ADVENTURES ACROSS HOLLINDAGEN: NIMINYA at SAM'S LISTENING BAR(D)

Set in the world of Ekstasia

These are the recaps of the actual play with friends at Sam's Listening Bar in St J Vermont!

Hollindagen is the western continent of Ekstasia and is occupied by two main factions: the Chalkanium, the human-supremacist empire who is hell-bent on conquering all of Ekstasia, and the Ekstasia Alliance, a confederation of the nations of Niminya, Phaedra and Lauzeta who oppose the imperialism of the Chalkies.

CHAPTER 1: to CHUG or to CHUGGERNAUT

Session 1A

The party begins the adventure at noon on Anarsday 14 moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE at the Blushing Vine tavern in the city of Matterleine, having drinks and eating food. They meet each other while socializing as the town prepares for the CHUGGERNAUTS' FESTIVAL.


Later in the day, the CHUGGERNAUT'S FESTIVAL drinking competition begins. They sit down to prepare to chug, but after the first round begins everyone realizes that all the competition kegs have been replaced with water! A travesty! Councilmin Falvalur’s hands are full trying to placate the angry crowd, so he asks the party to help get to the bottom of this bizarre caper. They've already begun their own investigation into the kegs and have determined that they had been switched with the real kegs due the fact that the kegs were brand new and cheaply made, and from there begin their search for more answers.

They are given the keys to the Hall of Records, and so they go there to search for the contract with the import company. They find a suspicious copy of the contract that has a red wax seal and is written as an agreement between the city and a company known as “Doddson”.

They then return to the Blushing Vine Tavern to find Falvalur to ask him more questions. In the process, they discover that the cousin of the import company was present, but that his name doesn't match the one on the contract. His name is Mason Fairebancks, and for years he and his cousin Jorbin from Port Magdalia have been the main company importing foreign booze. The party interviews Mason, sobering him up in the process. He shows them his copy of the contract and they can spot the difference in signatures. With the help of Falvalur they can see that the Doddson contract is false. Why would someone make a fake contract? Another red herring- the fake contract was sealed with red wax, when most Niminyan wax is violet or brown. One of the drunken gnomes overhears the party asking questions and fills the party in on the fact that they had seen a suspicious group handling the shipment of imported booze the night before - a halfling, three humans and an elf. At that moment the party suddenly notices that they are being watched by a Halfling in a robe. They pursue him, giving chase through the crowd. Eventually they subdue the Halfling who reveals himself to be Davlos of the Mangled Fist, a bandit group from the Thief Kingdom who was hired by a mysterious person to steal the booze. He also reveals that there are two dead bodies north of town. The townswatch arrives and helps with the investigation.

The party and two townswatch, with Davlos in tow, make their way out of the city and discover the bodies of the Raingroves, an elderly elvish couple who live in Raingroves Manor in the southern residential ward of Matterleine. He also reveals that the Mangled Fist is made up of three humans, a Halfling and an elf.

Everyone makes their way to the mansion where Davlos tells them that the rest of the bandits are holed up in the basement along with the stolen booze. He also asks them to set him free because if he’s discovered to have been caught the Mangled Fist will kill him. So they cut him loose and he runs off, fleeing town.

The party searches the first floor of the house, finding evidence of contact with the Chalkanium. They then access the basement and find the stolen imported booze, but no sign of the bandits. They return to the street and tell the townswatch who then go and gather reinforcements. A sketchy orc wizard character that the party had seen around town earlier is present with the townswatch and helps them surround the building. Farvalur is present and tells them to hold off going back into the house until they can figure out an effective strategy in dealing with these bandits.

What is the truth behind the theft of the booze? What is the nature of their involvement with the Chalkanium?

Session 1b

Several days before the events of the main campaign, Cenny falls through a hole and lands in Ekstasia, encountering the dragonborn ranger Tynan. They are mistaken for heroes sent to Redwood Watch to deal with a green dragon wyrmling that is causing a blight in the forest. They successfully dispatch the wyrmling and cure the blight. After being rewarded by the town of Redwood they are sent to Matterleine to celebrate at the Chuggernauts’ fest.

Session 2

Cenny and Tynan enter a desolate Matterleine where everyone seems to be depressed- the Chuggernauts’ fest is cancelled. They follow a crowd to the mansion. They meet the party and decide to help them retrieve the stolen goods

The party returns to the basement of the mansion at the bidding of the town council and successfully retrieves the stolen booze. They confront the Mangled Fist, a bandit group from the Thief Kingdom of the Northeast who claim to have been hired by a shady Chalkanium military guy but were unable to give a name. The party then clears the rest of the house, battling an animated armor on the rooftop.

After they leave the house the town of Matterleine is in celebration and they are awarded with "keys to the city" (they can stay at the inn for free and eat and drink for free in the town of Matterleine for life).

The sketchy half-orc wizard approaches the party and introduces herself as Nivda. She asks what they've learned. At first they are suspicious, but after some insight they realize she is well-intended. She explains that she is part of a watchdog group keeping an eye on the Chalkanium. The party tells her about what they've discovered, that the Mangled Fist was hired by someone in the Chalkanium to steal the booze. Confounded by a seemingly benign act, Nivda states that no act by the chalkies, even a small one, is without connection to a larger conspiracy and becomes suspicious. She requests for them to seek out an elf fighter named Sylhaan who lives in seclusion to the east for more information. Nivda gives them a small map with an X marking an area in the forest just north of Lake Automine.

Session 3

Unable to accompany them due to being preoccupied herself with domestic issues which she is unable to discuss at this time, Nivda also provides them with a small token with a shrimp insignia and tells them to use it to gain Sylhaan's trust. It is around midnight when the Chuggernaut celebrations restart. They mourn those who lost their lives and party well into the morning. Stan-Paul wins the beer brewing contest as now there are other contestants to compare his brew with.

Moonday, 15 Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


Everyone gets rooms across town and goes to sleep around 8am- the party gets a full rest. They rally around 3pm, take breakfast and stock up on travel supplies enough for 3 weeks courtesy of the collectivist town of Matterleine. Having attracted the attention of the ranger "Mad-dog" Mavnon, the party is offered the guidance and protection of Mavnon to guide them out of the city and on the right path to Lake Automine. The party then departs town around 6pm.

After traveling for almost 3 hours through the grasslands east of Matterleine, they make it about 7 miles east-southeast of town before reaching some ruins.

“Ruins of Littlewood", so named for an event in local history where a small wood -the "Littlewood"- once stood and was torn down to build Matterleine. Local dryads and nature spirits became furious and a battle ensued. The druids of Smolyaa were able to placate the spirits via reparative magic offerings for 206 years. A tower and temple was built to perform the offerings, and after the spirits were placated and returned to the Fey realm the temple fell into neglect and was abandoned for another two centuries.

They spot two giant spiders and battle them. After defeating the dangerous creatures they set up camp amongst the ruins and take turns keeping watch. Mavnon leaves the group, having helped them and pointed them in the right direction.

While on their watch, Calyx finds a faery ring of glowing mushrooms, makes an offering of garam masala and is granted inspiration by the faeries. A fey pixie then appears and demands that several of the party accompany them to the feywild so as to save her people. Her name is Laylina and she and her sister Palberta need to collect stories to tell Lady Sarren, an archfey. In return they will be rewarded and will garner favor from the seelie court of Lady Sarren. As the sun comes up, Fang, Gibbous, Crank, Cenny and Stan-Paul oblige the pixie, leaving Calyx, Marvin and Tynan in Ekstasia.

Session 4

Higgsday, 16 Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


Marvin, Calyx and Tynan eat some breakfast and then travel eastward under partly-cloudy skies for 6 hours (17 miles).

Ahead they see a group of bugbears fighting ankhegs. They carefully approach the fray, Calyx staying back out of sight while Tynan and Marvin sneak up and stealthily make ranged attacks on the ankheg. The bugbears have already taken out all but one of the ankhegs, and now that the remaining ankheg has become aware of Marvin and Tynan it charges at them. They make more attacks against it, Marvin with eldritch blasts and Tynan with his longbow, as Calyx moves up the field and gets a critical hit with their crossbow. After a brief battle the party successfully dispatches the ankheg.

The bugbears have already begun pulling apart and stowing the bodies of the ankhegs- they were hunting for food. They lost a few of their own but are happy to have food for their tribe. They offer a feast to the party as thanks for helping with their hunt. The party obliges and joins them, traveling north for one hour.

They have a meal, Calyx shares spices with the tribe cooks and introduces a new spice that only some of the bugbears like (only one of them is very very into the new flavors and their mind is blown). Tynan and one of the bugbear night hunters have a drinking match with fermented blood from an elk bladder. Tynan barely loses the showdown.

They all lay down to rest, each of them keeping an eye out throughout the night. Calyx takes the first watch which is fairly uneventful. Then comes Marvin’s watch. He dozes off, waking up to a bugbear child stealing his daggers. He summons an unseen servant who picks up the child which freaks out the parent bear. He then successfully persuades the parent bugbear that he meant no harm and that the child had stolen his daggers. The bugbears calm down and Marvin finishes his watch as Tynan gets up for the last shift. Tynan sees the bugbear night hunters fighting something in the distance, but there is no danger to the camp.

Watersday, 17 Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


The party bids farewell to the bugbears and continue on, getting back on the road in half an hour. They continue for 2 hours and cover 6 miles of road under clear skies before seeing ahead a long and short plateau. On the plateau are two giant greyhound statues, one of them is missing a head. They go around the statues, losing only one hour before getting back on the road eastward.

At this point the road is very unkept and hard to keep track of but Mavnon’s guidance from two days before sets them in the right direction. In 4 hours they travel 11 miles eastward under partly cloudy skies. They see a field of scattered boulders. They come to a larger boulder with a cave leading underground. They decide to follow the cave.

They follow the cave to an underground archway that leads to a stairway that heads down about 60 feet. The party then discovers an ancient underground dome-shaped chamber with a sacrificial altar in the center. Lining the dome’s walls are statues of various tieflings. Marvin, who is of abyssal descent, recognizes these as abyssal tieflings. Behind the altar is an old encampment with the skeletal remains of 2 tieflings, an elf and an orc who seem to have killed each other in a battle long long ago.

Session 5

Meanwhile, back in the feywild, Fang, Stan-Paul, Cenny, Gibbous, and Crank are ushered by Laylina to meet up with her sister Palberta in one of the glades. The part of the fey domain that they are in has a sense of delight to it, with multicolored meadows running with glittering rivers and streams that flow through mystical glades. The valley is in between two snow-capped mountain peaks that look like the tips of a crescent moon. Eventually they come to the place where Palberta is. She’s a bit frantic but polite and asks for the party to give her stories, even mundane ones. Fang tells a story about a shining fox she saw. Stan-Paul tells a story about the day his daughter was born. Palberta tries some of his beer and loves it! Fang and Stan-Paul are teleported back to Ekstasia where…

…Marvin, Calyx and Tynan are investigating the tiefling temple. For Fang and Stan-Paul it has only been about a half an hour whereas back on Ekstasia it’s been several days. They reunite and help each other investigate the ruins. Marvin discovers that the temple is dedicated to Asmodeus, the devil-god of the Nine Hells. There are giant slash marks and places where it almost appears as though the infernal text carved into the walls have been crossed out or damaged. Tynan finds a journal belonging to one of the skeletons. They deduce that these must’ve been tomb robbers of some kind, probably turning on each other when they found no treasure. The party finds none either, so they leave and return to the surface. They travel for a few more hours before making camp. Calyx tries to make some food but is a little bit off their game. It’s still very tasty but not up to their usual standard. Everyone rests without incident. They resume their travels through the grasslands until they notice the Autominei Forest ahead. They spot smoke rising from the edge of the forest- it’s the town of Fenhalas. A person riding horse-back flies past them heading for the town.




As they enter Fenhalas the guards, recognizing Stan-Paul’s military posture, tell them to be extremely careful if they are to enter the forest- best to be stocked up on supplies and well-rested. They notice a human arguing with an elf about boarding his horse; other than that it’s mostly elves and tieflings that live here. Calyx and Fang go to the General Store and Apothecary to gather supplies while Tynan, Marvin and Stan-Paul go to the Fenhalas Castle / Bard College to inquire about the journal. Stan-Paul convinces them to let them stay on cots for free as long as they perform 12 hours of labor the following day.



Everyone reconvenes and sits at the bar at the Moping Baron Tavern. They hear some rumors about missing bugbears and that no one has seen hyenas in over two months. An elf farmer comes in and complains about “wailing” coming from the Maxmyr Boneyard just outside of the south palisade the other night. He also mentions that 30 years ago there was an incident where the skeletons had been awakened as undead due to a careless prank. But other than that it’s a peaceful place where folks from the Convent of Niminya and the Chapel of Eye (pronounced “Aye-yeh”) like to meditate. They spot the human who was arguing with the elf at the stable earlier drinking by himself. Soon they decide to pay to sleep at the tavern’s hostel.

At the bar Tynan reviews the grave robber’s notebook he found in the abyssal tiefling’s abandoned temple. From what the party can make from it the notes appear to reference looking for “powerful treasure” potentially having something to do with gnomes. There is an incomplete map as well. They all lay down to sleep in the bunk beds. The human from earlier finds a bed far away from the party. Stan-Paul goes over and bothers the guy, trying to be friendly. The guy is annoyed but obliges Stan-Paul and they chat for a moment, sharing some whiskey. He introduces himself as Sevous and he agrees to join them into the forest in the morning.

Session 6

Agladay, 18 Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


The group decides to leave with Sevous and enjoy breakfast. Cenny falls back through a portal to Ekstasia after learning about a situation in the feywild concerning the seelie queen Lady Sarren and rejoins the party. A halfling druid referring to himself as Jae stumbles into the tavern and befriends the party, seeking adventure.

They decide to quickly investigate the Maxmyr Boneyard to the south of town outside of the palisade before leaving Fenhalas. The yard is overgrown and ancient tombstones dot the area. Marvin reads a tombstone that'd been cleared and it is written in Abyssal. Stan-Paul discovers a diamond which then is nabbed from him by an invisible mage hand and consumed to cast a Chromatic Orb magic attack, barely missing Tynan as he shoves Stan-Paul out of the way. A brief battle ensues as two tiefling cultists attack. The party subdues and interrogates the pair; the cultists are very protective of their place of worship but are otherwise relatively harmless. They venerate Morylius, an ancient champion of Asmodeus, who was once very popular in this region of Niminya long ago. The name of the cult is the “Rock of Ozu”, and their practices descend from the “Cult of the Phlegethosians” who held many temples in the region way back in the day. Calyx forages, discovering many tasty herbs and such.

After learning this, the party meets up with Fang and Sevous who bartered with the stablehands to get a discount on the board for the horses. (Sevous, though clearly of wealthy descent, is also clearly a cheapo.) They travel for about four hours before finding a gnoll ripped in half. Jae the druid talks to a squirrel who isn’t sure about what’s going on other than he’s hungry and he’s relieved there’s been no jackals and coyotes around to get him. After another four hours of travel they set up camp. Calyx cooks a perfect meal (nat 20!). Sevous borrows and inspects the crypt robber’s notebook with the incomplete map, returning it to Tynan when he’s done. They all take turns keeping watch throughout the night and benefit from an undisturbed long rest.

Freeday, 19 Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


The party wakes up and continues down the road. Sevous explains that he’s been interested in learning about the ancient cults of this region of Niminya.

They travel another seven hours and are ambushed by two enraged gnolls in the early evening. After dispatching them they are approached by two bugbears who are mourning the loss of their son, a younger bugbear that’d been slain presumably by the same gnolls that attacked the party. The bugbears reveal that their youths have been stalking off into the wild without explanation, not adhering to the tribe’s standard hunting procedures. The bugbears invite the party to crash with them at their camp.

Session 7

The party experiences a somber evening at the bugbear camp within the forest. A hunter by the name Rurk laments the loss of his brother Sturk. He asks the party to set out with him in the morning to try to find Sturk. If they can't bring him back then Rurk wants to at least retrieve his remains. They agree to do so and sit around a solemn campfire quietly. Jae hears a distant call and leaves camp, taking off to follow it.

A young bugbear possessed by boundless curiosity annoys Sevous who then sets up his bedroom away from everyone. The young bugbear then bothers everyone else in the party, asking to see their “trinkets”. Stan-Paul gives him a gold coin. Calyx cooks with the bugbear caretakers, combining recipes and coming up with new innovations. Marvin and Tynan learn some hunting techniques in the nomadic bugbear tradition. Fang sits and stews while facing her anger at the troubles of the world. The young curious bugbear goes through Marvin’s belongings and is holding his pouch of coins. Rurk shoos away the youngling and gives Marvin back his coins. The party goes to sleep under the watch of the bugbear patrols who keep the campsite protected.

Starsday, 20th Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


In the morning the party awakens to find that Marvin’s gold is missing along with the grave robber’s notebook that Tynan had. The party decides whether to follow Sevous or help Rurk recover his brother. Marvin and Calyx agree to follow Sevous and the rest of the party accompanies Rurk.

Tynan, Stan-Paul, Fang, Cenny and Rurk track a “twilight vulture” into the woods. Tynan spots the beast, a Vrock, and they engage it in battle. They kill the beast and Fang collects some of the ichor that oozes from its dead body. Rurk spears and obtains a Vrock heart, keeping it impaled on his spear.

The party then continues and finds an open-air ruin of an old elvish keep. Rurk spots at least one gnoll in one of the ruined towers.

Cenny and Tynan sneak into the ruins and are spotted by a gnoll! But the gnoll, along with all the other gnolls, flee in terror as they see the Vrock heart impaled upon Rurk’s spear. One gnoll remains, however; a Gnoll Fang of Yeenoghu emerges, the injured Sturk in his grasp. Rurk tosses the spear with the Vrock heart on it and pierces the Gnoll Fang’s chest, disabling the beast as he shouts the name “Natik!” at him…

Earlier that day…

Marvin and Calyx, having found Sevous’ trail leading away from the bugbear nomad camp with help from Tynan, split from the party and follow Sevous.

While travelling the forest they avoid an encounter with a giant spider that’s preoccupied with stalking its prey.

Four hours later they find Sevous’ tracks suddenly stop. They then are confronted by Satyr named Prancey who is flustered at his second encounter with Ekstasian folk this day. Prancey demands a tithe, so Calyx gives him some of their honey mead they made using their enchanted alchemy jug. Still unsatisfied, Prancey demands that Marvin and Calyx forage for ingredients to cook him a meal worthy of his palette. They find several foraged ingredients together as Calyx uses them to whip up a tasty salad to accompany the mead, which just barely passes Prancey’s approval. The sated Satyr then agrees to open a fairy trod for them which allows fast travel throughout Ekstasia (so long as one knows where they are going; otherwise they are doomed to be lost in the in-between-world of the trods).

Marvin and Calyx beseech Prancey to help them find their quarry: Sevous. Indeed it was Sevous that had forced his way through Prancey’s trod mere hours before their arrival; however he cannot help them track Sevous but knows of a wise being who can. Before sending them through the trod, Prancey instructs them to concentrate on the one seek, a halfling named “Jamwine” who attained near-mortality by dwelling amongst the fey and exiling himself to the liminal realm of the trods. He also tells them that when they meet Jamwine to tell him that Prancey has “not forgotten about the incident with the toadstools”.

Calyx and Marvin enter the trods and travel through what appears to them as a singular path through a very narrow thicket shrouded in dark purple clouds. They stay focused on Jamwine and the mysterious “toadstood incident” mentioned by Prancey. They then come to what appears to be some sort of clearing with a homestead.

A loud “STOP!!” comes from the thatched hut as Jamwine the wizened and wise halfling appears from the doorway, warning them of a deadly snare he’s set. He asks them who they are and what they want. They reply by mentioning Prancey and the toadstools. Jamwine deactivates the razor-trap and invites them in. They all share the rest of Calyx’s mead and Jamwine shares his potent fermented tea-brew swill.

They settle in and explain their case and of tracking down Sevous who’d stolen Marvin’s money and an important notebook. Excited by having such pleasant visitors Jamwine crafts and enchants a seeing stone, a small, iridescent black marble that occasionally can view Sevous (no audio!). And on the full moon of Llon the Blue Moon you can actually see exactly where your quarry is and a fey-folk will be summoned to you and be able to open a trod, if you can impress the fey creature. Jamwine also explains about the conflict between the two courts of the Feywild and the mysterious corruptive influence from planes beyond the material. The seelie court of Lady Sarren has been frozen in a chrysalis of gloom and sadness; the unseelie court of Lady Liri has somehow become the lesser of evils and seeks to restore balance in the Feywild.

They give thanks and continue on the trod, not sure exactly where they are going but focused on the seeing stone targeting Sevous. They can see mountain peaks in the background, and suddenly Calyx and Marvin are back in the Autominei forest, only this time face to face with a green-skinned elf who is totally surprised.

The elf is launching arrows at a target in the near distance, the density of trees making it tough to land a shot. Marvin and Calyx recognize the elf’s target to be Sevous, and the elf reluctantly trusts the two of them as all three flank and surround Sevous who now surrenders. The elf, declaring themself as Sylhaan Tomestoner, is the very person that Nivda the Orc Wizard charged the party to seek back in Matterleine.

Sylhaan uses the Tomesword to banish Sevous to another place, leaving his rucksack and hand crossbow behind. Marvin not only recovers his lost gold by all of Sevous’ gold, as well as the stolen crypt-robbers’ notebook and Sevous’ personal journal.

Sylhaan invites Calyx and Marvin back to their homestead near the lake where they rest. Sylhaan explains about the Summerstones and Gloamingstones that are found around Niminya and that the nearer you are to those stones the more crossings between the Feywild and Ekstasia there are. They also explain that Sevous was on his way to sell information to the Chalkanian empire, information found within the crypt-robbers’ journal.

Session 8

Meanwhile back at the elven ruins…

Rurk and the Gnoll leader square up as Cenny, Tynan and Fang watch on. Jae the druid, who'd noticed the fleeing gnolls stumbled upon the ruins and rejoined the party.

Rurk demands the return of his brother Sturk. The gnoll, a former bugbear named Natik, challenges Rurk to a fight to the death, weapons allowed. Rurk, a mere hunter, asks for one of the party to be his champion. Stan-Paul valiantly volunteers and faces off with Natik. The two exchange blows. During the fight Natik is distracted as Rurk sneaks around the fray and goes into one of the ruined chambers to find his brother Sturk. As he shakes Sturk awake a strange light begins to overcome the group, and before Natik can land more harsh blows against Stan-Paul the party is whisked away through a teleportation spell.

Now the group finds themselves in a sinister-looking part of the Feywild, a strange harpy-looking creature decked out in scant fey-raiments and flower crown heals Sturk. She introduces herself as Lady Liri of the Gloaming Court, queen of the unseelie of the Feywild. She bids them to follow her to her Hollow Court. They pass through tangles of blighted woods before arriving at a giant hollowed-out tree stump in the center of which is a bonfire. Against the far wall is a mess of vines, roots and rocks that make up Lady Liri’s throne. She sits upon it and snaps her fingers as an emaciated-looking fairy flies over to her and places a skull cup full of bloodwine in her hand.

Lady Liri explains that her fey had been keeping an eye on the group, especially since they entered Automine Forest. She is dealing with a problem in her court- she lacks an audience to witness her courts’ fell deeds, as the Summer Court has been sealed away by a strange gloom that has placed the seelie queen Lady Sarren into a stasis. She needs a group to retrieve an artifact from a tower that’d been taken over by strange creatures from beyond the Feywild. If they do so she promises immunity from the foul deeds of her unseelie court as well as getting to keep any of the loot they find. The group reluctantly agrees and Liri provides the group with a place to take a rest before their adventure.

They all benefit from a full rest but experience terrifying dreams. Sturk, though physically healed, appears to have come under some sort of psychic affliction. The tribe of nomads of which Rurk and Sturk belong are descended from seelie fey, so they assume that being in such extreme proximity to unseelie fey is causing a psychic reaction. As such, Sturk is in no place to join the quest. Rurk stays with his brother as Liri declares the two brothers as “collateral” should the party decide to flee without returning to her court with the artifact.

The group is led to the entrance of a fairy trod where Jae is given an oil painting of their destination. They tie each other to a rope and travel into the trod, making their way through the narrow tunnel of branches. They lose concentration once or twice but fortunately make it through to their destination: a tower on a crooked hilltop somewhere else in the Feywild far away from both the seelie and unseelie courts.

The group uses a sending stone to contact Liri’s court who will come and teleport them back to her court. It was supposed to be used once they’d found the artifact but Liri on the other end doesn’t give them a chance to get in a word sideways and sends her folks. They have a limited time to retrieve the object before Liri’s minions arrive to teleport them back.



The tower lacks any windows or doors, but Tynan discovers a hole hidden in the ground where they gain entrance to a small underground chamber. Beyond the chamber are stairs that lead up and into the main floor of the tower where there are four statues of different colors.

Tynan touches the statue of a hippogriff that is actually an enchanted trap- it turns into a gargoyle that attacks the party! They fight the gargoyle and defeat it, finding a monochromatic key in its rubble. They inspect the other statues- they are regular statues that are not enchanted. In the center of the room is a sealed room with a door. The door has four gems of different colors. Around the main floor are stairwells that lead up to individual towers. Each time one of the party goes up into one of the towers, they must pass a specific check; otherwise they fight a variety of creatures. Each time they defeat a creature, a different colored key is dropped that corresponds to the statues. As they use each key on each statue, the colored gems on the central door corresponding to the color of the key glows and then shatters until all four are used. The door then unlocks, leading them to a magic lift that rises up the central channel of the tower to the main room. Behind one of the statues they reveal a hidden door that opens into a small round chamber where a portal exists. They refrain from using it.

In the main room they find Ellandra the Centaur encased by a magic barrier. They also find a Gnoll Fang of Yeenoghu who teleports out of the building, dropping a strange amulet. They shatter the magic barrier and free Ellandra who offers the group anything they find in the room as she’s planning on rebuilding from scratch. She explains that the Gnoll is not motivated by the unseelie court and has been manipulated from a force beyond the Material Plane. They take the amulet and several treasures and return to Lady Liri’s court.

Once back in the court of Lady Liri they hand over the amulet, which is revealed to be a clockwork amulet. The fey of Liri’s court study the amulet and let the party keep it. Keeping her word Lady Liri sends the group plus Rurk and Sturk back into Automine Forest in Niminya.

Session 9

The group returns from Feywild and discovers that only about 10 or 15 minutes have passed in Ekstasia. They hike back to the bugbear camp with Rurk and Sturk where the tribe celebrates the return of their kin, though there is still no real answer as to the cause of the rise in gnolls in the forest. Despite this unanswered question, everyone is able to rest easy that night.

Anarsday, 21st Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


In the morning the bugbears say goodbye and send off the party, giving them rations and directions to the X on the map: Sylhaan’s location.

The group travels for a few hours before Fang thinks she sees something; Jae recognizes it to be a hawk. He speaks with the hawk who says they will run into a fey creature who can teleport them to where they're going.

The group travels onward for another hour or so before encountering Sadie: a satyr who is drunk on Elvish Bastard Whisky. He randomly demands a performance from the group. Tynan and Stan-paul sing a duotone melody; Cenny tap dances; Fang creates an illusion of her tail to wave around; and Jae transforms into a dancing lizard. Completely satisfied by the show, Sadie wants to share with them his stash of Elvish Bastard and so sends them through a fey trod which is short cut-enabled to bring them straight to Sylhaan’s homestead where his whisky stash is located.

They traverse via the trod and arrive at Sylhaan’s home. Marvin and Calyx are chillin there and everyone is happy to be reunited.




Sylhaan introduces herself to the rest of the group and then explains that Sevous was going to sell information on clock-work technology of the ancient Modronite gnomes to the Empire.

The group settles in at Sylhaan’s humble homestead in the Automine Forest. Wary from travel, Calyx makes mediocre bread which tastes great but has a tough texture to it. Tynan bonds with a horse in Sylhaan’s stable; Stan-Paul joins him and recites the letter he wrote his daughter. Marvin is just chillin in the Hearthside chair inside the homestead. Jae finds a friendly fox named Mikey and convinces him to be Sylhaan’s pet. Fang broods and stomps through the woods angrily looking for something to kill. They think they see something but return to the homestead. Cenny helps Sylhaan research and uncovers some interesting lore:

What starts as a boring deep dive into reports of specific incursions of the ongoing border conflict between Ekstasian Alliance (Niminyta, Lauzetania and Phaedrania) and the Chalkanian Empire, some deeper knowledge is unveiled:

Fragments and threads of information end up pointing to the fact that within the Chalkanian Empire, despite its weakening leadership, there is a rising sect of younger extremists who wish to push the imperial agenda through more severe measures. Known as the 'Hochstvorderr', this extremist group is trying to accumulate power for the empire via the discovery and acquisition of occult powers hidden by ancient beings of age-old power struggles amongst gods and demons from beyond the world of Ekstasia.

Sylhaan explains that she is part of the resistance group known as the Shrympinatus Consortium who actively oppose the Chalkanium through clandestine actions of espionage and sabotage.

Everyone turns in for the night.

Moonday, 22nd Moonshine 169 CE / 421 AE


In the morning Sylhaan is alerted to the approaching of possessed humanoids by her magic alarum.

The group leaps into action and fights the incoming horde. Sylhaan drives them away with a wardstone before too long. One of the crazed humanoids trips and falls; Cenny can tell that it is possessed by the same magic he’d seen in the past: that of the Forlarren - fey who have been corrupted by Asmodeus.

Sylhaan ponders the situation and realizes that something has happened: a door has opened and something has been unleashed, and she must discover what exactly it is…

TO BE CONTINUED…