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Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

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Shadowmaze -- Session 61 - Bancroft

Tue, 12 May 2026 21:00:00 -0600

The last twenty minutes of the dig went like the first three hours had gone, which was to say it went slow and steady and without anyone dying. Bancroft worked the trench with Irulan. Anister kept the watch above. Clarice was not with them today. The note she had left in the morning had only said gone south, back in a week or two, and the part of Bancroft that liked to know things had asked Bolo whether he knew more, and Bolo had shaken his head with the careful look of a man who knew exactly what he was not telling, and Bancroft had let the matter drop. People came and went on the moor. You did not pry.

Shadowmaze -- Session 60 - Bancroft

Tue, 05 May 2026 21:00:00 -0600

Bancroft came up the moor road late, a half-hour after the others, because the cobbler in Helix had needed an extra hour to put the new sole on the left boot and Bancroft was not going to dig in a wet boot if he could help it. By the time he came around the long shoulder of the ridge that hid the dig from the road, the others had already finished some short business of their own. He saw it in the trampled grass and in the streak of blood drying on Anister’s pickaxe handle and in the way Clarice was wiping her dagger on a strip of moss. He did not ask. The kind of business that left grass trampled and dagger blades wet was the kind of business he was glad to have missed.

Shadowmaze -- Session 59 - Bancroft

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 21:00:00 -0600

They went back in the morning because no one could think of anything else to do.

Bancroft was the one who wouldn’t let it go. Anister had said, at breakfast, in the flat voice he used when he was trying to be kind, that there wasn’t anything to go back for. She’s behind a wall we can’t move, Bancroft. She’s been behind it all night. Whatever’s happened has happened. And Bancroft had looked at his bowl of porridge and said, then at least we owe her the work of trying. Which was the kind of sentence that ended conversations rather than winning them, and so by the time the sun was properly up they were on the moor road again, Anister with a pickaxe over one shoulder, Bancroft with a sledgehammer across his own, and a new hireling walking behind them with a torch in either hand.

Shadowmaze -- Session 58 - Bancroft

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:00:00 -0600

🎲

The first thing Riyou did was throw fire.

She had a flask of jellied oil – the kind of thing you carried for weeks without thinking about and then needed in one specific second – and she lit it and chucked it underhand at the man at the front of the wedge. It caught him across the chest. The flame went up his shirt and onto his face and the two men flanking him took the splash and started slapping at their own arms. The lead man started screaming and didn’t stop.

Shadowmaze -- Session 57 - Bancroft

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0600

🎲

Bancroft got to Helix three days behind the others. The disease from the Huecuva had taken longer to shake than the priests of St. Ygg had promised, and by the time he walked through the gates he was light on coin, heavy on fatigue, and already behind on what mattered.

Shadowmaze -- Session 56 - Bancroft

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0600

🎲

Four new faces at the entrance to the barrow. Bancroft sized them up the way his father had sized up hired hands at harvest – which ones would last the day, which ones would wander off, which ones would break something expensive. The halfling was interesting. Small, careful hands, a crossbow that looked recently oiled, and a leather case of bottles and powders that marked him as an apothecary. The others were what they were: bodies. Warm ones, for now.

Shadowmaze -- March 24 - Irulan

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0600

We headed out to the skull door barrow (D10). As soon as I opened the door, a stack of skeleton heads tumbled loudly down the stairs. Somebody’s homemade alarm. I saw torch light at the bottom of the stairs, and let the others know. Nobody went through the door, so I closed it. It was raining out, so we just hung out, to see if they came out. After 20 minutes, I opened the door again. The light was gone and it was quiet, so we decided to give it a try. All was quiet until we got to the mongrel den, and there was the usual wolf growls and old lady yelling asking for help. We ignored them and went to listen at the doors to the west.

Shadowmaze -- Session 55 - Bancroft

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0600

🎲

The necromancer fled north through the barrow, and the cleric followed.

The cleric had been dizzy since the last fight. He felt as if his head were filled with something thin and wrong, like air that had been breathed too many times. The barrow would occasionally shimmer at the edges of his vision, the walls going soft and then hard again, and he could not tell if it was the blood loss or the dark or just the way this place worked on a man after long enough inside it. His faith felt like a well that someone had drawn from too often. Once, not so long ago, it had answered every prayer. Now it was the barrow, where nothing answered but the dead.

Shadowmaze -- March 17 - Irulan

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0600

Bancroft and I chased the necromancer up the hallway to the north. Then Bancroft’s light spell died and I heard the necromancer cast a spell to the south, then it hit me. I yelled at Bancroft that this was his damned mission from god I was being injured for, and he walked right by the necromancer. I heard the necromancer grunt, so I figured he jumped over the pit trap down the west hallway. Lerwin came up the hallway and I lit a torch off of his. He said Seacrock was dead.

Shadowmaze -- Session 54 - Bancroft

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0600

Nine of them at the skull door. Four who had been here before, five who hadn’t. The five were men from the Gray Company – Gallo, Larwyn, Tolm, Tarsil, and Kholix the torchbearer – and they stood at the entrance with the expression of people who had been told what was down there but hadn’t believed it yet.

Irulan braced the crowbar into the stone frame and pulled. The door gave with a grinding protest and wanted to close again, heavy and slow, like something that didn’t want to be opened and would fix the problem on its own if you let it. Inside, the mechanism had been packed with rocks. Someone had been here since last time. Rocks, and at the center of the pile, a dead rat arranged with its teeth bared at whoever reached in – taxidermied, posed, someone’s idea of a joke.

Shadowmaze -- March 10 - Irulan

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0600

We went through the no longer secret door, which is now disabled, by levering it open with a crowbar. We checked the statue room to the south, now blessedly rat free. Bancroft insisted in climbing down the pit for some reason, and found a dagger under the bones. We headed north. As we were checking previously looted burial alcoves, we were accosted by two gem skeletons. Sylvanus abandoned Bancroft, and he wasn’t able to turn them. Riyou downed one with two mighty bowshots from ten feet up, clinging to the burial alcoves with her feet. I wasn’t able to hit the gem to crush it, too small a target on the ground.

Shadowmaze -- Session 53 - Vrak

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0600

Vrak
#

The sword was right there. You could see it glowing from across the room – white, steady, the kind of light that says valuable in a language anyone can read. All we had to do was cross a room full of animated stone lizardmen, climb a ten-foot statue, and swap it for a different sword before anything went wrong.

Shadowmaze -- March 9 - Morrigan

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0600

The next day, I got together with a new group from the Grey Company after getting myself checked out by a St. Ygg priest for piece of mind. An elf mage, Serie, and four newbies: Pippin (halfling), Thrain (dwarf), Caleb (human), and Vrak (half orc). I quizzed them all on their dedication to be adventurers, and warned them that it was not a walk in the park. They insisted they were prepared. I oped for an easy start, and we went to the barrow (D9) with the golems and stairs down to an altar. We can check out the stairs and see if we can find a way to drain the water.

Shadowmaze -- Session 52

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0600

Bancroft was lying on the stone floor.

He had been lying there since the spider. He knew this in the abstract – the spider bite, the paralysis, Irulan cutting him down from the web, the floor coming up. He hadn’t planned to land face-first. That was just how things went.

The stone was cold against his cheek. He could see the grain of it – the fossil-something embedded in the limestone, the dust settled into the low spots over a few hundred years of quiet. The skeleton’s bag was two feet from his outstretched right hand. He’d been staring at that bag since Irulan cut him down. It hadn’t moved.

Shadowmaze -- March 3 - Irulan

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:00:00 -0600

Seacrock and I rounded the corner, charging after Riyou’s kidnappers. Seacrock was unable to put the necromancer or the mongrel to sleep. The mongrel ran off carrying Riyou, who started to struggle. As the mongrel ran out of sight, I saw Riyou heroically stab the mongrel. The necromancer ran off, and I followed him into a small room, where he’d turned into three of himself. I shot, and one of the images disappeared. Seacrock cast magic missile, and the other image disappeared. The necromancer actually walked by me instead of attacking me, and failed to cast a spell at Seacrock. I dropped the bow and swung my sword at him, wounding him. Then the coward ran into the dark. We pursued. I hoped the dropped bow would show Bancroft where we went.

Shadowmaze -- Feb 24 - irulan

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:00:00 -0600

On the way out the barrow, we were confronted by another adventuring group of 9 people with slings, insinuating we were wounded and had treasure to steal. Bancroft gave them the demanded 5 gold and urged us to listen to wisdom. Seacrock and I reluctantly threw 5 gold each down in the dirt, both vowing if we saw them again, we’d murder them. Riyou refused, and got a mess of slingshots aimed at her. She went down unconscious, Bancroft picked her up, and we left, me growling while I memorized their faces.

Shadowmaze -- Session 51

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:00:00 -0600

Bancroft
#

Four people walked into the Brazen Strumpet the night before. A human, a dwarf, a half-orc, and a halfling – new to town, down on their luck, the kind of people who end up in Helix when the road runs out somewhere else. They arrived separately and ended up at the same table, which might have been luck or might have been that people with empty pockets recognize each other without having to ask.

Shadowmaze -- Feb 23 - Morrigan

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:00:00 -0600

Roderick gave me a dagger to pop the door open before the acid burned the mechanism out. I yelled at Vorn and Cade to help open the door the rest of the way, after I got it open 6 inches by ratcheting the gears with the dagger. They whined about light, so Roderick lit the end of a piece of rope from the lantern and and stuck the end through the door, so they could light a torch. They tried to shove, but didn’t move the door. I pushed and shoved, and got the door open. Apparently, I have to do everything. The door won’t stay, though, so I used Roderick’s shovel to brace the door open. He’s the only one with useful gear.

Shadowmaze -- Session 50

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:00:00 -0600

Vorn
#

Cade and I had been standing outside the barrow for a while. Which, strictly speaking, put us on the right side of things – fresh air, no immediate monsters, exit readily accessible. Our employers were on the other side of a sealed stone door doing something complicated with mechanisms, which is where the dead things are. We could hear them but not help. Standard arrangement, really.

Shadowmaze - Irulan - Session 49

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:02:42 -0600

I drew the 8 of swords this morning: all tangled up, unable to see clearly. Now I have to figure out what we’re tangled up in that we’re not seeing clearly. Riyou wandered off again, so we inspected the hirelings presenting themselves. We’ll need the extra help because Bancroft insisted he had a mission from his god, and he wouldn’t heal us unless we helped. I’m amazed the farmer even knew what extortion was. We hired all but one torch bearer that had a wet sack with flies buzzing around it and a dead smell following him. We saw a bunch of giant frogs in a pond on the way, but they didn’t look hungry, so we edged around them.

Shadowmaze -- Session 49

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:00:00 -0600

Bancroft
#

The morning was cold and gray in Helix. Bancroft woke early, already thinking about the barrows.

They had hired five henchmen from the Gray Company – a local band who took on lesser jobs while their better-equipped brethren sought greater treasures. Nine gold for the lot. Bancroft hoped it would be money well spent.

Gillix and Ragnar were both mute – Gillix with a spear and a battered Viking helmet and a habit of gesturing at people’s crotches that Bancroft decided not to ask about, Ragnar with a crossbow and a quiet devotion to St. Ygg. Hengest was the torchbearer, a big man who talked enough for all of them. Landersooth carried a club and smelled of fish and kept looking over his shoulder. “They can’t find you in there, right?” he said, when asked why he was coming. And Mordu – burned badly down his left side, the skin still raw. When someone offered him a torch, he told them where to put it. The nerves were too close. Bancroft understood that.

Shadowmaze - Irulan - Session 48

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:02:42 -0600

One scorpion tried to hit a statue, but just scraped it. Bancroft ran to the slab and threw the other bowl of gems on top of the first scorpion. The statue next to me hit me. The other statue went for Bancroft, not the scorpion with the gems on it, but it missed. Then the light went out. I could hear the scorpions scraping against the statues, but it didn’t sound like they were doing any damage. Bancroft yelled to grab the gem and run, then threw something towards the entrance. I heard something shatter, presumably the vase. I lit a torch, and moved to put it on the slab. Bancroft and I watched the statues and scorpions go at each other. With all the scorpions in the barrow, the stairs were clear.

Shadowmaze -- Session 48

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:00:00 -0600

Bancroft
#

🎲

Two barrow guardians. Three giant scorpions. One doorway, blocked by a wall of chitin and stone. Bancroft’s mind raced through the options the way a drowning man’s hands search for something to grab.

“The gems!” he shouted. His mama had always told him to focus on the important things in life, and right now the important thing was this: the guardians had come alive to protect the treasure. Maybe they’d chase it. And if the scorpions wanted to eat something, maybe they would settle for fighting stone instead of flesh.

Shadowmaze -- Session 47

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:48:57 -0600

Vorn
#

Look, I’m not an adventurer. I want to be clear about that up front. I dig holes, I carry things, and I try very hard not to die. The pay is decent when you factor in the hazard, which is the only reason I keep signing up for these jobs.

Shadowmaze - Morrigan - Session 47

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Aura and I discussed our brilliant plan to shoot the book with an arrow with a rope attached, and pull the rope with gloves on, so we weren’t actually touching the book or anything attached to the book. Pulling the book on the rope worked, but the arrow loosened when I gently pulled it to the stairs. As we started, Knutella and five new adventurers from our group wandered in. Aura kept shooting it, I kept pulling the rope. We couldn’t get it up the stairs. We needed a ramp. Roderick suggested shoveling dirt on the stairs to make a ramp. We shot two arrows in, pulled with the rope. At the top of the stairs, we tugged the book onto my cloak, tied an end of the rope to the cloak, and pulled the book back to town on the cloak. It was unstable and took forever, and on the way, three giant toads appeared. We sidled around them, adding to our time.

Shadowmaze -- Session 46

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:00:51 -0600

Bancroft
#

The news had reached Helix three days prior: Wyz the goblin wizard, along with Alandor and Perch, had vanished into that accursed book in the barrows. Touched it together, holding hands like children afraid of the dark, and one by one they had been swallowed by shadows. Morrigan and Aura had watched it happen, helpless.

Shadowmaze -- Session 46

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:00:51 -0600

Today’s card was the Queen of Swords, wisdom, clearness, determination. Wisdom isn’t my strong point. After a day of cards with Bancroft, the next day we decided to go dig (D23). We heard frogs in the distance, and two showed up about an hour into digging. I think they wanted the dog for lunch. The dog dodged their tongues. I one-shot one of them. The other one hopped away, finding lunch wasn’t so easy as it thought. We got back to digging, and thought we were close to finding the entrance when we were accosted by six zombies. They were sniffing, so they probably wanted to eat the dead frog. We went back to town and left them to it.

Shadowmaze -- Session 45

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:02:42 -0600

Bancroft
#

The screaming started with the dog.

Bancroft was deep in a dreamless sleep when the sound reached him–a frantic, high-pitched barking from down the hall, followed by the crash of something heavy hitting a door. Then came Seacrock’s voice, raw with panic, echoing through the thin walls of the inn.

Shadowmaze -- Session 44

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:00:58 -0600

Before setting out, Alandor tucked his precious “gryphon egg” beneath his bed, hiding it among the dust and shadows where prying eyes wouldn’t think to look. The old man had grown attached to the thing, whatever it truly was.

The trouble began at the village gates. Two guards in the livery of St. Ygg blocked Alandor’s path, their eyes fixed on his shield.

Shadowmaze -- Session 43

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 20:58:36 -0600

Bancroft
#

The jingle of coins in his purse was a happy, heavy sound, a promise of steel and safety. Bancroft, his mind as clear and simple as a summer sky, had a singular purpose. “I have enough,” he’d declared to his friends, his voice booming with the certainty of a man who has counted his treasure and found it sufficient. “We go to Ironguard Motte. I’m getting my plate mail!”

Shadowmaze -- Session 42

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:29:25 -0600

The morning after their return from the shadowmaze, Wyz gathered his companions in his cramped room at the inn. The goblin’s scarred fingers trembled slightly as he worked the clasp on the scrollcase they had recovered from the rats’ nest–whether from anticipation or exhaustion, none could say.

“Stand back,” Wyz commanded. “And try not to breathe too heavily. You’ll contaminate the arcane residue.”

Shadowmaze -- Session 41

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 20:46:35 -0600

Bancroft
#

The first blow that day came with the ordinary violence of the barrowmaze–bloody, sudden, and oddly intimate. Bancroft planted his feet, cursing his missing shield, and brought his sword down across a shambling zombie’s shoulder. The thing snarled with a voice like dry leaves and spun, its filthy claws raking the cleric’s forearm.

“By Sylvanus,” Bancroft gasped, tasting iron, but he kept his footing. Irulan stepped forward without hesitation, her blade ringing true as it bit into rotten tendon. Riyou’s arrow sang from the shadows and struck the creature between its shoulder and chest, driving it to its knees.

Shadowmaze -- Session 40

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 20:46:35 -0600

The morning sun cast long shadows across Helix as Bancroft made his way through the town’s winding streets, his mind turning over an intriguing conversation from the previous evening. He had encountered a small goblin wizard–scarred and bearing himself with the cold authority of one who had gazed beyond death’s veil–who spoke of an animated serpent trapped near the rats’ nest in the shadowmaze.

“An animated snake, you say?” Bancroft had mused, his farmer’s practicality already working through the possibilities. “Made of brass and steel?”

Shadowmaze -- Session 39

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:29:25 -0600

The shadowmaze beckoned once more, and Wyz–still bearing the wicked scar across his belly from his previous near-death experience–gathered his “recalcitrant minions” for another descent into darkness. The goblin wizard’s eyes held that same cold fire that had burned there since his miraculous return from the depths, and his companions could sense that something fundamental had changed in their diminutive leader.

“We return to the chamber with the statues,” Wyz announced, his voice carrying an authority that brooked no argument. “There is a rat infestation that requires… methodical attention.”

Shadowmaze -- Session 38

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 20:54:20 -0600

The morning after their devastating encounter with the mimics found the survivors nursing both wounds and wounded pride. Druidly’s absence hung over them like a shroud, but the barrowmaze waited for no one’s grief. Bancroft had managed to recruit four new souls willing to risk their lives for treasure–though their qualifications remained questionable at best.

“Right then,” Bancroft announced with his characteristic optimism, shouldering a shovel alongside his sword. “Fresh start, fresh barrow. Sylvanus teaches us that from death comes new growth.”

Shadowmaze -- Session 37

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 20:44:39 -0600

The morning found their company diminished but determined. Druidly, the half-orc wizard whose arcane studies had served them well, shouldered his pack with the quiet confidence of one who had mastered the mysteries of sleep and flame. “The swamp barrow,” he declared, adjusting his spell components. “Those frogs won’t catch us unprepared again.”

Bancroft nodded with the simple enthusiasm that marked all his endeavors. Despite his farmer’s origins–or perhaps because of them–he approached each challenge with the same methodical care he had once given to planting seasons. “Sylvanus teaches us that all creatures have their place,” he said, hefting his sword. “Even giant frogs.”

Shadowmaze -- Session 36

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 21:19:44 -0600

Bancroft staggered through Helix’s gates like a man touched by plague, his once-proud bearing reduced to a shambling gait. Yellow mold clung to his skin in sickly patches, and his head bore fresh dents from their harrowing escape. Most telling of all, his jeweled sword–the blade that had marked him as more than a simple farmer–was gone, lost to the maze’s hungry darkness.

One by one, his companions limped back to town, each bearing their own wounds and disappointments. Irulan clutched the elvish longsword they had claimed from the statue at such terrible cost, but her face was grim. “The magic’s gone,” she reported, watching the blade’s ornate surface catch the lamplight without so much as a glimmer. “Pretty enough still, but no more than decoration now.”

Shadowmaze -- Session 35

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:06:42 -0600

The shadowmaze had claimed its victims, and now it hungered for more.

After the chaos of the previous session–where skeletal warriors had burst from concealment and Wyz’s own caltrops had become a treacherous obstacle course–the survivors found themselves scattered and desperate. The cunning goblin wizard’s plan to destroy the reforming skeleton had failed spectacularly, leaving him face-to-face with his undead nemesis as torchlight flickered and died around them.

Shadowmaze -- Session 34

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 20:39:18 -0600

The stone walls of the Barrowmaze pressed close around Bancroft and his companions, their only known exit sealed shut by mechanisms beyond their understanding. Behind them, the chittering of giant rats grew louder, echoing through the narrow passages like the whispers of death itself. With nowhere to retreat, Bancroft hefted his sword and shield, calling upon Sylvanus for strength as the party formed a defensive line. The rats, however, seemed to sense their desperation. As the adventurers stood ready for battle, the vermin’s courage faltered. One by one, they melted back into the shadows, leaving only the sound of distant scurrying and the party’s ragged breathing.

Characters

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 21:09:20 -0600

Monday Group
#

Wyz (2nd level goblin wizard): A cunning but inexperienced goblin wizard, he considers his party to be recalcitrant minions.
Knutella: A member of the Monday group who has proven resilient in the face of the barrowmaze’s dangers.
Morrigan (1st level thief): Originally from Threshold, she is in Helix hiding from her family and the law, not necessarily in that order. Now a member of the thieves’ guild in Ironguard Motte.

Shadowmaze -- Session 33

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 20:42:57 -0600

The weight of debt pressed upon Bancroft’s shoulders like a funeral shroud. The church of St Ygg had demanded payment for their divine intervention–the Cure Disease that had saved him from the festering rot of a rat’s bite. Now penniless, the former farmer trudged through the rain-slicked streets to the soup kitchens, his chainmail gleaming incongruously among the ragged masses. His jeweled sword marked him as a man fallen from grace, a warrior reduced to begging for scraps.

Shadowmaze -- Session 32

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:18:17 -0600

The party found themselves in yet another chamber of the accursed shadowmaze, their nerves already frayed from countless encounters with the dungeon’s malevolent inhabitants. Wyz, ever the cautious scout, pressed his pointed ear against the southeastern door, straining to catch any telltale sounds beyond. Meanwhile, his companions busied themselves searching the room for hidden treasures or traps, their movements creating a soft symphony of rustling gear and whispered observations.

Shadowmaze -- Session 31

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 20:31:00 -0600

Just as the party thought their situation couldn’t grow more desperate, the northern door burst open and two terrified townsfolk stumbled into their chamber–Ibri and Itchi, their faces pale with fear and their clothes torn from their own flight through the rat-infested passages. These were clearly not adventurers; their wide eyes and trembling hands spoke of ordinary folk who had somehow found themselves trapped in this nightmare maze. What business could have possibly brought them into these deadly depths?

Shadowmaze -- Session 30

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:42:17 -0500

The session began with an unexpected moment of levity as Irulan found herself locked in a battle of wits with Keelgo, a gruff dwarf from the Outriders of Uleck. What started as casual tavern banter quickly escalated into an elaborate exchange of “yo momma” insults that had the entire common room in stitches. By the end of their verbal sparring match, the two had developed a mutual respect and genuine friendship, proving that sometimes the best bonds are forged through good-natured mockery.

Shadowmaze -- Session 29

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 19:44:02 -0500

We lowered ourselves into the barrowmaze on a block and tackle – slow, steady, and sensible. The lamps swung and the ropes creaked while the sound of the surface faded. When our boots finally touched the packed earth below, the air was cold and smelled of old things. We pressed forward into unexplored corridors, careful to mark our path and avoid needless rushing.

Shadowmaze -- Session 28

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 01:57:30 -0500

Bancroft and his friends searched the area once the strangers had left. One of the nearby rooms had a table with three polished skulls sitting on top – very strange decor. Druidly thought they might be magical, so the party kept them. A few minutes after they finished searching, a group of adventurers came from a door to the south. There was a tense moment, with Druidly moving his hand toward his pouch of spell components, but the newcomers left without a fight.

Shadowmaze -- Session 27

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 21:55:18 -0500

Bancroft contemplated the holes in his gloves from handling gold coins over the past few days and the heavy weight of almost 400 silver coins in his backpack. After some thought he spent 200 sp to buy a chest and a master lock, put his remaining silver in the locked chest, and left it in his room at the inn.

Shadowmaze -- Session 26

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 17:49:26 -0500

Wyz grumbled and groaned. His minions refused to obey him and return to the tomb with the tome. They insisted on opening a new barrow! And of course it was filled with ghouls hiding behind a tapestry. The undead creatures swarmed, striking Lessa and Wyz. Perch blocked the blow with his shield, but the creatures ripped it off of his arm. Wyz fell unconscious, and Lessa just stared into space, paralyzed with horror. Perch grabbed Wyz and fled with his unconscious body, leaving Lessa with a frozen look of horror on her face. After a moment the small halfling vanished from sight, confusing the ghouls, but they quickly followed the rest of the group.

Shadowmaze -- Session 25

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 21:45:59 -0500

The scorpion grabbed at the sleeping toad with its pincer, but the claw splashed uselessly in the water. The stinger followed but was deflected by the toad’s tough hide. Somehow the toad slept on.

Bancroft stepped in to swing at the scorpion but missed as the magical light from the last of Helfa’s stones faded. Lacking other options he moved toward the barrow entrance.

Shadowmaze -- Session 24

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 21:00:54 -0500

Bancroft stepped forward with his sling and delivered a rock into a vulnerable point in the scorpion’s chitin, which oozed greyish ichor. Furious at losing its meal and the injury, the scorpion advanced back into the barrow. Bruzra claimed the sling and bag of stones from Bancroft to use in ranged attacks while he prepared to defend with sword and shield.

Shadowmaze -- Session 23

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 18:58:16 -0500

Wyz studied his spells while his friends caroused. Then, he studied his spells while they slept it off, pausing occasionally to try to kick them awake. Finally, they woke up, complaining of hangovers, and the group blearily set off for the barrowmaze.

Before even reaching the barrows, four giant frogs hopped to the attack from ambush. The rest of the group were surprised, but Wyz had his goblin wariness to protect him, and reacted quickly. Two of the four frogs fell into enchanted slumber, but four of his party did too.

Shadowmaze -- Session 22

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 12:27:47 -0500

This time the plan came from Druidly: lure rats to the entrance one by one, put them to sleep with a spell, then finish them. The idea worked for precisely one rat; the rest fled deeper into the barrow.

A few steps farther in they found more rats. Druidly’s attempts at communication were wasted – the party suspected the rats did not understand Common. He cast a magical missile to strike a sleeping rat he found, killing it. Two rats down and so far no party wounds.

Shadowmaze -- Session 21

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:21:26 -0500

The squad of risen skeletons advanced upon Bancroft. Two bore sword and shield, closing to melee, while the rest took up positions with bows. Bancroft once again called upon the power of nature to turn them back. One of the sword-wielders fled, but the others remained intent, and their arrows struck from the darkness. Bancroft staggered back up the stairs; their aim would suffer in the light of day.

Shadowmaze -- Session 20

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 19:25:54 -0500

Wyz stabbed the skeleton next to him in the back and fled out the entrance of the barrow. Wizards have no business on the front lines of a fight and he was too smart to die. Let his minions face the skeletons.

El Vis stepped up promptly, matching action to thought. His great sword struck the skeleton that Wyz had already stabbed and shattered it into bone fragments.

Shadowmaze -- Session 19

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 05:41:04 -0500

One day of carousing quickly turned into two. Bancroft woke the next morning with his head lying on the dirt, a tuft of grass for a pillow. Despite the alcohol he felt surprisingly refreshed; a deeper sense of connection to the earth filled him. A night spent outside of town had done him good.

The fog of alcohol blurred his memories of the prior night, but he had been separated from his companions earlier in the evening. It did not take long to find them: they were occupying the stocks in the center of town next to Druidly, who had attempted to burn down the wizard Mazzah’s tower the night before. Apparently further adventure would have to wait.

Shadowmaze -- Session 18

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 05:41:04 -0500

Somehow Druidly dodged the bandit’s blows long enough to put half a dozen of them into a magical sleep. Those left promptly returned the favor and he fell unconscious. While the bandit leader shouted, rats crept up from behind. He screamed as they swarmed him but lived long enough to flee toward the stairs, ordering his followers to keep Druidly inside the barrow.

Shadowmaze -- Session 17

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 02:25:15 -0500

From the top of one barrow, a small green figure cursed and wrung his hands as he watched distant figures crawled around the entrance to another. “My book, my book. My book. Those bastards are going to steal my book!” Hanging from his belt were the implements of a wizard. Especially a new looking scroll case, ink jar, quill pen, rare items worth gold in a town the size of Helix. The adventurers at the distant borough had been their first that day, and laid their claim. The small goblin knew that discretion was the better part of valor. They would have no better chance than he To make use of the book. Indeed, they were likely to disappear themselves trying to take it. For now, there was nothing to do but wait and investigate the next barrow. Wiz fingered the small bone hilted dagger he had claimed as part of his treasure hoard, at least until it could be identified properly.

Shadowmaze -- Session 16

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 21:45:29 -0500

Bancroft held the door closed until the sounds of fighting died down. It didn’t take long, just enough time for a quick prayer to Sylvanus to heal Gravelgnasher and relight some torches. The fighting had ended, but there were still rats outside from the sounds, just not trying to open the secret door. In the relative quiet, Bancroft heard a metallic clanking and scraping coming from further into the room, below the floor. Suspecting a pit trap, he poked and prodded at the floor nearby, finding a section in the center of the room that pivoted. There was something moving in the pit.

Shadowmaze -- Session 15

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:34:40 -0500

Bancroft and his friends returned to the barrowmaze and inspected two barrows to the far north. Each burial mound had a pair of bronze doors. One set was ornate, bearing symbols of Nergal that matched those on a freestanding pillar to the south; those doors resisted their attempts to open them. Careful inspection revealed a pentagram that could be shifted to reveal a keyhole, but they had no key and any attempts to force the doors resulted in magical repair.

Shadowmaze -- Session 14

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:26:25 -0500

Wyz paced back and forth in his room at the inn, keeping himself awake and annoying El Vis who was sharing the room. The book of magic haunted his dreams and waking thoughts alike. Who could say what secrets might lurk within? Yet, it was hardly safe to brave the barrowmaze alone. When the others were finally ready to return, they weren’t interested in going after the book. Instead, the barrow with the ooze was chosen for a return visit. Humans say humans smart, but Wyz knows better. Humans are dumb.

Shadowmaze -- Session 13

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 01:38:25 -0500

Bancroft stood atop the barrow and looked down upon the tilled earth with satisfaction. Weeks of effort to uncover a fresh barrow had finally paid off: the door had been uncovered, revealing a chamber with four sarcophagi and many giant centipedes. The initial expedition had slain several of the centipedes but not enough, so the entryway had been buried again to keep other parties away. Now it would be dug up, the thin coating of earth removed, the centipedes slain if they were lucky, and whatever treasures the sarcophagi held reclaimed.

Shadowmaze -- Session 12

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 21:42:15 -0500

Bancroft stood atop the barrow and watched his friends dig. Someone had borrowed his shovel and there were not enough to go around, so he kept watch. It was almost like watching crops grow – slow and steady. Occasionally a frog, scorpion, or skeleton wandered in the distance, but the dig continued until, at last, the clink of shovel on stone resounded: the diggers had uncovered a door.

The sound attracted attention. Two frogs hopped up to investigate. Tohru squinted at them, then stepped forward and performed the improvised mating dance she had used before; astonishingly, one frog paused and watched, while Bancroft threw his pitchfork and struck the other in the eye. The rest of the party rained blows on it, and it died. The remaining frog lost interest and fled.

Shadowmaze -- Session 11

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 23:33:14 -0500

Wyz the smart goblin and a dozen of his closest friends lined up for the barrowmaze, enduring the cold rain. In point of fact, only two of them were very close, the rest were near strangers. But he’d been watching them; choosing them carefully, selecting those who seemed the most competent. One in particular, a dwarven cleric of Fortuna, seemed to have actual supernatural powers. The rest would do for cannon fodder.

Shadowmaze -- Session 10

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 23:33:14 -0500

Bancroft and his companions returned to the barrowmaze, where they began their investigation with a barrow sealed by a stone door. The party examined the heavy stone barrier, but quickly realized their crowbars would be insufficient to force it open - they would need sledgehammers or similar heavy tools that none of them had brought along.

The group proceeded to the next barrow, where Bancroft observed stone doors inlaid with bronze highlights. A wax seal suggested the contents were still intact. After much discussion among the party, Ovarf broke the seal, which melted to the floor. The moment they wrenched the doors open, a hideous moan emerged from the barrow, and Bancroft fled with the rest of his companions.

Shadowmaze -- Session 9

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 23:33:14 -0500

Wyz the goblin waited by the side of the road, wringing his hands. His friends had left for the barrowmaze that morning as many aspiring adventurers did. That was hours ago. Now the slow trudge of discouraged feet returning to town rang loudly in his ears. There had been no sign of his friends. As each new group returned. Wyz clutched at sleeves, asked for news, collected whatever tales he could of the horrors that lay beneath the earth. From any that would indulge him, he collected details, facts. Specific barrows, specific creatures, partial tales of treasures found.

Shadowmaze -- Session 8

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 03:42:07 -0500

The adventuring party continued their exploration of the barrowmaze, beginning by excavating a barrow while discussing the construction of a rope ladder for safer descent into the main complex. Using their makeshift ladder, they discovered both old and fresh corpses near the entrance, stripped of gear and flesh except for bone fragments. Their search yielded only a modest pouch containing ten copper pieces.

Shadowmaze -- Session 7

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 21:42:22 -0500

Our group went out to the barrowmaze. Two of my friends, Sidney and Khezzean, stayed to dig; Xanrion the haberdasher and I went to take a closer look at a tomb where others had found a pair of nice vases. That tomb contained a wicker frame surrounding a decaying body. One of the others, actually with a sword and armor, cut off its head. I expected it to rise up and kill us, but the body remained dead. We found nothing of any value, though.

Shadowmaze -- Session 6

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 03:26:52 -0500

Finally! Having saved a perfect round number of 100 silver coins as seed money, it was time to seek my fortune in the barrowmaze.

Three of my friends were ready to stake their lives on the chance for fortune as well. One of them, a haberdasher, managed to sell two of his fancy hats on the open market and had even more gold burning a hole in his pocket than my silvers worth of savings. Even pooling our money would not be enough to obtain real armor or weapons, but we could afford small luxuries: extra torches, a sling for all four of us, rope, crowbars. Rumor had it that crowbars worked well for prying open the shallow barrows likely to hold untapped treasures near the surface. My group of friends and some other newish adventurers decided we would try that.

Shadowmaze -- Session 5

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:29:44 -0500

Bancroft and Darmek queued for the barrowmaze with about eight in their group. The day began poorly: they were ambushed by six giant frogs before reaching the barrows. The party ran; three frogs pursued, then only one. They managed to kill that frog, but the group was exhausted and retreated to Helix with nothing to show.

The next day they returned and retrieved the possessions of a fallen companion, then selected a barrow to open. Halfway through removing the slab blocking the entrance they were attacked by several giant scorpions; Darmek and Uthlynk fell during the retreat. They escaped, disheartened and empty‑handed.

Shadowmaze -- Session 4

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 01:09:36 -0500

I was right. That absurd cloak the halfling had turned out to be worth several gold. Which I promptly turned into equipment. I picked up a Lantern and some oil crowbars. The rope and grappling hook from one of the other dead men Completed the additional loadout. We recruited a few new fellows to replace the Fallen and went back out to the Barrow maze the next day.

Shadowmaze -- Death Toll

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 12:19:56 -0500

Orin got a scorpion tail through the chest
Whoodelf the halfling died from the scorpions
Knutsachson is no more. The noble line of Knutsach is dead…
Brak Odo was killed by a skeleton with a gem in its forehead.
So was Cronuk
… and Jiiib
Steelf the dwarf died when the gem skelly reanimated the first time (mission not accomplished)
Jaggo died to his deceased zombie wife Ethel, by strangulation, a practice the two had enjoyed consensually in life
Vinrin the Halfling was strangled by Ethel the Zombie, non-consensually
Borgo dies to a disembodied zombie hand he took with him while running from the rest of the zombie
Darmek dies to a giant scorpion
Ushlynk died to the same one
Becca falls to a skeleton archer on the way to the barrowmaze
Asa dies to a skeleton archer and leaves Rex bereft
Cami died to a pit trap with spikes and yellow mold
Deira dies to the skeleton archer
Xanrion and another member of our crew both die to a cursed book
Megumi died to yellow mold.
Merrythane almost but not quite avoids dying to the same book
Sidney died to a horde of skeletons
Khezzean died to the same horde
Ovarf died to a water weird
Salazar the gravedigger is consumed by a grey ooze
Sylas got et by the wizard of ooze
Elec got elected from the island by the ooze
Selfa died to a giant rat.
Gravelgnasher almost died to a giant scorpion.
Faolain fell to the rat horde. It’s all so Whong, who did too.
Druidly was almost killed by bandits, but was saved by two golden tickets.
Gemma fell to 5 skeletons because she was alone. The party recovered her body, and Bancroft held a funeral service.
Hannah fell to a skeleton’s arrow, and drowned before El Viz could rescue her.
El Viz died to the skeleton’s next arrow.
Squinch followed them faithfully into the afterlife.
Kethry died to four giant toads. She will rest in peace, even though Wiz was careful not to catch her in his spell effect.
Druidly’s dog, Mike, was killed by a giant scorpion.
Jaenelle drowns, crying out with her dying breath, “I have 33 gold in my purse… glugglugglug”
Ibri fell from a rope and dies. Her final words are “Please sell my hats to the highest bidder… don’t take less than 20gp.”
Theowyn was swallowed by a giant snake.
Fu falls to a skeleton, dropping her torch.
Indivian dies, all alone in the dark.
Ali dies by giant centipede. Her last words were “There’s some kind of corpse in the rubble…” She fucked around and found out.
Itchi is ambushed by two centipedes who woke from their slumber and dies.
Bruzra is ambushed by the same two centipedes a moment later and dies. She learned not to take naps in the dungeon.
Tohru fell to a blow from a stone statue. Her duck survived.
Mira falls to a sapphire skeleton, targeted for holding a torch.
Lessa falls to a sapphire skeleton, alone in the dark.
Druidly is eaten by a pack of mimics.
Luxsley got stoned.
Mirumi joined a rock band.
Wyz, Alandor, and Perch died to an infernal book.
Vorn, Cade and Roderick died to carnivorous horseflies and robed skeletons.
Pippin, Thrain, and Caleb fell to lizard-man statues.
Riyou squeezed through a wall of rubble, fell into a pit, and was poisoned to death by giant scorpions. Her body lies somewhere the rest of the party cannot reach.

Shadowmaze -- Session 3

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 20:57:47 -0500

The trip to the barrowmaze began on a solemn note: the party had lost friends in one of the barrows and needed to retrieve valuables from their bodies. The bodies themselves were not where the friends had fallen; something had dragged them into the barrow and a blood trail led the group onward.

Two of the party, those closest to the fallen, lit a torch and entered the barrow to search for remains and valuables. Nothing was simple. A zombie wandered near the entrance and then entered the barrow; the party’s archer failed to stop it and the creature surprised those inside.

Shadowmaze -- Session 2

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:40:33 -0500

Digging is boring. As a dwarf, I know that in my blood. I know that in my bones. I do it anyway because I’m a dwarf. And I stick to it even when other people wander off. When my group of would be adventurers started to dig open a Barrow they thought looked more likely than others to hold treasure. I kept at it. Before long, the halfling Vinrin got bored and wandered off to look into an open doorway. Bancroft, the farmer, followed him. I’m already wondering if I will ever see them again. The barrowmaze is known for swallowing people without a trace.

Shadowmaze -- Session 1

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:40:39 -0500

The barrowmaze opened today. Friends said to come help, get rich, and buy lots of drinks. Good friends. Bancroft followed. There was a line like a race, or like the market. When they reached the barrows, giant scorpions blocked the way; one of Bancroft’s friends was killed and the group fled. Afterward the party handed Bancroft a shovel and told him to dig. It was boring, like farming. He was used to farming, but had not signed up for adventures to dig holes. Still, someone must dig to search for treasure, and at least he was good at it.

OSRealms -- Session 169

Wed, 14 May 2025 21:53:21 -0500

Bern
#

Snarkscorn let us go, but confiscated my heavy shield and the religious relics we had acquired from the abbey. We needed the money from selling those; the crookhorns won’t do anything with them except desecrate them. St Clewd means nothing to me, but the money would have. He also claimed a prize from each of us, and offered to return it if we completed a task. There would be gold in it for us as well, 1000gp each. But the mission was to kidnap a local noble, Lady Harold, and bring her to his camp alive. None of us were enthusiastic about that, but perhaps we can find a way to double-cross the crookhorns.

OSRealms -- Session 168

Wed, 07 May 2025 21:04:23 -0500

Bern
#

The sailors wanted no part of any plan that involved fighting, once they heard there were a dozen crookhorns on the bridge. We had the captain drop us off on the east bank and proceed upriver in his barge. Our new plan was to find the path back to the crookhorn camp and set up an ambush for the leader when he returned. While traveling back to his camp, he would presumably leave some of his guards by the bridge, and be more vulnerable. I was able to find their trail and set the group up in a safe spot to await the targets.

OSRealms -- Session 167

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 22:14:51 -0500

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Bern
#

The first order of business in Fort Vulgar was to collect the information we had paid for concerning the Pillar of Ambule. The local priest had dutifully collected it for us. According to the records he had found, Ambule is a local God of earth, protection and good fortune. His symbol is a single black hexagonal eye. Ambule is reported to make pacts in return for protection from hags and other creatures, and those pacts apparently involve service for life. If the service is not granted, the soul will be collected. The details of these pacts and what collecting the soul might mean, aside from the obvious, death, was not clear. Most of this information came by way of another priest called Haymen, who had once lived on the northern shores of Lake Longmere. From the age of the records, that was some time ago, and that particular priest was unlikely to still be alive.

OSRealms -- Session 166

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 22:01:28 -0500

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Bern
#

Our travels back toward the inn were interrupted by a rain of fire. We paused, took shelter and waited it out, but the delay was costing time we couldn’t spare. It cleared up by noon, and we moved on, but the next day was filled with storms. Normal storms, just rain and lightning and wind, not the burning. It cost us more time. And we were off schedule already. Pelf seemed antsy; she was on a timer to deliver her ingredients and they would likely go bad if she took too long.

OSRealms -- Session 165

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 21:19:27 -0500

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Bern
#

We made our first few inquiries at the market. The prices inside the walls are no better than those outside the walls and if anything, possibly worse. Asking about sources of ale, the cheapest available was a barrel of old schweissner’s at 20gp each, and we would need two barrels to “paint the walls” of the abbey, but carts are sold for 5x the normal prices. When we asked about renting a cart, they laughed at us. We chose to look for liquor elsewhere. Tough was able to find most of the ingredients requested by the hag. But had to make the payments herself. The Unicorn meat, she was offered. Seemed somewhat sketchy. Apparently it does not come from a real unicorn, but a particular variety of local deer that is believed to taste and feel like Unicorn meat. Whether this will satisfy the hag, I have no idea. I’m still much happier giving a fake unicorn delicacy to a hag, then killing a real Unicorn for the same purpose.

OSRealms -- Session 164

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 21:19:27 -0500

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Bern
#

After a long stay at the inn. I was back in fighting shape. We agreed to rest one more night before continuing on. You hear? And I haunted to build up our supplies, while Pelf spent her time talking with the cook in the basement and doing the accounting for the inn. Pelf concluded that the inn was spending most of its income on raw materials for the cook and that was responsible for its noticeable lack of profits.

OSRealms -- Session 163

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:33:28 -0500

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Bern
#

We were all in bad shape, even the barbarian. Seeking a place of refuge, we left the area near the abbey and headed northwest following the road. Prior reports suggested to keep in this direction, but we were unsure how far we would have to travel to reach it. When it neared time to camp. We found a tree. Lit by fairy lights. Small creatures. Fluttering about with their wings. They did not appear to speak our language. But we offered them silver. And they allowed us to camp beneath their tree without molestation.

OSRealms -- Session 162

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 16:21:04 -0500

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Bern
#

We gave the rag-man his ten skulls. In return, he told us that the portal could be closed by finding “the charge”, a strange creature born of fused chaos magic and divine magic, somewhere in the tomb of St Clewd. The creature would need to enter the portal – willingly or not. Then the portal would close, if the rag-man was being honest.

OSRealms -- Session 161

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 14:05:04 -0600

Bern
#

Something followed u-Heury and I up the stairs. I still cannot name it. It was a cloud with tentacles, and ominous crackles of lightning, like a storm cloud only smaller and much closer. Plus the tentacles.

Spooked by the number of enemies following him, u-Heury called for us to run and hide. We both climbed through the nearby window to take advantage of the natural terrain, and concealed ourselves nearby. We were waiting to see if the ominous cloud would follow beyond the stairs, or retreat below. When it eventually did follow us out the window, the cloud overlooked me in my hiding spot. It moved towards u-Heury instead and moved towards him. Seeing my chance, I struck with sword and shield. It seemed insubstantial, but the enchantments on both of my weapons did damage. Substantial damage. I could see it waver and flicker for a moment. But then it let out a bright flash of light. It felt as if I had been sunburned.

OSRealms -- Session 160

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 20:41:24 -0600

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Bern
#

No one felt quite ready to take on the rag man. After some discussion, we decided to investigate the Abbott’s study. The secret door into his study had been smashed open by the party prior to my arrival. Morin and Pish scouted ahead. The study itself was empty, but Pish heard voices from close by and moved to investigate. She was immediately spotted. As it turns out, the next room had a force of knights standing guard, the ones who had refused to flee after the exit was revealed. They were not at all happy to see Pish or Morin. We managed to talk them out of fighting, and found a small anteroom filled with knights and monks who appeared unwell. u-Heury speculated they had not come all the way back from being resurrected in he pool. The Abbot himself was among the disabled knights, and he essentially threw us out.

OSRealms -- Session 159

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:20:39 -0600

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Bern
#

After a few agonizing minutes, the rest of the group emerged from the tower entrance. Above, the dark bird-like construct of shadows and rags took flight towards the graveyard. Sensing an opportunity, I remained in hiding, allowing the group to visibly leave the bell tower grounds while the construct presumably kept a suspicious eye on them. Instead, I snuck into the bell tower myself.

OSRealms -- Session 158

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 20:46:06 -0600

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Bern
#

We rested and recuperated for a few days. I was still hurt, but not badly, when the blood moon was starting to set; Rowan and Pisha worried that might be a time limit for the missing children, so we needed to act quickly. We formed a plan.

Morin would sneak trough the window into the gatehouse, grab the monk’s body, and sneak it out the window. Rowan and Pisha would use spells to create a distraction to draw the attention of the gargoyles. Sanfire and I would try to kill one of the gargoyles (the wounded one at least) and keep them away from Morin. I loaned Sanfire my sword so he would be a threat.

OSRealms -- Session 157

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 02:54:55 -0600

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Bern
#

I woke up late, with quite a headache. No idea exactly what happened… except there was a waning moon, just a sliver less than full. Pappy’s curse must have taken over. The rest of the group had taken their gear and left, presumably when they saw my empty bedroll and couldn’t find me. No blood or signs of struggle, so I must have managed to get far enough away before the curse took over.

OSRealms -- Session 156

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 20:47:35 -0600

Bern
#

We investigated the skeleton found at the bottom of the tower where Violet, Lady Harrowmore’s daughter, had been abducted from. It was badly damaged, perhaps from a fall. A dosh of embalmer’s whiskey made it talk; it admitted to abducting Violet on the orders of Mister Rag-n-Bones. It claimed the girl had been taken to “the abbey”. I looked for tracks and found little, just a hint or two of something heading southwest. The lady suggested there were old religious buildings near a river to the southwest of her domain, which could be the abbey it referred to. We decided to travel there to look into it.

OSRealms -- Session 155

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 23:07:18 -0600

Nottanis
#

I woke to Frisky pulling a massive thorn bramble out of my throat. That hurt, but everything else felt better. Our surroundings had changed completely, so I surmised I had been knocked unconscious and my companions had dragged me to safety. A very close call. I thought it over carefully and decided I was done for the moment; learning the spell would be beyond my ability for some time, and I had almost died. We would need to deal with the guardians somehow, and then I would need to return – perhaps years later – to learn the spell.

OSRealms -- Session 154

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 21:10:02 -0600

Nottanis
#

We told Aspith about the ghost at the lake, who is known as the Phantom of the Lake. Aspith reacted strongly to the mention of the Druune, who wear tall black robes with cowled holds, smelling of mold; Aspith believes the Phantom is likely a divine figure, trapped by the Druune to guard the place. The Phantom is likely associated with a saint from the local church, Saint Waylani, in Brackenwood. Brackenwold is the capital of the area, and Mr Underhill runs an inn that Aspith recommends. We learned about the difference between craghorns (bad, diseased) and brilleaghs (good).

OSRealms -- Session 153

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 21:20:36 -0500

Nottanis
#

We found some langswith herbs that Nara claimed would cure the strange disease, burned the bodies, then spent the night at a camp. In the morning, Sanfire had recovered from immediate danger. He headed back to Prigswort to convalesce on his own. We discussed other possibilities. Apparantly there’s a ghostly lady in the lake at a place called Gorthstone insisting that the staff of the apostle must be restored. Gorthstone itself is a black obelisk in the middle of a circular, placid pool of water.

OSRealms -- Session 152

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 21:57:40 -0500

Nottanis
#

Sanford and I took in an exquisite dinner at Raptallen’s in company with Aspith Raptallen, the proprietor. We discussed matters of the fae with the lady Aspith, who told us of the nag-lord to the north and his goat-men threatening Prigswort. We told her about the hole in the oak with the cannibal goat-men, and our adventures near black mirror lake with Lady Ygraine. Aspith also mentioned the lady Harrowmoor, who normally trtaveled regularly to Prigswort, but had not been seen in some time. Aspith requested we take her card to Harrowmoor keep, also to the north, and make inquiries as when Harrowmoor would next return to Prigswort. She promised us a month’s lodging for us and our companions in return for this favor.

OSRealms -- Session 151

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 22:26:16 -0500

Nottanis
#

I was wandering the Dolmenwood trying to get as far away from vengeful vampires as I could when two new members of the Glorious Blades asked for my help dealing with a carrion worm. Nara was a barbarian of some kind, and she had a friend with healing magic that could cure paralysis. The halfling Sanford was also along. They had been hired by an alchemist to collect the worm tentacles as ingredients. Those things are dangerous, but I had seen one before, so I might be able to offer useful information. And money to fund my magic studies (and lifestyle) never hurts. We left Prigswort and Nara found a nest of worms.

OSRealms -- Session 147

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 21:46:41 -0500

Oscar
#

As we waited for a passing person to bring the canoe, Ygnas convinced one of the supplicants to devotre his life to St Anya instead of giving up everything to become a candle. He went off to devote his life to St Anya. The rest of us split up what proceeds we had gathered and returned to our own affairs for some time. The tower of abraxus would have to wait.

OSRealms -- Session 146

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 21:06:47 -0500

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Oscar
#

We explored the rest of the small series of rooms that seemed to hold discarded equipment. The four pouches held 400gp, which we did not yet divide up among us. One room had barding for a horse, and another 4 sets of plate mail, along with an assortment of weapons. There’s value in those rooms, if we can get it out safely. The most interestikng room was the last, which had visible (and audible) ghosts along with a bricked-up doorway north.

OSRealms -- Session 145

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 01:05:25 -0500

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Oscar
#

Ygnas is still stuck in her niche, now minus her shield and one boot. We dragged her away to try a few things with little luck. We found Warnock in a niche in the north east niche room.

I was able to cast Protection from Evil, which made the sand keep its distance from me. Bless failed, somehow intercepted by the power that rules this place. However, while Ygnas can technically cast spells, they tend to fail rapidly. Relying on her spells to hold Minerva and the werewolves seems unwise.

OSRealms -- Session 144

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 22:00:39 -0500

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Oscar
#

The St Yggians held their Feast of the Virgins, a festival centered around finding the most pure and unsullied young womewn and putting them on display in a kind of beauty pageant. It seems like a contradictory idea to me, but I have minions who man the concession stands, so I’m all for it… but this time, the pageant winner was abducted by a vampire. At least, that’s what Nottanis told me when he decided vampires were above his pay grade and called me in.

OSRealms -- Session 143

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 21:50:46 -0500

Nottanis
#

When Pusha came running out of the southern corridor yelling about a cleric with a corpse crawler for a pet, we decided the better part of valor was to retreat and possibly come back later. Those crawlers are no joke; we heard about them from Feverborne when he was going after the sewer rats. And getting caught between the cleric and the trogolodytes likely already on their way would have been very difficult to escape.

OSRealms -- Session 142

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 21:14:52 -0500

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Nottanis
#

The next room to the northeast had two strange vases, filled with earth and decayed flowers of some kind. u-Heury collected some in case they came in handy, and we found small bones that had been broken as if to suck out the marrtow, but a search turned up nothing else of interest in the room at first.

OSRealms -- Session 141

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 21:33:01 -0500

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Nottanis
#

Pusha made crowns for the St Yggian feast of virgins, and then took us to a curiousity shop. We were discussing various job opportunities, and not really coming up with anything local. Without u-Heury to keep the troglodytes’ attention, we weren’t confident of defeating them in a straight up fight, so we brainstormed tactics and evaluated alternatives. Eventually we settled on a strategy for the troglodytes: a chest of rotting fish left as bait, laced with pest-control poison from Nifty’s contacts, followed up with my spell of magical slumber from ambush as they suffered the consequences of the poison, Nifty and Morin to assassinate and backstab simultaneously, and as many hirelings as we can bring to back us up in the fight with the remaining fish-men. I guessed that the enchantment would likely be sufficient to remove either the chieftain or his two bodyguards from the fight, but not all three at once. We would need to be prepared to mop up whoever was left.

OSRealms -- Nottanis

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 20:51:19 -0500

Nottanis is a very average half-elf, with his only notable traits being a slightly better archer than most, and slightly less robust. He’s interested in magic and matters arcane without showing particular skill for them, beyond his elven heritage of dabbling.

OSRealms -- Session 140

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 20:51:19 -0500

Nottanis
#

Feverborne called me in to help with selling three books in elvish the group had recovered some time ago and wanted to read before deciding whether or not to sell. I read a chapter from each, and decided two of them were worth reading more thoroughly. Worlds Beyond described alternative planes and dimensions, and Libraries of the Ancients was all about libraries and why elven libraries were better than all the others. Since some of the Glorious Blades have repoorted strange things happening in libraries, there might be some useful information. The third, Sense of the Beyond, was a fictional account of a romance with a ghost. That one we sold. I’ll read the other two over the next few days.

OSRealms -- Session 139

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 22:49:19 -0500

Feverborne
#

There were three trogolodytes, one for me, one for Punchman, and one for Pusha. Verminbane sliced mine in half deftly; I took only a small scratch in return. The others did not fare as well, both falling to their opponents quickly. Morin, however, struck from the shadows and killed one. The remaining creature fled down the ladder into what I assumed was their hideous larder of rotting flesh. Trusting Morin to hold the lantern and watch over our friends, I followed the creature down the ladder, hoping to slay it before it could find reinforcements. My luck was no longer with me, however, and the thing escaped. A quick glance around showed a circular chamber filled with carrion, larger than expected. I swiftly ascended the ladder to help revive my friends, and by the time I finished – healing Pusha through Clocea’s grace – there were more trogolodytes climbing up out of the pit.

OSRealms -- Session 138

Wed, 29 May 2024 20:51:06 -0500

Feverborne
#

We spoke with Bryce and Tristan, getting directions to the place their friend went missing. I took the opportunity to buy a bullseye lantern and oil, hoping that the longer range would help our explorations, and the ability to close the lantern to shut off the light would help us avoid notice.

We descended into the sewers, following the directions given to us by the guild of sewermen. A slippery path downwards led to a long passageway north. A semicircular pool area preceded a porticullis blocking the way, but a lever set into the wall released a wave of water and lifted the porticullis. Shortly after that we were attacked by giant rats from the south. Somehow, they had gotten behind us. Verminbane made short work of the first, cleaving the rat in half in a single blow. Death to vermin!

OSRealms -- Session 137

Wed, 22 May 2024 21:33:34 -0500

Feverborne
#

The amulet and potion turned out to be magical under Pish’s examination, the rest did not. We estimated the value of the dagger at 1500gp, but determined that no one is Eastdale would want to buy such a thing after Retep the antiquities dealer lowballed us. We determined that the best chance to get full value was to travel to a larger city, either Threshold or Prigswort, and determined to go to Threshold as I had other business there. We took a caravan to Threshold and managed to sell the dagger for 2000gp, with Nifty claiming the magical amulet for “testing”.

OSRealms -- Session 136

Wed, 15 May 2024 19:11:18 -0500

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Feverborne
#

We spent the next day hunting and recuperating. Nifty and Pish hunted up a nice fat deer, which was roasted over a fire. We kept watch over the entrance to the grotto, hoping to get some warning if the strange ooze creature left. It did not, at least not that we saw. We spent a second night, and Closea’s grace healed my wounds. The platinum ring turned out to not be magical. We went back down the next day, finding that most of the frog corpses had been dragged off, or perhaps consumed. There were drag marks leading east, and an awful stench. I suspected the trogolodytes, but the drag marks led in the wrong direction. We checked the remaining corpses for treasure but found nothing.

OSRealms -- Session 135

Wed, 08 May 2024 21:27:52 -0500

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Feverborne
#

We left u-Heury negotiating with the slime monster and headed north, hoping to find the killer frogs by the underground stream and explore further. On the way, Nifty found all sorts of trouble: first she tried to dust the pillar of skulls and nearly died when it triggered some sort of magical effect. Then, in the next room, she bumped into a floating dust ball and had to be tied down with a rope to keep her from floating away. Just as we finished dealing with that, noises to the south suggested matters with u-Heury had come to some sort of conclusion; we met up with u-Heury again, who reported that the mysterious monster was free and hostile. We decided to continue with the frogs, as that plan would let us stay well away from where the slime monster was likerly to go. We were just returning to the frogs’ area when the killer frogs arrived and attacked.

OSRealms -- Session 134

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 22:59:57 -0500

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Feverborne
#

We met in Eastdale, hoping to finish exploring the Grotto. With Morin along, we hoped to open a door that had previously been locked and impassable; beyond that, there were areas on the second level that we had yet to explore. While the undead areas might hold serious danger, the river with the frogs seemed possibly safer. Eastdale itself was not at all friendly to elves; Pish had some trouble getting inside the walls, though she spoke little of it. The paladins of Ygg there charged me to bring proof of Ygg’s approval of my lady Closea, which I planned to satisfy by asking Forrest from Threshold (originally a paladin of Ygg himself) to write a letter of introduction. That would, however, require travel, so I put it off.

OSRealms -- Nifty

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:55:28 -0500

Nifty also enjoys journaling our adventures, but is played by another player.

She is a 4’ tall, 19-year-old Housekeeper who is obsessed with cleaning and wants to be friends with everyone. She has short black hair in pigtails and loves to wear cute maid outfits.

Jack of all trades - Nifty is shown to be talented in a handful of ways. She excels at cleaning, cooking, and sewing, and outside of work, she spends time reading and writing fanfiction.

OSRealms -- Session 133

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 22:37:28 -0500

Bern
#

Somehow we managed to escape the supernatural pull of the henge, and decided it was time for a break from adventure after that close call.

I passed the tip about Aster’s fashions and the market in Prigswort to Oscar, who made an obscene amount of money trading on it.

Nottanis spent some time researching the ivy ring we found, which turned out to be capable of magically controlling plants. I’m sure he’ll find that very useful. I’m more useful hitting things, but his weak elf arms aren’t as strong as mine. The half-elf was also smirking about something he wouldn’t talk about, so no doubt he’s got some sort of surprise cooking.

OSRealms -- Session 132

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 22:37:28 -0500

Bern
#

We traveled further towards the southwest, but ended up walking in circles. I made the best of it and hunted up a small fox. There wasn’t enough left for a hat.

Later on we encountered two groups of four strange walkers. We evaded them and watched the two groups meet up and become a circle of eight. They headed off in a new direction together, one close to a weird magnetic pull we were all feeling. We went in the same general direction, figuring it might be a pull leading us towards the hag’s lair.

OSRealms -- Pish

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:18:40 -0500

Pish also enjoys journaling our adventures, but is played by another player.

OSRealms -- Session 131

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 22:10:15 -0500

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Bern
#

We sold the smurf balls and devil’s grease to the herbalist Wyrmspittle for about 50 gp. u-Heury somehow showed up while we were there, asking about herbs of a rather more delicate nature. He was a normal size again by then, and we introduced him around to the new folks and vice versa. I made some inquiries about setting up a trade in fashion garb on Oscar’s behalf, he’ll want to try to take advantage of the trade opportunity in selling Aster’s works in Prigswort.

OSRealms -- Session 130

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 22:10:15 -0500

Bern
#

We went to the Wrinkled Medley to further the investigation into Mr. Klepp. My finely tailored weatherproof cloak and an outlandish haircut got me in past the generally hoity-toity doorman. The bard Hugh was auditioning for a musical act of some time, and the rest of us were tagging along to get information

One of the guests, Mr Wyrmspittle, mentioned Mr Klepp, noting that he had been unwell and not getting out much. The guest, who owns a herbalist shop (#9), mentioned that Klepp lives near his shop (at #21). I promised him first right to purchase any grey poupon seeds, which I described as a type of mustard seed particularly suited for crustless sandwiches, in return for the information.

OSRealms -- Session 129

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 18:03:02 -0500

Snyfez
#

I’m going to need some more parchment and twine to properly chronicle all these clues- man this party needed an elf. It seems these folks have just been holding onto a mysterious letter- that they didn’t even open?! It seems they got it with a bag of gems from a (deceased?) courier and didn’t realize the real treasure is the written word, and the secrets it can tell us. There was the symbol of the Cobbsworth brewery. (you don’t need a 17 int to be curious, but it helps) Obviously, we had to open it, which I did with only a slight injury. I did end up with a -1 to hand stuff from that- might that be enough to discourage hooking me up with his racist son?

OSRealms -- Session 128

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 16:29:06 -0600

Madtoad
#

After a misspent youth as a seafarer on some, let’s say, less than reputable vessels, I was ready to get my land-legs back under me and spend some time doing some good in the world. I’d traveled about as far inland as I could stand (I still miss the smell of the salty sea-air, and can hardly sleep without the lapping of the waves against the boat) and found myself in a township called Prigswort. A sizable city, bigger than most of the port cities I’d spent time in, though not as big as the occasional coastal capital city. The whole place was buzzing with activity, as I seemed to arrive on some sort of festival day. I was low on funds and food, and hoping to find a way to make some gold appear in my pockets. A couple of nights in an inn where I could play for some locals for some spending cash and maybe a night in a cozy bed would be a good start, but I was thinking I’d need a bigger stake to breathe easy and figure out my next move. One of the things my minstrel instructors did manage to drill into my head was that if you were looking for work you could do worse than to find something like the Gray Company and ask about adventuring jobs, so the first thing I did was figure out where a Gray Company headquarters was in town and head directly there. There was a man there sitting at a table just inside the door. Bald, hair sticking out of his ears, nose like a bulb of garlic, he gave no credence to my existence, despite my saying hello, good morning, and excuse me, in that order. It was like whatever he was looking at on the piece of paper he had in front of him had transfixed him. Or he’d fallen asleep. I took the lute from my back and tried playing a tune. An ascending arpeggio from C-minor up got me nowhere. A quick double-time through a classic sea shanty also brought no attention my way. Finally, practically flummoxed, I pulled my hands together, tightening them on the strings, and let out a sustained discordant note that got him to jerk his head up and snort through his nose. He looked me over, leather jerkin, all-weather poncho, wild brown hair and unshaven face and frowned. “What do you want?” he asked in a voice as gruff as a billy goat’s. “I’m looking for work.” “Isn’t everyone?” I didn’t know whether everyone was or not so I simply stared back at him. After a few seconds he said, “We don’t book musicians, kid.” “I’m not looking for-” “There’s a few inns up and down the main street, there’s, uh-” “I’m looking for something more interesting than that.” He looked me over again. I turned slightly so he could see the sword strapped to my thigh, and the quiver of arrows on my back. He squinted at me and said, “Hm.” A woman came dancing from somewhere in the back, slightly older and said, “Are you bothering this young man?” It took me a moment to realize she wasn’t talking to me, but to the man at the table. “I’ve come looking for work.” I said. “And you’ll have it.” She answered back. “Try the Clashed Antler.” “Is that an Inn?” I asked, crestfallen. “Yes.” She said, in a lilting voice. “I’m not looking for music work.” I said. “Nor should you. But there’s a group of adventurer’s staying there called the Glorious Blades. They may have some work for you. And if not, take this.” She shoved a crumpled piece of parchment into my hand. “It’s not much but it’s a start. Now go. Go on. I’ve got to get this one back to being useful.” She looked into the man’s eyes, he’d fallen asleep again. As I left the Gray Company’s office I heard her shouting, “Coffee! You need coffee!”

OSRealms -- Session 127

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 20:51:27 -0600

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Bern
#

After Ygnas announced that she had used the stone arch as a portal to the elemental plane of fire and burned down the town, we fled. We stuck to the road for about four hours, eventually meeting up with Kiba well outside of town and spending the night there. In the morning we investigated the signs of a battle between mosslings are some sort of winged creature. The details were unclear, but there was a dead mossling with four blue nuts. I took his nuts; they might be valuable.

OSRealms -- Session 126

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 22:43:18 -0600

Bern
#

Somehow a bunch of fresh faces from the Glorious Blades joined us out here. How they found us I have no idea. Pretty sure I don’t know where I am at this point. But Rowen must have had something to do with it, since she wandered out of town muttering about ley lines about the same time. I let her go without comment. I don’t need ley lines, I need my arm fixed. I did ask Kiba if she brought my wardogs from camp. This was supposed to be a quick excursion to help u-Heury with his winter princess before a quick trip back to base to figure out a plan for the hag. Somehow we skipped the back to base part. She denied having the dogs. Oh well. They might have come in handy.

OSRealms -- Session 125

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 23:59:26 -0600

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Bern
#

Ygnas caught up to join us, and we left town to the south after picking up the weatherproof cloak Rowen had ordered for me. About the cloak, the less said the better. It’s waterproof, and highly visible. I think the designer described it as plaid. Or maybe paisley. I don’t know what those words mean, but a blind elephant could see this cloak from miles away. I’m going to have to pack it back up any time I need to hide. As soon as I can afford a new one, I’m cutting this one up and making a ghilley suit.

OSRealms -- Session 124

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 06:57:11 -0600

Bern
#

The “not that simple” part started when Rowen burst through the door. We explained what was happening with the mossy dwarf, and trekked back to Blackeswell, passing a strange black iron cauldron on the way. Someone had hidden it next to a wolf’s den. When we woke up in the morning, it had moved closer to me, apparently by itself. Creepy.

OSRealms -- Session 123

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 23:59:26 -0600

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Bern
#

We traveled further south and encountered the town of Blackeswell, which was very fishy. All the food and drink smelled strongly of fish and was quite green. We refused to take more than a single sip or swallow of the stuff, fearing we would turn as green as most of the populace. We spoke to a priest who claimed to serve St Gondyw, but he was completely unwelcoming and would rather be rid of us. He also seemed to have an unholy interest in one Mr. Clep, who (according to other townsfolk) had recently arrived in the city and was buying up property rapidly for unspecified purposes.

OSRealms -- Session 122

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:08:19 -0600

Bern
#

u-Heury finally made his wish: “I wish for my beautiful princess, who remains loyal to me through time, to come to me, riding on her mammoth when it is time to form my kingdom.” The kid spent a mighty long time thinking to come up with that. He seems to think he deserves a kingdom, a beautiful princess, and a mammoth. The loyal bit was an interesting twist, and I’m curious how tall his princess and her mammoth will be seeing as he was about 6 inches tall when he made the wish. That part, at least, wore off eventually.

OSRealms -- Session 121

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:00:49 -0600

Feverborne
#

When the ancient fortuneteller in Cloacina’s congregation told me I had to leave right away to save my friends, I didn’t ask many questions. She said to go to the manse of the lady Ygraine, near Westkeep, and I was familiar with the place. More, I knew Bern had been sniffing around that area – probably literally, he’s as much beast as man – in search of a cure for his withered arm. So I set off immediately on my trusty horse Antipesto.

OSRealms -- Session 120

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 00:10:06 -0600

Nottanis
#

Shortly before we left the rebel camp, a young man named Gareth asked to join our group. He felt that leaving in our company might give him a better chance of escaping whatever curse held Meagre’s Reach in thrall. We agreed, having no real reason not to allow it, and set off at dawn. Despite the dire warnings and Gareth’s presence, we had no problem departing the area, and made our way to the manse of Ygraine. After a brief discussion, and observing a slow approach of swan boats carrying people we presumed to be guests, we chose to approach and find out what we could.

OSRealms -- Session 119

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 00:49:57 -0600

Nottanis
#

We didn’t make it back tomorrow, or the next day. We dragged our coin, poorly hidden, past a traveling caravan; we paid extortion money to a gargoyle with two mossy statues; we suffered through blood rain and invisible hail and the worst cold I’ve ever had. We did finally make it to town, where absolutely everyone wanted to know what we had in the urns.

OSRealms -- Session 118

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 01:40:37 -0500

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Bern
#

Selaena managed to get us an update: the Princess was overjoyed to hear that her True Love yet lived and sought her embrace, but insisted on seeing the ring before actually doing anything. So we tried to arrange another distraction. The guests kept demanding new and obscure dishes (everything from roast swan to pizza rolls) and sending the waitstaff – us – down to the kitchens to get it. u-Heury was downstairs trying to arrange for his wrestling match with the ogre when Selaena managed to sneak upstairs again – this time with the ring and and plan.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 23

Sat, 30 Sep 2023 20:13:02 -0500

Faran Magebane
#

We negotiated the agreement for oils to protect weaponry from acid in the coming gnomish dessert war. In the meantime, Soggy got stoned, Elania (?) ate some of Creeper’s green dragon jerky and felt sick, and Creeper himself got briefly arrested for trying to smoke Larry the mushroom. The rest of us asked for something we could do to pass the time while the three stooges sobered up, and were invited to go after a shambling mound that had been bothering prime mushroom-land. We agreed, and were provided three potions of greater healing, one each, as compensation. After a brief discussion of strategy and securing a small mushroom scout, we set off.

OSRealms -- Session 117

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 10:20:49 -0500

Nottanis
#

Rather than return to town immediately, we investigated some of the nearby barrows. While we walked, Rowen had the bright idea to put on the wight-making necklace we found in order to “make sure we kept her safe”. I’m not sure where she got this obviously bad idea but she should stop listening to them.

OSRealms -- Session 116

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:58 -0500

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Nottanis
#

We traveled further down the road, meeting a knight by the name of Richard the Lionhearted and his single merry (and weirdly mossy) dwarf. We discussed the road in both directions, and the dwarf inquired about peculiar mushrooms. Richard mentioned that there was someone already looking into the weirdness of time around the town of Meagre’s Reach, and advised us not to stay there long lest we be caught up in the time distortion ourselves.

OSRealms -- Session 115

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:12:00 -0500

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Nottanis
#

Rowen had the idea to take a walk into the Dolemwood to follow some sort of ley line she supposedly can see in the sky. I could use a walk in the woods, so I agreed to come along, and apparently Morin was bored too. We wandered into the woods and spend a lovely night by the Dark Mirror Lake. A swan boat was collecting dreams.

OSRealms -- Session 114

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 22:49:39 -0500

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Bern
#

We returned to Westkeep for a few days to heal, sealing the tomb again on the way out. On the trip back, we noticed a strange tree shaped like a gigantic foot, and a flock of hawk-deer hybrids. We avoided both. In Westkeep, I passed on the news about the gnome and his grain to the local priest. Seleana volunteered to look for herbs to help our recovery, and I went hunting to help pay for her room at the inn in return. We all picked up proper winter clothes, then returned to the tomb. u-Heury complained of the ghost in the ring talking to him the whole time.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 22

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:32:43 -0500

Faran Magebane
#

We cleaned up the last of the elements attacking us with the help of a Shatter spell. The familiar feeling of hallowed ground told me the mission was complete, and we headed back to the Foaming Mug for some well deserved rest. We woke to an elf removing Creg’s eyes, waving a wanted poster at us when we went to interfere. Not one from the drow, but from the surface. Honestly we were all too shocked to object, even when she said she wanted to go back to the surface with us because she was lost down here too.

OSRealms -- Session 113

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:18:49 -0500

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Bern
#

I had been putting this damn arm problem off long enough. I got the Glorious Blades back together in Westwood, planning to explore the Dolmenwood and make contact with a fae who might be able to fix my arm… somehow. It wasn’t as well planned as I’d like but I was out of ideas and so were the local churches.

OSRealms -- Session 112

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 09:18:28 -0500

We made our way back to Thatchem on birdback. The wizards of matwoob were willing to buy what we managed to recover, and expressed some dismay at our description of the current occupants of “their” tower. They did offer us a magical staff that would enable us to climb to the floating island via a stairway to heaven for future trips. Elvinia agreed to take charge of that on behalf of the group.

OSRealms -- Session 111

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 01:02:22 -0500

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As soon as we stepped foot into the room below, a magical mouth appeared, shouting a word in some language none of us knew. It was obviously some kind of alarm. We hurried explored to the west, finding a staircase down and another alarm. We opened the door to the south just as some kind of creature entered the room, from the other staircase. With horror I recognized it from the tales of fellow guards: an armadillo with twin antenna, otherwise known as a rust monster. u-Heury started doffing his armor while I held the torch, letting Stria and Kiba take the front lines. Though Kiba’s attacks did nothing, Stria’s crystal dagger struck true, and u-Heury’s oiled thews grappled the strange beast, eventually strangling it. But not before it had managed to eat his sword and a number of other minor items.

OSRealms -- Session 110

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:43:35 -0500

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The strange skeletal lampray latched on to u-Heury’s balls and bit down hard. Blood went everywhere, and the kid yelped like a eunuch. Before I could draw my sword, the thing detached and fled. Apparently u-Heury doesn’t taste fishy. I carefully offered prayers to Clocea to clense his body of injuries and his mind of impure thoughts, while laying my hands on his shoulders. It stopped the bleeding, but I wasn’t going to look closer to see what, if anything, was left. The boy was feeling his oats and asked Kiba to check. She also declined.

OSRealms -- Session 109

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:19:16 -0500

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Oscar arrived in Thatchem by ravenback, still looking frazzled. His robes were scorched and burnt, but he had acquired a book of magic that seemed valuable to the mages in the tower of the leaning goose. He asked me to take his raven back to Highfell and help the others bring back more. With my promise to return Verminbane to Forrest fulfilled, it seemed a reasonable way to spend my time.

OSRealms -- Session 108

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 00:53:11 -0500

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We set off for the correct tower bright and early in the morning. The ravens flew us south, following the edge of the floating island, and we saw many towers around the edges. There were even ruined fortifications connecting some of the towers. We saw a tower made of sandstone, two more with a strange dome and a peaked roof.

About a quarter of the way down, we came to a river, flowing off the edge of the island and disappearing into mist. This suggests some powerful magic is active here, above and beyond merely levitating the island; the water would surely have run out long ago were it not magically replenished somehow at a rate equal to the outflow of the river.

OSRealms -- Session 107

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 21:23:26 -0500

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We crossed the pit, finding a T intersection with two more doors. Between us, we listened to them all. We heard voices behind one; someone was chanting. Stria opened the one next to it, just a crack, and closed it quickly. She whispered that there were more Vol cultists there, discussing how to get past some monster obstacle. Behind the third door, yet more dragon cultists. There were no obvious valuables or reasons to reveal our presence, so we left.

OSRealms -- Session 106

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:53:51 -0500

Oscar
#

I pulled myself to the top of the plateau just as Seleana was promising the ravens we had brought food. Just in time, too; one of them had given the druid a nasty peck on the shoulder that nearly tore her arm off. I laid the seed out according to the directions, while Selaena made silly caw caw noises. I can’t criticize too much, I’ll be doing the same thing later. They ate, and 7 of the ravens seemed amenable to becoming our companions. Which was good, as two new adventurers had joined the knight Stavros at the bottom of the cliff. Selaena and I struck a holy bargain of healing, and Denara smiled upon it enough to bless u-Heury for bravely keeping between the druid and the ravens.

OSRealms -- Session 105

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 00:15:21 -0500

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After bringing Ygnas back, and getting her settled in at the tavern to recover, we reported to the wizards at the tower of the leaning goose. They were so excited by the report that they proposed an immediate return to Highfell, this time on the backs of giant ravens. The wizards claimed to possess a kind of magical birdseed that would allow us to befriend them, for a period of months at least. We could then ride the animals to Highfell. We could return the same way, but I insisted on a potion of feather fall for each member of the group. Just in case. Ygnas insisted she needed rest, but recommended her friend Selaena the druid to accompany us. The wizards suggested we look for a specific tower within Highfell, an octagon with a rectangular annex, once occupied by their patron.

OSRealms -- Session 104

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 21:33:48 -0500

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By the time I caught up with the old man and his cart, darkness had fallen. We exchanged pleasantries and agreed to be allies for the night in case of trouble. We both went to bed, hoping to hear my friends catching up, but I drifted off.

I woke to Rowen poking me with a stick. The rest of the group had found horses somewhere and caught up. I didn’t want to ask where they got the horses, for fear I wouldn’t like the answer, but I least I wouldn’t have to make the journey to Thatchem alone. Unfortunately they brought a huge panther with them. The panther promptly pounced on Morin’s horse and dragged it away while I healed her wounds.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 21

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 20:35:11 -0500

Faran Magebane
#

The next morning, we explored further, finding a large room with a central pedestal. The pedestal was surrounded by stone pillars, and had a stone structure in the center, covered with sockets as if gems had once been held there. One large gem remained, remarkably similar to the one the earth elemental had dropped. The rest claimed this was a something-something we were supposed to cleanse to stop the dessert wizard. I was confused. We eat desserts, we don’t cleanse them. But before I could protest, someone laid their hand upon the altar and more earthy elementals appeared. We handled the trio with relative ease despite there being three of them, mostly because killing the first one to appear made the other two disappear.

OSRealms -- Session 103

Wed, 31 May 2023 18:44:06 -0500

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We traveled northeast for hours, doffing our armor to make better time for Ygnas’ sake. To be honest northeast was the only real choice for miles. Mountains blocked the north and south, and to the wet were salt plains. At least in grasslands there would be a chance of water and game, not to mention civilization. Eventually we came across a road, with diverging pathways northeast, northwest, and southeast. We chose northeast again, passing through a forest.

OSRealms -- Session 102

Thu, 25 May 2023 00:47:00 -0500

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The grinding noise came from the two statues in the hallway. An expected they had animated. As we heard their footsteps stomping towards us, I gave Morin my large sacks and a torch, telling her to stuff anything valuable from the secret room into the sacks as fast as she could while u-Heury and I tried to deal with the statues. u-Heury set himself up by the door, planning to hold it closed as long as possible. That would buy me some time to try other things. The most obvious, just closing the secret door, did not work. Carefully reviewing my instruction on Denara’s blessing of Hold Person suggested that living iron statues would not count as people. I expressed a certain doubt as to whether non-magical weapons could even damage such creatures, but was interrupted by a smash as the door broke down.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 20

Wed, 17 May 2023 20:35:11 -0500

Faran Magebane
#

We met with the wererats, and despite my best efforts to provoke a fight, ended up with an agreement in principle to mutually defend the city with the deep gnomes. However, the agreement hinged on our group tracking down the source of the ooze and slime invasion nearby. Information from the wererats indicated the pudding invasion had a leader; Speaker for Puddings, or Oozemaster, or God of Slime, or something. Our task was to conclude the invasion by finding and slaying this dessert wizard. That’s right up my alley.

OSRealms -- Session 101

Wed, 17 May 2023 00:16:16 -0500

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The last two rats fell or fled as we tore apart their nest, finding a few gold coins in the process, but with that Denara’s blessing faded away. We deferred searching the rest of the nest immediately, though we did make an effort to block the hole to the outside to prevent (or at least delay) reentry.

We chose to investigate the secret door in the back of the chamber. Turning the brazier affixed to the wall did nothing, but Ygnas stuffed it with cloth and lit it; this allowed a firm push to open the door itself, leading to a small chamber with an obvious trapdoor. We set that aside for the moment and focused on opening the coffer.

OSRealms -- Session 100

Thu, 11 May 2023 00:16:16 -0500

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We had landed in thick forest, so u-Heury climbed a tree to look around. He saw a few flying creatures in the distance and the cloest way out of the forest to the northeast. We headed in that direction, briefly interrupted by a harpy that didn’t seem interested in us. The harpy eventually flew off, asnd we made it out of the forest and approached one of several towers. Ygnas recognized the emblem above the tower entrance as belonging to Kelguumer, a wizard famed for his interest in insects.

OSRealms -- Session 99

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 10:04:55 -0500

A note from Feverborne brought me to Thatchem. He has been flirting with the new goddess of clensing lately, and frankly it seems to be good for him. I sense a new confidence and strength of will in his manner, though the world seeks to test his faith. While Cloacina is clearly no match for the significance of Denara, even a bathhouse must engage in commerce. Mmhmm. At any rate he had found mention of the floating tower my church had requested I investigate some time ago. Important note: this tower floats on air, the previous tower floats on water.

OSRealms -- Session 98

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 10:41:26 -0500

We found Thatchem to be very inviting. Their local temple even has a small shrine for the lesser known divinities. I made an appointment with the local priest (following the ritual clensing rites) and had a symbol of Cloacina the Clenser added, so those of my faith would have a place to express their veneration. It’s small, but a beginning.

At the inn, we met a man who calls himself Morrigyn and claims to be an adventurer who lost the rest of his party in Highfell. He mentioned dragons. Well, a dragon. I don’t think dragons count as vermin to be eradicated. He seemed to want to join us on an expedition there, perhaps to rescue his friends, perhaps simply to loot. He seemed competent and carried a nice blade, but I’m not here for Highfell. Perhaps one of the others will be interested.

OSRealms -- Session 97

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:08:52 -0500

Feverborne
#

I discussed the matter of what to do next with Forrest, and we decided to explore to the north where Verminbane and Cloacina sensed a threat. A town there known as Thatchem was reputed to be only a few miles away from the danger, so we planned to buy horses and scout the road there. Forrest agreed to lend me Verminbane for a week - whatever I chose to do with the blade during that time. Scouting out the threat that Cloacina sensed was the best use of that time, I felt, so we spent a day packing and preparing and then set off. Rowen and Ygnas joined us for the trip, Kiba staying behind to train Kiki.

OSRealms -- Session 96

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:07:22 -0500

Feverborne
#

The dwarves melted down the Squeeblade while I watched, after which the high priest thanked me for bringing it to him and conveyed an invitation to see the dwarven king after lunch. I accepted, and arranged to meet with Hammerick on the way out. Hammerick agreed to find Mindy a safe home with a dog just like Kiki.

OSRealms -- Session 95

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 08:57:39 -0500

u-Heury and Kiba chose to accompany me to the dwarven town of Hamelet to see the Squeeblade destroyed. This actually caused problems. Hammerick the dwarf refused to allow Kiba’s dog to ride in the carriage, which offended her. u-Heury’s uncivilized nature presented a similar problem. We did eventually resolve the problem by using two separate carriages.

The road to Hamelet was eventful. On the second day, u-Heury came across a force of 30 or so men blocking the road ahead. He had been scouting ahead of our carriages, and was able to warn us of the obstacle before they noticed us. We stopped beside the road and made camp early, with Hammerick and his guards acting as bait. Sure enough a small group of men scouted Hammerick’s camp. u-Heury and Kiba snuck close while I offered ranged cover with my bow. Our ambush succeeded, and the attackers fled.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 19

Sat, 18 Mar 2023 23:44:15 -0500

Faran Magebane
#

We made arrangements for the repair of my armor and went off to see the wizard – err, the chief gnomes. On the way we met a musician playing a vast crystalline bowl like a musical instrument; Creeper and I joined in. He had some kind of flute, and I had the god of storms and war, by which I mean thunder.

OSRealms -- Session 94

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 00:30:19 -0600

With my soul in a better place and a fresh herbal cleanse, it was time to seek out Forrest and my sword. He was surprisingly eassy to find, having set up a temple to Cloacina in the poor district. He actually seemed sincere, and after we had conversations about the matter, agreed that if the sword found me worthy, he would pass it over to me and focus on administering the church he had founded to spread Cloacina’s glory. The sword Verminbane agreed to try it, feeling there was still a need for Cloacina’s cause to be advanced in the world, over and above her newly founded church.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 18

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 08:54:12 -0600

Faran Magebane
#

Turns out there were at least three puddings and dessert was planning to eat us. And, oh yes, the water levels were visibly rising and someone had peaked inside the watery room and noticed large cracks in the walls from which water was pouring in to the whole complex.

Someone had the clever idea to use the cube to block the puddings and buy us some time. Well two of them. It was apparently up to the dwarf who had already been tasted by the cube and bitten by the first small pudding to feed the third. Between smacking it around with my new mace and more sparklefingers, I held it back for a while. By then the narcoleptic wizard had decided to shatter the ceiling of the water-filled cavern, bringing in even more water. Surprisingly, this actually helped. The water was coming from a source above us, an underground river, with air and a nearby shore.

OSRealms -- Session 93

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 23:46:55 -0600

We made our way from the temple of Doghma to the Happy Cow Inn, bumping into Sanfire in the process. The halfling offered to join us for the evening, even rented a room, but left to use the outhouse early in the evening. He didn’t return. Rowen and Lyrian were drunk, so I loaned them spikes for their door and went to check on the halfing. I didn’t find the halfling, but someone else was there. He claimed not to have seen any halflings. I puttered around long enough for Sanfire to make some sort of noise if he was being held captive in the outhouse. Nothing. If he was in there, it was consensual. Or he was unconscious. But I wasn’t going to just bust in without something. What if there was no halfing there? I returned to the rooms, finding Lyrian and Rowen still drinking, but only Rowen actuallu drunk. I stayed the night in their room and we all traded watches.

OSRealms -- Session 92

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 00:38:34 -0600

Gradually, very gradually, we regained movement. When most of us had recovered, we moved to the southern room, where Thomas had befriended a kobold. We set the kobold to digging out a new sewer entrance from that room and explored a little to the east, finding a watery area we weren’t ready to explore further. It might still connect to the temple room to the north, but not that we could see from the shore. We also managed to search Squee’s body, finding his short sword (which I immediately dubbed Squeeblade). It looked to be of dwarven make, with an octagonal hilt. I’ll have it checked for magic later.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 17

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 21:22:13 -0600

Faran Magebane
#

A cave-in blocked off the passageway behind us, and we were forced to look for alternate routes. We found a strange passage into the depths after a brief search, though the passages showed evidence of water leakage. I thought about warning this group of misfits that the caves were likely unstable. But then, it was the only path forward we could find, and we had just had a cave-in. If they didn’t know that much already, they are even bigger idiots than they look.

OSRealms -- Session 91

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:02:01 -0600

Feverborne
#

I slew the wounded rat I was facing with one swift blow, but the big fucker stepped in to take it’s place. I gave him as nasty cut with my Yggian borrowed blade, taking a blow in return that destroyed my shield. Kiba stayed long enough to pull some spikes from my backpack to secure the southern door, but then fled. That rat bitch Vee joined the big rat, waving some sort of censor filled with toxic gas. Little does she know my pinkie ring from the sauhaugin protects my sense of smell; I f0ought on, undeterred. She tried a spell, but I shook it off and struck her in return, another solid blow. She fled, and another wererat joined Burly. That one died too.

OSRealms -- Session 90

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 11:13:19 -0600

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Of course the second guard paladin at the bottom of the stairs stopped me. I tried to reason with him, explaining that I was on a mission from thew Goddess. He was symapthetic and “let” me knock him over and run past with Kiba close behind. We didn’t get much farther – yet another guard paladin blocked our way and this one wouldn’t let me pass. I wasn’t willing to fight him, so we got frog-marched back into the entrance room and disarmed. Godwin, the guard I talked to on the way in, helpfully left a knife for us to escape before leaving himnself to check on how the battle was going. We were hearing the sounds of distant battle almost continuously, beastial shrieks and the clang of swords.

OSRealms -- Session 89

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 22:11:02 -0600

With purses fattened by wererat gold, we set our plans in motion. Ygnas held a party announcing her vacation to Candletown or some such place, honoring her bargain with the rats but leaving the gold they paid her with us. Rowen did the same with a different destination. Pluck was still detained. Old friend Lyrian and new friend Kiba with her dog Kiki joined us from the Glorious Blades. Rumor has it Kiki used to run a delivery service. We hired on several new mercenaries, including a wizard Golson, and shared out silver daggers among them all. One got to borrow my longbow and 10 silver arrows. Another got 10 silver bolts for his crossbow. We spent the night at an inn. This was all very expensive, but it was rat gold buying it.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 16

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 18:49:10 -0600

Buzz Stonebrew
#

It all started over a barrel of dwarven ale. My barrel, that is, which I planned to enter in the guild of brewers’ contest. But the night before the contest, I started drinking early – a bit of a pre-celebration of winning. And then I woke up before dawn, head pounding, to discover that my prize-winning barrel of dwarven ale was one of the barrels we tapped the night before. So I shouldered my pack and set out in search of ingredients for a new cask. Better late than never, right? But this one was going to have to be really, really special. I’d need the most unique of ingredients. Something no one could possibly expect in an ale, and yet, still a perfect complement to the traditional flavors.

OSRealms -- Session 88

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 10:37:14 -0600

Joined by Rowen, Clubeck Pluck, Ygnas, and our three bandits, we descended once more into the sewers. I consulted Oscar’s notes and set the valves to drain the swamp around the base of Cloacina’s shrine. I would say vows before her image, and hope for her blessing to bring with me against the rats.

When I swore my vows, she appeared before me in a vision, and told me of Arimaniux’s plans to use the sacrifice of children to rise from a demon prince to true godhood. I passed that message on to my friends, one of whom elected to pray with me, but seemed disappointed when Cloacina granted him neither a vision nor a magical weapon. I left 13 sp in the secret offering drawer (feeling that the silver coins were appropriate). Clubeck left 5 gp in the public offering tray, then took it back when he still received no divine benefit. I glared at him and replaced it from my own purse; the goddess will not be cheated.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 15

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 09:30:57 -0600

Hey, Peanuthead!

What’s that?

Hey, pesnuthead! C’mere!

It’s like my daddy’s voice when he dreams of torturing the souls I eat for him. Except…

No, this way!

“Can the rest of you hear that?”

Apparently they can. This is new. Also, my demonic daddy never called me peanuthead.

We decided to investigate. I sent my second son – or was it third? anyways – ahead to scout and he promptly got lost. Eventually we found a strange set of giant doors, so I resummoned the imp while we figured out how to open them. After about half an hour, I decided to try pulling on the handle on one side, and it rotated in a wide circle. We were inside. And the strange voice kept yelling about peanuts and not answering my questions.

OSRealms -- Session 87

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 09:52:06 -0600

We explored the sewer systems thoroughly, looking for any changes from the previously unknown configuration, but found nothing changed in the sewer layout. Except, possibly, the cow-eating tentacle monster was gone. We did happen upon two wererats carrying a young man names Giles (clearly destined for a life of vampire hunting) into the sewers. He called out for help, and we arrayed for battle. But our new friend Clubeck cast some sort of spell to knock them out without a real fight. We woke up Giles and tied up the wererats thoroughly, briefly discussing how to handle them. With the sewer rats watching the discussion was brief; we took them back to the surface and to the temple of Dogma.

OSRealms -- Session 86

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 00:29:14 -0600

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Feverborne
#

We left the poor dead wererat girl down in the sewers. Bringing her up to the surface and trying to collect a reward for a dead girl whose wounds matched our own silver weapons would be awkward at best, and very very awkwardly fatal for us at worst. Once back on the surface we took stock of the situation. My magic sword didn’t work, Ygnas’ god was slacking off on the job, and our halfling had just walked off, admittedly after doing well for such a stout fellow. We were all hurt, I was feeling feverish, and without healing spells it would take time to heal back to fighting trim. Ygnas was complaining about her mace being broken, too. (How do you break a mace?) We decided to sleep on it and look at options in the morning.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 14

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 00:20:28 -0600

Alamar
#

I didn’t even get the chance to introduce my son around before we were attacked by four more huge spiders. The goblins promptly fled, leaving us to face them alone. Soggy was drugged out of his mind and did nothing useful. Creg was awake but spent more time wrapped up in webs than casting spells. Faolain was barely managing to keep us alive and Prim was the only star of the fight, killing all four of the spiders herself, though I made large contributions by hurting two of them very badly. My son ran around trying to free people from webbing and did nothing useful. Then he got killed. I had to get pregnant in a hurry. It was embarassingly slutty.

OSRealms -- Session 85

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 22:25:08 -0600

Nottanis
#

Free! I’m finally free of that damned ooze! (Probably).

We continued training through rain and wind at the same slow pace.. the pace of the ooze. After several days of this, during which Sanfire departed, we met up with the somewhat confused bard Brad. Brad was confused about the ooze. The ooze was confused about Brad, but I convinced it not to eat him. Temporarily.

OSRealms -- Session 84

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 04:55:50 -0600

Nottanis
#

We set off towards Threshold, planning to cut through the forest to make better time. Our plan was foiled by the mold, or pudding, or ooze, or slime, or whatever it was. It simply moves slowly. So slowly that it took days to travel a few miles. And every single day was a nervewracking exercise in wondering if the spell had worn off yet, not to mention watching it all night to make sure it didn’t eat Rowen, Sanfire, or Stria. The magic protects me, not my companions, apparently.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 13

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 02:41:20 -0600

Alamar
#

We fought the “puppies”, which turned out to be gnolls. They mentioned Yeegnohu before they died. I ate one of their souls, but still felt unsatisfied. Empty. I was craving… something. Pickles? Ice cream?

After a short rest we resumed our journey, and eventually reached a large cavern filled with webs. Two goblins met us at the entrance, Spiderbait and Yum-Yum. Whoever named them had a truly morbid sense of humor, but they didn’t seem to care, merrily using some sort of special grease to surf the webbing around the cave. They told us their might be spiders. We all rolled our eyes. Of course there are spiders, look at the webs. But then they offered to guide us past the spiders in return for a red bloodstone we found on the gnolls.

OSRealms -- Session 83

Thu, 24 Nov 2022 00:40:17 -0600

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Nottanis
#

Feverborne, Sanfire, and Ygnas casme back from the sewers looking discouraged. Ygnas and Feverborne needed a few days to recover, but Sanfire was ready to go, so we gathered a few others and took a side trip to the Caves of Chaos. We traveled to the far western end of the valley, where a natural cave bore claw marks and scratches from a large beast. Sanfire went inside and found an owlbear – and the owlbear found him. He left in a hurry and we set up around the outside of the cave, hoping to ambush it.

OSRealms -- Session 82

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 00:07:29 -0600

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Feverborne
#

With one wererat fleeing from a snoutful of wolfsbane, the rest of us rushed into the room. Alas, we were not quick enough to reach them before we lost the advantage of surprise. Sanfire had told me where to find both of the rats, but I could only see the one choking on herbs. I ran to cut off his escape path, striking a blow with my silver dagger, but the second one fell upon me from behind. We managed to trap and kill one but the second escaped, still choking on wolvesbane.

OSRealms -- Session 81

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 22:28:25 -0600

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Feverborne
#

We retreated to the surface and arranged to spend a few days at the Druid and Whale recuperating. u-Heury wandered off to tell his tribe about his innovations in urban barbarism, and the by some ill fortune his replacement was a halfling named Sanford. I didn’t know him well and it soon became obvious that the lazy little shit deserved every bit of my diligent efforts to avoid him. The first thing he did when he arrived was sell half his equipment to fund a party in some other inn without inviting us. (To be fair, I’m not sure how he moved while carrying so much, but after the party he had surely replaced the weight in food and drink). At least he kept his silver spear.

OSRealms -- Session 80

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 01:21:55 -0500

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Feverborne
#

The wererats charged us before we could charge them, trapping us in the staircase. Awkward. u-Heury pulled back further up the stairs to force them to come to us. I pulled out my (borrowed) longbow and shot over his head, hitting one of the wererats in the gut with a silver arrow. That pissed them off, but recognizing the poor tactical position, they withdrew and called for reinforcements. We charged into the empty room, but failed to catch them. Ygnas did manage to put a silence spell on one of them before the retreat, preventing further reinforcements, at least for the moment.

OSRealms -- Session 79

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 00:05:08 -0500

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Feverborne
#

Word arrived from Oscar that some of the Glorious Blades had found something interesting in the sewers under Threshold. A small shrine to a nearly forgotten minor goddess of cleansing, lost and surrounded by filth and wererats. The Venus Cloacina, protecting a beautiful sword. The answer to my prayers and my search for meaning.

OSRealms -- Session 78

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 02:18:28 -0500

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Oscar
#

Our testing of the valve configurations proved fruitful. We rapidly discovered that turning both valves to the right (east) raised the porticullis leading to the shrine, which is located just south of the valve room, and turning the left valve up and the right valve right raises a dam that allows the shrine to drain. Within the shrine of a statue, along with writing.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 12

Sun, 02 Oct 2022 11:23:43 -0500

Alamar
#

The guards escorted us out of the city, actually putting us out in front of a group of drow. Drow who happened to be looking for us. Well, me. And Creg, I guess. Of course I had already put them out of mind, and they attacked us immediately after leaving the city. In sight of the guards at the gate, even. We killed them, of course. I killed four myself! The rest only managed to kill one. The other one they let live, after telling him where the bodies of my ex-slave-friends were in the hopes he could convince the other drow we were all dead and he was just short two bodies. I’m not sure that was wise, but what do I know?

OSRealms -- Session 77

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 02:35:50 -0500

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Oscar
#

Rowen opened the east door, but it was empty this time. At least empty of wererats. It did have some kind of sewage channel, and evidence that filthy creatures had camped there until recently. After a quick search we moved to the south door. This one was also empty of rats, but did have a closet, a staircase leaeding to the surface, and some creepy construction methods that made the moaning noises we had noted previously when the wind blew. The final door to the north led to a larger room, containing a pool of sewer water and a giant snapping turtle. Just one, not four, and no ninja rats. The turtle talked, and in fact had a lot to say.

OSRealms -- Session 76

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 01:57:31 -0500

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Oscar
#

I had a plan. It was a good plan.

We would hire a group of mercenaries. Two groups, really. All of them would be armed with missile weapons. One group would take the new entrance into the sewers, and set up on the west side of the pool room where a small platform offered space for three or four archers or slingers. The other group would take the canoes to the east side of the pool room, where a larger platform could support up to six. It’s not entirely clear, but the map suggests the pool itself is about 50 feet across. Even slings have a range of about that much. If we have lanterns on both sides, both groups of mercenaries can fire on the creature whichever group it chooses to attack. When it gets within melee range of either group, they can retreat, forcing it to either leave the water to follow or attack the other group. I suspect it can’t leave the water at all, and we can safely run the creature from one side to the other while slowly whittling it down to size.

OSRealms -- Session 75

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 02:07:55 -0500

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Oscar
#

We put together a small group to explore the sewers, looking for the missing children. I engaged two bodyguards, Stria brought herself and her two favorite daggers as usual, and u-Heury recruited the young Thomas, a street urchin and apparently the first member of the Ice Skulls, a new tribe of urban barbarians. I’m looking forward to watching u-Huery explain this to his ancestors or shamans or foster fathers or whoever is theoretically in charge of him.

Session 3

Sat, 10 Sep 2022 12:18:26 -0500

[Non-character: Jaswand went off to plant a seed in some soil the fae thread worms made; Lawrence gets a chaos feeling, and heads off in the escort ship to investigate, finding the robbers on the train shooting at the pursuing automatons in scout ships, which try to shoot carefully at the train, but end up derailing the engine car]

Barty, Mariah and I discussed where to head first to meet contacts. We heard the escort ship take off, as Lawrence sped away. Then we noticed Jaswand was missing. Lawrence flew by us at a fast clip, did a loop around a building, and sped off again. I mentioned this to Mariah and suggested we go after him. She seemed dismissive, saying that was just Lawrence, but I persisted. He did a loop around that building on purpose, after attracting my attention with the fly-by. Reluctantly, our captain consented to get the ship moving. It’s a good idea to move it periodically anyway, since they have people after them.

OSRealms -- Session 74

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 10:08:52 -0500

Nottanis
#

Seasons passed. I had greenleaf tea with Selaena on the regular, after a chance meeting in the woods outside Eastdale. She was talking to the farm cows, which I found charmingly naive. (What could they possibly say that would be interesting?) Turns out they actually did have something interesting, complaining about giant frogs eating their friends. Maybe we will look into that later.

Session 2

Sat, 03 Sep 2022 13:05:51 -0500

Tonya
#

As I was fetching and carrying and generally making myself useful, I encountered a troll on the stairs. He was half again as tall as I was, and looked to be in bad shape. His fur was singed and patchy, although his hands were shiny, as if newly made. We greeted each other politely, and he said his name was Lawrence. I asked if he needed healing, but he said he was fine. I called to Jaswand, since she’s the healer, to give him a look over anyway. He’s likely to take the brunt of any assault against us, and needs to be kept in good shape. So I can hide behind him, and throw my stars from cover.

OSRealms -- Session 73

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:26:29 -0500

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Feverborne
#

We took a few days to heal. U-Huery provided some strange tea that helped a little. Despite going over what we had available, we weren’t inclined to sell anything else right away, and the mysterious elf Landon reappeared, eager to adventure. Perhaps his purse was as flat as mine. We chose to head to the Grotto, as it was close by and there were sections we hade not yet explored. The place to start was the altar room, now that Oscar had managed to remove the gibbering mouther from its position.

OSRealms -- Session 72

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 11:52:40 -0500

Feverborne
#

Ygnas got bored and left to pursue her newfound obsession with the language of the fire creatures. She contacted a friend of hers, a druid named Selaena, to help us out. Selaena was not impressed with any of us. Also, it turns out the bugbears are actually hobgoblins.

Upstairs was more of the same: filthy goblin trash mostly picked clean. Nothing but bits of copper and a few silver. We did run into three more goblins in the process of looting a crude prison facility. They fled, leaving behind a few coins and a set of manacles. Shit treasure. But the prison had an orc in it, still alive, named Throk. After some discussion, we let him go after he agreed to help us explore and kill the hobgoblins to the east, the ones we had already met. We agreed, figureing they had already told us to fuck off and we were weak at the moment. Even a single ally could be useful, and if he lived, he could introduce us to his tribe of orcs for more possible allies. These monsters seem more than willing to turn against each other, which seems likely to be to our benefit.

Session 1

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 20:42:03 -0500

Tonya
#

The instructions I received from the journeyman were cryptic, to say the least. Go to this exact location at this exact time. Go here, go there, walk backwards this many steps, turn in a circle three times here, skip to the left three times there. But, with every step, I could feel the warp of reality bending. Then, when I completed the last step in that set of instructions, I felt reality spin, and suddenly I was somewhere else, in a different realm. Somewhere dark and cold, smelling of metal. By a river of something that, if it was water, you definitely don’t want to drink or bathe in. This world was filled with all kinds of machines. All different shapes and sizes, with unknown functions. None of the machines bothered me. I followed my second set of instructions through and up the buildings. When I came to the window the instructions said to be at, I tucked both sets of instructions into a hidden inside pocket of my clothes. I memorized this building and the surrounding buildings, noted landmarks, and counted which floor I was on. If nothing else, I can retrace my path and get home by reversing the ritual steps.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 11

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 19:59:47 -0500

Alamar
#

We didn’t really remember the questions we were supposed to ask the derro Drogi. Well, I mean, mostly I didn’t, because I’m not used to handling that stuff. The boss told me to go find Drogi, I found Drogi. Creg remembered a little. Mostly I remembered that the dragon, the dragon priests, and the guard captain all wanted Drogi, but for different reasons. The rest of the group really had no idea of any of this, but they wanted out of the city and out of the underdark, so they were following my lead. Which is weird, and I’m not used to it.

OSRealms -- Session 71

Thu, 18 Aug 2022 07:16:05 -0500

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Feverborne
#

Ygnas approached the burning tree portal and tried to speak with the fiery beings surrounding it. She didn’t say what they talked about, but the creatures seemed to respect the holy symbol of Zuul she presented and when we left the area, the fire was spreading to the northwest. The next day brought rain, and Ygnas seemed disappointed.

OSRealms -- Session 70

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 20:08:57 -0500

Ygnas
#

Me and Barbarian Boy whispered together, trying to figure out how to get Feverborne out. Or whether to leave him there. Ultimately, we decided to try to get him out, but we couldn’t see any way to get his gear from by the leader’s tent. Definitely not the sword, which was strapped to the lead centaur. The kid can be sneaky. I wasn’t willing to take off my armor and try to sneak into the camp to get the gear, risking getting attacked without my armor on. And the timing would be tricky. Someone could notice the gear gone before Feverborne was freed, and vice versa.

Faolain

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 20:46:58 -0500

Born into the handler’s guild of House Vadalis, Faolain bears the Mark of Handling. She grew up handling exotic beasts as easily as domesticated animals. She had everything: snug home, loving family, friends, community, respect, and a purpose. Then the House got a new leader, and he wanted war. The war consumed and twisted everything. The beloved beasts were trained to kill and maim. The men in her family and the community were sent to the front. People were ordered to do horrible things. Soldiers were barracked in homes on their way to the front lines, and some of those soldiers took more than just a bed and food. Food, tools, the basics of everyday life, became scarce. People took to thievery to survive, and were hung when caught. If anyone tried to speak out against the atrocities, they were branded traitors, and publically drawn and quartered.

OSRealms -- Session 69

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 20:36:29 -0500

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Ygnas
#

We decided to do some nice quiet exploring on the way to the Caves. Famous last words. Somewhere in the first day of travel, the kid “lost” the bloodthirsty spear while hunting. Kinda think he did it on purpose, and I don’t blame him a bit. On one day, we got up and noticed our waterskins were empty. All of them. And Feverborne and Barbarian Boy have a lot of waterskins between them. They were empty one day after we got out of the barrow too. So, whatever was pulling pranks in the barrow followed us out. I’ll burn the bastard alive when I catch it.

OSRealms -- Session 68

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 19:36:19 -0500

Ygnas
#

We made out way to the wagon, which had of course been pilfered. Finally, we camped. I healed Feverborne. Our supplies in the wagon now gone along with one of the mules, we decided to head south to the closest town for supplies. After more rest and prayers and healing along the way, we were all almost as healthy as we were going to get. We had a disturbing day during the trip huddled in my tent under both tarps, waiting out acid rain. I prayed during the whole thing, because it wasn’t natural, but I had a niggling feeling Zuul was testing me, and I shouldn’t have cowered away from it.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 10

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 01:56:00 -0500

Alamar
#

I woke up 15 minutes later inside a bloody cave bear’s guts. No one found me so it all went according to plan.

So all of my friends… well they weren’t really friends… are dead. I can say that now that they are dead, right? They were useful, and now they are not useful. Well, not completely useless yet; let me go check their bodies for useful stuff. Back in 5 minutes.

OSRealms -- Session 67

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 00:34:44 -0500

Feverborne
#

We fought the ghoul, but the fae blade couldn’t touch it, and I couldn’t attack anything else – it was like I was possessed, even though I kept my head for the first minute or two. I’m getting more and more reluctant to draw that damn magic sword, especially since it couldn’t even hit the damn thing I was so focused on. The sword just passed right through despite perfect form. It was the most frustrating fight of my life, as the thing’s summoned minions choked me with their boney fingers. Last time I go with the kid on one of his personal quests, I swear. Ygnas managed to scare off the first three undead minions, which probably saved our lives, but the ghoul struck her down and summoned three more right away. At least they weren’t all attacking us at once.

OSRealms -- Session 66

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 00:13:14 -0500

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Feverborne
#

As it turned out, I found the trap mecvhanism myself, and got a mouthful of poison gas in the process. The kid was busy having a barbarian staring contest with a spirit wolf. Seems he asked it for a gift when it offered a question answered. Wolf spirits are prickly things. It especially did not appreciate being asked to bless Snausages. After he got that sorted out we demonstrated the trap mechanism, and figured out a way to safely discharge the trap when opening the door. It involved using the dead giant centipede heads. Don’t ask.

OSRealms -- Session 65

Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:07:24 -0500

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Feverborne
#

Bern sent a message that he needed me to help u-Heury explore some barbarian tribe burial mound, so I went over to check it out and met up with Ygnas and Landon, who were presently dangling u-Heury down a well from a rope. The rest of us followed, and the kid promptly stuck his spear into the wall and opened a secret door, revealing a small group of drunken goblins. We negotiated and found out they were being oppressed (“Help! Help! I’m being oppressed!”) by a new dark elf arrival named Skazzic, who had convinced their old chief or shaman to be friends. We went and talked to the dark elf, who seemed to hit it off with Landon remarkably well. One might almost say suspiciously well. Landon immediately proposed we go convince Hogarth (the goblin leader) to submit to Skazzic, for… no discernable reason aside from a vague promise of a reward. We returned, negotiated further with Hogarth, poisoned most of his goblins, drank with the rest, cowed Hogarth into submission, then convinced him to pretend to submit to Skazzic so we could double-cross and kill Skazzic. (And it made even less sense than that as it happened).

OSRealms -- Session 64

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 00:23:37 -0500

Feverborne
#

(Interlude)

So Lyrian and I got to drinking and talking (in that order) and decided to go investigate the strange lack of rumors from Helix, seeing as I grew up there. We signed up with a caravan heading to Ironguard Motte, and managed to get there in just under two weeks. A glorious dinner at The Bloated Halfling led to an attempt at a conversation with the wizard Mazah, but he wasn’t in. The rumor mill suggested that the undead in Helix are seasonal; the winters slow them down, apparently, and then the spring thaws bring them up out of the earth again. Weird.

OSRealms -- Session 63

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 00:40:40 -0500

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Bern
#

So we stumbled around in the forest for a while, looking for a mound and finding nothing. We did find a nest of phase spiders, which are like normal spiders except they can disappear, and have an absolutely vicious poison that takes ten minutes to kill you. We didn’t realize they were phase spiders at first; the kid shot one with his bow and hurt it a bit, but I put in a solid hit with mine and it just bounced off. Something about the kid lets him hit the spiders when I can’t. Maybe he’s dipping his arrows into one of those poltices he is always talking about. I’ll have to watch him more closely, maybe I can learn something.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 9

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 20:09:38 -0500

Alamar
#

So the dragon gave us 31gp (each) for the dragon egg. Damned stingy dragon.

We explored further in the underground complex after delivering the egg. I volunteered to take a mushroom and explore the small tunnels, since I can actually hide, unlike Alia.

I found zombies, watched over by a humanoid figure of some kind from the top of a cliff. Alia and Thea went after the watching figure, leaving the zombies to Craig, K-9, and my small but still incredibly potent eldritch self. We made short work of the zombies after a tense moment when K9 got himself surrounded. But he should get used to it. It’s his role, to be loud, obvious, and attention-getting. Not at all like my subtle, shadowy, seductively charming role as party leader, rogue extraordinaire, and sex object to the ladies.

OSRealms -- Session 62

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 00:29:01 -0500

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Bern
#

Oscar sent word that he had found a sword that might work well for me. Apparently it has some history with the White League, a group of rangers dedicated to opposing … things. It’s a little unclear exactly what things. This one is supposed to oppose scales, even though we found it in the barrow of a dead lizard king, and the blade itself is covered in serpent markings. When I drew it to test the balance, it spoke to me, briefly, and asked if I was willing to oppose scales. I said sure, I’m all about the fur. My pappy was a werewolf, after all, I have no truck with scaly things. I think I can get along with this sword.

OSRealms -- Session 61

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 01:17:41 -0500

Oscar
#

Through rain, through mist, through flood and foul weather, we finally made our way to Threshold. U-heary and I camped outside while Stria went to find Basil, and we arranged to meet at the gate in case the guards had awkward questions about our exotic zoo animal. They did, but after taking our names (I gave my real name, and my companions did not) and paying taxes, they let the creature into the city and into Basil’s hands. I was very careful to describe it only as an exotic beast, so I was completely truthful. If the guards wrote down that we brought in a panther, well, that’s not on me. And if a gibbering mouther escapes into the sewers, I won’t be blamed, because I brought in a panther according to the official records. Bureaucracy is a wonderful thing when you know how to use it.

OSRealms -- Session 60

Thu, 19 May 2022 00:24:44 -0500

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Oscar
#

With the gibbering mouther not where we had expected it, and not visible in the darkness, I had to retreat without attempting to neutralize it’s magical powers. Luckily not all of our group had fallen to the creature’s unholy powers. I hurried back towards the group, swapping places with u-Heury. While the brave boy held off the creature, I called upon Denara, and silenced it’s gibbering. The creature failed to resist. Our first step was complete.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 8

Mon, 16 May 2022 08:09:09 -0500

Alamar
#

We wondered around the caverns below the Derro section of the city until we found a large cavern with two multi-tiered mesas. One held a large red egg, which I immediately assumed to be a red dragon egg given my recent memorable encounter (thankfully, not a CLOSE encounter) with one. The other held a derro woman conducting some kind of ritual. She appeared to “summon” a shiny object of some kind, reacted joyfully, and made notes in a book.

OSRealms -- Session 59

Thu, 12 May 2022 05:44:36 -0500

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Oscar
#

I spent most of the last year in a sanitorium. They thought my obsession with black sand was unhealthy. Fools. They only taught me to shut up about it. I see a bright new future in carbon trading! By regulating the burning of fuel, the church can tax absolutely everything! Transportation, farming, even lighting your home at night! Ahem. Where was I?

OSRealms -- Session 58

Thu, 05 May 2022 08:17:48 -0500

Oscar
#

Before we could use the entrance we found, a crazed halfling called to us from the other side of the moat wanting a boat ride. We brought him over to the island once we realized it was Sanfire, a fellow member of the Glorious Blades And Hammer. We descended into the area below the floating tower.

OSRealms -- Session 57

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 07:10:42 -0500

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Oscar
#

Lyrian had a damaged sword and no funds to repair it. I offered a loan, but she preferred to look for work in the city instead, a matter in which my own purse – dwindled as it was by inflated city prices and the purchase of a canoe, though not yet completely flat – agreed. We inquired at a noble’s home, who had a package he wished delivered to the temple of Crom. However, he wished it delivered in secrecy and could not show me any documents indicating he had paid proper taxes on the contents, whatever those contents might be, nor did he have the basic courtesy to offer a bribe. We left without employment, which I felt was quite appropriate. Lyrian disagreed.

OSRealms -- Session 56

Sun, 24 Apr 2022 01:14:44 -0500

Oscar
#

Of course, as soon as we opened the east door, we were attacked by giant rats driven by a (presumed) wererat with a set of pipes. We fought them off at the cost of all but one of the hirelings; I was out of spells, the two new folks from the Gray Company were badly hurt, and there were more rats on the other side of the door and a wererat we hadn’t even seen yet. Going to mark this one up as a failure; too wounded to continue with a reasonable chance of success. Why Stria and u-Huery ditched me in this sewer I have no idea, but their replacements lack a lot in the toughness department and numbers just aren’t helping. That said, we did clear out quite a few rats. Attrition will have an effect on the enemy too.

OSRealms -- Session 55

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:54:24 -0500

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Oscar
#

Staying at the Druid and Whale proved profitable. We shared our tale with several strangers who happened to share our table, and they committed themselves to the cause. Apparently this is quite the inn for adventurers, as we were also able to find a number of souls willing to sign up to help for a fee. Sadly, none of them possessed silver weaponry. We would need to improvise. I sold Frederick’s cache of treasure, which he apparently stored in his boot and forgot about, to help fund our expedition. The money paid for a silver dagger and a silver handaxe for our new companions, along with a canoe, which was by far the most expensive item. We also bought barrels and scrap wood to make a raft. The weapons would take time to prepare, so we made arrangements to return in the morning. Feeling paranoid after hearing reports of a rat from the kitchen, I insisted we move to a different inn. We visited the Howling Knight, which was filled with shadows and shadowy characters. We tried the Elf and Lamb after that, an interesting place with an open courtyard in the center surrounded by walls.

OSRealms -- Session 54

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 10:02:43 -0500

Oscar
#

A strange man named Roger joined us in the sewers. He seems pleasant enough, and a fine warrior, albeit short a few of his marbles. We told him of our plans for the crocodile and he was in favor.

The alligator fell to our blades and my mace, and quickly, despite the size of the beast. I give thanks to Denara’s blessing for that. We struggled to haul the creature’s body to the surface, but eventually succeeded. There, we found it was already twilight, and our makeshift carrying mechanism seemed inferior to simply fetching the wagon. That’s where it all went wrong…

Out of the Abyss -- Session 7

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 07:59:19 -0500

Alamar
#

We went poking around the section of the city where the derro are supposed to stay, and where our particular derro might have a home or someplace we could find him or at least we could wander around hoping to see him by chance, which is what we ended up doing after paying street urchins to look for our derro while they urched. Some of them had seen him, but not recently, or at least that’s what they told us. It’s what I would tell a bunch of strangers spreading money around looking for a neighbor, so it’s not unexpected. We went all the way to fhe far end of the main street – conveniently, only one street in derro slums – and turned around to come back. On the way back we noticed a cave entrance hidden off to one side, and because we were bored, decided to explore it. It had some water, a couple side caves we are definitely too big to explore, and another side cave filled with strange bones arranged in ritual patterns and one of our fellow former prisoners who wanted us to worship him? Weird. We killed him instead. No regrets.

OSRealms -- Session 53

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:13:19 -0500

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Oscar
#

We ended up fighting the wererats, of course. Because of course they were wererats. We did manage to get some additional information from their spokesrat first, though. They worship Arimaniux, a sewer god who was thought to be eradicated 30 years ago. Their nefarious plan appears to be to nap kids (more sinister than it sounds!) and raise them to worship their god of filth. Probably infect them with lycanthropy, too. I trid to reassure the kid we wouldn’t sell him, but the wererats have good ears. They warned us off going north, into their territory, so of course u-Heury did exactly that. I stepped forward as well, as did Landon. We both killed our share of rats; I saved Landon from a nasty bite by killing the rat about to sink it’s teeth into him.

OSRealms -- Session 52

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:53:59 -0500

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Oscar
#

We collected our gear from the wagon and headed back towards the cellar, stopping on the way to chat with a weaponsmith. I had him mount the two dragon scales that were Frederick’s legacy to a warhammer, which I will carry in his name. The smith swears the scales will have no effect on the hammer’s actual function, but I am not so sure. Surely a blow from a dragon’s scales is more potent than one without such materials! Tis a pity Frederick could not have slain the dragons rather than merely driving them off.

OSRealms -- Session 51

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:35:13 -0600

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Oscar
#

We made it to Threshold and stored our wagon and gear just outside the gate. We stayed the night at the Druid and Whale, because the alternative inn, a place called The Drunken Knight, only allows women and elves. On our way to the temple of Denara, we witnessed a mugging; a minor merchant had been set upon by three ruffians from an organization called the Debased Currency or something similar. Furious at the practice of unlicensed debt collection, I demanded to see their authorization forms, and the authority of the goddess (not to mention a timely appearance from Stria) ran them off. I escorted the merchant back to his store and healed him, accepting his payment and sharing it among the party as a reward for protecting commerce.

OSRealms -- Session 50

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 03:29:35 -0600

Oscar
#

So it turns out the knights were in fact bandits; they demanded a toll of three gold each to cross their ford. Honestly, I never knew trolls could be knighted, nor fit into a suit of heavy armor. They complained about barbarian attacks in the area, and questioned u-Heury closely, but I vouched for the boy and he was not of the same tribe causing the problems. They let us pass without issue once the toll was paid.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 6

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 04:21:34 -0600

Alamar
#

In Grindlebuck we bought some clothes (and I bought a glaive) and were promptly attacked by a stone giant with two heads who didn’t enjoy our fashion sense. We hurt him badly, particularly Alia, who seems quite effective with a bow. I’ll have to make sure to steal her bowstring before trying to steal a kiss. But the fight attracted attention from the guards, who subdued the giant while we returned to our inn. Where the guards were waiting to arrest us for drawing weapons in the streets or some such stupidity. I was the only one smart enough to hide and pretend not to know any of them, but I did follow after the guards left, so that I could meet up with them when they got out of prison, or maybe until I got bored and left. If there was a public execution maybe I could stage a rescue. Or wave at them and disappear into the crowd if there were too many guards. Come to think of it this is a dwarven city. I’m taller than all of these dwarven fucks. Hiding in crowds will be a problem. Maybe if I shave one and crouch?

OSRealms -- Session 49

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 22:15:19 -0600

Oscar
#

Go to Threshold, they said. Bring your wagon, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

Nope.

So far, we have been rained on by blood, cursed at by peasants, solicited by naked elven ladies and a golden dragon, and had a very expensive mule eaten by hyenas that were, apparently, better armored than most humans.

OSRealms -- Session 47

Sat, 12 Feb 2022 00:47:33 -0600

Oscar
#

I write once more with a heavy heart. The dwarf Girm, accompanied by friends Stria and u-Heury, brought me the ashes of Denara’s paladin Frederick. I knew Frederick but little; we rarely adventured together, fearing that two servants of Denara in close proximity would be too much risk of an irrepairable loss to our goal of founding a temple in this region. I’m inforemed those who knew him better referred to him as “The Apocalypse”, and he certainly lived up to his name, if the tale Girm told is even a little bit true. And the dwarf has the fire of some kind of passion in his eyes when he talks about Frederick.

OSRealms -- Session 47

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 00:16:11 -0600

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Fred
#

We were all badly hurt, so we focused on recuperating while Stria mixed up a lovely treat to feed to the basilisks before we killed them. Some kind of fish stew that came from a faraway land. She said it was poy sin stew.

We hired a dwarf named Girm and a man and his toothless dog and set off towards the big tree, with two mules pulling Oscar’s cart that I should really tell him I’ve been borrowinmg.

OSRealms -- Session 46

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:01:29 -0600

Fred
#

My plan worked! I took off my armor, lay down my weapons, and armed only with two vials of holy water, snuck up on the ghouls as they feasted on the (relatively) fresh corpse of one of our guards. Invoking Denara, I threw the vial and hit one of them right between the eyes! It screamed and gave chase. I ran all the way back to the rest of the group, who had set up an ambush around the teleporting rug. At least three of them followed me, but I was faster. I made it all the way back to the rest of the group, who waited with missile weapons. I jumped over the little table we had set up, only stumbling a little, and the ghouls ran into a hail of arrows – and, after a moment, my second vial of holy water. Another deadly throw to the face of the enemy! The ghouls who followed me fell, save one who stepped on the carpet. No doubt that one will reappear at the worst possible time.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 5

Sat, 22 Jan 2022 22:41:33 -0600

Alamar
#

We finally got to Grindlebuck or whereever we were going, a city filled with dwarves, which is only marginally better than a city filled with fish that got ate by a demon. The first thing we saw was someone get murdered, so of course Alia took their purse. He had only 17gp so he certainly wasn’t killed because he was rich.

OSRealms -- Session 45

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:18:01 -0600

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Fred
#

After spending a few days healing in Eastdale, u-Heury felt well enough to walk around town. We visited the wizard and sold him the scroll of dim-in-you-son. I bought some gear and hired a guy and his dog, and we went out to the holy oak to try to trick the ghouls out of their treasure. When we spent the night there, we were attacked by glowing balls of light and had to use our pillows to fight them off! It was the most fun I’ve had since I was 8!

Out of the Abyss -- Session 4

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 04:41:11 -0600

Alamar
#

I hate the underdark.

We fought stirges, mermen, a water weird and it’s pet soggy mummy, and something else that I can’t even remember on our way between two cities that I definitely can’t pronounce. At least the mummy had treasure, even if the tapestries were waterlogged and probably now worthless. Do people mummify their ancestors, stuff treasure into their sarcophagi, and drop them down wells? Is that a thing?

OSRealms -- Session 44

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 04:38:23 -0600

Fred
#

We headed north, finding another beach along the underground river. This one had a gnome tending fish traps. He said there are big lizards that take a tithe of his fish catch just to the east of his Beach, and we saw them for ourselves. Probably basilisks because they have weird swirly eyes. Ogbond the gnome introduced us to Grim, another gnome, who promised a 159gp gem if we killed two basilisks and a treasure map if we got all four.

OSRealms -- Session 43

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 00:57:28 -0600

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Fred
#

The ghouls came at us fast. Stria killed one with a headshot, and I landed a solid hit in return, but then everything seemed to go stiff and everyone started moving really fast. Their voices buzzed like flies! I kept trying to talk but no one listened, until somehow I fell into a boat and we sailed away from the ghouls. Everyone slowed down again once they were out of sight, but u-Heury was playing at being a statue, so I gave him a mousetache. I can play too!

OSRealms -- Session 42

Wed, 29 Dec 2021 00:57:26 -0600

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Fred
#

The big hairy ranger called Bern came back with his friends on a stretcher. They said he was dead, but when I asked the head priest of Ygg about him, the priest said Bern was just resting and seemed eager to wash his hands of the man. I don’t understand. Bern’s a bit gruff and uncouth, but his heart’s in exactly the right place, slightly left of the spine and between his ribs. So shouldn’t that make everything ok?

OSRealms -- Session 41

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:24:12 -0600

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Bern
#

When I woke up the next morning, the weird barbed sword was gone. We looked and couldn’t find it anywhere. Weird.

We took our two mules, 3 fighting men and a torchbearer. Well. Lantern bearer since I paid for a lantern. Feeling guilty about that damned box for some reason. And went back to the grotto after the magic box, in case it was worth something, whether still magical or just as a curiousity. We got to the grotto without incident, though it rained, which raised water levels. Got the box (which did not re-close when the door was replaced) back up to the mules outside the grotto and rigged to carry. Then went back in to see what else we could find.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 3

Sun, 12 Dec 2021 14:21:04 -0600

Alamar
#

We made our way, with much starvation and thirst, to the underground city of Sloobubaloodoop or something like that. It was on the edge of an underground lake complex which we later learned was filled with fish very eager to eat or be eaten. However, our welcome to the city itself was somewhat lacking. First we met a group of fish people who wanted to sacrifice us to their father-god of fish. Then we met a second group of fish people who killed the first group. They worshipped the mother-god of fish and wanted to pretend to offer us as sacrifices to the father-god of fish as a sort of peace offering. We were supposed to start a fight when the father-followers tried to sacrifice us, so the mother-followers could kill them all. That… didn’t go as planned. But we got a chance to rest, some food, and slightly improved gear. A longsword and shield for me.

OSRealms -- Session 40

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:20:32 -0600

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Bern
#

Once we finished picking up the treasure from the box, we took the time to search the bodies of the dead trogolodytes and the rest of their throne room. They were keepin’ skulls of their dead in a display case, complete with little labels. We took four of those. There was a snakeskin map and some blank snakeskin parchments. And, there was a short sword with jagged, serrated edges hidden in the cushion of a trashed sofa of some kind. (Are the trogolodytes fishy frat boys or something?) I claimed the sword, suspecting it was magical and knowing u-Heury wouldn’t want anything to do with it, Ygnas couldn’t touch it, and Ahnjela had a magic sword already. We also found a little more loose coin.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 2

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:10:30 -0600

Alamar
#

We wandered in the caverns for days, trying to find out way to the Dark Lake. Our fishy guide didn’t seem to know the way very well. And there was no food, no water. I was very hungry! Not something I am used to, normally it is the best of food and drink for the great Alamar. Fine wines and fine dining lead to fine ladies smiling!

OSRealms -- Session 39

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:10:08 -0600

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Bern
#

I was itching to try out my new trained wardog Snausages. Got him from Feverborne when I mentioned buying some wardogs, he figured three were better than two and he ain’t wrong. Sanfire mentioned he figured out the riddle of the mystery box, and told me the answer… didn’t make me promise not to go get it first. His mistake. Since the Gray Company had been pestering us to change our name, we talked it over and decided we should become the The Glorious Blades.

OSRealms -- Session 38

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 01:45:27 -0600

Oscar
#

We discussed whether to return to town immediately or proceed northwest to investigate the strange pointing, ectoplasmic hand that Ygnas had reported. I believe she reported something similar in the hollow oak, pointing in roughly the same direction. I wonder if they were the same entity trying to communicate with her, or if she is simply hallucinating. As far as I know, Zuul has no doctrine on recreational use of hallucinogens, neither for nor against.

OSRealms -- Session 37

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 12:12:07 -0600

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Oscar
#

We returned to Eastdale with our prizes, having discussed the idea of trying the gibbering mouther and deciding against it. The guards on the south gate were suspicious and did not want to let Sanfire into town, fearing he was linked to the fey because of his (lack of) stature.

After a day or so of rest, I asked Denara for her wisdom about the treasures we had recovered. The silver dagger and obsidian amulet we’re both magical; the crown and necklace were not. The sale of both came to 556 gp each, the majority of which went to my temple fund immediately. The rest I would invest in further adventures to find yet more treasure.

Alamar

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 01:14:06 -0600

Alamar is a tiefling fighter/warlock who does most of his thinking with his tail.

Alia

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 01:14:06 -0600

No one will tell me how my parents died. The priest that took me in and eventually brought me to the temple, he said it was a horrible accident. It wasn’t until I’ve gotten older that I realize that the look on his face, in his eyes, when he said that meant it wasn’t an accident at all. The need to know how, why, my parents died, burns in me.

Out of the Abyss -- Session 1

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 01:11:58 -0600

Alamar
#

Hey, baby! You wouldn’t believe what just happened to me! I was Having a little bit of lovin’ n’ canoodlin’ with the mayor’s favorite daughter up in the hayloft over the stables behind the inn, y’know the place, when there was all sorts of ruckus and such! Well never fear I made some ruckus myself, made the girl scream and say my name .. because they always do! But then I stuck my head out of the window and the whole place was filled with elves! Not your normal elves though, these are dark elves, black skin and white hair. It’s a bold color choice, all winter and chilly! I’m much more of a warm, red blooded type, y’know?

OSRealms -- Session 36

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 23:54:53 -0600

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Oscar
#

We took some time to bring the new halfling up to speed. He had now recalled that his name is Sanfire and denies any connection with the wizard Invar. I’m not sure if I believe that, where else would he have come from? If a wizard dies from a lightning bolt, and physically reverts to their childhood, do they lose their memory of being a wizard? Or of being an adult at all? Wizards are.. strange.

OSRealms -- Session 35

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 02:08:02 -0500

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Oscar
#

We argued for a little while about where to camp for the night, and eventually settled for a small room near the skeletons’ room. It had a few rat holes, so we blocked most of them and Ahnjela set up deadfalls at the rest.

A very strange mushroom grew from the walls overnight, and Ahnjela caught a rat. While I studied the proper forms for invoking Denara’s healing power, Ahnjela… Skinned, cooked, and ate her rat. I truly don’t know what to say! I told her I had spare rations. I offered to sell her some! At a discount! But she wasn’t at all bothered to be eating rat.

OSRealms -- Session 34

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 01:38:40 -0500

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Oscar
#

We loaded poor u-Heury’s body into the wagon, and made it to Eastdale without further incident. The prelate of St Ygg was quite willing to intercede on the boy’s behalf once we emptied our pockets. He will need weeks of bedrest before he can recover fully, and the rest of us were not at our best. I negotiated the sale of my load of lumber from Westkeep at precisely 10gp profit, and we discussed where to go next. Eventually we decided on the incandescent grotto, and a pair of new recruits spoke up, Invar and Draca. A wizard and a warrior, respectively. Draca was in full plate mail, clanking up a storm and moving very slowly. Eventually we got him to take it off and let the mule carry it. More henchmen weren’t really an option because our purses were all rather flat after donating to St Ygg. At least the commercial transaction is itself an act of worship to my lady of labor!

OSRealms -- Session 33

Sat, 23 Oct 2021 20:34:06 -0500

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Bern
#

So I was drinking with the Butchers of Helix when a couple of the new recruits stumbled in telling tales of some caves to the north full of treasure (and also goblins and kobolds). Sounded worth exploring so I grabbed Ahnjela and Ygnas (not literally) and we talked out our plan. They didn’t want to pay for any cannon fodder. I don’t get along with people so good. I did buy two war dogs, complete with their armor. Most money I have ever spent on anything. And we got someone to hold a torch. I thought Ygnas liked to hold torches, but a mace is more useful really.

OSRealms -- Session 32

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 02:15:26 -0500

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Oscar
#

I write with a heavy heart. Tragedy has struck our little group. But I will come to that in time.

We were staring at three troglodytes, all stuffing their faces with fish. After thinking it over for a few shocked seconds, I decided the wise course of action was to leave them to their meal. I waved, apologized for opening the wrong door, and slammed it closed. Lodikai dumped a bag of marbles in front of the door, and I added a flask of oil to the mix. We retreated to the next corridor and waited ten minutes to see if the troglodytes would follow us out. They did not, perhaps because the door opening would be an obvious giveaway.

OSRealms -- Session 31

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 01:08:04 -0500

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Oscar
#

We left Ahnjela to guard the wagon with the mules and lumber outside the hole in the oak. The rest of us – briefly regretting that we had failed to hire a torchbearer or mercenaries – descended in the space below the tree.

The thieving roots had grown back somewhat, but were too weak to actually steal anything, and the special harness I had made for my new set of holy scales kept them safe. I grasped my wooden symbol firmly just in case.

OSRealms -- Session 30

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 02:17:16 -0500

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Oscar
#

Another year flew by. I set up my stall in the Eastdale market and preached the doctrine of Denara, and spent some time commissioning a proper holy symbol to replace the one stolen from me – only this time in good, an upgrade from the previous silver. I commissioned at the same time a silver symbol as a replacement for the wooden one i had borrowed from a lay worshipper in Westkeep. My adventures were turning a profit, and I could now afford the expense… Still, the loss of my first silver scales burned in my mind. I gathered a few companions and set out from Westkeep towards Eastdale with a load of lumber in the wagon we had used to transport Feverborne’s body for revival. The path would take us past the tree where the theft of the silver scales occurred. My friends and I would explore the roots beneath and see if my property could be recovered.

OSRealms -- Session 29

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 19:44:26 -0500

Bern
#

When I saw that thing with too many mouths behind the secret door, there was only one thing to do. I braced myself to resist it’s gurgling and slammed the door shut, then took a good look around me.

Everyone else was nuts, even the jelly skellies.

I did the only thing that made sense. I ran to the middle door, the one the skellies didn’t care about, opened it and ran in, closing the door behind me. I tried to ignore the noise from outside while I felt around the dark room. It had a strange black robe with an embroidered design and a lever on one of the shelves.

Mission Apocalypse -- Session 3

Sun, 19 Sep 2021 05:12:42 -0500

We had a real milkrun today. Good thing too cause it wasn’t really a paying deal. Billy, alocal kid, wanted about of an escort moving simchips from the plant to his place. He was worried there might be trouble. Smart kid. There always might be trouble. So we – that’s me, billy, and elf-boy, plus new girl miss Theo who joined the team or something – drove to the pickup spot and waited. They took there own sweet time loading up and elf-boy was getting nervous, started nagging ’em. I walked around a bit but it did seem like they were making progress on a pallet that eventually got loaded into our truck. We drove off without incident and made it home the same way, despite a few nearby sirens.

Lyrian

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Lyrian was born a street rat. She was such a pretty child, her parents gave her to the beggars guild. Lyrian made the guild their investment many times over before she was a teenager. Having aged out of the beggar child role, she started begging with fake injuries or diseases. Always moving, never in the same part of town, or the same city or town, more than a few days. She’s seen thieves in action every day, and can spot a con a mile off. She disdains nobles, is a good actor, and has no qualms about using her looks to gain her pity or advantage.

OSRealms -- Session 28

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 03:23:10 -0500

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Feverborne
#

So the kid disappeared right after he stepped into the pool. Nobody wanted to try to follow him in. I tried tossing some pebbles where he was, but they passed right through the spot he was standing. No luck with that. I played out some rope and tossed it into the water, basically fishing for a barbarian. No luck with either. Well, hate to say it, kid, but you’ve got a habit of running off and then coming back just fine. We’re gonna give you some time, pack up the mirror, explore the rest of this place. Hopefully we’ll find you in one of the other rooms or you’ll find your way back eventually. If not, we’ll hold a wake. You were a good kid. Brave and strong and wise in the ways of your people. Almost too brave, really.

OSRealms -- Session 27

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 05:33:29 -0500

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Frederick
#

Well, I do say I had the strangest experience of my life today. I was talking, well drinking really, with one of the newest members of our little band. Odd girl likes to use a sword and a dagger at the same time. Who does that?

Anyways she reminded me of some missing members, people who had found some sort of secret thingamajig in the library and gone to explore it and never came back. So we walked the company dog Snausages over to the library and negotiated admittance. The sticking point was Snausages, and I told them how much I loved the dog and how he was my emotional support animal and threatened to cry. I think it was the last part that got them to let me in, they’ve never seen a paladin cry before.

Ygnas

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Ygnas was sold by her parents to the Sage when she was a small child. Intended to be a servant, the Sage discovered that the girl was bright and curious, so she became his apprentice. When she got a little older, she started asking questions about everything. This annoyed him, and he put a gag on her for a few weeks. She learned to find the answers herself in the tower library, and to be quiet.

OSRealms -- Session 26

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 23:52:45 -0500

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Feverborne
#

So we dragged u-Heury through the big room with the pillars and the dog statues. Whatever was on that needle really put him out. We left him propped up in another corner to investigate another room. This place has been pretty symmetrical so far, but the Eastern version of this room had statues and a moldy tapestry on the east wall. All the statues had solid weapons, real ones. One of each type; sword, spear, halberd, mace,etc.

OSRealms -- Session 25

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 02:36:42 -0500

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Feverborne
#

I dropped Snausages off with the group and headed down to Westkeep, where Oscar has gotten himself off to. I guess the man was chasing rewards from the talking frog. I bumped into him in the Dolemwood,I guess after he interrupted some sort of ceremony. He wanted to make arrangements for some sort of new temple on the woods. I thought his god was all about civilization? Anyways I agreed to investigate this ceremony thing and the barrow on his behalf. He had some sort of claim on Yvette, the self-sacrificing redhead. Something about becoming an acolyte? It wasn’t very clear. I’ll try to stop by his temple on the way back to Westkeep to ask what to do with her.

OSRealms -- Session 24

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 19:32:15 -0500

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Stria
#

I searched around town for the three henchmen that abandoned us in the tomb. No one had seen them. Met up with Feverborne. He at least agrees with me that the absconding henchmen need to be dealt with. He got the name of the mother of one. I went with him and he talked to the mother, and learned that the absconder liked to go to another town for carousing. We agreed to be caravan guards to travel to the other town. First night, during my watch, I heard clicking. Clicking is never a good sound. I snuck between wagons and saw huge worms with feet dragging another worm. Ran back and woke Feverborne up, because giant worms are not something I can handle alone. We watched, and luckily the worms passed us by.

The Barbarian Boy's Barrow

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 20:46:09 -0500

u-Heury is dreaming of a woman. That in itself would not be alarming. However, this woman wants him to dig up a barrow, steal a ring from a dead body, and bring it to her.

A Cartful of Offal

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 20:38:56 -0500

In Eastdale, reports of bandits raiding caravans. We investigated, and found orcs in the process of slaughtering a caravan and taking the wagon back to their den. We followed them there, briefly fought, and fled with the wagon. The wagon contained a small lockbox with treasure (dwarven?) and was otherwise filled with dismembered corpses, human, orc, and otherwise. We returned, and negotiated with the orcs not to attack caravans from Eastdale. The orcs said something about wanting the corpses for their deity. We should investigate further to see if there is a dire threat we failed to nip in the bud.

Two and a Half Cattle

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 20:36:02 -0500

In Westkeep, u-Heury met a grandmother whose cattle were being killed. Yip met and spent the night with a band of unnatural hyenas. Later, we all met another adventuring band, two men and a halfling, who called themselves “Two and A Half Men”. They mentioned seeking a reward for finding the person or creature killing cattle and stopping it.

The Willing Sacrifice

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 02:52:04 -0500

Within the Dolemwood, we found a group of three individuals. Two wore hooded black cloaks, wielding silver daggers. One, a young woman, was bound to a stone in ritual negligee. Surprising them, we slew one of the men, after which the other surrendered and the woman insisted she be sacrificed according to strict ritual requirements to save her village from a monster apparently named the “Big Chuck”, which lives in a nearby lake and demands a virgin be sacrificed in a ritual involving a silver knife and a copper bowl, or else some unspecified violent harm will come to the village. The monster has not been seen in about 10 years.

The Frog Prince

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 02:45:22 -0500

In the Incandescent Grotto, we found a talking frog who claimed to be a prince near a trogolodyte lair. He was looking for his pond, which he claimed was nearby, and promised a reward for everyone who got him there. We took him up within the group, and researched where his lake might lie. Eventually, we learned of a place called the Dolemwood, near Westkeep, and brought him there – the journey from Eastdale was somewhat perilous through something known as the gauntlet, and we encountered a strange hollow tree on the way.

OSRealms -- Session 23

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:17:21 -0500

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Ygnas
#

We left the altar the next morning and headed into the hills. Almost ran into a caravan of orcs. Lots of orcs. Luckily, they didn’t notice us, because there were way too many for us to handle. Wonder what they had in their wagons, though. I took first watch twice during our travels. No one was watching me, so I could over-enthusiastically poke the fire all I wanted. None of the embers that fell out started a wildfire, though. Sad.

OSRealms -- Session 22

Sat, 14 Aug 2021 23:15:26 -0500

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Ygnas
#

I returned to town after not finding any blasphemous dams. Oscar wanted to bring a talking frog home. In return for a promised reward, of course. A druid named Yip agreed to guide us. We came to an abandoned timber mill with 2 dead bodies. Yip was just going to leave them out in the woods, but I said I’d be happy to build a pyre. Lovely flames. They were consigned to the flames, their souls purified. Zuul was pleased. Oscar announced that he was claiming the mill for his god. Weird.

OSRealms -- Session 21

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 12:44:37 -0500

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Ygnas
#

I was traveling through the woods on a mission for Zuul. I don’t remember what happened after that. I woke up with a splitting headache, tied up in what looked like the inside of a tree, but smelled like a barnyard. There were … things… that looked like an unnatural cross between sheep and men. They had a bunch of other people there. They killed and ate them. It was horrible. I was the only one left, and I consigned my soul to Zuul. I think I passed out again. The next time I woke up, there were people there and they untied me. They looked like mercenaries. One of them was a cleric, but didn’t have his holy symbol displayed. All the creatures were dead or gone. I was never so happy to see anyone in my life. I joined them, since I had no idea where I was or how to get out, and being with other people seemed like a good idea for a while. We passed a creepy room with faces in the roots. I lit that room on fire with my torch. The flames are so pretty dancing, and I can hear Zuul in the sound of the fire. Someone rudely pulled me away from my contemplation, and I continued on with the group. I hoped the fire would spread, since the whole place was wood. At a circular room with a big red rug in the middle, a white haired man in wizard robes announced some garbled message about staying somewhere provided for our safety, then he vanished. One of the group lifted the rug up with a spear, and there were magic runes on the floor. He stepped on the rug over the runes, and vanished just like the wizard. The other cleric and I discussed how to get the rug up and take it with us to sell. The other guy came running back from behind us. Then he stepped on the rug again as he was saying it was fine. He came running back again, saying this time he had been transported to a room a little further from the last one, and attacked by bats. Our explorations had revealed another room with a statue of a huntsman and two hounds with big mirrors on either side. I said how it would be fun to smash the mirrors, and the guy who kept stepping on the rugs was going to throw rocks at them, but the assassin stepped into the room between the statue and one of the mirrors. Then the statue disappeared, and we heard a horn and hounds baying. The assassin smashed the mirrors, to the dismay of the other cleric, who wanted to bring those out to sell as well. He worships a weird god. Some of the group didn’t look too good, so they decided to leave then, fearing the statue was coming for us. We went outside. There was a caravan out there, and they were all nervous about the fire I set, so they moved camp. Unfortunately, the fire didn’t spread, and there wasn’t a beautiful bonfire, much less a forest fire. That would have pleased Zuul. I’ll do a better job when we go back. I’m assured we will go back. The caravan pushed all through the next day and into the night to reach town. I think I saw a dam in the darkness, though, and I have to go check. Blasphemy. The water must flow free. I will destroy it in Zuul’s name…

Mission Apocalypse -- Session 2

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 09:53:24 -0500

Dear Daisy, From Vance
#

So our whole mixed group rode back ta town with Running Dog or whatever his Indian name is. We had our buried box for Johnny the mysterious guard, and we passed that over to Johnny the next morning unopened – not for lack of trying from Pam the drone-girl. I had kinda figured we should hold the box back until he delivered on his favor, but it worked out ok anyway.

OSRealms -- Session 20

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 09:52:49 -0500

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Feverborne
#

I stumbled into the common room after a particularly long night of drinking. These damn yggians insist on alcohol only during meals. It doesn’t stop me for a moment; I just order as many cups as I think I will need to drink with my dinner and pour them into my wineskins for later. Amateurs study tactics, generals study strategy, and professionals study logistics.

OSRealms -- Session 19

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 14:59:41 -0500

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Bern
#

Huh. Grunty’s back.

Last I saw him, he disappeared while I was looking into one o them crystals in the grotto for just a moment. (Still a silly name for a silly place). I searched for tracks and eventually headed back to town without seeing any sign of him, then went back with Stria. And then today he shows up wanting to try again.

OSRealms -- Session 18

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 06:49:03 -0500

Stria
#

I spent the off season profitably poisoning farmers who had mistreated their wives. Bern said he had a lead to possible profit, so I tagged along with him after we decided there was no emergency requiring us to look into acquaintances missing behind a mysterious door in the library. We hired a naive fighter named Bran for the trip. He got off on the wrong foot with me by insisting on 3 gold a day as his fee, just because he didn’t like the look of us.

OSRealms -- Session 17

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:06:47 -0500

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Oscar
#

Well.

Well, well, well.

My lady of liabilities and legalities continues to watch over me, despite my unfortunate blunder in the matter of the theft of her holy symbol.

I was filling out the proper form for such a thing while making idle chatter with the odd sheep-man Ramius. He was offering everyone tea And crumpets, so very hospitable. Gurg the dwarf accepted, as did Davos the mercenary. I turned it down, not wanting to stain the holy form. u-Heury had wondered off deeper into the roots. I had lost track of where OhYeah was and one of the guards from the caravan, Dalmanes, had joined us.

Mission Apocalypse -- Session 1

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 08:06:10 -0500

Dear Daisy, From Vance
#

Well it’s been a weird few days since you stopped by with that package for me! It was a hoodie. Bright red, the ridin’ roughnecks logo. Some sort of sportsball team. Weren’t nothing I ordered, though I admit I sometimes put your address on stuff when I’m between jobs or houses.. anyways I got a call the next day saying put it on and go to this local sports bar. I was curious so I did. Turns out there was a game. The roughnecks were playing and they were the away team. The bar was full of local fans of the other team. Well, at least the hoodie would be easy to spot. I ain’t the most educated feller but even I can tell you wearing that hoodie had nothing to do with sportsball.

OSRealms -- Session 16

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 00:27:06 -0500

Bern
#

Met a new feller today. Short and stocky, grunted a lot. Asked his name, he grunted. Asked how he got ’ere, he grunted. Ask where he wanted to go, he grunted. Asked if he wanted ya pay me ta guide him into the forest and find treasure and kill monsters. You guessed it, he grunted, so off we went.

OSRealms -- Session 15

Sat, 03 Jul 2021 20:15:49 -0500

Bern
#

So we decided to stop sniffing around doors and start opening them.

The ornate snake door led to a staircase leading down. That’s a nope, at least for now. Maybe when we’re done here.

The room without a door led to a small hallway filled with clay snake statues. They all had real metal swords with visible rust, meaning likely they animate if disturbed or somehow activated. We carefully slipped past without touching the statues and checked the far end; nothing noticeable.

Under the old oak

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 11:37:59 -0500

A strange tree in the forest to the south of Eastdale, with an extensive and hollow root system.

Denizens include strange sheep-people and thieving roots.

OSRealms -- Session 14

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 23:17:57 -0500

Oscar
#

After my brief foray into the world of the adventurer, the rest of the year seemed to just fly by. I had much to learn from the near death experience at the fangs of a two-headed snake, and indeed spent many days and nights in contemplation, filing form after form with the goddess Denara seeking a boon of her wisdom. Eventually I received her insight; I must work on a series of stretching exercises every day, to improve the flexibility and strength of my lame leg; it will likely always be a weakness, but even a little improvement could save my life. I was diligent and meticulous, every day filing form 47a (“Report of Daily Exercise For Physical Therapy”). The goddess approved, and blessed me with improved range of motion by 15 degrees in the knee and ankle. I shall be better able to duck in the future. Praise be to the lady of letters!

OSRealms -- Session 13

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 01:19:36 -0500

Feverborne
#

After spending the night camped in a secret room, we took stock of our gains and losses and decided it was time to return to town and reprovision. Having scouted the ruins (and more importantly the path to and from) we could plan more effectively for our next expedition, and with more funds to boot. Buying a mule to carry provisions for example. Though I hear rumors of a mule thief in town lately..

OSRealms -- Stria

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 14:39:19 -0500

Born on a battlefield from a prior union between her camp follower mother and a soldier. Not the soldier her lovesick mother originally followed. He died early on. Just a random soldier, because her mother stayed on following the army, having nowhere else to go. Her childhood was spent observing what went on in the camp follower tents, and observing what goes on with an army in between battles. From her mother and her ilk, Stria learned what to do to and with a man. From the soldiers who treated her as a pet, she learned to knife fight and some dirty hand to hand skills in case a man tried to get rough with her.

Leslie

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 14:39:15 -0500

“Call me Leslie. Or Les. I’m one or the other. Some days, I’m both.”

OSRealms -- Session 12

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 12:48:24 -0500

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Bern
#

I came to Eastdale looking for guide work, leading people through the wilderness. Don’t really like people much. Animals are much simpler, I know where I stand out in the wilds. Difference between a dog and a wolf and a cat you can see and smell and taste. Humans, well, some of us will lie to ya and cheat ya and kill ya and we all look the same. But sometimes ya need stuff only humans can really do. Talk, even if it’s just listening in a corner at a bar. Metal tools. Alcohol. Can’t do everything yourself and then you have to do something else to pay for it.

OSRealms -- Session 11

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 01:14:35 -0500

Feverborne
#

North of the portcullis were two doors, both closed. We listened and they were both silent as well. Opening the one to the north revealed a closet full of skeletons; someone’s family has a lot of dark secrets. Well, actually zombies. But I couldn’t resist the turn of phrase. There were about 6 of them but they didn’t move when we opened the door. Huh.

OSRealms -- Session 10

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 09:55:33 -0500

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Feverborne
#

We left Bayonetta’s body at our campsite. We weren’t ready to return and there would be no point carrying it with us. A simple cairn of stones would do for now. u-Heury collected her possessions (and wages).. we will see what he does with them.

Further south and west we found a cavern floored with obsidian. It was slippery. Very odd, obsidian is normally shiny but not slippery.

Vance

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 08:48:53 -0500

Attributes

Body: 4 Strength: 4 Agility: 4 React: 6 (4 + Improved Reflexes) Willpower: 6 Logic: 2 Intuition: 4 Charisma: 2 Edge: 2 Essence: 6 Magic: 6

Inherent Limits Physical (Strx2 + Body + React)/2: 8 Mental (Logicx2 + Willpower + Intuition)/2: 7 Social (Charismax2 + Willpower + Essence)/2: 8

Initiative (Intuition + Reaction): 10 + 2d6

Condition Monitor: Physical (Body/2 + 8) 10: OOOOOOOOOOO Stun (Willpower/2 + 8) 10: OOOOOOOOOO Overflow (Body + Aug):

OSRealms -- Bern

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 16:21:04 -0500

Bern
#

Bern is currently a 4th level ranger. He wields the Azure Serpent Blade, which has two brother blades he seeks, paired with a bent and twisted shield of orcish design. It is reputed to preserve a corpse from decay if laid over the body.

Rumor has it that near on a score of years past, a woman mated with a werewolf in the woods west of Eastdale, and the man known as Bern o’ the Wild is the result of their mad, frenzied coupling. His friends, if he had any, would say it was the source of his freakish strength. His enemies say it’s why no one likes him. Bern says it’s mutual and stays in the woods most of the time. He sometimes offers to guide travelers in the area in exchange for an equal share in whatever treasure they recover. That way he doesn’t have to go into town to sell anything he might find himself.

Archaya

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 06:28:00 -0500

The ruins of an ancient civilization destroyed by a magical disaster, the ruins of Archaya are found within a massive canyon a few days travel northeast from Eastdale.

OSRealms -- Session 9

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 06:26:38 -0500

Feverborne
#

We broke camp after a night of bitter cold at the edge of a field of strange black sand. It seems the rumors of an ancient magical disaster there are true. That, or it’s just black sand. u-Heury threw a fit when it was time to go in, and refused. He was packing his bags to head back to Eastdale. I wasn’t having it; it would be desertion in the face of the enemy and I said so to his face. He didn’t care. (Neither would I, if it’s the smart thing to do, but this is just sand and we supposedly make a living doing this).

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 19

Sun, 30 May 2021 08:21:53 -0500

Creeper got captured and magically interrogated last time, revealing the location of the camp. The characters had all planned on a long rest; they got a short rest and a drow-spider ambush. All adventurers either fled, or were captured and enslaved by the drow in the Wave Echo Cave, helping make weapons and armor for the forces of evil alongside the missing Rockseeker dwarf.

Basically everyone was fed up with the module and ready to end it without bothering to play out the final confrontation. We spent most of the session discussing what to do next.

Morgath

Thu, 27 May 2021 01:50:28 -0500

Morgath is a mysterious masked man of magic and m’alliteration.

He has scarring on the face around the mouth, wears a mask and some of the scarring comes up above the mask slightly. The mask just covers his mouth.

OSRealms -- Session 8

Thu, 27 May 2021 01:34:00 -0500

Feverborne
#

After the pink slime disaster, we decided it was time to head back to town. We had found some items of value and quite frankly we were all a bit shook up by seeing one of our compatriots have his face eaten. Not to mention the ordeal of puzzle-solving overnight from the fisher king. But our first stop was to fatten our purses, so we headed to Retep’s antiquities… But only after checking them ourselves, of course.

Henchmen

Thu, 20 May 2021 01:47:09 -0500

Henchmen:

Gurg (Dwarf, chainmail, shield, battleaxe, crossbow) (Feverborne)

Bayonetta and Argos (human, short sword, leather) (Bayonetta, deceased; Argos, following Feverborne and/or Ooohya)

Farason (longsword, leather, shield) (Oooohya) (left)

Colmax (longsword, shield, leather) (Ooohya) (badly wounded by pink slime)

Parmox: Torchbearer (Oooohya) (dead)

OSRealms -- Session 7

Thu, 20 May 2021 01:35:21 -0500

Feverborne
#

I gave Ahnjela a resounding slap across the face with my gauntlet, and it seemed to sober her up. But it didn’t make the skeletons any more inclined to let us pass. We did establish that they only guarded two of the three doors in the room, leaving the middle door free if we wanted to go that way. We also established that pink would help us kill green if we wanted to go through the green door, but pink skellie is a mean bastard and I would hate to trust his word. We agreed to examine the other doors before provoking the skeletons.

OSRealms -- Session 6

Thu, 13 May 2021 12:40:36 -0500

Feverborne
#

When u-Heury was finished playing doctor with himself, we decided to clear out the two fishy folk playing handsy behind the door before going deeper into the cave system. We set up an ambush outside the door while u-Heury taunted them and tried to get them to come out. It didn’t go well. I continue to prefer a more aggressive approach to take advantage of surprise. We should be listening at doors and kicking them down, then swarming inside to take advantage of surprise. No intelligent creature will walk right into the formations u-Heury sets up. Even if they are effective should the fisher-village idiot stumble into one.

The Incandescent Grotto

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:35:26 -0500

A sunken pool leading to a series of caves. At least part of the complex appears to be a trogolodyte temple, complete with actual trogolodytes. There is a source of moss that allows water breathing, and crystals that have a kind of enthralling effect. Human bandits and kobolds may also lair within, and a mysterious pair of skeletons guard a pair of doors within the complex.

The trogolodytes have found some sort of puzzle box that they cannot open. It has a riddle:

Eastdale

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:35:06 -0500

A medium-sized town surrounded by threats and run by St Ygg. There are many oppressive laws, including forbidding strong drink save during the dinner hour and banning fluorescent mushrooms in the marketplace.

Garrick, a dwarf, runs the trading post. He is sympathetic to Denara’s cause.

Retep runs an antiquities store, and seems honest.

Muirron is the local magician who has come to some kind of truce with the St Yggian leadership. He claims the town is situated on a lay line.

Party Loot

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:33:44 -0500

2021-06-16

Tube of Papyrus #10 (250gp)

Old, slightly battered silver goblet with designs from skeleton room (175gp)

Strange humanoid skull from bookshelf room (??)

Strange leather scroll from bookshelf room (400gp)

1 male kobold, Tartuccio

2021-06-09

Crossbow, grey portabella mushrooms, spellbook on dead wizard

2021-06-02

18sp, 24gp, 8 pp.

Scroll tube #3 clutched in a skeleton’s hand.

2021-05-19

Box with 6 alphabet cubes (have vowels)

Book of arcane details on charming jellies and oozes and slimes

Ooohhhya Punchman

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:29:25 -0500

Ohhyeah Punchman was forever scarred when his mother told him he was conceived on horseback. One can only guess at what his father said at the moment of conception, but his mother always smiles when she says her son’s name, “Ohhyeah!” It was the same smile that drove him to become a butcher of horsemeat (and other animals of course) instead of taking on the traditional Punchman trade of masonry. In fact, while angered over his father’s criticisms, Ohhyeah had an unfortunate accident trying to bust through one of his father’s stone walls, which left his nose bent and his arms broken.

Nottan Assasson

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:28:57 -0500

Definitely not an assassin.

Silverhale

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:28:36 -0500

Information about the town of Silverhale in the OSR Realms campaign.

Elaith

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:27:52 -0500

Very pointy…. ears.

Ahnjela

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:27:43 -0500

Dude looks like a lady.

U-Heury

Thu, 06 May 2021 03:26:47 -0500

A powerful barbarian youth with ambitions of learning the ways of civilization. He is presently attempting to learn to read, and has a budding interest in mycology (mushrooms).

OSRealms -- Session 5

Wed, 05 May 2021 21:15:28 -0500

Feverborne
#

We managed to break Ahnjela out of the weird trance she was in by dragging her away from the crystals. She woke up and didn’t seem to recognize us, but after about ten minutes she was no more (or less) paranoid than usual. No doubt she’ll murder us all in our sleep later.

We decided to explore the other exits before braving that passageway, but we were joined by a few friends first. Silver hair girl volunteered to explore the underwater passage, so we fed her some moss to breathe the water and down she went. Problem: she can’t see in the dark and torches don’t work underwater. Our wizard did some finger waving and made funny lights appear. They couldn’t get far from him and he wasn’t willing to go swimming. Oh well.

House Rules

Tue, 04 May 2021 21:38:28 -0500

The intent behind these house rules is to provide a rapid mechanism for resolving situations that are probably not in the rules without spending an hour making sure they aren’t in the rules, or arguing about what the rules say.

In some cases, I’m preemptively specifying whether or not I intend to use a common practice from past games I’ve run or participated in. As a general rule, take this as a list of how I intend to run things, which should be pretty close to the way the rules are written… but is unlikely to match up perfectly. When there is a conflict with the printed rulebooks, these rules win. When there is a conflict between these rules and a ruling on an in-game situation, the DM wns.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 18

Mon, 03 May 2021 01:31:29 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Splinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.

We left the party in the middle of fleeing from a small platoon of zombies just south of the Wave Echo Forge. They quickly finished off the remaining zombies, most of whom were already in remarkably bad shape. After a brief discussion, Ford suggested betraying their agreement with the undead wizard who just wanted some new reading material. They retrieved the chest he had vanished into, placed it within his residence, and picked the lock. Kraygen opened it with Mage Hands, expecting the wraith to rise up from within the chest.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 17

Mon, 03 May 2021 01:18:31 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Splinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the party having rested again at the entrance to the cave. Ragash remained unconscious, the stress of having her face eaten by an ochre jelly having delayed her recovery from the ghoul poison. The rest of the group decided to continue to explore the Wave Echo Cave, returning to the large cavern where they had already fought and defeated both ghouls (in the west) and zombies (east). To the south of that room, they found an unexplored corridor containing a storeroom. All the stores were destroyed by age, rot, and at least one rat.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 16

Mon, 03 May 2021 01:10:05 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros) and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.

We left the party separated, with Ragash, Splinter Paw, and Kraygen camped at the entrance to recover from their close encounter with the ghouls, and Jared, Ford, Kyros, and Creeper continuing to explore the cave.

With Creeper leading the way, the party returned to the large room where they had first encountered the larger group of ghouls. The room was quiet… too quiet. Silent corpses of dwarves and orcs, gnomes and ogres, lay scattered on the floor, gnawed bones sucked dry of marrow decades past. Two long tables occupied the center of a low spot, crude stairs carved into the cave floor to make descent and ascent easier. Bloody streaks marked the floor, long dried. The ascending stairs on the far side led to a smaller table, the decayed remains of a nicer tablecloth hinting at what was once a privileged seat.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 15

Mon, 03 May 2021 01:03:09 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Coby (Kyros) and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.

We left the party having defeated a room full of skeletons. They proceeded to the next room, which appeared to be some sort of accounting hall, with records of ores mined and money paid out. A careful search revealed a lockbox behind a counter, which Jared tried and failed to open. They resolved to return later, and on leaving the room, noticed that Ragash – who had remained behind in the larger cavern – was missing. Kyros spotted some tracks in the leftover stirge blood, and Creeper was able to determine that three barefoot humanoids had ambushed Ragash and dragged her to the north.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 14

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:49:50 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the party on the run from Magpie Hood and his no-longer-quite-so Merry Band. They managed to escape without any further innocent loss of life, though Kyros took an entirely improbable number of arrows to the butt and Ragash offered to throw down her life to save the rest of the party even when it was entirely unnecessary.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 13

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:45:03 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the party recovering from indigestion after eating dragon nuggets. After discussing the location of Wave Echo Cave with Reidoth (between his advice and their map, the group feels confident they can find the entrance), the party went to Neverwinter to sell their goods and equip for an expedition. They sold the alchemical vials, diamonds, a set of goblets, and the battle axe they had collected in Thundertree for 1100gp, which was promptly divided up. The group arranged for a dagger to be made from a dragon’s tooth. The same smith agreed to make a suit of scale mail from the green dragon’s scales, which will be ready in a week. (He barely made the roll, resulting in a suit of scale mail that gives +1 to saving throws versus poison, but no other bonus).

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 12

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:31:52 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the party in the middle of combat, Splinter Paw’s caterwauling having woken the entire village and Kraygen’s Thunderwave knocking out the majority of the remaining cultists.

Shortly thereafter, an angry dragon appeared, landing at the end of the fog and demanding to know what was going on. It seems he had been having a nap, and something had woken him up. He was promptly attacked by three zombies, and set about slicing and dicing them with his claws and teeth.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 11

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:29:25 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the party resting in the ruins of Cragmaw Castle, which they had earlier cleared of occupants. Only the squirrels had moved back in. When dawn rose, the party left the castle and followed Creeper’s directions through Neverwinter Wood towards Thundertree. Miraculously, their journey went unnoticed and unmolested by denizens of the Wood. They arrived in the ruins of Thundertree around mid-day.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 10

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:27:24 -0500

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the party resting in the orc cavern. Near dawn a pack of wolves threatened from the cave entrance, but the party ran them off with loud noises and fire.

From there, they returned to Old Owl Well, where the necromancer Kost was busy excavating with his crew of zombies. He welcomed them back, paying a pittance of 10gp each for their services in defeating the orcs. Kyros somehow restrained himself from killing him immediately, despite his god’s opposition to undead.

Adventure Capitalists

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:09:52 -0500

We, the undersigned, do hereby incorporate our adventuring enterprise under the name . We agree to the standard mechanisms of treasure distribution outlined under the appropriate regulations, laws, and taxing authorities. Subject to those laws, we further stipulate that all adventuring proceeds will be first applied to the healing and making whole of all party members, including but not limited to healing of wounds, replacement of lost limbs, treatment and/or cures of acquired diseases.

Campaign Hook

Sun, 02 May 2021 23:52:16 -0500

See the character creation rules and setting.

After a routine trip to Rookroost, Tom o’ the Seven Sevens puts out the word to all residents of Dunwitch. Trouble is afoot, he says. The realm needs those of strong arm, quick mind, dextrous fingers. More than that, the realm needs men of good heart and a thirst for adventure.

(“What about ale?” “Aye, that too, but adventure first!”)

All men and women nearing adulthood but not yet settled in their lives, or yearning for something more, and especially anyone who is feeling the call of destiny or who has ever been the subject of a prophecy, are requested to gather in the tavern for an announcement that will have a profound impact on their lives, the lives of all their friends, and even the lives of their livestock and pets.

Saltmarsh

Sun, 02 May 2021 23:26:32 -0500

Saltmarsh is a small town, though still larger than Dunwitch. It is a near the coast, with port facilities and a fishing fleet. The fleet sends its catch from both the ocean and the nearby salt marsh (for which the town is named) to Rookroost, providing a steady supply of seafood for those wealthy enough to afford it (and the necessary salt or preservation spells to preserve it). The road to town from Rookroost brings you to the top of a sea-facing cliff overlooking the town, and you can see the port itself laid out before you, with the bulk of town further inland on higher ground. The activity at sea appears to consist of mostly fishing boats, with one or two larger vessels at anchor by the docks.

Dunwich

Sun, 02 May 2021 23:26:27 -0500

Characters begin in the small town of Dunwitch, named (according to local legend) for its founder, a nameless hag and healer who lived out her years as a hermit outside the nearby walled city of Rookroost. Her cures were so efficacious and her protective spells so potent that she soon had a thriving community established around her small forest hut. As the poor woman was nearly deaf and blind in her old age, she never quite realized.

Rookroost

Sun, 02 May 2021 23:24:02 -0500

The City of Rookroost
#

Rookroost is one of the bandit kingdoms, a city-state in barely civilized territory that exists in a state of low-level perpetual warfare with most of its neighbors and even its own residents. Half-Orcs are common and make up most of the city guard. Half-elves are common in the outlying towns and forests, but full elves are rare.

Creeper

Sun, 02 May 2021 20:02:02 -0500

Creeper is the use-name of Gribble, an unusually civilized goblin, who isn’t that kind of ranger.

Kyros

Sun, 02 May 2021 20:01:00 -0500

Kyros is a tiefling priest of the death god.

Jared

Sun, 02 May 2021 19:58:27 -0500

Jared is a human artificer.

Ford Tacklenackle

Sun, 02 May 2021 19:56:37 -0500

Ford Tacklenackle is a gnomish professor of archeology who seeks learning with a whip and a wool fedora, carrying a strange piece of coal as a necklace.

Ragash

Sun, 02 May 2021 19:46:52 -0500

A burly half-orc warrioress, Ragash accompanied Splinter Paw as his bodyguard until an untimely encounter with a ghoul left her paralyzed. Will she recover, or spent the rest of her life in an orcish retirement home?

Splinter Paw

Sun, 02 May 2021 19:45:50 -0500

A feline bard of great skill, Splinter Paw is usually accompanied by his bodyguard Ragash.

Kraygen

Sun, 02 May 2021 19:44:20 -0500

A bard of some reknown from a nearby city. His brain was eaten in a tragic zombie attack.

OSRealms -- Feverborne

Sun, 02 May 2021 15:16:57 -0500

A thin and wiry fighter with a hacking cough and a cynical outlook on life and death. His career started in the village of Helix, working as a town guard. He fled the city when it was attacked by an undead army that rose from the barrowmaze, and relocated to Threshold, signing up with the guard there under the alias “Feverborne” (Helix had been suffering from a plague outbreak at the time of his birth) and serving with honor if not distinction.

OSRealms -- Oscar

Sun, 02 May 2021 15:02:19 -0500

A cleric of Denara, goddess of trade and bureaucracy.

OSRealms -- Session 4

Sun, 02 May 2021 14:57:00 -0500

Feverborne
#

I met some new adventurers today. Seems one of St Ygg’s bunch had a vision or something and realized they were stuck in the wilderness, needing help, or maybe just an infusion of courage. I’m a fighting man and got no lack of that, so off I went.

Turns out they were all alive, just half dead from poison. Some sort of snake creature called an amphi… Something. Two heads, no ass, poisonous obviously. How does the thing shit? Anyways, they met two, killed one, drove off the other, but practically everyone there damn near died from the thing’s poison. Two of them just went straight home, calling it quits on the adventuring life. “For now”, they said. “We’ll be back”, they said. When hell freezes over, I didn’t say. Tact, I has it. Two of their henchmen didn’t make it at all. I hear the one fellow, Oscar, has a 0/3 record now. He brought back a dog alive once.

OSRealms -- Session 3

Sun, 02 May 2021 14:46:22 -0500

Oscar
#

I resume writing after a very long day of events both chilling and deadly!

Last night I interrupted two men loitering near u-Heury’s room, pretending to be drunk. At first, my efforts to awaken my companions were in vain. I was forced to carry through on my bluff, taking my chamberpot downstairs to empty it into the water closet. Amazing that a town so small has sewers!

OSRealms -- Session 2

Sun, 02 May 2021 14:46:19 -0500

Oscar
#

We started where we left off – sitting in a wagon full of offal, plus a crate of iron ingots marked with the mark of the Silver Citadel. We had just reclaimed it from a band of orcs outside their cave (without actually dealing with the orcs), and then fleeing. The horse was exhausted, as were we, but we chose to press on back to Eastdale. We were delayed by the need to bypass round a field of some reddish flowers. The horse didn’t want anything to do with the field and we chose to defer to it’s animal cunning.

OSRealms -- Session 1

Sun, 02 May 2021 14:44:39 -0500

Oscar
#

Ten of us and a rented mule set out to discover what befell a missing caravan. The local church leadership believed the caravan had been raided by orcs. Our task was to find out what happened, recover the cargo if possible, save the men if possible, and destroy whoever was responsible for the attack, presuming there was one.

The Fallen

Sat, 01 May 2021 01:52:26 -0500

The fallen:

Bayonetta, warrior queen, destined to bear Feverborne’s children, slain by a skeleton to the face. Parmox, Torchbearer, dissolved by pink slime. Tannen, elf, was laid to rest in the manner of his people. Baldin, torchbearer, died to pink slime?

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 9

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 07:46:07 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the group having forced the Redbrands out of Phandalin. They reunited with Ford, who had escorted the prisoners from the Redbrand’s hideout back home. He informed them that there was still a strange tentacle monster underneath the hideout, eating the remains they had found. The party returned long enough to slay the creature and recover the carpenter’s body.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 8

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:17:41 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the group exploring the Redbrand’s hideout, Ford having left to escort the prisoners home. Ford had declared his intention to take the carpenter’s body with him so it could be buried properly, and indeed when the group returned to the center chamber the body was gone.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 7

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:16:59 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the group lurking in the forest near Phandalin, surveiling a small cave that the Redbrands used for some mysterious purpose. Creeper led the way in, finding a passage about a hundred feet long that opened into a rough cavern that had clearly been improved for civilized use. The room was dimly lit by oil lamps along the wall, and bisected by a crevice that was in turn crossed by two simple rope bridges.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 5

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:15:58 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the group during a brief lull in the action at Cragmaw Keep. Action resumes as the party engages in running battles with a variety of goblins and hobgoblins. Creeper scouted ahead to the northwest area of the castle, finding the next room empty, but hearing the sound of hobgoblins putting on armor from behind a door. He returned to the group to warn them, only to be ambushed by the tentacle creature and knocked unconscious again. Seeing Creeper fall, Ragash rushed to attack the tentacled monstrosity, but it fled before his attack. Goblins and hobgoblins trampled Creeper’s helpless body on their way to attack Ragash, driving the half-orc back to his tabaxi charge.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 6

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:15:53 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Kyros), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the group fighting with someone or something who looked like Azza. The creature fell to their attacks quickly, and upon dying, returned to a strange almost gelatinous form in vaguely humanoid shape. It no longer resembled Azza at all by that point. Ford took the items from the body, and both corpses were dragged into the room where the party had made camp.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 4

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:15:19 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the group in Phandalin, looking for the location of Cragmaw Keep. They began by speaking with Sister Graele, who did not know herself but did know of a local druid who knew the area. She did not have a way to contact him. However, after discussing the Redbrands (a local group of mercenaries running a protection racket on the town), and getting a feel for the characters, she suggested a mission. She has recently found a fragment of a spellbook from a legendary wizard, suggesting the rest may be in the area. She needs to question the last person known to possess it, a woman named Agatha… unfortunately, this individual is no longer among the living. However, Agatha is rumored to persist in the form of an undead spirit. Local legends suggest her wail is terrible and fearful, but if approached with flattery and perhaps a gift of sufficient beauty, she may be persuaded to answer questions. The party expressed interest in completing this task later, when the screams of Gundren Rockseeker being tortured by goblins were no longer echoing in their ears. Sister Graele also suggested asking around at the local farms for information on the local of Cragmaw Keep.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 3

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:14:37 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.

We left the group in Phandalin, having spent the night at the Stone Hill Inn talking with Sildar. Sildar informed the group that Gundren and his two brothers had rediscovered an entrance to the Wave Echo Cave, one of the old mines worked in the region. While being held captive by the goblins, Sildar overheard them mention that a mysterious creature or individual known as the “Black Spider” has specifically ordered Gundren to be captured and brought to him in Cragmaw Keep. Sildar also mentioned he was personally investigating the disappearance of one “Iarno Albrek”, a wizard of his acquaintance who had been sent to Phandalin some months ago to establish order in the town. There has been no word from Iarno since. Sildar left the party to their own pursuits while he investigated this disappearance.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 2

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:14:00 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared/Therizino), Matt (Kordaius/Spinter Paw), Mariel (Linaya/Ragash), Coby (Kyros/Azza), Jeff (Ford), and Chris (Creeper/Martyr) are returning cast members. James (Kraygen) joins us for the first time.

We left the group having been captured by goblins of the Cragmaw tribe on their way to Phandalin. We pick up the story with Ford, who had successfully evaded capture, heading to Phandalin to recruit a rescue party.

A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 1

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 23:12:48 -0600

A Flame in the Deep Dark
#

Dean (Jared), Brian (Pryrx), Matt (Kordaius), Mariel (Linaya), Coby (Kyros), Jeff (Ford), Leah (Mari), and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits having solved the Assassins Knot, and move to a new set of characters in a world known as the Forgotten Realms.

The party consists of two tieflings, three goblins, a halfling archeologist, and a human artificer. One of their contacts, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker, reported an exciting new discovery in Phandalin. He bought a cart and supplies, hiring them to deliver the cart from Neverwinter to Phandalin while he went on ahead with his friend Sildar to make advance arrangements. The party agreed.

Evil Overlord -- Session 81

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 06:50:16 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits watching Pyrcival climb the wall of the inner keep, only to be ambushed by ghouls and paralyzed. Barron polymorphed himself into a dragon and rescued him, dropping Warin off to try to turn the undead… but he dropped Warin right in between the two ghouls, who promptly paralyzed him. While the group was distracted by the undead drama, Ascue lead his guards in an assault on the party from within the guardhouse. Though his warriors were tough, they did not succeed; eventually Ascue surrendered.

Evil Overlord -- Session 80

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 06:50:12 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits having returned to Highport with four corpses and very little actual evidence. After interrogating the corpses, they had obtained two names: Arness and Ascue. Amathar examined the notes in the ledger and compared the handwriting to tax assessments from Garotten, and they appeared to match: Tellish. This was enough to obtain an arrest warrant for Tellish and writs of detention and questioning for Arness and Ascue. The party returned to Garrotten by boat and approached the rear entrance to the castle by stealth. Upon entering the tunnel, they noticed new holes drilled in the ceiling since their last visit – someone had added a trap. Back to the front entrance they went…

Evil Overlord -- Session 79

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:50:06 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. They had recently captured Oscar and Basmar, suspecting the former of being involved with the Duke’s assassination and the latter of delivering the assassin (possibly without knowing his purpose). Basmar was released after being interrogated, but Oscar was retained, receiving religious instruction from Thic Duc and Warin.

Evil Overlord -- Session 78

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 06:49:40 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits resting overnight, preparing for a dawn raid on the Garotten castle. With Barron fully recovered, they hastened to the rear entrance of the castle. The forest entrance led to a long underground corridor, at the end of which waited four zombies – two human, two canine. The party made short work of the undead, but the noise of the battle attracted attention, and two guards met them at the end of the corridor even before the zombies fell. One wore armor and carried a flail, the other robes… and the latter was already chanting a spell, lightning crackling between her hands. Two lightning bolts tore through the party while they were bottle-necked in the narrow corridor, but no one fell.

Evil Overlord -- Session 77

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 06:49:33 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.

Evil Overlord -- Session 76

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 06:49:31 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham as they try to figure out how to get Barron’s nearly unconscious form, recently raised from the dead and still mostly dead, to the meeting he had arranged with Captain Basmar.

Evil Overlord -- Session 75

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 06:49:30 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham.

Evil Overlord -- Session 74

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 06:49:28 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten, with a brief interlude. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham.

The party received a note from Abraham over breakfast, indicating he would be traveling to Highport. Shortly thereafter, another note arrived indicating that High Priest Harper had gone into seclusion to study the matter of Krak’s hammer.

Evil Overlord -- Session 73

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 06:49:27 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Chris (Peebles), Matt (Fydillian), Mariel (Crystal), Coby (Gunnar), Jeff (Rumble), and new player Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.

We left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We join now the A-men, summoned to Elmshire to investigate and seek a cure for a plague. This portion of the campaign will be treated as a recurring flashback and training montage, in ambiguous continuity to the normal campaign.

Evil Overlord -- Session 72

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 06:49:25 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members. Erica (Theodora) joined us for the first time in a while.

We left the party having watched a play (Tiberium, Thic Duc, Pyrcival, and others) and contracted for an assassination (pretty much just Barron) with “Captain” Basmar. Just as the audience was leaving, a female half-orc wandered into the inn and demanded they bring her all the steak available, and shortly thereafter, fell asleep.

Evil Overlord -- Session 71

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 06:49:23 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.

We left the party having separated the local armorsmith from his evil hammer. Arrangements were made to store the hammer at the temple of Osphrem, by way of Harmin, who gave it to Lothario.

The next step was back at the inn, where a close inspection of the host’s vest revealed that he was, in fact, missing a button. When this was pointed out, and the implications made clear, he began asking the staff if they knew what had happened to it. When Tiberium checked on his mount, Strider, he noted that the stableboy seemed nervous around him. A kind word led to a confession: he had stolen Abraham’s button, at the request of an errand boy from the keep named Rogan, in return for a few silver coins. He described Rogan as short but strong, usually dressed in the simple uniform used by the keep’s lowest-ranking employees. Rogan is known around town for running errands both within the keep and sometimes in town, fetching packages or carrying messages. Tiberium pronounced him forgiven after the confession, and made note of the new person of interest. The working theory is that at least some of the evidence was planted to frame inconvenient people in town.

Evil Overlord -- Session 70

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 06:05:31 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Chris (Tiberium), Jeff (Amathar), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah) and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.

We left the party dealing with a paralyzed half-orc and his hammer. With the help of the local guard, they carted him to the church and inquired about possible remedies for the (presumed) cursed weapon he carried. Unfortunately, the item was quite powerful, and it would take time for the clerics there to pray for the spells they would need. Before the prayers were finished, Krak recovered from his paralysis and left – with his hammer – to look for the paladin in the nearest tavern. Tiberium, overhearing the search from a nearby enclosed chamber, felt that discretion was the better part of valor. Krak left with the newly arrived Barron and Leah in tow. The trio seemed to get along just fine.

Evil Overlord -- Session 69

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 06:05:28 -0600

L2: The Assassin’s Knot
#

Chris (Tiberium), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira) and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.

We left the party having been near-witnesses to the murder of the Duke on the night of his wedding. They captured a fleeing servant, gained access to the crime scene, and interrogated the Princess before being herded into a room to wait for the council to figure out what to do. Barron took advantage of the confusion to slip away, leabing a note.

Evil Overlord -- Session 68

Thu, 25 Jul 2019 06:05:24 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members. Guest stars include returning guests William (Sydney) and Jennifer (Ruby) with new arrival Brieanna (Akida).

We left the party having captured a dangerous criminal and sent him in the care of the Highport guards to be imprisoned for trial. With this dangerous man apprehended, Tiberium returned to the inn for a much needed meal. He was joined there by Thic Duc, returning from his seven days of fasting and meditation, and shortly thereafter by Sydney, Ruby, and Adira, curious crew members who wanted to ask about the unusual activities their ship had undertaken in the past few days. Tiberium insisted such activities were entirely within the law, and authorized by the Duke. Thic Duc reacted to this with: “Do you know Barron?”

Evil Overlord -- Session 67

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 06:05:22 -0600

Chris (Tiberium and Seb), Matt (Barron), Coby (Warin and Gunnar) and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. The DM took over Kindjal, a young officer in the Duke’s guard, as a temporarily necessary NPC.

We left the party having arranged to smuggle “figurines”, apparently a code word for slaves, into Highport. Among Barron’s hired crew turned out to be a halfling named Seb, who was more than willing to lend a helping hand beyond the usual shipboard duties. They met the customs inspector they had suspected, and he made a show of doing the proper paperwork without actually inspecting their goods or taking any money towards taxes. He directed the ship towards a secluded dock with a nearby hidden door, and said he would return at dusk to unload their cargo. Kindjal said that would be enough to arrest him for corruption, but the party wanted more evidence of his nefariousness.

Evil Overlord -- Session 66

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 06:05:20 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. A guest played Kinjel, a young officer in the Duke’s guard.

We left the party attempting to return a princess to her arranged wedding, then took a short detour. We now return to the main storyline with the princess and her party sailing triumphantly into Highport. While on the ship, the group made the acquaintance of a young guardsman named Kinjel, who had been sent with the ship carrying the group in search of the Princess. Upon landing, the group separated, with Thic Duc heading to a nearby monastery to study, and Pyrcival arranging for his armor (a gift from Barron, made from the hide of a young Oriental water dragon) to be resized for his smaller phrase. Ahira went with him, the pair resolving to avoid the castle until their reception was deemed likely to be positive. Somewhat incognito, they made their way towards the castle, and introduced themselves to the guards as they arrived. After a moment’s surprise, the group was recognized and allowed to enter; the steward interviewed them while the Duke was informed. Awkward questions were asked. The Princess’ spellbook was returned. An audience shortly followed, where the wedding was rescheduled for a week hence. Boons were offered; Barron claimed a boat and a very small national park, Tiberium begged a private audience and received it. The others made no specific requests.

Evil Overlord -- Session 65

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 06:05:18 -0600

Chris (Seb), Dean (Elmond), Matt (Valadin), and Jeff (Rumble) are returning cast members playing alternate characters.

We left the party attempting to return a princess to her arranged wedding, but our viewpoint shifts to follow a new group of adventurers, some of whom were last seen in Restenford fighting wererats or fighting undead near Darkshelf, and some who are entirely new to us. Elmond, an elf with attention-deficit disorder, was traveling with some chance-met companions within the Bandit Kingdoms, heading towards Rookroost. His companions were: Rumble, a wood elven druid; Valadin, a fallen paladin with an unholy passenger; and Seb, a halfing thief.

Evil Overlord -- Session 64

Thu, 30 May 2019 06:05:16 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), Coby (Warin), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had captured the Princess, claimed they were agents of the Duke sent to return her to her wedding, polymorphed her into a falcon, and promptly took a vacation to train. Thic Duc still needs to find a monk to train with.

Evil Overlord -- Session 63

Thu, 16 May 2019 06:05:13 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, Thic Duc was in hot pursuit of the Princess, while Leah mourned Pyro and Amathar read through the slavers’ paperwork and prepared the rescued slaves for departure.

Thic Duc returned to the rest of the group after an hour or so, reporting that he had lost the Princess in a small town named Garrotten. After mourning their fallen companion and allowing Amathar and Warin time to arrange an orderly departure for the papers and the slaves respectively, the party proceeded to Garrotten and made inquiries at the town’s largest and best – and only – inn. The establishment had four rooms to let, and one already claimed; the party took the other three and inquired about a bath to clean off the sewage. Unfortunately, the bath had already been spoken for… all night, in fact.

Evil Overlord -- Session 62

Thu, 02 May 2019 06:05:11 -0600

A1: Against the Slave Lords
#

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had found the slave pits, killed their antaur guards, and rescued 4 captive slaves at the cost of the fifth slave’s life.

Evil Overlord -- Session 61

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 06:05:09 -0600

A1: Against the Slave Lords
#

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Jeff (Amathar), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were looking for a safe place and a spare moment to rest following an exhausting fight with the antaurs. Of the Fourth Moonday of the Harvester (Pt. II)

Evil Overlord -- Session 60

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 05:25:06 -0600

A1: Against the Slave Lords
#

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Tim (Cyrus), Jeff (Amathar), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were looking for a safe place and a spare moment to rest following an exhausting fight with the antaurs.

Evil Overlord -- Session 59

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 05:25:03 -0600

A1: Against the Slave Lords
#

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had defeated an assault by some sort of repulsive sewer larva from one side and an army of ants from the other. They defeated the ants and decided that discretion was the better part of valor with the larva. However, there are telltale insectoid noises coming from deeper into the ants’ nest, the larva still block that path forward, and From the Diary of Pyrzival the Tutor

Evil Overlord -- Session 58

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 05:25:01 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, Barron had magically swapped places with the captured Thic Duc (“I meant to do that!”), and the party was determined to rescue him. Eventually, after they rested a bit, memorized some spells, maybe trained for a few days…

Evil Overlord -- Session 57

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 05:24:58 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just defeated a trap set by a gang of slavers inhabiting a seemly abandoned fortress. It was actually a perverse sort of morality test, designed to provoke those who had moral objections to the practice of slavery and slay them by ambush. Perhaps fortunately for them, the party has never possessed the quality of subtlety.

Evil Overlord -- Session 56

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 05:24:56 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto/Cyrus), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just finished their trial. Tiberium was convicted of assaulting a tax inspector and given 4 lashes (9hp). Barron was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest, sentenced to ten lashes (29 hp; he fainted as they were administered). Warin fainted before his lashes were administered at all. They will heal naturally (1 hp/day, or 2/day with care) and leave noticeable scarring.

Evil Overlord -- Session 55

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 05:24:54 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), Cody (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members. Leah (Ahira) is new.

As we left the party, Tiberium and Warin were in prison. The rest of the party spend the night at a nearby inn. Oddly, Otto the halfling was hailed by his cousin, who had heard of his recent involvement in a stabbing and wanted to hear the story himself. The halfling introduced himself as Brand, and listened to Otto’s story with a sort of cheerful but critical ear. He did not seem satisfied by what he heard.

Evil Overlord -- Session 54

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 05:24:52 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), Cody (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), and Matt (Barron) are returning cast members. Navin (Simon) is new.

As we left the party, they were finishing up their affairs at the inn (now named the Peg Leg Inn^2), and planning to travel to Highport to see what they could do about a wedding. One of the guests at the inn, Simon, overheard their discussion and decided to volunteer, figuring it was safer than traveling alone in bandit territory. They left their chef in charge after a discussion on disciplinary policies (“firing, not stabbing”) and traveled to Restenford. Tiberium donated to his church while the rest of the group loaded their cart and treasure onto the ship they had captured earlier and set sail to Highport.

Evil Overlord -- Session 53

Thu, 13 Dec 2018 05:24:51 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), and Cody (Warin) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just survived ambushing an ambush by the skin of their teeth. After disposing of the bodies by piling them into the cave under the tree, they returned to the inn where they believed they had been led into an ambush. Tazking the time to plan ahead, Leah and Barron returned to Restenford. While there, they bumped into Otto the halfling in a tavern and Warin in the church of his new faith. Both were amenable to rejoining the group to help deal with the inhabitants of the inn, whether they be innocent or guilty. They rejoined the party near the inn, but out of sight.

Evil Overlord -- Session 52

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 05:24:49 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just returned to Restenford after defeating the wererats, facing down the wraiths, and redeeming the priest of Bone Hill. Barron and Amathar trained with their spells. The unpredictable results of Barron’s magic struck again – first infecting Amathar with a magical fear of Barron (causing him to flee to 60 feet away and observe through a telescope), then summoning a Watery Double from a nearby pond that tried to drown Barron but failed. The final wild surge caused the half-elf to fall madly in love with a tree.

Evil Overlord -- Session 51

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 05:24:47 -0600

Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. New cast member Tim (Otto) is joining us.

As we left the party, they were examining the locked door at the end of the corridor and considering their next move. Leah and Amathar, on the other hand, were in Restenford; Amathar was doing the things that wizards do and Leah was drinking herself silly to forget about Barron. Once Leah had recovered sufficiently to purchase 5 more healing potions, they set out together to rejoin their friends. After a few hours travel, the pair saw a trail of smoke rising into the sky from between the four hills surrounding their destination, and hurried to rejoin their friends.

Evil Overlord -- Session 50

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 04:56:37 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were outside the suspected wererat lair. Having fought and defeated the guards on the hilltops, they decided it would be best to return to Restenford to rest and recuperate before venturing below. As they were most of the way there already, it was a short trip back.

Evil Overlord -- Session 49

Thu, 18 Oct 2018 04:56:34 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were trying to figure out how to escape the comfortable room with food delivery and a vast selection of casual reading materials. Oh, and an animated skeleton. Meanwhile, in Restenford, Leah was drinking herself into a stupor after the baby incident, and Malag woke up in the Adventure Capitalist’s safe room with a really bad feeling about his friends. Malag was joined shortly by a portly priest asking whether he knew Tiberium. Apparently, the paladin had been asking about the Keep at Bone Hill, and the acolyte (whose previous answers had been miserable) had done more research and talked to his superiors about the matter. They had given him a scroll with spells to help out, including Speak with Dead, Remove Curse, and Exorcism. The scroll contained the instructions “Speak with the undead master of the keep first. Redeem him if you can. Destroy him if he cannot be redeemed.” It also contained, in a different hand, a confusing note about pushups.

Evil Overlord -- Session 48

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 04:56:32 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Erica (Theodora) is a special guest.

As we left the party, they were exchanging shocked looks as Thic Duc ate Thic Duc’s heart.

Interlude: Theodora’s Story

Dainty maiden Theodora was having a grand time at her best friends’ bachelorette party. She drank, she swore, she smashed things, she danced on tabletops (before and after smashing them), and she got smashed (clubs and drinks both). For a young half-orc, it was a really good party. So she was a little confused when she woke up in a bed that wasn’t hers, in a room that wasn’t hers, wearing (what was left of) her party dress over her armor, and using her battleaxe for a pillow. Admittedly, she had started the evening wearing the dress over her armor. That was only prudent at a good party. And the axe helped with the smashing part. But normally, Theodora would wake up in an alley, or sometimes her own bed if she didn’t get quite drunk enough. (Never someone else’s bed; it was too much fun kicking them out of her in the morning).

Evil Overlord -- Session 47

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 04:56:29 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Chris (Tiberium/Malag), Coby (Gunnar/Warin), Matt (Barron/Lenny), Brian (Pyrzifal/Norsk), Dean (Thic Duc/Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were still split into two groups – one at the top of Bone Hill, and the other having just rescued (well, mostly) a kidnapped baby from a nest of wererats the night before. We begin with the Band of Heroes. Tiberium and Pyrzival found a local temple of Pelor and inquired about local legends concerning Bone Hill, wererats, and possible human sacrifices. The young priest minding the temple there was unable to help them with anything specific, beyond a lecture on the undead that he probably still had memorized from passing his seminary exams. He was able to get them 3 vials of holy water each.

Evil Overlord -- Session 46

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 04:56:27 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Gunnar), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Kayli (Ganymede) is a new player.

As we left the party, they had split into two groups – one at the top of Bone Hill, and the other just arriving in Restenford after a vivid dream about wererats and undead followed by a fight with pirates on the high seas. As they arrived, they were met by a woman shouting in panic about her infant son who had been abducted by a giant rat. This was something that had happened in Tiberium’s dream as well, and he felt it was similar enough to consider the possibility that the dream had been divine guidance to enable him to prepare. Instead of rushing after the woman, he convinced the party to question her a little, and invest some of their silver into coating their weapons in case of lycanthropes (as he had found hints of in his dream). Barron spent some of that time contemplating a note he had found in Thic Duc’s pocket.

Evil Overlord -- Session 45

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 04:56:26 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Interlude

Dean (Thic Duc v2.0), Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Gunnar), Matt (Barron) and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Jennifer (Ruby) and William (Sydney) are guest stars.

As we left the party, they were lost in a very realistic dream about a child kidnapped by a giant rat. Tiberium awoke from the dream in a cold sweat, feeling that the lessons he had learned in that dream were solid and real. Perhaps it was a hint from his god. He hurried downstairs from his room at the Peg Leg Inn, knowing he would need to get an early start to catch the ship that was supposed to take him to Restenford. Pyrcival had gone on ahead to make arrangements. He took a seat and ordered breakfast.

Evil Overlord -- Session 44

Thu, 09 Aug 2018 04:56:24 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Interlude

Dean (Elmond Alward), Chris (Tiberium), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members. Kyle (Pipko) joins us for the first time.

As we left the party, they were trying to figure out what to do about a statue throwing hammers. We leave them to their fate, and the camera focus shifts to a tavern in nearby Restenford, where a young paladin and his gnomish tutor are enjoying a well-deserved meal together. Two half-elves sit nearby waiting for their own food, one of them talking quietly to his emotional support goat, when a women bursts in and screams that a giant rat has stolen her child. All of the competent adventurers in the tavern, meaning just those four, leap to their feet and run outside to resolve the issue. How eager for adventure they are!

Evil Overlord -- Session 43

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 04:56:22 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Norsk (Brian), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just defeated a human wizard and his bugbear shaman ally, then kidnapped a baby bugbear after slaughtering his playmates and eating their brains. They searched the wizard’s laboratory, which caught Amathar’s attention enough that he came out of hiding, though he stayed invisible. Apparently he had been invisibly observing the party the whole time for research purposes. This enabled the party to determine which of the various flasks and vials were actually magical (8 of them) and prompted Malag to trade cloaks with Amathar.

Evil Overlord -- Session 42

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 04:56:20 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had made camp in the fortified temple at the top of Bone Hill. Amathar was still missing after taking a nap while under an invisibility spell. The party had left Thic Duc with the wagon to wait for Amathar, but after noon came and went with no sign of the mage, Thic Duc rejoined the group immediately following their battle with the bugbear shaman, drawn by the sounds of battle.

Evil Overlord -- Session 41

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 18:10:05 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, Barron had been traumatized by losing his familiar Alphonso so soon after loosing his zombie pet Mr. Crackers. He returned to Rookroost to rethink his life and try to regain his sanity. At least, that’s what the note said. When they hurried down to the docks to try to stop him, or maybe to make sure he got on the boat, witnesses at the docks reported a diminutive half-elven ranger carrying a hog-tied hobgoblin in a large sack aboard a ship instead. When they returned to the inn, they realized Amathar was nowhere to be found – after scratching their heads about it, they decided he had taken a nap while invisible and there was nothing to be done about it until he woke up. They left a note. All the excitement distracted the party so much they forgot all about Thic Duc, who was meditating in his room when they left the inn to return to the temple at Bone Hill. Hopefully, he’ll find the note when he’s done contemplating his navel. It was Malag’s job to wake him before they left, but Malag was out in the marketplace trying to satisfy a food craving, so Thic Duc would have to catch up later. Luckily, they were joined on their way out of Restenford by Lenny, an auditor with the Adventure Capitalists, who wanted to examine firsthand whether the company’s adventurer’s handbook was being complied with.

Evil Overlord -- Session 40

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 15:33:10 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were recovering from the ambush that had nearly killed several of the party members. After resting there overnight, with the delay allowing for Leah to catch up with the group, Norsk to refine his methods of assassination, and Barron to learn new spells (this time, to Amathar’s amazement, casting them correctly), the party chose to follow the ogre trail to a cave on the nearby hillside. They left Thic Duc meditating in their cart to keep it safe.

Evil Overlord -- Session 39

Thu, 31 May 2018 15:33:06 -0600

L1: The Secret of Bone Hill
#

Matt (Barron), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), Dean (Thic Duc) and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they decided to explore the guest quarters in the keep at Darkshelf. Some of the party had been there before, posing as buyers, but they figured it was best to clear the area fully before considering it safe. There they met Daelyn, who had been locked into one of the guest rooms when the keep went on lockdown. Barron demanded payment in gold before opening the door, but did not receive it when Amathar opened the door promptly upon hearing the captive was a fellow elf. Daelyn introduced himself to the party as a friend of Glyrthiel, which did not go over quite as well as he anticipated.

Evil Overlord -- Session 38

Thu, 17 May 2018 15:33:03 -0600

Image not found: session37-map.webp

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), Dean (Thic Duc) and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had spent the night in Glyrthiel’s room on top of the quarry keep. Bazili was still with them (still charmed). Glyrthiel was either still unconscious from her injuries or faking it well. The day begin with the group receiving a message by courier from their favorite guildmistress, with a wedding invitation attached. The next order of business was to finish exploring the keep.

Evil Overlord -- Session 37

Thu, 03 May 2018 15:33:00 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had returned to town after determining that, yes, the quarry was linked to an underground cavern, the cavern had slaves held captive, and there was at least some involvement between the quarry leadership and the slave trading operation. They had determined to rest, train, and prepare to return to the quarry to arrest those involved, including the leadership.

Evil Overlord -- Session 36

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 15:32:57 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar the Grey) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had murdered a presumably evil cleric in his bed, and his death cries alerted the rest of the level to their presence. The mining noises to the north had stopped, and the goblins were coming…

Evil Overlord -- Session 35

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 14:24:42 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

Chris (Malag), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Nigel is a guest.

As we left the party, they had followed the tracks from the abduction to the quarry, then returned to town to attempt an ambush on Bazili. The ambush failed, though the party was able to interrogate one of the guards who was left behind, and managed to kill a half-orc who was provoked by shouted insults into attacking.

Evil Overlord -- Session 34

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:24:38 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

The 34th full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), and Chris (Malag) are returning cast members, though Chris’s prior character Seb stepped offstage temporarily

As we left the party, they had returned to town after their near-death experience with the killer frogs killer frog, mudtigers, ghouls, trogolodytes, and more mudtigers. An argument broke out at the Mayor’s at the Rest Inn Peace as Barron started to sweep all the gold off the table into his pouch. Seb, Norsk, and Amathar objected, insisting that the gold be divided immediately. They each took their shares. Norsj and Amathar took rooms at the inn and Seb slipped away into the night. A half-orc named Molag introduced himself, volunteering to help with the investigation. He said something about looking for someone, too. With all of that taken care of, the party retired to their rooms to rest and recuperate.

Evil Overlord -- Session 33

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 14:24:35 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

The 33rd full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin) are returning cast members. Joining the group for the first time are Chris (Seb, a human thief), Jeff (a grey elf wizard known as Amathar), and Brian (a half-orc assassin).

As we left the party, they had returned to town after their near-death experience with the killer frogs. After spending the night in the inn recuperating, they woke the next morning to find the town filled with wanted posters. The posters had a reward offered for mudtiger heads following the slaughter of a band of game wardens, and suggested that there was a possibility humanoids were involved due to wounds on the bodies (some from an arrow, some from swords or knives, in addition to bites from the mudtigers).

Evil Overlord -- Session 32

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 05:27:24 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

The 32nd full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Gunnar/Warin) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were leaving the cave system conveniently hidden behind a waterfall. They made it about an hour towards town, towing the boat, before Leah heard hoofbeats coming from further downstream. Thic Duc slipped behind the boat and tossed his gear in to disguise the mudtiger, Barron and Gunnar pretended to be drunk, and Leah took on the role of designated walker. After a minute or two, another guard patrol rode into view.

Evil Overlord -- Session 31

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 05:25:00 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

The 31st full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just killed a bear (definitely on the Do-Not-Kill list) nearby to the ventilation shaft running upwards from the mines. They spent the next few hours giving it a proper burial and hiding the evidence of their (very short) battle before preparing to descend the shaft and investigate near dawn. Leah noticed that the air flowing out of the shaft had a distinct scent of unkept humanoid they had encountered before – likely orcs, or something related. Definitely not dwarves, at least not judging by the stench.

Evil Overlord -- Session 30

Thu, 25 Jan 2018 01:22:56 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

The 30th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had found rooms at the Rest In Peace overnight. In the morning, Mayor Neistor of Darkshelf was waiting for them in the common room of the inn. He waved them over to his table, recognizing them from a message Elena had sent, and provided them with a copy of his letter to her. They discussed rewards (100gp per slaver captured and slave rescued, 1000gp for finding and ending the slave trade ring if it is still in operation, and additional bounties for discovering and eliminating the cause of the strange noises and dead bodies). Neistor also revealed that he had previously sent an agent into the quarry, a man named Kwon, who had not contacted him in some time.

Evil Overlord -- Session 29

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 01:22:52 -0600

A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry
#

The 29th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), Nathan (Kevin) and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just returned to Saltmarsh with a cargo of weapons captured from the sahuagin. After selling the weapons in Saltmarsh, the town council wanted to know why they had so many unusual weapons to sell, so the party shared with them the abbrieviated story of their adventures since the haunted manor. In turn, the town council revealed that many of their fishermen have gone missing since the sahuagin appeared, and there are rumors of a slave trade ring running at the quarry in nearby satellite down Darkshelf.

Evil Overlord -- Session 28

Thu, 21 Dec 2017 01:22:49 -0600

S3: The Final Enemy
#

The 28th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they were in dire straits, trapped between a squad of fish-men coming from behind, another squad out front with at least three leaders, their lizard allies absent, and a number of the party dead or missing. Shaggy was shark food, Hargrimm had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head in the general melee, Scooby was a shishkabob and Fred was somewhere outside the doors where Thic Duc was being dragged, semiconscious, away from his friends. Velma was out of tricks, Kevin the druid was fighting a last stand against an entire squad from the south, and everyone was running low on healing potions, and the party motto – Grab the body and run! – was looking like better advice by the minute.

Evil Overlord -- Session 27

Thu, 07 Dec 2017 01:22:47 -0600

S3: The Final Enemy
#

The 27th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), Adam (Hargrimm) and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members. Adam (Hargrimm) and Coby (Gunnar) are new players who have not yet had a chance to introduce themselves properly.

As we left the party, they had just beaten back an attack of sahuagin warriors emerging from the watery entrance to the levels below. The lone fishy survivor of the assault disappeared below, leaving the passage downward choked in blood and fish guts…

Evil Overlord -- Elion

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 12:43:12 -0600

Elion (Half-elven magic-user played by Jonathan)
#

Elion wears both a robe and a cloak even while at sea, ensuring certain death by drowning in yards of soaked clothing should he fall overboard for longer than a few minutes without the rest of the party nearby to rescue him. He has few qualms about using his magic to influence his party members, though in his defense, a barbarian not under the influence of a Charm Person spell would likely kill him sooner. Death by a barbarian who just made his saving throw against a Charm Person spell at least has the virtue of being chronologically removed from the moment of first meeting. And besides, perhaps the horse will sing after all.

Evil Overlord -- Kevin

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 12:43:08 -0600

Kevin (Human druid played by Nathan)
#

Traveled with the party from Rookroost to Castle Greyhawk. Decided he hated being a courier and took up a new career exploring dungeons. His personality has steadily evolved from happy-go-lucky nature druid to decidedly unhappy red of tooth and claw nature druid. But the Band of Misfits is all about making the world a better place, right?

Evil Overlord -- Kriselle

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 12:41:55 -0600

Kriselle (Human Fighter played by Mary)
#

Kriselle’s personality so far appears to consist of an inordinate curiosity about rot grubs and a knack for negotiations with merchants, leavened with a healthy respect for the dead that has helped her to avoid awkward moments like greeting a reborn Fred wearing his armor. In fact, her talent and desire for negotiation has expanded to favor negotiating on behalf of some of the creatures the party has come across in their travels, suggesting that if they harmless and pose no threat, it might not be necessary to exterminate them utterly and burn their corpses. So far, this has been less than completely successful.

Evil Overlord -- Michael

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 12:41:46 -0600

Michael (Human Cleric played by Larry)
#

Michael is a mid level cleric and he’s fine with that. He’s older than some others and a wiser too. He’s also fairly charismatic, not enough to found his own cult, at least not yet, but enough to influence those he is close to and keep the attention of small crowds with short folksy homilies. His holy symbol is shaped like his favorite weapons, hammers. His faith is in the effort of a blacksmith to mold the lives of men, knowing that it is not easy and that blows shape the medal best in crisis, in fire, during times of change and upheaval. So he is out in the world looking for companions and crisis, so that he may mold them as and when he can, mold them into better versions of themselves.

Evil Overlord -- Peebles

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:35:22 -0600

Peebles (A halfling priest played by Chris)
#

Growing up in Elmshire is a quiet, peaceful life. Temperate climate and four distinct seasons, it’s everything a young hobbit could want. Peebles grew up happy, the fifth of seven children. He loved tending to fields and fern, but above all, other halflings. With his love for all living things, joining the priesthood of Yondalla was an easy choice. Serving until young adulthood, Peebles met Maeris Tosscobble at his first 26th birthday. They were married under the first moon of the High Harvest. Peebles left the church, but maintained his faith, working as a cook and town doctor in a small village five kilometers outside Elmshire. The two knew true joy for nearly 40 years, until Maeris took ill. She wasted away quickly, and died less than two weeks later.

Evil Overlord -- Fydillian

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:35:00 -0600

Fydillian (A lupin priest played by Matt)
#

Fydillian the brave is a lupin of the guardian class of shar-pei. Not much is known about his past, as his first memory is waking up on a beach with a no memory beyond that. Fortunately there was a note left with him explaining his name and race. The note vaguely mentioned a higher purpose and that he would know it when it arrived. The note also left directions to a specific location that was conveniently located nearby. Also mentioned in the note was how good of a boy fydillian was and that he was such a brave boy yes such a brave brave doggo. The location proved to be a church of celestian. Fydillian proved to be a natural at navigation and spent alot of time in the library learning about astronomy and history of this strange place. He also discovered the culinary arts and spent as much time in the kitchen. In his studies he learned of the great meteor brought by Celestian and set out on an adventure to wander his way to finding it.

Evil Overlord -- Gunnar

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:34:20 -0600

Gunnar (Human fighter played by Coby)
#

Gunnar joined the party when they rescued him from a life of servitude and watery home improvement beneath the evil sahuagin. His past, for the moment, remains a mystery, though his travels with the party gained him experience enough to become a formidable fighter.

Evil Overlord -- Lenny

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:34:00 -0600

“Leisure Suit” Lenny (Elven Mortician and Insurance Claims Adjustor played by Matt)

The party first met Lenny as he was assisting the Adventure Capitalists with preparing Malag’s body for a return to the living following a tragic workplace accident involving hungry zombies. Given the frequency of the party’s claims on their insurance, Lenny was assigned to shadow the party and write a report on their adherence to applicable adventure guidelines and safety regulations.

Evil Overlord -- Malag

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:33:41 -0600

Malag (A half-orc fighter played by Chris)

Abandoned as a child, Malag was raised on the streets of Rookroost by local gangs. First unarmed, and then with the sword, Malag rose to be a top enforcer for a group of petty criminals. When the gang was found after pulling a job, Malag escaped alone into the night.

With his cruel nature, and quick fists, he learned quickly that a lot of coin can be made as a bounty hunter. While exploring an abandoned temple near Restenford, Malag was killed by a horde of ghouls. When the Adventure Capitalist’s Guild resurrected him, they unknowingly left a curse, condemning Malag to live a pseudo-life of undeath, craving living (or dead) brains. After learning of their error, the Adventure Capitalist’s Guild were able to successfully remove the curse, which included weeks of isolation.

Evil Overlord -- Seb

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:33:16 -0600

Seb (A halfling thief played by Chris)

Seb hails from Rookroost, where he’s lived all of his life. When he was very young, Seb’s mother became bedridden, growing more sick daily. After she passed, his father, Pimzin, began to take seriously his thieves guild duties. Those duties changed him, however. The once good-natured, calm halfling became cold, methodical, and distant. When Seb was 13, his father left their small apartment, and never returned. Seb’s heard that Pimzin has risen high within the guild, but recent upheaval among the thieves guild of Rookroost has caused some doubt.

Evil Overlord -- Norsk

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:32:57 -0600

$$ Norsk (A half-orc life force repossessor played by Brian)

Orphaned at a young age, Norsk never really knew his parents and grew up on the streets of Rookroost, learning life’s lessons the hard way – the strong take what they want, and the ruthless get what they need. Norsk did a favor for a merchant by removing a rival merchant, and got enough coin from this job to set out on his own.

Evil Overlord -- Elmond

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 09:32:37 -0600

Elmond (A Fighter/Cleric/Magic-User played by Dean)
#

I am the true-born son of Elister Brooks and Nora Brooks (formerly Alden). Unlike my bastard older brother I was grudgingly accepted by my mother’s family. Upon coming of age, I was instructed to find my brother and prevent him from besmirching the reputation of the family. I found I enjoyed travelling. In my travels I have not encountered any signs of my brother. I guess this is good for me since I’m technically achieving the assigned goal. I guess I will just enjoy my travels and keep my slightly pointed ears open.

Evil Overlord -- Session 26

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 01:22:45 -0600

S3: The Final Enemy
#

The 26th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Nathan (Kevin), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Adam (Hargrimm) and Coby (Gunnar) are new players who have not yet had a chance to introduce themselves properly.

As we left the party, they had discovered a treasure room filled with magical items and gear . Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).

Evil Overlord -- Character Creation

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 21:09:42 -0600

How do I create a character?
#

Creating a character can be a daunting process, especially in 1st edition AD&D, and doubly so if you don’t have the books as a reference. I will outline the basics here to help you at least begin to understand what you need to know. If you don’t have your own copy of the Player’s Handbook, The OSRIC rules are close enough to get you started. (Warning, very large PDF at that link). You should also read the house rules.

Evil Overlord -- Amathar

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 01:36:20 -0600

Amathar (Gray elf magic-user played by Jeff)
#

Amathar the Grey is in exile from the Grey Elves (He does not elaborate on this point, though.). He wants to continue his research among the mammals of Oerth, though, so he has wandered to Rookroost with little coin, but made friends with several associates. (Rumble and Skean). They have a relationship to seek out spell components for Amathar and in return, Amathar will help them when he can. Rumble focuses on herbs and rare plants and Skean focuses on small trinkets for Amathar.

Evil Overlord -- Barron

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 01:30:03 -0600

Barron (Half-Elven Property Redistribution Specialist played by Matt)
#

In an illustrious start to his career in Rookroost, Barron was betrayed by his guildmates and sold into slavery on his first day at work. Orientation is a bitch.

Elward Alden is his real name, but when he doesn’t trust people he gives out one of his many handles (he is currently using Barron). Raised a bastard love child of a human father and elf mother, he was always looked down upon in the elf community for being a half breed. Some where in his teens he decided to abandon the elf community entirely, tired of the ridicule. He ran away with his childhood friend, Leah another half elf never looking back. They formed a treasure hunting duo, stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down… and some things that were. While he would never admit it to anyone, he has never stolen from the poor or innocent that he is aware of.

Evil Overlord -- Session 25

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 01:22:43 -0600

S3: The Final Enemy
#

The 25th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Nathan (Kevin), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Dennis (Griff) is a new member.

As we left the party, they had been planning their assault on the sahuagin lair. Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).

Evil Overlord -- Session 24

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 01:22:41 -0600

S3: The Final Enemy
#

The 24th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Jon (Elorion), are returning cast members.

Evil Overlord -- Session 23

Thu, 28 Sep 2017 01:22:40 -0600

S3: The Final Enemy
#

The 23rd full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Jon (Elorion), are returning cast members.

As we left the party, their weapons heist had succeeded, and most of the party were hiding out in the Saltmarsh manor with Guildmistress Elena. Michael had previously traveled (with Elorion’s corpse) to Saltmarsh, in order to invoke the Adventure Capitalist’s insurance policy and have him raised from the dead to continue his adventure.

Evil Overlord -- Session 22

Thu, 14 Sep 2017 01:22:38 -0600

The 22nd full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin), are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had taken care of a crocodile problem that came with an unexpected dose of dragon. The lizardfolk had the head of their crocodile (something they were perhaps less happy with than the party deserved), and at least a temporary peace was set. The next step was to make up for the weapons the party had intercepted, preferably by recovering the original shipment.

Evil Overlord -- Session 21

Thu, 31 Aug 2017 01:22:36 -0600

The 21st full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Jonathan (Otis) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just crossed the Dunwater river at the ford, killing three crocodiles that sought to contest their passage, though the battle cost Elion his life (at least temporarily). Michael chose to return to Saltmarsh with Elion’s body to bring him back to life. Otis the Saltmarsh guide chose to remain with the party, seeking a life of adventure.

Evil Overlord -- Session 20

Thu, 17 Aug 2017 01:22:34 -0600

S2: Danger at Dunwater
#

The 20th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Jonathan (Elion) are returning cast members. As an experiment, we recorded the game session.

As we left the party, Jonathan was recovering from a day or two of fish stew poisoning at the Saltmarsh Inn, Dean was camping with Larry and Kriselle (all three had been absent the past session, and the latter two are still absent), and the remaining three had scouted the bullywog camp and negotiated a fragile peace and safe passage to the lizardfolk lair.

Evil Overlord -- Session 19

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 22:41:45 -0600

S2: Danger at Dunwater
#

The 19th full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just survived an attack by a coordinated warband of bullywogs (frog-men) by the skin of their teeth. Michael healed Leah, Barron, and Kevin so the three party members could follow the escaping bullywog and hopefully catch it before it could warn any others. The rest of the party made camp, and woke up the next morning with a note pinned to one of their backpacks.

Evil Overlord -- Session 18

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 22:41:42 -0600

S2: Danger at Dunwater
#

The 18th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Larry (Michael) are returning cast members.

As we left the party, they had just arrived at the docks in Saltmarsh, hoping to find out what had happened to the Scooby Gang. The party took rooms at the local inn, and enjoyed the nostalgic comfort food of “fish stew”. The wizard and barbarian they met on the ship took rooms at the local inn, but declined to follow the party into the swamp, at least not right away. As best the party could tell, the barbarian was drunken to the point of insensibility when they left the next morning, and the wizard was occupied with his spellbook (or perhaps one of the local girls of negotiable virtue, depending on whether you ask the wizard or the bartender). Kriselle is in a Shrodinger’s Fighter scenario; no one thought to check on her today…

Evil Overlord -- Session 17

Thu, 06 Jul 2017 22:41:40 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
#

The 17th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) are returning cast members. Dean and Mary had to leave early, and Sean (Baroch?) and Jonathan (Elion) entered play for the first time.

As we left the party, they had just arranged for the resurrection of Kriselle and were considering a change of venue when they received a message from Chesty the ex-marine. Among other things, the scooby gang had disappeared investigating the lizardfolk weapons smuggling ring. Perhaps it was this that inspired the party to return their homeland, or perhaps it was simply fear of the next dungeon level below…

Evil Overlord -- Session 16

Thu, 22 Jun 2017 22:41:37 -0600

The 16th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) entered.

As we left the party, they had killed the troll and retrieved Thic Duc’s ex-head, at the cost of Kriselle’s life. They carried her to the dial-a-diety in the Citadel Union, and asked the priests of Pholtus there to raise her from the dead. As her body was mostly intact, the operation proceeded without problems. The party then sold the two jars of sweet water to the herbalist Breanna for 700gp, as they were not planning any long journeys in which such a thing might come in handy, and spent a few days recuperating from the hectic events (and Kriselle from the Raise Dead). Some of the party gained a sense of improved skill and knowledge as a result. Others simply learned to duck when standing next to someone shooting a bow. Barron commissioned a perch for Mr. Crackers on Pyro’s back, over Leah’s protests.

Evil Overlord -- Session 15

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 22:41:35 -0600

The 15th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) entered.

As we left the party, Thic Duc had been killed by a large green creature. Normally death is a temporary condition for a party that has kept their insurance payments in order. However, the troll had bitten Thic Duc’s head off and swallowed it. This presented a problem for the local clerics, who need an intact body to raise from the dead. With Michael and Kriselle recovered from their food poisoning, the (almost) complete party gathered to discuss their options for reviving Thic Duc.

Evil Overlord -- Session 14

Thu, 25 May 2017 02:57:31 -0600

The 14th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Mariel (Leah) entered. Only Barron and Leah left alive.

As we left the party, they were about to return to the dungeon seeking to complete their map of the second level. Since a mysterious case of food poisoning had left Kriselle, Michael, and Kevin feeling less than adventurous, they were also seeking to minimize the risk they took without everyone at full strength and intellectual capacity. The weaker (of stomach, anyway) party members gathered around the pit leading to the second level, and those more sprightly descended within.

Evil Overlord -- Session 13

Thu, 11 May 2017 02:56:51 -0600

The 13th full game session was rescheduled for the following day at the last minute due to cancellations. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Mariel (Leah) were present. Kriselle is awarded honorary XP for showing up Saturday even though she wasn’t able to make the reschedule.

As we left the party, they were trying to figure out what to do about the minitaurs that had escaped their captivity. Since a mysterious case of food poisoning had left Kriselle, Michael, and Kevin feeling less than adventurous, they were also seeking to minimize the risk they took without everyone at full strength and intellectual capacity.

Evil Overlord -- Saltmarsh

Tue, 02 May 2017 23:26:32 -0500

Saltmarsh is a small town, though still larger than Dunwitch. It is near the coast, with port facilities and a fishing fleet. The fleet sends its catch from both the ocean and the nearby salt marsh (for which the town is named) to Rookroost, providing a steady supply of seafood for those wealthy enough to afford it (and the necessary salt or preservation spells to preserve it). The road to town from Rookroost brings you to the top of a sea-facing cliff overlooking the town, and you can see the port itself laid out before you, with the bulk of town further inland on higher ground. The activity at sea appears to consist of mostly fishing boats, with one or two larger vessels at anchor by the docks.

Evil Overlord -- Dunwich

Tue, 02 May 2017 23:26:27 -0500

Evil Overlord -- Rookroost

Tue, 02 May 2017 23:24:02 -0500

The City of Rookroost
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Evil Overlord -- Session 12

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 02:56:06 -0600

The 12th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin).

As we left the party, Barron had just returned to consciousness following his not-just-near-death experience. He found it inspiring. He was filled with zeal for revenge against the dolphins, and as soon as he was able to walk, headed to the market to acquire several flasks of lamp oil, a large cut of raw steak from the Merry Memory Moss Tavern, and a 100gp vial of poison from the local herbalist. The rest of the party took a few days to level up, heal, and prepare for their next excursion. The rest of the party was not as pleased with the idea of poisoning the killer dolphins, however, and argued that simply placing a sign over their exhibit would be sufficient. (This Duc did not participate as he was busy fighting off panic attacks from being used as dolphin bait).

Evil Overlord -- Session 11

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 02:55:26 -0600

The 11th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah).

As we left the party, they had just emerged from the Castle Greyhawk Petting Zoo following their first venture below the surface. Shortly after emerging, a crossbow bolt from the shadows killed the messenger Starron.

The party delivered the ensacked minitaurs to Mina in Herzog’s Tower, facing a raging storm of hail and thunder. Mina informed them that they would need to seek a reward from Zantos, the proprietor of the Petting Zoo, but they could store the minitaurs in the guard’s small prison in the meantime. Apparently the prison needs beta testers. Mina also mentioned that Zuphaitz, the Citadel Union sage, wanted to see the group about a message he had received recently.

Evil Overlord -- Session 10

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 02:54:40 -0600

Castle Greyhawk
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The 10th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Todd (Phil), Jennifer (Garmanargar), new player Nathan (Kevin), and a one-shot character player Starron.

As we left the party, they had decided to investigate the adventuring and real estate opportunities available at Castle Greyhawk. Passage to the City of Greyhawk proper was obtained from a convenient ship, at a cost of 10gp each… plus a 90gp fee for everyone except Thic Duc, who weaseled out of the extra fee by not taking the cabin. Michael took the time to acquire some plate mail in Rookroost before leaving.

Evil Overlord -- Session 9

Thu, 16 Mar 2017 19:53:57 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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The 9th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), returning player Mary (Kriselle) and new player Mariel (Leah).

As we left the party, they were returning to Saltmarsh on board the Sea Ghost. The goal was to sell the cargo, possibly the ship itself, and to figure out where to take the party next. The obvious next step would be to investigate the lizardfolk village expecting a shipment of weapons, but those lizardfolk had also paid for those weapons and would not be inclined to pay twice. They would also be familiar with the Sea Ghost and might take it amiss that the ship had captured by pirates and their shipment intercepted.

Evil Overlord -- Session 8

Thu, 02 Mar 2017 02:53:01 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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The 8th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and new player Matt (character name to be determined).

As we left the party, a number of them had fallen victim to a gas cloud released from the chest in the wizard’s cabin. Due to player absences, characters without players were declared victims of the cloud and would wake up when their players return.

Evil Overlord -- Session 7

Thu, 16 Feb 2017 02:51:46 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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The 7th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Todd (Phil), and new player Jennifer (Garmanarnar).

As we left the party, they were spending the night at the Fish Tail Inn, having sent to Rookroost for reinforcements and rooted out the rest of the enemy forces from the cave system. The town council met them at the inn the next morning, eager to hear their explanation for the death of Ned and Ed, the missing horse and cart, and whatever else had gone wrong. The council also came bearing rewards for the party’s work in resolving the mystery of the haunted manor, and requested that the party retrieve the bodies and effects of Ned and Ed, to be returned to their families. (Kriselle’s reward will be provided when she returns from Rookroost, where she has been seeking a bulk buyer for silk and brandy).

Evil Overlord -- Session 6

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 20:12:54 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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The 6th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).

As we left the party, they were preparing to spend the night in the basement, with Ned and Ed trading off watching for signals from the ship, and the secret door leading to the unexplored cave system blocked off by a bed. Just as Ned and Ed were complaining that they didn’t want to be left alone in the house until the whole place was explored and declared safe, the party noticed someone – or something – trying to open the secret door from the other side. Thanks to the bed barricade, the attempts to open the door failed. The party promptly sat on the bed in front of the cracked door and discussed their plans to ambush the presumed attackers in a normal tone of voice.

Evil Overlord -- Session 5

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 20:12:13 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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The 5th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).

As we left the party, they were preparing to camp in the forest overnight, but they quickly thought better of that idea and chose to return to town instead. They set off down the road, in the dark of night, with naught but a bullseye lantern for light… and were promptly ambushed by bandits.

Evil Overlord -- Session 4

Thu, 05 Jan 2017 19:53:57 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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The fourth full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).

As we left the party, Daphne had just been rescued, and most of the party was still recovering from the wounds suffered at the teeth of the giant weasel. Thic Duc, as the only hale and whole member of the party, drove the Mystery Machine back to Saltmarsh, where the local healer tended wounds and restored vigor.

Evil Overlord -- Session 3

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 22:20:08 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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Previously… The third full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).

The adventure resumes where the last session left off. The party has finished their lunch while waiting for the monk to regain consciousness. After an hour or so, he did, and the party reentered the manor, resuming their explorations towards the back area of the first floor. The first room appeared to be a dining room, and was completely empty. The final set of rooms on the first floor consisted of a kitchen and a scullery, both in generally poor condition. The kitchen had a staircase leading up, and the scullery had a staircase leading down. The kitchen staircase was in poor shape and missing several of the steps.

Evil Overlord -- Session 2

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:20:03 -0600

S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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The second full game session. Dean (Thick Duck), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Karl (Burgess), Todd (Phil), and Patrick. Todd is a new player, with a magic-user.

Initial discussion centered on exploring the mysterious lights and sounds in the manor near Saltmarsh. However, there was some unfinished business to sort out first..

Evil Overlord -- Session 1

Thu, 17 Nov 2016 22:19:04 -0600

The first full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Doug (Thorbald), Larry (Fafhrd), and Karl (Burgess).

We left the initial group of six people investigating the Sage’s Tower. With one of the players missing, three party members remained just outside the bottom of the staircase, cowering in fear and inexperience… Fafhrd and the Mouser advanced boldly to the right, encountering two doors. One led to a room filled with animals, most of them in cages, but several giant rats and several bat-like creatures turn and rush the party in a frenzied mob.

Evil Overlord -- Session 0

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 21:15:47 -0600

(“What about ale?” “Aye, that too, but adventure first!”)

Evil Overlord -- Pyrzival

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 01:37:05 -0600

Pyrzival (A gnome fighter played by Brian) in the Evil Overlord campaign
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Pyrzival was born to two tutors to the royal household in the Great Kingdom. When he was young his parents took employment with the King of Nyrond to tutor his children. Pyrzival seemed destined to be a tutor to noble children as well, as he soaked up not only how to teach but also the information they were teaching – that of science, engineering, mathematics, and astronomy. One year, when he was just a very young adult, he was sent to the County of Urnst to scout out potential employment, and his group was attacked by a large group of Orcs. Several weeks later, he was rescued by the human paladin by the name of Lord Tiberium Else, the first of his name. Grateful to be rescued, he accepted an offer to tutor the Lords children and stay on at his manor. Determined not to be helpless in the face of violence, he decided to take advantage of being in the service of a Paladin with martial followers, and studied weapons with the master of arms. Years later, the old lord died and his son (already married), inherited and they had children. Pyrzival stayed on to tutor their children.

Evil Overlord -- Warin

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 01:30:18 -0600

Warin (Human cleric played by Coby)
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A novice cleric with a yearning for adventure at the beginning of his career, Warin was born and raised on a farm outside Rookroost. Taught to be helpful and kind to his parents, and seeing the state of the world in the Bandit Kingdoms, he joined the small church of St Cuthbert in Darkshelf upon reaching adulthood, hoping that the church would teach him to spread the doctrines of law and order throughout the land. However, he quickly gained experience with the ways of the world after joining the Band of Misfits. His faith was strong, if a little unfocused, and his experiences gradually refined him from a naive altar boy to a brave and skilled adventurer. His calling was strong, but unfocused. If only he had the power to impose his good nature and helpful aims upon the world! If only he could force people to respect the law! Might may not make right, but it seemed that might was the way of the world, and might can for damned sure make people act right!

Evil Overlord -- Tiberium

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 01:30:12 -0600

Tiberium Elyse III (A paladin played by Chris)
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Tiberium grew up within a minor noble family located within the County of Urnst. His grandfather, Tiberium the Elder, was granted knighthood and a small estate after making a name for himself in a campaign against an invading tribe of orcs. In the course of that campaign he rescued a gnomish tutor known as Pyrzival, who he later employed as a tutor for his sons. The estate he was granted had been overrun in the orc invasion, and he vowed that his family would ever hold the people of that place safe from invasion. He would repair the ruined fortifications and establish a force of men to keep the peasantry and honest townsfolk under his protection safe. His god heard the vow, but so did others…

Evil Overlord -- Leah

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 01:30:07 -0600

Leah (Half-elven Ranger played by Mariel)
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Leah is a ranger whose association with Barron keeps them both in a moral grey area. Her father was an elf, and her mother was a human mage who went insane. Having more elfish features physically (than Elward) she was less teased about being a half elf… but everyone talked behind her back about being the daughter of a crazed mage. She ran away with Elward to escape her past and became the smarter, more level headed half of the treasure hunting duo. She tend to prefer working in the shadows and at a distance, covering Elward with her bow. She has no issues with theft from people she deems unworthy of their riches (typically the rich and especially the mean spirited), or the dead. She was doing some recon on a possible mark the night of Elward’s kidnapping and blames herself for not having his back the one time he needed it. She had been waiting in Rookroost for news of his return, where she became acquainted with Kriselle at the Pearly Gates Inn. She joined the party when the group brought the cargo of the Sea Ghost into Rookroost.

Evil Overlord -- Thic Duc

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 01:13:27 -0600

Thic Duc (Human Monk played by Dean)
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A monk from a distant land (Nyrond), Thic Duc walks the earth in search of impressionable individuals who can be brought to perceive the truth of the one true god. So far, he has successfully converted two people: Kriselle’s parents. He would desperately like to complete the set, and the two have spent many hours discussing philosophy, fungi, and religion while peacefully fishing for mushrooms. However, they both felt that there was more to the world than could be found living such a peaceful and sedate life, and now they travel the world in search of adventure, self-improvement, and wealth. To be donated to the poor, of course. Eventually.

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