Map of Gladomain

Map of Gladomain. The circle centered on Barovia is the misted land conquered by Orcus' armies.

Last Stand at Stonestown - Refugees of Ironview Storyline

The priest is summoned back to the village because of the announcement of a child being born. The rest of the party explores the dungeons below the ruined city and confront a larger band of goblins inhabiting a far corner of the complex. They capture Snotskin, the goblin king and his queen begs them to spare him. They agree to spare the king on the condition that they tell them what they are seeking in the forest and vow not to attack the refugees in the forest.

Snotskin agrees to their terms. He tells them he was working for a gnoll that commanded him by force to search the forest. Also they tell the party that they were looking for a chest filled with a magical artifact that was supposed to have been taken somewhere in the forest by a band of Kobolds lead by one named Krackilack.

The party sets out to notify the order of Yggdrasil to the north. After several days journey they find the stone circle of the druids and a battle is raging. All but one elven druid has been struck down by the invaders and the remaining elf stands against a large gnoll while several other gnoll raiders look on.

The party jumps into action, evening the odds. The mayor and the chaos mage in the party fall under the gnoll attack, but the ranger and wizard turn the tide back and slay the gnolls and save the last druid. She graciously offers the party shelter.

When the party mentions the kobolds and the chest to her she mentions the only kobold she knows of is a hermit living on the north side of the fallen world tree. The party leaves and travels for several days, finding the hermit's hut alongside the tree.

The hermit is krackilack the kobold and they find out that he did the chest beneath the floorboards of his old home, though he believes that his village was destroyed. The party gets him to come along with them by suggesting that they may be able to restore some of his fellow villagers from their petrified state. The next night while they are camped out he disappears without a trace.

They find a gorge with a river flowing through it. An old bridge has collapsed into the river, but in a slower moving part there are large lily pads they can jump across the river on. The mayor leaps to the other side and affixes a rope for the wizard to use to pull himself across the rapids. While he's in the water he finds that some undead in the water are grabbing at his legs. They are all bound in the foliage growing at the bottom of the murky stream.

The rest of the party attacks the skeletons and helps free the wizard and the ranger hops across the lily pads while the chaos mage tightrope walks across the rope they tied between the two old bridge supports.

When they return to the village they find the chest and dig it up but its been petrified and cannot be opened. No sooner have they arrived than the village is under attack. Kobolds with a seige weapon charge the city gates. Soon several gnolls arrive and join the fight.

The party mans the walls with half of their garrison and sends the rest of the townsfolk through an escape tunnel they constructed under the tree. During the melee, the chaos mage is cornered by gnolls on the wall, dives off into the forest and is taken down by one of the great beasts. The wizard is cornered gnolls on the wall as well, while the ranger and mayor pluck off kobold attackers.

Yllallae Serpenthelm arrives and destroys the seige engine and its crew dramatically. As she runs to their rescue, a shadowy gnoll appears behind her and cuts off her head, claiming it as a trophy. The surviving party members recognize him as Emperor Mez'Gar, the evil undead gnoll assassin.

The Emperor thanks them for leading him to the artifact of power, motioning to the head of Krackilack hanging from his belt as well. He kills the wizard by kicking him off the battlements than dispatches the ranger.

The party and the garrison manage to hold off the invaders while all the townsfolk escape, but during the battle the gate is smashed and a rampaging bugbear tears down one of the gate supports, collapsing a wall and pinning the mayor under some debris. Mez'Gar approaches the mayor after retrieving the stone chest. He tells the mayor that he thanks them for locating this useful artifact and then smashes the chest open. Before the mayor can see what he retrieved from it, Mez'Gar turns and beheads him.

The priest was recalled to town by a woman who claimed to be pregnant with your child. He arrived in town just before the rest of the adventurers and the army that came on their heels. The party decided to hold off the army as long as possible while the priest did the honorable thing and stayed with the pregnant woman. He and the rest of the villagers fled to the other side of the world tree through an underground tunnel and collapsed it behind them.

The Priest, Acting Mayor MacDuff and the pompous windbag Prospiro rallied the distraught villagers. Robbed of their home for the second time in a year, they hardened and strengthened. Determined to put distance between themselves and the army but afraid of being lost in the forest, they traveled for weeks down the length of the World Tree, until they arrived at its base. There they found the remains of a demonic worksite. A large chunk was missing from the Tree, but more importantly, powerful work tools were left strewn about. Additionally, chunks of the forest had been turned from Stone to Flesh (or Wood) by the demons, who needed that wood to power their tools.

Thusly equipped with power tools, wood and stone in construction materials, and a sky-high canvas upon which to paint their dreams, the 70 refugees set to work. Over the years they built a vertical city into the former Tree of Life, dramatically incorporating entire stone trees, branches and trunks into the city as decoration and columns. They named this the Town of Lapis Wood. Word spread, and the Town grew.

At the base of the Town, they built a fountain in the shape of the World Tree, and around that fountain they placed five statues: one for each of the Heroes of Lapis Wood. In time their names were forgotten, but their images remained - The Priest, The Ranger, The Sorceress, The Wizard, and The Mayor.

Plight of Silverleaf - Refugees of Ironview Storyline

The party meets up with more heroes in the small town of Silverleaf, newly formed in the fallen world tree's branches by another smaller group of refugees from the war. During the night, animals carry townsfolk out of their homes. The party follows their trail to a small cave where they find some townsfolk eaten while others are tied up.

They kill the animals and free the surviving townsfolk, including a few heroes, and confront the mad druid who summoned the animals to attack their town. The mad druid believes that the entire forest is dying and he is destroying everything as revenge.

They take the druid back to town to have him judged by the people of Silverleaf and brought to justice, but while he's held he consumes some herbs and dies. The lead the surviving townsfolk back to New Stonestown. As they return to the village they meet Yllallae Serpenthelm, who gives them some useful objects and offers to help them communicate with the Order of Yggdrasil.

Once they return to town, the heroes decide to head toward the great ruined city run by Snotskin the Goblin to see what progress they have made on their searching through the forest and to see what they can learn about their plans. They journey for several days in the woods, then come upon the ruins. They enter the lower level and encounter several goblins and a pack of rats. After they furious battle they defeat their foes and turn their sights deeper into the ruins' dungeon.

Refuge of the Fallen - Refugees of Ironview Storyline

100 Ironview Refugees travel into the forest, making their way for the fallen world tree. Lost and confused, they were inspired by the (perhaps unrealistic) message of a former village mayor named Prospiro, who suggested carving a city into the side of the trunk. The heroes protected the caravan from a kobold attack and found a map of the forest, divided into grids, with many grids X'd out.

Then they led the refugees to the tree (after suffering some setbacks) and found an abandoned kobold village, much of which had been turned to stone when the tree fell. They made this their home, and spend the next three months building human-sized dwellings, a city wall, a militia yard, and a lumber mill. They name the place New Stonestown.

One of the refugee heroes, ran for mayor on a platform of military strength. When the village suffered a major attack by Goblins and Kobolds together, another map was discovered on an attacker's corpse.

The heroes deduced that the map meant the forces they had encountered were searching the forest for something, and set out for the Druid Circle to see if the Druids knew what was going on in the forest.

They were interrupted in their journey by the discovery of another village of refugees, this one with few survivors and in desperate need of help, named Silverleaf.

Escape from Hell! Saviors of Blackshore!

Kodrus Jr. and Atticus follow a lead to find the missing chicken. It's rumored to be with King and Queen Turath who are travelling in the hells and were recently seen in the port city of Jealous Heart on the edge of Phlegethos.

The rest of the party reposes in the Crystal Palace by the lake of fire for a few weeks. Talking with Captain Skullblade, a devil who is the highest ranking officer in army after they killed Gazra and his chief lieutenants, the learn the following information:

"Lady Inanna, the ruler of Jealous Heart is the most beautiful enchantress in Baator. All who meet her bend to her will. It is rumored that she was once consort to Levistus, the ruler of Stygia. Levistus assassinated Asmodeus' Queen Bensozia, a crime for which he was merely imprisoned in a great iceberg on Stygia, though he still rules in title. All of the duties of ruler are carried out by Asmodeus' loyal general Geryon the arch-fiend.

Belial is the father of Fierna, the current ruler of Phlegethos. He was once ruler her himself, but after the last reckoning of hell, he surrendered his title to his daughter, believing he would continue to rule behind the throne. While true for some time, Fierna eventually gave up her indifference towards governance and now asserts herself defiantly against Belial's wishes.

Fierna is the ruler of Phlegethos. She is powerful, beautiful, and lascivious. Most in Baator consider her to be one of the highest achievemers in the dual virtues of sin and discipline. She has recently grown defiant towards her father's advice on how to govern Phlegethos, and has even banished him from her dark spire palace.

During the last reckoning of hell, a bloody civil war, two factions warred for power. The first faction was composed of Baalzebub, Belial, and several other devil. The second faction was composed of Mephistopheles, Mammon, Dispater, and Geryon. When Baalzebub's faction seemed close to victory and they prepared to turn their sights on the throne of Asmodeus , the lord of Baator had his loyal pit fiend generals stage a coup against both factions, effectively ending the war. Asmodeus then executed the most treacherous members of Baalzebub and Belial's cabal, though they both survived his purge. Mephistopheles and his faction suffered little more than a slap on the wrist as they pledged themselves to Asmodeus for saving them from Baalzebub's wrath.

Baalzebub was once the lord of Baator and ruled the ninth plane in Nessus. Rumor has it that the original lord of Baator, now long past and forgotten was deposed by Baalzebub. Baalzebub was in turn deposed by Asmodeus when he still commanded the armies of heaven and fought against the first fallen angels. When Asmodeus' pride was slighted by his masters in heaven, he murdered several of them with his sword Hellsong, until he was finally driven out and took up residence in Baator. Baalzebub still seeks to reclaim his lost title.

Graz'zt is the Son of Asmodeus, the lord of Baator, and Pale Night, the mother of demons who resides in Shubgottia. Graz'zt was raised in the courts of Baator, but always showed a rebellious streak. When his mother was deposed by the other demonic factions in the Abyssal civil war, he sought to lead the armies in the Bloodwar to invade the abyss. While on his conquests, he captured several layers, but in time became corrupted and turned to the ways of chaos. Some say that Graz'zt's membership in the dark six is merely a cover, and that he spies on the abyss for his father Asmodeus. Graz'zt is said to have a strong rivalry bordering on hatred with Orcus."

Invitations pour in from the three major devils on Plegethos. They decide to avoid Inanna, who is notorious for charming and dominating visitors and head to Phlegethos' largest city, ruled by Belial. They ride several nightmares across the firey plains and arrive a day later at the city gates. They are welcomed to the city keep and meet with Belial, a tall and impressive devil.

Belial advises that he believes Mammon intends to deceive them and he helps Whosis remember that Mammon actually on said it was within his power to give them the Ziggurat, he never actually promised to give it. Belial suggests that they tell his daughter Fierna that they intend to give Mammon the title of general and to invite him to the ceremony, then when he arrives they will actually name Belial to the title. Belial agrees to write a contract with the following conditions:

1. The party names him general of Phlegethos, as is their right.
2. Belial will help them sieze the Ziggurat from Mammon
3. The party will leave Baator and never return, unless invited by Belial or his superiors. Also, Belial will not return to Gladomain with his army unless invited by a member of the party, or if he is ordered to go there by his superiors.

The party gladly excepts and signs the contract in blood. They set of to speak with Fierna who is always partying in her dark spire. The imp at the front gate remembers whosis who tipped him generously last time and lets them in again (after another large tip). They enter the court and find a bunch of naked devils eating and drinking. Whosis accepts a poisoned chalice from Fierna and chokes to death as the court laughs at him. They later resurrect him.

Fierna says that the ceremony will take place in nine weeks time. Though they plead with her to speed this up, she says there will be no exceptions. They leave the her dark spire palace and travel back to the crystal palace to train with the army. They try to contact Belial but he sends word that it is not safe to speak as Mammon's spies are everywhere.

At the ceremony, Mammon arrives outside the dark spire palace with the jewelled ziggurat. Fierna comes out the front gate and brings a chalice, asking the party to name the person who will be the new general. To her surprise, they name her father Belial who steps from among the ranks of the army and claims the title, drinking from her cup.

Mammon shouts and charges down the stairs of the ziggurat onto the stone plains. The shadows of the party and everyone in the army twist and writhe becoming horrible black ooze devils that envelope everyone in their acidic coils. As the party struggles to free themselves from Mammons trap, Belial fires a pillar of flame into the heavens and calls upon his master Baalzebub. Mammon in turn shoots an arrow into the sky, calling upon his lord Mesphitopheles. The two charge into combat with each other.

The party dispatches most of the ooze devils, though whosis and garret have some trouble fighting off Mini-Mammon, who turns out to be a little tougher than anticipated. As the two gods Mammon and Belial fight, their older and more power masters arrive. Mephistopheles and Baalzebub silent charge towards one another.

The party scrambles to get out of the way as the two colossal powers meet. They retreat to the ziggurat and Garrett struggle with the controls. Garrick the mad imprisons mini-mammon in a wall of ice. Mammon knocks Belial to the ground though he is injured by several icy spikes that iggy casts on him.

Everyone looks up and in horror they realize that the tower itself has a large shadowy ooze devil enveloping it and dissolving its foundation. The entire tower is starting to collapse and will fall and crush the battlefield and the ziggurat. Mephistopheles and Baalzebub fight on coldly, but Mammon, Belial, and Fierna scramble out of the way.

Most of the army has been destroyed by mammon's ooze devils as garrett activates one of the controls on the ziggurat which creates a great tornado that holds the tower aloft and begins to spin it around violently, preventing it from falling on them but breaking it into several large pieces with start to fly outward randomly bouncing across the landscape. Everyone hangs on for dear life at the force of the cyclone so close to them.

As Mephistopheles knocks Baalzebub down with a mighty blow, Asmodeus himself arrives and begins throwing massive fireballs at them, knocking his unruly subjects to the ground. He seems unaffected by the tornado.

As the last of the party clamors aboard garrett activates the controls he believes will take them out of there. He disengages the cyclone and they blink out, just as a mighty piece of the tower hurtles towards them. They escape to Gladomain, just seconds before certain destruction.

They appear several hundred feet in the air over the city center of Blackshore. They see the city is under attack by the Norselord's minotaur fleet and a great metal war zeppelin is attacking the city walls and merchant district by the docks. The zeppelin has a great minotaur head on the front of the bottom turret and from the eyes and mouth pour great streams of burning liquid that set the towers, walls and neighborhoods or Blackshore ablaze.

As the zeppelin sees them appear is approaches and launches fireballs at the ziggurat. Garrett returns fire, first with a cyclone the spins them about, then with a poison gas the chokes several of their gunners. A magical barrier protects the pilots and ogre marines aboard the zeppelin from the poison gas. Next Garrett tries to use the earth power on his foe, but instead accidentally rips a great chasm across the fields to the southeast of Blackshore and collapsing the wall near the main gate.

Both try to gain altitude as they approach one another and finally they collide and the ogres begin to board. Garrick the mad tosses a wall of fire down the ziggurat's stairs, blocking their advance. Garret blasts the zeppelin and Baphomet, the dark six lord who is piloting it, with a storm of meteors. The meteors stike the dark lord but don't appear to harm him significantly. Garrett then uses the ziggurat's defenses to blast a wall of air at the ogres, halting their advance and blowing them back toward the edge.

Iggy jumps aboard the zeppelins control turret and casts a vortex of his own to damage the controls and he finds himself confronting Baphomet. Blocking his sight with the cyclone, Iggy teleports out to escape.

A surprise attack from Harthantor, an ancient blue dragon, and the oldest and largest dragon in Gladomain, knocks Garrett to the earth as he crushes him between his wings. A great blast of electricity arcs through Garrett and Garrick, knocking out the priest and sending the mage rolling down the side of the ziggurat to it's edge. Garrick takes flight soaring up above the pyramid.

Whosis grabs Garrett's hand on his dying body and taps the controls, activating the ziggurat's defenses. A blast of cold kills the boarding ogres and badly damages Harthantor, but the great dragon shrugs off the ice attack and redoubles his efforts to kill Garrett. Whosis Kid leaps onto the dragon's back. Garrick the mad tosses a blast of fire at the beast, mocking it and drawing it's wrath.

The great dragon roars in rage, striking fear into all who hear its cry. As Garrick flies away and the great dragon clears the edge of the fortress, whosis kid knocks the monster unconscious and backflips off it's titanic form back onto the ziggurat. He catches hold of the edge and looks down to see Harthantor's limp form hurtle to its death hundreds of feet below at the bottom of the chasm created by Garrett's earthquake attack earlier.

in his battle with Baphomet, Iggy targets the body of the Zeppelin and knocks a large chunk of it off, which falls to the earth and shatters into many pieces. Baphomet begins targeting Iggy and Garrett forcing them to attack one another, before Whosis sneaks up and backstabs him causing a great gush of black ooze to splatter across the halflings face. The dark lord continues to bleed profusely and takes more damage from subsequent attacks as the rest of the party converge their force on their remaining foe.

Garrick lands the killing blow to the demon lord and an arc of energy surges into him, making him a demi-god of fire magic.

They return to Blackshore and survey the damage to the city. They learn that the dark six have come to Gladomain again to take over. They rest a few days then travel to Mistmeadow to liberate it's people from Lolth's tyranny.

Gazra the Pit Fiend General of Phlegethos

The party journeys to Jangling Hiter to descend on the elevator of despair down to the next layer of Baator, Phlegethos.

As they enter the city, they see ditches filled with black oil. A slimy pool with mist coming out of it has shadowy forms moving around in it. They cross a bridge and three chain devils emerge from the pool to attack them. A huge chain golem rises out of the moat of oil and drags Garrick and Garret into in, crushing them until they teleport themselves out.

Two stone golems rise from the moat as well and attack iggy and atticus (a fighter the party met after their prision escape on the first layer of Baator), who they encountered on Minauros. Atticus is on a quest to find a chicken lost by his neighbor's daughter in Lighthedge Point. It's a prizewinning bird that lays the best eggs in the region and possibly the world. He suspects that the King and Queen of Turath stole it and are now somewhere in Baator with it. As Atticus engages the golems his shield arm is crushed and hangs limp for the rest of the battle.

Kodrus and Whosis deal with the chain devils. Garrick the Mad sets the moat on fire, eventually melting the chain golem. Atticus and Garret work with Iggy to destroy the stone golems and they proceed to the elevator of despair. It lowers them down slowly for several hours until they finally reach the flaming landscape of phlegethos. They stop briefly at the tower of Fierna, the ruler of this layer and chat with an imp guarding the door, then move along.

The do recon on the crystal palace next to the lake of fire where Gazra lives and do not see him, but several of his generals, two fire giants and an efreet are training their soliders. They determine that Gazra is in the barracks and wait several hours resting before they aproach and attack the outpost.

In the opening surprise attack many of the footsoldiers are killed. Garrett chokes one to death with the hand of vecna and turns another with his other hand. The others cast spells that cut down the lines and they charge into the barracks to engage the leaders.

As they fight, Whosis challenges Gazra openly though he is nowhere in sight. A moment later two huge fire elemental titans rise from pools of lava outside the building along with three rockfire dreadnoughts who charge in casting waves of fire and throwing magma.

Gazra himself appears a moment later to answer Whosis kid's challenge, dispelling his invisibility. He calls in several legion devils and begins stricking with his flametongue mace and poisoned tail attack.

Whosis knocks out one of the fire giant generals and atticus steps in to hold of the other. The efreet is taken out by the rest of the party who rallies outside to hold off the charging elementals. Iggy splits into several mirror images of himself and distracts the elementals who chase him about.

Under the onslought of Atticus' furious attacks and Whosis kid's backstabbing, Gazra falls back, teleporting out of the center of the battle and moving two of his elemental guardians into position to protect him. Garrett falls as the fire titan's flames consume him. Whosis tries to dive through the elementals protective lines and falls as well, making one last strike against Gazra as he is consumed by the ring of fire that protects the general. Kodrus is near death as he charges in to gore the general.

Finally, Atticus wades through the remaining soldiers and slays the pit fiend with a series of vicious strokes from his sword. When the general is slain, the surviving elementals cease their attacks and return to the lava pools nearby.

The party is camps out at Gazra's crystal palace. There are hundreds of legion devils stationed in the barracks nearby but they are not drilling or doing anything productive until a new leader is selected. It takes a few weeks for them to sort through all of the red tape and paperwork to determine how succession will be handled, but inevitably they advise it will all need to be approved by Lady Fierna.

In the meantime, messengers have been sent from the three courts of Phlegethos granting the party an audience and requesting their presence as soon as possible.

The first invitation comes from Inanna, from port city called Jealous Heart on the edge of this layer of Baator. She congratulates you on your victory over Gazra and says she looks forward to meeting those strong enough to best Hell's finest general.

The second invitation comes from Belial (the father of Fierna, who rules this plane), who lives in the largest city a days journey away. He urgently requests you meet with him to discuss the details choosing Gazra's successor.

The last invitation comes from Fierna, the ruler of Phlegethos, who reigns from the dark spire near the crystal palace (where you spoke with the imp earlier). She invites you to taste the pleasures of her court.

Slayers of Tiamat

Garrick the Mad cures himself and Ilmak of the mindflayer seeds in their skulls. Ottian has Ilmak take him to Ironview to check out what has happened to the swordmagi under Veszafein's rule. Garrick is magically transported by Ottian to Avernus to join the rest of the party in the city of Bel in finding the jewelled Ziggurat.

The party is granted an early audience with Bel in his Bronze Citadel due to the rising status of Whosis Kid in the local barfighting scene. Whosis and Iggy arrive late to the meeting to find the rest of the party, Garrett, Garrick, and Kodrus Jr. enjoying Fire Wine with Bel and his vassals.

Bel accepts a magical item as a present and then discovers that Whosis kid's crown is a scrying device for Graz'zt the demon lord. Assuming they are servants of the dark six he casts them into the sea of maggots below his palace (actually a dry plain covered in a shallow swarm of maggots stretching for miles).

A crowd assembles on the battlements to watch the fight between the party and Tiamat. Whosis jumps on Tiamat's back until he is stung and killed by her poison tail. Garrett is stung and dies next. Garrick is stung but does not die. Kodrus lands the killing blow to Tiamat and he obtains her life essence, becoming a demi-god himself (he becomes stronger and tougher).

As they travel past the dragonspawn pits near the tower of skulls (made from vanquished demons from the bloodwar), they set up camp near a far cliffside that they must scale to reach the next layer of Baator called Dis.

While they are encamped in a magical circle, the devil thrax and a swarm of spine devils gather round and proclaim they are bounty hunters seeking the price that darkspire has placed on their heads. They capture Thrax and kill the spine devils. Thrax agrees to gain them an audience with Dispater the ruler of the second layer of the hells, in exchange for his life.

They meet Dispater in his hall and tell him that they wish to travel to Minauros to seek the jewelled ziggurat. He says they will likely find it there and gives them the book of vile darkness to return to Mammon, the ruler of the third layer. They ask how to get there and he says that Baba Yaga, the innkeeper at Baba Yaga's Hut can provide them with safe passage.

At Baba Yaga's Hut they get into a barfight with several gods and cliff the drunken minotaur. Then they are transported to the stinking swamps of Minauros. Baba Yaga takes a magical item as payment for transporting them.

In the swamps they head to Mammons sinking city and he greets them. They tell him that they seek the jeweled zigurrat and he says that as the Viscount of Minauros it's in his power to give the jeweled ziggurat to them. He asks that they defeat a rival on the next layer Phlegethos for him and he would gladly give it to them. Mammon swore an oath to Asmodeus not to challenge Gazra the pit fiend on the next layer, but any other can defeat him and name his successor. Mammon wants to serve on that layer because he detests the swamps and wants to live near the fires of the volcano city where Gazra leads the Armies of Phlegethos for it's lords.

Mammon invites the party to enter the Ziggurat and they find it is very large inside and has open gardens and the black library of legend where Ioun dwells. Garrett meets Ioun and his hand raises to attack her with the sword. He controls the sword with his focused faith but Ioun tells him to fulfill the prophecy by allowing it to slay her. Garrett beheads Ioun and gains her power becoming a demi-god and gaining ultimate power over the hand of Vecna. He is now bound to defeat vecna with his own hand, fulfilling the prophecy or die trying.

The party also learns that Wee-Jas (the raven queen), vecna, and Ioun all once served together in the same magical order. Wee-Jas learned the secret of immortality and vecna killed her to obtain it. Wee Jas resurrected as the raven queen and gave the secret to Ioun to avenge her death. The conflict among the three has been going on for over a thousand years.

Ioun also shows the party that in the past month they've been in hell, Orcus has freed himself and flown to Barovia. Brock Mez'Gar has lead an army of Gnolls to conquer the Imperial Capitol of Draconis, where he now reigns as Barbarian King. Veszafein has opened a portal to the shadowfell and freed Vecna, who now rules Ironview, with Veszafein as his lieutenant.

Welcome to Hell

The party steps into the courtyard. Orcs surround them and begin to close in. The orcs' shaman is a moon priest and summons the moon during the daytime, causing Garrett to convulse and fall to the ground, struggling with his Lycanthropy.

Whosis jumps up on the castle wall and begins taking out the archers who fire poisoned arrows down on them. Iggy attacks the moon priest. Kodrus attacks several axe wielding wild orcs in the courtyard.

Thantiskorlweir, a huge red dragon, and chief general in the dark sixes armies on Gladomain, emerges from inside the keep. Iggy immobilizes the dragon before it can take to the air and breath fire on them, but it does immolate Kodrus. Iggy kills the moonpriest and Garrett begins to recover from his wolf-form. While in his weakened state, the hand of Vecna charges toward the red dragon as it is impaled on some of the magical spikes Iggy summoned.

Whosis Kid opens the front gate of the castle wall and sets one of the battlements on fire by lighting up its armaments and greek fire. The tower explodes violently as he leaps off the castle wall to join the battle. He leaps from the roof of a structure near the dragon, but fails to grab onto it's neck. He falls to the ground and is stomped on by the beast.

Kodrus blinds the dragon and hauls Garrett along with him into the castle's inner keep. He calls on the other two to retreat with him as a legion of devils comes charging through the front gates toward Thantiskorlweir, surrounding the red dragon. A furious battle continues and Thantiskorlweir destroys the first wave of devils then retreats by taking to the sky as Zirakas, the Rakshasa prince and the bulk of his army arrives.

They find the inner keep has been burned thoroughly. Garrett uses the signet ring given to him by Lord Shadowmarsh in Shubgottia and opens the vault. They find that the treasure has been significantly depleted by the plunder of Lady Xyrlynn when she paid off the mercenary army to conquer Marshgate. Still there is some treasure.

Also in the vault is a giant Astralgate, inscribed with the emblem of Nidhogg the world serpet. The Rod of Acererak dials the gates runes and opens a portal of swirling rainbow colored mist, though they notice that the mist seems to fade along with the fading auroras in the sky, as though the gates power is linked to the world serpent and will be gone when they world serpent departs from Gladomain.

They boldly step through the gate and are transported through the rainbow mists to a vast broken plane with rivers of lava and craters everywhere. In the distance they see high mountains topped with iron towers and humanoid creatures with bat wings fly off in the horizon. Great fireballs fall from the sky randomly hitting the earth and exploding violently.

As they rush towards the nearest cluster of towers, six large winged red devils land in front of them. The largest introduces himself as General Malenbranche, commander of the armies of Darkspire. Whosis tries to convince him that they are working for Zirakas and wise to continue on their journey, but Malenbranche insists that they come back with him to Darkspire to be questioned by the Osyluth Thought Police there to confirm their story.

A battle ensues and the party is victorious, though several of the devils try to fly off, they dispatch them with ranged attacks before they can escape and warn their allies. They also find boots that allow them to safely walk on fire and lava and they find a map of the 9 hells of Baator. They realize that they are on the first layer of Baator called Avernus. The rod points them towards the Bronze Citadel of Bel the Pit Fiend, but to reach it they must first cross the River Styx (a river of blood that steals the souls of any who imbibe its waters or drown in it).

On the other side of the river styx is darkspire, a great walled city with a central tower with a burning magical eye that illuminates beings like a searchlight, reads their thoughts, and freezes them until the police can collect them if it is displeased with them. They find a Githyanki boatman who offers to smuggle them across the river in exchange for a powerful magical item. At one point in their journey the searchlight is shined on them and they need to crawl beneath the ship and hold onto the underside, holding their breaths a while.

The panopticon suspects something and draws them in toward the docks where several undead extraplanar being guards inspect the ship along with an angry devil captain of the guard. As the party sneaks away from the ship and comes ashore, Kodrus' loud plate mail summons the guards. The searchlight shines on him and he freezes in place. Iggy hides, Garrett becomes invisible, and Whosis takes a small rodent form and runs off.

Iggy does some recon work and finds the Kodrus is being held in the prison below the panopticon. He learns that the citizens of the city all live in fear of the Osyluth thought police, hug skeletal devils with poisonous scorpion-like tails. The various families of Darkspire all inform on one another to stay on the good side of the authorities.

When Iggy arrives in the dungeon of blood he finds that the devil captain from the docks and an Osyluth bone devil are interrogating Kodrus. Kodrus is weakened from days of torture when they strapped a great helmet to his head (with room for the horns) and electrocuted repeated during questioning. Still he has not broken.

As the Osyluth steps forward to try a mild meld again to learn his true intentions, Iggy lets lose with several magical spike attacks. Thinking these magical attacks are the work of Kodrus, the undead tiefling soliders take no notice of Iggy.

Kodrus is enveloped in a great metal sarcaphogus construct full of poisonous gas. He beats on the inside with his horns and a crowbar he still had in his equipment. Meanwhile Iggy whips up a great tempest and takes out the minions in the hall. Kodrus breaks out of the iron maiden and takes out the Osyluth. A half dozen legion devil guards flood the hall and close in on Kodrus. As he is about to die, Iggy's tempest kills the minions and the devil captain is quickly destroyed. They find Kodrus' equipment and Garrett and Whosis, drawn by the commotion as they searched the dungeon themselves, both arrive.

They free the Githyanki boatmen who helps them escape from the sewers and they travel down the river to the Bronze Citadel of Bel the Pitfiend. The city of Bel is actually a fairly diverse and pleasant city, and Bel himself is rumored to be very hospitable. The party rests for several weeks until they can be granted an audience (there's a very long waiting list).

Dark Future (14th session, May 2nd, 2010)

Snotskin insists on following the party wherever they go.

Garrick the Mad (the wizard) and Ottian (the demi-lich skull of the party's mentor) are taking Ilmak (the swordmage) back to the temple of Ioun to do research on him to see if they can find a way to cure the mindflayer in his skull while he's in suspended animation.

Meanwhile, Brock Mez'Gar (the undead gnoll assassin) is giving the Rod of Acererak to Garret (the cleric of Ioun) and retiring to the newly built "Brock Mez'Gar's Fighting Academy" in Mistmeadow, where he intends to train the locals to better defend themselves.

Kevros (the shifter paladin) is working on recruiting a party to lead back into the Tomb of Horrors to see if they can recover Hotspur's soul and defeat Acererak, the demi-lich. Meanwhile, Hotspurs body lies preserved at the temple of Ioun. The rest of the party is heading north towards Kodrus Vale in search of Whosis Kid's remains so they can resurrect him.

Triel the swordmage heads to Ironview to see how the order is fairing under Veszafein's rule.

In Mistmeadow the city guard enforces the Duchy’s decree that all goblins are to be killed on sight if they enter town, though they have not pursued goblins they see passing by as they have learned of the Goblin Lord’s deal with the party. They aren’t happy about having trolls camped out in the ruins nearby. Iggy and Snotskin, the goblins with the party hide from the Mistmeadow guard.


Kodrus Vale:

As they enter the city of Kodrus Vale they see the former Sheriff of Lighthedge Point (who retired after being resurrected in the battle with Baron Redspawn) training ogres and feral elves how to farm. The elves look happy, but the ogres look bored and frustrated.

In the main square near the life-sized statue of Kodrus with the inscription "He wanted to be bigger." they meet Kodrus Jr, pulling an ox cart through the square and reposing for a moment in the sun along the street vendors.

One of the street vendors recognizes the resemblance and a mob forms around him. They grow restless until Iggy the goblin entertains them by teleporting around and shooting off some fireworks.


Ogre Hall:

Ogre Hall - Grawrsh is arguing with the ogres current leader Malxish. Malxish assures the warriors that plans to liberate Summerspring draw near and meanwhile they must tend to the crops to ensure there will be something to eat when the war is done. Grawrsh offers them adventure and wealth if they leave tomorrow with him. The hall seems evenly divided between ogres who want to leave and who want to stay and wait for the big battle. Everyone agrees as they drink their Ogre Mead that farming is for elves and does not concern them, though Malxish does fairly point out that without the crop there will be no ogre mead. The ogres insist on resolving the dispute with a drinking contest which Grawrsh fails. When he loses consciousness (along with Kodrus Jr) he reverts to his true form. It turns out that Grawrsh was Whosis in disguise.


Glimmergaunt Tower:

The party sees a flock of Ravens perched in a tree near the entrance - few of them circle the tower overhead cawing monotonously. The halflings welcome the party with a special reserve of ice wine and lead them to Gurmorel's chambers. She is ill. Juliana, Vicmorn Shieldheart, the young Sir Blackshore (slayer of Arushantis), and the Mayor Hobbins from Lighthedge Point are assembled around the sick bed of Lady Glimmergaunt. With Blackshore incapacitated by the Norselord's seige and the rest of the island duchies fallen to his pirate raiders, the situation for the Duchy are precarious. Those assembled are proposing a new Guardian Council, headed by Glimmergaunt, with each of the four other cities as members on the council, pledged to mutually assist one another. First they wish to liberate Summerspring, them move to end the siege at Blackshore. As they proceed the party notices a large Raven perched on the window watching them (when Iggy tries to shoo the raven it becomes the Raven Queen).

The Raven Queen issues an ultimatum - the party has failed to kill Orcus, and so per their agreement the soul of Lady Glimmergaunt will be hers when her time comes, and that time appears to be sooner than later. Glimmergaunt promised her soul to the Raven Queen so that winter would never come to her lands, and now the Raven Queen intends to collect. For although Aseroth granted Glimmergaunt agelessness to protect her from the ravages of time, she can still die by disease. She mentions that her revenant Brock Mez'gar has been delinquent in his duty to perform her will. Orcus is still alive and the Raven feather she gave to Brock was never delivered to Count of Barovia. While her rival Orcus lives and his pawn the Count sits in his castle, she decrees that no one on this earth shall be resurrected. She will horde all of their souls in the Shadowfell. The Raven Queen says that the only cure for lady Glimmergaunt's illness is the tea made from the cone of the world ash.


Road to SummerSpring:

While travelling the party notices that Garrett is casting two shadows. Nortumal appears. Nortumal states his intention to find the world tree. They attack him, at which point he fights to the death. Whosis and Kodrus Jr wakeup to aid in the fight. Nortumal is defeated and slinks off into the shadows to reincarnate again.


Path to the Enchanted Grove in the Feywoods:

See the Order of Yggdrasil in the wood, assembled around a stone circle honoring the passing of Hotspur.

Next, they will come across the ruined city in the heart of the feywild. This was the kingdom of Graceothantis. The evil fey creatures there surround and welcome them as victors, offering them the crown of their deceased king, though the kingdom bears a curse that you must marry someone of the royal line to rule. None have claimed the throne because the royal bloodline is so terrible. Graceothantis took the Witch Queen Hektiss as his bride. Several foul fey creature of royal blood are offered to Snotskin since he's the only one to claim the prize. He selects a goblin bride.

Also, at a great wedding feast, they hear the legend of the stag told by a captive pixie bard, a creature which none in the ruined city have seen because they are too evil to witness it. The party frees the bard Friskus the next morning and he directs the party to the sacred glen where the Stag can it can be found drinking from time to time.

They follow the white stage from the silvery glen through the forest to the world tree. The stag leads them around a flock of hundreds of harpies nesting in the trees above.


World Tree & Graconithantis:

The huge green dragon slumbers at the base of the tree, surrounded by a vast field of treasure and skeletal remains of past heroes. World tree cones have been collected and lay in a pile under the beasts claw. Whosis sneaks up and retrieves two cones.

the large raven crows and becomes the raven queen. Then graz'zt leaps down from the world tree and kills the dragon with a mighty blow as it awakens. the raven queen then reveals itself as the lord of illusions and mocks them. Graz'z congratulates the party, then reveals his plan. Two large Tanar’ri appear with great axes and begin chopping at the tree. The Lord of Illusions tries to stop them as this is not what he agreed to, but Graz’zt breaks the ground open and throws him into the pit. Graz'zt takes control over Whosis who aids him in attacking the party. When the tree finally falls a great shockwave tears through the forest petrifying everything in a mile radius. A moment later a great and powerful explosion blasts the land, killing all living things nearby.


Resurrection:

The Lord of Illusions and Drandis stand over the party. They are lying on a battered broken land. Petrified tree stumps litter the landscape in all directions. He explains that it took him a long time to find them. The Lord of Illusions tells them he now goes by his true name Sadrak. He’s changed his ways and is committed to undoing the damage that he caused all those years ago when he helped Graz’zt find the world tree.

Gladomain has been shattered into a cluster of rocks orbiting the moon, where Graz’zt has created a new world he calls Nightgleam. When the old world of Gladomain was destroyed, Nidhogg was freed. Graz'zt then planted a new world tree on the moon and became a god himself.

Graz’zt’s three generals rule their kingdoms with fear and tyranny. The dark six raised a large army and then used the world tree to create a giant battering ram to smash a portal from the moon through to Baator and their armies invaded the hells, freeing their imprisoned sister Tiamat.

The abyssal forces have fought 100 long years to claim all but the last layer of hell. Asmodeus has been captured and Baalzebub rally’s the last remaining forces hell can muster for one last defense. It appears inevitable that the bloodwar will soon be over.

After the death of the world tree, Sadrak had two world tree cones. With one he created a new distant world in his own image, a fanciful place of dancing stars and illusions full of joy, wonder, and mirth, but in time he grew weary of it and godhood, as the guilt over his participation in Graz’zt’s plan plagued him. He found Drandis and tried to create a refuge for some of the good people of Gladomain with the second cone, but their sanctuary was eventually found by the dark six and destroyed.

Drandis and Sadrak have though long and hard of how to right things. They believe the best strategy was to find the party, resurrect them, and send them back in time to the day after their deaths so they can save Gurmorel Glimmergaunt and have her replant a new world tree. If they succeed, Nidhogg will still be freed but Graz’zt’s plan to destroy Gladomain will fail. The only way they know of to do that is with a wish from the tomb of Proferio atop the tower in Graz’zt’s domed palace.

The garden of proferio as the party knows was once a beautiful jewel on the sybarite isle, but Graz’zt has corrupted it and made it his den of evil. Drandis reminds them that when they get to the tomb they must wish very specifically to have their present soul restored into their resurrected bodies on the sunrise after the world tree was destroyed. Too early and the lands will be swarming with Tanar’ri. Too late and they will not have time to save Glimmergaunt to replant the world tree.


Moon Landing:

The arrive on the surface of the moon outside the city. They intend to meet up with a caravan of lunar nomads who will disguise them and lead them into the city. The nomads turn out to be werewolf raiders.

Sadrak explains that Graz’zt ordered most of the populace of the shattered lands sent to the moon where he and Baphoment began infecting them with lycanthropy. On the surface of the moon, they live in a state of endless frenzied rage, prowling the countryside and attacking anything outside the city. He calls on the horde to fight in his wars from time to time. During the battle with the lunar werewolf nomads, Garrett is bitten and infected with Lycanthropy before they defeat the creatures.

As Sadrak and Dradis fight back the horde coming out of the crate nearby, some lizardfolk motion to the party to enter into a concealed crater entrance. They find the undercity and are lead to the lizard king who explains that he knows a secret way into the domed fortress. He sends the lizard men along with the party.


Dark Garden:

The crystal cave is dark and sinister looking. The waters churn violently and a mist drifts over the waters. Time does not appear to be changed anymore in this place. They find that the creatures of the garden are being hunted to extinction when they arrive.

Pale Night stalks the garden with her minions. They fire poisoned deadly arrows at the party. The lizardfolk heroically sacrifice themselves to lead her hunting party away while the party moves on toward the palace, killing some of Pale Night's Yuguloth guards.

As they run toward the palace they see that the waters in the lake are black and giant tentacled things grab large rodent-like beasts drinking at the shore. One side of the dome is cracked open and guarded by Tanar’ri but the palace inside the dome appears unguarded.


Conference:

Graz’zt’s three generals present Asmodeus to him in his court along with the other dark six. Graz’zt tells the generals that when their conquest of Baator is complete they will each be granted their own layer to rule as they they wish. He then turns to execute Asmodeus. The party continues their climb on the outside of the palace to the top spire.


Homecoming:

The party returns to Kodrus Vale a day after the world tree was destroyed. The sky has a strange aurora as Nidhogg begins to uncoil from around it and regurgitate the earth. In a few days they will see the aurora begin to fade from the sky as the world serpent starts its departure back to limbo.

A huge rift has been torn in the earth between Kordus Vale and SummerSpring.
Glimmergaunt takes Drandis and departs to give the world tree cone to the order of Yggdrasil so the High Druid can replant it and save the earth.


Investigation:

The party goes to talk to Brock Mez'Gar. At the academy they find he is absent. Iggy the goblin investigates the fighting academy and finds three secret basement levels that house an assassins guild, a temple to the raven queen, and a shrine to Mez'Gar. They also learn that he has left towards Ironview and has the Ring of Acererak. Though he told them he couldn't find it in Graceothantis' remains he did indeed locate the object.


Departure:

The party rests for several days then continues on towards Shadowmarsh Cliffs. They find the Evil Jungle Prince Zirakas the Rakshasa and his army of infernal creatures parked out front laying seige to the city. They are starving out the orcs who are are camped within.

Iggy creates a magical barrier so they can sneek through the keep's walls. The Rakshasa's forces see the party approach the front gate, and once inside Kodrus Jr knocks over some metal objects and alerts the orc guards on the main wall who turn to attack the party.

Tomb of Horrors (13th session: April 4th, 2010)

The party goes to meet the Goblin Lord.

"The hall is cold and damp. The smell of rotting flesh emanates from a vast lake of fetid waters beyond the ruined temple you now stand in.

Atop the temple dais you see a cracked and bloodied altar to some long forgotten god. The body of Ilmak hovers suspended a few feet above the altar. A light bluish green glow surrounds his body, and the shimmering aura bends light around him distorting his image. His body looks limp and pale, somehow magically preserved, frozen in time or in some sort of suspended animation.

Flanking Ilmak's form to either side you two trolls. The ruler of this hall, King Skalamad the Greenest, stands to one side, and his champion, a lumbering mountain troll stands to the other side. Both glare in your direction with stern gazes, but without any apparent menace.

As you approach closer you see that Ilmak's body appears to have been violated. It looks like the side of his head and skull have been partially removed and the skin peeled back. You see some tentacles extending out of his mouth and the side of his head, though they too seem frozen in time.

Behind this horrible image a huge bulbous form emerges from the lake of mire. A giant eye above a hungry fanged maw gracefully levitating above the earth with frightening speed and stealth. The foul waters drip from many stalks with smaller eyes in them attached to the round head-like body of the creature. The beast's breath mists as it speaks to you.

"Heroes of Mistmeadow, welcome to the hall of my chief ally the Troll King Skalamad, the Greenest. I am Cy-mek-mar, the Goblin Lord. You are my guests, so be at ease and welcome.

If I look strange to you, it's because I am not from this world. I came to this dull pebble in the cosmos from across the astral sea almost a millennium ago. A great civil war among my people broke out and in the final battle between our kin, my fleet was lost and I was shipwrecked here on this alien world.

Skalamad and I have ruled the underdark near the surface world for many years. At times I've allied with the surface folk, and at others time I've been at war with them. We owe you a debt of gratitude not only for removing the undead king Gladomain from his tomb beneath his ruined keep, but also for killing off the kruthik hive that has long plagued both our kingdoms.

Our alliance with the armies of the dark six has come to an end. It was one of convenience for mutual benefit that proved to yield little for us. The dark six's leaders are unpredictable and treacherous. Lady Xyrlynn was in my employ to find the Hand of Storath, and the Ring of Acererak upon it. You succeeded where she failed in this task, and though she attempted to take the artifact from you, I understand you killed her and retrieved it.

Among our people your pursuit of revenge and merciless destruction of your foe Lady Xyrlynn is admirable. We like those who realize the value of power and driving fear into the hearts of their enemies. The dark six fear you. The Archmage ruler of Ironview fears you as well. He has offered a bounty of 50,000 platinum for the priest of Ioun. I'm not here to collect the bounty, as I have all the money I could desire. I wish to employ you.

You are familiar with the ring of Acererak and the legendary archmage who created it. Acererak was once a lieutenant of Vecna who fought alongside him during the blood war in Gladomain. Vecna came to this world in the jeweled ziggurrat, a mightly flying fortress that could destroy any city or fleet. Though Vecna alone held the power to control the ziggurat with his own hand, he created a ring, which he gave to his friend Acererak, that allowed him to control the fortress as well.

After their victory in the blood war, the ziggurat was lost. None know where Vecna or Acererak hid it. Vecna was destroyed by treason among his ranks when his general Kas the Bloody Handed, a vampire with uncontrolabe bloodlust, turned on him and hacked him to pieces. Vecna's enemy the Raven Queen imprisoned him in the Shadowfell, but not before his hand was removed to prevent him from controlling the magical fortress.

Acererak withdrew after the bloodwar to pursue bizarre arcane studies. He left the company of the other lich generals in Ironview and built a tomb under the earth which he filled with many horrors to guard him in his afterlife. In this tomb lies Acererak himself along with his most powerful artifact, the diving rod..

The rod allows the wielder to find a path to anything or anyone desired no matter where it is, merely by thinking of it. In the right hands, it could act as a tool for finding that which I seek, the jeweled ziggurat that has been lost in time and space.

So we have several matters to discuss. First, your friend the swordmage has fallen ill to a plague of the underdark. Somehow he was infected by the Illithid. Skalamads trolls and my goblins from time to time find creatures with these foul tasting squids growing inside their skulls (he motions toward ilmak's exposed skull). Usually those captured are taken to the their city where they drain their memories into a great crystal forged with powerful elder magics. Then the squids are implanted in the hosts and their memory of their visit to the city of the illithid is erased.

Over time the larval illithid grows inside the hosts mind, slowly taking control and consuming their brain. Eventually the beast consumes the head live, replacing it, and it's body merges with the form of it's host. It takes on the memories and powers of the host and returns to report what it has done and knows to the great crystal in their city below. Your friend is now preserved by a magic I know that has saved him from a certain fate, far worse that death. I will try to find a way to cure this affliction, but thus far I have found none. Please take your friend's sword and this amulet of the planes. I'm certain he would wish for you to have them.

When we captured him it was not our intention to sow any hatred between us, merely we wished to impress upon you the urgency of the business we proposed. We had no idea he was carrying this beast until he had an episode in our court and the beast inside him lashed out with a great mass of tentacles that arose from his throat and consumed the brain of one of my servants that lingered too closely to his cell.

The second order of business is we wish to offer you all the plunder from the Tomb of Acererak, which we have located in some ruins near here. Our goblins and trolls are ill equipped for such a task. They have uncovered the crypt but have proven incompetent at plumbing its depths to find what we seek. There are many traps and magical puzzles there that thwart exploration. I believe that you can succeed where they have failed.

Somewhere in the tomb of Acererak is his rod of divination. Once you have this, the rod will help you to find the jeweled ziggurat. The ziggurat is very powerful and will allow you to defeat the dark six's armies, driving them from Gladomain. With its armaments you could level the city of Ironview, should they or any other nation cause you trouble. Once you have done this you shall bring the ziggurat to me, and I can leave this world once and for all, returning with my new army of goblins and trolls to the astral sea, where I will vanquish my kin who destroyed my brothers and stranded me here.

If you think me foolish to give you the keys to the ziggurat's power expecting you to return it, then you are mistaken. Know that I could kill you where you stand now if I wished it. It would take me but a few moments thought. Also consider this. Once you have the ziggurat's power and you have secured peace for this world, who will seek your death to claim it? Will it be Baphomet, Asmodeus, or some great power from beyond the stars. It is too powerful for this world. If you kept it you and this place would surely be destroyed.

In the meantime, while you are employed by me you will each receive 10,000 gold per month. This gold can be claimed from Skalamad here in the eastern court or at my own kingdom in the western ruins at any time. The city of Mistmeadow will be safe in your absence. Already the duergar are being starved out of their dungeons and I have a strike force of trolls perced above the ruins near Mistmeadow, ready to purge them when they inevitably retreat from their burrow into the daylight. My trolls and goblins will protect the city from distance. entering only if invited, while they guard against invaders. The people will be left to trade and travel as they please without toll or harassment.

You will find me a generous, worthy patron and ally if you accept my offer."

They accept his offer and head to the Tomb of Horrors where they meet the goblin lord's servant Snotskin.

Exploring the Tomb successfully they uncover the Diving Rod of Acererak. Hotspur has his gender changed to female by a magical doorway. In the process of exploring Kevros and Hotspur both die from poison spike pits twice, and Hotspur's soul is drained into one of the Eyes of Acererak the demi-lich's jeweled skull. Garret breathes magical gas that makes him an idiot, but he recovers when they leave the tomb.

Brock uses the Diving Rod to determine the location of Whosis Kid's remains and it directs them towards Kodrus Vale.

Defense of Mistmeadow (Twelfth Session: Sunday March 7th, 2010)

The party guards the governor's mansion in Mistmeadow. A shifter paladin named Kevros has joined them to protect the city from the advancing evil fey army. Kevros fought with Ilmak and Triel at the battle of Marshgate and knows Hotspur from SummerSpring.

They evil fey army surrounds the building at attacks. Several blood scarabs drain the heroes' strength. Ilmak and Kevros fend off some undead a harpy, and a cyclops. Brock and Hotspur engage some foulspawn, and Triel takes on Hektiss, the Witch Queen Lamia and her pet the displacer beast lord.

As the battle begins to turn in the party's favor, a shadow of a dragon appears overhead. The evil fey lord Graceothantis, son of Gracothantis guardian of the world tree, swoops down to attack. Garrick helps to stun the green dragon while Kevros lops off one of its wings. Garrett junps on its back and tries to behead it.

During the struggle, the dragon has chased down Garrick and taken the hand of storath from him. He clutches it protectively in his claw but is unable to escape now that his wing is missing.

Graceothantis was banished two hundred years ago from Mistmeadow by King Quotomal Gladomain who bore the hand in battle and beat him, so he wished to seize the artifact for himself, but now he wishes to deprive it from the party. He consumes the hand and ring and chomps on it powerfully, crushing the magical hand and concealing the invisible ring somewhere in his gut. Hotspur takes out the dragon with a powerful magical strike. The dragon dies in his ancestral home.

Brock Mez'gar picks through the dragon's remains through the night while the party rests, but the ring appears to be lost. The next day a group of trolls approaches on the road south of town and the city guard says they are asking for the heroes of mistmeadow. When the party arrives the trolls advise that King Skalamad the Greenest has arrived to escort them to the court of the Goblin King in the Western Ruins. He says that there's a 50,000 gold per person bounty that he intends to collect, dead or alive.

The party resists and in the melee Ilmak is incapacitated and the Troll King uses his Amulet of the Planes to take him to the Goblin King. He returns a few minutes later to call off the attack by the rest of the trolls and tells the party they may join him in his court along with the Goblin King if they travel to his hall.

The party rests and contemplates their next move. They learn that the battle for Lighthedge Point went favorably for their allies and that Vicmorn Shieldheart and several defectors from SummerSpring now guard the city from Baron Redspawn's Imperial loyalists.

Word is sent from the Eastern Ruins that Ilmak is doing well and that he's enjoying the hospitality of the Goblin Lord and the Troll King in King Skalamad's hall under the Eastern Ruins.

Demonweb Pits (Eleventh Session: February 7th, 2010)

A. Ilmak and Garrick the Mad went to search the tomb of Vecna for the eye. They fought legions of ghouls guarding the tomb in the ruins outside Erelhi-Cinlu, the drow city. Once they reached the tomb they found the crypt was opened and a V was carved into the stone wall. They killed some mindflayer scouts investigating the ruins when they departed to return to the surface.

When they returned the surface they learned that Veszafein the drow had beaten the party to the tomb and seized the eye for himself. He used the eye to capture and imprison Orcus and is now the ruler of Ironview, and the new head of the Archmage Council.

B. Hotspur has a lifelong oath to free all unjustly imprisoned beings, so he lead the prisoners adjacent to the temple in a slave revolt against their drow masters. This revolt significantly weakened the city's defenses. Sensing the city's weakness, the mindflayer launched an attack from the ruins next to the city, where they had been amassing a small army. The troglodyte mercenaries retreated back across the sunless sea, leaving only a small number of drow city guard to defend the city against the mindflayers' army of aberrant creatures.

The liberated slaves found a gate in one of the city's mage towers that lead back to the surface world near Summerspring, which the Drow were using to deploy scouts seeking the world tree. Hotspur lead them to the surface where they sought refuge in the great Feywilds. The encampment was overrun and scattered by an evil army of Feywild creatures that are headed out of the woods and on their way to Mistmeadow. Hotspur used his animal form to warn Mistmeadow of the impending attack by evil winged and crawling creatures from the ruins of the ancient city at the heart of the feywild.

C. Triel, Garret, and Brock freed three political prisoners, The Young Sir Blackshore (the Duke's son), Prince Shadowmarsh (heir to the throne), and Queen Esmerelda of the Dwarves of Ironview. They proceeded into the Demonweb where they fought a doppleganger of Garret who appeared from a cursed magical pool and then met a ferocious band of Tanar'ri. Garret beheaded the most powerful demon with the sword of Kas.

The party also slew several drow priestess acolytes who were breeding demonic hybrids. They found and rescued a Gnome who explained that his people had been imprisoned by Lolth and forced to build the great machine that made the red mist and her silver spidership that she uses to travel between worlds. He offered to help them disarm the evil machine.

They advanced further into the demonweb and found the city of spires where the red mist was coming from. Inside they found Lady Xyrlynn and her generals, who were preparing for battle. They engaged and defeated Xyrlynn and her generals. Brock beheaded Xyrlynn and burned the rest of her body. A terrible demon creature with a stinging scorpion tail crawled out of the Demonweb and killed Esmerelda and Prince Shadowmarsh, before it was defeated. They found several magical items including a magical mirror, the money she had taken from them, the dagger of Tanar'ri, and the Hand of Storath.

The gnome crawled down into the machine which was about 1 mile cubed in size and was suspended in the web under the spire city. He destroyed the machine and great gushes of fire erupted from it, destroying the spired city. The tower the party was in had 12 gates to other worlds. They initially selected to grab an emaciated and imprisoned elf they found just inside one of the gates leading to a great battlefield on the plane of Hades. They grabbed the elf and retreated back through to the tower then went to another gate before the tower was destroyed collapsing the gate behind them.

They found themselves in the plane of Soulfreeze near Aseroth's temple monastery. In the nearby town they tried to befriend the locals to no avail. The locals retreated when the elf they had freed in Hades turned out to be Lolth's crazed silver dragon mount. The dragon had been corrupted since her days as Aurshnee, a fair elven goddess, and now hungered constantly for mortal flesh. The party put down the dragon, and Young Sir Blackshore delivered the killing blow with a crossbow bolt through the eye into its brain.

Using the magical mirror they took from Xyrlynn, Triel found a way to summon a gate back to Mistmeadow and the party left the Abyss as Aseroth's servants arrived in the snowy village to capture them. Back in Mistmeadow they learned that the world of Gladomain was at war. Below are several events taking place in the outlying areas of Greater Gladomain:

1. Zirakas the Evil Jungle Prince is marching north out of the Foreverglades to seize the abandoned keep of Shadowmarsh Cliffs.


2. Ironview is marching to reclaim and rebuild the ruins of Marshgate. Nortumals forces burned the keep and retreated into the Foreverglade Marsh.

3. The Goblin Lord has laid seige to the catacombs beneath Mistmeadow to reclaim the corridors the Duergar moved into when the the Bear Khan was killed in his court.

4. Draconis has requested a muster of all available forces to return to the capitol city and defend the Empire. The gnoll, orc, and other barbarian hordes on their city-states' borders are growing larger each day and they have trouble coordinating their defenses due to internal squabbling following the Emperors assassination. His assailant disintegrated the emperors body with a powerful magical poison, preventing resurrection of the body after death.

5. The Drow city of Erelhi-Cinlu is under seige by the Mind Flayers that live below. The city's reserves were weakened by the slave revolt and when the mind flayers army marched on the city, many of their troglodyte mercenaries retreated back across the sunless sea.

6. Baron Redspawn has sent orders for his army to march on Lighthedge Point and capture any deserters that have left Summerspring for the Duchy. He has informed the Duchy that harboring deserters will be seen as a declaration of war against the Empire. The Sybarite Isle and Kodrus Vale have both sent forces to defend the city at the request of the Mayor of Lighthedge Point, who says he has no intention of bowing to the Baron’s threats.

7. Mistmeadow is recovering from Lolth's machine. One in ten people were consumed by the abyssal creatures that stalked the city for the past several weeks. There are rumors that the Goblin Lord has been pressing the Governor to allow them to use Gladomain Keep and the catacombs below. The Governor has not acquiesced, but it is unlikely he could oppose them if they chose to use force. The local have no great love for the Duergar, who have taken liberties with the locals of Mistmeadow and are suspected of having enslaved several citizens.

8. The Eastern Kingdoms of Turath have declared war on Barovia. A great cloud of thick gray magical mist has expanded out of the Barovian mountains and is enveloping their lands. Those cities that have been swallowed in the mist have not been heard from again. Many have entered the misted lands, including the famed order of templars known as the Red Cloaks, but none have returned.

9. A new ruler has taken the throne in Laxryxith after saving the lands from pirate invaders from the stars. The old minotaur King retired and gave his crown to their new hero, then set sail to the west on an exploratory quest, as is the tradition among the kings of Laxryxith.


10. The Shogunate of the Heavens is liberating the desert shieks' cities that were occupied by the Dark Lord Nortumal's forces. Most of the occupiers have retreated into the swamps to Nortumal's tomb/lair. Nortumal is rumored to have grown even more powerful since his defeat on the Isle of Nidhogg in the underdark.

Fane of the Drow (Tenth Session: January 24th, 2010)

The Sahauguin Baron who rules Nidhogg Isle holds a feast in the honor of the party. They meet Vicmorn Shieldheart's associate Hotspur the Wilden Druid from Summerspring. Also, one of the sword magi who was lost on an expedition to follow Nortumal's forces turns up. Triel the Genasi who trained and fought alongside the sword magi with Ilmak in the seige of Marshgate joins the party. Vicmorn bids the party farewell and returns to the surface.

The Baron gives the party his best ship, which is a small rowboat he stole from the Drow. They sail across the underdark ocean to the far shore toward the drow city of Erelhi-Cinlu. On the far shore they see a mindflayer interrogating Doomspider, the drow they met in the second session. The Mindflayer and it's two wererat minions ask the drow why they are amassing an army and what the nature of the red mist is. They suspect it's a plan to attack their city deeper below.

The mindflayer eats the drow's brain and the party decides to swim to shore and ambush them. Hotspur takes the form of a dolphin then a wolf once he gets to the beach. The remaining members wade through the shallow waters while Garrett and Garrick remain in the dingy. A battle ensues and a swarm of rats and a larger mindflayer comes to their aid. The party is victorious, and Ilmak personally finishes off both mindflayers. Hotspurs brain is eaten during the battle with the mindflayers and Garrett resurrects him while they set up camp.

Traveling along through the caves of fire, they reach a large room with lava pits. As they enter, goblins bound to lolth who bear her mark swing down from the ceiling. A hobgoblin priestess also appears at the far passage. The goblins shreik, casting lighting in a wide arc though the room and damaging the party. The hobgoblin uses her magical gauntlet and grasps Triel, hurling her into a lava pit. As Triel is burning to death in the lava pit, she teleports herself back out of the pit then expires in a charred mass, dead on the floor of the cave.

The party desperately casts the remaining goblins along with the priestess into the lava before they themselves are cast into it. They set up camp after the battle and Garrett begins the resurrection ritual to bring Triel back from the grave.

While they are halfway through the ritual, a pack of gnolls approaches. Brock challenges their leader and kills them, so the others follow Brock. He has the gnolls guard the passage while they rest. Once they have rested the Druid turns the party members into spiders and they crawl onto Brock's back. He leads the pack of gnolls to the city gates.

At the city gate they encounter a bloodspike behemoth who takes offense to the undead brock and begins attacking him. The troglodyte guards and gnoll followers stay out of the way. Brock chooses to turn into a bat and flees the scene. The guards calm the behemoth and go back to work while the gnolls return to the army camped out in front of the city's walls.

Brock becomes insubstantial and flies as a bat into the main hall that the red mist is spewing from. They enter a large hall filled with drow warriors, then pass through a grate downward into the temple of Lolth below.

They ambush the high priestess and brock assassinates her. She has a terminus amulet that tries to steal his life-force when he kills her, but it is unsuccessful because he is already undead (though it nearly kills him and severely weakens him). Garrick the Mad rushes down a staircase altar towards the mist and below finds a bunch of demon hybrids who follow him back up into the temple. The party fights the drow and spider guards along with the demons that rise up from the altar gate to the abyss.

After a long battle they are victorious, but they are now surrounded on all sides. They consult with ottian and he advises that the red mist is made by a giant machine in the abyss. Also the drow guards who could not enter the temple because no men are allowed in are gathering at the gates awaiting a priestess who can grant them permission to enter and slaughter the party. Two gates are found to other locations, among them the vault of veccna.