Chaos On A Cellular Level

Treas 8, 5540

The Party:

• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer
• Characters retired (for now, at least):
  • Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
    • Flit, bat familiar
    • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
    • Midnight, Panther
    • Noona, Lion
    • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
      • Rawf, Wardog familiar
      • Aroof, Wardog familiar
    • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
      • The Metal Man, construct
  • Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
    • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
    • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
    • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
    • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
  • Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

Treas 8, 5540

Before I start, a reminder on how XP and leveling works:

• XP gained from fighting monsters is gained at the beginning of the next session
• XP gained from coins and gems is gained once it leaves the dungeon/nest/encounter
• XP gained from trade goods (barrels of rum, monster parts, etc.) is gained once the goods have been sold.
• You can't gain more than 1 level per session; if you would gain 2 levels, instead you are 1 XP away from your next level.
• If a henchman gains a level, he immediately rolls to see if he stays in your service: +1 for each level gained while in your service (including this one), -1 for each catastrophic event (losing an arm, dying, etc.), plus any morale bonuses. If a henchman levels above your own, the henchman will immediately leave your service.

This is important, because while youve gotten a bit of treasure... it's not going to level you up until you haul it out of the dungeon. And now, on to the adventure!

Deciding to travel into the dungeon, regardless of the warnings of its guardians, the party headed inside through a particularly resilient door. After wandering through some very empty rooms and down some well-made stairs (though not of dwarven make), they found a large dome of some sort, with a huge door set in the top. After much struggling, Wendy and Crolack managed to open it, revealing a tube of some sort, set into the floor. Looking down inside, a tiny dot of light could be seen below, just a glimmer in absolute darkness. Saphira chucked a pebble with Light cast on it inside, and watched it fall down and down, until it seemed to just blend into the tiny dot of light below. Whatever it was, the hole was likely hundreds of feet below them.

Exploring around, Crolack found another heavy door, locked; nearby was another door, though with no visible knob or latch. Opting for the more door-like door, Crolack bashed on it a while, and managed to get it open. Behind the door were a lot of metal stairs - about 100 feet down in switchback stairs. At the bottom, there were a few boxes stacked, in not-too-terrible condition. Sorting through, they found:

• 6,000 silver pieces (600 gp, 6 st)
• 75,000 copper pieces (600 gp, 60 st)
• 204 bricks of salt (7sp, 1/2st each) (142.8 gp, 102 st)
• 53 ingots of common metals (1gp, 1/2st each) (53 gp, 26.5 st)

The passage was wide and clean, with no signs of life anywhere. It curved, gently, both down and away from the door. Venturing along the passage, the party found a largish room, circular, with a large pole in the exact center of the room - Saphira correctly summarized that it was the same tube they found above.

After a bit of searching, the party found a small secret door: only a few square feet, with some items stashed inside:

• 500 cp (1/2 st)
• 2 metamphora of preserved special components (1st/60gp, 800 gp each) (1600 gp, 265.6 st)
• 2 silver arrows, each worth 5gp (10 gp, 0.3334 st)

Also in the nook was a large red button, which Wendy was about to happily press, but Crolack got there first. Almost immediately, the room lurched, and began spinning around! As it spun, it dropped, as if it were on a huge screw. It dropped down and down, until finally grinding to a halt. The door was blocked with solid stone, though a tiny sliver of a gap was visible. Wendy flexed his muscles, and with a herculean shove, managed to drag the room about half an inch, giving him enoguh of a view to show that the crack was another doorway, and hypothetically, the two doorways were supposed to align. After much grunting and shoving, Crolack and Wendy managed to move the door another quarter of an inch, but no more. Sighing, Wendy pulled out a Chime of Opening, and with a single clear note, the room shifted, aligning the doorways perfectly.

The hall beyond was filled with plants - mushrooms, moss, mold, and decay. There was enough light from a few glowing lichen to illuminate the passage. Cautious investigation revealed standing water, pooled beside roots wedged against the ground. Crolack was at home in the six inches of slimy, sloshing water, but the others grimaced at getting their boots wet. Those that weren't floating on flying carpets, anyway. A little farther, Crolack found... a pair of cockatrice! Crolack leaped into battle, with the others not far behind, and soon the lizard-birds were little more than mush. Oddly, the birds were smooth-skinned, with only a few feathers at the tips of their wings; something about the slimy cave life, most likely. In the nest, they found a huge pile of copper pieces, silver pieces, and even some platinum, along with some tusks and ivory.

Sloshing down the swampy passage, the party found another room; inside, Laurita cast Speak with Plants, hoping to get some information from the lush jungle inside the room. Large, bulbous mushrooms spotted the room, and trees hung down from the ceiling. Grass and reedy plants covered the floor. Numerous voices answered Laurita's question; shrill, giggly voices begged her to come closer, come closer! - while deep, raspy voices mumbled, "PAIN... GROW... PAIN... GROW!"

A third voice also spoke out of the darkness, low, dry, and rumbly. "You do not belong here..."

A Detect Evil spell showed that while there was evil dotted all around the room, there was a creature in the center that was very, very evil - mostly likely the dry, rumbly voice. After some back and forth, Wendy hit upon a wonderful idea. Using his Helm of Alignment Changing, he would ride a carpet inside, and befriend whatever was there! He enacted his plan, and dropped out of the sky onto... an undead Treant. Grabbing the mummy-tree, he wrestled the helm onto its uppermost branches. The tree flung him to the ground once, but was unable to dislodge him a second time, and in a moment, was a confused and lawful mummy tree. Because why not.

Meanwhile, Crolack, understanding that the room was full of evil puff-mushrooms, grabbed a couple vials of military oil from Saphira, lit them up, and chucked them into the room. The mushrooms burned in bursts of fire, and the reeds spread the fire quickly - though once the fire reashed the trees, the roof-bound plants began to grow! Wendy and the mummy-treant zipped out of the room in a wash of flames, barely missing Pentzkin; a moment later, the burning trees shoved through the doorway, filling the passage and cracking the doorway itself before finally stopping their growth - probably having entirely filling the room behind them.

Last but not least, Wendy asked the undead Treant if it would like to be his henchman, to which it agreed with fanatic loyalty. Because of course it did. (Details on it below)

• XP from encounters:
  • 2 cockatrice (700)
  • 1 undead mummy treant (5+1*** HD, 860 XP)
• XP from treasure
  • 6,000 silver pieces (600 gp, 6 st)
  • 75,000 copper pieces (750 gp, 75 st)
  • 204 bricks of salt (7sp, 1/2st each) (142.8 gp, 102 st)
  • 53 ingots of common metals (1gp, 1/2st each) (53 gp, 26.5 st)
  • 30,000 copper pieces (300 gp, 30 st)
  • 200 platinum pieces (1000 gp, 0.2 st)
  • 10,000 silver pieces (1000 gp, 10 st)
  • 28 animal tusks (168 gp, 16.8 st)
  • 21 pieces of ivory (1st/100gp, 54 gp each) (1134 gp, 11.34 st)
  • 500 cp (1/2 st)
  • 2 metamphora of preserved special components (1st/60gp, 800 gp each) (1600 gp, 265.6 st)
  • 2 silver arrows, each worth 5gp (10 gp, 0.3334 st)
• Total XP gained: 1560
• Total XP once out of the dungeon: 3880
• Total XP once sold: 1497.8 (the metamphora and silver arrows were kept)
• Total treasure now: 3380
• Total treasure once sold: 1497.8
• XP per PC: 240
• XP per henchman: 120
• Treasure per PC: 845 (in copper, silver, and platinum)

The Mummy Treant currently has 28 HP. It is 5 HD, Str: 11 (+0), Int: 18 (+3), Wis: 9 (+0), Dex: 12 (+0), Con: 11 (+0), Cha: 11 (+0), and its level progression is as follows:

• Level 5: 4,500 XP; atk 5+; AC 7; 2x attacks, 1d12, mummy rot
• Level 6: 9,000 XP; atk 4+; AC 8; 2x attacks, 2d6, mummy rot
• Level 7: 18,000 XP; atk 3+; AC 8; 2x attacks, 3d4, mummy rot
• Level 8: 36,000 XP; atk 2+; AC 9; 2x attacks, 2d8, mummy rot
• Level 9: 72,000 XP; atk 1+: AC 9; 2x attacks, 2d8, mummy rot
• Level 10: 144,000 XP; atk 0+; AC 10; 2x attacks, 3d6, mummy rot
• Level 11: 288,000 XP; atk -1+; AC 10; 2x attacks, 3d6, mummy rot
• Level 12: 576,000 XP; atk -2+; AC 11; 2x attacks, 4d6, mummy rot
• Level 13: 1,152,000 XP; atk -3+; AC 11; 2x attacks, 4d6, mummy rot
• Level 14: 2,304,000 XP; atk -4+; AC 12; 2x attacks, 5d6, mummy rot

Additionally, it can control up to 2 normal trees within 60' as a treant. It saves and gains proficiencies as a fighter. It has General Profs: Alchemy, Caving, Endurance, Knowledge, Naturalism; Class profs: Dungeon Bashing, Weapon Focus (fists: double damage on nat 20). Like other undead, mummies are unaffected by poison and charm, sleep, or hold spells. Further, mummies may only be harmed by magical weapons, spells, and fire-based attacks, all of which do only half damage. Except for, in this case, magical or mundane fire does full damage, because it's a tree.

Brier Patch Tussle

Treas 8, 5540

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer

Treas 8, 5540

After camping for (the rest of) the night in the goblin village, the party journeyed onward. After a short conversation with one of the ancient trees - who didn't have much to say about the location to which they were heading, as trees don't have much concept of travel, apart from their original fall and consequent growth up, down, and out - they used a ring of Command Plant to move the tree aside, letting in sunlight, and letting them easily fly out through the canopy. They traveled on, avoiding any creatures beneath the canopy, and eventually running into a group of young copper dragons. The dragons weren't terribly interested in the "site of great power", saying that their parents had told them it was dangerous, and that they should't go over there.

Ignoring the obvious warnings of danger, the group continued toward their destination. They stopped to sleep, and fought a regenerating hydra, pummeling it with enough damage to keep it from regaining its heads. Once again, they flew onward, finally reaching the location by later afternoon. It wasn't hard to find; the deep, dark forest was entirely cleared around the area. The site was a perfect square, with four large mounds at the corners, and a jagged series of earthen berms forming a sort of simple maze to the center. The berms were covered with strange, jagged things, like enormous briers, with huge, sharp thorns. On closer inspection, the briers were inorganic - stone, not woody plants. Weathered metal signs filled the maze, with images of skulls, running people, people covered with sores, and many more pictures of the dark angel on the maps.

In the very center, there was an irregularly shaped four-sided structure; the architecture was strange, with no line being parallel or perpendicular to another. On each of the four sides was a sign; the forth side had an additional, weathered wooden sign. A helm of comprehend languages could not read the original writing, but it could decipher the writing on the wooden plaque:

This place is a letter message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We consider[ed?] ourselves a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor... no respected act is remembered here... there is nothing appreciated here. What is here is dangerous and retaliatory for vengeful towards us. This message is a warning about danger [specific]. The danger is in a specific location... it increases towards a center... the center of this danger... is of a particular size and shape, and below us. The danger still exists, in your time, as it was in our time. The body [society?] is at risk and can kill [body kills or danger?]. The form of the hazard is derived from energy. The risk peril is only dropped released if you are physically disturbing this place. It is better to avoid this place and leave it unattended.

After a few minutes of puzzling over the message, the party was interrupted by the arrival of five men, clad in somewhat odd leather armor, but otherwise unarmed. The leader demanded that they leave this place; Lorita was the only one who could understand them, and asked why, but was only repeatedly told to leave. After a few more requests for more information, and explaining their quest, the men became even more terse, finally ending with, "Leave or be destroyed!"

The men were... well prepared. Before the fight even started, they spread out to avoid area attacks; though they were only wearing leather armor, the armor was of such quality that they dodged damage like it was nothing. Their bare fists rained down damage, nearly taking down Wendy and bashing the rest of the party pretty well too. Two of the men ran behind a nearby berm, and returned with two contraptions following them - strange mechanical platforms with heavy shields and dual repeating crossbows that shot up the battlefield with ease. One after the other, however, the men dropped; eventually, the machines were damaged, and the last of the men brought down.

Realizing the men were lawful only after the fight, the party began binding their wounds and bringing them back to the land of the living... The leader was restored to full health, with minor scarring, only requiring a night of bed rest; two of the others also only needed a night of bed rest, though while one only had minor scarring, the other sustained damaged genitals (though, oddly, he didn't seem very upset by that fact). One of the fighters sustained a severed hand, and needs a week of bed rest, keeping the two engineers company, both of whom were lamed. The last of the fighters was utterly destroyed, and unable to be brought back without a powerful spell...

• XP from encounters:
  • 1 Martial Artist leader (2600 XP)
  • 2 Martial Artist (3200 XP)
  • 2 Martial Artist (2200 XP)
  • 2 Engineers (1200 XP)
  • 2 shielded moving platforms (4** HD, 380 XP)
• XP from treasure: (none)
• Total XP from encounters: 9580
• XP per PC: (Laurita, Saphira, Wendy): 1916
• XP per Henchthing: 958 (Herman, Baelnar, Pentzkin, Alun)
• Further XP once you reach civilization and sell treasure: 487 (total)

The moving platforms were reduced to composite parts (and fewer than they started with), but the crossbows were mostly ok. There are four crossbows - automatons - of exquisite design, though two sustained some damage; you don't know much about automatons, but these appear to be quite expensive.

As a note, automatons fall into two categories: those that require an operator, and those that do not. Those that require an operator are essentially just machines, and will not count towards XP - though they do count towards treasure. Automatons that do not require an operator are treated like enemies, giving XP by their HD and special abilities. What that means is, an automaton with an operator is similar to a magical weapon; as long as it is not used, it can be sold as treasure, but researching it removes the ability to get XP from selling it.

It Takes A Village (Out)

Treas 7, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard
  • Gunilla Sandström, White Mage
  • Lautaro Rodriguez, Explorer

Treas 7, 5540

After much discussion about the map, where it could lead, and exactly what they should do first, the party collectively decided to teleport to near the location on the map. They still had a great deal of ground to cover, however; the map was only precise to about a hundred miles. And teleporting into the largest forest on the planet probably meant a little searching...

Upon teleporting into the forest, they peered out into the darkness, and after some careful investigation, realized they were standing in a village - a goblin village! But these goblins were no cowering, mewling pushovers - they were scary goblins, with long, sharp teeth and dangerous looking claws. Wendy, the terrifying clown, challenged their leader to a fight; out of the darkness stepped an obese man, towering over the goblins. He strode forward, and as the fight began, transformed! He was a demon boar, a were-boar of massive size! He tanked though several solid strikes from the clown, but dished out a fair amount of damage in return. Finally, the boar fell to the ground, his insides burning from within. The goblins, enraged that their leader was dead, attacked; with some careful manuvering, the party was able to protect its casters and mow down the goblins. Injured but still standing, they felled the last of the goblins as it tried to flee. As they went about looting the village, they heard a squeak; charging forward, they discovered three bulky goblins and two goblin casters, who managed to survive a single round before being turned into goblin paste. In the wagon they were dragging away were two shapes - humans, bound and gagged!

The two introduced themselves as Lautaro Rodriguez, a level 1 explorer, and Gunilla Sandström, a level 6 White Mage. They explained that they had been kidnapped by the goblins, and then... nothing. They couldn't remember what happened after that. However, they were on a quest to find a place of power - and the map they were using seemed to match the one the party carried! Lautaro boasted that he could lead them all the way there. Using every bit of his wit and charm, Aria convinced Gunilla to work for him; as Lautaro was already working for Gunilla, that means Aria has two new henchpeople!

• XP from encounters:
  • 1 village of
    • 48 super-goblins (15 XP each)
    • 12 super-goblin champions (20 XP each)
    • 3 super-goblin subchiefs (35 XP each)
    • 1 super-goblin shaman (59 XP)
    • 1 super-goblin witch-doctor (47 XP)
    • 1 absolutely massive Demon Boar (5,400 XP)
• XP from treasure:
  • 1000 Copper weighing 1st, worth 10gp
  • 6000 Silver weighing 6st, worth 600gp
  • 10 bone fetishes and figurines, weighing 1.7st, worth 300gp
  • 3 rolls of cloth weighing 12st, worth 30gp
  • 8 rugs weighing 48st, worth 40gp
  • 2 barrels of preserved fish weighing 16st, worth 10gp
  • 3 barrels of beer weighing 24st, worth 30gp
  • 6 cord of hardwood log weighing 48st, worth 30gp
  • 5 ingots of common metals weighing 10st, worth 5gp
  • 6 gallons of lamp oil weighing 12st, worth 12gp
  • 3 pouches of wolfsbane, weighing 0.5st, worth 30gp
  • 11 bone fetishes and figurines, weighing 1.83st, worth 66gp
  • 1 shells trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 110gp
  • 1 bronze trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 100gp
  • 1 Fine wood trinkets weighing 0.167st, worth 800gp
  • 3 Glass trinket weighing 0.5st, worth 300gp
  • 1 Bloodstone weighing 0st, worth 50gp
  • 1 turquoise weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 Agate weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 jasper weighing 0.167st, worth 50gp
  • 1 lapis lazuli weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
  • 1 tiger eye weighing 0.167st, worth 25gp
• Total XP from encounters: 6571
• Total XP from Treasure: 2186 in coins and gems, 487 in other treasure
• XP per PC: 1251
• XP per Henchthing: 626
• Gold per PC: 546.5 gp
• XP once you reach civilization and sell treasure: 487 (total)

Additionally, there were a few items of armor and weapons that belonged to the two adventurers, including a treasure map to the place of power:

• Treasure Map (to the place of power)
• Shield +1
• Crossbow Bolts +1 (Quantity: 7)
• Dagger +2, +3 versus beastmen
• Potion of Heroism
• Potion of Sweet Water

The two adventurers are:

Gunilla Sandström (Female, level 6 White Mage, 26 HP)
Str: 13 (+1), Int: 10 (+0), Wis: 9 (+0), Dex: 11 (+0), Con: 11 (+0), Cha: 12 (+0)
Plate Armor (AC 6), Bola, Sling, Water skin, Ink (1 oz)
General Proficiencies: Healing, Collegiate Wizardry
Class Proficiencies: Transmogrification, Apostasy
Languages spoken: Nobiran

Spells:

Lvl 1 (2)	Lvl 2 (2)	Lvl 3 (2)
Cure Lt Wounds	Magic Mouth	Water Breathing
Sanctuary	Choking Grip	Glyph of Warding

Lautaro Rodriguez (Male, level 1 Explorer, 7 HP)
Str: 11 (+0), Int: 7 (-1), Wis: 13 (+1), Dex: 12 (+0), Con: 13 (+1), Cha: 5 (-2)
Chain Mail (AC 4), Shield, Flail
General Proficiencies: None
Class Proficiencies: Ambushing
Languages spoken: Nobiran

Fee Fie Fae Fell?

Treas 6, 6640 + 111 days PTS (post time stop)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men Dragon
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger Red Dragonborn Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch
• Wendy, Terrifying Clown Bard
• Aria Balakdo, Gnomish Librarian
  • Emily Emerald, Librarian Guard

Treas 6, 5540, plus 111 days

Meanwhile, far away, a day's walk from the capital of the Summer Fae, a gnome named Aria Balakdo, riding on his dog Dewey and accompanied by his bodyguard Emily Emerald, came across a very large, very scary-looking clown named Wendy. Wendy, having just left a traveling circus, was willing to accompany the gnome on his trip to the city, to help organize the library. They had only traveled a few miles before they ran into a nest of beetles! After a quick skirmish, in which Emily Emerald was nearly taken down, and the clown mopped up nicely. Cleaning themselves off, they continued on.

Not long afterwards, Aria received a harried phone call from the Head Librarian, who was quickly pushed out of the way by the Queen's Army! Distraught, the gnome gave new orders to Aria - something had happened to the Winter Fae, and it was up to him to verify that it applied to the Summer Fae as well.

The party, meanwhile, felt the first few rays of sunlight strike their faces, and sighed in relief... right up until Alun, the Summer Fae Ranger, grabbed his boss's arm. "Miss Moonstone... I don’t feel so good!"

He stared down at his hands as they flickered, and in a moment, he vanished entirely! While everyone stared in shock, Alun suddenly flickered back into reality... but looked very different. His skin was red, and on inspection made of smooth scales - no longer a Fae, but a dragonborn! Wondering what was going on, they once again attempted to teleport with the staff - and this time, it worked. Instantly, they were zipped across the vast oceans (Caranthir stayed behind, to ferry Luce across the oceans), and they found themselves standing near the city of the Summer Fae, Alun's home. Not far off, Aria and Wendy stopped in shock, seeing the group of adventurers suddenly appear out of thin air. After some cautious introductions, they completed the journey to the Fae city together.

The Fae city seemed the same as when they saw it last, except that instead of Fae, there were naught but dragonborn! At the library, Aria found a distraught librarian, who showed him a book about the dragonborn - written by that same librarian, though he had no memory of it! It seems the Fae had becoem dragonborn overnight... somehow. Further investigation showed that the dragonborn believed they had always existed, but that neighboring cities somehow believed that they had changed. Oddly, it was only the larger cities that seemed to care; none of the smaller baronies had checked in. Nonetheless, Brenvull Crerthar, King of the Dragonborn, was too busy to be seen.

Oddly, Alun spoke Draconic now, but Saphira still speaks Fae; the librarian realized that what he was speaking wasn't Fae, but no longer understood Fae. Very strange...

After their investigation, the party settled into a decent tavern for the night. Saphira and Baelnor heard a few dragonbron talking: "The Kingpin is hiring new men." Saphira successfully seduced one of them, though his plans to take her upstairs were thwarted when she suggested that he arm-wrestle the clown... and worse, Emily. He lost both times, and left in shame.

That night, Saphira received a dream from a grumpy old woman, who introduced herself as the Old Mother, and crossly added that she was no three-legged cow, just because she was old and used a cane. She said that there was something dreadfully wrong, and that old magic had been awoken that was long laid to rest. The party must investigate, and get to the bottom of the problem - but first, they needed to return to the Old World; the ordeal with the clock was not finished. When Saphira awoke the next morning, she found a map tucked under her pillow...

It's obvious that the location is in the forest of the northern continent of the Old World...

• XP from encounters:
  • 8 bombardier beetles (20 XP each)
• XP from treasure: none
• Total XP for Wendy and Aria: 64
• Total XP for Emily: 32
• Special XP: 100 XP for Wendy and Emily, for beating a dragonborn arm-wrestling

Wight Supremecist

Treas 6, 6640 + 111 days PTS (post time stop)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

So, I screwed up and didn't actually write the writeup for this. I'll try to remember what happened, but... yeah. Oops.

In the main city, Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right) helped the party find the source of the halted time; eventually, they began fighting hordes of Wights, and eventually a rather nasty Wight Supremacist. Even so, they destroyed the creatures, and eventually found a clockmaker named Sadgitbolt Quietnifty Macrospindle - a strange Gnome, who showed them the clock he had made, based on the vibration of the universe itself, that kept time perfectly. The party destroyed the clock, and with it the force that was holding Chrona. The Goddess of Time was released, and so was the hold over time itself; the Goddess took the clockmaker for safekeeping - he wasn't truly to blame, as he was working off the Wight's plans, but his knowledge was too dangerous to be exposed.

• XP from Encounters:
  • 3 5hd Time Guardians (800XP each)
  • 2 11hd Time Guardians (4200 XP each)
  • 20 Wights (80 XP each)
  • Wight Supremacist (10,000 XP)
• Special XP
  • Freeing a Goddess (50,000 XP)
• XP per PC (Rig, Caranthir, Laurita, Crolack, Saphira): 7240
• XP per Henchthing (Noona, Llarm, Rhea, Elenora, Luce, Herman, Baelnar Grimtor, Kurt, Pentzkin, Alun): 3620

Fast And Luce

Treas 4 - 6, 6640 + 90 days PTS (post time stop)

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

The party returned, briefly, to Mor-thir, to pick up Caranthir and Aingeal, among others. From there, they continued on their search for Old Gods, this time teleporting through the Endless Desert. After visiting an ancient, still-active volcano, and finding nothing but ash and igneous rock, they explored the ridge of mountains in the center of the desert. That night, a group of travelers found them, and offered them some shelter in a huge cathedral, built in the center of the mountains. After staying the night and sharing their food and water, the party offered to teleport the travelers to their destination - Lushea, far to the south. After a short day of shopping in the tiny village, they teleported back to the mountain ridge. They dropped off some supplies, and the travelers spent a day cleaning and sorting. They also shared a bit of wisdom - Sof Zamd was not fond of visitors, and would likely drive them off in a sandstorm, if he didn't try to kill them outright.

That night, Caranthir felt a hand on his shoulder, and quickly turned and snapped at whoever tried to wake him. Luckily, he missed; he blearily opened his eyes to find Luce! Wait... Luce? Caranthir blinked in confusion - he had seen Luce only two days before, when he left his kingdom! How could she have traveled all this way?

She explained: I was supervising one of your armies, skirmishing against a nearby landowner, when suddenly the battle halted, unmoving. Everyone was frozen. At first, I though it was some kind of spell - Timestop, maybe - but then it just kept being stopped. After a while, I went looking for answers; it took two years of searching, but I finally found you!

She broke down in tears, but quickly found her composure. She went on to explain that while she wasn't affected, everyone else was; she could touch things or creatures or people, and they would "wake up" for about 12 hours, but then stop again. She traveled the world by foot, stealing food and trying to avoid cities... because cities held strange, dangerous creatures. Eventually, she found her way deep into the desert, and located the spires. She was hungry, tired, and miserable.

After unfreezing their group, they attempted to teleport to the northern continent... only to find that the staff no longer functioned! Instead, Caranthir carried Luce on his back, and the others took their various flying contraptions. It was a long flight - roughly 90 days - but eventually, they made it back to the anti-magic continent. Luckily, they found that a good "night" of rest brought back their spells, even without an actual passage of time.

In one of the cities, they fought some strange shadow-creature; deeper inside the city, they found more and more of these creatures, larger and larger, until eventually they met a towering, skeletal monster that called more creatures to it. After a long, difficult combat, they finally managed to bring it down, though the party was badly hurt by the end. At the very end, an old acquaintance showed up - the sneaky fellow that sold them the "magic-hiding brands"! Who, as it turned out, was none other than the Old God Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), patron of thieves, conmen, charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes!

He told them about the most ancient of gods - Chrona, Goddess of Time, who gave movement to the universe. Gyda Dyn had been doing some local research to figure out who was responsible, and was fairly sure that the culprit was somewhere in the continent... but where, he wasn't sure. Moreso, he hoped that it was merely a ritual or something that could be unwoven, rather than an outright slaying. In that case, well... it was goodbye world. The best place to start looking would be the capital, where it all began...

List of Old Gods known and met (c'mon guys, figure it out!):

• Lawful Old Gods
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Chaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Odin, God of Wisdom and...?
  • Burli, God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness
  • Hiezlie, Old God of Dexterity, speed, and defense
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Con men, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Neutral Old Gods:
  • Manu, The Hand of God, god of labor, construction, and work ethic
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics, Science, and Truth-Seeking
  • Moenga Moe, God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges
  • Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bed-rest
  • And, likely, two others
• Chaotic Old Gods
  • Wairangi, the Fool, Old God of fools, pigs, and ignorance
  • The Decorated Tortoise, Old God of Stubbornness, Slowness, and Grumpiness
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
  • And, likely, three others
• Additional not-so-old-gods
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from encounters:
  • 4 5hd Time Guardians (3200)
  • 6 7hd Time Guardians (11040)
  • 1 30hd Time Guardian (26500)
• XP from treasure: (none)
• Additional XP from meeting Old Gods: 1000/PC, 500/Hench
• Total XP per PC: 4704
• Total XP per Henchman: 2352

Here's Mud In Your Eye

Treas 3, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

The trek to find the Old Gods didn't take as long as they had hoped, so the party spent the rest of the time hanging around a while. Having spent 6 weeks for Saphira to get her tattoos finished, they were ready to go, and decided the next place to visit would be the scattered islands at the south of the large continent.

They headed for the capital city, and found the largest temple they could: a temple of Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bedrest. The temperature was brain-meltingly hot - a rarity, but not unknown. After a lovely nap in the cool temple, the party attempted to teleport away... and realized that inside the temple, that was not possible. Outside, they managed to teleport to the other large island. As a note - the priest there spoke Majasten.

There, they eventually found a temple of Moenga Moe, the God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges - who owned the bone staff Aingeal tried to swipe. They set up an appointment with an ancient secretary, who asked that they come back that evening, at 1:30 AM.

Killing some time in a shop, they found a few water-based spells, items, and tools. After spending some money, they realized the entire city had a bit of a nautical flair - all the buildings looked like they were built from ships, down to billowing tarps as roofs.

That night, when they returned, they were directed to a large room, full of cots, one each. Falling asleep, they found themselves in a dream, and were soon able to speak directly with Moenga Moe. After filling him in on their adventures, and reassuring him that his staff was safe with Chaos, they asked about other Old Gods. He mused for a moment, then suggested a possible location, deep in the sea...

With the henchmen staying above the water on a lovely raft, the others swam beneath. It didn't take too long until they found the bottom; it was smooth and well-kept. Moments later, a number of mermen arrived, speaking, well, Mer. For a few tense moments, the mermen seemed intent on bringing them to their city, but when someone mentioned and Old God, they were suddenly all smiles. "Oh! Sure, we can take you there!"

Along the way, the four glimpsed shadows in the water - more mermen, at least one of which was riding a giant rockfish!

They lead the four to a steep incline, and pointed down into the murky water. "He's down there. Good luck!" - and with that, went on their way. Sighing, the group swam down into the depths. At the bottom of the incline, they found a hill, about 40 feet across. Crolack swam around it, looking for any possible entrances or portals, and was about to give up... when suddenly, an enormous head shot out! He kicked to the side, and the sharp beak of the enormous turtle slammed shut just inches away. His battle-reflexes kicking in, Crolack swung his sword, jabbing the turtle in the eye!

Realizing that... maybe that wasn't the best idea... Crolack quickly swam towards the others, hoping they could all teleport away. The turtle shook itself, revealing the previously-mud-covered hill was, in fact, its shell - covered in brilliant colors, every patch different! It rumbled, and a spell tore through the water! Only Saphira managed to avoid it - the others found themselves slowed. The turtle - actually the chaotic Old God, the Decorated Tortoise, readied another spell, but Laurita teleported them away, as quickly as her slowed action could.

Sitting on the raft above, miles away, they heard the voice of the tortoise growling at them...

List of Old Gods known and met:

• Lawful Old Gods
  • Old Mother, supposedly a six-legged cow, and Goddess of Earth, Strength, and Cattle
  • Chaos, God of Order and Intelligence
  • Odin, God of Wisdom and...?
  • Burli, God of Health, Constitution, and Manliness
  • Gyda Dyn (Glance Left, Glance Right), God of Thieves, Conmen, Charisma, and Get Rich Quick Schemes
• Neutral Old Gods:
  • Manu, The Hand of God, god of labor, construction, and work ethic
  • Hinengaro, God of Mathematics, Science, and Truth-Seeking
  • Moenga Moe, God of Dreams, the Elderly, and Judges
  • Therapeftis (Thera-pef-tis), goddess of Stability, Healing, and Bedrest
• Chaotic Old Gods
  • Wairangi, the Fool, Old God of fools, pigs, and ignorance
  • The Decorated Tortoise, Old God of Stubborness, Slowness, and Grumpiness
  • Sof Zamd, God of Sand, Feebleness, Heatstroke, and Dehydration
• Additional not-so-old-gods
  • Ooze Becky, Cubic Grace, Who Digests The World, goddess of... well, whatever gelatinous cubes are goddesses of
  • Görünmez, the Unseen One, god of Invisibility, Minding Your Own Business, and Staying Home.

• XP from Encounters:
  • Mermen (none, escaped from)
  • Giant Rockfish (pets of the mermen) (none, escaped from)
• XP from treasure: none
• Special XP: 1000 XP to each PC for discovering the Decorated Tortoise
• Special XP: 2000 XP to each PC and 1000 XP to each Henchman present for learning about Therapeftis and speaking with Moenga Moe
• Special XP: 1000 XP for Crolack, for stabbing an Old God in the eye, and living to tell the tale! Also... remind me to tell you about something new and interesting that your weapon can do...