Records from the Third Campaign

First arc: A Chance to begin again
The story begins in Toroban just after dawn on the 9th Rath of Scorch, 698 YoR.

Ko: Six individuals gathered in Fool's Fate for the graduation ceremony, and a number of destinies began to intertwine. As the ceremony began there was a commotion at the door and a late student made their way to a seat. Students were called and given their assignments until only five other students and I were left. Commander Vainglory called them forward to have a chat, he explained that most of us either did poorly on our tests or had made a pact with something that made putting them on a proper assignment difficult. Due to these complications we were offered a spot on an experimental Seekers unit with the Dwarven Paladin Belial as the lead of the group, after an awkward silence or two, the group accepted. The group began exchanging some pleasantries and learning a little bit about each other. As the Tabaxi named Ko attempted to go and get fitted, as they were asked to do by commander Vainglory, the Kobold named Sniv used magic to restrain him. The rest of the experimental group was quick to press Sniv about this while Jan picked up Ko and headed to get fitted. The group got their fittings done and Jan took some of them out for drinks. Ko refused as he had "Work to do", and Julian said he would catch up with them in a bit. Jan took the group to his Uncle's tavern the Crooked Goose. It was a dusty run down tavern, much like his Uncle, the group chatted and drank for a while before going on a crawl before work the next day.

 1st Silth of Frost 698 YoR 

The group got their first assignment. A young girl had gone missing and the group was to go and find her. The group started with the mother's residence and asked some questions about the girl and her task. After gathering; that she usually returns by night, the path she was taking to the farm, and that she was collecting wax in her basket. The group headed out along her path. As they were walking there was a commotion coming from a house not too far from them. A green Kobold burst through a window and combat ensued. Another Kobold joined the fray and was killed, while the first Kobold was restrained and captured. The civilian in the house was saved by the group and the belongings that were taken were returned. The nice Elven lady introduced herself as Timala and offered us tea should we return. The group thanked her, handed the captured Kobold off to some other guards, and set out on their original task. Making their way to the farm they were met with a locked door which was illegal as Sniv would inform us. Jan broke down the door and barely avoided a crossbow firing directly at his head. Hearing shouting from the other side of the door Jan, Julien and Belial talked with the owner of the farm and learned that he would not come out of his house until Gorlog was removed from the area. Apparently Gorlog had killed his Ma and Pa a few days earlier and he's been hold up in his house ever since. The group went to the bee hives to investigate and found drag marks and damage on some trees which Julian would tell us was likely from a wolf. The group went into the forest to find a corpse with its meaty bits eaten. A group of Orcs showed up and said they owned the farm...

Belial: The team tried to negotiate with the orcs, but when the latter started to move away to go occupy the farm talks broke down. What followed was a desperate struggle in which Julian, Adran, and Sniv were downed, but the orcs and goblins were all killed and the wolf retreated. With 3 of their members on their last legs, the task force decided to take the body, which they assumed was the man's mother, and retreat back to the farm without looking for the father.

Back at the honey farm, the man accepted that the greenskins were minions of Gorlog and that the danger had passed, and came out of the house with his son and Elise. He was heartbroken to identify the corpse as his mother. His son was in high spirits and resolved to join the expeditionary corps himself. The team warned him to be careful for a while (maybe set some bear traps) then left with Elise. They returned Elise to her mother, who thanked them profusely and gave them free candles. Jan and Ko also bought small wax statues that Elise had started making in her free time. They went back into the city and got debriefed and payed 27 gold and a health potion each, and got the next few days off to recuperate. Then they went to celebrate their successful mission with another pub crawl. At the Crooked Goose Jan met a man who was interested in investing in the Goose. Sniv received a summons for the whole team next morning from his boss' boss, Lord Grimnar.

 1st Est of Frost 698 YoR 

The team went to to Lord Grimnar's office, where he was currently in a meeting. Smoke started to come out from the door and they rushed in to find him alone with a smoking mark in front of them. Sniv found this very suspicious and asked Grimnar (The chief of the the Guard, his boss' boss) if he was trying to hide evidence, but he explained that that the burn was made by his guest, some notable citizen. Grimnar told the team that there had been sightings of Tiefling children around town stealing stuff, and asked them to track them down and bring them to the orphanage, if they had the time. Having nothing better to do, the team split up and started asking around town. They eventually tracked the children to a burned-out warehouse that used to be used by smuggler's. Belial and Sniv had already been inside and assured everyone else that it was empty inside, although it did appear recently inhabited, so they set up on either side of the entrance alley and waited for someone to enter.

A hooded lion-man came out of the warehouse, and when he saw the ambush he attacked with magic. Ko tried to reason with him, cat-person to cat-person, but the man laughed inside his head and told him they weren't the same, then dimension-doored away. Reasoning that there might be more people in the warehouse, the team crept in, and the more observant people noticed a faint light coming from a pile of rubble and shelving. They found a hidden trapdoor in the pile and entered into a secret safe-house with 3 tiefling children and an adult male cambion. Noticing the intruders, the cambion sent the children down a small escape tunnel, summoned a hell-hound, and attacked the team with his flaming sword. Ko slipped past him and pursued the children (with the hell-hound pursuing him) while the rest of the team fought the cambion. They managed to surround him and kill his dog (it turned into a little statue, which Adran picked up), and when he tried to escape out of the trapdoor they caught up to him and smashed his wings until he died. Meanwhile, Ko had caught up to the children, and managed to convince them to follow him to the orphanage by bribing them with food. The city-guard showed up after the fact, and so did an infernal affairs researcher from the Chimera Concord, who tried to bribe everyone to give him the corpse, gave Belial an orb to call him, and protested shrilly as he was removed from the area. Lord Grimnar also appeared, congratulated the team (minus Ko) and payed them generously. Then they went to the orphanage to find Ko and the kids. Using a combination of magic and the eldest child's broken Draconic, they managed to find out that the Cambion was the children's father and they were only trying to complete a ritual that would take them back home to their people. The team felt pretty wretched about this, and they all dispersed to go home. Ko went to the guardhouse to get payed, but did not receive as much gold as the others had.

Sniv:  1st Kross of Frost 698 YoR 

Sniv was able to receive a reduced ticket quota and was able to take a much needed rest. During Sniv’s lack of vigilance a group of rich “merchants '' made a deal with Jan to rent a room in the Crooked Goose. The room had to be away from the places that the town guard frequents and would ostensibly be used for private games of chance. Ko and Belial listened in on the deal and okayed it. Belial bought a helmet that looks like a fish, Sniv bought an alchemy kit to brew stimulants, and Adran bought a blank book which he is turning into a Common phrase book for the recently orphaned tiefling children. Julian stayed at home feeling sad about killing a dad; he occasionally went out for drinks at the Crooked Goose.

 1st Streth of Frost 698 YoR 

when the mandated rest days were up the party got a new assignment to get an unregistered mage some registration forms. The mage lives a four days' walk away which is a great opportunity for Jan’s new horse to stretch its legs. The party was warned that a Ranger pair had not returned from the forest they had to travel through. Nearing evening on the first day of travel the party found a smelly ransom note for the scouting party. A poorly hidden path lead right to the captor’s camp. Sniv stepped on a branch and alerted the camp, but they thought he was a part of their joint kobold raiding crew. Sniv looked for the kobold force but was unable to find it. Ko found the two captive scouts and the party began devising a plan to free them.

Adran:  1st Streth of Frost 698 YoR 

The party decided to wait until the most of the bandits fell asleep, and use magic to incapacitate the watch. Unfortunately they had two in watch and only one succumbed to Belial's sleep spell. We fought the bandits, and killed most of them, however their leader escaped and a seriously wounded Sniv was killed trying to arrest him. Fortunately one of the rangers had a spell to preserve a body for a cycle. The party also found a damaged magefire pistol, and a bottle that can produce a seemingly endless amount of smoke. The rangers warned us of an impending attack on Istengroth-tor, Belial wrote a message to command warning of the attack, and notifying them that we were diverting to assist. Jan took the message and Sniv's body and raced back to Toroban. The rest of the party proceeded deeper into the forest.

 1st Eith-Kesh of Frost 698 YoR 

Jan, Amaya Pendron, and a newly resurrected Sniv set out from Toroban on horseback, but were attacked by a trio of kobolds, presumably scouts for the main force. The kobolds were beaten back and the group continued on.

DM:  1st Orseh of Frost 698 YoR 

Pressing onward to Istengroth-Tor both groups arrived in the besieged town in the mid morning. Jan, snive, and Amaya rode swiftly and managed to participate in the latter half of the siege. Those on foot arrived at the closing of the battle to find an exhausted and battered elven host, and a great many slain kobolds. After re-grouping the party was beseeched to head out and find the leader of the village, as it seemed that the attack had been part of a larger plan to isolate Shadove Nintonn for reasons that were as of yet unclear. Setting out promptly the party had a serious talk with Sniv about trying to stay alive, even if it meant letting an arrest get away. While they were talking Jan fell prey to a net trap and the rest of the group was attacked by kobolds being led by an unidentified humanoid. As luck would have it, a party of hobgoblins was also in the area and tried to take advantage of the situation and  claim the head of the party for themselves. After a hard fought battle the party managed to drive off both the kobolds and the Hobgoblins, having to take a short rest themselves to fortify themselves for whatever future battle they would have to face that day. As the party continued on towards the cave of the Sphinx they saw a large area around it was blanketed in a dusk-like magic, cautiously approaching and entering the duskfield the party seemed unaffected, with the exception of Ko, whose fur altered color when he stepped in. After assessing that there were no immediate consequences the group progressed through the duskfield to the entrance of the Cave of the Sphinx. Finding 4 dead elves outside, and hearing a cry of pain from within, the party pushed on into the cave, finding that the sphinx and Shadove had been slain by some mysterious people, who had some kind of association with Julian. After an attempt at a conversation, 4 of the assailants used some magic to leave, and the 5th one began casting magic in preparation to kill the party, and specifically Julian. After a harrowing battle the party was triumphant. Julian found that there was a connection between these mysterious individuals, and the grimoire that he carries with him. Perturbed, the party had some important conversation on their way back to Istengroth-Tor. After reporting back to Amaya and the elves the party retired to a bunkhouse to rest and identify the new items they had acquired. Julian learned the summoning word for the hellhounds statuette and promptly almost wiped the injured party by summoning it and finding out it wasn't friendly. Luckily Sniv was paying attention to the command word, and was able to dismiss the Hellhound after it dropped Julian. The party then decided it was wise to leave any other tasks for the next morning.

 1st Rath of Frost 698 YoR 

The party woke up sore and aching, but otherwise eager to continue their original mission. Setting off from Istengroth-Tor the party made its way back to the main road and continued towards Ryissine. Over the days of travel they found a few roadside shrines, and made some offerings, but enjoyed a quiet rest of the trip.

2nd Silth of Frost 698 YoR

Arriving into Ryissine in the late afternoon the party checked in with the Expeditionary Corps at the Madman's Merriment. After a short rest they headed off into town to find the tower of the unregistered mage. Upon arriving at the tower they met with the enchanted dragon head that served as a door knocker. The custodian told them that the owner of the tower had gone out to the river. By sheer luck, and a good deal of persistence, the party found the unregistered mage enjoying a nice sit by the waterside. Ko opened communications and the party spent a long while talking to Atteran, they did not manage to convince him to register but gained some interesting information along the way. After leaving the Mages tower they met some Concord Wizards and got into a disagreement with them,

Jan: 2nd Est of Frost 698 YoR

The party awoke the next day and split up. Ko went to go speak with Atteran, while the other 5 went to speak with Korfien the wizard. Korfien had not conducted the water tests but assured the party that he would send a report to the Corps when he did. At Atteran’s house Ko asked about his Glaive (The Elemental Plane of Air) but didn’t receive much more information other than maybe it has something to do with Goliaths. Ko then asked about a symbol which Atteran identified as a symbol of the Igazi, meaning two lives interconnected, and was potentially related to Goliath blood magic. The party regrouped at the Madman’s Merriment when the supplies master asked if they could deliver a shipment to Toroban. Our heroes, helpful as ever, agreed and were compensated for their trouble. The road back to Toroban was quiet for the most part. The first day of travel went smoothly with no interruption other than some banter regarding Julian’s book. However in the night some Fey gremlin creatures stalked outside the camp and ended up stealing Julian’s pants in the dead of night, despite being under the watch of Sniv.

2nd Kross of Frost 698 YoR

The second day of travel offered more of the same, albeit without the pants stealing.

2nd Oust of Frost 698 YoR

The third day offered a surprise when just outside Toroban, Ko was racially profiled and attacked by a hitman named Kilroy looking for the Rakshasa the party met outside the Devil’s lair. Kilroy explained that the Rakshasa was roaming around the nations surrounding the rift, attempting to find a good spot to open a portal to hell and unleash and army of devils. The party was unable to help Kilroy but did bring him to some contacts in the corps so he could exchange information. After a debrief, the party was put on leave for 15 days, due to injuries taken during their outing. On their first day of leave the party decided the best way to celebrate would be with a good old fashioned pub crawl, starting at the newly more or less refurbished Crooked Goose. They drank up, and Belial took too many stimulants with her ale and started having the high of her life. The party left the goose to go spend too much money on Froghemoth street meat. They then hopped to a much nicer tavern called the Flying Feathers, where they made friends with some aristocrats after sharing the secrets of the street meat. The new group decided to hunt for more Froghemoths in the lake at the center of the stronghold. While not finding any monsters, someone had mentioned a gun that Belial had. Everyone, with the exception of Sniv, thought it would be great fun to shoot the gun into the air in celebration. Sniv tried to stop Belial but only ended up changing the trajectory of the shot so that it hit Jan instead. The group bolted, leaving Sniv alone with a gun in his hands. Jan, Julian, Ko, and Belial regrouped at the Goose before calling it a night. Belial went to the first room she could find and went to sleep. Julian and Ko went home. Jan went to the stables where he started having an episode, leaving him frozen in fear awake at the stable.

Julian: 2nd Rest of Frost 698 YoR

On their first day of forced leave after their harrowing events of the previous mission, the group began by taking care of several tasks, such as shopping and taking care of minor business. Most of the group assembled and went to visit the Shifting Athenaeum, where they met with mast Shi and learned more details about the acid king including that he was likely hatched from an egg that the Concord was in possession of. Additionally, she gave the general location of the Sphinx the group had learned of during their time defending the elven village. Ko asked for more information about his glaive and learned that it could be a cause for concern. After leaving the Athenaeum the remaining members were found and as a group they payed off the fine to retrieve the pistol Belial had discharged the night prior. Everyone then went to have tea at Timala's. There everyone but Sniv did psycadelics and Belial almost had her soul eaten by a statue. Ko learned even more about his glaive, that it's a living relic which are drawn to conflict and strife and impact the events for better or worse. He also learned it's name, Dancing Cloud-Burst. Sniv placed an order for the gun to be repaired, Belial got the other statue exorcised, Grimnar, the captain of the guard mentioned that he might have a job for the group and news came in that the Concord had been attacked.

Ko: 2nd Streth of Frost 698 YoR As Ko returned to his room at the orphanage he noticed that a few things were askew so he took some time to run around town during the night. In the morning the group met up at the Crooked Goose and discussed the plan for the day. While they walked to Lord Grimnar's office Ko and Sniv noticed they were being followed so they decided to split up hoping to determine which part of the group was being followed, but neither group noticed the follower again. Adran, Belial, Jan and Sniv met with Lord Grimnar and learned that the attack on the Concord was well planned, well funded, and must have had insider information. The schematics that were taken would help anyone, with the capability, destroy the ballista on top of the walls. After talking more with Lord Grimnar, Belial suggested that Myriad may have something to do with this attack. After the meeting the party regrouped outside and began to discuss what was said (but couldn't scream about it because they were not in a sewer). A messenger hawk found the party and requested their help at the Fate. The party arrived and was sent on a house call to Amaya's after she hadn't checked in after returning to the city.

They made it to the house and noticed the door ajar (Sorry Jan, maybe next time), Belial and Sniv ran around to the back, while the other four entered into the house. Noticing two dead bodies on the ground and hearing floor boards creak upstairs the party was split. Jan and Ko went upstairs to find 3 soldiers. Belial and Sniv went downstairs to find a captain and 1 soldier. Adran and Julian split from the main floor, only for Julian to find 2 soldiers while Adran ran down stairs. The fight ensued and things were going very poorly, not only was Jan knocked unconscious but Ko was killed. Adran and Julian ran upstairs, Adran spared Jan from death and Julian's book preformed a ritual that brought Ko back to life. As the party regrouped they let the mercenaries go, they were later caught by the guards, and tried to get some rest but were spooked by Amaya making her way up the stairs. After a small talk the party believed she was not the Mole in the corps bu Amaya had yet to give the party her full trust. The party took some time to rest up at the Goose, Ko got hammered and told the party more about himself before crashing. The rest of the party went to interrogate the mercenaries. The party quickly learned that the group was hired by Sarn Kell who has been putting bounties out on the higher ups in the Corps and the Concord. They also learned that Rosner and the Blue Bastards have been taking multiple contracts from Sarn. As the party returned to the Goose Ko asked for help and was able to Attune to Dancing Cloud Burst. And with that the party only has 13 days left of Downtime...

DM: 2nd Eith of Frost 698 YoR

During the night, a few members of the party experienced visions from beyond their scope. In the morning Ko gathered the group at the Goose and came clean about what was going on with him and his possible connection to Julian's Patron, After a serious discussion and consideration the party chose to split up, with half of them following up on Adran's vision, and the pother half heading off to try and purchase a house. Adran's group went to the town hall and witnessed a standoff between the guards and a well dressed man who was demanding to speak to Lord Grimnar. After a while Grimnar came out and seemed to be able to placate the irate individual. Following up afterwards the group learned that a notable merchant had been murdered the night before, and that shed had been a close associate of the fellow. Meanwhile, Ko's groups managed to purchase a rundown house out nears the edge of the Kingswood, Regrouping the party went to go check-ou the new house, only to find it infested with molds and oozes. Having taken considerable damage in the initial clearing of the house, the party chose to retreat until the next day to fully secure the house.

2nd Kesh of Frost 698 YoR

Returning to the house with a plan and gear to enact it, the party easily manages to clear the last of the creatures living in the house. after all was said and done there was a lively party as Ko got ready to settle into his newly bought house

Adran: Having cleared the house, the party returned to the Goose and met up with Jan. Discussion ensued and it was determined that, given Ko's recent purchase, the party needed more income. The job board outside the Fool's Fate was consulted and the party decided on potentially taking an escort job for Finral Vancilius, a member of the Concord.

2nd Orseh of Frost 698 YoR

The following morning the group met up at the Goose, and headed off the the Concord to speak to Finral about the details of the job. There was increased security at the Concord, with all people entering having to pass through a zone of truth, and a weapon screening. Having been cleared the party followed the directions to Finral's office. The details of the contract were simple, Finral was to be escorted to the possible location of an ancient city located in Istengroth forest, between south tooth and middle tooth, and we would be paid 500 gold each. The journey was expected to take two days each way and we would be stopping for three days at the site. Ko was able to haggle for partial payment up-front, which he used to pay off part of his mortgage and commission some work to get his house livable. The rest of the party split up to buy supplies.

2nd Rath of Frost 698 YoR

The party met set out with Finral promptly in the thick morning fog. After a couple of hours the party was overflown by a large form briefly glimpsed through the fog, maybe a dragon. At around noon, the party heard calls for help and came across a couple of old women accosting a young woman. An examination by Belial revealed all three to be fey, the group fell back fearing a trap. The party set off again as the older women apparently killed the younger one. Closer to evening the party was once again overflown by a large, probably draconic, form. It was speculated that this may be the Acid King. The party made camp and sorted out a watch order. During the night, Belial and Sniv were grabbed by a group of bandits lead by the surviving leader of the group that kidnapped the rangers. He offered to return Belial and Sniv in exchange for Adran, for whom the Black King is willing to pay 6000 gold. The bandit leader threw a flashstone into the center of the camp, blinding Julian, Jan, and Finral; and ordered his men to attack. Two of them grabbed Adran and started dragging him off, however he promptly escaped by turning into mist. The party killed a couple of the bandits and severely wounded a third, at which point the leader called a retreat and released Belial and Sniv. The party moved camp and went back to bed

Jan: 3rd Silth of Frost 698 YoR

The Party woke up the next morning and discussed why the black king wanted Adran. They couldn't quite figure it out but concluded that maybe it had something to do with Adran's patron. Carrying on through the day, the party came across a hole with bodies in it. After determining that is was not an accident and instead probably a ritual sacrifice pit, the party descended only to be ambushed by three ankhegs. The party slayed them with minor inconveniences, then took a small rest. They elected to set up a camp about 30 minutes away from the mining town and sent Ko and Sniv to scout the town. The town was made out of low quality wood buildings on top of the ruins of an old village. There was a large host of goblins occupying the town, including frog riders. After scouting the party rested for the night and put into place a plan to try and negotiate with the goblins before killing them.

3rd Est of Frost 698 YoR

They woke up at before first light to prepare their "negotiations" which quickly fell south. The battle which ensued was much harder than expected resulting in the party making a tactical retreat to try and find a new strategy.

Julian: After retreating from their initial foray into the mining camp, the group moved their campsite to avoid any retaliation strike. This proved a wise decision as while they were resting they noticed a large patrol pass by. After recuperating and deciding that their next course of action would be a full attack on the camp, which they proceeded forward with. This second visit to the camp proved a tough challenge but one that was within the group's means and they overcame it without sustaining any casualties. The group was able to pacify the elemental beast that the goblins were keeping without killing it and made peace with it. A few magical curios were claimed from the goblin spellcaster. The group rested for most of the day to bring themselves back into fighting strength before heading into the mines at their sponsor's urging. Within they found a large dwarf made cavern with a bloody shrine covered in jewels seemingly in offering to a large rock. After exhausting mundane and magical options for divining danger, Jan knocked on the boulder which woke up and ate the gems. The boulder was another elemental that the goblins were worshipping and turned out to be a reasonable enough sort of fellow who Finral was able to strike a deal with for use of the mine as long as any gems were turned over to the elemental.

Ko: 3rd Est of Frost 698 YoR

The party began their two days of watch for Finrell, Sniv and Julian decided to sleep as they watched through the night. On the first day Adran, Belial and Ko looked into one of the wings of the mine to do some exploring and investigation of the area. Finding a door, Belial having worked with deserved technologies was able to open it easily, but behind the door was a skeleton which Ko swung his glaive at assuming it would attack the group. After some deliberation the party was able to completely open the door but two spiders and a specter engaged them. The spiders were defeated easily and after attempting to lay the specter to rest the party finally put him out of his misery. Unfortunately Sniv and Julian were captured by a group of Kobolds working for Yahshin and the party set out to rescue them, cutting Finrells research time short in order to keep him safe. Trailing the kobolds Adran and Ko were ambushed, Ko was pushed over the edge a number of times but was able to survive thanks to Adran and the cavalry. The party now looking for their next clue to lead them to their friends...

Adran: After a short rest, Finral decided he had had enough of danger and he and Belial set off back to Toroban, leaving the rest of the party with instructions to free Julian and Sniv. A little later the party's rest was again interrupted this time by Julian and a woman fleeing a pair of snake-riding kobolds. After killing the kobolds the party was informed by the woman, Shayura, that the camp was going to be taking delivery of 16 ogres within the day. Seizing the opportunity the party moved to the camp and waited for the ogre escort force to leave. The escort for left, leaving 6 kobolds guarding the camp, the party waited a quarter hour and attacked. During the attack Jan was downed and Adran excavated him into a hole in an attempt to make it harder for the kobolds to finish him. Ko was able to sneak most of the way around before being seen and opened his eversmoking bottle, shrouding half of the camp. The plan was successful, the party got in killed all the kobolds, with only Jan going down, rescued Sniv and recovered all the gear. Ko also found a cat figurine and he and Julian found a chest containing 250 copper pieces, it was decided that this was not worth hauling back to Toroban so was buried out of spite. As the party was getting ready to clear out, Jan woke up in his hole providing yet more trauma. After leaving the camp the party heard/saw a dragon flying over from middle tooth. There was a draconic roar of frustration from the direction of the camp. The party decided to make camp for the night.

3rd Kross of Frost 698 YoR

During the night, Adran was approached by a bunch of floating lights asking for help. He woke Ko and asked him to take over the watch while he investigated the lights. After following them for a few minutes, he was lead to a dryad pinned to a tree, and being tortured to death by a briar plant. He attempted to destroy the plant with an eltritch blast, provoking a hag to appear and offer a deal to kill the dryad and share the power. Adran emphatically declined the offer with a spell. After a couple more spells, the hag want invisible. Adran took that opportunity to finish freeing the dryad, there was a fight until the hag downed the dryad and left with a final taunt. Adran stabilised the dryad, and waited for it to awaken. After it did, the dryad bound the remaining energy of the curse into a circlet and gave it to Adran. He returned to camp and offered to take Jan's watch. Midway through the watch, Adran heard a creature exiting the tent, suspecting more pants-thieving creatures he offered a trade for a ration; however it was the hag back for some revenge. Caught off guard, Adran was downed by the hag's first attack fortunately, the rest of the party was awakened by the noise and pursued and rapidly killed the hag and stabilized Adran. It was decided that the hag's corpse should be burned, reentering the tent Julian was convinced that the outside world was incredibly dangerous and the only safe place in the universe was inside the tent. Ko then entered the tent and agreed with Julian as there were no dogs in the tent and many outside. Jan suggested that the party should begin packing up for the walk back to Toroban, but Ko and Julian could not be convinced to leave the tent. Jan then started to dismantle the tent but Julian cast hold person on him and pulled him into the tent, where he saw their point because there was no war in the tent. About an hour later Adran woke up in the bush where he had fallen and found everyone else in the tent, refusing to leave. Realizing that the tent had been cursed by the hag Adran attempted to talk the others into leaving the tent, to no success. Adran then stored the tent in his crystal, which broke the curse. The tent was then burned with the hag and the party set out for Toroban.

Second Arc: Ongoing
Jan

Notes lost to the darks corners of time

Julian

The next day Belial and Sniv sorted through the reclaimed mining equipment and then went to talk to the core and report that Julian and Ko were former members of Myriad. Everyone also received a message that their rest would end a day early and they were to report the next morning for duty. That night Ko went to visit Belial and they had a talk about the previous day's events. The next morning Ko also visited Julian where he did drugs and put himself in a near death experience. After the group met up for their summons and were assigned to escort a noblewoman to a hunting lodge and back after she had finished her hunt. On the way to the lodge they were ambushed by some bandits seemingly associated with Myriad. They knocked most of the party out with sleeping darts leaving Julian, Ko and Belial awake when they tried to convince Julian and Ko to turn coat. Ko somewhat played along trying to buy time and get information. Eventually into the conversation the "bandits" revealed themselves to be members of the core attempting to test Julian and Ko's loyalties. The noblewoman also revealed herself to be Amiah. Amiah threatened orphans and gave Ko and Julian a tentative pass for now saying they were all still headed to another job. They continued on to the hunting lodge where, the next morning Amiah debriefed everyone on their mission, to deal with the Acid King. Connected to this were separate goals of lowering the kobold population which has been threatening people lately, locating and saving a core team which has been captured and possibly finding a legendary dragon slaying weapon which may be in the area, after some discussion the team decided to take on the undead and the other seeker team would focus on looking for where the dragon slaying weapon could be.

Ko

The group woke in the morning and began the day talking about Adran's dead animals and trying to find a solution that would not interfere with his experiment but also not stink up the room. After some deliberation a solution was found and the party set out to clear some of the undead in the area. After some walking and talking the group happened upon a group of undead. During the battle things were going well until the Shpinx from the middle tooth flew into battle and banished the holy paladin Belial. After much pain, the battle was complete and the party met a new race in the forest known as Xvart. After witnessing the parties prowess in battle one Xvart asked the party to help free their god. The party went to help the odd little creature and found their clan with some dead person soup and a screaming spoon. After faking a ritual to transform the spoon into a bottle of smoke, the creatures were delighted and attempted to join their god... after witnessing a ritual suicided the party looted the area and returned to the gentle away with a new map of the area.

Jan

That night the party woke up in the hunting lodge to the sound of wolf like calls. Seeing as they were in the forest they assumed it was more or less regular, and decided to ignore the howls, going back to bed more frightened. The next morning they left the lodge to trek through the snow to get to the tomb of elders. There were plenty of undead on the way there, but the dead could be easily dispatched. The dead seemed to be walking out of the entrance of the Tomb of the Elders. The party ventured inside and got ambushed by the angry spirits of the elves buried inside, who themselves seemed to be fighting the walking corpses. They had a small deal of trouble dealing with the spectres, but managed to fight through the tomb to a locked gate. They opened the gate and came to a room that looked as though it were partway through a funeral. Ko realized that the ruins were not elvish in origin and that they actually part of an ancient giantish sacrifice pit. The party moved through the tomb and stumbled across the ghost of a long dead elf king fighting an endless hoard of undead, presumably the sacrifices from the ancient giants. The ghost of the king told the party that his resurrected body was probably what was stirring up the dead in tomb. He instructed them to fight his corporeal form so that the dead could finally rest. The fight was difficult and the dead king proved to be a worthy opponent with a few tricks up his sleeves, but Belial wound up smiting the body of the elven king, killing the heck out of it. The party did as adventurers tend to do and looted the king, finding a set of ancient plate armour, some elven boots, and a nifty warhammer.

Belial

The Seekers returned to the Quiet Rest, cleaning up the occasional undead as they went. There they conferred with Amaya and considered the various tasks and points of interest in the area:"The remaining undead""The dragonslayer's sword - the Twin-Star ranger team is investigating the mountain. They are reputed to be highly effective combatants and might take on the Acid King themselves if they spot a great opportunity""The humanoids that were spotted north of the lodge""a house in the middle of the woods with no road leading to it""armed ogres at the base of the mountain""Long-running orgy at a hot-spring"They first went and cautiously investigated the house. They found it completely deserted, with all the objects slightly warped. Ko found a journal which was mostly illegible but for occurrences of the word "Crizan" (the plane of chaos) and the last page, which revealed that the writer had become trapped and warped in Crizan, and upon return had left the house (really an inn) to find civilization. The Seekers continued north from there, clearing undead as they went. Belial and Julian wanted to climb up the mountain to have an adventure and find the magic sword, but Sniv and Ko were reluctant; Sniv was afraid that the Acid king might persuade him to betray the corps, and Ko was afraid the Acid king would kill him. At the foot of the middle tooth, they were spotted by a black dragon, but it flew by and left them alone. Twin-Star reported that they felt watched up on the mountain and that a distraction would be appreciated. Then they reported that the dragon had flown away from the mountain and the Seekers seized the opportunity and started climbing. Up on the side of the mountain they encountered a small orc hunting-party and killed them, despite Belial and Sniv's attempts to get them to flee or surrender. The orcs had caught a multi-tailed firefox in a bear trap, which the Seekers freed and healed. Then they bedded down in a nearby hunting shelter.

Adran

In the morning, the party recovered the blankets from the shelter and continued up the mountain. After passing the tree line the party spotted a flock of large birds diving down on something. Getting closer it became apparent that these creatures were not actual birds, but antlered, wolf faced bird things; and they were hunting another group of orcs. As the party approached, one of the bird things took down an orc and ate its heart straight out of its chest, healing the bird thing; seeing this the party made a very reasonable decision that these were not creatures to be messed with and bravely ran away. Four of the bird things pursued and after a brief fight we killed; the fifth, seeing that its orc prey had gotten some cover tried to pursue as well but was quickly shot down by the warlocks. The party approached the surviving orc and seeing that he was near death healed him. He introduced himself as Giri and told the party that his tribe is from the dragonspine mountains, they are here for a proving, and that he is hunting a 9 foot tall humanoid that travels with a wolf. The party salvaged some supplies from the dead orcs and parted ways with Giri, leaving him to his hunt. The party continued up the mountain, heading for the 3rd peak. After a couple more hours of trekking up the mountain, admiring the view the tri-tailed fox was spotted again up on the wall of the slot canyon the party was walking up. The party climbed up the side of the canyon to investigate, but the fox had disappeared. The party continued up the mountain on the side of the canyon, and after a bit further a crevasse opened up on the canyon floor, right where the party would have been walking. After another couple of hours, the party found another lee in the rock to camp. A small snow berm was built to help keep the wind out. The next day, the party was rudely awakened by a visit from Yashin, who used his acid breath in an attempt to kill the party then left before examining the results. Ko and Julian were hit the worst both getting knocked out immediately, Belial was woken up very rudely and in a great deal of pain, and Adran used a new ability to escape relatively almost completely unharmed. After a bit of healing, the party was again visited by the tri-tailed fox who lead them away just before an avalanche buried the camp. The fox continued to lead the party up the mountain, guiding them to the 3rd peak faster than should be possible. At the peak, the party found a massive, lightning killed, hollowed out tree. Entering the tree the party found an ancient shrine to the many faced mother tended to by a similarly ancient elf. The elf was in the middle of a ritual so the party decided to wait for him to finish, and spent the time waiting admiring the carvings on the walls. The carvings depicted the history of the mountain, and showed that the white dragon's cave is on the 2nd peak. The elf finished his ritual and greeted the party. He told the story of how he got here: some time ago, he traveled here with his wife, she died here and he planted the tree on her grave and tended it. A some centuries later the tree was killed by a lightning strike, he was also visited by a group who told him of the Many Faced Mother. His last visitor was a woman who arrived from Rhyssine to kill a white dragon that was harassing the town. He told the party that the dragon's cave is in a valley that appears frozen, but there is a path through the frozen waterfall at the end. A scaled, maned golden unicorn then arrived bearing some root vegetables for dinner. He also asked if any of the party would like to commune, and Belial expressed interest.

Julian

In the morning, after resting the night in the tree, Belial debriefed with the other groups and heard that a group of Kobolds had headed out from their camp with something of value to bring presumably to the dragon. The group decided to intercept them. The ambush they set up went well and they eliminated the kobold party without issue. Two magic rings were reclaimed and along with the ranger team they planned to frame the orcs to set off conflict between the two groups. While dealing with the bodies a group of orcs, drawn by the sounds of fighting, found and launched an attack on the group. The group were able to fend them off and dispatch them without much issue. The group decided to head down the mountain to a less dangerous area and to also assist in freeing the captured seeker team. After resting that night there was evidence that someone had been watching us, Ko's white fur also reacted which set him heavily on edge. After quickly braking camp and getting some distance the group talked amongst themselves and the other teams and decided to stay in the area for now and see if they could find more information on who exactly was watching them.

Ko

4th Kesh of frost