#courtmere

[blackcatarts]

bc of your last artwork i scanned your cca tag, and i'm curious if you have any kind of story in mind for those characters? are they all friends?

CCA stands for Courtmere Creatives Academy!! i came up with it in like... 2015 so these characters have been around a while

no overarching story (for all of them anyway, cynthia has this whole thing with her ex girlfriend) but YES they are all friends :) they r all connected with each other and form a group because they were like well. we're all always hanging out so we might as well

they r fully just a bunch of gay people (and cynthia's cringefail token straight white boy) running around their fancy high school and having fun <33 if i made any content for them it would have to be an ask blog bc its very much slice of life!!

theres rowan, cc, vince, luke, jas, lizzie, viv, and winnie!

[courtmere]

Death? by Khivern (Session 9)

The adventurers tired from their fight with the black pudding made their way to bed for the evening. Arielle had a very realistic dream, so realistic, she couldn't tell if it was a dream, a vision, or a memory. She found herself in the very tavern they just cleared, but it looked cleaner, newer, and much fuller with patrons. She walked up to the bar and asked for a beer. "Ah, yes, a beer!" The bartender exclaimed. He poured the beer and passed it across the bar. His hand went right through Arielle to a dwarf standing behind her. "Can you hear me?" Arielle asked, confused. She received no answer and realized she could not interact with the world she was walking in. From the look of the place and the patrons, she came to the conclusion she was in the past, how far in the past, she wasn't sure. She walked outside the tavern and saw a city. There were buildings integrated into the tree line and on some mini islands off the shoreline. It appeared to be a city that was the pinnacle of integration of nature and technology. She heard an explosion and in a flash, the sky turned black. She was pulled into a new setting. She saw her mother, missing her right leg enter a clearing surrounded by massive trees. In the middle was a pool 5 feet in diameter with brilliant gold liquid. Surrounding the pool were iridescent flowers and dragon scales around the pool. Vivian had a magical blue prosthetic assisting her to walk, but as soon as they entered the clearing, the prosthetic flickered and disappeared. Arielle could hear her mother talking, but couldn't make out her words. Markus helped her to the golden pool, and Vivian dipped her leg in. Immediately, her veins ignited with a burning white light. It began in her legs and moved up towards her head until it flowed out of her eyes. The vision faded and Arielle awoke. It was about 3 am. While Spark was "shut down" for maintenance he felt his consciousness get sucked through a tube to an indeterminate time in the past. No longer on the prime material plane, they saw towers of clockwork design. Everything was very symmetrical, and small automatons were going about their day. They explored the surroundings a bit and while it felt familiar, it also seemed very foreign to them. Everything has a place and there is a place for everything. They occasionally saw automatons that looked very similar to them. The surrounding automatons stopped and stared at Spark. Spark asked, "What is my purpose here?" Every automaton in the vision responded in unison, "Balance must be restored." Spark felt a presence that could give him a place and purpose trying to make its way into his consciousness. Spark allowed it in desperate for purpose. When Spark did this, one light on their memory cube turned gray. The other five remained bright white, and their consciousness returned to their body in the tavern about 3 am. They walked out of the closet and announced, "I came out of the closet." Arielle who was downstairs, rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, you did." She shared the dream she had. She explained that her mother was attacked by a khivern, and she wanted to go after it. She wanted revenge for what it took from her mother. Spark suggested discussing with the rest of the party first. Arielle agreed and began making her way back to her room to get some more rest. Kali spoke with space-face Greg and asked him for a present. space-face Greg laid his hand on Kali's chest. Kali received an enchantment that was permanent with a particular trigger that space-face Greg did not divulge. Kali started jumping up and down trying to fly, but nothing happened. He heard, "This must not come to pass! The sun has set, praise the sun!" Kali was suddenly transported in a bright flash of light to right outside the tavern where the rest of the party was sleeping, or trying to sleep. On her way to bed, Arielle saw the flash and ran out of the front door. "Where have you been? Where did you come from?" Confused, Kali responded, "I just came from Reggie's isn't that where you all just came from?" "You've been gone for a full

24 hours!" "Oh, well, I'm here now. Fill me in on what I missed." Arielle filled him in on their battle with the black pudding and the other ingredients they needed to collect for Reggie before heading to bed. The next morning, Spark found a note sitting on the bar from Reggie. It had a wax seal with a combusting frog pressed into the wax. They picked it up, but tried to hand it off to Axle or Arielle and muttered under their breath, "Order must be restored." They was not quiet and everyone downstairs heard them. Axle questioned, "What was that?" "What are you talking about?" Spark asked. "You just said something!" Axle explained. Arielle was reminded of the Toymaker's words in the sewer under the Lorespire. She pulled Axle aside and asked if he remembered the Toymaker, but he did not. Axle asked, "Are you talking about the guy with the dolls?" "Yes!" They heard a muffled, "I like you," from the bag of holding. Lantix immediately left the common room and headed back to his basement room. Arielle and Axle continued discussing. Maybe they needed to talk to the Toymaker. Mayra, who had been sleeping like only a 16 year old could sleep, finally made her way downstairs. As she entered the room, she asked, "What's going on?" "I have a letter?" Spark exclaimed, sounding very proud of themself. Arielle took Mayra aside and explained Spark muttered under their breath the same things the Toymaker was saying in his outbursts. Arielle expressed her desire to talk to the Toymaker. "Well, I mean, Spark is a literal death machine," Mayra told Arielle, "so maybe that's related?" "Wait, what do you mean?" Arielle asked. "I don't know man, Spark is a literal death machine. I don't know how else to explain that." "Like built for war and killing?" Arielle continued with her questions. "Yes," Mayra answered simply. Spark spoke up again, "We have a letter." "So, open it," Mayra replied. The letter from Reggie informed the group he had procured a boat, and it was located at a dock on the north side of the island. They began discussing which ingredient from Reggie's list they should gather next. Arielle shared what she knew about khiverns. Lantix shared that he had fought one with Ash. He admitted that Ash did most of the work, but they were ambushed, so he wasn't really sure how to lure or trap a khivern. He knew they are attracted to magical creatures. Axle immediately shot his magically regrown hand out and said, "I have a parasite!" Lantix reiterated he was not super familiar with the Feywild or associated ailments, but he thought Axle's ailment was symbiotic. As they continued discussing their plan for the day, the unseen servants began whipping up breakfast of eggs, oatmeal, and some bacon adjacent meat. Arielle was set on going after the khivern, though it was clear she had ulterior motives for choosing that from the list as she was pushing pretty forcefully even after Lantix explained they were extremely large, generally pissed off murder bird/squirrel hybrids, and that he almost died last time he fought one. None of Lantix's insights on the creature seemed to register with her. Mayra suggested they track and stalk one. Maybe since they just needed a tooth, they could find its feeding ground and just maybe a tooth would have broken out of its mouth, but no one seemed to like that idea. Lantix and Mayra finished their breakfasts and went looking for tracks. After a bit of searching they found some tracks. They returned for the part and got some meat to set up a lure. They set a trap in the clearing near the tracks. Spark set up a magical alarm, and they all waited. Mayra positioned herself up in a tree while the rest spread out on the ground in the tree line. After about half an hour, the khivern appeared in the clearing. It was a large, feathered reptilian squirrel/bird hybrid. Absolutely terrifying! Lantix marked the khivern and unleashed his swarm of twig blights at the khivern while he took a shot with his longbow. Kali grasped his holy symbol and provided Spark, Mayra, and Arielle with a blessing. They

each felt a warm radiance wash over them helping them focus on the battle at hand. Spark casted Tasha's Mind Whip on the khivern, but the khivern was unaffected. Arielle's eyes began glowing brighter until radiant light burst from them hitting Lantix, Axle, and Kali as she blessed them. From the relative safety of the tree she was hiding in, Mayra shot her crossbow at the khivern. Axle's adrenaline had been building until he unleashed his rage. He charged the khivern and with a big swing, hit it with the flat of his battleaxe. The khivern reeled back letting out a brilliant golden white light from its jawas as it roared at Axle. The roar frightened Mayra. Lantix shot an arrow from his longbow and with the help of his swarm of little twig blights did significant damage to the khivern. More pissed off than normal, the khivern leapt in the air, headed for Lantix. Axle saw this and called upon his ancestors to help shield Lantix. At first, an ancient goliathesque guardian began to form, but the spirit quickly transformed into a woman with beautiful flowers obscuring her face. She bursted into flowers as the khivern landed next to Lantix and sunk its teeth into his kobold flesh. Kali said a prayer for Lantix and the bleeding from his wounds began to slow. The khivern attacked Lantix again as it recognized Lantix as its greatest threat. Spark casted Tasha's Mind Whip again, and again, it had no effect. The khivern's eyes blazed as it turned away from Lantix. Another beam. of golden, white light shot from its mouth with a roar. The beam hit Axle, Kali, and Arielle with its radiant energy. Arielle swung at the beast with her longsword. In response, the khivern took a tail swipe at Arielle and Lantix, who flipped it off as he fell to the ground unconscious. The khivern turned to Arielle, bared its teeth, and growled. Still perched in a tree, Mayra took a shot with her crossbolt, but it failed to make purchase in the khivern's hide. The khivern turned toward the tree line looking for where the bolt came from, but couldn't locate Mayra. Axle made an attack with his ancestral blade. He charged the khivern, stabbed it in the neck, kept ahold of the blade with one hand and wrapped the other around the beast's neck. It tried swiping at Axle with a claw, but couldn't find the right angle. Kali noticed Lantix was unconscious, so he said a prayer that imbued Lantix with health and energy to bring him back to consciousness. Spark casted Tasha's Mind Whip a third time, but it still had no effect. The khivern, bloodied from the battle, opened its mouth and let out a burst of radiant fire. Axle called upon an ancestral guardian again, this time the goliathesque spirit flashed into tiny flowered cubes that exploded to offer Lantix some protection from the fire, which hit Axle, Lantix, and Arielle. The hilt of Axle's blade spontaneously turned viney and he whispered, "Good sword, good sword." He heard a voice whisper the same words in his ear. Arielle grabbed Lantix and jumped behind a log to get some cover. The khivern attempted to remove Axle from its neck again, but was unable to loosen his grip. Mayra took another shot from her crossbow. Her bolt hit the khivern but bounced off a scale. Axle dropped his grip from around the khivern's neck and hit the beast with his battleaxe. Lantix marked the khivern again and unleashed an arrow from his bow. His twig blights also attacked the khivern. The khivern let out another roar and the air around Axle crackled with radiant energy. The beast locked onto Lantix again pinpointing him as the cause of the majority of the khivern's damage. It opened its eyes really wide and its pupils shrunk to slits as it hissed and leapt onto Lantix. Arielle panicked and blinded the khivern. Axle swung his battleaxe in an effort to turn the khivern's attention from Lantix and successfully connected. As it came down on top of Lantix, it blindly bit down at him on the ground but grabbed a mouth full of dirt right next to Lantix's head. Kali said a prayer for Lantix again buffing his health. The khivern

sniffed the air and turned its blind eyes toward Arielle. It swiped wildly at her with its claws and knocked her unconscious. Spark casted Tasha's Mind Whip a fourth time and said, "Balance must be restored." The khivern in epically pissed off fashion, whipped its tail about, but was unable to hit anyone. In fury, it let out a beam of golden, white light hitting Kali, Spark, and Mayra. As it finished whipping around, its eyes came back into focus, and it targeted Lantix. Mayra shot her crossbow from the tree and immediately hid. Her bolt landed in its neck. She could see it starting to ebb in wooziness from all the damage it had taken. Axle took the opportunity to charge with his greatsword. He slid under its neck slicing up in a clean movement. The khivern's head fell to the ground as Axle stood up on the other side. Kali stabilized Arielle. When she came to she touched the dead khivern and whispered, "I don't know if this is the one that took your leg, but I got it for you mom." Axle pried one of its fangs out its mouth as a trophy and another for Reggie. Lantix began carving up the khivern for transport, and Mayra grabbed a few feathers and put on in her hair. They made a few trips to get all the khivern pieces back to the tavern. In a bit of down time, Mayra continued reading "A Short Introduction to the Great Planar Conflict" Reggie had given her.

[bhaleesi]

She quickly navigated her way through the train station and stepped out into the bustling hub. Isabelle adjusted the large sunhat she wore – a style popular with Ancienti vampires – and walked through the familiar sidewalks along the off-white buildings. More than a few of them deviated from the neoclassical pattern, with brightly-coloured architecture standing proudly along street corners. Vehicles sped past Isabelle, loud honks filling the air from all of the impatient drivers.

Ancient is so different from Sanguis, Isabelle thought with a smile. Whereas Starkhall is dark and shrouded, Courtmere feels warm and alive.

-A Wolf Amongst Serpents | Isabelle Tydus, A Knight in Shining Armor

***

A small garden off to the side drew his attention. In it was a statue of a woman carved from white stone. She gleamed in the weakening light, well-maintained and polished.

Hyperion approached it after a person finished kneeling at the base. The statue was large – not quite as imposing as those of the five gods in their Sanctuaries – and rested on a podium that overlooked Courtmere. White lilies bloomed in green hedges and bushes, large and sweet-smelling. A few had been woven together and placed in the statue’s lap. She smiled demurely at all who chanced upon her.

Her Grace, Lilith von Drake. A wife, a mother, a Potentate. May Echolyse guide her steps, as she once guided ours.

-A Wolf Amongst Serpents | Hyperion Tydus, White Lilies

[courtmere]

Who wants Black Pudding? (Session 8)

The next three days were spent in relative relaxation within Gregalgador's tower. Gregalgador (who said they could call him Greg or Reggie if they wished) was an encyclopedia of knowledge and invited the adventurers to ask him anything. Arielle asked if he knew of anything happening on the continent of Courtmere. Reggie said that he'd heard that the pale elves from Drachenwald had been raiding and attacking Brunchaven. He told Arielle that before humans arrived in Courtmere, there was an elven population that experimented with magic that eventually destroyed the world and caused it to start anew. Two branches of elves appeared: the drow, dark elves who mainly reside underground and pale elves, who rejected arcane magic and favored druidic magic instead. Arielle asked about the different factions of drow; Reggie said that there were drow who lived in the Underdark with deep ties to Llolth, the Spider Queen, and other drow who were seafarers that worshipped Umberlee, an evil sea god. Arielle thanked Reggie for the information. Mayra recalled a few beings discussing something called the Blood War when they went to retrieve the chess pawn for Master Ibrus, so she asked Reggie what that event was. Reggie explained that the Blood War was an everlasting war between demons and devils of the Nine Hells. Mayra asked why they referred to Spark as a "fucking problem." Reggie pulled out a book titled, "A Short Introduction to the Great Planar Conflict," and gave it to Mayra to keep. Mayra read that after the second sundering of the planet Oros, Primus (the lawful neutral god of order and ruler of Mechanus) declared a war for "perfection" on all other planes. The pictures featured in the book of automatons looked exactly like Spark. Meanwhile, Spark picked up a bottle of blood and offered it to Axle as a healing potion; Axle pushed it away in disgust, but Lantix took the bottle of blood. Spark suddenly heard a CLUNK and felt like something fell off of him. He found a cube on the ground that had a light on each side. When he pressed on the lights, a tube of glowing while liquid popped out. He realized that this cube was his memory core and something deep within him told him the tubes were not supposed to be white. He could not recall what color they were supposed to be though. He also knew that wherever the cube was located it wasn't where it was supposed to be. Reggie tapped Axle on the forehead, and Axle was suddenly able to read. However, it still took him awhile to string together words and ideas as he was new to the practice. He also received a book on wizard karate. Axle later saw that his ancestral blade now had runes on the hilt he had never noticed before. Lantix was able to repair his broken longbow. When he was done, he realized that the wood on his bow had turned green and there were more thorns protruding from it. He also noticed his bow was springier than it was before. One night as Arielle polished her shield, she saw that the metal was incredibly bright and noticed the holy symbol of Bahamut was not embossed, but carved directly into the face of the shield. She fell asleep and had a dream in which she saw from a bird's eye view her parents as part of an adventuring party. They were walking through a forest similar to the one on this island. Arielle couldn't really hear what was being said, but her mother, Vivian, was holding a shield similar to her own, though it did not bare the emblem of Bahamut. Suddenly, a large creature ran out of the woods and grabbed Vivian in its mouth. It ripped off her right leg before she fell to the ground bleeding profusely. As Arielle watched her father, Markus, administer first aid, she recalled a story her mother told her about losing the leg to a direboar. The creature in this vision was most certainly not a direboar. Arielle had known for years that Vivian, a paladin of Bahamat, had been forced to retire after the loss of her leg. Recalling what Reggie had said about how the island contained valuable materials that could not be found elsewhere. Arielle realized that Vivan had

found the ingredients to improve her shield on this island. With that, the vision ended and Arielle woke up. After a few days, Reggie approached the adventures to explain his plan to close the portal to the astral plane in the Whispering Tides. He said they couldn't stay at his tower while he was performing the ritual. "Where are we supposed to go?" Arielle asked. "Well, you could go camping, though I would not recommend it. There are ruins or a tavern nearby that can be cleared out and used as a base camp," Reggie replied. "What can we get for you to make this successful?" Mayra inquired. "I need a khivern fang, black pudding residue, ectoplasm from a powerful spirit, stone marrow, and divine nectar," Reggie explained, "Stone marrow is a specific magical ingredient from fossilized creatures. It is porous and glows a grayish color. This will heat up as you get close to it." Reggie handed them a stone similar to the one Mayra had received from Master Ibrus to locate the mystical chess piece. "Divine nectar is from a plant that grows in flatter areas. It's nectar is shiny and gold." When Arielle heard the word "khivern" she recalled hearing about these creatures at the Silver Hand Academy. She wondered if it was a khivern that had attacked her mother. Reggie advised they stay away from the Feywild. Lantix asked about the corn maze they had encountered. Reggie said the corn maze was created by a powerful archfey and most people that went into the maze, never came out. Arielle asked more questions about the Feywild. Reggie mentioned that usually by the time they wander into the Feywild, it's already too late because it's everywhere. He recommended going to a tower located southwest, or a former guild hall in the port region, or a tavern slightly southeast of the tower. Axle asked Reggie if he knew of any powerful ghosts from whom they could extract ectoplasm from, and Reggie enlightened them that a powerful spirit could be found in the southeast tower. The adventurers decided to head in the direction of the tavern. Reggie asked who inthe part was responsible, concerned about the cursed bag of holding, to provide the stone too. Mayra reached out quickly and grabbed Lantix by the coattail. This caused Lantix to face plant on the ground. "Oh my god, Lantix, are you ok?" Mayra asked, covering her shenanigan. No one but Reggie noticed it was Mayra that caused the face plant. Reggie said, "I have to say, this is the most questionable group of minion I've ever hired." "I'm a minion!" Spark exclaimed. "Yeah..that's not something to be proud of," Mayra explained. Axle took particular offense to being called a minion. He began to speak out, but Reggie casted a spell to stun Axle and shut him up. Reggie then opened a portal to drop off the adventurers at the tavern. In front of the tavern was a man with an ornate skull for a head. He was wearing black and red robes. He was sitting on a railing carving something out of what appeared to be bone. When they stepped out of the portal, he looked up from his carving and said, "Oh, I wondered when the help would arrive." "I'm Spark!" Spark introduced themself with zero hesitation of new beings. "I'm Garyzalax the Malevolent," said the stranger, "I'm sure Reggie has hired you to do something, and I am going to make you a counteroffer. You give me what he wants, and I'll pay you in gold and magic items." "Why are you here?" Arielle asked. "I am an old rival of Reggie's, and I'm here to fuck up his plans." Mayra started goading Garyzalax. "You're more powerful than Reggie? Ha, yeah right...does Reggie even know who you are? He didn't mention you." "I'd like to remind you that my name is Garyzalax the Malevolent," he said with an emphasis on "the Malevolent" part. Axle quickly grabbed Mayra, pulled her behind him, and told her to stop talking, "Why don't we go inside and grab some ale?" He offered Mayra to keep her from being killed. Mayra agreed and they walked into the tavern, Spark sensed Garyzalax's power and advised the rest of them not offend him too much. Garyzalax

was not going to stand in their way of the tavern; he just wanted to extend the offer. He wanted to widen the rift to the Astral Sea, not seal the rift as Reggie wanted. Spark and Arielle declined his offer. "Ok, no hard feelings. Maybe I'll see you on the field," he said before teleporting. "That guy was an asshole," Mayra said as she walked into the tavern and began looking around. She found bottles of old spirits behind the bar. She found a trapdoor to the cellar in the kitchen, and a common room. Upstairs there were 10 guest rooms. In one of the guest rooms she found 25gp. The others joined Axle and Mayra inside. Spark casted Mending on the chairs so everyone had a place to sit. Axle wanted the room with the largest bathroom. Each room had a bed, wardrobe, table, and chair. Each room also had its own attached bathroom. Lantix opened the trapdoor leading to the cellar. He did not detect any motion. He threw a stone at the ground to make some noise hoping to rouse anything that may be in there, but nothing revealed itself. He saw an unlit torch hanging on the wall. He went to light it, but he was thwarted by something oozey dropping down on his face from the ceiling. Lantix fell, hit his head, and was knocked unconscious. The black ooze quickly covered his body. It got in one of his eyes and dissolved it. Everyone heard Lantix yelp out and quickly ran towards the cellar. Arielle and Axle arrived at the cellar at the same time. Arielle saw her kobold ally's foot sticking out from under the black ooze. She casted Sanctuary on Lantix. Axle went into a rage, leaped into the air, grabbed a beam to swing over Lantix, and dropped down on the ooze slashing it with his sword as he landed on his feet. The ooze split in two. Spark casted Misty Step to get closer and then casted Firebolt. From the doorway of the cellar, Mayra pulled out her dagger, and then disappeared with a splash into a pool of water. The ooze detached from Lantix and moved toward Axle after being split in two. Arielle reached Lantix and casted Lay on Hands to bring Lantix back to consciousness. Axle grabbed the torch and used it to club one of the oozes. Spark casted Tasha's Mind Whip on the smaller ooze, but the ooze struck back splashing him with some sort of acidic substance. Lantix, missing an eye, backed away and shot the ooze with his longbow while invoking his swarm of twig blights. This ripped the ooze to pieces. He then leapt out of the cellar. Mayra reappeared 10 feet from the ooze out of a puddle of deep black liquid. Landing a surprise attack on the ooze with her crossbow. The ooze launched at Axle, but he was able to juke out of the way. Axle lit the torch and used it to burn the black ooze to death. They collected the residue in a jar. Lantix pulled out the sending stone and contacted Reggie, "You owe me an eye!" "I did give your larger friend a healing potion," Reggie reminded him. It was a bright pink, effervescent fluid. The smell started out as lavender, but changed to oranges. Axle also handed Lantix the bottle of blood. Lantix took a whiff, made a disgusted face, and handed it back. He chose to go with the pink liquid. It tasted of apples followed by an after taste of dirt. Lantix felt a weird sensation in his eye socket, and after a few minutes a new eye fully formed. The iris of his new eye stood out. Where his original eye was a yellow color, the new eye was neon green and glowed in the dark. "We've collected the black pudding residue, and we are going to stay at the tavern, but we ran into someone called 'Garyzalax the Malevolent,'" Lantix reported. "I have no idea who that is," Reggie responded. Mayra tried to explain what she had learned about Garyzalax in the short amount of time she had interacted with him, but Reggie was still at a loss. Lantix requested modifications and unseen servants to help them make the tavern more livable. Before long, the adventurers heard the sounds of construction as the unseen servants began making changes and cleaning the tavern. Spark asked Reggie where the next closest ingredient was,

but Reggie had no idea. "I've already provided you with a place to live and unseen servants to provide you food. I will try to figure out how to get a boat for you to travel to other islands, but that is all I can offer." "Do you know anything about an adventuring party that showed up on this island 20-25 years ago?" Arielle asked. Reggie said there were magical ingredients that can only be found on the islands, and because of that, many adventurers would find their way here to retrieve them. He did not recall encountering an adventuring party that included Arielle's parents. Arielle provided a description of the creature from her dream that ate her mother's leg, and Reggie confirmed it was a khivern, and those creatures were still present on the island.

[courtmere]

Wizard's Tower Wackiness (Session 7)

When the group woke up they found themselves in a square stone room with a burnt pile of robes laying on the floor. There was a door on each wall, and they could not tell which door they had entered through. Lantix investigated the wizard's robes. He looked inside the breast pocket and fount what appeared to be a pocket dimension with a hobbit village. In another pocket, he found an envelope addressed, "To whom it may concern." Lantix began opening the letter. There was some dissent from Arielle. She said they shouldn't open it as it might not be for them, but Mayra said, "He's dead now, so we might as well be whom it concerns." Lantix began pulling parchment from the envelope. He continued and continued pulling. More and more parchment emerged from the envelope; it began to feel as though it would never end. Once it had all be freed, Lantix read it: Dear Interlopers, I see that you have made the poorly thought out decision of entering my tower. Unfortunately for you, the man who just exploded was in fact me, Gregalgador the Magnificent (of Aedwallian fame). So if you are reading this, I am probably dead. Or worse, I am in fact alive and now aware of your presence. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that if you seek an audience with me, you must in fact navigate the multifaceted pocket plane that I proudly call, my home. If you don't want an audience with me, simply shout, "GOODBYE!" I or my successor will expel you from the premises post haste. Ah, yes if you are a member of one of the following organizations seeing to collect fees, fines, dues, taxes, favors, odds, ends, etc...etc...please simply sign your name below, and I will be with you shortly (OR NOT IF I AM DEAD). 1. The Grand House of Skyhammer 2. The Aedwallian Empire 3. The League of Shadows 4. The Courtmereon Grand Assembly 5. House Arvonian (the list continues for many, many pages) Sincerely, Gregalgador the Magnificent

Mayra recognized Gregalgador's name; he was infamous in Duskwall for destroying an entire city block when he teleported his tower elsewhere to evade a small city fine. She guessed this is where he teleported the tower to. She looked through the list of organizations and saw the Bleeding Eye was listed. They decided as a group, mostly, to explore the tower. They noticed the room they were standing in was square with a door on each wall. Mayra suggested the door on the left. It seemed as good as any. Axle opened the door. They found themselves in another square room with a door on each wall again. There was also an alchemist's bench with potion bottles and such on it. They opened the door on the wall across the room. Inside that door they found a snowy mountain range. Axle marked the door with a snowflake. Mayra thought it might be beneficial to check all the doors in each room before traveling deeper, so they opened the door they entered the mountain room from expecting the potion room, but they found a study instead. It was clear at this point that marking the doors was going to be of no help. The study had no other doors in it they could see, but there was a roaring fire in the fireplace. The adventurers began looking around. Spark and Axle began looking at books in the shelves. Spark plucked one off the shelf and opened it; a bunch of magic missiles flew out of the binding. Spark quickly manifested a magical shield to avoid being hit and slammed the book shut. Axle found a book on wizards with a majestically muscled wizard on the cover with long flowing hair and muscular stature. Arielle investigated the fireplace and found that it was not only a fire but a fire mephit sitting in a frying pan. She said, "Hello, do you know a way out of here?" In a deep, gruff smoker's voice, he replied, "No. No one has ever made it out of the wizard's castle."

Both Lantix and Axle asked him if he wanted to join their group. He thought for a minute and peered inside their minds. "Demon scarecrows? Crazy toymaker? Not my cup of tea," he said. Axle tried to look further into the fireplace and the mephit slapped his hand away. Spark found a copy of a Kama Sutra type book featuring illustrations of drow couples and showed the pictures to Arielle, "What are they doing?" "That's difficult to explain," she responded. She didn't want or know how to explain sex to Spark. Lantix found a ring of keys and a magical pen. Axle took a book featuring a pantless wizard on the cover. Axle lit a match and offered it to the mephit, who immediately ate it. Axle removed the frying pan from the fireplace and lit a true fire. He offered the mephit the matchbox; he rolled his eyes and said, "If I touch these, they will explode." Kali thought there might be something under the rug. When he went to lift it, it immediately wrapped itself around his head. Axle attempted to pull the rug away from Kali's face, but he was unsuccessful. The rug began smothering Kali. Lantix's teeth and claws grew and sharpened and then he bit the rug. The acid from his mouth burned both Kali and the rug. Lantix was tempted to push Kali and the rug into the fire, but held back. Mayra sweeped her leg and tripped Kali. As he fell, she tried to use one of her daggers to pin the rug to the floor. She was too worried about hitting Kali as he continued to struggle that she missed the rug altogether. Kali unable to see decided to heal himself a bit. Arielle took Mayra's idea and used her longsword to pin the rug to the floor. Axle took another swing at the rug and it fell lifelessly away from Kali's face. Lantix offered the. lifeless rug to the mephit. He lit it on fire and then evolved in to a small fire elemental. Once they had caught their breath, Spark and Kali noticed the trapdoor the rug had concealed. They both manifested a magical hand to open it. Inside was a ladder that lead down into darkness. Arielle took a book off the shelf and waved her hand over it. The book became magically illuminated. Kali took the book and tossed it down the hole. They waited and waited, but never heard the book hit the ground. Axle wanted to close the door and move on, but Spark volunteered to go down and check it out. Axle tied a rope around Spark's waist. Arielle waved her hand over Spark and they became illuminated with light. Spark then descended the ladder. Suddenly, they heard a woman singing. Axle tugged on the rope as a signal to Spark to pull them up, but Spark ignored it and continued. They found the glowing copy of the book they threw down. Spark illuminated the darkness with dancing light orbs and found they were standing in a circular room with canvas walls. The floor was made of pillows, and there were tent flaps. Spark was intrigued, but did not go any further. They began their ascent back up the ladder, and again, heard a woman singing. When they arrived back in the study, Spark tried to convince the others to go down but failed. The fire elemental had started consuming things in the study, growing larger and larger. Axle offered again to let him join the group, but he said he would stay and "consume all knowledge." The group quickly exited the study before it was completely consumed by fire. The landscape on the other side of the door was no longer cold and mountainous, but a fire plane. They heard a soft squawk. Arielle recognized this as the cry of a baby red dragon wyrmling. Lantix then heard a deeper squawk from the door. He slammed the door shut and opened it again. This time, they saw a forested village. There were beings walking around the village; they were small and appeared to be hobbits. All the adventurers went through the door this time. "Oh, visitors! Come and join my family!" One of them yelled as he saw the adventurers. Axle was immediately suspicious. He looked up and saw a door floating in the air. When the adventurers declined the invitation and tried to leave, the hosts got very angry. The head of

the house was called Billbong; he and the others appeared cheerful, yet they stated they wanted, "blood for the blood god and skulls for the skull throne." Definitely some sort of cult. Axle pulled a doll head out of his bag; the doll head said, "I like you," and then Axle threw it at Billbong. Billbong responded with, "That's a nice skull, but I like your's better!" In retaliation, Axle attacked Billbong with a ray of light which incinerated him immediately, "I'm sorry Billbong," Axle said. He turned to the others and asked, "Who's next?" The others moved to position themselves to attack. Kali killed one with some radiant divine energy. Lantix sharpened his teeth, launched towards another's neck, and killed it instantly! Arielle stabbed on through the stomach. With all of them dead Mayra said, "Aww, you guys are so sweet to kill all the murderous hobbits for me!" She then went into the nearest house and looked around. She found a stone altar of skulls perpetually bleeding. Mayra picked up a Kenku skull and gathered as much food and spices as she could carry before returning outside. Axle recognized in the spices some pipeweed. He asked if he could have it. "Only if you share," Mayra said, handing him the bag. In another house, Lantix found some electrum and bronze ware. Axle went inside, it was a tight squeeze, the inn where he found a pedestal with a blood filled goblet sitting upon it. He backed out and asked Spark to use their magical hand to collect it. As he opened his bag of holding to place the goblet inside, he heard, "FEED ME!" Axle also returned the doll's head to the bag. It had continued speaking Abyssal the entire time it was out of the bag. Axle stared deep into the bag and saw a singular, yellow, bloodshot eye open at the bottom of the bag. He screamed and closed the bag. They saw a door about 70 feet north of them with a mountain drawn on it. They made their way to the door. Inside was a human man wearing a wide brimmed straw hat sitting in the middle of a room chewing on a piece of grass. Axle said, "Hello? Can we walk through?" "Where are you headed?" The stranger asked. "Who are you?" Axle asked, ignoring the stranger's question. In a whisper, he responded with, "John Jacob Jingleheimer...," his voice trailed off, but then he continued, "Don't say my full name," he warned. "Why? What will happen if I say your full name?" "Let's not find out," John requested. Arielle could sense that John was hiding something from them. She told Kali and Mayra her suspicions. Mayra suggested investigating him further, but Arielle wasn't interested. All of a sudden, John sang his entire name, and began duplicating exponentially. "YOU DID THIS! THERE WILL BE SO MANY OF US, AND ONLY ONE CHAIR TO SIT ON!" The adventurers ran towards the door so as not to be swallowed by the crowd of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidts. As soon as they made it through the door, they began feeling dizzy. They noticed they were standing on the ceiling. Mayra noticed a dining table, so she sat down. Immediately, the feeling of blood rushing to her head subsided. She advised everyone do the same. On the table in front of each chair was a cup of tea. Mayra took a sip of the tea; it tasted like warm bread, sunshine, and happier times. Axle's tea tasted like fall in the mountains. Lantix's tea smelled somewhat earthy. He took a sip, and it tasted like freedom. Spark's tea was initially tasteless, but briefly it tasted of brimstone and the smell of battle. Arielle's tea reminded her of times spent adventuring with her best friend along with a weird mixture of platinum and justice. Kali's tea tasted like the sun. Suddenly, the table began to grow, and a door appeared on each of the 4 walls. In unison, the four doors opened, and in walked four men. One was shirtless and very muscular with arcane runes tattooed on his chest. He had a long gray and white beard. He wore a wizard's hat and loose pants. He looked very similar to the wizard on the cover of the book Axle took from the study. The second man wore long red robes with sleeves

stitched to his body; he had a floating stone on fire in front of his forehead. He wore nothing beneath his robes, and he too was chiseled. The third man's face was obscured by his hat; he wore blue-black robes with nebulas and start swirling on them. He had long white gloves on. The final man looked exactly like the wizard that blew himself up the day before wearing singed red robes. Axle looked stunned and said, "I have your book! Can I get your autograph?" "Have you read the book?" The first man asked as he signed the book. He signed, "Gregalgador the Magnificent." Arielle asked, "How can you be Gregalgador? He blew himself up." They all answered in unison, "We are ALL Gregalgador. It's complicated." They noticed Spark, and exclaimed, "You are a problem!" The oldest looking wizard took a drink of his tea, "Ooo, fire and brimstone, my favorite!" "You have not made significant progress in my maze, but you haven't given up yet, so how can I help you all?" Mayra was the first to jump in, "I have soooo many questions, what is your story? What is this place? Why is it here? Can you help us get back to Everlight?" Spark asked the space-faced Gregalgador, "How can we cleanse the ocean of spirits?" "Let me ask first, what do you know of this island?" Gregalgador transitioned. Arielle said she knew nothing. She relayed that they had washed up on the island. Mayra interjected they had to go through a creepy corn maze. "Hmm. There was no corn maze when I arrived," Gregalgador replied. "When I teleported here. I didn't realize there was a rift to the astral plane nearby, and I cannot move my tower until the rift is closed. The sea is haunted, and the ghosts are annoying. Why don't you all help me close the rift, and I will help you get home." Gregalgador mentioned that Axle was an "empty vessel" ready to be filled with knowledge. Axle was pleased with this, but Arielle took it as an insult. Mayra mentioned a spirit had been following her. Gregalgador waved his hand and the ghosts that had latched on to her, Kali, and Axle all moved on. "What do you know about the Bleeding Eye?" Mayra asked. Gregalgador referred to the leader as the "Bitch of the Underworld." "I grew up with her, and I want her gone," Mayra briefly explained. "That lady rules the Aedwallian Empire from behind the scenes. She isn't a lich though." Gregalgador then handed her a pamphlet titled, "Fighting the Bleeding Eye: It's a Bad Idea." He looked to Spark and said, "You are a problem." Spark did not understand why they were a problem. Gregalgador touched Spark and suddenly memories came rushing back. Spark recalled falling through space, a room full of hundreds of thousands of replicas of themself, questioning Primus, who responded, "This one is defective." Spark recalled being cast out of Mechanus. Spark froze in the memories but returned to reality quickly. Axle showed the wizards his bag of holding; Gregalgador, upon seeing the bag, immediately teleported the bag elsewhere. This wildly confused Axle, "Why?" "Did you open that cursed bag in my tower? Why are you carrying a cursed bag of holding?" "What? That's my bag of holding. It has my doll heads and blood cup." Gregalgador reached his hand through a portal, pulled the bag out, and said, "NEVER open this in my house again." He made some hand gestures and a sphere of energy rolled into the room. "Gerald, our guests have unleashed some kind of cursed entity in the home. Can you make sure everything is tidy?" Gerald responded in Primordial; Spark used some magic to translate the Primordial, "Yes, my lord." Gerald vanished through the floor. "Oh well, I don't think you have an office anymore," Axle told Gregalgador. "You FED my elemental? I spent so much time getting him tiny. Did you all meet John Jacob?" No one spoke up. "Did you sing or hum a tune that does with his full name?" A guilty look crossed Axle's face. Gregalgador sighed and dispatched another servant to unduplicate John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. "Did you all meet my bronze dragon? He dispenses beer." One of the party

members asked Gregalgador why he had himself explode at the entrance. He explained that he hoped it would deter visitors. Kali said, "It didn't work." "You practically ensured we'd explore with that display," Mayra added. Gregalgador summoned some beer from the bronze dragon. He warned that under no circumstances should they pour any into the cursed bag of holding. Then the fourth version of Gregalgador combusted again. Mayra asked space-faced Gregalgador what his face looked like. He removed his hat, and Mayra saw a perfect sphere of black with a light ring. She began to ask what happened, but the other wizards stopped her and explained, "There was an accident; it was very bad." Axle stared into the orb. It made him feel as though he was being pulled through space and time. He saw the past, present, and future at the same time. This made him feel woozy. Gregalgador pulled out a sending stone and placed it on the table. Lantix scrambled toward it, but Mayra tripped him. She successfully did so without him noticing she was the cause. He just hopped up and continued scrambling. He grabbed the stone. Gregalgador said, "Do not use this for dickery, or I will erase each and every one of your timelines." Mayra offered her joint to the table. Spark asked for a hit; it smelled like skunk, but he got a little high. Spark offered it to Arielle and Lantix but they refused. Arielle asked what would happen if the rift wasn't closed. Gregalgador explained that would be his problem to deal with. "When the time is right, the beast will burst forth and slay all our worlds." Arielle asked, "What are you talking about?" "A beast with a beak and lots of tentacles, like a kraken on Spelljammer, or a kraken that has gorged upon souls." Gregalgador reached into a pocket dimension and pulled out another stone. He gave instructions to speak the command, his name because he is pretentious like that, and it would create a safe place to rest. Everyone retired for the night.

[courtmere]

Scarecrows and Tooth Fairies (Session 6)

Lantix and Arielle woke up to a cold wind and the sound of rustling leaves. Arielle looked outside the ruins they had rested in and saw an aurora borealis in the sky. It was nighttime, and the moon was large, and they could almost make out a wicked grin on its face. It seemed as though the moon was watching them. They also noticed plants had grown up and were swaying in the breeze around them. They disassembled the barrier the put up and walked out of the ruins. Surrounding them in a 10-foot circle were what Lantix recognized as giant cornstalks.

“Corn?” he questioned aloud. In the breeze, he heard an echo, “Corn?” Arielle thought the echo sounded a bit like Lantix, but raspier.

Spark felt his consciousness return to his body as Axle shook him awake. “That was an odd experience,” he said as he greeted Axle. Axle, Spark, Kali, and Mayra surveyed their surroundings. They no longer could see the ocean, but in the center of the circle was a tub of confections. There were eight pieces of candy, each one provided 75 temporary hit points. Each adventurer grabbed two pieces, but there was a warning not to eat a second one for 365 days after the first as this would result in instant death.

On their side of the island, Arielle and Lantix found a similar bucket with four pieces of candy.

Most of the adventurers ate their piece of candy, but Mayra pocketed both of hers. Kali noticed a face in the moon with a wicked grin and got the sense it was watching them. As he moved, it seemed as if the moon followed him wherever he went. Unsure of how to get through the corn that was circling them in, Mayra grabbed a piece of driftwood off the sandy ground and chucked it at the edge of the circle. Suddenly there was a series of loud popping sounds from the edge. Axle grabbed Mayra and pulled her away as several ears of corn suddenly exploded and white buzzing creatures appeared. Spark cast Protection from Good and Evil on Mayra; Kali presented his holy symbol and cast Arcane Abjuration which sent the swarm fleeing back into the cornfield.

A mile or so away, Arielle poked at an ear of corn with her longsword. The ear exploded and Lantix heard an angry buzzing noise as several small white fairies appeared out of the ear of corn and began attacking Arielle. Arielle cast Sanctuary on herself, but when the creatures avoided her and began attacking Lantix instead, she instinctively swung at them with her longsword. As a few fell to the ground, she noticed they looked like little teeth. The creatures swarmed around Lantix taking a bite out of him and leeched a poison into his system. He fell asleep. The creatures worked together to pry open his mouth and yanked out one of his fangs. This woke up Lantix who cast Zephyr Strike on himself, stood up, sharpened his teeth with Primal Savagery and snapped at the tooth fairies before moving out of range of their next strike. They turned their attention towards Arielle, which gave Lantix an opening to shoot them with his bow, clearing the rest of the swarm that was terrorizing Arielle. Lantix picked up his tooth they removed and stuck it back in his mouth. It didn’t feel or taste exactly right.

As Lantix and Arielle took a quick rest, Lantix complained to her that his tooth did not feel right. She asked if it was a wise idea to reinsert the tooth that was forcibly removed. Lantix shrugged and said it was fine; his bugbear friend, Ash, had previously taught him how to safely reinsert a lost tooth. Curious, Arielle asked where Ash was now, since Lantix travelled alone to Courtmere. Lantix relayed that Ash had been a bit dodgy about leaving the swamp and did not want to come to Courtmere.

Spark cast Dancing Lights into the sky to act as a flare hoping Lantix and Arielle could see it. Axle tried in vain to stop Spark; Mayra and Kali heard Axle protesting and Kali managed to snuff out the Dancing Lights. Kali turned to Spark and asked, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“What the fuck are you doing?” an echo said. Mayra noticed there was something wrong with the echo in the wind. It was raspy and screeching, but also sounded incredibly close.

“Trying to send a signal to Lantix and Arielle,” Spark responded, not understanding what misstep he just took.

“Hello? Who’s out there?” Axle called out.

Meanwhile, Lantix and Arielle did see Spark’s Dancing Lights before they were extinguished. Arielle told Lantix to get on her back and she activated her wings. They took off and flew above the corn field towards the flare they saw. As they flew over an endless stretch of corn field, Lantix saw hundreds of scarecrows dotting the field. Somehow, Arielle’s wings lasted long enough for her to safely descend into the clearing where the rest of their party had washed up. Axle first noticed shadowy figures with glowing eyes flying towards them, which spooked him, but as they got closer, he realized it was Arielle and Lantix, and he relaxed.

Arielle said she had seen the Dancing Lights and followed them. Axle glared accusingly at Spark when he heard this, as he was wondering what else is headed this way. Lantix reported the corn stretched for miles and there were hundreds of scarecrows in the corn field. Axle asked, “Are these harmless scarecrows or scary scarecrows?”

Mayra suddenly heard a voice she recognized on the breeze from the northwest. “Mayra, help me!”

Mayra perked her head up as if she was trying to see over the corn stalks, “Did anyone else hear that?” The others had not heard it but asked what she had heard. “It sounded like my dad, but it couldn’t have been him.”

“Why not?” Arielle asked.

“Because he’s dead,” Mayra said trying to hide a bit of sadness in her voice.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Axle comforted her.

“Thanks, it was a long time ago,” Mayra assured him.

Suddenly, from the East, Axle heard his mother’s voice say, “Axle, I’m always here, my little hero.” This startled Axle, and he called out for his mom.

From the south, Arielle heard a distorted version of her friend, Selene’s, voice call out, “Arielle! It’s ALL your fault! It’s ALL your fault!” The distortion in the voice was enough to convince her that was not really Selene, but nonetheless, she was shaken by the words.

“You’re not here right now, you can’t be,” she murmured to herself under her breath.

Spark cast Mage Hand to pull at an ear of corn gently without disturbing whatever was inside. He peeled back the husk and saw what looked like pieces of corn embedded in bloody flesh. As he showed everyone the corn, Lantix and Arielle immediately looked horrified. “Set the corn down. The kernels were capable of turning into tooth fairies,” Arielle relayed.

“Huh? They didn’t attack us when they sprang out earlier,” Mayra relayed.

“They pulled out one of my fangs!” Lantix exclaimed as he showed Mayra the tooth he had reinserted in his mouth earlier.

Kali, Lantix, and Arielle had a hunch the only way to escape was to navigate the cornfield. The did not know what was at the end, only that it was the only way to proceed. Axle placed the ear of corn Spark had plucked into his Bag of Holding.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a 9’ tall scarecrow with a burlap sack over its head appeared. It had a bird cage for ribs, a metal arm ending in three claws, and a more normal arm holding a scythe. It opened the cage as if it was opening its chest and hit Spark with a cloud of necrotic gas as it said, “Hello!” in the raspy voice many had recognized earlier. They all began to run the opposite direction with Mayra leading the charge, but Spark was paralyzed, so as Axle ran by, he picked up Spark and just carried him under his arm. Off in the distance ahead of them a voice yelled, “I’ll help you! Follow my voice!” Mayra did not trust the voice and managed to redirect her companions another direction.

They were successful at moving through the corn stalks without disturbing the tooth fairies until Arielle had a clumsy moment and disrupted a few that began to swarm as they heard popping. The tooth fairies began chasing them while Arielle swung her sword wildly. She felt them biting her arm, but she managed to fight off the sleepiness that was setting in. Kali cast Arcane Abjuration again and successfully dispersed a swarm. Mayra stopped running and hid in the corn. She popped one of the candies from her pocket and ate it to imbue herself with some extra hit points. She heard, “Are you afraid?” coming from over her shoulder in a raspy voice.

Axle raged and a bolt of light burst out from his chest blinding the swarm nearest him. He also swung at them with his great axe knocking a few of them to the ground. Lantix also hid in the corn, “Egads!” echoed around him.

A swarm started to attack Spark, but when they noticed he didn’t have any teeth, they turned their attention to Kali, but failed to make purchase. Another swarm bit at Axle who was able to fight off sleep, but they almost caused him to drop Spark. Kali was able to combust one swarm in flame.

Mayra moved from her hiding spot and launched a dagger at a swarm near Axle to aid him. The swarm fell to the ground lifeless. Lantix also emerged from his hiding spot and attacked another swarm near Axle with his bow dropping them at Axle’s feet. Arielle killed the last swarm with her sword.

Lantix suggested they walk carefully through the field, so they didn’t disturb anymore tooth fairies. As he was retrieving some of the dead tooth fairies, they heard a voice, “Keep running!” Mayra was getting fed up with this smoke and mirror show, she began mocking the voice, repeating it like a game of shadow, but in a childish, mocking tone of voice.

Out of the cornfield burst a scarecrow. Several deformed crows appeared as well as it croaked, “Run!”

The adventurers continued running, and the cawing gradually faded. Axle heard the voice of a dead friend calling from the east, “Axle, help me!” In his heart, he knew he should not follow the voice, but a part of his brain felt guilty and compelled him to follow the voice. He steered everyone toward the east without telling them why.

They arrived at a small clearing where they saw a terrible looking scarecrow effigy holding a lantern. Axle had an ominous feeling that he’d set everyone back by coming here, and the scarecrow crumbled to pieces before him. Feeling a panic attack coming, Axle began apologizing profusely to everyone for leading them in the wrong direction. He admitted that a familiar voice had led him here; Arielle suggested not being led astray by voices from now on. Lantix took the lantern and handed it to Axle. Axle cast Magic Awareness on the lantern but was not alerted to anything other than it was magical. Axle placed it in his Bag of Holding.

As they moved through the clearing and back through more cornstalks, Arielle and Kali suddenly noticed a pallid green tinted clawed hand extending out of Axle’s bag reaching toward Lantix. Yelling a warning at Axle, Arielle quickly ran in front of Axle to protect Lantix from the hand. To her surprise, when she looked up, the green hand was nowhere to be seen. She asked if anyone else saw the hand. Kali chimed in that he had also seen it. Mayra suggested they were suffering from a shared hallucination.

They eventually made their way to the edge of the cornfield at the foot of the wizard’s tower. Knowing the scarecrow had followed them, when it appeared, Lantix raised his bow to shoot it. Mayra saw this all happen, and quickly drew a dagger and launched it at Lantix’s bow, cutting the string. She was too late, the arrow had already taken off. It landed with a thud as it hit something off to the side of the scarecrow. The wicked metal arm of the scarecrow suddenly shot out towards Lantix, “I’m trying to help you! Where are you? I can’t see you. I can’t see you!”

Axle yanked Lantix out of reach and shook him asking, “WHY?!?”

Lantix looked at Mayra with his broken bow, and she unapologetically said, “Sorry, not sorry.”

The adventurers turned their attention to the wizard’s tower. Spark knocked on the door, which swung open. There was no one behind the door. Mayra decided to check for traps before entering, but none appeared to be there. Kali voice his opinion that going in the tower was a bad idea, but from behind them they heard the raspy voice screech, “A bad idea?”

On that note, Axle led the way into the tower where they found a hunched over old man wearing red wizard’s robes and a red hat to match. He looked at the adventurers, laughed maniacally, and exploded in a fireball. They all found this odd, but were too tired to care, so they set up to rest for the night, and they would sort it out later.

[courtmere]

Jaull Fish - 1; Adventurers - 0 (Session 5)

Arielle asked Axle to hold her to keep her from falling overboard as she leaned over the ship to get a look at what just crashed into the ship. She saw 30 feet of tail slithering out of view. She saw ripples in the water indicating that the creature was pulling away from the boat and turning around. She quickly ran to warn Chuckles of what she saw and asked, “Do you know what the creature could be?”

Chuckles was unnerved by her description and yelled, “All ahead full!” He instructed the crew to sail away from the ghost ship. Storm clouds began to form overhead, and the wind began to pick up. Axle noticed that the temperature immediately surrounding them was several degrees lower than average. Possibly because of the ghosts.

There was another sudden impact to the Antelope. Lantix and Spark were knocked off their feet. Mayra was near the edge. Seeing the creature underwater, she recognized it as a jaull fish. This fish was prevalent in her home and was typically harvested for parts. It could grow up to 300 feet long. She took a shot with her crossbow but missed. Axle was sent into a rage and had the cannons fire against the jaull fish. The storm clouds that had gathered let out an explosive lightning strike hitting the ship and starting fires in two locations on the ship. Spark quickly extinguished the fires. The jaull fish had turned around and struck the hull again, this time knocking five crew members overboard. The jaull fish then swung its head towards the overboard sailors and devoured them like a whale devours krill. Kali imbued the cannons on the ship with Magic Weapon. Lantix marked the jaull fish with Hunter’s Mark and shot his bow, landing an arrow in one of its four eyes. Arielle cast Bless on Axle, Kali, and herself. Chuckles yelled to Axle, “Watch the ship!” then he leaped overboard and jumped on the back of the jaull fish, using his great sword to try and by the rest of them some time.

Mayra landed an impressive sneak attack on the jaull fish with her crossbow causing the jaull fish to bellow in pain. As Axle raged, he felt a tingling in his arm, and a flumph appeared. “Take the helm Kali!” Axle yelled as he ran off to engage with the jaull fish. Lightning stuck the ship again and boards of the deck and hull began to splinter. Five more crew members fell overboard to their deaths. Spark attempted to cast Tasha’s Mind Whip, but the jaull fish was unaffected. None of the cannons made contact with the beast. They just landed with splashes around it. Arielle’s eyes flared with a blue-white light and a pair of luminous wings sprouted from her back. She flew over the jaull fish and stabbed it in the back with her longsword. The jaull fish writhed in pain throwing Chuckles from its back. Arielle managed to grab onto him at the last second.

Mayra took a running start off the deck (with maximum effort and unsure how she’d pull this off) and swan dived towards the jaull fish. During a graceful flip through the air, she unsheathed her dagger from her boot, landed squarely on the beast’s head, and sank her dagger into its eye blinding it on one side. The ship cannons fired again, landing a solid blow on the beast. Spark attempted to cast Tasha’s Mind Whip again, but without warning, the ship snapped in half. Kali’s Guiding Bolt missed in the chaos of the ship breaking apart and beginning to sink. Chuckles asked Arielle to drop him back onto the jaull fish. Lantix channeled some primal magic, his teeth and claws sharpened like knives. Unsure of his chances of survival, but desperate to help his friends, Lantix took an impressive leap off the ship towards the jaull fish and landed on its back. He delivered a fierce, acidic bite to the jaull fish, some of its flesh just dissolved and burned away.

The jaull fish collided with the Antelope one last time and the remaining crew members were thrown into the ocean and devoured. With the ship floating in pieces on the ocean surface, the jaull fish had accomplished its task and it turned and began swimming the other direction. Mayra tugged hard on her dagger that was lodged in the jaull fish’s eye removing the dagger and the eye from its head before leaping to a nearby piece of the ship. Lantix with his long, sharp claws separated one of the scales from the fish as he leapt off its back to the relative safety of some floating wood. Chuckles remained on the beast and continued to furiously stab at it when it dove underwater. Lantix let out a plea to Chuckles to jump off the creature’s back, but Chuckles did not hear him. The group didn’t see the jaull fish or Chuckles resurface.

Arielle, who was still flying, felt her wings fading away, she endured a lightning strike, but managed to glide to Lantix who had been knocked unconscious by Antelope bits that had become airborne in the thrashing waves. Spark managed to fight the violent waters and reached a bit of floating ship with Kali on it, and Axle made his way to Mayra’s makeshift raft.

Each of the individual floats were cast apart in the tides and the adventurers were separated from each other. For the next week the adventurers held on to their planks to stay alive and hopefully float towards a shore. On the dawn of the seventh day lost at sea, Axle and Mayra washed up on a white sand shore with idyllic palm trees. Axle immediately started to fashion a shelter while Mayra collected driftwood for a fire and crabs for a meal. Spark and Kali floated to shore, they could see Axle and Mayra from a distance. Relieved they were not too far from the others. Spark sensed they were being watched, so Axle cast Magic Awareness, but found nothing of interest. Spark cast Alarm on the hut Axle had fashioned from driftwood and palm leaves and allowed the others to get some sleep as they were exhausted from floating so long.

Arielle and Lantix found themselves on a different kind of beach. It was rocky and more like a cliffside than a beautiful sandy beach. They found some dark stone stairs that ascended towards some ruins that they used to get out of the water. Lantix felt as if they were being watched and noticed the top of a wizard’s tower in the distance above the trees. While Lantix stared at the tower, Arielle saw a disembodied eyeball about the size of a volleyball surrounded by green fire floating nearby. As soon as the eye noticed her notice it, it flew off. Lantix cast Primeval Awareness and was able to detect many undead, one fey, and one fiend within the radius. Arielle suggested they find a place to rest. Lantix collected some edible plants and crab to eat before they rested. Arielle wondered aloud where the others were. Lantix was busy casting Alarm to create a safe area for their rest.

Even though they were exhausted, they did not fall into a dreamless sleep. Their dreams were tumultuous. Kali fell into an uneasy sleep. His dream began with him standing alone in a field of old and battered swords, axes, and spears while the sun shone high above him. As he looked around for a weapon in this obvious battlefield, he saw a colossal armored figure walking toward him over the horizon. Kali started backing up, but he felt as though his feet were stuck in mud. He woke in a cold sweat.

Axle found himself in a flowering meadow as far as his eyes could see. He felt a warm breeze caressing his face and he began walking towards the horizon. The grass began to turn brown and the flowers developed faces. “Your hands are stained, your hands are stained, your hands are stained” Axle looked at his hands and saw they were bleeding the pattern of the bark he touched. The meadow began to die and blood began weeping out of the ground. Axle woke up with tears running down his face.

Arielle, who had begun praying to Bahamut every night while they were on the ship, found herself in an empty cathedral with bright light pouring in from all the stained glass windows. There were scenes of Bahamut fighting Tiamat and forging an army of metallic dragons. The cathedral was empty except for a lone humanoid figure standing at the pulpit. Arielle walked towards the figure but could not reach the pulpit. The last thing Arielle recalled before she woke up was that this figure had silver eyes.

Mayra dreamed of teeth and nothing else.

Lantix dreamed again of the dark foreboding grove with the tree in the center. In front of the tree, he saw two carved chairs. Sitting in one was the figure who had swung at him with a battle axe. He motioned for Lantix to join him. Lantix obliged. “Wise,” the figure said, “I’m sure you must have questions.”

“Why do you keep bringing me here?”

The figure snorted, “So Ash didn’t mention me or the stolen thrones from the Unseelie Court?”

Lantix had no idea what he was talking about. The figure informed Lantix that power stolen from the fey was often frowned upon. Lantix still confused asked, “What does this have to do with me?”

“Oh sweet summer child…” The figure sighed, ready to continue, but Lantix awoke, with more questions than answers.

Spark found himself in his maintenance cycle. He realized he was not dreaming, but he was projecting his consciousness to another plane of existence. He was in a clockwork city where gears, order, and symmetry ruled supreme. He was in a workshop of sorts and saw a figure in front of him with mostly gray hair except for two streaks of black running through it, and round glasses. He was about 5’8”, well dressed with a tailcoat, nice shirt, blue pants, high cut boots. He turned and said, “Well, this is an interesting development.” Then slammed a tome shut.

[courtmere]

Ghost Ships and Plane Hopping (Session 4)

The group started their day by checking the job board. The requests to fight bandits in Brunchaven and kill merlocks in Everlight were gone, however, there were two new jobs listed:

1. Undead unrest in Brunchaven

2. Ghost ship in Everlight

Spark and Lantix noticed that Axle seemed to be taking a long time reading the postings. Spark offered Axle some help and cast Comprehend Language to read a notice written in Khazalid. The notice was written by a Dwarven clan asking for help stealing an airship. Axle recalled from his scholarly brother that the relationship between the 7 Dwarven clans was tenuous at best. They were similar to 7 pirate cities who engaged in underhanded dealings among each other, stealing a ship from a Dwarven clan would be followed by serious consequences. Axle advised not taking that job.

Mayra and Axle expressed interest in going to Everlight to investigate the ghost ship; Mayra also wanted to go inquire about the listing from the Mages’ College requesting test subjects. The adventurers decided as a group to visit the college on their way out of town. Mayra pulled both flyers off the job board and put them in her pocket.

When they arrived at the Mages’ College, they were directed to the office of Master Ibrus, the Master of Conjuration. Master Ibrus was a gaunt 6’6” High Elf with long black hair, currently pulled back in a ponytail. When they arrived, they expressed their concerns with the notice having so little information. Master Ibrus cleared that up by offering a rundown of what he needed help with, “You will go through a portal I created to retrieve a single, white marble chess pawn.”

“Where does the portal lead?” Mayra asked. She had never been plane hopping before. At least not that she could remember.

Answering her question with a question, Master Ibrus asked, “What do you know about interplanar travel?”

“Only a little; I just read a bit about Mechanus, but that’s about it.”

“It leads to the nexus of a plane known as Throne, and I will pay you each 500gp to help. A freshman previously volunteered in exchange for his tuition being paid, but he lost his mind,” Master Ibrus shared with the group.

“Little good that did him,” Arielle scoffed.

“Oh, the student is fine now. We erased his memory of Throne,” Master Ibrus rebutted. He gave Mayra a smooth metal disc. “This will direct you to the chess piece.”

“How?” Mayra questioned.

“It will heat up as you get closer to the item,” Master Ibrus explained. The adventurers headed through the portal. As Axle went through, he questioned how they were to get back, but he did not receive an answer.

They found themselves in a blindingly sunny marketplace. The air was hot and dry. there were rows and rows of stalls, and the aisles were full of patrons. Axle looked behind them and saw the door they stepped out of, it was quite literally a door, big and wooden. It slammed shut and flew off joining a trail of other doors. Axle attempted to keep an eye on it, but it quickly got lost among the others.

Mayra kept the disc in her hand, but it was currently just the ambient temperature of the market. They all began walking through the bazaar taking in the site. Along with the rows and rows of stalls, there were multiple levels to accommodate all the vendors that wanted to sell their wares at this planar nexus.

Mayra and a few others noticed that patrons and stall owners were starting, shocked at Spark. Mayra noticed whispers but couldn’t make any out. She walked up to the first being near her and asked, “Why are people staring?” She had walked up to a giant red devil with ram horns and a sly grin above a long, black goatee.

He got down on one knee, so he and Mayra were eye to eye. He made some snarky remark about her ignorance of the “Great Conflict.” “How much is the information worth to you?” He asked Mayra.

“What do you mean? What do you want?” Mayra was curious of his offer.

“How about a piece of your soul?”

Immediately without thinking, Mayra responded with, “It’s not worth that much to me.”

“Your loss.” The devil walked off and snickered.

They continued walking somewhat aimlessly until the disc changed. They passed an alleyway; Lantix glanced down. Expecting to see more dust and hot air. Instead he felt a cool breeze and saw trees and vines like those from his dream a few nights ago. He grabbed Axle’s hand and asked if he too saw the out of place vegetation. Axle confirmed he did as he reached out to touch a tree. The bark was sharp like a razor, and it left a cut on his hand. Lantix got the distinct feeling he was only delaying the inevitable but decided to move on with the rest of his companions.

The disc began growing warmer in Mayra’s hand, and she felt it almost pulling her towards the back of the market. As they continued forward, an armor stand caught Arielle’s eye. Specifically, a slightly battered shield emblazoned with an emblem of Bahamut, the platinum dragon. She walked up to the stall and felt a strange sense of familiarity like she had owned it before. The proprietor, a tall human with silver eyes, well-trimmed goatee, and salt and pepper hair pulled back in a low ponytail, recognized Arielle, “Arielle Havenstream?”

Stunned, Arielle asked, “How do you know my name?”

He quickly noticed her confusion and apologized, “Sorry, I mistook you for the other Arielle.”

Arielle’s confusion only grew with his statement, “What do you mean other Arielle?”

“About 5 years ago, a woman who looked exactly like you, except a little older and battle worn, brought her shield to me for safekeeping. She told me in the event another Arielle showed up, I should give that Arielle the shield along with a message, ‘Be well in the wings of the platinum dragon.’”

Arielle took the shield in her hands and wondered aloud if Bahamut was the voice she heard in her dream. She tried to pay the stall owner for the shield, but he assured her that was not necessary as he was just storing it for her. She traded her plain shield to him for the Bahamut shield. She thanked him and headed back to the others. As she did, they looked at the stall and saw a pair of shadowy wings and a halo on the proprietor.

They continued their journey deeper into the bazaar, and the disc continued growing warmer and warmer. Mayra also felt as if the disc was pulling her into a building with large Grecian columns on the front façade. When she entered the establishment, she saw a Dionysus looking man arguing with a three-armed demon with lion feet, and a small group of illithids drinking a smoking purple cocktail. They also saw a humanoid body, but instead of a head, it had a swirling vortex. Spark had an inkling that the beings in this bar were dangerous, but he didn’t share the thought.

Mayra heard a devil and a demon arguing in a language she didn’t understand. Lantix, however, could understand them arguing about something called the Blood War. Her attention was pulled back to the disc in her hand as its warmth continued to grow, and it pulled her towards a booth in the back shrouded in shadow. She didn’t see anyone there, so she began to sit down when Lantix stopped her and said, “There’s someone there.”

“Hello?” Mayra tentatively called out.

A single eye opened in the darkness, “Are you the buyer?”

Mayra was not really sure what was going on or how to respond, but she managed to confidently say, “Yes.”

Out of the darkness, the being at the table produced a white marble pawn and placed it on the table. Suddenly a disembodied voice said, “No, no, sh-she is not…” Out of seemingly nowhere a big, sky blue door came careening into the tavern and opened revealing Master Ibrus. “I am the buyer.”

Lantix asked accusatorily, “What are you doing here? Were we just cannon fodder?”

“Ah, yes. I needed someone else to be the muscle.” With this explanation, Arielle felt used. Master Ibrus sat at the table to continue the transaction with the stranger. They began speaking in Primordial. Master Ibrus reached up his sleeve and pulled a longsword whose blade was made of pure darkness out. The stranger took the sword and looked it over, finally accepting it as payment for the chess piece.

Master Ibrus pocketed the marble pawn and transported everyone back to his office in Courtmere. Curious about how much time had passed, Mayra asked how long it had been since they left. Master Ibrus checked is watch and relayed that it had been a day and a minute.

“I’m certainly happy no one got hurt,” Master Ibrus expressed. Axle responded by showing off his injured hand. Master Ibrus took a closer look as Axle explained a tree did it. “That is not native to Throne. That is some Feywild bullshit.” Master Ibrus explained, “You touched something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Can I have your hand?”

Axle was startled by the prospect of only having one hand. Arielle objected to Axle getting his hand cut off as well. Master Ibrus quelled this fear by explaining he could regrow Axle’s hand. It would only take a couple of minutes.

Axle gave the go ahead to take the hand. Master Ibrus conjured a magic sword, casted a spell to swing the sword chopping off Axle’s hand and causing blood to spray everywhere, then he casted Regenerate. Axle’s hand did return within a few minutes. Master Ibrus paid each of them the 500gp he promised. As they were saying their goodbyes, he relayed there is a small island north of Courtmere they could clear and use as a home base if they so chose.

They loaded up Axle’s wagon and headed out for Everlight. It took two days to travel across the country, but it was an uneventful trip. When they arrived in town, the first thing they saw was one pirate stabbing another. Spark asked, “Is this how people normally greet each other?”

“No,” Axle answered.

Mayra led the way to the Sea Witch’s Brew where she, Axle, and Lantix had stayed prior to heading to Courtmere. She spoke with Allister Axley who wore a red bandana, white pirate shirt, and had two peg legs. “We are looking for a member of the Admirality, can you point us in the right direction?” Allister pointed them towards a large galleon that had been pulled ashore and stacked with other ships to form the headquarters.

When they arrived at the galleon, they were greeted by a parrot, “Greetings and thank you for visiting the Admirality. How can I be of assistance today?”

Mayra took the lead, pulling out the note from the Courtmere job board, “We are here about the ghost ship.”

A crusty looking Halfling pirate with a blunderbuss as big as himself strapped to his back and two cutlasses at his sides appeared. “Oh, so you’re here about the ghost ship!” He addressed the group, “I am Captain Two-Bit, a member of the Admirality. The ghost ship started showing up recently and ships and crews have gone missing and not returned to port. I’ll secure passage on a ship with my first mate to take care of it. I can’t shoot ghosts. I tried; it didn’t work.”

“Has anyone else gone out to find the ghost ship before?” Spark inquired.

“No, this is the first time we’ve tried to hire people,” Two-Bit answered.

Kali had heard salt would keep you safe from ghosts, but Two-Bit rolled his eyes and informed Kali that was an old wives’ tale.

The adventurers could board the Antelope, commanded by his first mate, Chuckles. That ship would take them along the route corresponding with the disappearances.

Mayra could feel a presence watching her again, but she brushed off the feeling as they moved on to the docks. On the way, Arielle spotted a gaunt looking pirate with long straight hair, wearing seafoam green robes, and dripping wet. Arielle asked if he had seen a Half-Elf woman with white hair walking around Everlight. “No, I haven’t seen any such mortal creatures,” the man responded.

“Do you know how to defeat ghosts?” Arielle asked the stranger.

“Yes, you should use your divine spark to turn the undead.” As he spoke, he seemed to be shrining, sinking into a growing puddle at his feet. This unnerved Arielle, so she quickly tanked him and rejoined the party. The man returned to his original size, the water puddle disappearing, and he walked off.

While searching the docks for the Antelope, Mayra saw a 7’ tall blue Dragonborn with a tattoo of a kraken consuming a ship on his chest and another that said, “Beware the laughing god” on his arm. She assumed this was Chuckles, and she was right.

Chuckles had spotted the adventurers and said, “Ah! Yes, the Captain said I should wait for you.”

Everyone was nearly ready, and they did not have to wait long before they pushed off.

Once on the ship a spirit latched onto Lantix and Axle. They spent their time on the ship trying to help or stay out of the crew’s way. Mayra wrote and doodled in her journal. After three days on the water, they finally found it! The ghost ship had appeared. It was a glowing, sickly green illuminated ship off in the distance. As they pulled closer, Spark waved, but no one on the ghost ship acknowledged his action. It appeared as if the inhabitants were performing their actions in a loop. Never deviating. Maybe stuck doing the same thing for eternity. Suddenly there was a big collision against the ship’s hull. It rocked the Antelope, and some of the crew were knocked off their feet. Some looked over the side, but it was early evening and the water was too dark to see what it was. Then another crash!

[courtmere]

Down in the Sewers; Up in the Lorespire (Session 3)

Each adventurer had vivid dreams while they slept, some good, some bad. Axle had a very eventful day with his PTSD episode at the Mage College because of the explosions. When he returned to the inn, he performed some breathing exercises and successfully expelled any lingering anxiety which allowed him to get a restful night’s sleep.

Lantix fell into a restless sleep. When his dream began, he found himself in Sorrowsworn Swamp where he and Ash used to train. He was filled with dread that turned to pain and anguish. Before him was a trail into some trees. Lantix decided to follow the path. As he did, the trees grew larger and larger and the smell of leaves and soil grew stronger and stronger. To his right he heard a large, heavy footstep. Lantix looked that direction to see a giant elk with glowing green eyes and antlers. It was also covered in vibrant green moss. The elk was proportional to with the forest they were standing in. Lantix continued along the path until it dead ended. He saw a large tree with a single beam of sunlight cast upon it. As Lantix approached the tree its bark began to shift to reveal a door. From behind him something like a hand landed on his right shoulder, but it felt like a tree branch. Lantix was startled and jumped to the left spinning around to look at what had landed on him. Before him was an imp that had very tree like features; it reached for its great axe with both hands and swung at Lantix. He woke right before the axe came down on him.

Though Spark does not sleep, it must perform maintenance and during this maintenance period, three memories resurfaced:

In the first memory, Spark saw itself sitting on a workshop bench with an old gnomish wizard tinkering with Spark. As Spark’s blue eyes light up for the first time, the tinkerer is excited with the success and said, “Ah! Yes, good.” Most of the rest of the audio sounded garbled like someone speaking under water. The tinkerer said, “Your name is…” but the audio garbles but then continues, “My name is Mas Hiri.”

His second memory began in a flash. Spark found itself falling and extremely hot. As Spark fell, it crashed into something solid but breached the barrier. As it continued to fall it sees a mist surrounding it and a dark hooded figure. Spark hit another barrier and crashed through falling through the clouds and sky, then the treetops, then crashed to hit solid ground.

Spark’s final memory opened to it standing in a room full of other creatures that look almost exactly like him, and then his maintenance cycle ended abruptly.

Arielle found herself standing at the edge of the Drachenwald watching as her best friend walked away from her into the dense forest. Arielle called out to her, but the friend didn’t stop or turn around. Arielle heard a disembodied voice say, “The path of vengeance is not your’s to take.” Arielle asked, “Who is there?” But she received no answer. The only movement and noise she heard, or saw was a small flock of birds take off and fly away above the tree line before she woke.

Mayra drifted to sleep and found herself in a hallway lined with mirrors every few feet. She began down the hallway and each mirror held one of her own memories. She walked past one depicting the night her parents died. Another showed the night she was initiated into The Bleeding Eye. Looking for something to provide comfort she didn’t have in her daily life, she stopped at a mirror with a memory of a festival in Duskwall with her parents. It was a perfect family day, playing games, eating too much, getting to ride on her father’s shoulders. No complications from the secrets that would eventually shape the rest of her life. She reluctantly woke from her dream and got out of bed. She headed downstairs with the others to get breakfast and start the day. She requested some bacon from Braden. He seemed a little put out by the request but took a drink from his mug and got some pork belly on the stove. Axle attempted to read the mug but just saw seemingly random glyphs, shrugged, and moved on. Mayra looked as well and saw, “Don’t even talk to me until my death’s avenged.” Obviously, Braden was not a morning person.

The group discussed their plan for the day as they ate their breakfasts. Axle asked, “Are we going back?”

“I thought that was the plan.” Mayra responded.

“I’d like to get some health potions first and maybe a bag of holding.”

There was some discussion about whether the missing kids were the dolls, but Harry, who was with Lantix, explained the dolls were not the kids. They asked Harry the name of the child from his not, and he informed them her name is Sarah.

After finishing breakfast, Axle and Mayra headed to find some healing potions and that bag of holding. Though Axle did come from a rich family, he was a bit strapped for gold. Mayra pick-pocketed a couple of people along the way picking up 5 gold and 3 copper. As they were walking along the street a cloaked figure approached them. They could only see an unnaturally large smile under the hood. He inquired what they were in search for today. Both Axle and Mayra though this was totally normal and began doing business with him. Axle relayed they were looking for health potions and a bag of holding.

“I can sell you potions and a bag,” the stranger said. Axle requested to see the bag, and the stranger obliged. Axle grabbed a rock off the street and put it in the bag. He grabbed a hold of Mayra’s arm to steady himself as he reached the other into the back, focusing on the rock, and retrieved it. The potions looked like health potions, so Axle purchased 2 and the bag. They thanked the stranger and headed back to the inn to meet back up with everyone else.

The group headed toward the sewer entrance Mayra located yesterday. They wound their way to the open chamber Lantix had escaped. On the ground in the center of the room was a lifeless doll laying on the floor. There were two more standing in the far corner. Axle made a move to approach the one laying in the center, but Lantix stopped him. Instead Axle pulled the rock back out of his bag and tossed it at the doll. The rock missed landing wide. Spark noticed the needles held by each of the dolls and cast Dancing Lights to illuminate the space a little more. The group seemed unsure of what to do next, so Mayra took out her crossbow and aimed for the doll in the center of the chamber. The bolt flew past and hit the grate just to the right of the doll and bounced across the room. Suddenly, the doll came to life, lifted its head; it looked through everyone until its gaze fell on Lantix and said, “I like you.” Then it sat up, then stood up.

Axle was the first to make a move. He closed the distance between himself and the doll. He moved carefully to avoid slipping on the sewage all over the floor. He landed an attack with his battle axe. Lantix took a panicked shot with his longbow and fueled by that panic at seeing the doll that stabbed him yesterday come to life, he landed a critical blow with his arrow. Spark moved to the left corner of the room carefully and casted Firebolt hitting the doll in the middle of the chamber. The doll struck Axle with its needle. Mayra, ready to join this fight, shot her crossbow and landed a killing blow. The doll’s head exploded as it fell lifeless to the ground. The other two dolls came to life. One moved from the its corner to the center next to Axle and stabbed him. The other moved along the length of the room next to Arielle and took a stab and connected. Kali casted Healing Word on Axle and then yelled, “Praise the sun,” as he casted Word of Radiance. Arielle attempted to knock her doll off its feet with her shield but was unsuccessful, the doll just bounced off the shield with a giggle. Arielle, with her other hand, swung her longsword at it but missed. Still giggling, the doll quipped, “Ha ha, you’re new at this.”

Axle began to rage and tried to attack the doll nearest him. The doll moved out of the way and said, “You’re next!”

“I will stomp you, tiny child,” Axle retorts.

“I’m not a child.”

Lantix took aim but his arrow went wide. Spark casted firebolt on the doll near Axle, but his firebolt flew by singing the stone of the wall at the back of the chamber. Mayra made a sneak attack with her crossbow while the doll was focused on Axle and landed a good blow. The doll near Axle stabbed him and successfully cursed him. He felt himself become lethargic and got a sense he would not be as effective when attacking. Arielle was stabbed by the third doll and suffered the same effects as Axle. Kali cast Healing Word on Arielle. Arielle disengaged from the doll that just stabbed her and moved to the doll near Axle. She tried to knock that one down with her shield but failed. Axle used his battle axe to take a slice out of the doll in the middle of the chamber, and then drank a health potion. Lantix and Spark both landed good shots on the doll in the middle with a longbow and Firebolt, respectively. The second doll tried to pull Axle’s soul from his body, but Axle performed his breathing exercises and re-centered himself. The doll who was facing Arielle, turned its head 180 degrees to look at Axle and said, “How dare you!?” It was angry it couldn’t capture Axle’s soul. The other doll closed the distance between it and Lantix and stabbed him. Mayra shot another crossbow at the one in the middle of the room and then moved across the room away from the one standing right next to Lantix. The bolt landed square in its body. It shrieked, and its head exploded with green goo before it became lifeless. Arielle stabbed the remaining doll from behind with her longsword and finally connected.

Axle missed his swing on it with his battle axe. Lantix, who was standing right next to the doll, grappled it. Mayra yelled out, “I hope it doesn’t stab you!” Spark casted Firebolt again which connected solidly with the doll. Mayra tried to shoot the final doll, but was so worried about hitting Lantix, her bolt went wide and flew passed them. Kali casted Word of Radiance and there was a brief burst of radiant energy. Arielle tried again to attack with her longsword but was having zero luck hitting anything today.

Axle came down hard with his battle axe, but it was Lantix who dealt the killing blow. With the doll firmly in his grasp he said, “I like you,” mimicking the dolls and bit its head off. The doll exploded with sickly green crap as he dropped it to the ground.

The lethargy Axle and Arielle felt suddenly lifted as the curse broke when the dolls died. Axle began looking around and putting the dolls in his bag. From the tunnel on their left, in walked a hunched old man with a white beard. He was wearing what looked like half a set of welding goggles with a bunch of lenses. He also wore an apron with tools in it. Behind him were two children, a little girl and boy. The clothes they wore were not clean, but they looked to be in better shape for what you would expect to be worn by a couple of orphaned children living in the under city. Their shoes, however, were immaculately clean, appearing brand new. Harry, who was sitting on Lantix’s shoulder, whispered, “Those are my kids.”

Spark greeted the old man who turned and looked at him. He said, “You’re not one of mine.” He was also holding an inanimate doll that was missing its head.

Spark asked, “What is your name?”

The old man responded that he did not remember his name as it has been such a long time since anyone used it, but they could call him The Toymaker. Recognizing the doll in his hand, Axle retrieved a doll body from his bag and asked, “Are these your toys?”

“Ah, yes. They were, but they formed a mind of their own and ignored the holy work,” the Toymaker replied.

“Holy work?” Axle asked in confusion.

In a voice that was not his own, the Toymaker said, “Courtmere must be brought to order. The world must be brought to order.”

The kids appeared to not be in danger. They were not in distress, and they had been fed recently. Spark could feel there was something off about this old man but couldn’t put its finger on it because it wasn’t sure if all old people seemed off like this of if it was just him.

Arielle asked what he meant by “Courtmere needs to be brought to order?”

“I have no rec…,” the Toymaker started but was interrupted by the voice that was not his, “Things are not structured as they should be. Things must be structured. All must be structured.” Then the Toymaker continued in his own voice, “…ollection of saying that.”

Arielle cast Divine Sense and as she began, it was almost like she was staring into the sun. There was a celestial presence coming from the Toymaker, and it was very overwhelming. Arielle immediately took a step back and asked, “What are you doing with the children?”

“They were near my workshop and looked hungry. They reminded me of my children so long ago.” Mayra could feel the sorrow in his voice when he mentioned his own children.

Axle turned his attention towards the children and with his big brother energy asked, “Are you Kevin and Sarah?”

“Yes,” Kevin responded.

“Are you well? Your friend sent us to find you.”

“Aw yeah, Harry is great, but we are ok. The Toymaker got us some food and clothes. He helped us when the Mages Guild was trying to run us out of the under city,” Kevin explained.

Still unsatisfied with knowing whether or not the Toymaker was manipulating the kids, Mayra addressed him to get a bit more information. “I’ve lost people who were really important to me. I know how painful it is, but I found it can get better if you talk about it, so if you’d like to, I’d be happy to listen.”

The Toymaker looked at her, his lenses shifting, examining her to see if she was being sincere. He seemed satisfied that she was and responded, “Oh child, I’m so sorry for what happened to your parents. I lost my children so very long ago in an accident of my own design.”

Mayra not wanting to push him for further information about his own tragedy refocused on the present children, “Are you able or ok to care for the children?”

“Oh, the children are free to come and go as they please. If they are looking for food, I can help them out,” The Toymaker explained.

Mayra was semi-satisfied with this answer. The Toymaker was acting strangely, and she did not want to push too far. The Toymaker went to take his leave, but Arielle stopped him to ask what the holy work was. With a gleam in his eye that didn’t sit well with Arielle, he said, “As Primus said, Courtmere must be brought to order, I am his hands; I must get back to my workshop.” He turned and left the chamber the same way he came, and the children followed him.

While the odd voice was coming from the Toymaker, Spark felt a pressure in its head. It felt the urge to follow the Toymaker deeper into the sewer but did not. Axle walked to the center of the chamber and looked down the great but saw nothing. Lantix noticed this and did the same. He also saw nothing but darkness.

Mayra suggested looking for some books with information on Primus at a library or bookstore as Arielle could not recall hearing anything about Primus, and Axle’s history knowledge seemed centered around battle tactics from his kingdom. Arielle, Axle, and Lantix wanted to grab some food while Spark and Mayra headed to the library.

Arielle went and got a meal. Axle and Lantix stopped at the fruit cart in the courtyard. They had each been payed 30 gold pieces for taking care of the Toymaker’s arrant children. Lantix had never had this much gold before and wanted to spend a good chunk on fruit. For 5 gold, the vendor gave him a fruit that tasted of strawberry kiwi and made him feel like he was on a caffeine high. Axle requested the most expensive fruit. The vendor disappeared for a minute and came back rolling a large fruit that looked like a pineapple but was the size of a wine barrel. Axle asked what it did. The vendor replied, “I don’t eat these because they’re very hard to find, and they say a single bite makes you feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven.” Axle declined the nirvana fruit and opted for the same fruit Lantix got. Axle asked if any fruit could give the consumer a magical property like invisibility or flying.

“The Mages Guild strictly prohibits the selling of any magical fruit to anyone. If you have an issue with this take it up with Lord High Inquisitor Gideon Fellweather,” the vendor said, as if it was a canned response.

Spark and Mayra made their way over to the Lorespire. Spark wandered through the stacks looking for the history section. After about an hour, he found some basic information about Courtmere from the last 5 years. The biggest event was the regulation of magic in the city to prevent a cataclysmic event. There were not really any political conflict or wars of note. As a major trade hub, Courtmere managed to remain as neutral as possible. Spark checked out a book titled, “Khazilid Schism.”

This was the largest library Mayra had ever seen and did not want to wander around aimlessly, so she located a librarian. She found a 6’8” bookish elf. He had very long ears and brown hair with streaks of silver pulled back into a ponytail and square framed glasses. She walked up and said, “Hi, I am looking for information on Primus. Can you point me in the right direction please?” The librarian thought for a minute, and he drew a map in the air with his finger. When he was done, he handed her a map with a glowing, golden arrow pointing the way. “Just follow the arrow, and it will get you where you need to be,” he instructed.

“When I’m done with this, do I need to return it to you?” She asked referring to the map.

“No, it will disappear when you’re done with it.”

“Cool. Thank you,” she said as she began following the golden arrow. The map took her deep into the stacks, so deep there was a thick layer of dust on the books and shelves. She made it to where the map lead, standing in front of a very old book titled “The Manual of the Planes.” She blew the dust off the books which backfired stirring a bunch of the dust in her face. Mayra let out a sneeze, pulled the book off the shelf, and sat down to begin flipping to the table of contents.

At about this time, Lantix, Axle, and Arielle entered the Lorespire. Lantix went off looking for Spark and, out of sheer luck, located it rather quickly in the history section. Axle and Arielle found the same librarian and asked him about Primus. Confused, the librarian said, “Huh? People don’t regularly come in here looking for information about Primus. I’m assuming that other girl that just came in asking about the same thing is your friend?” Axle answered in the affirmative, so the librarian drew them the same map he had drawn for Mayra and off they went with haste. They found Mayra at the end of their map, sitting with her back against the stack flipping through a book. Axle grabbed a book off the shelf, sat down next to Mayra on her left, and started flipping through his own book. Mayra looked over and saw the title “Eberon” upside down. She asked Axle, not out of malice but confusion, “Can you read?”

“Of course, I can read, what kind of man can’t read?” Axle responded.

Not wanting to embarrass Axle, Mayra leaned in and whispered, “Try flipping it over.”

“Ahh, yes, of course. That’s better,” Axle said as he continued flipping through the book looking at pictures of flying ships, clockwork items, and tattoos glowing with magic.

Arielle took a seat on the other side of Mayra and read over her shoulder. As Mayra opened the book it was in a language she did not understand, but as she was looking at the page, the letters began to change. It was flipping through different language alphabets until it got to Elvish, the first language the book registered that Mayra could understand. Arielle did not experience this phenomenon as the book’s natural language was Celestial, and Arielle can read Celestial. There was no mention of Primus in the table of contents, so Mayra flipped to the appendix in the back of the book. She located an entry on Mechanus, the lawful outer plane and Primus as the god of that plane. There was not much else written on Primus, but she noticed a handwritten footnote in a language none of them understood. Mayra got up and walked back up to the front. She asked the librarian if he could read it and translate it for her. He mentioned the footnote was written in a very old dialect of Dwarven, but it translated to:

Mechanus has been quarantined by the high lords of throne in accords with the pact of the Great Planar War.

Mayra thanked the librarian for his help and suggested they discuss this further back at the inn. Mayra got some dinner and relaxed before bed.

The next morning, Kayla Seawright, the other missing girl, wandered back into the Mages College. She had been sucked into the doll the Toymaker was holding when the group talked to him. Kayla’s parents rewarded each of the adventurers with 80 gold for the safe return of their daughter.

[courtmere]

Talking Spiders (Session 2)

Mayra asked if they were ok since they looked a bit rough covered in oil. Arielle, ignored her question, turned to a man who appeared to work there and reported the findings from the basement. When she told him that Kali had mended the wall, Braden looked very concerned. He requested they “unfix” it because he did not want to be fined by the Mage���s Guild for fixing some thing they are responsible for. Kali apologized and agreed to undo the mending spell. Braden paid Kali, Spark, and Arielle. He turned his attention to his new patrons and made a comment on Axle’s large stature, likening him to a goliath. At hearing this Axle became very defensive and stated, “I am a human!” The proprietor quietly apologized and moved on from that part of the conversation. Axle requested a suite. Braden asked if they wanted to stay in one room together, slightly confused. Axle clarified he was looking for adjoining rooms or a room with other rooms attached to a common area. Braden explained he did not have those large accommodations. Axle, assuming Mayra was rather young, was worried about her staying by herself. Mayra appreciated that big bro energy, but she didn’t want to get a room until she knew she was staying in Courtmere, and she could take care of herself.

Lantix asked Braden if anyone in town was willing to buy monster parts. They discussed where Lantix was from. He was quite vague with his answers by saying he was from the north. Braden seemed slightly confused, asking, “From the Frontier?”

“Yes,” Lantix replied matter of factly. Braden took him at his word and divulged common monster parts such as basilisks would be of most interest to the Mage’s College or Mage’s Guild, but the college would likely provide a better price. For rarer creatures, the Wyld Hunt at the south dock would be best. 

Kali, Spark, and Arielle came downstairs after getting cleaned up. They all discussed what happened downstairs in the basement. Lantix was curious and wanted to check out the scene. All six of them went down to the cellar. Lantix immediately began examining the  mechanical remains. Black, slippery liquid was splattered everywhere, and Spark kept referring to it as “dark butter.” Everyone was trying to figure out what it was, and Mayra finally chimed in that it was oil. She explained its used to lubricate machine parts.

Lantix felt an overwhelming urge to categorize the mechanical parts he was picking up. He laid them all out on the floor and began sorting. Axle attempted to take one of the pieces, but Axle was not sneaky enough, and Lantix pushed him away which was quite a sight since Lantix was only 3 feet tall. None of the others felt this urge to organize. They instead felt a sudden sense of clarity.

Arielle, finding Lantix’s behavior odd, she cast Divine Sense. Though Lantix was her original concern, it was an undead presence around Mayra that stood out. Arielle told Mayra of the spirit, and Mayra shrugged it off. In Mayra’s home across the Whispering Tides, malicious ghosts were quick to attack their target. More benevolent spirits would hang around watching over their charge. Mayra’s reaction worried Arielle and a seance was suggested. Mayra thought this was unnecessary at this point. She told Arielle as much, but Arielle continued trying to cause worry. Annoyed by this, Mayra again offered to participate in a seance, but there was nothing more she could do about it right now. Mayra noted it seemed like Arielle was accustomed to everyone fawning over her, and it was a problem that Mayra wasn’t because she didn’t “know who Arielle was.” Axle asked Mayra if she had recently lost anyone. She said no, but quickly tried to change the subject as she was not sure how the others would take the story of her upbringing and what she’s been trained to do. Axle agreed that most ghosts are friendly. Feeling like no one was respecting her status as “town hero,” Arielle stomped upstairs to the dining room. 

Kali attempted to re-break the wall he had mended with his mace. He tried to punch a hole in the wall, but clumsily just scratched up the wall. It appeared to be enough to appease the Mage’s Guild, so the rest of them ventured back upstairs.

Axle was very hungry and ate his food in one gulp before grabbing more off Arielle’s plate. They all continued getting to know each other better as they ate. Axle was seemingly very open about having traveled far from home to learn new fighting techniques to help with the war. His kingdom has been at war with goliaths for hundreds of years. Slightly confused, Arielle asked, “But...aren’t you a goliath?”

Axle insisted passionately that he was 100% human! Arielle decided to take him at his word, but Mayra gently questioned, “How tall is your father?” Axle described his father, the king, as slightly shorter but with a glorious beard. Spark decided they wanted a beard; Lantix offered the warforged a rat pelt. Spark held it up to their chin, but the bartender quietly motioned to remove the pelt, indicating a beard wasn’t the best look for them. 

Kali introduced himself further as an orphaned follower of Solayr. His parents died when he was young, and he was raised in a monastery. He traveled to Courtmere to see more of the world.

Arielle regaled the group with her story of having recently graduated from the Silver Hand Academy and picked up jobs around Courtmere like helping rebuild the temple. She left the others know if they were looking for a pay day she could “put in a good word” because she is just so important... After they finished eating, Arielle showed them the job board. Several new jobs had been posted since she last looked with Kali and Spark:

A request to deal with bandits near Brunchhaven

Kill a beholder

A hand scribbled note (child-like handwriting) for help finding their missing sister with more details at the Mage’s College

Spark asked Lantix what a beholder was, but Lantix didn’t know. Mayra heard Spark’s question and was very familiar. She explained a beholder was a floating eye with lots of tentacles with eyes at the end and gnarly teeth. They could technically teach you magic though she was not really sure you’d want them to. They are not particularly friendly, and they didn’t fuck around. The group horrified by her description decided the missing sister was the best option. Mayra grabbed the note off the board and slipped it in her pocket. 

They all left for the college and as they approached the Lorespire, a central tower between the Bard’s College and Mage’s College, there was a sudden, loud explosion followed by a sucking sound and a lot of miniature explosions. Terrified, Axle yelled, “Take cover!” He dropped to the ground. This was quickly followed by a woman laughing hysterically from the source of the explosion. Arielle made an attempt to reassure a still scared Axle that explosions were not uncommon at the colleges. Mayra asked Axle if he needed her to get him some weed to help mellow him out, but he was too consumed by fear to answer.

Lantix had also dropped to the ground and slid under a table where he found himself face to face with a spider. “Hey man, be cool,” the spider said. Lantix was taken aback from the fact that the spider was talking. He was a rather large spider. He asked Lantix why he was hiding. The spider made introductions that he was called Harry, and he inquired further about Lantix’s friends. Lantix held up the gears from the inn’s basement and explained he wanted to sell them. Harry recognized the gears and told Lantix he had seen a kid get taken into the sewers. The entrance Harry knew of was too small for the others, but Lantix should be able to fit. Lantix requested that Harry show him the entrance but wanted to let the others know first.

Lantix rejoined the group out from under the table with Harry and relayed the information. Mayra pulled out the note and asked Harry if he wrote it. He said one of his kids wrote and posted it. He also told them the only way into the sewers was too small for the rest of them to follow; they would need to speak with the Mage’s Guild for access as they controlled the city’s infrastructure.

Mayra left the group to look for an unguarded entry point. She also located some weed from a bard on campus. The others combined their rope supply to lower Lantix into the sewers with Harry riding on his shoulder. About 100 feet into the sewer, Lantix found himself in a large circular chamber with meticulously carved alcoves spaced evenly around the chamber. Several were empty, but two had small figurines placed in them. There was also a large metal grate in the middle of the room on the floor. With some rope to spare, he decided to go a little farther. 

Harry informed Lantix that an “older dude” brought down dolls, and then the dolls brought people down here. Lantx lowered a little farther into one of the alcoves to examine one of the dolls. It was extremely creepy looking. As Lantix got closer, its head shot up and said, “I like you.” Without warning, the doll stabbed Lantix with a needle. Barely conscious Lantix pushed away from the alcove and yanked the rope to signal the others to pull him up. The doll reached up after him yelling, “Noooo...” Mad it was losing its victim.

The others up top successfully pulled Lantix out of the sewer. Arielle cast healing hands and brought Lantix back to consciousness. He was quite disoriented when he woke and flailed his arms hitting Arielle. Without giving him a second to get his bearings, Arielle began questioning him about what he saw. He shared with them about the circular chamber and very creepy dolls.

Mayra had walked up as an unconscious Lantix was being pulled out of the sewer. After Arielle’s inquisition, Mayra shared that she found a way into the sewers that would allow them to bypass talking to the Mage’s Guild. They decided to head back to the Cask ‘n Flagon for the night. 

They stopped by the Mage’s College so Lantix could sell the basilisk eyes. They were directed to the office of Galytrix Bubblebrew, the Master of Alchemy. He was a gnome with a glorious broomsweeper mustache and hair like Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken series. He offered Lantix 100 gold for the eyes. Lantix then sought out Master Jurgen Hammerbeard to sell the gears. Jurgen was a dwarf with a long beard adorned with gold rings. Lantix asked if he’d seen any rats recently, but Jurgen had not. On a table across the room, Axle poked a contraption and it immediately combusted and then extinguished itself. Jurgen stopped mid-hammer swing, looked at Axle, pointed with his hammering hand as the hammer floated above his shoulder, and said, “Magic!” Then grabbed his manner without skipping a beat. Axle also found a hammer on the table. As he reached to pick it up, Jurgen just said, “No.” Much to Axle’s disappointment. 

Once back at the Cask ‘n Flagon Mayra got herself a room. Everyone ate and retired for the night. Mayra wound down from the day by smoking a little weed and writing in her journal about her time in Courtmere thus far before drifting off to sleep.

[courtmere]

A Goliath, A Half-Elf, and A Kobold Walk into a Bar... (Session 1)

(Sidebar before we get started, an alternative title for this session was “The Road to Courtmere,” but I liked this one better)

In the shady pirate town of Everlight, a little kobold named Lantix had just disembarked from a Dwarven airship near the docks. As he was taking in his new surroundings, he saw what he considered a strange sight: two people who were clearly not sailors getting off a sea ship. One was a tall, bald, bearded goliath accompanied by a giant yellow warhorse. The other was a tall half-elf with long black hair. She was wearing her cloak hood up, but he noticed a scar that started above her left eye and ended below it.

The warhorse’s name was Yoden, and it was easy to tell he was bonded with the posh looking Goliath named Ableforth Xander Leonardo Elmesworth, or Axle for short. He came from a noble family across the Whispering Tides. The half-elf was named Mayra. She was 16 years old and obviously traveling alone. Lantix decided to give them a wide berth by attempting to blend into a crowd walking by, but Mayra noticed this action. She quietly slipped up next to him and said, “You ok bud? That wasn’t as sneaky as you thought it was.”

Startled by her sudden appearance next to him, Lantix tentatively answered with, “Fine…” Axle located them talking and walked up. He was hungry and tired from the journey. He shared with the others that he was going to find a tavern and extended an invitation to each of them. Mayra felt “big brother” energy from Axle, and she didn’t think he could be any worse than those she just fled, so she accepted. Lantix declined, however, he followed them to the tavern.

Axle and Mayra found the Sea Witch’s Brew to eat and stay for the night. Everything in Everlight was very worn down, but this tavern wasn’t the worst in town. Lantix followed them in, and Axle just treated his as if he had accepted the invitation to join. Axle ordered three grogs and three dinners. He requested stabling for Yoden and warned the proprietor not to give Yoden any grog. The tavern keeper responded, “Three grogs for the horse and waters for the people. Got it!”

Axle pulled the waiter aside and begged him not to give Yoden any grog regardless of what the inn owner said. Once that was settled, Axle turned his attention back to his new companions asking where they were headed and why they came to Courtmere. Mayra, untrusting of new people didn’t divulge much information. Lantix didn’t either, but he shared he was headed to the city of Courtmere. Axle divulged his plan to get a cart and head to Courtmere in the morning. The other two were welcome to join him if they’d like. So far, these two seemed nice enough and traveling with others was probably safer than going alone, so Mayra agreed. Lantix also agreed after having been unsuccessful at following unnoticed thus far.

Every once in a while, Mayra felt like someone or something was watching her, but she couldn’t connect with it. She figured it was a spirit and from the ghost stories back home in Duskwall, if it was malicious, it wouldn’t hang around long before making it’s move. She wasn’t too stressed about it. The next day, the three of them got a cart, hooked up Yoden, and headed towards Courtmere. 

Across the continent in the city of Courtmere, Arielle Havenstream was arriving back in town. She headed to a temple to meet with Justice Lord Seawright. She asked if her friend, Selene, had stopped by recently. Seawright reported Selene had been by a couple days ago, but she was leaving again on some personal business, but did not say where she was going. Arielle requested he deliver a message to Selene. Seawright asked if it was time sensitive because he could send it to her by magical means, to which Arielle agreed.

In another area of town, a metal warforged gained consciousness after hearing unintelligible words and quickly realized they were in a crate. They managed to kick out the bottom of the box and stood up. A few feet away, a human named Kali saw the crate stand up with two metallic legs protruding from it. Unnerved by the site, Kali kicked the box a few times. The crate fell away revealing a 6’ tall robot with glowing blue lights for eyes and few facial features.

Kali had just arrived in town from the west on a ship. He asked the metal humanoid what kind of passage they had arranged to get transported to Courtmere in a crate. The warforged introduced them self as Spark and said they had no memory of anything prior to walking up in a box. Spark decided to kick the box for fun but quickly realized they had just kicked a box full of butter. Their leg got stuck in the box, but they kept walking. Kali suggested to his “buttery friend” that they go to a tavern.

As they approached the tavern, a young woman walked out and informed them the box would need to come off, so they didn’t track butter into the establishment. While trying to shake it off, Spark accidentally kicked so hard it hit a shady looking man in the face. Shady dude walked up, got in Spark’s face, and said, “You’re a dead man,” while pulling out a dagger and stabbing Spark.

“Kali, I believe I am damaged,” Spark said in a robotic, monotone voice. They attempted to hit the shady dude with a quarterstaff but missed as shady dude was able to maneuver out of the way. Kali, coming to Spark’s aide, tried to take a swing at their adversary, but he slipped on some butter and fell flat on his face. After getting back on his feet, Kali landed a blow which caused the shady dude to flee. Spark yelled after him, “A fight was not necessary!” They then turned to Kali and said, “I appear to be leaking.”

Arielle was walking by and she noticed Rusty Brent was running toward her. Rusty was a dockhand she knew often caused trouble. Arielle tried to trip him with her longsword but missed just clipping him. Instead she reached for and grabbed his arm to stop him. With her eyes flaring gold, she asked him what he was doing, not actually looking for an answer, just looking to intimidate him. He was intimidated and immediately stammered an apology. Arielle took pity on him after noticing he was bloody and bruised; she released his arm, and he took off.

Spark attempted to copy Arielle’s glowing eyes. His own blue eyes illuminated intensely for only a moment before returning to normal. When Arielle noticed Spark and Kali looking at her, her own glowing eyes faded. She walked up and introduced herself. She was intrigued to meet a warforged. They returned introductions, and Arielle asked what they had done to Rusty. Kali filled her in.

None of them noticed a man in a blue sleeveless robe cast a spell to clean up the butter and place it back in the crate. Spark thanked him, but Arielle recognized him as part of a faction of mages that helped maintain the city. She also suggested the Cask ‘n Flagon for food and lodging as it had a good reputation and was in a safer area.

Arielle went to the job board to see what jobs were available:

A request to find Kayla Seawright, a missing student

A request to deal with merlocks in Everlight

The owner of the Cask ‘n Flagon needs assistance with pest control

A request for test subjects with promises of gold.

Kali suggested the Cask ‘n Flagon job since they were staying there and the other agreed. They walked into the Cask ‘n Flagon and spoke with Barden Axefollow, the proprietor. He reported that bats and rats have been frequenting the cellar drinking/stealing his wares of wine and beer. He had also heard mechanical sounds coming from the pests. He requested they find out where they were coming from and to destroy them.

With that they headed down to the cellar. Arielle took the lead tentatively sticking her head in the door, but she didn’t see anything worth noting, but could hear chittering and a rhythmic ticking. Then she saw three big rats the size of cats and a swarm of bats. There was a hole chewed through one of the casks and some were drinking the wine. Others were flying off with bottles.

Kali noticed the bats were flying out a hole in the corner of the wall. He attempted to plug the hole with his mace, but it just hit the wall and clattered to the ground. Spark casted firebolt that incinerated most of the swarm of bats by hitting the bottles of alcohol they were carrying off. Arielle beheaded a rat with her longsword. A second swarm of bats surrounded Spark, flying all around the warforged. Another rat tried to bite Arielle who successfully blocked its attack. Because of his previous luck with firebolt, Spark casted it again, but it backfired and singed his armor outsides instead. Kali casted mending to close the hole in the wall so new bats couldn’t enter and cutting off an escape for the ones already in the cellar. Arielle struck a rat with her longsword and some black liquid started leaking from the wound. Kali attempted to cast cure wounds on Spark to heal him a bit, but This was in vain because Spark injured himself moments later with firebolt. The three then made quick work of the remaining vermin with Kali demolishing the final rat.

They took some time to examine the bats and rats. They discovered the vermin were entirely mechanical although their outsides were real fur. Spark casted detect magic and could feel a magical presence likely coming from the mechanical animals. Spark slipped on the black liquid and exclaimed, “Dark butter!” The other two looked at each other and realized they would need to keep an eye on the naïve warforged, so they didn’t hurt others or themself. 

On the road outside Courtmere, Axle, Mayra, and Lantix were getting close to the end of their journey from Everlight. All of a sudden, Yoden, Axle’s warhorse, started to spook and stopped moving even though he was wildly whinnying. Pausing to quickly take a look they could see that Yoden’s legs were turning to stone. Taking a glance around they saw a large six-legged lizard with six eyes. Lantix recognized the creature as a basilisk and shouted a loud warning to the others as he fired an arrow at the beast. He, unfortunately, missed his mark by attempting the shot without looking. Mayra had heard of a creature that could turn one to stone with just a glance. She shielded her eyes and also missed her shot with her crossbow. Axle worried for Yoden screamed, “Not my fluffy boy!” He glared directly at the lizard who did a little damage, but did not petrify him, fortunately.

Again, Lantix was not able to hit his target, but his arrow did sail through the top of Axle’s fancy hat. After a few more shots by all three adventurers, Lantix dealt a killing blow. Lantix quickly closed the basilisk’s eyes, and Mayra took a closer look since she had never seen one. Lantix dug out four of its eyes, and they decided to bring its whole body to Courtmere. The creature dying released Yoden from petrification and the three of them continued the journey which was uneventful.

They made their way into the city. They stopped at the first inn/tavern they found, the Cask ‘n Flagon. They hopped out of the cart and walked inside. As they took their first steps into the establishment, they nearly collided with three strangers covered in oil, a woman, a young man, and a warforged. They all just kind of stared at each other in surprise.

[blackcatarts]

what are the seniors’ favourite subjects?

first of all. thank you SO MUCH for asking I love talking abt CCA!!

Cynthia wants to be an actress in a Big movie some day so one of her electives is drama and it’s her absolute favorite

Rowan wants to go into journalism so he loves english class- people go to him for everything science and math related though! he’s REALLY good at that kinda stuff ://

Vince wants to be a cartoonist so their favorite subject is visual arts! they’re not great at sculpting but they’re good at almost everything else they have to do- they’re especially great at painting cute cartoony stuff and photography :DD

[bhaleesi]

“Courtmere truly is beautiful,” Galilahi said, resting a cheek in her hand. “Snobbishness aside.”

Isabelle chuckled. “It has its moments I’ll admit, but I’d take it over Starkhall any day.”

The stars glinted across the sky, shining companions for the night’s half-moon. Isabelle relaxed against the railing, her shortened hair feeling odd as it tickled the nape of her neck.

“What is your home like?” Galilahi asked. “I’ve never left Ancient before.”

Isabelle’s grip tightened. “It’s okay,” she replied. “I haven’t really gone back since I started university. Starkhall is…” she stared at the blurry, far-off lights. “Starkhall. It wasn’t really an ideal place to grow up when I was younger. It’s better now, but...”

“But?”

“But I wouldn’t want to live there again.”

- A Wolf Amongst Serpents | Isabelle Tydus, A Knight in Shining Armor

[blackcatarts]

the seniors at Courtmere Creatives Academy!

yes rowan is a tiny little nerd boy no nobody knows why cynthia is dating him yes they are in love and yes vince loves third wheeling them