Keep on the Winter Water: Session notes

Written by Claire Hawthorne & William Balmer, edited by William Balmer

Table of contents

Southern Ardenfoíl

The Surrounds of Castle Cragaell

Castle Cragaell and New Haranshire

Non Player Characters

Major NPCs

Tlaloc the Unproven - male red dragon - Lord of Castle Cragaell

Sapphire - general store assistant - tiefling woman - Platinum’s sister

Pashta - the memories of an arcane scholar trapped in the body of a emerald dragon wyrmling

Gremia “the Tooth” Greysword - Queensguard - human woman

Gurney - Former Captain of the Gnufudlen Guard, Advisor to Princess Desta - Human man

The Astral Sea

Commissar Gethar - Githyanki man - Leader of the Githyanki Loyalists, successor to Vlaakith, founder of the Sha’sal Kou

Ja’adoc - Githyanki woman - Lieutenant to Gethar

Dendrak - female adult red dragon - mother to Tlaloc

Vithka, Uweya, Dak - Githzerai monks

Amtal

Wej - sun elf man - an arcane researcher at Eid’i’ear College

Iltani - tiefling woman - a dealer from the astral sea, who moonlights in the Hidden City

Umari Onnutosh - gnome woman - Emeritus Professor of Patronics at Eid’i’ear College

Ifne Molleas - sun elf woman - Professor of Conjuration at Eid’i’ear College

Ishme - sun elf man - Amtal Council-member

Osgilliath - crystal dragon - astronomer

Haranshire & New Haranshire

Baron Ven Korvel - Ardenfean Noble - half-elf man (deceased)

“The Constable” Akachi Emeka - Haranshire Constable - human woman (deceased)

Ingrid Pudge - Haranshire Townsmaster - halfling woman - (deceased)

Bendre - warrior - orc woman - formerly of the Cresthill Enclave (deceased)

Shaxa - farmer - half-orc woman - formerly of the Cresthill Enclave

Falkrunn Caebrek - smith - dwarf person

Eden - stableboy - human man

Emma - goatherd - sun-elf woman - obviously infatuated with Typhus

Castle Cragaell

The Maskmaker - Witch - unknown (?)

Graecilla - The moniker Aphishan uses to refer to The Maskmaker (deceased?)

Aphishan - Architect - sun elf man

Lamius (deceased) - Captain of the 1st division of the Cragaellian Garrison

Erik - Cartographer (deceased) - Sun-elf man

Dereg - orc man - Vieve’s childhood friend

Hunzuu - Captain of the 1st division of the Cragaellian Garrison (successor to Lamius)

Adversaries

Cosmic

Xamodas - The leader of the Githyanki Monarchists, who staged a revolt of disaffected soldiers against Gethar on behalf of Zhulong (deceased)

• Riz’a’an - an oracle who interpreted Elirdan’s prophecy on behalf of Xamodas

• Sirruth - the commander of the majority of the remaining Monarchist forces, seeks economic control and influence

• Tropos - the most brutish of the Monarchists, wants revenge against Gethar for his attempted peace (deceased)

• Zar’ryth - a close advisor to Gethar, who betrayed the Loyalist cause in favor of Xamodas (deceased)

Arctiana (Ruby) - Archdevil, Duchess of the Garden, in service to Glaysia - Platinum’s mother

The Larva Mage - (??)

The Inexorables - (??)

Zhulong - An ancient ruby dragon confined to the sea of stars; the deposed bloodstone emperor

Aurangaul and the Order of Nine - an insane Illithid mage connected to an order of outcast wizards

Prime Material

Hallad Stvarson - the Warden of the West, Cerothian warrior (deceased)

• Floki Ghastgrower - cultivator of the Ghastwood, formerly Floki Hallberþason (deceased)

Baron Maromme - Baron of the Boiling Lands and the West Checkered Forest (deceased)

Demuhkratee, Aplaa - Enusa’s brothers, both vying for the throne (both deceased)

Enusa - The Bloodstone Empress - Heir to the Ardenfoílan Throne

Vesk Tyorr - Vola and Vieve’s uncle, who took control of the Cresthill Enclave by force (deceased)

President Ellyena - the President of Eid'i'ear College, with knowledge of the Gith, Illithids, and the Shadowfell, beholded to an unknown master

• Jamis Albrek - co-conspirator to Ellyena

Book VI: Where Prophecy Ends

Imperial Decree the First

Whereas the Queen Enusa Arde, fourth of her name, declares by the authority of the Wyrmpriests of Yu’ru and the Ancient and Venerable Crown of Ardenfoíl

That on the second Forging of Stormroar in the twelve-thousand-and-fifty-first year by the Common Calendar of Ardenfoíl (15-8-1251CC),

I.

Henceforth the lands of Yu’ru and Ardenfoil are joined with the Reestablishment of the Empire of the Bloodstone Crown.

Henceforth bestowing upon the Queen Enusa Arde, fourth of her name, the title of Bloodstone Empress.

II.

Henceforth the Crown of Ardenfoíl and domains entrusted to the crown pass rightfully to the Eldest Daughter of the House of Arde, Empress Enusa Arde.

Henceforth charging the Usurper Demuhkratei the first with Treason, Conspiracy, Kinslaying, and Matricide.

Henceforth stripping the Usurper, and his lineage in perpetuity, of all titles, lands, and claims.

Henceforth restoring the rightful lineage of House Arde to the stewardship of Ardenfoíl in perpetuity, as it has stood since the days of Queen Davcina Arde.

III.

Henceforth breaking all bonds, treaties, alliances, and trusts forged between the Crown of Ardenfoíl and any other party under the false rule of the Usurper Demuhkratei the first.

Henceforth elevating all bonds, treaties, alliances, and trusts forged under the rule of Empress Enusa Arde in exile to bonds forged with the Bloodstone Crown.

Henceforth declaring those of common birth sworn to the Usurper Demuhkratei the first pardoned on the condition of their absolute surrender.

Henceforth charging those of noble birth sworn to the Usurper Demuhkratei the first in contempt of the crown, stripping them of all titles, lands, and claims unless reinstated by royal pardon.

IV.

Henceforth declaring that the victorious warriors of the Battle at the Greyridge Crossing shall receive each earnings totaling no less than three silver talents and four copper jots in addition to wages earned during their service.

Henceforth declaring that the Six Champions of the Bloodstone Crown shall receive lands and titles befitting their service to the Empress.

Henceforth elevating the wyrmling Tlaloc the Unproven to lands and titles befitting his service to the Empress.

V.

Henceforth establishing the Day of Ascendance as a day of feasting and celebration on the first Breaking of Blooming, this year and all years after, in commemoration of the Reestablishment of the Empire of the Bloodstone Crown.

Session 6

Strange dreams plague the heroes, in the aftermath of their encounter with the afflicted beings in the forest. In the library, Desta learns from the Wyrmlord Scripts. Desta hears from Gurney: the tides of war are rising, and there is news of unrest in the North. A strange figure from Isioma’s past appears in town, asking after Isioma, and with a proposition for Tlaloc. Rio hears words from the divine, and learns his friends haven’t yet gathered any belief in Nile. The young god has very little power. Isioma meets with the stranger, and reconnects with Arheel, who is here on business. Typhus is approached by members of the Sha’sal Kou, who seek to unify the Githyanki and Githzerai. The heroes meet with Arheel, who acts on behalf of the Brasslords of the Firesphere, and rebuff his advances. Desta (lowkey) insults him, and he leaves almost immediately after, leaving a calling card in case they change their minds. Typhus begins recording Tlaloc’s audiences. Desta organizes the festival. Isioma regrets allowing Desta to insult Arheel. The festival is held to bring the people of the Material and Astral spheres together. Emma, the goatherd, approaches Typhus to ask for a dance. Gurney asks to give Desta her first dance in her Father's place. Desta accepts.

A vision of the Amtali Border

A wide battle stretches out beneath a long, sloping hill topped with ancient trees. On one side, dark skinned Amtali sun-elves, wearing golden-bronze armor and long, ironwood spears face off against tanned Emdali warriors wielding square swords and steel breastplates. Sun-elf mages fling droplets of flame and light from behind tall shields at the top of the hill, near the treeline, and the two armies clash in a mess of flashing weapons below. The largest sun is low in the sky, nearly setting, leaving the twin suns and the red comet overhead, forming a red triangle.

Battalions of archers, holding wicked compact shortbows, fire up the hill at the mages, while a large cavalry force conscripted from the far west of the continent barrels down on the Amtali force, stretched thin. The battle looks lost, the brutish Emdali fighters winning with sheer strength of numbers. Just as the Amtali lines shudder, as if to retreat, a tall sun-elf woman in the middle of the fighting begins to rally her troops. Against all odds, she lifts her ironwood spear high, and presses the remaining sun-elf infantry towards a brief opening in the Federation ranks. She breaks their infantry, rushing to decimate the enemy archers as the cavalry rounds for another charge. Amtali mages, no longer suppressed by the Emdali archers, rain spells down on the cavalry, who break off their next charge, scattering as their horses fall or falter.

At the top of the hill, the sun-elves cheer, until they hear screaming from the forest behind them. Long streams of smoke billow from between massive, knotted trees, thousands of years old. From behind the smoke, figures with fiery hair and black-bronze armor march forward carrying viscous javelins and machetes. They wear brass skirts and sandals, and aside from the soot blessing their deeply tanned skin, they are unaffected by the flames. Mages scream as they are carried to the ground by powerful javelin throws, and below, without suppressing fire, the Amtali infantry are stranded. The brassborn are ruthless, and kneel down to hack at the wounded sun elves, ensuring their deaths. Below, the tall woman and the few remaining infantry face down a second cavalry charge alone.

Session 7

Vieve and Isioma receive letters delivered by a courier. Vieve communes with the large oak tree nearby, who shares a vision of an Emdali victory at the Amtali border, aided by mercenaries from the City of Brass. The tree urges Isioma to find “one more connected than I,” and that she might be “the one” to “travel to the place with no connections.” Vieve’s letter is from Gremia, who is in Watchpoint. Isioma’s letter is from Arheel, who reassures her, “I know your friends don’t speak for you. I’ll see you soon.” Typhus redistributes food, while Rio entertains, and Desta advises Tlaloc.

The heroes decide to visit Arheel’s employers in the City of Brass to make amends. They summon the fire-genasi, who opens a portal to the Sphere of Fire. Leading them through the Bronze Palace to his Employer, Arheel thanks the heroes for coming and offers them water. Everyone but Desta drinks. They meet The Employer, a lavish Efreeti Brasslord. Desta expertly apologizes for offending them. The Employer clarifies that the Brasslords’ offer was not to adopt (or abduct) the infant wyrmling, but simply to extend a low-interest rate, no down-payment lease on battalions of mercenaries in case Cerothe or Enusa attack New Haranshire. They part on good terms, but The Employer appears to imply that Arheel will be punished for the miscommunication. Typhus asks for a library. Desta and Vieve return to the Prime Material, just in time to hear from Gurney that a new Gith homestead is on fire, the three mount horses and ride swiftly to the scene. Isioma and Arheel go out for a drink, and Rio thirdwheels. Arheel shows them the extent of the City of Brass, and expresses to Isioma that if he can hang on a while longer, he will have access to immeasurable wealth and power.

Session 8

Isioma and Arheel battle a retriever in the marketplace in the City of Brass. Arheel is gravely wounded, but healed by Isioma, who melts the retriever. Desta, Vieve, and Gurney face off against a Monarchist attack on a new homestead, and are joined by Rio who unknowingly frees a Githzerai Truthless who was conscripted to the battle. Typhus reads about the Darkness Between the Stars, and various cults who have interpreted comets and other celestial transients as signs from the Darkness. Tyhus is confronted by a Githzerai Truthless, Oliam who attacks him. Typhus stuns the Truthless, and breaks Oliam’s chains, freeing the monk.

Session 9

The Truthless freed by Rio begs for mercy, and in the light of the homestead bonfire, Rio, Desta, and Vieve choose to spare and capture the Githzerai quartermaster Zua. Gurney buries dead farmers, and Desta waits for rain to extinguish the burnt down homestead. Isioma finds Arheel healing medicine, and the two return awkwardly to the Brass Palace to find Typhus and Oliam, the Truthless Githzerai teacher who attacked Typhus in the library. Isioma, Typhus and Oliam return to the courtyard of Castle Cragaell in time to meet with the others returning from the burnt homestead. The heroes take the two Truthless before a tired Tlaloc, where Zua has an outburst upon being brought before such a young ruler and forced to suffer the formalities of court. Oliam explains the nature of the Truthless chains, and speculates that there are likely only 5 to 10 chains at play, most of which controlled by Zar’ryth’s faction. Tlaloc sentences Zua to a year of service to the farm which he attacked, but allows him to return to Ferzth before carrying out his punishment. The heroes find Ja’adoc who transports their skiff to the Astral Sea.

They find a tired, ragged Gethar who agrees they should consult with academics in Amtal about the strange comet, and about any information they find in Susurrus. He explains that his Loyalists have a lead on Zar’ryth’s faction’s whereabouts, and that Zar’ryth has been searching for Susurrus, like they have. The heroes decide to pursue the lead to The Confluence, a tear in the Astral Sea opened by the intersection of the Feywild and the Prime Material. Picking their way between small settlements near the confluence, astral drift overgrown with vibrant life from the Feywild, they hear stories of raiding by Zar’ryth’s Monarchists. Isioma buys a pumpkin. Rio gets a map drawn. They wait near a larger community hit hard and often by the raiders; Desta pays for information from a sailor, and Isioma casts Find Creature to hunt for Zar’ryth. Typhus and Desta spot two Monarchist skiffs approaching rapidly. As the heroes maneuver to intercept, Rio is able to overtake the raiders, and the heroes engage. They bombard one skiff with fire and lightning while poisoning the deck of another, intending on taking the captain captive. Typhus stuns the captain into submission and Desta, Vieve, and Isioma rapidly dispatch the opposition. One pirate is left aboard the skiff which suffered the elemental bombardment, her fate unknown, while another pirate aboard the skiff held hostage by Typhus teleports away. Isioma interrogates the raider while Typhus supplies pin-point torture to assist. They drag from the raider the location of Zar’ryth’s hideout.

In the Prime Material, a strange figure with painted black hair and a large fur cloak approaches Gurney, asking after Vieve...

Session 10

The party locates Zar’ryth’s redoubt in a fragment of an ancient temple hidden on a large crescent shaped asteroid. They approach, dispatching a fleeing gith from their earlier encounter, before scouting out the crescent shaped rock, overgrown in fungus and plant life. Hidden harpoons spring from the underbrush, nearly capturing their skiff, while a Gith longboat disembarks from the temple. The heroes break free of the harpoons, and Rio expends his psi-warrior energy to speed their skiff. They easily catch the retreating longboat, which is manned by three warriors, but Isioma senses that Zar’ryth is not on board. They leave the longboat behind, returning towards the temple, and hide their skiff in the dense forest that has grown along the crescent. They stakeout the entrance to Zar’ryth’s hideout, and Desta sets fire to the ships anchored nearby, causing the Gith on guard to retreat into the temple. Soon, two more gith emerge, and both are struck by Isioma’s summoned lightning. One is felled by Vieve’s axe, and the other decides to teleport, fleeing. The heroes then take a long rest, watching the door to the temple. Desta casts cloudkill, attempting to smoke out any remaining enemies. The heroes explore the temple, finding supplies stolen by the raiding parties, and bodies of Truthless Githzerai who were killed by cloudkill. Typhus breaks the truthless chains, ensuring they can’t be used in the future. Desta disintegrates a stone door, and finds Zar’ryth’s chambers, with scout reports delivered to the warlord, relaying sightings of Susurrus throughout the Astra Sea. It was last spotted near the Eye of Vüracuth (voor-ah-cuths).

The heroes decide to wait for Gethar to assault the Palace of Whispers, and discover Susurrus above the Eye, a massive whirlpool of lost souls. Gethar’s armada arrives, and the Loyalist Commissar assigns the heroes to his personal strike team. Three parties investigate the Westgate of the Palace. Gethar and the heroes delve deep into the castle, following signs of Xamodas’ break-in, and battles between the Monarchists and the Loyalists during the sack of Tu’narath. Rio discovers corpses with burnt out eyes. The heroes notice Gethar’s trepidation, and begin to have second thoughts about their quest when they learn that Susurrus functioned as a prison to contain the horrors of the Illithid Empire. They enter the Laboratories, which supposedly lead to both the Silent Library (where the heroes hope to find information on the Larva Mage) and to the dungeons, where Gethar seeks to secure and contain the hidden horrors of Queen Vlaakith. In the second laboratory, the heroes encounter a nest of Chuul, and blast them into many chitinous pieces. In the third laboratory, they find a number of breached containment tubes, and bodies of Gith and monster alike drained of blood. Typhus notices three Death Kisses hanging on the ceiling, just before the creatures begin to shriek...

Session 11

The party dispatches the Death Kisses, and approaches the vault doors to the Dungeon and the Silent Library. Gethar opens the Dungeon and they find the warden with his brain missing. A poison gas has flooded the cells, killing the prisoners. One cell, at the end of the line, is opened, and the inside is covered in Qualith script. Gethar realizes that the Alhoon Aurangaul must have escaped during the Sack of Tu'narath. Gethar swears the heroes to secrecy, explaining that if the Gith find out that an Illithid still lives and is at large, his entire peace effort will be undermined. In his words, "this breaks the world."

The heroes find Zar'ryth, being poisoned by the gas he released when opening the Dungeon the first time, coughing loudly in the Silent Library. He makes no move to fight, but asks the heroes if they "enjoyed taking down his organization." He says to Gethar, "You always had so little faith in your people Gethar. They will do great things in your absence…" Gethar orders Typhus to kill the traitor.

The heroes search the Library for the Codex Increpitus, which is a complex record of numerous plagues, magical and mundane. Ja'a'doc's strike team finds their way to the Library, and before they can encounter the Dungeon and Aurangaul's cell, Gethar has Rio and Typhus record the Qualith's intention, before destroying all signs of the Aurangaul's escape. Desta finds the Codex, and Gethar sets up a research team from his scribes to help them investigate the plague. The heroes search the Library for knowledge, and then return to Castle Cragaell.

In New Haranshire, Rio discovers that Ysin has helped his following multiply. Ysin suggest they construct a more permanent temple to Nile. Vieve is notified of the mysterious traveler who has been asking after her. She confronts the tall traveler, who reveals himself to be Ivar Ragnvaldsson, the third child of Ragnvald, the former High King of Cerothe. He was sent by his brother, Egil, to bring Vieve, i.e. "the White Wolf Cub," to meet with the High King's Counsel. Ivar warns that the Cerothians will march north to reclaim land in the disputed territory, and to slay Tlaloc. Ivar convinces Vieve to consider coming with him by offering to take her to get imbued tattoos in Cerothe, learn about her mother, and by implying she might be able to convince the snow elves to leave Tlaloc alone.

Session 12

Aphishan presents troubles in Amtal, and Gurney presents the Flinthold Question. They then discuss the Barony’s financial troubles. Isioma casts spells to improve the winter gardens and the next harvest, imbuing the land with lifeforce. Desta tries to convince Tlaloc to part with some of his horde. Tlaloc is strained by having to travel far to hunt and shed, and does not feel his horde is adequate to supply him power. Desta convinces him to allow them to sell his shed to apothecaries. The gang considered garrisoning Flinthold and the nearby mines with Gith refugees. Gurney dispatches a forward team of Gith to secure and scout Flinthold.

They meet with Gethar and Ja’adoc who invite them to the upcoming Congress of Gith, set to begin in 5 tendays. They agree to attend, and Gethar promises to requisition some of the riches of the Palace of Whispers to help with their barony’s finances. Ja’adoc returns the Skiff to Rio, and appears reserved. She speaks to Rio privately, explaining that she believes they won’t find a solution to the plague in the Codex, and asks that they “give the Gith of the Prime Material something greater than we [the Githyanki] could.”

They decide to split up and send Vieve and a detachment to Cerothe, and Typhus and Isioma to Amtal, before the Congress. Before that, they summon a pyramid using one of their magic beans and hunt down the mummy lord inside.

Session 13

Aphishan delivers news from Flinthold, the repairs to the Keep will cost 67 gold and take 7 tendays. Opening the mines will cost 22 gold. Feeding the Barony throughout the winter and establishing silos to maintain a surplus will cost 21 gold. The team decides to send Vieve, Rio, and Desta to Cerothe with Ivar, and Isioma and Typhus to Amtal with the Skiff. Isioma asks a Gith soldier, who reports that they’ve stowed Tlaloc’s shed skin in the Skiff hold, whether any Gith pilots settled in New Haranshire. Isioma gets a name of a potential ship captain, “Veranor.”

Peasant workers are moving the riches of Chibale’s Tomb to Castle Cragaell. Aphishan will take 3 months to sell the 125 gold worth of art pieces, the party decides to add these to Tlaloc’s horde instead. Vieve brings up Tlaloc’s hunting troubles to the Baron, and they establish a livestock tax to keep Tlaloc fed - livestock will be set free in the woods north of the Keep for the wyrmling to hunt. The group establishes an Committee on the management of food in the Barony with equal distribution of elected members and appointed members, and equal distribution of Prime Material denizens and Gith refugees. The team now has 220 gold, and decides to establish group trust. They barricade the entrances to the Tomb. They allocate 40 gold to begin building Rio’s temple to Nile, and Rio delegates construction to Ysin. They also spend 50 gold to begin upgrading Castle Cragaell.

The Southern contingent travels without issue to the mouth of the Remorhaz River, south of Gaer Tir. They make it to a forward camp, where three longboats of Cerothian soldiers are camped. Ivar takes one longboat south, and the heroes arrive in Kollsvic. They spend the night there, and Desta and Vieve find Hallberþa (Hallbertha), a witch who lives in the city. They spend 19 silver and tell her the tale of Hallad’s death for 3 letters of sending. They deduce Hallberþa was Floki (Hallad’s warlock, and summoner of Ghouls)’s mother. Rio buys a beautiful shield embellished with a sun, and asks Hallberþa to enchant it - she tells him she needs either the secretion of a Frost Salamander, or the teeth of an Adult Remorhaz to enchant it. They leave Kollsvic on foot with Ivar, headed towards the Sacred City.

The Northern contingent travels with Veranor on the Skiff to Sessal. Along the way, they spy one of Sirruth’s Skiffs, which Typhus identifies. In Sessal, they stop only to refuel the Skiff with Stormwind, but are accosted by Sirruth’s goons. Isioma intimidates them away from the Skiff, and refueled, Veranor gets directions towards Amtal. They depart without issue, towards Cadash.

Session 14

(From Isioma's notes)

We see dragons in the astral sea, and we pass under them on our last night in the astral sea, the end of a 15 day journey. The dragons are green, blue, and white, stone-like (moonstone dragons) crescent-like horns with a pearlescent pattern to their scales. Typhus recalls they are said to inhabit the moon before it shattered, and now they haunt the wreckage of the shards. Typhus stops to draw them and document their past while I go over our goals in Amtal.

1. A letter from Ishme (the councilperson who we gave the impetus to start the Amtali-emdali war, who helped us end Demuhkratee). Ishme is having political trouble, and wants our council

2. Wej would like to update on his research, and we should check in on Pashta!

3. We need to find an astronomer to interpret the red comet and the message about the war time reading of it by Demuhkratee's military

4. Sell the dragon shed to the botanists and apothecaries at Eid'i'ear College

We re enter our plane of existence, far overhead, surveying the coastline, green and verdant. We then see the city of Cadash, the multi-tiered city in the redwood forest: the still-smoldering wreckage of 30-50 ships lie broken, drifting around the shore. The city appears to have been attacked. The forest is also burning, Isioma worries about her Lord, Lubholioct.

We land a short distance from the college, and make our way into Eid'i'ear College. On the college premises, we are now "welcomed" by a military presence that was not there before. We are stalled by these new measures, but Wej gets us in, and Veranor stays with the ship. Wej explains that the College sent most of their mages to the front lines since Cadash was attacked, and not too many folks on campus, only those whose research is pertinent to the war effort or otherwise useful.

Wej updates us on the Archon tablets - Typhus recognizes that these tablets are written in Q'alith, the Ilithid language - and we learn Wej has been trying to restore the psionic magic once imbued in the writing to fully grasp the meaning of the tablets. Wej believes this is difficult because psionics are a distinct form of magic (some, like the Ilithid, believed it to be a higher form of magic, he says) from arcane magic. We learned a bit about Zhulong, the 1st Bloodstone Emperor, his ascendancy, debated nature, and his "madness," that Wej is connecting it to various historical accounts (mostly oral traditions, folklore, nothing written has survived - or been found - from this time period) from different cultures under Zhulong's rule.

Pashta joins us, his tendrils have evolved and he has grown, and he is missing Desta. He asks us to deliver a message to Desta describing his new emerald insets and his progress with recovering his human memories. He is relearning about his research from before and has been helping Wej. He was a prolific researcher on the topic of dragonblood madness. Wej and Pashta ask that if we encounter Enusa again, to give them updates on her status and behavior, or more detailed accounts on her change - this would help their research, as she is one of the few prominent Dragonborn in existence.

Pashta shares other thoughts, that dragons aren't as extinct as is common knowledge and many are in hiding. He wants Desta to be on the lookout, and if any hatchlings are found, to keep them safe and relatively obscured until we can let him or another dragon know.

We sell the shedskin to some botany nerds at the College, they retrieve it from Veranor and gave us 20 gold. We head to the Hidden City thru the President's office, and Pashta leads us to Osgiliath, a world-renowned astronomer (and Crystal Dragon), who studies accelerating stars. The Red Comet is still up, and there are four strange cometary objects which appeared suddenly in the night sky. One of the smaller ones was the meteorite that impacted around Monarch's Bay, but it wasn't what destroyed the city. Something else was sent to destroy it, like what Typhus saw happen.

Osgiliath's Interpretation, the message is a rudementary star reading. The Red Comet is in Aurochs now and will move into the next constellation w/in a month. It doesn't appear to be on a collisionary path w anything in our system. It is much brighter and bigger, red but don't know why. Osgiliath notes there might be deviations observed from normal comet motion.

As for the other two comets, the next brightest is on a direct collision with another moon in our solar system in 3-4 mos, on the largest moon of Tenicoatl, the 5th planet in our system (Arendor is the 4th). The smaller one is moving very slowly, so unsure. There is very little precedent for the random appearance of these four comets: all were noticed suddenly and were pretty bright. Overall: Wack.

I ask if the comets still influence the lands. Osgiliath says the impact could influence the weather, but not in a major way, most likely. The comet on trajectory to impact Tenicoatl's moon is interesting: it's bright enough that it could fuck it up, but it's a large moon so it might not be a huge problem. As for the disease, the impact may have exposed something old like a virus that was already here or could have been carried with the comet.

Typhus and I leave Osgiliath's (unfortunately for me) to go find Ishme, but in the streets of the Hidden City, Typhus and I get separated by a crowd and I run into Iltani, who pulls me into an alleyway...

In Cerothe, the heroes brave an icy hellscape. Rio uses his athletics (honed in the mountains of his home village within the Astral Sea) to help the party through the treacherous trails and thin mountain passes. Vieve uses her athletics to keep the party dry and alive when crossing a not-so-frozen river. Desta finds a safer, shorter route. Rio uses his wings to survey the land, but is overtaken by the elements, and returns to camp with his spirits dampened. Vieve employs the lessons of her childhood with the Cresthill Enclave, and supports her friends in the minutiae of surviving in the barren wilderness.

While camping on a the frozen lake, Vieve hears movement underneath the ice. Unsure if it is rumbling from the mountainside, the river itself, or the storm, she checks the conditions around them, and catches a glimpse of someone (or something) walking between their tents. Hand on axe, she observes the creature near Rio's tent before noticing a few other figures further away. She squints at the person checking the tents again, and as the person comes into focus, she perceives an elvish build, wearing bits of chainmail, holding weapons and traveling gear, with a pronounced limp. Moving towards Ivar's tent, ringlets of hair emerge, whipping in the wintry wind.

Prowling closer to the suspicious elf, Vieve is taken by surprise by the distant band of people who notice her leave her tent. Led by a Lathan Teashavaegat, a beautiful, scantily clad Eladrin, the group reveals that they are traveling to the capital city of Cerothe, Mountewaithe, and offer to join the party. Vieve and Desta awaken Ivar and Rio and Ivar informs them that his brother may have warred with the Eladrin, the elves of the Feywild, on Surnach.

In a tense exchange with the other group, Vieve tries to diplomatically disengage. It goes well, but everyone is left feeling uneasy. Rio offers to heal the limping K'meh as a sign of goodwill, but the Lathan speaks for K'meh and claims that her wounds are deeper than what Rio could heal. He insists on learning Desta and Ivar's names, but he falls for the fake names they give him (Ivan and Isioma) and takes his party away, into the snowstorm.

The next few days of travel see the party traveling under clearer skies and lighter conditions, and they find themselves traveling across anther frozen lake during twilight, when they spot aurora high overhead. Hearing distant rumbling, they begin running when they realize a submerged Remorhaz has taken notice of them. The beast erupts from the ice as they reach the shore of the lake, backs to a nearby cliff-face. Rio lifts off with Desta, who hits the creature with a potent disintegrate spell, while Vieve smacks some sense into Ivar. The two stand at the shore as the enraged beast charges them down...

Session 15

Iltani offers to put the party’s skiff to “good use” in a “profitable enterprise” and gives Isioma a letter of sending to contact her in the future. Typhus sends word ahead to Ishme that they have arrived to meet him.

The Cerothian contingent fights with the Remorhaz (fire centipede extraordinaire). Vieve splits the creature's jaw in half, and commands Ivar flee. Desta fires lightning bolts and begins flying of her own accord as a blizzard descends on the scene, imbuing Desta with significant elemental power as she tames the storm and directs its power towards the foe. The creature charges towards Desta but bypasses her, seeking out Rio, his luminescence betraying his location in the storm. It slams him with its split jaw, trying to consume his damaged body in a grappled embrace, puncturing his breastplate.

A blanket of snow is thrown upwards and pillows outward, revealing Lathan's band. K'sor rushes forward towards Vieve, extending his blade and extinguishing Ivar's torch. With Vieve engaged in combat by K'sor, K'meh paralyzes Ivar, whom Halstop collects as a hostage. Rio action surges, and cuts himself free from the beast’s mouth, severing teeth. Overtaken by poison gas, Lathan teleports himself, Halstop, and the paralyzed Ivar away. The two revenants flee from the scene into the forest, and the heroes take off in pursuit.

Session 16

K'sor and K'meh attempt to flee, but Desta sets a wall of fire in their path, preventing K'sor's escape. Rio advances, meeting K'sor's attack, creating a puff smoke as the ice and fire of the two blades connect, but our hero is disengaged by a kick to the chest. Vieve grapples the revenant and he is tackled to the ground. Rio rises and binds his arms and legs. K'sor relents. While trying to negotiate with this unspeaking being, a new threat approaches, a giant grizzly bearl. As the beast slowly approaches, a crow flies down and lands on the bears head. The animals eyes roll back, seemingly with someone else at the reigns of their minds. It waves our heroes over and they follow, into the blizzard.

Typhus and Isioma have finally connected with Ishme, enjoying a peaceful moment among nature and the pastoral scene before them before getting down to the business at hand. Coffee steaming on a small wooden table, a giant acacia tree swaying in the soft breeze, Ishme informs them of the recent happenings of the war. The once fertile farmlands of the Reach have been destroyed in the war, and devastation reigns, land and sea, though it seems the Emdali are making overtures to peace. The council is weary of war and feels insecure of their ability to carry on a prolonged fight, but Ishme fears that he and the country will lose a great deal of fertile land and the council will be reduced, his position first. He asks us to venture into the wasted land and retrieve his family near the border between the two countries, currently under siege in their nameless village. Relieved that our heroes accept his request, Ishme takes his leave. Typhus and Isioma resolve to also find out information on the true might of the Imdali army, hoping to find any falsehoods or bluffs in the might of their warpath.

Before they leave, the tree rustles, calling out to Isioma. She starts to pull on strings of the weave of magic to commune with the tree. The tree responds, a motherly voice over the childish giggling of the mycelium, and shares a vision with Isioma. She sees a swirling vision of fire and ash beneath a willow tree that is overlooking a village in flames. Mercenaries are rampaging and the villagers try to defend their home but to no avail. The vision becomes almost overwhelming as the smoke and ash subsume Isioma's senses, but a knight in shining armor enters the scene, striking a weighty blow. A ragtag band of warriors join the knight and they are successful. The knight brushes aside the willow fronds, leading the villagers away, carrying a shield with a bright orange butterfly. The willow tree's lifeforce drains away while the knight prays to it. The acacia delivers another message from the Matron Mother, that Isioma "will find answers and questions at this broken village," and that "Fire cannot take everything from us."

The bear leads the party to a large but comfortable den, giving them a chance at much needed rest. The trio lights a small fire near the mouth of the cave and take stock of their belongings while warming their numb appendages by the fire. After the first restful night in what felt like days, our heroes are uncertain of which direction they should move in. Trusting her instincts and following the flight path of the mysterious crows, Vieve leads the party in the direction that Ivar pointed them in the previous night. After three days of traveling, the weather final calms and the party feels their first rays of sun since entering Cerothe. Following one last crow, the mountain drops off into a deep valley. At the end of the valley, our heroes see ancient stone arranged by the hands of mortals. The crow beckons them towards this structure and takes its leave as a town and more notably, other people, come into view.

Entering Mountewaithe, a city of stone ruins, the heroes store their weapons before following the crow once again and enter a grotto of maple trees. Desta, Vieve, Rio, and K'sor approach a relatively young, dripped up man who is sitting still with his eyes rolled back in his head. Desta cranes her neck to see the name of the book in his lap but cannot decipher the Cerothian text. Ivar's older brother, Egil, greets the party warmly. Desta opens the conversation and he acknowledges his role in getting the party to the city while lamenting the capture of his brother. He calls Vieve "Æsadottir '' and asks after his condition. Vieve retells the sad tale of losing Ivar and Egil blames his other brother Hrödi, the current king. Egil tells that he was king for a day, as was his birthright, but abdicated the throne since his brother was a strong warrior. Egil proposes a solution to the issue of the disputed territories; the Cerothians get the land up to Glasswater Lake and they declare peace. This is a worthwhile plan to the heroes, but they decide to meet with the Cerothian High Council to determine how much control they have over the bombastic Hrödi before relaying word to Enusa and Tlaloc. Hoping to learn more about Hrödi and Vieve's heritage, they attend the evening meeting. As the meeting progresses, Vieve becomes the topic of discussion; its not everyday that a daughter of the White Wolf represents a dragon as her lord of all people.

Vieve learns that her mother was a spiritwalker and met the girls' father in battle in the Disputed territory. One day, she had a vision that her daughters would die terrible fates in flames. Unwilling to raise her daughters to meet such a fate, she let Vieve's father take the girls to his family to hopefully live away from conflict. She was a true warrior and magician who earned the respect of the council. At the end of the matter, the council feels strongly that Hrödi will be controlled if the line drawn through the territories is honored by Tlaloc's forces. After a few more questions about the nature of this agreement, Egil says that he could try to persuade his brother to attack Emdal in one of his raids but makes no promises on that front. After proffering up Isioma's enrichment of the land, both sides reach an agreement and plan on informing Enusa post-haste.

Session 17

In Montewaite our heroes follow the newly acquainted high King Hrödi (who carries Egil) down into the Cerothian royal crypts. Hrödi seems content with the plans and his role in them, especially the opportunity to pirate in an expanse of the sea that he had not met before, but he has also made some worrisome comments about dragons. As they descend, rows and rows of ancient tombs are revealed. After descending many levels, they all enter a circular chamber, vast yet empty except for one circle. It is a transportation rune, which will deliver our heroes back to Kollsvik. Before leaving, Vieve confirms their plans of informing Enusa of what has transpired and thanks Egil and Hrodi for their hospitality. Egil reminds Vieve that as Aesadaughter, there is much of her history that she does not know and she is welcomed back to learn of her heritage at any time.

Retrieving their items from the guards, Egil sets the summoning circle alight. Rio and Desta are fixated on the process, but Vieve notices that winter weather has somehow appeared in the space when suddenly K'sor the revenant appears and flings two ice javelins at the guards carrying their belongings. Always prepared for combat, Desta leaps into action...

Isioma and Typhus are led by an attendant to the third citadel to be transported back to Eid'i'ear College. There is an unfamiliar stunning sensation during their transportation, however, as they are left hanging between planes in the president's office. Tingling from some form of static electricity, our heroes remain trapped in a forcefield, unbeknownst to the president and a stern, angular man dressed in intricate, flowing robes. They are holding a serious conversation (See notes), something about the Gith, "the armies of the Shadowfell'', Zhulong, and the Red Comet. Once they notice Typhus and Isioma, he quickly takes his leave, pausing to retrieve his smoothly worn staff made entirely out of glass. The president of the college releases the heroes from the ward, and acts as if the two were not privy to the previous conversation. They intuit she did not expect that they could save against the ward. Typhus and Isioma take their leave, stopping to talk to Wej, fearing the president's words and their implications for their friends. They return to Vernanor, chillin' on the deck of the skiff. The trio takes off, but as they enter the Astral Sea, Typhus falls unconscious.

The heroes' weapons and packs topple to the ground and Desta casts a wall of fire at the base of the stairs, delaying K'sor's progress towards the group. K'sor walks through the wall of fire, neglecting the pain of the searing flames. He is carrying a familiar ax, much to Vieve's consternation. Hrödi draws his twin axes and as Egil calls out to his brother, K'sor tries to paralyze the brothers, a wild glint in his undead eyes. Hrödi throws one of his axes, undeterred, and rushes in for close combat, but he is blown back for a single swing of Vieve's weapon. K'sor throws his icicle at Egil. Rio blocks some of the damage, which protects Egil from a fatal injury. Angered by this unprovocted act of extreme violence, Rio retrieves his sun blade and hacks the revenant with a flurry of radiant blows, blasting the creature back into the wall of fire. Enraged by the disrespect of using her weapon, Vieve summons her glittering blade out of his grasp as he continues to be consumed by the raging flames. She throws the weapon into the flames with supernatural precision, hitting K'sor very solidly with her two swings of the mighty ax. Desta summons the static electricity in the atmosphere and delivers the finishing blow, shooting lightning directly into his "booty butt cheeks" before disintegrating K'sor's original body, now lost to time. They heroes bid their farewell to the brothers after Rio heals Egil's wounds, transporting into a small town's square in north Kollsvik, drenched by the sombering rain of early spring.

Typhus collapses, transported into a vision. He feels the sizzle of the first nexus blade burning at his hip. He draws the molten weapon and it solidifies as he holds it aloft into the endless Astral Sea, and a long chain falls from the sword, connecting and illuminating Typhus' ancestral line, all falling into a large golden disk: the Sun. Above, there is the night sky, darkness, only interrupted by the stars and hundreds of thousands of eyes. The sword grows heavier and he hears the distant roar of a great dragon from the burning Sun below him. From the distance, a stag with a mantle of fractal-ing antlers, the rider a man with silver eyes, flowing black hair, and glistening dark skin. He has a quiver of hundreds of beautiful silver arrows. Hanging between the light and the dark, the sun and the stars, the stag speaks with his uncle's voice, begging Typhus to "find the balance." He is pulled down towards the Sun.

"When the moon was full, Typhus, it guided our hunt. Now we make due with the pieces.”

A drop of ink falls from the sky, forming into another sword, a pitch-back second nexus blade. His uncle's voice echoes, chanting "find the balance". Typhus attempts to throw the Sun at the darkness, but is overcome by the pain of holding the first nexus blade, dislocating his shoulder. The second blade still hangs above him, tempting him to grab it and succumb to the dark. Typhus hesitates, takes a breath, and tries to hold both blades in his astral hands, leaving his material form to rest as he moves solidly into his astral body. His mind, body, and spirit align and crystallize, filling with the heat of the sun and the inky blackness of the darkness alike. He lets his material hand drop the sword, but the astral form grabs the hilts of both blades and an electric connection forms. All of the eyes blink at once, and Typhus awakens.

In the material plane, Isioma sees Typhus's astral chain flicker in and out of the vision, golden light studded with an inky blackness. Typhus is now aware that he is a Monk of the Astral Self. The bronze Nexus blade remains the same, but seems to have an astral form of its own now.

Within 2 weeks,ed all of our heroes have return to Castle Cragail. The Cerothian contingent is especially glad to return to the trappings of our polite society, especially the warmth of a nice bath. They are greeted by a number of different developments. The inn has real tiled roofing. A new temple is in the process of being erected for Nile, and should be completed by the summer festivals. Ysin informs Rio that some of the townspeople are quite upset that the temple was erected for Nile, not Pel, the old Sun god.

Desta is greeted in town by Big Gurn (TM). He is a bit uncharacteristically frazzled and unkempt and informs Desta about some developments from the new Southern settlements. He informs her that the people at the mines hear Flinthold have been exploring the areas and think they may need to recruit the more adventurous townspeople to eradicate some of the creatures. Still full of ore and will be useful. Gurney was concerned about the recent Cerothian movement up North, but was relieved when Desta informed him of the peace talks. He also mentioned that he is worried about the low talk about the fanatics and shady people who want to harm or control Tlaloc. Gurney reminds Desta of how he is viewed by the common man since dragons have not been seen in hundreds of years, an overgrown beast who has gained far too much power and influence for one of his kind. Desta reassures Gurney that the group feels confident in their ability to relay the information to Enusa without disclosing too much.

Vieve approaches the castle's ramparts when she hears a cry before some of Enusa's soldiers come into view, having made their way down from Enusa's campgrounds and are intermingling with the barbarians. She is overtaken by a large embrace from none other than Grimea Greyjoy. She is completely changed, constellations of raw and inflamed reddish, purplish flesh across her face. She caught the starspawn plague like the countless others, but somehow she managed to fight it off in addition to some of the others in her group of soldiers. She tells Vieve that it is spreading rapidly and will soon hit Terellejar (a Northern Baron)'s lands before bearing down on New Haranshire. Vieve feels the equivalent of two internal thumbs up upon being reunited with her dear friend.

The group decides to discuss the developments from their travels with Lord Tlaloc and then decide to :

1. Handle the Pell worshiper's desire for a new temple

2. Prep for the Gith Congress

3. Save Ishme's Family

4. Talk to Enusa about the peace treaty with Cerothe

5. Reconnect with the people studying the Codex Increpitus about the illness

Rio and Typhus decide to converse with three of Pel's followers, the Chieftain's devotees, original refugees from the original Haranshire. They question why the heroes chose to build a temple to this upstart god instead of to Pel. Rio decides to tell them the truth about his recent arrival to the Prime Material, devotion to Nile, and offers them the use of and refurbishment of the Pyramid, convincing them that it was brought forth through Pel's influence. They are sufficiently convinced, the rumors about the sudden appearance of the new temple assuaged for now. They send a few devotees to the pyramid to check the place out.

As this small party climbs the hill and approaches the pyramid, the guard who greeted them is gone, fallen to his knees in reverence on the other side of the pyramid as a large mechanical creature stands outside of the pyramid. Long rolls of prayer scrolls surround its torso. The Inexorable comments that the Pyramid is a violation of the first fundamental principle, before disappearing, leaving the devotees to the Pyramid.

An old gentleman rises for his chair, removes his battle-worn garb on his body, choosing instead to dress in formal military attire, with golden knots at his shoulders. Gethar then tilts his head back as Ja'adoc shaves his chin, seemingly for a penultimate time. He exits his cabin to the salutes of his soldiers.

A lithe Gith sits at a command desk, sternly commanding his servants to prepare for transport.

Our heroes, dressed in their finery, board their skiff to be transported to the astral sea, sharing a wary glance between them, unsure of what it is to transpire at this inaugural event.

Far off across the land, Pashta and Wej sit, studying the influence of dragons on the continent, when Pashta pauses, having a sudden epiphany.

Session 18

The heroes are attended on their skiff by Dak, one of the Githzerai monks they met in Ferzeth. Dak is sent to apply a psychic barrier that will protect their ship in the tumultuous Elemental Chaos, where the Gith Congress is being held.

When they planeshift, they find the navies of the Githyanki clustered about an abandoned adamantine monastery that is surrounded by a psychic force field that is generated by hundreds of meditating Githzerai. They drift within the force field to a small dock at the edge of the Monastery and Vernanor leaves the vessel to Dak, wishing to attend the Congress.

In a large amphitheater, the Executive Delegates, thirteen representatives chosen by their respective delegates of various factions, sit in a semi-circle facing the Congress and a few rows of respected guests and audience members. The heroes are seated in the left-center of the top row, and can see the entirety of the scene. The Congress and the audience are rather silent, only occasionally do conversations break out, and Veranor or others might explain this is because most of the communication is happening psychically.

The Congress commences, and the first order of business quickly becomes deciding who may vote. Only on petition is heard, from the Monarchists who accuse Gethar of collaborating with the Illithid Aurangaul and plotting treason. They brought their evidence before the Executive Delegates, who voted unanimously (including Ja'adoc) to banish Gethar to the Prime Material and strip him of all rank and titles. There is an uproar from the Congress, and the meeting is adjourned temporarily.

The heroes approach both Ja'adoc and Gethar in order to gather more information and formulate a plan to prove Gethar's innocence. They are interrupted by loud explosions. Outside, an invading navy of ghost ships engage with the unsuspecting Gith. Thousands of skeletons with flaming skulls overwhelm the hero's escape, and they must fight through betrayed Loyalists to reach an Outrigger and make their escape with Gethar. They are pursued by an Illithid Nautiloid, which hits them with a psychic beam. They hear the voice of Aurangaul, and Gethar collapses. They flee into a hurricane, and Desta destroys one of the Nautiloid tentacles, but they are nearly caught. Only by summoning the Stormwinds to their aid, is Desta able to help the Outrigger escape.

Aurangaul's Curse

I WILL LEAVE YOU

AS YOU LEFT ME

YOU WILL WATCH YOUR PEOPLE CRUMBLE

BOUND FOR ALL ETERNITY

IN A COFFIN MADE OF METAL

BURIED ALIVE

Book VII: Lamplighter's Tale

Session 1

Having narrowly evaded the wrath of Auraungal's Nautiloid, aided by intervention from Desta's Stormfather, the heroes barrel through the Elemental Chaos, with Gethar in tow.

Though they are free from immediate danger, being in the elemental chaos poses its own problems, especially as the closest entry point to the astral plane is in a suspended ocean. Rio relieves Veranor and pilots the Outrigger. A recently healed Gethar bolsters their protective bubble. Shortly the group finds themselves in the ocean depths.

The crew begins to debrief what occurred at the first inaugural conference, and Veranor asks about their pursuant and the mysterious skeleton crew. Desta, Vieve, and Typhus recall that curiously all of the skeleton had glowing, purple-gray light through their eye sockets, and they only fought with torches or lamps, no traditional weapons. These skeletons seem to be in service of Aurangaul, though no one knows how such control works or how to break it.

Feet before approaching the portal, pale white tentacles appear out of the darkness as a Deepsea Wight flings itself onto the bubble. Vieve makes the first attack, slicing at the tentacles that try to constrict them. Rio uses his psychic powers to hasten their escape, bringing them within shooting distance of the portal. Isioma casts Blight upon the creature, injuring it significantly. In its pain, it lashes out, flinging necrotic damage back at the heroes and splits itself into 4 pieces. Desta devastated half of the being by engulfing it in a Cone of Cold.. Recruiting his new astral arms, Typhus attacks the four beings and stuns one part. Vieve flings her ax once more, the blade crashing into its sternum, knocking it off of its balance. Rio makes the final push through the portal, though with 3 creatures in tow. Isioma vaporizes 2 of the pieces by sending a thunder clap their way. The third creature grapples Typhus, wounding him slightly. Desta takes care of the being in a similar manner, an even louder clap produced by the Storm Sorcerer supreme herself. Typhus finishes the creature off with a flurry of blows, blasting the creature's remains to flow in the astral sea.

The crew decides to stop at Sessal, the City of Doors, to find a portal to the Prime Material, as the outrigger is not equipped to fly in the Material planes. Veranor leads the group to a convenient travel portal for a small amount of coin to return to the Material Plane. They arrive in Tashia, a large cliff-side trading town in the land of T'leth. They decide to first head out into the Amtali Reach, to rescue Ishme's family behind enemy lines, before returning south.

Gethar returns to Sessal to gather intel and loyal soldiers so he can begin to hunt Auraungal. Rio urges him to disguise himself and exercise extreme caution, and Gethar assents. Veranor decides to stay with the party, though he maintains his pledge to himself to not participate in active combat. The heroes try to pin down travel arrangements, and meet the captain of a traveling caravan headed to Wildenvale. He tells them that it is a rather unpleasant journey, but rather lucrative. He agrees to trade transport for armed protection.

In the middle of their travels, the caravan leader notices boot prints, indicating mercenaries nearby. He remarks that the group needs to keep moving to avoid them, but the heroes are convinced that the mercenaries may have information on this unnamed town where they hope to find Ishme's family. They convince the man that as security guards, they need to excise the problem at the root, or at least gather more information about the mercenaries nearby, which he complies with. They head off to catch the mercenaries, but in her bird form Isioma finds the closest town abandoned, the well poisoned, and the mercenaries weeks away. Under the burnt branches of the willow tree, Isioma sees a wispy, gray haired figure, the only semi-living thing left in the vicinity. Isioma changes back into herself, feeling the pieces of her vision in the Hidden City coming together, though this is not the dragon knight from her vision. She sees a figure in a breastplate and armor with a long sword, composed completely from ash. There are piercing blue flames behind their black, glassy eyes.

They rise from their sitting position lazily, calmly approaching before bowing deeply to Isioma. They deliver a summons from Luibheolaíocht, the goddess of Botany. They introduce themselves as Nonaro, Ash Marshal of the Matron Mother. Isioma collects the rest of the party, and they return to Nonaro who summons a portal into the Feywild.

Session 2

When passing through the ashen portal and into the Feywild for the first time, Isioma is overcome by sensation, mind flooded with the positive energy of the plane. It feels as if the very fabric of the weave shudders at all times, as if life itself was growing up under the weave and disrupting, shifting, and redirecting it like roots beneath cobblestones. All is subsumed by the slow, distant drumming of a heartbeat that vibrates all of creation itself. No one but Isioma can hear it. Isioma realizes that her magic is not derived from the weave, but from life itself contorting the weave to its will.

When she comes to, in a puff of yellow pollen, Isioma finds her head cradled in a large pillowy flower, where she had been set to rest for a few moments by Nonaro. Nonaro has taken the time to explain to the party that they should do their best not to speak to anyone, and certainly not to accept any gift that may be offered to them, not to give up or throw away anything they have brought with them, or even to misplace anything, even small things. They are to remain on the path directly behind their guide, and not to stray off the path for any reason. Additionally, if they are grabbed by a plant, they are to remain calm and allow the plant to smell them, but if they are grabbed by a fungus or animal, to use lethal force.

They travel through the Feywild, encountering a tree sagging with sticky fruit, swarming with fat wasps with human faces that groan and scream. They pass over a bridge painted red, and past a dry riverbed where Rio pauses too long, and disturbs a naiad who was hibernating during the dry season. They spot a pair of centaur returning from a hunt carrying a unicorn. They soon approach the Court of the Eucalyptus Border, a hollow mountain that resides between a dense forest of Eucalyptus and the Sunlit Savannah they had traveled through. Just outside the mountain, they encounter a beggar redcap, Grogok, who pleads for change from Typhus, who (per Nonaro's orders) refuses.

At the Court, being visited by Luibheolaíocht during a tour of the Feywild, Isioma comes face to face with her goddess. She asks Isioma to undertake a quest for her, to travel to the largest moon of Tenicoatl, in order to discover what happened to Luibheolaíocht's brother, and reconnect the life on the moon to the ecosystems of Arnendor, in order to introduce much needed diversity and spur new evolution. Luibheolaiocht warns Isioma that the strength of the oak trees is waning, and without change, will soon grow dim. She gestures to a wrinkled god who sits on her dais in the court of Arcadia, the Fernwarden, whose power has seemingly all but vanished. “Continents of Fern, gone in an instant,” she whispers, “without variety, we cannot survive the great changes, the catastrophes, that are to come.”

Isioma realizes that this must be the “place with no connections” that the oak tree had previously referred to. Typhus realizes that Tenicoatl, the furthest and largest planet in the solar system, was mentioned by the astronomer Osgilliath: one of the mysterious comets might be on a collision course with the giant planet.

The group are approached by a Rakshasa, Ibahey, who invites them to attend him for dinner. They politely refuse, getting weird vibes from the smooth-talking half-panther. Typhus and Rio give Grogok some mead, and encounter Acorn Starsong whose band the Tangle Lilies was captured by Ibahey, who is torturing them. Acorn asks for help, and trying to avoid making promises or accepting gifts, they introduce Acorn to Grogok who agrees to rescue the Tangle Lilies.

Session 3

After resting in private chambers in the Court of the Eucalyptus Border, Typhus, Rio, and Desta notice that the group of orbiters surrounding Ibahey, the Rakshasa, has left. As the followers of Luibheolaíocht have said their goodbyes, the lady of the court has re-assumed her seat on the dais.

They decide to head out, passing once more into the thickly forested area buttressed against the mountains. The party retraces their steps through the cloudless, nightless savannah, trying to schedule their sleep times adequately. They are seeking the Unseelie Court of Gyllandrel, who has a portal that will return them to their plane near the Amtali Reach where this journey began.

They approach the same beautiful red bridge, now covered in small dangling locks and chains, the riverbed seemingly deeper than before, though it returns to its former form once our heroes cross it.

Leaving the savannah rather quickly, and thankfully avoiding the overripe fruit trees laden with overripe wasps. They pass into the forest, Isioma hears among the cacophony of birds and snapping twigs, the subtle sounds of one or two figures pursuing the party. Isioma tells the figure to reveal themselves. Stumbling through the underbrush, they hear a low pitched whine and see Grogok, bleeding profusely and handless, who uses his last breaths to warn the party and tell them to run before he gets shot through the throat with an arrow. Isioma uses her faerie fire to illuminate Ibahey and one of his henchmen. After Isioma voices that they have no quarrel with him, he counters, blaming them for rejecting his offer in the court and sending Grogok to ruin his reverie. Isioma takes this in offense, encouraging the landscape to become overgrown, re-obscuring Ibahay and his hobgoblin henchmen in extremely deep foliage before beginning to run away. Typhus places himself between his friends and the enemy, tense in preparation. Ibahey struggles through the foliage and begins to fly upwards. Vieve strikes him with her mighty ax, absolutely ruining his expensive boots. Suddenly, Rio leaps to Ibahay's level of ascent, transforming into his radiant form, and demolishing Ibahay in a flurry of blows before sending the Rakshasa cratering to the ground. Returning to his usual form, Rio turns, telling the stunned, frightened hobgoblins to bury Ibahay and Grungok properly and to release Acorn Starshine and his band members.

The party, still stunned by Rio's display, carries on along the path without much incident, passing the large waterfall and progressing past where they first entered the Feywild with Nonaro. Reaching a land of dawn, Luibheolaíocht's terrarium changes as well, with little fireflies shedding light. They eventually reach the predawn area of the forest, with more sparse tree coverage and a widening, well worn trail. They encounter a group of gnome travelers at the fork in the road. The left side of the trail is better kept. Following Isioma's intuition, they take this path hoping to find the court. Before they can progress, one of the gnomes informs the band that one of his compatriots believe that there is a mind-controlling plant down this path. The adventurers travel on, and see a yellow orchid that gives off a pungent, sweet odor. Vieve and Isioma recognizes them as a carnivorous, mind-controlling plant and encourages everyone to cover their heads and noses to protect against whatever affects the plant might have as they continue down the path.

The canopy becomes sparse, and the sky changes from predawn to nighttime. Typhus spots the moonshards, and honors them. The path curves, bringing the party by a wide pond. The plants linger eerily nearby, but are not near the pond itself. As we continue past, we see shifting scenes as if it shows different instances from the different planes of existence. Typhus sees various states of the moon in the multitude of alternate realities. As they continue on, they start to see other traveling parties along the trail. Vieve, Isioma, and Typhus, pass by a pool of water, with the musk creepers nearby, and on the surface it goes from still to shaking before they hear the shifting of vast amounts of underbrush as something comes towards them. The group picks up the pace and prepare their varied attacks, and the movement suddenly stops. The sounds of the court echo down the path, more audible in the stillness.

After creeping along the curve of the path, they see the creature; a gigantic, blind, overgrown green dragon, rivaling Tlaloc's mother. It is surrounded by many musk creepers. Isioma casts sunbeam to try to free the beast from the parasites, eviscerating many of them in the process.

Session 4

The Yellow Musk Creeper Dragon rears backwards out of its slumber, writhing in pain from Isioma's radiant blast. Desta steps up, her hand splitting into mirror images composed of individual colors, before releasing a prismatic beam. The dragon's jaw is blown off, ripping away at the roots and vines that were holding it together. The dragon advances towards the party as if puppet-ed, and swings its head side-to-side as it releases a greenish-yellow smog from the back of its throat. As Desta is returning to the group, she sees Rio's purple force-field appear behind her, attempting to protect her, but she still is overcome by the poisonous gas.

The beast soars into the air. Vieve is enraged by this act of cowardice, and readies her weapon for the dragon's return. Rio summons a spell, Tasha's Mind Whip, from his bangle and aims it at the creature: it hits as the dragon cranes its neck to see its opponents below. Typhus gathers a small bolt of flame in his palm, flinging it over a hundred feet to hit the dragon's right wing, burning some of the plants and vines embedded there. Isioma draws upon the storm magic in the ether and calls lightning forth. She wounds the same wing, though the dragon deftly avoids the majority of the damage and is now silhouetted by the darkened clouds and periodic cracks of lightning. Desta taps in to the necrotic energy of the weave and stabs through the other wing, but the spell spreads as the wing disintegrates and the dragon slams down directly in front of the party. Desta is immediately frightened, imagining that the dragon is focused on her. The dragon whips its tail and connects with Rio, but its proximity gives Vieve the opportunity to heave her ax, spinning like a weed wacker against its back and destroying many of the plants in the process. It falls limply, closing its glassy eyes and dying for a second and final time. The remaining plants begin to disperse, but not before releasing their pollen into the air in a final attempt at controlling the group. Vieve heaves her ax in a similar motion, and cuts down two clusters of escaping plants. Rio follows in suit, unsheathing the sun blade and chops down two more clusters, with Typhus snuffing out the final cluster.

With the dead dragon moved, the party sees a castle constructed of a pale green and blue stone flecked with obsidian. Autumn and Winter Eladrin patrol the tops of the walls of the Unseelie Courth of Gyllandrel. The party approach the gates of the Court, and Desta steps forward and speaks up, informing the guards of their desire use the Castle's portal to return to the Material Plane. The portcullis rises and the courtyard comes into view. Open doors reveal the great hall of the Keep, an audience chamber thronged with mirrors and a simple wooden throne. Walking into the chamber, the heroes see themselves reflected in the mirrors as if looking through to different lives and ages, reflections garbed in strange clothing and of various ages, young and old.

Stepping out of a corridor, a nondescript man transmogrifies into a Moonstone Dragon. The party remembers from Typhus's stories that Moonstone Dragons inhabit the Moonshards and dance between the Feywild and the Prime Material at a whim. Typhus immediately kneels to Lord Gyllandrel of Bitter Recollection. Desta and Isioma bow and Rio and Vieve choose to kneel out of respect. The dragon first acknowledges Typhus as "Golapenadran, wielder of the Golapena." The party agree to follow Gyllandrel through his gardens as they tell him their reasoning for arriving.

Gyllandrel has cultivated many plants with mirror-like leaves, enchanted like the mirrors in the hall, that grow in neatly trimmed hedges comprising a large hedge-maze. He acknowledges the existance of a portal here, a "Glassgate," but warns that passage through it comes at a cost. The great dragon asks Typhus to explain how he came to wield his Nexus blade and Typhus obliges. The party passes under a tall hedge and the dragon continues to question Typhus about his life. He questions the rest of the group, trying to understand their motivations and goals, perhaps seeking bitterness or doubt in their hearts. He focuses on Rio especially, as he had never met a "Child of the Valley" aasimar, and makes Rio think deeply about his fate and free will. The approach the center of the hedge-maze, with a shimmering flat pool that perfectly reflects the night sky. The party realize the reflected sky is a reflection of the Feywild above them, but of the Prime Material. Gyllandrel asks the party to humor him a while longer, and warns again of the portal's danger.

The cost of exiting the Feywild through the Glassgate is a memory. To step through unaided, the heroes would forgo a memory at random, and might not return home fully themselves. With the aid of Gyllandrel's magic, he can help them choose a specific memory to forget. While the members choose what memory to relinquish, Gyllandrel also offers to trade memories for information that might aid them in their quests.

Desta proffers a memory of the death of Baron Marone, but Gyllandrel indicates that memories of well known people are common, and that he would be more interested in the face of her mother, for which he offers memories of her parents' mysterious lives. She accepts, smelling the pollen from the mirror plant that Gyllandrel offers to her. Images flash through her mind, fusing into her own subconsciousness. She sees gauntleted hands gripping the reins of a horse riding into battle, a mother delivering her own child on a massive bed on a stormy night, the perspective of a young knight watching a woman proffer her child to a giant during a monsoon. More and more memories come, and Desta stumbles back onto one of the seats nearby overwhelmed. She tries to conjure up a memory of her mother, and cannot visualize her face.

Isioma yields memory of treating the first patient infected with the mysterious plague, and Gyllandrel is impressed by this offer. He agrees to exchange it for memories that will aid Isioma on her quest to serve Luibheolaíocht. Gyllandrel holds another flower to her nose and she falls back onto a different bench, and receives 3 memories.

Typhus stuns Gyllandrel by offering his memory of killing his uncle. Gyllandrel is tantalized by this offer, but warns Typhus that giving up such a key memory may change him dramatically. He accedes to Typhus's request for information from his deep ancestry, and Gyllandrel offers a "key" memory, essential to Typhus' quest. Gyllandrel ruminates on his place in the weave as he carefully selects one of the flowers from the hedge, and passes it to Typhus. Typhus breathes in and stumbles back.

Rio asks if Gyllandrel holds any memories of his friends, and he does possess one. Rio asks what he would want in exchange, and Gyllandrel requests a memory of the Valley, from as distant a perspective as possible so as to see the geography of that sacred place. Rio receives the flower, and he sees a flood of intense, crystal clear memories taking place over a few hours. Rio experiences Maalik's betrayal by Vadash from Elira's perspective.

Vieve asks for a memory of her mother, and Gyllandrel reflects mournfully, noting that the memories are plentiful and beautiful and bloody, since her mother was a great warrior of much renown. She exchanges the memory of her first hunt alone, which felt wrong without Vola. Gyllandrel remarks that she should not have to hunt alone, and plucks a flower for Vieve. The first memory is a spearman in the Ardenfoílan, watching as Cerothian warriors break the ranks around him. Vieve experiences the man's fear as he recognizes the White Wolf, who easily bats away his weapon and runs him through. The next memory is from the perspective of a Cerothian sitting around a campfire with Æsa as the group partakes in a mushroom concoction. The next memory is from within a drug induced trance during battle. The next is of a person spying on Æsa clandestinely meeting with Vieve's father in a small meadow, and they embrace before the memory ends. The last is from an old and bent woman through her nearly blind eyes. At a familiar long table, the High Counsel are all chiding Æsa, but eventually allow her to go.

To cross back into the Prime Material, Isioma gives away her memory of murdering the rich dandy in Gaer Tir. Typhus gives up the memory of shooting a goblin out a tree early in their adventures. Vieve gives up the memory of everything she did after planning the murder in Gaer Tir. Rio gives up the memory of getting Crem'd by the Chuul. Desta gives up her memory of killing the Hydra.

Gyllandrel tells the heroes is that if their memories are ever too much to bear alone, that many travelers have joined him in his garden permanently. The heroes pass through the portal quickly and return as if resurfacing from an ice tank in a similar hedge-maze, though unkempt, and the the pool completely dry.

They hear motion as someone curses and draws their blade. In the corner of the center of the hedge-maze, they see a man holding a slightly curved blade, startled by their suddene appearance. They are meet Lord Dorindas of the Grimhold, member of the Freehold. He offers to share his camp with the heroes, and busies himself restarting his small campfire. He tells the group that he was studying this old facade and decided to make camp here after losing track of time, and tries to make polite conversation. Vieve grows interested in his mentions of the Freehold's polticial economy, and Dorindas explains that he was only elected to his lordship for a year at most. He speaks to them of the Freehold's long history of resistance to the empires and monarchies of Lúsis. He mentions that the Freehold's numbers are dwindling, and they have retretreated further into the Spine of the World-Eater, surrendering a number of holdfasts near their borders with Amtal and Emdal, and that the biggest threat to his Grimhold are raiding parties composed of Emdali soldiers and mercenaries.

Dorindas recounts spotting mercenaries from the City of Brass and expresses distaste, likening their contracts to "slavery under another name." He tells them of the other, more mundane troubles that the Freehold has, and Isioma offers her ability to enrich soil to the Lord. The group decides to take a slight detour towards the Grimhold with their new friend. Upon approaching, they see an old gothic castle adorned with many multicolored ragtag flags flopping in the breeze, surrounded by a small village. They pass through the quaint village, and after watching Lord Dorindas be sternly reprimanded by his mother for shirking his responsibilities to ride off alone, the heroes approach the Grimhold.

What to do?

The plague is still ravaging Northern Ardenfoíl. Typhus and Isioma have agreed to rescue Ishme's family. Typhus must return to the Underdark in order to find the 2nd Nexus Blade. Isioma must find the place with no connection. Vieve must find Æsa, the White Wolf, and understand her prophetic last vision. Rio must grow faith in Nile and find Seraph and Maalik. Desta must guide Tlaloc towards good. They must help Gethar defeat Aurangaul. The heroes must investigate Enusa's condition and understand the source of the dragon madness.