Thursday Knights

More Eberron.

The next morning Ennark again performed a Divination, this time asking a direct question "Where is Tira Miron?" Again the answer was cryptic, but seemed contrary to the first:

Tira Miron is long dead. Her body consumed as the flame fed. Her soul was merged with the blinding light. Her rage endures from her final fight.

Ennark is almost certain these two divinations are at a\odds with one another. Perhaps the nature of the Silver Flame explains this incongruity.

Further travel led to multiple encounters with gnolls. The first was an ambush by small pack of them on foot, led by one larger one with a glaive. They proved to be only a minor threat and were all slain.

The second encounter was to the party's advantage when our owl scout detected a group approaching from the rear, slowly gaining ground. We were in a mountainous region and were able to set an ambush of our own from concealment on higher ground at a narrowing of the road. Once the pack was within easy range, Cotton fired on the leading member. Ennark got to employ his divine fireball, burning almost the entire pack to cinders. A'lan then charged and slew another while the rest of the party put an end to their tall leader.

We camped for the night on that hidden ridgeline and set out the next morning, wary of additional gnolls since we had not yet encountered any on mounts.

Later on our travels as we neared the highest point of the mountain pass the party approached a bridge crossing a high ravine with steep rocky sides. Again our scout alerted us to the rapid approach of mounted gnolls. Sending the animals and our collected relics across to the other side of the bridge, the party prepared to defend ourselves by creating a blockade at a narrow part of the road.

Ennark had a plan in mind for how to handle this pack of powerful enemies. A'lan took the forward position as he is best qualified to handle the physical combat. Ennark was directly behind him to make use of his divine powers in close formation. Cotton, Eldrid, and Anton held further back to make use of ranged capabilities.

Ennark called upon a Guardian of Faith placing the glowing Angelic avatar 10 feet ahead of A'lan. He then cast Spirit Guardian to occupy the space 15' all around him. These small angelic beings armed with spears, swords and bows would ravage any and all enemies within the radius. 

The first of the riding gnolls burst into the range of the Guardian Angel avatar and it struck them each with its great sword injuring them before it vanished. The ones closest to A'lan suffered harm from the swarming Spirit Guardians and the efforts of the party from range asand in direct combat. Half of them quickly fell with some tumbling into the ravine, 80' below the cliffside road.

The leaders and remaining common mounted gnolls then approached, cutting down any of their own that attempted to flee the battle. The leaders were very odd. One gnoll wore a human face and bore a triple headed flail. Another was human, clad head to toe in metal armor, the face shaped to imitate a gnoll. She was mounted on a strange beats, a giant wolf with the tail of a scorpian.

Ennark loosed his holy fireball at them doing great damage. More of the more common gnolls and their mounts were killed. The human masked gnoll managed to leap past A'lan to engage Ennark toe to toe, suffering the attacks of the Spirit Guardians. Before Ennark could call upon Radiance of the Dawn, the triple headed flail dropped him to the ground, dying.

Cotton's quick thinking saved him due to the application of a healing potion and Ennark rose. The Spirit Guardians had vanished when Ennark had lost consciousness, but he could focus to blast the powerful gnoll with three rays of holy fire. Only one struck true dealing minor burns. Then again he was felled by the triple headed flail. 

More gnolls were slain by A'lan and the others before only the two powerful leaders remained. The ranged party members and Cotton, face to face fought the gnoll while A'lan took the fight to the metal clad human and her weird mount. Eventually they too were slain and Cotton again poured a potion into Ennark, bringing him back to awareness and saving his life.

After the fight they gathered what they could from their enemies, the armor, and weapons chief among the loot. Ennark too special care with the flail. He was certain it was an artifact, the very weapon weilded by the demon lord Yeenoghu, as he could sense the evil pulsing within it. Carefully he wrapped it telling his companions that this could not be left to fall into anyone's hands and needed to be destroyed.

They continued their journey, returning to Storm Reach, unmolested, one month later.

Thursday Knights

Eberron.

Before breaking camp and starting the return journey, Ennark performed a Divination asking "Where is the blood of Tira Miron?" The reply was cryptic: 

A famous woman nobody knows. The blood fills her veins, but does not flow. She lives today, but does not draw breath. Though she is no child of cold undeath.

This puzzled Ennark. This seemed to rule out having to find descendants of the paladin martyr. It also fit with some of the holy lore that she had returned as an immortal. What it did not do was give him any clue where to find her.

During the next several days journey we discovered we were being followed by gnolls, including some mounted on large hyena-like mounts. They often witnessed our combat capabilities.

One one occasion the party fought off an ambush by a pack of gricks led by an aloha of the species. Most of them were killed, while the employment of fire as a weapon drove off the alpha and one remaining younger grick.

On another day the party found a source of fresh water and decided to refill waterskins. Approaching the water hole triggered an ambush by two hungry bulettes. When these were dispatched, we spotted a gnoll on the ridgeline watching. As it retreated, Cotton had his owl familiar follow which is when we learned about the mounted gnolls.

The party then made camp inside a defensible cave by the spring.

Thursday knights

Eberron. Even more.

The party stowed the mules and treasures within the cave and ventured further into the ruins. Up a rise that overlooked the entirety of the ancient structures, they picked their way step by step toward the cubic building at the peak. 

It was there that they were stopped in their tracks by the appearance of a foe from the recent past. The dragon had been waiting here for their potential arrival. There was nothing to do, but try to find cover  though it would do them little good, but the dragon didn't attack.

A'lan had dragon blood in his veins and hints of scales on his skin. He stood forth and addressed the dragon in the draconic tongue. " We are not your enemies."

A conversation began with A'lan translating for the group. The dragon asked which of the party was the seeker. After a brief hesitation Ennark spoke up and it was translated back to the dragon.

The dragon explained that the seeker could enter the building and retrieve only one thing that they would know when they saw it. That there was a prophesy involving the seeker that foretold doom for everyone as the most likely outcome and that the dragon had guarded this place from those that would free the prisoner within.

Ennark was deeply concerned though determined to do his best to fulfill the mission given to him by the church, to seek out religious artifacts and relics that may aid in purifying the Silver Flame and lock away the demon lords forever. In he went.

Meanwhile the dragon ate his companions . . . just kidding.

There was a well in the center of the lower chamber within which flickered silver fire. to the left an image of a giant stood atop a plinth. Ahead was the king of dragons upon a similar plinth. To the right was a great stone book. He first approached the giant. It looked at him briefly then returned to ignoring him. The dragon king however conversed with him once asked a question. 

It was revealed that what would be needed to solve the problem presented in the prophecy is the blood of the paladin Tira Miron who had sacrificed herself to seal away the lead demon lord and end the war. What that would entail was left to be seen and Ennark temporarily put the thought aside. His next task was to examine the great tome.

The book opened at his approach and as he reached for the stone pages an image flickered to life above showing a vague map with a red marker and a word or phrase beneath it in another language. He surmised that the marker indicated where he was on the continent. He gestured as if to turn the page and the book did so, revealing a different location on an unknown continent, again with a red marker and another word beneath it. He was about to start copying the information to his journal when the tome closed and shrank to a carriable size. With heavy stone book in hand he returned to the outside, nervous, but accepting his fate at the will of the dragon. 

"Have I chosen correctly?" The dragon was uncertain and asked Ennark what he had seen in the well. Ennark described the changes in the light, first brightening, then darkening, and finally returning to its initial state. The dragon shuddered in fear. After recovering its composure the dragon stated it was now free to return home, and flew away leaving them all to decide the next course of action.

With the help of the party members skilled in the language of the giants, Ennark deduced that the names were those of the trapped demon lords and the book a map to their individual prisons. He dubbed the tome "The Book of Cages".

It was getting late in the day and the party decided the best thing was to return to the cave to rest before leaving for the journey back to Storm Reach the next morning. If only it had been so easy.

As they made their way out of the central ruins, spirits taking the form of flaming skulls arose and pursued them. The fight saw the bombardment of the party with blasts of fire, some against individuals, some covering areas where multiple party members were taking cover. Defeating the closest of these enemies, the party entered a full and rapid retreat eventually leaving the spirits to their business within the heart of the ancient city.

Once safely away, Ennark turned his mind to the riddle of the blood. Could it mean literal blood from her veins? Or maybe it refers to her descendants. How would he know? The morning would call for a Divination ritual to ask a question and hope the answer wouldn't be tainted by the dark element of the flame.

Thursday Knights

Eberron.

The party entered the ethereal stairway to ascend into the lobby of the library tower, accompanied by one of the nothic librarians. It was a good thing because the giantess curator was about to rain ruin upon our heads for violating the prohibition against entering the observatories without permission. The librarian explained that we had saved the library from a demon infestation, cleared the advanced research lab and closed the portal to the home world of the demons. This won her grudging acceptance.

Entering the next ethereal stair they returned to the entry chamber of the large pyramid and from there exited into the desert. They then prepaired to camp and Ennark gathered and fed the mules. We had spent a couple of days within the library and the animals were starving and parched.

The librarians had granted each of us information on a topic of our choosing before we departed. Visions had been displayed for all of us to see. Ennark's knowledge request showed him the nearby area which included the ruins atop hills half a day away that may hold the prison of one of the many defeated demon lords of ancient times. He very much wanted to seek relics from the site to bring back to the church. The next morning the party set out for the ruins.

On the night before setting out, some flickering lights were noticed amid the distant ruins. Ennark took this as indicating the location of the prison, protected by a silver flame, When daylight came they could no longer see the lights.

After half a day of travel into the hills they reached their objective. The ruins were comprised of low lying rubble that may be the foundations of buildings. Nearby was a huge cave mouth, 30' tall by 25' wide. Speculation about the cave being a dragons lair was quickly put aside. The mules were behaving normally and there were no indications of anything residing at the site.

Entering the cave they were greeted by the sight of 6 stone sarcophagi on large stone plinths, three to each side of a wide aisle leading to a pair of enormous doors. One of the graves had been slightly disturbed, having its lid ajar. After casting light into the sarcophagus they were able to see an accumulation of dust, likely the long decayed remains of the buried individual, accompanied by a spear, a bow, a helmet, and suit of scale mail armor of ancient design, all in excellent condition. They noticed also, a broken set of manacles, and scratches in the stone that seemed to indicate a live burial of an unwilling person.

Collecting the grave goods, the group moved to the next grave, forcing open the seal. Inside was a similar scene and items, except this one showed no signs of struggle to escape. It was then that the doors at the far end opened and two 20' tall undead giants bearing huge morning-stars emerged.

The battle was joined with each party member seeking the best position from which to fight. A'lan posted himself forward to engage the creatures as they came at the group. Cotton sought a hiding place from which he could attack by surprise. Anton fell back to a place of cover from which he would employ his hand crossbow with which he was deadly. Eldrid stood atop a plinth and drew her longbow, and Ennark placed himself in the middle from which he could employ most of his spells effectively.

Proving themselves to be very effective against foes when coordinating their capabilities. Ennark displayed his latest divinely granted power, unleashing a ball of silver fire that engulfed the giant abominations. The others assaulted first one and then the other giant. The fight went well, with only A'lan suffering injury before the undead were destroyed. 

Finishing the job of looting the 6 stone coffins presented them with 6 magic spears, 6 magic bows, and 6 sets of ancient non-magical armor which Anton collected into the bag of holding he carried. They then proceeded into the chamber beyond the doors. There they found an incredible sight. Centered in the cathedral-like chamber was a 30' long stone sepulcher.

All around the room were painted scenes of what they assumed to be the interred giant. A search revealed the giant's name, and a hidden compartment within which Cotton identified to be a magical trap. He was hesitant to attempt disarming it until with a prayer of divine guidance, he succeeded. 

The monumental task of moving the tomb's lid fell to their combined might and with a struggle it eventually moved aside enough for them to get inside. Within was a large pile of dust, several rings the size of bracelets, a crown large enough to encircle two people with room to spare, and a great mask the size of a dining room table which weighed 600lbs.

Recovering the items from the coffin proved difficult, but eventually it was achieved. The rings joined the previous items in the bag of holding and the spears were withdrawn to build a litter for the mules to pull, to move the crown and mask.

Thursday Knights

Nothic librarians, thank you gifts, astral observations, githyanki

This will be a brief set of notes.

The party returned to the library where thy were met by 8 nothics dressed in yellow robes (the librarians the giantess told us about. They thanked the part for ridding the library, lab,  and observatories of demons. Then they gave us choices of magic items as gifts.

One nothic went with us when we went into the Astral Observatory and aided us when we messed with things in an ill-advised manner, nearly getting possessed or trapped on other planes.

Then a Githyanki spelljammer ship arrived and the nothic bolted. All of us followed suit (if it ran, then maybe we should too). A'lan stayed behind to try communicating with them, but they attacked, so he eventually followed the rest of the party.

Sorry for not giving this the detailed treatment it deserves. Been busy, and also lacked motivation to put in proper effort.

Thursday Knights

Eberron.

The party had returned to the library to discuss the next step in the investigation and search for artifacts. The allure of the observatories proved too much to withstand and this time it was Anton that led the group down into the Spacial Observatory. 

The place showed some signs of damage to the southern end where stairs and a portal stood. To the east and west were viewing stations with a much larger one to the north. Curious about what could be learned from the viewing windows, Anton, Cotton, and A'lan each chose one to look through. 

Anton went first and chose to seek the whereabouts of the missing wizard Tovin who had eluded the party. He was able to focus his mind with the aid of the window and was shown an image of Tovin sitting in the tavern in Three Barrel Cove on the island where we had failed to locate him previously. "All that time he was right there and we missed him."

Tovin became aware he was being watched and started to look around. Anton immediately began trying to pull his mind free of the portal wiondows hold, but became wracked with pain. It was Ennark that realized the danger and aided Anton in breaking free of the giant's technology.

The scene repeated, this time with Cotton trying a few different searches which all failed until he focused on the party's ship. He found it to be waiting as instructed for the return of the group. Cotton was able to free himself from the hold of the window on his mind.

Again a view was sought, this time by A'lan, looking to locate his House contact who could mysteriously appear as different people, from a small girl to different adults. The scene was one of gratuitous debauchery. His contact sat at a table viewing nude dancers on a stage while all around him people engaged in an orgy. Most participants were elves and it seemed that this might be within the House itself. A'lan tried to free his mind from the depraved scene, but it refused to let him go and he too suffered intense pain. Ennark came to his rescue as he had done for Anton. 

The hold of the windows broken, the party joined Eldrid who had been trying to decipher writing by the badly damaged southern portal. Eventually Ennark, the least gifted in arcane knowledge got lucky. Advenced Research Laboratory was inscribed upon the stone arch above the pathway. Already in likely trouble from the giants above, the party decided to venture into the lab. 

Within, it was illuminated in green by myriad luminescent fungi and other plants. At first the party stood staring, trying to take in the environment. Eventually A'lan noticed a portal at the far end of the room, exhibiting a reddish glow. He approached and looked out onto a bleak reddish landscape. In the distance he noticed what might be people upon a hill above the broken stony terrain. A'lan drew forth his spy glass to get a clear view of this curiosity and quickly discovered the crucified forms of Angels. 

He had no time to mention this to the others as he came under attack by a mental assault from a fungus creature. The creature caused pain and confusion with a psychic assault, followed up with lashing of it's acidic tentacles. A'lan ran, maddened, as far from the thing as he could. Meanwhile the party began to respond to the threat.

This foe proved difficult to defeat, confusing almost all of them. It destroyed Anton's metal hound construct utterly and chased Anton toward where A'lan had hidden. As this chaotic battle raged, two more opponents leapt through the portal from the hellscape. A pair of great, orange, ape-like demons, enraged, preparing to tear apart their targets.

It was Eldrid who overcame the confusion long enough to deal death to the mind wracking fungoid. With it's domination of the party undone, they began a fighting retreat, intent on withdrawing back to the observatory, away from the new threat. They needn't have worried. The demons were quickly dispatched though more injuries were suffered by members of the party. 

Escaping through the portal to the Spacial Observatory they began discussing what to do. Leave altogether, rest here, rest in the library? The library won out as a resting place to recover from wounds before making any other decisions. 

Thursday Knights

More Eberron.

Small demons began emerging from the floor and coming at the party. A fight ensued with the stinking creatures being pretty easily dispatched while the party avoided the negative effects of the smell. Larger demons began to crawl through the substance of the floor to attack, accompanied by more of the lesser ones. While the party did incur some damage, the output from them onto their foes was vastly greater and after a brief time they foes stopped coming.

Searching the library revealed marking on the floor saying Astrological, Spacial, and Temporal Observatory. Not to be dissuaded by a death threat (they get plenty of them) and following Ennark's lead, the party entered the Temporal Observatory.

A'lan was the first to look through a temporal portal and witnessing the destruction of a great city by something falling from the sky or stars. He became wracked with incredible pain that drove him to his knees clutching his head.

Eldrid was next. Viewing another portal she witnessed a dwarf wearing weapons and armor made of living flesh. The being somehow saw her and charged, striking at Eldrid. She was tossed back from the portal suffering psychic damage and falling to the floor.

Third was Ennark. He came here seeking knowledge, artifacts relevant to his faith, and a way to finish sealing away the ancient demon lords. Through the portal he witnessed the event that was critical to the founding of the Church of the Silver Flame. The demon lord being struck down, thrown into a crevice, followed by his attacker, and streaks of light, both bright and dark blasting skyward as the crevice sealed. He too was taken with pain.

Anton and Cotton decided against using the portals, instead expressing their wish to depart. The others agreed and they returned to the ruined library.

Thursday Knights

Eberron.

Having rested after acquiring the first two keys/gems, the party entered the third tomb to face its challenges. This resulted in some pain for most of the party and some permanent harm for Ennark.

In the room was a tall bird headed statue with its arms spread wide looking down on a large sarcophagus surrounded by 4 more smaller bird headed stone figures. Centered on the sarcophagus was a green gem. Next to the sarcophagus were two pedestals, one with an indentation and the other with a hand print. Writing at the base indicated that surviving the challenge would net the part the remaining key, a green gem.

After a brief hesitation Ennark approached, placed his hand on the print and touched the gem. He froze in this position and the rest of the party suddenly woke up inside another chamber. The room resembled a gigantic mouth, smelled of halitosis, and the floor was spongy. There was a flow of air at the back, to and from two vertical tunnels going downward.

After trying to drive a spike into the floor and having it pushed back out, Cotton tried driving one into a tooth, chipping a small piece off. They decided then just to loop a rope around it and rappel down one of the tunnels since there appeared to be nowhere else to go.

After getting squeezed downward into another strange chamber the party discovered a boulder sized green gem not far from a large sphincter. Thinking they needed to take this and continue downward, they moved it over the sphincter. Cotton then covered it in oil and began jumping up and down trying to force it through. Forcing it downward failed.

Noticing that the walls were becoming moist with a thick viscous substance and another fluid was beginning to flow down the walls as well, they decided to break up the boulder, stow the pieces in their backpacks, and try climbing back up.

It took some effort and some failures resulting in acid damage, but they eventually made it back to the mouth. Looking for a way out they went to what they assessed was the front and hacked their way through a large tooth causing bleeding. They then forced their way out of the lips and using their feather-fall tokens, glided down in their tiny forms to the other pedestal with the indentation.

There they assembled the boulder in the socket. This released Ennark from his hold and into a state of agony, clutching at his mouth and spitting out hunks of destroyed tooth. With that, the party rematerialized at full size back in the entrance chamber above.

From there they entered the grand tomb structure, placing the three gems in their correct sockets. Sinking down through the floor they eventually arrived in a huge multi-tiered, windowed chamber where they were greeted by a giantess. 

She explained they were in a tower belonging to an architect and general in the service of one of the great giant lords. The library was accessible to all simply by using the ethereal stairs. After some questions the party learned that without writen permission from our master, we were to stay out of the Astrological, Spacial, and Temporal Observatories under penalty of death. (yeah, right)

The party used the ethereal stairs to descend through various levels until we materialized in a demolished library filled with ruins and corpses.

The Names Have Changed and the Guilty Remain the Same

My face-to-face play group session write-ups have been posted under the title Campaign Diary. Assuming the group ever reconvenes, there will be one last report under that title. Any further journals will have the title The Misadventures of the Death Squad.

TM and © 2022 Monte Cook Games, LLC

My Remote play Ptolus campaign currently titled Ptolus Group 2 will be changing titles to Ptolus: Wayward Sons with the 4th session write-up.

The Thursday Eberron remote group I play in will keep its name, but stay just as guilty.

Thursday Knights

Eberron.

This session we completed the previous puzzle room and got the purple gem/key. We then moved immediately to the second room and became engaged in a combat with waves of warforged enemies, eight in total.

The fight was fortunately brief enough that we didn't suffer any permanent casualties. Ennark limited his spell use, keeping mostly to healing since we weren't as threatened as some fights in the past and he anticipate possibly moving to the third room afterward.

Once the battle ended we recovered the red second gem/key, but assessment led to the decision to set camp and rest before attempting the third challenge.

Hopefully we won't be disturbed by the dragon or anything else.

Once we acquire the third gem/key we will enter the main tomb.

Thursday Knights

Eberron.

Last session the party found a way to enter the tombs of the servants to try and recover the keys to the grand tomb. This session we continued trying to solve the puzzles.

In the first servant's tomb is a room with riddles and puzzles. Three riddles were quickly solved, but the puzzles were another matter altogether. With each failed solution, increasingly stronger bolts of energy shot down from the ceiling, some hitting party members, some missing. 

A coincidence of manufacturing differences really hampered one of the puzzles. The DM based the puzzle on the numbering and configuration of a 12-sided die. Thing is, if they are from different manufacturers they are rarely numbered the same. Eldrid's player was looking at her d12 and trying ti work her way through the puzzle while the DM was looking at his. Eldrid kept failing. During this time the DM looked at a second d12 of his and discovered the numbering difference. An audible "well I'll be damned!" came through the speakers at his realization. 

He declared that the puzzle was solved and then comparison of a bunch of d12s commenced, with a plethora of differences showcased. The only ones that matched both came from the Rick & Morty D&D boxed sets.

The party then went back to work on the two remaining puzzles. One was solved fairly easily, but that last one still has the group confused. We'll pick up with that one in the next session.

Thursday Knights

More Eberron.

When last we left off the party had made its way through the mountains to the high desert and had multiple monstrous encounters. 

We found a destroyed camp with bones scattered haphazardly about, having been picked over and dragged around by scavengers. Arrows littered the area (we would understand why later) and equipment was everywhere.

This time we worked our way through the desert sleeping till about noon and walking longer after dark, setting camp around 2 in the morning. It wasn't long, approaching dawn, that we were strafed by a brass dragon using its line of fire breath. 

The dragon made repeated flyby breath attacks doing heavy damage to party members with little in return from us. When the sun broke the horizon the dragon flew off and did not return that day. We could only assume it preferred the advantage of fighting in the darkness.

The dragon's color was identified when Ennark used a charge from his Gem of Brightness to try and blind it (failing of course). 

The next day we found the ruin the previous party of explorers were headed to. There was a large pyramidal structure likely built for or by giants, and three out-buildings. Each outbuilding had three circles on the floor, and different artwork on the walls. 

In the larger structure we found writing between two non-descript statues, The writing, despite being likely in giantish, was readable in each characters primary language. It told us that the keys to the tomb could be acquired by going into the three tombs of the servants, performing tasks and then returning with the keys.

There were three large gold amulets, sized more for giants than us, which we took with us into one of the out-buildings. Three of us with these disks stood in the three circles and the entire party was teleported into another location.

Statues lined the walls each looking at the ceiling with a look of terror on their faces while a larger 7th one sat at the far end of the room. There were puzzles or riddles written at the base of each of the 6 fearful statues that we needed to solve. When we got one wrong the angry cloud of energy at the peak of the ceiling increased in intensity.

The party quickly solved three riddles, but the first puzzle attempted was a failure. We're uncertain how to approach it and the remaining two beside that one.

Thursday Knights

 Eberron continues.

After pricing what it would take to hire a second ship for our expedition, it was decided to instead sell the beer contract to our acquaintance Captain Paul for 500 gold and use our own ship for the journey. It made sense from a cost benefit perspective.

Fully stocked and prepared we set sail and arrived uneventfully. Then our journey inland began.

Over the course of our travels so far we have fended off 2 hill giants,  Withstood an attempt at kidnapping by what we suspect to have been jackalweres, skirted past a hydra in a swamp, survived a dangerous cliffside charm attempt by harpies hidden in fog, and finally drove off a mass attack by 5 giant scorpions that nearly ended the journey.

 

Thursday Knights

 More of the Eberron campaign.

The party had reached the temple and Cotton was met there by one of the captains among the Bilge Rats gang. She invited him to come see a strange performance, during which they would talk some business. He accepted the invitation which would turn into a date and an overnight stay at her place.

That night the remainder of the party met with Jerion to have him perform a divination in order to determine if the Bilge Rats had wererats among them, notably the leader. The replies clarified that, no, they aren't wererats.

The next morning after Cotton had returned and everyone had finished breakfast, Jerion lead the group to a well appointed explorers club of sorts where there was an offer made to fund an expedition to the location we were planning to go. That lead to a new contract concurrent with our own goals.

The party still had business to attend to. We would be escorting Thad and the grey dwarves to a jumping off point where they would be lead south for a job. Along the way we made another beer run to Three Barrel Cove which lead to a very lucrative new contract for beer. Then we escorted the dwarves and ended up discovering Eldrid's missing brother Heinrick.

Since our ship will be tied up making weekly beer runs to the Cove, we are stuck with the task of sourcing a second ship to get us where we are heading.

Thursday Knights

 Eberron continues.

The party had freed the grey dwarves from their Drow slavers and were making way toward the shoreline where the ship was waiting. Not far behind and gaining on the group were two ettins and three hell hounds.

The dwarves were sent rushing ahead where they discovered a bat fluttering around in the daylight stalking their movements. We never did discover who's familiar it was. The adventurers acted as a screen to the rear.

Eventually those pursuing caught up and battle commenced. After some initial difficulty the party vanquished the foes.

After getting everyone back to Stormreach, the dwarves were quartered in the Silver Flame temple compound where the high priest excitedly asked questions about their history on Xendrik. 

The question of finding the missing wizard is still an unresolved matter, but there are no good leads and no inclination by the party members to whom it matters to seek divinatory methods to locate the spell caster.

It was then decided among the party that the ship's crew would be sent on another beer delivery/sales run to Three Barrel Cove while the party ventures deep into the continent searching for the prison of the demon lords. The high priest has asked Ennark to look for a way to cleanse the Silver Flame of the demonic influence.

That is where things left off.

Thursday Knights

Another Eberron session in the books.

Picking up from last session, the party had walked out of a portal right into a fight with a bunch of Drow. One was a spell caster, two were heavily armored with nasty longswords, the other half-dozen were not as powerful, but no less threatening.

We managed to catch the closest one off guard and between a couple of us, took him down immediately. The remainder were almost the death of the party. 

The fight went pretty badly with a fireball cooking most of the party. The two armored goons with the special longswords were making hash of everyone they attacked and continued attacks from the spell caster nearly took down the entire party. At one point at least two, maybe three members were out of the fight, including the healers. 

It's a good thing we had healing potions.

Eventually we managed to eliminate the last of them and collected some treasure.

We got a magic flametongue longsword, gauntlets of ogre power that Ennark now wears, three suits of flametouched armor (one scale, two plate), a nice flametouch, non-magic longsword, a fancy whip, and a metal circlet inset with bloodstones. We also came away with a few sacks of some special, rare basalt typically only found on the elemental plane of fire, where we were.

We accomplished the mission of rescuing the grey dwarves and now we're rested and on our way back to our ship.

Thursday Knights

Eberron continues.

After defeating the fire elemental the party regrouped and agreed to track down where it came from to try and prevent any more from coming out. We kind of ended up creating a situation where many more fire creatures could come through.

Following foot tracks deeper into the ruins we found a wall that had been dug through and beyond that a cavern room with an arch. Approaching the arch we determined it to be a portal. We found that fire activated the portal.

As a group we ventured through to the other side and found ourselves in a Drow controlled outpost in the elemental plane of fire. With some exploration and the quick slaying of some guards it was discovered that there were prisoners being held and forced to work in a mine beyond another portal.

We freed all of the prisoners that we were aware of and are heading back out. This is when we encountered a bunch of Drow waiting for us. They are between us and where we need to go, which is going to be very bad, for them.

Roll initiative - till next time.

Thursday Knights

Continuing the Eberron campaign. Our party set sail, stopping over at Three Barrel Cove and successfully sold 9 of our 10 barrels of good beer to the only tavern in town. The only problem we encountered during the short trip was a Sahuagin attack with 6 of the slimy fishfolk boarding the ship and only their spellcaster escaped. We then made our way to the planned destination anchoring offshore. 

Heading inland for three days we discovered some smoldering burned out buildings. Bypassing the torched buildings we forged ahead finding the ruins we were after not far beyond it. There were some burned corpses and tents at the site.

We briefly explored the area finding numerous tracks in and out of the caves close by. As it was nearing nightfall we found the remains of a building that still had most of its wall and camped within. 

Approaching dawn we were set upon by a fire elemental that left most of the party in rough shape requiring some healing.

That's where we left off this session.

Thursday Knights

Eberron continues.

Being half-owners of the ship Unfettered, the party had to work out some logistics once it was decided where we were going for our next exploration.

We're head to some ruins to get more info about some grey dwarves in order to help a businessman we trade with. He'll be coming along on the trip.

In the process of finding the route to the ruins, our dwarf drank some of the nastiest stuff one could imagine and managed to keep it down, earning the party some gravitas among the bar patrons at the Leaky Dingy. We found the captain we sought and got the map drawn out by him.

Then it came down to arranging supplies and finding a sellable cargo. We settled on beer. The party went to the brewery and made a business arrangement to sell beer on a semi regular basis at a nearby dangerous port. 

It was a role-play session and we kept it short. The adventure starts next session.

 

Thursday Knights

All talk, no action.

We had a bunch of business for the characters to take care of upon return to port.

Now being half owners of a ship, the party needed to work out the details with the crew. Negotiations took place and an agreement reached for profit sharing from cargo and passenger trade as well as a portion of treasure acquired from adventuring. Then a charter was drawn up.

Each character had their own business to attend to when we got back. It basically came down to reporting to superiors or allies in town. It was interesting to hear each player's spin on the events of the last couple of sessions. It's going to be interesting seeing where things progress from where they currently stand.

One character's task was to spy on the missing wizard. Having not laid eyes on his assigned subject he could only report on what the agent of another House was doing in regard to finding said wizard.

The agent of the House that thought the wizard had been kidnapped reported that the wizard faked his kidnapping (we think that's what happened).

Ennark reported this to the temple high priest and made the comment that while unlikely, for all they knew the wizard could have been eaten by a hag.

The party then decided to take a portion of the treasure gained and give it to the ship's crew so they'd have seed money to buy cargo for trading once we determined where we're going next.