OSRealms -- Session 140
Feverborne called me in to help with selling three books in elvish the group had recovered some time ago and wanted to read before deciding whether or not to sell. I read a chapter from each, and decided two of them were worth reading more thoroughly. Worlds Beyond described alternative planes and dimensions, and Libraries of the Ancients was all about libraries and why elven libraries were better than all the others. Since some of the Glorious Blades have repoorted strange things happening in libraries, there might be some useful information. The third, Sense of the Beyond, was a fictional account of a romance with a ghost. That one we sold. I’ll read the other two over the next few days.
OSRealms -- Session 120
Shortly before we left the rebel camp, a young man named Gareth asked to join our group. He felt that leaving in our company might give him a better chance of escaping whatever curse held Meagre’s Reach in thrall. We agreed, having no real reason not to allow it, and set off at dawn. Despite the dire warnings and Gareth’s presence, we had no problem departing the area, and made our way to the manse of Ygraine. After a brief discussion, and observing a slow approach of swan boats carrying people we presumed to be guests, we chose to approach and find out what we could.
OSRealms -- Session 119
We didn’t make it back tomorrow, or the next day. We dragged our coin, poorly hidden, past a traveling caravan; we paid extortion money to a gargoyle with two mossy statues; we suffered through blood rain and invisible hail and the worst cold I’ve ever had. We did finally make it to town, where absolutely everyone wanted to know what we had in the urns.
We did notice a few details in town. The road leading east was being repaved with strange new cobblestones that had a dark and glittery quality to them. Rowen commented that they looked almost as if they reflected the night sky. There appeared to be a workshop making the stones in town.
OSRealms -- Session 117
Rather than return to town immediately, we investigated some of the nearby barrows. While we walked, Rowen had the bright idea to put on the wight-making necklace we found in order to “make sure we kept her safe”. I’m not sure where she got this obviously bad idea but she should stop listening to them.
The first had a simple porticullis guarding the entrance, and no skull on top. After inspecting it for traps we managed to lift it and descend, with Rowan’s Dancing Lights lighting the way, and a log holding the gate up so it wouldn’t close behind us.
OSRealms -- Session 116
Session map
We traveled further down the road, meeting a knight by the name of Richard the Lionhearted and his single merry (and weirdly mossy) dwarf. We discussed the road in both directions, and the dwarf inquired about peculiar mushrooms. Richard mentioned that there was someone already looking into the weirdness of time around the town of Meagre’s Reach, and advised us not to stay there long lest we be caught up in the time distortion ourselves.
OSRealms -- Session 115
Session map
Rowen had the idea to take a walk into the Dolemwood to follow some sort of ley line she supposedly can see in the sky. I could use a walk in the woods, so I agreed to come along, and apparently Morin was bored too. We wandered into the woods and spend a lovely night by the Dark Mirror Lake. A swan boat was collecting dreams.
OSRealms -- Session 85
Free! I’m finally free of that damned ooze! (Probably).
We continued training through rain and wind at the same slow pace.. the pace of the ooze. After several days of this, during which Sanfire departed, we met up with the somewhat confused bard Brad. Brad was confused about the ooze. The ooze was confused about Brad, but I convinced it not to eat him. Temporarily.
Brad dumped a lot of random gear in the forest for some reason. I picked up a small bell, just in case it came in handy, and we played music as we strolled through the trees. We kept playing until we came across a large owlbear. No, not the one from the cave; this one had cleaner feathers and the loveliest huge eyebrows. Anyway, knowing that discretion and silence are the better part of valor, I stopped playing and hid, as did Stria. Brad… kept playing. The owlbear promptly ate him in one bite. We left. I hoped, very quietly, that the owlbear would step in the ooze. My wish was not granted.
OSRealms -- Session 84
We set off towards Threshold, planning to cut through the forest to make better time. Our plan was foiled by the mold, or pudding, or ooze, or slime, or whatever it was. It simply moves slowly. So slowly that it took days to travel a few miles. And every single day was a nervewracking exercise in wondering if the spell had worn off yet, not to mention watching it all night to make sure it didn’t eat Rowen, Sanfire, or Stria. The magic protects me, not my companions, apparently.
OSRealms -- Session 83
Session map
Feverborne, Sanfire, and Ygnas casme back from the sewers looking discouraged. Ygnas and Feverborne needed a few days to recover, but Sanfire was ready to go, so we gathered a few others and took a side trip to the Caves of Chaos. We traveled to the far western end of the valley, where a natural cave bore claw marks and scratches from a large beast. Sanfire went inside and found an owlbear – and the owlbear found him. He left in a hurry and we set up around the outside of the cave, hoping to ambush it.
OSRealms -- Session 74
Seasons passed. I had greenleaf tea with Selaena on the regular, after a chance meeting in the woods outside Eastdale. She was talking to the farm cows, which I found charmingly naive. (What could they possibly say that would be interesting?) Turns out they actually did have something interesting, complaining about giant frogs eating their friends. Maybe we will look into that later.
Yes, about that, she talked me into getting up off my log in the forest to actually make a difference in the world. The tales she told – second or third hand, about the exploits of her friends Ygnis, Oscar, Bern, Feverborne, and u-Heury – caught my interest, and I signed up with the Glorious Blades. Of course, I immediately wandered off for a few months. It’s going to take some getting used to, working with humans and their ticking life-clocks on the regular. I suppose I can understand their frustration by remembering the time I pestered my father to teach me how to use a sword. It took him nearly 30 years to get around to it!
