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What's up...

General Summary

Druid: Sacred groves and cairns in your home forest had been desecrated. Riders cloaked in black were seen in the area. Healer: Your high priestess was slain by an intruder. With her dying words, she pleaded that an object they stole must be returned. She had pulled a symbol off of her attacker. It was later identified as the symbol of Balek, an evil god of cruelty, subjugation and ruling over the “weak”. You travel to your sister temple in Lokmuria, capital city of Aedoran. Dervish Dancer: Your Tengu friends were kidnapped by followers of Balek. Dervish Dancer: You follow a trail of blood from your home in the Yashima ward of Lokmuria to a locked door. You disable the lock and enter the catacombs below. There you join a Tiefling paladin, a druid and a healer. Healer and Druid: You followed sightings of undead and figures clothed in black to the entrance of a mausoleum. There you join a Tiefling Paladin and a woman Dervish Dancer. Inside the catacombs you found and captured Grulsh, a follower of Balek. Several Tengu were held captive there. Only one, Takanagi, survived. Grulsh revealed he takes orders from a half-orc named Shornak. You waited at the Stone Tree in Lokmuria for the next arrival of orders from Shornak. No one ever approached the tree. You checked the hiding spot in the tree and realize someone cloaked with invisibility had left instructions in the tree. Grulsh is found decapitated. You went to an ancient tomb and discovered a piece of the Well of Dreams there. You meet with the queen of Aedoron, Arel. She offers to keep the pieces of the Well of Dreams in her vault. You decline the offer. She wishes you good luck and instructs her chamberlain to give you 200 gold pieces to aid in your journey. You visited Palinor, a sage at the Library of Keth. He explained that according to legends, the well of dreams was used to put gods to sleep. It was broken into separate pieces. Palinor discovers mention of the well of dreams and someone named “Runtha” who lived outside a small fishing village a few days travel from Lokmuria. You go to the village and outside of it, meet an old witch named Salara. She is the daughter of Runtha and instructs you to go to the nearby mountains to retrieve an orb that will allow her to talk to her mother and give you information about the Well of Dreams.   When you return with the orb, Salara’s hut is burned to the ground. Her blackened corpse reanimates and speaks to you. She tells you that there is a map in an island off shore from the village. At the top of a mountain on the island, you find a caldera. A half-sunken temple lies in the center of a lake in the caldera. There you find a piece of the Well of Dreams, a map on the temple wall and you also find a mysterious brazier that imbues your weapons with elemental powers. The mountain erupts and the temple is destroyed and you narrowly escape. You follow the map to a swamp. You meet an old woman and her grandson. She directs you to a tomb deep within the swamp. You slay a hag, a troll, several spiders and mummies within the tomb. You find another piece of the Well of Dreams. You head north to Falcon’s Fold, a stronghold in the mountains where Elves raise giant falcons and protect the region’s only major pass through the mountains from invaders. They tell you that an Orc army is gathering on the eastern side of the mountains. You scout the area, slay some Orcs and rescue some Elven captors. The elves promise they will give you a pair of giant falcon hatchlings if you perform a task for them: Go to the old Dwarven caves to seal a gate and block any possibility of the Orc army going through the tunnels beneath the mountains. You enter the caves and find the gates. They are held open with black, tentacle-like vines. Just within the gates, you discover a large community of people living inside a giant cavern. They all have completely black, glazed-over eyes and are led by a strange man named Cogrun who has tentacle-like fingers. The community is decorated with golden figures of a massive, tentacled monster and a fountain in the center of the cavern pumps out black water. Black vines spread out from the fountain and a piece of the Well of Dreams hangs in the air above it, glowing with blue light. You also meet a Ratfolk female named Bene hiding in the alley ways. She says she loves gold and has come to get as much as she can carry. The leader of the community, Cogrun, and his advisors invite you to stay and want you to drink the black water that flows from the fountain. They try to kill you when you resist. You slay them and then remove the piece of the Well of Dreams from the fountain. The vines wither away and the fountain’s water runs clear again. The black glaze clears from the people’s eyes. Then a Shoggoth enters the cavern. You all flee. Back on the outside, Malvius leaves to lead the people from the cave to their old home in the north. Bene explains there may be a shortcut to the next spot on the map (Bruin). She has heard rumors that the Order of the Waystones has a mysterious means of traveling long distances quickly. You go to Nearthun forest and meet a Hunter, Arune, there. He introduces you to Nuala Kelfaran, an elven sorceress of the woods. Her stone hut is just next to a clear pool and ring of tall standing stones. The stones are guarded by a centaur and a giant man who appears to be made of stone (named Korlak and Gorm). Arune leads you through a portal in the center of the stones. You traverse the ley lines and evade an Aether elemental and arrive on a hill outside the town of Bruin. You discover the ruins outside the town are haunted and the town is ruled by Grigory, an old man fearful of magic and fond of breaking loaf. He forbids anyone near the ruins. You go there anyway, face the spirits of the ruins and discover Grigory’s dark secret: that he murdered his brother and daughter and burned the castle down with many still inside. You get him to confess and then take him back to the castle. His daughter drowns him and the ghosts are released from their torment. You obtain several magic items, treasures and another piece of the Well of Dreams. You are then attacked by some men and an Orc in the town. You subdue and interrogate them. You find they carry a signet ring from the town of Taern, north of Bruin. The Orc admits he got the ring from a black-haired guard from Taern. He would say no more. You head north to Taern and are attacked by a bat-winged, minotaur-like demon. You slay the demon and continue northward. You arrive in Taern and search for a guard with black hair. Many match this vague description. In the eating hall, a disciple of Galastria recognizes the healer in your party as a member of his faith and invites you all to the local temple. Things to note: The falcon hatchlings are growing about an inch a day! They are almost constantly hungry and are very noisy if not fed. They’re currently just over 2’ tall and still covered in downy feathers. It is currently mid June and you have been adventuring for about one month (Bene and the Hunter joined the party about 1 week ago) So far you have found 5 pieces of the Well of Dreams. You suspect that the followers of Balek have one piece already which they stole from Lilyande’s temple       “You seek a man, black of hair He’s struggling, strangled; thorns cut the air. Flowers bloom upon his crown. His soul deep buried and soon to drown. Black feathers warn and Blue snow falls The cities sleep and darkness crawls Claws come clashing, red soaks the sky and underneath the sleepers lie…”
Report Date
24 Feb 2018

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