Campaign Recap for 04/06/2021

 After action for 04/06/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose), Sir Moonknight (John)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 53th of Grentle, ending at 55th

P'wox and Solaris are running through the marsh, sure that the Lizardmen are in pursuit. P'wox and Solaris run towards where they believe the village is. Solaris thinks she failed as a cleric because two of our friends just died. Meltara is semi conscious, hears and feels two people cleaning his wounds. "He isn't from the village. Could he be a demon worshiper?"  Elkas, when he exited the cave, went in the direction of the village.. or so he thought. He runs, rushes through the march for 30 minutes before realizing he is not heading towards the village. He stops, looks at the sun, feels the wind and totally heads in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, Sir Moonknight walks into the village and meets with Grandpa and company, joining him on his interviews and learns a few things about the villagers. Sir Moonknight is a young paladin. About an hour later P'wox and Solaris show at the inn looking bedraggled and hungry. Solaris frowns and it's the first time you see her sad because she knows two of her friends are  deceased. Elkas finds a small cottage with an strangely knowledgeable old woman.. She gave him some soup and then reads his palms. Things she says while reading his palms: "You haven't met your father yet...not your real father", "Your brother is evil do not trust him, but you also haven't met him" Finally she says “tell the king that you remember the old ways and will fight to defend the hearth and spawn.” “You can just call me....*pause* sally.” She points him towards the village and sends him on his way. At the Inn Grandpa listens to P'wox and Solaris's tale and explains them what they did wrong. He is also talking to the drivers and some villagers having them complete some missions for him. (hunting?) About an hour after that Elkas showed up at the inn. Elkas freshens up and then gathers the party to tell them his tale. Elkas' tale: this unknown force drove me through the marsh, leading me to the cottage of Sally of The Marsh. "She told me what I need to do, we have to get to the cave before Grandpa!" The PC's run out of the village and head towards the Lizardman cave as darkness falls. Meanwhile Grandpa is wondering where these assholes are… He waits for about an hour before heading off with his cart.  Elkas gives his gear to his friends and then disrobes as he enters the cave...The first thing he sees when he enters is the remains of Ironhide, leaning with his back to a wall, obviously dead. Elkas thinks "I guess he kicked the bucket" making a reference to Ironhide having a bucket-like head (this was as funny as it sounds but I added it here cause it was memorable). He enters further and as a Lizardman is about to javelin his ass to heaven (kick the bucket smh)..Elkas throws up his hands and says "Wait! I am not an enemy! I'm a friend! I have a message for the King!" The King comes forth and demands an explanation. Elkas apologies for the attack on their nest and repeats what Sally had told him "I remember the old ways and will fight to defend the hearth and spawn." The King listens.. then has Elkas follow him to the Hall of Old Elders.. which are animated mummified heads. The heads initially are against him but he shouts his line over and over, eventually gaining the favor of the elders (GM note, there was a bit where he started telling the heads his backstory but the King told him this isn't a therapy session and just say your line..). The large altar like stone in the center of the room splits open and a wood and crystal staff arises from it. The King tells Elkas to take the staff and then leads him to the prisoner area. He tells Elkas that there were three humans that were demon worshipers that were discovered performing a ritual and killed when they fought, two others were found out away from the village at night and were captured and finally, the demi-human that was captured from Elkas' party Meltara. "He has the stink of demons on him.. about his face and rear end!"  The Lizard king gives Elkas the 3 prisoners, Meltara, June and Rollo. Elkas leaves with the prisons but has loads of confusion regarding what is happening and what happened. He ties up June and Rollo, telling the others they are demon worshippers. Meltara defends them but then Elkas accuses him. As they are talking and questioning June and Rollo, Grandpa and company shows up with his cart. Grandma has the cart taken to the front of the cave and then yells out in Draconic to the Lizardmen. "Unknown commarders, accept these gifts of meat for services and for misunderstands." The King comes out and looks at the cart filled with 2 deer, 2 pigs and two strings of 10 rabbits. "Very well, the misunderstanding is the past, we look towards the present and future." They take the meat and return to the cave. Grandpa had already discovered proof of the demon worshippers at the village. Everyone walks back to inn at the village. A big party is held for the safe return of June and Rollo. Their families agree to let them marry and they are given a small farm that belonged to one of the slain demon worshippers. Sir Moon Knight joins the party, farewells to Ironhide. During the celebration at the inn after several hours, there is a knock at the door.. When the door is checked Ironhide's body is left in front of the inn. Grandpa says "They normally eat their eat and kills but I guess they have no use for a metal being." They bury Ironhide at one of the local graveyards. A long rest and then they had off in the morning. Meltara tells Elkas the reason the Lizardman King smelled demon on him "My boyfriend's a demon, end of story." While on route to Weepmire, 4hours into the mostly quiet trip, Solaris sees something on the road ahead and calls out for the wagons to stop...Two wrecked wagons in the distance, almost directly on the trail. Grandpa tells them "Ok boys and girl, go investigate and earn your pay." They stop about 200 feet from the wagons and let the party go ahead on foot. The north wagon turned out to be a group of four mimics waiting for goblins or what not to investigate. They got a couple of shots against the party but one of the mimics broke and ran slowly away, yelling "They have casters! Fuck this!". Two of the other mimics yelled at him to come back "Narg don't run away!" "Don't leave us you bitch!" The party kills the three remaining mimics after a few rounds. The wagon is in bad repair and the mimics were using their bodies to make it look more complete using the nearby other wrecked wagon as a model. While the rest of the party investigates the wagon and mimics bodies, Sir Moon Knight decides to chase the last one. Solaris looks at the mimic bodies, trying to figure out how and what to harvest from them...icky! Elkas is trying (poorly) to set fire to the south wagon. They suddenly realize that Sir Moonknight is missing... Meanwhile.. Sir Moonknight follows the trail of the mimic that had run off. It changed shape a few times but he keeps tracking it. A few minutes later he had found that last mimic. He runs up and fights with it. It was a close battle but the Mimic won. It grabbed his body and continued it's escape. The mimic would have a hearty meal...Moments later, The party decides to find Sir Moonknight, looking for his footprints. Solaris finds the scene of Sir Moonknight's final battle and bits of armor the mimic had spit out. (GM note: Like a person walking eating crab and spitting out pieces of shell) RIP Sir  Moonknight...Solaris is saddened by losing another comrade. They head back to the wagons to determine what to do next..

Kill count=(3xMimic)

Exp=(3x450)=1350/5=270 exp each

For Repairing associations with the LizardMen +200, Defending June And Rollo +150 (Meltara), Entering the Lizardmen cave unarmed and undressed +100 (Elkas). 

Elkas obtained a +1 Quarterstaff.

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 2254, Elkas 2504, Solaris 2254, Meltara 2354, Sir Moonknight RIP.

Campaign Recap for 03/28/2021

After action for 03/28/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 52th of Grentle, ending at 53th

When we last left our adventurers, they were in a barn and everyone was either asleep or had succumb to a sleep spell except for Ironhide who is in rest mode. Rest mode is he is awake but motionless. Ironhide saw several humanoids in dark cloaks and large furry footwear silently enter the barn. He reactivated his movement systems and moved towards them... and was shut down by another sleep spell cast be an unknown watcher. (GM Note: I expected him to stay quiet and learn stuff before moving but that did not happen....) The next thing that happens is Ironhide and Solaris are awaken by a loud slam noise.. looking around they realize they had been bespelled.. Solaris runs to the inn to tell Grandpa and wake everyone up. Ironhide checks the wagons but is unable to determine if anything had be taken or even moved. Solaris bangs on Grandpa's door and wakes everyone.. when they had down to the inn's main room, there is a note left on the bar.. it has a musical symbol on it. Grandpa reads it and tell everyone to go back to sleep "We all have things to investigation in the morning..." Solaris takes out her incense and says a prayer,  keeping the incense burning all night. "just in case...demons..." As they have breakfast Grandpa explains what happened.. the Mysterious Notes (notes like in music) gang checked the wagons and people looking for slavers and demon worshippers. Local peoples are missing in the area and they are concerned, they recognised the Reign of Peace symbol on the boxes and gear and want no trouble with them. Grandma returns in the morning to tell the group that there are lizard men in the area. As far as any of the locals know the lizardmen were killed and driven away decades ago. After an investigation the party finds that 5 people are missing along with a large number of live stock (pigs, sheep, etc). The only thing the people has in common was being out really late at night. Solaris sings lore and tales she knows of the Lizard men (to the theme of the song from Spiderman). The party is sent to investigate a one set of tracks while Grandpa, Grandma and the drivers investigate another. The party follow some footprints of lizardfolk near a farm, leads them to a nearby farm where a few sheep were taken. Following the prints, they travel a few hours away from the village to some foothills, with lots of marshy ground near by. The prints lead to a largish cave opening. They vote and decide to enter the cave during daylight. Solaris casts Aid on Ironhide, P'wox and herself raising their hp by 5. Entering the caves they realize there are a lot of Lizardmen there (GM note:  I "accidentally" left the lights on the map, revealing their numbers), but they decide to charge in anyway. They head towards the smell of sheep and wind up in a narrow tunnel with several Lizardmen in front of them. Po'wox and Elkas can understand them, hearing things like "Alert the king!" "They are heading for the spawning pit!" etc. but make no serious effort to talk to them. They down a few of the warriors but more come from behind and the King shows up, larger and stronger then then other.. The party has no real tactics, just attacking stuff and was slowly worn down by the greater numbers of Lizardmen. When they were about to be wiped out they decided to run, with three members down. Elkas escapes the cave and runs through the marsh. Po'wox gave a potion to Solaris as he carried out towards the cave mouth. Ironhide and Meltara were left behind, dying. Solaris having regained consciousness due to Pwox's potion, sees P'wox go down, she casts Cure Wounds on P'wox then tries to run and is clubbed down... like a baby seal. P'wox stands, casting Cure Wounds on Solaris and then shield bashing the Lizardman nearby. The Lizardmen start banging on their shields as the King reenters the main cave, cheering him. This sudden pause for ceremonies sake gives P'wox and Solaris a chance to run like scared rabbits... Pwox, Solaris and Elkas dash through the marsh, living but leaving their two fallen friends behind. Ironhide succumbs to his wounds, Meltara clings to life...

Kill count=(5xLizardfolk)

Exp=(5x100)=500/5=100 exp each

For finding the lair of the Lizardfolk +150

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1784, Elkas 1884, Solaris 1784, Meltara 1784, Ironhide RIP.

Campaign Recap for 03/21/2021

 After action for 03/21/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: Start at 49th of Grentle, ending at 52th

The party sits in the tavern waiting for Alshu to contact them. As they sit in the tavern and try to grasp the intricate social structure of Kallamos. What they understand is there are a lot of groups that are competing for control or power of the various areas. The area they are in (the Docks) is towards the middle of the structure. The Blue Stripes are empowered by the Nobles that run the city and are usually corrupt, abuse their power and are easily bribed. Two days later, Broken Baron comes in with six people clothed as common workers He introduces them (Pervis, Clevon, Lee, Wilma, Virgil and Lynndie). He reveals they will be operating the two large wagons that they will be guarding on the way to Asium. Each wagon has three operators and three acuna, two and a spare. Acuna are the dog like animals that are used as horses locally (horses with a bite attack in place of hoof attack). The Acuna are named Cotton, Shadow, Puffer, Dandy, Ding and Spitter. They goto the depot and see the wagons. While there, two elderly humans show up, introducing themselves as Grandma and Grandpapa. They are Nightingale and Reckless in disguise, Elkas recognizes them but doesn't say anything.

They set off for the first stop. stop at the gate, chat with guards, Grandmother pays them off. Travel with the wagons is slow, moving at 2.5miles/hour on road, 1.5miles/hour on trails and 1mile/hour in rough.. It takes a few hours to get to the hidden warehouse, the same warehouse they had cleared of the demon rats a few days earlier. At the warehouse, forman says there is noise in cellar and they hear digging. Grandpa brings the party to a cave not too far away that leads to the tunnel dug to their basement. The party enters, leaving Grandpa outside. They hear digging and clawing noises to the left hand tunnel and slowly proceed that way.The party fights four Warped Giant Rats, overcoming them without too many injuries. The party leaves except for Ironhide, who goes farther into the cave as the rest of the party leaves.. he finds ana unusual three foot high glowing crystal that seems to have a feeling of evil to it. It weakens his Great Sword when he assaults the crystal, pitting and dulling the blade so he strikes it to shards with his Handaxe, ruining his Handaxe in the process. Village of Caraley is a six hour journey, the party gets the benefit of a Short Rest during the ride, IronHide gets his Great Sword repaired on way by Pervis (who is trained as a Blacksmith). They arrive at the small village. The wagons are stored in a large barn near the only inn in town. The drivers will watch it in 3 shifts of 3 hours each. Solaris will take a watch guarding the wagons and spend the rest of the night at the inn. (We already failed one mission, rather be cautious and hold a double watch). Meanwhile, Ironhide is in Rest mode in the barn against the backwall. Elkas is napping in the barn , Solaris is sitting against the wagon and the two guards chatting.. they fall quiet and then Solaris's head nods... Ironhide is standing there unmoving.... CLIFFHANGER!!

Kill count=(4xWarped Giant Rats)

Exp=(4x200)=800/5=160 exp each

For resolving the hidden warehouse's problem +100, For finding and destroying the source of the Warping +150 Ironhide

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1534, Elkas 1634, Solaris 1534, Meltara 1534, Ironhide 1734.

Heat or What happens when you're too flashy for your own good.

 Heat is the measure of how much unwanted attention you’re getting from the local community. A city starts at 0 Heat. After each adventure, roll 1d20. If the total is equal or less than the community’s Heat, the Heroes will have to either move on or the adventure will have the Plot elements that revolve around coping with the consequences of their notoriety.  

Heroes earn Heat by becoming either too problematic or too useful to the local powers. A cleric who’s constantly healing the sick with potent magic can find herself suddenly “invited” to be the permanent physician of the local magistrate while a regular head-breaker might find himself sought for punishment by the city watch captain. A hero who wins an adventure that revolves around dealing with their Heat can decrease it by 1d4+1 points.

Aside from Heat the GM might add to your total when it seems narratively appropriate, Heroes can also gain Heat by choosing to solve Challenges in ways that could come back to haunt you. If you beat a Challenge with magic in a way that others might hear about, roll 1d20. If the roll is less than the total levels of spells used in the Challenge, add (1d4+ Highest Level of Spells used) Heat. Strong magic makes rulers nervous. If you beat a Challenge with violence and your opponents are not socially-acceptable targets for brutal disposal, add 1d4 Heat to the community. If they’re very sympathetic figures, add 2d4 Heat. Spells cast in combat might fall afoul of the prior rule as well..

Note: These rules are taken almost verbatim from Scarlet Heroes by Kevin Crawford.  

Campaign Recap for 03/16/2021

 After action for 03/16/2021. 

Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 47th of Grentle, ending at 49th.

Running from the Sorrow Pits the party realizes there are three directions they can run in. They can try and circle around widely and then go back to Kallamos or head out into the darkness and keep going until they reach the farmlands hiding there or finally head out into the darkness into the nearby small stands of trees and see if they can hide there. They choose the stands of trees heading out into the blackness without using any lights being guided mostly by Elkas and Solaris. The reek coming off IronHide makes them keep him towards the back of the party (lead by a rope?). Finally after about half hour of heading through the moonless night they reach a stand of trees and move about ten feet beyond that. Looking back they can see the Sorrow Pits and shanty town are lit by multiple torches and figures moving about. After an hour of watching they see there are less figures and most of the torches gone. They can see a few groups moving out into the darkness looking for them. A hungry Brown Bear is drawn to the smell of IronHide, almost kills Elkas before being driven off. The party uses some of their water to wash IronHide, scrubing him with branches and leaves. Meanwhile, A group of five Blue Stripes has been tracking them.. moving closer and closer.. till they get with in bow shot... 150 feet. Elkas comes up with a plan and uses Dancing Lights to distract the Blue Stripes and head into the stand of woods away from them. The party over hears "metal demon must die" and then they see the hunters enter the woods and then exit an hour later saying they must have lost them.. the Blue Stripes return to Kallamos. The party spends most of the night hiding in the small stand of trees. Heading back to Kallamos just before dawn. Thinking IronHide is the metal demon the Blue Stripes talked about, they try to figure out a disguise for IronHide. They settle on putting his cloak on and keeping his head covered and mouth shut. Iron Hide and Solaris go to the Main or South Gate. There they overhear merchants talking about a Wizard at Sorrow Pits with a hoard of Ghouls and a metal Demon. The demon is described as over nine feet tall and with glowing wings. Solaris tries to plant a casual rumor about a Druid who turned into a bear at the sorrow Pits with a hoard of ghouls (She keeps at it though nothing supports it).P'wox and Elkas go to the North Gate and see a handbill with the account of the Blue Stripes saving the city from a hoard of ghouls from the Sorrow Pits. A drawing shows a demonic Meltara summoning and blasting stuff, a horde of Ghouls crawling out of the pits and a giant winged metal demon in the background (looks like a heavy metal album cover). They all make it back to the Lucky Steer. All of the people in the tavern seem to think they screwed up. Solaris thinks Alshu might send them off to a convent or something (not to use to the outside world)... Taking a Long Rest, everyone levels up. P'wox goes to the Bleeding Heart but is unable to weedle any potions from them as they have send all their available healing potions to the Blue Stripes as a thank you for saving the city. He is amazed by the hero worship of the Blue Stripes. He keeps over hearing random people praising the Blue Stripes for saving the town and repelling the "demon horde". The Blue Stripes have the corpses of the slain Zombies and Ghouls chained to the Bayview Tower with placards saying "Zombie" and "Ghouls slayed by the heroic Captain Awen". Broken Baron explains how and it is bad for the Blue Stripes to be popular with the city folks. The party finally gets a meeting with Alshu, he tells them that he is greatly disappointed in them and in their performance and their inability to follow directions. He tells them he is going to find something for them to do outside of the city until the 'heat' dies down and then send them back to the Lucky Steer to wait.

Game Note: The party has 4 Heat on them, see other post for Heat rules.

Kill count=(Brown Bear Defeated)+(5xBlue Strike Elites Avoided/Escaped from)

Exp=(200)+(5x450x1/4)=695/5=139 exp each

For Escaping the Sorrow Pits and the approaching Blue Stripes +200, For clever use of Dancing Lights to trick trackers +100 Elkas

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1274, Elkas 1374, Solaris 1274, Meltara 1274, Ironhide 1324.

Campaign Recap for 03/16/2021

 After action for 03/16/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 47th of Grentle, ending at 49th.

Running from the Sorrow Pits the party realizes there are three directions they can run in. They can try and circle around widely and then go back to Kallamos or head out into the darkness and keep going until they reach the farmlands hiding there or finally head out into the darkness into the nearby small stands of trees and see if they can hide there. They choose the stands of trees heading out into the blackness without using any lights being guided mostly by Elkas and Solaris. The reek coming off IronHide makes them keep him towards the back of the party (lead by a rope?). Finally after about half hour of heading through the moonless night they reach a stand of trees and move about ten feet beyond that. Looking back they can see the Sorrow Pits and shanty town are lit by multiple torches and figures moving about. After an hour of watching they see there are less figures and most of the torches gone. They can see a few groups moving out into the darkness looking for them. A hungry Brown Bear is drawn to the smell of IronHide, almost kills Elkas before being driven off. The party uses some of their water to wash IronHide, scrubing him with branches and leaves. Meanwhile, A group of five Blue Stripes has been tracking them.. moving closer and closer.. till they get with in bow shot... 150 feet. Elkas comes up with a plan and uses Dancing Lights to distract the Blue Stripes and head into the stand of woods away from them. The party over hears "metal demon must die" and then they see the hunters enter the woods and then exit an hour later saying they must have lost them.. the Blue Stripes return to Kallamos. The party spends most of the night hiding in the small stand of trees. Heading back to Kallamos just before dawn. Thinking IronHide is the metal demon the Blue Stripes talked about, they try to figure out a disguise for IronHide. They settle on putting his cloak on and keeping his head covered and mouth shut. Iron Hide and Solaris go to the Main or South Gate. There they overhear merchants talking about a Wizard at Sorrow Pits with a hoard of Ghouls and a metal Demon. The demon is described as over nine feet tall and with glowing wings. Solaris tries to plant a casual rumor about a Druid who turned into a bear at the sorrow Pits with a hoard of ghouls (She keeps at it though nothing supports it).P'wox and Elkas go to the North Gate and see a handbill with the account of the Blue Stripes saving the city from a hoard of ghouls from the Sorrow Pits. A drawing shows a demonic Meltara summoning and blasting stuff, a horde of Ghouls crawling out of the pits and a giant winged metal demon in the background (looks like a heavy metal album cover). They all make it back to the Lucky Steer. All of the people in the tavern seem to think they screwed up. Solaris thinks Alshu might send them off to a convent or something (not to use to the outside world)... Taking a Long Rest, everyone levels up. P'wox goes to the Bleeding Heart but is unable to weedle any potions from them as they have send all their available healing potions to the Blue Stripes as a thank you for saving the city. He is amazed by the hero worship of the Blue Stripes. He keeps over hearing random people praising the Blue Stripes for saving the town and repelling the "demon horde". The Blue Stripes have the corpses of the slain Zombies and Ghouls chained to the Bayview Tower with placards saying "Zombie" and "Ghouls slayed by the heroic Captain Awen". Broken Baron explains how and it is bad for the Blue Stripes to be popular with the city folks. The party finally gets a meeting with Alshu, he tells them that he is greatly disappointed in them and in their performance and their inability to follow directions. He tells them he is going to find something for them to do outside of the city until the 'heat' dies down and then send them back to the Lucky Steer to wait.

Game Note: The party has 4 Heat on them, see other post for Heat rules.

Kill count=(Brown Bear Defeated)+(5xBlue Strike Elites Avoided/Escaped from)

Exp=(200)+(5x450x1/4)=695/5=139 exp each

For Escaping the Sorrow Pits and the approaching Blue Stripes +200, For clever use of Dancing Lights to trick trackers +100 Elkas

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 1274, Elkas 1374, Solaris 1274, Meltara 1274, Ironhide 1324.

Campaign Recap for 03/08/2021

 After action for 03/09/2021. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 46th of Grentle.

The party back at the tavern askes the barkeep if he would sell them rooms.  Being themselves they act weird and suspicious so he denies them rooms.  They tried throwing Alshu's name around but this makes him even less friendly. Finding themselves on the street they  are discussing amongst themselves their next move when they are approached by a cloaked figure who tells them "Alshu sent me. Follow me." and walked away.  They follow him cluelessly down an alleyway and around the block to a boarded up storefront. The stranger knocks on the door, a little peek hole is slid open and he shows something. The door opens. He leads them inside. It's another dimly lit traven with small groups of 2 or 3 people talking quietly at tables. All of them are wearing muted colors and hooded cloaks. Everyone looks up as they enter and stares. Most go back to what they were doing when the stranger leading them waves at them. Sitting them at a table against a wall, the stranger waves over the barkeep and has mead brought over. He takes a long drink while looking at them... The stranger seems short and stocky..maybe a dwarf? His face is covered in scars. His raspy voice begins... He is called Broken Baron and Alshu has instructed him to tell the party the lay of the land as they are very much babes in the woods. Elkas askes "How did you get that name?" "Everyone earns a name..in time." He starts by telling them their clothes are too bright and attract too much attention. He has the barkeep go get them some hooded cloaks. Broken Baron shows them the symbol on the bar and what he has as a necklace on a copper necklace. It is a peace symbol. Some of the  party recall having seen it on shop doors and in various places as they were walking through the dock area.  Apparently this is the symbol of Alshu's group, called Reign of Peace. He fills them in on the Big Picture and tells them about some of the important local areas.

Big Picture:

Nobles: The Nobles of Kallamos have grown very corrupt over the last few hundred years. For the most part they stay in the Inner City and just to live a life of decadence. If any skilled entertainers or adventurers show up in the city they are forced to pay exorbitant taxes or work for the Nobles. The Nobles are also obsessed with anything that might upset the status quo. Rebels and possible Rebels are found and either exiled or killed (depending on the size of the bribe). The 'Legal' system in place favors the Nobles to an  embarrassing degree. There isn't even a pretense of fairness.

Visitor Passes: Newcomers to Kallmos are issued a Visitor Pass. It lasts for a week. A visitor without a Pass and not on the Tax Roll can be subject to an Accounting. Extended Passes are for sale at various rates and there is a large amount of forgery and theft of Passes.

Tax Roll: A large book of names and figures, there are three copies and they are compared by the Tax board every few months.. By 'law' everyone pays taxes every year, which is equal to 2% of their worth. If your name is not on the Roll you can be held for up to the last 5 years of taxes (this is known as an Accounting). Anyone that lives in Kallamos knows their number in the book and their page.

Gangs on the docks: there is one big gang, Reign of Peace, run by Alshu and two smaller gangs that are his rivals, Serene Petal and Panic Blades. Panic Blades (run by Angel Moustache) is the more dangerous of the two as it does loan sharking and strong arm operations mostly, where as Serene Petal (run by Fearless Rose) does prostitution and small time drug dealing. Reign of Peace is mostly protection (keeping the small timers in check), bootlegging and fencing. For the most part everyone in these gangs uses a nickname.

Places:

Sorrow Pits: Large trash pits for the city and graveyard for the poor and unknown, basically a big collection of large pits with bodies and debris thrown inside and then covered up. Has a small shanty town on the side closest the city filled with poor and wretched garbage pickers.

Bleedingheart Clinic: A run down warehouse, kept running by three Acolytes, Holger, Duus and Aksel, worshipers of the Martyr god. Serves the poor and needy, by functioning as a soup kitchen, shelter and hospital. They also sell healing potions and buy potion ingredients.

Promise Gardens: A large fenced in garden area, cared for by a druid named Odddo. She also raises fruits and vegetables that she donates to Bleeding heart. Visitors are allowed but damaging the plants is a big no no.

Bayview Tower: This is the guard post that guards that patrol the docks work and sleep. It is three stories so one of the largest buildings in the area and houses about 40 people, 25 of which are the Blue Stripes (the dock guards have blue stripes on their shoulders). Most of the Blue Stripes abuse their power and are easily bribed.

White Petal: Is the base of operations of the Serene Petal. A largish two story manor in good upkeep that is painted white. It is for the most part a huge brothel.

Clear Water Trading Company: A large run down looking warehouse on the docks. Base of ops for Reign of Peace. The main floor is kept mostly dusty and empty with Alshu conducting his business in the back of the room at a large table/desk. The lighting is kept very dim. 

Smooth Market: The local market square of the docks.. a lot of sellers and buyers. Not a lot of unusual stuff though. Lots of cutpurses.

He tells them to stay at this place, which is connected to the Lucky Steer. Around this time, the barkeep from the Lucky Steer comes through a door and is surprised to see them here. His name is Gnu and tells them to keep Alshu's name out of their mouths. Broken Baron leaves. Some of the party try to listen to the other tables but everyone talks quietly. They eat and Gnu gives them 3 rooms to use. Solaris grabs a key and heads up to go to sleep. Ironhide finds a spot against the wall and goes into standby mode. Elkas, Meltara and P'wox drink for a bit, then P'wox and a few hours later Meltara go up to a room. Elkas stays, trying to learn something. A group of two come and sit at a table near Ironhide, wondering why Gnu is decorating the place. Ironhide tries to scare them so they go to another table, shaking their heads. Elkas goes over and makes friends with them. Their names of Reckless and Nightingale. Nightingale is female and has a gravelly voice. They speak for an hour or two,  telling Elkas about Ghouls at the Sorrow Pit, preying on the poor and wretched that live there. Reckless says he will tell Alshu about it in the morning. Nightingale whispers to Reckless. Elkas turns down a night with Reckless and Nightingale. Everyone goes to sleep.

SideNote: It is figured out that Ironhide eats and drinks and has to recharge from some as yet unknown energy source or item every few months. He can't get drunk, but he can taste things. He currently has 4 months of charge left. 

In the morning P'wox is the first one up. He asks for raw meat and they bring it. P'wox goes to the Bleeding Heart, buys two Lesser Healing potions. Cures the disease of a sick child and is rewarded with a Minor Healing potion. P'wox put one lessor potion in his belt to use as a bonus action. Returning to the tavern, he finds Ironhide eating huge bowls of porridge after he had had two regular breakfasts. After an hour or two Elkas come down and tells the party what he has learned (kind of mixing things up but whatever). Reckless and Nightingale come down, get some porridge and leave, waving to Elkas as they go. A few hours later  Reckless returns   and tells the party that Alshu wants them to look into the Ghoul situation tonight. They are told not to do anything flashy and not bring attention to themselves, investigate and kill the ghouls if possible. That night Reckless leads them to the shanty town near the Sorrow Pits. The shanty town is mostly dark,  as there are few inhabitants and most can't afford to keep candles or torches going all night. The party move through the shantys, Ironhide wandering into some huts to scare the inhabitants. Meltara enters a hut and roots around finding a not that badly soiled piece of cloth.. then leaves. They get to the pits and the stench is horrible,  rotting garbage, vegetables and bones, possibly some unwanted bodies. They hear movement in the nearest pit but can't see anything. Elkas uses Dancing Lights to dimly illuminate the pit. The debris starts about 3 feet down from the edge, about ten feet in, they can see two Zombies mindlessly digging through the trash. Ironhide jumps into the mess, wading towards them and then attacking them with his great sword. Elkas uses Firebolt, lighting up the night and then Meltara uses Sacred Flame. Ironhide finishes off the two Zombies then wades deeping into the pit, falling into a smaller pit towards the middle and finding himself ten feet under the trash, 15 feet from the end of the pit. He hears something digging towards him. None of the other characters can see the fight as Ironhide and a Zombie engage. Trash is flying about in the pit.. And in another nearby pit, 5 Ghouls have been creeping up on Elkas standing there with his torch. The Ghouls attack but don't do much, P'wox breathing Lightning, Solaris using Word of Radiance and Meltara using Sacred Flame, breaking the darkness with magical flares and flashes. Ironhide has finished off the Zombie but is just floundering about in the trash, unable to climb up the slick wall, lucky for him he doesn't need to breathe or he would be dying there. P'wox uses divine smite, Elkas uses Magic Missile, more flashes and explosions.  The Ghouls are all killed.. but the party sees a large group of torches coming towards them! They quickly use a rope to get Ironhide out of the pit and run out into the darkness beyond the city...

CLIFFHANGER!!!

Kill count=(3xZombies)+(5xGhouls)

Exp=(3x50)+(5x200)=1150/5=230 exp each

For completing the mission, but failing to not attract attention +50

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 935, Elkas 935, Solaris 935, Meltara 935, Ironhide 985. All characters can level to 3 once they take a Long Rest (which might be hard while running from Blue Stripes).

New Campaign Direction, Recap for 03/01/21

 After action for 03/01/21. Playing: P’wox (Aaron), Ironhide (John), Meltara (Keiran), Solaris (Julie), Elkas (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 45th of Grentle.

So We start a new group of adventurers... We start in the city of Kallamos.

Kallamos is a cosmopolitan city, many races and cultures meet and mingle here, their harbor has ships that travel and trade across the known world and beyond. Sometimes ships from other worlds or planes dock here but that is a rare occurrence. For the last few months there has been the appearance of other world demons that have attacked smaller settlements. Everyone is talking about some sort of invasion about to happen but no details are known to anyone.. or so it seems..

Sitting in a small cheap tavern, The Lucky Steer, on the docks, we find our adventurers, newly arrived at the city. They are; P'wox Akraj (played by Aaron), a gold Dragonborn Paladin, a soldier by trade. Elkas Daera (played by Jose), a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer, Haunted by horrors in his past. Solaris (played by Julie), an Aasimar Light Domain Cleric, raised by the church. Meltara Waert(played by Keiran) a Kalashtar Grave Domain Cleric, who is a Noble by birth. And finally Ironhide (played by John) a Warforged fighter, a soldier by birth and trade. 

A newsie street orphan type goes to each of the weird strangers tables and drops off a crude handbill. Written in common it says "Adventurers wanted for dangerous but profitable work" and gives a nearby location on the docks. The players get up as a group.. they introduce each other as they walk to the address. They see a large but somewhat ill kept warehouse.. the newsie looking kid is standing in front.."Wow.. so all of you huh? ok let's go see the boss."They enter the warehouse, which seems mostly large and empty. Sitting in the far corner in flickering candles is a large table with a huge humanoid. As they approach he sends away the few figures he was taking to. He introduces himself as Alshu. He tells him one of his smaller operations, a warehouse not far from the city, has fallen silent for the last few days. Find out why they aren't sending any messages for the last 3 days. If it's monsters or rivals kill them. Don't destroy the warehouse. He will pay them based on performance. He wants them to go there and solve the problem then come back and report.

Neekno, the newsie street orphan, will guide them to his warehouse outside of Kallamos. The warehouse is a four hour walk outside of the city. It's in an area of farms and small stands of stunted trees.  As they walk to the warehouse, Neekno tells the that Alshu is a good boss, tough but fair. Traveling around several small very poor looking Farms they finally come to the warehouse hidden in a stand of trees.  I would never have found it without Neekno leading them there.  The circle it from a distance then as we get closer five spiked rats jump out from the trees and bushes they were hidden in and attack them. Spiked rats are weird little monkey rat things that can fire the spines on their back. It's a tough first battle for the group as the rats jumped them and they are unsure of their own abilities. P'wox breathes lightning on three of the rat, damaging them all. Ironhide yells "Die fleshy!" slashing a Spiked Rat to death. They defeat the rats and take a moment to heal and plan.Solaris using her Healing Hands on P'wox (2 HP). Meltara runs to the warehouse door and flings it open.. and a Warped Giant Rat rushes out of the darkness to eat him. P'wox and the rest rush forward to try to save his dumb ass.. it's a one sided battle and they kill the Giant Rat, dragging it out to open the warehouse. Neekno stays distant and watches as they do their thing. Realizing it is dark in the warehouse P'wox lights a torch. Meltara runs in the warehouse and is attacked by two Spiked Rats (see a pattern here...). Everyone rushes in after him. Solaris uses Word of Radiance, Elkas Fire Bolts, Ironhide hacking... Another Warped Giant Rat comes up from the lower level. Meltarra uses Inflict Wounds on it and Ironhide almost killing it. Elkas's Magic Missile finishes it off. They investigate the basement.. a Rat the size of a tiny dog, hiding in some empty crates, attacks Meltarra when he finds it but he kills it easily, taking it's small collar as a bracelet. Searching the basement reveals their was some kind of brewing operation here but everything is broken and smashed by the invading rat creatures. The party finds the bloody remains of the workers, some coins for the Living Fund and a tunnel hidden behind a curtain. The tunnel is low and looks like it goes on for a distance, sloping down beyond the range of torch light. Since they would have to crawl down the tunnel they decide not to explore it and instead block it with boxes and crates. Solaris walks out while the others look and see if there's anything they can take as loot (Alshu didn't tell them not to?). Exiting the warehouse, Neekno is nowhere to be seen. Solaris hears a faint cry in the distance and takes off running towards it, P'wox running with her. When the others exit, they aren't sure where Solaris or P'wox are..  Running for a minute they come to a large tree with Neekno climbed up it and four wolves surrounding it. He is yelling at the wolves to go away. When Solaris yells to him, he says to not get close you'll attract their attention and get attacked. Solaris runs back to get help, P'wox bangs on his shield and runs away too.. (hoping the wolves would follow?) He waits for Solaris to run back to the warehouse and get the others and bring them back. By the time they do all and get back to the tree, Neekno and the wolves are gone. The base of the tree has blood on and around it. They follow the wolves prints away from the tree. Some large feline creature is with them. A short while later one of the wolves is found with it's throat ripped out. They make some theories about Neekno. They lose the trail at a small stream. Because they left the warehouse open they have to go back and secure it.. then they head back to the city. They see Alshu and give a confusing report, telling him the people were killed but not that the brewing operation is ruined and the basement a mess (Meltara "oh it's a wine cellar now.").  They tell him they lost Neeko and about the wolves but Alshu seems unworried. Alshu pays them each 20 gold for their work. tells them he will be in touch. They go back to the Lucky Steer and look for rooms in the area. 

Kill count=(7xSpiked Rat)+(2xWarped Giant Rat)+(Giant Rat)

Exp=(7x50)+(2x200)+(25)=775/5=155exp each

For completing the mission given by Alshu +200, For using “Die Fleshy!” as his battle cry +50 Ironhide (amusing the GM).

Current Exp Totals are: P’wox 655, Elkas 655, Solaris 655, Meltara 655, Ironhide 705.

Campaign Recap for 02/23/21

 After action for 2/23/21. Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Cryrus Shwing (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose), Hej Mallorca (Rumo)

Date in Campaign is: 45th of Grentle.

In spite of last week's notes telling them which direction they should take, the party decides they will try and break the curse by finding the tears of an Angel. Asking the sage, freeing his books on plants. Corbite tells the party what the flower "tears of an angel" looks like (white and yellow tiger lily) and that it might be at the Pearl Oasis.. (On the other hand Nomora and her companions searched for the tears of angels for years and they did not find it). Corbite wants to free his workers, save his books and go to the Outcast village, the two guards will stay and help him. Ellalan asks if he has any water they can have, but the sage tells them no. Sneaking out of the library, the party looks for a likely house to search for water, Cyrus leading them with his birdlike senses...half the party sounds like a marching band as they sneak but they make it to a nearby small estate. Searching the kitchen of the house they find 4 jugs of water and 12 jugs of wine (and 3 jugs of cooking oil, 3 jugs of dried rice and 1 of dried beans). At the time of looting the manor they party had 2 days of water. each is a jug is about a gallon, 1 day of supply for 1 person. They stuff all the jugs into his Yeusof's ring (1st use of day). With their water supply replenished they head off into the desert. Three hours of walking through the burning sands later.... Ellalan is scouting ahead of the party (interesting and funny confusion about distance, with her scouting 7 feet in front of the party...). She sees an obelisk half buried in the sand. Closer investigation reveals unknown hieroglyphics on it. Some knowledge checks give them a symbol they believe may be Druid or Mage (or Necromancer...) Thineli uses comprehend Languages and touches the obelisk to translate it.. the first thing he reads, as the sand starts to bubble and roll, is do not touch the obelisk of imprisonment. A large Sand Shaman, made of sand rises out of the sand with five Sand Spiders (these were a reskinned Orc War Chief and Giant Spiders). The party makes quick work of these, Cyrus understanding some of the words the Sand Shaman was bellowing "Attack the defilers!" "Don't let them free it!" but things happen so fast he doesn't get a chance to share. With the destruction of the Sand Shaman, the remaining two Sand Spiders crumble back to sand.. and the obelisk also starts to crumble... they hear a mighty bellow from underground "At last! I am free once more!" Cyrus runs forward to try to do something to save the obelisk but sees a shiny metallic blue diamond shape nearby and tries to pull it loose.. Everything seems to stop as a huge Serpentine figure breaks out of the sand, a young Blue Dragon!  It immediately bites Cyrus off his shoulder, where he was trying to pry loose one of his scales.. pinning Cyrus to the sand with a claw, leaving him near death.  Seeing the rest of the party nearby he roars at them "Unknown creatures! Worship me if you wish to live!" Hej says "Of course, Mighty one! May I ask your name to properly worship you?" "I am Nazor, The Taker of Life!" Hej bows and retreats from the dragon, flattering and praising him as he does so. Sir Dawnstar, seeing an evil dragon, casts Vow of Enmity and attacks the dragon slashing it twice!! Thineli pulls out a scorpion and throws it at the dragon, changing it into a giant scorpion that attacks it and poisons it. Yeusof and Ellalan started running when the sand shook and kept running, seeing a pissed off dragon about to kill people... The dragon jumps into the air, getting attacks from both the scorpion and Sir Dawnstar and then blasts them with Lightning Breath!! Thineli falls a charred husk of a drow, Sir Dawnstar is horribly blasted but is somehow still standing, the Giant Scorpion vanishes in a cloud of ash and smoke... Ellalan watches in the distance as she runs, she vows to tell the tale of Sir Dawnstar who stood against a dragon after his friends were fried to a crisp-If she makes it out alive! Ellalan uses Step of the Wind to move faster, leaving behind Yeusof. Sir Dawnstar throws javelins at the hovering dragon...defiant to the end.. Hej runs toward Thineli's smoking body and grabs it up as he keeps running away. Nazor drops from the sky like a bird of prey and savages Sir Dawnstar.. dropping him and pinning his body to the sand. The dragon sees the others run away.. as he starts to eat Sir Dawnstar's corpse. Thineli dies as Hej Mallocra carries his blackened and burned body away (for eating purposes?). Hej takes everything in Thineli's pockets. Hej buries Thinelli and says a prayer to Mallorca for Thinelli's spirit. Ellalan and Yeusof escape into the desert. Hej Mallorca runs far and then starts to track them... Moments later seeing the dragon flying away to the east, they circle around to the site of the massacre.. correction... they do not go back. 

So this tale ends with three dead.. and three still in the desert heading to the Pearl Oasis.

Kill Count=(Sand Shaman)+(Sand Spider x5)+(Young Blue Dragon Undefeated/Evaded)

Exp=1100+(200x5)+(5000/2)=4500/5=900exp each

For gathering water and food without unnecessary pillage +200, For trying to praise and escape the dragon at the same time +200 Hej Mallorca, For scouting “7 feet” in front of the party +100 Ellalan (amusing the GM)

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 18597, Ellalan 23226, Thineli RIP, Sir Dawnstar RIP, Cyrus Shwing RIP, Hej Mallorca 5210. Ellalan can level to 7 with a long rest.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930.

Campaign Recap for 02/16/21

 After action for 2/16/21. Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Cryrus Shwing (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose), Hej Mallorca (Rumo)

Date in Campaign is: 44th of Grentle.

Meanwhile in the cells on the Burning Rose, Yeusof is trying to convince the guard he is the "pirate prince". Sir Dawnstar is just making complaints and being noisy.

The guard tries to speak to his Mistress but is rebuffed. He comes back to tell Yeusof she is not going to see him and he responds with 'what will you Mistress do when she realizes you are holding her pirate prince lover captive...". The guard laughs and explains Yeusof's misconceptions.

At the camp of Bryce, Ellalan and Thineli rest and plan to get to the sage at the library.

Cyrus on the ship is taking with the mercenaries and tells them he was prisoner of the perverse nobles that drugs him and he was running to escape them...the two mercenaries that "rescued" Cyrus from the perverted nobles are Lukil and Othrol,

During the night at Bryce's camp, Hej Mallorca shows up, having been lost again. Ellalan brings him up to speed. Bryce draws them a map of the town to the library in the town center. Before dawn, they sneak into Allenstones through Castle Slohan. They encounter nothing on the way to the library. After carefully sneaking through the town, the search around the library, find a side that isn't covered in salt.. and then Hej breaks a window with his axe. At the library, Hej, Ellalan and Thineli rescue Melyer Helkin, the head librarian. She is distressed by the state of the bldg. She directs them to Corbite.. he needs his books however...

OH! Ellalan is thinking if everything is being turned into salt and she is all seaweedy, maybe she needs every living thing’s water?

While breaking free Corbite the sage, Ellalan uses a ki point to hold the poison salt air back.

The Sage uses his books and knowledge to tell them the following: Sotysios Naxxremis, the famous merchant. Made a deal with an entity (think demon, not all are evil) for his daughter to gain great power.

the curse was caused by her father, when she was little.She gained great power but it is uncontrolled and tries to make her do "evil"

She has to pray or meditate at a small shrine there every day. The longer she is away from her manor on her island the more uncontrolled the curse will be.

She is a skilled merchant and was trained to be so by her family. But the curse keeps her on the island except for a trip of a month or two.She has been known to search for the "Tears of an Angel" which may be linked to her cure...

Meanwhile at ship, Yeusof entreats the guard to ask again of his Mistress that he be seen. He tells the Merc that he needs Sir Dawnstar by his side when he talks to her... The merc that delivered Yeusof message comes back dripping wet and smelling of salt and pissed off. Sir Dawnstar breaks the locks on their cells using smite. They wait in their cells to ambush a guard.

Cyrus tells Gakrar, the half orc, that he wants to speak to the Mistress but a guard being covered in salt after delivering a message from a prison and having to be freed.. makes him rethink that so instead he will make a tapestry of a lunar eclipse..

Back at the library, a mysterious voice asks them how they would break the curse. Ellalan covers her eyes hands in a panic thinking it is a Medusa as the halfling steps from the shadows. He tells them the following: On the island she is nice. away, she is more evil, and The pirate prince is a blonde. He tells them to find the "pirate prince" or his body so he can get his Mistress to return to her island. He will help the members of the party on the ship escape so they can go do that. He tells them that Rabid Eye will lead the guards and will not be happy with them.. Corbite is a huge fan of Rabid Eye the Gladiator and has some fanzines of him.. 

Thineli creates distraction at the castle using Summon Lighting. Thundermint sends most of the guards to investigate and Rabid Eye leads them. Thundermint helps the two prisoners and Cyrus escape from the ship, with their equipment and a map to the library and then everyone is together at the library. Ending here... Cliffhanger??

Note to party: Never split the party.

Kill Count=Nothing

For finding the library and freeing the sage +300 Thineli, Ellalan and Hej Mallorca, For breaking out of their cells +200 Sir Dawnstar and Yesof, For lying to the guards and making things worse +200 Cyrus Shwing, For getting jealous of Rabid Eye fans +100 Yeusof (amusing the GM)

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 17497, Ellalan 22026, Thineli 23383, Sir Dawnstar 19297, Cyrus Shwing 3280, Hej Mallorca 3910.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, 

Campaign Recap for 02/09/21

 There was no game on 02/02/21. I had to work ordered overtime...

Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Cryrus Shwing (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose)

Date in Campaign is: 43th of Grentle

The Players get to the castle, they see everything and everyone is covered in a thick (half inch or so) semi-transparent salt glaze. Sir Dawnstar and Cyrus break into the doors in front and explore the castle. All is covered in salt. Ellalan frees one guard at the front gate, each attack on the salt raising a cloud of choking poisonous salt. The freed guard is named Doncan. They question the guard but he knows almost nothing, he was standing guard, heard some shouting and everything went black. he tells them the ruler of Castle Sohan is Lord Laurence and the town is called Allenstones. Gives them some basic knowledge of the background of the setting. Meanwhile, Thineli hears something in the distance to the north and sees a ragged man running towards them and the castle from hundreds of feet away. He throws a spear with something flapping on it at the castle and runs back into the desert. Thineli goes to investigate the spear and finds a message attached. The message was written in blood on a piece of cloth "NO go CaStlE, MeDusA". Thineli turns and does not see the party. They have gone into the castle to go look for water. Doncan leads them to the nearest well.. but it is encased in salt. Suddenly they hear voices coming towards them. Doncan runs back to the front of the castle while Ellalan and Yeusof hide and Cyrus goes running to the docks yelling stop (?). As Cyrus runs past the two mercenaries they are surprised by his appearance and not sure what to make of him as he zooms pass. Sir Dawnstar steps forward and greets the encountered mercenaries. They tell him they are from the ship. They seem at least neutral towards him, giving him their water skins and telling him he should leave, their Mistress wants them to capture everyone but they seem to be trying to chase any unsalted people out of the town. Sir Dawnstar refuses to leave and keeps talking till their boss, Rabid Eye, shows up with two more mercs. Rabid Eye yells to capture him and then fights with Sir Dawnstar, Yeusof and Ellalan joining in when Sir Dawnstar is being beaten down. Sir Dawnstar and Yeusof are knocked out and captured, Ellalan escapes. Ellalan uses a 4th ki to do Step of the Wind and runs away back into the castle. She was thinking the whole time, "Why didn't thinelli help us??? Yousef and Sir Dawnstar...could be dead...and where the heck did that bird go??" Cyrus is running through the town screaming stop... Meanwhile outside the castle, Thineli follows footprints in sand to where he finds a tiny sad little camp. He meets a lone surviving guardman, Bryce has been living alone for the last two weeks. He saw the castle turned to salt. Not much he knows about that. He tells them about the library in town and the sage that runs it., Corbite. Ellalan and Doncan follow the footprints in the sand to Bryce's camp. Bryce is surprised Doncan is alive, believing everyone was dead from being covered in salt. Bryce has seen the Medusa while trying to get food and water from the town, describing her as 8-9 feet tall and wearing tattered sea weedly clothing. He also tells them about how he has been drinking the fluids of the small lizards he finds to survive ("Juice Box Lizards") and how plump those lizards Thineli is carrying are... Meanwhile, Cryus gets close to the ship, sees all the people on board and tries to distract them with an illusion of noise from a nearby house.. Thundermint sneaks up on him.. invites him back to ship but is unable to get an audience with Nomura Nexx so he is just hanging out on the deck with Thundermint and Gakrar (a half orc dressed in fancy leathers that says he is a merchant) and the mercs on the ship. Yeusof and Sir Dawnstar awaken in cells in the hold of the ship, with another prisoner, Lord Laurence. Each is in separate cells and without equipment. Yeusof is bending the ear of Lord Lourace with tales of his ego. Thineli and Ellalan are at a sand dune with the two guards eating weak lizard tail soup.

Will the party come together again?... will they keep wandering in different directions?...

Kill Count=(1xGladiator Fought but lost)+(4xHobgoblin Warrior beating on them)

Exp=(1800/2)+((100x4)/2)=1100/3= 367exp each to Sir Dawnstar, Yeusof and Ellalan. For figuring out how to free victims of salt curse +100, For exploring Castle Sohan +200 to Cryrus and Sir Dawnstar, For attempting parly with mercs +100 Sir Dawnstar, For following the clues on the spear +200 to Thineli, For getting on the ship not as a prisoner +150 to Cryrus, For saying Juicebox Lizards (amusing the GM) +100 to Ellalan.

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 17197, Ellalan 21726, Thineli 23083, Sir Dawnstar 19297, Cyrus Shwing 3080. Thineli can level to 7 and Cyrus Shwing to 4 with a long rest., 

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, Hej Mallorca 3610.

Campaign recap for 01/27/21

Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Cryrus Shwing (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose), Hej Mallorca (Rumo)

Date in Campaign is: 38th of Grentle

Seeing the thing burrowing through the sand towards them, Ellalan casts Minor Illusion off to the north east, making a drumming noise to try to distract whatever it is. Yuesof and Sir Dawnstar see something sticking out of the sands to the north and head towards it, only to find it is some kind of driftwood like substance that is too small to stand on or hide behind. The bard starts shooting his light crossbow into the sand, hoping for a lucky hit and Thineli turns into a small sand running bird and runs to the south. Ellalan tries to move the drumming noise closer to the thing under the sand as it gets closer. It seems to ignore it and heads towards Yuesof and Sir Dawnstar, about 40 feet from them it bursts out of the sand, revealing a giantantic burrowing armored worm form and spits a spray of Sticky Resin at the two of them. The majority of it misses them and they quickly rips the shreds off of themselves before it hardens. As the glop of it dries it becomes looking like the driftwood object they had run towards. Ellalan tries to push the worm back using Fist of Unbroken Air but the worm is too big. Seeing an outcropping of rocks to the north Ellalan runs towards it and Yeusof follows after throwing javelins at the worm. Sir Dawnstar runs to the worm and starts hacking at it, doing a lot of damage. Thineli finds another outcropping of rock to the south and stays there. The bard keeps shooting his crossbow, hitting the worm. The Sandworm lashes out and bites Sir Dawnstar, almost biting him in half! The bard casts Dissonant Whispers, not realizing the worm has no ability to hear. While in the mouth of the worm Sir Dawnstar continues to hack at the worm before it bites him, leaving him near dead and swallows him. It then turns to head back into the sand.. Yuesof runs to the worm and slashes it, hitting it with his shield. Sir Dawnstar was chewed and swallowed by the sandworm, but Yuesof killed it before escaping with him to digest him. Yuesof cuts into the worm looking for his friend but can't find him till the worm poops him out as it dies. He is still is bad shape. Ellalan comes over to help and stabilizes him. Thineli runs over as a Roadrunner and heals Sir Dawnstar slightly and when he awakes Sir Dawnstar heals himself for all his lay on hands +30hp. As they recover on the rock they found along comes Hej Mallorca walking through the sands...That night they find a seeming safe place to camp and continue for the second day. That day is uneventful. On the third day as they look for a place to camp, they find a largish rock formation that seems to be inhabited by many goblins. Mallorca tries to parlay with them but fails badly and the rest of the party sneaking around puts them on edge. The goblins tell them to leave or die and the party chooses avoiding the Sand Goblin fortress to press on and find a place they can rest. They find a place that is under just the sand, with three inches of sand till you are on rock.. The watches are Sir Dawnstar and Ellalan/Thineli and Yuesof/Hej Mallora and Cyrus. Cyrus hears a hissing noise on his watch.. he wakes up Thineli.. Thineli looks around and see what looks like a tree limb digging into the water sacks...Thineli swings his flame blade at the tree limb thing.. missing.,. Cyrus squalks to wake up everyone... Everyone scrambles to save their water...As Yuesof, Sir Dawnstar, Hej Mallorca and Thineli attack and drive away the vine, Ellalan and Cyrus save what water they can... in the end they have lost 6 days of water.. leaving only 4 days...(started with two weeks (14days) of water). The next day (day 4) they find a small cactus like plant that they hoped would have water but as Sir Dawnstar tries to harvest it most of it goes into the sand. That night they make camp at a secure flat rock and set up watches, same as the night before.,. on first watch... Sir Dawnstar and Ellalan. sitting in their cold fireless camp, when 3 small lizards show up, trying to stay warm.. making a soft murmuring noise. "Let me love you, little lizard!" Ellalan loses her mind and tries to grab them.. failing and kicking Thineli awake.

Thineli casts animal friendship on the lizards, calling them claws, scales and tails. As the sun rises..Thineli and Yuesof on watch,..see a SandWorm cruise by, come at their rock and then head towards a smaller one, flushing out a lizard that is quickly hunted down and eaten... before heading back under the sand. Day 4 is uneventful and by the end of it they see something shining in the distance (water?).. They make camp as usual. During Yuesof and Thineli's watch a fast moving giant turtle with some packs on it's back and a driver passed by their camp but they were unable to attract his attention... They decide to follow the turtle tracks, hoping they will lead to water. At one point Cyrus found a small pouch with 15 goblin teeth. By the end of Day 5, they come to the edge of the desert and see a fort that looks like it is made of bone. There is a port with ships behind the fort.. and a small town.. everything is quiet. There was no noise and no movement. The guards in the fort are unmoving as they approach....

Cliffhanger!!

Kill Count=(1xSandWorm)

Exp=(2900/5)=580 exp each except for Hej. For crossing the desert +500. For avoiding the goblin fort +300. For befriending the small lizards (amusing the GM) +100 to Thineli and Ellalan.

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 16730, Ellalan 21159, Thineli 22783, Sir Dawnstar 18530, Cyrus Shwing 2630, Hej Mallorca 3610.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930.

Campaign Recap for 01/20/21

 After action for 1/20/21. Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Cryrus Shwing (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: 36th of Grentle

Having driven away the old servants that were destroying the crops and bothering the fisherman the chief declares a grand Feast for the gods and the brave but dumb Heroes. The feast will be the next day, the party is given a hut to recover and sleep in. Long rest.. Yusof levels to 6.

Most of the Kuatoa do not speak common.. Just RarJest and JanLan so during the feast JanLan sits with them and translates. Many of the Kuatoa come up to them and hand them small gifts as thanks.. (Each player receives 4 rations and Trinkets worth 3 gold). Also sitting with them is a Kenku traveller named Cryrus Shwing, that was trying to sell the Kuatoa drums he has made. He makes random comments during the fest but nothing noteworthy. During the fest Thineli visits the Hall of Gods and sees all the statues the Kuatoa have made. He sees his scimitar is the face/head of a god that seems sparking. The Kuatoa that made the goddess with the lightning scimitar as its face is called LinSth. Thineli askes about this god and is told this is Esmes, This is a god of travelers that takes the form of a teenage boy with the traits of a wasp. He has a thin build. He is portrayed as wearing a sexy uniform made from the bones of a dead god. He seems to distort space around him. At least this is what LinSth tells Thineli. Thineli asks if there is any way he could have his scimitar back.. LinSth looks at the statue for a while and then says if Thineli can win a contest at the fest that would be a sign of the gods favor and he may take the scimitar.

Contests and feats... The feast has lots of fishes and crabs etc., mushrooms of various types.. Seemingly endless food and various drinks. The ale equivalent is a stinky fermented fish brew. Yuesof and Sir Dawnstar both drink, but Yuesof has trouble keeping it down.. his projectile vomiting impresses the Kuatoa, though JanLan tells him to save that for the contests... First there is singing and dancing.. after a few hours of that then there are lots and lots of contests.. Most make little or no sense but I will only tell of the ones the party attempted..

Juggling..Ellalan fails at Juggling..badly...

Carrying.. Sir Dawnstar failed the test of carrying but Thineli turned in a bear and bested the Kuatoa.

Drinking.. Yuesof tries to beat the Kuatoa that is best at drinking but nearly drowns himself in fermented fish ale. 

Loudest burp.. Cyrus sings a song instead of competing.. nice song but not what the gods wanted.

Farthest vomit.. Sir Dawnstar wins the distance vomit contest, beating out Yuesof.

Thineli and Sir Dawnstar win cyphers for their competing. Thineli gets a turtle scale smeared with golden letters on the back. When held and activated, the cypher grants you advantage on your next intelligence check. Sir Dawnstar gets a kraken's tooth engraved with geometric patterns. When held and activated, the cypher pushes all adjacent creatures thirty feet away from you.

Ellalan is looking at all the fish eaten at the fest. She figures out they are all freshwater lake fish. Listening to stories of the lake from JanLan she realizes there are possibly ancient snail slug mind readers under the lake.

After the fest when Thineli goes to get his scimitar he hears the god tell him "Desecration!" in drow so he replaces it. That night Emes visits him in his dreams...Emes touches Thineli's forehead (thineli now has 2 Inspirations). He also tells him to hurry and do what he must as the timeline is ending in 3 months.. he is then pulled away by silvery mists before he can say more...

Long Rest and washing up after the fest..

The next morning the chief RarJest will lead them to the edge of the Clashing Sands. He tells them it is an endless sea of sand and creatures live in it that attack those that walk on its surface. Ellalan says "Ocean made of sand...ooooh...terrifying yet cool." Ellalan is also curious about what Thinelli said about the timeline ending in 3 months. Sounds like demons will be here in 3 months? At the mouth of a large cave that exits into a vast brightly light area of sandy dunes blowing in the wind, much like the sea... RarJest shows them that enough water for 10 days for each of them has been prepared and left to help them go across.. he only knows the bugbears went to the east.. he watched the shaman summon an animal with a bag to draw off something that was about to attack his tribe but it was too far for details.. The party carries as much water as they can and sets off. While in the sand it's difficult terrain. Marching order is Yeusof and Sir Dawnstar going first about 6 ft apart... Ellalan followed them 30 feet behind... Thineli is 30 feet. Ellalan "I go 31 feet. on a diagonal then random directions for each step, I randomly will take steps back too" so she isn't moving fast.. Cyrus ran ahead leading by 80 feet. They are slowly moving through the sand.. an hour then three past...when suddenly something large is making way towards the party..Cliffhanger!

Kill Count=No combat this was a roleplaying/skill session.

Exp=0. For roleplaying the drunken revelry +350. For joining it on the contests (everyone except Cyrus) +100.

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 15350, Ellalan 19679, Thineli 21303, Sir Dawnstar 171500, Cyrus Shwing 1250.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, Hej Mallorca 2810

Campaign Recap for 01/13/21

Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Yeusof (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: 35th of Grentle

Thineli listens and hears far off rubbery whispers of some unknown language. He uses his Comprehend Language to understand it. Listening he realizes it's a bunch of complaints about missing crops, damaged clothes and other stuff. The complainers all blame the "outsiders". A louder, more noble (?) voice tells them to wait and express their complaints to RarJest. Thineli also hears that speaker addressed at JanJal. While waiting for Thineli to relay this information, the party hears a noise to the north from a pile of rubble. Ellalan sneaks up and sees a rubbery looking shark like humanoid (a Kuo-toa Monitor), she jumps him, yelling at slimy creature dude in common, "arrrr, we are trying to befriend you!" and attempts to use Stunning Strike on him. But the Kuo-toa (named TerJal) saves and then when she grapples him he snakes out of her grasp with his slimy skin. TerJal then strikes a martial artist's pose, then hits her twice with lightning blows (real lightning on his fists that prevent the target from taking reactions) and a bite before running away screaming something (which Thineli hears as "FINS OF FURY!! ROCK THE WORLD! HAAZAA!") Ellalan can not opportunity attack (no reactions ) and curses "I hate other monks!!" The tribe of Kuo-toa hear the noise and some run to get weapons and the ones that are prepared head towards the parties.. the party keeps yelling "FRIENDS!" and "PEACE!" till JanJal approaches and speaks with them in Common. Then the chief shows up RarJest. The party explains that they are looking for the bugbears that took their equipment. When Reggie hears this, he exclaims "Ah you are the heroes that opened the way for them, as foretold by their bugbear god."  He then goes on to say how sad it is that they just have one god and that they should make more. This goes back and forth till Yesuof asks how they make a god and RarJest shows them.. making a short stature with a vest, a fish head, a human arm coming out of its chest and three shrimp in its hands. Sir Dawnstar tell them about his God called god.. it is a bright light and a warm feeling.. So RarJest makes a big fire with some shiny metal to reflect the heat... RarJest tells them that the bugbears gave a gift to their gods and in return were show the way to the passage through the Clashing Sands.. The gift that was given was Thineli's Lightning Scimitar. Yeusof tells RarJest he can make a better god and digs up a piece of metal, greyish and weirdly shaped. He uses it as the head.. then thinking it may be valuable switches it for 2 coins. Yeusof's God was dashingly handsome and mighty looking... and was strikingly similar looking to Yeusof.. and 2 ft tall and made of mud, sticks and rocks. As they have nothing to give as a gift they ask if there is a task they could perform for the gods. RarJest tell them of the "ancient servants" that are harassing the farmers and tell them that driving away or killing them would please the gods.. He walks the party to the other side of the ruined city and they see the edge of a large lake.. As RarJest is talking about the lobster creatures, Ellalan sees the water, hears blah blah blah and runs into the water. When she is knee deep in the lake she looks and sees five Chuul (3 Chuul, 1 Incubator and 1 Screecher.. though they all look alike to her). The rest of the party stops listening to RarJest and runs to Ellalans aid. The battle is long and almost lost, but the Chuul aren't that smart and target based on what radiates magic. Frog walks unarmored into the middle of them and is downed, dying on the muddy shore. Ellalan is thinking, "If we die, at least I die near the water..." Thineli uses Wind Wall and then shape changes to a Feral Hunting Lizard.. and nearly gets eaten.. Sir Dawnstar finally remembers he is a paladin and uses his abilities to kill one of the Chuul. Ellalan Steps of Wind away from the ones that were overwhelming her, leaving Yeusof to go down alone.. As the Chuul retreat back from the shore and city, they grab Frogs corpse and Yeusof's unconscious body.. Ellalan yells, "Yousef! nooo!" and prepares to run into the ocean after him...She was going to run away in a Thinelli like move, but seeing Yousef dragged away...she realizes she has to try to save him! She cant leave him behind! But then she helps Sir Dawnstar kill one of the Chuul on the shore.. so whatever... Though she quicky swims out to the Chuul carrying Yuesof away and rips him free, stabilizing him as she keeps his head about water. She tells him "You are too beautiful to die!!!HAHAHAHA In your own mind! You owe me I saved your life." The chief approaches after the party kills and drives off the Chuul.. Frog dying in the melee.. Yuesof almost being carried off as Chuul food... "That was very brave... we just wanted you to spread this poison to drive them away..."

Sad Trombone noise...

all that death and violence for ... fun?

Kill Count=(1xChuul)+(2xChuul Driven away)+(1xChuul Screeher)+(1xChuul Incubator Driven away) 

Exp= (1100+(2x1100/2)+1100+(1100/2))/5=770 exp each. For not fighting the Kuo-tua tribe +1000 each, 

For having a battle of martial artists +100 exp (Ellalan only), For building a god to impress the Kuo-tua chief (even though it didn't) +100 exp (Yeusof only).

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 14900, Ellalan 19229, Thineli 20853, Sir Dawnstar 16790, Frog RIP. Yeusof can level to 6 with a long rest.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, Hej Mallorca 2810 

Thoughts on the Campaign thus far

 1) I think I am not giving enough exp.. I'm doing it by the books but my players are leveling super slow... (though part of this is they just run in circles a lot and don't finish missions or tasks given so don't get the end bonus).

2) I try to explain in detail but they still seem to not have a clue how to over come simple obstacles.. decided to not hold their hands as much and see if they live or die.. (I can tell some of them want to be other characters as well).

3) There is an larger story arc (the faceless god sending them on quests to make them stronger so they can repel or halt the upcoming demon invasion..) but the players can't focus on anything that is not in front of them.. I get it that it is hard to remember week to week but that is why I keep the recaps.. that they do not read... 

Campaign Recap for 01/06/21

 Playing: Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John), Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Nurbag the hunter (Jose), Yeusof (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: 34th of Grentle

Yeusof lends Sir Dawnstar 400 gp to get his sword from the Kunaxx the enchanter. Yeusof, Frog and Sir Dawnstar then go to his shop. Yeusof gets his ring of spatial storage (10c. ft, 150 lbs, 3/uses day, requires Attunement). Sir Dawnstar gets his Sword (Great Sword +1 to hit/damage (Faux) and +2d4 Radiant Damage). Yeusof then buys 5 healing potions from the Marketplace and puts them in his ring of Spatial Storage. Kunaxx looks at the components that Frog has from his trial with Gib and tells him the piles are worth 23, 21 and 28 gp respectively. Switching the scene to Nurbag, he is running through the passages to the area of the phase spiders and where the bugbears ambush him and his fellow hunter. Even though he is in a hurry, it's over a 6 hour journey to the spider area, and his hurrying gets him lost costing him 3hrs. But in the area he is looking for the bugbears lair he is unable to find anything on his searches (spending 3 hrs). searching for the next six hours Nurbag finds bugbear tracks in various locations, (4 successes out of 6) and now knows where the bugbear's lair was and then goes back to meet the rest of the party at the predetermined meeting place. They meet up and take a short rest, giving Nurbag a chance to rest (but not the long rest he needs to level to 3). Yeusof and Nurbag finally meet and Nurbag seems quite taken and impressed by Yeusof…(GM Note: Both of these were played by Jose.. and was funny to listen too and seems sort of gay?). Getting to the area of the bugbear's lair, Nurbag searches the area and then leads the party in circles for 6hrs eventually coming back to the place where they started their search. Thineli searches and finds some buried trash and then finds the cave where they were held captive. From there it is a 2 hour walk to the hole that they were lowered down to the glowing riddle obelisks. Looking down into the hole it is dark and empty seeming. Nearby are the holes that the bugbears had mounted a rope and pulley system to lower people down but just the holes remain. Ellalan looks into the hole and therizes about a giant cave turtle the bugbears rode off on.... Ellalan throws a lit torch into the hole. The torch falls over a 100 ft and when it hits the bottom it sputters and goes out. Ellalan thinks there is some water down there. Yeusof talks about making a pulley but they ignore him and there is nothing nearby to make one out of. They tied all the ropes together so they have about 180 ft of rope...they use the holes the bugbears had made to attach the ropes to spikes stuck in the holes. (GM Note: I kept asking them about their prep, which was next to nothing, and how they would do this.. the obvious method should have been to lower each person one at a time using the rope and the last person spider climbing or beast shaping to spider to go down.. but no... no team work here...) Ellalan goes down the rope using her athletics, her hands roughed with dirt and wrapped with cloth.. making it all the way to the bottom before dropping the last 10 ft to the ground, landing cat-like on the somewhat muddy ground. Thineli grabs the rope and starts acrobatically climbing down, missing at the halfway mark and falling 60 ft on to the muddy rocks below...(18hp damage) Ellalan says "you should have changed into a monkey.." Sir Dawnstar takes off his Armor and Yeusof does the same, they then lower the Armors to the cavern floor far below. Sir Dawnstar grabs the rope and starts climbing, slipping off the rope immediately but catching himself after 10ft.. he then climbs down the rest of the way and slips off again at the last 30 ft.. (-15 HP damage) crashing into the pile of armor below... ouch! Frog (having watched Sir Dawnstar and Yeusof disrobe) heads rapidly down the rope, disdaining using a spell of Spider Climb... He makes it halfway and falls 60 ft (-21 HP) crashing loudly into the muddy ground.. not dead yet... Frog takes out his Healer kit and works his feat on himself (+11 HP). Nurbag grabs the rope, "see you at the bottom!" he says, smiling at his man crush... The rope slips out of his hands and he grabs at it … missing and falling to his death.. crashing to the ground like a rotten fruit...(-46 HP) (GM Note: If Nurbag had taken a long rest he would have been lvl 3 and survived..just saying). Ellalan suggests leaving Nerdbag's body where it is to cushion Yousef if he falls..Ellalan thinks, at least the last thing he heard was his love's voice. I wipe the bits of NErdbag off of me and wait for yousef to climb down. Sir Dawnstar Lays On Hand for 15 HP to himself. A Chuul crawls out of its rocky lair to attack the party on the ground and Yuesof makes his way down the rope. Thineli yells look out as the weird giant lobster creature rushes towards them...The Chuul grabs Thineli and poisons him, Ellalan uses her Chromatic Orb ability (and hits!) and Sir Dawnstar rushes into combat with it without his armor on. They kill it easily. After the battle, Yeusof continues down the rope and falls the last 20 feet onto the dead Chuul... (-9hp). Thineli casts 3 lvl Cure Wounds on himself (+13 hp). Sir Dawnstar and Yeusof put on their armors...Yeusof uses his ring for the 2nd time today and hands out the healing potions (2d4+2), one each. Frog drinks his right away (+6 hp). Thineli cast 2 lvl 1 Cure Wounds on himself (+9+6hp). Ellalan scouts ahead a bit and see that the bugbears are moving as a group and not exploring much..And so they move forward into the dark scary caves and tunnels ahead.. leaving Nurbag's corpse behind to be consumed by the tiny spawn of the Chuul that exit it's body after it's death....(GM Note: not a word or pray said.. didn't even take his equipment.. just forget that guy was with us...). Wandering through the caverns till they come to a large open tunnel area.. winding through mounds and hills of darkness.. Thineli's hand flame illuminates the area and the hills are actually ruins of ancient cyclopean buildings... Thineli shuts the light as he hears something... there is something watching them... in the dark... Cliffhanger!!

Kill Count=(Chuulx1) Exp= 1100/5=220 exp each. For finding the area of the Shattered Tooth +250 exp (Nurbag only), For climbing down a 120 foot drop the worst way possible +50, For abandoning the body of a fellow party member without a care -0

Current Exp Totals are: Yeusof 13030, Ellalan 17359, Thineli 19083, Sir Dawnstar 15020, Frog 6240., Nurbag The Hunter RIP.

Not appearing: Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930, Hej Mallorca 2810 

Campaign Recap for 12/22/20

Playing: Hej Mallorca (Rumo), Thineli (Aaron), Sir Dawnstar (John),  Frog (Keiran), Ellalan (Julie), Nurbag the hunter (Jose).

Date in Campaign is: ??th of Grentle.

The party finds themselves in what appears to be a dusty stone temple, with weird oddly glowing lights floating around. There is a huge alter on which a large gold dragon appears to be resting. As it notices their appearance at the temple it moves. It becomes apparent that it is not a dragon but a giant golden slug. He is excited to see them and is moving and teleporting about as he talks. He waves a tentacle and the temple is now clean and well lite. He introduces himself as Gib'shu'lopi. He is a powerful extra dimensional entity that spends his time testing weaker beings to see if they are worthy of receiving more power. It has set up various testing stations throughout various locations.. some do riddles, some do feats of strength or skill, it's pretty random. If the beings being tested make it to the end they are sent to the next level. They are sent to Gib'shu'lopi lair...There they will be tested by Gib himself with his alien sense of humor... Gib may injure, maim and kill them with his test but will restore them to normal after each round. To put them more at ease he demonstrates this by causally slicing Thineli into two half, length-wise, making him fall to the floor dead and then instantly restores him to full health. Looking at them closely, he notices the God Mark on the Aura/Soul of Ellalan and Thineli. He can see the ties that bind them to the Faceless God and to the rest of the original group (Thineli, Ellalan, Yeusof, JohanaHex, Lord Fatty and Thalluvk). He then shows them the prophetic visions the Faceless God had prepared for them. 

 The Prophecies of the faceless one

Thakkyvk:  you're much older, for the last 20 years you've been trying to avenge the destruction of your monastery. All of the friends you've made thus far have all fallen, All the villages and towns in the area for hundreds of miles have been destroyed and the peoples killed..now it's just you against an infinite army of demons, making your last stand on a mountain top. You kill thousands but in the end you fall... 

Thineli: You see yourself wearing the form of a demonic beast and killing humans wherever you find them. In a flashback, you remember fighting the invading demons, being beaten to near death.... then being saved by cultists and priests that healed as they warped your body and destroyed your will. Your mind is barely bestial and all you know is blood and rage...

Yeusof: You are clad in glowing armor with a sword of holy light as you lead a desperate attack on the sprawling demonic enemy camp. Your companions strike deep almost reaching the gate you need to destroy. Then you are discovered and fight  against the massive wave of demons and beasts in camp.... one by one all of your fellows fall till finally it's just you... they pull back as a demonic Overlord walks to you. You battle for minutes that seem like hours but in the end your head is torn from your body by the Overlord...

Ellalan: Your ship is far from land, as you and your crew watched the land be overrun by demons. You regret leaving but hope you can make it to a land that isn't being overwhelmed by demons. Suddenly demonic tentacled monsters grab your ship and rip it apart, you and your crew being eaten one by one by the evil monsters...

Lord Fatty: Your left arm and lower body have been replaced by magically driven items, as you fight before a giant city you have never seen before.. demons are over running the walls, killing and eating the defenders before entering the city to cause further death and ruin. You think back to all your wives that will be killed with the city and fight as you have never fought before...but in the end a giant demonic overlord smashes your body, destroying your legs again before leaving you to be eaten by the surrounding demonic horde as it walks towards the city.... 

JohanHex: You were promised great power and you have it... but no free will... just dim memories of a life with choice and friendships... You stand before the city waiting for the order to kill the humans... not  flinching when a running demon bites your leg, ripping a chunk of skin off and continues running towards the city... For a brief moment you remember the names of some of the defenders that are dying in front of you.. then you wait for your orders...

(Unknown to the party at this time, but everyone one that featured in a vision had that vision that night as they slept...)

Gib then explains there are three types of tasks he can test them on, Feats of Creation (making, sorting, understanding), Feats of Battle (fighting creatures), Feats of Skill (Athletic and endurance). But anything can be a task. He asks them, individually, what they are good at. 

Frog steps forward and states he is a wizard and he wants a wizardly task.  After a few moments of talkin it is decided his task will be to sort a large mixed pile of Spell components of five similar types. He successfully sorts 3 of the piles and passes. Frog asks if he can keep the components that he sorted and Gib agrees. Sir Dawnstar chooses a task of battle. Gib summons a giant glowing cube for him to fight inside and has him fight a Gas Spore, 2 Swarms of Bats and a Worg. He easily defeats them and passes. Ellalan's task is to run through a maze and avoid a summoned silver monkey that is chasing her... at first she is hiding from him but then has to run and dodge him crazily to get the end. Ellaln passes her task. Thineli's task is to determine which of three summoned beasts are friendly and/or tamable. There is a silver scaled Tiger, a fat purple Giant Snake and a spikie Giant Spider.. Thineli feds the Tiger some rations, opens the Spiders cage and then all the cages.. The Spider sits on top of its cage and then decides to eat Thineli. The Tiger fights the Spider on Thineli's behalf so he passes his task. Nurbag the Hunter asks for a hunting task, so Gib sends him to an area covered in snow to find and slay a large unknown bison-like beast. Nurbag tracks it easily and ambushes it, but doesn't kill it. He then continues tracking it back to it's herd but avoids the others, slays his targeted creature passing his task. Hej Mallorca says he is best at eating and consuming food. Gib examines him, sticking his tentacles into his mouth, face and skull and then creates a table loaded with bugbear delicacies,  things that Hej had only had once or had heard about and imagined their taste.  There is so much food to consume that Hej cannot complete two halves of this task,  but then he wins Gib over with a giant plume of projectile vomiting, just passing his task. He then called them up one of the time places his tentacle on their head, which then engulfs and covers their head.  There is a weird feeling of something moving inside their skull and something changing.. and a strong smell and taste a cinnamon, burning tar and peppercorns. Each of them is given the ability to cast a spell once per day, recharge on Long Rest. Frog learns False Life, Sir Dawnstar learns Divine Favor, Ellalan learns Chromatic Orb, Thineli learns Comprehend Languages, Nurbag learns Thunderwave and Hej learns Protection from Evil/Good. These spells are as in the PHB but do not require components just knowledge of where they are casting it.

Gib'shu'lopi bids them well and waves his tentacles... they reappear on the road of the North gate of Digambi, the orc town. Nurbag says he will track down the Bugbears that captured him before and report back... the rest of the party heads to the orc town. They head to the Alluring Bottle.. they find out that they have been gone for ten days... The date is now the 34th of Grindle. Sir Dawnstar checks on his sword, it's ready but he doesn't have his gold, the Bugbears kept it. Yeueof has his ring. Thineli armor will be ready for tomorrow.

Sir Dawnstar and Hej Mallorca level after a long rest. Nurbag is in search of the Shattered Tooth tribe, which has the partie's items and gold.

Exp= For passing the Task they choose, 750exp each.

Current Exp Totals are: Ellalan 17099, Thineli 18813, Sir Dawnstar 14750, Frog 5970, Hej Mallorca 2810, Nurbag The Hunter 2810.

Not appearing: Yeusof 12760, Lord Fatty 13213, JohanaHex 4214, Thakkyvk 1930.