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Let the journey begin!

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Belly of the Beast – The journey to Trapika continues

The gang find themselves in a large fleshy chamber with two pathways. Knee deep in green bile, the party realise they are slowly being digested. Ren manipulates the air around him and tries to fly out the way the party came in but tendrils lash out covering him in sacks of acid. He carefully takes his clothes off, pops the acid sacks and uses some of Brandy’s alcohol to wash the remaining acid out. Velly and Gruulag make a hole in the chamber that the party can fit through to escape from the acidic bile.

They emerge in a large purple cavern which is bellowing wind through it. lattice structures cover the path forward. The gang notice a loud buzzing noise, Bobby and Velly fall prone to the noise and are unconscious. Ren flies upwards to take a closer look. He notices strange insect like creatures that show some interest but do not seem to attack. He flies back to inform the rest of the party. Ren flies ahead through the chamber and finds and exit where the bellowing is emanating from. Meanwhile Grulaag tries to wake Velly by pouring Under-jaw ale on him from his bag of holding, unsuccessful he slaps Velly twice; waking him. Veritas throws Bobby over to Gruulag for a brief slapping which also works in waking Bobby.

All members conscious, the party traverse the lattice structures. Struggling with the living terrain Veritas bumps one of the lattices, alarming one of the insect creatures on the ceiling. The insect creatures searched the immediate area, by not moving however it loses interest and searches further afield. The gang successfully make it through to the end of the organ. The hole to exit the organ is about nine feet off the ground. Ren jumps in first and uses his ability to control the elements and changes the direction of the wind to help blow them out. Gruulag picks up bobby and throws him through the hole, he then helps the rest of the party through. Finally Gruulag joins them with a perfect running jump. The party are thrust through a slim passage and then out through the dragons face.

Back into the water they were in before. Noticing the boat above them upright on the surface, Ren again uses his ability to control the elements. He propels the team up through the water and back onto the ship. Bobby resumes his post at the helm and the party continue on to Trapika.

 Trapika

 The party come across an island covered in deep dark fog, they spot a light house and head towards it. When nearing the shore they discuss the best course of action, they finally decide to sail the boat up onto the sandy beach. Successfully parking the ship, Veritas goes up some stone steps to the light house and knocks on the door. A voice answers Veritas and the rest of the party join her at the light house. The person inside seems to be frightened and untrusting at first, after explaining they are not there to harm him, only to ask whether they can stay in the light house to rest. Giving his consent, or as good as, the party enter the light house and make themselves comfortable. The light house is a single floor on the bottom with a large expanse up to a circular platform where the man is camping. Grulaag asks the man his name, he replies Torren. Grulaag continues by asking Torren about the island. Torren tells them to beware the darkness in the fog and very little else other than its dangerous, he seems shaken by his recent experiences. Grulaag tells Torren that if he wishes to leave the island then he is more than welcome to leave with them when they return form their business inland. Before the party call it a day Veritas offers to cast her Alarm spell. Torren becomes anxious and asks them if they use magic like witches. Grulaag covers by saying they mean to set a trap by hand, and that ‘spell’ has a different meaning where they are from. Eventually they settle down and have a long rest, taking it in turns to take watch.

They wake up and cook breakfast, offering some to Torren who refuses their offer. Grulaag asks Torren how to get to the closest town. Torren responds by telling them to head straight out from the light house and once reaching a wall, follow it to the gates of Coldmore. The party says their farewells and Grulaag reiterates the offer he made to Torren earlier. The party exit the light house and notice it is still dark, they ask Torren if it gets day light in Trapika, Torren tells them no and that Trapika is born from shadows. The eye rollers head into the fog, Ren uses his elemental abilities to clear some of the fog from around them as they walk. The team reach a wall which they follow and, after some time, a few of the team notice a strange red stain on the wall. Grulaag investigates the stain by giving it a sniff and attains it is blood. They continue following the wall and eventually reach a large wooden gate.

 Coldmore

 The party knock on the gates and a small hatch opens up, a man asks for their names. All of the party say their names, apart from Grulaag who uses his alias name ‘Marukesh’. The man opens the door and the group enter Coldmore. The town seems to be fairly empty on entering, Lamps line the streets reflecting on to the ground which is covered in red gems; giving the town a red hue. The gang continue walking through the streets; they notice people knocking on doors asking for taxes to be paid. Suddenly a bell rings and many people emerge out of houses and begin heading further into town, the gang follow the hustle and bustle to a dock yard. A man begins to give out jobs which seem to be first come first serve. Grulaag asks a man in the crowd about what is happening. The man answers him saying that this is where the towns people come to get work, Grulaag goes on to ask him about the town and who is in charge. The man answers Gru’s questions and tells him about Naith who runs the town of Coldmore, also telling him where Naith resides. Grulaag continues to probe about the surrounding towns of Trapika and who run them. The man continues and explains that Naith is a part of a family who run Trapika called ‘The Children’. Naith is a Drow elf who resents his older twin siblings who are both named Alius, the brother runs a town called Loretown and the Sister Embergate. There are also other siblings called Llew, Yosk and Janna; who run the towns of Frostmaw, Greyfell and Greygate. Grulaag thanks the man for the helpful information, he asks his name. The man replies Olisk and Grulaag pays him some gold pieces.

The party head towards Naith’s home surrounded by a walled garden and come across two guards at the entrance. Ren asks whether the party could speak to Naith and the guards don’t allow them access without an appointment. Ren asks if they could deliver a note from them but they refuse and tell the party to go to the post office to send a letter. The party do so, Ren and the party go to the post office to write a letter to request an audience with Naith while Grulaag goes to Olisk to see if the party can pay to stay at his home.

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Bon Voyage - The journey to Trapika part 1

The Eye Rollers unite at Tregath. Brandy, Veritas, Bobby, Ren, Grulaag and Velly all prepare to leave on one of Martells ships heading north to find Alius. Before leaving Grulaag asks Gandorf if there is anything he can tell them. Gandorf tells him ‘The fog can move you, and loose you’. Grulaag tells the others and writes it down.

They set sail at night and notice, as the boat breaks the waves, small bioluminescent shrimp lighting the waters. Grulaag begins to panic as he thinks predators will be on their way. Bobby continues to steer the ship through the waves. Grulaag is persuaded to use Bobby’s net to catch some, which he does reluctantly.

The party sail past Quiet Place and notice a fog gathered around the base of the island. Veritas judges the fog for its geographical location and Grulaag is weary. Bobby sails true North as Ren uses his elemental powers to manipulate the water and push them forward. Brandy complains to Velly about the lake of rum onboard.

The sun begins to rise and the occasional splash can be hear over the side of the ship. Dolphins are riding the waves beside them. Up ahead the surface of the water looks turbulent and the party insist Bobby sheer around it. They watch as birds dive from the sky and take fish in their mouths. On the wind cries for help can be heard. The party go to investigate as Ren can use his power to direct the wind. They find a group of humans clinging to the wreckage of a ship. They wait a while not sure if they are being tricked. A large creature bursts from the sea and takes one of the men down.They party hurry over to help the others into their ship. They are then chased by the large serpent like creature which crashes into the bottom of their ship. The ship begins to take on water so Ren and Grulaag go below deck. Grulaag smashes a barrel and holds the water back while Ren uses fabricate to fix the hole. A man appears to have swam in through the hole and is standing, soaking wet, in front of grulaag and Ren. Grulaag opens his monster book and looks for a shape changing serpent monster. The man attacks Grulaag. They fight back and elly comes down to help out. As the man is cleaved in half it turns into a large serpent and its contents is spilt on the decking. Velly begins taking large clumps up stairs and throwing it overboard. Grulaag and the other wonder if it can be eaten and offer some to their human guests. Soon they reach the south coast of Valenthia and drop the humans off in a halfling village.

As they leave night begins to fall and turtles are coming to shore, stalked by sea lions. Grulaag thinks about killing a turtle. Veritas suggests a sea lion instead, but they don't stop to murder anything this time.

In the sky they notice a thick blanket of cloud has covered the stars and there are flashes of light in the distance. The ship is hit by a strong wind that blows them Northwest and Brandy falls overboard. She uses her self tying rope to reach out to Grulaag who pulled her back in. All of a sudden there is a loud bang and a flash of light and the mash of the ship is on fire. Ren thinks fast and uses his manipulation of water to douse the flames. As the storm begins to die down the party notice they are now North of the Sphinx Island. Just ahead of them is anther island that does not appear on any map.

The wind carries the faint sound of a beautiful singing voice. Velly and Grulaag become charmed by the sound and the rest of the party tie them to the mast to stop them from diving in and swimming to the island. Velly and Grulaag struggle to get free. Ren uses some of the shrimp to stuff into their ears as Bobby continues to take them onward. Eventually they are out of range and Velly and Grulaag are set free. The party then notice on the other side of the island a group of pirates are burying something in the sand. Veritas commands tellum  to take it from them. Tellums swift nature means he can take it easily while dodging the swipes from the pirates. Tellum returns it to Veritas who notices the points on the compass inside are the wrong way around. The party all look over it closely. Some believe from the image on the front, that this could mean they have to go upside down at some point. The needle on the campus is pointing near the direction the party are already heading so they decide to follow it for a while. They come to a point where the needle starts to spin around in a circle. They see in the water lights shimmering back and forth. Ren manipulates a bubble around him and goes underwater to see what they are. All he sees is small white lights drifting by. Velly starts to run back and forth on deck. Eventually the rest of the party join in and the ship is turned upside down in the sea. Grulaag hangs on to the side of the ship as he is worried about drifting away, the rest of the party hang onto him in a chain. The party see the faces of people they have encountered that have passed away. The occupants of Sobu, including the young girl Shelly, Luna, Auburon, various bandits, Nayson son of Naygar, Lennon and many others. The party begin to debate who they should talk to. Ren questions whether they could bring somebody back but the decide to talk to Lennon Banester again. He gives no further clues as to who Alius might be.

The party are disappointed and begin to question their next move when they are swallowed by a large dragon-like creature.

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Horizon Manor, Morrow

The party followed Yum-Yum too Horizon Manor where they saw a sign over head that read ‘Welcome to Morrow’. In the initial discussions Grulaag seemed uncharacteristically cautious and Velly was suspicious. Bobby decided to scout down the right hand side of the house sneaking through the vegetable patch. Bobby peered in windows and got small glimpses of the unoccupied rooms inside. He turned back and informed the others who all followed him looking for a way in. The party walked around the back of the house and came across a cemetery for lost pets. Stepping on the sacred ground the animals began to come to life. Velly used his thieves tools to open a window and entered into a room with three flesh golems. A pet horses lunges for them but its leg breaks and it collapses on the ground in boney, fleshy pile. Ren and Grulaag also enter the room after Velly and lift Bobby inside. Bobby then leads the way through a corridor and asks Velly to open the door for him, as he still holds a distrust for door handles. Bobby enters into the greenhouse of exotic plants and is bitten by one.Velly and Ren athletically bound through avoiding getting hit. Grulaag remains ready with his weapon and shifts past as the plants snap out and miss.

The party then steps out into a trophy room full of glass cabinets with stuffed animals inside and a large snake that hangs from the double height room. There are a set of stairs that lead up to a viewing balcony..Grulaag grabs the smallest one with a bird inside and puts it in his pocket. He then hears a thudding coming from inside; the bird his headbutting the glass trying to get out. Bobby uses his net to cover the glass and Grulaag smashes it with his maul. Bobby shakes off some of the feathers and glass and puts his net back in his bag. Velly leaves and peeks into the taxidermy room where it appears the animals are prepared. He closes the door and leaves it well alone. Ren looks into a cupboard and is buried under a pile of rubbish. A severed hand runs down the pile and lands on Rens chest. It jumps up and down and seems to look around. Grulaag puts his hand out and lets the hand attempt to communicate. Ren gets himself out of the rubbish and the party try to interpret the hands gestures. After a short time the hand gets frustrated and hides back inside the rubbish. Ren then opens a door to the toilet which is overflowing and full of flies; He closes the door and throws up.

They then realise that they missed a door opposite the taxidermy room and move back up to investigate. They peer into a living room with a woodburner and homely furniture. As they walk through the ,seemingly normal room, the furniture begins to move and jump from place to place. A chair blocks Rens way to a door so he uses shocking grasp to immobilize it. Grulaag tries to grab a bookcase but it is too strong and it jumps free. Velly enters down some stairs into a ‘V’ shaped room. He walks along the narrow beam at the bottom of the room, at the other end Ren enters. Ren sees a large shelving unit with many toy dolls on. He contemplates using storm sphere to blow the dolls away but he worries that they will all attack him and he just leaves back the way he came and Velly does the same.

The party dodge their way through the moving furniture and back out into the hallway. They enter the door at the far end and see three pools of water flush with the ground. There are plaques next to each reading ‘10%’, ‘35%’ and ‘55%’. Velly steps forward and throws a copper piece into the 55% pool, it lands at the bottom and is now the shinies coin they have ever seen. Grulaag then dips his dagger in and finds that it comes out sharper and shiner, like it was brand new. Velly then dips a sword in andis pleases with the results. Bobby uses the 35% and is less impressed so dips it in the better one as they start to leave. Ren then follows suit and dips a weapon into the middle pool and leaves through the curved glass corridor and into a pitch black room. Ren borrows a torch and lights it, hoping to use the fire if anything should attack them. They see a row of cubicles that look like the changing rooms for the bathroom. They hear a faint sound that seems to jump around the room. Velly begins kicking in all the doors and finds a shadow creature known as a Vrock that strikes out at him. The party gather around the cubical and begin attacking. Ren finds fighting in confined spaces very difficult. Bobby goes to the cubicle next to it and attaches his net across to climb up and see over. He attempts to shoot down at the Vrock but misses as he tries to get his balance. The Vrock poisons Grulaag and Velly and Stuns Ren and Velly. Eventually the party manage to defeat it with a shot to the head. Grulaag takes some of the talons and Velly takes some of the poison spores.

They then enter the shower room, a large wet room with buttons on the walls. They run though, touch nothing, and find themselves back out in the hallway. They look into the room opposite which has three rows of three statue warriors lined up on the floor. On the wall at each end is a shield with weapons mounted on them. Grulaag asks Velly to go invisible and get him the battle axes. Velly agree this is a good idea this time and sneaks in and pulls at one of the battle axes. The axe pulls forward and opens a secret door. Velly explored inside and finds two lockers that contain blood packets. He takes some and and feels a small part of his life drain away as a mist of blood appears over his hands. He drops the blood packets, mutters under is breath at Grulaag and asks Bobby to help cure his affliction. Grulaag then sneaks in and tries to shake the shield that holds the weapons up, he tries harder and harder but does not manage to move it but does make enough noise to disturb the warriors. The first line stamp the ground and ready their weapons. Grulaag exits the rooms and Bobby uses his thieves tools to lock the door behind him.

The party then find themselves at the main entrance where they find letter addressed to Nebuman Collingsworth. There are paintings of the same man over time with the same top hat and cape on that now hang on the coat stand by the door. Ren debates putting on the hat and cape but is too scared and leaves them where they are. Velly and Grulaag look at a painting with a women on and feels themselves being pulled in and manage to stop themselves.

Velly then goes to open another door on the opposite side and finds a pantry full of mice. Ren looks into the paint room and as he enters is hit by a brush as it flies across the room. He looks around and sees no one else in the room with him. He leaves and closes the door behind him. Grulaag and Bobby look into another room that is full of food laid out on a long table. The food looks fresh and Grulaag’s pet mouse Philonius sniffs out and looks longingly. Grulaag resists the urge to feed him sensing something is probably wrong with it. Velly went through the pantry as he noticed a door on the far side that lead him into the dark, damp kitchen. A Goblin baby is overweight and wedged into a high chair, blood and puss is running down its legs as it cuts into the flesh. It is screaming and banging its fists on the table. Velly tries to take some of the food off the table with his mage hand but the food becomes viscous and maggots appear on it as its runs down the mage hand. Velly reacts as if it were in his own hand and drops the food on the ground, kicks the crying baby over and leaves. Ren does not like the idea of the creature suffering so takes his dagger and plunges it slowly into the neck of the baby, the screaming stops. The party stand around confused not sure where to go next.

They head back to the trophy room and use the stairs up to the viewing gallery and find the floor above. They follow the landing around and find a piano in the ballroom at the far end. Bobby, being the bard, sits down and plays the two pieces of music that have been left on top of the piano. After playing the music Bobby walks away from the piano and finds that he cannot speak or hear anything. When he returns to the piano the effects disappear, he has to resort to magic to remove this curse. The party then decide to check the library and the adjacent bedrooms. They find a chain in the library that makes a mechanical sound and turns a light on in one of the bedrooms. They take a bedroom each and pull the corresponding chains, eventually leading to the sound of a door opening somewhere in the house.  

They have a quick look up the stairs, but just find a room full of wine bottles that begin to squeak open and send the cork flying around the room. They head back down stairs to the ground floor. They hear a small voice say “hello” and begin to worry that the dolls have come to life. They enter the living room and find Casia barefoot. She tells them that Lennon Banester took her for a walk and she was hit in the head and woke up here in a room that was filling with water. Grulaag picks her up and the party begin to leave and head back to Tregath. The party hear a door open and people enter the house. They run through the trophy room hitting the cases of animals as they pass. Ren and Velly try to see who the people are so they peek through the windows. They see Lennon Banester with three dark cloaked figures. They take Casia back to Tregath and are met by Rolen, Gandorf and Brandy. They are told to go back and face Lennon and the men before they have time to plan or act first.

They meet Lennon on the trail outside of Morrow. They attack and kill the three men and injure Lennon badly. Lennon looks up and says ‘I am Alius’ before he falls on his own sword. Bobby casts speak with the dead and they have five questions to ask. Lennon tells them that he didn't want Casia to be Queen.

The party head back to Tregath where Gandorf tells them they should head North and try to find Alius and stop this once and for all. They are warned that it will be very difficult and dangerous. They will be given a boat from Martell but it will only be big enough to carry them and some supplies.

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Maps to the world. These have been created and adapted as we play.

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9.Trust no one

In mythmere the mood is sombre. Kelion goes to Denethor’s room and tries to look for anything out of the ordinary. The only thing that stands out is a holy symbol for a god Kelion is not familiar with. Kelion then meets with the Council members, Lady Ollana and Baron Bartlett to discuss the plan for the funeral. Kelion will lead the procession through town riding on his elk followed by Grulaag, and some members from the college who will carry the coffin. Velly watches, while invisible, from a rooftop to keep an eye on the crowd. He notices someone attempting to pickpocket, he jumps down and grabs his arm. The man looks around confused as he can’t see anyone but stops his illegal deeds. Velly returns to his lookout position on the roof.

The funeral takes place in The Temple of all Faiths. An illusion of denethor reads out his last will and testament. After the funeral Kelion decides to give up his life as an adventurer and stay in mythmere as a council member and head of the college. Kelion finds a young boy called Ren who is eager to join The Eye Rollers.

After the funeral the party go for a drink at the tavern and see Bobby's brother Berty. He gives his condolences and buys everyone a drink. Grulaag is suspicious and goes outside to watch Berty through the window but cannot see anything out of the ordinary. Berty leaves after they have had a drink and The Eye Rollers start to feel unwell and head to bed. Bobby and Velly fall unconscious in the night. Kelion and Grulaag feel extremely unwell, Kelion heals Bobby and Velly and they discuss the betrayal from Berty.

Meanwhile Elaine receives a request at The Eye Rollers. A cleric called Bevan is asking for help to save his master. A large demon creature passed over their temple and crushed most of the graves. They spent the night in fear and prayer. The following day a horrible pack of howling creatures came, Bevan managed to flee but his master was trapped inside.

The Eye Rollers accept once they feel a little better they head out looking for the temple. They find that stone cairns have been erected in the grounds of the walled temple. There are Giant footprints that seem to point North toward Tregath. A smoke rises from within carrying a foul smell. As they get closer Kelion realises this is ritual smoke. A pack of hyenas attack and the party deal with them quickly. Inside a Gnoll lord is trying to summon a Gnoll Fang of Nikishi. The party manage to defeat the Gnoll lord and the ritual is left incomplete. Sadly the Bevan’s master is not found alive. They journey back to Mythmere to tell Bevan his temple is now cleared.

Velly wants to go North to follow the demon footprints and see if Tregath needs help. The rest of the party wants to head to Clawa Reach to see if Lord Bark has returned.

Bobby, Velly, Grulaag and Ren all journey to Claws Reach. Velly is riding Thax, a worg he bought, Ren is riding Kelion’s Elk and Bobby and Grulaag are riding horses. They hope of talking with Lord Bark, who may be allied with someone who intends to take the throne. They follow the south road as the sun beats down melting the snow. The notice some bushes by the side of the road are rustling. On investigation they see snakes are writhing around in the branches. They decide to leave them to it and carry on their way. Three dragonborn men pass them on their way through, they say they are heading to Mythmere.

Just off of the path five wild horses are grazing. A male notices them and canters over. It seems to show a particular interest in Grulaag’s horse. Grulaag jumps off and lets them do their business while he watches, hoping he will have a new pony from it. Grulaag then manages to get a bridle on the male and bring him along with them.

As they reach the walls of the town they notice two wolves, one on each side. Perhaps guard wolves of Gregard Bark. In town they notice a few dragonborn men that were not here the first time they visited. They seem to be in armor and carrying weapons. Lauren approaches with his son and thanks them again. They pass a dwarf man giving religious readings of Corellon, god of light and day, and Liari, god of the moon. They head to the main building where they met Elahad. There are four guards outside and steps that lead up to an open door where a wolf lay sleeping. They inform the guard that they are The Eye Rollers and are let inside. They enter down a dimly lit hallway, following the red carpet up to another door. This door is slightly ajar, they push it open and head down a small set of stairs into a meeting room. There are benches on either side, on the left are seated several dragonborn soldiers and on the right are predominantly humans. At the far end is a long wooden table, Gregard sits in the centre with female dragonborn on his left and a young boy on his right. As the party reach the front they notice Gandorf is sat on the right and the young boy infront of him is blind. Gandorf gives Grulaag a stone, and apologies that this one only works three times a day. Grulaag is very happy with his new transport stone and puts it in his pocket.

Gregard informs them that he has been in council with Lord Darius Valentus and Martell Fawn and that they will be joining him in Heathkinn in four months. Lord Valentus is a great leader of people and has built Nadrift into a prosperous and ethereal land. He has a dragonbox and has hatched the egg from inside and raises his dragon in good health and named it Kilgharrah. Lord Bark intends to ride to Tregath tomorrow to speak with Rolen Tregathion. Rolen has refused to take the position on the throne even though he is currently the only one who seems to be in charge here. Lord Bark hopes to represent Lord Valentus for the mean time and come to an agreement. Medor, who they met last time has gone to Nadrift to meet with Lord Valentus himself.

As the party leave and journey back through town they hear a man shouting prophetic tales. He predicts the doom of the people of heathkinn, war with the dragonborn, famine, pestilence and fire from the heavens. People in the crowd are starting to look worried and the dragonborn look offended. Ren marches up to him and lays a hand on his arm and tells him to stop. The man carries on worse than before, claiming they are trying to silence him. Grulaag tries to reason with him to no avail. Ren then cast shocking grasp and tells the man if he carries on he will be killed. Ren and the others then walked away believing him to be a lost cause.

They then head into the tavern for a well earned drink. The find a group of soldiers, dragonborn and human, sharing scar stories. Booby and Velly show their scras from Bayroy, although they do not mention his name. Ren shares the story of how he got his lightning scars when the rifts opened up and gave him his elemental powers. They also speak to a man who journeyed here along the south coast. He saw a demon looking man in long black robes who appeared to be summoning something with magic. An evil monstrosity marcher forth destroying everything in its way with its massive footprints.

The party travel to Ryven on the south-east coast of Hethkinn. They pass over the area where the creature was summoned and ask around to see if anyone has more information on the man who summoned this demon.

*************

While the rest of the party are away, Kelion is called to a council meeting. Lady Ollana and Baron Bartlett have asked Kelion to come and meet Casia and her trusted advisor Veritas. Casia is daughter to Nayson son of Naygar. She has been kept out of Tregath and raised in Valenthia for fear something would happen to her if Nayson son of Naygar ever made an enemy. She is young and inexperienced which is why Veritas is in charge of escorting her. Veritas is a nobel elf who grew up in Mythmere but moved away after Nayson son of Naygar’s death. She has a dragon companion by the name of tellum, who sits upon her shoulder. Kelion is told that Casia must go to Tregath, but she and Veritas cannot go alone. Kelion volunteers The Eye Rollers to go with them when they return. They also inform Kelion of word from Tregath. There were many casualties to a large devil-like creature. They managed to defeat this threat but should anything else happen they are weak and will require reinforcements. Kelion is asked to show Veritas around and probe for information about the origins of this devil creature. Ollana and Bartlett will contact Lennon Banester of Blenon Port to see if they can assist Tregath in their time of need. Kelion and Veritas leave the council and look out over the top of Mythmere. In the sky above there is a large swarm of birds that migrate in at this time of year. Kelion says a shooting contest is likely to be held at some point to stop all the crops being eaten. As they step down through the town to the main square they see a young girl practising minor illusions, she hopes to be a great sorcerer some day. Kelion encourages her to keep practising and enrol at the college. As they reach the main square Kelion sees three dragonborn men arrive. Kelion knows this is unusual here and goes over to speak with them. They present him with a letter for the council, Kelion reads it. It details Lord Barks alligants with Martell and Valentus and his intention to march to Tregath with half of Valentus’ army and half his own to negotiate with Rolen. Martell has ships in both air and water that will keep watch and protect the shores of Heathkinn. Kelion delivers this message to the council, then takes Veritas to the tavern. There they find a dwarf who heard the creature pass by his house late at night and an elf who saw a man with horns summon a huge demon creature. Kelion suggests the summoner may be a tiefling from the description. Kelion takes veritas to The Eye Rollers HQ where Brandy comes running out almost crashing into them. Brandy briefly greets Veritas but continues with her urgent news. She has a letter from Lord and Lady Bevenbloom. The HQ in Sobu has been attacked by men who sailed up to the shore. 10 bodies were found at the scene, the four guards and a young girl were among them. The whole building has been burnt to the ground. The attackers are believed to be Lord Bayroys men. They left a message saying The Eye Rollers are under criminal investigation and are not to be fraternized with. The Bevenblooms think it would be best if they did not visit Enishkan for a while. Kelion agrees and feels sad for a moment. He then remembers his guest and offers to take her to Shooters where they might find some more information about the summoner. In Shooters they find a young lady by the name of Ava who had an encounter with the horned man. Veritas chooses to speak to her alone, women to women. Kelion attempts to find Bartholomew but he no longer works here, he has taken a job at the local brewery. Kelion leaves Veritas with her inquiry and goes looking for his friend. Veritas sits down in a booth with Ava and asks her very gently about this horned man. Veritas is told that he has dark red skin, he gave no name, and insisted on being called daddy while Ava punished him. He also said he was traveling to Atrisma a day or two ago. Veritas has a private moment with Ava before leaving to look for Kelion.

Bartholomew is currently working so Kelion has not been able to see him. Veritas insists that they see him now on urgent business. Bartholomew is called out from the work room and is happy to see Kelion. He explains that he is saving up to buy a house in Mythmere earning honest money. Kelion says there is no need and insists Bartholomew come to live with him.

They all head back to Mythmere late at night and see bats are feeding on insects.

They stroll through town and notice a man trying the door handle and then looking in the front window to a house. Kelion stops to enquire, he enters the house and looks around to see if there are any details that might suggest he lives there. Kelion wakes the lady sleeping upstairs and she tells him that he is her ex and is not welcome. Kelion returns outside and escorts the man away with Veritas.

The next morning Kelion receives a letter from Velly, handed to him by an elf who works there. It contains the small amount of information they collected about the summoner. The elf also tells you that there is a rumor going among elves that someone is trying to convince them to become isolationist. Magic users must unite as they are often under treat or used in battle for their powers. Hearing this troubling news Kelion speaks with the Headmaster of the college who is unaware of such rumors but is also troubled by them. Veritas offers to speak with elven students and staff to set up a meeting. She speaks with a student who agrees to meet her around the back of the college behind the tree line. He says he will bring other members with him so they can all get to know each other. Veritas finds out that it is just a group of impressionable students that have been taken in by their politics teacher, Flavion. They confront him and ask him to stop forcing his opinion on the students. He claims he is merely teaching them all the facts and has not tried to form any kind of rebel group. The headmaster agrees with Kelion to keep an eye on the situation.  

Kelion and Veritas head into town once again and are greeted by the arrival of The Eye Rollers. A man is standing at the main gate handing out invites to the bird shooting contest. They split up into teams, Veritas and her dragon Tellum do very well shooting them out of the sky with Tellum catching them. Velly also does fairly well with his bow, not so well with his Flintlock Rifle. Brandy and Bobby are less successful as neither of them are very good long range. Veritas wins the competition and recieves a longbow that has a chance to charm someone when hit with it.

After the contest Velly, Bobby, Veritas, Ren and Grulaag all take Casia with them north to Tregath to join in the negotiations. As they journey they see elk grazing while the sun shines and flowers begin to bloom. As they pass by an elk turns to charge, but before they can react a druid named Salvin tells them not to attack.

The party notice some travellers by the side of the road that have stopped for lunch. The Eye Rollers stop to join them and ask where they are going. They have heard rumors about Tregath and are going to see if they are true. The party are offered snake egg sandwiches but decline. The smell of the eggs cooking draws a troll nearer. The troll reaches down and picks up the eggs. Veritas hides Casia nearby as the rest of the party move out the way and prepare to attack while the travellers run for cover. One of the travellers is not fast enough and the troll picks him up tears his clothes off and starts to eat him. The party manage to get a few hits on the troll before another arrives with three bags over his shoulder. The party kill the two trolls and Velly looks inside one of the bags and finds it is full of live toads which makes him squirm and jump back afraid. Grulaag looks inside the other two bags and finds a cat with three kittens and three badgers. Grulaag sets the badgers free but keeps the cat and kittens to find them a home in Tregath.

The party carries on as the shrubbery becomes more dense they notice some wild boar foraging. One of the boars wild shapes back into Salvin, he has been collecting truffles and other components with the boars.

Veritas is leading the group, she does not notice a large footprint and stumbles into it followed by the other members of the party. The Eye Rollers have been traveling for some time now and decide to camp in this footprint. When they wake they notice there is an extra bedroll that wasn't there last night. They all look at it with deep suspicion, then stab it with their daggers. It does not move so Veritas tries to roll it up and take it but it gets stuck to her hands. The party cut it off her, pack up their stuff and move on.

They come across more travellers heading north, again they have heard rumors like ‘a great demon will take the throne’, ‘A dragon will come to destroy everyone and take the throne for himself’  or ‘there will be a great battle between dragonborn and elves’.

The ruined town of Foradean comes into view as they continue North. It is clear the demon must have passed right over this town. There are small groups of people searching through the rubble. The Eye Rollers stop to help a young lady who has lost an important map in the house. Veritas sends her dragon Tellum in to scout around among the rubble while the others try to dig through carefully. Tellum finds the map and directs the group to find it. They return it to the lady and she explains that it is her father's map, he dreamt of exploring the world. She invites the party to come and tell her father stories of their travels. The party oblige and follow her to where they are currently staying in temporary accommodation and tell her father stories of their travels and creatures they have encountered. Once they have shared everything they are willing too they continue back out into the dense forest. They hear monkeys in the trees above feasting on fruit and throwing the empty husks down. They come across a large stone with a rune etched upon it in the shape of a lightning bolt and an inscription written below it. ‘I stand before you, yet you’re at my back. I look forward and cannot see my forward track.’

Ren, Grulaag, Bobby and Velly all stand around confused trying to decipher it. They stand in various places around the stone all facing in different directions. Eventually Veritas speaks up and tells them that they need to stand with the sun behind them and it will light their path. The party are approached by two Elven guards who halt them and begin to question them. A minute later two dragonborn guards appear and also try to question them. They both claim to be under orders from different people, but are both trying to keep Tregath safe. Veritas speaks out again and tells them they are on a very important mission to bring Casia safely to the negotiations. Both sets of guards allow them access and take them to the meeting.

Inside the meeting hall  there is a gathering of important figure heads of Heathkinn and the surrounding areas. The party sees Rolen Tregathion, Lennon Banester, Gregard Bark, Oooron, the female dragonborn warrior, and other trusted warriors and advisors. The party are welcomed by Lord Bark however he mistakes Veritas for Casia.

Lord Bark informs the party that Martell has ships in sea and sky that are their eyes are ears around Heathkinn. Martell heard of a man called Lucian who took down Bayroys ship after the attack on Sobu. He left behind a frozen wreckage and claims to fight for The Raven Queen. Martell has also spoken of reports that Allius has been seen in the Northern islands.

Lord Bark asks Casia to join him for a walk, she brings Veritas along with her. They stroll around the gardens and discuss the current situation with the lack of leadership. They head back to the meeting hall and Casia asks for a moment alone with Veritas. She asks for Veritas’ opinion of Lord Bark and seems to show a romantic interest in him. Veritas tells her to take it easy as they do not know him that well yet. Casia seems overwhelmed as she has never run a country before.

Once back inside Lord Bark announces that a masked ball should be held to celebrate the agreements between new friends. He hopes this will help bring the two sides together. After speaking for a short while longer Lord Bark says that there will be merchants in town where they can buy new costumes for the ball.

The party head out and purchase new clothes and nature themed masks. Performers begin to arrive and a female welcomes everyone to the masquerade.

Veritas and Velly enter a tense chess match while Bobby, Ren and Grulaag play a type of bowling game. Grulaag is approached by a female who he believes is Mave, they take some time to catch up. Velly and Ren are asked to dance so they all pass their drinks to Bobby, who is then mistaken for a server. Velly notices two men enter the woods but only one exit. He goes to check it out and finds the other man dead. Ren uses his lightning touch to excite the ladies. Later the party find a note dropped by a guest that reads: ‘You may use Horizon Manor, Morro’. The party think it strange but continue to have a good evening before retiring to bed. In the morning Veritas notices Casia is missing from her room. They speak with Lord Bark who insists he saw her to her room last night. Grulaag tells his dog Yum-Yum to sniff Casia clothes and try to find a trail. The group decide to follow the clue to Horizon Manor, using Yum-Yum to confirm that Casia is there with his keen sense of smell.

[monkandmaster-blog]

8.Enishkan Travels

The party decide to travel by Nimble’s balloon heading west across the sea. They arrive at a sandy shore on the southern tip called Lake Oenetka. They follow a stone path that leads into town taking in the unfamiliar sounds of birds and other creatures and surprised by the tropical climate. They follow the stone path over an elven bridge into the main town. The town merchants specialise in furniture, interior decor and high fashion. An elf named Correth meets you and takes you to the Bevenbloom residence. The Eye Rollers meet with Lord and Lady Bevenbloom outside on the veranda where they are offered some food and rest. They decide to stay here for the night and explore the town before heading to the town of Sobu to start the new headquarters. The Bevenblooom describe the new headquarters as an old jail and house, they have also granted four soldiers to worked in the new branch. The four soldiers are already waiting in Sobu for their arrival. The Bevenblooms warn the adventures not to journey into the woods as there is legend of a firefly Golem created by Dareu, the Queen of Forests. She may be merciful but she also possesses great power. She is known to visit the material plane as magical creatures.

In the morning Correth is waiting to show the party around the town, he tellings them about a nice eatery, Merdocks, which Kelion has read about in his book, Fantastic Feasts and Where To Find Them’. They stop in for some dragon bone stew before walking further into town past the church. The church is  for the deity Ohara but teachings of Lourn and Shar are also told.

A talent show is being held at the Illyia theatre, contestants are lined up waiting to enter. A bard called Avan notices Bobby and challenges him to a duel. They both perform very well and decide to enter together. Velly also decides to enter with his puppeteering act. Velly and Bobby and Avan tie for first place and split the money.

In a good mood they say goodbye to Nimble and ask her to stay here until they need a ride home.

The Eye Rollers do not heed the warning of the woods and decide to take the longer journey through the tropical jungle. They cross over the river and come across a trader and her entourage of ten guards. They are returning to Tunin after selling goods to a camp of scholars who are excavating a temple nearby. The party do not buy anything for themselves but decide to go and find the camp half a days walk away.

As they follow the roughly cut path they notice smoke rising through the trees ahead. The camp is merely smouldering remains some timber walls appear torn apart in several places. There are two structures that are badly burnt but still standing. Inside one of the buildings they find it blackened, corpses of men and women are among the ash and mess. In the second building Grulaag enters first and sees three human figures sat vacantly staring at the floor. As Grulaag calls out to them, they all stand and sprint towards him. One just makes it to Grulaag before he can slam the door and bites him on the arm. Grulaag turns to his friends and starts to feel unwell, his skin is turning to stone, his intelligence and speed are lower but is armor and strength have increased.  

The scholars have cut a path to the temple entrance, the party enter noticing glyphs and pictographs that seem to be a warning of some kind. They notice a pile of rocks on the ground that seems to have human body parts fused together in a mossy crust.

A tree creature known as a shamble mound attempted to pull Bobby down the stairs into the temple. The rest of the Eye Rollers notice and strike out to rescue him.

They head inside the temple and enter a circular chamber, roots have penetrated the walls and spread down through the stone. In the centre are six urns. One of these urns is open and the glimmering contents can be seen spilled out around it. On the urn are pictures of human figures turning into stone skinned creatures.  

The party investigate and find a carving written in Sylvan behind some vines. It reads: Speak the passphrase or be turned away. Underneath in common lettering is written: moc-nap-snoi era eb-en-ov-tnel

The party work together to decipher this clue. They eventually find that each of the syllables is written backwards. So it should read ‘ Companions are benevolent’. Speaking this aloud opens a door to another chamber.

This chamber holds five carved dragon head statues with mouths wide open. Sitting on a table nearby are small carvings of a dwarf, an elf, a human, a goblin and an orc. Next to these are sets of clothes that correspond to different classes and a set of instructions that are as follows:

The red dragon ate a short creature that couldn't cast.

The blue dragon ate a wolf along with its meal.

The green dragon ate a creature often considered evil, but was not a wizard.

The dwarf used a large axe while the elf used his voice.

The last thing the rogue saw was a cloud of poison while the orc was frozen.

The human did not die alone.

The goblin is not a wizard.

Once the party had worked together to find the right combinations they placed the small dressed figures into the mouths of the dragons. The centre dragon rises up so that his body and arms are revealed. He is holding a dragon box like the one seen in an earlier mission. The box is taken and put into Kelions bag of holding.

A doorway is also revealed and the party continue through. On the floor in this room are tiles with individual letters on. A message reads: ‘To avoid anguish you must first find the way out’.  

The party then spend some time staring at the tiles and eventually see that they can step on tiles to spell ‘the way out’. Taking care not to step on incorrect tiles, they follow in unison behind Kelion.

They exit the temple up a set of stairs and can hear a river running far off into the jungle.

Before continuing on there way to Sobu Grulaag asks Kelion to remove his stone skin curse. Then they stop off in the town of Tunin along the way.

Tunin specialise in non-alcoholic beverages, food and their main attraction is The Spectacle of Animals. In the centre of town is a large, glass domed building with many different caged habitats for many species of animals to behold. The party take a quick look around at the animals, listen to one of the talks and head off again.

As they are leaving the town by the northern gate they hear someone yell out. They look up and notice a cart is plummeting down hill towards the town and people who are on the road. Kelion thinks fast and creates a wall of earth for the cart to crash into. During the commotion a female named Ahmen pickpocketed Velly. She now hands back the money she took and asks if they are recruiting. They ask she what skills she has and she tells them she is is good at detecting lies, enemies weaknesses and tactics. They all agree to let her come with them to Sobu.

They again take a path that leads them through another part of the jungle. They see Blights, creatures made from branches and roots, they are defending bugbears who are cutting down trees. In the air a voice of a sorrowful female can be heard. The adventurers get to work attacking these creatures and save a tree or two from being destroyed.

They then see a faint glimmer of a female figure dart into the trees nearby. They can hear a warm voice laughing gently. The party follow in the general direction. Eventually coming to a small open area where a tree has fallen. The female figure disappears but a large white dragon rises from its sleep and thanks the party for their help in the forest. Ahmen looks amazing and bends a knee to the dragon, bowing her head. This is the Queen of the Forests who has been troubled by people coming and disturbing the forest in search of valuable treasures and wood for building.

The party are respectful and continue through the jungle to find their way to Sobu.

As they find their way out of the woods they come across a camp of many tents. This is Meshi, the medical core and hospitallers. They are trained in many fields, broken bones, animal attacks and even midwifery.

Just beyond the medical camp is the town of Sobu which borders the desert and jungle. Here they specialise in flowers/seeds, potions, poisons, herbs and enchantments.

A stranger approaches Ahmen and Velly asking if they are aware of a bounty on Grulaag’s head, proof of death to be sent to Atrisma of Heathkinn. Ahmen asks if Velly is interested in making some easy money, but he declines to kill his friend.

They find the disused jail and house with four soldiers sat outside. They have not wanted to make too many changes or decorate until they had arrived. They decide to go for drink to get to know that town so they enter The Filthy Mouse Inn. Shortly after they enter a shouting match breaks out between two men and one hurles a bar stool across the inn. It hits the table between Bobby and Velly and smashes.

The party leave Bobby at the new headquarters, in charge of the renovations while they go out and take down some bandits that have been bothering locals. They hope this will give them a good reputation and start some word of mouth about The Eye Rollers at Sobu.

As the party leave a small, twelve year old girl named Shelly runs up to them and refuses to leave. She claims she is brave and strong and is your squire now and demands some work to do. Velly makes some leaflets that request new recruits at The Eye Rollers HQ in Sobu, he also makes a sign to go outside the jail building. They ask Shelly to hand these out around town to people who are looking to join an adventuring group who protect the locals. She quickly runs off handing out the leaflets and drumming up interest.

The Eye Rollers decide to borrow a cart and pose as merchants on the road to see if they can lure out the bandits. Grulaag, Ahmen and Velly walk a little way behind the cart, off to the sides. While travelling Velly notices a red gem by the side of the road, he goes to pick it up but it moves off towards the mountains, he decides to leave it while he is on a mission. Kelion is holding the reins and Bobby is hiding in the back of the cart. They are stopped on the road by a man asking for road tax from merchants, other men appear behind him. Velly notices a red gem again by the side of the road, again he ignores it. Kelion directed the bandits to the back of the cart where the goods are kept. He then yelled out to his friends to attack. They took out the few bandits and carried on looking for the main camp, maintaining the same formation as before. Velly again sees a red gem on the ground, this time he goes for it. Velly starts to walk off, each time he bends down to pick it up it moves on, leading him to a cave. The rest of The Eye Rollers notice Velly wondering off and stop to follow him while Ahmen stays with the cart. They all reach the cave, it is just one simple chamber, but at the very back is a chest. Inside are 4 envelopes addressed to Kelion, Ivellios, Bobby and Grulaag. They all have secret tasks written to them which they must perform before leaving the cave. Once each condition is met the chest opens and there are four gauntlets inside. They each take one and have different effects once attuned to.

They head back to the cart and continue on to the bandit camp. They find the camp surrounded by a tall wall. Velly climbs a tree to look in and map out what he sees for the rest of the group, then he runs around the far side to climb another tree to map out the rest. Velly also noticed many bandits inside, with tents around. Bobby went invisible and entered first, Grulaag entered with Ahmen on the opposite side. Kelion fabricated a hole in the wall to create another entrance to attack from with Velly. Killing many of the bandits the captain tries to escape out the back with another man. Velly, still hiding outside the walls sees him appear and shoots at him. Kelion is alerted and pulls back to stop them from escaping. They managed to kill all the bandits and the captain, they take some time to look around for anything they might want to keep for themselves. They find some new weapons not found on Heathkinn, three Kunai, a Cutlass and a Bladed Tonfa. Ahmen suggests to pile the dead bodies up in the hole that Kelion fabricated so she sets to work. Before they are about to leave they all hear something moving through the trees and sniffing at the air. Velly peers out and sees a creature with three heads, one of a goat, one of a dragon and one of a lion, it has large dragon wings on its back and is known as a Chimera. Velly runs back inside and tells the others there is a large ‘nope goat’ outside. They all leave as the chimera starts to eat the wall of bodies created by Ahmen.

On the way back to Sobu the party come across an old man, who hands Grulaag a petrified mouse and dies.

Before the party enter the gates of Sobu six stocky men step in front of Grulaag and threaten to kill him for the bounty or they can be paid the bounty price in full by him. The Eye Rollers stand firm and threaten them right back and they leave with a great deal of hostility.

At The Eye Rollers HQ a line of people have gathered outside and the squire, Shelly, is fetching cups of water and chairs for them.

The party talk to most of the people waiting and hire all of them for the Sobu branch. After the new recruits have been shown around trumpets can be heard on the streets outside. A man is reading from a scroll to the people who took care of the troublesome bandits. They are invited to Adrini where the mayor would like to meet with them.

The Eye Rollers step forward, leaving Ahmen here with the new guys. They are taken to Adrini town and lead to the main hall where the mayor, Beowulf is waiting for them. He is annoyed at The Eye Rollers as they have done his work for him. He tells them that he will address his people and tell them The Eye Rollers were hired to take care of the bandits by himself. The Eye Rollers follow him out onto the balcony as he tells the town the good news about the bandits. Grulaag then pipes up and says there is a Chimera still roaming out there though. The Mayor and the rest of The Eye Rollers give him a very sharp stare. Without skipping beat Beowulf says to the town that they will also defeat this creature. Velly and Kelion make a deal, if the chimera is killed could they receive payment in the form of resources to refurbish their new headquarters, Beowulf agrees.

The walk through the town and Velly is approached by a man who speaks to him in thieves cant. Velly is unsure how to respond, but deciphers the message of an assassination later.

The party head back to where they last saw the chimera. They find it asleep inside the bandit camp after having devoured the bodies. They all sneak up to it, Grulaag unleashes a lightning wand attack, Kelion cast lightning and Velly takes a shot. The chimera dies before it can retaliate. The party take the dragon head with them back to Adrini as proof.

When they arrive back in Adrini and are greeted by two charity workers asking for money. Kelion thinks they seem legitimate and gives them a small donation. They take the head to Beowulf and he releases the reward to Sobu. While in Adrini they hear of a summer festival where people camp overnight, listen to music and share food.

The party pass the town of Desca where people are already beginning to play music and get ready to leave for the festival.

Once they arrive at the festival site they see men sweeping away sand from the remains of ruins. Some stone columns and statues are buried by the sand that is blown in on the wind. Each year they are revealed for the summer festival. People are in good spirits discussing the demise of the bandits. The Eye Rollers share some stories of their adventures.

A large balloon arrives and Nimble approaches with tears forming in her eyes. She delivers some sad news, Denethor has passed away. The Eye Rollers all leave with Nimble and head back to Mythmere.

[monkandmaster-blog]

7.A Claws Reach of Friendship

Before the adventurers can enter the walls of Claws Reach they see a man being surrounded by three winter wolves. He yells out and asks for help to get these wolves away. Grulaag attempts to go over but a wolf turns and growls at him so he backs off. They learn that this man is the architect and he told someone how to enter Claws Reach undetected. They decide that the wolves have clearly been given orders and they do not want to get between them.

As they enter the gates 8 horsemen pass them on the road heading north. Inside the town is being prepared for a harsh winter. A man named Lauren is in great distress, asks the adventurers if they will help him find his son. His wife has taken him and she is not fit to be a mother, she owes money to taverns and suspicious out of towners. They agree to help once they have finished their official business.   

They eventually reach the main building where Lord Bark lives. They speak to the guard and second in command Elahad who informs them that Lord Bark is currently away. Elahad has sent men to Atrisma Port but not to make any moves yet, just to see what the situation is like there. He thanks The eye Rollers for their help. A man named Medor steps out of the main house. (Medor is a dragon who spends a lot of time in the shape of a dwarf man. He was released from his chains by The Eye Rollers in Orcia and gave them a lift to the cave before they entered the portal to the underdark)

Medor and The Eye Rollers go for a drink at the tavern. He informs them that Gregard Bark is allied with a dragonborn who hopes to be a strong leader of Heathkinn and stop the distrust in magic once and for all.

A lady walks up to the party and asks if they are the ones that call themselves The Eye Rollers? She serves them an official letter summoning The Eye Rollers to a lawsuit at Atrisma Port due to ‘Trespassing and intentional infliction of emotional distress and disturbing the peace.’ If found to be guilty they will all be put to death. Kelion writes an eloquent response, rejecting the claims and refusing to attend. ‘If you persist with your ludicrous lawsuit we shall press charges of harassment and further emotional trauma’ all the Eye Rollers sign it.

The group decide to help find Lauren’s son so they ask at the tavern for any information about the wife, Maria. They speak to everyone in the bar and learn that she was a prolific drunk, her marriage was on the rocks and she used to attend brothels or gambling halls. Most recently ‘The Concealed Mask’ before that was ‘The Dead Candle’, ‘The Elder idea’ and ‘Damned wisdom’ and they learn the address of her house in town.

In her house they find a note from a jilted lover who was not her husband. Upstairs it looks as if they packed in a hurry, some clothes are still falling out of open draws. They find a diary in her bedside table detailing her habit of paying into religious groups, running up debt and running away.

Thankfully the snow makes it easier to find tracks out the backdoor that lead to a stable where they must have uses a small horse or a donkey to ride out of town. The party follow the tracks to a small gated community where they can see people inside dressed in white robes. They are invited to join, but they ask to have a look around first. They try and enquire about Maria and

Her son Jacob. They are told that she run up a debt while here and was asked to leave. She left her son here as payment, he was put to work in the laundry rooms to help pay off the debt. The Eye Rollers head to the laundry area to try and find him but they are told he hasn’t shown up yet. They check his room, but he isn’t there either. After looking around they notice the window is slightly open and over looks a small forest on the outside of the compound and there is a feather on the floor. They make their excuses and leave to check out the forest. They notice small tracks of a squirrel or rat that lead into the trees, and sure enough there is a squirrel in the tree watching them. As they notice it, it turns and runs from tree to tree. The Eye Rollers give chase, and yell out to it that they know Lauren and they are looking for a boy called Jacob. He comes down from the tree and turns back into a young boy. The party reunite Jacob with is father at Claws Reach and receive 100 gold for their trouble. Lauren says he will recommend The Eye Rollers services to other people around town. The Eye Rollers head back to Mythemere where they decide to visit Lord and Lady bevenbloom on their home island of Enishkan.

[monkandmaster-blog]

6.Home at last?

They find themselves in a tiny, dark space surrounded by clothes hanging by their heads and shoes on the floor.

Stepping out of the closet, the party find themselves in someone's bedroom. A young, female elf, Casia, steps into the room holding a candlestick; She looks terrified. The party explain as nicely as they can that they mean no harm and she leads them downstairs. Casia’s aunt Liza is here serving one of her guests, an old male wizard. The Eye Rollers realise it is Gandorf, he informs Kelion that there has been no trouble since his interaction with the Halfling spy. However he asks if the party would be able to go to Atrisma Port to find out if Bayroy did send anyone to Tregath. The Eye Rollers ask where they are and discover they are on Brandy and Velly’s home island of Valenthia in the village of Cantel where they are famed for their cheeses.

They party help briefly with rounding up the cattle and manage to handle the animals effectively. They are rewarded with a wheel of cheese and a small amount of gold.

The party head out in the direction of Velly’s town of Tommes. They pass over the burrow and notice they are being followed by a wolf who is actually a druid who has lost his friend. Velly does not getting on well with the druids out here and stays quiet. They eventually reach the monastery where Brandy grew up, she decides to spend some time here while he party continue on. Kelion asks around to try and find a monk who would be willing to come and teach at The Temple of all Faiths, he is told the message will be passed on.

Over the burrow is the town of Tommes, Velly is excited to show The Eye Rollers around. After catching up with his adoptive mother, Mialli and his friends Talbert, who runs the local bar, and Tanguy, who runs an underground gambling ring, Velly learns that there is trouble in town. During these winter months, with the snow closing in there should be more resources being released to Valenthia. Counselor Efferil made a deal with the wealthy nobles, The Bevenblooms. They pay a set amount for resources all year round, but when times get hard some of the food that is stored should be released to help. The towns people have received nothing extra and are struggling to make all the food they need to live.

The party take part in some gambling and drinking with Tanguy in the underground. Grulaag takes on Travis Stronghorn in a fight, all The Eye Rollers bet on Grulaag to win and he does. They make some money and decide to continue their investigation tomorrow.

They head to the market district and talk to the merchants, some of which would like to help. They meet a young woman by the name of Brocc Flintlock, who makes pistols and rifles. Velly purchases a rifle and Bobby a pistol.

They learn that the Bevenblooms will be having a party in a week or so and that trade goods are stored at Havarti Port before they are distributed or stored somewhere else.

As they have time before the Bevenbloom party The Eye Rollers decide to investigate Batroy at Atrisma Port as asked by Gandorf.

They take a boat from Valenthia down to Heathkinn. They stop off at Mythmere, returning Pontii for a well needed rest. Kelion goes to see Denethor and decides to banish The Book of Vile Darkness as no good can come from it.

They then travel to Atrima and ask at the bar for any information on Lord Bayroy. Making sure no one is listening the barman tells you some of his guards frequent the brothel and many of his men are often guarding and checking ships in and out at the port.

The party head to the brothel, but they are not willing to talk at work as it could cost their reputation and even lives. They wait and talk to one of the women at her home later. She had dealings with a drunk man who mentioned torturing a halfling, that is all she is willing to share.

The Eye Rollers begin to discuss their plan of action, but Kelion decides to take matters into his own hands and disguises himself in the guards uniform, marches up to the gates of Bayroy manor and is let in. He is immediately asked for his paperwork for the day, which he does not expect or have! Bobby and Velly think fast and turn themselves invisible and head in after Kelion. Grulaag has no magic or way of getting inside undetected so he remains outside, helpless.

Kelion is soon found out to be lying and is taken in for interrogation. Surrounded by guards, Keion is questioned by Bayroy as to why he has decided to cheat his way in. Kelion takes on an uncharacteristic attitude toward Bayroy which does not go down well. Kelon is thrown in jail next to an unconscious halfling, to think about his actions. Bobby, still invisible decides to try and take out one of the guards that is locking up Kelion. Bobby strikes out but the guard manages to grab his arm in the process breaking his invisibility. Bobby too is thrown in jail, and Kelion starts to despair. Velly stands in the shadowed corner of the jail room as his invisibility wears off. Bobby is then brought in to be questioned by Bayroy. By now Bayroy is starting to get annoyed with these strangers in his home. He straps Bobby to the wall and tortures him for information but Bobby is unclear as to what to say and  eventually dies from the pain. He is then taken back to his cell next to Kelion. As the guards turn around they notice Velly standing in the corner of the room, he too is then taken for questioning. Bayroy challenges Velly to a fight, he looks far too happy about the idea of pain and rather enjoys the fight. Velly is knocked out and taken to the cells with his friends. While in the cells kelion can think of nothing to do other than heal his friends each day.

Grulaag meanwhile is still outside the manor walls. He climbs a tree to get a better view ad uses his lightning wand to set a part of the building on fire; the guards rush to put it out. Grulaag then runs to the front gate and plants a magic bean that he got from Velly. The bean grows into a stone statue in Grulaag likeness and begins describing him as the most heinous of villains and directs people to find and attack you. Grulaag then spends the next few days running.

Bobby, Velly and Kelion endure three days of torture and death before Kelion decides to pray to The Raven Queen to escort them out of this nightmare. She answers his prays and transports all of them, including Grulaag and Bayroy, to Tregath.

However Bayroy has his own secrets and somehow disappears from The Eye Rollers.

Rolen and his men take you in to rest from your harrowing experience. Bobby, Velly and Kelion show their scars to Grulaag and fill him in on what happened to them.

The party then journey to Mythmere to make sure everyone is safe and tell them of the terrors of Bayroy. Everyone in Mythmere is safe, and there is a large balloon park outside the walls. Nelion and Pontii have been fulfilling requests and made 687 gold since they have been gone. Elaine and Nimble are in The Eye Rollers HQ getting to know each other. There are two outstanding requests, the merfolks water source has been fouled by unknown magic and a warmachine has been seen in a graveyard.

For a change of pace The Eye Rollers decide to complete these two missions before heading back to Valenthia for the Bevenbloom party.

They head out to the merfolk lake and find an ooze storm hanging over the lake. The sky crackles with lightning and the rain has a putrid, acid smell. In the centre of the lake is a tomb-like building that seems to be oozing viscous material into the lake. The party use a raft to drift over to the island and find a an undead lady who asks them to help her get revenge on the God of trickery. She says this God put her here and cursed her and she wishes to kill him. The party huddle together to discuss their next move. Kelion calls out to The Raven Queen who advises him not to try and kill a God but instead kill  the women and the God of trickery might reward them.

They all nod at each other and turn in unison, Grulaag uses his wand of lightning, Kelion uses his lightning spell, Booby shoots a crossbow and Velly shoots an arrow; She dies instantly. The God of trickery, Tharizdun, appears to the party and turns the lake from putrid to clean in an instant. Velly jumps into the water to swim back across, but immediately feels a burning on his skin and jumps back out. The party get back onto the raft and use that to paddle across. When they reach the other side they notice Brandy standing on the shore waiting for them. She calls out to say hello but all of The Eye Rollers are suspicious, Kelion holds out his wand and they try to ask her questions that only Brandy would know. However they get the feeling that this person is not Brandy, but instead someone who is reading their thoughts.

He finally admits that he is a doppelganger and he just wanted to be friends because he finds it really hard as people tend not to trust him. The Eye Rollers decide to let him tag along.

They head on to the graveyard where a warmachine has been spotted. They arrive on the scene and see a large machine around 75 feet long. The front end is a rotating drill and it appears to have burrowed underground and risen here, the tunnel behind it seems to have collapsed in on itself. There are some soldiers close to the outside which are quickly dispatched. The Eye Rollers then try to get inside, there seems to be someone inside protecting it. Grulaag rips the door off the hinges as Kelion and Velly attempt to shoot things into the cabin, eventually killing him. The party then take a look around the inside, find it is powered by a red crystal and manage to drive it home to The Eye rollers HQ.

On arrival Kelion goes to see Denathor who has had a meeting with the council and there is word that Lord Bayroy has been seen leaving the city with a small army. He tells you he is concerned that without that pirate there Lord Bark may decide to move in and claim Atrisma for his own. Denathor asks if you have the time would The Eye Rollers be able to go to Claws Reach, speak to Lord Bark and ask him not to make any rash decisions before we know of Bayroys intensons. Kelion tells him that they must attend an important meeting in Valenthia first, then they will go to Claws Reach. The party spend the night in Mythmere and the following day they ask Nimble for a ride to Valenthia in her balloon.

Moments after they arrive a large, brightly coloured cart enters town. As the snow is getting worse the travelling performers have decided to stay in Valenthia for a few days. Velly is friendly with these performers as they used to stop by quite often when he lived her. He convinces them to let him and the rest of The Eye Rollers join in with their performance. Kelion uses his magic to dazzle audiences, Grulaag uses is strength to throw the acrobats into the air, Velly created a marionette and puppeteered it and Bobby accompanied them with music.

In Tommes, people are starting to feel tense as boats have been seen arriving on the Bevenbloom private island where their parties are held.

Talbert has an invitation for the Bevenbloom party addressed to Perciville Blustwind, Velly’s nobel alter ego.

Velly spends the night at his others house, Bobby and Grulaag and Kelion and the doppelganger share rooms at the Inn. In the morning Kelion wakes to find his stuff has been rummaged through, but he does not think anything has been taken.

The party borrow a boat from a local and row across to the Bevenblooms private island.

Grulaag meets a couple whose relationship seems to be in jeopardy so he gives the man some advice and makes him so uncomfortable he leaves to talk to his wife.

Kelion speaks with Lord and Lady Bevenbloom about the trade issues on Valethia. The Bevenblooms claim to know nothing of the issues, in fact they have not been taking any trade shipments from Valenthia in order to give them enough for the winter.

The Bevenblooms are throwing this party to encourage other provinces to take on their trade ideas.

A guest by the name of Viscount Percivale is going around talking to all the guests. Velly notices him take a hair from someones jacket and sniff it.

At around midnight Percivale disappears outside and has a fight with a werewolf  resulting in him tearing the werewolfs arm off.

The Eye Rollers establish a good relationship with the Bevenblooms and look to expand their brand to the Bevenblooms home island of Enishkan. Lord and Lady Bevenbloom describe a lovely town called Sobu which would be perfect for a new HQ.

After the party the adventurers head back to Valenthia to check the storage and make sure no shipments have been leaving the port. They speak to a goliath of a man called Dan. He tells them that each week a shipment is collected by men with signed documents from Lord and Lady Bevenbloom. The next shipment is due to leave in a few days. The Eye Rollers kill some time at a storage auction. They end up buying every available storage unit consisting of one full of fabrics for Velly, another full of dead plants, seeds, glass terrariums and other gardening equipment and another with old taxidermy animals.

They then hide in storage crates and tell Dan to load them on the ship when it comes in. They are bundled onto the ship and drift for an hour or so before being thrown overboard.

Kelion thinks fast and uses fabricate to use the crates they are in to make a small boat, Bobby, Velly and Grulaag tie ropes to the other supplies and they paddle their way back to Havarti Port.

By this time it is night and Dan has bed, dogs guard the storage warehouse. In the morning a raven lands nearby with a note strapped to his leg. It is an update from Nelion, people have been arriving to The Temple of all Faiths and are looking for Kelion. Nimble has offered to pick them up if they need a lift. Elaine has been running the front desk and taking in all the mail they have received.

Velly arranges with a friend to have the stuff they won at auction transported to Mythmere. The Eye Rollers all travel back in the balloon with Nimble.

[monkandmaster-blog]

5.The Trash Plane

The party find themselves in a world created from people's trash. Kelion looks suspiciously at Grulaag as he appears to have been overcome with powerful delusion that he is the greatest, strongest Orc. Kelions uses remove curse and Grulaag does appear to look and act a little more normal. The party find a group of native people who call themselves Masengi. They spit on you as a greeting, the party spit back. They seem very friendly and understand that people fall into this plane quite often. The Eye Rolles are given use of a hut made from rubbish. They take this opportunity to sleep as they did not feel safe at any time in The Underdark. Kelion however decides to spend most of the night trying to figure out a way to use the ritual to make a portal back home. When the party wake up in the morning there is a commotion going on outside. They exit their hut and see a women being walked through the streets by a male, her hands are bound behind her back. They follow them into the centre of the town where a large trash house stands. A man calls out “Tohoy, Tohoy” and The Chief of the town appears on a trash balcony above looking down on the proceedings. The female breaks free from her captive and ties the males hands together and pulls him into one of the trash huts nearby. The party hear murmurs in the crowd, that explain this is how people get married here, they are consummating in their new home. Now it is tradition for people to dance until someone dies of exhaustion, The Eye Rollers choose not to take party in this tradition.

All of a sudden a portal open in the sky and rubbish begins to pour in. Some masengi people gather their tools and head out to the landing area. Velly notices a sword shaped object fall in so the party go to investigate. Vely finds the sword that talks to him, he is a lawful sword that likes fire.

The Eye Rollers find  group of women and ask if they know of a way out. They say they know people have left but don’t know how hey did it.

Another portal open up, this time dropping a pink-skinned female with an arm missing and bleeding. She runs to attack Grulaag but vanishes before she reaches him. Seems like she must have been banished here.

The party head back to town where someone has died, the rest of the townsfolk rest her body on a plinth, hey make small cuts in the skin and use the drained blood to decorate the newlyweds and their home.

Chief Popoki announces that there will be the annual competitive games starting in a day or two.

Bobby and Brandy form a team, Grulaag, Velly and Kelion make another.

To enter every team must give something, They Eye Rollers give the jewelry they got from the mummy’s tomb.

Grulaag spends some time before the games looking around in the trash for any items that might be useful.

The games consist of a race, finding 3 objects in the trash, piggy-back race around town swapping positions and choosing an object to throw between yourselves. The Eye Rollers manage to do quite well.

After the fun and games the party head back out into the trash hoping to find a way home. The come across what looks like an unturned cart. They eventually force their way in and find trash goblins defending it. They manage to avoid the traps and kill the goblins. They reach a large room beneath that has a large giants sock at the end. Bobby reaches in and notes it feels cold inside. They climb through the sock and a portal to another place.

[monkandmaster-blog]

4.Kingless Heathkinn Part two

Brandy, Velly, Bobby and Nelion, Kelion’s adopted son, found a ship that would take them south, provided they went ashore and sold a valuable box for them. The box is as big as a large shoe box but made of a fine dark wood and covered in carvings of dragons. The captain said that there would be buyers interested if they head to the nearest town. Nelion does not find his sea legs and spends the entire journey sick in the cabin.

On the ship a murder mystery happens…(one shot by someone else)

They get to shore and begin journeying on foot to the nearest town with the valuable box peeking out the top of Velly’s bag. They find a buyer by the name of Martell Fawn, a well dressed gnome . He offers a fair fee for this one and more for any others they can bring him; there are two others out there. Martell also asks if you could take his daughter Nimble Fawn, a beautiful red haired Gnome, home to Harbor Fawn; the southernmost island of Heathkinn.

First the party decide to have a look around and find any information to feed back to Gandorf. The most noteworthy information is that the race of dragonborn’s that originate there seem to be called home from any of their travels. With that the party head back to the ship with Nimble to take her home. Bobby is put in charge of looking after her as they are both Gnomes, and single!  They spend the evening picnicking out on the ship’s deck as they sail for her home. The two gnomes get very well acquainted and even stealing a kiss or two. Nimble gets rather excited and sends word home to her family to expect them. Velly and Brandy enjoy a drink or two with the crew while Nelion continues to be unwell below deck. Brandy uncovers the identity of a female crew member, Elaine, who was pretending to be a male. She is actually very beautiful which makes Velly very nervous as his only flaw is seeing a pretty face. Thankfully Elaine is just as awkward and Velly and they have a nice evening.

The ship eventually arrives at a private dock on the east side of the tiny island of Harbor Fawn. Harbor is known for its mechanised creatures, hunting and air and water transport.

Nimble leads the party to a small cable car that reaches to the top of the cliff above. At the top of the cliff Nimble leads everyone to the family home where they are warmly greeted by her family. There is also a large animated suit of arms that guards the doorway. As The Eye Rollers enter this large manor house they notice many people are gathered around, and not just family, Elves, Humans and a few Dragonborn are also present. There are small mechanical creatures serving food and drink to the guests.

After some polite chit-chat with the guests Velly notices Nimble’s Brother, Bramble has been handing out secret notes to some of the male guests. Nelion finds himself being handed one of these notes, it is an invite to his room after the party has wound down. Velly and Bobby try to warn Nelion about the potential dangers. Nelion is young and naive, and as the guests begin to retire to their rooms, he heads up stairs to find Brambles room. Nimble and Bobby head to bed together and Velly and Brandy head to their rooms.

Nelion knocks at Brambles room and enters into a dimly lit room, there is a mechanised wine fountain, large brightly coloured paintings on the walls and men sat on pillows embracing and giggling. Nelion politely stays for a drink and a chat with Bramble and then finds his excuse to leave. On Nelions way to his room he overhears two guests, Gregard a human and Darius a dragonborn, talking of their friendship, permission to use a dock and his departure tomorrow.

The next morning the party wake and go from breakfast. Nimble is excited about a big party that is due to happen today. Nimbles Grandparents encourage The Eye Rollers to go out and find something splendid for the evening meal.

The party head out and find some horses to use. They ride out and find a small village of people working together to prepare a meal with a large wild boar. They learn that the villagers are celebrating the departure of a man named Flizzard who kept accidentally causing trouble with his magic. They are called aside by a man named Reggie, who asks if they can help get him side Fawn Manor to see a girl he likes. The party decide to take a note from him and pass it on when they get back.

The group then see a man cleaning and sharpening his knife, he has a fey hound asleep next to him. His name is Bron and he sells Brandy a fey hound puppy and tells the party where they can find more wild boar.

The party hide in the trees by a lake and Brandy knocks out a boar before the other step in to do the killing.  

On their way back home The Eye Rollers are stopped by some tiny mousefolk who need help with a cursed part of the forest near a cave. The party head out to try and help, but soon Brandy calls out to Velly and Velly is hit by a magic missile. They soon realise, after many hits with magic missiles, that when someones name is said that person is immediately hit. Velly says it must be the work of Flizzard. When Flizzard’s name is said a magic missile explodes inside the nearby cave. The party venture in and find his body lying dead on the ground inside. Velly searches his body and find a deck of unusual cards in his pockets and keeps them to experiment with later.

The party return with their kill and supply it to the kitchens to be cooked for later.

Bobby is then lead to the main hall with his friends following behind. There are various people sat on either side of the room as Bobby is told to head to the front where Nimble is waiting next to her Grandfather. Bobby starts to sense something is going on, he begins to whisper to the party as they walk down the aisle. The party try to convince him that this is a good idea as Nimbles family seem wealthy and well connected.

When Bobby reaches the front and stands beside Nimble, her Grandfather, Ricart, begins a speech that sounds very like wedding vows: “In the name of the Raven Queen, Bobby and Nimble join together as two cogs turning in harmony. May they keep their marriage well oiled from this day forward. For better, for worse, in sickness and in health. May your love last the distance and the closeness. These are your vows.”

Bobby and Nimble are then directed to roll a ball together, which starts a chain reaction of mechanised contraptions. Culminating in ravens being released and men carrying them to their marital chamber.

During this commotion one of the musical entertainers, Roderick Stewart, asks Velly if he will hold onto some of his sheet music until this evening as he thinks someone is trying to steal it. With that he disappears.

Velly, Nelion and Brandy notice that Reggie is among the crowd and is looking for the musician who just left. The party find out that Roderick stole the music from Reggie, so the party just hand the music over back to its original owner.

The guests sit down to enjoy the meal hunted by The Eye Rollers early that day. Bobby and Nimble rejoin and speeches are given about them. Velly begins showing an interest in the mechanical creatures that frequent the house. He asks Grandfather Riccart more about them and learns that he is the one who makes them. Velly strikes a deal to buy one for Brandy, the most sarcastic one money can buy.

As the night continues Velly slips off and finds the visitor book with secret message in thieves cant that eludes to a treasure room somewhere in the house. Velly sneaks around eventually finding a hidden door leading to a room with many old paintings, diaries and family heirlooms. He decides to take a book with blueprints of mechanical creatures.

The following morning the party decide to head back to Mythmere. Bobby explains to Nimble that his job can be dangerous and she should stay with her family for a while. They agree to stay in touch via messages sent by ravens. Velly asks Elaine to come with them and she agrees, she thinks it would be nice to spend some time on dry land. Brandy wakes up Nelion to tell him they are on their way back home to Mythmere.

********

During this time Kelion is in the library at Mythmere transcribing his journey and experiences so far for Denathor.

Kelion also catches up with the youngest of the children bought at the slave market, Jack, and learns of his interest in baking. Jack is taken to see Mrs Dungell who is the cooking instructor at the college. Jack takes to his new roll immediately and begins by glazing pastries.

Kelion then requests a meeting with the council members, Lady Ollana, Baron Bartlett and Denethor. His request to build a base for The Eye Rollers is granted, but his idea for a temple devoted to the Raven Queen is met with concern. They feel that it would be unfair to have a temple simply devoted to one religious figure as it may cause conflict. Kelion agrees to make a temple that welcomes all faiths, with himself as a representative of the Raven Queen with the hope of finding other people to represent their faiths.

The Eye Rollers base and The Temple of all Faiths is built in the destroyed part of the wall and old building materials are reused.

Kelion heads down to the entrance of Mythmere to check on the construction work when he hears a commotion just outside. A cart has fallen over spilling its contents. A halfling lady is looking worried and trying frantically to get everything back onto the cart. Kelion hurries over to help gather everything up and tip the cart back over. The halfling, Terry, insists she buy him a drink to say thank you. Terry brings the drinks to the table and they start to get to know each other. Terry begins asking questions about Kelions adventures and he realises he is unable to lie. Kelion then discloses the location of the rune stones and Terry runs off back to her cart. Kelion rides after her on the back of his Elk and shoots a fire bolt at the wheels of the cart. They explode and Terry is thrown to the side. Kelion discovers that she has been hired by a man named Lord Bayroy and tells her to go to him and say all the rune stones are located in Tregath. She makes her way on foot to deliver this message.

Kelion then decides to relax at a local bar, Shooters, that caters to every individuals needs. He chooses a private booth and is presented with a choice of waiter. Kelion chooses a young Elf man named Bartholomew. Safe to say, Kelion got particularly drunk and spent along, intimate evening with Bartholomew. Leaving in the early hours of the morning Kelion heads to his bedroom at the Library.

Kelion then spends a few days over seeing the building of The Eye Rollers building and The Temple of all Faiths.

Once the construction is complete Kelion asks a local lady, Jessica, who recently split up with her husband, if she would come and look after the gardens at the temple. She agrees and moves into a small room upstairs. The Temple of all Faiths has a large, double height, glass entrance that is full of tropical plants. There are columns separating this area from the main prey and sermon area beyond. Set in the walls here are spaces for religious iconography for many religions. Kelion commissions an idol to be made in honor of The Raven Queen.

As Kelion heads outside to tell the town of his new temple the sky appears to become very bright. A radiant light beams down and a voice speaks out to Kelion.

“You honor me with your life. You and your friends speak highly of me and i wish you reward you.”

Kelion finds himself being lead by The Raven Queen through brilliantly bright fields full of colour. Suddenly Jason, the Flumph, appears. The Raven Queen smiles and everything starts to fade away.

Kelion is returned to Mythmere, the air has grown colder and it begins to snow. This is first snowfall of the year. Kelion looks down and notices Jason has arrived in Mythmere with him. The Raven Queen has brought their friend back to them. Kelion shows him to The Eye Rollers headquarters and tells him to make himself at home.

The towns folk of Mythmere are now gathering around Kelion and asking him about the appearance of The Raven Queen. Their faith has been ignited by this devine experience. Kelion shows them to The Temple of all Faiths where they can pray to whom they choose.

Velly, Elaine, Bobby, Brandy and Nelion all arrive back from their trip to Harbor Fawn. Kelion shows them around their new headquarters. Brandy tells the sarcastic mechanical creature that this will be his new home and that his name will now be Sarcasmo. He tells Brandy sarcastically that he is thrilled with all of this. Brandy then settles in and begins training her fey hound named snuffles. Bobby and Nelion all choose rooms in The Eye Rollers HQ; Velly takes a larger room for himself and Elaine.

Kelion then takes them all outside to see The Temple of all Faiths next door. Before they can enter, Pontii jr appears battling a Large floating eye that has four smaller eyes attached by stalks, known as a Spectator, right in the center of Mythmere. The party jump into action and take out each of its eyes before defeating it for good. Pontii jr looks disturbed and is ranting about Grulaag but not making much sense. Bobby, Velly, Brnady and Kelion notice the teleport stone in Pontii’s hand. They all touch it and are taken to Orcia.

In Orcia the party travel around trying to find information about Grulaag’s whereabouts. (Campaign written by someone else.)

The party arrive at a cave with a dark portal deep inside. They head through and come to a dark network of caverns, tunnels, vaults and passages, mushrooms and dead trees rise from the ground.

They notice a dim light that envelops a town, Kelion recognises this light as faerzress magic, this type of magic is common in The Underdark. The party head in and talk to a dark elf who recalls a man came in and kidnapped Dragor. He took him to a boneyard, interrogated him and got them both attacked by a minotaur skeleton. The paty ask for directions and follow his tracks. They come to the bone yard and defeat two minotaur skeletons. They then noise a ladder leading down further into the darkness. At the bottom the party notice more faerzress magic glowing inside rocks of crystal. One of these clusters is smashed. They follow the chamber around into a forest of mushrooms. They continue into the forest, feeling denser and darker as they journey through. In the darkness the party are attacked by shadow demons, they swiftly defeat these and continue looking for Grulaag.

The party come to a chamber with four tunnels leading out, all of which are covered by sticky vines. They notice that one of the tunnel’s vines have been cut and rebuilt. They nimbly weave their way through between the vines. They party find themselves in another chamber with many entrances. They hear hurried footsteps coming towards them from one of the tunnels behind them. Two elves appear and stop in the center looking around confused. The party try and talk to them but they have clearly been down here too long and have been affected with some kind of madness. They tell the party that they feel like they were going somewhere, with somebody. The party notice two dead fire beetles at the entrance to one of the tunnels. The party assume this was Grulaag and head in. They notice there are smaller tunnels entering this one on all sides. Fire beetles emerge and are taken out. During the distraction of the fire beetles tendrils extend out and take the teleport stone out of Pontii’s backpack. Pontii tries to reach in after it but gets stabbed in the hand. Kelion tries you put his snake staff into the hole, turning it into a real snake, but it dies inside the tunnel. Deflated the party move on. After a number of days traveling through tunnels and caverns the party come to an abandoned city. As the party enter they notice one of the small stone buildings has a sign on the door that reads “do not enter” and a picture of The Eye Rollers symbol, an eye looking to one side.

In the center of town is a large court house building with yellow ooze all over the inside of the windows and pouring out of the closed door. There are two stone boulders either side of the door and two vertically in front of the door with a plank of wood between. Kelion uses his fire magic to burn most of the remaining ooze. Velly then notices some Drow and Duergar hiding behind some of the buildings looking up to the roof. There is a large female warrior, known as a Drider, looking down upon The Eye Rollers. She yells at them for releasing the ooze into her town, they try to explain that it wasn't them but she tells them to leave and they don’t feel like arguing. They exit through the back of the town where they pass another house with The Eye Rollers symbol on the door. The party stop briefly as a battle between ghost figures of men and drow takes place before dissipating. They eventually find their way into a chamber with a door that is wide open. Spider themed tapestries adorn the walls, A female with white hair is lying dead on the floor. A large male figure stands in front of an empty fireplace with his back to the party. As they enter they notice it is Grulaag and he is holding a black rune stone. He appears gripped by some other worldly power. He begins to talk about how strong and powerful he is. Velly hit Grulaag’s hand and he drops the stone. The ground begins to rumble and a candlestick falls over. Velly and Bobby check the doorway behind them and notice a number of large Basilisks charging down the tunnel. They slam the door shut and tell Brandy to help them keep it closed. Kelion notices there is a ritual circle of some kind. He begins looking around and finds an ingredients list and all the ingredients he needs on the shelves. He also finds a dark book with the image of a demon on the front, The Book of Vile Darkness. He refuses to open it but puts it in his bag of holding. Kelion uses his abilities in arcana to perform the ritual and creates a portal in the centre of the circle. They party force Grulaag into the portal and make it out just in time as the Basiliks break through the door.

[monkandmaster-blog]

3.Kingless Heathkinn

Through the portal the party find themselves back in the main hall at Tregath. The doors are open into the courtyard outside where voices can be heard. The portal dissipates away from behind the party. Bobby, Kelion and Grulaag all creep up to the open door and peer round. Outside a small cohort is gathered around a long table. There is Gandorf, the crazy human wizard, Grimlorne, the chief dwarf from the mountains, Rolen, a high elf and friend of Nayson son of Naygar and a human rogue standing with a halfling. Gandorf informs the Eye Rollers that they have been gone for almost 10 years. Now they must take the rune stones to Mythmere’ to try and gather more information’ accompanied by two new members; Brandy, the monk halfling and Ivellios, the human rogue.

When the party arrive in Mythmere transported by Grulaag’s stone they notice there is a large tear in the surrounding wall. It seems that there is some repair work being prepared. The Eye Rollers head to the magic college and ask Denethor if he can look over the rune stones. He tells them it will take time, and they will be sent for if anything comes up.

Kelion and Grulaag take some time in town to visit their children. Brandy, Ivellios and Bobby get some drinks in at the tavern, The Gamble Post. Grulaag and Kelion discover that their children have set up a small wooden stall where they take requests and help the townsfolk. They are using the name ‘The Eye Rollers’ and, so far, have managed to defeat two water mephits that came through the rift, and they removed poisonous snakes from Ellnor’s house. They only get small requests as they are teenagers and not taken seriously yet.

The Eye rollers spend an amount of time catching up, getting to know their new friends Brandy and Ivellios (affectionately known as Velly)and drinking in the tavern. The barmaid asks for some help to find her a man. The Eye Rollers take this chance to throw a party and find random men to bring. Velly finds a very drunk man and places him at the bar where he passes out. Later he wakes up and hits it off with the barmaid. Denathor summons you to meet him back at the college.

Brandy is resistant to leave, having given in to her vice of alcohol she is laid on the floor behind the bar. Velly goes over and g=drags her with him.

Denathor has found that dark magic has been bound to the original magic of the stones, probably to try and increase its power. He suggests you should see Bashtan The rune appraiser, at Divine Reef.

The party transport to Blennon Port and catch Captain ‘Two Toes’ as he is finishing for the day. He is excited about the idea of sailing to the Divine Reef, people don’t sail to it very often because the Sphinx likes his privacy.

On the voyage the party are attacked by a giant octopus, they soon learn that Brandy doesn't like fighting very much and waits for a chance to punch it. Velly uses his arrows and Kelion uses his magic missiles from a vantage point on the ship. Bobby tries to cut off its tentacles while Grulaag throws his greatsword at it, missing and throwing it straight into the sea.

Eventually the octopus is defeated and the party make it to the shore of the Divine Reef and tell Captain ‘Two Toes’ he can leave.

They find a large garden with a temple in the centre, off of this stems two long platforms that lead to lookout towers at either end of the island. The party head straight for the closest tower. Inside they find Deven, a guard who keeps watch on the seas and looks after the island, he asks if they wish to play cards with him for awhile. They leave and head straight for the second tower, inside is Tyler, the second guard for looks after the island.

Finding nothing special, the party head to the obvious temple they passed earlier. Inside is a large room, high ceilings and a large sphinx statue up some steps on the far end. Tapestries are hung on the walls on each side leading up to the statue. The party approach the Sphinx and produce their rune stones. The sphinx floods with colour and comes to life as Bashtan. Taking runes very seriously Bashtan proceeds by removing the dark magic from these runes and returning them to their original state. The party try to ask Bashtan lots of questions but he is an isolationist and only cares for the rune stones. Now that he has served his purpose he is quick to turn back into a statue.

The party continue to have a look around and find a hidden room behind one of the tapestries with a chest containing 444 gold pieces. They snoop around some more and find another hidden room controlled by a stone on the wall. Inside is a selection of wands one of fire, one of lightning, one of magic missile and another of wonder.    

The party transport back to Tregath and inform them of all that happened.  It is decided that The Dwarves will keep a stone, along with the monks, The Elves and one will stay with The Eye Rollers. Gandorf asks for the party to scout out the southern lands and assess what's going on down there.

Grulaag receives a message from the Orc Council, a meeting is being held in Orcia and he must attend. The Eye Rollers all transport to Mythmere where Grulaag takes his child, Pontii, with him to Orcia. Kelion decides to stay in Mythmere and attend to some business while the others take a ship south.

[monkandmaster-blog]

2.The Planes

The Eye Rollers wake, still face down outside the great hall in Tregath, door wide open. The party ready themselves for battle, but inside the hall is noone, only a dark swirling portal. After testing the portal by putting an arm in first, the party enter into a marsh land. The party notice a small camp on fishmen, Fishbanes, who fish these rivers. Kelion diligently takes down all of their names. The party learns of Elves passing through here some days ago, heading north, and so the party follow. They travel around the large lake and see another rival group of Fishbanes who ride the waves and trall for food. The party purchase some some wave riding boards and learn of a human living in a small cabin on the island in the lake. The party go to investigate, they knock on the door and learn that the human living inside,Trevor Bowhampton, escaped a slave uprising inspired by a party of adventurers that murdered his family in Blennon Port. As the party leave Kelion cast grease on the ground just outside Trevor’s door, Grulaag throws some mud and Bobby rolls his eyes.  

The party continue north and come to a river crossing there path and a broken bridge with more Fishbane attempting to fix it, the Eye Rollers stop to help. As they reach into the water but Bobby becomes entangled in weeds as they cut vines to bind the bridge he is saves by Kelion. Grulaag uses is fighting prowess to attack the vines and collects the most.

With the bridge fixed the party continue north and notice bubbles floating out from the dark sea lapping at the shore to their west. Bobby runs around popping them with his rapier. Grulaag jumps on one and becomes stuck inside so Bobby runs over and stabs it, catching Grulaag in the process. Kelion noticed a woman figure bubble up from the dark sea and almost dies from a death stare. Grulaag teleported away, Bobby became frightened. Grulaag then appeared and used his maul to attack the sea hag and kelion cast sickness and killed it.

After the battle they turn to notice a large walled structure behind them. On the way they find a cave. Kelion cast light on a crab and Bobby rapelles down held by the strength of Kelion and Grulaag. As he reaches the bottom he notices the ground undulates as a swarm of snakes move over each other. Bobby tries to shoot one with his crossbow but misses and swifty tucks the rope to be pulled back up and suggests leaving this cave alone.

The Eye Rollers head to the walled area, they knock on the large wooden doors and enter. Fishbane are excited to see them and begin dragging them to a shrine. As the party take in their surroundings they notice none of the buildings have roofs, as Fishbane do not require them, they prefer to live in the damp.

Once they reach the shrine they notice that it is a shrine to outsiders. Auburon and his men are depicted here along with a few others. One being a wizard who visited here many years ago and fell in the well that he now haunts.  

After realising they are not the first travellers to have come here they ask where the others went. They are told that all travellers head towards the north tower. The tower stand tall and is shaped like a large wave and at the crest of the wave is a glowing light.

With the north tower in sight the travellers head onwards past pools of standing water. Out of one of these pools a water weird trashes out at them, the party try and attack while they weave past the puddles of water. Bobby uses vicious mockery and calls the water weird “a wetty wet drip”. The water weird does not understand but feels hurt, like it has been insulted.

As they continue Grulaag perceives some glistening cubes of transparent jelly. He tried to warn Bobby but he does not see it and is sucked into the cube. Grulaag tries to pull him free but takes some acid damage to his arm. Kelion uses his staff to pull Bobby free.

Now the only thing between them and the tower is a swamp full of reeds and lilypads. The party decide to use the boards they picked up from the Fishbane fishermen earlier and paddle across, Grulaag followed by Kelion then Bobby. As they reach the edge of the swamp a creature, known as a Flumph, glides up to them propelled by jets of air from its tendrils and tells them to check their pockets. Unbeknownst to the party, Bobby has had his disguise kit taken and a large Bullywug, A toad-like creature, is using it to decorate himself. Grulaag teleports to the Bullywug and threatens him and gets Bobby’s disguise kit back. They thank Jason, the Flumph and ask him to join them, Jason accepts.

At the base of the tower is a swirling tornado of water and two dead bodies and one still alive, they are elves from Auburons army.

The man that is still alive tells you his name is Luna Lineari and he does not agree with what Auburon has planned.

The party immediately trust him and bring luna along as a new member of The Eye Rollers.

The party head through the water tornado, taking some bludgeoning damage, and make it into the tower. Inside the spiral staircase leads up the dark, damp tower. They come to a large chamber and see a water elemental with a glowing runestone in his chest. The battle ensues and  eventually Grulaag hits the stone and it flies into the hands of their new friend Luna. Luna keeps it in his pocket for safe keeping. At the back of this chamber appears to be another portal.

The Eye Rollers head through this time entering a dense wooded area. They decide to climb up the nearest hill, but find hostile Ant-like people, known as Thri-kreen and a hill giant camp. The party decide to attack the hill giant and take some toes and meat. While high up the party can see in the distance another tower, similar to that of the water plane. Bobby notices what looks like a naked female sat on the ground below. He goes over to investigate and is swallowed by this alluring plant. The rest of the party head over and manage to free him. Now back in the wood Luna and Kelion decide to travel through the trees while Grulaag, Bobby and Jason travel on the ground below. Seeing a small hut Bobby goes over to open it, getting his hand stuck to the knob. The shed opens its eyes and mouth, it’s not a shed at all but a mimic and is swifty defeated by the party leaving behind a bag of beans and boots of speed. Luna takes the bag of beans and Grulaag the boots.

Up in the trees Kelion and Luna are sprayed by spores that make life very uncomfortable for a while. A Spirit flies down from the trees and asks them to stop walking about in their trees. Kelion and Luna get down and the party continue. Kelion notices a brown substance oozing from the trees and goes over to investigate, but the ooze turns hostile and attempts to lash out. Kelion is startled and decides to leave it alone and continue with the party.

The party come to the base of the tower, this tower resembling branches of a tree with an orb shining at the top. Bright warm lights appear, drifting out of the trees. One travels through Grulaag, then Luna giving a small electrifying feeling. One then moves through Jason and kills him instantly. A burial is made for Jason at the foot of the tower.

Inside Kelion defeats a wood elemental by plunging his fist deep into the chest of the beast and pulling out the runestone. Kelion keeps this one in his pocket.

Just like before, there is yet another portal. This time the party arrive inside a cave of tunnels, dark and glistening with minerals. The party decide to head down the left tunnel and then straight on finding a weapon room, containing nothing special. They then come to a staircase guarded on either side by gargoles. They head down the staircase and find three Deep Gnomes guarding the entrance to their homes. Deciding not to waste time the party do not explore the Deep Gnome’s cave dwelling but continue on in search of Auburon.

The next large opening is searched but only creepy bug creatures are found. Before leaving Grulaag cannot resist searching the darkest place. Throwing a stone with light case on it into the hole causes a shadow demon to fly out and over the heads of the adventurers. Not letting it go, in hope of gaining more power, the party attack it as it retreats and kill it easily. Onward a trap is detected; but Kelion, being at the back, does not see the pressure pad and is hit by a collapsing ceiling. Outside of the tunnels is yet another tower this time in the shape of a mountain with twin peaks and a glowing orb between them.

Inside the tower the party find an unusually difficult foe, the stone elemental. With the party close to death Luna uses his bag of beans and from them grows a mummy’s tomb inside a pyramid 60ft squared. The Eye Roller tumble from the tower along with the stone elemental, all taking falling damage. Kelion uses feather fall to ease his landing. The fight continues and Bobby and Grulaag lose their lives; In that moment a miracle happens. The Raven Queen, a powerful God, presents herself to Kelion in light of all their hard work she offers to bring the fellow Eye Rollers back to life and kill the elemental, however Kelion must follow her and spread the word as a cleric of the Raven Queen, Mishakal. Kelion agrees and his friends are brought back alive and well, Grulaag takes the stone rune and keeps it safe.

The Adventurers are now staring up at the tower with a large pyramid balanced on top. There is a small opening into the pyramid, climbing gear is used to get Kelion up there with the transport stone. He then pops back and takes the rest of the party up with him. They enter and head up an incline leading to a room with a stone sarcophagus in the centre and three more lined up on the wall. Three ghasts emerge from the standing sarcophagi and are quickly battled. The party try to use their combined strength to open the sarcophagus in the centre, however they are feeling weak and do not managed to move it. They do find a hidden door on the far side that leads to a tunnel. Through here they avoid a hidden spike pit and continue up again. Coming to another room with a single sarcophagus at the end. More ghasts appear and again are killed. They find 20 gold pieces and share it among themselves, but see no other way out of the room other than the way they had just come.

They come back into the first chamber and try to move the stone sarcophagus again. This time, after several attempts and near misses, they find more strength and manage to get the lid off revealing a stairway down. At the bottom of the stairs is chamber with a large obsidian statue that reads ‘Ttatoani’ . On the two walls either side are four more sarcophagi and one directly in front of the statue. Wraiths appear out of the sarcophagi to protect their king on last time. The are adorned in gold jewelery, which the party collect when they are done attacking. There is an adjoining chamber that leads behind this one.. The walls are covered in hieroglyphs and murals that depict battles and worship. Seeing a new doorway, Bobby triggers a pressure pad on the ground and is hit by a dart from one of the walls. The party takes care as they make their way down another stairway. The adventurers come to a small chamber, on the walls are vessels that hold what is left of Ttatoani’s organs. A large, beautifully painted  sarcophagus is on display at the end of the room. Two dark ghouls appear and begin to attack. Suddenly Ttatoani himself rises to attack the people who disturb him. The Eye Rollers prevail and search the room, finding gold, silver, spices, copper, wine and an eagle and dog carved of obsidian that can be summoned to life. Bobby takes the eagle and names him Big Shack. Grulaag takes the dog and calls him Yum-Yum. In the very corner they can make out another portal and swiftly all head in.

The adventurers come to a sticky, muddy land where grass is attempting to grow. The air has a distinct sulphur smell and the sky is thick with clouds.

As the party stand still, looking around the mud beneath their feet begins to slide and form into a mud creature, known as a Lemure. The party battle this muddy fiend and journey north. Squelching their way through the mud they begin to hear incoherent voices, like a whisper in the air. A creature, covered on mouths is mumbling and whispering. The party are very freaked out and attack the Gibbering Mouther even though they find it very gross.

As the party journey on the ground becomes more like clay. They feel the ground beneath their feet begin to tremble and notice a purple hide with teeth-like spines ripping through the top layer of earth. Grulaag becomes very excited to attack and tries to encourage the others. Luna, Bobby and Kelion agree they do not want to tackle a large monstrosity like that and continue on with their quest.

Eventually the party comes to a black crust of lava, cooled against the mud. In the distance is a large volcano with rivers of lava flowing down and a glowing orb above it. Where the cooled lava meets the mud are small holes leading to tunnels beyond. Four tunnels on the left and four on the right; They Eye Rollers head right and take the first tunnel they come to. They meet Dolmir,  Grey Dwarf  and he leads them to the main hall. Here, Torrus son of Borrus and now chief of this clan of  Grey Dwarves, greets The eye Rollers and asks them of their business. The Eye Rollers explain as much as they know and Torrus agrees to help them get some of the way up the volcano through their tunnels.

A new tunnel is dug and brings the party out half way up the volcanoes steep side. As the party climb past the molten lava rivers that flow down past them they hear a loud BOOM as the volcano unleashes a violent eruption. The party dodge falling rocks and continue to climb. As they pass close to the lava they notice a large fire salamander rise out and hiss something in a language they don’t understand. The party defeat the salamander and climb the rest of the way to the summit. The party feel the warmth from the lava below. There are a set of steps carved into the inside edge of the volcano’s crater leading to an opening lower down. Inside the opening there is a spiral staircase that leads down further into the volcano. As they enter and head down the party comes to a door that is partially open. They can hear voices coming from inside. Luna recognises the voice of Auburon. The group agree to send Luna in first to distract him. Luna enters and greets Auburon by calling him cousin and tells him that there is a group of people waiting to fight him through the doorway. Kelion went in alone to take out Luna and the rest of the army, even with his spell of shield he still struggled to take them all on. Grulaag and Bobby stayed in the doorway pulling enemies in and taking them on, two on one. With Bobby and Kelion near death; Grulaag uses his teleport stone to go back to the Grey Dwarves and bring some of their strongest fighters with him.

Returning to the Battle with a strong Dwarven army they manage to kill the Elven army. Luna tells Auburon to run for the portal and escape. Auburon is shot and killed before he can reach it. Luna is then killed by Kelion.

Bobby, Grulaag and Kelion are all very shaken from their encounter. They take a rune stone from Luna’s body and another from Auburon and take a moment to rest before heading through the next portal.

[monkandmaster-blog]

Rune Stone Saga

The story begins on the Island of Heathkinn, Ruled by Elves for many years and now in the capable hands of Nayson son of Naygar. Born from a long line of nobel Elves who overthrew the king at the time, a tyrannical dark elf by the name of Tidaso Sadaul. Heathkinn is now considered at peace, all race and creed are widely accepted. Although there are those who lack trust in the elves and believe they are corrupt and only seek power and wealth.

Two of our brave adventurers are Grulaag Battlewar, a bald, grey skinned half orc and Bobbyknock Broom, a rugged rock gnome who are travelling to the town of Ludsgate in search of news or bounties to fill. On the road ahead they notice a Wizard and a human man arguing. The friends agree to step in and see if they can be of assistance.

“You’ll pay for this, we will take our case before the council of Tregath” yells the Wizard

“If he belongs to you then you should keep better care of him” snarls the Man

“It wasn't just wondering about out here, it was collecting ingredients for me. Now hand it over” says the wizard impatiently.

Grulaag calmly approaches and questions each of the men.

The human is arguing that he needs this goblin to help protect his family and help him collect and make medicines. The wizard is arguing back that he needs the goblin to collect ingredients for magic and help keep him safe on their travels.

Grulaag then tries to ask the goblin which of the two he would choose to go with. Sadly the Goblin does not understand and garbles back something in his native tongue. Grulaag becomes frustrated, throws some gold coins on the ground, grabs the Goblin under his arm and runs into the woods nearby. The Goblin panics and bites Grulaag’s hand. Grulaag then throws him to the ground and walks back to join Bobby who is waiting for this to be over.

The Wizard and Human run off into the woods to find the Goblin, and the struggle continues.

The Third member of our party is Kelion Brightspark, a handsome young Elf who recently lost his parents and became the owner of Mythmere Library. He has been asked to investigate some strange rumors of rune stones that are tied to his family's death. As he travels North he notices a group of nine halflings are gathered around a campfire sat on stumps. They have erected small temporary shelters around them on the outskirts of the wood.

As they notice Kelion approach they all stand to greet him.

“Please come sit with us, we have food and wine”

From somewhere in the woods another halfling enters, all the halflings and now Kelion stand to greet him.

“Kelion, this is Fredard”

“Please call me Fred” replied Fredard

Kelion introduces himself and they all sit to begin the evening meal. Wine is poured and handed around the group by a Halfling in the centre of the circle. Kelion, not knowing the tradition of the group, drinks before everyone is served and receives some unapproving glances from some of the halflings. Fredard stands to give a toast,

“To adventure, friends and diplomacy” The halflings clink their glasses together and drink.

Now the halfling in the centre begins handing out bowls of rabbit stu. Kelion, having learned his lesson with the wine, now waits for everyone to be served before he tucks in. While enjoying the hospitality he notices the halfling that served him has no stu of his own. The halfling explains that in our custom it is rude to help yourself. Kelion shrugs and goes back to enjoying his meal while another halfling notices and serves his friend.

Kelion then retires to get some sleep; when he wakes the following morning the halflings are gone, but they did leave a small gem beside him. Kelion identifies the stone as being able to float in any liquid.

Grulaag and Bobby arrive at Ludsgate through the large stone gate towers unaware that they are being watched. Ludsgate is a coastal town used by many merchants to sell their handmade wears. The cobbled streets are alive with the hustle and bustle of merchants and street performers. A man in a long brown robe gestures Grulaag and Bobby into a side ally.

“You looking for a little adventure? There's a bounty if your up for it, all you need to do is retrieve a stone” The man propotisions.

Kelion overhears this as he enters Ludsgate, and interrupts to introduce himself and asks if he may join. Grulaag and Bobby accept.

The man gives his name as Darren.

“I would get the stone myself but i’ve made an enemy or two in this oppressive town. I can tell you where to get the stone, once you have it bring it back here and we can go and get the bounty together.” Instructs Darren

The party are told to head left out of the gates and along the coastal cliff edge where they will come to a small camp of around 3 men, with horses, one of these three will have the stone. Darren recalls the colour of the stone as either orange or yellow….or maybe red.

The party of adventurers follow the directions given by Darren, there is a cobble road that leads out of town and into a light wood atop the cliff. The cliff is about 60 foot high above the sea that rolls in and crashes into the rocks below. As the party follow the path they notice smoke rising from further along into the tree line. As they draw closer to the camp they notice a Male figure with the head of an eagle (known as an Aarakocra) stands to attention in their path. As he looks up Grulaag perceives his eyes are red as Bobby and Kelion hide nearby. Grulaag tries to talk to him but as he gets closer the Aarakocra readies its weapon. Grulaag flies in a greatsword attack and the Aarakocra falls to its knees, his eyes are no longer red. He holds his hands up and begs for his life.

Suddenly 2 beetle-like creatures with six appendages (known as Mezzoloths) fly in to attack.

One of the Mezzoloths charges to attack Grulaag, but Grulaag turns and kicks it right off the cliff almost instantly. Kelion stepped in to help by trying to poison the creature to no effect. Bobby then charged in swinging wildly, eventually hitting the bug creature in the nuts. After this intense fight the party camped overnight and gained 2 horses and the stone they were sent for. The following morning the party continue along the cliff tops. They witness the aftermath of a bloody battle. Grulaag, for some reason only known to him, covered himself and a stone in blood. The battle appeared to be between merfolk, eagle guards and the bug creatures previously slain.

The party head back to the town of Ludsgate to return to Darren. Kelion and Bobby put on disguises, but when they get to Ludsgate, Darren is nowhere to be seen. Nothing happens other than Grulaag takes a shower to wash off the blood he smeared on himself earlier, and the party drank ale and wine.

The party then decide to head to the Elven Capital of Tregath where they read stone runes as they rode through the dense forest path. After realising the ruins told them to take their horses to water they found a river. They were met by Elves and swiftly put to sleep, except Kelion who was chained and masked, to escort them into the hidden city. Grulaag and Bobby endured dreams of varying description and the party were dropped off in the centre on Tregath in a pergola where they could wake in due time.

They met the ruler, Nayson son of Naygar and were paid a meger fee for the stone they retrieved and they were sent on a quest to find the others. They are told that the monks and the dwarves hold rune stones.

The party headed west towards Upyor, Grulaag’s hometown. They were briefly halted by a river crossing their path. A giant octopus struck out but was swiftly hit by Kelion’s lightning and frightened away. The party made it safely to Upyor to a warm welcome from the locals. Grulaag enquired to the whereabouts of his best friend Pontii who has been in charge of the running of Upyor. They soon discovered that Pontii was killed and overthrown by Rӧk. Rӧk then challenged Grulaag to a one on one fight in the famous fighting pits.

Grulaag came out victorious and quickly promoted a new group of leaders, First in command is Yar, then Par and a trusted advisor Nar.

The Orcs party into the night, shooting arrows of fire and gunpowder into the air letting off fizzes and bangs.

In the morning following the celebrations the party decide to follow the coast south to Blennon Port. Following the coastal path, the adventurers see a family of travellers playing on the sandy shore. Off to the side is parked their horse and cart. They witness the family treat a young slave boy poorly and decide to offer gold for the slave boy. A hostile exchange took place resulting in the rescue of the young boy. Grulaag took him under his wing and named him Pontii Jr.

Now with Pontii Jr in tow the party arrive at the busy town of Blennon Port. After looking around the party came to a town square where merchants operate and slaves were being traded. Kelion and Grulaag’s consciences would not allow anyone else to buy the slave children. Grulaag purchases two slaves, a halfling and a human and called them Jimmy and Jack. Kelion purchased himself a slave and named him Nelion. Bobbyknock saw no need to slow himself down with the burden of a child, slave or not.

With the party now growing there was a desperate need to get to Kelions home of Mythmere to drop the children to their better lives at the college.

Continuing south, the party came across an inhabited cave, Jargons Shelter. Grulaag stayed outside with the children and horses. Kelion entered wearily and met three rangers hard at work on clothes and other items. One of the rangers took a shine to Kelion and used his blood to grant magic on one of his items. Keilion returned to his friends. So the others entered to try and gain the same favour. Unsuccessful, and being labeled as peadophiles, the party continue south.

Their journey was interrupted by the cries of distress coming from nearby. As the party go to investigate they come across a large lake covered in mist. A large tower rises from the mist in the centre of the lake. Two female merfolk are crying into eachothers arms. Kelion exchanges kind words with them and the party agree to help kill the evil residing within the tower. Grulaag is the first to leap in the lake and swim across to the tower. Upon his heroic arrival Grulaag feels strange and senses enemies behind him on the shore where he came from. Turning to attack, Kelion and Bobby think fast. An illusion is created in the water of the slave children they bought drowning in the misty water. In a rather confused state Grulaag attempts to save the children, who dissipate resulting in all curses being removed.

With the party back to normal Kelion and Bobby join Grulaag at the tower in the lake. Kelion sensed a trap and stood by the side of the door at the base of the tower while he opened it. This action unleashes a fireball from inside the doorway that flies forth and fizzes out in the lake. Kelion follows the spiral staircase to the top of the tower where an evil archmage appeared to be attempting to create some sort of potion on a plinth in the middle,next to a talisman. Kelion defeated the evil archmage by pushing him off the roof, leaving him to be pincered on the ground by Bobby and Grulaag who finished him off. Returning the talisman to the two merfolk females the lake begins to clear. Deer and birds return to the lake and surrounding forest.

The adventurers follow the beautiful lake south and see the gates of Mythmere. On arrival a wizard runs up and asks for directions, not one of the party know the way and are unable to help. On entering Kelion is greeted by friends and begins showing the way to the great library and college, where magic learners live and thrive. The adventurers introduce the children to their new home and proceed with Kelions friend Master Denathor to the library where he gives Kelion a new spell and makes one of Bobby and Grulaag’s weapons unbreakable.

Happy with their exchange the party continue, without the children, to the tavern. In the tavern the group notice races of all kinds, bounties adorn the walls outside. Sharing a drink and copying down the bounties they continue south in hope of finding the second rune stone.

The lands before them are becoming more sparse and rocky than the party are used too. As they follow the rocky path a shot is fired at them and startles the party. Two giant spiders appear from behind rocks and a great battle ensues and the party emerge victorious.

Before the party stands a man with brown robes with his back to the group. Could this be Darren?

He turns around and transforms into a crazy wizard from a previous adventure. He grants the party with a stone of light blue that glitters and shimmers ever brighter when held in hand. Grulaag is handed the stone and after a few seconds he is transported back to Mythmere. While still holding the stone Grulaag thinks of Upyor and after a few seconds in transported there. After a short check that everything is still ok Grulaag then thinks of his friends and is transported back to them who have been stood around waiting.

Pocketing the stone the party head on encountering a small wagon with steam rising from the top. A female gnome is sat by the side on a rock working at a small wooden contraption with glass vessels connected by tubes filled with dark liquids. She introduces herself as Douwe Egberts, the party receive beautiful coffee, Bobby and Kelion try some experimental Rum which makes their hands and toes feel as if they are going numb.

Once the party feels strong again they continue south in search of monks. In their path lay a dying cat, the group attempt to revive it with the help of a nearby witch. The witch teaches Kelion a healing incantation and recipe for a common disease in the area. The cat dyes but the party continue on bravely.

The ground beneath the adventurers feet turns to a soft silky path. Two giant spiders hiss and scuttle towards the party. A battle ensues and many great blows are dealt and spells cast while the spiders struggle to land an attack. Once the spiders are dispatched the party notices a farming village that seems to be struck with illness. Kelion saves the life of a practising monk, Tyrral. He guides the party to the Monastery of Benedict, a town carved beneath the sandy ground. On entering the party hear the whispered prayers of the monks. Transitioning to the back of the temple the party see an elder monk sat on a large chair. After asking for the rune stone he asks them to complete his challenge first. Grulaag enters the room titled “One must enter, one must leave”. Grulaag is faced by a replica of himself on the other side of a pit with the tune around his neck. Trying everything he could think of and failing, Grulaag returns to his friends watching outside the room. The entire party entered and attempted to attack their counterparts. Bobby fell to hideous laughter while the others made off with the rune. After rescuing Bobby the party made their escape.

The party then decide to travel to Atrisma Port where they intend to sail to the Island of Nahdor where the dwarves dwell. On the way they find the body of a half-orc who appears to have been attacked by animals. There are bite marks and blood stroon about around the body. A lute lies on the ground next to him and in his satchel is a book of spells written in orcish.

Atrisma Port runs along the west coast of Heathkinn, there is an area that juts out into the sea, most of the ships are docked on the jetties along this peak. Many men, dwarves, orcs and elves are busying themselves, coming and going from ships and the town itself. The town is dirty looking and the smell of fish and salt fills the air. At the docks there is a captain giving orders to his crew. Captain Edwin “two toes” Isaac wears a large black hat, a long black beard with a braid and coin hanging from the end. His ship is large and wooden with three black sails.

Bobby has an awkward interaction with his barbarian brother Bertiebrush Broom.

The party dispatch some giant wolf spiders that scare towns folk.

Bobby, having sailed the seas for many years, is able to gain passage on any ship. They speak with Captain two toes and set sail for Sidmar Fayers, the most southern town on Nahdor.

Sidmar Fayres is a magic-phobic town with many goblins, gnomes and dwarves. There is a statue in the town of a large octopus surrounded by a font of water that seems to flow endlessly. The town looks like it was designed for people of under 5ft tall. The captain informs the party to head to Forlourne where people are more welcoming and the buildings are ‘normal’ sized. Grulaag notices one of the merchants here has a sign ‘Goblins for sale’

Which irritates him.

The party head out of town after feeling some tension in the air. They come across a cart heading towards them full of passengers. The town up ahead is being evacuated due to medusa in the manor house garden. Eventually the party rech a beautiful garden adorned with roses and high topiary bushes, many insects flutter between flowers. The entrance is lined with statues of towns folk in various positions, but they all seem to be in defensive positions. The party enter a hedge maze lead by Grulaag who keeps to the edge. The party find their way out and come to a square walled garden with a shallow pond at the end and more hedges on either side. Medusa follows them in from the maze, the party draws the medusa over to the pond and turn her to stone. Kelion takes a stone snake from the stone medusa, removes the curse and watches the snake come back to life. Kelion then holds the snake head over the pond and sees it turn back to stone, he keeps this for later uses.    

The party then decide to officiate their group, they agree on the name ‘The Eye Rollers’ and decide to carve this into the side of the manor house to sign their work!

The next morning the Eye rollers wake and realise they are closer to Forlourne than they thought. They speak with the bartender and learn that the runes are likely to be in the mountains in a cave. The party march up the mountain pass and find an old dwarven cave, now taken over by hobgoblins. Slaying all the hobgoblins that stand in their way. The Eye Rollers pass paintings of ancient battles, gain some potions of healing, find a secret door with some special items and 3 strange bronze coins.

The Eye Rollers continue up the mountain still searching for the rune stone. They find yet another cave set into the mountain, at the entrance they perceive a shimmery scale on the ground. The party enter and pass a pile of bones and scorch marks on the walls. They come to a large chamber where a large dragon resides, the dragon demands a good joke or will turn them into lunch. Bobby attempts to tell a joke and cast hideous laughter. This made the dragon more hostile and the party retreated.

Continuing up the mountain side The Eye Rollers see an entrance to a tomb or similar offering house. The door has been broken and is hanging from its hinges. Inside are three small chambers all connected by a hall that runs through the centre. At the far end is a plaque that reads ‘ I swear a great oath. To kinn and brother, by the mountains and the leaves. Now my sons will carry it in their hands by the justice of the Gods. I am an Archeon, now and always, this is my oath’.

Following the path further up the mountain the party come to two identical stone archways each have a pad on the wall beside it that reads ‘the only way to handle pressure is to apply it’ . Bobby and Kelion take one arch and Grulaag the other. After the pressure pads are pressed the entrances open they follow the tunnel and discover the strange bronze coins they found in the dwarven cave are inserted into the wall here to open a doorway, extend a bridge and get them to separate rooms where the door closes behind them and gas begins to pour in through small vents. The Eye Rollers retreat into their minds and spend time dreaming of their childhood.

When the party wake they are all back together, but tied to chairs in a jail cell. They speak to the dwarves and learn that this is where the rune stone is kept. They convince the Chief Dwarf to give them a chance to get the rune stone for Nayson son of Naygar. They are told that only one of them may try and they will need to complete the gauntlet to do so. Kelion steps up and offers to take on the challenge. He is lead to a door that is opened for him and shut behind him. The room he is now in is full of water with several wooden polls protruding like cut off trees. Nimble as an elf is, he manages this task easily and finds himself in another room. This time there is a thin plank that bridges the gap between him and the next room. Stealthily Kelion manages this without being shot by arrows. Next Kelion meets a pseudodragon who gives him a riddle to solve ‘ You can hold me in your hand, yet I can fill an entire room’, Kelion thinks for quite sometime and then finds the answer, ‘torch’, the next door slides open. There is a rope tied to a platform next to Kelion, on the opposite side is a small platform with a plinth that holds the rune inside a glass box. Kelion swings across and manages to land on the platform, picks up the rune box and the platform begins to spin. He is then back with the Chief and his two friends. After a successful mission the party use the teleport stone given to them by the crazy wizard to get them back to Tregath.

The party is greeted by Nayson son of Naygar and next to him is the elf who put them to sleep the first time, he is introduced as Auburon. There are many more elves gathered here this time, some stand guard with beautiful elven swords. Grulaag first tried to trick Auburon and produces the blood covered stone that he kept. Auburon’s eyes become angry and Grulaag immediately apologizes and hands over the two real rune stones. Auburon then produces all four rune stones and orders Nayson son of Naygar to be killed, the traitorous guards comply. The Eye Rollers are hit in the back of the head as they fall unconscious to the ground, they see Auburon turn and walk into the great hall.