A ship entered the Ura harbor late at night and anchored. The next morning port authorities noted there was no crew onboard. An inspection of the ship showed a large group of dead and mutilated bodies was found in a pile in the main hold. Small weapon marks (scrapes, slashes, and jabs) were indicated on the passage walls and doors, many of which were low to the deck (about 2-3 feet). Clerics attempted to contact dead and divine information about the incident however, no information was forthcoming. The souls of the dead could not be contacted.

Some bodies were found, some appear to have been keel hauled, hung from masts, or nailed to walls. Clothing was piled up on the main deck, however there were no sign of any footwear, in the pile or on the dead bodies found.

Acolyte members Alex and Warley was sent to Prospector’s Point on the Alaster continent to investigate the last known stop the ship made before entering port. Their investigation reviled another pile of crushed and mutilated bodies, this time of Alaster Halflings. These were also accompanied by a large pile of clothing, weapons, and armor. The camp the ship’s crew made while prospecting appeared to not have been disturbed. It also appeared as if the crew members left their shoes and all their equipment, including armor and weapons at the camp and walked back to the ship barefoot. This area, even the trail is volcanic rock, meaning the 4-mile walk would have been extremely painful.

There were some disturbing reports in Deepwood Forest south of Ura. The rangers on patrol in that area had not checked in. Acolyes Alex and Warley were sent to investigate and make contact with the rangers. Only a single ranger was found, mutilated bodies were strung all over the camp. The creature or creatures responsible are unknown. But it is suspected they are the same as the ones on the abondon ship.

Master Yinku lead a small group of acolytes to investigate several disturbing incidents around Kullas Lake. Master Yinku made several reports of finding mulilated bodies of humans, goblins and ors around the lake. He also made a report of finding strange large egg like pods in the marsh areas around the lake. This was the last report made, several attempts to locate him and his party have failed, including divination.

Fleglings Alex and Warley were sent to Sully's Cape to investigate rumors of cult activity and to investigate the abandon ships origins. While there the two was to join a travelling bard troop and contact their informants Raul Venderis and Hiat Kommal. When attempting to make contact Hiat Kommal was killed by an assassin and Raul Venderis was seriously wounded. The two had a run in with the Sisters of the Night and was framed for murder and arson. The order spirited them away from the city however, the locals are still investigating them as suspects

Fledglings Alex and Warley were sent to the Gyu-Poi temple on an unsanctioned investigation to investigate reports of strange things happening in their crypts. The temple is on pilgrimage to their main temple leaving only a small number of clerics and guards at the temple. Undead are suspected.

While exploring the crypts, Fledglings Alex and Warley ran into several unusual undead and a cultist from Order of Malac, who was apparently behind the assault on the Gyu-Poi most holy resting place. Members of the Hand of the Prophet also entered the crypt, for reasons unknown and Fledglings Alex and Warley assisted them and helped them return to the order halls.

The fledglings assisted by two hirelings (Shrubbery a druid and cedric the wizard) departed south on a investigative mission to the corrupt city of Ashbourne along the Jade Coast.

Along the path they first assisted a pair of merchant warriors with their wagon of wares by mending their axel. The group was hired on a guards to the next town.

Several days past the group was ambushed by a group of hobgoblins. They spared the leaders life and he told them he was hired to kill a group that travel the road with a bear. (the druid has a bear commpanion).

On the road south the group met with a wizard attempting to modify a floating disc spell to be used on wagons. In his attempts, he managed to get himself stuck in a tree. The group assisted him down.

Farther south, the group met up with a farmer that was having problems selling his wheat. Escorting him south the party see fields suffering from a magical blight and encountered a group of people burning fields. They suspect these items are all related and informed the athurities at the nearest city.

Just prior to arriving in Aynor the party came across an entertianment camp. The camp appeared empty and in disarray. When inspecting the tents the group encounted zombies on tables, it appeared as if someone had plently of time to graff animal parts onto the performers and turn them into zombies. The undead also were loaded with contingency magic causing different effects on death.

After arriving in Aynor they met up with Alex who took a ship from Ura. The group left Aynor made an off-road trek straight east. Prior to reaching the river, they came upon goblinoid bodies in the road and a wounded warrior unconscious a short distance away. They tended to the warrior who then accompanied them to Vensor. While in Vensor, the party met with Jenna Freeman and gathered more information on their assignment. The next morning, despite the weather, they headed south in two groups; Alex, the druid (in wolf form) and the warrior went first with Warley and the Wizard following behind.

Before they reached Ashbourne they came upon a flooded area, on the far side of the water, villagers appeared walking directly into the water and was drowning themselves. The villages were of all ages and backgrounds. The druid used entangle magic to stop those on the banks from entering the water as the other attempted to gather the rest. The spell somehow broke and the villagers regained control.

The group then investigated the direction from which the group came from. Less than a mile away they came upon a grizzly sight. Male villagers were pounding children with wooden mallets, and they have been doing so for some time as there was not much left. Again, the spell seemed to mysteriously broke, and the villagers saw what they had been doing.

The group conducted a short interview with the villagers that could speak and learned they did not know how they came to be under a spell, the image of a small elf looking creature and the sound of a high-pitched laugh is all they can recall. However, the 3-mile barefoot walk, and the actions they were forced to perform are vivid in their memories.

Alex and warley suspect these events are related to the ship and cave events that happened earlier in the year.

The group tended to them as much as they could them left the villagers to their own as they made haste to arrive in Ashbourne before dark. Once in the city they received a sending message from Jenna Freeman instructing them to head to The Hammered Dwarf Inn. In the basement of this in became their base of operations.

From the basement hideout, the group starts planning how they are find and track the murderous mercenary Halldis and discover her connection with The Inferno Brotherhood.

The group set out southward to the Village of Venzor. Along the way they were attacked by a small group of mercenaries for whom they learned were paid to attack anyone travelling with a bear. Later on, the road they came across a odd wizard stuck in a tree. They learned he was a research wizard attempting to create and mass produce a wheel-less wagon, they assisted him out of the tree and remained to talk for a short time. Several days later, they came upon brothers with a broken wagon. The group assisted them in the repairs and travelled with them to the next city. Along the way they noticed a magical blight had affected the crops in the area and a group of thugs were actively destroying farms and crops. Just before arriving in the coastal City of Aynor the party came across a circus troop camp. Unfortunately, the troop were all killed experimented on and turned into zombies.

A few days outside Venzor, the party met a wounded warrior. He killed off several ogres on the road. The party healed him, and the warrior traveled with them to Venzor. Finally arriving in the village of Venzor they met with their contact, conducted a mission brief and preceded to the city of Ashbourne. Halfway to the city the group came upon a large group of villagers seemingly in a trance that were drowning themselves in the river, the party manage to pull many of them to safety and the trance somehow was removed. Further down the road they found the rest of the villagers and a pile of bones and gore they were pounding with hammers, also in a trance.

Arriving in Ashbourne they set up in a safe house and waited for the subject of their investigation. The subject was spotted leaving a tavern with two foppish nobles. Thinking to save the nobles lives the druid summoned and sent hippogriffs after her. She after killing them, she fled the area for several weeks.

The party was sent on a caravan guard further south to the border city of Denta to remove them from the area for a while. Near the kingdoms border they came across the body of the warrior they healed earlier, along with several other clerics and holy fighters.

They returned to Ashbourne and learned another group was also looking for their quarry. The group sent out informants to steer this group into the same area their subject was, just to see what would happen.

The two met (subject and second group) in the streets and had words. Apparently, the subject killed the father of a dragon-blood assassin, and she was not pleased. They trailed the assassin to the home of the person who order the killing and watched as the assassin’s group mercilessly killed all the servants in the estate.

The group headed back to Ura.

The wizard Cedric upon returning to the City of Ura decided to join the order as a researcher and said his goodbyes to the party. Shrubbery the Druid decided to sign on for another mission and Assistant Alex hired a new wizard (Sigmar) for their next mission. Assistant Warley remained at the order hall for debriefing and the remainder of the party met with Prophet Nilder for their new assignment.

The temple was attempting to track these Dark Fey creatures but have not been able to detect any signs of them. After many failed attempts, it was suggested by a young fledging that perhaps we should attempt to track the actions instead of the creatures. This tactic has reviled several location, though the location are not known to be connected with the activities of the dark fey and the accuracy of the divinations needs to be checked.

The party lead by Assistant Alex set off south to check the nearest location. The order halls provided them with passage on an airship to speed up their travels. Searching the area for a few days they came upon a village surrounded by fertile farms that circled the village. The people were friendly and inviting. After a time of investigating the area and talking with the townsfolk they learned that a druid possible follower of Xerfer completed a ritual that made the land around the farms fertile all year round. Downside, the people in the town when the ritual was completed are the only ones that can enter the field safely, and they are not able to leave the village. Any other living thing that enters the fields are devoured by the fields and used as fertilizer.

Shrubbery met a young woman (Sheea) in the village that had lost her daughter when she ran into the fields and is not happy with the townsfolk not warning or telling visitors about the curse. The party decided to leave the area and continue to the next location.

After a brief stay in Ura, the party lead by Warley proceeded northwest to the second location. Along the way, the group encountered a young-looking magic user defending a large pavilion tent from a group of hobgoblins and goblins. The party joined in the fight to help the young magic user. Inside the tent the party learned was a wizard they met once in a tree as well as another magic-user that was of a race they could not recognize. After the meeting was over the smaller unknown magic user teleported out and the other invited them inside for lunch. After a time, the party left and observed the entire pavilion tent disappear.

Continuing looking for the location indicated on their map, the group came upon a small farm that looked as if it had become under attack recently. Inside they found a family, many of which were wounded from a goblin attack on their farm. Two sons of the farmer were members of the Heironeous church, one was a priest the other a temple guard and both gravely wounded. Warley tended their wounds and the brother that would speak with him told them of the attack. The party stayed in the barn for the night.

Further investigation in the morning reviled several locations in and around the farm where goblins could quickly enter and exit unseen to raid the farm. The group escorted the farmers to the nearby city where they promptly hired the services of an exterminator guild and returned to their farm the following day. The group then proceeded back on mission to locate the area where the divination indicated something bad happened.

Tracking there way through the woods, the group came upon a gruesome sight. A man sat at a campfire in the center of a circular wall of dead bodies. The circle measured about 40-50 feet in diameter and was stacked some 10-15 feet in height with all manner of animals and humanoids. While attempting to approach the area, the druid stopped suddenly as he felt his goddess leaving him. The others continued on and approached the person. Without prompting, the person began talking about saving things from the distress life they would have had, and that he would not save the members of the group, he will allow them to experience the suffering that was to come. After his lengthy 5 minutes speech, he drew a dagger, rammed it into his throat an began twisting it until he died.

After the persons death, the druid was able to enter the area, and through magical means began returning the dead creatures back to the earth. The body of the man was taken to a druid grove outside of the city. The wizard looted the campsite for anything of value. While in town, the group acquired an airship to take them to their next location.

The airship arrived in Orrlanshire in time to witness the burning of homes and chaos in the streets. The ship landed in the lake and sailed into the docks where Alex was standing to meet them. Alex informed the group that a group of fishermen returned from the north-east and began setting their own homes of fire and killing their families. Alex was able to see several of these fishermen and noted the same glazed overlook that villager down south had when they were attempting to drown themselves and smashing their children with mallets. Alex and Shrubbery left town to investigate the next sight, while Warley and Sigmar remained to lend a hand and investigate the situation further.

Alex and Shrubbery found the general location of the event sight and search the area. After some time, they found a large hole leading into a tunnel down about 30 feet to a cavern opening. In the center of the cavern was a large pool of water that went down about another 30-40 feet. There was a blood trail in a circle around the pool of water and shoeless bodies laid about that circle. The bodies were in a varied state of decomposition some as old as maybe 8 weeks while the latest were perhaps 2 weeks old.

Items were recovered from the pool, mostly weapons and jewelry, however there was also a child’s skull, a doll, and a toy ship. They made notes and continued to the next site.

The group reunited a few days travel east from the pool. They came across a camp of a scouts from the 3rd Rangers and swapped information with each other. A day or so later as they neared the area of the divination the group was ambushed by a cleric of Malac named Jonas and an undead creation called a Bloodhulk. The group defeated the ambush and investigated the area. To the north they found an old, abandoned temple to the goddess Wai mistress of poison and the patron of assassins. Inside they found several bodies and a female barely alive. After much debate they decided to heal her and question her. It turned out; she is a dragon-blood named Darla. She gave up all the information she knew.

After a few days the party arrived at the final location. There they discovered a group of settlers attempting to carve out a new settlement. Unfortunately, the area nearby was overrun by huge spiders that apparently attacked them in the night, killing everyone.

Additionally, the party noticed an area next to the camp where the trees had been damaged. The assumption was that something crashed landed here or at least attempted to land. After tending to the bodies of the settlers, the group investigated in the direction the trees where fallen. After a little searching, they found an airship, its navigator still sat in a chair impaled by what appeared to be a wyvern spine.

The group was visited by Elim Zollus and presented with the task of securing an area for the arrival of his airship. The request was extremely vague, though the location was rather precise.

The group packed up everything into the airship and Darla piloted the ship to Dellar’s Creek along the way she taught the Druid Shrubbery how to power and pilot the craft. Once at Dellar’s Creek, the group parted ways with Darla, and she headed south to hunt for the assassin Halldis.

Returning from their previous mission, the Oder assigned the group another. They had managed to convince the military leaders in Maguld o the benefits of having Burning Dawn members assigned to their military units in the Phantom Woods. The military leaders agreed to allow one group for now to assist the 3rd Rangers in scouting the Phantom Woods and to be the first line of defense in case of an attack.

The group boarded their airship and proceeded to the capital city of Maguld. Entering the city in the evening, the group split up, the druid sought out a place to relax and pray, while the rest of the group sought out a local pub. While there they proceeded to eavesdrop on the local conversations attempting to pick up information and rumors. During their eavesdropping they overheard a conversation between two men about intercepting a third man while being escorted to Maguld. Focusing on this conversation the group learned the escorted person was Rufus Seaver the grain mogul who apparently was arrested for his involvement in the destruction of grain fields in the southern empire. The group reported the conversation to the local guard and returned to their ship to rest for the night.

Meeting up with the rangers in the morning they learned they would not leave the city for a few days. The group decided to visit a site in the city where an airship had crashed about 4 weeks earlier and bodies were still being searched for. They spent several days assisting in rubble clean up and searching for bodies. On the first day, against all odds found a woman and her two children still alive buried under the roof of a house. They manage to free them, heal them, and send them on their way. Alex and Worley continue to search for bodies and assist in removing the rubble.

The wizard Sigmar started his own investigation of curiosity into the event, trying to determine if the crash was intentional or an accident. He came upon three strangely dressed men surveying the crash site and preparing what appeared to be spell components. He went invisible and quietly approached the three for a better position to hear what they were discussion. The three men began casting a spell in unison, when complete a large illusion appeared in the sky of the airship that crashed, showing it path and the buildings it collided with, and importantly, the explosions that followed as it smashed through the top floor of a three-story residence.

Shrubbery the druid used his time helping clean up the local parks and restoring the burned vegetation. On the side, he planted and began to grow fruit groves so the displaced people would have an additional source of food and income by selling the fruit. Just before the sunset each night, he transformed into animal form and sniffed out locations of the dead in the rubble.

On the last day, the group came upon a group of diggers who found what appeared to be a well leading down into a built passage. The group climbed down and investigated on behalf of the city guard. One side of the passage was blocked in a recent cave-in, while the other side lead up to a small tavern. The reported their findings to the local guard and headed back to their ship to sleep.

In the morning they gathered their gear and left to meet up with the rangers.

The party met up with the rangers and set out for the Phantom Wood. The plan was to drop off the group near the middle of the south-western end of the forest and the rangers to the north-western edge and they would both travel the north-east to about the mid-point where they were to meet up with the main group.

After several days of travelling the group finally came upon what appeared to be a fresh road through the forest. They followed the road to an old three floor tower that goblins had fortified and were beginning to renovate.

On close inspection of the goblins the group noticed the professional mannerisms, the clean and well-maintained armor and weapons and the heavy armor on the leaders. They saw worg riders entering the encampment as well as wagons being dismantled. Before leaving the group noticed what appeared to be large orcs riding the backs of very large bats and noted an odd symbol of an umberhulk in the chest of one of the goblins. The group made note of all they seen and proceeded quietly back to the main camp.

Entering the camp, the party saw several wounded groups with more and more arriving at a steady interval. Gossip and reports were coming in about large elementals being called up by strange goblin wizards, or priests. One group returned with the body of a strange orc, its skin was cracked like lava, it hair was very course and features were more like a boar.

While in the camp they were visited by Darla. She arrived to inform the group that Halldis was spotted headed north in this direction. Shrubbery gave her access to the ship so assist her in tracking her down.

After debriefing the group was given a new assignment, after eating and resting they set out.

The group arrived near their destination and disembarked from their transport. Travelling on foot for nearly an hour the group stumbled upon a group of goblins constructing large barricades and assembling large siege engines like catapults, rams, and ballistae. The group engages the goblins battle. After a long fight the group manage to defeat the final goblins. They rested and rummaged through the goblin bodies and tents looking for any new intel on this army.

UPDATE

After looting and inspecting the area, the group continued scouting the area. On their sweep, they came across a fortified camp with a palisade around it. What appeared to be the main entrance door was open. There was no movement noted inside or out, so the group move in to investigate further. Inside they saw a grisly sight they had seen before; the goblins have been tortured and appears to have been slaughtered by each other. After investigating the buildings and gathering as much intel as they could they continued out on their sweep of the area. A few miles from their rendezvous point the group saw a small group of armed hill giants moving north-west. Following the direction, they came from they found are battle between giants and goblins. One giant was wearing a symbol of Shae and the druid cast a reincarnate spell and the giant returned as a centaur. After a brief discussion with the new centaur, the group met up with their transport and returned to the main base making their report.

While in the camp, the group received a message from the office of the King requesting their presence back in Maguld. While on the ship, they meet with the king who informed them the writer Cornie Shaw was murdered in her home before she could bring information about some plot to conceal a rash of murders in the city. The King ask them to investigate to see if these murders were familure to them. The airship landed in the main port were the group disembarked.

The party arrived in the city and followed their instructions which led them to a non-descript house on the eastern side of the city. Alex noticed as they approached the house that several people, possibly guards, were around the house, watching who came and who went. Any person who came to close was quickly distracted away from the house.

In the basement of the house, the party found what appeared to be a research room. It was full of books, papers, maps, and documents. It also appeared there was other that have been here recently. Looking through the items, they found a list of people who had been killed in the last 30 days, a map of the current battle near the Phantom Woods, and a troop roster, detailing all the troops in the kingdom, where they were assigned, and which troops were currently assigned to engage the goblin troops.

Also in the room was documents on immigration, family trees, financial dealings, and the city’s history. Information about the king and his exploits as a younger man. Apparently, he was a lieutenant in the 4h infantry and a captain in the 3rd rangers before he left and became a temple guard. While looking through this information, several people came down the stairs and joined them. Jenna freeman from Venzor, Samton Rusmire the prophet investigator who handed out assignments in the order hall in Ura, Lissa Cornin, the blue elf from the king’s ship, Rendar Lowbar, the commanding general of the 3rd Rangers, and finally Drin Orin, a Mundane who can read the prophets papers. Later the party met the Druid named Cam, who they met outside the city of Freecana.

They discussed and traded information, theorized and hypothesized and finally came to the agreement that to discern what is transpiring, they need to start with Cornie Shaw. She was killed because she uncovered or saw something she should not have. Finding out what, may lead the group to a greater understanding of what they are facing and how everything connects.

The group headed out to investigate.

Arriving at the home of Cornie Shaw the group met up with the first guard on scene. He explained to them what he found during his quick investigation. Apparently, his guard captain was in a rush and wanted the case finished as quickly as possible. The party asked questions and investigated the house. They found several note and books about the house, apparently Cornie wrote down thoughts while she was doing other things. All items appeared to have the same theme. Shapeshifters and mythical creatures called beholders and mindflyers. Investigating outside, they found tracks leading to the house, but no signs of forced entry on either floor or the basement.

With all their information gathered, the group headed out to the research library to find meaning in the possible clues they found.

The group met up with shrubbery on their way to the library and discusses what was found at the home of Cornie Shaw. During the discussion shrubbery noticed a small figure watching them from a distance. When he attempted to confront this person, the robed figure disappeared into the crowed. Shrubbery returned to the group, and they proceeded to the library to research some found clues. While at the library, the group discussed possibly missing something at the house, so the returned to investigate further.

While there, someone knocked on the door, the small, robed figure appeared at the door and invited and stepped inside, seemingly to conduct an independent investigation of the house. The group then became transfixed on the magical painting they just glanced at before. After some discussion and tests, one of them put their hand into the lake part of the painting and pulled out a small box, further searching produced a letter. The box unfortunately was trapped, however the newcomer seemed to volunteer to help. After a few electric jolts he managed to by-pass the traps and open the three locks securing the box. Inside there were several papers. The group took the box and letter back to the safe house to investigate them further.

While at the safe house, the newcomer identifying himself as Bartzable noticed the dwarf did not appear right. When confronted, the dwarf took a defensive posture and attempted to flee, he was stopped by shrubbery and meatshield. They prepared for a fight.

On the first attack the person disguised as the dwarf Rendar Wetbeard changed form into a female half-elf. After a few rounds of combat, she again changed shape into a bird and fled down the basement well. Members of the group gave chase but soon lost sight of her.

The group returned to their investigation. Examining the documents from the box they found a birth record claiming that Cornie Shaw was of noble birth. The mother listed was of a Maguld noble house and her father of a noble house in Ura. However, another document in the box contradicted this stating she was an orphan who grew up in the local orphanage. The group took the evidence to the mother’s house and questioned her about the validity of Cornie Shaw’s birth record. The mother dismissed the evidence and demanded them to leave the estate. Before leaving, Bartzable saw a letter on a desk that appeared to be in Cornie Shaw’s handwriting, the edges of the paper had what appeared to be blood on them, and in a pattern that may have matched the pattern left in the blood pool in Cornie Shaw’s house. He took the paper and letter on his way out.

The letter appeared to be addressed to another noble in the city about conflicting trade interests but considering the trades the families were in would not normally cross. The party decided to check with this new person. The man they found was a heavy drinker and with some persuasion and threats to destroy his liquor cabinet, he told the party about an organization that was set on dethroning the King. While talking he exposed a tattoo while he was in the process of writing down what he knew. He drew his quill across the tattoo and cutting his skin. The magic flared and his skin began to crack, and heat escaped, within seconds his body was a burned-out husk falling into ash.

The group returned to the safe house where they found Cornie Shaw’s Mother in custody. She admitted that she, along with several other nobles were part of an organization dedicated to the overthrow of King Jessir. She made a final statement “The plan can not go through so long as the king sits on the throne”. She then uncovered a tattoo and using a sharped part of her fingernail, she cut through the tattoo, and she turn to ash in the same manner as the other noble.

The king decided the investigation on this side was at a dead end, and sent the group back to the 3rd rangers.

Darla returned to the city and returned the airship to the party, she set out on foot heading south to Ashbourne to hire a new group to assist her in her quest. She relayed to the group she felt like she was being watched constantly.

The party geared up and set off, they first arrived in the base camp where they left earlier where they gathered more gear and set off for a northern ranger base. While in-route, they noticed the Maguld Griffon Riders have finally been called into the fight and the group observed them flying northward while the party took a slight westerly direction.

The party landed without incident in one of two northern ranger base camps. Once there, they were confronted by the camp commander and the trio of rangers they worked with before. Their new assignment was to investigate and flush out a group of goblins that are building golems. It is suspected they were getting the clay from caves deeper in the hills. The party gather a few more supplies and set off on foot.

After a few days the group stumbled onto a small group of goblins near a river. They engaged them in a fight and defeated them. Investigating the area, a cave was found where the river flowed out of the rock, inside was a passage leading to a larger cavern. There is a small bridge crossing the river and goblins guarding it.

While resting and training in Maguld, Worley has a dream about a large terrifying construct as large as a house and with six legs. That morning Alex receives a message from the sending stone from Darla with a single word, Help.

Alex and Worley grabbed up all the members they could find and headed to the palace. While waiting for word of support, Worley managed to successfully scry Darla’s location and situation. Darla and some new companions appear to be running from the same constructs Worley just dreamed about. A court wizard appeared and took the group to a hall of mirrors, Alex placed the sending stone on the mirror while the court wizard recited an incantation, within seconds a forest appeared in the mirror with Darla running through it. Without hesitation the party leaped through the mirror and joined Darla in her run. The group ran for some distance when Darla’s wizard stopped and began casting a spell, this spell opened a doorway to an extradimensional space and the group was ushered inside.

The group rested there for nearly a day before venturing outside again. They then proceeded on foot to the nearest known city, Ardlan, the march took nearly the entire day. When they arrived, they were met at the gates by half-naked men and women handing out flyers and vouchers for a free drink at The Sweetest Peach or The Silken Ferret. Both locations were houses of ill repute. The group proceeded to The Sweetest Peach where they ran into Shrubbery along the way near the city docks. The group remained at the establishment until late in the morning. While there Alex put his ear out and picked up some rumors in the area. First was about a large amount of people that have been going missing or drowning around the lake. The second was about an alchemist named Sophya Paxton whose son was kidnapped and held for ransom by a group that worked for her loan-shark. And the last was about a large force of goblins that appeared around the city.

After being ushered out of the club the group proceeded back to Shrubbery’s ship to sleep the rest of the morning. All except Darla and her hireling thief (Myra Deephollow) went off exploring. In the morning the group awoke and met up with Darla. They boarded the ship and transported her back to where her air ship went down. Her crew apparently remained in the city. Arriving at the ship they explored the surrounding area, finding 14 bodies of the kingdoms 2nd Ranger Corps. Shrubbery collected the bodies to return to the capital. Darla managed to get the ship up and running and both proceeded back to the city of Ardlan. Darla asked the group to skirt the edge of the forest and pick up her crew if they came across them.

They spotted the group exiting the forest with another person, the ship stopped and picked them up. Apparently, Darla sent them after the kidnapped alchemist’s son (Paelias Paxton). The man appeared badly beaten and had been tortured. Myra handed a small bag to Worley as per Darla’s instructions. (The group can keep everything except any unique magical items. Those go will be given to Worley). The group dropped off the passengers, Alex accompanied Myra and Paelias back to the alchemist Sophya. While there Alex inquired about some potions and items. He had also learned that her supplier at the local herbal shop had decided to change the business to a simple florist shop, forcing her to purchase her items from outside sources at a much higher price and reducing her ability to be competitive in the market.

Alex returned to the ship and the ship left on its several hour trip back to Maguld.

Returning from Ardlan the group went to work in the research library trying to piece things together and do research on undead and golems. Meanwhile Shrubbery came across a young herbalist who was just foreclosed on, packing their belongings onto a wagon. Shrubbery thought of the Alchemist in Ardlan who was without a supplier and offered to take the herbalist to the city with the agreement that she supply the alchemist Sophya Paxton with the herbs she needs to continue to run her business. The herbalist agreed and they packed up their belongings bounded for the city of Ardlan.

Bartzable lead a group of the Kings men and a sleepy silver dragon in human form to the location of the sleeping white dragon they had found after exploring a set of caves goblins were using to make clay golems in. When they arrived the sleepy silver dragon cast some magic that awakened the white dragon, the white dragon transported them to a pocket dimension where they could talk. After being there for a few moments, both dragons started to feel more awake. After much discussion the two decided to look into why they were sleeping so much. The silver dragon then transported everyone but the white dragon back to Maguld. Bartzable found the rest of the group and relayed the information he knew.

Shrubbery returning from Ardlan the second time found the group still at the research library and they were later joined by the white dragon in dragonkin form, who introduced himself as Vaxmorlashin. He answered several of their questions before the group was summoned back to the palace. What the group had learned is there was some type of spell that was cast that is making all the dragon sleepy. The dragons that are now awake and warding themselves and seeking out the others.

When the party arrived at the palace they were asked if they could travel to Sully’s Cape and assist with the cities defense. They were asked to report to General Rendar of the 3rd rangers. The group agreed and headed off to their ship. On arrival they met up with Rendar and proceed out to the battle lines. An army of Crusader Goblins covered from horizon to horizon, Rendar set up near the weakest point in the line and took a group of infantry and rangers in front of the barricades to face the crusaders head on. The crusaders charged headlong in to the fight bring a clay and iron golem with them. With spells, blades, and claws the party took down the golems allowing the infantry to focus on the goblins. When the last golem fell, the line began to retreat.

Returning to the camp, word was sent for the group to return to Maguld for yet another task. As they left the city, Darla’s ship was seen landing.

The one of the kings' aids presented the party with a sealed letter from the king. Within the letter, the king requested the party hunt down and bring back, if possible, the noble twins Hodard and Everia Chubbweed of the noble house of Rumtunnel. Intelligence places the twins in the city of Tal-From, the capital city of The Heskin Territories.

The group was preparing to leave when Alex felt something either being placed into or being removed from his pack. Upon inspection, he found a tracking rune was placed there. The others check themselves and each other. They found as second rune stone that captured speech and visuals. While in-route to their destination the party disposed of the runes.

They arrived in the port city of Point Just and acquired their ship and shipment to be taken to Tal-From as a cover. The trip to Tal-From was uneventful. After they arrived, they were approached by someone they believed to be their contact, however the halfling sent them into a trap set by the Blood Order. Before the Blood Order could make their move, they were all killed by the cult group The Unseen. A representative from The Unseen spoke to the party and offered to deliver the twins and the halfling that set them up in exchange for the party to visit a temple of a previously unknown cult, this cult worships a negative energy god.

23^rd of Brea, 500: The party found the temple after a few days of scouting. All vegetation within sixty feet of the temple was withered or dead. The air became staler and colder the closer they group moved towards the temple. Inside the temple, there was a thick layer of dust with several areas disturbed. A single stain glass window was set in the eastern wall. There was an altar, a bronze brazier, and several kneeling pews. There were no markings, paintings, or other decorations inside the temple. Examining the room, the party discovered a book that details this faith to a negative energy god and noticed the light from the stain glass window was shining through the east, when the sun was still in the west. After a short inspection, the party discovered the pathway through the window and found themselves inside a cleaner, but nearly identical room. The stained-glass window here emitted no light, the only light came from the doorway they had just entered.

The group inspected this room and the text. Holy water was poured into the brazier which caused it to erupt in a black flame. The altar moved aside reveling a staircase leading down. The group cautiously moved down the passage until they reached a room with a large black spherical object that seemed to draw out the life energy of everyone near it. There were four statues in the corners of the room facing the sphere grasping what appeared to be staves or rods. A spell was cast, and the object simply absorbed it. After casting, several creatures exited from the sphere and moved on the party, one teleported behind the group while the other confronted the leading member. The battle lasted a short while until luck shined on them from a simple spell casting. Shrubbery cast a polymorph spell on one of the creatures and turned it into a toad. The resulting transformation without the disconnection from the negative plane cause the creature to become absorbed by the negative energy and died.

Members of the Unseen waited for the creatures to be destroyed then moved in and either destroyed or took the sphere, destroyed the four statues, and took the staves they were holding. Afterwards, the group met with one of them who gave them a map to where the twins and the treacherous halfling were being held.

The group left the temple and Shrubbery attempted to make plants grow in the area, but to no avail. The negative energy drain on the area was to strong, it would take some time for it to be fully restored.

24^th of Brea, 500:The party reunited headed back to Tal-From. They decided it would be best to avoid the city itself and skirted the outer farms working their way to where the map the Unseen gave them was marked. Upon arrival in the area members noticed oddities about the area but decided to enter anyway. The sky went dark, and the landscape altered into that of a swamp with a dry path leading to a manner house. The group followed the path and entered the house. The interior of the house appeared not to have been used in over a decade. Fresh tracks and drag marks could be clearly seen in the dust leading into the next room. Inside the twins were just waking up from what might have been a drug or spell, a third person, a halfling, was tied up in a corner struggling to free himself.

They spoke with the twins and explained who had sent them and why. After showing proof of loyalty the twins agreed to return to Maguld with them. Th group left the strange location and returned to the city and then their ship. The captain informed them he was missing a person from the crew, the group told him to leave him. As they started their departure, the crew member was seen running to the ship, however he was not as he appeared, and the group saw through the illusion. The imposter changed shape and melded into the crowd when he noticed the ship was not going to return for him.

26^th of Brea, 500:After arriving in Maguld. The group split up to take care of personal matters. When they regrouped a few days later, they were met by King Jessir. He told them he wanted them to accompany him to the Heskin Territories where he is planning to attempt forging a treaty with the lords. The group agreed and started to make preparations to leave.

27^th of Brea, 500: The group gathered their belongings and met at the palace where they were met by King Jessir and his bodyguard Lissa. Lissa had a small globe which she constantly and covertly was looking at. The globe was emitting a faint red pulse. With everyone assembled the group made for the ship where they met up with the ranger squad they had worked with previously (Jismor, Urich and Talia).

About an hour in flight, Sigmar and Lissa were discussing magic on the main deck. She was still checking the globe, Sigmar noticed the globe go dark and Lissa’s demeanor relaxed. She requested that everyone meet in the helm room.

Once everyone was present King Jessir entered then changed shape reviling the Prophet Nilder. Alex and Worley knew this man as the person who assigned missions to the younger investigators at the Ura Order Halls. They apologized for the deception and explained this group was a decoy and the king for safety reasons was taking another route.

2^nd of Cea, 500:Most of the trip back to Tal-From was uneventful, but as they were making their decent something rocked the boat. The crew quickly manned the weapons and scanned the area, but saw nothing. A spider climb spell was cast on Bartzable and he went over the side to inspect. He noticed a large scorch mark on the underside below the helm, then seen a streak of lightning as hit stuck the hull a second time.

The arc he noticed came from the ground so he scampered back to the deck and instructed the captain to gain altitude. As they attempted to put distance between themselves and the ground attack, two wyvern riders appeared from the clouds above them. After much discussion the decided to alter course and wait, the riders passed them by and changed direction to the general area the bolts of lightning came from.

Outside the city the ship lowered enough for the ranger squad to be dropped off, then slowly circled back around before landing in the city. Once in the city they met with the harbor master and paid the docking fees. The captain kept the rest of the crew onboard, to prevent the previous incident from happening again. The rest proceeded to the Temple of Po.

Bartzable and the others noticed a group of heavily armed individuals keeping pace with them, Bartzable slipped away from the group to get behind them. While making their way through the streets, the group kept an eye on the following group, they remained one street over but kept pace. Bartzable noticed the three rangers were one more street over keeping pace with the armed group.

Nearing the temple, Bartzable noticed two rear members of the group get pulled in the shadows, seemingly by the shadows themselves. When he rounded the corner, the group was gone. He saw the rangers one street over and motions to them as to where the group went, they shrugged and continued. Moving between the temple grounds, Bartzable noticed the group entering the Temple of Po, so he took up a position just outside the Temple of Ahr as the rangers took observation positions themselves. While casing the temple he saw thief sign, another thief asked him what he was doing, and told him that temples were off limits. Bartzable returned his was not casing, just taking in the view.

Once inside, Shrubbery worked on finding the missing crew member or at least his physical remains if possible. The clerics of Po performed a divination spell and after about an hour they pinned pointed his location. Apparently, he was alive. Shrubbery shifted into a hamster, and using the collar on Meatshield shifted him into one as well. Both hamsters climbed into Bartzable’s pack, then the three of them headed out to scout out the area.

Along the way Bartzable was throwing thief sign looking for any member of his own guild in the city. Luck was on his side as he found a response. The two met and Bartzable asked about the area he was headed and told him what was up. The guildmember informed him that if the crewman was still alive then he was more than likely being tortured for information.

Finding the house, Bartzable noticed the entrance was being watched by two persons in an up stairs window across the street. He released the hamsters and went back to get the others. The hamsters found a cracked open window near a bush. They used the bush to climb up to the window. A single maid was working her daily cleaning routine, they waited for her to move to the other side of the room and then squeezed under the open window to gain entry to the room. The first thing they noticed was the inside looked far wealthier than the outside. Additionally, from the outside their appeared to be five individual buildings built together, once inside however, it appeared all five buildings were in fact a single estate.

There were three doors leaving the room, one smelled like it lead to a kitchen, one obviously lead to the street and the last went deeper into the house. They chose the last one. Sneaking past the maid, they made for the hallway were they were presented with four more doors, luckily two of these were opened. Of the two open rooms, one was an elegant bedroom while the other was a small library or study. The hamsters sniffed under the other two doors, one smelled of perfume, much like the other bedroom did and the other gave off a musky smell.

Shrubbery sent an animal messenger back to the group informing them he was in the house. The group picked up their pace. Once there, they began to form a plan, until Worley noticed Bartzable entering the open window. They then decided to set up positions to keep the entrance cleared for them on the way out.

Bartzable slipped passed the made and made it into the hallway. Noticing the expensive statues, paintings, crystal, and other items, he found it hard to just walk by, but forced himself to. He met up with the hamsters and went to the musky door. The door was locked and looked heavier than the others. He pulled out his picks and went to work. Just as the lock opened, the maid was heard moving to the hallway, Bartzable and the hamsters moved quickly inside and closed the door.

Behind the door was a set of stairs heading down. They followed the stairs down to a large dark room, filled with musky and rotting crates, nothing like the rooms upstairs. A single door on the opposite side wall was the only other way out of this room. Bartzable check the door and found a rune trap, a small barely visible thread stretch from the door to the door jam where a clear wax rune was placed. Pulling the thread would have broken the wax setting off the attached alarm spell. Bartzable carefully cut the thread, check the door a second time, then proceeded to work on the lock. On the first attempt, the picks slipped creating a metal to metal tapping sound. He paused for a few moments listening for anything approaching, then continued to work on the lock. The second attempt worked, but again, made more noise than he was expecting, so again he paused and listened.

Behind this door was a hallway with another four doors. These appeared to be prison doors, each had a small, shuttered opening about 5 feet up. Shrubbery shifted back to human form and looked into each of the cells. The second door on the left, Bartzable noticed had new hinges, door jams and lock, all the others were rusted over and appeared not to have been used in sometime. He quickly opened the lock and went inside. A body laid on the floor, a small pool of blood laid around him, the man was badly beaten, his face swelled to a point he was not recognizable. Shubbery cast a cure critical wound spell on the man, many of his wounds closed and the swelling subsided enough to recognize the man as the missing crewmen.

Shrubbery returned Meatshield to his natural bear form and proceeded to the stair way. As they approached the bottom of the stairs, they heard a man shouting demanding to know why the door was left unlocked. Shrubbery pointed at the man and said “Kill”. The man screams at the sight of a 500ish pound bear charging up the stairs and ran off down the hallway. The group followed, recalling Meatshield the group exited the building, as the passed those outside, Worley cast a haste spell to help them out run anyone who would pursue. The reached the temple in record time. The cleric tended to the man and gave him some food. The group began to question him, he told them he was tortured, but the questioning did not make sense, they never asked about the group, the ship or why they were there. They asked about the goblins, how the armies of the Holy empire were faring against them, and about buildings in the city. No matter what answer he gave or if he gave an answer or not, they beat him.

UPDATE

The group continued to question the crewmember about his abduction and the information they wanted. During the questioning, King Jessir appeared in one of the doorways of the main temple hall. The crewmen’s eye disappeared leaving what appeared to be empty sockets, he then lunged in the direction of the king with a knife. Alex and Worley were quick to shove him to the ground. Shrubbery attempted to cast a spell to drop the crewman into a pit in the floor, but hostile magic seemed to be blocked in the temple

At the same moment, the doors to the temple swung open and three people entered, one dressed like a nobleman yelled “kill the king!” and a female warrior rushed forward. The third, a cleric of Trengrue began casting spells.

Shrubbery ordered meatshield to attack the nobleman, knocking pews out of his way meatshield happily charged. Lissa, the king’s bodyguard leaped into action cutting off the female warrior and stopping her in her tracks. Bartzable, who was near the door at the time, took the opportunity to move into a hidden position on the female warrior.

Two clerics of Po began smashing the alter with heavy weapons. Once the alter broke, magic was able to be used again. The two clerics took the shape of a Dire Tiger and attacked shrubbery.

Alex and Worley maintained their positions protecting the king, they were soon joined by to clerics of Po.

From outside, the rangers intercepted a few others and easily dispatched them, then moved to enter the temple to lend a hand. Sigmar, taking a stroll around the temple grounds came upon the commotion and attempted to enter the fray.

The battle continued for some time, meatshield nearly fell, if not for the quick healing from the temple clerics. Shrubbery did fall, but not before taking one of the tigers down with him. Alex cast a secure shelter around himself and the king to protect him from view. Sigmar took the near full force of a spell from the cleric of Trengrue nearly taking the life from him. The ranger Talia Vesh quickly moved between Sigmar and the cleric shielding him from any additional harm, then threw some healing magic his way.

When the tigers and the female warrior fell, the cleric bolted from the temple and the noble altered his form taking an ethereal form and floated into the ceiling. Outside the rangers and sigmar attempted to stop the cleric by failed. Rounding a corner however the cleric met the powerful fist of the king of the holy kingdom. The rangers secured the prisoner and moved him inside.

Once inside the group moved to an inner room of the temple with the king. Not long after the sound of armored foot falls echoed in the halls and three of the nine lords (Lord of Magic Lady Rebekah Chittenden, Lord of Faith Josephus Chuffey, and Lord of Warriors Zophar Abe) entered the room. The king explained he managed to secure a treaty with several of the nine lords. Three of them (Lord of Chaos Zaddock Elmstone, Lord of lords Lady Lorena Almira, and Lord of Peasants Lady Allisa Yesdan) however decided the rest and decided to launch their own attacks. Those three are now declared criminals in the Heskin Territories as well as the Blood Order for whom they actually serve.

When things calmed the Lord of Magic Lady Rebekah Chittenden spoke. She confirmed with the group about a task that was given to them by a strange wizard. She then informed them that a similar task was given to another group who failed. She asked if they would take up and complete the task. After a lot of discussion with each other and other advisors, the group agreed. Lady Rebekah provided them with a sealed letter that would prevent their harassment should someone in the city attempt to.

With letter in hand the group set out to the markets to stock up on supplies and to acquire new items to fill bare spots on their person. Once back on the ship, the crew set sail for then new location.

2-5 Cea, 500 While enroute, they passed over a marsh that expanded some 100 miles, in the center of the marsh appeared to be a mile wide carved stone head. Not stopping to get a better look, the group merely floated possibilities of what it was and what it meant.

6 Cea, 500The group arrived at the location before sunrise, the navigator took a large loop waiting for the sun to rise to get a clear view of the area and situation before setting down.

As the ship circled and closed in on the area, Sigmar began to play with a new trinket he picked up in Tal-From. The monocle gave off a fascinating aura and when used he was able to see magical items, each item seems to radiate a different color and of different intensity. He assumed this was due to the type and strength of the magic the item possessed. He turned his attention to the fortified building on the ground to get a sense of the range of the magic. He quickly pulled back when a large bright pillar of light emanated from the center of the structure. He quickly informed the others.

As he was detailing the experiment in perhaps too much detail for non-wizard types, the ships lookout sighted two ships bearing down on them. Feeling outnumbered the captain suggested the group quickly disembark on the move, so as to be fresh when on the ground. The group either took to the air or repelled off the ship to the ground when the ship moved low enough. Once on the ground the ship proceeded to intercept the other two ships.

The group entered combat only moments after hitting the ground.

It did not take long to identify the group that protected this fortified location. The Order of Malac and the Blood Order were teamed up. The undead bodies of the previous adventurers were still digging a moat around the walled fortress.

The battle was brutal, but the party pushed their way through, many members found themselves laying on the ground and a few to the disbelief of the others seem to have shaken off what appeared to be mortal blows. Sigmar during the battle noticed their airship plunge to the ground along with one of the attacking ones. The second attacking ship was nowhere to be seen.

Several members inside the walls fled through a portal and a few others fled into the loan building. Outside the building the group made their preparations to enter the building and finish the fight.

The group prepared for the next fight outside the building. Healing the best they could and casting protective magic before entering. Once done, the group forced open the door and to their surprise a member of the Order of the Burning Dawn thought to had been lost, Master Yinku, stood before them. He attempted to sway them to join with him and the Blood Order, the group refused. The battle lasted only for a few minutes as the group made short work of the remaining Blood Order members and got in a few good hits on Master Yinku. Seeing the defeat, he leaped to the roof and with a slight bow, disappeared.

While searching the area and preparing it for the wizard’s arrival, a dark shadow was cast over the area, looking up a large white dragon descended and began to change form into a dragon-kind as he landed. He congratulated the group for their victory and offered them reward items. He then told them about a priest that may join them when they return to Maguld. He then left, in a similar manner that he arrived.

Hours later a second shadow appeared, this was that of a ship in the style of a Mosquito. Darla had arrived. She led the group on to the ship and showed them her quarry. She then explained to them that the true Haldis was not the one responsible for the deaths and her quest continues. She gave them a book to read that seemed to detail Haldis’s history. When the wizard arrived and place the obelisk, it vanished as did the energy marker. The wizard thanked them and handed them each a potion from his bag, then set off.

7 Cea, 500The group all boarded the Mosquito and headed for Malguld.

7 Cea, 500 The group spent several days resting and spending their hard earned coin. Shrubbery spent his time setting up a charity fund for the families of the 3rd Rangers and Bartzable decided to travel with Darla to find the Haldis' rapier. The group was awarded a new ship (a Seal spelljamming Ship) and crew. The three members of the 3rd rangers were assigned as permanent members

18 Cea, 500The ship’s captain has been receiving aid requests most of the week and finally presented them to the rangers. The rangers sifted through them the tasks and presented a final list to the party. Looking over them the group decided to investigate a local incident of a street magic performer going missing, in the middle of a performance. After investigating the location and talking with some rather snobbish shop-keepers. The group learned many of the shops did not like the crowds the young performer was drawing in. As it turned out, one of the shop owners gave the performer a cursed item that sucked him into an extradimensional prison. The party managed to get the young man out and passed on the information to the city guard who tracked down the noble shop keeper and filed charges.

20 Cea, 500Looking over the finances of the ship and crew, and learning the only thing the kingdom was paying for this time was city docking fees. The group decided to put the ship to work for them. Having the ship and crew deliver trade goods while the ship was not being used for adventure travel. The group consorted the local trader’s guild for the information they needed to begin a new career as merchants. They then acquired goods and materials and set out for the Kingdom of Ral’Col to sell and pick up trade goods for Maguld.

22 Cea, 500 While the others were negotiating prices and looking for goods to take back to Maguld, Augustas visited the temple district to get a few prayers in and perhaps lend a hand or two where needed. On arrival to a temple of all faith, he noticed people being carried in and out of the temple. Inside the temple complex was nearly wall to wall bodies with clerics frantically attempting magical healing to stabilize the people, but to no avail. Augustas began to lend a hand and inquired what had happened. A cleric told him that people were falling ill in the northern part of the city, primarily near a park with a tall obelisk. He decided to investigate, considering he was of no use in the temple. He took he small ship and circled the city, he seen the park with the obelisk and bodies everywhere. He returned to the ship to inform the others.

Upon arrival the group immediately cast detect magic in the area. Strange tentacles of magic emitted from the obelisk to each of the bodies on the ground. Not wanting to get any closer Shrubbery decided to summon his earth elemental and sent to destroy the obelisk. Black and purple sparks of energy erupted around the impacts as the elemental slammed into the obelisk over and over. The group noticed the dead on the ground beginning to stir and they prepared for a fight.

Down the road a city guard struck an undead in the head with his made with enough force to take if clean off. This could not be clearly seen however because as the head was leaving the body, the undead erupted into a powerful ball of flames, shaking the buildings and killing everyone nearby.

Shrubbery quickly cast defensive spells to help protect from the undead while they prepared. Several of the undead seemed to be unwilling to even attempt to cross the protection barrier, except one. An undead dressed in a full suit of armor moved to attack, and another cross over the barrier and immediately was consumed by flames. The armor it was wearing rose from the ground and swirled about like it was caught in a small dust devil. A horseman charged forward attacking Meatsheild with a nasty looking barbed chain. The attack was devastating. Attacks on the horse however seemed to transfer to the rider and attacks on the rider seemed to transfer back to the horse. The two seemed to be sharing health.

The foot knight was finally taken down and the rotted flesh fell to the ground, however the armor and weapons continued to fight on. Another undead broke out of a window and entered the fight, Meatshield fell to the blows of the horseman, as he was dropping to the ground, he transformed into a bearwere and stepped back into the fight. Shrubbery summoned more elementals and ordered them to dig up the obelisk. Pounding the ground and digging around the object they all fell through the ground. The obelisk remained seemingly floating in mid-air.

With the last of the undead in the area destroyed. The group could hear and see the city guardsmen moving methodically through the city, going house to house, and destroying undead where they could see them. The group met up with them and told them what they knew. A small child-like person skipped forward. Her skin and hair were like copper. She skipped down the road and took dragon form, flew over the obelisk, and grasped it with her talons. As she did, there was a howl of pain and the flesh fell from her body leaving only a skeleton. The skeleton dragon then looked at the party and roared.

The group split into two, Warley, Augustus and Jishmor Normack remained on the street level while the rest of the group made an underground entrance. The street level group was soon joined by some elite city guards and two clerics. Together they did there best to both contain and damage the dragon. Under the street, the group found the obolisk was held up by four dark orbs. These orbs apppeared to be the same as the ones they saw in the negitive energy temple. With a detect magic and Sigmar's lens they group found a group of casters feeding the orbs. With force magic and a few dispells the group managed to defeat the casters under the street. On street level a few guardsmen were killed but the group also managed to kill the dragon. Sigmar using is lens detected the group of casters were under a geas spell. Shrubbery and Alex were able to properly indentify the casts as members of the cult "Unseen".

With little fan fare the group was rewarded and they went on there way heading south to the Heskin Territories to deliver thier cargo.

23 Cea, 500 After the fight Alex noticed a painting on the cavern wall. He informed Warley and Shrubbery of what he saw. They both returned to the cavern with him and investigated. Spells were cast in an attempt to brighten the paint and pull the missing pieces together. The painting depicted a battle between clerics of Shae and Clerics of Svai. It showed an altar of Shae being destroyed and a piece of the altar taken. It showed a group of lycans attacking and defeating a group of clerics of Svai and one cleric escaping with the piece of the altar, and with a woman with a wine glass and rapier. The group attempted to magically make the alter whole again, however one piece was missing. The painting also showed a silver tree with a large moon behind it, a mountain range with the word Celios painted over it.

Shrubbery gathered supplies and cast a few spells to re-sanctify the area. Then with cargo on board they headed south to deliver the hardwood to Tal-From then continued south to Maguld. In an attempt to question Haldis, the group learned that Bartzable escorted her back to the ship and left with Darla. They contacted Darla via animal messenger with a list of questions. A few hours later a reply returned.

24 - 25 Cea, 500 Warley in the meantime spent his time researching what they already knew. He dated the painting at about 800-1000 years old. He also learned there was something called “The piece of the Moon” a magical item of some power. During his research he found several historical magical items but none of them of that name, nor any that claim to be a piece of the altar. They continued to research and narrowed their search to a few items.

They resupplied the ship and took on a 1000 pounds of marble and headed back to Yalca.

27 - 29 Cea , 500 On the way back to Yalca the group did a fly-by on the mountain range where the wizard was said to had challenged a dragon. Seeing a promising area, the group set down and explored. In a short time, the group came upon a large cave opening and went inside. A short distance in, they found a dragon sleeping on an almost molten section of stone. The group cautiously waited until the dragon awoke.

Seeing the group and still not entirely awake, the dragon gave them a challenge, to show him the rarest creature that had ever seen. The wizard produced a minor image of the Beholder he saw in the fortress fight a few weeks back. The dragon was impressed by the detail and decided to speak with them.

The party told them of their quest, the dragon recalled someone mentioning a wizard coming to challenge him, but he never showed. He suggested the wizard never made it passed the giants further down the mountain.

The party gave the dragon a blanket of warmth from their stock as compensation for his assistance. The dragon, again impressed with this behavior gave them a item to help them track the amulet of the moon.

The group left the dragon cave and returned to Yalca where shrubbery sold the load of marble and the other ventured off to libraries to do some research. Returning from one library, Alex and Worley decided to stop off at a pub on the way, get a drink and pick up some local gossip. While there they encounter a small group of unseen stocking them.

Avoiding a scene, the two quickly left the pub and headed back to the ship, along the way they meet up with the rest of the group. As they entered the square, the wizard using his lens saw several hidden, phased, and invisible people around the ship and moving in on them

Also in the square was a Priest of Thiena, a Priest of Shae and several city guards who had also noticed the stalkers. Shrubbery cast a mist to cover them as they quickly made for the ship. Just as he finished his spell, he saw a sunflower seed fly past his knee and a section of the square start to freeze in about a 30 foot radius circle. Darla was here.

Inside the concealing mist, the group heard sounds of combat and spells being cast as the priest, guards and Darla’s crew made a path for them to the ship. Within minutes the group was on the ship and the ship was underway.

Onboard and taking a breath, the group noticed Bartzable was with them, he had a mug fused to his hand and a shortsword at his hip. Raising his mug he greeted the party.

The group went back south following the direction the object the dragon gave them. After about a day, they found a location. The clouds and fog were thick, and the wind was gusting up to 50 miles an hour, the party had to fly and repel down to the surface, the ship could not find a safe place to put down.

Working there way up the mountain, following a crude path the party encountered a group of Ogres. A fight ensued and the party made quick work of them. Investigating the bodies the group found large sacks of treasure, valued in the 10s to 20,000 gold range. The party started thinking this was tribute to some other individual and wondering if they just made yet another enemy.

Investigating the area, Bartzable found an area where there were a lot of smashed rocks and a set of manacles draped over a metal spike in the rock face. Further investigation they found the bones of the wizard and the remains of his belongings, including the amulet.

With amulet in hand they called for the ship and headed north.

Cea 30th - Ara 5th, 500. Acquiring the amulet of Shae, the party quickly returned to Yalca to repair Shae’s Altar. The group discreetly landed near the temple site and slipped into the old cavern. After mending the altar Shrubbery and a cleric of Shae begin the rituals to hollow and sanctify the altar and the area around it. The rest of the party stood watch and waited.

With the altar repaired and holy again, the group left the cleric of Shae to mind the altar and headed out to find Celios. When they arrived, they noticed the city was covered in ice, figures stood in the streets frozen as if in mid-stride. In the main square, the group found a pillar that jutted out of the ground topped with three claws that apparently once held an object. The markings on the pillar identified this as the Staff of Shae, and the Orb was missing.

They investigated the figures and finding them as frozen undead, looking as if they froze while still completing some mundane tasks. Locating the temple of Shae, they found the temple has be desecrated with many priest killed in their beds. All investigations lead to the belief that priests of Malac were involved in the attack.

The group returned to Yalca and easily convinced clerics of Thisu and Shae to return with them to celios to purge the undead from the city and restore the temple of Shae. They loaded up the newly repaired altar of Shae and took it with the clerics back to Celios.

Back at celios the clerics started their work. About an hour into it they were attacked by three undead. A cleric of Thisu was killed outright by an undead warrior, a cleric and mage soon joined. The warrior was quickly disabled allowing the group to focus the strikes on the magic users. When the warrior was finally killed a red mist escaped from the body and seem to attempt to enter an earth elemental the party had summoned. Failing to control the beast, it then went after the ranger Urich and failed to take control of him. The party destroyed the mist and the body of a priest of Malac appeared on the ground. Getting their breath the clerics resumed their task of putting the undead to rest. After a day of work, the altar was mounted, and the temple was sanctified and hallowed. Protection spells were placed on each of the entrances and the clerics began to start their daily rituals and prayers.

While the clerics and the druid did their work, the rangers patrolled and stood guard duty and alex with sigmar explored the cities library. There they found an old book written by Sully Crimton II about 500 years ago.

The altar placed and the undead delt with, the party head south back to the gold dragon that assisted them the first time. With some minor haggling and the promise of a favor the dragon assisted them locating the Orb from the staff. It appears to be at an island off the eastern coast of The Twelve Republics called, The Isle of Dragons.

They returned to the ship to contemplate the next move.

Ara 5th - Tren 4th, 500 Back in Maguld, the group assembled the crew and offered to pay them a year in advance, those that wish to leave could do so, taking the year salary as a severance package. Two members of the crew decided to leave. The ship remained in Maguld until replacements were found. While there, many were off at libraries conducting research into the Isle of Dragons. Looking at their scheduled obligations, the group decided to head to the spot their obelisk was going to be placed to scout the area out. They waited for everyone to board the ship and set out.

Tren 5th, 500: The group left the city of Maguld and proceeded to the north east and the location marked in their maps. On a high-altitude flyby, the group could see campfires stretched out over a mile around the location. A large hole was dug around the precise location where the obelisk is to be placed, the dept is unknown. Several ships were seen anchored in the water on both sides of the thin land mass. Undead were being used as force labor and emblems of the Cult of Malac and Blood Order were seen on crests and standards.

Taking this in, the group decided to travel northward to another location they knew about, this area was also heavy guarded. This group used rafts to build fortifications on, there were ships patrolling the waters around the area and large sea creatures were circling the rafts.

Armed with this knowledge the group sent the information back to several parties then proceeded to Lake Poin to await word.

While there, the group decided to cast some detection spells to ensure they were not being watched. The divination reviled two people and an object on the ship were all targets of scrying spells. The group took action to end the spells and purchased additional spells to help misdirect and block further attempts at scrying.

While doing this, the group received a message to meet at another location just outside a forest near the coast. With the location charted, the ship set off.

Tren 6th, 500: On arrival to the location, they were met by a few large ships and the king’s wizard. 3rd rangers began disembarking from the ships and setting up camps. In addition, a group of Centaur rangers and clerics of Shae, lead by a former acquaintance (Surano Travno, the once hill giant reincarnated into a centaur and follower of Shae.) arrived offering their assistance.

The group met with the wizard and a few members of the 3rd rangers to plan the strategy for the assault. They were later joined by the white dragon Vaxmorlashin in his white dragonkin form and the gold dragon Halomtha in a metallic female elf form. It was decided the 3rd rangers and the centaurs will conduct a ground assault, the two dragons and three airships will take the fight to the skies and, the wizard will open a horizontal portal above the hole. Shrubbery will then cast a moon path spell descending to the bottom of the pit.

With everything set, the attack commenced. The surface fight was met with some resistance, however when the green and blue dragon defending the area were defeated and sent fleeing the battle took a turn in favor of the rangers. Midway through the fight, the king’s wizard sent reinforcements through a gate to help overwhelm the defenders, Crusader Goblins.

These goblins defected during the war as we secretly assisting the kingdom to defeat their brethren. Their only request was to serve the king. The reinforcements consisted of 12 of each elemental shaman, 200 goblin warriors, 100 goblin rangers, 20 goblin sages and 2 stone panther golems. The battle did not last long after their arrival.

In the pit, the party caught the leaders by surprise. Not having time to prepare and being separated in their own carved out caverns, they were not able to combine their abilities and were force to fight individually. However, as soon as they stepped from the moon path, they were assaulted by a Blasphemy spell, which left 4 members paralyzed. The group manage to un-paralyze one member but not the others. The party divided, shrubbery charged to the east and faced off with a pair of “brain-nibblers”, Bartzable and Sigmar faced off with a pair of “eye-floaters”, while Alex and Worley face off with a trio of tanned skinned golden hair elves.

The fight was not entirely easy, but with might and magic the group managed to defeat most of the enemies. One of the “brain-nibblers” escaped and the elven archer drew a blade across an umber hulk tattoo causing himself to combust, leaving only ashes.

Quickly packing up anything of value the party was met in the main pit floor by four goblin earth shamans, once the party was ready, the earth shaman cast a co-op spell filing in the pit underneath them and causing them to rise.

Back on the surface the rangers and goblins were tending to their wounded, while pockets of fighting were still going on. The party not staying boarded their ship and moved to orbit to decompress, heal, rest, and evaluate what they found.

Tren 7th, 500: The ship returned to the area the following day. Shrubbery assisted healing the wounded and observed and studied the goblins area affecting and co-op regenerating and healing circle spells. Worly remained on the ship studying tactics, while Alex spent most of his time in his cabin praying at his shrine to Heironeous. Sigmar went back to his spell research and examined several of the items recovered from the fight. Bartzable sought out the pair of dragons inquiring about a unique mount and a method to resolve the cursed chalice attached to his hand. Meeting with the goblin golem crafters, they came up with an idea.

Tren 8th-21th, 500 The group packed up and headed back to Maguld. The spent about a week picking up supplies and restocking the ship. Shrubbery also purchased a load of marble to be sold in Yalca for extra coin to pay the crew. With a quick stop in Yalca, they made their way to Celios. On arrival they were met by clerics of Shae and several other rangers and druids. Warley and Sigmar headed to the library to do some clean up and inventory, while the rest assisted the offload of supplies to the temple.

While in the temple, Alex noticed a new comer counting steps and seemingly gaging the size and shape of the rooms and number of people. When he confronted the man, he tried to run, several clerics immediately cast hold spells at the person. A quick inspection of the person they found an umber hulk tattoo on a bald spot on his head. They took the man in for interrogation and summoned the others to the temple.

Warley using magic combed through the persons memories looking for why and who sent him there. From the memories he saw a “brain-nibbler” and several other people. In a dark corner Warley saw the un-mistakable image of Kassoa Limmer.

Upon completion, Warley planted the memories in each of the party members and discussed their next steps. It was decided they would contact Elim Zollus to inform him as to what they saw. On his arrival, Warley implanted the memory he saw. Elim face twisted in disgust, turned, and left without a word.

With this brewing, the clerics rounded up everyone, including their own clergy and inspected and interrogated each of them. Some were not happy with the treatment and packed their items and left the city. The remaining however fully understood why this was required and this seemed to deepen their resolve.

The party turned to a new task, the Orb of Shae. Said to be on the Isle of Dragons, a deadly island off the eastern coast of The Twelve Republics. Their dragon friends told them the Joniir could possibly help them retrieve the item for them, or at least help them do it. They packed up the ship and headed west, following the river.

The ship landed in the river and the group disembarked heading into the wilds. After about an hour, they were met by strange looking people. They looked like a cross between a human and dragon, but not like a dragon-kind, or dragon-blood, the features seem to be more blended, there was nothing about them that was entirely dragon, or human. Before the group could even speak, they were frozen in place from the neck down.

The group conversed with them, told them what they sought and who sent them. The Joniir released them and told them to follow. The group was led a few miles inland to an open canopy area. There were 20-30 Joniir gathered here in what appears to be a campsite of sorts, however there were no campfires, or tents; there were hammocks, tables, and chairs, but no structures. The Joniir motioned for them to sit at the table and state their case.

The group again stated why they had come and what they expected. Many of the Joniir did not seem to care and a few stated as much. One a female stated “The Joniir have been here from the dawn of time, before the humans, before the dwarves, before the elves. If the devourer comes and destroys them, then it will simply reset the world back to the way it was before the others invaded. The Joniir will prevail, and the devourer will never pass the mountains. The Joniir are not in danger and the Joniir do not care.”

After some more talking and a few what sounded like speeches, the seemingly leader stood and spoke. “So, if we do assist you, how is this going to work. No one who comes here is allowed to leave. We cannot have you travelling the world telling everyone you were here, it would inspire others to try, and that is something we do not want to happen.” Alex offered his word of honor in the name of his god. This, however, was not good enough.

Warley then suggested memory modification. Have the Joniir remove the memory of this meeting and all interactions with the Joniir. They seemed to agree on this and a Joniir stood and volunteered for the task. The group and the single Joniir returned to the ship and set off for the Isle of Dragons.

The group returned to Celios with the orb with no memory of what happened.

With the Orb of Shae back into its place the group headed back to the obelisk camp. Shrubbery however decided to remain and seek the silver plum tree he had a vision about and help protect the re-established city.

On their return, the dragons found Bartz and took him to the goblins. With a cleaver in hand an overly eager grin from the goblin Bartz hand was cut off and the cups power was absorbed into the flesh golem beholder.

Warley in the meantime decided to hit the camps hot spots and get a little information about affairs over the previous week. He learned the outpost has come under attack almost daily by dragons, gold elves and humans, most likely cult members.

The tree rangers set out on a scouting mission to see if they could track where some of them are coming from. While passing through a section of hilly woods Urich came across tracks that someone attempted to cover up. They followed them to find three gold elf scouts. The scouts were not surprised and were waiting for them. Their first set of attacks directed at Talia and none of which hit their mark. Jishmor sprung into action sending a volley of arrow to one on atop a cliff, all finding their mark and the elf fell to the forest floor. Urich positioned himself between Jishmor and the elves and in a perfect location. The second elven scout charged Jishmor, Urich ambushed him as he went by slicing deeply into his neck and chest with a fury of blows. Talia teleported behind the third who was about to shoot into the fray and bashed him over the head with her staff, knocking him cold.

The rangers tied the elf up and gathered all the belongings from all of them and carried the unconscious elf back to the camp for interrogation. Once back at the camp they called for Warley and the dragons.