The Vale of Cythraul Campaign DM's Account

This is my attempt to tell what happened each session in a narrative way. Some dramatization has been added, and some details may not be entirely accurate.

The Pass of Perasma
Seamus, an elf from the Eastern Realms and Caranorn a young dragonborn, met on the road to Cythraul and quickly became friends. They were traveling with a farmer named Elias when they got to the Pass of Perasma one evening. There lies a border fort, maintained by Baron Barchelli. The travelers were asked to pay 2 golden royals each of they wished to spend the night, to help maintain the fort. They reluctantly accepted, then our heroes immediately began scheming about how to rob the place.

Seamus climbed the side of the tower, and seeing only one guard, lazily staring towards the horizon, he decided to steal the arrows from a quiver by the man's feet. Unfortunately, he instead managed to knock the quiver over alerting the guard. In the ensuing fight, the guard was badly wounded, but managed to subdue the burglar.

The next morning, one of the guards and the dragonborn Caranorn took the chained up elf in Elias' wagon on the road to Proklisi, so Count Symvasi could determine what to do with the spy. Caranorn, apparently feeling some loyalty to his newfound elf friend, helped Seamus escape, and sadly having to kill the guard to do so. The two then continued to Proklisi, when they sold the cart and donkey, and sought out the adventurer Iroas who, with his friends, had recovered chests full of gold from a goblin fort.

The Goblin Wood
Four adventurers, newly arrived in the vale, heard rumor of a monster terrorizing the shepherds. These were Seamus the ranger of the Eastwood elves, Matuk the paladin of the half-orc nobility of Paphos, Mar of the Light: a Tiefling, and the bard Galliard. They found white fur and huge claw marks, but determined the beast was too fierce for their meager band to handle, so they instead reported what they had found to the bailiff.

They then headed south, into the goblin woods, seeking the bounty that the country had put on goblin ears, and maybe the goblin fort Iroas had plundered. The party was ambushed by a group of 4 giant wolf spiders, but managed to defeat them, with some help from a bard named None and his pet elk, who had been exploring the woods on their own.

After a short rest, they continued south together. They saw a massive green cat-like beast, but thought it was best left alone. Then they found what they were looking for: goblin tracks. Seamus tracked the goblins, and the party followed their tail to the northwest, until they came to a small cave. The 8 goblins surprised them with their speed and the accuracy of their bows. In seconds Mar and None were down. The party knew it was time to retreat, so Matuk carried Mar to safety, while Seamus saved his own skin. Galliard used his magic to create an invisible servant, to play his bagpipes and distract the goblins. While the magic servant and the bagpipes were pierced by arrow after arrow, Galliard carried None to safety, the baby elk following at his heels.

The party managed to get back to Proklisi safely, and recover from their wounds. Before night fell, they took one more look into the goblin wood, where they ran into 2 swarms of vicious insects. None put one swarm to sleep, and they managed to swat and burn the other swarm to death.

The Banner and the Wolf
That night, in the Winking Queen, the party met two more adventurers: the Larnacan rogue Colm and the monk Khardor, an Aarakocra from the Plane of Air. In the morning the now strengthened party headed back to the goblin cave they had been driven from the previous night. They had been discussing how to deal with the goblins (talk, fight, ambush?) but when they got there the goblins had already been taken care of. Seven poles stood outside the cave, each baring a goblin head. Also present was a banner, a green line with a red circle and a black circle underneath. Our heroes had little time to appraise the situation, however. When one of them attempted to take a pole down and retrieve the goblin's ears (there is a bounty after all), three wolves emerged from the caves, their teeth red with goblin blood. The party made short work of the wolves, even the largest, a direwolf, failed to get it's teeth into Matuk. After it's pack-mates were killed, the direwolf ran. The party collected the ears, and investigated the site, finding signs of a struggle between the goblins and some orcs. The party, wanting the wolf's head as a prize, tracked the wounded animal for over a mile to a small stream. They started it and it began to run again, but Seamus, from a distance of 150 ft, through trees, managed to hit it with an arrow, which killed the beast. The party noticed the trees around them were just a little too mobile for their liking, so they headed back to town. There, they sold their prizes to the bailiff and split up to investigate the banner, going to the old knight Xania and the wizard Vissarion. With what daylight they had left, the party did some monster hunting. As they were walking an Ankheg, a massive bug, latched it's jaws around Gilliard's leg. It didn't get the chance to do any lasting damage though; in mere seconds the party surrounded the monster and hacked it to a sticky death.

The Wilderness
Seamus, Matuk, and Mar met a new adventurer the next morning: the barbarian gnome Hittsin Dikksky, a gladiator fresh from the arenas of Mamlaka. Together the four set out, once more into the Goblin Woods, to seek the fortress pillaged by Iroas, and which the goblins and orcs seem to be related to. Unfortunately there are many dangers in the wilderness of Cythraul, that care nothing about the plans of men (or any other humanoid being for that matter). As they were walking, the found themselves surrounded by webs, and they spotted, crawling down a tree in the distance, an Ettercap. As they were deliberating on what to do, the beast shot a web, entrapping Seamus. Matuk cut him free, but then was himself trapped, as the Ettercap's spider allies emerged from the webs to feast. Hittsin cut away the webs then bolted, the rest of the party following close behind. After fleeing an acceptable distance, they found a place to rest and have Mar heal their wounds. As they rested, a beautiful song drifted through the air. A duet sung by two beautiful bird-women sitting in nearby trees. Realizing the harpys were trying to enchant them, the heroes managed to resist and fight back. With arrows, javelins, and magic they were able to kill one of the harpys and wound the other before it flew away. Mar finished healing their wounds, then the party decided to hell with the fortress, it was time to murder some of mother nature's children. They managed to find some massive boar tracks and follow them to their lair. There they faced down a pair of giant boars, killing them both. Sadly they had no way to bring all the delicious pork back to town, but they did snag the five 50 pound piglets. Four they sold to a farmer, who if he's wise will eat them before they're full grown, and the last was kept by Dikksky.

A Captive Orc
Our heroes, Seamus, Matuk, and Mar, set out once more for the rumored fortress deep in the Goblin Wood.

First they went south-west to the rocks where the goblins had found refuge. There they ran into a massive ogre who, angered at their intrusion, charged the party. But Matuk stopped the monster's advance with his mighty shield and together they slew the massive beast. They looked in it's lair, and there found goblin bones along with a small purse.

They then continued to the goblin cave, and followed the tracks from there into the woods until they finally saw what they had been looking for. Mar put an illusion around them and they approached. The fortress was not particularly impressive in it's dimensions, but big enough to be of concern. It was in disrepair, but it was clear some shoddy work had recently been done. There were tracks of orcs, goblins, wolves, horses, and perhaps more around and about the fortress.

Rather than rush in screaming a battle cry, they decided to double back and follow an orc trail they had crossed. It turned out to be a small loop with animal traps placed along it. They stole a bear trap (never know when that might come in handy) and then set a trap of their own: Mar created an illusion of a rabbit stuck in one of the snares and they hid and wait. Nearly an hour later, their patience paid off and two orcs came down the path, checking the traps. As the orcs went excitedly to collect the fake rabbit, the heroes sprang from their hiding places. They killed one of the orcs and knocked the other unconscious before either had a chance to react. Then they dragged him off for some polite discussion.

While they were having a rest, waiting for their prisoner to come to, Seamus let his guard down for just a moment. That is when a 400 pound cat decided to eat him. Fortunately, he managed to focus very quickly, managed to stay on his feat, and with some help from his allies he stabbed and killed the creature. Mar patched him up and they turned their attention to their waking captive.

The captured orc was momentarily angry and uncooperative, but quickly changed his tone when faced with an even angrier and much scarier Matuk. The orc revealed that he and his clan had for a couple months been working for the Red Man, an apparently powerful being that looks like Mar, a Tiefling. The orc had been gotten gold from goblins and taken it on "diplomatic missions" to groups beyond the "black door". He had heard of a "red door" but knew nothing of it. He also said that their were five orc clans of 20-30 working for the Red Man.

Satisfied, they decided to knock the orc back out and bring him to Proklisi in case he is of value to the count. They threw the orc in the jail and told what they had heard to the wizard Visarion, who was quite excited to hear of an open portal so nearby, and rushed off to talk to Count Symvasi.

Scouting Party
Once our heroes finally awoke, having been kept up into the wee hours of the night fighting for their lives, they went to the keep and once more met with Symvasi. The count told Matuk that he wanted more information about this mysterious fortress, and they reluctantly agreed to check it out. With Seamus leading the way, they quickly found themselves looking once more at the dilapidated house of evil.

They decided to clime a tower opposite to the one tower that was still standing. Mar, however, turned out to be better at smiting the forces of darkness than at climbing mossy stone walls, so he fell alerting one of the goblins within. He is also, however, a master of illusion so the goblin thought he was nothing but rubble and left him alone. Once the goblin left they pulled him up by a rope and scoped out the fortress. From their tower they could see two other collapsed towers and one still standing, all connected by battlements In the center was a stone roof patched in several places with shoddy wood beams. Seamus, Caranorn, and Galliard decided to attempt to sneak over to the intact tower while their less stealthy comrades waited. They had almost made it, when Galliard bumped a loose stone, alerting the goblin guard in the tower who promptly fired an arrow down on the bard. Caranorn and Seamus, who were in the tower at this point, then ran up the stairway and silenced the guards before they could cause too much trouble. A goblin shouted from below to ask if everything was alright and Seamus used his best goblin voice to tell the goblin to come up, so they killed him too.

With the watch dead, the party spread out to explore the top of the fortress a bit, finding a couple holes in the roof, including one with smoke coming out. Going down the stairway in the tower, they saw that six goblins were resting around a fire in a large hall in the center of the fortress. Just then, Caranorn discovered another way in, tumbling down the broken stone within one of the fallen towers, and landing in a room full of crates. Awoken by the crates, the goblins saw their intruders and attacked. Caranorn snuck through a trapped doorway to attack the goblins that were fighting Matuk from behind. Realizing they were losing, one of the goblins shouted to go get the boss. One goblin scrambled past them but was trapped by fake fires created by Mar and was killed. One goblin managed to open a locked door and made for a trap-door in the floor of the room, while his last living comrade ran out the front door. Having to make a choice, Seamus shot and killed the goblin heading for the trap-door, letting the other escape.

Our heroes had little time to celebrate and/or worry however, since in addition to being home to a trap-door, the newly opened room housed three massive crocodiles. They proceeded to clamp onto the closest flesh they could find, namely Mar's leg. One did latch onto Matuk as well, but had a harder time munching through the armored half-orc than his brother was having with the tasty tiefling. Fortunately they managed to bash the prehistoric beasts into submission before too much of Mar was digested.

Rescue Party?
Upon hearing about the fortress and it's hordes of orcs, Count Symvasi became concerned for the safety his knight Dame Xenia's ward, Squire Artemios, cousin to the king, who had been sent to with a group of guards and adventurers to stop the orcs who had been harassing travelers on the road to Proklisi. He summoned our heroes and asked Matuk and Mar to leave immediately with a guard and wagon to retrieve the young royal and bring him back. Seamus he kept in Proklisi, to help draw up a map to the fortress.

Meanwhile, Artemios' orc-hunting party was having a bad time. Caranorn and Galliard were both barely standing, and they'd had to leave the dying guard Alex behind as they fled. Now 8 furious orcs surrounded them, with their backs to a steep cliff side. The remaining guards threw their spears then fled in terror into a small cave. Caranorn threw his knives with skill and accuracy slowing the charging orcs. Artemios matched their recklessness and savagery, as he ran headlong towards the orcs swinging his great-axe. Galliard used his skill and magic to terrify two of the attackers, sending them running senseless. Between the three of them they turned almost certain defeat into victory, killing or scaring off all the orcs.

As Matuk and Mar were racing along through the Green Hills, an orc sprinted across their path in a panic. Mar ended the creatures misery with his splendiferous power. They dismounted, left the guard with their horses, and wandered into the woods in the direction the orc had come from. Before they had walked 50 yards, another two orcs almost ran into them. The orcs snapped out of their irrational terror in time to give the heroes a little exercise. Continuing into the woods, Mar and Matuk finally united with the bloodied orc-hunting party. Not knowing what dangers, orc or otherwise, might be lurking in the Green Hills in the middle of the night, the party decided to head back to Proklisi as quickly as they could manage. Mar patched up those he could, then they loaded into the wagon and headed back to town.

As they were passing the farms a few miles from the town, something flew out from behind the trees that lined the road. Then another. Before anyone could react a horse collapsed and the wagon hit the horse, lost a wheel and was smashed beneath it's many passengers, splinters and nails littering the rocky path. More arrows landed around them and goblins smiled their wicked gleeful smiles from behind the trees as they examined their latest catch. Mar quickly threw up the illusion of a huge box, to obscure the goblins aim and give them a chance to get their bearings. The heroes then charged, got around the trees, and made short work of the unlucky goblins.

Finally limping back through the gate of Proklisi a little past 3am, the heroes were met by Symvasi and Dame Xenia. Symvasi thanked the adventurers and paid them each a platinum preatori for their heroism, but he asked that they report to his keep as early as they were able, there was more work to be done.

Pay yer Rent
When we left off, our heroes were standing in a ruined fortress, surrounded by dead goblins and crocodiles, with hordes of orcs and who-knows-what-else beneath them.

Two closed doors remained on the first floor; behind one they heard stamping and behind the other snarling. They opted for the snarling. As they began to approach the door however, Seamus noticed a pit trap in front. The door was made out off wood, so they decided to stay back and let Mar break it down with blasts of magic. When the door shattered inward, it revealed four angry dire wolves. Trapped and being shot at with arrows and magic, the dire wolves charged. The first fell down into the pit trap, but the others leaped over and into the semicircle the heroes had formed. Seeing the teeth marks in Mar's leg, a wolf decided he must be the tastiest and tore off what it could. Another tried to take down Matuk, while the third attacked Seamus, who had shot it. Caranorn looked for an opportunity to burn them without barbecuing any of his friends while Gilliard healed Mar, who decided to take a break from being on the front line against animals with 3-inch-long teeth. Seamus tore into the wolves with his blades, while Matuk forced the remaining wolves into a corner. As things turned against them the beasts tried to flee but were cut down by the adventurers.

After healing some of their wounds, Mar disabled the trap door leading to the room full of crates. They cracked open the boxes, finding in them a significant amount of money, some gems, a ring with a red gemstone, and a whole ton of mushrooms. They decided to block the trap door and entrances with some crates and bodies and sleep off some of their wounds and weariness. As his comrades were resting, Mar studied the ring and discovered that it gave it's owner the ability to know where it was. He decided to attune to it, making it his own. A few hours into their rest, they heard banging on the trap door. An orc shouted through, telling them to open the door, it's time to pay their rent. They stalled the orc for a couple minutes, but decided they didn't want to deal with armies of orcs in their current state, and instead high-tailed it back to Proklisi.

Back in town they told Symvasi what they had found, Seamus sold the animal heads and goblin ears to the bailiff, Matuk sold the gems to the jeweler, and Mar went to see the wizard Visarion. He gave Visarion a few of the mushrooms and the wizard, wanting more from the Underdark, gave him a healing potion to help them along. Symvasi managed to talk them into joining the Great Hunt, which he was organizing for the next day, and they went to a farmer to rent a few horses.

The Great Hunt
With the day of the Great Hunt finally arrived, our heroes rode out in search of monsters to slay. Preferably heavy ones. That morning the barbarian gnome Hittsin Didsky asked to join in, so Caranorn agreed to let him ride along in an oversized saddle-sack.

First they went up Mount Kyro in order to kill the beast that had been terrorizing the herdsmen. They saw two shapes under a small ledge, but decided they weren't big enough to bother with. They found tracks and followed them to an icy cave entrance but before they could look inside, they noticed above them a massive ape-like creature covered in white fur. Matuk moved between the creature and his friends, dealing a mighty blow to the creature with his axe before getting frozen by it's icy  glare. It didn't have long to take advantage of his condition though, since it only lived for another 4.3 seconds as the rest of the party  attacked in  their various ways with remarkable strength and accuracy.

After dragging their first prize down the mountain the party headed into the dreaded Scale Forest. They happened upon some pig tracks and followed them to a small clearing where a giant boar was resting. Resting in peace that is, as ten bat-like reptiles devoured it's innards. Eager to  try something fresher, they descended in a cloud of pointed beaks on the  party. Hittsin climbed a tree to kill the pests while Mar, Seamus, and Matuk picked them off from the ground. Caranorn roasted a tree with three inside, and Galliard blasted a group right out of a tree with a sonic wave. After shooting the last one out of the sky Seamus collected the bodies; he never left a  fight without a trophy.

A short while later, deep in the Scale Forest, they ran into another hunting party. Their leader, Sir Karolos (nicknamed 'the ogre killer' for his accomplishments during the  war) shushed the party and showed pointed them to a distant clearing where two giants were talking. One was a grey-skinned stone giant with a serious expression, the other a pale blue-haired cloud giant with a  beautiful blue and gold cloak and a booming voice. Karolos knew his party couldn't take them on alone, but he suggested that if they joined forces, together they could fell them both, undoubtedly winning first and second place in the hunt, and split the prizes. After much deliberation, the party decided they preferred their lives to a chance at gold and glory, and what have the giants done anyhow to deserve to die? So they split up again to seek other prey.

They began to see scratches and club marks in the trunks of trees, and  trampled underbrush. Before they had time to prepare a massive armored lizard came charging out of some bushes, swinging at them with it's clubbed tail. As usual, Matuk step forward to defend his comrades. Seamus backed away and shot his bow, Galliard went for the eyes with his rapier, Caranorn and Hittsin snuck around behind it, Mar magically attacked it's feeble brain. Just as the beast began to falter, another charged out of the thick foliage and struck Matuk with it's tail; only his half-orc toughness kept his battered body standing. He finished off the first dinosaur then they swarmed and killed the second. Sufficiently loaded up with oversized reptiles, the party headed back to Proklisi to tend to their wounds before the evening feast.

The Enemy Marches
Count Symvasi first mourned those who died in the hunt, and mentioned Iroas party had not yet returned, then moved on to the awards. The party won second place (200gp), with their ankylosaurus losing to Sir Karolos's triceratops. Their Yeti contended for scariest (100gp) with Baron Melitos's yutyrannus, but his had bigger teeth and won.

Because they won second, the party sat with Symvasi and the other winners at  the feast. There they overheard Baron Melitos discussing with the count the possibility of bringing a couple hundred gnomish slaves from his holdings in Agroktima to the Red Hills in Cythraul to set up some investigatory mining operations. Hittsin and Galliard were quite distraught and set immediately to discussing how they could free the gnomes. As the bards played a song about the hero Symvas defeating the ancient dragon Flaegomenos, a man appeared behind Mar and commented that it may be foolish to sing about a foe who isn't dead; Flaegomenosis still alive and very angry, even now he's made his way to the Plane of Fire. The man also mentioned that the next night would be dark, but to hold steady, the dawn would come and with it the Light. Then he disappeared.

The next day, the party decided to head back to the Goblin Fort. They were most of the way there, when they found a trail left by a huge group of  creatures passing through. Seamus used his ranger instincts and knew the fort was almost emptied, just a couple dozen orcs and an elf remained, but an army of orcs, goblins, and kobolds was on it's way to Proklisi. The party debated whether to take on the fort while it was weak, but decided to scout out the army instead.

As they got near, they moved quietly along the periphery looking for wanderers to cull. The happened on a group of orcs and kobolds who were trowing some ropes on a  felled tree, and left none alive. As they got nearer to Proklisi they found a large group of goblin scouts and silenced them as well. Then they headed back to warn the town and a brown bear decided to test them. It didn't live long enough to regret it's mistake.

The Battle of Proklisi
While most of the party was off scouting the enemy army, Caranorn stayed back and met with a man about a job. The man spoke the thieves cant and said his name was Dolo Fonos. He proposed that Caranorn knock Count Symvasi out with a poisoned needle, steal his key, and together the two of them would rob the vault under Town Hall. Caranorn agreed, took the needle, snuck into Symvasi's quarters and knocked him out with the needle. He then proceeded to look for the key, which was nowhere to be found. Giving up, he headed to town hall to meet Dolo, but he didn't show.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party got back from the woods to report news of the encroaching army. A gaurd went to get Symvasi, only to discovere that he had been killed, his head cut clean off! Between hearing about the count's death and the incoming army, the town was thrown into chaos. Many wanted to flee, down the road, into the woods, anywhere bu there. Matuk went to the town's people and convinced them not to flee, but to move those who could not fight into the keep and arm those who could with anything from the blacksmith's shop. Hittsin went to the Winking Queen, to convince as many of the adventurers staying there as he could to help defend the town. Galliard advised the guard, having them set up sentries around the perimeter and in the wizard's  high tower. Mar went to the wizard Visarion to ask use of his tower and send him to look into Symvasi's death. Seamus gathered and the yeomen, and met the herdsmen who came to lend their aid to the heroes that slew the beast of Mt. Kyro. Caranorn just tried not to draw attention to himself.

Then they waited.

It was almost 3am when Seamus, perched in the wizard's tower, saw the evil army approaching the city's gate. The yeomen and adventurers fired from the walls at the charging orcs, but were shot at in return by goblin archers and kobald-manned trebuchets.

Then, a massive terrifying beast came charging down the road toward the gate. This thing was massive, the defenders panicked, knowing they could not possibly contend with such a creature. it rammed through the walls and through the illusion disappeared. In it's place was three orcs riding on rhinoceroses. One held aloft an ivory staff, one twirled and threw torches madly, and the last wielded two massive battleaxes. They tore through the defender's lines and ran into the town, which they proceeded to set ablaze as they made their way to the lightly-defended keep.

The captain of the guard knew the heroes were the only ones who could stop them in time. He told them to go, he would hold the gate as long as he could. So they ran to the burning town, bringing the herdsmen behind them. Seamus and Mar took down the wand waver before he got a chance to say anything dangerous Galliard used his magic to taunt the axe wielder's rhino, causing it to run in panic. Matuk held off the other two rhinos, even as the pyromaniac breather fire down on him. As the axe wielder came back around Caranorn emerged from the alleyways to  strike him,  disappearing before the orc could hit back. As the frustrated orc swung wildly above him, Hittsin, the three-foot tall barbarian, took his rhino out from under him. The orc didn't last much longer.

The Light
The party moved quickly to search the rhino-riders for anything of use. The staff had an orb which could be used to cast Minor Illusion for free, the pyro had two more bottles of fire-breathing on him, and the axe wielder was wearing gauntlets of ogre-strength. Then, while Galiard and the herdsmen dealth with the fire, the rest of the party ran back to join the battle. In their absence the town's defenders had been pushed back, the walls had been breached and the archers scattered.

Seamus joined the adventurers huddled on a small wooden platform surrounded by orcs. Mar sent illusions of ghosts to terrify the attackers. Hittsin and Matuk charged in with the guards  in the front, while Caranorn encouraged the less disciplined fighters in the rear. Some of the enemy began to flee, and the tide of battle was turned. As the captains tried to reorganize their fleeing units, a bright light appeared on the road from the East. At first it seemed only to be the rising sun, but soon four silhouettes were visible, warriors wielding gleaming swords and magic, members of Mar's order: the Light in the Darkness. Between the town, the party, and the Light, the attackers were crushed, with a lucky few fleeing into the woods.

After the battle, everyone returned to the keep. The mark of the assassins guild was found on Symvasi. A member of the light used his magic to talk to the count but Symvasi remembered nothing, he just said something about the king wanting him dead. Symvasi's body to the University in Nicosia, where he had a revival policy.

Meanwhile, it was decided that with the guard weakened, the group from the Light should stay and defend the town (as well as do a little more investigation) while the party went to the fortress, to stop anything worse from happening. They found the fortress lightly defended, easily breaking in  and descending to the lower level. There they found the empty quarters of some of the orc army, and finer quarters complete with Rhino droppings, a fire-breathing statue, and a life-force sucking doorknob which Mar decided to wrap up and take with them.

When returning to the center of the floor, they were fired at by an orc with a heavy crossbow. As they ran forward to dispatch the orc, another orc yelled "release the badgers!" and 10 giant badgers attempted to fit themselves into the tunnel to attack the party.

The Black Door
The badgers, though giant, did not turn out to be too big of a challenge  for the party when forced into a one-giant-badger-wide tunnel. Realizing things were not going their way, a couple of the orcs ran down to a lower level, came back up with bags of loot, and ran up and out just as  the party broke through. The party did a quick search through the rest of the floor, triggering a couple traps but spotting others. There was a dead end with a couple of suspicious holes in the wall, a room smelling  of giant badger, and a closet packed full of manure. There was also an armory with some crossbow bolts and a great axe, and buried in the dust a note written in Preatari. They then continued down the stairs, and found a hall with great pillars, some doors, two passageways, and a wall  with an engraving of a goddess. Carefully checking for traps, they looked in the rooms. In one of the rooms they found scattered coins, adding up to a tidy sum. In another they found mushrooms. In the third the found bunks, which they burned (just in case I guess?). The last door refused to open. The stone face protruding from it told them it only opened to members of the Legion. Casting a spell to charm the door, Mar convinced it that they were new recruits, so it agreed to open for them. Inside they found another small armory, this time with five magic (+1) short-swords and five magic (+1) shields.

Armed and ready, the party headed down one of the passageways. The rough stone tunnel wound downwards, and gradually the party began to feel they were very far from home. Eventually the cave opened up to a domed cavern, with a late on one side and a number of wooden shelves set up at the far end, with kobalts darting about them. Out from behind a shelf stepped an elf in a dark robe; in his hand he held a golden wand with intricately designed fortresses on the ends. He told them they were too late, the foolish Larnacans would be slaughtered by the horrors he would unleash from the Underdark, and soon enough the red door would open and they would all be destroyed. A couple party members tried to explain that they weren't  really Larnacan, it was more just happenstance that  brought them together there (except the paladin Matuk of course, who knew evil when he saw it and would not let it persist) but it was clear the elf was not about to negotiate.

The Red Door
"The world of men will fall, all will belong to the elves!"

Seamus, the party's obligatory elf-ranger, drew an arrow and shot the elf-mage in the chest.

Caranorn the dragonknight rogue followed this up with a shot from his short bow, which the mage blocked with a magic shield he created in the air. The mage then limped behind one of the shelves and created magic armor around himself, which combined with the shield he could create, would make him nearly impossible to hit. Hittsin the gnome barbarian charged the mage as quickly as his tiny legs could manage, holding his Praetari shield ahead of him. The Kobolds used their slings to fire rocks at Caranorn and Hittsin but they were ineffective. Matuk the half-orc paladin charged forward and used his strength to knock over one of the big wooden shelves, causing a domino effect that crushed two kobalds. The bottles and flasks were spilled everywhere, causing blue dust to fill the air and the broken shelves to catch fire. Mar the tiefling warlock of Light used his magic to crush the feeble mind of an advancing kobald.

Dodging the heroes arrows the mage unleashed a devastating blast of cold on the party, causing Hittsin and Mar to lose consciousness. Matuk used his healing on Hittsin, then charged the elf with his axe. He got a blow past the mages shield, but the mage used his magic to get away the hit Hittsin and Matuk with a fireball, which would have taken them both out of the fight but Matuk's half-orc resilience kept him standing. Meanwhile Seamus ran around the far side of lake, taking any shot he could on the mage with his expert marksmanship. The last Kobald tried to take out Caranorn, hiding in the frozen rubble, but the rogue bested him then ran to heal Mar with a potion of healing Mar had on him.

The mage shot a hail of darts from his wand, with one taking out the limping Matuk, and another 5 burying themselves in Seamus. Mar trapped the mage with a magic fire while simultaneously healing the fallen Matuk. Matuk used this opportunity to charge the trapped elf and dealt him a terrible blow cutting through his conjured shield and armor to slay the wicked mage.

Among the wreckage of the lab the party found a few potions of possible usefulness and a teleportation spell scroll. Mar also claimed the mages wand, which turned out to be a rod of absorption, able to block incoming spells and store their energy for use by the rod's holder. After resting and regaining some strength, the party examined two huge metal doors beyond the lab, held closed by three thick wooden beams holding it closed. Curious, the removed the beams and opened the door just a crack, seeing through it a long dark tunnel. This they decided to leave for another time, resealing the gate and heading back to the hall.

When they got back, Hittsin took another look at the faded engraving of the goddess. Having spent his life as a slave and gladiator in the fighting pits of Malmlaka, he didn't know much about Preatori religion. He was, however, an expert on one goddess: Bellona, goddess of light and war. He had memorized every verse of the epic of Potensolem, and so recognizing the goddess he cried out "Bellona I am surrounded by darkness, send me your light so that I may slay it!" Immediately a door opened at the bottom at the bottom of the wall. Inside was a small pedestal; Hittsin walked in, reached on top and took the golden hilt of a long-sword.

The party then continued down the other passageway. They heard voices speaking in infernal, which Mar could understand. One voice was asking the other to put a stop to his plans and join the 8th. The other replied that he had no need of them. Mar entered a large chamber; to his left in an indent in the cave wall was an unconscious man chained up, in the center there stood too lines of columns with orcs standing at attention in front of them, in the back was a wall of fire, with a faint blue glow in front of it. In front of the fire was a throne seating a man with red skin, horns, and massive wings, a cambion. He was speaking to a short, skinny man in a suit. The man in the suit reiterated his offer to the cambion , then when Mar asked told him that the 8th was an organization of concerned people seeking to bring order to the chaotic world. Sensing the cambion's anger, the man snapped his fingers and disappeared in a ball of fire. Mar then spoke with the cambion who said he wanted to bathe the world in flame and make name for himself, then acquire followers and become a demon prince. Mar talked to him about the value of building and organization in creating an empire and the cambion was convinced and decided to name Mar his ambassador to the tieflings. He was not, however, convinced that he shouldn't release the ancient red dragon Flaegomenos to unleash fire and destruction on the world. Mar then used a spell on the cambion while suggesting he go check with Flaegomenos to see if he is ready, so the walked back to the flaming gate and began to speak Draconic.

A Hero Falls
Seeing negotiations, and with the Cambion sufficiently distracted, Mar turned back to his comrades and nodded. Out from the shadows leapt Matuk, who had no patience for negotiation with evil, trowing his javelin into the nearest guard. As his allies followed, and a battle commenced, Mar used his magic to distract the Cambion for as long as possible, hiding the sight and sounds of the fight with illusions.

Hittsin broke the chains off Iroas the Goblin Slayer, who had been captured during the hunt. Mar healed him, bringing him to back consciousness, and Hittsin equipped the hero with a gladius and he charged into the fray. Meanwhile Matuk and Galliard held off the attacking orcs while Seamus and Caranorn fired their bows over them.

While the illusions delayed the cambion for a time, eventually he did notice his guards getting butchered and he was not happy. he flew up to the top of a pillar and shot a deadly barrage of fire down on the intruders with his staff. With their weapons having little effect, the battle was desperate. Mar 's radiant magic and Galliard 's physic attacks were effective, but limited the party's ability to heal. Matuk, as ever, was his friends' shield against axe, arrow, and fireball... until one too many of the cambion's fire rays cut him down. The mighty half-orc had already taken many brutal attacks from the elf-mage and orc guards, so this last attack was more than he could endure. As Matuk 's spirit left his body, he saw his friends take the opportunity he had won them, to finish off the evil cambion, as he knew they would. He saw the imp, sent to collect the creature's black soul, before the demons could drag it back to the Abyss. And he saw the sphinx approaching pulling a chariot, bearing the red evening star of the goddess Astarte. "It is time" the creature told him. The paladin nodded and climbed in, but he swore he would return bringing wrath and vengeance for the doers of evil.

A very small man in a black suit appeared in a ball of fire. He reached out his hand and a black cloud floated out of the cambion's body and formed into a small black marble in the man's hand. The man then spit fire on the quickly withering body and turned for the first time to look at the party. Grinning a wicked smile he introduced himself. "My name is Tublok  Ikkaib Mukmub but you can call me Tim. I represent the 8th, a group of concerned citizens determine to bring order to the world." He then gave the party a black coin, which could be spent for fiendish boons from the Market of Mephistar, and a card which they could bleed on to receive missions from him, to earn more coins.

Phidysa
Going back a bit, while the rest of the party rushed off to defend the gates of Proklisi, Galliard and the herdsmen put out the fire in the town. Then when the party set off for the fortress to finish the job, Galliard stayed to defend the town and help them rebuild. He also helped them to draft a constitution, the Proklisi Charter, setting up a democratic government. Not too much excitement took place in the next couple days, a dragonknight and a boy who said they had gotten lost in the mountains arrived in town, and the members of the Light set off north, to combat a dark terror which had been preying on the peasants of Chytroi.

Then a group of soldiers appeared, led by a Captain Kai, and they have come to take control of the city in the name of Baron Meliton, newly made Lord of Cythraul by queen regent Kacia Vasillisa, since Count Symvasi is considered by the crown to be a traitor. The council decided not to open the gate and Kai departed, swearing that they would regret their disobedience. Galliard then set off to the fortress, to get the rest of the party.

Fast-forwarding to where we left off last time, the Red Man is defeated, but the paladin Matuk was killed in the effort. the imp T.I.M. has given the party a black coin, and offers various boons, such as 1000 gold, a servant imp, a scroll to summon a chain demon, and a bone bow, but the party decide to keep the coin for now. Iroas the Goblin Slayer blathers something incoherent about the son of the dragon coming to free his father, but they decide protecting Proklisi from Baron Meliton should be their first order of business.

After briefly regrouping in Proklisi (and getting rid of Iroas) the party set off to investigate Meliton's camp. They killed a couple of guards along the way, then managed, while hidden in the woods, to see Meliton's operation. At the bottom of a large hill hundreds of gnomish slaves were quarrying stone, while others carried stones up the hill. Around them stood Meliton's guards, human and elvish mercenaries. Something had to be done. Galliard created an invisible servant to play music and draw guards away to investigate, where he, Seamus and Caranorn picked them off. Meanwhile, Mar (invisible) and Hittsin (a gnome) snuck into the quarry. Hittsin was recognized by some of his fellow countrymen, and one ran off to find Phidysa, Hittsin 's love, who he had to leave so long ago.

As the guards began to realize something was amiss, Mar created the illusion of a massive demon in the center of the quarry, causing confusion and panic. Galliard used his magic to give the demon voice and to knock back the soldiers brave enough to approach. Seamus and Caranorn picked off guards too foolish to run, or foolish enough to run into them. Hittsin ran through the panicked gnomes, assuring them it was alright, and gathering them to himself, but mostly looking for his dear Phidysa. The split up party got in a couple dangerous situations when stuck alone and surrounded by guards, but they made it through and the guards eventually led and began regrouping up the hill. Some tried to grab up gnomes as they went, by Hittsin was at the base of the hill defending his kinsmen. He drew forth the hilt he had found behind the engraving of the goddess Bellona; sensing his will a bright glowing long-sword blade emerged from the hilt, which Hittsin used to great effect terrifying the already shaken guards and as a beacon to lead his people.

The guards had regrouped, and were beginning to rain arrows down on the heroes and gnomes, so they fled into the woods to the south. All together about 100 gnomish slaves were rescued, including Hittsin 's long lost love Phidysa.

The Ambush
The party made camp in the southern Red Hills. one end of the camp was guarded by Hittsin and some of the more capable gnomes, while the other end was guarded by Mar, Seamus, Caranorn, Galliard, and a Dwarvish Cleric, who had left Meliton to join them. Just before first light, two huge owl bears charged into the party's end of camp and began attacking the gnomes. The party managed to slay one of them, but the other got away, a helpless gnome in it's beak.

Not long later, a gnomish girl, no more than a child, approached the camp. She told the heroes that she and her sister had escaped Meliton's camp, but had gotten lost. Something big and terrible had grabbed her sister, and she needed help fast. The heroes agreed to help, and followed the girl into the woods. As they were approaching a clearing, Seamus noticed, outlined against the light shining through the leaves, two archers in the trees above them. Galliard used his magic to charm the would-be ambushers, but Seamus went ahead and shot one out of the tree with his bow. Over a dozen hidden mercenaries, wearing the colors of Baron Meliton then appeared from the trees and shrubbery. The gnomish girl backed away from the party, crying and saying she had no choice.

With arrows raining down on them from trees on the far side of the clearing, Mar created an illusionary wall to obscure their vision. A couple infantrymen charged through and had to be dispatched, but still determined to negotiate Galliard wove another magic song putting the nearest mercenaries in a dazed, non-aggressive state. The party was able to use the brief respite to negotiate with the mercenaries and convince them it is not worthwhile to work with Meliton, and that they should join Proklisi instead. The mercenaries, in exchange for an up-front payment, agreed and went back to Meliton's camp to actually rescue the girls sister.

The little girl and the other rescued gnomes went, led by Hittsin, to establish a new home in the ruined keep that had been ruled by the Red Man and his orcs. The party meanwhile returned to Proklisi to regroup. Since discovering the door to the Underdark, Mar had felt a pull to go down there, find his fellow Tieflings, and try to show them the surface and establish peaceful and prosperous relations between above and below. Not wanting to leave the Heroes of Proklisi down another man right after losing Matuk and now Hittsin, he recruited his old friend Smith, a war-forged archeologist, to join the party, promising he'd have the opportunity to make many exciting discoveries in their company. Mar then left for the keep, and the world below.

The Lake
The people of Proklisi, having at Galliard's suggestion adopted a democratic constitution, offered to make the party their own commune within the city, making them citizens and giving them financial and logistical support in return for the kind of protection simple guards just can't provide. The party agreed and, deciding it was worthwhile to wait until their new allies made their way to Proklisi before they took action against Baron Meliton, Caranorn, Galliard, Smith, and Seamus went to investigate a nearby lake that could be seen from Mount Proklisi.

As they were trekking through the West Goblin Wood, the heroes felt as though they kept seeing movement around them, but when they looked all that was there were the usual trees and bushes. Then the trees and bushes began attacking them.The heroes put up a good fight, but ultimately the awoken plants managed to knock out or choke out all of them.

The awoke in a small cottage. A kindly old woman was stirring a pot.The illusion didn't do much to reassure anyone though, since they were tied up and she was entirely open about her intention to cook them. As the she picked up Seamus and dropped him into the pot, Caranorn snuck free of his bonds and attacked her. The illusion disappeared and they found themselves in a damp cave confronted by a hideous green hag. The boiling pot that Seamus was dropped into was real enough though, so Smith knocked it over, freeing Seamus while he was still just barely alive. Once they were all free, they managed to slay the hag though she did some damage with her claws.

They decided to rest in the cave before heading back, but as they were mending their wounds a Chuul, smelling blood and magic, burst from the lake to attack them. Even Smith 's built-in armor struggled to hold up against it's mighty claws and poisonous tentacles. Eventually they managed to break the creature (if I remember correctly it was an insult Galliard managed to translate via music into the Deep Speech that did it in) and the party made a hasty retreat back to Proklisi.

The Dark Woods
The people of Proklisi provided the party with food, lodging, and a variety of tools and ammo when they got back to town. Not having heard from the mercenaries, the heroes decided it was time to scout out Meliton's camp. As they got near, the woods were not as they remembered them. A mist filled the air and the sky was dark; trees were barren and wolves howled in the distance. Eventually they found the body of one of the soldiers they had befriended. His face was pure terror and his chest was chewed through. From beneath him, a swarm of vicious rats emerged and attacked the party. The struggle drew more feral creatures from the woods and soon the ground was covered in rats and the air full of blood-thirsty bats. As the party was dealing with the vermin, a pack of hungry wolves came out of the mist to join the fray. Someone created a wall of fire to delay the wolves, but even just the swarms proved difficult to contend with. Eventually though, the last of the beasts were killed or fled and the party continued. They came to a castle with no gate, working their way around they saw that it was spiral with one wall still being build by gnomish slaves.

The Dungeon Castle
As the party watched from the woods, they were spotted by a gnome, who dropped his trowel and ran towards the heroes. Stop that gnome, kill him if necessary!" shouted Captain Kai. A mercenary loosed an arrow, but missed, and Galliard grabbed the gnome without being noticed by the guards. They retreated a ways, then asked the gnome what was going on. The gnome explained that while Baron Meliton had always been a cruel master, recently things had gotten exceptionally bad: most of the gnomes were chained to the walls and anyone, even hired mercenaries that disobeyed Meliton were killed on the spot. When asked how this started, the gnome said he wasn't sure, they had been building a temporary base for Meliton's attack on Proklisi, but then a man visited. No one was sure how he got there, but he spoke very old fashionedly and was exceptionally proper, asking to be led to the "door" rather than step over the one foot tall foundation of a wall they had laid down. He spoke in private with Meliton, then left. And then the next day everything changed.

Galliard decided he would try to speak with Meliton. He approached the guards claiming to be a blind messenger, who needed to speak to Meliton privately. Figuring a blind man couldn't cause too much trouble, a soldier agreed to take him to Meliton, though it was clear none of the soldiers wanted to get anywhere near the Baron. As he walked through the spiraling castle, Galliard could just barely see through the bandage on his eyes gnomes passed out and hanging chained on the walls.

Meanwhile, Caranorn and Seamus decided they would sneak into the castle (leaving the rather-conspicuous Smith with the escaped gnome). The nimble thief Caranorn easily scaled the stone wall, but Seamus slipped and fell, alerting the nearby guards. Caranorn turned around to help his friend, but it was a very uneven fight. Soon Seamus was unconscious and the vicious Captain Kai was scaling the wall to finish off Caranorn. Much to his surprise however, the group of gnomish slaves he had been ignoring pulled the mercenary to the ground and tore him limb from limb.

Galliard was led to Baron Meliton's chamber, but the guards pointedly stayed outside. This Meliton was thinner and paler than the arrogant noble they had met at the feast on a few weeks prior. Galliard strode up the grand stairway leading up into Meliton's room, decrying Meliton for the monster he was. Meliton, angered but unafraid told the pesky adventurer that he had made his last mistake. Then just as Meliton approached and showed is sharp vampiric fangs, Galliard used his magic to cause the baron's shirt to be soaked with holy water, causing him to writhe in pain.

Caranorn, with the castle now firmly barricaded and his friend grievously wounded, decided to use the black coin to call on the imp T.I.M. He asked T.I.M. to heal the party and bring them together to Meliton. T.I.M. agreed that was a fair price for the coin. He briefly left for the Eighth, then returned and snapped his fingers and the heroes found themselves engulfed in flame but not burned, then standing in Meliton's chamber watching the vampire fight with Galliard. A couple seconds later Smith was there as well, emerging from another ball of fire.

Meliton shouted for his guards, but the door was firmly shut. So instead he called for his other allies, and dozens of bats broke through the windows to swarm Caranorn and Seamus. The vampire used his magic stare to tell Smith not to attack him, so he could focus on killing the first infuriating intruder. Galliard knocked the vampire away with thunder, but still got pretty viciously clawed apart. Fortunately Smith, though unable to attack Meliton, was still happy to help heal his friend.

From the Dungeon to the Dragon
Though there were some close calls, the heroes, now united and at full strength, slowly gained the upper hand against their undead foe. About a minute into the fight another fiery portal opened and Iroas, fell through, landing on his butt, holding a mug of ale. A short while later Hittsin Didsky was there too, entirely naked. The heroes had no time to think about this though as they pursued Meliton into hall, where he fled to find easy flesh to drain of blood and regain his strength. An arrow from Seamus ended the baron before he could get to his helpless prey, and the baron dissolved into a dark mist, which slipped away under a doorway. Just then, Mar appeared, disoriented by being pulled from another dimension, but happy to be healed of his wounds and to see his old friends. After someone found Hittsin a cloak, Mar and him got to talking about the goings on in the underdark.

Meanwhile the rest of the party headed out into the hall, where there was shouting from one of the rooms. In it they could see the remaining human and elvish mercenaries squaring off against the dwarven architects over a pile of gold and other treasures. Before it could come to blows the party managed to broker a deal where the dwarves got to keep Castle Meliton, the mercenaries got the gold, and the heroes got the other treasures: the Eagle Bow, a Pick of Digging, a Golden Needle Compass, and the Harp of Thunder, a piece of the lost Quylun Quartet. Before they could get too distracted the party went to investigate the door dark mist of Meliton. The door, it turned out, was trapped and caused the roof above them to collapse, wounding multiple people and burying part of the castle in rubble. Fortunately (and completely unintentionally on the part of the DM) Smith had his new Pick of Digging and was able to quickly move through the rubble, until hitting an iron coffin the pick couldn't break through. He instead heated the metal lid to melting so they could break it open. Galliard then stabbed the reformed body of Meliton with a wooden stake he had made by breaking a staff in half. At that moment the dense fog surrounding the castle cleared and the animals returned to normal.

The heroes returned to Meliton's chamber to find Hittsin telling Mar that with their settlement still not secure, he could not risk sending gnomes into the Underdark to help Mar's people, the Tieflings, who from what Mar had heard were suffering from some terrible plague. The two of them went back to the Goblin Fort, while the party returned to Proklisi to rest and recover. Upon speaking with Iroas, however, they discovered that the Red Man had sent his agents into the Underdark to find a dragon who had the power to release Flaegomenos, the ancient red dragon who had sworn to destroy Larnaca. Having nothing better to do, the party decided to journey to the Underdark and slay a dragon.

The party arrived at the Goblin Fort and saw the outside totally transformed, with vegetable gardens planted, homes built, and repairs to the fortress underway. The door to the Underdark, on the other hand, was exactly as they'd left it, the gnomes having re-barred the door after Mar passed through.

After traveling down a dark tunnel for about an hour, the party came to a fork. There were signs in orcish (which Seamus could read) describing their three options: "The Voices of Madness", "The Endless Tunnel", or "The Lake". They opted for the lake. As promised, before too long the tunnel descended into shallow murky water, and widened into a large, domed room. The water was about knee-high, but with sudden drop-offs on each side of their path, invisible through the opaque water. The party made their way slowly and carefully. They were about halfway across the lake when they heard a splash to their left. Then another to their right. Then a barrage of teeth and claws erupted from the water on all sides, as four scrags attacked the party. It was a brutal fight, with the party fairly trapped on their thin spit of land, and the scrags continually healed by the water. The heroes had to pull the scrags out of the water to kill them properly. At least once a hero lost consciousness and fell below the black water's surface. But eventually they managed to kill or scare of the scrags, and limped across the lake to a crack in the far rock wall where they could tend to their wounds.

The fissure continued, going slightly upward, so the party decided to follow it. In some places it was a tight squeeze but in general it stayed about 5 feet wide, winding back and forth. Smith, who was leading the way, abruptly stopped when he noticed the nearly invisible wall of greenish jelly in front of him. Unable to retreat, with his allies blocking the path behind him, Smith was engulfed by the gelatinous cube which immediately began digesting the wood and metal of Smith 's body. The rest of the party backed away to avoid being eaten as well, but Caranorn noticed the pink tendrils of another cube sliding down the fissure from above them. Fortunately Galliard was able to send the pink cube up the fissure with a blast of thunder, delaying it for long enough the party could beat the green cube into a slimy puddle and free Smith. With the none of the party being actively dissolved in acid, they were able to make quick work of the pink cube.

The party continued on through the fissure, and not much further on noticed writing carved into the rock in Preatari "Whom do you serve?" Smith, a student of antiquities, immediately called out "The Emperor" in Preatari and the door opened revealing a small safe-house, and in it Mar. There they were able to rest and recover and Mar explained the situation. He had found his way to a Drow (Underdark Elf) city not far from where they were. He had met a few Tiefling refugees who had come from the Great Flat, and somehow survived and found their way across the Maze and the Zurkhwood Forest to the city of the the Drow. There they were treated terribly but they were alive, and away from the plague that was wiping out the Tieflings of the Great Flat. None were willing to show Mar the way back. Mar found his way to the Maze, but had not found his way across, and was near death when T.I.M.'s spell transported him to Castle Meliton and healed him.

Mar led them out of the fissure and into the Zurkhwood Forest, a forest of extremely tall mushrooms used as food and building material by the Drow. As they were making their way to the Maze, they heard a trumpet in the distance. In a panic, Mar told them that this was a warning that Lolth's followers were coming through. Mar and Galliard ran until they were a safe distance away. Smith buried himself in the ground with his Pick of Digging. Caranorn and Seamus hid in the trunks of the massive mushrooms. For minutes that felt like hours a swarm of spiders ranging from tarantella size to wolf size ran past. Driving them from the rear where half-spider Drow, the servants of Lolth. Once enough time had past, the party regrouped and continued toward the Maze.

The Maze is a wide region of sharp rocks emerging from every side. It's extremely difficult to get anywhere and even more difficult to keep track of where you're going and where you've been. As the party was traversing a high edge, they heard the echo of large creatures moving. Soon they saw three trolls, masterfully navigating the rocks, and prepared for combat. Mar had met these trolls before however, and knew they could be reasoned with. They were Bok, Nok, and Glod of the Magota clan. They offered to show the party the way across the Maze for 500 shinies, and protect them from the cruel Verdona clan. Mar had been given this offer before, but didn't have the gold, the party did though and were willing to put it together to cross quickly and safely. Their guides took them to the edge of the Great Flat, then disappeared back into the Maze.

The Great Flat was relatively flat, compared to the Maze, but was actually made up of sloped flat faces of rock, both on the ground and roof, so that the height of the cave varied from thirty feet to zero where floor and ceiling collided to form a wide column. You could only see as far as the next dip or ridgeline, but it quickly became apparent that the cavern was massive. The ground was covered in tiny white mushrooms, giving the appearance of snow. After some walking, the party spotted what appeared to be a village. They approached cautiously, but there was nobody there, other than a few spooked cattle-like creatures called rothe. The party moved on, and eventually found a village with inhabitants. After overcoming the Tieflings' initial fear, they were told that entire villages kept vanishing, and hordes of silent shadows had been seen. Mar stayed, to lead his kinsmen to safety, and the rest of the party journeyed on towards the source of the plague.

After a long stretch of nothing but grey and white, Seamus saw something on the horizon. He drew back the Eagle Bow, and in a single shot slew the shadow. Suddenly a horde poured over the ridge, but the dozens of shadows posed little challenge for the seasoned heroes and their magic weapons. Then, from over the ridge passed a serpentine shadow, at one moment huge, at the next invisible against the rocky columns. Seamus stayed back, firing at the dragon when it showed itself moving between columns. Caranorn moved up and took on the still advancing shadows, and endured the necrotic breadth of the evil worm. Smith and Galliard ran up the hill, and used their respective magic agents of sword and flame to surround and trap the creature, facing down its breath and claws and shadow servants. I do not recall how the final blow was struck, whether by sword, arrow, or spell, but eventually the great shadow could not endure and dissolved into black dust that burst out in all directions. Across the Great Plane it's shadow thralls faded, their tortured souls released to the god of death. And Flaegomenos, that evil creature of hatred and destruction, was thwarted in his desire to bring death and carnage the prime material plane. At least for now.