21st Fire (4/21/17)

Hathun, First-Week, Ninth-day, the Now Year

After facing off with the butterfly swarms, the PCs are rejoined by SlakeThirst who has been catching up with them after leaving The Nest, and briefly encountering a fairy hunter en route. They decide to further search the caverns before taking a long rest, and after some diving, Nahar and Yukkbutt find a smooth metallic cylinder with spikes on the end, looking like it's made from a strange but familiar alloy that they've run across before. Borracho studies the weapon briefly and learns how it can be operated to produce an electrical charge when prodding a target. The characters take a long rest before pressing forward through the caves...

Hathun, First-Week, Tenth-day, the Now Year

After waking, it's pitch dark in the Verdant, and the PCs get to work blasting and burning away the rotten tree-rubble that blocks their further access into the caves. The smoke attracts a green dragon, which breathes poison gas into the caves after being instigated. In order to save his party, the warlock SlakeThirst makes a personal challenge, which is rejected by the dragon, who claims the dragonborn is 'reserved' for his own father, who supposedly has transitioned into a full dragon. SlakeThirst shoots the dragon anyway, who destroys him and sends him falling to the cavern below. Somehow, Slake survives, just on the edge of death. The party heals itself briefly before breaking through the wooden barrier...

And into an equally frightening situation, since the lair's residents, a group of Muckmouth ogres and an elephant-ogre hybrid giant, await them, guarding several prisoners that are in tightly bound cages. The shapeshifting quarry, some sort of green hag, joins the fight in Yukkbutt's form to confuse them, but Nahar and Barnowl quickly realize what's going on and press her in melee. The conditions of the cavernous area favor the PCs and their spellcasters, and while the enemies employ some runestones and scrolls to fend them off, they are ultimately victorious. They then find an 'Atak Plan' map, a letter to the ogre chieftains of the Arbordark, and three of the Wasp Rider survivors, including the chief Tanziver himself. The last prisoner happens to be a young human, who looks strikingly like Nexa...and claims in fact to be her twin brother!

The PCs hustle off to The Nest and Briar's Edge to warn of the ogre's larger plans.

PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Kymyl, Nahar, Nexa, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 2300
Inspiration rewarded: 1 each (to whoever needed one)
Renown: 5 (Wasp Rider)

NPCs

Nexos (human male): A straggly but handsome teenage waif, standing just over five feet, with smooth tan skin and ruffled, dark hair that offset his cool blue eyes. He wears the tattered remains of a white tiger-skin as a cloak and loincloth, but is otherwise uncovered, with bony ribs evident. He looks strikingly familiar, in fact…

Taffi (gnome female): A wiry female with thickly knotted braids slick with beeswax, she has two floral patterns tattooed on her ruddy tan cheeks and a scar running down her forehead and left cheek. Her eyes are a liquid green and her smile reveals about 50% of her teeth are broken.

Tanziver (gnome male): An aged male with what seems a permanent smirk on his face, this gnome has some of the most elaborately braided beard and nose hair you’ve come across yet, with beads and j   ewels in elaborate displays. His long, thin nose seems to have been recently broken and there are cuts from where piercings seem to have been removed.

Trundle (gnome male): A pudgy gnome with a head like an anvil, balding with sharp feathered edges to the hair that remains on the sides and back of his head, that run onto mutton chops on his face. His pot belly is covered in scale armor and his cheeks constantly puff out as if he’s chewing something.

20th Fire (3/3/17)

Hathun, First-Week, Eighth-day, the Now-Year

The PCs decide to track their quarry to the Southwest, finding some tracks that match the humanoid size they've seen before on this manhunt. As the sky darkens, they spy a human in a nearby tree in the Verdant, watching them. He claims his name is 'Groat' and that he's been stalking an evil fairy for several days through the area, and he attempts to enlist the PCs' assistance in nabbing the creature. The party scuffles over how to deal with him, some in favor of helping him and others thinking he's a useless distraction on the way to their true quarry...or rather, the quarry itself! Little do they know, the man's 'prey' has heard them muscling the hunter and approached them himself, and finally presents himself...an ascetic with a higher purpose. After some chat, it's decided they will leave Groat behind without his crossbow and take Kymyl, the wood elf 'fairy', along with them.

Soon after, they set up camp for the night. But their sleep is interrupted when they hear a shriek. As they follow up, they find that a gnome whose foot has been cut off was trying to crawl towards the Nest, but he was slain by a constrictor snake which slips off into the wetlands. Judging by the tattoos running up the gnomes arms, he was indeed a Wasp Rider, one that Barnowl briefly remembers seeing back in the village.

Hathun, First-Week, Ninth-day, the Now-Year

The next morning, the journey continues until the PCs find the tracks leading to an overgrown pond next to a massive, fallen, vine-encrusted tree trunk that looks hollowed out. As they approach around and over the pond, they are confronted by some muddy, strange creatures which can slash them with terrible wooden claws and spit acid at a good distance. They manage to take down the creatures, but not without receiving some heavy hits themselves, and several getting knocked unconscious. After searching the muck, they find some baubles and items that the creatures were carrying. They then approach the mighty, fallen trunk, to discover that the vines and kudzu over the base conceals a cavern passage below the pond.

At the base of the slope, the water seems to end, and there are dry, earthen caves beyond. In the first, they find the corpses of several gnomes picked apart somehow, and several giant crushed insects. Patches of green and orange vegetation on the walls turn out to be swarms of carniverous insects similar to butterflies, and the two colors swarm the party, blinding and doing great damage to whoever they can envelop. The party manages to take them down, but not without another brutal fight, and after dispersing the last little fiends they must decide whether to press on further or take another rest, at risk of their quarry getting even further away.

PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Kymyl, Nahar, Nexa, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 2200
Inspiration rewarded: --
Renown: --

NPCs

Groat (human male): A filthy, average height human approaching middle age, with greasy black hair so messed up that it creates a natural pompadour atop his head. His whiskers have grown out of control, he wears a leopard or lion's skin (you aren't quite sure), and his teeth are almost completely bent at odd angles. His one armament is a light bone crossbow.

19th Fire (1/13/17)

Hathun, First-Week, Seventh-day, the Now-Year

Un-krug and Barnowl secure the oxen and oversized cart they will used to travel back towards the Nest, while other PCs perform last minute transactions. Pilaf offers Borracho full time work as an entertainer and masher at the Tavern, after being impressed with the dwarf's own brewing, but the bard politely declines, leaving Pilaf with a jug of his mash to console him. Vraal confers with Udiqa who praises the cleric's decision to help the PCs find the missing Wasp Riders. SlakeThirst tries to recruit some cannon fodder from the village swap meet, but only finds a small audience there. One of the audience, a blind old man asks the dragonborn if he is the 'traitor' to his kind often spoken of, and SlakeThirst responds with an eldritch blast, almost killing the fool! He stabilizes him and then beats a fast path westward out of the Court-of-Crows! The others begin to hear details of the violent episode.

On his way back to the group, Vraal heals the victim Blind Del, who then makes his way to the Enclave to report the incident to Captain Taias Bloodbath. En route he runs across Cynjak and after a perverse exchange, offers to serve the paladin as a personal slave. She refuses, then makes her own way back to the wagon, which is now ready to roll. The PCs exit the Court-of-Crows, to head back to the Nest, and they pick up SlakeThirst on the way. After an uneventful day and evening of travel, they set up camp before the Whipwater, and establish watches. SlakeThirst flies across the river, afraid to try and ford it with the rest. Through the night, there is various fuckery involving a bag of tricks, a Giant Hyena, a sleeping Barnowl, and peeing.

Hathun, First-Week, Eighth-day, the Now-Year

The heroes return to the Nest, to find it rather tranquil. Barnowl visits the staff at Tanziver's tree, and sure enough, the Wasp Riders have not yet returned. The PCs go to collect Nahar who is still helping out the Seer after her maid was killed by the mysterious shapechanging assassin, and they inquire after Klovak, who the paladin hasn't seen lately. They search for the hunter, only to find his discarded skin stuffed into a honeycombed mushroom! Cynjak's dire wolf steed sniffs out a potential culprit at the Waxworks, but then the PCs are confronted by Waxmeister Sprue. It turns out that all the gnome workers there have a similar scent to what the wolf found, but Vraal and Nahar are allowed to investigate the interior of the business while the rest of the party goes back to the Seer with the remains of poor Klovak...

Inside the Waxworks, the two heroes are shown the top inner level which is where the honey farm is primarily located, and then when descending to the lower level, they come across some waxy partitions in the walls which might be the golems the Waxmeister warned them about. The lower interior level is both an arcane study for Sprue and the place where he comes up with all of his candle designs. They find strange glyphs and a golden sword, and then Sprue reveals that he came about the metallic weapon after opening a portal into what he believes is the lost kingdom of Sunken Spires! He beseeches the PCs to join him once the moons have aligned and he can open the portal once again, and as payment he will give them the golden sword and any other metal weapons they might find.

Klovak's remains are brought to Gnoreen, who casts speak with dead. They discover that Klovak was indeed slain by the taloned humanoid enigma they have been tracking, some days before, while the creature was in the guise of Lord Barnowl! Barnowl vehemently denies that he is the creature, but some discord has fomented. Yukkbutt begins to perv out over the old Seer, disgusting his party, while Barnowl actually discovers the rest of the maid's remains under a floorboard! Nahar and Vraal rejoin them to share the latest info, though they have found no trace of the murderer in the Waxworks. The PCs scatter about further to seek more evidence on the mysterious killer. SlakeThirst and Borracho round up as many gnome citizens as they can find to look them over, while Vraal, Nahar and Nexa find the rest of Klovak's 'meat' hidden down in the Wasp Riders' Roost.

Large, clawed tracks are found, similar to what was originally followed to the Nest. They lead back out of the Roost and down to the southwest of the village and out. The PCs have discerned that not only is their quarry incredibly intelligent, but potentially obsessed with its original mark (Nahar) and prone to toying with their perceptions as much as possible. Un-Krug goes to speak with the colossal toad, still lounging at Flumi's Fishery, and it seems to be nearing the complete consumption of the fish pond. He uses his totemic ability once more to speak with the creature, and it confirms in its limited capacity that a large female humanoid did recently leave the village to the southwest! The PCs deliberate whether they should follow, or if this is another ruse by their prey to throw them off...

PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Nahar, Nexa, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 2000
Inspiration rewarded: --
Renown: --

NPCs

Blind Del (human male): A wiry, sightless old man who is accosted by SlakeThirst after asking the dragonborn if he is the traitor, even though he meant it as a compliment. Often found at the local swap meet in Court-of-Crows wearing a leopard-skin loincloth and carrying a bowl for pittances that the villagers can spare him. Also a bit of a lecher, as Cynjak discovers.

Jobbi (gnome male): One of the workers at the Waxworks in the Nest, he claims he is working on making 'Fifth Assistant' to Waxmeister Sprue once the PCs detain him for questioning, thinking he might be the shapechanging assassin in disguise. Normally a cheerful, average gnome with black and gray flaked hair and less exotic features than other villagers.

18th Fire (12/9/16)

Hathun, First-Week, Sixth-day, the Now-Year

The battle at the Grand Mask's enclave intensifies within the gates, and without. The ogre mage unleashes an onslaught against the heroes outside, manage to take down several. Nexa flees in fear from the battle, but is replaced by Yor who comes upon the sight. Meanwhile, Kaarl and Captain Taias find themselves cornered within, holding out bravely against the odd giants that assault them. Despite the assistance of Vancal the Wage, they are unable to press the fight much longer, and Kaarl is then devoured by one of the ravenous brutes.

After dealing with the half-orc brothers outside, the ogre mage follows SlakeThirst inside the walls, goaded into a magical duel after nearly being slain itself. After going invisible, the mage manages to knock the dragonborn out of the sky, but not killing him. Yor bleeds out to death after he valiantly tries to turn the tide of battle, and then Vancal the Wage is also slain shortly afterward. Captain Taias and Barnowl manage to finish off the ogres and one of the giants, but by the end of the fight, almost all of our heroes are either out cold, dead or clinging desperately to remain conscious.

Suddenly, Nimmi Fingers and his two thugs Gundo and Maun arrive through the gates, and seeing this, the ogre mage unleashes some harsh curses and then disappears once more, not to return! The thugs quickly dispatch the remaining giant opposition, and Nimmi appears concerned for our fallen PCs, stopping to bandage whoever might need it. After that, the roguish old man and his henchmen decide to case the Grand Mask's Lodge, Nimmi deciding to serve as a 'temporary regent' for the village, until Taias Bloodbath quickly corrects him.

Hathun, First-Week, Seventh-day, the Now-Year

The next day, the surviving heroes have healed up as much as possible and the paranoid Nexa returns with a full arsenal. A human cleric is called in to help the wounded, and then Barnowl and others help give rites to and burn the bodies of the dead Spent Men and Kaarl. They go through what belongings they can find from the giants, turning up some curious items, and then are given free reign by Taias to use the Enclave as a temporary headquarters while he tries to get the Tribe under control. The PCs discuss their next move, and decide to set back out to track the missing Wasp Riders in case there are other ogres and giants keeping them captive...

PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Kaarl, SlakeThirst, Un'krug, Yor, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 2350
Inspiration rewarded: 1 (to anyone who had used his)
Renown: Spent Men 2 pts, Ten-Tribes 2 pts.

17th Fire (11/4/16)

Hathun, First-Week, Sixth-day, the Now-Year

Yukkbutt examines the head that flew over the conclave wall and struck the girl who was spying on him. He hears sounds of struggle from beyond the gatehouse just to the north, and decides to seek out his companions. He grabs Nexa, Borracho and Barnowl at Pilaf's Tavern, but not before terrifying everyone that he had decapitated the Grand Mask. Pilaf fetches Vancal the Wage and Cynjak, the latter of whom sounds a war horn. Meanwhile, a severely wounded Spent Man mercenary lumbers out from the gatehouse and claims the Grand Mask and his staff have been ambushed and murdered. Once SlakeThirst, Kaarl and Un'Krug are rounded up they decide to siege the place and see what's going on.

In squirrel form, Kaarl discovers that giants have indeed assaulted the conclave somehow, a variety including ogres, the strange giants they had fought earlier that day, and an obese giant with loads of drooping flesh. Barnowl, Vancal and a mercenary scale the wall, while the rest of the PCs do a direct attack on the gatehouse, using melee weapons and spells to blow open the timbers, and then met by a pair of ogres. The battle gets intense as an ogre begins to follow Kaarl around the rooftops and down onto the ground, after the druid has called forth pterodactyls who assist the one remaining soldier within...Taias Bloodbath. The PCs eventually manage to take down the flabby giant and several ogres, but not without a number of them getting knocked out at several points...

And then, an ogre mage appears from nothingness and breathes a cone of cold upon half the party outside the gates! They manage to make the creature go back into hiding, but now, pressed on two fronts, the fatal battle continues...

PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Kaarl, Nexa, SlakeThirst, Un'krug, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 1100
Inspiration rewarded:
Renown:--

16th Fire (10/7/16)

Hathun, First-Week, Fourth-day, the Now-Year

The heroes absent from the battle at the Nest come to the surface of the Wasp Rider's Nest to find that their allies are severely wounded, and that Slagmoor has been lost. Little by little, the gnomes also emerge. Several characters scouts out to ensure that there are no other waves of goblins waiting in the wings, while Cynjak and some villagers set out to find tinder with which to burn the dwarf's body. Others stack and dispose of the goblin corpses outside of the village, and then Slagmoor is given a eulogy, during which gnome children leave him offerings, baubles that they had originally brought to the cave with them for safe keeping. The hunter Klovak also notes that some of the serial killing monster's tracks are leaving the village again, to the Northeast, possibly towards Briar's Edge. Whatever it is must have snuck out during the battle...

The PCs and villagers go to sleep restlessly, remaining in and around the cave in case there are further attacks, several of the Waxworks employees and Yor keep watch.

Hathun, First-Week, Fifth-day, the Now-Year

The next morning, villagers start to trickle back to their residences and places of business, including the seer Gnoreen, who is escorted by Nahar, her new manservant. The PCs meet to determine their next course of action after discussing many leads, and ultimately decide that the missing Wasp Riders could be the most pressing issue. They ignore the colossal toad sitting in Flumi's Fishery for now, and leave Klovak and Nahar behind to protect the gnomes while they travel to the southwest, where Waxmeister Sprue mentioned that the Stinkstalker Goblins (who they just fought) are rumored to keep their lair. After several hours' travel, they find a crushed Wasp Rider and its mount, with a severed head and massive blunt damage. They find some large humanoid tracks headed eastward, and track them until nighttime, at which point they set up camp west of the Whipwater. Something is stolen away at night, but nobody notices...

Hathun, First-Week, Sixth-day, the Now-Year

The PCs come across to more crushed bodies near the Whipwater, these having been severed in the midsection while sleeping by the traumatic force of their own canoe being brought down upon them by something quite strong. They cross the Whipwater, still following tracks, and find two seemingly abandoned heaps of animal skins and carcasses, or perhaps two tents, nearby...as they approach, Borracho realizes that these are not tents, but creatures, a pair of odd, mutated giants who stand up to attack them. The battle is relatively short but brutal, the mass damage and stunning abilities harry the PCs, but in the end they deal out too much damage for the brutes to withstand. After killing them, they rummage their belongings and find the carcass of a golden goat, and a fine looking sickle.

They follow the tracks to the river surrounding the Court-of-Crows, where they suddenly disappear. They can't find any evidence of them beneath the water or on the other bank, so they head into the Court to warn people. They meet up with Vancal, who tells them to warn the local watchmen and inform the fishermen of their dead, and several of the PCs also choose to go to Pilaf's Tavern. There, Borracho performs for his meal, while Yor trades a short sword so he, Nexa and Barnowl can eat. Many folks don't seem happy that Barnowl has returned, including Vancal. Kaarl, SlakeThirst and Un'Krug search around the Court but find no evidence of the other giants that they were following across the plain. Borracho tries to mess with Maun, but the spell he uses doesn't affect the shady thug.

Yukkbutt goes to lie down in a nearby field in the corner of the village, and is soon joined by a curious little girl. They hear a loud, violent scream from the compound to the north, and then a head comes flying over the gate, landing at the feet of the girl...

It's the severed head of the Grand Mask!

PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Kaarl, Nexa, SlakeThirst, Un'krug, Yor, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 1400
Inspiration rewarded:
Renown:--

15th Fire (9/16/16)

Hathun, First-Week, Fourth-day, the Now-Year

Save for Flumi, Barnowl, and the colossal frog-thing, all villagers of the Nest have been rallied into the Wasp Rider's Roost caverns, where they are presumed to have the best defense about whatever strange force might be compromising the settlement. Waxmeister Sprue beseeches the PCs to send some deeper into the Roost to make sure it's free of harmful wasplings or other threats to the gnomes, so Un'Krug, Slakethirst, Nahar, Klovak and Borracho head down to clear out any problems. Cynjak summons a spirit that turns into a mangy dire wolf steed. The rest of the party decides to go check on Tanziver's tree to make sure there aren't any stragglers there. Slagmoor and Kaarl ascend the tree and find that a maid and cook are still there, who are then convinced to flee. The cook offers all the food he has prepared in the kitchen. They descend the tree and are harried off to safety.

While in the gnome leader's tree, Kaarl spied a figure on top of one of the mushrooms further north in the village, so the party goes to investigate. En route, they uncover an entire stealth force of goblin archers, witches, brutes, trained raptors and a warchief riding a weird looking triceratops. All the goblins wear strange wooden faceplates over their noses, but are well armored and well trained. The archers fire poisoned arrows that can slow their targets, while the three witches fire off all manner of troublesome spells. However, their challenge is met with some craft conjuring of beasts as Kaarl sets a cloud of pteranodons to harass the archers, and an allosaurus to take the brunt of deadly blows from the warchief and his mount. A little deeper into the battle, Lord Barnowl appears from behind, helping take out an archer on a mushroom before he proceeds into the melee fray.

Numerous PCs are brought down and revived, but midway through the battle Prince Slagmoor is laid out for good when he bleeds out onto the Verdant after a brief bout of unconsciousness... With renewed fury, and just a hint of luck, the PCs manage to slay the enemy forces down to the last goblin, and then rummage through their bodies to take off their equipment. Now they prepare to sweep the area and discover just what this entire attack might have been about...

PCs: Barnowl, Cynjak, Kaarl, Nexa, Slagmoor, Yor, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 2000
Inspiration rewarded: 1 (all PCs)
Renown: +1 Ten-Tribes