Chapter Twelve - The Call of Longing, A Cry of Calamity

Session was held 2nd of June at the Altar of Games

The Cube Unfolds It's SecretsArius stared with awe, as he struggled to comprehend how could the magical cube of ancient origin call his stepfather Melkor by name. He forgot that Jared had been wounded grievously as a great outsider beign Nycaloth had ripped poor priests arms off. Harmaakelo's Mill had turned to be a stage for great suffering.

Suddenly Melkor started to translate Cube's ancient language, and even Douglas pricked up his ears while healing poor Jared.

     Melkor told how the Cube of Tybor was actually Tybor himself captive inside a magical artifact of his own creation. Tybor had once been the second-in-command in the cabal lead by Valthar the Wise. Together they had dedicaded themselves for the preservation and protection of the Netherese knowledge and magic. Tybor and "One-better-not-to-be-mentioned" were Valthar's two most trusted disciples, but as Valthar perished due extremely venerable age, a competition ensued between the two disciples. But Tybor had already created his magical cube that gave him much power, so the cabal named him as the follower of Valthar, and thus he was given the main-responsibility of protecting Valthars "legacy".

     The rivalry between the two turned into bloodshed as the "One-better-not-to-mention" was determined to obtain the legacy. With cunning evildoing the "One" managed to imprison Tybor inside his own cube. The Cube now held Tybor's powers at bay but rest of the cabal still turned the cube for their avail and with the lead of a wizard who later became the Witchking of Blood Mountain, they banished the "One-better-not-to-be-mentioned" to the far-east.

     Centuries elapsed and the cabal withered into the sands of time. And so the Cube was forgotten until the heroes managed to discover it from the Cauldron of the Wyrm.

Now as the heroes possess the Cube and it has regained it's awareness, it warns them that it once again senses the grave danger that lurked in these grounds centuries ago. Tybor suspects that the "One-better-not-to-be-mentioned" is near and that he possesses the Legacy of Valthar the Wise. Melkor stops translating but the rest notice from his gestures that knowledge of great importance is shared between the Cube and the wizard.



Cidela Pepperpath, the brave warrioress

 But they stop to pay attention to Melkor as the noise of hooves thunder into their ears. There, in the middle of a thunderstorm, a familiar figure cathes with them as Cidela Pepperpath shouts for them. She had rode from Berdusk to fetch the party back to Darnon, as the kingdom is facing a new dire danger. Cidela explained that black clouds gathered over the ruins of Dakhet-Mar and from there a doom would descends upon the village of Durunmer. Our magnificient adventurers promised to answer for this call of heroes, but first they woudld have to return to Triel, where they would bury Hashim and hide the Cube. Cidela was devastated from Hashims fate and the grave wounds of Jared.

On the way to Triel Cidela remebered old tale about the Blue Lady who lurked in the Reaching Woods. The old witch was known for preying upon men but also for it's potent but whimsical healing magic. As Melkor confirmed the tale to true, the group with more legs than arms decided to ride to Darnon through the forest and on their way there they would attend the Blue Lady.

But before their quest for Darnon, they had to put everything in order at Triel. Elvar the Grainlord was shaken from the recent events and promised to do his best to compensate the incident for the "diplomatic entourage". He even offered one of his houses to be the new "embassy" and none of the heroes didn't mind. At the late hours, just before the glimpse of dawn, Melkor, Arius and Douglas buried the Cube of Tybor deep into the soil at the basement of the newly acquired "embassy". They decided that Lot would be left to guard the house, but they didn't reveal the Cubes location for the poor squire.

Our brilliant champions managed to rest for few hours, but before leaving Triel they attended the funeral of Hashim, organized by Elvar the Grainlord. While wishing farewell for the redeemed Kothian Mercenary whose blade had proven to be one of the most efficient means of justice, mortified Jared told about delirious dream he saw last night, where Hashim stood behind the Cube of Tybor, leaning to his sword. Jared was convinced that the Cube would be safe as the Kothian would guard it even from the hereafter. While others wept, others stood motionless as the mercenary was laid down to rest. A priest from Triel started a hymn for the deceased and many united to the choir.



Ferocious battle at the Outpost

 Kingdom Come!
As Lot was left to Triel, Arius, Melkor, Douglas, Jared and Cidela strode towards Scornubel and beyond. They didn't stop to the wretched city as local group of villains called United Merchants/Murderers had charged them from the murder of Baron Von Schuberg and therefore death would be omnient at the streets of the Caravan City. A familiar ferryman aided them over the river Reaching and they were back inside the borders of Darnon. On their bold gait they didn't notice the signs of danger, and a Darnonese outpost came suddenly after a sharp curve of the road. A ferocius battle ensued, as the Darnonese soldiers and Skogarrim-mercanaries assaulted our heroes. The assault turned into bloodpath as Melkor unleashed his new potent magicks and summoned a great celestial dire bear. The beast shred the assailants into pieces and the outpost soon turned to smoldering ruin.

As they were leaving the site of destruction, two hunters alerted by the ruckus run into the heroes. The joy of reunion was tangible as Constantin Almert and Viril Massar step forth from the forest. The two foresters greeted the heroes and invited them to the lean-to from where they promised to guide the cavalcade to the house of the Blue Lady. After long remedial night of rest, the expedition to the witches swamp begun. The two hunters stayed at the edge of the bog as our brave heroes wade forth to a lonely rustic cottage. Douglas and Arius plundered into the hut, but no witch was seen. Douglas moved outside to investigate, but then the hag attacked, biting and clawing young Arius who was left alone inside the cottage. A combat began and Melkor summoned three great lions to their aid. The bitch was soon slain, and the heroes ripped it's glowing red stoneheart off and gave it to Jared. Strange magicks occured and before their very eyes, Jareds arms regenerated from nothing!



Close-up of Map of Darnon



Strenghtened from the visit at the Blue Ladys hut, our dexterous bandits rode to the Foresthouse were they spend the night. Early at the morning they began to approach the village of Durunmer that was located near the Middleroad Inn where they once visited (see Chapter Two). After days ride they rested for awhile at the Inn in question and quickly continued to Durunmer as the black clouds proceed rapidly towards the poor village. When they arrived to the doomed village, a crowd had gathered before the villages church, reviling the priest of the Bitter Lord who strongly disagreed that he had brought the doom upon the village.As the sky darkened and the black clouds grew, the heroes managed to brief with the village leader but then the foretelling became true as the earth began to shake. As panic spread amongst the villagers, great explosion occured and the church blew up into smithereens. Where the bastion of faith once stood, now rose a terrible monster, a gargantuan maggot of horrendous necromantic power, the Ulgurstasta. (Fiend Folio p, 180)



The mighty and terrible Ulgurstasta



On Ulgurstastas side came dozens of skeletons of various sizes. Luckily Jared was in his might and by the will of Lathander he turned the undead, utterly destroying those foul creatures. Unlike it's minions, the mighty Undead Maggot was unharmed by Lathanders divine powers and begun drumming our valiant defenders of justice. It grapped Arius to it's maw and swallowed the poor prince while it crawled and crumbled village houses beneath it's massive necrotic bulk. Enraged by the devastation, the rest of the villagers bravely attacked the maggot, only to be dismembered by it's 40ft. long razor-sharp tendrils that sprung suddenly from it's pores full of pus. Melkor summoned three dire apes to keep rest of the undeads at bay, so he could focus on the giant maggot, as the abomination was efficiently killing everything on it's path. Meanwhile Arius struggled inside the creatures abdomen as necromantic acid was feeding on his pure life-energy. He managed to cut open the stomach and escape, grievously weakened from his bumby ride. The fight was amongst the most wicked and severe, and eventually the beast was weakened, but it possesed enough unholy power to launch one final attack of retaliation. It regurgitated it's stomach's necromantic content as a mighty breath weapon that eated away the flesh and animated the corpse as a skeleton. Poor Jared was struck by this diabolic attack, and aghast the rest saw how their cleric corroded away and rose again as a mockery of his faith. This terrible fate of the beloved priest spurred the rest into frenetic attack, and together they destroyed the undead maggot.

Mouring their loss, the one's who were left promised to bring Jared back eventough he had often spoken against the black arts of resurrection. Still, the rest felt that he played key-role in the destiny of Darnon and thus the practice was justifiable. While aiding the villagers who were still alive, Melkor dropped a bomb. He told Arius and Douglas that he would go away for a while. Shocked from the wizards scheme, they protested against it. But Melkor told them that he had to do some research before they could use the Cube of Tybor in order to excecute the coup for the crown of Darnon, and therefore he should ride west, while the rest would stay in Darnon to proceed their guerilla warfare, weakening the power of the one's responsible of the tyranny and gaining followers and support amongst the masses. He told Arius, Douglas and Cidela to ride to Berdusk in order to bring Jared back. And then the wizard saddled and as he rode he declared that as he returns he brings the winds of change with him and thus a new chapter in the history of Darnon would begun.

GOODSPEED MELKOR!

Melkor the Wise riding his valiant steed!

Return to the Throne

Dungeon Master Jakubias succeed at craft check and manufactured a quick illustration about the heroes of the campaign. There's Melkor beign ominous, Jared praying for his god. Douglas charging with his rapierUmbra, and Arius as a tightass prince. Also notice the two malevolent Knights of the Black Cliff on the background.

While watching this picture One may imagine for the adventures yet to come, as the campaign turns to it's latter-half. The plot thickens, action becomes even fiercer and tears of sorrow and joy are shed, as our heroes struggle for the fate of Darnon! Stay Tuned!

Chapter Eleven - Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe!

Session was held 26th of March at the Altar of Games

As the dust settled and our brave heroes were proven victors of the struggle at the volcano, a long and gruelling journey back begun. The Untheric refugees rewarded them with gold items scavenged from the temple and in return our heroes teached them how to use the amulet to black guardian statues of the Ziggurat's entrance. Eventually they returned to the portal and left the unforgiving climate of Unther, wishing farewell to their newly forged allies.

From the western end of the portal they found themselves once again surrounded by pitch-black darkness. But they did not cower in front of the catacombs, nor anythings else found in the Ossuary of Wyrmwood, and by defying ghosts of the late Cultist of the Dragon and other perils they ascended from the unhallowed halls into the "cover" of the Forest of Wyrms. All along a creepy aura of evil radiated from the Cube, but only Jared was able to sense it. As their delusions grew stronger and the forest around them almost became alive, a ominous voice whispered from the tree tops "Give me the Cube..". And at the very moment a horrendous green dragon launched it's attack on our unlucky heroes.

A terrible battle was fought, but by divine strikes performed by Douglas and Arius, the ancient beast fell as it's head was sundered from it's serpent-like body. Our party decided to take it's head as a trophy and they continued their journey towards the village of Triel, where Lot and the steeds were waiting for them.

As our champions of valor traveled across the plain between the forest and the village, a wagon catched up with them. Man called Proden and his daughter Mim had been scavenging metal from the Forest of Wyrms and offered to travel with the party. Loading the Cube of Tybor on wagons increased their overall movement and the village was reached in record breaking time.

Village People

Triel was a small village, only couple dozen buildings enclosed within a wooden walls. Nonetheless the village had three large granaries, holding more than enough of supplies for such a small village. They camped into the Singing Straw Inn where innkeeper Gor of Heartland guided them to Lot the squire. Poor Lot had been drinking heavily over the course of our heroes absence, and talking shit even more. And so he explained how the mayor of Triel, Elvar the Grainlord waited for the heroes to arrive as he believed them to be a diplomatic entourage from Darnon. And also how he had arranged a deal with local villager, Bobur Bardabbas, concerning a old house he owned. Melkor was content with Lot's independent chores, as a cellar of a house they owned themselves would suit perfectly for the studies needed in revealing the true significance of the Cube of Tybor.

A bargain was later made, and the party bought their first real estate. A canny carpenter known as mister Harmaakelo (he was an elf, a fact noticed and shunned by the party) promised to repair the weathered building. Later same day, as the day turned into evening, our fellowship gathered to the Grainlords mansion. Hashim was left to the newly purchased house to guard the Cube, and he was glad to do so, as "Sir" Lot's imaginative stories were bit too much for him. And what a feast it was. Elvar the Grainlord served a full course of delicacies. He also asked the "delegate" if it would be possible for Triel to join the upcoming empire of Darnon, and other silly questions as he was still fooled by the stories told by drunken Lot.

As the courses and dishes were served, the Grainlord insisted the heroes to try his "flush", and so he served to them his collection of the finest spirits from all-around the Faerun. Much later after plentyfull of tasting, Arius decided to make a leave, and as the others stayed tasting some more, he staggered towards their house. On his way he met the girl Mim, and after long strange moment Mim ran away. Puzzled by behavior of the girl, he continued onwards, but a great shock awaited him. At the house he witnessed terrible scene of struggle. Inside the house four mercenaries laid dead, gutted by strikes of a scimitar. But in the middle of the horrendous set laid Hashim, striken down by overhelming force. Now the Kothian Mercenary rested in peace, and Arius closed his eyes. Suddenly he remembered the Cube, and an another shock awaited him as the Cube was gone!

RIP - HASHIM THE KOTHIAN

Arius launched to alert the others, and they splitted to investigate the gate and the house of Proden (who's daughter Arius saw just before the gruesome discovery) in order to find the assaulters. They soon found out that Prodens wagons had been stolen and the man and his daughter had been slain in the progress. Gatekeeper Karrahald told them that a wagon had left the village few moments ago, albeit he had received a bribe in order to keep it secret.

A thunderous pursuit begun, as our heroes steeds stroke lighting as they rode the road towards Scornubel. After a while a cartpath departed from the road, and as rain soaked the ground, the trail of the escapees was easily followed. The trail ended into a sawmill owned by certain mister Harmaakelo, and as our noble avengers found the muddy wagon inside the mill in the company of Harmaakelo and his assistant who were carrying a certain cube, it was quite clear who were behind the treachery. As they were 'bout to deal justice upon the murderous thiefs, a huge creature landed behind them. The creature demanded the Cube from Harmaakelo, and as the elven carpenter was paralyzed from terror, the monstrosity launched a furious attack on them all. In the midst of the battle Melkor was able to identify it as a yocholoth, more accurately as a Nycaloth. The Outsider was fierce, and even though they slayed the abomination, it managed to rend Jared into bits. The poor cleric lost his both arms as the four-clawed monster torn them off as easily as one snaps a twig.

As the monster was bout to be conquered, Melkor noticed that the elf had carried the cube with his assistant futher inside the sawmill. He rushed after them, only to witness how the fools were bout to cut the cube in a large circular saw powered by mills waterwheel. Before Melkor could stop them the Cube exploded with massive blast of energy, knocking Melkor down and shaking the whole building. As Melkor managed to get back to his feet he saw a huge hole, at least 15ft deep and 30ft wide. In the bottom of the hole lied the Cube of Tybor.

As Melkor begun to walk towards the Cube, and Arius joined him as Douglas healed Jared who was terribly maimed by the otherworldly creature. Suddenly a voice tolled from the mystical Cube: "Netherene...." and as Melkor and Arius engaged the Cube more closer, the air itself around our fascinated heroes electrified and the hollow voice rumbled:

"NETHERENE.... MELKOR!"

Chapter Ten - Within the Ossuary a Heart of a Mountain Was Found

Session was held 26th of February at the Altar of Games


Our mighty heroes had plundered into the Ossuary of Wyrmwood, and deep within they found what they were looking for, a portal to the Cauldron of Wyrm. After carefully studying the symbols and runes carved to the edges of the circular portal, Melkor declared that they could step in. And soon whole crew found themselves from far away place, a cliff on the mountainside of the Smoking Mountains that are located in the ancient empire of Unther.

From that faraway cliff they found a stone door that introduced them to series of chambers and corridors that once were a Untherian Ziggurat, temple dedicated to the God-Kings of Unther. They even stumbled into a hall that was full of colossal statues presenting those dead gods which were once worshipped by the Untheric people. There were the deities Assuran, Ramman, Girru, Enlil, Inanna, Nergal, Ishtar, Marduk, Nanna-Sin and Gilgeam who was the last of the gods. After gazing the dead splendour of these Elder Ones they proceed on their quest for the Cube of Tybor, but they were suprised by malicious undead beign known as BoneLord and its two Serpentir minions. Defeating this skeletal bonecrafter required some effort but they continued as victors. After discovering supplies from the old strorage basement of the temple, our party gathered some strenght at the safety of those age-old rations.Melkor considered that the old temple was abandonned decades or centuries ago but the Cult of the Dragon had enstablished a stronghold there as part of their operations in the Cauldron of Wyrm.

"Beams of Extreme Agony"

After restorative hours of rest our fearless adventurers plunged forth deeper into the temple. There they saw libaries, private rooms pf the Wearers of Purple, great halls dedicated for the study of draco anatomica and a cyclopean entrance hall dominated by two crosscut pyramids which both acted as footholds for two intimidating statues made of ebony stone. Doubts were raised as the statues both looked into same spot where the pyramids angles met, the only place to step into the stairs leading downwards and foward on their quest. The nefarious intuition sure was well-grounded as the statues shot beams of extreme agony to poor Arius who was yet again eager to take the first step. Arius survived the damage done by that trap of ancient and magical design. Puzzled by the terrible trap, Melkor invented a way of passing safely, for himself at least and like a lighting bolt the wizard flew through the hazardous spot unharmed by the beams of death. Douglas counted on his dexterity as a rogue, but he suffered horrendously as the red lasers of those black statues cut his flesh and bone. Only then Melkor discovered a link between a small amulet found earlier and the trap and passed through the spot unharmed, wearing the amulet in his neck. And by exploiting this knowledge the rest passed through the beams of extreme agony.

They continued on and came to an opening in the side of the mountain, covered and decorated by gigantic pillars and engravings of Untheric pantheon. Between the pillars they saw a long stonebridge spanning across the heights, linkind two of the Smoking mountains together. They set foot on that vertiginous structure and cursed its lenght. In the other end they found a small landing, from where a set of stairs ran downwards. Also a small path started it's desperate climb from the level they were but all their attention was bound to a splendid stone of black and red, lifted on a pedestal. Douglas used his best tricks and failed to notice any traps, but as he took the egg-shaped stone, a wall in front of him collapsed unleashing a blood-thirsty PYROHYDRA with eight fiery heads! The battle was terrible, but with preeminent skill in the art of war they turned the multi-headed horror intoa a Luskanese bagpipe, a carcass full of holes.

The Ascension and the Fiery End.

After slaying the beast of legend, our watchful party gathered their belongings and spend some time recovering from the wounds inflicted by the great OctoHead. Then they continued the path upwards, only to meet group of Untherese refugees whom had taken shelter at the mountaintops from the Mulhorandi invaders. After clarifying our partys intentions they welcomed them to their camp. The Untherese told about serpent-like people who had raided their camp and asked if the heroic troupe could ventrue futher on the trail and get rid of these hideous menrobbers. The merry band of adventurers agreed but stayed at the camp for few nights just in case if a new raid should occur. It never did and the fellowship begun the last part of their ascension, unaware that one day the bards of Faerun would sing tales from its legend.

The path curled along the mountainsides, and after long and perilous journey they came to a massive opening in the side of the mountain, from where a river of lava, that came from the depths of the mountain, turned to a gargantuan lavafall that thundered down to the Black Ash Plain thousands of feets below as a malicious rain of stones. A narrow stone bridge crossed the lavafall and took the party inside the opening. There a ropebridge crossed the fiery stream again back to the side they came from and from there a another stonebridge crossed once more to the opposite. And there they saw a strange canvas spanned over large "doorway" to another colossal chamber. But even from the first stone bridge they saw that the canvas was something terrible, and as it spoke to them they understood it to be a human streched across the opening. It demanded their flesh and summoned three nasty salamanders, snake like creatures of fire with humanlike uppertorso.

Few minutes and destroyed ropebridge later the salamanders were banished and the unholy human canvas torn open and our heroes proceed to the conclusion of their quest through the canvas. There they saw a vast chamber of colossal proportions, bordered by small streams of lava that united into the river that ran down to the Black Ash Plain. At their feet in front of the stone bridge was a colossal skeleton of long dead dragon, covering the area where the streams flowed into the same ravine. In the back of the chamber was a pool of lava from where the streams begun, and in front of the pool was a huge formation of black stone and high off the floor of the majestetic heartchamber of the volcano, on the black formation rested the Cube of Tybor!

Arius and Douglas climbed down the dragons spine to reach the chambers floor while Jared stepped through the air with his airwalk spell. Melkor and Hashim stayed at the stronebridge, and from afar they saw how a terrible wraith rose from the floor of the chamber, cursing the adventurers. It was the last ghost of the Cultists who seeked the Cube and perished, but Jared scorched its incorporeal remains with his greater turn undead ablility. But then all hell broke loose, as the black stone formation rumbled with great voice, identified itself as Harafalg the Giant and sweared that the robbers would never get the Cube of Tybor. Then the mountain begun to shake as the formation shattered as the fire giant broke free from his slumber. So great was his strenght that the lavapool behind him ruptured and begun flooding the chamber with its molten content.

There, jumping and balancing on lavastones floating in the powerful flow our heroes fought a bitter battle against a ancient power that was considered legend by the most. In this epic scene of local armageddon they triumphed possibly the greatest triumph ever, and got to possess the fabled Cube of Tybor.

Ecstatic from their victory and the fantastic visions of raw power of the nature, our heroes forgot the one major thing that had been bothering them through-out their quest for the Cube...

What a fuck was it for?

Chapter Nine - Portal-Travelling in the Footsteps of a Ancient Cult

Session was held 29th of January 2011 at the Altar of Games

It had been slightly over a week ago when Melkor the Wise got his hands on the Cultes Netherenes, eccentric tome that together with ponderous research in the libaryvaults of Oghma's Temple revealed much to the wizard. With a bombastic display of prestidigitation he shared his mad scheme to the rest of the fellowship, and the acceptance was mixed. Scepticism was quaranteed as he announced that they would travel to a volcano via ancient portal in order to obtain the Cube of Tybor, an mysterious aertifact which significance was unknown. After supressing all the laughter of disbelief they gathered their ranks and rallied to the Twilight Hall, a Temple of Deneir in Berdusk that also hold the unspoken headquarters of Those Who Harp, the Harpers.

Later on, they arrived to the Twilight Hall where cleric Danius Lumbertide received them and listened to their request. Mister Lumbertides stance was indifferent to their cause, but then Melkor saw his old friend among the people of the temple. General Almatheus Ochrefield served in the army of Darnon twenty years ago until he was exiled as the wave of terror engulfed the kingdom, and he knew Melkor well and promoted their cause to Lumbertide. And when they revealed that Arius had the right for the crown of Darnon, the cleric rushed the party to a rendezvous with High Lady Cylyria Dragonbreast, the leader of the Twilight Hall branch. High Lady Dragonbreast promised their support in the quest for the Cube of Tybor in order to liberate Darnon, and they gave Melkor the missing pieces of the puzzle.

And so, the mad scheme goes like this: First of all, after equipping themselves with rations and new magic items received via late adventure's loot they would ride the western bank of river Reaming to the north, where they would cross the river Reaching and stop to Scornubel. This would take five days. After well slept night in the already familiar city, they would ride to north, passing the Trielta Hills from west until they would reach the treeborder of the Forest of Wyrms. From there they would continue on foot, until the Ossuary of Wyrmwood, old site of Cult of the Dragon, now possibly forlorned. From there they would found the portal to the Smoking Mountains in the Empire of Unther far far away in east, where they would seek the extinct volcano known as the Cauldron of the Wyrm. And inside that Hell on Earth they should find Harafalg the Giant in whose possession the Cube of Tybor is. As simple as that.

Nice plans, and now the practice
After receiving futher guidance in form of cartography, our heroes returned to Dancing Tulip to prepare for the upcoming journey. Two days later, 11th of July 1372DR they launched the expedition according to the plans. From their newly acquired friends Hashim and Lot followed them on their journey, as Cidela Pepperpath stayed in Berdusk due her own whims. On the third day of journey, in halfway to Scornubel, severe rainfall hindered their movement into fraction. As they pushed through the grey curtain, three malicius trolls surrounded and jumped on them. A horrendous fight occured against these tough skinned humpbacks, as they regenerated even the most ghastliest cuts. Eventually, after building a pyre over every trollish carcass our heroes managed to take a breather. They even came across with small trollnest which provided them with minor loot.

Soon they were on their way again, all away to the river Reaching where they were suppose to take a ferry across. But the ferryman apologized and instructed them to meet Baron Von Schuberg, a nobleman willing to charge the ferryservices personally. Infuriated they rode to Barons vineyard estate, where they were received on a sunny patio. The opulent baron, Konarld Von Schuberg boasted to our humble heroes how gruelling his work in eminent position in the United Merchants was, and how he needed a time off from it with his family and riches at this summer-estate. Eventually Arius got pissed of and gave the baron the finger, plunging the afternoon into gore-filled slaughter. After liquidating practically everyone except the servants, our vigilantes let the poor peasants working in the vineyard to plunder the estate, while the ferryman took them to the opposite bank.

The magnificent band soon reached Scornubel where they found themselves from the Jumping Jugs tavern, once again. They relaxed for a while until a familiar face crept in. It was Mordiggian, main usurer of the United Merchants/Murderers. He questioned the PCs from the murder of Baron Von Schuberg who held a high title in the ranks of United Merchants and demanded them to solve the murder and also to eliminate the resistance once and for all, or they would face the deadly charges from the bloody assault. The merrymakers promised to bring forth the killers but after well rested night in the tavern they slipped out of the city, and doing so they burned their bridges to Scornubel for awhile.

The Ossuary of Wyrmwood

The adventure continued and they spurred their steeds towards the Trielta Hills. After three long days of thunderous gallop they reached the treeborder of the Forest of Wyrms. Lot the squire promised to take the steeds to the town of Triel, where he would caress them meanwhile the heroes would plunder some volcanos. And so they diverged and our fellowship seasoned with the swordmanship of Hashim penetrated the ancient forest. Carefully following the maps given by Harpers they managed to avoid any encounters with the terrible dragons nesting in those woods. Eventually they discovered the site which was the entrance to the Ossuary, or once were as now it resembled more like a hole in the ground. Anyhow, they descended down to the abandoned upper levels, and advanced carefully, witnessing signs of battle and decay everywhere. Eventually they found a pristine door, which served as a entrance to lower levels that Harpers never managed to cleanse. Well crafted iron door featured a prominent dragonhead made of gold, and the dragonhead spoke to the party. It riddled our heroes and as they solved the magical gatekeepers silly rhymes they managed to pass it.

Once again they walked through countless of corridors and chambers, abandoned yet untouched by gruesome battle. Once again, a door featuring a dragonhead idol blocked their way. This time it didn't show any signs of opening and Douglas the trapexpert managed to find a trap from it, yet he didn't have the skills to discharge it. And so came Jared, the servant of the Morninglord and with quick words he conjured a hole in the wall besides the door, revealing the corridor behind the trapped door. Unluckily for him, he also eradicated the containers holding the acid that was supposed to splash out from the dragons mouth if the trap would have been triggered. Jared was able to withstand the corrosive backlash.

And so they entered to the final chamber of the ossuary. It was a huge vault, holding a small underground lake within. And against this lake rose a steep cliff, starting ascending from the doorway. And on the top of the cliff was a circural structure, roughly ten feet in diameter, acting like a window to strange realms. As they closed in to the portal they saw it displaying reddish mountaintops of the faraway empire of Unther. As Melkor begun to study the apparatus in order to achieve a safe journey, others kept guard, and not in vain, as a unknown force of soldiers showed up in the doorway.

The small regiment begun asceding the cliff, and a leader of these bloodhounds shouted the final warnings to our heroes, Consisting of Kothians, Skoggarrim and Darnonese soldiers, they were in a perfect form for Melkor to cast his fireball on them, and so did the wizard. Struck down by the blaze and offguard, Douglas rushed to the regiment to cleave out these mercenaries with his forbidding sneak attack. Oh how he wished that he wouldn't been so hasty, as from nowhere charged a man clad in black fullplate. This man, a Skull Rider, Knight of the Order of the Black Cliff wielded a bastard sword spewing forth ice and frost. Battle against these bounty hunters was fierce, as they even had a mage behind their ranks. The Skull Rider, the antagonist, fought hard, as his servitude to the Bitter Lord gave him powers unimaginable, but as good guys so often do, our heroes crushed the force ment to be the lash of the king in his hunt for the stray heir. Upon dying, the skull rider cursed our heroes and declared that his father, captain Irongrave would avenge his death.

Fatigued by this grim feuding, our glorious band of adventurers caught a breath as they gazed in to the portal that show'd them volcanic vistas of high black mountains spewing forth thick black collums of smoke.

Somewhere there was the Cauldron of the Wyrm, and a giant, sitting on the Cube of Tybor.

Chapter Eight - The Journey towards Berdusk continueth!

Session was held 7th of January 2011ad at the Altar of Games

Onwards to Berdusk!

After demolishing the cruel plans of the Bitter Lords Cult our brave fellowship had to escort the rescued captives to near village Borhus. While on the move, it soon became obvious that girl called Cidela Pepperpath would like travel to Berdusk with them, and they didn't mind. But they did mind a bit when Hashim, the redeemed Kothian Mercenary also expressed his will to join their ranks. And to top this all, the young squire Lot was serious about serving as a squire to our young prince. And so with the help from their newly joined mates, this merry band of partisans of ours dropped the rescued commoners to Borhus and continued towards northwest. The journey to Berdusk in their quest for the Cube of Tybor was 'bout to continue!

During their trek to the southern Reaching Woods they met Zolgar Tuohivirsta and his sons Garzol and Spigot. Old man Zolgar warned the heroic delegate from the great Border Bulwark and also from any attemps to circumvent it via the southern Woods. He warned that the southern Reaching Woods was haunted by the dead builders of the wretched bulwark, buried into the forestry soil. Our heroes weren't frightened at all but instead promised to clear the way for the people of Darnon. Tuohivirsta pronounced the hidden path to be a perfect smuggling route of food and weapons for the Darnonese, once purged from its haunting menace.

After departing Tuohivirsta's camp our fellowship proceed on their expedition, and manouvered directly to north after receiving a visual contact with the notorious bulwark. Even Melkor was astonished from the sheer size of it. As the dusk fell on Darnon they reached the Woods, but were forced to march on as they saw distant torchlights coming towards them along the bulwark. Escaping the possible guard patrol, they moved to the forest with haste. Quite hazardous thing to do in night, especially after receiving warnigs about the restless dead. But they weren't afraid, much. Soon they discovered something intresting. The bulwark ended to the tree line, but a high wall of straight-cut stone continued. As they wall rose to the tree-tops seemingly seamless, Melkor "spellcrafted" it to be a wall of stone, cast permanent by a powerful wizard. They continued to move alongside the wall until it ended to the edge of a dark gorge. Our heroes decided to ascend into the gorge, thereby passing the wall. They were quite sure that the ominous gorge was THE haunted pass and thus plunged in. The bottom was littered with bones and remains of the builders of the Bulwark, a mass grave showing the true state of the kingdom. And soon they found themselves in trouble. From the gorges wall a horrendous creature charged forth, a monstrous crossbreed of foul dirt and remnants of the deceased. Immune to Melkors powerful magicks the creature was almost equally invulnerable to steel, but with the help of the new cohorts they managed to smash the abomination back to plain dirt. From a shattered stone carving inside the monster's so called head, Melkor found the same symbol previously featured in the chapter seven.

They continued until the dawn and managed to break free from the Reaching Woods, finally gazing the free and lush plains of Berdusk. They decided to camp under a old oak for the rest of the new day. June 26th they continued towards Berdusk, resting the following night in Donilla Fellkrepplings farmstead inn. After a plentiful breakfast they ventrued to Berdusk in a full vigor. Douglas, an old berduskian provided them lodging from the Dancing Tulip tavern, and after dropping their gear there they launched towards the local temple of Oghma, a place of guaranteed knowledge. Douglas even discovered an old map of the city from his sleeve, making the orienteering even easier. Meanwhile Cidela Pepperpath promised to show Hashim the city, as she had been in the city before, and Lot decided to nurse the tired steeds in Hollybull's Stables and teach Hero some new tricks.

A priest called Eter Glomshaft guided gladly as our seekers of forgotten lore descended to the temples underground libraries. There, after ponderous hours of research they finally discover a manuscript, written by brother Androgas over two hundred years ago, called "Nature of Shadows" wherein a sidenote of an index revealed hidden secrets. To learn from the Cube of Tybor they should get their hands on the "Cultes Netherenes", a esoteric scripture that priest Glomshaft knew to be in the posession of Berduskian lord Lullicius Ebonmar. And to Ebonmar Manor they strode, and settled a audience with the Lord for tomorrow.

Errands for Lord Ebonmar

After late brunch our party conjured themselves to Ebonmar Manor. Lords butler, mister Partanc guided them upstairs to a fabulous lounge, where Lord Ebonmar lied on a divan sipping top grade wine. The obese hedonist questioned our party about their goals and was slightly enthusiastic 'bout their desire to view his precious Cultes Netherenes. He suggested a pact wherein the adventurers would bring him two rare manuscripts that he would designate in order to do some research on the esoteric tome. Our proud posse agreed and begun pursuing the first book immediately.

Lullicius Ebonmar desired a rare manuscript known as Crepusculum Archaicus, altought he clarified that the one here in Berdusk was much younger edition of that pre-historic scripture. The edition in Berdusk was more commonly known as the Ferrum-version and in the possession of noble known as Argold Nathmagan. Like roaring thunder thet rolled to Nathmagan Estate, only to find something crooked going on. There a band of bruisers were collecting a debt from the old man Nathmagan, but by doing so they crossed our commendable bunch of vigilantes. But something went horribly wrong as the whole estate turned into a blazing pyre! After rescuing the servants and the old couple Nathmagan our brave fire brigade found out there weren't much to do in order to obtain the book from the inferno. Gutted and crushed, they returned to Dancing Tulip to sank their sorrow when Melkor had a sudden strike of ingenuity. They rushed back to the burned down estate and began searching, moonless night hiding them from the curious. After three hours of rapid clearing they found it, a book made from iron pages! The Ferrum version! They carried the metallic monolith to lord Ebonmar who only scarcely obfuscated his excitement.

Lord Ebonmar, as enthusiastic as he were, soon gathered his thoughts and revealed the identity of the second book in demand. What he wanted was a book only known as M.D.S, a rare peculiarity only known by few. The lecherous hedonist once again knew the exact location of the item in question, he explained how he had desired it for years but the current owner just declined to sell it every single time he tried to arrange a bargain. But now Ebonmar decided to take the book even by force, sending our brave party to the residence of sorceress known as Sulphuress, the owner M.D.S. Sulphuress'es residence was a tiny hut surrounded by high walls. Our fellowship of bookfinders invaded the surrounding streets by night, darkness concealing their methods of crossing the wall. But they couldn't even imagine that once inside the high wall, the rustic old hut was no more. Now they saw through the illusion concealing the true nature of the sorceresses habitat, and befuddled as they were they tried to guess the height of the tower rising in front of them. But then a pack of lions, guards summoned by the Sulphuress attacked them, resulting in fierce combat, in which the brave posse proved to be triumphant. Horridly wounded by the feline beasts, they retreated back to the Dancing Tulip only to try again in the following night.

Refreshed and ready for futher action, they returned to Sulphuress's Tower next evening. It became apparent that the tower had no conventional means of entrance. The only way to enter seemed to be a balcony 40ft high from the ground. Douglas the thief proved his skills with the grappling hook, on soon they soared via a knotted rope all the way to the balcony. There they found a door to round chamber, devoid of any life but still showing signs of everyday living. A spiral staircase took them a floor higher to a burned down room that once were a sorceress's workchamber. In the middle of the chamber was a stone statue facing a charred incantation markings and symbols in the floor. Alongside the walls were carbonized remains of bookshelves, barely holding the ashes of the disintegrated books. After closer examination the statue appeared to be the sorceress herself, petrified during conjuration gone awry. Then Melkor set his eyes on the only surviving book, it's binding made from the softest & peachiest leather imaginable, and in it's cover the letters M.D.S. They opened the tome carefully, because it quite certainly posessed some magical properties as it survived the Sulphuress cataclysm of "mis-spelling". On the first full page of the scripture was a peculiar image, magical symbol of some sort. Before futher conclusions were made the symbol began spewing forth strange mist that suddenly erupted into a dragonic creature attacking the fellowship rabidly! The monster was Scalamagdrion (from FR Magic of Faerun), strange multidimensional dragon bound to certain book. Battle was nothing less than epic, as the spell turning abilities of the pandimensional beast made it invunerable to Melkors potent magicks. But needless to say, our brilliant adventurers left the tower as victors.

Later, as Lullicius Ebonmar greedfully grasped the book written by Marquis De Sade, who in this ghastly tome narrated some of the most heinous acts of violent lechery done to another humanoid beings, he promised Melkor the access to Cultes Netherenes on the following day. Bruised but relieved, the party returned to Dancing Tulip to count their loot, which was plentiful this time, and once there each one of them ordered a full pint of fresh ale. And after the first, they ordered a second as the next morning was forming to be a "hero-morning", but Melkor was restless, he couldn't wait to get his hands on that tome that had better to pay off all this trouble!

Prince Ariendur Action-Paperdoll

Now the wet-dream of many has finally became true, the glorious and multitalented DM Jakubias has hand-crafted a paperdoll of Arius the Prince!
As he was summoned to housewarming party/gathering of the Society of Horrible Gentlemen at Sir Williams Slampad, he decided to keep it cheap and thus manufactured this unique piece art, Arius Paperdoll, as a housewarming gift. Take a look!

Yeah, I know, FANTASTIC!