Osrrealms

Session map

Oscar arrived in Thatchem by ravenback, still looking frazzled. His robes were scorched and burnt, but he had acquired a book of magic that seemed valuable to the mages in the tower of the leaning goose. He asked me to take his raven back to Highfell and help the others bring back more. With my promise to return Verminbane to Forrest fulfilled, it seemed a reasonable way to spend my time.

Session map

We set off for the correct tower bright and early in the morning. The ravens flew us south, following the edge of the floating island, and we saw many towers around the edges. There were even ruined fortifications connecting some of the towers. We saw a tower made of sandstone, two more with a strange dome and a peaked roof.

About a quarter of the way down, we came to a river, flowing off the edge of the island and disappearing into mist. This suggests some powerful magic is active here, above and beyond merely levitating the island; the water would surely have run out long ago were it not magically replenished somehow at a rate equal to the outflow of the river.

Session map

We crossed the pit, finding a T intersection with two more doors. Between us, we listened to them all. We heard voices behind one; someone was chanting. Stria opened the one next to it, just a crack, and closed it quickly. She whispered that there were more Vol cultists there, discussing how to get past some monster obstacle. Behind the third door, yet more dragon cultists. There were no obvious valuables or reasons to reveal our presence, so we left.

Oscar

I pulled myself to the top of the plateau just as Seleana was promising the ravens we had brought food. Just in time, too; one of them had given the druid a nasty peck on the shoulder that nearly tore her arm off. I laid the seed out according to the directions, while Selaena made silly caw caw noises. I can’t criticize too much, I’ll be doing the same thing later. They ate, and 7 of the ravens seemed amenable to becoming our companions. Which was good, as two new adventurers had joined the knight Stavros at the bottom of the cliff. Selaena and I struck a holy bargain of healing, and Denara smiled upon it enough to bless u-Heury for bravely keeping between the druid and the ravens.

Session map

After bringing Ygnas back, and getting her settled in at the tavern to recover, we reported to the wizards at the tower of the leaning goose. They were so excited by the report that they proposed an immediate return to Highfell, this time on the backs of giant ravens. The wizards claimed to possess a kind of magical birdseed that would allow us to befriend them, for a period of months at least. We could then ride the animals to Highfell. We could return the same way, but I insisted on a potion of feather fall for each member of the group. Just in case. Ygnas insisted she needed rest, but recommended her friend Selaena the druid to accompany us. The wizards suggested we look for a specific tower within Highfell, an octagon with a rectangular annex, once occupied by their patron.

Session map

By the time I caught up with the old man and his cart, darkness had fallen. We exchanged pleasantries and agreed to be allies for the night in case of trouble. We both went to bed, hoping to hear my friends catching up, but I drifted off.

I woke to Rowen poking me with a stick. The rest of the group had found horses somewhere and caught up. I didn’t want to ask where they got the horses, for fear I wouldn’t like the answer, but I least I wouldn’t have to make the journey to Thatchem alone. Unfortunately they brought a huge panther with them. The panther promptly pounced on Morin’s horse and dragged it away while I healed her wounds.

Session map

We traveled northeast for hours, doffing our armor to make better time for Ygnas’ sake. To be honest northeast was the only real choice for miles. Mountains blocked the north and south, and to the wet were salt plains. At least in grasslands there would be a chance of water and game, not to mention civilization. Eventually we came across a road, with diverging pathways northeast, northwest, and southeast. We chose northeast again, passing through a forest.

Session map

The grinding noise came from the two statues in the hallway. An expected they had animated. As we heard their footsteps stomping towards us, I gave Morin my large sacks and a torch, telling her to stuff anything valuable from the secret room into the sacks as fast as she could while u-Heury and I tried to deal with the statues. u-Heury set himself up by the door, planning to hold it closed as long as possible. That would buy me some time to try other things. The most obvious, just closing the secret door, did not work. Carefully reviewing my instruction on Denara’s blessing of Hold Person suggested that living iron statues would not count as people. I expressed a certain doubt as to whether non-magical weapons could even damage such creatures, but was interrupted by a smash as the door broke down.

Session map

The last two rats fell or fled as we tore apart their nest, finding a few gold coins in the process, but with that Denara’s blessing faded away. We deferred searching the rest of the nest immediately, though we did make an effort to block the hole to the outside to prevent (or at least delay) reentry.

We chose to investigate the secret door in the back of the chamber. Turning the brazier affixed to the wall did nothing, but Ygnas stuffed it with cloth and lit it; this allowed a firm push to open the door itself, leading to a small chamber with an obvious trapdoor. We set that aside for the moment and focused on opening the coffer.

Session map

We had landed in thick forest, so u-Heury climbed a tree to look around. He saw a few flying creatures in the distance and the cloest way out of the forest to the northeast. We headed in that direction, briefly interrupted by a harpy that didn’t seem interested in us. The harpy eventually flew off, asnd we made it out of the forest and approached one of several towers. Ygnas recognized the emblem above the tower entrance as belonging to Kelguumer, a wizard famed for his interest in insects.