Eastern Shadows

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Eastern Shadows
GM: Jono
Season: ~Spring 824 WK
Night: Starting Monday at 7pm on the 9th of September 2024 at Jono's place (dress warm).
Area: West of Carzala
Level: Low/Medium
Info: Information from players for Jono
House Rules: Jono Quickness and Slowness

Party

Character name	College / Skills	Race	Player
Ruby	Fire	Human	Kelsie
Sonny Holliday	Celestial	Hobbit	Michael M
Johann	Wicca	Human	Michael Haycock
Dae	Mind	Elf	Gus
Thornie	Earth	Dwarf	Michael P
Edwin	N/A	Shapechanger	Mark Scofield
Astaria	Air	Human	Josie
Frigg	Ice	Human	Charles

Party leader - Sonny & Ruby
Scribe - Dae
Mil Sci - Edwin

Employer

Mistress of Shadow (also known as Lulu Till). She is one of the local Guild leaders from Gugnir's Hope. Scouts have reported issue with a new band of Orcs. The guild master's wants more information.

Notes of the Season

"Of Cliffs & Fire Pigs, Hobbits found bliss through Dwarven speech"

Having spent the night at the village of Green Goblins, and experiencing their usual 'hospitality' we notice three boats that are going along the river headed to the the cave entrance at the bottom of the hill, and we decide to follow them by taking the path that goes along the river. On the way we pass through their farmlands, and outer defensive structures.

The forest on the outskirts of the cave seems to have been cleared of dead trees, and any and all fallen or rotting wood, we conclude someone might have been harvesting them for kindling. Upon arriving here, Edwin takes the lead with his dogs, and shortly after we see projectiles headed towards the boats, after a while an Orc leader pops out of the bushes, berating his underlings for their poor shooting skills. While enthralled by the spectacle, we notice some brown or maroon hobbit-like creatures also looking over the ongoing combat happening between the shore and the boats, some of them, ridding what looked to be pigs.

Upon reaching them, we confirm they are hobbits, but not the ones we've previously encountered on the cliffs, these are dressed with a more wild flare, and carry themselves in a more road-seasoned fashion. They seem to belong to another plane, a fiery place. Sonny tries to Detect Arcana on them, but fails horribly, causing a black blob to raise from bellow his feet, it was quickly squashed by Ruby, whom didn't want any interruptions in finding out more about these unique flavour of hobbits. Karl, one of them starts communicating with Sonny, albeit on Dwarvish, making Ruby take on translating duties. They are in search for the goblins that have taken gear from them at an earlier time, some of which seem to be the Rain Staffs carried by Johan & Ruby, which are two out of six of the missing staffs. They are also trying to find captives of these goblins, including a bottled princess, and a hobbit named Kurtis.

We've learnt that what has been driving these goblins out of these caves...nay...out of another plane, has been the Master of these hobbits, which they say it looks somewhat like our sickly looking companion, the elf, but were unwilling to share any more information about it, not even their name. We've set up a deal with the hobbits, to provide us further information on how to travel through the cave and control where we land (since if you don't you might fall into a random plane apparently), all we have to do is assist them with their hunt for items and captives. Meeting them can happen twice a month, at the beginning, and at the middle of the month, at the top of the cliff, during noon, the will wait for us no more than half an hour.

Once our encounter with the pig riding hobbits concludes, we return to the Green Goblin Village, with newfound information at hand. Once there we see the goblins treating some foreign women with reverence, these foreigners seem to be acting a little bit like water fountains, and they seem to be licking and drinking water from them. It is a bit chaotic when it comes to the Green Goblins, I might have just seen it wrong. The rest of the day is spent with Edwin trying to communicate with the goblins about some work to be done to his amulet, but with little success, and Sonny trying to improve his communication skills with them.

The following day, Sonny wakes up to a pile of trinkets (for the second time), most of them shiny, left for him, this time, he checks the pile, and decides to keep three large alligator teeth found there. We decide to head back towards Gugnir's Hope, stopping on the way to check with more hobbits! But this time, familiar ones, were we spend the night, and Sonny finds a message left for him by Antonella, which also leads us back towards home. Before hitting the sack, Sonny, Ruby, Johann and Edwin receive drinks. Sonny's and Ruby's drinks seem to have special effects, the former will help him with his sleep the next few days, while the later will make her move faster and further, for an unknown amount of time. Dae receives pansies, is it because he is an elf, or because he looks like he can't handle liquor?.

During supper, we discuss with them the fire breathing pigs, and their hobbit riders, and they tell us of news of a traveling circus in Amber, comprised of elves and humans. Also they tell is that there once was a princes in a bottle, a sister of a Nixie, who was saved some 30 years ago by some adventurers. It wasn't clear to me if one of them was Mordrin, or a relative of Mordrin, but she did follow him down to a cave with a River. I was too busy smelling the pansies to follow the conversation, wonder where they were cut from?. But there was also a rumor that the Nixie went with Clementine, and that she had made a well somewhere, Ruby was having a weird natured conversation with an equally weird old hobbit.

Ruby spent the night having weird dreams about Goblins, a whole horde of them chasing her. Sonny used detect arcana on her to determine if she was cursed, but fails to confirm or deny it. We leave the hobbits place next morning, and arrive at the lake where Mr Beaver has made his damn, we call for him, and he arrives, majestically riding his beloved steed, Mr Turtle. Elated to see us, in his dire time of need, he asks for our assistance during the next High moon, 'powerful creatures will try to steal salt from the rock in the middle of the lake'. These creatures are of dark magic, and expected to arrive towards the end of the month, in about 20 days, He fears they will put something on the water to drive him away, enabling them to perform a dark ritual. These creatures come from a place of darkness, perhaps a tower, cave, or plane. He offers potions to drive away death.

At Ruby's request, he provides us with some of his powerful salt, which will prevent the undead from rising, and 'make already animated dead more sluggish?'(not too sure, was smelling the pansies). Sonny inquires about the most powerful magic these creatures can use, and Beaver describes it very similarly to Thorns of Corruption. He gives us 6 potions, and mentions "they will likely come five days before the full moon". Other than that, he informs us that elf merchants visited him three days ago, and they were also headed to Gugnir's Hope.

We skip the pig farm on our way back, but still, during night-time, at the distance, come across some tiny dark creatures, casting long dark shadows. Sonny asks his friend about their allegiance, and receives the answer of not being problematic if we talk to them. We skip that suggestion, but Sonny gives his friend a fishing hook and POOF, the creature dissapears.

Whilst camping at night, during Ruby's watch, we are 'visited' by a 10 foot tall (maybe it was the grogginess of the night, and it was not as tall) figure with menacing black bat wings, carrying a whip at her hip, a sheathed sword, wearing black gloves. She is dressed entirely in black, and has a set of black bat-like wings on her...her features...seem elvish.

We decide to talk to her, it definitely wasn't an impulse of our elf deeming every other elf he finds friendly. She informs us she was in the search for Dae, his mother sends dark tidings about his 'sister', and confuses him, even more by calling it also half-sister, adoptive sister, and his uncle's child. When asked about her identity, she says she is one of the Zeladons (Cellar doors?).

She casts a spell on Dae, which seems to be Shadow form at rank 15 (double duration), and leaves alone, after being rejected both by Ruby and Dae, about bringing them with haste, leaving behind a warning "Remember, the woods are not empty..." </nowiki>

"Of the Elven gaze, Homecomings turned unwelcome"

Early in the morning, the Jester Collective, set out and reaching the grove on the outskirts of a neighborhood where among many others, Dae's Family lives. A crowd of a dozen or so people...on closer count...fourteen, are occupying the front of the family workshop, which never gathers that much attention. On closer inspection, we find it might have something to do with the heavily decorated elves, more beautiful than or traveling water mage , standing there among them. Upon making our way through, Dae's mother takes him aside to let him know those elves, are from Elfheim, and they are looking for my sister, and on a lesser note, probably also Dae, due to readings made from the sky at Elfheim. His mother clarifies to him, upon his insistence, that it's not a biological sister, but a relative.

We leave towards the busy parts of Gingnir's Hope, where we find the streets are more busy than usual, before proceeding further we are seen by some lads of the keep, urge for us to talk to them. They bring tidings of folk looking for us, Dwarves, Elves, and Hobbits. All three part of different groups, and while Sonny is the one the hobbits are looking for, they are unsure of the rest. Weary of finding trouble, or trouble finding us, we decide to skip the village and head towards mistress Lulu, and with our keen perception we see strange movement occurring on the bathhouse, and later also see Thorny's people changing the color of horses (on of them, a rival, throws thorny an object, but he nonchalantly catches it with ease) but we chose to ignore both interactions until we report back to the mistress.

Upon reaching the forest were the Celestials dwell, we find a lot of folk carving pumpkins, and once we're further deep, we come across half a dozen Wiccans. It turns out, currently there are five rangers in Gungnir's Hope, while there are only 3 positions. It seems the elivish court has decided to replace some of the rangers stationed here. Additionally, the elvish court suspects Dae's father from sheltering and hiding dissidents here, al allegation that seems to emanate from an elvish faction from the past, that rased this claims against his family. And on the subject of the elvish court...they are also the ones who requested or summoner Gungnir's Water Mage to go to Elfheim, "I know that in good authority" Lulu states.

We are informed that the group of dwarves looking for the Whimsical Gang, is doing so in regards for things what might have been found by Edwin Sonny & Johan sometime ago under Gungnir's Hope. Lulu asks Dae if there are any shapeshifters in his family, before ending our meeting and asking us to return at midnight for further instructions, since she has to digest the information we brought her in regards to the situation about the visitors from other planes coming from the caves beneath the cliff.

We decide to head to the Bakery of Sonny's Family, go for some fresh Pies & Buns. Theresa gives us plenty of food, since she sees us so malnourished according to her standards. One of the lads working at at the bakery gives us some sausage rolls to lire the Water Snake, and as a tip Sonny gives him a silver piece.

To kill some time we decide to head to the sheriff, but we spot the elves looking for Dae & his sister and decide to bolt before they see us, rerouting towards the bathhouse, only to be informed along the way, that the Dwarves that are looking for us are at Ruby's Forge currently, Sonny decides to dance with the shadows to find out more about the Dwarves and their motives at the forge, but can only make out "....west.....trade...." from their conversation. He sees them wearing half plates, which usually means they are out to kill somewhere, or that there is violence to be expected, but inside of the forge at least, they are acting respectful. Sonny is not spotted by the Dwarves, but a figure standing in the fire of the forge beckons him but the heat is too strong for Sonny to get closer.

While we are keeping a low profile and awaiting Sonny's return, Ruby is approached in the street and is informed that the Baron wants to speak with her, and soon. Ruby goes there, and the rest of the Quirky Bunch decide to follow. We are intercepted by Caspar, the Baron's son. He is roughly 10 years our elder, and Ruby detects he is not the brightest of stars. He informs us that his father has been asking questions about her merry group of friends, and inquiring about our involvements with robberies. It seems someone is spreading rumors that our crew is involved with the robbery of thousand pieces. And the request to see us, has been put not only due to that, but also to comply with the court of elves demand. Casper is fast to let us know, that his interception is to avoid us showing up, leaving it to be read between the lines how much of this was his idea, and how much was his father's instruction.

With newfound awareness of how many eyes are out looking for us, we decide to skip the village and head northeast, towards puppy town. Where Sonny attempts to DA the name of some species, to find out they are Ork-man, and where Edwin proceeds to show us a bit of how they train their beasts. While waiting there and keeping an eye out towards the forest where the Celestials dwell, we spot the people of influence from the village heading there, probably holding a special meeting to discuss the current affairs storming the village. But...we don't only see the people of influence headed there...we see the elves that are looking for us skulking to spy on the meeting and the mistresses. We discuss a bit of the power dynamics of the town and how the real power is in the had of all the Mistresses. Gugnir's Hope is led by them. We have a supper that still moves, it's a dark substance, which the courageous eater, was rewarded with 4 points of fatigue restoration for their bravery.

Midnight comes, and we must go to meet Lulu, so we ask Edwin's mistress for assistance, and she startles the elves off, so we can proceed with a better chance of being unnoticed. Se gives us a contraption, a pink stone, that Dae's mother actually crafts, it's meant to stop elves, you put it in the ground and there is a high likelihood of them not being able to pass through them. We make our way to the forest, from which we see a purplish light emanating from it. As we get closer and deeper into it, we see a line of people, about a dozen or so there, primarily three of the Celestials, three of the Wiccans, and 3 of the blacksmiths.
We are to head out to Blue grass, or so Lulu state. Once in Blue Grass we will enter another realm through the ponds where we will take upon further training to prepare us, while also keeping out of sight of the elves that are on the look for us, away from Gugnir's Hope's area. We are offered to take the endeavor of flying to Seagate to get Helena, the water mage to come back, but due to the elven peril, traveling to Blue Grass directly, takes precedence.

We are given Strenght of Stone, and a blend of celestial magics, we are provided each with a torch, whose light shall only be seen by their holder. We head west, on foot, towards Blue Grass, upon arrival, we see the place covered by a blue lavander colour, a town made of stone round houses, with blue thatched roofs. In contrast to our town, this place is remarkably quiet.

Arriving at the pond, swimming magic is cast on us, there is a woman with reptilian features, and something that looks almost like gills, she is always restless, moving her feet, never still. "On the pool, swim around three times, alongside the current that goes clockwise, once you do the third loop, you can come up outside again" she says to all of us, and while staring at Sonny she says to him that he should dig in the beaches at dawn.

Once we hop on the pond, we almost lost Sonny, but luckily Ruby comes to his aid, and we surface on warm water, on a beach, where the climate is also warm, we hear the surf of the waves, and see a building in the distance and head there. We find Thorny's Mistress there, she is carving extra rooms.

We are warned that terrible people live above the cliffs, and that we should avoid making big smoke, like explosions and such. At dawn, Sonny goes down to the beach digging for treasure, he sees a lot of shipwrecks along the beach with the low tide.

This has been the first night that Ruby has slept with no nightmares recently, which is was a propitious omen for our following half a dozen weeks of training we were about to undertake.

"Of Sylphs and Dryads, take heed; their allure hides treachery under the canopy"

Our training is guided by our Mistresses, and a small mutant dwarf for Dae as his instructor (peculiar one, when darkness falls, she transforms into stone).
After six weeks of training, a strikingly beautiful woman appears. Those more familiar with the urban side of Gugnir's Hope, Ruby and Thorny, recognize her as the Mistress of the Baron. She is known for her elusive nature, often staying in the shadows and maintaining a low profile. We are introduced to Lady Niccola by our Mistresses, who will guide us through a Greater Enchantment for each of us(Rank 14). We have the option to focus on two areas of our choice, one area for a longer duration (two seasons), or three areas over a shorter period (four weeks). Johan opts to enhance his combat, resistance, and spell aptitudes. While Sonny will work on his physical aptitudes (Stats), resistance, and spell aptitudes. Ruby will enhance her combat, resistances, and spells aptitude. Thorny will also delve into resistance and spells aptitude. And Dae only focuses on his spells.

Before departing from us, Lady Niccola explains to us, that currently, at night, our spell success chances increase about a tenth (105), while during the day, it’s about a twentieth (5%). At the end of our training, around twenty witches perform a 'Blessing of the Child.' Surprisingly, this blessing even affects Sonny and Dae, who consider themselves the most mature of the group. Dae is disheartened to hear that he still has maybe fifty years to go before he truly grows up. As a result of the blessing, everyone receives a total of 22 points in Wicca to use as a bonus to enhance their chances of success in future endeavors.

We are given a task, to follow a lead to the Plane of Earth. Several individuals plan to send some skallywags to take items there for recharging. This area is reasonably populated at this time of year. We are to discover the best way to sneak in and investigate the individuals fencing goods there. There’s a young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Joshua, accompanied by a mysterious third individual. They are set to meet a contact to unload their ill-gotten gains. The Rambling Man, well-versed in earth magic, appears to be leading them. We suspect they have contracted this group for assistance, and we believe he possesses one of the Rain Staffs we are searching for. Legend has it that he was once a doppelganger of a powerful mage who had a horn on his face.

The Joshuas are traveling through the Fastness and enter the Plane of Earth via caves near the Green Water Goblins. Our mistresses know of another tunnel that leads to this plane, requiring a 24-hour walk to reach them. The witches provide us with two potions to be used within the week. One potion reduces our endurance but restores twice that amount of fatigue (13 + D), while the other heals all of our endurance.They escort us back to Bluegrass, where we encounter Katarine (or Katrine), the water mage, returning from Seagate. She helps with the turnips and gives each of us a turnip.

While traveling on our cats, still through a high mana zone in the Fastness, Sonny’s feline warns him of something ahead, which he suspects is a tailed spider. As Sonny steps on his cat's tail, the creatures notice us—hybrid scorpion-hobbit creatures.
In a panic, Sonny trips (00) and gets his foot (and Thorny’s cat’s paw) stuck in a trap, taking 6 damage. His cat darts past us, meowing in distress. We prepare for battle, unwilling to abandon our unlucky friends, as the code of the Goof Troop dictates. From another direction, we hear more creatures approaching, joining the Scorbbits. Ruby panics and flees the battlefield, while her cat unexpectedly goes berserk against the skeletons. Thorny’s cat faints, and although Thorny stands his ground, yet he hesitates to engage. I’m unsure what happened to Johan's cat, but Johan prepares a thorn wall as Sonny tries to free himself and Thorny attempts to rescue his cat. Dae makes a futile attempt at a mind attack on the skeletons, panic supersedes reason.

For our relief, one of the Scorbbits/Hobbpions charges toward the skeletons. Three of the skeletons attack Ruby’s cat, and one moves toward Sonny. Another skeleton chases Ruby, and yet another advances slowly toward Sonny or Thorny. Sonny smashes the left arm of the skeleton that confronted him.
One of the Scorbbits tries to strike Thorny, but he skillfully dodges. And the last one attacks Johan with its glaive with a very humble degree of success. Once we get our bearings, we manage to flow through the combat. We realize that among our assailants is an empty armored shell, a mechanical dwarf wielding the glaive, a reminder of the dangers that lurk in the shadows.

We detect a shivering in the timbers around us.

The Scorbbitt that fled has taken Ruby’s cat, rubbing it against the trees in an attempt to lure us into a trap, likely up the rocky hill between two raised areas with a gully in between. “We cann all be friends, you know!... Things don't have to get nasty!” shouts Sonny. Dae senses the source of the wind drawing closer and warns the group.
“Throw me a magic sword, and I’ll throw you a kitten!” Shouts the Hobbpion, realizing our only magic sword is a loan, we try and manage to convince him to retrieve the defenseless cat from the gully, which is clearly not a trap, without anything to trade, but his own safety. The wind rustles through the trees as we approach. Going back to rummage to the chaos and loot of the previous battle, we notice that the scorbbit that fell due to Ruby's strike according to the catnapper, has woken up and fled.

As we carry on, we notice that the wind subsides as Ruby's voice grows louder...from the shadows, a sylph man and woman emerge—fae creatures adorned in forest canopies, with vines wrapping discreetly around them. They greet us in Common from about thirty feet away and mention that rangers are searching for the elf, Dae. They inform us that the creatures we fought earlier come from the crypt, part of different groups. They lead us to a clearing in the woods, asking us for stories along the way. Dae recalls the route well enough to find our way back later.

They offer us some stroggon(?) to eat while sharing information about Dae's uncle and how the elves have taken his sister. A powerful necromancer is heading toward our original path, intent on raising the fallen dwarven spirits. They offer to guide us to where the clay pigeons fall from the sky.

Dae notices he has lost a few pounds since arriving with the sylphs. The rest of the party observes Dae flickering and flashing. After a mind check, Sonny realizes Dae is resisting the effects of the dryads. Dae also notices green growths appearing on the rest of us, indicating we are slowly turning green.

Despite a failed mind speech check, to attempt to warn the group without alerting the Fae, Dae feels unwell while the others wake up refreshed. He negotiates with the sylphs for the release of his companions, they say he can come back for them, once they have harvested all the salt they need. On a fit of desperation, Dae offers them the salt obtained from the Beaver hermit, from his lake crystal, in exchange for their freedom.

We spend three or four days in the forest, waiting for the dryads’ magic to subside from the party members—except for Dae, whom looks haggard, due to having a bad time waiting for the rest of the Foolish Fellowship to normalize.
To make up for lost time, we press the march, forward while we hunt and forage for food, as our rations have been depleted by the cats during their struggle against the sylph curse, but hey, at least those chubby kittens ahve the nourishment to ride the path, and Thorny's cat has had time to heal his paw while resting & waiting.

As we travel southward, we spot a group of people about a mile away. The trees are lush and green; spring has evidently reached this place. We’re all quite hungry from the exertion, with sore backs from riding. Using our fireless cookware, we prepare a meal while observing the distant group setting up a fire and a banner.
Suddenly, we notice goblins (not green) preparing to attack this group. We discuss whether to warn them or intervene as heroes. Unbeknownst to us, Johan's keen Wiccan eyes catch a glimmer of light up in the sky.

"Of Perilous Skies & Unheeded Advice; the Crimson Descent "

The crew found themselves lurking in the tall grass, nestled between the river and a not so distant hill. The grass bearing the markings of recent grazing, likely from a herd of hundreds of creatures.
Edwin quickly sketches a map of our surroundings to alert the travelers about the group of Goblins approaching, Ruby, ever observant, notes a commanding figure among the gobs, possibly their leader, a military scientist. Edwin commands his bat "Deliver this message, and return if they reply", and sends the bat off with the map.

Suddenly, Sonny's companion, the little creature of darkness, emerges from his backpack, dragging along his unconscious cat. While checking this, he also notices some leaves falling from himself, and tries to Detect Arcana on himself, which results in "For the next three months, you are not a tree".

Johan, focused on the goblin group, notices big figures among them, "there might be more than just goblins there". Being roughly at one mile from both groups ourselves, and those groups a wee short of a mile apart. wee see that from the hilltop, another group has gathered.

Edwin leads us safely towards them, a journey that will take about two hours. As we approach, Thorny grants everyone the Strength of Stone (Rank 10), with an extended duration for Johan, Sony, and Dae. Dae Links the party with Mind Sp-eech (rank 4) and Force Shield on himself.

We stumble upon some ancient Runic writing, which Thorny examines. He interprets it as a grand invitation from noble figures, beckoning adventurers to share in food and fellowship before a great battle.
Reaching the hilltop, we find wooden structures shrouded in an eerie silence. A faint yellow glow emanating from the center, which Edwin Sonny & Dae recognize as a burial ground. Carefully we circle around it, clearly aware of its significance. Thorny, momentarily entranced, approaches towards the glow, but Edwin snaps him back to reality.

After we successfully and uneventfully descend from the hill, we make our way to the camp, an elf appears from the trees, inviting us to join their gathering. He is adorned with three bows, and half a dozen of variety trinkets. We warn him about the approaching group. Once we are seen by the rest of his companions, a couple amongst their midst, gives knowing glances to each other.

From deep bellow, a pit clearly of magical origin, a glowing fire crackles. Stone steps lead down to it, where the sizzling of an unfamiliar six-legged creature—a strange land-mule hybrid—fills the air. Thorny and Sonny examine it without hesitation.

“The Green Water Goblins have warned us of your arrival and your intent to assist,” the elf explains. They’ve been in heated discussion for hours, concerned about the Goblins’ advance toward the cliff where they perform hand rituals. This area is heavily infested with Goblins, and they aim to enhance their weapons and other items."We know we can enchant some items, lowering the requirements to use them"

We share what we know about the goblin paste and Sonny warns them of the dark creatures lurking above the cliffs.
The elf proposes we either fight or flee from the Goblins. Edwin earns the elf’s respect for his skills with animals, having himself once saved a small earth creature the size of a badger.
Ruby learns that fire creatures are linked to the black tower, dealing with both the living and the undead. We inquire about the burial ground, which they believe belongs to the dwarves and hints at an unnatural union. Sonny asks about the halfling-scorpion hybrids (Scorbbits), learning they are known as Kast’on, beings that live, die, and are then added to other creatures. They hail from the south or the Lunar states.

We discuss the wonders of Seagate, a place known for its wealth and guilds. While for them Seagate is a place that steals people's money, and needlessly form guilds.

“You’re a creature of fire; have you been involved with these guilds? Do you like it?” They ask Ruby. Meanwhile Johan & Sonny contemplate and discuss flying to the Green Goblin Village to acquire more of their paste. Finally deciding to pursue this route.

While in flight, they suddenly feel a chilling wind and lose sight of the ground. Johan decides to descend, but a griffon swoops down, snatching him from his blanket. Sonny attempts to grab Johans but fails, plummeting himself as Johans struggles against the griffon’s grasp.
Sonny summons his shadow wings and veers in distress towards the sound of metal being crushed. Leading him to fly into a patch of unnatural darkness, in the already dark night sky.

The griffon, clenching Johan tightly, dives towards the ground. Sonny follows, crashing into something unseen in the darkness. Johan manages to grasp an object that falls beside him. As Sonny tries to fly away, sufferint some bone dislocation due to the heavy wight pulling him down (too much cheese) he loses control and they both fall from the shadowy depths.

Sonny somewhat stabilizes as he nears the treetops, realizing Johan is holding onto his ankle. He braces for a landing, softening his fall by landing on Johan. As they momentarily believe they’re safe, a goblin arrow strikes Sonny, sending him plummeting. In a swift motion, he pulls out a potion and manages to land in a way that allows him to drink it. More arrows thud into the trees around them, prompting Johan to conjure a wall of thorns for protection. He lifts Sonny and dashes away.
As they race down the hill through the woods, Johan hears a familiar wailing and decides to alter their course.

The group of six campers, including the couple and the elf, have a few scouts nearby. Edwin senses a large number of goblins lurking across the countryside.

Johan carries Sonny toward a foul smell detected by the bat, guessing it must lead to the Green Water Goblin Village. Sonny spots about twenty goblins up ahead. Emerging from the trees, they see four main goblin groups crouching near the lake, while to their left, an ogre rides a rhinoceros, conversing with other ogres and orcs.
Johan notes that many goblins appear weak, despite wielding hardened spears. They take flight, diving toward the village as rustling from the sky alerts them to their pursuers once more.

Upon reaching the village, they warn of the massive goblin force nearby, along with the griffon. The monks exclaim, “Oh no, that’s really bad,” upon seeing Sonny, and offer to regenerate him. Though they cannot heal his leg, they suggest taking him to the cliff ritual for assistance.
The Goblin Paste is effective at the underwater temple, the crypt to the north, and beneath the bladed trees atop the cliffs (the Copper Willow). Each Sonny and Johan receive nine pastes, and the villagers humorously suggest they cover themselves in literal magic excrement. They send Edwin's bat back with a redacted account of recent events: “Attacked by a flying magical griffon & tens of goblins. Hundreds are poised to assault the village. Sonny is heavily injured.”

The travelers offer them some paste to aid their efforts. Edwin inquires about sacrificing an eye for a quiver, while Ruby considers tossing a foot in exchange for chainmail. Dae, in a desperate act for his armor, starts bleeding out despite everyone’s attempts, warnings, and pleads to stop him. "They know nothing, they just haven't tried, I'm sure that if I stop at the right time, nothing can go wrong, I will prove them wrong...this armor is going to be the stuff of legends" Dae thinks to himself.

Thorny, Edwin, and Ruby hear distant thunder rumbling in the skies. Thorny listens closely, feeling the presence of his ancestors. Dae’s eyes glow faintly, and he senses the energies around him, alarming his companions, both new and old. “130 orcs and goblins are approaching!” he announces. The travelers suggest retreating to a nearby farmland to camp for safety.

The Elf, warns Ruby in private, that in three moons, Dae will face a grim fate, transforming into a dark creature of depravity. They advise her to abandon her companion to avoid this doom. “We’re going to find a man on the Plane of Earth who can recharge items. There’s also a sect of vampire elves that might reverse Dae’s foolishness—if you wish to seek their mercy,” He adds.

Edwin sends a message inquiring about Sonny’s condition, while Johan begins to reply but stops, realizing the bat is too tired to deliver it.

The Green Water Goblins gather and produce a large pile, offering Sonny and Johan earplugs and nose plugs to endure the pungent magic. They dive into the heap and then take to the skies toward their comrades. A few creatures fly toward them but quickly veer off at the foul scent. Below, they see a waterfall leaking red.

The noxious odor assaults their senses, overwhelming them as they continue their journey.

"Of Grounded Safety & Distant Traders; The Hammering of a Deal"

The party is being compelled by the warnings from the Elf, to venture towards the Earth Plane before Dawn, for terrible things are foretold to happen to their in-house elf, Dae. And Thus, in agreement, the party leaders, Ruby & Sonny, decide to direct us there. Albeit the Squad of Mates are concerned for their friend Dae, they are no longer concerned by the state of their cats, for Edwin has made sure to check on them and assist them on their recovery after the tense journey.
We asked the Elf about how they return from the plane of earth, and they mentioned that by going to the plane of fire, and that they know plenty of ways to get to the plane of fire.

After gathering their belongings, both the merchant travelers, and the Goof Troop set on their way, being lead for four hours by the three rangers, northward through a valley, where a thick forest looms on the side, and other that the soft patter of the rain that begins to break, there rest of the sounds fade to an eerie silence, broken only by distant noises across the valley. Eventually the terrain shifts to shorter grasses and wetlands as we approach the river, passing by two burnt-out camps, remnants of goblin encampments, who seem to be also venturing with larger creatures.

Eventually we reach the tunnel, inside it it's dark and somewhat warm, the river runs deep through it. Johan casts Walking Unseen, enabling the group to proceed undetected. Edwin tracks approximately sixty different sets of footsteps, leading into an 80-foot-wide passage. After over thirty minutes underground, the party finds dry riverbed canals, worn by time. At about 120 feet ahead, Dae spots the corpse of a giant creature, with a huge elephant like feet, its rib-cage torn apart, meanwhile Sonny glances at his backpack, where his cat sleeps peacefully, plump and content.
Murmurs in Common—human and hobbit voices—echo from deeper in the tunnel. The travelers communicate using a rudimentary sign language. A few shadowy figures approach Sonny, revealing that the creature's remains will be repurposed into an unnatural war machine, of six arms. These creatures speak of their master being from the "holy land", a land being scorched by terrible foes. Sonny DA's the corpse of the creature and identifies it as a “Giant Earthworm” despite its legs and ribs.

Sonny uses divination to identify the other side of two potential exits: one leading to “bubbling pools of despair” and another to an “endless sky of clouds”, we carry on until we reach the exit that the rangers are leading us to.

The eerie moonlight casts long shadows in the rocky canyon, obscured by diffused clouds above.
A strange plant descends from the canyon above, seemingly torn apart by unseen forces.
The Elf warns that flying or falling may lead to vanishing. It takes the party two hours to ascend, with strange sounds echoing from the rock faces, retreating further into the shadows.br> Upon reaching the top, the party finds a sprawling landscape of hills and forests shrouded in deep, boiling mists. We make camp in an unnatural cave, made by our traveling companions, who seal it behind us for safety. The Elf casts Armor of Earth (rank 12) on everyone, cautioning about an imminent meeting with dangerous stone men who may wish to trade or gather information about them.Warnings echo of the risks of mentioning Seagate Guild; the farther they are from this place, the safer they will be.

The Elf reveals that he, Dae, will lose strength each dawn and fears his family will disinherit him. He hints that the Elfheim might have been searching for him to stop this from having happened.If he turns to stone at dawn, he might delay his fate—but if he dies in the Fastness, he will remain trapped, and his friends will need to rescue him, he also mentions that Dae staying in the Earth plane might delay his ill fate. Dae refutes this as nonesense, that Elfheim was just trying to stop him from being, and I quote "awesome", "the stuff of legends".

The Elf emphasizes that mere Earth Armor won’t disguise them, detailing its protections, and proceeds to warn us about the dangerous traders we are meeting, and about the stone men leading these camps, they are long and lanky creatures. "They might want to get your, or sell information about you...or neither. They might take you as hostages if they find out you're part of the Seagate's Adventurer's Guild".

During the night, Dae studies his companions, experimenting with limited precognition and documenting the effects of their mana points for each of them, abusing his disproportionate current magical aptitude, and casting Limited precognition for "Control Person on my friend, through these mana points" to see how feeble their resistances are and point them out for them, he makes sketches of their anatomy for mana points and hands each one of them, at the bottom it the reminder "Do not lose this, and show it only to someone you trust, fix it".

Morning comes, and the traveling traders brings out strange rock melons and offer us some. Ruby casts Fire Armor & Fireproofing(?) on us just in case. The light is consistent and constant, with the rare occasional shadow. The party travels towards what appears to be west, until we reach a stone post, tall, hazardous, surrounding it, are many stones and rocks marked with scribblings in different languages. We follow the directions given on one of these, the traveling merchants tell us "They are traveling south of us for the next few days". Not too long after, reaching a damp area where an ogre appears, speaking in a guttural tongue, asking why they seek their master..

The party replies they are there to trade and seek good fortune. They approach a deep ravine (from 400 to 800 feet wide depending on the part) with several tents (about half a dozen) on one side of it, and fresh smoke in the air. A large sled made of wood or stone sits idle nearby, with gaunt humans speaking a troll-like language. They inform us on that troll-like launguage that this is their camp, and to not offend them. They ask us if we're from Alussia, and "if you're going to brawl, no weapons please"
While we are waiting for the traders that came with us to do their deals, the camp introduces us to three middle-aged women in red dresses, claiming to be from Alussia, the one speaking to us presents herself as Jasmine. They are part of a coven of mind mages in the new world. They offer to lift Dae's curse and provide a branch from a silver twig to aid in locating them in the new world "If you come to the elvish isles and use these branches with an enchanter, you can find us". Each party member receives a piece of said twig. We also learn they observe the high holidays (all) in the five sisters.The healing of Dae is offered for a price based on his weight in silver and provide Sonny with free assistance, using transmutation to fix his leg, though his knee remains injured.
These women present paper dolls (4) that can activate item enchantments for you. and protect against lethal damage while riding. They also mention that the haunted houses can help detect hidden creatures and traps, and they can take lethal damage in the place of our mounts (in case of dogs or cats at least) They offer us some as samples to bring back to Gugnir's Hope, with hope for future trades.

The party learns of the trader known as the Rambling Man, who promises to safeguard their interests and has clay jars that can send messages if broken. He informs us that the giant earthworm will last another four to six years, allowing for somewhat stable passage to find him. The Rambling Man beckons us to follow him into a tent, which once we set foot inside, we discovered it's much larger inside than out, "I obtained it from the Bazaar in the Plane of Air" he tells us once he notices our very expected surprise, the tent being about 15 foot on each side from the outside, yet about 45 feet on each side from ...well...inside..

We talk about negotiations, and reach a potential settlemete of 100 cattle per month for 10 All Storage gems of medium quality, we're given a sample of a low quality one, and he states that his medium quality ones, are twice to thrice as good as a low quality one, and that he will be hiring people to protect the cattle, at least on his half of the transport. We're also said that there will be a bonus if the deal is successful on the first three consecutive months. They negotiate for various magical items, Items the party gave where the Empty Goblin Bomb, The Potion of Diamond Skin, and the Enchanted Snake Quiver. ADHD Scribe Note note: Unclear if we traded only for the rain staff, or rain staff and the stack of Flocks.

"Of Dark Tunnels and Doubt; Welcome to the Jungle"

We find our adventurers right after having successfully traded for the Rain Staff. The Rambling Man still offers to buy Thornie to send him to the mines, a place "all Dwarf yearn for and are more than happy to go to", at least according to him. We make a very limited precognition through Dae, of what will happen once we're on the way to the mines. "Thornie will be hassle free down there, but Ruby...she sets a trap which leads to her bleeding...Edwin and his dogs start growling, him starting to change his shape...". We promptly reject, selling Thornie was ridiculous, but, we were considering going as a full party.

For some reason, the Rambling Man starts enunciating that Ruby's mom was a great woman. And makes a brief retell of his experience meeting her.
The coven (of Mind mages?) promises to send a message through the wind a week from now.

The traveling merchants are returning with the rangers, so we take this opportunity to tag alongside again, to the way back to the Alusia.
Once we’re back to the cliff where we started on the earth plane, Edwin hears a faraway howling sound from up above the cliff we just descended, it might be coming from up the wall, or in the wall. We reach the stone turtle shaped wall. Once we get into the darkness of the tunnel, reaching Alusia, it gets bitterly cold for Ruby.

We hear combat going on further ahead in the tunnel, it goes on for around 10 minutes, it dies a bit down, but Dae can still hear combat going on, the traveling company is tired, we’ve been walking for twenty six straight hours. Edwin sends the bat to check out , he comes back and informs of yummy insects, lots. Sonny sends Terry (his darkness friend) to go check things, but realizes he has not returned since he gifted him something, 10 minutes later he comes back with a handful of gems for him, they look like the ones we were given by the rambling Man to us. He says there are a lot of moving strange walls through the air.
He says that his friends left when the goblins came, it was tragic, a tragedy. Sonny asks terry about the movie walls, and Terry replies“What!? There are no moving walls, its a tentacle monster!”

After a lot of discussion, we decided to go one of the side exits in the corpse, that lead to a jungle, we feel sponginess under foot, extreme hot humidity, the only comfortable one right now is Ruby.
Terry says “those creatures with bones in the nose are coming”.

Ruby plummets fast asleep, exhaustion showing the limits of what the party can handle, starting with her.
Edwin and Sonny detect some blue creature passing by.
Sonny and Thorny go to sleep without a fuss.
Johan goes to sleep shortly after.
After an Hour Edwin goes to sleep.
Dae stays awake until the first person wakes up, which happens to be the earth mage, Daes instantly succumbs to sleep, feeling relieved of someone taking over watch, only to be jolted awake by the earth mage a few moments after, to aid him towards an unnatural cave just created.
Mid sleep several members of the party realize they are being dragged by the Earth mage and Dae, since she made an earth chamber after falling a sleep and recovering her fatigue.

All of the outside noises go away and Dae believes no one noticed the underground tunnerl and people being drag to the hole to sleep.
Terry wakes up Sonny, and asks if someone else speaks like him. Then Changes topic and splashes water on him. ‘What can I give you to make you happy? Do you like food” Sonny asks Terry, “darkness” he answers. “Is it safe here?” Sonny asks “maybe…” Terry answers.
Sonny still had his 14 hard boiled eggs that were give to him by his mom. He shares the eggs with the group. Sonny DA’s a random plant to check its plane of origin. Fails 5 times, but on the 6th succeeds, “Alusia”, reassuring us, albeit not knowing where they are, at least we know it's the right plane...right?.

Coming out of the earth hole, Dae is really hungry, as when he was starved for 4 days by his mom due to an accident. A prolonged fight with an owl bear, a distant memory, of which, mainly the hunger remains.
Sonny hands Dae a piece of silver after noticing some kind of magic between me and the earth mage. The piece of silver starts to bends on each side on Dae's hand.
Once back on the other side of the portal, we can sees something between us and the palisade, something is besieging the hill again. The paddies are grown to 10 to 15 foot high.
Sonny clasps the magic manacles onto Dae, Dae feels betrayed. The travelers wanted to go to the Green Goblin Village but now we cant, 3 black things are seeing flying in the skies, Johan detects that they all are creatures who seem to be under the effect of shadows wings, but one of them has been subdued by something white and smudgy. About a mile and a half from us.

Some of those creatures besieging the village have a strange head are...they seem to be Magi Ogre.

Ruby sees her sister, Glory, come out of the forest, waving and approaching, with a half emptied quiver.
Terry starts squirming in pain, and divides in two, Sony asks about this new creature's name, he says his name is Ernst.
The Elf says he wants nothing to do with being dragged with the Dae disaster that is about to befall. The three flying figures seemed to be the elves looking for Dae. The Couple and the elf seem to take their distance from Dae.
We hear a horrible screech from far away, Johans detects a staff 2 thirds of a mile away, towards where we intended to go.
Thornie perceives 4 warring parties of goblins in the distance. He knows that due to the sounds of the dead being released and scared

We have Strength of Stone of the eleventh rank cast on us

One devilry imp and two undead attack us, first aiming for Dae. Thornie Succumbs to the Fear effect and gets frozen(legs wont move), Johan follows suit.
We defeat the undead, the demon imp goes poof into embers, and the Ogre Magi end up retreating cowardly or strategically, once the Imp was gone.

Sonny is still fears Dae and wants a promise of not being murdered
The elf and the earth mage are still afraid of Dae.
There a about 20 goblins between us and the wall, and they are shooting at the wall.
We feel a Ogre Magi behind us about 75 feet. And there is an orc to the other side
There is a green line of where the foliage stops between us and the village

"Of a Friendly Village & Unfriendly Relatives, The siege on the Green Goblins"

Hidden by the cover or night in the paddies in front of the Green Goblin Village, the adventurers are assailed by the pungent scent of battle and burnt flesh. In dire need of a plan, for both assisting their friends and getting inside the village, they discuss, longer than they should, but as long as they must.

An attempt to form a mind-speech with Sonny and the Green Goblins yielded uncertain results, a language barrier was on our way, yet we press on.

After much deliberation, they settled on a strategy, through the use of mana, Sonny and Johan will conjure walls of Light and Thorns, followed by a Dazzling distraction courtesy of Ruby, Dae will attempt to control one enemy, whilst Edwin will set his hounds on the goblins, and the rest will be ready for support for contingencies.

As the Light wall shimmers into existence, a wave of relief washes over them; the Thorns wall, however, fails to get that nutritious boost from mana, and doesn't initially come to be, helping them keep their morale grounded. Ruby’s Dazzle is a resounding success, momentarily disorienting our foes. In a swift maneuver, we gain control of an ogre, and Edwin delivers a decisive blow, sending it crashing down with a torrent arrows. Albeit Sadly, it was the same Ogre that was controlled. The hounds, directed by the BeastMaster Edwin, charge into the fray, pairing off against the goblins. One goblin falls under the brave teeth of the dogs, while another lies severely wounded. In a moment of sheer panic, a goblin charges through Sonny's Light wall, with hopes to escape this chaotic scene unfolding near him...but only to meet its end, by the enlightened judgment of the wall. Seeing this, the goblins on the other side of the wall start taking their distance from it, for their companions demise, was enough of a warning for even the most feeble of minds.

Seeing this chaotic scene, the Green Goblins on the walls of the village, shoot down arrows to the already felled Ogre, was it hatred? was it fear? Or was the Ogre not dead? No time to dabble on these questions.

Advancing further towards the palisade, another Light wall rises, as well as the first Thorn wall, successfully creating a hallway to safeguard them from the perilous assailants. Our control of yet another orc proves fruitful as it slays a goblin next to it, causing another nearby goblins to scatter in fear, for the sight of their comrade's brutal end alongside the betrayal, has instilled terror, and it retreats towards the paddies into the night.

Just after a couple of heartbeats since their plan started, Ruby self-isolated on one of the sides, engaging a massive orc, only to end up receiving a heavy blow, stunning her in place. Luckily, Thornie valiantly comes through, assisting her with a potion, for if she kept stunned, what would go down would bring down their morale forevermore.

The half-foots perception yet again prove to be keen, for Sonny perceives the goblins tinkering with spherical devices, their intentions troubling. Are these goblin bombs? Their familiarity with them sent a chill down their spines. These fears are realized when they launch an attack, luckily, goblin precision has never been renowned, and their first bombardment fails to hit the mark. The goblin assailants are immediately rewarded by the green goblins via a shower of arrows, dwindling their forces further.

As the chaos unfolds, a haunting howl is heard from the darkened woods. hastily beheading the fallen ogre, claiming its three-horned head as a grim trophy, and begin their ascent up the palisade, the adventurers our efforts are met with varied success. Suddenly, a couple of shaman (either large orcs, or just ogres) mounted on wolves, emerges from the paddies where they had once sought refuge. They unleash a volley of unnatural fire arrows upon the adventurers, but Ruby's protective magic mitigates the fire damage. In the ensuing scramble, Ruby struggles to climb the palisade; Edwin heroically tosses his dogs to safety, while Dae attempts to throw Ruby but fails, causing further bruises and annoyance on Ruby.

Another round of goblin bombs detonates, causing chaos once more, their aim growing sharper with each throw, yet, not sharp enough....yet.

Sonny erects another wall of light to shield the party from behind, giving some respite while trying to climb the palisade and walls. The Green Goblins continue their relentless assault with arrows, striking at the assailants.

Then, from the shadows, undead orcs materialize, preying on those yet to scale the palisade, targeting Edwin and Ruby, whom are at the rearguard of those yet to be successful climbers. A fierce melee ensues as both of them join forces against a resilient zombie that has managed to cross Sonny's light wall. Our party finds itself torn between aiding the fight and helping others up the wall. Meanwhile the Shamans throws their own unnatural fire arrows at the party.

After a few heartbeats on the melee with the zombies, and two successful bombings from the Goblin bombs (damaging the party, and the walls), the shaman's fire arrows are spent, and they retreat, slinking back into the cover of the paddies. The green Goblins throw jars of a strange, viscous substance to those still struggling on the wall, "break the tongue juice over your heads and you will be able to climb", someone manages to speak in common.

Finally making it inside the village, and Sonny and Johan are requested to assist with their defenses, for the disruption of thorn and light walls seemed effective both in damage, and cutting contact between enemy groups.

A Rock Orc, with eyes glowing red, as steadfast embers, is seen by Dae, running through the battlefield towards Ruby. Ruby sees this Orc passing through walls until reaching her and attempts to fell her. She screams"I am being attacked by a spectral thing". Dae, in a flash of instinct, dashes from the walls, but Sonny misreads the urgency, a misreading which was aided by seeing blood eyes in Dae, believing Dae is intent on harming Ruby. Considering Ruby's words, and his teachings, Dae tries a counterspell on the area where Ruby is fighting, and its successful.

After the perils inside the village are dealt with, but the outside assault still somewhat alive, but succesfully detracted, they bring the party to their shamans, whom murmurs reassurances, claiming Dae is merely in a transitional phase. Then the elf that has been traveling with the merchants speaks to the shamans in a dark tongue. The shamans become surprised, and get on a slight defensive posture.

They warn that as long as he resists temptation, his journey across the continent is inevitable. The Daegun, seekers of elven artifacts, may soon cross paths with him, if he chooses to. Or he may join a circle of mages. But regardless of how this transition continues, he will be falling away from their company unless this is stopped.

There are words spoken, about Dae's forefathers, one of his grandparents, about 25000 years ago. A Dark aligned elf with death aspect.

"Of Cold Skin & Voyages through Darkness, a path towards Trials or Tribulations"

The Green Goblin Village is quiet now, or at least as quiet as you’d expect after successfully thwarting a siege. The priests promise to take us to the High Priest, as soon as they deal with the wounded, which we do our best to help tending to as well, especially Dae. Ruby shares a potion with Johan and Edwin to alleviate the drain they had suffered from the battle. Meanwhile, Sonny assists setting up further starlight walls.

After midnight, once the priests have enough leeway to assist us in the name of the friendship that the adventurers have established by coming to their aid in their times of need, one of the priests leads them, and says “Since you have a shadow aligned caster with you, we should travel with Shadow Form cast upon us. Also, you should be prepared to present a sacrifice of value to you.”
When Sonny casts Shadow Form, a dark creature wiggle between the sole of his boot and his heel, Ruby & Johan’s quick observation of the spell misfiring are quick to strike it down, leaving nothing but a splatter.

Ruby’s sister, Glory, offers to accompany through the portal, but they refuse. She offers to stay behind and watch over the elf and the couple. The priest wakes two more priests, and together they lead us up a hill, toward the heart of the village. There, amidst the shadows, lies a sunken building—a place where the villagers gather for celebrations. We believe the goblins might have built their village on the remains of an ancient dwarven hold. A quarter of an hour latter, they open a dark cold shimmering portal, through which a crisp air seeps through.
Ruby casts fire protection on everyone ire protection and Fire armor. Mind speech is cast on the parry, and licorice is offered to the party. They are told this licorice will aid with alleviating harm that might be suffered during combat on the other side of the portal, in the plane they are using as a shortcut.

We step through the portal, finding ourselves in a dark, colorless world. The path beneath our feet is rough and uneven, and we are struck by the smell of saltwater—though no water is visible. There is a faint sound of waves crashing in the distance, and for a long while, we walk in silence. The air is crisp cold and biting.

Edwin, in the spirit of improving his reaction, requests that someone carry his bow and weapon, for he plans to shape change. Once in his beast form, he distinguishes a strange fungal forest ahead, shrouded in a purple fog. The fog seems to move, and there looking are whispers of tentacles stirring within (or are those coming from where the waves crashed?). The road they travel upon, oddly seems dwarven in origin, the stonework solid and ancient.

After half an hour of travel, the priest informs them that they must ascend the hills and likely drive the creatures and robbers that plague the proximity of the portal we are headed to. As they proceed on course, the forest flanks on one side, and the sea stretches out behind. A strange, ominous presence follows them, a tentacle beast, no doubt.

They hear a tapping from the hill ahead. Sonny, ever sharp, deduces that it’s likely someone using a cane. The priest grows tense, saying it’s not a wanderer but that tapping indicates that these people are likely in light armor, and some form of weaponry. The tapping grows louder, and the priest urges us to move west, towards the forest, to avoid the beast lurking near the swamp.
Then we see them. A group of five towering elves, the largest they’ve have seen in years, likely 7 feet tall. Wearing strange garments with strange apparels, clothes on lower legs, armored on their torsos, walking with staff and swords at their backs. Their faces illuminated by glowing crystal bottles strapped to their waists, that swing as they walk and talk. The last of them pauses, sensing something amiss. They begin speaking in their foreign tongue, likely a form of elvish, but foreign, —something about “hidden treasure” or “lost treasure.” After a tense standoff, they leave, but the adventurers don’t dare go back to the path until their ranger, Edwin, decides it’s safe a brief yet lengthy ten minutes after.

A few minutes after retaking the path, Edwin’s dogs catch the scent of something strange on the path ahead. Not long after the adventurers start climbing a hill, At the top they should find the portal according to the priest, “we’re halfway there” he says to Ruby, whom wanted a heads up in case she wanted to prepare some spells.
Not long after that, they notice on the path bellow strange glowy circles—likely the elves, though we can’t be sure. Ruby attempts a spell, but it misfires, causing small, fiery porcupine-like creatures to appear. They try to nibble at Dae, but Ruby's fire protections shield him. In a moment of impulse Ruby explodes the creature, sending spikes flying across the party, whom had the fire damage ablated by Ruby’s previously casts spells.

Further ahead, we notice an undead, when next to it, an enormous, pale creature erupts from the ground. It towers over us, about 30 feet from the grounds, a creature of ice and cold fury. The ground trembles as it charges, and Sonny moves quickly, dodging its assault. Dae, still eerily nimble, avoids most of the attack, Ruby and Edwin are also fortunate. Everyone dodging just in time, though the force of the creature's charge sends a chill down their spines.

Sonny Strikes an undead in front of him with a mighty blow, making a moan of the trampled undead to resonate through that part of the hill.
The priest starts the ritual, while we protect him and distract the creature, Dae calls his aggression by taunting and dancing around him. This misplaced self-confidence on then newfound unnatural power is likely to be the bane of his existence. Dae doesn’t completely dodge a blow, and gets Drained off of for points in Endurance, Strength, and Willpower.

Sonny, with his boldness, after seeing the Ice creature focus attacks on Dae, attempts to parley with the beast. "There are five elves coming from that direction. Attack them, not us. We are friends." The creature hesitates but doesn’t fully relent. It grabs Sonny, demanding to know where the elves are. Sonny keeps talking, calling the creature the most powerful dark being I’ve seen in my life. This distraction gives us a brief window, allowing most of them to reposition towards where the priest is making the portal ritual
. But just as we think we have an advantage, the elves return, having realised that our band had passed by them unnoticed earlier. One of them detonates a bomb that hits Dae and Johan. Dae veers towards the elves, luring the creature towards them, a risky endeavour, which brought further ailments on him, but as they fight, the creature charges through the elven ranks, stomping over them with little regard for anything or anyone.
Amidst the chaos, celestial beings—creatures of light—appear, seemingly uninterested in our struggle. "Move along, move along" one of them commands. They demand gold in exchange for safe passage, except for Edwin & his dogs, whose nature allows him a free pass.
After paying up, the party is made to know of ogre shamans following in their tail, hunting them, and warning them “do not to come back through whence you came”.

The portal opens after the ritual, and they step through. Finding themselves this time, in a strange compound, surrounded by large, Yellow fish with razor-sharp teeth. The water is teeming with life, and lily pads float on its surface, where at times you find green frogs with purple spots. The heat is intense, the sun harsh on our skin and a strange scent fills the air—cinnamon and nutmeg. Sonny smells fresh healing buns with nutmeg and cinnamon on them, while some of the other party members at most discern only the nutmeg and cinnamon in the air.
Sonny attempts to detect arcana, "Are we in the Plane of Light?" his answer is a “no”. Tries again but to the ground "What plane is it?" “Alusia” comes the response.

We are greeted by three bald women dressed in yellow robes. "Greetings goddess" Sony says to one of the women there. They blush. “Your drentchness looks good on you" they say. The priest with us says something on a foreign language and bows to them, and says everyone should bow except as well Ruby. "Keep your men in check " one of the bald women says to Ruby. "You keep them as entertainment, now I understand"
Dae, meanwhile, is in a dire state. A finger of his falls to the ground, smoldering and bubbling as if consumed by the curse of time. “Magic effect” Sonny tries to detect arcana on the fallen finger, “greather curse”, comes as a response. The women take a step back in alarm, but we explain his situation. One of them speaks softly, offering a solution: “if you wish to keep Dae alive, he may drain some of you, but this is only a temporary solution. Although if you do so, your sacrifices are rewarded by the elvish crown due to an unwritten treaty that will make you stronger in mind, by temporary loss in life.

Requesting further options, they tell of an elf that came to them for assistance in guidance, although this was hundreds of seasons ago. Sonny detects arcana regarding “goddess that impacts”, his answer is something on the lines of “seasonal, sun god, sun queen, lord of lights”.
They offer us food, and Edwin asks if they have something for his dogs, they offer to make the dogs eat the toads, and they actually encourage them to eat as many as they want.

(Self-Scribe Note: Consider rewriting bellow)

The priestesses in this temple are only interested in talking to Ruby, they inquire her why she travels with us, and she informs that they are a crew, and that the hobbit thinks he is in charge, and that Edwin is kind of new to the group. The buns they ate earlier helped the Draining the party suffered, except for the cursed elf. In addition Ruby and Sonny get an Ablative reinforcement on their armor of 3 points against draining.
After informing them that they've come here, under the recommendation here they could get information or guidance on how to help Dae, they deliberate for a while and afterwards come with sticks guarding an elaborate cargo of more sticks, but these sticks have intricate woven and tied knots with strange things hanging off. There are no priests, only priestesses, and the guards are big burly folk who speak in high sneaky voices (eunuchs) "As you see I've done my research, went through or library and I am prepared to discuss what do you want to know and what you already know".
"The lands that you have traveled through, are rich on mana and are set to avoid elves to get death, one of the rituals on the are to give elves the opportunity to reshape their destiny, which is one of the ones Dae as embarked on. They made this due to love between elves. This ritual will consume you unless you travel to the west."
"These 5 trials will allow you to reshape your destiny.The night sky has significance with these Trials. Puzzles of the mind, hearth flesh, not just fights or might. "
"Another option is to look artifacts and throw them from the cliff. Or you could request a blood elf trapped inside a Minotaur maze to remove the curse."
The adventurers get more information about these trials Southern lands great desert pyramids, which is guarded by two large creatures, they have to find a way to bypass or make your way past them, these statues sleep when creatures are not around. Once in the pyramids proximity, the group can stay safely for many days, taht is only in regards to Dae, since it will not count against the timer for his tribulations, by the time they can see the pyramids, they will not be of this realm.
Further information is given in regards to these statues, having a body of a lion and face of an eagle or hawk or griffon, a creature of the air. wings and terrible talons. And a tail with a rattle on the end that can spark the ground and spawn forth snakes. They have a strong poison, and the antidote is a strong hallucinogenic, makes you have insight on your line of ancestry, and sometimes, brief level of precognition.
Once inside the pyramid, you must take a boat to far away from these lands, to the lands of trials, with an enemy to defeat.
There is another way, given than they have Ruby, Dae and a hobbit with unreasonable amount of charm, there is a sect, of powerful mind mages that could help.
Elfheim is another option, requesting assistance with the Wizard, but any elf that kills Dae currently shall be rewarded, so it'd be a tad bit risky.
The Leaders decide to go with the trials. "I can help you with a few things to start with" The priestess says...

"Of Sands & New Companions, Puzzled by the Mongoose."

The first thing the priestess did to help with the upcoming trials, was to take care of the injuries that Sonny had sustained a few days back while saving Johan. Alongside that, she offers to bring us to a couple of members of the elven courts, which currently, are in their jail.

While heading to their training quarters, the priest from the Green Goblin Village there, offers assistance when hearing that the adventurers were in dire need to contact Gugnir’s hope regarding the deal with the Cows & the Rambling Man. “In two days, if not earlier, I will be heading back to my Village, I am willing to pass a message to someone if you’d like, perhaps to your sister?” he says referring to Glory, Ruby’s sister.

Amongst the many tasks the adventurers recall, is helping Mr Beaver… but the time for that has passed, and they are concerned for him. Another one is informing about the Thompsons & the Rambling man. Also about staffs and hobbits, will they meet the fire hobbits and trade in their Rain Staffs?. There was also a message from the Coven of Mind Mages being sent to them in the coming days.

After walking for a few minutes and discussing, we come to the training hall of the temple, where the Elven Court members, Astaria & Frigg are training with the people from the temple. Both of them inform the rest of the adventurers that they actually are there due to having an important message to deliver to Dae, and after completing this task, they will be considered free people of Alusia.

The message for Dae is as follows, at least superficially:
”Dear De, based on your family’s great legacy, please return to those that love you”.
The message is signed by 12 carefully written & ornate hand messages, stamped and embossed, with a metal sheened coat of arms. Dae starts pondering about the message, trying to read the underlying tone of it. Deep in contemplation.

A priestess approaches them and ask “I understand you are the ones going to the trial” . Then leads them to where several big large ponds can be seen, where there are giant lily pads. This is where she has set her camp, she informs them that her mistress has gone ahead to prepare the way.
She then proceeds to bring out a box, and rattles it, then handing it to a Dae “This will help you prevent further decay”. He opens it and turns to Stone.

After some time, at night, a human woman, in her 50s or 60, approaches them “You are the people traveling to the trials, is it so?” she approaches one of the ponds, taking some of the water from it into the waterskin, which also calls out a mongoose out of the pond.
“I do not know what creature might have taken to the desert as of late, but they should be serving under the Djinn” she warns.
She puts the mongoose on Dae’s head, and he comes back to normal, well, his new normal at least. Puzzled & slightly scared by the fact that he suddenly has a mongoose on his head

Through the time spent on the camp, she informs them of puzzles to get into the doors, and how these puzzles will vary depending on the moon’s phase, and suggest them to, once able to get through a door, to make sure it’s closed behind them.
“If confronted by 3 statues of different colors, it will likely be a trial of might”
“If you come upon a large pond, there will be a gem at the bottom of it, there is a mysterious creature there, those who have tried delving deep into the pond, have failed to come back”
“There are 3 men, young, old, and middle aged, that will usually ask a riddle, the answer varies according to which of these 3 you chose to engage. I understand the middle aged one is the least risky of them. But beware, every time you fail the riddle you lose something.
”If you are successful….beware of the shadows. Once you succeed, stairs should be revealed, leading up, there you will find a sarcophagus, where you must retrieve a book guarded by a mummy… a book of thought ”

After all her advice has been given the adventurers request for a set of red gloves, which she lends and requests to handle them with care, and not to forget to return them.
”please take notes of the goings in the trials, so we can use it for reference for those taking it after you”

Traveling through the night, with occasional Clouds and Showers, once at place, they have to wait for dawn for the pyramids to reveal themselves, so she lends us again the box, leaves her assistant with them, and lends us the mongoose, so they can petrify Dae, and revert it.

Sudden wash of eat comes, and they see miles and miles of sand with occasional patches of ‘something’, as dawn comes, we see a strange building far away rising from between the dunes. Sunny casts shadow wings on the company, while Johan does his carpet trick, and Astaria casts Feather Fall as well.

The hallways towards the pyramid seem to be huge, about 80 feet wide and tall.
The adventuring party is not overall very skilled at flying, the Feather Fall spell came clutch to save both Astaria and Ruby, who struggled slightly more than the rest in this occasion.

After successfully flying into the pyramid, apparently avoiding the surveillance of the statues due to not touching the sands due to the flight, they come across a number of human and hobbit shaped creatures in the shadows, and Astaria notices a small, about 3 feet tall, small tornado, creeping towards the rest of the party.
Sonny parleys with the dark creatures, whom request for a hand and a feet to allow an individual to pass. He haggles “What if I bring you fingers from inside”, the creature agrees, and asks for 5 toes once inside, and also says to Sonny “beware of the orc inside, he can cut through mana”

Plants grow halfway on the inside, and beyond there are columns leading to some sort of hallway, where they can see some type or ruined vehicle, whose wood has decayed.

Edwin, once further inside of the pyramid, asks his dogs if they sense orcs. They affirm, and indicate the direction.
Sonny braves ahead alone, for he is hard to notice, after going up half a dozen stairs, he comes into a room where the temperature cools off immediately, and he gets cut off of the mind speech link as soon as he gets into said room. The room is lit by sunlight coming through holes in the ceiling, not holes from decay, but purposefully built as skylights.

Once the rest of the party comes in, Astaria feels the air flowing freely in this room, the air feels particularly good here. Meanwhile, Edwins dogs grow restless, feeling that Orcs have been everywhere here. Sonny Detects Arcana on the statues “last magic to impact upon statue” “preservation. Does it on another one “can you animate” “yes”. On another one “What is your trigger”, he gets no discernable answer.
At the end of the corridor, on one of the sides, there is a door with a set of runes on them, it seems that the adventurers have found a puzzle. After a few minutes attempting to resolve it, luckily they get it right on the first try, opening the path forwards
As the sound of the opening doors reverberated through the pyramid, they heard something coming down from the corridor behind them, so they crossed the opened path, and saw it close behind them, giving a sense of safety regarding what chased them, and unease on what might be further ahead.
Once the door completely closed, they focused on what lay ahead, a room with three figures in the distance, further down the hallway.
At the sides of the room where they see these figures. There seem to be sitting arrangements, which have now been overtaken by plants growing on them, looking more like hanging gardens than an arena.
In the centre, there are 3 large statues, the left one looking like a creature of ice, but clearly made of stone, somewhat resembling the one they fought recently on the shadow plane. The middle one, a hollowed suit of armour, which seems to fit the overall figure of an elf, but 12 feet tall. And the last one, looks like some sort of forest dwelling creature, but with a head like a bird of prey, or an owl,, beaked and with large clawed feet.
Three small stacks of stone separated them from the figures, but once the adventurers started passing through them, the left figure started to move. Combat ensued.

"Of Ice & Riddles, The fruits of their labour"

The battle raged on during this trail. After successfully pushing the Ice elemental down into one of the holes in the arena, the giant elven armored suit still was engaged in fierce combat, and the huge chunk of ice dropped by the elemental was still ominously oscillating on the floor.

Once we finally managed to bring down the empty armor, from the vibrating ice debris, a piece separates, into a horrifying looking ice creature, with long icicles for fingers, who came out and struck ad the Elf.
Immediately and as a preventive measure, Johan & Sunny conjure walls surrounding the third figure, in case of, and for when, it starts to move.

As the Ice creature received enough blows to shatter it's structure, it blew into pieces, of not just ice, but a fire-infused type of ice, exploding out towards both Frigg and Dae.
Meanwhile, Sonny, always perceptive to the ways of temptations, notices a seductive goblin rummaging through the packs left at the entrance. She freezes when noticing his gaze, vanishing from his view as she does so.

As this happens, They notice it coming out of the conjured walls the third statue, which had the figure of an elephant now as it burst out of it's stone form, comes also sporting some grotesque tentacle-like appendages. Despite the heavy damage from the barriers, it charges towards the adventurers with a terrifying force and effect, with Astaria being the first one to fall to the ground.
Once it approached to trample all of the adventurers, on a closer look, the tentacles on the creature seem to writhe, like bloated maggot-like slugs, a very weird, disgusting, and confusing sight to behold, especially under such stressful circumstances.

After some back and forth, and a few pulses of the Elephant ravaging through the adventurers, his mixture of endurance and adrenaline seem to start to take a toll on it, allowing Dae to briefly control the creature, forcing the parasites to come off of it. Frigg swiftly takes this opportunity to tests their might, by bashing and smashing into one of these slugs with their shield, advising the party on the frailty of these parasitic slugs, as Frigg shakes off corrosive acidic innards of the creature from their shield.

Once the creatures are dealt with, the Goblin claps her hands, and of course, Sonny swiftly engages in conversation with her. She reveals that she had placed a silver penny on each of their backpacks, as she had been instructed (?). During this dialogue (where she repeatedly offers to give fertility buffs to the party) the temperature in the room normalizes.

The group waits for nightfall, knowing the stairs will only appear then, allowing them to proceed. Three doors are present, though one seems to be already open—perhaps the one the goblin girl snuck through earlier, unnoticed by the others.
Suddenly, a vast, shadowy staircase materializes from one of the walls. Astaria recognizes the shadow as something she glimpsed while flying toward the pyramid.

Sonny sneaks ahead, discovering two black cats entwined on one side of the hall. They look like house cats, soundly asleep, their bodies pressed together in a tangle of fur.
Sonny, through a detect arcana, senses them as ‘living sentient’, and as kind of creature 'spirit guides' perhaps. "In the darkness, goblins always have the power to escape," he hears them whisper. "Walk on this side of the corridor if you wish to survive," they advise, leaping nimbly from tile to tile.

After a short time, the cats lead them to a door, blank and unmarked. The cats nudge Sonny, suggesting he makes the rest able to see in the dark. He casts Witch Sight.
In front of them, they see a Door with a puzzle.

“A spoken word unseals me”
“It starts with T”
“Halfway between twins, the next character lies”

Almost instantly, Frigg murmurs through the mental link, "The word is threshold..." He swiftly explains his reasoning. The party agrees to proceed, and the door creaks open. Warm, humid air floods in.

The spirit guides linger behind, asking for a mango, their request odd but insistent. The goblin girl follows the adventuring party through the threshold.

Once they crossed, they found themselves outside, the night was thick with the scent of fruit trees—date trees, mangoes, and others swaying in the breeze. The moonlight casts shadows over the area, revealing the group is in an elevated position. The air, coming up on a draft from below, smells of sandy ground ahead, and the distant sounds of nocturnal aquatic creatures seep through the tree gaps.
The goblin girl introduces herself as Blunder Foot. And Sonny informs us all that the cats had warned him that a crocodile always tells lies.Blunder foot says that crocodiles swing from three to three on the branches(?). Which adds an eerier note, to the already stressful situation.
A bit of Astaria’s left eye wrinkles as she fumbles a feather fall on Ruby. Causing a small tear of frost to form while making a small frosty tear that comes down, and Ruby promptly stomps it out successfully. Ruby usually is used to stomp on wiggling dark creatures for shadow spells going awry, a frosty tear however, that was far from common for her.

Dae spots a pit trap as they move toward the pond, making the party narrowly avoid it. The group discovers small animal snares and concludes that someone, likely humanoid, must live nearby. They find a desert fox trapped in one of the snares. The animal startles and disappears into the trees.
Reaching the pond’s edge, they notice large skid marks in the sand, suggesting someone had hauled a massive vessel through the area, up and down the pond. At the center of the pond stands a tall tower, a light flickering atop it.

Ruby, observing the mango trees, believes they act as ramps for the crocodiles. She decides to climb one of the nearby date palms for a better vantage.
Sonny grabs a couple of mangoes, but upon biting into one, he finds an odd seed within. Using his detect arcana, he identifies “What is the seed” as a “Mango of the Great Desert,” A further attempt of detecting arcana reveals “what was the nature of the magic of the seed” “Attraction and farming of dryad magic”.
Meanwhile, Johan begins gathering herbs, trying to make sense of their surroundings.

The trees appear carefully pruned and maintained by someone, and numerous beehives hang from the top of these trees. Sonny uses his abilities to learn more, and a detect arcana indicates that we are still in Alusia.

Johan stumbles upon a small gardening hut, further proof that someone has been living here.
Sonny performs an additional detect arcana, to learn more of what he deems an attractive goblin, learning that Blunder foot is a “short-lived sentient desert goblin” and the nature of the last magic impacted upon it, being “transportation”.
Blunder Foot reveals that, having passed her tribe’s trial, she is now their chief. She also claims that they now have the right to breed with her people for having assisted her. All of the adventurer’s thoughts veer towards Sunny with this revelation…His fame…precedes him.

The adventurers exchange glances, unsure of what lies ahead but aware that they must press forward.

"Of Birds & Satyress, A profane toll for the vane."

The adventurers decide to wait until daylight and set up four watches to rest, Frigg & Sonny first, followed by Dae & Johan, then Astaria & Ruby, and finally, Edwin with his four loyal hounds & Blunder Foot. During the third watch, a snuffling sound is heard, suggesting something medium-sized is lurking nearby. Ruby uses her infra vision, while Astaria lights a torch in case they need to shift from the campsite. They discover four relatively large hogs.

Astaria shouts to warn the group, but Frigg and Sonny are too exhausted from the previous battles and events to wake up. When the hogs, which seem to have holes in them, notice the flaming sword in Ruby's hand, they turn and walk away. Johan casts a thorn wall to ensure a safe rest for the night for the group.

After returning to sleep, Ruby hears strange paw sounds from outside the thorn wall.
During Edwin's watch, his dog alerts him to odd smells, describing them as "bad pig."

Once the adventurers rested up, they scavenged for some fruit, and Dae brought a waxy honeycomb as well.

On the pond/lake there are about fifty lily pads and a large chorus of frogs in the morning. Sonny found a reed boat. Which appears intact, but without ores, which seem to have drifted away. It measures eight feet long and six feet wide.
Dae attempts a limited precognition of what traveling to the tower on the boat would entail. In his visions a large horned cow humanoid, covered in reeds, approaches the boat on its second trip (since the space wouldn’t suffice for the whole group at once).
Johan & Ruby found two shovels in the nearby gardening hut, which they consider using as substitutes for missing ores.

Once the group starts making their way towards the tower (Sonny, Blunder Foot , Dae, and Frigg with flying with Johan, the rest on the boat), some of them spotted a large humanoid figure walking toward the pond's edge on their end when the figure noticed them, moving closer and closer. The figure wore makeshift garments and slippers, with contractions on its toes. Dae notices a large eye on its face and a turban with a half-dozen humanoid skulls on its chest plate.
Astaria notices an unnatural mist rolling down from the hill to the pond. Through the mist, she sees strange broils in the water. When the boat reaches the shoreline, they discover a larger reed boat, bigger than the one they were on.

The island is covered in dew and mist, with dense undergrowth and a large tower at its center. The creature,now having arrived on the shore after our adventurers, performs an odd dance, which Dae associates with shamanic rituals—perhaps summoning a hero or a magical warrior, or something unrelated.
The tower, made of sandstone, had an arched door and is about 40 feet across. Edwin and the dogs detect a humanoid presence that was recently here, smelling of lavender. Ruby notices that the tower appears larger up close than it did from the shore, and the metal from the portcullis is hot to the touch. Despite the mist, everything remains dry.
Sonny detects arcana on the nature of the magic of the mist and discovers it has ‘deception’ magic affecting it. Dae senses danger as two people attempt to lift the portcullis, and Sonny spots rocks above the tower that could fall on anyone trying to raise it.

The danger proves real, since only Ed seemed able to successfully remove a chunk of the portcullis, allowing for a small gap to pass through. When Ruby attempts to hold the broken piece, she experiences a strange sensation of the world becoming dimmer, with her vision blurring for a while.
Sonny squeezes through to the other side, disappearing from view. When he turns around to see where he came through, he finds a long stone corridor and sees a five-foot-tall woman walking toward him, carrying a large pile of seaweed. He attempts to detect magic on her but fails due to distance. Scared, he tries to retreat.
Ed continues to break away more of the portcullis, allowing enough space for the others to pass through with minimal difficulty.

Suddenly, a voice, belonging to an authoritative woman, comes from behind them in the mist, greeting the adventurers, and asking the elf to please step away from herself and whoever comes with her. She invites them to talk or hide in the mist. As the group approaches, they find six women in yellow robes, who introduce themselves as servants of the Golden Circle. They warn the party that the last people that left their temple were pursued by an ogre.
As a last comment she says

“Next time you chose to sleep, take your amulets of protection off, we can come talk to you on your sleep, and discuss with you on your sleep” “we are the servants of the GOLDEN CIRCLE”

Two of the six women fade away, and a third, perspiring, also disappears, “I will visit you when it’s dark, good luck” “we can’t see what you see, we’re not really here” . She mentions the presence of creatures like minotaurs, kelpies, or djinns.
Sonny detects arcana and their magical nature, the result being “visitation”.

Now with the mist gone, four balconies, bent in unnatural ways, reveal themselves at about 90-100 feet away.

Astaria casts Feather Fall while Sonny uses Walk Unseen and attempts to climb the tower. Upon reaching the top, he sees layers of curtains and drapes between him and the interior. He spots people dancing in the distance and hears music through the shimmering curtains. He returns and throws down a rope.

Inside the tower, the walls are adorned with relief artwork. Dae detects many happy minds, perhaps the musicians. From the balcony, the party sees a large pond surrounded by wild and carefully nurtured trees, with huts on one side. The pond, which looks more like a lake from here, is serene, with mystic wind chimes chiming faintly in the distance.

Sonny detects arcana the magical nature of the curtains, confirming they are preserved remnants of living things. Johan passes through about five curtains, but when he looks back, the party is no longer behind him. He returns out of confusion, and from the balcony, he spots smaller balconies further up—about 60 feet above.

Sonny climbs higher and notices small holes in the tower's side, likely pigeonholes. He avoids them, but further up, he spots small bones sticking out of the brick, as though the bricks were made from improperly ground bones. Reaching a balcony, he leaps across, only to find the edges are barbed.

Inside, the curtains are a deep purple lavender color, and the tower’s doors are intricately designed with wooden frames and glass panels. A stone statue stared at them from above. Below, the cyclops continues to place dream catchers around the area.

Birds fly from below and land on the balcony, waiting expectantly. Astaria feeds them and converses with them. “Good you speak to us, like the other interesting girl, a long time ago”. The birds mention “Sheisa”(?) at the top of the tower and refer to her as someone who no longer has friends, only balconies, since her former friends are now balconies. They also confirm that there are many residents in the tower, including a man who still resides there.

After much debate with the pigeons, Sonny picks the lock, and Edwin barges in, followed by Dae. Inside, they find a sleeping chamber and a study, with an unusually tall (about 6 feet high) and beautiful satyress working at a bench filled with alchemical instruments. She looks startled but offers the adventurers potions to help them on their journey, mentioning that the gem they seek is at the top of the tower.

She explains that the woman at the top was cursed by her stepmother for her vanity, causing terrible markings that drive others mad. The satyress came here for her own trial, which she completed long ago, and now she resides here occasionally for experiments and to assist the cursed woman upstairs.

The satyr gives potions to Ruby and Sonny, for they were highly affected by the magics on the portcullis. After drinking them, Sonny becomes hairier and so does Ruby. Ruby regains her normal mana flow. She also lends them a wooden framed mirror to use when interacting with the cursed woman, as she avoids seeing her own reflection.
Sonny asks about the woman’s likes, but the satyr refuses to betray the trust she’s built with the lady upstairs. She explains that the woman’s sores give rise to creatures, manifestations of willpower and hate.

“Master Cobbler is what people used to call me before I took residency here” she answers when Frigg asks for her name.

Before they leave, the satyr casts a lesser enchantment on Frigg and Astaria. Frigg casts Cold Protection rank 4 on the party, and they are given a special lens to help avoid the taints on the floor.

The satyress provides directions (Left Right left left right) for navigating the maze, asking the group to promise not to harm the cursed woman. As they make their way through, they encounter ghostly figures and hear the goblin's “up up up” as Ed climbs to retrieve the gem from the pond. He successfully obtains the gem and descends with Feather Fall. The party pulls him to safety, but sinister creatures lurk nearby, keeping their distance.

Back on the ground, the satyress is surprised they returned unscathed, telling them stories of treasure hunters who got lost in the maze. When asked for guidance, she mentions a crypt entrance near the planted fruit trees, warning the hobbit to be cautious of a trap on the portcullis.

Sonny casts Fly on those who can’t fly, and the group flies toward the orchard. They encounter tall women in plate armor carrying large swords. The hobbit disarms the traps, and they descend into a stairway leading to wooden doors.

"Of Sarcophagi & Sacrilege , the wish of a Tomb Raider"

Edwin, with the help of two others from the party, musters the strength to push open the heavy wooden door. The structure inside is made of well-crafted stone, and the walls and doors are adorned with old lanterns. Edwin continues with his dogs by his side, walking cautiously. Upon lighting the dusty torches inside, they reveal further stairs leading down. To the left and right are staircases, both descending to an oval room with furniture scattered about. An archway with double doors, marked with strange symbols and keyholes, lies ahead. Edwin’s dog halts about a third of the way down the stairs, noticing something unusual. One of the dogs communicated with him, the step had moved, which is why it stopped and just sat on it. Sonny, guided by the hands of fate, deactivates hidden pins under the stairs to avoid triggering a trap.

Once in the ground level of the oval room, they notice that the door ahead has scales etched into it. Some of the keyholes look like traps, and once their old torch burns out, they light a new one. Suddenly, the door bursts open to reveal a large courtyard, where the sound of flowing water fills what formerly was just silence.

The courtyard is lit by what appears to be sunlight, with sandstone pillars and columns. The space is ornately designed, complete with statues, walkways, and markings. But a foul stench fills the air. “There is a bad smell there, of a terrible creature, cow head and horns” says one of the dogs, retreating behind Edwin. A large humanoid scorpion, carrying a bucket or round object, rounds the corner and freezes when it sees the door open. Alarmed at seeing the adventurers, it turns to flee.
Edwin hears the sound of claws scuttling away and decides to track what they assumed was Minotaur’s movements, trying to identify the door it may frequent in the courtyard. Frigg looks up and realizes the courtyard is about 60 feet high. A clanging noise emanates from the direction the scorpion went, followed by the sound of something opening.
From behind the pillars, more scorpion-like creatures appeared, armed with spears. One of them looks thoughtful, while another seems startled. They wear strange horse-gear made of plant fibers and strange panels. The thoughtful one starts speaking in a guttural language, and Blunderfoot translates “Your mother dresses you funny. You have strange shapes. You’re weird monsters.” Blunderfoot continues shouting at them, causing some of the creatures to cover their ears in discomfort.

Edwin hears the sound of claws scuttling away and decides to track what they assumed was minotaur’s movements, trying to identify the door it may frequent in the courtyard. Frigg looks up and realizes the courtyard is about 60 feet high. A clanging noise emanates from the direction the scorpion went, followed by the sound of something opening.
From behind the pillars, more scorpion-like creatures appeared, armed with spears. One of them looks thoughtful, while another seems startled. They wear strange horse-gear made of plant fibers and strange panels. The thoughtful one starts speaking in a guttural language, and Blunderfoot translates “Your mother dresses you funny. You have strange shapes. You’re weird monsters.” Blunderfoot continues shouting at them, causing some of the creatures to cover their ears in discomfort.

The doors are marked with pictograms depicting Jackals,a Chimera, a Mummy, a Minotaur emerging from an open door, and finally, a woman holding a bouquet of snakes. Looking back at the door they came through, Edwin notices slots carved into burial grounds, cleverly concealing hidden mechanisms. Next to a mummy’s display, there are mechanisms inside some nearby pots. Astaria attempts to pull the two large round handles, which start to swing open, causing the levers to creak. As the door opens, a foul odor floods through, confirming to Astaria’s keen senses—”this is a crypt”.

Sonny, again led by the hand of fate, indicates the correct lever for Ruby to pull, and as the door opens further, blue smoke begins to swirl down from above, slowly solidifying. The adventurers quickly rushed through before the smoke fully materialized.

Inside, a large, square throne room, with something atop the throne catching and reflecting the light from the torch, and from outside the door, which suddenly also shut behind them. A desiccated corpse is draped in fine wrappings beside two sets of old armor and weapons. Three pillars support an odd-looking book, and several ornate sarcophagi are scattered throughout the room, which was taller than what it was wide.
The three books, chained to the stone pillars, are massive—around 4 feet by 3 feet, and 2 feet thick. They are secured with chains made of gold, silver, and iron, but also held down by old skulls, human hair, reed and wax ropes holding them to these stone pillars. The room’s mana seemed normal. Ruby casted weapon of fire on her sword, flame flickering on Frigg’s weapon to life as well, and lastly, on Johan’s.
Four archways rise above them. Seven of the sarcophagi stand upright against the pillars, with two gilded ones significantly more decorated than the rest.

Studying back towards the entrance, Dae saw a pictogram depicting a husband and wife wearing foreign garments, holding a book between them.
The books exude a faint warmth, which Ruby senses.

With the additional light, they realize the sarcophagi are carved directly into the stone, not merely placed against it. Edwin examines the room through the recently obtained gem, and sees a path emerge, which the group decides to follow.
As they cautiously proceeded further in they noticed the floor has a metallic glow, resembling a grid. In the gaps between the grid, sand trickles down, falling into strange, shifting shapes. The path, made of cold iron, caused Dae to feel unwell in the presence of it. And the gem fails to work while on the path. Standing with the crystal on Ruby’s shoulder, Dae helps guide Edwin along, placing coins to mark their steps.

As Edwin walks 15 feet in, he notices that the coins begin to trail towards the sandier areas. Once the path leads him in front of the throne, the guard to the left tightens his grip on his spear, and Blunderfoot grabs Frigg’s leg as everyone prepares for potential danger. Edwin attempts to grab the book bound by iron chains but feels a sharp pain as blood seeps through his gloves. He struggles to pull it free, but as the guard begins to regain mobility, Ruby casts fire, destroying the mummified remains in a burst of flames.

Edwin proceeds further down the path, while Ruby and Dae continue to guide him. Meanwhile, Astaria and Frigg spot something that looks like a spider at first, but on closer inspection, it's a group of dark, beetle-like creatures climbing down toward Edwin. The creatures move whenever Edwin halts. The group realizes there are at least a dozen of these creatures.

Edwin sends his bat to grab the red gloves, while he studies the pictograms on the sarcophagi. It looks like an accounting system, possibly scales. They tie two sticks together to help retrieve the gloves, which the bat couldn’t manage on its own.

In frustration, Edwin musters his strength, shifts the sarcophagus open, and finds a mummy holding an incredibly square object wrapped in reeds. The mummy is preserved in fine cloth and adorned with beautiful, decorative weapon-like objects. Upon removing the book, the reeds dissolve into dust, revealing a book with an ebony glow to it. The leaves are a strange metallic color, hard to discern in the dim light.

The beetle-like creatures moved like cold-blooded killers, colder than the stone itself.

On their way back with the book, Edwin triggered a dart trap that heavily injured his knee, causing him to black out from the shock. Frigg and Astaria rushed to help him, while Johan grabbed the book. Johan smolders as he handles the book, but even after setting it down, the heat lingers. Edwin’s injury looked awful, the metal dart which grafted through his feet embedded itself in his knee, reducing his mobility.(Minus to AG and MD), (-1 to Agi and TMR)

Astaria removes the dart and notices it begins to wiggle in her hand before she throws it into the sand. Meanwhile, Frigg and Ruby work to extinguish Johan’s fire, which had nearly evaporated his blood. Dae uses a healing cantrip to help fix the gloves which tore when Edwin transformed, while Ruby cleans the book, attempting to restore it to its former glory, or as close to it as her ability allows.

Blunderfoot, startled, leaps into Astaria’s arms as she catches the torch. Between Astaria’s herbs and Johan’s healing paste, they manage to stabilize Edwin’s condition.

As they inspect the doors, Astaria notices a slightly translucent, fairly-attractive man standing in the shadows. He appears tanned and exudes an air of elegance. He greets them with, “Greetings, adventurers. You have done well.” Astaria introduces the group, and the man explains, “I was once a prince, imprisoned by my evil cousins. They trapped me in the book you found. Since you’ve freed me, I believe I owe you something in return, so what can I do for you lady?”

He kneels and produces a flower from thin air. Astaria feels a surge of air magic coursing through her. The group discusses what to request of him, and Ruby uses her gem to confirm the man’s trustworthiness.

“There is another trial,” he says, “the Trial through the Mushroom Lands. The gem will guide you on the right path, though it is not always the most obvious one. There are three special mushrooms there that can remove any foul magic. If you wish, I can guide you.”

Looking through the gem, the group discovers the hidden exit that the translucent man spoke about, it leads to a cliff, positioned midway between the Green Goblin Village and the Minotaur cave. Still nighttime, they realize they are back in the Fastness. The creature warns them that the cave is guarded by creatures with bat wings—gargoyles.

Before descending the cliff, the party receives renewed buffs & Spells:
Strength of Stone (+9 endurance) – Blunderfoot
Feather Fall – Astaria
Shadowform – Sonny
Cold Resistance – Frigg
Fire Protection – Ruby
Mind Speech - Dae

After some time, they discover a cave, and as they venture deeper, Astaria casts Vapor Breathing.

"Of Mistrusts & Travel Weariness, The Burden of Help Ungiven "

( Information only Sonny knows at the beginning of this part of the story, he learns through a Detect Arcana that the gem they obtained is affected by ‘revelation’ magic, in addition to that, he learns that Ruby is subjected to a charm effect based on the translucent man)

Sonny Detects Arcana on the red gloves explains the "nature of the magic on the gloves" and cryptically mentions "virginity."
Sonny tells his companions through the Mind Speech “This figure is not what you have initially assumed, and Ruby is charmed by him after gazing into the gem”.

Ruby inquires about the name of the man, and he responds, introducing himself as “Quilian” (Quilis?).

"This tunnel leads to the mushroom trial" Quilis says. "I will remain here, generally in this area.
Hang a ribbon in the cave entrance, and that will let me know you're nearby, everyday around noon I will cast an eye around this place to see if you have been through.” he continues. “I have a friend who could teach you & Dae magic.Her name is Mistress Ebon. You can reach her, but I cannot, for I am from another plane" he adds.

“If…or when… you chose to go through the trial, you must reach the center of the caves, where you will find three mushrooms: an ancient one, a young one, and one in its prime. Solve their riddles to proceed.”

---

The cave entrance where the adventurers are currently, is at approximately 200 feet above the river. From here they can see to the west many houses are burnt down, with parts of the walls and palisades being rebuilt on the Green Goblin Village.

After gliding down and landing on a bed of tall reeds, they make their way to a main road, struggling through 15 feet of dense vegetation for two hours.

After some time, they encounter a woman with a snake-like head, dressed in sandals, long pants, a wide-brimmed hat, leather armor, and a staff. She appears surprised as they stumble upon her. Sonny Detects Arcana to discern her nature "Shiraz" (snake people who live between the planes of shadows and fire), tries again to detect if she is of a particular college “celestial” "Greetings, humans, hobbits, and elves," she says, introducing herself as Shirazza. She reveals that she came to Alussia seeking help for her village, which needs heroes. "I also wish to enslave some... oh, like that one" she points at our goblin friend, Blunderfoot.
“We're looking for eggs” Shirazza adds. “A red and a white egg. One belongs to a large creature with scales and long teeth that lives in the river.”

She asks Ruby, “Have you encountered any particularly handsome individuals of your race, with a deceptive aura? I ask because there’s a demonic taint about you.”
"I see you have dealings with elves of this nature.” She says, making clear the poor taste she has in regards to unique and special elves. “I won’t bother you further. However, if you send him to the plane of Earth, there are many elves there who live off the blood of others."

"Are you all right, or do you need rescuing from these people?" she whispers to Sonny.

---

Later, towards the end of the day, they arrive at the edge of Green Goblin Village, where goblins recognize them from afar. A few older goblins approach and greet them more formally, mentioning that they are to be introduced to the new chieftain. Once they get inside the walls, they see that several goblins are still being embalmed.

“Many have died” one goblin explains. “We’ve had three war-chiefs this week alone.”
“There’s a were-creature out there, seeking revenge on the ogres” another adds.
“They tried to fly some orcs, but the chimera swooped down from the sky and dealt with them” a third explains.

After discussing the help they need to get back to the temple of the Golden Circle, the group is led to three priests, noticeably older than when they last met them. The priests have always been human, not goblin, which makes their sudden aging even more concerning due to the implications of it. “I need to return to the Sun Temple” one of the priests says, the same priest that took them there last time. After a hot meal, he leads them through the Shadow Plane, using it as a shortcut to the Sun Temple.

The priestess at the Sun Temple greets them. “I see you’ve returned, mostly successful” she says. She offers food for the men while the women, Ruby & Blunderfoot, are taken aside to tell her their story.

Apparently, dark creatures tried to lead them to a different location between the first and second trial, where many adventurers are tempted to face dangerous creatures guarding treasures.
When inquiring about the mushroom trial, since they had been hesitant to believe Quillian “I think that’s the back entrance to the fungal realm” she tells Ruby.

Meanwhile, Johan performs a tarot reading on Ruby’s armor

“There is a powerful creature on the book of thought that you can pull out, and if you manage to defeat him he will grant you a boon, if you manage to do so, we might use the creature’s blood with Dae the creature to release him from his curse”

Ruby asks for help in removing her charm.

The priestess offers to assist her in relieving Dae’s burden at dawn. The group prepares, having a hearty breakfast of Lilipads before dawn. Then, Ruby is knocked out and bound with stone-red snakes. Their skin turns ashen, and the snakes drain Ruby until she goes pasty in color and pale. Then they bite Dae, who protests, "I do not consent", which is important in elven society, well, at least according to Dae.
Both wake up feeling fine.

“I’ll only explain this once” the priestess begins, referring on what they must do to prepare to face the demon from the Book of Thought, but Ruby interrupts, so the priestess adds “I won’t explain” and gets up to leave, and does so.

One of the other priestesses provided powerful leeches to drain the creature’s blood once it's debilitated.

Remembering the amulet issue under the tower, they remove their amulets and go back to sleep. At dawn, sunlight bathes all of them except Dae, who appears to be evaporating and condensing until he stabilizes (effect of the ritual with Ruby’s blood).

After four hours of sleep, they wake up on the shore of an island and feel the need to relieve themselves. They notice a group of around three dozen women, mostly human, hobbit, and elven, wearing red.
“It seems you’ve been having issues reaching us” one of the women in red garbs says.

After giving them a curated version of the events thus far, she advises them “Watch out for the lycanthropes; they’re not what they seem”.
“They’re using blood magic to shapeshift, creating unnatural hybrids.”

When inquired about what sort of relationship they have between them, they answer “We're friendly covens similar to ours, such as the Golden Circle Temple you are in currently” she adds.

“We have an offer for Dae” says one of the women. “We need someone in his condition. We can use a free elf like him for our coven. An elf free of the reach of Elfheim. He could join our coven for a period of time.” To which Dae doesn’t reply immediately, having conflicting feelings and urges.

Turning to Sonny, she offers cryptic advice: “There are a couple of items you could borrow, but if you ask for them, they’ll be denied. However, we can tell you where they are. If you bathe in lavender and adopt a different stride, an old woman who guards them won’t recognize you. She will mistake you for a human priestess. The dagger you seek is in a wooden box under a pile of ash in the heart beneath the stone. It's in a bone box and can harm Dae or any creature from the Book of Thought.”

“The other item is a menacing creature that’s been living in the temple. It’s invisible and sheds its skin when cornered. Find it, corner it, wrestle it to the ground, it will shed it’s skin which can be used to create a cloak of invisibility .”

She warns, “The creature in the Book of Thought is a dangerous succubus. You could avoid her by putting nettles on your pants to avoid getting trapped. ” Johan offers to make a perfume to repel her as a counter offfer.

She also suggests, “You could castrate one of your servants to prevent the succubus’s influence.”

“There are two things the succubus desires: either the sacrifice of one of your males or freedom from the book and the pit.”

Buffs & Mil Sci

Long Term (assumed always on)

Magic (caster)	Rk	Effects	Duration	Da	Ed	Jo	Ru	So	Th
Greater Ench.	here's hoping	+ to Res, Mag, Com, and S&S.	Var
Fire Protection (Ru)	6	vs normal fire	7 hrs
Fire Armour (Ru)	6	28 pt ablative vs magical fire	7 hrs
Self Only

Short Term

Magic (caster)	Rk	Effects	Duration	Da	Ed	Jo	Ru	So	Th
Shadow Wings (So)	6	36 mph, 126 miles range	3.5 hrs
Walking Unseen (So,Jo)	6		7 hrs
Weapon of Flames (Ru)	7	+8 SC, +5 Dam, +8 dam vs undead, cold, water	12 min
Mind Speech (Da)	4	Range 70ft - One primary target plus 5 other targets	50 mins

Misc

Herbalist Lunch/Broth

...

Watch Order

8pm	9pm	10pm	11pm	12am	1am	2am	3am	4am	5am	6am	7am
Edwin + Dogs		Jo				Dae				Edwin + Dogs
Sonny				Thornie				Ruby

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Default ... ... ...	Double File ... ... ...	Single File ... ... ...

Significant Items & Loot

Loot

-Ogre Magi Head, 3 Horns
-Gem with Revelation magic (unsure if to be returned)
-Book of Thought (unsure of what happens to it until end of Seasons/Adventure)

Items Traded

Traded In

1. Staff of Rain

Traded Out

1. Empty Goblin Bomb
2. The Potion of Diamond Skin
3. Enchanted Snake Quiver