In this play report the PCs travel back to the elven ruin of Omiron. They had been sent there by Lord Blanbot, to clear out the new cult that appears to be worshipping a demonic entity named Tranz’grozan. 

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Characters 

Malik – Fighter 2 – A Thalazian blade master and leader of a gang of land pirates. 

Aetos – Magic-user 1 – An Urr experimenter in the arcane. 

Thalzir – Barbarian 1 – a blue skinned warrior with a short temper. 

Retainers 

Cornelia Nerva – Normal Human – this noblewoman was saved from Thouls in session 12. 

3 pirate thieves – two are light footmen and one is a thief 1. 

Sharif – Thief 1 – Aetos’ trusted retainer. 

Zont – Fighter 1 – a brawny swordsman. 

Tib – Elf 1 – a light footed marksman. 

Forta – Magic-user 1 – a pot bellied academic. 

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During the party’s downtime there had been a little rest and travel. Malik had been training Cornelia in the way of the sword. The cleric Andros ordered his two magic user retainers to craft spell scrolls. The large party of twelve travelled 18 miles west from Renton on Fie on their horses to the villa of Lord Blanbot, who was becoming a patron of theirs. 

At his villa they discovered he was raising a mercenary force to head back to the black mound of the dragon who had slain him. Malik informed the Lord about the cult inside the old temple of Omiron. That they were using women to recruit men into their ranks, and that he believed these men were being used as sacrifices to some dark deity. 

Blanbot gave the order to execute all known cultists, and hence bring the rule of law back to the region. For the clearing of the temple he would pay the party 500gp. Then he set about organising his campaign to the south. 

Aetos the mage was still residing at Blanbot’s manor, and had been staying there for about six weeks since session 6. His player took up control of him once again and he joined the party on their ride back to Renton on Fie. 

The party spent one day in the lake-side town, gathering up rumours, and employing some extra retainers. Zont, a fighter. Tib, an elf. Forta, a magic user. Each was offered one share of treasure, except the elf who made a deal for one and a half shares. 

This large party of eleven hopped on their mares and rode out to the temple, deep in cultist country. 

When they arrived it was around eleven in the morning. They surveyed the temple. This time there were only to guards at the temples large doors. Each wore black togas, and bronze face plates, carrying halberds. The lighter armed members of the party, Tib, Sharif, and the three pirate thieves, snuck up to one hundred and fifty yards away and rained stones and arrows on the two men. They fell quickly. 

Then the rest of the party approached the doors, pushed them inwards, and again stared into the dark vestibule of the temple, lined with it’s many columns. In the centre was a strange fungal man who gave out a terrible high pitched scream. The party charged into it and cut it down. But beyond the two northern arches there came a rattling bell. The denizens of the temple knew someone was here. 

The party very carefully marched towards the two archways in the north. They heard a lot of shuffling about in the next room, but no-one came through the portal. Clearly a trap was being laid for them. The party decided on moving to the eastern archway and marched forward through it. Beyond, they saw halberds held aloft and sandalled feet on the ground. The party launched burning oil down in front of them, hoping to harass the waiting warriors. But the lines of the enemy reformed after a few seconds, several men rushing past the arch. Then, a huge clatter of doors echoed from the north, followed by terrible screeching and the quick steps of clawed feet. The birdmen reinforcements were arriving. The bring lantern oil slowly diminished, and the party decided to rush through the arch and attack before the bird headed beastmen could reinforce the enemies ranks. 

Malik and Thalzir took the front line, dashing forward to meet three cultists wielding halberds. Three vulture headed men were just to the east, rushing forward in a frenzy. Now that the back ranks of the party were in the tunnel of the archway, more cultists charged through the eastern arch, seeking to flank the interlopers. 

Luckily the party won the initiative. Malik hit multiple cultists with his magical sword. Thalzir bound the enemies blades, the spear armed thieves in the second rank thrust and stabbed. Cornelia, who had all but six days of sword training, rushed to defend the back rank from the flanking cultists, along with Sharif. 

The birdmen collided with the parties front rank, they were being pincered in the narrow archway. That was when Aetos loosed his sleep spell. Every single one of the enemies fell asleep, and their throats were promptly slit. 

The party moved through next area that bore a huge pit in the centre. Then they moved north into the inner sanctum of the temple. This was a huge domed space, in the centre was a black ziggurat. In the north was an ancient high altar with a pantheon stood atop, only each of the statues had been smashed from the hip up. The party marched around the ziggurat towards the high altar. The northern wall of the ziggurat had three doors leading inside, and the high altar itself had a single stone door. 

The party listened at both, hearing nothing, then entered the high altar room. Inside, amongst wretched stench and offal, were six bird headed beastmen, and a dog with the head of a vulture. A quick battle took place at the doorway. With their newly found halberds in the second rank, the party made light work of them, slaying them all. Around the largest birdman’s neck was a gold medallion and a key. This Birman also carried a silvered halberd of elvish design. All were pilfered. 

This key, they found, opened the central door into the ziggurat. Inside there was a smashed room where three terrible fugal men lurked. The party charged into them and within two rounds had cut them all down. Beyond were two more doors. 

They opened one door and found a silk lined room, hazed with the smoke of fragrant hashish. Amongst the smoke, fourteen scantily clad women basked and writhed. The party didn’t go inside this boudoir, worried they would be drugged from its atmosphere. 

They instead tried the other door, and after moving through a desolate room of smashed carvings, found a room containing an old crone wearing a bird mask. This woman dangled live worms into the gullet of six featherless bird-headed children, who squawked and hopped for their meal. The woman began to sermonise how her sweet children would grow up to form a powerful empire. 

The party briefly considered slaying all inside the room, to which the crone began intoning the name of her dark deity, Tranz’grozan. The party slew her immediately, but let the accursed children live. These chicken fleshed boys began to devour their brood mother’s carcass immediately. 

The party decided to leave, for now. But on their way out they encountered a dark cleric. This decadent fellow was clad in leather armour and a bearskin cloak, he called out for reinforcements and began swinging at the party with his mace. They made light work of him, decapitating him in the same round Tib had cast light into his eyes. Malik scooped up his glowing head like a lantern, and out they all marched. 

They rode their mounts back to the village of Renton on Fie and took a few days rest, selling the golden medallion for a good price. Then they proceeded back to Blanbot’s villa to collect his reward of 500gp. The Lord was still away on his crusade to the dragon mound in the south. 

Judges note. 

I would normally show the party’s map, but the temple uses a commercial map which I have keyed. Cornelia has now levelled up to become a paladin. 

In this session report, the party seek to rescue some merchants from the clutches of a band of thouls.

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Characters 

Malik – Fighter 2 – A Thalazian blade master and leader of a gang of pirates. 

Andros – Cleric 1 – a lawful good priest of high morals 

Thalzir – Barbarian 1 – a blue skinned warrior with a short temper. 

Retainers 

Hestia – Cleric 1 – carrying her stag holy symbol 

Kall – man-at-arms – a swordsman 

Guludad – Magic-user 1 – claims to be a great and powerful mage. 

Tully – Magic-user 1 – a bumbling wreck 

Six land pirates – thief 1 – though most of these are employed as light footmen guards. 

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After returning from the temple of Omiron, the party took a few days to heal from their wounds. Whilst doing so they heard a rumour that three merchants had gone missing, captured whilst in the south. The large fish market of Renton on Fie pooled a reward for their safe return. 

The PCs were not the only adventurers interested in claiming this bounty, at least four other adventuring parties had mustered and were prepared to try and find these missing merchants. The race was on. The PCs had one advantage however, they had many horses and mules. So they set off south one hex and began searching. They followed the bridal ways and found no evidence of footfall. They spread out their search, and after four hours they concluded that the wooded bluff in the north-east of the hex was probably the best place to look. There they found humanoid tracks and followed them to a cave mouth where many human bones were strewn about. 

Malik had two of his thieves go up the cliff face to search for additional entrances. Unfortunately one of them fell thirty fee to the ground and died. Poor Eden, RIP. The remaining thief searched and found nothing. So the party entered the cave. 

What originally appeared as a cave soon gave way to a delicately carved tunnel leading towards an arch capped with a carving of a crying elven maiden. This arch led to a set of deep stone stairs. The party went down. 

There was a long corridor and a door to the west. They went inside the door and found large chamber lined with arches. A door in the south had a stone carving of an elven warrioress above it holding a bronze great sword aloft. The party listened at the door and heard footfall approaching. They set up a trap. The door soon opened to reveal a green skinned man with long white hair down to his buttocks. He had great claws that dripped black ichor. There was a brief showdown, the green man intimidating them and telling them to leave his lair. The magician Guludad successfully cast charm person on him. With the monster hypnotised into believing Guludad was a friend, the party questioned him thoroughly. 

They learned: 

• he was the leader of three monsters, they laired in the north, inside a chamber that would only open with his key. 
• They had many kobold slaves guarding their captives.  
• The green skinned man had many treasures hidden away in the north. 
• There were some dwarves to the west, who had paid him many gems to allow them to mine here. 

The monster, named Grima, took to hugging the magic user Guludad, and was becoming increasingly protective and covetous of him. The party convinced the monster that Guludad could help protect his gems from thievery with magic, so off they went to complete this mission. Grima led them him towards his lair, where his brothers dwelled. They came upon a large stone door. The key around Grima’s neck unlocked the chamber, causing the stone door to recede into the floor. Inside there was a smoky chamber with two figures next to a fire. In the north a large pile of coins glistened. 

Grima began conversing in goblinoid with his kinsman and was becoming increasingly confused. His brothers were trying to convince him he’d been tricked or cursed. The large clawed Grima dragged Guludad to the north. Grima’s two brothers then charged at the party. 

There were a tense few rounds of combat, Malik, Thalzir, and Andros were in the front rank attacking the two monsters, the spears of their thieves helping from the second rank. Eventually the magic user Tully used his sleep spell and it worked a charm. Then the PCs slew them whilst they slept and threw their bodies into the fire.

The party then counted out the treasure finding many silver and gold pieces, a medallion with a rune carved onto it, and a special sword with a rune embossed on it. 

They spend about thirty minutes putting coins into sacks whilst Andros figured out what the medallion did. He found that when he concentrated he could read minds, but only within thirty feet. A powerful artefact. 

Then the party went north, through a series of alcoves and found a closed portcullis. The arch of this portcullis had a carving of an elven queens wearing a bronze crown on either side. Andros could hear the panicked thoughts of Guludad, who was locked in a darkened room. He also heard the thoughts of the monster. 

The thief Kirk pulled on the crown of the right statue and the portcullis rose up. 

What transpired next were some severe mind games. Andros attempted to convince the the monster they were leaving, all the while reading its mind from where it hid in the north, gaslighting it, and trying to enrage it into attacking. This eventually worked and the monster charged them at in the portcullis gate. 

The party threw burning oil onto the monster, and Kirk pulled the crown of the right statue, hoping this would cause the portcullis to fall, but unfortunately his finger was pricked by a hidden needle. He immediately died. 

The battle raged for a few rounds, Andros was hit and became paralysed. Malik was also hit but managed to fight off the poison of Grima’s claws. Then, the battle was over, the monster was defeated. 

The key was taken from the monsters neck and the large stone door inside the room was opened. It receded into the floor and Guludad was saved. The party located a sack of thirty gems. One turn after the door was opened the stone door once again closed and the portcullis dropped. There were two identical statues on this side of the portal, Malik had another thief pull on the left statues crown and it rose up. 

The party had a difficult decision to make then. They had much treasure but they hadn’t located the prisoners. So they went south. Another thief died to a pit trap, then they went through a secret door and headed east. They found a guard post with two kobolds and killed them. Then they went through a series of trapped rooms. The first had carvings of moths, when Thalzir went through the archway some strange dust fell on his head. He wasn’t feeling so well but he didn’t die. The next room had a circular room with dragon headed doorways. Grates were in the floor below these doors. The dragon carvings spewed acid down when they were opened. The party managed to bypass them by stuffing food stuffs into the mouths of the dragons. 

Then they came upon a room of Kobolds. These dog headed men were having a tussle, and the party took full advantage of this and charged into the room killing four of them outright. The beastmen surrendered. 

The kobolds led the party to the captive merchants and freed them. Inside the prison was also a noble woman named Cordelia Nerva, she was also freed. Then the kobolds led the party to the exit, where they made their way back to town atop their steeds and enjoyed the bounty of their treasures and the reward for saving the merchants. 

Below is the party map of the Elven Catacombs. 

During this weeks game, Malik returns from his journey to the north. Vahan escapes the Emerald Citadel. Together, with some new friends, they strike out towards the temple of Omiron, where they have heard a new cult is rising. 

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Characters 

Maik – Fighter 2 – A Thalazian Blade Master, and keeper of a score of land pirates. 

Vahan – Fighter 1 – a gruff warrior, swathed in the stolen robe of an Elven King. 

Pilas – Fighter 1 – A roaming warrior, tall and hewn. 

Retainers 

Thalzir – Fighter 1 – a barbarous pirate, lost of his ship and sworn into the service of Malik. 

Six thieves (lvl 1 ) – all wretched cutthroats from the gutters of Acron city. 

Timin – Dwarf 1 – an underling of Vahan, clad in glittering plate mail. 

Uman – Magic-user 1 – A Scoran sorcerer of primeval cunning. 

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During the last session we had a slight cliffhanger, with two PCs trapped within the ruined temple to Omiron. These players couldn’t make the game unfortunately, so our calendar moves forward. 

Malik had returned to Blanbot’s manor after a two week jaunt to the captial; more information on his journeys to soon follow.  

Vahan had been left in the Emerald Citadel over a week ago. We made some escape rolls for him, and he luckily made it out and back to the village of Ronton on Fie, though lacking some items and without his beloved squire.

This pair met up in Ronton on Fie, Malik followed by a land pirates, and together they made their plans. Lord Blanbot had asked for them to investigate the temple of Omiron, where strange cultists had been gathering. 

Soon they made acquaintance with the fighter Pilas. Then the party searched out some retainers; finding the Dwarf Timin, and the magic user Uman. 

At the inn of the Blubbering Whale they made contact with a strange crooked man. His name was Vitius Fallow. He wanted to be escorted to the temple of Omiron, for he had in his possession an amulet that had caused him terrible luck. He’d heard that there was a bottomless pit within the temple, and he wished to rid himself of the amulet, and his poor luck, by casting it therein. For this he would reward them a pouch of gems. 

So they set off atop fine mares. Within a day they crosses a river and rose up into the hills. They saw the temple before them. For a few hours the party laid within the bracken, observing. Soon enough they saw a gaggle of beautiful women leading an adventuring party towards the temple. 

Vahan, with his magical elven boots and cape, followed after them. This adventuring party consisted of a Dwarf, two thieves, and a magic-user. It appeared the women had spent the night with them, and now the men were to be initiated into the temple. They led the adventurers beyond the columned gate and Vahan, going totally unseen in his magic cloak, followed after them. 

The party remained hidden outside, but after the dwarf and his men entered the temple, they saw the women bar the door. A little panicked by this, they began moving towards the women.

Inside the temple, there was a huge vestibule lined with many columns. The floor was totally covered with sand. In the north twelve men approached wearing white togas and black masks in the shape of skulls. 

There was a heated exchange between the dwarven leader of the adventuring party and the cultists. They wanted him to give over their weapons, put on togas, and be taken before the master. The dwarf flatly refused, so the men rang a bell, and from a great columned arch in the north a terrible screeching echoed forth. 

Vahan watched all this, hidden against a column and closely wrapped in his cloak. The dwarf tried to smash the door to make an exit, but found it utterly impenetrable. The cultists closed distance upon them. The magic-user cast his sleep spell, but only two of the cultists fell to the ground. The cultists clashed into the ranks, and in the north six strange vulture headed men came forth, wielding terrible serrated blades. The adventurers yielded, were cast into chains, and dragged away. Vahan could finally breath, but not without perspiration. 

Outside the temple Malik led the players party towards the women of the cult. They tried to woo with their charms, offering to bed them, to rub oil into their aching backs. Malik was having none of this, and with a lashing stroke from his pommel he sent the women fleeing in abject terror. 

The doors were opened. Vahan stood within and explained all he’d seen. The party made a quick plan. They would get to this pit, cast in the amulet, and leave quickly. They marched forward, and beyond the columned vestibule found a huge chamber with a recessed area in the centre. The walled were lined with marble statues of minotaurs holding severed demonic heads. In the central recessed area, by a huge circular pit, were the bird-headed beastmen. They were beating the dwarf and his crew. 

Vahan crept into the room, unseen, and watched. Some of the cultists went off, but soon returned with an evil cleric clad in chainmail. This dark lord carried a giants skull as a bowl, and after a laborious speech about the virtues of the flesh, he splashed some terrible dark fluid onto the captives, causing them to scream terribly. 

After this strange rite, the cleric moved away to the north, sending the toga wearing cultists back towards the pillar room. 

The party set up their trap, and as the twelve cultists walked in to the room, they struck. 

In all but ten seconds the party killed four of the cultists and wounded another. The barrage of their blades and spears was devastating. The cultists fled back into the pit chamber, morale totally crushed. The party chased after them, and luckily caught the bird-headed beastmen unawares. The party lined up at the edge of the recessed area, utilising the higher ground, and rained blows down on the birdmen.

Vitius cast the amulet into the pit. Then the beastmen began to split, some battled from the lower area, casting hand axes and javelins, one catching Timin and felling him, the others went up a set of stairs and sought to charge the party’s line. 

Just in time Uman cast his sleep spell. The birdmen fell into magical slumber and the battle was over. 

The party slit their throats and recovered a fine gold medallion. Then they helped the captees to freedom, though the terrible black liquid had caused some malign growths to form on their faces. 

They exited the temple, took to their mounts, and fled back to the town of Ronton on Fie. As they left the dark cleric shouted some bitter words of revenge through the northern portal. 

Another adventure complete, and many gems claimed as reward. What will they do next time?

This session involved a TPK, and a harsh one, considering we had a level up recently and the PCs had Hippogriff mounts. Nothing lasts forever though. 

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Player Characters: 

Jassan Al` Nadir – Cleric 2 – A Dervish gentleman posing as a trader, known for dark whispers.

Tiaathque – Elf 1 – a mysterious elven warrioress. 

Ithitus – Assassin 1 – A killer in the making. 

Characters after the TPK 

Ari – Fighter 1 

Lelni – Fighter 1 

Maron – retainer – non combatant NH

Phohas – retainer – Thief 1 

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We’d finished the last session with a bit of a cliff hanger. The ghost of Niarchos was looming over Jassan when he awoke. Twenty days had passed since Niarchos had taken the sword of the undead Gunther Wyrmslayer. The curse was coming close. 

Jassan managed to use his turn undead ability fairly rapidly, and the gurning ghost vanished. He was safe for now. There were still a few hours before dawn, so the party tried to get back to sleep with Tiaathque on watch. 

This was where the first in a series of unlucky rolls took place. I rolled a random encounter of twenty mountain gazelles. The elven guard rolled for surprise and was very unlucky indeed. The gazelles had a 3 in 4 change of stampeding as they ran through the camp. I rolled this, and the creatures were stampeding furiously. The gazelles stomped through the camp crushing Ithitus’ skull as he slept. Jassan was also hit but the damage was low. 

The pair of surviving characters stripped Ithitus of his gear and made a plan. Once dawn came Jassan used his newly acquired spell to heal himself. Then they took to the air atop their stolen hippogriff mounts, looking to escape the hills in favour of safer terrain. This they found only four miles West, on the shore of Lake Fie. 

Whilst they had arial advantage, the PCs surveyed the area to see if they could find anything interesting. There saw a ruined village only one hex north. So Jassan and Tiaathque decided to go check it out. 

They spent a few turns observing from a hundred yards up in the air. There were six ruined cottages with dilapidated roofs, surrounding one larger stone house. All the area was covered with thick ropey vines, pink in colour. 

Landing like lords of the sky, they came down into the centre of the ruin. They dismounted and discussed which they’d like to check out first. One of the roofs on a cottage groaned and lifted from the stonework. There was a hill giant within, he peered out and enquired what they were doing in his village. 

There was a tense bit of back and forth between the party and the giant, but the characters soon learned the giant was named Vonas. He had come here because many years ago his father had been a protector of the village in return for food. Vonas had turned up and found the area in ruin, and had been searching the houses to see if he could find out what happened. He’d checked all the cottages by lifting their roofs, but the larger stone house was brick with a flat roof, so he’d been unable to look inside. Vonas offered a reward if they went inside to look for clues. Jassan and Tiaathque agreed immediately. 

The vines were a little troubling. They covered every entranceway to the house. Jassan cut them, and they leaked a yellow fluid that began to immediately grow new vines. 

“How cool would it be if we could cast talk to plants and ask them to move aside.” My player fantasied. I concurred silently, and hoped they’d one day make it to such levels.

Using an open door check they managed to pull the vines from the stonework and lever them aside. The doorway was clear for entry, and no yellow fluid was released. Inside there was a dark foyer with two doors. The place was thoroughly ruined, and quite damaged. The door to the West was stuck, so Jassan tried the door to the East instead. 

This room was large, with a great collapsed fireplace. There were loungers completely ruined. There was evidence of a struggle, and old blood was splashed in an ark on the wall. There was another door to the North. Jassan opened this, but as he did he heard the whirling of a chain. An axe swung from the ceiling inside the room and nearly beheaded him, but his quick feet saved him from damage. 

Inside was a bedroom, dilapidated but not damaged. In the centre of the room was skeleton hanging from a noose. Tiaathque searched around the cupboards and found nothing. Jassan searched the hung skeleton, and found it it wearing a fine sovereign ring, which once pilfered caused the skeleton to crumble. There was also a note that was found reading, “I’m sorry father, I couldn’t face them.” 

The players were intrigued by this, who had killed these people and trapped them here? Jassan crawled onto his belly and looked under the bed. This is where another bit of bad luck was encountered. There was a skeleton of a women in foetal position under there, but she wasn’t alone, over a dozen giant rats scuttled out of the floor and crawled all over Jassan. 

For a few rounds the two explorers tried to battle the rats, but were soon becoming overpowered. Deciding to flee they made for the door, loosing initiative was deadly, Tiaathque dropped to the floor from his wounds. Jassan dragged him through the door and slammed it. Rats started squeezing under the door. Jassan carried his elven friend towards the door, but this impeded his speed, and the rats soon caught up with him. After another couple of rounds, unfortunately the cleric fell to the bites of many rats. 

An unfortunate end to some great characters. 

Onwards! The players rolled up new characters and started at the town of Renton on Fie. They’d received some hooks about the cult that occupied the temple ruin to the East. They set out to visit it, taking only two retainers with them out of a potential six. 

On the way they had a random encounter with three green skinned men with great talons who tried to rob them. They attempted to battle these monsters and this went horribly. Lelni was paralysed by a claw. They agreed to hand over all their gear. 

This was not going well. 

Searching for a few hours the party found some good heavy sticks they could use as clubs. Then they marched back to the hills where the new the cult was growing. They came upon a hippy commune of sorts. Nearly fifty beautiful women dressed in white togas welcomed them to the place, assuming they were going to join the cult. The PCs played along, and had a night of hedonistic pleasures with these women, who were as promiscuous as they were beautiful. It was agreed that the PCs would go up to the temple and receive initiation in the rights of Traz’grozan. Hippies and their dark gods, what can you do? 

The new PCs were led up to the temple, which was huge and columned. There, they met with some masked individuals who took their weapons and led them for their interview with Kindrel, a cleric of Traz’grozan. Led into a great chamber with a huge bottomless pit they saw strange bird headed beastmen counting copper coins. These beastmen guarded them whilst they were taken for interview, one by one.

Lelni went first, and quite quickly agreed to join the cult and give up his life to the order. He was led down into the dungeons by a bird headed beastman.

The next to go in was the normal human retainer Moran, but he bottled it at last minute. He was flung into the bottomless pit. 

Ari was next. He went into the interview room and had an intense conversation with the cleric. It turned out that his memories were to be removed, so that his flesh could be reconstituted. Ari was having none of that, so he attacked. 

That’s where we left the session. One PC manacled in a dungeon, the other engaged in combat with a dark cleric. 

Lets see what happens next time. 

Riding high above a vapour wave pocket dimension, the PCs search for an exit, and find much more. One of the players used a satyr race as class character this session. I’ll post that sometime later this week.

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Characters 

Jassan Al` Nadir – Cleric 1 – A Dervish gentleman posing as a trader, known for dark whispers.

Tiaathque – Elf 1 – a mysterious elven warrioress. 

Tych – Satyr 1 – the bravest young buck in the pocket dimension. 

Later joined by – 

Ithitus – Assassin 1 – A killer in the making. 

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Due to the players of Vahan and Chiron being unavailable they decided their characters would rest with the Satyrs whilst the other PCs rode out on Hippogriffs. 

Jassan, Tiaathque, and their new satyr friend Tych, took the reigns of three hypogriffs and flew West. Keeping one hundred yards in the air, they followed one of the footpaths through the enchanted wood. Soon they came over a river bridge and were able to view the pagoda to the South. They came to a fork in the path and decided to go North, this was where they came upon a familiar sight; a three way crossroad with a skeleton hanging in a gibbet. 

The party landed and asked the skeleton some questions. The skeleton told them he would answer three questions for every day that passed in the ‘real world.’ This time he wasn’t limited to yes/no questions. Only one of his answers would be truthful, but he wouldn’t tell which one was true. 

Q1. Tiathque asked: What is the average flying speed of the unladen swallow?

A. 20.1 miles per hour! 

Q2. Jassan asked: Which way does water flow?

A. Up! 

The party then huddled together and tried to figure out what to ask next. There came a rustling in the foliage however, and eighty yards away a rider came blowing on a horn. He wore green garments, a stag skull atop his head, and carried a shield and a lance. He rushed towards them. 

The battle was fast. Tych attempted to climb a tree, failing miserably. Tiaathque loosed two arrows, the rider dashed aside and avoided them. But it was Jassan with his mighty sling who felled the elf. 

“Right where were we?”

Q3. Is the way home inside the mound of Herne the Hunter?

A. Yes!

The players had inferred that the first question about a swallows flying speeds was the one truthful answer, so now they assumed that the bronze doors leading home would not materialise there. They saddled up on their noble mounts and took to the air again, this time heading due West. 

They’d only travelled for twenty minutes when they saw on the path below the set of bronze doors. Stood astride of the doors were four more off these mounted elven hunters. 

“Look! They have taken the masters steeds!” One of them cried, pointing towards the party. 

“I’m your master now!” Said Jassan, and the party began to dive bomb the elves with their mounts razor sharp claws. 

Arrows were loosed, two elves died. Tych managed to swoop down within ten feet of the elves on the first round, but not close enough for contact. The elves failed their morale check and fled through the door. Beyond the portal was the dark catacomb Jassan recognised. Tych swooped in and his mount sunk its claws into a horse. With his spear the satyr felled another elf. 

The remaining elf fled down into the catacomb. The party charged in after him, loosing arrows but none found purchase. The rider opened the second set of doors, which opened into the fragrant bathhouse filled with comely elven maidens. The maidens screamed as the rider dashed through to the next door. 

The party reached the doorway leading to the bathhouse. Beyond this they saw the rider open another set of doors into the great hall of the King. 

“Close the doors!” The party screamed, and they did so. 

Jassan put his staff through the hand holds of the door to bar it. Someone tried to open it several times with a slam. Tych dashed towards the doors they had originally come through to attempt to find escape. It was getting very tense now. As Tych reached the other end of the room the doors burst inward. King Lazziar and his court stood there, furious. 

“You! What are you doing out of your cage? Prey.” Said the king to the Satyr. 

For Generations Tych’s kin had been hunted by this elf, and the blood rage rose up within with heart. He charged! 

At the other end of the corridor Jassan and Tiaathque opened the doors. Lo and behold! It was the entrance foyer lined with a hundred sets of armour and weapons. They were home free. 

Tych leapt at the King, drop kicking him with his hooves. The King chuckled like a dandy. Tych rolled back into one of the cemetery alcoves. Inside was the corpse of a beautiful elf Queen. 

“Get away from her!” Lazziar screamed hysterically. The king strode forth with his sword and cut the satyr in twain.

Jassa and Tiaathque had got back into the saddle and were charging towards the exit. The doors slammed behind them. They took a second to grab a set of chainmail and a helmet. Then the doors blew in behind them and the King stood there in his emerald finery, splashed with the blood of his hunt. 

“Dismount immediately!” He commanded. 

“Hell no.” The party dashed towards the entrance, their mounts claws pushing the doors open, and they saw before them the fields of the vale. The sky was blue, not a hideous pink. They were outside the emerald citadel. They took to the sky, but heard the Elf King mutter an incantation, and looking over their shoulder they saw he was flying after them! 

An hour of evasive manoeuvres allowed the party to escape him and make way to the local village of Ronton on Fie. Their arrival caused a commotion amongst the population, having a bunch of adventurers turn up on Hippogriffs was quite unordinary. Jassan unloaded the captured crowns of the dead Elf Kings and began bartering with them.  

The party took a few days rest here. Selling the crowns, and burying much of their treasure in a nearby wood. In total the five crowns were worth 3,000 gp. All this money attracted an assassin named Ithitus to join the party. 

All was not well however, because during the night there had been a raid by twelve mounted elves on the town. Thirteen peasant guardsmen had been slain. The town wanted to host a meeting, clearly the attacks had something to do with the party stealing from the elves. 

This was a great time to scarper, and the party did exactly that, mounting their hippogriffs and making East. 

Long ago they had received a quest to investigate the strange cult growing at the old elven temple of Omirion. This didn’t take long to find from the air. They saw the ancient temple atop a hill and a small village at the base of the hills. 

Flying down to this village they were approached by many white toga wearing peasants. This place had a strange hippy feel to it, the women tried to coo and lure the character into taking off their armour and joining them for ‘pleasure untethered.’ The party refused. This caused a sort of hue and cry from the toga clad cultists. The party took off on their mounts into the hills. As they did so, they saw strange men with large hooked heads emerge form the huts. 

Whilst traversing the air high above the hills they saw a fort. 

Camping that night Jassan was awoken by a terrible figure looming over him. It was Niarchos, the retainer who had taken Gunther’s sword over twenty days ago. He stood, white as a sheet, his gurning mouth chocked with black blood. He raised a finger and pointed at Jassan. 

What will happen next time? 

---

Judges note: Quite a session really, the players managed to escape with quite a bit of treasure. Unfortunately some PCs are still inside the emerald citadel, we will see if they wish to try and escape via PbP. 

This session marks the campaigns first level up, Jassan is now a level 2 cleric. The part also have three very well behaved hippogriffs, which could change the nature of the game significantly. 

Maliks player is still engaged in PbP and is having quite an adventure on his own, this will be posted at some point in the future, perhaps when it reaches a conclusion. 

I’ll post the satyr class later this week. I offered this to a player because it seemed a little off to keep having the party running into wandering PCs in what is effectively a prison. I made this using the ACKS players companion with a bit of janking. I tried to keep it as close to the AD&D monster stat as I could. 

Posted at Dragonsfoot