The Many Schools of Magic

The Manse has recently published a very nice rant on categorisation of magic where they discuss several approaches to the classification of spells and derive their own schools of magic, a neat and clean system of seven traditions with a rigorous naming convention. But there's a fallacy in this approach, I venture. It's tempting to create a well-defined, all-encompassing set of categories and just use them for everything. I will freely admit to doing just that many a time. But real-world systems are rarely if ever neat. There's always something off, missing or superfluous. New findings undoing the symmetry of old theories, things that do not fit into known patterns, weird edge cases that could go either way, someone who made a mistake a century ago and now it would be too costly to fix it. Classification is a human invention and humans are imperfect.

If the classification of magic is to be used in-universe, I think a different approach is needed. Embrace this imperfection, build on it. Explain it, so that it stops being an irritant and becomes a piece of lore.

Also, why should there be only a single classification?

  

The Imperial Collegium recognises eight schools of magic:

1. Abjuration
2. Conjuration
3. Divination
4. Enchantment
5. Evocation
6. Illusion
7. Restoration
8. Transmutation

Restoration is a very recent addition, founded and still led by Archmage Hasenbach, whose groundbreaking research into positive energy allowed any mage to wield the healing arts that a generation ago would be the sole purview of the divine. Any naysayers who point out that white magic is quite common outside of the Imperium are usually booed out by Hasenbach's near-fanatical followers.

Necromancy used to be a recognised school for centuries, but also illegal for most of the time. After decades of academic misuse, where every spell deemed inappropriate would be labelled as necromantic, and after increasingly pointed inquiries from the Inquisition about why exactly does the Collegium keep a library wing dedicated to illegal magic, Necromancy was officially struck from the Rolls of Magic in the year 769 of the Three United.

One might also wonder about Enchantment and Illusion, the two odd schools out. There used to be a single school of Prestidigitation, but a falling-out between two archmages about three centuries ago led to a schism that created two new, closely related yet highly quarrelsome schools. It is a public secret that whether a spell is an enchantment or an illusion depends entirely on who publishes the paper first.

Foreigners are sometimes confused that the school of Enchantment works with mind-trickery rather than creation of enchanted items. Well, there used to be a school of Imbrication dedicated to crafting enchanted items, but it was officially disbanded in the wake of the Dwarven Trade War.

In Nymbia, magic is colour-coded:

• White Wizards are the only sanctioned practitioners. They deal in healing, protection and exorcism. Some tower-cabals can get quite militant about their exorcisms, training squads of professional undead hunters, though this get rarer the further one gets away from the Dead Lands.
• Grey Wizards are a wide assortment of hedge practitioners who hold very disparate secrets, from wood-singing and fate-reading to teleportation and unmaking. They are not allowed to own a tower, so a grey practice rarely has more than a single master and one or two apprentices.
• Black Wizards are practitioners of the dark arts, which is a nebulous set of practices that include necromancers and biomancers, but also telepaths, mindcrafters and most alchemists. They are outlawed everywhere but in Alema.
• "Red Wizards", or rather Pyromancers, as they actually call themselves, are foreign to Nymbia, coming from the Great Swamp. Their magic is very limited and narrow in scope, but all the more powerful for it. So powerful in fact, that the authorities have not yet found a response to their increasingly common depredations. Hence also the reason why Black Wizards are now allowed to settle and openly practice in Alema, whose countryside suffers the most from the flame-makers' raids.

An island nation of Sik has an alternate colour scheme to their practitioners:

• White Mages are healers, just as in Nymbia, but much less belligerent. They are widely recognised as the best surgeons on the continent, capable of cutting away ills of the body and the mind alike.
• Blue Mages study weather control and ship magic. They can be quite potent war-casters, but their primary focus is binding the powers of the ocean and its storms for use in transportation and agriculture.
• Silver Mages are spellwrights who specialise in charms - a type of talisman - and wards. While charms against insects, snakebite or the cold, glamour-charms to allure and impress, or any kind of dowsing-charm are sought-after export goods, the much more powerful wardstones that can protect a whole village from locusts or pirates are never sold outside of Sik.

The Mage Guild of Thorlan considers every spell to be an aspect of the four Great Elemental Dragons:

• Air also covers everything related to swiftness, movement and communication.
• Earth also deals with the Dead, as the Old Stone Serpent holds dominion over the dearly departed in Thorlan. Earth sages traditionally handle matters of inheritance and murder investigations.
• Fire also deals with destruction, counter-spells, curses and high emotions.
• Water also deals with knowledge, illusions, cleansing and low emotions.

Hexploration Adventure Quickstart

If you prefer fantasy wilderness to post-apocalyptic wasteland, here are some starting tables for you.

• Start with d6-1 rations, a backpack, blanket and waterskin, plus normal clothes.
• Roll for a Weapon, Armour and Money.
• Roll for a Background and get its items.
• Roll for d3 other starting Useful Items.
• Choose or roll d6/2 languages. Do not round, languages can be half-known.
• If you'd like to have a class, you can roll here.

d12	Weapons	d8	Armour
1	Club	1	None
2	d2 Knives	2-4	Light
3	Staff	5-6	Medium
4	Axe	7	Heavy
5	Sword	8	Shield and roll again
6	Shortbow & d6 ammo	d6	Money
7	Spear	1	Ring worth d100 silver coins
8	Warhammer	2	d4 silver coins
9	Battle-axe	3	d6 x 10 silver
10	Flail	4	2d6 x 10 silver
11	Longbow & d6 ammo	5	2d8 x 10 silver
12	Zweihänder	6	d10 x 100 s in debt, roll again

d66	Backgrounds
11	Acolyte	random scroll	41	Jailer	manacles, club
12	Astrologer	star chart, spyglass	42	Juggler	d4 torches and knives
13	Barber-Surgeon	razor, soap	43	Linkboy	lantern, oil for 8 hours
14	Blacksmith	hammer, tongs	44	Locksmith	d4 lockpicks
15	Butcher	big knife, big ham	45	Lumberjack	axe, firewood
16	Carpenter	hatchet, saw, drill	46	Mason	hammer, 3 iron spikes
21	Coachman	warm cloak, hat	51	Miner	pick-axe, lantern
22	Con Artist	fake jewellery	52	Minstrel	lute, perfume
23	Cook	bag of salt, wineskin	53	Prostitute	disguise kit
24	Drunkard	d6 bottles of booze	54	Sailor	rope (15 yds), booze
25	Farmer	flail, donkey	55	Scribe	paper, ink and quill
26	Fisherman	large net, d4 fish	56	Seamstress	needle and thread
31	Fur Trapper	snare, d4 pelts	61	Servant	stolen horse
32	Guard	spear, helmet	62	Smuggler	waterproof sack
33	Herder	(d3) goat/sheep/swine	63	Thief	random useful item
34	Houndsman	puppy, whip	64	Trader	nice clothes
35	Hunter	shortbow, signal horn	65	Undertaker	shovel, gold teeth
36	Cheesemaker	wheel of cheese	66	Wet Nurse	loyal urchin

d66	Useful Items
11	Unmarked package*	41	Tent & bedroll (3 Slots)
12	Toolbelt with common tools	42	d2 Blankets
13	(d3) Pick-axe, shovel, crowbar	43	Warm travelling clothes
14	Metal file, d4 lockpicks	44	Musical instrument
15	Chain (3 yds) & padlock	45	Silver hand mirror
16	Grapnel & rope (15 yds)	46	Stolen signet ring
21	Pouch of caltrops	51	Small but vicious dog (HD 1)
22	Weighted net or Beartrap	52	(d4) Crow, falcon, owl, parrot
23	Waterproof bag	53	Mule & cart (carry 30 Slots)
24	Tinderbox, 2d4 torches	54	Random follower
25	Lantern, oil for d12 hours	55	Helmet or Shield
26	d4 Jars of black oil	56	d6 Javelins
31	Random potion	61	Favour owed by local VIP
32	d4 Healing salves or Bandages	62	Location of a secret hideout
33	Red salt or Bezoar (d4 doses)	63	Membership of secret society
34	Vials of glue, grease and acid	64	Extra background, no items
35	Bomb, (d2) smoke/shrapnel	65	Random trinket
36	Poisoner's ring with poison, (d4) lethal, sleep, paralysis, charm	66	Treasure map

*) Can contain any item you want that fits into 1 slot and is not too rare or expensive.

d66	How Do You Know Each Other?
11	From the same village	41	Idolise same famous figure
12	From the church	42	Looking for same item
13	From the tavern	43	Looking for same person
14	Childhood friends	44	Woke up in the same bed
15	Mutual friend	45	In a riot together
16	Respected rivals	46	Met on a boat
21	Saved people from a fire	51	Met on a funeral
22	Served in the army	52	Met on a wedding
23	Scammed by the same guy	53	Named in same inheritance
24	Servants to the same lord	54	Both have a rare disease
25	Stole a thing from the other	55	Both got mysterious letter
26	Same horrible fashion sense	56	Shared embarrassing secret
31	Defenders in a siege	61	Mentor/student
32	Plague lockdown survivors	62	Prison cell mates
33	Last members of a cult	63	Roommates
34	Had the same lover	64	Pen pals
35	(Ex-)Lovers	65	Related
36	Former coworkers	66	Will open a pub together

You wake up in the middle of an uncharted wilderness. Good luck.

Critical Spells!

Warlocks in Encounter Critical can cast one spell per day per level. This is not the only magic they wield and it is a rather limited amount even on higher levels. That seem to point towards spells being the specialist tools and big guns, something that changes the situation rather than yet another magic blast - that's what the Magical Attack skill is for, after all. The booklet presents a few spells, but here is my expansion and reinterpretation of them into a set of game-changers.

If you're unsure about range, duration or effect, think "more, longer, fancier". Warriors of EC should be riding a tyrannosaurus while wielding a light sabre in one hand and a rocket launcher in the other, so Warlocks should be comparably awesome when casting their spells. At least in my Encounter Critical.

 

Encounter Critical fanart, I think.

  

d20 Warlock Spells

1. Evil Eye: The warlock curses an enemy (such as making its weapon explode or its eyes rot away) if it fails a Psi Resist roll. One of the warlock's eyes is permanently strange-looking once he learns this spell.
2. Battle Banner Imperative: The warlock's side will go first in every round of combat and retainers cannot fail morale or defy orders.
3. Stop: Freeze one creature or object in place, even in mid-air. No saving throw is allowed. The spell lasts until the Warlock casts another spell, or until the victim is attacked – though that first attack always hits.
4. Double: Create a copy of one creature or object, which will last until the next dawn. When the duration ends, a random one of the twin things disappears.
5. Demon Master: Gain control of one demon, no save. Must be recast every day.
6. Possess: The warlock dissolves into smoke and flows into another creature. They can control it completely until it takes damage.
7. Mimic Special Ability: One special ability of a creature or object can be copied and used as a spell by the warlock. Only one ability can be copied at a time – if this spell is cast again, the warlock loses the older stolen ability.
8. Phantasmic Projections: Creates completely realistic, albeit intangible, illusions. This includes sounds, smells and animated illusions.
9. Tesseract: The warlock teleports somewhere they can see. This can be cast in an instant, even to dodge any danger.
10. Transportal: Two magic circles prepared by the warlock in advance are linked by a portal. The portal lasts until dismissed or until the warlock casts this spell again.
11. Transmogrify: The warlock can transform himself into any creature from which he owns a trophy.
12. Walk on Water or Wind: Wears off when the warlock touches the ground.
13. Ice Sculpt: Form any object or structure out of ice. It lasts until the warlock casts this spell again, even in heat.
14. Matter to Mist: Dissolves one object into mist and then condenses it into a tiny crystal. When the crystal is broken, mist billows out and the object is reconstituted.
15. Shape Earth, Wood or Flesh: Material can be slowly moulded into any shape desired.
16. Phasic Sphere: The warlock activates a previously prepared magic circle, creating a softly glowing but transparent sphere of force. Nothing can pass through the sphere – not creatures, missiles, magic, psionics, phasics, teleportation nor air. It lasts until dismissed, or until the warlock casts this spell again.
17. God Speech: The warlock can speak with anything.
18. Darkstorm: Sudden thunderstorm brings bad visibility, strong winds and torrential rain.
19. Rain of Fire and Brimstone: Flames start raining from the sky, dealing the warlock's magic damage to everyone not under a roof (and to the roof, too).
20. Warlock Bomb: The warlock conjures an orb that will explode violently (3d20 damage in close range and half that in short range) when shattered. Can be cast with a delayed timer or a special trigger. The explosion can easily breach walls.

The Indebted

 

Gibborim
Sigurd, Fighter A
STR 6, DEX 3, VIT 7, PRE 5, AWA 7, WIL 5

Atk: battle-axe

Def: chain, helmet

Background: miner

Interesting items:

• Pick-axe
• Unmarked package
• Jars of black oil, x4
• 600 silver in debt

Languages: Sigurde

 

Elwyn

Amazon, Ranger A

STR 5, DEX 6, VIT 4, PRE 5, AWA 4, WIL 5

Atk: spear, longbow

Def: leather, helmet

Background: fur trapper, educated, tinkerer

Interesting items:

• Map case
• Parchment, ink & quill
• Lock picks
• Pouch of caltrops
• 300 silver in debt

Languages: Amazon, Sigurde, Tradertalk, a bit of Demi-human dialects, literate
 

 

Haesiri

Sigurd, Fighter A

STR 5, DEX 4, VIT 3, PRE 5, AWA 3, WIL 9

Atk: iron-shod staff

Background: drunkard

Interesting items:

• Booze
• Rope
• 400 silver in debt

Languages: Sigurde, Tradertalk, Demi-human dialects

 

Parvana

Dendrassi, Sorceress A

STR 9, DEX 6, VIT 7, PRE 6, AWA 5, WIL 8

Atk: axe

Background: Arrived as the only passenger on a derelict, rotting ship. If the whole party dies, you somehow survive but lose everything you are wearing and carrying.

Interesting items:

• Demon mask of painted wood
• Map of a remote island
• Location of a secret hideout
• 900 silver in debt

Languages: Dendrassi, Tradertalk

Week 7: Temple Raid

The Rogues had a week of downtime to come to terms with their loss and they are ready to travel once again. Their goal has not changed - get to the shadow temple and rob it of its riches. They still have Deryn the cart-driver and two footwomen, Gwen and Bronwyn, with them, plus Brenna and Maera have spent the week honing their abilities, perhaps to dull the heartbreak. Additionally, Yt the last surviving ragwretch from the altercation with the owlbears has decided to join them as a guide and companion.
 

Feb 12, Monday; Cold & cloudy

Yt leads us all straight north from the ragwretch village, down from the hills and into a thick forest that he can nonetheless navigate without any trouble. (#4.19) We passed by a tumbled-down temple where a group of ragwretches was just butchering a corpse of some equine creature, but they only waved at Yt as we passed by them. According to him, that is a temple of Ís, the village's god of wine, and the seat of their priestess-queen.
By noon, we were deep in the forest (#3.19, #2.19) where we arrived to the banks of a large river. Yt informed us that it's called Water-that-Leaps and it will guide us to the mountains where the temple we seek is. Going against the stream, we soon got to a ford (#2.18) and crossed the river, then continued west into a valley (#2.17) carved into the quickly approaching mountains.
Dusk was upon us, but Yt insisted on going a bit further. As it turned out, the road we took into the mountains came to an abrupt end at the foot of a massive cliff, from which the river dove in a beautiful waterfall. Yt showed us a sheltered campsite where we can hide our cart. Tomorrow we will have to leave it here and climb a goat path to the higher reaches of the mountains.
We were lucky that our camp is well-hidden. Just as we were about to go to sleep, Nissa noticed a group of hunched humanoids clutching primitive weapons scurry along the river downhill into the forest. They didn't notice us at all.

new hexes traversed = 50 xp

features found = 150 xp

Feb 13, Tuesday; Cold winds, morning star

We leave our hirelings to guard the camp and climb up into the mountains. (#1.16, #1.17) The footpaths that Yt knows are winding and treacherous, plus we have to avoid a small group of big beetles munching on different big insects, but as dusk approaches, we catch the first glimpse of the shadow temple. It is still a few hours away, but tomorrow, we will be there.
The night is uneventful, but the starry sky this high in the mountains is beyond beautiful.

new hexes traversed = 20 xp

Feb 14, Wednesday; Cold rain

We were awoken by the sounds of an endless downpour. But alas, we have to brave it anyway. Sometimes I wonder how adventuring in a desert would be, where there's no rain to drench you nor snow to make your toes purple.
Anyway, we made our way across the deep valley towards the shadow temple. Everyone was rather sombre - both because of the weather and because we are getting close enough that running into a patrol is an increasingly likely possibility. Thus we've made sure to pick our path through wealds and shrubbery where we cannot be easily spotted.
Instead of a patrol of Feather-and-Claw people, though, we have happened upon winged, leonine creatures taking apart some nightmare spawn.

2x Manticore

4x Nightmare Spawn

The spawn seemed in pretty bad shape by the time we saw the fighting, the two manticores circling in the sky above and slowly taking them apart with spike shots. They were all too invested to notice our little group.

First spawn soon collapsed, pin-cushioned by spikes, and the other were already bleeding, too. Yet they seemed more enraged than daunted. They tore great boulders and smaller trees out of the ground and threw them up at the manticores. The smaller one was just a smidgen too slow and a boulder clipped its wing, sending it plummeting to the ground. The larger manticore cried out in anguished wrath and dove at the wounded spawn. It died clawing and biting at the spawn.
During this whole ordeal, we stayed hidden and we kept hiding for at least another hour as the spawn collected their fallen kin and eventually left. Only then did we climb out of the bushes and went to investigate the two manticore corpses that were left behind. We cut off their tails, still bearing quite a few of the strange iron spikes.
It was already past nightfall, so we quickly found a passable sleeping place and set camp for tonight. We have found more signs of monstrous activity in these parts of the mountains, but luckily nobody bothered our little campsite.

Feb 15, Thursday; Cold & cloudy

We woke up early, intending to spend the day scoping out the temple and any forces guarding it. We split into two groups, Maera with Yt and Brenna with Nissa, and off we went.
We have quickly discovered an unfortunate turn of events - the temple was on high alert, guards posted to overlook every access path. Brenna and Nissa even found some of their patrol paths, though thankfully we haven't run into any of the patrols. We reconvened in the evening and shared our troublesome findings. This changes things. We all thought we could rob the Feather-and-Claw people blind, but this is now frankly out of the question.
We have enough provisions for a few days yet, so we might as well wait at least one more day to see if providence doesn't smile our way, but it would seem that this venture was after all the troubles a resounding fiasco.

Providence struck just after midnight. Maera was keeping watch and woke us all, pointing at the sky with a trembling finger. Two great shapes were locked there in a deadly dance, fire and darkness crossing the night sky. Was it the great dragon we have found sleeping a fortnight ago? Was it the horrid corvid-beast we have seen slaughtering citizens of Eklo?
We were frozen in awe and fright until suddenly, a blast of darkness took the dragon square in the chest and it plummeted from the sky. The other beast flew back to the temple, but it was obviously hurt.

... Interesting.

Feb 16, Friday; Icy & cloudy

We split up again. Brenna and Nissa will go to watch the temple and its happenings again, while Maera with Yt will check out the place where the dragon presumably met its demise.

The temple was quiet and well guarded, just as yesterday, and Brenna and Nissa were getting rather frustrated that this was clearly going absolutely nowhere. Then, a dragon swooped in from the clouds.

Dragon of Cinders

5x Feather-and-Claw cultist

It tore through a group of Feather-and-Claw guards and then tore open the temple gate. Screams started to be heard as it barged inside.

"...What?" Brenna said.

"Maybe it's a spouse of that other dragon from yesterday?" Nissa ventured.

"You know what? I don't really care. Let's go find Mae and hide and never stick our heads out again."

Maera and Yt had reached the other dragon's corpse in the meantime. There were tracks that suggested it was already checked upon by the cultists, but no one was around at the moment. This would be a trove of magical materials if they had the time to properly butcher it, but they will probably not have such luck. Maera at least went to pry some teeth out of the dragon's mouth while Yt stood watch.

She managed to get six by the time that Brenna and Nissa found them. After a bit of disjointed explanation, they all decided to withdraw into the forest - and not too soon, as before long the second dragon rose up above the now smoking temple and made for the very corpse they have just been desecrating. Watching from a hopefully safe distance, they saw the weary but mostly uninjured dragon land by its dead kin. In its mouth, it brought a massive corvid head - the head of that monstrous creature that served (or was served by?) the Feather-and-Claw cultists.

It laid the head by the dead dragon and for a few long minutes seemed lost in thoughts. Then it spread its wings and breathed out a column of brilliant flames, torching the corpse and the corvid head.

There were tears in Nissa's eyes.

"Are you actually feeling for that monster?" Maera whispered.

"I was," Nissa sniffed, "thinking about how much we could've gotten for that corpse."

The dragon stood watch over the pyre and the party sneaked away. Smoke was rising from the direction of the temple, a sure sign of the dragon's wrath, but Maera urged that they should still check it out.

"Beat the iron while it's hot, y'know? That dragon probably killed every last damned thing in there and the ziggurat itself didn't look all that flammable. It will probably be left standing, which means we can go a-looting."

"We don't know if everyone is dead and we don't have enough food left to stay about and wait for them to come out," Brenna doubted.

"I have seen a secret entrance," Nissa said.

"What?" Brenna said.

"In the base of the ziggurat. When the dragon attacked, a few cultists slipped out of there."

"Why haven't you mentioned anything?!"

"Things were happening. It wasn't important at the moment."

"Well, you could've told me as we walked!"

"Could've, should've! I'm telling you now. We can go right into the guts of the temple, steal what hasn't burned yet."

"I'm in but I'm also mad at you," Brenna said, "just so we're clear."

"I'm in as long as you stop bickering and concentrate on not getting killed," Maera said.

Yt just nodded.

And thus we went. We crawled through the bushes back towards the temple and it was indeed on fire. There were some cultists about, but they were mostly dragging people and paraphernalia out of the ziggurat, paying little attention to us as we carefully circled to the hidden back entrance. There Nissa showed us where she had seen the secret door.

Maera took out her toolkit and after a little bit of tinkering pushed at a mechanism deep between two stone blocks, which made one of the blocks slide inside and reveal a narrow corridor.

"Ladies first," Maera motioned towards Nissa.

"Funny that you only noticed now," Nissa glowered but went inside.

From the dark but short corridor, she emerged into a large, barely lit hall and the rest of the party followed. The room was half-filled with crates, barrels and boxes - mostly food, as Yt discovered. However, Brenna also opened a small box that turned out to be full of jewellery. This prompted everyone to search the room more properly, revealing a pouch with several hundred silver coins in a chest of clothes.

Enheartened, we went on. Listening behind the single door out of this room let us know that a lot of people are running about this place, but none too close. We crept down the corridor, trying doors to see which were unlocked. There was a kitchen and a common room with nothing much in them, a locked door, and then a room in which a statue of black iron was lifting a massive crate. With a metallic creak, it fixed its gaze on us.

1x Living Statue of Black Iron

We jumped it before it could let go of its load. Though its hide of iron was barely dented by Maera's blow, the others have slipped behind the construct and their blades found its joints, prying open the cracks where its limbs moved.

It threw a crate at Maera, but she deftly dodged and the box shattered on the ground. A swipe of the statue's talon, however, took Yt in the chest, leaving several shallow cuts behind. But it left itself wide open and Maera bashed in its sculpted beak with her hammer.

"So..." Brenna said, "my sword is busted." She was holding just the pommel now, the blade mostly shattered.

"My sword's fine!" Nissa beamed.

"Yes, we all know you have an enchanted sword. Shut up about it already!"

There was unfortunately nothing interesting in the statue's crate, so we moved on promptly. We swiftly scanned a few more empty rooms, all obviously vacated in a hurry, and had to hide a few times from cultists running down the corridor carrying various knick-knacks.

Then we found the first room bearing the signs of the dragon's rampage - one wall was crumpled and a massive hole was melted into the floor, coating everything in the room in soot. Maera carefully edged in, but then Brenna called out a warning.

1x Carcass Crawler

From a pile of slaughtered cultists smouldering by the collapsed wall, an insectoid shape rose and readied itself to jump at Maera, but several well-placed shots by Brenna and Yt saw it fall down into the hole.

"Thanks."

"Not a problem," Brenna said. "But we have a dilemma here, I think. The dragon clearly went down there, probably for a reason. There might be something interesting to appropriate, yet it will require that we abseil down a scary hole in the ground. I have rope, but I'd like to hear your thoughts, first."

"My sword-" Nissa started.

"If you say it's enchanted," Brenna grit her teeth, "I swear to all gods you will be the first down that hole!"

"It's enchanted and allows me to throw my sight, kinda. Like into that hole, so that I can safely see what's there, so suck it, Brenna."

And so we tried that, until Nissa started to look uncomfortable, gripping her gleaming sword with closed eyes and fidgeting.

"So... I may have figured something out. It appears that I can only throw my sight upwards, not downwards."

"Oh, really?" Brenna grinned.

Before more could be said, Yt interjected: "We throw torch down the hole and see, yes?"

And so we tried that. There was a cavernous hollow one floor below us, with some sort of a pool in it. By vote, three against one, Nissa was chosen to go down and have a look, and Yt volunteered to accompany her. Brenna and Maera were to remain up in the half-collapsed room to protect the rope. They climbed down into the cave and got only somewhat frightened by the sight of a massive black-feathered body. Half of it was charred down to bones and it had no head.

"I've heard you screaming like a little girl, Nissa!"

"Fuck off, Brenna! Hey, there's something in that pool."

A moment of silence.

"There's a lot of something! There's a whole hoard of frigging gold and gemstones!"

The Many-Winged Herald's hoard

15 000 gold

30 170 silver

14 gems

40 pieces of jewellery

Curse: One magic item of the defiler permanently loses all abilities.

Then we had to figure out how to get all that wealth out of the pool and then out of the temple. Nissa dived into the pool and brought back handfuls of jewels and gold, while Yt partially emptied out all our backpacks and stuffed them full of the treasure. Then the rock started to creak.

"Hey," Brenna called, "get out of there before you get buried."

"Just one more dive," Nissa called back.

In the room above, the door opened and several robed and feathered cultists rushed inside.

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

5x Feather-and-Claw cultists

"We've got company," Maera hollers and gives ground to gain enough time to shoot the priestly-looking crow-person before the rest of the cultists surround her. She scores a solid hit and then drops her bow. Brenna has borrowed an axe from Yt to replace her shattered sword and now uses it to decapitate two cultists, stopping their advance.

Shadows thwirl and the priestess disappears from sight, while the remaining three cultists harass Brenna, scoring a shallow cut.

Maera joins the melee and fells two more cultists, the last remaining one turning tail and running. Maera and Brenna do not follow, instead checking on Nissa and Yt down below.

"Are you all right?" Nissa calls up from the cave, waiting by the end of the rope with a sack of gold.

"Yeah, but get your asses up here. They know about us."

They climb up, but before the gold can too be lifted on the rope, Maera gestures for everyone to drop everything and join her by the door. The cultists are coming back for a rematch.

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

5x Feather-and-Claw cultists

The whole party gets ready to ambush them by the door, but then a flood of spell power makes their knees buckle.

K̯͆͌N̘ͪEE̥̺Ḽ̀ͥ, they hear and understand even though there was no sound. Everyone but Yt obeys.

The cultists storm inside, only Yt going forth to meet them. He takes one down, but another pierced his side with a spear. Maera, Brenna and Nissa frantically fight the magic and the oncoming cultists both. Somehow, they just barely manage to do both.

Maera and Nissa block the remaining cultists while Brenna crawls to the fallen Yt, fumbling for a vial from her pack. She pours greenish liquid down his throat and with a bloody cough, he sits up, then immediately stands up. He is no longer bleeding.

The last cultists beaten, Maera started to grin, when the priestess enters the room and from beneath her robes, a flood of darkness comes. Maera immediately sagged and the other three feel their blood turning halfway to ice. Still, Yt was yet holding onto the lingering warmth of the healing potion that Brenna fed him and swung at the priestess. She blocked with her staff. He swung again and cracked her skull open.

Brenna rushes to Maera's side, carefully rousing her from unconsciousness.

"I'm finnn-ugh," Maera groaned. "All right, I'm not fine but I'll live."

We lift the sack of gold and quickly redistribute everything we carry, leaving most of our food and all non-essential equipment behind to stuff more gold into our backpacks and pockets. In total, we now carry 9 050 coins of gold, a dozen large gems and 28 pieces of ancient jewellery.

Nearly clinking, we endeavour to get out of the temple. As we turn a corner, we can feel the ground shaking beneath our feet as something collapses. More cracks are spreading through the walls all around us. We move faster, jogging down the corridor and cramming ourselves into the tight secret entrance tunnel. Then we are back under the open skies, which have by now been taken over by the moon and the stars.

"Yes!" Nissa cheers.

D̐I̧̜Ę̇͂, a gravelly voice orders.

Midnight-Ascendant the High Priestess

2x Hungering shadows

Living Statues of Black Iron

They all try to fight.

They all fail.

They all do as ordered.

Week 6: Temple Trouble

Last week, the Shipwrecked - Fenja, Menja, Chani and Saoirse - have joined a group of Amazons from Eklo on their trip home, though they dropped off their two hirelings, Glynn and Aerea, along with the cart at the temple of C'ro. The footwomen had no inclination to engage in further adventures.
Eklo bore some heavy signs of fighting from the assault of the Feather-and-Claw people some three weeks ago, and when the Shipwrecked arrived, they were quickly shown to the keep. Sìneag, the elderly village leader, was killed in the attack and her place taken by her daughter, Beathag, who had lost an eye.
Beathag enlisted the Shipwrecked's help in a counter strike against the Feather-and-Claw people. They are to be joined by a group of ten Amazons - Eklo cannot spare any more warriors than that - get into the Hungering Temple and assassinate as many of the temple's leadership as possible.
They are to set out on Monday.
 

Feb 5, Monday; Snowy rain

We set out early in the morning.
Around noon - it's hard to tell with the non-stop rain - we crossed a wide river coming down from the glaciers (#1.15) and then climbed up to a saddle with a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. Among the rocks in front of us, we finally saw the Hungering Temple.
We crossed the last miles under the cover of the night, wary of being seen by patrols and guards. Our guide lead us to a sheltered campsite near but not too near to the temple (#1.16), where we settled down for a rest with cold rations and no campfire to heat our hands. Too risky.
As we kept watches throughout the night, we saw the cultists gather for their midnight mass. Their chanting was faintly drifting to us, punctuated by thunder cracks.

new hexes traversed = 20 XP

feature found = 50 XP

Feb 6, Tuesday; Clear & windy

During breakfast, a plan was born. Nobody has any idea about how to get into the temple and to the dark priests, so Chani agreed to be our scout and have a look at the guard routes and access points. She will go alone, being the most stealthy of the whole group.
She creeps to the temple and finds a nice vantage point to track guard movements from, but today luck is not on her side. A stone crumbles under her and sends her rolling head over heels down a slope. Before she has a chance to get her bearings, a guard is upon her.

1x Feather-and-Claw cultist

She jumps to her feet and throws her knife, catching him in the throat before he gets a chance to cry for help. Still, others will likely come to investigate, and soon. She smashes the corpse's head with a rock and finds another sharp one to open the cut on his throat more wide and ragged, hopefully masking her involvement in the death. Then she scrams.
What an inauspicious start to our altogether too risky endeavour.
Back in the camp, a small swarm of stirges can be seen flitting across the mountain side. Coincidence, or are they spying for the dark priests? We are left unsure and guessing. The rest of the day is spent planning a new approach to this venture.

Feb 7, Wednesday; Snowy rain, morning star

There's little we know about the cultists, except that they attend a mass every midnight. They scale the stairs to the top of their ziggurat and then chant praises to their dark god around an altar and a sacrificial pit. This might be the only time where we can predict the whereabouts of at least some of the priests. It is also a time when they are gathered in numbers much too large for us to take head on.
Thus, we've planned a distraction.
We stay in the camp for the day and when midnight nears, we split into three groups: Fenja and Saoirse with five Amazons, Menja with five Amazons, and Chani once again alone. We circle the temple, approaching from three different sides as the cultists start to gather and ascend the ziggurat.

Fenja and her group are quickly noticed by the guards, but they have sneaked close enough to shoot. The Amazons release a volley of arrows and Fenja grabs for her javelins, but whether through eagerness or nervousness, they slip her grasp and clatter into the dark. Cursing, she instead grabs her war hammer and rushes the foes, splattering one's brain onto the ground.

5x Feather-and-Claw cultists

She contemptuously bats away their attempts at counter attacks, but one of the cultists - the shortest - slips a javelin around her shield and stabs her in the armpit even through chainmail. Fenja growls in pain and indignation, but the remaining cultists are immediately felled by Amazon arrows. Having raised a ruckus, the group lets loose a few more arrows aimed at the onlookers and starts to retreat.

From her perch near the temple, Chani sees that one of the dark priests takes a group of cultists and pursues. A moment later, two statues of black iron emerge from inside of the temple and join the hunt for the intruders. That is as good an invitation as she will get, so Chani runs towards the door, keeping to the shadows.
Right in the entrance hall, there is another cultist on watch, so she tries to tiptoe behind him and slit his throat, but he turns around and his eyes widen in fright before she stabs him in the chest and then grips his throat and gently lowers him to the ground. He makes not a sound as he dies.
"So this will not be a 'nobody knows I am here' mission after all," Chani grumbles. "Let mission 'nobody knows I am here and lives' begin."
She goes deeper into the temple halls.

Menja also makes use of the distraction and gets her group on the stairs and within a striking distance of the cultists gathered for the mass. Of the three priests there, one went to pursue Fenja, but that still leaves two priests and a gaggle of cultists, all distracted and unaware of the arrows aiming for their backs.

Midnight-Ascendant the High Priestess of Night

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

18x Feather-and-Claw cultists

Menja sinks a javelin into the priestess standing by the altar and the Amazons follow her lead, peppering both priestesses with arrows. Recovering from the surprise, the cultists close ranks around the wounded priestesses and send javelins at Menja's group with frightening accuracy. Only Menja is left standing.
Gritting her teeth, she withdraws and runs, a few more javelins falling around her. About half the cultists go after her while the rest escort the bloodied priestesses to the safety of the temple.

Chani slips down an empty corridor and finds some unlocked doors, but they only lead to small, cell-like rooms where the cultists live. As she turns a fourth corner of the corridor, though, she notices that one, she has come a full circle and is approaching the entrance hall once again, and two, there are people in the hall now, chattering in a language she doesn't know.
She creeps to the door and sees that a group of cultists led by a bandaged priestess is fussing over another priestess lain on the ground. The second one seems to be heavily wounded, but still drawing ragged breaths.
Well, that's as good an opportunity as she will get. A single shot to end this and then out of the door before anyone can get to her. Chani reaches for her long bow, nocks an arrow and after taking a careful aim, shoots. But at the last second, a cultist notices her and cries in alarm, her shot going wide as she is startled. Cursing, she tries to reach for another arrow, but the conscious priestess caws out an incantation and suddenly, an invisible force lifts Chani off the ground, suspending her in mid-air.

Fenja and Saoirse with their five Amazons and Menja with no one but a story of a semi-successful ambush reconvene in the camp. Both have thankfully evaded capture by their respective pursuers, but nobody sleeps until morning, waiting for the cultists to find them. Nobody comes - not even Chani.

Feather-and-Claw cultists = 60 XP

Midnight-Ascendant the High Priestess of Night, very nearly killed = 65 XP

Feb 8, Thursday; Windy & snowy

We have to save Chani. Or at least try to. Otherwise, she will be sacrificed with the stroke of midnight. The Amazons were wary of our plan, their losses already heavy, but we managed to persuade them that even if the one priestess is dead, we can still inflict further harm upon the cult while rescuing Chani.
We went to break camp, but then our sentry gave the signal that enemies were approaching. We disappeared into the surrounding undergrowth. Soon, two crow-headed animated statues entered the camp.

2x Living Statues of Black Iron

A hushed argument later, we have decided that the risk here is too great. We retreated, leaving our tents and some supplies behind.
The plan was simple - once again, we cannot afford a head-on assault. There are few entrances into the temple and right now, their guards are doubled. So we split into two groups again, a distraction and an extraction team. We shall wait until the midnight mass, when they have to bring Chani out to the altar, and then we act.
We have even caught a few hours of sleep during the long wait, but then it was time to act. Fenja insisted on leading "her" five Amazons again, even though her arm still hurt from that cultist's javelin jab yesterday. The extraction team thus was to be Menja and Saoirse.
As midnight neared, a throng of cultists streamed out of the temple, surrounding three priestesses - we have seen the leading one yesterday, I think - and dragging a bruised Chani along.

Darkness-Poignant the Priestess

Darkness-Regnant the Priestess

Gloom-Unforeseen the Priest

4x Hungering shadows

23x Feather-and-Claw cultists

There really was no point to subtlety, they must know that we are coming. Thus we put to good use the one thing we still had even though we abandoned our camp - booze and bandages. Fenja and her Amazons charged, flaming bottles in hand. About a dozen of the cultists went to meet them, readying their javelins. The rest closed their ranks around the priests.
Fenja threw her fire bomb, splattering a few cultists and breaking their stride with a pool of flames. The Amazons followed her lead. The cultists responded with javelins. Though caught off guard by the sudden flames, there were a lot of them and some of their attacks found flesh. There was no need to press our luck further - Fenja and the remains of her group turned tails.
The other group of cultists, with the priestesses and Chani, was unfortunately not fooled by the distraction. Though Menja and Saoirse did manage to get close, they were noticed. They had one chance.
S͕I̬͒LEN̵̳͗C̤E̵̵̡, Saoirse said in a voice that was as inevitable as the turn of seasons. The priests' mouths were forcefully shut. Still, the cultists - though taken aback - have raised their javelins in the face of the charging Menja. Snarling, she cuts right through their javelins, decapitating the two cultists that are restraining Chani in a single blow. She grabs Chani and drags her away.
Her eyes widen, though, when she sees a javelin stuck through Saoirse's side. She grabs her too and tries to support the two women as they turn to escape.
"Get them, boy!" she shouts at Úlfi, her small but vicious dog, with tears barely held back. She already knows how his bravery will be rewarded. Yaping and snapping, he starts after the cultists. Some are delayed and distracted, others skewer the dog to the ground.
Ŕ̵͜U̮ͭ͒N, Saoirse says in that voice that shakes the sky. Even though that she is bleeding heavily, even though that Chani can barely stand, somehow their legs keep running and they sprint into the night.

Though there is immediate pursuit, both of our groups manage to evade their pursuers and find each other at our hiding place in the woods.
Fenja and Menja are both lightly wounded, but from the Amazons, only one is still alive. Chani bears some nasty marks of burns and cuts - she had been tortured to reveal the location of their camp. She will need some treatment, or she might well still die to infection. Worse, all of her possessions had been taken, including her winter garb. She is shivering in the bare tunic the cultists made her wear for her short walk to the sacrificial altar.
Saoirse is injured, but stranger are her pained cramps. Something under her skin seems to be moving.

"I... have draw too deep of... my magic," she gets out, sweating yet ice-cold. "I... will be... fine!"

We are all itching to keep moving, but half the group is half-dead. We will have to rest for a while, tend to our wounds - with no fire and no tent - and hope that we will not be found. We use the few bandages and medicinal herbs we have left and go to sleep, Fenja and Aneira the last Amazon keeping watch.
Nobody finds us during the night, but nobody is truly rested in the morning.

Feather-and-Claw cultists = 40 XP

successful rescue = 100 XP

Feb 9, Friday; Wet snowfall

The weather is, frankly, a bit of an double-edged sword. It hides our tracks quite well, but it also slows us and freezes our butts off. We have all given some of our clothes to Chani, so she shouldn't be outright freezing to death. Still, we'd better find a place to warm up tonight.
We trudge through the snow from dawn to well past dusk and it's only thanks to Aneira that we find at least some shelter under a rocky outcropping and wood for the night. (#1.15) We spent the next hour trying to get a fire going, but everything was so wet we eventually had to use the last of our oil to start it. We all huddled around the fire and tried to doze off.
We were all woken up in the middle of the night by a loud screech high above. Whatever is flying up there is hidden from our sights by the snow clouds, though, and so are we from it.

Feb 10, Saturday; Cold & cloudy

When we woke up to a sky no longer spewing an endless flood of snowflakes, Aneira the Amazon guide declared that we should be able to reach Eklo by today's nightfall. Good.
We made good time, except for a short delay when we needed to scale an icy slope and Menja had to cut some steps into the ice lest we fall to our deaths. But by nightfall we were indeed in Eklo. (#1.14)
Though exhausted, we were immediately called before Beathag the village leader. We have reported the truth - one of the dark priestesses was either killed or heavily wounded, but at heavy cost in lives. The temple is well-guarded and without way more people, we cannot make a noticeable dent in their defences. Unfortunately, we may have also provoked a swift reply with our assassination attempt.
Beathag was not pleased, especially by the Amazon lives lost saving one of ours, but we have pledged our help in defence of Eklo, should the Feather-and-Claw people mount an offence. With that, we were dismissed and went to find a place to sleep. In the end, Aneira offered to host us for the night.

Feb 11, Sunday; Cold winds

Chani's wounds do not look good. She has woken up with high fever and an ugly cough, so we forced her to stay in bed. Saoirse is not injured, but she has drawn so deep of her magic that she still feels winded from any strenuous activity, so she volunteered to keep Chani company while Fenja and Menja run some errands around Eklo.
They have found a place for all of us to stay, plus bought some basic equipment for Chani, to replace what she had lost. We don't have much coin left now.
Menja also ran into Sabatha, the apothecary apprentice, and learned more about the happenings in Eklo. The last attack of the Feather-and-Claw people has led to much death and apparently, there is now talk about an exodus. Beathag is unsure that they can win, so she plans to abandon the village and move her people somewhere safe. We might well be there to see it, because right now, we are staying put. At least for a week, to give Chani some time to recuperate.

Week 5: Lost, Hungry, Killed

Jan 29, Monday; Icy & cloudy

The party split in the morning into hunters and explorers.

Cori and Brenna took the horse and donkey as mounts and headed north-west. By noon, the hills finally slope down and the pair enters a deep forest. (#4.17, #3.17) While travelling through it is faster than through the haggard hills, they also completely lose track of their direction (#4.18) and stumble upon a colossal amphibian skeleton.

They want to give it a wide berth at first, but then Cori notices a glint of metal under the massive rib cage. Carefully, she climbs in there and finds a ring on the finger bones of a humanoid skeleton. She takes it.

"And what if I wanted it?" Brenna asks.

"I saw it first, I braved the spooky scary skeleton and you already have a ring, so tough luck!"

"But my ring doesn't glisten!"

They keep going and when evening comes, they are in hills again. Except they have actually went in a circle and nearly returned to their starting point (#4.17), but haven't realised it yet.

ring of animal control, unidentified
new hexes traversed = 30 XP
feature found = 50 XP

Jan 30, Tuesday; Cold & clear

The two of us, Cori and Brenna, continue our explorations, but we must have gotten turned around in the hills - by late afternoon, we have found ourselves deep in the mountains (#5.17), which on one hand was quite an unwelcome surprise, but on the other allowed us to get our bearings and even see the camp of the rest of our group in a valley below.

With next to no sunlight left, we decided to camp here and return to the base camp tomorrow. Then we can plan further exploration.

new hexes traversed = 10 XP

Jan 31, Wednesday; Blizzard

What a way to wake up. When we went to sleep, the sky was blue and clear, but now it cannot even be seen over the swirling snowfall thrown around by screaming winds. Also our tent is literally buried in snow.

We have gathered no wood yesterday. The tent and our sleeping bags would be enough for one night in the mountains, we thought. Now if there is any wood to be found, it will be pretty much inaccessible. We also don't have much food left.

How wonderful. We will have to break camp and get down into the hills, somehow.

Though cold, wet, filthy and exhausted, we have managed just that over the course of the whole day. (#6.18) We have found a reasonably sheltered campsite, but still needed to drag ourselves into the woods to get enough firewood for the night. 

We ate our last rations huddled around the fire, our horse and mule shivering and munching sadly on the little feed we still have.

I'm starting to think that I hate winter.

Feb 1, Thursday; Cold & clear

We woke up chilled to the bone, but the blizzard is gone, once again replaced by clear blue sky.

We have veered off course yesterday, ending up several hours of travel away from the base camp, but with the better weather it wasn't difficult to find our tracks from several days ago and follow them back to the rest of the group. (#5.18) They were out in the forest, hunting, and returned in the evening in a rather bad mood. While they had some luck with quarry on Monday and Tuesday, the blizzard had chased all the animals into their dens. Brenna and Cori went to sleep very early, still deeply fatigued from their venture into the snowy mountains.

An hour or two into the early watch, Maera roused the rest of the party. Close to the camp, a lumbering shadow was carrying its prey - presumably to its lair, to feast in peace - but the prey was still alive and crying loudly.

"It's a person! We have to save her," Maera whispered.

"Yeah, in the maw of a monster," Nissa retorted. "We're lucky it's not us it wants to snack on."

"Whoever that is, they were here in the wilderness, so they might know more about our surroundings. There might be a village or a farm they could lead us to," Cori noted.

"And we really should just save them," Brenna said. "It hasn't even noticed us, we can kill it before-"

Several more shapes emerge from the darkness, following after the first one.

4x Owlbear

"-or not," Brenna sighed. "Let's be really quiet and pray to all gods that they don't notice us."

They didn't.

Feb 2, Friday; Cold & clear

Cori was still feeling a bit under the weather in the morning and Brenna was not much better off. Thus the exploration group was now to be Maera and Nissa, and they had a special plan - follow the tracks left by the monsters in the night and see if there is a lair and perchance even a surviving victim of the monsters inside.

The tracks led them north-west, to the hills already crossed by Cori and Brenna (#4.17), but they lost the path. They turned around in the afternoon and returned to camp. Unfortunately, the rest of the party had little luck in their hunting attempts.

"We have one day of rations left," Maera noted, softly so that the hirelings won't overhear. No need to make them question their leadership.

"We could butcher the mule," Brenna suggested.

"Don't you dare," Nissa jumped up. "And if anyone, we should eat Cori's horse. He's bigger."

"What? No! Never. I already had to surrender Baldy to the gods-forsaken foreigners and their bloody cart, no way you are eating Limpy, understood?"

"Stop arguing!" Maera said. "We have one day left, so I need ideas, not quarrels."

"We could have another go at the monster lair," Brenna said.

"And that will help us with our food situation how, exactly? That poor soul will have been devoured by now for sure."

"We could eat the monsters. They were big, there's probably plenty of meat on their bones."

"I really can't tell if you're joking, Brenna."

"Well, the alternative is to eat either the mule or the horse."

"I'm in," said Cori and Nissa simultaneously.

"I hate you all," Maera grumbled.

Feb 3, Saturday; Hail

The hirelings were left in the camp and we followed yesterday's tracks once more. Pinkybone the puppy proved her worth when she picked up even the cold trail and led us confidently. The only thing to spoil this hunt was the strengthening, freezing rain.

And, of course, being suddenly surrounded by a band of stooped men covered head to toe in rags.

6x Ragwretch

But instead of raising their weapons, they addressed us in silky voices and thankfully, Maera knew enough of their dialect to speak with them.

They were on a hunt, too, and hunting the same creatures. The monsters we saw in the night are called owlbears and the tribe of these people was attacked by them, with several people dragged off to be devoured. They wanted revenge. They offered us shelter and supplies in exchange for helping them in finding and killing the owlbears. There really wasn't much to deliberate about.

By later afternoon, we have found the lair in a well-hidden cave. We were lucky that Brenna brought enough rope to safely abseil the vertical pit it had for entrance. The narrow but uncomfortably high tunnel led us through a few bends into a nest where a single owlbear was snoozing. It raised its feathered head, weary but wary, and sniffed the air, yet it seemed that we've escaped its notice.

1x Owlbear

Before it had a chance to do anything else, we have all peppered it with arrows. It died so fast it haven't even had a chance to roar.

Carefully, we approached, but the rest of the cave was empty and the monstrosity truly dead. Cori and Brenna went to help the ragwretches drag the massive corpse back to the entrance pit and lift it to the surface, but Maera and Nissa inconspicuously stayed behind to search the monster's nest for anything that might've been left behind from its many meals.

They were not disappointed. While no valuables were to be found among the piles of old bones, Maera discovered the remains of a satchel and inside - aside from long-rotted vegetables and a rusty knife - a map. Nissa happened upon something arguably even better - a short sword of silvery metal, its pommel shaped as an eagle's head.

They also found a crack in the wall leading deeper, though only if one wished to squeeze through rough stone into darkness-choked unknown.

At about that point, they've heard an ear-splitting screech coming from the cavern's entrance.

2x Owlbear

The ragwretches with Cori and Brenna have just climbed out of the pit when two other owlbears emerged from the forest. Both sides froze in surprise, then the beasts roared in bloodthirsty anger. Their weapons sheathed and standing on the edge of a fall, the group tried to scatter.

The bear-things lunged forward. One ragwretch was deeply wounded by a sharp beak, but a second wretch was instead bull-rushed into the pit, splattering his brain on the cavern floor below just in time for Maera and Nissa to emerge from the tunnel.

Two ragwretches fast enough to evade the monster's charge fought back, covering each other's back. Their axes left bloody bites in the owlbears' hides. The rest of the group had managed to get their bows ready and sent a volley into the bears' flank. It was Cori's arrow that found an eye of one beast, and through the eye its brain.

The other beast tore one ragwretch to bloody shreds and forced another one to fall prone lest his head be swiped off. But another volley of arrows later, even it was dead. Two ragwretches were killed in the skirmish, but the party avoided any harm.

Before we got the corpse of the first owlbear out of the pit, it was getting dark. We also had no way how to transport the huge corpses whole and needed to bury our two deceased not-really-friends, so we set camp right by the lair. Of course, we have seen another owlbear the night before, thus half of our group was always be on watch, weapons ready.

We gathered plenty of firewood, flayed and butchered the corpses, then put some meat to roast and other to be smoked. In the meantime, we prepared two pyres for the dead wretches.

The whole time, we felt like we're being watched from the bushes.

When the sun set and the pyres were reduced to embers, we gathered around the cooking fire and tasted the owlbear meat. It was fatty and filling and tinged with something strange. As it turned out, that something strange was magic, as these beasts were anything but natural.

As we will discover only the next morning, Maera's belly full of magical meat will lead to her growing about twelve inches taller. However, a more immediate problem was Cori, who started vomiting a black tar-like substance, and Brenna, who tried to vomit as well but instead seized up and started to choke.

At that moment, the last, lurking owlbear ambushed us and jumped at Cori. It grabbed her in a hug and with a sickening crunch, her rib cage gave in.

1x Owlbear

With a pain-filled warcry, Maera rushed the monstrosity, slamming her war-hammer into its loins. So did Nissa, cutting at the creature with her newfound silvery sword, and the ragwretches with their axes. Still, the owlbear stood tall. Contemptuously throwing Cori's crumpled body aside, it tore a ragwretch apart and wounded another.

We had it surrounded, yet it played with us like a cat with mice. Two more ragwretches were dismembered in quick succession. We have wounded it, but it fought with a wrath born of grieving. So did we. Its beak left a deep cut on Maera's side, but that also meant it left itself open to a counter strike. She shattered its skull and fell to her knees, panting and bleeding.

Meanwhile, with trembling fingers, Brenna fumbled through her pockets until she found the single bezoariac we have purchased back in Odawara. She swallowed it and though she still felt like puking her guts out, the crippling pain in her innards ceased nearly immediately.

There was nothing left to do for the rest of the night but grieve, for sleep would not come.

owlbears = 700 XP

feature found = 50 XP

new dungeon visited = 20 XP

3 owlbear hides

83 rations of owlbear meat

treasure map

WE WILL SEE, unidentified. An iridescent mithril shortsword with an eagle head pommel. Allows the bearer to "throw" their gaze directly upwards, looking straight down. Safely up to 100 ft, any higher causes nausea and dizziness. Can light up as a torch. There's a rumour it was once an object of faith for a beautiful religion.

Feb 4, Sunday; Clear & windy

There's only four of us left - Brenna, Nissa, Maera and the last ragwretch named Yt. We spent the morning gathering firewood and preparing a final goodbye for our dead. We lit the pyres and Yt started to sing. His voice is so beautiful. We cried.

We buried the ashes along with some parting gifts - a silver hand mirror and a circle of silver coins to ward off the evil spirits. After much deliberation, Brenna took the shiny ring that Cori found inside of a gigantic skeleton. "Something to remember you by," she whispered.

Yt was offered the chainmail and longbow that Cori will never use again and gladly he accepted. He also filled his pack with owlbear meat, something none of the rogues wanted to ever touch again.

Then it was time to leave.

In the afternoon, we have returned to our base camp. (#5.18) Our hirelings have confronted us immediately - yesterday, they went through all the supplies in the cart and discovered that there is basically no food left. The hunts are not going well, so they either want a plan to fix this, or to return back home. It took us a while, but we persuaded them to give us one last chance. Yt will bring us to their village and there we can resupply and rest for a few days.

We prepared the cart and set off.

Several hours later, we were found by a ragwretch patrol and lead to the village. (#5.19)

new hexes traversed = 10 XP
feature found = 50 XP