All posts by jon

Session 11 – Gnollwood

Rather than travel the long miles to the Elven city, a portal to Daemyr is created for us, and we step through to find ourselves only a few miles from the town.

A Kithsara approaches us a few moments later and introduces himself as Thatsaru. He is an emmisary from the Elven Matriarch in Daemyr, and he is to lead us into the town. He accompanies us for the remainder of the trip.

As we near the city, we are beset by a group of brigands. Eilenos, being unused to the heavy armor and weapons of a Berethenu Knight, falls victim to one of their blades and falls unconscious. As the brigands are defeated, however, it is discovered that their weapons carry a diseased taint and they all are marked with a strange skull tattoo on their arms.

The group continues into Daemyr, carrying the unconscious Eilenos, and meet Josephus. Eilenos is healed by one of the royal priestesses, and as he recovers the group discusses the origin of their attackers.

Josephus identifies the skull tatto that they carried as the mark of Necros’ Leage of Assassins. Apparently Necros has teamed with Galignan, the god of disease, and this explains the taint on the weapons.

We rest for the evening.

The next morning we re-supply and sell some of the “loot” from our previous adventures at a few of the local establishments. We return a few hours later to the temple for a summit with Josephus and Daemyr’s Matriarch.

The Matriarch tells us of two threats that we could possibly address at the time being. The first is a situation at a nearby town, which has been overrun by a group of hyena-men known as Gnolls. The Gnolls have taken over the forest north of Fort Talethus, and it is now being referred to as Gnollwood. Fort Talethus has been attacked extensively by the Gnolls, and they will need assistance in defending against this threat.

Also, there have been stirrings from Skraag, the former Dwarven empire that is now occupied by Orcs. Reports of undead forces attacking temples of Berethenu all over Juravia are rampant, and it seems that Skraag may be readying some sort of attack on the Elven kingdom of Elleday.

We decide that Gnollwood is the more imminent threat, and decide to travel to Fort Talethus. The Matriarch promises assistance, and presents gifts to the members of our group.

Among them are Karathel’s Vestments, a magical armored vest; Kili’s Storm, deadly twin scimitars; Brom’s Call, a horn of summoning; Erethel’s Bow & Quiver, which replensihes its own supply of arrows; and Antinius’ Charm of Righteousness, a sacred amulet.

Session 10 – The Vemora

Stumbling upon a secret room, we find that it is a shrine dedicated to Berethenu. Eilenos enters the chamber, and is approached by a spirit, which is apparently is his ancestor, Antinius the Lightheart. He tells Eilenos that he must turn from the path of the Necromancer, and become a Knight of Berethenu.

The vision disappears, and Eilenos sees before him a set of armored gauntlets — the first piece of Antinius’ armor, the Hands of Justice. As Eilenos takes the gauntlets, he finds that his necromancer powers are fading, and that he now has the knowledge to use spells of Berethenu. He emerges from the chamber a changed man, and the skeletons he had raised turn into dust.

Pushing on, the group is finally able to find the Vemora, and they return to the village as heroes. After a few days of celebrating it is time to continue their journey to Daemyr.

Session 9 – The Vemora

As we continue through the keep, we face a Higmoni warrior among other foes. Eventually reaching the King’s Bedroom, we find a magical orb that allows you to understand multiple languages (which we give to Nadia), golden treasure, and a few other items. We continue on.

Session 7 – The Vemora

As we are continuing on our way to Daemyr, we are informed by a messenger that Josephus wishes us to go to Dunnerton and not Daemyr. The messenger, an Elf named Ennar, will accompany us to the city.

As we near the city, two giant trolls cross our path — they seem to be chasing one another. As one of them nears our traveling party, he trips and falls onto our Berserker, killing him instantly. We mourn him briefly, take his belongings, and move on.

Dunnerton is apparently a very small farming community, and has only a few men to defend its city. Kharl Atwater, an elderly gentleman with the town’s militia, explains that his people need our help.

Kevasha, an unexplained sickness, has taken the sight of some of the men in the town, and they cannot be healed by any known means. Their only hope lies in the power of the Vemora, an artifact of healing that resides in the nearby Keep of Thorenberg. A party has already been sent to retrieve the Vemora, but it was unsuccessful. Kharl asks us to pick up where the men of Dunnerton left off several weeks ago.

We are also interested in the rumor that the king of Thorenberg was extremely wealthy, and whose throne had a seat made of precious gems. Kharl also informs us that long ago, enchanters bewitched a fountain in the castle that would restore youth. The rest of the waters in the keep, however, have been poisoned from plague, and should not be drunk.

The next morning, we meet Kharl at his home before leaving for Thorenberg Keep. He introduces us to two individuals: Jacca Brone, a priest of Shakmar, Goddess of Healing; and Rawls, a guide. They are to accompany us on our journey. Kharl also informs Eilenos that King Higmar was a follower of Berethenu, so a piece of Antinius’ armor resides in the castle.

After preparing, we journey with the healer and guide to the Keep.

Session 6 – The Flooded Temple

We continue our adventure in the Flooded Temple. We face a huge ogre and a mass of insects, among other things, and are rewarded with a significant amount of gold and silver. We also find quite a few arms and supplies.

After we have emptied the temple of its riches, we move on and continue our trip to Daemyr.

Session 5 – The Flooded Temple

As we are leaving for Daemyr, the Elven capital, Josephus invites several others to help us in our journey. A Merikii, a Kithsara, a Jher-Em and a Berserker whom we have not met before accompany us.

During our travels we find the encampment of a band of Orcs. We swiftly kill the Orcs and free one of their captives, a young woman. The woman, named Nadia, informs us of a temple nearby that is told to hold some sort of treasure.

We decide to explore the temple, and at Nadia’s request, bring her with us.

Session 4 – Lair of the Necromancer

Upon returning to the Necromancer’s lair, we search the remaining rooms and find a secret panel on the wall. Eilenos touches it, and it begins draining life from him. Realizing that this must be the “sacrifice” that the riddle speaks of, he touches it as long as he can, though it hurts terribly — and a hidden room is revealed! In the room, a magical key, a necklace and a ring are found.

The party uses the magical key to bypass the sentinel, and find the treasure lying in wait. Three separate rooms hold gold, silver and jewels, worth more than any of us have ever seen. We take a few items and leave the rest of the gold to be guarded by the sentinel — and the key we keep with us.

The next day, on the order of Josephus, we begin the long journey to the Elven capital of Daemyr, roughly 200 miles away.

Session 3 – Lair of the Necromancer

Paging through the necromancer’s journal, we see that he was frustrated in his conquest of the lair’s treasures, attempting to give “sacrifices” by hurling captive elves from the local down down a bottomless pit, to no avail.

The adjacent room, in which we assume the treasure lies, is guarded by a huge stone sentinel, whose rocky fists are bloodied with the remains of many trespassers. We search for a way to bypass the sentinel without being attacked, but are unsuccessful.

We decide to return back to the nearby town of Lionna, and celebrate our victory against the Necromancer at a local inn.

Josephus meets us there, and changes the tone of our celebration by telling us that a divine war between the gods is forming. He is assembling an army of warriors to help fight in the battle — all decendants of great warriors — and is gathering them to help them claim their destinies.

A bit shaken by this news, we retire at the inn. As Eilenos the necromancer sleeps, however, Necros (the god of death) visits him. He tells Eilenos that if he betrays Necros, he will pay — he must go along with Josephus’ plan, but must turn on him at a critical moment. Eilenos is shaken by this vision.