Redmark Date: Third Age—April 19, 1331

A Thorny Situation

The party makes their way toward the volcano lake where they believe the Chromatic Wizards to be. On the way, they notice an increase in the intensity and frequency of the seismic tremors shaking the island. As they approach the lake where the volcanic crater lake resides, they see a boma—a tall thorn fence—that surrounds a village. The party hails the villagers, who open the gate, and stand ready to defend their village.

Ooh! Candles!

As Fano, the Talking Chief comes out, along with Umlet the Shaman, Ghost Dancer kneels to show respect, and gives them an offering of candles as a gift. He shows them how to light them. The villagers all go nuts for this amazing display of technology. With that, they are invited into the village.

The Chief tells the group of the lake that houses the volcano crater with a lake and island in it. To which, Quintos replies: “So we’re looking for an island within a lake within volcano within another lake within an island within an alternate universe within a vortex?”

Short answer: yes.

Going to See the Chief

The villagers take the party to see the chief, who lives on a houseboat a hundred yards from shore. The chief is a stone idol, and it speaks through The Talking Chief—who goes into a trance and talks with a deeper, crustier voice.

Cannibals Love Making VLTs (Villager, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich)

The Talking Chief tells of how the cannibals on the island have tormented their tribe, raiding it frequently to harvest villagers and devour them. He pleads for help from the party. He has seen their great magic: candles. Surely the heroes can help them defend against cannibals.

“We have killed many cannibals already,” Quintos says. He begins to tell the tales of their conquests on the island, with Ghost Dancer jumping in to provide the visuals with his illusion spells. The villagers are in awe.

“You have indeed killed many cannibals,” the Talking Chief says. “But we must cut off the head of the snake for the danger to be truly eliminated.”

The Copru

As it turns out, the head of the snake lives in the volcano crater. The Copru. Whether this is the name of a single beast or a hive of beasts, the party knows not. But the Copru is powerful enough to have imprisoned the Chromatic Wizards, who live in the crater, too.

Upon uttering the name “Copru,” Fire Wilow squeaks, and freaks out, burrowing deep into Lundie’s beard. (Lundie meanwhile, naively believes that he will one day find a “female” dwarf, not realizing that none exist…)

New Spells

Quintos learns a new spell from one of the ancient scrolls recovered by the party. It is powerful magic from the First Age. It is a spell that is good for a single use. It creates an anti-magic zone in which magic fails, creatures have disadvantage, and movement slows by half.

Into the Volcano to Battle the Copru, Free the Chromatic Wizards, and Kick Monster Arse

The heroes are paddled to the volcano crater in outrigger canoes. Intensifying earthquakes rock the island, making it difficult to even stand at times. In the volcanic crater lake, they find an island with a ruined temple. Beyond the pillars at the front of the temple, they see an ominous cave. Ivamel shrugs and says, “All you fragile, magic-using people, get behind me and let’s go kill some stuff.”

What awaits the party? Will they survive? Will they liberate the Chromatic Wizards—and will the wizards help the party get themselves and their buffalo herd back to Redmark? Or will heroes meet their untimely end?

LOOT REPORT

Just some rancid squid

Redmark Date: Third Age—April, 1331

We join our intrepid heroes as the open the doors to a large ballroom. Though completely empty, faint music and laughter is present. Candle light flickered as the party entered the room and began to inspect the area. Quintos, upon examining one of the large mirrors lining the room was sucked into the mirror and was now looking OUT into the room. Noticing Ghost Dancer nearby, Quintos grabbed him and smashed out a mirror. Spectral creature were slowly approaching as the party went to work attempting to smash all of the mirrors in the room to destroy whatever portal was present. Ghost Dancer summoned a large bear to assist and while the bear continued to be transported inside the mirror’s extradimensional space, it was rather effective at destroying the mirrors from both inside and out. Marcus and Lundie struggled to smash the mirrors as they averted their eyes and unfortunately wound up taking out all sources of light in the room, making their task much more difficult. As the specters grew ever closer, the party was able to destroy the last mirror and with the mirrors went the threat of the specters.

Heading out of the ballroom and down a short hallway Quintos and Lundie entered an enormous library. Ghost Dancer approached a large study table and as he investigated a large blob of spectral goo appeared, along with dozens of smaller versions of this blob around the room. Thinking quickly, Marcus summoned his Spiritual Guardians and they dispatched several of the goops quite quickly. Lundie was not as fortunate and became captivated by the Undying Heresy, loudly preaching the greatness of this undying horror. Quintos and Ghost Dancer struggled with the monster and its minions but a few lightning bolts and eldritch blasts later it was defeated. Lundie managed to free himself of the trance he was in long enough to destroy a few of the blobs before the master blob was dispatched. While entranced, Lundie melded minds with a piece of the Heresy and was able to grasp some more understanding of what exactly happened in this place and what the reality of the heroes’ situation is – now that he knows that their time here was limited, and with a renewed sense of urgency the party struck out again. By needing to escape before sundown the party had only a few short hours to find an exit. Quintos, Ghost Dancer, and Marcus noted that when they defeated some of the smaller blobs they too gained some insight as well, as if the knowledge within these beings was transferred upon their destruction. Hopefully information all that was transferred…

Taking the stairs up to the second level, the party found themselves in a landing area with three doors leading different directions. Going through the western door they snuck into a large laboratory of some kind with all sorts of ghastly and unnatural experiments going on among the tables, burners and potions. As soon as the door was opened several undead beasts began their attack. A Wight glided forward and engaged the party directly while a skeletal mage attacked with spells from a distance. The largest threat though was an Arcane Horror – a creature of immense power, corrupted to the point that death would not defeat it. Being a powerful caster caused some problems for the heroes as they were targeted mercilessly and took heavy damage before finally subduing and removing the undead from existence. Just as the final blow was landed, a deadly presence approached from an open doorway. The area beyond looked to be somewhat similar to another library though more magic seemed to be present. A lesser lich flung spells and minions at the party in an attempt to slay them and free the creatures in this compound from their curse. Battling bravely, Quintos, Ghost Dancer, Lundie, and Marcus waded in as Ghost Dancer summoned a large ape to assist in their struggle. Ironically, it was this very ape that managed to wield an enchanted (and corrupted) weapon and slay the foul beast. The party was not able to find and destroy the phylactery so this beast will return at some point in the future, hopefully long after the heroes have managed to escape. Sensing the danger and imminent threat. Lundie and Marcus lead the party into a long segmented hallway. After only a few steps into the hallway dirt and sand began pouring from the murals on the walls into the hallway, filling it and causing the party to struggle to move. Thinking quickly, the group teleported to one end of the hallway.

Realizing that they could not afford any delays, they rounded a corner and came to a giant ghoul in a giant sized blacksmith’s room. Thinking quickly the party silenced themselves and managed to sneak around without being noticed. Following suit in the next room (the armory) the party again snuck by the unsuspecting enemies and into a long hallway. Investigating and ever searching for a means to escape the heroes opened a doorway and was spotted by two Wendigos. Realizing the danger, Marcus threw down caltrops, slammed the door shut again, and the party headed down the hallway away from the room. Unfortunately they hit a dead end and had to turn around. Sprinting at full speed, the party ran back past the still closed door and through the armory again – winding up back in the landing area with the staircase. Walking themselves back through the rooms they’d already explored the group wound up back at the long hallway, now halfway filled with dirty and sand. Deciding to head the way of the unexplored side, Lundie, Ghost Dancer, Quintos, Marcus, and the ape headed down the short hallway, turned to the left and stopped, stunned. They had found the medical area of the compound….

Redmark Date: Third Age—April, 1331

Leaving the small village where the party had freed the young green dragon, the party headed north in an attempt to reach the middle of the plateau. After several hours of travel, the party could see a large thunderstorm heading their way and decided to try to find cover. The rain came with a vengeance and the lower portions of the plateau became covered in water. Seeing that they now needed higher ground and cover, our intrepid travelers spotted what looked to be an overgrown hunting path leading up a small hill. Rain drenched the travelers, wind howled and lighting struck ever closer to their location. Seeing a small clearing with some kind of structure up ahead they made a run for it. Near the edge of the path Quintos spotted some very large creatures that appeared to be ants the size of house cats! As the lightning struck, the ants seemed to glow and electricity ran between them. Covering a large potion of the path and well into the trees on either side, the ants were suddenly a formidable foe. The group took turns one by one jumping over the ants and made it across with only one stumble… a painful one at that as lightning coursed through the party at that one mistake.

In the clearing the party spotted a large structure that looked to be somewhat similar to a church, somewhat like a small fort, and somewhat like a very large house. Seeing this strange place as their only option they headed to the door and found the door open. On the door, in a language that only Quintos could seem to understand was the phrase “Herein lies the treasure of 100 kingdoms.” Finding this interesting Lundie, Marcus, Quintos, Ghost Dancer, and The Duke headed inside.

Inside the front door was a beautifully hand carved small stone entryway. After some careful inspection Lundie noted that the very stones this structure was built from actually originated in Redmark! A larger, second door sat between the party and true respite from the storm, and without much effort they were able to open it and head inside. On the back of the door was another message in the same unfamiliar script, “Within these halls rests weapons to remove oppression, defend the feeble, and weaken the mighty. Enter with caution if you are not of like mind.” Inside the compound was a sweet smell of baked goods, distant laughter and revelry, and incredibly cleanliness.

Searching around the party stumbled upon a small sleeping quarters with some immaculately kept skeletal remains. Suddenly specters appeared and attacked the group. Reacting quickly and efficiently, the party dispatched the spirits, composed themselves and began searching the rest of the rooms they came across. Directly after the fight, the party noticed the absence of Ghost Dancer and began their search for their companion in earnest. In a small storage room the group found some potions of healing, then headed into what looked to be a musical performance room. After stepping inside, the heroes were assaulted by dozens of skeletons and some sort of magical leader who used music to both direct his minions and to distract, delay, and damage the heroes. Quick thinking and decisiveness lead the day as the skeletons were dispatched in short order only to have a more prolonged battle as more of the Died Piper’s tricks came to light. Shadows attacked the warriors, noises blared in their ears, and disgusting long, gangly fingers attempted to worm their way into the minds of those brave enough to stand toe to toe with this foul being.

One final blow from Marcus felled the wicked creature and the party decided to rest in a small stairwell within the room. Quintos read through a small journal that granted insight into what exactly happened in this beautiful place that turned each entity into some sort of undying beast. Before they could barricade the doors, a swarm of hungry ghouls burst through the door stench first. The party sprung into action and quickly took down all six of the lecherous, unnatural things. Having destroyed the bodies and finally closed themselves inside the stairs, the party were able to break away for an hour to truly rest. Opposite the entry door is a larger double door leading to a hall of former heroes. Inside were statues and plaques memorializing the fallen warriors of this compound. Lundie, after some careful searching, found a secret doorway at the back of this hallway and the party turned a small corner to find themselves in another small hallway. Here were two doors. One at the end, about 25 feet away and another midway down the hall, with just a small nondescript door. Opening the door, the party quickly realized their error as two large wights wielding large weapons laid into the group. The battle was incredibly tough and much damage was taken, but the heroes did manage to survive the ordeal and strike down the dead but still alive disgusting creatures. Further inside the small room was a shrine of some kind and Marcus and Lundie were able to sanctify the area and rest with guidance from some sort of goodly deity or instinct.

Fully rested, the party returned to the hallway and opened a large door into what appeared to be a ballroom. Nothing but tables, chairs, centerpieces, and chandeliers were in the room lined with mirrors. Out of the corner of their eyes, each member spotted movement…in the mirrors. That’s where we will pick up next adventure!