Roll call:

Trevor – Memnoch the Shibboleth (featuring Brunhilde the Shield Maiden)
Jon – Knut the Warrior + Lenora the Cleric
Clint – Zobol the Halfling + Bizo the Yeti + Jordek the Thief
Matt F – Thyll the Dwarf + Hekador the Wizard

Following the events of “Holiday in the Slaughterlands”, the party has arrived in Spear City and is reunited with Zobol, Bizo and Jordek, fresh from their assitance to the Yeti God on very msyterious matters.

The party charms the owners of the Tiki bar in order to get the lay of the land and is ably assisted by Tim the redcap Gnome. Journeying to the Temple of Song, they hesitate to interrupt the hundred-plus performance underway and instead go to the palace of Fractious Kumber, lord of Spear City and to the Temple of Sleep to crash. Memnoch attempts to sell his dreams, but learns that the people who control the market are the ones who can actually transfer said dreams…

Finally finding the Meister Singer Glimrung, an ancient elf with seven mouths all over his body, he agrees to sing the Seven Songs if they party will aid him in acquiring the three things he needs: 1) the singer Andrys, currently flirting with service at the Temple of Jest— to be his successor. 2) the narcotic Esk, a perfect stimulant which controls all pain and physical discomfort but keeps the user perfectly aware and clear-thinking. 3) a treatise on the shaping of realities which is a subscript hidden in a book called “the Planting of Hrykanian Elderberry Orchards”, which the Singer believes to be available in the Treasury of the Vermis Libris, a repository of ancient and priceless texts.

The party secures Andrys and the Esk with little trouble and Glimrung is happy to give the party some old song-texts to gain them entrance to the Treasury. Rather than try to steal the books, the party decides to take Glimrung into the treasury, trading the books for the privilege.

This scheme works and the party gains access to the inner vault of the Treasury, triggering a gas trap and “metallic microbe” trap and also the attack of the Vermis Libris. A short pitched battle later, the party has destroyed the Worm with some lucky criticals and blocked the door by means of a Runic inscription. They find the hidden texts (the lost Homeric poem “Helenika”, the “Planting” and “the Atlas of the Hells”. They steal various books and exit without incident since the Worm’s henchmen seem to have no interest in a tussle once the Worm itself is dead.

(While investigating the room at the end, Memnoch picked up bristly hairs all over his skin as a result of a Spider-Climb corruption check.)

In relative security, Glimrung is now able to perform his songs— and he reshapes reality, taking Memnoch’s direction to install Sezrekan (his patron) over Armand Pitzkin as a Master of Reality in the Right Hand World. Nothing seems to have immediately changed in Spear City; the party has a few things to do in the city before they leave (set up a revenue stream within the Tiki bar?) but is relatively set to return to Loch Nwar and enjoy the fruits of their labor…

Trevor – Memnoch the Wizard, Lupo the Jester (deceased), Brunhilde the Shield Maiden
Jon C- Knut the Warrior, Lenora the Cleric of Morningstar, Valerius the GraveDigger (deceased), Zelthura the Cobbler (deceased)
Matt F- Thyl the Dwarf, Heccador the Wizard, Tredgar the Urchin (Deceased) Tortha the Halfling Trader (deceased)

We open with the doughty adventurers returning from the Hidden Palace of the Amphibious Autarch, holding the Seven Songs. Before much else can happen, the YETI GOD opens a rift in time and space and whisks away Zobol & BIzo (& Jordek) and they disappear. Memnoch & co. take this in stride.

Before returning the Seven Songs (mithril plates) to Szymandia, they decided to research more. Gristof the swamp-sage informed them that the Seven Songs are infinitely valuable and have the ability to shift time & space. Then Memnoch had a private conference with Sezrekan, in which he told his servant that the Seven Songs can only be activated by the Elven Meister Singer of Doru, the Spear City.

WTF is the Spear City?? It is a city outside of time and space, living within the anomaly known as THE SPEAR. (See the “Champions of Snakedeep” campaign.)

Finally, Memnoch and Old Chaotic agreed that Dr. S would transport them to the SLAUGHTERLANDS, a reasonably close location to the Spear, and that they would make the remaining journey on foot to the Spear and find Spear City.

To achieve this, they contracted the services of Thyl and Heckador, a Dwarf and Wizard who claimed to be well traveled in the Slaughterlands. (The aforementioned Slaughterlands are an abandoned desert in which ancient wars took place over long-forgotten causes. Haunted by evil spirits, undead and god knows what else, most travelers steer far clear of it.)

Before Senor Elder transported them to the SLAUGHTERLANDS, Memnoch ascended to 4th level and agreed to learn the Shield Maiden spell from the Elder. Then he spellburned and cast the spell- maxing out the spell and summoning Brunhilde the Valkyrie and her winged mount Aragorn to serve him … for life. (Yes, this is the max result on that spell chart… so… yeah.) They also grabbed five zero-level porters to accompany them and haul loot because… you know, SLAUGHTERLANDS.

Arriving in the desolate desert of death and crumbled decay, they are accosted by three half-titans who urge them to give over “the plates” – (The Songs). Turns out these eminences were sent by the Gods of Law who have put Tursen and others in charge of the cities of men, in order to prevent Memnoch (or anyone else) from screwing it all up. Memnoch aced his charm roll and all three half-titans missed their saves. Seeing an abandoned black castle in the distance, the party advanced with their new friends to the Keep and then abandoned them without entering. (Hearing a friendly voice whispering to them from just inside the keep’s main entrance dissuaded the brave adventurers from entering the keep. WHO SAYS VENTRILOQUISM IS A USELESS SPELL? )

Brunhilde had earlier scouted a little by air and seen a strange unnatural pink area by the mountains; Thyl and Heccador knew the Spear is an unnatural strange are, so they hit upon the idea of trying to sneak back through the foothills toward this pink area without being followed by the Half-Titans.

Having ditched their companions, they made their way into the foothills beyond the keep, encountering Moonboys and Moongirls, who picked up and dropped both Heccador and Lenora, but the ensuing falls did not break any bones.

After camping for the night, Thyl complained loudly that he didn’t know about anything about any “plates” and demanded more info and/or more pay from Memnoch, which was not forthcoming.

The next day, they passed through a valley where skeletons were wrapped around stakes with barbed wire. They passed through this area with little event until Lupo the Jester decided to taunt the dead.. and thus the Blood Mummies attacked him. (Blood Mummies = skeletons wrapped in barbed wire instead of bandages).

The Blood Mummies were a challenge but were eventually dispatched. The party came out of the foofthills near the Pink Area to find the un-charmed half-titans waiting for them. Heckador used Monster Summoning to get four skeletons and some random bronze shields (“Plates”) inscribed with Runic Alphabet. Distracting them with the skeletons and the plates, the group bolted for the throbbing PINK AREA.

As they approached, a 30’ long beetle with a human face emerged from the earth, gobbling up Lupo the Jester, and then gouting out a deadly acid attack, dropping Memnoch. This hellish beetle-dragon-god spoke with voice of the listener’s parent— and demanded the BLACK PEARL!

Knut and Brunhilde attacked the Beetle-God while Memnoch got (yet another) lucky spellcheck and when the Beetle God missed BOTH its saves by 1, it was stunned unconscious by Memnoch’s Color Spray. They hacked at the thing for one round before running off into the PINK AREA and Knut entered bravely and disappeared into the rippling wall. All of them entered the strange unnatural area and disappeared, not before Lenora was “scanned” with a strange violet light by a weird insect clinging to the cliff wall.

Thus endeth the adventure, to be resumed within the SPEAR sometime in 2017…

XP: 13
Luck: +1

Ryan – Van the Warrior
Jon – Riley the Halfling Chicken Butcher (Deceased) and Lenora the Cleric of Starburst
Patrick – Shif Tan the Thief, Kurt Kangle the Cleric of Amon Tor
Phil – Narsdom the Elf

The adventure started innocently enough with Nardsom getting the deed to some forgotten property in the area. The party journeyed to the moors and soon found the Black Manse, as pants-wettingly drawn by Doug Kovacs.

The party explored the grounds, doing a check of the perimeter. They journeyed through the moathouse, meeting the Seneschal, who they drove off by trying to pickpocket him (!). and then had a clash on the bridge with the Gruesome Lover, who came close to drowning Kurt Kangle (URSULA!) Finally, the party dispatches the GL and his waterlogged zombie henchman, and retrieves the Lion Mask from the moat.

After considering some alternative ways of entering, they walk into the house after correctly surmising that they are expected. They go into the entrance hall, ignore the tapestries and mount the balcony where they promptly open the doors and let all the trapped earth fall down on them, destroying the balcony and floor.

They make their REF saves and fall down to the lower level, confronting a skeleton army bidding them go into the next room. Kangle casts Second Sight and is misled (!) by his god Amon Tor of course (76 on 75% chance of telling the truth, per spell result.) They try to exit the cavern and cast Darkness to cover their escape… a frantic escape ensues in which Riley the Chicken Butcher is lost forever. The rest emerge, scathed, into the chapel— they quickly cover the trap door with rubble to stop the pursuing skeletons from pursuing them.

They are beset by revelers urging them on on on to the Great Hall. They fight off one band and finally comply, passing up the bell tower with the masked figure hung on the rope, joining the massed revelers in the Great Hall.

Here they confront Mammon and his assembled revelers. Mammon demands the hand of Ursula (Van), and the party ignores this request. Having discovered no means by which to fight him (after having been led astray by Amon Tor!), they are pitched into a wild combat with Mammon!

The deciding factor is Narsdom’s total spellburn to the Three Fates. This max. result protects them from taking more than 1 hp damage / attack for three turns as well as boosting attacks for 20 turns (!). Mammon, unable to harm the party in the first two rounds, casts Charm on them, but is resisted by Narsdom and Van. Finally Narsdom spellburns and burns remaining Luck for a magic missile, getting a very high roll and obliterating Mammon’s lesser avatar.

Note:
Both the PCs and the dice seemed unwilling to help the party learn anything about Mammon, the wedding and so on. The worst outcome for the party should have been an all out battle, but some very high save rolls (Crits) and all-out Luck & Spellburn saved their bacon.

The devils dispelled when Mammon was dispsersed by the ridiculously high Magic MIssile spellcheck (2 in a row!), leaving Narsdom & co in possession of the Black Manse.

Roll call:

Trevor – Memnoch the Shibboleth and Brandenberg the 0-level dwarf
Clint – Zobol the Halfling, BIzo the Yeti Warrior, Jordek the Thief
Jon – Knut the Beekeeper Warrior, Lenora the Priestess of Starburst, Mindas the Elf

Memnoch & co. gathered together to take up their search for the Seven Songs, as they had promised Szymandia at the earlier session.

Various clues were assembled: The parchment that Narva had found in the wall was an ancient Elven map to a strange pond near the Black Lake; her baby was a wizened Elf, who told them to seek out the Songs and change the World. (Jordek the thief joined the group, had been a scullery boy who had found the parchment because he was throwing some rolls at one of the other cooks and had reached into the wall to get the roll, only to get the parchment.)

The party figured out that the map but wanted to hire an expert Swamp Man lake guide to take them, so went to Cynda’s bar and hired Mad Madlin to be their guide. (Though blind, Madlin is the expert on Swamp-man history, usually accompanied by one of his sons or grandsons, in this case, his grandson Ringo.) Madlin informed them that he had heard of the “7 Singers” that were to be found in this area.

Making their way to the pond on the ancient map, they saw something big lurking in the water and tried to lure it with a fishing lure. The creature burst out of the water, up-ending their skiff and tossing them to and fro. Knut executed a daring rope-swing maneuver to hurt it first, but the giant Salamander Autarch was unable to hit them (FUMBLE) and Memnoch critical’d his Rope Work spell, hauling the thing into the air and rendering it somewhat ineffective. It used its hallucinatory gas on them but still the group easily slaughtered it once Memnoch had dragged it up 50-60 feet and dropped it.

The “7 Singers” turned out to be frog-figurines mounted on poles all around the pond. When their mouths were filled with insects, they made a loud droning— and when all were activated thus at the same time, the Hidden Palace of the Muck Prince rose from the mucky, weed-entagled depths. Ignoring its jewel-capped spires for the moment, the bold adventurers braved the the Hidden Palace and made short work of the alligator mutants whose ambush failed.

They advanced to the throne room where they found a skeleton upside down upon a throne, a crown on the ground a few feet away. The skeleton was wearing an amulet palmed by Jordek the thief. The adventurers inspected the crown which was engraved with To my loving husband, may it see you always in health and prosperity.** They took the crown but no one placed it on their head. Next they journeyed into the room beyond, where they found the corpse of an elven woman in a glasss case, clutching a mithril dagger.

(When Jordek tried to abscond with the big hunk of gold amulet, Memnoch charmed him for up to 2 weeks.)

They spoke the name of her people (the Dothde) as the dagger suggested, and she woke- though still with a gaping neck-wound. Memnoch, Mindas and Jordek spoke with her, desiring the Seven Songs and indicating that they served Szymandia. The elf woman, who gave her name as Kanander, pointed them to the secret vault where her songs, 7 mithril plates of priceless origin, were stored. (along with some necklaces, and fine metalwork veils.) The told them to continue her work, to serve her sister(!) and to use the 7 Songs. Racking his brains, Memnoch vaguely remembered seeing a portrait of Szymandia that included a likeness of this woman.

Then she lay back down in her case. The mithril plates appear to be the 7 songs, not only priceless in magical power, but in timeless craftsmanship and Elven calligraphy.

The PCs took the loot and made their way quickly from the Hidden Palace- (they did not molest or defile the corpse, nor did they take her dagger.) As they left, the Palace sank behind them, obscuring the jewels set into its spires forever. Having satisfied their geas, they plan return to Loch Nwar and return the 7 songs on the plates to Szymandia, but not before making some copies for themselves.

XP – 13
Luck +1 point

Knut the Warrior, Lorena the Cleric of Starburst – Jon C
DJ the Dwarf, Wax the Sunless, Stodge the Halfling & Ib the Sanguine (Wizard) – Tim, — (Ian out with Flu)
Kurt Kangle, Cleric of Amun Tor, Breezy & Shif Tan – Thieves – Patrick
Bizo the Yeti & Zobol the Halfling – Clint

Today’s session resumed with the PCs having made a deal with Azazel to journey deep into the grotto of doom to destroy the Jewels of the Carnifex. (They were hardly actually committed to this action, as much as just trying to get out of harm’s way.)

They journeyed into the Worm room and worked out a plan by which Zobol, Shift Tan and Breezy all agreed to try to steal the jewels together. Despite trying their best to prop it up with some borrowed javelins, their timing was off— the Worm bit at them twice (Zobol & Shift Tan). Zobol had used a cloak to get the first Jewel and it was his. Breezy got hers. Shift Tan critically failed his Reflex Save and the Worm statue took two of his fingers, which twitched tauntingly in the Worm’s mouth as it opened up to reveal the remaining Jewel. Breezy finally retrieved the third jewel as well.

Under the watchful eye of Percy, sent by Azazel to ensure the party destroyed the Jewels, the party destroyed the first two. They hesitated before destroying the third though and eventually worked out a plan by which Zobol and Breezy used Sleight of Hand (Pick Pockets) checks to replace the jewel with the shattered crystal dust at the last second, fooling Percy.

Some of the party went to investigate the lowest room and the seal, where they deciphered the runes and deducted Azazel’s treachery. (But had no interest in freeing the Carnifex!— at all)

At this point, they decided to keep one jewel and bluff their way out of the dungeon past Azazel and his minions. Azazel was set to congratulate them by offering them a bowl of his special idol-ichor— unfortunately, Percy, charmed by Wax, was given the first sip and when the PCs observed his (missed save) bloody vomiting, they tried to escape the impromptu “awards ceremony”.

The mass of the Pious attackers immediately dropped Stodge the Halfling and swarmed the PCs. The PCs had very little luck making any inroads upon this group (but the Pious had unbelievably bad die rolls on the two rounds of attacks they got in— particularly on the AC 10 Wizards!)

Finally, Wax (played by Tim, since the flu-stricken Ian could not join us today) broke his own arm against a war-stave to spellburn and had a massive success on Sleep. (Even to regain this spell, he spellburned, so it was a massive SB job.. also involving Halfling Luck I believe). The sleep spell knocked out all the bad guys and probably saved the party a near /TPK.

After putting the bad guys down, they took Azazel to the final seal/runes room and questioned him. He admitted his treachery but when they asked if his death would redeem the Seal and finish off the Carnifex, he declared he did not know (also, due to Percy’s being tricked, he thought the Jewels were destroyed at this point.)

The PCs crushed his chest and drowned him in the sacrifice pool (shades of Dick Cheney here), whose death triggered a wash of healing and luck-giving radaince— and then looted the Idol in the Vault room before leaving.. the unguarded.. prison of the Carnifex… :)

Breezy the thief has kept the last Jewel of the Carnifex.
Zobol the halfling has kept the 7 Death’s head rings.
Wax was awarded the three-headed raven figurine
Knut took the platinum-chased battle axe
Bizo took the Executioner’s Wand.

The rest of the loot will be divided up equally amongst the survivors.

Roll call:

Knut the Warrior, Lorena the Cleric of Starburst – Jon C
DJ the Dwarf and Four dead zero torchbearers – Scabby Mike, Tiny, Big Val and Seth- Tim
Wax the Sunless, Stodge the Halfling & Ib the Sanguine (Wizard) – Ian
Kurt Kangle, Cleric of Amun Tor, Breezy & Shif Tan – Thieves – Patrick
Bizo the Yeti & Zobol the Halfling – Clint

A random thief named Magmar puked on Wax in the Three Lions and rather than becoming human sacrifice, he offered up a treasure map of priceless worth: the hiding place of the legendary Jewels of the Carnifex. Legend has it that the Carnifex cult was the old death cult of the Swamp People that originally lived in Loch Nwar, before the New Men came- the priests of the new order destroyed the cult, but some say the treasure was never found and is still buried somewhere beneath the city on the Black Lake.

Wax and co gathered an elite (?) group of cut-throats and treasure hunters to delve beneath the city and acquire the Jewels. Using Magmar’s map, they scaled the rope to the outer platform and then fought an acid-dripping spider, dispatching it without much problem.
Using spider-acid to score the lead-filled seals on the door, they gained entry.

In the next room filled with skulls and the spiral staircase, they investigated but chose not to disturb the dead, especially after Second Sight advised Kurt K not to “disturb the rocks”. They made their way to the next room where they dispatched six shadows, er, shades easily enough— although the Kurt Krangle lost some Stamina in the process.

They journeyed on to the next room and examined the three doors. DJ smelled each door for gold and they decided to follow the faint whiffs they got from the wooden door. (Also, Second Sight advised of a “big fight” behind the clay door.) The emaciated ghost-child begged for alms and was given a wafer from the altar in the previous room and he dissipated harmlessly. The party ascended by means of roots and briefly searched the reliquary room before turning to the balcony room where they were ambushed by the strange hunchbacked guards.

After a brief combat where two guards were slain, Wax charmed one of the guards who led them back toward Azazel his leader. The trap was sprung! Azazel’s force ambushed the adventurers and a ferocious combat ensued in which the last of the torchbearers were killed. Wax spellburned to destroy the front rank of guards while Kurt cast Darkness on the rear ranks, helping to hold off the front ranks behind Bizo / Knut / DJ and defeating the vision of the rear force’s javelin attacks.

Just as the battle heated up. As spellburn began to turn the tide against the guardians, Azazel offered to strike a deal and let the adventurers journey into the tomb if they agreed to destroy the Jewels of the Carnifex, destroying the evil goddess that is imprisoned there forever. After some consulting, the party, somewhat depleted, agreed to help him, though some agreed in good faith, while others did not…

Next session to resume there.

Jon C – Talu the Cleric and Maddis the Halfling
Phil – Krabor the Warrior (Deceased) and Fez the Wizard
Trevor – Supinda the Warrior and Helmut the Dwarf
Noah – Bobby Mann the Thief

Adventure started with the entrance to the Keep. The adventurers, refugees from the madness currently wracking the Realm to the West, entered the Keep in search of adventure. Before entering, they are checked for “Being werewolves”— i.e, the guards look at the amount of bodyhair on their chests (?!?) They are disarmed but are assured they will get their weapons back when they leave. Fez openly declared to be looking for star-charts, since he is an astrologer. Helmut the Dwarf speaks and reads Draconic as there is a family tradition of passing down the “Draconic phrase book” from father to second son.

Fez seeks to patron bond with Azi Dahaka, but fails.

Perhaps most importantly, the PCs here about a sorcerer-demon known as “Jon-o-Fire” that wanders the wildlands near the Caves.

Supinda the Warrior also uses her healing skill to treat some men in the infirmary, winning the trust of Captain Bolder. One of the injured men tells her he left his comrades Gary, Scott and Tom in the Caves of Chaos.. he asks her to get their remains and put them to rest if she journeys there.

Finding their way to the Tavern, they harvest some rumors and Bobby picks the pockets of Argolanth, the Elf advisor to the Castellan. He not only picks on GP from the Elf, but then takes his jeweled dagger, just for fun, and returns it to him. Argolanth, non-plussed, advises him that future thievery may result in loss of hands.

The next morning, the adventurers ride out to earn a bounty by gathering heads from the Caves, with the secondary idea of recovering the bodies as mentioned. Having received a tip on which cave Gary et al might still be in, they find the Caves and enter that cave mouth first. Ulitmately, they are ambushed by Pig-men and repel them after losing Krabor the Warrior. They press the advantage and slay the Pig-Men reinforcements, and then find the chieftain, slaying his bodyguards and capturing him with a magical slumber.

They take Alan the Pig-Man prisoner (his comrade is sacrificed by Talu.. to Cthulhu). Alan informs them that Jon-O-Fire is real and visits the Caves periodically. He has branded all of the denizens and the runic brand that they bear is what binds them to the caves.

After pillaging the chieftain’s treasure and interrogating their one prisoner (Alan the Pig-Man), they decide to go back to town, but not before seeking to parley with the Pig-Men in the next caves. After shouting in the caves to parley and getting no response, the adventurers enter the caves and are caught in a net. The clatter of the net trap alerts the Pig-Men who come rushing and are barely held at bay by Helmut’s last flask of oil (after Bobby frees Helmut from the net.).

The oil burns down and the Pig-Men rush in but amazingly don’t manage to hit (much less kill) one single adventurer before the PCs throw off the net and battle their way out of the Cave.

The PCs return to the Keep without incident. When they take Alan and the Chieftain out of the Caves, they writhe in pain but do not die once they have crossed some invisible line.several hundred yards away from the Caves.

XP earned: 12
Luck point: 1

Memnoch The Shibboleth – Trevor
Knut the Warrior / Beekeeper & Noj the Thief (Deceased)- Jon
Zobol the Halfling & Bizo the Warrior – Clint
Zardoz the Theif – Kevin
Mandadi the Cleric of Amon Tor – Aaron K

(Introducing Zardoz and Mandadi)
The session opened with Zardoz & Mandadi fighting for their lives in the VolcanoGrave of the Over-Demons. They watched their stalwart comrades cut down one by one before their wizard Shifty Montayne invoked Sezrekan and the Elder whisked them away….

Meanwhile in LochNwar, Memnoch has survived the Sea Queen and hung the THree Lions with various acquired trophies. Memnoch, Knut and Zobol are invited to the wedding of Tyrsen the Half-Titan, lord of Loch Nwar, and Szymandia the Dark Elf noble. They attend the wedding, which is interrupted by the strange appearance of Zardoz and Mandadi amidst the onlookers, sweaty, battered but still alive! They have been whisked by the magic of Sezrekan to a ‘safe haven’ (heh) in Loch Nwar.

The crowd is quite impressed by this display and assumes Memnoch has pulled off a stunning entertainment in honor of Tyrsen. Grex the Administrative Officiator is supervising the sacrifice of tributes both to Tyrsen and to the Lake Gods.— Memnoch, Knut and Zobol make their tributes, as do Zardoz and Mandadi, but not before Memnoch succeeds in putting a powerful charm on Grex.

Bizo sees a man wearing a full-on Yeti fur coat.. it is the young Ykorl and his friends that Wax met at the Three Lions.. Bizo remembers the man’s face for a future comeuppance.

Tyrsen summons the adventurers and then tells them of a critical problem: Szymandia has retreated into the Flickering Star— the gem which entitled him to her hand. Now he requires their services— using the Space Mummies of Limbo’s voidship, he needs them to enter the gem and return her— alive and intact or… just her head. The party agrees to undertake though more inclined to plot with Szymandia for Tyrsen’s overthrow.

They enter the crystal and fight many crystal servitors who are defending a big crystal fortress. Finally they make their way across a gong-destroyed crystal bridge (with the help of a timely RopeWork spell) and are trapped by the Crystal Witch of the gem, who transforms into a dragon. Above her, a blue gnome in a magical chandelier “hits the lights” exposing his hooded lantern which refracts light down onto the dragon and creates a “Prismatic Breath Weapon” — a pitched battle ensues between the party in which they finally shatter the dragon and charm the blue gnome. (Memnoch takes his “Brain Hat of the Ancients” though, which confers +4 to Will saves.) The charmed blue gnome is now Memnoch’s servitor…

Conferring with Szymandia, the PCs agree that they would like to overthrow Tyrsen. Szymandia asks if they will aid her and they say yes. She asks if they will agree to be geased and they agree. She casts her spell* and she will now require them to “acquire and execute the Seven Songs which will overthrow Tyrsen as Lord of Loch Nwar forever.” SInce they agree to this, she fulfills her part of the agreement and returns to be married to Tyrsen.
The wedding is completed.

Other developments:

Narva has her baby, though she has no husband/boyfriend and insists she is “Not that kind of girl.” The baby has six-fingers, is Elfish in appearance and named “Damien.”

Narva reminds them that she found an old parchment in the walls of the Three Lions she wants to give them.

Szymandia has given 2 suits of crystal chain male to the PCs, (which can be fashioned into one suit for Bizo). It has the properties of leather for movement, fumble die, sklll checks, but the AC of chain. (it also looks glittery and cool!)

Memnoch’s old nautical privateering friend Ginsburg is instructed to get Memnoch’s platnum disc off the lake floor but is killed by Dwarven divers who were retrieving the treasures for Tyrsen.

XP: 13

Attending for today:

(For round 2 and 3)

Trevor – Memnoch the Triboleth
Jon – Knut the Warrior Beekeeper and Noj the thief (level 1)
Tim – DJ Hammerthrax the Dwarf, Krups the Dwarf (level 2)
Gary- Mosley, Cleric of Cthulhu – Zeddekar, Cleric of Molotoch (both level 1)
Ian – Wax the Wizard, Stoj the Halfling (lvl 2)

(Only for Round 3)
Clint – Zobol the Halfling and Beezo the Yeti Warrior

We resumed after a 2 day game-time break for the characters to rest and recover. The party was also joined by Wax, who had found the note Memnoch left him at the Three Lions and sailed down the river to meet them in Majestic, following a trail of carnage and angry visitors no doubt.

Having gained the Horn of the Tundines, they made their way out to open water in Lake Majestic and Memnoch blew the horn, summoning the giant sea (swamp) turtle. Since the party seemed a little undersized without Zobol and Bizo, I allowed them to bring another dwarf and halfling. The party explored the turtle hideout and made fairly quick work of the sea anemone monster, the three cursed thief guards, and then rather rashly knocked open the door to the treasure room, triggering the body switching curse, hilarity ensued and there was much cursing of Michael Curtis.

Then joined by Zobol and Bizo, the party made their way to the island prison of the Sea Queen, where they entered, found her magical name (but failed to connect the dots and use it.) They made their way through the living tar golem room, destroyed him, and finally freed the Sea Queen, who fled the prison with them. (Although Memnoch, via his prison-body of Mosley, cast Detect Evil on the Sea Queen and her Handmaidens, each one made her Will save and the party was fooled enough to let them get close up… and attack!)

The ensuing combat was quite dangerous and Team Sea Queen nearly dropped Bizo in the first round— then did succeed in dropping Memnoch & Mosley, but the party was able to quickly heal them with some timely magic item use and clutch Laying on of Hands. Spell checks were made pretty effectively and Rope Use and Sleep actually combined to subdue the Sea Queen, after which the party decided to put her back in her prison, securing it carefully with the key and take the key. (Zobol has the key).

In the aftermath, Boorqual the Sea King met them in Majestic to give them the following boons for the destruction (!) of the Sea Queen. (Interestingly, no one corrected him about the destruction of the Sea Queen)

1. A little red/black sponge that allows them to breathe and function under water for 48 hours (one each)
2 A black pearl (Memnoch grabbed it)
3. A vial of pure magical lake water that removed the curse from their bodies once they were bathed together in it.

(rounds 1 and 3)
Zobol & Bizo:
19

Wax, Stoj and Krups (Rounds 2 and 3)
13

Everyone else – all 3 rounds
Total: 25xp

Roll Call:

Trevor – Memnoch the Triboleth
Jon – Knut the Warrior Beekeeper and Noj the thief
Clint – Zobol the Halfling and Beezo the Yeti Warrior
Tim – DJ Hammerthrax the Dwarf
Gary- Mosley, Cleric of Cthulhu – Neddekar, Cleric of Molotoch- Argus, Cleric of Justicar (Deceased)

The story opened with Memnoch waking to a chanced world (changes due to the events in “Wayfarer of the Winter Calendar” playtest, Oct. 2015.
LochNwar is now under the rule of Tyrson, a half-titan godling jealously guarding his city vs. the schemes of others like him.
The Dwarves Guild has been reinstated.
Szymandia is betrothed to Tyrson in his effort to forge an alliance with Dothde (The Dark Elves)
Memnoch’s majordomo Grex, is an official overseeing the Primary Chamber- dictating the painful, paralyzing customs and bureaucracy that frustrate the whole city.
Memnoch’s new steward Chester seems kind of.. different.
Nara, the girl who came from Shlum, and has been working in the Three Lions, is pregnant.
Wax the Elf was unavailable as he had removed himself to a “Chaos Yoga” retreat.
Loch Nwar, like most of the other major cities of the Right Hand world, were in a constant state of war and covert intrigue with each other, somewhat spurred by the domination of them by the rival godlings that stride the earth like a plague.

Despite a vivid dream and remembrance of how things had been, the dreams began to recede and after a while Memnoch accepted this as the way it was. His associates too were haunted by the same thoughts, but slowly accustomed themselves to thinking differently.

On top of this strangeness, Memnoch was haunted by strange dreams of a Sea Queen who begged him to rescue her from the island of Ait, where she had been imprisoned by the evil wizard Shadinkind. He was surprised to find that her likeness was already in a painting he had never seen before in a remote corridor of the Zymetris mansion. When he gathered Knut, DJ and Zobol (and Beezo) to float the idea of rescuing the Sea Queen, they all revealed that they had encountered similar dreams. The group resolved to seek her out and rescue her, and to be rewarded by the bounty of gold and pearls that her father the Sea King would provide.

As they discuss their plans, they were interrupted by the arrival of three brothers (?)— clerics of Law, Chaos and Neutral, sent by their masters on a competition to see who would survive and rise in the ranks. Also amongst their number was Noj the thief, who accompanied them for more mundane matters. Memnoch was impressed with their spirit of adventure and he instantly decided to befriend (USE THEM) the clerics and bring them along to rescue the Sea Queen.

After voluminous, pain-staking customs and gifts to the customs and gate officials, the party set off for Lake Majestic, where the Island of Ait was said to be. Sailing downriver on a river barge known as the Gleaming Metropolis, they arrived at the town of Thulud, They entered the tavern known as the Crooked Oar, bought a round and started to inquire with the locals. To their horror, the bartender started to itch badly, then peeled off his skin, transforming into a silver skeletal demon attacking them. Combat ensued and Memnoch zoned the Demon with a sleep spell, then prepared to burn him in the street. The terrified locals gathered and started to mob the party, but a deft charm against “Zoltan the Lake Ranger” helped to calm the locals, although they were again even more terrified when the Skeleton demon floated away screaming and afire.

The party decided it was best to seek the wizard immediately and leave Thulud, striking out in Zoltan’s boat Bessie— Shadinkind’s supposed hideout was well known, though the wizard was more of a legend than a well known wizard. Entering his home carefully, the party found a vast cavern filled with floating turtle-shells and navigated it mostly with the help of RopeWork spell cast by Memnoch, though Argus the Cleric died in the process. They were also ambushed by some lamprey-men who threw harpoons at them, but were vanquished in subsequent rooms. From there, they made their way to a pool containing a giant clam, which various hints through out the building seemed to imply had a magic shell-horn. The lagoon in which this clam was visible also had a shark guarding it, but the adventurers were clever (Zobol’s idea!) and used some of the fish of the lamprey men to decoy the shark and get it close enough for Memnoch to neutralize it with a sleep spell.*

With the shark neturalized, and the aid of underwater jelly-fish suits discovered earlier, Beezo, DJ, Knut were able to wrench open the clam jaws and take the shell-horn, and then, after another lamprey-men battle, they stole some eggs and are left the wizard’s hideout. Their intention is to decipher the script on the horn and then proceed to the next stage of using it to rescue the Sea Queen!