August 10th, 2024

Iustitia, Artis 12th, 1194

Ishtar uses transport via plants to get us most of way to the underwater temple and Rowan’s snake, Poppy, guides us the rest of the way.

Ishtar scouts the temple area as a small fish. The ruins look like a sunken city, but is inside a cave and doesn’t make much sense in how it got there. The ruins are inhabited by merrow (sea ogres). Upon their scales and the walls are etched Architect runes. The merrow just seem to be lounging around here. Deeper in, Ishtar finds a very large statue toppled over; it’s too large to fit in the room while standing. He then investigates another entrance that is more actively guarded, but doesn’t get close as to avoid suspicion.

Mors, Artis 13th, 1194

We begin our investigation starting with the guarded cave entrance. The ruins look almost as if the cave were superimposed upon them. There are more Architect runes on the walls and guards. One particular room has “fresher” runes which are magical. We are unable to find anything else here.

We head over to the area that Ishtar first scouted and battle through more merrow in the statue room. We don’t find anything of value or interest in the room and can’t determine what this room is commemorating.

July 27th, 2024

Mors, Artis 6th, 1194 (Continued)

We ask Lanart about the Cabalis Nocturnum; he is not familiar with them, but the Comyn Council in Thendara might know more. He also shows us a map of the area. Graynor asks about which religions are present in Carcosa and Avarra is the most common.

Vita, Artis 7th, 1194

We start traveling to Thendara, which will take about 8 hours.

We arrive in Thendara and Sigmund gathers some information while we are in town. Comyn Tower, where the Comyn Council and the only library is, is not open for visitors. Within a couple hours of our arrival, rumors of us have already spread.

We walk around looking for temples and find that Avarra, Cassilda, Dorylis, and Hastur are all represented, as well as one which we are unfamiliar with, Aldonis. Aldonis is the god of light and father of Hastur. He used to be worshiped where we are from, but faded away and Madri took up his title as god of Light. Graynor spends some time at this temple.

Mare, Artis 8th, 1194

We visit Comyn Tower and present our writ of introduction. The guards here have matrixes and he eventually takes us to a waiting room with the Hastur of Elhalyn. We fill him in with much of the same information that we gave Lanart.

He has heard of the Cabalis Nocturnum, but says that they are rare and he doesn’t believe that they would work with the cultists. Carcosa used to be a full world, but, as part of becoming Thaluzoth’s prison, it became a demiplane.

He discusses laran with us some more. It resides in many people, but it doesn’t always manifest. When it manifests later in life, it could cause threshold sickness, which can be deadly. Pollen from the Kireseth plant can trigger the manifestation and wanton orgies. The current kind of matrixes that are utilized are not the kind that could control someone, unlike the really big ones that are now outlawed. After the Age of Chaos, where Carcosa was fractured and warring with itself, the Comyn Compact was agreed upon in which the large matrixes were banned. Only Aldaran did not agree to it. There is a very large matrix in Carcosa related to Sharra that is worshiped by the forgefolk. The Ardais laran can awaken the ability in others, and can be just as dangerous as the flower, but in a controlled environment.

After our meeting he treats us to lunch in the great hall, during which there is entertainment.

After lunch we get supervised access to the library. Ty finds some books on martial arts, but no Investigator Vale novels. The Aldaran house may be the most likely candidate for what she is looking for. Sigmund researches the kireseth flower. The flower releases a large amount of pollen when in full bloom, which is called a Ghost Wind, and is dangerous and generally avoided. Ralzer looks into enhancing his gun and finds that the Serrano house can make small constructs and could be a good lead. They think that with the help of Comyn Tower, his gun could be enhanced how he wants. Ishtar does some general planar research.

Graynor looks for set items, but can’t find information on the ones he’s looking for. He does find the Whispering Shadows for sale.

Tomorrow morning someone from the Darriell house of Alderan will spar with Ty and an Ardais will attempt to invoke an awakening around lunch.

Terra, Artis 9th, 1194

In the morning Ty spars at the Darriell house and learns a few things.

After lunch we have our meeting with Ardais. The process feels a little strange, but nothing awakens. Our mythic spark must overlap, and not stack with, laran.

Later in the evening we help with Ralzer’s ritual, which is successful.

Tomorrow we will leave for Hali.

Forte, Artis 10th, 1194

We arrive at Hali during the night.

Bellum, Artis 11th, 1194

Ralzer will finish enchanting Graynor’s sword before we head home.

We make plans with Lanart to take two people from Hali back with us. We make sure that they have laran and are strong enough to lift the lid.

We are able to find the portal back and it has not been resealed. Once back on our home plane, we head towards Rowan’s place and send the Carcosans to Hallendren’s Deep..

We arrive at Rowan’s at night and catch him up on what we’ve been up to. He knows about the Cabalis and doesn’t think that they would be helping the cult. He suggests talking to a powerful wizard to find out more about them.

July 20th, 2024

Iustitia, Artis 5th, 1194 (Continued)

After killing the snake woman, she dissolves into the ground. One of the cultists has a scrap of paper with a Cabalis Nocturnum watermark on it. They are an ancient secret organization that collect and imprison powerful objects and creatures. There might be some hidden, coded messages on it, but we can’t make it out.

We talk to Ishtar a bit about his circumstances. The avian creatures that he encountered near his village were the same that we saw on the plane out of time, the Kaajh’gor. We then hunker down and build camp in this room, since it’s pretty fortified.

We identity the magical items that we found and after the delay poison spell wears off, poison wracks most of the party.

During the night, Ishtar does not wake up for his watch. This could be whatever was keeping him unconscious coming back.

Mors, Artis 6th, 1194

Ishtar wakes up in the morning. With this mask we found that allows us to see through fog, we will try the crypt portal again.

Back at the barrow ruins, the crypt room is once again sealed. We take a quick look around and notice that the library is missing books and there are more bodies in the central bone room. We then head through the portal.

There are no structures or anything, but Ty sees what could be a school of fish in the distance, so we head that direction. The ground begins to slope up, like we are entering a beach. Ishtar says it is reminiscent of the realm of Carcosa, which has a lake of fog. Ty heard that name while eavesdropping on the cultists that she was stalking. Once breaching the fog, everyone can see. There is a tower in the distance and we approach it.

The tower is not in great shape. Near the entrance is a stone inscribed with a message:

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

Sigmund looks for tracks around the area, but only finds small animal tracks. Ishtar communes with nature to learn about our environment in a nine mile radius. He finds that there are people nearby, there is the presence of powerful unnatural creatures, and nature is in a healthy and peaceful, but melancholy general state.

When we enter the tower, we constantly hear an overlapping din of many whispering voices; it’s hard to pick up any specific words. Ralzer figures the building to be several hundred years old, the battle wear is about that old as well.

By the third floor, Ralzer notices that the fire damage appears to be unnatural; it looks as if the stone burned as well. The damage gets worse as we go up and the 6th floor is completely sheered off. Maybe something blew up on this floor. Embedded in the stone are some blue crystal flakes. Ty manages to find a large piece and it has an overwhelming magical aura. Ralzer is able to identify it; it’s called a matrix and it enhances arcane power. While he was identifying it, he felt it encroach on his mind. He does not share this with the party. Ishtar can see a town several miles inland from up here and we find nothing else in the tower.

We spend some time discussing our options and decide to stay here and investigate the town. Ishtar will first scout it as a squirrel. It’s not a large town, humans and elves, mostly. He sees people armed with guns like Ralzer.

As we all approach, we are “greeted” by a human in a green tunic with a gun. His tunic has eagle heraldry very similar to the crypt we were in. He immediately asks us to halt (compellingly so) and asks which house we belong to. When we couldn’t answer that, he asks which domain we are from. When we can’t answer that, he tells us to wait. Graynor detects evil on him and he notices. He warns him not to do that around here.

When he returns, we try to truthfully explain where we are from and how we got here. They are unfamiliar with the portals and the city that we came from. They detect magic on us and notice that Ralzer has a Matrix. They ask him to hand it over as they are very dangerous—they can corrupt people. Ralzer admits that he felt a presence and hands the gem over. The men take us to their elder, Mikhail Lanart, whom he refers to as the Lanart. He welcomes us to Hali. The town was attacked about the same time as the tower. He is from the Lanart House, Alton Domain. The eagle heraldry is part of the Alton domain and the houses have variations of it.

Kaajh’Kaalbh’s brother, Thaluzoth, is imprisoned in Carcosa. There are 37 other cities, villages, and towers here; Thendara is the largest. He shows us some very detailed star maps he has and gives us a better sense of where we are in the multiverse. Carcosa looks “closer” to the Dark Tapestry.

We ask him about the stone epitaph near the tower. Lanart believes it is about how Carcosa was chosen to imprison Thaluzoth. He thinks the king refers to King Hastur, who may or may not be related to the Deity Hastur.

There is an ability present here called laran, which is related to the matrixes. It sounds similar to our mythic spark, but not completely. Their great kings of the past naturally had this ability and people can artificially enhance their weaker version of it now via matrixes. These matrixes also respond to people with laran and responded to Ralzer, suggesting the two could be the same.

While speaking of our journey to find the beacon calling Kaajh’Kaalbh, he suggests that so long as he is continued to be worshiped, that might be all that is now calling him. He requests that we take one of his men with when we return home to the prime material. We warn him that the portal we accessed Carcosa from is in a defiled crypt bearing eagle heraldry.

We show Lanart the strange coins we found in the illithid lair and on the gun wielder that fell out of the obelisk, but he is not familiar with them. Gold is not used as a coin here, but iron. Lanart is also completely unfamiliar with halflings; apparently such races do not exist here, so Ty will look pretty out of place. While there are humans and elves, there are no gnomes, halflings or dwarves. There are more races here that we haven’t heard of before as well that Lanart informs us of.

June 22nd, 2024

Bellum, Artis 4th, 1194 (Continued)

We take a closer look at the decagram and it looks as if some of the symbols have been repaired recently; after whatever caused this mass destruction, another person visited and repaired some of the things. Channeling mythic energy into this structure does nothing. We then leave the area and head back to the shimmering portal outside.

Channeling into this portal has an effect, but it doesn’t open the portal. The other side might be jammed physically, perhaps the fallen mountain? Since we have no other leads, we leave through the mechanical dais portal.

Once outside, there is a raven watching us again, from much farther away. We try to communicate with it and it caws something that sounds like “follow”, so we do. It leads us west, away from the city.

It leads us three hours to a big sink hold, then it says to enter. Climbing down isn’t too difficult and leads to a natural cavern, where a halfling is waiting for us. His name is Rowan and he knows we were looking for him. He tells us that the skum have a submerged temple deeper in the swamp and that he knows of other locations that may be of interest to us; one being an underground temple. This cult has been in the area for about 12 years, but they have become more bold as of late. There are also other cults in the swamp, but not the kind we are looking for. We stay the night as his place.

Iustitia, Artis 5th, 1194

It will take about half a day to get to this underground temple. Within this temple are several statues of remarkable quality; they could be petrified people, due to some kind of magic. They are sporting heraldry featuring an eagle.

While traversing a small pool, we are ambushed by a riptide horror; it’s weak to electricity and has a paralyzing venom. In another room, there is an ornate snake statue that has a moderate magical aura. Zandru is the only god associated with snakes. When Sigmund approaches it from the serpentine path before it, a green mist bellows out from the statue. We’ve been warded against poison, but it could be poison.

The next room is a narrow path above a deep pit– it is littered with traps. There is also what turns out to be a fake treasure chest. After that, we enter the room that we saw earlier through the wall. There is a very large snake molting and an ornate snake motif on the floor. As we enter, we hear spellcasting and a cloud of fog appears in the north, which is the only way forward out of this room.

We then head back to the entrance and take the other path. It’s just a small campsite with a manacled man. He has a strange collar inscribed with architect runes. Both the collar and the manacles are magical. Ty is able to pick the manacles lock, but the collar doesn’t have any such mechanism. Channeling mythic energy into the collar does remove it, but he remains unconscious. Casting delay poison wakes him up.

His name is Ishtar-Nam and he says he’s from Silverpine, which is a lost town. Based on his description, it sounds as if he was exploring the Cave of Unreasonable Ice. He’s unaware of the current year and thinks it is 4719. This would place him in either the distant past or the far future. He thinks he may have been here for several months.

He was exploring an ice cave hear his town where he found a rift. His description of the place inside the rift sounds a lot like the void realm that Graynor visited long ago. It was there that he may have gained his mythic spark. When he came out of the rift, people looking like Architects captured him. One of the people that captured him bears a striking resemblance to Tolm. Time may have passed at a very different rate when he was in that void realm. We invite Ishtar to travel with us as we explore the rest of the complex.

Past the wall of fog we find some stairs going down. The stairs have two moderate auras on them. Sigmund dispels one and we go down. Below is a door that has another magic aura; we trigger it and people are wracked with nasty pain. The next door puts people in a very deep sleep and we have to wait an hour for them to awaken.

We return and make it to the final room. A serpentine woman with snake hair and bird wings assaults us. She is joined by more cultists and we eliminate them.

June 8th, 2024

Bellum, Artis 4th, 1194 (Continued)

We head to the original barrow and investigate the sarcophagus room. Sigmund removes the spell on the door and we enter. Nothing detects are evil, but there are three magic auras; the two purple lights and the sarcophagus, the strongest is overwhelming. The broken statue in here has the eagle symbolism from the previous users.

After applying some mythic energy to the sarcophagus, Graynor is eventually able to push it open. Inside is a really thick, non-poisonous mist and it seems as if it’s much deeper than it looks. Ralzer tethers himself using the rope and enters with the fly spell. He definitely went through a portal and the area on the other side is full of the mist and difficult to breath. It’s about an 8 to 10 foot drop to the floor and he can’t see too much else, so he returns.

We formulate a plan to explore this area and Ralzer goes back with a spell that allows him to breathe in that environment. There is no ceiling within 80ft of the entrance and the ground is a mix of gravel and sand. There are no noticeable sounds or anything else of note within 80ft of the entrance. The lunar amulet does not function here either.

Graynor channels mythic energy back into the sarcophagus to properly seal it and we head back to the mechanical portal dais.

The three auras are back and we find new tracks that suggest it was skum that cast them; they came from three different directions. There is a raven in a nearby tree that looks as if it is watching us. Ralzer shoots it and it flies away.

The spells in place now are of a weaker potency than before (faint instead of moderate). We decide to just trigger the traps and enter the portal; nothing happens and we enter without issue.

While investigating a small cave that was sealed with a couple castings of wall of stone, it looks like something else already physically bored through it. At the end is a dead human male. He has a journal and his name may be Halzar.

The journal details how he and his wife, Arianne, created something called a Timegate that would allow travel to other points in time. Upon its activation, a horde of creatures that he calls “timewights” burst through, killing his wife. He collapsed his mountain fortress as he escaped to contain the horde and hide his research. He then fled. The mountain fortress’s collapse could be the Red Mountain from the prophecy.

Sigmund casts speak with dead on him and asks the following questions.

• Where did you want to go with the Timegate? Just testing.
• Who, besides your wife, knew of your Timegate? The Temple of Expeditions (Kel’Quey).
• What made you believe you breached a prison with the Timegate? A hunch.
• How did you die? Monsters killed me.
• What did you have on you when you died? Did not answer.

We continue to search the area and find a shimmering effect that sort of looks like the portals that react to us. While moving there, three ethereal looking flying creatures attack it. They shoot lots of fire. We continue down the path to a stone door. Behind the door is an enormous laboratory in poor condition. It looks to have something to do with astrology and has lots of strange green fluid in tubes and vats; we take samples.

We find books about imprisoned gods and lots of symbols and runes, but they do not look like the Architects. There are many magic auras here, necromancy and abjuration, but they are all of faint strength. There is a large desk that has a hidden compartment that contains the Oracle’s Insight set. After searching the desk, we feel an unveiling effect.

We then investigate the central decagram and arcane tentacles emerge and attack us. One is a tentacle of isolation that has an aura of sluggishness and another is a tentacle of decay, which has an aura that rots flesh. These are the names that Investigator Vale attributes to them, based on the sensations imposed by their respective auras. In The Darkened Stars, following the events from The Stranded Prisoner, Vale encounters these foes while pursuing Artorious Balen. Vale has begun to unravel the machinations of Balen’s plot to erode the sanity of an entire city by subjecting the citizenry to “madness, from the darkened stars”. The tentacles emerge as a surprising side effect of Artorious unleashing the Darkened Star curse.

June 1st, 2024

Terra, Artis 2nd, 1194 (Continued)

We head back to town to rest the night and Ralzer buys a fly spell.

Forte, Artis 3rd, 1194

We head back to the portal in the ruins and find the mechanism to open the dais is jammed closed. Ty unjams it and finds some new writing within. There are three magic auras on the writing, the most powerful is of moderate strength (level 4-6). We determine that they could be explosive runes, glyph of warding (and greater), and symbol of ____. Sigmund dispels the strongest effect and we settle on using a scroll to summon a pony to trigger the other runes; the pony takes some massive sonic or force damage. There is now one magic aura left (moderate), but this one covers a much larger area.

The existence of these wards indicates that there is someone who does not want us to use this portal, so we will try to track the last person from the original meeting several days ago to find out where they came from.

Sigmund is able to track this individual to the ruins of a thorpe, which is similar in age and style to the other ruins. Atop a hill is a circle of six stones and a large pentagram; a lingering aura of overwhelming magic and evil is present, indicating either a powerful magic spell was cast or an artifact was here within the last several days.

As Graynor approaches, six babau emerge from the stones and attack. Judging from their extra power, we believe that they were mythic. One gets away via teleport, and the rest dissolve upon death.

After the combat, we have a chance to take a closer look and find evidence on the stone slab in the middle and on each pillar indicating that a sacrifice was performed here within the last two days. The pillars also have some Architect-like runes. Perhaps another Rite of Six Shadows was performed here, based on the presence of the babau.

We then head to revisit the barrow chamber that we explored on Artis first. We find the sarcophagus room resealed, the attendant is gone, the incorporeal hosts are gone and new, fresher bodies are stacked in the center of the pillar room.

We return to town to gather some information. We don’t find anything definite about more ruins in the swamp, but they may be deeper in. We find out that there used to be a fairly local druid, but they haven’t been seen for a few years. Their last down residence was about 50 miles southwest.

Bellum, Artis 4th, 1194

We sell and buy stuff with a traveling merchant. Graynor asks him to keep an eye out for the Warlord’s Valor set.

May 26th, 2024

Mare, Artis 1st, 1194 (Continued)

Since we don’t know how many institutions in the city have been compromised by this cult, we can’t risk dropping our prisoner off with the guard and will have to camp outside of the city. During the night, Marcus visits us with news that he’s found a ruined temple that he tracked some cultists to.

Terra, Artis 2nd, 1194

Sigmund and Graynor use some magical resources to awaken our prisoner and our interrogation goes nowhere slowly. He says he worships Thaluzoth, Kaajh’Kaalbh’s brother, who is imprisoned in a swamp. After a few minutes of no more information, we kill him.

We then travel to the ruined temple. When we arrive, the ruins are inhabited by cultists. The ruins are architecturally similar to the ruined town near the Cave of Unreasonable Ice. We approach and a battle ensues. Another drowning devil makes a brief appearance, then leaves.

After we secure the area, we begin to search it. There are symbols on the walls that are faded, but similar to Architect runes, like we found in the plane out of time and that lobster creature. The dais has a mechanism that opens to a horizontal portal and we make our way through it.

The area through the portal has some strange flora and a purple, sunless sky. While exploring, we encounter some strange, pink-fleshed creatures — pink horrors. The pink flesh fluctuates in color tone, and most of its body is ever-changing. Later in the combat a Kaajh’gor shaman and three Kaajh’gor skyfires join in. We kill the shaman and one skyfire before the other two retreat.

May 18th, 2024

Mare, Artis 1st, 1194 (Continued)

We discuss what to do with our unconscious prisoner, but can’t settle on any method of questioning that would deliver results. Ty recommends a merciful execution, but Graynor declines. In the meantime, we will carry his body with us. We then head over to the small cave near the first meeting area.

After following a steep natural tunnel for a bit, it turns into a worked stone complex. Within this area, we feel a sensation similar to an unveiling, as if a strong presence is here. The first room That we visit has one of those incorporeal controlled bodies that Marcus told us about. It’s acting as some kind of servant and is not hostile. We leave our prisoner with him. Another room is locked with a magical effect and the next room looks to be used for storage with a dead body inside.

Across from that room is a library, in which several bad guys assault us, with one of them getting away. He must have teleported or used a secret door that we couldn’t find. One of the dead spellcasters had a Kaajh’Kaalbh symbol. During this fight, a strange-looking creature briefly engages with us from a flanking position; we couldn’t get a good look due to an ongoing fog spell. It leaves after a few rounds. We pursue in the direction that we think it went unless it also teleported.

The next room is large and ornate. It contains embalming materials and torture implements. Some of the texts here mention Uunas and the altar in this room has been reconfigured for Uunas; the original iconography was of eagles. The back wall is broken and leads to more natural caverns.

In these caverns, we keep hearing an unnerving scratching noise. While investigating we are ambushed by a marsh giant, some kind of giant lobster-looking creature, and an eldritch drifter (a semi-incorporeal undead). The lobster creature has runes inscribed on its carapace that look familiar to the Architect imagery that we’ve seen. The drifter was the source of those strange noises from earlier. Later in the brawl, the strange-looking creature from earlier rejoins and Graynor quickly dispatches it. Ralzer identifies it as a drowning devil.

Farther into the complex we find four more individuals that we suspect are incorporeal hosts. They are chained to four pillars, so we avoid them. The hallway eventually leads to a dead end and we begin moving back to the entrance while performing more thorough searches along the way.

Ty eventually brute forces her way through the magical door. Within this room is an ominous sarcophagus chained down with some strange purple lighting. We pick up our prisoner and leave.

March 23rd, 2024

Iustitia, Lux 23rd, 1194

We settle on visiting Hallendren’s Deep to investigate the cult activity, which will take about 7.5 days of travel. Later in the day, Ralzer gets a delivery of the Thunderstrike Duo.

Mors, Lux 28th, 1194

At a crossroads we find a dead human woman hanging from a tree. It attacks once Graynor gets close to it. Upon closer inspection, we can see an incorporeal form within the body. During the combat, we are assisted by Marcus, a human male. The tattoo on his hand signifies him as a “Hand of Barnabas“, which is a mercenary group.

Marcus’ traveling companion was killed by this thing early this morning. Marcus then hung the creature from a tree to keep it in one place; he used a rope threaded with nephelium, as it has properties that affect undead. This is the same transparent metal that the Nightcaller whistle was composed of. He explains that a cult in the area will bind incorporeal undead into living bodies, where they remain dormant until the host expires. This one may have been a specter, since it inflicted negative levels.

Marcus wants to get his friend resurrected, which we cannot do. We ask him what he knows about the cult in the area. According to him, it’s composed of humans, elves, and orcs. However, there are some skum in the swamp that have also begun collaborating with them, since they have no aboleth masters in this area.

We bury the hanged person and converse more with Marcus. He will accompany us to Hallendren’s Deep and we will magically preserve his friend. While traveling, Marcus tells us about what he’s seen in the swamp.

• Marsh giants – dangerous, produce fog effects and curse people
• Dimensional shambler – teleports a lot, spellcasters want to study them
• Color out of space – powerful ooze that has many immunities and spell resistance. They have a disintegrating touch, an aura of lassitude, and it grows bigger by blighting large areas of land or feeding on the living. In the Harmonic Dissonance, Investigator Vale needs to lure one of these into the aura of another creature with an aura of high energy.
• Cerebric fungus – they read minds and adjust their appearance based on their findings. It has an otherworldly mind that resists detection and can inflect debilitations. They have fast healing and can cast spells. They’re vulnerable to sonic damage.
• Shambling mounds – lots of them.

Vita, Lux 30th, 1194

We arrive in Hallendren’s Deep in the evening and Marcus recommends the Lonely Witch Inn. We secure lodgings and Sigmund will gather info about this cult. The cult seems to be located west of the city, which goes deeper into the swamp; most people avoid the swamp due to the obvious danger and there are no small villages in the swamp.

Graynor visits his temple to see what they know about the cult. He learns about some townsfolk that have gone missing.

Mare, Artis 1st, 1194

It’s the Summer Solstice. We investigate the missing townsfolk and get the names of two young ladies that have gone missing within the last month. Brey Shanks has been missing for 3 weeks and Sadie Shaulfer for 5 weeks. Both knew each other, but not very well. The families didn’t notice any changes in their behavior and they’ve had no new friends. Neither of them returned from school.

Graynor talks with the school admins about the missing girls, but doesn’t get any new information. Sigmund follows up with the town guard and also doesn’t get anything new, while getting the feeling that the guards are not really interested in the case.

At night Ty stakes out a western exit of the city, with a spell that will allow the rest of the party to track her while staying a good distance, and follows someone to a meeting deeper in the swamp. They meet up with three others outside of a small cave; all of which look to be human and they speak in undercommon. Ty catches the name Carcosa.

After about 90 minutes, they each depart in a different direction. Ty follows a new person, heading west.

This person heads to another gathering with 7 total people. They are joined by a skum about 30 minutes later. At this point we decide to engage them.

Everyone at the gathering is a spellcaster with holy symbols related to Kaajh’Kaalbh, with the skum and one other being a little stronger casters. We dispatch them, but not before the skum flees into the swampy depths. We manage to subdue one of them for questioning. Another person here is a dead woman with the same Architects symbol carved into her that we saw in the plane out of time. She is not one of the missing girls.

According to Ralzer, the Pnakotic Manuscripts references Carcosa as a plane that is supposed to touch the other planes, like the plane of shadow.

We should follow our trail back to the small cave that the first meeting was near.

March 2nd, 2024

Vita, Lux 9th, 1194 (Continued)

By Ralzer’s calculations, it will take about 30 days of horse travel to get to Bremer from Ironwald Downs. We’ll set off to Ironwald Downs in the morning.

Bellum, Lux 13th, 1194

During first watch, Ralzer notices a strange pulsing light up the mountain. It’s about an hour away, so we all just decide to move camp to it and investigate. Around where we believe the light was, we find six hell hounds. Not long after we dispatch them, a portal pulses in a large stone arch. A large sized hell hound (nissian) and a snake-like humanoid (salamander) emerges. After killing them, the portal turns off again. The smaller hell hounds and the salamander felt as thought they had mythic sparks.

We then begin investigating the portal; Sigmund thinks it may be of Fey origin. According to the tracks around the area, there are several medium-sized, bipedal, cloven hoofed creatures that are unaccounted for.

We camp next to the portal.

Forte, Lux 19th, 1194

We arrive in Ironwald Downs. Graynor heads to his church to talk about securing faster travel to Bremer, Ralzer crafts ammunition, Ty goes to update Nadal, and Sigmund will report in with the Courts of Inequity (Sarama).

Sigmund is able to schedule a meeting for tomorrow morning and then meets up with Graynor to head to the Temple of Enchantment (Adira) to ask about the featureless corpse. Coyle, our point of contact, greets us and answers our questions. The featureless body had serpentine internal organs, like the person who killed Representative Cutther with the Mindstone Dagger. That body was then taken into custody by the Legion of Bones, a pseudo-police force run by House Rane.

Bellum, Lux, 20th, 1194

Our meeting is at 1pm with Judge Balefrost. He will secure teleportation and a letter of introduction for the mayor of Bremer. We ask him about the Mindstone Dagger, of which he last heard that the Courts of Justice (Angelique) had it and were looking for a way to destroy it.

Iustitia, Lux 21st, 1194

We meet with mage Laern Zolerii at the Magic Circle for our Teleportation– He’s happy to see us again. During the teleportation, Ralzer experiences some strange sensation and feels as if something was watching him. The last time we traveled through the astral plane (with plane shift from the Plane Out of Time) we had no issues. That is also the same day the paths on the Calendar diverged greatly.

We arrive in Bremer without any other complications; it’s a city about twice the size of Short Rock Pass.

First, we visit the Temple of Salvation (Madri), as they have been told of our coming. Protector Nathan Hoskins greets us. We mention our desire to investigate the obelisk and he’ll get us a meeting with Mayor Pearce. No one here has been able to approach the obelisk, due to the repulsion. Nathan recommends the Empty Barrel for food and drink, so we head there.

While at the Empty Barrel, Sigmund works the room to gather rumors and information.

• There is talk of weird stuff and cult activity at Hallendren’s Deep (19).
• The sky had a purple hue the same day that we saw it around Ironwald Downs when we first approached.
• There have been strange plant growth around here.
• The obelisk appeared the same time as the one in Ironwald Downs.
• Animals have been behaving differently here.

Mors, Lux 22nd, 1194

Graynor and Ralzer have strange dreams again; Ralzer’s mind still feels the lingering effects from the teleportation.

We have our meeting with Mayor Pearce and he has no issue with us approaching the obelisk and wants to join us. We head out to see the Obelisk.

Sigmund is unable to dispel the repulsion effect and only Graynor and Ty are able to approach it. Ralzer, dejected that he cannot approach, leaves. Touching the obelisk does not cause bodies to fall out, but channeling our mythic energy does allow us entry. The inside is more deteriorated than the one in Ironwald Downs; much filthier and covered in lichen. The floor is cracked, there are no caskets inside, there are no signs of activity for a very long time. Instead of a star navigation room, there is a small pool of brackish water. Graynor and Ty take samples and then leave the vessel.

Sigmund looks over the lichen and water samples, but can’t determine the exact origin; most likely a swamp. Graynor brings up that there are five heralds and five of these obelisks.

At night, we all have strange dreams. There is a bright light and a path of flagstones with strange runes on them that we follow. As we walk the path, we feel very good.