Timbervale and Stonefang Pass

Monk (5th lvl Monk)      Ezhelyn (5th lvl Avenger)  Ryswynn (5th lvl Cleric)
Wyndham (5th lvl Sorcerer)      Dora (5th lvl Wizard)

The group decided to stay in Fellstar for a few days while both Ryswynn and Ezhelyn recovered from the lingering effects of Filth Fever.  In the meantime, while the rest of the party tended to the ailing adventurers, Dora went out to acquire several ritual components for their next journey.  After everyone was feeling up to traveling, the group acquired horses from Uthor and began the two day journey to Timbervale. 

Although the first day passed without incident, during their first night on the road, they were ambushed by a trio of Wights and their zombie minions.  Although the battle wasn't lethal for anyone, they were pushed to their limits several times but were able to do away with the wandering undead.

They arrived in Timbervale at midmorning and noticed how the once thriving town was a relic of its former self with essentially just one road cuttting through the middle of the town.  The imposing view of the Ironwall Mountains loomed in the background, while the group headed for the small inn known as the Knot Hole.  Surprised as they entered the room, the group couldn't help but notice a small group of frightened looking dwarves huddled in the corner of the Inn's Common Room.  A black-bearded dwarf wearing a silver crown cautiously approached them and introduced himself as Rangrim, son of Thorvil, son of Thane Harvak of Clam Glintshield.  He told the group about the Clan's reemergence and their effort to reclaim the citadel but they were attacked by the Severed Eyes Orcs.  He begged them to go back into the pass and save the remaining members of his tribe and kill as many orcs as they can.  He did tell them that he was asked to escort the elderly and weak members of his tribe out of the Pass and he was forced to lower a large stone slab to block the Pass off but believes it can be raised by some means in the guard house in the Pass. 

After receiving confirmation that Rogvir's writings have survived and are inside the citadel, they agreed to head out immediately.  Before they could leave though, they were approached by a female dwarf named Hadarra.  She told them she witnessed her cousin Flinka killed by the orcs as she was being pulled away byt he Shadowed Chain guards who initially escorted the dwarfs through the Pass.  She tells the the "weird cult" of dwarfs are responsible for letting her cousin die and the group should beware their intentions and asks them to recover a matching "sending stone"  She offers them the matching sending stone to help them locate its match. 

Journeying into the foot of the mountains the road heads up at a casual slope as the remnants of the once-thriving town are evident with abandoned buildings and other vestiges of the past.  Arriving at the first river crossing, they were attacked by two hippogriffs and several deadly archerfish that harried the party until they could successfully cross the river and avoid the fish.  On the other side of the river, the sight of the huge tunnel that bores into the Stonefang Mountain stood before them.  Impressive huge stone carvings of giants flank the opening as if holding up the mountain itself.  Weary of heading into the mountain, the group began their first steps into the darkness hoping to survive.

Back to Fellstar and the next step

Dora (5th lvl Wizard)            Wyndham (5th lvl Sorcerer)         Ezhelyn  (5th lvl Avenger)
Leucis (5th lvl Warlord)
The group made their way back through the Goblin Hole and back onto the surface - it appeared most of the goblins had fled after the fall of their chief.  Concerned with traveling off the main road while carrying the Staff, they headed out to the King's Road and headed back towards Fellstar.  Early in the first day they ran into two travelers on the road - Rickon and Tumal who told them they had left Fellstar when the economy collapsed and headed out for a mining job opportunity along the Kings Wall.  Days earlier a horrible earthquake collapsed the mines but they were able to escape.  They asked to travel back alongside the group.
Still afflicted with Filth Fever, the group looked to rest on the three day journey.  After the first night, Leucis was able to shake off the illness but the avenger was unable to fully kick the disease after getting worse.  They traveled back to Fellstar with only one late night encounter against some wandering undead.  After spending the night safely in the walls of the city, they sought Uthor at the Temple of Pelor.

Briefly describing the clues they had uncovered including the letter that mentioned Vestapalk, Uthor agreed to keep the Staff along with the Skull they had recovered earlier.  After completing research, he told the group that the only lead on the remaining part of the Staff would hopefully be found in the writings of Rogvir Glimmersham, a Cleric of Moradin, in the Glintshield Clan.  The only problem was the Glintshield Clan had disappeared about 40 years earlier after a Civil War but had recently reappeared.  Uthor hoped that Rogvir survived the war or at least her writings had.  He suggested they head towards the town of Timbervale at the foot of the Ironwall Mountains.  The former thriving town is at the entrance of Stonefang Pass, the only way through the Ironwalls.  Leucis recalled hearing about the Glintshield Clan and something about a secret cult known as the Shadowed Chain and they all remembered the orcs they fought on the mountain carried shields with the Glintshield heraldry on them. 

Not So Fast!

Sariel (4th level Assassin)                     Leucis (4th level Warlord)
Edhas (4th level Bard)                           Thom (4th level Paladin)
Wyndham (4th level Sorceror)

After destroying Urgog, the group began rummaging through the loot and dividing up the contents of the tomb.  Suddenly, they were jarred out of their activities by the sound of their charmed friend, Splug, being killed.  They turned around in time to see a horde of goblins charging into the tomb alongside the Bugbear chief!

Regrouping to fend off the new threat, Thom charged through the crowd of goblins heading right for the chief, while the rest of the group used the angles of the room to stay out of the way of the goblin hexers while still attacking effectively.  Despite being blinded and hexed constantly, Sariel was able to take down the goblin chief with her Nightmare Shades attack.  While the goblin minions overwhelmed Thom, the hexers' blasts incapacitated much of the party.  With seconds left to live, Thom was brought back by the inspiring words of Leucis.  With Thom back in the battle, and Edhas and Wyndham consistently plaguing the efforts of the hexers to finish the heroes off, enough of the goblins fell leading to the remaining two hexers escaping back into the cavern complex.  In the end the worst damage taken was Leucis being striken with Filth Fever.

Session Recaps up to date! "To Urgog"

Session Recap February 3rd:

Edhas (4 Bard)        Sariel (4 Assassin)       Wyndham (4 Sorcerer)       Riswynn (4 Cleric)

{several sessions recap - After resting in the mountain the group encountered a less than sane Dwarf [Tamiflu] who agreed to lead the group to the Goblin Hole and out of the mountain if they would help him free his brothers from the Drow.  After being led around and around, Tamiflu took them out of the mountain towards the Goblin Hole.  A dead Druid of Melora led the group to a sacred grove contaminated by evil forces.  After some effort to fight off the evil force, they purged the sacred grove and realized it could be used as a safe rest point.  The cultists at the grove had a letter that referenced "the Demon Prince confirmed that Urgog has the Staff of Akmon Sur.  Acquire and bring the Staff to Vestapalk" They located a back entrance to the Goblin Hole and made their way into a large cave with goblins guarding a water source.  Using a charm effect and some shape changing, they charmed splug and learned that Urgog was long dead and buried in a tomb deep in the goblin hole.  The goblins fear the undead Urgog and have sealed off the area.}

After bluffing their way to the Goblin Chief keeping up the ruse that they were sellswords bringing news of a black dragon on its way to exact revenge from the goblins.  Gathering up the goblin warriors, the group sent them to defend the entrances while they headed towards the tomb of Urgog.  Outside the antechamber, the group dealt with two deadly Utyoghs which inflicted Edhas and Sariel with Filth Fever.  Finishing off the Otyughs, they forced their way through the divine seals closing the tomb.  Facing off against three shadow creatures and Urgog himself, the party defeated the enemy and acquired the Staff of Akmon Sur from the sarcophagus.  Unable to easily carry the Staff without harm, they wrapped the Staff in a cloak and began to search through the room for anything further.

Continuing Adventures of the Band of Jenkins

Third Session Recap (September 18^th, 2010):

Tarak (1^st Level Warden)                               Brandis (1^st Level Fighter)

Sariel (1^st Level Assassin)                              Ezhelyn (1^st Level Avenger)

After recovering from the previous encounter with the Pale Reaver and rescuing Kyla and the infant, Lysa, the group decided it would be wise to ask her any further questions before setting her free.  They asked how she was taken and how she got here in the crypt.  Her response was that she was taken in the night with her baby and husband by a human (not a monster) and brought into the graveyard blindfolded.  She was separated from her husband and brought to this chamber where she was placed into the ditch running on the western side of the crypt.  She had been here for a two days.  The group decided to escort her out of the graveyard to safety and promised they would look for her father and husband.  Ezhelyn, however, was shattered after returning the infant to her mother. 

Jumping down into the ditch to investigate, Tarak discovered a 4’x4’ stone block about five feet off the ground that seemed movable.  After searching for a mechanism, he decided brute strength would be the only means of moving the stone.  With help from Brandis, they pushed the stone into the wall, with Tarak following into the makeshift crawlspace following after it.  Near the end of the line, a series of spears began poking out of the walls and floor pinning Tarak in the shoulder and legs.  Quick thinking resulted in Tarak breaking one of the spears, but only Sariel was able to deactivate the trap through some clever tinkering.  Tarak finished pushing the stone until it fell what seemed to be 40-50 feet straight down.  Looking down into the room carefully revealed a fairly large chamber with milling undead, an altar on a raised dais, and a statue of Orcus.  There appeared to be a doorway direcly beneath the hole in the wall 40’ down.   A quick examination of the room revealed a series of small ledges that could be used to get to the bottom.

Tarak and the others decided to follow the rules and clear out one level before investigating another.  They returned to the graveyard and went to the middle crypt.  Inspecting the exterior, it seemed largely intact although old with no windows and roughly of the same size as the northern crypt.  Pulling open the door, they entered to find a room with two immobile bodies laying near the center and a trickle of blood leading to the back wall.  The wall, covered in runes, also contained a stone slab door with further runes, written in Abyssal, that was cracked near the top and slightly ajar.  Unable to read the runes, they guessed they were some sort of sealing magic that was clearly broken.  The bodies appeared to be an older man in his 60s-70s and a younger man perhaps around 30.  They had both been dead for no more than a day and were bitten by what appeared to be ghoul bites.  Pulling open the slab door, the party could distinctly hear chanting in another language from the room beyond.  It opened to a steeply slanted slope with a rope attached allowing access.  After some discussion about whether the slope was 75 degrees or 50 degrees, Ezhelyn grabbed the rope and descended.

The room was spacious with four pillars holding up the stone ceiling, a sarcophagus in the back of the room with a human shirtless tied to it.  A human dressed in robes, chanting with a dagger in his hand, stood behind the victim.  Three zombies roamed around the room with two ghouls flanking the sarcophagus.  All the undead seemed transfixed on the ceremony.  One by one the party descended into the room engaging the mindless undead and the priest.   In a series of bad breaks, the entire party fell to the ghoul bites.  While the only remaining enemy, a ghoul, began eating the lifeless body of Ezhelyn, something pulled Brandis back from the afterlife, allowing him one final second wind.  He stood up toe to toe with the last ghoul until it fell.  Exhausted, Brandis administered first aid to those allies whom he could save.  Only Sariel was able to recover enough to move on. 

They untied the victim and discovered he was Veran Tal (the contact they were sent to find initially and Lysa’s father).  Tired and terrified, he revealed that he was in the midst of his normal routine of digging up bodies for various contacts around the Valley when three bodies  became reanimated at his home about 4 days ago.  Shocked and unaware of what to do, he chained them into his subbasement and began observing their behavior.  Meanwhile, he returned to the graveyard and began marking graves he discovered were empty.  While there he was captured by what turned out to be the cultist.  Under torture he revealed the names and locations of his daughter, son-in-law and father.  Apparently, Veran believes the cultist needed more living victims to complete whatever it was he intended.  Brandis and Sariel revealed that there were two dead men in the room above them.  Veran confirmed they were Holt Nas, his son in law and his father.  Searching the battlefield, the party uncovered a ki focus and a weapon of great power.  Additionally, minor trinkets of value and a glowing onyx skull on the person of the cultist.  When touched, the skull gave off an uncomfortable magic.  They recognized the skull from the drawing discovered in the cave days earlier but it was missing the staff attachment.  They tucked the skull into a saddle bag and returned to the graveyard.

Once outside, they were greeted by Monk and Ella the Avenger. A quick examination of the final crypt revealed nothing.  They returned to the Northern Crypt crawlspace and through a series of acrobatics, rope lines and sheer luck, the group made it to the bottom undetected by the zombies.  Sneaking through the opening into a grand corridor that turned to the south, Brandis’ armor became too loud, alerting a horde of undead zombies, who began lurching towards them.  Scrambling forward, the party turned the corner and discovered a pyramid shaped stone door that wouldn’t open on first try.  Realizing they may be trapped, they turned as the approaching mob of undead shuffled around the corner!

 

Fourth Session Recap-

October 2^nd, 2010:

Sariel (2^nd lvl assassin)                                    Brandis (2^nd level Fighter)

Edhas (2^nd lvl bard)                                          Wyndham (2^nd level sorcerer)

Monk (2^nd level monk)

Suddenly faced with a zombie horde the party backed up into the area with the pyramid door.  Brandis began fighting towards the zombies, many of them minions but some brutes.  While many zombies got some good hits in on Brandis, he ultimately fought off several of them with the backup of the rest of the party.  Meanwhile, the rest of the group figured out how to unseal the magic on the door.  While Edhas and Sariel and Wyndham all blasted away at the zombie horde, Brandis disengaged from the battle and pushed the slab through. The rest of the group followed behind him and he shut the slab behind them. 

The room they entered was a large antechamber, with frescoes covering the side walls and catwalks running along the sides.  Three doors  all on the same wall (two on the catwalks and one on the main floor).  After illuminating the room with a sunrod, Sariel recognized the story in the frescoe as a legendary war between the primordials and the elementals.  The end of the story depicted Orcus carrying a glowing staff lording over humanity.  Realizing how tired they were, the group healed up and got ready to rest in for the night.  The first inspected the main door, ornately carved and made of wood.  Although the door didn’t appear locked or trapped, they could hear intermittent slamming noises.  They tied a rope around the center doors and slept in.

July 9^th –

The group woke up after sleeping safely for the night.  Brandis peeked through the door on the catwalk to reveal a room similarly built on the other side.  Meanwhile Wyndham and Edhas began working at a small hole in the frescoe to see if they could figure out what was behind the wall.  Deciding to go through the door on the catwalk, they entered the room and noticed immediately the slamming noises got louder and Brandis began to feel weaker.  The room extended the catwalks ten feet then lowered into the room below with a large pool dominating the room.  On the eastern wall, several wall crypts were the source of the banging noise.  Now that they were in the room, they also could hear a shuffling noise.  Going down the stairs to investigate, the group was surprised by a small group of zombies and a wight.  After defeating the monsters, Wyndham discovered a Robe of Contingency on the Wight’s body. 

The group entered the next room to find it dominated by a large meteorite with only one remaining exit.  The other door was sealed with a magical protection and was inscribed in a script only the Sorcerer could read.  It said, “Unforgiven. Do not open…” On either side of the door were two large jars that the party didn’t inspect.  After some experimenting, the as the skull got closer to the meteor, the magic weakened Brandis to the point of being unable to stand.  When it made contact with the meteor, they could hear a crashing sound from the previous room.  Realizing the only route of escape was through the path cleared by the meteor, the group scrambled up the crevasse and found themselves outside after about an 80 foot climb. 

Returning to the Wisdom’s house, Alustra thanked them for their efforts on behalf of the village and the missing villagers and invited them in for tea.  After talking with her, they visitied the Councilman Chairperson, Trask.  They discovered the skull fits on top of a legendary artifact known as the Staff of Chaos and it was wielded by Orcus in the great battle of the Primordials and Elementals that broke the world thousands of years ago.  Councilman Trask directed them to the city of Fellstar to the Temple of Pelor.  Uthor was the high priest of Pelor there and would be interested to hear about any news regarding the staff. 

July 12^th-

The group arrived at the Temple of Pelor in Fellstar and located Uthor.  He was disappointed to hear about the fate of his two Paladins which he dispatched in response to a series of divination prayers.  Without consistent access to their gods, the various temples in  Fellstar had set out to divine the fate of their gods.  A series of different visions, led the priests to send crusaders to different locales.  Uthor told them that the meteor they discovered is a harbinger of the end of days – if the staff of chaos arrives at the same location as the meteor enough negative energy could be used to open a portal to Orcus.  Without access to Pelor, it would be impossible to defeat Orcus or his followers.  They left the skull with Uthor for safe keeping and the only lead on the other parts of the staff was Urgog the Goblin King was supposedly the last to have knowledge of it before disappearing.  He gave them the general location of the Goblin Hole and they assured him that they had sealed off the entrance to the undercrypt.

Fifth Session Recap  (November 11^th, 2010):

Wyndham (2^nd level Sorceror)    Leucis (2^nd level Warlord)              Edhas (2^nd Level Bard)

Brandis (2^nd level Fighter)             Sariel (2^nd Level Assassin)

After a brief spending spree in Fellcrest the group decided it would be best to seal the exit to the undercrypt which they had told Uthor was already sealed.  Reacquiring their wagon and Oxen, they set out back across the road to the mountain.  Along the way they met several itinerant travelers – they gathered that a handful of them were traveling east to the Kingswall where rumors were abounding about work being offered.

A brief inspection of the area indicated to Edhas that several four-legged and two legged creatures had been in and out of the hole.  Without much mention to the rest of the team, they pushed a large boulder down in front of the hole.  Soon afterwards a pack of gravehounds swarmed out of the trees to attack.  Pushing the group to the brink of their limits, they survived a bloody fight, after which Edhas told the group that it was likely the footprints but there were more.  They discovered the body of a human holy warrior with his throat ripped out in the bushes – they looted some gold, a longsword and left behind a suit of chainmail. 

Pushing on to the site of the goblin hole to locate Urgog the Mangler or whoever had taken his place, the emerged from the forest cover to the edge of a cliff.  A forty foot rope bridge spanned the ravine fifty feet below.  Looking across to the other side, there was a 10-15’ clearing of trees then the forest began anew without a path like they were on.  Aware of the dangers, they decided to send Edhas and Sariel across the bridge to scout the area.  Halfway across the bridge, goblins jumped out carrying crossbows and two carrying spears and knives to cut the ropes.  A battle that included a goblin brute calling himself Boontah began.  Making their way across the bridge as quickly as possible, they took heavy fire from the crossbows and eventually killed both spear carrying sentries.  

 

Sixth Session Recap  (November 20^th, 2010):

Wyndham (2^nd level Sorceror)    Leucis (2^nd level Warlord)              Edhas (2^nd Level Bard)

Brandis (2^nd level Fighter)             Sariel (2^nd Level Assassin)             Ryswinn (2^nd Level Cleric)

Monk (2^nd Level Monk)

Faced with nearly insurmountable odds on the other side of the rope bridge, the party hacked their way through a dozen goblin sharpshooters and soldiers.  The maneuverability of Monk backed Boontah over the edge of the cliff, dropping him out of the battle and to his death (?).   Going through the pile of bodies and trying to locate their nearby camp, the Brandis located a magic battle axe and Edhas a magic weapon.   Looking around the party decided to rest up and the evening went without a problem.

July 15^th –

Traveling along the route towards the Goblin Hole, the party heard guttural voices from higher up into the mountains.  Wyndham used his magic to translate the voices into Orc and they seemed to be arguing about something.  Sariel stealthily made her way up mountainside to investigate.  About 40 feet up she discovered a ledge with seven orcs – one with a headdress – arguing around an extinguished campfire about a map.  A cave mouth was in the background but they didn’t seem interested in it.  She returned to the group and they decided to use Wyndham’s changling ability to morph into an orc and take Edhas up as a prisoner to try and determine their goals.  After some discussion about the map as from a treasure hoard for a dragon, the orcs couldn’t agree on the direction of the Dragon cave.  They claimed to be looking for a magic shield.  One of the orcs was carrying a shield embroidered with the sigil of Clan Glintsheild. 

In the midst of the conversation, the rest of the party charged up the hill and a difficult battle ensued.  While several members of the party teetered on the edge of death, the timely healing and inspiration of Leucis and Ryswinn kept them in it long enough to destroy the Orcs but left one alive for questioning.  Near the conclusion of the battle, Leucis caught sight of a large Dragon circling overhead.  Without waiting for the Dragon to make its way down, the party quickly gathered up the dead bodies and their prisoner and ran into the cave mouth. 

In the cave, they questioned the Orc and discovered that the map was taken from the Stonefang Orc clan from many years ago when orcs raided a black Dragon’s horde.  Since it had been many years,  the tribe was unclear on where exactly the Dragon’s cave was located.  He admitted that the shield he was carrying was from the Glintshield clan despite the fact that they were rumored to have disappeared many years ago. 

Since the large dragon was now blocking their escape, they headed deeper into the cave to discover a set of wormholes laced with a sticky fluid.  They entered the tube and followed it down several feet for roughly 6 hours.  It emerged into a large cavern where they saw the corpse of a purple worm 35 feet below them being eaten by a young black dragon.  Trying to find a way out, Monk began to climb along the wall with the intention of creating a zipline for the other characters to use.  Halfway there, he noticed the size of the dragon’s horde beneath the worm’s corpse as well as another small doorway leading deeper into the mountain.  Deciding to head back towards that door rather than continue towards the way out, Monk moved quietly until he overturned enough rocks to alert the dragon.  Although Monk fey stepped into the open doorway and out of the dragon’s sight, Brandis took advantage of the situation to zipline down the anchored rope.  The dragon swung around at the sound of the noise ready to do battle with the intruders.  

aSeventh Session Recap  (December 4th, 2010):

Wyndham (2^nd level Sorceror)    Edhas (2^nd Level Bard)

Brandis (2^nd level Fighter)             Sariel (2^nd Level Assassin)             Ryswinn (2^nd Level Cleric)

Monk (2^nd Level Monk)

July 16^th –

 After a climactic battle against the Dragon, the party held on to defeat the creature and quickly began grabbing whatever they could from the horde.  Shortly after obtaining magic items from the piles, the party ran into the opening deeper into the mountain.   They could hear the larger dragon return to the nest and begin roaring in anger at the sight of the dead young dragon.

The group headed deeper into the cave passageways and stumbled on a group of a dozen drow talking about waiting for “what she will send”  Coming from the passageway, the party engaged the drow implying that that “she” was sending the group of soldiers as slaves.   After Wyndham tied up the rest of the party, the drow led them several yards deeper into the mountain and into an opening to the Underdark.  Escorted into a large drow city of spiderwebs, the group was placed into a series of cells with other creatures.  After a brief exchange of gold, the group discovered the dragon had been sending various items to the Drow.  It was unclear what they were exchanging them for. 

The group escaped from the cells and fled the Drow city without any problems only to return to the mountain and tried to find their way out.  Taking an alternative passageway, they were able to locate a small chamber useful as a resting point.