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The King's Recruits

Season 2, Episode 7

Behind Stone Doors


Session 58- 64

23/6/2015 — 2/11/2015

Date: 22nd Dimlek– 2nd Fireseek , 1028

Dealing with the Amulet of Power

The Shadow fell


SESSIONS 52- 57 : Kriv's Trial

Session 52 — 57

24/4/15 — 23/6/2015

NPCs of note:

Date: 18th Dimlek – 21st Ansis , 1028

Return to Rovnol, in chains

Finally, the trial is brought to session…




Cast- The King’s Recruits: Edran Laraneth, Elenya, Hemmingway, Horiam, Kriv and Lo-Donk

Date: 18th Dimlek , 1028

The Battle of the Sundered Bridge

Meepo and his lieutenants Mike and Breaker arrive on his undead dragon. They crack and break the dwarven bridge.

Meepo and his forces attack the party. Mike the goliath executes Hemingway and Edran during the . Meepo sacrifices Breaker and Mike during the battle to reinvigorate his lifeforce. Horiam uses the divine ritual to severe Meepo’s power, killing the kobold necromancer and ending the War.


Session 50: THE LAST DAY OF THE WAR: The Behemoth


NPCs of note: Hugh Mann Garde, Teddy Huggz


Erahlor burns with battle. The final thrust of Meepo’s army has almost overrun the King’s force.

Standing atop the defeated corpse of an undead Peryton, Kriv, Elenya, Lo-Donk and Edran barely have time to recover their breath as the eastern riverside gate shatters and collapses. Striding over the buckled remains of the gate comes Meepo’s siege monster, the giant three-headed undead Mammoth. It screams unnaturally at the party and charges forward.

The Behemoth charges across the large stone dwarven bridge which spans the breadth of the wild surging river below. The Erahlan army had been using the bridge as a chock point until the radiant barrier had collapsed. Lo-Donk races forward with his executioner’s axe to halt the Behemoth’s advance. Although he fails to break its knees, he was successful in keeping the massive creature confined to the bridge. This allowed Edran to cast his fountain of flame, using the fiery phoenix to lash at the Behemoth with fiery flames.
This momentary delay allowed other Erahlan soldiers, led by Hugh Mann Garde and his corporal Teddy Huggz, to harass and pierce the Behemoth’s thick hide with spears and crossbows. However this was only a temporary delay, and the Behemoth was able to charge Kriv and Lo-Donk, crushing them into the bridge supports and fracturing the crossway’s very foundations.

In the charge, the Behemoth instantly kills Teddy Huggz, while simultaneously piercing Kriv’s armour and knocking him unconscious, flinging his lifeless body over its back and into the raging rapids of the river. While Elenya races down the steep riverbank after Kriv’s body, Edran, Lo-Donk and Hugh Mann Garde do their best to draw the Behemoth back onto the bridge, attempting to limit its ability to charge. Using its three corrupted heads to attack multiple times, the Behemoth’s unrelenting attacks cause Edran to seek refuge behind a stone pillar, while another head smashes Lo-Donk, sending the goliath fighter tumbling into the churning waters of the river.

The Behemoth lowers its tusked heads and takes a stride towards Lo-Donk, struggling to free himself from the mud of the river. Suddenly, the Behemoth halts as someone yells behind it ”You call that a fucking punch?”

Climbing up the riverbank, Kriv wipes the blood from his snout and charges the Behemoth, using his greatsword to cleave one of its three heads straight off. The Behemoth recoils and wails in shock, its attention entirely gathered on the dragonborn. Elenya scrambles across the broken bridge and uses her divine powers to heal Lo-Donk, pulling him from the rapid waters. Edran teleports from behind his stone pillar and uses a scorching burst to burn the second head off of the Behemoth. On the far edge of the battlefield, Hugh Mann Garde continues to load his crossbow and provide support to the Platinum Knights.

Eventually the bloodied and weary heroes are able to force the Behemoth back onto the bridge. Elenya steps forward, brandishing her weapon of the Raven Queen and uses Turn Undead, banishing the Behemoth and causing it to swell and explode in radiant energy. The Erahlan forces cheer and are reinvigorated by the success.
An aura of shock and foreboding crawls across the battlefield, as both Erahlan and Meepo’s forces witnessed the vanquishing of Meepo’s siege engine.

Across the battlefield, an unnatural shriek pierces the ears of the Erahlan forces, making some drop their weapons in fear. Flying high above the battlefield, a large undead dragon wheels about in flight before landing on the broken bridge before the Platinum Knights. Riding upon the undead beast, and glaring absolute contempt at the party, sits a goliath male, a warforged, and a small black kobold.



Session 48 & 49: The Shambling Hordes

Session 48 and 49: SEASON 4 PREMIERE: The Shambling Hordes

Date: 15th – 18th Dimlek , 1028

Vin the Would-be King

Crossing the River

The Last Day of the War


Sessions 47: The Shamblers March

Session 47: SEASON FINALE: The Shamblers March

9/12/14 ;

Cast- The King’s Recruits: Edran Laraneth, Elenya, Kriv and INTRODUCING Lo-dunk

NPCs of note: Evaras, Vin the wererat

Date: 13th – 15th Dimlek , 1028

The Goliath Scout

➢ Deep within the Midnight Marshes, the Platinum Knights trudge through the mudflats, putting the Travelling Temple of Corellon far behind them. Now armed with the knowledge and power to defeat the necrotic energies of Meepo, they race back to aid the Erahlan army in the West.
➢ After several hours march they make camp for the night and set watches.

➢ The party awaken the next day (14th Dimlek) and continue their way north through the marshes.

➢ At midday the whole marsh seems to shudder, and a green necrotic energy wave cascades across the sky above. Elenya and Fargrim (due to his druidic connection to the swamp) both feel a necrotic taint growing throughout the landscape. Their instantly notice large, unnatural corrupted growth sprouting across the marshes. Large, vicious vines strangling anything it touches.

➢ Nearby, not too far away, the party hear a pained roar, a person yelling in the distance.

➢ Making their way forward, the party notice a goliath fighter struggling to free himself from the vines. Kriv charges first into the corrupted vine growth while Edran uses his beguiling strands to force the weeds back. After some struggling and scratches, Kriv pulls the Goliath out to safety.
➢ Lo-Dunk, a goliath from the northern mountains, reveals that he was part of a scouting party sent to investigate the movements of the undead hordes. His men were set upon by the corrupted growth and were killed. The Platinum Knights offer him the opportunity to join the fight against Meepo. The party continue their march through the swamps, towards the Front Line.

The Trap is Sprung

➢ The party awaken the next day (15th Dimlek) and continue their way towards the Front Line, passing through terrain that grows exceedingly corrupted and fuelled by necrotic energies.
➢ During their march, all of the party receive a arcane message, declaring: The Line is falling. All Platinum Knights marshal back to the Base Camp. This prompts the party to double their speed and trudge through the swamp as best they could.
➢ By evening, the dirtied and tired party do their best to trudge forward, finding their way continually blocked or harassed by the necrotic corruption of the swamp.
➢ They party begin to feel like they are being watched. Edran discusses this with Elenya, but they cannot see anything.
➢ Edran pulls from his magical robes a hooded lantern, which he shines into the darkness behind them. Suddenly he spies some form tunnelling through the mud behind them. Slithering towards them at high speed! Trying in vain to unleash beguiling strands at the form, the party are caught off guard as a long, giant magically infused chain encircles the party and suddenly erects magical barrier around them—trapping the Platinum Knights.

➢ Out of the swamp behind them, a pair of direwolves approach, growling and snapping at the party, while eight shambling zombies trudge along behind.

➢ Leading the two direwoves on a set of chains struts a very cocky and confident wererat. He appears to have magically bound the zombies to him, and he holds a magical compass in his hand, which seems to be twirling and pointing directly at the party.

➢ Vin the wererat seems very self-assured and certain in his victory, gloating that he was able to intercept the party before they reached the Front Line. He also seems to know everyting about the party, their names, their recent activities and their mission to investigate the depths of the swamp. He makes an offer to the party: Give to him the knowledge that they uncovered in the Midnight Marshes and he would let them live and depart unaccosted.

➢ Elenya sees right through his blatant lie—it appears that Vin, a lowly lieutenant of Meepo’s army, intends to steal the knowledge of Meepo’s power and take it for his own nefarious purposes. Elenya approaches the edge of the barrier and says coldly to Vin ”Your time with the Raven Queen is coming” and she smashes her mace against the barrier.


Session 46: The Beast Below


NPCs of note: Evaras

Date: 13th Dimlek , 1028

The Beast Below

Session 44 & 45: The Travelling Temple of Corellon, Part II and III

8/8/14 ; 29/8/14

Date: 13th Dimlek – , 1028

The Girl in the Mirror

➢ Deep within the Midnight Marshes the Platinum Knights climb to the top of the Travelling Temple of Corellon. They open the large stone doors and find themselves staring at a large stone archgate, swirling in chaotic elemental energy

➢ The room appears to be a shrine entirely dedicated to the archgate, which has inlaid elven runes, which Edran translates as ’The Door to all doors’.

➢ Elenya and Kriv explore the magical runes and braziers surrounding the archgate, which they surmise must be the power source for the archgate. The braziers magical flames flicker pathetically, symbolising how little arcane power the zigguraut has remaining.

➢ Edran approaches the archgate, and feeling compelled, takes out his wand of Wonder and pushes it through the empty threshold of the archgate. Suddenly he opens a portal into a small room, filled with a desk, books, and a young Eladrin girl dressed in filthy rags, crying. Edran recognises her has the Eladrin his magically communed with during the Battle for Ravenholm, the girl who saved them from death. Shocked and elated, the girl runs through the archgate threshold and nearly passes out in Kriv’s arms.

➢ Kriv comforts the eldarin and passes her his waterskin. The young girl, Evara, reveals that she had been placed in the pocket dimension within the archgate by her father to protect her during the Temple’s crash over 127 years ago. She is shocked and nearly catatonic when the party reveal that the Temple had been pillaged by Meepo, and the amulet of necrotic power stolen. Kriv picks the tiny Eladrin and shakes her, ”Woman, you don’t get to be catatonic when necromancy has been unleashed upon the world!” In retaliation, Evara uses her magic to knock Kriv unconscious.

➢ Edran and Elenya manage to calm Evara down and convice her that they are all working on the same side—to defeat the source of Meepo’s power. Evara reveals that the amulet was housed in the bowels of the Temple. She walks off, leading the way and relinquished her magical stasis on Kriv.

➢ The party follow Evara down the steps into the bowels of the Temple. They are shocked and disheartened when they discover that the lower levels of the Temple, over the centuries, had crumbled and were now deeply submerged in the murky waters of the swamp. Evaras uses her arcane magic to create magical air bubbles around the party members to allow them to explore the watery depths.

➢ The party prepare to dive down into the dark murky depths of the Temple, in search of the stronghold, which had once long harboured the secret to Meepo’s power, and hopefully the solution to his ultimate defeat.


Session 43: The Travelling Temple of Corellon, Part I


Date: 11th – 13th Dimlek – , 1028

Following the vicious battle in the ruins of Salemhiss, the Platinum Knights elect to continue marching south through the*Midnight Marshes* to avoid undead reinforcements.
➢ An hour down the road the party detour in to the swamp to stop and recover from the battle. As they do they hear a draconic roar echo across the swamp. Fearing that the roar belongs to the undead dragon of Meepo the party snuff out their fire and

➢ The next day the party continue to march south through the foggy marshlands. As they near the recorded location of the Travelling Temple they hear the distant sounds of battle in the south-west, accompanied by the screaming and wailing of civilians. They party surmise that it could be refuges from the Elven Thornbark tribes or the Hobgoblin clans of the Stalkwood who have been captured by the undead. After a fierce debate the party vote to continue on their primary mission to the Temple

➢ That night the party make camp again. While some members still regret abandoning the civilians, the rest of the party notice that they are becoming desensitised to the war, and to the overwhelming presence of death. Fargrim bitterly remarks that “war is hell” and makes and the demoralised party bunker down for the night.

➢ The morning of the 13th Dimlek the party trudge westwards through the marshes, a journey which tests their endurance and athletic ability. At one point, while knee deep in a muddy bog, a rolling wave of necrotic energy begins to cascade upon the party. Edran tries to create an arcane bubble to envelope and protect the party, while Elenya and Horiam seek the Raven Queen’s divine protection. While not fatal, the energy passes the group, leaving them mentally drained.

➢ As the Platinum Knights approach the Temple, the party notice a trail of light bob and wave through the marsh. Emanating from the crack of light Edran can hear fey creatures talking in elven. Edran realises that the Temple is the source of the cracks and sundering of the planescape that has been ravaging the Midnight Marsh. He warns the party to be careful not to stray into any other “cracks in reality.”

Arrival at the Temple

➢ The party finally come to the lake, wherein lies the Travelling Temple of Corellon. The giant ziggurat crashed and is half-submerged into the middle of lake, which the party begin to swim across. Edran and Elenya arrive at the steps first.
➢ Kriv begins to swim across the swamp but he begins to sink and drown in his heavy armour. As he talons behind to sink into the muddy bottom the paladin begins to panic, running out of breath. Edran feysteps into the deep swamp and tries to help Kriv to swim to the surface. Kriv begins to flail and panic in the water, gripping Edran. Suddenly Kriv recalls that he is wearing wavestrider boots, which he activates and he quickly bobs to the surface like a cork, leaving Edran to swim after him.

Solving the puzzle

➢ The party all get out of the water and begin to search around the Temple for the entrance. They find the front door, covered in thick vines. Edran tries to burn the vines off, but the party are surprised when the vines immediately grow back and clamp around the door.
➢ Averlon swings up the columns onto a higher level to find alternative entrances while Kriv charges the front door. As he tries to ram the doors open he is eclipsed in arcane magic as a magical security system launches him back off the Temple and into the lake. Edran senses the whole Temple shiver with intense arcane magic.
➢ Averlon drops a rope, allowing the rest of the party to join him on a higher level. The Temple walls are covered with arcane sigils and glyphs, which make up the security and defences, allowing the Temple to travel across the planes. A majority of the glyphs bear homage to Corellon. Edran touches the nearest symbol and prays to his god Corellon and Ioun.
➢ Edran feels the grace Corellon and memory shard begins to burn with heat and light, as though an immense amount of data and memories have been magically dumped into the artifact. When Edran accesses the memory shard, his mind is filled with details of the Temple and its security, and how to open the door. He also receives a vision of a large stone archgate imbued with arcane magic.

➢ The party climb back down to the Front doors of the Temple. Edran’s wand begins acting like a dowsing rod, pointing in the direction of a room inside the Temple. He uses his newly gained knowledge to open the sealed doors. Curiously, the vines remain tangled across the threshold and appear to radiate with primal energy, as if they were an added defence mechanism AFTER the Temple crashed into the swamp.

➢ While Averlon and Elenya try to cut the vines and figure how to disarm the magic ritual, Kriv begins to heave slowly against the vines with his shield. As the dragonborn strains against the barrier the vines suddenly open and envelope him. Kriv falls to his knees inside the Temple’s foyer, but the vines seal shut behind him.

Inside the Temple

➢ Averlon and Elenya realise that the vines operate like a sequenced locking ritual. They need to cut the appropriate vines in a sequence, which will allow them to crack the ritual. They hurriedly begin testing and cutting the thick vines.

➢ Kriv hears a menacing growl inside the darkened Temple. He looks towards a large crack in the floor, through which climbs an Owlbear. The large creature regards him with shining glowing eyes and growls.

➢ A nearby statue flares to life, and a magical façade (re: hologram) appears in the shape of an elf. It begins muttering in ancient slyvian. The Owlbear reacts in fury and begins swiping at the illusion. Kriv takes the opportunity to back away from the owlbear. As he rounds a corner of the main stairs Kriv’s escape is blocked when two fire elementals and two water elementals appear from thin air. Kriv tries to back up towards the door again

➢ Elenya and Averlon finally cut the last two vines. The vine trap whithers and falls apart, allowing Kric to back up out of the Temple. One of the water elementals fires a gout of water, which blasts Edran back out into the lake.

➢ The party are offered a respite while the owlbear turns its aggression on the elementals. Kriv wades into the water and plucks Edran out, hauling the Eladrin over his shoulders.

➢ The owlbear forces the fire elementals to vanish into a fire brazier. As the owlbear turns its attention to the party, cuttings Kriv’s armour with its fiery talons. Elenya notices that it is simply trying to protect the crack in the floor, which must be its lair. The dryad cleric throws some of her rations at the owlbear. The creature halts its attack, regards the party. Its eyes blaze in purple arcane light and Elenya hears in her head _”This offering is not enough. You will feed my young.” The owlbear’s claws begin to glow a fiery red.

➢ Edran and Elenya surmise that the owlbear has developed elemental powers from living on the Temple grounds for so long. Unable to kill such a rare, powerful and magnificent creature, Edran and Elenya upend the handy haversack, as an offering of tribute, telling the owlbear that they merely wish to investigate the Temple grounds.
➢ The owlbear regards the party and their offering of salted meats. It picks up the handy haversack with its beak and its eyes glow purple once more. ”You may roam my realm, but do not disturb my lair.”
➢ As the owlbear pads back to the crack and disappears, the party are momentarily confused when an Imp flies out of the Temple doors. The demonic creature looks at the vine trap, the owlbear and then looks at the arty with amusement. He gives the party a mischievous grin and a thumbs up as he flies in the air and disappears before they react.

➢ The party enter the Temple and follow Edran’s wand, which continues to act as a dowsing rod. It appears to be homing in on a massive elemental power source. Climbing the main staircase they come to a large room. They open the doors and find themselves staring at a large stone archgate, swirling in chaotic elemental energy.


-the party have lost their handy haversack and are reduced to rations kept on their personal inventory.


Session 41: The True Cost of War



Cast- The King’s Recruits: Averlon Blackwood, Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Horiam, and Kriv

NPCs of note: Legate Iriehana Bronzeheart, Harbourd, War Marshall Fletcher
Date: 3rd – 11th Dimlek – , 1028

➢ With the battle against Meepo’s undead horde over the party march back to the dwarven camp, led by Legate Iriehana Bronzeheart. The party rest and recover for the remainder of that day. Fargrim bitterly remarks that “war is hell.”

➢ The next day the dwarven flank continues to push south, intending to attack the undead hordes from the north and meet the Eralhan army at Til. The party take part in small skirmishes.
➢ During this time Averlon creates a small card gambling group for the dwarven soldiers. He also manages to fix the decks to give himself a pity profit. Fargrim tries to help out with the burial of the dwarven troops while Horiam administers the rites to the deceased. Kriv continues to keep a low profile to keep his identity hidden.

➢ The next day, 5th of Dimlek, Legate Bronzeheart assembles the troops. She announces her intention to make a forward assault to smash the undead ranks and take the pressure off of the Eralhan army. She assigns the Platinum Knights to take command of their own individual squads to command in the upcoming battle.
➢ Arvelon, Horiam and Edran assemble their own squad of archers, sharpshooters and mages, respectively. Kriv quietly enlists the help of some of the toughest dwarven fighters to lead the charge. Fargrim goes to the dwarven prisons and tries to recruit a band of cut-throat inmates on death row, giving them the chance to fight on the front lines. As he assembles his ‘dirty dozen’, Edran warns Fargrim to be careful of the outlaws.

The Final Push

➢ Legate Bronzeheart leads the dwarven army into battle. The Platinum Knights take charge of their respective squads and deal devastating damage to the undead minions.
➢ After the intense fighting, the dwarven flank is successful in smashing the ranks of the undead. Legate Bronzeheart and Harbourd meet in the middle of the battle and rally their troops to push back the undead invaders. The day ends in victory for the kingdom of Erahlor.

➢ The next day Fargrim discovers that he has had 120 gp stolen from his money pouch. He confronts the members of his ‘dirty dozen’ and inquires about the missing wealth. After the conversation and hugs Fargrim is shocked to discover that he has had a further 40gp missing. He bitterly remarks that this is the ‘true cost of war’.
➢ Averlon offers his services to his team of sharpshooters, promising that he will be available for clandestine operations after the conclusion of the war.
➢ Edran takes the time to talk with Fargrim about his money being stolen.

The Mystery of the Temple of Corellon

➢ The party are called to Legate Bronzeheart’s pavilion. When they arrive they discover that a war meeting is being held between Bronzeheart, Harbour and War Marshall Fletcher.
➢ Fletcher announces that with the undead thrust defeated, a window of opportunity has opened up to allow a small team to travel through the Midnight Marshes and strike out at the Travelling Temple of Corellon.
➢ All intelligence points to the Temple being linked to Meepo’s rise in power, and could hold the key to his defeat.
➢ The party reprovision and depart on horseback as soon as possible, heading east into the marshes.

➢ On the 6th Dimlek the cross by the borders of the Yorgnole Mountains, near the foothold of Tor’s Reach. They continue to travel east.

➢ On the 7th the party come across a giant river that winds through the marshes. They travel south until they find a fjord to cross with their horses. As they make camp they feel the necrotic energies of the marshes affects all of their moods, making them feel anxious and melancholy. Fargrim tries to feed a crow some of his trail rations. The carrion picks up his pet snake and flies off with it. Edran consoles Fargrim and tries to make him feel better about loosing the animal.

The Ruins of Salemhiss

➢ After travelling through the marshes and avoiding the large undead hordes, the party finally come to the ruins of the lizard township called Salemhiss. According to Glavira this town was one of the first victims of Meepo’s rise to power.
➢ The town has been destroyed and reclaimed by the marshes. The local hotel is a charred ruin and the whole township is thick with necrotic energy and corruption.
➢ Edran takes the first step into the town. As he does so, frost magic suddenly erupts from the ground and snakes up his legs. Simultaneously wererats and undead minions rise from the ground and brandish weapons at the heroes, all led by a cackling wererat necromancer.


• -160 gp to Fargrim’s personal wealth
• Averlon earned money on his card gambling circles.
• - 9 days’ rations from group stores. (41 days remaining in handy haversack)

• Undisclosed group magic item recovered by Party on the battlefield. TBA at next session.


Session 40: Of Dwarves and Camels

Session 39: Of Dwarves and Camels


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Averlon Blackwood, Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Horiam, Kriv and Nimaketh
Rings of NPCness: Elenya
Date: 9th -10th Readifest, 1028

• The party stand inside the ruins of Fort Smoothstone, speaking to Harlem the dwarf and his archaeological comrades. Fargrim quietly rages when he recognises one of the dwarves as being an Ironblood.

• The party try to bunk down for the night. Edran speaks to Fargrim about his feelings, concerned that a fight will break out with the Ironblood clansman.

• Averlon sneakily unlocks one of the archeologists chests, inside which he finds a collection of smell vials containing glowing blue liquid which emanates a faint aura of energy. The archeologists become very hostile when they discover Averlon and the vials.

• Fargrim demands to know what the vials are, and shakes one vigorously. Harlem yells at the Last of the Stoneborn to stop. The other archaeologists begin to load crossbows at the party. The situation deescalates when Fargrim returns the vials to the chest. Horiam gives both Averlon and Fargrim an eyebrow of contempt and goes back to sleep.

• Edran recognises the blue vials as being a part of the arcane bomb that was recovered from wererats attack in Frostfall Village. He approaches Harlem and, speaking quietly in dwarven, apologises to Harlem for the parties’ actions and inquiries about the magical vials.

Hostility and Infamy

• Kriv tries to strike up casual conversation with one of the dwarves. The situation escalates when the dwarf recognises him as Kriv, the slayer of dwarves and destroyer of Rothgaren. Crossbows are immediately brandished at the party once more. Harlem suggests that they leave and not come back.

• Horiam leads the party back out into the Underdark tunnels. As Fargrim leaves he proudly proclaims “Fuck the Ironbloods!”

• As they leave Fargrim talks to Averlon about sneaking back and stealing from the archaeologists. Edran and Horiam immediately refute the idea, reminding them that they are platinum knights, not brigands.

• The party set camp a small way down the tunnels from Fort Smoothstone. Edran casts Alarm and they bunk down for the night.

• At one point a bright blue glow emanates from the ruined Fort. Concerned for the well being of the archaeologists, Horiam quietly sneaks up to the Fort. He hears excited chatter and conversation and, convinced that they are okay, returns to the party.

Meeting the Dwarven Flank

• The party awaken on the last day of the Readifest festival (10th) and continue their march towards the dwarven army. Some party struggle to climb through the darkened tunnels.

• They cross beneath the waterfall sewers of Tor’s Reach and, after checking their map, begin their ascent towards the surface.

• Eventually they emerge from the Underdark to the sound of intense fighting. They spot the dwarven army engaged with a small horde of undead,

• Horiam instructs Kriv to keep the visor of his helmet lowered to hide his face. They also create the fiction that Kriv is a dragonborn who lost his tongue fighting undead and therefore cannot speak.

• The party are led to a large and lavish purple tent, which stands as the forward operating base for Legate Iriehana Bronzeheart, a formidable dwarf female with a large war axe who commands the dwarven flank.

• The party meet discuss the theatre of battle with Legate Bronzeheart and how best to punch through and assist the Erahlan army to the south.

• While the rest of the party meet the local blacksmith to resupply, Horiam and Averlon sneak through the front lines and stalk the nearby undead hordes. They spot a necromancer general and Averlon snipes him through the head with his hand crossbow. They melt back into the forest.

• When the pair return to camp reports are coming in that a section of the horde has broken off and moved to intercept the dwarven camp. One archer sarcastically thanks Averlon. Horiam quips that ”he who dares, wins,” pointing out that now there are less undead currently marching west towards Erahlor.

Fighting the Horde

• The dwarven camp begins to make preparations to fend off and defeat the approaching host of undead. Fargrim consoles a young dwarven lad called Barford Ironfoot, all of 20-years old and fearful of being in the front lines. Fargrim sees to it that the young lad is reassigned to catapult defence duty.

• Each of the party are allocated a pair of dwarven soliders by Legate Bronzeheart, to aid them as retainers and assist in the upcoming battle.

• Before the frontline begins their charge, the army make last minute prayers to Moradin, the Raven Queen and Kriv give an inspiring and rousing roar as they charge into battle.

• The battle begins, during which—
o The party fight off against several zombies and two large undead swarms, which ravage anyone standing close by.
o The dwarven soldiers unload a successful volley of slings during their surprise attack, causing several undead to crumble.
o Nimaketh lifts a giant rock with her telekinetic powers and drops it on one of the swarms.
o The nearby dwarven camp launches large rocks into the battlefield.
o The undead swarms manage to kill most of the dwarven soldiers, including Krog, Kator, Khazdan and Gibli.
o As Kriv runs forward to kill the last undead swarm, a large boulder suddenly falls from the sky and crushes it. The catapult under the command of Barford Ironfoot had shot the boulder.


• -2 days’ rations
• Edran minus cost of residuum for alarm ritual
• Kriv now has infamy with the general dwarven populace due to his actions in Rothgaren.


Session 39: The First Line of Defence

After defending the troops at Til, the party head through the Underdark


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Averlon Blackwood, Edran Laraneth, Elenya, Horiam and Kriv
Rings of NPCness — Fargrim Stoneborn
Date: 9th Readifest, 1028


Horiam asks Kriv and Elenya to accompany him to the shack, requesting that they wait outside but to be prepared. When Horiam enters he sees Laeroi of the Hand of Shadows.
The creature of shadow begins without preamble, saying ”We need to teach you, and fast.”
When Horiam enquires, Laeroi describes the powerful arcane amulet that Meepo had been wearing when he attacked Ravenholm, stressing that that necklace will cause havoc and destruction and will warp Horiam’s mind unless he is properly prepared before their next encounter.
The creature of silence and secrets draws in the shadows of the night and through the darkness regards Horiam with serious and intimidating eyes. ”So sit down. Shut up. And Listen….”
Horiam raises an eyebrow, but acqueses and takes a seat. Dongala brings forth a stack of dusty old tome, picking one off the top, easily 1,000 years old, and hands it to Laeroi.
Laeroi flicks through the old text until he comes to a picture of a dark, cloaked figure standing beneath a triangle, with a circle on each tip of the shape. Within each symbol is the relief of an amulet, a blade and a wand, respectively. Laeroi explains that the three artefacts once belonged to necromancer who roamed the world over 1,500 years ago. A man of unimaginable strength and talent he derived his powers from the three divine necrotic artefacts. Eventually the artefacts were lost to time, until the Hand of Shadows reclaimed and hid the artefacts from those who would wield it for evil. Eventually, under Laeroi’s guardianship, the relics were lost to time and legend, eventually being last recorded with the magi of the Travelling Temple of Corellon, nearly three hundred years ago.
Laeroi believes that Meepo has come into possession of the amulet, which would allow him to cast the eternal link, a divine necrotic ritual which would allow him to bind his life force to any creature, allowing him to live beyond death. Laeroi says that he and Dongala will spend the night training Horiam a divine religious chant which would be able to disrupt the ritual.
He says that Horiam may be their only hope to stop Meepo forever, and reclaim the relic.

The rest of the night is spent in training, Dongala working Horiam through the ancient speech, uttered in a tongue long forgotten to the ages. When they finish, Laeroi gives Horiam a magical amulet, with instructions to give it Kriv on the day of his Trial, suggesting that it will help the truth of his actions come to the light.

The battle for the eastern front continues as the Platinum Knights attack the undead forces, led by two undead dire bears and a slithering undead serpent. Horiam, Fargrim and Kriv lead the charge while Averlon and Edran launch long range attacks. Elenya moves swiftly between the groups, offering the healing powers of the Raven Queen to the party and nearby Erehlan troops. At one point some zombie minions try to dislodge a huge stone boulder down at the group, but they are quickly dispatched. The battle ends when Horiam’s divine magic causes an undead bear to burst in radiant energy while Averlon’s shoots the undead serpent between the eyes with his hand crossbows. The tide of the battle turns and the undead are pushed back, allowing the party to return to Harbourd and report their success.

The Hammer and the Anvil

Harbourd is pleased with the outcome of the battle, and the party take an hour to rest and recover their injuries. Eventually they are brought to his tent to outline their next mission—reaching the nearby dwarven forces to allow them to attack the undead flank. While surveying a map, the party agree that their best and most expeditious way of reaching the dwarves would be take the underground tunnels through the Underdark. Horiam and Kriv point out some nearby caves on the map, which would serve as an entrance to the Underdark. Harbourd sends a runner to notify the cavalry to mount up—the party will charge the caves, using the cavalry to punch through and establish a beachhead which would allow them access to the caves.

Outside in the courtyard, Fargrim gathers the nearby troops together and starts to make an impassioned speech, but he then falters and his speech goes onto a tangent that ends up talking about the strategic benefit of dwarven war camels. The Erehlan cavalry is quickly mustered and mounted. The party join the ranks. Kriv rides up front next to Hugh Mann Garde, who was drafted into the war.
At the apex of the Calvary charge, War Marshall Fletcher blows her trumpet and the charge begins.
As the cavalry charges through the battlefield, they break through several lines of undead forces, trying to make a beeline for the cave systems. While riding Kriv is suddenly and unexpectedly gorged with spear. In the split second the party see a dragonborn foot soldier in Erehlan plate mail curse Kriv, but he quickly disappears into the crowd of the troops as they charge by.

The cavalry charge punches through to the cave system. The party quickly dismount and fall into the caves, while the cavalry wheel around to meet the pursuing undead. Edran takes out his holy symbol of Corellon and blasts out a radiant zone of divine energy, creating a radiant bubble, holding back the zombies. He pulls out some makeshift explosive alchemical supplies from his magical cloak. Being the last one into the cave, Edran launches a scorching burst on the explosives, which cause the cave mouth to collapse, preventing the undead from chasing them through the Underdark.
While Averlon pierces into the darkness with his dark vision, Edran pulls a lantern from his cloak and lights it. The party arrange themselves into a marching order, and begin to sneak through the eerily quiet and foreboding tunnels of the Underdark.

Through the Underdark

The party move in silence for an hour, following their map through the winding tunnels towards the dwarven cities to the north. Horiam and Averlon scout ahead, quietly aware of skittering noises retreating from their advance. Horiam points out a large tunnel branching off that appears to have been made from a rust monster. Cautiously, they continue to move forward. The party trek on in silence for another 2 hours, during which Edran and Elenya fall down 20ft due to a collapsed section of path.
Eventually the party walk out into a large cavern, the ceiling filled with small glowing gemstones. The rest of the party walk through, unwilling to disturb the cavern or its treasure. Fargrim belts one loose with his war hammer. The sound echoes and reverberates into the utter darkness of the caverns and adjoining tunnels. Fargrim pockets the small gem, pleased with his acquisition. The party look at him incredulously, and continue to march on.

After another hour of undisturbed sneaking through the Underdark, the tunnel that the party are walking through begins to grow smaller, eventually shrinking to waist height. Ahead, the rest of the tunnel is crawling with insects, which Kriv and Horiam recognise as Kruthiks. The insectoids appear to have established a nest of sorts in the confines of the tunnel, a small colony easily numbering at least 40 or 50 kruthiks. Unable to lose an hour back tracking, and unwilling to senselessly kill the kruthicks, the party devise a plan to sneak past them. Edran casts ghost sound at the far end of the tunnel, imitating the sound of a giant Umberhulk roaring, accompanied by bright pulsing lights. The kruthicks skitter and retreat to protect their hatchlings, at which point the party rush forward through the tunnels, jumping aside from the soldier drones which try to defend their hive. The party manage to make it through unscathed and continue on their way.

Strangers in the Dark

Continuing to follow Harbourd’s map, the party sneak along through the Underdark, eventually coming to a large, 30ft high cliff face. Kriv lifts Edran up on his shoulders, allowing the eladrin to fey step up to the cliff top. Once there the wizard unspools a 50ft rope from his magical cloak, allowing the rest of the party to scale up the cliff face. While waiting, Edran spots a small tote bag near some Underdark mushroom roots, containing 43gp and 22sp. He adds it to his ledger and the party move on.

As the party’s body clocks suggest that it is almost sundown up on the surface, the platinum knights begin to keep an eye out for a safe refuge for the night. Eventually they come to another small cavern, through which they can see a small beam of sunlight—the warm glow of afternoon sunlight. The ray of natural light appears to be coming from a nearby ancient dwarven ruin, clearly marked on Edran’s map. Averlon and Horiam sneak ahead of the party to scout out the possibility of using the ruins as a place to rest. As they approach, they begin to hear the quiet mutterings and whisperings of dwarves.
Averlon peers inside the ruined temple and spots three dwarves inspecting some runes, one of which is wearing a leather fedora, the latest fashion in Rovnol. A fourth dwarf sits in the shadows near a fire, his shadowed face smoking a pipe.
While the party catch up, Horiam and Averlon enter the ruined temple and announce their presence to the dwarves. Though shocked and concerned at the intrusion, the dwarves calm down when they see the badge of the Platinum Knights. Edran and Fargrim speak to the dwarves in their native tongue, confirming that they are friends of Tor’s Reach. The archaeologists relax and begin to talk to party.
Although reluctant to talk about the specifics of their mission, the historians say that they are under instructions to scour the ancient ruins for weapons to use against Meepo. Kriv asks if they are referring to the Obsidian Box, and the dwarves appear uncomfortable to talk further about the issue.

The rest of the party settle down near the fire while Horiam suggests that the two groups rest together for the night, for protection against any Underdark attacks during the night.
The fourth dwarf, quiet until now, agrees. He lights his pipe again, saying ”Of course. Friends should stick together. You’ve got to sleep with one eye open down here in the Underdark,” He gets to his feet and steps into the light. ”You never know what’s just waiting to stick a blade in your back.”

Fargrim recognises the dwarf’s family sigil that is engraved on his pipe piece—the sigil of the Ironblood clan.


+ 1 gem to Fargrim
+ 1 43gp, 22sp to kitty
-1 days rations


Session 38: The First Days of the War

*Session 38: The First Days of the War


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Averlon Blackwood, Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn and Kriv

Guest starring— Elenya

Rings of NPCness— Horiam and Nimaketh

NPCs of note— King Kevran Urathdae, General Fletcher, Marshall Fletcher

Date: 7h – 9th Readifest, 1028

General Fletcher awakens the party at 6am. The general does not appear to be himself, he is sombre and wearing his Platinum Knights dress uniform. He orders the group to rise and dress for an audience in the Platinum Spire—all of the other available Knights will be in attendance.

Fletcher takes the party up the magical lift into the Platinum Spire, to the council chambers. Inside the room are approximately 80 of the available Platinum Knights of Eralhor.

Kriv notices a fellow dragonborn knight with necrotic scars whispering and glaring in his direction. Averlon speaks to some knights who originate from the shadowfell about the increase in necrotic activity in the shadowfell. Meanwhile Edran is shocked to see an envoy from the Order of the Talon at the assembly. He remarks that it is very strange—and a grave omen—if the Order has taken interest in the goings on in the Mortal Realm.

The large ornate doors open and King Kevran Urathdae enters with his entourage. He begins meeting by announcing that the war against Meepo has officially begun. On a nearby geographically accurate map table, Advisor
Jemek draws the battlelines across Eralhor, intersecting through Til and snaking south along the Midnight Marshes.
The King announces that the Platinum Knights are to depart immediately for the eastern front, to bolster failing supply lines and to assist the dwarven forces that has routed Meepo’s advance thus far.

A gravelly voice echoes from the back of the hall. ”My King, I have come here to fight Meepo and drink ale…and my cup runneth dry!”

All eyes turn in shock towards Fargrim Stoneborn, speechless at the impertinent outburst, although a few dwarves from the Yorgnole Mountains giggle and agree with the Last of the Stoneborn. Luckily the dwarf is able to avoid being thrown in the stockades due to the war effort.

It is decided by the King that the overall coordination between the Platinum Knights and the Eralhan army would be conducted between General Fletcher and his ex-wife, Marshall Fletcher. The two look in shock and distaste at one another.

After the King withdraws with his retinue, Marshall Fletcher takes to the podium to outline the strategy for the war. She begins by saying ”Me and the General—-“

Fargrim shouts out, ”The General and I!”
From across the room, Marshall Fletcher is able to give Fargrim a piercing look of contempt and disapproval with such force that the dwarf manages to piss himself a little.
After Fargrim apologises, Marshall Fletcher orders the entirety of the Platinum Knights to ride east to Til, to report to Harbourd and reinforce the struggling battlelines. She orders the party specifically to then travel south to Investigate the Travelling Temple of Corellon, as there appears to be a causal link between its existence and the undead living in the Midnight Marshes.

The Knights Roll Out

By midmorning the entire host of Platinum Knights mount up and depart Rovnol, headed for the eastern front of the war. Travelling in the direction of Til, Edran and Averlon are able to feel the increase of necrotic energy into the mortal realm. Fargrim takes the time to talk to Elenya about her origins as a dryad, and why a dryad would worship the Raven Queen.

Elenya tells them that she worships the Raven Queen because she was born of the Raven Queen. She reveals that when the party liberated the Temple of the Raven Queen and consecrated the holy grounds of the Temple, that the energies of the ritual were directly responsible for bringing her to life.

The army of Platinum Knights travel for two days along the base of the Yorgnole Mountains, making their way towards Til. They arrive on the 9th day of the Readifest festival and meet with Harbourd, who has started using the burnt out remains of Til as his forward operation post.
The Platinum Knights begin to break up into their operation groups and head out on their assigned duties.

Harbourd speaks with the party about heading south to bolster a failing flank. He warns that scattered reports tell of undead bears and serpents tearing the erahlan troops to shreds. The party run south towards the main area of battle.

As reported, the party arrive at a site of vicious fighting, where the erahlan forces are being torn through by two large undead hulkbears. As the party begin to fight they have to carefully wade through the fighting to avoid being hit by zombie minions. The constant shifting of the battlefield leads to Edran and Averlon being separated from the rest of the party. To makes matters worse some undead cobras also quickly slither around the battlefield, spitting necrotic blinding poison at the party.


Session 37: The Fall of Ravenholm



NPCs of note— Arclem, General Fletcher, Kareena, Laeroi

Date: 6th Readifest, 1028

Inside the Temple of the Raven Queen, the undead bat swarms ravage the unconscious body of Gareth 2.0, killing the warforged.

Nimaketh gives a scroll containing a ritual of Teleportation to Glavira and orders her to begin incanting the ritual. The shardmind moves to intercept the undead bat swarms.
Outside in the Temple courtyard, Horiam feels an uneasy sense of dread, as if shadow energy were attempting to pierce his soul. The shadar-kai avenger destroys the undead hulk with his divine abilities. Fargrim Stoneborn continues to hold the wave of undead zombies back with his trusty war hammer, sending bones flying. Averlon Blackwood loads his hand crossbows and begins picking off the remaining floating skeletal heads. The shade also feels the shadow energy attacking his will but manages to withstand it.

Kriv feels the shadow energy assault as well, but he also hears a whisper in his mind, asking ”Where’s the sword, Kriv?”
The dragonborn continues to run towards Gareth’s last known position and breathes a gout of flame, burning through the barricaded windows and flash-burning the undead bat swarms.
Edran follows behind Kriv, leaping along rows of tombstones to avoid the close-quarters battle taking place. The Eladrin launches a scorching burst through the burning window and immolates the bat swarms. Inside the Temple wall, Nimaketh mentally assaults the bats whilst seeking shelter behind the fractured altar.

Horiam orders the Ravenholm militia to fall back from the wall and regroup with him, beginning preparations for a retreat. The Erahlan troops do not follow suit and continue to hold the line, despite Fargrim giving them a direct and intimidating order. Horiam quirks his eyebrows in surprise at the response.

As Fargrim moves back from the main gates, two large hulking undead burst through the zombie ranks and begin clobbering the dwarf. Fargrim falls down unconscious infront of the militia, their resolve beginning to falter.

As Edran burns one of the bat swarms he turns and sees Kareena, the human female sorceress, climbing over the reliquary on her Fire rage drake mount, flanking the zombies. Edran calls out in elven. Leaping into the courtyard, Kareena blows the zombie hordes back with an arcane thunder wave while her drake grasps Fargrim’s body in its jaws.

Threading the Eye

The Platinum Knights order a full retreat into the Temple. Nimaketh draws the last bat swarm to her and obliterates it with her mental powers. While Kriv revives Fargrim the rest of the party quickly begin barricading the Temple in an attempt to stave off the attack long enough for the Teleportation Ritual to be completed. All of the party assist with either resisting the outside horde or magically aiding the ritual process. Edran takes the lead and begins boarding up the windows and is soon joined by Fargrim and Kriv. Averlon climbs up to the rafters and continues to pick off the horde rushing the Temple doors.

Edran notices that Kareena is terrified of stepping through the portal to Rovnol. He calms her down and promises that he will see her safely out of the city. The sorceress is appeased. After wiping her tears she aids Edran and Nimaketh in speeding up the ritual. Kriv straps the body of Gareth 2.0 onto his back.

Edran takes out his copy of Volo’s Guide to Using Portals and uses the information within to help complete the ritual. When he does so, his wand begins to glow brightly and he hears a female Eladrin voice ask in a terrified voice, ”Who are you?”.
Edran replies, ”I am Edran Laraneth of Lithaeys and the Order of the Talon.”
”What are you doing?” the frightened voice queries.
Edran responds that he is desperately trying to open a portal to Rovnol to escape the oncoming horde.

Horiam hears the screams of the Erahlan troops being slaughtered outside in the courtyard, having decided independently to make a final stand against the undead.

Back inside Edran’s head the conversation continues.
The disembodied voice states quickly, ”I can help you, but only if you help me! I need help!”
Edran cautiously replies, ”If I am in some capacity to render aid, I would attempt to do so.” He then asks. ”Who are you? Where are you?”

In response, the Teleportation portal blasts open, revealing a direct link to Rovnol. Simultaneously the party notice that Edran is flickering and phasing between planes. Edran perceives a female Eladrin, a figure whom he recognises as being an acolyte of the long lost Travelling Temple of Corellon.

With the portal stable, the party begin to withdraw from Ravenholm. Horiam swears that they ”will be back”. As if in response, both Horiam and Kriv feel a warm within their hearts, a sign that perhaps the Raven Queen has not lost hope in their endeavours.
The two are the last to step through the portal as the doors are breached and the undead surge through in a veritable horde of necrotic filth.

Tending to the Wounds

The portal deposits the Platinum Knights and the Ravenholm militia and engineering crews into the Training Hall of the Platinum Spire.

General Fletcher emerges from his office, shocked and relieved that the party was able to survive. The party make their official reports, while Kareena quietly makes herself inconspicuous. Fletcher is saddened to hear that Ravenholm fell. Horiam and Edran provide details about the composition of the enemy forces, using the red memory shard to show the image of the giant undead mammoth and the horde of 50,000 zombies.
The general appears exhausted and disheartened but, at the behest of Fargrim, promises to provide the Wolves some soldiers’ barracks until they can be mustered. The party try to lift Fletcher’s spirits, revealing that the Raven Queen has not given up hope on their mission.

General Fletcher tells the party that they have the rest of the day to recover and they will be given new orders in the morning. The party nominate Averlon and Nimaketh for King’s Recruits status. Fletcher agrees and, due to the attrition of the war, immediately elevates them to the rank of Platinum Knights to help combat Meepo’s army.
Fletcher also introduces the party to a dryad worshipper of the Raven Queen, Elenya. She greets her brothers of faith, Horiam and Kriv, telling them that she was compelled by her goddess to meet them.

Following the meeting the rest of the party separate and make their own plans.
Kriv personally visits the widows of the 7 Wolves who died in battle at Ravenholm. He gives each of the widows some money from his personal wealth as an act of atonement and insurance to cover their loss. Fargrim meets with one of his Wolves: Eric, a young lad who bequeaths him with his family’s heirloom, a mighty helm adorned with boar tusks. The young man thanks Fargrim for giving him the strength to stand up and fight. Fargrim gifts the young lad with his own family heirloom, Jawbreaker, and the weapon of his household. They both agree to return the respective heirlooms.

Meanwhile, Horiam takes his sword, Twice Blessed, into the slums of Rovnol. The spirit of Tim “Mr Giggles” Whitewater still resides within the blade, so Horiam tracks down the bandit’s mother, Abigail Whitewater. Horiam notifies Abigail of her son’s death, saying that he was a nice boy who just been lead astray. He gifts Abigail with 100gp to help her battle her illness. He also gives her a writ, authorising and entitling her to the protection of the King’s Recruits in the city. As Horiam leaves the shack, he feels the spirit of Timothy Whitewater depart for the afterlife, magically crafting the handle of Twice Blessed, making it more ornate and beautiful to behold.

Fargrim takes some tankards of ale to Arclem’s workshop. He congratulates the gnome on his amazing blue vial of explosive liquid and make inquiries about purchasing more. All Arclem has left is some alchemists fire, which he gives to Fargrim. The two look over the broken body of Gareth 2.0. Fargrim informs the gnome that Kriv has offered to feed and look after Gareth’s cat until he can be resurrected. The dwarf laments that Gareth, despite a rocky start, had become a true and dear friend. He takes off a pendant carved in the shape of the Stoneborn sigil and drapes it over Gareth’s neck. As Fargrim goes to leave, he becomes curious when he spots Arclem’s latest personal project, a small gnome-sized set of leather magical wings.

Edran spends the rest of the day with Kareena, escorting her through the city. He sends a raven to Tor’s Reach, putting an immediate hold on their ration deliveries to Ravenholm and he takes the opportunity to stock up on his stores of residuum. Kareena thanks Edran for not being ”like the others”. She reveals that she came from a troubled past, an outcast of her hometown Frostfall, unpopular due to her magical talents and the dragonmark on her face. As she grew up she found the egg of her ragedrake and, in an effort to feed and care for the creature, turned to sheep poaching and other crimes to support her self. While conflicted about her crimes, Edran realises that the sorceress had not been giving an easy or fair life by the gods, estranged from her kin because of her gifts and banished from a society that did not value or help the under-privileged. Edran escorted Kareena to the city gates, warning her to keep away from the war-torn north. He takes off his badge that identifies him an apprentice of the Order of the Talon. Imbuing with a little of his arcane life-force, he gives it to Kareena, an arcane twin to the tree knot that she had once given him in Til, promising that he would come to her aid if she had need of him. After this, Kareena and her ragedrake depart into the evening light.

Back in the Platinum Spire, Fargrim walks into Kriv private quarters. The last of the Stoneborn regards the dragonborn. ”The last few days I thought you a necromancer, a murderer, a traitor, a tyrant, a scoundrel and a liar…” Fargrim steps forwards and throws his arms around Kriv. ”Never have I been so wrong.”
The two reconcile their differences, symbolised by Fargrim cracking the stone that he had carved and left in Kriv’s bunk three days earlier.

Meanwhile, Averlon takes the leather from the sabre-toothed undead monster to a local tannery and pays to have it moulded into a set of magical leather armour. He also stops by a street urchin in the slums and asks if he has heard of any men working for Orventas Mar who had been asking for a shade.
The urchins reply no.
Averlon appears nonplussed and then quietly vanishes into the crowded streets.

The Hand of Shadows

As nighttime settles in Rovnol Horiam, Kriv and Elenya begin to make their way to the local Temple of the Raven Queen for evening prayers.
Horiam suddenly notices that a note has somehow been slipped into his pocket. He takes it out and reads the note. It simple says ”Meet Me” followed by a location and a time.


Death of Gareth 2.0

+340gp each for personal wealth

(+340gp to the Raise-Gareth-Foundation)

5 vials of Alchemists Fire Level 6 to Fargrim (Free)
The Hammer Jawbreaker is now in the possession of Eric Dain
Lv2 leather armour to Averlon (cost 100gp personal stores)
Edran +100gp residuum (debit from personal wealth)
Kriv has 300gp remaining in personal wealth (insurance payout to widows of militia)

-1 days ration

-100gp Horiam’s personal wealth (gifted to Abigail Whitewater)


Session 36: The Resistance of Ravenholm



Cast- The King’s Recruits: Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Gareth 2.0, Horiam and Kriv

Rings of NPCness: Averlon Blackwood and Nimaketh

Date: 4th – 6th Readifest, 1028


The Last of the Stoneborn

After overhearing Kriv’s confession to Horiam in the Temple of the Raven Queen, Fargrim Stoneborn marches off into the swamp. He stomps through the Midnight Marshes, kicking stones and tree stumps in his frustration and anger.

After spending a day in solitude, the last of the Stoneborn is alone, sober and ragged. Night falls and Fargrim sits down to catch his breath. He begins staring into his Druidic Orb, hoping for guidance and clarity. It is at this point that he notices a nearby lake. It is teeming with animal life. As Fargrim listens to the croaking of frogs, he becomes aware that something is mentally compelling him to approach the lake. ”Oh well,” he says. ”The lake can’t hurt me as much as my friends have…”

Fargrim approaches the lakeside. The Orb begins to glimmer in his hand. ”Are you okay, orb?” he asks out loud. The light is suddenly extinguished. Fargrim calms his thoughts and the orb begins to glow again.
Looking into the orb, Fargrim sees the swirling image of Kriv, albeit much a younger version of Kriv.
Suddenly Fargrim is entranced as he begins to witness Kriv’s story being replayed— his betrayal and fall to necromancy, the destruction of the dragonborn and dwarven kingdoms, and eventual salvation by the Raven Queen herself.

Watching the images Fargrim becomes immersed in rage, he begins to harness the barbarian fury deep within his blood.
Fargrim suddenly notices that he is surrounded by water—- he is standing at the bottom of the lake, a primal aura of energy surrounding him and protecting him from the water.
He looks around the murky waters and notices 4 skeletal lizardfolk, rotted and tangled in thick weeds in what appears to be another strange ritualised ceremony of sacrifice.

Fargrim attention is drawn upwards to the surface of the lake. He hears and feels a rhythmic thumping accompanied by an oily shadow that slowly rolls across the water. He recognises the shadow as being a wave of necrotic energy, which immediately begins to taint and destroy the once healthy lake.

Fargrim jumps out of the lake and makes a decision to head back to Ravenholm to warn the Platinum Knights. Suddenly skeletal hands burst from the murky lake waters and wrap themselves around Fargrim’s boots. The 4 skeletal lizard folk had been animated by the necrotic corruption.
Fargrim draws out his battleaxe and cleaves through the four skeletal minions. He dives down to try and loot the corpses, but has to stop when the thick weeds begin to aggressively wrap around his throat and ankles.
Climbing out of the corrupted lake, Fargrim takes his bearings and begins to run back towards Ravenholm as the necrotic energy engulfs the swamp. He quickly uses his druidic powers to commune to the nearby animals, telling them to flee the corruption. With a snake dangling around his neck and a frog on each shoulder, Fargrim Stoneborn runs deeper into the Marshes…


The Sword of the Raven Queen

On the 4th day of Readifest, Horiam leaves the settlement early in order to search the nearby swamplands for Fargrim, who has still not returned.
The Shadar-Kai begins hot on the dwarf’s tail, thanks to the trail of destruction caused by Fargrim anger—stones kicked over and tree stumps and branches scored with aggressive axe strikes.

Unfortunately, Fargrim had a day’s head start, so Horiam spends most of the first day following the dwarf’s muddy foot tracks.
On the 5th day of Readifest Horiam begins to hear a dull rhythmic thumping, accompanied by the groans and gurgles of the undead. Realising that he is heading towards a large horde of zombies, the avenger decides to skirt around the approaching army.
Horiam feels a sense of dread when he notices that Fargrim’s footprints continue to walk straight ahead, oblivious to the oncoming horde. Horiam sneaks ahead into the ranks of the horde, attempting to single out any necromantic commanders, hoping that if he assassinates them it might reduce the numbers of undead. He silently sneaks along the tree foliage, scoping out the size and strength of the zombie army, but is unable to identify any necromancers amongst the horde.

Horiam presses on, silently stalking through the enemy lines. He comes to a halt when he spots- at the back of the massive horde- a gigantic skeletal mammoth, seemingly infused with multiple corpses, covered in gnashing mouths. Overhead, observing the entirety of the horde, flies an undead skeletal dragon.

Horiam makes a quick estimated count of the undead army—over 50,000 zombies. All marching towards Eralhor—- First stop: Ravenholm.

The Shadar-Kai quietly withdraws and tries to race back to Ravenholm, realising that he won’t be quick enough to reach the settlement before the first wave attacks.


Still trying to outrun the necrotic corruption, Fargrim almost blindly runs into the undead horde. He is forced to divert and hide in a nearby swamp. In the dead of night he begins to hear the sounds of battle echoing from the direction of Ravenholm.

The Aftermath of the Battle

After several hours, Horiam and Fargrim both eventually return to a horrific sight—Ravenholm’s defences crumpled and shattered by the first wave of the attack.
A tired and ragged Edran, Gareth 2.0 and Kriv welcome the two back.

The battle appears to be won, but Leopold tells the Platinum Knights that this horde was but a splinter of the true army that approaches them still. Nimaketh confirms this, as she can detect the whole eastern marsh is crawling with necrotic energies. Horiam quietly confirms this, citing the army of 50,000 zombies that he witnessed approaching. He uses Gareth’s familial psychic link to show the party the image of undead mammoth and dragon that he saw on the field.

While the injured are tended to and the settlements defences are rebuilt, Edran takes out the wooden root given to him by Carena in Til. He crushes the arcane implement and speaks to the sorcerer, asking for her aide. Elemental energy swirls around the root and fades.
Next, Edran uses his ritual of Sending to report to General Fletcher in Rovnol, outlining the new situation. The General replies, ordering the Knights to try and hold off the army while Eralhan forces try to mobilise and flank the army. He reminds the party that they are to use the Scroll of Teleportation to evacuate the settlement should the defences fail.

The Party sombrely realise that Ravenholm will fall tonight.

The Resistance at Ravenholm

As the sun begins to rise on the 6th day of Readifest the forces of Ravenholm await the oncoming horde. Kriv makes an impassioned speech to Wolves in an attempt to lift morale. Nimaketh waits safely inside the Temple, ready to begin casting the Scroll of Teleportation. Kriv and Fargrim ready themselves at the eastern gate, while Edran and Horiam mount the defensive walls. Gareth waits quietly behind with the militia in the settlement courtyard.

The constant thumping of the undead horde suddenly ceases. It is quiet.

Looking out at the ranks of skeletons, Fargrim pulls out his war horn to blares a challenge at the undead.
In reply there is a loud, bone-jarring roar that echoes across the marsh. The giant undead dragon swoops over the army and flies towards Ravenholm. Fargrim throws his magical javelin but it fails to pierce the dragon’s undead flesh. Edran spots three figures riding the dragon— Meepo glares down at them in contempt, surrounded by a necrotic aura.

As the dragon flies overhead, *Meepo launches a ball of necrotic energy that shatters the Temple, physically rending the building in two while simultaneously destroying the altar and corrupting the consecrated ground of the divine temple.
At the same moment, the skeleton horde charges the front gate.

As Fargrim and Kriv hold off the first wave, the fountain in the temple courtyard explodes upwards and a giant undead Hulk climbs out of the ground, cutting of Gareth and the militia from the rest of the Platinum Knights.
As the Hulk clambers to its feet, swarms of undead bats erupt from the well and flock Gareth.

Horiam climbs off the wall and charges the undead Hulk. Kriv orders more militia to reinforce Fargrim at the eastern gate while he too charges the large Hulk.
Edran begins launching balls of fire at the oncoming hordes from his vantage point.

The Undead Hulk knocks Horiam prone while 6 floating skulls begin flying around the battlefield. Gareth teleports inside the Temple walls and orders Nimaketh to begin the Portal ritual. The warforged casts an arcane cloud into the courtyard, which destroys some of the floating skulls. The bat swarms follow the warforged and attack him furiously. Gareth 2.0 falls unconscious, causing the party’s psychic link to be abruptly cut off.

Horiam jumps to his feet and attacks the undead Hulk with his divine energy. Fargrim continues to hold the skeletal horde at bay by cleaving two undead rats with his warhammer. Kriv tries to circle around the undead Hulk towards Gareth’s last location, desperate to rescue the unconscious warforged.

Edran, also concerned about Gareth, quits the defensive walls. The eladrin fey steps to the courtyard and begins hopping along the line of tombstones. He simultaneously launches another burst of fire at the remaining floating skulls and Undead Hulk.

At the exact same moment, inside the Temple, the undead bat swarms ravage Gareth’s body once more, killing the warforged…


Treasure reclaimed from Fargrim—
+3 gems (Tiger Eye crafted) 400gp each fenced added to kitty (TO BE FENCED and DISTRIBUTED)
+500 gp (Devil Vizier) added to kitty (TO BE DISTRIBUTED)

Edran – 25gp residuum cost for Sending Ritual



Session 35: The Death Hunt

Season Three Premiere

Session 35: SEASON THREE PREMIERE— The Death Hunt


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Edran Laraneth, Kriv and Nimaketh

Rings of NPCness: Averlon Blackwood, Fargrim Stoneborn, Gareth 2.0, and Horiam

Date: 3nd – 5th Readifest, 1028

The Platinum Knights awaken in Ravenholm on the third day of the Winter festival. The thick swamp mist hangs heavy over the settlement, embodying the feelings of mistrust that have created a schism within the party.
Kriv, having confessed his crimes to Horiam the previous night, gathers the party to reveal his past actions in Rothgaren, that led to the destruction of both dargonborn and dwarven kingdoms (Read Session 34 for full recount).
Edran listens to Kriv’s story and afterwards states that Kriv must face justice for his actions, but that since Kriv already has a court date for his trial, he will ensure that Kriv appears at the trial. Nimaketh listens to the confession as well but does not react as emotionally.

At this point, the party realise that Fargrim Stoneborn has not appeared to the summons. When they visit his sleeping bunk they discover that the dwarf had left the settlement during the night. A further search leads the party to find a small rock with a message engraved in dwarven runes. Unfortunately, the party are unable to read the runes. They go to Edran’s small library and manage to find a small Common-to-Dwarven translation guide. They are only able to translate the first few words, which roughly translates to * “Brother, I know what you did”.
It appears that Fargrim overhead Kriv’s confession the previous night and has disappeared for some purpose.

In order to lift the spirits of the local militia, the Platinum Knights allow the engineers and militia to celebrate the winter festival. The rest of the day is spent celebrating in high spirits, while the Platinum Knights quietly discuss the disappearance of Fargrim, and the reports from Harbourd that an undead offensive was about to move west into Erahlor.

Portents of Death

On the morning of 4th of Readifest spirits are still high amongst the engineers and militia of Ravenholm, despite hangovers and headaches. Another small contingent of soldiers arrive from Rovnol, extra reinforcements intended to help defend against the impending offensive. While the new troops integrate, their serious demeanour and frankness begin to make the Wolves feel discouraged and melancholy—The War against Meepo is truly about to begin.

Kriv and Edran spend the morning overseeing the settlement and getting the new troops settled and they notice a human man with a tattooed face incessantly tapping his foot in a rhythmic pattern. Given the mood and previous actions of some of the militia (Jenkins’ reaction to Averlon and occurrence of strange dreams and nightmares) they take the young man aside and speak to him about his nervous foot tapping. The young man, Fenick, says that he has been feeling uneasy due to some strange dreams that he had experienced last night.

Edran recognises Fenick’s tattoo as the symbol of Sehanne, goddess of autumn, trickery and illusions. Kriv also recognises that Fenick was one of the militia who had quietly and nonchalantly witnessed the possessive dreams that had captured Kriv, Edran, Fargrim and Nimaketh some weeks ago *(See Session 28—Phase One at Ravenholm).
Fenick says quietly ”I had hoped it wouldn’t happen again”.

Fenick tells the party that he and his family line have worshipped Sehanne for generations, and that this devotion sometimes bestows him with prophetic dreams. In his youth he had a vision of his mother being killed by goblins, an event which eventually came to pass one day while travelling the King’s Road. Fenick takes a breath and describes a vivid dream that he experienced last night, in which he beheld Ravenholm’s walls being crushed by a veritable horde of undead, led by a giant monster of unimaginable size and power.

Nimaketh and Edran take Fenick through some mediation and ask him a series of questions to try and glean more information about the impending attack in his visions. Afterwards, Nimaketh uses her Sending Ritual to telepathically notify General Fletcher in Rovnol of the information. In the reply they are promised that additional troops will be dispatched and are ordered to hold the settlement.

The Calm Before the Storm

Edran crosses the encampment and orders two Wolves to mount up and act as outriders, to east 12 miles and reconnoitre the surrounding swamplands for any mobilised undead forces.
Kriv and Nimaketh organise the engineers to develop and reinforce the existing defences. Nimaketh suggests a large whole be dug just inside the main eastern gates, which would rout the zombies’ advance if they managed to breach the gates.

By late afternoon the two outriders return. Edran speaks to one of the scouts, Leopold, who reports that although there was no large mobilised force of undead, the Midnight Marshes were full of them. He heard the gurgling undead all around him, about half a day’s travel from the settlement.
As night falls, Edran takes the first watch. As Nimaketh takes over, they both are able to detect minor vibrations and the sound of thumping echoing across the marshes, in the rhythmic pattern of large foot strides. Nimaketh is also able to detect a large necrotic energy force approaching.

On the fifth day of the winter festival, the settlement continues to make preparations to the defences of Ravenholm. Leopold and Bobak are sent out again to scout 10 miles east. Twenty more soldiers from Erahlor arrive, lead by a Captain Phillips. Kriv tasks him to begin running the militia through intensive army training, to help them to better integrate and assist the Erahlan soldiers during the upcoming battle.

Edran takes a group of dwarven engineers out beyond the settlement walls to develop the existing defensive trenches and to place wooden stakes within them. While patrolling, Edran is able to detect that the natural necrotic energies of the Midnight Marshes have begun to slowly spread towards the settlement of Ravenholm, overcoming the radiant consecrated that Horiam had overseen when they first liberated the Temple. Such a thing would only be possible through the magic of a necromancer—Meepo. Such a ritual would only be used if the undead army were about to attack.

At the same time, Leopold returns alone, covered in blood and mortified. While Kriv checks his injuries, the young wolf reports that they had been attacked by ghouls- Bobak was killed instantly. They were only an hour away, and closing fast

The Night the War Began

The Wolves and Erehlan troops are mustered and prepared for battle, the dwarven engineers are ordered to take refuge in the temple. Night closes in as last minute preparations are made. Edran and Kriv mount the eastern defensive walls and look out at a horde of undead, nearly 300 strong, as it slowly shambles out of the swamp towards the Temple grounds. Leading the horde is a large undead sabre-toothed feline monster, covered in bone armour. It glares at the settlement with intelligent eyes as it prowls towards the settlement.

The War against Meepo begins.

The undead begin to shamble towards the eastern gates. As they come into range, a handful of the militia open fire with their crossbows, while Edran rains down immolating blasts of fire. As the hordes burn and fall into the trenches, Kriv shouts encouragements to the militia to keep their morale high.
In the first salvo, 20 undead fall and the night rings out with defiant cheers from the wolves.

The Sabre-toothed Monster howls and begins to charge the settlement walls, barging through the hordes with reckless, angry abandon. Suddenly, Nimaketh grabs the giant creature in a telekinetic hold, and slams it sideways, crushing many zombies and stabbing it into a row of defensive spikes. Another rounds of cheers cry out from the wolves.

The undead begin to press against the main gate, but are unable to knock it down while the wolves pepper them with crossbow bolts and Edran blasts them with his beguiling strands. Eventually the horde breaks through the gate and swarm through, only to fall immediately into Nimaketh’s trap pit. The psion shardmind lifts a stone tomb lid and drops it into the pit, crushing another dozen undead. Kriv breathes a giant gout of flame through the open gates and immolates another wave of zombies. Kriv stands tall infront of the Wolves and Erahlan troops inside the walls. He draws his giantsword and meets the first wave as they begin to pour into the settlement compound.

Out on the field, the giant sabre-toothed monster picks itself up off the ground, roars, and leaps over the walls of Ravenholm and lands infront of Kriv. Suddenly, its bone armour shivers and drops to the dirt. The bones magically realign and reconstitute themselves to form 6 skeletal warriors, eyeholes blazing with necrotic energy.

Suddenly the battle devolves from a siege into a close-quarters slogging match. Kriv leads the wolves and Erahlan troops as they clash blades against the undead. Nimaketh and Edran continue to blast away at the swarm as they funnel through the breached gates.
Despite the high moral and training, Ravenholm suffers some fatalities. 6 Wolves and 4 Erahlan soldiers die during the fighting.

As the undead forces are whittled down, Kriv, Edran and Nimaketh attack the sabre-toothed monster, using cat-and-mouse tactics to keep it off guard. This works well until the monster knocks Kriv to the ground and him with its mouth, crushing him with its giant teeth. The troops pick off the last of the undead zombies and begin to turn their collective attention on the Sabre-toothed monster. On its last legs of health, Nimaketh charges the monster and attacks it pscionicly while Edran burns the creature with his magic. The monster drops Kriv, erupts with a burst of energy and leaps at a nearby Wolf. The monster eats the militant in one mouthful, regaining some resolve by absorbing his life energy. The sabre-toothed monster turns and charges Edran, grabbing him in its powerful jaws. Kriv gets to his feet and slashes at the monster’s back. The monster growls in fury, its whole body covered in blood and lacerations. Suddenly its mouth erupts in a blast of radiant energy, eclipsing the battlefield. The monster is flung 15ft across the dirt, where it lies dead while Edran plops to the ground, covered in blood and saliva.


-3 day rations

Nimaketh – residuum cost for Sending Ritual

-8 fatalities to Wolves’ roster

-4 fatalities to troops from Erahlor

-Sabre-toothed monster pelt useful for crafting leather armour.


The Dwarf of Redifest

While anyone who knows the dwarf Fargrim Stoneborn are well accustomed to his two handed hammer Jawbreaker, very few know the story of the two paired throwing axes which hang from his belt. This is the story of how he acquired them.

Our story takes place a month before his 74th birthday and a day before Redifest. Fargrim was passing through the small Halfling town of Evermead while on his way to the capital of Rovnol. Evermead was, funnily enough, renown across Erahlor for its fine pineapple mead and as such, provided Fargrim with a very comfortable rest point. It was late at night and Fargrim was resting in his room at the inn, when all of a sudden the stout dwarf was awoken by a clamour from below. Hobbling down the stairs with many an unkind word for whomever had disturbed his slumber, Fargrim soon found the source of the noise: an elderly man huddled under a blanket besides the innkeeper who was in a state of hysterics.

“Are you not aware of the time? You old coot!” the dwarf growled gruffly.

“Bandits!! Bandits!! On the road from Rovnol. They stole my wagon filled with my finest toys. The children will be so terribly disappointed, and on Redifest of all days!” exclaimed the old man.

“The people of this village worked overtime for months just to afford these presents. You, dwarf, you’re a sellsword aren’t you? Could you help us in any way?” pleaded the Halfling innkeeper.

“Do I look like I carry a sword?” replied Fargrim sternly and on this he turned and marched back up to his room.

However our gruff protagonist did not return to sleep. Instead, he fashioned a rope from his bed sheets and repelled down the side of the inn with a great deal of stealth and finesse. He then set off along the road to Rovnol in the direction of the bandits, determined to save Redifest!.

It did not take long until Fargrim found the spot where the wagon had been hijacked and the tracks which showed where the bandits had taken their bounty. It was not long until Fargrim had found a campsite and five human bandits.

“Ohhhh! All the wealthy merchants along this road and we had to steal a wagon of fucking toys!” exclaimed a bandit with a crooked nose and no ears.

“Shut it you! Pass me one o’ them toy horses for kindling” said another bandit whose coveralls did not quite cover all.

Concealed in a nearby bush, Fargrim began to formulate a plan. To distract the bandits, the dwarf attempted to lure some away with the cry of an owlbear.

“HO, HO, HO” growled the dwarf.

Sadly, it had been decades since Fargrim had actually encountered an owlbear, and his attempt mimicking the creature was less than successful.

“There’s a fuckin dwarf in that bush! Stab him!” cried the apparent leader of the group.
With the element of surprise lost Fargrim bellowed a challenge.

“I AM FARGRIM OF THE CLAN STONEBORN AND I HAVE COME TO SAVE REDIFEST!” screamed the dwarf as he hefted the great hammer Jawbreaker and launched himself towards the oncoming bandits.

With every great swing, the ancient magics of Jawbreaker cleaved through the bandits; removing limgs and crushing skulls. In what was barely a minute, Fargrim had dispatched the bandits with brutal efficiency; leaving himself drenched in their blood. This crimson coating contrasted significantly with the stone grey colour of his beard.

As the faintest hints of sunlight began to break over the horizon Fargrim took control of the stolen wagon full of presents and began to drive at full speed back to Evermead. As he arrived in the town he parked the wagon in the town centre, climbed back up the bed sheets to his room and returned to sleep.

The following morning was filled with the sounds of delight as all of the Halfling boys and girls awoke to find their presents in the town centre. Redifest had been saved. Fargrim awoke around midday to the sounds of joyous festivity. As he collected his gear and left to go pay his tab at the bar, he found a small package outside his door with a note on it.

The note read: “No good deed goes unpunished and no dwarf is as stealthy as he thinks. These battleaxes belonged to my grandfather; may they serve you well”. The gift had come from the innkeeper and inside were two Halfling sized battleaxes, although for a dwarf they were nought more than throwing axes. Nonetheless Fargrim appreciated the gift and while everyone else was at their Redifest feasts, the noble dwarf slipped away quietly.

Now despite the many decades that have passed since that fateful Redifest eve, folklore in Evermead still tells of a fat man wearing red clothes with a great grey beared who brings toys for all of the boys and girls in his wagon, and every year each household hangs an axe above their fireplace. As for Fargrim, those two axes still hang faithfully at his side.


Session 34: SEASON FINALE-- The Fires of Chaos

Session 34: SEASON FINALE— The Fires of Chaos


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Horiam and Kriv

Rings of NPCness: Averlon Blackwood, Gareth 2.0, Mia and Nimaketh

Date: 2nd Readifest, 1028


As the Platinum Knights approach a system of caves within the Midnight Marsh, they spot unusual footprints in the mud. Footprints that have burnt the grass and cooked the mud—Something else appears to have crossed over into the mortal realm…
It appears that portals have begun opening up all over the Midnight Marsh, connecting the mortal realm to various planes of existence.

The party notice that the strange footprints seem to be coming from the direction of the very caves that they were going to investigate. They discuss which direction to take. Edran and Horiam express concerns that there may be further creatures from the Elemental Chaos that are now running loose on the mortal realm. Fargrim, in a show of gusto and bravado, says that he wishes to explore the caves for loot, saying that he fears ”neither fire nor stone”.

To test this, Kriv belches a small amount of fire on the dwarf, scorching some of his bear hair and clothing. Horiam gives both them both a disapproving quirk of his eyebrow.

The party eventually agree to track down the creature that made the fiery footprints, and begin travelling north. By midday the meandering directionless footprints lead the party towards the centre of the Midnight Marsh, where the damp and boggy ground begins to make it difficult to continue tracking the footprints.
Fargrim uses his newly found connection to nature to help the party find the tracks again. The party spot a second pair of footprints trailing the fiery tracks—the boot shape of some finely crafted boots. Fargrim also notes that the fiery tracks appear to have been caused by molten magma, confirming Horiam’s suspicions that the creatures have escaped from the elemental chaos.
They begin to hustle in a desperate bid to overtake the creatures.

An hour later, the party notice that the footprints are also accompanied by physical marks of destruction to the natural world—leaves and foliage ripped off trees, branches bent brazenly out of shape to clear a path—clearly the creatures are not trying to clear their path.
Dangling from a tree branch, the party spot a bangle. Although crafted to follow a common human pattern, Fargrim notes that the metals and several motifs used in the construction of the bangle suggests that it was created by devils. Edran uses the bangle as a focus to Read the Object.

He tries to scry for several images—1 Who was last wearing the bangle; 2 Where the bracelet was made; 3 How it came to be dangling from the tree; 4 How the bangle came to the mortal plane of existence; 5 When/Where the wearer came into possession of the bangle.

In a kaleidoscope of images, Edran perceives the image of a Tiefling—or at least, something that looks similar to a tiefling with a purple-pronged tail—wearing the bracelet whilst standing in a landscape of lava and belching fumaroles and plumes of smoke. In other images, Edran sees the tiefling marching along the fiery landscape with 4 bulking humanoids of molten fire and tar, when the tiefling suddenly sees a fiery portal nexus open in front of him. Laughing, the creatures step into the portal. The next collision of images reveals to Edran that the bracelet was made in the fiery molten rocks of the elemental chaos, being poured into a demonic forge and tempered into shape, finally being given to the Tiefling by a close friend. Finally, Edran sees the devil tiefling walking through the Midnight Marsh with the four molten creatures, laughing and swinging his arms vigorously. With a click, the bangle goes flying off the Tiefling’s wrist and becomes stuck in a wayward branch as the group trudge through the mud…

The Devil in the Swamp

Armed with this new knowledge, the party quicken their pace in an effort to intercept the Vizier Devil and his Tar Devil Harrier thralls.
By the afternoon the party spot the smoke trail of a small campfire ahead. Horiam sneaks forward and spots the Vizier Devil stoking a small fire, with 4 suspicious piles of bubbling tar around him.

The party hatch a plan to distract the devil in conversation while Horiam sneaks around and approaches from the north.
Kriv, Fargrim and Edran suavely emerge from the marsh and make ridiculous poses infront of the devil. The Vizier Devil laughs and applauds, congratulating the party on their parade. The devil claims to be a simple merchant and so the party engage him in banal conversation, trying to give Horiam time to sneak around.

When it becomes obvious that the devil is lying and is not going to reveal his true nature, Fargrim makes a show of going to scratch his back. With a loud shout to Horiam, the dwarf draws out his warhammer and charges the devil. The Vizier Devil stands up, hisses, and instantly the four tar pits erupt in fire and smog as the tar devils rise up ready to defend the devil.

The battle is met.

While Edran feysteps into the foliage of a nearby tree, the tar devil guards launch molten nets at Fargrim and Kriv, trying to ensnare them. Fargrim is drawn into their fiery aura. As the Vizier Devil makes good his escape, Horiam appears, charging out of the marsh and deals two powerful attacks with Twice Blessed, bloodying the devil creature. Fargrim struggles out of his molten netting and deals two powerful strikes, blasting apart one of the tar monsters.

Edran, from his vantage point in the tree, physically assaults the Vizier Devil. While the devil writhes in pain, his wand of wonder causes tree leaves to being painfully sprouting from the devil’s body. He falls unconscious.

While Kriv engages with three tar devils simultaneously, Horiam slaps the Vizier Devil awake and gets his attention. The Avenger pulls out a three-minute sandglass and points to it. He says in no uncertain terms that in 3-minutes he will kill the Devil, and that his death can either be quick and painless or it could be the most excruciatingly painful 3-minutes of his life unless the Vizier calls off the tar devils.
The Vizier laughs and spits in the shadar-kai’s face. Horiam punches the devil unconscious. Edran pulls out a set of manacles from his magical robe pockets and throws them to Horiam. Horiam ties up the Vizier, sets the running sandglass on the ground, and rejoins the fight.

The party dispatch the three remaining Tar Devil Guards with 156 seconds remaining in the sandglass.

Horiam opens his pack and makes preparations to begin exorcising the devil, intending to make the rest of the devil’s existence. The Vizier becomes uncomfortable with the exorcism and distressed, until Fargrim walks up and says ”enough wasting time” as he smashes Jawbreaker into the face of the Vizier (crit) killing him outright. The Vizier erupts into a plume of flames and dissolves into ashes.
Horiam violently turns on the dwarf and points a finger at his face. He sternly tells the dwarf never to interfere with his Oath of Enmity again. Horiam shadow jaunts awake to get some distance from Fargrim, lest his emotions get in the way.

Confessions and Cliff-hangers

The party return to Ravenholm, noting that the extra militia from Harbourd’s entourage have arrived and begun setting up their own tents in the Temple grounds.

Later that evening, while praying inside the Temple, Kriv approaches Horiam and says that he deserves to know the truth about his upcoming Trial.
Horiam raises an eyebrow and invites Kriv to sit down and speak and confess.

_Kriv recounts that years ago, when living as prince of Rothgaren, he accidently slew the son of a dwarven king. In actuality his kinsmen had betrayed Kriv, and the ambush had been cleverly orchestrated to lead to his downfall. Believing the ambush to be a sign of an impending dwarven offensive, Kriv had sought out the powerful artefact Petrifaction_, a sword of immense power. But, in a cruel twist, the artefact led to the uprising of an undead army that caused the destruction of both kingdoms.
As both dragonborn and dwarven kingdom’s crumbled around him, and believing himself to be on death’s door, Kriv had prepared to loose his life, but the Raven Queen had intervened and spared his life.

Horiam listens quietly to the confession. He says that he is worried and conflicted. On one hand, despite Kriv being his friend and fellow servant of the Raven Queen, Horiam cannot help but think that Kriv has become tainted by necromancy and, according to the edicts of his Divine Code, must be killed. But on the other hand, the Raven Queen has obviously chosen to spare and forgive Kriv for his transgressions, perhaps for some design or higher purpose. Horiam smashes his fist on the table and he angrily orders Kriv to leave his presence so that he may meditate.

Meanwhile, as Kriv exits the rectory, he notices that Fargrim has disappeared from the settlement, with the 500gp and jewels acquired during the last two day’s adventures.

Meanwhile, alone in the Ravenholm library, illuminated by a single candle, Edran, sits at a desk, scribbling frantically on a piece of paper. On the desk next to him, the red memory shard whispers ominously, _”Find Me”, whispering to Edran as he finishes one sketch and begins another. The walls and tables are covered with sketches of a tall, foreboding stone spire, above which encircle flocks of birds in numbers large enough to blot out the sun…


-1 day rations
-25gp residuum from Edran’s personal store

+500gp recovered from Tiefling (later stolen by Fargrim)


Session 33: The Threats of the Midnight Marsh

Session 32: The Threats of the Midnight Marshes


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Hemingway, Horiam and Kriv

NPCs of note: Glavira, Tim “Mr. Giggles” Whitewater

Date: 1st – 2nd Readifest, 1028

Deep within the Midnight Marshes, a fierce battle rages on.

Horiam falls to his knees as his blood begins to flow, intermingling with the swamp water.

As the party struggle to get across the battlefield to save Horiam, the chillborn zombies continue to ferociously attack with their cold magical aura, while the undead skeleton husks prepare to launch another volley of arrows.
Meanwhile, the murky waters of the swamps begin to writhe and bubble, suggesting more undead forms are awakening from their slumber…

Averlon Blackwood scaled up a rotted tree and begins to shoot at skeleton thralls as they try to emerge from the murky waters, effectively pinning them to the soil beneath. Kriv disengages from the chillborn zombies and runs towards Horiam, shouting a healing word at the avenger, dealing him of his near fatal wounds.
As the dragonborn tries to reach Horiam, four spectral hyenas, creations of Meepo’s necrotic primal magic, emerge from a tree stump and surround Kriv, barking and gnashing at his plate armour.
Edran and Fargrim keep the chillborn zombies engaged, attacking them with flame and hammer. The skeleton archers unleash a barrage of arrows at Fargrim and then slowly shamble away to get some distance from the Platinum Knights.

Meanwhile, Hemingway manages to fight his way through a group of skeletal minions, he spots the skeleton archers in retreat and his charges the nearest one, swinging his greatsword with vigour and determination. The Accipitridae tries to rake at Horiam with its talons and beak but the avenger dodges aside nimbly. Seeing that he has recovered from his near-fatal wounds, the carrion spreads its wings and starts to fly into the air. Kriv unleashes a radiant aura around himself, dissolving the spectral hyenas. As Hemingway and Horiam charge the retreating skeletons, Fargrim strides forward and unsheathes Valkyrie and throws the magic javelin at the Accipitridae. He misses and the weapon lodges in to the stump of an old willow tree, before magically returning to his hand. Hemingway cleaves the last skeleton with two swings of his greatsword, cutting the undead in half as the Accipitridae flies out of combat range.

Taking a breath to recover from the battle, the party recover the talons from one of the Accipitridae, valuable as a alchemical reagent when ground to a powder, as two elemental cold crystals from the chests of the chillborn zombies, the source of their magical aura.

The Sleeper in the Marsh

The party discuss the next move in their patrol. After a vote they agree to begin searching the swamps within an hour’s radius of Ravenholm, clearing out any roving undead packs. Fargrim is a little disappointed with the vote, as he had expressed a desire to investigate some nearby caves.

With the vote tallied the Platinum Knights begin clearing out the swamps of small packs of undead zombies (This is done through a series of skill challenges).
After destroying a group of gurgling zombies near an outcropping, the party notice a glittering light emanating from the deep waters of a small marsh lake. Gareth 2.0 walks into the waters and emerges holding someone human-sized. Cradling in his arms is a female lizardfolk, surrounded in a magical glowing aura. As the warforged gently lowers the female to the ground, Edran and Fargrim assess her.

It appears that the female was encapsulated in a magical stasis, a preservation ritual of primal magic. And it appears that the magical aura and has been triggered, she is awakening.
Slowly, the female lizard awakens. Her eyes open and she takes in her surroundings, fixing her gaze on the seven armed and armoured individuals standing before her.
The female jumps to her feet, horrified as she draws out her hands in an offensive spell-casting pose, readying her powers.
Kriv holds up his hands and speaks to the lizard in draconic, attempting to calm and convince her that she is in no danger.

Through conversation, the female lizard named Glavira reveals that she lived in the lizard community called Salemhiss, five days travel east, deep within the Midnight Marsh.
Glavira recounts that she escaped on the day that Salemhiss fell to Meepo’s Wild Hunt, an event that was recent to Glavira’s memory but in actuality had occurred two years ago. In an effort to escape the undead hordes, Glavira had submerged herself in the lake and cast a primal preservation ritual upon her self to await rescue. She is shocked to discover that two years have passed for her.

Seeing the she is still recovering from the shock of her stasis, Fargrim takes out some drinking water, rations and grinds some of the willow bark into a powder and offers it all to Glavira. She looks to Kriv, who vouches for the dwarf (a huge step for Kriv).

The Origins of Meepo

As she drinks and nibbles away at the food, Glavira, now speaking in common, tells the party the events that occurred in Salemhiss in the days leading up to the fall of the village, and the rise of Meepo.

Two years ago, Meepo was a primal warden of noble kobold stock who had travelled to Salemhiss as an adventurer. Like all before, he had come with a party to plunder and explore the untamed wilds of the Midnight Marshes. Under the contract of a Tiefling, Meepo journeyed with a halfing named Mr Sideways, a changeling, an 8-foot tall female Goliath, a warforged and a gnoll who had been very nice and courteous.
One month after significant events that had concluded in the burning down of a tavern, Meepo and his entourage had returned—somehow different. They carried an aura of sinister magic of dread and malice.
Soon after, the undead began to stir and the bodies of the deceased attacked. Glavira had run as Salemhiss burned, eventually hiding herself within the lake.

The Altar of Midnight

The party decide to split up, with half of the Knights (the NPCs) escorting Glavira to the safety of Ravenholm while the others continue their sweep of the Marshes.

The party come across a stone construction consisting of three stone pillars arrayed around a central platform, to which a humanoid skeleton remained chained and covered in swamp vines. Kriv and Fargrim examine the old lizardfolk shrine. While Kriv tries to decipher the old dragonic dialect, Fargrim perceives a pattern of instructions and solves the riddle by offering a plant, a talon of the Accipitridae and his own handprint to the stone pillars.
When he does so, Fargrim is bathed in a magical aura that makes him feel light headed and euphoric. He realises that he has become attuned to the primal energies of the Midnight Marsh, similar to the lizardfolk druids who once lived in the Marshes. At the same time, small hatches open on the stone pillars, each revealing a gem crafted like a tiger’s eye, as well as a magical crystal ball.

Fargrim holds on to the boons, and the party continue their patrol, attacking more zombie minions and animals made feral by the twisted magics of Meepo.

Upon returning to Ravenholm, Fargrim speaks to Glavira about the stone altar, which she identifies as the Altar of Midnight, a ceremonial monument used to imbue the seers of the lizardfolk with their primal powers. She is impressed that the marsh chose the dwarf as worthy of the boons. Fargrim asks of the “social” benefits” of being a Seer of the lizardfolk, a suggestion that Glavira rebukes, doubting that he has been given the power of future-sight. Fargrim tries to use his “gift” to no avail, insulting Glavira in the process.

The Sundering

During the night, the party hear a giant roar echoing across the Midnight Marsh, an inhuman and unknown sound that makes all feel unease. It appears that Harbourd’s reports were true—the undead are marshalling for war.

Fargrim experiences strange and vivid dreams. During the dream he feels spiritually connected to the spirit of the Midnight Marsh, which is in distress as a cascade of energies from multiple planes of existence (like the Shadowfell, the Feywild, the Elemental Chaos) are pouring out into the world from portals and tears like a hundred open wounds—the Marsh is in pain.

When he wakes up from the disturbing dreams, Fargrim seeks Edran’s council, trying to explain his dreams. Edran is able to piece together that these arcane tears are contaminating the natural world and have to be stemmed.

The next morning, 2nd of Readifest, the party prepare to head out in search of some of the arcane tears. They make plans to investigate a series of caves 5 hours east of Ravenholm. Hemingway and Horiam discover that they were bitten by mosquitoes during yesterday’s patrol and have contracted the early stages of Swamp Fever.

After several hours of trudging through the marsh, Fargrim’s druidic senses perceive that they are close of a cascade of energy. Edran is also able to sense that the localised energy has somehow been fundamentally shifted—like the very rules and laws of existence have been warped and mutated. The Eladrin becomes very concerned.
As they rush ahead towards the source of the cascade, the Platinum Knights halt when they hear an unsettling and familiar giggle.

The Spectre of Mr. Giggles

The party are shocked when they recognise the sight of Mr Giggles, the highway bandit that they had killed almost a month ago on the 5th Reapdon. [[Session 23: The Parting of Ways | (Session 23).]]

Fargrim uses his newly acquired crystal ball to sight ahead. Sure enough a foggy image of a ghostly Mr Giggles appears in the ball, standing next to a portal of swirling fire and flame. He appears to be giggling while watching some levitating rocks.
Horiam takes off his sword and hands it to Fargrim, determined that he can help guide the lost soul back to the embrace of his goddess, the Raven Queen.

The shadar-kai approaches Mr Giggles and speaks softly to him. The ghost reveals that his true name is Tim Whitewater, and he slowly remembers that he is dead. Tim reveals that he and his brother had turned to banditry in an attempt to get money to help his mother in Rovnol, but he bears no malice towards the party. He warns that his brother also escaped the Shadowfell and was extremely angry and may be seeking revenge. Horiam realises that the spirit cannot move on until it is sure that his mother, Abigail Whitewater, has been taken care of. Horiam promises to help Tim’s mother, and asks him how he was able to cross over from the Shadowfell.

Tim explains that he did not mean to cross over, but that ”There are more cracks and ways of crossing over now… Something’s changed”. He demonstrates by pointing to the swirling portal of fire, and he points to a rock and changes it into a gold coin.
Edran recognises the vortex as a portal to the Elemental Chaos, and begins reading in his spell books for a ritual to close the unstable vortex.

Horiam convinces the ghost of Tim to travel with them until his purpose has been fulfilled. Edran sends a whisper on the wind to Ravenholm, ordering two Wolves to mount up and ride for the capital to seek out Abigail Whitewater. At this, Tim dissolves into a ghostly cloud and inhabits Horiam’s sword, Twice Blessed.
After Edran successfully shuts the portal, the party continue on the cave system. As they approach, they spot unusual footprints in the mud. Footprints that have burnt the grass and cooked the mud—Something else appears to have cross over into the mortal realm…



+3 gems (Tiger Eye crafted) 400gp each fenced
+ 1 crystal ball to Fargrim

+ 1 Accipitridae talon (alchemical reagent or 50gp fenced)
+2 blue elemental cold crystals (weapon effect or 50gp each when fenced)

Fargrim’s Druidic abilities (unknown duration)

+2 to Nature checks whilst in Midnight Marsh
+2 to attacking creatures that are not native to Midnight Marsh
-2 to attacking creatures that are native to Midnight Marsh
Once per daily Fargrim may befriend an animal that is native to the Midnight Marsh for five minutes


Session 32: Return to Ravenholm



Cast- The King’s Recruits: Averlon Blackwood, Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Horiam and Kriv

Rings of NPCness: Hemingway, Gareth 2.0 Mia and Nimaketh

Date: 27th – 29th Reapdon, 1028

With the last of the zombies dispatched, the Platinum Knights momentarily stop to take their breath and tend to their serious injuries. Their adventure continues deep within the Midnight Marshes in a race against time to return to Ravenholm with the food supplies that are vital to the survival of the 30 militia and engineers left at the outpost.

After catching their breath the party turn and regard the magical swirling eddy and arcane book that lie in the middle of the island.
It appears that the eddy is a planar tear—a fluctuating gateway to the Shadowfell— similar in nature to the portal that the party encountered in Terios’ lair a month ago.
Edran approaches the book and picks it up. He reads the spine discovers that it is an ancient elvish tome titled Volo’s Guide to Using Portals. The textbook is full of information regarding arcane portal theory, and has been filled with handwritten annotations from a previous user. Edran feels a strong arcane source within the pages and as he opens to the middle of the text he discovers an ornate silver-laced wand of wonder+2 of elvish design.

When the party discuss whether to try and shut the unstable portal, Horiam attempts to pray to the Raven Queen. Fargrim Stoneborn walks near the portals and claps his hands twice. In response the chaotic portal cracks with energy and fries the dwarf with lightning. While the party are picking up Fargrim Horiam’s prayers go unanswered, suggesting that the portal has not been created or divinely sanctioned by the Raven Queen. After agreeing, Edran tries to focus his powers on the swirling vortex, but is unable to conquer the chaotic and wild energies.

Edran stops and opts to continue studying the textbook and will return to seal the portal once he has learnt how to master the correct spells. The party agree that it is time to catch up to the others who rode ahead with the food supplies.

The Platinum Knights retrieve their mounts and ride on. After a few hours of riding they successfully return to Ravenholm. They find that the engineers and militia, while a little hungry due to the party’s delays, have not been idle in their absence. The initial settlement fortifications have been reinforced while the foundations of the barracks have begun to take shape. While riding through the gates the party meet one of the chief dwarven engineers, Quenentair. He updates the party on the progress of the settlement, reporting that the hunting party had run out of supplies and game yesterday. While Quenentair looks askance at Kriv, he says that he is glad that the party did not delay in their return.
Fargrim hands over the handy haversack filled with 2 months of food supplies with instructions to set them up in the Temple’s rectory.

Realising that tomorrow signifies the beginning of the week-long Readifest Winter festival, Horiam and Edran organise the payment of the workers and order that the settlers be given double rations for dinner as a fest celebrating the continued supply agreement with the dwarves of Tor’s Reach.
After the festivities, Averlon Blackwood reunites with the shadier elements of the settlement party and strikes up several high stakes gambling games, earning himself a tidy profit in the process.

The festivities continue into the night while the Platinum Knights man the night watches, and discuss Harbourd’s arrival tomorrow.

The Shade

A single, wailing scream awakens the encampment.

The Platinum Knights are woken in the early hours by Jenkins, a member of the militia, screaming in terror. The human has curled himself into the foetal position and points at Averlon, screaming and crying the entire time.
While Horiam grabs Averlon and frog marches him into the rectory, Fargrim and Edran investigate the Temple for any physical or magical reasons for Jenkins to be acting in such a way. Kriv speaks to Jenkins, calming the young Wolf. Jenkins responds shakily that in his dream he saw Averlon, repeating in horror that ”There’s something inside of him.”

Fargrim joins Horiam in the rectory with Averlon, who is now sitting nonchalantly in a wooden chair. Horiam questions Averlon’s actions and relationship with Jenkins, a known member of his gambling circle. During the questioning Horiam points out that Averlon has some shady contacts in the settlement and his behaviour has been questionable at best. Averlon retorts that it is no crime for him to have been a figment of Jenkin’s nightmares.
When Fargrim asks why Jenkins would be suffering from nightmares, Averlon coolly responds that perhaps ”Jenkins is just a wuss.”

At this comment Fargrim steps forward and backhands the shade across the mouth, growling that Jenkins is a refugee from Thedanwald who has lost his family and home to the dogs of Meepo, who fled to Rovnol seeking sanctuary and had signed up for the dangerous mission to tame the Midnight Marshes on the frontier of the kingdom surrounded by the undead—therefore Averlon, a companion by circumstance, had no right to say that Jenkins was a “wuss”.

Horiam changes the line of questioning towards Jenkins’ comment, that Averlon had ”Something inside of him”.
A shade is normally created when a mortal of the Shadowfell sacrifices a part of their soul—essentially something is taken, not put “inside” of them.
Horiam says to Averlon, ”You’re not like all other shade, are you.” The shadar-kai avenger can sense the aura of the shadowfell within Averlon’s soul, but there is something else, something he can’t identify.
When pointedly asked if he is a threat to the war effort against Meepo, Averlon coolly responds ”Directly, no.” He also points of that Meepo wanted him dead as well, having sent tri-kreen after him when he fled the deserts of Zerenthas.

The party convene outside in the Temple to discuss what to do with Averlon. They agree that Averlon didn’t directly attack Jenkins, nor has he directly broken any laws while at the settlement. They agree that Averlon can stay, albeit with a closer monitoring of his activities.
When Fargrim and Horiam return, Fargrim pointedly asks if the shade had stolen any of the valuable supplies while they were gone.
”What? This…rockmeal? No.”
Averlon is cautioned and released. By this time Kriv has calmed Jenkins down by leading him through a series of chants and prayers.
The party return to their bedrolls and try to get some more sleep before the dawn.

The Envoy of the Hobgoblin Clans

Harbourd arrives at midday. Fargrim has arrayed the Wolves into a welcoming committee. Accompanying the dwarf from Sparrows Port is a hobgoblin cloaked in a thick black trench coat. Harboud greets the Platinum Knights warmly, even Kriv. After dismissing the troops, the party withdraw to the Temple break their fast over private discussions.
New intelligence, gleaned from scrying and interrogations has revealed that Meepo may well be preparing for a new offensive, one that would suggest that the war is truly about to break out. Harbourd was tasked to escort Forken and bring word that Ravenholm now stands as a barrier between the Marshes and the eastern frontier of Eralhor. More engineers and masons have been ordered to marshal at Ravenholm to complete and fortify the defences.

Harboud hands a silver-laced scroll case to Edran, which contains magical portal runes that would allow the settlement to magically evacuate to Rovnol only in the “worst-case scenario.” The runic address cannot fall into enemy hands.

Harboud introduces Forken, the envoy from the Red-Eye’s hobgoblin clans located in the Stalkwood Forest. As a gesture of friendship and solidarity during the ongoing alliance against Meepo, Forken has been sent to undertake a scouting mission into the Midnight Marshes.
Fargrim sizes the hobgoblin rogue up and asks, ”You think you can handle the undead, laddie?”
”I do not intend to be into combat with the undead, dwarf,” Forken responds.
”The point of combat is to always prepare for the worst,” Fargrim quips.
”And that is the point of you being with me,” the hobgoblin counters, both chiding and complimenting the skill of the Stoneborn clan, which earns him a begrudging respect from Fargrim.

As night falls, Horiam and Averlon try to accompany Forken on a reconnaissance into the swamps. Forken bluntly tells them that he ”works alone” and disappears into the fogs.

Patrolling the fogs

On the morning of the 29th of Reapdon (First day of Readifest Winter festival), Harbourd makes ready to return to Rovnol by himself. He quietly warns the party to keep an eye on Forken when he returns from his scouting mission, as he suspects that Forken has been sent by the hobgoblins clans for ulterior motives. He suggests that Forken may be trying to find the location of the Kree Kath, a magical tree deep within the marshes that held a position of religious significance for the lizardfolk tribes. It was a burial ground that radiated primal energies, but most significantly it may be that the hobgoblins are searching for another piece of a dwarven superweapon, which could mean long-term trouble for Erahlor after the war with Meepo.

Harbourd finally makes his farewells and gives the party a Scroll of Sending in case they need to urgently contact Rovnol. He quickly departs west.

Armed with the knowledge that the undead may be marshalling for war, the party agree to ride out half a day’s range from the outpost on patrol, to try and intercept any roving packs of undead.

They strike out east along the main tracks of the swamps with Horiam and Averlon scouting ahead.
Eventually they spot a small group of undead shambling near a marsh, visually spotting two chillborn zombies and two undead Accipitridae.

Averlon and Horiam agree to circle around and try to flank two of the undead, while the rest of the party directly charge the rest. Unfortunately Horiam’s boot squelches loudly in the mud, alerting the undead and ruining their chance of surprise.

When a gurgling groan, the undead turn to the party and the battle is joined…

Kriv begins the battle by charging the closest chillborn zombies and accipitridae. As he closes in to swing his greatsword the dragonborn feel an aura of cold sweep over him and chilling his bones. After swinging his sword Kriv unleashes a gout of flame at the zombies, hoping to dispatch the undead creatures soon before their cold aura deals any more damage.

Using his new wand of wonder, Edran launches a scorching burst at the zombies engaging Kriv, and manages to catch two of them in immolating flames.
As the party move in, two more zombies rise out of a nearby lake and draw rotted bowstrings, launching a volley of arrows at Kriv. Fargrim charges to engage two of the chillborn zombies, in doing so he exposes himself to both of their cold auras. He begins swinging his hammer in a rain of steel.

While Horiam abjures one undead accipitridae, the undead vulture shrieks at wave of sonic magic, blinding and dazing the avenger. The second vulture disengages from the rest of the party and swoops down on Horiam, flanking him and ravaging him. Horiam falls to his knees as his blood begins to flow, intermingling with the swamp water.
Averlon runs to nearby tree and begins to unleash a barrage of sly crossbow bolts, managing to kill one of the accipitridae.

As the party struggle to get across the battlefield to save Horiam, the chillborn zombies continue to ferociously attack with their cold magical aura, while the undead husks prepare to launch another volley of arrows. Meanwhile, the murky waters of the swamps begin to writhe and bubble, suggesting more undead forms are awakening from their slumber…


-3 daily rations
- 750 gp from kitty for 2 weeks wages + Readifest bonus to Ravenholm settlers

+50gp (?) to Averlon for gambling winnings
+ Scroll of Sending
+ Ritual scroll of Portal Runes


Session 31: The Webbed Path


Rings of NPCness: Averlon Blackwood, Hemingway, Gareth 2.0 Mia and Nimaketh

Guest Starring: Gonski

Date: 25th – 27th Reapdon, 1028

Deep within the dwarven tunnels of the Underdark, the Platinum Knights begin to clear the corpses of chitines and dislodge the remaining spider webs in order to allow safe passage across the chasm.

The party stop to consider the body of the dwarven King’s Recruit that was nestled within the chitine webs. Horiam asks Fargrim about the appropriate death rites regarding the dwarves of Tor’s Reach. Fargrim responds that it would be appropriate for the body to be interred in the catacombs at the Temple of Moradin.

Before leaving, the party consider the chitine webbing that encompasses the entire ceiling of the chasm, from which the creatures had travelled through.
Fargrim shouts out to the darkness, to any remaining chitins hidden within the webbing, announcing that they have beaten the chitine’s mighty warriors and demanding that they send an envoy to parley their surrender.
There is no reply or movement up above.
Fargrim takes out his warhorn and bellows and long, challenging cry. The horn echoes and reverberates around the chasm. Fargrim is pleased with the sound made, but Horiam arches an eyebrow, insinuating his disapproval—There are more than simple chitins that dwell within the Underdark.

Kriv calls out to the darkness, demanding that the chitins come down and negotiate but his voice echoes and is left unanswered. Edran argues that the chitines, former
Slaves of the drow and worshippers of Lolth, are not to be trusted or parleyed with. He insists that the party have completed their mission, to clear the stone bridge chasm, and that now their immediate priority is to return to Tor’s Reach and make haste for Ravenholm. The party discuss their options and ultimately decide against delving deeper to rid the tunnels of the infestation.
To further deter any surviving chitines from returning, Edran and Gareth 2.0 begin hurling fireball attacks up into the ceiling, destroying the spider web constructions. Fargrim aids by hurling his magic javelin Valkyrie. Soon the party have to make a hasty retreat from the stone bridge, as burning and melting spider webs begin to rain down on them. Edran and Horiam have huge globs of melting web fall on them, burning and singeing their clothes.
After Kriv requisitions the dead dwarf’s Plate Armour or Exploits, Fargrim hoists the corpse onto his back, ready for the return journey to Tor’s Reach. In order to use both hands, Fargrim plats his glowing sunrod into his beard. Happy with the result, he announces that he is ready to return home.

Return to Tor’s Reach

After an hour of travel through the Underdark, the party see the familiar city gates. Fargrim take out his warhorn and sounds out a victorious greeting. The gates are opened and the party make their way back to the King’s Recruits office.
Fargrim speaks with Aveline about the dead dwarf. She thanks Fargrim for returning the recruit back to his home and will make the appropriate arrangements for his burial. Fargrim laments that the dwarf was only a mere 50-years young. Aveline tries to offer the party a 50gp reward for returning the lost recruit, but Fargrim hands it back, suggesting that it should go to the boy’s family.

Aveline informs the party that she had a visitor earlier who had been asking questions about the party. Apparently a gnome resident of Tor’s Reach called Gonski was interested in travelling with the party back to Ravenholm, in order to study the undead residing within the Midnight Marshes. She gives the party the address of the gnome and wishes them a safe return.

Afterwards, the party return to the Guard Barracks to report their success. Fargrim feels weary of having to deal with Selvek Ironblood twice in one day, but is relieved to see a young dwarf on the front desk instead.
”Greetings brother,” he said cheerfully. ”It’s good to see that the city watch has finally got someone competent manning the front desk.”
”Eh?” the dwarf replies, perplexed.
”I was referring to the Ironblood trash who was here this morning.”
”Ah…er, yes. He can be a bit of a prat…”

The party are granted an audience with Eberk, the tall dwarf captain of the guard. He offers them a reward of 500gp for clearing the stone bridge of the chitine infestation.
Following this, the party quickly stop in at a dwarven tannery where they sell the yeti pelts for extra disposable income. Edran takes the time to speak to the smithy about the Valley of Many Names, the location that he saw in his vision.

I Give A Gonski

With the city’s giant sun sphere started to dim in a pale imitation of late afternoon, the party make their way down Copper Street to the address of Gonski, the gnome would wishes to travel with the party.
They almost miss the correct house—an old, forgetful and ramshackled hut. They spot a dim flickering light behind the blotchy, mouldy curtain.
Edran knocks on the door, which slowly creaks open at his touch. ”Gonski?” Fargrim calls out to the darkened empty room.
”And who be you, banging on my door at this time?”

A small flickering light comes bobbing over the dirty carpet, hovering infront of the group, who are still standing in the doorway.
Fargrim says slowly and loudly to the light, ”Are you Gonski?”
Edran recognises the fairy light as a moon wisp, a familial creature of the feywild. ”This is not Gonski, but I believe that we are speaking through it, to him.” he suggests.

The party try to make their way inside the house. As they door, suddenly a small darkened shaped leaps from the shadows and tries to slam the door shut. Kriv places a large draconic foot in the doorway, halting the door’s progress. Fargrim says slowly and loudly again, ”I want to speak to Gonski”.

The darkened shape is eventually revealed to be Gonski the gnome. His suspicion evaporates when he learns that they are the party that he wishes to travel his. The crazed gnome potters about his ramshackled hut, speaking to Kriv and frustrating Fargrim. Even Horiam arches an eyebrow at the eccentric behaviour of the gnome. Gonski scrapes some chitine residue off of Fargrim’s war hammer and agrees to meet the party by the city gates at first light the next morning.

The party, with Gonski the gnome, their handy haversack from the dwarven guilds, now filled with 2 months of supplies desperately needed for Ravenholm. They then make a quick stop at the city stables and purchase some steeds for the return trip. For a price of 300gp they leave instructions for four horses and a camel to be packed and readied for departure at first light tomorrow. Fargrim and Gonski argue over who gets to ride the camel, while Edran tries to dissuade the dwarf from buying a camel, which would be unsuitable for life in the swamps of the Midnight Marshes.

With their business concluded Gonski returns to his house and the party find an inn to rest for the night.

Journey Back Down the Mountains

At 6am on the morning of the 26th of Reapdon, the giant gates of Tor’s Reach open and the party make a quick departure on their new steeds. The descent down the mountain is uneventful and much quicker.
Not wishing to push their new mounts, the party only travel 25 miles the first day and make camp. During the night watches, Horiam hears cracking noises echoing from far away. The party stop and listen to the strange noises. On a hunch, Edran takes out his map case and compare their location and the direction of the sounds to the location of the strange magical eddy that they passed on the way up the Yorgnole Mountains. The two appear to align. The party quickly discuss and agree that their immediate priority is the population at Ravenholm and make plans to investigate later.

On the morning of the 27th of Reapdon, Edran receives a signalling message:
”*Harbourd* here on King’s Business. I will be arriving with another at Ravenholm in two days. Just letting you know. Representative is a hobgoblin.”

The party discuss and agree that the hobgoblin must be an envoy from the Hobgoblin clans, with whom the Knights had, one month earlier, established an alliance against Meepo in exchange for access to some dwarven ruins in the Stalkwood Forest.

After sharing the information Edran replies ”Understood,” and the party break camp.

By midmorning the party have left the foot of the Yorgnole Mountains and plunged back in to the rotting swamps of the Midnight Marshes. Eventually they begin to travel close to the large lake where the magical eddy had formed. Horiam dismounts and offers to scout ahead, weary of the strange sounds they had heard the previous night.
Horiam creeps through the stagnant swamp and begins to hear the sounds of fighting, the gurgled moans of zombies mixing with an unknown animalistic screeching.
When Horiam peers over, he spots a collection of zombie fighting strange blue creatures with mouths that opened in 3-pronged jaws. He recognises the creature as being aberrant in nature. Between the two fighting parties, a magical column of light erupts from a book, firing up into the sky.

Horiam swiftly returns to the party and they discuss the appearance of the aberrant creatures. They agree that the incursion from the Far Realm is the last thing they need in the war against Meepo. Fargrim hands the handy haversack over to Gareth 2.0 and they order Gareth, Hemingway and Averlon Blackwood to make haste back to Ravenholm with the supplies.

The remaining party turn towards the battle and make their way through the swamp.

The Battle for the Book

By the time the Knights arrive at the battle scene, the aberrant creatures appear to be loosing against the zombies. The book, the creatures and the zombies are all fighting on a small patch of mud and dirt in the centre of the swamp lake, while the party approach from the north. When the party appear over the rise, the blue aberrant shriek and disappear with a crack of magic.
The 5 zombies –three lizard folk and 2 humans wreathed in shadowy aura— turn and notice the movement of the party ”Others approach,” one gurgles.

The zombies begin to trudge forward.

The zombies slowly advance towards the party, three of the zombies sinking below the waterline and disappearing. Kriv, Horiam and Fargrim hold a defensive frontline, waiting for the zombies to reach the shore. Edran and Gonski wait behind in supportive roles, preparing their artillery attacks.

As the first zombie begins to limp out of the lake, Fargrim strides forward. He pulls out the vial of volatile explosive liquid that was given to him by Arclem in Rovnol. He pulls back his arm and says ”Reanimate This.”
He hurls the vial into the lake.
An eruption of flame and steam erupts from the lake, accompanied by a shockwave of air that spans 20 feet. The explosion rips through the lake, catching three of the zombies, and Fargrim as well. Horiam rolls out of the way and braces against the shockwave.

Kriv runs forward and deals the first strike of the battle, attacking the shadow aura zombie. Gonski begins unleashing his necromantic magic on the lizard thralls as they breach the shoreline. Horiam begins to slash at his Oath of Enmity. The zombies reach the party and begin to grab Kriv and Horiam, hack and slashing at the immobile party members.

As the shadow aura zombie latches onto him, Horiam reacts by Shadow Jaunting 15ft into the air and drives his sword, Twice Blessed through the zombie’s head, decapitating it instantly.
Edran fires an ice shard, in the shape of an eagle, at a lizard-zombie. When it hits, the ice explodes outwards in a rain of ice daggers, catching two more.

Three of the shadow aura zombies, directly engaged with Horiam, Kriv and Fargrim, create a shadowy aura that blind the three, and also conceals them from light of sight. Just as an attack is about to hit a blinded Fargrim, Kriv intuitively swaps places with his dwarven friend, taking the brunt of the strike.
Fargrim stumbles forward, unknowingly into the centre of the zombies, but he resolves himself and begins swingingly about himself madly in a rain of steel hammer blows.

With the shadow aura zombies still concealed by the magical aura, Gonski sends out his Moon Wisp in an attempt to illuminate the darkness. Seeing an opportunity, he launches a massive fireball of rotting doom. The 15ft wide explosion catches the zombies and Fargrim (still flanked) who, in his blinded state, wildly thinks that the zombies have mastered the ability to conjure fire.

Kriv rallies forth and heals Fargrim and shift closer to the zombies, removing their attention from the dwarf.
Edran begins to fire radiant colour orbs at the shadow aura zombies, which momentarily disrupts their magical aura.

Suddenly, the zombies that had fallen (including the one decapitated by Horiam) rise to their feet and begin attacking once more. 2 Zombies simultaneously grab Horiam and begin ravaging him. The avenger falls to the ground unconscious, but the Zombies continue to hold his prone body and claw him further.

Fargrim regains his sight and smashes one zombie with his war hammer, before being mauled by a zombie-lizard. He too falls to the ground unconscious.

In an effort to free the unconscious Horiam from the clutches of the zombies, Gonski unleashes a magical barrage that cause the zombies to fall prone, dropping the Shadar-Kai, and Fargrim as well.

Edran, his eyes blazing with the fury of the feywild at seeing Horiam fall, steps forward and unleashes a wave of beguiling strands that push the three remaining zombies back. He follows up with a spray of colour radiant energy that kills the last shadow aura zombie.
Kriv kills a lizard-zombie and uses the attack to channel his divine might to revive Horiam and Fargrim simultaneously. Once the eyes of his companions flutter open, he turns and unleashes a breath of fire on the nearby corpses to ensure that they do not rise again.
Horiam and Fargrim get to their feet and rejoin the last of the battle. Fargrim stands, and screams ”Fargrim STONEBORN!” As he smashes a lizard-thrall to pieces and immediately charges into the last zombie that was attacking Horiam, sending it flying into the air in a wave of broken bones and rotted flesh.

With the last of the zombies dispatched, the party momentarily stop to take their breath and tend to their serious injuries. After catching their breath the party turn and regard the magical book that lies in the middle of the island, the arcane column of light still brightly cascading up into the air…


Party members each have 1 day personal ration remaining.
+250gp to kitty as reward for clearing Underdark tunnels
+75gp to kitty for Yeti pelts
-300gp kitty for Mounts

+100gp each for personal wealth.


Session 30: Revelations in Tor's Reach

Session 30: Revelations in Tor’s Reach


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Averlon Blackwood, Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Gareth 2.0, Hemingway, Horiam and Kriv

Rings of NPCness: Mia and Nimaketh

NPCs of note: Oscar Strakhelm, Selvek Ironblood,

Date: 25th Reapdon, 1028

The sun begins to slowly rise in the east, bathing the snow-capped peaks of the Yorgnole Mountains in a warm light that cuts through the cold winter winds. High upon the summit, the Platinum Knights huddle outside the dwarven city of Tor’s Reach, trying to keep out of the elements until the city gates open.

Pair of dwarven mountaineers slowly make their way up the mountain path. They appear curious to see such a rag-tag group of adventurers and gladly socialise together whilst waiting. Fargrim talks to Derek and Fjorin about the value of the 5 yeti pelts that he procured from his last battle, to which they estimate a worth of 30gp each if offered to a tannery in Tor’s Reach. The party ask whether the dwarven holds have been affected by the undead of Meepo, and Fjorin says that the natural terrain and climate has held back the hordes so far. They also ask about the identification of a fallen dwarven guard that they passed on the mountain path below. Derek directs the party to see the King’s Recruits office about the guard and then Oscar Strakhelm, the guild leader who should be help them procure the supplies and trade needed to feed Ravenholm. While waiting for the gates, Gareth 2.0 takes the time to continue examining the resizing enchantment that was placed upon the dragon egg hidden within his chest compartment.

The giant gates open and the party enter Tor’s Reach. The stone hallway descends deep into the mountains, leading the party into darkness. It has been 80 years since Fargrim has been home to Tor’s Reach and he is keen to educate the party about the city. He points out giant stone statue of Emperor Tor, the expansionist leader who founded the great city. Fargrim explains the naming conventions used in the design of the city, using the names of weapons and rocks to label streets. He points out the giant spire in the centre of the city, atop which is seated a giant magical sun sphere, radiating daylight inside the giant undermountain. Edran enquires about the state of the magical artefact, noting that it is not as bright as it should be for an arcane sphere that large. Fargrim admits that it is not as bright as when he was a boy, and has seen better days.
Kriv seems unimpressed with the surroundings, but manages to keep his mouth closed for the majority of the time. Averlon looks around the jewellery stores as they walk along the streets while the local dwarven populace stare in fascination and curiosity at Gareth, the first warforged that they has seen in many years.

The Platinum Knights make their ways to the guards’ barracks and enter. Fargrim feels despair and unchecked anger when he recognises the man sitting behind the front desk of the guardhouse, Selvek Ironblood.
Selvek looks up from his paperwork, a sly and calculating quirk coming to his lips. He fingers his well-groomed blonde moustache and sits back in his chair as he calls out as the knights enter the room: ”Well, well. Look who’s returned to Tor’s Reach. You’re looking old, Stonborn.”
Fargrim replies, ”I see you’re still ugly as ever.”
”Now, it’s not nice to talk about yourself in the third person,” Selvek said with an acidic smile.
”I’m sorry, how many hammers does the Ironblood clan wield again?” Fargrim counters.
”Well, I’d say that we’re currently able to hold more hammers in our warm hands than yours… last of the Stoneborn.”

The room is quietly tense and charged. The party guess that there is history between the two clans. Only Gareth knows about the history of the Stoneborn clan and the death of Fargrim’s parents.

Fargrim says ”Selvek, we’ve gotten off to a bad start. I need to see your superior. Can you go and get him? It’s urgent.”
”Oh no,” he replies. ”I’m afraid he’s in a meeting with the city council and is far too busy to see you—“
Kriv steps forward, towering over the guard and slams down his Platinum Knights badge. ”Your boss wants to see me. Now.”
Selvek’s eyes boggle, he stumbles from his chair and exits out the back. Kriv looks at Fargrim and adds. ”By the way, I think you totally won that.”

Selvek returns to the room behind a massive 6-ft tall dwarf. Fargrim recognises him as Egbert Lowdar. The party speak about the dead dwarven scout that they found on the mountain pass, handing over the flagon and personal effects of the scout. Fargrim warns Lowdar that it is unwise to have an Ironblood serving at his back and should be cautious, taking the time to berate Selvek one last time before leaving. As they leave, Averlon Blackwood quietly pilfers an expensive phoenix feather quill from Selvek’s desk on the way out.

Leaving the barracks, Fargrim takes the time to apologise for his behaviour. He quickly explains that the Ironblood clan tried to ruin his family years ago, and are intense political rivals to the Stoneborns.

The party make their way to the King’s Recruits Office. They are momentarily shocked when they see a female elf on the front desk who almost the spitting image of Mia, their companion. When greeting the party, Averlon tries to shake her hand and he fumbles over the desk as he tries to _steal a valuable bracelet off of her wrist. The elf judo flips Averlon on the stone floor. Horiam and Hemingway quickly diffuse the situation by apologising and convincing the elf that the rogue thief is working with the party and under their watchful eye.
The elf agrees not to officially report the shade rogue. After providing a sitrep of the construction efforts at Ravenholm, Averline, the cousin of Mia, informs the party that the city has been dealing with Chitines plaguing the mountain tunnel paths connecting Tor’s Reach with the other dwarven holds.
Gareth asks where he might find the dwarven death and ancestral records. When Averline directs him to the Temple of Moradin he quickly excuses himself, telepathically signalling to Fargrim that ”It’s important.”

Honouring the Reth Clan

Hemingway and Gareth make their way down to the Temple of Moradin, a giant ziggurat on the corner of Hammer and Gold streets. Gareth speaks to a cleric about accessing the ancestral records of the local dwarven clans. The pair scours the records for the lineage of the Reth clan that lived 600 years ago. After the hundreds of years the line has diminished and splintered, but they manage to find three living family lines living. Two family clans he is actually familiar with; Harbourd of Sparrowsport, and the pirate clans who had attacked Sparrowsport two months ago. Armed with this knowledge, Gareth takes the time to pay his respects to the Reth clan, his only link to his personal past.

Feeding the Masses

Meanwhile, the rest of the party make their way to the Guild Halls to speak with Oscar Strakhelm. When they meet with the leader, Fargrim and Horiam organise the 2 months of food and sundries and arrange for a monthly resupply. They pay the fee of 1,000 gp and leave their handy haversack with the guild members to package their supplies, agreeing to return later.

The party reunite at the Temple of Moradin. Fargrim prays to the god Moradin, taking out Jawbreaker.

Revelations at Tor’s Reach

Judging by the light of the sun sphere, Fargrim tells the party that it is about 1pm. They agree to go deal with the chitine problem in the tunnels while waiting for the supplies to be organised.
While walking down Handaxe Street, Edran and Horiam become aware of suspicious scaly figures hiding amongst the crowds. Using Gareth’s telepathic link, Horiam asks if dragonborn are common in Tor’s Reach. Fargrim says not, since the dwarven clans and dragonborn kingdoms have little love for one another. The party conclude that the outsiders are following the party.
Averlon slips into the shadows of a merchandise cart and notes that the dragonborn are being led by two noteworthy dragonborn, red and burly and sleek blue physical features respectively.

Fargrim suggests that there is an alleyway on the corner of Handaxe and Igneous Street that they could use as an ambush, to get the upperhand and ascertain why the dragonborn are tailing the party. When they approach, Horiam parkours up the side of a building while Averlon sneaks in the shadows of the crowds. The rest of the party walk up the alleyway. The seven dragonborn stop at the opening of the alleyway, discuss quietly, and then cautiously make their way up the alley.

The trap is sprung.

The party double back and block the exit to the alley. Hemingway demands to know their intentions. The giant red dragonborn informs that party that they are under orders to hunt down and capture Crown Prince Kriv, tyrant of Rothgaren. He spits the title as he points an accusing finger at Kriv.
Kriv replies, ”…No I’m not.”

At the mention of Kriv consorting with necrotic energies, Horiam shadow jaunts from his hiding place to the group. He flatly refutes the claims of the dragonborn, saying that under no circumstances would Kriv, as a noble paladin of the Raven Queen, meddle with necrotic energies.
The red dragonborn scoffs at this, asking how long Kriv has been a ”noble paladin”
Horiam tersely replies “a while,” he also adds that as a divinely blessed paladin, the Raven Queen would never condone a necromancer. The red one searches deep into Horiam’s eyes and senses that this is the truth.

Gareth 2.0 says ”This need not develop into bloodshed.” He requests that both parties restrain themselves so that a neutral and civil discussion can take place. He adds ”You are very far from your mountain kingdoms. What authority do you have in Tor’s Reach to arrest this individual?”
The Red One replies. ”None. What authority do you have to resist?”

The Red One slowly pulls out a scroll. He formally reads out the charges laid against Kriv thus far:
1. Consorting with necromancy. 2. Using necromancy to wage a war against his own family and kingdom. 3. Slaughtering dragonborn and dwarven folk. 4. High treason.
The official writ has the official seals and stamps of the kingdom of Zothguard. Also accompanying the writ is a likeness of Kriv drawn on a piece of magical parchment.

The party is shocked into silence. Edran, having read the writ, quietly turns against Kriv, a deep frown on his face. He silently watches Kriv and takes a step away. Fargrim looks up at Kriv imploringly. ”Kriv, did you really kill dwarves? Did you slaughter my kin? Tell me this isn’t true.”
”We do not have time for this,” Gareth 2.0 sternly says. He quickly explains that they need to return to Ravenholm before 50 men die of starvation. He emphasises that they need Kriv to complete the mission and promise to escort him to the authorities upon the completion of the quest. The Red One flatly refuses.

Horiam offers to take Kriv into his personal custody, to be interred later for his crimes. As a holy avenger of the Raven Queen he would be honour bound to kill Kriv and himself if he fails in that task.
The Red One says that he is willing to allow Kriv to be interred at a later date, but that Horiam would have to sign an arcane oath scroll, officiating the agreement.
This comment almost triggers Horiam into physical violence, interpreting the comment as a slight against his god. He takes out his longsword, twice divinely blessed by the Raven Queen herself. He says that his oath is solid.
Hemingway steps in to the argument. He tries to dissuade the dragonborn from antagonising the shadar-kai. He offers to sign the oath himself.

Kriv has still not spoken at this point. Fargrim continues to look up at him in shock. Edran quietly glares into his eyes, while Hemingway, Gareth and Horiam fight for his freedom. Averlon quietly looks on from the shadows, tense and ready for action.
Kriv suddenly speaks. ”If I am to face these charges, I want a third party. A neutral tribunal.”
The dragonborn regard him suspiciously. ”Would you hide behind the dwarves or humans for salvation? They are no more neutral. The dwarves would gladly tie the noose themselves, whilst you bear the badge of the human king. ”

Hemingway outlines a compromise. Kriv will agree to meet the dragonborn at the elvish clans in the Stalkwood Forest, a third neutral party, one month from this date on the midwinter solstice. Hemingway signs the oath scroll and he feels himself magically linked to the ink lettering. The dragonborn acknowledge the oath that has been given. The Red One regards Kriv one last time before their quietly withdraw from the alley way, leaving the Knights eyeing off one another in a stand off.

”What ever happens,” Hemingway says sternly. ”We do not take justice into our own hands.”

*Clearing the Chitines *

Hemingway reminds the party that they have an important mission to complete. First they must clear the tunnels of chitines and then they need to race back to Ravenholm in order for save the 50 men who are relying on their vital food shipment.
They make their way to the city gate. The doors are unbarred and they descend in to the darkness. Barely a word is spoken after the recent revelations

The party spend an hour of walking down the pitch-black tunnels. Horiam and Averlon scout ahead most of the way. Eventually the tunnel opens up to a massive cavern. The tunnel continues across the cavern as a stone bridge, carved during the expansionist age of Emperor Tor. 30 feet beneath the bridge trickles a river. The bridge has been completely covered in a thick barrier of spider web, cutting on foot traffic, and most of the cavern is completely covered in thick spiders web, a sign of the chitines.
Horiam notices the occasional chitine and giant spider scuttling across the webbing that connects the cavern walls to the bridge. They wait for the rest of the party to catch up and provide a description of the room. They begin to plan the attack.

Making sure to light enough sun rods to operate in the darkness, the party charge on to the bridge. Most of the party cautiously wait with weapons to attack the first enemy they see. Edran and Gareth begin to blast fire magic at the spider webbing, cutting off the most direct routes for the Chitines. Gareth’s burning hands begin to burn back the large webbed barrier. Horiam steps forward onto the bridge ahead of Gareth, he looks up at the cavern ceiling and spots giant arachnid mandibles clicking within the spider webs. Averlon retreats back to the shadows and hides, readying his hand crossbows. Edran begins to blast the small spider swarms that are crawling out of crevices in the ceiling.
Two giant spiders plunge from the ceiling and attack Horiam. He is bitten by one of the spiders as he tries to roll out of the way. Hemmingway swings his sword from a distance and magically slashes the giant spider. Averlon shoots and kills a smaller spider that dropped in behind the party. Fargrim throws his magical javelin Valkyrie, he misses but it magically swoops around and lands lightly back into his hand. Swapping back to his hand axes he charges the closest spider, swinging mightily. Kriv charges alongside him and slashes a giant spider.
Another spider lunges down at Gareth 2.0 and bites into his frame. He retaliates by using a pinioning vortex to suspend the spider up the air out of range. Averlon strikes from the shadows to kill the suspended arachnid. Smaller spider swarms descend and bite vicious poison into Hemingway and Fargrim.

Horiam spots two chitins on the far side of the spider web barrier drawing bows on the party. He shadow jaunts towards them and swears an oath of enmity on one of them. Edran looks up and spots a third chitine hanging from the ceiling, shooting poisoned arrows down on the party. He fires a scorching burst that hits the creature dead on. The nearby spiderweb catches fire and disintegrates, causing the chitine to fall 50ft to the bridge.

Fargrim begins to turn the tide of the swarms by cleaving two spiderlings and delivering a killing strike to a giant spider. Kriv breathes a gout of flame on another pack of spiderlings, reducing them to ashes. Hemingway also kills the third chitine as it was dislodged from its hiding place.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the web barrier, Horiam is suddenly encircled by the two chitine, who both wield a poisoned dagger in each of their four hands. The eight attacks slash through the avengers cloth armour. Averlon races out from the shadows and uses a rapid scattering shot to injury the chitins.
Suddenly, Kriv comes running through the flaming webbed barrier and bellows at the chitine, egging them on to face him in combat. They scuttle away from Horiam to face the dragonborn. Kriv saves his friend and strikes the creatures down.

Within the webbed barrier, the party find the corpse of a dwarven soldier dressed in magical plate armour of exploits. He also was carrying 50gp and a badge of the King’s Recruits.

With the battle over the party begin to clear the corpses and dislodge the remaining spider webs in order to allow safe passage across the chasm.


Party members each have 2 rations remaining.
Debit 1,000gp from group kitty for Ravenholm supplies
+4 gp each
+26gp to kitty


Intermission: The Hunt for the Fallen Prince



Cast- Dragonborn of Zothguard—Prince Ewan Fireheart, Lamb, Torrin Negairax, Aydron

Date: 12th Emberturn, year 1023


High amidst the treacherous snowcapped peaks of the Yorgnole Mountains, above the rich metal veins and mines favoured by the dwarven folk, live the mighty dragonborn kingdoms of Peros.
For hundreds of years the many Dragonborn sovereign states have clung to the peaks and plateaus of the mountain ranges, locked in a constant pattern of peace and enmity with the dwarven folk, who share the mountains, and the other draconic kingdoms.

Strange and alarming news has reached the walls of Zothguard, a small kingdom within the protecterate of Rothgaren, the largest kingdom state of the mountains. The traders bring dire news that Rothgaren has fallen to a sudden and brutal attack some weeks ago. The news and rumors are mixed, leading to much confusion as to the safety of Zothguard, now that Rothgaren has fallen. The Dragonborn community is concerned that dwarves are behind the attack, but such brutal ferocity is not typical of the stout folk. Such a heinous act would lead to a declaration of all out war.

King Severa, ruler of Zothguard, calls a general assembly. He states that in these sad and trying times he must confirm that Rothgaren has indeed fallen and that High King Korvag is dead—not by the hands of dwarves, but by an army of undead. Severa reports that the scattered reports from survivors seem to indicate that the young Crown Prince Kriv was behind the sudden and brutal attack, having turned to necromancy and instigated an uprising. It has fallen to the Dragonborn of Zothguard to make haste to the ruins of Rothgaren to hunt down Prince Kriv, branded traitor to the realms, and return him to face justice. The assembly of volunteers, militia and army are sorted in to small 5 man roving parties, each lead by a banner of the royal family.

Prince Ewan Fireheart, a minor member of the Zothguard royalty, is shocked that his royal cousin Kriv has fallen to the dark arts of necromancy. He is certain that the recent actions of betrayal were not of the prince’s own volition, and is determined to bring Kriv back alive in order to ascertain the truth.
The Dragonborn under Prince Ewan’s banner arrive. Being only a minor lord, Ewan has been allocated the smallest of the assembled parties:
Lamb, a 50 year old Dragonborn, ranger covered in scars, who lives on a farm outside the walls of Zothguard, a quiet and stoic creature who has a reputation for being passive and cowardly (by dragonborn standards). Torrin Negairax, a barbarian noble from the distant kingdom of Nothgairax, an ancient and honourable clan. Finally a Dragonborn magician called Aydron, a travelling arcanist who uses his powers as a mercenary to protect the trading caravans of the mountains.

Prince Ewan reiterates to his party that they are to bring Prince Kriv back alive at all costs. Torrin nods in agreement to the order, while Lamb spits a glob of acid onto the dirt.

The assembled clans depart Zothguard, moving as one large host. Aydron recalls some small goat paths up over the mountain peaks that would allow their smaller roving party to get to Rothgaren while avoiding the nearby dwarven settlements.

On the 13th of Emberturn, the Dragonborn host divides into their respective banners and begin the search for Prince Kriv.
Ewan takes his party to the goatpaths over the mountain. After marching 17 miles the party comes to the base of waterfall, the sheer cliff face rising 70 feet high. The Dragonborn take out their climbing gear and ropes and prepare to climb the cliff.
Lamb, the experienced pathfinder of the group, secures a rope to his body and takes the lead. As he does so, he shows the party the correct way to scale the cliff. Prince Ewan follows Lamb, tailed by Torrin and Aydon, all connected by extra hempen rope.
Aydron struggles to begin the ascent, falling behind the others. At 30 feet, Aydron is still lagging behind the group, and he begins running along the face of cliff. This tests Torrin’s patience, and he snorts lightning at him. At 45feet Prince Ewan slips and almost loses purchase, but is aided by Lamb and Torrin, who brace their security ropes. Lamb reaches the top of the cliff and secures the rope to a rock, and begins to search the immediate vicinity. Ewan and Torrin reach the plateau and pull the struggling Aydron to the top. Lamb returns to warn that they are close to a Bloodhawk nest and suggest they move on quickly.

At nightfall the party realise that they are approaching a dwarven settlement and make efforts to skirt around to avoid unwanted hostilities with the hillfolk. Lamb scouts ahead on the path. He spots a pair of dwarves on patrol, walking in their general direction. Lamb waits for the others to catch up and they being to make plans to hide.
Aydron, without speaking to the party, decides to deter the approaching dwarves by using ghost sound to imitate the sound of an arrow barrage near the dwarves. The sound of pseudo-arrows sail through the air – both dwarves and dragonborn scramble for cover, both believing themselves to be under attack. Prince Ewan realises that they have been duped and calls for the dwarves to parley.
Ewan and Torrin emerge from the rocks to speak with the disgruntled and suspicious dwarves.
Aydron, still hiding amongst the rocks, feels the cold steel of a knife against his throat. He hears Lamb whisper in his ear: ”You ghosting us? I don’t care who you are back in the real world. You give away our position one more time, and I’m gonna bleed you, real quiet and leave you here. You got that?”
Ewan tries to diplomatically diffuse the situation with the dwarves, explaining that their business lies in Rothgaren urgently. When the patrol seem ready to draws weapons, Ewan offers to personally punish the Dragonborn responsible.
Aydron is dragged out of the rocks by Lamb, who ties him up and spits a glob of acid on his cheek in distaste. Ewan take his gauntleted fist and backhands the magician across the snout publically. The dwarves seem appeased and order the Dragonborn to leave their lands immediately before they change their minds. The party does so.

The party make camp for the night outside of dwarven territory. Ewan breaks out his wine and journeybread to share with Torrin and Lamb, leaving Aydron out because of his previous blunder. During the night a zombie tries to attack the campsite, but Lamb leaps from a rock and stabs the creature. Aydron examines the corpse and determines that it is not a complex reanimation, as though the necromancer responsible did not complete control over their craft. Lamb spits a glob of acid on the zombie to decompose the corpse.

The next day (14th Emberturn) the party march out of the snow and climb up to the rocky peaks of Rothgaren. In they distance they spot the gleaming kingdom-city of Rothgaren. Even from this distance Ewan spots the writhing swarm of mindless undead within the city walls. The direct approach to the entering the city has been denied to them.
Lamb suggests that the party make be able to sneak in through the city sewers. Ewan recalls the sewers entrances that will allow direct access to the castle itself. The four Dragonborn pry and force the sewer grates off and trudge through the dried sewers tunnels—having not been used since the city residents died over a month ago. They make quick timing, only having to stop once to destroy some zombie rats lurking in the darkness.

After trudging through the darkness, Prince Ewan stops the party near a drop hole. He ascends the ladder and opens the hatch. When peeking through he recognises the furbished room as being the refuse/kitchens of Castle Rothgaren. The party silently enter the castle, covering the sewer chute behind them. The castle is deathly quiet; the halls filled with the fallen bodies of Dragonborn and dwarves, both mortal and reanimated zombie soldiers having slaughtered one another in a fierce conflict.
The party make their way to the throne room, wherein they find the body of High King Korvag, sitting on his throne, evidently dead by the multitude of rotting sword wounds carving out his chest. The king appears to have had his crown, royal signet ring and other royal garbs stolen off of his body. Without any more leads as to how and why the King was killed, the party begin to check the royal chambers for clues, and possibly finding Prince Kriv in the process.
The party elect to begin with Prince Kriv’s chambers, which appear to have been barricaded shut. They break down the doors and are met with a horrific and confusing sight. Within Kriv’s ransacked room they find that his desk is covered in necromantic tomes, while vivd necrotic runes have been hastily drawn all over the floor and walls. Then, curiously, one wall of the room has a large symbol of the Raven Queen drawn in charcoal, surrounded by the phrases “I’m sorry” hastily scrawled dozens, or hundreds of times. The last wall is particularly strange, given the Raven Queen’s hatred and opposition towards necromancy.
Aydron recognises the books as having been penned by a powerful necromancer who lived over 500 years ago. These are evidently the source of Kriv’s learning and power. Out of the 10 tomes, a set collection, Aydron notes that book number 6 is missing—the most powerful of the magical books. Kriv could still be operating at large with the missing book.
Prince Ewan orders the books to be destroyed. Ayrdon refuses, and convinces the prince that the book need to be protected and returned to the Zothguard, so that others will not fall prey to the temptation of necromancy.

Lamb and Torrin try to gain access to High King Korvag’s war room, but they discover that both doors have been barred shut. Lamb hears muffled movement behind the doors. Initially weary that zombies still reside within the walls, the party are relieved when they hear soft voices whispering within the war room. Prince Ewan begins to bang on the door, attempting to convince the intruders to come out, for their own safety. A strong feminine voice shouts out a refusal, blaming the Dragonborn for the death and slaughter that has occurred in Rothgaren. Ewan tries to barge his way into the room, but he feels multiple bodies brace against the doors, denying him entry.
While Ewan continues to shout at the intruders, Lamb walks down the hallway and goes into the servants’ kitchen. He discovers the servants’ back entrance to the war room. He silently picks the lock and motions for Torrin to follow him. Striding into the war room, Lamb and Torrin discover six female dwarves occupied pushing against the far door, trying to keep Prince Ewan out. Behind the females cower 5 dwarven children. One child squeaks in horror when she sees the two Dragonborn in the room. The females quickly reorganise and put themselves protectively between the Dragonborn and children. Prince Ewan enters the room and attempts to calm the survivors down.
The dwarves confirm that Prince Kriv was responsible for the undead outbreak and for the slaughter of the royal family, but he is no longer within Rothgaren. The dwarves had tried to seek shelter at the time of the attacks, always staying just one step ahead of the zombies, but unable to leave through the main gates. It appears that Kriv has escaped and left his undead thralls behind.

Meanwhile, Aydron wanders up stairs to the servants’ quarters and takes the time look out the windows of the castle. He spots a small group of dwarven men, injured and dishevelled, racing back to the castle, only mere metres ahead of a pack of zombie minions. The magician runs back downstairs and informs the party that they are about to have company.
Prince Ewan, Aydron and Torrin take up positions in the main entrance hall, ready to strike down the zombies as they bottleneck through the main gates. Lamb hides in the kitchette, ready to jump out and flank the zombies once they have engaged in combat.
The doors burst open and the injured dwarven men race into the hall. They are momentarily shocked when they see the Dragonborn, but Prince Ewan barks at them to keep running and get out of the way. They quickly do so and race to the back war room to reunite with their families.
The zombies quickly pour in through the main doors, swarming towards the Dragonborn. The saurians quickly breathe gouts of flame, acid and lightning over the zombies, which rip them to pieces. Prince Ewan hacks away at the undead with his sword and shield while Aydron immolates masses of zombies with his magic spells. Torrin turns into a barbaric whirlwind of destruction, his vicious greatsword chopping down anything that comes close, almost hitting his comrades in his blood rage. Lamb leaps out from the kitchenette and begins to slice through the decomposed flesh of the undead with his twin blades, glinting and hacking through hordes of enemies.
Soon the pack of undead lay around the party. Prince Ewan orders the group back to the secret sewer chute, and tells the dwarves that they can follow or be left behind.
The dragonborn and dwarven folk race through the darkened sewer tunnels, retreating back into the mountains. Although they failed to find Prince Kriv, at least they now have physical and eye witness proof that he was indeed responsible for the murder of High King Korvag and the destruction of Rothgaren. Prince Ewan takes the dwarves back to the settlement that they had passed previously. One of the men, Quanentair, thanks the prince profusely for saving their lives. He says that he is moving to Eralhor to escape the undead of Rothgaren, but he offers a life debt to the prince as way of thanks.

The dragonborn return to Zothguard and make their final reports to King Severa, detailing the fall of Prince Kriv, and the destruction of Rothgaren. These events will have dire ripple effects on Zothguard, which relied on the capital for protection and support.


Prince Ewan Fireheart attends an urgent summons to the Zothguard Court. A courier has brought a sealed message from Erahlor.

It is from Quanentair

Inside the letter, the hastily scribbled note says that Kriv has been spotted in Rovnol, the capital of the kingdom. Quanentair has been recruited as an engineer and stonemason to help Kriv build a settlement in the Midnight Marshes.

The letter ends with the urgent instructions:
”Find Ravenholme, and you’ll find the Prince”


Session 29: North into the Mountains


Rings of NPCness: Gareth 2.0, Hemingway, Mia and Nimaketh

Date: 24th Reapdon

Construction efforts labour continuously to erect the settlement of Ravenholm deep within the Midnight Marshes.
After a week of construction the dwarven engineers have reinforced the Temple walls and adjoining grounds. While establishing the outpost and training the militia, the Platinum Knights keep a wary eye on the dwindling supply of rations brought from Rovnol.

On the morning of the 24th Reapdon, a young member of the militia sasses Kriv about the food situation, asking ”So…whaddya gonna do about the food?”. The militia seem to be concerned that they have signed on to a doomed expedition. Fargrim gruffly reminds the young Wolf his place ”whaddya gonna do about the food, SIR?”.

Kriv takes the opportunity to talk to The Wolves about the food crisis. He appeases their concerns by sending a hunting party out into the marshes to hunt game. He also tells the militia that the party are going to depart for Tor’s Reach, the closest dwarven city in the Yorgnole Mountains, to establish a trading route for food supplies for the immediate future, until the outpost becomes self-sustaining.
Fargrim assigns one the Wolves to act as his lieutenant in-charge for the duration of their journey. He gives one last intimidating speech to the troops, cautioning them to be vigilant and to ration the food they have left. One anonymous voice calls out from the ranks, making a fat joke at the dwarven fighter. Unable to track the voice, Fargrim suspects that it was one of the shadier members of the militia who was one of Averlon Blackwood’s card mates. Kriv reinforces Fargrim and cows the group into respecting the authority that has been placed over them.

Following the speech, the party pack their bags and depart north through the outskirts of the marshes. According to their maps it will be a rough day and half of trekking through swamp and rugged mountain skirting around the edges of Meepo’s territory.

The miles fall behind the party as they trek through winter-touched bogs and marshes hidden behind a veil of fog and mist. Averlon and Horiam scout ahead of the party for the most part.
Around midday Averlon spots a group of 10 figures trudging through the swamps in the general direction o the party. The Shade doubles back to the party to warn them. Fargrim hopes that they have encountered a dwarven patrol from the mountains, but they elect to hide in the marshlands to observe, not wanting to be intercepted by undead forces. The group recognise the figures as zombies- a collection of humanoid and lizardfolk thralls.
The group continue trekking north through the frozen swamplands, several members succumbing to the cold conditions during the day.

After midday the party begin to walk around the edge of a large marsh lake. Horiam and Averlon spot a mysterious eddy of swirling magic in the centre of the small lake. As the rest of the party catch up, he asks Edran for his opinion of the arcane scar. Edran senses the arcane taint of the Shadowfell emanating from the arcane tear. Hearing this, Horiam prays to the Raven Queen for guidance, but he does not sense her presence or intervention in the formation of the swirling magic.
The party debate whether to detour and investigate the magic, the members all evenly split. Eventually they agree that the immediate and pressing priority is the food shortage at Ravenholm. Edran marks the location in his map case and they move on.

Ascent Up the Mountain

By the afternoon the misty swamps give way to the rugged plains of northern Erahlor. After marching 25 miles the party come to the base of the Yorgnole Mountains. Fargrim announces to the party that they are in his homelands, having grown up in Tor’s Reach. He announces that the path up the mountains would take another 5 hours to ascend, by which time the city gates will be closed for the night.
They elect to break camp and sleep for the night, tackling the mountain in the morning.

The morning of the 25th brings with it a drastic turn in weather. A snowstorm settled in over night. The party wake before sunrise, and while making preparation to ascend, Edran pulls a thick fur coat from his magical cloak to protect him from the elements. They begin the ascent.

After 4 hours of climbing the party begin to hear animalistic hollowing above the snowstorm winds. Fargrim pulls out his war horn and bellows a challenge. The hollowing continues in the distance. He warns that yetis, creatures known to prowl the trade routes in the snow-capped peaks, are most likely tailing them. The party quicken their pace
The sun begins to rise over the mountains, signalling 5am. While trudging along a narrow mountain path, Horiam notices a rocky outcrop ahead that looms over the path. Upon this outcrop he notices a large boulder beginning to wobble suspiciously.
Warning of the danger, the party elect to rush the figures who were attempting to ambush the party.

Battle in the Snow

The Knights run up the snowy hills towards the rocky outcrop to attack the would be ambushers. Kriv spots three Yetis trying to push the boulder. A forth Yeti Howler emerges from the snow and howls at Fargrim, instilling fear in the dwarf. The battle is met.
Horiam engages the Yeti Howler with his sword. Fargrim obliterates one yeti and uses the strike to charge another. Edran unleashes rolling thunder on two of the yetis, cascading them with fingers of electricity. A fifth yeti erupts from the snow and charges Edran, ignoring Averlon who has hidden himself amongst the thick snow. The Yeti Howler tries to push Horiam off the rocky outcropping but the Avenger strikes it down in retaliation.
Edran uses his beguiling strands to blast a yeti off the rocky outcropping, sending it falling 10 feet to the path below. Kriv chases after the yeti, leaping off the ledge and using his fall to drive his weapon into the creature, slaying it.
Fargrim cleaves a yeti with his hammer as it was trying to grab him. Horiam stabs the last yeti.

The party begin picking amongst the creatures. They find the corpse of a dwarven scout, a previous victim of the yetis. They find a magical Handy Haversack, inside which they find a whole barrel of ale, a silver flagon and 260gp.

They continue to trek up the mountain pass. After an hour the party come to the landing of Tor’s Reach and stand looking up at two large ornate carved wooden doors, beside which stand two large dwarven statues, standing silent vigil over the mountains of the dwarvish clans.


Party finds Handy Haversack
130gp to kitty
26gp each


Session 28 PART TWO: Phase One at Ravenholm



Cast- The King’s Recruits: Averlon Blackwood, Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Gareth 2.0, Horiam and Kriv

Rings of NPCness: Hemingway, Mia and Nimaketh

After four days of marching the expedition arrive at the Temple of the Raven Queen. Hemingway greets them enthusiastically and the company spend a warm and dry night inside the Temple’s walls. Horiam occupies a corner of the temple and begins a quiet prayer group, taking the opportunity to enlighten and dispel the myths and fear regarding the Raven Queen to the interested militia.

As the night draws to a close, Kriv gathers the militia—newly christened as the Wolves— and the stonemasons close and gives an inspiring speech, praising them for making it and pointing out that tomorrow marks the new beginning in the war against Meepo.

Phase One—Extensions to the existing Temple grounds

The next week progresses smoothly, albeit with some interesting events occurring. The masons begin by extended and reinforcing the stone barriers surrounding the Temple while the militia-under the careful eye of Fargrim- formalise patrols and establish a safe perimeter beyond the Temple ground by digging defensive trenches.
Each of the Platinum Knights contributes to the settlement while the dwarf masons and militia undertake the bulk of construction work.
Horiam organises the Temple and uses the time to begin regular study groups of the Codex Corvous, the bible of the Raven Queen faith. He also stores Terios’ preserved head in the Temple’s existing reliquary and assists with general construction work.
Kriv undertakes similar activities to assist with the construction while also being responsible for the training of and execution of hunting expeditions in to the swamps. Eventually the trail ration supplies will run out and the settlement will need to be self-sufficient by then.
Gareth spends the first day looking for hidden tunnels or crypts beneath the Temple, but finds none within the swamps. He spends the rest of the time scribing the history books he borrowed from the Platinum Archives, studying the sparse information about dragon eggs. He also spends significant time studying the egg within his cavity, trying to understand the shrinking and preservation magic involved. While gleaning a rudimentary understanding of both, he decides that a lot more study is required to fully master the rituals.
Averlon wastes no time in beginning to associate with some of the ‘shadier’ members of the militia. He begins to run nightly dice/card games, managing to earn himself 50gp in takings.
Fargrim keeps himself incredibly busy running the militia through drills and basic training. The Wolves have quickly learnt to respect and fear the dwarven fighter and very few dare mention the time he could not afford to buy any of them alcohol.
Edran devotes himself to organising the settlement documents and library, believing that order and systematic cataloguing is vital in order to run Ravenholm effectively. He also takes the time to scry for nearby magical relics and read Terios’ ritual book. He even speaks to Gareth about borrowing his Ritual Book to take notes from.

Dreams Best Left Unseen

On the third night of construction events occur that change everything for some members of the party.
Late in the evening, Edran sits inside the Temple meditating. While in his trance state the Eladrin begins to feel like an outside force is pulling his subconscious. The sensation feels very similar to the effect Nimaketh’s dreamshard, but it does not feel malevolent. Out of curiosity, Edran stops resisting and allows the feeling to overcome him.
Outside on the Temple grounds, Horiam and Gareth are surprised to see Edran sleepwalking out of the Temple, his eyes blazing with arcane light. They are even more shocked to see Nimaketh under the same spell. Both walk over to the nearby fountain and stand looking up at the full moon. Gareth uses his magic to detect that there is a magical link between Nimaketh’s dreamshard and Edran’s red memory gem that he keeps in his pouch. Gareth also detects similar arcane bonds connecting Nimaket and Edran to Fargrim and Kriv, both still in their rooms inside the Temple.

With an eruption of light both Edran and Nimaketh fall to the ground—asleep and unharmed, but unresponsive.
After 10 tense minutes, the two awaken, both visibly disturbed by their dreams, but physically unharmed. While Horiam checks Edran, Gareth runs inside and checks on Kriv and Fargrim.

Edran explains to Horiam that he experienced vivid and potent dreams while he was under the spell.
Gareth speaks to Kriv who acknowledges that he had vivid dreams, saying: “I dreamt about my family. And I don’t want to talk about it”
The warforged moves to the Abbot’s door where Fargrim was sleeping. Through the locked door the dwarf fighter tersely replies ”I’m fine” when queried. Gareth remains at the door and diplomatically speaks to Fargrim, offering to listen. Fargrim thanks Gareth for his concern and says that he needs time to process what he saw.

Back outside Edran tells the group what he saw:
”I saw a vision of myself as I was walking outside, as though I were removed from my body. I stood at the fountain and saw three birds sitting on the fence: A sparrow, a raven and a falcon. I realised that I saw watching myself through the eyes of the falcon. I was the falcon.
Suddenly I took to wing and was soaring north, over the marshes, across the mountains of Yorgnol and suddenly I beheld a valley of rock and sand. I can only assume it was the Valley of Many Names. I saw hundreds of birds flocking to the Valley and I felt compelled to go there.”

The Eladrin pauses, frowns and closes his mouth. He pulls out the red memory shard from his pouch. He realises that the magic within the stone has been recharged, and it is carrying a message. He activates the gem and a simple memory flashes in his mind’s eye: ”Find Me”

The party conclude that something is going on in the Valley of Many Names, and plan that they might detour north to investigate once the settlement is self-sufficient and can protect itself.

h4 Significant Events
Other significant events occur throughout the week that impact and affect the party members.

One day during construction a zombie is spotted by a patrol of militia, just outside the outpost perimeter. It is a lone zombie husk, pacing along the tree line. The zombie is unique in that it has one golden shining eye and the other the colour of ice. Averlon curses in surprise and recognises the zombie as being Rend, the fighter who had accompanied him into the desert of Zaranthas. The zombie appears to be arguing with itself out loud, saying: ”We must go up and talk to them. NO! Shut up, shut up, they’ll kill us!”
Horiam and Kriv approach, the avenger is ready to vanquish the undead thrall. Kriv points out that this zombie appears to retain some cognitive and sentient ability, and opts to talk to it. This action makes Horiam absolutely mortified and suspicious of Kriv, wondering how and why he would know so much about undead. The Dragonborn tries to approach and parley with the zombie of Rend but it curses and runs away. Horiam abjures the undead creature, killing it outright. He stalks back to the Temple to pray to the Raven Queen for guidance, suspicious of Kriv and his background.

Another significant event occurs between Gareth and Fargrim. Days after the dreamscape incident, Fargrim decides to confide in the warforged. He recounts the details of his dream.
Fargrim dreamt that all of the party were stranded on an island, bound by golden chains while he himself was chained in the centre. Next to him was a golden dwarven throne. Chained up on the chair sat Emperor Gotrek, the last great ruler of the Dwarven Empire. He was laughing maniacally. In the dream, Gareth was struggling against his chains and Emperor Gotrek said to Fargrim pointedly ”That is not the machine you should be worried about!”
Fargrim takes the opportunity to tell Gareth about his childhood—how his parents were murdered by a warforged. He explains that this event is why he was so suspicious of warforged, and that the dream has disturbed him. Gareth in turn recounts his past friendship with Reth, a dwarf. The two reconcile their differences and agree to confidence regarding Fargrim’s dream.


Temple grounds are reinforced (walls are now 1 square thick, Temple organised, trench dug on defensive perimeter)
Averlon gains 50gp gambling
Edran is able to control red memory shard


Session 28 PART ONE: Convoy to Ravenholm



Noteworthy NPCs: General Fletcher, Laeroi

The Platinum Knights stand amidst the busy congested streets of the refugee camp. Before them lay the corpses of five Tri-Kreen and the unconscious Shade that they had just saved. The humanoid looks exhausted and dishevelled, apparently on the run for a long time. Fargrim tends to the wounded shade while Edran examines the bodies of the Tri-Kreen, particularly the magical bonds on their arms. He discerns that the magical manacles around the Tri-Kreens’ arms are part of a necrotic ritual that dominated the creatures will—The dark magic had turned them into thralls, compelled to complete an order above all other needs, even the need to eat and rest.

The shade awakens and Horiam opens dialogue between the groups. The shade introduces himself as Averlon, and he is thankful for their assistance. Averlon lived to the far north regions, in the desert of Zaranthas. Two months ago he had gone out with an expedition into the desert and they had encountered a small army led by a kobold in dark robes who had summoned something large and terrible from beneath the sands of Zaranthas. He was the sole survivor of the group and had been on the run ever since. The group surmise that this kobold would be Meepo and all agree that this troubling news should be relayed to General Fletcher and the rest of the Platinum Knights.
Averlon says that he was compelled to flee for Erahlor because of a letter given to him by his friend, Beric, telling him to seek out Fargrim in Rovnol. Fargrim vaguely remembers the dashing and dramatic cleric, recalling that he may have broken his nose at one point in his mercenary career. Averlon regales the party with the tale of his escape to Erahlor and Kriv remains suspicious, believing that he is embellishing certain facts.

News from Zaranthas

The party agree to escort Averlon to the Platinum Spire to give his report to General Fletcher. Fargrim elects to stay behind in the refugee camp and marshal their 30 volunteers—the beginnings of their militia. He gathers the recruits and takes notes of their combat experience and backgrounds. He leads the 30 strong men and women into the industrial district of Rovnol to visit an armourer. Fargrim places an order for 30 sets of leather armour, shields, spears and 10 crossbows and adventurers kits for all recruits. Due to the war and high demand Fargrim is not able to haggle lower than 1,800gp for the lot. He shakes hands with the blacksmith and agrees to return in two days.

Fargrim leads the group of militia to one of his favourite alehouses called the “Trusty Maiden”. He tries to buy two barrels of dwarven ale to share with the militia, to break the ice and foster a good rapport with the recruits. Unfortunately Fargrim realises that his money purse is completely empty, having spent all of his personal funds in the last few days. Embarrassed, Fargrim leaves the alehouse and confronts the disappointed refugees, claiming that the alehouse was out of supplies. This moment is ruined when one of the beer maids from the Trust Maiden calls out ”Bye Fargrim! Come back when you’ve got more money!”
Suddenly under intense scrutiny from the refugees, Fargrim immediately proposes ”I’ll give each of you 1 gold piece to forget this ever happened—“ when he realises that he doesn’t even have the funds to do this. The refugees disband and return to the camps, disappointed, fed up and grumbling about the dwarf fighter.

Meanwhile the rest of the party escort Averlon through the streets of Rovnol to the Platinum Spire. Taking him to General Fletcher’s office, the shade retells his tale once more. Fletcher takes note of the information, grants Averlon his freedom to stay in the capital and a reward of 50gp for the information. The party split to conduct their own affairs.
Horiam and Kriv make a final visit to the Church of the Raven Queen to ask for dispensation to form an order of paladins to serve at the Temple in the Midnight Marshes. They discover the clerics in the middle of celebrations over the news of Ravenholm and Horiam, a struggling alcoholic, is almost tempted to partake in a celebratory wine, but Kriv convinces him otherwise.
Gareth 2.0 and Edran return and make a final visit to the Platinum Archives, loaning out a collection of books on dragonology, arcanic rituals and other tomes of knowledge. Gareth continues to investigate the magic that is preserving the golden dragon egg stored within his body. Fargrim returns to the Spire and speaks at length with General Fletcher about training advice.

That evening, Kriv heads out and buys two barrels of ale and gives them to the refugees, to celebrate the recent events. Fargrim asks Kriv to vouch for his character with the refugees and Kriv makes promises to do what he can.

The Next Day Kriv heads into the city and seeks out war donations to help fund the settlement of Ravenholm and he manages to raise 150gp.

The Secrets of Shadows

Averlon, seeking refuge and anonymity within the capital city, feels as though he is being following in the streets. He ducks into a street alley and climbs onto the rooftops to try and evade any pursuers.
After remaining on the run for most of the day he seeks out the only friendly faces he knows in the city. Averlon returns to the Platinum Spire and seeks the help of the party. Horiam makes plans to set an ambush in the Busty Wench, a gentlemen’s’ club that they had used before to set up clandestine meetings.
Gareth and Edran arrive at the club before Averlon. Horiam sneaks in and hides inside the cloakroom, waiting in ambush. The rogue enters the club and the party wait to spring their trap.
Horiam notices a woman enter the club. As she does so, he notices that her shadow splits in two—one shadow peels off into the cloakroom where Horiam is hiding.
A voice says: ”You keep with interesting friends, Horiam.”

Horiam recognises the voice as Laeroi, the agent of the Hand of Shadows. Laeroi discusses his interest in the shade, curious as to why a creature of the shadowfell has piqued the personal interest of Meepo’s dogs. Horiam is unsure why but states that the shade is no threat and is under his protection. Laeroi, satisfied, says that he will make contact again at Ravenholm. His shadow withdraws from the cloakroom and disappears.
Horiam keeps the conversation to himself, but notifies the party that Averlon is no longer being pursued. He suggests to the shade that it would be safer if he travelled with the party for the time being. With no other alternative, Averlon agrees. The party turn to the Spire and retire for the evening.

The birth of the Wolves

¬_*The Next Day*_ the expedition is ready to depart Rovnol. The Platinum Knights organise the militia and the dwarven engineers. They depart from the main city gates under much fanfare and celebration. Fargrim, eager to redeem his standing with the militia, intimidates the recruits and gets them marching in good order.
The expedition march north along the King’s Road, making good pace despite the cooling weather as winter settles over Eralhor. The march is largely uneventful.
On the second night a pack of wolves attack the encampment. The militia manage to fight them off with only a few scrapes, owing to Fargrim’s rigorous drills. Fargrim orders the four bodies skinned and the pelts delivered to him, thus inspiring the designation of the militia —‘the Wolves’.
The third night proves miserable as heavy winter rains douse the expedition. Edran pulls out a large tarp from his magical cloak but it does little to protect the ragged and wet band of recruits. They realise the effects during morning roll call when several recruits are taken ill and one man suffers the early stages of frostbite. The worst cases are allocated to the wagons while the rest march on.

As the night draws to a close, Kriv gathers the Wolves and the stonemasons close and gives an inspiring speech, praising them for making it and pointing out that tomorrow marks the new beginning in the war against Meepo.


1,800gp spent from expedition account to outfit and supply militia
Averlon gains 50gp reward from Fletcher


Session 27: Audience with the King of Erahlor

Session 27: The Audience with the King of Erahlor

Guest staring: Averlon

Rings of NPCness: Hemingway, and Mia

Noteworthy NPCs: General Fletcher, King Kevran Urathdae, Queen Orlais, Advisor Jemek, Marshall Krisalline Fletcher, and Vladshitk Darkfire

The party spend a night in the barracks of the Platinum Knights, located deep within the Platinum Spire of Rovnol.

The party awaken. They meet with General Fletcher and make their final preparations for their audience with the King of Erahlor. After two days of meetings and negotiations the platinum knights are ready to submit their proposal to build a settlement in the Midnight Marshes, a frontier outpost to act as a staging ground for a direct campaign against the undead forces of Meepo. After final preparations, General Fletcher organises to meet them at Court at midday.

Gareth 2.0 reunites with the party. He recounts that he had spent the last two days trying to unravel the mysteries of the magically preserved dragon egg hidden within his chest cavity. The party head into the city of Rovnol to meet with their new lawyer, a tiefling named Vladshitk Darkfire. It appears that the lawyer has not slept much since taking on their business.
They discuss several contractual options how to gain the support of the crown, and in doing so, securing financial support from the realm’s coffers. Darkfire urges diplomacy and caution when appealing to the King for significant sums of money, as the realm with already severely taxed due to the war. After briefly discussing the articles of the colonisation and settlement programs the party depart and leave the lawyer to make his preparations for the audience with the King.

Returning to the Platinum Spire, the party meet General Fletcher in the throne room. He appears more serious and leads them to a hidden wall that he magically accesses. Inside the secret chamber they ride up on a magical elevator that whisks them up towards almost to the peak of the Spire itself. Exiting the arcane lift they are led into an ornate and decorative audience chamber, filled with decorations and mosaics depicting the platinum dragon and detailing the rich history of Rovnol.

Making final preparations and instructing the party on the correct etiquette and decorum within the King’s presence, General Fletcher leads the Knights to a grand doorway and announces them.

Seated at a large and lavishly decorated table sits the King of Erahlor, Kevran Urathdar. Beside him sits an elven woman, the Queen Orlais. On either side of the King and Queen at the royal table stand a human male in rich and official robes with a boil on his forehead and a woman dressed in battle armour with an intense hawkish expression. There are also several familiar faces waiting the Platinum Knights— Arclem the gnome, Harbourd from Sparrowsport, Vladshitk Darkfire, Sir Stephan Fairweather, Arthur from the refugee camps (seated as far away from Fairweather as possible), the Abbess of Bahamut and a cleric from the church of the Raven Queen.

General Fletcher announces the party and they bow and proclaim the traditional oath of the Platinum Knights— “We Stand to Protect Those Who Need Us”

The official man with the boil on his forehead—*Advisor Jemek* opens the discussions. The King wishes to hear their proposal and outline. Kriv, the nominated diplomatic leader of the group, responds and outlines the settlement proposition to the King. Vladshitk distributes scrolls detailing the settlement while Kriv delivers a convincing and inspiring proposal to the royal family.
The woman with the hawkish expression is announced as War Marshall Krisallin Fletcher—the ruthless and cunning marshal in charge of the Erahlor war theatre…and General Fletcher’s ex-wife.
She questions the party’s abilities to effectively counter and combat the undead forces in the Midnight Marshes, the defended territory of Meepo himself. Horiam responds in rebuttal that his quest to found the settlement at the Temple of the Raven Queen was inspired and divinely sanctioned by the Raven Queen herself—even the goddess of death has aided their campaign against the necrotic undead. War Marshall Fletcher scoffs, but appears to accept the merits of his argument, having read the Action Reports herself. At this point Fargrim fist bumps General Fletcher under the royal table, pleased that the ex-wife had been rebuked.

King Urathdar speaks again and raises concerns over the ability to defend such an isolated frontier military outpost that would be isolated from the supply lines of Erahlor for the duration of the war. Fargrim gets out of his wooden chair and counters that they plan to recruit willing volunteers from the refugee camps to found the initial population and would train into an effective militia to safeguard the outpost. Harbourd takes the opportunity to vouch for the Party’s effectiveness and resourcefulness.

At this point the party become aware of a half-elf male walking around the room. Several members recognise him as Prince Wellean, the son of the king. He appears to have taken an interest in the case being proposed.

At this point of negotiations Advisor Jemek takes the floor and questions the party with regard to issues of supply and food—Rovnol is already dealing with food shortages because of the war and cannot afford to supplicate another settlement of hungry souls. Fargrim and Edran rise from their chairs and outline several ways that they plan to supply and feed the growing outpost, their responses are aided by use of the relevant geographical charts and maps they had prepared. This response satisfies the Royal Advisor.

Next, Queen Orlais speaks up. With a calm an soothing elvish accent, she asks how the party plan to contend with the unchecked necrotic energy that plagues the Midnight Marshes. This arcanically-twisted necrotic energy is a magical fuel source for Meepo’s undead army and it is the very reason his forces operate in the Marshes. The Queen is concerned about the safety of the citizen who would populate this isolated settlement. Gareth 2.0 responds, saying that the Temple of the Raven Queen had been constructed in the Marshes originally as a beacon to cleanse and focus the necrotic energies—the goddess of death, winter and fate is a neutrally-aligned god, not a malicious one. The clerics and acolytes of the Raven Queen would be responsible for reconsecrating the grounds surrounding the holy temple, cleansing the land and tending to the well-being of the civilian population. The Queen smiles and is pleased with their response.

When King Urathdar asks how they plan to convince settlers to move to the Marshes settle, operate and sustain an outpost in the inhospitable Midnight Marshes, Kriv initially freezes up and stumbles in his response. He recovers and states that they will hold a rally in the Refugee Camps to gain volunteers. This initial core group of settlers would be trained into engineers and militia. After initial construction was complete the families of the volunteers would be able to move out and claim plots of land while work continued to phase two. The King is satisfied that the group of adventurers have a sound and meticulously planned proposal.

After briefly discussing the issues of wood supplies, the discussion finally turns to the subject of funding and financial support. Sir Fairweather reminds the party that he has pledged 2,000gp to the cause and the King signs an official declaration pledging a loan of 3,000 gp. The King declares his support of the outpost.
Ask Vladshitk Darkfire submits all of his documentation to War Marshal Fletcher, Horiam suggests the name Ravenholme for the new outpost. It is added as an addendum to the documents. With that the audience with the King is concluded and the party leave victorious.

After brief celebrations the party head to the refugee camps outside the Capital Walls with Arthur in order to rally volunteers for the settlement of Ravenholme.
Kriv delivers a speech to the refugees:
“Meepo drove you from your homes, your families, to live off the scraps of the nobles and waste away in the filth of the city.
He think us weak, he expects us to roll over and die. I ask you, is he right?
I’ll tell you what I think.
I think no.
I look amongst you and I see proud men and women, brought low by the mad and the rotting.
That is why I come before you today. A settlement is to be founded at the edge of the midnight marsh. A thumb in the eye of Meepo, a blade to strike at his armies.
We offer land and work to any who wish for it. I will not lie. I never said this will be easy, but it will be worth it.
The king, the soldiers, the priests, and even the gods themselves stand with us. Will you?”

After this motivating and captivating speech about 50 men and women rush to the party and volunteer to join the settlement program. Other express interest in joining the second phase of settlement or reclaiming Til.
At this point a screaming voice approaching, crying out “Help! Sanctuary!”

The Platinum Knights turn towards the sound and see a humanoid creature running into the refugee camp. It appears to be a Shade, looking wounded, exhausted and dishevelled, dressed in desert garb. The shade is running towards them, being chased by five Thri-Kreen. Although shocked to see the desert insectoids this far south in Erahlor, the Thri-Kreen also appeared to be necrotically infused with magic. Gareth 2.0 remains behind to protect and clear refugees from the fight while the other members of the party draw weapons and leap to the Shade’s defence.

As the battle begins, one of the Tri-Kreen hiss that “he belongs to us.” It is an intense and challenging battle as the Tri-Kreen’s necrotic infusion grants them superior strength and dexterity, striking at the party with their long spears. While Horiam, Kriv and Fargrim attack the Tri-Kreen head on, Edran rushes to protect the Shade from one of the Tri-Kreen raiders. The wounded shade attempts to hide behind a wagon but he is struck unconscious by one of the raiders. Using all of their powerful feats of strength and divine might, the Platinum Knights slay the Tri-Kreen one by one while Edran stabilises the unconscious rogue. After the last insectoid is dispatched, the group gather around begin to discuss what to do with the strange shade dressed in desert clothing…


3,000gp contributed by royal coffers (5,000 contributed + group kitty 202gp)


Session 26: Negotiations Part 2

Session 26: Negotiations part 2

Cast- The King’s Recruits: Edran Laraneth, Fargrim Stoneborn, Horam, and Kriv

Rings of NPCness: Gareth 2.0, Hemingway, and Mia

Noteworthy NPCs: General Fletcher, Sir Stephan Fairweather, Vladshitk Darkfire, and Arthur

The party awaken, break their fast and are summoned to meet with General Fletcher at midmorning.
They descend from the barracks and make their way towards the Training Grounds. While passing through the Courtroom the party are momentarily held up by a large crowd. The King is in the middle of a session of court and the royal halls are chocked with nobility, merchants, guildsmen and refugees.
Pausing to listen in, the special session of court appears to have been convened to discuss the food shortage in the capital. The King has requisitioned food stores from the local merchants and guilds in order to feed the influx of refugees. Passionate spokespeople representing the nobility, mercantile groups and civilian refugees argue and parley vigorously.

While listening to the debate, Kriv is shocked when he sees a Dragonborn kinsman from his old clan. Fortunately none of the party saw his reaction and Kriv avoids being noticed.
Horam wade into the debate to try and curry financial support for their proposed settlement at the Temple of the Raven Queen. They search the crowd and try to recognise the most influential member of the nobility. One man stands out, an older noble man dressed in luxurious silk robes. Fargrim recognises him as Sir Stephan Fairweather, a member of the old aristocracy in Rovnol. Edran takes out his writing kit and pens a calling card for Sir Fairweather, requesting an audience after court today. The King calls a halt to the debate, weary from the embattled parties. As the crowds mingle, Horam suggests that perhaps the refugees could be convinced to help populate the proposed settlement. The party look for a key spokesperson representing the refugees. Spotting the de facto leader of the refugees, Edran pens another calling card and leaves it with the refugee leader.

The party continue and meet with General Fletcher in his office. The Platinum Knight discusses their successful negotiations from yesterday, having secured support from the religious sects and the Circle of Nine. The party make some inquires as to the war updates, specifically regarding the dwarves, the feywild and the sparse and inconsistent reports from the Shadowfell.

At the conclusion of the meeting, a servant from Sir Fairweather awaits to escort the party to tea with the noble. The party agree to split up and undertake separate objectives.

Horam and Kriv go with the servant and travel by carriage to the tended ground of the Fairweather’s estate. They are announced by Jeaves, the intern major-domo of the household. The pair has tea with Sir Fairweather and put forward their proposal. Fairweather agrees to financially back the project and contributes 2,000gp.
Next, Horam and Kriv travel to the business district in search of a lawyer/bureaucrat to run the day-to-day operations of the settlement and to draft the legal documentation. They are directed to the discrete office of one Vladshitk Darkfire. They make an appointment to meet with the tiefling lawyer at 5pm that day.
In the meantime, Horam and Kriv return to the Platinum Spire to receive a message from Arthur, the de facto leader of the refugees in Rovnol. They meet with the Thedanwald-immigrant about recruiting able and willing refugees to form the core of the population of the settlement. The first phase would serve as a militia to secure the land, and the second phase would allow for settlers to move out. Arthur agrees to lend his voice in support at the impending audience with the King.

Meanwhile, Fargrim and Edran head to the guild sector of Rovnol. They plan to meet with the masonry guilds to secure the resources and labour necessary to build the settlement. Fargrim suggests that they first visit the dwarven guilds. He reunites with an old friend Ardek. They outline the proposed layout, the settlement sites and offer first rite of refusal to any mining sites in the area. Ardek takes the proposal and agrees to mention their proposal to the guildmaester.
Next, they meet with Arclem at his workshop. The gnome artificer shows off an arcane pump that he started development. He plans to development the device so that it will be able to magically siphon the swamp water from the Midnight Marsh, allowing for proper settlement of the Temple site. He also gives Edran a book with the ritual “purify water.” Fargrim asks for some explosives. Arclem gives the dwarf a small blue vial—warning him to be careful with the untested magical explosive.
Afterwards, Fargrim and Edran return to speak with the guildmaester of the masonry guild. The guildmaester agrees to provide the materials and 10 workmen for 2 months work for a fee of 4,000gp. Fargrim tries to barter but is rebuked. The three share some mugs of dwarven ale—Edran chokes a little but manages to hold it down.
After a second mug of ale, the dwarf and eladrin wander to the food merchants to try and secure rations for the settlement, but are turned away due to the large crowds of refugees already straining the city’s stores. Fargrim stops by a Hunter’s Guild and discusses the game and harvest located in the vicinity of the Midnight Marshes.

In the afternoon the party meet up and make their way to the office of Vladshitk Darkfire. The tiefling lawyer discusses the proposal and the range of services he could provide to the party. Horam and Kriv split the fee required to retain his loyalty.
At sunset the party return to the Platinum Spire. They compile their notes, agreements and prepare for their audience with the King in the morning, where they will finally put forward the proposition for their settlement.


Horam and Kriv split 200gp from personal wallets to pay retaining fee for Vladshitk Darkfire.
2,000gp contributed by Sir Fairweather


Intermission: What Lies Beneath the Zerenthas

Intermission: What lies beneath the Zerenthas

Cast- Avalon the Rogue, Berec the Cleric, Rend the Fighter,Zanthe the Ranger


Far to the North East of Erahlor, past The Midnight Marsh and through the embattled Valley of Many Names, contested over by barbarian tribes, lie the desert sands of Zerenthas….

The small trading township of Quin’tilzen provides a centre of shade and hospitality amidst the scorching heat of the desert planes. It is a trading hub for the desert caravans, specialising in gems and opals mined from the barren sands and rocky ranges.

Mayor Arkif calls a special assembly for all the local residents and merchants of Quin’tilzen. The crowd gathers in the township’s singular dingy tavern, interrupting the Name Day celebration of a young human cleric of Avandra called Berec from Til.
Arkif tells the local tribes that strange outsiders have been noted travelling up the trading routes throughout the desert. These groups seem to amassing and scouring the desert planes. Fearing expeditionary forces from either Erahlor or the Valley of Many Names, Major Arkif requests for any of the locals to volunteer to investigate and scout of the Outsiders’ intentions. Berec volunteers, through monologue, the services of himself and his goddess.

In amongst the irate and vocal crowd a shade rogue called Avalon manages to steal a 100gp gem from a patron.

Berec reunites at the bar with his friend Zanthe Toran, a half-elf ranger who loosely associates with Quin’tilzen as a hunter-gatherer and guide for the trade caravans. Zanthe and Avalon both volunteer their help when Mayor Arkif announces a reward of 30gp.

In the corner of the tavern a man dressed in chainmail sits alone, muttering to himself “Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up shut up,” then he screams. “OKAY. I’ll volunteer!” Rend the fighter adds his name to the list.

The four men, guided by Zanthe, strike south-west on the trade route, the area where the Outsiders had been seen last. Rend, in a sudden outburst, screams and scares a travelling troupe of children. Berec attempts to calm them down but the others find Rend’s behaviour odd.

The heat continues to bake the desert flats as the party march. Berec manages to tumble down a sand dune, holding up progress. Zanthe and Rend fall prey to a mirage, resulting in Rend hugging a cactus. He promptly uses his Greatsword to cut it down, screaming at a voice in his head.

Berec senses a divine presence residing within Rend’s subconscious, but he cannot determine who or what it could possibly be. They are still uncomfortable with his behaviour, but continue to march.

The hot desert sun sinks behind the dunes and the temperature soon plummets to freezing. The party have an unsettled sleep. In the morning they change their heading and move off the road into unfamiliar territory, where the Outsiders had been seen last.

Zanthe points out a stone pillar jutting out of the sand. They hurry to it and investigate. Draconic runes are etched into the stone object but no one can read the script. Zanthe tries to use his tracking skills but cannot determine any fresh foot tracks in the local area. They momentarily rest in the shade of the pillar and then move on.

After three hours of marching, Berec notices strange and unnatural clouds starting to form overhead. A storm begins to brew in the desert heat. Suddenly a lightning strike hits a mile ahead. Lightning bolts continue to rain down on the same spot, and not rain appears to be falling—this appears to be magically produced, fuelled by necrotic energy.

The party run towards the eye of the storm. They pause at the bottom of a tall sand dune, hidden in cover. Berec sneaks to the crest of the dune. He looks down and sees a gathering of humanoids and creatures—the beginnings of a formidable army.
Closest to them, the lightning strikes continue to impact the same plot of sand, blasting layers of sand and dirt away. Giant Ants and other smaller insect drones are also digging in the sand. A stone altar is being slowly revealed and exposed as the magical ritual is being cast.

Close to the altar stand a small group. On the left a warforged, dressed in desert garb and armour, looks at the altar. On the right stands a tall male humanoid with gray skin. In the centre squats a short kobold in dark robes with black scales and a glowing amulet on his chest. The kobold appears to be chanting and controlling the ritual.

From the sand dune precipice, Berec begins to deliver a monologue decrying the necrotic invaders. With a flourish of his weapon and a battle cry, Berec charges at the army. The warforged points his sword at Berec in challenge. The battle begins.

A small foul the size of a falcon swoops in and attacks Berec. Zanthe recognises it as a cockatrice. He and Rend run forward to join the fight. Avalon uses the nearby dunes to hide, using stealthy ranged attacks to strike at the cockatrice. The party quickly become outnumbered when a Giant Ant and its insect brood erupt from the sand around them.
Rend becomes surrounded, fighting back with his greatsword. Berec is immoblised by the cockatrice and then gripped in the mandibles of the Giant Ant and he falls unconscious. Zanthe kills the cockatrice and tries to stab the Giant Ant, but its carapace deflects most of his sword strikes. Rend tries to shift away from the smaller insect broods but he too was immobilised by the cockatrice’s bite, he is helpless and falls unconscious. The broods swarm over their bodies and begin to devour them.

Avalon, striking from the sand dunes with his hand crossbow, looks in horror as Zanthe’s stone feet immobilise him, unable to run. He is gripped in the mandibles of the Giant Ant and is slowly hauled towards the stone altar. As the blood and life leaves Zanthe, he locks eyes with Avalon, hidden among the dunes, and points in the direction of Quin’tinlzen. He shouts to the rogue in elvish to flee. Zanthe looks towards the warforged and sees something being dug out of the sand. He falls unconscious as his world fades to darkness.

Avalon flees the bloody scene. He stumbles through the desert. Four days later he arrives in Quin’tilzen, dehydrated, delirious and close to death. He recuperates after a few more days, and he presents Mayor Arkif with a written draft of the Will of Rend, Berec and Zanthe, updated before the adventure, leaving Avalon all of their collective wealth. This is a note that Avalon had forged while he rested in bed.


Session 25: Negotiations


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Edran, Fargrim Stoneborn, Gareth 2.0, Kriv, Nimakath.

Rings of NPCness: Mia, Hemingway

Noteworthy NPCs: General Fletcher, Timak, Archmage Davos, Arclem

Following their conversation with General Fletcher the previous afternoon, the party plan to spend their time drumming up support for their proposed settlement. Our gallant heroes know that they must have the backing of the various religious, mercantile and financial guilds around the capital city if their proposal is to be seriously considered by the King.

Following breakfast, the party split. They break into teams and plan to complete their assigned quests by the end of the day

Horam and Kriv make their way to High Town, the upper class district of the capital city where the religious shrines are located. Within the massive church they discover prominent shrines to dedicated Bahamut, Erathis and Pelor respectively. The other good and neutral gods, specifically the Raven Queen, have smaller shrines and have smaller social standing within the capital. The pair decides to rally the support of the broader faiths as well. Visiting the Temple of Erathis first, Kriv speaks to the wizened old priest, recounting to him the fall of the cleric Terios, a worshiper of Erathis. Kriv recounts the tale of Terios was seduced by the evil god Asmodeus and hands over the Minotaur’s old journal. The old priest thanks them. Horam uses this opportunity to discuss support from the church of civilisation to help build their settlement in the Midnight Marshes. The priest agrees to lend support and backing in the venture.
Horam and Kriv then go and speak to the acolytes of the Raven Queen. They announce that they have saved the Temple of the Raven Queen and reconsecrated the holy ground. The cleric and his assistants are relieved to hear the news and, despite being a smaller religious sect within the walls of Rovnol, pledge their wholehearted support to the cause.
After speaking to the other priests from the various shrines, Horam and Kriv go to the Temple of Bahamut, the dominant religious sect in the city. They are admitted to speak with the Arch-Cleric. Kriv and Horam speak to her about using the proposed settlement as a way to rebuild the damages of the war, using it as an offensive launch point in the war against Meepo. Horam speaks about using the joint venture to build upon the heritage of teamwork and cooperation between the religious faiths of Erahlor. Horam says that proof that they have the backing of his goddess and he takes out his longsword—twice divinely blessed and imbued with magic by the grace of the Raven Queen. The Arch—Cleric takes the sword and watches as the sword glimmers in her presence. As it shines in her face, she asks for a quill so that she may sign the letter of support.

Meanwhile, Gareth 2.0 and Edran remain at the Platinum Spire and isolate themselves in the Platinum Archives. Gareth spends most of the morning researching the history and lineage of the many dwarven households living in Erahlor. He tries to open the mysterious chest compartment, but he is unable to do so. Edran comes back from the cartography section, occupies a whole table and begins spreading out maps of the Midnight Marshes. He spends the morning analysing the geography of the marshes, looking for watering streams, natural resources and ideal sites that could support a new settlement. He makes several notes to help their case.
Around midday, Gareth inspects his chest compartment again, and he manages to open it. Rolling out of the chest is a golden egg, far larger than any chicken. Calling Edran over, the Warforged vaguely remembers this egg being given to him long ago. Edran sees the egg and it shocked—he recognises it as a golden dragon egg. Magically preserved, this egg has been sealed within Gareth for possibly hundreds of years. After a brief discussion—confident the egg is inactive and not at risk of hatching—Gareth puts it back in his compartment and seals it.
Gareth spends some time researching the history of golden dragons in Erahlor. The few references that he finds link their dominant time period to Nerath, the ancient human Empire of Old. He also researches the Travelling Temple of Corellon, but finds no official records of it in the Archives.
Edran takes the time to note some of the known Fey Crossings listed in Erahlor.
After lunch, Gareth and Edran make their way to High Town to locate any mage guilds or Arcane Orders that may be willing to provide support for the proposed settlement. They bump into their old companion Arclem, who introduces them to Arch-Mage Davos, the leader of the Order of the Nine. Edran talks to Davos about his small number, suggesting that they may be able to provide peripheral support (training and resources for an arcane school at the settlement) to the venture. Davos agrees to send a member of The Nine to the Royal Meeting in his stead to voice their support.
Making their way back to the Platinum Spire, Edran and Gareth purchase some more residuum. Edran performs the Read Object ritual on the Dragon Egg. He recounts to Gareth that he saw 2 magic images linked to the egg. The first image was of a human man dying as he handed the egg to Gareth, in the background a marvellous cityscape of human design lay in ruins as it was being attacked by gnolls. The second image was of the golden egg. A metallic dragon was cradling it. The dragon appeared to be nestled deep within a cave and surrounded by treasures and jewels.

Meanwhile, Fargrim Stoneborn left the Platinum Spire and made his way to The Stone Flagon, a dwarven watering hole, hoping to drum up the support of the local stonemasons. Fargrim begins by regaling the patrons of the stories of their conquests, specifically their battles against the undead. He holds up his magical hammer, imbued with ice magic. One young dwarf is unimpressed with Fargrim’s boastings, saying that a real dwarf would prove his mettle in a drinking contest.
Fargrim, being over 100 years old, looks at the young 57-year old dwarf and says:
“Your beard is not so long that you can speak to me like that, laddie” and he punches the young dwarf in the face. As the chair and ale is pitched over, other dwarves rise to their feet. Another punch is thrown by a drunken patron and suddenly a bar fight erupts!
Dwarves, being creatures of endurance and stamina, manage to keep the bar fight going for an hour. Fargrim manages to hold his own against two young dwarves. The bar by this stage has erupted in to an All-in Brawl. A fist comes out of the crowd and smacks Fargrim across the cheek. He spots the young whippersnapper and hooks his fist in return. Despite the brawl, Fargrim—like most dwarf-folk— enjoys the brawl. He takes a lull in the bar fight to laugh and joke with the whipper-snapper, and Fargrim offers to buy all his fellow dwarves a round of ale. The fight ends as suddenly as it began. Fargrim takes the time to give the barkeep 20gp for damages and talks about the Yorgnole Dwarves actions against Meepo. He is told disturbing reports that hobgoblins clans have recently inhabited an ancient and abandoned dwarven stronghold in the Stalkwood Forest (See Session 11 Notes). Troubled, Fargrim returns to the Platinum Spire to train.
After lunch, Fargrim tries to investigate the report regarding the goblins of Stalk wood. However, General Fletcher blocks his investigation, stating that a concordance has been signed with the goblins clans and that the King is discussing the terms of the alliance. He orders Fargrim to look no further into the matter.

Meanwhile, Nimakath spends her time in the capital trying to track down any fellow Shardminds that may be living within the city walls. She begins by speaking to the local historians and stonemasons, but it appears that Shardminds are exceptionally rare in Erahlor. However, one elderly mason recalls a shardmind who came through the city—- 40 years ago. He recalls that the injured shardmind had fled north to the mountains.
Armed with this knowledge, Nimakath tries to locate any mountaineers living in the city, which may have heard of or met the shardmind in the mountains. Some locals direct her to a dwarven tavern called The Stone Flagon. When Nimakath gets to the bar, she finds it in a state of damage and disarray, as though a riot had broken out. She asks the barkeep if a mountaineer had been in the bar. The barkeep pauses sweeping broken glass to point to a dwarf called Timak, sitting in the corner. Nimakath buys Timak a cup of ale and asks him about the shardmind living in the mountains or as she put it, a ”Glowing crystal monster”.
Timak admits he did take one up the mountains some years ago, to the northern cities hidden amongst the mountain peaks. Nimakath asks if she can imprint a telepathic message on Timak, so that he can deliver it when he returns to the Yorgnole Mountains. The mountaineer agrees carry the telepathic message for the price of another ale.

Afternoon sets in and the King’s Recruits reunite at the Platinum Spire. Kriv ransacks the cabins for pineapples. Horam receives a message that the Halfling brigand they escorted to Rovnol has been sentenced and is due to be hanged in the evening. Horam intends to be present. The party all go to Low Town, where the public spectacle is being held. The Halfling manages to slip out of his noose during the event, but Gareth is quick enough to use magic missile to kill the brigand. The party retire to the Platinum Spire for the night.


Edran and Gareth spent 50gp each on residuum
-25gp residuum for using Read Object ritual
Fargrim spent ??gp buying ale and 20gp repairs to The Stone Flagon


Session 24: Secret Base of the Brigands


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Edran, Fargrim Stoneborn, Gareth 2.0, Kriv, Nimaketh.


Noteworthy NPCs: Robert Bobson, General Fletcher


The King’s Recruits march north across rocky plains. They are bound for a secret base used by a group of brigands who had been plundering the King’s Roads. Kriv suggests that they tie their captive, a Halfling bandit, to the wheel spoke of their newly acquired cart. Horam sighs and tells the group to keep moving. During the travel, Kriv asks Gareth 2.0 about the secret smuggling compartment on his chest plate. The Warforged was unaware of this compartment, but he is unable to open it at this point in time.
Edran takes the time to wind whisper a magical message to Robert Bobson, the oarsman from Thedanwald who rowed them upriver, asking him to wait another 24 hours while they detour to investigate the secret base.

The landscape starts to cool as the party trek north, getting closer to the rugged base of Yorgnole Mountains. Patches of snow dot the rocky plains and Fargrim remarks that they are getting closer to dwarven lands.
Eventually coming to a halt, Horam takes the time to interrogate the Halfling captive, intimidating him into revealing any traps that are rigged at the secret base. The Halfling tries to lie to the Shadar-Kai, but he sees through the ruse. Horam gives permission for Kriv to punch the Halfling in the stomach. When he does so, the bandit doubles over, wheezes, and passes out. The Dragonborn paladin heals the Halfling back to consciousness, warning that he doesn’t like being lied to.
At this point, Edran intervenes and takes the part of the “good” interrogator. He suggests to the Halfling that if he cooperates, they will put in a good word for him when he is sentenced for his crimes. The Halfling appears to feel remorse, revealing that an arrow trap is rigged at the cave entrance. He offers to disarm it for them.
Gareth 2.0 unties the Halfling, warning him not to double-cross them or play them false again.

The party enter the cave. The Halfling, true to his word, disarms the trap. Inside the cave they find the belongings of the four bandits who had been killed on the highway. Nimaketh asks about the fifth straw cot. The Halfling states that they had a fifth member who died during an earlier raid.
While investigating the cave, Fargrim notices a war hammer mounted on a plaque. The head is adorned with a blue gem and a magical icy mist appears to billow from it. In his excitement, Fargrim runs towards the mounted plaque.
As he runs over a dusty rug, the dwarf suddenly disappears with a yelp of surprise, falling down a trap chute. Before the party can recover from their shock, the Halfling bandit breaks his bonds and makes a desperate dash for the trap chute. Gareth 2.0 blasts the bandit with a magic missile, knocking him unconscious again.

The party form around the hole and begin calling down to Fargrim. While Gareth ignites a sunrod, Horam draws his sword and advances on the Halfling, intending to kill him for his betrayal. Gareth intervenes, saying that the Halfling must face justice for his crimes. Horam replies coldly “I am justice.” After a brief stand off, Horam relents. He slaps the Halfling awake and swears by his goddess that if another escape attempt or falsehood if played against them, he will kill him outright.


Fargrim falls down the chute. The chute begins to gently curve, like a slippery dip. Suddenly, Fargrim is launched off the lip of the slide. He sails through the air, flying across a dark cave expanse. He hits the ground and tumbles to a stop. When he gets to his feet he discovers he is in a dark underground cavern. Beside him on the ground lies the rotting corpse of the fifth brigand, a victim of his own trap. A sunrod comes clattering down the chute, landing in the soft mud near his feet. When Fargrim looks again, he notices a 50foot wide subterranean stream between himself and the chute. The slide had propelled him over the lake.

100 feet up in the secret cave, Gareth 2.0 uses his spirit animal companion to telepathically commune with Fargrim. The party unload all of their rope from their packs. Fashioning two lengths of 100ft ropes, Kriv lowers Nimaketh down the shaft with one rope tied around her central crystal.
While this occurs, Edran and Horam search the cave belongings. They find some money, gems and a journal that the bandits had used to record their activities. They keep a hold of this as evidence.
Meanwhile, down in the subterranean cavern, Nimaketh safely reaches the bottom of the shaft. She psionically lifts Fargrim in to the air and carries him across the 50 ft wide lake. Fargrim’s nostrils burn when he smells the acrid fumes from the lake. When he floats to the lip of the chute, the pair are shocked to see the water of the lake begin to bubble and writhe. Suddenly a gray oozing tentacle spews forth from the darkened waters, flailing up towards the pair.

Nimaketh passes the second 100 ft rope to Fargrim and order him to tie himself with it, while maintaining her psionic lift on the dwarf. Kriv starts to heave and lift Nimaketh back up the shaft, while she in turn lifts Fargrim along beneath her.
More tentacles try to grasp and flail at the pair. Suddenly an oozing body of tentacles launches from the lake and starts to scurry up the shaft in pursuit.
Kriv tries to lift the pair faster, struggling once in the process.
The blue slime smashes Fargrim and Nimaketh with two oozing tentacles, poisoning and dazing them. Fargrim, who had held his war hammer ready, retaliates with a powerful hammer blow. The slime falls prone, dislodging from the chute walls and tumbles 50 ft to the bottom of the shaft. It oozes away out of sight.

Once Nimaketh and Fargrim are safely back up inside the bandit cave, the party make ready to leave. Fargrim claims the dwarven war hammer of the mountain. Gareth notices that Horam was trying to be alone with the Halfling, in order to exact his own justice on the brigand. He positions the Halfling with him in the marching order, to keep the outlaw alive.

The party walk south towards the highway. Travelling west they reach the Dwarven Bridge at nightfall and find Rob Bobson waiting for them. The offers the party a meal of cooked fish, freshly caught that day. They unpack and rest for the night.


The party awake the next day eager to row downriver and reach Rovnol. They realise that the rowboat will only hold 6 people, and there are 8 present. Gareth 2.0 opens his ritual book and performs Tenser’s Floating Disc. Kriv takes the party’s heavy equipment and the Halfling captive and follows behind the boat while the others cram into the rowboat. Nimaketh tries to aide the journey by using her psionic power to lift the weight of the boat. They promptly set off.

After 6 hours of rowing the temperate river begins to turn rough, suggesting rapids up ahead. Horam asks Bobson’s opinion on the danger of the rapids—the oarsman is confident he can chart their way through it, with enough help. Some of the party man extra oars and they begin to navigate the rapid waters.
While diverting around a jagged rock the boat capsizes, throwing the occupants and their gear into the raging frothy waters. Bobson reacts quickly and rights the boat and they clamber inside. Unfortunately the chest containing the party’s surplus weapons and equipment (being held to help kick-start their proposed settlement) sinks to the riverbed. They manage to navigate the rest of the rapids without incident.

The journey downstream proves faster than the upriver journey days prior. With the help of strong backs and a fast run, the party reach Khazdon Lake at lunchtime. After a break for food, they begin to row up the Rovnol River, going until sunset.

At this stage, the party agree that they will march the rest of the way to the Grey City. Bobson is glad that he can return home to Thedanwald. They camp one last night with Bobson on the riverbanks.


The next day the party awakens, paying Bobson 10gp for his stalwart rowing services and they begin to march towards Rovnol, the capital of Erahlor. By midday they reach the grey walls of the city. Finding the nearest Watch Tower, they hand the Halfling over to the constabulary forces, along with the brigand’s journal and the testimony of 6 Platinum Knights as evidence. The Recruits pay a bounty of 50gp as reward for apprehending the outlaw.

The party make their way to the Platinum Spire to report to General Fletcher. The one-eyed man is surprised to see the party back, and bearing news of great success in their mission to liberate the Temple of the Raven Queen. Fletched discusses the mission details with the party. Edran brings up the topic of the Travelling Temple of Corellon. As an eladrin, a worshipper of Corellon and an apprentice to an ancient arcane order, Edran is interested about the Temple asks what is do be done about it. Fletcher becomes unsettled. He asks (orders) the party to keep quiet about the Temple’s existence until further intelligence can be gathered.

At this point in the meeting, Kriv, having practised with Horam, delivers a prepared proposal about establishing an outpost near the Temple of the Raven Queen in the Midnight Marshes.
Fletcher is surprised and intrigued with the idea, as it would greatly aide the war effort in the east. He concedes it is a good idea and says that he will organise a meeting to convene with the senior Platinum Knights and the Royal Family so that they may put forward their case for financial and material support.


3 rations consumed this session
10gp residium used to cast rituals.
183 gp looted. [36.6gp each—except Fargrim who was given magic hammer]
2 malachite gems looted (to be fenced [250gp each])
50gp bounty. To be shared for group expenses


Session 23: The Parting of Ways

Session 23:

Rings of NPCness: Mia, Kriv, Hemingway, Nimaketh

Noteworthy NPCs:


As the night closes in around the temple, Hemingway, Gareth 2.0, Edran, Nimaketh and Fargrim gather around the light of a sunrod begin to discuss their options regarding the health of Horam and Kriv.
Gareth 2.0 begins speaking “Our first priority is to help Horam and Kriv—-“
Suddenly Gareth halts mid-speech, he feels himself powering down and there is little he can do to stop it. The world around him goes black. The Lonely Sentinel

Gareth 2.0s eyes open again. He looks around himself and his surroundings. He is still standing in the Temple of the Raven Queen, but everything is different. The party are nowhere to be seen or heard. Horam is not in the bed he had been laying in. The night has gotten darker, suggesting that at least two hours have passed since he broke down. Gareth 2.0 walks outside the temple and sees a confusing sight.

The Temple grounds are riddled with evidence of an intense fight—scorch marks in the soil; small craters and divots in the soil caused by hammer blows; footprints and body shapes etched in the dirt. All of this tells a story that Gareth can only guess at.

The Warforged feeds his cat companion while he searches the temple grounds for signs of his companions. He finds two of the party’s horses still alive, ignored by the undead hordes. Gareth 2.0 knows that something significant occurred for the party to have disappeared without him. He decides to wait for their return.
Gareth returns to the Temple and searches for further clues. He incidentally finds a ritual book that belonged to a former priest of the temple. It contains the ritual ‘gentle repose.’ Gareth takes the take to copy the ritual into his own book of spells.

The next two days wax and wane without any sign of the King’s Recruits. Gareth spends this time keeping himself occupied. The Warforged begins reinforcing some of the Temple’s damaged floors and windows. He rearranges the pews and begins to bury the zombie husks that litter the grounds.
On the second day, Gareth spends some time reading some of the dusty old tomes dedicated to the Raven Queen, learning the theology behind the worship of the secret goddess of death and fate. He spends the rest of the day cleaning the temple grounds of zombie husks.

Gareth spends the third night in the Temple feeding his cat and reading more religious paraphernalia. Two hours after midnight, Gareth hears voices echoing across the Temple grounds, coming from the direction of the main gate. The warforged stands at the main doors and sees a small green light bobbing up and down as it travel along the dirt road.
Curious as to who would be travelling through the marshes in the early hours of the morning, Gareth waits on the temple steps and watches. A small group of humanoids come in to view, walking up the track, covered in dirt and mud, between them carrying fishing rods, a sack full of trail rations and a bulls head mounted on a sapling branch.
Gareth 2.0 recognises the figures as being Horam, Edran, and Fargrim, with Kriv and Hemingway behind them (the last two are considered NPCs this session—players absent).
Horam walks up to Gareth and puts his hand on his shoulders and speaks earnestly. “It’s good to see you.”
“And you.” Gareth looks at his companions and inquires as to their recent activities.
Horam drives the sapling branch into the ground, looks at the bull’s severed head and agrees to start retelling the story from the beginning….




Horam, Fargrim and Edran stand in the infernal dungeon of Terios. The Minotaur’s severed head now mounted on a branch, just as Horam promised to do. The weakened and bloody party agree to sleep in the dungeon and make appropriate plans to return to the Temple in the morning.

The next day the party wake up and try to determine the location of Terios’ secret lair. Horam’s condition improves a little during the night. They are unable determine the lair’s location on a map, and so, they turn their attention to the arcane portal inside the dungeon.
Fargrim, feeling uneasy about such an untempered schism in the fabric of space/reality, charges the portal and strikes to close it by smashing the cave wall that it is anchored to. The dwarf is thrown back with a crack of necrotic energy. Edran determines it is possible to temporarily control the portal, and create an exit at the Temple of the Raven Queen. It would be a difficult task for a mere apprentice such as him, but he is willing to try.
However, if he fails and cannot control the portal, and if they still go through, it is possible they could end up on any plane of existence, and any location—lost forever.
Fargrim, unhappy with this prospect, elects to walk all the way back to the Temple. Edran is confident that he can focus the portal, and suggests that they at least try—Horam and Kriv are too weak to survive such a long journey on foot.
With the help of Horam, Edran is able to channel his magic into the portal and focus it on the specific location of the Temple of the Raven Queen, he also filters the chances of them crossing to the Shadowfell and the Feywild.

Fargrim is still uneasy about using the portal. The party argue and bicker about using the portal. Edran again focuses his magic on controlling the portal.
(NOTE AT THIS POINT EDRAN ROLLS A 1 for arcane, for role-play purposes) Suddenly the portal erupts with uncontrollable energy and throws the three heroes to their feet. Edran gets to his feet and peers into the heart of the portal.
(NOTE AT THIS POINT EDRAN ROLLS A 1 for perception, for role-play purposes
The portal has become wild and uncontrollable, but Edran is absolutely convinced that he still has control of the portal.
(NOTE AT THIS POINT HORAM ROLLS A 1 for perception, for role-play purposes
Horam is also convinced and supports Edran, he tells Fargrim to jump through the portal first and they will follow him through.

Fargrim (doing a little better with his perception) does not feel confident about using the portal and reinforces that he wants to walk. He does not trust the magical portal. He tries to reason with Horam and Edran that they should not jump through the portal.
The arcane portal flickers as it begins to break apart. Edran, struggling to maintain the portal, yells that it is now or never. Fargrim sighs, hefts ‘Jawbreaker’ to his hands, and charges into the portal. Horam and Edran jump through after him.

Inside the untempered vortex of the portal, the group are assaulted with uncontrollable magical energy. The party take fire and electric damage as they are ejected from the portal.


The group get to their feet and take in their surroundings. They are still on the mortal plane, but they are in southern Eralhor, not in the Midnight Marshes. The party are standing infront of the ruins of a ziggurat, hidden deep within the Stalkwood Forest. The temple is made out of rusted gold, and strange crystals protrude from the ground around the ziggurat. Edran recalls the legend of the Travelling Temple of Corellion, a phasing Eladrin temple that disappeared 300 years ago. The apprentice eagerly takes out his map case and begins marking locations of the Temple’s resting place.
Fargrim finally fed up with young Edran and his mistakes, demands that they begin marching.

The party begins walking west. Horam believes that if they continue west they will hit the banks of Khazdon Lake, hire a boat and then row north to reach the Midnight Marshes.
They spend the rest of the day walking west. After setting up camp and sleeping through the night, Horam recovers completely from his illness. Kriv is still irritable.

The next day the party continue to walk west, finally coming to the banks of Khazdon Lake. On the far side they spot Thedanwald, the small fishing village that they had saved from the Wererat attacks weeks ago. Fargrim takes out his horn and bellows a greeting call. When a small crowd of villagers gather, Edran uses whispering wind to send a message to the crowd.
“Hello. It’s Edran of the Platinum Knights. Please send a boat across, we need to cross the lake”

A boat rows across the lake. The rafter, Drunk Bob, greets them and rows them back to Thedanwald. While waiting to hire a boat north, the party inspect the town and check on its progress since the Wererat attacks.
Edran and Horam speak to the local King’s Recruits. They prepare a report update on the mission to the Temple of the Raven Queen and task the Recruits to deliver the message to Rovnol at the nearest convenience.
Fargrim inspects the local militia. He gives them the spare chainmail from Terios and donates 2gp to each of the 12 soldiers.
Hiring Drunk Bob to row them up-river, Horam and Fargrim purchase fishing rods and try to catch Bass during the voyage. Fargrim buys 30 trail rations to prepare for the journey. Horam catches a trout and Edran uses prestidigitation to warm the seafood. The journey is uneventful and they make camp on the banks, roughly halfway up the river.

The next day the boat continues to row north. They eventually come to the famous Dwarven Bridge landmark. The party hit dry land and pay Drunk Bob 5 gp for the voyage. Horam suggests that if he were to waits 24 hours, the party will be back and could use a trip south. Fargrim lends him a war hammer.

Heading east now, the party journey through the ruins of Til. Edran notices that there are distinct bootprints in the ashen ground, as if looters have been raiding the village in the days since undead spiders destroyed the town.
As night draws in, the party elect to keep marching through the night, eager to reach Gareth 2.0 and the Temple of the Raven Queen. Edran casts light on his wand to illuminate the path ahead.

At 2am, the party continue to trudge up the muddy road. They finally come to the gates of the Temple of the Raven Queen. Standing stoically on the stone steps is Gareth 2.0, who watches them with curiosity. Horam walks ahead of the group, places his hand on Gareth’s shoulders and said earnestly “It’s good to see you.”


The party is finally reunited at the Temple of the Raven Queen. Horam passes Terios’ staked head to Gareth. 2.0. The Warforged casts gentle respose on the severed head, effectively making it immune to decay.
The party sleep until morning.

Horam wakes the group and pitches his idea to construct an outpost near the Temple of the Raven Queen. Since Meepo operates in the Midnight Marshes, it would benefit the Kingdom of Eralhor to have an outpost here to counter his activities. The party agree to this plan, and prepare to head west to Rovnol to make their case to the Platinum Knights for support in their endeavour.

The party leave Hemingway and Nimaketh to guard the Temple. The other depart west towards Til, planning to meet Drunk Bob at The Dwarven Bridge.
Passing through Til, Edran notices more boot prints in the ashen ground, more than yesterday.
They notice no movement in the surrounding woods. Though they find this troubling, they vote to keep marching west.

Eventually the party come to a bend in the road and discover a cart. It is overflowing with coins, and unattended. The party halt and looks around the area, concerned that brigands have started to waylay innocent travellers.
Edran’s elven senses hear a tree branch snapping, and a muffled giggling emanating from a piece of camouflaged-matting in the grass near the cart. Three similar pieces of grass-and-leaf-matting lay hidden amongst the grassy roadside, and a large tree is nearby. Using Gareth 2.0’s animal spirit to commune telepathically, Edran warns the party of the ambush. They attack first with the element of surprise

Edran launches a scorching burst at the camouflaged-matting. As it catches fire the giggling turns to horrific screaming. Horam leaps forward and stabs at the matting, missing the humanoid shape rolling in agony under it.
Fargrim charges the tree and hacks at the lower branch. He finds nothing hiding on that branch, but he does spot a Halfling male on the adjacent branch. He looks down in shock as he aims a crossbow at the dwarf. Gareth 2.0 runs to a nearby rock.

A half-elf woman leaps from one of the closest grass matts. Furious that they have been discovered and caught off-guard, she charges Horam with a longsword and dagger. She then backs up and runs away. Horam bursts in shadow, chasing after the Half-elf. He swears an Oath of Emnity upon her.
Edran continues to rain fire on Mr. Giggles, the man lying under the grass matting. Fargrim starts to swing ‘Jawbreaker’ at another brigand, while the Halfling takes shots from the safety of the tree branch. Edran runs forward and blasts the halfing out of the tree with his Beguiling Strands. The Halfling sails through the air and rolls into the ground, absorbing the fall. Fargrim and Edran look on shocked, while Gareth 2.0 kills Mr Giggles with his magic missile attacks.
The Half-Elf Captain calls for backup to take on Horam as they trade sword blows back and forth. Fargrim attacks the other human brigand, knocking him prone with a first strike he follows up with a brute strike, smashing Mr Competant’s face in with two powerful blows. The Dwarf then turns and charges the Halfling, a sight of pure rage and fury.
The Captain calls for a retreat as she turns and runs. Gareth 2.0 drops her with 2 magic missile attacks.
The Halfling drops his crossbow and slashes Fargrim with a poisoned shortsword. Being the only survivor, he turns to run away. In his hysteria, the Halfling runs into a pit trap intended for the heroes.

Their quarry now trapped, Gareth 2.0 walks to the edge of the pit. He looks down and asks “Do you surrender to the Plantiunum Knights?”
The Halfling replies “Never!”
Gareth 2.0 magic missiles the brigand in the face until his falls unconscious.

The party search the bodies for loot. They find money, some weapons and a note inside the clothing of Mr Giggles. The note contains a badly drawn map outlining a secret base that the brigands operated out of.
The heroes wake their Halfling prisoner and intimidate him into giving away details about the secret base. The brigand admits that there are no other outlaws in the base.
The party agree that they will not kill the Halfling, and will take him to Rovnol to face justice.
Fargrim stamps on the Halfling’s crossbow hand, breaking the bones in his hands.
After they reset the bones, the party elect to quickly detour north through the woods to check out the brigands’ secret base.


51.5 gp awarded to each member.
256 sp total looted. To be shared for group expenses
311 cp total looted. To be shared for group expenses
Party have used 4 ration packs this session.
Fargrim has donated 2×12gp, a chainmail suit and a war hammer


Session 22: The Fall of Terios


Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Kriv, Edran, Fargrim Stoneborn

Rings of NPCness: Mia, Gareth 2.0, Hemingway, Nimaketh
Noteworthy NPCs: Inncubus, Succubus, Terios


Time: Afternoon/Night time.

The Temple of the Raven Queen has been won, but the party feel as though they may still loose everything. Their hold on the Temple is tenuous at best until reinforcement from Erahlor arrives. Horam and Kriv may still die in the next few days due to their illness, long before any healers from the Grey City arrive.

The remaining members of the party do what they can to make the pair comfortable. As the night closes in around the temple, Hemingway, Gareth 2.0, Edran, Nimaketh and Fargrim gather around the light of a sunrod begin to discuss their options.
Suddenly Gareth halts mid-speech and he appears to power down completely (Player away this session).

The party are surprised and worried about Gareth and quickly check him over to make sure that the ancient warforged had not suffered any significant damage during the last battle. While inspecting Gareth, Kriv and Edran notice a small smuggling compartment on his chest plate—a compartment that even Gareth himself may not be aware of. They decide not to open it out of respect for Gareth, but agree to ask him about it at a later time.

The party move Horam to the bed located in the Temple’s adjoining bedroom. Edran borrows 5gp of Residium from Gareth to cast an Alarm ritual over the Temple. Kriv is still very weak from his illness and starts to sleep. The party set watch and agree to make plans in the morning—depending on Horam’s condition.

Edran and Hemingway take first watch. At it approaches midnight, Edran spots a reflecting light in the sky outside the Temple. The light appears to be coming from a small dam outside the Temple grounds, no more than a 2-minute walk out the gate. Though suspicious, he feels compelled to go check it out.
Edran and Fargrim make the decision to check out the light. Leaving Hemingway and Kriv to take over watch (and confident that his Alarm Ritual will still work outside the designated area) the pair sneak quietly towards the dam.

As Edran and Fargrim approach the small dam, they spot the source of the reflecting light. It is a small floating lantern, hovering in the middle of the dam. The floating lantern begins to bob and jangle more actively as they approach, responding to their presence. Edran recognises the design of the lantern and tells Fargrim that it originated from the Feywild.
Fargrim Stoneborn says firmly “This is not right. We should fall back and get return to the others.”
Indecisive, Edran calls out to the lantern, saying “hello” in Elvish. In response, they both hear a menacing chuckle…

Kriv and Hemingway’s ears burst as the Alarm Ritual is triggered—Something has breached the Alarm perimeter. Before they can react, a Succubus and an Incubus smash through the Temple windows. And attach themselves to the two heroes.

Kriv and Hemingway have become enamoured with the two evil creatures—they cannot bring themselves to attack the Succubus. The creatures are both in their natural, devilish forms. The male Incubus appears to have a bloody, injured leg (OOC:: This was an injury caused by Fargrim, see Session 20). The female Succubus, grinning evilly, leans over and picks up the unconscious Horam. She speaks “Follow me” to the King’s Recruits as she begins to walk out the Temple doors.
Kriv and Hemingway can do nothing as their feet force them to walk forward.

Down at the small dam, the magical floating lantern laughs menacingly at Edran and Fargrim.
Edran turns to Fargrim and agrees that he made a terrible mistake in coming here. The Eladrin launches a pre-emptive scorching burst at the lantern. They turn and begin to run back towards the Temple.

As they run through the Temple Gates, Edran and Fargrim see a strange and terrifying sight: Two succubus devils was stalking out of the Temple doors. One of the creatures holds Horam in their arms. Kriv and Hemingway are following the succubus, blank hypnotic expressions on their faces.

Fargrims shouts in challenge: “Unhand them, evil creature!”
The male Incubus smirks: “Oh, I intend to, because here’s how this is going to go: The Dragonborn is going to come with us. Willingly. And you’re going to let him.”
Edran responds coldly: “What could compel us to agree to such a deal?”
The Succubus shrieks in laughter: “Well, if he doesn’t, your friend here could take a turn for the worse, courtesy of my brother.”
The Incubus buries his claws into the neck of Horam, just enough to draw a drop of blood.
The situation is incredibly tense. Edran calls out to Kriv and asks if he knows the two devils- Kriv does not know them.
Edran asks why they want the Dragonborn specifically. The Incubus replies “Terios has some little plans involving your friend.”

The party knew this name. Terios was the Minotaur cleric who had turned rogue and betrayed the party weeks ago.
Kriv, though unable to move, shouts that he will never be a prisoner of Terios.
Fargrim takes this as his queue. He grips his warhammer, called ‘Jawbreaker,’ and makes a charge for the Incubus.

The battle begins with the party desperately trying to reclaim Horam’s unconscious body from the clutches of the Succubus. The two devils follow through with their threat and slash at Horam’s neck with their daggers—dealing a coup de grace.
Kriv regains control of his body and heals Horam. Fargrim charges and swings his warhammer at the Succubus, but she redirects the strikes away from her body. The two devils appear to be stronger and quicker than the heroes. Kriv manages to grab a hold of Horam’s body and wrestles him away from the grip of the Inccubus, getting the Avenger away from harm.

The two devils shriek and anger and frustration. They both spread their wings and flank Kriv. They slash and cut the Dragonborn Paladin, knocking him unconscious. The devils pick up the Dragonborn’s fallen body and begin to fly away.
Edran hits the Succubus, but being a creature of the fires of hell, barely feels the licking flames.
Fargrim drops Jawbreaker to the ground and readies a spear. He hefts the spear at the Succubus and pierces the devil’s leg. It screams in pain and frustration.
The wound is not enough to down the creature, however. Edran and Fargrim run to Horam’s unconscious body and can only watch helplessly as the shapeshifting siblings carry Kriv away.


An hour passes while Edran and Fargrim tend to Horam’s injuries.
The situation seems hopeless. The party have one unconscious Shadar-Kai, a broken Warforged, and a Dragonborn party member has just been kidnapped with no way to follow pursuit.
Suddenly, a bursting light emanates from the Temple. Walking out of the light appears a humanoid creature with silver flowing hair and robes.

As the glowing Angel approaches the party, Edran and Fargrims wounds heal, and Horam’s eyes flutter open. The Avenger rises to his feet, and he feels that his illness is being countered by the presence of the divine immortal.
The Angel of Valor speaks to the party in Supernal. “The Raven Queen is not without sympathy. We have observed your sacrifice and service to this Temple and have decided to no longer idly watch.”
Spectral horses step out of the bursting light beside the Angel of Valor. “Now follow,” it commands the party. “The one you call Terios serves a greater evil than you can imagine. He cannot be allowed to use your companion to complete his grand design.”

The party, reinvigorated, mount the celestial horses. Suddenly the horses are galloping above the tree lines, covering miles of travel in mere minutes. The swamps of the Midnight Marshes blur beneath their feet as the party fly south.


Kriv’s eyes open. He looks around and takes in his surroundings. Braziers flicker demonic flames that illuminate the cave around him. It appears to be a cave repurposed into an infernal dungeon and secret lair. It smells of blood and death. Kriv’s hands are manacled over his head, the chains snaking up to the roof above.

Kriv guesses he has been unconscious for atleast an hour. Kriv notices an arcane portal infront of him. The unstable magical portal flickers wildly.
The sound of footsteps causes Kriv to turn his head. Terios, the rogue Cleric, comes marching down the stairs, flanked by the Succubus and Incubus.
Enraged by his presence, Kriv swears that he will cut off the Minotaur’s head and wear his horns for his treachery. Terios regards him and grunts nonchalantly. The Succubus steps forward and begins whispering in Terios’ ears. Kriv notices that the cleric’s eyes are red, fuelled with demonic evil.

It is at this moment that more footsteps can be heard rushing down the stone steps in to the dungeon. Suddenly Horam, Edran and Fargrim storm into the room, followed by a shining Angel of Valor. The Angel charges forward and raises its shimmering radiant greatsword. It slices through the Incubus.
Terios snorts and charges Kriv, attacking the immobilised paladin. Horam leaps forward and attacks Terios with his sword, bequeathed with energy from the Raven Queen, with a slash his decapitate the Minotaur—just he promised so many weeks ago.
Fargrim pummels the succubus with a brute strike, causing the devilish creature to erupt in flame. Edran uses his magic to unlock the hellfire ritual chains that had bound Kriv to the dungeons ceiling.
As the Succubus erupts in to flame, the Angel of Valor floods the room with radiant light and disappears.
Horam notices that his magical blade flashes with the message “Oaths fulfilled”


The party begin to take notice of their surroundings. It becomes obvious that Terios had turned to worshipping demonic gods. Picking amongst the belongings of the cleric, Horam finds Terios’ leather-bound journal. He reads through the entries, detailing the fall of their former ally.
According to his journal, Terios had begun to hear whispers in his head during his travel with the King’s Recruits. Whispering in a strange language, which had awakened the beast within him. All Minotaur struggle to contain their base, animalistic side—this whispering had slowly turned Terios to demon worship. Other entries detailed Terios’ plan—he was trying to use the arcane portal to open a gateway to the Nine Hells, the home of the evil god Asmodeus. Such a portal could only be opened through a demonic ritual that required the sacrifice of a trusted friend—in this case, Kriv.

Edran finds Terios’ Ritual Book. Some of the rituals were from Terios’ cleric days, but the more recent entries detail horrible demonic sorcery. The Eladrin holds on to the ritual book, because he believes that he knows a safe place to store/destroy the book, lest it fall in to the wrong hands.
Fargrim loots the dungeon for Terios’ armour and weapons. He finds a warhammer and a suit of chainmail.
Horam, following his promise to Terios at the time of his betrayal, mounts the Minotaur’s head on a sapling branch.


Kriv and Horam are still suffering the effects of the illness
Party awarded 60gp each. (loot from dungeon)
Gareth 2.0 remains at the Temple of the Raven Queen.
Edran borrowed 5gp residium borrowed from Gareth 2.0


Session 21: Hordes of the Undead

Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Kriv, Edran, Hemingway, Gareth 2.0, Nimaketh
Guest starring: Fargrim Stoneborn
Rings of NPCness: Mia

*Time: Afternoon/Twilight.

Horam looks out the window and sees an abominable sight. The holy grounds of his goddess, the Raven Queen, are swarming with undead creatures. Zombies, animals, rotted corpses and even the carcasses of giant mammoths encircle the Temple within which our gallant heroes prepare to make their final stand.

Three zombies are currently inside the walls of the Temples, engaging the heroes in combat. Hemingway uses his greatsword to swiftly take two of the zombies down while the last is cut to pieces.

The heroes look out some of the broken stained glass windows towards the gates at the eastern entrance to the Temple. The zombies continue to rise from the tombs and graves of the temple grounds.
In amongst the chaos of battle, a figure comes riding in from the eastern gate. The figure rides atop a camel, dressed in metal armour with desert garbs and is flanked by undead drakes.
As the figure approaches the temple, flanked by undead thralls, it removes is helmet to reveal the face of a warforged.
The zombie hordes suddenly halt their advance as the Warforged strides forward. In a magically projected voice the Warforged speaks to the heroes:
“You have trespassed upon Mepo’s turf. You shall all suffer for this transgression.”

Kriv shouts out through the shattered window frame that the Warforged “sucks” and is a coward.
The warforged counters this remark. “What warrior would choose to lower themselves to trading petty barbs?”
While Kriv smoulders at this, Fargrim shouts out in bravado “Warforged! Your dwarven commander orders you to shut down.”
Gareth 2.0 gives Fargrim a dirty look ever more convinced that Fargrim Stoneborn is unlike any other dwarf he has encountered.
The Warforged dressed in desert regalia replies icily. “I do not listen to you, dwarf.”

The construct withdraws his camel from the front line. His six undead drakes snap their jaws and race forward towards the Temple.

The heroes ready their weapons as the undead drakes suddenly split into two distinct groups. One group peels off and makes for the Temple’s front doors, while the other three continue to run at the eastern windows. One drake splits from the forward advance and scurries down a nearby well along the eastern grounds. Edran and Gareth 2.0 begin opening fire with their ranged arcane spells, and the drakes retain enough intelligence to scatter outside the range effective burst attacks. Nimaketh pokes her head up from behind the altar and telekinetically attacks one drake as it bursts through the side door.
Two drakes crash through the windows and engage the heroes at melee range. These two undead drakes charge Kriv and Edran, but their snapping jaws miss. Fargrim hears some scratching at the Temple’s front doors but it does not open—this is because Edran and Gareth 2.0 locked the door as the party entered the Temple (see Session #20 notes).

As Kriv smashes the first drake it’s undead jaw clamps down upon his leg. The muscles seized upon death and Kriv discovers that the dead beast has weighed him down. He strikes again with his sword and shatters the jawbone with a coup de grace. The second drake that had jumped down the well roars as it begins to climb up through the shattered stone floor of the Temple. Fargim smashes it instantly (crit) with his giant warhammer as he had been standing guard over the pit.

The drakes outside the front door give trying to manipulate the door handles and proceed instead to jump through the large stained glass windows. The third drake is attacked by Gareth’s pinioning vortex (crit) and smashes it up into the ceiling. Hemingway cleaves through the forth drake as he moves up the stairs towards the altar.
Fargrim swings a brute strike at the fifth drake. He initially becomes overbalanced, but finds the physical resolve to complete his attack (action point). Edran steadies the dwarf and fires a coloured orb at the drake and destroys it with radiant energy.
Nimaketh fails one of her psionic attacks and looses her footing, toppling off the altar onto the floor below. Kriv slices the last standing drake.

As this last drake falls, the dark necrotic clouds begin to lift off of the temple grounds. The hordes begin to fade from existence—it appears that most of them had been visual illusions created by the necrotic magic. Just when it seems that the party is out of danger, the necrotic cloud gathers above the cemetery and begin to swirl and form a storm vortex. This creates a funnel of incredible energy, which reaches down and strikes the ground like a hurricane. In a burst of magic, similar orbs of energy fall from the vortex and hit the ground.

The burst creates a cratered ruin in the soil. Two large glowing hands emerge as a giant undead brute pulls itself from the crater. Thirty smaller undead zombies emerge from the crater as well—all glowing with the same necrotic energy—and begin to surround the Temple.

It slowly begins to dawn on each of the gallant heroes that escape is impossible against such numbers. Horam refuses to leave the Temple, swearing that he will fight to his dying breath. Kriv and the other party members also make the stand to fight. Some want to go out fighting; others want to see their orders from the Platinum Knights completed; others wish to stand by Horam as a comrade and fight to the bitter end.

The heroes’ estimate that they have about three minutes until the zombies attack again—not enough time to rest. Kriv and Horam spend the time praying to the Raven Queen, trying to remove the necrotic desecration that has been unleashed on the Temple. Hemingway pulls a church pew and shoves it down the cracked stone floor. Fargrim, Gareth 2.0 and Edran begin to move pews to block up the broken windows, in an attempt to funnel any undead minions through the doors—to stem the flow of the hordes.
While praying to the Raven Queen, Kriv and Horam sense a divine intervention, and a ritual circle appears on the floor of the raised dais. Horam realises that this is a ritualised channelling circle that will focus the divine powers of any who stand within. It could effectively amplify the divine and radiant powers to turn away undead creatures, but at extreme cost to the ritual caster. Horam recalls that many acolytes and priests have died using such focusing circles.

Horam makes the decision to stand in the circle. The avenger had initially crossed into the mortal realm in order to die a senseless death, but know he has a reason to give his life to protect the world, and to protect and serve his goddess. Kriv joins him in the channelling circle and begin to chant a ritual to turn away the undead. .

The rest of the party mobilise on the floor, hearing undead hordes swarming against the walls outside. They perceive a divine glow outside the broken windows. Horam and Kriv also glow with divine energy as they complete the ritual, seemingly unaffected. They turn to each other and bump fists, believing they succeeded. As their fists make contact, they both erupt in divine energy. The triggered shockwave explodes outward, washing over the other party members, while the zombies are obliterated. Kriv drops to the floor, his vitality sucked from his body as it was used to channel the ritual. Horam drops to his knees his head swirling and on the brink of unconsciousness as he feels incredibly weakened and slowed by the taxing ritual.

The entire eastern wall of the Temple suddenly cracks and breaks down. On the other side of the rubble, a large undead dire bear snarls at the party, glowing in necrotic energy. It had survived the power of the focused ritual, as had another undead dire bear, which begins clawing at the broken windows frames on the opposite western side of the temple.
Hemingway inspires Kriv to rise to his feet. The dragonborn also feel incredibly taxed from the ritual, feeling weakened and slowed.
Hemingway and Edran fight off the second bear while Fargrim rushes the bear on the eastern side of the Temple. Nimaketh uses her psionic powers to lift a pew into the air, using it as a bat to smash against the bear, blasting it into splinters with immense force. She then changes into shards and flies around Fargrim, protecting him from the splinters of wood.
Kriv rises to his feet and uses his divine powers to heal Horam. The two limp in to join the fight.

Edran attacks the second bear with his beguiling strands, pushing it away from the window. This gives Hemingway the opportunity to jump out the window and charges the bear. He unleashes two might attacks and kills it.
Meanwhile, the first bear swipes at Fargrim with its paws and bloodies the dwarf. While Nimaketh and Kriv attack the bear Horam shifts in close and slices the bear through the head.

As the last undead dire bear drops to the floor, the altar of the Raven Queen glows. On the altar, this message that appeared to the party (see session #20) earlier fades in to view again:
“Swear your oaths or leave now. This, the Raven Queen commands of you.”

The text fades again, but the word “oath” persists for a few seconds longer. It eclipses with divine light as Horam’s sword is moulded into a magic sword. It appears that the Raven Queen has been made aware of the heroes, and of Horam in particular.

As the divine light fades away, Horam falls to the ground unconscious. Kriv is still standing but he barely seems to be clinging to life. Hemingway examines the Shadar-kai Avenger and the Dragonborn Paladin and realises that both of them have been scarred from the ritual. They are fighting off symptoms that could kill them within days if they do not recover or are treated by powerful magic.

The Temple of the Raven Queen has been won, but the party feel as though they may still loose everything. Their hold on the Temple is tenuous at best until reinforcement from Erahlor arrives. Horam and Kriv may still die in the next few days, long before any healers from the Grey City arrive.



Session 20- The Temple of the Raven Queen

Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Kriv, Edran, Hemmingway and Gareth 2.0
Rings of NPCness: Mia, Nimaketh,
Noteworthy NPCs: Karena


The night is quiet and dark as party continue to head east towards the Midnight Marshes. Smoke rises behind them ominously, as a grim reminder that they were not able to save the village of Til. (See session #19 for the events at Til).

After several hours of travel, the party set up camp. Edran and Horam take the opportunity to check on their new passenger- an unconscious human female sorceress who, along with her Rage Drake pet, the party had managed to save from Til. Horam checks her spider bite wounds and discovers that she is in a very precarious state—the next few hours will be vital to her recovery. The sorceress could flush out the poisons out of her system or, she could go into seizures and die a horrible death.
Night watches begin as the party settle in for the night. Edran, wary of the nearby dangers, performs the alarm ritual to ensure their security and safety. Horam sees through his watch without incident. Edran observes rolling fogs of necrotic energies—a residual by-product of the twisted magical energies that Mepo has unleashed upon the Marshes. Hemmingway sees the last watch without troubles…

However, the sorceress takes a turn for the first. Horam looks over her wounds but he realises that he has no idea how to aid her. Kriv steps forward to pray over the female and restore her vitality—enough to rouse her to a state of consciousness.
The Sorceress awakens and blurts out to Kriv that she needs a cauliflower to save her.
Fortunately Edran is nearby and correctly perceives that the human sorceress said. She needed the Bonfi Flower to concoct a remedy to purify the poison coursing through her body. Edran remembers that the Bonfi flower usually grows in wet cave entrance localities.
Horam takes a moment to pray for guidance from his goddess, the Raven Queen, regarding the fate of dying Sorceress. He feels that the young woman is fated to live out the morning, and that she is not destined to meet with the goddess of death this day. He takes this as a positive sign. Horam, Edran and Kriv scavenge the local wilderness for the bonfi flower, while Hemmingway watches over the unconscious woman. Returning with wreaths of the flora, Horam prepares a tea. However, Hemmingway knows that in order to flush out the poison completely, they need a few drops of the Fey Spider toxin that poisoned her.
The party ready their horses and load the unconscious Sorceress and Rage Drake onto their newly acquired wagon. Turning back west, they race back towards the smouldering ruins of Til.
The party reach the remnants of Til by midmorning. The windmill pyre has reduced to embers, but Edran chocks on the thick airborne ash. Kriv, Horam and Hemmingway search the burnt spider corpses for the Fey Spider that they had slew the previous night. Pulling the charred spider, Horam begins dissecting the venom sack and excretes a few drops of poison. He completes brewing the medicinal tea and feeds it to the Sorceress.
Her eyes flutter and she awakens as the toxins are purged from her body. As the toxin haze leaves her body, the woman’s eyes narrow in suspicion and fear as she realises she is surrounded by strangers—and located in a burnt out husk of a village.

She jumps off the wagon, shifts away from the party and raises her hands as they begin to crackle and glow with arcane energy.


Back in the Rovnol, the Grey City and capital of Erelhor, Gareth 2.0 and F*argrim Stoneborn* had been delayed following the party by a day due to Platinum Knight business.
While waiting for horses and provisions to be prepared, Fargrim visits the local blacksmith and outfits his weaponry. Gareth 2.0 continues to pour over the historical archives, researching the histories of significant dwarven families.

Two days after the rest of the party, Gareth 2.0 and Fargrim set out on horseback, following the same route to the Midnight Marshes. They make light conversation on the first day. Fargrim is especially curious and blunt when asking questions about Gareth as a constructed warforged. It does not exactly make a pleasant first impression.

On the second day of travel, the duo encounters a strange and carefree couple, a man and woman on the roads. While the roads are populated with such strange hillfolk during peacetime, it is strange given the recent attacks by Mepo’s wererat armies. As the hippie couple offer the Platinum Knights a pair of good luck beads, Gareth perceives that something is not right, and becomes concerned. He telepathically communes with Fargrim and warns him that the situation is not as it seems.
Gareth 2.0, suddenly very suspicious, rounds his horse to cut off the hippie couple and demands that they state their purpose on the King’s Roads. The man and woman snarl at him, their homely visage broken for but a moment. Suddenly, Gareth 2.0 feels a sense of calm flow over him, and he feels a desire to continue on his travels. Fargrim however, due to his dwarven resistance to magic, realises that his mind and will is being magically assaulted. He immediately draws his battleaxe and makes towards the hippie couple.
Fargrim is bewildered when Gareth 2.0 moves between him and the couple, cutting off his advance. The man and woman snarl like devils as they protrude wings and fly away. Fargrim throws an iron javelin at the man, and manages to strike him through the leg. Unfortunately it is not enough to ground the devil fiend and they still manage to fly away.
Once the creatures fly away, Gareth 2.0 immediately recovers himself, aware of but confused about his actions. His will had been overcome by devilish magic. Fargrim expresses his disappointment with Gareth’s ability to be dominated, expecting more from Dwarven constructs. This offhanded remark generates a rift between the two, remarkable considering Gareth’s high opinion of the dwarven folk.

The duo continues to travel east along side the Yorgnol Mountains, disturbed by the events of the day. They encounter no other problems on the road and finally make camp. As darkness settles in, the pair spots an orange-red light to the east. Gareth 2.0 suspects only a large fire could be the source of such light.


Fargrim and Gareth break camp and continue to head towards the Midnight Marshes, planning to travel through the small village of Til. Still unhappy with Fargrim, Gareth uses ghost sound to create the sound of mosquitoes around Fargrim’s head. By sunrise the fire from the previous night has reduced to an ominous smoke column. Gareth realises that the smoke is rising from the location of Til and they immediate break into a gallop. As the duo ride over the last hill to Til, they are greeted with a devastating and curious sight—the village of Til has been reduced to smouldering ruins. Standing in the middle of the ruined town is Horam, Kriv, Hemmingway and Edran. All of the party are staring at a woman who is holding her hands out in defiance as she chants a magical spell.

As the Sorceress begins channelling arcane magic, Edran steps forward. He explains that they are Platinum Knights who are on a mission to the Midnight Marshes who have no quarrel with the wildling wizard. Realising that she is not in any immediate danger from the Knights, she lowers her hands, albeit still suspicious.
As Gareth 2.0 and Fargrim come running down the hill side and rejoin the party, Hemmingway diplomatically diffuses the situation The Sorceress explains that she was passing through Til at the time of the undead attacks. While the woman is grateful for her rescue, the party observe that she is visibly nervous about being with the Platinum Knights. Edran and Horam offer the Sorceress some of the remaining Bonfi Flower to concoct a tea to heal the woman’s Rage Drake mount.
Edran introduces the party and asks for her name. The Sorceress introduces herself as Karena. She gives Edran a wooden tree knot, and instructs him to crush it in a time of need and she will come to their aid.

As the party assembles and get ready to move out, Gareth relays their encounter with the hippie/succubus couple. Horam and Edran become extremely concerned, given their previous encounters with Imps who have been dogging the party every night since leaving Rovnol (See session #19 notes). This reminds the party of their ex-party member Terios, the rogue Cleric who betrayed the party back in Sparrowsport.

Horam offers to write some official Platinum Knight papers for Karena, to allow her safe travel on the King’s Roads. They part at Til and continue to head east towards the Temple o the Raven Queen.

The terrain changes to marsh as the party continues to ride east towards the Temple. To the north they suddenly observe a flare of light, accompanied by booming sound and an assault on their minds. Within their minds, each party member experiences a variety of emotions, words and images that all convey the concept of “fire.” Edran recalls some studies from his youth and he realises that the message was transmitted in Supernal, the language of the gods. The booming message is accompanied by a speck of light located far away in the Yorgnol Mountains, burning like a beacon. The party feel uneasy, even fearful of the message, and they vote to continue to their pressing objective, the Temple of the Raven Queen.

The party finally reach the gates of the Temple at twilight. Quietly entering the front doors of the Temple, Horam spots two zombies shambling around the aisles. Enraged at the desecration of his goddesses’ temple, Horam runs forward and abjures the undead creature and it violently explodes in radiant energy. It the same time Fargrim charges from the right and smashes the second zombie. While Gareth 2.0 and Edran shut and lock the front door of the Temple, Hemmingway and Kriv dance in celebration of their successful surprise attack.

However, no sooner has their jovial dance finished than a dark ominous cloud covers the whole temple ground in shadow. The earth begins to rumble under their feet and the party assemble to form a defensive line on the altar of the Temple.
As they do so, all of the party hear a divine voice echo within the walls of the holy shrine:
‘Swear your oaths or leave now. This, the Raven Queen commands of you.”
Horam and Kriv immediately announce their continued loyalty to the goddess of death and fate. They feel invigorated and comforted as the ground trembles. Fargrim offers his dwarven services to help cleave the undead, but kindly reaffirms his devotion to Moradin.

Suddenly zombie hoards begin to erupt through the ground outside the temple walls. Horam destroys two with his radiant attacks while Gareth and Edran shoot arcane magic through the broken window frames. Fargrim threw several throwing axes with great effect while Hemmingway and Kriv brutally struck down any zombie thralls through rushed the eastern doors. The party managed to hold off several waves of zombies, even as they began to break through the stone floor of the temple.
Outside, the ominous clouds gather closer and envelope the temple. While the zombies press against the party, Horam spots several larger undead creatures surrounding the temple. At one point he even sights an undead mammoth amongst the strange and abominable creatures that have been raised by Mepo’s twisted magic.


Session 19- The Remnants of Til

Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Kriv, Edran, Hemmingway
Guest starring: Mok
Rings of NPCness: Mia, Nimaketh, and Gareth 2.0
Noteworthy NPCs: General Fletcher

General Fletcher meets with the party and discusses their next course of action. With the wererats effectively beaten out of the fight, the Platinum Knights need to use their momentum to find ways to rout Mepo’s forces in Erelhor. According to Intel the leader of the undead, when not personally overseeing his various forces typically resides and operates within the Midnight Marshes, located in the east of the realm.

Recent reports have suggested that a Temple of the Raven Queen, located on the edges of the marsh realms, has been overrun and sequestered by the undead forces.
This report disturbs Horam and Kriv, both worshippers of the goddess of death and natural order. Horam in particular cannot abide the fact that the temple is being defiled, and the dead are being raised to bolster Mepo’s forces. The party accept orders to investigate and reclaim the divine temple. Fletcher provides the party with horses owned by the Platinum Knights. Even on the horseback, the journey will take 5 days to reach the temple.

Planning to leave at first light the next day, the party make their own plans for the rest of the day. Horam takes the time to tend to the dying refugees, victims of the wererat attacks. He administers last rites and help to ease the transition for those who are bound to meet the Raven Queen. Hemmingway makes his way to the city council and assists with the relief efforts to provide food to the new refugee sectors that are being established in the city. The war general also makes suggestions to the city council to erect quarantine zones within the refugee sectors, to separate the sick and injured. The council agree wholeheartedly to implement these ideas
Kriv takes the time to visit the capital and listen in on the local politics. During a session with the King and Privy Council, Kriv overhears that the local police forces are concerned with growing reports of kidnappings and murders. This underbelly of Rovnol have been murdering random civilians and refugees, often removing ears and leaving unique mutilations as calling cards.

Edran remains at the Platinum Spire to speak to General Fletcher about their destination. The Midnight Marshes, located to the east, are a dangerous and untamed wilderness. It represents the eastern frontier of the kingdom of Erelhor. Humans and kingdom races sparsely populate the marsh, as the geography is more suited to lizard folk. The Lizard folk inhabit the marshes, and they regularly trade with the nearby kingdom settlements.
Being close to the Temple of the Raven Queen, large sections of the Marsh borderlands are devoted to cemeteries and tombs. Latest reports suggest that the area is now thick with necrotic energies, a result of Mepo’s actions.

The party buy extra rations for the journey. General Fletcher presents the party with their new capes, symbols of their status as a Platinum Knight.
The party are to be accompanied by a fellow Knight, a half-orc barbarian called Mok. The half-orc is impressed with the party’s actions at Thedanwald and wishes to help them in their quest.

Departing at first light, the party travel north through sparse farmlands. Many of the fields had been abandoned during the wererat attacks, and are now being reclaimed by the farmers, the area now safe again.
The day is uneventful and the group set camp at the northern crossroads at evening.

Kriv takes first watch. While on second watch, Edran, feeling uneasy, uses his arcane to detect a small life force very close to the camp. He rouses the others awake immediately. No one spots anything, but the figure is still close, apparently invisible. Kriv breathes fires into the air, creating a smoke screen. Edran again spots a shape flying through the smog, but it quickly departs out of range.
As the party settle down, Horam observes with insight that Edran appears unhappy with Kriv. The avenger takes the dragonborn aside and inquires whether he has done anything to anger Edran. Kriv responds that he is unsure, and remarks that he can only differentiate two emotions on the quiet eladrin—happy and neutral.
Horam decides to keep this quiet and continues to observe Edran.
As the camp settles down, Edran performs the alarm ritual over the campsite, to alert them if the creature returns.

The rest of the watch is uneventful and the party break camp at first light. Heading east now the group travel beside the towering Yorgnole Mountains, home to the dwarves of Erelhor. Kriv begins to try and educate Mok on his worldviews pertaining to the hillfolk.
The weather becomes very cold this far north and some of the party members cannot endure the cold temperatures.
The day is uneventful and the company set up camp again. Edran casts the alarm ritual again.

The alarm is triggered during Mok’s watch. The camp rouses and begins to search for the creature. Edran’s elven eyes spot the creature in flight. Kriv identifies the creatures as an Imp. The older members of the party like Horam, Kriv and Hemmingway, suggest that the Imp may be a servant of Terios, a rogue cleric who has betrayed the party some weeks ago in Sparrowsport. It appears that Terios is tailing the movements of the party, this being his second infiltration .

The company continues east. At midday they begin to cross the famous dwarven bridge. On the far side they spot an overturned wagon. Horam sneaks ahead and smells corpses. It appears that these farmers had been trying to flee the wererat hordes days ago, and had not been successful. Horam wishes to bury the dead, assisted by Edran and Hemmingway. They administer the last rites to the dead, scavenge the wagon and continue to head east.

As the party journey on, they begin to spot road signs covered in thick spider webs. Mok thinks that this is unusual, spiders being this far west of the marshes.
They spot smoke rising in the direction of Til.

By evening the party are riding over the mountain pass adjacent to Til. They observe that the small trading town has been overrun. The deathly quiet village was covered in spider webs and ash. Presumably the town had been attacked during the wererat attack. Believing the town to be lost, its population having fled or been slaughtered, the party consider launching artillery magic to kill the spiders and undead that roam the streets.
Mok is against the idea, and they decide to approach the town to make sure that there are no survivors.
Horam sneaks ahead of the party. The entire town has become a feeding ground for the undead and spiders. Corpses live on the ground, either eaten by the undead or cocooned by the spiders. The ground is covered in thick spiderweb, making the terrain difficult to cross.
Peering from underneath a windmill, Horam spots two undead lizard ghouls mutilating a corpse in the street.

The ghouls spot Horam (with a critical roll!) and the battle begins.

The two ghouls rush Horam, overpowering his defences, managing to stun and immobilise him with their necrotic poisons. Mok, Hemmingway and Kriv join the battle. As they do, several spider swarms descend from the adjacent roof and surround the party. The spiders begin attacking from all sides. One large albino spider shoots a web and immobilises Mok to the side of a nearby barn. Edran recognises the albino spider as a Fey Spider, a deadly arachnid from the fey wild, unique for it’s teleporting abilities. While Hemmingway and Kriv attack the ghouls, Horam continues to be stunned and immobilised by their poisons. Kriv makes a daring move to shift the avenger out of danger, breathing fire down the alleyway. Edran, from behind the fighters blazes the spider swarms with scorching bursts. As he does so, the windmill begins to catch on fire, the old wood acting as fire to arcane flames.
While one spider retreats, the Fey Spider teleports behind Mok, and covers him in thick webs. The large albino begins to draw the half-orc closer to its gnashing mandibles.

Mok, still covered in thick web, spins around and unleashes his full bloodseeker’s rage upon the Fey Spider, smashing its head in with his stone hammer. He kills it outright in one massive hit.
Edran tries to immolate a ghoul and the spider swarms simultaneously in fire, but he also manages to scorch Kriv with fire damage.
Meanwhile, as Hemmingway kills one ghoul, Horam, finally free of the necrotic venom that had stunned and immobilised him, obliterates the last ghoul by abjuring the undead creature.
Edran concludes the combat by using his beguiling strands to launch the last spider off the burning windmill, causing it to fall 60ft to the ground.

The creatures have been destroyed, but it is obvious that Til has been destroyed. The party search the remaining houses in town. They recover a suit of armour, and accumulate 50gp. In one house, the party cut open some cocoons to find a rage drake and a female human. Both are unconscious, poisoned by the spiders, but still alive.
Edran spots a dragon mark or tattoo on the woman’s cheek. He recognises this as a common mark amongst sorcerers, wildling folk who have been self trained in the ways of magic.

After the unconscious wildling and drake are loaded onto the wagon, Horam leads the others in the task of recovering the dead. The last rites are given to the bodies. The bodies are then placed on the smouldering windmill of Til, turning it into a ceremonial pyre. The innocent people who died defending their homes were honoured and prayed for, and the pyre was set on fire.

As the pyre began to burn, sending smoke and ash into the night sky, the party mounted up and continued to head east. They did not dare look back at the remnants of Til….

1. 50 gp to be divided amongst party
2. -3 day rations from personal kits
3. -10 gp residium from Edran’s personal stores.


Session 18- The Hand of Shadows

Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Kriv, Edran, Gareth 2.0, Hemmingway
Guest starring: Fargrim Stoneborn, Vered
Noteworthy NPCs: General Fletcher, Dongala, Laeroi

The morning sun continues to blaze above Rovnol, the capital of Erelhor. Deep within the bowels of the Platinum Spire, our intrepid party continue the latest round of their training that will formalise their induction into the ranks of the Platinum Knights.

The next to duel in the Platinum ring involves Hemmingway, Gareth 2.0 and a fellow knight called Vered.

Meanwhile, whilst Horam and Kriv are being welcomed into the Platinum Knights, a figure brushes against Horam and deftly places a note inside his pocket. The man disappears into the crowd, disappearing as quickly as he appeared.
Horam surreptitiously reads the note to himself.

NOTE: At this point of play only Horam knows the contents of the letter.

Following the conclusion of the morning’s training sessions, Horam approaches Fargrim Stoneborn and specifically asks for directions to a tavern called ‘The Busty Wench.’
Being posted in Rovnol, Fargrim is aware of the renowned gentlemens’ club and agrees to provide directions and escort.

On the premise of going out to have some social drinks, Horam convinces Gareth 2.0 and Hemmingway to join him on the trip into the city districts. Kriv, still suffering the ill effects of eating too much fruit, remains in his cabin.

Taking his friends to a tavern down the street from ‘The Busty Wench,” Horam informs Gareth that he received a secret message that summoned him to the gentlemens’ club, promising information regarding their fight against Mepo.
The note warned Horam to come alone, but the Avenger wanted his friends nearby in case the situation became dire. Gareth summons his magical familiar to tail Horam to “The Busty Wench”- this would allow Gareth and Horam to maintain a psychic connection for a distance of 100 meters.

With the familiar in tow, Horam leaves the tavern and enters “The Busty Wench” alone (inadvertently going beyond the 100 meter distance that the familiar can be separated from Gareth).
Horam enters the establishment and is greeted by a halfling doorman who promptly leads him to a secret chamber. Inside the darkened room a deep voice speaks from the shadows “It’s good to see you, brother.”
The voice belongs to a fellow creature of the Shadow Fell, a Shadar-Kai male called Dongala. The two, although not related, obviously have a shared history and it is a cold reunion.
Dongala appears slightly concerned that Horam has joined the ranks of the Platinum Knights. He states that he is willing to offer information to the Knights regarding Mepo—or more specifically, his colleagues are willing to offer.

Out the darkness and shadows a creature takes form. It is another creature of the Shadow fell and it introduces himself as Laeroi.
The creature of shadow reiterates that he is prepared to offer vital information regarding the secret to Mepo’s power, but despite Dongala’s vouching, he does not yet trust Horam, given his new alliance to the Platinum Knights of the mortal realm. Laeroi begins to question Horam’s motives for remaining in this plane of existence.

Laeroi informs Horam that he will be keeping an eye of him in the days to come, and makes a deal that if Horam promises to aid him and his shadow constituents—at an undisclosed time—then he will gladly offer the information as payment. Uncomfortable with the blind promise, and recognising the importance of the information, Horam agrees.

While Leroy had been monologuing, Horam perceives that Laeroi’s robes have an insignia, a distinct symbol of a hand wreathed in shadow and smoke.

Leaving “The Busty Wench” and returning to the others unharmed, Horam discloses the events to Gareth 2.0. Describing the unique insignia, the warforges remarks that it is strikingly similar to the symbol of the Hand of Vecna, the God of Secrets.
The warforged then expresses his desire to leave the tavern, just as Fargrim looses an arm wrestling challenge to a Halfling.

Returning to the Platinum Spire at the end of the night, Horam seeks out Edran in the Platinum Archives. The eladrin had had no desire to mingle amongst the crowded inns and taverns and instead had continued to read up on the mission reports relating the Frost Fall incident.
Horam recollects to Edran the description of the insignia Laeroi wore. Edram recalls that the symbol was attributed to a sect called the Hand of Shadows. According to legand- or superstition- the secret enclave called the Hand of Shadows operated in the fey hundreds of years ago and were involved with a long lost magical fey artifact of repute, that has since fallen out of common and academic knowledge. This concerns Edran, since any artifact of fey origin would be extremely powerful. While he is convinced that the mortal realm archives will have not further information, the eladrin agrees to spend the rest of the night scouring for any other related information.

When Horam retires to his cabin to meditate, Laeroi appears of the shadows. The shadow creature is impressed with Horam’s resourcefulness and initiative to identify the Hand of Shadows. As a sign of mutual trust, he fills in the gaps that the eladrin had missed. He explains that the Hand of Shadows were a secret enclave who had operated for hundreds of years to protect and hide potent and dangerous artifacts from the powers of evil. One such item included the fragmented soul and essence of a powerful necromancer, defeated long ago. In recent years, Mepo had stolen this fragment and it was the duty of the Hand of Shadows to retrieve the secret to his power.

As part of their final training session, the party form up into teams and are provided with fellow human guards to work with. This leads to a reunion between Edran and Hugh Mann Garde, a human guard who had accompanied him a year ago on an unrelated mission.
The team royale duel inevitably goes to Horam, Gareth 2.0 and Kriv and their human guards, who soundly beat Hemmingway, Edra, Fargrim and Vered.

GAME NOTES: All characters awarded 300gp each- salary from Platinum Knights


Fargrims's Journal

Fargrim’s Journal

Fresh meat for the Knights arrived today. A big group, or so I hear, I only met three of them myself. A human, a dragonborn and…..an elf. Of the three it is the human who seems to be the only useful one, despite being a drunk. He would only fight an enemy he intended to kill; clearly there is some dwarf in him! In these dire times, I wish his sentiment was shared by more of us. DEATH TO MEEPO! The dragonborn seemed to enjoy spitting vile lies about us dwarves (most likely told to him by the elf), although after encountering the business end of my hammer he’ll probably be spitting teeth for a while. Heh heh heh. I do love our initiation rites. He also has a fondness for pineapples and spherical fruits, this information could come in handy. The elf did not say much at all, probably intimidated by my presence. He did skulk away to the library for an undisclosed reason. Like a shadow I followed him and observed his every move. I allowed him to realise that I was following him, so he would be aware that I was aware of whatever nefarious elf scheme he was plotting. The times to come will indeed be interesting and I will have to be ever vigilant should my suspicions around this elf be well founded. I know Grand-pappy Fargos always said that some elves, especially the women, could be ok; but there is just something about them that unsettles me. For the mean time I will keep my suspicions to myself and, while unable to offer a hand of friendship just yet, I will endeavour to offer this elf the hand of indifference.




Session 17- The Halls of Platinum


Session 17
Cast- The King’s Recruits: Horam, Kriv, Edran
Rings of NPCness: Mia, Hemmingway, Nimaketh, Gareth 2.0
Noteworthy NPCs: General Fletcher, Rochelle

Rovnol. Capital of the kingdom of Erelhor. All roads in the Grey City lead to the large tower located in the urban centre. The Platinum Spire has been the home of the royal family for at least 600 hundreds years. The Platinum Knights central base of operations is located deep within the bowels of the Spire. Since the Spire has been built they have always served the king of Erelhor and policed the realm.

It is 4:30pm as the King’s Recruits bring their wagon to rest inside the inner grounds of the Spire. Baron Greyack Sparrowsong has been safely escorted, ending 5 days of brutal riding, constantly under attack by evil lycanthropes and unrelenting hordes of the undead.

There can be no doubt now that the war against Mepo and his undead forces has begun in earnest.

As the wagon is emptied a man approaches the party. He is a tall human with an eye patch over one side of his face and he is adorned in the armour and arms of the Platinum Knights. He instructs them to follow him into the depths of the Spire.

Deep beneath the Platinum Spire the Knights operate and train within an old cave system. The man, who introduces himself as General Fletcher, explains that he is very grateful to the party for completing their mission as well as their part played in the liberation of Thedanwald. Fletcher welcomes them to the Spire and tells the party to report to the training grotto in the morning. Spare beds and rooms have been set up for the party, as they are fellow Platinum Knights. Fargrim Stoneborn, a Dwarf Platinum Knight, is assigned as personal guide and escort to the party during their stay.

This immediately puts the party on edge, as Kriv has a personal dislike for dwarves, and is constantly and vocally spouting anti-dwarven rhetoric. Horam warns Kriv to be aware of their surroundings and to watch his draconic tongue during their stay in the Spire.

The party are escorted to their cabins. Horam helps himself to the supplied liquor in each room. He nominates a room and wishes to spend the night in solitude, meditating to the Raven Queen. During his meditation, the Shadar-Kai is blessed with a vision from his goddess- He views spectral images of a Halfling, a kobold and goliath. He perceives a temple collapsing and then a dark figure addressing a conclave of dark shadows. Horam spends the rest of the night in meditation.

Kriv notices that each cabin has been supplied with a fruit hamper. This causes Kriv’s love of pineapples to resurface and he immediately ransacks the hampers in all of the cabins assigned to the party. Kriv eats an absurd amount of fruit, except bananas, which he dislikes. Consequently, the dragonborn is struck down with a stomachache and spends the rest of the night in pain.

Edran does not wish to spend the night in his cabin. After dark he leaves his room and makes his way towards the library archives of the Platinum Knights. Fargrim Stoneborn begins to tail the eladrin, suspecting that the high elf is up to no good. Inside the archives, Edran speaks to the librarian, Rochelle. He asks if there are any recorded histories in the realm that detail any ancient magical relics—similar to the piece of the ancient dwarven artifact recovered by the hobgoblin clans of Stalkwood Forest.
Edran believes that it is important to ensure that the hobgoblins do not recover all of the weapon segments.
Rochelle does not know of any such recorded events, but she does tell Edran to speak with General Fletcher regarding an arcanic artifact that was recovered recently by Platinum Knights stationed north in Frostfall Village (see Heroes of Frostfall Adventure).
Edran leaves the archives and descends into the training grotto. At this point Fargrim is extremely suspscious of the eladrin’s activities and continues to follow him. Edran enters the training ground and speaks to General Fletcher about the recovered device. He is denied access, as Fletcher needs to “see them in action” first thing in the morning.
Deciding that he can wait until morning, Edran retires to his room. There is a brisk exchanging of words in the stairwell between Edran and Fargrim. Fargrim views the wizard with suspicion and distaste. Edran looks at Fargrim in mild disinterest (as he does with most mortal folk!)

The next morning the party enter the training grotto. General Fletcher explains that while Harbourd may have promoted them to the rank of Platinum Knights, it is he who will have the final say in officiating their position in the Knights’ guild.
To test their ability, Fletcher explains that each of them must duel with training swords in the grotto ring. The duel will last until one opponent is knocked out or yields. Kriv and Horam are allocated as opponents.
However, Horam refuses to fight. The Shadar-Kai Avenger explains that he will not take part in a “play fight.” Due to his covenant with the Raven Queen, Horam will not draw any blade unless it is to the death. He says that he will not draw his blade against Kriv.

Kriv and Fargrim duel in the ring. The two are quite evenly matched as they exchange sword and hammer strikes. Fargrim unleashes a powerful attack with his hammer that knocks Kriv out. Fortunately the duel is called, and only Kriv’s immense pride and hurt—this only helps to fuel his dislike of dwarves.

Edran duels against a fellow Platinum Knight called Skamos.

To satisfy Horam’s pact with his goddess, General Fletcher summons a ghostly illusion for him to fight. This is acceptable to Horam’s covenant and he agrees to fight—to the death.
During the duel the apparition knocks out Horam. It fades away from existence and Kriv heals Horam with an inspiring word.

General Fletcher announces that he was pleased with how the party members fought and he declares that they are now brothers of the Platinum Knights. During the celebration, Fletcher takes Edran aside and says that he is ready to see the arcane artifact recovered in the Frostfall.

Edran looks over the magical device. Although Edran cannot perceive anything about the purpose or magical properties of the artifact, Fletcher explains that it is a bomb, and could be dangerous if used by Mepo.
Edran admits that he knows nothing about the powerful magic used to fuel these devices, but perhaps the Order of the Talon- the arcane order that he serves in the Fey Wild- will know more.

Back in the training grotto, while Horam and Kriv are being welcomed into the Platinum Knights, a figure brushes against Horam and deftly places a note inside his pocket. The man disappears into the crowd.


Session 15- Charm of the Skuu-bus

Session 15: Charm of the Skuu-bus#
Cast- The King’s Recruits: Sparrow/Horam, Kriv, Edran, Mia, Gareth 2.0
Rings of NPCness: Hemmingway, Nimaketh
NPCs of note: Greyack Sparrowsong, Fiona

With Flintston the wererat necromancer vanquished, the remaining wererat forces disband. Those who do not surrender or flee are quickly cut down by the Platinum Knights of Erelhor.
Thedanwald has been saved, but word and gossip suggests that many other small settlements were attacked by the wererats and weren’t so fortunate.

The party rest until midday and depart with Baron Greyack Sparrowsong. The party head west along the King’s Road and they plan to reach the Cross Roads by nightfall. The King’s Road is free of the undead that had previously plagued it. However there is more traffic on the roads, as refugees and farmers seek the safety of Rovnol or other nearby townships and fortified settlements.

Around midafternoon the wagon is waved down by a figure walking along the road. The female Dragonborn is grateful that they stopped. She notices Kriv amongst the party and propositions him. Kriv is immediately interested in the proposal and dismounts Honour the horse.

The party are in differing views on the matter. Some believe that the trials of the past few days warrant a release of tension; others are aware that they still need to get Greyack to the Grey City as soon as possible.
Gareth 2.0 observes the female Dragonborn and detects that she is using arcane magic to glamour Kriv. Gareth 2.0 signals to Horam that something is not right with the situation.
While Carli and Gareth exit the wagon to stop Kriv getting nearer to Fiona the dragonborn, Horam begins to swear an Oath of Emnity upon her.

Seeing that she is quickly getting outnumbered, Fiona spreads her dragonborn wings and flies into the air.
Horam disappears in a flash of shadow and mist and appears in the air above Fiona. He strikes Fiona with his blade as he lands on her back. This causes the two to crash into the forest floor below.
As the party rush to reinforce Horam, Fiona changes her form. Instead of a female dragonborn, they discover that she is in fact a succubus.

The battle with Fiona begins. Despite being outnumbered she is a formidable force. Fiona uses her powers to glamour and dominate Mia’s mind, and she momentarily attacks her comrades.
The combat is fierce for Horam, who is attacked by a dominated Mia and his life force is siphoned out by Fiona.

When Fiona is defeated she dies in a fiery burst. The party collect themselves, Horam makes sure to smack Kriv across the back of the head as they climb aboard the wagon and set off.

At nightfall the party stop to rest at the Cross Roads. Due to the recent attacks and the influx of refugees, the intersection has been turned into a protected and guarded and camping ground. The party are able to sleep through the night undisturbed.

Setting off early at 6am, the party begins to head north towards the Grey City. The day is uneventful, and though the roads are congested with refugees, they reach the outer walls of Rovnol by 4pm. The plains outside the fortified walls have been turned into a sea of tents, as refugees are arriving at the city in greater numbers than the city guards can process.

The party is waved through the gates immediately with their important passenger. They ride through the city towards the inner gates, passing through these until they reach the Platinum Spire—the seat of the royal family and base of operations for the Platinum Knights who serve and protect the realm.

The party bring Baron Greyack to the Spire and he is escorted to safety. As the wagon is emptied a man approaches the party. He is a tall man with an eye patch over one side of his face adorned in the armour and arms of the Platinum Knights. He instructs them to follow him into the depths of the Spire.


Session 14- The Sacking of Thedanwald

Session 14: The Sacking of Thedanwald
Cast- The King’s Recruits: Sparrow/Horam, Kriv, Edran.
NPCs of note: Greyack Sparrowsong, Billy the Kid, Flintston the wererat

The night grows ever darker as the King’s Recruits plunge into the subterranean tunnels of the Underdark. Billy the Kid has promised to help navigate them through the burrows, taking shortcuts known only to the merchant caravans and locals of Thedanwald.

By midnight the party has almost reached the small fishing village but they must stop at midnight to rest the horses. While they rest, Kriv’s keen eyes spot a pair of wererats approaching in the night, riding large undead wargs. Upon their mounts each wererat appears to hold a human hostage, bound and gagged.
Horam, Kriv and Edran lead a surprise attack against the wererat scouts. Upon freeing the hostages, they discover that it is William and his sister-in-law. They had been overtaken not long after the party had encountered them the night before. Surprisingly, the settlers had not been killed outright, but rather taken hostage. William is shocked to see them on the road to Thedanwald, but is overjoyed that the King’s Recruits decided to save the village and have thus far kept Billy the Kid safe.

Horam, Kriv and Edran decide to sneak the rest of the way on foot. Mia, Nimaketh and Hemmingway stay with Baron Greyack Sparrowsong and the wagon. William, who was the local smithy of Thedanwalf offers to spend the time attempting to repair the wagon.
The party push on.

By 5am the darkness of night gives way to twilight as the three recruits near Thedanwald. The leader of the sacking, a wererat called Flintston, is positioned atop a platform, preparing a necromantic ritual. The recruits spot villagers being held nearby, as offerings for the ritual.

Just as the recruits prepare to rush the wererat necromancer, a battle begins on the edge of town. It appears that some Platnium Knights have been sent to repulse the wererats from Thedanwald. Amongst the knights are Gareth 2.0, Orik and Karli.

The diversion proves to be fortuitous, as the bulk of the undead forces are diverted to counter the Platnium Knights, leaving Flintston with only a handful of swarms and a Zombie Hulk to protect him during the ritual.

Horam, Kriv and Edran emerge from the undergrowth and begin battle against Flintston.

When Flinston is vanquished many of the undead forces fall to the ground, their necromantic energy severed. The remaining wererats are either captured or run down.
By 5:30am, Thedanwald is officially reclaimed by the King’s Recruits.


Session 13- Escort to Rovnol part 2

Session 13
Cast- The King’s Recruits: Sparrow/Horam, Hemmingway, Kriv, Mia, Edran, Nimaketh.
Rings of NPCness: Gareth 2.0
NPCs of note: Greyack Sparrowsong, Billy the Kid

The sun rises in the east as the Party comes to terms with their current predicament. The party came under attack while escorting Baron Greyack Sparrowsong to Rovnol. During the encounter, wererat magi attacked the wagon and shattered the wooden axles. With the undead swarms closing in on them, the party set to work trying to get the wagon mobile.
The party elaborately used *Nameketh*’s psionic energy to levitate the wagon and was aided by the unique levitating feathers of Greyack to raise the carriage.

At 5:30am the party gets under way again, heading north towards the Grey City aka Rovnol.

At 9:00am the party notice smoke rising in the northeast. Horam estimates that the smoke is coming from Thedanwald, a small fishing village located along the banks of Khazdon Lake. The village itself is of no military significance, but Horam deduces that by attacking the small village, vital troops would have been diverted to defend it, leaving the King’s Road and Sparrowsport vulnerable to further attacks.

By midday Honour and Steve, the carriage horses, have tired and require an extended reset to recuperate. Mia spots a valley to the east that would offer sufficient cover from any undead forces that tail the Party’s movements.

The party rests while Horam finds a raised valley outcropping that offers an idea vantage point. The horses, Nimaketh and Mia both required an unbroken extended rest. Since Horam and Edran are both creatures of the Other Realms, the Shadowfell and Fey Wild respectively, they offer to take watch.
At 2pm Edran takes second watch. While meditating, he spots some villagers running south on the King’s Road, presumably fleeing the sacking of Thedanwald. Realising that the villagers are unknowingly heading right towards approaching undead swarms, Edran uses Whispering Wind to warn the villagers and instruct them to seek shelter north at the Grey City. The bewildered villagers change direction and flee north.
At 5pm Horam spots undead creatures approaching the valley from the south. The wererats, now riding large Frankenstein-like rat mounts approach the valley, but the Party were stealthy enough to avoid detection.

At 7pm the horses are rested enough to continue the journey north.

At 8pm the Party notice torchlights ahead on the King’s Road. Wary of Wererat scouts patrolling the highway, Mia urges the horses off the road into some undergrowth to hide. As the lights approach, the figures turn out to be a human man, two females and a young boy. They are all in a terrible state of panic and are fleeing the sacking of Thedanwald.
Horam, Kriv, Hemmingway emerge from the undergrowth and speak to them, gleaning what information they can. The Wererats have been sacking the fishing village, killing the settlers and then using necromantic rituals to reanimate their corpses to reinforce their numbers.
The father, William, urges the party to make haste towards Thedanwald to save their homes.
The party try to explain that they are on a mission of great importance and are bound to Rovnol—they simply cannot detour. They also realise that with the wagon in its current state of damage, they simply cannot support the load of four extra people.
The party give William and his family what food and equipment will aid them to reach Rovnol on foot. Hemmingway, fearing for the life of the young boy, persuades William to give them Billy the Kid, so that he may at least have a chance at living. It is a teary farewell as the wagon sets off again in the night. Billy the Kid cries as the torch beared by his father disappears into the darkness. The silence of the road is then punctured screams south of them.

At 9pm, Baron Greyack, and the party all wrestle with their conscience. Thedanwald is under the baron’s realm of protection, and he cannot abide the wererats actions. However, he also realises that the party have direct instructions from the Grey City to deliver him safely, so he won’t tell them to break their orders.
The party discuss and agree to save Thedanwald, realising that the detour will be time costly and their chances of detection will increase as they near the fishing village.

Billy the Kid speaks for the first time. He knows a secret way to Thedanwald, through the Underdark. The route is known to the locals and the merchant caravans, and with luck, hopefully the wererats have not yet discovered the secret cave entrances.

The night grows ever darker as the wagon plunges into the subterranean caves and tunnels of the Underdark.


Session 12- Escort to Rovnol part 1

h1. Session 12 9/12/12

Cast- The King’s Recruits: Sparrow/Horam, Kriv, Mia, Edran, Nimaketh.
Ring of NPCness: Hemmingway, Gareth 2.0
NPCs of note: Harbourd, Greyack Sparrowsong

The King’s Recruits return to Sparrowsport upon dusk. The small village along the southern coast of Erelhor serves as the recruits’ current base of operations. The township is a buzz with activity. The Platinum Knights, local militia and irregulars are all being called to arms. Whispers and gossip suggest that there is going to be a large undead offensive.

The party quickly locates their handler, Harbourd the Dwarf. He presents the recruits with alarming news—he is going to immediately promote them to the rank of Platinum Knights. Harbourd explains that this is an unprecedented event, but right now he needs all the Platinum Knights he can get. Mission reports from an expedition in the north at Frostfall gleaned that the Wererats clans—who are allied with Mepo and his undead army—are launching a massive offensive upon Erelhor. They plan to attack several key townships simultaneously while their main objective is to kidnap Greyack Sparrowsong, the baron of Sparrowsport.

Greyack not only acts as the warden of the southern coastal realms, but the Party are told that he is a Lycanthrope. Greyack and his whole family line have the ability to turn into a golden sparrow- the sigil of their family- and the plucked golden feather of this unique animal form can bestow levitating abilities upon the holder. The wererat clans plan to kidnap Greyack and offer him as tribute to Mepo. This act will also devastate the leadership and morale of southern Erelhor armies.

Greyack meets with the party. He presents Kriv with a magical long sword, as a way of thanking him for his bravery when he previously fought marauding pirates. The baron of Sparrowsport tells the party that he must be escorted safely to Rovnol, the capital of Erelhor located in the north of the realm

The party spend the night preparing a wagon to escort Greyack. Multiple decoy wagons are also organised, with loyal soldiers volunteering to escort the decoys to lead away undead forces away from the Party.

At 1am, the party depart Sparrowsport. Three decoy carriages are deployed on other routes.
As the wagon continues to travel north they begin to hear the sounds of bones and screeching of undead animals throughout the wilderness closing in on the carriage.
At 4am, the party learn that the other decoys have been overtaken by the undead. The party are on their own and continue to race north. Mia communes with the horses, Honour and Steve, and urges them to continue at a brisk pace.
At 5am Edran spots dark shadowy mists approaching the wagon from the south. Two Wererats magically fly up to the rear of the wagon and begin launching magical bolts at the wagon axles.

With two powerful strikes (one a critical hit) the wagon axles are obliterated, causing wooden shards to fly through the air and the wagon to crashes onto the road. Nimaketh is launched from the wagon and she hits an outcrop of rocks, falling unconscious and shattering into crystal shards. Hemmingway leaps out of the carriage to aid her.
As swarms of undead rats rush from the undergrowth the battle begins. Greyack stays inside the wagon, protected by Mia and Edran as the other recruits disembark and take the fight to the wererats and swarms.

After fighting waves of undead swarms, the party has taken care of their immediate persuit. As the sun rises in the east, the party discovers with dismay that they are still two days wagon travel to Rovnol, and they have just lost their only means of outrunning the unrelenting undead swarms that are searching for them…


Session 11- Dipomacy with the Hobgoblins

Session 11
Cast- The King’s Recruits: Sparrow, Hemmingway, Mia, Kriv, Edran, Thorell, Nimaketh

The diplomatic mission with the Hobgoblin clans of Stalkwood Forest continues. In order to prepare against the undead armies growing in the north, the kingdom realm of Erelhor needs to secure an alliance with the Hobgoblin clans. The King’s Recruits spoke with Rocklef, the blind Hobgoblin who has recently been disposed as chieftain of the clans by the younger and brasher Red-Eye. He believes that a temporary truce with Red-Eye is still possible. The recruits plan to parley with Red-Eye, but they also make contingency plans to help Rocklef retake his seat, should diplomacy fail.

The recruits make a convincing case to Red-Eye, pointing out that the Undead Army poses a serious threat to hobgoblins and humans alike. Red-Eye agrees that a temporary alliance would be beneficial to the united hobgoblin clans, but he wants the Recruits to prove their trustworthiness first.
The hobgoblins have taken up residence in an ancient underground dwarven stronghold. They have been attempting to gain entrance to a vault that contains a piece of a magical dwarven weapon, a powerful relic from the ancient empires of old.

The recruits discuss and debate the possible merits and dangers of aiding the hobgoblin clans to gain possession of a segment of an ancient weapon. They begrudgingly agree to help the hobgoblins, as their mission was to ensure an alliance with the clans. However, they make future plans to help the Crown secure the other segments of the ancient weapon.

Inscribed on the vault seal is the phrase “In the fathers’ name, we protect what we have done and beg forgiveness”
The seal prevents fell and dark creatures (like the hobgoblins) from gaining access to the vault. The recruits are able to break the seal. As agreed, they hand over the relic and a compact is reached with Red-Eye.

The recruits leave the clans in peace, making their way back to Sparrowsport to report their success. Thorell leaves the party and remains with the local Elven tribes, who are recovering from the deep sleep caused by the shard crystals.

En route to Sparrowsport the Recruits encounter a Shardmind Psion called Nimaketh. Her appearance was partly responsible for the shard crystals that had previously caused the inhabitants of Stalkwood Forest to suffer intense dreams. As Shardminds are extremely rare in Erelhor, the Recruits take her with them (as an unwilling new party member/prisoner) to Sparrowsport.

When the party reach the edges of civilisation, they notice that Sparrowsport is a buzz with activity—the Undead Army has made their first move against Erelhor.


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