Campaign Journal 48 - In Durn

When last we left our heroes, they had just defeated Azard, an efreeti, causing him to Plane Shift back to his home plane on the verge of death...

Having either killed the human enemies or driven Azard the efreeti back to his home plane, the party was able to search the adjoining chambers and found a significant stash of treasure (Azard's "business funds" while on this plane). In perhaps their biggest treasure haul of the campaign, they found 900 copper pieces, 9,350 silver pieces, 2,201 gold pieces, 140 platinum pieces, 10 50GP gems, 3 potions of healing, a potion of greater healing, a scroll of Light (cantrip) and a scroll of Longstrider.

Leaving the main lava chamber, the party explored the last bit of the dungeon, which was the guard chambers and a small makeshift jail. No enemies were left, and the place was empty. A staff was found (later determined to be the staff of Dahlgren, the wizard in Zarya Udak's ambushed party), which was later Identified to be a Staff of the Explorer. The staff is not a combat item, but can conjure all manner of useful items, serve as a compass, point the direction to known locations, etc.

Two prisoners were found locked in the jail cells. The first was Amala, a member of Zarya's party and Zarya's good friend. The second was Gommek Leadback, and old dwarven prospector. Amala was able to tell that the rest of the survivors of the group had been taken from their cells earlier in the day, and she didn't know what became of them. Gommek had been captured days earlier while exploring the nearby hills (and had no connection to Zarya's group). Amala indicated (behind his back) that Gommek was perhaps a bit nuts...or at least eccentric. Which would seem to be true.

Gommek speaks a different dialect of dwarvish, but as previously noted, in this world, all dwarven languages are closely related enough that anyone who speaks dwarven can communicate with anyone else who also does. So we had a more effective way to communicate. Gommek spoke dwarvish and the local tongue, and everyone in our party speaks dwarvish, courtesy of the reward boon of Grandar from the Traniska/Alberneth Underdark story arc.

Gommek told tales of searching for great gemstone riches in the nearby hills. Which is fairly typical stuff for dwarves, and may or may not be true. He said he was originally from the nation of Astillon far to the north, and after discussion with him, Zarya and Amala, the party was able to determine that they were indeed in Illurya, and more specifically, they were in the southern part of the city-state of Durn, the one outlander realm in Illurya. By their best estimate, knowing what they knew of the world's geography, they were perhaps 2,000 miles due south of their home base in Linden. The directional piece was confirmed by use of the new Staff of the Explorer, which indicated first which way was north, and then which direction Linden was in. The directions the staff pointed to were almost identical.

City-State of Durn (Hexographer, 6 mile scale)

Being told that the nearest village was Jonka, perhaps 6 miles to the east downstream, the party had time before nightfall to get to the village. On the way, they passed the ruins of a log palisade enclosure that Zarya and Amala indicated the locals thought was haunted by undead. They kept going, and said they might come back later. [GM's note - I messed these distances up during the session. Looking at the local map drawing a few pictures below, the ruined log fort is the first mark to the west, 3 miles away from Jonka. Another 3 miles west is the Arafas gate. Another 6 miles west is the lava temple at the end of trail. So 12 miles from Jonka, not 6. Oops.]

Ruined Log Palisade Fort

The village of Jonka itself was a small collection of simple but stoutly built log buildings. Each house  had the appearance of a tiny fortress, with narrow windows and thick shutters. One small walled compound was the only larger structure, and there was a three story tall wooden watchtower. A bell could be seen on the upper floor of the tower, and a pair of banners, black and red, flew from the roof. Amala said that a red banner meant a report of danger nearby, but a black and red banner meant "danger confirmed".

Jonka

Gommek took them to the village's one small tavern, the Staff and Sickle. He claimed to be a friend of the owner, Banarik Ashstone, also a dwarf. Bursting into the tavern, Gommek was acknowledged by the crowd and then quickly ignored. A dozen or so locals filled the establishment, and showed some limited interest in the party, who gained some good will by buying a round of drinks for the house.

Jonka area of southern Durn

Banarik Ashstone proved to be a friendly dwarf with intricately braided fire-red hair and beard. He reacted very favorably to the Mark of Grandar (Thalmyr's god of vengeance) that each of the party members carry on their left cheekbone, treating them deferentially and calling each of them "my lord." He intended to kick a small group of travelers out of their room (the only place to stay the night), but the party declined, and asked permission to sleep on the common room floor after closing instead.

Regarding the "danger" banners flying from the watchtower, several locals told tales of sightings in recent days of monsters that they referred to as Red Reavers, a hulking brute of a creature. They were said to be hairless and red, being tall (7 or 8 or 10 or 12 feet tall, depending on the teller), muscular, and with 2 or 4 or 6 arms, again depending on who was relating the tale. Despite the difference in description, there were many similarities, and all accounts agreed that they were red, large, strong, fierce and of evil intent.

A Red Reaver

Before turning in for the night, the party agreed that they might spend a bit of time in Illurya, looking around...

Next - Out and about in Illurya...

GM Commentary - As intended, this session was very low on combat, given that the last two sessions were a dungeon crawl followed by an epic boss battle that lasted almost an entire 3 hour session. We needed something else for a change of pace. As it happened, we had one of those rare sessions where not a single die was rolled in combat. I don't think anyone minded...

XP for this session by the book for 5e would have been zero. No monsters killed. No imminent threats avoided, etc. Which is why we don't do XP that way. All but one of our characters are within 3-5k XP of 34,000 which is 8th level. Our 8th level druid is 13k away from level 9. Given all that they learned about the world, maps they were able to fill in, a large treasure trove "liberated", NPCs met and talked with, and freeing some captives and doing good deeds was collectively deemed to be worth 1,500 XP. I like this kind of session, and I need to make sure that while the players also seem to like them, I don't undermine that by taking their XP award away. So 1,500 XP per character, plus a 250 XP for anyone with an adventuring motivation of "Exploration" and a 500 XP bonus for anyone with an adventuring motivation of "Riches". Riches doesn't trigger bonuses all that often since I am not big at throwing tons of loot at the party, but this was a big one, and should be rewarded as such.

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of): A whole lot of stuff, which is what made the non-combat session fun nonetheless. They are indeed in Illurya. They are specifically at the southern edge of the wilderness of the city-state of Durn. They learned a little about the local area, and some potential threats.

Present: Duncan, Badric, Niam, Malachy (all level 7), and Melior (level 8).

Campaign Journal 47 - Azard the Great

We last left our heroes having made their way through the outer part of an ancient temple (reclaimed recently for use by followers of Harilos, the god of chaos, anarchy and destruction), where they encountered some priests and an efreeti in a huge and ancient lava chamber...  [My best recollection of the battle is as follows...]

The Great Lava Cavern

Having not been seen approaching through a steam cloud, Badric cast Bless on several of the party, and Death Ward on Zarya, the NPC guide. He also cast Water Walk on the entire party, meaning that they could walk on the lava as if it were solid ground. We ruled they would still take heat damage in any turn in which they were on the lava, but this removed the possibility of near-instant death upon falling in.

Niam opens the battle with a bowshot sneak attack that kills the junior priest talking with the efreeti (named Azard), and Arian follows up with a lightning bolt at the boss. Azard hurls great gouts of fire at Malchy and Thalmyr in the center, damaging them (and with Mal not raging yet).

Mal and Thalmyr charge up the middle, and Water Walk comes in handy as Mal falls off one of the central stones in his hurry to engage the enemy. He takes only a little damage. Azard summons a fire elemental in the gap between the two of them. Mal turns back to aid Thalmyr and they go to work on the elemental.

Fire elemental

Duncan the wizard, somewhat hampered by having his Fireball unlikely to have any effect on the fire creatures, conserves his spells and uses his wand of fireballs (gifted to him by Frayka the granite dwarf way back in the early days of the campaign - an item that has been conserved since it is not believed to be rechargeable). The target of the fireball was the minion next to Azard, who was promptly incinerated.

Fireballing the minions

Melior moves to the left in spider form. Thalymr and Mal defeat the elemental and turn to charge at Azard.

Taking on the elemental

Duncan uses a scroll of Fly on Thalmyr, and Thalmyr flies at Azard (greatly increasing his speed).

Arian's lightning bolt

As Mal approaches the efreeti, it flies up out of reach and hurls more gouts of fire at the oncoming Thalmyr.

Thalmyr takes flight

Two guards come out of the righthand passage and begin shooting crossbows at the party. Niam and Arian begin moving to the right to engage them. Arian also wants to investigate the mechanical wheel and gears on that side (there is one on the left as well). Melior transforms out of his wild shape and casts Grasping Vine from a scroll, successfully snaring Azard and pulling him back down into reach of a raging Mal. Melior follows up with casting Call Lightning.

Malachy and the efreeti Azard

While Mal fights the efreeti, it assumes Gaseous Form to get out of the Grasping Vine, and begins to float away. Niam and Duncan shoot arrows and spells at the guards on the right, while Arian turns to mechanical wheel. He notices right away that the steady breeze moving through the chamber (and probably helping keep noxious fumes at bay) stops. He reopens the wheel mechanism and the breeze returns. Meanwhile, another priest comes out the left passage and casts Call Lightning of his own, targeting the cluster of people in the back (Duncan, Badric and Zarya). Zarya continues to effectively rain arrows on the efreeti, but is taking a beating.

Thalmyr flies to the high priest

As the battle nears its climax, the battered efreeti goes Invisible. Thalmyr flies toward the priest while Mal waits for Azard to reappear. Melior casts Wind Wall around the priest, and then Spike Growth the following turn, wounding him severely and effectively boxing him in. Thalmyr flies over to try to grapple the priest, rolls a critical hit, and picks him up and tosses him into the lava.

In one final burst of activity, the efreeti reappears, hurts Mal badly, takes a lightning bolt from Arian, and decides that he will Plane Shift away on his next turn (if he can get to his next turn, as he has very few hit points remaining, and that last lightning bolt was a big one!). The last turn of the battle comes down to Mal's attacks being the last thing remaining before the efreeti's turn. Two hits out of three attacks will do the trick, and maybe even one really good hit. Mal misses with his main weapon, misses again with his main weapon, and then hits the efreeti with his offhand longsword. Damage is rolled, it isn't quite enough to kill the creature, and Azard Plane Shifts away. He had 5 hit points left out of his starting 200!

Next...The Aftermath.

GM Commentary - This was a very entertaining fight, but once again highlights one of the potential drawbacks of increasingly higher level "boss fights" against powerful foes - we played a shorter session of three hours, and the entire session was taken up with this fight. Because of the difficulty of the combat, there was much discussion, plotting, planning, and resolution of spells and abilities. We had seven characters (we did what we usually don't, and played the characters of the two missing players - they needed it), and an NPC. A big boss and several priests and a few other minions. So lots of stuff going on. Fun for sure, but as we discussed briefly at the end of the session, you can only do this kind of session once in a while. And that makes sense, as the next couple of sessions will most likely end up being more oriented toward exploring and role playing, as opposed to heavy combat.

Each character gained 2,300 XP for the session, with most characters gaining an additional 300-500 "end of mini-arc" XP depending on their adventuring motivation (a house rule). This put Melior over the threshold for level 8, and he will gain that level when his player returns (having missed this session).

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - Not a whole lot new here, given the type of session. But an efreeti can hold a grudge for a long time, and Azard is a powerful creature who can potentially find a way to come back looking for revenge...

Present: Duncan, Arian, Thalmyr, Badric and Niam (all level 7). Missing (but played in their absence) Malachy and Melior.

Campaign Journal 46 - The Temple of Harilos

We last left our heroes outside a carved stone doorway to a passage leading into a cliffside. Zarya Udak's ambushers had gone that way. A guard was killed outside but no alarm raised...

Niam the Rogue snuck into the passage and found an entry chamber in which was piled a bunch of carpentry tools, some lumber, and some partially finished crude furniture. Advancing down the passage and down a number of flights of stairs, the air grew hot and acrid smelling. He then cam out into a square cavern with lava and very strange looking stonework.

Lava entry chamber

With three choices of direction to go, the party chose to go to the right, which had them working their way through a small temple area devoted to the Harilos (god of chaos, destruction and anarchy). Furnishings were sparse and looked new. There was nobody in the temple, so they desecrated the altar.

They next found chamber that seemed to the bedroom and study of someone important. There were many (low quality) wall hangings and other religious iconography, and a desk with a bunch of papers that they couldn't read. Zarya took the papers to read later.

They found a secret door in the priest's chamber which led them through a narrow passage to a regular door leading out into another lava lined passageway. They then doubled back through the narrow passageway to finish exploring the temple area.

Near the priest's chamber, Thalmyr broke down a closed wooden door, falling flat on his face in the room and surprising 4 lounging humans, who recovered quickly and leapt to the attack. A few vicious Thunderwaves later, and the enemy were dispatched.

A kitchen and some storage areas were searched, and a couple of magic items were looted from the area. One was a Rope of Mending, and one was a small bluish-white crystal orb that radiated coolness in a 20 foot radius. This was handy in the heat of the area for keeping the temperature at a comfortable level. When placed in the first chamber in from the lava entry room, it seemed to keep the whole temple area behind it cool.

When this area was cleared, they went back through the secret door and back to the lava passage.

Advancing cautiously, they moved down the passageway and came out on the edge of a massive lava cavern with a lot of complicated stonework. On a platform in the center of the chamber, in front of a large monument of some sort, a couple of humanoids in dark robes were talking to a towering red-skinned figure (which would prove to be an efreeti...)

Next - Lava Cavern battle.

GM Commentary - This was a briefer session of 100% dungeon crawl. Having done a lot of non-combat role playing in the last session, this was a good time for  change of pace. Next time will be the boss fight, and then back to

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - Not much new here, other than a lot of lava...

Present - All but Malachy and Duncan.

Campaign Journal 45 - Larasanteth

We last left our heroes having landed in the sky ship Golden Sunrise outside a large cave mouth, inside of which was said to be a magical gatestone leading to a hot tropical land (believed to be the southern continent of Illurya)...

The party climbed down from the sky ship to look around, and were confronted with a number of kobolds shaking spears and shields at them. Before they could attack, an old woman's voice from up by the cave entrance called out "don't hurt them, they're my friends. Won't you come in and talk?"

They turned to see a heavily robed old woman turn and walk into the cave. [Larasanteth, or Lara, for short, is an ancient blue dragon polymorphed in human form, as the players suspected and would find out soon enough]

Leaving Octavian and his companions to watch the ship, the party heads into the cave, trailed at some distance by a bunch of kobolds.

The cave itself has a wide and high entrance, sloping down into a very large high-ceilinged chamber. Torches light the way. There are obvious signs of many other passages branching off from this chamber, both at ground level and high up the walls and ceiling. The old lady sits near a small fire by a pond, with a large freshly killed deer nearby.

The party is skeptical of the old woman as they talk for a while. The old lady introduces herself as Lara, and asks if the party is here for her or the gate. They ask about the gate and about how long she has lived here. She smiles and says she has lived here since before the men of Onoria settled the lands, which would be at least 800 or 900 years.

At one point, she takes an interest in Arian, the elven sorcerer of blue draconic heritage, and asks him to come with her into another chamber and discuss something in private. She reveals her true nature and asks if Arian wants to enhance his draconic powers by drinking her blood. He agrees, she scratches her arm enough to draw blood, and he drinks of it. It burns horribly going down, but then fills him with warmth. She exultantly offers up a prayer to Tiamat, evil goddess of the chromatic (colored) dragons, in Arian's name. Hmm...

Lara's Cave

They return to the others, and she reveals herself to the rest of the party. They talk further and Lara agrees to let them use her gate, but demands a favor of them in return - something has been done on the other side of the gate that seems to prevent only her from using it. They must figure out what it is, and fix it so that she can use the gate again. She claims that the bones of her mate are somewhere on the other side, that she is coming to the end of her life, and wants to fly in the warmth of the southern skies again.

They go to the gatestone chamber and find a pyramidal stone with four words inscribed on the four sides. She says to go to "Arafas" for the hot jungle land they seek. The other words are "Garash", "Meenar" and "Valtos". As they activate the gate and step through, she calls out to remind them that "Valtos" is the way home.

Elder Gatestone

The arrival chamber of "Arafas" has an almost identical gatestone, but this one has what seems to be a solid gold cap inscribe with many runes and sigils. This cap, perched on top of the gatestone, is presumably what prevents Lara from coming through. The party cannot reactivate the gatestone (Duncan properly discerning that these kinds of portals often have a recharge period that could range from minutes to days or even weeks). They decide to leave the cap on the gate for the time being and go exploring.

Outside the gate chamber is a subterranean lake with some stepping stones and a partially broken bridge to the far side, where an exit is visible. Sunlight streams down from high overhead, where a 50 foot wide hole in the ceiling opens to the sky above.

Arafas Gate underground lake

Partway across the lake, the party was attacked by a creature rising out of the water (of course), and was able to fight it off and continue onward (but not killing it).

They followed the passage out to the surface and found themselves high on a rugged hillside ledge looking out over the surrounding tropical forests. The entrance to the passage was very well hidden, and showed no sign of recent use.

Outside it was hot and humid. Looking out across the jungles to the east, the party could see a vast expanse of grasslands beyond, with a river winding through them (north/south). The river was miles away.

The Arafas Gate area

Climbing down an almost-vanished old path, they came to a more well-used path along a stream. They found tracks leading west (away from the edge of the jungle and the river) and decided to follow them. After a short walk they came upon a scene of battle, and the dead bodies of a couple of human warriors. The tracks, along with some blood trails, continued west.

Approaching a clearing, they saw a human woman hiding behind some bushes watching the learning, where a white four-armed ape-like creature (a girallon) was stalking around a large sick or wounded reptile. She saw the party as they saw her, and she motioned for them to hide. The girallon looked very nasty.

Collectively, they opened fire on the girallon  and went into battle. Two more of the creatures came out of the brush on the edges of the clearing, and the party was able to dispatch them without too much difficulty, although they took a decent bit of damage in the process.

After the combat, they realized that nobody could talk to the stranger, and nobody had magic prepared that would allow for two-way communication. Duncan was able to cast Comprehend Languages, which allowed him to understand what she said, and so they were able to learn some things from her.

Her name was Zarya Udak, and she was a guide and scout hired as part of an expedition looking to map and prospect the region. Her party was ambushed by a group of dark cloaked figures, a couple of them were killed, and the rest were taken captive and marched westward along the trail. Zaria had managed to hide in the underbrush and escape capture. She was tracking the ambushers when she came across the ape-creature blocking the trail.

They tracked the ambushers to an open valley nestled between the surrounding hills. The stream they had been following tumbled down a waterfall into a large pool. There were some old ruined building foundations near the pool, and in the sheer rock wall on the northwest end of the valley, next to the waterfall, was a carved stone doorway, with an open door.

A guard lay sound asleep in the sun next to the door.

The ambushers' cave

They captured the guard, Zarya interrogated him, but they were unable to get much information out of him other than that "Azard the Great would protect him". Zarya got impatient and slit his throat.

Next...Into the cliff entrance...

GM Commentary - This was our third annual holiday season "3pm to whenever" game. We played for a few hours, had dinner, snacked a lot off and on, and played a good long session with a good mix of combat and other stuff. I'm very excited about the Pandora's box of future possibilities we have opened up. I have some specific thoughts on some of them. Less specific thoughts on others. And no idea about a couple of them. Which is fun.

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - Lots of things here. They found a gate to a tropical land they believe to be Illurya. They interacted with an ancient blue (typically evil) dragon. Arian drank some dragon blood and had an ancient blue dragon offer up prayers to Tiamat in his name. They made a new friend in ?Illurya. They fought a couple of strange creatures the likes of which they had never seen before (the water creature and the girallons).

Present - All.

Campaign Journal 44 - The Forbidden Hills

We last left our heroes aboard the Florian sky ship Golden Sunrise, heading toward the Forbidden Hills, and having sighted three wyverns approaching the ship from the front...

Monday August 26, cont. - Three wyverns (small ones it would turn out) approached the ship from high off the starboard bow. A tough fight ensued, including firing the ship's elemental-powered air cannon.

As the fight with the 3 young wyverns progressed, 3 more adult wyverns appeared from low off the stern (2 being ridden by hobgoblins). A few more crew members were killed, and the remainder of the crew took a good bit of damage in fending off the others.

3 young wyvern

At one point, Arian the sorcerer cast Fly on Thalmyr the dwarven paladin, and he flew over the side and down below the ship. A number of wyvern attacks put Thalmyr in a spot where one failed saving throw would send him plummeting hundreds of feet to a sure death, but he made the save and survived. Enough damage was done to the wyverns that the three wounded survivors fled off to the southeast.

...and 3 more adults

Continuing north into the Forbidden Hills, the ship flew over a ruined town on the north shore of a lake. Sharp eyes detected landmarks that they recognized, and the party was able to figure out that the  ruins below them were the ruins they knew as Nirinas, the town on the other side of the gate in the ruins of Ranatayza, near Fulcher's Hold and close to home.

Nirinas and the Forbidden Hills
(1 mile hexes in Hexographer)

The passed over the ruins without stopping, and spent an uneventful night camped a few miles north of the ruins.

In the morning, they continued the last few miles north to the Gods' Theater, which was easy enough to find, being a giant-sized amphitheater carved into the side of a large hill adjacent to the old road. The explored the site for a while, and then searched for the ravine through the hills that would take them to the cave and the gatestone.

The Gods' Theater

With the directions from the map, the ravine was easy enough to find, and they sailed the sky ship up the ravine to a secluded valley between the surrounding hills. There was a pond fed by several streams in the center of the valley, and had some scattered ruins on the eastern side. There was a very large cave mouth at the top of an old road leading up from the ruins.

Lara's Cave

As Octavian brought the ship in to land on a flat spot south of the pond, sharp eyes spotted a number of small humanoid creatures darting out of the ruins and into the nearby trees...

Next - Into the Cave...

GM Commentary - Another fun session with a blend of a tough fight (where Thalmyr almost died), some exploring, and some exposition about lore and history of the world. As far as maps, I still use Hexographer for the main maps of the world (at a one hex equals six miles scale), but have pretty much stopped using the software for the detail scale (like the 1 hex equals 1 mile scale shown above - from a detail map done long ago). I am finding it much more enjoyable to sketch out the smaller scale maps by hand.

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - They visited a landmark that might tie into something down the road. More importantly, they learned that the "place beyond the gate" that they have been to several times is actually the ruins of the Onorian temple town of Nirinas, and they know where the location actually is on a map. They also know that the "home" end of the Ranatayza gate is only about a day's travel from Fulcher's Hold, and that the Nirinas side of the gate is only about a day's travel south of this new hoped-for gate location to a tropical land. These could be very useful in getting around...

Present - (again, too long ago, and I don't know...)

Campaign Journal 43 - The Golden Sunrise

We last left our heroes having come across a grounded Florian sky ship while on the way back to Linden...

Tuesday August 20, cont. - Just a little ways into the cautious conversation between the party and Octavian, one of Octavian's crew is struck dead by a wicked looking crudely fletched arrow. Orcs swarm toward the ship.

A long fight ensues between the different factions of good guys and a collection of orcs, orogs, an orc shaman and a hill giant. A Wall of Fire from Marius Vilm, one of Octavian's companions, helps channel the orcs and others into a killing ground dominated by the party. Malachy, with some magical firepower assistance, takes down the hill giant.

Orc and giant fight

Octavian's companions include Marius Vilm, a wizard from Immilkan on the Dragon Coast (far to the southwest), Ashtul, his goblin apprentice, Kyriss, a female barbarian of the Vornar tribes (Mal's homeland), and Beregan, a half-orc who claims to be a warrior.

Niam recognizes Beregan from his days in the Dalmar Principalities, and knows that he is a dangerous rogue and assassin. He mentions this to Octavian, who already knows that Beregan has a dubious past.

Octavian tells the party about himself and his intentions. He is the Count of Vezini, a noble from Floria. He is a traveler, explorer and archaeologist. He has brought his sky ship, the Golden Sunrise, north to tour a bunch of sights, and to search for a few others that his researches have turned up.

He tells the party that they were attacked by a huge bird (a roc) when crossing the Iron Spire Mountains, and that they have lost several crew members, including their cleric.

The party spends the night with Octavian and his crew, with the intent to fly home to Fulcher's Hold in the morning. Here they can rest, resupply, and determine what to do next.

Wednesday August 21 - The flight home to Fulcher's is uneventful, and they are given a warm welcome.

Thursday August 22 through Saturday August 24 - Rest and recuperation at Fulcher's Hold. Octavian charms everyone (socially, not magically...). Octavian and the party agree that they will all head north to the Forbidden Hills in search of a location Octavian wants to find. Octavian has a map of the area, complete with scribblings from an adventuring company that explored the area many years ago.

Octavian's Map of the Forbidden Hills

Sunday August 25 - Leave Fulcher's Hold to fly north toward the Forbidden Hills (in the middle of the South Onorian Plains), in search of a cave near a landmark called the Gods' Theater, wherein there is supposed to be a magical gate to a hot tropical land (perhaps Illurya?).

Heading toward the Forbidden Hills

Monday August 26 - Continue flying north, passing by some distant wyrd storms. In the afternoon, a trio of flying creatures are spotted approaching the ship high off the starboard bow. Wyverns!

Wyverns off the starboard bow

Next - Wyvern Attack.

GM Commentary - This was one of those sessions where a little bit of prep and the seeds for several different adventure paths turned into something pretty fun. What started as a chance encounter with a sky ship (purely for lore flavor) has turned into a jump-off point for all manner of future adventures. Now I just need to figure out what they will find in the Forbidden Hills (but I do have an idea or two...).

We had one good combat at the start of the session, but this was otherwise heavy on role playing and other things, which was great.

It was also very nice just to get back to playing and try to reestablish some momentum, as we hadn't played in about 10 weeks. Late summer and start-of-school schedules were very difficult for all concerned, and we agreed to let things go on hiatus for a couple months rather than be continually frustrated at not being able to get people together. The break wasn't bad but it is nice to be back at it.

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - A little more about the fallen realm of Onoria. A possible magical gateway to the land of Illurya. Niam had a brush with his past (how can I use this?).

Present - (writing way after the fact...I honestly don't know who was here for this session).

Campaign Journal 42 - The Evocation Sigil

We last left our heroes in the ruins of the elder Onorian town of Zinasa, inside the Tower of Rethorcar, having found a number of keys...

Saturday, August 17, cont. - Having found a number of keys, the party heads to the Dragon Door on the top floor of the tower, and inserts the appropriate gold, silver and copper colored keys into the three locks. The door clicks open.

The first chamber entered, a large octagonal one, has a clay golem guardian standing in their way. The clay golem had a large black key embedded in its chest.

Clay golem guardian

The ensuing fight was complicated by a number of pressure plates around the perimeter of the room which allowed the golem to run to one and step on it, releasing an acid spray (damaging anyone standing nearby, but healing it).

Clay golem

When the golem was defeated and near destruction, it knelt before the party, pulled the black key from its chest, and handed it to Duncan.

The next chamber was a magic dead chamber with a balcony on one side, a balcony with a door on the far side, and a bottomless void in between. In the void were a number of hovering stepping stones. The far balcony had a lever next to the door. Niam, using his ridiculously high acrobatics skill, was able to hop from platform to platform, pulling the lever, and aligning the stones into a stable bridge. The party crossed and unlocked the door with the large black key.

Descending a long curving natural passage, the party arrived at a small boat docked on the shores of a large underground lake. Getting into the boat, the party was magically pulled toward a small island in the middle of the lake. The island was bathed in a soothing white light, and in the center of the island was a marble dais on which sat a large marble chest.

Duncan stepped forward, opened the chest, expecting magical tomes or scrolls, but the chest was empty. To the rest of the party, it appeared like Duncan inhaled suddenly, tensed, and then relaxed and turned back toward the party. To Duncan, it seemed like a long time passed; days if not weeks. First there was a conversation with the spirit of Damien Rethorcar. Damien, on inspecting Duncan, hinted that he might be an ancestor of Duncan, who might be of the Rethorcar family line. After a discussion with the spirit, days passed for Duncan where scrambled bits of magical knowledge flooded his consciousness. Little of it made sense yet. Damien then told Duncan that the first sigil piece was now a part of him. He indicated that he was fated to remain in this place until 3 people found him and gained these pieces of knowledge. Duncan was the third. He would now need to move on, and no other seekers would find him in this place. He also noted that the second person, decades before, was an amiable mage named Alferith Langhorne (a name the party knew - said to be a notorious necromancer, with a stronghold they had been near on their very first adventure). Damien told Duncan he would go to Fellsar for others to find in the future. He also told Duncan that the next piece of the Evocation Sigil would be found in the Vault of Tharalin in Granath. Then he was gone.

The party left the Tower, and decided to head back to Linden. They began the journey home.

Later on the 4th day of travel southwest, a sharp eyed Niam noticed something odd off to his right - a bit of movement in the sky beyond a nearby tree line.

Moving stealthily, the party moved through the trees and emerged on the edge of a clearing by a stream. On the ground on the other side of the stream was a Florian sky ship, the crew of which was bustling about, rolling some barrels toward the stream.

The Golden Sunrise

The party stepped forward into the clearing.

A Florian noble named Octavian Montelcino cheerfully introduced himself as his companions and crew looked on. Octavian invited the party forward to talk. Cautiously, with hands on weapon hilts, the party stepped forward.

Some views of the ship: Forecastle with air gun and secondary elemental power nodes.

Forecastle

Rear deck with captain's wheel and secondary elemental power nodes.

Octavian Montalcino on the rear deck

Amidships with primary elemental power node.

Amidships

Next - Octavian Montalcino and the Florian Sky Ship...

GM Commentary - This was a good session for moving the story forward. A little combat. A little bit of a lore-dump. Some new NPCs. A sky ship. Lots of possibilities for the future.

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - They learned lore on the Evocation Sigil. They learned that Alferith Langborne, a familiar name, had been here before them. They learned that Duncan would not have a "thing" to take back to his new wizard mentor Zamra "Quickfire". They learned that sky ships are a real thing.

Campaign Journal 41 - Tower of Rethorcar

We last left our heroes having just entered the Tower of Rethorcar, in the ruined Onorian town of Zinasa...

August 16, Friday (cont.) - Standing in the entry foyer of the Tower, Badric the Cleric moved toward the center of the 30 foot diameter room in order to get a better view up through the hole in the ceiling. As he stepped into the red circle at the center of the carpet covering the floor, he began to levitate toward the hole in the ceiling. As he was rising up, Niam the Rogue was studying a portrait on the wall. The portrait was labeled "Damien Rethorcar", and looked just like an older version of Duncan the Wizard.

Wracking his memory for his knowledge of heraldry, Badric was able to recall (remarkably!) that the Rethorcars were a noble family known for their powerful wizards. When Onoria fell, the surviving members of the Rethorcars were believed to have fled southeast into what is now Mercia. The heraldic badge of Duncan's family is a red hawk, and one of the key elements of Rethorcar heraldry was also a red hawk. Duncan's family has lived in northern Mercia for generations...

The ruins of Zinasa

The trick to managing the levitation up (and down) from level to level was soon figured out by Niam, and the party set about exploring the Tower. Niam floated up through each floor, getting the general lay of the land. When approaching the sixth floor, it became apparent (too late) that the last floor was an illusionary trap, and he took a significant amount of lightning damage.

The fourth floor had one door, which Niam took electrical damage from when attempting to pick the lock.

The fifth floor had an ornate dragon door, with carved high relief heads of gold, silver and copper, each with a keyhole beneath it. So they had a door...but no keys. Yet.

For a tower of approximately 30 foot diameter when viewed from the outside, and also approximately 30 foot in diameter at the center of each level, most parts of the interior didn't match the exterior appearances. Each level had a number of doors and windows that made the interior of the tower far larger and more irregular than the outside. The other thing that the characters soon noticed was that the view out of all of the windows seemed to be random in both the view to be seen (scene, season, weather and time of day), and the apparent height above the ground.

Tower of Rethorcar

The party was looking for three keys of gold, silver and copper, and had six apparent tower floors to explore. One of the first things they noticed was that the temperature was a refreshingly cool ~70 degrees, compared to the 90+ heat outside. Also, for a tower that had supposedly been sealed inside an Invulnerable Mageward for the last ~350 years, the air was fresh and everything was clean, undisturbed and well preserved. Remarkably so.

The first floor had three hallways. One led to a series of doors that blinked characters from one door to another, seemingly at random. After some exploration, Malachy the barbarian went through one door and didn't reemerge from another. He appeared in different series of rooms, including what seemed to be a practice range for archery, knife and axe throwing, and a fitness training room containing all sorts of climbing, balancing and agility training obstacles. Flitting about this room was a copper key...but more on that later.

While Malachy was off on his own, the other members of the group explored a sitting room leading to a trophy room. The trophy room had heads of 9 different dragons and other reptilian creatures. The heads moved slightly and seemed to be watching the characters. While Badric was getting beat up by the flicking tongue of a giant frog, Niam managed to approach a silver dragon's head and remove a silver key from its mouth. A large red dragon head regarded them intently, but nothing else happened. A book on dragons was recovered from the sitting room.

The final hallway of the first floor led to an extravagant series of chambers. The first was a large and extensively decorated dance hall, complete with a magical music generating device. To the side of this room were a pair of dressing rooms flanking a room with three pools set into the floor - one with cool water, one with warn water and one with hot water. Steam filled the air.

After much chasing, falling and chasing again, Malachy (very bruised and battered) was able to obtain the elusive copper key. Continuing on, he explored a series of workshops, after which he found himself on the third floor landing. Malachy went down and found his way back to the party at this point.

Beyond the dance wall was a huge and well kept indoor garden. Looking down from a balcony near the entrance, the party could see a pair of pools flanking the room, and a large foundation near the far end. Gravel paths led through lush undergrowth. Niam identified some plants useful in brewing certain poisons. The fountain had a large carved stone dragon in the center of it.

The group explored the second floor next, and it proved to be a series of bedroom suites, containing a total of 5 nicely furnished bedrooms split between three suites (each with its own sitting room). Each bedroom had a magical fireplace whose level of flame could be adjusted or turned completely off. There was also a dining room, with places set for 14. Upon entering the room, a construct figure, looking like a clay figure sculpted by a child, entered the room from a far door, and asked a question in a language that they could not understand. Duncan the Wizard cast Comprehend Languages and was able to understand the figure, which asked again "what can I do for you?" Duncan replied "dinner for 5", upon which the figure went back through the far door (into the kitchens). It and another similar figure began making a wonderfully smelling dinner. Fifteen minutes later, dinner was served. It consisted of swordfish steaks, grilled vegetables and fresh baked bread. It was the best meal they had eaten since they left Linden (and better than most of those town meals...). A peek into the kitchen showed ovens, grills, prep stations, and a pair of doors extending beyond. The group did not enter the kitchen.

The third level had the workshops previously seen by Malachy. The main workshop had stone carving and alchemy areas. There were piles of stone chips around the stone carving area. To one side was a storage room. To the other was a wood carving workshop, with a plethora of tools, raw materials, and some partly finished furniture.

The group made another attempt at opening the electrified door on the fourth floor, but were stymied. It would take magic to open the door.

Revisiting some of the areas they had been through, Duncan noticed something odd about the green and yellow tapestries on the second floor. On closer inspection, the intricate embroidery proved to be the recipes for four lower level spells, once of which was Knock, a magical opening spell. Duncan didn't know the spell, but given enough time to study the tapestry, could learn it well enough to cast it once. Given more time and the right materials, he could copy it into his spell book.

Going back to the kitchen helpers, Duncan asked about the keys. After some back and forth, Duncan was able to glean the information "golden dragon in the water". Returning to the dragon fountain in the garden area, Badric was able to find a hidden compartment in the carved stone dragon's head containing a gold key...

Melior the Druid, returning later to the gardens, was stalked by a fey creature, and resisted being charmed by what turned out to be a dryad. The dryad, pouting, faded back into a nearby tree, and wasn't seen again.

The party then decided to rest for the night in the baths room, while Duncan studied the tapestry with the Knock spell, in the hopes of casting in on the fourth floor door on the morrow...

August 17, Saturday - With the knowledge of the Knock spell freshly in his mind, Duncan returned to the trapped electrified door on the fourth level, and was able to use the spell to open the door. Beyond was a sitting room, very nicely furnished. This led to an equally nicely furnished bedroom (obviously the master's), which had a large closet full of nice wizard clothes, a balcony, and a storage room. The storage room had a pair of chests. One was a simple chest containing ~1,000 GP in gems and ~1,500 in various old Onorian-era coins. The other was a smaller metal chest with an incredibly complex puzzle lock. Surprisingly (to the DM at least), Duncan and Niam working together managed to open the puzzle chest on the first try (an extended series of skill checks). Inside was a golden key. Their second golden key....

Next...Finishing the Tower of Rethorcar.

GM Commentary - Hopefully this session was amenable to my players. Not a single die was rolled in combat, although many were rolled for other purposes. I'm of the opinion that mixing up combat and non-combat content is important. Occasionally this results in an entire session leaning heavily one way or another without a good mix within the session. D&D as written doesn't necessarily agree, since if you aren't killing things, you aren't getting XP, and therefore aren't advancing your character and making them better in game terms. As always, I award XP for non-combat things, and while this was not a high XP session, it was certainly not a total write off.

Also...See my prior post on the doldrums. I have been stuck in the doldrums regarding this campaign for a little while now...but that is over. I'm excited again, and can't wait to figure out what comes after the Tower of Rethorcar. Lots of ideas are swirling. This is a good thing.

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - Duncan may have a connection to Damien Rethorcar and the Rethorcar family, a family of well-known Onorian wizards.

Present: Melior (level 7), and Duncan, Malachy, Badric and Niam (all level 6).

Campaign Journal 40 - Zinasa

We last left our heroes camped near their destination, the ruined Onorian town of Zinasa, and the Tower of Rethorcar...

Friday, August 16 - The party wakens after a somewhat eventful night. During a few of the watches, strange lights were seen very far off to the north/northwest. The lights were similar to the flashes of a summer thunderstorm, but were of a rainbow of colors. Low rumbles like distant thunder could be heard. The party has heard of the Wyrd Storms that wrack the Onorian plains, and presumably this was evidence of those storms.

Best estimate was that the group was within a day or so of their destination, and were confident that they were heading in the correct direction, as they were following the overgrown remnants of an old road heading northeast.

After a morning's march, a brief lunch, and another couple hours' march, the party found themselves on a rise looking down into a valley below. The overgrown ruins of a sizable town were easy to see. On a small hill on the far side of the ruined town stood an intact tower...

As they made their way to the Tower, sounds of a fight became audible. In an open area on the hill near the tower, a hill giant and a handful of orcs and hobgoblins were fighting a small band of humans. There were several casualties on both sides, but the humans seemed to be in desperate straits.

Fight at Zinasa

Our heroes leapt into the fray, surprising the giant and his allies, and quickly turned the tide in their favor. Magical energy arced through the air, blades flashed, and soon the bad guys were killed or running. The hill giant fell to the combined attacks of much of the party.

Malachy and Thalmyr fight a hill giant

The other humans were in need of assistance and healing, which the party was able to supply. Their leader, Raclar Bearnson, told a fascinating tale...

Barbarians beset

Raclar's Tale - Raclar was a sub-chief of the White Elk clan of the Vornar barbarians from far to the northeast. This was a neighboring clan of Malachy's from his homeland. Raclar said that he had fallen out of favor with his chief (he didn't say why...) and had been sent abroad on a mission that was likely intended to be the death of him - he was to be delivered with a small group of his kin to the mouth of the Trillayan River (far north of the Kingdom of Alsberg). From here, he was to map the territory in that region, so as to expand the knowledge of his people as to what the land was like far to their west. Raclar's group of ten was dropped off and abandoned. They made their way west up the river into the land that was once the Elder realm of Nanerith (although Raclar would have no way of knowing this). They saw mountains to the west (the Iron Spires and the Craghorn Peaks), and decided that they should turn back and head to the coast. However, they were cut off by hordes of undead following along behind them, and were forced further and further west. Eventually they crossed the mountains via an old road through a pass (the Ironhorn Gap), skirted a large lake (Icemelt Lake), and had wandered south, finding themselves in these ruins. Of the eight that had made it this far, two were killed, leaving Raclar and five others.

The party gave them such supplies as they could spare and directions to Linden, from which they could take the Road back east to Rimini, Alsberg and the coast. Vornar longships occasionally made port along the coast, and they might be able to find their way home from there.

Malachy was able to ask Raclar whether he knew anything of his own clan, and his family. Raclar did. Mal's father, a contender for the rule of his clan, had been killed. One of his two sisters had been enslaved, the other had fled and was in hiding. His younger brother had also fled and his whereabouts were unknown.

After a short rest, the party approached the Tower, which appeared to be a simple four-story round structure approximately 30 feet in diameter. They could not reach the door due to a shimmering magical force field that protected the Tower, but Duncan recited the incantation Zamra had taught him and the force field allowed them to pass, and the door swung open...

Next - The Tower...

GM Commentary - This was another fun session with lots of roleplaying and one big fight (kinda like the prior session). The players learned more about the world, and Malachy's player was given the freedom to tell us about his family and their fate. Sometimes it is more rewarding (and certainly less predictable) to ask a player to fill in details about the world, rather than having everything fall on the GM. The little bit of roleplaying about news from Mal's homeland is fodder for potential adventures down the road.

The 5 characters present earned 800 XP each. This was for a hill giant, a bunch of hobgoblins, a bunch of orcs, aiding the barbarians (and subsequent information gathered in the ensuing conversations), and discovery of the Tower and successful entry. As has been the case for quite a while now, I am bending the rules to award XP for things other than killing monsters. By the book, the only way to get XP is to kill/overcome things. To make sure that the characters/players keep getting XP, I would need to keep throwing monster encounter after monster encounter at the party. Sometimes I'd rather not have to do that...

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - The Wyrd Storms on the horizon at night reminded the characters of the strange wild magic that pervades the Onorian plains, beyond the Shadow Wall to the northwest. They learned from the barbarians that something evil is stirring in old Nanerith (another fallen Elder realm), across the mountains beyond Spirehorn Gap to the northeast. We all learned that Malachy has two sisters and a brother, and learned something about the fate of his father and siblings. They also learned that perhaps the orcs and hobgoblins of the Shadow Wall have giant allies.

Campaign Journal 39 - Rest and the Road to Zinasa

We last left our heroes in the aftermath of their return from the evil Underdark City of Traniska. They had stumbled upon a secret meeting between their (semi-patron) cleric Fulcher of Alaron and local noble and power broker Cyric Graymantle, two men who they believed to be enemies...

July 27, Saturday (cont.) - As the party walked down a back hallway in the Linden Inn, returning from Raglin's quick tour of the basements, including the sealed doorway to an unknown place, a door to a back room opened and the characters heard a familiar voice say "well that's the plan then". Looking past a serving girl and into the room, they saw the cleric Fulcher of Alaron and local noble Cyric Graymantle smiling and shaking hands. The remains of a large meal was on the table near them. They startled on seeing the characters, looked at each other, and invited the group in for a chat.

Inside the private room, they sat down for drinks and an explanation. They then noticed another person in the room; a rugged looking middle aged halfling leaning against the wall in the corner. The halfling was introduced as Arlis Maplethorp, though the more perceptive members of the group got the feeling this was a name made up spontaneously after a slight pause.

"The Plan" referenced by Cyric in the comment overheard by the characters was explained as the moderate-term plan to unite the Shearingvale as a political entity based around the town of Linden. As Cyric explained, both Wegley to the east and Turil to the west were acting expansionistic, and the fiercely independent people of the increasingly prosperous Vale would be hard pressed to defend against falling under the sway of either of those larger towns if they remained fragmented.

Cyric's plan, with the assistance of his childhood friend Fulcher, was to fund enough civic improvements to show the Vale villages the value of governmental influence. The threat of Fulcher's castle building on the borders of the Vale was hoped (by Cyric) to be an additional factor in uniting the Vale, for the short term goal of resisting a takeover by Fulcher. Fulcher again professed no interest in forming the "kingdom of Fulcher", but was willing to play the foil to Cyric's unification drive.

Civic improvements in the works, or planned in the near future, include: expansion of the city walls, expansion of the Outriders (guards patrolling the Vale), construction of a temple to Alaron (complete with full clerical staff), bringing in a sage to establish a library, and various other possible business ventures. Cyric was already responsible for bringing in a high quality armorer and weapon smith.

The characters were asked to keep this information to themselves while the situation developed.

After the long meeting, the halfling, who had said very little, pulled Duncan the wizard aside. He introduced himself as Zamra Quickfire. Duncan recognized the name as an evocation Archmage, a halfling known to be very powerful but somewhat reclusive. Zamra said that he had heard good things about Duncan's talents from Alissara, the elven mage of Fulcher's Band. He asked if Duncan would like to study with him. Duncan agreed (of course).

July 28 (Sunday) through August 9 (Friday) - Over the next couple of weeks, the characters rest, recover and train. Duncan advances to level 6 under the tutelage of Zamra.

During this period, Malachy and Melior visit Martine the hedge witch, a potion-maker who lives a few miles north of Linden. She has the knowledge to produce some basic potions, and they buy a few healing potions. After a lengthy discussion, they agree to pay 200 GP to fund Martine's travel to the nearby city of Turil and allow her to buy additional texts on potion making. If all goes well, Martine's abilities will increase.

Zamra's Favor - As their training comes to a close, Zamra tells Duncan the legend of the Seven Sigils of Onoria - seven caches of hidden and lost magic, preserved for future generations by the elder mages of Onoria, before the final collapse of the Elder realms. Many mages over the centuries have searched for these caches, but none are known to have succeeded in finding and unlocking them. Each is said to be able to be found only by following a number of clues, collecting pieces of keys from various locations, and figuring out the final location of the cache (and then figuring out how to open it).

Zamra told Duncan that he believed he had found the location of the first key piece for the Evocation Sigil; he thought that it was hidden in a place called the Tower of Rethorcar in the ruined Onorian town of Zinasa, roughly a week northeast of Linden. The Tower was said to be the only completely intact structure in a town that had been destroyed 350 years ago. The legends say that the reason for its survival was that it is protected by the lost 10th level spell Invulnerable Mageward. It is beyond the power of any known magic in the world today to bypass the protections of an Invulnerable Mageward, unless the passphrase is known. Zamra gave Duncan what he believed to be the passphrase, and asked that he and his friends find and retrieve the key piece. He said he would do it himself, but he just found this passphrase, and he needed to travel to the far South (to Immilkan in the Dragon Coast lands), and could not do it himself. The need for speed was urgent, as he had reason to believe that knowledge of the passphrase could be found by others following the same recently exposed clues that he did. Duncan, with his character's thirst for magical knowledge, couldn't say no. The rest of the group was agreeable...

The Road to Zinasa

August 10, Saturday - The group travels from Linden to Fulcher's Hold, spending the night in the main keep of the rapidly progressing castle.

August 11, Sunday - The group sets out to the northeast, planning to skirt the northern edge of the Shadowveil Forest, across the plains south of the hills of the Shadow Wall. The day ends with the party camped well to the east of the hills holding Castle Langborne.

August 12, Monday - A second day's uneventful travel has the party camping in the open ground between the hills of the Red Barrows and the forest to the southeast.

August 13, Tuesday - On the third day, with the hills of the Shadow Wall looming in the distant northwest, the party sees smoke ahead. Approaching carefully, they come upon the scene of a recent fight, with many dead orcs and hobgoblins piled in a heap. The smoke comes from a still-smoldering funeral pyre. Arian, the Valwyn (high) elf, investigates, and draws on his knowledge of elven customs of the north, realizing that this is the funeral pyre of a Farendil (wood) elf warrior. It is the custom of the wood elves of the region to burn a warrior killed in battle at the site of his death. They advance a little further and camp for the night.

August 14, Wednesday - Proceeding northeast, and keeping the edge of the Shadoweil Forest near to their right, they make good time. Late in the day, as they are passing a small woodlot, they realize that they are being watched by a small group of elves mounted on horses. The party approaches cautiously making signs of peace and friendship, and after a cautious beginning, the party camps for the evening with the elves. They are wood elves from the Shadowveil, and several are wounded. It was one of their number who was killed fighting the orcs. Badric the dwarven cleric heals the wounded, and wins the respect of the elves.

Sindral, the elven patrol leader, pledges his friendship to the group, and says he will tell the tale of  their encounter (and the aid provided) to his people.

August 15, Thursday - The Monument of Irineth.

Breaking camp, the elves head off to the southeast while the party heads northeast.

For part of the later afternoon, the party is passing a large marshy area on their right. At one point, Niam the rogue notices a deteriorating old earthen causeway extending out to a small island in the swamp. There are three carved stone obelisks, one on the island and two in the swamps flanking it. There is a second small island beyond the first. Growing around the obelisk on the island appears to be a large cluster of star lilies, a rare flower that is a component of powerful healing potions.

The party decides to investigate the obelisk, and harvest the flowers. As they near the island, the elves in the party (Melior and Niam) hear the faint voices of elves singing a mournful song. Then monsters of various decaying shapes and sizes begin lurching up out of the marsh and advancing on the party.

The Monument of Irineth

Desperate combat ensues, during which the party notices that a metal torch in a bracket on the obelisk/monument has begun to glow with a dull white light. There is a second empty bracket. Realizing that there seem to be an endless number of creatures, and that the monsters replenish their numbers as soon as the characters kill them, the characters begin to look around for a solution to their problem.

Niam notices another glow of light in the reeds along the near edge of the other small island. Darting past the intervening monsters, he finds another dimly glowing metal torch lying in the underbrush. He brings the torch back to the monument, and while Thalmyr holds the nearby monsters at bay, climbs the monument and slips the torch into the second bracket.

Battle at the Monument of Irineth

As soon as the second torch is back in place, both burst into bright radiant white light, driving the creatures back into the marsh. While nursing their wounds, the party harvests the star lilies, and Melior is able to read the elven runes on the monument, which say "May Irineth always be a beacon of light in the darkness". Who or what Irineth is they have no idea...

Following the battle, the party continues a few miles north and camps a reasonable distance away from the marshes. They should reach Zinasa tomorrow.

GM Commentary - I enjoyed this session very much. After two sessions that were very heavy in combat (the two parts of the final Underdark fight), it was very refreshing to be (A) above ground, and (B) doing something that was setting up a completely new story arc. Good stuff. It was also a nice mix of lots of roleplaying and one big combat encounter. XP for the session was ~700 per character (which is very light at 6th level - the gap from 6 to 7 is 14,000-23,000 XP...).

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - The party learned specifics of the political plans of Cyric and Fulcher. Duncan met and was befriended by a powerful wizard (more powerful than Alissara). The characters traveled new ground, heading further northeast than they had been before. They met elves of the Shadowveil Forest, and now know there are such things. They were reminded that there are orcs and hobgoblins prowling the lands around the Shadow Wall. They learned there are at least a few ancient elven ruins in the area. I like these things, as I hope that it helps create a sense of depth to the world, and thus to the campaign.