XP:

1. Heinrich – 4300
2. Riley – 4200
3. Brayden – 3200
   Everyone Else – Default 2000

This session/s the player party went looking for fight club or gladitorial arena that they could test their skills fighting in, and luckily their new party member, The Shade remembered a place he used to frequent, and now the party went there, near the outskirts of the city. On the interior there was a drug coven, which was used for a facade, hiding the illegal activities that occur below in a re-purposed area of the catacombs. Inside was a rectangular arena recessed into the floor with a bonfire on a pillar in the centre of it.

The first battle occured with only Alton, and he participated in a brawl with dozens of what they later discovered to be soulless, being manipulated to fight savagely against each other.

In the next battle the rest of the party joined Alton in the arena, and faced off with a towering, tortured dragon which was scarred up and had had it’s wings cut off in captivity. It was a gruesome fight which was only won by the endurance and skill of the party, who put the poor dragon out of its misery.

The third fight was a three-way battle between the party, a Drow Sorcerer, and a Half-Dragon Warrior. The fight was long and drawn-out, with the Half-Dragon being vanquished quickly although he saw the good in the party through the mercy they attempted to afford him, this lead to him stabbing the other champion after he had been extremely weakened, just before collapsing into the ashes.

The party then collected their winnings and investigated a room they had seen earlier that had screaming coming from it. Inside they found one of presumably many factories that convert the regular men and women into the soulless. The room had a connection with the catacombs, and a large escort of soldiers came and collected the soulless stored there. They then played around with the infuser for a few minutes, as they had received a large amount of alchemical ingredients from the spokesperson at the arena.

The party’s next decision was to strike north, as to the North-East beyond the Nomadic Army was a bounty target or possible ally in the form of an age-old lycanthrope named Diego. As they struck north they came across a village and convinced the townspeople there to evacuate, giving them a form of forward base to perhaps use in the future as it has basic defences. Further north there was a village that had been razed and massacred, with Nomadic soldiers moving away from the village in a small column. The party quickly and efficiently dealt with these men as they were all just the grunts of the Nomadic Army, and Ezreal, The Night Prince had much, much bigger plans for Aconi in the future.

QUESTS:
Lead – Diego, possible ally/enemy – Faerie Forest
Lead – The Half-Dragon warrior, he was greatly wounded but may be an ally in the future… – Kingstown Underground

XP:

1. Alton – 4570
2. The Shade – 4250
3. Gortan – 3780
4. Nick – 3500

The previous session ended with the final two surviving party members putting together a new party inside a tavern, which consists of a bounty hunter named The Shade, A powerful sorcerer named Nick. These new personas seemed to handle themselves well, and were walking with the survivors through the city when a group of guards came out of the burned-out shell of a building that was the back, hidden exit of Morchus’ base, although these guards were obviously not belonging to any certain house, and were of a higher calibre than most city guards. This platoon of soldiers then spread out, splitting into groups of three down the alleyways of the slums.

The party’s reaction to this was to stalk one group of them, ambushing them in the darkness of an alley deep in the heart of the city. To do this, Alton killed one with his sickle, whilst The Shade leaped down from high up a wall with the spiderclimb spell, slicing one guard completely in half with a blade of pure shadow. Whilst these two kills occurred, Gortan became a spider, climbing up the third guards chest, where he reformed into his usual self, knocking the guard out, allowing the rest of the party members to carry him away.

The party took this unconscious guard into a tavern, run by the same old old lady, where they interrogated him. First The Shade intimidated him, to no avail, then Alton asked him nicely, which seemed to scare the poor man more than the first act. It was then that Gortan summoned a small ball of flame, getting the information out of him before pressing the flame into the side of his head, scarring him. The party then just left the man there cruelly to die.

The party then went to The Shade’s safehouse deep within the slums, where Alton found a device called an infuser, which infuses different materials and spells together to make magical items. Alton then met a mysterious man living across the street, who had relics of a lost era, and a past age within his manor. This man agreed to train Alton after demolishing him in a training battle, which is when Alton, now humbled, had to learn how to use the infuser.

XP:

Alton – 5000
Gortan – 5000
Everyone Else – Default 2000

This session began with the rest of the player party gathering at the main central corridor, whilst Alton shadowed the group of slavers/human traffickers, who then heard a thud and saw the cloaked drow sprinting away as the group went out of sight. Following this the party split up after hearing inhumane and unnatural shrieking, as well as sounds of struggle and cries of pain and death. Heinrich’s character and Riley’s character headed deep into uncharted catacombs (DUMB IDEA), getting themselves locked and boxed in whilst the shrieking got closer and closer, until dozens of Ghouls flooded into the room, pale husks of humanity clinging to walls and roofs in their plight to get to those with souls, shrieking all the way. proving far too much to fight. Riley’s Character was the first to fall, not before killing a large number of them, whilst Heinrich’s character froze up in the face of his impending doom, and only fired off one firebolt before having his insides turned out by these soulless ghouls.

Alton, Gortan and Jared’s Character both pushed onwards after splitting up, continuing down the main corridor, with several screams and shrieks echoing around them, until one of Gortan’s lights lit up one of the Soulless, which moved seemingly impossibly fast away from them moments later. This group then heard the echoing shouts and struggles of the remainder of the party, and the eventual screams in agony of Heinrich’s Character.The group then heard a grunt and someone fall over, as well as a struggle and moved towards the sound. It was there that they found the crumpled body of one of the Soulless, almost cleaved in half by a battleaxe lying a few feet away. The owner of the battleaxe was sprawled on the ground, with several scratches tearing his face into ribbons, him being almost unrecognisable as the Half-Orc that they had previously seen. In the next corridor was the crumpled form of the Drow, who had almost been removed of his intestines, although he was somehow still breathing. The drow also had a strange circlet, which Jared put on his head, and seemed to have some kind of mind control, with a probable connection to Morchus (YOU STILL HAVE THIS, USE IT).

Over the next few minutes the trio moved through the catacombs, coming across increasingly gruesome sights as the slaves/prisoners had been massacred. It was then that Jared was dragged away and they stumbled across one of the prisoners hanging from the roof. Little did they know this was a bait, and dozens of the soulless flodded out of the side doors of this main corridor, and sprinted after them. The remaining pair sprinted away, with Drew eviscerating one that was ahead of them, then beheading him. The pair then finally found a side door with a lit torch, and slammed the heavyset wooden door behind them, as they ran into the next room, which was some kind of barracks. Four soldiers then came down a spiral staircase, dressed in motley armour, who distrusted the remaining party members, although they helped them barricade the door and prepare to defend. After a few moments the door was obliterated, and the horde swarmed through. It only took moments for the defenders to be overwhelmed, with the final duo only just making it through a door and up the staircase that the guards had come from.

The final duo consisting of Alton and Gortan then walked for hours through a new corridor, which was well lit and clean, with strange ruts in the ceiling and floor. After a while they discovered that the wall at the end of the corridor was in fact a magical/mechanical contraption that was transporting a battalion of well-equipped soldiers to deal with the fact that the original guards weren’t responding. The duo then discovered Morchus sacrificing a few of the successful soulless, and then eventually found their way out of his base unnoticed, as they did not have the manpower to stop him now. It was then that they put together the new party, a collection of men willing to work for money, and a bounty hunter.

XP:

1. Heinrich – 3750
2. Drew – 3670
3. Brayden – 3600
4. Jared – 3550
5. Content Not Found: riley – 3550

The session began with the party encountering a couple of thieves working for the Raven Covenant, these thieves were beating a man who apparently owed his life to Morchus the Undying. After Jared slaughtered the first two men, the final one ran away, before Gortan entangled him and Alton knocked him out, which lead to them discovering this man was in fact a drow. They then went to get a few guards and split up looking for a way to follow the lead which Jared and Content Not Found: darugun uncovered through letters on the unconcious Drow’s body.

Content Not Found: riley_, Alton, and Gortan all travelled to a tavern, of course owned by Edna, who welcomed them with open arms and showed them an entrance to the catacombs. They then waited upon Jared and _Content Not Found: darugun, who met them there a few hours later, their efforts to find a thief to use as an insider fruitless.

The party then moved through a corridor into a small chamber with doors on either end, with an obvious campsite for one scattered around the place, withe everything left hurriedly. In the backpack of whoever owned the camp, there was a backpack with a hidden compartment, which had a journal in it along with a map of a large section of the catacombs. The journal listed Reeve(the owner of the camp)’s journey through the catacombs and how he thought he was driven mad in his travels. They then discovered a bizarre lack of magic or life in this place, and upon hearing strange distant noises, an invisible Alton went to invesetigate.

Alton came across a large corridor running through the catacombs, probable parallel to some corresponding street above. In his corridor there were two people, a slight, cloaked, drow rogue moving at the back, and a large burly orcish thug at the front. In between the two men there were a procession of ten mindless people, eyes milky white, missing a pupil or iris, and all mimicking the same shuffle. Surprisingly, these men and women were unchained, though it seemed they had no intention of disobeying orders. the eleventh member of the procession was a person travelling just in front of the orc, with the orc holding the mans chains as he struggled.

XP:

1. Riley – 2550
2. Brayden – 2400
3. Jared – 2400
4. Heinrich – 2350

The barge was taken back upstream from the mines at Prisma Falls, and docked at Riverrun. This was where they picked up supplies, rested, and set off North up the coast on their foreseeable and fast journey up the coast. Just before the party was leaving, they came across an elderly man that needed travel ‘anywhere’. The man was let onto the ship without questioning and slept with the small squadron of guards the party had under employment.

That night, there was a scraping sound, followed by a muffled grunt, which Jared investigated, to find that a large demon in shredded clothes had killed two guards in their sleep, and a muffled scream awoke the rest of the sleeping soldiers. The fight proceeding this had the whole party locked in battle, with the demon scarring Alton, who had gouges in his shoulder and face. The beast was then defeated by Riley’s Character, who caved its skull in with a maul.

The party and the two remaining guards then beached the boat, as they did not have enough men to staff a full crew. They took all of the rations they could carry and moved towards the road, which luckily followed the coast. A few hours’ travel later the sun was starting to set, and they saw a bonfire in the distance, which they moved towards through tall grass. In the grass there was a dying goblin, jaw ripped off and missing a leg, who bled out whilst the party looked on. Upon reaching the bonfire, they found a murder scene. A clan of goblins, presumably lead by the charred troll, had been tossed about, missing limbs, charred, and very, very, dead. They then found four sets of footprints, and a scrap of red cloth, leading the players (not the characters, that would be metathinking), to believe that this was the scene of a victory by their last party.

Summary:
No quests were advanced or lost this session.
2 Quests – Bring Prismatic Ore to Lord Bjorn – Kill Morchus the Undying for Merchant Gibbet

XP:

1. Jared – 2000
2. Riley – 1650
3. Brayden – 1400
4. Heinrich – 1400

The session started with Jared discovering a convoy of caravans with a heavy guard presence, with the contents of the caravans being in crates that glowed from within. Upon further inspection he was stopped by guards and was not able to investigate further. Following this the party moved down to the docks to look for anyone suspicious, as their quest lead was that Morchus the Undying’s thugs operated around there. They found two ships that were considered suspicous enough for Jared and the rest of the party to scout.

The first ship was black with eyes painted onto the foreward parts of the sides of the ship, and the second was unmarked. The party took the liberty of choosing the unmarked ship and went for ‘inspection’ though they didn’t have a permit or any other legal documents, leading to an interesting interaction with the suspicious merchant captain of the ship, who turned them away.

The party then went to the harbourmaster and retrieved the search permit, and also went to the guard marshall and gathered a small cohort of guards to search the boat alongside. The merchant then stepped aside when Jared showed up with a permit, and allowed the ship to be searched. The party then only found legal items and a crate of Prismatic Ore that was given permission to travel by Lord Amroth.

The party then travelled downstream along the Flumine river, after work mining in Prisma falls, and upon arriving, they found a large harbour spanning across the river, with channels and holes allowing water to flow to the waterfall. Jared then went to a large research centre, where he stole some items, and the rest of the party were led down into the mine, before breaking away and running into a side tunnel after hearing roars. At the source of the noises was a large golem covered in glowing Prismatic Ore, being attacked by several guardsman.

Summary:
1 Quest Lead LOST – Dock henchman got away in the other boat
1 Quest taken plus advancement – The Mining Mystery

XP:

1. Riley – 2,000
2. Jared – 1,250
3. Brayden – 1,000
4. Heinrich – 750

Today our newfound party found themselves thrown together whilst on a boat travelling to the city of Riverrun, which is located Southwest of Kingstown, and is one of the cities at the very southern edge of the kingdom. Whilst they were on the boat however, a group of scaly, carnivorous humanoids climbed aboard the ship, armed with misshapen tridents and spears. The party quickly overran these monsters, until a larger one climbed aboard, which was presumably the leader, and stabbed Alton downwards through his stomach and scarring his face with his claws, sending him out of the action for the next few days. After this, the monster was quickly vanquished and disposed of, to the joy of the crew.

After the few day travel to Riverrun, the party were stunned by its beauty, as it had high marble towers, and even the winding streets were made of marble, and was split through the centre by the wide running Flumine River. The party then met Darugen, the mildly snake looking person, and went to see the lord, whose name was Lord Amroth. Upon finding the palace, they found that there was an extensive line running around the building of the population that wanted to see the lord for help or business services, ‘Jared’ of course walked straight past them and the guards, as he had the crest of House Copperson on his shoulder, as that was where he grew up, and he was there to speak with the lord and return with more diplomatic favour with his house and also with as much Prismatic Ore as he could commission. Following this, ‘Jared’ was given a room overlooking the river and the two halves of the city, providing a beautiful view. The rest of the party however came across Gibbet, a merchant who had a problem, as he owed money to someone, and gave them directions to his shop, before running off.

‘Riley’, Alton and Darugun went to finding a tavern, where they met A little old lady who gave them a room and drinks, which sent Darugun into a strange illusion-like dream where the tavern was old and broken and literally floating in nothing, with a skeleton serving drinks to no one in a deserted room. In the tavern there was also a help wanted sign, which was for work at the Prisma Falls, further down the river. The following morning the whole party went down to find Gibbet’s shop, which was in the smaller, lower-class district and was completely stripped bare, without furniture, wares, window panes, signs or anything. In the second room there was a bloody chair, surrounded by blood-soaked ropes, as the only furniture, and upstairs they found a scarred Gibbet, who was awoken with a start, and told the party that he was in fact on the run from Morchus the Undying, the leader of a crime ring in Kingstown, who was an immensley fat tiefling.

Summary:
1 Quest opportunity (Prisma Falls Work)

1 Quest (Gibbet’s issues) 1 Lead (Docks)

Our ragtag party, consisting of Gimble, Arkatuun, Angie, Bob and Garrett started out in the Small town of Strake, where they proceeded to kill a bandit leader with the help of Steve the town watchman, and then get into a large fight with the King’s officials and the local Baron, Lord Rayner, who exiled them. Following this they blew up a house, killed an old alchemist, and stole from the Baron, before fleeing in terror into the forest. They later learnt of a place called the Wolf Den, which they deduced was where Lord Rayner’s army was located.

Eventually the party made their way to The Crossroads, where they decided to lie low for a while with Arkatuun joining The Azure Council, and other shenanigans going on, including a few members of the party winning an arena fight.

In between sessions, Gimble andArkatuun made their way North-East to Aestas, and met Lady Cirsteen, the local power and the leader of House Skelter. It was there that they stole a flaming sword that only allowed itself to be used for good, and consumed one of the local merchants with hate, until it killed him, consuming him with fire. On the return trip of this the pair, aided by a few mercenaries, fought a group of dwarven pirates manning a large floating ship. Firebolts thrown by Gimble consumed the ship, destroying it asides from a cannon. All of the mercenaries that accompanied the pair perished in the battle, falling to the hail of cannon-fire. Also on the return trip the group fought a rogue mage, with Gimble using a time-controlling staff he was given beforehand.

A few weeks later, the group aided in the defence of The Crossroads, where Angie learnt of a sinister force behind the invasion. The party eventually fled from the walls and found the den of an alchemist by the name of Benallet, and upon finding him, killing him. It was after this that Bob was unconscious for several sessions. Then the party really showed their intelligence into a conundrum with a balcony and magic door, within whichArkatuun almost died, before both him and Angie were saved by a mysterious draconic force. The defence of the city ultimately failed, with the party fleeing for Kingstown, the capital city of the land, with a cohort of templars from the The Ruby Tower, which was only after they were sent up the tower in search for teleportation stones, upon which they found the body of a mage which had been hung from the roof by a raven-hilted dagger and chain. The stones were seen being stolen by a hooded and cloaked figure which turned into some kind of large black bird and flew away.

Upon the end of the long journey to Kingstown, Arkatuun was driven mad by a mysterious magical crystal, which Garrett stole and began to shadow the party owning. It was at this point too, that the party met the crazy old woman that seemed to own literally every tavern in the city and beyond, and that continuously popped up. After this Arkatuun was extorted into a _ debt to a dwarven smith operating out of the slums of Kingstown And the party was chased down and eventually imprisoned for stealing a horse and cart. After a day in prison, the party were showed through an underground dungeon filled with madmen and dead men by a strange cloaked figure bearing the raven symbol of House Ravengard. Their guide died just at the entrance to the prison to an awoken dead man, which led to the party getting locked into a battle with dead men, all with glowing blue eyes. This battle was almost fatal to the party, though they got out alive. After the mist cleared and the sun rose the party realised they were in a graveyard, with not a single grave still containing a body. This graveyard was set into a beach below the palace.

Then our party followed the beach to the port, where chaos ensued that we shall not keep as canon and skip over. ahem

The next session had Gimble and Angie on a boat, after the head of a murderer across The Sea of Swords, and the following chaos caused by a strange storm sent Angie into a frustrated rage, questioning reality as events were played over slightly differently, until she struck Gimble down and came across a continental entity dwelling in the deeps, at which point she woke up, severely terrified.

Following this the party decided to kill the king, which landed them in the a giant underground prison where they came across the same old woman in the tavern, almost blew themselves up, and landed serving a beholder after killing some cultists. They then were sent to kill a stone giant and his men who went rogue, rebelling against the very beholder that they conspired to kill. Needless to say, they killed the giant, and this leaves them at Session 1.

To be continued…