Rousing the Dragon

Sections: Main | Campaigns | Characters | NPCs | Locales | Culture | History | Artifacts | Maps

Campaigns: Slaadi Invasion | Northern Strife | Heroes & Traitors | Hollows | Black as Pitch | Air Islands of Nack | BUFD Wars

Air Islands of Nack: Flight of the ElectroZephyr | Malevolence in Pursuit | Rousing the Dragon | Betrayal at the Dragon Temple Rousing the Dragon (DMed by David W.) Now that Selubrius has been slain and both the Canary Scrolls and the Orb of Dragon Command are in their possession, the adventurers now must strive to awaken the dragon goddess Locqwerthalyn while fighting off their enemies, including the vampire lord Luciditus Diovax, the Molten Juggernaut and the Empire of Nack itself! (Current adventure.) 

If you would like to read about the first two "seasons" of this campaign, visit the Flight of the ElectroZephyr page and the Malevolence in Pursuit page. You can also read up on the one-shot session set in the Air Islands of Nack, Betrayal at the Dragon Temple.

For character information, go here.

Episode 1: "Uniting the Tribes"
Date: SH 671, February 5 - 13

Played by Balasar, Freia, Halcyon, Kamenos, Lats, Lilhani, and Poppy

Alas, a new page has been turned for the heroes who would awaken the sleeping dragon! With both the Orb of Dragon Command and the fabled Canary Scrolls securely in the possession of the adventurers, the power to awaken the dragon goddess Locqwerthalyn can now be realized. Yet, a massive obstacle remains in their path: the Nack Fleet and the Empire itself is using everything in its power to prevent this catastrophic event, for the dead goddess represents everything they stand for, and their plans for the ultimate domination of the airborne realm would surely be foiled!

After obtaining the scrolls, the adventurers exited the Tomb of Locq and traversed the darkened valley under a midnight moon. In the distance, white wisps called their names in an attempt to lure them into an ambush, but thanks to the unexpected spiritual and telepathic guidance from the recently slain Selubrius, Lilhani determined that it was indeed a trap. Meanwhile two soldiers known as Balasar and Kamenos of the vampire-slaying syndicate known as the Vengeful Sun were deep in the island, tracking down two known vampires: a handsome man named Brodeau and a slender woman named Noniye all the way from Namara. They silently followed them through the woods of the primordial island of Locq and learned that they were planning to meet their superior, Valosine, who is none other than the right hand of the enigmatic Lord Diovax himself! After hours of tracking, they followed the two vampires into a great valley clearing and saw the unmanned ElectroZephyr in the distance.

As they hid in the brush and waited for something to happen, a battle between the vampires and the returning adventurers broke out! Instantly, Balasar and Kamenos joined the fray to help out these unknown individuals. Lats quickly cast a darkness spell to hide his companions while both Lilhani and Freia began to maneuver around the edges of the battlefield in an attempt to flank Valosine and the others. All the while, Halcyon joined in the melee with Balasar and Kamenos in an attempt to subdue Noniye and Brodeau while Valosine used her vampiric magic to unleash an aerial assault upon Poppy. As the battle raged on, Brodeau managed to climb aboard the ElectroZephyr and promptly initiated the liftoff process. Acting quickly, both Lilhani and Halcyon managed to get at him before the ship could truly take off. Meanwhile, Noniye was fighting off Kamenos and Balasar and shortly thereafter quickly climbed aboard the ship. Valosine, seeing that this battle was quickly turning against them, abandoned the ship and took the form of a bat, but not before Poppy had managed to strike her with a Branding Smite, making her bat form illuminated and therefore easily spotted. After killing both Noniye and Brodeau as they fell off the ElectroZephyr, Halcyon had charged the lightning bolt from the ship itself and blasted Valosine out of the sky. With all three vampires vanquished, the group quickly introduced themselves to Balasar and Kamenos and decided to return to their ship, the Black Albatross, upon which the Vengeful Sun elite had followed the vampires to the island.

There they rested aboard the ElectroZephyr and spent the next day strapping both the Black Albatross the and the vampires' ship to the underside of the ElectroZephyr. After explaining their overall situation and the grand goal of awakening Locqwerthalyn, Halcyon had the great idea of attempting to recruit the natives of Locq, who must have some sort of kinship with the ancient goddess. After spending a day and a night tethering the ships together, the group decided to scout the surrounding area and see if they could come into contact with any natives. Lats, Kamenos, Poppy and Freia headed out first, and after a couple hours of hiking through densely packed forests, they came across a small clearing filled with thatched huts and blue dragonborn children running about, being watched over by their mothers. Poppy and Freia went in while Lats and Kamenos stayed back in the shadows in case anything bad happened. Poppy, translating the guttural draconic language of Nrukianak for Freia, learned that the dragonborn mother, Lizabet and her son, along with the rest of the natives in the clearing, were part of the Locquian tribe that called itself the "Blue Lightning." Freia also learned that the men were out during a two-day hunt and if they were to have a proper audience with them, they should wait for seven days until the next Locquians Moot.

Meanwhile, Halcyon, Lilhani, and Balasar were keeping watch on the ElectroZephyr while there companions were away, and the dragonborn noticed two wyverns fighting each other off in the distance and some distant cheers and grunts in the same direction. She headed off on her own to investigate the situation. After some hiking, she discovered a group of blue dragonborn betting on the fighting wyverns. When she came into view, the leader introduced himself as Dantak, and they were extremely curious about this golden dragonborn who claimed to come from across the great sky. After some tense discussion, the warriors decided to see the great wyvern Balasar called the ElectroZephyr, and later that night, when the rest of the scouts met back up at the airship, the Blue Lightning tribesmen took them to the star-clearing where they partook in bloodmead, dwarven ale and elven wine. There they agreed to convene at the Locquians Moot and discuss the awakening of their legendary and forgotten goddess Locqwerthalyn.

Ten tribes in total met at the Locquians Moot, in total over a hundred fierce dragonborn warriors who were curious to see the powers of the ElectroZephyr and the promises of glory and the reawakening of their goddess. The adventurers as a whole made a great speech and Halcyon unleashed the lightning fury of the ElectroZephyr. After a great cheer, a dozen of the fiercest warriors agreed to travel with the group to garner more allies to fight against both the vampire lord Diovax and the Nack Fleet!

Notes: The adventurers did well to unite the ten tribes of Locq, and Balasar learned a bit more about the mysteries of her heritage. Halcyon enjoyed shooting off the lightning bolt from the ElectroZephyr. Lilhani came up with some random antics, including drafting some forged documentation for the dozen or so dragonborn in the event that they are stopped by anyone in service of the Nack Empire. Kamenos and Lats became fast friends who could bond in silence as they both became the de facto hidden lookouts for the party, and Poppy did a great job translating everything into Nrukianak after she so happened to learn it on a whim mysteriously in some hidden part of her personal history. Overall, a great session! (Sorry for the horrendously long summary, but that's just what happens in RP-heavy sessions!)

Episode 2: "Sparinon is Burning!"
Date: SH 671, February 13 - 28

''Played by Balasar, Halcyon, and Kamenos

With Halcyon at the helm, it took the ElectroZephyr two weeks to travel through eastern snowstorms from the mystical island of Locq to the elven reservation island of Sparinon in an effort to ally with the disgruntled Svar-tu elves against the Nack Empire, in essence to gather an army and a fleet large enough to face off against the dominating Nack Fleet. Upon arriving at the merchant city of Brindarry on the edge of the island, the adventurers quickly learned that the hidden capitol city of Sparinon was under siege by rogue soulless dragons -- the same ones who were originally spontaneously created by the engines developed by the Dragon Shipwright's Guild.

A distant smoke rose from the center of the island, so the adventurers acquired the help of one Halgondas, a noble of House Waterlight, and his retinue to escort them to the hidden gateway to the central city. Seeing that their elven counterparts were gracefully traveling above the snow level while he and his party were struggling to walk through waist-deep snow, Halcyon cast water walk on himself and his companions. After trekking through the snow for two hours, Halgondas himself performed the secretive Svar-tu magicks in order to unveil the illusion surrounding the gateway, which immediately revealed several elven corpses littered about the entryway and along the road-branches higher above in the city proper. Several houses were ablaze and a handful of brave elven warriors were facing off against insurmountable odds -- dragons of all size and color were destroying everything in their path! It looked as though the majority of the siege was all but over, and the dragons were merely finishing off any stragglers. Upon seeing this travesty, Halgondas immediately ran off and hid while his retinue, enraged by what they saw, charged forward toward the central Palace of the Svarsun, hoping against hope that their queen Vlaya of House Skyflower and her unborn child were still alive. Meanwhile, as Balasar, Kamenos and Halcyon struggled to react to this situation, they were beset by a handful of dragons who spotted them from a short distance.

Halcyon quickly drew out the fabled Orb of Dragon Command and utterly possessed one of the attacking dragons, commanding this silver to turn on his fellow dragons and unleash a sweeping cold breath upon them. Meanwhile, Balasar did battle with one dragon head-on and Kamenos wrapped around from behind to deal backstabbing attacks. A brass dragon reared up and blasted Kamenos off a ledge, but the tiefling barely managed to grab onto another ledge from behind, sweeping himself back onto solid ground. Eventually, the silver dragon shook off his enchantment and began tearing at his attacker Halcyon. As a final measure, Halcyon cast the powerful spell control water which melted all of the snow within 100 feet, including that which was currently falling. He formed the snowmelt into a massive orb that he hurled against the remaining dragons, utterly crushing them and sending their broken corpses to the land 100 feet below. Still possessing the power to manipulate this floating mass of water, Halcyon quickly molded the mass into a disc shape which allows Balasar and Kamenos, still under the effects of Halcyon's spell cast a couple hours ago, water walk, to simply jump atop the disc. With Halcyon also atop, he flew his party across the snowy road-branches of Sparinon directly toward the Palace of the Svarsun, crashing the water itself into the grand front doors which burst them open, flooding the outer cloister of the palace. Inside, they could see in the distance a great red dragon holding none other than the pregnant Vlaya Skyflower hostage. "Ahh, greetings old compatriots!" the dragon called from the distance. After seeing the adventurer's confused looks, he said, "What, don't remember me? It is I, Thex, your savior atop the Radiant Tower!"

Until next time!

Notes: The group decided it best to leave Dantak and the other twelve Locquians aboard the ElectroZephyr, since their draconic presence would've likely sent all of the civilians of Sparinon in a panic. Hopefully they won't upset the comatose Naïlo Enna... Halcyon realized that the Orb of Dragon Command can completely control any single dragon, among other things. Kamenos narrowly avoided death, or at least a nasty fall -- good thing he's super acrobatic! And I find it sort of strange that Balasar, an armor-clad dragonborn can strut about without people really looking twice -- she practically a one-of-a-kind dragonborn in this region! That is of course excepting the Locquians, but they don't count because they aren't even on anybody's radar. Also, for more information on the heroes' initial interaction with the soulless red dragon Thex, see Episode 5: "A Stern Talk with Lord Diovax".

Episode 3: "The Curse of Barratu"
Date: SH 671, February 28

''Played by Balasar, Elizagerth, Halcyon, Kamenos, Lats, Leucosa, and Lilhani

We begin today's story with a little bit of ACTION! BAM! Halcyon crashes a massive amount of snowmelt water into the front doors of the Palace of the Svarsun, completely flooding the otherwise beautiful outer cloister of the palace. Within, several dragons are immediately agitated into action and attack the infiltrators! Immediately Halcyon finds himself in a sticky situation and Balasar is forced to lay on hands upon her unlikely ally to keep his soul afloat while the rest of her companions bravely battle the dragons. Meanwhile, Lilhani and Kamenos are vying for the "most deadly" title as they slash and slay their way through multiple dragons. In the end, the initial waves of dragon are utterly defeated and the larger red dragon Thex looms up to the closed portcullis leading toward the inner cloister and further the inner harem. Lilhani managed to taunt the dragon into unleashing a fiery breath that once again nearly killed the previously unkillable Halcyon. But before the dragon could do any further harm, Lilhani unleashed the power of the Orb of Dragon Command to halt his attacks, and while he was under the spell of the orb Halcyon managed to cast a geas spell, issuing with it a vague command to destroy the vampire Diovax. Bear in mind, the geas spell is slated to last 30 days, until March 28th at roughly mid-afternoon. And as part of commanding the dragon thus, he clawed his way through the closed portcullis and immediately leapt into the skies, flying quickly away from the city of Sparinon.

It was at this point that Elizagerth, Lats and Leucosa miraculously showed up just in time to do some dragon-ridden palace exploration! In the short hallway leading to the inner cloister, the heroes saw a great marble statue of the Svar-tu goddess Myralda, and further within the massive cloister were two statues on either side, one of the the androgynous Sakarin and the other of the equally androgynous Lorressa. But before the adventurers could inspect these massive statues further, two dragons, one black and one blue, entered into the cloister, appearing to be on some sort of patrol. Lilhani, acting quickly, used again the power of the Orb of Dragon Command to control a silly blue dragon named Sliss to convince his black dragon buddy that the battle in Sparinon was going on... somewhere else? I dunno. Either way, Lilhani explained it very well and it worked! The two dragons keeping guard in the inner cloister promptly flew off and the heroes found out quickly that the archway leading to the harem was blocked by an invisible magical force field. However, Vlaya Skyflower, now the queen of the elves in Sparinon, was on the other side of the force field! She told them that there was a way to break the field but that they needed to go to the temple which was further within the palace itself. To put more pressure on the situation, Vlaya was very pregnant and at that moment, the stress of the situation put her into labor, so the adventurers were spurred on by this news. They fought their way through several other dragons in an elongated courtyard which also included a bathhouse, a wine-bar and a barracks of some sort. Either way, it was a very long and tactically driven battle that has no damn place in a damn summary!

Anyhoo, the group eventually made their way to (legends of) the hidden temple and immediately discovered a quandary: the usual group of the Elven Pantheon of Svar-tu were represented in marble statues. These included Sakarin, Lorressa and Myralda. But a fourth and unknown deity's likeness was depicted in marble here. Fortunately, a few of the more religiously knowledgeable adventurers were able to determine that this barbed-wire wreathed elf was none other than Barratu, the elven god of pain and curses. Open worship of this deity is forbidden throughout the elven community, so it was very interesting to see him here in the temple of nobility! Either way, Halcyon invoked divine intervention to hopefully determine what to do with these statues and break the force field to Queen Vlaya and her unborn child. He was at first unsure of whether his plea to the dark goddess Runsted worked or not until he saw a ghostly likeness of her appear in front of him. She reached into the statue of Barratu and withdrew a small bead with which she gestured artfully in a particular fashion before crushing the bead, as if to show Halcyon what to do with it. So Halcyon took the Bead of Barratu for safe-keeping, believing it to be the key with which he would break the force field. Meanwhile, Lilhani took the Wineglass of Sakarin while Kamenos took the Sphere of Lorressa and Balasar took the Flower of Myralda just in case.

Upon returning to the archway leading to the harem, Halcyon followed Runsted's wordless instruction and smashed the Bead of Barratu. In an instant... he was gone. Vanished! Nobody could immediately determine what had happened to the half-elf! But his dance had apparently shattered the force field nonetheless. And Lats was forced to step in and assist in the delivery of the Vlaya Skyflower's newborn baby boy, who was to be named at a later date which would coincide with generational line of House Skyflower's family poem and with the assistance of a cleric of Myralda... seriously, it's a long and fascinating topic about the deep-rooted culture of the Svar-tu but it has no place in a summary! Anyway, upon her recovery from giving birth in the early hours before dawn the next day, Vlaya told the adventurers that Halcyon had unwittingly sent himself to the cursed realm of Barratu: a dark and desolate pocket plane nestled on a cliffside that loomed precariously over an endless abyss... or something like that. But all was not lost! Vlaya was one of the elves who could create a dimensional gate to this worrisome plane of pain and so she did precisely that. Vlaya drew many sigils onto the ground of the inner cloister which opened up a small window to this blackened world, and the group stepped through. The ground beneath them was so darkened as to be an invisible and infinite abyss. A reddened sky rest above them and looming in the distance was a great Palace of Pain resting atop a crag...

Notes: Just so we're clear, Queen Vlaya was not alone but instead had her mother, her younger sister, and a small retinue of royal cousins and the like within the harem with her. None of them were important enough to name. Lats Boldengrin and Elizagerth both thought it would be a good idea to fill the Wineglass of Sakarin with the wine they found in the winery nearby. Elizagerth promptly chugged it and instantly fell into a deep passion for the first women he saw: Lilhani. Hilarity and awkwardness ensued, but the half-orc was able to contain his lust and keep it mostly to his feeble mind. When Halcyon crushed the Bead of Barratu, his entire world went black to the point of absolute sensory deprivation. Time itself was lost as he struggled to hold onto his sanity as the emptiness teared at his psyche. His physical possessions, including his weapons and armor and other items on his person, were left behind in the Svarsun. Elizagerth recognized this opportunity immediately snatched Halcyon's animated shield and the wicked ranseur Akaid. I wonder how Akaid, which houses the will of Belial, will respond to this wreckless barbarian wielding it? Hmm...

Episode 4: "The Tree of Pain"
Date: SH 671, February 28 - March 5

''Played by Elizagerth, Freia, Halcyon, Lats, Lilhani, and Umer

After stepping through the massive gate created by Queen Vlaya, Lats used his eyes of the eagle to discern that amidst the dark and desolate landscape which could only be Barratu's Plane of Pain, there was a solitary landmark: a massive fortress-like structure off in the distance that seemed to rest on the edge of a cliff that plummets into a blackened abyss. The crew began their trek through this hellish landscape, shuffling across black dirt and peering up at an overcast filled with reddened clouds with a hint of naive optimism. And after traveling a full day, they slowly realized that true rest was impossible and that they would have to march up to the unknown fortress for days without sleep. Selubrius telepathically informs Lilhani that sleep must be somehow impossible on this plane, and it's clear that exhaustion must be the first form of pain that visitors feel when arriving.

On the second day of marching, the group stumbled upon a figure standing still with its head tilted toward the ground. After closer inspection, it appears to be Halcyon, but he looks as though he's aged substantially, and is now rather decrepit-looking. He states that he now has a mission to find the dragonborn Umer Deszeld upon the Tree of Pain, so they band together and continue their arduous trek toward the distant structure.

Seven days in total pass, leaving both Halcyon and Lilhani extremely exhausted, before they finally approach the bridge leading up to the front doors of this massive structure. Upon the bridge, a bone devil, Qalox, demands a fee of magical items for entry to the Temple of Anguish. Thinking quickly, Lilhani offers Qalox a draw from the Deck of Many Things. After drawing the Throne card, Qalox becomes extremely elated and allows them passage.

Within the foyer of the Temple of Anguish, the adventurers find several torture devices and four doors, the central two of which depict a thorny tree but are locked, with keyholes large enough to fit intricate, possibly magical items. Paddy then piped up, stating that he was pretty sure that the key to the left Tree of Pain door was something that you'd wear, perhaps a crown or helmet. With that clue, the party ventured on into the outer area to the right named the Human Forest, within which dozens of pikes sticking out the ground impaled individuals -- some of which still managed to stay alive despite thick pikes breaching through their entire torsos and through their mouths.

As they began to inspect the pikes and the moaning individuals on them, they were attacked by shadowy demons which they quickly dispatched. They found one particular elf on a pike who was wearing royal garments and a jewel-crested clown. Halcyon knocked the pike down and let the poor elf bleed out to death while taking his crown. At this point, he and Elizagerth began brutally mauling the individuals impaled on the pikes, at which point a huge voice bellowed from the skies above, "How dare you kill my subjects!" It was the Elven God of Pain, Barratu! Suddenly, in the distance, the group saw a large figure with four arms standing still with glowing red eyes and a body that seems to be made of twisting steel razors as those impaled on the pikes began to whisper, "The Shrike, the Shrike..." As soon as the creature appeared, he disappeared, and the voice from the sky grew silent.

The group headed back to the locked door in the foyer and inserted the elf's crown, unlocking it. Within they found the Tree of Pain and thousands of individuals screaming and moaning in agony, impaled upon its multitudinous thorns. Before they could look for Umer, the Shrike suddenly appeared and began slashing at the heroes. After a gruesome battle, they managed to shatter the Shrike into a pile of broken blades. Upon the destruction of the Shrike, Barratu's deep rumbling voice booms in, and he offers each of the adventurers passage out of the Plane of Pain in exchange for their service and worship.

While deciding what to do with that offer, they experiment with the Relics of the Svar-tu Pantheon, and Freia discovers that after planting the Flower of Myralda near the base of the Tree of Pain and pouring water onto it, the Tree's leaves suddenly turn from black to green and the thorns upon it shrivel back into its branches, releasing the thousands of individuals impaled upon them. And after climbing to the top of the tree, Lats could see that the power of Myralda also pierced the red overcast clouds directly above the tree, revealing a bright blue sky beyond. They find Umer within the tree and heal him while practically ignoring the rest of the nameless individuals who are all on the brink of death, despite being released from the Tree.

As the adventurers were discovering more about the realm they were in, they decided to dig deeper into the Temple of Anguish in search for both answers and treasure. They entered the Hall of Psychosis and struggled against the multiple mirrors placed in there that made them each individually think that others were attacking them or that they were attacking themselves while also performing insane acts of various kinds. Freia could read a riddle that was repeated above each mirror:

Soma and psyche, guile and glamour,

we show not your reflection, your face or your manner.

Pain and pleasure, king and pawn,

when you see with your mind, the glamour is gone.

Halcyon and Lilhani worked together to investigate these mirrors while staving off the pending insanity and discovered that the mirrors, while impervious to damage of all kinds, shattered like glass when attacked with the eyes closed. They quickly destroyed all the mirrors, which revealed an unmarked map of the Temple of Anguish. Using the spare clues of this map, they realized that there was a secret area just off from the Tree of Pain. A door was suddenly revealed when they went back to the area with runes etched into it saying that it was the Chamber of Unending Misery. Within, they found an ancient human man tied to a massive wooden wheel which was slowly spinning while attached to a rod in the wall. The man's arms and legs were broken and twisted into the spokes, and he revealed himself to be Rustingard Nack I, the founder of the Organizations of Nack and the man which the entirety of the Air Islands of Nack are named after. The group engages in a brief discussion with him regarding escape from the Temple of Anguish, but after only a few moments they realize he is a hateful wretch who, even in a state of eternal pain, cannot let go of his powerful prejudices against dragons and elves alike. The group decides to plunder his private hoard which was left out in front of him and leave him in the chamber for the rest of eternity.

Notes: Halcyon has experienced an untold amount of time in a completely sensory-deprived state, and has subsequently gone quite insane. Qalox, upon drawing the Throne card from the Deck of Many Things now is in the possession of a fortress somewhere on the Material Plane. Which one is anyone's guess. Although the Shrike was destroyed, his being the physical avatar of Barratu leads one to believe that it may not be truly dead. Halcyon and Elizagerth managed to kill of several innocent individuals that might have provided valuable information. Freia proved useful in discovering the potential of the Flower of Myralda despite her relative uselessness in the fight against the Shrike. Lats discovers that his fists are more magical and powerful than actual weapons in the fight against the Shrike. Lilhani proves to be by far the most useful in fights against a solitary powerful enemy. And Umer finds that he is nearly as insane as Halcyon as he internally questions his life goals. (The following information is hidden from everyone except Umer Deszeld.) After the tremendous ordeal suffered by Umer upon the Tree of Pain, while the rest of the adventuring party were looking for an alternative way out of the Temple of Anguish, Umer secretly made a pact with Barratu to become an Agent of Pain in exchange for his freedom. As such, Barratu gifted the dragonborn a Ring of Barratu and opened up a gateway at the base of the Tree of Pain that only Umer could see.

Episode 5: "One Thousand Refugees"
Date: SH 671, March 5 - 7

''Played by Balasar, Elizagerth, Freia, Halcyon, Kamenos, Lats, Leucosa, Lilhani, and Umer

After leaving Rustingard Nack in the secret chamber, Umer let the party know that he had found some sort of gateway at the base of the Tree of Pain that seemed to lead them back to the mortal realm, namely Nack. However, Elizagerth and a few others decided it best to rampage through the rest of the Temple of Anguish in hopes of finding more valuable treasure. Therefore, he kicked in the door leading to the "Hall of the Hunt" and they fought off a handful of large gorilla-like demons. After the bloody battle, they consulted the map they found in the "Hall of Psychosis" and discovered a small, secret room housing a few poor souls left on racks. After some cajoling, the prisoners were set free and sent back to the Tree of Pain to rest with the thousand other refugees, and Lilhani found a suit of Glamoured Studded Leather.

From there, Elizagerth smashed a hole into the thin walls separating the secret chamber from the outer cloister known as the "Carrion Field." There, they discovered a large wooden tub, inside of which was a man covered in milk and honey and his own excrement, slowly being eaten alive by flies and maggots. Halcyon quickly put him out of his misery and Elizagerth shoved the tub altogether off the nearby cliffside, plunging it to the abyssal depths below. From there, they found a large guard tower of sorts and ended up fighting off large vulture-like demons who cursed them in the Abyssal tongue. The group as a whole were taking quite a while to decipher the supposed bridge that seemed to be on the map but was not present in reality, but they realized that it only led to another entryway to the Tree of Pain. Therefore, they moved back through the "Chamber of Whispers" where they spoke to a handful of prisoners tied up to the ceiling by their wrists, their necks fastened with Heretic's Forks. Thaumaturgy was cast on one particular elf who told Halcyon and the party to kill her sister Sharovar in the mortal realm for cursing her to the Plane of Pain. Halcyon quickly put the elven woman out of her misery and made a mental note of this "Sharovar."

The group ended up returning to the Tree of Pain, where the thousand refugees kept asking for a way out of this hellish realm. One individual elf stood up amidst the crowd and claimed that he had found a way out of the Temple of Anguish by submitting to the will of Barratu and becoming an Agent of Pain. He quickly rallied about two dozen other souls who, after spending untold amounts of time skewered upon the Tree of Pain, decided to side with the God of Pain and Curses, all of whom attempted to leave the Temple and enter the mortal realm of Nack. However, Lilhani, Halcyon, Elizagerth and others slew several of these individuals before they could reach the gateway. And in an effort to stop and slay all of those attempting to leave the temple of these grounds, Halcyon cast a blade barrier that was promptly shut down by Umer's counterspell, which ultimately allowed about a dozen or so of these Agents of Pain into the world. Meanwhile, the rest of the adventurers were at a loss of what to do when the apparent infighting began. And in the midst of it all, Umer decided to leave through the same invisible gateway. Shocked, Lilhani attempted to follow. And after pushing her hand through the base of the Tree of Pain, she felt Umer's scaly hand grasp her and pull her through. Lilhani held hands with another party member and in this way, through a chain of held hands, the adventurers and the one thousand remaining refugees slipped through the gateway into the massive foyer of the Palace of the Svarsun.

After recuperating and finding magical and medical aid and food for the thousand refugees, Queen Vlaya Skyflower held an audience with the adventurers who led several of these individuals from the Temple of Anguish, she gave her thanks for not only freeing the refugees, but for saving Sparinon during the dragon invasion and in particular she thanked Lats Boldengrin for successfully delivering her newborn child, Prince Elondar Skyflower, named after his late father. As payment for their services, Vlaya agreed to act as allies in the rebel movement against the Nack Empire and gave the adventurers the three best ships in the Svar-tu fleet: the Vilya Myralda, the Vilya Sakarin, and the Vilya Lorressa, along with a couple of Fingership Class Warleaves. While the larger ships came with a crew to manage its flight, Vlaya had informed the adventurers that all the combat-skilled pilots were slain in the recent dragon invasion, and would therefore have to be piloted specifically by someone trained in such ships during combat.

After receiving their reward and learning that their good names were spread throughout the Svar-tu community on Sparinon, the group were escorted by a representative of House Skyflower, Vannon to various magical shops so the heroes could spend all the monetary treasure they had been accumulating over the past several months.

Notes: During the shopping spree, members of the party visited a magical weapons and armor shop called Anantha's Singing Steel. The owner, Anantha took quite a liking to Elizagerth. There, Elizagerth bought a Berserker Axe, Leucosa bought a Flame Tongue short sword and a Dagger of Venom, Freia traded in a Staff of Fire for a Robe of Scintillating Colors, and Lilhani managed to steal 70pp. Some of the group also visited Pallovin's Sorcerous Sundries, where Balasar bought himself a Ring of Mind Shielding and Kamenos bought a few Immovable Rods. And Halcyon and Umer bought several potions from Yung's Alchemical Creations, the local potions shop in Sparinon. (The following information is hidden from everyone except Umer Deszeld.) Umer had a secret conversation with Queen Vlaya Skyflower concerning the fate of her late father, Algondas. Umer stated bluntly that he saw Algondas in the "Human Forest" and that Halcyon killed him quickly. After some persuading, Vlaya admitted that she summoned the servants of Barratu to send him to the Temple of Anguish. When asked why she did this, she revealed that Algondas had assassinated her husband Elondar Cloudspell before her child was born, which ensured the child's disassociation with House Cloudspell and kept the royal line solely in the hands of House Skyflower. Vlaya swore Umer to secrecy. If this information were made public, it could plunge all of Svar-tu society into a civil war and possible seriously endanger the life of her newborn son, Prince Elondar Skyflower. Umer promised to keep this issue secret.

Episode 6: "Crushing Gears and Smashing Boulders"
Date: SH 671, March 7 - 12

Played by Lats, Leucosa, and Umer 

After a brief send-off speech from Vlaya Skyflower, Queen of the Svar-tu, the crew of the ElectroZephyr left the elven island of Sparinon with a small fleet of elven ships, including the Vilya's Sakarin, Lorressa and Myralda and a couple of Warleaves. The search for more allies to assist in the battles to come with the Nack Empire led toward the dwarven island-nation of Runeterra. However, on the way there, their small fleet was attacked by agents of the Molten Juggernaut! A massive gateway tore a whole in the fabric of space and out poured a massive Goliath airship along with several Gadfly Mines meant to attached to ships and explode in a kamikaze-like fury.

Lats manned the Vilya Myralda, Leucosa captained the Vilya Lorressa, and Umer took to the vampiric Nightwing in an effort to thwart this new and ungainly threat as Gadfly Mines began swarming the area. The Goliath split into two equal halves and began barrel rolling into the allied ships, dealing extensive damage as a few mines managed to explode once attaching to a couple of the Vilyas. And after a harrowing dogfight, the adventurers managed to emerge victorious in the battle, but not without first losing both the Vilya Myralda and the Vilya Lorressa, two of the three best ships available by the Svar-tu. And before the gate to the horrible plane of Dis, the second layer of the Nine Hells closed, Lats could see a massive airship being built up in the distance, with none other than the Molten Juggernaut himself, staring at him with eyes...!

Anyway, the crew made it to Runeterra after a few more days without further incident. There, they landed in the meadow town of Pashen where they were confronted by a dwarven lieutenant of Bandle City who, after first halting them to state their business with a small elven fleet, allowed the group access to the Bandle River. Apparently, the dwarven community of Bandle City is on the verge of civil war, with Queen Myrtle Alfansire on her death bed. After a brief and awkward reunion with the canoe-girl Kimmek, the group went to the Midland Inn where they hired the drunkard/expert river guide Jomorel to accompany them down the Bandle River to the dwarven city and to assuage the potential wrath of the Weird of Bandle River. After a couple days rowing upriver Jomorel successfully pacified the Weird even after it clearly had some qualms about Leucosa in particular. That following night they set up camp on a riverbank and were beset by a couple of stone giants atop the surrounding cliff sides. Jomorel was immediately crushed in his sleep by a boulder hurled 70 feet from above and as the gore oozed from underneath the stone, the newly alerted adventurers fought back hard with bow and spell and shadowy fists. And although Lats in particular was pounded four-plus times by massive giant-sized clubs, he still managed to finish one of them off in style while jumping between shadows and running up and down sheer cliffs.

Notes: After the airship battle in which he lost the Vilya Myralda, Lats could see that at some point in the near future, he will have to face off against the Molten Juggernaut as the devil's attacks have become more and more severe. Leucosa proved her worth as a airship pilot but still lost the Vilya Lorressa while managing to board a Warleaf before the larger ship fell beneath the Cloud Canopy. In total, the crew lost 18 Svar-tu elves in the clash against the Juggernaut. Umer displayed an uncanny lack of exhaustion as he rowed upstream in the rented canoe through the night. Perhaps dragonborn are born with this talent naturally.

Special Episode: "The Whims of Gods"
Date: SH 671, March 7 - 14

Played by Umer and Elizagerth

Dreams... a place that defies the logic of space and time, a location that is nowhere, a time that is never. It was in the dreamworld where our heroes Elizagerth and Umer found themselves at the whims of the Svar-tu God of Pain, Barratu, separately wandering through a strange, archaic forest in search for an artifact called the Toy Box.

Now bear in mind, Barratu came to Elizagerth in his dreams while he was sleeping in Sparinon, technically on March 7. It was here when Barratu tempted the barbarian to seek out the Toy Box and become an Agent of Pain. Now it's easy to believe that Elizagerth would jump on the opportunity to dole out more pain, but he certainly wasn't too keen on the whole subservience-to-a-god thing. Nonetheless, he was transported to a strange forest and was told to look for his companion Umer...

Back in the mortal, physical realm, seven days later, Umer fell asleep on a bank next to the Bandle River and was visited by Barratu as well. Umer had been secretly praying to Barratu (after he secretly became an Agent of Pain a week earlier -- read the hidden info in the "notes" section of Episode 5: "One Thousand Refugees") and had requested immortality in the form of lichdom. Really, he was begging the God of Pain for this, nearly throwing a tantrum like a child. But nonetheless, Barratu decided that it would be fun to send Umer on a hunt for the Toy Box in an unknown forest.

Umer and Elizagerth ended up searching through multiple shrines dedicated to the Svar-tu Pantheon that were scattered throughout this forest, which turned out to be the Ennawood of the island of Taurë. Each of the shrines had three pillars surrounding them in seemingly random spots, each with simple symbols of three of the four gods of the pantheon. After some poking around separately, Elizagerth got impatient and toppled the statue of Myralda to reveal an opening beneath. Simultaneously, the statue at the shrine of Lorressa toppled in front of Umer's eyes, also revealing a passageway underneath.

Umer immediately descended into the opening only to immediately pop out in front of Elizagerth. And after some puddling around, the two decided to return back to the shrine of Lorressa. There, they fought off some harpies and then both scratched their heads for waaaaay too long trying to figure out the simple riddle set out before them. Let me explain it to you and see if you get it:
 * Imagine a shrine-room surrounded by three pillars. The shrine is dedicated to a god. Let's say Lorressa. Each of the three surrounding pillars has a symbol of one of the other gods: Myralda, Sakarin, and Barratu in this instance. And the pillars are set in a seemingly random position around the central shrine. Beneath the symbols are mile markers. Let's say the Myralda pillar says "6 miles" and the Sakarin pillar says "4 miles" and the Barratu pillar says "8 miles." This is what you're given. These symbols, these distances, and the positioning of the pillars around the shrine. What would you do? Where would you go? I'll let you ponder it for a second...

Anyway, Umer and Elizagerth, despite their immense intellect (8 and 11 respectively) could not figure out where to go. It ended up being freakin' Barratu himself telling them, "That way! Walk that way in the direction of the pillar with my symbol on it, for 8 miles, you fools!" And after trekking through the woods for nearly a day altogether (this includes the hours spent scratching heads) the two finally came upon the shrine of Barratu.

At this point, Barratu revealed to them that the Toy Box was none other than Elizagerth himself! And if Umer truly wanted immortality, he would have to kill his buddy Elizagerth and utilize his body as a phylactery. But not to worry, Elizagerth would retain an undead immortality as well and would serve as Umer's lich phylactery for eternity. If Umer and Elizagerth couldn't accept that, they could destroy each other instead, and Barratu would grant the victor immense power. Seeing that opportunity, Elizagerth immediately struck down Umer, burying his Berserker Axe deep into the dragonborn's neck. At which point, Umer's gaping wound was surrounded by black tendrils that bound it back together.

Suddenly, Umer found himself once again in the Temple of Anguish, where he had a verbal confrontation with Barratu, who stated that since Elizagerth had slain Umer and not vice versa, Elizagerth would be the one to attain true immortality and lichdom in place of Umer. After revealing this and giving instructions to Umer to find the remaining ingredients for the poison to turn Elizagerth into a lich, Umer was sent back to the shrine of Barratu in the Ennawood. There, Umer decided to both destroy the shrine of Barratu and kill Elizagerth by casting disintegrate and immolate on everything. He managed to destroy Elizagerth, the shrine, and himself in one fell swoop...

...But that's not the end of this ridiculous story! Despite dying, this entire episode was in a dream, remember? Both Umer and Elizagerth ended up waking in the mystical realm of the Svarwood, the home of the rest of the pantheon of Svar-tu. The Mother-Goddess Myralda greeted them and explained to them that the grasp Barratu had on them has ended. She offered both of them the opportunity to become Children of Myralda. Umer decided that peace and love was good compared to pain and anguish, so he renounced cruelty and hatred in lieu of love and compassion and received Myralda's blessing. But Elizagerth thought that puppies and kittens and free love weren't really his bag. Myralda, sensing his true self, offered to see the God of Death, Lorressa to see if the half-orc was more interested in what he was all about.

So he was transported over to a vast meadow with a pile of skulls in the center. There, the frail, wispy Lorressa came out and whispered weird stuff and offered to bless Elizagerth as a Harbinger of Lorressa, but under the condition that he die first. Elizagerth agreed, but only if he could die in the heat of battle, and only if he could face off with the God of Death himself. Lorressa gave a wry smile, agreed and proceeded to battle with the barbarian. Elizagerth dealt multiple horrific blows to the frail deity but seemed to do no serious damage, despite Lorressa's profuse bleeding. After casting some lesser spells, Lorressa cast power word: kill on the half-orc and finally slew him. Immediately afterward, Lorressa teased out the spherical soul of Elizagerth and ingested it. After saying some archaic, mystical words, the God of Death slowly breathed out Elizagerth's soul which wound its way through the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of the half-orc. Elizagerth immediately woke back up from death itself and rose anew as a Harbinger of Lorressa with his blessing.

After the two received their blessings, they were transported yet again to what seemed to be the council room of the Svar-tu gods. There, Umer and Elizagerth, despite just being blessed by two of them, decided to berate the deities for their lack of influence upon the mortal issues plaguing the region of Nack, namely the domination of the Empire over all others in the airborne region. Umer rebuked the gods so much that Elizagerth shouted, "Oh snap! Dragonbuuuuuurn!!!" Nonetheless, the gods basically told them that there reasons for interfering or not interfering are first their own and second beyond any mere mortal's comprehension. With that said, they were transported back to the mortal plane, where they woke up in their separate beds.

What a craaazzy dream!

Notes: Umer has added an newly official unofficial title to his name, the Gods' Rebuker. He can also be called Umer, Rebuker of the Gods. Elizagerth managed to die twice and still come back stronger than before! I suppose whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but in his case whatever kills you also makes you stronger...

Episode 7: "The Seeds of Dwarven Dissent"
Date: SH 671, March 15 - 16

Played by Balasar, Kamenos, Lats and Leucosa

As the adventurers made their way into the dwarven Bandle City, Kamenos and Balasar were stopped by an officer of the Vengeful Sun, a dwarf named Ristam who promptly told them of murder in the Hammer District that seemed to be done by a vampire. After some investigation involving questioning a young boy named Welse and a vile child-sex trafficker named Gnashle Pixiefinger, the adventurers found out that a pedophilic, dwarven vampire named Nazush was hiding in a house in the northeast corner of the Anvil District. They entered into his house and discovered a horrific dungeon below that housed the bodies of numerous young dwarven boys. After popping out of his coffin in the dungeon, Nazush put up a bit of a fight but was ultimately overcome by the adventurers.

Afterward, the group rested in the free lodgings provided by the Church of Alfan Skystone. Early the next morning, they were summoned by one Margrun Alfansire, the high priestess of the church and the sister to Queen Myrtle Alfansire. She revealed to the adventurers that the representative of the Empire of Nack on the Royal Council of Bandle City, Parck Herring, was spreading rumors that the Alfansire Clan were the illegitimate rulers of Bandle City and were not really the descendants of Alfan Skystone, the dwarf-god of Runeterra. In order to prove their legitimacy, Margrun asked the adventurers to delve into the Pit of Alfan to recover the legendary Skystone to somehow prove the Alfansire Clan's legitimacy.

The adventurers, upon hearing Margrun's plea, decided to hear both sides of the argument and attend the next meeting of the Royal Council before making any brash decisions. There, the they were clued in on how deep the seeds of dissent had taken root. Both Henra and Lura of the Stonethrow Clan both seemed to doubt the Alfansire legitimacy and the replacement for the late Renauld Swift, a dwarven general from Demacia named Florin Berell was clearly leading the Royal Council in Queen Myrtle's absence and practically insinuating that he was eyeing the throne for himself. After asserting their position against the Nack Empire, council member Parck Herring became enraged and started spouting off claims that the Alfansire Clan had been hijacking the good dwarves of Bandle City since its inception and that they needed outside leadership to steer Bandle City towards economic and social prosperity with their alliance with Nack. As it seemed that talks with the adventurers were quickly going south, both General Berell and Lura Stonethrow both quietly agreed to attempt their coup right then and there. Lura commanded her Maces to shut the doors of the council room and trap the adventurers and the Alfansire sympathizers and attempt to slaughter them all. The adventurers put up a hell of a fight and managed to save Prince Gron's life while also slaying both Lura Stonethrow and General Florin Berell. Parck Herring was killed quickly by Margrun Alfansire as he attempted to flee and Brys Nommaksire and Henra Stonethrow fled the scene immediately after the battle began. A silent Alfansire sympathizer, Serris Waterlight of the Svar-tu stayed out of the way and managed to survive the ordeal.

After the fierce battle, Gron Alfansire personally thanked the adventurers for saving his life. And despite the deaths of Lura and Florin, the seeds of dissent were already set in, and the dwarves of Bandle City were still starkly divided on the issue of royal legitimacy. The Skystone was still needed to prove Gron's claim to the throne before the death of Queen Myrtle, which could be any day. Gron vowed to the adventurers that should they manage to retrieve the legendary relic in time before the Queen died, he would offer his full support in the fight against the Empire and would supply a small fleet of their little-known ships.

Notes: While attempting to disguise Lats as a young boy for the pedophiles Pixiefinger and Nazush, Kamenos managed to cut off Lats' beard. Lats subsequently bought a potion of dwarvenkind to hopefully grow his luscious beard back in short order. Balasar almost single-handedly saved Prince Gron from being slain by General Berell. Leucosa secured the alliance of the Alfansire Clan (and with any luck, the rest of the hopefully reunited dwarves of Bandle City) on the condition that they retrieve the legendary Skystone from the Pit of Alfan.

Episode 8: "Retrieving the Skystone"
Date: SH 671, March 16 - 20

Played by Balasar, Kamenos and Freia

The group made their way to the fabled Throat of Alfan amidst sly looks and whispered jeers from the dwarven residents. Margrun Alfansire led the way through the dim streets of the city while her nephew, Price Gron stayed behind at the Royal Palace to hold his position and prepare a defense against any other possible dissenters. The heroes quickly took a literal leap of faith in to the Throat and were transported through a wormhole of sorts, coming out on the other side into a massive tubular realm. The dirt and stone of this world curled in on itself, creating a pipe-like world whose diameter was a long mile. Massive stone and earthen columns created spokes of sorts throughout the plane, which Balasar later realized, with the help of the Kronkaas scriptures, was the sub-realm of Alfan Skystone known as the Scio-Arcaneum, the in-between where the dwarven dead are tested before they enter the realm of the Blessed Mountain of Heaven.

After fighting off some earth and air elementals along with fighting off a surprisingly difficult-to-wrangle flail snail, the group encountered a handful of strange creatures called xorns, who promptly begged for coins and rare gems in exchange for information. Freia generously gave up much of the silver and copper on her person to learn that the gateway to the Blessed Mountain was through the center of a Circle of Stones, guarded by stone-like creatures called galeb duhrs. As the heroes approached a circle, they were halted by a deep voice speaking in the native terran and were told to hold their place while the galeb duhrs communed with Alfan Skystone himself for hours. After about an hour or so of just waiting in place, staring at the ground and so forth, Freia got impatient and approached the top of the Circle of Stones, which prompted the full wrath of the galeb duhrs who exclaimed that she had trespassed and had entered the sacred circle without the almighty's express permission! They quickly mounted a full-on attack by revealing their boulder-like forms and rolling down the hill at all the adventurers, who immediately backed off, far away from the base of the Circle of Stones. As they were retreating, one galeb duhr who was separated from the others was suddenly swallowed up by a massive purple worm which seemingly came out of nowhere! The adventurers immediately flung themselves into the fray to save the galeb duhr but Balasar got herself swallowed up as well. After a harsh fight with the massive creature, who continually hammered down the adventurers while keeping Balasar within its acidic stomach (for the most part), the heroes managed to slay the beast and retrieve their dragonborn companion from within. After the fight, the galeb duhrs returned to commune with Alfan Skystone, imploring the adventurers to have patience, as they were allowing them to be tested once again, which was an exceedingly rare opportunity. Nearly twenty-four hours passed before the galeb duhrs returned from their communion, stating that the heroes were allowed access to the Blessed Mountain of Heaven for displaying both their patience and physical prowess in battle.

They were yet again transported via "worm-hole" to the Blessed Mountain, an unimaginably large mountain floating in the vast sky, much like any other island in the realm of Nack. However, the mountain itself was Alfan Skystone. A few hours after they began their ascent, the group came across a couple of jolly dwarves who introduced themselves as Togan and Iolrok Nommaksire cousins who have been dead for countless years and now live their afterlives within the Blessed Mountain. After explaining their situation with the dwarves, the dwarves happily lead them closer to the summit of the mountain with the help of their climbing gear. There, they tell them that if they want to converse with the almighty Alfan Skystone, they must make the rest of their journey to the top and enter into the sacred chambers within.

Near the summit, the heroes found themselves on a platform with two massive statues and dwarven runes etched beneath them. After taking some time to read through the Kronkaas, they realized that the runes matched some of the more prolific passages from the book. They touched the runes that matched the biblical passages on the runes, which in turn opened the massive doorway ahead. This lead to a huge echo chamber in which the air of the realm funneled through and out of a volcano-like opening in the top. After a few minutes of silence, the entire Blessed Mountain rumbled and the wind in the chamber flew through like a storm. The wind left a deep grumble and slow, deliberate words seeped through into the adventurer's ears. It was none other than the voice of Alfan Skystone himself, revealing that he was indeed the Blessed Mountain of Heaven itself. The adventurers pleaded for the Skystone, and that the royal lineage, the descents of the god, the Alfansire Clan were in trouble and their claim to the throne in question by the dwarves of both Bandle City and Demacia. Alfan said that the Skystone had the power to unify all dwarves under its divine banner, but in exchange for access to the holy relic, one of the three adventurers had to swear fealty to Alfan Skystone himself and become a scion of the god. Balasar's faith was tested in this manner, but alas, Freia took one for the team and accept Alfan Skystone as her lord and savior 'til death do them part (and possibly even after then! Crazy!).

Anyway, after the deal was made, the adventurers were promptly sent back to the Throat of Alfan where the Skystone, which was originally about four feet tall and one foot in diameter, ballooned to around twenty feet in diameter and four times that height and had literally plugged up the Throat of Alfan in Bandle City. There, they learned from Margrun Alfansire that her sister, the late Queen Myrtle Alfansire passed away while in the interim. And while Gron was now King, he was forced into hiding as more than half of the dwarves of Bandle City were out for his head. Now the adventurers have the daunting task of escorting the rightful king to the Throat of Alfan where he must somehow prove his legitimacy by utilizing the magic of the Skystone. Still, nobody, not even Margrun, is quite sure how that's supposed to work...

Notes: After casting a cone of cold upon the purple worm, which caused the beast to partially regurgitate Balasar, Freia promptly quick-casted telekinesis on Balasar's arm in an attempt to pull her out of the purple worm completely, battling it out using her sheer force of charismatic will against the massive strength of the beast. Freia ultimately won the contest, freeing her companion who promptly got herself eaten up again... But seriously though, it was an epic feat in battle! Later on, she accepted Alfan Skystone as her lord and savior and subsequently attained a magical blessing from the god in exchange for access to the Skystone. Balasar, while speaking with Alfan Skystone at the peak of the Blessed Mountain of Heaven had her faith tested when the dwarven deity demanded that one of their group become a faithful subject of Alfan, loyal only to him. Had she decided to turn against Harsted, she may very well have become a fallen paladin right then and there. Thank Harsted she didn't! She did however allow Alfan to impart the knowledge to speak and read Alfangen in exchange for a favor of sorts down the line. Kamenos wasn't so foolish, though. He refused to accept any blessing or knowledge from Alfan Skystone, stating that he wasn't about to be indebted to some entity as powerful as that. It would certainly come back to bite him in the ass down the line. Wise words indeed.

Episode 9: "The Rightful King"
Date: SH 671, March 20

Played by Balasar, Kamenos, Lilhani and Umer

In the days leading up to the return of the adventurers at the Throat of Alfan, Lilhani had been hard at work creating an entirely new alternate identity, utilizing the skills she acquired as a trained assassin. She created the alter ego of Froyga Silfdor, a well-to-do noble of the Silfdor Clan who hails from Demacia. She used her shorter height to her advantage, and used her skills with the disguise kit to make herself up to look closely like a dwarf of noble standing, even down to the custom-tailored suits and guard attire complete with the Silfdor sigil embroidered onto them for her and her fake retinue.

These skills were finally put to good use when the other adventurers returned, successful in their mission to retrieve the legendary Skystone. Now, with the news of Myrtle Alfansire's death, the new King Gron Alfansire has been forced into hiding by an irate dwarven population calling for his head. The adventurers had to utilize Lilhani's alter ego to help them easily travel past the throngs of dwarves blocking the major streets between in the primary level near the Church of Alfan Skystone and the Silfdor Merchant Square. They had to find one of the few surviving members of the Royal Council they could still trust -- Serris Waterlight hiding away in his quarters in the Forge District. After stopping by the Church and resting up, the group snuck along through the alleys and on rooftops to get past any dwarves who might discover they were Alfansire sympathizers. On top of that, the fabled Demacian Champions were patrolling through the protesting crowds. These elite soldiers, mounted on giant boars, pose an enormous threat to any who oppose them. Nonetheless, the adventurers managed to make it to Serris who showed them a secret entrance to a labyrinth of tunnels that run underneath the primary level of Bandle City. With a list of simple directions, Serris left the adventurers to find their way through the maze to the hidden location of King Gron -- some random office just west of the Silfdor Merchant Square.

The group managed to sift their way through the labyrinth and find Gron. After shedding their noble garb, Lilhani and Kamenos quickly fashioned common clothes for the king and themselves while also giving the king's beard a shave in the hopes that he wouldn't be recognized among the horde of dwarves. They went out into the crowds and worked their way toward the Throat of Alfan. But before long, none other than a couple of Demacian Champions halted the group as they made their way through an alley. The Champion thought he recognized Gron, and foolishly, the new king revealed himself. Immediately the Champions began a chase through the alleys and streets of Bandle City atop their giant boars. The heroes quickly scooped up King Gron into a portable hole while they ran through the winding paths leading to the Throat of Alfan as quickly as they could. After both dodging and barraging their way through the crowds of angry dwarves, the heroes managed to get to the Throat of Alfan and the Skystone itself. There, King Gron and his aunt, Margrun Alfansire began an ancient ritual next to the Skystone. The stone itself began to seep out an ethereal blue ribbon that wrapped around the two noble dwarves. Meanwhile, the Demacian Champions and a handful of elite dwarven soldiers attempted to slay both Margrun and Gron while the adventurers gloriously held them back, killing most of them.

Gron and Margrun managed to complete the ritual after a grueling few minutes and the power of Alfan Skystone manifested itself in the form of an ancient artifact -- the Skystone Hammer -- the royal weapon of old, wielded by the founding kings and queens and used in the wars against the giants, generations ago. The new King Gron had proven his legitimacy once and for all in front of hundreds of witnesses. There was no denying that the Alfansire Clan were truly the descendants of the Floating Mountain himself...

In the days that followed, the King held an audience with the adventurers and gifted each of them a magical item of immense power.

Notes: Lilhani's new alter-ego Froyga Silfdor may yet make another appearance when she deems it necessary. She was gifted the Time Stop Bracelet by King Gron. Umer put his little-used portable hole to extensive use this session! It was a major factor in determining the outcome of both sneaking through the streets of Bandle City and the daring chase that took place later on. He was gifted the Ring of Enhanced Spell Storing. Kamenos used his sneaking and disguising abilities well throughout the session and was instrumental in protecting King Gron at the Throat of Alfan. He was gifted the Cloak of Arachnida. Balasar pounded through the chase and was of crucial importance when it came to healing her companions with her Lay on Hands ability. She was gifted the Ring of Invisibility.

Episode 10: "A Molten Reckoning"
Date: SH 671, March 20 - 23

Played by Lilhani, Elizagerth, Leucosa, Halcyon, Lats and Freia

Shortly after the celebration following the legitimizing of King Gron Alfansire, the adventurers were led through a secret but massive passageway out of the Royal Palace and into what turned out to be a colossal Mountain Ship, one of only three of its kind. King Gron introduced the party to the ship's commander, General Toryr, who promptly gave the party a tour of his ship, Bandle Mountain. Turns out that there were a couple of Bunker Ships attached to the mothership each with the capability to detach from Bandle Mountain and act on its own in battle. These Bunker Ships, named Goldgiver and Rivermaker, each have their own specialties and enable the fleet to perform various feats in battle.

Shortly after this massive reveal, the adventurers and crew of Bandle Mountain flew off to northwest of Bandle City to yet another Mountain Ship, Skystone Peak, which had Bunker Ship of its own. From there, the expanding fleet traveled to the southeast, just south of Demacia to the Forge of Alfan, the last of the three Mountain Ships known for its capability of producing highly magical weapons and armor for its dwarven army. The Forge also had a slew of Bunker Ships attached to it.

With a total of three Mountain Ships and seven Bunker Ships, the now formidable fleet split into two flotillas: one with Bandle Mountain and its two bunker ships along with the slew of smaller ships already in the possession of the adventurers, including the ElectroZephyr itself and the other two-thirds of the Runeterra Fleet headed vaguely east while the flagship and the adventurer's mixed-bag fleet headed south toward the little-known island of Meowlo. Turns out that a catfolk pilot named Yellow Briarclaw, one of only twelve renowned Catfolk Dogfighters has been forging an alliance with the dwarves for the past decade in the hopes of building a fleet large enough to take on the Nack Empire. And on the way there, the Blue Bandits decided to scout ahead in the ElectroZephyr, taking a few other ships along with them, including the Nightwing, Black Albatross, and the Vilya Sakarin.

After a day of blue and empty skies, the scouting party came across a handful of Mosquito Fighters who attempted to ambush them. While the larger ships were able to subdue the Mosquito Fighters with relative ease, the almost-forgotten Grape Marauder, captained by the pirate Bruno jumped out of an invisibility cloak and skewered the ElectroZephyr in its cargo hold. As pirates began swarming the ship, Elizagerth, Freia, Lats and Lilhani fought them back bravely.

Meanwhile, one of the enemy Mosquito Fighters, apparently piloted by Bruno's first mate, managed to penetrate and board the Vilya Sakarin, and the experienced pirate began slaying the rather helpless elven crew aboard. Leucosa noticed this while aboard the Nightwing and quickly steered over toward the hijacked vessel. Halcyon also began to notice this and began to use power borrowed from his goddess Runsted to fly over from the ElectroZephyr toward the Sakarin.

As Elizagerth waded through dozens of marauders, he managed to leap aboard the Grape Marauder itself and engage Bruno himself in a fierce melee. And as Lats continued to fight off Mosquito fighters while using a mounted ballista, he suddenly noticed a familiar rift open up in the sky in front of the ElectroZephyr. Before he had time to warn his companions, another Goliath broke through the newly formed gateway between the mortal realm and the second layer of the Nine Hells, Dis, and immediately slammed into the fore of the ElectroZephyr. The massive, gear-like ship also quickly deployed half a dozen Gadfly Mines to combat any remaining ships that weren't already tied down by the Grape Marauder and the Goliath. Atop the Goliath, Lats could see none other than the Molten Juggernaut himself, glaring at the doomed gnome with blazing red orbs. The Juggernaut and his small army of animated suits of armor and doom knights immediately flooded the ElectroZephyr and threw the entire battle out of its original rhythm.

Seeing this as an opportunity for a comeback, Elizagerth managed to both intimidate and persuade Bruno and his crew to drop their petty feud for a moment to address the clearly greater threat that now had slammed into them. A desperate struggle commenced as a dozen pirates were promptly cut down by the Molten Juggernaut's oversized, blazing sword. Bruno bravely leapt into the melee with Elizagerth and stood his ground momentarily before succumbing to the sheer strength of the iron giant. And shortly thereafter, three of the Gadfly Mines had successfully attached and exploded on the ElectroZephyr, nearly destroying it completely. Now the beloved ship was barely holding on by a thread.

Leucosa had managed to board the Sakarin and quickly slashed and skewered the rogue bandit who had already managed to slaughter a dozen elven crew members. Halcyon had managed to board shortly thereafter and they instructed the surviving crew members to steer the Sakarin toward the invading Goliath. By the time they managed to board the devilish, clockwork ship, the fight with the Molten Juggernaut had gone from bad to worse. Elizagerth, despite his barbaric rage and orcish persistence, had fallen unconscious to the massive strikes from the Juggernaut while Lats had bravely intervened and also fell to the searing heat and bottomless well of endurance the archdevil seemed to possess. Halcyon cast mass cure wounds on the entire party for one last boost, but the half-orc and gnome were still unconscious. As the Juggernaut and his devilish army were about to strike the killing blow upon Lats, completing the arcane bond that had been forged from the fateful drawing of the Flames card from the now nonexistent Deck of Many Things several months prior, Freia managed to cast a powerful cone of cold upon the metallic beast, finally slaying the devil once and for all and ending the powerful magicks that had compelled it to kill the gnome monk at all costs.

With the epic death of the Molten Juggernaut and the pile of bodies he had accrued just beforehand, the adventurers and handful of bandit survivors worked to pick up the pieces. Elizagerth and his companions quickly gave the crew of the Grape Marauder two options: join them and continue to be crew members under the new command of the adventurers or be systematically executed. Seeing no other logical choice, the pirates agreed to the terms of service while Freia and Halcyon began investigating the inner workings of the Goliath. Deep within it's core, Freia discovered a mystical Sphere of Annihilation. Using what remained of her arcane power, she managed to will the sphere into her possession and move it into the cargo hold of Bandle Mountain, which had by then caught up with the remains of the airborne skirmish.

The dwarven crew of Bandle Mountain brought the ElectroZephyr aboard and began its repairs on the badly damaged ship while the fleet completed its journey to Meowlo. By the time they reached the shores of the minute island, a glowing moon had replaced the blazing sun. Given that the catfolk can voluntarily lead a nocturnal lifestyle, half of the small coastal town was still awake and going about their business when the adventurers landed. Yellow had led the heroes to the small hut of the leader of the Catfolk Dogfighters, Falling Branch (aka "Fall"), who was awaiting their arrival for many years now. As a show of both skill and solidarity, Fall offered to display the airship skills of the Catfolk Dogfighters...

Notes: The Molten Juggernaut has finally been slain! It appeared that his spirit was still dwelling within his oversized sword which Elizagerth had quickly taken and attuned to. However, in exchange for the cloaking device on the Grape Marauder, Halcyon cast banishment on the weapon, expelling the spirit of the Juggernaut supposedly back to the second layer of the Nine Hells. It isn't quite clear if the Juggernaut is truly dead or not. Halcyon had the dwarven engineers install the cloaking device on the Goliath. Leucosa managed to nearly singlehandedly save the Vilya Sakarin from complete destruction, while Lilhani was horrified by the damage done to her precious ElectroZephyr. Lats is now free of an archdevil hellbent of destroying him, and he is now clearly in debt to his companion Freia, who now has the interesting decision of how to use the massively powerful Sphere of Annihilation. In the aftermath of the battle, the adventurers came away with the Grape Marauder, the Goliath and sixteen total Gadfly Mines added to their fleet.

Episode 11: "The Dragon War Comes to Meowlo"
Date: SH 671, March 23 - 26

<font face="helvetica" color="MediumOrchid">Played by Lilhani, Elizagerth, Cordithas, Ling Bro, Cloud, Umer and Halcyon

As the light of dawn reached the tiny, forested island of Meowlo, the infamous Catfolk Dogfighters took to the air in their Clouded Leopards from which the pilots set up the start of an impressive airshow. Among the pilots, two catfolk adventuring companions Cloud and Ling Bro performed an aerial duet as the adventuring group known as the Blue Bandits watched in awe from a meadow below. Meanwhile, an unknown half-elf Cordithas had unsneakily snuck up on the group after determining that these individuals were indeed the ones he was looking for...

Only a few minutes into the airshow, Ling Bro spotted a black dragon in the distance, closing in quickly! He quickly informed his fellow Dogfighters and they began to move into tactical position. As the adventurers gawked from below, not seeing the dragon in the distance, a second black dragon ambushed them from behind on the ground! A line of acid breath seared the flesh of the adventurers! A slew of tiny dragons known as dragonites swept in at the same time, quickly catching Cordithas away from the relative safety of the group. He fought back with multiple eldritch blasts, and despite his devotion to peace and joy, he gripped a silver dragonites neck in a rage and cast his eldritch blast point blank, causing the tiny dragon to explode from the arcane power. Now covered in dragon guts, the half-elf made his way back to the rest of the adventurers, who had a different tactic up their sleeve.

Using the powerful Orb of Dragon Command on her person, Lilhani successfully possessed the black dragon attacking them. With the beast in their complete control, Lilhani and Elizagerth mounted the creature and commanded it to fly into the aerial fray above. By now, three more dragon wyrmlings had made their way into the battle. The initial black dragon spewed its acid breath and critically hit Cloud, who decided to pull a kamikaze, crashing her Clouded Leopard into the dragon while simultaneously shapeshifting into an air elemental. As the rest of the Catfolk Dogfighters battled further to the north, Ling Bro, Cloud, and the rest of the Blue Bandits were held down by the handful of dragons in the meadow. Far off in the distance, Halcyon spotted a massive warship from which several more dragons were flying. Utilizing his knowledge of the Nack Empire and its formidable Fleet, he identified the warship as none other than the White-Blue Concordat, an infamous juggernaut of a ship that is often found in the shadow of the Flagship Judicature. It'd become clear that the Empire was behind this sudden dragon attack, and perhaps they were after not only the Catfolk Dogfighters and the split Runeterra Fleet, but perhaps they had knowledge of the location of the Blue Bandits themselves... Nonetheless, the adventurers had no time to ponder whether or not there were spies among them or the Runeterra Fleet. They had dragons to slay! And slay they did. One by one, the adventurers took down the remaining dragons within the meadow.

As the last dragon in the meadow fell dead, the party decided it was best to return back to the coastal hamlet and rejoin the Grape Marauder and the rest of the fleet. However, a journey by foot through the thick jungle-like terrain of Meowlo would take far too long in this unfolding crises. After some quick deliberation on the best means of transportation, the group decided to mix it up: Elizagerth and Lilhani would ride their possessed black dragon, Ling Bro would continue to fly in his undamaged Clouded Leopard, Cloud would simply continue to zip around in air elemental form, and the rest of the party would surf along the borrowed water from an initial ice storm, spell courtesy of Halcyon, a la control water and water walk combination. Halcyon had used a similar trick to surf across the dragon-invaded Sparinon nearly a month ago (read more on Episode 2: "Sparinon is Burning!"). Halfway to their destination they ran into an adult gold dragon who was ravaging a few poor catfolk beneath the leafy canopy. After catching up with the dragon, Lilhani and Elizagerth agree to drop their possession on the black dragon they're riding and attempt to control the larger gold dragon. With all her magical might, the gnome used the Orb to bore deep into the psyche of the gold dragon. However, the gold dragon was no match and after a brief pause he shrugged off the influence of the artifact. The plan essentially backfired, and now the group had to contend with not only the gold dragon but also the newly freed black dragon! And to top it all off, another white dragon snuck up behind the adventurers who were keeping back from the gold dragon, using their long range abilities. The fight, even more fierce than the first, brought Halcyon to unconsciousness -- perhaps for the first time in his adventuring career. Cordithas was also taken to the brink of death a couple times -- not a great first impression at all. On the other hand, Umer practically single-handedly took down the white dragon with his high-powered spells, including disintegrate and immolation. Lilhani also used her Time Stop Bracelet, gifted to her by King Gron, for the first time, using its powerful magic to deal an ungodly amount of damage to the gold dragon. Meanwhile Ling Bro, still manning his Clouded Leopard, dealt a ton of damage to the previously possessed black dragon. All the heroes' efforts combined amounted to victory but not without some serious injury to many of the adventurers.

The group boarded the Grape Marauder when the reached the docks, and from there, they boarded the much larger Bandle Mountain. The Mountain Ship along with their portion of the allied fleet began flying south, away from the White-Blue Concordat and the dragons under its control. Lilhani, still frustrated by the slow progress on her precious ElectroZephyr, spoke to a surly dwarf named Roybin who stated that without any fresh dragon bladders, repairing the blue ship would take upwards of two weeks. After this unfortunate news, the group discussed what to do next. With their primary goal to awaken the Dragon Goddess Locqwerthalyn, they believed they still needed more allies, both ships and individuals, if they were to successfully infiltrate the Nack Fleet and the Flagship Judicature. With that notion, the group decided that at some point they would need to return to the island of Locq on the far end of the realm to get several hundred dragonborn barbarians on board. However, the journey might take too long and the Nack Fleet might strike before then. They also discussed stopping one of the closest unexplored islands that wasn't occupied by the Empire, Ingeni, then possibly Bruya, onto Lallousa and then eventually to Locq by the end. But that route would still take too long. With the other half of the allied fleet flying somewhere up north, both groups would be exposed to the Nack Warships and their army of soulless dragons.

During this discussion within a command room in Bandle Mountain, Halcyon cast a handful of sending spells to speak with King Gron of the dwarves and Queen Vlaya in an attempt to get the northern half of the allied fleet to convene in Sparinon so that the elves and dwarves would be united as one. Halcyon also contacted Lizabet of the Locquians who proved to be extremely xenophobic when he suggested that the elves and/or dwarves met up with the dragonborn tribes of Locq and brought them to a more strategic position for the war. Instead, Lizabet insisted that only the original adventurers could convince them to leave their island. Everything else was a potential threat to be dealt with.

With many questions and few answers, Cordithas successfully attempted to contact his patron, Yonah the Pure in his dreams that night. Within a dream-forest, Yonah explained to Cordithas that there are certain teleportation sigils located throughout Nack, including Bruya, Namara, and Sparinon. With the right incantations, the group could quickly and relatively safely travel to Locq. The problem with that solution however was, with the exception of Sparinon, both Bruya and Namara are currently held by the Nack Empire. Going in there could mean being caught. Yonah also advised Cordithas on the possibility of stopping at Ingeni, the mysterious desert island. He briefly warned them of the dangers of that island, mysteriously stating that the elements of earth, wind, and fire can have a wicked tendency. That being said, the island holds within it powerful secrets, including magic that can be used as a weapon against the empire as well as an isolated peoples who could potentially work as allies against the Empire.

The next morning, Cordithas spoke with Halcyon who had harvested a partially intact dragon bladder from the battles on Meowlo, asking him to offer it up to Roybin to speed up the repairs on the ElectroZephyr. After some cordial and diplomatic exchanges, Roybin received the bladder and promised that with it he could reduce the repair time from two weeks down to two days. From there, it seems that the adventurers have set their sights on the unknown island of Ingeni, skirting around the island group of Wrallin which is known to be under the control of the Empire. With any luck, perhaps they will find something worth taking back with them in their struggle against the Empire and the Nack Fleet...

Notes: In the aftermath of the dragon invasion at Meowlo, the remaining adventurers took the time to attune to the Orb of Dragon Command and gained the passive benefits of the artifact (Lilhani is the only one in current possession of the orb). Ling Bro and Cloud learned that two of the Catfolk Dogfighters died in the battles with the dragons -- Trickling Brook (no relation to Ling Bro) and Burning Man. The remainder, including Yellow and Fall, have apparently made their way onboard Bandle Mountain.

Special Episode: "Pirates Aboard Grape Marauder!"
Date: SH 671, March 27 - April 4

<font face="helvetica" color="MediumOrchid">Played by Lilhani, Elizagerth and Umer

Seeing the opportunity for adventure, Elizagerth managed to convince Lilhani and Umer to join him a-pirating to the Nack-controlled island of Wrallin, specifically to the coastal town of Taran. They managed to scrounge up the Grape Marauder, two Mosquito Fighters and the Nightwing together for a jaunt through the open skies in search of other ships to plunder.

Episode 12: "The Temple of Ibn Almawt"
Date: SH 671, March 26 - April 4

<font face="helvetica" color="MediumOrchid">Played by Cordithas, Kamenos, Balasar, Freia, Lats and Leucosa

Now that they had their goal in mind, the adventurers decided to take the ElectroZephyr along with the Black Albatross from what is now being called the "Blue Flotilla", which is led by the Mountain Ship known as Bandle Mountain. The heroes flew for roughly eight hours south from their location before they found the desert island of Ingeni where they found the the whole island was engulfed in a massive, ceaseless dust storm. It seemed that if they wanted to land on the island, they could only land roughly within 100 yards of the shore. After talking about it for a moment, Freia and Leucosa agreed to fly the ship around the island to see what they could see. In the end, they landed the ship on the southern end of the island, right at the point where the flat plains met some stark sand dunes, reaching dozens of feet tall.

After eight hours of some relatively aimless marching along the sand dunes edge just to keep a better line of sight to the west, the group spotted a tribe of tlincali stalking them and attempting the ambush. From a distance they could tell that the creatures resembled some unholy unity between a giant scorpion and a humanoid, as if a centaur had a scorpion-like torso rather than a horse. The tlincali tribe proved to be resourceful and brutal, but after three of the five total creatures were slain by the defending adventurers, the rest skittered away into the desert. The group decided to make camp among the slain tlincali, and after a peaceful night Lats, using his Eyes of the Eagle spotted some fiery humanoid figures six miles out to the desert plains in the west at dawn.

The adventurers spent the next several hours catching up to these mysterious figures. And as they approached more closely, they decided not to ambush them but rather speak openly with them about who they were and what they were doing on the island of Ingeni (Balasar decided to use her Ring of Invisibility just in case). The fiery humanoids had glowing red skin, some with flaming hair, others with ashen, charcoal faces. Some of their number carried wicked bows with flame-tipped arrows. Lats, using his Tongue of the Sun and Moon trait he gained after many years of meditation and developing his Ki, was the only individual able to speak directly with these strange peoples, who called themselves the Efreet Lahab, a stolid tribe of Fire Genasi. Their leader, an Alsaahir who called himself Khalid, explained to Lats and his companions that his daughter Kamila had gone missing a few days past. They were on a mission to find and rescue her, and Khalid was certain that the Earth Genasi, a tribe known as the Dao Ramal, had kidnapped Kamila for their own nefarious purposes. Khalid explained to the adventurers that if they tracked down the Dao Ramal and returned Kamila back to him, he would tell them the secrets of the island of Ingeni. After the heroes accepted this offer, Khalid instructed one of his archers, Azzam, to accompany them on their journey.

While traveling for two days eastward across the desert, Azzam spoke of the myths and legends of their people, specifically about a great man known as Ibn Almawt, who apparently founded the island when the three tribes were once unified. Eventually, the group found the shrine of the Dao -- there, they waited for the Dao Ramal to eventually return to their shrine on one of their regular pilgrimages. When the Dao Ramal arrived at the shrine two days later, and without Kamila, they cast a silence spell on Azzam which would allow their leaders, Alsaahir Jamel and Altabib Haroun al Rachid to speak with the adventurers. Alsaahir Jamel claimed to have nothing to do with Kamila's disappearance. However, in answering the question about the power of the island and where its secrets might be held, he explained to the group that there was a sacred temple in which their ancestral founder Ibn Almawt was entombed. However, the temple is hidden and protected by one Etekhas, Sphinx of the Source somewhere deep within the Dunes of Qa'Nariin. While the Dao Ramal were currently about to embark on a pilgrimage to Etekhas, Altabib Haroun al Rachid explained to the adventurers that if they were to seek the Sphinx of the Source, they must go alone, for it is blasphemy to allow any outsiders as companions on their yearly pilgrimage. After their discussion, Cordithas spoke more with Azzam about the true nature of Kamila's disappearance. After some more interrogation, Azzam revealed that Kamila had a big fight with her father about her wanting to reunite the tribes. She had apparently been speaking with members of the Dao Ramal and the Djinn Dukhan and had some lofty ideas about what their ancestral leader Ibn Almawt really wanted of the peoples of Ingeni.

With this new information, Leucosa and the others deduced that Kamila hadn't been kidnapped but instead must've run away from her father and the Efreet Lahab in search of the Temple of Ibn Almawt. Working under that assumption, the adventurers set off for the Dunes of Qa'Nariin in search of the Sphinx of the Source. After wandering the dunes for two days, and with the crucial help of Freia and her surprising survival skills, they managed to find Etekhas, the Sphinx of the Source deep within the shifting dunes, sitting stoically amidst swirling sands and countless corpses. Among the skeletal remains was that of a young child, closest to the Sphinx and the least decayed by the sands, the wind, and the sun. Upon some brief questioning, Etekhas revealed that the body belonged to none other than Kamila. She had apparently failed to answer the riddles posed to her and therefore was obliterated by Etekhas' will. The Sphinx had warned them that in order for the Temple of Ibn Almawt to be revealed to them, they were to answer correctly three riddles posed at once, followed by a fourth. If they were to answer any riddles incorrectly, they too would face the decimating wrath of the Sphinx of the Source. The group quickly agreed to the terms and the Sphinx rattled off the first three riddles:

<font face="helvetica" color="lightseagreen">'All life springs from me and inevitably returns to me. You can hold me in your hand yet when you walk, you walk on me. What am I?'

'I move without legs. I push without arms. I speak without words. I howl without a mouth. What am I?'

'I feast on air, but drink no water. I have no eyes of my own, but without me, you are blind. What am I?'

The group successfully answered the three riddles ("earth," "wind" and "fire" respectively), and to each answer he had a response:

<font face="helvetica" color="lightseagreen">Earth -- The ground upon which we stand, the earth is essential for life, land-bound or not.

Wind -- The invisible force which we rely upon for without wind and air, flight and life cannot exist.

Fire -- The passions of life burn within, and fire acts as both the weapon and the boon for our needs.

After giving his responses, Etekhas' eyes glowed fiercely and he orated the last riddle:

<font face="helvetica" color="lightseagreen">'Using me, battles are never fought alone. With me bonds are never broken. Reveal my identity.'

After much deliberation, the group successfully answered "loyalty" to which Etekhas responded,

<font face="helvetica" color="lightseagreen">'A promise to one another is necessary for our survival. Our division has led to this wasteland.'

One those words were spoken, the Temple of Ibn Almawt, shaped like a pyramid, rose up from beneath the sands, causing the dunes to shift out of the way, revealing an opening near the bottom. The inner workings of the temple were laden with traps and undead creatures, who were sworn to protect the body of Ibn Almawt in the afterlife for eternity. An aura of necrotic evil engulfed the temple as the adventurers hacked and slashed their way through these undead foes, up through a false chamber and then down again through more bas reliefs that depicted Ibn Almawt's founding of the island, the unification of the peoples who came with him, and the schism that followed Ibn Almawt's death. Eventually, they fought their way into the inner sanctum, the burial chamber of Ibn Almawt himself. Clay vases lined the walls surrounding his sarcophagus, each containing the entrails of the late Ibn Almawt. The moment Balasar cracked open the sarcophagus Ibn Almawt himself, a mummy lord, immediately leapt out and attacked the adventurers. A harrowing fight ensued, with Freia going unconscious after taking so much damage from Ibn Almawt's necrotic onslaught, and specifically due to his nefarious ability to temporarily eliminate the usage of magical healing by channeling negative energy throughout the chamber. While Freia was an inch from death, Kamenos did something very un-Kamenos-like and actually risked life and limb to drag her unconscious body out of the insect swarm that Ibn Almawt had summoned. In order to help, Lats had also bravely bullrushed Freia's body with his little gnomish figure. Shortly afterward, Cordithas had the good idea to start smashing the vases that carried his body parts, starting with the lungs, liver, stomach -- all of which had turned to ash when they hit the ground -- all except the heart, which remained intact when it hit the floor. Balasar, thinking on her feet, breathed fire over the heart which caused the mummy lord to scream and immediately run to pick it up. Immediately afterward, Lats threw a dart at the heart which struck it perfectly -- but it did not seem to affect Ibn Almawt! In frustration, Ibn Almawt screamed and knocked Kamenos unconscious with a summoned spectral mace and dug his hands into Freia's face, sucking what little bit of life she had remaining in her out, killing her outright...

However, Balasar pulled a massive trick out of her sleeve and cast revivify on the recently death Freia, bringing her back from death after only a few seconds -- much to the chagrin of yours truly. A few seconds after this miraculous recovery, Leucosa cut off Ibn Almawt's hand, forcing him to drop his pulsating heart. With her brandished and burning sword Flametongue, she cut the mummy lord down and he turned to dust. Immediate afterward, she stabbed into the heart on the ground, causing it to emit a high-pitched shrieking sound before fizzling and turning into ash as well. With the true death of the mummy lord, the curse that had enveloped the temple immediately lifted and the benevolent spirit of Ibn Almawt rose above the opened sarcophagus. He spoke in an ancient tongue that sounded distantly similar to Nackaran. With his ki-empowered ability known as the Tongue of the Sun and Moon, Lats could roughly understand what Ibn Almawt was saying, which was essentially him thanking them for releasing the evil spirit of hatred and loathing from the sacred temple. As a token of his gratitude, the spirit of Ibn Almawt gave the group the fabled Corona of Gates. We'll find out what this eclipse-looking ring means next session!

Notes: Cordithas proved to be very resourceful in what led to the downfall of the mummy lord. It's looking like Kamenos is starting to shift over from chaotic neutral to perhaps true neutral or even chaotic good what with all the heroic deeds he's been performing in the past few weeks. Balasar has officially saved Freia from beyond death, and now she is forever in her debt. Freia's return from the grave, however, is not without consequence. It'll only be a matter of time before the fact that she has glimpsed the hereafter comes into some fruition, for better or worse. Lats has proven to be resourceful as ever and has also performed heroic deeds for the better of the group. Perhaps he too is on the move in the moral spectrum. And finally, we cannot leave off without mentioning on Leucosa Enna, who dealt the finishing blow to the mummified Ibn Almawt and his phylactery (for lack of a better term) in the form of his still-beating heart.

Sections: Main | Campaigns | Characters | NPCs | Locales | Culture | History | Artifacts | Maps

Campaigns: Slaadi Invasion | Northern Strife | Heroes & Traitors | Hollows | Black as Pitch | Air Islands of Nack | BUFD Wars

Air Islands of Nack: Flight of the ElectroZephyr | Malevolence in Pursuit | Rousing the Dragon | Betrayal at the Dragon Temple