To the middle of 2018

Two sessions to cover:

In the first the group managed to get most of the Rational Savinite to mass produce the chemicals.

Also, they managed to get their young barony's army up and running. A mix of calvary, infantry, and elite infantry was assembled and trained in using the deadly chemical mix.

However, attempts to calm the populace regarding the incoming swarm had negative effects. A number of settlers from outlying farms panicked and ran into the swarm in an attempt to get away. This bolstered the numbers of the flying blood-drainers.

An assault task force made up mostly of B Team (with Katrina as clerical back up), went with platoons of the military: the Rocs, the Behemoths, the Pale Giants, the Golems, and the T-Rexes (based on the models used for the platoons).

Using the military units, the B Team was able to drive into the heart of the swarm, where they needed to deploy the chemicals to defeat the menace.

2nd Session (July 2018)


At a river ford, the New Ascension Task Force met and did battle with the main stirge force. It was a long, brutal fight, but despite the DM's best efforts no serious losses were suffered by the Task Force.

As the stirge cloud was being beaten back, it uncovered the fact that at the center of the cloud was a Vrock demon. The foul creature was emaciated from being fed on by near infinite stirges: those that drank its blood sometimes exploded into two or more stirges.

The unclean demon from horrific realms unknown fought the party, but despite unleashing walls of stinging insects it was unable to fell any member of the Task Force either. (The DM wept tears for the lost opportunity for story elements arising from military losses.)

Nevertheless, the party was eventually able to strike down the Vrock. Upon its death the unnatural cloud of stirges broke apart and a unified cloud of death became a plethora of smaller swarms, something that could be dealt with by smaller military units.

But as it died, the Vrock implored its many swarming insects to, "Defile! Defile! Leave nothing for her!"

Behold early 2018!

The party killed off the Woebegotten Troll and freed the three water nymphs in his cages. The party discovered that they were taken from a group of nymphs working near Candlemere Lake.

Guided by the nymphs the party went to the lake, where they met with Kylar Sweetwater, the dancemater of the nymphs. Peaceful contact was made with the nymphs who were thrilled to have their friends freed from the troll. The party stayed with the troop of nymphs for four days, getting down and partying!

Kylar told the party that around the time the New Gods ascended, the world had been bombarded by primoridals from the distant reaches of existence. The New Gods had battled one such creature, a walking mountain of fire. Another one had struck on Candlemere Island. In order to keep it quiet, the water nymphs encircle the island and dance. Their dance takes in the emotions of the world as a dance partner, and then redirects that emotion back into the world, away from the Island. This lack of any sensation and emotion keeps the thing on the island in a state of torpor. The party thought it would be a good idea to check this out.

But before that, the group returned to New Ascension. There they heard about some incidents near the north east border of their realm. Upon investigating they discovered swarms of stirges had been attacking outlining farms.

After fighting a outlying swarm, the B team discovered an odor in the air. Following it they found a giant swarm of Stirges, enough to darken the sky. Circling around it they chased down the odor to find a group of soldiers from the new barony to the east lighting fires with special chemicals.

They spoke to the soldiers and were told that a wizard in the barony of Jesselheim had accidentally mixed Stirges with demon blood (or something) and started a plague of the blood-sucking beasts. The only reason the wizard was still alive (and the town not destroyed) was that the wizard also had the chemicals needed to force the flying death-bugs away. So the barony was now driving the swarm westward... towards New Ascension.

The party negotiated for a sample of the chemicals, and that was where things were left as the group now has to deal with a black cloud of puppy-sized mosquitoes.

Late 2017

After the group had managed the colony of New Assension, they learned of a number of potential threats facing the colony.  These were:

1.  A number of (mostly) men had gone missing, returning befuddled and speaking of nymphs.
2.  A witch was controlling a pack of wolves, which were attacking people.
3.  There were scary ghost to the east, in the part of our map marked "ghosts".

Elzeny and her council consulted, and decided to send their group of troubleshooters out to stop the wolf attacks, their reasoning being:
a)  the wolves seemed to be the only threat that was an actual threat to the colonists;
b)  ghosts were above the pay grade of our adventurers; and
c)  they wanted to "deal" with the nymph "problem" themselves (aka - they wanted the possible nymph sexy times for themselves).

So, their flunkies went out, found the witch in her hut and discovered that she was eccentric but harmless - and not the source of the wolf troubles.  She was, however, able to point them in the right direction.  Eventually, they were able to find the wolves (or the wolves find them - same result either way).  During the very hard fight, they discovered that one of the wolves was actually a shape changer and seemed to be controlling the others.  While the hirelings defeated the other wolves, each was almost killed at one point or another, and the shape changer escaped.

The next session, the hired help followed the shapechangers tracks into the area of the map marked "ghosts" and met a grizzled man.  From this man, they learned that he was the recipient of a "gift" (though it was more of a curse) where he was forced to fight a battle between ghosts - a battle that he had fought in and found invigorating in his youth.  He believed that if he could succeed in getting the enemy's banner he could end the curse... but in all the years of the curse, he had never succeeded and his chances to do so were slipping away as he aged and his fighting skills waned.  While he would find himself unharmed after every battle, those outsiders who were killed helping him did not.  Despite this warning, the minions agreed to help him.  Unfortunately, the ghosts were indeed over their pay grade, and many again almost died - but fortunately, the spirits killed the old man first, ending the battle.  Elzeny's mercenaries returned to New Ascension with the man, contemplating how be successful in a future attempt.

The session after that, we were back to Elzeny and her councilors, who thought they should go investigate the nymphs.  Unfortunately, non of those who had returned from the nymphs had a firm idea of where they were (or the party forgot to ask), so they did a fair bit of wandering around, mapping the east shore of the lake.  While doing so, in a grove of magical mushrooms, they were set on by a group of goblins and fey, who tried to capture the women with nets to put them in cages.  After successfully defeating this threat, they interrogated one goblin and learned that the women were to be brides for a troll, and that others had already been captured in this way.

The party followed the tracks left by the cages and found a larger cage which was the centre of a ritual pulling it into the material realm from the feywild.  The cage was covered with spikes, on some of which were the severed head of women of various races - likely the fate of Elzeny and the others had they not prevailed over the kidnappers.  At some distance from the cage were a number of bonfires surrounded by dancing fey - part of the magic ritual.  The adventurers decided to try to fight one of those groups first, which posed far less trouble than expected.  This was a surprise, as one of those defeated was a troll, which Catarina managed to take down with the party's sole source of fire damage.

Summary of Mid 2017

There was much delay in the running of the game. Many moons passed with little play happening. However, two sessions have been done by the end of Oct, 2017.

In the first, the barony of New Ascension was welcoming in new colonists at a fevered pace. The ruling council heard about Perfection of Yuilia members being ambushed. They sent the barony's special forces, the B Team, to deal with the trouble.

The B Team ran across a group of Yuilia worshipers being attacked by a group of orcs. They took on the orcs in an attempt to save the religious caravan. However, as they were decimating the orcs, a vampire and its spawn rose from the river and attacked!

The battle was harsh, but in the end B Team was successful. They even managed to kill the vampire before he could get away, totally killing a monster who was NOT going to be a recurring villain. No sir. No way. Completely unrelated that he taunted the party about continuing the 'game' later. Pure random chance.


The second session dealt with the first running of the barony. In it the A Team handled some cases of government management. All were successful.

• Katerina kept the multiple religions in good standing with each other by resolving an issue about who would consecrate the barony's first graveyard. 
• Evangelene and Adella made the first steps towards a formal alliance with the Sootscale kobolds in the region.
• Craig and Elzney worked to deal with an issue between nobles and peasants about who had first claim to be the better land for housing.

After the barony work was done, B Team went south looking for information on wolf attacks. They first traveled around the lake and came into contact with the Swamp Witch, Old Belmere. Although grouchy, she directed the party out towards the east, where she said wolves more aggressive then normal dwelt.

The party wandered for a while, then were ambushed by a shapechanger (lycanthrope?) and a pack of wolves. The party was savaged, but mid manage to eventually emerge victorious. The wolves were slain, but the shapechanger fled. The party was set on tracking him down when the night ended...

Summary of 1st Q of 2017

First part of 2017

Many things happened as the party cleared to the end of the first book.

• They rescued a damaged iron golem, helping a logger.
• The party discovered an old cathedral to Olen. The main statue had it's stone heart torn out, in some kind of ancient ritual.
• They came across Akimos, a disgruntled warrior/trapper who was questioning his place in life. The party once more whored their way across the Stolen Lands, giving the lost soul something to live for.
• The group defeated a tatzylworm, a dragon-like beast deep in the forest. (And allowed the DM to test out new solo rules.)
• They came across a dryad and her satyr boyfriend, worried that an evil Scythe Tree would soon show up and eat the dryad's tree. The party was convinced to go help her (she had boobs), but the DM unfortunately had not prepared for that encounter. It was put on hold as the dryad gave the party ritual components to distract the evil tree until the DM could stat up the creature.
• The party finished examining most of their charter region, eventually finding the Stag Lord's fort on the edge of a great lake.
• The first attempt at stealth didn't work so well, with undead guardians --chained to their posts-- nearly killing the lone cleric sent on recon.
• Remembering they had the code book, the whole party then attempted to bluff their way past the guards and into the compound. It worked.
• After getting some information on the layout and who was whom. The party once again (sigh) whored their way to success. (Honestly! What is it with my party and sleeping their way to victory?)
• Killing the Stag Lord, freeing the captive owlbear, and ending the deprivations of the bandits allowed the party to fulfill the requirements of their charter. Their Writ of Exploration was transformed into a Writ of Colonization. 
• The Barony of New Ascension was established, with Baroness Elzney at its head.
• Over the winter months the party spent time working on getting resources and allies for the forthcoming building of their new barony.

Letters to my Temple Home

Dear Temple Master Erazimus,

My discovery of the realms beyond the shadow continues, with the group of similar motivated explorers.  After dealing with some rather nasty spiders we returned to the outpost to enjoy some meager trappings of civilization.   There are a few more people in the outpost now and still from time to time some wonderers restock here; unfortunately not all are that social.  I have heard tales of a nasty wild boar and I believe that my companions wish to hunt for it as we once again venture into the wilds. 

The weather is certainly as temperamental as Chiara as the extremes of spring seems to be testing the limits of our comfort.  Perhaps an investment into a tent might be wise, if only they were not so cumbersome to carry.

We have found only minimal signs of the boar but we did encounter a plethora of traps.  Fulosial’s blessing was with me as the traps injured some of my companions but not me.  The traps seem to be set for large prey but again, no sign of the beast.

We have located two deaths in the wild; the first is a unicorn that is believed to be killed by death magic and left not to decay as a warning of some type, the second was the anti-social person from the outpost.  The trapper Breeg was killed while setting up another trap.  It turns out that he had the markings of A Fellow Follower and last rites were correctly provided.  I am sad that I was unable to converse with him but happy that She called him to her.  Please advise me on the correct procedure for the unicorn according to Her teachings.

In searching for this baffling boar, we have discovered the headwaters of the Skunk River (we should rename that).  The waters begin in a seep of hot and warm springs and in discovering them we also found a source of poison in various bushes that some of my colleagues back at the temple would like to investigate.  The potency was impressive as our warrior: Elzeny was asleep in seconds.  Her Blessing was able to allow the fierce warrior to recover just in time to be swallowed by a giant frog.  This proved a poor choice for the annoying amphibian as Elzeny destroyed it from inside.   We were victorious in removing the viscous vermin from the basins and will be enjoying a bit of relaxation.  I think we will be continuing the search for the perplexing pig at the next light.

Acolyte Katerina Killain

Walking through a forest

Nov 26, 2016

• After dealing with spiders from last session, the group returned to Oleg's place, where in the distance they saw Breeg, a trapper, heading out.
• The group learned of the wild boar, Tuskgutter, and how the beast was terrorizing the region. Breeg apparently was focused on catching the bad news bacon.
• Restocked, the party headed west, exploring more of the northern reaches of the Stolen Lands.
• They cleared most of the northern planes, finding a burial site at one point, under a blackberry bush.
• They decided to leave the dead to their rest.
• Exploring the Narlmarches Forest, the gang came across what appeared to be a dead, white horse. On closer inspection it was shown to be a dead unicorn, where someone/something had removed the horn.
• The unicorn was untouched, unblemished, and was not decaying. Aiesha divined that it had most likely been killed by a death effect, and probably by something/someone important. Archfey sometimes 'marked' things they killed, and the decomposers and such of the natural world would then stay away from the kill, so as not to anger the Archfey.
• Leaving the unicorn, the party eventually discovered the headwaters of the Skunk River. The waters bubbled up from natural hot springs, and Elzney was eager to take a cleansing bath.
• The giant frogs and poisonous bushes there had other ideas, but the group was eventually able to slay the beasts and claim relaxing baths. Elzney remained, 'Four seconds from being inappropriate.'