we got under the shade of the tree it got as dark as night and we then saw the lights of a building high above. We docked and sneaked our way up to the top were we found heavy doors to the entrance of the tree house. Nim and Galena went and checked into a window as I cast a spell on Ant to protect her from the evil of the hag. Nim said they found a cut up man inside and a figure of an old woman. We busted down the door and searched inside. We found stairs that led down and hear sizzling noise. Ant then ran down the stairs and engaged the hag. Stopping whatever spell she had waiting for her. The hag ran past her to the rest of the party and cast a lightning bolt at most of us. Then vines came and restrained us. She was a ugly old crone and looking at her could almost stun you. Some of us did get stunned. We put up a good fight and it was not easy putting her down. Zolis was knocked out for a few seconds. Ant face started to get disformed by the hag. Then I was stunned by just how ugly she was. She then ran at me with tremendous speed and I felt pain and then nothing for awhile. I awoke finding the party worried about me. The hag was slain I was told by Nim. I went down in one blow by the hag and I think I died for a few long seconds. I found out that I was disfigured like Ant but unlike her my face would not heal. Since I have some how awoke from death even my magic seemed more weak. I am happy that this hag was defeated and is no more to cause trouble but I feel I paid a price somehow. My looks spoiled and my powers weakened.  I know this was not the hag that holds my pact and she is still out there. I plan to find her and have her meet the fate this hag had meet. But now I need to find a way to regain what I lost and to get more stronger. I feel I let down the Cohort in my first mission. Something I had always done and was told I would do by my father. I was told I would be cursed by the Hag that gave me power. I would not let them tell me of my fate. I must be strong and shape my own. Tristan Brandair

1580078270

Pro

Session 85: Gone With The Wind Expedition Members: Medi Eirwen - Level 5, Anuirean Ranger (Serephen) Cedrych Brightbough - Level 4, Sidhelien Rogue (Adam B.) Sithric Grimhildsson - Level 4, Hanner Sidhe Fighter (Depraved Lunatic) Vyurakas Arrhuriluas - Level 2, Hadrachen Sorcerer (Leon K.) I joined up with a team that was looking to clear off an older mission from the Board of Fate. I didn’t know most of the group, but this one guy Cedrych seemed interested in my bow and the story of how I got it. I even showed him my special arrows, but I think he got a bit upset by them for some reason. Anyway our mission was to investigate a group that had previously corrupted a Cohort member: Dragomir Black. None of us were particularly familiar with him, but we knew that the details of this case had come up when he was put on trial, so we went to see what the Cohort knew about the situation. We went looking for Melvin Scriptkeeper, who happily shared some details the Cohort had uncovered. He suggested we start our search in Rzhlevskyy of all places. The Cohort’s agents had found a woman called Kaevanna, who they figured was the leader of this group, and operated out of a dockside warehouse. The really scary part was that they supposedly had a link to a primordial god. We headed to Rzhlevskyy and met up with the Tsarina, Chessa, and explained the situation to her. She had no knowledge of primordials, and so was hesitant to lend us help until we explained what a primordial could do, pointing to the Solaria incident as an example of what might happen if one was released near her city. She was VERY eager to help after that, offering to have the woman arrested and tortured for information. We suggested that we, as the Cohort, would handle the matter ourselves, but request assistance if we needed it. She agreed to this and pointed out the warehouse she set up shop in, telling us that her and her “alchemist’s guild” were not approved by her personally, but she had no evidence of any wrongdoings by them. We spent a day scouting out the area around the warehouse, and asked a merchant about anyone selling potions. He shared with us that Kaevanna would be the only one around town who could, though he would not recommend it. While her potions are effective they had a reputation of causing side effects, like horrible transformations or death. I shared my plan: to stake out the warehouse until Kaevanna left for the night, break in, find some evidence of her link to a primordial and confront her after we knew what we were doing. Cedrych seemed particularly happy with the plan. Maybe he didn’t expect it from someone who looked so young. Sometimes I do forget that I’m nearly a child in some people’s eyes. We drank and talked in the tavern, keeping an eye out until we saw an elderly woman emerge from the warehouse, just after dark. She got in a boat and rowed off to somewhere. Rather than chase her down, we continued the plan. Me, Sithric and Vyurakas spread out and kept watch while Cedrych picked the lock and went in. After a little while, there was a whistle from Vyurakas, indicating someone was coming. The old woman was rowing back, and looked in a hurry. Thankfully Cedrych heard the signal and got out, locking up behind him before she arrived. The woman questioned me, asking if I had seen anyone suspicious around but I feigned drunkenness and ignorance. I’m not sure she believed me, but she went into the warehouse. Cedrych then returned and handed me a bunch of papers he’d found. While translating them they looked just like orders for potions, but I noticed a pattern hidden in the writing. A secret message! "There is temple of Elil north of here. I want you to make sure those gnolls are still following the plan." I remembered the name Elil: The Sky Hunter. A primordial god that took the form of a giant dove, whose wingbeats caused tornadoes, and lived on the wind. He hunted large game when he could, but if none was around he enjoyed landing in mortal settlements and devouring them all. This was definite proof that not only was she dealing with a primordial, she wasn’t the main one in charge since someone was giving her orders. Also there were gnolls involved? We decided to confront her and apprehend her. We grouped up and entered the warehouse together, though the woman Kaevanna seemed not too bothered by our accusations or threats. She claimed that she knew we had broken in and stolen from her, and threatened to bring us before the Tsarina. We were totally fine with that, but we were all watching out for any tricks on our way to the town hall. She put forward her case to Chessa, who demanded to know if this was true. I retorted with my own claims, that she was working with someone in worship of Elil, a primordial god, right within her lands. She asked if we had any evidence, so I presented the order forms, and pointed out the hidden message within them. This seemed sufficient for her, but Kaevanna continued to act ignorant, so Chessa ordered her guards to arrest her. The woman said that she was making a big mistake, before she burst out into hideous laughter and turned into wind, taunted us and disappeared. The fact that she could do such a thing without the Tsarina's permission meant that she almost certainly was not human. We asked the Tsarina if she knew of any ruins or temples up North that the message might have referred to, but she had no idea. We were given the chance to take Kaevanna’s things, among which we found 4 purple potions, each with one of our names on it. I didn’t want to know what those potions would have done to us. We headed off to try and find this temple, at least hoping to mark its location for another group to find it more easily. Cedrych lead the way while I kept an eye out for tracks that might have been left by Kaevanna or her allies. A ways up the mountains I found gnoll tracks. We followed these to a really amazing place. An old Basarji temple, held up by an incredible tornado from underneath and chained down to the cliffs around it to keep it from flying off. Looking down there was about a 100 foot drop to a pool of water, and no easy way to get across. We just about managed it with some rope and helping each other, and found ourselves in front of a huge stone door, carved with depictions of hundreds of winged soldiers, though many of the ones lower on the door had been defaced and replaced with gnolls. This was definitely the right place. We heard some cackling inside, and attempted to pry open the doors stealthily to get the drop on them. Unfortunately none of us were particularly strong, so we spent a long time trying to get the doors open, and the enemy were ready for us. Four gnolls and two unseen creatures that were made of the wind itself, much like the invisible stalker that tried to assassinate Baroness Roseone and her consort, attacked us. It wasn’t much of a fight, unfortunately. The gnolls had an easy time shoving us off the small ledge we were crowded onto, sending us plummeting to the lake below. We at least managed to acquire a minor magical item one of the gnolls held. We returned to the Tsarina and shared what we had found. She initially wanted to send her forces up to the temple to remove the cult and take their treasures for herself, however we advised her that her forces would be easy prey for the mind-controlling powers of the primordial. As members of the Cohort, we are protected from this, and are the only people who can deal with this. She understood, and agreed to have her scouts keep an eye on the location, to gather information for the next party that travels there. Finally we reported in to the council and suggested that this matter be dealt with very soon. The Kallannon indicated that this would likely be a dangerous mission, though with Elil seemingly becoming more active nobody believed it to be a good idea to let this mission lie much longer. I hope we can put a stop to this matter before it escalates.

1580083237

Darvius

Pro

Session 87 Mission 2G Sloth of a Time Participants (Leana) Prudence Duskhart (Lordgenome) Theq Ferro (Zil) Diesa Gemfire (Summer) Agatha Duskhart (Hats4Cats) Fenris Nathair (Darvius) Darvius Alandre   After meeting in the cohort, we travel to Vos lands to meet with Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk. When we arrive, it is night and we go to the inn and arrange for lodging with Ydmila and Miklosh. In the morning, we meet with Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk, and we learn a bit about the Sloth.  We learn that is a massive creature easy 30 foot large, it is resistant to poison, burrow through the earth. She tells us that it was most recently seen in the area of Feyulshy to the South East. She also asks about our individual stories, and many of us share our stories and adventures with her. The travel towards the south and soon find signs of the Sloth’s passing. There is a large trail of raised dirt, trees uprooted with large claw marks sliced through the trunks. We see smoke in the distance, and we follow the trail and find some overturned carts on fire, transporting grain and wheat. We discover blood trails, but no bodies. We follow the trail east and come upon the creature at its den. It is laying about quite content with its recent meal, all about it laying skeletons and other debris from its past meals. We observe it is a large white female sloth that smells rancid. Prudence and Fenris, eventually cast speak with animals and approach the Sloth. After speaking with it the group begins a long debate about what to do with the creature. We discuss options of moving it, slaying it, or just leaving it be. Most of the group agrees that brining it to the Tsarina is a bad idea. However, most of the party except Fenris believe there is little option but to slay the Sloth given its carnivorous diet and pension for destruction. We did discover it was most likely birthed in the mist moors, but it had no desire to return. Even this large destructive creature feared that place. Eventually, Agatha decides to start the combat and sends a pair of eldritch blasts at it. Soon combat is engaged as it races towards Prudence and squishes her in a brutal hug. Darvius jumps off the vantage point they were observing from firing arrows rapidly into its large form. Diesa charges forward slamming it with her magical hammer. Fenris shape changes into a Hyena and attacks him. The battle is intense, Darvius runs in stunning the large beast allowing Prudence to escape its grasp. Prudence summons a storm cloud as lightening strikes down on the Sloth. Eventually, the Sloth begins to slow down and is knocked out. Again, a discussion happens as to what to do with the Sloth. It is decided that we would slay it, as we saw no other options around it. Within the Sloth’s Den we discover a magical great sword and some few coins.  Diesa identifies the sword as having belonged to a Giant. We skin the sloth, and inform a local village of the meat so that none of it goes to waste. When we return to the Tsarina we present her with the Sloth’s hide. The mission complete. Signed, Darvius Alandre Carnifex Primera

1580083902

Session 88: Special Mission - If You Go Down To The Woods Today Participants: Orithar  (Hats4Cats) Lolgon (Sloth) Lindal (Micheal) Eirena Lightshadow (Luncatic) Thugnuck (Leon K) The mission started out with a simple task. To find The Wolf, heard a rumour that the creature was getting hunted after being weak from fighting with a worm. The Worm that was created by Cohort, not sure what had happened in area but as cohort keeps the balance, best to find out. Worst case wolf has transformed into worm wolf creature after hearing the rumour of it eating the monster. Best case, The Wolf is stronger and in control of the area. Heard rumours men were heading into Wolfguard to try and kill it, bad idea. We headed over to wild wolf inn.  Started listening with locals, stories of hundreds of men entering area only to die to the beast. Not sure what they expected. Wolf is rumoured to tower all building, apparently, one man survived,Stefan Alber although he headed into the city. The inn full of racist pricks. Wanted to burn the place but will let it slide why on official business. Well check with the council on the right of rebuke when travelling during Cohort business. After calming nerves, the party purchased goat and meat. If the plan is to meet with wolf then food was required. Journey was peaceful, no dragons in the sky is a good sign.  Found building, small creature called Nectarine Sweetfur inside reading but didn’t want to leave. So much knowledge however greed will leave you trapped. If you take too many books you will never leave. We found many books one with Earthbind spells, others on summoning. Such titles encluded: “Indispensable Dissertation on Swimming”, How to Win Friends and Enchant People',  “So you want to be a wizard! - An illustrated beginner's guide for children who want to be a wizard!' 'Beholder in the eye of Beauty: Classic fashion tips for the beholder in your family.'” The Art of Procrastination and How to Perfect it' - however, this one was only halfway finished. Another was inside the building with us. A women cold as ice with a friend. Apparently an ex cohort member that now travelled with her. Someone had seen her before, travelling in fey realms. She liked the books we picked but was leaving. Not going to fight her in the library where destroying books and cause damage. Will be another time. Better time. Headed to the wolf, first time draw the creature to us. Could smell the animals we had brought. The quickly ate the goat and mule. Fed them to the pack, pack size of twelve or greater. Shown no aggression to the wolf, no teeth. Waited. Wolf is smart didn’t try to fight but watched. Liked its eyes, they were thoughtful. Shown wolf the book for scent. Smelled it. A small child ran with pack. She wanted to become a wolf and spoke in low Brecht. Maybe she is the one who wrote book? Left the next night, left food and note for girl. Another will be back, with the scent of Griffin to aid. Useful to gain ally with a creature that guards realms against Hag and man keeps the balance. Warned the wolf of Declius hiding in his realm, hiding in tunnels. Wolf looked healthy, no signs of illness nor taint. No signs of worm. Good to know balance is good. On way home found a tunnel, full of strange troglodyte creatures. Burned many of them inside caves however there were many more of them. Apparently hiding over old Dwerren ruins. Maybe worth looking into made way back to the boat. Enjoyed needed rest. Orithar

1580085773

Session 86 - Grave Worm (Mission SPECIAL) 23/01/2020 Present; Ant, Dwerren Barbarian (Seraphina Leaf) Galena Abanâthu, Dwerren Rogue/Bard (Zilarrezko) Nim Mammsdottir, Gnome Rogue (Summer) Portia Folkor, Humon Fighter (Lena C) Tristan Brandiar, Humon Sorceror/Warlock (Kristen B) Zolis Ulmokina, Humon Fighter (Lord Genome) Well this was an interesting expedition. Bit of a game of two halfs. Main thing what we came to do was putting down a nasty hag creature what has been terrorising the sirens realm most of last year. Might want to look up previous logs on that if yous interested. Since that was the point of us going im gonna cover that first. Top brasses might want to skip to the second half. Recap. Hags is evil fey creatures that take the forms of little old ladies to trick you into trusting em. You let your guard down and then they curses you or even kills you. They are pretty powerful spell casters and usually have some horrible monsters serving them. They do not like silver. It hurts them real good. So there was one of them had gone to helen island was preying on travellers going along the east road. In particular to a village called noran which is where our firbolg friends is come from. This hag had been favouring kids. Eating them chopping em up and making a horrible gibbering mouth creature what we destroyed last time. So first thing we did when we got to hunting was going to its old haunt. By a little wooden bridge over a stream. Figured it wouldnt be hanging around there after last time but no better place to start the search. Well we gets there just fine. Bit wet cos of the rain. Weirdly the hags camp is still there. Only it wasnt. When me and nim gots close could see that the place was all illusory and when we realised that there was this horrible chilling cackle from all around. A little frightening but after seeing that void dragon pretty bland. We pokes around the place for a bit. Tristan doing a ritual but Nim finds signs that a boat had been moored up on hillock on the opposite and had been moved pretty recently. Going downstream our lot follows for a few hours until we comes across this big lake to the north. It feels all ominous and even considering the clouds from the weather its too dark around it. In the middle of it though is a gigantic tree and we can see platforms and a building built into and around the branches. Theres lights on and a boat moored up so we knew it was occupied. We didnt have a boat and to cross the lake and i didnt fancy our party swimming over a hundred feet in full kit to get there. I takes us back and travel to noran. We arrive by nightfall and have a chat with the mayor there. Nice guy. He lets us borrow a boat and he tells us that the lake and tree have a little legend that if lovers goes up and kiss infront of the tree theys destined to be married happily ever after. No one has been there for a while though to his knowledge and when they did there were no buildings there. Next day weathers clear and we take the boat and haul it off to the lake. When we get there the tree looks nice and theres no sign of the platforms and that. However as we cross we get to a point where it suddenly gets all dark and gloomy again and can see all the buildings and that. Another illusion or glamour or whatever. We dock and creep up to the hut in the top branches. I have a look through a window. Dead body cut up and eaten inside and someone shuffling about near the back. Me and nim go through the window. Others bust in through the door and it gets into a fight. A long exhausting fight. Good job I made sure we all took silver. Ant and portia and zolis had to bash at her for a long time and tristian nearly got his face all ate. At the end though. Hag gets shot through the eye by nim and thats that. Spent a little while poking around and then went back to noran to see if their druid would come have a look over the place for anything we might have missed then it was back to port helen to report to the siren and on the boat home. Second half. Okay. Now that the main event is done time to talk about the side game. When we first got to port helen we checked in with local ruler for the standard stuff. Get some intel. Get some magic access. Usual bollocks. So we gets told that a man has gone missing. A butler of the sirens household. Has two kids that have gone right weird. Wondering if its hag related we goes to check em out. Nim and tristan as rjuven speakers has a chat with them. Well out of it. Giving all sorts of strange thing. Stuff about worms and blood and transformations and bad people that their da got mixed up with. Said he went to a cave but they didnt know where it was. At one point they started talking all prophetic and weird like. It was unexpected so nim didnt get all of it. A name qorgeth or something, stuff about servants. Free cities. Well confusing. Tristan got out some paper and ink and tried to get them to repeat it but they had no memory of any of our conversation. After that we headed off to that nice tavern where nim gets her hot chocolate and ant and portia have their dates. I goes to laura the translator again as shes full of knowledge and stories and ask her seeing if I can shake out anything more useful. So she says there are legends that the cohort came over to the island ages and ages ago to destroy a giant red word. The supposed battle took place nearby the city. I ask about caves and smuggling gangs in case they have any better idea of weird caves but she dont got much on that front. In the morning we set out to the nearby mount to the citys southeast. I figured wed get a much better view of the area from high up and maybe could spot something that might be an ancient battle sight and look for a cave from there. Lucked out though. Cave was in the mountain. We came across humanoid tracks heading the way we was going and at some point they mingle with a significant few blood splotches and tatters of slk and drag marks. We follows them up into the mountain and find a cave into which the tracks go. Little ways inside theres a doorway with a cohort insignia engraved over it. Inside theres like a big altar block in a square stone room. On the altar is some beat up battered bloke in ragged clothes all chained up. Then another doorway on the other side but this one looks like a mouth with big stone teeth coming up out of the floor and down the ceiling. Beyond that can see another door to the east but the wall to the west. Well. It was flesh. Horrific rotting flesh crawling with little white worms. We wasnt really sure what to do about that. So I picked the locks on the chains and zolis wrapped up the guy and we made a quick retreat back to the city. With me covering up our tracks behind us. We stopped outside the gates to get expert help to assess the guy. He didnt stir on the way back. A high priest of nesirie came out to examine him. No worms. Cursed. Safe to bring in though. It did indeed turn out to be the missing dad too so that was atleast wrapped up. Guess the siren will be digging out the fatestone because i think we just stumbled into a primordial plot.

1580093873

Session 89: Special Mission - Resting Place of Bellassar  Drago  (Hats4Cats) Korak (Sloth) Saorise (Sere) Aelar Cithreth (Link S) Knuckles (Leon K) Valravan (Kristen B) Aubrae (Zilarrezko) Aye, this mission was the hardest I’ve ever been on. We made the preparations to move Bellassar back to his final resting place in Drachenward. The boat ride felt like it lasted forever. I had to keep myself away from the area he was being looked over in otherwise I would have just broke down.. Once we arrived Larmendylth was waiting. Me and Korak carried him through the city. Many were paying their respects through the village as we walked. We arrived at a small place covered in stone and a skull from a creature. Me and Korak placed Bellassar into the ground and placed his bow over his heart.  I think one of Larmendylth old skulls was placed at the head of the resting place out of respect for him. The words she spoke were beautiful, I even saw her shed a tear onto his body. I said some words but nothing that I'm repeating on paper. I took some time after the service to myself. Turns out magic isn't something you can fully control. whether it's through his spirit or my emotions I've got something to remember him by. Aye, I arrived back at the celebrations, people were drinking and celebrating his life. Saorise told me the story of his last stand. I tried my best to retell it to everyone, hope I just did it justice. Everyone was drinking Silver Pale Ale his favorite drink. I didn’t see Larmendylth for some time after that.  After a couple of days, we headed out to find gnolls. We really didn’t do too much but let off some steam. Our heads just weren't in it. We visited the king to the south in the area but you need to leave all weapons and items outside the city for some reason. No way I’m leaving Larmendylth cloak with anyone so I stayed outside. So can't tell ya much about that like. Heard rumors of the gnolls and the king preparing for a huge battle with them but didn’t know where they were. We left the city searching for a band of Gnolls. We found some undead gnolls and ruins temple full of em but not really anything of interest. We headed back to Larmendylth and spoke with Larmendylth about the Void dragon. She said she will involve me when needed. I'm not leaving her side until she gives me something to help. Like there no reason he needed to die and she wasn't even taking the claims of the dragon existing as a real threat. She also told me not to look into Were-dragon knowledge as its forbidden but of course, she didn't say why... Drago

1580103194

Kristen B.

Pro

Session 90 (Special Mission) The Dreams of Mandrakes.  Brognir (Kristen B) Hedrin Slothslow) Shlar Michael H) Thorg (Darvius) Cordie (Serephen) Shango (Depraved Lunatic) We all meet up in the Halls of the Cohort to discuss the mission to head to Torova Temylatin to retrieve a Mandrake for the later mission to the Ghost Isles. Cordie brought up the fact that someone else in the Cohort was also interested in getting a Mandrake. We all agreed we should try and get two then for the Cohort. We then left to find Presphine at her shop to talk to her about any other info about the Mandrakes. She told us that we have to move fast to get back here because they do not last long once they were pulled out of the ground. We thank her for helping us with this task and then left to prepare for the trip overseas. On the way to the Island in the Krakennauricht soon after we left Fabrica. We found ourselves in a very thick and evil looking fog in the night. We could not see anything but we all knew when a ship crashed into ours. We rushed to see which ship hit us fearing ghosts ships on these waters. We found no one aboard at first. But when Shango and I moved to the steering wheel we found a skeleton with glowing green magic hands steering the ship. Shango tried to talk to it but it did nothing for a while. I was ready to climb the ladder and hit it but I won't lie I was scared I would die. It looked like a powerful being and it could suck the life from me. The skeleton captain did end up moving to Shango and held his hand out. Shango gave it a gold coin which it tested it to it’s teeth and then we moved off the ship and the ghost ship went its own way. Soon after we did leave we saw shadow like ghost manning the ship.  We did reach Torova Temylatin and we decided to keep sailing down river and not stop at Levoca village. We knew we had to keep heading north so we kept sailing and on the way down river we found a village of bearfolk. I wanted to stop and meet them but the rest of the party agreed we did not have time to stop. We found a bend in the river and got out. No one knew where we were at or how to find the Sleepwalkers hills. Cordie said she had a friend who can help us find it. But we had to find a squirrel first and that was when we spent the next few days looking for a squirrel. Thorg ended up finding one on a tree a few days later and I was given a magic mushroom I guess and I had some nuts to feed it. It came to me and ran off with the mushroom. We then decided to wait for Cordie friend to show up and we waited a whole day before this Gryzvald showed up. It wanted something to trade to guide us Cordie told us. She was the only one that could speak with it and this Gryzvald wanted food and our rations would not do this time. We asked what we could hunt for it to aid us to find the Mandrakes. He told us that his favorite food was white elks and not knowing anything about these beasts we left to hunt one. We all hunted together and we found one and Shlar was the last one to put it down. Gryzvald ate it and then he led us on our way to the Sleepwalkers hills.  That night the party was awaken by Cordie and Thorg. A Fey elf looking woman came to visit the camp. She was beautiful and stunning looking with power around her. She was pleased we hunted the white elk and killed it asking who did it. We told her the party hunted it together and asked who she was. She told us she was Nulliira and that she had a gift for us then. We asked Gryzald is he knew this Nulliira and he told us he did and she was a friend. We all then felt better at that time because we did not think her a threat yet. We asked her why she would give us a gift for killing an elk and what this gift was. She told us that the White Elk was a sacred animal in the Margreve and that we had to be some enemy to the Margreve to do such a thing. She said that her kind knows of ways to travel without the Margreve to slow you. She told us that she and her kind were from the shadow world. We asked if they knew of these shadow horses. She told us that her kind tame shadow horses and nightmares. They knew shadow magic and it seemed like she would offer us knowledge if someone would accept her gift. The gift she offered was to make you powerful and beautiful like her. A shadow like fey creature and she got very excited to transform anyone who would accept her dark gift she called it. Shlar we all saw was tempted but he told her he could find his own way to dark power and did not need her help. We all then grew more hostile to her because she was an enemy to the Margreve and we did not want to be. We all felt guilt now for killing the Elk but we did not want to fight this woman that seemed to hold great power. All of us but Thorg and Cordie who wanted to kill her to please the Margreve. I did not want to start a fight with someone who was not hostile to us yet. I asked her to leave and that none of us would willingly accept her dark gift. She did end up leaving and Cordie then started talking to Gryzald. None of us knew what she was saying but Gryzald look scared and was backing away from Cordie. She started to cast a spell and the odd creature looked like he was going to flee. I ran to hold him down so we could get answers as to what was happening. Gryzald was a slippery and dodgy fellow. I could not for the life of me grapple him but the others came and started to hurt him. At one point he turned into water and was trying to still get away but we did killing him and the water became broken parts of the creature that was Gryzald. I threw him into a fire to make sure he was dead and Cordie told us that he was no friend to us and that he crossed her. We then rested. The next day we found the hills even without our guide. Cordie was not acting herself and was not much help that day letting me and Shango lead the party. Seemed like she was not happy with the party actions to not attack this Nulliira. We did find the Sleepwalker hills and we set up camp to head into there the next day. We all found ourselves when we were looking for a place to set camp in a strange place. We found faerie dust and snow all over. There was a glowing river with magic like fish in it. A blue sparkling gate and bridge leading to the other side to a giant stump of a tree and it looked like many fey creatures were over there. All of us tried to cross the bridge but Shlar and Cordie was the only one able to do so as all of us fell into the river. I almost got swept away but was saved by the others. We got back on land and found ourselves covered in this glitter like fey stuff. The others hated it but I thought I looked fantastic and cool.  We watched Cordie talk to the fey for some time and after awhile she turned into a bunny, then back to herself. She then started to fly and it was all strange watching from far away but she did return and she had a mandrake with her. We were all excited and even Cordie looked to be in a better mood. We then all found ourselves instantly back in the Margreve and it was now daylight and we all felt rested. We had one of our goals and we came to get two so we all then went into the Sleepwalker hills to find another mandrake for the Cohort. Cordie led us to one but when we got there a giant purple and black dragon was sleeping right over it. Me and Shango went to sneak up and dig it out and hope to then run with it before the dragon awaken. Then Cordie became a dragon just like it except she still had her giant hat on her head. It was odd but we felt better protected with her watching over us. We got the mandrake but the dragon woke up and we were ready to fight it when Shlar bow became a snake and shot out a spider to string his bow. Hedrin then also became a giant dragon like Cordie and that was when the awaken dragon breathed on us and we all thought we were dead. But we awoke outside the Sleepwalker hills all ok. I thought it was my own dream but everyone had the same dream. Cordie then was fine with leaving and Thorg was ready to go with her. I demanded that we could not leave with one mandrake and we then fought to decide to leave with one or find another. I grew tired of the fighting and started walking back to the hills. I was going to come back for two for the Cohort and prove my loyalty to the Cohort. The others thankfully followed me. Inside the hills we found ourselves in a very dark and evil looking place. Thick fog was everywhere and none of us could see but we had Cordie lantern to guide us. It was the only light source to pierce the dark fog. Leading the way I found a standing stone circle and in the middle of it a bone dead dragon with black smoke wisps coming out of it. Heading to the dragon we all then heard a voice and it was Nulliira again. She was very angry we killed her friend Gryzald and wanted to know why. Cordie told her that he crossed her and it was revenge. So Nulliira decided to attack us for her revenge but in this place she told us would not kill us but we would just wake up. So she summoned two thinskin skull like creature with bone wings to attack us. They were some kind of demon and that they could kill us in this sleep like realm. It was a long and hard fight and at one moment I was knocked out and the party thought I would not make it but they did a fantastic job killing the two demons and saving me. I trust the Cohort to never leave me behind and that is why I would always be the last one to leave a fight. I have faith in my party and we all did our part. We did find a mandrake in the dead dragon ribcage. We pulled it out and knocked it out. Then me and Shango grabbed off the dead dragon horns. We left that area and but could not find a way out and we all felt not tired after a hard fight and travel. Cordie then told us this is a dream world and we could not leave this place. We have to wake up somehow. Remembering the last time we woke up we all died Thorg told me to hit him with my weapon. I did and he vanished. I then told them all I would send them back by killing them in this dream world and then find a way out on my own. They all put faith in me and one by one I smacked them. When all were gone and only me left I hit myself in the face as hard as I could. I then woke up with the others outside and this time we had a second mandrake. Sadly no dragon horns but we got what we came her for. We headed back to Fabrica and went to find Prespine who then crafted us a potion that would help in my mission to the Ghost Isle but we had a year and a day to complete this mission before the potion expired. We thanked her and we all went our separate ways.  Brognir Bronzehelm

1580135683

Michael H.

Session 90 (Special Mission).  The Dream of Mandrakes. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} Brognir (Kristen B) Hedrin Slothslow) Shlar Michael H) Thorg (Darvius) Cordie (Serephen) Shango (Depraved Lunatic)               We all met at the Cohort where Shango reminded us of the reasons behind our mission.   The punishments the Cohort leadership had handed down upon the four of us.   With the group informed of our task we set out for the island of Torova Temylatin.   The journey was at first clear and easy, until halfway to the island we were suddenly surrounded by an unnatural fog.   Uncertain as to the cause we all prepared for trouble, when a black hulled ship came out of the fog alongside our vessel.   Dragging its hull down ours.   All of us except for Hedrin boarded this strange vessel to find out what was going on.   Moving down the deck we saw that there appeared to be a single crewman, a strange skeleton figure that reeked of power.   Approaching it we attempted to make contact, but the figure at first ignored us and continued to sail it’s ship into ours.   The figure, without warning, moved from the ships wheel and came down to the deck toward Shango, holding out one hand.   Unsure what to do Shango handed it five gold pieces.   The figure picked one coin, bit it to test it then handed the other four back to Shango before returning to the wheel and beginning to sail it’s vessel away from ours.   We returned to our ship and continued our journey.             Knowing that we needed to head deeper into the island interior than normal we had the ship’s captain head further up river than normal.   Passing a Bearfolk village on the way, but unfortunately not stopping.   When the river changed direction away from the one we needed we left the ship and continued on foot through the Margreve. Cordie seemed to know of a possible guide, to find it required us hunting down a squirrel and feeding it a strange mushroom.   We waited for a day and in the morning a strange creature with mushrooms on it’s back and a twisted fanged filled mouth was waiting on the edge of our camp, this was the guide.   We discussed payment, and it’s only wanted payment was food, to be precise meat.   The group agreed and set out to hunt for some fresh meat, which we achieved by bringing down a large white stag.               Following our guide we moved quickly through the Margreve toward the Sleepwalker Hills, the area we knew the Mandrake Root’s to be growing.   During the next night a figure entered our camp, an ethereal, beautiful Sidhilien female.   She asked who had killed the stag, when we asked why she wanted to know she said that it has been a beautiful act and she wanted to gift the person who brought the stag down.   Now, I had been the person who fired the fatal arrow and I informed this maiden of this fact.   She turned to face me and smiled, introducing herself as Nulliria.   I recognised that she was a shadow fey, a dark elf.   Nulliria offered to give me the gift of darkness.   I have to admit I was tempted, severely tempted.   However, Cordie was more interested in something else Nulliria had said that we were brave to kill the stag because the Margreve would be angry with us. Seeing that my companions were unsure about my accepting this offer I reluctantly declined.   Nulliria seemed upset and she faded away into the shadows.   Cordie then turned on our guide, and after a short conversation attacked him for reasons she never fully explained.   The rest of the group joined her, attacking the creature mercilessly until it was destroyed.   All except for myself and Brognir, Brognir had attempted to capture the creature and I attempted to assist him.   Unfortunately, as I said, the rest of the group were only interested in destroying the creature.   After this I attempted to find out why Cordie had turned so suddenly on the creature.   Again she refused to explain, beyond some nebulous comments about not wanting to anger the Margreve.   Which did not work as a reason for me, at no point has the Cohort declared we should befriend the Margreve, but only the people living on the island.   Our now dead guide, and Nulliria are people on the island and we had now put ourselves against them.               As it was obvious we were not going to get a proper reason given by Cordie we returned to our beds until morning.   In the morning we headed into the Sleepwalker Hills to look for the Mandrakes, Cordie leading the way.   She led us to a large river, in the middle of which was a island full of various Fey creatures.   A single bridge crossed from the riverbank to the island.   Acting impulsively as always, Brognir immediately charged across the bridge.   The rest of the group followed, apart from myself who hung back believing this to be a mistake.   It turned out I was right as everyone on the bridge apart from Cordie fell into the river. As Cordie continued onto the island I moved to aid my fellow Cohort members out of the river.   All of us who had fallen into the river, we covered in a strange glitter substance.   A substance I became covered with as well while assisting.   Cordie began to hold a conversation with a large female Fey on the island.   As she was too far away to hear we were not able to know what was said.   What we did see was Cordie first change into a rabbit, then back to her normal form.   She then hovered in the air.   The next thing we knew we were on the edge of the hills camped and Cordie was holding one Mandrake Root.               Knowing that we needed two Mandrakes, as Cordie had promised to fetch one for Prudence we headed back into the hills to find our second Mandrake.   Unfortunately the one we found was growing close to a large black dragon.   As Brognir and Shango prepared to go dig up the Mandrake I cast Magic Weapon on my bow but my bow changed into a snake and then was taken away by a large spider.   Cordie shapeshifted into a black dragon herself.   Hedrin doing the same, though I got the idea from his reaction that it had not been his intention to do so.   Brognir and Shango dug up the Mandrake which attempted to scream but no sound came forth.   However the dragon woke up and breathed its acid breath on us, resulting in all of us dropping either dead of nearly so.             Again we awoke outside of the hills but without the Mandrake we had just dug up.   We figure out what had happened, we had in some way been caught in a waking dream of some sort.   Our encounter with the Dragon having taken place inside that dream.   This led to a heated argument between Brognir and Thorg.   Brognir wanting to head back into the hills to find a second Mandrake while Thorg insisted that we did not need to as we already had what we had come for, a Mandrake root.   When Cordie reminded him that she had promised this root to Prundence Thorg all but demanded that she hand it over as it was needed by the Cohort which should take precedence over her promise.   Eventually Shango and myself managed to calm things down by getting all involved to agree to one final attempt to gain a second Mandrake.               This time as we reentered the hills we found ourselves in a fog bounded area moving through what seemed like a ring of standing stones.   The only light we had was the Honey Lantern held by Cordie.   As we began to explore we found the skeleton of a dragon.   Before we could go further Nulliria appeared.   It was obvious that she knew we had destroyed our guide, which seemed to upset her.   She called two fiends to her side, saying that while we were in a dream land and as such could not normally be really killed, the fiends were one of the few beings who could kill us here permanently.   Nulliria then vanished, ominously wishing us good luck as she did.               We leapt into battle.   Hedrin increasing the speed of Shango and Thorg.   While I, knowing that the fiends would most likely be strong against non-magical weapons used my magic to give Brognir’s Warhammer magical properties.   He then charged into the nearest of the fiends while Cordie launched a powerful attack toward them.   One of the fiends took offence at Cordie’s attack and charged her injuring her severally but fortunately not enough to put her down.   Shango and Thorg jumped to her defence while myself and Hedrin used our magic to strike at the fiends.   They responded by using innate poison attacks as well as a confusion power.   Things became grave for our group as many of us were first incapacitated by the poison then confused by their magic.   Fortunately Hedrin and myself were able to avoid the worse of this and continued to lash out with our magic to cover until our fighters were able to recover.   Brognir was struck down unconscious and Thorg was nearly brought down as well.   But we prevailed and the fiends were defeated.               With them defeated we were able to use healing skills and potions to bring Brognir back to his feet.   Exploring the area we discovered a Mandrake growing under the rib cage of the dragon skeleton.   Shango and Cordie dug it up and we were able to stop it from screaming by knocking it unconscious then gagging it.   We attempted to leave the area but after nearly a day of travelling it became clear that there was only one way out of the dream world we were in.   I will admit that Brognir seemed to take a great pleasure in knocking us all unconscious with his Warhammer.   When we all awoke we were again camping outside the hills, only this time we had the second Mandrake root.   Having achieved our aim we returned to the Cohort to drop off the mandrake so it could be made into the potion for the next more dangerous mission.

1580152509

Depraved Lunatic

Session 88: If You Go Down To The Woods Today ( SPECIAL ) Attending Adventurers: -Orithar Trisk ( Hats4Cats ) -Lolgon ( SlothSlow ) -Lindal ( Michael H. ) -Thugnuck ironwall ( Leon K. ) -Eirena Lightshadow ( Depraved Lunatic ) We assembled at the Cohort to investigate a rumor regarding the Wolf, ruler of Wolfgaard. Orithar was worried that hunting the Wolf down and slaying it would upset the balance of the area, as the Hag, Aragnak the Red and all the other evil forces up north would be free to claim Wolfgaard for their own, eliminating the barrier between the Hags Domain and Grevesmühl. Naturally, as the best known upholders of balance, our group went out to make sure that such an upset would not happen. I took the groups lead for this mission. We start of in Von-Darre Fort, as Lolgon's Griffin would certainly cause problems if we were to start in Trie. But it also enabled us to check in with the locals in the Wild Wolf Inn first, so that's an advantage. Sadly, the people living in Wolfgaard's borders are all a bunch of racist pricks rather narrow minded individuals and were refusing to serve Orithar. Not only that, they took it a few steps further and began throwing insults at him in a variety of ways. We bought drinks to discuss our further proceeding. Orithar recommended we get some more meat and acted like he got up in a fury. Playing along, I went to the barkeep with a frustrated look and got ourselves the goat and additional rations, in case we need them for the journey. A rather peaceful journey I must admit. One of the more exciting parts of the journey was stumbling upon a large stone tower in the middle of nowhere, that turned out to be a fey library. Of course it is fey, what else would it be. I seem to stumble upon these fey things rather often, lately. A small foxperson called Nectarine Sweetfur was reading inside of the place. It was rather messy, but she didn't seem bothered by it at all. She told us we were allowed to take one book. Only one, or else. Well, seeing as I was looking to seek out more information on ice maidens as I still haven't given up on Phage, I was looking for such a book. However, what I found was quite literally an ice maiden. THE ice maiden that I'm going to be seeking out soon. And Phage was with her as well. Her appearance had changed. She looked similiar to an ice maiden herself now. I hope it's nothing too bad... I couldn't let Sirena know I was onto her, so I pretended to be looking at a book that I found beneath my feet. My bluff worked, apparently. I picked up a quite concerning looking book, but as my companion's came to me after hearing me yell in frustration, Sirena left, leaving me with a book in a language I didn't understand and the frustration of not being able to bring Phage home with me. Orithar seemed interested enough in the book, so I decided to keep it. Everyone got a book for themselves, including books titled "Indispensable Dissertation of Swimming", "So you want to be a wizard! - An illustrated beginner's guide for children who want to be a wizard!", "Beholder in the eye of Beauty: Classic fashion tips for the beholder in your family", "How to Win Friends and Enchant People" and the only halfway finished "Procastrination and How to Perfect it". I must admit, the last author knows their trade well.  We then proceed to travel deeper into Wolfgaard. As if summoned by our presence, we encounter the Wolf as lively as ever within 3 nights of camping. It had taken an interest in our animal companions and took both the goat and Bella the Second, my second mule. Well, you had a good run. Let's hope Bella the Third will outlast her ancestor. A woman, probably the one that was spoken of in the journal about the Wolf, came running towards us and sniffed at us, asking in Low Brecht about what we were doing here and how she could become a wolf. I translated for Orithar that there are some people capable of teaching her how to transform into a wolf and that we'd be back with them to teach her.  The Wolf and it's pack of dire wolves, probably a dozen of them,  then returned into the woods, probably to it's lair. We decide not to invade on the Wolf's inner territory for longer than necessary and leave a note with some rations pinned to the ground with griffin feathers that future party members of the Cohort will be smelling of Griffin. Be sure to ask Lolgon for some of Gara's feathers before leaving for the Wolf! We then proceed northwards, to do some light exploring. One important discovery was a cave full of  horribly stinking, very strange creatures called troglodytes. It is said that were troglodyte's are found, dwerren ruins are sure to follow. We attempted to take them on, but after seeing how one blow from the creatures caused Lindal a deep wound, I called our assault off, blocked their way with a fog cloud and we went out to return to the Cohort. I'm certain we could've beat them at the time, but I didn't feel like risking any of my comrade's life there. Perhaps we shall return at a later point. All in all, we achieved our mission goal and layed the groundwork for a possible alliance between the Cohort and the Wolf. Very successful of us. That is all. -Signed, Eirena Lightshadow

1580157579

Lena

Session 87 (2G): Big Time Sleep Present Members: Agatha Duskhart (Summer) Prudence Duskhart (Lena C) Theq Ferro (Lordgenome) Diesa Gemfire (Zilarrezko) Fenris Nathair (Hats4Cats) Darvius Alandre (Darvius) Our mission today was gathered together under mutual interest in a giant sloth. The Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk had put up a notice that she’d like the creature slain or tamed, as it was rampaging her domain. I hoped that we would be able to reason with it. Our boat arrived in the evening, and so we decided to get a room and see the Tsarina in the morning. Darvius having been here before knew the way to the inn and introduced us to Ydmila and Miklosh the innkeeps. After some light salad I and the rest of the party turned in for the night. In the morning the party went to meet the Tsarina to learn of the sloth and to ask for access to the leylines in the area. She recognised who I was, and seemed rather pleased that such a ‘famous’ member of the cohort had come to her aid. She praised my abilities. I would never have thought that people all the way over in Vos lands would ever hear or talk about me. She also praised my sister, and offered her a place; to teach her things the cohort would never be able to she said. We politely declined. Then she told us about the sloth, said it was as big as the room we were in, and told us it was particularly resistant to poison. She points us in the direction of Feyulfshy. We set out to traverse the forest, I navigate while the others gather resources and look for tracks. We find a large trail that has been dug out, trees uprooted by the side with large claw marks. Then Diesa’s familiar Tana sees smoke in the distance and we go to see where it is coming from. We find upturned carts that transported grain and wheat. There is blood but no bodies, which meant that the sloth either ate or took the corpses with it, or the people escaped by a hair.  The party decided to follow the trail it left east, and we came upon its lair. The creature was a large, white furred and absolutely rancid smelling female sloth. We snuck closer and decided to wait to see what the creature’s habits were. We suspected it had just eaten and it seemed content enough to bask lazily in the sun. The party thought there would be three possible options for the completion of our quest. One; kill the sloth be done with it. Two; Lead it back to Chessa with an offer of food. Three: Lead it someplace else, possibly the Gnoll Fells where it can eat gnolls to its heart’s content. After some waiting me and Fenris got impatient, so we both ritual-cast our spells that let us speak to animals and then approached it.  After talking to the sloth we came to the conclusion that all it wanted to do was eat and sleep. It knew it was the biggest thing in the forest, and that there would be no predators that dare hunt it, which made it difficult to convince that it should move somewhere else. I knew after talking to it that Fenris did not want to hurt the creature, and I knew for sure that taking it back to Chessa was out of the question. This creature would not have understood her need to tame and control it, and would only have suffered in the Tsarina’s ownership. As we debated what to do Agatha and Darvius both seemed to strongly agree on one thing. That we should decide on if we kill it or if we take it back, because we were members of the Cohort Arcanum, and we are tasked with missions, and as members it is our job to complete those missions. I knew if we just left it, we wouldn’t only have failed a simple task, but we would have brought a bad name to the Cohort, and ourselves (at least in Vos lands). And as much as I felt for the creature, I couldn’t let my emotions cloud me. It was killing innocents, and we had to do something about it. The party held a vote. Kill it or no. The majority landed on slaying the creature.  We approached it once more, as Fenris had a last trick up his sleeve. A more magical way of persuasion, but the sloth did not seem particularly charmed with it. That was when Agatha shot it with a blast and the creature attacked. It moved surprisingly fast compared to the sluggishness it exhibited earlier on. It was upon me before I knew it, clawing and grappling me with its large claws. Fenris had turned into a giant hyena, and was snapping at it. I managed to escape from it, and ran around behind it, but the creature turned and took a bite out of me. I was out for a little bit, only to hear Theq’s voice calling for me, and I was healed. The party threw attacks at it, and I called down lightning from the sky. After the sloth was slain, I walked over to it, giving a prayer to its spirit, and thanking it for its sacrifice. I wish it didn’t have to end this way. I at least insisted that none of the sloth goes to waste. The pelt I’ve skinned, and we told the nearest village of the meat that was on it, with its death it will sustain some life at least. Since really none of us wanted a sloth fur cloak the group elected to sell it to Chessa. She can get more use out of it than we. In the end I do not feel very good about that mission. Even though it would be classed as a ‘success.’ I’ll save the next one.

1580159332

Summer

Session 87 (2G): Big’s Forever Sleep Present Members: Agatha Duskhart (Summer) Prudence Duskhart (Lena C) Theq Ferro (Lordgenome) Diesa Gemfire (Zilarrezko) Fenris Nathair (Hats4Cats) Darvius (Darvius) The mission we went for was posted by Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk and she asked us to deal with a giant sloth that was running rampage in her lands. She wanted us to either kill it or tame it for her. We travelled to Rzhlevskyy where we stayed the night at an inn for free, due to being there to help the Tsarina, who we met the very next morning. She was very impressed with our group and had heard a lot of good things about most of us. I tried to explain to her that even though I look like a child I’m actually 23 years old, but she didn’t quite buy that and praised me for being able to use magic from the second circle. Anyway, we asked her more about the giant sloth. She described it to be as large as her throne room and said that we would most likely find it on the ground. Other useful information we got was that it was resistant to poison and had a very foul smell to it. Oh, and it gave horrible hugs that we should avoid. Then she pointed us to Feyulfshy, saying it would be a good place to start our hunt. The Tsarina was very right in this as we quickly found these huge tracks. The giant sloth had left a large trail and knocked over trees, some with large claw marks in them. As we kept tracking we saw smoke in the distance and came upon burning carts, scattered over the ground. We also saw blood, but no bodies. The trail continued east and we finally spotted the giant sloth. It was a large, smelly, white female. Our plan was to wait and observe her behaviour and when we found the creature mostly lazying around our druids; my sister Prudence and Fenris, decided to move in closer and try to talk to her. After talking to her they told us that she went under the name Big and she seemed to mostly want to sleep and eat. Fenris wanted us to find a better place for the sloth to stay so we didn’t have to bring it to the Tsarina to most likely live it life in misery nor kill it. The discussion went on for what seemed like forever. In the end I had enough and pointed out that we are there to do a job as members of the Cohort, not to make decisions on our own. We were sent to either kill or tame the sloth on account of the Tsarina. I attacked the sloth and we fought it. She managed to knock Prudence out and also Diesa at one point but other than that we managed to hold our ground against her foul smell and awful claws. I could see that Prudence hated having to kill such a docile animal, but in the end there was nothing we could do to keep both the sloth and the people around it safe. We skinned it and brought the pelt back to the Tsarina. Our mission was complete, we had done our job whether we agreed or not how the handle the situation. If you are not comfortable completing a mission as it is asked of you, I suggest you take on another mission. Who are we but simple adventurers? Who are we to decide what is right or wrong?

1580166729

Session 87 - This Kills the Sloth (Mission SPECIAL) 24/01/2020 Present; Agatha Duskhart, Human Sorceror/Warlock (Summer) Darvius Alarande, Sidhelien Monk (Darvius) Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard (Zilarrezko) Fenris Narthir, Sidhelien Barbarian/Druid (Hats4Cats) Prudence Duskhart, Alseid Druid (Lena C) Theq Ferro, Firbolg Cleric (Lordgenome) Field report on the expedition to Rhzlev, Spring II Submitted to the Duty Sergeat, Halls of the Cohort Arcanum Report prepared by Diesa Gemfire Company assembled at halls for briefing. Consensus was that 'taming' such a large and problematic beast for the tsarina of Rhzlev was both undesirable and impractical. Many fellows also expressed discomfort with the support the Cohort has provided to the tsarina and the bloody manner of her ascension and did not want to hand her a potential military asset. Fellow members of the company also expressed hope however that the sloth creature could be spared in some manner but details would have to wait until encountering the creature to assess the practicality. After arrival in Rhzlevskyy, the seat of Rzhlev, the company boarded for the night at a local inn named Queen of Orla. In the morning we were given an audience with the tsarina, Chessa. She is certainly different to what I expected from a vos ruler, even given one of the supposed 'nona' ideology. Dressed in fine imported silks and well coiffured she gave the appearence of a glamorous noblewoman of the old empire or the heights of the confederation. She even spoked Sidhelien and though her words held some of the familiar undertones of violence I would have associated with vos they were subtly placed and she demonstrated a keen interest in the arcane and familiarity with many events beyond her domain's borders. Though belied by the rather bloody and public coup that brought her to power she does seem one to watch out for should her reign survive. Certainly one not to be underestimated. During our audience the tsarina recounted the reports she had of the sloth creature. That the creature would fill a thirty foot room, ate voraciously of anything and particularly meat. That it had not been affected by poisons and that seemed to be able to burrow through the earth at speed. All these things proved accurate from our expedition. She informed us that the most recent reports of it were that it was in the south eastern province of Feyulfshy towards the river that marks the border with neighbouring Berhagen. The company then proceeded in that direction. Shortly after crossing into Feyulfshy province the company encountered a trail of uplifted earth from subsurface burrowing that had uprooted bushes and even trees in the area. Following this we spotted smoke on the horizon and encountered a ransacked caravan. Evidence of a fight was all around, many blood stains on the ground. Fires from presumably overturned lanterns. Scattered crates etc. However much of the cargo, wheat and vegetables, was left discarded while there were no bodies. Continuing to follow the trail we encountered the creature at a dugout cave in the side of a small hill. The ground outside was scattered with bones and gore and a potent stink was evident even from over a hundred feet away. Initially the company kept distance and just observed the creature. It roamed around its little domain, digging in the stained soil and basking in the sun. Prudence determined it was satiated having recently fed to its fill. No doubt on the members of the caravan we had passed. She judged this was the safest time to approach it and so she and Fenris went closer and used their magical abilities to communicate with it. They gained little useful information from this. It was not possesed of any cunning beyond simple predation and had no interest in anything beyond eating to its fill and then resting. They did learn however that the creature remembered a time it was small and had then crossed a land of 'ground clouds' which were the only things it seemed to feel threatened by. Given the proxity to the fabled Mist Moor our best theory is that this sloth had once been an ordinary creature that had wandered into that land and been changed by these eldrith mists. Concluding their talk with the creature we tried to determine what to do next. Despite the bloody carnage we had seen it wreak both Fenris and Prudence seemed to think the thing was docile and even friendly and didn't want to harm it but we quickly ruled out any plans to move it to a new envioronment as unworkable and impractical. Not least because the creature itself had no desire to move and did not seem able to be persuaded. At best it seemed that it could be fed by others to keep it satisfied but no one was volunteering to quit the Cohort and dedicate the rest of their lives to hunting for it. The locals and Chessa would certainly not want to dedicate their resources and time to it without getting something out of it and if they could not they would eventually kill it anyway. Therefore the company came to a consensus to put an end to the creature there and then. There is little to say about the fight. It was a hard battle. The creature was tough to harm and close too its stench was so overpowering as to sicken anyone lingering near it. If it hit, its massive claws were easily able to wrap around somone and squeeze them to potentially deadly effect, which both myself and Prudence suffered. Eventually the company won out though and the thing collapsed from pain and exhaustion. Fenris tried to convince us to revive it and beat it down again until it would obey. We had smashed, shot, burnt, battered and even called down lightning to try and bring the sloth to an end. Doing this seemed hardly better to me than the torture the tsarina might inflict trying to get a warbeast out of it and Agatha was determined we complete the mission we had signed up and agreed between ourselves to do so I helped her in putting the creature down. That effectively concludes our expedition. The creature was skinned, pelt going to the tsarina and the meat donated to local villages so nothing would go to waste. Among the bones outside its lair some were well beyond normal humanoid size and with these we found an enchanted sword resonating with giant-kin origin which we have brought back with us.

1580267275

Pro

Session 85 (1R): Gone With the Wind Present: Medi Eirwen - Level 5, Anuirean Ranger (Serephen) Cedrych Brightbough - Level 4, Sidhelien Rogue (Adam B.) Sithric Grimhildsson - Level 4, Hanner Sidhe Fighter (Depraved Lunatic) Vyurakas Arrhuriluas - Level 2, Hadrachen Sorcerer (Leon K.) The Kallanon rewards each member of the party with 125gp (tax free) for their efforts. Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk also rewards the party with an 75gp each (tax free). Monster XP 25XP for defeating gnolls 25XP for 'chasing off' Kaevanna. Quest XP 250XP for discovering more information about the truth of what is going on. RP XP 150XP for great RP! Exploration XP 150XP for discovering the Temple of of Elil. Log XP 200XP to Medi for an awesome log. Total XP 600XP to Cedrych, Sithric, Vyurakas 800XP to Medi Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Renown (The Cohort Arcanum), 2 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 86 (SPECIAL): Grave Worm Present: Ant, Dwerren Barbarian (Seraphina Leaf) Galena Abanâthu, Dwerren Rogue/Bard (Zilarrezko) Nim Mammsdottir, Gnome Rogue (Summer) Portia Folkor, Humon Fighter (Lena C) Tristan Brandiar, Humon Sorceror/Warlock (Kristen B) Zolis Ulmokina, Humon Fighter (Lord Genome) The Siren rewards the party with 200 golds each for destroying the hideous hag that was plaguging her lands. She tells the party she'd offer more, but she her domain is small, and for them that is a substantial amount of coin. From the hag's lair the party find: The skull of a harpy with a burning candle on its forehead. When the candle is snuffed out the eyes of the creature begin to glow red, and a spectral version of the creature's long gone body begins to levitate the head. The ghostly creature then wanders around menancingly, and creepily. Yet, it doesn't seem to have any interests in causing real actual harm. A set of chainmail armour that was once a man. How you know this you don't know, but you definitely know that it used to be a man. It doesn't detect as magical. A golden necklace that detects as magical. This mysterious necklace was found in the lair of The Hideous Hag. It is beautiful, ornate, gold and silver, and encrusted with ruby, sapphire, and emerald gemstones. At the bottom of the necklace hang the feathers of a once proud lyrebird. (see the Myterious Necklace handout in game). [Important Item] A child's patchwork doll, missing a button eye, and stained in blood. Exactly 13 coins in every currency commonly known to any citizen of Cerilia, as well as 13 midgardian coins, and 13 coins from some other unknown and distant far off land. A cracked hand mirror, which always shows a shadowy figure to be standing behind the one looking in it. Sometimes,this figure moves. [Important Item] A monkey that has no need for food nor water. Under the light of the first moon its undead nature reveals itself. A journal that is completely blank save for art of the hideous hag's severed head. It moves, shifts, and glares angrily at any of the party members who look at it. However it doesn't seem to move whenever anyone else is looking. [Important Item] An ornate mythriall bejeweled dagger of Superb quality, and magical. The figures on its scabbard dance and move around. It depicts The Siren dancing in the wind, and hunting and killing a monster only to discover that she had been the monster the entire time. See the Mysterious Hag's Dagger handout in game. [Important Item] A candle made out of always melting human flesh. It smells as awful as it sounds, but does provide light on command as the spell. [Important Item] A jar of pickled toenails, with just a hint of ginger and cinnamon. A vial of water from The Isle of Ghosts. [Important Item] A masterwork set of Alchemist's Supplies. Monster XP 191XP for killing the hideous hag. Quest XP 100XP for recuing Petring 500XP for putting an end to the hideous hag. RP XP 250XP for great RP! Exploration XP 100XP for discovering the hideous hag's lair. 100XP for discovering the myserious shrine  to Khan'Mu'All. Log XP 150XP to Galena, Zolis, and Tristan for wonderful logs! Total XP 1,241XP to Nim, Portia, and Ant 1,391XP to Galena, Zolis, and Tristan Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Fame (Rjurik), 2 Infamy (The Hag), 10 Renown (The Siren) 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 87 (2G): Big Time Sleep Present: Agatha Duskhart (Summer) Prudence Duskhart (Lena C) Theq Ferro (Lordgenome) Diesa Gemfire (Zilarrezko) Fenris Nathair (Hats4Cats) Darvius Alandre (Darvius) The Tsarina Chessa Rodelovisk rewards the party with 15,000 greater grivnas for defeating the giant sloth, and an addition 300 for the hide. Monster XP 341XP for slaying the giant sloth. Quest XP 500XP RP XP 100XP for good RP! Exploration XP 100XP for discovering the location of the giant sloth! Log XP 150XP to Diesa, Agatha, Darvius, and Prudence Total XP 1,041XP to Theq, and Fenris 1,191XP to Diesa, Agatha, Darvius, and Prudence Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Fame (Vos), 10 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.

1580267286

Pro

Session 88 (Special): If You Go Down to the Woods Today Present: -Orithar Trisk ( Hats4Cats ) -Lolgon ( SlothSlow ) -Lindal ( Michael H. ) -Thugnuck ironwall ( Leon K. ) -Eirena Lightshadow ( Depraved Lunatic ) Monster XP 100XP for surviving your encounters with The Wold, and the Trogolodyte Swarm Quest XP 150XP for confirming the wolf was still alive. RP XP 150XP for good RP Exploration XP 100XP for discovering the trogolodyte lair. 100XP for discovering the fey library. Log XP 150XP to Eirena, and Orithar Total XP 600XP to Lolgon, Lindal, and Thugnuck 750XP to Eirena, and Orithar 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 89 (Special): Bellasaar The Brave Present: Drago  (Hats4Cats) Korak (Sloth) Saorise (Sere) Aelar Cithreth (Link S) Knuckles (Leon K) Valravan (Kristen B) Aubrae (Zilarrezko) Monster XP 75XP for killing gnolls! Quest XP 50XP RP XP 400XP for epic RP! Exploration XP 100XP for diving into Fort Holt! Log XP 150XP to Drago Total XP 625XP to Korak, Saorise, Aelar, Knuckles, Valravan, and Aubrae 775XP to Drago 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 90 (Solaria Fallout): The Dreams of Mandrakes Present: Brognir (Kristen B) Hedrin Slothslow) Shlar Michael H) Thorg (Darvius) Cordie (Serephen) Shango (Depraved Lunatic) Presphine crafts the mandrake potion. For those characters wanting to make the trip they now have one year and a day to head to The Isle of Ghosts (the date of creation is marked on the calendar). She reminds you that the potion has just enough to send one party there a single time. So make sure you go prepared. Monster XP 318XP for killing Gryzvald and the dream eaters. Quest XP 500XP for recovering not just one, but two mandrakes. RP XP 100XP for good RP Exploration XP 100XP for discovering the Sleepwalker Hills. Log XP 200XP to Brognir, and Shlar Total XP 1,018XP to Hedrin, Thorg, Cordie, and Shango 1,218XP to Brognir, and Shlar Renown, Fame, and Infamy 2 Renown (The Cohort Arcanum), -1 Status (Margreve) 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.

1580366207

Kristen B.

Pro

Session: 92 (Mission 2H) Run in with The Vampire Tristan (Kristen B) Shlar (Michael H) Fenris (Hats4cats) Saorise (Serphene) Sithric (Lunatic) I meet up in the Halls of the Cohort to meet the other Cohort members I was going to be traveling with. The group were mostly of sidhelien and another human girl. I was warned that humans might not be welcome in the lands we were going but I hoped no problem would come of this because I have always wanted to visit the sidhelien lands. We then left to find out what The Vampire was doing in a ruins in Innishiere. When we arrived in Innishiere Fenris led us straight to the Fearie Princess Niobhe and we all introduced ourselves. Fenris then started to state the reason as to why we were here and Niobhe asked him to stop talking as to the things he was saying should not be spoken openly in court. She told us we could speak about this later in private. So we waited hours until her court was done. Then she spoke to us about The Vampire has probably spies in her court. She then talked about that they have guards watching the ruins but no idea as to what is in there or going on. Fenris asked to have a wizard familiar with the party and that if it died we were in grave danger and need help. She asked us many times if we were good and needed anything and we thought at the time we did. When we left and went to the ruins I was fascinated by the magic leaves that lay scattered across the ground and the old architect of the ruins. Built by Sidhelien and Dwerren many many years ago. When we got to the door Fenris had forgotten something since the last time we came. The door could only be opened by a sidhelien and a dwerren at the same time speaking the same word in the other language. Knowing it was late we all checked into a nearby inn and stayed the night till the next morning. We asked for a dwerren to assist us. A female dwerren who was a mason came with us named Hafresli Goldsword. She helped us unlocked the doors and wanted to come in with us to check out the old ruins and how they were built. Inside it was like nothing I have ever seen. It was very creepy and dark. With green fire, stone skulls built into the walls and blood everywhere. Hafresli that this place was indeed built by sidhelien and dwerren. Then we found the altar of a pentagram in a pool of blood. Fenris and Sithric seemed to have been here before but did not really know the place. Shlar knew that this altar was magical and connected to the leylines. I discovered a more darker secret. That the altar was also a closed portal to the Shadow world. Fearing what they could mean in a place like we were in and not having the power to do something about it. We decided to go on. We opened another door in the temple and we knew it was not part of the original architect of the building. It was added on much later. We found two cell rooms with chains and blood on the floor. I stayed in the back listening to what was happening around the corner at this time because there was not much room. Shlar went ahead to study a magic cauldron that was filled with blood. Necromacy magic were around it and it was dangerous to those that got near it. But Shlar was fine to move forward and he started his study. The cauldron he started to tell us was linked to necromancy and vampires. It was full of warm bubbling blood but not hot enough to burn oneself. He believed it had something to do with teleportation magic. Fenris was thinking a key had to be around here for them to get into a stone coffin he knew of deeper in the temple. Shlar took a stick and started to poke inside the cauldron and something was indeed there. He then shoved his arm inside and pulled out a bone key. It had a skull on one side with fangs and a bat on the other. Shlar then started to fill pin pricks on his arm and Sithric gave him holy water to pour on his arm. The blood screamed and many faces were seen in the blood. He then went and poured some more holy water in the blood cauldron and I was told a pentagram was formed. Fearing something I rushed by Saorise and went to look at the altar. Nothing was happening at first and I thought I was wronged that the blood from the cauldron was linked to the shadow world closed gate. Then a fire came from the center of the pentagram and my heart sank. I called back to the party that we had a problem.  None of us knew what was happening or what to do when we were watching the fire. Then a portal opened up from the fire and we all prepared for something to come out. Minutes passed by and I was about ready to approach it and to study more about the portal when someone started to emerge from it. A bald gray man with bat like wings and sharp fangs came forward and we all knew him to be The Vampire. Sithric shot his arrow at him but he cast a shield spell to block it. Then two swarms of giant bats came from him and started to chase us as we tried to flee. Fenris stayed in the back as a beast taking much of the blows from The Vampire and his bats. We all thought we were going to escape then the bats flew past Fenris and attacked me and like with the ugly hag mission. I blacked out from pain but I did awake from healing magic. Fenris ran past me as the bats flew back to their master at the temple doors. I fled back to the rest of my party as The Vampire closed the stone temple doors. The Sidhelien and Dwerren key melting off and a giant red magic sigil appeared on the doors.  We went back to tell what happen to the Fearie princess Niobhe. She was worried that The Vampire would be so close and that he sealed the temple off. We were all wondering what he was doing there. Some thought it could be his home. But she was happy with the information we did bring back to her. We then went to rest as she sent her mages to study the magic sigil that was now on the temple doors. That night me and Shlar awoke the party as the moon was full when it should have not been and giant bats were seen flying in its light. The next morning the Princess had good and bad news. The magic sigil was permanent and the doors seemed to be permanently closed while it is there. Fenris and the party then started to wonder if he was still in the temple and what he was doing inside. We then thought that if the front doors were sealed we could enter by the Shadow world gate inside the temple. We would just have to find a way into the shadow world.  We left Innishiere to see how the war with the vampire was holding with the sidhelien of Coulabhie and to tell of what we had learned. When we got to Waynmuun. We were summoned to see Rhiana Waynmuun. We asked her how the war was doing and The Vampire has been holding. We then told her about the temple and how we could set up a way to attack The Vampire on two fronts. We told her about our idea with forging an alliance with the Dwerren of Baruk-Azhik and gaining more troops and clerics to fight the undead. Shlar added that the humans realms could aid as well in defeating The Vampire but Rhiana did not want anything to do with humans. She then told us that Dwerren of Baruk-Azkik and her family in the Sielwode might not be able to aid. They are surrounded by the Gorgon allies and alot of activities were happening along the borders recently. But she would send word to them about our plans.  We then started to make our journey back home when we stumbled upon very old and large human ruins of a fort in the Coullabhie. We saw four sidhelien women gathered in a circle in the fort. All very pretty and radiated of magic such as that of a Leyline but none were near. One has snow falling from her heir, Another fall like leaves that fell from her hair, One next to her had mistletoe in her hair and the last had golden hair with a halo of the sun behind her. We tried talking to them but it seemed they only knew sylvan and they were not sidhelien but fey. They did not seem very interested in us and seemed to be discussing if it was time for the one with mistletoe growing from her hair to die by the radiate golden hair one. They agreed very much with Fenris that humans are a scourge to the sidhelien and the forests and they were happy they were pushed out. I learned alot about the Sidhelien and the Fey this trip and it breaks my heart that they would think so lowly of human’s. I had always had a fascination with them and a love of them. It’s what drew me to wanting to learn magic. I will have to think about this and try to learn more about the history of the sidhelien and the fey. I hope one day this hatred could be buried.  Tristan Brandiar

1580597044

Session: 91 Library, Spa & Spring Cleaning Agatha Duskhart; Rjurik Sorcerer/Warlock, lvl 6(Summer) Orithar Trisk; Half-Orog Wizard, lvl 6 (Hats4Cats) Prudence Duskhart; Alseid Druid, lvl 6 (Lena C) Ant; Dwerren Barbarian, lvl 5 (Seraphina Leaf) Cordelia Woodwytch; Cellwair Warlock, lvl 5 (Serephen) Zolis Ulmokina; Khinasi Fighter, lvl 4 (Lordgenome) Managed to gather a group together, one is special talents of changing into a wolf. Hear stories of deer lady being able to change into different forms. Confirmed true. Plan to travel to Wolfgaard and help the girl change her form. I hope this would bring the wolf onside. Use him to assault our enemy to the south, as she is invading on his territory or if failed, just killed the small army to the north. First stop was at Von-Darre Fort and spoke with the lord in charge. Wanted access to simple magic but was unwilling to aid members of the cohort. Even to protect her lands. Brought three goats to feed the wolf, not much food considering his size but offers are always welcomed.  After two uneventful days, we arrived at the edge of Wolfgaard. The strange door appeared again. One I have seen before. Entrance to the fey library. I did not risk taking another book but did return the one I had taken. Others took strange volumes, on goblin cooking and fighting tactics to use against ice maidens. The fox creature was still here. Not sure if Ice maiden left the fake book or edited the pages. Too be conveniently found by cohort members wouldn't trust it. Moved further on and found a place of rest. One full of spring waters. Meet a creature by the name of Boall that was bond by magic, his stomach burned and he could feel the pain but was all his thoughts were simplified. Impressive spell was used to force the creature to serve. Many fey were present as well as other strange creatures. Interesting creatures were around including that Ice Maiden. Not sure if anyone has asked for her name. It might be worth knowing.  Too much off mission, focused on heading to the wolf forest. Left goats outside of camp as food. Sure the wolf will know the smell. Took two moons for him to arrive. How a dog grew that big would be worth knowing, or stay hidden. Prudence spoke with the creature. Tried to explain to the creature but simple. It didn’t care if invader was to the south but wanted its den cleaned. Wolf wanted to know if we join pack, declined. However, offered to help with den. One needs to be careful when speaking, the beast influences the mind, has an effect saw it happening. Do not be afraid if you are that of a strong mind. Den full of shit and other things. Many small trinkets and items. Found full plate armour forged by magic, bearing the Sigil of two fish. The sigil of Grabentod. Hands were engraved inside the breastplate. We found many alchemical supplies, loose items and coins. However too much to go through, and we didn’t want to clean.  Traveled to Urkenhame, in search of extra hands. The process will take some time, made a deal with queen one Queen Freya Drachen.  Top 25 percentage to party, the rest to the dragon and its people. All are greedy for coin and horde, Silver is no different to Void. They helped change many months worth of work to a few weeks. Speeds up the process for less of the reward will do for now. Will see what treasures the wolf den held.  Orithar Trisk

1580619025

Physh

Pro

Session 96 (Special Mission):  A Tale of Two Peg-Legs Expedition Members: Savas Al-Hadar, Khinasi Cleric Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik Cleric/Warlock Brognir Bronzehelm, Dwerren Fighter/Barbarian Knuckles, Dwerren Cleric Twili, Sidhelien Bard Jaidiele Sylis, Sidhelien Ranger Galzira Strongshadow, Hanner Sidhe Warlock Savas returned to the Cohort's stronghold following his latest, partially successful, endeavor.  He escorted Eirena to her quarters, carrying her things for her, to help her get settled back in.  With a smile, and squeeze of her hand, he left to return to his own quarters.  His mind was spinning...  the mission itself was a moderate success, but so much had happened for him personally... he was still trying to take it all in. Savas set down his gear and immediately went to his writing desk, hoping that by putting it to paper would somehow allow him to come to grips with what transpired. "It began as many of my expeditions have, in the halls of the Arcanum.  Aside from myself and Eirena, a robust group of Dwerren and Sidhelien filled out the party at seven members total...  a bit large for a typical expedition, but it was expected to be a hard fight.  It was a fairly straightforward enterprise:  obtain a cutting from a magical tree that incinerates anything that comes near it, and then track down an Ice Maiden who had taken a member of the Cohort - Phage - captive.  Gathering our gear, and ensuring everyone had mounts for the journey ahead, we boarded a ship towards Hjolvar.  As we neared the shores, a foreboding fog came upon our ship suddenly.  It wasn't long before a ship, manned by shadows under the command of a skeletal Captain boarded us.  It was strange, the Captain spoke no words, but Brognir had encountered him before and said that he sought payment of a single gold piece.  One of our members offered one, but the Captain tossed it back, unsatisfied.  After the entire purse was offered, the undead seaman fished out one specific gold piece and then tossed the pouch back to us.  We scrambled back to our ship as the Captain laid the coin at his feet with several others and the shadow crew prepared to get their ship back underway. We made it to Kopingdal without further issues.  We had sought permission from the King there to access the ley lines, but he denied our request, fearful that we may unleash terrors upon his lands.  Our pleas fell on deaf ears, and we left hoping the magic we had would be enough for the journey ahead.  One bright note on the encounter, as we introduced ourselves, I did so in my newly acquired Rjuven, a skill I had not yet disclosed to Eirena.  She was visibly pleased and surprised when she heard me speaking her tongue. The first two days of travel were uneventful, and we reached the location, which some of the party members called the "Big Bad Troll Den" in the afternoon.  We entered the cave and found the initial room, the scene of some perverse sacrifice, empty and abandoned.  We continued down a passage that opened up into a larger cavern where the mystical fire tree was located.  As we started our approach, Brognir spotted some crystals protruding from the walls.  Thinking they may be valuable, he hit a cluster with his hammer. Immediately, several golem-like creatures made of the crystals stepped out of the walls and began to attack.  I went after a lone one flanking the group, while the rest of the party dealt with the main group of creatures.  The attacked with breath weapons, launching tiny crystal projectiles at us in cones...  they clawed at the group with their razor sharp fingers, and one of them "vomited" up another golem.  Our attacks did little damage to them.  Though we held our ground well in the beginning, they eventually started doing more damage to us than we did to them.  I lost sight of Eirena, and I began to panic slightly.  I should not have left her side...  what if she... no, I had to stay focused on the beast in front of me.  I would do Eirena no good if I fell in battle before I could get to her. I called out to her, and I felt my heart leave my throat and return to my chest when I heard her sweet voice reply that she was still standing.  I checked to see if there was a way for us to escape on my side, while staying engaged with the creature, but the tunnel there was a dead end.  Finally, Brognir went down after taking on no less than 3 of the creatures at once.  As he hit the floor, one of the creatures ripped his leg from his body, and all of the golems turned and started walking back into the walls.  Just when we thought the fight was over, Twili loosed an arrow and struck one of the creatures.  They resumed their attack, focusing solely on Twili.  It didn't take long before Twili went down, and after taking her leg, the creatures retreated back into the rock. I shouted Eirena's name and ran around the corner and was immediately embraced by my beloved Rjurik maiden.  Without thinking, I kissed her deeply, simply overjoyed that she survived relatively unharmed.  I cannot describe the absolute bliss of that single embrace...  but I was also immediately ashamed.  I know from what I have studied of Rjurik culture that Eirena would probably have taken no offense, but to have kissed her so without properly declaring courtship...  I was far from the sands and dunes of my homeland, but still I felt the weight of propriety and ritual pressing upon me.  I stepped quickly back and went about to tending her wounds. We retreated to the outside of the cave to set up camp and recover before dealing with the tree.  I set up my section of the camp and then prepared some rations and wine for Eirena and myself.  She refused the wine, but we sat quietly enjoying our rations together.  Afterwards, as I lay my back against a stone by the fire, she sat down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder.  I wrapped my arm around her and sighed deeply, perfectly content.  Galzira came over and asked to join us...  both Eirena and I nodding our consent, but she did not say anything beyond "thank you" as Eirena and I sat in silence, enjoying the presence of one another.  Before starting my guard shift for the night, I gently stroked her hair and quietly recited a Rjurik poem I had studied while learning the language.  It was a story of a young man who dedicated his life to winning the love of a warrior maiden.  It was a short poem, but I thought it would please her.  The next morning we re-entered the cavern, and Brognir took on the task of obtaining the cutting from the tree, as he was the only one of us strong enough to attempt the endeavor.  Knuckles, a priest of the forge, had fashioned prosthetic legs for Twili and Brognir, but considering the flames of the tree, Brognir had to make the attempt unaided.  He crawled as quickly as he could to the tree and then began the ascent to the closest branch.  He managed to get the cutting and return to us, even while missing a leg, while shrugging off most of the damage from the tree. We then headed out in search of the Ice Maiden.  The first day of travel was uneventful and we made camp.  As Eirena and I stood guard, I heard a noise coming from the west... the sound of a large group moving quickly toward us.  I shouted "To Arms!" as I rushed towards the west to engage the enemy.  Out of the darkness, three volleys of arrows rained down upon us, taking out one of our members.  We fumbled around in the dark trying to find where the archers were, but they remained elusive.  Only Eirena could see well enough in the dark to attack our foes.  More of our group members fell as I continued my charge...  my skill and the blessing of Khirdai allowed me to avoid most of the arrows, but eventually I was pinned down behind a tree.  Eventually, Eirena killed enough of the group that the rest fled... but not before killing both of our camels and one of the horses. With two of our members crippled, and being short on steeds, we made the decision to return to the Cohort to regroup and re-provision before taking on the second part of the quest again.  Due to the shortage of steeds, Eirena and I doubled up.  As we approached the city, she said "Did you know that poem has an ending, Savas?"  I smiled.  I did not, and I asked her to tell me the rest when we returned to the Cohort." Savas stared at the report, shaking his head at the amount of personal information he put in it.  He set it to the side and rewrote it, sticking strictly to the facts of the mission.  He folded and sealed the official report to be submitted, then took the first one and returned to his bed.  He reread it several times, smiling every time he read Eirena's name.  Still, his brow furrowed.  He had to make this right.  He will make it right.

1580642515

Lena

Session 91 (Special): Fey-cation Present Members: Agatha Duskhart (Summer) Prudence Duskhart (Lena C) Zolis Ulmokina (Lordgenome) Ant (Seraphina Leaf) Orithar Trisk (Hats4Cats) Cordelia Woodwytch (Serephen) Locations:  Fey Library Fey Hot Springs Wolf of Wolfgaard’s Den Orithar had called together a group with the aim of helping The Wolf of Wolfgaard. His exact purpose I knew not, but he had convinced me with the promise that since the wolf was powerful, and his domain was where that temple of Moradin is (the one where Explitica Defilus resides) we can then ask him to help us defeat her. He was of the impression that if we helped this girl transform into an actual wolf that will gain his favour. Since I can transform myself into various different beasts, and talk to them as well I was supposed to be the one to teach her how to do it. I had some doubts about this plan but we set off nonetheless.  The boat dropped us off at Von Darre Fort. Some of us thought it would be worth trying to ask for magic access in the area, so that we could cast protective magic over ourselves before we enter the Wolf’s domain. Even though we were going there to offer our help there was a chance the wolf would just attack us. Plus it wouldn’t hurt in case we had a run in with any other hostile denizens of the wood. The Baronettes was reluctant to grant us any access, even when we argued that only one member of our party would need it. She refused and we wished her a good day before leaving her court. Agatha petted the farmer’s dog on the way out. Orithar went off to buy three goats to take as an offering of food to the wolf. As we start travelling the half-orog offered to cast nondetection on my sister, which would prevent Defilus from scrying on her. For this I was very grateful for. After a few days on the road we came upon a door. Just a simple looking wooden door that is not attached to any building or tree or anything. Cordie of course went to investigate and upon opening the door found a long stone hallway and a fox at the end of it by a desk, reading books. As we entered we saw that this was a library. Orithar chimed in saying he had been there before, it was a fey library where you were only allowed to borrow one book or never leave. The books would find their way back to the library eventually. The party scattered across the bookshelves looking for a book that jumped out at them. Agatha picked up a book about survival skills, I think she was looking for an emo diary. Zolis I believe was looking for a book that would help him connect with the youth, his grandkids and the younger members of the cohort. He found a book detailing how magic was actually a hoax. Orithar already had a book, and he returned it where he found it. Then he tried to find a book that didn’t want to be found but picked up a book about mimics instead. He left it where it was. Cordie wanted a book on fey and arcane secrets and she found a book that had tactics against ice maidens. Ant just looked for any book in Aquan which is the language of the sea creatures I believe. He found a biography; of a captain. I just looked for a book on druidic magics and alseids. What I ended up with was a goblin cookbook.  Traditional Stews: The Goblin Choice. Not sure what I can learn from it that I would actually be able to use, I don’t believe goblin cuisine agrees with mine. But since I know fey things are not always what they seem I’ll read through it nonetheless.  The party left the library with some urgency, the thought of staying and browsing lingering in many of us. I’m not sure what weird coincidence it was, or if the two places are linked in the next couple of days we stumbled upon a fey hot springs. There was quite a cute puppy that approached, and Zolis pet it. It transformed into a huge bearlike hound. Ant came up and pet it again when it rolled over and asked for a belly rub which Ant happily gave. Then it was called back to its owner, a bear-like humanoid. There was a vote and the majority opted to stay.  A red skinned woman greets us and introduces her hot springs, asking for payment if we wish to stay. Simple coin would not be accepted. I paid for me and my sister with the Vrock cloak that I handmade, and though I was sad to see it go, it is about time I start wearing the cloak my stepfather gave to me. I find myself wondering...would he be proud of me? I have so many questions I’d like to ask him still.  Inside the springs we get cleaned up and meet a whole menagerie of different creatures. There was a turtle with plant life growing on it, and Agatha leaned on her shell. She said it was soft. There was a whole bunch of refreshments for us, and I have to say their green tea was nothing like I’ve tasted before. Then Agatha spots some antlers on the other side and we decide to hop the fence and greet them. After a little chat and introductions she revealed herself to be an alseid also, by the name of Syllia Wynven. She marveled at how a young alseid like me could find my way here and after I explained we chanced upon it she gave me a tattoo on my arm. Its an arrow that I can change the colour of.  Cordie meets Phage. The member of the cohort who was enthralled by an ice maiden. She didn’t seem to respond, and the ice maiden hurried out with her. As we bathed an eel popped out of the water and talked in my head! It asked me my name, and said I was wrong when I told it. Then it told me my true name. It must have told everyone in the party too. We left the springs, some of us with more knowledge than others. The party finally got back on the road, and we reached the forest. Making our way south towards the middle. During the night we are alerted to a presence, and a wolf. Bigger than any living thing I have ever seen. We offered the goats to it, and it took them happily. Then I cast my speak with animals spell, so I could talk to it. It asked as what we were doing here, and we said we came to help it. I tried to tell it about the threat that Explitica Defilus meant, down south of us. It confused Explitica with the enormous purple worm that was released from the temple of Moradin, told us it had already defeated it. Nonetheless we approached the girl, the one that wrote a diary about wanting to become a wolf. Orithar’s entire quest hinged on helping her transform like me into a physical wolf. After some negotiations she said that to make the wolf happy we should clean its den. The party followed it to a cave that was putrid smelling, full of refuse and things that didn’t get digested like gold coins and vials and armour. After assessing the situation we realised it was definitely not going to be a job that the party alone could accomplish so we decided to hire help. Out of three nearby options we chose Urkenhame. Cordie had some good standing there and it seemed choosing the third party would be safest to benefit from this. The Queen agreed, with the conditions that the silver dragon got half of the treasure, the people of Drachenward a quarter and the remaining quarter would belong to us. We would still get first pick however. The party deemed it fair and work began. In time we should be able to tell just how beneficial it was I suppose.

1580645525

Summer

Session 91 (Special): Fey-cation Present Members: Agatha Duskhart (Summer) Prudence Duskhart (Lena C) Zolis Ulmokina (Lordgenome) Ant (Seraphina Leaf) Orithar Trisk (Hats4Cats) Cordelia Woodwytch (Serephen) Me and my sister decided to join Orithar on his mission to Wolfgaard. He wanted to befriend the wolf there. He had heard that there was a girl there who wanted to be turned into a wolf and as my sister knows how to change into an animal we thought her joining would be fitting. And where she goes, I go. What made me hesitate was the fact that Orithar thought that by befriending the wolf we could ask for it’s help to kill Defilus. We travel to Von-Darre Fort to come at Wolfgaard from the west instead of the south as south would mean we had to pass close to Defilus, and I really didn’t want that. Orithar told me that he could cast protective magic over me to keep me hidden from Defilus. We thought it best to do so as soon as possible and decided to go to the Baronettes and ask her for access to the ley lines. When we enter her throne room there are a farmer, his wife and a dog in front of her, complaining about goblins disturbing the peace, but the Baronettes doesn’t seem to interested and the farmers end up leaving. Then it was our turn to talk to her. Me and Prudence stepped up first as we were the only ones who spoke the language. Like always she decided to mock us, how different we were, or I suppose, how different Prudence was. When she was done with that we asked her for the access and she was very reluctant, asking why she should grant us this. We told her we need it for protection but when she kept being rude and difficult we decided to leave. I’m sick and tired of people treating us differently, or now it’s just Prudence, and of course some other Cohort members who are less common to see around some places. I’m proud of my sister for how far she has gotten, how far she has gotten us. We came to the Cohort with nothing but our backpacks and some coin. Now we have a home at Bardenhold and she is a Countess and I’m a Lady! If people only knew that and how wonderful she is they would never be bothered about the fact that she has a few more legs than a normal human. Anyway, before we left Orithar bought some goats for us to bring as offerings to The Wolf when we met him. Then our travels began. It was all good and calm, nothing strange, until Cordie spotted a door in the middle of nowhere, not even attached to a wall. We went inside and entered a Fey library. Orithar had been there before and told us that the rule was to take one book each, no more as we would not be allowed to leave. At a desk sat a fox-lady ready a book. She gave us the same instructions as Orithar and off the party went to find a book. The book that called to me was not really what I would ever see myself picking. The title was “Revealed Learning on Survival” and it was written is magical writing I will have to find help to decipher.  Prudence found a goblin cookbook written in druidic. We leave the library when everyone had a book each and kept travelling only to have a second fey encounter. We came upon a bath house with a lot of creatures outside that I had never seen before. It felt so wrong. Then a puppy came up to the party and everyone was enamoured with it, deciding to pet it. That’s when it turned into a giant beast! But the beast turned out to be gentle. The party, or most of us, wanted to enter the bath house and relax for a bit. Among them my sister so of course I had to go too. Behind the desk was a lady who welcomed us and told us that coin was no good as payment. My sister offered her Vrock cloak and it covered for both me and her. We entered and was brought to small tubs and scrubbed clean while the others were figuring out their payments. Cordie eventually joined us in the women’s section of the bath house and when we were done we were asked if we wanted to go to the garden or the hot springs. We decided to enter the hot springs and it was lovely! We strolled around a little before we sat down. This is when something strange happened. Cordie spotted Phage, a Cohort member who was taken a while back by an Ice Maiden, who was also there. We had never met her before but Cordie talked to her a little, only for her and the Ice Maiden to walk about. We met a nice turtle. The hot springs were divided just like the room with the tubs, but I spotted a woman on a moose through the pink trees and me and my sister decided to sneak over on the other side. Even if it was separated men and women, it was not strict on it and I saw both men and women and everything in between on the other side. We ended up in a pool with Ant who decided to use the dragon head that poured water into the pool as a slide. While we were in there an eel popped out of the water and scared the hell out of me! It spoke to my sister first, and then me. It called itself the Oracle Eel and after it asked my name and I answered with my name it called me a liar! It told me I had a true name and gave it to me, telling me to keep it secret as the ones possessing the name had great power over me. Stupid water-snake! When the eel had left we talked to the woman on the moose who introduced herself as Syllia Wynven. I thought she looked a lot like Prudence sitting on the moose in the water and asked her why she did it instead of just sitting in the water herself. She said that they were one and the same and when I asked if they were stuck together she dismounted the moose and jumped back up. Then she revealed that she was an alseid. I was so happy for Prudence to run into one of her kind there. Syllia called Prudence a child. I don’t understand how she just takes it! She is too kind for her own good sometimes. I need to start punching more people for her! The alseid offers her a gift and cuts Prudence’s hand with an obsidian dagger and places some of her fur in her hand. When Prudence opens it the alseids fur is gone and there is a tattoo of an arrow spinning around, pointing at itself in her palm. Syllia told us that it would point her to the nearest portal to the Fey Wilds, even if it might not be open. Prudence was so happy and kept talking to the alseid, asking about that forest cave she was building. We spent our time in the hot springs and felt very refreshed after. Then it was time to continue into the forests of Wolfgaard. It came to us at night, a giant white wolf accompanied by smaller wolves and a woman. It was the woman we had heard of, who wanted to turn into a wolf. Orithar introduced us and tells the wolf we offered our help to turn the woman into one of them in exchange for them helping us kill Defilus. The Wolf didn’t see it as a threat at all and the woman claimed to already be a wolf. She said she was the wife of the giant wolf. On top of that they kept asking us to join their pack. After a lot of back and forth the woman told us we should clean their den to make the wolf happy, and in the end that was what we wanted, to get the wolf on our side to help us with our little snake problem.  We follow the pack to the den and it’s huge and full of shit! Bones and shit! It would take us forever to clean it out. Along with the nasty things were coins and other treasures. We found a few potions and a full plate of armour other than a few coins. We realised we would have to spend months on cleaning it out ourselves and decide to travel 100 miles north to Urkenhame to see if we could recruit some workers there to help us. We meet with Queen Freya, who Cordie knew since before, and she offered us a fair deal after talking to a dragon. The dragon was going to get half of the treasure, her people half of the other half and that last quarter was for us. We would get the first pick of treasure and with that we made our deal. We waited for the workers to gather before we travelled back to the den to let the spring cleaning begin!.

1580669185

Seraphina Leaf

Session 93 (2J): Defending The Lighthouse Played on the 30th of January in the year 2020! Present: Diesa Gemfire; Dwerren Fighter/Wizard, lvl 6 (Zilarrezko) Mamm Bealdaartsdotter; Rjurik Fighter, lvl 5 (Seraphina Leaf) Nimogene Mammsdotter; Sidhewair Rogue, lvl 5 (Summer) Portia Folkor; Anuirean Fighter, lvl 5 (Lena C) Sarr Chasim; Sidhelien Bard Pregen, lvl 1 (Dewayne C) Locations: Neira's Hearth,  Allesrecht,   Müden . We met at the Cohort to discuss our mission. We were to check up on a small lighthouse off the northern edge of Allesrecht that had recently gone silent. We arrived only one day before my little Nim's birthday, so I was a bit worried we wouldn't get to celebrate it properly. Fortunately, it only took us one day and night to make the lighthouse safe once again. We sailed near the coast, then made our way to the small island in a rowboat. We looked in the lighthouse keepers living quarters to find a trail of blood leading towards the door. However there was no blood outside the building. We looked upstairs to find a bedroom with two beds, nothing out of the ordinary. Only one of the two beds seemed lived in. Before going into the lighthouse, Nim spotted a string attached to the door. A trip alarm attached to some shells hanging over a short cliff edge. She disarmed it, leaving the shells be, and we went inside the lighthouse and started searching the bottom floor. We found a splatter of blood on the stairs, as well as more blood on a crate in a corner. Inside we found the rancid remains of two human bodies. We heard the shells outside clatter, but the wind hadn't picked up. Diesa sent out her familiar. It stumbled into some sea creatures, that attacked Baharaditana when they saw it. Diesa told us her familiar had been destroyed, so we went to face what had attacked it. We saw three humanoid sea creatures. We killed on, before the other two fled. We investigated the body of the one we killed, and Portia was able to identify it as a Sahuagin. Diesa brought me along to drag the rowboat further up the beach, before we looked into the lighthouse more. We go up a floor and search through two women's bedrooms, one of them for a short lady. We also searched an office space with two desks and a few bookcases. Diesa found some papers on one of the desks. According to the papers, this lighthouse was supposed to be staffed by six people. The six that worked here were named Heidi, Elma, Xiara, Simon, Mark Steelsword and Keith. We went up another floor and found a steel door. Nim was able to unlock it with her nifty ability, but the door was barred on the other side. A little voice from inside asked us who we were. We said we were from the Cohort and were here on behalf of the Graf of Müden. The woman let out a relieved sigh, and let us in. Inside were two women; a human named Elma, and a halfling named Xiara. Xiara told us that the Sahuagin attack whenever the lighthouse light is on, so they turned it off and they've mostly left them alone since. Xiara then told us that the two dead in the crate downstairs were Heidi and Keith, and that Xiara and Elma had put them there, not wanting to just leave their bodies out in the open. Neither of them knew the fate of Simon and Mark Steelsword, though unfortunately it's unlikely they survived. We went upstairs to check out the armoury, finding a bunch of weapons and arrows, then checking out the unlit light at the top. After seeing everything we wanted to, we went downstairs to bury Heidi and Keith. Diesa went out to dig two holes while Nim kept a lookout for some Sahuagin. I brought the bodies out, before going back inside and carving two makeshift markers for the graves. I painted on the markers the names of the fallen; 'Heidi' and 'Keith'. We stood solemnly as Xiara and Elma spoke in remembrance of their friends, giving last rites. We couldn't mourn for long however, as we had to hatch out a plan for dealing with these Sahuagin. We decided to lure them out by turning the light back on. Set up traps outside to thin their numbers, then funnel them into the single entrance of the lighthouse, with our bowman and woman up at the top firing down from relative safety... We slept during the day so as to have full energy for the fight that night. We turned on the light and waited. While waiting I talked a little with Diesa and Portia, wanting to catch up with both of them enjoying a little bit of calm together before the storm ahead. Portia, whom I'd properly met once on a mission half a year ago where I partially turned into a rat. Blimey, that feels so long ago, yet also feels so recent. Diesa I've fought alongside a large number of times, but she went away for a while and only recently came back. I mentioned to Portia that I'd seen her around the mess halls of the Cohort looking very happy. I asked her if her partner was treating her well, and she said she was. During our time on the island, I noticed she'd sometimes be lost in thought, often looking to the sea, no doubt thinking of her sailor. Young love is so sweet, though often fleeting, but I get the feeling theirs will last a long time. I asked Diesa how she had been. She said she had gone back home to be with her family, and laid her brother's memory to rest. This must have been very painful for her, but I'm glad she was able to return to the Cohort. I had missed her greatly. They both asked me how I was, and it honestly took me aback quite a bit. I've been so focused on being a mother and a fighter, I've barely thought about just how much I love nearly every waking moment of my life these days. Finally becoming a mother is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful daughter. We toasted to the the people we found at the Cohort. A few hours into the night, the Sahuagin came out of the water. Nim and Sarr started to fire at them. One of the Sahuagin cast some magic on the others, and they began to glow. We shut the door to slow them down, though it didn't for long. A large, four armed Sahuagin smashed through the door. Unbeknownst to those of us on the bottom floor, many of the Sahuagin started climbing up the lighthouse. The four armed creature was tough, but we were able to slay it, with Portia dealing the final blow. A fitting revenge, as she had taken most of the hits from the creature. The Sahuagin priestess had moved behind the large creature, so Diesa took the opportunity to deal two Thunderwaves to her and the five other Sahuagin around her. Only the priestess remained standing afterward, the others dead. Xiara then flanked the priestess with Diesa to kill her. Xiara, now just outside the broken door, could see the Sahuagin climbing, and told us. Terrified for my daughter, I ran up the stairs, the others following. Nim and Sarr had managed to survive the wave of Sahuagin overwhelming them, and when we got upstairs, managed to get behind us as we took down the rest of them. Thankful for our aid, Xiara gifted us all she could, three healing potions that I spread around the party. We had a little rest before getting back up to celebrate Nim's birthday. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she got out three fishing tackles. We all went fishing, enjoying a lovely, peaceful day together. Mamm Bealdaartsdotter

1580699104

Simon D.

Session 95 (2I ): More In Deep Present: Shango Bayu - Monk 5th (Depraved Lunatic) Lindal Leagallow - Barbarian 3rd (Michael H) Salazar di Fioretti - Bard 5th (Adam B) Vincent Heron - Fighter 3rd (Simon Deluce) Roland - Fighter 1st (pregen) (Steven C) Location: Morrendeep in Baruk-Azhik Father,  I was overjoyed to see you letter on my return to the Halls of of the Cohort. I hope I have not causes too much trouble for you in the City of Anuire after my hasty departure. You had asked about my adventures during my time with the cohort and having just returned for seeking riches in the lost Dwerren City of Morrendeep I will share tale of our recent journey.  I was asked to lead an expedition this spring to the lost city of Morrendeep in the region of Baruk-Azhik to meet with the Overthane Grimm Graybeard. Unbeknownst to me other members of the cohort had previously visited the lost city which has been overrun by foul creature of shadow. We were joined by a new recruit Roland who I took with us under my personal protection.  Upon our arrival in the  grand city of Stone's Rejoicing  we were greeted warmly by the Overthane himself who beseeched us to lend aid to his cause with promise of vast riches that had been lost when Morrendeep fell. (I must mention that I think it would be in our best interest to establish closer ties with the Dwerren as their metalwork is of finest quality and of materials I had never seen before.) High Priest Elrmog Bouldermane warned us of frog like creatures that had been escaping from the lost city and causing grievous harm to any that encountered them. I reassured them that the Cohort had recent triumphed on the battlefield against the Froghemoth and its minions in the kingdom of Daikhar-Zhigun (but that is a tale for another day). The high priest also mentioned tales of a many eyed monstrosity that may lie deep within the lost city.  We were joined in our adventure by two of the Dwerren - a priest of the brew and one of their strongest fighters who had been inspired in part I think by our bravery and felt compelled to join us in our quest. We spent the night in the fine accommodations offered to us and set our the next morning for the lost city.   We traveled the following day by boat on the Khurinlac towards the last known entrance to Morrendeep. The many days I have spent trading along the River Maesil gave me a comfort my companions lacked on the waves. We entered the cavern and descended down a lock into the depths. When we arrived within the entryway it was clear there had been other recent visitors to the city. The walls were plastered with arrows and several boats we adrift to our left. Before I could offer warning my companion Shango dove into the dark waters and was immediate set upon by a number of murderous frogspawn barely escaping with his life. I managed to fell two of the beasts laying into them with several well placed bolts.  We sought refuge on a landing to the left of the entryway but quickly found this did not lead into the city proper but instead a mausoleum of statues, all intricately carved and a large ballista overlooking the waters. We braved the waters again and made our way into the city between two imposing statues. I quickly navigated us through a choke-point where skeletons, risen from the dead, were set to waylay us with burning salt. We scaled up onto a bridge above the waters to explore the chambers above and potentially deal with the skeletons who had failed to ambush us. It was then we encountered the most terrifying aberration - with the aid of the dwerren cleric I sent a lighted bolt into the darkness and revealed a gruesome sentient pile of foul smelling ooze that set out towards us. It corrupting vapors seemed to damage any weapon it touched and was able to heal any injury we dealt it before our eyes. We choose to abandon the fight and push deeper into the fortress.  We reached a cross-waters and initially decided to explore the passage leading to our left. We discovered a well tended garden of mushrooms and the large she-troll that tended it. Initially it seemed like another fight but my companion Salazar was able to reason with the beast and we once again we choose to push further into the lost city. It warned us of a creature it referred to as "the eyes" that held dominion deeper within this realm.  We moved back to the cross-waters and proceeded north. At the next platform we found the husk of one of the frog creatures the priest had mentioned. We gathered some proof of our discovery to take back with us. Next we tried the path to the north and again descended down a lock further into the depths. We were greeted on the far side but the consistent sound of hammering and cautiously approached. On the east side as the canal opened up into a lager space was a large creature with teeth like daggers and large horns framing his terrifying visage - Salazar seemed to recognize the creature as some figure out of legend known as the Windego. This creature turned and without any chance for negotiation set upon us so we fled and made our way swiftly back to the Overthane so that information would not be lost with us in the depths of the lost city.  Hopefully when things have settled down back home I will be able to return and share more of these tales in person. Know that I am finding success and recognition here at the Cohort. I leave you with a proverb in Karamhul the language of the Dwerren and will begin preparations for our next adventure.  "Roughly translates to discussion mines no ore" Vincent  

1580703530

Session 93 - The Lighthouse (Mission 2J) 30/01/2020 Present: Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard (Zilarrezko) Mamm Bealdartsdotter, Human Fighter (Seraphina Leaf) Nim Mammsdotter, Sidhewair Rogue (Summer) Portia Folkor, Human Fighter (Lena C.) Sidhelien Bard, Sidhelien Bard (Dewayne C.) Field report on the Expedition to the Island of Neira's Hearth in Spring III 1524 HC Report prepared by Diesa Gemfire, Assistant of the Cohort Given the importance placed upon the lighthouse on this island and its implications for trade and passage along the straights our company assembled quickly. Our objective of course was to investigate the cessation of its operation and then if possible resume it until relieved. Therefore we made prepartions for a possibly extended stay before departing. Once landing on the island we measured the strength of the local aura, gaining a reading of 9/9. Then proceeded to a small house near the pier. The house turned out to be a barracks. Two storeys, one room in each, two beds to each room. Within there were a large number of blood stains on the ground floor forming a trail towards the entrance, though there was no corresponding trail outside. The blood was dry and old by several days so likely washed away by weather. On the upper floor a table had been set for a meal and had been interuppted, there was half eaten food rotted on the plates. Personal possessions and significant weaponry remained. After investigating the barracks we proceeded to the lighthouse itself. A large stone structure, about sixty feet tall and tapering in towards the top. Approaching the door Nim noticed a string attached to the handle. This lead away towards the cliff edge and down into the water. A number of attached shells rattled loudly when she attempted to pull it up. Some kind of alaram. We assumed this may have been made by the lighthouse keepers at the time however we later learned the assailants had made it. Entering the lighthouse we explored the ground floor, finding a common room, dining area, kitchen and a storage/pantry area. More blood was in the entrance way and around one of the crates in the storage area. Within that crate were two bodies, human, one male and one female. These were later identified as Heidi and Keith of the Müden army. Shortly after discovering this we heard the rattling of the shell alarm. I sent my familiar out to see what may have caused this. After a moment it was destroyed so we readied weapons and went back outside. There we were confronted by three spear-armed humanoid creatures. One of them was quickly dispatched and the other two fled back into the sea. Portia identified the creatures from stories she had read as Sahuagin. A race of 'fish people' with some sharklike features, distinguishing them from Kuotoa. They are known enemies of the Syrens. Rather than chasing them into the water we dragged our rowboat off the pier and onto the land and then returned to the lighthouse rand continued investigating. Leaving the ground floor we entered the first floor. Finding a small library and two very well appointed bedrooms. We later learned these were the quarters of two women, Elma and Xiara, officers of the Müden army. Proceeding to the third floor we found a very sturdy reinforced iron door blocking entry beyond the stairway. Obvious but superficial damage had been made to the lock by spear tip, indicating that forced entry had been attempted. We knocked but there was no reply. The lock was highly advanced and complex but Nim was able to pick it. Inside we found the two officers just mentioned taking cover behind barricades. They had been holding out for over a week after the Sahuagin attacks had began and were quite relieved to be reinforced. They explained that for some reason the Sahuagin were determined to douse the light of the lighthouse. The keepers were surprised by the first attack and then overwhelmed by a swarm when trying to relight it later on though had not returned since until our arrival. Of their complement of six they were the only survivors, with the two in crate dead and two more (Simon and Mark Steelsword) missing. They also told us that the swarm of attackers were lead by some sort of spellcasting cleric and a much larger creature with four arms. After confering with the two we continue our inspection of the lighthouse. The fourth floor contained a well stocked armoury and a ladder leading up to the brazier housing. Knowing that the Sahuagin attacked to force the light out we made a plan for that night. Relight the brazier. Set some traps beyond the light house entrance, ensconce our ranged experts on the roof and gather in the narrow entrance hallway where we could funnel the swarm in such as a way as to largely eliminate the benefit of their numbers. And thanks to the addition of Elma and Xiara we were able to position ourselves to flank the enemy in the hallway also. Before enacting the plan we spent the rest of the day burying the two dead and then resting so we could stay awake during the night. The enemy attacked about two hours after sunset. After being spotted by Nim on the roof we closed and barred the entrance as best we could to prolong the time they would spend outside being shot at outside. The four armed creature made short work of the door however and quickly engaged us, along with the cleric for about eight Sahuagin. The creatures also proved to be incredible climbers, with the rest scaling the steep slope of the sixty foot high stone block wall within a matter of seconds, without the use of ropes and ladders. Thankfully Nim and our other archer member were able to retreat down into the amoury below before being overwhelmed. Our fight in the corridor was tough with the four armed creature, it was able to attack with each arm simultaenously. But between myself, Mamm, Portia as well as Elma and Xiara it was soon cut down. The rest of the Sahuagin in the corridor were dispatched much more easily with a couple of spells. After that we reinforced the other element of the company upstairs, the enemy did  not seem to suspect their frontal assualt had failed and so did not try to retreat. Therefore we were able to kill all of the force they had arrived with. No further assaults were made on the lighthouse in the days after that, despite continuing operation so it seems we have successfully put an end to the attacks. Atleast for  the neer future. Loose Ends; The origin for the Sahuagin operating in the Kashika Straight. The reason for the Sahuagin keeping the lighthouse dark. The fate of Simon and Mark Steelsword.

1580735714

Morrendeep TBD

1580735736

Session 97: Elil-bit Louder Now (Mission 1R) Cohort Members present: Cedrych Brightbough Medi Eirwen Dragomir the Black Korak Flomhelm Aelar Darvius Jannis Day 1 Arrived Rhzlevsky. Medi debriefed with Tsarina. Tsarina’s scouts reported many gnoll raiding parties leaving temple. Gnolls surprisingly skilled; some wear plate and wield greatswords. Gnoll leadership: Odjanbago - Sorceress. Leader. Can command creatures made of salt. Gurzinbago - Vos Man. Martial warrior. Gnoll Monk - “Thousand Swords Technique” Gnoll Triplets - Very powerful. Can withstand dagger to chest without injury. Departed Rhzlevsky, headed north. Spotted gnoll tracks, several days old. Group of ten or so. Likely coming and going from temple. Cohort prepared ambush. Day 2 No gnolls last night. Five Alseids approached camp. Hunting gnolls. Joined ambush. At night, gnolls approached. Ambush successful. Fifteen gnolls slain: twelve common, two gnoll knights (plate armor, greatsword), one gnoll berserker (greataxe, rage). Alseids departed. Day 3 Arrived Temple of Elil; palace floating in whirlwind. Anchored by chain. Lake hundreds of feet below. Overcame heavy main door with crowbar. Ambushed two gnoll guards in Entrance Hall. Opened East door to Armory. Gnoll Monk inside. Animated dozens of longswords. Summoned Air Elemental from censor. Deflected arrows. Swords and elemental dispatched with difficulty; Korak gravely wounded, but revived. Monk escaped North to Gnoll Barracks. Bring area of effect for swords. Two common gnolls engaged. One immediately dispatched, one fled North. Past barracks into room with large glowing crystal. Monk continued to flee North. Target lost. Three swarms of Beetles lifted off from crystal. Extremely dangerous, but slow. Attracted to magic. Immune to magical effects. Drained spell slots. Disenchanted magical items. Resisted damage. Do not engage in melee. Cohort unable to destroy even one swarm. Salt golems appeared from beyond crystal room. Cohort lines begin to break. Blew Horn of Alarum to summon Invisible Stalkers. Attacked beetle swarms; Beetles unaffected by magical creatures. Another horn echoed out. Cold wind and wave of strong magical power erupted from temple. No visual. Beetles moved towards it. Ordered Stalkers to engage Salt Golems. Cohort began retreat. Scouted Western room; contained large shipwreck, breached western wall, two gnoll berserkers, two gnoll knights, five common gnolls, Gurzinbago wielded magical flail. Medi fell during retreat. Knocked unconscious. Darvius recovered. Cohort retreated. Map attached.

1580753353

Physh

Pro

Session 97 (Mission 1R):  Stop Opening Doors, Dammit! Expedition Members: Cedrych Brightbough, Sidhelien Rogue Darvius Alandre, Sidhelien Monk Dragomir the Black, Vos Warlock Aelar Cithreth, Sidhelien Fighter Jannis the Red, Brecht Fighter Medi Eirwen, Anuirean Ranger Korak Flomhelm, Dwerren Cleric Jani entered his quarters at the Cohort Arcanum.  Setting down a very bulky and heavy sack, he slowly removed various pieces of damaged platemail armor and placed them into a chest.  It still carried the stench of the gnoll that had worn it...  but once he got it cleaned up, repaired, and fitted, it would prove extremely useful.  As much as he loved the freedom of movement his mythriall chainmail provided, his most recent encountered showed him that more protection is better. After placing his chainmail and weapons on their appropriate stands, he gathered his writing kit and made his way to the common room.  He got halfway across the hall before realizing his usual spot by the window was already occupied by several other members of the Cohort.  Frowning, he instead sat in the corner of the room away from the rest of the crowd.  As he took out his writing kit, Selma appeared with a smile and a mug of ale from him.  For the first time since he'd taken notice of her, she spoke. "You look in good health." she smiled.  "Did the expedition fare as well?" Taken aback for a brief moment by the unexpected greeting, Jani fumbled for a reply.  "Yes, well, I mean no.  Well, no one died... so that's a good thing." She laughed and then gently placed her hand on top of his for a moment.  "Well I call that a success, then.  Would you like some food?" Jani shook his head. "No, thank you.  The ale is fine." "You really should eat, you know...  all you ever do is drink."  Selma frowned. Jani patted the top of her hand and smiled. "I'm fine, really.  I don't require much." Still frowning, Selma nodded her head.  Slowly withdrawing her hand, she left to return to her duties.  Alone again, Jani set about the task of writing his mission report. "A rather large party, led by Medi Eirwen, met at the Cohort Arcanum to discuss plans to assail the Temple of Elil, a fortress infested with gnolls.  A previous group had found the location, but elected not to breach its walls at that time.  Agents of the Tsarina of Rzhelvsky were keeping tabs on the temple's activities, so our first order of business was to check in to see if any new intelligence had been gathered.  The ship passage to Rzhlevsky was uneventful, and we were granted an immediate audience with the Tsarina herself.  Aside from relentless self-aggrandizing by the Tsarina and Dragomir, we learned several key pieces of information. First, a sorceress - Odjanbago - and her husband - Gurzinbago - appeared to be associated with, if not leading, forces at the temple.  In addition to the traditional gnoll forces expected at the temple, some were spotted wearing platemail and wielding greatswords... reports from the scouts stated that these heavily armored gnolls fought as well as most knights.  If that was not enough, there were apparently a set of triplet gnolls who are so powerful, they can take a dagger to the chest without injury.  Furthermore, there were whispers of salt golems wandering the halls of the temple.  The final warning the Tsarina provided was of a gnoll monk, a powerful erudite who we were advised not to engage, and that one of the groups wielded a horn rumored to have the ability to summon wind elementals. We left the city and headed north, finding tracks that were a few days to a week old.  Following the tracks to the edge of the forest south of the temple, we decided to set up on ambush on one of the gnoll raiding parties to weaken their numbers.  We encountered naught that night, but the next day we were approached by a group of Alseids.  After realizing we were both hunting gnolls, we joined forces to execute the ambush. We didn't have to wait long.  Shortly after nightfall, we heard the gnolls in the distance approaching.  Korak and I sat by the fire in a mock camp with caltrops, snares, and hunting traps laid in the path of the gnoll's approach...  the Asleids and the rest of our party hidden in the darkness.  As I doused the campfire, Drago let loose with a burst of fire, ripping through the right flank of the gnolls.  One of the nearby trees caught on fire, exposing the gnolls in the resulting firelight. The remaining gnolls charged through the caltrops and engaged Korak and I in melee, as the Asleids and the rest of our party engaged them with magic and bows.  We made quick work of the raiding party, with nothing but scratches suffered on our end.  At the conclusion of the battle, the Asleids made an offer to share their "gift" with the members of our party... to physically transform us into Asleids like them.  Only Medi took the offer.  Though I know not what that change will ultimately mean for her, I did notice that she almost immediately began to change her appearance to that of the deer-like humanoids, particularly her ears and nose. We finished resting for the night and decided to launch our assault on the temple the next day.  We finished the short trek to the floating fortress, and found no way to cross the windswept chasm between where we stood and the entryway of the structure.  A single thick chain appeared to hold the temple from floating up into the sky.  Korak and I managed to jump the 12' span and grab hold of the ledge to pull ourselves up.  With the rest of the party covering us with arrows and spells, and Korak providing magic to silence the doors, I pried the doors open with a crowbar and flung them open.  Inside were two gnoll guards on either side of a large statue.  One of our archers immediately took down the one with an alarm horn on its belt, and the other went down shortly after.  We ferried the rest of the party across the chasm using ropes and prepared to go deeper into the structure.  We prepared for entry through the door to the right, and upon opening it saw the gnoll monk we had been warned about, sitting in a room filled with hundreds of swords and spears strewn upon the ground and in racks.  Almost immediately, the monk animated almost 30 of the swords and spears and set them upon Korak and myself.  As Korak and I engaged the animated weapons, he used a censer to summon a wisp of smoke which materialized into some kind of air elemental in the midst of our rear ranks.  Thankfully, Korak summoned spirits to weaken all of the animated objects, and destroy many as well, allowing Korak and I to finish off the rest while the party dealt with the smoke demon.  As we did so, the monk retreated the another room, sending in a pair of gnolls...  I pushed past the remaining swords and engage.  I quickly beat one into the stone floor, and as the other turned to run, I delivered a huge blow to his back with my flail. As the party began to pursue him, we saw the gnoll enter a third room that the monk had retreated to... in the center was a large crystal crawling with insects.  As the gnoll entered the room, three swarms of beetles set upon him and skeletonized it almost immediately.  While the party discussed possible retreat, I engaged the swarms.  I was holding them at bay when Drago struck one of the swarms with magic.  Like moths to a flame, they immediately started turning their attention to our magic users.  One of the swarms ended up striking Drago...  it tried, unsuccessfully, to drain some of his magic, and it rendered one of his magical items completely inert.  As two salt golems started bearing down on us from the far room, and our attacks on the swarms doing little damage, the call was made to perform a tactical retreat.  Cedrych produced a horn and blew deeply, summoning a pair of invisible stalkers to draw the attention of the swarms.  As we fled, we heard another horn bellow from deep within the temple. While we were fleeing, Drago - who was flying - opened another door to the foyer's left, revealing some type of airship filled with gnolls and a large Vos and several suits of headless armor.  We all managed to successfully leap across the cavern, except Medi who fell short and was swept up by the winds, falling towards the lake below.  Upon seeing the beetles swarms, the Vos closed the door that Drago had opened, and Darvius leapt off the edge, hurtling towards Medi in an effort to save her.  When Medi hit the water, she lost consciousness, but Darvius was able to pull her to shore and revive her." Jannis finished his second ale to notice that he was no longer alone.  The lunch rush had finished, with only a few customers left in the common room.  Selma sat beside him at the table, looking over at his log, her eyes wide as she read the party's exploits.  Smiling, Jani finished the log. "Another expedition should be planned immediately, to take advantage of the damage done to their defenses... and hopefully in a manner better prepared to deal with the new information we've been able to acquire.  This evil cannot be allowed to continue its reign of terror on the local region." Setting down his quill, he turned to Selma and smiled.  There was a long pause when suddenly Selma began a very excited barrage of questions regarding the adventure.  Encouraging her to slow down, Jani motioned for another one of the servers to bring them two ales, as he went over every single detail of the events until Selma was satisfied.

1580755466

Pro

Session 97: Elil-bit Louder Now (Mission 1R) Expedition Members: Medi Eirwen - Level 5, Anuirean Ranger (Serephen) Cedrych Brightbough - Level 4, Sidhelien Rogue (Adam B.) Darvius Alandre - Level 6, Sidhelien Monk (Darvius) Jannis the Red - Level 5, Brecht Fighter (Physh) Dragomir Black - Level 6, Vos Warlock (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm - Level 6, Dwerren Cleric (SlothSlow) Aelar Cithreth          - Level 4, Sidhelien Fighter (Link S.) This mission was a return to Rzhlev to assault the cult of Elil. We got many more signed up this time, I’m not sure if it was because a primordial was involved and that was important, the thought of the temple and raiding it sounded profitable, or some combination. Either way, was happy to have more backup for this. Most of the party I’d travelled with before, but I finally got to meet the one this mission was about: Drago. He’s a bit…. All over the place, but his intentions seem good. I explained to the group what we had uncovered on our investigation and what we were expecting to do this time: making our way to the temple of Elil and putting down all the gnolls and other threats we encountered there. Our first stop was Rzhlevskyy. I wanted to check in with Chessa to see if her scouts had uncovered much about the gnolls’ movements, and also to request magic access for our group.The Tsarina was incredibly helpful, providing us access easily and gifting us each one potion of healing, though she demanded that they be returned if they were not used, and that they only be used if absolutely needed. I would advise all Cohort members who deal in Rzhlev to not be put off by her shrewd, ruthless attitude when dealing with her. As long as her interests line up with ours, she is an incredibly competent ally and will take whatever steps she can to ensure success. She is also incredibly skilled at information gathering, as she told us a lot about the gnolls and their activities. The gnolls had been sending raiding parties out, which may be where she got some of this information. How you get information from gnolls I’m not sure. Probably torture, seems to be a favourite of hers. Either way, among these gnolls are some which wear full plate armour, a set of triplets which seem incredibly resistant to being stabbed, a powerful monk that can cast spells and summon a thousand swords to strike his opponents, a Vos man named Gurzinbago - partner of the gnoll’s leader: A powerful sorceress named Odjanbago. Odjanbago has creatures made of salt at her command, and one group of gnolls carries a horn which can summon air elementals. At the mention of the horn, I explained that we had found a magical horn on our last visit, so we brought Cedrych to have the Tsarina examine it. She claimed that it had hidden properties, beyond what we knew, and that blowing it while in the temple may summon air elementals, though they may not be entirely under our command. With this information in hand, we set off North toward the temple. Some members of the group suggested we ambush one of the raiding parties, to weaken the forces at the temple and stop them from pillaging any more people while we were busy. We set up a false camp while the rest of us lay in waiting. The day after, a number of familiar-looking creatures approached the camp. Alseids! They greeted us and asked if we had seen any gnolls in the area. When we explained that we were here hunting for the same thing, they offered to join us in our ambush. We graciously accepted. The next night we all heard the cackling sound of hyenas, and the battle began with Drago launching a ball of fire at a group of them. The battle itself was no trouble at all. Our group was very strong and competent. The raiding party was taken out with few injuries on our side. The alseids thanked us for our help, and offered us something in return: the chance to join their ranks. The rest of the group seemed disinterested but… I thought about it. I thought about Prudence. I remembered how awkward she was with her alseid form, even (almost especially) when she was being worshipped in Roseone, and how long she’d searched for help and guidance and companionship from other alseids. Then I thought of my own sister. I’d spent so much of my life trying to be like her, to be her. Now that I was trying to be someone different from her, trying to be me…. The offer sounded like a really good way to start that. I accepted their offer. Eating a fresh, still-beating heart was not the most pleasant experience. I think Drago threw up, which almost prompted me to as well, but with all the alseids watching I forced myself through it, and they welcomed me. The next day we set off for the temple rather than wait for another raiding party. Cedrych asked me if I would lend him one of my glainne arrows, in case we ended up in dire circumstances and we felt it necessary. I've seen how effective he is at hitting things in weak points, so I obliged, on the promise that, if he did use it, he would repay me when able. This time we were prepared to get in. Korak and Jannis jumped the gap while the rest of us took a vantage point to cover them. Korak cast a spell to silence the door and they got it open much faster than we had done. Inside were only two gnolls, though one had a horn at his side. We took them out quickly, and crossed everyone else over to join the front. Once in the room we opened the door on our right and came face to face with a gnoll sitting in a meditative pose, surrounded by swords. The monk waved his hands and a whole cloud of blades flew up into the air and swarmed Jannis and Korak. He also summoned a wispy air elemental to attack Drago and Aelar, while he turned tail and ran after catching one of my arrows in mid-air. Korak’s guardian spirits managed to damage the swords, but there were so many that they actually took him down before they were all dealt with. The monk sent a couple of gnolls at us as reinforcements as he fled deeper into the temple. Darvius managed to immobilise and eventually destroy the elemental with the help of Drago, while I tried my best to keep the swords off of Korak and heal him. By the time we had dealt with the immediate threats and began to give chase to the monk, we came across a new threat. Swarms of colourful bugs, which had been chewing on a big magical crystal, were coming for us after having devoured a gnoll in seconds. We tried to pick them off before they got too close, but Drago’s spells had no effect at all, and the rest of our attacks were not that effective against the swarms. After what felt like enough attacks to put down a raging Vos, we got one of the swarms cut down to about half size, at which point someone spotted some creatures made of salt lumbering our way from further in. There was no catching the monk to finish him off now, and the bugs were upon us. At about that point a horrible wind blew through the temple, and we all felt an incredible magic presence. All of the magic-eating bugs turned away from us towards the source, and I called a retreat. As we turned to go, the presence faded and the bugs turned their attention back to us. Drago got bitten a bunch, and reported later that they had drained the magic from one of his magic items. On our way out, Cedrych took the time to open up a door on the West side of the temple, encountering a human man, a number of armoured gnolls, some sort of headless suit of armour and the other end of that ship that we had seen from the outside on our first investigation. He quickly jumped off to join the others and I was the last to leave. Before I could get back, one of the swarms caught me and started biting. I felt them drain some of my magic and, for a moment, the tingling sensation that I’d been feeling since eating the alseid heart faded away. Just for a moment though, I think the effect was too strong for the bugs to dispel. In a panic, I ran and jumped… but didn’t make it across. I tried to grab the edge, but just wasn’t quick enough and started to fall. I blacked out when I hit the water. I woke up to Darvius feeding me a healing potion. Thankfully it seems he has the ability to slow his fall so he doesn’t hurt himself as much when dropping. We regrouped and headed back. Those of us who still had our potions from Chessa returned them, and I reported what progress we’d made, before we returned home. Cedrych returned my arrow, but I allowed him to keep it for the time being. I'm not sure if the alseid in me is making me more generous, or if the fact that I'm technically not human anymore has changed how he views me, but despite everything he seems like the type not to go back on their word. I'm certain he'll find some arrows of his own, and repay me then. Anyone thinking to tackle this mission or join future assaults on the temple should be aware that spellcasters will be very useful against the air elementals, but more than useless against those bug swarms. Acid, Alchemist’s Fire and similar things would likely be helpful. Magic and other effects that can target large areas at once will be necessary to deal with the monk and his storm of swords, and any methods of preventing targets from fleeing would be equally useful. Gnolls seem fond of fleeing to get help when cornered.

1580780820

1580792280

1580808064

Pro

Session 91 (Special): Fey-cation Present: Agatha Duskhart (Summer) Prudence Duskhart (Lena C) Zolis Ulmokina (Lordgenome) Ant (Seraphina Leaf) Orithar Trisk (Hats4Cats) Cordelia Woodwytch (Serephen) The party receive 25% of the loot from The Wolf's Den. This amounts to 800gp worth of loot per person (after Cohort Taxes). The party had already looted all the magic items in advance, so all that was left was mundane items. For the sake of time if you wish for a masterwork item as your loot you could claim that yourself (up to great quality). For loot splits these items are still valued at their normal costs. You can pay in gold to make up the difference. If you choose to do so let me know, and I can give you some more info about the specifics of the items. Monster XP 0XP Quest XP 100XP RP XP 250XP for great RP! Exploration XP 150XP for finding The Wolf's Den Log XP 100XP to Orithar 150XP to Prudence, and Agatha Total XP 500XP to Zolis, Ant, and Cordie 600XP to Orithar 650XP to Prudence and Agatha. Renown, Fame, and Infamy 2 Renown (Drachenward), 10 Renown (The Wolf). 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 92 (2H): Run in with The Vampire Present: Tristan (Kristen B) Shlar (Michael H) Fenris (Hats4cats) Saorise (Serphene) Sithric (Lunatic) The party are paid 500 golden flowers for gathering information on The Vampire. Monster XP 50XP for surviving Quest XP 250XP for gathering information RP XP 100XP for good RP Exploration XP 50XP for meeting the spirits of the seasons. Log XP 100XP to Tristan Total XP 450XP toShlar, Fenris, Saorise, and Sithric 550XP to Tristan Renown, Fame, and Infamy 2 Renown (Coullabhie) 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 93 (2J): Defending the Lighthouse Present: Diesa Gemfire, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard (Zilarrezko) Mamm Bealdartsdotter, Human Fighter (Seraphina Leaf) Nim Mammsdotter, Sidhewair Rogue (Summer) Portia Folkor, Human Fighter (Lena C.) Saw, Pregen Sidhelien Bard (Dewayne C.) The party received three potions of healing from the islanders. They each also receive 50gp from The Cohort Arcanum (tax free). Upon hearing news of The Sahuagin, The Kallanon begins considering an underwater expedition to check up on the syrens. Monster XP 425XP per person for defeating the sahuagin. Quest XP 250XP for completing the mission. RP XP 50XP for good RP. Exploration XP 50XP for exploring the island. Log XP 150XP to Diesa, and Mamm Total XP 775XP to Nim, Portia, and Saw 925XP to Diesa, and Mamm Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Renown (The 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.

1580808077

Pro

Session 95 (2I): More In Deep Present: Shango Bayu - Monk 5th (Depraved Lunatic) Lindal Leagallow - Barbarian 3rd (Michael H) Salazar di Fioretti - Bard 5th (Adam B) Vincent Heron - Fighter 3rd (Simon Deluce) Roland - Fighter 1st (pregen) (Steven C) The party are rewarded with 50gp each (tax free) for exploring Morrendeep. Monster XP 100XP for defeating a few tadpoles, but mostly for survivings the dangers of Morrendeep. Quest XP 100XP for exploring RP XP 75XP for good RP Exploration XP 500XP for diving further into the ancient dwerrren city. Log XP 150XP to Vincent Total XP 775XP to Shango, Lindal, Salazar, and Roland 925XP to Vincent Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Renown (Baruk-Azhik) 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 96 (Special Mission): A Tale of Two Peg-Legs Present: Savas Al-Hadar, Khinasi Cleric Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik Cleric/Warlock Brognir Bronzehelm, Dwerren Fighter/Barbarian Knuckles, Dwerren Cleric Twili, Sidhelien Bard Jaidiele Sylis, Sidhelien Ranger Galzira Strongshadow, Hanner Sidhe Warlock Twili, and Brognir regrow their legs, but in Crystalline matter. They both begin having dreams of themselves in a far off land with a crystalline body, and a singular leg made of flesh. Both of their speeds are returned to normal, however they now have disadvantage on swim checks. Monster XP 53XP per person Quest XP 250XP per person RP XP 75XP for good RP Exploration XP 50XP for discovering the crystalline creatures. Log XP 100XP to Jaidiele 150XP to Savas Total XP 428XP to Eirena, Borgnir, Knuckles, Twili, and Galzira. 528XP to Jaidiele 578XP to Savas 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 97 (1R): Elil-bit Louder Now Present: Medi Eirwen - Level 5, Anuirean Ranger (Serephen) Cedrych Brightbough - Level 4, Sidhelien Rogue (Adam B.) Darvius Alandre - Level 6, Sidhelien Monk (Darvius) Jannis the Red - Level 5, Brecht Fighter (Physh) Dragomir Black - Level 6, Vos Warlock (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm - Level 6, Dwerren Cleric (SlothSlow) Aelar Cithreth          - Level 4, Sidhelien Fighter (Link S.) The group receives 7,500 great grevnas (2,500gp) for making good progress (the rest of the mission is now worth 5,000gp). This money is tax free. Monster XP 892XP per person for defeating a large portion of the gnoll's forces. Quest XP 250XP for making progress on the quest. RP XP 50XP for good RP. Exploration XP 50XP for digging deeper in the the temple. Log XP 150XP to Drago 175XP to Cedrych 200XP to Medi, and Jannis Total XP 1,242XP to Darvius, Korak, and Aelar 1,392XP to Drago 1,417XP to Cedrych 1,442XP to Medi and Jannis Renown, Fame, and Infamy 5 Renown (Rzhlev), 1 Renown (The 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.

1580830085

Depraved Lunatic

Session 96: A Tale of Two Peg-Legs ( SPECIAL ) Attending Adventurers: -Savas Al-Hadar ( Physh ) -Brognir Bronzehelm ( Kristen B. ) -Galzira Strongshadow ( Dewayne C. ) -Twili ( Link S. ) -Knuckles ( Leon K. ) -Jaidiele Sylis ( Ryan F. ) -Eirena Lightshadow ( Depraved Lunatic ) We assembled at the Cohort to begin the rescue mission for Phahe, a Cohort associate captured by an Ice Maiden. Phage was a loyal and stalwart companion and as such, it is an honor for me to be able to lead this rescue mission. We went through the gameplan for the operation. Brognir was able to attain a glainne dagger and was tasked with cutting the branch off for us. My dearest Savas, Knuckles and I were tasked with keeping the Brog-Man alive, while Galzira, Twili and Jaidiele were here mainly for tracking and keeping us all safe during the endeavor. After making sure that every party member had a mount, we ventured off to the northwest, to Hjolvar. On our way we happened upon a thick, dark fog, that laid itself upon us like a noxious gas. Brognir seemed to have encountered this phenomenon before and briefed us on the appearance of a ship beset by a shadowy crew, with a skeleton captain leading it. He mentioned that the captain seemed to be looking for gold coins. We boarded the ship and things went mostly smoothly. The captain declined Brognir's coin and pointed at Jaidiele. The sidhelian gave the captain his pouch, pulled out a certain coin and dropped the pouch back on the floor. After the transaction was complete, we went back on course to Hjolvar. Be wary of this sinister ship. Always carry a few gold coins with you, if you inted to travel Northward by sea! After arriving in Kopingdal, we quickly arranged a meeting with the king to get access to the leylines of this land. The king was not intent on granting us our request, stating that the last time Cohort Members traveled his lands on their own business they released an aspect of a primordial which killed alot of his people. The denial was understandable, but we didn't want to let up yet. Savas asked the king if he would ever leave a soldier behind, to which the king said something like "Yes, if we have to. We can get their corpse later to give them the proper rites." Naturally, we continued to press on if he'd also be keen to reclaim a soldier who had been captured, we were quickly shot down however as he stated that being captured would be a thorough disgrace. We then left for the former den of Sharpclaw, to the Drachentree. After traveling for 2 calm nights, we arrived at the former troll den. We did not linger long and made our way inside. The ritual chamber looked the same as it was described, with barely anything changed. We ventured through the tunnel into the chamber with the Drachentree. As I laid my eyes upon it, I must admit that it had a serene beauty to it, unlike anything I've seen before. After our group ventured inside, I began to prepare for the task ahead. Brognir had some other, potentially lucrative plans. You see, the cave had several chunks of valuable looking crystals inside. Wanting to recover some of his money beforehand, he smacked the crystals to harvest them. Unexpectedly, the crystals responded by jumping out of the cave walls, taking the shape of alien, crystalline creatures.  A tough battle ensued, one which we were ill prepared to fight. Most of our companions were unable to damage these creatures. I made the call to retreat at the very beginning of the fight, but I believe the sounds of battle drowned it out. So I held out against three of these creatures on my own, thinking that they would go after our greenhorn Galzira if I'd let them through. However, after nearing the brink of unconciousness, I had to jump out of the fight. Savas yelled out to me, to make sure I was alright. I could only respond with how the floor was turning red, but that I'd be alright. To my suprise, the crystalline creatures didn't go after Galzira after I vanished from their reach, but Brognir. It dawned on me that these creatures sought revenge against Brognir for trying to take them, but I was in no position or Status to defend him in my state. I could do nothing but watch as they brought Brognir low and took his leg with them. I cried out for my companions to cease fire as the creatures were beginning to retreat, however Twili had already let loose an arrow. She was given the same treatment as Brognir almost immidiately. After that, they made off with their "spoils" and we could retrieve Brognir and Twili. I was glad seeing that Savas was relatively unharmed. Even more so when he healed some of my wounds. It is truly a blessing that I can travel with him again. We set up a campsite outside, to rest and heal our wounds. It was a quiet night, with not alot of words spoken. I managed to spend some quiet time with Savas, but nothing came upon us that night. The next day, we reentered the cave of the Drachentree. The creatures had gotten a leg up on us this time, but I believe they don't attack unless provoked. We made sure to be prepared to leg it though, should we need to evacuate. Twili chose to wait outside, as to not hinder the ordeal, which was understandable. I didn't like leaving her outside on her own, but we wouldn't have taken long anyway. This time, things went exactly as planned. Well, minus Brognir having to crawl to the tree, but I digress. Brognir went up on the tree, cut a branch off and made it back down, all while Savas and Knuckles healed his wounds. Brognir shrugged off most of the trees burns on his own though. What a legend.  Seeing that this plan came to fruition so easily, I felt proud of us. If only we didn't provoke the crystalline monsters from yesterday... We returned to Twili at the campsite, packed up and rode off towards... Kvigmar? I honestly didn't know what I was thinking when I called for our party to travel to Kvigmar, but I apparently decided that it was quicker to travel through there to the eastern shores of Cerilia.  Anyway, after traveling for a day, we set up our camp again. During the watch, we were beset by a horde of goblins. Had Savas not warned us with his battle cry, we would've been caught by their volley of arrows blindsided. I made sure Savas was under the cover of darkness, so he wasn't shot down by this rain of arrows, but by doing so I exposed myself as a target. I was able to shield myself from most of it, with Kirken's might, but I couldn't retaliate until I located them. I tried to guide our party towards the, but these nimble creatures were too fast for them. I took it upon myself then to strike them from afar, bringing down one after another, which prompted them to retreat. They took out some of our mounts and ran off into the darkness. I didn't give chase and instead just helped our party pack up and camp somewhere else. My poor Thea had died during the assault, as well as the camels of Jaidiele and Savas. We had to reassign the mounts so that Twili and Brognir could hop on the mounts, so they wouldn't slow our travels down too much. Afterwards, it was simply a matter of time until we reached Kopingdal and took the next ship that could take us to the Cohort. All in all, this mission was a success. We achieved our goal of obtaining a bargaining token for the ice maiden and I got to travel with Savas again. Of course it is quite unfortunate that Brognir and Twili were quite literally stumped, but I hope that one day we can find a way of healing strong enough for them to be able to walk on their own feet again. That is all. -Signed, Eirena Lightshadow

1580965866

Session 99 (Special): Goblin Bonanza! Played on the 5th of February 2020! Present: Sithric Grimhildsson; Hanner Sidhe Fighter, lvl 5 (Depraved Lunatic) Einar Thrüm; Vos Fighter, lvl 4 (SlothSlow) Zero Odeh; Khinasi Rogue, lvl 2 (Rolf/Rill) Amon; Human Monk pregen, lvl 1 (Clemens) Kasimir Volkov; Vos Cleric, lvl 1 (Adam B) Zook; Sidhewair Barbarian, lvl 1 (uh) It all started out when we met in the hall of the arcanum. There was a total of one hands worth of peoples and Zook, most of whom were more fighty boys rather than casty boys. Our goal was to go on some goblin hunting. We went to Ariya and checked in with the Assistant Deputy Vizier. The deputy offered us a price for goblin ears. Zero haggled with him about the goblin bounty by pulling a classic walk out tactic. They eventually settled on 20 stallions per goblin head/pair of ears from the original price of 5. After some quick discussion, we determined the best method of getting to the goblin camp was to find a caravan heading north to offer our services as bodyguards, and speed up travel. That made Zook happy. In our attempts to find a caraven, we came across Bahira el-Serai, a well known merchant is leaving in the morning on the North Road. We found her, getting the caravan ready and commanding her servants and guards to prepare for travel. Zero negotiates with her as he was one of the few who could speak Basarji. She was unimpressed by our appearance and tests the parties abilities in combat. She challenged Sithric to shoot an apple off a goats head. He nailed the shot. She was impressed and offered us 150 stallions (horsey coins) per person to escort her caravan to the northern border of Ariya. 75 now, and 75 on delivery. We agreed to the transaction, received the first portion of the payment and camped for the night. In the morning, 50 camels and riders, as well as on foot servants carrying packs of wine and goods. 200 people in all. We were assigned to the Eastern side of the Caravan, "the dangerous side." We traveled 16 miles, and arrive at the caravansary of Ordu. Our caravan filled it up, and we are given dinner of sheep and wine. IT WAS DELICIOUS! In the morning, we awoke to Bahira shouting at a servant who spilled wine on her expensive clothing. She threatened to take the servant's head. We departed again. Travelling about 20 miles to Patnos, the next caravansary on the North Road. That night we dined on rations instead of mutton and wine which gave a hint of the days to come. The next day, we departed for Hara Dag. Another peaceful day. Our trip ended there and we recieved the last portion of the trip. Before we left, Bahira mentioned that the goblins have kidnapped someone recently. She was kidnapped from a caravan, a lone survivor. She suggested we return the girl named Hana to Ariya if we find her. We thanked her for the information and traveled south east. After we departed Hara Dag, Kasimir got hot during our travels so Zook fanned him with super strong big buff hands while sitting on his shoulders. We found goblin tracks and thankfully it seemed like everyone in the party was skilled at following tracks. We followed the tracks and found a large, ruined stone fort. By now, it was night time but thankfully there was a full moon! It didn't really matter to Zook though, ZOOK NO SCARED OF DARK. Sithric sniped one of the guards on the south wall, and we try to sneak in. Poorly. Sithric and Zero disarmed several traps, we found Dog Moles and learned fun facts about them like they don't like wormies and have big mommas. There was a large monument of an Elf Paladin, Human Wizard, Half-Elf Warlock surrounded by a faerie ring. Sithric, Zero, and Amon continue to dispatch goblin guards quickly and quietly and allow us to continue our search. Oh and Amon got bit by a big momma but patted her nose and made a friend. We continue our search and find a Hana who gives a good ole demi-god kind of vibe. Tal talks with the group and gently wakes her up with some soft singing. He then has a tea party with her in an attempt to guide her to leave with us. It's obvious she did not want to leave and has befriended the goblins. She mentions the goblin leader to be named Sisskuss and a sword stored away in fort called Thinzasxea. Tal stated that we will not abandon this girl he will go alone if he must to bring her to safety. We decided to stick together and escort the girl somewhere safe. After some travel, Zook heard some very loud bang bang noises in the distance. Turned out it was a huge goblin squad (probably to take the girl back) so we fled as quickly as we could to the nearest caravansary. Hana started crying and then a storm formed, several members were downed, some lightning started striking and the people at the caravansary were freaked out. Thankfully the girl fell asleep, the goblins left and we recovered a bit. Except this woman named Faran el-Miere wanted the girl to deliver to the Tower of Morning and this was all just too much for Zook. Zook just wanted to rest and sleep. While we was devising a plan to save the girl and flee, suddenly an EVEN BIGGER GOBLIN SQUAD showed up and surrounded the caravansary. The goblins demanded the girl back and in the interest of not dying we Tal escorted Hana to the chieftess Siskuss. Faran asked us to tell the Cohort that Emir will be going to war with the goblins soon and will need mercenaries for the battle to come. Now safe, we traveled with Faran back to Ariya and exchanged the collected goblin ears for 180 horsey coins. Even though Zook didn't have to swing axe once Zook feels like he could sleep for a whole forever.

1580988995

Pro

Session 98 (Special): The Rise and Fall of Big Green Present: Cordelia Woodwytch - Level 5, Cellwair Warlock (Serephen) Lucan Yaeldrin - Level 1, Hanner Sidhe Wizard (Mekapix) Zolis Ulmokina - Level 5, Khinasi Fighter (Lordgenome) Thugnuck Ironwall - Level 4, Dwerren Fighter (Leon K.) (As per usual, Cordie’s log is full of redacted sections. Unlike some of her outings this one seems not to have been the worst for figuring out fact from fiction but seeing her name on the incoming log is enough to stress out those responsible for fact-checking, which seems to amuse her.) I put out a call for a mission again. Very few turned up. Seems they forgot that I’m a fantastic leader. It was time to show them again. I told the people what we were dealing with: brigands in the Margreve. None of them had ever been before, so we might have had another situation like the small one on the griffon. That would have been funny. They asked a bunch of questions about the Margreve so I told them some things that were entirely true. We took the boat up the river, all the way up the way we’ve never been before. We followed it all the way up and found Zobeck City. It was a really fun place. They had normal kinds of people like sidhelien, elves and humans, but also cellwair, bearfolk, pineys, hedgehog-people, the deer-people like Prudence, people-rats (RIP Ratdelia), horse-people, people-birds, cow-people, people-dragons, troll-people and even some people-hyenas. And none of them were fighting or anything, just living all together. The metal man went and bought a new hammer, and him and Probably Smart got real panicky when a local told them about the effect the Margreve has on metal. They relaxed when the smithy woman told them they’d be fine with me, seeing as I seem like a natural citizen there. That’s not a bad idea… I didn’t feel like going to talk to the noble lady from there, I just went looking for interesting things about the market. An old lady was selling a doll that was a plant that grew into a doll shape. It probably wasn’t cursed and metal man bought it from her. He didn’t seem the type to need a dolly, but I wasn’t there to judge. We decided to set out instead of spend the night there. We made it to a brewery along the road, Rivensky Brewery. The owner said their name was Grorgegret Trollbreaker, I said my name was Cordie. We had some drinks and shared some stories, I told the story of where I came from. Then Probably Smart shared a sad story about all his friends dying. Art boy told us his story, which was neither sad nor ridiculous. We spent the night at the brewery. Next day we passed by another building. I checked the sign and saw it was Old Mikhail's Inn. We could see a tower to the North of it. I told everyone to keep an eye out for Lesharrkk as we got closer, metal man saw her fighting a bird. When she was done with that she approached and introduced herself to everyone, and told them why we were really there. The cat was a griffon that got cursed, and her eggs were stolen by the people that killed the other griffons. We had to get the eggs back before they hatched, which would happen sometime that week. The hatchlings would imprint on whatever they saw first, and Lesarrkk wanted to make sure it was her, not the brigands or us. The offenders in question were a bunch of Furrogs. Apparently they’re supposed to be called Bugbears, but they don’t look like bugs or bears, they look like furry Orogs. Furrogs. They took over a fort and the griffon’s tower attached, about 60 of them in the fort with ballistas and only a few in the tower. Lesharrkk taught us a secret way in by swimming through a pond, but we had to pass its guardian. “Just north of the Eye of the Forest is a hunting track heading west between two mossy stumps. Follow it, always choosing the right-hand fork, until you reach a clear pond under a bluff. There the trail ends, but a guardian of some sort waits by the pond. Take care! The tower will be on top of the bluff to your left. You can swim into the cellar of the tower through the pool—head upstream until you find air again. Most of the brigands camp outside the tower, so once you are behind its walls, you should be able to make your way to right under the noses of the filthy swine who slaughtered my kin.” We found the pond easy, and the creature guarding it wasn’t fond of my lamp. A Razorleaf. It apparently makes clouds when it’s fighting to make the place darker, and then cuts people with leaves. I told it we needed help to get rid of bad people, it asked for something in return, said it liked cold, good things. Art boy made some food cold and we threw that to it. It seemed happy with that and burrowed into the ground. While we were talking about how to swim Lesharrkk climbed up on my hat so she could come through with me. It was fine except she kept batting at my ears, which was more than a little distracting. We did a quick swim through dark, freezing water and ended up in the basement of the Still Tower. It was a bit of a mess, and there were no stairs out of it. Lesharrkk jumped up to the door and told us the next room was quiet, so I opened up the door with my hat and we climbed out. I barred the front door of the tower in case any Furrogs came by and tried to get in, then we snuck further in. Somehow the enemy detected the clanking of people’s armour and the hauling of a big table, and tried to ambush us. They failed. I created a wall in the doorway that confused two of them. One tried to get away but metal man stopped him before he could get their boss. We went further up the tower and found a bunch of ogres arguing over ‘food’. I thought we could distract them and sneak past, because we’d been so good at sneaking it was clearly our best approach. The others disagreed and went to fight them. We beat them up pretty good and I said that the last one should just surrender. It did. Kind of. It ran upstairs and something started yelling at it. I sent Illusory Cordie upstairs to investigate and she got smacked with a pair of big clubs that took out the stairs. Illusory Cordie was not impressed, but she did good work. Some green smoke came downstairs and turned into a big green ogre lady. Poor art boy nearly got smashed against the wall. Probably smart and metal man fought big green up close, but their weapons didn’t work so well. My magic seemed to work just fine. Eventually she noticed she was losing and did the same as all her minions: flee. Except they were all fleeing to get to her for backup, she just fled upstairs to… nobody. Was kind of sad except that she was mean, so nobody felt sad for her.  Big green died and Lesharrkk turned back into a griffon and got to be the person her chicks saw first. They were very small and fluffy. One of them nipped at my tail. Lesarrkk said that they’d have to find a new place to live, but that she could handle that. As thanks she took us back down the tower and gave us a badge from some order of griffon riders that used to live there. The badge was nice, but the real reward was in the basement. She opened a secret door and said to go in holding the badge up. There were a couple of guardians that almost smushed me until they saw the badge, so we could gather up a bunch of fancy books. One of the books mentioned how Still Tower was built on a confluence of ley energy, and it had a divination room in it that took advantage of that. Upstairs there was a study room with a crystal ball and a chest. The others looked in the chest and found a fancy necklace and two scrolls of the lesser restoration spell. I played around with the crystal ball. I tried casting comprehend languages, but the magic in the room turned the spell into tongues instead. If I knew more divination magics then I could have played around with it more. I took the crystal ball with me, but it only works like that in that room. I didn’t want the Furrogs to find it and be able to use it. Lesharrkk led us out of the tower, and taught us how to get her attention if we need her help ever. We just need to kill a horse and cook it near the tower. Favourite food I guess. We spent a few days exploring before we came back. We found Briarblack Hill, which I heard about once. There didn’t used to be a hill there, but a big battle happened in the sky and a big dragon with lots of heads was killed. It fell to the ground but didn’t decay, a hill grew around it. There’s supposed to be a wellspring or regeneration somewhere around there, but the others didn’t want to look for it. Said that the hill was breathing or something. So we went further North and saw a weird group of trees, arranged like a nest with a bunch of boats around it. A black bird the size of the entire sky flew over and started eating people out of a ship. One of the others said it was called The Roc. We decided not to get close to it. So we went exploring North East where we saw a big tower. Turned out to be a big castle with dark magic and power flowing from it. I definitely heard about this place: Castle Shadowcrag. It was real famous but nobody knows why it disappeared from history. There was a famous wizard that used to visit it, also a bunch of warriors went there to get starmetal weapons and weapons made of shadows. Apparently the Grimbold clan could make those. The popular rumors are that the Grimbold ghosts still run the place, that the wizard took it over as an evil cult lair, or that stars and shadow came together into a dragon that wrecked the place and flew off. The others didn’t want to find out which was true, so we came back to report. Mission was successful, Lesharrkk was happy, the Margreve was happy, I was happy, the others in the group seemed happy and, importantly, not dead. The Furrogs are still there and it would be nice to make them gone, but that’s a task for another month. Another successful mission. Victory for Cordie.

1581020546

Rofl

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Session 99 (Special): Just A Goblin Bounty... February 5, 2020 Present: Sithric Grimhildsson       - Hanner Sidhe Fighter, lvl 5 (Depraved Lunatic) Einar Thrüm                    - Vos Fighter, lvl 4 (SlothSlow) Zero Odeh                       - Khinasi Rogue, lvl 2 (Rolf/Rill) Amon                               - Human Monk pregen, lvl 1 (Clemens) Kasimir Volkov                - Vos Cleric, lvl 1 (Adam B) Zook                                - Sidhewair Barbarian, lvl 1 (uh) From the Perspective of Zero Odeh My first Mission with the Cohort began as I assume most do: serious deliberation through posted articles on the wall about what mission could be started by those who were available.   Due to our overall under-experienced and new members, it was decided that Sithric should lead our party in collection of a bounty for the extermination of goblins.   I did not expect to need to choose a leader for the mission, but that is apparently the custom for the Cohort.   I was initially extremely impressed by Sithrics’ Dragon-Bone Bow, and the fact the Zook was able to carry such a large axe. We began on our mission by travelling by boat to Ariya.   Most of us being quite poor, we quickly made our way to the Assistant Deputy Vizier excited to take on what we assumed would be an easy mission.   I spoke for the group because it seemed I was the only one who might actually be from the area.   I was uncomfortable at first to be speaking on behalf of an organization I just joined, but no matter.   After some haggling I secured a deal for 20 Gold Stallions per head or ear of goblins.   The price seemed low, but they are goblins and we could easily kill a score or more without much danger. We then decided it might behoove us to find work along the road so that we could make easy money being paid to travel in a direction we had already intended to go.   We were directed to Bahira El-Serai.   A beautiful merchant woman wearing extremely fine clothing and jewelry with a caravan the likes of which I feel I may never witness again. At least 200 travelled with her.   At first she didn’t believe us capable, and I initially agreed with her.   However, Sithric quickly changed both our minds by piercing an apple off a goats’ head and nailing the exact center of a tapestry behind it which looked somewhat like a target. Perhaps I shall acquire a Dragon-Bone Bow. The journey north was wholly uneventful.   The only things worth pointing out are the following.   Zook can actually be extremely entertaining while awkward and obviously without intent.   Also, a servant girl by the name of Hana had been captured by the goblins just recently.   I was impressed by the goblins being capable of annihilating a caravan of comparable size to this; and also shocked that they would kidnap a single person and no others.   Reward of unspecified quantity would be available in Ariya if we managed to secure her. We quickly made our way to the location of the goblins.   We would later learn it named Thinvasxea’s Fort.   Infiltration was easy.   9 goblins were killed without any blood shed on our side.   Actually, the only person hurt was Amon.   The fortress contained not only goblins, but Dogmoles.   We avoided some, but were spotted by a very strange looking one.   Red and covered in tentacles.   Amon, befriended it by patting its nose, but not before it took a nice chunk out of him. We then found Hana in a well-kept and decorated room off the courtyard.   I knew instantly this would be a problem.   It had only been a few days, but it was obvious, encountering a child would be the end of our goblin hunt for this group.   For some people, defending the defenseless person right in front of you is somehow more motivating than the countless others the decision could affect.   I’ll never understand it.   What I did understand is that we had only collected a bounty of 180 Gold Stallions.   A pitiful sum to split among 6 people. Hana was covered in drawings.   They did not appear to be real tattoos but I did not look that closely. She told us that the goblins were actually very friendly to her.   Significantly more friendly than the humans she escaped had ever been.   She was a slave, apparently.   Each goblin though, she knew by name even the chieftain, Sisskuss, had introduced herself to Hana.   She told us that they called her Thinvasxea.   A name she shares, if you remember, with the first we were stood within.   We did not know they shared a name at the time.   It would have been a good indicator of the situation Tal tried to calm her down and tell her of his orphanage, but she only ever wanted her goblins friends.   Growing tired of the situation and in fear of being attacked by goblins while in the company of a small girl.   Tal decided it was time for him to go.   Sithric, told us he would go with Tal to protect the girl.   It was decided then.   I am not one to go against the decision of someone more experienced than myself.   Nor would I go against the decision of the Cohort I had just joined. We left and camped for the night South-West of the Fort.   Near dawn, Zook and I were keeping watch.   We heard the thunderous footsteps of an approaching army.   Immediately we broke camp and continued at a run toward the road and Patnos.   They pursued us for the entire run.   More running than I would have believed myself capable of. Nearing our safe haven, the girl growing more upset by the minute, conjured a storm above us.   Lightning bolts struck down around us in every direction.   A single bolt very nearly killed me.   It followed us inside scaring the people sleeping in Patnos and waking them.   Alerted to some danger, the people overnighting there approached us asking what was happening. I explained to the people that we were being pursued by a horde of goblins trying to get their hands on the girl who could conjure storms.   Faran el-Miere(another merchant woman), seemed significantly more interested in the girl than the goblins. I can only assume she thought her guard could handle them, and she may have been right.   She correctly surmised that the girl we carried was Hana.   Even though we knew Faran only wanted to re-enslave the girl, while surrounded by her entire caravan and guards, I thought it better to convince her that we were taking her to Ariya for the reward.   She believed me.   Perhaps there would be another time to escape. One question of note that I asked was in regard to what they had planned to do with the girl.   Faran told us that she would be returned to the Tower of Mourning and eventually she would encounter Bloodsilver.   Some of our number were visibly taken aback which provided some context that this was a bad thing.   I had never heard of this but later learned that this meant death to the person and provided the ability to steal the ‘Bloodline’ of someone.   Perhaps after this is done, the power cannot grow naturally and this is why they had not already used it on her. At some point during the conversation the goblins had retreated without an attack.   Faran had the caravan load up and continue their journey as well as escort us south.   She granted us our own camels because we were quite obviously exhausted; and we made our way to Ordu.   Tal informed us that he would leave with the girl at the first opportunity.   So, we plotted our escape for the following night. Our chance never came.   Well before our intended departure time, Faran came for the girl.   Ordu was beset by thousands of goblins and they would not attack if we handed over the girl.   It was clear that doing anything besides what they asked would result in death to the entire population of Ordu.   Goblins or not their numbers were to great.   The few hundred people here, including ourselves, could not fight our way out of this one.   Even Tal saw that there was no other option.   He reluctantly handed Hana over. The goblins dispersed as soon as they had their prize.   Perhaps now it would be more appropriate to call her Thinvasxea, since that is who the girl wanted to be.   We eventually made our way to Ariya and collected our minute prize and returned home. Before we parted ways with Faran, she told us this: “Bring word to your Cohort that the Emir will be going to war with the Goblins soon and we will need mercenaries for the battle to come.” I think we started a war.

1581107105

Michael H.

Mission 101(Special). Shrubs and Gobbos. Present: Lindal Leagallow  Cellwair Barbarian (Michael H) Knuckles Forgekeeper; Dwerren Cleric, (Leon K) Lio Qi; Brecht Rogue/monk (Dewayne C)   A short journey, my first time as leader of such a Cohort mission and one I feel I did not come out well from.  I had asked for assistance in dealing with the rumours of goblin raids within the lands of Grabentod.  As there were only three of us we agreed that this would be more in the way of an scouting mission rather than a full blow attempt to remove the goblin threat.                  Out journey to Van Danne Fort was peaceful and we approached the fort to introduce ourselves to the Barronettes.  The guards were helpful in explaining to me how to correctly pronounce the title as I was not doing so.  When we did introduce ourselves to the Baronette she showed now interest in the situation, saying that it was not her problem but that of the farmers.  I was a little upset by her lack of caring for her people however it was not my place to comment.  Instead we rested the night at a local inn called the Kelp & Oyster for the night.  The next morning we inquired of the guards about details of where the raids were taking place.  They directed us to the mountains in the West of Darre’s End.  Having a direction of travel we set out with Knuckles and Lio Qi combining their knowledge of survival and travelling to lead the way.                 The first day was peaceful and we travelled slowly through the lands.  Late on in the second day we were travelling through an area of high grassland and shrubbery when to our surprises a number of these shrubs moved to attack us.  Once we recovered from our surprise we were quickly able to dispatch these nasty shrubs.  Though it seemed that they were not as affected by weapons that only stab into the target, weapons that cut or smashed were more effective against them.  Following our idea of scouting we endeavoured to follow the tracks of these shrubs.  Which seemed to lead South West along the edge of the mountains we had been moving toward.  Unfortunately Lio Qi had to return to the Cohort so myself and Knuckles continued on together.                 We followed the tracks for the rest of that day and all the next morning when they led us to a large ruined castle.  Approaching we spotted a couple of goblins, and saw that the tracks of the shrubs led into the under levels of the castle.  Seeing the goblins I moved toward them, knowing that there were probably more around I hoped to drag some of them out of hiding to destroy them.  The one goblin blew some sort of horn and called not just a few, but a large number of the foul beasts out from different parts of the ruins.  Myself and Knuckles were able to kill a few of them, but we quickly saw that the numbers we were facing were too many for just the two of us.  It appeared we had discovered a major base for the goblins in the area.  So we took the decision to retreat and live another day.  Fortunately the goblins seemed happy to just drive us off and did not give chase.  As there was only the two of us, and we felt not powerful enough to deal with that number of Goblins we returned to the Cohort to report.  I have marked on the main map for the Cohort the location of the goblin base and I believe that there is probably more there than just a few goblins.  I do not believe goblins have the ability to bring shrubbery to life.   Lindal Leagallow.

1581224725

Physh

Pro

Session 103 (Special Mission):  The Depths of Winter Expedition Members: Eirena Lightshadow, Rjurik Cleric/Warlock 1/4 Tristan Brandiar, Anuirean Sorcerer/Warlock 2/1 Jaidiele Sylis, Sidhelien Ranger 3 Savas Al-Hadar, Khinasi Cleric 4 Savas left his quarters after returning from the White Witch's lands.  Having stowed his gear in the new suite he shared with his dear Eirena, he grabbed his writing kit and made his way quickly to the common room and found himself a table as close to the hearth as possible.  The difference in climate between the Cohort's halls and the frozen kingdom of the White Witch was dramatic, but Savas was still trying to shake off the chills that had invaded his bones in that icy and dreadful land. Taking out his quill and parchment, he began to record the events that led to the rescue of Phage. "I would like to tell you how we started the mission in the halls of the Cohort, attended by my sweet Eirena, Tristan, and Jaidiele...  but the truth is, I did not hear much of it.  Eirena, having already led the previous expedition to secure a branch from the Drachentree, continued her role for this endeavor.  She began to brief the team on what to expect, what we had learned about the Ice Maiden, and the plan to rescue our friend Phage, the quiet sullen girl who was with us when we first faced the Rat King's forces.  But I heard nothing.  All I could do was stare into the face of my beloved...  my fair warrior who was now, for the second time, leading forces to rescue a captured comrade, the same as she had done for me the previous year.  How did I ever deserve such an honorable and strong woman? We took a ship to the shores of the Daikhar Zhigun, the last known siting of an Ice Maiden.  We traveled inwards to the forest for a day, and when we made camp, a white wolf approached during Eirena's watch.  Tristan and Jaidiele, who spoke Sylvan, conversed with the creature, who told us we were trespassing and that what we sought would not be found here, but instead in the hold of the White Witch... in a castle deep in the heart of her territory, in the forests of Mandal.  We returned to the ship, and took a dinghy to the shore of Nordcapp.  We made good time traveling through the open plains, making the forest within 2 days without any issues.  We similarly had an uneventful trip through the woods before spotting a ice blue peak jutting up from the forest canopy.  It was there that we found the White Witch's fortress. We managed to get inside, and there, were directed to "The River King" located in their great hall.  The hold itself was filled with all manner of frozen creatures...  Ice Maidens, giants, and small icy plantlike creatures that could slay a man with relatively little effort. Inside the hall, we found the maiden - Serena - that we were looking for, sitting at a table with Phage.  Phage was always a quiet sort, but she seemed distant... evidence of the enchantment that held her prisoner.  Eirena attempted to barter with the evil beast, using the branch from the Drachentree as enticement, but the vile maiden valued her slave above anything we could offer. Eirena then approached the River King to seek an audience with the White Witch herself.  Serena had warned us to meet her at night...  and though the River King tried with great effort to get us to visit her during the day, we held fast until he agreed to arrange an evening meeting.  We were offered quarters for the night, but I found a warm blazing fire in the library, the only place in this accursed fortress that offered any warmth.  I spent the night with Eirena there, sleeping on the couches in front of the hearth. The next evening, the River King escorted us to a treasure room where the Witch herself stood admiring her hoard.  Eirena explained our purpose, asking for any assistance and offering the Witch the drachenbranch as well.  The Witch agreed, but on three conditions.  The first was that we surrender the drachenbranch.  The second was for us to "exercise" her white wolves.  The final demand was that we trick a young white dragon, who she viewed as a threat to her, into putting on an amulet that would steal her magic and force her to remain in human form.  We were then to take the child from her lands, to where she cared not. Having gifted her the drachentree cutting, we entered the courtyard to deal with her wolves.  We took on the first one, a great beast almsot as large as a horse with a devastating breath weapon of frost and ice.  We managed to take it down quickly while suffering minor injuries.  We took the second one down in quick order as well.  We faced the final two at the same time, the beasts showing cunning and using pack tactics to attack my Eirena, but we managed to focus on one of them, and after that beast was felled, we finished off the second one in quick order. With only one task left, we made our way to the great hall, and took a seat at the table with the white dragon and a small were-dragon child.  We laid out all the coins we had on us, along with my mythriall balta and the amulet on the table, while Eirena talked of our latest adventure and how to divide our "haul".  Immediately we were surrounded by various beasts and creatures who lusted for our loot.  We talked about how to divide the treasure, and what we were going to do with the magical amulet we had found.  The dragon crept forward on the table, fascinated with the loot, but said nothing.  The mob, however, was not as silent, and it took some effort to keep them at bay.  Eventually, with the white dragon not taking the bait, I stated that the amulet should go to the only person at the table who wasn't greedily fighting over it: the dragon.  She seemed hesitant at first, but I managed to convince her to accept the gift.  As I placed it about her neck, she immediately transformed into her human - toddler - form.  She immediately wanted to remove it, but could not, and we feigned that we were unable to as well.  One of the mob, an arcanist, almost ruined it by offering to try, but he was intercepted by Tristan who whispered to him that it was the White Witch's will.  After that, he played a small part in helping us maintain the ruse. With the dragon child secured, we returned to the White Witch who gave us an ice coin to present to Serena.  Eirena gave her the coin and said "The debt must be paid", upon which she ended the enchantment that had enslaved Phage.  With our companion and the dragon child in tow, we headed out for the ship to take us home to the Cohort.  We had multiple discussions on what to do with the child, but some of us strongly protested against throwing the dragon into a cell to rot.  Instead, it was decided that the Cohort would take responsibility, and attempt to raise the dragon to remove her hatred of humans and hopefully give her a path that would lead to someplace other than imprisonment or death." Savas put away his kit and leaned back in the chair, enjoying the heat of the fire upon his back.  It was a good mission, and they ended it by trying to do the most admirable action they could for the dragon.  With his work done, he picked up his kit and report and returned to his room, looking forward to spending some quiet time with his bride.

1581276140

Seraphina Leaf

Session 100 (Special): Malgreve Medley: Burning Vision/Plants Eating Deer/Golden Sap Played on the 6th of February 2020! Present: Mamm Bealdaartsdotter; Rjurik Fighter, lvl 6 (Seraphina Leaf) Galzira Strongshadow;  Hanner Sidhe Warlock, lvl 2 (Dewayne C) Vyurakas Arrhuriluas; Hadrachen Sorcerer, lvl 2 (Leon K) Glenn Sturgis; Human Cleric, lvl 1 (Spynx) Locations:  Fogrolls, Malgreve (Torovo Temylatin). Brightwood Village, Malgreve (Torovo Temylatin). Having heard so much of the Malgreve from other Cohort members, I gathered a small party to explore it for myself. We made sure to only stick to the area east of the river Grandfather's Tears, as we had been told it was more dangerous to the west, and excepting myself, we had only a small party of relative newcomers. Indeed, it was Glenn Sturgis' first venture with the Cohort since joining. I had heard that human's weren't the most welcome of species in Malgreve, but I was hopeful that things wouldn't turn hostile without provocation. we were dropped off on the bank of the river Argent, which connected with Grandfather's Tears. The boatman told us of a town we could come find him if needed, along the west side of the river northward. We moved north along the river, and made camp on the edge of an area called the Fogrolls. True to it's name, it was filled with heavy fog. Our first night passed peacefully, though during each of our watches, we could see ghostly figures in the fog up ahead. The following morning, we moved into the Fogrolls, which proved to be difficult to move through, slowing our progress. We came across a downed tree, a small part of it on fire. Standing on the side of the tree, a withered creature on fire, focusing on the part of tree on fire. I approached, telling the others to keep a bit of distance, but to be ready to attack just in case. As I approached, I caught a closer glimpse of the fire the creature was focusing on. In the fire I saw a terrible vision. My sweet daughter being attacked and eaten by a giant spider, while I was tied to a chair, unable to help, forced to watch. This vision disturbed and upset me, I tried to get the creature to explain what just happened, and if it were responsible for the vision I just suffered. It paid me no mind, not responding, not moving, nothing. To try and get its attention, I emptied my waterskin onto the fire. It didn't put it out, but it did get the creature's attention, but only for a moment. It looked up and hissed at me, annoyed, but then went back to silently looking into the fire. At that point Vyurakas and Glenn thought it best if we just left, but I was still angry over the vision that was now burning in my memory. I started to stamp on the fire, trying to put it out. This made the creature hostile, and it engaged in melee with myself. I handed it one as my companions attacked from range. The creature's attack set me alight with a painful fire, but I pressed on with my attack, dealing large blows. The creature then moved towards Vyurakas, then Glenn, attacking them both, and setting them alight also. At this point, I knew the creature had to go down asap, and used up a bucketload of my energy to strike it twice; twice, ending the creature's existence, turning it to ash. The fire I saw the vision in, also disappearing. I then put out the flames on me, as well did Vyurakas on himself, however Glenn passed out from his burns. We put out the fire on him, and Vyurakas healed him with a spell. We had a quick look around the area. Vyurakas found some mushrooms and thought nothing of eating some of them, which he did. Glenn gathered the fiery creatures remains, recognizing them as the ashes of a Firegeist. I checked the logs, and there is no mention of this creature, I will make a point of trying to look up information on this Firegeist. I need to know what this vision was, and hopefully confirm that it was not a vision of the future. We moved a little further into the Fogrolls before resting for the night. The following day, the second in the Fogrolls, was uneventful save for finding a family at a small stream, refilling their waters, which we did too. Not being able to talk their language, we merely waved at them as we arrived, and as they left. Our rest that night was equally uneventful. On our third day in the fogrolls, we came across the tracks of a big cat. We followed them, but they abruptly ended in front of a large plant with a purple flower on its top. Glenn used some magic to set off a tremor on the ground near the plant to see if it would respond. It did, its roots coming out to grab at the empty air. We left the plant be. After that night's rest, we awoke to see much of Vyarakas' skin had turned to treebark. He looked more fey than Hadrachen now. Turns out this started happening not long after he ate the mushrooms, but he had hidden it from us. Concerned, and having no idea what to do, we decided to go and try and get help at the town we had been told about on arrival by the boatman. We made our way out of the Fogrolls and moved along the river. After two days of following the river, our camp was approached by a creature during my watch. I woke the others. This fungus covered creature called itself Gryzvald, though it took me a while to realise this, as he spoke in the third person. Gryzvald said it would get revenge against outsiders for killing Gryzvald. I asked Gryzvald how if he was killed, was he still here. Gryzvald said because great white never dies. Glenn and Galzira then offered food. Gryzvald said he would only accept a white stag. I and Vyurakas turned him away. He walked off into the darkness, continuing his talk of revenge. A few more days passed as we journeyed to the town, following the river. On our way, we came across tracks, that we could tell were made were made by a creature made of bark, or at least their feet were. Vyurakas, understandably, wished to seek this creature out, so we rested, and the following day, we followed the tracks to a little village. A woman, whose skin was made out of treebark, approached us. She spoke in a language that only Vyurakas understood. Vyurakas told us that she was inviting us into the village, so we followed her into a little home, built into a tree. We sat down around a table as Vyurakas talked with her. Occasionally translating parts of what she said. Her name was Whithop. Whithop said that the mushroom was turning Vyurakas into one of her people; a Piney. We learned the name of the village; Brightwood Village. Whithop's father; "Hoom", joined us at the table. The conversation continued, revealing the Piney's apposition to Gods, Hoom was especially insulting to anyone who worshiped any God. I held onto my protestations at this close-mindedness, though the Cleric; Glenn, had to be told to be quiet. Though the Piney's couldn't understand him anyway, so no harm done. The Piney's were interested in what the Cohort was, and Vyurakas translated my description of the Cohort. It included mention of the Cohort opposition to the Primordial Gods, which they took great interest in, and Hoom suggested that their village send some Pineys over to the Cohort to aid in this mission. We later got confirmation that Piney's are being sent over to Fabrica to join the Cohort Arcanum. The Piney's then said that for Vyurakas to become one of them, a blood sacrifice would be undertaken for his intuition. We were relieved to realise that they meant an animal sacrifice, though Glenn was still upset by the notion of an animal sacrifice. We were told to bring the animal back alive. We went out to the forest, tracking and trapping a deer to bring for Vyurakas' initiation. The Piney tied down the deer, and beckoned Vyurakas forward to take the first bite. The deer was not killed beforehand. Vyurakas crept down, whispered some words, and took a bite. As he did so, the Piney all ran at the deer, partaking in its flesh themselves. Once the Pineys were done eating, the bodies bloomed flowers, Vyurakas blooming flowers also, his body entirely made of bark, his transformation into a Piney complete. The deer carcass' blood poured into the ground, sprouting roses from the earth. Magic seems to be infused with everything here. The Pineys then took the deer's body and burned what was left of its body in a magic fire. Whitlop asked if Vyurakas if he would keep his name, or adopt a Piney name. He decided to take a Piney name, and chose the name "Brbl", pronounced "Burble" I believe, though it sometimes sounded like Whitlop was calling him purple. After a rest and a meal, we said our goodbyes to the Piney for now. We headed down south, as we had come from the north, and Brbl wanted to see as much of his new home as possible before having to head back. On the second day searching this forest, we came across a little pixie, that was using a hammered in golden spigot to draw a golden, sticky, viscous sap out of a tree. Curious as to what the sap was, we tried opening communications with the Pixies, but to no avail. The Pixie was protective of its bucket of sap, and put up its hands whenever Glenn tried to approach. The others decided to wait for the pixie to be done with the tree so we could get some of the sap. I grabbed a bit of wood from another tree, and began carving a little boat for the pixie, noting that it had been playing in the sap. I felt I might as well if we were waiting around. However, our waiting was quickly interrupted by and Owlbear approaching, sniffing at the smell of the sap. We stood in its way of the pixie, intimidating it a little, making it back off a bit, but it tried to circle around to get at the sap. I followed it around, until it seemed to get back its nerve and approach me. Just as it looked like the Owlbear was going to attempt a strike, it turned into another pixie. Relieved, I chuckled, having heard of Pixie's penchant for being tricksy. The two pixies joined each other, seeming quite cheerful. The waved at us, and flew off, leaving behind the bucket. Presuming what had just happened to a test by the pixies, to see if we were worthy of the sap or something, we took some, though not all, and left the bucket behind for the pixies. I finished carving my little boat, accidentally making one big enough for two pixies, and I left it behind on the edge of the bucket. Glenn also left behind some incense. My magically inclined companions reckoned that the spigot had given this sap some magic qualities. The rowan tree sap we had, seemed to have healing qualities. Other trees may have provided different benefits. Might be worth getting someone to come back who can actually communicate with the pixies. Unfortunately, 24 hours after the sap had been taken from the tree, it had lost its magic. So, now, we just had some tree sap. After that, we felt we had done enough exploring of the Malgreve for now, and headed back to Fabrica. Mamm Bealdaartsdotter

1581288485

Depraved Lunatic

Session 103: "I want my Friend back." ( SPECIAL ) Attending Adventurers: -Savas Al-Hadar ( Physh ) -Tristan Brandiar ( Kristen B. ) -Jaidiele Sylis ( Ryan F. ) -Eirena Lightshadow ( Depraved Lunatic ) We assembled at the Cohort to continue our efforts in regards of rescuing our enthralled and kidnapped companion Phage. As I had organized the last mission in this regard, I took it upon myself again to lead this expedition as well.  Our first worries were obviously our smaller number of mounts. But as Galzíra Strongshadow, who had participated in last mission, lent us her horse, we were able to double up on both horses and thus increase our travel speed. Not like I'd mind doubling up on a horse together with my dearest Savas. I then shared my recent knowledge about the resistances and vulnerabilities of the ice maidens, as I still expected us to have to fight her for Phage at that point. With our group number so low however, I hoped that we would be able to solve this without battling the ice maiden Sirena.  Once our preparations were complete, we began journeying to the west side of Cerilia, where the Ice maiden was commonly spotted. We set off from the shores of Daikhar-Zhigun, upwards towards Wolfgaard, retracing the places the ice maiden was sighted at. On our first night however, a white, big wolf nearly taller than I approached our camp. I tried to appease it with some rations so it wouldn't bother us too much, but it seemed disinclined to the offering. Jaidiele and Tristan, who were fluent in Sylvan, parleyed with the creature. In exchange for us leaving the territory we were trespassing into, it told us where to find our objective; in the Realm of the White Witch, in Castle Holtmyre. After finishing our rest, we returned to the Cohort Libraries to find a lead as to where to find the castle. It didn't take us long to learn that it was located in the region called Mandal, which I later learned to be the kingdoms capital. I wasn't sure that we'd be able to brave the harsh conditions of the White Witch's territory. I asked the group if they were sure that we should push through with the mission, as I expressed my worries for our safety. I didn't want to risk losing our lives in unknown territory. But the group shrugged my worries off. We could see how it goes, and if we were unable to do meaningful progress, we could always return to our boat.  It turns out that my worries were absolutely unwarranted. The journey to Mandal was incredibly peaceful. There were barely any encounters. Good, the realm is hulled into an eternal winter, so most animals wouldn't live and/or survive here. But what about all the evil creatures that were supposed to make this realm so dangerous to traverse? I guess my greatest worry was for my companions in general and my poor Savas in particuliar freezing to death before we reach Mandal, but they managed to push through, thanks to the thick clothes and cloaks they brought with them. I didn't need to bring those with me, thankfully, as the cold never bothered me anyway. Once we arrived at the Castle Holtmyre, an impressive fort built into a mountainside sporting a towering iceberg on the mountains peak. We approach the gates and are asked what we seek and who we are. As I was unsure how the Cohort is viewed here, I had chosen to omit that detail while introducing our group. We told the guards that we wished to speak to Sirena the ice maiden, to propose a trade. After they sent out a white bird, which I thought to be a dove and got their confirmation that Sirena is indeed inside, we were let inside the castle. The sight we were greeted was nothing that spectacular, save for a literal giant, which we learned is called Einher. Seemed like a friendly guy, the rainbow colours swirling around him were definitely helping in that regard though. We asked him to point us towards where Sirena was currently residing and were pointed to a dining hall to the Northwest. We quickly arrived at the dining hall, knocking at the door to be allowed to enter. No shame in being polite after all. A blue haired and bearded person, which we later learned to be the River King himself, opened the door and let us enter. I didn't listen to much of what he said, as I had my eyes and attention focused on Sirena and Phage, who were sitting at a table in the middle of the Dining hall. We quickly moved over and I spoke with the ice maiden, proposing to trade the branch of the Drachentree, which we had obtained in the prior mission, for Phage. Now hear me out, I know this sounds ridiciulous. However, the thought process behind this ordeal was that the ice maiden, who had never known the feeling of a gentle warmth, would hopefully be emotional enough to accept such a wondrous experience for something she valued highly. Alas, I might be more of a romantic than Sirena, who declined this offer. In the next attempt, I tried to offer her a place in the Cohort. My goal was to have her nearby, so we could work on curing Phage of her enthrallment secretly and not have to worry about finding Sirena again. I described how it would be like a long, exciting and adventurous vacation, where she would be able to garner fame and money and ultimately settle down with her "love". I believe Tristan wasn't on the same page as I, piping in that most Cohort members would probably kill her on sight.  I tried to state that the Cohort Arcanum protects eachother, but the damage was already done to my ruse.  Sirena, probably jokingly, told us that if we really wanted our companion Phage back, that we should go and talk with the White Witch herself, as she answered to her. Luckily for us, she also told us to arrange a meeting at night. We soon came to understand why: The River King, who got himself enthralled by the White Witch, insisted on us making an appointment with the White Witch during the day, stating that she would be even more desireable during that time. Which I will translate to "If you ever wish to speak to the White Witch, only take appointments during the night, or she will enthrall you." We are allowed to use a room inside the castle to rest for the night, while we wait for our appointment with the White Witch. Tristan quickly wished to take a bath after our journey. Brave of him, as the water must've been ice cold in this region.  Savas, Jaidiele and I visited the library, which was said to contain magical tomes along regular books. There was a there, who was frantically reorganizing the books into an alphabetical order. Quite commited to her craft. I wish she was as commited to being a decent person as she was commited to reorganizing this dang books. I picked out a book about interesting penguin facts. Did you know that Emperor Penguins can stay underwater for about 20 minutes at a time? Savas was deeply engrossed with the warmth the fireplace in the library offered. As he still seemed a little cold, I used my newly attained penguin knowledge to keep him warm by huddling together on the couch. I can't tell you if it simply was my heart warming or if the huddling together working fine that made me feel cozy and comfortable. But my bet's on the former. After waking up to an uneventful day, we go and speak to the White Witch. She was not disinterested in helping us regain our friend, but asked us to do a little something first. Firstly, she wanted the Drachentree branch. It wasn't useful to us anymore, so parting with it wasn't a problem.  Second, she wanted us to "exercise" her winter wolves. 4 beasts of impressive power and beauty. While she wanted us to only knock them unconcious, she said she couldn't promise us that the wolves will treat us as gently. And lastly, she asked that we put a necklace which would render a dragon powerless and locked into their human form on Nasaadi, a white dragon whelp which escaped from Cohort imprisonment lately. The White Witch mentioned that she didn'T mind the whelp right now, but she wanted the whelp out of her realm before she would go ahead and become troubling to deal with later.  After parting with our branch and resting for the night, we moved to the Court yard and took the wolves on. To assess their strength, we decided to take on one at a time at first. The first wolf we had the pleasure of meeting was Tera, a sweet girl that made me feel bad about attacking her at first. She proved to be quite vicious when provoked however and put up quite a fight, before we knocked her out. The second wolf was called Kai and called us cowards for fighting in a numbers disadvantage. He spouted something about not needing companions. One could say he acted like a lone wolf. We "played" with him as well and sent him back to his nest. We took on the last two wolves as a pair, who were called Nami and Misha. I had quite some fun with the two of them, although they do play very roughly. They were quite intelligent, using pack tactics to confuse me and and strike when it hurts. However, we used our own pact tactics and brought Misha down, before swiftly knocking Nami unconcious as well. The poor girl didn't know what was coming when I hit her with my swords blunt side on the back.  With our second task fulfilled, we gathered up in our group room to discuss our last task: Making Nasaadi put on the Necklace which would seal her powers willingly. After a few minutes, we came up with a ruse that the white dragon would not be able to resist. Our plan was to pool our important items and money on top of the big table in the dining hall, enticing the dragon to take a closer look, pretending that those and the necklace were part of a big haul we recently got. And once Nasaadi, who was known to be especially greedy, was intrigued enough that she wanted to wear the necklace, we would put it on her and complete our final task. Our plan was definitely easier said than done. Once we dropped the "loot", everyone in the room but the RiverKing, Sirena and Phage gathered at our table. Even the reptilian looking purple creautre, which was an excellent cook, dished out a celebratory meal for this occasion, which only reinforced our ruse. We start discussing how we could divide the loot amongst us and how we were going to proceed with the magical amulet. Nasaadi was clearly engrossed with our "loot", looking it over and stepping closer to it, but without attempting to take some for herself, in stark contrast to everone else on the table, who were essentially lining up to be the next one to try putting on the necklace. Sadly, the white dragon was not buying our ruse. Savas came up with an excellent idea however: He brought up that the necklace should belong to the only person who was paying the item it's due respect, by showing restraint in the face of all these riches. All eyes turned to Nasaadi as Savas offered the necklace to the small dragon. While she was hestitating at first, Savas managed to convince her and put the necklace around Nasaadi's next. She transformed into her toddler form immidiately and found that she couldn't remove the necklace. Savas acted like he couldn't either, but a mage in the mob nearly ruined our plan. Tristan was quick to act and told him that this was all part of the White Witch' plan, after witch the mage reinforced our ruse, stating that we must've already tried everything. While Nasaadi screamed and cried in the background, I made my way over to the River King, to receive our rewards for a task well performed. I received an Ice coin, which I was supposed to give to Sirena, in exchange for Phage. So I approached the table where the two of them sat. Having no reason to play nice any longer, I placed the Coin on the table, looking sternly at Sirena: "Payment is due, I want my friend back." She looked surprised for a moment, her dumbfounded gaze wandering between me and the ice coin, but released the enthrallment on Phage immidiately and left the dining hall. I was worried that she might be trying to pull some trick for a moment, but Phage was alive and as well as could be. I took her to our table, so she could be able to enjoy a wonderful meal next to a screaming toddler, answering some questions as to where she was and what had happened, before we set off to our return point and went back to the Cohort. We decided that it would be in the Cohorts best interest that Nasaadi was raised inside the Cohort Arcanum halls. While it is true that she was once imprisoned by that same Cohort, we believe that Nasaadi deserves a second chance at life. Perhaps with enough time, we can sway her to change her ways and become a kinder dragon, so that we wouldn't have to fight her ever again. All in all, I believe this is what one might call a great success. Phage is back, safe and sound. I'm glad our party could make it happen. That is all. -Signed, Eirena Lightshadow

1581342846

Session 104 (1R): Temple of the Air Djinni Played on the 9th of February 2020! Present: Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 7 (Darvius) Diesa Gemfire; Dwerren Fighter/Wizard, lvl 6 (Zilarrezko) Dragomir Black; Vos Dragolock, lvl 6 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 6, (SlothSlow) Medi Eirwen; Alseid Ranger, lvl 6 (Serephen) Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 5 (Adam B) Vincent Heron; Human Fighter, lvl 4 (Simon D) The official log of Dragomir the Black - Investigator member of the Cohort Arcanum. So we all gathered in the halls of the Cohort and went over everything from the last time we arrived at the temple. We all came to the choice to take a horse with us. I’m glad we are getting into the habit of taking mounts with us and this time it saved a life. Moving fast is a luxury not all have when its needed is invaluable.  We arrived at Rhzlevskyy without issue. The Tsarina Chessa, told us things had been really quiet as of late. Not many gnoll raids coming from the temple which was either a really good sign or bad. She offered us a healing potion when she didn’t have to. Got to thank her for that like, she really does seem like the kind sort ya know. Happy to help with magic access.  We made really good time to the temple of Elil, it’s not far and we had the wind to our backs. We started by applying a passage over the temple. Korak had brought some ladders and with the temple of a little bit of Dwerren work and a silence spell here and there we able to place the ladders as a crude bridge over to the temple. Having an extra escape route encase we needed it was a good idea. We checked the guard room but it was empty this time. I did find the monk sword gnoll guy but he was relaxing and personally I didn’t want to disturb him.  We could see a lady tied against these pillars off in the distance and if she needed help we didn’t have time to have a straight fight. Plus that gnoll monk guy is really annoying, he carries so many swords. We fought best against fighting him, maybe it was a good choice at the time. We turned right and headed toward the lady who was chained to the pillars. The first room was empty kinda like they had been expecting us. It looks like a ship has been thrown into the side of the wall.  There were loads of broken plates on the floor so they could have easily heard us arriving.  The lady tie up spoke Vos but Medi could see through her plan. She was chained to the pillar but really wasn’t. I got Korak to move up to try n help her and soon as he did we’re attacked by these creatures in the ground. Salt looking dog things, that could turn into the wind and try to pin you down.  The woman turned into a hag looking creature and ran away cackling she called herself Mambinn. We pushed on to the next room after the hag trying to keep the pressure up. The temple had moved all there forces to the main hall and begone throwing them at us. Gnoll berserker, Gnoll Knight and loads of normal gnolls. There was even an animated suit of armor that joined in.  The biggest problem was the salt golem. This was a creature that if it hit you at a weak point would just outright kill you! Everyone make sure to try soak as many hits as possible. Be careful of them, if you hit one, salt flys off and blinds nearby creatures making it difficult for them to see, like unless there quick of foot.  This fight went on for some time, trying to keep everyone alive why taking out the weaker targets. Why this was going on spellcasters inside where add more to the fight and we couldn’t even see them. After some time the golem was looking weak and retreated back inside to try and heal. They sent out  Gurzinbago the vos man who was husband to Odjanbago. He didn’t last long tho and died just like the gnolls.  As we pushed inside the main temple we heard yelling from the hag lady, Mambinn. Pleading to Odjanbago to come to join the fight. Lucky for us Mambinn went down and we were only left with the hiding salt golem and Odjanbago, both in the main chamber.  The temple that floats on the air, I believe to be the home of a Djinni, one of the air and who had fallen prey to Odjanbago service. This, however, is not the greatest story, Odjanbago summoned her servant to kill herself to protect her, and the Beautiful air Djinni, started to summon clouds of death. Odjanbago was nowhere to be seen. Some party members though the Djinni was the threat and fired at her… Her face was one of pain and servant of the air primordial or not she really didn’t deserve this.  The clouds clung to your skin and wanted to get into your lungs. These we’re death clouds and a brought a heavy curse. Some of us ran passed trying our best to just avoid her why leaving Korak to dodge the best he could.  Odjanbago and invisible and firing fireballs at the 5th school of magic. The golem came out as we were going around the room trying to find where she standing, soon as we did she just disappeared again. I managed to kill the salt golem and we finally brought Odjanbago out of hiding. It was too late though, the Djinni had brought the 3rd death cloud out and it was too much for her. She turned to dust and disappeared into the wind.   The death clouds had been scared away apart from one and it was still attacking Medi. We finally found Odjanbago and the Bow of Bellassar finally hit her. Darius was able to bring her down at last. After that, we did our best and killed the last cloud but it has already cursed Medi.  We spent some time looking around the room and difficult things and found a magical weapon and a silver moonlit fog robe. I really like the colour. We tried to keep Odjanbago alive to bring her back with us but the time it took left us open. We could hear the sounds of them magic insects coming closure and went we looked we could see that monk had started to move forward.  So like there we were, Medi with Odjanbago on her back, bearly able to move. Magical eating bugs flying around the corner from one side and a pissed off monk gnoll with 30 or so flying swords on the other and no good options. I tried my best to keep the bugs busy with magic to eat why everyone started fastening ropes together and trying to lure people down. There was no way we were able to bring Odjanbago back alive so her body was going to have to do. So we through her over the edge and into the water.  I wasn’t going to be waiting around and jumped right off the edge and prayed to Silver for protection. Others began to slowly lower down we managed to make our way out of the temple with Odjanbago body. We were still counting the seconds. Medi was looking bad, really bad and needed help.  We traveled as fast as possible back to the city in search of a cleric that could save her. I saw a dream why traveling back of her just disappearing into dust like the Djinni. However, fate was on our side and there was an old man just bearly awake who was willing to perform the service and remove the curse.  We kept the body in good condition and made it back to the Hall of the Cohort Arcanum, Let's see if death can keep you safe from the Kallanon. 

1581353271

Session 99: Gods & Goblins (Mission Special) Sithric Grimhildsson; Hanner Sidhe Fighter, lvl 5 (Depraved Lunatic) Einar Thrüm; Vos Fighter, lvl 4 (SlothSlow) Zero Odeh; Khinasi Rogue, lvl 2 (Rolf/Rill) Amon; Human Monk pregen, lvl 1 (Clemens) Kasimir Volkov; Vos Cleric, lvl 1 (Adam B) Zook; Sidhewair Barbarian, lvl 1 (uh) My first mission with the Cohort Arcanum began with a briefing. A young Hanner Sidhe took charge of the mission. The boy seemed unaccustomed to being in charge, but I could tell he had the fire of leadership in him. The rest of the group seemed raw and untempered with one exception: another Vos who identified himself as Tal. I had not crossed paths with a Vos in some time, and such meetings could be tense. It is hard to know which of them still follow the old ways, so I kept my eyes on him. There was not much discussion to be had, so we set off for the city of Ariya. Upon arrival, our group made contact with the Assistant Deputy Vizier at the Barracks, a small man with a big ego. Zero spoke the language well, and did a fine job negotiating a price for Goblin ears, eventually settling on 20 Golden Stallions per pair. We then headed to the Market district. We were in luck; a large caravan lead by Bahira el-Serai, a well known merchant, was leaving the following morning and heading north. We offered our services as bodyguards, but Bahira seemed reticent. After a quick demonstration of our prowess, she offered us 150 Golden Stallions each to escort her caravan to the northern border of Ariya. We accept. In the morning, we gathered with the rest of the caravan: merchants, guards, and servants. There were about 200 in all. Our group was posted on the Eastern flank. They called it “the dangerous side” because the Goblins usually raided from that direction. The first day we travelled 16 miles, making good time. The road was in good repair, and as the sun was setting we arrived at Ordu, a caravansary. They fed us well; a hearty meal of spiced mutton and Ariyan wine. Ordu had its own guards stationed there, but we kept watch anyway. The next morning we departed at first light, covering 20 miles that day. I am well accustomed to the heat of the forge, but the Ariyan sun was unabating. And to think, it is only spring! By the time we arrived at Patnos, another caravansary, I was thankful for the reprieve. The third day was to be our final with the caravan. We made good time, arriving at Hara Dag near the northern Ariyan border before nightfall. In the morning, we collected the balance of our payment from Bahira and set off to the south-east. As we leave, she mentions that the goblins had recently kidnapped someone: a girl named Hana. She advises us that there would likely be a reward for her safe return to Ariya. I led the group through some marshland and into the wastes, and it wasn’t long before we found the tracks of a large group of goblins. We followed the tracks until nightfall, eventually discovering the ruins of a large stone fort. Based on the tracks, we expected at least a dozen goblins inside. The moon was full and high, and in its light, even I could make out a few sentries posted near the entrances. We decided to approach through a breach in the south wall. Sithric handily dispatched the lone guard with a single well placed arrow. I will say, the boy can shoot. As we entered the perimeter, we heard strange snuffling sounds coming from a room to our right. Through a window, we could see strange brown creatures with tendrils where their snouts should be. Amon recognized them as Dogmoles; creatures kept by goblins and dwarves as beasts of war and burden. Guarding the entrance to this room were another two goblin guards who were easily dispatched. I am not accustomed to skulking about in the night like a sneakthief, but I was thankful that we had managed to get this far without alerting any guards. The courtyard was littered with traps. Someone said they were “worm traps”, but they looked like bear traps to me. As we moved north through the ruins, Sithric snuck back out the south breach to deal with the guards on the front gate. Amon and Zero dispatch another two goblins inside. As we reconvened with Sithric, we heard similar snuffling noises coming from our west, but much louder and deeper. As Amon investigated a small hole in the wall, he was seized by the tentacles of a much larger Dogmole. This one was massive and red, covered with hard, chitinous armor. It was a fearsome beast to behold, striking fear into the hearts of all those nearby. Amon managed to calm the best by rubbing its nose, but he was badly wounded. Leaving the giant dogmole alone, we pressed on. At the north end of the fort we encountered a closed door, and I could feel strong divine power radiating from within. Sithric opened the door, and there asleep in the bed was a small Khinasi girl covered in fresh tattoos. She couldn’t have been more than six or seven years. This changed everything. I could not abide leaving the girl with the goblins for a moment longer than necessary, and Tal agreed. As we approached to wake her, the holy power only grew stronger. This was not just a girl, but a demi-god. Tal and the girl conversed for a while over “tea”. She appeared to be in good spirits and well cared for, all things considered. She said that she liked being with the goblins and that they were kind to her, listing many of them by name. The goblins told her she is no longer Hana but Thinvasxea. The name sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I cannot place it.  She told us that she was a slave back in Ariya. Eventually, she falls asleep. Tal carries the girl while we decide what to do with her. Zero is keen to finish clearing out the goblin camp, but we eventually decide that this girl is too precious to risk. We leave the goblin fort. We put about half a mile between us and the fort before setting up for the night, but it wasn’t enough. During watch, we heard a large force of a dozen or more Goblins and Dogmoles approaching. We abandoned our camp and ran south-west through the night, with the goblins nipping at our heels. This upset Hana greatly, and as she cried, a storm gathered above us. With her wails, bolts of lightning erupted from the sky, striking myself and Amon. With a bit of Hana’s “tea”, I was back on my feet and running again. Pushing ourselves to exhaustion, we arrived at Patnos, one of the caravansaries we had passed through before. We had hoped they would shelter us from the goblins, but the guards were distraught by the storm and small girl that was apparently causing it. But the Forgefather was smiling on us, and the goblins turned away. A woman emerged from the camp, identifying herself as Faran el-Miere. She recognized what the girl was, and knew that the Emir would want her back in his possession. She invoked his authority and demanded we hand the girl over to her. None of us were willing to do that, and it nearly came to blows, but we eventually agreed to travel *with* her back to Ariya and see the Emir. We are under heavy escort as we head south to Ordu. During the travel, Hana informs us that her owners plan to kill her using Tighmaevril, to claim her bloodline. We agree that we cannot in good conscience allow this to happen, and begin to plan an escape. However, the opportunity never comes. During the night we are awakened by Faran. She informs us that an army of 1500 goblins have surrounded the caravansary, and they are demanding Hana. With seemingly no choice, we hand her over. Hana hugs the goblin chieftaness, whom she called Siskuss, and the goblins depart. The rest of our journey back to Ariya is somber. The weight of Hana’s fate lies heavy on my heart. She may be better off with the goblins than the Emir, but it doesn’t sound like he will be giving her up without a fight.

1581357032

Session 104: Mission 1 R Darvius Alandre; Sidhelien Monk, lvl 7 (Darvius) Diesa Gemfire; Dwerren Fighter/Wizard, lvl 6 (Zilarrezko) Dragomir Black; Vos Warlock, lvl 6 (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm; Dwerren Cleric, lvl 6, (SlothSlow) Medi Eirwen; Alseid Ranger, lvl 6 (Serephen) Cedrych Brightbough; Sidhelien Rogue, lvl 5 (Adam B) Vincent Heron; Human Fighter, lvl 4 (Simon D) Departed Cohort for Rhzlevskyy. Debriefed with Tsarina: gnoll activity quiet lately. Arrived Temple of Elil on horseback. Bridged gap to temple with ladders. Checked Entrance Hall: empty. Checked Shipwreck room: empty. Woman chained to rocks sighted north of Shipwreck. Checked armory: monk and swords present, but he did not attack. Headed north, through Shipwreck room. Ship of Brecht construction; would be valuable. Smashed porcelain everywhere. Exited shipwreck room. Woman chained to rocks. Spoke in Vos. Medi parlayed with her. Suspicious. Korak approached. Confirmed woman was using illusion magic. Ambush was sprung: six dog-like creatures of sand and salt emerged from ground. Attacked Korak. Woman revealed true form: old and withered. Named herself Mambinn. Turned invisible and fled north, into central hall. Korak surrounded by salt-dogs. Wounded, but dogs defeated handily. More gnolls in central chamber: four common, berserker, knight, salt golem, animated armor. Salt golem extremely dangerous. Exhausted victims with attacks. Dust blinded nearby friends and foes when attacked. Immune to non-magical arrows. Immune to silver. Adamantine worked. Picked off weaker gnolls. Golem too strong: Cohort fell-back. Focused other creatures. Golem heavily damaged. Retreated into temple. Gurzinbago, Vos Lieutenant emerged. Did not live long. Internal door opened. Powerful magic inside. Entered central chamber. Darvius slew Mambinn. Creature appeared: young, beautiful woman. Djinni called Leyla. Voice echoed from throne room: Odjanbago, invisible, ordered djinni to sacrifice herself to destroy Cohort. Djinni coughed up clouds of rotting decay. Undead. Resistant to damage. Extremely dangerous. Cursed Medi. Korak turned clouds. Djinni crumbled to dust. Entered throne room. Salt golem present. Darvius bumped into Odjanbago. Salt golem destroyed by Drago. Odjanbago cast fireball in throne room. Fifth circle. Invisible still. Hard to pin down. Bumped into her again. Attacked. Visible again. Odjanbago heavily wounded. Retreated to corner. Knocked unconscious. C departed temple on horseback, ahead of Cohort members. - C.

1581365377

Pro

Session 104 (Mission 1R): The Fall of Odjanbago Present: Medi Eirwen - Level 6, Alseid Ranger (Serephen) Dragomir Black - Level 6, Vos Warlock (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm - Level 6, Dwerren Cleric (SlothSlow) Darvius Alandre - Level 7, Sidhelien Monk (Darvius) Cedrych Brightbough - Level 5, Sidhelien Rogue (Adam B.) Diesa Gemfire - Level 4/2, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard (Zilarrezko) Vincent Heron - Level 4, Anuirean Fighter (Simon D.) We managed to gather another strong group to assault the cult of Elil in Rzhlev. I still wasn’t entirely used to my new form, but I felt confident enough in it to fight. I ran through the details of our previous encounters at the temple for the sake of those who hadn’t been with us when we encountered them and we all set off, eager to clear that place out once and for all. We made our first stop in Rzhlevskyy to meet with the Tsarina, make her aware of our presence and our mission, and to request magic access. She was more than happy to comply, and offered us the healing potion that I had returned last time under the same conditions as then: to be returned if it was not used and to not use it unless it was necessary. Personally I amn’t a fan of her specific interrogation/punishment methods and general ruthlessness, but I did appreciate that she gave us additional aid without us asking for it. She is a smart, capable ruler, and I do not regret helping her take the throne in Rzhlev. She shared with us that the gnoll had not been sending out raids anymore, and all had been quiet. That concerned me. We set out for the temple the next morning. I felt… more at home in the forest than I had done previously. Even in the most densely packed areas I felt like I could see and move through the trees just as easily as the open plains. We made it to the temple in no time at all. Korak reported that he hadn’t noticed any gnoll tracks on the way, though other humanoids had been in the area, confirming the lack of raids. We tied up the horses and set about securing a ladder to the walkway to use as a bridge, silently thanks to Korak’s magic. A few of us moved across and swiftly moved to storm the main entranceway room, but found it empty of guards. As the rest of us moved across, Korak spotted a woman through the gaps between the walls of the temple, across on another of these outdoor walkways. The woman seemed to be chained in the center of three standing stone pillars. I raised concerns that the gnolls may have been intending to sacrifice her to summon something, or invoke power from Elil. Opening up the Western room we found… nothing. No gnolls, no general, no suit of animated armour. That really troubled me, made me feel like they were expecting an attack and had positioned themselves more tactically rather than spreading out. The group opted to disturb the gnoll monk rather than proceed to the chained woman, even though a message had been chiselled into the door saying not to disturb him. The monk took notice of us, but seemed content to continue his meditation. Noticing that his supply of swords had been replenished, we opted to close the door and go around the other way, as per our original plan. We crossed through the room with the boat stuck in the wall, and opened the next door to face this woman. She spoke in Vos, explaining that she had been captured and the gnolls planned to sacrifice her. She offered her help, claiming to be a sorceress. I was sceptical about her story, and, looking her over, got the sense that she resisted magic. She almost certainly wasn’t a normal human. I tried to check her reflection in my mythriall wrist mirror from Korak, but couldn’t get a good angle without her noticing. I asked Korak to check her, but she noticed this and dropped the act, summoning creatures of sand and salt to attack us as she transformed into a wrinkled old hag of a woman. She cackled and told us her name was Mambinn before she vanished from sight, leaving us to deal with her summoned creatures. Through the fight we noticed a door to the deepest room of the temple open and shut on its own, indicating where she’d gone. We disposed of the summoned creatures and spent a few seconds healing and gathering ourselves outside the door around the precarious edges of the walkway. As the door opened we saw a number of armoured gnolls, one of the raging berserkers which I assume were the triplets, the headless suit of animated armour and one of the hulking creatures made entirely of salt. I immediately shot the golem, which caused salt to spray into the eyes of the gnolls gathered around it, but didn’t seem to harm it at all. Taking a chance, I tried one of my adamantine arrows which caused another salt explosion and actually wounded the creature as though it were any other. With all its allies blinded and crawling around on the floor we tried to combat the golem as it slammed Korak, Diesa and Vincent with powerful blows that cracked the stonework each time they missed. Those that got hit seemed incredibly worn out in addition to being badly injured. Some magic covered Korak, lighting him up and making him easier to hit, although after a number of magical attacks from Korak and Drago and a third adamantine arrow, the golem actually retreated further into the temple. Moving out to take its place was the Vos man with the magical flail, Gurzinbago. He swung at Korak, but was quickly taken down, even after boasting of his strength. As soon as he fell I charged in, wanting to catch up and finish off the hag creature before she could repair the damage we’d done to the golem. As I shot at her she called out to Odjanbago, telling her she needed to act. The others followed my lead and the hag was killed, though the sorceress had already turned herself invisible and was now turning her attention to us. She told us that she hadn’t expected us to get that far, and declared that Odjanbago, the master of the Djinni’s crystal, would not die so easily. She called on the Djinni to sacrifice itself to destroy us. A beautiful young woman appeared as though made of air given form, and complied with her master’s demands. She seemed in terrible pain as she coughed and threw up a necrotic, undead cloud creature. Those that understood her language said she was begging us to save her. I tried to. I tried to locate the sorceress, pointing her out to the others. Darvius ran in to attack her, though the golem had hidden behind the corner, and rushed to attack him, letting her slip away. The rest of the fight went a little poorly, but we managed to come out victorious technically. The Djinni coughed up two more clouds of decay before she was consumed. She died in pain and disappeared. Half the group went into the sorceress’ room, trying to find her, though they were hit by powerful explosions of fire magic. Korak’s divine power chased away two of the clouds, but one of them turned its attention to me and attacked. I couldn’t stop myself from breathing some of it in, and immediately felt sick. I escaped the cloud and, after the sorceress was exposed and knocked out, we all dispelled the cloud while Diesa held it off with her protective magics. Most of the party was badly injured, and I could feel a lingering curse from the cloud of decay. I could feel myself growing weaker, and felt a force preventing me from healing myself. Korak did not have a spell prepared that would cure me of it, but promised to do so once we were away and had a chance to rest. I hoped that would be soon, because I felt as though this curse would end me if I lost the strength to resist it. We took a few minutes to search for anything of worth. I tried to find my adamantine arrows, but the shafts must have broken on two of them, as I couldn’t locate the heads. We patched up the sorceress, as I recalled that someone else had been giving orders to Kaevanna, and had been pulling the strings behind these gnolls. I wanted to know who. I wanted to put a stop to them, and I knew that the Cohort would feel the same way. The others found Gurzinbago’s flail, a sapphire worth a lot of gold, and a broken crystal, as well as a tower containing paintings of a woman resembling the Djinni, and a beautiful robe that must have belonged to her. As they were discussing who should get what, I heard a door opening, and the sound of buzzing insects approaching. In a panic, Darvius called out that we should just kill Odjanbago to stop them from getting her back and flee. I refused. We’d gone that far to put a stop to that cult, and letting the information go meant that those at the top just got away freely. To terrorise more people, destroy and use and exploit more creatures and people. I couldn’t let that happen any longer than necessary. I ran back to grab Odjanbago and limped back to the rest of the group, as the swarms of magic-eating insects closed in on us. Drago helped by closing the doors between us and them to slow them down a bit. My lungs burned as I caught up to the group. On our way back to our bridge, we were stopped. A wall of swords blocked the way, as the monk started advancing in our direction. We were cornered, with no good options left. We had to jump. I knew how dangerous that fall was, and in my weakened state the fall would definitely knock me out, leaving the curse to rampage through me unresisted. The more badly injured members of the group would also have trouble surviving the fall if they landed badly. Thankfully we had some rope between us, and were able to combine it into a long enough rope to reach the water below. We secured it to one of the stone pillars and everyone slid down, with varying levels of success, but everyone reached the lake safely. Darvius was the last to go, tying the rope off to me as he leapt down. I looked at the unconscious gnoll. It would already be difficult to get down safely, without having to worry about keeping her alive. The Kallanon would surely have means of bringing her back or getting information out of her after death. I kicked her down and tried to lower myself safely. I made it about halfway before I started coughing up blood and my arms gave out. I just about managed to land well, lessening the impact, though I was horribly weak, and could barely drag myself back to shore. We limped away, some people sitting down to rest. Korak, after taking a look at my condition, was fearful that I may not last the night, dying before he would get a chance to cure me. I panicked. I know we face death every time we go out but that feeling of it creeping upon you with no way of stopping it… The feeling of helplessness… That was different. Korak suggested that perhaps there was a cleric in Rzhlevskyy that could help in time, as thankfully the temple was not too far from the city. I immediately dashed off, racing towards the city, coughing and stumbling along the way. My head was pounding, my heart felt like it would explode from the exertion, but I pushed on, pushed through, and made it before night. I collapsed on the boat, and Otto had to fetch the Tsarina for me. I about managed to weakly explain what had happened and begged her to help.One of her priests came forward and cast some magic over me. I must have passed out as I don’t remember much after that. In the night I had a horrible nightmare. I was stood in a camp, with a storm raging all around me, weak and dying. All my friends were around me, crying and calling out and trying to help but unable. Agatha and Prudence and Diesa and Mamm, Korak and Baroness Roseone, Maddie and even my sister. Teresa reached out to grab my hand and pull me to safety but as soon as my fingers touched hers they turned to dust and blew away in the swirling winds. I looked in horror at my hand and screamed as the rest of my arm fell away as well, followed by my body, until I was entirely gone, ripped apart by the storm of death. I woke up in a makeshift floor bed at an inn. It took me a long while to get up the energy to leave, but I found the rest of the party waiting for me. Everyone was pleased to see I’d recovered, and we returned to the Cohort together. To clarify regarding Odjanbago, whose body we recovered: Someone was directing these gnolls, had a plan they wanted them to follow. This person or peoples are in league with primordials, and will cause further destruction and tragedy unless they are stopped. We must find out who was responsible and what plan they are following before it’s too late and another incident like that of the aspect of Solaria occurs. We have to do everything we can to save people, otherwise what’s the point of us?

1581371117

Mekapix

Pro

Session 98: The Saviours of Still Tower Lucan Yaeldrin - Level 1, Hanner Sidhe Wizard (Mekapix) Cordelia Woodwytch - Level 5, Cellwair Warlock (Serephen) Zolis Ulmokina - Level 5, Khinasi Fighter (Lordgenome) Thugnuck Ironwall - Level 4, Dwerren Fighter (Leon K.) So, my first mission came about and it was certainly an interesting one. We headed up the River Argent, keeping a westerly direction, until we managed to reach a city called Zobek. The town was filled with a number of different races, including some that I wouldn't have thought very civil, like Kobolds for instance. While we were there, we picked up a few things, such as a small doll made of sticks. Cost 10 gold, which may have been a bit pricey, but I got a sketch of it down so I'm happy with that at least. After that, we headed eastwards into the Margreve. Did you know that the forest can actually dislike you? To the point that it can erode your equipment? I didn't. I do now, luckily not through personal experience. Apparently it's indifferent towards me, I'll take it. We came across the Rivensky Brewery which was ran by Grorgegret Trollbreaker. We tried some of the ale which actually has Margreve honey in it which made it nice and sweet. We continued on eastwards, heading past Old Mikhail's Inn. We could see a tower in the distance which Cordelia said was our destination. We were about to head there until we saw a black cat being bothered by a bird. It yelled something along the lines of "Prune Spots" I think, I was a little distracted by the fact it could actually speak. So I sketched it. The cat was called Le Sharrkk, and had been cursed. Now I thi nk about it, I never asked what cursed it, might need to remember that next time I see them. Le Sharrkk was actually a griffon, and wanted us to head into the tower, also known as Still Tower. I'm assuming as in, I'm surprised it's "still" standing. Within the tower were Le Sharrkk's eggs, that had been taken by a collective of Bugbears, and Le Sharrkk wanted us to fetch them. Important Note: There's a secret passage to get into Still Tower. If you don't take it, you'll need to go through a large camp which is overwhelmingly packed with Furrogs. To get to the passage, follow these instructions. " Just north of the Eye of the Forest is a hunting track heading west between two mossy stumps. Follow it, always choosing the right-hand fork, until you reach a clear pond under a bluff. There the trail ends, but a guardian of some sort waits by the pond. Take care! The tower will be on top of the bluff to your left. You can swim into the cellar of the tower through the pool—head upstream until you find air again." Most of the Furrogs camp outside the tower, so there shouldn't be that many in the tower. The guardian of the pond is a strange creature that has green plant-like skin, purple leaves, and what I can only describe as soulless yellow eyes. You'll need to give an offering to the guardian, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. It likes cold things, so we offered it some rations I chilled with Prestidigitation, and it happily took them and let us go in. We made out way through the pond and out of a fountain in the basement of the Still Tower. We headed upwards, fighting a few Furrogs along the way, as well as a few Ogres, including this huge Ogre female that I think was in charge. We managed to defeat them, at which point Le Sharrkk returned to her griffon form and was able to watch over her babies as they hatched. Sketched that too. We were rewarded with an insignia of a group called the Griffon Riders and Le Sharrkk returned us to the basement to show us something interesting. Le Sharrkk opened a secret door to a secret room with lots of secret secrets. Turns out we would have been mashed by large guardians if we had entered without the Griffon Rider insignia, so that's needed to enter the room. Cordie has it. We found some information about Still Tower, turns out it had been built on a magical ley line that seemed to specialise in divination magic, and a specific room was made in the tower to harness that magic. We headed upstairs to find this room which had a chest and a crystal ball. The chest held a necklace and a couple of scrolls of Lesser Restoration. The Crystal ball, however, was the most interesting item. It seemed to take any divination magic cast through it and changes it to a similar, but more powerful divination spell. Cordie cast Comprehend Languages through it and it changed to Tongues. While this apparently only works from within that room, Cordie took it to make sure that the Furrogs could not find and abuse it. Seemed like a good idea, though I'd have loved to study it. May ask if I can borrow it sometime... We then left the tower after Le Sharrkk told us that we can summon them again if we return to the tower and cook some horse meat. We left the tower and spent a night camping before deciding to head north for a little exploration. Cordie can turn her hat into a tent, that was really weird... We came across Briarblack Hill, the site where a multiheaded black dragon fell from the sky and crashed during a great battle between it and some other creature. There is also a legend that there is a wellspring beneath the hill called the Wellspring of Regeneration, though it has never been found. What we did confirm was that the hill seemed to move as if it were breathing. We left fairly quickly. Heading Northwest from Briarblack Hill lead us to, what turned out to be, a large nest. When I say large, I mean that this nest was made out of ruipped up trees and wrecked ships. It wasn't long before the owner of the nest returned, an enormous bird called a Roc. It dropped a ship within its nest and began eating the inhabitants. I had to look away from the horrendous sight. Luckily we didn't stay long. Those ships could be filled with all manor of treasures but I'd rather go back someday to get rid of the monster... Heading Northeast from there, we came across an ancient castle that once belonged to the Dwerren Clan called the Grimbold Clan. An interesting find, this castle used to be well known and prosperous but it seems to just vanish from history at a certain date. This castle was apparently often visited by a powerful cultist who specialised in wizardry. Many warriors were also able to purchase weapons from this keep made of star metal or pure shadow. Oh how I would love to get my hands on one! Think of what we could learn! Though it may not be easy, there are many rumours as to why the keep vanished from history. Some believe that the ghosts of Grimbold haunt it, some say that the wizard cultist took it as their own, and some even speculate that the weapons made there coalesced into a great dragon and destroyed everyone within. After this, we decided to head back to Cerilia to report our findings. Now, if you'll excuse me, what I went through at that keep have given me a few ideas of spells I may wish to research for the future... - Lucan Yaeldrin

1581432097

Pro

Session 98 (Special): The Saviors of Still Tower Present: Lucan Yaeldrin - Level 1, Hanner Sidhe Wizard (Mekapix) Cordelia Woodwytch - Level 5, Cellwair Warlock (Serephen) Zolis Ulmokina - Level 5, Khinasi Fighter (Lordgenome) Thugnuck Ironwall - Level 4, Dwerren Fighter (Leon K.) Monster XP 269XP Quest XP 500XP for completing the quest. RP XP 100XP for Bargaining with the Razorleaf 150XP for good RP! Exploration XP 100XP for discovering the Still Tower! 100XP for discovering Castle Shadowcrag, Zobeck, and various other locations. Log XP 200XP to Cordie, and Lucan Total XP 1,219XP to Zolis, and Thugnuck 1,419XP to Cordie and Lucan Renown, Fame, and Infamy +2 Status (Margreve), 10 Renown (Lesharrkk) 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 99 (SPECIAL): Goblin Bonanza! Present: Sithric Grimhildsson       - Hanner Sidhe Fighter, lvl 5 (Depraved Lunatic) Einar Thrüm                    - Vos Fighter, lvl 4 (SlothSlow) Zero Odeh                       - Khinasi Rogue, lvl 2 (Rolf/Rill) Amon                               - Human Monk pregen, lvl 1 (Clemens) Kasimir Volkov                - Vos Cleric, lvl 1 (Adam B) Zook                                - Sidhewair Barbarian, lvl 1 (uh) The party are rewarded with 180 golden stallions for killing goblins. Monster XP 37XP for defeating goblins 86XP per person for surviving the dogmoles Quest XP 50XP RP XP 250XP Exploration XP 0XP Log XP 100XP to Zook 150XP to Zero, and Kasimir Total XP 423XP to Sithric, Einar, and Amon 523XP to Zook 573XP to Zero and Kasimir Renown, Fame, and Infamy Every character gets 1 Renown (Ariya) 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 100 (Special): Margreve Medley Present: Mamm Bealdaartsdotter; Rjurik Fighter, lvl 6 (Seraphina Leaf) Galzira Strongshadow;  Hanner Sidhe Warlock, lvl 2 (Dewayne C) Vyurakas Arrhuriluas; Hadrachen Sorcerer, lvl 2 (Leon K) Glenn Sturgis; Human Cleric, lvl 1 (Spynx) Pineys have taken an interest in The Cohort Arcanum, and are hence unlocked! Monster XP 56XP per person for defeating the firegeist. Quest XP 500XP for unlocking the Pineys! RP XP 100XP for good RP! Exploration XP 250XP for discovering a variety of locations! Log XP 200XP to Mamm Total XP 906XP toGalzira, Vyurakas, and Glenn 1,106XP to Mamm Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Renown (Pineys) 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.

1581432113

Pro

Session 101 (Special): Shrubs and Gobbos Present: Lindal Leagallow  Cellwair Barbarian (Michael H) Knuckles Forgekeeper; Dwerren Cleric, (Leon K) Lio Qi; Brecht Rogue/monk (Dewayne C) Monster XP 30XP per person Quest XP 25XP RP XP 50XP Exploration XP 100XP for finding the goblin base Log XP 75XP to Lindal Total XP 205XP to Knuckles, and Lio 280XP to Lindal 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 103 (Special Mission): The Depths of Winter Present: -Savas Al-Hadar ( Physh ) -Tristan Brandiar ( Kristen B. ) -Jaidiele Sylis ( Ryan F. ) -Eirena Lightshadow ( Depraved Lunatic ) The party come back with Phage, and a new toddler! Monster XP 175XP each for 'playing' with the winter wolves Quest XP 500XP for rescuing Phage! RP XP 250XP for great RP! Exploration XP 200XP for discovering Castle Holtmyre Log XP 200XP to Savas, and Eirena Total XP 1,125XP to Tristan, and Jaidiele 1,425XP to Savas, and Eirena Renown, Fame, and Infamy 1 Renown (The Cohort Arcanum), 3 Renown (White Witch) 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 104 (1R): Temple of the Air Djinni Present: Medi Eirwen - Level 6, Alseid Ranger (Serephen) Dragomir Black - Level 6, Vos Warlock (Hats4Cats) Korak Flomhelm - Level 6, Dwerren Cleric (SlothSlow) Darvius Alandre - Level 7, Sidhelien Monk (Darvius) Cedrych Brightbough - Level 5, Sidhelien Rogue (Adam B.) Diesa Gemfire - Level 4/2, Dwerren Fighter/Wizard (Zilarrezko) Vincent Heron - Level 4, Anuirean Fighter (Simon D.) The group is awarded with 5000gp for completing the mission, and an additional 600gp for bringing back the body of Odjanbago. The Sorceress had a bloodline score of 40 (Azrai). Everyone can roll on the appropriate tables either in front of a mentor, or myself. See the bloodlines section of the wiki for how this works. Monster XP 943XP Quest XP 500XP for completing the mission! RP XP 50XP for what little time we had for it. Exploration XP 0XP Log XP 75XP to Cedrych 150XP to Dragomir 250XP to Medi Total XP 1,493XP to Korak, Darvius, Diesa, and Vincent 1,568XP to Cedrych 1,643XP to Dragomir 1,743XP to Medi Renown, Fame, and Infamy 5 Renown (Rzhlev), 1 Renown (The 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.

1581642949

Session 106 - Walk Along the Axebeak's Edge (Mission 2M) 13/02/2020 Participants; Aubrae Trevelyan, Human Paladin (Zilarrezko) Brognir Bronzehelm, Dwerren Fighter/Barbarian (Kritsten B) Zolis Ulkomina, Human Fighter (Lordgenome) & Gadreel, Human Mercenary (NPC) Our small party arrived in the free city of Illien. It seems a wonderful city, one of the largest in all of Anuire I am told and certainly full of many and different kinds of people and shops and sights. I would have liked that I could spend more time exploring such a place but we had buisness to attend to and bounties to collect. We gained an audience with the Count, Rogr Algondier, an affable man in his middle age but still in hale health and good looks. Good with the animals too for he had with him the most adorable striped cat. I so wished to ask if I could stroke it but it might have been unbecoming and he was busy in dicsussions with his daughter. When he concluded though the count granted to me access to the leyline in his land so that I may call upon my powers and told us of the axebeak problem. We learned that most of the trouble they were causing was in the south east of the county around the Erbannien Forest and in particular near a town called Aenier which is located by the meeting of the Spider River, that marks the border with Roesone, and the ocean. The Count also mentioned something about a past plague of crabs in that area but that seems to have passed. There are no roads, proper ones at least, to Aenier and so to get there overland requires following the coast which is what we did. The countryside is most pleasant, the beautiful well tended fields full of the fresh green shoots of high spring filled me with joy and beyond them the gentle rolling hills and dells and their cool shady copses were so charming. However as we approached the Erbannien our days were much less pleasant. The axebeaks attacked our camps during the nights. Coming out of the forest the huge horse-sized ungainly flightless birds are much more stealthy than one would expect and they were able to slip past Zolis and Brognir during their watches and assault us. The honking beasts tore Zolis' poor horse to pieces before we could really react. Once we did they proved about as hardy as a warhorse themselves but much more viscious and much more cunning. Like wolves, they worked together with unnerving precision to gain every advantage in the fight. They are quick on their stompy legs too, not quite as fast as a good horse but certainly quicker than a woman on foot. I wonder if perhaps it would be possible to tame some to serve as battle mounts. Fending off these night time attacks we finally made it to the town of Aenier. A beautiful and picturesque seaside town, though suffering under recent events for the axebeaks are not only so bold as to attack camps in the night but even sometimes enter into the town. When we arrived at the Inn, the 'Broken Compass', they were cleaning up the remains of one that had troubled their doorstep. The Broken Compass is an unusual establishment, ran by a man called Taryl it seems to be both an inn, tavern, general store, armory and gambling hall. The proprietor also boasted of interesting diversion in the backrooms employing ropes but when I asked for more details they got less forthcoming. Perhaps I shall enquire again should I return. After a night of fine wine and dining to recover from our travails we were met at the inn in the morning by a local woman named Gadreel. An enchanting woman with battlefield experience, and it turned out considerable and skill in arts of violence. She had been a member of a mercanary company of near to twenty bodies who had entered into the Erbannien to hunt the axebeaks. Deep in the forest they had encountered a flock of over fifty of the beasts and become overwhelmed. Poor Gadreel was the only one able to make it out and she was eager to take a measure of vengeance joining us eagerly. Given that brought our numbers only to four it seemed plain that we could not enter deeply into the forest and so for a number of days. Or nights rather, for the birds seem to hunt after sunset, we stalked the edges of the Erbannien around Aenier. Our first hunt went well. Zolis was able to pick up a very recent trail of the creatures and we followed it, finding a sacked caravan. The carraiges in arry and the beaks feasting on the dead, human and other axebeak alike. They certainly have a preference for meat. They took a chunk out of Zolis too after we attacked but we despatched them soon enough. We recovered what supplies and bodies we could of the former caravan, righting one of the carriages and taking it back to the town so the dead could be given rights and the goods could be put to use. Our second did not go so well, unable to find a specific trail we 'camped' across a number of them, staying up rather than sleeping but nothing assaulted us. The next night we tried venturing a short ways into the forest, only about a mile - in case an overwhelming flock surprised us as they had to Gadreel's outfit but did not find any then either. The fourth hunt and our fifth evening in Aenier, Zolis was able to pick up a good lead again. Finding a number of axebeaks in persuit of what seemed to be taloned bear tracks. We followed them to a tall cliff a couple miles west of town. There were just over a dozen of the birds feasting on the bodies of four Owlbears at the cliff base. A series of natural steps formed a natural passage between the highland and lowland. The three of us took position on these with Gadreel at the clifftop shooting arrows. We were thus able to bottleneck the beasts and deal with them more easily. One of them managed to clamber up to get at Gadreel but she ended it swiftly and then with beautiful grace and deadly skill leapt down onto the creatures we were facing, slicing the heads off another pair of them. Between the ones that had tried to ambush us, and our two successful hunts we had aquired altogether 32 beaks. More than enough to please the count and so we returned to Illien. By boat this time and presented our trophies. We have given the people of Aenier some relief and hope for a time I think. But the numbers and ferocity of the axebeaks is well remarked by the town as highly unusual, something strange is certainly occuring in the forest where these creatures are at their thickest. It would behove a larger and more skill diverse group to return and find out what this is. Aubrae Trevelyan, Knight of Laerme's Aegis

1581701597