Monday, 17 December 2018
Thetis, protector of Gralor
We met this ancient woodland Dryad, when we travelled south of the Bandu village to see the Zepher Towers.
She was kind to us and crafted a healing drink from a pool which contained a rune of water at its base.
She told us that we are in the lands of Gralor and she is its protector.
She talks of Elves of Aviar, who could fly long ago. She tells of three temples to the South. the nearest is over 500 years old and was created from a massive tree, one of the first trees. She says that the temple was destroyed to stop evil. She then points to a spot to the South were lightning appears to strike within dark clouds above a giant tower.
Event: 9th December 2018 - The Zepher Tower - part 1
Previous: 11th November 2018
Next: 31st December 2018
The party return
Whilst I have been working hard to bring order to the Bandu village, the remaining members of the party have been off having fun fighting fog gods and the like. They return from this jaunt with poor northern farmers who had been enslaved waiting sacrifice to the frog god.
Consecration of the shrine
I had managed to rescue some semblance of order to the worshipers in the village and had started to build a temple around a shrine. Undala, the village chieftain thought that it would be a great idea to celebrate the rescue of the northern farmers and consecrate the shrine in one go by launching a great feast. We were asked to make this happen.
i organised the traders and raised a marquee, whilst the boys went off hunting. They got a little over excited and brought back a massive Salamander whom they had caught and were using to catch giant game. It appears that Garrett (the dragon whisperer) had talked it into it. Well, there would be no shortage of meat for the celebration.
Ryn had befriended a local girl, Gwarvia, who was being trained a priestess of the new faith and had been anointed as the "voice of the gifted one".
We brought the village together and started proceedings with a massive firework display. Then Ryn and Gwarvia roused the passion of the crowd with stirring words.
Beasts upset the proceedings
All was going well until a great hulking creature appeared from one of the tents and attacked the crowd. It appears that Corros had followed some woman into a tent when he was attacked by the Tabaxi shapeshifter. The creature taunted Corros with news that "Xalia is with Ritza, the Rani of the Tabaxi". There then appears a second of this kind and they attack the gathering. We defend the shrine and the villagers with Tol Darru delivering the killing blow. The creature dies with the words "The tiger queen harnesses the power of the ground. The Goat king will return to wreak revenge on the Children". The bodies then turn dark and dissolve into the ground upon which they lay.
It is clear that Ritza Sali and Marta Mooley are raising an army of undead in a temple to the south.
An awaking in the night
We are awoken in the night by Zanthoris, who is speaking in his sleep. He speaks in a strange Dwarven voice that we had never heard he use before and says he is Kamen, paladin of light and that "we must rid the body of the vessel of Orcus" and that this persona will "betray us, his Children are held in the abyss, we must stop the Skull".
We talk with the seemingly possessed Zanthoris and amongst the party we share our experiences of the four souls that appear to share the body. The bold Emirikol, Zanthoris the librarian, Calipite the sad and this new voice Kamen. Zanthois had suspicions of the others that were within his body, but appeared in denial. It is not clear if the voice of Kamen gives fair warning or are just the ravings of a mad man. I encourage caution, but the rest of the party appear to accept that all will be well. I will keep a little distance between myself and him in the future.
Thetis, protector of Gralor
We follow the path into the forest where we hear truly awful signing and are followed by strange bees. We soon find that we come to a clearing, where we meet Thetis, a woodland Dryad. She offers us drink from a pool which has a rune of water. She tells us that we are in the lands of Gralor and she is its protector. She talks of Elves of Aviar, who could fly long ago. She tells of three temples to the South. the nearest is over 500 years old and was created from a massive tree, one of the first trees. She says that the temple was destroyed to stop evil. She then points to a spot to the South were lightning appears to strike within dark clouds above a giant tower. She says that this is a Zephor Tower. She gives us 4 Shroms that she says will give us foresight and she passes me a massive diamond. I know the value of gems and this is priceless. The party eat the Shroms. Corros has a vision of being chased, Rynn of a Multicoloured Skull shining in the darkness. Garrett sees wooden flying ship followed by a black dragon breathing strange gas. Tol Durru sees a spinning wheel, the threads from which join together.
All this should be warning enough not to eat strange food from the fairy folk; but she give give me a very nice gem.
She also passes us potions that allow us to travel faster than would be otherwise possible and we soon reach the tower.
Zephor Tower
The ancient tree is topped with dark clouds, which sparkle with occasional lights as if lit by lightning from within. The tree tower appears over 300' tall and is surrounded by barren burnt earth.
Encouraged by Garrett and Tol Durru, we charge unprepared at the tower. The ashen ground between us and the once great trees is festooned with glistening white skulls that have been discarded from above.
When we reach the tree, it is clear that it is hollow and a strange sight is visited upon us. A great mound of bodies lies about the centre and new bodies fall from above, whilst ogres and giant ogres feast upon fresh carcass. We fight with all our might but as we kill each ogre they return to life. The very walls of the tree come alive and entrap us.
I die.
I am resurrected by the party, who have fed the giant gem to my skull staff.
I feel strange inside. I hope that this feeling is temporary. I don't feel as if I can fight as I once did. Should I be more cautious?
Next: 31st December 2018
The party return
Whilst I have been working hard to bring order to the Bandu village, the remaining members of the party have been off having fun fighting fog gods and the like. They return from this jaunt with poor northern farmers who had been enslaved waiting sacrifice to the frog god.
Consecration of the shrine
I had managed to rescue some semblance of order to the worshipers in the village and had started to build a temple around a shrine. Undala, the village chieftain thought that it would be a great idea to celebrate the rescue of the northern farmers and consecrate the shrine in one go by launching a great feast. We were asked to make this happen.
i organised the traders and raised a marquee, whilst the boys went off hunting. They got a little over excited and brought back a massive Salamander whom they had caught and were using to catch giant game. It appears that Garrett (the dragon whisperer) had talked it into it. Well, there would be no shortage of meat for the celebration.
Ryn had befriended a local girl, Gwarvia, who was being trained a priestess of the new faith and had been anointed as the "voice of the gifted one".
We brought the village together and started proceedings with a massive firework display. Then Ryn and Gwarvia roused the passion of the crowd with stirring words.
Beasts upset the proceedings
All was going well until a great hulking creature appeared from one of the tents and attacked the crowd. It appears that Corros had followed some woman into a tent when he was attacked by the Tabaxi shapeshifter. The creature taunted Corros with news that "Xalia is with Ritza, the Rani of the Tabaxi". There then appears a second of this kind and they attack the gathering. We defend the shrine and the villagers with Tol Darru delivering the killing blow. The creature dies with the words "The tiger queen harnesses the power of the ground. The Goat king will return to wreak revenge on the Children". The bodies then turn dark and dissolve into the ground upon which they lay.
It is clear that Ritza Sali and Marta Mooley are raising an army of undead in a temple to the south.
An awaking in the night
We are awoken in the night by Zanthoris, who is speaking in his sleep. He speaks in a strange Dwarven voice that we had never heard he use before and says he is Kamen, paladin of light and that "we must rid the body of the vessel of Orcus" and that this persona will "betray us, his Children are held in the abyss, we must stop the Skull".
We talk with the seemingly possessed Zanthoris and amongst the party we share our experiences of the four souls that appear to share the body. The bold Emirikol, Zanthoris the librarian, Calipite the sad and this new voice Kamen. Zanthois had suspicions of the others that were within his body, but appeared in denial. It is not clear if the voice of Kamen gives fair warning or are just the ravings of a mad man. I encourage caution, but the rest of the party appear to accept that all will be well. I will keep a little distance between myself and him in the future.
Thetis, protector of Gralor
We follow the path into the forest where we hear truly awful signing and are followed by strange bees. We soon find that we come to a clearing, where we meet Thetis, a woodland Dryad. She offers us drink from a pool which has a rune of water. She tells us that we are in the lands of Gralor and she is its protector. She talks of Elves of Aviar, who could fly long ago. She tells of three temples to the South. the nearest is over 500 years old and was created from a massive tree, one of the first trees. She says that the temple was destroyed to stop evil. She then points to a spot to the South were lightning appears to strike within dark clouds above a giant tower. She says that this is a Zephor Tower. She gives us 4 Shroms that she says will give us foresight and she passes me a massive diamond. I know the value of gems and this is priceless. The party eat the Shroms. Corros has a vision of being chased, Rynn of a Multicoloured Skull shining in the darkness. Garrett sees wooden flying ship followed by a black dragon breathing strange gas. Tol Durru sees a spinning wheel, the threads from which join together.
All this should be warning enough not to eat strange food from the fairy folk; but she give give me a very nice gem.
She also passes us potions that allow us to travel faster than would be otherwise possible and we soon reach the tower.
Zephor Tower
The ancient tree is topped with dark clouds, which sparkle with occasional lights as if lit by lightning from within. The tree tower appears over 300' tall and is surrounded by barren burnt earth.
Encouraged by Garrett and Tol Durru, we charge unprepared at the tower. The ashen ground between us and the once great trees is festooned with glistening white skulls that have been discarded from above.
When we reach the tree, it is clear that it is hollow and a strange sight is visited upon us. A great mound of bodies lies about the centre and new bodies fall from above, whilst ogres and giant ogres feast upon fresh carcass. We fight with all our might but as we kill each ogre they return to life. The very walls of the tree come alive and entrap us.
I die.
I am resurrected by the party, who have fed the giant gem to my skull staff.
I feel strange inside. I hope that this feeling is temporary. I don't feel as if I can fight as I once did. Should I be more cautious?
Undala: Leader of the Bandu Village
Undala is the leader of the Bandu village. She was responsible for overseeing what was a small mining settlement when we first arrived. We then defeated and killed the evil Cornelius, who had entrapped and was mistreating a crystal wyrm, the gifted one.
A cult had then formed on the outskirts of the village to worship the dragon. I was employed to use my skills at coordination and management whilst the remaining party were sent by Undala on a quest to resolved troubles in the northern jungles.
We then worked to bring stability to the area by consecrating the shrine.
A cult had then formed on the outskirts of the village to worship the dragon. I was employed to use my skills at coordination and management whilst the remaining party were sent by Undala on a quest to resolved troubles in the northern jungles.
We then worked to bring stability to the area by consecrating the shrine.
Event: 11th November 2018 - Into the Bandu forests.
Previous: 23rd September 2018
Next:9th December 2018
Note: I was not there throughout this journey, so these notes are taken from conversations with the party when they returned!
The party awakes
The party had awoken from a strange dream where they had experienced strange flashbacks from their lives. Although it had felt that they had experienced many hours in the dream caverns, it now became clear that mere seconds had elapsed. All around the campsite was as it was when they had first seen the gift, except now there was no gift. Was it a collective dream, I assume that it was bad cooking, but each of them tell me that they were sure that they had grown from the experience.
The next day they returned the quest that had been set by Undula; to establish whether there is any substance to rumors of whole villages going missing.
Bandu farmstead Soon enough they came upon a small collection of mud huts, which appeared abandoned. When they investigated further the only life that they could find where two pigs, who had free rein of the settlement, their fence having been broken. When the team looked inside the huts it appeared that they had been broken into by a large creature who pushed all the furnishings aside. The only evidence of human life was one poor soul who had been torn in three. However, it was clear that whomsoever had caused this had no regard for items of value, the village treasures, meagre as they were were ignored or cast asunder.
Zanthoris, the name that Amiracle had assumed for this day, has shown me a child's small magical book that he salvaged that told a tale of an orphaned princess, pursued by an evil queen, who had sought refuge amongst a hamlet of dwarfs, before she was rescued by a handsome paladin. It did not look the kind of object that a poor villager would just discard.
The party had tried to track the attackers, but lost the trail in a small stream. Whilst travelling further north the party were attacked by an aggressive plant uncovered a stone circle surrounded by warning runes. Within the stone circle a strong magic carried whatever was there unceasingly upwards. Ryn was first to avoid death at its hands when she managed to teleport herself to ground using an enchanted stone. Then Zanthoris, emboldened, used the magic to soar into the sky and scout around.
An ancient tomb uncovered With the newfound knowledge of the Bandu lands acquired through this aerial jaunt, the team had discovered the remains of Helion Towers scholars, who had unearthed an ancient chamber. Trapped within were a cask of ancient spores which had taken over the explorers and turned them to strange plant zombies. The party had used fire to rid the land of this menace.
Of Bullywugs and their gods The party then travelled further North to a swampy area habituated by a tribe of Bullywugs (frog like humanoids). I am told that the tribe had awoken a huge great frog creature called a Froghemoth who they had taken to worshiping as a god. Emboldened by this discovery Bullywug sorcerers had enchanted swamp trolls to do their bidding. I understand that Swamp trolls are the simplest of creatures, so can believe that this was true. The silly Bullywugs were using the enchanted trolls to collect villagers who they were feeding to the Froghemoth god to gain his blessings. Garrett tells me he had understood this at first sight and had killed the frog sorcerers, thereby freeing the Trolls and enabling the remaining members of the party to fell the beast and free the entrapped villagers. I am told that many frogs burned that day.
Next:9th December 2018
Note: I was not there throughout this journey, so these notes are taken from conversations with the party when they returned!
The party awakes
The party had awoken from a strange dream where they had experienced strange flashbacks from their lives. Although it had felt that they had experienced many hours in the dream caverns, it now became clear that mere seconds had elapsed. All around the campsite was as it was when they had first seen the gift, except now there was no gift. Was it a collective dream, I assume that it was bad cooking, but each of them tell me that they were sure that they had grown from the experience.
The next day they returned the quest that had been set by Undula; to establish whether there is any substance to rumors of whole villages going missing.
Bandu farmstead Soon enough they came upon a small collection of mud huts, which appeared abandoned. When they investigated further the only life that they could find where two pigs, who had free rein of the settlement, their fence having been broken. When the team looked inside the huts it appeared that they had been broken into by a large creature who pushed all the furnishings aside. The only evidence of human life was one poor soul who had been torn in three. However, it was clear that whomsoever had caused this had no regard for items of value, the village treasures, meagre as they were were ignored or cast asunder.
Zanthoris, the name that Amiracle had assumed for this day, has shown me a child's small magical book that he salvaged that told a tale of an orphaned princess, pursued by an evil queen, who had sought refuge amongst a hamlet of dwarfs, before she was rescued by a handsome paladin. It did not look the kind of object that a poor villager would just discard.
The party had tried to track the attackers, but lost the trail in a small stream. Whilst travelling further north the party were attacked by an aggressive plant uncovered a stone circle surrounded by warning runes. Within the stone circle a strong magic carried whatever was there unceasingly upwards. Ryn was first to avoid death at its hands when she managed to teleport herself to ground using an enchanted stone. Then Zanthoris, emboldened, used the magic to soar into the sky and scout around.
An ancient tomb uncovered With the newfound knowledge of the Bandu lands acquired through this aerial jaunt, the team had discovered the remains of Helion Towers scholars, who had unearthed an ancient chamber. Trapped within were a cask of ancient spores which had taken over the explorers and turned them to strange plant zombies. The party had used fire to rid the land of this menace.
Of Bullywugs and their gods The party then travelled further North to a swampy area habituated by a tribe of Bullywugs (frog like humanoids). I am told that the tribe had awoken a huge great frog creature called a Froghemoth who they had taken to worshiping as a god. Emboldened by this discovery Bullywug sorcerers had enchanted swamp trolls to do their bidding. I understand that Swamp trolls are the simplest of creatures, so can believe that this was true. The silly Bullywugs were using the enchanted trolls to collect villagers who they were feeding to the Froghemoth god to gain his blessings. Garrett tells me he had understood this at first sight and had killed the frog sorcerers, thereby freeing the Trolls and enabling the remaining members of the party to fell the beast and free the entrapped villagers. I am told that many frogs burned that day.
Sunday, 2 December 2018
Event: 23rd September - Flashback
Previous: 20th May 2018
Next: 11th November 2018
With cornelius defeated, you would have thought that we had solved most of the problems that exist within a small settlement like the Bandu village. However, it appears that we had just made life worse.
The gifted one has become the famous one.
We had rescued the "gifted one" from a life of captivity and torture. Was she happy? She was certainly happier, however she had previously managed to remain hidden in her home under the village. She had enjoyed the solitude, the ability to come and go as she wanted. To lie and stare at the night sky or to soar over quiet mountain peaks or to dream.
Now the whole village knew that they had a dragon living on their doorstep. A gigantic beast with Godlike powers (well to a Bandu villager anyway). Now many wanted to see her, to talk with her, to watch the mythological creature and to worship in the hope that she could make their dreams come true.
As the villagers learn of their new powerful neighbour, they are developing new ways to worship. To the gifted one, each new way appears louder than the last!
Ristomay
Rumours have emerged that Ristomay has found a temple to the south of the Bandu village. Good to know he has achieved his dream.
Negrys money
Negry had funded the expedition to bring miners and mining equipment to Artur. He had heard that we had made it to the village and that we had removed Cornelious competition. He wanted to know where his return were! he was expecting us to bring the first share in his profits and was starting to get nervous.
He sent his hired muscle led by Gobril Busk with his accountant Onen Darnedos to complete an audit of the new mine. The problem is that Arturs books are not well kept. This could take some time and I am going to have to help, otherwise Onen will leave thinking we have been taking a little margin of our own.
Changes to the economy.
Not everyone rejoiced at the death of Cornelius. A whole industry had built up around turning the scales from the gifted one into cold hard cash. One such Business-woman is Mala. She had been moving the jewels from the village after they had been split and polished into rough gems. It appears that she has taken loans on the back of this trade and she is now getting late on payments.
She comes to us scared and aggressive. She wants to meet with the dragon and she if she can get some scales. We agree to introduce her to the gifted one, however chaos and confusion reigns when the worshipers outside the cave see this as an opportunity to break into the caverns. Garrett further stokes the confusion and nearly cause us all to lose our heads. Fortunately, the dragon is as wise as she is large. She manages to establish what is really going one, I have no idea how. Whilst she will not pass on any scales, she agrees to take Mala to a place of safety. She also wants to thank us for all our help, however she is uncertain of out morality, especially Garretts! She says that she will provide a gift that will test us. The value of the gift to us will reflect the goodness that exists in our hearts. Sounds mysterious.
Undula
We then return to Undula the tribal leader. She is disturbed by the growing camp of worshipers. I offer to help organise them so that some can return to normal village life and that they will not greatly upset the gifted one.
It is clear that Garret and Tol Durru make Undula nervous, so she tells of villages to the north that have suddenly ceased all communication. The party are intrigued and decide to investigate. However, I now have commitments in the Bandu Village, so cannot join the party...
A trek North and a dream
I was not present for the trek North, so the following is based on the parties description to me on their return.
It appears that on the first night of the trip a package appeared, which caused the party to have a shared dream. In the dream the party journeyed through a dungeon where they me with memories of their own lives. Through this journey everyone discovered a little more about each other.
Coros, was once in love, but allowed his love Xalia to drown during a fight on a pirate ship.
Zanthoris, one of A-miracles personalities has some very disturbing memories of a childhood with only books as friends and being wrapped in fire!
Tol Darru, recalled his relationship with his father and how he strives to make himself good enough to match his fathers expectations.
Ryn, recalls his old master zaberis and his journey thereafter. He and Tol darru regret their parts in the death of George.
Garret, recalls how he burned down the home of his loved ones.
It appears that both Zanthos and Tol Darru have been putting money aside to help those less fortunate and had been hiding these acts.
When the party awoke, they all appears to have benefited from these dreams.
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