January 13th, 2024

Plane Out of Time, Day 5 (Continued)

We head back to the Tavern Out of Time and catch Stormrift up on our meeting with Ziggs. Stormrift is pretty interested in our metal orb. While using detect magic, he can see a new magic tether that is on everyone. He then confesses to being a dragon and tells us his true name, which is like some melodic harmony that we can’t accurately pronounce. He recognizes the name Ziggs as a herald of Kaajh’Kaalhb; one of the five heralds that the ancient heroes fought. Stormrift was part of a group that was hunting heralds in the Dark Tapestry before the time of those heroes.

Stormrift gives us a coin and tells us we need to contact the Court of Inequity (Sarama) when we get back home. We should ask for a Representative of the Eye and tell them about Kaajh’Kaalbh. He also mentions that the Temple of Conquest (Barnabas) could also be of assistance– they are a militant church, sort of an evil version of the Temple of Salvation (Madri). Both churches helped hunt Kaajh’Kaalbh back when Stormrift was active.

Ralzer investigates the orb some more and finds that it has a plane shift effect keyed to the city of Nightengale. We then inform Nehu that we will be trying to leave tomorrow.

Plane Out of Time, Day 6 – Mare, Ignis 11th, 1194

Ty goes ethereal one last time before we leave. It looks the same as before and he can’t see the tethers. Sigmund makes a couple of attempts to dispel the tethers with magic, but it doesn’t work. We then channel our mythic energy into the orb to activate the plane shift.

The spell goes off and we are in a desert with Nehu– the tethers are no longer present. Ralzer determines that the closest settlement, Hearthstone, is north and we head that way, uneventfully.

Mare, Ignis 12th, 1194

We arrive in Hearthstone and find out that it’s actually Ignis 12th– only two days have passed since we entered the last portal.

We spend two days in town shopping and crafting, then catch a boat to Aldtown Crossing, and spend 8 more days traveling to Ironwald Downs.

Mare, Ignis 26th, 1194

We arrive back in Ironwald Downs and visit Nadal to catch him up as best that we can. We muse on how both Stormrift and ourselves are agents against Kaajh’Kaalbh and ended up being trapped there. Ziggs also seemed like he was trapped; was he, too, against Kaajh’Kaalbh? Nadal asks about the elder brain and wonders how it didn’t seem to notice us at all. It should have been able to detect us within 100ft. Something similar has happened a few other times; a strange pattern. Maybe our spark makes us harder to notice. Nadal wants to borrow the Pnakotic Manuscripts and he’ll take point on allying with the Temple of Conquest.

We visit the Church of Inequity and get an appointment for tomorrow around luncheon. We then sell stuff for the remainder of the day.

Terra, Ignis 27th, 1194

We visit the Church of Inequity for our meeting. At first they try to foist us off on a lower level priest, but we make it clear that a Representative is needed. We are taken to the largest library that we’ve ever seen to meet with the Representative, Halver. We know that gifts are appreciated, so we give him the draconic book that we’ve had for months.

Halver is aware of Kaajh’Kaalbh’s calling signs, specifically the plant growth, spellgorging, purple light, and the mindstone dagger. We talk about our meeting with Ziggs, which is a name that he recognizes, and he asks about the plane we were trapped on. Ty mentions her book and it’s origins. Halver says he will look into getting us a meeting with a Judge.

We head to the Parish of Everlasting Knowledge (Avarra) to visit Mikail and catch him up on what we have been doing. He knows of the five heralds of Kaajh’kaalbh and tells us what he knows about them, as follows:

• Alistar – minotaur, buffer
• Blitzcrank – construct, has very long reach and can pull towards him
• Nasus – controls wind, steals life force, tanky
• Yorick – shepherd of souls, summons unique shadows and banshees
• Ziggs – creates alchemist-like bombs that function better than normal, can create minefields

January 6th, 2024

Plane Out of Time, Day 3 (Continued)

While we go talk to Stormrift, Nehu will leave and return tomorrow. We reveal our mythic power to him and he is intrigued. We talk at length about how we got this power and what led us here, then settle on finding and talking with Boomspark while Stormrift does some research.

Plane Out of Time, Day 4

Ralzer and Graynor do not wake up. Ty and Sigmund try all sorts of things to wake them– nothing works. We rule out disease and poison and eventually ask the caulborn to read their minds in exchange for some food.

Ralzer is dreaming of arcane tentacles coming out of a prismatic sky and engulfing the land, along with musing on his guns and our predicament. Graynor is enveloped in a bed of tentacles in a prismatic hue that Ty has seen before. He seems very content in his dream within a dream as he slays evil.

Ty uses empty body. The strange prismatic hue is present and tendril-like appendages are in the sky, as if around the plane, but nothing on Ralzer or Graynor. Inside the bar, there is no prismatic interference. After dragging both of them into the tavern, they wake up. We catch them up on what transpired and then head to the goblins.

Boomspark is still not in and has been gone for over three days now. Ralzer shows off some of his explosives and impresses the goblins. He will make them a gun in exchange for entry to their complex. For the rest of the day we try to find Boomspark, based on his last bearing according to the goblin guards. We travel for as long as we can before making camp.

Plane Out of Time, Day 5

During camp, four Kaajh’gor attack us. Ralzer recognizes this kind of creature; chaotic outsiders that are the creation of the outer gods. They hit pretty hard and have some magic defenses (mirror image); we kill all four.

In the morning we continue trying to track Boomspark’s group. Sigmund gets a sending from Stormrift, “Boomspark was seen entering a cave system about seven miles east and five miles north of the tavern. He was seen carrying a large object.” With these directions we are able to find the cave.

Inside the cave Ralzer feels a subtle unveiling effect. The goblins within will not let us past to see Boomspark. Sigmund attempts to negotiate, but the goblins will not budge. After a few minutes of non-lethal combat, we finally convince the conscious goblins to let us go see Boomspark.

Deep in the caverns we find Boomspark tinkering with a temporal anchor. Sigmund tells him that messing with that could destroy the plane and kill everyone; Boomspark is not concerned and says that won’t happen. Using a strange gauntlet he can draw energy from the anchor.

We detail our situation and desire to return home to him. He is not willing to engage in much conversation, but we do confirm that he is not from the same place as us. With his gauntlet he draws out some more energy and places it in a small metal sphere that he passes to Graynor, saying, “Give this to the dragon and tell him it’s from Ziggs.”

Soon after we get a very strong unveiling sensation. Ziggs, upon questioning, says he knows the feeling and refers to it as “the calling”. He also admits to having a mythic spark. Then, an enormous mass of tentacles erupts from the water. Ziggs recognizes them as arcane tentacles and begins using his gauntlets to siphon energy from the anchor and channel it into the big tentacles.

After about half a minute, three medium sized tentacles emerge and engage against us. One drops Ralzer, but Sigmund gets him up and we are victorious.

Eventually Ziggs says, “uh oh”, spikes the anchor, dimension doors to the center of the tentacle mass and then disappears with a blast of energy. The tentacles also disappear, but the unveiling feeling remains.

Sigmund uses stone shape to bury the anchor and we leave the cave without incident.

December 16th, 2023

Mors, Ignis 10th, 1194 (Continued) – Plane Out of Time, Day 1

[Time functions differently here. The days tracked are the sleep cycle that the PCs are using.]

We eventually settle on traveling east along the road and it leads to a busy tavern, the Tavern Out of Time. There is a wide variety of races present, including a babau, a caulborn, a debauched one, some derro, some drow, an erodaemon, a fetchling (shadow), some hobgoblins, some svirfneblin (deep gnome), a sylph (wind), some tieflings, a vayuphak (asura), and lots of goblin-ish people that look darker and more stoutly built that normal goblins. Caulborns can read and consume thoughts and have a hive mind, while erodaemons can read thoughts.

Sigmund heads to the bar while the rest of us take a table. He chats with the bartender, who is a humanoid with bronze-black skin named Stormrift; it sounds like sometimes people get caught here. While the rest of us chill, Sigmund works the room to try and learn more about where we are. He finds out that it’s eternally night here and that, while no one knows of a way out, some seem certain that there is, as people arrive and then leave. The tavern is considered neutral ground, seemingly out of respect for Stormrift. The goblin-ish people are dark goblins and they really like it here. The fetchling is eavesdropping on the conversation– Sigmund notices and approaches him when his conversation is finished. The fetchling is Nehu and he is also interested in getting back to the Prime Material. Before Sigmund leaves, Nehu slips him a note, then we head outside. The note just says, “Spark?” and Ty thinks that Nehu is hitting on him. Sigmund believes that it’s referring to our mythic spark. We then head down the road eastward.

Sigmund finds us a suitable camp. During the night we are surrounded by three kinds of boilborn. Ty recognizes one of the types as infernal boilborn, which spread disease when they hit you and also explode on death. Investigator Vale encoutered a legion (no pun intended) of festering boilborns in The Phlegmatic Wail. An oozemancer, Bloubus the Unformed, lives in the sewers beneath the metropolis of Seeras. He unleashes his boilborns on the poorest district in town in an attempt to infect the populace. Bloubus wants to enforce Nature’s will and trim the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.

Plane Out of Time, Day 2

We keep following the road eastward and it leads to a dark goblin encampment. Sigmund talks to a guard, but he won’t let us in without their leader’s, Boomspark, permission and he is not present. The guard gives us directions to a couple of caves to explore and rest in. We travel to the “rest” cave and fortify it before turning in for the night.

Plane Out of Time, Day 3

We revisit the dark goblins on the way to the other cave, but are turned away by a guard. Ralzer takes a closer took at the structure, deducing that it’s older than the tavern. We walk the structure and take a closer look at the outer walls, noticing that a worn symbol is repeated in a few spots. Sigmund tries to read it with comprehend languages, which doesn’t work and he suffers feedback similar to how the Architects protect their secrets, but nowhere near as severe. Sigmund things he may have seen this symbol before, back when the well in Delanshire had issues with the church of Neith.

We head off to the other cave and begin exploring it. The water inside is glowing strangely and we find evidence of recent mining activity, looking as if something was extracted. Ty uses Empty Soul and feels an unveiling sensation; it looks prismatic, like the room with the calendar. Sigmund uses stone shape to dig into the walls of a partially excavated area. He finds something large and metal. After a couple castings, he is able to remove it. The item is a large sphere made of a some mithral composite with a sharp point. It has an overwhelming aura, but Ralzer is able to identify it as a Temporal Anchor, which are used to attract and contain certain magical attributes in a plane. Its presence may indicate that this place was created by someone who then used these anchors to contour it to specific attributes.

We head back to the Tavern Out of Time. Sigmund ask Stormrift about Boomspark, but all we learn is that he doesn’t come from around here and is not a goblin. We have a longer talk with Nehu outside the tavern, learning that he and his companions are from Vallyn and came here through a torn portal, like the others we have encountered. Nehu can sense out sparks and he has encountered this power before. We confirm with Nehu that we do have that power and he suggests talking to Stormrift about it. Stormrift is more than he seems; Nehu thinks he may be a dragon.

November 25th, 2023

Iustitia, Ignis 9th, 1194 (Continuted)

We continue exploring and find a large room with an altar to Heltrex. Graynor notices that the area is haunted and alerts us, resulting in us being unaffected. On the walls, written in Abyssal, are descriptions of all kinds of nightmares.

Within a secret room are two incorporeal undead that Graynor identifies as haunts. Without a powerful spell, dispel evil, we can only disperse them for a few days. We disperse them and search the room. According to Sigmund, the Covenant of Tribulation (Heltrex) would drug and torture people and leave them in a room like this until they are scared to death.

When we take stairs down to a deeper level and Ralzer notices that the building is not in as good repair; whatever was preserving it is not present here. Most of the rooms down here look as if they’ve been abandoned for 50-60 years. We encounter more haunts– it seems that only apparitions of church victims remain down here. Even the furniture was taken, as if whomever left wasn’t in a hurry and may have just found a better place.

We venture back out of this structure to rest the night.

Mors, Ignis 10th, 1194

Each one of us had an uneasy sleep due to nightmares.

We head back down and find a shimmering portal that looks like the tear to the plane of water and the desert. This one doesn’t react to us like the prismatic strand on the first floor and Ralzer goes through to explore. It looks like he’s underground; it smells like a cave and there is some minor luminescence from flora.

Ralzer returns through the portal and tells of us of a statue that he saw, which is identified as an mind flayer illithid. Illithids are dangerous, very smart spell casters that use mind control to enslave people. Ty knows of them from The Souls of the Revenged, in which a mind flayer (Zyllyzx) enslaved the priest of a the Home Foundation (Cassilda) to convince his congregation to pledge their afterlives to the service of another evil being, Bartandalus. A paladin of Cassilda in ages past defeated Bartandalus and, upon retiring, founded this church.

We all enter the portal and find that sounds in this place are a little muffled; it’s most noticeable on loud things, like Graynor’s armor and Ralzer’s gun.

In one area we find a phase spider, as identified by Ralzer. We convince it that we are not a threat and leave. Ralzer says that they have a potent and dangerous venom and it’s best to not get involved.

In another alcove is a gelatinous cube. Ty remembers them from The Sapient Hypotenuse. An insane cabal of ridiculed mathmagicians is attempting to discover the Sapient Hypotenuse in order to restore the reputation among their scholarly peers. In one attempt to contact the Sapient Hypotenuse, the cult sacrifices a gelatinous cube and fails to draw the attention of the Sapient Hypotenuse. Investigator Vale was hired by this cabal to capture the gelatinous cube for their ritual, as it has “an abundance of right angles”.

Amongst the gelatinous cube are some coins; they do not look like any of the coins we are familiar with. They contain images of landscapes that none of us recognize.

We explore the rest of the complex and it looks as if we are circling some kind of structure, but cannot find a way in. We find more illithid statues, some of which are holding glowing orbs.

Ty uses Empty Step to breach the walls of the structure. Inside is clearly an elder brain, lord of illithid colonies. It doesn’t appear to notice Ty at all. We then decide to leave this area back through the portal.

We go investigate the prismatic strand portal. It takes us to a shore under a night sky (it should be afternoon), in which does not hold our stars or any moon. The lunar amulet does not function at all here and the sky doesn’t seem to be the same alien sky from Tolm’s cave. After a brief moment, the portal closes behind us. There is a small fishing boat nearby and what looks to be the remnants of a road.

November 4th, 2023

Terra, Ignis 6th, 1194

We sell the loot and recuperate. We are unable to sell the scroll of binding and will have to try selling it in Ironwald Downs. While shopping we find a merchant selling the Stormwalker’s Attire. Mayor Heggry has arranged nice accommodations for us while we stay in the city.

Forte, Ignis 7th, 1194

We discuss our next moves and return the mithral sword to the Eldreen family. We are pretty certain that Crove’s cabal, the Keepers of the Oldest, is not what the calendar was portending.

Ralzer researches the city records and comes up with the following timeline.

• Before 950B – Independent city – Followers of the Old Cults
• 950B-568B – Independent city – Kel’Quay worshipers, farmers, hunters, woodworkers
• 568B-546B – Independent city – Mercenaries, barbarians, warmongers
• 546B-348B – Independent city – Kel’Quay worshipers, hunters, soldiers
• 348B-305B – Independent city – Bandits, mercenaries, slavers, thieves
• 305B-118B – Orc city – Barbarians, slavers
• 118B-338 – Undead city – Minions of the Undying Conqueror (lich warlord)
• 338-705 – Independent city – Eliaz worshipers
• 705-743 – Abandoned – Ghosts, scattered plague survivors (bubonic)
• 743-1194 – Blackstone city – Current occupants

Sigmund talks to the mayor and Rupman. Rupman gives us directions to the derro city and he doesn’t believe that the derro pose a threat to the city; as far as he knows, they keep to themselves. He doesn’t know any more about the Old Gods than we already know and suggests that Crove may have secret rooms in the basement of the asylum that we didn’t find.

Ty and Graynor gather information around town and hear rumors of a black market in the undercity.

We settle on doing a thorough search of the asylum basement. We investigate the morlock’s cell, which just leads to another cell. The morlock has no useful information for us. We find a secret library near Crove’s quarters– inside are 4 magic scrolls, research notes, nasty poetry, and a spellbook. The books in this library are quite old and we find some tomes on the Great Old Ones.

Bellum, Ignis 8th, 1194

We finish search the asylum, finding nothing else of note. We release the morlock into the undercity.

Ralzer starts reading the Pnakotic Manuscripts and Sigmund will try and read more of Ty’s book. He finds a passage about how He seeks for those with a spark and will send armies out to find them (just like the one we saw briefly). It mentions debauched ones, degraded ones, fiends of exalted excess, and refers to the leader figure as a prince of demons. We should learn more of these creatures to prepare.

Ty goes to the library to read recreationally. While there she overhears an Investigator Vale book club meeting; they meet on Bellum’s in the evening. She starts reading The Crimson Rite and finds a passage in which Vale must outwit four spawns of the Dark Tapestry; they sound very similar to the beast that the Keepers of the Oldest summoned. They deal extra damage to structures, have tenuous natural invisibility, are very intelligent, and some can cast spells spontaneously. They have many different appearances and vary greatly in size, some even look humanoid. There are old stories about how they were created to destroy life on planets. Ty checks out the book; Sigmund is dismayed.

Iustitia, Ignis 9th, 1194

Ralzer finishes reading the Pnakotic Manuscripts and gains insight into conjuration magic and the Outer Gods.

We try and trace Crove’s steps in the undercity, going to the derro town first. When we encouter some derro, we introduce ourselves with the names we provided earlier. They will escort us to their settlement and we will meet with Chief Sadek. Unfortunately, Sadek does not know what Crove was looking for down here.

We leave the town and begin retracing Crove’s exploration. We start with a route that Crove took to an area in which he did some thorough exploring. The area is at least 1,000 years old, which puts it in the age of the Undying Conqueror. There are statues of rats with their paws wrapped in chains; the rat is the favored beast of Heltrex and this could be related to her.

Ralzer notices that the stonework here is in very good condition. We feel the same sensation that we felt just before the arcane tentacles attacked or when we saw that marching army. Going forward, we’ll call this sensation an unveiling.

In one room there is a thin, prismatic strand that is very hard to see. When we approach, it expands and looks like a portal. It retracts about 30 seconds after we leave it and does not respond when Luna approaches by herself. Perhaps it’s keyed to our sparks? We’ll continue to explore the complex before interacting with this portal.

We encounter and kill a cacophonic echo, an incorporeal undead of auditory themes.

October 28th, 2023

Mare, Ignis 5th, 1194 (Continued)

We continue our search of the premises– finding a library focused on ancient cults and savage rituals, another related to astronomy, astrology, and eldritch knowledge, and a third with books on torture, mental illness, and old gods. Rupman looks genuinely horrified by this asylum.

We clear the ground floor and begin exploring the basement. We find a row of cells, the first of which is empty, containing only blood and filth. The second has a morlock and a small passage that the morlock moves into. The third has a man named Ploog, who asks us for help and says he was captured recently and lobotomized. The fourth has a large emaciated, unconscious man. At the end of the hall we find a room with a chaos beast and kill it. Rupman confirms that it is not what they summoned.

In a laboratory we find a small blue person performing an autopsy on a lunatic. After a quick battle, he surrenders to Graynor, as if he knows Madri must accept. Sigmund uses a spell to communicate with this creature, finding out that he is a derro and wants to return to the undercity. Crove made a deal with the derro to provide him bodies to autopsy in exchange for unmolested travel through the undercity. We try to make a similar deal in exchange for his life. He says he will bring it up to the chief and asks for our names to provide to his chief for our safe passage. Sigmund gives the derro a fake name, Ian Goodfellow. Ty’s not sure why Sigmund gave another name, so she follows his lead and gives the name Mackenzie.

We encounter Crove and kill him. While fighting Crove, it sounds as if something very large is moving towards us. The beast breaks through the ceiling and attacks us. During the fight with the beast, Sigmund casts spiritual weapon, which manifests as a chakram, the favored weapon of Avarra. It’s a horrid battle, but we prevail.

Crove has a holy symbol with the same image as that blood pattern that we saw yesterday. Among his belongings is a crude map of the undercity; it looks as if he was exploring it.

We try to drag the beast out, but it’s too heavy, so we just take the head to show the mayor. Mayor Heggry is happy to hear that we have dealt with his problem and awards us the remainder of our payment. He informs us that Hyve was killed by the beast after we left him in the custody of the guards; that makes Rupman the only surviving member of this group.

Mayor Heggry ponders Rupman’s punishment and we vouch that he was cooperative in our investigation and assisted us. We return his bonded ring and he’ll get his spellbook after Ralzer spends a few days copying some spells from it. We’ll spend a couple days resting and selling loot.

October 14th, 2023

Vita, Ignis 4th, 1194 (Continued)

We try to interrogate Rupman, but he only talks to Graynor at first, ignoring everyone else. He begs for help against that monster and says that it’s a spawn of the Dark Tapestry and will become more powerful if it kills him. They performed a ritual to drain its power this morning, which will be restored if it kills the others. Their goal was to control it, but it was too strong. We agree to unbind him and take him to the other scenes to determine if any of the bodies are his accomplices. We need to find out if this beast can track them somehow.

The only other body he can ID is Glem Baskerwhel, who is the other corpse that was found with Marshan. He says that Crove would be at his asylum, and Hyve stays at an abandoned church; neither of these locations have been attacked.

We devise a plan of having the town criers proclaim that an individual has been apprehended and is being kept at a specific location, in an effort to lure it into an ambush. We consult with the mayor about our plan and possible collateral damage and find out that there has been another attack. According to witnesses, it is now invisible. Some townsfolk have begun to riot.

It’s getting really late, so while the town criers are doing their part of our plan, we will be resting at our ambush location. During rest Sigmund uses some magic to read the Pnakotic Manuscripts, which looks to be a working spellbook as well. There are some warnings to summoning a creature, just like Rupman talked about.

Night passes.

Mare, Ignis 5th, 1194

The beast attacked Rupman’s vat warehouse during the night. We head to the abandoned church, which is identified as being dedicated to Eliaz. There is a comprehensive collection of Blackstone history books here and a trap door that leads down to some natural cavern system.

In the cavern we are ambushed by Hyve and he snipes Rupman, then grenades him, nearly killing him. He gives us a really long chase, but we finally capture him after his fungus creatures knock him unconcious. Amongst the fungus there is an intact skeleton with a guard uniform and a magic mithral longsword. The area looks as if Hyve was using it to make, and maybe test, poisons. We drop off Hyve at the nearest guard post and ask about the mithral sword; it belongs to Sgt. Eldreen and is enchanted with aberration bane.

We head over to the asylum; inside we are greeted by patients, strapped in jackets, rolling around the ground and screaming. Orderlies then begin to assault us and we retaliate. In a small room attached to the kitchen is a narrow hole that has faint gurgling and shuffling noises coming from it. The hole smells really bad and Sigmund tosses a lit object down into it; it falls far and lands in water, sinking out of sight.

October 8th, 2023

Iustitia, Ignis 2nd, 1194

In the early morning an Advocate Destroyer of Avarra comes bearing gifts for our journey. He said that the goddess told them last night to make these scrolls for us. We then hit the road.

Mors, Ignis 3rd, 1194

While traveling we all suddenly feel a strange sensation and Luna becomes spooked. The scenery starts to shift, looking similar to when Ty would go ethereal. Approaching us on the road are six debauched ones on foot, another nine are riding ostrich-ish birds with green plumage; Ralzer identifies these are degraded ones (Planes 30), a large creature that looks like a cross between a scorpion, a lizard, and a human, and a large, blue-skinned creature wearing purple and black robes (Uunas‘ colors). The latter has a presence that exudes command. They don’t notice us at all and march in the direction that we came from. The vision lasts about 30 seconds before settling back to reality. Ty hops ethereal to see if she can find the platoon, but finds no evidence. Could this perhaps been a vision of the past or future?

Vita, Ignis 4th, 1194

While approaching Crestfall we hear a town crier proclaiming a search for heroes and to go to the Crown Manor. According to the guard, a great beast burst out of a house and then escaped a few hours ago in a district called the Slipper Market. The creature is described as a writhing mass of tentacles. The town is really tightly packed with buildings and only guards are outside in the streets.

We head to the Crown Manor and meet Vanton Heggry, the mayor. The mayor explains that this creature came up from below, burst through a building, killed some people, and then descended again. It has since repeated this a few more times in the city. The beast emerges from sinkholes that are coated in a foul smelling slime. Judging by the description Ralzer thinks it could be a chaos beast. Mayor Heggry gives us 1,500gp up front to help with this problem.

We visit the first site– the home of Marshan, a retired adventurer. One of the victims looks as if he was rung out like a wet towel; Marshan is not amongst the dead. Ralzer inspects the building; it, along with much of the city, is made out of midden stone, a cheaper stone alternative. On the side of the building opposite of Marshan’s home is what looks like a spiral blood pattern. The pattern seems similar to Dark Tapestry imagery and portals. Sigmund believes it could be related to a specific outer god. Inside the ruined house is a nauseating smell of wet fur, moist air and decay. There is a modest book collection here with subjects on astronomy and Crestfall history. We descend into the basement.

The basement is not typical– it contains several sarcophagi and a stuck stone door, which we are unable to breach. The slime trail leads to an 800ft. descending stairway that eventually leads to a moldy, moist cavern. A ghoul, Yarresh, is guarding two bodies near an altar surrounded by barren trees. On the altar is a book that the ghoul won’t let us near. Ty sneaks a look at the title, “Pnakotic Manuscripts”. According to Ralzer, the book is about conjuration and portals, gods and magic of old cults, and was originally written in Aklo. The book could hold valuable information. On closer inspection, both of the bodies are without blood. Graynor doesn’t want to engage in any quest to help this ghoul and get that book, so we end up killing him swiftly and take his magic ring, too.

The book has some inscriptions on the front page in Aklo and underneath are five signatures:

Sulm Marshan
Glem Baskerwhel
Waldur Crove
Arlend Hyve
Rupman Myre

Judging by the handwriting, the rest of the notes in the book are by Waldur.

Upon taking a closer look at the trees, Sigmund believes they were grown with necromancy magic. They are also decorated with bone fetish charms. Down one tunnel we find some recently (within a year) installed iron bars. We find a campsite with books and notes written in Aklo, which we take. We then return to the surface, bringing the two human corpses.

The guards inform us that there as been another monster encounter in the city and IDs one of the bodies as Marshan. We head to the newest beast emergence, the home of Oliver Barker (deceased). There is a similar hole in the house with slime up top, but nothing below. Based on the damage around the area of the hole, Ralzer doesn’t believe it went this way. Using a bit of the slime, we try to have Luna track its scent.

Luna leads us to the docks before losing the scent. We ask the guards about the other names in the Pnakotic Manuscripts and he recognizes Rupman, who has a place close to the docks where he makes midden stone. Inside are disgusting vats of fuming filth manned by undead workers. The zombies and an old, drunk arcane spellcaster assaults us. We destroy the zombies and subdue the drunk old man, whom the guard IDs as Rupman.

August 19th, 2023

Vita, Draconnes 13th, 1194

While selling stuff in Rivershade we try to check on the prisoners that we released, Geradil and Courana, but have no luck. There are quite a few traders in town and Graynor asks around about information on the two set items that we found. The Blade of Harmony, part of the shield set, is part of someone’s collection in Ironwald Downs. Ralzer makes some bullets and Sigmund starts teaching Luna a new trick. We will leave for Ironwald Downs in the morning.

Mare, Draconnes 21st, 1194

We get a sending from Nadal first thing in the morning — “We found more information on the calendar that could be related to our situation. Are you available to investigate?”

We arrive in Ironwald Downs around noon and visit the Temple of The Inevitable Order. Nadal looks overworked and we fill him in on what we have learned since our last meeting. He is not aware of any Bethany Swan. While the Calendar will take much time to fully investigate, it is suggesting that there is, or will be, activity in the city of Crestfall, which is about 11 days away. According to the Calendar, there is a cult to a Great Old One there, which are similar to, if not related to, the Outer Gods. Crestfall has a history with these cults. Nadal tells us that Laern Zolerii has the Blade of Harmony; he’s an abjurist that Graynor has worked with before and is part of the Magic Circle, a collection of spellcasters. Nadal also mentions that sendings have not always been working properly as of late.

After our visit with Nadal we pay a visit to Laern Zolerii. He and Graynor catch up and Laern will sell him the sword at a discount if we perform a job for him. He has a business installing security and would like our help in testing some defenses, which should only take a few hours tomorrow morning.

Terra, Draconnes 22nd, 1194

We meet with Laern in the morning and test his security system in an illusion simulation and earn a discount purchase for the sword.

Ralzer will be crafting for the rest of the day, Graynor and Sigmund are finishing shopping, and Ty will be reading in the library. After their shopping spree, Graynor and Sigmund separately look into Bethany Swan and if “The Oracle” is a person. They find out that Bethany Swan is an advisor to the royal family of Jasper and is a human divine caster. We can’t, however, determine how she knows Ty or how she knows that Ty has that book. Here  are the people that know that Ty has her dangerous book: Nadal, Tharivol, Mikail, and Expounder Victoria.

Forte, Draconnes 23rd, 1194

Before we leave for Crestfall, we talk to Nadal and Laern. Nadal will send word ahead of us to the Inevitable Order in Crestfall and we ask him to look into Bethany; which god does she worship? Laern is nor familiar with the other set items belonging to the Helm of the Warlord. He does point out that the helm has the maker mark of Godo and that other Godo pieces are located at the Salamanca, a sorcery school run by devils. He’s not sure where the school is located and Ralzer thinks that the bit about the devils may be just a rumor.

We leave for Cresftfall, which will take about 11 days, including a stop at Sigmund’s hometown of Delanshire.

Bellum, Ignis 1st, 1194

We arrive in Delanshire and Sigmund and Ralzer visit the Well of Knowledge. In addition to the normal Sustainers (Avarra’s forbidden knowledge sect) that look after the well, there are also Destroyers (Avarra’s death sect) guarding it. Sigmund uses the well to talk to his grandmother. Ralzer wants to get a sample of the water, but is denied.

August 12th, 2023

Forte, Draconnes 9th, 1194 (Continued)

While resting up in the posh room, we overhear some duergar moving in the halls discussing a problem that needs to be taken care of. When we ask them about it they accuse us of releasing something. Apparently their camp has been recently assaulted. We follow them to their camp. They ask us if we found a portal in the sinkhole, saying that a “demon” attacked them and they tracked it back to that portal. The demon is a female humanoid, about seven feet tall with purple-blue skin. She was repelled, but not killed. They want us to close the portal and Sigmund asks for payment for this service. They refuse and tell us to leave. During the argument between the duergar and Sigmund a door opens and a heavily armed duergar emerges. He tells the others to stop and, “tell the dragon our contract is over, we’re leaving”.

While the dwarves are prepping to leave and we are discussing our next steps, a door opens and three gray, six-legged canine creatures emerge from seemingly out of nowhere and attack us. They are accompanied by a slender gray skinned humanoid. These could be a void walker and void hounds. The void walker is knocked unconscious by Ralzer and we kill the hounds, then begin securing the area with a temporary truce with the duergar. Ralzer wants to let the void walker go so he can magically spy on it later. Before we let our prisoner awaken we decide to visit the portal again.

We settle on rebuilding the wall to block the portal and collapse part of the room and the entrance; spending most of the day plugging the portal. Afterwards, we attempt to interrogate the void walker prisoner. He blocks our perception of him and then teleports away.

Bellum, Draconnes 10th, 1194

We continue exploring the duergar area and find a library. Sigmund finds two Investigator Vale novels and keeps them to himself. On the floor is a summoning circle carved into the ground. It was once filled with mithril, but has been stripped; we take the flecks of mithril that are left behind. In the kitchen we find an animated table and learn that if we tell the animated guards to stand down in dwarven, they will obey.

Sigmund wants to speak to Kaarghaz of the stink lizards to warn them of this demon lady. Kaarghaz is aware of her and invites us to visit if we are in the area again.

Before we leave the dwarven hold we check on our sinkhole barricade and it looks as if something has tried digging through it and Sigmund spots some bipedal hoofprints in the area. We camp in the area hoping to catch whatever is doing this and we find our seven foot tall purple-ish lady in the area with the stars on the ceiling. Ralzer believes she is a rare kind of demon, a Debauched One (the planes check: 30) and we engage in conversation.

She describes herself as a tourist and asks if we know anything about the stars in this room. She informs us that they are the constellations of Kaajh’Kaalbh (hearing this name out loud causes us great pain; she is unaffected); he is also known as The Void. The constellations are a copy of the sky where he is from, or once was as he moves around. She tells us that saying his name can alter reality. She was most recently visiting a rather large void world, the one we found down here, but that she was not the one digging into that wall.

She explains that if The Void was called here, there would be signs as he approached. Plants would grow wild, natural growth will look like the entangle spell, and normal animals would have trouble sleeping due to too much energy. Magic would also be altered, it would be more difficult to concentrate on spells, caster levels would be reduced, and wild magic would start to happen. The tentacles are his creation, their presence indicates that he was, indeed, called. When asked how we stop him coming here, she suggests that we interrupt the call.

Regarding the Rite of Six Shadows, she says that if someone completed that ritual it is not a good sign. It can contact a greater demon, turn a mortal into a demon, or turn a demon into a greater demon. We bid our farewells and Graynor is concerned of what she will do once she starts “touring”.

We will now begin our journey back to Ironwald Downs. Three days travel back to Rivershade and a day there selling our loot.