Challenges of Faith

A Challenge of Faith (COF) is a moral or ethical question posed to the player of a cleric, and the players around the table anonymously vote on how good or bad their response was.

• A COF is a question or a statement that the Cleric player must respond to.
  

• A successful WIS Saving Throw performed by the Cleric player wins the COF.
  

• For an individual COF, the DC could be set manually.
• Successively, I'd use an increasing DC. Example: there is a DC8 calibration floor for question 0; the DC increments by 2 for every question thereafter; the questions get progressively tougher to answer.
• There is a score-based vote taken from the rest of the players that becomes a modifier to the Cleric's WIS Saving Throw.

• Players around the gaming table are asked to anonymously score the cleric’s response to each COF 1-5. The scores are totaled and an average (rounding down) is taken as a bonus to the cleric’s die roll. 
• Voting is performed to take the pulse of a moral/ethical response from other players around the table, and to influence the die roll.

• Mechanics:
  

• The COF is presented to the cleric.
  
• The cleric responds verbally to the COF.
  
• The vote is taken from the other players; the scores averaged; the bonus calculated.
  
• The player rolls against DC-x. The voting bonus is added to the roll.
  
• If the player makes the DC check, they win the COF.
• If the player fails the DC check, they lose the COF.
• A cumulative point system could be used with successive COF's, to meet some larger numerical threshold. Example: 1d10 points awarded per COF, 10 COF's, with a success threshold of 50 accumulated points.
• Succeeding at the the Challenges of Faith earns the PC some XP.

Beyond the Door (10th - 12th of Hunts, Rose: 47)

Many cycles, many moons, and many things have happened to our adventurers since Ma'yah was summoned from the Book of Names and returned to the party.

While at Pax Arcana, Ma'yah returned to her studies to obtain 7th Level. During the downtime, the party explored pieces of the university and trading town that surrounds it.

• The party learned that skilled magic doesn't come cheap and had to pay thousands of Crowns to Master Dharlyne for assisting the party in retrieving Ma'yah. Ma'yah, on the other hand, was now able to read the spells within the Book of Names, and went about preparing her spellbooks. 

• Gorbash and Tamroohk reclaimed the pleasures of home at The Bearded Lady, a tavern ran and patronized by dwarven kin traveling from the Kingdoms. They met Red Thunderfist, a dwarf with a profound sense of humor.

• The party spent time in Pax Arcana's Common Halls and Libraries to conduct various investigations and studies. There they met Celeste of House Gregoria, 17th-Year Pedagogue of Pax Arcana and Master of Necromancy, and had many discussions with her.

• Siegride returned to her familial home near the Port of Floreth and rejoined her family briefly, only to learn the tragic truth: the dream that she had experienced on the voyage to Shyn-Balyn where her sister drowned in a dark, unforgiving sea, at the will of her adversary, Agoolik, did indeed happen; just as the gibbering monster in the Mines of York & Barrelborn had threatened.

• The true background of Vongur was revealed. His real name was really Devyn Cammy Dinsmore, friends called him Jitters; born in the Erenlands in a village named Warm Springs, north Gaelwyn; trapped in the amulet for hundreds of years - he lost count - he stole it from a very sickly dwarf (who was nearly dead!) and who was in a pitched fever and told all kinds of dwarfly stories. Soon, he himself became sick then realized that his own consciousness was trapped within the amulet. He pretended to be a dwarf because that's what he found so many people expected, and over the centuries, he picked up a lot of dwarf-like experience. Devyn gets so hungry, he explained, but found the youthful vitality of Gorbash both sustaining and enjoyable. Devyn pleaded for it's "life" but Gorbash surrendered the amulet to Celeste - Master of Necromancy - who suggested that that the amulet would be an interesting case study for her students.

• Gorbash won a pie eating contest and a magic pie box that creates warm, delicious fruit pies. It was called Llynard's Wonderous Piebox, and he had beaten several challengers to acquire it.

• Most of the party stocked up on interesting items of magika. They visited shops and stores like Craft & Candle, Belvo's Bewitched Armor, Weapons, and Ammunition, the Crooked Cobbler, Rib Bones & Crossbows, Plainswalk Scrolls & Skullery, Babbling Books and Midnight Readings, and Skeeter's Draughts and Potions.

• They visited the Commercium and Croupier to conduct their financial businesses.

• Tamroohk and Siegride helped the clerics of Plainswalk Abbey rebuild their stone masonry after it was struck by lightning only days before the party's arrival. Sister Connye Mae of Gaia was forever thankful.  

• Llewellyn encountered Marcy Patterton the Bard, a Freeman of Floreth. "Orations, Poems, Fine Artistry, and Eclectic Dancing." Llew was even able to stop Marcy from inadvertently summoning a demon in a live performance of a mage whose power overtakes him (a final performance that required a bit more flair, Marcy told Llew, who felt something was really suspicious).

• Tamroohk traveled to The Steppes to learn more of her dwarven goddess, Beronnar Truesilver, and to be connected to members of her order. 

• And the party never even learned of the Doppleganger mirror ... but ahh, that's a story for another day.

On the 10th of Hunts, the party brought The Door (a magical door recovered from the deck of a black ship of the Pirate Horde) to Master Dharlyne of House Thorne in the Common Hall of Acquisitions, Investigations, and Categorizations in Pax Arcana. Master Dharlyne had pledged - should the party wish to open the door - she would offer her services pro-bono as a student demonstration of enchanted dimensional gates. The party agreed and brought the Door to the wizard. There were a crowd of students on the observation deck of the round turret room with an earthen-dirt floor where the magi had drawn her various runes of protection.

Master Dharlyne raised her hands and voice and shouted, "Magia non est confisa!"

And the students from above shouted back, "Magia non est confisa!"

"Magic ... is not to be trusted!", he exclaimed, "And particularly magika that opens extra-dimensional portals. Class, the Weave has been intentionally disrupted and grafted onto the back of this common wood door frame. Should the door open, I expect the fabric of space and time will be distorted, and the door can be used as a common portal - a threshold - to cross to its other side. These hearty adventurers believe it to be the sweltering deserts and barbaric Sagean Coast, more than three thousand miles from here. Truly amazing, is it not? But we should be cautious: a simple door containing so much energy is so abhorrent to the natural order of things that the Weave will undoubtedly attempt to repair itself should the door itself be destroyed. Therefore, I will assist these adventurers as they cross its threshold to the lands beyond!"

There was a cheer. Some of the students cheered with a mouth full of fruit pies, as Gorbash had decided to pass some free magically-created pies from his pie box around. The students were both grateful and bemused.

An apprentice approached Master Dharlyne with worn leather gloves sewn with intricate gold stitching and decorative patterns. She started putting on the gloves. "I shall maintain my concentration on the portal using dimensional gate theories in an attempt to maintain its connection to the other side should the Door there become unstable or destroyed." A second apprentice came forward with an intricate gold and leather scabbard with a beautiful short sword, and she hung that at her hip. The Master magi slapped her hands together to get the attention of everyone and the students.

"Now," she yelled, "These brave adventurers... shall enter this Door! The key!"

Taking the key in hand, Ma'yah inserted the key into the lock and a set of three or four tumblers cranked until the latching mechanism clicked, and she pulled the door open.

There was a collective gasp.

On the other side, heat wafted in; it was dark, night time, but still perhaps eighty-five degrees, warmer air than most anyone had ever felt in their lives (as Floreth is located in arctic climbs). There were light transparent drapes that drifted about the other side of the door and fluttered as the air on both sides of the Door commingled. Light from the party's side of the door spilled into the darkness.

Gorbash was first to cross the threshold. He stood on a sandstone dias where the Door was fixed to the ground, and to his right and left were 25' sandstone walls. It was a still night, a warm heat permeated him, and he could see the stars and Mother and Daughter (the moons of Shae Tahrane) but at odd positions in the night sky. He heard the pleasant chirping of insects and small toads. With his vision, he could make out shallow rectangular pools of water before him filled with flourishing fauna of types he was completely unfamiliar with, while the pools will still as they could be, appearing almost like glass, reflecting the night sky.

The rest of the party crossed into the garden. They produced light sources so that they could see. They investigated these gardens and found that the opposite side of the garden had two very large wooden doors - cut in a Persian motif - with brass handles. Those doors were closed, and sitting calmly before those doors on the ground, was a copper-scaled man, a Dragonborn. The party - never have ever met nor heard of a Dragonborn before - was somewhat taken aback by his appearance. The Dragonborn had no armor, no weapons, and was dressed in cool loose fabric. It patiently meditated until the party approached.

After some polite conversation, the party learned that it called itself The Watcher. His purpose was to watch, to wait, and to prevent trespassers from entering the doors behind him. Some of the dialog he said to the party:

• “It is called Hadiqat Saghira (the little garden). I consider it to be one of the more beautiful gardens in all of the Emirates. What do you think of it?”
  
• “We are far, far away from the light and greatness of Bahmaut. You are in Aljahim Alssahra (a blazing hot desert leading to hell)”
  
• “You do me honor by speaking in my tongue.” … “You do me honor by asking questions first, attacking last. Let us talk.” …”You show me honor. I will respectfully offer the same.”
  
• “Among my people, I, too, am a slave, given just one simple purpose.”
  
• “Talking is better than fighting. If I can encourage you to go, that is good enough.”
  
• “Leave from whence you came. When you safely depart and have arrived at where you started,  I will destroy the door, and no ill will come of it. Should you not leave, you place yourselves in grave peril, for I must fulfill my purpose. Should you trespass on this citadel, a wretched doom awaits you.”
  
• “My purpose is to dissuade those who might trespass on these grounds. My brothers and sisters who guard this place leave me to my methods. My methods are my own. Is it not wiser and kinder to convince you to leave rather fight you?”
  
• “I am the Watcher. My purpose is to prevent trespass into this citadel. I will do what I must to dissuade your egress.”
  
• “The door that is behind me has no lock. It has no key. It opens freely into the citadel. But you should be warned. A thousand of my brothers and sisters lay behind that door and they are a cruel and merciless lot. Should I fail at my purpose, my brothers and sisters will slaughter you all.” (Nods to sentries on the wall)
  
• “You are a smart, considerate folk. I know not from where you come but I respect the consideration you have shown me. Please, depart now.”

The party did a few things to confirm that they were, in fact, in a small garden of a much larger citadel, and there may, in fact, be a thousand or more of his Dragonkind-kin held up here, and there were, in fact, a gathering of sentries along the wall. The party attempted to learn more of Aljahim Alssahra, this construct around Tahkisis called The Theocracy, the mythology of Tiamat's ultimate desire to turn the Prime Material Plane into an Aljahim Alssahra (as a place like this), the master/slave relationship between what the Watcher called The Chromatics and The Metallics, and to persuade the Watcher to throw up his chains in rebellion against his oppressors. The Watcher would have nothing of it. He was a proud creature who understood his purpose clearly, who saw his existence and the lives of "his clutch" as part of a much larger order of things, and he had come to accept that. He accepted his role in life. Should he fail at his role, his purpose would be undone, and he would be undone. It was clear that The Watcher had no intention on abandoning his purpose, or, letting the party through the double doors behind him.

Then.... the party (impressed with the dialog with The Watcher), returned from whence they came. They exited the garden and returned through the magic Door to Pax Arcana. As they were prepared to leave, The Watcher - nearly drifting in his walk and gait - approached the magic Door, and once the party was safely on the other side and the Door was shut, he destroyed it with his fists.

[DM's Note: Wow. I didn't exactly plan on that. I thought the party would, in some way, try to engage the Dragonborn Monk in combat but, meh, look at that. They turned back. They totally didn't stick around. Hmm What to do now? Insert ... total improvisation.]

The party asked Master Dharlyne to destroy the Door and she said she'd take care of it. Meanwhile, the party went to the Common Hall of Chartered Explorations and Recoveries to learn of potential expeditions they could take on to recover lost or ancient magic needed or requested by various patrons and benefactors of Pax Arcana. In the Hall of Chartered Explorations and Recoveries, they learned of:

• A mad wizard far to the south, in the Tarkesh Wilds, that had been transforming himself into a chimera and terrorizing the locals and common trade routes between Floreth and Gheoli; the mad wizard had created a fortress from a tree and grew using magic to some unbelievable size; an influential matron of a House would like to have that wizard problem disappear and along with it his tree fortress brought down to the earth.

• A consortium of dwarven merchants would like an old dwarf crypt investigated and items belonging to their families retrieved from it.

• A general expedition to Dhark Keep, to the south along Evelyn Pass, was needed to dispel rumors of bad magic held up there.

• Three old human males who were also in the Common Hall discussed a map that had come into their possession (apparently in a manner that somehow involved the assassin's guild Shadow, Mind, and Dagger) to a shrine in the far norther reaches, in the Frozen Wastes. The map showed the way to a shrine that had believed to have been long-lost, as well as fragments of a map of the shrine, where a Chalice was believed to be. The three old men were so confident that a Chalice was there that they offered the party an unbelievable sum (500,000 Crowns) to mount the expedition and return with it, and, on several conditions.

Even though the bounty was more than impressive, the party didn't trust the wicked old men who apparently had their own agenda in these matters, and eventually the party decided that they would take on the mad chimera wizard. They retrieved a Diary of Correspondence from the Library of Correspondence, checked out that book, and started a dialog to begin their expedition to the south ... to the Tarkesh Wilds.

Meanwhile, on their way to leaving Pax Arcana for the night, they were rushed by an apprentice student who insisted that they come straight away to the Hall of Acquisitions and Investigations. Master Dharlyne had important news. And when the party arrived there, they found the Dharlyne still had the Door within her magic circles, and she demonstrated that she had magically preserved the conduit to the other side; a shimmering veil of energy showed the gardens behind the Door, and it could be seen that The Watcher was no longer present.

[DM's Note: Improvise. The party had a big discussion of what to do next. Go through the Door, face hordes of Dragonborn, and confront the Theocracy; stay and handle the mad wizard chimera. There were votes. There were claims of madness. There were ... well, graciously, several players who thought that I'd already built all this stuff out and said they should at least see it ...]

Taking advantage of that opportunity, the party went back through the Door and into the Hadiqat Saghira. There were no more chirping insects. It was deathly silent and still. Tolman snuck about to the big double doors that had been guarded by the The Watcher and he creaked it open. It wasn't locked as The Watcher had claimed, but Tolman opened the door just in time to find another Dragonkind (a female with an ancestry of a silver dragon); Tolman cast Sleep on the woman but she resisted; instead of screaming or yelling for guards, she shooed Tolman back inside the garden. He cast Comprehend Languages.

"You can't be here, my brothers and sisters, they will destroy you," she looked about the garden. "The Door? The Watcher? Where is the Door? Hurry, before you are discovered, you must leave this place now." Apparently, this Dragonborn woman - whose name was Akra - did not share the same proud values of being a slave and not uprising against her Chromatic oppressors. She helped the party through a massive hall and to a grate that lead to the water disposal and sewage network that ran underneath the Citadel. Akra encouraged the party to run, hard, as fast as they could, for the hills to the south; to travel during the night; to find water and shelter in the desert during the day; and to find the Drow - to speak with K'hal'd'fae - to help you find food, shelter, water, and to survive.

[DM's Note: Akra was a PC that was drafted up by Melissa to play should Ma'yah be unrecoverable from the Book of Names. Melissa knew all this time that the party was supposed to meet Akra and that Akra would help them escape from the Citadel. Akra, of course, would have gone with the party, fleeing from her captors, but as an NPC I had Akra stay behind with a similar stubborn pride and sense of obligation towards her family to see her lot in life through. Meanwhile, the party had never heard of the concept of a Drow - the party has never seen nor met Elves let alone Dark Elves; the characters had no idea what the word meant.]

Towards the end of the game session, the party had wandered into the night; not her favored terrain, Elan was navigating the best she could to the southern hills. At night the sand was hot and the desert climate uncomfortable for those who had spent their whole lives in the arctic; during the day, the temperatures ran into the hundreds of degrees ... the party quickly realized that traveling in the afternoon was foolish; it was best to travel at sunset, night, and the early morning. They got briefly lost in a sandstorm as the winds seem to pick up during the daytime hours. They spent a day comfortably sheltered in a magic shelter created by Llewellyn the Bard, and Siegride created clean water to fill all of their water skins.

It was in the early morning hours of the 12th of Hunts when the sun was breaking over the desert sands, and the winds started to pick up again. The party found themselves in another sandstorm. Then, some 100' feet in front of them, a massive movement and displacement of sand was happening, and they saw an enormous exterior shell of a giant tortoise rise out of the sand, and it scrambling over the edge of a dune to escape its predators.

It seemed to grown in pain as the party realized that a large black spear was thrust into its hind quarters, and a thin figure dressed in a black turban and scarf mounted the high-ground of the dune and was firing arrows into its under belly. Meanwhile, two other black-turbaned figures ran through the desert sandstorm, trying to keep pace with the giant tortoise as it attempted to flee, loosing arrows at its tender meaty underside. All the while, another black-clad figure attempted to get close to the tortoise with a spear but was clawed mercilessly by the anguished animal, and his body crumpled to the ground. A final figure, dressed in more brightly decorated clothing ran up to his fallen comrade and began administering first aid.

The party rolled for initiative and Elan the Ranger drew back her crossbow and started firing upon the giant tortoise. Her bolt connected and it reared, giving out a painful howl.

Just then, the figure on the highground lowered his bow and looked into the swirling dessert sandstorm. He raised his arm and bore two fingers into the wind facing Elan, and ululated loudly in a fierce cry of warrior-like acknowledgement and friendship. Immediately the other two black-clad figures stopped in the sand and raised their own arms and turned two fingers to Elan in an ululated salute, and the brightly-colored figure on the top of the dune helping the fallen hunter held both hands up to Elan and ululated, apparently very elated that friends have been found in the harsh desert.

Meanwhile, the enormous giant tortoise started clamoring across the sand towards the party in a fit of pain and battle-rage ...

And that's where we'll pick up next time!
R

Defending the Lizard Colony III (1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

There was a big, big battle.

It was so large, so confusing, took so many sessions ... that I really can't describe it all to you, my fair reader, in all of its glorious detail other than to say it was ... epic.

In the midst of their battle, the party had to hold-up in the Temple of Gzz't - the lizard-woman-goddess temple built into the side of a mountain - in order to rest and recuperate. During that time, the party watched on in horror as the evil Clerics of Tahkesis committed their atrocities.

• The clerics instructed their pirate mercenaries to move four massive eggs that lay at the feet of a large statue of Gzz't, the Lizard Goddess. These eggs weighed over 800 pounds each and took many men to dislodge them from their sticking points and relocate them to the beach. There were four eggs made of platinum, gold, silver, and gemstone.
  
• The clerics rounded up priestesses of Gzz't - innocent lizard women who didn't do a thing to protect themselves. They were mercilessly murdered with blows suffered by mace strikes to their skulls, and, their eye lids were cut off and mouths sewn together, as so they could witness the truth in the afterlife and tell no lies.
  
• Tolman did note that - after the slaughter - perhaps Gzz't was a false goddess after all since the lizard women did not bother or couldn't bother to exercise divine intervention to save themselves. "Maybe the eggs really do belong to Mother Takhesis?"

In a clever bending of the rules, three player characters were enveloped by Siegride's Cloak of Starlight; time dilated and what was hours within the cloak were only minutes in the outside world. These three PC's gained a Full Rest (8 hours) when they emerged from the pocket dimension ... just a wee bit more afraid of the dark than what they were before they entered.

It was then - after resting and witnessing the theft of the eggs and the Cleric's atrocities - that the party committed themselves to wiping this scourge from Shae Tahrane! They thrust themselves into battle once more until they alone remained victorious.

At the end of the battle, the PC's were alive but we couldn't say the same for the 59 Pirates, 37 Berserkers, and 3 Clerics of Tahkesis. Their bodies littered the lizard colony. Huts were still on fire and large columns of smoke raised to the sky. Those lizard folk who survived came out to mourn their dead; the militia was rapidly trying to re-assemble and create a repelling force, believing that more pirates would be attacking shortly; the Queen of the Lizard Folk knelt in humble prostate before the state of Gzz't, in silence, perhaps praying for guidance, or, begging for mercy and atonement for her loss.

At the end of the pitched battle, Siegride cast a ritual to heal the party, while Tolman and Ma'yah cast their own rituals to Comprehend Languages to help them communicate with the Lizard Folk. After that, Siegride started into the nasty work of investigating the bodies of the clerics and taking their armor, weapons, and possessions; Tolman, Llew, and Elan scouted out to the beaches.

Along the horizon some 1,200 feet out from the shoreline were three black ships. One ship had raised-anchor and was adrift and being taken by the current while a skeleton crew onboard attempted (unsuccessfully) to raise its black sails. The other two ships were still trying to load their stolen eggs; dingys surrounded those vessels as the pirates managed ropes and chains to hoist the contraband. They were having a slow go of it.

The party boarded an abandoned landing boat left by the pirates and started rowing for the first ship that appeared to be close to getting away. As they approached, they noticed only four pirates onboard the vessel that were being commanded by a very eager and earnest Pirate Captain who insisted that they flee at once. Elan took pot-shots at the pirates and struck the captain, who fell backwards behind the railing after being hit by one of her deadly arrows. Still alive, he attempted to command his crew to continue and pointed commandingly at his crew from a prone position, which exposed his hand above the railing, which could be seen by Elan, who tried to shoot at the Captain's hand and rolled a natural 20, causing the Captain's hand to explode into a burst of crimson and bone.

And so it went: the party boarded each of the three vessels until dispatching numerous pirates and berserkers. They took one Pirate Captain and 3 Pirates hostage after their surrender; two Pirate Captains escaped into the water; the last of the Cleric's of Tahkesis - the green cleric - killed herself with a steely dagger to the throat. The battle won, the enemy vessels were anchored and Tolman sent his owl to the Sea Wyvern to notify their crew to bring the ship to their current location. Eventually, they would off-load all of the cargo and booty on to their own ship and run-aground the pirate's vessels on the beach of the Lizard Folk, who both appreciated the return of their blessed Eggs, and, the extra sturdy wood for rebuilding their colony. The Queen - apparently in a fog of grief - was elated at the return of her Eggs, and, promised the party that they were always welcome in their colony.

There was a lot of loot onboard each of the ships (adding them all up here):

• 2,400 Copper Coins (odd minting, very thin, small coins; just pictures of desert landscapes)
• 16,000 Silver Coins (similar minting, thin, desert landscapes, numbers that could be dates)
• 4,400 Gold Coins (ditto)
• 390 Platinum Coins (thicker coins, seemed to be minted with the head of a dragon)
• 9 Amethysts (~100 Crowns EA)
• 6 Yellow Topaz (~500 Crowns EA)
• 2 Ceremonial Robes (one linen, one silk, both embroidered with dragons, ~250 Crowns EA)

There were mundane items...

• A soapstone harp with decorative inlay
• A cloth of gold embroidered handkerchief
• A feather-embroidered handkerchief
• An exotic wood pitcher and wood goblet
• A soapstone figurine of a dancing woman (closer inspection: a dancing Cleric of Tahkesis - you can see the fine craft resembling tattoos)
• An ivory locket
• A glass statuette with gold and silver inlays

... and not so mundane that seemed to radiate magic when Detect Magic was used (and Identify was cast):

• A Scroll of Fire Shield
• A Luckstone (Stone of Good Luck) - weightless stone, in a pouch
• A Wand of the War Mage +2 
• A Cloak of Protection +1
• A Glyph of Purification (a humble article, a sheet of waxed paper with a glyph on it, that appears to separate elements into component parts)
• A Blindfold ... perhaps used in training others for blind fighting? Uncertain
• A Set of Juggler's Balls. No ordinary balls - should they attempt to be juggled, they simply never miss the juggler's hand, and they never seem to drop.
• 3 Potions of Superior Healing
• A Driftglobe (a glass sphere with a silver seal with three magic command words written into the seal)
• A Spellbook that read: "The Book of Names" in a foreign script, but, could be interpreted using Comprehend Languages
• A Door

"The Door" in this case was a large, ornately-crafted single-door that opens inward but is locked with a very formidable and impressive lock (Tolman said so). The Door would appear (to you or I) as Arabic in design and origin. Behind The Door is empty space; it appears to lead nowhere. The Door was bolted to the floorboard of the captain's quarter's of the third ship. The Door is locked. As the party found a large brass key on the Blue Cleric, they currently presume this key fits into the Door's lock and it seems that's the case, but they didn't unlock or go through the door. Identify gave mixed results (it's a door, and a portal, but a door is a portal, just to what's behind it, and it likely works with a similar door/portal on its opposing side, so long as that door/portal continued to exist - so that if they destroyed this Door, the corresponding door on the other side wouldn't open to it), but it was definitely reeking of Conjuration School of Magic.

The party decided to leave The Door be for now and set sail for Sphant for training, re-supply, and thinking about their next move.

DM's NOTE: 

What happens next occurred when most of the players left the game table - there were three players remaining - Camille, Melissa, and Allen - when Melissa wanted to understand what was in the spellbook that was recovered from this adventure. I said that I wanted to RP (Role-Play) that discovery and it could wait until the next session; I didn't feel comfortable doing it over email. Melissa wanted to understand the book now for it could relate to the spells she'd take when revising her character sheet to 7th Level over the next two weeks. I said, well, okay, sure - grab a 20-sided dice.

On the return voyage to Sphant, in the late hours of the evening, Ma'yah was up trying to make sense of the Book of Names. It wasn't a hefty tomb but did have several hundred parchment pages. She had cast Comprehend Languages and Detect Magic as a ritual to understand it and to make sense of it.

[DM's NOTE: At this point I reminded Melissa of what happened the last time Ma'yah just tried to open up a spellbook in my universe - it blew up in her face and she took damage. Ma'yah knows that spellbooks can be trapped or bewitched to protect their secrets - just as chests, coffers, and crypts in the natural world, they are guarded to protect what lies within. Books don't give up their secrets easily. She still pressed forward. I also informed Melissa in my 2015.06.15 email/D&D Follow Up on how to defuse a spellbook that could be potentially trapped ... that process wasn't followed ... please keep this in mind.]

Ma'yah cracked open the book to see lists and lists of names. These names were of individuals; they were translated from the weird Common (that looks like Arabic script) the party encountered, and, the names were a little bizarre, but included their name, physical description, and what they did in life. 

On the first page, the ink on the page, Ma'yah noted, seemed to reorganize itself, and it asked a question:

"What is Your Name?"

[DM's NOTE: At this point, I had Ma'yah role a check on Arcana and she rolled a 12.  She failed this DC check. Names in magic are like IP Addresses ... knowing a name is like knowing the specific address of where to go on a network, or, in this case ... surrendering your name is like handing somebody a piece of a key. It's one of the most potent forms of vulnerabilities in magic...]

Ma'yah, alone in the dark, thought about it for a moment, and was at first going to write it, but then she said it out loud. "Ma'yah of House Syln'dakar". 

The book then provided the script and letters in the odd Arabic-like language which was then re-interpreted by her Comprehend Language spell as "This Book Belongs To..." and then her name. The book felt warm to the touch.

As she began reading through it, Ma'yah started to feel the book getting warmer, and her limbs were going numb. Siegride was praying near by and saw that something was amiss at Ma'yah's table. To Siegride, Ma'yah's body was dimming, becoming fuzzy, lines and stripes were cascading down from her head; to Ma'yah, she could see letters and words and scripts in the air around her, and her hands were covered in lettering and ink! Words on the page began to meld and mesh together. Ma'yah's eyes opened wide, she gasped ... her thoughts panicked, she tried to remember her counterspell -

There was a crack of light and a split second where Siegride could cry out Ma'yah's name, before suddenly, with a flash, Ma'yah's body was gone, the book slammed shut and fell back to the table.  Ma'yah was gone.

"Ma'yah!", Siegride yelled, and jumped up and rushed to the table. All that remained was the Book of Names. Gingerly, Siegride picked it up, started thumbing through the list of a hundred or more names, and came across a listing. "Ma'yah of House Syln'dakar" - a physical description of Ma'yah, and, her accomplishments in life. Meanwhile, as she looked at the front of the book, the first page's lettering reorganized to appear in Arabic script (that Siegride couldn't read but I told Camille): 

"What is Your Name?"

Siegride immediately then put down the book.

Dru, the pseudodragon, who had been napping happily on a stack of silver below decks, came rushing up to the room where Ma'yah had been. He started sniffing around the table, looking about confused, as his psychic link with Ma'yah had been severed. Dru whimpered, and curled up on the table, next to the book, looking at it with longing eyes ...

R

Defending the Lizard Colony II (1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

Gorbash and Tamroohk battled hard with the dark stranger made of ill-will and shadow. With one powerful lunge, it drove its two dark rapiers deep into Tamroohk's soul thus striking her down. She collapsed and with her unconsciousness the Spirit Guardian bears evaporated into nothingness.

The shadow-man leered over Tamroohk's body as Gorbash rushed up to defend her. It pointed one of its dark blades at Gorbash. "Leave her! Retreat now. Pray that I do not take your life as well."

Gorbash popped the cork on his last remaining healing potion and forced it down Tamroohk's throat. She sputtered and returned to consciousness, weak and dazed, and he started dragging her body away from the menacing shadow-thing that threatened their very existence. Cursing under his breath, Gorbash made a desperate plea: "Hey, Berronar. Berronar Truesilver. Hey. Are you listening? We need a way out of this. Uh, we're going to get killed. Are you listening?"

Almost as if in response, the blue shadow of another female dwarf returned to surround and encompass Tamroohk's body. Tamroohk was barely conscious and weak. In a fit of rage and pain, the blue shadow - the image of Berronar Truesilver - squinted, opened her mouth wide, and began to scream in a rousing battle cry, and just then, Tamroohk's body stiffened, her eyes shot open, and she also began to yell a battle cry at the top of her lungs as she was infused with divine energy!

[DM's Note: Tamroohk received +24 HP from a Cure Wounds].

In response, the mysterious dark aggressor immediately assumed a defensive position with his rapiers and burst into a hundred ravens, soared into the sky, and reformed on top of a large boulder near both Gorbash and Tamroohk. It menacingly pointed its rapiers towards the two Dwarves. "You meddling cunt - I will take both of their lives!" [A little bit of editorial license here - this wasn't said at the gaming table but that's what the entity would have said if the DM were allowed to be a bit more crude...]

Gorbash lunged at the creature with his axes, swiping it ineffectively at its ankles, and Tamroohk cast another Spiritual Guardian spell causing radiant bears to attack the entity. "Argh!", it exclaimed, trying to defend itself from the ethereal creatures, then it burst again into ravens and flew off into the sky.

"Victory!", Vongur proclaimed as Gorbash reached out to Tamroohk's arm to help her to her feet! All three of the dwarves (Vongur included) cheered as a magic circle of blue energy formed around them. There was a blinding blue light and both Gorbash and Tamroohk covered their eyes ...

* * *

"Don't worry about me," Tolman said, his 3'-tall frame fending off five or six sword-swinging pirates just as Siegride, Ma'yah, and Llewellyn witnessed a whole new wave of fleeing lizard folk and marauding pirates rush into the yard.

Panic was everywhere and the pirates were taking down innocent lizard people! Tolman took some good licks from his attackers but managed to feint some of the damage, but he was starting to get low in hit points. Elan, who was being chased down by some pirates, attempted to side-step their attacks so she could get some clear shots in, evoked two attacks of opportunity - both of which rolled a natural 20 - taking her down and tossing her body into the earth.

Seizing her opportunity, the green Cleric of Takhesis cast Silence over the area where Ma'yah, Llewellyn, and Siegride were fighting their way through berserkers and pirates, and suddenly all three of them suffered a severe inability to cast spells! Ma'yah drew her dagger backed herself into a nook in the lizard folks' dwellings, and Llewellyn dashed into a residence. Llew, inside a mud hut with a door made out of wood and reeds could still see into the yard and witness the carnage taking place.

Just then, the red Cleric of Tahkesis burst out of a hut door in a battle cry and sprinted across the yard with her flaming mace! And just then, a new Cleric of Tahkesis - a half-plated, blond woman with a white dragon tattoo that ran up and down her whole body - began sprinting across the mezzanine towards the fray! The party's spirits began to sink.

Suddenly, there was an arcing blue wave of energy that crashed at the end of the yard and both Gorbash and Tamroohk materialized facing the wrong direction, toward the living quarters of the lizard colony. Because Silence was cast earlier by the green cleric, the entire battle created no noise what so ever. Disoriented, they started looking around. It was a pleasant day. Smelled like smoke though. They wondered where they were and who made these mud hovels - Oh! Tamroohk thought, We must have been taken to the lizard colony, completely unaware of her friends' plight until she turned in the right direction to see the melee with half-a-dozen brigands, the sound of their battle completely muted. Then the dwarves, returned to the field of battle, lurched into action!

Llew saw an opportunity in the sudden appearance of the dwarves. Standing inside one of the mud residences, he was outside of the range of the Silence spell and could sing! He cast a minor illusion that created another armed dwarf in the middle of the marauding pirates. Some actually fell for it and started swinging at the illusion instead of at Siegride.

Meanwhile, having dispatched his own set of pirate groupies, Tolman went old-school Rogue and Climbed Walls to get onto the mezzanine level of the yard. With that vantage point, he could see the flaming red-haired Cleric of Tahkesis rushing across the yard, long-jumping over some wading pools, to rush into battle with Siegride.

Tolman, fast thinking as he is, thought of just the right spell. Concentrating, his mind focused on the area in the yard near Siegride. That area began to glow with a faint light and was magically endowed - the friction removed from the surface of the earth. He cast Grease causing several pirates and the red cleric to (most un-triumphantly) slip and fall to their asses when attempting to rush Siegride!

Still, that didn't seem to deter the newly-arrived white Cleric of Tahkesis who long-jumped down from the mezzanine right into the pitch of battle to take Siegride on! The cultist prepared her mace which extruded this cold, icy substance along the grip and ball of the mace, as her Goddesses' divinity infused the weapon with wicked cold energy! Gleefully, the white Cleric stepped menacingly into battle with the Tempest Cleric of Isthmeira!

But ... just before the white Cleric could start delivering her Goddesses' wrath and punishment ... there was a small matter of Ma'yah. Ma'yah, you see, was backed up in an alcove under the mezzanine. The white cleric leaped right over Ma'yah's head and landed just in front of her, exposing the white Cleric's back entirely to Ma'yah. Ma'yah ... contemplated. She stared at her gleaming dagger, a magical dwarven dagger she obtained back in the Mines. Then she thought of a spell. Magic Missile would work. But that would mean burning through another spell slot. Then she thought of the dagger. Why not use the dagger, she thought? I could stab the white cleric in the back! I'm not a thief but maybe I should have been but maybe I could be, too, I could stab the cleric in the back, I could ...!

Spell. Dagger. Spell. Dagger. Hmmm. What to do? Well, at the gaming table, Allen and Camille reminded Melissa that the dagger was a finesse weapon and her Dexterity modifier could be used in her attack bonus. Gleefully, that only settled it for Melissa. "I'll stab the Cleric!", Melissa exclaimed and started rolling the die while the DM chortled cockily thinking, Pththt Yeah whatever, the white Cleric's AC is 19 and there's no way in Hell that roll will ... "HIT!", Melissa exclaimed ... "Crap," said the DM, erasing hit points ...

... and a magical dagger thrust into the unsuspecting white Cleric's backside! The White Cleric fell to one knee and (albeit she wasn't terribly injured) dramatically screamed in surprise. But, you see, she was in the middle of a Silence spell, so her scream really did nothing, falling on deaf ears, so she mouthed a lot of swearing curse words that would probably not be appropriate for her order ... and continued on her march towards Siegride!

After her attack, Ma'yah thought some more. "I could be a thief, sure, yeah, I could be a thief!" and she successfully Climbed Walls up on to the mezzanine [DM's Note: It just takes a DC 10 Ability Check, folks. Look it up. Jesh.] "Look at me!", she thought, rushing for a door of one of the huts. She burst in to find a weaponless lizard woman freaking out in the back of the hut, and Ma'yah turned and slammed the door behind her.

Meanwhile, Gorbash attempted to help Elan. Frisking her body, Gropebash ... oh, pardon me, Gorbash ... retrieved a vile containing a Elan's healing potion and forced her to drink it, reviving her, just as they were rushed by a crowd of berserkers and pirates!

The red Cleric, trying to get up from the greasy earth, slipped again, and fell to her ass. Tolman watched from above, and in his hand, the dagger he claimed in the spooky White Stands, Silverscale, was vibrating angrily at the red Cleric, alerting Tolman to the fact that this adversary had magical weapons and armor. But he couldn't think about it too long. There was another pirate up on the mezzanine with him firing arrows down on his friends. As a Rogue and not wanting to be outdone by the Magic User, he did a thiefy-backstab against the fellow and took him down.

Just then, the red Cleric - planting her legs firmly into the ground - managed to get up and attack Siegride! The war cleric managed to get one hit in of a multiple-attack, and smacked some avenging fire-goddess wrath into Siegride! Her mace exploded into fire upon the strike and magical flames briefly engulfed Siegride's armor!

As for Siegride, she was trained to brush off such damage with her Heavy Armor Mastery and took less damage than what the red war cleric was intending. Pouty Red Cleric. And then - quite suddenly - the Cleric of Tahkesis got to taste a wee bit of Tempest Cleric wrathiness of Siegride's own, as lightning erupted from the earth and electrocuted her. More Pouty Red Cleric.

Then things started taking a turn for the worse. Casting Chromatic Orb from his hidden vantage position, Llew was able to strike some hard magical damage into the white Cleric engaging Siegride. But that didn't stop her. The white Cleric swung at Siegride, and at first seemed unbalanced and unlikely to hit her, until the War Cleric expended her special ability to add +10 to any weapon strike, sending her own mace square into Siegride's body which then was smacked with ice! Siegride was hit! Hard! And she collapsed to the ground!

On the mezzanine, a berserker rushed up to the door that Ma'yah was hiding behind and ripped it off of its hinges. Ma'yah screamed and stabbed at him with his dagger. "Ah-HA!", she exclaimed, causing a wee scratch. Simply made angry, the berserker (who gets to roll at Advantage) attempted to hit the nearly defenseless Mage trapped in a mud hut and MISSED. He looked confused. Then Ma'yah cut him again. "Ah-HA!", she shouted again, his blood dripping on the floor and running down her hand. "I really like my dagger!" And then the Berserker went wild and attempted to hit her, and, missed, again. Then Ma'yah stabbed him again, and backed out of the mud living quarters to be on the mezzanine.

Ma'yah shouted out to Tolman who was just thirty feet away. Wide-eyed and a little suspiciously-crazy looking, she held it up, dripping gore and ooze down her magician's sleeve. "Look at my dagger!" Tolman frowned and mentally resumed to recalculate the amount of time that it takes magic users to descend into insanity ... and then he saw a potential opening in the fight in the yard below. He leaped from his position!

On the field, the red cleric and white cleric regrouped, backing themselves against each other. They looked magnificent: expert fighters, armored, their shields defending each other, and their maces glistening with divine energy! The sun shown down from the morning sky - an epic silence and slow-motion camera pan - white blinding light glinting off of their armor, helms, and shields! Their wicked dragon tattoos writhed on their flesh! Like two heads of the same dragon, the holy clerics of War prepared to take on more of their adversaries!

The red-haired Cleric of Tahkesis was badly wounded with her battle with Siegride and neither Cleric could cast a Cure Wounds in the zone of Silence that they found themselves in; meanwhile, the blond-haired Cleric of Tahkesis popped a vile and consumed a Potion of Healing of her own, just as Tamroohk rushed up to heal Siegride.

Siegride was coming to her senses as the White Cleric and Red Cleric took turns smacking on Tamroohk, rendering her almost unconscious - but Tamroohk was clever and was trying to pretend to be unconscious! But the Red War Cleric was badly injured from the fight and one of Elan's arrows had just hit her. She was still in the Silence spell and incapable of saving her own life - she was trying to speak, putting her hand up to her throat, trying to get out the words that could heal herself! And it was during this engagement that Tolman rushed up from behind and backstabbed the Red Cleric! The Cleric of Tahkesis fell.

The White Cleric was trying to avoid the slippery Grease spell's area of effect and get out of the silence so that she could cast some spells of her own. Faking unconsciousness, Tamroohk attempted to provide more healing-feeling for Siegride, who was trying to stand to defend against the White Cleric! Another arrow - WHACK! - and Elan dealt some serious damage to the Cleric before she could cast any spells. Siegride re-cast Spirit Guardians and the ethereal, unearthly eels came back into being, eating away at the White Cleric, just as the Green Cleric (who'd tried to make a run for it across the yard was smacked bad by one of Elan's arrows) cast Dispel Magic to get rid of them again.

Gorbash was in a grand melee with a bunch of pirates and berserkers that were surrounding him, and Tolman rushed in to try and assist, but he was all alone. Llew saw this, and, then, saw another opportunity. There were maybe nine or ten lizardmen guards who'd coalesced near Llew, and they saw that he had a lute. The lizardmen guards anxiously pointed at the lute and - in lizard tongue - were urging the bard to either play or give them his instrument.  They kept pointing at the Green Cleric, apparently having figured out who their real enemies were, and then looked back to Llew for guidance and inspiration! Llew removed his lute! The lizard guards cheered! They readied their weapons and prepared for a battle that would go down deep in lizard folk history! They would be heroes, champions, lead by the Charismatic Llewellyn the Bard ...! And Llew knew this was his moment ... his moment to command his own little Lizard Army! To convince them, lead them on, to run across the yard and attack the Green Cleric, and Llew recalled the lines to his battle poems and rolled ...

... a 1 on a Charisma check.

The lizard guards stopped cheering. They dropped their arms. Two even dropped their weapons entirely. They looked about the yard, confused. They weren't quite sure what the human bard was trying to say. Something about tuna and sandwiches and green algae ...

Then, at the gaming table, David threw down a poker chip! A poker chip representing an inspiration point, that would allow him to re-roll! Burning a re-roll, he rolled another Charisma check... a 2. Nuts.

Yep. Still something about green tuna/algae sandwiches. The confused lizard folk guards muddled around, looking at each other, trying to understand the strange tones and sounds coming out of Llew's mouth. Some of the lizard guards looked at each other, shrugged, and pointed at the green cleric, and waved Llewellyn to follow them. They cheered, grabbing their weapons, and as a mass fighting team started across the yard. Llew felt like he finally got through to them and cheered them on from the rear!

Meanwhile, the battle continued for Gorbash who was standing on his own but needed help. Elan whipped out two more arrows. One at the Green Cleric who took too much damage and died, and then at the White Cleric, who suffered a natural 20. Upon impact with the arrow, the White Cleric's body exploded in a mess of blood and gore. The Silence spell snapped out of existence.

Llewellyn's Lizard Army was rabble-rousing across the field, noticed that the Green Cleric had perished, and then started making for the crowd of pirates and berserkers that had surrounded Gorbash. Llew urged them on! Some pirates broke off and tried to take on the Lizards.

... whew! And that's where we stopped! More next week!

R

Daughter and Mother Rising (14th of First Harvest - 1st of First Stores, Rose: 47)

In defeating the Merrow in their own lair, the party found a secret passageway behind a large statue. That passageway was dark and sloped downward, deeper; instead of stairs, there was a swooping track that edged right and left as a deep groove for fish-like bodies.  With their magical light cast upon a stone, the party descended and witnesses bass-reliefs carved into the stone walls. It was a story of the Merrow's exodus from the home of the Merfolk, and the eventual splintering of their clans. And then they wandered into a small cave of wonders.

Enormous clam shells lay open spilling over with gold, silver, and platinum coins. There were old chests recovered from surface-dwellers that laid here as well, filled to the brim with treasure, jewelry, gems, and other sparklies. Fine tapestries lined the floor and adorned some of the walls. And in the center abrupt against the wall, a 9' tall ivory statue of a deity - the room obviously organized to present tribute to the mighty god - and He watched over it with a greedy eye.

The statue was that of a man with a fish-like bottom-half, a male human torso, but the head of a sperm whale; behind his head were eight large tentacles like that of an octopus and in this representation looking more like thick dreadlocks. The creatures arms and hands were outstretched as to accept the bounty before Him.

Not exactly adventuring newbies, the party was smart enough to immediately decree nobody - no one - was to touch the treasure. It could be trapped. Tolman the Halfling performed and inspection yet didn't find any of the clam shells or trunks of treasures closed, locked, nor trapped; Siegride cast Detect Magic to find anything of spiritual and magical influence (only the statue of the god itself radiated a faint glow - it was of the Abjuration School of Magic - and none of the treasure or its contents radiated enchantment); and Gorbash the dwarf guarded the entrance to the treasure trove as the party did its investigation.

Thinking only of kindness, Elan contributed some gold coins onto a pile of tribute. Later, she may have come to regret that decision (and may have even scooped back up the coins), but I'm not sure. Meanwhile, Dru the Pseudodragon, the tiny companion to Ma'yah, sniffed the air in some delight. Then left her to prance over a pile of gold. Then the tiny dragon flipped over, rubbing itself in the gold like a dog might some smell in the yard. It made pleasurable cooing noises and curled up like a cat on a heat pad. At scale, it kind of looked like Dru was an awesome red dragon on top of a mountain of treasure, and the dragon probably probably liked it that way.

From the main anti-chamber, a single Merrow approached Gorbash who was guarding the door. He was an older Merrow and not with a buff physique of a soldier. He bore a white tapestry slung between both of his arms in a gesture of peace. He approached the dwarf and asked for conference with him and his companions. Gorbash allowed him in and he slithered down to meet the rest of the party.

"I am Kay-Den-Nay," the old Merrow proclaimed, "I have been dispatched by my Queen to negotiate your terms. And I was under the impression you were interested in a different sort of treasure than this."

The party conversed with Kay-Den-Nay who spoke fluent and articulate Common. He was the clan's academic, a scholar and elder, an advisor to the Queen. When asked, he named the god in the room - Pah-Ka-Steel - the Dark Deceiver, the Liar, the Corruption. Obviously, Kay-Den-Nay was no fan of this deity and he explained the story written on to the wall. He said that the Merrow were Merfolk in the beginning, that they were beautiful and artistic, cultured, but long ago, an idol was drug up from the deepest depths of the sea (pointing to the large idol in the room). It was a god, and it came to influence the thinking of his ancestors. This entity promised riches, wealth, power - a path to stave off the growing influence of surface dwellers who were trolling their seas, spoiling their resources, eating their fish. This entity promised longer life for the Merfolk. It wasn't long before the faction that followed Pah-Ka-Steel were exorcized from the Merfolk colonies and a great exodus occurred. Over time, mutations were introduced into the gene pool that turned Kay-Den-Nay's people (and the animals that dwelled with them like the shark-dogs) into twisted horrific mutants that fostered resentment, anger, and malice towards those who lived on the surface of the water. For generations they attacked ships and killed innocents.

"It was He," Kay-Den-Nay said, thrusting an accusing finger to the statue, "that transformed us. We were once beautiful. We are now monstrosities. But we are of our own making."

Further, Kay-Den-Nay was not sore towards the party for killing his countrymen, replying, "Does the cuttlefish resent the eel? No. The cuttlefish are as they are - prey. The eels are as they are - hunters. It's the way of things." He did desire to reach a compromise and his Queen had sent him to do so, at much distain from other elders. He convinced his Queen to allow him an audience with the intruders. "The Queen is of two minds. One mind is that of a grieving mother who lost her son today. That mind is erratic, chaotic, blood-thirsty, and full of revenge. The other mind is that of a monarch who wishes to protect her people. Currently, the latter mind commands her reason." Inasmuch, Kay-Den-Nay offered to bring the books taken from The Gentle Current to the party in exchange for their immediate departure. He lead the party back to the large anti-chamber where the books - 20 water-tight trunks tied together in three columns with a mesh of slick seaweed - were waiting.

"I hadn't time to open the cases," he explained, "and all should be intact."

Regular Merrow citizens were lined in a cavern away from the large anti-chamber - men, women, children, all of them mutated in some form or another, they watched as the party gathered up the books and dragged them ... they were slick from water and the vines, and could be drug easily across the stone floor.

Kay-Den-Nay lead them through a temple area where there were more reliefs on the walls and more statues dedicated to Pah-Ka-Steel. It was at this time in conversing with Kay-Den-Nay, in witnessing more of the reliefs and statues, and in receiving angry stares from Merrow clerical devotees, that Siegride recognized that Pah-Ka-Steel was a Tempest God, of the same domain of her own deity, Isthmeria. A sinking feeling came to her, and she stopped, withdrew her grimoire from her cloak, and started flipping through the pages.

Her Grimoire was the sum knowledge of certain demons that she had encountered. Her order collects that knowledge into Grimoires that are maintained at their various temples and holy places. She had spent many, many hours copying information from those tombs into her own Grimoire, and she was looking for the expression Pah-Ka-Steel, to determine the True Name of ...

"Agloolik!", he breathed, and read the True Name under her breath. "I knew it! Why am I running into this thing all the time?" She explained privately and quietly to Kay-Den-Nay that knowledge of the True Name could temporarily banish the demon from the prime material plane, and she taught he Merrow how to say the True Name. Kay-Den-Nay was truly gracious and thanked her. He said that such knowledge could change the course of destiny for his people, and Siegride told him that she could be found at the sanctuary in Sphant, should this entity be encountered again, and to come and find her.

The party was escorted to an enormous bolder that once moved aside revealed a tunnel that lead up a long slope through a network of caves. Kay-Den-Nay said that the secret passage would lead more towards the center of the island, and the party could head west to the colony of lizard folk.

After a long walk the party finally emerged from an open pit covered by thick brambles. The leaves of the plants and trees here were abnormally large, almost primeval. The insects massive. The flowers as big as their heads. It was if they just stepped backwards in time to a place not made civilized by humans.

The party pushed westward lead by Elan the Ranger. She said it would be a four to five hour march to the colony, dragging the columns of books. They cut their way to the west, but, what was to happen next was a flurry of blood, bashing, and battery.

Three Hook Horrors emerged from the swampy badlands! Their menacing hooks ripped at the foliage and tore away trees and vines and other obstacles.  They screeched wildly and shook their heads, their eyes useless and relying entirely on their sense of echolocation. As the party engaged, they arranged themselves in a way that would allow them to take on this new adversary when - suddenly - a giant maw erupted from the green and snatched at one of the Hook Horrors! It lifted the body some fifteen feet above the ground where another lizard-like head came and snatched at its lower half, eating it, and nearly ripping it in two!

An enormous figure emerged from the swamp with the body of a stocky brontosaurus and seven swirling heads with vicious teeth!

"A hydra!", announced Vongur to Gorbash; Vongur was an amulet of an old dwarf hanging around Gorbash's neck. "Look out boy! If you cut off one of its heads, two more will grow back!"

[DM's Note: At this point, I should have allowed the hydra a surprise round but I forgot about it and it didn't attack the party until the second round, wasting at least five other attacks it could have made with Advantage on that round. Plus, when I reduced the number of Hook Horrors, I brought the overall challenge rating from "deadly" to "difficult" - I should have replenished the Horrors and brought a few more into melee to really make a stronger impact. Also, I spread the hydra's multiple attacks around to multiple PC targets rather than focusing in on just one target, which spread the damage rather than concentrate it. To make matters worse, the hydra rolled poorly after a while and missed its attacks. Finally, during the second round, I forgot to allow one of the Hook Horrors to attack. Overall, I botched the melee which could have been more fierce than what it was. So it could have been much worse, okay? It could have been. Yeah.]

Gorbash rushed the Hydra and took some mighty swings at it. Ma'yah cast a spell then Misty Stepped (teleported) thirty feet away from the Hydra; Llewellyn evoked a song that created a Chromatic Orb and sent it hurling at the monster, and it exploded in a firey mess! The thing screeched in agony and pain, and one of the heads fell limp, and a new head didn't grow back. The party had discovered the creature's inherent weakness! "Fire!", yelled Llew. "Use fire against it! Fireball it, Ma'yah!"

Melissa (Ma'yah's player) shrugged. "I CAN'T! I didn't memorize Fireball! You guys told me not to fireball the ship!"

(And there was a collective groan at the table).

Melee with the Hydra and Horrors was, in fact, "difficult". Gorbash took the brunt of a double attack from the hydra that rolled a critical hit. It moved into a position that would allow its heads to attack multiple PC targets and started trying to attack them, too. Some PC's were bit, and when Siegride was hit, a lightning bolt erupted and electrocuted the beast - retribution from her deity, smashing into its body.

All of the PC's were engaged with the Hydra or the remaining two Hook Horrors until, finally, all of the things were dispatched. The party was hurt but not down, so they pressed on westward until they came to a forest grove overlooking the ocean. It was dusk. A parliament of ravens took to the trees nearby, and the party recollected the creepy ravens that attacked them last year when they were exploring the White Stands - the haunted arctic forest - and made jokes about buttered ravens (the meal that was served after said battle when Tolman used an infinite supply of butter from Brandyford's Endless Buttercrock to make a delicious meal out of their corpses).  Still, they made camp there. Llew cast Lemund's Tiny Hut which created a force dome for comfortable, safe, easy camping. They made food and posted watches through the night.

On Gorbash's watch, around 11:30pm, he was peering into the dark, windy, rainy night from the comfort of the magical dome. With his darkvision, he could make out the natural shadows of trees blowing in the wind. Then, his eye caught something. A shadow, one even darker than all of the other shadows, of a human, on the outskirts of the camp, slowly walking the parameter. Grabbing his weapons, Gorbash exited the dome and into the night air, rain pelting him, and Gorbash called out to the sulky shade.

The shadow seemed to be that of a human with a large, black, brimmed hat and dark cloak. Gorbash couldn't see his legs or torso or face, but could make out its black form enough to see that it stopped, turned, and faced Gorbash. Its black form stopped. Gorbash couldn't make any facial features out. He called out again for the shadow to state its name and explain what it was doing around here.

It said nothing. The shade just ominously faced Gorbash and made no sound whatsoever. It then, slowly, took a step backwards and as it did, from the shadow two, black, shadowy-sharp rapier-looking blades emerged in a lowered cross: a dueling or sword-fighting position as if to portray a defensive maneuver. Still, the stranger said nothing.

Recognizing that the shadow had now armed itself, Gorbash stepped forward and brandished his own weapon when - suddenly - the shade burst into a hundred black ravens that rushed skyward and past Gorbash and into the night sky. Gorbash shrugged and returned to the Hut; Vongur simply remained asleep during the whole ordeal.

Others took watch that evening and the shade didn't seem to return.

It was now the 1st of First Stores, Rose: 47. In the early morning, there was a deep cloud cover and mist over the island. Siegride announced that she wanted to visit the lizard colony and warn them about the possibility they could be attacked by the cultists of Takhisis who attacked Sunrock Abbey in Sphant last Cycle. She asked for volunteers to come with her to the colony. Tolman, Ma'yah, Elan, and Llew said that they would join her, while Tamroohk and Gorbash said they'd stay behind and watch after the books they recovered from the Merrow's lair.

It took about an hour for the party to close in on the colony, but as they did, they immediately thought something was amiss. They could smell smoke. They could hear screams. As the fog and mist parted, they were on a cliff-side, and could see the colony. It was on fire; there were lizard people running in all directions; they could make out three Black Ships off the coast, and small dots of dingys filled with men mounting a raid on the coast!

Siegride recognized that her fears were warranted and she clinched her fist. "Of course! The first of the Cycle! Just like last time. They're attacking during specific lunar phases! Both Daughter and Mother* were in the sky! We're too late!"

[*DM's Note: Added a little content here that was spoken after the game - Daughter and Mother are the twin moons of Shae Tahrane].

The party readied their weapons, and Tolman called into existence his magical owl familiar. He wrote out a note to the Dwarves to tell them to hurry to the colony and handed to the owl.

The owl politely accepted the paper note and ate it.

Tolman then wrote out another note and told the owl not to eat it (which the owl, already full, accepted), and it flew off with the note towards the dwarves.

At thirty men a ship, Elan counted, there could easily be at least a hundred pirates - conscripts of the clerics of Tahkesis - attacking the lizard colony!

But the party was split up! It would take the Dwarves at least thirty minutes at a dead run to get to the edge of the colony, but by then it may be too late! What are our adventurers to do?! Should Siegride, Elan, Tolman, and Llew confront the evil clerics and their pirate forces alone without their fighting-powerhouse-tanking-dwarves? Wait until they arrive? Scout the situation? And what about the dwarves?! AND who was that weird, ominous shadow-thing?! WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!

Well, we'll find out soon enough, true believers! Tune in next time!

R

Bad Days for Sharks and Merrow (13th - 14th of First Harvest, Rose: 47)

The party attracted a crew of all women sailors and left the port of Sphant bound for the lizard folk colony. Knowing only that there was a handsome reward for the return of books bound for Seminary, and with the faith that they would return shortly, they set sail for a two day voyage on calm seas.

The voyage itself was uneventful. During the trip, the sailors helped show the party how to jib the rigs, jiggle the mainline, and swab the deck. The hired crew performed admirably, following the directions of the young teenage girl-prophet and her Holy Company: a moniker for Siegride and the rest of the party who're emblazoned with similar dwarven artifacts. The sailors, citizens Sphant, naturally bore a superstitious and religious bent about them, and found the girls leadership, commanding presence, and vision - not to mention an uncanny understanding of weather patterns and storms - as something divine inspired. 

The girl prophet instructed the crew to weigh anchor just north of the colony's island some quarter-mile away from shore where rocks had claimed half a dozen ships over the decades; their husks were seen as ominous shadows in the moonlight. In the morning on the 14th of first harvest, the party boarded two small rowboats and cautiously approached the dangerous rocks where the Gentle Current had run aground.

The party could feel the intensity of the current building as it closed in on the rocks, and they felt their ships being pulled into that place. They saw the vessel leaning over some 40° in bad shape; it's masts were broken and it's sails were ripped and fluttering carelessly in the wind.

As they approached, the party started to take notice of dorsal fins cresting along the top of the sea line. Soon, it was obvious that the party was rowing through shark infested waters and that the sharks were becoming increasingly interested in their presence.

Just then, bursting from the sea, a massive great white shark with a rider - a Merrow Prince (Merfolk who, by legend, have been twisted by evil and demonic forces, who plunder the treasure of ships and feed off of the flesh their crews) commanded the party to return their vessel, or they would most assuredly die. Rising from the ocean depths were the Prince's hunting party: five other Merrow's armed with harpoons and wickedly Long claws.

Siegride summoned the force of her deity and created a localized storm that would yield to her command. She also cast water walk on the entire party so that they might walk the surface of the seas. But she waited and did not strike. She waited to vet out the intentions of the prince as the party began to row away.

Surrounded by a school of sharks and the Merrow, some members of the party thought it was prudent to begin rowing backwards, and to-in fact-return to the ship. The little row boats drifted in their turn to point their bows back toward the anchored Sea Wyvern.

However, one member of the party - Ma'yah - The rash young magic user-was not duly impressed with the idle threats of a demonic Merfolk prince mounted atop a great white shark commanding her to leave an area of the sea that he controlled. No. She prepared a spell and her mind that would release a bevy of magical arrows into the prince on her command.

Her companion, the tiny pseudo dragon named Dru, in seeing what she was doing, flew over and landed on her lap. He looked up at her with big, sad, pleading eyes… as if attempting to say, "I want to live… please don't... Whatever you're planning…" but the little dragon did not deter her.

On the end of second round, as the Merrow were encouraging the party to start rowing away at harpoon-point, the party struck first: Ma'yah cast Magic Missile on the prince and the seas exploded into chaos.

First, the prince fell off of his mount and the great white shark torpedoed for the boat that Ma'yah was on. It opened it's keeping maw and tore a chuck out of the boat. As it tried to return to the safety of the sea, it incurred attacks of opportunity that allowed the party to beset massive damage against it. Bad plan, noted the shark.

Meanwhile, other Merrow surfaced and brandished their harpoons and claws and teeth, setting themselves upon the party. All of this would've been fairly normal fare for the Merrow hunting party until, of course, the Dwarves and Humans started walking on water to attack them. They weren't prepared for that. Standard operating procedure is for the demonic Merfolk where to use their harpoons to stab and grapple a victim and pull them into the depths of the icy water, allowing them to drown and become fish food. Not today. It would appear that some divine intervention allowed the surfaced dwellers to walk upon the water as if it was the land itself, and the ensuing battle was very confusing.

Ma'yah was attacked with prejudice by a smaller reef shark that lunged out of the water, bit her, and dragged her with a STR check into the water! Again, let's check standard operating procedure's for a shark. Bite victim. Check. Victim Bleeds. Check. Lock jaw, preventing victim from escaping. Check. Maybe shake the victim a bit, right and left, check. Then plunge deep into the watery depths to drown the victim.

Everything seemed to be going according to standard operating procedure for the shark and her blood tasted rather nice, as such was the perks of the job, except that Ma'yah had water walk cast on her and was effectively a super buoyant mass of human flesh that raced to the surface at 60 feet per round. The shark, nose downward and dragging his victim into the sea, suddenly found himself swimming against the magical forces of the universe, its prey weirdly pulling him back towards the surface, whereas its body was thrust backwards and out of the water in a display of unintentional acrobatics that threw the shark into the air and, consequently, it let go of Ma'yah. She went spilling onto the surface of the ocean like it was a wet tile floor.

The party engaged the Merrow on their own turf, walking on water, shooting, stabbing, casting spells. Llewelyn cast a hypnotic pattern that affected three reef sharks who ended up swimming around in circles aimlessly ... The PC's duked it out with the Merrow's in hand to hand, and the aquatic hunters got in a few good licks, but were no match for lightning bolts hurled from the sky, sharpshooting Rangers, and, stabby halflings.

Ma'yah, prone on the water, struggling to get up, suddenly was the target of severe aggression (probably for her attacking the prince): a dark shadow appeared in the water underneath her and the massive jaws of the great white shark opened and snatched her, ferociously ripping at her, and drug her down into a watery doom.

Revisiting standard operating procedures for sharks: bite, bleed, shake, drown. Every shark learns that in school. That's what's supposed to happen, it's how one gets ahead in life, and the massive great white had a lot of power in its tail and attempted to take Ma'yah into the cold darkness, swimming 30' then sixty feet down. Ma'yah attempted to stab the monster with her dagger but couldn't penetrate its hide. Things looked mighty bad for her. still, it couldn't best the carnal forces of magic as its momentum slowed, and it's prey's body thrust the enormous fish backward through the water to suddenly burst forth to the surface - tail first - and into the air, where both Ma'yah and the great white were hurled some five feet above the ocean to crash back into the water (for the shark) and on to the surface of the water (for the divinely tweaked Ma'yah).  Once there, she was attacked by a Merrow and rendered unconscious and dying.

Meanwhile, the prince - realizing his peril - thought that a direct confrontation with these land lubbers was the wrong way to go, and he opted for something epic. Both he and his shark mount moved at the same initiative at the top of the round, so he disengaged the party allowing him to sink backward into the ocean and away from his assailants without incurring attacks of opportunity, then remounted his great white shark who burst out of the water to leap at the divinely inspired Siegride. The reader should bear in mind that this shark gets +10 to hit and had advantage because of the blood frenzy in the water, and still _missed_ the cleric because of her mondo awesome AC of 24, whereas the demonic Merfolk prince riding this massive great white shark leapt out of the water, huge mouth gaping rows of teeth, and sailed right pass her in super slow mo (one could just see the twisted agony and surprise on the Merrow's face, then pan over to the shark's expression which was went from uber smug to sharkly shame), then the shark and princely rider (most un-epicly) splashed into the water on the opposite side of the rowboat. Thereby he was attacked by a water walking dwarf with a holy weapon she acquired from some old mines some 300 miles away.

Returned to consciousness, Ma'yah unleashed a volley of Magic Missiles against the prince again to finally finish him off. His body sank to the sea, and one lone Merrow escaped into the depths of the sea.

It was a bad day for sharks and Merrow. But it was only going to get worse.

The party continued their way to the Gentle Current, climbed upon the nearby rocks, and boarded the vessel. There they investigated the ruins and found the remains of several sailors. They also found the ship logs:

The Current is a three-mast Barquentine with a shallow draft. Captain Herisha Jeremo; Quartermaster Lynn of House Parque, Merchants of Floreth; a crew of eighteen: a pilot, a navigator, a cooper, a doctor, a lookout, two cooks, a sailing master, three carpenters, seven able sea men. Logs would show the boat built Rose: 13 in Rhackdalia; recent voyages have been running legitimate merchant cargo to destinations throughout the Shattered Isles and Floreth....

Logs would show that the Current was carrying 20 water-tight trunks of books and scrolls and literature that had been smuggled out of Rhackdalia before the Wall fell. House Orlante financed the recovery of these texts and commissioned to have them sent to the Seminary in Sphant. There was other material - food stuffs, blankets, bedrolls, supplies for refugees; chests of artifacts from the library; tapestries from the library.

The ship's cargo was apparently dragged out of the hull and across the rocks down into the depths of the sea. Gorbash dove in and swam some 90' down into the coral reef to find a cave opening decorated by the Merrow, and he tried to descend further into the cave but had to return, fearing drowning. Meanwhile, Ma'yah cast a spell to allow her to shapeshift and breathe underwater, and she found that the cave opening lead to a cavernous lair. She then returned to the group. The party concluded that it would be too difficult for everyone to hold their breath for seven or eight minutes, so they had to find another way.

Returning to the ship, the astounded crew was in awe of what they had seen: water-walking, flames shooting out of their hands, lightning called down from the heavens, streaking magic missiles ... pretty fitting of a Holy Company, they had thought, and they spoke to all of the party with some reverence. There the party waited, slept, and took eight hours to rest and heal up, and, to wait for the tides to lower so that they could explore the caves against the face of the cliff, facing the water.

The party returned at low-tide and found the cave, saturated from being inundated with water, and descended into the depths. They wandered in the dark, down some 90-feet, and came across a large pool of water where on the opposite edge was a syphon of water that spilled into a hole. Then the party noticed the fins - sharks - but these sharks moved oddly and, in fact, climbed out of the water. They were mutants! Six of them! Scary! They had four legs and truncated torsos, and gaping maws with rows of teeth! Oh yah. Sounds menacing. Yet, as usual, they were clumped together thus dazed by some uber-powerful bard spell, rendered useless and mowed down by a frenzy of maces, axes, arrows, and daggers. It wasn't long before the party had taken one of their bodies, tied some rope around it, and tossed the body of a shark-dog into the hole. So much for that encounter. 

Kersplat! Some 30' down. Siegride thought she heard some voices but couldn't understand the language, so Ma'yah cast a spell on Siegride that allowed her to comprehend and speak any language. Turns out some female voices down below were surprised that the sharkdog on a rope had fallen through the hole, and they went to go get some guards. Meanwhile, they pulled up the sharkdog and did the kersplat-thing again, and followed the corpse down into the hole.

At the bottom, Siegride was first to realize that she stepped into a birthing pool filled with tadpoles and a white muck (the guts of squished tadpoles that had been crushed by the falling sharkdog). The rest of the party descended. There was phosphorous moss growing in the pool and soon it was obvious they were in some Merrow nursery. 

Exploring their surroundings, the party were in some narrow caves that were dimly lit with the phosphorous moss with water (that fell from the spillway above the cavern) into nursery. It wasn't long before the party was met in battle by Merrow guards who were sure that these were the scoundrels who killed their prince. 

In the next fifteen minutes of game time, the party would encounter some fourteen armed Merrow guards and - to their credit - Siegride kept screaming in their Abyssal tongue that the carnage they were unleashing could be avoided if they simply surrendered the books stollen from The Gentle Current. It was a bloody mess. The Merrow got in a few good licks but they were no match for the seasoned adventurers. Regrettably, most of the guards didn't even understand the concept of a book ... but the party did encounter some more intelligent Merrow (who whisked themselves away in fear as they were met by Merrow guards) where one Merrow aristocrat did cry out, "Books? Books?! What books?! Kay-Den-Nay has books! We must find Kay-Den-Nay!"... before being arrested by his friends and dragged away into other chambers. 

Eventually the party would come across a large 9' tall statue and find its craftsmanship somewhat shoddy in concealing a secret passageway behind it. The party opened the statue and saw a descending slope downward....

... and that's where we'll start up next time!