12th Rova 18 - The Demise of a Fey Queen and a life of retirement

With the disappointing turn out from the treasury the group back to the room with a pool water and man eating plants.

Otto casts Acid fog into the room and closes the door to leave the spell to do its business, after some time the door is opened again to show that the man eating plants survived but all other vegetation in the room had been destroyed.

Otto decides to fireball the remainder of the plants, as the spell explodes the noise of shrieking plants could be heard over the roaring fire causing the surviving plants to cower in the corner of the pool room away from the group.

The group investigated the room whilst keep clear of the cowering plants but they found nothing of interest nor any clue as to the whereabouts of the fey queen.

Drawing a blank on what to do or where to go next the group decide to head back downstairs to the library and see if the water mephit may be able to shed some light on the matter.

After kicking in the door to the room and Vaneer demanding that mephit heed to their mastery and immense superiority they soon learn that the creatures name was Pludok and he continuously insisted that he would not betray his queen though each time with a weird rolling of his eyes or jerk of his neck.

Vaneer and Miro soon realised that the Mephit was hinting that he would actually tell them what they wanted to hear but he couldn't even if he wanted to.

Vaneer offers to bless the creature for his assistance so far to which the mephit gladly accepts only to find out that after casting it was a telepathic bond between Pludok and the group.

Whilst carrying on with some banter verbally with Pludok the group also talk telepathically with the creature and soon discover that he has been kept in this room for a hundred years just to ensure that the water clock runs without issue.

Like most of the denizens of this fortress he wants to leave but in doing so would cause the queen to kill him so he would be more happy to help telepathically providing the queen doesn't find out to which the group agree.

The queen has created a dimensional pocket which she calls her “special place” where she is hiding and can view all that happens within her fort from within this little pocket hence Pludoks over sickening earlier outing of loyalty to her.

When asked how she enters and leaves the pocket the mephit shrugs his shoulders as to how but he knew there were four locations to which she could enter and leave, the first being the tallest tree in the courtyard, the Throne, the pool in the garden and her bed in the master bedroom.

The group finish their niceties and make their “excuses” to leave the mephit alone and return to exploring the fort.

They decide to head back to the pool in the garden and investigate the area more thoroughly, with the use of detect magic Otto notices a small pin of conjuration magic emanating from the center of the pool.

Both Miro and Otto decide to “figure out” how to break open the door between them and after a short period of time the pair manage to somehow force open the portal to the pocket dimension.

As the step through the portal they soon find themselves standing in a hallway with only a candelabra sitting on a small wooden table next to a mirror nearby.

Miro and Natalia notice some movement in the mirror other than themselves as they walked past and upon closer investigation notice that somehow they were watching their younger self's some twenty years ago walking through a cave and fighting the minions of the purple kolbold.

Before the fight ended the purple kolbold walks through the mirror and turns into the familiar form of emissary.

Emissary greets the group and motions them to look at the following mirrors referring to what they'd see as more like the groups “greatest hits” whilst they make their way down the corridor towards the waiting queen.

One of these hits happened to show Miro exchanging a unicorns horn with Emissary for four thousand gold and an favour to which the rest of the group suddenly looked questioningly at the halfling who offered up no excuse nor reason.

Eventually the corridor ended at a shimmering portal where Emissary turned to them and said “Beyond you will find the Queen, good luck!” and he disappeared.

The group takes a minute to prepare and then step through the portal into a vast chamber like room where the queen stood waiting, “Do you wish to offer parley?” she questioned them.

Vaneer stepped forward and offered her the land of the monster kingdom in return for aiding the kingdom of Dragonmere in taking Restov and destroying the house of Surtova. She countered the offer with yes but only if she has all the lands that currently belong to Dragonmere.

The group promptly responded with “No way in hell you hag!”.

The chamber then begins to form into a circular room around them with 4 portals at the compass points, 3 are shimmering whilst one shows the corridor they just entered through. The queen stood about 40ft in front of them and they quickly became aware that there was a presence also behind them.

As the group looks behind them the queen chuckles “This is my Bob!” smiling at Natalia whilst nodding at the Huge 6 limbed creature snarling at them with needle like teeth and a glowing blue aura around it's eyes.

Otto realises that the creature is a Bander-snatch which has the ability to suppresses all magic within a certain area and hastily informs the entire group.

The Queen advances towards Natalia and hits her really hard (137),

Vaneer casts destruction at the queen which does little followed by a quickened Blindness which fails.

Hugo attacks the Bander-snatch and hits for little damage,

Miro flanks the Bander-snatch and hits the creature hard,

Natalia backs away from the queen and casts a quickened cure mod on herself before shifting into an Air elemental,

Boss steps back and shoots at the Bander-snatch and hits four times,

Otto moves away from the Bander-snatch and casts Maze at the queen causing her to disappear,

Bander-snatch attacks Miro firsts and hits three times (136) whilst grappling the halfling in its teeth,

Bander-snatch attacks Hugo and hits with its tail leaver the fighter stuck with quills,

Queen doesn't return from the Maze,

Vaneer casts Heal on Natalia,

Hugo attacks the Bander-snatch and hits,

Miro attempts to escape from the Bander-snatch but fails,

Natalia heals Vaneer and then flies upwards,

Otto casts Prismatic Wall at where the queen should reappear followed by a quickened resist Cold on Vaneer,

Boss shoots at the Bander-snatch and hits four times,

Bander-snatch charges at Boss and hits him three times (104),

Queen reappears where the Bander-snatch was first standing after using plane shift to escape the maze and casts prismatic ray at some of the group;

Vaneer – Insane Ray – Fails,

Otto – Acid Ray – Fails,

Natalia – Insane Ray – Passes.

Vaneer fails to cast Harm on the queen and casts a quickened Sound Burst which has little affect,

Hugo uses his Rod of Razors on the Bander-snatch and his four times killing the huge beast,

Miro shoots at the queen and misses on all arrows,

Natalia casts Finger of death at the queen but the spell fails,

Boss shoots at the queen six times and misses on all,

Otto casts a quickened Fireball which fails followed by another Maze spell causing her to disappear again,

Queen suddenly reappears via another plane shift and casts Maze on Vaneer causing the cleric to disappear,

Vaneer babbles like a mad man in the middle of a maze on another plane of existence,

Hugo uses the Horn of Blasting on the the queen which causes some damage but not before making Hugo's eyes explode!!!

Miro moves into attack the queen and his eyes start to bulge but Briar begins to glow at the last second and his eyes return to normal,

Natalia casts Heal on Miro,

Boss shoots at the Queen but misses,

Otto casts Greater dispel on the queen followed by a quickened Magic missile,

The Queen casts Firestorm over the group followed by a quickened Freezing Sphere and then followed up with a quickened flamestrike,

Boss falls to the ground unconscious,

Vaneer attacks at nothing in the maze,

Hugo drinks a potion to restore his blindness,

Miro attacks and hits the queen twice making himself a target of interest,

Natalia Heals herself,

Otto casts Maze causing the queen to disappear again,

Boss by some miracle manages to stabilise,

Queen planeshifts back to the fight and cast Baleful Polymorph (form of a mole) on Miro but he manages to resist the spell,

Vaneer hits himself,

Hugo swings at the queen but misses,

Miro swings Briar and connects with the queens head as the blade slices through skin and bone like a hot blade through butter causing the royal head to start flying through the air minus a body.

Just before the head lands on the ground it begins to glow golden and time appears to reverse as the head seems to travel back and reattaches to the queens head to her body.

Natalia heals Boss,

Boss shoots at the queen and misses,

Otto casts Maze again and the queen vanishes,

Vaneer gets the opportunity to cast heal on himself and cures his insanity,

Hugo drinks a potion a potion of cure serious,

Miro prepares to attack the Queen when she returns,

Natalia starts casting a summoning spell,

Boss drinks a potion of cure serious,

Otto moves about and drinks a potion of cure serious,

Queen reappears and casts feeblemind on Otto but fails to affect him,

Hugo attempts to charge the queen but misses,

Miro flanks the queen but fails to hit,

Natalia summons a purple wurm which attacks but misses the queen followed by a quickened finger of death which does little damage,

Otto casts finger of death but it does little damage,

Boss shoots and misses,

Hugo attacks and misses,

Miro attacks the queen and hits,

Queen casts disintegrate on Miro and hurts the halfling,

Natalia casts Greater Dispel magic,

Purple wurm fails to eat the queen,

Otto casts finger of death but it fails to affect,

Boss shoots and misses,

Queen casts finger of death on Miro which kills him but Briar brings the halfling back to life,

Vaneer finally returns from the Maze and casts a quickened sound burst,

Hugo swings his blade but misses,

Miro attacks the queen and hits twice,

Natalia casts greater dispel again which appeared to have some affect,

Purple wurm attacks and hits but fails to grapple the queen,

Otto casts finger of death will again little affect,

Boss shoots and misses,

Queen casts quicken dimensional door and casts maze on Vaneer,

Hugo attacks and misses,

Miro charges at the queen and manages to lop of her head again but this time it doesn't glow so he crushes the head under his boot.

Otto casts disintegrate on the queens body and the corpse of the bander-snatch.

After ten minutes Vaneer returns again from his Maze imprisonment and sets about healing the group and mending any popped eyes.

With the queen defeated the group set out to explore the remaining portals, through one portal they find a shelve containing a number of glass balls each of which within seemed to hold a figure of sorts. After a short period of time studying the balls they soon realised that what they had in their hands was the entire family of the missing Royals from Restov that disappeared overnight with out a trace.

It was assumed that by smashing their glass prison the group could rescue the royal family but was it the best option or could they use this to secure their foothold within the country that set them on this path originally but also tried to take it away from them when they became successful.

They took the balls with them and returned to the pool room from where they entered this pocket dimension, as soon as they returned to the pool the fort around them began to age and crumble quickly through time forcing the group to retreat back off the island as possible.

With the fey queen finally defeated the group sat on the banks of the lake for a period of time and took in the realisation that their quest was finally over after all these long years, they could return home for good and even possibly leave the adventures to their offspring from now on whilst they grew old and enjoyed their retirement.

Upon their return to Wyvernshore against their better judgement the group released the missing Restov royal family from their glassy prisons and brought the family up to speed on what has happened with their country since their disappearance. To the groups surprise the family was grateful for their rescue and release along with the important knowledge of what has happened since their disappearance that they offered Dragonmere a treaty with Restov in return for the loan of the Dragonmere forces to help dethrone house Surtova from the Restov throne so that they true heirs could once again sit on the throne to which the group agreed to and passed the important task onto their children to handle with success.

The group retired from adventuring and returned to the task's they enjoyed most till their times came to meet their chosen deities or in Miro's case a cardboard box!

King Otto – Ruled for another 5 years till a Blue Nixie appeared one day with a young Nixie that she claimed was his son and rightful heir to the Dragonmere Throne. Outraged the queen hired some gentle persuaders to deal with the situation but in return Otto had to announce his abdication from the throne to allow his son Ichabod to rule in his stead. Since that day at least one claim a year of Otto having another illegitimate child is presented to the court.

Natalia – Returned to a peaceful life with Nature and eventually retired from the royal council to focus more on balancing nature in the lands of Dragonmere against the demands and constant damages of the kingdoms farming. She hasn't been seen for a few years now but her grandchildren say she still lives.

Bob – Thanks to Vaneer, the deadly badger was restored to his former glory and accompanied Natalia for many years there after but legends tell of a giant badger in armour that protects the forests to the west were no man may now enter, is it Bob? Who knows!

Miro – The kingdoms General survived longer than most had gambled and he even managed to keep the kingdom safe for a good period of time after his adventures but the halfling feel to the blow of his eldest child Mina as she enacted her revenge on him for having her turned into a Gnome (which Vaneer cured) as punishment for some ungoodly deed he performed. It's rumoured that the halfling or what's left of him is buried under the Kingdoms Treasury in a secret room that he commissioned using taxpayers money.

Vaneer – The Cleric of Erastil continued his priestly duties for a couple of years but clearly his time in the maze alone had a deeper affect on him when one day in a moment of forgetfulness he accidentally cast Contagion during a mass blessing and almost wiped out a quarter of Wyvernshores population. Obviously after that blunder Erastil had no choice but to revoke the clerics powers and Ichabod banished him from the city instead of death in light of his services to the throne, he's now rumoured to be a crazy hermit that lives near an old ruined Erastil temple to the north somewhere.

THE END

12th Rova 18 - Resetting Realisations, Naked Nymphs and other accursed weirdos!

Group awake rested,

Vaneer casts Heroe's feast again to feed the group before they headed towards the fort.

As they approach the fortress the group could see another 4 Wyverns fly over their heads at which point the penny suddenly drops that the creatures in the fort re-appear every day which made things make so much more sense to them.

More evidence could be not seen as all the damage from Vaneers earlier earthquake spells had been repaired.

Otto decides to teleport the group into the forts greenhouse.

Once inside they head back to the room where they found the dancing bear only to find it has certainly returned along with its monkey friends.

Otto casts fireball into the room and destroys the entire rooms occupants.

With the room cleared the group head straight to the throne room.

They access the throne room through the double doors and head straight across the room to explore the corridor beyond.

In one room they discover what appears to be elder air elemental's that were bound to a specific room.

Another room contained what appeared to be a large library and water clock, its only occupant being a small mephit that was terrible at hiding.

The creature appeared to be afraid of the group and somehow managed to appeal to their gentle sides as they decided to leave the creature alone.

The final room down the corridor appeared to be a grand hall where a large marble statue of the Jabberwocky stood in the center.

Natalia finds a hidden door which leads into what appeared to be a wash room where two naked Nymphs were currently bathing.

The female figures try to tempt Vaneer to join them almost snaring the cleric till they turned round to reveal blood dripping from their empty eye sockets.

Otto quickly casts chain lightening into the bath water causing one of the Nymphs to shout “SISTERS!”

Hugo uses his fey bane ability and attacks (1) landing a single blow,

Miro attacks Nymph (1) and hits twice,

Boss shoots Nymph(1) and kills the Nymph and then shoots Nymph(2) twice and hits,

Nymph (2) swipes at Hugo and misses,

Another Nymph (3) emerges from the bath water and casts flamestrike at the group hitting all except Miro and Otto,

Another Nymph (4) emerges from a nearby study and lets out a wail that the group manages to resist,

The remaining Nymphs try to use their unnatural beauty to charm the group but fails to charm anyone,

Bob attacks Nymph(2) but misses,

Natalia casts firestorm covering all the Nymphs and manages to kill Nymph(2),

Vaneer casts flamestrike on Nymph(3) and hits,

Hugo attacks Nymph(3) and kills her,

Miro attacks Nymph(4) and misses,

Boss attacks Nymph(4) and hits,

Otto pokes the remaining Nymph with a magic missile killing her instantly.

Before the group could rest 5 more Nymphs appear from out of the bath tub and study to continue the onslaught.

Natalia casts reverse gravity over them causing them all to float upwards,

Whilst everyone waits for Otto to cast a prismatic wall,

Just as the wall came into affect the Nymphs use their Baleful Gazes against the group which only effects Otto,

Natalia dismisses her reverse gravity spell causing the Nymphs to fall into the prismatic wall,

3 of the Nymphs are turned to statues and sent to another plane of existence,

1 Nymph is poisoned to death,

1 Nymph is turned into a statue.

Vaneer heals the group and restores Otto to his former charismatic glory.

The group then up to the next floor and find a trap door leading up to an attic space but the door is partially jammed so Vaneer forces the door open.

Once in the attic the find a lot of items scattered over the attic space but all are covered with dust sheets along with 3 demonic skeletons, before they could start to investigate the items a little voice could be heard in the room

“Are you our mummy?”

Numerous little skeletal creatures emerged from all over the attic encircling the group.

Vaneer casts a healing burst twice and sends the skeletal children onto the next life.

Another trap door is soon discovered and via a control plants it is forced open to reveal a route to the forts tower.

When they reach the top of the tower they notice that it looks and feels a lot like a large nest and after much deliberation they decide that the creature that lives in the nest is of plant based origins and quite large almost like the plant like draconian creature they fought a while ago.

The group then head back down into the fort and find another set of stairs which leads to the 2^nd floor which clearly has been unkept and has deteriorated.

As they walk along the corridor Natalia looks into one of the mirrors and sees a pair of eyes staring back at her and so the group start smashing the mirrors as they pass them.

Eventually they spot two figure heading towards them, the first was had the top half of a human female with tendrils for hair and her bottom half appeared to be like a tangle of roots (1). The second appeared to have an aquatic like face whilst having snakes for hair (2).

The Devil woman(1) glides to Natalia and attacks the Druid grappling her within her lower roots.

Medusa(2) casts chain lightening at Vaneer but fails and follows up with a quickened glitter dust over Otto, Hugo, Boss and Miro,

Vaneer casts a healing burst followed by a quickened remove blindness on Boss,

Miro tumbles behind the devil woman(1) and hits her once,

Otto casts Maze on the devil woman(1) and she disappears leaving Natalia behind,

Boss shoots at Medusa(2) and hits,

Bob charges at Medusa(2) but misses his target,

Natalia moves away from her current position and starts summoning,

Devil woman(1) reappears in the spot she vanished from,

Medusa(2) attacks Bob and turns him into a badger,

Vaneer casts dismissal but the spell fails and follows up with a quickened shield of faith,

Miro attacks Devil woman(1) and hits twice,

Hugo attacks Devil woman(1) and hits once,

Otto casts maze at Medusa(2),

Boss shoots a holy arrow at devil woman(1) but misses,

Natalia summons an earth elemental before shifting into a form of a fire elemental and casts flamestrike,

Devil woman(1) attacks Miro but misses,

Vaneer fails to cast Holy Smite on on Devil woman(1) followed by a quickened barkskin,

Miro attacks Devil woman(1) and hits twice and kills her,

Natalia and Vaneer cast blade barrier and firewall in preparation for the return of Medusa(2),

10 minutes eventually pass for Otto's maze spell to expire,

Medusa returns but under an invisibility spell though she does suffer from the effects of both walls,

Otto is able to see her and casts magic missile,

The earth elemental attacks the area but misses,

Natalia casts firestorm in the general area,

Medusa(2) casts chain lightening starting with Vaneer but fails to get anyone else,

Vaneer casts insect plague,

Miro shoots at Medusa(2) and hits,

Otto casts Greater dispel magic but nothing appeared to change,

Boss throws a javelin of lightening and hits Medusa(2),

The Earth elemental attacks Medusa(2) and hits,

Natalia attempts to cast Faerie Fire on Medusa(2),

Medusa(2) casts cone of cold at the group,

Vaneers insects appear and forces Medusa(2) back into the blade barrier wall which kills her instantly.

The group being exhausted and spent most of their spells were reluctant to rest now in the knowledge that in doing so would reset the fortress and all those that dwelled within its walls.

Eventually Vaneer has an idea and casts the miracle spell and with Miro crying at loosing some gold the group suddenly feel refreshed, healed and full of magical energies again as it they had a good nights sleep.

They then set off to continue exploring the second floor where next they find what appears to be a destroyed treasury which make Miro cry even more but so far still no sign of their fey queen target.

To Be Continued...........

11th Rova 18 - Hey! They look Familiar.....

The group awake well rested.

Vaneer casts Heroes feast for the group to consume before they continue for the new day.

With belly's full they group decide to return to Hag's place that they passed previously to return the favour after she attacked them yesterday at the fort.

As they made their way back to the hags house the group came across a mass of purple flowers which appeared to be aware of the group as they passed as their flower heads moved to watch them.

Suddenly some of them spray a purple vapour over the group but nothing seems to take affect.

Natalia casts speak with plants and inquires about their identity and found out that they spray nightmare vapour so she asks them nicely to stop spraying them to which they shockingly agreed.

Once they arrived at Crooked house where they suspected the Hag lived the group unleashed a barrage of Earthquake and Disintegrate spells which resulted in a satisfying cracking noise as the structure began to collapse.

Once the dust had settled, Otto casts Overland Flight on himself and flies over the wreckage of the Crooked House and can't find any signs of movement nor survivors.

The group now head back towards the Tower to only discover more plague corpses blocking their way.

Otto clears the way with a fireball spell and the group continued on wards.

4 hours later the group finally make it back to the tower and push on wards towards the fort which was a further 2 hour walk.

As they reach the banks for the lake on which the Fort could be seen the group set up camp and rest for the night.

During Otto's watch he could hear the sound of beating wings approaching, as he looked up he could just make out in the twilight light two silhouettes in the sky (missed the other 2 though).

Otto then rises the alarm and casts a prismatic wall as precautionary.

Boss shoots at one creature and lodges four arrows into it,

2 Creatures fly into the prismatic wall resulting on one being sent to another plane of existence and the other being confused,

Confused creature attacks itself (Barbed Tongue Wyvern),

One creature attacks Miro with it's tongue and misses,

One creature attacks Natalia and hits with it's tail,

Otto casts fireball against one creature followed by a quickened cone of cold,

Boss shoots again and kills the creature attacking Natalia,

Vaneer casts destruction which hardly has any effect,

Miro shoots at his target and hits once,

Hugo shoots Miro's target and hits with his Dragonbane arrow,

Confused creature flies into the prismatic wall again and doesn't re-emerge (sent to another plane),

Creature attacks Miro and hits only failing to grapple the halfling,

Boss shoots at creature and hits,

Otto casts quickened fireball and chain lightening,

Natalia flamestrikes Miro and the creature attacking him but both dodge the spell,

Vaneer casts holy smite but does little damage,

Miro shoots and hits thrice killing his target.

The group return to resting with no further harassment.

10th Rova 18 (part 2) - Dragons, Hags and Clumps of Worms....What a Day!

Standing before them on top of a small mound was a 300ft high tower of white stone, whilst the clearing around the mound had scatterings of probably around a thousand statues in the shapes of crumbled egg shells, almost like that the creatures that had been inside them had hatched and destroyed their eggs as they scurried out.

As the group tried to decide on how to approach or even investigate the latest critter was already lying in wait for them. It’s almost if the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end had been a pre-warning but somehow Miro managed to dive for cover in time.

Before the rest could even spot the huge black dragon appearing out of thin air above them it had already unleashed it’s acidic breath weapon which soaks everyone with the exception of Miro. Otto whilst standing in a pool of acid then thought it be an opportune moment to inform everyone that the dragon appeared to look similar to the legendary dragon of old folk tales that was prophesied to return to Brelev one day.

Not wanting to waste his moment Miro dives out from his cover to shoot at the dragon flapping above them with Hugo closely following from behind.

Otto casts Maze at the huge creature causing it to vanish but he knows it won’t be gone for long so the group quickly prepare themselves for the oncoming fight whilst Otto casts spells to help the group resist acid and Vaneer heals the wounds already dealt from the breath attack.

Miro & Hugo drink their potions of fly and float upwards,

Boss prepares an special arrow and watches the sky,

The Dragon reappears,

Otto cast’s his final quickened Resist Energy and then casts prismatic spray at the ancient dragon as a violet spray springs forth and sends the creature to another plane of existence!

Vaneer continues to heal as the rest of the group stand in awe at how easy that fight turned out to be thanks to their King.

With the group fully healed they skip merrily through the clearing and on towards the white tower where Natalia via a find the path spell promises the dragons horde could be found unguarded.

As they got closer the towering tower stood before them taller than they had originally thought, eager to get to the dragons horde Otto decides to teleport the group to the top of the tower instead of walking up all those stairs.

Once they arrive on the observation platform they find a small horde of coins and items which to Miro’s glee proves to be most profitable, once every copper coin had been pocketed the group casually make their way down the tower via the stairs to find no other creature residing within its stone walls.

Only one path left the area other than the way they came in and so the group begin to travel north.

After several hours of travelling the group find themselves standing at the edge of the thousand breaths where a colossal lake laid before them and in the middle appeared to be an island with a fortress standing upon it along with a bridge linking the island to the mainland.

Vaneer smirked and decided to cast the earthquake spell twice over the area of the fort and whilst they stood at the far shore of the lake laughing a couple of them soon spotted 4 shapes in the sky heading towards them.

Instantly without asking questions Natalia casts a Storm of vengeance over the area that the figures are travelling through.

Miro uses his spyglass and believes that the creatures coming towards them are Wyverns but passes the spyglass to Otto for a second opinion which he confirms that they appear to be a twisted breed of Wyvern.

Otto cast Fireball at the creatures,

Natalia’s storm continues to blow and cause havoc over the lake as it rains acid and thunders,

Vaneer casts Firestorm over the lake,

Miro shoots and manages to get one arrow across the distance and hit,

Hugo uses his rod of razors and manages to hit one wyvern twice causing it to fall into the lakes waters,

Boss uses Sky bolt and lands two blows with the legendary bow causing yet another Wyvern to fall into the lakes waters,

Otto casts cone of cold at the remaining two approaching Wyverns and kills another,

Boss attempts to shoot again and lands a blow but fails to kill the remaining Wyvern,

Vaneer smirks and casts Destruction on the remaining creature and hits but yet it somehow manages to survive the effects of the spell,

Miro shoots three times and all 3 hit though it was clear that the creature died on the impact of the first arrow.

With the latest threat dealt with the group make their way round to the bridge and begin to cross over to the fortress on the island, towards the end of the bridge they soon find that there was a pretty big section of bridge missing.

It soon came apparent that the bridge recently collapsed possibly under the effects of a strong earthquake….or two! Otto looked disappointedly at Vaneer who looked pretty sheepish at that moment.

Otto decided to use his wand of dimensional door and the group used the portal to cross the missing section of bridge.

As they walked through the gatehouse they noticed that there were 4 guards standing and watching them as they walked through, expecting trouble the group drew weapons but the guards just stood there..No sorry floated. It took a moment for them to notice but the guards appeared almost transparent green and hovered close to the floor but their feet never touched the stone.

The group cautiously continued to move through the gatehouse and into the courtyard and at all times the ghostly guards just watched, never flinched nor reacted they just stared.

Once they were in the courtyard they noticed that there were 4 more ghostly guards above the gatehouse and 2 in each of the towers, all of them were just looking at them as to see what the group would do.

A little weirded out by the constant audience the group made headway to the nearest building in the courtyard which after forcing the post-earthquake inflicted door open they discover the fortresses stables.

The stable gave no odour and there was no feed to give away it was a stable other than the fact that its sole resident was a living but yet half decayed horse, Vaneer wanted to abolish the creature but the rest of the guard thought it might be best left alone for now until they had figured out the guards.

They then head across the courtyard and open another door to find themselves standing in some sort of greenhouse littered with statues of sobbing demons and double set of doors was the only other way out which appeared to lead into the main fortress building.

The guard towers where the next to be investigated but they only found stone and staring spectral guards so soon left.

With nothing else left standing thanks to two earthquakes to investigate the group turns their attentions to the fortress itself and head back through the greenhouse to the double doors they’d found earlier.

In no time at all they soon find a large room that had a large cage with an undead dancing bear contained within it and dotted on the floor around the cage were lots of undead monkey’s all holding a pair of symbols.

The group approach the cage carefully as not to set off any monkeys but as they do the bear begins to dance which in turn starts the monkeys with their clashing of symbols, the noise is horrendous so 

Vaneer attempted to destroy them with his positive energy.

As the dust settles its clear from the quietness that Vaneer has had some obvious affect as all the monkeys appeared to be destroyed but the bear still stood in its cage, seconds later however the dancing bear decided to explode injuring some of the group.

Continuing to explore the fortress they eventually find themselves within what they believed to be the Throne room.

Once they had all entered the room and approached the throne a halo of light suddenly appeared from nowhere along with a chorus of angelic music as a celestial being appeared before them.

The angel asked the group to leave the fortress and not return as higher beings were now dealing with the issue of the fell night queen and they don’t need mortals to be in the way.

Begrudgingly the group agree and leave the throne room.

Otto waits for the group to be a couple of rooms away before informing them that they’d been tricked. He believed that the angel was a summoned creature by an invisible caster somewhere else in the room as something in the room felt odd after they entered.

Vaneer also confirmed that the divine being didn’t seem to be quite all there and that its motives and expressions just seemed odd as well.

As they stood in the entrance hall to the fortress discussing what they should do about the situation with the exception of Natalia, they failed to notice the approaching shadows from the wall behind them.

Shadow(1) attacks Vaneer and hits,

Shadow(2) attacks Miro and misses,

Shadow(3) attacks Otto and Hits,

Shadow(4) attacks Natalia and misses,

Otto casts finger of death on Shadow(3) but it resists,

Boss attacks shadow(3) but misses,

Natalia casts Baleful polymorph on shadow(4) and turns it into a Guinea pig,

Bob attacks the Guinea pig and hits,

Guinea pig casts prismatic spray on the defensive which

            Hits Natalia with Acid damage

            Hits Bob with Acid damage

            Poisons Boss but he manages to hang on through it

Shadow(2) attempts to cast a spell at Miro but fails to cast it,

Shadow(1) attacks Vaneer five times but luckily only lands two blows,

Shadow(3) attacks Otto five times but again luckily only two blows hit,

Otto casts finger of death again at Shadow(3) which resists so he follows up with a quickened stinking cloud,

Boss attacks Shadow(3) and manages to land two blows,

Natalia cast call lighting into the cloud but misses any target still within the cloud,

Bob attacks and tears into the Guinea pig,

Vaneer casts a healing burst followed by a quickened Bark skin,

Miro attacks Shadow(2) and hits it twice,

Hugo attacks Shadow(2) and hits once,

Shadow(1) attempts to move out of the stinking cloud,

Guinea pig casts a circle of death spell and almost kills Bob,

Shadow(2) casts a Ray of Exhaustion at Miro but misses,

Shadow(3) casts a Prismatic spray and affects the following

            Otto succeeds at not being sent to another plane,

            Boss is coated in Acid and resists a poisoning,

            Miro succeeds at not being sent to another place

Otto casts another finger of death at Shadow(2) which hits and kills the creature,

Boss attacks shadow(3) but misses,

Natalia uses a lightning bolt on the Guinea pig and then casts finger of death on it which kills the little spell casting fuzz ball,

Bob attacks shadow(3) but misses,

Vaneer casts holy smite and hits both Shadows (1) and (3) followed by a quickened shield of faith,

Suddenly a black skin hag, the worm man and the celestial being appear just outside the main entrance to the fortress and the hag casts Insanity at Miro who manages to resist the spells effects,

The angel casts blade barrier and injures Otto, Boss and Bob whilst kills shadow(3),

Miro necks a potion of fly and then turns himself invisibility,

Hugo quickly necks his potion of fly,

Otto casts Maze at the worm man but doesn’t seem to affect him,

Boss charges at shadow(1) and hits,

Bob also charges at shadow(1) and hits,

Natalia casts fire storm at the three new interferences and then uses a lightning bolt on shadow(1),

Vaneer casts a quickened prayer and then casts Shambler to gain some combat aides for the group,

Angel attacks Shambler(1) and hits three times fairly hard,

The blade barrier and stinking cloud spells vanish,

Worm man casts mass hold person over the group but no one is affected by the spell so he casts fireball at them instead,

The hag attacks Shambler(3) and hits,

Miro shoots at shadow(1) and hits,

Hugo shoots at shadow(1) and hits twice,

Shadow(1) fails to cast a prismatic spray,

Otto casts cone of cold on the worm man and hits,

Boss attacks Shadow(1) hits twice and finally kills it,

Natalia casts lightning on the hag which misses and then another firestorm over the three combatants,

Bob makes his way towards the hag,

Vaneer casts a healing burst,

Shambler(2) grapples the Angel,

Shambler(3) misses the Hag,

Hag cast a word of recall spell and suddenly disappears from the fight,

The grappled Angel appears to return to his home plane,

The worm man cast Disintegrate at Otto which Otto barley survives thanks to Natalia pulling him out of harm’s way at the last second,

Worm man then turns invisible and attempts to flee from the courtyard,

Miro uses the horn of blasting in attempt to hit the fleeing foe and clearly hits as a pile of worms fall to the ground and reappears,

Natalia, Otto and Vaneer then combine an assault of Flame strikes, Fireballs and Alchemists fire at the vicinity of the dead worm’s appearance which seems to work as a mass pile of worms slop to the floor killing the worm man.

Vaneer sets to healing the group,

Otto then teleports the group back the white tower so they could rest before they finish exploring the fortress tomorrow.

Dream Interludes

Dream Interludes experienced by each character of the course of multiple nights:

      **********

A land of eternal twilight; you walk along a wide stone path that is surrounded on both sides by a dark dense forest, with trees that rise up so much higher than any normal tree should.  From one side you can hear the singing of children’s rhymes, feral cries and howls are uttered from the other side.  Occasionally eyes are visible, staring out at you from the dark treeline.  Different sizes, different colours and different in number, they watch you forge on ahead.

 *********

Leaving the cries and singing that are still ringing out from the forest behind you, the path you followed winds steeply up a rock mesa and at the top of it is a large lake with a castle of jagged spires at its centre.  The castle can be reached by a long stone causeway that connects its island to the mesa’s edge.  On the other side of the lake is an engulf of stars and blackness.  A large black rook of incredible size is perched on the castle you are approaching and watches you intently.

**********

Crossing over the bridge you notice a pair of burning eyes glaring up at you from deep within the bottomless lake.  Walking under the gatehouse, you pass beneath the colossal black rook that sits atop one of the towers that flanks the entranceway.  It screeches at you, its red eyes burning into your soul as it starts to morph into a reptilian form and then suddenly lunges forward with a single beat of its black dragon wings, attempting to tear out your innards, causing you to flee into the castle courtyard.  All around hundreds of windows stare out of the castle and stone angels hang from every gable, watching your passing as the rook-dragon manoeuvres around the knife-like crenulations and spear-topped towers trying to get at you, before you finally stumble through a pair of ethereal elven servants as they open up the doors of an entry hall.

**********

A long hallways stretches ahead for many miles and as you navigate it, time seems to bend and shift, aging the walls, reducing portraits to dust and causing plants to grow and wilt.  You encounter a young troll called Hargulka with a toy crown upon its head who informs you that he is looking for the queen and suggests that you should come along too.  Behind you red worms start falling from the ceiling and crawling out of nearby tapestries, coalescing into a humanoid form that threatens to engulf you.  The troll child distracts the worm-man so that you can run ahead until you see a large door-less archway.

**********

With trepidation you approach the archway, suddenly gravity and directions switch around and you find yourself falling downwards into the archway below you which has now taken on the form of a giant set of jaws.  Falling into the stone maw you land in a sturdy chair within a chamber that reminds you of a waiting room whilst a ticket with a number is pressed into your hand.  Looking around you find yourself sitting next to a stag drinking liquor from a bottle and sporting a hat that looks like a man’s face, a rather large owlbear with half-moon glasses that is reading a fairy-tale book called ‘Zuddiger’s Picnic’, a small troll child with a toy iron crown on his head and a large skeleton draped in finery that only has one eye socket which is currently empty.

**********

A number is called out, but it is not the one printed on the ticket you hold.  The eyeless skeleton next to you asks if you can check his ticket and you find that it matches the number just called out, so you swap his ticket with yours and move towards a swirling portal that opens up on the other side of the room.  A handsome man that you know to be a younger version of King Irovetti of Pitax stumbles out of the portal in front of you, clutching a sheathed sword hidden beneath his cloak as the portal opens up and engulfs you.

**********

You find yourself in a large circular chamber filled with portals, but your gaze is immediately drawn to the small green fey girl in front of you.  Her arms are crossed in front of her and she gives you a petulant look whilst stamping her foot in both anger and impatience.  “It’s mine!” she sulks “And I can take it whenever I want”  She gives a cruel smile “I don’t need you.  I don’t need anyone.” and then with a wave of her arm you are flung across the room into an awaiting portal.

 **********

Falling through a portal you land on the steps of Wyvernshore castle.  There is a sound like rushing water, followed by a painful increase in pressure from all around you.  The world you know blurs into indistinct colours and images that swirl upwards into the sky like a reversal of water being sucked down a drain, disappearing upward into the night sky.  All that is left in the surrounding landscape is scorching sunlight bearing down on barren sand and ruined remains of the streets and roads of Wyvernshore, cracked apart and half covered in sand, aged beyond years.  You realise that the surround sands are actually tiny fragments of bone, all that remain of the kingdom’s citizens and all those that you know and loved.

10th Rova 18 - Almost Plagued to Death

Again as the group awakes, Vaneer casts Heroes feast for them to devour.  Once ready they continued along the path and after an hour it leasd into a clearing surrounded with bent trees tangled together with a dozen houses combined together into one whole odd-looking structure that had smoke rising from a number of its chimney's.  One end of the clearing was filled with sharp poisonous brambles that seemed intent on engulfing everything around, whilst the other side contained neat herb gardens with meticulously planted rows of varying mundane and exotic flora.

The group approach the building and as they get close one of the doors opens causing them to pause and wait to see what happens next.  A large purple head with tangled long black hair suddenly pokes its head (a Hag of some sort) and appears to wave at the group and then disappears back inside the building.  A little bewildered at the pleasantry shown to them the group decide to leave the Hag alone and continue along the path.

After an hour of walking, the path curves sharply and the group stumbled across a number of bloated animal carcasses which appeared to have died of some sort of sickness.  Natalia moves in to have a closer examination as one of the carcasses explodes over the group causing Otto, Bob and Miro to become infected with the Bubonic plague!

Vaneer ushers the group out of the infected area before he sets to removing the disease from the three members after which he then tends to the affects they suffered from the plague (severe stat loss).

Once all the group were healthy again they continued on the path for another hour or two where the path ends at a grassy vale littered with crumbled and damaged statues, whilst a 300ft white stone tower sits atop a perfect circular hill in the distance.

The group decide to slowly approach the tower.

To be continued …...........

9th Rova 18 - Familiar Enemies

Once the group were awake Vaneer cast a heroes feast spell to bolster group spirits for the day.

An hour later they gathered their items and marched through the gates.  As they pass underneath the archway they notice that it was made of two female statues reaching to each other.

The path of pressed stone is banked either side by deep dark woods which appeared to contain glowing eyes, blinking and staring at the group as they travel along the path for a couple of hours.

Worried that they were walking a continuous magical path Natalia decides to cast the Find the Path spell only to be told to continue following the path.

After another hour of walking a river could be seen coming out of the woods and running alongside the path, 30 minutes on the woods gives way to a large lake where the river appears to be run of two that feeds the large body of water.

Across the lake Otto swore he could see rainbows glistening with crystals of moisture, and unicorns with no eyes slinking off into the depths of the dense woodlands.  Miro and Vaneer just rolled their eyes at each other whilst saying “Sure!”.

The group decide to follow the second river and head west when they're attacked by a water elemental, lightning elemental and 3 lightning treants which are dispatched as quickly as they sprung up.

Half hour later further down the path on the fringes of the woodland the group notice various statues of creatures that appeared to be part human and part animal, to make matters weirder the bark of the trees appeared to be made of flesh as though parts of different beings have been stitched into the trees which have then managed to incorporate them in an unsettling fashion.

Two hours even later the path finally ends at a foul smelling marsh where lots of little red dots could be seen squirming around in the water.

Otto thought it would be clever to cast Chain lightning over the marsh which caused three enormous red worms, each nearly thirty feet in length, to erupt from the marshy waters and charge towards the group.

Otto throws up a prismatic wall at the charging worms causing one to be turned to stone and the other two to be spirited off to different planes of existence.

Otto then teleport's the group to the other side of the marsh where they continue to travel for a further 2 hours before setting up camp for some well needed rest.

8th Rova 18 - Realm of a Thousand Breaths

Otto teleports the group to the forest of thousand voices where the legend states that the veil between their realm and Narrisa's would be at it's thinnest.

In a short amount of time the group soon relocate the ruined castle of knives they once discovered but now to their surprise it is no longer ruined. Instead they found a strange structure of sharp towers and confusing architecture of dozens of colors that seem strangely too vibrant for the

surroundings. The entire castle is surrounded by a wrought iron fence that contains a single gate flanked by statues of beautiful women.

Vaneer and Miro start prodding around the statues to * Cough * make sure that they were not living statues or creatures of stone...or so they proclaimed.

Whilst “Investigating” the statues the pair of adventurers are suddenly lightening bolted from somewhere within the trees with Miro managing to avoid the bolt's affects.

As Vaneer picked himself up off the ground the group notice a number of the trees were starting to move and shift as they combined together to form into one enormous tree creature with spidery branch like legs.

Miro attacks the creature with Briar which had by now lost it's shiny green glow, but the sword seemed to blight the tree with some effect,

Natalia attempts to attack the creature but misses a landing blow,

Bob charges at the tree and also misses on his aim,

The creature (Sard) attempts to slam into Miro and Natalia but misses both,

The Sard then casts another quickened lightening bolt at Vaneer and hits,

Vaneer attempts to hit the creature back but deals zip all damage,

Otto casts Haste,

Boss shoots and manages to hit twice,

Hugo attacks and hits hard,

Miro attacks and hits again with Briar's blight ability,

Bob attacks and lands a blow,

Natalia manages to land a blow the second time,

Sard casts chain lightening on the group targeting Vaneer first,

A very chard Vaneer pulls back from the fight,

Otto cast finger of death at the Sard but it remained unaffected,

Boss shots and lands one blow,

Hugo attacks and hits twice,

Miro attacks and hits twice and with the blight affect destroys the tree,

Sard suddenly explodes knocking out both Vaneer and Bob,

Natalia rushes in to heal the fallen cleric whilst Otto and Miro pour potions into Bob,

Bob and Vaneer come round and Vaneer slowly sets out to healing the entire group.

The group decide to rest before entering through the gates and to what ever laid in waiting for them beyond.

1st Rova 18 - Briar vs Jabberwocky (Miro helped a little)

In the distance a huge dragon like creature (Jabberwocky) could be seen heading towards the city.

Almost instantly it seemed in response to the approaching danger the sword Briar began to glow green so brightly that stories are still told that the glow could be seen for miles upon miles which would explain why the Jabberwocky seemed to home in on Miro as it approached.

The group steady themselves to unleash their defence against the creature.

Vaneer begins with casting Destruction which appears to deal some damage,

Otto casts Disintegrate which deals some damage followed by a quickened Ray of Enfeeblement,

Boss shoots multiple times but misses completely,

Natalia casts Finger of Death at the Jabberwocky but it resists,

Hugo uses his Rod of Razors and hits the target,

Miro shoots and misses,

Jabberwocky uses both of it's laser eyes on Miro which almost Kills the halfling,

Vaneer casts a quicken Create water to douse the flames on Miro which fails to affect followed by a Heal spell on the Halfling,

The City militia and mages guild appear on the city's roof tops to attack the Jabberwocky,

Otto prepares to cast a spell should the creature launch a physical attack,

Boss shoots and hits,

Natalia begins to summon an Elemental to aid the group,

Hugo flies towards the Jabberwocky and attacks but misses,

Miro flanks with Hugo and attacks with the now Vorpal effected Briar,

Otto casts a Prismatic Wall between Miro and the Jabberwocky,

Jabberwocky lets out some sort of Burble/Scream but it has no affect on the group,

Vaneer flies up to Miro and casts a quickened Bears Endurance followed by a Cure Critical on the halfling,

Otto prepares another spell,

Boss Shoots and hits once

Natalia summons an Air Elemental which instantly attempts to push the Jabberwocky into the Prismatic wall but fails,

Miro drinks a potion of Cure then attempts to pull of a feint against the Jabberwocky,

Hugo attacks the Jabberwocky and misses,

Jabberwocky falls for the feint and flies upwards and uses it's laser vision again hitting Miro twice,

Otto casts hold monster but the creature is immune followed with a quickened Fireball to which also had no affect on the creature,

Vaneer casts a quickened Prayer and another Cure Critical on Miro,

Otto uses his rod of Dimension Door and appears behind Miro to cast Fire Resistance on him before dropping to the rooftops,

Boss shoots again and hits once,

Natalia casts Call lightining but the Jabberwocky appears resistant,

Air Elemental attacks but misses,

Hugo attacks the Jabberwocky and misses,

Miro attacks and severs the creatures head clean from its neck.

The Jabberwocky's body falls downward and is taken out by Otto's prismatic wall whilst the head was clearly heading to crash into the city's pet shop until Otto cast another prismatic wall to intercept it.

The area falls quiet for a moment then all of the city erupts into cheers and celebrations as they chant “Otto the Hero”.

Miro grumbles at the lack of praise as Vaneer tends to his wound before the group realise that the rift the Jabberwocky came through seems to have repaired itself during the combat.

The city celebrates for the rest of the day whilst the group gather themselves and prepare to take the fight to Queen Narrisa.

1st Rova 18 - Errrrrr Jabber whaty?!?

Whilst the majority of the kingdom recovers Vaneer sits down again for another commune.

The commune proved of little help other than the fact that the group would now have to seek out the queen in her realm with Briar.

The skies above Wyvernshore are beautiful and clear but every 10 to 20 minutes the clap of Thunder could be heard.

As the day progressed the claps got louder and quicker in interval till early afternoon when there was an almighty clap of thunder followed by a green flash as all of a sudden the fabric between the two realms appeared to rip open allowing the fearsome and legendary Jabberwocky to come through insight of Wyvernshore.

To be continued......

31st Arodus 18 - Well that was surprisingly Easy?!?

The capital is still all morning awaiting for something to happen, then in the early afternoon an explosion of twisted trees and ugly fungi appear to the north of the capital.

Shortly after its appearance the noise of an army could be heard coming from the growth explosion.

The group let loose a combination of spells including Plant Growth, Entangle, Earth Quake, Blade Barrier, Walls of Fire, Thorn and Prismatic, Fireballs and Cone of Cold against the oncoming forces which allowed the forces of Dragonmere to engage and defeat the remaining foes with little casualties.

Just as the Growth starts to wilt away all could see a ghostly image of a black tower in the distance fading out of sight.

The Kingdom of Dragonmere celebrated it's victory.

29th Arodus 18 - The Final is Coming

Vaneer starts the day by casting another commune which tells him that the next bloom will happen in two days time BUT it will be the final bloom which will appear several miles outside the capital to the North and would consist of an army sized force.

On hearing this news, Otto sends the orders to assemble the Kingdoms army at Wyvernshore before teleporting the group back to the capital so they can plan and prepare.

28th Arodus 18 - Minotaur Orgy made what!!

As evening approached the weather turn sour and started to pour down, however it took a moment for the group to realise that the rain wasn't actually rain but worms falling from the sky.

Shortly a voice echoed across the sky “RISE! COMBINE! CONQUER!”.

As a creature resembling a cross between a Bear, Dragon and Chain Devil (Thrasfyr) appeared before the group.

Vaneer casts Barkskin and a quickened Shield of Faith,

Satinder casts True Strike on Boss,

Otto casts a quickened haste followed by a cone of cold which fails to connect,

Boss shoots at the creature and hits twice but the creature takes no damage,

Thrasfyr unleashes it's breath weapon getting all but Miro and Otto before lashing out at Natalia and hitting hard,

Natalia shifts into the form of an Earth Elemental and sinks into the ground,

Bob attacks the creature and hits twice dealing little damage,

Hugo attacks the creature and hits,

Miro attempts to attack but fails to land any blows,

Vaneer casts a Mass Cure Serious followed by a quickened Seering light which fails to hit,

Satinder casts another True Strike on Boss,

Otto casts another Cone of Cold followed by a quickened Ray of Enfeeblement, both fail,

Boss shoots and hits,

Thrasfyr lets out another breath weapon hitting all except Miro and Otto followed by attacking everyone with its chains knocking out Satinder, Boss and Hugo,

Natalia casts finger of death which deals a good amount of damage,

Miro attempts a feint and manages to land a blow on the creature,

Otto casts a cone of cold which makes its way past the creatures defences and kills it,

Otto casts Disintegrate to ensure the creature stays dead.

Vaneer heals like heck.

The group rests