Session 29: Everything's a Drum (3/26/24)

Desnova 12, 1423.

After capturing the second ethyrean prison relic from the hidden rotja stocks at Crumblemoor, the PCs decide to trek eastward into the Tzarswald before camping. They manage to clear the marshland, and Aldren finds a suitable covered grove in which they can rest. Throughout the watches, they hear some occasional horn blasts off in the woods somewhere, perhaps belonging to a hunting or war party.

Desnova 13, 1423.

Our heroes press on into the woodlands, but soon encounter strange rows of pines, several of which seem to sway or uproot themselves to create formations on the forest floor that seem more like a curated garden than a wild wood. They are 'approached' by one of the trees, which wields a set of drums and has a halo of birds fluttering about it. In a low-toned timbre, it introduces itself as 'The Roost', and is quite surprised to find that Bjork Two-horns is among the party. A friendly bard-off is initiated, and The Roost turns out to have lost to Snowcock the Sonorous in the past, so a prize is determined to be that disgraced bard's instrument, if the minotaur should lose.

A competition ensues, and the pine tree metes out an incredibly moving performance, with its low, rolling tone, steadily escalating drums, and tweeting bird accompaniment. Though Bjork does his best in return, using mage hand to play his cowbell while he slings his lute, it's not quite enough to dazzle the already entranced audience. In the second round, The Roost adds in some swaying pines that he animates with his natural ability, while Mockleg and Nebol'shoy attempt to spice up Bjork's next piece with some shimmering illusions and giant owls that can fly through them, an impromptu air show! Alas, Bjork critically fumbled his performance, breaking strings and causing the giant owls to misdirect and crash into one another, a disaster. Since The Roost has clearly won the first two rounds, there is no need for a third. It offers some wisdom to the PCs, and a warning to Aldren to 'watch his Six' after learning the half-elf's identity. It returns to its pines, the circle changing form to rows once more.

The PCs travel deeper into the Tzarswald, the sounds of horns seeming to close in on them, from all directions now, and an occasional thundering of paws or feet somewhere off in the wood. They come upon an idyllic scene of a statue to the goddess Odhinnei, surrounded by a man-made brook, but in a state of some disrepair, and they decide to make their stand against whatever it is that must be tracking them. It turns out that it is indeed the Blood Lake Band, the bugbears whose camp the party destroyed some weeks back, and whose scouts have spied them from a far once or twice since then. They are arranged into a quartet of small warbands, each led by a fearsome chieftain riding a dire wolf.



The PCs press into a defensive area about the statue, but it actually works against them as the bugbears rain javelins down upon them, and seem to be canny to avoid some of the defensive spells set up by Aldren and Nebol'shoy. The wolves and riders rush in to combat while their underlings continue to press the missile attack, eventually closing themselves. While the Blood Lake Band gives a good accounting of themselves, they are inevitably no match for the magic, missile and melee prowess of our heroes, and as the tide turns, several lightning bolts from Mockleg, and a polymorph turning Rucia into a T-Rex, help the party finish off the fanatical remnants of this hunting party!

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

NPCs

The Redhatch Roost (male? treant): 

Session 28: The Twistening (2/25/24)

Desnova 12, 1423.

The giant boars' cries immediately alert the giants within the Crumblemoor Keep, who rush out to join the battle against the intrusive PCs, only to be met with magical traps set up by Aldren and others. The two boars are taken out quickly. Spiky terrain, lightning bolts, and bardic musical assaults all slow down the giants' rush, but eventually the twisted creatures' brute strength, enormous damage thresholds, and ability to send out curses at range, that warp the flesh of their victims, inflict heavy casualties on our heroes. Almost all of them are felled numerous times, only to be revived with desperate magic and potions being stuffed down their throats by companions nearby. At one point Sludd had to flee into the nearby forest, leaving just a few of the PCs standing, but through a twist of fate and tactics they managed to survive, and the devious D'vryn returned to the fray when things started to shift once more in the reverse direction.

At long last, the giants are all slain, and the PCs, now decimated, begin to recover within the shelter of the Keep as they make some final explorations of the interior. They throw out a shelter spell, but on his watch, Nebol'shoy notices Krusty, the earth elemental familiar of his former compatriot Grittnar, snooping about the ruins, probably looking for his party. Before he can alert all the other PCs and deal with the creature, it disappears, burrowing into the dirt, likely to report back to its master. The party finishes looting about the area, finding a huge sack with some treasure that belonged to the giants, and then they prove further about the grounds. Aldren decides to dip himself into the rotja-filled well in the courtyard, and discovers a sealed, rusted panel at the bottom. After a few attempts, the half-elf uses a crowbard to wedge open the panel, emptying out the well into a chute and hidden chamber below. It appears to be the long abandoned stash of the brewers that once made the Crumblemoor their home.



Nebol'shoy and Sludd join Aldren below while the rest of the PCs wait at the top of the well, and they begin to take some of the old stores of liquor, when suddenly the possessed lantern begins to react to something in the chamber, a yellowish light that intermingles and responds back to its blue. A pair of shadows form defensively, and are quickly taken out by the trio of PCs, especially once Aldren dowses the lantern's glow, and then they discover the source of light...a golden censer on a chain of copper and brass, which also seems to contain some sort of swirling, ethereal being! When attempting to contact the device directly with his person, Aldren notices that it attempts to wrest control of his mind, perhaps this particular prison of efirnyy has a different defense than the lantern! Nebol'shoy cautiously prompts it into a sack, and the PCs join their companions above to figure out their next move.

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

Session 27: Moor's the Pity (12/17/23)

Desnova 12, 1423.

Rucia continues to smash up the eggs within the ditch, although no more of them squeal and there is no further response from far off in the Flailing Marsh. Satisfied with the carnage, he climbs out of the pit and the PCs marsh northward towards where they heard the hideous cry. They arrive at the Crumblemoor by moonlight, an abandoned keep that supposedly once belonged to a rotja-brewing family. They approach through a side entrance that leads to a terrace and the south tower of the keep, where they find a pair of strange magical kites tied off to a stripling in an ancient stone planter. The kites give a bit of a lift when held, so they decide to leave them tied back off, and proceed into the South Tower. The structure is in quite bad condition, and they proceed with caution up a central staircase. Aldren and Bjork remain on the 3rd floor so the half-elf can explore some of the wreath-covered pennant poles, while the rest of the group goes to the top floor and confronts a banshee...

The undead creature wails hideously, knocking out three of our heroes: Rucia, Nebol'shoy, and Sludd, and so Mockleg and Bjork begin healing them up before they die from the sonic attack. Eventually Aldren arrives and finishes off what Rucia started, dissipating the woman by the moonlight. Nebol'shoy finds a scroll case near a shattered chest, and the PCs head back downstairs, where they find a crushed human that might be one of the missing Gravers' Guild adventurers similar to the lady in the pit from earlier. The party takes a short rest before pressing on into a Gatehouse around the fallen entrance Gate. Nebol'shoy pokes out of the structure only to encounter the legendary crayfish Old Marrow in the courtyard. It grabs Aldren as he rushes to the roof, and the rest of the PCs file out to engage the creature. Though it hits hard and even manages to hurl an enlarged Rucia across the courtyard, the terrain doesn't favor its particular maneuvers, and severals of the PCs and their support staff deal massive blows to it, including a critical strike with Mockleg's shadow blade and a nasty sneak attack from Sludd! The beast finally topples, never to terrorize the shores of the Jaggerhead again...

The PCs find numerous magical-aura items on the creature, including one of the nets cast over it and several items from its stomach. They proceed to explore the courtyard of the keep, finding an old guard house, a covered well that appears to contain a supply of muddy old rotja, and a stable in which Rucia and Nebol'shoy inquire with some small alligators about what might lie further inside the keep, and the missing lad that the paladin has been tasked to find. The creatures don't know much. Aldren hears some creatures speaking raucously in Giant, and reports to the group. They decide to press further on into the Keep but first examine a boathouse near an old dried up waterway to the northeast of the Keep. As they return from this, they notice a burning projectile fired off into the sky above the keep. Aldren tries but cannot track where the thing lands, so they check out some more of the inner keep. Eventually, they worry that the projectile might attract more allies of the giants within, and forge a plan to assess their forces and perhaps draw them out. 



Four twisted giants and two giant boars eventually answer the summons with the blast of a horn, and the giants hustle into the Crumblemoor before dawn. Sludd, who hid out in the Keep, heard some bits of broken Common that they were searching for several individuals, including some of the PCs, and have some association with a dwarf named Grittnar, who Nebol'shoy identifies as an associate of Borya and Csunoir. Aldren continues to plan a potential trap where he can use a spell and then lay down suppressing fire against the giants, but as they are about to initiate it, several of the PCs stealth poorly, alerting the boars to their presence, who begin to squeal horridly at their approach!

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

Session 26 - Revelation in the Rain (11/19/23)

Desnova 9, 1423.

Nebol'shoy is pressed for answers, literally, against the wall of the hovel in the Drenches, and Rucia is ripping mad. Aldren latches on to the dragonborn's arm and Mockleg tries to talk sense from the rage, noting that the gnome has helped save their lives many times. Nebol'shoy is restrained while Bjork takes some of the former prisoners to the church of Sanctos where they can be cured. Rucia storms about outside, cooling off, but encounters a mysterious young girl who compels him with a sob story to save her brother from the dreaded crayfish Old Marrow on the Jaggerhead. Once the party is regrouped, Nebol'shoy tells them of his dark secret, that he once belonged to a club with these former Naturalists, each a specialist in a different field or element, but under the leadership of Csunori and her love interest they began delving into dark arts in private, culminating in the necromantress deciding to kill and raise her entire tribe. The gnome didn't go along with the plan, but was knocked out before he could escape (by who it is unknown). The rest is known to Rucia, who came back to find his tribe slain or missing...

Nebol'shoy fills the party in on whatever other information he knows about the group, dead or alive, and eventually Rucia decides to forgive him, for Nebol'shoy admits that he joined the party in the first place to help the paladin as a sort of penance. The party also tries to get some information out of the other freed prisoner, Sludd, who claims he owes the group a blood debt but would be more useful if he could get his fingers back. Bjork casts a shelter to protect the group while they sleep, and they rotate some watches, interrupted late in the morning when a mercenary comes to collect taxes from the hovel. Aldren pays for the back taxes and then sells the building to the Bluecoat for a gold coin! The PCs decide on a course of action before heading over to Old Bloodwalls.

Desnova 10, 1423.

After waking up in the afternoon, Nebol'shoy, Bjork and Sludd travel to the Silversmith Zmiev to get a spell component for the druid. Sludd seems happy with the place, and produces a silver pipe once the shopping has ended, claiming its from his papi. The other PCs go to the Blinking Kettle to gather the rest of their belongings with Mockleg and settle accounts. They then proceed to the Gravers Guild to speak with Ser Arkimedes Oldwater, and Nebol'shoy figures out the pattern to knock on the door by the flickering of torches on the building-front. He signs up the four PCs and Mockleg in the Guild Register and assigns them a cachet of equipment they can bring to explore the Crumblemoor, saying that the 50% donation to the Guild from found goods will have to be on the honor system as he is short-staffed. They take the cache back to the boat and depart from Arkany to Omutny.

En route, they encounter a swirling cloud of bats above the lake that also seems to contain what appeared to be a humanoid figure, but it moves off and doesn't harass them further as they row to the eastern shore of the Jaggerhead. They arrive at the Herring House and send a request to Sister Roil to regenerate Sludd's fingers, and also that Captain Condor has been rescued. Condor claims that he thinks the Berg sisters have sold his scalp-map off to the Lay Blades, the notorious pirates who are hiding out inland away from their usual coastal raiding, and might have stolen St. Flume's sacred Pearl of Embertides. They head over to the local Inn to get a room, and set some watches.

Desnova 10, 1423.

During Nebol'shoy's watch, a girl arrives and asks for more money for the next day's lodging, also asking about Rucia. Soon after, the innkeeper herself also shows up with the same request! They return to the Herring House, where Sister Roil offers a regenerate spell for some large donations to her Church, which the party ends up paying in a large amount of gems and a ring of swimming. Sludd's fingers return, and instantly he produces some rings from his belt and adorns them, seeming quite happy with himself. He claims he lost them attempting to rob the Berg sisters, which is how he and Condor wound up in the same flooded prison below Arkany. After some goodbyes, Bjork and Aldren equip the roguish D'vryn with what they can, despite the latter's distrust and animosity. In fact, the half-elf uses a sending to inquire with Olena Sallowmoon about the fellow, who doesn't speak highly of him, but claims that a blood debt is a blood debt. Mockleg is morose that more expense wasn't made to regenerate his missing leg, but understands that Sludd's injury was fresher, and that he is more attuned to his own handicap.

The party launches out across the lake once more, to the far shore along the Flailing Marsh, where they encounter a broken craft that has a large piece of pale caparace lodged into it, which Bjork wants to take and transform later. They set out across the pale grasses and reeds of the wetland, and after a brief jaunt see some Will-o-the-Wisps off in the distance, which they do not steer towards at Rucia's warning. The lights shift around in the distance, but eventually the PCs are distracted when they find a pit that contains a corpse and some oily-black colored, hard-shelled spheres. They appear to be eggs, and some have already hatched. Arrows and fire do little to damage the things, so Bjork uses a mage hand to whisk out the corpse's staff, and Rucia heads down in the pit to begin crushing the eggs with his maul. As the dragonborn cracks one of them, there is a high-pitched, awful squealing that emits from within, soon joined by another, much louder, amplified scream from across the Marsh...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

NPCs

Triina (human female): a young girl with dirty blond pigtails that she wears under a russet cloak and cowl, she speaks in a sad but whispering voice that commands a great amount of sympathy and power.

Session 25 - Seeing Red (10/10/23)

Desnova 8, 1423.

After battling and defeating several cave fishers in the natural cavern, our heroes decide to go up past the red door, which leads into a humble hovel in the Drenches ward, seemingly abandoned, but there is some mildewy furniture and they find a lose brick in the unlit hearth. Behind that, there is some sort of prisoner manifest, with many names listed and crossed off, but on the right column there is surely the name of Condor, as well as some others: Meriam Smelt-Heart, Kvister Rabovich and Sludd. As it's dark and rainy outside, they get their bearings before returning down into the flooded cellars.

Desnova 9, 1423.

They backtrack to the subterranean river and decide to ford it back in the opposite direction, finding numerous rocky outcroppings that contain multicolored phosphorescent mushrooms, which Nebol'shoy is quick to claim, as well as a wooden hand and a rusted key bearing the name of a ship long lost to sea, known as the Saltgrinder. Some lore-thinking connects the key to the wooden hand, which might have belonged to the amputee-captain Rajana Stassov. But what is it doing here? They find a muddy landing off the river which they haven't searched, and then some mudded slopes which lead to a large area, and as it turns out, the prison they have sought! Several shapes, alive and dead are chained in shallow pools of water surrounded by the rubble of collapsed walls, and several of the PCs sneak along to see if Condor is among them. 

This alerts the prison guards, a gang of shifty wererats, large frog-like abilities with the ability to step through shadows, and a watery hag, which all join the melee to protect their charges. A brutal combat ensues, one which the PCs emerge from victorious thanks to some lethal spell-work and keeping the enemy divided. After searching their corpses, they do indeed discover Condor, who is disoriented but happy to see them, as well as another trio of prisoners which still draw breath. They try to mend the prisoners, some of whom are quite insane with pain or grief, and then having a last look around at a vine-choked smaller chamber, they slowly bring the quartet back to the natural cavern and up into the domicile beyond the red dwarf. 

Rest is needed, so the group spreads out over the moldy furniture and a watch is set. A shifting, sliding sound is heard nearby the hovel, and they spy what appears to be the loose flesh of Turtle, some sort of undead conjuring from Csunori that invites the PCs to Old Bloodwalls within a weeks time where they can hash out their differences, the necromantic message is particularly targeted at Rucia and Nebol'shoy, openly revealing that the gnome has some connection to the villains! The dragonborn paladin wants answers and grabs up the druid to have them!

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

NPCs:

Sludd the Advantageous (d'vryn male): A lanky man of some 30-40 summers with an unkempt beard and raggedy hair the consistency of straw. His fingerless hands are wrapped in soggy bandages and he's clearly feverish.

Session 24 - Up the Crabs (8-20-23)

Desnova 7, 1423. 

Keeping a lookout for the local mercenaries and soldiers, the PCs examine the waterway entrance into the Drench ward cellars beneath the merchants' building, and they finally manage to wrest the grate off. A guinea pig is sent ahead to hold his breath, tied to rope and find a way through the first few flooded rooms, some of which are choked with wet cloths that make it difficult to see. Eventually the rest of the party swims in, finding little of interest in the first few areas but a stairway that leads to a dry chamber that is a combination of family tomb and vault. The sepulchers in the room are empty, but they find a child's wooden shashka sword that appears to be stained in blood, with the names 'Ratko', 'Perun' and 'Dobroslav' carved into its side. Using a combination of wit and sorcery, they manage to break open the vault and find some wealth stored away in several chests.

Heading south, they find some sunken, obscure shrine with a hideous statue, but the area is not unoccupied, and a combat ensues with a couple chitinous, tentacled shellfish abominations and some sort of slime that messes with their minds. The PCs emerge victorious, but not before several are brought to within and inch of their life, including little Nebol'shoy who is nearly pincered to death. Other than these adversaries, the room yields little of interest other than a fishing knife which radiates magical enhancement. They circle back around and swim to a chamber with some large flat stone surfaces which turn out to be vaults, and in one of them they find a unique object that seems to change shape to hide itself with its wearer.

Nearby is a submerged wine cellar and storage closet, in which they discover some curious bottles, objects and recipes that they take along with them, including a bottle of continual flame. Beyond this area they find what might have been the occupants of the sarcophagi from earlier, a number of aquatic ghouls that paralyze with a touch. Despite this dangerous ability, the party makes rather quick work of them and then ends up in a smuggler's lair with a pile of old stores and some more chests. Rucia struggles with one of the chests, and a trap is sprung from another, but they find more riches inside, a scroll, a potion, and some gems. They travel back through the flooded winery to find a dry, natural cavern area, quite large, which ends at a single red door! Still no sign of Captain Condor...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

Session 23 - Are you not entertained?! (7-23-23)

Desnova 6, 1423.

While Aldren's companions return to the Blinking Kettle to recover from their recent infighting and prepare for the 'flash pit fight' that Turtle is putting together, he is surrounded by a trio of criminals who attempt to abduct him. He puts up a chase, spelling off to the rooftops, but an additional trio of masked thugs with insane acrobatic skills pursue him. Eventually, he gives up once he enters the Blinking Kettle's 'location' and finds it isn't there, and turns himself over to the group. They blindfold him and lead him off to some undetermined safehouse cellar, where they are introduced as Sober Jo, Skretchid and Rembolt Fuddlemuzz, the latter an individual they were seeking out after finding a note referencing him in the Deepwood Barrows some weeks before. Aldren's kidnappers are clearly 'Brothers Dimm', and they interrogate him about who else his party is seeking in Arkany, a mutual quarry. The half-elf learns that Condor was in possession of all his fingers, meaning those left behind in Zolozhny weren't his after all!

It is decided that they need information and communication with other members of the party, so Sober Jo guides Aldren to the Eskranade where Turtles' impromptu pit fight is being held to draw out Beryl Berg. The gnome and shapeshifter demand that all his gear be left behind other than a few coins. The rest of our PCs assemble and head off to the Eskranade after night falls, where Turtle has paid off a few mercenaries for 'crowd control'. Apart from himself, it is decided that Rucia, Sober Jo, a Giant Snake (summoned by Nebol'shoy), a wrestler named Approximas, the bard Cinnamon Frills, and a nearly unequipped Aldren will compete, alongside Beryl Berg, who does indeed show up to test her prowess against this field. Bets will be placed before each individual fight and Turtle will randomly select the pairings. 

Desnova 7, 1423.

Rucia draws the first lot against the Giant Snake, which he rather handily defeats, and then Turtle man-handles Aldren, though the half-elf makes a good account for himself, impressing Sober Jo. Beryl Berg makes quick work of Cinnamon Frills, and Approximas takes down Sober Jo to set up the second round. Before the semi-finals, Sober Jo is introduced to Rucia and the other PCs to once again share some information between them and the local Brothers Dimm. More bets are placed, and after some healing, the second round begins, in which Rucia manages to defeat Turtle, and Beryl Berg impales Approximas after a rougher brawl than her first fight. Further bets are made, and then the finale is set up between Rucia and Beryl Berg. It's a close one, but with a little help from his healing abilities, the paladin manages to outlast Beryl's own endurance to take the overall victory!

Rucia holds on to the wanted dwarf's two blades until later, and it is arranged that a large party of most of our PCs, Turtle, Approximas and Beryl Berg and her many admirers will head out to celebrate at a nearby tavern, The Three Hounds. There the entourages drink, and whilst Bjork and Cinnamon Frills perform an epic, lengthy duet, deals are made between our heroes and the Brothers Dimm. In return for their information, the rogues will assist them in any future assaults against the ex-Naturalists who have been tormenting them (and the region), while Aldren's gear will be dropped off at the Eskranade just around dawn. They also reveal that they are the ones who dropped off Condor at a local site where 'problems are brought to be forgotten', but neither at their own hands or the Berg sisters...

Speaking of which, it is agreed that they'll let the dwarf criminal go in return for her own information that she is planning to auction off the skin map she tore from the drunkard captain's skull. Rucia returns to the Blinking Kettle with Turtle, Approximas and Mockleg, while Aldren heads back to the pit fight area with Bjork and Nebol'shoy to retrieve his gear. Rembolt delivers it at dawn and stashes it away, and the PCs meet up outside the Blinking Kettle, and then head to the Tzarswald Trading Co. in the Drenches district, where they were told there was an entrance to the flooded tunnels where Condor had been stowed away. After purchasing some fried eel chunks (which are quickly ejected by their digestive systems), they learn from a cleaning girl that there are several entrances to the abandoned storerooms beneath the business. One is filled with rock in the basement, but there are grates in the nearby waterways which used to allow some air into the place. They move to investigate.

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

NPCs:

Approximas (human male): A bronze-skinned, heavily muscled man who responded to the call for the clandestine Pit Fighting contest at the Eskranade in Arkany. He's a wrestler who leads with a single gladius blade, bedecked in a grapplers' outfit and golden visored helm. Befriended Rucia after being granted hospitality to heal his wounds.

Rembolt Fuddlemuzz (rock gnome male): A rock gnome in stylish black leather armor with a shock of spiked white hair and sideburns. Other than a bit of the creased skin his kind are known for, he is quite smoothly shaven and handsome, and gazes about him with a half-smile. A hooded gray goatskin cloak hangs on his back, and he wears cut-off black gloves. Various pouches and pockets, sheathes and scabbards occupy his armor and belt, but all are difficult to make out too closely due to the colors of his garb. A small, leather-bound book is fixed to his side with a chain, and a teensy chipmunk with coppery fur chatters at you from its perch in the gnome’s hood.

Sober Jo (d'vryn female): A burly, tall woman with similar, swarthy features common to most D’vryn males, she wears her long, flat black hair back under a crimson bandana, with a large but humble silver hoop pierced through each of her ears. Though not unattractive, she maintains a serious, straight face which makes her look as if she might well be able to handle the pair of broad shashkas at her waist, one pummeled with ebony, the other ivory. Her sleeves are hiked to her upper arms, revealing ample muscles that almost seem restrained by the series of black leather bands she has strapped about each.