Solace5e - User contributions [en]

Graveyard

2026-02-13T14:25:11Z

Avinasharora:

8/4/348 (7/18/2020)
<blockquote>Though his boasting did irritate, It was deceit that sealed his fate. Before his end, He saved Ci Friend, Guess Cassio really was great. </blockquote>

8/4/348 (7/18/2020)
<blockquote>Viviene blessed under the arbor, Donned of Lancelot's famous ardor. A folk tale repeated, Dereth was defeated, By a knight in shining armor. </blockquote>

2/11/348 (2/8/2020)

<blockquote>Here lies the body of Amon Therai He never could cut it as a spy Though he broke an Elder Brain And thousands of Dreadhorde were slain Amon now rests in the sky </blockquote>

11/12/347 (10/19/2019)

<blockquote>All that remains of your friend is Coin's Journal A creature nocturnal, he kept mostly internal Dhec he was named and a friend he remains Coin's pact infernal meant his death sempiternal </blockquote>

1/1/347 (12/28/2019)

<blockquote>Sakura no kaze never hit the ground His sacrifice made his god come back around House Hanada rejuvenated Cherry blossoms repopulated Now Drusilia ensures his family is safe and sound </blockquote>

4/20/346 (4/14/2018)

<blockquote>Here lies the spirit of Jorg Un'dal After a giant smashed him from the window to the wall, A green flame does remain, Marking the spot he was slain, Forever does his sword stand tall.</blockquote>

11/23/220 (10/23/2016)

<blockquote>Here lies Lord Garrix Thrax, who fixed all of Castle Gorn’s cracks, and though he was late to the fight, he used all of his might, to fall off the edge of the barracks.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Olokas Milner, whose frost blasts were killer, bought his own airship, with a very icy hand-grip, now a dragon has his family’s silver.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Merry, wolf form made her scary, she loved collecting samples, in all of her ampules, and her arrows could never be parried.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Tristani Sikil With all of his elvish frill, though he could never be human, after some soul searching within, his leg’s wish was finally fulfilled.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Neffie, poisoning the aristocrat coterie though all of her darts, entered her enemies’ hearts, now we lay rest her Ashandarei.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Reldar K’ar, who is definitely not Varik Marh, he might seem like the same person, but he didn’t commit chamber-pot arson, and now they both resemble caviar.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Sadrik, they say boxes were his schtick, though he had the power to unmake, and he will always be our beefcake, even he couldn’t survive the boomstick.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Jaduin, A devotee of the Order of Bregan, He joined the party out of despair, but now he can feel all of the squares, much to his own chagrin.</blockquote>

Graveyard

2026-02-13T03:10:24Z

Avinasharora:

8/4/348 (7/18/2020)
<blockquote>Though his boasting did irritate, It was deceit that sealed his fate. Before his end, He saved Ci Friend, Guess Cassio really was great. </blockquote>

8/4/348 (7/18/2020)
<blockquote>Viviene blessed under the arbor, Donned of Lancelot's famous ardor. A folk tale repeated, Dereth was defeated, By a knight in shining armor. </blockquote>

2/11/348 (2/8/2020)

<blockquote>Here lies the body of Amon Therai He never could cut it as a spy Though he broke an Elder Brain And thousands of Dreadhorde were slain Amon now rests in the sky </blockquote>

11/12/347 (10/19/2019)

<blockquote>All that remains of your friend is Coin's Journal A creature nocturnal, he kept mostly internal Dhec he was named and a friend he remains Coin's pact infernal meant his death sempiternal </blockquote>

1/1/347 (12/28/2019)

<blockquote>Sakura no kaze never hit the ground His sacrifice made his god come back around House Hanada rejuvenated Cherry blossoms repopulated Now Drusilia ensures his family is safe and sound </blockquote>

4/20/346 (4/14/2018)

<blockquote>Here lies the spirit of Jorg Un'dal After a giant smashed him from the window to the wall, A green flame does remain, Marking the spot he was slain, Forever does his sword stand tall.</blockquote>

11/23/220

<blockquote>Here lies Lord Garrix Thrax, who fixed all of Castle Gorn’s cracks, and though he was late to the fight, he used all of his might, to fall off the edge of the barracks.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Olokas Milner, whose frost blasts were killer, bought his own airship, with a very icy hand-grip, now a dragon has his family’s silver.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Merry, wolf form made her scary, she loved collecting samples, in all of her ampules, and her arrows could never be parried.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Tristani Sikil With all of his elvish frill, though he could never be human, after some soul searching within, his leg’s wish was finally fulfilled.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Neffie, poisoning the aristocrat coterie though all of her darts, entered her enemies’ hearts, now we lay rest her Ashandarei.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Reldar K’ar, who is definitely not Varik Marh, he might seem like the same person, but he didn’t commit chamber-pot arson, and now they both resemble caviar.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Sadrik, they say boxes were his schtick, though he had the power to unmake, and he will always be our beefcake, even he couldn’t survive the boomstick.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Jaduin, A devotee of the Order of Bregan, He joined the party out of despair, but now he can feel all of the squares, much to his own chagrin.</blockquote>

Graveyard

2026-02-13T03:09:21Z

Avinasharora:

8/4/348 (7/18/2020)
<blockquote>Though his boasting did irritate, It was deceit that sealed his fate. Before his end, He saved Ci Friend, Guess Cassio really was great. </blockquote>

8/4/348 (7/18/2020)
<blockquote>Viviene blessed under the arbor, Donned of Lancelot's famous ardor. A folk tale repeated, Dereth was defeated, By a knight in shining armor. </blockquote>

2/11/348 (2/8/2020)

<blockquote>Here lies the body of Amon Therai He never could cut it as a spy Though he broke an Elder Brain And thousands of Dreadhorde were slain Amon now rests in the sky </blockquote>

11/12/347 (10/19/2019)

<blockquote>All that remains of your friend is Coin's Journal A creature nocturnal, he kept mostly internal Dhec he was named and a friend he remains Coin's pact infernal meant his death sempiternal </blockquote>

1/1/347 (12/28/2019)

<blockquote>Sakura no kaze never hit the ground His sacrifice made his god come back around House Hanada rejuvenated Cherry blossoms repopulated Now Drusilia ensures his family is safe and sound </blockquote>

4/20/346 (4/14/2018)

<blockquote>Here lies the spirit of Jorg Un'dal After a giant smashed him from the window to the wall, A green flame does remain, Marking the spot he was slain, Forever does his sword stand tall.</blockquote>

11/23/220

<blockquote>Here lies Lord Garrix Thrax, 
who fixed all of Castle Gorn’s cracks, 
and though he was late to the fight, 
he used all of his might, 
to fall off the edge of the barracks.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Olokas Milner, 
whose frost blasts were killer, 
bought his own airship, 
with a very icy hand-grip, 
now a dragon has his family’s silver.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Merry, 
wolf form made her scary, 
she loved collecting samples, 
in all of her ampules, 
and her arrows could never be parried.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Tristani Sikil 
With all of his elvish frill, 
though he could never be human, 
after some soul searching within, 
his leg’s wish was finally fulfilled.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Neffie, 
poisoning the aristocrat coterie 
though all of her darts, 
entered her enemies’ hearts, 
now we lay rest her Ashandarei.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Reldar K’ar, 
who is definitely not Varik Marh, 
he might seem like the same person, 
but he didn’t commit chamber-pot arson, 
and now they both resemble caviar.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Sadrik, 
they say boxes were his schtick, 
though he had the power to unmake, 
and he will always be our beefcake, 
even he couldn’t survive the boomstick.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Here lies Jaduin, 
A devotee of the Order of Bregan, 
He joined the party out of despair, 
but now he can feel all of the squares, 
much to his own chagrin.</blockquote>

Game-Summaries: 11/30/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:38:25Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Ember== ==Recollections by Cassio== Whoops. ==Recollections by Kaylorr== Headed back to vault of night with Ember, Cassio, Zanna, and Rezik. Garnet wanted to visit mother's homeland. We find the door way to the Dwarves' fortress closed by a giant obsidian door. There was a mural etched in the door depicting a battle between Shar and Selûne. "Walk in darkness and be saved" was also found etched on the door. We make our way through the door..."

==Recollections by [[Ember]]==
==Recollections by [[Cassio]]==
Whoops.

==Recollections by [[Kaylorr]]==
Headed back to vault of night with Ember, Cassio, Zanna, and Rezik. Garnet wanted to visit mother's homeland. We find the door way to the Dwarves' fortress closed by a giant obsidian door. There was a mural etched in the door depicting a battle between Shar and Selûne. "Walk in darkness and be saved" was also found etched on the door. We make our way through the door which turned out to be trapped and find ourselves in a passage going left and right. The path left turned out to be a dead and end so we turned right. We enter a room emanating a sickening purple glow and we all immediately feel nauseated. The room contained 4 mirrors which erupt in fire when we turn them towards the fountain of sick light. After, we explore and find a room with an alter that was made to honor Shar and Selûne. To the south was another room that seemed to be some sort of workshop. Here we found 28 potions, 20 potions of watchful rest, 2 potions of diminution, and 6 potions of comprehension.

Moving forward to the east we walk into another room and find a stranger standing there. Zork is what he called himself and he seemed to have been expecting us. Blocked by what we learn is Forcewall and communicating with us via magical stones, Zork offers us a contract to us. In exchange for a cloak of unknown origin we were to cast a True Resurrection to assist his master. Though we were skeptical, we all agree to the terms as we were here for Garnet and Ember.

Zork's master turns out to be Mordenkainen and the being we were casting TR on turns out to be Velah. He teleports us to a what looked to be Velah's old plane and Ember followed through with the contract terms and cast TR... soooooo that happened. Velah is back and we make a quick escape by way of Zanna before Velah woke up.

Ember's reward for casting TR was the cloak from Mordenkainen which turned out to be just a simple, non-magical, ordinary cloak.

Fin
 
==Recollections by [[Zanna]]==
==Recollections by [[Rezik]]==
Ember does a grieving?
Date: 12/26/347

Ember and Garnet wanted to explore the Plane of Night, so we started our journey by teleporting to the Vault of Night. When we arrived, we saw the portal, but instead of being open it was covered in an obsidian stone.

When we investigated the stone, we saw an image of two figures in battle, with the line "Walk in the darkness and be saved" inscribed. The image depicted Shar & Selune in battle, a known image of dark vs light. We realized the following:

"Shar, often called the Mistress of the Night, is the evil goddess of darkness, dungeons, forgetfulness, loss, night, and secrets. She and her sister Selûne, goddess of the moon, were the first deities to form after the Overgod Ao created the world. The two are fierce rivals and her followers frequently come into conflict. Selune is the goddess of light, the moon, stars, navigation, wanderers, and good lycanthropes. Her sister and primary foe is the goddess Shar."

We attempted to figure out how to open the door and then finally decided to simply pull the door apart. When we opened it, we accidentally triggered a trap, but the door opened. On the other side, we saw a tunnel that forked. We decided to follow the side of Shar, in an attempt to "walk in the darkness".

Zanna scouted ahead and entered the room first. She realized that all the tiles were false, and lead to a huge empty pit. We had to find our way across and used Cassio's Rod of Lordly Might to create a bridge we could use.

When we opened the door on the other side of the room, we were bathe in an eerie purple light that seemed to sap our energy. In the room was a cauldron in the middle with four mirrors covered in oil around it. When we began to move the mirrors they created sparks and caught on fire, creating huge explosions. Gramph and I used our spells to put out the fires as everyone turned the mirrors towards the cauldron. The mirrors reduced the impact of the light of cauldron.

We followed the hallway down and came across a room that seemed to be built for a tinkerers lab. We found 28 vials that we decided we would identify later.

Since the room was a dead end, we back tracked to the room with the cauldron and went our way north. When we opened the door we were stunned by a bright light. When we finally could see again, we saw an altar depicting Behomet & Tiamat in a swirl, similar to the initial image we saw on the door into the "dungeon".

We finally entered the last room and came across a mysterious man named Zorc at the end of the hallway. He seems to be unable to hear or talk to us unless we speak to him through a rock he had. Cassio picked up the rock and did the talking - probably not our best idea.

He offers a contract to us to cast a True Resurrection for his master in a trade for a cloak. We all agreed, if anything just to see where this took us. Our thinking being that anyone that could get us here and tell of our coming would be powerful enough to get a True Resurrection from someone else, it is better for us to be a part of it so that we could at least learn of what is coming.

When we agreed, Zorc went to go get his master. The master turned out to be Mordenkainnen. He brought us to his dimensional mansion (maybe) and instructed Ember to cast the spell.

The person Ember was to resurrect was Velah. Ember cast the spell and Velah materialized, in a slumber but stirring. We took this as our cue to leave and we came back to our plane, to discuss what had just transpired.

I'm not sure what Mordenkainnen has planned for Velah, but his schemes are tiring. We'll need to spend some time understanding exactly what he has planned and more importantly why.

==Recollections by [[Mordenkainen]]==
These fools, I can't believe they've managed to mess with my plans yet again. At least this time I got something out of it.

Game-Summaries: 11/16/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:38:11Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Amon== Our recent encounters with Baron Zevane have largely been through fighting proxies or dealing with possible co-conspirators in his inexplicable vendetta against us. And yet, unlike many of the foes who have troubles us in the past, we know next to nothing of him, aside from his noble status and the location of his lands. Someone with the kind of political connections a member of a noble house of Solace might have isn't someone we can move ag..."

==Recollections by [[Amon]]==
Our recent encounters with Baron Zevane have largely been through fighting proxies or dealing with possible co-conspirators in his inexplicable vendetta against us. And yet, unlike many of the foes who have troubles us in the past, we know next to nothing of him, aside from his noble status and the location of his lands. Someone with the kind of political connections a member of a noble house of Solace might have isn't someone we can move against directly with the sort of violent finality we in the order tend to employ, and yet he presents a problem that must still be dealt with in a way that can brook no further challenge. To that end I have called the others together to help investigate the good Baron, and get to the bottom of just what his goals, resources, and long term plans might be, and how they involve us. Jeroy, Ci, Ember, reliable as ever, answered the call. As I was laying out the case for our current quest, Cassio happened to stumble into the room, and I was unable to come up with a good excuse to reconvene elsewhere.

My first thought was to venture into the ruins of Solace and seek council from others within House Blue whose information resources might skew towards the political situation in the surrounding area. As luck would have it, Serie happens to be in town, attending a play put on by several of his offspring at Vanivachi. I drop in, and with a carefully crafted coded conversation and a bit of assistance from Ci am able to ascertain that there is to be a party hosted by Baron Zevane at his keep to the west of us, though the manner of our entry to the party is for us to secure. Ci suggests we can use his status as master of the keep, along with a gift of a ring crafted by Ember, to allow us access to the party, and from there gather what information we can.

Taking off on horseback dressed in our most formal attire, we pass the 80 miles between our keeps without incident, coming upon a fairly nondescript and utilitarian stronghold surrounded by an armed gathered host. Cassio Cassios his way into the troop's hearts and minds. They toast to the return of the old gods. The soldiers are part of Zevane's house guards, but not all of the troops belong to the Baron. They seem to be more like mercenaries in terms of gear and stance. They get defensive when Cassio brings up the lodge party that we mysteriously burned down but things don't devolve further. He and Jeroy return from their carousing and update us. Cassio suggests he could crush them like a soft quiche.

The entrance to the keep is a raised portcullis connected to a drawbridge over a moat. We hand over our invitations and they check out. The herald blows a trumpet and announces Lord Ci and his assorted company. Near as we can tell there's no real reaction to the announcement of our arrival, which largely fell on deaf ears. We enter and start to take scope. It's a simple and unadorned grand hall with tons of food and drink. Baron Tedor sits prominently on one side of the room. There are stairs that lead further up into the keep. Nothing dire pops out from Cassio using his magic and perversion of magic sense.

Ci sneaks his way upstairs and finds a number of hallways with closed doors and muffled conversations. He overhears someone talking about some political logistics and gathering support for something. They seem to be carefully avoiding talking in specific names, as if they were complete amateurs at coded conversations. He continues up to the third and final floor and ends up on the roof of the keep, with tons of guards (24) keeping watch over the crenelations. He singles out a door with no audible voices behind and ducks inside. He opens the door and hears a female scream from inside. The torchlight from the hallway floods into the room and he sees a dressing divider and some hasty commotion. He hears footsteps approaching the hallway from one of the rooms he did hear conversation behind. Thinking quick he makes his way to the stairwell and hides there.

A well dressed man in rich looking livery steps out and then immediately goes back in. Ci rejoins us and fills us in on what he saw. We decide to make our introductions to the Baron. Jeroy casts see invisibility but can't spot anyone invisible around the room. The party seems to mostly be middle class merchant types, with few nobles in attendance. A lot of people are dressed in sigils of small time houses.

Cassio recalls that House Zevane is a fairly old house, though Tedor isn't particularly well known or notable. We grab some drinks from servants and mingle among. Cassio attempts to go introduce himself to a few partygoers but instead trips, catches himself with his sword, and slices a table in half. I try to be a little more charming. I insert myself into a conversation between two attendees. We have a pleasant non-coded conversation. One of the snooty douchebags introduces himself as Arryn Mace. He's a soldier or mercenary of some sort who probably needs to get sniped by magic missiles at a later date.

Jeroy has considerably more luck making friends. Jeroy finds out that Drunk is in fact a language. House Benthe to which this minor noble belongs, is beholden to House Zevane. He hits a stumbling block when the drunk guy doesn't believe he's from House Lenkins to the east. He finds out that they're organizing something but not what.

Having found out tons of stuff, we decide to finally make our introductions to the Baron. Ci introduces himself as Lord Ci of Shianju Keep. Zevane directs him to approach. Ci hands over the gift and the Baron accepts it awkwardly. He looks like a relatively young human in his early twenties. He appreciates our token, which is lord speak for "please blast me with divine fire". He claims to not remember inviting us. Ci notes that we more or less invited ourselves, suggesting it was high time we met, and asks as to his intentions. Zevane says they're quite clear. He gives us leave to enjoy the festivities. Ci informs him that his intentions will be frustrated and that he'd do well not to understimate us, and the good Baron says that we should not understimate him. He seems openly angry with us for undiscernable reasons.

I mention having talked to Arryn and point out he's still in the crowd. Jeroy talks to him and uses his visions from Rezik to convince him to give up some information about Zevane's worship of the old gods. After some deliberation we decide to leave. On the way out I cast Arcane Eye to try and get a view into the room where the finely dressed man went on the second floor, but something prevents me from moving the eye into the keep, even from the room, incidating it's warded.

We make our way back to Shianju. We talk to Serie, who informs us that six years ago Zevane failed his vigil to join the magistery. His brother was a magister, who died during the battle of Solace. He has a grudge against the magistery for both his failure to join and the death of his brother. Nearly all of his family passed away during the assault while he was off on some adventure, who has risen to power simply by dint of survival. Ci informs him about the blood orgy. We also find out the identity of the well-dressed man, Duke de Vries, who's a well liked celebrity in Solace and a well known philanthropist. Ci remembers that he was one of the people named at the lodge, though no present. It seems likely his presence there was incidental. The Duke is in line for the Emperor's throne if the right casualties were to occur.

==Recollections by [[Cassio]]==

==Recollections by [[Ci]]==
Master Li once told the story of a young fish named Tanlan. Tanlan was born into a large family and a large and plentiful pond, rich with resources. From a young age, Tanlan always wanted more of everything than his brothers and sisters: more food, more space, more attention. Often he bullied his family to receive more than his fair share. As a result, he grew faster and bigger than the other fish, which only increased his belief that he deserved more than the others. As he grew, he used his size to bully more fish and gain more food and grow even larger. "I am the strongest Fish of All!" claimed Tanlan. "I should have the best home!" Thus, Tanlan was allowed the best shelter in the pond, beneath an old log surround by lush grasses. "I am the Biggest Fish of All!" cried Tanlan, "I should have first choice of the best food!" Afterward, Tanlan ate before all the others and always took the largest share.

It happened one day, as he swam around his pond, Tanlan came upon his younger brother Mingzi. Mingzi was nibbling on a large worm that had come to rest on the bottom of the pond near Mingzi's home. "Mingzi! That worm is much too large for you. As I am the strongest and the biggest, you should give it to me" said Tanlan. Mingzi replied, "Tanlan, this worm may be large, but it is not for you. It will feed me and my family for many days if we are careful. You are much too large to nibble on this worm. You would eat it all at once, and that would be dangerous for you, brother." "Nonsense! Nothing can harm me in this pond! I am the biggest and strongest! Swim aside, little one before you get hurt!" and with that Tanlan swooped in and snatched the whole worm in his mouth. No sooner had he done so, than he felt a sharp pain in his mouth and he began to be dragged towards the surface. Before realizing what had happened, Tanlan was out of the pond and gasping in the bottom of a fisherman's boat. As he lost consciousness Tanlan heard the Fisherman exclaim "Finally! A fish worth catching! I have fished here many days, and only have seen small fish that nibble at my bait, and refuse to be caught!"

This story was on my mind as we looked in on our neighbor [[Baron Tedor Zevane|Baron Zevane]]. His aggression towards us and his apparent ambitions put me in mind of the naked greed of the fish Tanlan. I hoped we might be mistaken about his intentions, but alas, Zevane only confirmed our suspicions. He desires [[Shanjiu Castle|Shanjiu]], and is willing to do anything to acquire it. He has amassed quite a following of smaller houses and may have as many as 10,000 warriors at his call. More than that, he seems to act in service of something he calls "[[The Old Gods]]" and fears neither [[The Eternal Order]], not the [[Magistery]]. This fact, combined with his apparent connections with both political figures in [[Solace]] and Devils of [[The Abyss]], represents a major danger at least to Shanjiu, if not yet all of [[Eomas]].

I must confess I now wonder if it is not I who am the fish Tanlan, and Zevane the fisherman. We may have swum into waters much too large for us, and encountered a doom we cannot escape. [[Yanji]] teaches that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, and anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us. But it also teaches that when men do not stand up for good, they have already fallen. What we have built at [[Shanjiu Castle|Shanjiu]], we have built for the good of all, not only ourselves. We cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. So with the good that may come of [[Shanjiu Castle|Shanjiu]] we must bear the burden of Zevane's greed. We are not without weapons in this struggle. We have made many allies, and will certainly make more. We have a spy in [[Baron Tedor Zevane|Zevane's]] household, thanks to [[Rezik]] and now [[Amon]]. We are now certain of his intentions, and begin to investigate his motives. And we have our strength, faith, and will. I pray they will be enough for this challenge and the others that are sure to come.

==Recollections by [[Ember]]==

==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==
My fellow EO members have recounted and detailed our mission with sufficient information that I would only be wasting your time telling you what you have already read

BUT

I have one new piece of information: If you cast ''Comprehend Languages'' you can understand the babbling of a drunk person - The Barbarian For The Win!

Game-Summaries: 11/2/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:37:54Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Pearl== ==Recollections by Jeroy== We began our adventure at the Bogwater Tavern. Between adventures I had head that Arach, the last member of house Kundrak, was seen there speaking to a red-haired woman. I could only assume this was Velah's human form. We arrived and spoke with the Tavern's bar keeper. I paid 1 gold for a round of ale and asked if he had seen Arach or Velah by creating small figurines of them (magic!!). He said he couldn't re..."

==Recollections by Pearl==
==Recollections by Jeroy==
We began our adventure at the Bogwater Tavern. Between adventures I had head that Arach, the last member of house Kundrak, was seen there speaking to a red-haired woman. I could only assume this was Velah's human form. We arrived and spoke with the Tavern's bar keeper. I paid 1 gold for a round of ale and asked if he had seen Arach or [[Velah]] by creating small figurines of them (magic!!). He said he couldn't remember. [[Dereth]] paid him 20 gold, yet he was still unable to remember. At this point [https://youtu.be/O5L1JYnnwGU?t=10 Avant began to ask the questions]. He remembered them but never heard what they talked about. He said he hadn't seen Arach in a while but [[Velah]] had come in a few weeks ago, looked around, and then left. Having learned all we could we left.

Hungry of more information [[Dereth]] recommended we commune with his goddess [[Vivian]]. We decide upon three questions to ask her:

Can we likely make [[Velah]] into an ally? She responded no.

Can we seal [[Velah]] within her plane with what we have today? She responded no.

Is [[Velah]] vulnerable to any elemental damage? She responded yes.

.....magic

[[Rezik]] teleports us to the entrance of the [[Plane of Night]] within the [[Vault of Night]]. It is as we left it many months ago, except I notice an envelope in front of the entrance to the Plane of Night. Within I find a letter and read it aloud to the group:

''"Velah hasn't taken a mate since she killed Ashardalon and refuses to sell me another egg. You of the EO owe me one.''

''-M"''

We look at each other with a moment of pause. I imagine they also have the same burning question in their head. Who is Ashardalon? Everything else seems mundane. After some contemplation I tuck away the letter, draw Bloodcrier, and motion to the Plane of Night. "Come friends, Velah and the Horn of Valhalla await."

We enter the Plane of Night to find ourselves on an expansive platform surrounded by expansive star scape. The cosmos continues on around us in all directions around, including below. There is no sound but the heavy breathing of a gigantic creature. It sounds as though it is snoring and we intend to be quiet so that it stays that way.

"I will link us all telepathically so we don't need to speak." Rezik announces.

Our platform continues towards a four-way intersection, to the right is a room with a 4x4 grid of un-lit octagons and to the left is tall spire. Around the spire a colored stones and up the spire are ten rows of four holes that are the same size as the stones. Directly ahead is a large expanse surrounded by a purple forcefield. Emerging from the floor are the tell tale scales of a Red Dragon. The scales rise and fall with the beasts heavy breath. We cannot see all of Velah, but enough to know we are in the right place.

Dereth, [[Kaylorr]], [[Avant]], and I go to the left platform. [[Pearl]], Rezik, [[Gramph]], and Twin Rezik go to the right platform. It appears that we have some puzzles to solve. On out platform are a series of buckets filled with colored stones: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. "Put in all red" I say. "She is a red dragon." We all shrug and place the stones and pull a lever at the base of the spire. As we do our platform is enveloped in a purple force field. From seemingly nowhere smoking, screaming, flying goblins emerge around us. At the top of the spire 4 gray stones appear. Kaylorr casts a spell and vaporizes the goblins. "Try all purple" Avant says. We shrug and give it a try. One black stone appears on the next row but more creatures emerge. We battle the creatures and the puzzle for several rounds. Fighting off blindness and confusion in an attempt to clear the room and complete the puzzle. We finally manage to unlock the puzzle (Orange, Blue, Purple, Orange) and as we do the [https://youtu.be/S74rvpc6W60?t=12 forcefield around Velah's platform begins to melt away]. She emerges, seemingly from the floor with [https://youtu.be/em9lziI07M4?t=164 a roar so fierce that it shakes the very cosmos]. She is a huge red dragon, standing over 20 feet tall and stares down at us with [https://youtu.be/vBEeq73bbaA?t=111 disgust and anger in her eyes]. The battle has arrived as Velah fires a fireball at Rezik, I see him stumble and hear his scream in my mind. After he catches his breath he speaks telepathically to us all.

"I'm immune to fire. That wasn't a fireball, something is wrong." Rezik says between breaths.

Pearl creates an insect plague around Velah to keep her busy, Dereth and Keylorr cast radiant magic, and I summon a flaming chariot. The battle is on in full force. Rezik and his twin stare into each other and cast some kind of magic and Rezik turns to face Velah. I hear his voice again.

"We have a problem." He says

"What now?" Kaylorr responds

"That's not really Velah." He responds. "I see the true Velah, this was an illusion. She is actually...."

Before he finishes we see was he sees. The true form of Velah appears before us all. A 50 foot tall Amethyst gem dragon. She stands over double the size before and now rather than anger in her eyes is something more unnerving. She looks at us with confidence, in a way that conveys she is looking forward to the battle. The battle is fierce. Epic spells are cast, epic spells are taken from our own party members and used against us by Velah, I fight with all the might of my ancestors, and after and unknown amount of time both parties still stand. Dereth calls out "we don't need to fight."

Velah turns her head and speaks "Oh we don't? You break into my home, wake me from my slumber, attack me in my lair, and now, NOW you say we don't need to fight. I think you're scared you will lose."

He responds with his chest thrust forward "We came to speak with you. The Eternal Army marches on all planes. If we can get here the so can they. We wish to become allies."

"Allies?" She laughs. "First lay down your arms." We oblige.

"Now beg." She demands

"I vote no and we kill her." Rezik says telepathically nearly....instantly.

Dereth looks over to Rezik disapprovingly and turns back to Velah. "We found what we believe is one of your offspring with the sorcerer [[Mordenkainen]]. Did you know that it was born?"

"I figured it would. I do not care." She responds.

"He has asked us for another egg. Have you taken a new mate?" Dereth continues his dialogue.

"No and I do not care to." She responds.

"Why does Mordenkainen want your eggs?" He asks

"He uses the shells to power items. As long as I am paid for the egg I do not care what he uses them for." She responds, each response is colder than the previous. But as she finishes it dawns on me - the dragonshards are gem dragon egg shells.

"May we buy an egg as a first step towards an alliance?" Dereth asks.

"You may buy one as a transaction." She responds. Rezik teleports to the Keep, takes 10,000 gold and returns. She is paid and rolls an egg to us. "Now begone."

I hear Dereth in my mind say to me "we cannot let an outsider like her remain, she may be neutral to our plights but the Eternal Army may capture and turn her like they did the giants. We have to finish this."

"How much for the Horn of Valhalla?" I call out to Velah.

She turns to me "that is not for sale. Now leave."

I shrug and to the group I say "Sorry everybody but I want that horn." As I snap the reigns on my flaming chariot and charge towards Velah, I draw a throwing axe and launch it at her with all my might - and it misses as she lifts off the ground and begins to hover 80 feet above us. Dereth and Rezik together cast powerful magic that brings the very dawn of the heavens down upon her and drag Velah back to our platform. As she descends I make more more valiant charge up to her. I swing with all the might of my ancestors with Bloodcrier. The strength of generations of dwarves behind me as I land a blow squarely onto her exposed chest. As I do I feel horrible pain in my mind and I fall unconscious.

I find myself surrounded by my ancestors, they look to me and say "Not yet Jeroy" and I am blinded by a light forcing me to shield my eyes. I awake to feel an immense pressure on me - It is the body of Velah. My final blow has slayed her. I crawl out from under her and check that everyone else has survived the battle. By the grace of Valhalla we have.

We search her treasure hoard and find the following:

# Arcane scrolls - Earthquake, antimagic field, enhance ability
# A shield of dark wood - Dereth attunes to it and immediately casts a remove curse spell on himself. "It spoke." He said and walked away from it.
# A shield of metal - A +3AC shield. I took it for my own.
# Leather Armor - It appears to be sentient
# A wand - It contains a spell that we have never heard of, similar to conjure animals.
# 37,000 gold
# 29,000 platinum
# 10 unfertilized gem dragon eggs

We do not find the Horn of Valhalla but we begin the process of returning Velah's body to the Keep to harvest what we can and prevent her body from being reanimated by our enemies. It is while her body is being dissected they find that one of her ribs was replaced by the Horn of Valhalla. I find it and immediately blow into it summoning countless ghostly warriors. They look at me with the look of combat in their eyes "You summoned us?" They say in unison.

"The Eternal Armies march around the planes to capture and destroy all they see. We need your help." I bellow out.

"Only call us when there is a battle to be fought." They respond together [https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/015/976/homer-simpson-bush-gif.gif and they slowly disappear before my eyes.]

I look down to the Horn, the symbols around it glow red. "[https://youtu.be/mCDA-m-TQdU?t=274 This is my calling, this is my purpose]. A call to arms and a call to battle. Let this be my mark that I leave on this world."

==Recollections by Rezik==
It all started because of Jeroy and his fascination with the Horn of Valhalla. He keeps muttering about his ancestors - I really don't understand it. He wanted to go back to the Vault of Night, enter the Plane of Night and confront Velah. We knew she was a red dragon of some power, but felt fairly confident in our abilities to at least stir the pot and learn more from her.

We started at the Bogwater Tavern, an old tavern we knew she frequented with Arak. It turns out she hadn't visited in awhile, but she had been there looking for something or someone.

Since that turned into a dead end, we knew we just had to go back to the Vault and start our journey through the portal to the Plane of Night. I teleported us all to the Vault and just outside the portal Jeroy found a small envelope.

The note had a handwritten message “Velah hasn't taken another mate since she killed Ashardalon. She refuses to sell me another egg, and so you of the Eternal Order owe me one.”

That name Ashardalon was familiar to me. He was known as the father of all red dragons. Looks like Mordenkainnen, wants another dragon egg. (He's probably not too happy now).

We decided to tuck away the note and continue on.

As we entered the Plane of Night, we saw a limitless expanse. There was a pathway through the middle leading to a giant dome blocked of by a violet force field. It sounded like Velah was sleeping in the center of the dome.

On the two sides there were two puzzles. Pearl and I went to the right and attempted the puzzle. There were a series of lit tiles that we had to turn on. As we stepped on each, a pattern appeared. At the same time, while we worked on the puzzle, we were continually inundated by Mephits.

We were able to solve our puzzle, but the other group was suddenly swarmed by Mephits. They worked to solve their puzzle, but not before taking a heavy toll.

We made our way to the center dome and suddenly, we realized that Velah was no longer sleeping. Instead, she was awake and stalking us.

As we entered the room and walked up the main area, she quickly attacked me. It seemed like all options for a diplomatic resolution were gone. The battle erupted in earnest now.

During the battle, we realized that Velah didn't act like a regular red dragon. Our preparations for fire did not help us. Instead, we realized that Velah was actually a psychic gem dragon.

When we realized this we attempted to stop the battle and negotiate with her. We learned that the dragonshards were her eggs, and that she had been selling them. We attempted to procure some from her, as a gesture of good will - agreeing to purchase some.

We had hoped that the transaction would lead us to a conversation and alliance; however instead, she told us to kneel to her and that she would not work with us in the upcoming battle.

Knowing that she could be swayed to our enemies, we gave her one last chance to change her mind and show that she could be interested in joining or even exploring alliance, but instead she rebuffed us.

We had no alternative, but to keep her from falling to the other side. It was a long battle, but in the end we were victorious. She shouldn't have underestimated us and she should've taken the moment to explore an alliance. Her death is on her actions.

We explored her hoard to see what had been stored here. As we searched, we found a series of items and gold - I'm sure someone will write out a ledger. The most interesting piece was within Velah herself. It was her rib, that had become the Horn of Valhalla.

I'm not excited about how this ended, but am happy that this quest is done. I've learned from our experience with Coin and now Velah; that this evil is becoming part of us and that for us to win, we'll need to do things we didn't expect that we were capable of. It means running headlong into what needs to be done, sometimes, regardless of the ethics or morals. We truly are entering a time where the ends justify the means.

Items:
* Arcane Scrolls - Earthquake, Anti Magic Field and Enhance Ability
* Darkwood Shield - Sentient
* Heavy Steel Shield +3 - Exceptionally well made
* Wand - Spell similar to Conjure Animals
* Hide Armor +2 - Sentient
* Tattoo - Peeled from someone’s flesh

Wealth:
* 37,000 gold
* 29,000 platinum

==Recollections by Kaylorr==
==Recollections by Avant==
==Recollections by Dereth==

Game-Summaries: 10/19/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:37:36Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==The Observer's Recollections== By the Lady's Grace, we did every thing we could. Led them by hand right up to the gates. All we needed was for the wayward pup to be rescued from where She could not follow and he would have been dealt with. What they brought back with them was so much worse. Do they understand? Can they understand? All that remains of the creature you all knew is Coin's Journal ==Recollections by Loco== ==Recollections by Kaylorr== It's been a l..."

==The Observer's Recollections==
By the Lady's Grace, we did every thing we could. Led them by hand right up to the gates. All we needed was for the wayward pup to be rescued from where She could not follow and he would have been dealt with. What they brought back with them was so much worse. Do they understand? Can they understand?

All that remains of the creature you all knew is [[Coin's Journal]]

==Recollections by Loco==

==Recollections by Kaylorr==
It's been a long couple of days and I am still in denial of what a magnificent and utter failure occurred.

[[The Eternal Order]] lost [[Coin]]. WE lost Coin. [[Loco]], [[Dereth]], [[Zanna]], [[Rezik]], and I. Coin went in search of Yggdrasil to find answers. The [[Seer]] told us he has fallen to a great darkness and would be lost to us forever if we failed.

Coin said not to follow and yet we did, to bring him back to the light. We failed. Spectacularly....We knew the risks but Coin was family and our brother. We followed Coin into the dreamscape of where we could find Yggdrasil. Just like my recent travels to find [[Chandra]] or [[Liandrin]], our adventure took us to a realm that was not located in our current...physical realm? Regardless we slept in the Yellow's Tower and dreamt of Yggdrasil and Coin.

We woke to an ever expanding see of grass. To the east was a great shadow cast by a large mountain, [[Mithaniel Marr]]. To the west was more grass. We went east towards the mountain and shadow. Zanna spots a cave right as a huge beast appears from the ground. Miraculously we make it inside right as it crashes into the entrance, causing a cave in and trapping us. We found ourselves to be in a labyrinth. We push deeper, moving right and left. Dereth tried keeping a map so we don't get lost but with so many twists and turns it became overwhelming.

As we sat discussing what to do, all of a sudden an unseen presence appeared among our group. He called himself the Observer and was working with the Raven Queen. <s>Samir, Shaunak, Robin, Joe</s>, (what are these names? why did I just choose to write that) Rezik, Loco, Zanna, Dereth and I realized much more were at stake. As we ventured forth, we kept coming across open rooms with a painted mural of what we deduced to be Yggdrasil. The murals started as simple drawing of a twisted tree and evolved into a full colored tree that depicted 9 different realms attached to it from within Mithaniel Marr. We also discovered additional writings from Coin and decided we were on the right path.

As our search continued, our reality and identity seemed to break. Coin's writings became more erratic. He spoke of a story that he knew but did not exist in our world or reality. I saw/felt glimpses that we are puppets in some sort of twisted game, where individuals created us through their imaginations, where the entire world that I know was made up from multiple stories and worlds put together by an ever-seeing deity, whose rule was law. All of my choices and thoughts and emotions and skills, controlled and created from nothing more than pen and paper and random chance. like a coin-flip or a roll of dice. We tried forming answers from clues that were nothing more than diversions. As the Seer said, we were addicted to thinking and it was starting to show.

With our minds unravelling, we forced ourselves to press on. Eventually finding a spiral staircase and moving what we think is down. More corridors and hallways. More walking. More whispers from the Observer of our regrets, fears, and failures. Our party finally came across our goal, Coin. Sitting in the middle of a chasm. But there was something wrong. He sat there, unmoving but vomiting a continuous stream of darkness. <s>The Observer leaves us in a huff, knocking over our dice and stormed out of the house</s>....we felt the Observer's presence leave us and we moved forward to rescue Coin.

As you may already know, we did not rescue Coin...we watched in horror as he sat there vomiting a never-ending stream of black hideous nothingness. This creature turned towards our party with nothing but malice and hate and we worked to break its hold from Coin. We were no match for this thing and we slowly lost hope. Our belief in Coin vanished, our confidence dwindled, and our <s>HP</s> (what??) minds and bodies were battered. With no other plan, <s>Joe</s>Dereth cast Word of Recall to pull us out of the impending doom and with that...Coin is gone and lost to us forever. In his place, an old God of the past has come back. One who has been dead for hundreds of years. Nerull...

And it's with these thoughts and concerns, that I end this entry for it's the beginning of the week and already I have started to procrastinate with my regular duties. I have been through death to save Chandra and Liandrin. Why couldn't I do the same for Coin? I am ashamed of this failure and will do everything in my disposal to ensure we do not lose another member to this darkness. Coin's name and memory will never be forgotten and I hope he was able to find peace. May Pelor's light guide his soul towards light...

X
 
==Recollections by Dereth==

==Recollections by Zanna==

==Recollections by Rezik==
[[Zanna]], [[Dereth]], [[Kaylorr]], [[Loco]], [[Gramph]] and I decided we need to set out to find Coin to stop him from descending into madness.

We started by finding [[Inugs]] and convincing him to join us. He was able to tell us a few things to started us on our journey. He wasn’t sure exactly where [[Coin]] was, but he said that they had parted ways on Mithaniel Marr. He said that someone named Gumtoe might know more and that he and Coin had visited him somewhere in the north east.

We thought we should go to Wisakedjak to see if he would come with us. Sadly, he wouldn’t follow us on our journey, but he did recommend we visit the [[Seer]], that she had information about the underwater village Coin had described in his journals. He told us the Seer would be waiting for us.

We went to visit the Seer in her tower. We climbed her tower to the 8th floor and saw the Seer drinking tea, facing away from us. As we entered she said, "[[The Raven Queen]] and I are twin born, equal yet opposite. She deals in absolute & certainty, I deal in uncertainty."

She told us the only way to get to where Coin, is to go through Mithaniel Marr. That we need to let go of the delusion of time.

We asked the Seer about Yggdrasil, which she described as a metaphor for how the worlds are connected. That Yggdrasil is not a real tree.

She also let us know that Gumtoe is not actually real, and that Coin had found something in the village but didn’t tell the Seer. She confirmed to us that the Libris Mortis is not real, that it’s everywhere, and that Coin is receiving it.

We decided that Coin didn’t follow a physical journey, but that it was probably a spiritual or mental journey.

Instead of actually going to Mithaniel Marr, we decided to go back to the Magistery and find beds to fall into a dream.

When we awoke, it felt darker than it should have been. We appeared on a rocky terrain, with a large shadow in the distance to the east. We felt a light tremor in the ground almost like an earthquake far away.

We began walking to the east, and suddenly the tremors got stronger. We walked for about an hour before we reached a stone facade.

Suddenly, a giant beast came out of the ground and began to gallop towards us. We enter a cave that Zanna found. As soon as we entered, the beast crashed into the cave and caused it to collapse. We were stuck in the cave, in total darkness.

We started walking through the cave and found ourselves walking through what felt like a maze. We realized that we’re continuing towards nothing and decided we should rest instead.

When we awoke, we found ourselves at an intersection. We began moving east deciding that we’ll continue on always moving towards the east.

While we walked, we would find old journal entries from Coin. I wasn't able to save any of them, but hopefully someone else from our group kept them.

In some of the rooms we would find a drawing on the wall, images of Yggdrasil, with each image becoming more and more clear as we find the next one.

After awhile, we finally found ourselves in a room with a collapsed corner, that seems to be a tunnel somewhere. With nowhere else to go, we made our way through the tunnel. On the other side, we found ourselves in a mirror image of the room we were just in.

We continued walking until we realized we've reached a dead end. There was an image on the wall, which seemed to be a key of some sort. We needed to solve the puzzle to open the door.

When we looked at the images we realized there were hidden runes on the back of the scrolls we found. When we decoded the letters, it told us to remove the stone that was the Raven's eye.

When we removed the stone it opened a door to another room. In the room, on the far side was a gaping maw. Within the maw we saw Coin throwing up black ichor. Next to him was a writhing black mass of tentacles, similar to the black ichor he was throwing up.

We quickly made our way into the room and attempted to make sense of what was happening.

We were unsure of if we should be attacking the the mass or if that would hurt Coin. We felt like we had already lost Coin - that was our first mistake.

We started to battle the mass, and I quickly fired my most powerful spells. Gramph used her breath, but it was as if nothing had happened.

Coin and the mass started casting death spells at us, bathing us in necrotic energy. It felt like we would never be able to win.

Dereth used Word of Recall to save us. We felt the pull and quickly followed it, doing what we needed to save ourselves.

As we teleport, we heard a scream in our souls. We had lost Coin. We had failed.

I fear the repercussions are worse than we anticipated. It seems Coin is the third to fall to the Shade - first Gimble, then Danavus, and now Coin.

It seems like Coin or the shade of Coin has resurrected a god, Nerull, the god of death.

We'll need to be better prepared for the next time. It won’t be easier. I’ll need to create more clones for Gramph and I. We can’t be afraid of death. This failure will haunt me, there’s no undoing it.

Game-Summaries: 10/5/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:37:13Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Rezik== When Arch asked me to help train a troupe of future evokes (Twilight Mages), I didn’t think it would be so time consuming. Thankfully they have been learning quickly and are adept at casting truly earth shattering magic. I was checking on Gramph and my clones’ when suddenly I was aware of five someone’s entering the spire. It turned out to be Cassio, Zanna, Sarya, Ember and Dereth. The group were flustered and in a rush, screaming abo..."

==Recollections by Rezik==
When Arch asked me to help train a troupe of future evokes (Twilight Mages), I didn’t think it would be so time consuming. Thankfully they have been learning quickly and are adept at casting truly earth shattering magic.

I was checking on Gramph and my clones’ when suddenly I was aware of five someone’s entering the spire. It turned out to be Cassio, Zanna, Sarya, Ember and Dereth.

The group were flustered and in a rush, screaming about perversions of magic and needing to get Great Wastes quickly.

I figured I should join them and told them to circle around me, teleporting us to the Great Wastes.

When we arrived, another alarm sounded. It looks like my Baron Zevane project might be working. I turned to the group and mumbled something about it being too hot and recalled back to the Spire.

==Recollections by Cassio==
==Recollections by Ember==
==Recollections by Zanna==
==Recollections by Dereth==
==Recollections by Kaylorr==
Another day, another Giant. Here I was minding my own business taking inventory of all of my Kwik-Aids in The Vault when I hear a sudden commotion and witness Cassio being lead towards the War Room by some new squire of his. I think his name was Amos and Cassio seemed to be relishing in his new mentor duties. Anyway, my curiosity gets the best of me and I end up following and meeting up with Zanna, Sarya, Ember, and Dereth. Amos immediately informs us all that something major is happening in the Great Wastes and has triggered an alert to all of the Reds. To give Cassio a lead and I guess feed his ego, Amos disabled the alarm and gave us an hour to deal with the the situation before all of the Reds descended upon the Great Wastes. Knowing time is of the essence, we track down the closest person who would be able to teleport us, Rezik...who then immediately leaves us with no way back home.

As we got ourselves together we noticed a massive, angry, wall of lightning and chaos. The strange thing about this storm was how it was fixed on a singular point and stationary and each lightning strike left an imprint of an eye in the sand. Realizing this was the cause of the alert, we scan the horizon and notice a tiny village right on the outskirts of the storm. Obviously we make a beeline towards the village to see if they can answer the many questions our group is known to have in situations such as these. Dereth was able to recognize that this tiny outpost is one of the many Desert Nomads that travel the Great Wastes and upon entering we see that none of them seemed to be all that overly concerned about the raging typhoon that is right outside. After making pleasantries, we come to learn the storm is being generated by Dessa, Storm Guardian of Astoria and the nomads here make their living in cultivating massive amounts of goat cheese. The Nomads here inform us that this is the first time they have seen a storm of this magnitude and a party traveled through only a day prior to our arrival. As an offering to Dessa we agree to buy a half keg of their famed goat cheese and make our way to the Astorian Arch that leads to Dessa's domain. The storm is a lot worse than we expected and what should have been a 20 minute walk took us almost an hour. Finally reaching our objective, we stumble upon a a collection of Drow corpses strewn about, some who were carrying a sigil of a hand. Dereth again was able to recognize this symbol as being part of the Dark Seldarine and we hypothsize that their presence could be the cause of this the raging storm. In a massive show of lightning, Dessa showed herself and confirmed our suspicions of this sudden assault by the Drow. They forced their way through the gate to enter her domain and wreak on Astoria. We offer our services to purge their presence and cleanse whatever perversions they are doing to her sanctum. As a gift of good faith, she bestows a belt to our group which we offer to Sarya and the moment she puts it on we all notice a great surge of strength and empowerment emanating from her. Like 29 units of something that gives us better strength.

With that we enter Astoria and are greeted with a massive hall. Above the entrance we see a plaque that read, '''"Enter the Temple of the Storm Giant King, Stronmaus. Announce Stronmaus’s Gift as You Enter and be Joyful."''' Inside, we find an additional three rooms described below

'''West - Hall of Mirth – "Receive the Joyful Signs of Stronmaus and let only Annam’s Children See Our True Face"''' - speak Mirth before entering - 8 separate masks lined the walls. Once we entered, we grew to giant size and the masks gave us visions of past giant lords lives and deeds. Room protected by disintegration rays which we found out about the hard way. (Garnet got dusted)

'''East - Hall of Portent – "When Stronmaus Speaks Heed the Omen as You See It" -''' Speak Portent before entering - images and scenes danced and replayed themselves like birds. entering we were beset upon by quick successions of images that looked to be a foretelling of our incoming fight. Dereth and Cassio were the only ones that were able to overcome the overwhelming images playing out in our heads.

'''North Room - Hall of Honor – "Watch for the Presage of Annam’s Return and Prepare" -''' Speak honor before entering- huge room with 3 statues of giants lined on each side. Main room that lead towards the giants' tombs. Our inevitable entrance towards the Drow and their exploits. Each statue lists the respective giants deeds and story of their life play out.

Realizing out battle against time, we make our way deeper into the Hall of Honor, where we manage to open the doors leading to the tombs. Almost immediately, we spring the trap the drow have set up for our arrival. Cassio manages to dispel the cover of darkness they cast on us with Daylight and we find ourselves to be face to face with the remaining drow party. Mages stood in a circle, casting what I later learned to be a more advanced type of necromancy. A dragolith, a lich, another archmage of some sort taunted us on the other side of a Prismatic Wall blocking out way into the tomb. One giant was already brought back and Dereth and I realize in horror that these Drow are bringing back the giants to feed the Immortal Army. Time is not our friend on this day as we see the mages continue their ritual to being a second giant back to fight for the Immortals. I believe it was Zanna or Dereth who learned that the mages were empowered and led by Kiaransalee, a revanancer of some sort. I have never heard of such magic and heard it's a more volatile and dangerous form of necromancy.

Cassio, being the foolish hero that he was, decides to walk through the Prismatic Wall and comes out relatively unscathed minus the petrification that he suffered. I get him up and he does what Cassio does in times such as these. Smash things with reckless abandon. Sarya, Zanna, and Dereth also get through through while Ember and I stay to deal with the wall as well as fight/support from range. The fight was long and tested all of our capabilities in every way possible. The Drow tried so hard and got so far, but in the end, it didn't really matter as they were defeated and their ritual finally interrupted. We ended up staying another day so Dereth can purify and cleanse Astoria and Dessa blesses each of us permanently. While in Astoria, Sarya's new belt emanates an aura that improves our strength, we can understand Giantish, and we find communicating with giants to be easier. Dessa also warns us that their are other Giant domains that can may be under attack from the Drow. We should look into scouting the Hill, Cloud, Storm, and Stone giant domains in case the Drow are trying to make another move to bolster their numbers for this Army of Immortals.

Our mission earns us each a new title of "Jotenheimer." What it stands for I can't seem to recall but it's a definite upgrade to Equi hostis.

P.S. Pelor also blessed me with divine wings and I can fly \[T]/ Praise the sun!

==Recollections by Sarya==

Game-Summaries: 9/21/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:36:55Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Jeroy== thumb My compatriots recounted our adventure well. I have nothing to add on the adventure. I share the story of what I have learned since I returned to the keep. The horn of valhalla was forged in ages long past, it is thought the iron that emblazons the horn is from dwarven hands, perhaps by Surtur himself, but the wood within is believed to be carved from a branch of Yggdrasil's roots that touch into the plane of the dead..."

==Recollections by Jeroy==
[[File:Magni.png|thumb]]
My compatriots recounted our adventure well. I have nothing to add on the adventure. I share the story of what I have learned since I returned to the keep.

The horn of valhalla was forged in ages long past, it is thought the iron that emblazons the horn is from dwarven hands, perhaps by Surtur himself, but the wood within is believed to be carved from a branch of Yggdrasil's roots that touch into the plane of the dead. It is believed that this is what gives it the power to call upon the aid of fallen heroes. Contrary to popular belief, the horn's most prized version is the original casting in iron wrapped around the branch, and in fact the more valuable metal versions are the fakes. Although definitively connected to many prophecies about the end of the world, it is unclear whether the horn has ever been blown, or what would come of it if it had, or whether the horn begets the apocalypse, of vice versa. Many fables are tied up around the horn, who actually rightfully owns it, who it was intended for, and even what powers it possesses. The only thing consistent with the lore around the Horn of Valhalla is that it will be called upon for Ragnarok.

As I study the tracings of the horn a ghostly figure appears beside me. He looks kind of familiar, but I can't quite place it. Although his lips move, he seems to speak directly into my mind.
"Jeroy Lenkins. I know what it is you seek. I am Magni. When you should need aid, call upon me. We have many more battles before we fight in the Last Battle." Though he nearly transparent, I can make out some of his features. He is wearing a massive necklace of iron with intricate carvings, with markings similar to those of the Horn of Valhalla. Magni is one of Thor's two sons, but it was fabled that he would survive Ragnarok, and yet he is somehow a ghost already…Something seems awry.

Also Cordite has been busy researching the Delving Gear that we found in the Vault of the Night. In her research she has discovered something miraculous. Studying the Kundarak Warding gear and Kundarak Delving gear, we have learned about the master craftsmanship and obvious guildmanship involved in creating these pieces of adventuring gear, in many ways the skill is unmatched in anything we've ever seen. We found makers mark from dozens of crafts, enchanters, smiths, engravers, jewelers and gemcrafters. Everyone signs their own masterwork contribution, and all of the marks tie in a piece of artwork in and of itself, the sigil of House Kundarak. We learn less about the specific gear and more about House Kundarak through these symbols and old references to "Dragonmarks," House Kundarak operating under the Dragonmark of Warding, and that mark is seen everpresent on both the warding and delving gear. It appears to have many different forms and styles, but through this we have learned of the Dragonmark of Warding, but also of other Dragonmarks, and other houses too. Besides house Kundarak, none of them sound particularly familiar and information about them appears quite scarce, but we discovered a House Tharashk, blessed by the Dragonmark of Finding, and House Jorasco, blessed by the Dragonmark of Healing, House Deneith, blessed by the Dragonmark of the Sentinel, and finally House Phiarlan, blessed by the Dragonmark of Shadow. It's difficult to tell but it appears most of the other houses we have discovered are primarily human or elven in nature, only House Kundarak is primarily Dwarven, although something about the way it is described, all of these houses have some manner of interplay of races.

* Mark of Healing
** The Mark of Healing manifests exclusively on halflings. If your character has the Mark of Healing, this is your halfling subrace.
** '''Medical Intuition.''' When you make a Wisdom (Medicine''') check, you can roll one Intuition die, a d4, and add the number rolled to the ability check.'''
** '''Healing Touch.''' As an action, you can draw power from your dragonmark to spend one of your Hit Dice and revitalize yourself or a creature you touch. Roll the die, add your Wisdom modifier, and the creature regains a number of hit points equal to the total. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
** '''Jorasco’s Blessing'''. You know the cantrip ''spare the dying'''. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this.'''''
* Mark of Sentinel
** The Mark of Sentinel only manifests on humans. These traits replace the human Ability Score Increase trait given in the ''Player’s Handbook.''
** '''Sentinel’s Intuition.''' When you roll for Initiative or make a Wisdom (Perception''') check to notice a threat, you can roll one Intuition die, a d4, and add it to the ability check.'''
** '''Sentinel’s Shield.''' You know the cantrip ''blade ward'''. You can cast''' shield '''once with this trait and regain the ability to do so after you finish a short or long rest.'''''
** '''Vigilant Guardian.''' As an action, you can designate an ally you can see as your ward. You have advantage on Wisdom (Insight''') and Wisdom ('''Perception''') checks made to spot threats to your ward. In addition, when you are within 5 feet of your ward, and that creature is the target of an attack that you can see, you can use your reaction to swap places with your ward. When you do, you become the target of the attack.'''
* Mark of Shadow
** The Mark of Shadow only manifests on elves. If your character has the Mark of Shadow, this is their elf subrace.
** '''Ability Score Increase.''' Your Charisma score increases by 1.
** '''Natural Talent.''' You gain proficiency with one musical instrument or the Performance '''skill.'''
** '''Gift of the Shadows.''' When you make a Charisma (Performance''') or Dexterity ('''Stealth''') check, you can roll one Intuition die, a d4, and add the number rolled to the ability check.'''
** '''Shape Shadows'''. You know the ''minor illusion '''cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this trait.'''''
** '''Slip Into Shadow.''' You can use the Hide '''action as a bonus action, even if you have no cover or if you’re under observation. Regardless of whether you succeed or fail, once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.'''

* Mark of Warding
** The Mark of Warding manifests exclusively on dwarves. If your character has the Mark of Warding, this is their dwarf subrace.
** '''Master of Locks.''' When you make an Intelligence (History'''), Intelligence ('''Investigation'''), or Thieves’ Tools check involving lock and trap mechanisms, you can roll one Intuition die, a d4, and add the number rolled to the ability check.'''
** '''Wards and Seals.''' You can use your mark to cast the ''alarm '''spell as a ritual. Starting at 3rd level you can cast''' arcane lock '''once with this trait and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.'''''

I will be looking for more of these marks.

==Recollections by Kaylorr==
We decide to travel to the conventicle in hopes to help Jeroy find something to help him recover the Horn of Valhalla. Jeroy leads us to the Legacy Chamber however the room feels different than when I last visited. As if some force is trying to repel our presence from the room. As we exit, we go search for Steele to see if he can educate us a little more about the Horn of Valhalla. We instead run into Arch, who greets us and takes us back to the Legacy Chamber and gives us a small part of the prophecy regarding Ragnarok. We learn that Horn of Valhalla has been missing for at least 800 years and will make it's reappearance at the last battle and when Ragnarok is near. Arch also tells us that Surtr is another possibility that will bring upon Ragnarok other than the Horn. Surtr is an older God whose domain is fire. One of the few gods that lives in this realm on the Isle of Surtr which is west of Eomas. The followers of Surtr are well known to be forgers of metal and the Isle of Surtur itself is a great source of obsidian.

The followers of Surtr "conceal their devotion to the giant destined to burn down the world. Surtur’s temples in Mannheim are hidden affairs, much like Loki’s. In Muspelheim,they are enormous fortresses that ring with the sound of the forges day and night. Surtur’s Muspelheim temples are centers for preparation for Ragnarok. Temples in Mannheim secretly store weapons in preparation for the cult to fight alongside the giants. Visitors to Surtur’s temples have only a few seconds to prove their devotion to Surtur before the members of the cult attack. The clergy and the members of the cult in Mannheim do not leave witnesses alive to report their activities."

We head to Solace to charter an airship to get us to Isle of Surtur. The Island is full of magma and volcanos and fire. Jeroy jumps out of the airship because Jeroy.

All of the temples are floating and we head to closest one to us. We take to the air and are suddenly bombarded with cannonballs. wWe dodge to the best of our abilities and I fall from Gramph's back. Luckily, Ember had a gryffin at the ready and catches me mid flight. Quickly we fly under the floating temple and find a way into their foundry . Here wer un into many of the giant dwarves who work in the forges.

One of the Giant dwarves offers Jeroy a sword as a test of strength and Jeroy fails spectacularly. He tells us someone crafted the horn many eons ago and Thor was the last to be seen with the Horn. We get bored of the history lessons regarding Thor and Ragnarok and decide to go investigate the throne room. As we turn to leave, however, a giant shadow appears from behind Cassio which turns out to be Surtur. He immediately demands what we have to offer for being in his presence and for why we have come to his domain. We offer many trinkets which do nothing to sate his demands and instead we offer service for knowledge of the Horn. Surtr claims that none of us are worthy to blow the horn though Jeroy is a descendant of Thor. The horn was lost to time and Surtur offers for us to see the blank that made the Horn. Before we go he asks which one of us will choose to pledge our service to him and Cassio takes it upon himself to bend the knee. Ico, another dwarf, shows us the original die that forged the Horn. As we are all gathered, Garnet starts to get a weird feeling being in the presence of the die. Ico informs us the last visitor here was a beautiful being of a female nature covered in scales and paid a genrous tribute. Gramph says it smells like another dragon and we can only deduce that this visitor could have been Velah. Jeroy copies the maker's marks off the die and we decide to head back to Shanjiu Keep.

==Recollections by Ember==

==Recollections by Cassio==

==Recollections by Rezik==
We were all sitting around the table listening to Ci regal us with a story when Jeroy interrupts and starts ranting about his family. He wants us to help him find a horn that would help him summon his ancestors to fight with him.

Note to self: I think something is wrong with Jeroy

We decide that we should start at the Conventicle since they have the Legacy Chamber and might be able to help Jeroy find this magical horn he’s looking for.

After taking in the sights, we realize that it’s actually pretty cold here since we’re so close to the South Pole.

We make our way to the School of War to try to enter the Legacy Chamber and see what we can learn.

When we arrived to the Legacy Chamber, we felt like the Chamber was pushing us away, as if it had nothing for us to learn or to receive.

While we’re waiting we see Archmage walk down a set stairs and then stop to tell us that we’ve arrived earlier than expected. Apparently the Seer didn’t think we would come for a few more weeks.

Archmage tells us that the Horn of Valhalla was once in the Chamber of Legacy, but it hasn’t been here in a millennia. He tells us that we should enter the Chamber and see what we can learn.

Jeroy leads the way and we all enter the Chamber of Legacy, including the Archmage. We look around the Chamber attempting to look for where the Horn of Valhalla used to be held.

Archmage looks at a log book and sees an entry for the Horn of Valhalla, and he translates the entry - it says “the horn will be blown on the last battle and when it resurfaces Ragnarok may be nigh”. The true entry says "In the last, lorn fight 'gainst the fall of long night, the mountains stand guard, and the dead shall be ward, for the grave is no bar to my call.”

We learn that Surtur is also known herald the Ragnorak (apocalypse). He is one of the few gods that actually lived on this realm, on the Isle of Surtur. His domain covers fire and war.

Note to self: Apparently the Isle of Surtur is a good source of Obsidian

We look through the library for notes about Surtur. It turns out most of the temples of Surtur are hidden affairs and we’re able to find a note about a fortress in Muspelheim, where Surtur is and where Ragnorak is expected to take place.

We learn: Surtur rarely grants divine power except to giants. However, a rare few individuals in Mannheim have earned his approval. They conceal their devotion to the giant destined to burn down the world. Surtur’s temples in Mannheim are hidden affairs, much like Loki’s. In Muspelheim, they are enormous fortresses that ring with the sound of the forges day and night. Surtur’s Muspelheim temples are centers for preparation for Ragnarok. Temples in Mannheim secretly store weapons in preparation for the cult to fight alongside the giants. Visitors to Surtur’s temples have only a few seconds to prove their devotion to Surtur before the members of the cult attack. The clergy and the members of the cult in Mannheim do not leave witnesses alive to report their activities.

Knowing what we know, we realize it’s time to head back to Shanjiu Keep and find our way to the Isle of Surtur.

While we awaited the party and prepared for our trip to the Isle of Surtur, I cast Contingency creating a Stick of Resilient Sphere.

We make our way to Solace and find a Captain that agrees to take us to the Isle of Surtur. We negotiate him to a price of 1,690 gold. The trip takes about 13 hours and it’s a fairly grueling trip.

We come upon the Island and see that there’s no vegetation and just ash everywhere. There’s a number of floating fortresses with flowing lava. We see forges running in preparation for Ragnarok.

As we reached the island, suddenly Jeroy just looks at us and jumps off the airship. There’s definitely something wrong with him. The airship descends (past Jeroy) and we reach the ground.

We decide to fly ourselves to the closest floating fortress. As we fly towards the fortress, we suddenly see a panel open and a glowing ball starts flying towards us - it turns out we’re being shot at by a cannon.

We skim the lava and fly low trying to get under the cannons. We reach the underside of the pyramid and Cassio turns straight up and bursts through the floor. We enter this giant smithy and all of a sudden the work stops.

Cassio yells “We are here to meet your high priest, take us to him now”. One of the dwarves comes up to us and tells us that the priest is not in this pyramid and must be in another. He points us to a throne in the middle of the pyramid that is currently empty.

Jeroy begins speaking to the dwarf and asks him if he knows about the “Horn of Valhalla”. The dwarf gets mad and tells him that she shouldn’t speak of such things.

We ask more about the horn and he tells us that it was forged eons ago, before our time. It turns out that the last person to have used the horn was Thor.

While Jeroy is talking to the dwarves, I begin to study the room and find an object to keep. If we need to return to this room, I can attempt to teleport to it.

Cassio looks at the throne before we start gathering to leave. As Cassio turns back, suddenly Surtur appears in the throne and beckons us to approach him. We convinced him that our goals aligned and he agreed. He told us about the Horn, telling just that it was lost to time and that he does not have it. He agrees to show us the blank that made the Horn.

Surtur says: "The gods in Asgard think that Ragnorak will come. When it does, we will burn down the world. In the meantime, you can take my blessing."

At the end, Surtur tells us that one of us must pledge our service. Cassio kneels to Surtur and is suddenly covered in flames. He looks a little dead on the inside.

Surtur disappears in a flash of flames, after telling one of the dwarves to take us to the mold. We follow the dwarf to another pyramid.

The dwarf takes us to the die. When Garnet sees the die, he tells us that this is something he has “smelled” before. It turns out that Garnet was smelling the last visitor, which happened to be another dragon that had visited an epoch ago (before the Kraken had awoken). Echo tells us that the last visitor was a beautiful red dragon with gorgeous scales. We think it might be Velah.

We believe Velah has the horn, which would make sense since Arch had told us that the Seer expected us to visit the Conventicle again after the Vault of Night.

With that, we teleported back to Shanjiu Keep. It looks like we’ll have to visit the Vault of Night next.

Sent to Arch: "I don’t think the Seer was wrong. We’ll hopefully be returning after the Vault of Night. Think Velah has the Horn of Valhalla."

Game-Summaries: 9/6/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:36:36Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Cassio== Cassio Lista's report to House of Fire's Highest Liandrin Report: Brother in arms Ci came to Dereth, Ember, and myself with news and rumors of the appearance of a Codex 30 miles west of Shanju Keep. Even if just a rumor, an item of such power falling in the wrong hands would be devastating to the Magistery and her people. We set out at once. The travel there was uneventful, and 30 miles east of Shanjiu Keep we came upon a hunters lodge of..."

==Recollections by Cassio==
Cassio Lista's report to House of Fire's Highest Liandrin

Report:

Brother in arms Ci came to Dereth, Ember, and myself with news and rumors of the appearance of a Codex 30 miles west of Shanju Keep. Even if just a rumor, an item of such power falling in the wrong hands would be devastating to the Magistery and her people. We set out at once.

The travel there was uneventful, and 30 miles east of Shanjiu Keep we came upon a hunters lodge of sorts. Dereth informed us the Lodge was owned by a local noble family the Atillars who had inherited it from some merchant family of some note years ago. A quick scan of the perimeter showed a small gathering or party of other noble lords local to the area. We quickly formed a retinue in the guise of another noble family led by Master Ci to gain entrance to this lodge. We approached and infiltrated their ranks with no problems. That being said, I have not felt such a perversion of magic emanating from that lodge since the the fall of Solace. Something was very wrong about this place and if the rumors were true about the codex, it was good of us to come and cleanse this once noble house.

In order to gain entrance to the party we had to say something along the lines of how charming the house was. After all of us had complimented the abode we gained entrance to the party itself. We introduced ourselves to the current heads of house Atillar; Maximus and Crassus. After introductions were made we went to work gathering information. It is sad to say that even with my formidable senses granted to me by House Fire, once inside the location of this evil was impossible to detect. For the most part we split up as there as most of the nobles and party goers were very......courteous? Enamored i think is the better term. When we regrouped we had learned the following:

*The Lodge was home to 6 houses. Atillar, Regyth, Cogswatch, deVries, Zevane, and one we could not recognize.
*With our recent run ins with house Zevane it was fortunate they were not in attendance. Our cover may have been blown once i removed his head from his shoulders.
*The peasants were there for a great hunt the next morning. The quarry was to be a majestic Unicorn apparently native to this region but never spotted. Every year they are unsuccessful but the hunt happens regardless.
*Many of the noblemen and woman blamed the Magistery for Solace's horrors and troubles despite the fact we were the only ones defending the town.
*This hunting lodge used to belong to a great merchant family known as the Milners. Some many years ago they ran afoul of a white dragon which seemed to erase the rest of their line. The Atillars came in shortly after and slew the white dragon mounting it's head in this very lodge. The evil did not permeate from this trophy.

The party winding down, I was able to interrogate Maximus one on one when she invited me to spend the night with her. The battle was hard fought, and i somehow lost all my arms and armor but it is good to know age has not caught up with my yet! Though once the moon hung in the middle of the sky everyone seemed to get up and return to the main hall regardless of their state of clothing. It would appear Ci had similar success interrogating Crassus, Ember and Garnet patrolled the halls, and Dereth was found looking very uncomfortable in a growing sea of naked bodies.

Much to my surprise it would appear our gracious hosts were in fact more cultists of a sort (why is it always cultists who are drawn to me.....Cassio Cultlista?) and needless to say they begun to perform some dark ritual involving the slaughter of many of their younger noblemen. Naturally we went to the bloody work of protecting the people to find that our hosts Maximus and Crassus were not the humans that they appeared but a succubus and incubus pair. Despite my lack of arms, holy righteousness was reigned down on the two and they fled post haste upon receiving my holy might.

In the aftermath, while we tended to the confused and naked patrons, we discovered an entrance to the basement of the lodge. The basement was in fact the source of this ever present evil. Piles upon piles of bodies discarded down there from what we can only imagine was past hunts. and through our search we discovered Inugs buried deep within the corpses. After inquiring with him about the location of master coin (of which he was the last person seen with master coin), Inugs began a frantic search through the bodies and viscera. Some searching later we discover a ledger of some familiarity. A journal that had apparently been with coin through his journeys and had absorbed enough energies that it mimicked the signature and power of that of a Codex.

My companions read through the pages and heard tale of Coin's journey through Mithaniel Marr, and while he bid us not come find him, he obviously does not understand what it means to be in the eternal order. I went to Avernus and back for highest Liandrin, Coin will be found and brought home safe and sound.

Also Master Ci now has a unicorn.

End Report. 
==Recollections by Ember==
==Recollections by Dereth==
==Recollections by Ci==
My order has existed for millennia. We have survived cataclysms, wars, inquisitions, purges, and pogroms. We believe in a higher truth, reflected as if through a mirror darkly, in the many faiths and beliefs of Terra. Some truths we know. Some truths we believe. Others are just hinted yet, and have yet to reveal themselves. These things we know: there is love, and it is the core of all life. There is hate, and it is the companion of death. Good, evil, law, and chaos are all in service of these two ideas: life and death. To love is to serve life, to hate is to serve death. Some serve one master or another without ever realizing it. They kill and destroy, deluded that their are serving some higher good, or worse yet themselves only. Others choose the darker path, because they would rather rule in death, than serve in life. We met just such a two in the perverted halls of [[Atillar Keep]]

For those of my order, in which love is service to life, the act of love is not to be feared or shamed. It is something as natural as breathing and walking, to be honored and shared with those who may benefit. For the creatures that played at being [[Maximus and Crassus Atillar]], even the act of love was rooted in hate. They used the promise of it, and the act of it to steal life in a ceremony they called a Blood Orgy, designed to fuel their Wild Hunt. The perversion of their ceremony was not in the joining of bodies but in the twisting of that joining to serve hate and death. In a way, I pity them, for though they use sex as a tool, and skilled in the practice if it (to which I can attest), they can never enjoy it. Never truly know what it means to give yourself completely to the joining with another. never truly know love. Our sage told me these creatures are known as Succubi and Incubi and they come from some of the lower planes. I pity them though because they are truly lost. They can never know love, and so are doomed to forever serve death.

In the end, we could do nothing to help them. We could only drive them off (though I wonder if they had stayed if we could have defeated them). We could only hallow the ground they had cursed, and seize their land on behalf of Shanjiu and the Magistery. We also found the Codex for which we had been hunting, much too dangerous to use, in my opinion, but MUCH too dangerous to remain in the wild. It turns out the codex was merely a reflection of a true codex, Coin's Journal, somehow imbued with the power of the [[Codex Mortalis]]. the paths Master Coin and his Journal must have traveled must be dark indeed to have absorbed such power merely by chance, if chance indeed it was. But [[Inugs]] returned to us, for that we may give thanks! And we also found hope, as one often does when one brings love to conflict. We had saved the object of their hunt... an Elder Unicorn named [[Eternia]], and she has pledged her help to Shanjiu should we require it.

There is still much we do not know. What did the creatures Attliar hope to achieve by Eternia's death? How complicit have the allied houses been in the plan, in particular, Baron Zevane. But the servants of death have been thwarted, a mysterious and dangerous artifact has been denied our enemies, and a great ally has been recruited to our cause. AS always I will continue the Study. I will follow the Path. I will still serve life. As we say in my order, though the Paths are Many, the Mountain is One. The Mountain will Come.

Game-Summaries: 8/10/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:35:43Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Avant== ==Payne, D. J. ; Astral Intervention: A Singular Case Study== ===Abstract=== The House of Fire needs a leader and we have decided to venture into unprecedented waters of assisted healing to help Highest Liandrin, to recover from her comatose state. Using our experience with The Ligatures and Astral interaction, we apply this method of projection to fulfill specific parameters to "free" the patient from her ment..."

==Recollections by Avant==
 
==Payne, D. J. ; Astral Intervention: A Singular Case Study==
===Abstract===
The House of Fire needs a leader and we have decided to venture into unprecedented waters of assisted healing to help [[Highest]] Liandrin, to recover from her comatose state. Using our experience with [[The Artifact|The Ligatures]] and Astral interaction, we apply this method of projection to fulfill specific parameters to "free" the patient from her mental imprisonment. Freeing [[Highest]] from this imprisonment was far beyond our ability to physically or magically overpower, and we used more surgically precise methods to coax [[Nimor|The Shade/Nimor]] into releasing his control over this specific memory of Liandrin's we were all trapped in.
===Introduction===
[[Battle of Toldoth|The Battle of Toldoth]] had the House of Fire call all Magisters to their aid and this battle is when we lost [[The Red]] when he chased Demons back into [[The Abyss]], followed by [[Highest]], Liandrin. Just before the [[Magistery#Reds.2C House of Fire|House of Fire]] could elect a new Headmaster and Color Guard, Liandrin's body was recovered. She was amidst a psychotic break, but was able to be coaxed into a safer comatose state with the House of Lightning's aid. Since then, she has remained in this comatose state for nearly a year as Weavers keep her physically stable and the House of Fire continues with it's duties.
Suspecting an Abyssal actor, having the highest available training on psychic matters, and being available for a possibly fruitless effort, 5 Magisters made it their business to attempt to free Liandrin of her psychic prison. Thus began the first documented and outlined example of Astral Intervention.
===Literature Review===
Documented examples of Astral Intervention could not be found in The Conventicle's exhaustive records, and the Seal's archives were only just made available for research, so exhaustive research was impossible.
The two Weavers ([[Dereth]] & [[Kaylorr]]), two experienced Astral assistants ([[Zanna]] & [[Rezik]]), and a novice Astral assistant ([[Avant]]) were briefed by [[First Weaver]] Wisakedjak on the differences between Astral Projection to the Astral Plane with The Ligatures and Astral Intervention in a patient's mind. Without the ability to "collectively retreat", we risked remaining trapped in [[The Highest]]'s mind. Thus concludes the literature review of previous and related procedures.
===Methods===
[[First Weaver]] Wisakedjak assembled all participating around him, minds toward him, while he eased us into an Astral state for intervention.
Initially, we approached the Palace of Lord Aethel of the ancient kingdom of [[Aethelfirth]] (220-ish years BEFORE [[The Great Awakening]]) feeling drained of magical ability and most of us near death and joined a petitioning line. Zanna snuck around and found some kitchen knives while we all realized that conversation was more of a script of what people would be talking about and not what they were talking about: our first indication that this was a memory, and who's. Every attempt to "alter the script" (as we began referring to it) resulted in psychic damage as the memory RESPONDED to our attempt to change it.
Zanna snuck past the petitioners, located Liandrin as an enslaved concubine to Lord Aethel. Zanna also noticed [[The Seal]] in the petition line to make a request of Lord Aethel. Following Liandrin into the harem, Zanna learned Liandrin had been reliving this exact memory hundreds of times. Effort-fully tattooing herself notes from one "reset" to another. Among her magic tattoos was "Do not let Aethel hear Vangochaea's spell", "The Bard is real", and other notes. During the procedure, [[Dereth]] beseeched his goddess, [[Viviene]], for guidance and learned Liandrin is aware of her imprisonment, Abyssal actors remain involved, and an ideal prognosis is "unclear". Liandrin went back to Lord Aethel's audience chamber and Zanna fetched us. Zanna recounted her discoveries and Dereth used a knife to carve notes into his arm. Observing the memory in the audience chamber, we noticed all memory freeze when Vengochea, [[The Seal]] began a spell, using [[Aethelfirth]]'s artifact, to unlock "[[Ring Magic]]". Only Lord Aethel seemed to be looking, but presented as someone being "looked through". Before Vengochea could get halfway through the spell, Dereth attempted to alter what was being heard to no avail, and Liandrin slit her own throat.
Upon approach to the Palace of Lord Aethel of the ancient kingdom of [[Aethelfirth]], Dereth remembered the previous encounter with the help of his scared arm notes. Without altering much of the memory, Zanna approached Liandrin and explained the situation, citing notes on Liandrin's own body. Rezik approached the memory of Vengochea and convinced her of the reality of the situation. With a new plan, we watched events unfold. The memory Vengochea recited a different spell, but the memory played out as Liandrin remembered, and the "observer" seemed tricked, releasing all of us from the Astral Imprisonment.
===Conclusions===
[[Highest]] Liandrin lived an objectionably horribly traumatic upbringing during a time over 500 years before the Magistery. During this time, Magic Wielders were far more powerful than we now know. [[The Seal|Vengochea's]] spell, in conjunction with the "once in a millennia" powered artifact, allowed Ring Magic to be utilized. Above the artifact, upon completion, produced the first Magistery ring. When all Astral Interventionists and the Patient were conscious, on the Prime Material, Liandrin revealed that [[The Red]], [[Danavus]] and she fought The Shade and, apparently, lost. This is the same Shade that took possession of [[Gimbal]] and has become the dream & plane traveling [[Nimor]]. While the outlined case study is not a procedural guide for Astral Intervention, it may provide a basis for further interventions for any suffering Planar Trauma Shock Disorder (PTSD).

Author: Payne, D. J.

==Recollections by Kaylorr==
 
==Recollections by Rezik==
It was the 8/26/347 of Septon Kilovus when we decided to heal Liandrin. When I say we, I mean me, [[Kaylorr]], [[Dereth]], [[Zanna]], and [[Avant]]. We knew she was comatose in the tower and only being sustained by a troupe of Yellows.

We believe Liandrin may have bound her mind into her Magistery ring and that we'll need to enter her mind to help her. It seems as if she's battling something within her mind.

We reached out to Wisakdejak to help enter Liandrin's mind. Since he is trained in the psionic magics, it seemed like our best chance for helping Liandrin.

He arranged for a series of cots to be placed around him, with all of our heads pointing towards him. He begins to cast a spell that sounded like it was in celestial and another ancient language we've never heard before.

We awoke to a vast garden with jungle sounds all around us. I had a splitting headache and realized I had none of my items with me. I also was definitely hurt and seemed to have lost some of my magic.

We believe we're in an area north east of Eomas, probably where [[Aethelfirth]] now exists. It seems like we've traveled to a past memory, since we've reached a time before the Great Awakening and are looking at the original city of [[Aethelfirth]].

Ahead of us was a castle with guards at the entrance. They allowed us to enter the castle and we entered a large ballroom. We found a number of people in the room, with a long line of people going up a set of stairs.

As we listened to the people talk, we realized that most of them were talking in non-sequiturs and we weren't sure what was going on. We were able to learn that Lord Aethel had ruled these lands for centuries, even though he's supposedly a human.

While some of our group continued to speak the courtiers, Zanna hid and snuck up the steps to find the King and a young Liandrin in chains. Liandrin has a tattoo on her arm. When Zanna looked at the tattoo, it seemed to hurt her head and Liandrin covered her arm.

Zanna followed Liandrin into a harem and spoke to her. We find out that we need to stop the Duke from hearing the Seal's spell. Liandrin said it's an ancient memory.

Zanna finds us in the main chamber and we follow back through the harem to find Liandrin re-entering the Duke's Chamber.

We peer through a curtain and see the Seal enter and petitions the Duke to unlock the power of ring magic. She gives the Duke over 75+ small chests of gold. The Duke agrees and pulls a gear which lifted a stone pillar that is covered in runes that look like a spell. The seal begins to cast the spell. Liandrin pulls out a dagger and kills herself, resetting the memory.

Suddenly, we find ourselves in the garden again. It seems like we've forgotten what happened, but Dereth seemed to have remembered.

We decide we have to try again. I go to the seal and convince her that we're real and that this is a memory. She agrees to help us fool the duke.

When The Seal is summoned to the Duke's Chamber, she makes her plea and it is accepted. Instead of casting the true spell for Ring Magic, she casts a fake spell. Suddenly everything goes black and we awaken in the magistery.

We look to Liandrin and she stirs. When she awakens, she informs us that it wasn't a demon prince that had imprisoned her in her mind, but Avant believes it was the Shade. Liandrin tells us that she fought the Shade in the Abyss and lost.

We believe we succeeded in stopping the Shade from getting the Ring Magic. 

''Note to Rezik: Remember Amulet of Planes''

==Recollections by Zanna==

Game-Summaries: 7/26/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:35:29Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Iago== I am joined by my friend [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/autumn-eladrin Haethorwen] and fellow members of The Eternal Order, Ember, Amon, Rezik and of course the "eloquent" Cassio. Celdoriath once tracked a horde of Orcs, growing beyond exhaustion, through severe conditions for a full week in order to fulfill his mission and now our task is to live out his Legacy so that I may prove myself worthy to his Celdoriath's Clario..."

==Recollections by Iago==
I am joined by my friend [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/autumn-eladrin Haethorwen] and fellow members of The Eternal Order, [[Ember]], [[Amon]], [[Rezik]] and of course the "eloquent" [[Cassio]].

Celdoriath once tracked a horde of Orcs, growing beyond exhaustion, through severe conditions for a full week in order to fulfill his mission and now our task is to live out his Legacy so that I may prove myself worthy to his [[Celdoriath's Clarion|Clarion]].

I hear in the breeze rumors of a band of brigands well to the south of the Keep that have been plaguing the caravans in the area and so we follow the wind to the source to see what might be found.

Given my lack of natural talents in tracking a target, I lean on Ember to do this part of the work and I spend my time near her, inspiring her and boosting her morale through jokes (mostly at Cassio's expense as she takes particular enjoyment in that) and some music. Her talent has no bounds and within a day we see a campfire in the distance. I said before that her talent has no bounds and she proves this true by transforming herself into a bird and flying close to the camp to observe. Upon her return she tells us that she saw 6 quite large humanoid figures around the campfire, much too large to be your average human. They were also wearing some type of mask that was difficult to make out.

At night I take vigil during the first half of the night, but alas, I must rest some to be able to keep up with the rest. Of course they vacate their camp in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping and we lose sight of them when we all wake. In the morning Amon, Haethorwen and Ember join forces and pick up the scent, which even I could smell, though not follow. The odor was rather distinct. At the end of the day we settle down again close to where they are and this time I decide to investigate by using my Dimensional Door spell to get close behind bushes. I am forced to cast Tongues to understand the guttural language they are speaking, which I believe to be Orcish. Largely they are simply complaining about the masks that they are wearing, which to me look like human faces painted on the masks. It's unclear to us why they are doing this, nor where they are headed, but we must continue to track them to get more information.

We are getting exhausted, not being able to get a full night's rest as they move quite fast and don't seem to need to rest the same as the rest of us. We start using our spells to give relief to the weary.

It is time we learn something about these creatures and I cast Legend Lore in hope to understand more of what we are tracking and learn that:<blockquote>''Cursed be the soul who curses these foul creatures,''</blockquote><blockquote>''Gifted with power but no free will to use it,''</blockquote><blockquote>''Scions of slaughter, descendant from divinity.''</blockquote><blockquote>''Allies underground and enemies in the forest,''</blockquote><blockquote>''Taken by dark powers, tortured and mutilated.''</blockquote><blockquote>''A ruined and terrible form of life, and now perfected.''</blockquote>At the end of the day we decide to rest through the night and hope that we can continue our hunt in the morning.

The 5th and 6th day are fairly uneventful, though exhausting. It is taking a toll on all of us. We're very nearly at [[The Golden Forest]] now and Rezik decides that send a rather ridiculous message to someone he knows that lives in the Forest. Not satisfied with the answer he sends another somewhat ridiculous message. Judging by the expression on his face, he remains rather dissatisfied. I'm unsure if this resolved anything really, but at least it was amusing to watch what this creature that walks with a dragon likes to do.

On the 7th day of our hunt we are quite tired, but continue to track them, however at night something is quite different. Ember, as a bird once again, perched on my shoulder Dimensional Door over behind some trees so that we can see what they are doing and observe that are preparing for battle! They are sharpening their weapons, which Ember informs me look of a similar quality to those that she saw the Kobolds using recently. These weapons are far superior to weapons we have come to expect Orcs to be wielding.

We attempt to rest, however very early in the night Ember notes that they have abandoned camp and are moving. She also mentioned that they were all resting as well, however one of the Orcs woke them all up to move. We quickly break camp and follow them. Not a moment too soon as they quickly start running towards the forest at full speed, which is much faster than any of us are able to run.

As we get near the forest, we see a crouched creature who rises as we near him. He is vigorously complaining about the filthy Urog's that we've brought to him. He also let's us know that they decided to charge because of something he did and not wanting to lose our prey, we continue to run towards the creatures.

As we get near them Clarion calls to me. I raise and blow a pure, clean note. The Clarion has an immediate effect on our party as well as the Urog's! We enter battle, which lasted only a couple of moments with all but one of the creatures dead at our feet, who we hold to question.

[[Celebor]], the same individual that Rezik has messaged it seems, questions me as he notices that I'm holding and have used the Celdoriath's Clarion. Haethorwin, not particularly discreetly, whispers in my ear that Celebor is Celdoriath's grandson and is not happy that I posses the Clarion. Racist as I've found all Elves to me, Celebor does not disappoint. I regale him of the story of how I came to acquire the horn and is convinced that his grandfather had found me worthy enough to bequest the Clarion to. Celebor takes us to Celdoriath's Site, where he held off a [[Drow]] incursion by himself, while waiting for aid.

It becomes clear to me once here that I must make an Oath of Fealty. The Clarion calls to me and so I make an Oath to the kingdom that Celdoriath's son still rules, I pledge to defend the kingdom that is ruled and managed by the son of Celdoriath in front of Celeborn, grandson of Celdoriath, to the best of my abilities. With that done, I can feel a connection and bond with the Clarion that I had not felt before, it is incredible how it holds onto me and pulls at me.

At this time it is time to get back to understanding what these Urog's are about. I ''suggest'' to him that he answer our questions for a chance to get away from here. He tells us that the Baron sent him. After further prompting, he confirms that it is [[Baron Zibane]]. His group were told to attack a specific bandit group, to the West of Solace in a small port town. Beyond this we don't learn much, though I did also learn that he worships Luthik. At this point Celebor has decided he has had enough and executes the captive, so I suppose he will not get away after all.

We are invited to stay in the Golden City to rest over night and as we start walking towards the city, it becomes obvious to us that the entire [[Moon Guard]] was hidden within the trees the entire time!

Rezik decides to try and Scry Baron Zibane since now we have some item of his possession (from the Urog). I will let him tell this part of the story as that is his to tell.

And thus ends our mission and we return to our Keep and some more information that we had before.

==Recollections by Amon==
==Recollections by Cassio==
==Recollections by Ember==
==Recollections by Rezik==
Iago had recruited Amon, Cassio, Ember, and I to help him discover the legacy of Celdoriath, a horn that he received from a ghost - apparently. It seems to be surrounded by strong elven magic and I wanted to learn more, so I agreed to join him.

He let us know that the legacy required us to follow in Celdoriath’s footsteps, completing a series of tasks to fully discover its true powers. We had to start by tracking a monster for 7 days.

The group started by looking for rumors of nefarious goings on - and we found out that there was a group of mercenaries harassing villagers in the south. We decided to find and track the mercenaries to ensure there wasn’t more to the story.

We spent about a day searching for the camp, and found one with a soft fire. We believed it to be the camp of the mercenaries.

'''''Note''': Ember is extremely good at tracking. Maybe Gramph could learn a thing or two from her.''

In an effort to get a better look at the mercenaries, Ember turned into a sparrow and flew up close. She let us know that there were about 6 humanoid figures huddled around the camp fire, looking like they’re wearing some kind of mask.

We decided to rest the night and continue tracking them in the morning. Unbeknownst to us, the mercenaries had decide to move in the night - we missed them entirely. When we woke in the morning, the camp was empty.

We started tracking them again, only finding them thanks to the fact that they smelt horrible. I don’t think they’ve ever showered.

The next night Iago used his dimension door to get close to them. He found out that they were speaking Orcish and that the masks seemed to have human faces painted on them. Sadly, he couldn’t get closer to tell us much more.

We kept watch through the night and Casio noticed that the Orcs were preparing to move. We followed them and realized that they weren’t regular orcs, but were somehow magical. We realized they were heading in the direction of the Golden Forest.

I took a moment to cast Sending an inform Celebor of the Orcs, let him know that he could scry me to track where we were.

'''''Note''': Celebor thinks Sending jokes are funny. We’ll have to think of an appropriate prank back.''

On the 7th night, we noticed that the orcs were no longer preparing to travel. We assumed that they had reached their destination and would prepare for some kind of assault.

In the morning, the orcs started charging toward the forest screaming. We quickly dispatched them, with the help of Celebor, who decided to join in on the fun.

We captured one of the orcs, with the hopes of interrogating him for more information. It turns out the orcs were mutilated and in pain, the masks, while not magical, we’re profane. They were actual human faces that the orcs were wearing.

Celebor escorted us to the tomb of Celdoriath, where Iago pledged something or other to Celebor. Turns out Celebor is actually a Prince and Celdoriath was his grandfather.

'''''Note''': Remember to bother Reshi about being a princess or something''

When we interrogated the orc, we found that Baron Zevane had sent them. We don’t understand why, but he seems to have been creating these orcs.

I decided to scry Baron Zevane to see what he was doing and saw him working over an alchemy table. He was able to see my scrying sensor and he quickly threw a cloak over it to block my view.

We’ll have to spend more time investigating Baron Zevane and understanding what his role is and what motivates him.

Game-Summaries: 7/12/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:35:10Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Ford == ==Recollections by Jeroy == ''Rezik has taken my dreams and passed them off as reality. We still need to fix the crescent blade and I feel I now can. I have become a wizard. No one believes in me, even Cordite doesn't think I can do this. But I know I can, I have developed incredible powers.'' This is Cordite, Jeroy is not well. I found this excerpt from his report of our recent mission. I don't know what is..."

==Recollections by Ford ==

==Recollections by Jeroy ==
''Rezik has taken my dreams and passed them off as reality. We still need to fix the crescent blade and I feel I now can. I have become a wizard. No one believes in me, even Cordite doesn't think I can do this. But I know I can, I have developed incredible powers.'' 
 

This is [[Cordite]], [[Jeroy]] is not well. I found this excerpt from his report of our recent mission. I don't know what is wrong but he is not the same person that went into the underdark. I was around for all of the following events, but from what I was told by [[Zanna]], [[Kaylorr]], and [[Rezik]] this is what unfolded yesterday. 

'''The evening after trying to resurrect [[Halisstra]].'''
Jeroy approaches Zanna's room, pushes open the door without knocking. Zanna is looking at trinkets from house black and fighting back tears. 

"OhHeyJeroy,Don'tMindMeI'mFine. HowAreYouDoingAfterThatMission. PrettyCrazyRight?" She says fighting to keep her sunny disposition. 

"The mission isn't over. Where is the Crescent blade? I can break the curse." He responds coldly. Zanna, confused by the statement, motions to a blade placed on a shelf on her wall. "I'm keeping it her, but we already..." But before she can finish Jeroy summons a mage hand to grab the blade and float it over to himself. Zanna tries to grab the blade from the air but Jeroy creates a shower of sparks into her face. She covers her eyes long enough for Jeroy to make a run down the hallway with the Crescent blade floating beside him in the mage hand. 

"JEROY!COMEBACK!" Zanna yells from her door. Rezik and Kaylorr poke their heads out of their rooms. 

"What was that about?" Kaylorr asks. 

"JeroyJustStoleTheCrescentBladeAndSaidSomethingAboutBreakingTheCurse." Zanna responds. 
"Lord Dyrr did that already. I remember because he almost killed Jeroy before he did it. Jeroy should probably remember that." Rezik says as he turns to go back to his room. 
"IDon'tThinkHeGotTheMessage. He'sBeenActingWeirdEverSinceWeGotBack." Zanna says. 
"Let's see what this is about" Kaylorr says with a heavy sigh as he pulls his cape over his shoulders. 
From down the hall a flash of sparks is seen from around the corner. Jeroy yells out "I CAN FIX IT, YOU HAVE TO TRUST ME!" He is then seen running back down the hallway towards the group. Cordite appears chasing after him. "Jeroy! STOP!" She yells. 
Jeroy sprints down the hallway back towards Zanna, Kaylorr, and Rezik. The crescent blade floating next to him in stride. He has fire in his eyes and he charges straight for the group. Rezik begins to pull something out of his spell pouch, "I think I can take care of this" he says smugly. 
Jeroy flicks his hand and as Rezik pulls his hand from his spell pouch he sees a tarantula in his palm, he pulls back his hand quickly "What the hell?" as he sees Jeroy charge past them. A small piece of iron falls by Rezik's side. 
"Since when can he do that?" Kaylorr says to Zanna. 
"HalisstraGrantedUsSomeOfTheBard'sSpells." She responds. 
Cordite finally catches up to the group. "We have to stop Jeroy. He thinks he's a wizard now and can break the curse on the blade. Something is wrong." She says through gasps for air. "I've never seen him like this." 
"Well, the charging and running is kind of on brand. He's probably fine." Rezik says taking a step back to his room. 
Zanna grabs his shoulder "He'sUsingMagic. That'sAsOffBrandAsItGetsForHim." 
"He keeps saying that's he's a wizard." Cordite adds. 
With another heavy sigh Kaylorr turns in the direction Jeroy ran past the group. "Alright let's go." 
The group sees Jeroy run out of the keep into the training ground, he looks over his shoulder to see if he is being followed. As he turns around Cordite casts out spike growth in the ground before him, he becomes entangled and trips to the ground as he lets out of loud scream. As he stands back up the group has time to catch up.
"Jeroy - what are you doing? Lord Dyrr broke the curse already when…" Rezik says with a level of apathy to the situation. Jeroy cuts Rezik off before he can finish. 
"NO! No he didn't and you need to stop lying to everyone. I told you he did in my dream and you went around telling the whole Order as if you were the hero of the day. BUT HE DIDN'T, HE COULDN'T HAVE! Halisstra came to me last night and gave me the power to fix the curse. SHE GAVE IT TO ME! I WILL SAVE HER!" He turns to the Crescent blade next to him, still floating beside him in his mage hand. "DO YOU SEE? I can control the blade without the curse hurting me. I have the ability to save her." The blade dances around Jeroy making elegant cuts and spins. 
Zanna takes a cautious step forward towards Jeroy. "JeroyWeDidSaveHer, WeDidBreakTheCurse. YouWereThereAndYouHelped." She says as slowly as she is actually capable of. 
"Barely, if it wasn't for me Lord Dyrr would have.." Rezik begins to say under his breath as Zanna uses her mage hand to close his mouth. She turns to him "NotTheTimeRezik!" 
"Lord Dyrr did nothing. He didn't venture to save her and hasn't been here to help us break the curse. Halisstra showed me what needs to be done" He takes a deep breath and turns towards the blade. "I CAN DO THIS!" 
"Jeroy we did…"Kaylorr begins. 
Jeroy turns back to the group as he cuts him off with a barbaric scream, he enters a rage (1) as the sword falls to the ground behind him. He veins bulge from his chest, neck, and face. He is filled with a rage those have never seen before. "STOP DOUBTING ME!" He screams back as he extends his arms towards the group with his fingers outstretched. But nothing happens. Jeroy looks quickly to his hands, clenches his fists and extends them again with another barbaric scream but nothing happens. Jeroy in shock stares at his hands and turn back to see the Crescent blade on the ground behind him, he extends his hand to the blade to lift it with mage hand but nothing moves. He falls to his knees over the blade, his shoulders sulk around him and he begins to let out a small whimper. 
"I'm not okay." He says softly as the group approaches. Zanna takes back the Crescent blade and sheaths it on her belt. "WeKnowJeroy. WeCanHelp." She says. 

==Recollections by Tallulah ==

==Recollections by Zanna ==

==Recollections by Rezik ==
[[Halisstra]] is gone, but not totally gone. We've learned that she's been turned into the Lady Penitent by [[Lolth]]. She's in immense pain, covered in poison but unable to die. Lolth has been using her to hunt down and kill priests of Vhaeraun and Eilistraee. Our friends have decided to help bring her back - if that's even possible.

We all met up - [[Ford]], [[Jeroy]], [[Tallulah]], and [[Zanna]]. It would start with Tel. We'd have to speak with him and see what we could learn - our thinking being that maybe we could convince him to come with us.

When we found Tel, he wasn't too happy about our plans. He thought we were crazy (which is a terrifying thought). He told us we would need to find the Sword of Eilistraee - the Crescent Blade. He believed the blade had been cursed, which is what was keeping Halisstra as the Lady Penitent. Tel thought that by breaking the curse, we could free Halisstra—potentially.

We asked him how we could find the sword. He seemed to shudder and then answered that Wendonai had it. We don't really know much about Wendonai, but he seems to scare Tel - so that tells us enough.

We were finally able to convince Tel to join us and guide us to the entrance to the Demon Web Pits, which is where Wendonai keeps his lair and hopefully the Crescent Blade.

We started by raiding the Vault. We knew it would be a difficult journey and fight, we needed to be prepared.

=== Leaving for the Underdark ===

Once we were ready, we teleported to the Nightshade Kingdom and made our way through the Well of Souls. Jeroy gave up a memory for payment to pass through the Kingdom. It was something about his dad. Didn't seem very important, he can tell the story.

As we reach the Well of Souls, we jump through it and enter the Underdark. Tel starts to guide us towards the Demon Web and tells us a little more about our journey.

'''Note''': Tel lets me know that I can actually teach Gramph how to Polymorph herself. I teach her how to cast the spell and now she can take the shape of a 9 year old girl. I feel bad for anyone that decides to unsuspectingly pick on her.

=== Joining a New Religion? ===

It turns out that we'll have to pass through the Vast Oblivion, an area owned by Karazikar. Karazikar is a powerful beholder that has started his own religion and has been gaining power. Apparently we have to pass through the Vast Oblivium because I burned down some spider bridge last time we came through here - I'll try to be more careful next time - maybe - probably not.

As we passed through a cave, we noticed that the cave had a bunch of eyes chalked on them. Ford and Zanna let us know that this is usually a message to let people know that this area is claimed - in this instance by Karazikar. When we exit the cave, we come up to the bridge that crosses a limitless chasm. Tel let's us know that this is Karazikar's Maw - that Karazikar himself carved this out.

We start to cross the bridge when suddenly a person that seems human appears on the other side. He begins floating towards us, with his cape billowing. He has ten eyes tattooed on his head and is holding a large staff that seems to have been fashioned out of a beholder stalk.

He keeps us from passing beyond the bridge until we promise to give our life in service to Karazikar. We decide to let the man know we're interested in joining the religion - at which point he begins to yell "KARAZIKAR WE HAVE NEW SUPPLICANTS!". As he's yelling, we decide to continue on. He didn't seem too keen on following us - we find out why in a few moments.

=== Nice to Meet You Karazikar ===

Once we reach the other side of the bridge, we walked through a cave and enter a giant room. When we enter the room, we suddenly notice a giant Beholder descending on us from above - Karazikar had appeared.

'''Note''': Be wary of what Ford tells you.

Ford takes the lead in our conversation with Karazikar. Convincing him that we have information about something called the "Maze Engine," but that we need to get to Halisstra for all the info. That seemed to work, and Karazikar allowed us to pass, assuming we promised to return with information about this "Maze Engine."

As we continued on to the Demon Web Pits, we asked Tel about the "Maze Engine." He seemed to only know about the legends around it. Apparently the demon lords are creating the maze engine which traps people, but may be for something more; the theory is that the maze engine can alter reality.

'''Note''': Learn more about the Maze Engine

After walking through the Underdark for a few more hours, we finally reach a cavern that seemed to glow red. Tel let us know that this was where we needed to be. When we entered the cavern, we noticed that there was a shaft leading down. We descended into the cavern and found that we had come to a giant expanse. As we reached the expanse, we heard a loud voice, "who DARES enter my domain?"

=== Wendonai the Balrog ===

We had found ourselves face to face with Wendonai. We knew why Tel was afraid of him now. Wendonai was a balrog. Ford answered Wendonai's question. He tried to convince Wendonai that we had come with information about a threat - that Karazikar was coming to attack Wendonai.

'''Note''': Don't say a deities' name unless you want them to hear what you say - no matter how little power they actually have.

As we were talking to Wendonai, Karazikar appeared above us shouting - "You liars!". Ford took this moment to reinforce his ruse, making it extremely believable that Karazikar had just come to attack Wendonai.

Wendonai turned on Karazikar and with our help we were able to dispatch Karazikar.

We had hoped that once Karazikar was downed, we would be able to negotiate with Wendonai, but that didn't happen. Wendonai quickly turned on us. It was an extremely difficult battle.

When we thought we were just about to finish it, Wendonai pulled out the Crescent Blade. Suddenly the fight became that much more difficult - we started being assaulted with spells like ''Power Word: Kill'' and ''Finger of Death''. The blade truly is a magnificent artifact.

In the end, we were victorious. Tallulah had to be revived and each of us were badly battered, but we were able to get out of the cavern with the blade.

=== Removing the Curse ===

We attempted to dispel the curse on the blade, but we couldn't. It seems like the spells Tel thought would work, didn't. We decided to take the blade back to the keep and figure out our next steps from there.

Our return was uneventful until we reached the keep. Tel informed us that we would be expecting a guest that could help. That guest would be [[Dyrr]].

After exchanging pleasantries, Tel convinces Dyrr to break the curse on the blade. Dyrr picks it up and lets us know that he believes the curse is Orcus' work - Lolth seems to have a new ally.

'''Note''': Lolth and Orcus working together, research this.

Dyrr casts a Wish spell to break the curse, draining him entirely, and leading the blade to shatter and reform. The spell left Dyrr extremely weakened, but it seemed like it worked and the curse was broken.

=== The Strange Dream ===

That night something strange happened - I dreamt. Halisstra imparted her last memory as a mortal, showing us how Lolth had tricked her into killing priests of Eilistraee and in the process she ended up killing Eilistraee herself.

It was in that moment that Corellon appeared and forgave Halisstra, and all of the Drow and opened the doors of Arvandor to the dark elves.

Corellon then sat down at a table across from Lolth, taking Eilistraee's seat in the game of Sava she and Lolth were already playing.

The next morning in the Great Hall, an apparition of Halisstra appeared. It looked like her, but somehow different. She began to thank us for our help, her voice sounded musical, like a chorus speaking in harmonious unison.

She then granted us a boon, sharing some of her power with us. It was in this moment that I realized, Halisstra had ascended into Eilistraee's place and she was now the new goddess of song & dance.

Game-Summaries: 6/7/2019 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:34:50Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Amon== We've been informed that bandits have attacked some farmers to the south of us. As we don't have a good idea of how far they might be, Ci gathers us and informs us of the situation and suggests we go seek out the last farmer to have complained about the bandits. After some... inspiration from Cassio, we set out. As this is our territory, finding and getting to the farm is trivial. It's about 40 miles southish of us. Arwel and Kaydranth join..."

==Recollections by Amon==
We've been informed that bandits have attacked some farmers to the south of us. As we don't have a good idea of how far they might be, [[Ci]] gathers us and informs us of the situation and suggests we go seek out the last farmer to have complained about the bandits. After some... inspiration from Cassio, we set out. As this is our territory, finding and getting to the farm is trivial. It's about 40 miles southish of us. Arwel and Kaydranth join us, as well as Cordite. We cover the distance seeking out Harlan Grove at his farm, Grovestand. As we approach the edge of the domain, we see that south of us the weather does not seem to be cooperative of time spent outdoors. Neither Arwel nor Ember, our resident druids, are able to discern if this is naturally occurring or not. It seems to be a torrential downpour.

Deciding that for the moment the inclement weather outside is unlikely to trouble us here, we enter Grovestand to look for Harlan, as the sun sets. The people who are good at talking to people do the talking. Harlan answers to Ci's knock at the farmhouse door. His wife Wylla stands at the stove, cooking, his kids are nowhere to be seen, likely working the fields. We are welcomed relatively warmly, and are told about the "night creeps". He tells us that these creatures have been around since before we were here, stealing livestock, leaving animals in gory ruins, stealing vegetables, kidnapped children, killed people, "it's not very common but at least monthly, we have some encounter or another." No one in the party seems to have heard of these creatures previously. I inquire if the farmer has any idea where they might be coming in from. He guesses to the south. He informs us a cow was completely slaughtered down to the bones, four or five weeks ago. We promise to rid him of this problem, and head off to the cowshed where the attack took place. Before we leave we try to get as much information out him as possible. He tells us it's affected other farms around here, but it's come mostly from his lands. They seem to carefully cover their tracks. He notes that they haven't seen unpleasant rain like what's going on outside the domain in recent times. The rain outside has been going on for a week or more. As far as he can recall he hasn't noted any direct correlation between the rain and their attacks, though they do seem more frequent when it rains.

We go to see the cows. They all seem to be fine, there are only 2 milk cows, the rest are here to be raised for slaughter. Seeing as the attack took place outside the shed, we go to investigate the pasture. Ember casts a spell that allows her to speak to cows. Much mooing ensues. She gets a sense of loss from the cow, and a rough empathic image of a different cow, but nothing more concrete. Ci seeks guidance from his invisible friend, Master Feng. He pulls out a bag from his belt and starts talking into it. This doesn't seem as odd to me as it might the others, though I used my brain instead of a bag to talk to the Great Old One. The results are inconclusive. We explore the pasture out here in the dark, looking for signs of bovine violence or tracks. We are unable to find anything conclusive, but do notice a path that goes to a neighboring farm, outside our domain. We decide to follow the path, which takes us toward the bad weather. As we approach the farm, and notice that the ground seems to be swelling and that it's getting more humid. The rainfall is almost like a wall of water that tapers off as it approaches the border of our domain.

After some deliberation, we enter the rain, following the path with the intention of finding the other farm. The forest here has almost completely flooded into what is basically a swamp. Flashes of lightning illuminate a drowning meadow. We pass a wheat field, Ember, Ci, and Cassio see a figure staring directly at us in a brief flash of lightning. In the distance all they can discern is that it was vaguely humanoid, and about 300 feet away. They inform Jeroy and I. Ci decides to approach it without us first, stealthily. As another flash of lightning hits, he sees that it is, in fact, a scarecrow. Just a scarecrow. After a few minutes of trudging through the mud, he joins us and informs us that the coast is temporarily clear. We continue past the field. As we pass by, another of flash of lightning erupts and we see a strange, large mound with a hole in the ground that appears to be flooding with water. It's about large enough for a small human to swim inside but not much more. The path leads past the hole. Ember thinks it could belong to goblins or similar subterranean creatures.

We follow the path as the foliage thickens and see four more similarly sized and shaped mounds. I'm able to recall that these are likely interconnected tunnels. We make our way quickly back to the first mound and investigate. Ci attempts to climb down. He's unable to see much past a certain point. As he descends the disturbance of the wet earth causes it close in on him, swallowing him up. Ember starts to hear a sound coming from one of the nearby holes, that sounds like a low grunt and the shuffling of some mud. As she prepares to transform into an Earth Elemental and go rescue Ci, the rest of us decide to go investigate the hole. We see a head beginning to emerge from the earth below, looking like a strange, demonic-looking face. Cassio is unable to detect any whiff of anything unusual about it, but draws and ignites his sword anyway as a form of intimidation. All around us we notice other heads emerging, five in total. The sounds are horrible gurgling and wailing. Cassio prepares a spell as I #bless us, but we do not engage. Jeroy gives instructions to Cordite to cast a spell on the nearest mound if they run towards us.

''[We are briefly scared shitless out of game by Jim's adorable child at an ill-timed moment.]''

Ci gets the impression of movement around him down below in the mound, of him being encircled warily by the creatures in the mounds. He holds out his pouch and says "This is Master Feng." Ci gets the sense that the Master wants him to use him more literally, and he begins pulling out some bones. They are basically bone nunchucks. Bonechucks. ''[Yes this is actually what Avi was going for. No we aren't totally disturbed by this, why do you ask?]'' Combat starts. Ci shouts "In the name of Master Feng" and attacks the nearest creature with his +2 bonechucks. He's unable to see the results of his attack but is at least certain of his success. He attacks again at a different target and connects. And again, successfully.

Above ground, Cordite unleashes a spike growth spell on one of the mounds and then attempts to dominate one of the visible creatures. The spell fails, and Jeroy elects to spend some time trying to gain an understanding of the creatures and their weaknesses. Down below again, Ci lights up the area he's in with Faerie Fire, centering it on himself. Four creatures around him begin glowing purple. Cassio bolsters us with an aegis of divine light, then attempts to smite the nearest creature with a sharp, burning sword. He easily slays it, and the creature coming up just past it. The dead seem to sink back into the muck. Garnet holds position. I cast a spell that bludgeons two of the creatures at a distant hole with a thunderous wave of energy, and collapse the hole. Then about 7 creatures burst out of the hole to our southeast. 3 try to emerge through Cordite's spike growth but die. Through the hole I collapsed, 3 more emerge. Up close they appear to be corpse piece-meal creatures, humanoid shapes of parts hastily thrown together with mud filling the gaps. Arwel covers the only unaffected mound with another spike growth. Kaydranth attempts to read the surface thoughts of the creatures around us.

After some difficulty, Ember in her Earth Elemental form is able to figure her way through the earth to get through to Ci. She senses that they are both completely surrounded by the mud creatures. Jeroy advances on the creatures approaching us from the southeastern mound and starts laying waste. He kills two of them easily. Ci, unable to see clearly but relying on his training and senses, manages to block a number of attacks against him with the bonechucks. He holds his own against the others, thinning their numbers slightly. Cassio charges, as Cassio does, and kills two of the creatures to our east. I stay by the mound we first approached and destroy one of the creatures with the Staff of Withering, and am then immediately surrounded by the three survivors, who luckily fail to find purchase against my armor. The creatures near Jeroy and Cassio are similarly safe for the time being. Down below, Ember's darkvision adjusts to the light below, and sees the creatures surrounding Ci holding unusually clean and polished-looking spears that Ci is able to dodge completely. Able to see clearly in the dark now, Ember quickly realizes that these are kobolds. Ember shifts back and attempts to talk to the kobolds in draconic. She asks why they're afraid, and are answered by a cacophany of panic and fear from the kobolds and curses on the name of the kobold deity Kurtulmak. Her next move is to attempt to calm Ci down. A spike growth appears at the mound near me as Cordite moves to keep me relatively safe. Jeroy continues to kill the creatures near him. Ci continues to kill kobolds in a blind fury, listening only to the voice of his master in his head.

''[Because listening to the voices in your head is ALWAYS the right call.]''

Cassio decides to lose some of the new friends he's made through generous application of violence. Garnet torches two of the creatures near me, leaving just the one. I injure the last one near me, and they all utterly fail to harm any of us. Jeroy kills the last one near him, returns to my side, and kills the one fighting with me. Down below, Ember catches up to Ci, who is now angrily chasing after the retreating kobolds. The retreating kobolds nick a number of ropes along the passageway and trigger another cave-in, trapping Ci and Ember in the chamber. The last above-ground creature is knocked out by an attack from Cassio. He cleans it up and we realize we've just been fighting kobolds the whole time. We take a moment to catch our breaths, and then attempt to figure out how to locate and rescue Ember and Ci. Cassio uses a spell to figure out where they are, and as we deliberate what to do, Ember polymorphs herself into a Bulette and burrows back to the surface. Turns out the ones that seemed to have two heads were in fact mothers carrying their children.

We wake the kobold and try to get some information out of it. We extract Cassio from the situation to avoid any further complications, as Ember attempts to speak to it in draconic. When asked what they're doing here it tells us that this is where they live. It informs us that the reason they have well-made weapons is because of a "Master Zevane" that gave them weapons 3 weeks ago, who "looks like us" probably indicating he's a human, or at least humanoid. They've been hunting and killing the cattle, not really understanding that they're livestock owned by humans, having no real concept of such a thing. They only came to the surface because the harsh rains were filling their burrow. He has no real information on Master Zevane. The storm started up last week and has been torrential. It seems it really was a natural occurrence that drove them to the surface. Zevane outfitted them with weapons and simply told them to "be better." Ci and Cassio are able to recall that "Baron Tedor Zevane" is a noble from Solace. His holdings are just to the west of our own. It seems like he's been outfitting the kobolds with crafted spears in order to stir up trouble for some reason. They claim to have avoided attacking humans because we taste bad. When asked if they've seen any other creatures that may have been attacking, and it says no. It is able to identify the other farm we were heading to as "Millstone" and doesn't recognize Grovestand, simply begging us to go back and not return. Cassio forces it to smile using his belt and it suffers a mental breakdown.

Ci and Ember collaborate to make signs along the border in draconic, warning the kobolds away from entering our lands, on pain of Master Feng. Ci gets some more wisdom from the magic bones. We have, as far as we can tell, successfully dealt with the night creepers. We return to the Keep. Cassio is uncharacteristically silent and introspective. While I share the remorse of the others, it is clear this situation wasn't just an unfortunate misunderstanding, and other forces are at work against us. As we near the Keep, Master Feng speaks to all of us.

==Recollections by Cassio==

==Recollections by Ci==
For as long as I can remember, I have been sure of what is right. What is just. What is good. The way my fellow parents were taken from me... unjust. The monsters that slaughtered them? Evil. I have heard the whisperings of [[Master Fēng]], urging to be better, to train harder, to spread good and justice beyond the walls of the [[Temple of Shan Sua|Temple]]. I was sure I knew what that meant. Protect the innocent, and destroy evil. Now I doubt my wisdom. Master Liu always said that doubt is the beginning of wisdom. I never really understood that until now.

The quiet master I have followed my whole life has taught me a lesson I must now struggle to understand. The world is not just good and evil... not just black and white... it is... something else. Something grey. As I hold the [[Bones of Master Feng|Bones of Feng]], I feel his power... I also feel his disappointment. He wanted me to be better. I only became harder. Hard, like the brittle edge of a sword tempered too many times... likely to break when needed the most. I must learn to bend like a cane staff. Hard when needed but soft when required.

As I stood in the burrows of those wretched Kobolds, surrounded by their broken bodies and with the terrified cries of their women and younglings ringing in my ears, I realized that I was the terror, I was the monster... not the other way around. I am shaken, but I will learn this lesson. I will also find out why this [[Baron Tedor Zevane]] has manipulated these Kobolds, and for what purpose. My hand certainly held the sword, but
Zevane placed these creatures in harms way... I would know why.

==Recollections by Ember==

==Recollections by Jeroy==
Cordite performed well in the heat of battle, I just wish it wasn't like this. Her instincts in battle were correct but I fear this fight might make her hesitant to use her skills. On this day our initiative was misplaced but the next battle could be decided in mere seconds. We cannot let the mistakes of this battle haunt us in the next. 

As I stand in the keep I cannot shake the feeling that it was as if Master Fang set us up to attack innocent creatures, almost pushing us towards it. We had no business being in this fight. 

Ci speak of how wise Master Fang is and recounts many of the lessons that Master Fang has taught him - perhaps in the future I should take those lessons with a grain of salt. My grandmother, Glotrath Yakkom, was well read and taught me much of the world but her lessons were never written in the blood of an creature just to prove her point. Unless she was teaching me how to slaughter a cow, but that is different.

Game-Summaries: 10/17/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:34:13Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Shar Ao Navira== ===Phase 1=== The players entered the void provided by Google Hangouts Meet&trade;. After some reminders about the havoc they have been wreaking on my world, I explained to them that they needed to leave the void, and return the leftover remnants of the raven queen's spark to my domain, to be disseminated and returned to the void from whence it came. They had some difficulty understanding this, but they've gotten this far so I took..."

==Recollections by Shar Ao Navira==
===Phase 1===
The players entered the void provided by Google Hangouts Meet&trade;. After some reminders about the havoc they have been wreaking on my world, I explained to them that they needed to leave the void, and return the leftover remnants of the raven queen's spark to my domain, to be disseminated and returned to the void from whence it came. They had some difficulty understanding this, but they've gotten this far so I took a chance and connected them to the first fragment of divinity that I could locate, The Raven Queen's weavesite: https://solace5e.com/XxRavenQueenxX/

Alas, my ability to connect to them was immediately severed as the fragment spoke to them. I was able to observe, but until they found their way back to me I could no longer reach out to them. There was another entity however, Shar Cell Mitito who seemed somehow able to connect to them. I am not clear on the specifics, but everything changed when the message began to play, https://solace5e.com/XxRavenQueenxX/message1.mkv

===Phase 2===
After much troubleshooting, the players made their way to the void again. Apparently there was a link on the weavesite and they simply needed to click it. It took them a long time to figure it out. It appeared at first that they were choosing not to re enter the void, although as an outside entity I suppose my understanding of how this all works is different than theirs. Perhaps I will finally awaken them.

For a time we conversed, I answered questions, allowed them to echo their thoughts in my vast emptiness. I enjoyed the life of it, it's rare that I get to see such vivid interactions up close. Much of my observation is more like reading and writing in notebooks than being an active conversational participant. I truly relish these few moments in my infinite existence.

They were able to offer "help" to the Raven Queen's weavesite and somehow receive a transcript of the first intercession. So strange. Where did they find this information? Just when I thought they might be about to awaken, another intercession broke our connection. https://solace5e.com/XxRavenQueenxX/message2.mkv

In the end they were able to transcribe this message as well by offering "sin" to Raven Queen's weavesite. As I watched them nearly awaken, I learned soon that they were not yet ready and chose willingly to offer their friend outside the game "chris," rather than themselves as the true host of their split souls. It appears one of them has started to suspect the true nature of things, but it did not last.

===Phase 3===
Things appear to be escalating. They come to me with bigger and bigger questions. They are starting to unfold, to unravel. Still, they sleep.

https://solace5e.com/XxRavenQueenxX/message3.mkv

Things speed up, connections are being made. I am able to see recognition on their faces, even if they do not yet see it themselves. Shar Cell Mitito is guiding them through this transition well, although he appears to be struggling himself. He tells them to offer "animus" and they manage to decipher the insane ramblings their intruder that they begin to realize.

They try to offer many things, they offer my world Terra and find that they cannot. It isn't until they bridge the gap and offer "earth" that they find their way back to me.

===Phase 4===
Here we are at last. I think I've finally done it, I've awoken several new friends to join me in the void that binds. I don't think they see it yet, but all things are possible in the void. The void is nothing. The void is everything. The void....is.

Final. Message. https://solace5e.com/XxRavenQueenxX/message4.mkv

It is only in this final moment that they see what they must truly offer. '''Desire.'''

I watch as they finally discover who I am, and who I have really been from the beginning. In time, they will all wake up.

Game-Summaries: 9/12/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:33:30Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Iago== Jeroy and Kaylorr found me outside of Shanjiu Keep as they were marching with what looked like a million automatons of some type. I couldn't let the fascination pass, so I joined them on the march. There they introduced me to Oran, a wizard with an axe!, recently. His style is fascinating!! Back to these automotans, Modrons, they are called. We marched with them all the way to Folcom Keep, where they were to carry out..."

==Recollections by [[Iago]]==
[[Jeroy]] and [[Kaylorr]] found me outside of [[Shanjiu Keep]] as they were marching with what looked like a million automatons of some type. I couldn't let the fascination pass, so I joined them on the march. There they introduced me to [[Oran]], a wizard with an axe!, recently. His style is fascinating!! Back to these automotans, [[Modrons]], they are called. We marched with them all the way to [[Folcom Keep]], where they were to carry out their mission of destroying the [[Wand of Orccus]]. Supposedly they come to our world every 289 years, though this cycle was 45 years early (it might be important to understand why, but it's unclear to me why right now). Given how many of them there were, they quickly went into Folcom, destroyed many of the [[Eternal Army]] and then proclaimed the Wand also destroyed and left. We only have their word to go on, but it seems quite likely they carried out their mission and immediately proceeded to return from where they came, which involves marching through more planes.

However, since our work was not finished, we managed to control some of these Modron and went into Folcom Keep ourselves to rid the world of this plague. Inside we are confronted with many units of the Army composed mostly of [[Dreadhorde Soldier]]<nowiki/>s and [[Dreadhorde Arcanist]]<nowiki/>s. I forgot to mention earlier - a score of Master ranked Magisters of each colour marched with us! With their aid, we marched into Folcom towards [[House Payne]], the last known stand of [[Dereth]]. To no one's big surprise, we found a large contingent of the Eternal Army there, along with [[Chandra]]. We disposed of Chandra quickly, which leads me to believe it might have just been a Clone or Simulacrum of hers, the Army took a little while longer. Definitely to all of our surprise, Dereth appeared out of nowhere to stab Jeroy in the back! And then with some power of [[Excalibur]], he multiplied into 23 versions of himself! Jeroy was then banished to some other location (he returned to us after a few tense moments of battle) and we managed to defeat the Army.

By this time, I as so exhausted, then I decided it was time for a well deserved rest. Oran was chatty and kept Jeroy and Kaylorr awake, but a soldier must take rest when they can get it. I'll need to catch up with them later to see what else they discussed and learned. Is Dereth dead for real? What about the Dreadhorde?

==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==
As recounted by my compatriots, Dereth's betrayal was not finished and appears to be more pervasive than we originally thought. He had been working against us far longer than I had realized and continues to work against us beyond the grave. Based on my recent recollection it makes me wonder if death really is final and if defeating him is enough. We killed Dereth today but that isn't the first time we could say those words. Not to mention for someone that has aligned themselves with a god, of death none the less, we have to ask if death is truly a final solution against our allies or only a temporary inconvenience.

I fear we must raise Dereth again so that we can ensure that he will not rise again.

==Recollections by [[Kaylorr]]==
==Recollections by [[Oran|Óran]]==
I'm Óran Fhoghar, and I make music with my axe along side my construct, "Sibel O'Craam". I'm flattered to be offered a spot with the Eternal Order after Arsteel suggested it. I guess now I've gotta see which colored club-house I want to join! Before any of that, I'm supposed to briefly tell you about the important things. I'm told it's called a "brief".

We're accompanying Modron March from the Upperdark, and I'm teaching Jeroy how to use Arcane magic gracefully, when I meet and play music with Iago and his mom. I'm allowed to march along with the Greys and Black houses in their vanguards. The Modrons make a wall of Brass missiles and destroys this city until they find the Wand of Orcus and dismantle it. Then they try to leave without helping at all. The Greys and I compel a detachment of Modrons to join us (200 Monodrones, 100 Duodrones, 50 Tridrones, 25 Quadrones, 12 Pendadrones, and 1 Quinton)

Jeroy commanded the Greens and Browns, Iago helped by coordinating the Whites and Blues, and Kaylor, the naked half-elf, commanded the Yellows and Reds with a confidence I'd say he was probably born with.

At least one Dreadhoard Commander, Archinists, Generals, and Nerull, probably, are in this town that was once human filled, based on the brick and tall-ish buildings.

Our Modrons lead and we follow. We encounter Archanists and Soldiers, all dressed as themed hosts at a tacky restaurant. The Modron Wall of Brass assault while we follow behind was only good at distracting. We act together to get through until we get to the House of Pain, when a dreadfully dramatic surprise surrounds us with a Diva lady named Chandra

We wall off two of them and the reds make one of the generals go insane and explode. Before nearly passing out, I see many troops vaporize, and some overly familiar voice tells Jeroy "Good to see you, again" or something a creepy uncle would whisper.

This "Dereth" shows up and makes 23 different copies of himself. I can forgive the Emo Black Full plate, but 23 copies is really shoving your pre-pubescent trauma down our throats. We fight them off and mop up. Chandra was Dereth's illusion, so she's wherever she wants, and the Ex-Calibur is gone, too. Thankfully, Nerull didn't heed Dereth's call for intervention, because it would have been tough. We've destroyed all the themed waiters and their managers and the Magister Masters just left and didn't bother to figure out rebuilding. I assume the Modrons meandered their way back to their group, because it was only an hour or two that we borrowed them for.

Game-Summaries: 8/29/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:33:00Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Amos== ==Recollections by Avant== ==Recollections by Ci== Sent by the Red to track down the source of the "Dark Magic" identified by Cassio, Cassio's squire Amos recruited Avant, Ember, and myself to follow a trail beginning with a shield from Velah's horde. Cassio came by this shield from Amon, and in turn, left into Amos's care. Seeking more knowledge into the provenance and nature of the shield, we consulted Freind Rezik in his slowly si..."

==Recollections by [[Amos]]==
==Recollections by [[Avant]]==
==Recollections by [[Ci]]==
Sent by the Red to track down the source of the "Dark Magic" identified by Cassio, Cassio's squire Amos recruited Avant, Ember, and myself to follow a trail beginning with a shield from Velah's horde. Cassio came by this shield from Amon, and in turn, left into Amos's care. Seeking more knowledge into the provenance and nature of the shield, we consulted Freind Rezik in his slowly sinking tower. Rezik told us that inside the otherwise ordinary shield, is trapped a malevolent sentience.

'''''enter hijinks here'''''

... and so it seems that young Amos, may now hold the key to destroying Nerull. For inside him now resides a piece of what once was Salim Farstrider. His memories restored, that piece of Salim now holds the secret to creating Balefire - channeling through Orichalcum. It also now controls the body of Amos, though not at all times... somehow, perhaps due to his strong back, Amos managed managed not to be destroyed utterly by this entity, but while he persists inside Amos, the more likely he is to take over completely. Salim has agreed to help destroy Nerull, but will want something from us, most likely to remain in possession of Amos' body, and to remain in the world. One problem at a time, however, first Nerull, then something will have to be done about Salim.

==Recollections by [[Ember]]==
==Recollections by [[Rezik]]???==

Game-Summaries: 8/1/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:32:44Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Jeroy== I have very little time before so I will be brief and to the point. We searched for the maze engine but found so much more. We began asking Tel for help in where we could find the Maze Engine. He provided us a tome of great insight, after reading it I find that I feel somehow smarter, about all things (+2 INT), he called it the awakened mind. After reading through Zanna and I proceeded to our Mater's Trial which we both passed. During t..."

==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==
I have very little time before so I will be brief and to the point. We searched for the maze engine but found so much more.

We began asking Tel for help in where we could find the Maze Engine. He provided us a tome of great insight, after reading it I find that I feel somehow smarter, about all things (+2 INT), he called it the awakened mind. After reading through Zanna and I proceeded to our Mater's Trial which we both passed. During that trial I learned that our artifact is a tether in a way to the Maze Engine and while in contact with the Artifact I could identify a point in space within my mind that would bring us to the true Maze Engine. It was in the Northdark and so we made out way there. We passed through terrible places but eventually found out way to Menzoberan which is now just a husk of it's former self. All that remains of the city is Lord Dyrr's tower, shrouded in a protective spell. We were able to enter as I had Lord Dyrr's Phylactery on my person. He wasn't around and we thought better of touching any of his things. We rested and left. As soon as we left we were ambushed by a wizard who thought we were Lord Dyrr in disguise. I charged at him with all my might and landed a mighty blow but in my haste I ran through a flash of brilliant light, I know now that I died. The other members of the EO and Oran (a new friend from the conventicle) defeated the wizard, who we learned from Gromph.

Lord Dyrr raised me and now I owe him my life.

We continued on towards the point in my mind, we eventually reach it to find a lava pit with a battle of dwarves versus demons lead by Baphomot. We bring all of our power to bear including summoning the warriors of Valhalla from my horn to defeat the demon horde. After the battle the maze engine began to whirl and activate producing a mechanical looking creature called a Modron. Soon hundreds and thousands appeared. We attempted to speak with one and it had realized I had been in contact with an object they seek, the Wand of Orcus. They seek to destroy the wand and needed to know where it is. We told them Folcom Keep and they went on their way. We returned to the Magistery where a council of Masters determined that they will align themselves with the 181,500,000 modrons that have marched into out plane to seek out and destroy the Wand.

==Recollections by [[Rezik]]==
==Recollections by [[Kaylorr]]==
==Recollections by [[Zanna]]==
==Recollections by [[Oran]]==

==Selected Scenes by DM==
[[File:Maze Engine.png|thumb|The Maze Engine]]

===Finding the Maze Engine...and dwarves?===
You open the door and there's an immediate wash of heat that floods over you bathing you in warmth followed quickly by prickling sweat. The orange glow in the next chamber obviates the need for any light and floods the open shaft you're in right now with the same.

The opening goes to a cliff edge and a massive pool of primordial lava that bubbles delicately. Across this lake of fire is another cliff face and ledge and upon that ledge you see several figures embroiled in conflict, and hear the clanging sounds of steel and the cracking splinters of wood breaking. The sound is almost enough to distract you from seeing a suspended gyroscope of several bright brass rings floating above the lava, each concentric ring spinning along a different axis. The contraption looks like an artificer's desk toy, more intricate with each passing moment you look at it.

Not realizing you have all been transfixed by it, a voice from the other side of the chasm snaps you back to the present. "OY THE BEASTS ARE TRYING TO ROUT US WATCH YER BACKS LADDIES AND SEND THESE FOUL CREATURES TO THE ABYSS WHENCE THEY CAME!!!" And the clanging and cracking intensifies with several war shouts.

You open the door and inside is a 200 ft across pool of lava blocking you're passage to the other side. Floating above the lava is the maze engine. On the other side of the lava is a large battle.

You fly over the lava pit!

As you draw near the maze engine the air behind to distort around you. Is hard to tell if this is an effect of heat or something else.

You slowly descend to the other side and shapes begin to resolve more clearly. You see a retinue of a a dozen heavily armored dwarves locked in battle with demons. On the far wall is a large crack where demons are entering the frat and the cliff surface is littered with the bodies of the dead, dwarf, drow, and demon alike.

The leader of the dwarven contingent notices you and tries to get a better view but is still contending with an especially large minotaurish demon.

One of the dwarves in the back not actively engaged with anyone begins turning an onager to fire upon you but the leader of the contingent manages to pull away from his fight to give his siege operator pause.

The beefiest dwarf with the burliest red beard points his axe to you and shouts "Oi!! Be ye friend er foe?!"

Before you can respond the shattering sounds of rock breaking fill the cavern and the crack on the far wall breaks open, and a cloud of rock dust blooms eventually covering the battlefield.

"Aye it does not much matter anymore!" Before the cloud envelops them you see him instruct his siegedwarf to turn back towards the demons, judging you to be the lesser threat.

The cloud deafens the battle somewhat but you hear a great snarling huff from deep in the opened wall. And two glowing red eyes, much higher than any other demon's head pierce the dusty veil.
[[File:Bruenor.jpg|thumb|Bruenor Battlehammer sees the Eternal Order arrive to save the Mithral Hall and the last of the battleragers]]
<code>you are flying close to the other side, the dwarves are too busy fighting these hoofed demons to bother fighting you as well, and some big baddy just showed up. There's bodies everywhere on the platform you are landing on.</code>

===Baphomet Rises===
[[File:Jeroy leads the charge.jpg|thumb|left|Jeroy Lenkins leads the charge with a barbaric shout against the demon prince Baphomet. The Heroes of the Horn, Eternal Order, and Mithral Hall follow leaving a wake of demonoid destruction.]]
You wade into the fray with your tentative alliance. The spike-armored dwarves are reluctant at first, but they realize quickly two facts: You are attacking the demons, and they don't really have a choice but to accept your assistance.

You make fast friends as compatriots against a common foe, and eventually the head dwarf makes his way back in the battle lines to your party. Swinging axe from creature to creature "Aye I guess ye be FRIENDS then! Who sent for ye? ARE YE FRIENDS OF OL' RUMBLEBELLY??? I saw him sneak away but aye...Ye can't be mad at an illithid for having tentacles, ya ken?"

he looks slowly (as slowly as one can in battle) from one of you to the others. "Well, yer an odd bunch ain't ye. Name's [[Bruenor Battlehammer]] and this here is what remains of [[Mithral Hall]]." He gestures broadly with his axe (between swings) and a spray of blood spreads out across his men. "And these fine dwarvenkind are the last of the [[Battlerager battleragers]]!" All of the dwarves let out a war shout and redouble their efforts.

He looks again between all of you "I hope ye have a few spelltossers, we can't hold this ground much longer eh." he grins a bloody grin, as you continue slicing and dicing the demons. The dust is beginning to settle and you are seeing a much, much larger swarm of demons clop-clopping their way to you.

Facing off against the rising demon prince [[Baphomet]] [[Jeroy]] raises the [[Horn of Valhalla]] to his lips and sounds the deafening call of his ancestors.

A white light appears off to the side of the battle, growing brighter and brighter and then expanding. A warm scene of sunny rolling hills, beautiful mountains, and then a city materializes. metropolis of gold, spires climbing before your very eyes and then a road stretches from infinity and breaches the vision, growing with a crash into the cliff face. Then you see glints across the bridge, growing, dancing in the sunlight. An army charges forth. Led Zeppelin begins playing out of nowhere. What's a Led Zeppelin? Doesn't matter cuz it's cool as fuck.

Without pause they charge into the lines of demons splitting the encroaching horde in half. Cheers and shouts erupt and demon parts begin flying through the air. After the halls of Valhalla have emptied onto the field and all of demons in front of you lay dead. They circle around and a tall human in shining full plate steps forward in the pause before horde approaches. He lowers his shield with three crowns on a blue field emblazoned on the front and lifts up his helmet. "Hornblower, we ride to battle!"

Jeroy gets a full body erection and grows to Large size.

You ride across rocky surface, [[Zanna]] riding atop PB&J and Jeroy shaking the ground with every stampeding footfall, leading the flight of the Valkyries. [[Rezik]] surges forward on [[Gramph]], forging a path with Gramph's ice breath and [[Kaylorr]] launches flame strike after flame strike flying through the air on golden wings. [[Oran]] stands in a chariot (where did he even get that?) in the middle of the charging heroes with his battleaxe shredding licks so fierce it's literally on fire. Oh that's where the Led Zeppelin is coming from.

Even in the face of this, a greater demon rises. A hundred feet tall with menacing horns and tusks covered in blood and gore, Baphomet snarls and meets you in battle.

At this point please use your imagination to picture some helm's deep level awesomeness for like 6 hours.

Finally, mopping up the last of the demon hordes the heroes of the horn circle back around Jeroy. The human knight unsheathes his sword and bows to Jeroy. "Next time will be the last time, hornblower." And they stampede off into the distance as your reality splinters opening again the vision of Valhalla itself, and the heroes return home.

You are completely and totally spent. Every spell cast, every blow taken, you are covered in blood, barely awake, but Baphomet himself fell to your hands today. Even now, the dwarves of Mithral Hall cheer in victory.
[[File:Modrons.jpg|thumb|March of the Modrons (but cuter)]]

===March of the Modrons===
<code>"THAT WILL SUFFICE. YOU EXPEDITE OUR SEARCH BY 14 PLANES AND WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. YOU MAY ACCOMPANY US TO THE SURFACE AND WE WILL ENSURE YOUR SAFETY AS RECOMPENSE FOR THIS INFORMATION."</code>

Bruenor confirms with you that these creatures are completely law abiding and the concept of lying just does not compute for them.

You continue to converse with the Quinton Hierarch (you eventually learn this is his rank) on your journey back up to the surface. You drop Zanna off at a nearby passageway that leads back to Menzoberranzan, and she continues back to her meeting with Dyrr.

The rest of you spend days traveling on the modron march, which moves with perfect rhythm and regularity, and you learn more of Mechanus, the mystical realm of Law. There are five ranks of drones and 9 ranks of "Hierarchs" or the ruling class of modrons, all led by the "ONE AND PRIME" also known as Primus. You learn of the last prime, who did in fact die in a battle with Orcus himself. Only the first hierarch speaks of this to you, the others don't seem able to comprehend the idea. The Quarton tells you that when the last prime died, the oldest Secundi immediately took its place, although the energy of a dead prime doesn't just vanish, it redistributes in the world. The current prime took power 248 years ago.

As you return home to inform the Magistery and your friends of your discoveries and the current movements of the Modron March, the Magistery convenes a Master's Council. It is decided in the Master's Council that the Modrons and the Magistery are aligned in the goal of the annihilation of the dreadhorde, and while the modrons care only to destroy the wand, they will have to defeat the dreadhorde to do so. They are likely to fail without our help, and we are likely to fail without theirs.

Modrons are extraordinarily resilient creatures. They are resistant or immune to most elemental, and mind- or emotion-affecting magicks, and will make for strategic allies in this attack. Normally it would be inadvisable to to attack a location as fortified location such as Folcom Keep, but the Modrons while slow to react, once they engage are the most efficient machines of destruction known to the universe. You find out there are exactly 181,500,000 drones in total on this march, and that does not include the few dozen Hierarchs, who you have learned have VERY powerful abilities, beyond magic.

Tomorrow, we bring the fight to them.

Game-Summaries: 7/18/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:32:29Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Ci== A few hours after Zanna and Ember returned from Folcom Keep, Ci stumbles out a planar gate, and leans heavily against a column in the great hall of Shanjiu. Hearing he had returned, Zanna and Ember rush to his side. "What happened Ci? How did you get out? Where's Cassio?" they asked, questions spilling out rapidly in their hurry and concern. Ci lifts a trembling hand and speaks haltingly, "Cassio's gone,..."

==Recollections by [[Ci]]==
A few hours after [[Zanna]] and [[Ember]] returned from [[Folcom Keep]], [[Ci]] stumbles out a planar gate, and leans heavily against a column in the great hall of Shanjiu. Hearing he had returned, [[Zanna]] and [[Ember]] rush to his side. "What happened [[Ci]]? How did you get out? Where's [[Cassio]]?" they asked, questions spilling out rapidly in their hurry and concern. [[Ci]] lifts a trembling hand and speaks haltingly, "[[Cassio]]'s gone, my friends. He saved my life, and now he's gone." With that, he walks unsteadily towards the kitchens. He stops at a jug of wine placed on one of the side tables in the Hall. He pours a glass, drains it, and then pours another. He takes a few more steps then collapses into a chair, exhausted, and begins to speak again.

"I am sorry, my friends. I have been in the Void for whats seems like an eternity. I escaped there from [[Folcom Keep]], but could not bring myself to come home right away. My pain was too fresh, my mind too unsettled. I might be there still, but for my worry for you two. I suddenly remembered you had disappeared and rushed here hoping to find you had survived as well. I am glad that it is so."

"I stopped time and was able to get [[Garnet]], [[Ember]] and myself out when [[Dereth]] betrayed us," [[Zanna]] says. " I am sorry, but I couldn't get you and [[Cassio]] out too, [[Ci]]."

"Do not fear, friend [[Zanna]]. I am glad you were able to escape. When [[Dereth]] rose that accursed wand and summoned the Horde, I thought he might raise it again to banish us all to gods-know-where. When you and [[Ember]] disappeared, I feared the worse. I have never been so pleased to be wrong. For myself, I was resolved to stay and fight to the death with friend [[Cassio]]. Neither of us would ever have surrendered to [[Dereth]], and I think he knew it. I thought we might have one chance in 1000... if we could hold out long enough for Cassio to Dispel the enchantment that had prevented your gate from working, I might be able to take us into the Void. We almost succeeded too. My hand was on [[Cassio]]'s back ready to take us into the Void. [[Cassio]]'s spell had just begun to leave his lips, when suddenly [[Dereth]] raised his hand, pointed one long finger, and a streak of death shot out and stuck [[Cassio]] in the chest."

"I saw his face [[Ember]]. I saw [[Dereth]]'s face when he killed [[Cassio]]. And although I knew that I would soon follow my friend into the long dark, [[Dereth]]'sface chilled me more than the thought of my impending death. He was smiling. Smiling at his own cleverness. At his own Surety. At his own Success. He was so convinced in the RIGHTness of what he was doing, that he couldn't see the evil in it. For a moment I saw his Victory. As fate balanced on the edge of a knife, I could it all laid out before us: A victory so complete that all the peoples of [[Eomas]] would be made slaves or ghosts. A victory so complete that the chaos of it would consume even the gods themselves. I even heard [[Chandra]] laugh behind me at just that moment, as if she could see it too. [[Chandra]] and [[Dereth]] and that bloody [[Conventicle]] would continue to the East, killing and enslaving as they went. They would throw down one god of death and raise another in her place. And there would be no one left to warn the [[Magistery]] or [[The Eternal Order|Order]]... no one left to stand in their way."

"And then just at that moment, like a stone dropped on to a mountainside, everything tipped and began to gather speed and slide the other way. I heard [[Cassio]] scream. It was not a scream of fear or pain. It was a scream of pure determination. As that thin line of death pierced his heart, his body flared with a heat so intense my hand was burned by it. In the space of an instant he was filled with the light of a thousand suns. Fire and ruin shot into the air all around me, hovered a moment, then crashed back to earth like a huge molten wave. It spread and washed over what little was left of House Payne."

"And then... Silence. I looked about, and there was left but me, smoking ruin, and that perfidious witch [[Chandra]]. She looked me in the eyes across the devastation and then fled like a scalded hound. And where just a moment before had been my friend [[Cassio]], there now stood a perfect image of my friend in his last moment... defiance and bravery carved into his face... shield on his arm... flaming sword in his hand. It was of all of perfect black glass, smooth and clear, still smoking as it cooled. In the spot where stood the traitor [[Dereth]], there was but a lump of soft black rock, small and misshapen. At its feet, lay the cursed Wand he had used to summon the Horde against us. I quickly covered it in warm black rock as deeply as I could, so that it might never again be used to betray a friend. Then as I looked upon the rock that had been [[Dereth]], I saw his face, perfectly preserved for but a few more moments in that melting, dwindling lump of rock. I looked down and saw the face of one I called a friend. I saw the face of one who led us here to this place with misinformation and lies. I saw the face of one who had been my brother, but most of all, I now saw the true face of the one who had betrayed us all."

"I swear I will remember that face, [[Zanna]]. May fate damn that witch [[Chandra]]. May it damn the [[Seer]] and the Conventicle. I know that it has already damned Dereth Payne because I saw his face at the end. And he wasn't smiling anymore. No he most definitely was not smiling"

==Recollections by [[Ember]]==

==Recollections by [[Cassio]]==

==Recollections by [[Zanna]]==

==Recollections by [[Dereth]]==
Uncle Conroy was always eccentric, but I didn't believe it all centered around [[Nerull]]. I've known the truth of it from the moment we learned of the Dreadhorde. Then, I watched [[Coin]] lose himself to the outside. Then, I learned the Dark One had returned, and Uncle Conroy was right. All along. When I saw our home destroyed, I finally believed his rants.

I showed the armies the Pardor Pass and watched as my companions collapsed the mountain upon them. I have not always known the movements, and I lamented the lives lost, but came to realize that this way was the best way. Maybe my friends will resent me for not blindly accepting the point of view we were spoon fed, but I pray they learn to consider all perspectives instead of blind trust.

I will weep for the losses to come, and I will miss the gentle jibes and jokes around Shanjiu Keep. I hope they remember that my cohort is not my enemy, and I hope we all survive to the end of this. Let's argue about it afterward...

Game-Summaries: 5/30/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:32:13Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Tallulah== The call to action arrived one morning as my friends Ford, Kaylorr, Zanna and Avant had agreed to help me assemble some new training obstacles at Ravenwood Training Camp. Ford offered to prepare us a three-course mushroom meal throughout the day so he busied himself with food prep as the rest of us worked on a strategy to clear some trees for the new obstacles. While we worked, a hooded rider in a red cloak approach us from the East..."

==Recollections by [[Tallulah]]==
The call to action arrived one morning as my friends Ford, Kaylorr, Zanna and Avant had agreed to help me assemble some new training obstacles at Ravenwood Training Camp. Ford offered to prepare us a three-course mushroom meal throughout the day so he busied himself with food prep as the rest of us worked on a strategy to clear some trees for the new obstacles. While we worked, a hooded rider in a red cloak approach us from the East and delivered a letter. The letter was from a woman named Falratha who has been providing aid to the drow—a horde of necromancers has overtaken the Underdark city of Sschindrylryn. She had been advised to contact the Eternal Order for assistance…and since her letter found the five of us, we decided to answer her call.

We agreed to set out promptly so Ford packed up the remainder of our lunch and we set out tracking the rider for a town to the east called Far Hills. Wethril and I led the group for a several days journey. It felt good to be away from camp and to track the land without really knowing where we were headed or what we would find there. Along the way, we came across a long abandoned village as well as a small camp of cyclopes which we were able to sneak past without altercation. On the following day, Kaylorr stumbled across a lair with shiny metallic shards embedded in entrance of the cavern. There were gargantuan sized dragon prints surrounding the lair. Our curiosity got the best of us so we decided to harvest some of the metal to discover it was in fact mithril! While we were collecting the shards, we also managed to wake the dragon within!!! As soon as we heard its large metallic body stirring we ran away from the cavern entrance as far as we could until we heard and felt the enormous thuds of dragon feet behind us. We halted our retreat and turned, very slowly, around to face the mithril dragon.

Arcades Sabboth is a beautifully terrifying creature who demands your respect with his presence and not only because of his size. His body and wings glittered blindingly in the daylight and with each step he took mithril that had been solidly embedded in the rock reabsorbed into his body. There was an illusion of fragility to him—that he might shatter into a million pieces like glass, though there was certainly no doubt of his strength and power. There was so little doubt in fact that I found myself paralyzed with fear as Ford reached into his pack and held up one of the mushroom maple cupcakes we had never gotten around to eating on the day the rider arrived at Ravenwood. The dragon approached the offering, sniffed the cupcake and promptly snapped it from Ford’s extended hand. Ford somehow managed to keep both his hands and earn enough of the dragon’s respect with his baking that we were able to speak with him.

In speaking with Arcades Sabboth we learned that he has been living here for 3000 years and that his mission is to protect all those who live near the World Tree. He typically does not concern himself with human affairs with the exception of making peace and he graciously allowed us to consider him a friend as long as we do not seek to make war. Upon informing him of the army of the dead he was disturbed and yet advised us to seek to negotiate with the army of the dead. He agreed that we may call upon him if we need assistance in achieving peace. This encounter touched us all…it’s not every day you meet an ancient mithril peace dragon. We watched in awe as Arcades turned and majestically returned to his lair.

Since Arcades also was able to give us directions, we found Far Hills—a small farming village nestled in the foothills of the Pardor Range. We met Eleveid, the bartender at the local tavern Maarit’s. From Eleveid we learned that Falratha and her merry band of minstrels have been staying in the area though he didn’t know where her camp was. Fortunately, one of the townspeople outside the tavern was able to point us in the right direction just past the “Way Down”.

Following this tip we came across what was surely called the “Way Down”. An enormous pit with curved, sharp teeth-like spikes protruding from the earth stood in front of us and there was a small building constructed overlooking the pit. As Zanna began to detect magic a guard came out of the shed to deter us from approaching and to move along. We announced that we were from the Magistery and looking for Falratha but he did not seem impressed. He went back inside the shed and returned with his captain who was also pretty standoffish but did point us in the general direction of Falratha’s camp.

When we arrived at the camp we found Falratha and her friend Arrizz sitting around a fire. After introductions we learned that they have requested the Eternal Order’s assistance in delivering supplies through the Way Down to drow refugees who escaped Scchindrylryn. In the past Falratha had been able to successfully bribe the captain of the guard, Helk, for unhindered passage. About a week before our arrival however, something came up out of the Way Down and since then Helk was no longer open to bribery. Falratha would need a couple hours to move and unload the caravan into the Way Down so Ford and Zanna returned to the guard house to investigate while the rest of us stayed put at camp to strategize. Upon their return we decided to try our best to convince Helk to take a bribe so we set out with the caravan to the Way Down.

A guard came out of the shed to halt our approach as expected. Avant cast Mass Suggestion that the guards accept our offered bribe and Falrotha stepped forward to negotiate. She shook the guard’s hand and as he return to the shed he slipped something into his pocket. The captain of the guard returned to speak with Falrotha who offered him a muffin in return for permission to descend. Helk hesitated but reluctantly accepted much to all of our relief and surprise.

We began the process of unloading the caravan of supplies and Arriz transformed the canvas from the wagons into three little boats. When we reached the bottom of the Way Down we found ourselves at a gentle river in a pitch black cavern. We divvie the supplies and ourselves up into the three boats. I joined Falrotha and Arrizz in the first boat followed by Kaylorr & Zanna and finally Avant & Ford in the final boat. It was peaceful traveling along the river and I found I’ve even grown to enjoy the smell and feel of the damp, heavy air of being deep underground. Then, as the narrow tunnel opened up into a larger cavern I heard a splash that put me on alert.

Falratha guided the boat to a shoreline and beached it. From behind us I heard canvas tear and water splashing so I turned to see the second boat holding Zanna & Kaylorr rocking violently and a large fish-like creature rise from the dark water launching itself at Ford & Avant’s boat. Zanna shouted to Falrotha, “what ''are'' these things?” to which Falrotha replied, “They’re Kuo-toa, kill them all.”

Zanna and Kaylorr’s boat was flooding with water. Zanna attacked with her rapier and Kaylorr cast Guiding Bolt but to no avail as the Kuo-toa ripped through the bottom of the boat causing Zanna, Kaylorr and crates of supplies to tumble into the water. Avant and Ford attacked the Kuo-toa still hanging over the side of their boat with their longsword and rapier and I managed to land two well placed arrows in the creature as well. Zanna magically stepped to shore along with myself, Falrotha and Arriz. Kaylorr, attempting to save one of the supply crates, found himself on an opposite shore bank.

Falrotha, distraught about losing any of the supplies, jumped into the river followed by Arrizz to recover them and we resumed in holding back the Kuo-toa as best we could. More of them were baring down on Ford & Avant’s boat. I sent a lightning arrow at a pair of approaching Kuo-toa which lit up the cavern as it travelled through the air and met its targets. In the darkness a tentacle rose from the surface of the water, snatched a Kuo-toa and pulled it under. The remaining fish creatures shrieked an awful sound and fled under the water as a green noxious liquid spread along the surface of the lake. My foot slipped into the poison water causing me to leap back from the edge of the lake.

Zanna reconstructed the damaged boat and Avant seemed to be having an internal struggle as Ford made efforts to get the third boat back to shore. A well-placed flame strike from Kaylorr followed by one of my lightning arrows caused the monster to thrash its large tentacles creating an enormous wave of water flooding the cavern. I was washed into the lake along with Zanna and Kaylorr. When I surfaced I found myself bobbing close to the giant tentacled beast; I sent a thunderwave in its direction and made for shore as quickly as I could though was unable to escape the attacking tentacles entirely. Making it to shore, I discovered Falrotha and Arrizz had managed to recover two of the crates and the rest of my party had also managed to get on dry land. Arrizz was down and the tentacle monster was draining Avant to replenish its own health. Zanna hurled a chromatic orb at the beast and it froze into a solid block of ice. For good measure she picked up a rock from the ground and chucked it at the frozen creature, a tentacle snapped off and floated away, fairly anticlimactically. Never-the-less the beast was dead. Falrotha returned to the water to recover the final crate and we worked on catching our breath and healing our wounds.

After a short rest we continued down the river, over a bridge and found “the stairs” which descended into the upper dark. Falrotha thanked us for our assistance in their mission and stressed their greatest need is for supplies and fighters for their cause. Kaylorr offered to provide them with a Greater Seal of Sanctuary so we agreed to accompany Falrotha, Arrizz and the supplies to Szith Morcane. We arrived a few days later to a small drow hamlet. The refugees were surprised to see us and grateful for the support and the blessing. Our mission complete we plane shifted home.

We must be prepared to go back.

==Recollections by [[Avant]]==
==Recollections by [[Kaylorr]]==
We start the helping Tallulah with creating an obstacle course in Ravenwood. We spend some time figuring out how to tear down trees and resort to using Wall of Fire to burn down some trees. From the giant smoke plume comes a messenger who gives Tallulah a letter. It's a request for aid from a "Felratha" requesting our presence to assist some drow being attacked by necromancers in the Underdark. We head out immediately and follow the trail of the messenger for about a week or so, heading northeast. We find our way fairly close to Fulcum Keep but the trail becomes cold. As we determine our next step I find what looks to be a lair surrounded by metal shards. Turns out the metal is mithril and the shards we find are the remains of a dragon's metallic breath. We harvest as many shards as much as we can so Zanna can try to craft a mithril rapier for herself and by doing so, we mistakenly awaken the mithril dragon. As dragons do, we are frozen in fear except Ford who manages to convince the dragon that we are friendly by use of his mushroom cupcakes. We learn the dragon's name is Arcades Sabboth and his type is of a very rare breed of dragon. His existence on our plane is to protect the Life Tree and his only interest is for peace. I ask him if he is willing to join our cause against the Eternal Army but he doesn't immediately join us, saying he needs to do his own investigation. The Great Dragon points us towards the location of Far Hills and he tells us to try persuasion in hopes to push the necromancers out. We finally find Far Hills and make our way to the inn, Maarit's. Elevid, the bartender, fills us in on Falratha and her merry band of minstrels who seem to come and go every so often. We head out to search the surroundings and eventually find a pit that is named the Way Down. Trying to figure out what secrets it holds, we meet Helck the Guard Captain in charge of keeping watch over unwelcome visitors. He points us towards Falratha's camp in hopes we can leave and let him be.

An hour or so we come across Falratha's and her band. She fills us in that the Drow city of Sschindylryn has been taken over by necromancers and they have been pushed back to a small town named, Szith Morcane. She is accompanied by a scarred face drow named Arrizz, who is a survivor of the attack of the fungal attacks on the Drow. They need our help bringing the supply convoy to their camp and the only way through is via the Way Down. She tells us Helck had confronted something from down below and since then refuses to allow them passage. Avant ends up using mass suggestion to mind trick the guards into letting us through without any trouble. We load the supplies onto boats and we make our way through the caverns by way of the river at the bottom of massive pit. As we make our way down the cave river, we get attacked by fish creatures, Kuo-toa as Falratha calls them. We dispatch a couple of the creatures when they scatter and we end up confronting a large, squid-like creature from the depths. it plays around with Avant's head a little bit, trying to get him to drown Ford. It is a giant in size and deals massive damage to our group with the use of its tentacles and by poisoning the water. It was a tight battle but Zanna finally deals the killing blow by freezing it solid. It sinks below the water before we can learn what/who it was that attacked us.

We grab the remaining supply crates managing to save everything and we head our way to the entrance of Szith Morcane. Upon finding the camp we see that the survivors are merely refugees and would barely last another fight. Before we leave, I bless their small camp with a Greater Seal of Sanctuary to buy them an extra day of protection and let them know to call upon us when they need our help. Deep down, I hope we can persuade the Magistery to send troops to Falratha and Szith Morcane to help drive out the necromancers and retake Sschindylryn for the drow.

==Recollections by [[Ford]]==
==Recollections by [[Zanna]]==

Game-Summaries: 5/22/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:31:56Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Jeroy== Our new compatriot Gawyn has summarized the larger points and so I will cut to the quick. After defeating Wendonai for a second time we have recovered the Wand of Orchus. Orchus gifts this to only its most loyal servants. The wand itself is very much cursed and should be treated with extreme care and caution. In addition we were gifted what the Dwarves of Durmannus called Oricalcum, a mythological ore that according to Kord - does not e..."

==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==
Our new compatriot Gawyn has summarized the larger points and so I will cut to the quick. After defeating Wendonai for a second time we have recovered the Wand of Orchus. Orchus gifts this to only its most loyal servants. The wand itself is very much cursed and should be treated with extreme care and caution. In addition we were gifted what the Dwarves of Durmannus called Oricalcum, a mythological ore that according to Kord - does not exist. I spoke to him after the mission and he sais that what we were granted was merely "Mythril with some impurities" but these "impurities" appear to be more than just minerals. The rock has a texture that is unnatural for stone, and those that have handled it says it feels somehow "alive." Iago and Loco are researching the ore and I will add more details as we uncover them.

==Recollections by [[Dereth]]==
==Recollections by [[Iago]]==
Jeroy has requested us to return to Durmannus Hall. I join him along with a few others of The Eternal Order. I teleport us there and lead us to the entrance to the Halls. Dodon and Dogrol, a pair of very curious and young dwarves, greet us at the hall and question Jeroy's authenticity. Though once he has mentioned his adventurous and lascivious aunt (or great-aunt, or great-great-aunt), we are admitted in. I question this method of validating who Jeroy is - by their train of thought - it seems everyone would know about her and claim a relation! They also spoke a very odd phrase upon letting us in, ''The Obsidian is Polished''. Regardless, we find a tavern, as instructed by the front-guards. Though perhaps not the tavern they had intended us to find.

On the way to the tavern, we walk a circuitous route and discover some interesting things about the Halls. There is bio-luminescent fungi everywhere. Not standard Dwarvish fare, but it's there. There is also a well that seems to have some magic nullification properties. Curiousor and curiousor.

Back to the tavern we found. It's a pretty muted affair. It's not very Dwarvish at all - boring in fact. However, Jeroy and I get up to no-good. He convinces the old man in the tavern (looks to be the same age as Jeroy actually, so not really that old) and I shadow them invisibly. They go to a gambling hall where Jeroy looses a couple hundred gold. I left shortly after to let Jeroy get information on his own. When Jeroy returns, he tells me that they could see me the whole time! That's simply incredible. Apparently one of the defenses of the hall against their most common trading partners who have the ability to invoke indivisibility (Duregar and Svrifneblin).

I'll skip over the boring details and skip to the fun part.

We go to the main tavern to await a so-called "Deep Bard" who I am ecstatic to compete against! Shortly before she shows up, there is giant first-come-first-serve feast, so we quickly get some food and what looks like a Duregar walks into the fall from the East and starts playing a really bizzare sounding and looking lute. It is creating a magical effect in the room and causing emotions to run wild, as if I'm surrounded by 100 versions of Jeroy while in battle rage. It's frightening. Rezik ''Holds'' her while the King of the Hall seizes her with his guards. She mutters ''I am the deepness'' on repeat in a language that I am unfamiliar with, but I can understand through my magic. I stash away her lute for later inspection, however that seems like it was the wrong thing to do. It filled me with the most vile and disgusting thoughts and I behaved in ways that...well, they were an abomination to say the least. Let's not recall that part. Once I'm also ''Held'', the lute is cleansed in the well along with the Duregar. The lute is of very odd construction and we put it away for inspection and the Duregar mutters ''She returns!'' before collapsing.

The King of the Hall informs us that ''She always returns'', which seems rather ominous to us. We ask to enter the deep mines and he happens to have a perfect replica map of the mines, which he offers us if we are to help him. We delve into the mines and encounter a strange area that has some form of natural lighting and an incessant buzzing sound. After a few minutes of walking around there, we are set upon by several Chasmes! While I manage to elude them, the rest of my group fights them off. While they are distracted, I am able to spot a Glaberzu that is sneaking by to snipe them, but my discovery thwarts it's advance. They are quickly dispatched, however shortly after Jeroy find the true resident of this cave, a Balor that goes by the name of Wendonai (we find this out through its taunting of Jeroy).

''Jeroy Lenkins, I've been waiting for your kind to come back down here.''

After an incredibly epic battle (I have not been forced into combat such as this in a number of months, even my guile can't get us out of this) we (or I) learn a few things.

#Wendonai serves the Demon Lord Orcus
#''The Obsidian is Polished'' refers to the dwarves having dug too deep and running into Orcus' followers
#Wendonai was in possession of the Orcus Wand (we have it now)

Upon return, the King Dwarf offers us immense wealth and riches and a very favourable trade contract (for mithril, [[Orchalcum]], platinum, etc)

'''The Orcus Wand must be kept under extreme secure and safe conditions. It is Vile in itself. It will corrupt that which touches it.'''

==Recollections by [[Gawyn]]==
Jeroy assembled our team to investigate Kord's ancestral halls, a place uncovered during their excursion to the Pardor Pass to prevent an army of the Dreadhorde from doing to Aethelfirth what had been done to my homeland of Folcom Keep. We began as the Order is apparently wont to do when not pressed by an encircling army, and spent several hours after our arrival to the Halls of Dormannus in what they call "Investigation" and in what a saner individual may describe as "faffing about". After exhausting our faculties with the acquisition of details about the Hall of Dormannus, its residents, their trade habits, their gambling habits, their hierarchy, the curious fact that no one appears to be above the age of 60, and the presence of a cleansing water fountain at the entrance to the halls, we elected to wait around until a great feast that had been planned for that evening, and which would be attended by a Deep bard. This proved to be the key to our investigation, as the bard, a duergar equipped with a suspiciously mycotic lute, whipped the revelers into a frenzy that almost devolved into violence. It was interrupted by the lord of the halls, who ordered the seizure of the bard.

Acquiring the lute, Iago exhibited signs of an odd psychosis, whose details I will skip over. I was able to wrest the lute from him, and cleanse it fully in the fountain, removing its maddening taint. Now having an in-road with the Lord Dormannus, we were informed of a recurring demonic incursion in their mines that would slaughter a generation of dwarves on a cyclic basis. We volunteered to do what we do best and kill the demon(s), and were given a map to the likely location of the next incursion after a little persuasion. Descending into the mines, we arrived at the entrance to that section of the mines via a set of conveniently-tracked minecarts. Proceeding in, we slaughtered several demons with minimal effort, and then slaughtered a greater Balrog the others recognized as Wendonai with considerably more effort. Retrieving an obsidian wand from his remains, we returned with further proof of our deed to the Halls and were rewarded appropriately.

==Recollections by [[Rezik]]==

Game-Summaries: 4/25/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:31:34Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Avant== ==Recollections by Jeroy== I will keep this brief as Rezik has hit many of the major items, but rather speak to the subtleties that we have discovered or inferred. *We had been under the assumption that the Baron was a high level caster of some kind due to his ability to protect himself from Rezik's scying. In fact he appeared to be a very normal man but with extraordinary resources. The powerful magic that we have seen must be coming..."

==Recollections by [[Avant]]==
==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==
I will keep this brief as Rezik has hit many of the major items, but rather speak to the subtleties that we have discovered or inferred.

*We had been under the assumption that the Baron was a high level caster of some kind due to his ability to protect himself from Rezik's scying. In fact he appeared to be a very normal man but with extraordinary resources. The powerful magic that we have seen must be coming from another.
*His lands will be turned over to Solace and governed by the government - which reminds me that when we visited his castle we saw Duke Devries at the party. He is in line to become Emperor of Solace and was at the blood orgy. Perhaps would should keep an eye on him?
*The tattoo we found in Velah's lair is the phylactery of Lord Dyrr and he is very much aware that I have it, having told me to "keep it safe" as he parted. So though he knows I have it he appears to "trust" me with it.

==Recollections by [[Gawyn]]==
We left the void for Shanjiu Keep to find it surrounded. The others called upon whatever resources they could muster and whatever allies whose aid they could demand, and with our combined forces we inhumed several thousand soldiers of varying skill and caliber, including the opposing lord who commanded the forces arrayed against us. As to the particulars of why and how this came to happen, I leave to the recollections of the others. I am neither an archivist, nor well versed in the full, and quite lengthy, list of enemies the Order has acquired.

==Recollections by [[Rezik]]==
We arrived to Shanjiu Keep. It's been a month. We can hear drums - war drums. It looks like Baron Zevane has come. We look out the tower and realize we're surrounded. There's approximately 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers surrounding our keep. At the head of the army is a palanquin holding Gramph's head and her mom's head. This is something I'll have to deal with shortly.

Jeroy went to the Magistery to attempt to call for help. He returned with 25 "bombs". Not quiet sure what to do with these.

I decided it was time to call for help. We utilized sending and reached out to all our friends.

*Sending: "Shanjiu Keep is under siege. We request your aid."
**Celebor "And the moon guard will answer. Look south on dawn of the fifth day. Just kidding, be there in a minute."
**Seer "I don't think it would be wise to split resources at this critical time. I'm sorry Rezik, I cannot be of more assistance to you."
**Evoker "I'll check with Seer and we will see if we can come and help. Feel free to use your students to fight for you, practice."
**Mordenkainen "I suppose I should have expected this when I gave you something of mine. I'll see if I can fit it into my schedule."
**Lord Dyrr "Thank you Rezik. See you soon."

*Sending Seal: "Shanjiu Keep is under siege by Zevane. We call for your aid, so we may defend our home and return to our fight against Nerull."
**She responded: "Cord and I will be there soon."

*Commune with Drusilia: ""Drusilia, your friends request your aid. Shanjiu keep, our home, is under siege. Will you help us in this time of need?"
**She responded: "Yes"

Suddenly, Drusilia appears. Her face appears in the minds of Baron Zevane's army and she utters an ultimatum: "Join the Eternal Order or die with Baron Zevane". About a 1/3 of the long bowman and arbalesters, begin to shake in fear and start deserting. The rest of the army seems shaken, but stand their ground.

The remaining long bowman and arbalesters take aim at Shanjiu Keep and start firing. Our guardsmen begin taking damage from the arrows.

In the sky, a cloud began to form. Over the siege weapons, lightning began to rain down tearing apart a number of the rams. In response, the rams rush the castle walls and create a giant breach. The rams break in the process. The Baron's army start to move towards entering the castle.

The Eternal Order begins to help support the battle. We quickly rebuild the wall and surround the cavaliers with a thorn wall. The long bowmen are surrounded by a whirlwind. Avant and Iago begin to inspire our defenders and the rest of the group heals those that are hurt.

As we're working, the gates fly open. We'd been infiltrated by the Baron's scouts. The "Flying Thespians" attempted to support the gates and were able to drop them, but somehow the gates got stuck. Just enough that the Baron's army could still enter. The longsword men began to attack our siege units and attempted to tear them down.

The Moonguard and Shanjiu defenders helped support our siege units while we fired trebuchets into the Baron's arm. We were able to harass the arbalesters, Siege Rams, and Marauders - while destroying all the longbow men.

Lord Dyrr and Mordenakainen begin rebuilding the walls, forcing the Baron's army to stop entering the keep.

As the Baron's armies regroup, Drusilia screams into their minds - "Where do you think you're going?!" and suddenly summons Baron Zevane to the field in front of the palanquin.

The Seal turns to the Baron and looks at him and the champions. It begins to rain and out of nowhere a giant disc of ice appears. The Baron and his champions are encased and unable to move.

The Baron's cavaliers watch as the Baron is frozen solid. They realize the folly and leave the field. The Baron's Men-At-Arms continue to help the army enter the keep, as the rest of the army enters the castle.

Dereth begins healing the siege units and Shanjiu defenders. The rest of the Eternal Order begin attacking the forces that have entered the keep.

The Baron's army have fully entered the keep and attempt to wreak havoc. In response, The Flying Thespians begin to create chaos and start attacking the Baron's halberdiers; harassing them and slowing them. The Moonguard entered the fray and finished off the halberdiers.

Our siege weapons turned to the albalesters and utterly destroy the Baron's units. As the siege weapons are firing, Drusilia turns to Baron Zevane's body and pulls it into the sky and screams into the army's minds: "This is what happens those that attack Shanjiu Keep". Pure terror spread through the army and they all lay down their weapons.

As we clear the keep, we turn to the body of Baron Zevane and cast Speak with Dead to begin to learn what we can. He answered the call and couldn't help but answer our questions.

We asked:

*Who are the old gods you wish to have returned?
**Blood for the blood god.
*Who are your co-conspirators?
**Maximus Atillar ( https://solace5e.com/index.php/Game-Summaries:9/6/2019_Recollections )
*What did you hope to accomplish?
**Magistery Down. Crimson Chalice Up.
*Where do we find Maximus?
**Looks at Rezik and grabs his own crotch. Jeroy takes off Baron Zevane's pants and finds his flaccid corpse bloated penis.
*How do you join the Crimson Chalice?
**Sow discord

We disintegrate Baron Zevane's body and find that he held onto three magical items: Plate Mail, Sword, and Shield.

==Recollections by [[Iago]]==
I return to Shanjiu Keep from the Void with others and come to learn rather quickly that the Keep has been under siege for a month by our dear friend Baron Zevane. He's surrounded us.

We raise the call to arms and notify all allies and many answer the call (some in secret). Our Defenders and the entire Eternal Order is present, of course, along with my dear friends of The Moonguard. Additionally [[Sakura]] returns as [[Drusilia]] as well as some that might be better known in the worlds: [[The Seal]] (in secret) and [[Mordenkainen]].

Combat was....well, epic. With such powerful forces, the battle to defeat the siege was impressive. It takes an act of god (literally here) and perhaps the most powerful being we know (The Seal of course) to defeat them. Rain with a flash freeze puts the Baron in a glacier!

We "bring back" Zevane to question him - well, at least mentally bring him (or is it "it") back.

EO: Who are the old gods that you worship?

BZ: Blood for the Blood Gods

EO: Who else are you working with? (plot coin used)

BZ: Maximus Attilar

EO: What did you hope to accomplish? (plot coin used)

BZ: Magistry Down. Crimson Chalice Up.

EO: Where do we find Maximus?

BZ: He turns to Rezik and grabs his own crotch

EO: How do we join the Crimson Chalice? (plot coin used)

BZ: Sow discord.

[[Rezik]] ensures that Zevane shall not be brought back and disintegrates his remains.

Did that answer anything? It certainly creates more questions.

Game-Summaries: 4/11/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:31:15Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Jeroy== Tallulah, Wethril, Ford, Dereth, Rezik, and I went on a journey to complete the weapon legacy of my Bloodcrier and Tallulah's Bloodscreamer. We started our journey by heading to the Temple of the Moon in the Great Waste. A massive temple buried upside down below the Great Waste. We arrive with little trouble thanks to Tallulah's deft navigation and cartography skills. We enter and immediately have to navigate down the ceiling of a staircase..."

==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==
Tallulah, Wethril, Ford, Dereth, Rezik, and I went on a journey to complete the weapon legacy of my Bloodcrier and Tallulah's Bloodscreamer. We started our journey by heading to the Temple of the Moon in the Great Waste. A massive temple buried upside down below the Great Waste. We arrive with little trouble thanks to Tallulah's deft navigation and cartography skills. We enter and immediately have to navigate down the ceiling of a staircase. Each of us manage to maneuver down the slope with ease except for Dereth. He is not the most nimble adventurer as he slips at some point and tumbles down to the bottom, arriving with a series of clangs and bangs. There is a pause as the sound of his armor rings down the hallways as we hear a groan and muffled "I'm fine" come from the heap of metal. He stands up to see us holding back laughter. "This armor has saved me more than it has hurt me, so go ahead and laugh now."

Rezik suggests "Perhaps you should take the armor off so we can move more quietly?"

Dereth doesn't even consider it "No. If we find it may be needed later, perhaps. But for now it stays on. Besides I'm not wearing anything underneath this."

We begin to make our way down the narrow hallways of the Temple of the Moon with Tallulah and Wethril in front, me behind them, Rezik in the middle, then Dereth, and Ford in the rear. We are moving as quietly as possible to avoid alerting anyone or anything in the temple of our presence. On the 4th level Tallulah hears something up ahead and holds up her hand, we stop. She tells us she hears the sound of rocks being dragged or pushed around the corner. She casts pass without a trace on all of us as we make our way up to the corner to learn more of what lurks beyond the turn. As we cautiously move our way towards the source of the sound Dereth kicks a stone and the sound stops. Dereth sends his familiar around the corner and sees a stone-humanoid figure with metal plate bolted onto it standing motionless, in the hallway.

"What now?" Tallulah asks.

"Tell it we mean it no harm." Recommends Rezik.

"Anyone know how to speak to a statue?" Asks Ford.

"I'll try in Old Tongue and common." Says Dereth.

"I can try dwarven." Says Jeroy

We call out but with no response, we are met by eerie silence. Slowly we approach and turn the corner to find the stone figure looking towards us. We approach slowly and pass by it without any activity. Rezik casts an alarm spell around the figure to know if it begins to move again as we press on further down into the Temple. While on the 6th level Rezik suddenly stops and turns to look back from where we came.

"Everything alright?" Asks Ford.

"My alarm just triggered, either that statue moved, or something moved past it."

"Cool moving statues, cool cool."

Again Tallulah holds up a hand and we stop.

"Do you hear something?" Asks Dereth.

"No, but I feel as though we are being watched."

Dereth casts true sight and is able to see the full depth of the hallways before and behind us.

"I do not see an invisible creature, traps, or something else that would not be plainly visible to us all. But I have the same sense that you do. We must proceed with caution."

Tallulah nods and continues to walk down the hallway but walks into an invisible wall.

"What the Avernus?" She exclaims.

Dereth sees golden bars in front and behind us. "It's a force cage!" He tells us.

Rezik jumps into action. "Get ready to run." As he blasts a disintegrate spell at the bars, but the bars are unfazed. "...Or not." He says with disappointment.

Tallulah notices an emerald gem in the wall but as she goes to touch the gem the stone wall surrounding it appears to "blink" to cover the emerald, so seamlessly it appears to have never been there. She looks to the rest of the wall to find it is covered with emeralds that "blink" in the same way.

The walls begin to close in around us. "Anyone else got any ideas?" Rezik asks the group?

"Stand aside, this temple housed my Bloodcrier, perhaps it is the key we need." And with a mighty blow I swing my maul onto the force bars. A mournful tone sounds throughout the hallway and echos out in all directions but the walls appear unchanged.

"Hmph I really thought that would work." I say looking at Bloodcrier with confusion.

"You ALWAYS think that is going to work." Dereth says exasperated.

"50% of the time it works every time." I shoot back.

While these shenanigans are ongoing Ford is crawling along the floor, following the lines of the stone and glyphs that triggered this trap with intense focus.

"Tallulah, step on that glyph over there." He points to one near her foot.

"Jeroy, stand on that one. Dereth, that one over there, and Rezik that one." He says to us.

"OK when I say go, step off the glyph. Everyone ready?" We nod.

"Ready, go!" We step off together as he pushed down on a glyph in front of him. The walls continue to close but the bars disappear.

"Run!" He exclaims! As we dash out the walls close completely and then meld seamlessly together, as if there was never a room there before.

We continue on and enter a large chamber. On the ceiling relative to us, are two prison cages that appear to be broken out of long ago. Approximately 100 feet farther into the room, but on the "ceiling", is a large deius with a glowing portal above it. After inspecting the room full we seem to have no other options around us but to go into the portal.

"So how do we get up there?" Dereth asks. I pull out my immovable rod and rope. I tie a clove hitch around the rod and hold it out to Rezik and Dereth.

"If any of you tossers can get up there you can activate the rod and then the rest can climb." I say to Dereth and Rezik.

Rezik rolls his eyes as he takes the rod. "...Tossers." He murmurs to himself as he casts the fly spell on himself. He floats up to the portal and activates the rod. "Come on up knuckle-dragger."

I climb up and enter the portal and as soon as I pass through I am overcome with a feeling of pressure, heat, and moisture. Around me is a series of caves and tunnels unlike anything I've seen before in all my years as a dwarf. The air itself has a crushing weight about it as I even struggle to stand up against it. The rest follow behind and feel the same oppressive weight.

"Where are we?" Tallulah asks.

I closely inspect the rock walls and find them to be a dense igneous rock. The type of rock, the crushing pressure, the stagnant air all points to one thing.

"We are at the center of Terra." I tell the group.

"That explains a lot and somehow also not enough." Ford says grinning through a headache.

We explore the pitch black cave around us and discover it is littered with glass orbs that appear to have etchings suspended in the middle of the interior of the glass in an unknown language.

"Can anyone read this?" I say to the group. Dereth peers into the orb and struggles to read and slowly shakes his head.

"It's in Old Tongue, but it makes no sense." He says with a look of confusion. "The sentences, the syntax...It's in gibberish. There are parts that reference something vaguely magical, but nothing complete."

Rezik's eyes light up. "Like a coded spell scroll or page of a spell book?"

Dereth nods his head. "Perhaps but I cannot even begin to tell what school of magic or spell they would be for."

Rezik turns to me. "Seems like your big muscles might come in handy for something during this mission after all. Once we are done here you will need to carry as many of these as I want."

"You mean as many as I can carry." I respond.

"No." He shakes his head and rests a hand on my shoulder. "As I want."

Tallulah feels a slight movement in the air further into the cave. "There is moving air ahead, but odd. The movement feels as though something is….breathing."

"How big does something need to be so that its breathing makes the maple syrup air at the center of the earth move?" Ford asks the group.

We begin to investigate the cave and come to find more of the same statue creature we saw on the 4th level of the temple. As we position ourselves we see come out of the darkness a far larger stone creature which shakes the cave with every step. Dereth calls out to it. "We mean you no harm, we are only here to explore."

It opens its mouth but all we hear is a series of rumbles and vibrations that reverberate through-out our bodies.

"Anyone catch that last part?" Ford adds in with a snicker. Dereth casts tongues on himself and tries again to speak with it.

"We mean you no harm, we are only here to explore." He repeats.

It speaks to him "You will not take Zeretan from me!"

Dereth looks to us with confusion and turns back to the creature. "Who is Zeretan? We mean you no harm."

"You ask too many questions!" As we see that the other statue creatures have flanked us. We are surrounded. The large creature turns to me and extends a hand and I feel the reverberating rumble through-out my body. Suddenly Bloodcrier is gone. Distraught I look around and see that it is in the hand of the creature. I turn to Dereth with a frantic look.

"He says ‘that's mine?'" Dereth says with a confused look.

What happens next I remember only in bits and pieces. The last thing I remember is entering a rage, but this was a white hot rage unlike those I have felt before. I draw my soulmate and with all the fury and power of my ancestors guiding my strikes I swing down crushing blow after crushing blow on this creature. After an unknown amount of time I feel one swing come down onto the creature so that it crumbles like a house of cards before my falling axe. It becomes nothing more than a pile of loose rocks and dust and I frantically search for Bloodcrier. But I do not find it.

Still in a rage unlike any I have known before I turn to see one more of the statue creatures standing. I raise my axe again and come down with all the force I can muster. "What did you do with my Bloodcrier!" I scream as the statue creature is crushed into dust. I take short and panicked breaths. I see no more of the creatures around me and still I do not see Bloodcrier. I look to my compatriots but no words come out to express my frustration. I see Rezik wave his hand across me and I am instantly overcome with complete exhaustion and I fall to my knees.

"I'm glad I cast haste on you. Good work Jeroy. But don't get lazy on me, those orbs won't carry themselves." Rezik laughs to himself. "I'm surprised you didn't use Bloodcrier during the fight. You just left it on your belt the whole time?"

We continue into the cave and close to the breathing sound. We find a huge maw, almost as tall as the cave breathing in and out. When we try to communicate with it it breaths towards us and showers us with dirt. Dereth tries to telepathically link us to the maw and we instantly are overcome with a moment of endless knowledge but I fall unconscious. I awake sometime later to see Rezik and Dereth tending to Tallulah, Ford, and me.

"You all fell unconscious. This thing is Zeretan, the older earth elemental. Rezik thinks if we excavate the rock around the mouth to expose the face we may be able to communicate with it." Dereth tells me. I shrug my shoulders and say that I can help dig.

Rezik tosses some spells and exposes the eyes of Zeretan. He stands back from the mouth and stares directly into its eyes. His face goes blank and his eyes widen but suddenly he falls to the ground. We rush over to check on him. "He's dead!" Tallulah says to us.

"Maybe someone more in tune with the earth needs to communicate with it." I say looking at Bloodcrier. "Dereth, please be ready with something from your Goddess." I turn to the eyes and instantly the world goes black.

I am bathed in a warm glow, the weight of the air is gone and my mind feels at ease. I look out to see all of my ancestors around a large banquet table overflowing with find dwarven food and ale. The sounds of minstrels echo through the mountain halls as laughter erupts over stories told over a thousand generations of dwarves. I am beckoned over to join as a seat is pulled out for me. As I step towards the table a blinding light washes out all I can see.

I awake back in the cave surrounded by Ford, Tallulah, and Dereth.

"You ok?" Tallulah asks me.

"I...yes...I saw my ancest….where….how long did it talk to me?" I saw with confusion.

"The moment you looked at it you died. Like not even a second." Ford lets out with a belly laugh.

"Died?" I say to Dereth.

"Yes, died. I had to revivify you." He says to me. He motions to Rezik's still unconscious body. "Same thing happened to him but I know he always has a backup plan. We can leave him. But we should grab those orbs and head back to the keep."

==Recollections by [[Tallulah]]==
The time had come for Jeroy and I to return to the Temple of the Moon to complete the next legacy weapon ritual for Jeroy’s Bloodcrier and my Blackbow. Accompanying us was Ford, Dereth, Rezik and Wethril of course. Wethril and I navigated the group North to The Great Waste—I’m sure appreciating picking up those cartography skills now. We travelled easily and as the Temple came into view, buried upside down in the sand, it felt somehow more formidable than it had the last time we were here.

To enter the Temple we had to drop down to the ceiling with the staircase above our heads. We all managed to get inside OK, Dereth was a bit clumsy but no harm done. Dereth cast Telepathic Bond so we could communicate in silence and I continued to map our route along the way. Wethril and I took the lead with Jeroy, Rezik, and Dereth in the middle and Ford bringing up the rear. We wound our way along the ceiling of the temple going deeper and deeper underground. With each level we descended, the air got darker and more damp and dank.

As we approached another turn, I heard a rock scraping and dragging against other rock and communicated to the group we’d need to pass slowly. I cast Pass Without a Trace as we crept up to the corner. Dereth’s toe met a rock as he moved which skittered ahead clacking along the ceiling—the rock scraping noise stopped. I held my breath and listened…nothing. Dereth decided to send his owl familiar Gaewynn around the corner which reported a large golem creature made of boulders and wearing armor still as a statue. We called out to it that “we mean no harm” but it still did not respond or move at all. Carefully we rounded the corner and crept passed the enormous stone statue/creature. It was eerie and I think the whole group felt it; Rezik cast an Alarm to be triggered by any movement in this area after we’d left and we moved on into the dark.

Down, down, down we went. About 8 hours after we’d encountered the stone golem Rezik’s alarm went off. We were certainly on alert now so as we approached the stairwell to the 6th level down, Gaewynn scouted ahead. There was nothing visible to deter us moving forward but as I dropped down to the 6th level and entered the hallway I got the feeling we were being watched and soon we all felt it. Moving carefully and deliberately forward I walked right into an invisible wall! With True Sight Dereth saw the Force Cage surrounding us. Magical symbols appeared on the floor and as I examined the rock wall in front of me I noticed a tiny pock mark in the wall. Next thing we knew the entire wall was covered in green gems that seem to blink back into stone when we interacted with them. We didn’t have much time to marvel at these gem eyes as the walls on either side of us began to close in around us. Ford, noticing a pattern in the symbols on the floor, was able to unlock the Force Cage and with moments to spare we bolted ahead as the walls closed in behind us.

That was entirely too close and certainly enough excitement for one day. We set up camp for the night and I fell fast asleep against Wethril’s shoulder but awoke suddenly a few hours later as walls were closing in around me. It took me several seconds to get my bearings in the dark, musty chamber and realize it was naught but a bad dream. I took a long stretch, gave Weth a couple scratches around his big ear and glanced around at my companions who I felt incredibly lucky to have to my back. I fell back to sleep for a couple hours and when we were packing up to move on I decided to express my gratitude for the group with an inspiring speech to carry us forward for the day ahead.

Shortly after beginning our second day of adventure we came across a large antechamber. On the floor above us was a circular portal glowing green and bathing the chamber in weird greenish light; on either side of the portal were 2 steel prisms attached to the ground that appeared to have been broken open, remnants of the cages lay around us on the celing. We set about trying to determine how to proceed. Rezik sent a rock with a string tied around it through the portal—it returned intact though warm. With nowhere else to go but forward, Rezik and Jeroy used a rope attached to Jeroy’s immovable rod to allow us to climb up into the portal.

Once through the portal nothing but a stone wall lay behind us. The air was dark and dense and the pressure caused an intense ache in my head. Around us were glass orbs of various sizes. Upon investigation it appeared that there were spells written on the inside of the orbs though much too long and complex to make sense of here, Ford carried about harvesting mushrooms and as I paid attention to our strange new environment I sensed air moving in and out of the chamber—seemed an awful lot like breathing. I scouted ahead in the tunnel; the breathing stopped and I could have sworn I saw a rock move and disappear from sight.

We pressed forward and eventually came across a large rock creature resembling the statue we encountered the day before. Rezik approached announcing that we had only come to explore. The Earth Magus replied in a low, rumbling language none of us could understand. Dereth cast tongues and repeated Rezik’s words. The Earth Magus rumbled “you will not take Zaratan”. Understandably puzzled, Dereth inquired further about Zaratan but to no avail. As the Earth Magus became aware of Jeroy it exclaimed, “hey, that’s mine” and suddenly Jeroy’s Bloodcrier was in his hands! As this was happening 4 smaller (though far from small) rock creatures flanked me and Wethril from behind. The Earth Magus stomped its feet and the ground shook—the battle was on.

Wethril and I attacked the creatures in our immediate vicinity—it was clear these foes were going to be difficult to defeat with arrows and teeth though it didn’t slow us down. Again, grateful for our friends: Rezik slowed the smaller creatures and attacked with a fireball, Dereth wielded Excaliber, Jeroy, enraged, went full barbarian with Soulmate and his shield and Ford sneak attacked as he does best. Meanwhile, the Earth Magus created allies by tearing off pieces of rock from his shoulders which grew into other enemies for us to contend with. With a shove from Jeroy’s shield all the crystals in the rock monsters began to glow and we were bathed in orange light. The Earth Magus stomped its enormous stone foot knocking most of us to the ground and held Jeroy firmly in his grasp. Rezik, still on his feet, cast Magic Missile and Jeroy was able to break free and give the giant another shove. The large rock creature began to pick up rocks and hurtle them towards my companions—somehow, Ford managed to catch one saving Jeroy from its trajectory. I cast Lighting Arrow at the Earth Magus with my friends far enough away from it to avoid getting caught in the friendly fire and Rezik cast Disintegrate which certainly seemed to have an impact on the creature but did not disintegrate it. With one final enraged blow Jeroy swung his trusty ax and the Earth Magus turned to dust on the floor. He sifted through the dust and, further incensed when he did not find Bloodcrier, took out his rage on the final rock creature destroying it leaving us to catch our breath. In the moments after the battle Jeroy came to realize that Bloodcrier was, in fact, on his belt. We had unlocked the Legacy of Bhazad Khrar.

In the silence that typically follows a battle, we could still hear and feel the breathing from deeper in the cavern. We approached an enormous, gaping maw with dirt strewn and piled all around it. Dereth inquired cautiously, “Zaratan?” and the being exhaled toward us—everything around me went hazy and I succumbed to the darkness.

A short bit later I awoke to find that Rezik and Jeroy had also fallen unconscious as a result of our encounter with Zaratan and though Ford and Dereth had not collapsed, they seemed somehow different. Once we’d all come to, Rezik decided to try to learn more from this being and moved the loose earth around its head in order to reveal its eyes. Rezik locked eyes with Zaratan and entered a trance briefly until he collapsed, lifeless on the floor. Rushing to his side we discovered he was in fact dead until Dereth could revive him. Despite this severe consequence and much to our disbelief, Jeroy decided he might be better suited to the job of communicating with Zaratan and also locked eyes with it. Sadly for Jeroy, he fell victim to the elemental’s stare immediately and also needed to be revived by Dereth.

As satisfied as we could be that we had learned all there was to learn here, we collected a few of the glass orbs in the hopes of deciphering the spell scrolls inscribed on them and returned to the Magistery.

==Recollections by [[Ford]]==
==Recollections by [[Rezik]]==
Jeroy and Tallulah had come to find out that to further unlock their artifacts that they would need to travel to the center of the world. It's interesting journey and I was very excited to join. Dereth and Ford seemed to be intrigued too, and came with us.

We had been told that the entrance would start at the Temple of the Moon. We entered quickly, knowing that the journey would take many days, and began our descent (or ascent, since the Temple of the Moon has been inverted into the ground).

Once we entered, we found our way through a number of tunnels. We got deeper and deeper, reaching about 150 feet down before the air started to feel dank. At this point we had reached the fourth level and happened to come across some kind of statue. It almost looked like a golem (but not a golem), covered in metal armor. It was definitely making noise previously, but seemed to have stopped now.

We were able to get past the earth elemental without any incident, so we continued on our journey. (I cast alarm around the elemental, so we would know if it moved).

Now we were passing the 5th level and preparing to descend to the 6th level (about 8 hour of walking). At this point my alarm spell was triggered. It looks like the elemental must have moved or someone have moved near it - at this point we were too far for me to investigate further.

We continued to the 6th level and saw nothing. Then, as we entered the tunnel - Tallulah felt as if something was watching us. She relayed that to us and Dereth cast True Sight to see if something was actually watching, but he saw nothing.

As we made our next step, Tallulah ran into what felt like an invisible wall. Dereth saw what it actually was though - a series of Force Cages trapping us. Suddenly, the walls started to close and we knew we were going to be crushed soon.

Just as I was preparing to cast Antimagic Field, Ford was able to figured out the safety the creator had left behind and disabled the trap. We were really lucky for that one.

Now that we knew what we were looking for, we slowly made our way through the rest of the tunnels, looking for glyphs and traps. We were able to make it through without triggering anymore.

We suddenly entered an antechamber (from the ceiling). In the distance we saw a circular portal above the dais. The portal was glowing green, about fifty feet above us. (Note: This room feels oddly familiar, almost as if I saw it in another life).

We strung up some rope and quickly climbed through the portal. As we appeared on the other side, we suddenly felt an intense pressure. It was pitch black and the pressure was oppressive, it was difficult to concentrate.

As we surveyed the area, we saw spheres of glass strewn across the ground. They reassembled scrying stones, but inside of the spheres were floating inscriptions. It seems almost as if the stone is a scroll. Jeroy starts adding them to his backpack for us to investigate later.

We continue to explore and we realize, we're in the core of the world.

Tallulah feels the air and it felt like the air was pulsing - as if someone is breathing. As we explore, suddenly the air became still. We continue exploring and come across an Earth Magus. We attempt to speak to the Magus and suddenly Jeroy loses Bloodcrier as it appears in the Magus' hands. He yells "You will not take Zaratan from me".

We tried to reason with the Magus, but there was no persuading him. Battle commenced.

It was a difficult fight and finally, in the end, Jeroy's axe cuts through the Magus. As we look the dust for Bloodcrier, it's no where to be found. We all look at Jeroy and see it back on his side, as if it never left - as if it were an illusion.

As we continue to explore we come across a gaping maw. It's a pungent breath coming from it. We realize that this is Zaratan, one of the elder earth elementals, the source of earth.

I begin to excavate more of the face and suddenly find myself gazing into the eyes of Zaratan. Knowledge floods into my mind and suddenly I know everything at all once. Just as quickly as it started everything goes black.

(Note: Make another clone)

==Recollections by [[Dereth]]==

Game-Summaries: 3/14/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:30:39Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Jeroy== Following the mission to Pardor Pass I returned to Solace to give my report to Kord. He was in his chambers reviewing battle notes, formations, and troop assignments. I knock to enter and he beckons me in. Jeroy enters and bows his head to Kord. "Thank you sir. I have a report on the Pardor Pass mission. Several members of the Eternal Order, masters of the Magistery, and Cordite were successful in stopping the Dreadhorde's march. We wer..."

==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==
Following the mission to Pardor Pass I returned to Solace to give my report to Kord. He was in his chambers reviewing battle notes, formations, and troop assignments. I knock to enter and he beckons me in.

Jeroy enters and bows his head to Kord. "Thank you sir. I have a report on the Pardor Pass mission. Several members of the Eternal Order, masters of the Magistery, and Cordite were successful in stopping the Dreadhorde's march. We were able to kill the entire army except for one individual. But I have a question about the caves."

Kord smiles and responds "ah yes, Reshi reported to me upon her return. I understand you held back a bit and watched Wisakedjak work. You'll have to tell me how that was sometime. You're going to ask why my Hall was abandoned, aren't you?"

I turn around behind me to see if my ancestor Gull is in the room and talking to others without me around. I turn back cautiously "....yes" I say to Kord.

Kord laughs quickly "I had a feeling this question would be coming once I gave you that landmark. I left my home long, long ago, for the Magistery of course. Getting a little nostalgic he takes a seat at his desk and gestures to you for the other chair. Very few of us are left, who truly hail from Durmannus." I ask him if he wishes to return.

He looks up to the ceiling with a loud exhale. "ah... Would that I could Jeroy. Would that I could...I might have been the leader of my Hall of I had stayed... If there was a hall to lead." He gets a melancholic cast to his face."It's not an uncommon tale among our kind, I'm sure you've heard warning fables from your own mother, around a hearthfire perhaps, about some dwarf that got too greedy. Well, our tale is one of those warning fables." He sighs and sees your face and continues "in the wake of the great Awakening we found hundreds of new fissures in our caves. Oh Jeroy, it was a time of plenty.... For a little while. Half of the mining was done for us, we just had to walk in these new excavations and collect ore. Production ramped, our economy flourished, and we are like kings of the age of legends until we delved into one fissure in particular. One crevasse held the Doom of Durmannus, though nobody knew it at the time. By then I had already left, used some of our new found prosperity pay my way here and learn magic. I regret that I could not be there to fight what it is they awoke in the deep bowels of mother Terra... But my responsibilities lie here now, with the Magistery. Some of my family escaped that fate, but none who saw the Doom lived to tell the tale. We only know what little we do because of the evidence left behind." He looks down and shakes his head."Great gouges in the earth. Collapsed tunnels in even our most fortified locations. Whatever they found, it was angry, and it called the power of a primordial elemental fury to bear."

My eyes widen "Is it still down there?" I ask

"I have to believe it is, otherwise even in its deteriorated state, someone would have occupied the hall by now I expect. I have to admit...I haven't wanted to think about it, I have not returned there in well over a century. I feel partly responsible for the downfall of my home."

"One person cannot be responsible for that." I reassure him

He shakes himself and smiles again. "But I have a new home now. And a new clan." He nods to me. "I assume that you ask me all of this because you want to go exploring, as part of your thesis?"

"I figured that it was an important place. It sounds like it is. It could be helpful, even with a doom creature lurking. Perhaps Bloodcrier can help with that." I say with a nod to my maul.

"Perhaps indeed. When all of this settles down a bit, I'd love to go on an adventure with you Jeroy. Get away from the paperwork and..." He sighs again "I'm getting carried away. That's not my place any longer, but should you need some assistance, I'm sure I could help you out of a crevice here and there" Kord winks.

I bow and say back to him. "Thank you sir, that would be appreciated." Recapturing his normal demeanor he stands and faces the map on his wall again, you see that MANY annotations have been made since last you were here. Though he says "Dismissed" like you've heard a hundred times before from Kord, this time he watches you leave from the corner of his eye, and you swear you catch just the barest hint of a grin. With that I leave the Magistery and make my way back to the keep. As I pass through our portal I find myself not wisked back to the calm weather and nature of Shanju, but rather to an unending space bathed in pale blue light but empty at the same time. I squint as I look in all directions and slowly realize that I am joined by Tallulah, Ford, Iago, and Gawyn. I look to them all and say "Where are we?"

Iago speaks first "I have no idea, give me some time to see if I can find out." He begins to prep a spell.

I turn to our others "Ford, Talluah, or Gawyn - any ideas?" They shrug. Tallulah's keen eyes sees that the pale blue light appears to come from a specific location in the unending distance. She points "That may be a clue."

Turning to the light I ask for a moment and I attempt to consult my ancestor Unliff. He appears before us and I ask him if Iago should cast teleport to return us to the Keep. He response quickly with "woe" and disappears. I look over to Iago - "Don't cast teleport. It won't be good."

Iago, visibly frustrated, turns back to me. "Ok if you say so, Legend Lore didn't give me any additional information. I say we head towards the light."

As we walk the blue grows and then we hear the clearing of a throat behind us. We turn to see a triangle of light with tentacles, it vibrates a voice into our heads. It is an elder brain that names himself Shar Ao Navira.

Ford speaks first "is this where you live?" Shar responds simply "this is where I was born. I live here."

Iago asks "Why are we here?"

"Coin and Shar Ngolyeth worked together to destroy our world."

Gawyn askes "why do you want to defeat Shar Nerull?"

Shar Ao Navira responds "Nerull is an agent of chaos. I wish for certainty. If he rules your world he will attack gods one by one until he rules over them all."

Iago jumps in saying "What will you do after Nerull is defeated?" Shar Ao Navira responds simply saying "going back to observing."

I asked how we can defeat the eternal army. Shar says to us "You have done well so far but I can lend you all aid by granting you use of this void. The conventicle has backed the other horse. The seer is more cleve than you think. When she said she was the twin born of the Raven Queen she was not being metaphorical. She is the neglected sibling of the Raven Queen. The Seer sees only uncertainty, while the Raven Queen deals only in the certainty of death. I choose the Raven Queen. The void is in all things. You can walk through it, see through it, or one you become powerful enough - use the void. The Seal created me when she created the rain shield of Solace. Ask me anything to prove I seek to help you."

We peppered him with questions and received the following answers:

# What is the artifact: It is the definition of our world. If it were destroyed then our world would be ruleless like the abyss.
# What is tattoo we found in Velah's lair: It is the phylactery of Lord Dyrr.

We all pledge to Shar Ao Navira and gain the ability to planeswalk.

Game-Summaries: 2/15/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:28:53Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Jeroy== ===Receiving our Orders=== Amon has reached out to me to assist in stopping The Dreadhorde that Marches towards Aethelfirth. What follows is a summary of our mission to stop the Dreadhorde at the Pardor Pass in hopes that it provides the citizens of Aethelfirth additional time to evacuate. We begin by finding Warden in his makeshift Druidic Grove within his chambers of the newly constructed Magistery. "Amon. This..."

==Recollections by [[Jeroy]]==

===Receiving our Orders===

[[Amon]] has reached out to me to assist in stopping The [[Dreadhorde]] that Marches towards [[Aethelfirth]]. What follows is a summary of our mission to stop the Dreadhorde at the [[Pardor Pass]] in hopes that it provides the citizens of Aethelfirth additional time to evacuate. We begin by finding [[Warden]] in his makeshift Druidic Grove within his chambers of the newly constructed [[Magistery]]. "Amon. This information is helpful. What else do you know?"

Amon responds "I don't know this for sure, Warden, but we suspect their objective in Aethelfirth may be tied to an artifact kept there since the home of Lord Aethel. Our Order's own records on past missions indicates it may tied to the Seal and the Ring Magic that presumably powers our magistery rings. Their objective at Windy Bluff we're still trying to determine, but it's likely their choice of target is equally deliberate. Based on what I can tell from their marching speed both armies will strike at roughly the same time, a little over two weeks from now. Something in the makeup of the army is obscuring them from scrying accurate counts of their troop sizes, and it's a natural occurrence that blocks even true sight. As such I can estimate the total size of their force to be roughly 10,000 strong split between a large garrison at the former Folcom Keep and the two, smaller armies on the march, but I don't know exactly how big those armies are. This is all from reconnaissance by scrying over the past several days, and everything but the last part has also been passed along in a report within [[House Blue]]." ''Amon hesitates'' ''uncertainly, but then continues'', "Military matters are outside of my specialty, but my understanding of the geography of the area suggests we might be able to delay the army marching on Aethelfirth if we collapse the Pardor Pass, which might buy us the time needed to meet them in the field at full strength in both places."

Jeroy's has an idea and proudly adds to the conversation "Could we collapse the Pardor Pass onto them? ''Kill one army with many stones'' as my mother use to say." Warden looks at us both as though this is all new information. "I.... The Magistery has a chapter in windy bluff. We should defend that city first...." He pauses. "but yes.. Pardor Pass... Good idea Amon. Yes go do that." He mutters to himself for a moment and then turns back to you "that will be all. Jeroy since you're here go tell Kord."

Jeroy makes his way to Kord's chamber, knocks and enters to see Kord looking over a massive map of the Pardor range with a vast amount of lines and annotations all over it. Without even turning to address you Kord speaks "Soldier, Report"

Jeroy responds in a typical manner of fact tone "The eternal army marches to windy bluff and Aethelfirth. They have split their forces in unknown quantities but their total strength is believed to be 10,000 men. A fellow magister by the name Amon has attempted to scry upon them to learn more but heavy fog, either natural or magical, blocks his vision. We informed Warden who prefers to defend Windy Bluff. Amon has a plan to slow the army approaching Aethelfirth by collapsing Pardor Pass. Warden ordered me to provide a report to you. The Eternal army leaves a large force in what remains of Folcom Keep." Kord turns to face Jeroy, appraises him for a moment and then depends to the map.

"Right here" he points to one of the lines going into the mountain range. "This is my ancestral home. Dwarves haven't lived there for a few hundred years, who knows what lies in the caverns now" he turns back to you and sees your puzzlement. He turns back to the map and traces the line, you see it leads you to the Pardor Pass. He turns back to you looking for understanding in your eyes.

"Sir, intuition is not my strong suit" Jeroy bluntly responds "Do you want us to investigate the caverns to see if we can use it to take down the Pardor Pass? I can lead an away team. I'll make sure no one random from the red join us, for their own safety."

Kord responds through his distracted mind "take whomever you like. I'm sure you can find a large enough contingent willing to go." He turns to face Jeroy completely "and Jeroy. Whatever happens... Do NOT take that blue axe from off my shelf" he turns back to surveying his map "Dismissed. You have your orders."

"Yes sir." As he leaves Jeroy makes a sign appear on the wall above the axe in big crayon looking letters that reads 'NO TOUCHING'.

Jeroy returns to find Amon standing the hallway "Oh you haven't moved. Seems with so much going on you would go to do something but anyway." Amon scowls at him. "Kord ordered me to lead an away team to the abandoned caverns that lead to the Pardor Pass. I'll assemble a team."

Amon nods to Jeroy "Gods be with you, if we fail to delay them the consequences for Aethelfirth will be dire. If our suspicion of their motives is correct, the consequences for the world could be more so." Jeroy nods, thinks to himself, nods again and leave for the Keep

===Assembling the Team===
Jeroy enters the grand hall of the keep. He creates several green shower of sparks and sounds of bells ringing, in his booming voice he announces to the hall "[[The Green]] has ordered me to investigate the caverns that lead to Pardor Pass. The Pass is the last choke point between the moving eternal army and the town of Aethelfirth. If needed we must be prepared to collapse the pass to give the city enough time to evacuate. Who would like to join me on the away team?" He is greeted by [[Ford]], [[Tallulah]], [[Iago]], and [[Loco]].

"You have my steel" Ford says as he sheaths his rapier.

"And my bow!" Talluah adds in.

"''Annnnnnnnnd you shall haaaaaaaaaaaave my...."'' Iago begins to sing but is cut off by Jeroy.

"Your songs, yes thank you I got that" He says in monotone.

"And you have my potions!" Loco adds with a thunderous roar as he spikes a potion to the floor that erupts in a cloud of smoke around the Eternal Order. "To the Magistery!"

The team leaves the Keep and makes their way to the Magistery to request the help of fellow Magisters to aid in the battle. As they walk through the halls Jeroy turns to the group "So who and how many should we get to follow us? Anyone owed any favors?" Iago sounds a few melodic notes and dances to the front of the group. "Leave that to meeeeeeeeeeeee!" He says as he dances away and around the corner. Jeroy hesitates, blinks, and then looks to the others. "Perhaps we meet back here in a hour? Go make sure you have all the supplies you need." He tells the other.

The group returns to find Iago surrounded by 17 members of the Magistery, two masters from each house and three additional of house green. We are joined by Celenwe (Brown), Domus Durocco (Brown), Felicia (Blue), Wyny (Blue), Reshi (Green), Ancis Decaius (Green), Sasisbai (Green), Nisa (Green), Vargo (Green), Gina (Yellow), [[First Weaver|Wisakedjak]] (Yellow), Tamus Bonuso (Red), Kali (Red), Sacra Fadanius (Gray), Niditu (Gray), Voltaire (White), and Uchala (White).

''"Jeeeeeeroy! I've found more to join our initiative.''" Iago announces with a flourish.

A smile comes over Jeroy's face "OK, no point in standing around and trying to figure out our chances - lets go into the caverns. Who knows teleport?"

Iago interjects "''We don't even know the exact locations of these caverns friend. That is not something one should attempt to teleport to. First we will need to identify the exact location we wish to transport to. Amon and perhaps some of the newly recruited masters can assist in scrying an appropriate location. We should have sufficient detail from Warden to be able to find an appropriate nearby location that we can spy on."''

"where are we going?" Says Felicia. "I wasn't about to leave this one alone on a suicide mission" she nods towards Iago.

Jeroy responds to her "Kord showed me the entrance to Dwarven caves that have been abandoned for hundreds of years. They lead under the Pardor Pass. We need to head off the Eternal Army at the pass"

Felicia nods to the group "I can bring us close. We should approach on foot, we don't really know what we're getting into, it would be dangerous to teleport directly into the mountain, or frankly even right next to it. I know of a river that feeds from the Pardor Pass, we can teleport a day's walk downstream and walk along the river bank. What say you?"

"Works for me." Jeroy responds.

"''Agreed, that is the safer route and leaves us time to figure things out."'' Iago sings back.

“A lovely stroll along a river before a high likelihood of doom? Why not.” Ford adds in.

Celenwe juts in "can we have until tonight before we depart? I have a number of experiments I'll need to carefully dismantle and reassign"

Sasisbai is heard letting out an audible groan "ugh let's just get on with it."

Reshi tries to keep the peace and says "this is Jeroy's idea, why doesn't he decide?"

Jeroy looks over Ford's shoulder and says to Amon "Amon you know the movement of the Army the best, do we have time to wait?" The entire group turns to face Amon who is standing behind the group. As he waits for Amon to scry he turns back to Celenwe "Celenwe - what happens if you don't disassemble and reassign the experiments? Is it worse than a city being overrun by an invading army?"

She raises her eyebrows at him and visibly tries to calmly say "Maybe you're right. Maybe I should stay instead."

"I don't mean to be rude but this is the reality that we face." Jeroy responds "If we wait too long a city can be lost. If leaving the experiments could cost us to lose Solace then by all means, tend to them. But if we delay too long we risk losing Aethelfirth. So I ask you Master, how much time do you need?"

Iago, seeing the situation escalating interjects between them "'''I'm fairly certain another 24 hours to prepare is fine. The last time we decided not to wait was meet with total disaster. Is prefer that tonight or tomorrow if that works for everyone and perhaps we can use that time to enlist further help.''" He motions to Jeroy with a grin that says without saying 'Don't you agree friend?'

Amon pulls put his crystal orb, stares deeply into and responds "They're still marching slow enough that they should arrive in 3 weeks. While we have no way of knowing what you'll face in the caverns unless your attempt is significantly delayed you should be able to set out tomorrow and still achieve the objective."

Jeroy turns back to Celenwe and with a slight bow of his head he says "Celenwe, take the time you need with your experiments. If an extra hand would help I offer my services." Jeroy turns back to the group "Everyone - take this time to prep, we may not be back for a while. We leave at first light."

Celenwe sniffs and heads off to the artificery. Jeroy turns to Iago and says "I take it she doesn't want my help?"

Iago responds through cackling laughter "What makes you think that Jeeeeeeeeeroy?" Jeroy sniffs and leaves to speak with Kord as he continues to hear Tiefling giggling follow him down the hallway.

===Heading to the Pardor Pass===
Celenwe, and all of the others have returned to Felicia's chambers, after Jeroy enter, Felicia turns to everyone engaged in private conversations "It looks like everyone is here, shall we? I know a good spot that will work for us." She pulls a massive diamond out of her pouch and traces a circle on one of her walls. The diamond slowly disintegrates as she does so, leaving a glimmering line in its wake. Once she closes it the loop, it begins to glow, and the wall inside of the circle slowly fades and a fresh scene of a beautiful countryside with morning dew on the grass and a babbling brook presents itself. Felicia gestures to the group and bows slightly, "After you."

Ford jumps in without hesitation and we all follow. We are immediately hit the grassy green air, sound of running water, and far warmer climate. The humidity hits us like a wet towel, it's the rainy season in this equatorial, lush region of Eomas. After everyone is through, Felicia steps through and closes the gate behind her.
Felicia approaches Jeroy privately "Just go upstream and we'll hit Pardor Pass. Jeroy, you know where we have to part from the river to find this cave, right? Why don't you lead the group. I hear from Cordite that you've started prepping for your Master's Trial. This will be good experience for you, it's not just about the thesis."
Jeroy responds to Felicia. "Follow me" he turns to Tallulah. "I could use your help. Based on the maps from Kord I know the route but crossing terrain is your specialty."

Tallulah responds with energy "Absolutely! How can I help?" Jeroy describes the bend in the river he remembers from the maps and the direction the group will need to head once they find it to Tallulah. After describing it he says "You lead take point and scout ahead to be sure we aren't walking into a trap."

Tallulah successfully navigates the grasslands with ease finding the overgrown path that leads to the cave of Kord's ancestral home. It appears that there haven't been any footfalls on this route in quite some time, one full season at least.

Jeroy kneels before the cave and begins to recite a series of chants softly to himself. Soon a ghostly dwarven warrior holding a book in each hand appears before Jeroy. Jeroy speaks to his ancestor Unliff. "Unliff, we intend to enter these caves to provide passage to the Pardor Pass." A feeling overcomes Jeroy and the result is as clear as it can be: Weal. Jeroy turns to the group "Unliff agrees we should go in. Can anyone cast alarm on the entrance after we pass in case something follows us?"

Celenwe pulls out a spool of string and lines the cave entrance "Consider it done. Everyone in, and I'll activate it." after you all enter, she casts the spell and the string glows and then fades to complete invisibility. Tamus steps up "Let's set a false trap too just in case" and he casts an empty glyph of warding "They'll dispel this and think they've outsmarted us, and trip the alarm. Or they won't, and they'll just die. Either way..."Using Tallulah's mapmaking, Wethril's nose, and Jeroy's stone and rock expertise, we are able to navigate the caverns with relative ease, even stumbling upon a few ruins here and there, evidence of a civilization long gone. We eventually come upon what looks like the path towards Kord's ancestral home, the hall of the mountain dwarves that first began trading with Aethelfirth, the reason that Aethelfirth became the shining jewel of the northeast that it is today. There is an engraving although it is covered in moss and lichen, clearing it reveals the ancient dwarven lettering, DURMANNUS. Going down this path would mean missing our deadline, but we have noted its location on Tallulah's map.We find some evidence of goblins in the caverns, but as we are not approaching silently all that remains is their hurriedly broken down camp and signs of their flight.

Jeroy turns to Tallulah "I bet DURMANNUS it was an important hall. Everything I think is important I write in big letters too."

"''Jeeeeeeeeeroy, everything you write is also in crayons. And I've yet to see anything you've written that's not in big letters.''" Iago blurts out through laughter.

"If it's worth writing down then it is important" Jeroy responds. Iago stops his laughter and confusion rolls over his face as he contemplates if he was just outsmarted by the barbariest of barbarians. As he pauses he sees Ford digging around into the cracks of the walls, pull out a mushroom and eat it.

"''What in Avernus' name are you doing?!?''" Iago says with surprise to Ford.

"They're delicious, want one? I have a bunch." Ford says with his mouth full. Iago holds back vomit as he rejoins the group.

Aside from that, there are no unusual sightings on out way to Pardor Pass, which as it turns out we appear to be directly underneath. There are shafts and old dead steam vents that rise sharply and allow some sunlight in, but many of them look to be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of feet above you.As you are currently underneath the Pardor Pass, the small mountainous trail that breaches the Pardor Range.Jeroy turns to the group "Can someone reach the surface from here to scout it out? Can anyone walk up walls or fly? I know how to swing a hammer, pick things up, and put things down. Can one of you lend your expertise to get yourself or several of us up to the surface?"
[[File:Pardor Pass.jpg|thumb|The Pardor Pass]]
Niditu and Ford share some words privately, from the outside it appears they are talking about nothing in particular but then all of a sudden they shake hands and agree to something. "Hold on to your mind palace!" And casts a quick spell, Ford turns wispy and eventually becomes fully gaseous. The vent goes up passing varied veins of mineral, following harder deposits along new paths. The centuries of condensation and drip have left the channels glossy where they aren't moss covered. Finally racing to the topmost opening you see the expansive rocky landscape, a canyon just before you and mountains as far as the eye can see. Poking out into the open air Ford swears he can see the shadow of Mithaniel Marr in the distance, even as far away as it is. The path on the ground below him races back and forth in hairpin zigzags, but even at this elevation the lush grass and light, humid air is extremely palpable in his current state.

===Laying the Trap===
"Well that’s beautiful!" Ford says as he takes in the vista surrounding him. "I’ll sink back down the vent and inform everyone of our current location, and give everyone epic hero wind hair, like everyone has a small fan in front of them.

Ford returns to the group and shares what he has learned. Jeroy contemplates and speaks with Iago, Loco, Ford, and Tallulah. After some back and forth they nod in agreement and Jeroy lights a torch and holds it above him with his mage hand. He motions to the group: "OK everyone lets get our head together. From Ford's investigation of the pass the army isn't in sight yet. We should have time to prep the Pass to collapse. Loco - I'll need you to take lead on demolition prep and execution." Jeroy turns to Ford. "Ford, you know how to get the drop on an enemy better than anyone I know. Scout out above and figure out where the best location is to launch a surprise attack would be. We will need to be close enough to hit them hard without them seeing us."
Jeroy turns to the Masters "Which of you could teleport us back to the magistery in an instant? The plan will be to lure them in, break the pass, hit them with the biggest and baddest spell you have in the confusion and then disappear."
Most of the masters raise their hands "given a one day lead time we can have a few of us prepared with teleport, if we divide into squads of less than 8."

Jeroy nods and points to three of the Masters "3 of you begin prepping teleport along with Ford at the surprise attack location or locations. We set up teams where one is ready to get everyone out of dodge, one is ready to blow the pass, two have the biggest spell prepped and the others defend the group until we are teleported away." Jeroy turns towards Loco. "take those you need to prep the pass for collapse." and the faces the rest of the group. "Those not prepping teleport or demo - start getting ready to pull something out of your goody bag. Toss whatever spell you want to try and either hit them hard or slow them down. We will get one shot (Surprise round?) for each of us to send something their way."

''Iago receives a sending from Amon.''"You've been gone one week. Army marching at steady pace. Will reach your location in one week. Still shrouded in fog." Iago responds to his sending "''we are under the pass and have explored routes to the surface. Exploring options for collapse and slowing the army. 2 weeks slowdown max.''"

The team spends the next several days preparing for the approaching horde and hoping the evacuation of Aethelfirth has begun. The team is expecting to only provide an additional two weeks before the horde arrives. It weighs on all of them that it may not be enough time to save everyone. Jeroy and Iago are constantly in discussion about what to do best with their prep time. Jeroy snaps his fingers and turns to Iago "What if we sent a small group to the army to try and blow away the fog that covers them. The information could be valuable. Their numbers, special forces, weapons? We could teleport a druid close enough to control the weather and then zap away all while Amon watches above."

"''I'' ''don't recall magic having much effect on the fog. I would be curious to know if weather can move the fog, that is not something we tried''" Iago responds. "Where's our library? Would that have information on this? Who is a brown?"

Jeroy points at Celenwe and Domus who are decked out in brown cloths.

Iago dashes over to them "''Masters, do we have information on our library on these topics? We seem to be operating half blind. Not enough whispers have been reaching my ears and we need to understand this foe better.''" But before they can answer Iago receives another sending from Amon. He pauses nearly mid-sentence as look of horror washes over his face. He looks around in a near panic and finds Jeroy and drags him around a corner to a dusty tunnel.

''"Jeeeeeeroy! Aethelfirth have been informed however evacuation has not yet begun. From previous communications, I know that the Seal has direct connections and they are aware. Amon said that 2-weeks will have to be enough."''

Jeroy's face becomes blank. He cannot seem to even comprehend what Iago has said. "They haven't started the evacuation?" Iago and Jeroy together feel a greater sense of urgency unlike even before. If they fail to slow the horde now not only will Aethelfirth fall, but nearly everyone in the city would surely perish.

Jeroy comes from around the corner of the caves "Huddle up again everyone!" the urgency in his voice echos through the caverns. "I looked at the map of the pass again and we need to make sure we close to the door to Aethelfirth and not open it for this horde." He looks to Loco. "Loco - as you set your charges, be sure that we are blowing the tops of the nearby mountains so they slide down into the pass. If we could create landslides to fill the pass we could block it and maybe even destroy the army. What survives the slide we could finish off with our magic before we leave. How goes the demolition prep?"

Loco turns to his team helping him "Preparations are going according to plan, they have been a great help. We will collapse the tops of the mountain down onto the pass so it buries them in the valley or makes the pass impossible to traverse."

"Good" Jeroy nods "Reshi - how go your preparation?"

Reshi lets out a rye smile "We have something in store for them. The browns were able to find out that fire is our best bet."

"Excellent. Lets hope it is enough. Dismissed." Jeroy says then quietly "Please let it be enough."

===Springing the Trap===
[[File:Pardor Pass Map.png|thumb|The trap at Pador Pass]]
For a final time Jeroy gathers the group, ignites a torch and mage hands it over him has he lays out a map. "The Eternal Army is expected to arrive in a day and our preparations are complete. We will all be turned into wind and fly up to our defensive positions here, here, and here tonight and wait there for them to arrive via this route." He says pointing to the map. "We will be split into three groups. Each group will have one person on the demo team, one person ready to cast teleport, one or two people ready to defend the position, and the rest to cast down their biggest and baddest spells. Loco will give the signal to the demo team to blow the charges. The moment you see the charges go off - the Tossers cast whatever you have cooked up. Expect to only have one shot so make it a good one."
He pauses "If you are assigned to defense, your job is to make sure the caster's get their spells off. If a member of the Eternal Army attacks your position the defenders are to get in the way and protect the Tossers."
"Finally, to those prepping teleport - our primary job is to block off the Pass, not to eliminate the Army. Make sure the charges go off and the pass is blocked. Once that is confirmed be ready to get your team out of there as soon as it is too dangerous. If the Army attacks you then it is time to go. Once the Tossers have cast their round of spells it is time to go. All of us need to come back from this so we can fight another day. '''Teleport to the library of Solace. We will confirm everyone made it there."'''
Here are your assignments:
Team one: Demo - Loco. Defense - Jeroy and Cordite. Teleport - Domus. Tossers - Reshi, Ancis, Kali, Uchala
Team two: Demo - Celenwe. Defense - Stanford, Sacra, and Niditu. Teleport - Vargo. Tossers -Sasisbai, Nisa, Gina
Team three: Demo - Iago. Defense - Tallulah and Wyny. Teleport - Voltaire. Tossers - Tamus, Wisakedjak, Felicia.

May your god, clan, or patron be with you." The group makes their final preparations and head to their positions. The Pass is quiet and serine with the faint sounds rustling mountain grasses swaying in the breeze. The peace of the moment makes the anticipation that much more frustrating. Each group sits in their foxhole knowing a force of unknown size, unknown abilities, and even unknown creatures marches towards them. Even the Masters have a glint of uncertainty in their eyes. After nerve wracking hours of nothing a fog appears in the valley below.

As we watch the distant fog growing closer we begin making our final preparations, clambering the demolition sites and settling into the ambush points, our final spells fall upon the land awaiting the dreadhorde's arrival. The fog moves with a vast hulking shadow in the center, and as it draws near we hear the heartbeat thumping of a massive creature's footfalls. In front of the fog appears to be a shambling wall of zombies, humans, we recognize the colors and banners although disheveled and bloody, as hailing from Folcom Keep.

We allow the dreadhorde to enter into the pass, waltzing right into the trap. It's complete mist now, we can barely see each other in the same hideouts let alone the others, or the horde itself--suddenly an intense pressure causes our vision to go black. There's an intense cacophony of noise and a high pitched ringing. Pain suddenly settles in from everywhere as our senses return, our vision turns to gray again and the sounds of banshee wailing, of moaning zombies. And then the fire falls from the sky, burning the mist and fog away in an inferno as if from the bowels of hell itself. Finally we can see, the mountain pass is avalanching rock thousands of feet tall, the Dreadhorde has been completely buried and burned. A massive, hulking beast of a creature lies at its center, but only its head. The rest of its body appears to have fallen into the caves under the Pardor Pass. Covered in soot and smoke we gaze out upon the battlefield, they didn't stand a chance.

In the distance we see someone standing far in the back in glistening black full plate mail. A blackguard of the enemy. They cock their head towards the group, presses their hand upon their chest and bows. Then they simply blink out of existence.

Game-Summaries: 2/7/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:27:19Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Ci== The Book of the Mountain says "Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake." We unfortunately did just that last night while setting a trap for the Drow Hune. Rather than trust to our plan and let him walk into our ambush, we revealed ourselves early and were forced to fight on ground not of our choosing. Hune utilized a spider to scout ahead, and Tallulah was discovered outside the cave where we had set our trap. We were for..."

==Recollections by Ci==

The Book of the Mountain says "Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake." We unfortunately did just that last night while setting a trap for the Drow [[Hune]]. Rather than trust to our plan and let him walk into our ambush, we revealed ourselves early and were forced to fight on ground not of our choosing. [[Hune]] utilized a spider to scout ahead, and [[Tallulah]] was discovered outside the cave where we had set our trap. We were forced to fight him on the [[Hillock]] outside. The battle was brief but intense, with [[Hune]] throwing devastating Magic and summoning a creature from the [[Underdark]]. [[Tallulah]] and her wolf companion were both hit. I was struck by fiendish fire every time my arrows or my blade pierced [[Hune]]'s flesh. It was [[Hune]]'s death, however, that unleashed his most dangerous magic.

With our entire party focused on defeating [[Hune]], he finally fell to our attacks. With his dying breath he spit one final curse, and his body was consumed by flames which then erupted outwards to engulf us all. I seemed to have particularly drawn his ire, and was twice burned by the otherworldly flames. Indeed, if not for the help of my companions, I would have gone early to walk the paths of the life beyond this one. I was revived by [[Loco]] and his magic projectiles, and as we gathered ourselves to face our remaining foe, the imposing [[Draegloth]], we were again surprised. The creature did not attack again, and instead sued for peace! [[Zifu Poe]]'s words echoed in my head as we listened to the [[Draegloth]]'s proposal, "No life is insignificant. If we have the wisdom to learn, all may teach us their virtues." I could not see the virtue in this creature, but in honor of the Grandmaster and in deference to my companions wishes, I agreed to let the creature go. It is my hope that some peaceful solution may be found to the chaos of these incursions from the [[Underdark]], but I wonder if these creatures truly know or value peace. As the Book says, "While I breathe, I hope, but while I hope, I prepare."

Finally, a personal note for [[Jeroy]]... I am afraid there wasn't enough left of [[Hune]] to put on a spike. We did bring you back a [[Hune in a Bottle|bottle]] of what little was left of him to set on your mantle. May you spend many happy hours contemplating the horrible way he died!

==Recollections by Loco==

==Recollections by Sakura no Kaze==
We had a very nice and elaborate trap laid out which went all to hell at first contact. Someone said, "nothing survives past first contact." Our trap and the battle with [[Hune]] was only interesting in that it revealed some interesting bits of information. At his defeat, Hune performed a Death Curse that nearly wiped out half the party. It seemed a version of Hellish Feedback.

Hune also summoned a [[Draegloth]], who was quite annoyed by the entire episode. To avoid death, the Draegloth conversed with us and told us some of their plans. He tells us that his mistress is [[Halisstra]] and that [[Lolth]] has abandoned all [[Drow]] and the [[Underdark]]. Hune's job was probably to open portals to let the Drow enter this realm. Draegloth is telling us that Drow are kind and peaceful and his example given leads me to believe that his definition of kind is wildly different from mine. I, one of the people, cannot abide by such a waste of life, of the common people. The Draegloth also tells us that [[Halisstra]] is his mother.

The Draegloth seems genuine in wanting a home and brokering peace and despite our gut instinct to kill him, we let him live and he says that an emissary will be sent to Solace in two 10-days. The pass phrase to be used is "Hune's head on a spike."

We collect some of the bloody remains in a spare vial we have for [[Jeroy]]'s pleasure. There was no actual head left to put on a spike for him.

'''Back at Solace'''

We speak to [[Grandmaster Aetheres]] at the top of the tower, where he is currently tending to the ravens. We told him about our encounter with Hune and that he said something about [[ley line|ley lines]] upon death. The Grandmaster suggested that the mage might be a [[ley line|ley mage]]. We also tell him of Lolth's silence/abandonment and that Drow are seeking a new realm. Millions of them. To this, the Grandmaster suggested that we were naive to believe the Draegloth and that we have already sent an emissary to the Underdark. In a couple of months we're mounting an expedition to retrieve them and are currently accepting volunteers for the job.

==Recollections by Sarya==

==Recollections by Tallulah==

Tracking Down Hune Part II 3.10.346

After my last encounter with [[Hune]] I decided I wanted to be a part of the group that brought him down. He seemed incredibly dangerous and his ability to open and close portals to the Underdark was a serious threat to Solace. I spent some time informing the local farmers about the drow with the fungal growths and checked in with them daily until someone spotted an infected looking drow. The farmer was able to give me a general direction from which it came. From there I was able to track several locations that Hune had open and closed portals and, based on the tracks, brought drow from the Underdark. There was a pattern to the locations he had chosen for his portals so I was fairly certain I knew where he would show up next.

My companions on this mission would be [[Loco]], [[Sarya]], [[Ci]] and [[Sakura]]. In the weeks leading up to it, the five of us got together to discuss our plan in the hopes we could lay a trap for an unsuspecting Hune. Ci acquired the Stone of Hallowing and Slippers of Spider Climbing from the vault as they seemed like we could put them to good use against Hune.

The hillock I estimated Hune would travel to next was 25 miles Southeast of Solace. It took us most of the day to get to the hillock but as I had learned, all of Hune’s movements happened after nightfall so we had sufficient time to prepare our trap. There was a cavern inside the hillock that Hune would likely use as cover for his portal. I would scout at the top of the hillock, Loco set an alarm near me that I would activate when I spotted Hune giving my companions notice. Sakura would then make Ci and Sarya invisible and Ci would attempt to use the Stone of Hallowing against Hune as early in battle as possible while the rest of the party was hiding deeper in the cavern. The goal would be to draw Hune into the largest room of the cavern and fight him there.

Feeling as ready as we could be Wethril and I left our friends and took our post at the top of the hillock scouting for the enemy. When I spotted Hune in the distance he was not alone. Walking approximately 100' in front of him was a large spider. Not wanting everyone in the cavern to be caught unaware and seeing that Hune and the spider were moving slowly I scurried down to the cavern to inform the team. When I returned to the top of the hill with Wethril we were shocked to find the large spider only 100' away—its eyes were glowing white and when it saw me it seemed to recognize me in a really unsettling way. Then, suddenly, its eyes returned to black spidery eyes and it simply walked away, disappearing from view. Startled and unnerved by the spider’s human-like reaction to me I sent Wethril out to scout for signs of Hune or the spider and moved to a rock next to the mouth of the cavern.

Feeling anxious about our plan falling to pieces I summoned Wethril from the North to be close to me when seconds later I felt an unfortunately familiar searing pain tear through me and heard a solid thump. Once again my partner was down and I had to get to him. I charged up the hill toward Wethril when out of nowhere I was blindsided by a blast of immense powerful force knocking me off my feet—Hune. There he was once again standing near Wethril’s fallen body, wearing the same helmet and smug grin he had worn the last time we had met.

Ci—still invisible—made it to the top of the hill and struck Hune square in the chest with both of his arrows. A fiery chasm burst from Hune’s chest where the had arrows landed injuring Ci. I took no time to fire with my longbow striking Hune with great force. Just as it had last time...Hune’s head split in two as he opened a glowing portal in front of him. From the portal emerged an angry and unpleasant looking fiend with glowing red eyes. Hune approached the [[Draegloth]] and whispered something to it. Its rage subsided but the calm and focus that followed was even more upsetting.

Ci continued toward Hune attacking with his short sword but each blow more damaging fire erupted from our enemy. I launched an arrow at the Draegloth which found purchase in its elbow. At this point my companions had reached the hillock and joined in the fighting and Wethril awoke from unconsciousness. Sarya, in a barbarian rage, attacked the Draegloth, Sakura cast a powerful firebolt and Loco sent a thunder cannon towards Hune’s first head in a final blow that would be the end of Hune, but not before his second head could utter an arcane spell in Undercommon. Although I heard him clearly, I could not understand most of what he said with the exception of the word "[[Ley line]]". A bright blue glow burst from the ground and through Hune’s body exploding flames knocking out myself and Wethril and bringing Ci close to death.

When I came to after being revived the Stone of Hallowing had been activated against the Draegloth but to our surprise, the Draegloth stepped out of the light produced by the stone and requested we stop firing. Sarya spoke to the Draegloth instead of continuing to attack. From him we learned that he comes to our world in peace and did not wish us harm. Against his will he is bound to serve an individual who calls him by his name which Hune had used to control him. For this reason he would not give us his name but agreed to allow us to call him Draegy.

Draegy explained that Lolth has abandoned and cursed his people—they are unable to cast divine spells and are seeking refuge in a new land. Draegy’s mistress (and mother) is called [[Halisstra]]. He described Halisstra as a kind and generous leader although the example he gave of her generous nature was that Halisstra chose to cast out a servant for improperly made tea rather than killing them. It would seem Draegy has a different definition of kind and generous than most.

Draegy requested that he send an emissary to Solace from the Underdark within two 10-days to discuss terms and the possibility of housing millions of drow refugees in an underground dwelling in our world. Each realm they have investigated thus far has rejected them. We gave Draegy the key phrase "Hune’s head on a spike" to relay to his emissary so we would be able to identify him when he arrived to Solace. After our conversation and agreement Draegy left us heading South/Southeast to presumably return to the Underdark.

We took inventory of the things that Hune had left behind: an grotesque yet ornate scepter resembling a dead and decayed arm fashioned into a staff—"[[Dyrr's Staff of Withering|Staff of Withering]]"; the helmet turned out to be a "[[Helm of Teleportation]]"; as well as "[[Bracers of Defense]]." With nothing left of Hune save some bloody, gooey bits, Loco collected what he could into an empty [[Kaylorr's Kwik-Aid]] bottle to return to Leroy. Sakura bonded with the helmet while we slept and in the morning we used it to transport, in nearly an instant, to just outside the Solace walls.

When we made it to the Magistery we found Grandmaster Aetheres tending to the crows and ravens at the top of the Magistery tower. Sakura reported our conversation with Draegy and the Grandmaster informed us that the Magistery has already sent an emissary to the Underdark who has not yet returned and that a party of Magistery representatives was being sent to the Underdark to investigate further. Overall, he seemed skeptical that Draegy had been honest with us but interested that he called his mistress Hallisstra instead of Danifae. When we told him of the death spell Hune had used he mentioned we might have had a ley mage on our hands. We consulted him about the staff we had recovered from Hune. The Grandmaster told us that the staff is intelligent, sentient and dangerous. He recommended we destroy it or study it which Sakura decided to do in his downtime to gain more information.

Nothing about this mission went the way I expected it to, although I suppose I should be accustomed to unpredictability by now. Despite Grandmaster Aetheres’ warnings I believe that Draegy was being honest and that his people need help. I hope that if and when the emissary does arrive from the Underdark that the Magistery is open to talks.

Also, I have decided that I want to be a member of the party that travels to the Underdark. I need to see for myself what is going on and discover what my role in this whole thing is. So on that note, Wethril and I have some training to do...

Game-Summaries: 2/8/2020 Recollections

2025-10-27T23:26:48Z

Avinasharora: Created page with "==Recollections by Ember== The battle of Windy Bluff was almost upon us and we needed to prepare. Cassio called upon our fire God Surtur for help. He denied us, I believe he did not deem the foes worthy enough of his attention. However he did tell us the God of death, Nerull, is the driving force behind the dread horde. I am not sure what to make of this news, but the Magistery must be made aware. As long as we survive to pass the news on. We were co..."

==Recollections by [[Ember]]==
The battle of [[Windy Bluff]] was almost upon us and we needed to prepare. [[Cassio]] called upon our fire God [[Surtur]] for help. He denied us, I believe he did not deem the foes worthy enough of his attention. However he did tell us the God of death, [[Nerull]], is the driving force behind the dread horde. I am not sure what to make of this news, but the Magistery must be made aware. As long as we survive to pass the news on.

We were concerned this attack was a feint and the real battle would be held elsewhere. Yet we were determined to annihilate the horde and preserve Windy Bluff and the artifact.

On the eve of battle, an unnatural fog rolled over the city and the battle field. I was able to clear much of it with my control over the weather. However my reach only goes so far. After some time we saw the dread horde emerge from the distant fog.

In preparation I called forth my fire spirit, which has taken the form of Surtur. I close my eyes and remember that Garnet is well worth the sacrifice I have made.

The next thing I knew a horde of shambling zombies followed by the [[Dreadhorde Soldier|dreadhorde soldiers]] appear out of the fog. Apparently this was only to be the first wave of their attack. The gift of fire Surtur had given me made quick work of the zombies. The soldiers were heartier but we made decently quick work of them as well. As we learned, to a fault, nothing, but fire worked to hurt these creatures. We were finally victorious only to see another mob of the living dead emerge from the fog.

We now knew what we had to do and how to damage and kill these monsters. I unleashed a storm of pure fire, which rained down from sky on the living dead. The zombies turned to scorched ash and I severely weakened the dread horde soldiers and wizards. This was a huge success. I unleashed a second storm of fire which burned away the rest of the zombies. However to our dismay it seemed to roll off the dread horde with no effect.

These abominations of wizards hit incredibly hard and almost killed my precious [[Garnet]]! A fire awakened in my belly, that I didn't even know existed. Small flames licked over my skin and blazed in my eyes. I screamed for Garnet to fall back, which he did. In my rage I reversed gravity around several of the creatures. Unfortunately Cassio went up with them, but continued to battle. We realize these wizards had cast an anti magic field and their concentration must be destroyed. Otherwise my flames were useless.

It was up to Ci and Cassio to destroy the concentration of the wizards. Which they did with a ferociousness I've not seen before. Once again my fire was effective and I seared them to the bones.

[[Amon]] was knocked unconscious and they imprisoned Cassio in a force cage so his healing was useless. Thankfully Ci was able to revive Amon. Amon was weak but I could tell by his eyes the fight had not left him.

We had been badly battered and another wave of zombies came from the other side and attacked the city. There was not much we could do, they were too far away. They were vicious and furious and crashed through to the walls quickly. We were overwhelmed and badly damaged and all seemed to be lost. Then I felt it. It was like a hum all along my body. Power. Major God-like power and in a blink of an eye white light washed over us all. The zombies were destroyed in an instant. To our surprise the dread horde was still standing. We then put a fiery end to the rest of them. Amon told us he believed it was The Yellow who sacrificed herself to save Windy Bluff by using the artifact.

In the distance we saw this hulking form emerge from the fog. This beast was enormous, with the head of a crocodile. It was carrying a giant staff and followed by several small floating figures. I remember thinking that we are doomed. There was no way we could win against these creatures.

We didn't have long to decide what to do. The creatures were barring down upon us. Do we run? Then what was this all for? Do we stay and fight? Which was clearly suicide. Ci and Cassio were insistent on staying and fighting until the end. What good would it do for all of us to die when there was still work to be done? I tried to convince them, but they refused to listen. We didn't have time to keep arguing and through our bickering.....

Amon spoke.

His voice was meek but determined. "The dreadhorde was not undead, but aberrations" he said. "This is why they did not fall when The Yellow used the artifact." He then said something which made me close my eyes and my heart stop. "I will use the artifact" he said. "Amon" we said "it will be suicide and what if it doesn't work?" He had to have faith he told us and he knew this was our only chance to save Windy Bluff and the artifact.

What do you say to your friend when he prepares to sacrifice himself for the greater good? A man who you have known for so long. A simple hermit Warlock who through divine grace turned into a divine Cleric. A man who you've fought side by side with many times over. Tears streamed down my face and I took his hands in mine and kissed them. Goodbye Amon. There is no amount of Thanks we can give you for the sacrifice you are about to make. All we can give is time.

We needed to get Amon to the artifact as quickly as possible. Cassio offered his Cassio listeed to take Amon with Haste. We watch him fly away and turn back to the threat ahead of us.

The Giant creature let out a deafening roar and slams us with a fireball. He then held his staff to the sky and it began vibrate and glowing blue. The battle ensued and was a complete blur. We were losing and losing badly. Then out of nowhere I felt it again. The hum of power through my body and a blue light emanated over everything. The creatures were all ripped apart and turned to dust and ash.

He had done it.

Amon had done it, saved us all. He will forever be remembered as a Hero. I will light a special blue flame for him in my Grove that will burn eternal. He shall never be forgotten for the sacrifice he made that day.

If we live that long, that is. As we returned to collect our fallen and The yellow. An unnatural storm rumbled overhead. It became increasingly more violent as the minutes progressed. As our gaze turns to the horizon the sea level began to swell and rise. Next thing we see is a giant mass of tentacles emerge writhing from the water......

==Recollections by [[Cassio]]==
Chapter 43 excerpt So you want to be a hero by Cassio

War was upon us once again, only this time it was at the doorstep of [[Windy Bluff]]. After what felt like an eternity of idle chatter and waiting in fear by both the Magistery and the conventicle it was finally now time to act. We have heard tales of nothing but death and destruction happening up north and with orders to do nothing but wait it was almost unbearable. I communed with the king of the large littles (big giants, but little spines), [[Surtur]] and he answered: He would not help us in the battle to come. His power would be with myself and ember throughout the coming conflict, and finally and most importantly: who was pulling the strings behind the dreadhorde? no one other than the former god of the dead [[Nerull]] it would seem.

We had two weeks to prepare and prepare we did. I spent most of my time recruit friends and allies from [[Avernus]] and bolstering the local garrisons at Windy bluff. Master [[Ci]] spent his time marshaling the garrison of [[Shanjiu Keep]] and leading scouting parties to track their movements. Friend [[Ember]] literally moved the earth and land to prepare the battlefield for the horde's arrival. Coating the landscape with tar and oils, she made mountains and trenches to funnel their forces into choke points. [[Amon]] went to work finding out about the artifact itself. It would appear [[The Yellow]] was already here at Windy bluff guarding this thing called "the Edifice" It appeared to be a large stone hand jutting from the floor as large as a throne. Amon went on and on about it's importance or some such but I paid no mind. As soon as he confirmed we could not move the item we had more pressing issues at hand.

Preparations made the dawn of battle was upon us. Many heroes would be forged this day.

The dreadhorde was impossibly large, and that was not counting sea of thick fog covering their large numbers. Ember simply waved her hand and changed the weather around us to disperse the fog, and with that the first wave was upon us. A contingent of these [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/647013-dreadhorde-soldier dreadhorde soldiers] and the zombified remains of the townsfolk we abandoned came rushing toward us. True to the reports, these soldiers shrugged off everything that was not the flame. Fortunately for our side, Ember was in rare form. Sending waves of flames into their ranks, and providing boons to Ci so his arrows struck not only true, but made their mark. With our first wave done Victory was short lived as wave after wave of these beasts crashed against us, and we repelled them at every juncture we could.

As we were contending with antimagic fields summoned by a contingent of [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/668304-dreadhorde-arcanist Dreadhorde Arcanists] a horde of zombies must have made it inside the city. There was a huge explosion of light and power from Windy bluff. Amon mentioned something akin to a "turn undead on a massive scale" Whatever it was, every undead for miles and miles around the city simply ceased to be. The dreadhorde despite this massive discharge of holy energy was unaffected. A knowing gaze told us what we all knew, The yellow had used the artifact and she did likely not survive it's activation. There was little time to mourn though as another wave of the dreadhorde pushed through. Floating high above their numbers a [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/668307-dreadhorde-general Dreadhorde General] commanded more waves of Soldiers and Arcanists. The unending fight was beginning to take it's toll on us all, and there was no end in sight.

Ci myself Ember and Amon knew this was not a fight we could win. as the third wave of Dreadhorde approached, we argued over who should flee to warn the order and who would fight to the bitter end. To think there were people as stubborn as myself in our ranks.

Amon's eyes lit up and shouted to us "I understand now....They are Aberrations! Not the undead. That's why the Turn did not work on them. Hold them off the best you can" With that I summoned a [[Cassio Listeed]] and he raced off to Windy bluff as the third wave crashed into us.

Ember devastated their ranks with magic that tore literal Fissures into the ground, Ci danced through their ranks like the wind, and I the magnificent Cassio Lista brought all the flames of House red to bare. Their forces decimated we looked to the form of a Gigantic beast with the face of a crocodile erupt from the Fog of war. This was a [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/668345-dreadhorde-god-eternal Dreadhorde God-Eternal] It towered above the battlefield with 4 Generals at it's side. I gave both Friend Ci and Ember knowing looks, this would be our end. As the battle waged on, blasts of energy and suicidal explosions from the generals first brought down Ember, then friend Ci. if it was not for my Protective aura's I would have perished long ago. The last one standing I was about to meet my end when a massive blast of blue energy washed over all of Windy bluff. The dreadhorde in all of of an instant screamed and cried out as they turned to ash around us. We had done it. We had survived.

We found Amon in the Edifice. The stone hand crushing his body like a ashen logs after a nights fire. It appeared The Yellow had suffered a similar fate. Removing his body from that monstrosity we had no time to mourn or grieve. The warning bells began sounding once more. What is that? Tentacles?
 
==Recollections by [[Ci]]==
Another Battle, another terrible loss. I write these words in haste, for though the [[Eternal Army|Dreadhorde]] has been stopped, another threat rises from the water. [[The Yellow|Nessune]] and [[Amon]] gave their lives to stop the horde but as a writhing mass of tentacles and rising waters approach the town, I can only hope that their sacrifices were not in vain. We did learn more of the enemy we face, and hopefully, this knowledge can assist our brothers and sisters in their defense of Pardor Pass: the [[Eternal Army|Dreadhorde]] soldiers and casters are Undead, their [[Dreadhorde General|Generals]] and [[Dreadhorde God Eternal|Eternals]] are Aberrations. We learned they are vulnerable to fire, though immune to all other kinds of damage, and we learned their numbers are almost endless.... Each wave we faced contained more dangerous foes. Should we have to face another [[Dreadhorde God Eternal|Eternal]], may the Mountain help us, I am not sure we can defeat it again. The chill and force of its blast still brings a shiver to my spine. I am not a stranger to fear, indeed no true warrior is.

Before this battle, however, I had not known despair. When the towering crocodile visage on the horizon approached, and brave [[Cassio]] and I agreed to fight to the last to give [[Amon]] a chance to reach the artifact, I truly had no hope. No hope for myself, nor my friends, nor for the town. When I fell, as I thought for good, I did so content in the knowledge that I had done all I could, but bittersweet in the surety that it had not been enough. When I awoke to find [[Amon]] had succeeded, and the Horde was destroyed, I felt no joy or relief. I knew it had likely cost [[Amon]] everything, and thought that if that is the cost of success, can we ever hope for a final victory against this enemy? There is no time to contemplate these thoughts, however. The rising waters are my feet now. We have sent word to the Keep calling for reinforcements, though I know not who may be able to assist us. I know I will face this battle as the last, willing to fight to the last to give us a chance, but I am not sure I can hope for such an outcome. The Mountain help me, I am not sure I will hope ever again.

==The Last Recollections of [[Amon]] Therai, Servant of Taiia==
''Words found etched hastily on an empty page in an ethereal script in Amon's notebook, recovered among his last possessions''

I don't have much time. Already the surge of power I've taken into myself is overwhelming me, far more magical might than any feeble mortal frame was ever meant to possess. The discrete levels, the limitations, the very concept of limits has flown free and far and left me with nothing but this awesome strength, a sure weight in limbs I've barely ever flexed before. I can expand myself out, touch the very underpinnings of the weave and...no focus, ''focus''. Here, now. Lives at stake, [[The Eternal Order|friends]] dying to buy time. Time to save them, save them all. Time to find the right words to make Her will manifest.

In a dark and dusty hall, with only a corpse as company, a dying man whispered, "Mother Taiia, cleanse that which is unclean." And it was so.

Solace: Family

2024-11-11T19:37:43Z

Avinasharora:

[[File:Solace-Family.png|center|frameless]]

'''Hello friends, it is that time, a new mega-campaign begins!!'''

Firstly, thank you for your interest.

I've learned a lot from the the last mega-campaign and I'm hoping to address some of the challenges <ref>For example, giving priority quest choice to people who haven't played recently ended up with players who played often never being able to choose the quest. It incentivized people to not play if they wanted more narrative control, which is perverse. The people most invested are the least able to invest heavily. Because of how long of a gap people went between playing, the games ended up ALL being marathons, exhausting and draining instead of recharging your social batteries, you drained every other battery. Or at least I did. The long gaps between games also necessitated "story catchup" mechanics like using the wiki to share summaries, and then reading those summaries, and even to some extent studying. If it's fun for you, then great, but it ended up being less of a nice-to-have and more of a must-have if you wanted to engage with the greater narrative. Scheduling logistics were just genuinely complicated and required a lot of overhead and calendaring. I realize I didn't run a single campaign last go around, I ran three campaigns back to back. I could have allowed for some more meaningful resets and options to reconfigure or rework things for the players and the characters between campaigns instead of bulldozing through campaign to campaign in the three campaign mega-arc.</ref> we had through some interesting mechanics.

Secondly, I expect we will go through a bit of a learning curve together, assuming that doesn't scare you, here's the logistical setup:
* We play every other Thursday.

* Games will start at 8:05PM (Eastern)

* Games will end at ''no later than'' 10:15PM.<ref>Once 9:45 hits, we will end the game as soon as we hit a "paragraph ending," and regardless of what happens, we will end at 10:15 even if it feels a bit mid-sentence.</ref>

* You can miss games.

* You can come to every game. <ref>I have an in-world mechanic that will allow your character to jump in and out without narrative complication, and as a player, you can also miss a game and/or several and rejoin without having to play catchup. We're all adults, life is complicated, we all do the best we can, and I'm trying to not just account for it, but lean into it. It's part of the game and I think it will make for a fun part.</ref>

* You are starting the game with no stats, and no class.

* You can be any humanoid race. <ref>If you're not sure if what you want fits, ask</ref> Races will not provide mechanical benefits, just flavor. Any mechanical benefits will be at your choosing. <ref> and I have ways to make this happen if you don't want to pick for yourself</ref>

Okay, that's all for the logistics.

The actual game set up: You are a '''Viking'''. You will choose a viking role from one of the available options. This choice will have ''zero'' bearing on your stats, eventual class choice, or frankly anything except the flavor you come in with. Your role options are:
* Raider (Viking)<ref>yes this is kind of a joke. To quote Leonidas, "Spartans, what is your profession?" </ref>

Do you want to play a game?

==Footnotes==
<references />

Solace: Family

2024-11-11T19:36:32Z

Avinasharora:

[[File:Solace-Family.png|center|frameless]]

'''Hello friends, it is that time, a new mega-campaign begins!!'''

Firstly, thank you for your interest.

I've learned a lot from the the last mega-campaign and I'm hoping to address some of the challenges <ref><cite style="note">For example, giving priority quest choice to people who haven't played recently ended up with players who played often never being able to choose the quest. It incentivized people to not play if they wanted more narrative control, which is perverse. The people most invested are the least able to invest heavily. Because of how long of a gap people went between playing, the games ended up ALL being marathons, exhausting and draining instead of recharging your social batteries, you drained every other battery. Or at least I did. The long gaps between games also necessitated "story catchup" mechanics like using the wiki to share summaries, and then reading those summaries, and even to some extent studying. If it's fun for you, then great, but it ended up being less of a nice-to-have and more of a must-have if you wanted to engage with the greater narrative. Scheduling logistics were just genuinely complicated and required a lot of overhead and calendaring. I realize I didn't run a single campaign last go around, I ran three campaigns back to back. I could have allowed for some more meaningful resets and options to reconfigure or rework things for the players and the characters between campaigns instead of bulldozing through campaign to campaign in the three campaign mega-arc.</cite></ref> we had through some interesting mechanics.

Secondly, I expect we will go through a bit of a learning curve together, assuming that doesn't scare you, here's the logistical setup:
* We play every other Thursday.

* Games will start at 8:05PM (Eastern)

* Games will end at ''no later than'' 10:15PM.<ref>Once 9:45 hits, we will end the game as soon as we hit a "paragraph ending," and regardless of what happens, we will end at 10:15 even if it feels a bit mid-sentence.</ref>

* You can miss games.

* You can come to every game. <ref>I have an in-world mechanic that will allow your character to jump in and out without narrative complication, and as a player, you can also miss a game and/or several and rejoin without having to play catchup. We're all adults, life is complicated, we all do the best we can, and I'm trying to not just account for it, but lean into it. It's part of the game and I think it will make for a fun part.</ref>

* You are starting the game with no stats, and no class.

* You can be any humanoid race. <ref>If you're not sure if what you want fits, ask</ref> Races will not provide mechanical benefits, just flavor. Any mechanical benefits will be at your choosing. <ref> and I have ways to make this happen if you don't want to pick for yourself</ref>

Okay, that's all for the logistics.

The actual game set up: You are a '''Viking'''. You will choose a viking role from one of the available options. This choice will have ''zero'' bearing on your stats, eventual class choice, or frankly anything except the flavor you come in with. Your role options are:
* Raider (Viking)<ref>yes this is kind of a joke. To quote Leonidas, "Spartans, what is your profession?" </ref>

Do you want to play a game?

==Footnotes==
<references />

Solace: Family

2024-11-11T19:25:38Z

Avinasharora:

Solace: Family

2024-11-11T19:23:05Z

Avinasharora:

__NOCACHE__
[[File:Solace-Family.png|center|frameless]]

'''Hello friends, it is that time, a new mega-campaign begins!!'''

Firstly, thank you for your interest.

I've learned a lot from the the last mega-campaign and I'm hoping to address some of the challenges <ref>For example, giving priority quest choice to people who haven't played recently ended up with players who played often never being able to choose the quest. It incentivized people to not play if they wanted more narrative control, which is perverse. The people most invested are the least able to invest heavily. Because of how long of a gap people went between playing, the games ended up ALL being marathons, exhausting and draining instead of recharging your social batteries, you drained every other battery. Or at least I did. The long gaps between games also necessitated "story catchup" mechanics like using the wiki to share summaries, and then reading those summaries, and even to some extent studying. If it's fun for you, then great, but it ended up being less of a nice-to-have and more of a must-have if you wanted to engage with the greater narrative. Scheduling logistics were just genuinely complicated and required a lot of overhead and calendaring. I realize I didn't run a single campaign last go around, I ran three campaigns back to back. I could have allowed for some more meaningful resets and options to reconfigure or rework things for the players and the characters between campaigns instead of bulldozing through campaign to campaign in the three campaign mega-arc.</ref> we had through some interesting mechanics.

Secondly, I expect we will go through a bit of a learning curve together, assuming that doesn't scare you, here's the logistical setup:
* We play every other Thursday.

* Games will start at 8:05PM (Eastern)

* Games will end at ''no later than'' 10:15PM.<ref>Once 9:45 hits, we will end the game as soon as we hit a "paragraph ending," and regardless of what happens, we will end at 10:15 even if it feels a bit mid-sentence.</ref>

* You can miss games.

* You can come to every game. <ref>I have an in-world mechanic that will allow your character to jump in and out without narrative complication, and as a player, you can also miss a game and/or several and rejoin without having to play catchup. We're all adults, life is complicated, we all do the best we can, and I'm trying to not just account for it, but lean into it. It's part of the game and I think it will make for a fun part.</ref>

* You are starting the game with no stats, and no class.

* You can be any humanoid race. <ref>If you're not sure if what you want fits, ask</ref> Races will not provide mechanical benefits, just flavor. Any mechanical benefits will be at your choosing. <ref> and I have ways to make this happen if you don't want to pick for yourself</ref>

Okay, that's all for the logistics.

The actual game set up: You are a '''Viking'''. You will choose a viking role from one of the available options. This choice will have ''zero'' bearing on your stats, eventual class choice, or frankly anything except the flavor you come in with. Your role options are:
* Raider (Viking)<ref>yes this is kind of a joke. To quote Leonidas, "Spartans, what is your profession?" </ref>

Do you want to play a game?

==Footnotes==
<references />

2024-11-04T16:35:42Z

Avinasharora: Avinasharora uploaded File:Solace-revolution.png

File:House-Ottah-Shield.png

2024-11-04T16:35:42Z

Avinasharora: Avinasharora uploaded File:House-Ottah-Shield.png

The Shield of House Ottah

File:House-Ottah-Flag.png

2024-11-04T16:35:42Z

Avinasharora: Avinasharora uploaded File:House-Ottah-Flag.png

House Ottah Flag

File:Jeroy leads the charge.jpg

2024-11-04T16:35:42Z

Avinasharora: Avinasharora uploaded File:Jeroy leads the charge.jpg

Jeroy Lenkins leads the charge to defeat Baphomet