Events

=The Story of Action Jackson D&D=



Session 1
The heroes begin the story at sea aboard the Maid Marian, a trasport vessel heading from the port city of Ghelsba in the Southwestern Continent of Khelarii to Port Rosencrantz in Arthenia. It is a dark, misty, and overcast day as everyone goes about their day. The crewman and footmen perform their routinal tasks around the ship while their leader, Prince Gilithor Edlam, stares off toward the sunset. Meanwhile, the rest of the heroes, with the exception of one stowaway tiefling rogue named Bit, explore the ship and meet their fellow passengers, discovering that aboard the ship are several prisoners: goblins, hobgoblin, a rather larger hobgoblin, a gnome, and a warforged. As the evening gets late, the heroes retire to their chambers to sleep, waking up soon after in Ghelsba.

Upon their awakening, the heroes try to figure out what exactly has happened to them and why they have returned to Ghelsba. After wandering around and checking shipping schedules, a Kalashtar bard named Qazatri Wordspinner her brother discover that they have shifted back in time a week for reasons unknown. The heroes retrace their steps and ultimately head back to the docks from which they had set sail. Arriving at the shipyards, they discover that the Maid Marian is not present, but another frigate, a more militaristic ship of the Light of Pelor headed by Prince Gilithor, is about to set sail. Two dragonborn, Acean the Templis and Ashkanazi cleverly manage to get themselves aboard the new ship, convincing Prince Gilithor to let both them and their other friends aboard as well.

The new ship sets sail, and the heroes find themselves trapped and stuck aboard a ship once again. After asking around, they find that no one excet them aboard the ship remembers anything that had happened, and more interestingly they discover that the gnome, the warforged, the man in fancy clothing, and a few others are not to be found on the boat. Acean and Ashkar both question the Prince about this, but he doesn't know. He does, however, explain that he was in Khelarii on a conquest against the hobgoblins, who have been posing a threat toward the Guildenstern Kingdom. As the characters talk amongst themselves on the upper decks, Bit stealthily sneaks past the guards by the prison cells, and sets one of the hobgoblins free, alerting the guards. The three guards immediately rush Bit and the hobgoblin, and the heroes soon rush down the stairs as well. A fight insues after Bit knocks out one of the guards and the heroes arrive.

Session 2
Bit and the hobgoblin begin fighting off the guards and the heroes, hacking and slashing their way out of being trapped, but their efforts are futile after they are quickly surrounded. The other goblins manage to escape their cells and fight off the others, but the swift and deadly arrows of Don Flor Valdez, an aspiring knight of the Light of Pelor, bring them down with the vengeance of Pelor, leaving Bit and the leader amongst the goblins and hobgoblins vulnerable. The heroes overwhelm Bit, knocking him to the ground, unconcious, and after putting up quite a fight, the hobgoblin falls to the ground. The heroes celebrate their victory and loot their enemies, finding items of little value.

Session 3
After defeating the goblins and the rogue who set them free, the heroes and soldiers who survived dispose of the bodies in the cells and carry on with their duties. Acean, Ashkar, and Qazatri all celebrate their victories by drinking, talking to (and in Qazatri's case, hitting on) the other crew members and soldiers, finding out what they can about them and what exactly is going on. After failing to breach the armory, Acean and Ashkar give up and go to bed along with the rest of the heroes.

The heroes, including the unconcious Bit, awake in perfect condition to the smell of smoke. Qazatri and Don Flor quickly jump out of bed to see what's the matter while Acean and Ashkar prepare themselves by drinking and looting the crewmen's quarters. Once the heroes arrive on the top deck, they discover they are once again aboard the Maid Marian, but this time the ship is on fire and has been attacked and boarded by another more barbaric frigate. Fires blaze and the bodies of soldiers and goblins lay around the ship as the heroes attempt to douse the flames and figure out what's going on the other ship. Aboard the other ship, Austin examines and finds nothing of value but corpses and goblin weaponry, and is quickly attacked by a lone hobgoblin that has survived. Bit, who has decided to help the other heroes, jumps to the other ship with Don Flor, Acean, and Qazatri, fighting off the hobgoblin while trying not to fall off the boat. After struggling to get aboard the ship, Acean, Qazatri, and Bit manage to get up and help fight off the hobgoblin while Don Flor rescues a boy pleeing for help. The heroes all fail to jump off the boat as it sinks, but the brave Ashkar who happened to roll a 20 grabbed them all and swung them onto the Maid Marian, where they douse the flames and rest for the day.

After recuperating, the heroes finally arrive in Port Rosencrantz, and proceed to get the fuck off of the Maid Marian, where they visit taverns, shops, and inns to rest again and prepare for the journey ahead to New Guildenstern. The prisoners aboard the ship, who also have returned to their previous condition (the gnome and the warforged have returned as well) are promptly escourted to the local prison by the Prince and the guards. Later, each of the heroes receive 120 gold from the Prince for their efforts, and they go their separate ways to sleep for the night.



Session 4
The next day, the heroes awake to another cold, rainy, and overcast day in Port Rosencrantz. The people go about their business in the markets and seem somewhat welcoming, despite the dark atmosphere filling the city with its weather and gothic/Germanic style buildings. A large crowd gathers outside of the town hall, and Ashkanazi quickly investigates the matter. He and the rest of the heroes who have joined him at this point discover from Prince Gilithor Edlam that two of the prisoners who were brought aboard the Maid Marian have escaped: Gimble Barbek and Mr. Roboto. No one seems to know how they managed to escape, but the Prince quickly accuses Bit. Having no proof of this, however, he is forced to return to the town hall to figure out the situation and prepare for the departure to New Guildenstern.

Meanwhile, the heroes split up, preparing to leave the city and trying to find clues about Gimble and Mr. Roboto. Ashkar and Bit head off to find clues while Acean the Templis returns to the weaponsmith to pick up his tempered scimitar and receives a note. Don Flor Valdez discovers that the name of the boy whom he saved is Jacob and also receives no answer as to how or what happened aboard the Maid Marian -- only that the goblins came out of the fog and attacked. Jacob decides to join Don Flor as his apprentice in hopes of finding his family and joining the Light of Pelor. In the meantime the heroes visit the library of the town hall and the docks to find out more clues about Gimble and Roboto, only determing that they are members of a thieves' guild and are most likely heading north. Acean goes to the local temple to learn about Pelor and verify whether it was possible to shift through time. The priest is amazed by his story, but does not know an answer and refers him to the high priest in New Guildenstern. After preparing to leave with the caravan, Qazatri Wordspinner gets everyone to come north with her to New Guildenstern on the caravan, and once Bit, Ashkar, and Acean gather the information they needed, they agree and begin to head north with the Prince, the prisoners, and the rest of the caravan into Irathen Woods.



Session 5
The heroes and the caravan leave the large stone city walls behind them as they head into the forest, thick with pine/fir/redwood trees that stretch toward the sky, in the cold, overcast evening. While the caravan presses on for hours without rest, Qazatri Wordspinner decides to go out and tame wolves, but fails, returning to the caravan defeated. She then tries to find pot to smoke, but instead smokes a random plant she finds and gets sick. Finally, the heroes decide to convince Prince Gilithor Edlam to let the group rest and head out in the morning, and reluctantly, the Prince agrees.

Everyone helps set up a campsite, preparing fires and moving the covered wagons and prison wagons to a safe spot within some small ruins. The Prince demands that Acean the Templis, Don Flor Valdez, and Qazatri stand guard and patrol for the night. They accept and Qazatri proceeds to interrogate the hobgoblin prisoner (who was previously freed and killed but not really), finding out very little because the hobgoblin refuses to cooperate and speaks poor common. Acean decides to begin patrol duty by heading out into the forest, searching for anyone or anything, finding nothing initially. After searching for quite some time, he spots movement in the distance of humanoid silhoutted figures and quickly returns to camp, warning everyone. The Prince gathers two guards and Qazatri, and they all head out to find out what was going on, except for one who returned to the camp. As they rush out into the woods, Don Floor hastily bolts after them, deciding to tame wolves along the way, but fails just as Qazatri did.

The heroes catch up to the figures after chasing them for several minutes only to discover that they are hostile bugbears, and they immediately engage in combat. The Prince and Acean rush up and attack while Qazatri and the soldiers assist. After a few seconds into the fight, Don Flor shows up and begins helping them as well. The bugbears put up a hell of a fight, almost smashing Acean and Qazatri to a pulp. After several minutes of hacking and slashing, the three bugbears and two of the soldiers are killed.

Session 6
After defeating the bugbears, Acean the Templis, Qazatri Wordspinner, and Don Flor Valdez loot the corpses, while their comrades, Ashkanazi and Bit catch up with them. Prince Gilithor Edlam runs into Ashkan and Bit and briefly talks to them about what happened in the woods and then returns to the caravan. The heroes reunite in the woods and also head back to the caravan where they discover that the hobgoblin and goblin prisoners have escpaed yet again. Everyone in the camp is unconcious, except for Jacob, who has just woken up. Jacob tells them that he remembers seeing a man in fancy clothing by the prison cells before The frustrated Prince decides it would be best to continue heading to New Guildenstern, but the heroes offer to lend their support in finding the hobgoblins if they are given a reward. After much haggling, the Prince finally agrees to let the heroes find the prisoners while the rest of the caravan continues to New Guildenstern.

The heroes head deeper into Irathen Woods, searching for the fugitive goblins as well as Gimble Barbek and Mr. Roboto. They find tracks that split off into multiple directions, and after wandering around for hours trying to follow them, the heroes get lost. They lose the tracks, but regain their bearings and head Northwest, eventually stumbling upon what appears to be a tomb.



Session 6 (cont.)
The heroes arrive at a large ruined staircase leading up to a courtyard covered in moss, stone, and ivy, where a large statue of King Ranperre stands facing back toward Irathen woods. At the base of the statue is an engraving in Elven, and surrounding the statue in the courtyard is three portcullises leading into the tomb. After failing to interpret the engraving at the base of the statue, the heroes try to find a way through the portcullises. Bit decides to climb over one and pulls a switch, opening one of the gates. The heroes enter the tomb and only find themselves wandering long, ruined hallways, occasionally seeing in the distance two silhouetted figures. Down one of the hallways is a large hole in the ground, an old trap, in which a corpse lays buried under rubble and moss. Ashkanazi examines and searches the rubble and the body while the other heroes jump over the pit. He gathers what he finds and heads deeper in the tomb with the rest of the heroes.

The heroes arrive at a fork in the road, a circular room splitting off into 4 different directions. Surrounding the room is four pillars, each of which have engravings on the side written in different languages. On the floor of the room is a large engraving of a sun, and each of the hallways appears to lead to a dead end. The heroes notice, however, that at the end of each hallway is a pair of silhoutted figures. Bit decides to head down one of the hallways, and as he stealthily sneaks around, he activates a trap pit and falls. Meanwhile Don Flor Valdez takes another hallway, but manages to avoid falling in the trap. The two head back to the circular room while Acean the Templis and Qazatri Wordspinner walk down the last remaining hallway, avoid the trap, and reach the wall. Ashkanazi falls asleep. As Acean and Qazatri examine the wall, they realize that they can walk through it and proceed to do so, entering an enclosed room, a burial chamber. They quickly decide to burn the bodies within the chambers, but before they can, they are attacked by skeletons.

Session 7
Acean the Templis and Qazatri Wordspinner quickly defend themselves and attack the skeletons while their oblivious friends, Ashkanazi, Bit, and Don Flor Valdez, try and figure out what happened to their friends. The three outside the burial chamber go down the hall and examine the wall which Acean and Qazatri just walked through and also proceed to enter the chamber. Don Flor is very confused by the wall and continues examining it while the rest of the heroes fight off the skeletons. After several misses and a few hacks and slashes, the heroes defeat the skeletons. Ashkanazi falls asleep again. They loot the burial chamber and discover that the wall that the entered is now sealed, and there is no way out. After examining the slots in the wall, Qazatri discovers a small tunnel. The heroes crawl through it into a dark and long cavern.

After walking around and examining the cave walls, they find a small campsite with a fireplace, two bedrolls, and a few equipment lying around, including a kukri. The campsite had been recently used, but not within the past few hours. Unsure whether to wait to see whose camp it is or to keep exploring, the heroes continue looking around. Ashkanazi is still asleep. Finally, Qazatri and Bit decide to see what is ahead. The cavern goes on for quite a ways then stops at a wall. The heroes examine it, and Bit, realizing it's another invisible wall, stealthily sticks his head through to find only an empty room on the other side. He enters and almost falls through another trap pit, but manages not to fully activate it. After avoiding the trap, the heroes open the door on the other side of the room, discovering a very large hallway. The hallway is much bigger and has higher ceilings. The walls are lined with pillars more doors, and large statues of knights of the Light of Pelor. A bit of scattered light shines down through the holes in the ceiling on the greenery growing throughout the room. At the end of the hallway is a huge door, partially broken by large pieces of rubble. The heroes head to the door and climb the rubble after attempting several times to jump over the ten feet of rubble. Once at the top, they can see into the next room. It is a large, circular room with a sun engraved in the floor, and a dome with a hole in the ceiling. The room is surrounded with large sarcophagi and even larger statues and at the end of the room is a staircase leading up to King Ranperre's sarcophagus and statue. A light is glowing from the center of the room as a silhouetted figure holds a torch, facing the statue of King Ranperre.

Bit decides to jump down and see who the figure is while Qazatri and Don Flor stay at the top of the rubble, quietly observing. Acean and Askan search the rooms in the other hallway. As Bit gets closer, he can tell by the figure that he is either a human or a half-elf man. He also notices that the man appears to be dressed very nicely. Bit contnues hiding while Qazatri decides to jump down, but lands on her face. The man immediately notices, turns around, and talks with Qazatri. The heroes learn that the man's name is Edwin. Edwin tells her that he got lost from the caravan and stumbled upon the tomb. When he arrived, he knew immediately he had to explore it to either find the missing hobgoblins or to find treasure. Qazatri tells him that she is alone and asks if he will accompany her in exploring the tomb and maybe finding treasure. Edwin agrees. The two search around the room while Don Flor readies his bow and Bit remains in the shadows. Qazatri luckily finds a switch that opens a door behind the statue of King Ranperre. Edwin and she head into the room to find that it is a treasure room. Bit and Don Flor stay closely behind them outside of the room. Qazatri and Edwin open the treasure chests and sarcophagi, but find nothing inside any of the treasure chests. Slightly saddened, they head out, but run into Don Flor as they are leaving.

Session 8
After running into Don Flor, Qazatri and Edwin talk and search around for the missing Bit and the "two drago--." They climb out of the King's tomb and head back through the main hall, where Acean and Ashkan are looting the rooms. As Don Flor, Qazatri, and Edwin leave, Qazatri tells Acean and Ashkan to be careful and wait, and before the exit, the last thing they notice are glyphs and scratch marks against the walls. They open the portcullis and leave while Acean, Ashkan, and Bit remain inside the tomb.

Session 9
Acean, Ashkan, and Bit decide to head to the entrance of the tomb, where upon their arrival they realize that Don Flor, Qazatri, and Edwin are no where to be found. Instead they only find a small shiny stone on the ground, which they examine briefly and stash. They quickly hurry back into Irathen Woods, where they hope to find their friends.



Session 9 (cont.)
They trek deep into the thick forest, following groups of tracks leading away from the tomb. After tracking their friends, they hear a noise in the distance and prepare for combat. Bit hides in a tree while Acean and Ashkan prepare to ambush and flank whatever approaches. Bit notices in the distance a group of goblins and hobgoblins carrying two unconcious humanoids. He can tell that the two people are indeed Don Flor and Qazatri, but Edwin, however, is no where to be found. To distract the hobgoblins, Bit yells loudly in goblin, "Mmmm, dat ass" (or so we believe) and gets the attention of one of the hobgoblins. Looking around, the hobgoblin notices nothing until Acean reveals himself from behind the tree. After having a nice conversation, the two begin to fight.

The hobgoblin and Acean begin flailing their weapons at each other, missing horribly, while Bit jumps out of a tree and stabs the hobgoblin in the back. What teamwork! Then Bit gets shot in the back by the goblin who is also hiding in the trees. Meanwhile, Qazatri feigns being unconcious, waiting for an opportune moment to strike the other hobgoblin. Ashkan sneaks around the larger group and begins to fight the hobgoblin by Qazatri and Don Flor. Qazatri gets up and helps him. After a few minutes of hacking, slashing, and being wedged into trees. The heroes slay the two hogbolins, while the other goblin flees. The heroes regain their strength and notice on the ground nearby another stone similar to the one they found outside of the tomb. Qazatri uses her arcana knowledge to deduce that the stones have magical properties, but she is uncertain what those properties are. They stash the stones and begin to track down the goblin that escaped.

They travel northeast through the woods where they discover a lake and decide to rest and forage. "What a beautiful lake," they exclaim. They continue north. The woods are still and silent as the heroes continue searching, and eventually after crossing a river, they lose the tracks of the goblin. However, they manage to stumble upon a small village along the river. As the heroes approach, they notice a skirmish has taken place. Corpses of goblins and town footmen line the path and the bridge. A footman is setting up a barricade and moving bodies. The heroes question the guard and discover that the goblin encampments are west of their location, but the guard discourages them from attacking the goblins. Upset, they head to the local garrison at the village to find wanted posters of Gimble Barbek, Mr. Roboto, and surprisingly Bit. Bit is shocked by this, and his friends suggest turning him in for the cash and freeing hima after. Rather sternly, Bit refuses the proposal. The group heads back to talk with the guard, and he persuades them to travel east to New Guildenstern away from the dangerous lands west of the village, and so they go. Gimble, Roboto, and the goblin are still nowhere to be found.

The heroes enter the huge city of New Guildenstern and rest at Qazatri's home, the Wet Rat Inn.



Session 10
The next day, the heroes decide to explore New Guildenstern, the city which they've all been trying to get to.

The session begins with Ashkanazi, who is interested in joining a military guild and findings new equipment within New Guildenstern. He leaves the Wet Rat Inn and wanders around until he arrives in the military district. The guards there inform him that there are two main military factions within New Guildenstern: the Light of Pelor, headed by the king himself and Prince Gilithor Edlam, and the New Dawn, headed by the Duke of Voltimand. Ashkan heads to one of the New Dawn's headquarters in the military district, where he is questioned by the doorman. Frustrated, Ashkan intimidates the doorman and asks where he can find a blacksmith, but the doorman abruptly and angrily slams the door in his face. Storming off, Ashkan tries to find a local blacksmith artisan in the market district.

Meanwhile, the wanted tiefling Bit stays in the lower, poor district in which the Wet Rat is located, looking for his tiefling guild. He is met by a tiefling in the city streets who escourts him into the Screaming Dagger Inn, where he is taken to the secret underground headquarters of the tiefling guild. Don Flor Valdez attempts to follow him down, but is stopped by the tiefling guards. Don Flor waits, drinking heavily. Bit feels right at home surrounded by his tiefling brethren and decides to gamble with a group of tiefling thieves. After winning the game, one of the higher ranking tieflings of the guild, Whrel, introduces himself. Whrel informs Bit that the tieflings are being persecuted by the Guildenstern government and that they plan on leaving for Bastok soon. Shocked to hear this news, Bit asks why it is happening and who is behind it and discovers that the local magistrate, Magistrate Peryl Higgins, is responsible -- not the king or prince. The Light of Pelor is more interested in the hobgbolins on the western front, while the magistrate and his organization acts as the local judicial authority. Bit suggests assassinating the magistrate, and although Whrel is skeptical about it, he agrees and tells Bit to plan the attack during the Festival of Lights. Bit leaves and finds Don Flor arguing with the the two bouncers outside. Calming his friend down, Bit escourts Don Flor back to the Wet Rat Inn, where Don Flor and Qazatri both vent about tieflings.

On the other side of town, Acean the Templis, heads through the crowded streets of the market district to the Temple of Pelor. After losing his way, he picks up a halfling out of the crowd to ask for directions. The halfling angrily kicks at him and calls for a guard. Fortunately, Acean is able to find the temple without the halfling's help and rapidly leaves. Disguising himself as a retarded dragonborn, he sneaks through the temple during a mass, attempting to find the high priest. After the evening's ceremonies are completed, he goes up to the altar only to find a regular priest of Pelor. The priest blesses him and tells him that the high priest is unavailable, but he tries to cheer him up by informing him about the upcoming Festival of Lights. Defeated, the retarded Acean leaves, hoping to have better luck tomorrow, and begins to shop for new equipment.

After buying new equipment and discovering more information, the group retires at the Wet Rat Inn.

Session 11
The next day, Bit heads out to a local library to discover more about the Festival of Lights and Magistrate Peryl Higgins. He learns about the rituals and celebration of the festival, its history and traditions, and finds out when the magistrate will make a public appearance. Wandering around the city, he asks a local citizen about the magistrate, but doesn't learn anything new, except for the fact that the magistrate is a large, jolly, greedy man and holds no real power.

While Bit continues investigating, Acean the Templis and Don Flor Valdez walk out of the Wet Rat Inn and stumble into a humble, hide-wearing, half-elf. Acean immediately interrogates him, commenting on his smell and clothing. Don Flor defends Acean and asks the half-elf his name. The half-elf replies, "Zogeta," but proceeds to walk away from them. Don Flor and Acean somehow manage to not realize that he has left, and they head over to the Temple of Pelor again, where they run into Bit. They enter and discover that the high priest is in his quarters upstairs. Because the stairs are guarded, the heroes try to persuade the soldiers to have some Carthagian wine so that they might get by. The guards accept and the heroes run back to the Wet Rat Inn, grab some booze, and return to the guards, handing them the drinks. Only two of them take it, and the heroes are forced to find another way up. They run into Zogeta again, who is praying at the temple, and ask for his help. Zogeta tells them he is only there to maintain peace during the Festival of Lights but decides to help them as long as he stays with them.

Session 12
Before approaching the guards, Ashkanazi and Qazatri Wordspinner notice peasants carrying crates upstairs and disguise themselves as workers (however, Qazatri fails at this by hiding within the crate). They gather together and approach the guards. After some convincing talk, the guards let them by, and they head to the high priest's room. Before entering, the heroes listen outside of the door and can hear two people discussing something. One is disappointed in the other because he has failed his task, but they both agree to continue their endeavor, whatever it may be. After the noises subside, the heroes try to bluff their way inside his chambers by saying the crates are for him, but High Priest Godfrey dismisses them. Ashkanazi approaches him alone, but is only sent away again.

Taking matters into his own hands for personal reasons, Acean the Templis forces his way into the room by grabbing the door as the high priest opens it, and finds Godfrey alone inside. The high priest bursts out in outrage because of Acean's intrusion, but Acean quickly calms him and reveals the glowing shard he and his friends found outside of King Ranperre's Tomb. The high priest immediately has his attention, and the two discuss the properties and significance of the stone. Godfrey seems to know little about the shard or why it is glowing, but he points out that it does have some sort of magical or divine properties.

Meanwhile, the other heroes continue pretending to be peasants, and Qazatri ends up being carried off to the rooftop of a building, where she tries to seduce the man who was carrying the box. The man is interested, but is forced to leave. Qazatri is sad. The others continue walking around the Temple of Pelor grounds.

Acean and the high priest continue discussing the stone over a fine glass of Carthaggian Wine. Acean begins threatening the high priest if he is lying or hiding answers, feeling a bit dizzier than before. The high priest laughs at his threats and examines the stone further, and begins to warn Acean that if he tries to do anything stupid that he would regret it. Acean tries to get up to unsheath his weapon, but discovers he is now paralyzed. "How am I paralyzed?" he asks. Godfrey replies rather sinisterly, "From the poison... you just drank." Acean is frozen, and the high priest thanks him for the stone and reminds him again not to try anything stupid. He also promises that he will return the stone to Acean when he is done with it, but by that point, Acean is unconcious. The guards carry him outside to a haystack.

Ashkanazi and Zogeta stumble upon the unconcious Acean after wandering the temple, and immediately try to find a doctor. They head towards the Wet Rat Inn and discover a nearby apothecary, and decide to take him there. The apothecary is surprised to see an unconcious body, but recognizes the poison. He explains that the antidote for such a poison is out of stock, but he assures the heroes that Acean will soon recover conciousness. The two leave and decide to throw him in a fountain to try to wake him up, and as they throw him, he regains conciousness and lands in the water. He explains to Ashkanazi and Zogeta what happened and swears that he will have his revenge.

The heroes head back to the Wet Rat where they plan to either assassinate or kidnap both Magistrate Higgins and High Priest Godfrey. Their plan is to blow up the stage from underneath during the Festival of Lights without harming the king or prince, both of whom will be escourted off the stage by Zogeta, who will also be on the stage. Bit and his tieflings will throw smoke sticks onto the stage from the towers surrounding the plaza as a distraction, and if all goes well, they will capture boh the magistrate and the high priest. Before they are able to blow it up, however, they must enter the sewers. The plot thickens...

Session 13 (Backstories)
The flashback begins in New Guildenstern several years earlier. The bard Qazatri Wordspinner along with her brother and troupe members are performing one of their finest pieces, and the crowd responds very well to it. Qazatri receives much praise for her work as she has traveled with her group of minstrels through much of the eastern part of Arthenia and Ghelsba as well. After their long performance, they receive their tips and decide to celebrate by barhopping, starting at the Wet Rat. After drinking plenty, they begin to head to another tavern, but along the way they pass the remains of building. Qazatri falls to the ground, feeling a sharp pain inside her. Flashes cross her mind. She explains to her friends that the library was once her home, and she lived there with her Kalashtar parents before they were killed. The library was burned to the ground by tieflings, and ever since then she has had a true hatred for tieflings. After the incident she was adopted and raised by humans in the Wet Rat Inn. She concludes by saying she wished she had somewhere to belong, somewhere amongst other Kalashtars.

We cut away to the underground tiefling city of Bael Tirith, hidden and isolated from the rest of the world. Bit, his close friend Tyr, and others have been physically and psychologically preparing for years for their rite of passage. The headmaster approaches them telling his students they are ready for the final test before their rite of passage. He guides them through winding caverns and brings them outside the city into a lush jungle. He quickly says "follow me" and darts into the jungle. The tieflings all storm into the jungle after him, following tracks, avoiding beasts or dangerous plants, and trying to keep up. Bit gets ahead while his friends tag not too far behind. They approach a fork in the road: an open area, more jungle, and cliffs. Bit decides to take the cliffs and the others behind him follow except for Tyr who goes through the jungle. Bit meets up with his friends, Batista and Quid, and they climb up the mountain together. At the top they find a ruined entrance to what looks like a temple. They all enter, and not much later, Tyr arrives, advising them that the jungle was not the right way to go as he was attacked by a jungle creature.

Walking down the ancient hallway, the group notices several holes lining the walls and begin to wonder if it's a trap. Batista bolts for the other side of the hallway, and quickly proceeds to activate a trap. Fire shoots out of the holes, and the group is forced to run for their lives, avoiding most of the flames. They finally make it into a large circular room with four doors, four torches, and a large hole in the center that drops to a pit of magma. The group lights two of the torches and the door behind them shuts. They light two more and another opens, leading into another hallway. They make it through hallway after avoiding a trap pit, and find another room like the one they were previously in, but one of the doors is missing. Lighting two more torches, they head through a hallway into another similar room. They decide to try lighting three torches, but soon realize that if they continue the lava will rise. After trial and error attempts with the torches, the door straight ahead of them opens, leading them into a large chamber with rock and stone platforms that are scattered across the room. After jumping on several of them and knocking them into the lava, they discover that the other side of the room is unreachable. They try to knock over all the platforms, but it does nothing. Instead, they decide to all stand on a circle in the center of the floor, and more platforms come up, including the ones that had just fallen. They jump across and barely reach the final door. Walking inside, they find the headmaster waiting for them by a fire pit. He congratulates them for completing their final step of training and tells them they must now begin their rite of passage -- going into the world. He marks their chest all with a branding iron, and say once they have completed, which they will know instinctly, they will return to the moutain and receive the other half of the mark.

The next flashback begins in Bahamut's Rest, the capital city of the blue and white dragonkin. The young Ashkanazi returns from hunting with his friends, and they discover that the sacred stone of their city has been stolen. Ashkanazi rushes to his father, but his father is dumbfounded by the occurance. He suggests that they must head to Khelarii, because that is probably where the stone is headed. Ashkanazi, his father, and friends take off, and after weeks of traveling through the snowy mountains of Crownland and the dangerous lands of the Western Front, they reach Jeuno, a magic city along the border of the Khelarii desert. The group decides to rest there for the night. At the inn they stay at, Ashkanazi notices that several of the people inside bear an emblem and a tabard of an eyeball and two hands. He approaches a half-elf and asks about them (after forcefully offering mead to him along with the rest of the group). The half-elf replies that they are members of the Mage's Circle, a very prominent mage's guild in the Western world. Ashkanazi tells him what happened in Bahamut's rest and asks if anyone can help him. The half-elf agrees to help, and tells him to meet him at the Mage's Circle guild in the morning.

The next day, Ashkanazi and the group meet the half-elf again and ask his name. The half-elf replies, "Edwin." Edwin proceeds to take them to the leader of the guild, who discusses with Ashkanazi the mythology behind the stone and correlates it to the myth of "The Nine," the ancients that created and saved the world in its time of distress. Ashkanazi suggests to the leader that he should come back to Bahamut's Rest. The leader agrees to help, but instead recommends sending three of his high ranking officials, including Edwin. The group agrees and they all head back to Bahamut's rest. Along the way they are followed and Ashkanazi's father is killed, impaled through the chest with a spear bearing a tabard with a runic symbol on it. Confused and saddened, the group brings Ashkanazi's father back to Bahamut's Rest with them. Ashkanazi and his friends talk with Edwin about his motives and ideas, but Edwin has little to say, and the group continue to the city, where they proceed to bury Ashkanazi's father and examine the site of the stolen Heart of Bahamut (the stone). Edwin casts a very powerful ritual that allows them to see the events that happened the several weeks ago. The dragonborn who were guarding the stone were distracted and sent away by a higher ranking dragonborn, who when alone shapeshifts into the leader of the Mage's Circle. After placing his hands upon the stone and whispering some words, he disappears and two other figures approach and begin casting a spell. In an instant, the stone and the two figures, one of whom looked like High Priest Godfrey, vanished.

Flash forward to the present...

Session 14
Festival Day 1

Our heroes prepare for the festival by heading around town to buy potions, antidotes, grenades, and everything necessary to carry out their plot to abduct the High Priest and the magistrate. After wandering through alleys and talking to some shady merchants, they are redirected to a local explosives merchant named Gilder Tranyth. The roguish and nickname-calling Gilder offers them explosives that they cannot find anywhere else, but warns the heroes that it will be expensive and only he can plant them. The group agrees to his terms and pays half up front and half after he plants the explosives. After purchasing everything they need, the heroes return back to the Wet Rat Inn to continue planning for the evening.

Festival Day 2

The next day the heroes walk around the city to find

Session 15
- Travel through the sewers

- Plant explosives

- Escape with the High Priest and Magistrate back through the sewers and out of the city

- Head north through the woods as they are being chased by guards

Session 16
- Heroes arrive at Old Guildenstern, examine the city, activate traps

- Meet Terith and his band of thieves, who are frustrated with them for leading guards of Guildenstern there

- Heroes interrogate high priest and magistrate, they kill them

- Heroes and thieves escape through mountain pass to avoid guards - go into Crownland

- Travel east towards Bastok through the snowy lands of Crownland

- The heroes avoided a group to the east of them and headed north across a frozen lake

- A dragon came out of the lake and began attacking them

- Heroes hid in a mysterious house owned by a strange old man

- Drank thistlewood tea, found a map of crownland with markings on it, also discovered that the house had some sort of magical properties

Session 17
- They leave the house and head east and run into a pile of burning orcs, one of which is severed and on a spear, the heroes find different sets of tracks going southeast and northeast

- Fight a group of orcs to the east

- The group comes across an ancient dwarven city, they go through it, discover some of its secrets

- They run into a tiefling, Iagross (Kevin), who is being chased by Orcs - the group helps him fight them off

- They rest, and are awakened by Orcs searching the rooms they're sleeping in

- The heroes fight off the Orcs, but the Orcs let out a loud distress call

- An army of Orcs chases them through the city

- Acean and Iagross loot the tomb of the dwarven king, and the heroes escape through the throne room secret passage

Session 18
- The heroes head to Bastok and find out that Iagross is wanted there - he discourages them from staying in the open or anywhere near a wizard named Jerithen

- Acean and Iagross sell the dwarven king armor and buy new armor

- Ashkanazi meets Stozard (David) and they jam and do drugs

- The heroes meet up and run into the gnome thief Gimble again at Stozard's house - Stozard is apparently friends with Gimble

- Gimble offers to take them to Mythros, they accept, but he doesn't have a boat

- Acean and Ash play music to get money and run into Gilder again, the explosives merchant, who offers to let them fly on his airship - they head to a bar to discuss it further

- Gilder will let them fly on his airship for 5,000 gold - he also knows some information about Jerithen, Lord Ashford, Gimble, and the stones

- They agree to pay 2000 up front and 1600 upon arrival in Mythros - Gilder leaves

- Two wizards walk into the bar who are looking for the heroes because they've murdered the High Priest and the Magistrate

- Acean and Ash collaborate and drug the wizards' drinks and follow them out of the bar

Session 19
- The heroes follow the drugged wizards out of the bar to the alchemists' guild

- So they decide to get in, Austin distracts the warforged guard outside patrolling by convincing him that he's unhappy -- meanwhile Qazatri and (Caleb) climb up the building and break in

- Qazatri breaks a roof window and falls into a room with two people, where she convinces them she's a janitor -- she then goes downstairs to let Steven into the alchemists' guild

- Steven had previously gone to get Austin back from the Inn after he had sexual relations with the warfoged

- Steven and Austin go down into the basement of the alchemists' guild, where they find resting chambers for the warforged, and a ritual room -- the stones have some sort of connection to the ritual room

- Marie goes upstairs and runs into Jerithen, and he ends up putting her in one of the cells

- They escape the guild and are now resting