D&D at the Games Tower

The Adventurers™ waited in the forest clearing for Arnogall to return from scouting the keep. They listened for any sounds of disturbance in the woods but heard nothing untoward. Then silently, Arnogall appeared through the trees.  He explained he’d seen two hobgoblins in the ruined gatehouse of the keep, a large break in the main wall and the skeletal remains of a giant slumped against the wall.  Together with the map of the keep’s interior that Jorr had sketched out, the party had a pretty good idea of the layout.  Jorr piped up that of course there were giant skeletons there, “You all know the history of the keep don’t you?”  The party, being new to the area didn’t so Jorr explained that around 100 years ago the keep used to be garrisoned by soldiers lead by an ambitious nobleman called Amery Wrath.  After the fall of  Rhestilor, Amery laid claim to the entire Wytchwood and seemed to rid it of its evil reputation.  His first task was a tribe of giants.  Amery attacked them, dri

(Scroll for tl;dr) Jarlier continued to interrogate the hobgoblin.  He slashed at the creature’s leg to make it talk but the creature gave little away.  The goblin spoke of a horde that would crush the party and accused Jarlier of defiling the holy symbol he’d found on the hobgoblin cleric.  Balderpoor tore out the hobgoblin’s eye with a scimitar causing him to pass out.  They lashed the creature to Skonn and investigated the ruined farmhouse.  The hobgoblins that attacked them had been using the ruin as a camp; their meagre belongings strewn about the place.  In a side room the party found a recently murdered merchant and his bodyguards.  They found some gold on the merchant and the usable weapons and armour on the corpses.  The Adventurers™ rested here for the night which passed without incident. In the morning they set out for Jorr’s cabin with the now conscious hobgoblin bound at the wrists, pulled along by Skonn.  After a few hours they found a lonely log cabin with smoke r

Skonn and Arnogall landed their Hippogriff outside of Drillin's Ferry and headed towards the town, instructing the Hippogriff to go and hunt.  At the outskirts of the town was a wooden watch tower.  A guard questioned the two strangers and explained that the town was on edge as there had been more Hobgoblin raids than normal.  Skonn and Arnogall waited in the town common and were shortly joined by Jarlier, Sorin, Balderpoor and Wolfgang who also flew in on Hippogriffs.  The group went to the Old Bridge Inn and saw a mysterious man sat in the corner of the bar wearing commoner clothes. He looked worried. Wolfgang approached and asked what was troubling him.  The man said he'd seen an omen this morning that signified the end of the world.  Balderpoor, who was well practiced at interpreting omens, asked what the man had seen. He explained that a bird of prey had hopped from a rabbit hole, glared at him and returned back down the hole.  Balderpoor thought on this and exclaimed the

(Scroll for tl;dr) As they continued  their river cruise, The Adventurers™ searched the boat finding it had a cargo hold containing some rations, bed rolls and lots of rope.  They returned to the mysterious box on the deck and continued to examine it.  There was no obvious way to open it; its only notable feature was an inscription which read, “The more there is, the less you see.” Skonn suggested that they drag the box below deck where it was darker.  Once there the box opened and inside they found a vial of dark liquid suspected to be poison, a letter and a scrap of paper with instructions for the magic bowl they found on the pirate captain.  The letter contained orders to buy the lost orb, described as a deverstation orb, from the Hand of Yartar.  The letter also spoke of hidden treasure, should additional gold be needed.  The treasure was rumoured to be hidden under the long ruined Wrath Keep, about 80 miles to the north of Yartar.  Any treasure seekers were directed to the to

(Scroll for tl;dr) Leaving the bath house with only Skonn, Sorin, Arnogall and Balderpoor seeming alert, the party sought out  Helvur Tarnlar the clothier and  Imdarr   Relvaunder a priest of Tempus. They had both given the party a task to perform which the party had completed. The Adventurers™ now wanted to find out why they had been asked to do these things and more importantly if there were any reward.   Helvur came across as pompous and arrogant until Sorin showed him the signet ring they had found in Tricklerock Cave.  Helvur explained that he was a contact for the Lord’s Alliance.  He explained that this organisation is a loose coalition of established political powers concerned with mutual security and prosperity. Should the party help Helvur with a problem they would be invited to join alliance and gain powerful allies with access to useful resources.  He described how he had heard reports of a powerful orb that had been stolen from the Lord Protector’s vault in Triboa

Scroll for tl;dr A cool wind blew across the ground and a hippogriff reared up and screeched. The ground began to tremble and two earth elementals burst up from the dirt road between the party and the gallows. The full moon rose and the noose around Ulhro Luruth suddenly burst, he dropped to his knees and when he rose his head, he let out a blood curdling howl. The werewolf attacked Baphomet and knocked him unconscious but the beast’s bite did not infect him with its curse.  After that however the werewolf seemed to run around rather ineffectually and was taunted by the party as they took to the skies on their hippogrifffs.  The earth elementals proved far tougher and as the party fought them, a great beast ridden by a human burrowed up from the ground.  While the battle raged the rider picked up Tantaur’s corpse, threw it on the beast and burrowed away again.   The werewolf was easily dealt with but the elementals proved tough adversaries until Jarlier dealt a devasta

(Scroll for tl;dr) In Jeremy’s magic shop, Smiley noticed that his pet rat Mousey, was going berserk. Jeremy had been telling them about the Grove of Rebirth and that the druid there could bring people back from the dead. Smiley pulled the rodent from his pocket and Mousey escaped his grip.  He ran for the door behind the counter and started scratching it.  Mousey could sense the presence of gold.  Smiley went into the back room finding only a table, chair and heavy iron door.  Mousey ran towards the iron door and scratched at it so much that its claws were bleeding.  Jeremy was angry and drawing his longsword demanded Smiley return to the shop, which he did. The party noticed that Aubrey had put on a new hat and was now claiming to be a wizard.  They let him tag along as they had lacked a skilled magic user.  However, some in the party felt they still lacked a skilled magic user.  Leaving the shop they returned to Feathergale Spire, picked up some fresh Hippogriffs and set off f

From the tombs, The Adventurers headed back to the Air Portal with Skonn leading the way. They were approached by a cultist called Aubrey Marblebelly who was having second thoughts about being in the cult and wanted out.  He asked the party to help him escape. Skonn was reluctant and eventually tied Audrey up declaring he had another prisoner to sacrifice.  Whilst Skonn marched off, Drowyn searched some long abandoned shops for armour to replace his damaged set.  Baphomet and Jarlier joined him and they were attacked by a winged creature, which would bite and hold onto its prey, temporarily blinding and suffocating them.  The creature hid behind some rubble and when Drowyn peered over he saw three of the things.  At that point the heroes turned and ran, catching up with the others at the prisoner holding area in the howling caves.   Skonn told the priests he intended to complete the ritual and the party returned to the Air Portal with one of the priests.  Lightning from the por

The Adventurers returned to the now sumptuously decorated prisoner holding area.  The priests had prepared the room in anticipation of someone they called Yan C Bin. The party rested here for a long time, waking to find the priests in the corner, murmuring in an intense but quiet debate. Desenya gestured towards Sorin, wanting to draw him away from the priests.  They shuffled to the nearest corner of the room and she revealed she was part of a delegation from Mirabar on their way to Summit Hall to lay to rest a fallen hero.  After seeing him and the party fight the air elemental, she now felt the party could be trusted.   Desenya explained that the delegation had been attacked by a different cult called Black Earth, with most of the delegation killed and a few taken prisoner.  Later the cultists form Black Earth were attacked by members of the air cult who called themselves Howling Hatred.  She asked if Sorin and his friends would help her find the survivors of the delegation and r

In the corners of the cavern, at the edge of their vision, The Adventurers noticed two large shapes forming in the darkness.  Two grotesque ape-like monsters began to appear and attack the party.  They were dispatched with surprising easily, with Sorin even arming the two battered prisoners so they could help finish off the second beast, almost literally exorcising their own demons. Balderich, Jarlier, Skonn, Smiley and Sorin pressed on, agreeing to escort the prisoners out of the caves. Arnogall, Baphomet, Drowyn and Kilnaar hung back, not engaging in combat, almost as if they were not even there.  Deciding to head to the Air Portal, the party continued down the caverns, finding four priests in a chamber, at the centre of which a brazier burned an eerie green flame.  The priests saw Skonn first and demanded to know what he was doing here.  Then they saw Jarlier wielding the legendary spear, Windvane and deferred to him.  They asked if he was here to perform the ritual and noticing

After taking Aerisi's spear, Jarlier also took a torc, four rings and a diadem from where she fell.  The Adventurers donned the cultists robes and ventured down the stairs, finding the cultists in the great hall were no longer floating and meditating.  They asked the party what had happened to Aerisi before one of them spotted that Jarlier was carrying Aerisi’s spear. "Look, he carries Windvane."  "The heir of the air," another exclaimed, "tell us your bidding oh Lord." Jarlier, confused at the outburst, asked why they were here and what was down the shaft in the middle of the room.  They did not know as only the fully initiated cultists went down there, though they never came back. Skonn and Baphomet jumped down the shaft with little hesitation.  Their fall was slowed by both a strong upward gale of air and their Featherfall cloaks; the descent seemed to take an age.  The others eventually followed finding themselves in a cave with gory bo

Sorin explained that he, Arnogall, Balderich and Skonn had met a group of minstrels in the room behind them and Arnogall had played a flute so beautifully he was invited to play for their leader Aerisi. He accepted and word was sent to expect the party.  Balderich had offered the minstrels his skeleton arm which they gladly bought for two gold pieces. Jarlier and Smiley joined them whilst Kilnaar, Drowyn and Baphomet followed a few paces behind  as they all set off for the huge stepped pyramid in the centre of the underground complex.  On the way there the party found a man lashed to a column. The was pale, gaunt and looked like he had not eaten for days.  He said he was being tested and refusing water or any aid he said he must learn to live on air alone.  He explained he’d been called to this place in his dreams. Continuing over a moat and towards the pyramid, as dragon like creature swooped down and landed in front of them. Its rider introduced himself as Kaz and asked where

Arnogall, Balderich and Skonn returned to the final room of the tomb to face the flying swords. Having found nothing of value or note in the tomb, they hoped that defeating the swords would lead to some sort of discovery. Sorin waited in the antechamber while Baphomet, Drowyn, Kilnaar and Jarlier waited quietly outside.  Smiley limped back to Feathergale Spire after being hurt in the previous encounter. The three adventurers, later joined by Sorin, defeated the flying swords but nothing else happened. They examined the tomb and coffin but found nothing interesting. Balderich examined the iron chest they had found earlier but did not notice anything unusual about it. In desperation they piled up everything they had found in the tomb on the stone pedestal in the anteroom. The tomb looked much tidier but nothing happened. Unable to find the gold mentioned in the mysterious note, the party left and headed for Tricklerock cave where a different letter had talked of defeating a creature in