Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Episode 06 - A Night in Paradise
Beginning Day: 13th of Lowsun
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Having vanquished their foes, our band of heroes secured the area. After assuring themselves the danger had passed, Kyla lit a small fire for them to gather about. Aelar took a few minutes to examine the now lifeless cornbabies, and managed to diffuse a magical trap he found there, revealing a small, pristine ruby at its center. Trying a second time, his fingers slipped and the doll erupted in a small fireball, burning him and putting him off trying further for the night. Seeing the commotion, Kaladan tossed the remaining cornbabies into the fire to burn, and they settled in for what remained of the night, too tired now to even make it back to their original camp. In the morning, Kyla and Aelar searched the remains of the fire and found a further pair of cracked rubies in the fire.
As the group headed back through the woods, following a line of warhorse-wrought devastation, Kyla spoke with a passing bird, and learned that the peddler's wagon had pulled itself into the clearing several days earlier and no horses had been seen. When they arrived back at their original camp, they scared off a pair of potential thieves and gathered their things, heading once more along the road to Fallcrest City. Just as the barest hint of the city began to be visible on the horizon, they came upon a final outlying village nestled against the bridge over Garen's Pride to Fallcrest City.
A trio of immaculate, ornate, gold and silver-inlayed carriages was rumbling through town off a street to the east, in the direction marked Peren's Paradise by a tall sign post. Below the sign, Kyla immediately recognized a druidic sign reading Come, friend. In all things, balance. She immediately set off down the road, followed none to stealthily by Aelar and Kaladan. Merla and Damaia tucked briefly into some high-quality yet reasonably-priced peach pies from the Prancing Elk Inn in town. They learned that the Innkeeper felt quite fondly toward the keeper of Peren's Paradise, before they and Naivara followed their companions east.
As they walked, the road became increasingly well kept, and the forest around them shifted from wild to tamed to sculpted. Rounding a final bend, they emerged into a paved courtyard upon which sat the three carriages and beyond which a towering hedge stood with a wide silver gate. Approaching the hedge, Kyla and Kaladan spoke briefly, through a very closed gate, with a stern hostess. Kyla attempted to subtly and not so subtly demonstrate she was a druid, whilst Kaladan stared down the unflappable and unblinking woman. Eventually submitting, they each paid the exorbitant entry fee, and were allowed admittance, with it being strongly suggested that Kaladan head directly to the baths.
In a flash of memory, Kyla recited all she had read on the post, and the demeanor of the woman changed immediately. While Kaladan still opted to be led to the baths:
Kyla and Aelar were taken along a winding outer path to a small, well-tended enclave where they were greeted warmly by the Drow Druid Peren, keeper and tender of the paradise. While they talked, they learned that Peren used this place to take as much money as possible from his ultra wealthy clients that he despised, and he seemed to use those funds to provide jobs to the surrounding area and to maintain his sanctuary here.
While he knew nothing of the troubles in Standing Stone, he did confide that he was quite worried about his friends the Swynwards, with whom he did business from the other side of the Little Easthorns. The Swynwards were several days behind in their latest shipment of pear apples and peaches. After Merla, Naivara, and Damaia arrived, Aelar showed him the symbols they had found on the stone and while he did not recognize most, the largest he had a faint recollection of, and he did not think it was a language.
He also identified the brand that had been burned into the hag's forehead as that of the Children of the True God, a group of religious fanatics that abhorred magic and all its practitioners.
After agreeing to look in on his friends, he welcomed them all to stay the evening, and they were all treated to the most luxurious evening of food, drink, and relaxation they could remember. While attempting to steal a silver spoon, Aelar even found it dropped into his hands by a creeping vine, a gift from Peren. In the morning, the group left rested, happy, and even with a small bag of tiny tarts for Merla, blessed to last abnormally long before spoiling. Several hours later they arrived outside the gates of Fallcrest, a sprawling metropolis split by a river.
As the group headed back through the woods, following a line of warhorse-wrought devastation, Kyla spoke with a passing bird, and learned that the peddler's wagon had pulled itself into the clearing several days earlier and no horses had been seen. When they arrived back at their original camp, they scared off a pair of potential thieves and gathered their things, heading once more along the road to Fallcrest City. Just as the barest hint of the city began to be visible on the horizon, they came upon a final outlying village nestled against the bridge over Garen's Pride to Fallcrest City.
A trio of immaculate, ornate, gold and silver-inlayed carriages was rumbling through town off a street to the east, in the direction marked Peren's Paradise by a tall sign post. Below the sign, Kyla immediately recognized a druidic sign reading Come, friend. In all things, balance. She immediately set off down the road, followed none to stealthily by Aelar and Kaladan. Merla and Damaia tucked briefly into some high-quality yet reasonably-priced peach pies from the Prancing Elk Inn in town. They learned that the Innkeeper felt quite fondly toward the keeper of Peren's Paradise, before they and Naivara followed their companions east.
As they walked, the road became increasingly well kept, and the forest around them shifted from wild to tamed to sculpted. Rounding a final bend, they emerged into a paved courtyard upon which sat the three carriages and beyond which a towering hedge stood with a wide silver gate. Approaching the hedge, Kyla and Kaladan spoke briefly, through a very closed gate, with a stern hostess. Kyla attempted to subtly and not so subtly demonstrate she was a druid, whilst Kaladan stared down the unflappable and unblinking woman. Eventually submitting, they each paid the exorbitant entry fee, and were allowed admittance, with it being strongly suggested that Kaladan head directly to the baths.
In a flash of memory, Kyla recited all she had read on the post, and the demeanor of the woman changed immediately. While Kaladan still opted to be led to the baths:
Kyla and Aelar were taken along a winding outer path to a small, well-tended enclave where they were greeted warmly by the Drow Druid Peren, keeper and tender of the paradise. While they talked, they learned that Peren used this place to take as much money as possible from his ultra wealthy clients that he despised, and he seemed to use those funds to provide jobs to the surrounding area and to maintain his sanctuary here.
While he knew nothing of the troubles in Standing Stone, he did confide that he was quite worried about his friends the Swynwards, with whom he did business from the other side of the Little Easthorns. The Swynwards were several days behind in their latest shipment of pear apples and peaches. After Merla, Naivara, and Damaia arrived, Aelar showed him the symbols they had found on the stone and while he did not recognize most, the largest he had a faint recollection of, and he did not think it was a language.
He also identified the brand that had been burned into the hag's forehead as that of the Children of the True God, a group of religious fanatics that abhorred magic and all its practitioners.
After agreeing to look in on his friends, he welcomed them all to stay the evening, and they were all treated to the most luxurious evening of food, drink, and relaxation they could remember. While attempting to steal a silver spoon, Aelar even found it dropped into his hands by a creeping vine, a gift from Peren. In the morning, the group left rested, happy, and even with a small bag of tiny tarts for Merla, blessed to last abnormally long before spoiling. Several hours later they arrived outside the gates of Fallcrest, a sprawling metropolis split by a river.
At the gates, they found themselves stopped and gently questioned as to their business by a small number of the Town Watch. Upon declaring their intention to visit the High Wizard, the watchmen immediately called over Lady Selaine, a blue and silver clad member of the Radiant Guard. After a long, and magically backed interrogation, she determined that they at least believed they had met with the High Wizard, and that Naivara was not interfering with her ability to read the truth of their statements. She confiscated one of the rings from Damaia, and told them all to enter and be ready when they called upon them at the Green Sickle.
Aelar and Kaladan attempted, mostly unsuccessfully, to do some quick shopping, before they all made their way to the Green Sickle where another member of the Radiant Guard was already waiting for them. They were led immediately across the river and into the Wizard's Keep where they were scrutinized, magically and otherwise, several more times before being led to the very top chamber where they once again encountered the High Wizard Alidar.
They spoke together for some time, most of Alidar's attention being paid to Naivara alone. The wizard seemed both dismissive of their presence and also in need of their assistance. His speech was halting and distracted, as if he was in many different mental places at once, his focus shifting constantly. Throughout this conversation, they learned that Standing Stone was not the only area of mysterious trouble that was plaguing the land. The bulk of the Radiant Guard had been deployed already south to the Silver Lake to investigate trouble there, while a smaller contingent was fighting a losing battle with an outpouring of evil creatures from the Eastwood across the Little Easthorns.
While the incident at Standing Stone was the first to flare to such intensity, the wizard had no further answers for them about the reasons of why or for what purpose the gash in reality had occurred, only that it had been a direct attack on the Veil Between Worlds, a feat Alidar did not seem to have thought possible. He was surprised to learn of the eighth stone they had found, and identified most of the runes as belonging to the Old Tongue, although he did not recognize the largest.
They agreed to his plea to head North to Eastwood with a small contingent of the Radiant Guard that was leaving in the morning, and took their leave of the High Wizard, who had already forgotten their presence. As they left, Damaia was returned her ring, now identified as a Ring of Waterwalking!
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Ending Day: 14th of Lowsun
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Episode 05 - The One Where Aelar Beans Himself
Beginning Day: 11th of Lowsun
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After an hour or so of walking along the road to Fallcrest City, our adventurers realized they had failed to warn anyone in Newford about the dangers posed by the possessed demon cornbabies. Conscience getting the better of them, they returned to the small village to attempt to spread the warning. Damaia and Merla were met with incredulity at The Falconer inn, while Naivara, and Kyla failed to get past the red tape and extraordinarily bored young man staffing the front desk at Town Hall. Aelar, Damaia, and Merla did learn that the Woodleaf family, whose house had burned the previous evening, was now staying at the Millers's, and set off in that direction.
While Merla went inside to try to speak to the victims, Damaia and Aelar threw rocks into the river, the shore, and, in Aelar's case, his own head. Inside, Merla convinced Farien Miller to wake one of the Woodleafs, and a few minutes later, Borin Woodleaf came down to speak. While it was not clear that the man believed her story about the doll, he was more receptive than Sadon had been at the inn, and she further learned that the lockbox they had found nearly empty was meant to contain a small quantity of gold, and his wife's green-stoned necklace.
Back in town, Naivara and Kyla went to speak to the alchemist Elel, hoping he might have more insight into the arcane nature of the dolls. While he clearly believed them, he appeared to be far more interested in the story itself, than in any imminent danger. Nevertheless, when they suggested he too might become a part of the tale by warning the town, he immediately leapt into action and stationed himself on his roof, yelling for all to hear that the dolls were possessed, and calling on the town to drug their children and take the dolls while they slept.
Convinced they had done what they could, our adventurers set off again down the road to Fallcrest City. As they walked, a small contingent of the Radiant Guard passed them on the road, polished armor and blue cloaks flying, and accompanying a robed figure who rode with them. Their leader slowed just long enough to speak to our heroes, who informed him of the trouble ahead in Newford. The guard promised to send a man to speak with the village, before moving on, citing urgent business to the north in Garen's Well. He left with a warning to watch out for increased Suneye activity in the area.
As the day grew long, Aelar's watchful gaze spotted a well-used campsite a few hundred feet off the road, and the group settled in for the evening. Merla marked their passing by carving a well-equipped centaur into a nearby tree, while Kaladan finally opened the mysterious bag he had purchased from Elel, and found a single, mostly shriveled and dried purple mushroom with red spots.
Well past midnight, Naivara was alerted to a rustling sound within camp, as if someone was rummaging through their pack. Searching about, she spotted the cornbaby resting quietly near Damaia's bag. Rousing the rest of the camp to alertness, the cornbaby sprang to life and darted off into the woods with incredible speed.
Kyla and Aelar gave immediate chase, struggling to keep pace with the cornbaby. Kyla soon transformed into a graceful panther, and leapt at the doll, slashing through it with her claws, ripping through cornhusks that seemed to writhe and re-knit as the claws passed through. Pouncing on it, she attempted to hold it in place but it wriggled free and darted off into the woods again, but not before Aelar leapt into the fray, swinging down gracefully with his rapier to cleave one of the arms off. Before the creature could make it much further, a final swipe of claws from Kyla shredded the doll, whatever magic had been holding it together fading, and it fell still.
Back at camp, Naivara examined the remains once more, sensing the remnant magical traces, and the barest hint of something tying the doll to the northwest, in the direction of Newford. They divided the pieces of Horace's remains amongst themselves, Merla finding a tiny, cracked ruby among the husks, and took what rest could be found for the remainder of the evening.
In the morning, they continued on their way, but not before Damaia took time to be inspired by the centaur that Merla had inscribed the previous evening. Along the road, they noticed an increase in early morning traffic, and stopped a passing dwarf to ask about any peddlers that had come this way matching descriptions they had heard back in Newford. The dwarf remembered passing such a wagon several days back, headed in the direction of Fallcrest City.
Near midday they came upon a small hamlet, with a single two level inn run by an extremely friendly dwarf. Merla helped the dwarf invent drive-through ale, being served through a window she had, inexplicably, decided to attempt to stealthily peer through to scout out the inside. They heard once more of the peddler's passing, and Damaia procured a substantial quantity of ale to-go in a somewhat beat up waterskin.
As they were exiting town, they spotted in the distance a pair of farm boys playing with suspiciously familiar corn dolls. While Merla distracted the boys with a song, and Kyla played with them in the form of a small kitten, Kaladan scared the shit out of them and Aelar deftly snatched one of the dolls away, and the group made their exit. Naivara sensed the same magical presence coming from the dolls, although these seem tied to the small hamlet, rather than Newford. That evening, when they set up camp, they bound and hung the doll from a small tree, Naivara setting an alarm around it. As they settled down, Merla took the opportunity to carve a bat or cat-woman in a nearby pine that held several other drawings placed there by passersby over the long years.
Once more past midnight, they were awoken to activity, as the little doll deftly freed itself from its bonds, setting off Naivara's alarm in the process. A frantic chase through the woods, Aelar riding the massive war horse that Kyla had transformed into, ended with the cornbaby vanishing into a clearing where a peddler's wagon sat quietly. While the others hid, Kaladan strode up to the wagon and knocked loudly, awakening a sleeping man who stumbled out, asking the dragonborn to just leave him alone. As they talked, the man spotted more and more of the party hiding in the woods and became increasingly agitated.
Just as the exchange began to get heated, Aelar spotted one of the dolls leaping, screaming from the trees above them and the world went dark. One by one, eight pairs of glowing red eyes winked on in the darkness, and our team found themselves surrounded by cackling demon dolls who slashed and hacked at their ankles. Unfazed, Naivara unleashed a trio of magic missiles that obliterated three of the dolls in the blink of an eye, and shortly thereafter the darkness lifted, revealing the peddler slinking off into the trees.
Charging from cover, Damaia leapt at the man, swinging her greatsword clean through his neck, shattering the illusion and revealing a small, withered hag in the peddler's place. The hag reached out with burning hands, searing those closest to her, but shortly felt a whip of thorns and vine wrap around her neck, yanking her into the clearing. As she was pulled toward Kyla, Damaia swung out with her sword, carving a horrendous gash into the hag's leg. With almost casual ease, Naivara sent another trio of magic missiles flying at the hag, ending the creature's life, and causing all the nearby cornbabies to fall lifeless, their husk bodies unraveling in the night.
As they caught their breath, Merla searched the wagon, finding a trove of odds and ends that looked as if they had been gathered without purpose from a wide range of places, as well as a small handful of money and some useful items. A necklace with a small, green malachite stone stood out among the trinkets.
Searching the hag's corpse for a trophy, Damaia found a trio of rings, and noticed, burned into its forehead, a barely-healed brand:
While Merla went inside to try to speak to the victims, Damaia and Aelar threw rocks into the river, the shore, and, in Aelar's case, his own head. Inside, Merla convinced Farien Miller to wake one of the Woodleafs, and a few minutes later, Borin Woodleaf came down to speak. While it was not clear that the man believed her story about the doll, he was more receptive than Sadon had been at the inn, and she further learned that the lockbox they had found nearly empty was meant to contain a small quantity of gold, and his wife's green-stoned necklace.
Back in town, Naivara and Kyla went to speak to the alchemist Elel, hoping he might have more insight into the arcane nature of the dolls. While he clearly believed them, he appeared to be far more interested in the story itself, than in any imminent danger. Nevertheless, when they suggested he too might become a part of the tale by warning the town, he immediately leapt into action and stationed himself on his roof, yelling for all to hear that the dolls were possessed, and calling on the town to drug their children and take the dolls while they slept.
Convinced they had done what they could, our adventurers set off again down the road to Fallcrest City. As they walked, a small contingent of the Radiant Guard passed them on the road, polished armor and blue cloaks flying, and accompanying a robed figure who rode with them. Their leader slowed just long enough to speak to our heroes, who informed him of the trouble ahead in Newford. The guard promised to send a man to speak with the village, before moving on, citing urgent business to the north in Garen's Well. He left with a warning to watch out for increased Suneye activity in the area.
As the day grew long, Aelar's watchful gaze spotted a well-used campsite a few hundred feet off the road, and the group settled in for the evening. Merla marked their passing by carving a well-equipped centaur into a nearby tree, while Kaladan finally opened the mysterious bag he had purchased from Elel, and found a single, mostly shriveled and dried purple mushroom with red spots.
Well past midnight, Naivara was alerted to a rustling sound within camp, as if someone was rummaging through their pack. Searching about, she spotted the cornbaby resting quietly near Damaia's bag. Rousing the rest of the camp to alertness, the cornbaby sprang to life and darted off into the woods with incredible speed.
Kyla and Aelar gave immediate chase, struggling to keep pace with the cornbaby. Kyla soon transformed into a graceful panther, and leapt at the doll, slashing through it with her claws, ripping through cornhusks that seemed to writhe and re-knit as the claws passed through. Pouncing on it, she attempted to hold it in place but it wriggled free and darted off into the woods again, but not before Aelar leapt into the fray, swinging down gracefully with his rapier to cleave one of the arms off. Before the creature could make it much further, a final swipe of claws from Kyla shredded the doll, whatever magic had been holding it together fading, and it fell still.
Back at camp, Naivara examined the remains once more, sensing the remnant magical traces, and the barest hint of something tying the doll to the northwest, in the direction of Newford. They divided the pieces of Horace's remains amongst themselves, Merla finding a tiny, cracked ruby among the husks, and took what rest could be found for the remainder of the evening.
In the morning, they continued on their way, but not before Damaia took time to be inspired by the centaur that Merla had inscribed the previous evening. Along the road, they noticed an increase in early morning traffic, and stopped a passing dwarf to ask about any peddlers that had come this way matching descriptions they had heard back in Newford. The dwarf remembered passing such a wagon several days back, headed in the direction of Fallcrest City.
Near midday they came upon a small hamlet, with a single two level inn run by an extremely friendly dwarf. Merla helped the dwarf invent drive-through ale, being served through a window she had, inexplicably, decided to attempt to stealthily peer through to scout out the inside. They heard once more of the peddler's passing, and Damaia procured a substantial quantity of ale to-go in a somewhat beat up waterskin.
As they were exiting town, they spotted in the distance a pair of farm boys playing with suspiciously familiar corn dolls. While Merla distracted the boys with a song, and Kyla played with them in the form of a small kitten, Kaladan scared the shit out of them and Aelar deftly snatched one of the dolls away, and the group made their exit. Naivara sensed the same magical presence coming from the dolls, although these seem tied to the small hamlet, rather than Newford. That evening, when they set up camp, they bound and hung the doll from a small tree, Naivara setting an alarm around it. As they settled down, Merla took the opportunity to carve a bat or cat-woman in a nearby pine that held several other drawings placed there by passersby over the long years.
Once more past midnight, they were awoken to activity, as the little doll deftly freed itself from its bonds, setting off Naivara's alarm in the process. A frantic chase through the woods, Aelar riding the massive war horse that Kyla had transformed into, ended with the cornbaby vanishing into a clearing where a peddler's wagon sat quietly. While the others hid, Kaladan strode up to the wagon and knocked loudly, awakening a sleeping man who stumbled out, asking the dragonborn to just leave him alone. As they talked, the man spotted more and more of the party hiding in the woods and became increasingly agitated.
Just as the exchange began to get heated, Aelar spotted one of the dolls leaping, screaming from the trees above them and the world went dark. One by one, eight pairs of glowing red eyes winked on in the darkness, and our team found themselves surrounded by cackling demon dolls who slashed and hacked at their ankles. Unfazed, Naivara unleashed a trio of magic missiles that obliterated three of the dolls in the blink of an eye, and shortly thereafter the darkness lifted, revealing the peddler slinking off into the trees.
Charging from cover, Damaia leapt at the man, swinging her greatsword clean through his neck, shattering the illusion and revealing a small, withered hag in the peddler's place. The hag reached out with burning hands, searing those closest to her, but shortly felt a whip of thorns and vine wrap around her neck, yanking her into the clearing. As she was pulled toward Kyla, Damaia swung out with her sword, carving a horrendous gash into the hag's leg. With almost casual ease, Naivara sent another trio of magic missiles flying at the hag, ending the creature's life, and causing all the nearby cornbabies to fall lifeless, their husk bodies unraveling in the night.
As they caught their breath, Merla searched the wagon, finding a trove of odds and ends that looked as if they had been gathered without purpose from a wide range of places, as well as a small handful of money and some useful items. A necklace with a small, green malachite stone stood out among the trinkets.
Searching the hag's corpse for a trophy, Damaia found a trio of rings, and noticed, burned into its forehead, a barely-healed brand:
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Ending Day: 13th of Lowsun
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Episode 04 - A Fire In the Night
Beginning Day: 10th of Lowsun
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Our adventuring party rose with the dawn, and moved in the grey twilight down to the lake front. As they approached, they found a small wooden boat tied to a rock at the shore that had not been there the night prior. To the distance in the north, they could just make out the shape of a cloaked figure with a long, thin sword at its side.
"Percival!?" they cried out, but the figure merely waved jovially and continued on its way. A moments indecision among the party to decide whether to follow was all it took for them to miss the figure vanishing. They briefly attempted to locate tracks or some other path to follow, but they had all blundered onto the scene haphazardly, and in the confused tracks, nothing could be found. Aelar argued fervently that the group should set off in immediate pursuit in the last direction they had seen him, but was overruled by the others, who wanted to take the boat into the lake to examine the stone.
Kaladan and Merla, both well-accustomed to travel over water, took the boat into the lake alone, being unable to fit anyone else into the small craft given the dragonborn's size. Upon arrival, Kaladan's Divine Sense detected a trace of a holy presence emanating from a faintly glowing symbol carved into the side of the stone facing to the south east.
Below this, a second symbol, slightly smaller and not glowing could be made out etched into the side of the stone.
Moving their craft in a circle around the stone, Merla spotted a ring of yet smaller symbols just below the surface of the water, and quickly committed the entire lot to memory.
Upon returning to shore, they shared what they had found, Merla making a half-way decent sketch of the symbols in the shoreline sand. None could decipher a meaning, although Naivara was able to recognize that they were likely not directly magical in nature, and that they did not belong to any commonly spoken tongue - perhaps being an ancient language of some sort.
Deciding there was nothing further to be gained in the area, they set off in the direction of Fallcrest City, opting to try to take the more direct, but less well-traveled route through the dense forest, rather than backtracking several Ks to the main road up through Newford. They eventually made their way to the original crossroads where Aelar, Kyla, and Merla had met several days prior. Seeing that their options were to take what amounted to an animal-worn path through the thick forest directly to Fallcrest City, or to take the clearly more frequented path again up through Newford, they overrode Kaladan's objections and set off for the small town.
By early evening they had arrived, and the groups separated to visit the various townsfolk who served as merchants to the surrounding areas. Merla and Damaia immediately legged it to the local inn, where Merla negotiated with the owner, a rotund human named Sadon, for a few hours of bardic performance in exchange for drinks and a meal for her and Damaia, on the singular condition that no sea shanties be played. Her first song sang the tale of Kaladan the Paladin in the battle at the stone, and was well-received. She quickly launched into a far more embellished tale of Kaladan's heroic intervention and defeat of several hulking, twelve-foot tall Vine Blights with glowing red eyes and dripping demonic shadows. As she finished her tale, a single ethereal copper musical note hung before her in the air for a moment before vanishing into the evening and the applause.
In the town center, Naivara entered the town hall, just as Edmund, a young man in his early 20s, was closing up for the day. She learned that while there was no library in town, the alchemist was most likely to know something of odd languages in town, and that if she were looking for maps, then the Town Watch was likely her best bet.
Across the small town, Aelar, Kyla, and Kaladan visited the local blacksmith, Sybbyl, with whom they left their gear for inspection, and from whom they bought a few score of some old but serviceable shortbow arrows she had laying around. They got directions to the local alchemists place, and while Kyla and Kaladan headed to the inn, Aelar walked confidently into the closed up alchemist's shop, where he, and Naivara who had joined him, met Elel, a jovial and sarcastic young elf. After a brief lesson concerning doors, and their purpose and usage, he obtained a few scrap pieces of paper to scribble the symbols upon from memory, and purchased a small pouch of willowbark. Naivara asked if Elel knew anything of the symbols, but he did not, other than recognizing they had no particular alchemical significance. As they left, the townsfolk children began running through the streets, dancing around them, and playing with miniature cornhusk dolls.
Back at the inn, Kaladan threw Merla off her game by yelling a request for "Freebird!" from the back of the room. Befuddled, she launched without thinking into a sea shanty about a parrot and his human, to the relative displeasure of the crowd and a grumble from the innkeeper. Outside, Aelar overcame long odds and great personal turmoil to catch a pair of lightning bugs, one of which he immediately squashed while putting into a pouch for keepsies. To Damaia's great delight, Kyla practiced transforming into an adorably tabby cat, albeit one with stubby little legs, and the two played together for a few minutes while watching Aelar trip over his own feet chasing lightning bugs.
As they were getting ready to turn in for the night, more of the town children ran into the inn, chasing each other and playing at fighting with their corn dolls. The group learned that the town had been seemingly overrun with the things since a peddler had come through several days prior and sold them to virtually all the children.
"FIRE! FIRE!" voices cried out in the night long after the group had settled in to sleep.
Stepping out into the night, they were quickly recruited into a bucket brigade bringing water from the large fountain at the town center to a smaller house tucked several hundred feet off at the edge of the woods. They found a modest one-story house engulfed in flames, the owners huddled with their child a short distance away. Upon hearing the child crying about his lost doll, Sir Thomas, who protected him, Damaia valiantly charged into the burning house.
Wading through smoke and ash, she managed to find a few small, charred pieces of the cornhusk doll near the foot of one of the larger beds, and brought it out to the child before rejoining the brigade. Over the next hour or so as the town worked to put out the fire, both Naivara and Kaladan stopped to inspect the area for magical auras, and both felt a faint sense of something magically sinister coming from the boy's hands.
As the fire was finally put out, and the townsfolk returned to their beds, our gang was left by the ruined house alone. Upon further inspection, they found a small strongbox under one of the larger beds. The lock was scratched, and one corner had been pried open. In a burst of strength, Kaladan tore the lid from the box, scattering the small handful of copper pieces that remained inside. Exhausted and confused, they all went back to sleep for the evening, and awoke the next morning, eager to continue to Fallcrest City.
Heading downstairs, Merla negotiated with the tavern keeper's young son Lief to trade his own cornhusk doll for a bone flute of hers. He agreed, on the condition that first she give him a few hours of lessons on the flute, then he would give her the doll. While Merla patiently taught the young boy, Kaladan, Aelar, and Kyla retrieved their gear from the blacksmith, all in good working order, and purchased a few miscellaneous items from her as well. They stopped briefly in to see Elel as well, again purchasing this and that, and Kaladan obtained a small pouch of unknown contents.
At the Town Watch, Naivara was attempting to negotiate a fair and amicable bribe with Orin, a dwarven functionary that served as gatekeeper for the Watchmaster. Quickly overcome with frustration, Damaia grabbed the dwarf, lifted him bodily off the ground, and shook the living daylights out of the creature until he relented. Eager to have them on their way, Orin scurried off and returned with a map, shooing them out of the building with all haste.
After inspecting their new map, they returned to the inn to pick up Merla, who had by now completed her trade and received a doll in kind. Naivara took it, and upon closer inspection of this intact specimen, immediately identified it as an evil possessed totem, used to carry out task for a master, and could even be crafted to contain small spells. Merla nonchalantly tucked the possessed demon cornbaby into her pouch and named it Horace.
Apparently done with this small town, and unconcerned about the dozens of remaining possessed dolls, our group set off down the road toward Fallcrest City.
"Percival!?" they cried out, but the figure merely waved jovially and continued on its way. A moments indecision among the party to decide whether to follow was all it took for them to miss the figure vanishing. They briefly attempted to locate tracks or some other path to follow, but they had all blundered onto the scene haphazardly, and in the confused tracks, nothing could be found. Aelar argued fervently that the group should set off in immediate pursuit in the last direction they had seen him, but was overruled by the others, who wanted to take the boat into the lake to examine the stone.
Kaladan and Merla, both well-accustomed to travel over water, took the boat into the lake alone, being unable to fit anyone else into the small craft given the dragonborn's size. Upon arrival, Kaladan's Divine Sense detected a trace of a holy presence emanating from a faintly glowing symbol carved into the side of the stone facing to the south east.
Below this, a second symbol, slightly smaller and not glowing could be made out etched into the side of the stone.
Moving their craft in a circle around the stone, Merla spotted a ring of yet smaller symbols just below the surface of the water, and quickly committed the entire lot to memory.
Upon returning to shore, they shared what they had found, Merla making a half-way decent sketch of the symbols in the shoreline sand. None could decipher a meaning, although Naivara was able to recognize that they were likely not directly magical in nature, and that they did not belong to any commonly spoken tongue - perhaps being an ancient language of some sort.
Deciding there was nothing further to be gained in the area, they set off in the direction of Fallcrest City, opting to try to take the more direct, but less well-traveled route through the dense forest, rather than backtracking several Ks to the main road up through Newford. They eventually made their way to the original crossroads where Aelar, Kyla, and Merla had met several days prior. Seeing that their options were to take what amounted to an animal-worn path through the thick forest directly to Fallcrest City, or to take the clearly more frequented path again up through Newford, they overrode Kaladan's objections and set off for the small town.
By early evening they had arrived, and the groups separated to visit the various townsfolk who served as merchants to the surrounding areas. Merla and Damaia immediately legged it to the local inn, where Merla negotiated with the owner, a rotund human named Sadon, for a few hours of bardic performance in exchange for drinks and a meal for her and Damaia, on the singular condition that no sea shanties be played. Her first song sang the tale of Kaladan the Paladin in the battle at the stone, and was well-received. She quickly launched into a far more embellished tale of Kaladan's heroic intervention and defeat of several hulking, twelve-foot tall Vine Blights with glowing red eyes and dripping demonic shadows. As she finished her tale, a single ethereal copper musical note hung before her in the air for a moment before vanishing into the evening and the applause.
In the town center, Naivara entered the town hall, just as Edmund, a young man in his early 20s, was closing up for the day. She learned that while there was no library in town, the alchemist was most likely to know something of odd languages in town, and that if she were looking for maps, then the Town Watch was likely her best bet.
Across the small town, Aelar, Kyla, and Kaladan visited the local blacksmith, Sybbyl, with whom they left their gear for inspection, and from whom they bought a few score of some old but serviceable shortbow arrows she had laying around. They got directions to the local alchemists place, and while Kyla and Kaladan headed to the inn, Aelar walked confidently into the closed up alchemist's shop, where he, and Naivara who had joined him, met Elel, a jovial and sarcastic young elf. After a brief lesson concerning doors, and their purpose and usage, he obtained a few scrap pieces of paper to scribble the symbols upon from memory, and purchased a small pouch of willowbark. Naivara asked if Elel knew anything of the symbols, but he did not, other than recognizing they had no particular alchemical significance. As they left, the townsfolk children began running through the streets, dancing around them, and playing with miniature cornhusk dolls.
Back at the inn, Kaladan threw Merla off her game by yelling a request for "Freebird!" from the back of the room. Befuddled, she launched without thinking into a sea shanty about a parrot and his human, to the relative displeasure of the crowd and a grumble from the innkeeper. Outside, Aelar overcame long odds and great personal turmoil to catch a pair of lightning bugs, one of which he immediately squashed while putting into a pouch for keepsies. To Damaia's great delight, Kyla practiced transforming into an adorably tabby cat, albeit one with stubby little legs, and the two played together for a few minutes while watching Aelar trip over his own feet chasing lightning bugs.
As they were getting ready to turn in for the night, more of the town children ran into the inn, chasing each other and playing at fighting with their corn dolls. The group learned that the town had been seemingly overrun with the things since a peddler had come through several days prior and sold them to virtually all the children.
"FIRE! FIRE!" voices cried out in the night long after the group had settled in to sleep.
Stepping out into the night, they were quickly recruited into a bucket brigade bringing water from the large fountain at the town center to a smaller house tucked several hundred feet off at the edge of the woods. They found a modest one-story house engulfed in flames, the owners huddled with their child a short distance away. Upon hearing the child crying about his lost doll, Sir Thomas, who protected him, Damaia valiantly charged into the burning house.
Wading through smoke and ash, she managed to find a few small, charred pieces of the cornhusk doll near the foot of one of the larger beds, and brought it out to the child before rejoining the brigade. Over the next hour or so as the town worked to put out the fire, both Naivara and Kaladan stopped to inspect the area for magical auras, and both felt a faint sense of something magically sinister coming from the boy's hands.
As the fire was finally put out, and the townsfolk returned to their beds, our gang was left by the ruined house alone. Upon further inspection, they found a small strongbox under one of the larger beds. The lock was scratched, and one corner had been pried open. In a burst of strength, Kaladan tore the lid from the box, scattering the small handful of copper pieces that remained inside. Exhausted and confused, they all went back to sleep for the evening, and awoke the next morning, eager to continue to Fallcrest City.
Heading downstairs, Merla negotiated with the tavern keeper's young son Lief to trade his own cornhusk doll for a bone flute of hers. He agreed, on the condition that first she give him a few hours of lessons on the flute, then he would give her the doll. While Merla patiently taught the young boy, Kaladan, Aelar, and Kyla retrieved their gear from the blacksmith, all in good working order, and purchased a few miscellaneous items from her as well. They stopped briefly in to see Elel as well, again purchasing this and that, and Kaladan obtained a small pouch of unknown contents.
At the Town Watch, Naivara was attempting to negotiate a fair and amicable bribe with Orin, a dwarven functionary that served as gatekeeper for the Watchmaster. Quickly overcome with frustration, Damaia grabbed the dwarf, lifted him bodily off the ground, and shook the living daylights out of the creature until he relented. Eager to have them on their way, Orin scurried off and returned with a map, shooing them out of the building with all haste.
After inspecting their new map, they returned to the inn to pick up Merla, who had by now completed her trade and received a doll in kind. Naivara took it, and upon closer inspection of this intact specimen, immediately identified it as an evil possessed totem, used to carry out task for a master, and could even be crafted to contain small spells. Merla nonchalantly tucked the possessed demon cornbaby into her pouch and named it Horace.
Apparently done with this small town, and unconcerned about the dozens of remaining possessed dolls, our group set off down the road toward Fallcrest City.
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Ending Day: 11th of Lowsun
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Episode 03 - A Dark Rift
Beginning Day: 8th of Lowsun
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Seeing the flash in the night, our adventurers set off back toward town, the light growing steadily in the sky as they went. Upon arrival, they found that rather than coming from the central stone, as they had thought, only a thin silvery line of mist rose from the stone that bent in the direction of the south eastern stone, the only other whose flocks had not yet been devastated. As they moved through town, Gorm was in the process of pointing the way back toward the stone they had just left, angrily attempting to send the high-elf Wizard Naivara Nailo in their direction, her having just arrived in town as well. Joining the group without much question, the team, now six in number, set off once more in the direction of the far stone. It was now well past midnight, but as they approached, a pulsing light lit the area brighter and brighter.
When they crested the last hill, they were greeted with the sight of what appeared to be a jagged rift in the air, hanging above the stone, and filled with a black void. Below the rift, a robed male Wizard struggled with a beam of light he had aimed at the rift itself, and was surrounded by three more wolves, as well as two men matching the description of Cassius and Doran. The men and wolves inched closer to the Wizard, and Cassius let loose an arrow at the man, which he narrowly dodged. The light dimming slightly as he pulled his attention away, the Wizard slammed his staff to the ground, throwing the men and creatures back a dozen paces.
"Assist me," he bellowed at the group. With another slam of his staff upon the ground, the group felt a wave of healing energy wash over them, energizing them for the fight to come. With that, the Wizard turned his attention fully back to his beam of light, which strengthened once more, and our heroes charged into the fray.
Aelar held Cassius at bay, trading arrows with the bowman at range, while his companions engaged the wolves and Doran with his staff at close range, noting that Doran's eyes were entirely consumed by a black void. Naivara, in a burst of arcane fury, unleashed a devastating blast of fire that incinerated one of the wolves where it stood. The remaining foes fell one by one, distracted each in turn by the cutting rebukes of Merla's wit, and each time an oily black film stretching first off of them and being sucked up into the rift before eventually falling to the group. After they dispatched the last wolf while it attempted to flee, the team moved to the now unconscious Cassius and Doran, free from the dark influence that had held them, and stabilized them. A short while later, the Wizard cried aloud and slammed his staff upon the ground once more, a final burst of white light impacting the rift which slammed shut. The faint glow from the stone faded, and the Wizard collapsed in relief against it.
When he had caught his breath, he woodenly thanked the gathered adventurers for their aid, and identified himself as Alidar, High Wizard of Fallcrest City. Before they could pepper him with further questions, he regained his composure, muttered a few words about notifying the Wizard's Council and for them to visit him in Fallcrest City, and took to the air, flying off to the south east. Perplexed, but exhausted, Damaia and Kaladan hauled the unconscious farmers onto their shoulders, and the group made its way back to town, where it seemed the entire countryside had gathered, reacting to the lights and shockwaves in the night. They were greeted with accolades, food, and drink, and then promptly ignored as the townsfolk tended to their wounded kin.
In the morning, Gorm stumbled in and provided a sack of gold that had been provided as payment for their deeds, and promptly departed, his job done. Percival as well bid them farewell, saying his was off to find a piece of eight, and jogging in Kaladan's mind the memory of a, in hindsight, remarkably familiar looking stone a distance out into the lake he had been fishing in not long ago. Although they were all looking right at him, no one could remember seeing Percival leave them; he simply wasn't there any longer. Gathering their things, and deciding to set off in the direction of Fallcrest City to find Alidar, and answers. Rather than taking the direct road that led first north through Newford before joining the main road, they took a detour back to their old campsite. Although it was nearing dark when they arrived, Merla and Kaladan spotted what looked like a stone standing in the lake a distance off. Our heroes carefully checked the surroundings for blights, before heading to bed.
In the morning, they awoke rested, energized, and enlightened from the activities of the previous days, having gained significant experience, and grown as individuals. Although they had known each other for less than an eightday, they were already forming bonds of friendship.
When they crested the last hill, they were greeted with the sight of what appeared to be a jagged rift in the air, hanging above the stone, and filled with a black void. Below the rift, a robed male Wizard struggled with a beam of light he had aimed at the rift itself, and was surrounded by three more wolves, as well as two men matching the description of Cassius and Doran. The men and wolves inched closer to the Wizard, and Cassius let loose an arrow at the man, which he narrowly dodged. The light dimming slightly as he pulled his attention away, the Wizard slammed his staff to the ground, throwing the men and creatures back a dozen paces.
"Assist me," he bellowed at the group. With another slam of his staff upon the ground, the group felt a wave of healing energy wash over them, energizing them for the fight to come. With that, the Wizard turned his attention fully back to his beam of light, which strengthened once more, and our heroes charged into the fray.
Aelar held Cassius at bay, trading arrows with the bowman at range, while his companions engaged the wolves and Doran with his staff at close range, noting that Doran's eyes were entirely consumed by a black void. Naivara, in a burst of arcane fury, unleashed a devastating blast of fire that incinerated one of the wolves where it stood. The remaining foes fell one by one, distracted each in turn by the cutting rebukes of Merla's wit, and each time an oily black film stretching first off of them and being sucked up into the rift before eventually falling to the group. After they dispatched the last wolf while it attempted to flee, the team moved to the now unconscious Cassius and Doran, free from the dark influence that had held them, and stabilized them. A short while later, the Wizard cried aloud and slammed his staff upon the ground once more, a final burst of white light impacting the rift which slammed shut. The faint glow from the stone faded, and the Wizard collapsed in relief against it.
When he had caught his breath, he woodenly thanked the gathered adventurers for their aid, and identified himself as Alidar, High Wizard of Fallcrest City. Before they could pepper him with further questions, he regained his composure, muttered a few words about notifying the Wizard's Council and for them to visit him in Fallcrest City, and took to the air, flying off to the south east. Perplexed, but exhausted, Damaia and Kaladan hauled the unconscious farmers onto their shoulders, and the group made its way back to town, where it seemed the entire countryside had gathered, reacting to the lights and shockwaves in the night. They were greeted with accolades, food, and drink, and then promptly ignored as the townsfolk tended to their wounded kin.
In the morning, Gorm stumbled in and provided a sack of gold that had been provided as payment for their deeds, and promptly departed, his job done. Percival as well bid them farewell, saying his was off to find a piece of eight, and jogging in Kaladan's mind the memory of a, in hindsight, remarkably familiar looking stone a distance out into the lake he had been fishing in not long ago. Although they were all looking right at him, no one could remember seeing Percival leave them; he simply wasn't there any longer. Gathering their things, and deciding to set off in the direction of Fallcrest City to find Alidar, and answers. Rather than taking the direct road that led first north through Newford before joining the main road, they took a detour back to their old campsite. Although it was nearing dark when they arrived, Merla and Kaladan spotted what looked like a stone standing in the lake a distance off. Our heroes carefully checked the surroundings for blights, before heading to bed.
In the morning, they awoke rested, energized, and enlightened from the activities of the previous days, having gained significant experience, and grown as individuals. Although they had known each other for less than an eightday, they were already forming bonds of friendship.
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Ending Day: 10th of Lowsun
Episode 02 - Arrival in Standing Stone
Beginning Day: 7th of Lowsun
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Our adventurers rise with the sun, awakening shaken but otherwise intact following the events of the prior evening. The small fire of the night before burned out, and with it the bulk of the Vine Blight they had used as fuel out of spite. With Aelar once again mobile, if not healed, they set off through the forest and emerged on the other side without further incident. They once again reached a crossroads a few Ks outside of the village, where the path become a far more well-traveled, hard-packed dirt road in both directions. By midday they had arrived into the village center, a collection of a few single-story buildings and a two-story inn surrounding a singular, large and unnaturally smooth stone jutting nearly twenty feet into the air.
After bothering a poor dwarf at one of the dwellings, they were given the extraordinarily complicated directions of walking across the way to the inn, where they were greeted by the owner, Thea Farlight. Waiting inside, and well into his cups, they met the dwarf Gorm, Emissary of the Earl of Fallcrest City, and Damaia, a tiefling Fighter who had also answered the call for aid. Kayla attempted to make friends in her own way by crafting a flower for the dwarf, which was immediately placed in the alms box Kaladan insistently shoved under the Emissary's nose.
Over a lunch and some light day drinking, our band of heroes, now numbering five strong, learned that over the past weeks, something had been slaughtering the herds of Rowntree Sheep that called the six standing stones that flanked the town center home. To make matter's worse, two of the local farmers, Doran Brook and Cassius Morningfall had gone missing several nights prior while standing watch over the flock of Berinon Farlight, the town having banded together in an attempt to protect the remaining flocks.
Gorm provided a map of the area, and they set out for the Farlight farm, directly north of the town after the dwarf assured himself they would return before dark.
After bothering a poor dwarf at one of the dwellings, they were given the extraordinarily complicated directions of walking across the way to the inn, where they were greeted by the owner, Thea Farlight. Waiting inside, and well into his cups, they met the dwarf Gorm, Emissary of the Earl of Fallcrest City, and Damaia, a tiefling Fighter who had also answered the call for aid. Kayla attempted to make friends in her own way by crafting a flower for the dwarf, which was immediately placed in the alms box Kaladan insistently shoved under the Emissary's nose.
Over a lunch and some light day drinking, our band of heroes, now numbering five strong, learned that over the past weeks, something had been slaughtering the herds of Rowntree Sheep that called the six standing stones that flanked the town center home. To make matter's worse, two of the local farmers, Doran Brook and Cassius Morningfall had gone missing several nights prior while standing watch over the flock of Berinon Farlight, the town having banded together in an attempt to protect the remaining flocks.
Gorm provided a map of the area, and they set out for the Farlight farm, directly north of the town after the dwarf assured himself they would return before dark.
Upon arrival, they find Berinon standing watch over the decaying corpses of his flock. Upon careful inspection, Kayla determined that the wounds were consistent with a wolf attack, but that a dark power lingered around the injuries. One by one, each of our heroes inspected the stone around which the attack had occurred, each concluding that it did indeed curve at the top to point directly toward the town, and that it was unnaturally smooth. Aelar used Kaladan as a step stool, and deftly climbed to the top of the rock, where he confirmed that it, too, was quite smooth. The light fading, they headed back to the Gilded Lamb to bed down for the night.
Gorm immediately grabbed a tankard and left to sleep in the barn. Rather than head to bed, our band settled in for a few more drinks after briefly accosting the inn keeper's son, Geth, who had been conversing with the only other occupant of the room. Learning only that the stones had always kept the trees away, they eventually let Geth go, and turned their attention to the stranger, a modestly handsome, black haired and sharp-featured human named Percival. Although a long, thin silver sword hung at his waist, he professed to be a simple bard. He and Merla entertained them with sea shanties long into the night, while he and Aelar danced upon the tables.
When morning finally came, our band enlisted Gorm's aid once more to lead them to one of the two remaining farms that had not yet been attacked, that of Jade Morningfall, Cassius's sister to the north west. They made their way to the stone, learning that the herds could not be easily kept away from the stones themselves, which were their preferred grazing grounds, and that the attacks always happened at night, so they weren't worried about the flock grazing here during the day. Jade was outwardly unaffected by her brother's disappearance, reckoning he and Doran had simply been out tracking down whatever had killed the flock.
After inspecting this stone, and again confirming that yes, it was smooth, and yes, it pointed toward town, the group decided to wait until dark, to discover what was happening. During their watch, Kaladan and Kayla observed a dense fog bank roll in from the north west, which stopped on the far side of the stone from them. Kayla attempted to send some light into the fog, but all her magic stopped dead on the border. Quite suddenly, the group was set upon by a trio of wolves emerging from the fog. Each wolf seemed to be far hardier than they would have thought for a time, although eventually, a thin film of darkness would seep off the animals and stretch off behind them seemingly into infinity. After dealing with two of the animals, the last was slain in mid-leap right next to the stone, its blood splattering over the rock.
Black light immediately began to glow from the blood, and smoke rose from the stone where it was hit. The fog vanished in a blink, and there was an impact to the air - thunder, without sound. In the far distance, toward the village, an explosion of pulsing light lit the horizon.
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Ending Day: 8th of Lowsun
Episode 01 - A Beginning
Beginning Day: 6th of Lowsun, 2566th Year of the 4th Age
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Our journey begins at a crossroads. Aelar, a half-elf Rogue journeys to the isolated hamlet of Standing Stone, responding to a general call posted in neighboring cities and towns for adventurous spirits to lend martial aid to the small village. At a crossroads, he meets the Halfling Bard Merla, well into her second century, who is on a personal quest to sample the famous Rowntree Lamb raised and produced exclusively in the region around Standing Stone. Exported (at exorbitant prices) throughout the Fey Coast, few who can afford to indulge in the delicacy have a mind (or the constitution) to undertake the long journey through the relatively untamed wilds to sample the cuisine at its source. Aelar stops to join Merla as they get to know one another over a lunch of travel rations. While eating, the Druid Kyla, hair a tangled mess of leaves and twigs, comes into view, responding to a specific summons, seeking her aid by name.
After a short while, the three agreed to make the remainder of the journey together, and set off on the old, and disused looking road. Not much farther past the crossroads where they met, the road quickly became overgrown, with only a few wagon ruts to mark the way as it headed into a denser forest. Distracted by, and frankly trying to avoid, the company of her new fellows, Kyla briefly lost her way in the woods, before being found by her companions. As the night grew long, the three decided to set up camp in a small clearing that contained the remnants of an old fire. While attempting to gather some dry wood nearby, Kyla was ambushed by a Thorn Blight, while a larger humanoid Vine Blight attacked Aelar and Merla back at the campfire. Although they fought valiantly, they were caught of guard, and the battle had begun to go poorly when out of the darkness a towering dragonborn Paladin crashed into the fray, bellowing the name of his God Bahamut, and obliterating the Thorn Blight with a swing of his might morningstar. The four then turned their attention to the Vine Blight, dispatching the creature and pinning its remains to a nearby tree, but not before Aelar was knocked unconscious.
Through shear power of devotion to Bahamut, the Kaladan the Paladin, who it turned out had been fishing at a nearby lake and heard the commotion, stabilized Aelar, who then recovered slowly throughout the night. Our ragtag band of adventurers now numbered four, and night came and went without further incident.
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Ending Day: 7th of Lowsun, 2566th Year of the 4th Age
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