Campaign 2 Journal

Session 1 - 15/08/22

21st of Aevril, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

In the depths of the Heshen Jungle, four travellers found themselves imprisoned by amphibious humanoids known as Grung. They were sent into a cave network that was too dry for their captors to enter, instructed to retrieve an artefact of great magical power. These travellers - Fjolla, Alba, Lekki and Jain - journeyed through the heated caverns, crossing a ravine and fighting off dessicated husk zombies. They encountered a devil-toad known as a Nergaliid, who accused them of attempting to steal 'its prize'. A tough fight ensued, with them slaying the fiend and finding an orb emanating a magical aura. After finding a secret tunnel out of the caves, the group decided to travel west to the capital city of Kalomo.

Making camp for the night, Alba noticed a figure in the distance. Travelling through the trees he found nothing but a strong smell of ash. The group rested, and prepared to set off the next day.

Session 2 - 22/08/22

22nd - 23rd of Aevril, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

The group travelled through the jungle, delayed by difficult terrain and inclement weather. Setting up camp for the night, Jain had a nightmare in which a shadowy figure with bright white eyes chased her. She was woken as a vine terror attacked the group, having ensnared several members of the party. They defeated the monster and finished resting for the night.

The next day they came to a village where they learned a little about the surrounding jungle, as well as hearing about the hag that lived near the village. The hag's daughter had attempted to drown one of their villagers a few years ago, and the villagers had killed the daughter in revenge. After bedding down for the night in the village tavern, the party were woken by sounds of explosions and carnage. The village was attacked by a horde of scarecrows, which massacred many of the villagefolk despite the party fighting many off. Suddenly the entire village faded, with the survivor looking suddenly horrified as she turned to Jain and said "she keeps killing us" before disappearing as well. The party were now surrounded by the moss-covered ruins of the village as a cackling laugh echoed through the valley.

Session 3 - 12/09/22

24th - 26th of Aevril, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

After resting for the night at the mouth of the valley, the party made their way to the home of the hag, north of the village. On the way they debated what to do with her, and whether there was any justification for her actions. Arriving in a fog-shrouded clearing lined with stones, they found the hut along with a shrine to Cerys, the hag's daughter. As they entered the hut the hag's voice spoke to them, telling them that her daughter had been a kind-hearted woman who had saved the village boy from drowning, only to be killed for it. In response the hag snared the souls of the villagers and intends to keep them tormented in penance. As the Annis Hag materialised from the haze in a chair, the party tried to reason with her and asked whether her daughter would want this, and if the villagers had suffered enough. Taken aback, the hag debated with them for a time, seemingly stumped when Lekki asked if the hag was actually any happier for what she had done. Finally the hag handed over a sphere containing the snared souls, which upon being broken released the villagers' souls. The hag spoke to the party before they set off, warning Alba of a man 'burning inside' that was pursuing him, and a being known as 'Ceridwen' that followed Jain, but claimed she could not interfere.

That night, after an encounter with some bristled moorbounders (mistaken for dire-panthers), the party camped for the night. Jain had a nightmare in which the shadowy figure caught her, and upon waking found herself drained of energy and vitality. The group journeyed onwards, reaching Kalomo and dispersing briefly for shopping and other tasks, meeting at the Cloak and Stagger tavern for a poetry night before resting there. Fjolla began repairs to her armour while Alba and Lekki visited the Kalomo museum and learned that construction of an exhibition was being set back by the crews being afflicted with memory loss while working on the project. The next morning, as the party had breakfast, they heard news of a governor being found dead in the distant city of Port Kinau, and that they had been revealed to be a disguised elf. Apparently in response, the United Nations of Kewhua has declared war upon Tzenketh.

Session 4 - 16/09/22

26th - 27th of Aevril, 1834CE - Kalomo, Yemoja

The party walked to the museum, where they met Gertie, an elf rogue also taking up the job offer. Whilst investigating the room where the memory loss was occurring, Alba cast detect magic and realised a strange aura was coming through the floor. They were shown the storage basement and discovered a number of yellowy-bluish jellyfish-like creatures called Flumphs, and realised they were feeding on the thoughts of people nearby. They slaughtered them all and after Lekki stole a ceremonial dagger they returned to the tavern so Jain and Alba could bathe to remove their Flumph-afflicted odors. After this they travelled to the Hearth Tree to collect payment. On the way they found Floppikins, a Zephyr that they had seen a missing poster for, and returned him to his owner. They then travelled to the Solvan Library of Kalomo, where they learned reading access was restricted, so Jain entered alone to research several topics of interest to the group.

That night Jain was attacked in her dreams by the shadow figure once more and in the morning the group realised something was amiss. After revealing the truth, the group sought out help at the Kalomo temple to the twelve. There a priestess was able to reverse the effects and directed them towards the Viridian Tower, where the wizard known as the Cynelish may be able to help further. Finding the tower but with no obvious entrance, Jain and Gertie climbed through a window where the encountered the agender elven wizard. They spoke to the Cynelish about Jain's hauntings and they revealed that it was the work of a Night Hag. They then gave Jain a pendant to protect against these hauntings in exchange for a favour. The rest of the group, having been permitted entry, asked the wizard about the orb they had found in the possession of the Nergaliid. The Cynelish recognised it as matching the description of an orb the Urakaxl Royal Academy of the Arcane possessed, suggesting there were several such orbs. The group set off with the intention of taking the job offer of protecting an archaeological expedition that they had seen on the job board.

Session 5 - 23/09/22

27th - 30th of Aevril, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

Coming to a villa in a wealthy district of Kalomo, the group were invited inside by Belry Thornsky, a Halfling who introduced himself as a financer and organiser of archaeological expeditions. He explained the job he had planned: an expedition to the ruins of Vohtarak, a research town built in a cavern deep underground to study the ruins of the precursor city of Voguragahk. This city had been sealed underground during the Coming of the Red Star and was rediscovered three hundred years ago, found in ruins and devoid of life. Vohtarak had been built to study these ruins, only to be wiped out by unknown forces. Most expeditions since have failed to return, those that have reporting abandoned ruins. Belry wishes to explore the ruins and retrieve precursor relics and information that may have been preserved.

The group agreed to the job, accepting 200gp up front, and they set off early next morning. Journeying north through the Heshen jungle, they crossed the land of an apparent hunter, narrowly avoiding several traps (with Alba being greatly injured by a swinging spiked log.) Jain also spotted the shadowy figure from her dreams watching her as they journeyed, only for it to disappear as she rubbed her eyes. That night the group spoke to Belry and explained a little of their history, and while taking watch together Belry inquired about Alba's history, only for Alba to explain that he had woken in the jungle some time before with very little memory of his life before, accompanied by the fire spirit that had spoken the words: 'Enkindled Flame'. During their watch Lekki left to talk to Vis, handing over the ceremonial dagger from the Kalomo museum as a gift to them and speaking of the job they were on. Vis identified the precursor race as being 'Torkoth' and noted that they weren't an especially pleasant people.

The next day the group came to a fast-flowing river, and after travelling downstream for some time they came to a series of rocks they believed could help them cross. Jain used her echo to teleport across, and Lekki realised after some time that they could use the Misty Step spell to cross. This left Fjolla to enlarge in size and carry Belry and Alba across. Halfway across the river they were attacked by Giant Crocodiles, one of whom nearly killed Belry, but the group fought them off, with Jain teleporting onto a rock and battling two while Fjolla narrowly avoided falling prone from a tail swipe from another before being steadied by a Silvery Barbs cast by Lekki. Alba's fire spirit teleported the three onto shore and the group ran into the jungle, soon losing the monsters. That night Lekki was haunted by the Night Hag Ceridwen. As they fell to their knees before the shadowy form, the shadow reached out only to have its arm caught by Vis, who forced the hag back and briefly revealed its true form. Ceridwen then fled, and Lekki told the others of the incident in the morning.

On their third day of travel the group crossed a boneground left by a jungle-dwelling people, and while crossing the land were attacked by a Gallows Speaker, a skeletal ghost wreathed in a shadowy cloak. It posed little threat, however, and after destroying it the group discovered a sword wrapped in cloth beneath a shrine at the centre of the boneground. The sheath identified it as 'Netherlight', and Fjolla was able to determine that it was magical in nature, giving the user greater martial prowess and the ability to teleport whilst in darkness. That evening, the group arrived at the town of Venture.

Session 6 - 07/10/22

30th of Aevril - 1st of Maius, 1834CE - Venture, Yemoja

Regrouping with Gertie in Venture, Belry got the expedition group rooms for the night with the plan being to set off in the morning. Jain burnt another letter in her room. That night, Fjolla, Alba and Lekki were woken by the sounds of commotion outside. Looking out, they saw a group of hooded people breaking into a warehouse across the street. Gertie moved across the street to sneak around the back of the warehouse while the remaining party members, accompanied by a dragonborn patron of the tavern, moved into position (with Jain and the dragonborn tumbling down the stairs), with Fjolla and Lekki remaining upstairs. As Gertie broke into the back of the warehouse the group determined that the thieves were stealing crates of a strange metal. A fight broke out, with many of the individuals being slain - Gertie and Alba determined that they were elven but seemed to be in a transmutive disguise. Another black-coated individual teleported away most of the stolen crates as Fjolla teleported down with Netherlight to engage him in combat. The individual cast hold person to freeze those outside as the remaining thieves gathered to him.

Gertie managed a critical hit to break the caster's concentration, freeing the others who then killed the remaining thieves. The caster noted that the party were 'fascinating' before teleporting away. In the aftermath the group were interviewed by Ezri, Captain of the town guard, and Yoren, the trademaster. Fjolla identified the strange metal as Tiligmite, a metal created by iron being exposed to extraplanar energy. In the morning (after Jain received a response to her burnt letter in the form of a letter materialising in her bag) the group set off northward, passing a convoy of soldiers and avoiding an encounter with a strange pulsing light. Making camp for the night, Fjolla caught the scent of ash and Alba decided to investigate. Travelling into the forest, he was attack by a flaming black-armoured knight. He ran back to camp grievously wounded, though the knight did not follow. The remaining watches passed without incident, and the group made preparations to continue travelling the next morning.

Session 7 - 12/10/22

2nd - 4th of Maius, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja/Terene

The party travelled further northward, and were ambushed at dusk by six large Gloomstalkers, after they attempted to hiss to scare one off and Jain climbed a tree only to be attacked by it. An intense battle ensued as the bat-like monsters swept down to grapple several of the party and fly up to drop them from great heights. Finally the monsters were slain and the party, now extremely weary and injured, continued on to make camp for the night. During the night Lekki left watch with Gertie to speak to Vis, who told them that they had been 'politely summoned' to a meeting with their family, whom they hadn't seen in some time. Vis said this meant that they wouldn't be around for a few days.

The next day the group met a woman on the road who introduced herself as Cordelia Kane, a monster hunter from the northern town of Oohnarak. She travelled with them for safety, and while she joined Jain for her watch that evening Jain noticed her cleaning a device she identified as a pistol. The next day, as the group travelled on, Jain let the others know of her discovery shortly before they were attacked on the road by three dire trolls. Cordelia lit her sword on fire with a strange type of blood magic, wielding it alongside her pistol as the group fought the trolls. The mutated monsters grievously wounded several of the party members, knocking some of them unconscious and nearly killing Jain. They discovered that the trolls were capable of regenerating from near-death, and finally used fire to destroy the monsters. Getting towards the end of the day, Belry directed the group off the main road towards a side path that led to the ruins, and Cordelia left the group to continue her travel north, inviting the party to visit her at Bludworth manor in Oohnarak should they ever find themselves there. With that the party ventured on towards the ruins of Vohtarak.

Session 8 - 21/10/22

4th - 6th of Maius, 1834CE - The Caves to Vohtarak, Terene

The party arrived at the entrance to the caves that lead down to the ruins and, over their campfire, discussed the journey ahead. The next day they descended into the caves and began their delve downwards. They came to a chimney-like pit that Belry guaged from his notes and maps to be a few kilometres deep, and spent several hours climbing downwards, roped together. Several of them fell at different points but were caught by those behind. The cave then levelled to a sharp descending cavern in which five cloakers attacked them. They managed to fight the monsters off and followed a winding underground river, passing by strange writing in a language that seemed to be a precursor to elvish. It gave some information on the route ahead.

After circling a dark underground lake and passing through several cave tunnels with low ceilings and then many pillars of stone, they came to a precipice and looked out upon a gargantuan cylindrical cavern. Several hundred feet below them was a broad shelf of rock upon which the lost town of Vohtarak could be made out, and then the rest of the cavern dropped away into a pit. The group climbed down to the shelf and Alba crept to the edge of the pit, peering down to see the desolate ruins of the precursor city of Voguragahk below. Half the city seemed to have been obliterated by giant boulders and rock, burying that side while leaving the rest mostly intact and shrouded in a pale fog.

The group reached Vohtarak and made a quick sweep of the ruined town, finding it in disrepair but devoid of corpses. They set up base in a central structure, and the next day began searching the town, splitting into pairs to search different parts. Alba found a single corpse sealed in a cupboard, mummified and clutching a rusted blade. The others found several various supplies as well as the diary of Kindriel, the leader of the expedition that founded Vohtarak three hundred years ago. The diary made reference to several significant locations in the city below, which were marked on a map, and then detailed some genercraft material that was recovered and sent to the surface to be delivered to Sorosia. The expedition ran into complications as several guards went missing, believed to have deserted, and archaeologists began feeling as though they were being watched while in the ruins. A building believed to be an arcane lab was discovered but was filled with a magical aura that harmed anyone who attempted entry. A sealed storage building was found and then finally the primary genecraft facility. It seemed inoperable, and Kindriel realised that it may require a type of power source, perhaps one of the glass cylinders filled with a gaseous blue energy that had been discovered early in the expedition's searches. However, before this theory could be tested, the next entry contained only six words scrawled across the page: 'They are here. They never left'.

Session 9 - 28/10/22

7th of Maius, 1834CE - The Ruins of Voguragahk, Terene

During the night's watches, Fjolla noticed a flash of movement on the far side of the caverns, and Lekki heard what sounded like a small stone impact from the pit. However, the night passed without further incident and in the morning the party ventured down into the pit, descending the two hundred feet to the ruins of the precursor city.

They came to a shattered temple, finding it heavily damaged by a falling boulder, but the green marble altar and stained glass image of an unfamiliar nature goddess was intact. They then journeyed to a storage building where Gertie was able to pick the lock. Inside they found a number of supplies including several of the energy cylinders alluded to in Kindriel's journal, as well as several green crystals that Fjolla identified as Residuum, a theoretical substance of distilled arcane residue that can replace any material spell component. There was also a few potions, including one of flying, and several spell scrolls. They then travelled to the primary genecraft facility. Sweeping the building, they found it abandoned and inoperable, with many large glass tubes - some of which were shattered from within and showed traces of blood and gore. After inserting four of the cylinders into a socket near the door the facility activated, with internal lights activating and a holographic podium displaying the image of a Torkoth man. Lekki used a scroll to cast Comprehend Languages and they listened to the recording. It was by a Head Genemage Cato, and he described the quake that collapsed the cave exits and buried half the city. He spoke of further sickness and death, and believed a coup would take place the next day, with a Genemage Athodan likely to enact his plan to use genecraft to adapt the surviving Torkoth to thrive within the caves, perhaps becoming impervious to hunger or age. However, Cato believed this to be too risky, and could result in death or much worse. He indicated to where he had stored several strange arcane tablets with information about his people, and asked whoever followed to learn of them, and tell the story of the Torkoth Dominion.

The group then investigated the arcane research lab, but could not find a way to avoid the damaging magical field that seemed to permeate the structure. They also investigated a central council chamber in which a puddle of fetid water had sustained a mass of bleached-white tendrils of some kind of blighted plant that clung to life there. As the party moved to continue exploring a sound rang out from within the city, and as they made to leave by circling around the outside several creatures attacked them. They were humanoid, pale white with elven features and a seemingly unending hunger, the twisted forms of the Torkoth that had survived in the darkness. A fight ensued, and the undead were slain only for a rumble to build as hundreds of the beings emerged from caves across the city. The group ran for the ropes and climbed to the ruins of Vohtarak as the horde began to scale the pit walls.

A frantic chase broke out as the party ran across the shelf of rock towards the cavern exit, narrowly avoiding the Torkoth ghouls that clambered over the edges. They began to climb, with Jain falling and nearly tumbling off the edge only to use her echo to teleport back up. Lekki fell twice during the climb, nearly killing them as Fjolla fired down from the top at the approaching undead. Once they were all up, Fjolla managed to bring down several of the pillars holding up the tunnel, burying the passage and crushing a number of the pursuing monsters. The party ran on, turning back to slay three of the ghouls that had broke through, and then continued up through the caverns. They came to the chimney-like pit - Lekki used a scroll to cast Spider Climb on Fjolla, allowing her to carry Belry up, while Jain used the potion of flying to transport Lekki and Gertie up while Alba wildshaped into a bug and was carried up by Rufus. At the top they continued on and eventually reached the exit to the caves, collapsing down in the afternoon sun in exhaustion.

Session 10 - 04/11/22

7th - 12th of Maius, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

The group rested for the night after journeying a few hours from the cave entrance. Jain attempted to take the genecraft tablet from Belry, only to be noticed by Fjolla. Jain took the tablets through the trees to secretly meet with Augern, a Goliath she seemed friendly with. She promised to make a full report later.

The next day the group began their journey south through the jungle. That night, Jain was attacked by Ceridwen in her dreams and upon waking realised the amulet gifted to her by the Cynelish was gone, with only finger-like markings in the ground as a clue. The next day she was contacted by the Cynelish, who said they had thought of a way for Jain to pay off the debt, and invited the group to meet them in Sherunis in a month's time. Lekki spoke to Vis about the amulet, with Vis suggesting they may be able to locate it as it could be 'lost'. During their travel the group fought a Wyvern that had apparently destroyed an Orc encampment, with Gertie killing it by shooting it between the eyes. They continued on and found a black crystal in the remains of an apparent fight. Alba investigated it and learned it was emitting waves of necrotic energy, so the group destroyed it and continued. The next night they managed to spot a shadowy figure watching them during the night, and when attacked it was revealed to be the Night Hag in shadow form. She escaped to the ethereal plane after taking a lot of damage.


Finally, the party arrived at the town of Venture, and began restocking supplies, while Lekki went around healing several soldiers who had apparently been sent back from the front lines due to injuries.

Session 11 - 09/11/22

12th - 15th of Maius, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

The group spent a while perusing Venture before spending the night in the tavern. That night, Lekki had a dream they were in a fog-filled forest with Vis, who told them it was the ethereal plane. They were in the Night Hag's lair and Vis stole back the amulet, with Lekki awaking with it. The group set off towards Kalomo, battling a pair of Rot Trolls that had been battling some Gloomstalkers. That night they were ambushed by a group of patchwork people and crawling claws, presumably sent by Ceridwen the Night Hag. They slew the monsters and returned to bed.

The next day they continued, encountering a shrine to Heshna, goddess of nature. They left offerings and found themselves blessed, making good time and finding themselves within hours of the city. Pushing on after dark, they crossed through the land of the hunter once more, evading traps and this time meeting him while he was butchering a giant badger. The hunter seemed a little mad, speaking in a whispering third person. They continued on after placating him and reached Kalomo. They separated from Belry after returning him to his estate and receiving their reward, agreeing to meet the next night for a celebration. The next day the group split up to shop, explore and people watch (in Gertie's case). Fjolla continued working on her armour with Gus, a Leonin blacksmith. Meanwhile Lekki, Jain and Alba did some sightseeing around the Hearth Tree, trying in vain to spot a member of the Kewhuan Council. The group then reconvened at the Cloak and Stagger tavern for their evening celebrations with Belry.

Session 12 - 23/11/22

15th - 17th of Maius, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

The party met with Belry in the tavern and had an evening of celebrations, with Alba becoming particularly intoxicated. The next day (after a late rise), the group split up for shopping, armour repairs (in Fjolla's case), and research (for Alba and Jain). They also did some people watching, catching a glimpse of Ophelia Martinet, Marquess of Abassa, in the Hearth. Lekki caught sight of another Yuan-ti, chasing after him to talk to him. He identified himself as Suzuis, attendant to Empress Ydriss of Isphyriss. Lekki asked him about Yuan-ti and their perception in the world, having become concerned that all Yuan-ti were evil after their research in the museum previously.

Alba's research in the Solvan met with little success, though he learned a bit about the Fjurfyre, a fiery entity believed to spread like a plague with an animalistic hivemind. Regrouping in the tavern, the group spent another night there before setting off towards Moloa the next day. Before leaving they inquired at the Hearth about postal transport, having seen a notice on the tavern board about it, and were given a wagon with two sacks of post to deliver to the postmaster in Moloa, a man named Eli.

After a few hours of travel the group passed through a grassy valley with several large stones carved into heads, and approached a crumbling stone archway. There they were ambushed by two monstrous snake-humanoids, which seemed to possess powerful anti-magic capabilities and produced a horrific gnashing sound that could temporarily immobilise those who were close. During the fight Jain was killed by one of the monsters, and Alba sent his fire spirit to bring her back from the dead with Revivify. As Jain returned to life, she had a vision of passing through a verdant garden that seemed to be in a vast cavern, while accompanied by Alba's fire spirit. Alba had a flash of this vision, seeing only the garden. The fight continued, with Gertie taking cover behind the arch while Lekki and Alba backed up. Fjolla was surrounded by the monsters and immobilised by their gnashing, unable to escape as she too was killed. Finally the two monsters were slain, and Alba loaded Fjolla's body onto the donkey and raced back to Kalomo. Arriving at the temple to the twelve, she met Daehana, the priestess who had cured Jain of her hag-induced sickness before. Taking the body to the altar to Alma, Daehana removed Fjolla's helmet, revealing her to have porcelain skin and golden hair, and used some of the group's Residuum to cast Raise Dead, returning Fjolla to life. Shortly afterwards, the rest of the party arrived back at the city, and upon regrouping decided to head back to the tavern to recover.

Session 13 - 02/12/22

17th - 21st of Maius, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle & Evelgür, Yemoja

The party took the evening to rest and stock up on supplies, before setting out the next day. Passing back through the valley with the stone arch, they avoided several 'dire panthers' that were feasting on the bodies of the beasts they had slain the day before. Later in the day they passed by the body of a traveller, deciding to avoid it in case it was dangerous. The day after that Lekki fell down a small ravine while travelling and discovered a hidden cache of supplies with a chest, with Jain identifying a symbol on top that marked it as belonging to the Myriad, a crime syndicate spanning the whole of Kewhua. Gertie picked the lock and found several bundles of fabric, some bags of spice, a dagger, a vial of dust, and a journal written in thieve's cant.

Later on they reached the town of Evelgür, built in a subterranean network of caverns with beams of light shining through from the surface. They spoke to several individuals including Goradin, the dwarven owner of the tavern, and Tamara, a tinkerer apparently responsible for creating an automaton that went berserk and had to be sealed in a deeper cavern. The party then discovered that the bags of spice and fabrics had been stolen from their wagon, and the wagon marked with the symbol of the Myriad. They decided to rest in the town overnight, however. Lekki spoke to Vis in their room, and Vis identified the vial of dust as being dust of disappearance. Lekki expressed their concern about the group's nonchalance regarding the temporary deaths of Jain and Fjolla, and Vis promised to keep guard over their rooms in case of attempted reprisal by the Myriad. The next day they passed by a hooded man sleeping in the tavern corridors, and continued on their journey. Gertie noticed they were being tailed, but the followers dropped away shortly before the end of the day. That night Alba was haunted in his dreams by the Night Hag, and woke drained of some of his life force, having discovered that his magic did not work in the strange dreamworld he had found himself in. The next day, they reached the edge of the Open Savannah, and continuing on discovered a homestead seemingly abandoned. In the barn they found several corpses drained of blood hanging from the ceiling, and a monstrous undead that passingly resembled an animalistic vampire. The monster spewed blood over them and battled them across several barn beams. Alba stabbed it in one eye with the dagger before casting Heat Metal on it, and finally Gertie shot it through the other eye, killing the monster.

Session 14 - 09/12/22

21st - 23rd of Maius, 1834CE - The Open Savannah, Yemoja

The party continued west across the Open Savannah. That evening, Fjolla and Alba spoke about Fjolla's return from the dead and her unusual appearance, with Fjolla giving some information about having been raised by her uncle Urist, and mentioned Cassius, a Crystal Dragon that lived near them in Rudania.

After another day's travel, with some attempted hag hauntings in between, they arrived in the town of Moloa. Upon arrival they witnessed an argument between the Sheriff - a tabaxi named Chanced upon Boon, or Boon - and Brork, a bugbear Bounty Hunter. They learned that Annie, a local girl, had gone missing. As he took them to Postmaster Eli to deliver their post, Boone recruited the party to help search for Annie. They followed some clues and met several residents of the town, including Howard Goode, priest of the local temple, Fogom, a Loxodon tavern owner, and Sawyer, the owner of the sawmill. They learned that there had been a small quake several weeks ago that had damaged the temple and mill. Alba transformed into a hound and tracked Annie's scent from the garden she was taken from to the center of town, where it abruptly disappeared. The scent was also mixed with a foul odour.

The party accompanied Brork on a search of the rivers to the north and found Annie's body, marked with several strange symbols that they identified as relating to the Old Gods, possibly involving releasing a powerful being. They returned the body to the town. Lekki went to the tavern to speak to Vis while the others searched the town records for information on the Old Gods. Vis told Lekki a little about the Old Gods, noting that they and their siblings had avoided them in the past. The rest of the party met with Jacob, a teenager tasked with looking after the town records. He told them that Goode, Sawyer's wife, and Boone all frequented the records to look through old texts, and found them a book on the Old Gods that was clear of dust. The group discussed the possibility of Goode being the murderer, and returned to the Sheriff's office. There Boone revealed he had found sawdust in Annie's pockets, making the group suspect Sawyer's wife. However, at that moment they heard shouting coming from outside, and went to the town centre to find a mob forming at the doors to the temple. Jacob admitted to having spread the word that they suspected Goode, leading to several of the townsfolk breaking down the temple doors.

Session 15 - 16/12/22

23rd-24th of Maius, 1834CE - Moloa, Yemoja

Several members of the party managed to force their way through the mob into the temple as several of the townsfolk attacked father Goode. He retaliated with several blasts of magical energy as his eyes glowed green and he began levitating. As green vapor began to seep up through the floorboards, the party engaged him in combat, damaging him as he unleashed several volleys of attacks. They seemingly killed him, only for his still-levitating body to twitch and convulse as tentacles and spined limbs burst through his body and h transformed into a warped horror many times his original size. As this happened the vapor throughout the temple transformed into shards of force that felled many of the escaping townsfolk as well as Boon. The party continued to fight the horror, with Alba summoning an ash storm to cloak the room after it unleashed a hex blast that greatly wounded several of the party. Alba finally killed the horror with three Scorching Ray blasts.

In the aftermath, Brork and Zon returned, and the body of the horror was burned. The party discovered Eli's corpse transformed, now an otherworldly form of elf entirely unfamiliar to them. They noted that this could be linked to the dead governor whose discovery had started the war with Tzenketh. At the back of the temple they found a cave leading underground, and followed it down, with Zon and Lekki remaining behind. In the surprisingly hot caves they found cave drawings showing a powerful entity being defeated by the duanist gods and imprisoned, before they arrived at an opening into a vast cavern obscured by fog. In the opening was a blood-stained slab and ten plinths powering an immensely strong abjuration field, with one of the plinths destroyed. From within the fog, Alba and Gertie caught a glimpse of an abhorrent, eldritch form that seared into their minds, causing temporary madness. The party retreated as Lekki, watching through Rufus, emerged from their trance to find Vis sitting with them, who observed that the entity was likely Kral, the Old God of insanity. They also noted that many of the Old Gods had been imprisoned during their defeat, with the exception of Taran, who had been destroyed by a weapon called the Felblade, a dagger capable of killing a god. After the party returned, they searched Eli's quarters and found a sending stone, as well as a pendant showing the visage of an elven figure. The next day they continued on their journey, only to encounter the figure they had called the 'Magic Man' waiting for them. He asked for their names, introducing himself as Baotan of the 'Lucent Court'. While Lekki and Alba gave their names, Batoan suggested that these names were only pseudonyms. He then noted that he group had learned too much about whatever he had planned, and ordered two otherworldly elven figures (similar in appearance to Eli's true form) to kill the party.

Session 16 - 20/12/22

24th-27th of Maius, 1834CE - The Open Savannah, Yemoja

The party fought against Baotan and the two elvish figures that seemed reminiscent of Spring and Winter. During the battle, Baotan seemed to be observing the fighting styles of the party and loudly critiqued several of their moves. He then teleported to where Gertie was taking cover and cast a charm spell on her. He asked her name and she responded that it was ‘Fiadh’. The other members of the party were charmed with varying effects by the two elves but through a long fight managed to slay one and greatly injure another. Baotan noted that the group possessed impressive talents, but that they would be unable to stop what was coming. He noted that he’d be seeing them again, and teleported away. The party attempted to force the surviving elf-figure to talk, but he refused, saying that he could not return to the Court after betraying them. He was then killed as he attempted to flee. On his body Alba found several strangely marked stones.

Continuing on, the party travelled for several more days, during which time Alba questioned Gertie about her real name. She revealed that her name was actually Fiadh and that Gertie is one of many aliases she has used over time.

The next day, the group came to the ‘stone fields’, an ancient battlefield filled with stone soldiers, all frozen during a conflict long ago. Here they encountered a Kenku carrying a staff of petrified black wood with a ruby at its end. The Kenku accompanied them and warned them of several of the statues that could move and attacked them. Later on they spotted several large stone bird-looking creatures circling some distance off, and avoided them. They finally reached the edge of the stone fields and continued on into the Savannah. The next day they came to a forest of giant mushrooms and fungi, and while travelling through it were attacked by several Rot Trolls that seemed to have been mutated by fungi. They fought against the monsters and managed to slay them all.

Session 17 - 30/12/22

27th-30th of Maius, 1834CE - Dirhoga & The Open Savannah, Yemoja

The party continued on, and later in the day they found an obelisk made of black stone in the savannah. They approached cautiously until Lekki licked the obelisk. They were frozen and heard a voice speaking in their head, offering assistance in exchange for an offering. Lekki briefly considered offering the orb, but instead offered all of their spell scrolls from Vohtarak. The voice accepted the offering, and the entire party blacked out, waking only a short distance from the town of Dirhoga.

In the town Gertie warned the others that the town was the main base of operations for the Myriad in Kewhua, and the group decided to move on swiftly after making some purchases. Before they left, the Kenku went into a tavern and joined a game of cards, somehow winning 30 copper pieces after betting a silver spoon they took from the store. Meanwhile, in another tavern Jain met with a drow, who she greeted ceremoniously. The drow congratulated her on handing over information, and gave her a Ring of Feather Falling as a reward. They then asked her to keep in touch once she knew what the Cynelish wanted from them.

Continuing on, the group travelled into the forests at the western edge of the savannah and stopped for the night at a small village called Sweetmount. Most of the party retired for the night while Jain and Lekki played cards. While they played, an elf with pale blond hair sat with them and asked questions about Fjolla. He identified himself as Cassius, a friend of Fjolla’s uncle, and said that he’d been sent by Urist to check on Fjolla without her knowledge. After confirming she was well, Cassius left.

The next day the group found a colossal tree with a shipwreck in the canopy. Jain, Lekki, Alba and the Kenku climbed up and searched the wreck while Gertie and Fjolla stayed on the ground, soon spotting a returning giant bird that seemed to have a nest in the canopy. In the shipwreck the party found 600gp (taken by the Kenku), a Bag of Holding, a bottle of ancient red wine, and a magical ring that seemed associated with ice. They noticed the nesting bird and managed to sneak down the tree and escape undetected. That night Alba spotted the black knight watching from the trees once more, but he left before they could investigate further.

The next day passed without incident, though that night the group was attacked by a horde of Ceridwen’s Patchwork People and several crawling claws again. They battled them and slew all of the attackers.

Session 18 - 06/01/23

30th of Maius - 6th of Jain, 1834CE - Sherunis, Abassa

The party continued west and within a few days arrived in Sherunis, a town atop a precipice looking out over waterfalls at the jungle. They stayed there for several days while they awaited the Cynelish’s arrival, during which time Fjolla continued to repair her armour and Lekki spoke to Vis about the possibility of finding Phase Spiders in the area that they could use to make Oil of Etherealness. Having located a nest of spiders, Vis arranged a meeting with a sibling that could provide knowledge on how to make the oil, and the group journeyed out to slay the nest. After being momentarily ambushed by the phasing spiders they slew them all and harvested their blood. That evening, Lekki and Alba met with Vis – revealed to Alba to be an androgynous yuan-ti in a green cloak – and prepared a feast while Vis enacted the summoning ritual for their sibling, ‘Loga Kopaku’.

Loga Kopaku, a dark-skinned humanoid in elegant robes with large golden hooped earrings, appeared at the table and invited the rest of eat. Greeting Vis as ‘Visorak’, he made friendly conversation with Alba and Lekki and gave information on how to create the oil. He also briefly referred to the Black Knight that stalked Alba, referring to him as a figure from Alba’s past that possessed an overwhelming hatred for him. He finished with a reference to a location he helped build that the party would soon find themselves in, and told Vis to ignore goading comments made by another sibling of theirs named ‘Reidak’.

The next day, the Cynelish arrived and revealed their mission to the group – to find the lost library of Muirneag, a place of ancient arcane knowledge with an entrance that shifts locations over time. The Cynelish said that they had planned an expedition several years before with a fellow wizard known as Thazahl, only for Thazahl to poison them and go to Muirneag alone – only to presumably have died there. The Cynelish also recognised the staff carried by the Kenku and broke a curse over the bird – who then transformed back into a wizard called Efyne. Efyne told them how she had been cursed by a rival wizard, Gannus Starheath, during a battle for the staff – ‘Winnower’, the oldest magical item in the Known Realms – which ended in her cursed and Gannus dead. She left to catch up on the last forty years she had spent cursed, and the party set off for Muirneag.

Arriving at a doorway in a wooded glade, they entered to find themselves in a large room full of bookshelves in Muirneag. The Cynelish set down a large vial of swirling blood, identifying it as a Nerichor – the still-living remains of a powerful evil magic user who had once visited Muirneag for information and would serve as their guide, with the Cynelish having borrowed him from a colleague who had imprisoned the entity. The Cynelish proceeded to tell the group of the untold lost and powerful knowledge available to them in the library, but warned of the dangers that this knowledge could carry.

Session 19 - 13/01/23

6th of Jain, 1834CE - The Lost Library of Muirneag

The party ventured through Muirneag, travelling through strange book-lined corridors with skylights looking out into unusual skyscapes. They were attacked by flying enchanted books and defeated them, before coming to a room with a constellation illusion and being attacked by what the Cynelish identified as a soul blighted by reading forbidden knowledge, an Allip.

Continuing on, they crossed a large bridge through a foggy expanse filled with towers of books and corridors and pathways, and hid from a colossal dragon-like being that passed overhead. Entering the tower beyond (guided by the Nerichor the Cynelish was consulting), they found themselves in a green-lit room before being attacked by an advanced Allip. After a lengthy battle they defeated it, with Fjolla – hasted by the Cynelish – leaping through the air and destroying the advanced Allip. The Cynelish identified this allip as being their one-time friend, a wizard known as Thazahl. Before moving on, Alba attempted some research and learned that the library seemed to produce tomes related to his thoughts.

The party finally came to the Sanctum, entering to find a broad room with a skylight looking up into a swirling vortex of matter and light being pulled into a black void. Across the room from them was a desk, above which floated a humanoid being with a black cloak, withered grey purplish skin, sunken eyes and an octopus-like head with tentacles coming down to their waist. This being, the Librarian of Muirneag, attacked the group and a fierce battle broke out. The party slew more allips and flying books while battling the Librarian, who was able to impose silence upon the entire room for periods of time. Eventually, Alba transformed himself into a tree-like form and summoned a swarm of fiery birds that flew through the librarian, obliterating parts of it into ash until it was destroyed.

Session 20 - 18/01/23

6th-7th of Jain, 1834CE - The Lost Library of Muirneag

In the aftermath of the battle, the Cynelish and Fjolla inspected the body of the Librarian. They could not determine its race but noted it to be undead, and after some searching through papers on the desk the Cynelish concluded it was likely a variant of Lich that would soon return to life, and suggested leaving it to do so as Muirneag must always have a Librarian.

The party dispersed through the Sanctum to research, with Lekki finding a tome on Dragon Chess techniques but acquiring some form of arcane curse in the process. Fjolla found an old text on the runecrafting techniques of the deepfolk, a precursor race to dwarves. Gertie found a journal from a Myriad agent identified only as ‘Treacle’, while Jain specifically sought out and found a tome known as ‘The Oldest Dominion’, an early era wizard’s notes on dunamancy. Alba began researching numerous topics of interest to the party, uncovering lots of information including:

The orb: that a similar orb had been found in a dig site in the Kingdom of Ilsted, and for unknown reasons agreed to be transported to Tzenketh by the Tzenkethi ambassador to Ilsted, Ortun Finisterre. The orb now resides in the Pelduin Academy of the Magical Arts.

The black knight and Fjurfyre: found the memoirs of a 16th-century cleric of Alma who helped a town plagued by Fjurfyre and treated one individual who he was able to restore intelligence and memories to by exposing it to a vast amount of divine energy.

The Lucent Court: Found a footnote on folk tales that referred to a collection of children’s fairy tales originally titled ‘The Lucent Court’, written by a child called Melba Bronst in the city of Lumbasa thirty years ago. The copies were then recalled for unknown reasons.

Alba also found information on recovering lost memories, later trying some techniques that seemed to have some success – he dreamt first of the same garden he had seen when restoring Jain to life, and then found himself seemingly reliving old memories of a village somewhere in a jungle valley. Fjolla also recovered an arcane tome on charisma and leadership skills.

Leaving the library, the Cynelish left the group after paying them 2,000 gold pieces each. The party spent the night in Sherunis, where Lekki found a cloaked girl waiting in their room. Identifying herself as Misaka, the girl spoke briefly about Vis and said she was a sibling of theirs. She said that she was looking for new friends after her last one had recently died.

The next day the party set off north towards Lumbasa, on the way discovering a mine entrance showing signs of an attack. Venturing in, they crossed a chasm spanned by a wooden bridge and discovered tunnels leading deeper, from which emerged several Umber Hulks. Fjolla enlarged herself before being made even larger by a spell from Alba, and blocked the monsters in. The group then successfully slew them all. However upon turning to leave they found the mining settlement aflame, filling the cavern with smoke. The pungent reek of ash filled the air as the black knight emerged from the smoke on the other side of the bridge.

Session 21 - 27/01/23

7th-10th of Jain, 1834CE - The Road to Lumbasa, Urakaxl

The Black Knight stepped onto the bridge, successfully casting Banishment on Fjolla. He then pointed a gauntleted finger at Alba. Jain rushed forward and battled him on the bridge, only for him to parry her strikes before lifting her by the throat and slamming her into the bridge before stabbing her with his sword. Alba, Gertie and Lekki attacked the Knight, breaking his concentration and returning Fjolla. The Knight cut into her with several slashes of his blade before Fjolla tackled into him and began pushing him backwards. She managed to push him to the edge of the chasm and then over the edge, and Rufus watched as the Knight fell down the chasm and into the rushing river.

Continuing their journey northward, the group caught a scent of ash one night and suspected the Ashy Knight was still stalking them. Alba continued to attempt his meditative memory recovering, having a dream in which he was a child, sitting around a campfire with another tiefling boy and a human boy. Lekki met up with Vis, who showed them a vision of the Bay of Lost Things on the Arian Islands. Vis then warned them to avoid Misaka and said they would investigate ways to potentially stop the malevolent Vaku from potentially harming Lekki.

The next day, the party travelled along a river and were passed by a barge manned by a family of Firbolgs, the Dusks. Kaeberos, the father, invited the group to join them as they travelled down the river to Lumbasa, which the group accepted. They met the rest of the family and travelled down the river with them, being attacked one night by a group of what Kaeberos identified as Spriggarts, flying goblin-esque beings that spat acid. The group managed to wipe them out while Lekki kept the family inside. During the battle Fjolla managed to utilise magic to cast spells following her prolonged study of the tome she found in Muirneag. The next day Tierney, the daughter, played a game of Dragon Chess with Lekki, before telling them that she had spotted someone in Lekki’s Bag of Holding. Lekki later showed the bag to Alba, who saw a pair of eyes briefly stare back at him from within the bag. Lekki then gave the bag to Alba to keep hold of.

The next day the group arrived at Lumbasa, dropping the Dusk family off with the family they were visiting and getting rooms at the King’s Cup tavern. They dispersed for the evening, with Lekki playing a game of Dragon Chess against a tavern patron and Jain meeting with a drow who identified himself as Mounral, and collected the tome she had recovered from Muirneag. He then gave her a sword which he said had been specially commissioned for her by ‘Archmage Morrow’, and commended Jain for the work she had been doing.

Session 22 - 03/02/23

10th-11th of Jain, 1834CE - Lumbasa, Urakaxl

Gertie left the tavern and crossed the city to visit the academy. Speaking to a professor, Master Damilius, and then Mistress Sela, head librarian, she warned them that the party would be coming to ask about the orb and asked them not to reveal that Gertie was the one who had found it for them several years before. However, Mistress Sela informed her that the orb had been stolen by cultists a few years ago.

The next day, the party travelled to the academy together, and upon speaking with the headmaster – Galas Amberfield – and Mistress Sela, the Owlfolk librarian showed them to a room where the orb had been held. She revealed that when exposed to magical energy the orb had revealed an illusory landscape that no one had been able to identify – the landscape remained painted on the walls as a record. She set the party’s orb down and hit it with a spell, revealing an illusory landscape that Gertie, Fjolla and Jain identified as being the coast of Tzenketh, looking out towards the Rudanian mountains. The group then spoke to the librarian about other questions, as well as inquiring with the headmaster about Lekki’s curse. He noted that it seemed to have altered them on a physiological level, and recommended a specialist in arcane disease called Doctor Sopona, who lived in Sunder in southern Isphyriss. The group also learned of a warden of Bellenrock, a Sorosian prison, who had recorded in his memoirs that a prisoner had raved about seeing a man in his bag.

Leaving the academy, the party visited Melba Bronst. In conversation with her they learned that as a child, Melba had dreamt of a strange land known as ‘Arvandor’, home to the Lucent Court, who went on strange adventures and carried out games and competitions. She came to see them as her imaginary friends, though they did not ever acknowledge her presence. One day, the court disembowelled a lesser fey for a trivial offence, and Melba woke screaming. Her mother took her to several specialists before professor Vandran TuVeers of the academy identified that Melba had powerful latent divination abilities, and was receiving these visions from another place or time period. He taught her ways to block the visions out, and her mother had the storybooks recalled. The party visited professor TuVeers, who was shocked to learn that the party had met one of the Court. He attempted to use the sending stone they had found to trace its pair, but was unsuccessful.

Jain separated from the group briefly to meet with Faebran, a halfling woman who referred to Jain as a sister and had been in Lumbasa for several months attempting to gain entry to the Academy’s sub-vaults, as her and Jain’s employers, who she referred to as the ‘makers’, believed there to be some secret hidden there. Faebran believed there to be deeper vaults below those that the academy used to store arcane artifacts. Jain agreed to meet her that evening to attempt reconnaissance.

Meanwhile, Gertie noticed a cloaked figure following the group, and covertly followed her to a wooded copse where the cloaked figure met with a tiny winged humanoid. Gertie later led the group there, where they encountered a figure who was identified by Snowdance (the cloaked figure) as Moonflower, Princess of Dewdrops, Pixie Archfey of the Lucent Court. Moonflower revealed to the group that while she was a member of the Court and could not oppose their plans directly, she wished to work with the group to prevent their goals, having learned their identities when Baotan came before the Court to request the use of a dragon-like monster known as the Jabberwock to hunt down the party.

Moonflower told them of how, two decades prior, a group had come from the Known Realms to Sigil, a place between worlds. In search of a way home, this party had traded an item from their material plane which had come into Baotan’s possession and allowed him access to the material plane. Believing this world with little to no knowledge of the Outer Planes would be vulnerable to extraplanar attack, the Court had voted to invade, with only Moonflower and four others voting against the nine that voted for. (Their Queen, the Ashen Light, had not voted.) The Pixie Archfey told them more of the Court, as well as their goals – which had been to infiltrate Tzenketh and Kewhua with the intent of starting war between them, as they believed those two to be the nations most likely to be able to oppose them in a war. However, one of their agents died and was wrongly identified as a Tzenkethi elf, leading to the war starting years earlier than expected, and leading Baotan to hurriedly search for an extraplanar metal to aid in construction of vast planar portals, located somewhere in the south of Kewhua under the supervision of Thiazzi, a Satyr Archfey of the Court. Finally, Moonflower gave the party a list of names of people replaced by imposters by the Lucent Court.

Session 23 - 10/02/23

11th-12th of Jain, 1834CE - Lumbasa, Urakaxl

The party were given a sending stone by Moonflower to allow them to communicate with Snowdance, the pixie that Gertie had followed, who would serve as the go-between for the Archfey and the party. Leaving to visit the academy again, the group discussed what to do and considered how best to warn Kewhua and Tzenketh of the true nature of the war and the looming threat. They purchased a scroll of sending which Fjolla used to contact her Uncle Urist. He said he would send Cassius to retrieve her message. While Fjolla waited, Jain snuck down to the vaults and scouted the area. Alba visited Wilma’s Wondrous What-nots, acquiring arcane ink for his new ritual spellcasting book, and towards evening Cassius arrived. He and the party had dinner at the tavern while discussing the developments, and Cassius agreed to take Fjolla’s letter to Urist and meet up with them in Sunder.

That evening, Jain left to meet with Fabran. The two managed to infiltrate the vaults, with the two of them using their Echo Knight abilities to teleport through the vault keyholes. Jain found a secret passageway leading to the sub-vaults, where they discovered a dark room housing some kind of enormous dragon-like being that seemed to be magically subdued by a group of mages. They hid as footsteps followed them down the stairs, and the headmaster of the academy appeared, speaking with a woman in the robes of a professor. The two discussed a recent experiment in the altering of a psychic field that had caused headaches among students, and the woman mentioned another professor wanting to do an analysis on flesh of the being to locate an origin, believing it to be extraplanar in nature. After the two had moved on, Jain and Faebran escaped the academy.

Later in the tavern, Cassius left to set off back for Rudania. As the rest of the party followed to give him money to send back for the creation of a firearm for Fjolla, Gertie spotted a figure familiar to her exit the tavern. Following him into an alleyway, she was attacked by the figure – Logroc, the Bonsun’s mate of a ship she had been on. As Logroc punched her, Gertie drew her dagger and managed to stab him. After attempting to talk to him did not work, a fight ensued that ended with Gertie killing him. She returned to the tavern, attempting to hide her wounds. The next day, Lekki began to feel ill and news began to circulate of the killing, and so the group made plans to hurriedly depart the city by ship, with several of the party suspicious of Gertie.

Session 24 - 17/02/23

12th-15th of Jain, 1834CE - The Abassan Coast

After stopping at Wilma’s shop to buy Fjolla an enchanted shield, the party visited Toryl Aldsul, a dwarven relative of Fjolla’s who ran an oceanic mining business by the harbour. He helped them secure passage on the Playwright’s Parade, a brig captained by a Captain Nezin. They set off for Serpent’s Shore, meeting a few of the crew, including Deme, a tiefling bard.

As the ship sailed south, Lekki became increasingly ill before waking the next day with their window broken. However, in the days that followed they seemed to recover. Gertie spent much of each night keeping watch, worried of ships following them.

On the next day a sailor in the crow’s nest spotted a ship to the north, seemingly tailing them. Captain Nezin used a spyglass to identify it as a crimson ship with black sails, which Gertie recognised as the Black Hand, captained by a Captain Kade. Jain and Lekki scouted the ship using Rufus and the echo, and Rufus was caught after biting several of the crew. Jain saw that the crew were preparing to attack their ship, and returned to the ship as a sorcerer on the prow of the Black Hand animated ropes across the party’s ship, tying up the sails, ensnaring and throwing off several of the crew and attacking the party. The party fought them off and began firing at the Black Hand with a fireball from Deme and arrow shots. As the pirate’s ship drew up alongside them a fierce battle began, with the pirate’s crew battling the party and their crew.

Fjolla managed to use a rune to charm Kade, who had previously attempted to use some form of magic on her only for it to have no effect. Kade was then knocked into the water by Jain. Lekki cast Sickening Radiance on the deck of the pirate’s ship, immediately weaking numerous members as the sorcerer and bard of the pirate’s ship fired back with spells. A barbarian, Dagon, leapt across to the party’s ship and began cutting down members of the crew. Fjolla was teleported by Alba’s fire spirit, enlarging as she crashed into the ship and smashing down to a lower deck. She began ripping cannons from their frames and firing them, greatly wounding a tabaxi pirate and blasting a hole in the lower hull. As the party managed to whittle down the pirate crew, Kade – a tiefling with red skin and yellow eyes – climbed onto the deck of the party’s ship and battled Jain and Captain Nezin, greatly injuring both and using a form of blood magic to light his sword on fire. Gertie climbed up to the crow’s nest and fired down on Kade from there as he battled Alba, unleashing a volley of attacks that killed Alba. As the sorcerer was knocked unconscious, the bard cast a spell and they both disappeared. Kade dived overboard as Dagon was struck down and the pirate ship began to sink as Fjolla made her way abovedeck and leapt back across to the party’s ship.

Session 25 - 24/02/23

15th-17th of Jain, 1834CE - The Abassan Coast

The party captured Dagon, the wounded barbarian, and Lekki briefly interrogated him. They then continued onwards, arriving at the city of Port Kinau, where they turned him over to the authorities. During the journey, Jain spoke to some of the slaves freed from the pirate’s ship and learned that Gertie had once been an imprisoned crewmate of Kade’s crew, before escaping around eight years ago after another crewmate whom she was very close to had disappeared. Since then Kade has been hunting her.

The group stayed overnight in Port Kinau. The next day, after overhearing a small hooded figure arguing with the tavernowner, Lekki and Gertie set off to do some shopping. On the way they were ambushed by the figure, a kobold who tried to attack them until Rufus incapacitated him. The two interrogated the kobold, learning that he was after money as his village had made a deal with a hag for prosperity, but now owed her money. They gave the kobold some gold and sent him on his way before purchasing several diamonds. Meanwhile, Jain travelled to Kionusi house, a black-stoned building where she was welcomed in by drow members of the Sorosian Onyx Guard. She was shown upstairs, where she met with Archmage Sasrina Morrow of the Shadow Assembly. Morrow congratulated Jain on her party’s discoveries concerning the Lucent Court imposters, and noted that the member of the chorus who had been replaced by a fey double had been tracked and confirmed that he was an imposter. Furthermore, all of the replaced members of Kewhuan government were now being tracked, though they would not make a move until they could determine who of the Council had been replaced. Jain was instructed to, along with her party, track down the planar portals being constructed and travel through, to bargain with or thwart the plans of the Court. She was permitted to tell her party some of who she worked for, and as a reward for her actions thus far the Archmage gave her a potion containing a ‘distillation of dunamis’, a potion of possibility.

The group set sail once more, travelling farther south. That evening they noticed a strange curved shape pursuing them, and Gertie identified it as a Dragon Turtle, likely one she knew to be in service of the Lady of Storms, the Pirate Lord Kade served. Lekki sent Rufus out to attempt to bargain with the Dragon Turtle, but he refused and attacked the ship. A fierce battle ensued, ending with the greatly injured monster knocking Jain unconscious before disappearing below the waves and ramming into the ship before tearing it in half. It disappeared into the depths as the now devastated remains of the Playwright’s Parade began to sink.

Session 26 - 10/03/23

17th-23rd of Jain, 1834CE - Port Damali, Abassa

Lekki used their Healing Light to heal Jain and the party clutched onto debris wood as the ship sank. Fjolla’s weight dragged her below the surface as the others began swimming for the distant shore. At the seabed, Fjolla walked through the ocean depths until she wandered into the lair of a Sea Fury. The hag attacked her and pursued her across the seafloor, as Fjolla used Netherlight to teleport through the water. The hag eventually tired and turned back, and the entire party reunited on the Abassan Shore.

They continued on and reached Port Damali, staying for a night before continuing south along the road. On the way they encountered a Storm Giant named Torune, injured after a fight. Lekki healed him and he told the party of his journey to Lake Dalmeer to meet an old friend. Continuing on, the group discovered a burned homestead and discovered a basement containing an imprisoned devil. The fiend identified himself as Lammoth and spoke of having been imprisoned by the summoner who lived there. The summoner had interrogated him for summoning knowledge but accidentally summoned a fiery elemental that had killed him and fired the homestead. The party decided to free Lammoth, and Lekki cast Banishment to send him back to his home plane.

The group reached the Nyoka Mountain Range and journeyed up into the hills and canyons. While travelling, they heard a burbling roar and were attacked by a strange dragon-esque being with green skin and wide white eyes. It attacked them and continued this disorienting burbling that froze many of the party in place. After a drawn-out battle, Jain was able to weaken the monster and Lekki fired an Eldritch Blast that tore through one eye and out the back of its head, slaying the creature.

Session 27 - 15/03/23

23rd-25th of Jain, 1834CE - Nyoka Mountain Range, Isphyriss

The party regrouped after the battle and butchered the fey-dragon, determining it to likely be the Jabberwock. They scavenged much of its hide, planning to have it made into matching cloaks. Continuing their journey through the Nyoka Mountain Range, they were confronted by a Blue Dragon named Covax, who demanded an offering of riches in order to let them pass. The group offered up some gold and treasure, but Covax was unimpressed by their offerings. Lekki challenged him to a game of Dragonchess, and the dragon agreed with the deal that if he won, he would devour the group and if they won, he would accept their offerings and let them pass. After a close game Lekki won, and the group continued on. That night they were attacked by strange undead humanoids with grey-blue skin and barbed tentacle-blossoms for heads, that emitted a psionic attack similar to that of the Librarian of Muirneag. The party slew these monsters, and during an examination of their bodies Gertie recalled a folk tale relating to Port Damali of a star that fell from the sky, and purple-skinned humanoids that kidnapped people and created abominations.

The next day the party encountered a strange flower made of gemstones that released a black fog that enveloped them. They awoke in a dark tunnel and met Elwyn, a short humanoid who informed them that they were in a place called Bantrock, a sealed demiplane home to nearly a hundred people from across the planes in servitude to a being called Sehzade. They were led to the Respite, a shanty town where they hid their weapons and met with Dolgrim (a dwarf from Toril), Leokian (an elf from Exandria) and Erevna (a human from their own world). They were introduced to the prison plane and told the tale of Sehzade, a man who fell into a rift of elemental energy and now commanded a legion of elemental Myrmidoms that guard his palace made of precious stones and metals.

Session 28 - 24/03/23

25th-27th of Jain, 1834CE - Bantrock

The party learned more about Bantrock and played a game called ‘Wtf is up with that’, learning much about each other in the process. The next day they set about investigating their surroundings, including reconnaissance that nearly landed Alba in trouble with a Myrmidom. Lekki sent Rufus in through a window of Sehzade’s palace and found him in a study. However, Sehzade caught the rat and questioned Lekki, eventually killing Rufus. That evening, Lekki attempted to summon the Vaku Loga Kopaku for help. Unfortunately, the ritual instead summoned Sehzade. Several of the party spoke with him and he threatened them, proclaiming himself ruler of Bantrock. Alba questioned whether he could leave at will, and Sehzade referred to an ‘accord’, but indicated that he was imprisoned there as well. He left the Respite and the group resolved to find Emuull, a prisoner apparently involved in insurrection, to plan a rebellion.

The next day they tracked him down and spoke with him, learning a little more about the palace’s defences, running and weaknesses. They began to formulate the beginnings of a plan involving setting of explosions to draw the Myrmidoms away and bury them, and perhaps collapse sections of the ceiling to rain down upon the palace.

Session 29 - 31/03/23

28th Jain - 5th of Jullten, 1834CE - Bantrock

The party continued to work in the mines of Bantrock, over the course of several days deciding upon their plan and scouting out Sehzade’s Palace. After more than a week of preparation they hid within the carts with the goods to be taken to the palace. Some were transformed into small creatures to hide while Gertie hid underneath some gems and metal.

The party was snuck into the palace and hid in the refinery. Explosions placed by an artificer known by Emmuul detonated and caused a cave in at the edge of the cavern, followed by another to hopefully trap as many of the Myrmidoms as possible. After waiting a short time the group moved out into the courtyard and battled two of the guarding Myrmidoms, destroying them as a group of Emmuul’s people stormed the palace gate. They stayed to defend the entrance as the party entered and moved through the palace, leaving behind an Earth elemental that Alba had summoned.

They entered the throne room and found it empty; however, after sealing the door shut, as they crossed the hall eight large metal basins filled with fire, and Sehzade stepped out of one. He boasted that he could simply replace the rebellious workforce with more slaves and declared that he would burn them all, before summoning numerous Myrmidoms. A fierce battle broke out across the hall, with the elementals surrounding the party as they fought ferociously back. Sehzade kept back and attempted to conjure a Wall of Fire, only for Lekki to Counterspell it. Fjolla was injured as Myrmidom landed attack after attack on her, and the group managed to damage several of the elementals before destroying one. The battle continued to rage as the group tried to get to Sehzade.

Session 30 - 14/04/23

5th-6th of Jullten, 1834CE - Bantrock

The battle against Sehzade continued, with more of the Myrmidoms being struck down. Lekki cast Guardian of Faith to create a protected area, and the party gathered there as Sehzade evaded attacks by travelling through the flames. Jain climbed up to the ceiling upon taking a lot of damage and Alba cast Erupting Earth on a group of Myrmidoms, inadvertently destroying one of the basins which seemed to weaken Sehzade’s ability to use the basins’ flames in his attacks. Alba then continued to destroy more of the basins with other spells as the group began to attack Sehzade. Despite coming close to death, the group were able to kill Sehzade after Gertie struck a crucial blow with her rapier and Lekki blasted a bolt through his eye.

In the aftermath of the battle the palace turned to stone, and the party quickly searched the living quarters before the building collapsed. They found several scrolls describing the history of a land known as the Glorious Empire and Sehzade’s history there. They also found several rubies, some spell scrolls and an enchanted rapier called ‘Immolation’ that Gertie took possession of. They then headed back to the Respite where Leokian reported that a Sending spell had been able to successfully make contact with his home plane. The group donated some coins to forge a tuning fork to return them to their home plane, and the other imprisoned residents began forming groups based on their respective home material planes. The party said their goodbyes to Dolgrim, Erevna (who was travelling back separately to avoid the war), Emmull and Leokian, before being plane-shifted back to the Known Realms. They found themselves in an unfamiliar jungle. Lekki rushed into the trees as Jain managed to make contact with her employers through a burnt letter. Away from the clearing, Lekki met Vis, who had been searching for them for several days. They told Lekki that the town of Sunder was very close, and the group then moved through the jungle to a ridge overlooking the arid valley containing the distant, termite-mound stack settlement of Sunder.

Session 31 - 19/04/23

6th-8th of Jullten, 1834CE - Sunder, Isphyriss

The party journeyed to the Slumbered Scale tavern, buying lodging and beginning to recover from their fight with Sehzade. While in the taproom they observed numerous adventuring parties discussing their plans to journey south into the Scarlands in search of hidden treasures and tombs, and learned a little about the history of the land. That night, Alba had a dream in which the cavern-spanning garden from his prior visions was corrupted by a dark force and the pool gave birth to mutated undead.

The next day, the group split up, with Lekki, Jain and Alba visiting Dr Sopona, a Halfling doctor who discovered that Lekki was afflicted with Lycanthropy, a Wereraven variety. The doctor told them of a medicine that could aid in mastering the curse, and asked the party to retrieve several Rendas fruit from the Orchard of Emigara in the Scarlands.

Meanwhile, Gertie and Fjolla did some shopping and the group later gave their Jabberwock hide to a tanner to be made into matching cloaks. They also noted a small girl watching them, who Lekki concluded to likely be Reidak Misaka. That night Alba was briefly haunted by the Bagman, and the next day a strange woman came and spoke to Lekki as the group travelled south. The woman, who they realised was the Vaku Rahaga Gaaki, spoke of Vis’ disappearance for almost two thousand years and their sudden reappearance with Lekki, which had caused Reidak Misaka to feel betrayed and harbour some anger towards Lekki.

The group found the ruins that seemingly housed the Orchard and delved into the tunnels, solving several riddles and avoiding traps to eventually come to an open hall where they were greeted by a large Sphinx. This being welcomed them, and greeted them in a bizarre manner, referring to Lekki as ‘Child of Sellakor’, Alba as ‘Brother of Oisin’, Jain as ‘Daughter of Snow’, Gertie as ‘Daughter of Adwynn’, and Fjolla as ‘Creation of Stone and Mind’.

Session 32 - 28/04/23

8th-11th of Jullten, 1834CE - The Scarlands

Emigara, the Sphinx placed in guard of the Orchard by the god Julcen, challenged the party to a test of strength. They split off a simulacrum of themself which then attacked the group. Jain and Alba were both banished as Lekki, Fjolla and Gertie fought the sphinx. Gertie was paralysed by a roar and finally Lekki sent several blasts through the simulacra, destroying it. The group were permitted to advance to the orchard, with Lekki beating Emigara at Dragon Chess before they collected a couple dozen Rendas fruit and left.

That evening, as the party camped out in the Scarlands, they discussed the titles the sphinx had used for them. They questioned Fjolla and she revealed that she was a constructed being, built by the Artificer Urist to be a sentient being, an advanced form of a type of stone defender construct he used. Jain revealed that she had been tasked with finding the planar portal created by the Lucent Court and travelling through to avert the invasion, and the rest of the party agreed to aid her.

Back in Sunder, the group did some shopping while waiting for Cassius to return and their cloaks to be ready. Lekki collected their lycanthropy tonic from Dr Sopona and that evening was able to somewhat control their transformation, retaining their intellect and awareness while becoming a raven. The next day, Alba and Gertie hiked out of town to try and begin searching for the portal site, only to encounter Baotan, waiting for them along a gorge-pathway with several Eladrin. Tey attempted to retreat the way they had come, only to see Kade and his crew, approaching them on horseback.

Session 33 - 03/05/23

11th-12th of Jullten, 1834CE - Sunder, Isphyriss

Baotan fey-stepped close to Alba and Gertie and used Gertie’s true name to place a charm on her. Alba cast Wall of Stone and sealed himself and Gertie off as Kade’s crew approached. However, Gertie stabbed him with her rapier before he was able to successfully dispel the charm. Kade and Baotan briefly spoke on the other side of the wall before Kade fired several gunshots. Gertie was able to stealthily climb the gorge wall and escape while Alba transformed into a mole and burrow up. The two regrouped and ran back to Sunder. The party debated over what to do and made plans to leave town as soon as they had their cloaks finished.

That night, Gertie and Alba were woken by a glass shattering in the taproom, and Alba peered into the tavern hallway to see several of Kade’s crew moving along the corridor under the effect of a Silence spell cast by Jasker. A fight broke out when Dagon broken down Gertie’s door and began to fight her. The group battled in the corridor, with Alba being polymorphed into a lobster and Jain and Lekki later being woken when the Silence spell failed. The party were able to weaken Dagon and the barbarian was killed when Estarath cast a Fireball, only for the party to dodge it. Estarath, Kade and Jasker used Dimension Door to escape, and after Lekki and Jain scouted around they spotted Jasker hurrying toward the edge of town. Fjolla pursued him and killed the mercenaries he had been rushing to. However, Jasker escaped as the town guard arrived at both the wall and the tavern. The captain of the guard, a yuan-ti named Zehlu, questioned the party and then escorted them towards more secure lodgings.

Session 34 - 12/05/23

12th-16th of Jullten, 1834CE - Isphyriss

The party stayed in a safe house while concluding their business in Sunder, collecting medicine from Dr Sopona and learning in the process that Jain’s brand from Kade was being used to track her. Alba then dispelled it. They collected their matching Jabberwock cloaks and set off from town after being joined by Cassius, who gave Fjolla a pistol crafted by Urist. On the road through the jungles of Isphyriss, the party came to a shrine to Zehir, precursor snake god worshipped by a cult of yuan-ti called the Children of the Cloak. Lekki used Rufus to scout a lower section of the shrine where they discovered an old piece of text referring to a dark ritual that the cult planned to enact to bring Zehir back to the Known Realms. However, they left when they discovered a snake-like monster lurking in the undershrine.

Continuing on, the party entered a swamp and were attacked by both a froghemoth and a strange undead being that could knock people unconscious with its gaze, successfully destroying Rufus and knocking down Lekki temporarily before Jain slew the being. That night, Alba had another vision in which he saw numerous undead emerging from the corrupted pool in the garden cavern, while on watch Lekki was visited by Vis, who alerted them to Alba being haunted by the night hag. The party ‘oiled up’ and were transported to the Ethereal Plane, where they attacked an unsuspecting Ceridwen and swiftly defeated her, with Gertie firing a crossbow bolt through the hag’s crescent-marked forehead.

The next day, the party were travelling on when they were approached by an Owlfolk woman who identified herself as Aerinia, who had been sent by Urist to assist them. The bard joined them on their journey further northward.

Session 35 - 19/05/23

16th-17th of Jullten, 1834CE - Isphyriss

The party camped for the evening and spoke to Aerinia for a while, learning a little about her life since retiring from Exscrotur over two decades before. Aerinia had since opened a bard college of ‘MagicOwl Secrets’, and had raised five children with her wife Arinora. In turn she discussed the party’s plan for the assault on the portal site with them. Alba inquired about his visions, and Aerinia identified the location as likely being the Cradle – the mythical origin of the mortal races of the Known Realms – after seeing his drawings of his visions. She pondered on its possible location, and Alba and Fjolla considered the possibility that the undead-haunted island of Kaburi could be its modern-day location.

The next day, the party encountered a patrol of Eladrin, and stealthily moving forwards discovered a walled site in which three enormous portal were being constructed, only one seemingly operational. As Aerinia created a distraction at the front gate, Alba burned a hole through the wall at the rear of the site, and the party attacked the numerous fey inside. A lengthy battle ensued, with numerous lesser fey being cut down by sword or spells, and more powerful Eladrin fighting back under the command of a large satyr who possessed an extraordinary strength and powerful magical abilities. Eventually the group whittled down the Eladrin until they faced the satyr alone, and after concentrating their attacks on him were able to deal a series of damaging blows on him in quick succession, seemingly surprising him. The satyr Archfey teleported to the portal and announced that Baotan had been wrong to dismiss the group’s fortitude and that the group had earned the satyr’s respect. With that he walked through the portal and disappeared.

Session 36 - 26/05/23

17th-22nd of Jullten, 1834CE - Roots Depths, Arvandor

The party regrouped and had a lengthy discussion over what to do with the portal. Fjolla suggested dismantling the portal as the group weren’t prepared for another fight, while Jain insisted they travel through. They contacted Snowdance through the sending stone, learning more about the domains of Arvandor, home of the Lucent Court, and sent through the fire spirit, Echo and Rufus to scout, finding a sprawling labyrinth of wood-walled tunnels that Snowdance identified as Roots Depths, domain of the Archfey Monarch. After a debate back and forth, Aerinia succeeded in closing the portal temporarily. They decided to wait for reinforcements called by Jain before proceeding.

Over the next few days they were joined by Jallus, a dragonborn knight, and Aevril, a yuan-ti knight – both of whom seemed to know Jain well. As they kept watch together, the three knights spoke of a place called the Cenobium that they had left recently after completing their training, and discussed the whereabouts of other members of their ‘batch’. A few days after this, Archmage Sasrina Morrow of the Shadow Assembly arrived with a small battalion of the Onyx Guard. Jain and the other two knights bowed to the archmage, who then discussed with the group their plan to enter the portal and fight their way to the Gloaming Glade, hoping to invoke the rule of hospitality to negotiate unharmed. They were given supplies by the drow soldiers and Jallus joined them to head through the portal. They journeyed in, and found themselves in Roots Depths.

As they ventured through the dark tunnels, they heard a booming voice like thousands of single voices layered over one another. The voice identified itself as Monarch, and told them they would remain trapped, as the way out could be found only by those who know it. Undeterred, and recalling that Snowdance had mentioned that each domain had to have a means of leaving by the rules of the Court, they travelled on. Alba left berries behind as a way of finding their path back, but soon noticed a small fey being following them, eating the berries. This being, apparently a ‘quickling’, moved so fast it was often a blur. The party gave it more food and asked it to tell them how to leave. The quickling, apparently scared of Monarch but wishing to escape, kept repeating that they way could only be found by those who know it, leading Alba to realise that it meant it literally. He went to the next tunnel confident it would lead to the centre of the depths, having learned the secret of traversing the domain.

They entered a small oaken hall in the cavernous centre, where they found a door. However, they were attacked by Monarch, a centaur-like being made of wood that crawled out of the floor itself. A long fight ensued, in which Jallus summoned an echo in the same way as Jain. As Monarch cast elemental spells at them and the room itself came alive to attack them, the group continued to wear it down and avoid its attacks, surrounding it and carving through it until Jain delivered a series of strikes that carved through its blank face and finally cut off its head.

Session 37 - 02/06/23

22nd of Jullten, 1834CE - Ulvenwood, Lunanheim and The Flickerstreets, Arvandor

After regrouping the party prepared to travel through the door. Lekki put Monarch’s head in the bag of holding and they travelled through into a wintry forest of tall pines. Jain climbed a tree and surveyed the area, spotting a large glacier that the party began travelling towards. On the way they encountered Malar, the giant wolf Archfey whose domain was this land called the Ulvenwood. Malar made a deal with the party that if they would travel to Lunanheim, domain of the Archfey Rosalba, and retrieve the Bridle of Wintertide from her, he would send them onwards to the next domain. The party agreed, and found themselves in a warm night-time forest full of glowing fruit and fireflies.

Following the distant sounds of music and celebration, they found a colourful town filled with flowers and brightly-coloured skeletons. A friendly skeleton called Valentina led them to Rosalba, who was hosting a party. Rosalba herself was a skeleton in a red dress with a large hat adorned with orange flowers. Rosalba agreed to exchange the bridle for Monarch’s head and the sending stone linked to Baotan if the party provided entertainment. Lekki beat her at dragon chess while Fjolla animated the pieces with magic, Alba suggested a game of tag that everyone participated in, Jain and Jallus did a series of acrobatics, and Gertie sung several sea shanties. Thoroughly entertained by their performances, Rosalba agreed to the exchange, and the party returned to the Ulvenwood to give the bridle to Malar.

They were led to the next domain, passing through a door and finding themselves in an urban town street with blank-faced individuals and an unsettling atmosphere. They travelled towards a distant spire and fought several top hat-wearing figures who seemed to act as guards and could deal necrotic lingering wounds. Entering the spire, they found it to be a prison, and freed Rorwak; a skeleton with a proclivity for telling bone-related jokes; and Sivelle, a foul-mouthed pixie. They reached the top of the spire and found Purloin, an Eladrin imprisoned recently after having helped Reynard steal from several other Archfey in the past. After interrogating him they learned that he had helped Reynard steal tap shoes from Yarnspinner after making an oath not to do so, and so if they could present Reynard with evidence of a broken oath they could force him through the law of reciprocity to break his oath to keep them there. Therefore they journeyed to the crypt where Purloin said the shoes were held. Several of the strange guardsmen attacked them in the crypt, and after a lengthy battle they slew them all.

Session 38 - 09/06/23

22nd-23rd of Jullten, 1834CE - The Gloaming Glade, Arvandor

Gertie picked the lock to the crypt and the party descended to a room containing many stolen artifacts. Confronted by Reynard, they presented him with the shoes he had stolen and forced him to break his oath to keep them there. Travelling through the door from the domain, they found themselves at last in the Gloaming Glade. They were met by Moonflower, who informed them that the Court was preparing to gather. They rested for the night, and upon waking continued travelling through the strange, ancient forest. They came to an island within which was a circle of thrones. As they arrived the fourteen members of the court arrived, followed by the Ashen Light.

The group argued against Baotan, asking the Court to call of their invasion of the Known Realms, with Lekki questioning their motivations. Dissatisfied by Baotan’s claim of it being for ‘entertainment’, they suggested using the material plane for tourism, but this was met by Baotan suggesting another vote. However, several members of the Court altered their votes, with Malar withdrawing his vote due to his oath to the party and Isharnai, the mother of hags, voting against the invasion due to the party having ‘helped one of her daughters find solace after years of sorrow’. As she spoke, a shadowed visage of the hag the party had encountered by Karth briefly appeared. With Monarch having been slain, the vote was now tied. The Ashen Light decided that it would come to combat – the party would fight Baotan, who she stripped of his immortality. They were transported to an arena of surrounding, towering trees, and began to battle Baotan.

Baotan cast Enemies Abound on Fjolla, causing her to attack Alba until he dispelled the effect. Jain and Jallus began attacking Baotan while Gertie and Alba took cover behind (and in) a large rock and Lekki moved behind a tree to begin firing at Baotan. The Archfey cast spells that hit numerous members of the party at once, sometimes striking them with a sceptre of dark crystal that ended in a green gemstone. The battle continued, and the party began to take heavy damage from the spells while Baotan continued to be worn down by the relentless strikes. Then he cast Disintegrate at Jallus, reducing the Echo Knight to dust. Jain leapt from the tree she had been taking cover in and made a series of strikes at Baotan, carving across his face and knocking his sunglasses off. Baotan teleported onto the rock and attacked several members of the group until Alba’s conjured elemental burrowed through the rock and hit him, finally killing him.

As the group regrouped, Jain shouted at the watching Archfey to help Jallus. The Queen appeared and said that under combat law of the Court she could not restore Jallus to life without doing the same to Baotan. They returned to the Glade, and the vote passed to call off the invasion. The group were then returned to the Known Realms.

Session 39 - 16/06/23

23rd-31st of Jullten, 1834CE - Ghorangar, Sorosia

The party returned to the Known Realms and met with Archmage Morrow. Jain asked if she was able to restore Jallus to life but was told that this was beyond the Archmage’s power. Jain seemed stunned by this, and spoke with Aevril about his death. The group were transported to Darkstar, the fortress of the Shadow Assembly in the city of Ghorangar, and reported to the Shadow Assembly about their journey through Arvandor. They stayed in the fortress overnight, and Jain spoke with Evoker, her trainer, about Jallus’ death, being told by him that as the Echo Knights were ‘created’ by the Shadow Assembly they could not be brought back to life so easily.

The next day the group were transported to Kalomo and brought before the Kewhuan Council to report their adventure to them. They were awarded the titles of Heroes of Kewhua, and given a suite of rooms to stay in, with the Quickling – who they named Quinn – until the council could negotiate an end to the war with Tzenketh. They spent the next week in the city. Lekki met with Empress Ydriss of Isphyriss, and Alba and Jain visited the Cynelish to ask about Alba’s dreams. The Cynelish told them that they knew of someone familiar with the occult who knew a means of recovering lost memories – Cordelia Kane. The group discussed their plans for the future, with Alba having done some research about the island of Kaburi and contemplating visiting there. After their week’s downtime, the Kewhuan Council asked them to travel to Pelduin, capital city of Tzenketh, to be questioned by the Tzenkethi Council and open diplomatic negotiations. Alba cast Wind Walk to transform the group into vaporous forms and they flew across the country, travelling to Pelduin and entering the elven city.

Session 40 - 24/06/23

31st of Jullten - 2nd of Aurgern, 1834CE - Pelduin, Tzenketh

The party travelled to the Sovereignty, home of the Tzenkethi Council, and were brought before the council. They gave their report on their adventures in Arvandor and their history with the Lucent Court. The council seemed satisfied with their answers, and agreed to open negotiations with Kewhua.

The group then explored the city, visiting a bakery (Flour Power) run by an older tiefling woman, where Alba bought some banana bread and a gingerbread dragon, as well as the botanic gardens, jewellery shop, tavern, museum and the Riddled Realm, a magic item shop run by Remy, a speaking Quokka. The next day, Alba cast Transport Via Plants to return the party to Kalomo, stepping out of the Hearth Tree. They were offered a reward by the Kewhuan Council and Lekki, Jain and Alba each accepted 5,000 platinum pieces each. Fjolla requested tutoring by a smithing master, and Gertie requested aid with a task she would disclose at a later date. The group returned to Pelduin to buy several items from Remy, including a key that allowed them to create an extra-dimensional mansion. They stayed in this mansion for the night and made plans to travel north to Oohnarak to visit Cordelia via Moloa, and then to travel to the island of Kaburi. That evening, Visorak joined the group and was introduced to them by Lekki, who had bought a large quantity of thread in Pelduin to craft friendship bracelets for the other Vaku.

Session 41 - 28/06/23

3rd-6th of Aurgern, 1834CE - Heshen Jungle, Yemoja

The party made their preparations and set out from Kalomo, leaving Quinn with Alba’s pocket money. During their journeys through the forest over the next few days they discovered an ancient shrine, as much as fifteen hundred years old, seemingly dedicated to a large dragon that was worshipped. They evaded a large bird (identified by Fjolla as a Roc) while passing through a grassland dotted with spires of rock. Later that same day, they discovered a circle of statues made of a slick black stone that resembled the obelisk they found out in the Open Savannah. After investigating it for a while, Lekki stepped onto the podium at the centre and heard a voice in their head, stating that a question could be asked and the voices would take something in return. Unsure of what to ask about, Lekki stepped off and Alba took their place, asking these beings what they were. He was then shown a vision – the land of Kewhua appeared before his eyes and time rolled back, the jungle growing young, turning to an ashen wasteland as red fire rolled backwards across the land as time rewound to before the Coming of the Red Star, old forests taking their place and growing young themselves. Alba then saw a civilisation of strange beings, superficially resembling elves but with skin that looked like the night sky, marked with constellations, and with ears that curved back behind their heads. These beings seemed to draw starlight from the sky itself and weave it into physical matter, creating structures from glowing, ethereal solid light. Alba’s vision showed these people living in the wake of the Severance – the departure of the original, precursor gods from the world. The beings sought the reason for the gods leaving and found it – a secret so terrible it was concealed from Alba’s learning. These beings then enacted their own exodus, in some unknowable way leaving the material plane and leaving only these structures of glossy black stone, the last remnants of themselves upon the world. The vision ended, and Alba was found to have physically aged around a decade.

In the wake of this vision the party continued on their journey, and that evening Lekki found themself transported to a spirit world – Aowair, the land of the Vaku. There, Vis showed them to their home, a replica of an eons-abandoned temple to an old god upon the material world. They met with the other Vaku, and in the course of the gathering Lekki played dragon chess with Loga Kopaku and spoke a little about Alba’s vision, with Loga Kopaku seemingly troubled by it and apparently having some knowledge of the beings. Lekki, Vis and Reidak Misaka ended up in conversation and it came out that Vis had lost their ability to manifest on the material plane in the wake of the Red Star, as too few mortals knew of them. It was almost two millenia later that Lekki would accidentally mark their visage and somehow restore their ability to visit the world.

The party continued on, avoiding a hut containing a mummified body and reaching Evelgur. There they defeated the automated guard they had heard of the last time they visited, and then journeyed onward, the next day being attacked by a strange monster who altered its defensive abilities in response to attacks. Gertie slew it by firing a bolt through both its wings.

Session 42 - 05/07/23

6th-14th of Aurgern, 1834CE - The Open Savannah, Yemoja

After resting for the night, the party emerged from their mansion to find the words ‘FOUND YOU’ carved into a tree opposite. Fearing that Ash Man had caught up with them they continued on, and during their day of travel found a buried chest containing a map to the tomb of Ezalyn, an exiled founding member of the Shadow Assembly. Making plans to track it down after dealing with their more pressing matters, they continued on.

After another few days of travel, Alba cast Commune with Nature and began to suspect the Ash Man was tracking them. They were nearly caught in an eldritch storm but used their mansion to evade it, and shortly after reached the town of Moloa. They met with Lotoris, a Paladin of Tritan assigned by Ortun Finisterre to the newly founded Monitoring Station. That night, Lekki transformed into Bekki and was able to gain a bit more control over their transformation.

After planting an instant tree from Remy in Moloa, Alba tried to cast Commune with Nature again, only to be stunned by the force of the Old God imprisoned beneath the ground. The group then used the tree to transport to Pelduin, and visited the Riddled Realm to pick up a Wand of Sending that Fjolla had ordered. They spoke with Remy about the ancient race Alba had learned of, and spoke about Lekki’s meeting with the Vaku – learning in the process that Remy was the child of Rahaga Gaaki, Vaku of the arcane. Remy spoke of an archway of the same slick black stone that he had discovered and believed to be the Sykirian Gate, the mythical doorway to the land of the dead. He noted that there was no recorded knowledge of this original race, and that perhaps Loga Kopaku may know more. Lekki sent a letter containing information on Vis to the Ilsted College of Mystic Arts, and then the party transported back to Moloa.

They travelled north until they reached Yidama, discovering that no one had returned the previous night from the nearby Mugonwa Sanatorium. The party went to investigate, finding dozens of brutally slaughtered corpses of both inmates and orderlies alike. They passed through the floors, finding evidence of futile resistance and metal bars that could be lowered from the ceiling as a barricade, only for those that were lowered to have been forced through. Finally reaching the top floor, they found an open space filled with corpses and a sphere of dark energy. After firing spells into it, they entered the room only for the bodies around them to twitch, then rise. Black and orange fire burned the flesh from the bodies as the black sphere dispersed to reveal the Ash Man, who rose to his feet as the now flaming skeletons surrounded the party and from the depths of the building below them came the sounds of falling barricades.

Session 43 - 12/07/23

14th-15th of Aurgern, 1834CE - Mugonwa Sanatorium, Yemoja

The party began battling the black knight and the army of flaming skeletons, with Fjolla and Jain charging forward to begin cutting them down while Gertie picked off individual skeletons, Alba coordinated strikes with elemental spells and Lekki struck more down from range. The black knight fired several balls of fire at the party, damaging them greatly as he marched across the chamber and skeletons fell. More came from the corridors below, surrounding Alba and managing to kill him. Lekki rushed to his side and revived him, while Fjolla battled the knight and managed to hold him back temporarily while sustaining a large amount of damage from his strikes. Jain got to the ceiling as skeletons set the room ablaze and the sanatorium began to burn. She then positioned herself above the door and sent her echo down to cut down several of the skeletons still attacking Alba.

Gertie delivered a critical hit against the knight and broke a section of his helmet, revealing twisted flesh and a red-tinted eye beneath. As she watched, the flesh and eye both dissolved and then reformed in an unending cycle as it stared at her with hatred. The party began making their escape from the building, with Jain, Lekki and finally Alba manging to escape out of an upper window, Gertie vaulting out of a window on the opposite side and Fjolla escaping through another. They regrouped as the building burned down behind them. After ensuring the villagers of Yidama had evacuated they checked the site and determined that the knight had fled north. Deciding to travel onwards, Alba cast Wind Walk and the group flew to Oohnarak, travelling across the nation of Terene and arriving in the coastal town. They went to Bludworth Manor and met with a serving spirit who welcomed them inside but informed them that Cordelia was not there, having travelled below ground two days before to try and deal with a source of dark energy that existed beneath the manor. This ‘wellspring’ had recently begun to grow, leading Cordelia to journey into the caves beneath the manor but not return. The group decided to follow and attempt to find her, and descended into the caves beneath the manor.

Session 44 - 19/07/23

15th of Aurgern, 1834CE - Bludworth Manor, Oohnarak, Terene

The party journeyed into the caves and found a pit descending into the ground. They sent Rufus ahead and found several wraiths that they attacked and destroyed. They continued, finding the floor of the caves covered in a dense dark fog. They then found their way to a spacious cavern. Just before this, in a small side cave, was Cordelia. Upon regaining consciousness, she explained that she had found the ‘wellspring’ of dark power – what appeared to be a rift to a dark mirror of the material plane, devoid of life and suffused with necrotic energy. A large being seemed to have passed through and made its home in the cavern. The group returned to the manor with Cordelia, who offered them tea or whisky as she regained her strength. Fjolla contacted Urist, having recalled him once mentioning a similar rift encountered by Exscrotur before he joined them. Urist warned that exposure to this plane had greatly wounded one of the party, and advised caution. Cordelia loaned Jain a Mace of Disruption to wield against the undead below and then the group descended into the caves and encountered the monstrous being, a large humanoid form made of solid shadow. Lekki cast Wall of Light, blinding the monster as the party spread out. Jain unleashed a volley of attacks with the mace, greatly wounding it as the others surrounded it. The creature failed to recover from the blindness and Gertie managed to strike the final blow against it. Cordelia used a spell she had studied to seal the rift, closing it to a hairline wide. They then returned to Bludworth manor, and the party discussed the rift – Cordelia mentioned that the town of Inala in Urakaxl had been experiencing flooding from a temple known to have an endless supply of fresh water that supplied their agriculture, and the group speculated a similar rift to another plane could be widening there as well. They also discussed their plan to travel to Kaburi soon, and Cordelia allowed Jain to borrow the mace for use against the undead there.

Cordelia offered the group accommodation for the night, and Alba requested her aid in regaining his memories. She carried out a ritual with him in the loft of the manor, entering a dreamscape where he relived the memories and fought several memory spectres. Upon defeating them, he regained his memories, seeing the village of Qena where he grew up in the south of the Heshen Jungle. He had had a brother, Oisin, as well as a human called Sabian he was friends with. Alba, who recalled his original name as Cinead, and Sabian had taken an interest in summoning fire spirits, and when Cinead had been late to one of their meetups he discovered that something had gone terribly wrong – skeletons wreathed in black fire had attacked the town, he found his childhood home in flames and Sabian, now a flaming skeleton, attacked him. He had prayed to anything that could save him and the fire spirit had appeared, repelling Sabian with a wave of fire that seemed to fuse with the black fire that engulfed him, returning intelligence and a more human form to Sabian as Cinead fled the village, collapsing in the jungle as his memories were scoured clean.

Session 45 - 09/08/23

15th-18th of Aurgern, 1834CE - Oohnarak, Terene (& Qena, Chadiza, Kalomo - Yemoja)

Over breakfast the next morning, Alba told the party what he had learned and they made plans to travel to Qena to see what remained. The group spent a while exploring Oohnarak while Lekki discussed the nature of the Vaku and higher beings with Cordelia. Upon travelling to Qena, they found the village a rubbled ruin, with evidence suggesting that some had escaped the destruction. They travelled eastward to the town of Chadiza. There they found Oisin, Alba’s brother. The two brothers spoke about what had happened, where Oisin seemed to harbour some anger at Alba for what had happened and told him that their parents had perished. They discussed Sabian and Oisin suggested that Alba destroy him for what he had done.

Regrouping, the party travelled to Kalomo to research and plan their next move, contemplating trying to ensnare Sabian in a trap. They travelled to the temple to the twelve and spoke to Daehana, the high priestess. She led Alba to the altar to Fotia and cast Commune so that Alba could ask Fotia questions. He learned that restoring Sabian’s true form was possible but difficult, that Kaburi was unconnected to the Fjurfyre and finally that the fire spirit was not sent by Fotia, to Alba’s surprise. Lekki spoke with Daehana for a while about higher beings and deities, questioning what could cause a god to lose power and what would happen if people stopped worshipping gods. Cults were also briefly discussed. Meanwhile, Fjolla shopped for potions at the city alchemist before the group reunited in the centre of Kalomo.

Session 46 - 25/08/23

18th-19th of Aurgern, 1834CE - Kalomo, Yemoja

The party travelled to the Hearth and spoke to administrator Savarn about getting Quinn a job delivering post across the city, as well as about the Ashman. The administrator assured them he would pass on the information to bounty hunters and adventuring guilds so as to try and locate Ashman. They then travelled across the city to the Viridian Tower where they met with the Cynelish, after Rufus activated an arcane defence cage while flying through the window. The Cynelish – who Gertie and Alba noticed seemed to be somewhat unwell and whose face occasionally shimmered in a peculiar way – spoke with them about the fire spirit, the Fjurfyre and the Vaku, though they noted that it was not their areas of expertise. They suggested to Lekki that the Unclaimed Lands were known to have lots of Vaku worship, as well as mentioning an arcanist in Port Kinau called Helera who was well-versed in Vaku and other folklore.

The party left and stood in the street while they discussed their next move – with Alba also catching glimpses of both Reidak Misaka and the Bagman. They travelled to a nearby park and had a picnic while Lekki told the group about Vis and the revelations that had come from the gathering of the Vaku. They then asked Gertie about whether she wanted to ask the Kewhuan Council for the favour, and inquired what it was about. Gertie revealed that she was seeking an old friend who had gone missing. They recalled the crystal ball they had recovered from Baotan’s body and Gertie attuned to it, using it to scry on her friend. She saw a dark hall, seemingly underground, lined with people petrified into stone statues. Unable to ascertain the location, she then scried on Kade – being shown the pirate and his crew walking down a street in a marshy jungle and entering a tavern called ‘The Trench’. There they met with a group called the House Callers, comprised of five individuals led by a half-orc. Kade seemed interested in hiring the group’s services – and a later scry showed him providing the House Callers with detailed notes on each member of Gertie’s party. The half-orc gave the plans to a member of his group called Griddle, telling him to devise “countermeasures”.

The group retired for the evening. The next day Jain found a letter materialised on her person which troubled her, and the group attempted to scry on Kade and the House Callers – who they had determined to be a mercenary group in the shanty town of Makari – to no success. They then walked to the Solvan to research. Alba researched fire beings, Gertie researched the twin lakes located in the south of the Open Savannah, Lake Saransrest and Lake Dalmeer. She learned that Lake Dalmeer is said to be the home of an ancient Storm Giant, Dhorana, capable of transforming into a living typhoon. She is said to guard a weapon called the felblade, capable of killing a god. The group also researched old gods, though with little success, and Jain secretly researched the town of Dirhoga. As Gertie attempted to help Alba research the fire spirit, an unknown voice spoke into her mind, suggesting she “try this instead”, and she found herself with a transcript of information uncovered from the information on Torkoth culture recently published by Belry. This included reference to a precursor god associated with the fire of creation, a deity known as Melora, the Wildmother.

Session 47 - 07/09/23

19th-20th of Aurgern, 1834CE - Dirhoga, Yemoja

The party regrouped and debated what to do next. They visited Belry and used the tablets retrieved from Voguragahk to research Melora. Then Jain told the others that she had been contacted by a friend who needed her aid urgently in Dirhoga, so the group used Transport via Plants to reach the town, where they set up their mansion as Jain journeyed into town. She sought out a tavern called the Horn and Hoof and waited until a blond half-elf entered and spoke briefly with some other patrons, seemingly seeking urgent passage out of Kewhua. Jain stalked the half-elf to an alleyway and attacked him. Despite the half-elf's urgent shouts that Jain was being "lied to" and claiming that 'they' had taken 'us' from families rather than creating them, Jain struck him down and killed him.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party summoned Loga Kopaku and had a meal with him in which they asked about Sabian, the Old Gods and Kaburi, learning much about the cosmology of the varying gods as well as about Melora, who Loga Kopaku revealed had sacrificed her divine essence to create the mortal races and in doing so had 'died', remaining tethered to the material plane as the other precursor gods departed in the Severance. Jain returned to the party and told them that her friend had simply needed help finding a lost cat. The party accepted the story, though some harboured suspcion. The next day Alba cast Wind Walk and the party travelled to Kaburi, while Rufus flew across the Open Savannah to try and track down the House Callers. The party arrived at the Blightkeep on Kaburi and spoke with Lightmaster Loreas, learning about the situation on the island and offering their aid in trying to reach the source of the undead infestation. Meanwhile, Rufus reached Makari and Lekki spoke through him to several startled tavern patrons. Learning the vague direction of the House Caller's Compound, Rufus was able to track it down and spoke with Jagentoth - the leader of the group - and Griddle, the House Caller's arcanist. Lekki offered Jagentoth more money than Kade was offering them, and the half-orc seemed to consider the offer, though said he would have to discuss with the other members of his group first. As he went inside to talk with them, on Kaburi the party went to join a patrol to journey out into the fog-shrouded jungles of Kaburi to learn more about the undead of the island.

Session 48 - 13/09/23

20th-21st of Aurgern, 1834CE - Kaburi

The party met Rohala, a tiefling commander leading a small patrol out. The group journeyed out into the dark jungles of Kaburi, tracking a loop around the Blightkeep. As they walked Rohala told them a bit about the behaviour of the undead on the island, and they slew a small group of lesser undead before returning to the Blightkeep. The party met with Keel, the Aarakocra mage who showed them his extensive collection of preserved undead. They observed that all races of the Known Realms seemed to be accounted for in the distribution of undead, as well as a couple of races they could not identify, plus several they knew to be precursor races. Keel noted how many of the undead bore no signs of initial death, and were presumed to have been created as undead. Lekki telepathically dropped in on Rufus and spoke again with Jagentoth, who declined their offer and said that his group would be coming after the party soon enough. Lekki tried to threaten him, seemingly to little avail, before the goliath with him killed Rufus.

The party rested for the night and the next day set off into the jungles. They were regularly beset by undead in various combinations, encountering such horrors as undead ogres, giants, large hulking ‘clots’, owlbears and undead capable of casting spells. Despite taking some minor damage the group were able to continue pushing on, travelling more than two miles towards the heart of the island. As they journeyed on Alba cast Commune with Nature and detected a broad cave entrance at the centre of the island, and, somewhere far below the ground, a powerful fiend.

Session 49 - 20/09/23

21st-22nd of Aurgern, 1834CE - Kaburi

The party continued their journey towards the centre of the island, fighting increasingly larger hordes of undead in more aberrant combinations. Finally, they reached a broad basin leading down to a cave descending into the ground below. They used Transport via Plants to return to the Blightkeep and rested for the night after making a report to the Lightmaster. The next day, they avoided several undead emerging from the basin and journeyed down to where the cave opened out into an expansive subterranean cavern, revealing a jungle horribly warped and mutated and wreathed in red fog. They followed a path that wound through this twisted jungle until they reached a circular wall at the centre. Lekki sent Rufus in to scout and discovered a corrupted pool with a floating mass of flesh dripping blood, bile and filth into it. The group entered and the form turned, revealing a misshapen deformed head that opened eyes and a mouth and declared them a fit challenge after its centuries without intruders. A prolonged fight broke out, with the horror creating more undead from the pool while spraying bile and striking the party with chains and spells. It cast Feeblemind on Fjolla, blighting her intellect and prompting Cassius, wounded, to carry her to a safe distance. Jain fell in combat and was barely saved in time, while Alba and Lekki were briefly struck with exhaustion as the creature displayed the ability to warp and deform flesh. The fight continued on, with the horror being worn down slowly until Gertie fired an Empyean bolt, retrieved from an ancient battle site on the island, which slew the creature, destroying it in a cascading firestorm of radiant light.

Session 50 - 29/09/23

22nd-25th of Aurgern, 1834CE - Kalomo, Yemoja

In the aftermath of their battle, Lekki cast Greater Restoration to restore Fjolla’s intellect as the pool at the centre of the Cradle began to emit a radiant energy that dissolved the corruption, spreading outwards and cleansing the surroundings until their stood at the centre of a primordial jungle. Time slowed for Alba as he saw a humanoid woman with green skin and glowing orange eyes tending to a seeding by the pool. This woman, Melora, spoke with him and thanked him for destroying the creature polluting the site. They spoke for a time about Sabian, and Melora noted that bringing him to the Cradle or a similar site may be able to undo the effects upon him.

The group then returned to the Blightkeep and informed the Blackguard of what had happened. Lekki spoke to Vis, playing dragonchess while discussing their recent revelations. Vis told them that one of the House Callers worshipped another Vaku, Piraka Iruna, and that the Vaku had asked that Lekki’s group not slay this worshipper, someone whose name began with an M. The group found a strange drawing in a bag of holding, presumably from Bagman, while attempting unsuccessfully to Scry on the House Callers. That night, Jain had a dream of a female tabaxi holding her, and a sense of comfort and warmth. Alba dreamt of a strange room in a city blended with nature and built amongst and from trees, and met with Vyaran Shapash, a druid who had brought Alba to her with the Dream spell. She told Alba that the party’s actions on Kaburi had been noticed by the Ossier, the people she had freed from the forest around them and now acted as Ambassador for. She told Alba to contact her if they needed aid or information in the future.

The next day they travelled to Kalomo, were thanked by the Kewhuan Council, and Lekki spoke with the Empress of Isphyriss. They asked about their concerns that they may not be a Yuan-ti, and the empress had one of her arcanists cast Legend Lore upon Lekki. The wizard had a vision of Sellakor, a cult-established town in the south of the Scarlands that was destroyed almost two decades before under unknown circumstances. Meanwhile, Cassius returned to Rudania with a letter from Fjolla and the group did more scrying and shopping. Alba bought a statuette of red ruby depicting a dragon said to have once been worshipped as a minor deity in Yemoja.

The next day, Alba cast Wind Walk and Rufus travelled to the House Caller’s Compound, threatening Jagentoth before narrowly escaping blasts from Griddle. The rest of the party similarly cloud-ed down to near Makari and journeyed towards the Compound, approaching the gatehouse leading into the lair of the House Callers.

Session 51 - 11/10/23

25th of Aurgern, 1834CE - The House Callers' Compound, Yemoja

The party investigated the bunker-like compound and tried to find an alternative route of entry to little avail. Lekki spotted Kade in the subterranean loading bay, and after he incapacitated Rufus the party cautiously journeyed down to confront him. Despite some remaining by the entrance while others spoke with the pirate, the invisible wizard of the House Callers cast Scatter to send Jain, Alba and Gertie into cells trapped with Glyphs of Warding. The three of them resisted the Hold Person spells that activated as the rest of the House Callers and Kade’s crew emerged and attacked them, with the Kade they spoke to being revealed as a Major Image illusion.

A lengthy and intense fight ensued, during which the party found themselves on the backfoot as Alba discovered he was unable to cast spells as a result of a band of thick metal covertly placed around his ankle by the invisible House Caller rogue. Lekki’s attempts at casting spells were mostly counterspelled, and Fjolla found herself attacked on both sides by Jagentoth and the House Caller barbarian goliath, who similarly enlarged in size. Jain was attacked by Kade and knocked unconscious as Jagentoth reverted to a monstrous toadlike form. The party retreated to the now-sealed entrance, only to be beset by multiple Fireballs and a Cloudkill from Jagentoth that downed Gertie. She was healed but as the party took successive injuries and Jain was dragged deeper into the compound, Alba took Lekki’s bag of holding and prepared to place one inside the other. However, Lekki was knocked back against the far wall by an Eldritch Blast from the House Callers’ warlock, and Alba was forced to place one bag inside another with only Gertie close by; the two bags were destroyed as a gate opened and the greatly injured Alba and Gertie were instantly pulled through, the gate sealing shut behind them. Despite a valiant effort from Fjolla and Lekki, both of them reaching the external door and Fjolla using her strength to pull the doors slightly open, they were knocked unconscious before being able to teleport out, leaving both of them captured along with Jain.

Session 52 - 18/10/23

25th-29th of Aurgern, 1834CE - The Astral Plane & The House Callers' Compound, Yemoja

Alba and Gertie found themselves drifting in the Astral Sea along with the detritus of their now-destroyed bags of holdings. Recovering their items, they journeyed through the purple-pinkish space after managing to remove the band around Alba’s ankle. They narrowly avoided an enormous worm-like monster flying slowly through space. After stopping and sleeping tied together for the night, they continued on and found a strange ship floating through space. It was heavily damaged and contained a skeleton from an unknown race along with a silver sword, spyglass and journal in an unknown language. As they stayed there overnight, Alba identified the sword as being a psychic-damaging sword and the spyglass as having the ability to see through portals.

Meanwhile, Jain and Lekki found themselves imprisoned in the House Callers’ Compound while Fjolla was kept in unconsciousness somewhere. After a day of imprisonment Lekki was taken to be interrogated, under the Zone of Truth spell telling Jagentoth that they did not know the location of Alba or Gertie and speaking briefly about the abilities of the members of their group. With Jagentoth unable to learn much of use they returned Lekki to their cell.

Several days later Jain heard a commotion from nearby, and was freed from her cell by Aurgern and Ostolvren, a goliath and elven Echo Knight respectively. They freed Lekki and recovered some of their gear, though discovered that their more valuable magic items had been taken. They hurried across the loading bay, finding the bodies of Jasker, Mthunzi (the House Caller warlock) and a hired guard, then swiftly began searching the upper floor. Jain looked through several of the House Callers’ quarters before Ostolvren found the wizard’s laboratory, and in it Fjolla. They freed her from her unconscious state and recovered their Remy’s Magnificent Mansion key as well as various notes and items left around the laboratory, then escaped the compound.

Back in the Astral Plane, Alba and Gertie journeyed on, eventually coming to an enormous floating statue of a corpse. Noticing torchlight within its gaping mouth they journeyed inside, discovering a lair filled with inscribed bones. There they met Engembara, a strange being with the ability to converse with the dead through their bones and learn their secrets. Alba and he had a lengthy conversation during which it was revealed that Engembara knew of the Known Realms, having been alive since before the Coming of the Red Star. He agreed to guide them to a portal back to their home plane if Alba could tell him secrets of the continent, being unimpressed until learning of the Cradle. In exchange for its location he agreed to guide them, and allowed Alba to ask a question about the plane’s earlier history. Alba asked about the Severance, and Engembara told of a secret discovered by the gods that caused them to abandon the plane, the same secret that drove a monastery of monks to take their own lives to keep it from being discovered. After deliberating for a time, Alba agreed to hear the secret, and was told it by Engembara.

Session 53 - 01/11/23

29th-31st of Aurgern, 1834CE - The Sorosian Rainforest, Sorosia

Fjolla, Jain and Lekki, now travelling with Aurgern and Ostolvren, decided to travel south towards the city of Ghorangar. As they travelled through swampland they were attacked by a icy variant of a froghemoth that briefly swallowed Lekki before Fjolla and the three echoes were able to slay it, with Jain ripping the monster open with her claws in lieu of a weapon. That evening, the group rested in the Magnificent Mansion, and Lekki played a game of dragon chess against Ostolvren. The three Echo Knights gathered to speak privately, with Aurgern and Ostolvren asking Jain about Jallus’ death and inability to be revived. Lekki also met with Vis, who promised to search the Astral Plane for Alba and Gertie.

The next day the group continued south, coming to crumbling ruins before being attacked by two nullifiers, the magic-cancelling snakelike monsters that had killed Jain and Fjolla before. The group fought against them, initially on the backfoot as it seemed that Fjolla would be defeated by one nullifier before their antimagic fields were brought down and the two monsters were killed, one by a series of axe strikes by Aurgern and the other by an Eldritch Blast from Lekki. As they stayed in the mansion that night, Fjolla heard a voice speaking into her head. The voice identified itself as Xartaza and told her that it was a weapon of great power created long ago and now in search of a new wielder. Asking questioning it for a time but finding it trustworthy, Fjolla agreed to seek it out and in the morning was led to a small cave containing pillars of oily black stone. At the centre was an ornate mace with a head of ruby encircled by a barbed wreath resembling a black crown. Xartaza formalised its offer to Fjolla of power to be wielded with his guidance, and Fjolla accepted and took the mace. After travelling for a few more hours the group encountered a detachment of the Onyx Guard led by the drow Captain Syrtel and a mage of the chorus, who used Teleportation Circle to teleport them to Darkstar in Ghorangar. The group were given quarters as Jain was summoned to the tower of Archmage Sasrina Morrow. The Archmage reprimanded Jain for her capture and instructed her to ensure that the mistake was learned from, before noting that other members of the Assembly had taken a notice of Jain’s party and may offer them work in the future. As the remaining members of the party contemplated how to track down Gertie and Alba, the group explored Ghorangar and Lekki bought a lycanthropy-treating tonic from an apothecary as Fjolla sought out smithing work.

Session 54 - 08/11/23

27th of Aurgern - 2nd of Sestern, 1834CE - The Astral Plane & Ghorangar, Sorosia

In the Astral Plane, Alba and Gertie travelled with Engembara through the open expanse after resting for the night and a conversation about Kade’s reasons for pursuing Gertie. On their journey through the plane they passed a colour pool linked to the plane of Acheron, as well as a tower drifting through the expanse. They also found a box of magical paints and took it with them. Finally discovering a portal back to the Known Realms, they landed in a forest of leafless dead trees. From their the two travelled by plant to Kalomo, meeting up with Quinn and learning from Savarn that an incident in the region near Makari had been reported.

The next morning the two separate halves of the party both scryed upon the other, using it to have a conversation and arrange to meet up in Ghorangar. Alba transported himself and Gertie there and the party reunited, catching up on their adventures since the battle at the compound. After entering the magnificent mansion, Alba told the party (with the exception of Gertie) the secret he had learned from Engembara and the group debated what to do with the information. They then went shopping at Arcana Antiquary, a magic item shop in Ghorangar where they bought some items from Quenthel, the drow enchanter and owner. Fjolla was contacted by the Kewhuan government, and told that she was offered training by a mastersmith in Kahgarak.

The next day, they travelled to Pelduin and visited the Riddled Realm, with Fjolla commissioning a helmet to enhance her charisma. Remy showed the group his new creation, a mirror allowing the user to learn information on any object or creature they were familiar with. Lekki tested it on their pocketwatch gifted to them by Vis, seeing a series of scenes: an icy mountainous landscape, a family running into black fog, a woman placing a mechanical heart within a body in a laboratory and a man standing aboard a strange ship upon icy waters. Fjolla then used the mirror on the mace, seeing its creation by a strange figure as well as the mace being wielded in a war by a torkoth warrior and its eventual placement in the cave where she found it. Lekki then used the mirror on the orb carried by the party. They learned that the orb was forged as one of almost two dozen, created by the torkoth and seemingly used to imprison a being that appeared as an enormous dark cloud of physical darkness and shadow. They then saw a torkoth mage standing with the orb in a chamber filled by a giant chain, and the party speculated that the orbs could have been used to imprison Blight, the Old God of darkness and entropy.

Session 55 - 15/11/23

2nd-4th of Sestern, 1834CE - Kahgarak, Terene

The party used the mirror on the silver sword recovered by Alba and Gertie, and Lekki translated the journal. They learned a little about Pah’zeth, the owner. After leaving a message for Bagman in their new bag of holding, the group travelled to Kahgarak the next day and met with Tourhak, the goliath mastersmith who would be training Fjolla. She began to train under him while the rest of the party visited an inn reputed to be run by a vampire. There they found a wine tasting and took part, only for Lekki to inadvertently insult the tavern owner by asking him if he was indeed a vampire. Gertie was contacted by the House Caller’s wizard via Sending and told that the group had parted ways with Kade, and that Kade was travelling to Taranreef – the fortress island of the Lady of Storms.

The next day the group were contacted by Cordelia, who was in Inala. They journeyed there – leaving Fjolla to her training – and met her in the town’s tavern. They learned that the Wellspring, a shrine that housed a source of unending water, had begun to release more and more water than before and had caused the region to flood and become overrun with mud-born monsters. They travelled with Cordelia towards the tower, on the way encountering three mutated trolls that were deliberating how to cook a captured villager. The party fought and slew the trolls, continuing on to arrive at the tower-shrine of the Wellspring.

Session 56 - 22/11/23

4th of Sestern, 1834CE - The Wellspring, Urakaxl

The party climbed upwards through the tower, navigating various puzzles and channelling the numerous water spouts and rivers that ran throughout the shrine to unlock doors and traverse the chambers. They encountered several bloated mephit mudlords and slew them. In the same room they discovered altars to Heshna and Tritan, one of them containing a magic ring and dagger. They reached the highest level of the Wellspring and discovered a rift through which was pouring an unending deluge of water. As they moved to seal it a being came through that resembled an enormous snake made of water. The party fought against it, withstanding a conjured tidal wave attack as well as several summoned water elementals. They finally defeated the Leviathan as Lekki cast a Wall of Light through it that turned the elemental monster to steam. Cordelia sealed the rift and spoke of a researcher at the Sunnmore Royal Academy in Ilsted that had speculated that the increase in interplanar travel in the last two decades had begun to bring the Known Realms back into alignment with the rest of the multiverse. The group (aside from Gertie) reacted to this news with a growing apprehension, causing Cordelia to begin questioning them as they made to descend the tower.

Session 57 - 29/11/23

4th-8th of Sestern, 1834CE - Kahgarak, Terene

The party used Wind Walk to travel back to Kahgarak, where they met Dak’bi, a kobold sent by a dragon associate of Cassius’ to deliver a letter to Fjolla. While staying in the coastal town, Alba visited a temple with Lekki and Jain. There he learnt how to cast the Commune spell from a local cleric, and asked questions about the nature of the plane to Melora. As Fjolla continued her training, Gertie finished her time studying the manual of gainful exercise.

Over the next few days the party contemplated their next move. They travelled to Kalomo to learn if anything had been heard from the Ashman, then scryed on both him and Kade, learning that Kade was on a ship departing from Port Kinau and Ashman was seemingly travelling through the gas-shrouded wastes of Braun. Lekki spoke with the Empress of Isphyriss about Sellakor and learned that a team had been sent to investigate the ruins further. They then sent Rufus to Port Kinau to stow aboard Kade’s hired ship, and Lekki asked Vis to try and track down Ashman.

After some further indecision the party decided to journey to Ezalyn’s tomb, and used Transport Via Plant to travel to Ghorangar. They were accompanied by Dak’bi, and set off into the rainforests of Sorosia. That night Lekki transformed into their wereraven form and were able to master control over it, gaining the ability to shapechange back and forth at will.

Session 58 - 05/12/23

9th of Sestern, 1834CE - Ezalyn's Tomb, Sorosia

Upon reaching the site indicated on their map to be the location of the tomb, the party searched and eventually uncovered the opening mechanism when Jain summoned her echo, revealing it to be slightly out of temporal phase. They entered and began to delve through the dungeon, avoiding several dangerous traps and solving arcane puzzles. Meanwhile, Rufus followed Kade as he arrived at the fortress of the Lady of Storms on the island of Taranreef and had an audience with the Lady. She rebuked him for the loss of his ship and crew, but Kade asserted that he knew what Gertie was searching for and believed he could ‘find it first’.

The party continued traversing the tomb, uncovering several tapestries depicting the fates of the Old Gods, as well as several ancient tomes pertaining to dunamancy and ancient Sorosia. One seemed to be a theoretical proposal for warriors capable of channelling the energy of fading timelines to aid them in battle. They came to a hallway that seemed to age those who travelled down it, and discovered that for some reason it aged Lekki at a pace comparable to that of an elf. They then came to a ruined room and turned an orb that de-aged the room and revived several skeletons into strange-looking drow that attached the group. The party fought them off, being beaten back until a voice – believed by Jain and Lekki to be that of Ezalyn herself – told them that they could travel beyond the room to escape the enchantment. The group did so, escaping the chamber and finding themselves on a staircase leading further below.

Session 59 - 13/12/23

9th-10th of Sestern, 1834CE - Ezalyn's Tomb, Sorosia

The party rested for the night in the magnificent mansion. As they recovered, Lekki used Rufus to explore the Lady of Storms’ fortress and speak to a sea devil they found imprisoned in the dungeons. He identified himself as Kaanhvok, and said that he had been captured by the Lady several years before and was now forced to grant her power and arcane might. During conversation it came to light that he knew of a location where many petrified people were kept, and offered to tell the location if the party freed him.

The next day the party continued onwards, with Ezalyn speaking into Jain’s mind to ask what she was – having detected the dunamis Jain channelled for her echo knight abilities. They came to a ceremonial chamber with a mural of a strange dragon, and discovered a tome called ‘The Last Question’, speculating about the use of dunamancy for travelling through time. It also made mention of a being called Laromet, said to possess the natural ability to time travel at will.

They finally came to a sarcophagus chamber and found the revived form of Ezalyn, apparently a type of dunamantic lich. The archmage spoke of her plans to enact revenge on the Shadow Assembly and go on to bring all of Kewhua under arcane rule, claiming to Jain that the assembly had lied to her by claiming to have created her and posing as immortals. After being aggravated by Lekki’s attempts at engaging in moral debates the lich attacked the party, summoning undead that opened fire on them as Ezalyn began launching spells and manipulating the flow of time in the chamber. The battle raged across the hall, with several party members coming close to death as the lich unleashed powerful magic and several Gravity Sinkholes. She also hit Alba with Power Word Stun and managed to make several of the party disappear using Temporal Shunt. Finally after being weakened by a final charge by Dak’bi, Jain managed to reach the lich and broke through her Shield spell, slashing the upper portion of her head off.

In the aftermath, the party decided to promptly rest to recover. They went to sleep, with Gertie staying up slightly later to read ‘The Last Question’.

Session 60 - 20/12/23

11th-12th of Sestern, 1834CE - Lumbasa, Urakaxl

The party searched through Ezalyn’s hoard, uncovering various treasures as well as a desiccated head they presumed to be used for Speak with Dead. After setting off a trap within the hoard and uncovering treasures including scrolls and a broom of flying, they left the tomb and used Transport Via Plants to travel back to Kahagarak and reunite with Fjolla.

The reunited group discussed the idea of making a deal with Kaanhvok, the sea devil imprisoned on Taranreef. Lekki spoke with him through Rufus and was able to come to a tentative deal whereby they would free him and give him knowledge about the Vaku, and in return Kaanhvok would tell them the location of the petrified people and allow himself to be banished.

The group then rested for the night. Lekki had a dream where they found themself with Vis in the under-basement of the Urakaxl Royal Academy of the Arcane. The two watched as a Master Damilius, one of the professors of the academy and now seemingly under the control of some other force, had captured and bound the other professors as he freed their captive that Jain had seen once before – a purple, mucus-covered dragon with tentacles and a mutated growth upon its back. The beings speaking through Damilius noted that their plans had been accelerated by knowledge from thralls in the Shadow Assembly about the planar secret – causing them to launch an invasion earlier than they had planned. At the headmaster’s request the beings identified themselves – as the Illithid. The dragon spewed a bile over the assembled prisoners containing small tadpole-like beings that burrowed into the prisoners as Lekki’s dream ended abruptly.

They hurriedly woke the rest of the party and the group travelled to Lumbasa. Arriving at the gates to the academy they found a detachment of guards there, and learned that the dragon had broken out from the academy and flown south – and that much of the western coast was under attack. The party entered with several guards before being attacked by illithids – tentacle-mouthed humanoids imbued with psionic powers. Alba struggled with resisting their psionic attacks as he had a vision of the statue of Solva he had burned long ago. Finally the group were able to slay the monsters and searched through the academy, finding no more beings but noting that the library had been scoured for information. They were informed of a war council being convened in Drosken Keep, north of Dirhoga, as well as the news that Sherunis, Behtasa, Avkhenet and Port Damali had fallen, with Port Kinau under attack and contact lost with Seberen. They transported to Dirhoga and journeyed north towards the keep.

Session 61 - 17/01/24

12th of Sestern, 1834CE - Drosken Keep, Yemoja

The party arrived at Drosken Keep to find it in the midst of heavy fortification, with entire companies of military forces arriving alongside numerous adventuring parties. They were escorted into a war council headed by General Koman Rynevald, on their way meeting Gorson Greynook, a human man who was the leader of the adventuring party the High Horses. The general debriefed the assembled forces on the events of the last few hours: numerous settlements across the Abassan coast had come under attack with several falling to the enemy, and Port Kinau was attacked before being repelled – with the dragon having been injured in the assault. Several objectives were outlined, including reconnaissance to find the base that townsfolk of the destroyed Sherunis were being taken to, discovering what had happened to the disappeared town of Seberen, and retaking the town of Behtasa. The party decided to travel to Seberen, thereafter to link up with a large military force gathering near Port Damali to attempt to retake the town. To that end they were assigned Commander Skaran and his 16th Abassan Regiment, and were teleported to nearby the jungle town.

Lekki transformed into their raven form and flew above the dense jungle canopy to see a large upper canopy and a giant open space where the town had stood – in its place only a crater and open space in the upper canopy. The group travelled closer and determined that some form of druidic magic had been used to transport the town. They were attacked by numerous illithid creations resembling walking brains, slaying them all despite losing two soldiers – one of whom had a brain-monster teleport inside his head and seemingly devour his brain. He attempted to attack the commander, only for Gertie to throw a dagger through his neck – causing the monster to break out and run. It was swiftly cut down by Fjolla, who had cast Haste upon herself and Jain.

They explored the crater and Alba’s attempt at communing with nature was interrupted by Lekki submerging their head in a nearby pool (despite Fjolla’s attempt at stopping them) and being pulled through to a more vibrant jungle that contained the transported Seberen. There – as they were joined by the rest of the party – they met Song of Mild Days, a tabaxi of the Apidaean Grove. They learned that the town had come under attack, and the grove had managed to successfully pull the entire town into the feywild, a mirror plane of the material with a heightened natural beauty. The patron of the grove, Ryevun, had been exhausted to near-death by this endeavour, however, and would need time to recover before the town could return. They journeyed up into the town, which hung from the upper canopy as a series of woven and grown buildings connected by rope-bridges and pulley lifts. They met with several other members of the town, seemingly mostly populated by tabaxi – including Glow of Lighted Candle, whom they had met on Kaburi. They discussed the state of the invasion with Cadence of Water, the governor of the town. Cadence briefly thought that she recognised Jain, to Jain’s confusion. The party then contemplated their next move.

Session 62 - 24/01/24

12th of Sestern, 1834CE - Seberen, The Feywild

As they considered what to do next, a guard rushed over and told Cadence that the regiment had been forced to retreat from the rift to the material plane, and were on their way up pursued by a large force of illithids. Commander Skarran joined the party and told them of the large number of both small and large illithids approaching. The party, along with the regiment and several druids of the Apidaean Grove, plus Song, prepared to defend the town while the townsguard evacuated the townsfolk into the upper layers of the canopy above.

They looked down to see numerous brain monsters and hulking behemoths climbing up the trunk pathways while almost a dozen illithids levitated upwards on all sides. Lekki and Fjolla began firing down at them, slaying two illithids before the rest reached the town level and the battle began.

The lesser illithids swarmed the platform as their masters fired with mind blasts and the assembled defence army fired back. Numerous soldiers were cut down as illithids landed on the platforms and began stunning people before ripping their brains from their heads and devouring them. Lekki and Alba were stunned by mind blasts, and Jain was grappled and stunned by one of the behemoths, an Eater of Knowledge, and was almost killed by a brain monster before a soldier was able to pull her free - before unfortunately perishing himself. Lekki was likewise saved when brain monsters almost killed them before the monsters were destroyed. The battle waged on, with Fjolla being stunned and taking critical damage from an assault on her brain by an illithid before it was destroyed. Jain also managed to hold a brain monster in place to prevent it from attacking Fjolla until she was recovered. Commander Skarran fell in the battle, alongside nearly all his men and all the druids. The remaining soldiers fought on with the party and Song until they finally succeeded in slaying the last of the illithid strike force - including an Eater of Knowledge that climbed back up the entire trunk after having been knocked down in the early stages of the fight by Lekki.

Session 63 - 07/02/24

12th-13th of Sestern, 1834CE - Port Damali, Abassa

In the aftermath of the battle, the party spoke with the partially-recovered Ryevun, patron of the Apidaean Grove. He told them that the grove had made the decision to seal the entrances to the feywild so that Seberen could remain protected until the invasion had passed. The party agreed and, after being thanked by Cadence and declared friends to Seberen, said their goodbyes and returned to the material plane.

Joined by the two surviving members of the 16th Abassan Regiment, they rested for the night. Lekki found Vis in their room. After catching up and playing dragon chess, they told Lekki that they had been on their way to tell Lekki they had found the Ashman when they discovered the scene at the Urakaxl Academy. The Ashman was headed towards a site with a peculiar aura in the Braun wastes. They gave Lekki a poorly drawn map to its location and eventually just telepathically communicated the location.

The next day, the party used Wind Walk to fly to the military camp established near the occupied coastal town of Port Damali. They were reunited there with the High Horses, and discussed their previous days, with the fellow adventurers relating their discovery of the burnt ruins of Sherunis, how they saved a number of townsfolk being transported to a nearby illithid base, their attempted attack on this base and their narrow escape. The party then spoke with Commander Volg and were given a taskforce to lead in the assault on the town planned for that evening. Alba, Jain and Gertie scouted the town from above, observing a giant organic tentacled vehicle of some kind floating just off the beachfront, while Lekki played dragon chess against the High Horses, learning that Jalen had attended a grandmaster conference for the game in Kalomo.

The party then broke the sea devil Kaanhvok out of the Lady of Storms’ fortress by having Rufus grow an Instant Tree in the cell chamber and Alba casting Transport Via Plants to link that tree to the party’s location. Kaanhvok travelled through and made good on his part of the deal, telling Gertie of a fortress concealed in a place called Sthenon Cove, hidden behind an arcane illusion on the western coast of the Scarlands – the fortress of the Pirate Lady Dracaena, who he indicated was a Medusa that petrified her prisoners and stored them in her dungeons. Lekki then cast Banishment on him, with the devil disappearing without incident.

Before their attack on the town, Lekki sent Rufus to scout the flesh-wrought base of the illithids floating off the coast. He flew in invisibly but was apparently detected anyway and assaulted with psionic force, being swiftly destroyed. The party then joined in the assault, breaching through the outer thrall-manned defences and fighting their way down a central street, slaying several thralls and illithids as they went. Making it through without causalities, they regrouped as they reached the beachfront.

Session 64 - 14/02/24

13th of Sestern, 1834CE - Port Damali, Abassa

The party joined in the battle raging across the beachfront, with the fort overlooking Port Damali being damaged by explosions as soldiers fought against the illithid forces. The party battled against them, cutting several down despite their soldiers being killed by enemy mind blasts. Alba sent a Wall of Fire across the beach, causing part of the Hex on the Beach bar to explode as Gertie looted bottles of rum and whisky from the surviving half.

The High Horses also reached the beachfront and fought alongside the party until the illithid forces were defeated. With the illithid vehicle base beginning to retreat, the two parties managed to fly/teleport/leap aboard as it began to fly away. Travelling inside, they encountered the central controlling intelligence of what they determined to be an illithid relay, extending the hivemind to the local region. It demonstrated advanced psionic powers in their battle against it but eventually the combined forces were able to destroy it, with another Wall of Fire finishing the aberration off. As the now dying being began to fall towards the sea the party leapt/flew/teleported from it and regrouped on the beach of the now-reclaimed Port Damali.

Session 65 - 21/02/24

13th-15th of Sestern, 1834CE - The Ruins of Voguragahk, Terene

The party regrouped with Volg and the High Horses, and after resting for the night journeyed to Port Kinau. There they told Commander Shyael of their adventures since the start of the invasion and met with the Cynelish, who had been summoned to aid in the invasion by the Kewhuan Council. Xartaza cast True Seeing on Fjolla, allowing her to see that the Cynelish seemed afflicted by some form of curse, which they subsequently revealed was a result of their studying the tomes they retrieved from Muirneag – the works of an ancient Kewhuan necromancer called Karsime who had sought to discover a way to cheat death without resorting to lichdom. The Cynelish told the war council of a Torkoth artifact identified in Belry’s published translations of Torkoth knowledge that introduced a static into hiveminds and could act as a weapon against the invasion. The party planned to travel to the ruins of Voguragahk to see if they could find one. Upon their mentioning the necrotic field shrouding the arcane research site they had encountered on their previous exploration there, the Cynelish crafted them amulets that would shield them from its effects – while Lekki sat with them and observed, asking numerous questions.

The next day, Alba used Transport Via Plants to transport the party to the ruins of Voguragahk. They swiftly travelled to the research site and entered, leaving Rufus and a familiar summoned by Alba. Inside, they unsealed the facility and found evidence of an escaped creature. They also found an enormous dark crystal, with research notes identifying it as hailing from the Shadowfell. It was damaged, and seemed to be responsible for the necrotic aura. Alba and Fjolla attempted to repair some of the cracked casing, and the party continued on. They encountered an undead horror that possessed the ability to grapple people with shadowy tendrils and inflict psychic damage onto them. They fought the being and finally slew it, with Fjolla teleporting behind it and caving its head in.

They then searched the ‘replication’ chamber and found several work stations with artifacts, including a supply of mimocite, a set of bracers being repaired but missing vital gemstone parts, the Psionic Interlocutor, and finally an oily black stone contained within a glass casing unit, with a note warning against touching it. Xartaza identified the stone as being of ‘Edosian’ make, referring to the species as Astral Elves or the ‘original ones’.

Session 66 - 28/02/24

15th-16th of Sestern, 1834CE - Behtasa, Abassa

The party left the facility after setting a warning at the entrance to the chamber with the shadowfell crystal. Then they returned to Port Kinau, where they gave the Psionic Interlocutor to the Cynelish for study and for them to attempt to recreate it. They were then briefed on a planned assault to retake the town of Behtasa using the Interlocutor. Lekki sent Rufus to fly there while the group rested for the night after planning their attack. Before sleeping, Alba cast Speak with Dead on the shrivelled head from Ezalyn’s Tomb, learning that it was the head of Indohyus Ravenwake, famed adventurer of second-era Kewhua renowned for his extensive knowledge of mythology and the then-unexplored lands of Kewhua. Ravenwake had made a deal with someone to learn ‘everything’, being sent mad in the process before being killed by Ezalyn for interrogation after death. The group learned of several artifacts Ezalyn had asked him about - the legendary Torkoth sword Lightweaver, the Liber Temporis - mythical book of time - and the Sykirian Gate.

The next day the group transported to Behtasa’s fort, appearing in a courtyard with several illithids. They activated the Interlocutor and it had an immediate, debilitating effect upon the illithids, stunning several and weakning others. The group attacked alongside their soldiers and swiftly slew the monsters, continuing down to the fort harbour as several of the brain creatures were destroyed by the effects of the device and the soldiers overpowered and slew several more illithids. They found a relay attempting to escape and boarded it, finding the monstrosity severely damaged and in apparent shock at the psionic device. They finished it off, with Alba delivering the final, literal punch to destroy the relay and send it falling to the ocean below. As they reunited with the soldiers – who were joined by a secondary assault force – they finished securing the town. They rested for the evening, after learning that the locations of three of the illithid strongholds – or ‘colonies’ – had been established, and attacks on all three were planned for a few days time. Alba and Gertie tried to Scry on Kade but found their efforts blocked. Gertie then tried to Scry on her petrified friend only to find the same block. Fearing the worst, she scryed on the location she had last seen him, finding the same underground dungeon but her friend missing and a sealed letter pinned to the wall with a dagger. Alba then scryed on the black knight, seeing him journeying through the desert of Terene apparently altered or enhanced in some way.

Session 67 - 06/03/24

17th of Sestern, 1834CE - Pelduin, Tzenketh

After reuniting with Fjolla, the party used Transport Via Plants to travel to Pelduin. They visited the Riddled Realm and spoke with Remy, who gave Fjolla her completed wand of Sending. They spoke with the enchanter about the invasion and the success of the psionic interlocutor, and after showing it to him he said he would be able to replicate it. As they were talking a group of Morgovans entered the shop and said they were looking for a Rudanian woman known as Fjolla. Upon Fjolla identifying herself the strangers attacked.

The party fought back alongside Remy, slaying several of the attackers. They managed to surround Fjolla and did significant damage to her before being defeated, with the last survivor almost escaping before being captured by Jain. Jain was also able to identify the attackers as being members of the Foedoratus, a mercenary group from the Morgovan Empire. They interrogated the survivor with the aid of Remy casting Charm Person, and learned that the captain had met with someone who wanted Fjolla captured. They then used Speak with Dead to question the dead captain, learning that a Rudanian dwarf who had called himself Galdrum had paid them to capture Fjolla and bring her to the Ghost Road, a mountain pass at the Rudanian border. The captain had believed this individual to be a fanatic of some kind.

Fjolla used the wand to contact Urist, who told her that her clan had come under attack by an unknown sect of dwarves. Cassius had been sent to find Fjolla and ensure she was safe, and she contacted him to let him know where they were.

Alba used the Mirror of the Past to learn information about the oily black stone artifacts, learning of their use over time through several visions. Lekki also used the mirror on themselves, seeing scenes from their life as well as the destruction of an entire town that had seemed to result in their appearance in the deserts nearby.

Session 68 - 20/03/24

17th of Sestern, 1834CE - Colony Sinensis, Yemoja

As the party awaited Cassius’ arrival, the party were contacted by a military aide informing them that the illithid forces had been sighted and the next wave of attacks was believed to be imminent. In response, the attacks upon the illithid colonies were beginning at once. The group discussed their next move, and it was decided that Fjolla would travel to Rudania with Cassius while the others linked up with a strike force to attack the colony near Lake Saransrest. Pulling on some form of arcane power after inscribing the visage of Rahaga Gaaki – the Vaku of Magic – upon the ground, Remy was able to discern the precise location of a strikeforce near that colony and offered to transport the party there. Cassius arrived and spoke briefly of an attack upon the Karaka Rhun, stronghold of Clan Aldrhun. Several members of the clan had been slain by the majority of the inner household had fled into the highest reaches of the mountain to take shelter at Urist’s workshop. As Fjolla departed with Cassius, the remainder of the party were teleported by Remy.

They found themselves in a cavern with a strikeforce that included Dak’bi, as well as a tiefling monk called Arkon. They located the entrance to the colony and, activating their psionic interlocutors, attacked. They fought their way past several waves of illithid forces, finding a vast cavern that seemed to utilise the power of the flowing waterfalls coming from the lake above.

As the group pushed closer they heard a piercing roar and were met with the illithid dragon that had been freed from the Urakaxl Royal Academy of the Arcane. The fought against it, though several of them were sprayed with its bile and infested with piercing illithid tadpoles. As the group continued their battle against the monster, wounding it, Alba was able to heal the infected with a wave of powerful healing magic. The dragon began to flee, and despite a fierce pursuit by Dak’bi, it was able to escape. The group journeyed into the deepest recesses of the colony and found a dying relay-like organism as well as a more powerful illithid that was trying to dispose of several purple crystals. They slew him and began to inspect the crystals.

Session 69 - 10/04/24

17th-18th of Sestern, 1834CE - Sarangara, Yemoja

The party inspected the crystals and found they were a psionic information storage detailing the locations of other illithid colonies, discovering one in Isphyriss and the main colony located under the Nyoka mountain range. As they finished searching the ruined colony they found a series of strange metal cylinders seemingly being infused with power harnessed from the machinery being turned by the waterfalls. Dak’bi removed one core, storing it in the Magnificent Mansion, before trying to remove the connecting machinery upon noticing it was partly crystal. He succeeded in ripping it out, but it unleashed a wave of arcane force that heavily damaged everyone but Gertie, who managed to avoid it.

They decided to journey back to Sarangara, having learned from Arkon that there was a mage there who could get word to Port Kinau. During their journey around the edge of Lake Saransrest they spotted a serpent-like creature out in the lake. As a storm build up they reached town. They spoke with the tavern owners as well as the soldiers still stationed there and got word to Commander Shyael, who told them she would prepare for an offensive attack on the main colony. The party – newly named the ‘Midnight Snacks’ – rested for the evening. Dab’ki flew out over the lake and encountered a mighty sea serpent. Speaking to it respectfully, he learned that it was called Luwak and lived in the lake’s depths; the serpent allowed Dak’bi to share in its fishing and he returned with an enormous fish that he then prepared with Bren, one of the tavern’s owners. Lekki sent Rufus towards the nearby Lake Dalmeer overnight.

He arrived there in the morning, discovering a giant typhoon covering the centre of the lake. He tried to push through it but was destroyed by the force. Lekki re-summoned him and asked Alba to cast Wind Walk on the group so that Rufus could return for another attempt as the rest of the party flew to Port Kinau. Alba agreed and they separated, with the party returning to Port Kinau and informing the commander of their discovery. In turn, they learned that though the three discovered colonies had been destroyed, the country had suffered significant damage in attacks upon many of its settlements including Kalomo, Serpent’s Shore, Lumbasa and Nakonwe. The group planned to lead an army to the Colony Vulgaris, the central stronghold of the illithid beneath the Nyoka mountain range. Meanwhile, Rufus managed to reach the island at the centre of Lake Dalmeer and was addressed by a voice speaking from the storm itself, manifesting as a giant figure formed of sand and dust. She identified herself as Dhorana, storm giant quintessent and guardian of the Felblade, the weapon used to kill her father – Taran, one of the Old Gods. After some persuasion she told Lekki that the Felblade had been stolen more than a decade before by a thief, only for a group of pirates to have come soon after looking for him. She showed Lekki the likenesses of both the thief and the pirates, and Lekki noted an emblem on their armour that seemed to be that of Dracaena the Pirate Lord. Lekki agreed to try and find the thief and return the weapon.

The party then used Transport Via Plants to travel to the base of the Nyoka range and journeyed up into the mountains, travelling east and into a ravine when they were attacked by aberrant illithid creations that could fly and tether themselves to beings to impart damage dealt to them. The party slew them and continued towards the colony.