#of course the wizard would be attracted to a dragonborn

[kotilae]

gale I understand we all almost died back there but now is not the time

[at-the-exd-of-everythixg]

Ok uh DND HEADCANONS aka welcome to fantasy queer eye

Ava: A tiefling paladin. Bonar Fidea ("BONER?" "Shut the fuck up Sal.") Is sworn to her mission to protect the group of travellers she's met. Especially when faced with a particular half orc,,,ahem, Bonar is intent on doing good, not for the cost of gold, but to perhaps wipe her hands of bloodshed left over from a suffocating war that she refuses to talk about....just a shame that the rest of her party doesn't agree with the motives.

Mimi: Dwarf fighter named Viet Clearwater ("'Cause she drags her enemies through the fucking mud!"). Dwarf milf -

("wait," Lace squints and Mimi grins. "How is she a milf??" "WELL. You know that thing where a woman gets out of the fire and shakes her head? That's that." Everyone waits for a moment before nodding appreativatevly.)

- who worked in a blacksmiths for many years before meeting Sal's character and ending up joining his kid onto becoming fantasy bounty hunters for a few months before meeting the others. Viet's personal mission is to get a beach day yet each plot ends up derailing her from it each and every time.

Finn: Druid Elf called Roisen-Mae Maylar who worked in fantasy Greggs before Bonar robbed them and Roisen-Mae was the one who was sent after her due to him being "the new guy". Long story short, Roisen-Mae realised he was underpaid and joined Bonar in her avenging for justice, quickly realising that "justice" was conceived of breaking into places and killing people in order to free others. Roisen-Mae kinda wishes he could go back to Fantasy Greggs but...he likes the feeling of adventure in his blood, likes helping people in such a freeing manner.

Sal: Elvish Bard named Chester. Out here playing the top hits of "I want thy love" and "I was created for loving thee." With the backups of Wulf's character. Realised that he could get more cash and that there was...fuck, there was something magic about his voice that struck the monsters and mysterious assassins often sent after the party for some reason.

("Wait so you're some sort of siren?" Pascal had begun to laugh as Sal sqwuaked in indignation. "No! Its- its magic! Shut up you solar piece of shit!")

Sure, murder wasn't was Chester was expecting. But fuck if it ain't gonna be fun (skksks ngl I'm...half wondering if Sal would let his dnd character be in love like I am with him and me being ace sksk)

Mahogany: No character since they struggle with grasping the game but they usually have someone sitting on their lap while they watch everyone play and suggest actions. Sometimes they're allowed to be monsters but often Mahogany is just there to get some cuddles.

Pascal: Orc rogue named Solgrindr The Rugged. 100% he's here to get jacked and each mission allows him to gain One Ab. His guns are huge but his heart is even huge-er and Solgrindr speaks with a fiery passion to sell his training regime and to collect a million fantasy numbers. Since. U know. Solgrindr has earned these by now.

("So you're a Chad?" Mimi squints and Pascal lifts up a hand in offense before Sal interjects. "YEAH PASCAL YOU AN INCEL?" Pascal cried a minute later. He just wanted to be ripped, was that too much to ask?)

Solgrindr is but a man of his whims and what's a bigger whim than a fiery battle and an even hotter romance? ("His sole goal is to romance Chester." Pascal says, smiling viciously when Sal chokes from across the table.) Its just a shame he hasn't been able to live up to his full power yet...

Edith: A half-orc paladin called Yanag Broifstïgnäh who is...basically a carbon copy of Edith but no one's gonna exactly argue with a 6'something Norse angel who everyone excluding Wulf and Dae, are attracted to her. Yanag fights with the same ire and power anyone else would have done to protect her party entirely. She gets a magical axe that apparently washes her into an entirely new and powerful form only once every game.

(Finn frowns, tilting his head curiously. "You made Edith into a magical girl?"

Doe blinks and for a moment, Finn shudders when his own eyes meet his. "Yeah. Is that what that's called? Coolio.")

Yanag saves and romances a woman with every town they go to, but it raises questions when she seems to deny their affections, just as its suspicious how black tar-like veins seem to spread on her the more she uses this power.

Wulf: A human ranger called Bob Greenson. Your average, typical human man who just so happens to believe in fate and adventure! He shall charm everyone and fight the good battles!

("So." Ava squinted and Edith tried to not smile. "He's playing as himself...but a human man?" Her question seemed to get a rough snort out of Edith and a slight nudge of the shoulders. "Aye, but 'tis what makes the man happy I suppose.")

Of course, Bob is on a strict mission to product review as many weapons as he possibly can for his company, Weap'n'throw, while perhaps finding a few good spots to camp out for the ol' family? How's it goin' neighbour? Sure there are some sale issues, what with everyone wanting to murder Bob, but what sales pitch doesn't come with a bit of haggling, hm? With his mighty band of sales assistants, please speak to Chester on aisle three for magical trumpets!

Adonai: Dungeon Master! It's a relief to be themselves and to still be able to interact with the games and everyone else. Doe was worried at first that they would have been left out while everyone got to be something different. They would have joined, but the idea of yet again forming a whole new identity, trying to find the balance and shifts...it sounded exhausting. They couldn't handle it.

Ava patted them and told Doe that they didn't need to be someone. They could think up the scenarios and risks and Joys. It wasn't often that they got an opportunity to take over and simply have fun with risking Mimi's life or trying to create romantic scenarios between Edith and Ava. Doe takes great pleasure in being the DM and it isn't uncommon for them to modify their body for certain campaigns.

Lace: A half-elf wizard named Elvish Presley (Everyone groans. Mahogany weeps. Edith demotes her Valkyrie ways. Sal becomes a nun.) Elvish is interested in learning all sources of magic and why their world works. Is there anything connecting them all? A reason for them being here? Elvish is determined to find out, no matter what the cost...mostly of himself though.

Whether he admits that he wouldn't allow his team to get hurt or not, that is entirely Elvish's thoughts and feelings alone. Quick! Put that healing spell away! We can't let these people know that we feel and yearn! But little does Elvish Presley know, everyone is aware that he is a giant nerd with a giant heart that weeps when Bonar rescues him from the angry orgre who's wagon dealership they ruined in a quest.

Dae: A dragonborn ranger named Torpa Armani who dreams of becoming a famous writer-

("Th-that's bas-basically what y-you do anywh-anyway." Morde squints as Wulf grins while Dae flushes and shakes his head. It's a weak argument, to hear your clone try and deny the elaborate romance novels he writes about his friends.)

-But! Sometimes you just get whisked away onto wild and heart melting adventures. Its hard to ignore how good it deeps to help other people with their problems. It seems that Torpa may just be finding out that there's more to life than romance or tragedy books for them. Especially if they seem so insistent on carrying a weapon and being willing to put their trust and faith within other people once more after being outcasted for who and what they are.

Peach: A tiefling ranger named Puddles Skipclear. Puddles was once a water nymph, but had been cursed into a more physical form that didn't allow her to touch water. She is bound to dry lands until Puddles is able to break her curse. Unfortunately, Puddles doesn't even seem to know what curse bounds her and changes her for possibly forever.

(Morde is quiet for a moment, not meeting his clone's eyes guilt makes his eyes and body dim and slouch. Dae does the same towards Mordecai and everyone tries to ignore the guilt that isn't there's suddenly shifting around the room.)

She likes the people she has chosen to travel with. They're silly and their quests don't always work out, but they're honest in helping Puddles and she wants to trust in them when they say that they will help her remove her curse. They're all rather different from her water sisters that faded away and slipped out of Puddles' too physical fingers, but she's begun to have high hopes about what this mission could mean for her along the way.

Mordecai: Orc rogue named Vecivus Brogun, who is a well renewed theft despite his size. Parties could only dream of having him upon their sides. It's easy to steal things from countless people, but it's harder to steal the secrets. Especially when such a strange party seems to hold so many of these secrets. Some of them have simple ideas and wants, but others?

Oh, there's mystery to them and contrary to what others believe about orcs, Vec is far more easily aware and shifty than most. If only the others would realise these and help him out with a few gigs...after all, is it so bad to steal from a dragon if said dragon had so many riches that he would have hardly noticed if a few went missing?

[mikkeneko]

Twelve Tavern Oddities

In the course of playing D&D, chances are you’re going to be spending a lot of time in taverns and inns. Roll a d12 to have your party encounter one of these unique establishments.

Underwater inn - a spot for rollicking night life with singers, dancers, colored lights and music. The drinks are colorful, the food cheap and delicious. The only catch is that the entire inn is located underwater, making it inaccessible except by merfolk or by use of potions of water breathing.

Smallfolk inn - A bar and inn whose ceiling height does not clear five feet. Very popular among dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and goblins who sometimes wish to conduct their own business without the annoying Big Folk around.

Oddities Cafe - A restaurant run by a retired transmutation wizard. Serves turducken and other oddities. The plates and silverware are all silver, gold and platinum, but if you try to sneak one of them out of the inn they will turn to lead and wood in your pocket.

Afloat inn - a bed and breakfast located entirely on interlocked rafts and boats. A server rows a canoe out to your table and prepares dinner right on a floating grill with fish he (seemingly) pulls straight from the sea.

Druid inn - A sacred grove run by elves and/or druids. Each room is a small cabin located up in a tree, accessed by a ladder, and patrons wake up to breakfast served by fruit growing on the branch right outside their door.

Restaurant of the Ancients - 'Medieval Times' type restaurant and inn where the theme is ostentatiously 'old-timey' and/or 'foreign.' Rooms are heated only by smoke-billowing fireplaces and beds are made with fur and leather. Features a floor show with actors who put on a saga about the ancient days before cities or writing, when the gods (played by waiters in costume who will come to your table and bless your meal) still roamed the lands.

Fae critter cafe - go in, buy a coffee, sit and nurse it as you watch the fae critters nap or flit about. Pixies, tressyms, faerie dragons, and blink puppies are a delight to the eye, and may even let you pet them; attempting to grab or coerce an unwilling fae critter, however, will get an unwary patron exactly  what they deserve.

Mysterious mixings - Cocktail bar run by a potioner. The drinks are quite good and some of the more expensive ones will actually grant a small buff for the next eight hours. Comes with a 'Love Philter Martini' in a special glass, and a Wall of Shame for unscrupulous patrons who attempted to order a love philter for their dates without the identifying glass.

Giantfolk inn - sized for larger folks, run by an ogre and firbolg married couple. They stock a few highchairs for smaller patrons, but the stairs are an exercise in mountainclimbing.

The silver shitter - A perfectly normal inn in all respects but one: they have the absolute fanciest toilets in the land. Heated seats, flush toilets, soothing washes; press the appropriate rune to experience soothing bard music or pleasant smells. Founded by an adventurer who did one too many sewer quests and swore, on his last adventure, that if he got out of this one alive he would never have to smell shit again.

The Wages - A pleasant inn run by an elderly but still quite attractive male elf, waited on by handome young waiters who between bussing tables will also take a spin on the poles.

Family Establishment -  A pleasant inn that seems to be above average in all respects -- the food is plentiful and incredible in quality, the drinks are amazing, the rooms are comfortable, and the prices are astonishingly cheap. Despite all this there never seem to be any other patrons around, and you can't quite figure out how the business stays afloat. Investigation reveals that the innkeeper is a dragonborn, but the actual owner of the inn is an ancient dragon who is using the business as a front to launder their hoard.

[once-upon-a-scenario]

Karasuno as DnD players

Hear me out, I know a group this big would never work out, but just imagine the chaos that would be a session with all of them, even if it would take half an hour to get through one turn. Just a little idea I had, as a commemoration of the fact that I had my final dnd session for the summer tonight. I’m most definitely not super proficient with the game, so sorry if I got anything wrong. Hope you enjoy it!

__________

Daichi Plays a human warlock. He wasn’t into the whole spellcasting deal at first, but then again, eldritch blasting something ten times over is a viable strategy if you think about it. Always strategizes before a battle and goes in as prepared as possible. Reasonable luck with rolls, but nothing special. Keeps meticulous lists of his spells and cantrips. He DMs sometimes and is always the type who tries dropping heavy hints because he knows his players all collectively share 1 braincell. They miss all the hints, predictably, so he ends up having to railroad them. Always does his best to keep them alive and allows like 248273 chances of extra saving throws if someone’s HP dips below 1.

Suga Half-elf bard. The embodiment of chaos theory. He tries to be helpful to the party, but it usually ends up backfiring spectacularly. Gets embarrassed when he has to play out an action, even more so if it’s something his character is doing alone, without the rest of the party. But when he gets into it, he gets into it. Always the person to accidentally stumble onto the solution to the puzzle without realising it.

Asahi Human life cleric. Was slightly torn between paladin and cleric, but ultimately decided he does better as a healer, rather than a DPS. Hates combat, had to reroll his character 4 times already cause they keep dying. It’s like he attracts high rolls from enemies. Scores uber high on any intimidation rolls, though. Slightly traumatized by any PC who tries to seduce an NPC, or NPC who goes for a PC.

Nishinoya Halfling rogue. He likes acting all sneaky, even though he’s never like that irl. Definitely a chaotic neutral at best, skirts the line of chaotic evil sometimes. The type to kill an important NPC on pure accident, or because he pissed them off without meaning to. Gets super attached to his PCs or nice NPCs. Tried DMing once and everyone who played that session described it as a strangely fun train wreck.

Tanaka Dragonborn monk, don’t @ me. At first, he chose dragonborn as the race because he thought they were cool, but as he played on, he ended up getting genuinely invested in the lore of them and can now write a whole essay on why they’re the coolest. As for monk, he simply liked the idea of being able to punch the living daylights out of someone. Probably chose Way Of The Open Hand as his monastic tradition. He did consider Way Of Shadow too, but since he’s in the group with Noya, he decided they have enough sneakies.

Ennoshita Main DM. Save him from the hell that is eternally being the dungeon master and never the player. Despite how fed up he is sometimes, he always prepares intricate worlds, taking into accounts which players are in the party, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Makes wonderful homebrews occasionally, but sticks to pre-existing storylines most of the time, as it’s less work. Either rolls super high on enemy turns or super low, no inbetween. He has killed many a PC and always feels bad about it. Still hasn’t forgiven himself for the fact that Asahi’s on his 4th character

Kageyama Human paladin. Paladins are cool, right? One might even call them a pillar of the team. The “one” refers to Kageyama exclusively, and he will die on the hill of paladins being the best class, as they’re a combination of melee and spells, as well as support. I’m not sure if he struggles with memorizing spells or if he knows all the existing paladin spells by heart, but it’s one of the extremes in any case. Solid true neutral, took the Oath Of Devotion. Follows Kord, the god of athletics and sport, because what else did you expect?

Hinata Elf barbarian. He likes being tall, and don’t try to get him to cast spells, please. Always forgets Rage is an option and comes a hair’s breadth away from dying because he doesn’t use all of his abilities. Doesn’t care how weird the combination of race and class is. Bonking people with a great axe is a wonderful strategy and Hinata Does Not Care, especially cause he’s the party’s main tank and a great DPS.

Tsukishima Elf artificer for sure. Coincidentally, his character is still taller than Hinata’s, even though he swears up and down it’s a coincidence. Which it actually is, but he feels a silver of smugness at that fact, which he would never admit to anyone. Makes the most wonderfully, uselessly useful inventions. Originally wanted to take a pure spellcasting class, like wizard or sorcerer, but decided to have fun with the game. Chose Alchemist as his specialization. Probably tries the charge other players for the potions if they need it in the middle of combat. Doesn’t go through with it, of course, but it was worth a try.

Yamaguchi Half-Elf Druid. He loves the idea of a character so connected with nature, + it feels good to be relied on as the tank. Likes exploring the world and asking for extensive history of everything, which gives Ennoshita unrivalled anxiety. Nothing is scarier than a nat 20 on a history check for a homebrew and Yamaguchi is here to remind Ennoshita of that. Definitely chooses the Circle Of The Moon as his druid circle because he’s cheesy like that.

[diamondnokouzai]

oc master post for the earlier anon

long under the cut

BERNARD

bernard is the fourth child (2x twins) of a farmer.. his father and twin sister died in a hunting accident when he was three,

the first set of twins were aasimar, and 6 years older than bernard and his twin sister georgia. they both left when bernard was 6, but not before teaching him celestial

so he grew up with only his mother. his mother went through a lot of stuff after that, which resulted in, in order,

half-elf triplets (two girls and a boy) (misky (f) tayze (f) and beauregard (m))

a gold dragonborn foster child (cotalla)

a half-drow son (drixben)

tiefling twins (a girl and a boy) (diana (f) and johann (m))

a halfling stepchild (jessie, but theyre the same age as the triplets)

a half-orc daughter (tarora)

these kids didnt start coming around until bernard was six. so bernard’s mom (molly) had nine children over the course of nine and a half years, and then when bernard is sixteen, his mother dies because of a terrible illness. so now heres bernard, who had a steady boyfriend, and now bernard has nine children, all under the age of ten, two are under the age of five, and he just. he cant be dating right now. so instead, he joins the guards of sarenrae (essentially the army, bc bernard’s country is devoted to sarenrae) because the guards get a good pay and their children get a good education

(the thing is, though, bernard’s mother died surrounded by all of her children except for bernard, who only stepped away for a minute to get her a glass of water and she died while he was gone, and thats. thats the worst thing that’s ever happened to bernard)

so youve got bernard, who is quite possibly the kindest, sweetest guy in the world, hes a paladin of sarenrae, and every week he drags in his nine siblings to services, usually carrying five or six of them with the other three or four on toddler leashes so they dont wander off.

so bernard is just, doing the best he can, and five years after he joins the guard, he gets called away to go to war. hes got nine kids to take care of, only three are old enough to take care of the others, but misky, tayze, and beauregard are all much less trustworthy than bernard. they arent bad kids, by any mean, because they were raised by molly, who was the nicest woman in the world, and bernard, who is the nicest man in the world, so these are pretty nice kids. in game theyre considered to be chaotic good, but like. misky and beauregard arent above pickpocketing to survive, and tayze will only do things for his family.

bernard still goes, because bernard believes in sarenrae and believes in fighting the good fight. so he leaves the farm in the hands of the triplets and jessie, and after giving every single one of his kids a hug and a kiss, he goes out to fight the war. hes gone for three years.

when he comes back, tayze and misky are gone. all that beau and jessie will tell him is that the two of them are out on the ocean

(tayze and misky are pirates. they have shifted to chaotic evil and chaotic neutral, respectively. they make a good profit, and bernard’s hometown is fairly far inland, so they arent at great risk when they go home to visit, which they do once a year. they take tarora and the twins on a tour of the ship once and let them pretend to be part of the navy of sarenrae, even though the ship is very obviously a pirate ship.)

so now bernard is twenty-four, beau and jessie are eighteen. beau is terrible at farming, and he really doesnt like to do it, so beau moves to the middle of the nearest city and joins the thieves guild there. he does it on the DL tho bc bernard does not, precisely, approve of thievery. he tells bernard that he studies from the school of summoning (bc he summons things from other peoples pockets into his hands, and bc he makes things disappear) so bernard is very proud of beau. beau is proud of himself too, but he keeps lying about being a thief because bernard’s Disappointed look is a terrible thing to suffer. beau also has some fun with bands of roving thieves that try to attack the farm, because beau can use a scimitar like no ones business

jessie goes kind of the complete opposite direction. they leave the farm and head into the nearby woods, and they keep going north. they get to the northernmost part of the continent, and they just start. living there. so they become an ice druid, and they also get a moose companion that they name afeeha. jessie comes back south every so often, shows tarora and the twins how he can polymorph into a snowy owl. bernard is VERY proud of jessie for following his heart, and jessie is all ‘yes yes thank you, how are tayze misky and beau?’ because he is the ONLY one that knows everybodys secrets and he uses that to his distinct advantage

cotalla is fifteen at this point, and they go to a nearby city (not a big city or anything) and they join the bardic college there. they are very good at singing and playing the lute and other string instruments, but cannot play a wind instrument for the life of them. so cotalla becomes a bard of kord (the fightin’ god) and essentially, what that entails is cotalla sings a shitload of battle songs with the guards of sarenrae, and then gets nasty when the fighting gets to them. bernard is SO proud of cotalla, because cotalla kiiiiiiiiind of technically joined the military? and he really loves the guards of sarenrae, who helped give all his siblings basic education, so hes real proud that cotalla joined.

drixben, at this point, is thirteen, which is a bit young, honestly, for him to go to any college. he doesnt, really, actually, want to do much of anything. he visits beau sometimes, who is lying to everyone about being a wizard, so beau invites his warlock gf and bf over and lets them teach drixben about magic. this is a terrible idea, actually, because drixben kiiiiiiiind of sort of becomes a warlock. which, if you done know, is, like, he made a contract with an ancient bestial terror.

so beau and drixben are like, ‘okay, this is a Secret From Bernard’ (its mostly beau because he kind of ruined drixben, even though bernard would still love both of them) so now drixben has warlock powers but he doesnt really ever use them. so now drixben is kind of having. problems. with his powers.

diana and johann (yo-hahn, yes these two and bernard are the only ones in the world with normal names) are nine years old. so they dont do much. u know. they still have to go with bernard wherever he goes bc those two would definitely burn down the house if left alone

tarora is eight years old, and is kind of in the same boat as the twins. the thing everyone asks when they come back to visit bernard is ‘where are tarora and the twins’. at this point its tarora-and-the-twins as one word, and, honestly neither tarora nor the twins like that.

so you have

tayze, chaotic evil half-elf pirate (who loves her big brother to death)

misky, chaotic neutral half-elf pirate (who loves her brother but also is less mean than her sister)

beauregard, chaotic good half-elf rogue

jessie, true neutral halfling ice druid

cotalla, chaotic good dragonborn bard

drixben, neutral good half-drow warlock

diana, ??? tiefling

johann, ??? tiefling

tarora, ??? half-orc

bernard is very satisfied with his life. however, its at this point that the current king, who was a SUPER good dude, dies and gets replaced. not by his daughter, who was a super awesome girl, but by his sister in law, who is not so phenomenal. she kind of ruins the country, and the guards of sarenrae TECHNICALLY serve the goddess sarenrae, so theyre like, i will not serve you. and the new queen is like, i will not force you. and then she takes their families captive and is like, but i recommend you do because otherwise your families will die.

the queen does not manage to nab all nine of bernard’s siblings. she does nab tarora, diana, johann, and drixben, whereas jessie is too much trouble to get, beau is too damned sneaky, misky and tayze are already technically wanted by the crown (but they use stage names, at first because they didnt want bernard to know about how bad they were being, but now theyre like ‘yes!! we knew this would happen we are so smart’), cotalla is actually in a foreign country fighting a war, and then when the war is over, theyre like ‘no thanks’ and they just. dont come back.

so bernard leaves the farm. he puts his ex in charge and now hes traveling the country,  searching for his family. hes no longer part of the guards of sarenrae, but he still considers himself a paladin, except he hates the government.

so anyway thats bernard and i love him.

ZYRICK

zyrick is a huma bard and he is 19. he was sold by his human noble grandfather (one Ryxal Corriendone) at the age of two in order for the corriendone family to escape their debts. however, zyrick’s twin sister zyra (zigh-ra vs zee-rick) was kept with her family. zyrick was sold to the master of a massive slave gladiator pit, known as Mr. Zalfroc. zyrick first became eligible for the fights at the age of 10, but managed to avoid the worst opponents by means of his skill with musical instruments. zyrick thus spent the majority of his time in the pits as a side attraction rather than a fighter, although he did not completely escape from the fights.

at the age of 17, zyrick finally ran away from the pits and mr. zalfroc in an effort to both find his family and to. well. yknow. escape the fucking gladiator pits.

after spending 15 years in an underground gladiator arena, zyrick kinda sorta hates nobles with all the hate in his body. both because mr. zalfroc constantly reminded him of what his family did, and also because of what he saw of nobles in the pits. he works REALLY REALLY hard to move past it though, because he wants to meet his family and he wants to know whats up with them and to tell them that he forgives them.

but he doesnt really know? where it is? and so he just wanders around, staying far away from mr. zalfroc’s circle of influence, and then some girl (who looks too much like him) runs up to him, with a bunch of her allies with her because shes got her own adventuring party, and she explains that she is zyra corriendone the second and that hes her twin brother, and he kinda gets tugged along with this girl to the corriendone estate, and its kind of a spooky affair, with zyra the second and zra the first (their mother) and ryxal corriendone, and their mother is a little lost after the trauma of losing her son, and ryxal is a little lost because hes old, but they both come into it when zyrick enters the estate.

and zyra i explains that hes her son, her beloved son, and then theres drama with ryxal and zyrick runs because he does NOT trust angry adult men. and zyra runs after him, and tries to explain that everythings alright, that he can live with them now and they can be family now, but then zyrick just explodes with all his anger. “they fucking kept you, zyra, but i wasnt fucking good enough. they took me away from my mother and my father- do i even fucking have a father? no, i fucking doubt it- but they kept you, they loved you, you got to grow up in this fancy fucking house reading your fucking books and taking fucking music lessons and praying to fucking pelor once a fucking week and wearing your stupid fucking pretty fancy clothes. and guess how i grew up? i fucking killed people, ive killed people and i bet youve never so much as gotten a fucking hangnail. i taught myself everything i fucking know and i clawed myself up from the mud more than once and i saw the worst fucking parts of you people, and i hate it. and you can never make me be one of you. im not a fucking blueblood.” and he runs.

and thats not really fair, because zyra ii has her own issues with growing up, but zyrick doesnt care about being fair when hes talking to his silver spoon sister.

zyrick very much puts up an airheaded, kinda stupid/floaty/happy-go-lucky personality, but rest assured: he is thinking about murdering you. every soft half-smile and chord strummed on his lute? thats him stabbing you in his mind. and he will kill you with great pleasure.

JYNXLUCK

jynxluck is a young-ish drow warlock and shes absolutely nuts. i mean off her fuckin rocker. mostly thats because she was kidnapped from her village by ghaunadaur-worshipping elves who decided to torture her into seeing visions of the future because of the drows rumored genetic dark magic. and then one day she woke up in captivity and discovered all of the elves were dead, and shes now on a quest to find whoever did that and thank them graciously. she is also chaotic evil and does everything in her power to make her visions come true. this often backfires.

jynxluck is chaotic evil, as opposed to bernard being lawful good and zyrick being chaotic good.

also jynxluck does not lie. shes kind of a fae creature in that trickery and wordplay is fine but lying? lying is uncool and the worst. but she will kill people when she thinks things are going badly. she is c-r-a-z-y. but no lying also means that jynxluck WILL tell you what she thinks of you. shes like a much worse-organized GLaDOS.

oh also she hates all wood elves and take a guess why.

[darkelfshadow]

Session Summary - 18

AKA “The Drums Of War Begin”

Adventures in Taggeriell

Session 18 (Date: 11th February 2017)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Balasar”) Dragonborn Male. <Not initially present, controlled by Phil - came later in session>

- Phil (Known as “Nac”) Half-elf Male.

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

- NIL

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by DM>

- (Known as “Korvin”) Human Male. <Controlled by party>

- (Known as “Valder”) Elf Male. <Controlled by party>

Summary

- Sunday, 13th of Neth in the year 814 (Second Era). Winter.

- The party begin this session, rising up in the early morning, having spent the night camping out in the open, near the ancient glade somewhere in the large and vast Changrove Forest. Dark clouds cover most of the sky, threatening to bring with it rain.

- After eating a simple meal of field rations, the party prepare for the walk back to Lington. The Wyvern head is dragged along the ground behind the party via ropes.

- The winding trail is followed through the forest and after roughly two hours the party leave the confines of the dense trees of the forest and continue along scrub land; still following the visible trail. The party arrive at the ancient toppled pillars that mark the start of the trail just before noon. To the far east, in the direction that Lington lays, a column of black smoke can be seen drifting up from horizon.

- With no more trail the party must try to stay true to going south, and they manage to do so, Nac having no difficulty in keeping his bearing.

- An hour later, the party arrive at the main Haven-Ton Road. Turning to the east, the black column of smoke now is much thicker.

- “Is that smoke coming from Lington?” asked Balasar.

- “I doubt it,” replies Nac, “But let’s be cautious.”

- As the party start along the road towards Lington, the dark clouds open up and moderate rain falls down. It takes nearly two hours to walk back to the town. As the party crest a small rise in the land, they see Lington far ahead, still about 10 minutes walk away. The rains have stopped for now. The party see that the black smoke has mostly stopped but some is still coming from the northern poor slums just outside the main city wall. Even from this distance the glow of still smouldering wood can be seen in dozens of buildings from the slums.

- The party proceed onwards and as they get closer they see that the west gate has a lot more guards stationed there, about twenty Red Guard soldiers and two Black Hand Knights; and along the top of the city wall above the gate are ten Red Guard soldiers with crossbows. It appears they are stopping everyone going into the city and searching them.

- The party decide that Naillae should go ahead by herself through the west gate and find out what is happening whilst the rest of the party will go around to the northern poor slums and see what is happening there. As the rest of the party move around to the north section of Lington, they look back and see Naillae getting stopped and searched at the West Gate for a moment before being waved inside.

- After a small walk the party come to the northern slums and see dozens of buildings have been set on fire, but thankfully with the coming rains all the flames are out, but smouldering bits of wood can be seen everywhere still. There is also obvious physical damage to some of the buildings and town wall, looking like large claw marks. Nac looks at a straight line of a darken area of ground that extends up to the town wall and then proceeds all the way up, probably about 90’ in total length, and the Death Priest surmises that it is lightning damage from the breath of a blue dragon.

- Scattered around the slums are dead bodies, most are of the locals who live in the slums and also the occasional dead Knight Of Lington or Red Guard Soldier from the Lington barracks, but some are dressed in red robes and some wearing purple cloaks or sashes over armour with black dragon masks.

- Balasar looks around, “The bodies of the attackers. They are Dragon Cultists and Red Wizards of Thay.”

- Over the course of the next hour the party help aid the saviours of the attack. Whilst Nac, Valder and Korvin use their spells to help put out any remaining patches of fire or smouldering wood; Gim and Balasar start to search and gather the wounded together to sort out treatment. One of the Red Guard Officers, Sergeant Krelios, sees what the party is doing and offers his assistant to the party. With the assistance of some of the soldiers all the injured locals are placed together and Nac spends the time to casts the ritual of the Prayer Of Healing to heal most of the injuries on the locals; some of the more serious wounds, like missing limbs, can not be replaced with Nac’s current skill. Nac then goes on to use his divine spells to create enough food and water for the crowd of the people for the night, as many are now without access to their homes or food.

- Sergeant Krelios is impressed with the party’s help and calls the party “the saviours of Lington” and the Sergeant waves the group through the northern gates and past the all the guards there without checking or searching anyone. The party enter Lington unchallenged, carrying the Wyvern head behind them. Waiting on the other side is Naillae.

- Naillae smiles, “Clever, very clever. By helping those people out there you gained the trust of the guards to enter the town unchecked and with no search to find that little trinket around your neck Nac, the one with the five Dragon heads.”

- Nac leans in and speaks in a low voice, “That’s what I figured. When I saw the dead bodies of the Dragon Cultists I suspected they were looking for signs of the Cult. And to an ignorant, uneducated Soldier the sign of the Cult, of Tiamat, looks exactly the same as the sign of my god Takhisis.”

- “They look the same to me too,” Naillae replies.

- Naillae then tells the party what she has found out from talking to various locals inside the town, “This morning just after dawn, a large army of Dragon Cultists and Red Wizards of Thay, probably about five hundred strong, came from the direct north, coming out of the Changrove Forest. Aiding the army was a large Blue Dragon, it flew over head and attacked the town with lightning and with its deadly claws. The invaders set fire to the northern poor slums outside the town walls. The Lington Red Guard Soldiers, lead by the Lington Black Hand Knights, proceeded forth to engage the invaders to protect the poor quarter. The City Watch stayed inside the town walls and dealt with any Cultists or Wizards that got over the walls, which some did. The invaders would have prevailed too, but thanks to the help of the two resident wizards in town, Yonochen and Manzoor taking on the Blue Dragon with magic and spells, the dragon was injured enough to retreat and when it did so so too did the invading army. They fled back north going into the forests. The Lington Red Guards have now taken over security of the outer wall from the City Watch, as per orders of the Baroness Laleh Shemov, and the City Watch have put on extra patrols inside the town walls.”

- The party now all walk through the town to the west side and go to the Hunter’s Guild Lodge with their Wyvern head trophy. On the way they see that most shops and business are closed, as it is Sunday today, and only bars, temples and brothels are open on this day of rest.

- When they arrive at the Hunter’s Guild Lodge, they again speak to Odard The Huntsman who insists that they tell him the tale of the hunt over a few special shots of his special white liquor; which he calls “Vudkar”. After hearing the tale of the defeating the mighty Wyvern and defeating the dozen Will-o-wisps that ambushed the party, Odard gives the party the agreed payment for the Hunter’s Bounty; 500 gold coins.

- As it is now late afternoon, the party make their way over to The Crouching Bear Inn, which is a very nice establishment in the more expensive side of town, but the party is now flush with funds. At the inn, the party again see Syrah, the attractive and friendly Inn Keeper who runs the place with an effective and precise manner.

- The party arrange an expensive and lavish meal with plenty of drinks and arrange payment for five rooms for the party; Valder and Korvin will share a room as usual.

- When the meal is delivered Nac gives a loud prayer, spoken in Infernal, to praise Takhisis, his Goddess.

- As Nac starts to carve portions from the enormous roast razor boar that sits in front of the party, one of serving staff informs Naillae that there is a small street boy outside asking to see her. Naillae excuses herself to take care of Guild matters. After a few minutes she returns with news from the Lington Thief’s Guild, they have agreed to see Balasar regarding his job request and we see him and Naillae at midnight tonight at a ware house in the commercial district.

- During the meal the party over hear some conversations about the Inn, which is busy:

* Balasar over hears talk about a war band of Hobgoblins on war horses and Goblins on Wargs that have been attacking areas to the south of Lington, including a Dwarven mine. The Dwarves had asked for martial aid from Lington but were denied.

* Valder over hears talk about another young lad that was found dead, his skin white and a horrified look upon his face, in the old ruined watch tower that lies north west of Lington at the edge of the Changrove Forest. The lad must have ignored the sign posted there, warning not to enter. No one knows what killed him. He’s the second person to die there in a year.

* Nac over hears talk about Manzoor the Wizard has been doing very well lately. He has expanded his building and wares.

- After the meal and whilst the party are still relaxing at the table, Gim over hears more talk around the room, about the bandit menace that is plaguing the north road out of Lington and how the bandits have grown in number and strength over the last month as no one is stopping them or doing anything about it. Gim then proclaims that the bandits are no more as he and his group have defeated the bandits and driven them off.

- Most of the Inn then looks over the Dwarf at this boast, and two of the customers recognise Gim from The Black Blades Tavern the previous night when he made the best Dwarf throw ever, and offer to buy the legendary “Depth Charge” a free mug of ale.

- Gim takes the ale and buys a shot of Dwarven ale and puts it inside the free mug of ale, he smiles and says, “Let me show you why they call me Depth Charge!” and chugs the whole drink down in one go. Gim has now had three shots of white liquor ”Vudkar”, one mug of Dwarven ale and now one Depth Charge of Ale and Dwarven Ale. With that last drink Gim starts to wobble in his seat and starts to smile and laugh randomly; the Dwarf is quite intoxicated (Failed Constitution Roll).

- Gim decides that he has had enough for the night and slowly stumbles upstairs to their rooms, and eventually finds the right room; collapsing into the bed, still in his armour. Vader and Korvin take their leave too and head up to their room to once again spend some time researching their ancient books to unlock their power.

- Balasar, Nac and Naillae decide to head over to The Black Blades Tavern and spend a few hours there. They walk to the tavern, seeing few people out on the streets and many more City Watch Patrols than normal.

- Arriving at the Tavern it is not as busy as the last two times they have been here but there is still a sizeable and noisy crowd present. Gront, the seven and half foot tall Half-Orc is once again at the bar serving customers. There is no Dwarf throwing “competition” going on tonight but there are numerous people sitting at tables gambling with dice or cards, and two people are at the rear “dart” board throwing daggers at it; with people placing bets on the outcome around them.

- Nac and Balasar challenge Naillae to prove how good she is at throwing knives. She walks over to a Leaderboard that is hung up on the wall, and displayed under the title of Knife Throwing Champion is the name Naillae written in chalk. Next to that display is another title of Best Dwarf Throw Champion and under that written in chalk is Depth Charge.

- The two people playing “darts” quickly give up their game to Naillae when they see who it is. Nac, Balasar and Naillae start the competition, which is three throws a round, and three rounds; points being scored for hitting the center ring, the middle ring or the outer ring. In the first round Balasar scores 11 points, Nac scores 16 points and Naillae (using a set of her favourite competition balanced throwing knives) scores 25 points.

- During the second round, as Balasar is having his go he accidentally loses grip on the knife and it flies backwards towards a table with a group of people playing cards. The knife knocks over a large mug of ale that spills over all the cards and onto the lap of one very large patron. The group at the table immediately jumps up, and knock over a couple of other patrons, which immediately leads to an all out tavern brawl as every person present starts to throw punches, glasses and chairs around.

- Three patrons appear around Nac and the Death Priest of Takhisis quickly casts Spiritual Weapon, causing a spectral weapon to appear floating in the air that immediately starts to attack people, and then Nac engages the three thugs; using his shield to smash them into the ground and forcing them to crawl away under tables in embarrassment (leaving one with a broken nose from a Critical Hit). Naillae has vanished into the fray and confusion, using her Thief skills to stay hidden and out of sight whilst she keeps herself busy with an unknown task. Balasar ends up with one drunk patron on him and also the large brute of a man that got his pants soaked by the spilt mug. The large brute is proving a match against Balasar, his bear like fists and arms are the size of tree trunks; Balasar nearly loses his head but manages to duck just in time to avoid a head crushing blow (Critical Hit on Rob that was forced a re-roll by Rob’s character using a Luck point). Eventually one by one the foes are either forced down or forced to retreat. Gront the Half-Orc has been going around smashing heads in together yelling, “No more fight!” and when he gets round to where the party are the fighting as all stopped. Unconscious people are pulled to sit up against a wall and most people get back to their previous activities.

- Naillae appears from under a table with a smile.

- Balasar looks at her as the party sit down at an empty table, “Where were you during the fight?”

- Naillae pulls out a small pouch and spills out a pile of gold coins, “I love tavern fights! I was checking on the welfare of unconscious patrons, you know making sure they’re still alive and checking that their heavy coin purses weren’t making it too difficult for them to breath. Here’s your share.”

- She hands 15 gold coins each to both Nac and Balasar and keeps 22 gold coins for herself stating, “Finder’s fee.”

- The party decide to leave the tavern and make their way back as it is getting close to the time that Naillae and Balasar have to meet the Thief’s Guild representative. The three walk back towards the nicer part of town and when close to The Crouching Bear, Nac leaves the pair to head into the Inn for the night.

<Rob arrives at this point to take over control of his character>

- Nac enters the Inn, which is quiet at this time of night, and heads up the staircase to the upper level. On the way to his room, he sees a strange pulsing light coming from the door frame of the room that Valder and Korvin share. There is also a strange low noise, a vibration, coming from the room. Nac decides not to investigate further and heads off to bed. The sound of Nac returning wakes the drunken Gim who has previously fallen face first into his bed, still in armour. The Dwarf takes the opportunity to get up and remove his armour before checking his room is locked and returning to his bed to sleep in a drunken stupor.

- Meanwhile, both Naillae and Balasar have proceeded on to the ware house to meet the Thief’s Guild. On arrival the large ware house is in darkness and appears deserted. Balasar jumps up to one of the windows which are about 15’ off the ground and manages to secure himself there whilst he forces the window open. The Death Monk then jumps into the dark building. Naillae effortlessly climbs up the wall and silently enters the building, dropping softly onto the ground next to Balasar, without a sound.

- Balasar is forced to take out his enchanted mace and call forth the light that it emits so he can see in the darkness. The large ware house is filled with many boxes and crates, stacked high, into neat lines that make ordered paths. Naillae and Balasar make their way around to the a pair of large double doors that are the main entry into the ware house and find they have been left unlocked. Proceeding into the center of the ware house, they suddenly find themselves surrounded by twenty hooded figures when hooded lanterns are uncovered all around them.

- Balasar speaks to the leader of the group, who introduces himself as The Black Thorn. Balasar and The Black Thorn speak for some time about the job; to find a missing person. Balasar gives the Guild presentative all the details about his missing friend, Finnley, whom he last saw six years ago when he ran away from the pirates that had captured both FInnley and Balasar.

- The Black Thorn agrees to take on the job at a cost of a 500 gold coin commission and 50 gold coins per month as long as the search continues, the first month paid up front. Balasar agrees and hands over the money to The Black Thorn. Balasar is told he will receive a written report from the Guild, via Naillae, in one months time. With their business concluded the hooded figures silently vanish into darkness as their lanterns are covered.

- Naillae and Balasar leave the ware house and return to The Crouching Bear and proceed upstairs to their separate rooms. Balasar sees the strange pulsing light coming from the room of Valder and Korvin and feels the deep vibration coming from it. He looks through the key hole and sees blinding light coming from within. There is a strange banging coming from the room too, like boots kicking against the floor.

- The Monk decides not to investigate the strange going on coming from the room of the Wizard and Warlock so Balasar goes off to his own room to get some sleep.

- About an hour later, in the deep of night, a loud crash and bang that comes from somewhere upstairs wakes everyone up and then voices can be heard coming from below. Nac, Naillae and the drunk Gim get up and start to put on their armour; expecting trouble. Balasar quickly grabs his robes and mace and opens his door, looking out the hallway towards the room of Valder and Korvin. The door to their room has been smashed off it’s hinges and is broken in two. Bright light is coming from the room, casting a bright white spot illuminating the opposite wall of the hall way. One of the serving girls comes up the stairs and stands at the open doorway, her figure bathed in bright light. She starts to scream out before her voice is stopped abruptly as she is struck hard and smashed to the floor, not moving. The figure of Korvin stands in the door way, his arm swinging back, finishing the hard blow that he struck the serving girl with.

- Balasar looks at Korvin closely. The Warlocks skin is grey, half is hair has fallen out leaving bare patches of skin on his head, his eyes are completely black with no white or pupil at all, his finger nails are yellow and so too are his teeth when he opens his mouth to shout, “Be gone! The books are mine!” But most concerning of all is his skin appears to move strangely, as if something moves and slithers underneath. A strong smell hits Balasar, it is hard to describe but resembles the off odour of strong, rancid fish.

- Balasar rushes over to the open door way. Korvin stands in the center of the room. Laying on the ground, apparently having some sort of seizure is Valder, the Wizard is shaking and kicking his boots against the floor in spasms. Next to him are two open books and the bright light is coming forth from the pages of the books.

- A few more serving girls rush up the stairs and grasp in shock as they see the smashed door, and the unmoving form of one of the staff laying on the ground.

- Balasar quickly speaks to the other serving girls, “Stay back and let me sort this out! What ever is in there is dangerous!”

- Korvin picks up the books, one in each hand and closes them, the light is stopped immediately and the room plunges into darkness. Balasar commands his mace to light up.

- Korvin turns towards the door and Balasar who stands there, “Get out of my way! The books are mine!”  Immediately two black tentacle arms burst forth from Korvin’s chest and fly out towards Balasar. One hits the Monk and then stays stuck to him, constricting the Dragonborn Monk with great strength.

- The Dragonborn Monk opens his jaws and catches the unprepared Korvin in the full force of his acid breath. Korvin and the two books he is holding take a blast of acid. Korvin is visibly damaged from the acid but the two books do not have a mark on them seemingly unaffected.

- Balasar then moves closer to Korvin and swings his mace striking him hard.

- Just then Naillae appears in the doorway, having finished putting on her leather armour. She sees the fight inside and throws a dagger at Korvin.

- Korvin tries to hurl Balasar out the window but the Monk uses his strength to stay down. A second tentacle shoots from Korvin and hits Naillae hard, sticking to her. The Thief tumbles and manages to break the hold of the tentacles on her.

- Balasar keeps swinging his mace at Korvin, and is damaging him but Korvin appears not worried about the damage. With another flick, Korvin hurls Balasar out the window; the Monk smashes through the glass and lands safely on the ground outside with a roll.

- Just as Nac exists his room, having put on his armour, the form of Korvin moves with a such speed that he is just a blur, and exits the room past Naillae, past the serving staff on the stairs, and exits the building via the front door. As the figure flees into the night a voice comes within the minds of the party, Korvin voice, “I must go to help my master but I will come back. And I will kill you all.”

- Balasar returns to the Inn and goes upstairs just as a angry and bewildered Syrah, the Inn Keeper, storms up the stairs demanding to know what is going on. As Nac is healing the unconscious and hurt serving girl, Naillae checks on Valder who is still unconscious but is no longer suffering a fit, whilst Balasar comes up with a story that he tells Syrah about the room and the party being attacked by a Red Wizard of Thay that must have snuck into the town. Syrah appears to accept this story (Successful Persuasion check by Balasar) and then she arranges for her staff to start to clean the room up of the damage and board the window up. Balasar takes the unconscious body of Valder to his room to keep an eye on him and all the equipment and gear from Valder’s room is transferred into Balasar’s room too.

- Just then Gim’s door opens up, and he steps out still strapping up bits of his armour, “Alright, I’m ready. What’s going on? Where’s the fight,” he says in a slurred voice. His breath reeks of alcohol.

- “The fight’s over Gim. Go back to bed,” replies Nac.

- The party go back to their rooms and return to sleep.

- The rest of the night goes uneventfully.

- Moonday, 14th of Neth in the year 814 (Second Era). Winter

- The party sleep in a bit this morning, having had the strange events and fight with Korvin in the middle of the night. The party all gather together in Balasar’s room. Valder is awake but looks terrible. His skin is pale, he too has lost parts of his hair, and his eyes appear sunken with large bags under them. Valder feels weak and now has a slight cough.

- Valder can’t tell them much about what happened last night. He and Korvin were trying to unlock the secrets of their strange books again when something, a black presence entered their minds. Valder tried to fight it but Korvin welcomed the presence. After that Valder can not remember anything except darkness and pain.

- The party go through Korvin’s belongings. It is all still there, as the only thing Korvin took with him was the two books; one his and one belonging to Valder. Korvin’s items are distributed amongst the party.

- Going downstairs the party take a table in the common area and order some breakfast of boar ribs in sauce with fresh bread. Gim has a slight hang over from the drink yesterday.

- During breakfast the party over hear some more talk in the inn:

* Over heard: two local boys nearly got killed the other day when a Wyvern swooped on them north west of the Lington.

* Over heard: Commander Iorn, who is in charge of the Red Guard militia in Lington, is complaining of a lack of weapons and supplies.

* Over heard: The Baron Hellion Armonde to the south west of Lington has closed his borders and posted his troops to search all person entering his lands.

* Over-heard: More talk about the Dragon Cultists attacking yesterday.

- After breakfast the party gather all their gear and then split up into two groups, with Gim, Naillae and Balasar heading out to sell some armour (Korvin’s old armour) and Nac and Valder (who is coughing the whole time) head out to see the wizards in town.

- Gim, Naillae and Balasar ask around and are told by the locals that there are numerous armourers and weapon shops in the lower market district or there is the official Royal Armourer in the upper market district. The pair decide to try the Royal Armourer and head that way. They find the large premises and enter to find numerous workers busy making various items at work stations that fill a large building that has multiple furnaces within it. They request to speak to the Master of the premises, and are denied at first until Gim mentions he is a member of the Oglyth Mixnar (Dwarvish Armoury Guild).

- A large, solid man, dressed in fine attire, comes over and introduces himself as Wolgest, Master Blade Smith and Master of the Royal Armoury.

- Gim arranges a commission with Wolgest to make a Battleaxe. Gim has to pay a commission fee of 100 gold coins and a further 600 gold pieces when the items is completed; which will be a month from now. They also sell Korvin’s old armour, and a few weapons that Gim had been carrying around (Scimitar, Shortsword and Warhammer).

- Meanwhile, Nac and Valder go see Manzoor at his tower, which has had an extension on the ground level put on it since last they saw it. A new sign out the front has “Manzoor The Great” on it. The pair enter the tower, Nac accidentally bumping into Valder and then apologising. Inside Manzoor is waiting.

- The insides are light by red candles and lavender incense is burning. Red drapes and fluffy scarves decorate the room. Around the tower are displayed various items for sale. Most of the items are either not something the pair want or just can not afford. There is a Bag Of Holding that Nac wanted but when he found out the price was 4000 gold coins he declined to buy it. The whole time Manzoor kept trying to push the party to buy some of his “special glass wands” and massage oils. Nac buys a travel writing set that comprises a leather case with ink vial, feather quill, and parchment. Whilst leaving the premises a couple of young ladies enter the store to buy some of the Manzoors special glass wands and massage oils.

-  Nac and Valder then head over to see the other wizard who operates from a single story but very large building. The Halfling Wizard, Yonochen, reluctently opens the door and lets the pair in only when he sees that Valder is indeed a real Wizard.

- Yonochen comes from the far eastern Kingdom of Tikoran and has a very distinct appearance and accent. His premises are cluttered but practical. The party look around all the items for sale. Again most of the items are either too expensive or not useful to the party’s need. Nac considers a set of Mariner’s Breastplate Armour but he can’t wear the heavy suit of armour as he is not skilled in that type of armour. Yonochen gets upset that they have wasted his time when the pair leave without buying any stuff and slams the door on them as they go.

- Nac and Valder proceed back and pass Manzoor’s tower again, seeing Gim, Naillae and Balasar heading out the Wizard’s tower. Balasar is putting away his coin pouch.

- “Buy something?” enquires Nac.

- “Oh no, nothing really.” replies Balasar.

- Now back together the party decide it’s time to leave Lington and head to WInterhaven, so they head to the Imperial Mail Office to collect the escort job from Lington to Winterhaven. They arrive at a clean and well maintained building with the a sign out the front with the seal of Tyriba on it and “Imperial Mail Office” written in neat letters.

- They enter and see staff going about sorting scrolls and packages in a rear area that is filled with shelves. A man stands at the front counter and introduces himself as Master Cyne, the Post Master.

- The party enquire about the posted escort job from Lington to Winterhaven and Master Cyne is happy to pay the party, 25 gold coins per person to escort the official courier from Lington to Winterhaven, as the roads have become too dangerous; the last two couriers sent to Winterhaven having never gotten there.

- Master Cyne requests ten minutes to arrange and prepare the courier and his cargo of mail. Whilst waiting Balasar goes over to speak to Master Cyne alone and hands over something to the Mail Master. Balasar returns to the party, putting away his coin pouch.

- “What are you posting?” asks Naillae.

- “Just letters. Nothing special.” replies Balasar.

- After waiting, a young lad of 17 years appears, dressed in the clean, formal uniform of an Imperial Mail Courier, the large metal badge of the Crest of Tyriba upon his chest. He has a large leather backpack on and strapped over his shoulders are two small leather saddle bags that hang on each of his sides. He introduces himself as Kyrst.

- The party leave the Mail Office and head over to the west gate that leads to Winterhaven. The gate is heavily guarded with Red Guard soldiers and Black Hand Knights checking everyone. When they see the official courier they wave him and the party straight through.

- Leaving Lington, at late morning the party start their journey to Winterhaven. The day is cloudy and chilly; with strong winds.

- The party travel for an hour and half, Breaman Hill to the north with it’s lush cover of trees, and the smaller rising plans to the south making up Fall Hill. Up ahead a covered goods wagon approaches the party, two figures in robes seated at the front; their hoods pulled up over their heads to keep the chill at bay whilst one of them directs the single horse pulling the wagon.

- As the wagon gets closet, Balasar starts to casually move to the rear of the goods wagon.

- Nac calls out to the wagon, “How goes your day?”

- The two figures raise their hoods and open their robes revealing armour and weapons and one yells, “Better than yours infidel!”

- The rear cover of the goods wagon opens up and three robed figures jump out onto the ground; Balasar can see scimitars in their hands.

- From the front of the goods wagon, the canvas cover opens and a single figure steps out. He too is wearing a robe that is open to reveal leather armour and a purple sash tied around his waste.

- Before combat can start Nac leans over to Valder and from one of Valder’s pockets draws out his Holy Symbol of Takhisis and yells out, “Hold Brother! For we serve the Dragon Goddess too.”

- Valder coughs and looks confused, “How did that get in there?”

- The front figure in the wagon with the purple sash raises a hand and yells, “Hold Brothers!”

- Balasar moves around to the rear position at the goods wagon, the three robes figures eye him cautiously but do not attack.

- Again the figure with the purple sash speaks, “Who are you. I was not told of any other followers would be here today”

- Nac, still holding the Holy Symbol up replies, “I am Nac, Death Priest of the Dragon Goddess.”

- The figure with the purple sash jumps down off the wagon and approaches Nac to shake his hand, “Welcome Holy Brother, but why are you on this road?”

- Nac shakes his hand back, “I go where the Goddess commands me. Why are you here?”

- The figure in the purple sash replies, “To kill all that come. To take all and add it to the Hoard for the coming of Tiamat, praise be the Goddess!”

- The three figures that had jumped out the back of the wagon have now gone back inside the rear covered portion of the wagon.

- Nac replies, “Yes the hoard of course.”

- The sashed figure turns and walks back to the wagon and jumps up onto the front ledge; the wagon now slowly moving forward again.

- Kyrst the Imperial Courier, who had previously been staying out of site behind Valder, starts to shake and cry from fear.

- The sashed figure looks over at Kyrst and turns to Nac with a suspicious look, “Who is your leader? What is his name? And why are you travelling with an Imperial Courier?”

- Nac replies, “I do as the Goddess bids me directly, I do not question her, do you?”

- The sashed leader nods, “No of course not, I would never question the Goddess.”

- As the wagon slowly rolls forward, Balasar is now at the rear of it, and he nods knowingly to Nac. Nac nods back yes.

- Suddenly Balasar lifts the rear canvas cover of the goods wagon and fills the back of the wagon with his acid breath. All three figures have no where to go and the effects of the acid blast are devastating, leaving two barely alive and one with moderate acid burns. The canvas on the front section of the wagon soaks up the acid and is destroyed leaving only the back end of the wagon still covered. The heavy canvas did stop the two seated figures at the front of the wagon from getting hit from acid.

- The sashed figure jumps up and launches himself into the air, wings suddenly outspread from his back; bursting into view from under his robe. He yells, “Apostates! Kill them!”

- As the sashed leader flew over head, wings beating, he summoned an orb of lightning energy and hurled it at Nac; it strikes the Cleric doing moderate damage.

- Balasar jumps up onto the rear of the wagon and rushes in to the three acid burned figures. Quickly he snaps out and brings all three down and dead, though it is a near thing and Balasar’s attack nearly ended in catastrophe (Rob fumbled an attack roll but used a Luck point to force a re-roll into a hit instead).

- Valder, coughing, throws spells at the flying figure but can’t hit him. (Valder is feeling the effects of the encounter with the darkness from the book and is suffering a -2 penalty on all rolls).

- Nac fires a Guiding Bolt spell at the flying figure and hits it, damaging the figure, but more importantly places a glow around the figure making it easier to hit. (Advantage any attacks against it for the next attack).

- Gim moves towards the flying figure and hurls two Dwarven hand axes at the figure, and thanks to the glow around it, both hit the figure; with one hitting the wing joint. Immediately the flying figure hurtles to the ground and smashes into the ground for more damage. (Critical Hit - Joint Damage).

- Kyrst the Courier runs crying towards the nearest tree and ducks down and hides; trying to pretend that there isn’t a battle raging on near by involving flying cultists.

- The two figures in the front of the wagon jump into the back and immediately start a co-ordinated attack against Balasar, with scimitars. The blades strike at Balasar multiple times and he is barely able to stay standing with blood pouring from many wounds all over him.

- Balasar has no choice but has to try to bring one of the pair down quickly as they are fighting together in a deadly manner. The Death Monk strikes out multiple times at one of the figures, hitting him, and brings him down dead (Fumble Roll by Rob but used a Luck point to force a re-roll and got a hit instead).

- Again the sashed figure launches into the air, wings beating, and once up in the air hurls another lightning orb at Nac but this one misses.

- Balasar launches an attack at the single figure left in the wagon and manages to get some fairly decent damage done (Critical Hit - Double Damage) but the figure is still standing, though badly injured. The eyes of the Dragon Cultist show no sign of fear or doubt, just a fanatical wish to kill Balasar.

- Gim throws another two hand axes at the flying figure and hits him. The flying figure’s robes are now soaked in his own blood. Nac fires another Guiding Bolt and hits the flying figure square in the chest and kills it; sending the figure to drop onto the ground.

- Valder fires more spells at the final Dragon Cultist in the wagon and hits him but the Dragon Cultist does not relent. He screams, “Die apostate!” and swings his scimitar at Rob slicing open the Monk’s tendon (Critical Hit - speed reduced by half). But Balasar returns the attack and guts the Cultist open; dropping him dead.

- The bodies are searched and located are 40 gold coins in total and a silver brooch with a white stone. Whilst Nac repairs a ritual of Detect Magic, Balasar and Gim gather all the dead bodies, except the sashed leader, into a pile behind a tree and with some oil and a torch burns the pile of bodies.

- Balasar the Death Monk conducts an autopsy on the sashed leader and determines the wings are real and not magical. They were hidden behind his robes and had special modified armour to allow the wings to poke freely out the back. Whilst taking the other bodies to the pile to burn Balasar also sees that the three figures he burned with acid also had wings hidden behind robes.

- With the ritual finished Nac now casts Detect Magic but the silver brooch is not magical.

- Nac now takes some time to cast one of his most powerful spells, Speak With The Dead, on the dead sashed leader.

- The face on the dead body starts to move in an odd and bizarre manner. Eyes darting about and muscles moving as if they have forgotten how to work. A deep, hissy voice comes from the mouth that is opening and closing in a stiff manner, “Ask your five questions then release my soul Apostate!”

- Nac thinks a moment, “Where is the Dragon Cult leader ship held up?”

- The dead voice responds, “In the hatchery.”

- Nac asks immediately, “And where is the hatchery?”

- The dead face, takes a moment to try to remember how to get its muscles to go into a smile, and then breaks into a mocking resemblance of a grin, “Hidden from the eyes of apostates!”

- Nac lowers his voice and in a deadly tone says, “And unless you want me to keep your soul trapped here never to find release, exactly where is the hatchery?”

- The dead voice responds, “South of Parnast, West of Ulsbrook, North of Anwich, East of Dillon.”

- Nac asks next, “Where is the hoard of people being taken to?”

- The dead voice response, “We are not collecting people.”

- Nac asks his fifth and final question, “Are there any dangers that lay ahead on this road to the west?”

- The dead voice response, “I am not a seer. Danger lays every where.”

- And with the final question answered the dead face relaxes and moves no more.

- Nac then casts Animate Dead on the sashed leader and makes him stand as a zombie and then smiles, “Well at least you’ll be of some use then.”

- The party then took possession of the wagon and turned it around to face west towards Winterhaven. The party and Imperial Courier then all got on board the wagon and set off. During the trip, Balasar took the time to speak to Kyrst the Courier and convinced the young, naive man that Nac was not a Priest of the Dragon Goddess and only had a Holy Symbol of the Dragon Goddess as he had killed a Cultist and taken it off him to fool any Dragon Cultists they meet. The courier seems happy to believe that.

- The wagon moves at a slow pace for a few hours when the party comes across a grisly scene next to the road. A cart is just south of the road, turned over and burnt; a dead horse laying next to it. Two burnt bodies are visible next to the cart. A long line in the ground looks like lightning damage, like that of a Blue Dragon.

- The party continue on and another hour later the sun sets but the party continue on in the dark, hoping to get to The Weeping Manticore Road House to get somewhere safe to camp. After travelling on in the dark for another couple of hours, the moon light from the twin moons lightning up the country side, they finally reach The Weeping Manticore. Their hearts sink when their worst suspicions are confirmed; the Road House has been attacked and burnt. The roof has collapsed from the damage of the fire and it is now just a large pile of rubble.

- The party leave the road and move around to the back of the Road House, luckily the barn is still intact, though one dead horse is laying on the ground. The party decide to set a cold camp (no fire) in the shelter of the barn as it will keep them hidden from view from the road and surrounds.

<And as the party get ready for the coming night, deep in the country side that now appears to be in the grips of a war, that is the end of the session.>

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- Saviours Of The People Of Lington = 500 XP

- First Steps Towards An Old Friend = 100 XP (Rob ONLY)

- The Ancient Shadow Of The Books Revealed = 200 XP

Creatures Overcome

- Thugs = 500 XP (Phil, Rob, Naillae ONLY)

- Cultists (Dragoncult) = 3300 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start +  Received = Total  (Notes)

Phil : 14348 + 1013 = 15361

Rob : 15335 + 987 = 16322

Arthur : 10875 + 783 = 11658

NPC (Valder) : ??? + 476 = ???

NPC (Naillae) : ??? + 392 = ???