Shimmer 5

We return to our heroes deep underground; they have solved the puzzles and riddles of Flar’Melkhis, a voice in their heads. As they descend a stairway heading South, they hear dripping and flowing water, and they smell salt water and the scent of decaying marine life. They see some human footprints. The tunnel opens up into an open space, perhaps a natural cavern.

The heroes hear the voice of Flar’Melkhis once again, but this time the voice isn’t coming from inside their heads but rather from the cavern.

You have entered the lair of Flar’Melkhis.
Turn back now or parish!

Korvis conjures a Woodland Being, a hideous Sea Hag — Tuesday is shocked!. Korvis transforms into an air elemental. The heroes hear Flar’Melkhis again.

Welcome to your end; Children, finish them!

The heroes see several Chuul scuttling towards them. Bigglesworth immediately sprints toward the enemies, leaving his comrades in the dust.

The heroes see a humanoid on the southern rocks.
Vernal, the Death Slaad jumps into the water.

A giant wave grabs Korvis.

Flar’Melkhis, an Aboleth, rises from the water, and enslaves Bigglesworth.

Dusk, a humanoid, moves into the water. Caper shoots Dusk.

Vernal fireballs the heroes. Caper bravely takes the brunt of the fireball to save Falorn. Caper’s horns are smoking.

Fitzgeorge appears and casts Ice Storm.

Caper uses Calm Emotions on Bigglesworth, freeing him from the Aboleth’s enslavement.

Shimmer 5

We return to our heroes who are following Chuul tracks leading out of Lake Drolida near the smoldering village of Seshiss. The rain has started to obscure the foot prints in the mud, but the heroes continue toward the lake to the Southwest, identifying a remaining foot print from time to time.

The heroes primary mission has been collecting the Shards of Concar. They traveled to the Greatmarsh in order to collect a shard near Seshiss. Now that they have arrived, Falorn wants to scry again to clarify the exact location of the Shard and check if it has moved. Dirk opens his bag of holding, and the heroes scry — the shard appears to be to their South and is under or near water. The surrounding area includes several lakes and marshland, but the shard appears to be in a dense forest.

When the heroes reach the shore of the lake, Caper proclaims that she wants to leave and go straight to the Shard to the South. Korvis and Annette argue that they have a duty to investigate the lake to find the Chuul that attacked the village of Seshiss. Bigglesworth sides with Korvis while Dirk and Falorn side with Caper. Tuesday presents a compromise where he will fly over the lake quickly, looking for Chuul, while the rest of the heroes walk around the lake; if he doesn’t spot any Chuul, they will continue South to the Shard. The heroes reluctantly agree to this compromise. Tuesday doesn’t spot any Chuul in the lake; however, they do find some recent Chuul tracks leading South.

The heroes hide the cart, and Korvis uses his druid magic to transform the heroes into wisps of clouds, allowing them to fly as fast as an eagle. They arrive at the dense forest around noon and transform back into their natural forms. Chuul tracks lead to a large mossy, creepy tree that appears to have an entrance. Inside the tree is a circular staircase sullied by muddy Chuul foot prints.

As the heroes descend the stairs, they hear a voice in their heads, “Welcome to the lair of Flar’Melkhis, good luck surviving my home.” The heroes didn’t expect to be hearing voices in their heads, but they have started to recognize a pattern of finding powerful monsters at the locations of the Shards of Concar, so they aren’t entirely surprised.

The stairs narrow as the heroes descend deeper. The air is damp, stagnant, and smells of mold. The heroes reach the bottom of the stairs about 80 feet below the surface. The voice in their head taunts them again. The heroes walk down a stone hallway toward a door and spot a pit trap. A rotting human corpse is impaled on the spikes. Tuesday flies over the pit; Caper, Bigglesworth, and Falorn jump across; Dirk climbs on the wall like a spider; and Korvis and Annette transform into wispy clouds and float over.

The heroes stand behind the door, preparing for an epic battle. Falorn blesses the heroes, and Annette hastens Bigglesworth. The heroes breach the door and burst into… an empty room. There is a pile of dirt in the middle of the room. Each wall is decorated with a mosaic depicting a tree:

• a tree basking in sunlight

• a sapling in a meadow, dark clouds overhead, and rain

• a full-grown tree in the wind

• a wintery scene of a tree with icicles hanging from its branches.

Each mosaic depicts an element of nature: light, water, air, and ice. By depositing these elements in the pile of dirt in the middle of the room, the heroes solve the puzzle, unlocking a door to a set of stairs leading further down. The heroes descend and enter the next room.

In the center of the room is a pyramidal diamond on top of a plinth. In the middle of each of the four quadrants of the room is a large block of colored ice. Tuesday, who had earlier cast Light on his jewel-laden hat, flies over the top of the diamond. The diamond refracts the light from Tuesday’s hat into 4 beams. A bear-wise rotation matches the light beams to the blocks of ice, releasing hidden magma, and melting the blocks. The voice of Flar’Melkhis says, “didn’t expect you to get so far. You’re doing well.” The heroes open the door to the north.

Within this room you now are trapped!
Find a way to pass the time, maybe practice a trade?
Perhaps in song or music become enwrapped,
Else you will play a long time, even a decade!

The heroes are stumped by this riddle. Eventually they remember their musical theory. “Decade” is a word consisting entirely of letters between “A” and “G,” like “babe” or “cabbage,” and so could be played as musical notes. Playing the tune opens the next room.

This room appears to be a black void. There is a light and a treasure chest very far down. A locked door to the North has a key hole. There is a flask on the floor behind the South door. The flask is magical — flask of endless water. The heroes hold the flask upside down and watch the water drop all the way down to the chest. The area below begins to fill up, and the chest begins to float. Eventually the water level rises up to the heroes’ level. Bigglesworth opens the chest and finds the key to the North door.

The voice of Flar’Melkhis fills the heroes’ heads once again. Flar’Melkhis’s games are over.

Shimmer 1

We return to our heroes who have just survived Obraxus’s ambush and killed him. They have traveled deep into this supposed shortcut and contemplate backtracking to the well-established winding path. Korvis takes a moment to get his bearings, and then advises the heroes that they forge on across the rough terrain. Falorn brags that he knew the shortcut was real from the beginning.
The heroes regret killing Obraxus before they could interrogate him. Falorn suggests that after a long rest and some quiet prayer and meditation, he could speak with the dead. The heroes load Obraxus’s corpse onto the cart and continue North. They encounter several physical obstacles for the cart but overcome them with ingenuity and a touch of magic.

Shimmer 2

Falorn uses necromancy to return the animating spirit to Obraxus’s corpse, and the heroes interrogate him. Obraxus was sent by Meridus Pent of Pentish (Dorvidia) to obtain the Shield of Concar, but Obraxus considered Meridus Pent an enemy. Obraxus used stored spells to battle the heroes. The heroes aren’t familiar with Meridus Pent, but they know that Pentish is a city on the west coast of the Dorvidian Empire. They heard that Lord Pent of Pentish was in league with the demon Graz’zt; however, they don’t know Lord Pent’s forename. The heroes bury the body and move on.

Near the end of the day, the heroes notice that the path has become less rough and more swampy, and they notice less wildlife. Korvis thinks they are close to Seshiss.

Shimmer 3

The heroes start to spot cultivated rice fields. Korvis notices heavy smoke rising to the Northeast. Tuesday suspects arson. The heroes enter the village of Seshiss — a collection of homes on stilts, similar to Banshir. The leader of the village, Vroylani Boribosa approaches the heroes and explains how the Chuul emerged from Lake Drolida (a lake they fish and are certain doesn’t contain evil aberrations). The people fought them bravely, and the Chuul retreated, but the village has been decimated — burned homes, seven dead guards (⅓ of the militia), and nearly everyone wounded from the attack. Korvis explains that the heroes weren’t aware of the attack and were just passing through, but they want to help.

Shimmer 4

The heroes walk North to Lake Drolida, and Korvis casts breath underwater. Tuesday explains the situation to Flower and Aloysius. The heroes dive into the dark waters. Korvis finds a depression in the lake bed that looks like a collapsed tunnel. Bigglesworth digs with his hands and sword, and Annette builds and operates a drill, but the soft sand just fills back in. The heroes spot some Chuul tracks underwater leading southwest toward another lake.

The heroes walk toward the other lake.

Newgrowth 90

We return to our heroes who are traveling on a long and winding path from Banshir to Seshiss. Today is Shimmer Eve — the last day of Newgrowth.

The heroes see a red haired orc, armed with a long bow and spear, on the path ahead. He introduces himself as Obraxus and claims to be a guide of sorts. He suggests that the heroes could cut three days off their travel using a shortcut, and it would only cost 25 gold per day! Korvis is concerned that a short cut across rough terrain will be difficult for the cow. Tuesday is worried about hags, but there isn’t any indication that there would be more hags if the heroes decide to take the short cut. Falorn enthusiastically gives Obraxus 50 gold up front for the two days’ journey. Caper and Tuesday ask Obraxus about dragons — he heard a rumor about a green dragon in the west of the Greatmarsh.

When the heroes set up camp for the night, Obraxus offers them some of his booze, which Caper and Bigglesworth partake. The heroes build a big campfire and play instruments and dance around the campfire to celebrate Shimmer Eve. Obraxus stares lecherously at Caper.

During Caper’s night watch, she notices that Obraxus is awake. He comes over and chats. He is usually working further North. Caper asks him about Dwarven ruins and reflects on the heroes’ experience of discovering the ancient city of Karzak. Obraxus thinks that Dwarves aren’t very common in the Greatmarsh, and he pushes Caper on her reasons for visiting the Greatmarsh.

Shimmer 1

Obraxus is missing from the camp, but across the river on top of a cliff are five Obraxuses — it is a trap. Bigglesworth leaps into the river bed and scrambles up the cliff. He shoves two Obraxuses off the cliff into the water. Dirk creates a magical shimmering hand and similarly shoves an Obraxus off the cliff; the force is so strong it launches the Obraxus clear over the river, painfully crashing into the rocky cliff on the opposite side. Tuesday transforms an Obraxus into a frog, flies him high into the air, and drops him. Somehow that Obraxus actually survived the fall, but Korvis finishes him off.

Newgrowth 87

We return to our heroes who had just arrived at the guest hut in Banshir. As promised, Elder Dary Darusha soon arrives with a number of townsfolk. He introduces the townsfolk: Dary Darusha, Jak and Beeta Kadola, Triss Zorjika, and Aseera Overdale. Korvis introduces the heroes. Tuesday flies around the room to impress the visitors. The townsfolk are worried about Slaad.

Newgrowth 88

Rain continues. Dary gives Bigglesworth a satchel of dried eel. Caper notices that Aloysius has toughened up since they left Malus.
The heroes again hear wings beating at night from somewhere far away.

Newgrowth 89

Nothing eventful happens during the day. At night, Falorn hears something approaching the camp from the water. He wakes the other heroes. Four Chuul emerge from the water and attack. One of the Chuul is able to grapple Bigglesworth and poisons him. Tuesday frightens two of the Chuul, including the one holding Bigglesworth, and they flee into the pond. Caper flies over the water of the pond to save Bigglesworth. Dirk uses a dimension door to transport himself and Annette to a safe distance. Bigglesworth chops off a Chuul pincer.

Korvis asks a frog where the Chuul came from. The frog thinks they came from underneath the water, possibly an underwater tunnel. The magic wielding heroes think the Chuul may have been drawn to the party by their magical items or possibly their Shield Bearer status.

Newgrowth 85

We return to our heroes who had stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient Dwarven city and slew three Slaad. Korvis gathers memories in respect of the lives taken. Caper senses peacefulness and a lack of evil. Tuesday darts around excitedly — are there any more bad mens in these pits? No. Korvis talks to the vines overgrowing the ruins. The vines tell Korvis that the Slaad

• smell bad,

• arrived recently, and

• do not respect flora.

The heroes don’t see any campsites, reinforcing the testimony of the plants.

Tuesday finds a gap under an arch that the thinks he might be able to squeeze through. Bigglesworth helps Tuesday widen the gap, but Tuesday quickly bores of this activity and magically teleports himself to the other side of the gap. Tuesday shouts to the heroes, “there is stuff in here! It’s like a cave, chest, circle building, and a robot guy.” Falorn touches the rock above the gap and magically reshapes the stone, opening a hole wide enough for the heroes to crawl through.

Inside the cave is a breathtakingly beautiful ancient structure surrounded by a reflecting pool. Annette recognizes that the “robot-guy” is a golem, created by an artificer, and would require a magical item or spell to turn it on. Tuesday uses comprehend languages on the tablets on the “dial”-structure. The tablets mention “Karzak,” possibly the name of the city. Falorn sees an item infused with transmutation magic inside a chest. Korvis opens the chest revealing some gold and an 8-pointed star which looks new, eight or nine inches in diameter, and forged from a precious metal. Tuesday carefully picks up the star with his mage-hand, which seems to activate the golem.

The golem is hostile, and the heroes fight it. Falorn flame-strikes the golem, which seems to energize it rather than hurting it. Tuesday turns himself and Annette invisible. Eventually the heroes defeat the golem. Dirk studies the 8-pointed star and determines that it opens something Dwarven — “the key of Karzak.” Korvis collects memories of the battle. Annette and Korvis have a philosophical discussion about the nature of consciousness.

The heroes would like to stay longer and explore the ancient ruins, but they have to save the world, so they return to the path and continue their journey toward Banshir. In the evening, Caper, Korvis, and Bigglesworth catch frogs, which Caper cooks into a delicious, well-balanced meal for the heroes.

Newgrowth 86

During their travel, the heroes see a half-submerged statue of Taros, Father of Absolute Justice. At night, the heroes hear wings beating. Tuesday flies up above the trees and thinks he can see a dragon five miles away. Korvis transforms into an owl and scouts as well.

Newgrowth 87

As the heroes near Banshir, they see rice terraces, stepped fields of rice on sloping land. The homes in Banshir are elevated on stilts. Korvis recognizes Elder Dary Darusha. The elder offers the heroes the guest hut for the night and tells them that some townsfolk will stop by cook them dinner. It isn’t often that Banshir is visited by such an unusual party of travelers.

Newgrowth 83

We return to our heroes who had just defeated several Slaad and met Korvis Whisperclaw. Korvis and his raven examine the corpses of the Slaad. Korvis explains that he likes to collect “memories of battle.” The raven gives Korvis what appears to be a Lizardfolk tooth. Korvis introduces the heroes to his raven named Mimi and explains to Bigglesworth that Mimi is “not for eating.”

Korvis Facts:

• He has traveled to this side of the Greatmarsh before, but he is more familiar with the eastern side of the marsh.

• He has seen a green and black dragon in the past from a great distance but never faced a dragon in battle.

• He worships Ellewen, Lady of Luck, Mistress of the Wild, but he seems to place more faith in a more general concept of “the circle of life.”

Zolnur Zizzdek of the Roving Peers arranged for Korvis to guide the guardians through the Greatmarsh, but Korvis is unaware of the heroes’ greater mission. Bigglesworth and Tuesday explain the Shard of Concar and the general location of the nearby underwater shard. Korvis has noticed more monsters in the material plane recently, so he seems keen to aid the heroes.

Korvis helps the heroes find a good camping spot. He is amazed at Dirk’s Tiny Hut spell. He joins Annette in night watch shift #3.

Newgrowth 84

The marsh is full of mosquitoes, black flies, and other nasty bugs. The heroes break camp and head toward Seshiss — afterwards they will need to head west. Korvis suggests they can expect to cover 20 miles per day as long as they stay on the path.

Korvis explains that he is a Shadowfell but is not evil. Caper confirms that he has a good soul. Halfway through the day, the heroes pass near a shrine to Ellewen, which Korvis stops at to pray and seems energized. Caper hunts in the evening and makes the heroes a rabbit stew.

Newgrowth 85

Around noon, Dirk sees old stonework just off the path (100 feet). Korvis casts “Pass without a Trace,” and the heroes stealthily enter the ruins. Falorn recognizes the architecture as Dwarven, and Annette recognizes a rune. This structure might be 3000 years old, built before this region was a swamp.

Bigglesworth and Falorn hear the breathing of someone or something hiding nearby and smell something anomalous. The smell reminds Korvis of when he recently encountered the green Slaad. A Slaad climbs up some vines near Korvis, Bigglesworth, and Falorn. Two other Slaad sprint into the area. Bigglesworth obliterates one of the Slaad, cutting off its arm, before finishing it off. Tuesday, long vexed by fire-resistant bad mens, unleashes an explosion of poison, resembling the velocity and volume of fireball but without the heat or burning. The Slaad are dead, but the heroes worry that the danger may not be over.

Newgrowth 79

We return to our heroes who have teleported to Bondōvriar and are preparing for a trek into the Greatmarsh. Zolnur tells the heroes that he sent word to a colleague of his who can guide adventurers. Caper demands that the group should leave as quickly as possible, but the heroes are able to convince her to stay one day to make preparations as long as they leave first thing the next morning. Caper and Tuesday play their instruments while the heroes walk to Drolo’s Apothecary. Are the townsfolk staring because Caper and Tuesday look so unusual or because they act so strangely?

The heroes arrive at Drolo’s Apothecary. A plain-looking halfling male wearing glasses sets down his book and greets the heroes. Tuesday says that he wants the prettiest potion, then later denies that he said this. Annette shifts the conversation to healing potions. Caper tries to haggle. Tuesday eventually opens up an opportunity for a deal. Falorn buys three greater healing potions and distributes them to the melee.

The heroes return to Grey Goat Inn around 9pm.

Newgrowth 80

The heroes begin the day with a nice breakfast. Bigglesworth pays 2 gold.
Zolnur meets the heroes as they are leaving. A stable hand brings the Aloysius (marsh cow) and Flower (horse) to the heroes. It takes about three hours to get to the gate. The heroes once again marvel at the mortared rocks of the 10 foot thick, well-engineered wall. Outside these walls are the lower classes of society and also farms. Zolnur explains to the heroes that the nearby cities respect the sovereignty of the free city.

Newgrowth 81

Zolnur tells the heroes that they should follow the border toward Tenton, at which point he will part to take care of other business.
The heroes see patrols from the nearby kingdoms of Ninesh and Kastan. The heroes pass a shrine to Toramokan.

Newgrowth 82

The heroes arrive in Tenton, which is so named because of the many pitched tents. During the night watch, the heroes notice a lot of soldiers.

Newgrowth 83

Zolnur departs, telling the heroes that they should soon meet Korvis Whisperclaw. As the heroes head Northwest, they see more rice fields, and they start to see the edges of the Greatmarsh. The air smells damp. As they continue, the pathway narrows with more tree and shrub overgrowth.

The heroes stumble upon a male elf, talking to a very big green toad creature. The conversation seems quite heated and quickly becomes even more heated when the Slaad cast several fireball spells. The Slaad hurt the livestock, so the heroes show them no mercy.

Korvis introduces himself to the heroes. He plans to escort the heroes through the marsh. Korvis heals Aloysius, endearing himself to the Friends of the Forest.

Newgrowth 78

We return to our heroes at the Gleaming Horde in Malus as Goram arrives with a stern look on his face. Goram explains that because of the recent Dorvidian threat, he needs to part ways with the group and serve his homeland. The heroes are disappointed to hear this but understand why he has decided to leave — except Bigglesworth the Simple; he does not understand. Goram shares parting words with each of the heroes:

• Tuesday: Don’t ever change.

• Caper: You are a special soul.

• Annette: I will proudly invest in your next business.

• Falorn: Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help free you from The Fist.

• Bigglesworth: Rubs him behind the ears.

• Dirk: We started this together. It’s up to you to keep the faith and the sanity.

Bigglesworth hugs Goram’s leg and cries.

Newgrowth 79

Horbin Courthammer greets the heroes in the morning. Breakfast smells great! Nobody thinks to thank Falorn who suggested they stay at the Gleaming Horde instead of the Powerglow tower. Typical.
Dirk and Brauna Hollytoes discuss the heroes’ travel plans. Bondōvriar is a bigger city than Malus. It is the 2nd or 3rd largest city on the continent. The city’s leadership is chosen in a most unusual way — citizens “vote” for their preferred leader, and the one with most “votes” becomes leader.
Zolnur Zizzdek of the Roving Peers is to meet the heroes in Bondōvriar.

The heroes teleport to Bondōvriar where they are greeted by a wizardly, academic gnome dressed in purple, who introduces himself as Zordifraz Gribblehook — call me “Zordie.” Beside him is Zolnur Zizzdek, a human dressed in well-loved clothing. The heroes are advised that Marifus Millgold’s Marvelous Magics is a good place for adventurers to shop and that inns are filling up due to a number of traveling mages currently visiting the city.

Many guards are present and visible in the city. The heroes’ travels take them close to the inner city walls, which appear well engineered and about 15 feet thick. Soon they arrive at Marifus Millgold’s Marvelous Magics, where they are greeted by the man himself, Marifus Millgold. Bigglesworth buys a new cloak. The heroes receive several referrals:

• Drolo Potterson - magics and potions vender

• Flip Chittle sundries for quality chiton for armor

• Flanka Longboy’s clothing shop

The heroes head to The Grey Goat Inn. Zolnur Zizzdek introduces the heroes to Kyle. Bigglesworth says the heroes need two rooms and Falorn pays. Zolnur suggests that the heroes should not tell the local government that they plan to extract an artifact from their lands. Zolnur says he can arrange a guide to take the heroes as far as Seshiss. He warns that in the swamp there are:

• Acid Trolls

• Slaad

• Snakes

• Kuo-toa

• Sahuagin

The locals eat rice.
The heroes tell Zolnur that they plan to depart tomorrow. Zolnur leaves to do something.

Newgrowth 77

We return to our heroes who have just teleported back to Malus. It is late at night, and Tuesday updates Brauna Hollytoes on the heroes’ adventures in the desert. Brauna stables Flower and prepares rooms for the heroes. The heroes go up the stairs to their rooms to await Master Danvid, leader of the Powerglow guild. Tuesday asks Falorn about Anarin Conlan. When master Danvid arrives and asks them about their trip, the heroes only give a vague answer, since they would prefer to update the complete Roving Peers and Malusian leadership on their progress collectively.

Newgrowth 78

Brauna informs the heroes that Master Danvid has scheduled a 9am meeting at the Malusian compound. At the meeting are:

• Lady Soren Aventary of the Peers

• Master Danvid of the Powerglow guild

• Voth Gardul, Commander of the City Guard

• Sir Sorlon Dragstone (a high level officer in the Malusian Calvary & Goram’s father)

They tell the heroes that Do’shara was the primary blue dragon on the continent. She was very ancient, and they are surprised that the heroes survived an encounter with her. They conclude that Do’shara was aligned with the demon Graz’zt. Do’shara does have offspring. Sylus (the green dragon) has not been seen in Malus since the heroes left the city.
Tuesday tells the Malusians that the heroes murdered a bunch of Duke of Brij guards on their way to find Do’shara on the second floor of the Thardos family ruins.
The heroes report their findings on aggressive and huge scorpions in the desert, but the Malusians have already heard this report from Joral Deetry. Sorlon says his infantry will secure the route to and the area around Well’s Bounty; he acknowledges that his forces have been delayed at Brij.
The leadership tell the heroes that Gram DeLoren is Chancellor of Brij and rules when the Duke is away. He started in this position about one year ago. The heroes point out that this would be after the real Duke of Brij had died, so he may have been appointed to this position by Do’shara.

The discussion moves to next steps for the heroes.

• Elrovir Rodiridan did teleport to Furro and has arrived in the area near one of the scried shards, but he hasn’t made much progress towards finding it yet.

• The Dorvidians appear to be preparing for war. The Dorvidian military destroyed the guild’s teleportation circle in Dorvid, the Dorvdian capital city.

• Bondōvriar has a teleportation circle.

• The summer festival begins in about two weeks, celebrating the end of spring and the start of summer.

The group decides to pursue the shard near Seshiss by way of the Bondōvriar teleportation circle tomorrow.

Most of the group heads to market while Goram stays behind to speak with his father. Caper tells a livestock vender named Patch that she needs a cow for the swamp. The vender tells Caper to meet him near the temple to Entor where his livestock are stationed. The heroes visit the temple to Entor, and Caper shares their story about receiving the blessing of Entor at the Thardos family ruins. Brother Zelenus records the story as Caper tells it. The heroes move on to “Patch’s Paddocks.” Tuesday speaks to the prospective marsh cow and learns that it is called “Asta.” Caper feeds Asta a prickly pear, compliments it, and shows it affection. Patch isn’t sure what to make of this situation but says that the cow costs 10 gold. Caper pays 20 gold. She names the cow Aloysius.

Falorn wants to spend the night at the Gleaming Horde rather than the tower, so the heroes head over there and sit down for some food and drink. While the heroes are enjoying themselves, Goram arrives and has a stern look on his face.

Newgrowth 75

We return to our heroes who have learned that Do’shara has been impersonating Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij. They found the real Duke of Brij’s corpse in the Thardos family ruins’ dungeon along with the remains of Evan and Rachel, the lost couple from Well’s Bounty. This chapter of the heroes’ story has nearly concluded, but they can’t move on until they solve one remaining mystery — what happened to Alexander the cow?

Tuesday sings a song about Alexander the cow. Goram reluctantly agrees to head out to Fool’s Oasis even though he would prefer to focus on the mission, the preservation of life and freedom on Veldekar. On the way, the heroes see more broken traps like the ones they saw the previous day, and they notice a lot of wildlife heading towards the ruins — plenty of dragon to eat for all animals big or small.

During the night, Goram hears a large flying creature to the west.

Newgrowth 76

The heroes wake and prepare for another long day of oppressive heat under the desert sun. When Falorn uses his magic to create water, Tuesday shapes that water into a large block of ice, so the heroes and Flower can enjoy cool water throughout the day.

The heroes see a package on the path and move closer to investigate. The ground shakes and once again the heroes face gargantuan scorpions, but this time Bigglesworth shows more restraint, having nearly died on Newgrowth 69 after charging way ahead of his companions and getting surrounded. The heroes kill the scorpions and harvest chitin and meat. Falorn opens the package and finds some blankets.

The heroes continue on. Annette scries Alexander again. He appears to be just south of Fool’s Oasis, directly east of the heroes’ current location. During the night, Goram and Falorn hear large wings flapping during their watch and low growl — perhaps there is another dragon in the area.

Newgrowth 77

Back on Newgrowth 74, the heroes heard a clicking sound when they added the latest shard of the Shield of Concar to Dirk’s bag of holding. Now Goram asks Dirk to open the bag, and they see that the two bottom shards have connected to each other, while the anchor piece of the shield remains unconnected.

The group resumes their travel. They soon see salt water nearby. They see smoke from a chimney in a canyon. As they get closer they see several yurts and two cows. Two farmers approach the heroes. Drevnar introduces himself. When the heroes ask, Drevnar claims he bought the cow in Fool’s Oasis at the beginning of Newgrowth. Goram intimidates Drevnar, demanding a further explanation. He bought the cow in Fool’s Bounty about three weeks ago from a traveler for one gold. He calls the cow Dido.

Tuesday speaks to the cow. Alexander knows Betsy the camel. Under the cover of darkness, a smelly man with tusks on his face cut Alexander’s rope and rustled her. They traveled for several days in the desert before arriving in Fool’s Bounty where Drevnar purchased Alexander from the smelly man. Tuesday asks if Alexander wants to stay with Drevnar or return to Well’s Bounty. Alexander likes Betsy and his owners, Evan and Rachel — they called her “Pretty.” Tuesday breaks the bad news about Evan and Rachel’s death.

Caper thinks that the tusked, smelly man could be the leader of the Carnage Crew.
The heroes are conflicted. They want to return the cow to the struggling community of Well’s Bounty, but Drevnar’s family purchased the cow for a fair price and treated it well, so they can’t justify taking it by force. Tuesday offers Drevnar 50 gold to take the cow to Well’s Bounty and return it. Drevnar tries to ask for more money, but Bigglesworth and Goram intimidate him into taking the deal.

Tuesday draws a teleportation rune and heroes jump through, teleporting to Malus. The Power Glow guild is annoyed that the heroes teleported without first using a sending spell to announce the travel. Brauna Hollytoes is happy to see them.

Newgrowth 74

We return to the Thardos family ruins and our heroes who have just defeated Do’shara, the blue dragon, masquerading as Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij. An exhausted Bigglesworth limps over to Falorn’s side, sits on the ground, and stares up at him, waiting for healing. Falorn heals the wounded.

Bigglesworth watches the dragon’s corpse while Tuesday and Annette investigate the treasure chest, which is glowing with every school of magic — similar to previous Shards of Concar. Tuesday carefully opens the treasure chest from a distance with his mage hand spell. Inside the chest are:

• a Shard of Concar

• four blue sapphires

• a star sapphire

• an emerald

• two fire opals

• a large pearl “of power”

• a lump of coal - which turns out to be a Deodaris Diamond

• a magical “Sentinel” shield

• magical javelins

When Dirk adds the Shard of Concar to his bag of holding, the heroes hear a clicking noise, perhaps the shards connecting to each other. Tuesday thinks the Deodaris Diamond is ugly but reluctantly takes it on Caper’s advice.

Goram, Bigglesworth, and Falorn walk out to the fallen dragon. Goram carefully and precisely skins some dragon scales. While Bigglesworth lacks Goram’s patience, he is also able to skin several dragon scales. Falorn harvests dragon teeth.

The heroes descend into the basement where they find a dozen cages, several of which have bones in them. On the east wall they see a defaces six-fingered hand mural. Goram sees two skeletons that might have been Evan and Rachel from Well’s Bounty. The heroes determine that the couple was likely butchered and skinned prior to rats and wildlife eating them. In a different cage beside a pile of bones, the heroes notice some fancy clothing. Goram picks up a scrap of the clothing, an emblem with the letter ‘B’ — perhaps this could be the remains of the authentic Duke of Brij. The heroes estimate that this person died two years ago. The heroes bury Evan, Rachel, and noble.

Reflecting on the noble’s body, the heroes search the guards’ bodies on the first floor. They find no maps or orders, and they conclude that these men were the Duke of Brij’s soldiers, likely unaware of the authentic Duke’s passing.

Newgrowth 74

We return to our heroes who are battling the blue dragon Do’shara (Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij) and chimera. The dragon was harnessing a mysterious power from floating purple crystalline structures, but the heroes have now shattered all three crystalline structures, leaving the dragon vulnerable to attacks.

Do’shara gives the heroes the opportunity to leave with their lives, if they wish. But the heroes do not take this offer as a gesture of kindness and mercy but rather as a sign of weakness. The dragon strikes Caper, Bigglesworth, and Goram T-Rex with a wing attack, killing the T-Rex and returning Goram to his human form. The chimera that fled in fear of Goram has continued to fly away. The heroes kill the remaining chimera at the Thardos family ruins.

Do’shara yells, “I will hunt you forever!” She begins to take flight, briefly dropping her defenses. Goram sinks his blade deep into the beast and uses it as an anchor as his feet leave the ground and the dragon flies away to the east. Some soldiers would worry that their attacks against such a beast might hurt their comrade, but the heroes respect Goram’s dedication to the greater good and accept him despite his death-wish. Tuesday casts a fireball on the dragon and on Goram in tow, while Dirk fires a more surgical fireball hitting only the dragon. The dragon falls to the ground; as she dies she says “Tiamat …”. The unnatural storm clouds overhead begin to dissipate.

Back on the second floor of the ruins, the four statues begin to move. One of the statues casts a cone of dispel magic, burning Falorn’s bless away. Bigglesworth is surrounded by three statues. Goram, who somehow survived Tuesday’s fireball and the fall, returns to battle and misses several times with him bow. Dirk takes advantage of the enemies’ tight grouping around Bigglesworth and fireballs several of them at once. Goram moves to intercept one of the statues before it can flank Bigglesworth. Tuesday finishes off the statues with chaos bolt, learning that the statues seem vulnerable to thunder magic.

Newgrowth 74

We return to our heroes who have just engaged Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij, currently in Dragon form as Do’Shara. Three Chimera have just been summoned, each on top of a different floating purple crystalline structure which is magically tethered to Do’Shara.

Our heroes chances of survival seem bleak, since they are exhausted from battling Thardos’s goons on the first floor of the ruins. The roof on the second floor has collapsed, and the weather has seemed unnatural since the heroes arrived. Suddenly, lightning strikes the center of the room. The voice of Entor, good-aligned God of Life, speaks “Veldekar and Romistra require your success. Take this boon.” The heroes are filled with confidence and new-found energy.

Do’Shara frightens the heroes, except for Tuesday and Caper. Annette breaks one of the blue crystals with her Ant Cannon, but this has no apparent effect on Do’Shara beyond property damage. Tuesday turns Caper into a T-Rex.

Goram shoots one of the purple crystalline structures, breaking it — Do’Shara appears diminished but taunts the heroes “haha, silly mortals.” Bigglesworth destroys the second purple crystalline structure. Do’Shara yells with increased urgency, “we must destroy them.” Annette shatters the final purple crystalline structure, and for the first time, deals some damage to the dragon.

By this time Caper’s T-Rex body has been badly damaged by Chimera, and Do’Shara deals a killing blow with a breath attack. Caper briefly returns to her normal form before Tuesday transforms both Caper and Goram into T-Rexes. Do’Shara unleashes another powerful breath attack, hitting Goram (T-Rex), Dirk, Bigs, and Falorn. Falorn falls to the ground unconscious. Tuesday flies to Falorn’s aid and heals him.

Newgrowth 74

We return to our heroes who had just entered the bottom floor of the Thardos Family Ruins. The heroes initially snuck in with some deception, but the guards had been quickly alerted, and the heroes fell back to Plan B (violence).

The heroes hear a deep bellowing voice, “Crush this vermin and bring me what I seek.”
Three more enemies appear south of Annette, Goram, and Bigglesworth. Goram moves to the door to prevent new enemies from entering. When Annette fireballs the enemies in the southern room, several bricks and a cloud of dust falls from the walls and ceiling but the roof does not collapse.
An enemy named Frank, outnumbered by Falorn, Caper, Dirk, and Tuesday, tries to flee but gets stuck in the window.
After the heroes kill all enemies, four more enemies approach from the South West room; the heroes kill them.
During the fighting, Tuesday used his magic to “animate” his circles (coins), creating a lethal swarm of flying metal that tore through the flesh of all “bad men” in its path. The heroes remark on the magic’s effectiveness and Tuesday’s unconventional approach to combat.
Caper grabs some bread and cheese from the kitchen. Falorn gives her the stink eye (apparently Caper is not satisfied with magical oatmeal?).

Tuesday flies out the window to scout the upper level before the the heroes climb the stairs. He looks through a second floor window on the west side. He sees

• Blue Crystals (2-8 feet tall)

• Rubble (the second floor roof had collapsed, probably long ago)

• Samuel Thardos sitting on a throne, drinking wine

• A shiny chest

• Statues

Tuesday reports his findings.

The heroes plan their assault. Caper and Tuesday will fly to the second floor level and wait. Goram will lead the others up the stairs. When Goram reaches the top of the stairs, Caper and Tuesday will enter through the second floor windows. The heroes execute their coordinated entrance; Falorn has the first opportunity to attack and misses heroically. Samuel Thardos uses magic to spawn three Chimera on the floating purple crystalline structures. Samuel Thardos turns himself into Do’Shara, the Blue Dragon. The heroes see that the crystalline structure under the Chimera have a tether to the Blue Dragon.

Newgrowth 73

We return to our heroes who have just defeated hostile air elements who wanted to steal the shards of the Shield of Concar for their master — presumably either Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij or Graz'zt. Falorn heals Goram and Bigglesworth. Bigglesworth, Caper, Dirk, and Falorn investigate a nearby abandoned shack. Some of the furniture is broken, but they find a log book which may have belonged to Even and Rachel, the lost couple from Well’s Bounty. Dirk reads the book; it seems to continue where the previous log book left off and ends at Newgrowth 51 with “Good finds in small valley. Storm picking up. Very windy.”

Tuesday finds some shiny rocks and wants to remember to return to them later but is worried he’ll forget where they are. Caper reassures him that after a lifetime in the wilds, she will always be able to return to this location.

The heroes return to Flower and continue North West starting at 1pm until about 7pm.

Newgrowth 74

As the heroes approach the expected location of the Shard of Concar, they see flashes of lightning in the clouds which seem unnatural. Over the hill they see a castle. Annette says the castle appears to be more of a display of wealth than a defensive structure. Furthermore, the castle appears a bit rundown.

Tuesday and Caper take flight and scout from the sky. They don’t see anyone in the upper levels, but they do see lit torches at the lower level and footprints of humanoids. Tuesday is concerned that the wind feels unnatural. They see a newer structure behind the castle.
The other heroes approach on foot and also see the torch light and smell food cooking. Tuesday and Caper return. The heroes approach the castle, avoiding multiple pit traps.
Falorn and Bigglesworth volunteer to scout as polymorphed scorpions. After about an hour, they return and report that they saw

• A backdoor to the castle

• 5 men with a ‘B’ on their uniform

• 7 beds

• At the backside of the ruins are new structures

Annette asks Dirk to pull the center piece of the Shield of Concar from his bag. The magic casters confirm that the missing piece is nearby in the 1st or 2nd level of the castle.

The heroes sneak into the back door on the north side. Tuesday flies and see 3 people in a room. Caper tries to fool them, while the other heroes sneak by. Annette walks south into a room with 2 people, one of which yells for help. Goram and Bigglesworth rush to Annette’s aid.

Newgrowth 71

We return to our heroes who had just split into smaller groups to investigate around the town of Well’s Bounty. They return to the inn where they see Slantha reading a periodical. She heads to bed. The heroes go to their rooms and discuss their findings. Caper says she “met a Trans-Camel; he is named Betsy.” Betsy mentioned that Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij, has a home in the desert, which Flambo elaborates is two days’ travel to the North-West. Bigglesworth found a note in an outhouse at Rachel & Evan’s home which states “Thardos Family Ruin. Riches. 2 days.”

Annette unsuccessfully attempts to scry the cow with her magical spyglass. Caper claims that the cow is named Alexander.

Annette asks to scry the Shards of Concar. Dirk pulls the box out of his bag of holding. Tuesday, Dirk, and Annette feel the presence of the shards, both those in the bag and those further away. One shard to the North West is close now. The remaining shards not already in the bag all appear to be in the same location as when the heroes first scried them.

During the night, the heroes hear a roar far to the North. Tuesday thinks that it sounds like Sylas’s roar — perhaps it could be the Blue Dragon that Joral Deetry mentioned seeing.

Newgrowth 72

The heroes eat breakfast at the inn, stop by Flambo’s Camelry for some overpriced rations, and depart town, headed North West. Annette uses her magical spyglass again with better success, locating the cow in a pen with some hay about 4 days’ travel to the North East — perhaps Fool’s Oasis?

Newgrowth 73

The heroes spot a vortex spinning. It must be one of the desert air elementals that Joral Deetry mentioned. Tuesday comprehends its language and learns that it is telling its allies to get ready. The heroes are unsure if this is an encounter that demands violence. Goram raises his hands to indicate that the’s not a threat. An air elemental quickly travels 90 feet toward the heroes but has not attacked. A second air elemental says “this is who we were warned about! Take their belongings back to the master.” And then that air elemental attacks Bigglesworth, foreclosing all opportunities for peaceful coexistence. An air elemental Myrmidon moves toward the heroes, seemingly ignoring all obstacles as it moves, and says “I shall get the piece for the master.” Dirk sees even more air elementals to the north and casts Wall of Fire, cutting off the reinforcements from threatening the party. A Myrmidon flies over the hill tops, avoiding the flame wall. Tuesday banishes two air elementals near the heroes. Goram rushes to the flame wall to hold the line. As the heroes kill one of the air elementals it says “find piece for master…” as a death cry. Goram grapples a Mymidon and shoves it into the flame wall. Dirk finishes off several air elementals with a fireball. Caper finishes her magic circle to protect Bigglesworth. The heroes finish off the remaining enemies. Tuesday says that the “bad air mens” have been returned home.

Newgrowth 69

We return to our heroes, who had just witnessed Bigglesworth fall in battle.
Goram attacks one of the scorpions near him and then sprints to Bigglesworth’s aid. Tuesday and Annette’s Ant-Cannon finish off the two remaining scorpions. Caper also hastened sprints to Bigglesworth and revives him with healing. Bigglesworth is disoriented but is drawn to the enticing aroma of smoldering scorpion. Caper gathers the wounded (Bigglesworth and Annette) to her side and restores them with her aura of vitality. Bigglesworth and Annette harvest more scorpion meat. Annette harvests twenty pounds of chitin with her leatherworker’s tools while the other heroes rest.

Around 3pm, the heroes resume their journey towards Well’s Bounty, stopping around sunset. Annette once again scrys Anarin, discovering that he now 100 miles away and still moving away from them, so Annette is satisfied that Anarin has stopped following them. Caper prays to Entor and receives a warning: things are not what they seem in this desert. The heroes discuss ways that they might be able to detect magic more often. Dirk explains that because of his deep understanding of dark arcane traditions passed down through generations of his family, he is able to cast detect magic with such ease that he could cast it as many times as he wanted all day long, as long as he wasn’t already concentrating on another spell.

Newgrowth 70

The heroes eat a large breakfast of oatmeal and water conjured by Falorn, scorpion meat harvested by Bigglesworth and Annette, and prickly pears gathered by Caper. The heroes continue their journey through the desert, and the day passes uneventfully.

During the 1st watch of the night, Falorn and Bigglesworth notice that 100 feet south of their campsite, there is a small shrine consisting of rudimentary alter carved into the rock. The shelf is about 4 feet high and has a few old bowls and unlit candles burned down to the wicks. They believe that this shrine might be to the Neutral God of Weather, Toramokan. During Dirk’s watch, he sees movement near the shrine. During Tuesday and Caper’s watch, Tuesday flies up into the air and thinks he also sees someone near the shrine. The heroes all suspect this movement is the Lalia, a Erinyes devil who has taken an interest in the heroes supposedly because her people also oppose demonic forces.

Newgrowth 71

The heroes go to investigate the movement near the shrine. As they suspected, Lalia is lurking near the alter. Lalia gives the heroes a few words of encouragement but seems to want to discuss Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij. She says that Thardos is not in Brij currently, which the heroes already knew. She further says that Thardos has left to collect shards of Concar for his master, Graz’zt, a demon who is attempting to breach the portal into the mortal world of Veldekar. According to Lalia, Thardos has already successfully collected one shard of the shield. Annette asks Lalia about the Blue Dragon in Vor’s desert. Lalia says she doesn’t know the dragon, but the heroes sense that she is not telling the whole truth.

The heroes continue their journey to Well’s Bounty. After a few hours they spot some broken traps. Annette and Goram do not recognize the provenance of the traps — they seem handmade by an amateur, possibly a militia, but the traps clearly are meant for humanoids not animals. The traps appear to have been purposely broken with physical tools.

The heroes see Well’s Bounty in the distance. 10 buildings. Smoke rises from the chimneys of a couple of the buildings. When they enter town they spot two buildings with signs

• Grand Vorian Inn & Suites

• Flambo’s Camelry

The town is mostly empty. The heroes approach the Inn. A female half-orc with long black hair and worker clothing is standing at the door. She says there has been some problem with local fauna, and lets the heroes in. She introduces herself as Slantha Droguard. Her prices for food and lodging are quite steep, but Bigglesworth pays without haggling. Slantha suggests that Flambo’s Camelry sells rations if the heroes needed to stock up before traveling further. Slantha goes into the kitchen to cook the heroes dinner, and Goram follows to help and chat.
Rachel and Evan went missing. They had the only cow in the area. Around that time, old man Pickin found some traps (which the heroes saw). Rachel and Evan were looking for shiny rocks. Last seen West of town. Some locals searched for them. The search party mentioned seeing a Blue Dragon to their North. Slantha thinks that Rachel and Evan’s cow went searching for them after they went missing (the heroes think this is unlikely though). Caper mentions that she is from the woods of Jori-Vadlik to the North-East. Slantha knows Joral Deetry and thinks that he exaggerates dangers but is a good customer.

Caper and Tuesday go to Flambo’s Camelry to talk to the camel. Flambo offers to sell them the camel, who he calls Betsy, for 25 gold. “Betsy” says people are afraid and left town. Betsy sees a lot of scorpions, but hasn’t seen any dragons. Betsy heard people talking about the Duke of Brij, who has property in the desert. Flambo says the Duke’s family residence is to the North-West about 2 day’s journey.

Annette, Dirk, Goram, Falorn, and Bigglesworth go to search Rachel & Evan’s home. It appears to have been abruptly left, and there are signs of other people searching the home. Annette finds a portrait of the couple, some garments, and a hair brush and uses them to try to scry to Rachel with her magical spyglass, but she doesn’t detect anything (possibly Rachel is dead). They find a journal which seems to indicate the couple were mining for semi-precious gemstones. Based on the dates in the journal, the latest journal is likely not present and possibly is on their person wherever they are. There are tools missing from the home, so the couple probably took them with them when they went missing. The cow appears to have been cut loose from its pen, so it likely did not independently and heroically begin an epic quest to find its lost guardians like Slantha suggested. Bigglesworth finds a piece of paper hidden in the outhouse which says “Thardos Family Ruin Riches 2 days.”

Newgrowth 67

We return to our heroes who had met a charming and somewhat mysterious family on the edge of Vor’s desert. Caper and Falorn are troubled by some fragments of a conversation between Joral and Metha that they overheard late at night, so they confront the couple about the meaning of “Danger” and “Downplay.” Joral explains how the family came across two giant scorpions and quickly fleed, as the scorpions were much larger than a scorpion ought to be, and they appeared more aggressive too. Joral believes that the Blue Dragon he spotted was a bad omen and not just a dangerous killing machine. The heroes are satisfied with this explanation.

While the heroes are happy to enjoy each others company without defining or labeling their relationship, the denizens of Veldekar generally find this unacceptable — Joral is no different. Joral promises the heroes that the next time he crosses their path, he will have thought up a great name from their group.

The heroes resume their journey down the road. It’s hot but there’s a breeze coming down from the mountains toward the river. The heroes see jack rabbits, lizards, and snakes — perhaps Vor’s desert isn’t that dangerous?

The heroes setup the tiny hut for the night.

Newgrowth 68

Goram goes hunting and catches a jack rabbit. It’s not Metha’s cooking, but the heroes appreciate some fresh food after days of eating stale rations.

The heroes continue. Around 4pm, Falorn spots a familiar shape. It is Anarin Conlan, who was following the heroes 10 days ago and narrowly escaped from their grasp. Annette and Goram climb into the cart and start building a trap. As dusk approaches, Dirk and Bigglesworth take over driving the cart; Caper and Tuesday take flight, high into the air; and Goram, Falorn, and Annette set the trap and hide among the rocks near the road. Dirk lights a lantern on the cart, hoping to keep Anarin's attention on the cart. As Anarin approaches, Caper and Tuesday descend. When Anarin is close, Goram confronts him. Anarin claims that he was sent by The Fist, a figher guild of which Falorn was previously a member, and in fact it is Falorn's “desertion” that has prompted this visit. The Fist supposedly demands that Falorn must either return to service or pay 12,000 gold. Goram grapples Anarin. Anarin produces a letter from Galborian (the free city and home of The Fist) stating what he has already informally relayed.

Falorn feels differently — he felts that Fred broke the code of The Fist, and that The Fist should investigate Fred if anything. Goram naturally hates this Anarin character — Anarin is a Dorvidian, the great power rival of the Malusian empire to which Goram has pledged his allegiance. Goram tells the Dorvidian that Falorn works for the Malusian Empire now — The Fist should liaise with the Malusians to settle this situation. Goram roughs up Anarin a bit and lets him go. Anarin misty steps and leaves. The heroes hope that Anarin will report back that

• Falorn didn’t break the contract, The Fist did.

• Falorn works for the Malusians now.

• Falorn isn’t paying and isn’t returning.

Goram asks Dirk to use sending to ask the Malusians to “do something” about The Fist. Before bed, Annette uses her magical spyglass to scry Anarin, and finds that he is traveling south away from the heroes as he promised he would.

Newgrowth 69

The heroes continue their journey. They are now in “the desert proper.” The heroes leave the road and head towards Well’s Bounty. The number of birds and animals declines as they travel further into the desert.

Tuesday and Falorn spot something shiny. The heroes move closer to investigate. The shiny object is a gargantuan scorpion with silver metallic colored chitin.

Tuesday hastens Bigglesworth and Caper. Bigglesworth bravely sprints with unbelievable speed toward the scorpion and strikes the first blow. The scorpion appears to be alerting other scorpions, and the heroes see spikes appearing all over the silvery carapace of the giant beast. Three other gargantuan scorpions crawl out of the sand nearby. While Bigglesworth impressed everyone with his bravery and speed, he is now outnumbered, suffers some gruesome blows, and is snatched up by the beast’s massive pincer. Goram runs to Bigglesworth’s aid, opening up a large space for Tuesday to launch an airstrike of fireball. Bigglesworth falls in combat.

Newgrowth 63

We return to our heroes who are traveling towards the Brij bridge and have recently engaged giant scorpions and ankhegs. The heroes swiftly destroy their enemies. Bigglesworth and Annette harvest meat — “they” say that Ankheg are the “Lobster of the Land.” Tuesday briefly complains about eating meat when vegetables are plentiful. Annette purifies both of their scavenged meats.

The heroes continue on and later setup camp for the night. During his watch, Dirk spots a shrine to Toramokan, neutral god of weather, through the darkness.

Newgrowth 64

The heroes press on. As they travel, they notice signs of an army and calvary recently traveling the same path — likely Malusian. Caper advocates for the horse because it cannot speak for itself. Spotting further signs of recent travel, Goram suggests that the Malusian army and calvary, which the heroes are following, are double marching, likely due to to some urgency.

Newgrowth 65

The heroes continue on their path. Around the time they would be seeking a camping site, they come upon a Malusian army camp site. The heroes chat with the Malusian army. The small army camp is staying back while the rest are helping out in Brij-city. According to the army, there is some unknown issue with the local noble (the heroes are fully aware of this situation but feign surprise).

The heroes brainstorm ideas about a good cover story. Perhaps they are big game hunters, hired by some elites to recover trophies of dangerous monsters.

The heroes observe patrols traveling in both the Malus and Brij-city directions. No patrols heading North toward the Brij Bridge.

A human female calvary officer approaches the heroes’ camp. She identifies herself as Corporal Dander. She is delivering a map of Vor’s desert to the heroes on orders of Sergeant Perry.

Annette observes that the Malusian camp lacks advanced artillery or technology that she traded in in a former life.

Newgrowth 66

The heroes approach the Brij bridge. The bridge is 200 feet in the air. The water flows swiftly below. The northern land is higher than the southern, so the bridge ascends. The bridge is massive, 3-4 carts wide (40 feet wide). The bridge is made of stone but is reinforced by permanent magic. The bridge is 900 years old. It does not currently require any toll. It takes 1 ½ hours to cross.

Brij city is where the ferry used to be prior to the Brij bridge’s construction.

Shortly after crossing the bridge and transitioning to a desert biome, the heroes spot some travelers with camels — a couple and 2 girls in a covered wagon. The man says the north is very dangerous. He claims to have spent many years (20 years) there. The man introduces his wife, Metha, and daughters Londra and Preeya (14 and 9 years old). The man, Joral Deetry, claims to be a famous hunter, but warns that animals in the region have recently become more aggressive. Metha was recently injured by a scorpion that shot a stinger projectile, which is not a known capability of scorpions in this region. Deetry also recently saw a dragon — he thinks it was a Blue Dragon. Deetry says that Well’s Bounty might be a good place to purchase a camel but thinks that horses are useful even in this terrain. West of Well’s Bounty, Deetry heard that there were air elementals (dangerous).

Caper plays music for the girls. Metha cooks the heroes a goat, lamb, and vegetable stew.

During the night watch, the heroes spot an owl, which lands on the covered wagon and transforms in to Metha. Also during the watch, the heroes overhear an argument between Joral and Metha, the hear the words “creature,” “danger,” and “down play,” and Metha gets the last word.

Newgrowth 57

We return to our heroes who were awakened during the first night watch shift by Falorn after he thought he saw “Buddy,” an old coworker from his days in “The Fist,” who likely intends to harm Falorn. Bigglesworth had also briefly grappled this human male before he escaped again.

Our heroes search with their dark vision, magic, and night vision goggles. Dirk thinks he finds him and casts slow on him. He appears to be an elven male or maybe a half-elf. In any case, this man teleports away using dimension door.
Tuesday transforms Bigglesworth and Caper into giant fruit bats, and they chase Not-Buddy (Anarin Conlan?). They find him and try to attack but this escape artist once again escapes our heroes’ grasp as yellow tendrils rise from the earth, immobilizing Bigglesworth.

Newgrowth 58

Heroes head to Brij Bridge. Trip takes 5 days.

Newgrowth 63

Our heroes are moving through a dryer, rockier, “more Badlands” terrain. They hear a familiar sound of Ankhegs. The fighting begins.

Newgrowth 53

We return to our heroes who are eagerly anticipating dinner with Lady Aventary on Newgrowth 55.
Our heroes do not see Ludwig Voss in the city.

Newgrowth 55

At 4pm our heroes receive word to expect Lady Aventary to be joined by her husband, Elrovir Rodiridan.

Our heroes learn that the Duke of Brij has not been seen recently in Brij, which is odd because he is normally a public figure. Amusingly, the heroes discuss how the massive Bridge is not actually in Brij but rather is just outside Brij. The Bridge’s security is handled by the Malusian guard and not the local Brij guard or militias.

At dinner, our heroes meet Elrovir Rodiridan, a handsome, tall (6’9”) wood elf. He is a skilled tracker, hunter, and archer originally from the Girolion Forest in the distant island of Ostvel across the Sea of Indifference. Lady Aventary is from Kalladāga in the Bardifroth region. The couple met in Freiburg after they were both recruited by The Peers. Freiburg is a very large city, which organically grew as a commercial hub due to the free trade made possible by the lack of a patrolling navy or state control. Elrovir and Aventary seem like an odd pairing to some, as Elrovir has the wild nature one might expect of a wood elf where Lady Aventary projects a noble upbringing.

Lady Aventary wanted the heroes to meet Elrovir because he plans to teleport to Freiburg and then travel to Girolion Forest to begin the search for the shard of the Shield of Concar in that region. Our heroes are to meet him at their convenience.

Annette fixes the cart. Tuesday speaks to Flower (the horse). Flower doesn’t like magical travel or caves. But does like apples and carrots.

Our heroes setup a night watch due to Florin’s heat from his old gang.

Newgrowth 56

Our heroes start the journey to the Brij Bridge.

Newgrowth 57

During the first watch of the night, Falorn sees Buddy, The Fist member which the heroes saw earlier. Bigglesworth hunts him down and grapples him, but he disappears. The party searches for Buddy.

Newgrowth 53

We return to our heroes in Malus who had obtained their second shard (the anchor piece) of the Shield of Concar and gained the ability to Scry remaining shards scattered throughout Veldekar.

Last time our heroes were in Malus, they had purchased several magical items (Newgrowth 37). Annette’s Spyglass of Scrying was estimated to be completed on Newgrowth 44 and Dirk’s enchanted staff on Newgrowth 51. On Newgrowth 45, Dirk had used Sending to ask Sorla to hold the items until the heroes’ return to Malus. Dirk is a bit short on cash and receives a loan from Falorn. Caper buys a new magical weapon.

Next the heroes walk to the barracks to meet Lady Aventary and Sir Lorn Fogarth of The Peers and Malusian officials such as Sir Sorlon Dragstone and Voth Gardul. Tuesday summarizes recent events in a single breath as his comrades watch nervously, worrying that he may pass out before he completes the summary. Sir Lorn Fogarth tells the heroes that while they were gone, Ludwig Voss was spotted in the city (before the heroes killed him on Newgrowth 47). The Malusians are grateful for our intel on Samuel Thardos, the Duke of Brij. The Peers decide that the shards of the Shield on Concar would probably be safer if our heroes held onto them, so they give the heroes the first shard, adding it to the bag of holding.

Summary of Shard locations:

• Pentish - Lord Pent might be controlled by the demon Graz’zt.

• Freeburg - will take some investigation since it’s a large / large population city (bigger than Malus)

• Girolion Forest - very remote in the far north. Wood elves.

• West of Seshiss - known for spices. Dangerous and remote.

• Yassor - city is know for a university.

• Freeman’s lake - frozen

• Vor’s Desert - north of Brij

Newgrowth 52

We return to our heroes who in the depths near Zedj battling Kral and Sklyx. The heroes kill Kral and Sklyx and the focus on Jarb. Jarb heals, but the heroes focus on him and finish him off. He turns into black liquid goo.
Tuesday finds a lead box 6 inches by 6 inches by 1 foot with a hole the size of The Grey Rod. There is a scarab on top with one eye that is a gem and the other eye is missing. Annette sockets the gem into the scarab’s empty eye socket. When Annette pushes the eye toward the socket, it is sucked in as if it were a magnet. Caper slides The Grey Rod into the receptacle. The rod warms as she pushes it in. There are clicking and mechanical sounds, and then the lid lifts off the box. Inside is a piece of The Shield of Concar.
[Something happens involving Tuesday, Annette, and Dirk]
Tuesday, Annette, and Dirk are now attuned to The Shield of Concar. They can scry to determine the location of the other shards.
When the heroes ascend from the depths, wildlife has returned now that the demons are gone.
Dirk can teleport the heroes back to Malus because he learned teleportation magic when the heroes had earlier teleported to the tower. Dirk teleports the heroes to the basement of the Powerglow Guild (in Malus).
The heroes learn that Brauna Hollytoes (a Halfling) wants to meet them.
Our heroes remember that they need to return to the Traveler’s Doorstep to retrieve their crafted items.

Newgrowth 52

We return to the depths where our heroes have just defeated Yochlols and Ropers.

The sound of chanting increases, climaxes, and then is replaced by death sounds and silence. The heroes head southwest toward the previous chanting. They see the bodies of six humans, each of which is mangled and crushed by some unholy force. The heroes see a giant 8 foot tall figure wearing robes. The shields of the fallen bodies and the robes of the giant figure feature the same symbol — a red circle with a black 6-fingered hand. When the giant figure sees our heroes, he says “for Jarb” and turns into a tary black goo and something from his body shoots away.

The room is cut off by lava, so the heroes double back to look for other paths. In the distance they hear, “I give you this opportunity to flee.” The heroes bravely continue south, where they hear a demon voice say something in abyssal. A Goristro named Jarb the Ascended says “Jarb the Ascended will consume you.” Near Jarb is a Chasme named Sklyx. Jarb opens the battle by causing a collapse of lava that hits everyone. To the east, our heroes spot a Blabrezu named Kral. Jarb smells bad. Skylx summons a 2nd Chasme into existence, but Bigglesworth quickly savages it with his ruthless blade — the Chasme attempts to flee but is finished off. Goram strikes Jarb and strikes fear into him.

Newgrowth 52

We return to our heroes who have just woken up after a long rest, recovering from a grueling battle with Hezrou warriors. Our heroes bravely return to the depths, where they notice that sound is dampened inside the cavern.

Our heroes spot Vrocks — a breed of fiend they had previously fought back in Newgrowth 28. The Vrocks are surrounded by a cloud of spores and have a terrible screech. After defeating the Vrocks, the heroes continue deeper into the depth to the northeast.

Our heroes spot two Drow sisters speaking. But these “Drow” are not what they seem and in fact are Yochlol and are backed up by several Ropers. Our heroes are denied total victory when the final enemy Yochlol transforms into a misty cloud and floats up to the vents above.

Newgrowth 51

We return to our heroes who had just engaged 4 Hezrou warriors in a subterranean stronghold, while Tuesday and Caper rush back, reluctantly hoping to descend into the darkness to aid their endangered comrades. The heroes battle bravely. Dirk is able to turn the tides of battle by distracting one of the Herzou with a real banger of a joke. As the heroes defeat each Herzou, they turn into demon ichor (to the disappointment of the ravenously hungry Bigglesworth). Tuesday and Caper are able to catch up with the others and assist them in finishing off these foul creatures.

The heroes are exhausted after the battle and return to surface to rest.

Newgrowth 52

The heroes return to the depths. The heroes spot some vrocks.

Newgrowth 51

We return to our heroes who had just defeated the Mariliths and are looking down into a hole in the demolished building. Tuesday and Caper decide against descending into the ominous hole. The other heroes descend into the hole using the ladder and find a damp, acrid cavern. They find a room with a gas cloud over an acid bath.

Falorn returns to the surface to try to convince Caper and Tuesday to join but fails.

The heroes in the subterranean cavern trigger a pressure plate trap which moves the gas cloud. The heroes double back and check the western path where they find and jump over a trip wire. As they continue, the temperature is getting warmer. Goram sees a structure to the north and nearby enemies speaking abyssal. Dirk tries to sneak up on the 4 Hezrou but fails. When the first Hezrou approaches the heroes, his stench is very strong and it poisons Bigglesworth, the others are disgusted but power through without being poisoned. Dirk sends an urgent message to Tuesday, warning that the party is under attack. Tuesday tells Caper.

Newgrowth 51

We return to our heroes who had recently reached Zedj. Now they head out to investigate the strange and demonic happenings.

While the heroes approach an old flat-roofed structure, Tuesday spots an eye looking at him from inside the building. Suddenly two creatures pop into existence. These creates are attractive, tall humanoid women from the waist up with six arms (each hand holding a sword) and from the waist down they are serpents.

The heroes bravely attack. During the battle, a beam of energy momentarily connects the two serpentine demons. Tuesday turns Annette and Falorn into Tyrannosaurus Rexes, and they mindlessly finish off the demons and rampage the abandoned old building.

After Annette’s thirst for property damage has been quenched, and she returns to her original diminutive form, the heroes find a deep hole in the building with a ladder which has fallen into the hole.

Newgrowth 47

We rejoin our heroes who had just defeated the Carnage Crew, The Daveed, and Dolly Mott and had discovered an incriminating note pointing toward Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij. It’s still late and our heroes create a funeral pyre to dispose of the bodies.

Newgrowth 49

Our heroes travel all day and setup camp at 7pm. A dragon is seen landing near Zedj during watch #3.

Newgrowth 50

Our heroes continue toward Zedj. After arriving in Zedj, Tuesday speaks to Dax the Raccoon. Our heroes meet Troy Courthammer of the famous Courthammer inn keeper family business. They stay overnight in the Courthammer inn. Tuesday talks to the raccoon more during his watch.

Newgrowth 51

Our heroes notice that the rod of teleportation has disappeared.

Newgrowth 47

We rejoin our heroes during the second night watch of Newgrowth 47 after they engaged Carnage Crew, The Daveed, and Dolly Mott who were attempting an ambush.
After killing the attackers, our heroes find a note on Ludwig’s body written by “ST-DOB,” which could be Samuel Thardos, Duke of Brij.

Newgrowth 46

We return to our heroes who, having recently helped liberate Cark, are on their way to Zedj by way of Dunstone. The heroes roll through Dunstone without stopping.

Newgrowth 47

Our heroes reach the intersection between Platsville, Dunstone, and Zedj. They chat with some soldiers.
During the second watch of the night, Dirk hears bird sounds that sound like a person making those sounds. He wakes up Gorem. They see humaniods hidden to the east. Carnage Crew, The Daveed, and Dolly Mott begin their assault.

Newgrowth 46

We return to our heroes who had called upon the Malusian army to end the siege of Cark. When the army arrived, our heroes engaged a flanking attack from orc warchiefs, goblins, ettin, a hill giant, and The Daveed that fled from the earlier battle with The Daveeds. Unfortunately, the Daveed escaped by teleporting to another plane. Our heroes were able to defeat the other enemies. Gorem then suggests that the heroes head Southeast to rejoin the Malusian soldiers. As our heroes approach, the battle is subsiding in victory and the liberation of Cark. The heroes head back to Dunstone on the way to Zedj.

Newgrowth 45

We rejoin our heroes who had just brought a calmed, but still evil, Dolly (holder of the “compound eye”) back to her room after a brief chase and scuffle. Dolly proclaims that the heroes have “no idea what powers [they] are messing with.” More fighting commences. In the heat of battle, Caper is able to persuade her. Annette grabs the gem and leaves the room. The heroes decide to leave town.

The heroes are able to travel about 3 hours towards Cark before sunset. During the night watch, Dirk sees a green dragon south of where the heroes are camping.

Newgrowth 46

The heroes continue toward Cark but are interrupted by a balista bolt landing very near them. Perhaps a warning shot? The heroes see a group of large humanoids to the west: orcs, goblins, ettin, and something bigger than ettin. These creatures are clearly laying siege to Cark. Dirk signals Sorlon Dragstone and asks for reinforcements. A few hours later, Staff Sergeant Darbe Brownlee arrives with 30 men to liberate Cark. The heroes take on a support roll. Soon they enter combat with some orc warchiefs, goblins, ettin, a hill giant, and The Daveed that fled from the earlier battle with The Daveeds.

Newgrowth 45

We return to our heroes who had just arrived at Dunstone, which is surrounded by a newly built palisade wall caked with the bodies of goblins and giant-kin. The heroes learn about the recent attacks on the town which have been coming from the South and East in the general direction of Cark.

The heroes enter the local inn, the Lizardly Lady. Dirk hits on a mysterious beauty named Dolly Mott. To the surprise of the heroes, Dolly has a pin with familiar looking violet colored gem — the “compound eye.” Dirk intends to seduce Dolly in order to obtain the gem, but he falls back on intimidation as a strategy and fails. Dolly magically commands Dirk to flee. The heroes chase and corner the petite, evil woman but are conflicted about next steps. Caper calms her and Bigglesworth takes her hand and leads her back to her room, where Caper, Tuesday, Annette, and Bigglesworth attempt to persuade her to give or loan them the gem. Falorn is in the heroes’ room, and Dirk is downstairs.

Newgrowth 41

We return to our heroes who had recently defeated the Daveeds during the 4th watch of Newgrowth 40.
The heroes continue their journey toward Zedj. They stop when they see a break in the plateau. Caper collects some flowers for Entor. The heroes investigate a cave which turns out to be a shrine of Doriath (a neutral aligned God commonly referred to as the “Ruler of Time”).

While near the shrine, our heroes hear a familiar voice… Lalia says “so the party continues its travels.” Lalia wishes our heroes well and tells them they are headed in the right direction. [Lalia serves a devil who is at odds with a demon responsible for the demon incursion. She’s not a friend of the heroes, but their objectives and interests may briefly align.]

During the 4th night watch, 4 Malusian Infantry soldiers on horseback ride past our heroes’ tiny hut. They inform the heroes that fiendish incidents have been reported in the towns before Zedj (Dunstom, Platville, and Cragton)as well as Zedj itself. Goram introduces himself as “12th Espionage Scout Brigade.”

Newgrowth 42

Newgrowth 42 is an uneventful day of travel.

Newgrowth 43

More traveling. During watch #3, Goram smells something “off” to the Northwest — a large greenish Troll. The heroes kill the trolls with fire.

Newgrowth 44

Newgrowth 44 is an uneventful day of travel.

Newgrowth 45

Dirk uses sending to ask Sorla? of the Traveler’s Doorstep to hold Annette’s spyglass and his magical staff until our heroes return. She seems to agree. After a long journey, our heroes see the wooden palisade built around Dunstone.

Newgrowth 40

We rejoin our heroes who recently stepped through the portal, received provisions and guidance from Sergeant Jayle, and started on their 6 day journey to Zedj. Caper drives the cart because the horse is named “Flower.” They travel and old route and don’t see many travelers just some small animals like squirrels — nothing larger than a cat. Around 6pm they find a camp spot.

During watch #4, the heroes hear 3 individuals speaking in common in the south east. “But Daveed, that doesn’t make sense.” 3 humans approach their camp. Our heroes quickly see through their disguise, they are Slaad, magical evil Toads. The problem of the trespassers is resolved by a hearty helping of violence.

Annette loots a piece of paper with some unknown language from one of the Daveeds.

Caper and Falorn inform the others about their vision of Entor. Our heroes apparently need:

• A small purple gem, the “compound eye”

• A metal rod, the “gray rod” - a 1/4” thick rod

Our heroes apparently can’t get to the next shield piece location until they get these things.

Newgrowth 39

We return to our heroes at the Hexagon Party Battle Open. The Dwarves Assembly wins the competition. Matty Footseller escaped. Bigglesworth hurries to collect his 20 gold winnings from his 5 gold wager. The heroes briefly try to find and follow an illusioned person, but give us because they don’t want to walk into a trap. The heroes are reassured by the presence of guards following them. They return to the inn. Due to the recent threats, the heroes setup a watch rotation for the night.

Newgrowth 40

The Peers have settled the tab at the inn. The heroes question how many business expensing opportunities they missed out on. Voth Gardul meets the Heroes when they try to make their statements to the guard about Carnage Crew. The heroes hear strange whispers that they can’t localize which say that there is a missing link between the hobgoblins and Matty Footseller / Carnage Crew. After 2 hours of giving statements, the heroes are done.
The heroes head to the portal. They have to descent 15 minutes into the tower basement. Before they leave, Lady Aventary gives Dirk a scroll of teleportation.
When the heroes arrive on the other side of the portal, they are no longer underground but 3 stories up in a tower. Malusian Sergent Jail provisions the heroes for the journey with a horse named Flower, a 2 wheeled cart, feed, water, and rations.

Newgrowth 39

We return to our heroes who have just escaped a surprise run-in with the Carnage Crew without spilling any blood. The heroes continue to the Traveler’s Doorstep to pick up Falorn’s crossbow, return to the inn for lunch, and then head out for their meeting with Lady Aventary of the Peers. Lady Aventary, the other Peers, and Malus military/guard types mostly recap the plan from Newgrowth 37 (teleport to Rognirak, travel to Zedj by Horse, and save the world). Lady Aventary points out the caves just north of Zedj as a good starting point. Goram inform the room about the planned interview tomorrow with the city guard. He learns that the city guard had followed the Carnage Crew but they vanished after entering a warehouse. Our heroes learn that Samual Thardose of Brij may be working with Darvidia.

Caper and Tuesday go on an aerial adventure while the others return to the inn.

The heroes attend the Hexagon Party Battle Open where Bigglesworth bets 5 gold on “Dwarves Assembly.” During the event, Annette spots Matty Footseller in the crowd and tells the others.

In last week’s summary, we incorrectly reported Goram’s lost family connection which should have been Sir Sorlon Dragstone (a high level officer in the Malusian Calvary). We regret the error.

Newgrowth 38

We return to our heroes in the Gleaming Horde inn at breakfast after a good night’s sleep. Goram is still processing the revelations from Falorn the night before. Why did Falorn desert his brothers in The Fist? What kind of person does that? Will he betray us? Falorn explains that the other members of his crew were breaking the code of The Fist, and he felt that he couldn’t remain.

Tuesday and Caper visit parks in the city to touch grass and fly among the trees.

Goram and Annette follow Falorn while he walks around town undisguised in order to detect the presence of any more spies. Goram and Annette do not detect anyone following him, and all 3 return to the Gleaming Horde.

Goram returns to the Traveler’s Doorstep to pick up his bow, and afterwards he meets with Voth Gardul (with whom he may have a lost family connection). Afterward Goram returns to the Gleaming Horde.

Newgrowth 39

The Hexagon Battle Open is this afternoon, and the group decides to preliminarily pass on the event. They plan to meet with Lady Soren Aventary of the Peers at lunch time, so there is always a chance that plan could change.

Dirk decides to stay in the inn for now, but the others head to the Traveler’s Doorstep to pick up Falorn’s crossbow. On the way there, our heroes have another run-in with the Carnage Crew. Goram alerts some nearby guards who take the names and particulars of the Carnage Crew members and tell them to walk away in peace. The guards ask our heroes to visit their station tomorrow to make a more complete report about the Carnage Crew.

Newgrowth 37

We rejoin our heroes at the Gleaming Horde inn. On the advise of Horbin Courthammer our heroes plan to visit the Sparkling Trinket, a shop near the palace, as several of the heroes need gems for crafting purposes, and of course Tuesday always wishes to exchange his circles for shiny rocks.

Falorn is shaken by his run-in with Rory Delathos. While he fears The Fist may be after him, he does not want to involve or admit this to his new teammates. He buys a new cloak hoping to alter his appearance from how Rory saw him earlier.

Our heroes see an advertisement for the “Hexagon Battle Open,” apparently a contest of group combat with a prize money reward. The entry price is 500g and a single top prize of 3,000g.

Our heroes spot a suspicious young woman following them. Tuesday flies up and surprises her. She seems friendly and the party chat with her. She says her name is Teresa and that she is a chamber maid at the Silver Dolphin Inn. The party asks her to join us in gem shopping at the Sparkling Trinket, but she says she has to get back to work.

Bigglesworth remains skeptical. He stealthily follows Teresa. Instead of walking to work at the inn like she claimed, she instead goes to a business building for “Deadalon’s Veterans,” a mercenary group.

The shoppers have continued to walk toward the palace on their way to the Sparkling Trinket. The shop is a two story tower. Inside, a half orc stands guard and glares while holding an axe ominously. An elf named Gerald, the shop’s proprietor and craftsman, stands behind a counter polishing stones. Annette buys 2 diamonds, Dirk buys a fastpitch softball sized black onyx, Caper buys a new chain for her magical medallion, and Tuesday buys an emerald for his hat.

The shoppers return to the Traveler’s Doorstep with their crafting materials. Annette’s estimate is the 44th and Dirk’s 51st.

Bigglesworth rejoins the group, but his report is borderline indecipherable. Luckily Goram is already familiar with the Deadalon’s Veterans, so he translates Bigglesworth’s finding for the rest of the party. Goram explains they are an outfit that is based in Bidovar with an office in Malus city.

Annette strikes up a conversation with someone at the Deadalon’s Veterans office. Annette asks about the Hexagon Battle Open. Failia, who says she is in charge of the Deadalon’s Veterans, explains that the Deadalon’s Veterans have entered and won the competition in the past with teams “Dwarven Assembly” and “Dauntless,” but they don’t plan to compete this year. Apparently healers are available at the competition, so participation isn’t a huge risk for talented professionals. Failia claims to not know where Teresa is.

The party heads to the Silver Dolphin inn, a 2 story building with a stable on the side. Caper tricks Teresa’s cousin into having Teresa meet the party. Teresa explains that she took a job paying 5 silver to surveil our party and determine the whereabouts of Falorn, while Teresa is happy with the 5 gold she received from Caper for information, she feels vulnerable and still fears further repercussions after her failed espionage mission.

Falorn explains to the party a little bit about his past with The Fist — that he went AWOL. The party would like to clear his name if possible — some because of the bonds of friendship, others because they don’t want weird poor people hiding in bushes staring at them.

Newgrowth 37

We return to our heroes who have just left the Traveler’s Doorstep, a famous shop in Malus. They head to the military barracks north of the palace for a meeting with Voth Gardul, Commander of the City Guard. When they arrive, they find Voth Gardul, Sir Sorlon Dragstone (a high level officer in the Malusian Calvary), Sir Lorn Fogarth of the Peers, and an unfamiliar woman wearing blue robes. Both Gardul greets our heroes and introduces Sir Sorlon Dragstone, Sir Lorn Fogarth, as well as the newcomer, Lady Soren Aventary of the Peers. The meeting is top secret, and the conference room has been secured by an anti-scrying device. Our heroes are curious about some recent events and learn a few things.

• The Green Dragon Sylus and Lalia appear to be aligned against the Dorvidian Empire. (Potentially an enemy of my enemy situation)

• The breach in the plane of existence is associated with a demonic entity.

• The demonic traffic from the Abyss through the breach into Veldekar is less than anticipated — potentially due to the conflict between Hell and the Abyss.

• The Green Dragon Sylus is an agent of Lalia. He is from Veldekar, so he can operate in Veldekar without risk of being banished (unlike Lalia).

• The Roving Peers gave Sylus a deadline of the 37th of Newgrowth to leave — our heroes had been concerned that the Malusians weren’t taking the threat of a dragon seriously.

• The Malusian army is investigating smuggling in the Darkway. They believe the dead dwarves our heroes discovered on the 28th of Newgrowth (6/2/23) were part of a smuggling ring.

• There has been an uptick of thievery and other crimes in the city.

• Giants and Goblinoids are coming from the hills, supposedly displaced by Dragon-kind. But these Goblins are not organized like the ones our heroes fought.

• There is a piece of the Shield of Concar in a cavern north of Zedj.

• Lady Aventary can teleport our heroes to Rognirak.

• Zedj is normally a quiet farming and logging community but is currently hosting a large contingent of the Malusian army. They patrol the roads due to the Giant/Goblinoid threat.

Our heroes make plans for the next couple of days. Tomorrow after lunch, they agree to be interviewed about an investigation. The day after tomorrow, they plan to meet after breakfast to begin the travel toward Zedj.
When our heroes leave the room, they notice the effect of the dampening field. Lady Aventary agrees to train Dirk in dampening fields.

Back at the Gleaming Horde, Goram explains to the other heroes that he thinks he might be related to Voth Gardul. Goram never met his father, so he is interested to learn more. Falorn spots an acquaintance Rory Delathos, a wood elf who was a scout for an organization that Falorn used to work for. Falorn follows Rory out of the Gleaming Horde, but Rory jumps a fence, and Falorn loses him and gives up.

Newgrowth 36

We return to our heroes who have received a dark ultimatum from the green dragon, Sylus. They are to sacrifice their fellow man to Sylus or be eaten themselves. But Tuesday has a plan — they could ask the Malusian patrol to run away, and our heroes would follow them, appearing to be in chase but in fact both groups would be escaping. With luck our heroes would reach the 2nd Malusian patrol before Sylus detected their deceit.

The Malusian patrol rides away to the north toward the distant patrol. Our heroes follow on foot. After half an hour, our heroes hear Sylus launch into the sky, his massive wings flapping to their west. As he nears our heroes, Sylus looks down and says “Lalia sends her warm regards, and we shall see you again.” [Lalia first appeared to our heroes on the 18th of Newgrowth (3/24/2023)]

Our heroes meet up with more Malusian patrols as they approach the city. Having left the over-hunted feeding grounds of Sylus, the normal wildlife beings to appear. In the distance they see the smokey haze of the city. Malus, the beating heart of the Malusian empire, is home to two million souls and a variety of industries.

Sergeant Malicorn leads our heroes to a mountain-side security checkpoint. After they enter, Goram sends a letter to Voth Gardul, Commander of the city guard. This entry path leads underground, and our heroes, who have been sleeping during the day, encourage their escorts to push through the evening so they can reach the city. When they return to the surface, they emerge near where the Malusian Darkway exits. Sergeant Malicorn says goodbye.

Our heroes make their way to the local Courthammer franchise, the Gleaming Horde, for for dinner and a long rest. Caper and Tuesday visit the temple to Entor where they chat with a crazy old man. Goram gets a response from Commander Voth Gardul to meet at 10am.

Newgrowth 37

Our heroes visit the Traveler’s Doorstep a legendary shop, which catches the eye with its distinctive lavender exterior and a peculiar shape — a triangular base, angled sides, and twist.
Dirk wants an enchanted staff. Tuesday just wants something shiny. Annette is getting a quote on a Spyglass of Scrying. Goram gets a magical shield. Falorn leaves his crossbow with the shopkeeper to be enchanted.

Newgrowth 32

We rejoin our heroes who had just survived an ambush of Goblinoids in the ruins outside an ancient cave exit.

Having oriented himself while they were outdoors, Goram explains to the group that he is confident he could lead them overland the rest of the way to Malus. The dwarves are completely onboard with this plan after the horrors they have witnessed in the caverns, and the heroes are ready for a change of pace and perhaps an opportunity to hunt some fresh food.

The outside is breezy and cooler than the cave. They follow a weakly defined trail — perhaps a game or hunter’s trail.

Our heroes setup camp for the night. During the 3rd watch, clouds start to cover the night sky.

Newgrowth 33

Our heroes continue their journey. Around noon rain starts. They see an abandoned dwarven mining outpost. In the evening, they sleep in the tiny hut to stay out of the rain. During the 4th watch, Caper sees a bear.

Newgrowth 34

The wind picks up, and as the clouds dissipate, the peaks of the two mountains, in whose valley the heroes are currently traveling, come into view. At the end of the day, Bigglesworth sees something very large flying far away (1-2 miles). It has wings, a head, and a lizard-like tail. Our heroes continue briefly before setting up camp for the night. During the 3rd watch, Goram sees a heard of sheep and shots one with his bow.

Newgrowth 35

Our heroes continue their journey, heading north, following the pass between the two peaks. After a couple of hours, they see the same flying thing from yesterday. Their fears are confirmed, it appears to be a green dragon. Goram thinks it looks like an adult (100-800 years old). The heroes bravely hide from the dragon while they discuss their plan. Perhaps they can avoid the dragon by traveling at night and sleeping during the day when the dragon might spot them. Dirk casts the tiny hut, dis
and they wait out the rest of the day. After a few hours they notice that the woods are void of any wildlife.

Newgrowth 36

Our heroes have been hiking all night. They sleep in the tiny hut from 10am-6pm.
Bigglesworth sees a mounted patrol far away. Goram tries to get their attention. The group travels at a normal pace toward the patrol. The group sees the dragon 100 ft to their right. The dragon introduces himself as “Sylus.” He claims to be angry that the heroes have entered his hunting ground. Goram gives Sylus a fresh-ish dressed sheep he killed the night before last. Sylus says he wants the heroes to bring him something more to eat in a couple of hours. He claims that he likes elves the most, but he also likes Giants and anything that fights back. Sylus says he wants the heroes to deliver him the Malusian patrol they saw earlier.
Goram thinks the dragon has an AC of 19.
The dragon flies onto a ledge and eats the sheep that the heroes gave him.
The patrol is expecting Goram. Sylus has been in the area for a couple of weeks. There are other patrols nearby. The heroes could run and be assisted by the other patrols.
Goram thinks they should run and try to reach the other Malusian patrol within the 2 hours that Sylus said he would give them.

Newgrowth 32

We return to our heroes who have fought their way into an ambush from Goblinoids and Venom Trolls. The casters have finally caught up with the bloodthirsty melee and tides are beginning to turn in our heroes’ favor.

Caper rushes to the badly wounded Goram, and casts lay on hands, nimbly avoiding combat range with a nearby venom troll.

A heavily wounded hobgoblin flies into the air, attempting to escape.

Goram strikes the venom troll with a menacing attack, grapples the Devastator, and wounds it badly. Bigglesworth climbs up the hill as if it were flat ground, and he finishes off the grappled Devastator.

One of the hobgoblins is trampled by a lumbering venom troll trying to escape. Another venom troll attempts to run around the wall of fire. Although there is a small space to the north between the cliffs edge and the wall of fire, it is too small for a troll, so as the troll squeezes into that space, he takes more fire damage.

A hobgoblin climbs up a rock to get a clean shot over the wall of fire, and kills one of Tuesday’s mirror images.

The venom troll which Goram intimidated with his menacing attack is still shaken by the experience. His attacks are poorly timed and aimed at Caper, causing multiple misses. Unfortunately he does eventually connect, dealing serious damage.

Dirk casts grease on the venom troll attempting the northern wall maneuver, knocking him over and burning him. Tuesday flies over the wall and vaporizes this troll, a fleeing troll, and a couple of goblins. A Devastator injured by Tuesday’s attack loses his concentration on the difficult task of flying and falls out of the air.

Caper strikes and kills a hobgoblin and disengages from the venom troll.

Goram chases the fleeing Devastator, climbs up a rock, and fires a long shot arrow, killing the flying Devastator.

Bigglesworth attacks a troll but the strike spews acid onto his attacker. Bigglesworth, undeterred by the acid risk, strikes again. The attacks seem to sufficient to kill such a beast, but it seems to regenerate — unlike the previously killed venom trolls who were on fire. Falorn heals in combat. Dirk and Tuesday target the remaining venom trolls with fire attacks, and Caper helps finish off the remaining flaming venom troll.

Now that combat is over, our heroes inspect their surroundings further. The doors and ruins are old dwarven architecture from before the Malusian Darkway’s construction.

On the Warlord’s body the heroes find an ornate key. They head back into the cave and check out the unexplored south east path. In a small room they find a chest. Annette creates a perfect tool to disarm the chest, and then Caper unlocks it using the ornate key. At the bottom of the chest is a contract for an assassination targeting Annette from the Black Mask.

Newgrowth 32

We rejoin our heroes in combat with a small group of hobgoblins in a cave, with the unknown threat of a larger horde of hostiles to the northeast, which our heroes have heard but not seen. In an unbridled, unthinking fury, Bigglesworth had chased down the enemy and was now dangerously overextended, but luckily Caper and Goram charge forward to engage the enemy and support their comrade. Annette casts a spell which webs off the northeast of the cave, blocking the unknown horde from surprising the heroes while they finish off the few remaining hobgoblins. One goblin escapes with jetpack to the northeast, evading the sticky web. The heroes defeat the remaining hobgoblins.

Bigglesworth and Goram, still very far ahead of the group, are consumed with an unquenchable bloodthirst, and seeing no enemies in their immediate path, rush headlong into the sticky webbing. Goram makes it through and lights a torch, but Bigglesworth is stuck.

Annette removes the webbing. At the double door at the end of the cave to the northeast, Caper magically detects a strong evil presence on the other side of the door. Caper runs through the open door into the fog to quickly scout and returns to report. Goram sees shrubs and tress through the door. As he passes through the doorway and the fog begins to dissipate, he sees overgrown infrastructure and hears armor clanking. Then he spots the hobgoblin, who had previously escape Annette’s web, floating in the air. Goram charges, jumps at, and grapples the floating hobgoblin but is denied the kill because Bigglesworth bolts out of the cave and ruthlessly slaughters the restrained hobgoblin. In a moment of post kill clarity, Bigglesworth keenly surveys the scene. It is an ambush! They have venom trolls!

Goram charges a spell caster to the southeast and kills him, but he soon takes poison damage from a venom troll.
A hobgoblin does something that appears to cause a cave in. Luckily our heroes dodge the rocks.
A enemy caster casts fireball at the doorway, badly burning Annette.
Another venom troll lands strong attacks against Goram. Falorn heals Annette.
Tuesday exits the cave, flies up into the air, and fireballs four enemies, vaporing 3 of them instantly. Tuesday then counter spells a devastator to the south who was trying to cast another fireball.

Newgrowth 32

We return to our heroes as they finish their long, well deserved rest in the tiny hut. As they wake, they hear the dwarves nervously coping with the trauma of recent events.
The heroes investigate a tunnel near where they slept. The tunnel and cave are heavily trapped. First the heroes set off a dart trap. The heroes find an abandoned stock area with sacks of flour, crates, and such.
The heroes detect a Goblinoid nearby (Goblin, Bugbear, Orc?)
Dirk finds some more traps.
Tuesday flies into a room and sees a dart shooter on the south east wall and a net hanging on the ceiling (presumably another trap).
In the next hallway, Dirk sees a rope tied off toward the ceiling — some kind of log trap — but sees no trip wire, so perhaps it is a manually activated trap.
Next the heroes set off a spear trap but nimbly dodge the spear. An alarm goes off.
Tuesday flies west and sees a toilet.
The group travels in the other direction and detects some baddies. The heroes assemble for combat.
The heroes initially see 3 hobgoblins but hear more coming. A large hobgoblin steps forward and bolsters his men. Bigs bravely sprints into battle. A streak of fire targets our heroes which they dodge.
A devastator tries to flee but is ruthlessly slaughtered by a raging Bigs.

Newgrowth 31

After witnessing a dread-inducing disturbance to the north and a whirlpool open up in the water to the northwest, our heroes had been grabbed by grasping tendrils and knocked prone.
Boat #1: Goram / Bigs / Tuesday (flying)
Boat #2: Dirk & Dwarves
The tentical came from behind boat #2.
Caper feels a mind-ice-dagger.
Falorn misty steps into a boat.
Annette swims to the bottom of the river but sees nothing which could cause the whirlpool.
Caper warns the heroes about the mind-virus.
Dirk sees and faerie fires the “Aboleth,” making it glow purple. It is 15 feet under water and ~30 feet away from the heroes.
Bigs bravely swims to the Abolish and strikes it, but he becomes diseased by something.
Goram is charmed.
Annette and Tuesday attack with magical fire through/under the water to great success.
Goram, having been charmed by the dread Aboleth, viciously strikes Bigs.
Water tentacles attack people in the boat / air.
Bigs finishes off the enemy. Our heroes hear laughter as the Aboleth dies.
Falorn heals Bigs’ disease.
The group decides to setup camp for the night on a small landing beside the river.

Newgrowth 31

We rejoin our heroes at 1pm in the afternoon while they drift/paddle down the cavernous river above the Malusian Darkway in 3 boats.

• Bigs, Goram, Falorn, and Tuesday

• Caper, Annette, and Dirk

• Shale and Dworlan

After briefly slowing down, the water starts to pick up pace. Falorn hears rushing water and the cave walls begin to narrow. The dwarves boat capsizes. Caper and Annette were able to slow their boat for a while, but eventually they lose control and capsize as well. Caper flies using her magical cloak and help boat #2 & #3 with some rope. Dirk is able to flip boat #2 right side up.
Dworlan is able to grab the rope but Shalin isn’t able.
Tuesday shrinks the dwarves so they are easier to tow.
Boat #1 is trying to slow down still. Boat #2 & #3 crew are trying to climb into boat #2 (which Dirk just flipped). Dworlin and Shale now in boat #2.
Annette sees a disturbance to the north. Something that causes dread.
Our heroes see a whirlpool open up in the water to the northwest. Grasping tendrils grab our heroes, knocking them prone.

Newgrowth 30

Big continues to chase the Anathema down into the hole.

A Pitmaster attacks Tuesday with a powerful Spectral Fang. The Fang would have done nearly all of his little fairy health had he not been warding bond-ed. Caper chases and finishes off a Pitmaster who hurt her little friend.

After defeating the other enemies, Goram chases down the Anathema and bravely jumps blade first into the hole, killing the enemy. Bigs, Goram, and the Anathema corpse fall further down the hole until finally hitting bottom. Bigs collects some Anathema meat.

Newgrowth 31

It is time to report into The Peers and Dirk’s People.
Caper, Falorn, Tuesday, and Annette search the cavern. And find treasure.
Goram sends a succinct report.
Our heroes spend a couple of hours dividing up loot and identifying.
Our heroes return to the boats and head downstream. After 4 hours of travel just after midday, they see a shrine to Silpion (Goddess of All Water) on the left bank of the river.

Newgrowth 30

We rejoin our heroes who are battling a Pitmaster in the back of a dark cavern. Soon after the Pitmaster falls, a Broodguard enters from the West and yells “Intruders, bring EVERYONE!” A Yuan-ti Anathema and Yuan-ti Abomination enters from the east. The Anathema casts a spell which cast Bigs and Caper into darkness.
Our heroes hear more creatures heading their way. A Broodguard enters from the mid-west and a Broodguard and Pitmaster enter from the lower-west.
Falorn casts a healing spell during combat.
Tuesday casts an epic chain lightning chaos bolt that chains across the battlefield.
The heavily wounded Anathema flees down a tunnel and Bigs pursues it to finish it off.

Newgrowth 29

Following the cave-in, our heroes had recently discovered a secret door and evaded the traps, discovering a storage area with a tunnel heading West. It’s 7pm, and our heroes are looking down a hallway to see several turns and the hallway is transitioning from a well crafted man-made tunnel to a rougher tunnel. The tunnel inclines slightly — overall a 50-60 feet elevation increase over the next few hours.
The heroes pause to discuss what to do with the horses. They walk the horses back to the guard outpost and leave the horses with the guards.
Once every 100 ft or so, Tuesday finds an unlit torch and lights it.
The air is getting fresher. 2 hours down the tunnel, our heroes can’t hear running water anymore.
The tunnel appear to exit to the outside in a 3 foot wide opening. A boulder is blocking the opening. Our heroes see and hear a river. They see 2 figures standing around a campfire. They appear to be dwarves (1 male 1 female). A donkey is hitched to a nearby tree. A small cart is nearby.
Our heroes approach the dwarves. A dwarf says, “I’m deadly.” Tuesday says, “I’m Tuesday.” The dwarven woman says “my name is Shail and his name is Dworlin.”
Goram says we can’t continue. Shail says that she got word from recon that supplies were not coming through.
50 feet from the campsite is a river with 3 boats pulled up on the shore.
The river goes through an opening into the mountains.
Our heroes are 1/3 of the way up the mountain. The mountains have snow year round.
1 day north there might be another ingress into the darkway.
Goram asks the dwarves about the way to rejoin the darkway.
Shail wants to take the boat through the river into the river-cave.
The parts wants to join the dwarves on their boats. Caper asks the dwarves if they would like to join.
Dwarves sleep easily with us setting up a watch. Not nervous at all.
Tuesday ties Dirks shoelaces together.

Newgrowth 30

Shail curious about our mission. Goram discourages questions and suggests that they not travel alone.
Boat 1: Falorn + Bigs + Goram + Tuesday
Boat 2: Shail + Dworlan
Boat 3: Dirk + Caper + Annette
The cave is echo-y. Lots of stalagtites. Moving faster than walking. Lights quickly disappears.
Annette uses radiant weapon to light the way.
River is heading north. We are dropping elevation.
4pm-ish our heroes come across an area where they could pull their boats over. They decide to stop for the night.
Our heroes see an opening 35 feet wide. East to west river, opening to the north. There is no light but an unclean oder in the air.
They hear water echoing the cave.
Dirk sees some creatures moving in the back of the cavern.
Something is being spoken in a language he does not know. Creatures are tied to the abyssal plane. Yuant-ti are serpent-like.
Fights happen. Dwarves are huddled in the back at the campfire.

Newgrowth 29

Goram recognizes Barney Goth, normally a recon agent rather than a guard. Goram speaks to Barney about what happened, suggesting that he should report into basecamp. Tuesday quizzes guards and recounts the battle. Barney instructs his crew to investigate and plans to head back to Ket to report.
Falorn ask the party about demons. Lalia is a devil (from Hell). Others the heroes have faced are demons (from the Abyssal Plane). Falorn and Caper know about demons and devils.
Following the tunnel, our heroes can smell fresh air and hear rushing water.
8 hours pass. Our heroes take an oatmeal break, aided once again by prestidigitation. Bigs finishes the corpse. Our heroes make camp early, using the tiny hut again. But they setup the normal night watch rotation.

Newgrowth 29: 6PM
Our heroes have been living in a tunnel for days and have grown desynced from the night-day cycle.
Our heroes start to notice “a dust” in the air that is not normal.
“All right ‘Carnage Crew’ you know who this is. Let’s do to them what they would do to us,” our heroes hear from a deep voice. A mage then carpet bombs the heroes with fire. A crazy Dwarf runs out at our heroes yelling madly.
After a round of battle…
Ludwig Voss says, “[The crew] has done their duty, we should back out.”
Matty Footseller and Sorla Stone try to ambush our heroes but miss.
Dartelia Fo’Llaria casts some kind of mass teleport spell.
Ludwig Voss says, “we’ll be back.”

Even with the “Carnage Crew” gone, the cave-in is blocking our heroes’ progress. There is also a chasm before the cave-in.
Caper and Tuesday find a secret hidden door. Seeing a hallway 10 ft wide, narrowing to 5 ft ahead. With some light, they see a room ahead. They narrowly avoid a pit spike trap. Past that, there are 3 pressure plates (part of another trap). Tuesday and Caper continue flying in (Caper can fly now with her magical winged cape). They are now in a room which nobody has been in for at least a month.

Goram makes a vow to kill Dartelia Fo’Llaria.

Newgrowth 28

We rejoin our heroes as they enter Dirk’s summoned tiny hut. Tuesday laments the damage resistance of the recently slain demons.

Newgrowth 29

While investigating the stables, Falorn finds some treasure inside a hastily-made demon nest.
Goram, Tuesday, Annette, and Dirk investigate the eastern hallway from which several of the demons emerged. They find empty bunkbeds and Malusian guardsmen corpses leaning against the walls and corners of the room. The guardsmen have only been dead a day or two. Our heroes still hear the sound of running water and the smell of fresh air, although they haven’t see any aqueduct or natural river nor have they seen any access points linking the tunnel to the surface.
Goram and Caper stay behind to give funeral rites to the dead guards.
To the south, our heroes find a heavy locked door. Annette attempts to pick the lock but gives up, fearing that she might break her thieves tools. Goram returns to the group with a key ring he found on one of the guards and opens the door. The party investigates the tunnel further but only finds a dead end.
The group travels north, finding a door that opens out into the Darkway which has curved to the east. In a nook near the door, our heroes find more treasure.

The heroes collect their treasure.
Coin:
92g
80g
140p
180p 1250g
———
4622g = (evenly distributed) 660g * 7 + 2g

Art:
50g copper challis
??? Gold bracelet
275 carved bone jaguar
1000g ivory statue of a bird (sparrow or starling)

Magical Items:
Wings of flying -> Caper
2x scroll cases

• Alter self

• Confusion
  Greatsword of sharpness (bonus to critical strikes) -> Bigs

The heroes are surprised to find all this treasure. Goram agrees that it is abnormal for a guard outpost to have valuable art or such a large amount of gold and platinum. The heroes exchange theories of corrupt guards, organized crime, and innocent banking systems, but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence to clarify any of these theories.

Our heroes depart, continuing deeper into the Darkway with Bigs keeping watch. Before long, 5 guards on horseback appear behind our heroes and overtake them, flagging them down. Our heroes pull over slowly and ask Goram to speak to the guards.

Newgrowth 28

We rejoin our heroes as they valiantly defeat Vrock #2, which dissolves into a pile of black goo before their eyes. Most of the party seek cover, anticipating further violence.

The door on the east side of the cave crashes open, and out springs (or maybe “floats”) a creature with eye stalks. It sees Goram. Goram warns “we have a beholder.” Tuesday screams.

The melee inflict serious damage while hasted. More Vrocks and Spectators join the battle.

Dirk summons a tiny hut.

Newgrowth 26

We rejoin our heroes who are waking up in the barracks in Ket. As they approach the entrance to the Malusian Imperial Darkway, a group of soldiers are exiting, heading west. The Darkway is carved into the area’s granite-like mountains. The tunnel is supported by both heavy wooden beams and stonework and is lit by well-attended torchlight. After the soldiers pass, our heroes can hear the sound of running water and occasionally the sound of small birds or bats’ wings flapping.

Around midday our heroes reach a guard outpost carved into the rock face.

Newgrowth 27

Our heroes notice fresh air but see no obvious exits.

Some soldiers are traveling in the opposite direction.

As our heroes travel deeper into the Darkway, they notice that the once well-attended torchlight has become more spotty with many torches unlit. Tuesday has always enjoyed adding fire to things not currently on fire, but Caper has told him that some things shouldn’t be on fire, and he doesn’t want to disappoint her. Luckily Caper gives him her approval, and he makes a game out of lighting unlit torches.

Since our heroes left Ybrallan, they have been traveling between towns, spending most nights sleeping in an inn or barracks and eating relatively fresh food when not in inns and taverns. The scale of the Darkway is beginning to sink in and our heroes begin counting rations in their packs. In the evening, Falorn spends some time in quiet meditation to prepare the ability to conjure food and water.

Newgrowth 28

Falorn conjures 45lbs of oatmeal and plenty of water. The party is relieved that they won’t need to ration their limited packed food during the long journey. While grateful for Falorn’s conjuring, some party members seem disappointed by the blandness and use Prestidigitation to improve the flavor.

The airflow in the tunnel is still good, and our heroes still hear running water. Even more torches now are unlit (prior to Tuesday’s correction).

Our heroes approach an outpost on the east side of the cavern. Dirk sees a stables building with an open door. The outpost looks abandoned, and Goram senses that something is amiss because the outpost is normally guarded. Our heroes sneak up on the open door. Goram peers inside the open stables door and sees the partially digested corpse of a horse.

Our heroes fight two Vrocks, one inside the stables out outside to the north.

Note: Vrock seems consistent with Monster Manual / https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/17047-vrock

• Verified fire resistance

• Verified physical damage resistance

• Experienced Stunning Screech

• Experienced Spores

Newgrowth 24

We rejoin our heroes at The Gilded Dragon Inn in Dorb on the 24th the of Newgrowth. Our heroes arrived around noon the day before. While Goram and Falorn had purchased magic weapons and rare gems the day before, Tuesday still longed for a shiny new magical cloak which he saw at the Gremlin’s Pouch — the problem, of course, was a lack of “circles.”

Durian goes to meet with his superior.

Tuesday discusses his disappointment at being unable to purchase the magical cloak on his own and receives several generous offers from the other heroes. The party returns to the Gremlin’s Pouch where Tuesday uses the pooled money to purchase the magical cloak from Jared the half-orc shopkeeper and craftman. Jared makes several alterations to the cloak, namely to accommodate Tuesday’s wings; he asks for no additional payment but asks that we spread word about his craftsmanship.

After rejoining Durian, our heroes head to the military barracks and then up to a mansion where they intend to meet Sir Sorlon Dragstone (a high level officer in the Malusian Calvary) and Sir Lorn Fogarth of the Peers. Fogarth is a giant of a man standing 6’8” wearing heavy armor. Dragstone is 6’2” tall and has a noble background. Forgarth asks about the Kasme and other demonic forces. He is aware of the Giant-kin fleeing side quest that our heroes have ignored, and he suspects that demonic activity is the root cause. Forgarth knows that our heroes have the shield-shard triangle and suggests that the Peers should keep it safe. The paladin reassures our heroes that the shield shard, should our heroes turn it over, would go to the Peers and not to the Malusian empire.

Our heroes are given 200g in the form of 20p and told to report in weekly.

Dragstone explains that our heroes should take the Malusian Imperial Darkway to Malus. Then to Rognivak and finally to Zedj. Our heroes are reassured that there is no particular risk from Dorvidian assassins on this path and that the Gaidin-Malus border (near Zedj) is peaceful.

Caper sits under a tree and communicates a status report to Entor, the God of Life.

Newgrowth 25

Our heroes are escorted north to Ket. Goram secures a barracks for the night.

Newgrowth 23

When we last left our heroes, they had been ambushed by a group of orcs. The orcs had a giant fighting by their side, and an orc warchief had appeared in the distance.

Our heroes manage to repel the ambush, killing several orcs and the giant. They were able to capture the warchief, who they interrogated. Our heroes were interested in how the orcs had integrated a giant into their raiding party.

Responses from the captive:

• “[The Giants] are running out of mountains.”

• “They know Human bad, orc good.”

• “Something scare them [Giantkin] out of mountain.”

• Something has taken “roost” in the hills.

Goram and Annette want to turn in the warlord to the authorities in Dorb, but Caper talks them out of it. Our heroes allow the captive to leave with his life after he pledges to abandon his life of crime.

Our heroes resume the journey to Dorb.

Dorb may be the biggest town in the region, but before our heroes see the towns people, farms, or any buildings, they first see the foothills appear in the distance. Dorb is the Malusian empire’s southern military outpost and is situated on the edge of the hills that characterize the Malus region. The town is not walled. The government owns and operates mines in Dorb.

Goram knows the dwarf who runs the inn. Our heroes rent a large room.

Goram also knows Jared the half-orc shopkeeper of the Gremlin’s Pouch. Goram purchases a sword, and Falorn purchases two diamonds.

Our heroes have had quite a day, and enjoy a good night’s rest. They have business in Dorb to meet Sir Sorlon Dragstone (a high level officer in the Malusian Calvary) and Sir Lorn Fogarth of the Peers. But that business can be conducted tomorrow.

Newgrowth 21

We rejoin our heroes who had just entered the small cross road village of Blave. Our heroes enter the Cray’s Nest Tavern and Inn. The tavern is small, just 4 tables. Above the tavern are two rooms for rent, each of which can hold 4 people. An additional larger room attached to the adjacent stables holds 9-10 people.

Searah, the inn keeper, is a blond human woman about 45 years old. Our heroes later learn that her family runs inns throughout the western Malusian empire.

• Searah - Blave - Cray’s Nest

• Toby and his son Jeeban - Darv - The Wheel

• Racken Forehammer - Dorb

Jeeban refers to the family as “The Courthammers.”

Our heroes are unsettled by how quiet the town is. Gorem inquires at the military outpost. It turns out that a number of Ettin and Hill Giants have descended from the hills near Lozdan and are harassing the locals. While the border guards continue to patrol the Malusian border, as our heroes experienced when they crossed the border, troops which are normally stationed in small towns in the area like Blave have been called in to assist with the Giantkin. This has happened quite recently in that some of the further away towns’ soldiers have not yet arrived in the troubled area. Additionally, only the initial reports of the trouble with the Giantkin have reached the villages. Nobody has heard back yet after the reinforcements arrived.

Our heroes go shopping at the vendor tents but don’t find anything particularly interesting.

Given the ongoing security threats, our heroes decide to continue to take watch duty turns, even though they are in town.

Newgrowth 22

Searah asks our heroes to say hello to Toby her cousin when we pass through Darv.

While on the road toward Darv, our heroes hear a platoon of soldiers behind them, gaining ground. Our heroes pull over and the troops pass without incident.

Darv is a small town similar to Blave.

• Inn named “The Wheel” strikingly similar in appearance to the “Cray’s Nest” in Blave.

• Small general store

• Military outpost

• Tents for venders

• A couple of homes

Just before morning, our heroes hear horses pulling up to the military outpost. Reinforcements from Kolna are passing through on their way to combat the Giantkin threat in the west.

Newgrowth 23

Our heroes depart towards Dorb.
On the way, our heroes are attacked by a raiding part of orcs.

Last week the summary misspelled the name of the Erinyes which visited our Heroes. The correct spelling is “Lalia.” We regret the error.

Newgrowth 18

Our heroes had just won their battle against the Ankhegs. Seeing as it was already 3pm in the afternoon, they decided to setup camp early and rest. The night passed uneventfully.

Newgrowth 19

Bigglesworth had collected several fine cuts of Ankheg leg the afternoon before and wanted to cook, eat, and share them for breakfast. Only Annette took him up on this offer. Bigglesworth and Annette suffered no ill effects from eating the Ankheg legs.

Our heroes resume their journey toward Blave (on the way to Dorb). On the path toward the Malusian border, Falorn sees an old statue through the woods — it looks kinda weird and our heroes investigate further. The statue is 7 feet tall, crafted of a light yellow stone. Our heroes recognize the figure as an old version of Gildora, a Good aligned Goddess Queen of the Forrest and Earth, who is traditionally worshipped by druids. The likeness of Gildora is scaled to a height of 10 feet but she is poised in a kneeling position. She is depicted as having many Sylvan qualities but among the mortal races, her overall figure most closely resembles a half-elf.

<did time pass here?>

Tuesday sees a winged human-like, female creature 10 feet up. She is well-armored and carries a long bow, whip, and long sword. The creature speaks to our heroes
“This is the crew that has been wrecking the plans of Graz’zt… I wanted to pay you a visit.”
Our heroes learn that this creature is named Lulia. She is an Erinyes (who are also called the furies).
Graz’zt is one of the lords of the abyss. He is one of several that have risen to power eons ago. He controls 100,000 underlings — around the same amount as “Lorth.” <did I hear this right?> As our heroes have learned previously, there is a lot of in-fighting among abyssal lords. When in comes to Graz’zt, things are no different. Many seek to ruin his plans.
Lulia is aware that our heroes have obtained a shard of the Shield of Concar. She explains that our heroes have captured the attention of many infernals who reside in the mortal plain of Veldekar (not in the abyss).
Lulia explains how Skrillex used dimensional doors and consorted with humans.

When our heroes reach the border of the Malusian empire, they are approached by a patrol consisting of three dwarves and one human wearing Malusian armor. Gorem is in good standing with the Malusian army, and negotiates on behalf of the party. Blave is only 20-25 miles north east now.

Newgrowth 21

Our heroes approach Blave, it is a smaller town than some of our heroes might have expected. One might describe it as a simple cross roads with only 4 structures

• An inn/tavern

• A farm house where we see plots with vegetables and also farm animals

• An army post

• Stables

The next town is one day’s travel away. At Blave our heroes want to buy rations and eat fresh food. And it’s time to level up.

Newgrowth 18

We rejoin our heroes in the middle of combat.
Our heroes defeat the Ankhegs.
Falorn wants gold after the battle and is disappointed.

Out of character:

• Caper says she is named “goat that likes to dance”

• Shan coins a new dictionarium phrase “Fenile” which means “feline <something>”

Newgrowth 17

We return to our heroes in the Leering Stag in Ybrallan.

Damon informs our heroes of Jemrin’s departure. Damon is concerned about the lack of healing capabilities in the heroes’ party and suggests that they meet with an adventurer in town named Falorn. Our heroes meet Falorn downstairs in the Leering Stag. He is 6 feet tall and 170 lbs and has light brown hair, carrying a Warhammer, dagger, and shield. He does not wear loud green makeup. Falorn expresses interest in joining our heroes on their quest, assuming it pays well. Our heroes are not overwhelmed by Falorn, but think he would be helpful and agree that all people of Veldekar have a stake in protecting the plane from demonic forces. Falorn joins the party and learns about the triangle and the risk from Dorvidian assassins.

Annette suggests a new solution to containing the triangle — she has learned to turn an ordinary bag into a bag of holding. Caper asks Streelia about the best place to buy a bag in town. There isn’t any specialty store, Streelia suggests “Jason’s Outfitters” which our heroes were planning to visit anyway. The party is quite interested in Annette’s replication process.

In the afternoon 3:30pm, our heroes embark toward Dorb (where they intend to meet Sir Sorlon Dragstone and Sir Lorn Fogarth). There is light rain in the afternoon and into the night but is otherwise uneventful.

Newgrowth 18

After traveling for about 4 hours (around noon), our heroes hear a rumbling to the south east. Tuesday sees holes in the ground about 80 feet away, out of which emerges a large insect animal / monster. The creature has many legs, is orange, and has armor plating. The creature is called an Ankheg and is a Large Monstrosity.

Newgrowth 16

Our heroes have left Raefe Creole and Damon and returned to the Leering Staag
Damon is in room #12.
Our heroes head to bed.

Newgrowth 17

In the mourning there are light showers.
After breakfast our heroes meet with Damon. His superiors see this as a great opportunity. Damon considers us the shield bearers, where his superiors see mostly our shield.
New info has come to light since our attack in the cave. The purpose of the guild is to repair the shield and more generally the planes of Veldekar. There is a similar disturbance in northern Malus. Our party is well suited in locating and evaluating this disturbance.
Damon is speaking up for us.
Demonic forces within the abyss are in-fighting to decide who can kill us.
Someone in the Dorvidian empire has put a contract out on our head. “Twin Heart” has heard the rumblings from Dorvidia. Kasme have a job in the demon world. They hunt down demons that have crossed their boss and are going rogue.
Has someone in the Dorvidian empire been controlled by a demon?
Annette believes that with the right magic we could shield the triangle. Or we could put it in a vault.
Our heroes discuss their options.
Group agrees to take on the task.
In northern Malus, we should investigate Zedj. Mardeth Kromnigard is a wizard of the peers dispatched to Zedj to investigate.
Mardeth was an up-and-coming member of the guild but we haven’t heard about him recently. He is from Janizavi (Malus).
Our heroes will need to brave the imperial darkway.
Our heroes should travel to Dorb and meet with Sir Sorlon Dragstone (a high level officer in the Malusian Calvary) and Sir Lorn Fogarth of the Peers. They have been working on something related to the triangle.
Our heroes are looking for a shop called “Gremlin’s Pouch” run by a half orc named Jared — he may have a bag of holding for our heroes.

Newgrowth 12

Based on rain there is a worn path leading into the cave. 1-2 small mammal carcasses lie just outside cave entrance.
Our heroes are briefly afflicted by a low roll shitshow.
Derek thinks the demon’s name is a commonization of an extra-planar name. Demonic or devil.
Our heroes enter the cave. The entrance is 12-15 feet wide/tall. Deeper in it is 20 feet all. The cave is ancient. It is a dry cave.
There are two butt hole campfires inside the cave. Around the campfires are bed rolls and small tents.
Bigs throws a rock.
Bigs sees a half fly, half human creature. It speaks abyssal at our heroes.
Caper shows off her athletic abilities by jumping over a cave wall. Tuesday just flies over it.
Annette is overcome by the buzzing sound and passes out.
The hideous creature attempts to escape but our heroes have surrounded it and crush it with opportunity attacks.
Left behind is a boatload of gold coins. Also a triangle — maybe part of a shield.
The triangle is a strongly magical item. Part of larger rumor of calling at us. Maybe Darrian or Annette can research later.
The pile of bodies includes the 4 guardsmen and 2 woodsmen that we were looking for.
Our heroes exit the cave and fast-travel back to town, arriving on the 16th of Newgrowth, arriving around noontime.

Shan says we would be leveling next session

No arrest warrent for me.
Authorities looking for who linchede my partner.
Might be some civil stuff

Newgrowth 11

We rejoin our heroes as they are alerted by Caper and Tuesday during the 4th night watch that a small group of Gnolls have been sighted. The Gnolls are out matched as the heroes easily slay them without a single Gnoll entering melee range. Caper suggests that we bury the Gnolls' corpses and mark the burial site(s) with (a) cairn(es). Annette and Caper were wounded during the gnoll attack, so the party takes a short rest.
After the rest and breakfast, the party continues north north west. Gorem leads the way through the rain. Our heroes find 3 animal carcasses (rabbit, fox) and a path.
Around noon or 1pm, our heroes see what looks like humans trying to sneak.

2/03/2023 11th of Newgrowth
Our heroes have spotted what they believe are some of the cultists who are dicks to animals. These humanoids are wearing leather armor and are dirty. Our heroes kill the visible cultists, leaving one prisoner who they interrogate.

The cultists appears to have taken a vow of poverty as they are all poorly dressed and have no possessions or money. They worship Sklyx who “will kill you all.” (According to a cultist) The captured cultist tells the heroes that

• [Skylx] is a demon that will consume [them] all

• [Skylx] is never far from here

• … lives to the north east

Skylx is not a god known to our heroes. He could be influenced by an extra planar creature, devil, angel, or fae.

Our heroes take a long rest.

Newgrowth 12

Tracks lead straight north toward Malgrodar. Our heroes follow the tracks for 1.5 -2 hours. The tracks lead down into a ravine and into a cave.

Newgrowth 9

11:30am - Having concluded our meeting with Rafe the Magistrate in the previous session, we rejoin our heroes as they begin to investigate the disappearance of the brothers Mel and Bog Crond and the guards who also disappeared in the search party.

Peter the guard joins us as a guide around town.

First the party walks to the humble home of the brothers Crond. In the shelves above the stove, our heroes discover an order for white pinewood from Strolows Mill for 45 planks. Bigs investigates Mel’s room. Annette investigates Bog’s room and finds a small chest containing 46 gold 12 silver. The gold is unmarked (no king or queen’s likeness minted on the coin). Annette hands the chest over to Peter the guard to log into evidence. The party detects no religion or magic in the home. Tuesday asks Peter the guard about the lumber mill and work order.

The party travels north to the lumber mill. Tuesday is carrying the work order. The mill building is a Quonset style open structure with ~ 15 people working. Caper asks “Bronn” the elven foreman about the work order. Bronn explains that white pine grows to the north, west, and east, but is best found in the east, along a ridge east-north-east. Derek asks about arcane disturbances. Caper asks about unusual occurrences. Brown known about deer, rabbits, bears, and cougars killed in the woods but not eaten. These slaughtered animals are mostly to the north east.

1pm: Annette suggests returning to the leering stag for lunch. During lunch, Annette asks Damon about Peter’s trustworthiness (since she handed over a cache of gold to him). [I have forgotten the exact answer, but it was generally reassuring.]

2pm: Having finished lunch, Peter takes us to the east side of town. This is the direction that the guardsmen took when searching for the brothers. The guards were named Jeb, Frowol, Bast, and Yamm. Our party starts searching the woods. At around 7 or 8pm we setup camp for the evening.

Newgrowth 10

Our party continues its search. We use our drone footage as a guide to help us. Near a ridge, we decide to camp for the night on the north side of lake.
During the 4th watch (Caper & Tuesday) we discovered a group of gnolls.

Newgrowth 8

On Friday we returned to our heroes on the 8th of new growth at around 5:30pm at the Leering Stag inn & tavern in Ybrallan.
In the tavern, we saw Damon the tall bard.
In our previous session, most of the party had sat together. The stragglers came closer and the players introduced themselves.
Gorem Frok is from the north east of here (Malus?, later confirmed, yes at least Malusian Empire territory if not Malus)
Dirk is asking about “Arcane Happenings”
Caper mentions healthy animals killed and their remains left behind untouched.
Gorem has heard of the disappearances and also the magical things (arcane).
Annette is an engineer and works as a defense contractor specializing in ballistics.
Caper is in service to Entwir? She can heal but is primarily a fighter.
Jemrin comes from the sea. Wears leather armor and has a dagger.
Tuesday Sunblossom fell through a portal and was saved by Caper. Tuesday loves fire.
Dirk is a “drow.” Anyone with two eyes can see that (his words).
Bigs runs out of steam and takes a cat nap.
Annette and the tavern proprietor (Streelia Listinimiak) discuss something.
The proprietor’s shift ends, and she is replaced by a tall human behind the bar. The human collapses and stows some kind of platform contraption that Streelia (a gnome) uses to boost her height being the bar.
People retire to their rooms in the inn / tavern.
#8 Annette / #3 Bigs + Jemrin / #5 Gorem & Dirk / #4 Caper & Tuesday

Newgrowth 9

Breakfast together downstairs in the Leering Stag before our meeting.
Gorem leads us to the Magistrate.
There are two human guards. We go to a conference room.
The Magistrate is named Rafe Creel. He is a 54 year old human. Also present, Damon the bard.
First we discuss some of the strange happenings. Rafe reports that scouts have detected some things

• Animals left dead unharvested

• Could it be rabid animals?

• A nefarious being?

• Animals were pierced or slashed (not Arcane-d)
  Rafe offers us a contract to investigate the disappearance of the two brothers and four guards. 350g for any info leading to return.
  We ask Rafe for some background

• 2 Brothers are named Mel and Bog Crond

• Professions: Gathers of Wood / Woodsmen, but not employed by a lumber mill. They harvest/collect wood and deliver it to one of a few lumber mills and are paid upon delivery.

• The guards were traveling east when they disappeared.

• Mel & Bog are in their early 30. No Family.

• Mel & Bog kept to themselves. But the town is small. Everyone knows who they are. They were not antisocial psychopaths or anything.

• Mel & Bog have been in town for 7 years.

• Rafe not sure if they attend a church.

• Rafe not sure if they are involved in any sports.

• Their home is on the North side of town.

• The guards were not experienced (so maybe they are just lost or fell into a simple trap?
  All of the group signed the contract.
  The meeting lasts ~1 hour.
  It is now 11-11:30am-ish.