Low Rolls, High Hopes

A game of Dungeons and Dragons. Played over Discord voice, alternating between the Crookwich campaign and the Sunland campaign every week. DM: Crunchy. CROOKWICH Kaipo: Ruka. Melpomene: Rae. Ris: Kahl. Flick: syn. SUNLAND Camilla: Shulkie. George: Xarsoth. Harmony: syn. Hope: Keth.

[bruntalism]

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode 76: Tidanos Again

Solishili told the party that there was ‘blood in the water’ and asked them to give Loremaster Sartoris a message: Limune needed a master, and Sartoris isn’t powerful enough to rule it himself, and if he did not see the situation remedied, Solishili herself would take over, although she did not wish to. She offered them her blessing of water breathing once more, and they set off into the ocean.

Soon they noticed there were skeins of blood in the water, and then they heard a soporific song of primordial rest and divine peace. Cam nodded off and they were attacked by crocodilian demons with many mouths, that sang these lullabies, and Merrity nodded off twice in the ensuing battle.

A bit further on, they saw a pile of discarded shark armour, and a memorial stone.

When they came within sight of Limune itself, the city seemed protected, encased in clear water, the lights of the shell palace and coral buildings shining brightly. Between them and the city, however was a gargantuan horned shark. The party attempted to sneak by it into the cleft, but were unsuccessful. They bolted for it instead, the shark demanding they worship it in a voice that rang in their heads. With Cam’s water elemental scooping up Harmony, and Hope pulling Merrity onto Gabe, they almost made it to the city wall when the shark breathed icy water on them, George still well-hidden a bit further back. The shark bit and attempted to drink Cam’s water elemental but could not get a grip on her.

Merrity cast a spell, and on the second attempt successfully banished the shark, and it did not return. The inhabitants of Limune had not forgotten the party and they were made very welcome, and conveyed to the Library of Tales. Merrity was delighted with the place, and set about sharing his own library within the mansion. Loremaster Sartoris welcomed the party back, and accepted Solishili’s message without argument. Tidanos, he said, lurked in the abyss next to the city, and the party were welcome to take the time they needed to prepare. The strange energy now flowing out of the hole had changed Tidanos; for the worse, and it was absorbing more. The sooner they killed it the better.

Harmony got to work researching dragon turtles and Merrity asked for and received permission from the Loremaster to access the library’s spellbook collection. Sartoris explained that Tidanoss could be drawn up out of the pit by lowering the city’s defenses. The statue of Zinxenos was no longer in the palace but now on the edge of the city. Cam communed with nature and learned that the Abyssal influence came from a place called the Bloodstained Sea.

The party conferred and since Harmony learned that dragon turtles were easier to fool than other kinds of dragons, Merrity hid the statue with an illusion and then made two more illusory statues in different places.

The next day, Sartoris waited by the disguised statue while the party positioned themselves, then lowered Limune’s defenses. Tidanos responded. The dragon turtle was now turning red, and teeth were growing out of its body, as well as its mouth. A strange frill sprouted from the side of its neck.

And it was completely fooled by the illusions.

It attacked the first false statue, while the party attacked it, and Merrity was briefly overcome by rage, and Tidanos called in one of the crocodile demons, that swiftly pacified Merrity and Cam. Harmony cast bane on the enemies, and George woke Merrity. Loremaster Sartoris came out of hiding and woke Cam.

Cam turned the demon into a sea slug, silencing it, while Gabe got Hope over to Tidanos. Merrity used powerful magic to trap it in an illusory prison, which the creature broke out of, despite the pain. George went for it next, stunning it so Hope could unleash her holy power for her next strike. As Tidanos thrashed and died the bloody water thickened for a moment, but the group resisted the rage, and then, when the dragon went limp, the energy it had absorbed in the pit was released in a wave of force that pushed everyone back and the power threatened to germinate Cam’s seeds. She planted the lighter one, and as it exploded downwards, it drew in the power, pulling the blood out of the water, filling the pit.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Averhill Ep 71: The Mine

The party descended in the elevator with their unconscious captive, and disabled it behind them. Within the mine they discovered strange black spheres that noiselessly absorbed whatever was put in them. The mine was also full of demons. As they were working out how to proceed the elevator cable was cut and Quenthas’s assistant arrived. In the ensuring battle Quenthas was killed but not before he could summon in one last helper; she lurked in the elevator shaft, and as Wrath commandeered one of the black orbs with his deep knowledge of the arcane, Ris felt a familiar mind prise open her own and pull out this fact; that Mel had a portal key.

Then Ris was taken over entirely, and forced to attack Mel, who teleported into the mine as far as she could. Ris shook off the spell, and Wrath, Flick and Ris defeated the rest of the demons while Mel healed herself and ran for the portal.

Flick and Ris rested, while Wrath went in search of Mel, but Lady Duskery found her first, the wounded bard no match for the demons’ strength. As Mel’s soul floated free she was drawn down dark tunnels full of webs, and had a vision of a vast, beautiful elven woman caught in them, sunk in a poisoned sleep, with a darker force just behind her drawing her in.

She was rescued, scooped up and then felt her hand being grasped by a young, androgynous elf with gold hair and an azure cape. He introduced himself as Corellon and  called her ‘Young Soul’ and told her she wouldn’t die yet; he had the power to restore Sehanine from her corruption, but she had shut him out of his realm. If they could destroy her corrupted avatar, he would be able to rescue her. He asked Mel her name, and said she could use his last one, Larethian, because they were family. And then he sent her back.

Eventually Wrath located Mel with a message spell, and sent Ratchet back to collect the others while he ventured on invisibly. Duskery sensed his mind and spoke to him a while, trying to convince him to work with her, while Mel, trussed in webs, wiggled around telling Wrath not to.

When Ris and Flick arrived, Duskery gave up on persuasion and took her true form, opening the portal. Although she had filled the entrance hole with webs, the party were able to run her down. Mel had the idea that one of the black spheres might be enough to destroy the portal. Wrath sent it at Duskery first, and in retaliation, she used it to destroy Mel’s staff of healing, before Flick finally cut her down.

Wrath used the orb on the portal and the resulting blast caused the ceiling to cave in on everyone else, but the portal was utterly destroyed as was the orb.

The party rested in the tiny hut, and Mel told everyone what she’d experienced beyond the veil of death.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode 74: Introducing Merritie

After gazing at the wound in the world for a while, the summoner turned to the other slaves and suggested turning over the remains of the devil’s camp to search for useful things. While George and Harmony unearthed the skymade weapons and as yet unforged pieces of sky, the summoner found his spellbook, along with the spellbook of the goblin. He cast a spell and a doorway appeared. He invited all and sundry to enter and refresh themselves, although his mentioning of an unnamed payment made the devil-tormented slaves deeply suspicious.

Meanwhile, Cam had walked forward, feeling the natural energy flowing past her and out into the dark space beyond this reality. Not all of it, some of it snagged on her, and she felt a warmth over her chest, where she kept her apple tree seed. She fished it out and looked at it, and as she watched, a curl of steam rose from it, as it started to germinate in her hand.

More than germinate, it started to grow, as it absorbed the vast amount of energy around it. Cam cast plant growth, and desert immediately erupted with wildflowers under everyone’s feet, blooming and seeding, the seeds germinating before they hit the ground. Cam placed the seed, and as soon as the dangling roots touched the ground they burrowed in, and as Cam held on to the new tree she was lifted up into the air. One of the slaves stuck his head through the door to let the mage know magic was afoot outside.

Cam felt movement in her pack, and opened it as her now-adult fire beetles made a bid for freedom. The dirt she’d kept them in erupted with fungi and plants. The lightning spear that once belonged to Vibren’s father also started to change, growing in power on her back. Cam decided it was time to climb down, lost her grip, but the mage slowed her fall.

He introduced himself as Merritie, and explained that his magical mansion could provide them with all they desire, and the cost was merely that he wanted an audience for a show that evening.

Hope took herself off for a bath while George introduced the party. Who they all were and how they came to be there, was a long tale indeed, but Harmony had been making notes.

Over the course of the day a new biome was taking form, shaped by Cam’s magic, and powered by the raw essence that flowed so freely in Sunland. It could not be a permanent solution, but the flow of energy out of the world had been staunched. The tree produced a single huge fruit, like a pine cone, and at its heart were two seeds grown together, one darker and one lighter.

The slaves took advantage of the mansion, but also returned to watch Cam, holding discussions among themselves. The party identified some items and bestowed scrolls they’d all but forgotten about upon Merritie.

That evening, while Cam struggled to stay awake, the wizard put on the promised show, an entirely entertaining and mostly true recount of his own life up to this point.

Resting in the mansion did indeed provide everything one could with for, and the next morning they emerged into a forest, still growing, but more slowly. The first birds had arrived.

The ex-slaves had clearly been discussing things, and none of them had any real desire to return to Silring, Grand Visakt, or Zabamaier, and they wanted to stay in this new forest. Cam did not want them touching her tree, and they promised to obey any rules she set down.

Hope summoned Gabe, but now he took the form of a golden pegasus, and while George climbed the tree, Cam took elemental form and Hope gave Merritie a lift to examine the wound in the sky more closely.

As they approached, their minds were assaulted by the alien power of that place, and Merritie felt a compulsion to get closer, that great and terrible knowledge and power lay just beyond. Hope was able to grab him and use protective magic to help him free himself, and they descended. It was clear they didn’t yet have the means to scar the wound, as Siroccos had suggested.

Cam asked Harmony to send a message to the druids to summon them, and Merritie provided a mansion for the ex-slaves for at least the next day. He also produced a large illusion of Cam that would speak a message to anyone that approached.

It was the best they could do, and Cam opened a portal in the giant tree and took them back to the irrigated farms outside Zabamaier. Hope paid for Merritie’s visitor token, and they entered the city.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode Seventy-Three: The Wound in the World

The party climbed down the sharp, mineral-encrusted vines, taking out one of the guards on the way, and snuck around the side of the poisonous spring. At the top of the temple, a huge, multi-headed yuan ti had just completed a ritual sacrifice on the blood drenched altar. As the party watched, a green, scaled creature with wings conversed with the giant yuan-ti and started a slow circle of the mountain, looking but failing to find the group.

The party approached the temple making their way up to the balconies on one side and getting the drop on the guards but the alarm was raised. The flying creature attacked with spells that the party resisted or Harmony dispelled, and Hope ran out to attack the big one one. It grappled her and she teleported behind it and all but cut it in half.

Cam could hear reinforcements coming and she took the vines and accelerated their growth into an all but impenetrable thicket, that filled the rooms within the rocky walls of the mountain, and spread across the ground in all directions.

Hope called on George to finish the giant yuan ti and he did so, and turned his attention to the green flying beast, which headed for the top of the temple, where an orb was resting on a plinth.

Cam and Harmony started pushing their way through the plants to the orb, but the creature could fly over them. At least until Hope misty stepped onto its back, as George peppered it with arrows.

As Harmony and Cam approached the orb, they could see a reptilian eye gazing back at them through it, although the colour kept changing, from blue to black to red to green. The creature tried to cast a spell on Harmony but he resisted it and between Hope and George it was soon brought crashing down dead.

The other yuan-ti were hesitant to approach, and merely prayed the interlopers were to be struck down. They were not. Instead Hope scooped the orb into the bag of holding, and the party slid down to a treasury behind the shrine, and after collecting a handful of magical items and a considerable amount of money, they made their way out of the complex, leaving the yuan ti to decide if it was worth clearing out the vines.

As they left, there was no sign of the red dragon.

The journey back to Zabamaier was uneventful, and they went directly to the palace to hand over the orb. Fernisardax accepted it with a look of disgust and flew up with it, throwing it high over his head and breathing fire on it. It detonated, and when he returned Fernisardax observed it was ‘a poke in the eye for the bitch queen.’ He also said he would lend them in his aid in healing the rift, once the devils had been removed.

As they were discussing this, they were joined by a beautiful human woman in fine robes and jewels, although the clothes were entirely illusory. They had seen her before; in a portrait in the palace in Silring.

Siervana thanked her father for destroying the orb. He wasn’t particularly happy to see her, and she counterspelled Harmony’s attempt to heal her, knowing her father wouldn’t tolerate her presence if she wasn’t weakened. She wished to speak to her daughter, and he gave her until dawn to leave Zabamaier.

Harmony messaged Telula and they agreed to meet at Mirabella’s rooms. While the party had been gone, Telula had made good friends with Mirabella and was trying to learn as much as she could from the older woman. When the party arrived they were both dressed for dancing.

Mirabella and Telula both were glad to see everyone and disappointed not to get a look at the orb, although they and the city had witnessed its destruction. Telula was very ambivalent about meeting her mother, scared that she’d return to Silring and take revenge on the king for ordering her death, should she find out about it.

Siervana wanted to know if the king had remarried, and Telula wanted to know what she was going to do next, and tried to decide if she should kill her mother while she was weakened. The party did their best to calm everyone down, and Siervana eventually left, with nothing really concluded.

Harmony and Hope took advantage of their new VIP visitor’s tags and left the city to Send information back to Lord Thail, while Cam and Telula had a discussion about family.

Mirabella cornered George and asked him what his intentions were regarding the princess. In the few weeks she’d gotten to know her, Mirabella was sure she felt something for George. George said he didn’t know.

There was no time to waste, and Hope was eager to get stuck into the devils. The next morning they started heading south.

After many days of travel, they saw a vast, stationary cloud on the horizon, radiating rage. They’d seen a few devils on the road, and the sky was patrolled by imps. Occasionally they’d hear sounds of battle as the devils cleared out the aberrations spawning in from the hole in the sky.

George scouted ahead and saw a small encampment at the base of the storm. Four large tents, an open-air smithy and two large blocks of stoned or metal covered in runes, and each with a large chain straining up into the cloud.

George returned with this information, and while Gabe was given charge of the terrified lizards, Hope remained hidden while the others scouted the camp. They saw two chain devils feed a slave into each of the firey holes in the metal blocks, and found maybe two dozen surviving slaves in one of the tents. A second was empty, and a third held stocks of skymade weapons. In the forth, was a summoning circle, and two mages, a goblin and a human were being forced to summon in demons.

Hope was retrieved, and when the latest new arrival left the tent, it got no further and the group attacked. The imps quickly raised the alarm and the devils at the smithy flew over to lend aid, and from within the storm itself a devil dressed in armour of sky flew out.

The goblin fled, but the human remained to fight. The mage called out that the devils had no control over the storm, and perhaps the chain should be severed, and when the party turned their attention to it, the armoured devil turned his attention to them. The devices themselves could be activated, to spit thunder and lash lightning at his command, and Harmony countered the spell he attempted to cast on Hope.

With Harmony harried by devils flying above him, George took off his belt and unravelled his whip, giving him the reach to strike back. Cam took earth elemental form, and slammed at the device, the head devil carving into her.

Hope drew upon her divine connection and the power of her goddess sent two of the devils, including the leader, fleeing into the sky. Harmony managed to suppress the magic on the second device, while Hope and Cam desperately tore into the first one. When Hope finally sundered it, a vast ring of metal dropped from the sky and landed in the remains of the encampment, and a storm arrived. Impotent rage had become joyful vengeance as lightning bolts tore through the remaining devils, imps ashed in the sky. Gouts of molten glass were thrown up as lightning hammered the desert, and the party yelled for the remaining slaves to run for the iron ring, which acted as a kind of barrier from the lightning.

When the devils were dead, the storm ended and a trillion grains of sand dropped from a calm sky, revealing the form a truly vast white dragon, its wings the cloud itself. It spoke in primordial, “Staunch the bleeding, then seal the wound.”

Then Sultan Siroccos Empearal, Guardian of the Ragged Edge, Eye of the Storm flew north, leaving a long scrap of fine silk, the colour of the storm, floating on the air behind them.

In the deafening silence, it was now possible to see what lay behind the storm, a ragged black void in the sky. Cam could sense the natural power of the world pouring out of it and burning off, as bright as a candle in a vast dark cavern, and every eye of the unspeakable entities beyond, turning on this point of light with hunger. She could feel the pain of the world, like a severed artery now Siroccos was not there to staunch the flow.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Averhill Episode 70: The Candlemaster

Ris darted into the workshop unseen and attacked one of the automatons and it immediately turned and jetted oil all over her, and when she fell, the two constructs swung their picks down at her. The rest of the party rushed to her aid, save for Mel, who had her eyes on the elevator.

A third construct, the boiler, got to its feet and joined the fray. Wrath drew the attention of the constructs and ended up passing out as one of them exploded. After a short and greasy fight, the automatons were in pieces, and Mel fried whatever computing centre controlled the boiler.

A quick search of the workshop revealed no useful maps, but the elevator already had a key in it. After healing a bit, the party descended via the lift down into a mine shaft, the walls opalescent and marbled with blue sandstone.

About sixty feet down, they also came across a wooden door with OFFICE on the front, and a bell on a chain.

Suspicious of the bell, the Mel asked Flick to chop the metal arm holding it off completely, and in doing so she roused the occupant as the bell jangled. The door was unlocked and Quenthas, dressed in an apron and goggles, told them the mine was closed and to go away. He didn’t appear to recognise them. Behind him in his workshop, a dozen small green creatures assisted him with his work.

Ris pushed her way in and demanded answers, but Quenthas was genuinely puzzled, and not a little annoyed at having guests. Around his work space was more of the silvery salt-infused metal, and various attempts to cast it in a mold, as well as lots of arcane diagrams.

Wrath cast an eye over these and quickly realised Quenthas had worked out how to construct a portal, one to the lower planes of the Abyss. He was currently working on trying to create a key. He was quite interested in Wrath’s devices and explained that he’d worked out how to try and get the supply of salt back. He was resistant to the idea that it was a bad thing to do, and Wrath recognised that he was probably demon corrupted, and convinced of the correctness of his actions; reason would not work.

Quenthas said the salt had given him the ability to summon assistants like the little creatures now watching invisibly, and he had one masquerading as himself up on the surface so he could work undisturbed.

Clearly too dangerous to be left alone, killing him didn’t sit right either, but when the party attempted to take him into custody the little creatures and the guard construct moved to defend him. Quenthas wriggled free of Ris’s grasp and ran upstairs to fetch a lightning cannon. Flick pulled him down and grabbed him, and Wrath relieved him of the weapon. The little creatures were not strong, although they were venomous, and quickly went invisible again. Quenthas tried to escape, and Flick swept his legs out from under him, knocking him cold as he fell. The last two creatures flew out, Wrath followed and decided to try out the lightning cannon. To his disappointment, it didn’t fire, and he returned to the lab as the party pondered their next move.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Averhill Episode Sixty-Nine: Daesatra

With the Candlemaster in pursuit, the party went through a door to hide and found themselves in a dim, smoky room full of quietly partying elves. Mel was the only one visible, and one of the elven women seemed to recognise her. While Mel tried to hide, Ris remembered who she was; Daesatra, the priestess of Sehanine who had died on the dock at Falla Alinor, living her afterlife.

Ris approached her, and she started to remember what had happened during her last life. She led the group to a quieter room to talk. She said she felt like she couldn’t contact her Goddess directly; she said she felt how it was when she was mortal. She offered to help them find the way out and with the party invisibly following, simply asked a guard for directions.

On the way out they ran in to Nepril, now in her summer aspect, and Silas, disguised in guard armour, attempting to break in. They slipped out in the confusion and Nepril led them to a house belonging to a sculptor named Reysatra, who was less than pleased to see Nepril in her angry aspect, but who nevertheless offered the party her hospitality.

Ris noticed that Reysatra had a clockwork foot, and when Nepril asked her about it she said she’d misstepped.

Wrath was in a bad way, and he and Mel healed each other, while the party was free to discuss for the first time what they’d learned.

Nepril suggested that the party could escape the city via the mines where Reysatra sourced the stone for her creations. She was willing to give the party the key to the elevator down, but warned them that the Candlemaster had closed the mines to visitors. She also told them to beware of holes. Upon being questioned, she revealed that she’d lost her foot by stepping in one. They were clearly not normal holes. She said she passed out and was brought back to the surface by one of the automatons.

The party rested, and while she was meditating, an old memory came to Mel, of being swaddled in cloth and carried rushing through the cold night air through starry skies.

After resting and bidding farewell to Silas and Lusan, Wrath resupplied the party with invisibility and Nepril led them through the city to the building that housed the elevator to the mines, and wished them luck.

Although a sign indicated the mines were closed, the doors weren’t locked, and when Ris peeked her head in, she saw two automatons hard at work breaking up a big chunk of abyssal salts, and heating it before feeding it into an alchemical arcane process. A third automaton sat dormant with its feet folded under it, and standing open, the metal cage of the elevator.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Averhill Episode 68: In the Palace of House Umber

Mel was soon visited by the Archiater of House Umber, Elsarwyn. She appeared strangely young, younger than Mel herself, and asked her to submit to magic that would compel her to tell the truth, reluctantly Mel agreed.

Elsarwyn asked Mel’s name, how old she was, where she was from with a strange urgency, and only then did she ask for more details about their quest. Mel was reluctant to explain but when she described where the salts were from, Elsarwyn was horrified; They Abyss is a place of pure evil and corruption, and that influence had now infected Sehanine’s very home.

Sehanine herself was no longer responding to prayers, and her home in the Spire of Joy was now in house Ardent territory, beyond the fog of war. They had sent petitioners regardless but they had not returned.

With the corruption spreading no one could be truly trusted, but Elsarwyn was most concerned about the Candlemaster, who had been in charge of developing uses for the salt. She said she would help them escape rather than let them go openly and Mel asked her to get them their weapons back. She said she would.

Ris meanwhile used her cloak of blink to try and get out of her room, but the barrier extended into the ethereal plane. Her frustration brought the guards running and she was able to slip past them. Ris explored the palace looking for Lusan and by the front doors she spotted the Candlemaster and Trina, who was clearly less than happy to see him. He insisted on entering the palace and speaking to the Archiater and was reluctantly let in, with attending automatons, including a clockwork beetle.

Eventually Ris found a young elven girl who appeared to be looking for someone. She turned out to be Archiater Elsarwyn and looking for Ris herself. She explained what was going on, and promised to move Lusan to the library.

The rest of the party meanwhile were served dinner, and Mel’s came with a side of giant magical emerald.

The crew of the Tibor was also marched through the palace as well. Wrath managed to have a brief message exchange with one who informed him that Silas had gone to seek help from Nepril.

Time passed, and Flick noticed something climbing over the wall, the guards running. Elsarwyn sent a message telepathically to Ris that the time had come, and she lowered the force barriers in front of the rooms.

There were still guards in the hallway, however and Ris tried to distract them with ball bearings. She got their attention at least.  She tried to break down Wrath’s door, and the guards, clearly under orders to try and avoid harming their guests, used a variety of charm spells to try and keep them from escaping. Eventually, even with Wrath still charmed, they ran low on magic and decided to raise the alarm rather than fight.

Wrath had a plan; he roped the party together and gave them invisibility, and they went in search of Lusan. The alarm had been raised, but they found the library, and added Lusan to their invisible conga line. Next Wrath said he wanted to return to the Hall of Navigators. When they arrived he took down the portrait of Ris’s father and they started cutting it out of its frame. Eventually a pair of automaton guards arrived and Wrath distracted them and led them away long enough for the others to obtain the painting. Now looking for an exit, they tried to find a garden, and instead entered a room with a vast waterfall, the falling water directed carefully to shape the form of Sehanine herself. The party moved to cross the room, and the water started to rise, filling the chamber, and then a whirlpool formed, and only Flick was not drawn in. Through magic and muscle, the party swam, and pulled themselves and each other out of the water and up to the gallery level of the room.

As they were doing so, the Candlemaster himself located them and teleported in nearby. He fired a lightning cannon at them as they fled, counterspelling Wrath’s attempt to fireball him back. As soon as they were out of sight, they quickly healed somewhat and reapplied the invisibility spell to those who had lost it.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode 72: Druvok’s Rings

The party then decided to celebrate Harmony's birthday with some lunch, staying in the Swoop and eating there after Cam first dragged them to a bar full of dragonborn guards. Afterwards they went to select their lizards and prepare to leave the following morning.

They would be leaving Telula in Zabamaier with Mirabella, and the princess talked with Harmony a while about her. She was eager to learn new skills from the spy.

They spent one more night in the cellar, and over breakfast Cam tried to pass on to Telula some advice about coming to terms with family, especially of mixed folk, and to tell her that she didn't trust Mirabella, even though many of her actions now made more sense in hindsight.

The party collected their lizards, handed in their visitor's tokens, and left the city via the southern gate, heading west. The lizards were far more at home on the sands than the horses, and with Harmony's map they made good time across the dunes.

Unable to find a decent campsite one evening, they were obliged to camp out in the open. During the night a large lizard creature approached and attempted to eat Harmony, who was on watch. The party saw it off in short order, although George later heard it roaring and a strange whistling laugh.

The next day they found its half-eaten corpse being picked over by buzzards. That night Harmony heard something sneaking around the camp, although it backed off when he looked around. Hope also heard it during her watch, and pretended to be oblivious, luring it into attacking her.

It seized her and attempted to drag her off as she raised the alarm, and cast darkness on her shield. George waded in to the dark and the creature eventually grew tired of the pummeling, dropped Hope and ran out again. Already wounded, it failed to make a dent in Harmony and he sent it whining off into the dark with some cutting words and a slap on the tail with his staff. It did not return.

The next day saw the party approaching their destination, a rocky outcropping riven with deep gorges, and before it some stone archways, however, instead of the five described, their were only two left intact, and some broken stone pillars.

Harmony found a good place to camp and they spent a peaceful night a safe distance from Druvok's Rings. Cam used the golden bowl to produce a delightful feast that fortified them all, including the pack lizards.

The next morning the approached stealthily and Cam communed with the land learning that yes there was a dragon nearby, and a small settlement of yuan-ti, and a deep, poisonous spring within the geological formation ahead.

George scouted, and discovered what appeared to be a tent surrounded by rubbish and a few lizards. Sneaking closer he realised the 'tent' was in fact the dried remains of a huge leathery wing, and the lizards had moved in to the dried corpse of a huge winged beast, its crushed skull resting next to the broken pillar. A dragon.

George reported back and the party avoided the corpse. As they approached the nearest intact archway George spotted some movement; a pair of horns, one broken, a large reptilian eye. He alerted the party as the dragon raised its head. It was scarred and battered and missing an eye, but its scales were a deep red. It looked down at Hope and opened its jaws, and a blast of flame gushed down.

The party engaged the creature, which was clearly slightly hampered by its missing eye, but no less dangerous when it connected. Cam blighted it and it took to the air, and George called Seirvana's name, yelling that the hag was dead and her daughter alive.

The dragon reacted, and Harmony thought it seemed angry and vengeful but also desperate, despairing. It also seemed incapable of answering back, even if it could understand. Harmony cast a dispelling spell, but it took great effort to prise away whatever hold was on the beast. Hope approached peacefully, hands out, and offered  to help. This time the dragon responded, saying their was no time, that she doubted Hope's power would be enough, and that they must find the orb and give it to the Emperor.

And then she flew, hard and head first into one of the pillars, bringing down the whole archway on herself, burying her body under tones of rock.

Hope touched the tail, and concluded she wasn't quite dead, and Harmony spoke a healing word, trying to lift off the rocks until George suggested she'd trapped herself for good reason, and perhaps they should secure the orb first.

The yuan-ti had clearly seen what had happened and had stationed guards and archers at the two gorges that provided entrance to their temple, so the party decided to climb up the side. At the top of the hill they commanded a view of the hollow interior, the rocky walls lined with stairs and balconies, the large poisonous spring surrounded by crystalline growths and spanned by two bridges, and directly opposite the flight of stairs leading to a temple. As Fernisardax had suggested, they knew it when they saw it.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Averhill Episode Sixty-Seven: Fabricius

Fabricius turned out to be a glowing city of clockwork and shimmering lights, the inhabitants of which danced through the endless evening. As the Tibor approached the skydock, other ships were already moored, and strange pale figures without clothes and with lights on their heads worked to repair them.

Upon arriving at the dock Nepril spoke for them to the elven foreman and he was prepared to work on the Tibor. There was no discussion of payment.

Nepril led the party through the warehouse below the docks, which was stocked with, among other things wax figures with a wick sticking out of their heads; temporary workers to repair the ships. Nepril said the Candlemaker was an important person within house Umber and that since they’d started using salt he’d diversified his creations, and had worked on designing the heart ships, the third generation of skyships, that relied not on genie power, or on burning salt, but on some other use of the salt that was more efficient.

Nepril did not like those ships; communing with them was unpleasant.

Wrath went with them, but he seemed despondent despite the clockwork splendours around them. While talking with Nepril, they learned that they were within the demiplane of Sehanine, the moon goddess, and the dancers they saw in the streets and buildings were in fact her elven worshippers between their living lifetimes, waiting to be reincarnated back in the living realm. They were in an afterlife, of a sort.

They were accosted by a clockwork watchman of limited intelligence who ignored Nepril and declared them intruders and tried to capture Wrath. The party did not take kindly to this and made short work of it, but not before it shrieked a loud warning blast on its whistle.

The next constructs that arrived were doglike and despite the party’s attempts to flee they swiftly caught up, undeterred by Mel’s wall of flame. By the time they were dealt with, the strigine wanderers, the owl-moths, were fluttering above and armoured constructs with flaming swords were closing in. Wrath ran to them, flung himself to his knees, and begged surrender. The party looked to each other and followed his lead.

Upon surrendering their weapons they were taken to the palace and greeted by

Comptroller Trina Ravenwall, who asked them who they were and what they were doing, and then greeted them as guests, although she’d gazed upon Mel with well-veiled shock. She knew Tibor, Ris’s father, and invited them through a large hall, a monument to the navigators and their draconic and djinn companions. Portraits of navigators past lined the walls, and Tibor’s was among them. Tibor had arrived via portal, and had done all sorts of impossible things to become a navigator, despite being human. Trina herself had known and liked him, although she’d never entirely trusted him. Ris was offended by her candour.

The party were shown into pleasant rooms, Ris granted her father’s old abode, and invited to rest. A short while after, they gradually realised they’d been politely separated, and locked in.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode 71: Fernisardax

The party returned to Mirabella's rooms to catch her and Telula up on what had happened, take a rest, and plan their approach with the Emperor, whom they agreed it would be best to approach as soon as possible, while their helpful actions were still fresh in his mind.

To that end, they made their way to the palace, where a near-stationary queue of petitioners or those they'd employed to wait on their behalf snaked out the doors. Someone offered to sell his place to the party, but they decided to try themselves first.

Hope introduced herself, and to the surprise of everyone else waiting, they were shown right in. The palace beyond was little more than a fancy office, heavily guarded. Beyond it was the long, treasure-strewn flight of stairs to the platform with the throne.

When they stood before it, the Senachal started to announce them and then fell silent and retreated at a flick of the Emperor's tail.

"Cam, Harmony, Hope and George. I know who you are and what you've accomplished." It seemed he was ahead of them. He wanted to know Princess Telula's purpose here, as she had approached under her true name, and in her real form.

She told him who her mother was, and the Emperor confirmed he knew her name, and that they were kin. Telula told him his daughter had been killed by a hag, and he laughed, and said it was a pathetic end. However, he seemed to find the information interesting at least, and granted Telula permission to stay in his city, but extended no protection.

He was more interested in what the party had to offer. Fully aware of the danger the problem in the south posed, he was prepared to form an alliance, if the party proved themselves worthy. He was unable to act, as the problem had been caused by devils, who had compensated him well for not interfering with their business. As powerful as he was, he was not going to break the agreement. He was, however prepared to explain what was going on. The strange daggers the party had encountered were made of the same substance that formed some of the blades in his own treasure hoard.

The devils had worked out a way to crack the world, and were mining the sky to make weapons for their war against the demons. Fernisardax believed that sooner or later the greater powers would take notice of the damage and see them off, but he'd prefer to have them removed before legions of angels 'stuck their beaks into my business.'

Hence the party. If they could prove themselves by retrieving a 'disgusting artifact' from a group of yuan-ti who had turned to an alternative god, he would strike a deal. Once the devils had been removed he was prepared to lend his army and his personal attention to solving the problem they'd caused in the sky.

The party agreed and he called for Vertaga, who appeared kneeling before him in a swirl of magic. The dragonborn was no longer wearing the blue robes of the Academy, but the red and brass of the Zabamaier palace uniforms. It was now clear where the Emperor had got his intelligence from.

Vertaga led them down to a complex below the throne, and into a library, to show them a map to a place called Druvok's Rings. She explained the rings were a series of five stone arches, leading to a poisonous spring. The yuan-ti had a temple there, and the artifact would be at the heart of it.

She warned them that there would likely be a dragon guarding the place. Her intelligence was decades old, but she believed it was bronze, something that gave Hope pause. She knew bronze dragons to be intelligent and noble beings.

Vertaga could not say what god the yuan-ti were following; it was a forbidden topic in the palace. Once they had asked all they would, they were escorted outside again where Telula was waiting for them. They went to Mirabella's rooms to debrief and discuss what they had learned.

Wanting more information, they decided the ravenfolk, well travelled, might be able to help, but that was for tomorrow. As they returned to their cellar, Harmony spoke with Telula, telling her of how his mother's elven clan had ostracised her, and cared little when his father had been killed.

When they went to rest, Harmony asked Cam to wake him a dawn. During the night when George handed over watch to Cam, she asked him if he wanted to be a spy like Mirabella, and he said he didn't know. He was putting off longer-term plans, focusing on the task ahead; the right thing to do was just help where he could.

When woken, Harmony got up easily and started meditating, much to Cam's mystification. She asked him about it once they had breakfasted and made their way to the Swoop, a crowded and over-and-under built area of the city. Eventually Harmony admitted that it was his birthday.

The party entered an apocothary shop being looked after by a ravenfolk child named Sneep. Adorable as they were, the prices were too high, and they moved on to a seller of tea wares, an adult who both sold Cam a tea set that she saw Harmony eyeing off, and was able to accept Hark's IOU of a favour.

The little shop was quickly packed up and the party were led up and into the Swoop proper, learning that the ravenfolk liked to use magic to shut out the sound of the city when they met up or taught their children.

They were introduced to a trader named Chime, who had a cracked beak, and had been to Druvok's Rings before. She believed that their god was a 'she' and that she had many heads, but even within the walls of silence she was reluctant to utter the name Tiamat within Fernisardax's city.

She said she had not been out to the Rings for some time, but when she had been, the yuan-ti referred to the dragon as if it were a beast to command, and left it to patrol the area around the springs. They would not call it off, even when she came to trade, and she told the party of the path she used to get in, although she did not visit the temple or the springs themselves, as they were poisonous.

Hope produced the raiment she had taken from the mummy, and Chime offered her 1600 gold and beasts for the party to ride to Druvok's Rings. The deal was struck.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode 70: Mirabella

Mirabella led the party through a long and winding route through the city to a spindly tower. Right at the top was her home; a single room with two large windows, and a spyglass set up to observe the southern gate. Mirabella was tired and stressed, being undercover for so long, but wanted to know who Telula was.

Knowing that her hat of disguise was not impenetrable, and that Mirabella was probably canny enough to work it out eventually, the princess revealed her identity, and revealed herself to be a huge headache that Mirabella didn't need, judging by her expression.

The party took up Mirabella's offer to let them sleep on her floor, but she promised to help them find what would pass for cheap lodgings here the next day. The party discussed how they might get an audience with the Emperor, who was notoriously hard to see. The princess was prepared to announce herself officially, but they agreed it would be a last resort.

The next morning Mirabella made good on her promise, although the room offered to them was being let by someone's chef and slave, and turned out to be a root cellar. At least it was discreet. They paid for two nights without argument, and wandered the markets until noon, which was when the arena fights began.

The arena was very full, although as Mirabella had explained the Emperor didn't like it any other way, and citizens saw it as an obligation, although not an onerous one. The the crowd cheered as the ravenfolk announcer introduced the Emperor, who was watching from on high at the top of his palace. He appeared humanoid, but had large red wings.

The fight today was between a pair of giants and a group of four-armed insectoid people, one of whom kept their companions alive with healing magic, while they flipped and slashed at the giants. Eventually the giants hunted down the healer, and the battle ended with them victorious. They dedicated their success to the Emperor, and then one giant turned on his wounded companion, slaying her.

The Emperor stood, and beckoned the audience to give the opinion. It was negative. The crowd roared in genuine, wholehearted delight as the Emperor himself unfurled his wings and dived  down to put one of his clawed hands through the remaining giants' skull.

Close up the Emperor was horned and tailed as well as winged, and about ten feet tall, and there seemed something constructed, mutable, about his form. As he accepted the adulation of the crowd, George noticed the insectoid healer was not quite dead, and was in fact growing, swelling, and they reached to the corpse of a comrade and yanked out a staff, like the party had seen once before. All the corpses, giant and insect alike, started to stir and split, as the aberrations the party had encountered in the Academy of Arcane Sciences burst from them and leaped into the crowd to slay indiscriminately and add to their numbers.

Hope was already running.

The party didn't hesitate to join the fray as the crowd panicked and the guards tried to fight their way in. They knew to focus their attention on the creature with the staff, and it didn't get a chance to use it, as after George's arrows and Cam's lightning, the Emperor flew down, slashed it with his claws, and bit down on its head, tearing it clean off, fire flickering between his teeth.

Mirabella grabbed Telula and convinced her to leave, albeit rather reluctantly.

Hope took on the beasts risen from the giants while Harmony ran to defend the crowd, blowing back some of the monsters and drawing on the power in his staff. Cam pursued another, and the guards joined the fray. The Emperor helped Hope, lashing out with claws and tail, and between them it didn't take long. Hope finished off the last ex-giant, and the Emperor observed the party and gave her a look of acknowledgement before flying back to his palace.

It was up to the party to make the next move, it seemed, but they were now known to him.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode Sixty-Nine: Zabamaier

Zabamaier was a walled city within the desert, a single huge building with a flat top rising above the other towers and domes. In the sunlight, it glittered brightly, visible even from miles away. At night the city was alight with torches and lights, and threw a glow up to the sky.

The city's walls were streaked with green, where water trickled out of pipes and was carefully directed to irrigate crops grown in the shadow of the city. On the road the party overtook various caravans, and realised that the individuals they took to be human had snakelike features, that they made no attempt to hide. They also observed ravenfolk and dragonborn on the roads.

Close to the city groups of armed and armoured red dragonborn in uniform patrolled the area.

Entrance to the city was granted via several gates, trade goods through one, slaves through another, and everyone else through a third. When it was the party's turn, Hope approached the well-guarded pavillion, declared five visitors and no slaves, and forked over a large number of the rubies Lord Thail had provided the party with.

They were then provided with bronze visitor tags, and granted entry to the city.

Zabamaier was obviously very old, and extremely cramped, and unbelievably loud. People shouted, selling their wears, musicians sang and played loudly, and hanging from awnings were chimes and gongs that passers-by struck on their way past. Cam did not enjoy this. The party themselves attracted little notice, but their horses were treated as exotic creatures, and it seemed likely they could get a good price for them. Harmony approached one of the dragonborn guards and easily got directions both to the Swoop and where they might be able to trade away their beasts.

Zabamaier had several fountains within its walls, which served as landmarks and the party made their way to the one on the western side. The fountain was a pyramid of stone pots, from which clear, clean water flowed, ceaselessly and abundantly for everyone without charge.

They were approached by a tiefling, who introduced himself as Rohko, and he was very interested in purchasing their horses. He invited them back to his place of business, and Harmony, doubling the price that he would have asked in Silring, realised he was undercharging, despite Rohko's attempts to keep this hidden.

Eventually a deal was struck, and the money was exchanged over tea. Rohko recommended the visitors attend the arena fights at least once, and explained the noise in the city was to the taste of the Emperor, who liked his city to be loud. He provided water and protection; a bit of noise was the least they could do to express their gratitude. Rohko recommended the party also sample the food and entertainment on offer in the city, suggesting they 'follow the drunkest devil' to find the most exciting places.

When asked about the Breakers Bowl, Rohko said it was an establishment specalising in barbequeued meats, and was able to give general directions.

By this time it was late afternoon and the streets character had changed; fewer locals were shopping, and the party saw tieflings and devils, including imps but also horned and winged entities of human size, clearly out to have a good time. Hope recieved dirty looks when her holy symbol was recognised but otherwise they were unaccosted, as shocking as it was to see creatures normally only encountered safely within summoning circles, if at all, just wandering freely on the material plane.

Breakers Bowl was a large red building, two of the snake folk, skimpily dressed, touted for customers outside. In the side of the building, smoke redolent with the aroma of cooking meat emanated from carved wooden dragon heads.

The party were made welcome and asked for a table. A short walk through an opulent corridor ended in a vast smokey room. In the center was a huge fire pit, several beasts roasting upon it, tended by chefs. The staff were all snake people, dressed in very little. This early in the evening, there were plenty of free tables and the party requested a booth.

A vast array of meats and drinks were on offer at truly painful prices. Dances were also available. The party made their selection, and relied on George to know how to locate their contact. The meal was large, and generous with the meat, despite still being overpriced, and then it was time for dessert. Telula and Harmony decided against dessert. Cam had honey cake, and Hope ordered shaved ice, and George ordered the fruit bowl.

Rather than their regular waitress, an unusually curvy snake person approached, she had Cam's dessert in one hand, Hope's in the other, and then she slid in to George's lap, to give him an up close view of the fruit bowl filling out the cloth she had wrapped around her upper torso. George leaned back winked at her, and glanced down.

"I've missed you," Mirabella said, and winked back. She glanced at Princess Telula, who was watching all of this with wide eyes. "Who is she?"

George said she was a friend, and Mirabella whispered that she would meet them in half an hour near a lamp-seller's shop nearby, before finishing her dance and sashaying away.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Averhill Episode Sixty-six: Tefnarine

The day was inconclusive; Lusan had no reaction to holy water, and as night fell he stayed on deck interviewing First Mate Shywise and listening to her hunting stories. Flick took watch up there also, while Mel meditated.

Flick’s attention was grabbed when the conversation abruptly halted and she turned to see a large rubbery black creature with no face and huge wings grabbing Lusan in one paw and Wilhaley in the other as it prepared to fly off with them. Lusan wiggled free and Flick used her thorn whip to pull the creature down as she raised the alarm.

The party emerged to help, and Lusan raised his hands, his eyes started glowing white, and he summoned thunderstorm and called lightning down on the creature.

Wrath had flown out of the ship to led aid and was seized by second creature. That flew to grab the watchman in the crow’s nest, while the first, now quite wounded, grabbed Flick and Lusan and took to the skies. Flick hacked it apart mid-air, but Wrath was close enough to cast featherfall, so she and Lusan floated safely back down to the ship.

The last creatre took off with Wrath and the sailor, and Lusan summoned a lightning bolt that skewered the creature, but it was Ris’s arrow that brought it down, allowing Wrath to fly back with the sailor.

At this point Lusan sagged and Flick felt something like an electric shock jump off him, a tiny ball of lightning hovering in the air. Ris noticed this and was filled with anger. The strange creature actually replied when addressed, claiming it didn’t intend to hurt anyone and just wished to have a form to inhabit. It then declared Flick seemed a much stronger body and tried once again to take her over. It tried to leave after she avoided it and she hit it with her axe.

Wrath’s lightning attack did nothing to it, and Ris found it hard to hit. It cast shocking grasp on Flick and fled again. And Ris raised her hands and tried to bring her borrowed magic to bear. Two faint bluish fists appeared and thumped the tiny spark, and Mel finished it off with a spell in a shower of sparks.

Lusan had sustained some nerve damage but returned to himself again, and the party rested, the moon growing ever larger and its features clearer.

Wrath finished his work on Ris’ sword, and presented her with Eclipse, as he’d named the blade when he’d enchanted it.

They descended on the Sea of Solitude on the darkened part of the moon, looking for somewhere discreet to land and start making enquiries. At the border between the light and dark parts of the moon was a huge wall of unnatural cloud, that Azushine said had never existed before; the Dancewar was a performance, after all.

As they descended the heard a strange rhythmic moan coming from the cloud, and a  heavily damaged House Umber ship, her hull cracked open, fled the cloud, trailing sparks. Within her hull a red light pulsed.

A second ship, with the brass sails of House Ardent, was in pursuit, and the party decided to try and distract from the stricken ship, although the Tibor had no weapons of her own. Flick called to any survivors, and two wounded eladrin teleported onto the Tibor and said the salt had to be destroyed. One of them put something in his mouth.

Wrath gave Flick the power of flight and they rocketed off while Silas steered the ship around. The Ardent ship launched two large owlike, mothlike creatures towards the stricken ship. Flick flew out to meet them while Wrath searched the ship for more survivors and discovered some of the corpses were actually automatons of some kind.

Although Flick attacked the moth creatures they did not pursue her; their goal lay within the hull of the stricken ship. The eladrin cast a spell, and a partly-transparent creature appeared and entered the hull and started attacking whatever was glowing within.

Wrath saw a quick way to end this, and as he flew away from the ship and aimed his wand of fireball into the gaping hull.

It worked. The resulting blast as whatever it was within the ship was destroyed incinerated the ship and everything inside it, and blasted Flick and Wrath through the air. The Tibor was also caught in the explosion.

Her sails shredded, her hull splintered, and a couple of the runes holding her aloft destroyed, she nevertheless retained enough of her runic skeleton to remain aloft.

As the eladrin watched the remains of their ship leave a strange hazy, prickly stain in the air, the male seethed and trembled, apparently with rage, and his companion turned on him, apologised to her captain and put her beautiful sword through his neck.

Mel rushed to him, and pulled from his mouth the remains of a metal jewel setting, and a dissolving flake of abyssal salt.

The survivor introduced herself as Nepril Sunswift, first mate of the Tefnerine and suggested they go to Fabricius, the seat of House Umber, to get their ship repaired. Everyone scrambled to work on the ship as the Tibor glided through the air above the Sea of Solitude to the capital.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode Sixty-eight: Hark

That night, when Hope began her watch, she heard shouts of alarm from the caravan behind them. Rousing the party, the discovered the hobgoblins were under attack from undead that could control the sand itself to some extent.

Hope did not hesitate to run in and engage, summoning her holy power to send some of the undead fleeing into the night. As the air filled with sand and dust, and horrifying shapes, Cam turned into an earth elemental, and dropping beneath the ground, realised she was not alone beneath the earth.

The hobgoblins were preparing to flee, but when the party appeared to help them they were given new orders and turned to help. A small origami beholder also appeared and lent some assistance until the undead were defeated, and then it dissipated into fluttering paper pieces. The owner of the origami beholder, and the caravan, and indeed the hobgoblins, as the latter were all wearing the slave tags of Zabamaier, was a wingless birdlike individual who introduced himself as Hark, in a variety of voices.

Hark was grateful for the help, and as the caravan relocated to the party's campsite, Hark and Harmony fell into conversation about the origami beholder. Hark was a trader in paper and poisons, but also a master of arcane origami. Harmony eventually bought one of his wares.

Cam and Hope talked with one of the slaves with better Common, an older woman called Samui. She told them a bit about Zabamaier, and how the price of slaves had soared in the past year.  She and the other slaves were relieved and greatful that Hark had not sold them, as there were no resales. Wherever the slaves were taken, it was a one-way trip.

The whole Caravan was very deferential to the undisguised Telula, and Samui said that dragonborn were accorded the most respect in Zabamaier. She also said that Hark had been looking for an oasis, which was not their usual line of work. The hobgoblins were all very concerned that Hark might be obliged to sell some of them, and desperately wanted the oasis found.

The next morning, Hark actually asked the party for assistance, and after failing to sense any water within three miles, Cam took the form of a giant eagle to extend the search.

Eventually she located a sparkling blue oasis surrounded by deep green palms and other trees among the dunes. She returned to the caravan and since the horses were slower than the lizards, the caravan would travel ahead and Cam in eagle form could make sure they stayed on track.

They arrived at the oasis the next day, earlier than they'd anticipated. Although it was lush, green and pleasant, Cam quickly realised there were no animals living around it, and when she communed with nature, she could determine nothing about the quality of the clear, inviting water. Hark ordered his hobgoblins to refrain from drinking the water, although they allowed the lizards to drink with no ill-effects.

The party employed various divination magic without effect, and Cam took water elemental form to explore the oasis itself, learning that there appeared to be no source, no well or spring below it. They decided to camp, and remain cautious. Telula and Harmony took the first watch as usual, during which they were both engulfed momentarily in water from the oasis, and heard a voice in their heads urging them to sleep.

The party held a brief discussion, and Hope ventured to drink the water herself. Harmony went to bed and while George's shift passed without incident, the others dreamed. They stood in the desert, and with them was a messanger an older person in fine robes and a crown, who instructed them to raise an army and march on the south to stop some dire evil.

It was not taking no for an answer. When Hope and Cam woke, and spoke with the oasis, it became clear it neither understood them nor the threat beyond the horizion terribly clearly. It merely induced people to head towards it and try and fight it. When Hark woke, Hope explained what was going on, and advised Hark to stay away from the water.

The oasis was displeased with this, and attacked both Hope and Cam, as the others woke and emerged from their tents to help.

They were not merely fighting the water, the plants, the grass, the entire area was one gigantic creature, its true form a bluish blob. Refusing to be reasoned with, the party was obliged to kill it. Hark immediately grasped why a creature compelling people to raise armies might cause problems for the city, and why someone would probably be dispatched to kill it anyway.

When dead, the oasis was a vast puddle of grey goop, which the party had to rescue their belongings from and clean them up. Hark was leading the caravan further into the desert in search of more poisons, but they provided an origami bird which would act as a letter of introduction to the other bird-folk of Zabamaier, who resided somewhere called the Swoop. Hark owed the party a favour, and this would ensure they were repaid.

The party returned to the aquaduct, and met some other travellers, goblinoid traders, along the way. They took one look at the party and gave them a wide berth.

Eventually the aquaduct ended. It had been deliberately blocked off long ago, miles from the city itself. The party were obliged to travel the rest of the distance overland.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Sunland Episode Sixty-Seven: Ishrot’s Tomb

Telula decided that in the spirit of keeping her promise not to endanger herself it would be best if she waited up top for the party to secure the area and explore. Beyond the door was a partially collapsed underground complex, heavily decorated with scenes of nature and water, in which snakes featured prominently. There were also inscriptions in Draconic script that none of them could read.

The party unlocked a storeroom and was confronted with a pile of six stone weights that would fit in three niches, one indicated with a person, one with an egg, and one with a snake. They decided to come back when they had more information and pressed on. The next room they encountered was some sort of hatchery, and although the eggs were long dead, the skeletal guardians, and a swarm of tiny skeletal snakes attacked the party. Hope noticed the wounds they inflicted bled more than expected.

With the immediate area safe enough, they called Telula back to see if she could translate the script. The language was something similar to Draconic, and she was able to interpret the gist: exhortations to praise a high priestess, Ishrot, may she glide eternal through Her slumber and protect us, and prayers in praise of Dendar the Night Serpent.

Returning to the storeroom, the party placed one weight on each niche, knowing at least one would be correct, and George listened closely to the mechanism to determine which. Thus they were able to pick the lock and descend safely.

Within the storeroom were bolts of rotten linen, alchemical ingredients long turned to dust, and food, equally spoiled, but within a rotten chest, that boiled with scarab beetles until Hope dispelled them, they found some potions, money and an ancient journal, written in archaic common that Harmony could, with difficulty, read.

He scanned the first few pages, and learned it was written by someone called Hissu, who urged the reader to take the useful items in the chest and flee, and heed the knowledge the writer would impart. Telula was also curious, and since Harmony didn't have time to pore over the book right then, he leant it to her and she returned to the surface to study it.

The party had to wedge themselves through a narrow opening to proceed, and on the other side encountered a vast skeletal snake, trapped by the collapsed walls in a ruined room. They were obliged to keep crawling through the earth and emerged in a mostly empty room. George listened hard and believed he could hear distant chanting. Beyond the door was a continuation of a blocked corridor, and a small prayer area. Although their was no breeze the sand on the floor stirred a little. The chanting could now be heard by all. Whatever had collapsed the hillside had opened a crack in the wall, through which the chanting could be heard. Unless they turned back, it was their only option.

They squeezed through the crack and emerged into a large room with several faintly glowing fountains along the walls. Within this room were several snakelike skeletons and a mummified creature with the torso of a woman dressed in golden regalia and a snakelike lower half. There was a long, brutal fight, and everyone but George was bloody and weary, and racked with curses, although Telula got a message to Hope through Gabe that the fountains would cure the bleeding curse laid on the tomb.

The undead laid to rest, at least for now, the party took a breather and decided to keep searching for a way out. They found the actual tombs and sarcophagi of the mummies, and took several magical items, but left the gold and jewels.

They eventually found a way through to the aqueduct, or rather, beneath it. The aqueduct acted as a roof and stretched off into the dark. About half a mile from the entrance they found a way up and out to the surface, and returned to Telula and the horses to sleep.

The next day, with the help of several polymorph spells, the horses were safely moved to the  aqueduct and the group ventured on. As they rested Telula had a conversation with George about whether or not she should deceive her subjects about her true nature, and whether or not she would be accepted as a half-dragon. George was supportive, and the next day she didn't use her hat of disguise. The aqueduct was ruined at points, and for a stretch of several miles the party were obliged to travel overland across the desert. As they left the shade, they saw the remains of a large camp, and as they travelled they saw a caravan in the distance, a string of laden pack-lizards making their way over the dunes.

The party made haste to the next section of aqueduct and travelled some distance in before making camp. George and Harmony doubled back as the sun was setting, and saw that the caravan, had also returned to the aqueduct to make camp for the night. The lizards' masters appeared to be hobgoblins.

[lowrollshighhopes]

Averhill Episode Sixty-five: The Spire Walkers

The rest of the night passed peacefully if not quietly; the nearby storms a constant rumble in the background. The next morning, Lusan said he needed to see the stars to try and determine where they actually were, and they soared upwards through the storm, seeking clear skies, while Flick and Wrath fixed the holes in the Tibor’s hull.

While the lightning played over the rigging of the Tibor, Ris heard faint laughter above, and saw a half dozen small, pixilike creatures, with grey skin and pointed ears, decorated with polished copper coins. They laughed and played across the rigging, and started throwing darts at each other, hit or miss, these darts sent an electric ripple though the air around them, and Pete, up in the crow’s nest, was caught in the shockwave.

Ris attempted to warn them away, summoning for the first time the magic Jamal had lent her. The fey took her threat as a challenge and included her in their game; the electric power of their darts harmless to them, but quite dangerous to others. Flick climbed the mast to rescue Pete, and Wrath proved his aim quite superior to the fey by casting magic missile. Mel’s hypnotic pattern took several of the spire walkers out of the fray, and their fellows immediately robbed them.

The party held back on all out attacking the fey, who were delighted with their new playmates, and joined in joyously. Mel took to the air, and the electric discharge caused her to lose concentration on her spell; Wrath helped her out with slowfall, and she teleported back to the ship, but she’d had enough.

Putting on her most authoritative ‘mom-voice’ she shouted that the game was over. Everyone stopped and felt guilty, and when she held out some copper coins the fey meekly lined up to accept them. Wrath joined the back of the queue as well. He looked sad the fun was over, and was certain he would have won.

The spire walkers reluctantly left, and the ship sailed on. That afternoon, as they cleared the clouds, Wrath offered to enchant Ris’s rapier, and upon receiving permission to do so, immediately went to work. Lusan also was about the ship, speaking to people and climbing the rigging; he seemed to be coming into his own.

Something woke Ris in the night, and she saw Lusan pressing his hands to his forehead. Something was different about him; he moved with more agility, spoke with more confidence, but when challenged he merely said he’d been reading too much, and that she shouldn’t worry.

She worried regardless.

At a meeting in the stateroom to examine the maps it became clear that Lusan wasn’t quite himself; restless and erratic, but something oddly magnetic about him too. He soon went on deck to talk to the crew and Ris went to distract him while Mel searched his things. Nothing seemed amiss, other than he’d taken out a lot of his journals from the trunk he was storing them in. What to do?