Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Luh Kranky Krank couldn’t make it, initially because he was going to go play in the sunshine, but found out later he was down with a migraine. 🙁 Lexy, Savannah, and Ben came to play.

Given it was a super sunny and 70 degree day we BBQ’d burgers and had a little picnic and hung out for a little. Lexy and Savannah played some cards first.

The session started off with a very brief overview of the previous session. I reminded them that they were standing in the hallway having just exited the room where they defeated all the zombies. Gendithas Firpride was standing over the body of a giant spider he had cut in half, and was making sure the crew was silent.

They decided to go down the hallway that Reo Grayrlock had gotten such a bad feeling about. As they approached the hallway this time, both Elitacee and Quelenna Amastacia were hit with a wave of fear that was almost paralyzing. The further down the hallway they walked, the more visions ran through their heads, and the more unsettled they became. Reo Grayrlock took point and went into the room first. She scouted everything out and saw nothing. The rest of the crew came in once she declared the room as safe as it could be.

The ceiling was close to 40′ high, and very dark. Stalactites hung from the ceiling. There was a book shelf that was being used as a room divider. On the side they crew was currently on, there was a sleeping area with 4 beds, and a round wood table with 4 chairs. Four crates stood behind the iron gate that gave entry into the room.

Elitacee went over and checked the beds and found nothing, and checked the bookshelf and discovered nothing.

The crew investigated the crates and found several useful items. There were 4 moon-touched-sword-xge (shortsword) in fancy leather scabbards. There was an immovable-rod , an odd looking dagger , and 6 sets of super lightweight chain-mail. There was a 4th chest that was empty but was lined in fine linen; there were 4 divots in both the top and the bottom of the case, which was obviously meant to hold 4 spherical items.

Upon a close investigation of the rod, Quelenna Amastacia noticed the button, and pushed it – expanding the rod to its 5′ length and locking it in to place – much to their delight. They then sent Reo Grayrlock over towards the bookshelf where she jumped and extended the rod at the top of her reach. She then pulled herself up on the rod to get a better view of the cavern ceiling to see if they could discover anything. She was able to see that there was a ledge that ran all the way around the cavern, as well as stone bridges that crossed all over from edge to edge. This was all she could really see from there, so she got down.

They left Luh Kranky Krank to guard the door, and they all gathered towards the end of the large bookshelf so that they could head in to the other side of the room. The feeling of dread continued to grow for Quelenna Amastacia and Elitacee.

They ventured through into the other side. Immediately to their left they found a side room that had multiple weapons racks and additional chests, which they explored. In the chests they found: On the staff rack they found 4 staffs. One is an old gnarled piece of wood. One was an obsidian staff, smooth and black, with three pointed prongs off the top. The 3rd is a basic wood staff with a metal wrapping at each end. The fourth was a staff that tapered at the bottom, and had entwined metal like substance that wraps its way up the top of the staff and culminates in tangled, electricity-like tendrils coming up off the top. They also found a longsword and a shortsword on the weapons rack, which they left.

From this point, they ventured out more in to the middle of the room. Reo Grayrlock used the rod to climb up near the ceiling again, holding her moon-touched-sword-xge up high to illuminate the ceiling area, where she saw nothing, despite the feeling of being watched.

Quelenna Amastacia lit the large torch sconces on the walls – there were 3 of them – and they found themselves in the middle of a office workshop. At the far end stood a large, imposing desk. To each side of the desk was a locked glass cabinet, and immediately across from the side room was another, short bookshelf.

Elitacee went to the bookshelf, and found a case with three scrolls in it (2 of which could not be read by anybody in the party, and one that was some sort of star chart).

Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia went to the desk, and on the way by noticed that the one cabinet was filled with jars, vials, and containers of some sort of ingredients, and there was a leather case in the bottom of it. The other case had filled vials and flasks. Both cases were locked.

On the desk was an odd jug that had multiple spouts, and was covered in symbols. A pedestal with a glass cloche over it held a folded white cloth. There was a handful of scrolls, and a ink pen with a dried up ink well. A strange, jet black box sat in the middle of the desk. Black metal bands wrapped the box, and also made up the latch for it. When they opened the latch, the box was finished inside with a fine, rich black fabric lining and contained 3 rings.

They pulled the cloth out and unfolded it, to reveal a 6′ x 6′ square with a large, black circle in the middle. Holding it up the fabric, they couldn’t figure out anything about the cloth, and decided to move on. They unsuccessfully attempt to figure out the jug. In the meantime, Elitacee unfolded the fabric again and put it on the ground – at which point the circle became a hole in the ground, much to the surprise of Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia . They tried to figure out how to get down into the hole safely – until they looked over the edge and realized it was only about 10′ deep. So Reo Grayrlock jumped down into the hole – and found hanging on the wall a set of keys, which she grabbed. Unsurprisingly they figured out the keys unlocked the two cabinets, which they then packed up.

They used one of the empty chests to pack up all the vials and flasks, and they packed up the leather case and all the components they could fit from the other cabinet, and placed it all in the bottom of the hole, along with the staffs.

After having packed everything up, they folded the cloth up and Elitacee put it in her storage compartment. They then turned their attention to the ceiling to see if there was any way to get up above and explore – at which point they started seeing movement. Quelenna Amastacia through a produce-flame up into the ceiling – and the light reflected off of a whole lot of eyeballs. Followed by chittering, and a rush of huge spiders coming through the crevices in the ceiling. Gendithas Firpride yelled for everybody to run, which they were all already doing. As they rushed through the room, Luh Kranky Krank ran out into the hallway with everybody following. Reo Grayrlock brought up the rear, and pulled the iron gate shut just as an enormous spider crashed against it, reaching through the bars and trying to grab her. The crew ran down the hallway, and as soon as they breached the entrance Harry and Precious came barreling down from the entrance, with Precious carrying the unconscious gregornie the camel which he had knocked out. They were yelling that the airship had landed outside and those on the ship were coming into the cave. As they barreled towards the rest of the crew, everybody turned to go deeper into the caves, and all of the floor traps were sprung releasing darts which flew back and forth across the hallways behind the fleeing party.

They came to the end of the tunnel they were in to another large cavern – to find giant spiders pouring out of the crevasses in the ceiling and coming down the walls. At this point everybody could hear yelling from the entrance to the caverns from the airship crew. A bunch of the spiders broke off and headed up the passageway to confront the new group. Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia rushed deeper into the cavern and found the lair of the owlbear – complete with all the bones and remains. This end of the cavern had piles of rubble, and a large, clear pool of water filled with bioluminescent creatures. The middle of the pool held a hole that had a current rushing through under it, which was visible by the fact that the bioluminescent creatures that were waving in the current. As they watched (all while the spiders were advancing on the rest of the party) the lake started to get darker, and large bubbles started coming up and breaking the surface. As the surface got more violent with whatever was happening both Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia rushed back to join the main group. Gendithas Firpride and the rest of the group had backed down a crevasse with only one way in, with the logic that it was easier to defend a single point. As Reo and Quelenna made it up to the entrance and rushed inside, the owlbear broke the surface of the lake and let out a horrific screech and barreled out of the lake. The spiders vanished almost instantly as the owlbear rushed past and up the tunnel, leaving the party stunned – and both euphoric and panicked. They all very quickly decided to head into the lake and down that hole, since the owlbear had to come from somewhere. While they listened to the battle up the tunnel, they opened the fabric piece, knocked the camel out again who had come to, dropped him in to the hole, folded the cloth back up, Elitacee stowed it in her body, and then they all jumped in to the water and vanished into the hole, where the current grabbed them and sucked them down into the hole.

And that’s where everything left off.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-11-07

Starting to play on Tuesday nights, possibly, as weekends through the busy season are bad.  Tonight was very last minute.
 
Joel and Shea couldn’t make it. When they can make it, we’ll play at the Deli.  Otherwise at the house.
 
Started around 4:15 with Lexy and the kids; Orre showed up about 5.
 
 
Our evening started with the adventurers bunkering down for the night from our last session where they found a safe place to do so. They each took turns on watch and had a successful long rest. In the morning they all spent a fair amount of time pouring over the maps and discussing the Riddle and the clues. They spent some time examining the loot.
 
Specifically, Reo investigated the leather bound spellbook and discovered that it was indeed an empty spellbook as far as she could tell. They investigated the case of rings and successful arcana checks revealed that they knew that these were rings of feather fall. They also examined the scroll and Quelenna specifically was able to read that it was a scroll of protection from Fae, but they didn’t figure out how to open it.
 
They examined the round stone and were presented with the symbol that was on the stone. When Quelenna took the stone in her hand her entire body stiffened up and her eyes rolled back in her head and she went catatonic and experienced a vision. The vision was of the stone being taken off of a pillar somewhere on the homestead of her ancestor and it travelled through goblins and all over weird places. Eventually made its way through on waterfall and up a bunch of caverns and it crossed a lake where it was found in an empty boat by someone on the shore of an island and taken into a dark tower. The tower had strong dark magic. It was eventually set into a stone inside the tower where it lived for who knows how many centuries. Eventually there was fighting and dying in the tower and the stone was removed from its resting place and disappeared. The stone had visions of the faces of magic users and sporadic glimpses here and there of its surroundings and tell it came to be in the drawer on the airship, and then stolen by the team.  At this point Quelenna Amastacia  came out of her vision and was very weak and weary.
 
Shortly after this they became aware of faint sounds of howling and growling and barking which grew stronger and stronger as whatever this was came nearer. Everyone climbed a tree except for Zindan. 
 
5 goblins raced past riding worg, to disappear into the foothills to the north of the party. The party heard the goblins discussing something about “we think he went that way.” Shortly thereafter the party could hear the sounds of battle and of dying from where it sounded like the goblins had ridden. Gendithas, Zindan, and Reo decided to go investigate because they were hoping that it had been the owlbear, and Quelenna Amastacia , Luh Kranky Krank , and Elitacee decided to stay put. Shortly after the first group left there were signs and sounds of the search party from the airship and the bandit camp coming up through the forest so the second group decided to go after the first group post haste.
 
The first group reached the point where they found the goblins and their mounts completely destroyed and spread out in pools of blood throughout the hills along with a dead redcap-mpmm . Gendithas and  Zindan Immediately spread themselves out leaving Reo standing right in between them.  As the second team came out of the woods a short distance from the first group, a second redcap that had been hidden in the woods attacked straight towards Reo Grayrlock who managed to dodge out of the way. A battle ensued with the redcap losing appendages and going crazy and then being decapitated by Luh Kranky Krank .
 
As the battle was finishing up Luh Kranky Krank  looted the body, he was able to get the wicked sickle. Shortly thereafter they heard sounds of pursuit from the airship and bandit crew and they headed directly into the woods, with Gendithas in front casting Pass without a Trace.  They went deeper into the woods and started to hear bells. This was followed by sounds of more urgent pursuit or running away from the party that was following them, and then everything went silent after bells were heard again.
 
They kept walking in the forest went completely still, and they noticed bizarre creatures coming out of the woods and staring at them and ringing bells.  Elitacee  and Quelenna fell under the spell of these creatures and were charmed by them, and started making their way over to them.  The rest of the team responded – Reo and Luh Kranky Krank  both tried to stop Quelenna.  Reo failed, but Luh Kranky Krank  was able to restrain Quelenna and tie a rope around her.  As the creatures attacked and the battle ensued, Luh Kranky Krank  was also able to accomplish the same with Elitacee  and tie her to Quelenna with the same rope.  
 
A couple of the creatures fell in the battle, and then Quelenna and Elitacee  both were able to break free of the rope.  Shortly thereafter the creatures that had them charmed were killed, and they were free of the charm.  The four Eloko were eventually killed, and the party made its way north and out of the woods. 
 
From here, they found the decaying remains of a town, that appeared to have been a logging town at one point.  They found an old shipyard, where they found some piles covered in oilskin that were quite well preserved – both logs and dimensional lumber. 
 
They were able to stand on the shores of the river and look north and see other islands, one which looked like it had some sort of ruins.  They had Gendithas send the hawk he had bonded with for a look (they made very good use of this hawk to gather intel throughout the entire session).  The hawk reported that there was some sort of stone ruins on that island, but being a hawk it couldn’t tell them what.
 
Since it was almost 9:30, and everybody was tired, we wrapped it up with them in the shipyard deciding on their course of action.
Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-10-21

After a long hiatus we met today. We played up at the alderbrook house at the dining room table. Ben, Savannah, Joel, Trail, and Lexy were all there. Met at 10:30 and finally got started about 11:15 or 11:30 maybe.

Started with a quick overview to catch Trail up on all of the sessions that he has missed.

Picking up from the last session it was roughly 7:00 at night and they started off at the edge of the woods at the river looking at the airship which had settled into the trees up the river at the crossing where they first went to the caverns and hid. They were able to see the mysterious cloaked figure in red up on the airship at the helm.

They were able to observe the layout of the ship and that it was not a balloon style airship but rather a significantly more rare magical airship. The ship was described and a little bit of a history of airships in this environment where giving including that they are very rare and the magic ones are the most rare. That they have a crew, they were able to see roughly 10 people up on the ship along with the figure in red. The ship was anchored with four lines coming down and touching trees on either end due to its length. Jeb and the bandit crew were there and working with the airship crew to track down the adventurers.

They watched a animated disagreement that resulted ultimately in the figure in red using some sort of magical something to blast another figure off the ship into the woods. At this point Jeb took a knee in deference to the person in red.

Jeb sent his crew out in five teams of two each up and down the river and into the forest in order to try to track down the adventurers.

After lots and lots of debate the team decided to try to get closer to see what else they could notice and eventually Gregornie decided he was going to climb up one of the tie down lines on to the deck and see what he could find. Reo Grayrlock used her boots spider climbing and carried Harry up the tree. They managed to stealthily all get onto the boat and avoid detection and proceeded to enter and search the captain’s quarters quite literally under the nose of the person in the red cloak.

In searching the desk they gathered 3 parchments of maps, along with various other items detailed in another section here. They also found some disgusting alcoholic beverage that Gregornie stole.

And going to leave Gregornie accidentally shut the door too hard and drew the attention of the person in red. Simultaneously Jeb saw the crew that had remained on the ground and heard the door slam up above and put two and two together and immediately started rushing up the rope ladder to get on to the ship. He started talking to the individual in red which masked the sounds of the loud three adventurers that were up above to get down to the ground and then flee.

They successfully evaded detection and made it further north until they found a safe spot to camp for the night.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-08-17

The session started with morning breaking over camp and everyone waking up and coming to and finding that Precious had picked up his things and walked out of camp. The group then discussed with Gendithas Firpride and Zyndan what to do and what priorities were, with the NPCs saying that their priority was finding the owlbear but that they would be available and around if other things came up and they were together and their paths had not diverged.

From there they started walking towards the river and away from the camp. In the forest they were randomly attacked by four [[blink-dog]] , which they successfully defeated.

They arrived at the river and saw the airship hovering above a shallow crossing down the river. The group stayed in the trees under cover. And that’s where the session ended because Savannah was ill. It was dusk when they reached the river.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-08-06

The party started up near the top of the pathway towards the airship platform clearing. The elf got healed immediately and then they realized they had to go back down into the main bandit camp in order to find and get Gregorornie the camel and they decided they wanted to search jeb’s cabin one more time.

They started in jeb’s cabin and found pretty much the remainder of the things that needed to be found including the Riddle, Reo took the cartographers kit, pen and ink set, spyglass, etc.

They successfully made it over to the “barn” / old mill, and found the camel. They also gathered up additional materials. They found barding that they modified and put on the camel, as well as 4 saddle bags (2 front, two back) that they put some of their newfound loot in.

From there, they heard the bandits returning to camp, so they rushed up and out into the woods from the airship.

They made their way towards the river. At one point after traveling for a few hours, they had 4 giant constrictor snakes drop out of the trees on them. Because they were with the Ranger, they were not surprised, and initiative was rolled.

Zindan had a snake land on her and immediately grapple her. Harry managed to dispatch one of the snakes in just a couple of rounds; Gendithas took another. Reo took one between her dagger and her claws ripping it in half, and Elitacee managed to grab the head of the 4th when it tried to strike, and pulled it apart in one round and then severed the head from the body over his knee on the second round.

From there they walked another hour until dusk, and found a small clearing where they made camp.

Harry spent the time to learn about his gloves. Reo spent the time to learn about her doll.

They still have no idea what the grey bag is…. 😉

Ended the session right before they wake up.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-07-06

This session started off with Elitacee, Harry, and Precious in the cabin of Jeb, and Reo out in the woods still. While the three in the cabin were waiting for Jeb to come back or for something to happen they searched the cabin. They found the letter to Jeb outlining his priorities in being the leader of the bandit camp. They searched his desk and found a fair amount of information. They also found some loot. That list is to the side.

After a time of searching the cabin they tried to sneak out and ended up making enough noise that it attracted the attention of the guard that was talking to Jeb, and the guard on the other side of the camp. By this time Reo had looped back around the camp and climbed a tree in back and had a vantage point of what was going on. The guard with Jeb immediately ran towards the cabin with Jeb following at a slight distance, the guard across camp also headed towards the cabin. The three disappeared into the woods crashing loudly, but Harry managed to be silent and sneak around to the other side of where everyone else had gone and hid and waited. In the fight that ensued, Reo, who did not know that Jeb had been revealed as a good guy, shot him as he ran, from her perch in the tree. She barely wounded him but he dove into the bushes and hid which also allowed him to avoid being part of the fight. Harry ended up sneak attacking and killing the other male guard. In the meantime the female guard tried to round the corner and got shot by Reo and pulled back out of sight. Reo decided to come down the tree and move around to the other side and used her dash action to get around to the other side of the building. On the next round she was able to use her bow to shoot the bandit girl, who then backed around the corner of the building. At the same time she started to raise her voice to cry out and as it turns out got herself shot in the back by all three of the other members of the team before she was able to get out a shout. Both bandits are now down. Jeb comes out and is protected by the crew from Reo who doesn’t yet know what’s going on, and this is now explained to her period Jeb then informs them that up behind camp is a landing pad for an airship of the zhentarim who are coming to pick up prisoners and loot. The prisoners are part of kyries crew. Jeb asks the team to free the prisoners before nightfall when the airship arrives and then has them beat him severely until he’s basically unconscious which shaded with pleasure.

The team then goes up the wooded path to the back and explorers and finds no one there in terms of bandits, so they free the prisoners add dig through all of the loot gathering what they could take. That list will be off on the side as well.

The session ended with them debating what to do and headed back down towards the camp.

I did give an overview of the five main factions at work on the sword coast because that is basic information that the adventurers would have known, and they needed to recognize these in the logo on the letter to Jeb. They did find a signet ring belonging to Jeb hiding under his floorboards under his bed that had the same logo as Kiri’s signet ring further cementing Jeb as a plant into the bandit camp. The players do not know the extent of his involvement or what he’s actually trying to accomplish particularly. You can see the letter in the appropriate file that was sent to jab which describes his duties including finding and looting a tomb.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-06-22

Started off by running through the past session with the Dryad, and updating them on what happened and what was learned and discovered. Brought them current to the cave.

They decided to pack everybody up and head back towards the fork in the road.

Precious in particular, but to a point supported by Harry , was very torturous of the prisoners, relishing terrifying them and tormenting them.

They followed the path back to the fork in the road, and then followed that new path to the entrance of the lumbercamp.

They did not realize it was a bandit camp.

The “leader” of the camp – Jebeddo Kreesp – heartily welcomed them in, healed up the wounds of the prisoners, escorted the prisoners away from the crew. He then invited them to join in for a dinner feast.

RP conversation where Jeb danced around the questions that were being asked of the specific owlbear.

Harry successfully picked the pocked of one of the bandits, but never found out what was inside.

The crew tried to negotiate to get them to join in the hunt for the owlbear. Harry offered payment of all the things that they had taken off of the dead bodies (not realizing yet that this was a bandit camp). Jeb “suggested” that it was foolish to offer things that already belonged to his own bandit crew and was taken off the dead bodies of bandits as payment, and that was when they crew realized that this was a bandit camp.

Reo Grayrlock had decided to go forage and not eat with the bandits, so she was out in the forest when the rest of them were knocked prone, stripped of all their gear, tied up and put in a tent. An obvious search for her ensued; she climbed a tree at the edge of camp to watch what was happening (Precious was offering her up as payment for Jeb’s assistance), so she saw all, and stayed hidden in that tree.

About 3:30 in the morning, she came down from the tree, about the same time that the rest of the crew in the tent decided to try to break free.

Elitacee used her armblade – an overlooked weapon – to slice through their ropes; Harry immediately ditched everybody and made off towards the forest at the edge of camp. He made it from the tent to the building next to the tent, where he made a slight noise – which resulted in the door to the building being opened and him being drug inside, a hand over his mouth and somebody holding him down and saying “it’s about time”

Precious and Elitacee went over to find him having watched him vanish, but Elitacee was not stealthy and made a loud banging noise.

The person on top of Harry left immediately and walked from the building into camp knocking things about to cover up the noise, and asked if anybody had yet found “the cat” – this person was Jeb. The response was no, so Jeb headed back to his quarters – the building that the team was all now in. He told them that this was his personal quarters and nobody ever came in here, so the crew needed to lie low. He had brought their gear in to his quarters, and let them go back and grab it all.

That’s when Reo Grayrlock stepped on a huge branch that snapped loudly enough to alert the camp guards, and Jeb left to help in the hunt for her. She was chased into the woods, where she doubled back and stealthed, and used her spider slippers to climb a tall tree.

This is where we left the evening.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-06-15

Elitacee (Ben), Reo (Savannah), and Quelenna (Lexy) were present.  Shea and Joel had to cancel last minute.  We played on a Thursday due to work schedules.

The entire group ended up in a cave system half a day’s travel from the fork in the road. Two prisoners in tow:

BANDIT – Amas Lithtaur (Wood Elf Female Bandit Fur Cape) & BANDIT – Gregory Drake (longsword)

Immediately following the battle at the fork in the road, Quelenna (Quelenna) noticed that ALL of the animals of the woods were quietly sitting and staring at her. They followed her with her eyes and heads, made no intent to approach, and when she approached them the allowed her to go as far as petting them. At this point, it was small game and animals, birds, etc.

They decided, at the request of Amas, to administer one of the health potions they had confiscated to Gregory Drake to stabilize him. Then they fixed the wagon, and Gregornie the camel along with the horse pulled the wagon along with the prisoners.

They followed the road along the river and eventually found a shallow spot where the bank allowed them to cross. They were able to from that point of view what appeared to be a cave and as they crossed the river they found a very narrow road off to the right that they were able to explore and find a system of caves that were uninhabited by anything or any creature . They settled into the middle of three caves which was a standalone cave . The higher and lower caves were connected by a tunnel system.

Reo went off to gather and forage food and supplies while everyone rested in The Cave. Lexi went and sat and watched the animals who were gathering in greater and greater numbers including larger animals such as bear, moose, wolves, etc. the animals made no move to harm and justice watched what was happening and followed Quelenna around with their eyes and heads. After eating and in attempt to interrogate the prisoners who were less than forthcoming with any information Quelenna and Reo decided to approach the animals at the border of the forest and see what would happen and Elitacee decided to follow along. The animals parted and a giant grizzly bear indicated through its actions that they were supposed to follow , and they turned around to try to go back and tell everyone where they went and all of the other animals that had been in the forest completely blocked them in and prevented them from going back up to the caves to tell people where they were going.

They followed the grizzly bear all night long and walked for miles and miles . They reached a clearing and the grizzly laid down for a rest so they all joined. While they were resting Lexi had a vision . It started above the clearing that they were in, which had 12 paths all leading out from the clearing. That showed the correct path that they were to walk. The vision flashed and showed a completely burned and decimated clearing full of blight . It flashed again and showed a vision of old broken down buildings and some sort of altar . It flashed again and showed a vision of a enormous tree that towered above the surrounding forest somewhere deep in the wilderness. They all woke up and selected the path that her vision had shown and started walking.

They walked for days. At least 10 days day and night around the clock , not feeling the need for rest or food. Almost as if they were in a trance like state and they just kept walking without really paying attention or noticing any details as to where they were going.

Eventually they reached a spot where there was a old male gnome sitting on a rock fishing. The rock sat next to a small narrow wood bridge. The grizzly bear who was the guide and protector seemed very confused to find this creature here , and all of the other animals that were accompanying through the forest also seemed confused.

The 3 engaged the gnome in conversation and had a pleasant chat about who he was and what he did and he didn’t have a lot of details about either of those things.

As he answered Quelenna and looked into her eyes and then essentially threw her she could see in his eyes memories and events happening and history flowing through.

They asked if the fishing was good and he said it is to day, and as he said that fish kind of exploded from the river all over in huge numbers.

Reo decided to test the bridge and put her weight on it and it was a solid wood bridge so she explored across while the party talked . She went down the road a little ways on the other side and tried to come back. In this time frame the gnome started cackling and his laugh got more and more insane and maniacal and filled the forest.

The bear stood on hind legs and placed himself between Lexi and Elitacee and the gnome . As all of this was happening the space in the middle of the bridge between both shores started to shimmer and pulsate and Reo was having a harder and harder time seeing across it and hearing anything and she tried to run through it and couldn’t make it past whatever this barrier was so she turned and ran the other direction only to see a barrier far down The road that was similar. As she watched the barrier started to move towards her and the barrier behind her seemed to be collapsing and she seemed to be trapped in this weird bubble that was collapsing in on itself.

Outside the bubble Quelenna and Elitacee watched as the gnome and the bridge disappeared , they watched larger animals try to get across the river and to the gnome and bounce off of the bubble wall and fall into what was now a raging river with no way across and had to Swim back.

As Reo watched from inside the bubble huge roots and vines exploded from the earth around the gnome and tried to grab him and grapple him and confine him and a battle between the gnome and the roots raged while the walls of this bubble thing collapsed towards her. In desperation she high tailed it up a tree and managed to reach 70 or 75 feet up the tree. As she got high up in the tree she became completely enveloped in the tree and became trapped and grappled and couldn’t move and barely had the ability to breathe. As this was happening the roots we’re still struggling with the gnome and the wall of the bubble was collapsing in on itself faster and faster. It blew past the tree and Reo in it , and finally imploded on itself when the roots managed to finally contain the gnome and thunderously pulled him into the earth. At this point everything was still.

Quelenna and Elitacee managed to climb onto the big grizzly bear who tried to swim across the river with them on his back. They could see Reo’s Tabaxi tail sticking out of the tree, but nothing else. They were too heavy and he ended up missing the bank on the other side and being pulled downstream a couple of 100 feet. He managed to grab the bank and hold on but the current was so strong that it was pulling him along. Quelenna managed to get off with an acrobatic jump and Elitacee tried the same and missed and then missed his grab at the bears back leg and was swept down river. He eventually ended up caught in a giant root that was protruding out from the bank. In the meantime Lexi managed to climb all the way up the bank and eventually the bear was able to regain his strength and climb up the bank and join her and they walked down towards Elitacee where they finally spotted him in the river against the tree trunk. Using rope they threw it down to him and up over a branch and tied it to the bear and used the bear to haul him up and out safely. They then started the hour trek back up through the difficult terrain to where the crossing would have been and started walking towards where Reo was.

As they came up the road they were quite surprised to find that Reo was leaning against the tree and smirking to herself . As it turns out the tree was a treant , who had held Reo in his arms as a protection against the magic once he realized what she was doing and had essentially saved her. They had a discussion with the treant and asked many questions and learned that something that was referred to as she would have to fill them in on all of their questions and that she was the one that they were journeying to see.

They eventually started walking having the questions that the treant could and was willing to answer answered and they walked for another 18 or 20 days , again without really the need for much food or rest . They managed to grab some berries and stuff along the trail that they munched on and that was enough to sustain them through whatever this was. They reached a very small clearing that was just big enough for them and the grizzly and the grizzly laid down and rested for the first time in that many days so they joined in. 5ish hours into their rest they noticed dancing small lights coming out of the forest and making forays past all of the animals that were still travelling with Quelenna and the adventurers. The animals did not seem concerned or worried at all. These dancing lights flitted about closer and closer and then they had voices that could be heard saying come with us come find us come see us and Reo failed her will saving throw and decided that it was a good idea because of that fail to go off and go ahead and find them and talk to them. As it turned out they were friendly and excited fairy creatures who were asking questions like are you her are you here to help who are you who are we where are we and a bunch of nonsense. There were so many of them that they formed essentially a giant impenetrable ball completely surrounding Reo which was incredibly bright inside and surprisingly loud and overwhelming. Quelenna watched this from a distance and approached and as she got closer the creatures noticed her and swarmed her asking the same questions. About the time that she was having a mental breakdown they dissipated and it was getting light outside.

The bear woke up and wandered over to them and they followed the trail down to a spot where there was a giant waterfall on top of a huge Cliff . This was a place from Quelenna’s vision , and her second vision that showed her more detail of this exact spot. Standing up on this side of the bank with no way across the raging river , and looking down into the valley below, they could see sheer Cliff walls lots of vegetation down below, a giant waterfall, and the largest tree that they could even possibly imagine. The tree towered hundreds of feet up above the old growth forest and its canopy covered miles and miles. As they watched the tree above them they could occasionally see glimpses of sky and up above the sky was the mist and the fog that had surrounded the gnome and that had been present in all of Quelenna’s visions. The tree was moving enough to create a strong wind so that the fog and the mist could not get through it. This was the same as in Quelenna’s vision.

As they stood at the side of the river looking around large roots came up out of the ground on the other side and spanned the river creating a bridge. The bear went across the bridge and they followed and the bear laid himself down at the top of a massive ancient stone staircase that led down the side of the walls . The stairs had ruins etched in each one. They left the bearer at the top and made their way down , walking for hours and hours as the trail switched back down the steep slopes . It eventually passed behind the massive waterfall where they found thousands of the glowing fairy creatures. More roots and vines came up to form a staircase ledge so that they would not slip off the wet stairs. By the time they finally reached the bottom an indeterminate amount of time later they were sopping wet. They exited from under the massive waterfall and found a giant lake that they walked around . The valley was lush with life and greenery. They felt a deep sense of peace and comfort and safety and as they walked and travelled their wound and their sore muscles and all of their ailments seemed to heal and be no more. They eventually reached a spot towards the trunk of the tree where the greenery ended and a lush thick forest loam filled the floor. They walked across this and eventually settled down to rest and sank deep into it comfortably. The tree itself was easily bigger than any of the cities or villages that they had seen in diameter and would take days to walk around and went higher than their imaginations could even fathom.

As they laid there, eventually a beautiful large dryad emerged from the tree and introduced herself. Her name is Dryope.

The dryad explained , through conversation and eventually, that Quelenna was the descendant of a druid that had allied herself with the dryad and a community of wood elves back in the day to combat the encroachment into this realm by someone that she called he. He was a extremely powerful Fae Lord who wanted to take this wilderness that was under the dryads protection and corrupt it and poison it and turn it into an arena for his games. The dryad and her allies fought for generations and the dryad was indeed still fighting now but without allies at this point in time. The valley and vale that they found themselves in was the stronghold of the dryad and where her magic was the strongest. Because the ancient druid had been killed and destroyed when her home had been destroyed and then cursed her soul was tied to that place and Quelenna was tasked with freeing her, locating the elvin ruins for help and artifacts, restoring the druids home and healing it of the blight and the rot that had taken hold in an effort to battle back and continue the fight against he.

The party was also informed that the owl bear that they were tasked with hunting was indeed abnormal and was actually a creation of he that had broken free and gone insane and was now rampaging through the forest.

In order to help in their quest Dryope awarded several magic weapons and tools to these three. At the end of their conversation Dryope opened a portal that transported the adventurers back to The Cave where the rest of the party is still sleeping having not had any time pass.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-06-05

Made it to the fork in the road.   The forest road wandered and wound around, and then followed a river.  They investigated an abandoned campsite with 3 dead and mostly eaten bodies.

Fought a total of 5 bandits; killed 3,

Gathered a bunch of loot from the bodies

Precious got down to 1hp, but was healed by a healing potion “Nyfain gave her” (DM discretion as he was not present)

Reo was the navigator through the forest.

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-05-22

The opening session took place in a Tavern called The Broken Dagger Inn, in the town of Edhel. The party was all their, independently, eating their meals after a day of work, or of seeking work, or passing through town. Towards the end of the evening, after most (but not all – there were 4 lone individuals still quietly eating or drinking, each at their own table, in each of the four corners of the tavern) of the patrons of the inn had either retired for the night, or gone home to their families, a woman came in to the inn. She strode up to the bar and quietly had a chat with the Inn Keeper (a human male named Wulfor Yew.) The woman was seeking recommendations for adventurers who might be willing to risk a task in a nearby town that bordered on a great wilderness.

Obviously the characters all overheard this conversation, and each expressed interest in learning more. They gathered at a larger table together to hear what this woman had to say.

At this point, there were two additional members of the adventuring crew – Nyfain and Gregornie; both of these players eventually bow out of the campaign (Nyfain after only a session or two, and Gregornie was sporadic off and on for a bit).

The woman is Kiri. She is a tall, muscular woman wearing what appears to be expensive, well maintained, but understated leather armor that is a deep burgundy color.  On her hip is a short sword, and on her back is a longbow.  She wears leather bracers on her wrists. She has one eye (right) that is bright blue; so bright blue that it seems almost iridescent; her other eye (left) is a disturbingly deep black.  There is a scar under her blue eye. Her hair is jet black, and the skin that you can see is a dark bronze. She has a ring on her right pinky with an insignia that looks like a book with an eye on it

After introducing herself, Kiri explains that her order has received reports of an extremely unusual owlbear roaming the woods in a wilderness area outside of a town about a day’s walk away. This owlbear has proven to be of exception violence and savagery….

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Luh Kranky Krank couldn't make it, initially because he was going to go play in the sunshine, but found out later he was down with a migraine. 🙁 Lexy, Savannah, and Ben came to play. Given it was a super sunny and 70 degree day we BBQ'd burgers and had a little...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-11-07

Starting to play on Tuesday nights, possibly, as weekends through the busy season are bad.  Tonight was very last minute.   Joel and Shea couldn't make it. When they can make it, we'll play at the Deli.  Otherwise at the house.   Started around 4:15 with Lexy and the...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-10-21

After a long hiatus we met today. We played up at the alderbrook house at the dining room table. Ben, Savannah, Joel, Trail, and Lexy were all there. Met at 10:30 and finally got started about 11:15 or 11:30 maybe. Started with a quick overview to catch Trail up on...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-08-17

The session started with morning breaking over camp and everyone waking up and coming to and finding that Precious had picked up his things and walked out of camp. The group then discussed with Gendithas Firpride and Zyndan what to do and what priorities were, with...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-08-06

The party started up near the top of the pathway towards the airship platform clearing. The elf got healed immediately and then they realized they had to go back down into the main bandit camp in order to find and get Gregorornie the camel and they decided they wanted...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-07-06

This session started off with Elitacee, Harry, and Precious in the cabin of Jeb, and Reo out in the woods still. While the three in the cabin were waiting for Jeb to come back or for something to happen they searched the cabin. They found the letter to Jeb outlining...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-06-22

Started off by running through the past session with the Dryad, and updating them on what happened and what was learned and discovered. Brought them current to the cave. They decided to pack everybody up and head back towards the fork in the road. Precious in...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-06-15

Elitacee (Ben), Reo (Savannah), and Quelenna (Lexy) were present.  Shea and Joel had to cancel last minute.  We played on a Thursday due to work schedules. The entire group ended up in a cave system half a day's travel from the fork in the road. Two prisoners in tow:...

Deli Crew Journal – 2024-03-19

Deli Crew Journal – 2023-06-05

Made it to the fork in the road.   The forest road wandered and wound around, and then followed a river.  They investigated an abandoned campsite with 3 dead and mostly eaten bodies. Fought a total of 5 bandits; killed 3, one (with longsword) down to 1hp, 1 (woman...