Pre-Fosweld
Chapter 1 (16.11.2023) - Discovering The Shrine of Žužu
25.04.1259 Animataa wanted to buy some lunch and some material components for his spells in Iusiautt. On his way around town he met an elderly woman who was very upset about her necklace being stolen. The woman was being comforted by her granddaughter, and by Lilly.
Animataa agreed to help. They all went back to the elderly woman's home to look for clues. They found a screwed up ball of paper which said that the necklace should be taken to The Shrine of Žužu.
The elderly woman had heard of this shrine a long time ago and suggested learning more. Animataa and Lilly went to the town hall library and asked a librarian there for help. Animataa gave him 5gp for his troubles, so he drew a sketch of where he thought the entry to the shrine might be.
When the two of them told the elderly lady of what they had learned, she was very pleased and gave each of them a potion of healing. Then they set off due east from the north end of Iausiautt to a triangular clump of trees at the bass of a hill.
Using the librarian's map, they thought they might have found the place. They tried to hide and sneak, Animataa suggesting they pretend to be thieves. There were some fallen trees and as the two were searching around, a man emerged from a tree trunk as if walking up steps.
They confronted the man and after casting a hypnotism spell where he told them he was going back home to Iausiautt, they fought. Animataa one-shotted him and Lilly was most impressed.
After searching him and finding a folded piece of parchment confirming that the were thieves on the lookout for necklaces with the symbol of Žužu, they started to examine where the man had come from through the fallen tree trunks.
Once the illusion covering the entrance had been disbelieved, the two descended the rough and cracked old stone steps, went along a corridor and opened the door into the shrine.
In the first room Animataa discovered a torch bracket that would raise the portcullis nearby. They entered the room of candles with the draconic grafitti and after defeating the wandering megalocentipede, they managed to loot the chest hidden in the corner under old blankets.
Before opening the chest, Animataa had to pour a dose of his healing into Lilly who had been wounded by the centipede. When Animataa failed to find the fire trap and it exploded, knocking him unconscious, Lilly had to pour a dose of her healing potion into him.
Next they tried to open the door to room 4. It was stuck and Animataa broke it down. They discovered it was a door that slid to the side. In the corner of the room was a shrieker which made a terrible noise when Animataa approached.
The noise started attracting other wandering monsters. Lilly saw a group of goblins running up the corridor to investiage the noise. She cast her burning hands spell and then used her staff to finish them off with Animataa's help.
They kept on trying to silence the shrieker to no avail and a pack of 11 rats came to investigate. Animataa rolled a few 1s, including a 1 followed by a 20 followed by a 1, but the fumble table was kind and he merely fell and disarmed himself a couple of times.
Whilst Animataa was recovering from a stun caused by a fumble, Lilly defeated a few of the rats. Animataa recovered and continued with his daggers fighting as a thief. The two of them defeated the rest. The fight ended with Lilly unconscious and Animataa on just 1 hit point.
They had more healing potion and the shrieker was still making a dreadful noise. Lilly screamed along with it for a while and finally Animataa destroyed it. They are currently in room 4 and the goblins have not yet been looted.
Chapter 2 (25.11.2023) - Deeper into The Shrine of Žužu
25.04.1259 Lilly fiddled with the dead shrieker for a while then they looted the goblins for precisely 50sp. They left the goblins' gear and arranged the bodies neatly around the room to look as if they all died suddenly while doing other things - sleeping, twiddling thumbs, eating a rat and so on.
The two of them then have a big investigation and confufulation with the grafitti in room 8. Very good minute details from the Bwabber. A similarly detailed and prolonged confufulation with the mosaic in room 9.
Next they decided to go north and revisit the door to the dead end corridor out of room 1. On the way there they were snared by the net trap on the ceiling and Animataa cut them both out.
Upon opening the door they found at the end of the dead end a chest which I put there. They couldn't get it open and tried to carry it and turned it upside down. It was very heavy and Animataa could only just lift it on his own. With Lilly helping it was difficult.
A wandering monster check indicated the wererat should appear, but that was far too dangerous for these two so I made it a thief, the owner of the chest. During the fight that followed, the thief rolled a 1 and lost his sword. The key to the chest was on a thong around his neck.
After looting the thief and the chest for some money, a pair of earrings that give the wearer an extra spell/lvl and a pair of healing potions, the two of them continued back the way they had just come into room 10.
They were rather puzzled by the odd staircase and then Animataa found at the top a secret compartment containing a locked metal chest that was sat on a pressure plate. Inside was a dark blue velvet cloth bag. Lilly felt the weight and decided that two goblin helmets weighed the same.
After swapping out the bag for the goblin helmets, they discovered a few necklaces in the velvet bag. They were the necklaces bearng the sign of Žužu, the very things they had come here to find!
All the same, they decided to explore more. Animataa opened the southerly door on the west wall and say the corridor. He thought he might have seen something moving but couldn't be sure. Then they took the north exit out of room 11. Is the other door still open? Not sure...
Breaking open the door into room 7 it soon became clear that there was something odd going on. The darkmantle through the door in room 6 was causing a weird shadoow near the way into its lair. The torch by the portcullis to the north has not yet been checked.
Chapter 3 (29.11.2023) - Deeper Still into The Shrine of Žužu
25.04.1259 As Animataa was checking for traps in the doorway, the darkmantle fell on him. The two of them quickly defeated it before it could do much damage and the shadowy darkness ended.. After widgulating its tentacles and looking at the curious creature, they ventured in the room.
They had a something of a confufulation with the fountain. Eventually Lilly had a tiny sip of the water. She can now Detect Magic 1/day, but doesn't know it yet. Merely a strange bubbly feeling.
Once she had sipped the water, the rest magically disappeared, leaving the fountain bone dry. They continued to fiddle around with the fountain and shouted into the pipe, attracting the attention of a zombie, which they quickly defeated.
After both of them tried on the boots, they eventually discovered that they improve somebody's chance to move silently. The boots automatically shrink or expand to perfectly fit the wearer's feet, are soft low boots, dark brown, and beautifully made.
Then they found the torch that opened the portcullis to the north and entered the room. Animataa climbed onto the platform and found the holy symbol, like a chrome goats head. There were no footprints in the dust, so nobody had been up there for some time.
Lilly stood directly underneath where Animataa is up on the platform, watching the entrances and ready to catch him if he falls. Animataa was about to investigate the weird dusty chrome skull.
Chapter 4 (31.01.2024) - Tikarada and Retty
Tikarada was presented with his white belt for achieving level 1 as a monk at Kol-Ibur. After the ceremony, Tikarada was invited to return home to Tibesti to seek adventure. He won a quick duel against his friend Zarquon and continued on his way to Tibesti.
A dwarf challenged Tikarada to fight and the monk eventually defeated him, winning all the reactions and taking no dmg. After a while a pair of kobolds armed with spears jump out to attack. Tikarada defeats them both and carried them with him to the junction with the Tieli-Ancona road.
Meanwhile, a priest at the temple of Raven in Ancona asks Retty to take scrolls and incense to the temple of Raven in Tibesti. Travelling by road towards Tieli on his pony, he saw an odd pile of gold lying in the road, where there was a sharp right bend under some overhanging trees.
Upon investigating the gold, he heard a noise and was not quick enough to escape the cage made of tree branches that descended from above, trapping him. A couple of goblins were most pleased with their work and laughed, demanding more money from Retty.
Retty said he would rather fight, so the goblins discussed this briefly and then agreed and let Retty out. Soon Retty had defeated both goblins. He gave himself a healing proficiency, added the rope that held the cage above the road to his pack, left the cage by the side of the road and took the dead goblins with him on his pony. He used luck points for a herbalism roll, but still found none.
Next Retty saw a humanoid figure crying by the side of the road. When he went to find out what was wrong, the creature turned to attack! It was a hobgoblin. This was a harder fight, but Retty prevailed, with a few wounds.
Retty didn't know what to do with the corpses. After praying he threw the goblins into the bushes and used his pony to carry the dead hobgoblin there as well. Then he continued on his way.
After some time, Retty and Tikarada saw each other for the first time. At first they were quite suspicious of each other, and then became friends. Retty helped Tikarada onto his pony. Tikarada was impressed that Retty was dual classed. They set off to Tieli together on Retty's pony.
Chapter 5 (12.02.2024) - Some Adventurers Head for Tibesti
As Retty and Tikarada continued on their way, they came upon a group of large spiders who had built a web in a tree overhanging the path. Retty noticed the glint of gold coming from a large cocoon.
Once they had defeated the spiders, during which time Retty used 6 of his 7 luck points to avoid being poisoned, Retty ued his 10' pole to poke the cocoon of an ogre to the ground and cut out its pouch, from which the golden glint could be seen.
After cutting out the treasure, they continued on their way to Tieli, staying the night at an inn near the north gate before setting off the next day for Tibesti.
Tunaxicon saw a human erecting a sign in the wrong place in Deraheib and challlenged him. After an argument, the human gave up, exasperated, and threw his sign to the ground. Tunaxicon put it in the proper place for such a sign, about a metre away, but couldn't read it.
A halfling came up, amused by the whole situation, and offered Tunaxicon 10gp to deliver his box to Blackstar in the Dolphin Inn in Tibesti. Blackstar would give him another 10gp on delivery. Tunaxicon agreed, the halfling disappeared in to the crowd, and Tunaxicon asked another dwarf to read the sign for him.
Tunaxicon learned that there would be a gathering in the town of Shé-ek for some adventurers to travel to Fosweld. Tunaxicon fetched his adventuring equipment and took the express carriage to Tibesti.
Pinimpy and her fellow hunting team were all tasked with hunting each other instead of their usual creatures. They were each given paintbomb arrows and set off into the woods around their Taur Geldor home. Pinimpy won the contest and her huntmaster suggested she go off in search of adventure to Tibesti.
The next morning, Pinimpy set off early from her home in the western peninsula of Taur Geldor, travelling south towards the Deraheib-Tibesti road. A bloodhawk followed her and when she tripped, it swooped down to attack.

Pinimpy soon defeated the first bloodhawk. Xymiton could hear the battle and went to investigate, arriving just after Pinimpy had defeated the bloodhawk with a natural 20 after rolling a 1 and falling over the previous round.
Another one flew down from its nest and Pinimpy defeated that one as well, while Xymiton waved his staff about ineffectively. Pinimpy climbed up to the nest and found gems, which she took and shared with Xymiton. Xymiton agreed to travel with her and they continued to the road together.
Chapter 6 (13.02.2024) - Six Adventurers Meet in Tibesti
Just as Xymiton and Pinimpy reached the Tibesti to Deraheib road, more bloodhawks appeared. They defeated a few and took a few hits as a carriage approached at speed. The carriage stopped and out jumped Tunaxicon to help with the fight. The lookout riding the wagon also took some down with his bow.
Once the fight was done, Tunaxicon climbed up to the nest and found four gems, which he took for himself without telling the others they were there.
Pinimpy and Xymiton were both wounded and asked to be allowed to ride the carriage. Tunaxicon said it was forbidden, and after a brief argument, the two elves paid and were allowed on board. Tunaxicon wasn't happy about it. They all rode the rest of the way to Tibesti, and disembarked in the market square.
Retty and Tikarada were now on their way from Tieli to Tibesti. They were followed for a distance by some vultures, but quickened the pace and eventually arrived in Tibesti without incident, hurrying through Little Hebba on the way into the city.
Once inside the gates, they went to the Temple of Raven, which is up on the hill near the Royal Palace. The priesthood were very glad of their delivery and paid Retty 10gp for his troubles. Retty and Xymiton also heard some rumours about Fosweld.
They stayed at an inn overnight. Retty learned 3 CLWs and Xymiton a new Magic Missile after shooting a bloodhawk with it the day before. They heard more rumours at the inn and went to the market to see what they could find there.
Tunaxicon took his delivery for Blackstar, a heavily tattooed dwarf as it turned out, to The Dolphin. Blackstar was very pleased with his delivery and paid Tunaxicon 15gp, instead of the 10 he was promised. Tunaxicon stayed for a cupp of whisky and met Razadar, who was also there.
After a couple of drinks and discussion of the rumours circulating the pub regarding the troubles in Fosweld, the two dwarves agreed to find out more and also went to the marketplace.
A town cryer was ringing his bell and shouting that adventurers were needed for an expedition to Fosweld. There would be a gathering of adventurers in the town of Shé-ek and everyone interested should meet there.
Pinimpy and Xymiton, Razadar and Tunaxicon, and Retty and Tikarada all arrived together by the town cryer and agreed to travel together to Shé-ek. Retty healed the wounded elves and the party was up to six members.
Chapter 7 (13.02.2024) - A Flight Foretold
Retty was allowing everyone to take turns riding his pony with him. His pony was really a tremendously helpful creature, clever too. After about an hour or more travel, they came upon a pair of ogres who were busily trying to chop down a large tree.
Unimpressed at their lawlessness, Tunaxicon managed to hide in shadows and sneak towards the ogres. Tikarada started making his way towards the ogres as well, but Xymiton told him it wasn't wise and Tikarada changed his mind. Tunaxicon tried to backstab one of the ogres, but missed.
Suddenly finding himself facing two angry ogres, Tunaxicon fought. Various people fired missiles and Pinimpy hit, as did Xymiton with his Magic Missile. Razadar ran in and his very first attack as a D&D character was a natural 20, which was a critical, killing the ogre which Xymiton had hit. The other ogre made a morale check but was clearly shaken by the sudden attack by the dwarf.
Tunaxicon hit the remaining ogre and although the missiles failed to find their targets, Tikarada shouted in ogrish to the remaining ogre that he was outnumbered and was going to be killed. The ogre fled! The party continued on its way.
Just where the road is closest to the river there were three basking crocodiles that approached the party, threatening them with open jaws and roars. Tunaxicon again hid in the shadows to approach and Xymiton looked for sticks to hold their mouths open. The others shot.
Retty's shot from the back of his pony wasn't very good and the arrow became entangled in his pony's mane, causing it something of a shock. Pinimpy again hit with his bow and Tunaxicon managed to finish the front one off with his backstab, and found himself facing two crocodiles.
By now everyone except Xymiton was running in to combat. Pinimpy one-shotted one of the crocs with a very good damage roll, and Razadar did the same on the other. The party travelled the rest of the way to Tieli and spent the night at an inn.

During the night, Retty had a very disturbing dream. He dreamed that he and his pony were flying, and then his pony lost the ability to fly and fell. Retty woke with a start in a sweat and went down at once to see his pony.
Retty chose to follow his intuition. He asked the stablehand to care for his pony for the next two months at least, whilst Retty was investigating the troubles in Fosweld. He paid 25gp and would settle any outstanding payment upon his return, within two months.
In the morning when the others were awake, Retty told them about the dream and that he had decided to leave his pony here until he could come back. Pinimpy, Xymiton and Tunaxicon exchanged their gems for gold at a jeweller's that charged a 10% exchange rate and then everyone set off on foot for Three Bridges.
As they were travelling along a lonely open stretch of road, a pair of rocs swooped down and grabbed all six party members in their talons. They thought they would all surely die then and there. The party realised it was useless to struggle against these giant birds and played dead. The rocs flew far, far to the east. Xymiton could tell this from his navigation proficiency.
The huge birds deposited the party in a massive nest on a high peak in the mountains. Once the two rocs were satisfied that their captives were secure in the nest, they flew off.
This was when the party realised they were not alone! There were four humans already in the nest - Ovlov, Ollopsio, Scobby and Catoink. What now? Here begins The Eye of the Serpent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_the_Serpent).
To continue this part of the story, see The Eye of the Serpent.
Chapter 8 (15.02.2024) - Misheard Misdemeanors and Potatoes
21.04.1259 One of the higher level druids in her forest sect asked Crimsy to go and see his mother in Aegoi and find out why her dog kept biting her on the ankle. Crimsy agreed, said goodbye to her husband and went to investigate.
On the way she encountered a pair of xvarts that were chopping down wild flowers. They attacked and she defeated them, and did what she could to heal the injured plants. She hurried on to Aegoi and tripped, and was attacked by a large spider.
Once Crimsy had liberated the treasure from one of the spider's victims, she continued on her way to the village. When she found her friend's mother, it turned out that her dog kept biting her uncle, not her ankle.
The woman was somewhat skeptical of Crimsy and the weird tree huggers from the forest who her son had joined, but nonetheless allowed Crimsy to speak with her dog.
The dog was a bit rude to start with, and didn't trust strangers very much, and after a while it confessed to Crimsy that the woman's uncle kept grabbing and squeezing its tongue really hard when nobody was looking and this was very painful for the poor dog.
After Crimsy had told all of this to the woman, who was a bit doubtful to begin with, she finally accepted Crimsy's explanation and promised to have it out with her elderly uncle regarding his cruelty. She gave Crimsy a potion of healing and she went on her way.
19.04.1259 Aixy went to buy potatoes for himself and his wife in Friüg and on the way back met Zimbi, who was cleaning up a mess her beautiful white pony had made. Aixy was excited at the promise of adventure and gold and went home to collect his things.
Once he had bid his young wife goodbye and left the potatoes on the table, Aixy and Zimbi set off, telling the guards they would be very careful of any banditry they might encounter on the roads. Aixy hoped this would improve the quality of life for his wife and himself as potatoes was all they could afford to eat.
Chapter 9 (12.03.2024) - Commanding Clerics
19.04.1259 Once the pair of them had travelled for about three hours, about halfway to Taummoar, three bandits jumped out from behind a tree and attempted to rob them. When Zimbi and Aixy refused to give away their things, the bandits charged in.
Aixy Commanded one to "Surrender!", and he threw down his sword and cried "OK, I give up!" but the other two continued their attack whilst regarding their feeble leader with contempt. When one of them wounded Zimbi she told him he would have to pay a fine for that.
It was not long until Zimbi had floored two of them with hefty blows from her mace. Aixy told the other one he would surely die if he continued. He was going to run, but Zimbi Commanded him to "Sit!" and he did.
She tied him up and put him on her pony, along with the other two defeated bandits, having bound their wounds so they didn't bleed on her mount's pristene white coat. Upon arriving in Taummoar, the guards were pleased to see them. Private Smiglins led them to the town hall for their 75gp reward.
20.04.1259 The next day, Aixy bought himself a pony with the gold he'd earned from handing in the bandits. He and Zimbi mounted up and set off towards Aegoi.
Chapter 10 (23.03.2024) - More Mushrooms, Priest?
20.04.1259 Aixy and Zimbi had not long left Taummoar when a trio of bandits attempted to rob them. Aixy Commanded one to "Surrender!" and he did. Then both Zimbi and Aixy defeated one each in combat. The one that had been affected by the Command spell was blinded by Zimbi's Light.
Once the three bandits had been tied up the, two set off again towards Aegoi, with the defeated bandits slung over the ponies.
17.04.1259 Meanwhile, in Eitycuely... Zharzhar was informed by Kuros that High Priest Yang Ming was very poorly at the temple of Huan Ti and asked Zharzhar to go with him to see the ailing High Priest. When they arrived, the shaman Chen Jie was tending to the poorly preist and said that he needed a special ingredient for a curative potion.
He asked Zharzhar to find this special ingredient for the potion - a rare mushroom that only grows in caves. He had tasked an expert in mushroom identification called Spoglifromp to accompany Zharzhar on the mission.
Zharzhar agreed to help and he and Kuros searched for Spoglifromp, who they eventually found sleeping in the hay behind a haybale in the stables. Spoglifromp had overspent on his equipment budget so Kuros was somewhat exasperated with the weird little gnome rogue.
Zharzhar demonstrated a few tricks with her pony and her hawk to Spoglifromp, and Spoglifromp had a go as well, but he was rather afraid of the pony and didn't like the bird either. Eventually Zharzhar managed to convince Spoglifromp to climb aboard her pony, although he was very sceptical.
The first leg of their journey would take them as far as Ekziotyoavaw Bridge. On the way a gnoll wanted to attack and rob them. Zharzhar attenpted to fight the gnoll and fell over, throwing her sword behind her into the bushes by rolling a 1 on her very first attack.
Luckily Spoglifromp, who had sneaked off the pony to hide in shadows, had sneaked around behind the gnoll and one-shotted it with a spectacularly good backstab, He was very unimpressed with Zharzhar's attempt at combat, and was even less impressed when Zharzhar took all the gnoll's coins and put them into a sack. Spoglifromp believed he should have had the money as Zharzhar hadn't contributed anything to the fight!
At Ekziotyoavaw Bridge there were a couple of campfires burning and most of the traders had gone when they arrived. They settled down to sleep and the next day set off again, Spoglifromp doing a fair amount of grumbling.
18.04.1259 They didn't have any encounters during their day's travel and made good progress, managing to get about halfway to O'Pruudth. Spoglifromp found a place between two gnarly tree roots to sleep, and Zharzhar slept by the side of the road, taking off her armor to do so.
Zharzhar was awakened a couple of times during the rather uncomfortable night by riders passing on horseback, and then by the shrieks of the gnome who was being investigated by the snufflings of a giant boar, whose territory the two were sleeping in.
First Zharzhar cast a Light spell in the boar's eyes to blind it, then defeated it with a couple of blows with her sword. This time Spoglifromp was a little more impressed by Zharzhar's prowess and suggested she cook it, but neither of them knew how. They left it by the road and continued their journey, abandoning the idea of more sleep.
When they were still about three miles from the road junction by Sohrab's castle, three orcs from The Qwarm stepped out and challenged them to pay a toll if they wished to pass. Zharzhar told the leader she would rather fight, and when she approached made him "Retreat!" using a Command spell, and he did so, telling his two friends to back off as well. Spoglifromp had hidden in shadows to attack.
When the Command spell wore off, the orcs went in to attack. Zharzhar skewered the leader with her sword and it fell backwards. Another fell forwards as it was backstabbed by Spoglifromp. The third turned and fled, and as it ran Spoglifromp finished it with a well aimed sling bullet, muttering a curse about wretched orcs.
While Zharzhar put the treasure from the two in the bag to share, Spoglifromp ran over to the one he had slingshotted and pocketed its coins for himself, saying it had nothing. Eventually they arrived in O'Pruudth and were very glad of a bed to sleep in after two days long travel.
19.04.1259 The next day was a relatively short march to Aegoi. Along the way they encountered a group of three bandits and they had a missile battle to begin with. Spoglifromp was hit and fell unconscious. Zharzhar was hit a few times and she used the arrrows that hit her to shoot back at the bandits.
One of the bandits accidentally shot and killed his friend. Zharzhar finished the last one with her sword, then healed herself and bound Spoglifromp's wounds. She put the bandits over her pony and carried Spoglifromp over her shoulder the rest of the way to Aegoi.
A cleric at the temple of Oh-Kuni-Nushi gave them each a Cure Light Wounds for a small donation. Spoglifromp regained consciousness and they handed in the bandits for their reward and sold the bandits' gear for a tidy profit. As luck would have it, the temples of Huan Ti and Oh-Kuni-Nushi have a lot of goodwill towards each other.
20.04.1259 The next day they went in search of the caves. It didn't take all that long to find them, the map was very accurate. Beneath the undergrowth was a hole in the rocks that led steeply down. It was covered with a curtain of spider webs. After wondering what to do, Zharzhar burned the webs away with an oiled stick.
It was a difficult climb down for Zharzhar as it was so steep, but not so for Spoglifromp who was pretty good at climbing, and in the end they made it to the bottom. Suddenly they saw that the floor seemed to be moving! It was a huge swarm of spiders, and it was coming towards them! They were not sure what to do and had very little time to think with the approaching swarm.
Spoglifromp backed off and Zharzhar had taken a candle out of her pack. She held her lantern in the other hand and in a moment of inspiration after a bit of dihering she threw the lit flask of lantern oil into the spiders and they were vanquished! Both Zharzhar and Spoglifromp breathed a sigh of relief.
A couple of the large mushrooms were nearby, at the base of which grew the small and important mushrooms that were necessary for the task in hand. The two of them needed to collect a kilo of mushrooms and place them in bag with a rock that had been enchanted to return the bag and its contents to Chen Jie. Each mushroom weighed about a gram, so around 1000 of them would be needed.
One of the large mushrooms nearby turned out to be a shrieker! Zharzhar quickly chopped it down before any wandering monsters came. There were some soggy old torches wrapped in a wet blanket and rusty cressets on the wall which Zharzhar tried to clean, but they found nothing useful there.
Soon after they encountered a group of giant centipedes. Zharzhar used burning oil on them again to deadly effect and soon the two of them were on their way once more, hunting for more mushrooms.
Shortly after, another larger group of centipedes scuttled towards the party. Zharzhar tried using burning oil again, but rolled a 1 and set herself alight. Spoglifromp used burning oil as well and scored a much better hit, burning the pests away.
He took off his cloak and started flapping it at Zharzhar, trying to put her flames out, but his cloak caught fire and started blazing away. Zharzhar dropped and rolled and Spoglifromp threw down and stamped on his cloak and eventually all the fires were out.
After a little healing, the two of them carried on and defeated four fire beetles, taking their heads as treasure in the treasure bag. By now they had found over 300 mushrooms of the 1000 or so that they needed and it was time to backtrack and explore the other wing of the cavern.
Once another spider swarm had been burnt away, a pair of giant worker ants attacked from a side passage. They were soon joined by three others. Zharzhar's sword and Spoglifromp's sling shots from where he took position back down the corridor a little way soon finished them off.
They went to investigate where the ants had come from and found a cavern with rubbish and piles of old bones. In among them were two 1000gp gems, three 500gp gems and three 100gp gems. There was also a rotten old satchel containing six flasks. Wow!
Two were healing potions, one was a potion of extra healing, and the other a potion of ESP. When Spoglifromp figured out what Zharzhar was thinking, Zharzhar thought of weird, scary and horrible things causing Spoglifromp a bit of nurgulation. He stopped peeking into her mind at once.
Of the other two flasks, one was empty and one contained a scroll covered in strange markings that neither the half elf nor the gnome could read. Zharzhar put it away carefully and decided to learn a Read Magic spell the next day, in case it was a wizard scroll.
By now Spoglifromp had gained a level and so had Zharzhar as a cleric. They continued on out of the ants' hovel and were attacked by giant rats, which were swiftly dealt with.
After gathering more tiny mushrooms and avoiding a trip chain that Zharzhar cleverly marked with chalk, they eventually found an old chest in rather poor condition. It was trapped but time had taken its toll and Spoglifromp was able to disarm it easily. The lock however could not be picked as it had rusted so badly it was completely jammed.
Zharzhar found a convenient rock that had come loose in the floor a short way away to bash the lock with and as she did so a huge spider jumped out and attacked. They would have been surprised had Spoglifromp not been watching and waiting for some sort of possible attack and he shouted a warning.
After the spider was defeated, Zharzhar had the idea of collecting its venom and remembered the empty potion flask they had found a little earlier. Perhaps Chen Jie could use it to make an antidote. Once the venom was safely collected, they eventually managed to force the chest open and took the gold and copper coins from within.
At last they were able to gather up the last of the mushrooms they needed. With them all safely in the bag with the enchanted stone that Chen Jie had given them, Zharzhar eventually managed to pronounce the command word correctly after a few spluttersome attempts and the bag and its contents all disappeared.
Zharzhar and Spoglifromp realised their work was done here. They shared out the treasure and then left the caves, planning to go back to Aegoi for a good dinner and some rest. As they approached the village, they met Aixy and Zimbi with their bandits over their ponies.
When Zharzhar mentioned that Spoglifromp was a thief, Zimbi was horrified and a lot of arging started. Zimbi wanted to hand Spoglifromp in with the rest of the bandits, but Zharzhar assured her that Spoglifromp had done nothing wrong.
Spoglifromp and Zimbi were immediately highly suspicious of each other. While Aixy and Zimbi went to the village guard to collect their reward, Zharzhar and Spoglifromp went to the inn and ordered their dinner.
Halfway through their meal, Zimbi and Aixy turned up. Zimbi announced that the name The Lazy Scoundrel was a dreadful name for an inn and that The Hardworking Cleric would be much better. Spoglifromp wasn't best pleased to see them, but Aixy sat down next to Zharzhar and Zimbi came over and sat next to Spoglifromp, who was very unimpressed indeed. He made a few remarks and had a bit of an argument with Zimbi again, looking her up and down suspisciously.
Zimbi was advising Aixy that he should send a letter to his wife with some money to reassure her somehow. She promised to write a letter for him. His wife could read and write, even though Aixy couldn't. Spoglifromp finished his dinner first and went off to bed saying goodnight to Zharzhar and Aixy but ignoring Zimbi. Zharzhar went soon after, remembering to learn Read Magic. After they had had their meal, Zimbi and Aixy went to bed also.
21.04.1259 The next morning, Zharzhar was able to copy four new spells into her spellbook from the scroll she had by using her Read Magic spell. The other two, Mirror Image and Invisibility, were beyond her at this time and remained on the scroll. She went down to breakfast and Spoglifromp was already there, having been up bright and early and had already bought himself a new brown ochre coloured cloak to replace the old smelly burnt one.
Zimbi and Aixy were there too. They were planning to leave to go to on to Fosweld. The next leg of the trip would be to Swea and they all four set off, although the bickering between Spoglifromp and Zimbi continued and Spoglifromp was not sure if he would travel far with the lawful dwarf or go all the way to Fosweld. After a brief chat with the soldier at the edge of town, to whom Spoglifromp was also rather rude, they started eastwards towards Swea.
Chapter 11 (01.04.2024) - The Cheeky Halfling
21.04.1259 By now Zharzhar had enough XP to be level two in all three of her classes. Her new luck roll meant she actually lost Luck Points. They had not travelled very far when a distant voice could be heard shouting "Wait for me!" The party waited and Crimsy ran towards them. The guards at the edge of town had told her that if she were to hurry she might catch up with some adventurers who had just gone that way not five minutes ago. As Crimsy ran towards the party, [[Zimbi] rode back a little way to meet her and then they all travelled onwards together towards Swea.
A pair of ogres emerged along the rocky trail and challenged the party. Zharzhar Commanded one to "Sleep!" and it lay down. Aixy Commanded the other to sit, but it didn't, saying "What do you think I am, a dog?" Zimbi incapacitated it with a Light spell to the eyes before it could get too close.
After a couple of rounds, in which Crimsy scored a hit with a sling bullet and Zharzhar found an ogre with an arrow, Zimbi ran in and walloped one and Spoglifromp managed to hide in shadows and started moving into position for a backstab.
The ogre that had been shot charged at Zharzhar and was soon cut down. Spoglifromp rolled a 1 on his backstab and fell forwards onto his face, sticking both his daggers into the ground and bending one of them. He lifted his face off the ground to see what had happened and his face was full of dirt and grit. The others finished the other ogre and then they looted the bodies.
There was a bit of an argument between Zharzhar and Spoglifromp over one of his bent daggers because Aixy thought Spoglifromp was just going to leave it on the road. Eventually Spoglifromp persuaded Aixy to stamp on the damaged dagger for him and it was almost straight. Spoglifromp told Aixy that he would ask for his help again if he found something that needed to be stamped on.
The party set up camp after they had completed around half of the journey to Swea. Aixy made a circle of chalk to keep chalk-averse creatures away and placed a belladonna leaf under a stone in the centre. During the night a young kenku discovered the party sleeping. He was tempted to interfere with the party as they slept, but decided not to - yet.
22.04.1259 The next day the party set off from their camp and it started to rain about an hour afterwards. It rained for the rest of the day and when they arrived in Swea everyone was cold and wet. They found an inn and that was where they met Nuxi.
Nuxi was very curious about Zharzhar, who was all red, and tried to subtley frisk her. Spoglifromp could see exactly what she was up to and said in thieves' cant that he should leave her alone as she was his friend. Instead Nuxi tried to frisk Zimbi and managed to steal her incense. When Zimbi protested at being touched by a stranger, Nuxi said she thought Zimbi was pretty and she was very taken aback. She invited her to join them as nobody had ever said that to her before.
Despite the warning from Spoglifromp in thieves' cant, Nuxi continued anyway, just a a thief with a WIS of 7 might. Nuxi is the very last of the player characters to become activated in the adventure. Nuxi at least didn't mention she was a thief after Spoglifromp had warned her in thieves' cant about Zimbi's extreme lawfulness.
Nuxi wanted to stay at the inn with everyone even though she lieved in Swea elsewhere. Zharzhar gave Nuxi a gold piece so she could stay the night in the inn with everyone. They all agreed to travel to Fosweld together and slept, learning new spells.
23.04.1259 In the morning Zharzhar had a bit of a sniffle and it was still raining. As she didn't much fancy getting all wet again, she wondered what she could do and bought a covered wagon for the party to ride in. Two of the ponies would pull it and the other one could walk behind, tethered to the back of the wagon.
A few miles out of town on the first leg of the journey to Ouwiapoo, with the party dry in the wagon and the sound of the turning wheels and the rain pattering on the canopy and all the smells of nature, they came upon two large humanoids blocking the wet muddy road with their crossed staves.
"Let us pass!" Zharzhar, who was driving the wagon, called to them.
Chapter 12 (02.04.2024) - Kenku, and Snake Stew
23.04.1259 When the two strange hooded humanoids didn't respond, and indeed continued to not respond after Zharzhar had enquired whether they were in fact deaf, she Magic Missiled one of them. In return they both Magic Missiled Zharzhar! She was hit by four missiles, and almost floored.
Zharzhar attempted a Sleep spell, but only one was affected and her spell failed to penetrate the magic resistance of the creature. Aixy Commanded one to "Surrender!" and it did, briefly at least. Nuxi found a place to hide in shadows that was out of the rain and wanted to wait until one was down before joining the fight.
Crimsy attempted a shot with her sling, Zimbi slapped a quick Cure Light Wounds onto Zharzhar and Spoglifromp disappeared into the shadows to get into a good position for a backstab.
On the next round, Zharzhar started putting her armor back on, having used both of her wizard spells. One of the humanoids was charging towards the wagon now that its companion had thrown down its staff. Aixy Commanded it to "Jump!", which it did as it ran in and he saw a strange, hard, shiny bone-like thing beneath the hood - a beak! It was a kenku. Crimsy ran to meet the charging kenku and scored a critical hit with her scimitar.
Crimsy was then put to ground by a touch from the kenku and it's Shocking Grasp spell. The other one went for Aixy, who had made it jump, and he just managed to dodge out of the way. The next round it shocked Zimbi with a touch. Spoglifromp finished one with a backstab and found humself facing the other. Luckily, Zharzhar finished the other with her sword.
"Flump..." said a disappointed Nuxi who had just got into position for a backstab.
"Ah, there you are," said Zimbi. "No stomach for a fight is it, little one? Never mind, try to help next time if you can."
Once the bodies were looted and some healing had been administered, the party climbed back on board their wagon and set off once more for Ouwiapoo. By and by the rain stopped, the clouds cleared and towards the evening the sun came out.
With Zharzhar's and Zimbi's ponies pulling the wagon and Aixy's tethered to the rear, Aixy saw something rather shocking as he looked out of the back of the wagon. The coils of an enormous constricting snake suddenly dropped from a ledge in the low cliff by the side of the road where it had been hiding and warming itself in the sun. The snake wrapped itself around Aixy's pony and started to strangle it.
Quickly, Crimsy cast an Invisibility to Animals spell on the pony and the snake dropped off. It was huge, and now it was very interested in Crimsy. As she backed away, taking off her backpack to find a goody to cast Animal Friendship, the others got down from the wagon as well.
Crimsy told the others not to attack it. Spoglifromp was all too happy about this and ran off under the wagon towards the two ponies at the front. He didn't like snakes much. Zimbi attempted to cast a Light spell into the serpent's eyes, but somehow made a complete mess of it and the spell failed. Nuxi stood on the creature's tail and Aixy hissed, and missed with his mace.
The snake opened its jaws wide and attempted to swallow Crimsy whole. Just her legs were sticking out of its mouth, wiggling! Zharzhar first thought about trying to cut off its tail, but then realised that may not help Crimsy all that much, so went for a place just beyond where the druid's head would be.
Zharzhar hit with a mighty blow, as did Aixy in almost the same place. Nuxi scampered along the snake and tried to attack with her daggers, missing with her right hand but scoring a good hit with the left and doing just enough damage to finish the great snake. Crimsy tried to crawl free from the serpent's mouth and Zharzhar grabbed her legs and pulled her out.
Crimsy was very angry with the snake for trying to eat her and gave the dead creature an almighty kick. Everyone was surpised when a disgusting bloody lump fell out of one of its wounds. After Crimsy washed it clean she saw it was a beautiful purple amethyst, base value 250gp.
Zharzhar started hunting for a flask and asking the others for a flask to collect the snake's venom in, but Crimsy told ther not to bother as the snake wasn't poisonous. After all, if it was, she would be dead. Everyone dined on snake stew that evening. They set up camp and slept in the wagon.
24.04.1259 The next morning Zharzhar and Crimsy both awoke at sunrise. It was a beautiful morning, a little cold, but soon warmed up. Everyone had the rest of the snake stew for breakfast. The party were on their way again and made good progress. So good in fact that they reached Ouwiapoo and decided to continue on the extra four or five miles to Giuegg.
Chapter 13 (03.04.2024) - And Then There Were Nine, and... Garak's End
25.04.1259 The following day, another long journey eastwards lay ahead of the party. Once everyone was ready and organised, everyone set off once again in the wagon, Zharzhar driving and the others inside. A few miles into their journey, Zharzhar saw a group of orcs doing something. Digging, perhaps.
She halted the wagon and told the others. Zimbi demanded to know whether the orcs had a permit to dig a hole where they were, but they did not answer anything coherent. Four of them ran to attack while the other two tried to finish stamping the earth down where they were working.
Crimsy's Entangle spell caught four of the orcs. One of them was hit by a slingshot from Nuxi and Zharzhar Magic Missiled one of the ones that was finishing off burying something. Zimbi Commanded that one to "Dig!", and the other one was disgruntled.
Aixy then Commanded the digger to "Stop!" and it did. After the party made some threats about how the orcs were outnumbered, one of the diggers ran to attack, forgetting about the area of the Entangle spell and was caught, while the other ran off.
Now the party were caught in a dilemma. They had already won the batttle but were not sure what to do with the orcs they had captured. A fair amount of dithering and pointless conversations took place.
Nuxi and Crimsy thought about putting ropes around the Entangled area to tie the orcs, but that wasn't working. In the end, the Entangle wore off and the five remaining orcs launched an attack. A few of the party sustained wounds but in the end the orcs were all defeated.
After the battle, the party dug up a chest that the orcs had buried and looted the treasure, and then they were on their way once again. As they crossed over a splendid stone river bridge near Iusiautt, a bunyip hiding in the water surfaced and let out a great roar, causing the ponies to bolt.
With the sudden burst of speed, the party soon found themselves in the town of Iusiautt and there they spent the night at an inn called The Sleepy Sloth.
Meanwhile... Animataa was looking at the dusty holy synbol on the dusty wooden platform in The Shrine of Žužu. He picked it up and gave it a rub and suddenly - whoosh! The chrome goat head shattered into many pieces and a very disoriented and surprised-looking elf was left sitting where it had been.
The elf, Starzio, was helped down from the platform and then she met Lilly who was standing at the bottom. They continued as a threesome after Starzio had told them a little of her story, how the priests of Žužu had kept in her stasis in that holy symbol for 100 years. She wanted to go and see her family after the three of them had escaped the dungeon.
When they left this room and went around the corner in to room 2, they found an old and long-since destroyed temple of sorts. Starzio recognised it as the room and the sacrificial stone where she had been taken and put into stasis. Lurking in a pile of rubbish was a gambado, which attacked the three of them. It was soon defeated.
Lilly and Animataa explained to Stazio where they had been in the shrine so far and what had happened. Starzio agreed to explore the rest of the dungeon and they went back to the corridor where some movement had been seen.
Animataa stood on a pressure plate that delivered a nasty electric shock and once he had been revived a pair of zombies lurched into view. However, they were easily dealt with and the party were able to loot the room.
The more southerly of the two doors in that room was proved to be too hard for Animataa's lock picking skills, so they all went around a different way and found a small room with a chest, guarded by a necrophidius.
Once the creature was defeated and the party had looted the chest, they all returned to Iusiautt. By now it was very late at night, but all the same the visited the elderly woman they had met at the start of the adventure. They told her what had happened and gave her back the necklace that had been stolen. She was delighted and gave them a reward.
Starzio was looking forward to a good meal after her time in stasis and everybody went for a late supper at The Sleepy Sloth and slept there the night.
26.04.1259 The next morning, all of the characters in The Sleepy Sloth met up at breakfast. Now nine members strong, everyone continued on together towards Nirsrenib.
To continue with this tale, see Garak's End.